After spening fifteen minutes under that water that seemed to relax her tense muscles, she dried off and slipped into a pair of running pants and a sweatshirt. She opened the bathroom door, and stopped short in her tracks as she saw Riley sitting in the floor by the bathroom door, looking at her with anger in his eyes. The muscles that were once relaxed became tense again as she watched him rise up from the floor.
"Well..well...look who decided to come home finally," he said as he reached up to touch her face gently.
She knew that he was up to something, but she didn't know what. Riley was never this nice to her, which only meant that his temper was about to flare. "I stayed over at Stephanie's house," she began but shut up as he rolled his eyes.
"Nice try, Em..but I know you were with that fag popstar that you had lunch with yesterday," he said as he grabbed her wet hair.
She closed her eyes, fighting back the tears that were wanting to fall on her cheeks. "I wasn't with him last night! I promise you, Riley..baby I was at Steph's because we had a late night at the diner and she asked me over to watch a movie with her..you know I love you baby," she pleaded as he dragged her towards the bedroom that was connected with the small bathroom.
"You don't love me, Slut..I know where you were last night...you all three are sluts..Whitney had her a young fiesty one and I'm sure that Stephanie made a move on one of them, you guys are all the same!" he screamed at her as he sent her flying towards the bed. Her hip hit the bedpost and she cried out in pain.
"Riley..please..don't do this to me," she whispred as he came closer to her.
"You're not worth anything, Em..I'm all that you have. You think your friends care about you? They pity you that's the only reason they are by your side. They've always pitied you! You were a poor farmer's daughter that needed people to lean on, and they thought they'd give you their support..listen to me, EMILY..you're not worth anything, you never have been and you never will be," he yelled in her ear as he watched in joy as the tears spilled down her cheeks.
"That's not true," she said closing her eyes so she wouldn't have to look into his that were gleaming with pleasure as he stood there watching her in pain.
"You know its true, Em...don't deny it any longer. And your popstar friend..well he wanted to get into your pants and it looked as if he suceeded," he said as he backed away from her and ran a hand through his hair.
"Believe what you want, Riley," Emily said suddenly, feeling a new found courage course through her. She was tired of listening to him cut her down, and it was time that he took some of the stuff that he dished out. 'I'm tired of you putting me down, I'm tired of you hitting on me, but most of all I'm tired of you acting as if you're the only one that has feelings. DAMNIT I have feelings too and I will not let you do this to me anymore," she said standing up straight and planting her feet firmly on the ground.
Riley narrowed his eyes as he walked closer to her, causing her to back up to where she eventually hit the wall. Her eyes didn't close, but instead she returned his angry glare. "What did you just say to me?"
"I said I'm tired of how you treat me you son of a bitch! I'm tired of having to hide bruises with make up, and I'm tired of you thinking that I'm a whore," she said as her hands began to clench into fists.
"You are a whore, Emily..don't fight it. You should accept the truth," he said backing away from her, which caused a wave of relief to wash over her.
"While we're on the subject of accepting the truth, why don't you accept the fact that you're insecure about loosing me..accept the fact that I do care about you and accept the fact that I deserve to be treated with respect! Damn it Riley, I've known you for so long and you treat me this way..I want to know why!" she screamed at him as her tears continued to spill down her face.
"I do it because I can, Em...and I'm not insecure about loosing you. I know you aren't going anywhere because you would have left already. Now I'm going to Mike's to have a beer, you better be here when I get home," he said grabbing his coat off the floor.
"And if I'm not here when you get home?"
"I'll find you and make you pay for even thinking that you could leave. See you later, Em," he said as he closed the door to the bedroom.
She laid across the bed as her tears began to slow. She needed to think of something to show him that she wasn't scared of him, but nothing was coming to mind. He would find her if she went to Whitney's or Stephanie's, so that was a dead end. Her eyes closed before her body began to rest.
"Are you missing me yet?"
"Justin, you've been gone for less that nine hours and you're already calling me? Is something wrong..."
"No..its just we're at the hotel and there's nothing to do," he explained to her. "I thought I'd call and see if you were missing me really bad."
She snickered before grabbing the bag and continuing into the kitchen. "Oh yeah, Justin..I'm missing you so bad I'm thinking of going and jumping off that old bridge at the end of town.."
