Justin stumbled, falling against the wall with a thud. He grunted from the force of his back hitting the wall, before sliding down slowly until he was sitting comfortably on the floor. He looked around the room for a moment before sighing in frustration. Why did this seem to be getting harder instead of easier?
Crossing his arms over his chest angrily, he stared at his pants that were laying on the floor beside him. For some reason, they just didn't feel like being worn today and were giving him a hard time. He had already fallen on the bed, fallen on the floor and stubbed a toe in his feeble attempts to dress himself.
Now here he sat on the floor, as the pants at his side seemed to be laughing at him. Seriously. They were laughing at him. He could see them pointing and laughing, if pants could point and laugh, that is.
He had gotten pretty good at dressing himself over the last couple weeks, even if it wasn't the easiest thing to do with a cast on your leg. There was still the odd time here and there where he would have trouble and have to get someone to help him. It looked like this was going to be one of those times.
"Joey!" Justin yell from his place on the floor. He waited silently for a moment before yelling again. "JOEY!"
As the minutes passed, Justin groaned and decided to give it another shot on his own. Picking up the pants, he reached as far as he could down to his feet, to slide his good leg into the leg of his pants. He pulled them up a little way before reaching down to try and slide the pants over his cast. He got them over his foot, before they got stuck around the bulk of the cast and wouldn't budge. Now he was stuck with this feet in his pants, as he sat on his floor in his boxers.
Squirming around on the floor for a better angle to adjust the pants, his broken leg shot out to the side and went under his bed. "Damn it." he whined as he pulled his leg back out. But there was one problem. It wouldn't budge. His leg was now stuck under his bed, and no matter how hard he pulled, it wouldn't move.
He kicked his good leg around, as the pant legs flailed around wildly. Flipping himself over onto his side, he pulled again to no avail. How did he get himself in this mess? He was a grown man and couldn't even dress himself. Twisting around to lay on his stomach as his broken leg stayed in place under the bed, Justin dropped his head onto the floor.
"Joey!" he screamed. "Joey, Joey, Joey, Joey, Joey!"
The door to his room burst open, as an annoyed voice answered his calls. "What!"
Justins eyes shot open from his place on the floor. That was not Joeys voice.
"What, Justin!" Lois looked around the room confused. "Justin? Where are you."
There was no answer for a long while. Lois looked back into the hall thinking that maybe he was in another room.
"Down here." a quiet voice called from the other side of the bed.
Lois furrowed her brow in confusion as she crossed the bed to find Justin laying on the floor, his pants around his ankles and his leg stuck under the bed. She looked him over repeatedly before covering her mouth to stifle her laughter. Only Justin could go to get dressed, and end up getting stuck under a bed.
"Shut up, Lois" Justin cried miserably from the floor. His face was buried in his arms, his voice muffled into the floor.
"I didn't say anything." she smiled.
"No, but you were going to." he commented as he lifted his head to look at her.
"Um, Justin?" she questioned as she looked him over again. "What the hell are you trying to do?"
"Get my pants on!" he whined. "I tired to get them over my feet, and fell against the wall. Then I slid down here, and tried again. I got them over my feet, but when I moved to pull them up my freaking cast got stuck under the bed and I cant get it out! Now I'm half naked, and stuck under a bed!" He was talking so fast that Lois had to fight not to laugh at him. "Where's Joey?" he asked.
"In the bathroom." she smiled down at him.
Justin sighed unhappily as his bottom lip stuck out in a pout. He looked at the floor for a moment before turning his eyes to her. She was smiling so wide that he knew she was just bursting to laugh at him.
"Okay, I'm gonna use one of my coupons now!" he said, pulling himself up into a sitting position. "There is a No-Making-Fun-of-Justin-for-Something-Stupid coupon in that book, right?"
"Yeah."
"Then I wanna use it. You cannot under any circumstances laugh or make fun of me for this! Ever!" he warned, pointing at her. "Do you understand me!"
Lois hated the fact that she had put that coupon in there. This was prime material to tease Justin for years to come, and she couldn't do anything because of some stupid coupon she had drawn up one night out of boredom. Damn it.
"Fine." she agree. Taking a few deep breaths to calm her laughter, she looked back down at his pathetic form.
