Ryan took her time walking down the long corridor at WEG on her way to the office that she and Lois had taken over for the last week and a half. Knowing Lois, she would be sitting on the floor, looking through pictures, having a little hissy fit. Either that or making out with Joey on the desk.
Casually strolling down the hall, Ryans eyes fell to the floor as she walked.
She couldn't get the events of the night before out of her mind. Justins angry words, the way he yelled at her, and the way he took out his frustration out on her had been plaguing her since last night.
She had waited around his house for about an hour or more after he had stormed out. By ten o'clock, he still wasn't home. Ryan figured it would be better if she wasn't there when he returned, so she decided to head home.
She hadn't slept at all that night. She tossed and turned, trying to figure out a way to fix everything that had happened. She didn't regret confronting Justin about his problem, but the fact that her confrontation had put a wall between them hurt her. He was already holding things back from her, and now it seemed like he would do so even more.
Ryan was concerned about Justin when she got out of bed that morning, wondering if he had infact returned home. She knew that if she called, they would probably end up in another fight, so she opted for the more subtle routine. She called JC and had him call Justin, pretending to see if he wanted a ride to WEG that day. It had worked out well, and JC called Ryan back within fifteen minutes to tell her that Justin was indeed home. JC said he sounded tired and more irritable than normal, but dismissed it as fatigue.
She knew she had to do something about their fight before too long, or Justin would just stay mad. He was the kind of man who would think about things, overanalyze them to death, and end up making himself more angry than when he had started. Most people would think things over and calm down. But Justin wasn't most people.
Stepping up to the door of Lois' temporary office, Ryan paused with her hand on the knob. She could hear Lois yelling inside the room, and by the sounds her voice was making, she wasn't too happy.
"I know I usually have the wardrobe worked out by now, but I told you! The guys want this time to be spectacular, so I'm putting more thought into it!" she yelled. There was a long pause before she continued. "Well, if you think its so easy, why don't you get your skinny, pencil-pushing ass down here and give it a try!" Another moment of silence. "Thats what I thought! You know what? Im tired of talking to you now. I will take my sweet ass time coming up with the wardrobe, because I am Lois. Spread THAT on your toast, pen gripper!" she yelled before slamming the phone back on its stand.
Ryan could still hear her mumbling away angrily to herself, and waited for a moment before walking in.
"Com'on in Ryan, I know you're out there." Lois called from inside.
Ryan smiled slightly. Lois always knew when someone was lurking around, which was why the guys still hadn't been able to sneak up on her yet.
Pushing the door open, Ryan slid inside the room cautiously before closing it behind her.
Lois sat at the small desk, papers scattered around her as she clutched her head in pain.
"I hate pushy people! Todd just called me asking where the drafts for the wardrobe were. I told him I wasn't finished, to which he proceeded to reprimand me for taking longer than he felt I should. I assured him that I was a professional and would have the drafts completed by the deadline, but he still felt it necessary to babble on and insinuate that I couldn't do my job or something. Jackass."
Up until the jackass comment, Ryan had been shocked at the way Lois was wording her current situation. She was not known for being overly eloquent, especially when she was angry to flustered.
Lois noticed Ryans shocked gaze, and smiled.
"I've been trying to talk better lately because I saw this book the other day at Walgreens called "Someday I'll Talk Pretty" and I was like HELL YEAH I wanna talk pretty. So Ive been trying."
Ryan laughed. Only Lois would say something like that, or actually buy a book about talking pretty.
Sitting in a plush chair in front of the desk, Ryan slouched down in a pout. She began to fidget with her shirt, giving Lois the impression that something was wrong.
"What's up?" she asked, leaning on the desk in front of her.
"Justin" Ryan replied quietly, her eyes still focused on the shirt in her hands.
An evil grin came to Lois' face. "That's not a bad thing, honey." she teased.
Ryans eyes shot up to meet Lois', as she stared at her in shock. Lois simply smiled wider at her sexual innuendo.
"Seriously, Lois." Ryan corrected as she returned her eyes to her shirt. "I confronted him about everything last night."
Ryan had Lois' full attention now. Standing up from her desk, Lois crossed the room and took the seat beside Ryan, positioning herself to face the younger girl.
"I told him that I knew he was having pain and lying about it. That he was pushing himself too hard, not eating or sleeping, and lying to us all when we ask if he's okay. He got really mad, yelled and screamed at me and took off."