"Your sarcasm isn't making me feel any better," he told her before laughing. "I found out some more details about this award show...I'll take care of your dress, you just have to meet me in New York on the 2nd..don't worry your ticket is paid for."
"I've been thinking about this, Justin and I don't think its a good idea."
"Well that's too bad because I have to have a date and you're who I'm taking so you better start thinking its a good idea," he told her firmly. "That's the end of this topic..now on to more important things like...do you miss me?"
She groaned into the phone before opening the cabinet. "Justin..we knew each other two days..we slept together a few times..I'm not addicted to you."
"You mean to tell me that you don't miss my body on top or..under yours," he said as his voice lowered to where it became husky.
She froze dead in her tracks at hearing the way he was starting to talk. "What are you getting at here?"
"I just want to hear you say that you miss me."
"Ok..I miss you..there are you happy?"
"Atleast say it with some feeling in it," he told her.
"Fine Justin..I miss you so much..that better?"
"Ugh you're impossible, but trust me, you'll start missing me soon enough..and I say it will be tonight when you're laying in that bed."
"I don't understand why you're making such a big deal out of this," she said as she threw the bad in the trash. "You have Britney Spears to keep you company, I have no clue why you're making me be your date, or why you're calling me at this moment."
"Please don't mention her name," he said before sighing. "I don't think I want to be sick at this moment."
"Oh trouble in paradise baby," she asked him as she took a seat on the counter. "Tell me all about it."
"We're dating..she doesn't know what we did and we're gonna keep it that way."
"Hey fine by me..I wouldn't want to have to kick her fake ass for coming after me for seducing her boyfriend," she joked into the phone before turning serious. "If things are so bad, then why are you still with her?"
"I don't know to be truthful," he said before chuckling. "Lance wants me to ask you really quickly if Stephanie liked her kiss?"
Whitney started laughing as she remembered the look she had when she had told Whitney about Lance giving her a chocolate kiss. Whitney had thought it was funny as hell. "It was unique to her..lets put it that way."
Justin chuckled before sighing. "Listen, I'm going to go to bed now..we have to be up early in the morning and sleep is hard to come by. I'll talk to you soon...sweet dreams, Whitney."
"Same to you Justin..bye," she said before hanging up the phone and smiling slightly. After she had hung up the phone, she felt giddy. She needed to talk to someone but she knew that Emily definately wouldn't be in the mood to talk the way she wanted to. She wanted to gush like a school girl and remember the days of sitting in her friend's bedroom and talking about anything and everything, but she had to accept reality that things were different now.
She grabbed the phone and smiled when she heard her friend pick up. "Steph..are you busy right now?"
"No..honey, am I ever busy?" Stephanie said before chuckling lightly into the phone. "Let me guess, you're coming over. I'll fix us something to eat and we'll chat."
"Thank you, Steph," she said before hanging up the phone, grabbing her shoes, slipping them on and walking out the door. As she drove along the small streets, her eyes landed on Emily's house, and she naturally had a feeling of concern for her friend when she saw that Riley's truck was gone. She pulled into the driveway, and got out of the car as soon as she had pulled the key from the ignition. She knocked on the door, and waited. After no answer, she reached into the flowerpot on the steps and grabbed the spare key that she kept there incase something ever happened that they needed to get into the house.
She unlocked the door and walked through the house. "Em!" she called out as her eyes frantically searched for a sign of the girl. She walked to the bedroom and breathed a sigh of relief when she saw her laying on the bed, sleeping peacefully. She walked over to her and sat down gently on her bed. Her hand reached out and brushed the strands of hair off of her face before she felt a tear drip down onto her face. "Em..honey one day you're going to get out of this town," she whispered.
She grabbed a blanket off of a nearby chair and covered the girl's body up, before turning to leave. She had just closed and locked the door, when she heard Riley's truck pull up. She groaned as she watched him exit from the truck and walk towards her. "Hi, Riley," she said making her way towards her car.
"Hello, Whit...why, where's your play toy that I saw you with the other night?" he asked giving her a sickening grin.
"Listen to me, Riley, I'm not in the mood to put up with your shit so shut the hell up. Oh and one more thing..if you lay a hand on my friend one more time I swear to God that I will cut your balls off and feed them to that lazy dog over there," she said pointing to the next door neighbors mixed dog. "By the way, have a nice day," she said before getting in her car and backing out of the driveway.