"Okay, here." Leaning down, Lois carefully lifted the corner of the bed and Justin slid his leg out from underneath. His pants were still around his ankles, the empty legs sliding along the floor as Justin scooted away from the bed.
"Now," Lois turned to look him over. "First of all, start with something easy. Like putting a shirt on. As much as I admire your physique, it is not something I care to witness right now." Tossing Justin the shirt that he had laid out on his bed, she waited for him to slip it over his head. "Next, lets get these pants on you." Kneeling down beside him, Lois adjusted the pant legs which had gotten twisted in Justins struggles. She smiled up at his happy face boxers.
"Not a word, Lois." Justin warned as he followed her gaze.
Coughing lightly to herself, Lois untwisted his pant legs and slowly slid them up his legs. It was lucky that Justin wore oversized pants, because of they were his actual size there would be no way that they would fit over the cast. For once, Lois didn't give him grief about dressing like a hoodlum.
Stopping at the base of his boxers, Lois let Justin pull them the rest of the way up and do up the buttons himself. When he was finally dressed, he fell back against the floor tiredly. Lois sat back on the floor and watched him closely.
He had come a long way since coming home. He was very determined to do everything himself, rarely asking for help. He went about his daily routine as usual, but still encountered some problems from time to time. Lois was glad that he had asked for help just now. She was concerned that he would try to fix things himself and just end up hurting himself more.
"Lois." Justin whispered quietly from his spot on the floor as he stared up at the ceiling above him.
"Yeah."
He was silent for a moment before smiling weakly. "Thanks."
A smile inadvertently came to her face, as she looked down at him. "Anytime."
Justin had whined repeatedly over the last hour, asking Lois over and over why he had to get dressed. He was much more comfortable in his hospital pants, and now his jeans were giving him a wedgie.
"If you don't shut up, I'm going to ram your underwear so far up your ass....." she was cut off by Justin raising his hand at her.
"Hey, I thought I used a certain coupon a moment ago." he teased with a shake of his finger.
"That was the No-Making-Fun-of-Justin-for-Something-Stupid coupon. Not the No-Bitching-at-Justin-for-Being-a-Pain-in-the-Ass coupon. There is a difference." she pointed as she looked back at the TV across the living room.
Justin sat back at he pouted. He hadn't gone through that coupon book since she had given it to him, and began to wonder what else was in there that he could use to torture her.
They sat in silence until Joey came bouncing into the room. "Hey, who wants popcorn?"
"Me, me, me!" Justin bounced excitedly in his seat as he waved his arm over his head.
Filling a small bowl, Joey passed Justin his popcorn. He smiled happily down at it before shoving a handful in his mouth.
Lois rolled her eyes at him. "Justin, didn't your Mama ever teach you not to put more food in your mouth than you could chew at one time?"
"Yeah, but I have an extraordinarily large mouth." he nodded as he tossed a kernel at her.
"Don't you two start throwing food at each other again!" Joey warned. "It took me forever to pick up all those noodles from lunch."
The three friends sat quietly and watched a movie for a long while, until the sound of the doorbell caught their attention.
"Oh, someone wants to see me!" Justin said happily.
"Not likely, Justin." Lois teased as she stood to answer the door.
Justin tossed a kernel at her, and laughed when it fell down the front of her shirt. "Damn it, boy!" she yelled as she drug around in her shirt to find the kernel. Justin laughed even harder when she had to shove her entire arm down to retrieve the tiny intruder.
Throwing the kernel back at him, she laughed when it hit him in the forehead. Before he could throw it back at her, she ran over to the door.
Looking through the peep hole, she grinned when she noticed Ryan and Doc standing on the porch. She quietly opened the door and snuck outside to greet them.
"Hey!" she exclaimed as she gently shut the door behind her.
"Hey, you!" Doc smiled as he hugged Lois. "Long time no see."
"How are you?"
"Good. Bored out of my mind now that Justins gone, but okay I guess." Leaning towards Lois, Doc lowered his voice. "Ill tell ya, I'm sick of hanging out with all these sick old people. They're cramping my style."
Lois and Ryan laughed at him as he smiled at them. God, they had missed this old fart.
