Lois groaned in agony. The pounding was unbearable, and she wasn't sure if she was going to be able to handle it much longer.
If it didn't stop soon, she was going to kill someone! Probably herself for being so stupid, but hey, if Justin was around, he would do, too.
Justin peaked his head inside the front door, looking around cautiously.
"Anyone home?" he called loudly.
Lois groaned louder, fighting with everything in her not to jump up and strangle him. Of course, she knew the action of jumping up to strangle him would only make the pounding worse, but at least he would be strangled. There was an upside to everything.
"Justin," she whispered as loudly as she could without causing more pain. "Shut the fuck up."
"What?" he yelled to her as he entered, closing the door behind him.
"Ugh!" she screamed. "I said shut the fuck up?"
Justin grinned. "Feeling a little pain this morning, Lolo?" he teased. "Huh, I wonder why?" Justin fained thought as he sat beside her on the couch, where she lay huddled in a ball under a blanket, her eyes closed painfully.
"You are the devil." she replied. "And if you weren't already the creator of hell, I would say you are going there pretty damn fast."
Justin tired not to laugh.
He knew it wasn't a good idea to bug Lois when she was hung over, but he wasn't exactly the sharpest pencil in the box. He loved to bug her at any time, so this was no exception. If anything, this just gave him more ammunition.
But then again, he understood why she had gone out and gotten drunk last night. He had seen the look on her face when Joey had walked in with Rae on his arm. The way her breath would catch in her throat every time Joey would lean over and whisper something in Raes ear. Everything thought she was thinking was almost readable to him, and none of them were happy thoughts.
Leaning his back against the couch, Justin sighed. "Okay, Lois, Ill go easy on ya." he said, patting her leg. "Anything I can get you? Aspirin? The Justin Timberlake cure for the common hangover?"
Lois looked up at him, surprised. "What?"
Justin laughed. "Don't look so shocked." he smiled. "I can be nice sometimes, you know."
"How did you know I was hung over?" she asked, her eyes narrowing.
Justin looked at her funny. "Um, I was here when the cab brought you home last night." he said. "I helped you up the stairs. Lauren got you changed and into bed." Justin narrowed his eyes at her. "You don't remember anything, do you?"
Lois groaned again. "No." she said, rubbing her eyes. "That's why I don't get drunk. I never remember anything. I could have come up with the cure for cancer last night, and today I wouldn't remember where my underwear were."
Justin raised an eyebrow at her. What the fuck did her underwear have to do with the cure for cancer? Shrugging, he dismissed it. He didn't expect her to make sense right now, anyway.
Lois scooted farther down on the couch, laying her legs across Justin's lap. She didn't much care that he didn't appreciate having her sprawled across him. All she wanted was quiet and comfort.
The phone screeched above her, and she groaned loudly.
Guess she wasn't going to be getting that quiet and comfort anytime soon.
Justin reached over her and answered the phone. "Hello?"
Lois smiled. That was the first time in a very, very long time he had answered the phone like a normal person. It was usually the Justin Timberlake answering service.
"Hey, Justin." Crystals voice called back through the line. "How's Lois feeling?"
Justin smiled. "How did you know she was hung over?"
"Lauren." Crystal laughed. "Plus she called in sick today. So I figured that last night didn't go too well, and she got herself a little drunkies."
Justin laughed, and Lois hit him for making noise.
"She's okay." he said. "She just hit me, so I know she's going to be just fine."
"Good." Crystal sighed. "So, I guess last night didn't go too great?"
"I thought Lauren would have told you everything." Justin smiled.
"Yeah, she did." Crystal replied. "We were on LD for hours today PMing each other about last night. The last thing we figured we needed was for the whole board to know about this."
Justin nodded, as if Crystal could actually see him through the phone.
"Well, I just wanted to see if she was okay." Crystal sighed. "Tell her Ill see her tomorrow."
"Okay. Talk to you later." Justin said.
Justin hung up the phone, and looked back down at Lois.