"How long was he gone?" Lois asked, concerned.
"I don't know. I left after an hour or so, but I had JC call him this morning, and he said that he did go home last night after I left." Ryan looked up at her friend, fighting to hold back the tears pushing at her eyes.
Lois dropped her head as she thought of Justin. She had a feeling that he would react this way, but she also hoped he would be more mature about this and prove her wrong.
So much for the benefit of the doubt.
"What do I do?" Ryan asked sadly, as her lip quivered. "I mean, he's really mad. He even swore at me, and he NEVER does that! I don't know how to fix this, Lois. And I'm afraid that he's going to push himself even harder in some fucked up way to prove me wrong and show us all that he is okay."
Lois rubbed her already aching forehead before sighing loudly.
"You have to help me think of something" Ryan pleaded.
"Look, Ry. I'm Lois. I'm supposed to just sit here and look pretty while batting my eyelashes and coming up with witty things to say. I'm not supposed to have to think. That's not in the contract." Lois said as she rubbed her forehead harder.
"Please, Lois. You and Justin have this odd little connection with each other, and if anyone would know how to get through to him, its you." Ryan turned her body to face Lois, her sad eyes pleading with her. "Please, Lois. Tell me what to do."
Sighing loudly, Lois shook her head. "Okay." she agreed reluctantly. "Ill try. But I'm warning you," Lois said as she pointed at Ryan. "I'm about as creative as a dung beetle, so I'm not promising anything that will actually work."
Ryan smiled for the first time that morning.
Lois was too modest for her own good. She was amazingly creative, coming up with some of the best pranks known to man. The guys still talk about the time she locked Justin on the roof of their hotel Cleveland in his underwear.
Reaching over to hug Lois, Ryan sighed with relief. "Anything is better than him being mad."
Justin felt as if he was going to pass out. The pain in his chest was intensifying by the second, his breath catching in his throat.
He pushed himself to carry on, trying not to let it show to the other guys that he was struggling. They had already stopped three times that morning, saying that they needed a break. But Justin knew better. He knew they were slacking off because of him. And he was determined to prove to them that he would handle this. On his own.
Wade stopped the music again, turning to look at the five young men panting for breath in front of him. "That was great. Very, very nice." he complimented. "Looks like you got that one down. I'll give you guys a ten minute break and then we'll start on the next song, okay?"
Everyone nodded enthusiastically before falling to the floor in their various spots throughout the room. Wade left the huge dance studio in search of more water, while the others breathed heavily in exhaustion.
Justin, however, continued to work. Slowly sliding through the steps be had just perfected, focusing on the spots that had given is leg trouble. If he mastered them well enough, maybe he would be able to forget the pain in his leg and just ease through it without thinking.
Flopping down to lay on the floor, his arms and legs sprawled in every direction, Chris whined. "I'm gettin' too old for this, man." he said as Joey leaned back on his elbows across from him. "I think I need Medicare or something to make it through this tour. Maybe one of those little buttons you push and the abulance comes to your rescue"
Joey laughed at his crazy friend before turning his attention to Justin, who was still dancing in front of the mirror by himself. "Looks like J is still at it." Joey nodded his head towards the curly haired man across the room.
Chris looked over at Justin, concern crossing his features immediately.
He hadn't been able to tell Ryan about Justin being sick the day before, yet. He had tried calling her the night before, but she wasn't home. He figured that she was probably at Justins, and Chris didn't want to call her there to discuss this. Justin would have a fit.
He hadn't seen her yet that morning, but was planning on finding her at lunch to see if she wanted to take a walk so he could tell her what he knew. She needed to know that Justin was struggling more than they all realized.
JC slid his long body along the floor, pulling his weight with his arms. He was too tired to actually stand up and walk over to Chris and Joey, so opted for the lazy route.
Lance wasn't so dramatic, and simply scooted the short distance to the group on his butt.
The four friends all watched their youngest member silently as he worked. He seemed to be completely oblivious to their stares as his lips counted the steps in time with the lyrics as he moved.
"He just doesn't quit." JC whispered as he watched Justin.
"Nope." Lance agreed. "I worried, ya'll He's been pushing himself a lot harder today than normal. Do you think something's up?"
