Remember Me This Way

Chapter Twenty Five

"This is K-Dog with the Old School Lunch Hour. Now, do y'all remember NSYNC? I bet you do. Whatever happened to Justin Timberlake? He had his solo career, movies, and then...nothing. Anyone know where he is now?"

"I know I haven't got a clue...it was like he vanished."

"Speaking of solo careers from 90's Boybanders... Nick Carter's latest album, I Did It For You is in stores today....call in and tell us what you think of it! And now, we take you back to the 90's..."

...Hey hey...Bye bye bye...bye bye!

"Ugh, turn that shit off Brian."

Brian smirked, reached forward into the front, and changed the station as requested. He sat back again, as their two bodyguards chuckled. Josh and Mike had been with them for some time, and knew them well. "NSYNC's been gone for over a decade, and they still can't resist comparing you to Justin."

"Even if that asswipe's been practically missing for three years." Nick replied rolling his eyes as the van made its way down the heavily congested New York City roads. He yawned a bit, trying to stretch as much as he could within the back seat. When he had pictured this, he thought Jenn, rather than Brian would be in there with him. Instead, Jenn was smoothing out the complications his situation brought on, while Brian came along for the support.

The date was July 25th, 2016; a day would stay in Nick's mind as long as he could keep it there. This was the date of his final solo album. He knew there was a treasure trove of unreleased material, but he wasn't sure if the fellas would ever release it. Today was simple, an interview with Regis and Kelly, stopping over at the new MTV show "The Video Store", a show that was very reminiscent of TRL. It amused the guys that it took MTV so long to reinstate TRL in its original format, and that when they finally did, they advertised it like it was a brand new idea. Which, in essence it was, to the newest generation of teenagers.

"Well, look on the bright side; soon you won't have to remember him or his annoying pitchy voice. Cry me a riiiiiiver! " Brian teased, grinning.

Nick laughed, Brian was the only one other than himself able to really make light of the dark prospects his future held for him. But that was always how Brian dealt with anything rough that came their way, he would joke about it. What fans saw as annoying, was really his defense mechanism. Nick's was similar, always goofing around when everything seemed too much to handle. It was partly why their bond had been so strong since the beginning. It felt natural to have that fallback. No one else could really handle it being taken so lightly, and it simply helped remind Nick that nothing was ever going to be the same. He tried to shake away the dark thoughts from his mind. Wasting time dwelling wasn't going to solve anything.

It was something Nick had to tell himself often.

"And I won't have to remember them ripping us off half the time."

"Or Lou."

Nick shuddered. If it hadn't had been for Kevin, all those rumors about Lou having gone too far in his role as their "backer" would've actually been true. It had happened with other groups Lou formed, always with the young and "pretty" ones. Kevin however, had been suspicious when his own mother hadn't bothered to be. It had saved him from being more psychologically scared than he already was. Over the years, he wondered if Lou had done anything to Aaron. His little brother never discussed his days under Lou's management, and Nick had been unable to be there. He thought it could be the reason why Aaron was as troubled as he was.

If that was true, it would be just another thing he would be better off forgetting.

"What else?" Brian lead on, sensing the joke had somehow struck a sore spot.