She was hiding underneath the small couch pillow, just as she had been doing the night before.
The phone rang again, and Lois jumped, clutching her head.
Before Justin had the chance to answer, she grabbed the receiver.
"If this is not Shane West calling to tell me he wants me to be his love slave, then you have the wrong number. Leave a message after the beep. Beep." With that, she threw the phone at Justin, laying back down in her spot on the couch, covering her face with the pillow again.
Justin fought the urge to laugh as he picked up the phone. "Hello?" he laughed into the receiver.
He immediately recognized Joeys laughter on the other end of the line.
"Hey man." he said. "She not having a good day?"
Justin smiled. "Nope. She's not feeling all that great."
"Huh." Joey sighed. "Let me talk to her for a minute."
Justin pulled the phone from his ear, and tapped it on Lois' leg. "Lolo, its for you."
"The number you are calling is not in service. Please hang up, and try your call again. This is a recording." she said in a very bad operator voice.
Justin laughed, before pushing her legs off of him so he could get up and go into the kitchen. Huffing, she rolled over onto her side, and laid the phone on her face. "Huh?" he grunted into the phone.
"Hey, girl." Joey laughed. "You not feeling good?"
"Actually, I feel wonderful." she said sarcastically. "I always groan and whine like this when I'm feeling great."
"Ill keep that in mind." he said suggestively.
Lois smiled. God she hated how he could make her do that.
"I just wanted to call and make sure you are still coming over tonight." Joey said. "I'm still at the studio right now, cause they are redoing some of my tracks. Justin skipped out early, the shit head."
Lois grunted in response.
"So, I wanted to make sure you are still coming. You still coming?"
"Uh-huh." she replied.
"Okay. I should be done here in about an hour. So why don't you come over around five thirty. We'll order and pizza or whatever. Sound good?"
"Uh-huh." she grunted again.
Joey laughed. "And please, try and wake up a little more before you come over."
"Uh-huh."
Joey rolled his eyes, and sighed. "Okay. If all is good, and you agree, say uh-huh."
"Uh-huh."
"Good." he laughed. "Ill see you at five thirty."
"Mmkay." she replied.
Clicking the phone off, she threw it on the floor and covered her face with the blanket.
"Light is bad." she called from underneath her blanket. "Light is very, very bad."
Justin chuckled as he returned to the living room. "You still going to Joeys?"
"Uh-huh." She rolled her eyes at herself. God, she wasn't even able to make a full sentence. This was the last time she was ever going to drink.
Justin nodded as he sat back down in his spot. Lifting Lois' legs, he sat beneath them and replaced them on his lap. "So," he whispered. "Why did you want to go over there?"
Lois removed the blanket from her head, and looked at him strangely. "What do you mean?"
"Well, last night, you kinda yelled out to him. Almost like you were going to tell him--"
"Tell him how I feel?" she finished his sentence for him.
Justin looked down to the glass of Pepsi in his hand. "Yeah."
Lois laid her head back down, and sighed.
She didn't remember much about the night before. She remembered most of dinner. And the car ride back to the apartment. She remembered something to do with a Friends episode, but she wasn't sure if that was real or just a dream.
But she did know what she had been thinking when she had called out to Joey that night.
Over and over in her mind, she had been telling herself to tell him. Before she had the chance to stop, she had called out to him. Looking around, she realized that this was not the time or place to do it, and made up some excuse that they should get together.
She knew she had to tell him. And by the way things had been looking between he and Rae last night, she knew she better do it soon before it really was too late.
But did she have the courage to do it yet? She thought back to Brians words. Courage is not the absence of fear, but the judgment that something is more important than fear.
Pursing her lips, she sighed again.
Joey was more important than her fear.
"So?" Justin said, snapped her back from her thoughts.
"So, what?"
"So, what are you going to do?" he asked, leaning forward to look at her.
Turning to face him, Lois draped an arm over her side.
"The only thing I can do." she said with a sigh.
