“This is too much fun though, and I’m enjoying myself.” Justin’s tongue escaped his mouth, as
Skeeto laughed once again.
“Mike, I can’t do this anymore today, what do you say we call it quits.”
Mike just waved his hand at her, and she sat down on the stage, her feet swinging over the edge.
She looked out at Justin, who locked her gaze with his.
“Now how would you like it if I sat there and tried to make you, make a fool out of yourself while
you were practicing.” Skeeto threw her sweaty towel at him, which he caught before answering
her.
“I think I’d enjoy it quite nicely, but thanks for asking.”
“Oh you are such a liar.” She jumped down into the pit, leaning over the fence to get a closer look
at him. The moment became more intense as they stared into each other eyes. Skeeto begin
swimming in the same ocean of comfort, and she wondered how she survived being apart from
this for so long.
“My, what do we have here?” Veronica’s shill voice broke the everlasting moment.
“Ugh, what do you want?” Skeeto sounded harsh, but for now she didn’t care.
“I just wanted to steal Justin away for a few minutes, and seeing that you aren’t busy, I figure you
won’t mind.” Veronica grabbed his arm, and carefully but surely dragged him away from Skeeto.
Justin didn’t try pulling away, for he feared what she would do to him. He let his head hang in
shame, as he thought of the hurt look on Skeeto’s face as he was dragged away. He pleaded that
someone would distract Veronica so he could get away from her. He loathed being in her grasp,
and couldn’t understand how he ever thought he liked her. As he roamed deeper into thought, he
stopped paying attention to where he was being led to, that is until he ran smack into the back of
Veronica’s head.
“Ouch, why are we stopping?” Justin rubbed his nose, as he looked over the top of her head.
“Shh, be quiet.” Veronica pulled him closer to the wall, as Sugar stepped out from behind the
corner.
Justin watched Sugar with great interest, hoping that staring at her hard enough would get her
attention. Actually, it didn’t take long, Sugar turned around, and stopped the two figures hidden
by the shadows.
“Why hello there.” Her voice pierced through the darkness towards Veronicas ears, and Justin say
her eyes close with hate.
“Hi Sugar, we were just about to leave.” Veronica tried pulling Justin away from Sugar, but she
reached out to grab his hand.
“Hold on a second, where do you think you’re going Justin, if I’m not mistaken, you are supposed
to be with Skeeto at his very moment.” Sugar blocked Veronica’s path.
“He was, but he promised he’d help me with something.” Veronica avoided eye contact at all
costs, but Justin stared at Sugar with pleading eyes, and Sugar knew exactly that Justin had no
interest with being near the girl that held him in her grasp.
“Veronica, why don’t I come help you instead, I think Justin has things to do.” Sugar placed a
small hand on Justin’s arm where Veronica held him so tightly.
“Fine.” Veronica let go of Justin’s arm, and stormed off in the opposite direction. Sugar grinned
at Justin, and followed Veronica down the dark hallway.
Justin watched the girls fade into the shadows, and he rubbed the red spot appearing on his arm.
He shook his head, turning around, hoping to find Skeeto still sitting on the stage.
“This is stupid, I don’t know what made me think that I could ever get him back. He’s gone, and
for good this time.” Skeeto angrily swiped at the tears that were beginning to roll down her
cheeks. Skittles stood off to the side of the stage, watching Skeeto suffer. She felt so bad for her
young friend, but no matter how much she wanted to reach out and help her, she knew that
Skeeto had to deal with this one on her own.
“Why is Skeet crying?” Chris’ arms encircled her waist, pulling her into his strong embrace.
“Take a wild guess.”
“I’m gonna guess this has to do with the fact that I just saw Justin being dragged down the hall by
Miss V.”
“Wow, you guess right. Aren’t you the smart one today.” Skittles playfully pinched his cheek, but
their attention was changed, when Skeeto sniffled loudly. “It breaks my heart to see her like this.
Something has to be done.”
“What can we do?”
“We have to find out how Justin feels about Veronica, and how he feels about Skeeto. Only then
can we decide whether or not, its worth our time and Skeet’s emotions. I don’t want her with
Justin, if he’s only going to hurt her.”
“I’ll talk to him.” Chris kissed Skittles softly, leaving her with her thoughts. He strolled slowly
through the dark corridors, looking for any signs of life. People were buzzing around him, but the
couldn’t find the one he wanted to find. Just then out of the corner of his eye, he spotted a tint of
a blond curly head.
“Justin?” Chris tapped him on the shoulder.
“Yeah.” Justin didn’t turn around, he feared that Chris would notice he had been crying.
“Justin, what’s wrong?” Chris knew his young friend all to well, he knew something was up.
“Why can’t I just get something right with her? She came back to me, wanting to get our
relationship back together, but I screwed it up.”
“Justin, I really don’t think it was your fault this time.” Chris kneeled down next to Justin.
“I could have done more, I didn’t have to let Veronica drag me away. If it hadn’t been for Sugar,
I would be been in a position I couldn’t get myself out of.”
“She’s hurting just as much as you are, if you take the time to lean on each other, you can get
through this.”
“She won’t look at me with that same emotion in her eyes, the sparkle is gone Chris, the sparkle
and spunk I love so much, its all gone.” Justin choked back a quiet sob, as Chris tried to think of
a way to help his two younger friends. A light bulb went on inside his head, but he couldn’t tell
Justin, at least not yet.
“JJ, you’re just gonna have to keep your cool, you’ll get through this, and things will be back to
normal before you know it.” Chris stood quickly, leaving Justin to think about his words of
wisdom.
“Skittles baby, I have to tell you something.” Chris flopped down on the couch in the dressing
room, next to his girlfriend.
“What would you like to tell me, handsome.” Skittles set her magazine down next to her, as she
looked up into Chris’ big brown eyes.
“I have the perfect way to get Skeeto and Justin back together, and for good this time.”
Skittles, now completely interested leaned forward, her elbows on his knees. “Well, are you
going to tell me?”
“The key is, they need to be totally alone, and the only way they can do that, is get away from us.
Well the tour ends in a month, and if they haven’t killed each other by then, we need to get them
into a situation where they will be alone, together, with nothing but each other to keep themselves
company. It’s got to be something very romantic, and when Justin gets in a situation like that,
he’s bound to make all the right moves.”
“For once Chris, I think you’ve come up with a brilliant idea. Are we gonna tell Justin?”
“Yep, Skeeto won’t go willingly if she knows about it, but Justin can plan ahead if he
knows.”
“Let’s get the others in on this first, then work on Justin.”
“Exactly what I was thinking.” Chris grabbed Skittles hands, and pulled her closer to him, he
leaned down and started kissing her neck, making her giggle and squirm under his touch.