Joey shrugged. "With him, who knows. He's been more moody over this past week than Lois is when I forget her Ben & Jerrys while she watches Will and Grace."
The other three gave Joey a strange look before shrugging it off to return their eyes to Justin.
Justin knew they were watching him. He could feel their eyes on his back. Plus the fact that he was standing in front of a mirrored wall helped him see them watching him.
He tired to ignore them, but they were beginning to piss him off.
He hadn't slept at all after returning home last night after his fight with Ryan. He knew she only wanted to help him, but he felt like a child being reprimanded. He felt horrible about yelling at her, but his temper had just taken over and before he knew it, he was screaming at her.
He hadn't seen her or spoken to her since last night, and thought it better to just wait a little while before bringing it up again. If they spoke right now, it would inevitably end in a fight. He was still furious, and didn't want to risk saying anything else he would regret.
"Yo, J?" Joeys voiced called from across the room, breaking Justin from his thoughts.
"Hmm?"
"You gonna take a break?" Joey asked as he nodded towards him.
"Nope." Justin answered dully.
"Dude, sit down with us. You need to take a break, and we're bored over here without your rambling and whining." JC teased in an attempt to make Justin back off himself.
"I'm fine, and ya'll have Joeys rambling to listen to." Justin said as he slowly moved his feet in time with the steps in his mind.
"But, Justin," Lances complaints were cut short by Justin spinning around to face them angrily.
"Guys, back off, okay! Its bad enough I have to hear these speeches from my girlfriend, I don't want to hear them from you too!" he warned as he placed his hands on his hips defiantly.
The four other men were silent for a moment, before Chris spoke up.
"Dude, you're making yourself sick." he blurted out. He realized it when the words left his mouth that it was probably not the best thing to say at that moment, but he had a tendency to speak before thinking.
Justin turned his angry eyes to focus solely on Chris. "I'm fine, Chris." he said quietly, his voice lowering into a warning tone.
"No you're not." Chris knew he had to bring this up again, and he knew that it would be better if the other guys were around when he did. It would be harder for Justin to kill him and hide the body if there were witnesses. "I know you were throwing up yesterday in the bathroom before lunch."
Everyones eyes widened at Chris's confession, as Justin glared at him while his face turned red with fury.
"I told you, Chris. I skipped breakfast, and was just tired. It caught up to me, but I am fine." Justins voice was in a low growl as he focused on Chris.
But Chris wasn't about to back down. They had to make Justin break before he would let them help him, and if that meant making him angry, then so be it.
"You lied." Chris said plainly.
If Justins face was red with anger before, he was boiling now. His fists clenched at his side, as he mentally willed himself to keep his feet in place on the floor.
He was breathing heavily, the deep respirations causing tightening pains in his chest, which he ignored as usual. For once, his leg wasn't bothering him. Or maybe it was and he was too mad to realize it.
"I have had enough of this bullshit!" Justin yelled. "First Ryan accuses me of lying to everyone about how I'm doing, and now you!" he pointed at Chris before continuing. "I don't have to answer to you, Chris! Or her, or anyone! I am doing what needs to be done, and I don't give a fuck if you all don't think I'm going about it the right way! Because you are not me! You weren't there that night, you didn't feel your bones break and your body be crushed against a steering wheel, and YOU didn't almost DIE!" Justins voice was so angry, it almost didn't sound like his own. He was shrieking at everyone and anyone, his temper taking over.
"Justin, calm down!" JC said as he stood up from the floor.
"Don't tell me to calm down!" Justin screamed. "I'm fucking fine! I am a grown man, JC, and I can handle this on my own! My way! The sooner you all back off, the better I will be!"
"Dude, we're sorry, okay." JC said soothingly in an attempt to calm Justin down. It was bad enough he was pushing himself as hard as he was with his workouts and rehearsals, but letting himself get this upset and carried away was probably more dangerous than anything else. "We're just worried about you, man. We know you can handle this, you're a tough kid."
"Don't patronize me, JC!" Justin warned, pointing at him angrily. "Don't fucking PATRONIZE ME!"
JC was about to say something else to try and calm Justin, but he didn't have the chance.
Justins face suddenly furrowed in pain, his jaw dropping open as he groaned. Shaking his head as if to rid himself of the feeling, he griped his head with his hands. Closing his eyes painfully, Justin fell to his knees before slumping back onto the floor and losing consciousness.