She had a smile on her face as she pulled up to Stephanie's, which wasn't all that far away from Emily's. The door was thrown open before she reached the stairs, causing both girls to laugh. "Something happened," Stephanie said as she pulled Whitney towards the living room. "Now tell me!" she demanded.
Whitney shrugged. "Its nothing really, I just felt like getting together..."
"Thats bullshit now tell me the truth!"
Whitney smiled. "Justin called me.."
"Spill!" Stephanie said, crossing her legs on the couch and biting her lip to keep from commenting. The two of them sat there and had a conversation like they hadn't had in a while.
She chuckled as she looked at him. "Joey, I'm not that big and you're going to break me in half," she said, pinching his cheek before looking around at the other guys. "Its been a while since I've seen all of you..I'm hoping that you all have behaved."
"We always behave, Cait," JC said as he kissed her cheek quickly. "Where have you been girl? You've not been breathing down our necks alot..to be honest, I started to miss it."
"I missed you too, JC," she told him before clapping her hands to get their attention. "As you all know, you're heading to this new awards thing that is happening next month, and people are pushy, wanting to know who's bringing who and all that jazz," she said, grabbing her clip board off of the counter where she had placed it. "Who's taking who as a date is the first thing that I need to know."
"I'm going to bring Dani," Chris said from his place on the floor where he was playing a game against Lance.
"Lance..who are you bringing?"
"Umm..can I get back to you on that?" he asked her as he paused the game to look up at her with a sad gleam in his eyes.
"That's fine, sweetie," she said as she winked at him. "Who are you bringing Joey..and before you try and say two or three people, remember you can only bring ONE."
"Will you be my date?" he asked her as he dropped to his knees in front of her, causing everyone to groan.
"Be serious here, Joe, I don't have all day," she said snatching her hand away from him.
"I'm being serious, I don't have a date and I want you to come with me..besides you can make sure that we behave!"
"Fine!" she said writing her own name on the paper beside Joey.
"JC..who are you bringing?"
"I'm with Lance on having to get back to you because I don't know about that."
"What about Wendy?" she asked before feeling a blush come to her face as she heard the other guys groan. "Forget I asked," she said turning her attention to Justin. "And let me guess, Britney is going to be on your arm."
"You're wrong..I don't want something fake on my arm!" he said before rolling his eyes. "I have a date, her name is Whitney write it down, and you'll get to meet her."
"Is this a definate thing?"
"Have faith in me, Cait...I have a date, don't worry," Justin said before getting up and heading back towards the end of the bus.
"I thought he was in love with Britney?" she asked the four other guys, who in returned gave her confused looks. "I've been gone for a few weeks, and things change! I always miss the good stuff..anyways, JC and Lance as soon as you know who you're bringing, let me know..the last thing on the agenda is...you guys need to think of an agency that you haven't helped because we need to do something new."
"Should it be something well known, or something just getting started out?"Lance asked, taking a new found interest in the subject.
She shrugged. "It really doesn't matter, but I want you guys to decide on something as a group, not just something that one of you likes, I want you all to have feelings towards this,"she said before looking at her watch. "I have to head out of here now, I have a meeting to attend but I will catch up with you guys in two days and then I'll be here for a while, so enjoy the break..and Joey..if you find someone else that you want to go with, its ok with me," she said before patting his arm and waving goodbye to everyone.
They all watched as she left the bus, before turning to Joey. "What's up with this new found interest in Cait?" Chris asked as he moved from the floor to the couch.
He shrugged before grinning slyly. "If you haven't noticed man, she's hot," he said before turning and walking back to the back of the bus.
Lance started laughing as he walked into the kitchen. "The man won't change...but anyways, JC who are you going to take to this stupid awards thing?"
"Huh?" JC asked as Lance walked back into the main area.
"I asked you who you were wanting to take to this stupid awards show."
"Oh..I don't know really..I think I'm going to go take a nap," he said before standing up and leaving the room, as Chris and Lance watched with knowing looks on their faces. Anyone who had been in the room could see the pain spread on JC's face as he had heard Cait mention Wendy.
"I think we should take the liberty of arranging JC a date," Lance said as a plan formed in his mind.