“Will you all quiet down?” Kevin Richardson yelled as he stood at the head of the bus and looked at his fellow band mates. On one couch sat Nick and Brian, playing video games on the TV that was built into the wall. They were laughing and nudging one another as they rapidly pressed the buttons on their controllers. On the other couch Howie and AJ were bent together, telling stories and laughing fit to burst.
At the sound of his shout four faces turned to look at him, each with varying degrees of amusement. “What’s up, Kev?” Brian asked him, politely putting his controller down.
AJ scrunched his nose up, turning his head to Howie and quietly mocking Brian’s tone. “What’s up, Kev?” He smirked and flung one arm on the back of the couch, behind Howie’s head. Annoyance covered Brian’s face as he looked over at AJ. “Real mature, Mclean.”
Even with his shades on it was easy to see the sneer on AJ’s face. He held up the hand behind Howie’s head, flipping Brian off. “Up yours, Littrell.”
“Enough!” Kevin called out. He glared from one to the other and cursed management for what they were doing to them. At one point they had all been friends, back when the group had first joined together. Sure, they’d all picked on one another, and yes, AJ and Brian had picked on one another more than anyone else. But they had at least been civil. Lately it had just seemed to be getting worse and worse. Management, in an effort to try to ‘fix’ the problem, had given Kevin a solution. Despite how hard he’d argued it, they insisted on it and assured him that they would have people around to make sure it was being done.
They were going to kill him, that was for sure. But he had put this off for as long as possible. There was no more time to procrastinate. Apologetically he looked at Brian, hoping his cousin understood. Whatever was going on, Kevin had a feeling that AJ had started it. Brian could be mean if he wanted to, but he was one of the easiest going people in the world. Polite, mannerly; everyone loved him. For this fight to have started, all he could figure out was that AJ had to have done something.
Kevin took another deep breath and mentally prepared himself for the explosion that was about to come. “Management gave me our room assignments for the tour. You guys, well, you’re not going to like this.” He said slowly.
Everyone stared at him curiously. Kevin closed his eyes for a minute and prayed for patience. “Management decided that they don’t care if you two hate each other, Brian, AJ, but they don’t want people to think you two hate each other. It’s bad for image. Their words, not mine.” Opening his eyes, Kevin watched their faces as he shocked them. “On that note, they plan on building the image that you two are good friends. Which means you’ll be paired together for interviews, in random photo shoots, and they want you two to be seen out and about together. And…” Here he looked to Brian, feeling horrible. “…you two are to room together at every hotel on the tour. They’ve promised to have someone in security keeping an eye on this.”
“What?” AJ and Brian both screeched, sitting up straight and staring at him. Brian looked shocked; AJ looked pissed.
“I tried to fight them, guys. But they insist on this.”
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me!” AJ shouted out furiously. “Everyone else will get a chance at the single but I have to spend the entire tour locked up with Saint fucking Littrell over here? This is bullshit!”
Nick looked offended on behalf of his friend. “They can’t do this to him, Kev. Can’t they just refuse to do it?” He put a hand on Brian’s shoulder in a reassuring manner. The idea of his best friend being stuck rooming with AJ with all the antagonism between them was horrible. “I mean, can they really force this?”
“They can. I hate to say it, but they can. You two will just have to try and get along. Do you think you can make an attempt at behaving, AJ?” Kevin turned to glare at him. Nobody but Howie noticed AJ’s small flinch at those words. Quietly, Howie put his hand on the small of AJ’s back. He knew better than to stand up for him; that would only get AJ’s back up. But he could be there for him.
Cocking his head sideways, AJ gave a mirthless grin. “I won’t make any promises.”
It looked like Kevin was about to say something but Brian shook his head and spoke first. “If we’re stuck with it, we’ll deal with it, end of story. I’m sure you did the best you could, Kev. I can handle sleeping in the same room if he can.”
“I can handle anything you throw at me.” AJ said with that smirk that Brian hated.
Watching the two of them had Kevin wanting to groan. Oh yeah. They were going to be one or two members short before tour was over.