"If you are anything like I was before I started this adventure, you imagined the glitz and dazzle of the touring life. Well after falling out of bed because the bus driver slammed on his brakes, spending long hours on a cramped tour bus where the only place you can go to be alone is the washroom or your bunk my eyes have definately been opened" Abbie proofed her final paragraph for that week's column and smiled. Touring was not as bad as she made it seem. Yes she hated the cramped bunk and the uncomfortable couches, but what she wouldn't trade was the long talks that she and Howie shared late at night, the midnight pigouts and movie marathons that the three of them shared and the food fights with the other buses.
"What are you doing up so late, you were exhausted when we left the venue" Howie sat down beside her and rested his feet on her lap.
"I wanted to get the column done and I just cannot sleep" Abbie replied as she put her files on the floor beside the couch.
"Do you want to watch a movie or something?"
"Actually I am quite content with staring out this window and watching the long road wind ahead."
Satisfied with her answer Howie rested his head on her shoulder and stared out at the darkness in silence.
~~**~~
"Dammit" Abbie rubbed her head as she was jolted awake by the banging of her head and Howie's. "Amazing..utterly amazing, he slept right through that" Abbie grinned as she looked at Howie was was sleeping soundly.Abbie didn't want to wake him so she covered him with a blanket and walked down the hall and crawled into her bunk and was soon asleep as the bus's motion lulled her to sleep.
~~**~~
"Abbie....Abbie" Abbie opened her eyes and looked up at Howie who was crouched on her bed. "What's wrong Howie?" she asked confused.
"You were talking in your sleep and it was scaring me...you were saying some really scary stuff. Are you okay?" Howie's deep brown eyes stared into hers.
"I am fine..must have been that damn movie we watched the other day" Abbie couldn't remember what she had been dreaming of but she knew deep down that it had to be about her secret. "Go back to bed Howie I am fine."
"Okay..I am right beside you if you need me" Howie left her curtian open and crawled back into his bunk and watched her until she fell asleep. "Those were not words from the movie" he thought to himself.
~~**~~
"Nick what the hell were you thinking? I have told you, I have told all of you to stay out of them" Tim was screaming at Nick in the dressing room during the sound check. Abbie would come to learn that apparently Nick and AJ had visited a strip club in the last city, Nick had gotten very drunk and tried to have his way with one of the strippers. She had threatened to go to the papers if he didn't pay her a substantial amount of money.
Abbie walked away, knowing that she should not be hearing what was being discussed in the closed door management and boys meeting. She walked into the empty auditorium and started to type in her laptop.
"All that glitters is not gold. When you look at Nick Carter you all see a golden boy with a shy personality and a strong voice. What you don't know is that beneath that shy demeanor is a young man who craves the company of beautiful women who he will take by force or with money if need be. He has been saved from lawsuits by his best friend, the almighty dollar."
"What are you doing...are you insane?? This is Nicky, your geeky Nicky you
are writing about" Abbie realised what she was writing and she grimaced "You
can't do this Abbie, you can't" As she went to hit delete she pressed save
instead and then shut her laptop.
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