Lois paced around Joeys living room uncomfortably. God, if she was this nervous now, she didn't know if she was going to be able to tell him the truth or not.
She had been thinking a million things in the last few minutes, and all that thinking had made her have to pee. Three times.
She hated how she always had to pee whenever she thought too much.
Joey still wasn't home from the studio, and called Lois to let her know he may be a little late. He told her to just go ahead over to his place and let herself in. She had a key, so it wasn't a big deal. he said he would bring a pizza home with him, and a few movies so they could have a movie night. They hadn't had much time together in the last few weeks, and thought it would be nice to just sit and hang out like they used to.
She had spent most of the morning and early afternoon laying on the couch, ordering Justin to get her Gravol, Aspirin and water. Thankfully, he had done it without too much complaining.
Lauren had gotten home from her job at a local law firm, where she was working as an assistant to gain more experience, around three. She didn't say much about the night before, or Lois' behavior by going out to the bar.
She understood how hard this was, and wasn't about to reprimand her. She didn't know how she would handle things if she were in this situation, so wasn't about to judge.
Lauren had a feeling that Lois may tell Joey the truth tonight, but didn't bring it up. If Lois wanted to talk about it, she would.
As Lois was leaving, Lauren hugged her. She looked her in the eye, smiled, and sighed.
She didn't say a word.
Lois appreciated her support, but that only made her more fucking nervous.
Sitting on the couch, she began to bounce her leg nervously.
Just when she thought she was going to jump out of her skin, the door clicked open.
Jumping up at the sound, she rushed to the front door to find Joey struggling inside with a bag of movies and a pizza. "Oh, don't help me." he said sarcastically. "I'm trying to get that slipped disc I always wanted."
Lois rolled her eyes at him, and took the pizza from his hands. "Smart ass."
Joey grinned as he kicked the door closed behind him. "You been waiting long?"
"Nope. Just a little while." she said, following him into the kitchen.
"So, you tired?" Joey asked, grinning as he set the bag of movies on the counter..
"A little." she replied as she placed the pizza beside the bag.
"Huh. Yeah, Justin said you had a long night." he teased.
She gave him a dirty look. "Don't start. You don't look so shit hot yourself."
"Yeah, but I have a good excuse." he said as he began to pull plates from the cupboard.
"And what's that?"
"I was out late. Rae and I went for a drive, and I didn't get home until about two in the morning." he explained.
Luckily, his back was to Lois, so he didn't see the look on her face at his statement. Her smile dropped, and her shoulders slumped.
As he turned around, she quickly regained her composure.
"Ugh, I didn't even get a chance to check my messages yet. My mom was supposed to call with the details on my dads birthday party." Setting the plates on the counter, Joey turned towards the hall. "Hang on a minute so I can see if I have any messages."
Lois furrowed her forehead at his words. Why did she get an uneasy feeling when he said that?
Following him into the hall, she watched as he picked up the receiver to his phone and placed it to his ear. Pushing a series of buttons, his messages began to sound out.
"Yup, I got some." he smiled. "Wow, four! I rule!"
Lois grinned, as her stomach flipped again. What the fuck? Did she eat something bad today? Why was she feeling so strange?
"Mom called." Joey said as he walked towards the kitchen, the portable phone still calling out his messages. "Hey, Lois, there's one from you!" he smiled at her.
"Oh God." she said, her eyes opening wide.
Her message! Her fucking message! She left him a message last night. She was drunk. Something to do with Friends. Oh God, what did she do?
"Joey, wait." she said, rushing after him and into the kitchen.
She noticed his expression change from one of happiness to one of confusion as her words sounded in his ear.
"Joey give me the phone!" she yelled as she reached up to grab it. He pulled away, smacking her hand.
Panicking, she jumped on him, wrapping her arm around his neck and pulling the phone from his ear. Throwing it across the kitchen, she froze, hanging from his back.
He didn't move. Not to push her off. Not to make her face him. Nothing.
She knew he heard everything.
