JC knelt down at Justin side, grabbing a nearby t-shirt to roll up and place under his head. Lance, Chris and Joey were instantly at their side, looking down at their youngest member with looks of fright.
"Is he dead?" Chris asked softly.
Looking over to shoot Chris a look, Joey scoffed. "He's unconscious, you idiot."
Usually, Chris would come back with some smart assed comment, but he was so focused on Justin laying on the floor, that he didn't even appear to have heard Joey.
JC shook Justins shoulders lightly, yelling at him to wake up.
"Justin. Can you hear me? Wake up, dude."
Nothing. Justin simply laid still, his breathing shallow.
"I'm going to find Ryan." Lance said as he turned to leave the room.
"No, wait. He's waking up." JC called back to him before Lance had the chance to exit.
Stirring lightly, Justin slowly came awake. His eyes squeezed together tightly before slowly opening to focus on the people standing over him. Blinking several times, he swayed his head back and forth before groaning.
"J, you okay man?" Lance asked from his place beside Joey.
Justin only groaned in response.
Slowly he came to, remembering a fight with the guys before falling to the floor. Lifting his head slightly, JC placed a hand on his shoulder. "No, dude, just lay down for a minute."
Justin didn't feel like arguing, so leaned back to rest his head on the soft shirt beneath him. He took several deep breaths to calm himself. He didn't know how long he had been unconscious, but it couldn't have been too long. It was only the guys in the room with him, and if it had been an extended period of time, Ryan surely would have been called to the studio.
"I think I should go get Ryan." Lance whispered to Joey.
"No." Justins voice cracked at he spoke. Clearing his throat, he shook his head, causing his thoughts to jumble and ache. "No, I'm fine."
Justin lifted his head up from the floor, before pushing himself into a sitting position. His head was down, and his eyes were closed as he rubbed his hands over his face several times to clear his mind.
The last thing he remembered was a stabbing pain in his chest, making it hard to breath. He had been so angry that he was seeing red. Literally. The next thing he knew, the room was spinning, and he passed out.
"Do you wanna try and stand?" JC asked Justin softly as he dipped his head down to look at his young friend.
Justin nodded slowly, before pushing himself up. JC took his arm, and helped him onto his unsteady legs. Justin didn't try to move, only stood in place while he got his barings.
After a long silence, Lance spoke up. "J, what happened?"
Justin shook his head. "I don't know. I was yelling at ya'll and the next thing I knew I was all dizzy, and fell down."
"I think we should take you to the doctor." Joey commented.
"No." Justins voice was strong again, his firm command coming through loud and clear. "I just got a little too upset, that's all. I haven't been sleeping all that great, so I'm a little over emotional. I'm fine, really."
Another silence overtook the small group, before Justin spoke up again.
"Will you guys promise me something?"
They all looked wary, but agreed. There was nothing they could deny him.
"Don't tell Ryan about this."
Except maybe that.
"She would only worry and get more upset, and we are already not on the best terms as far as my health goes. She would just over react, and everything would turn into a drama. So lets just keep this between us, okay?" Justin looked around at his friends concerned faces, waiting for them to agree.
If they agreed to keep this secret, Justin knew they would never break it. Long ago, when they had first gotten together as a group, they had made a pact. If anyone promised anything to another member of the group, that promise was to be set in stone. No distrust, no lying. Always keep your promises. Now all he needed was for them to agree.
No one moved. They all looked at each other from the corner of their eyes, waiting to see if anyone would actually agree to this or not.
Ryan had a right to know about this. She loved Justin very much and if she ever found out that this happened, and that they had kept it from her, she would be furious. And even though she was a quiet and sweet girl, they knew damn well that you did not want to cross her.
Suddenly, Chris nodded his head. "Okay."
The others looked at him in shock for a moment. He had actually agreed to this?
Chris knew that it was probably not the best idea to agree to this sort of a request, but he felt responsible for it happening. If he hadn't pushed Justin, called him a liar and caused everyone to gang up on him, it wouldn't have happened. This was his fault, in his mind, and he felt obligated to agree to any terms Justin felt needed to be set.
Justin nodded appreciatively at Chris before looking around to the others. Slowly, one by one, they nodded their heads. They didn't want to agree, but the thought of denying him his request would surely make him angry again and possibly cause another episode.
"Thanks you guys." Justin smiled weakly at them.
Silence over took the small group, before Joey spoke up. "Group hug." he smiled, reaching his arms out to his sides.
Everyone grinned and joined in on a giant group hug.
It had always been their way of resolving issues. Any discomfort or problems they faced, would be dealt with accordingly, and ended with a heartfelt hug.