"Justins inside watching TV." Lois stated as she turned to Ryan. "You should have seen the spectacle he made trying to dress himself." Lois rolled her eyes at the memory.
"I can imagine." Ryan smiled. "Did he get stuck in his pants again?"
"Yup. And his foot wedged under the bed."
Ryan laughed at the thought before trying to think of a way to surprise Justin.
"So, how do you want to surprise him?" Lois asked.
"I don't know. Any ideas?" she asked, looking through the window at the side of the door.
"Oh! I got one!" Doc spoke up. "The day Justin left, he joked to me that one day he would come out to get the paper, and find me sitting on his porch. Why don't you send him out here to get the paper, and Ill be sitting here and cute and stuff." He smiled proudly at the idea.
The girls looked at each other before nodding in approval. "Sounds good to me." Lois said.
Leaving Doc out on the porch, Ryan and Lois headed into the house.
"Hey girl!" Justin yelled happily as he noticed Ryan heading towards him.
Leaning down to kiss him hello, Ryan sat on the arm of his chair. "How are you feeling?"
"Good. I got dressed all by myself today." he lied.
Shooting Lois a confused look, Ryan grinned. "Good for you."
Lois shook her head at him before sitting down beside Joey. Leaving Joey and Justin alone with popcorn was not a good idea. They had obviously gotten into a fight, because kernels were all over the couch and floor around them.
"Oh, shoot." Lois spoke up, snapping her fingers disappointedly. "I forgot to get the paper. Justin, would you go out and get it for me?"
Justin looked at her confused. "What? Why me? I'm the gimp, remember?"
"Because, you need your exercise. Now, please." she urged.
Looking between Ryan and Lois uncertainly, Justin finally pushed himself out of the chair and hobbled over to the door.
Turning to send one last confused look back into the living room, he became even more baffled when he noticed Lois, Joey and Ryan all watching him intently.
"What's going on?" he questioned, staggering around on his crutches.
"Nothing." Ryan lied. "Just get the paper."
Justin gave her a questioning look to which she simply smiled sweetly at him.
Shrugging off their bizarre behavior, Justin faced the door and pulled it open.
There on his step was Doc, smiling happily up at Justin.
Justins eyes went wide as he stared at the old man. Turning to look back into the living room, Joey, Lois and Ryan were all smiling back at him excitedly.
"Hiya, Justin." Doc sang happily.
"Um, hey Doc." Justin said. "What are you doing here?"
"Well, you said that you figured you would come out to get your paper one morning and find me sittin' on your step." Doc nodded affirmatively as he described their earlier conversation. "So here I am."
As the memory of that day hit Justin, he smiled. Laughing out loud, he leaned down and hugged Doc.
"Ryan picked me up for a day of Doc fun." Doc said as he followed Justin back into the house. Looking around the massive foyer, Doc whistled to himself. "Wow, kid. You got one nice house here."
"Thanks Doc. But its my moms. I'm stayin' with her until I'm all fixed up, remember?"
Doc nodded as he followed Justin into the living room.
Leaning down, Justin hugged Ryan appreciatively. "How did you do this without me knowing?" he asked as he smiled at her.
"Easy. With a little help from Lois."
Justin turned to shoot Lois a look, only to find her smiling sweetly at him. "That's right, I'm bad." she grinned.
"So," Ryan rubbed her hands together excitedly. "You boys ready for a day of fun?"
"You bet your dentures I am!" Doc clapped. Turning to Joey and Lois, he smiled. "Are you two coming with us?"
"Sure." Lois smiled. "My life hasn't been complete since I haven't been seein' you everyday." she flirted.
"Dude," Joey whispered, nudging Lois in the side with his elbow. "Quit hittin' on the old guy in front of me!"
Lois rolled her eyes at him before standing to link her arm with Docs. "Ready to go?"
"After you, my dear." he gestured with his hand and led the way to the door, as Ryan and Joey followed behind.
Justin hobbled behind, smiling down at the floor. Turning to notice him trailing, Ryan stepped up beside him. "You okay?"
"Yeah." he nodded as he lifted his eyes to hers. Stopping, he leaned down and kissed her gently. "Thanks."
"For what?" she asked.
"For always knowing what I need even before I know I need it."