Pulling back, Justin thanked them again. They all looked unsure of what they had promised, but the fact that they had made Justin glad he had them as friends. Even if he was an dumbass and requested stupid things, they always agreed to it.
Wade entered the room, bottles of cold water in his arms. Dumping them in the corner of the room, he looked at the five men curiously.
"What?" he asked, noticing the serious tension around them.
"Nothing. We're just talking about....." Chris thought for a moment of something to tell Wade. "About Lois kicking Joeys ass for forgetting her ice cream last night."
Joey looked over at Chris in shock. Of everything he could say to use as a lie for Wade, he had to use something that insinuated Joey getting beaten up by a girl? Bravo.
Wade laughed. "Well, I knew she was a tough one, but dude, I wouldn't tell too many people you got beat up by a girl."
Shooting Chris an annoyed look, Joey huffed. "Thanks for the tip, Wade."
"So then, I came home and went to get my Ben & Jerrys before Will and Grace came on. And there wasn't any! Fucking Joey ate it while clipping his toe nails!" Lois ranted from her place on the office floor as she flailed her arm over her head dramatically.
She and Ryan had just spent the last three hours setting up ideas for the tour, and had finally come up with some pretty good concepts. Since they had gotten a lot more done than they had originally thought they would, they were taking a break to chat about whatever came to their minds. Not that they didn't do that every day of their lives, but for some reason it was more fun to do when you were getting paid because you were supposed to be working.
Ryan laughed at how angry Lois seemed at the fact that Joey ate her ice cream. "Stupid boy, even I know to stay away from your ice cream on Will and Grace nights." she commented.
Lois nodded feverishly. "EXACTLY! By now, you think I would have him trained. But no-o! I swear, he's like a puppy. Sweet as hell, but a pain in the ass to train. Thank God he doesn't pee on my carpets."
Ryan laughed again. She was glad they were taking a break from working and had decided to chat because she had just spent the past three hours worrying about Justin. Lois had promised that she would come up with some fantastically amazing, wonderful plan that would have Justin confessing everything from his first crush to the last time be wet his bed. But Ryan was still concerned about how angry Justin had been last night, and wondered what he was thinking right at that moment.
Stretching out to lay on the floor on her back, Lois tapped her toes together before looking down at her feet. "Dude, I have awesome feet." she blurted.
Ryan looked at her like she had gone insane. "What?"
"No, seriously. Have you ever noticed how ugly some peoples feet are?" When Ryan only stared at her in response, Lois continued. "Well, I have cute little feet! They aren't all big and floppy. They are cute and compact. I think I should win an award for the cutest feet or something."
Ryan didn't know what to say to that. It was almost as bad as her talking pretty comment. So instead of having to come up with something to say that didn't include the words 'insane' or 'what the fuck?' Ryan opted to change the subject.
"I'm hungry. Wanna go get something to eat?" she asked while leaning her back on the chair behind her.
Rolling onto her side, Lois propped her head up on her hand. "Sure." she answered as she fiddled with a string on the carpet. "Are we going to invite the guys, or is this a girls only kinda thing."
Ryans eyes fell to the floor. She wanted the guys to come along, but wasn't sure if she was ready to handle the fury that would surely be Justin Timberlake. "They are probably busy. Maybe we should go just the two of us."
Lois knew why Ryan didn't want the guys to come along. Justin wouldn't make a scene in front of everyone because that would only embarrass and hurt Ryan. Even if he was mad at her, he would never intentionally set out to hurt her. But he would be cold and distant, causing the same effect.
"Alrighty. Lets go to that cute little diner down the road. I hear there is this waiter there that I would surely make a meal out of." Lois grinned evilly.
"Lois. May I remind you that your boyfriend is down the hall?" Ryan looked at her teasingly.
"No, no need to remind me. Jeez, I would just look. Maybe a little touch. Or a pinch of groping. Aw, hell, shut up." Lois pouted as she rolled back onto her back.
The two woman continued to sit on the floor, neither making any attempt to get up and head out for lunch.
Before Ryan had the chance to say what she was wondering, Lois beat her to it. "I think I'm coming up with something that may help us with Justin."
Looking across the short distance between herself and Lois, Ryan felt herself brighten. Just the idea of something that may work was better than the thought of leaving Justin to deal with it himself.
"I think we should just leave him alone." Lois said, staring at the ceiling fan above her head as it twirled around and around.
Ryan looked at her confused. What kind of plan was that? Lois had warned her that she was about as creative as a dung beetle, but even a fucking dung beetle would come up with something better than this.
"What do you mean leave him alone?" Ryan questioned.
"I mean, leave him alone." Rolling onto her side again to face Ryan, Lois began to describe her plan. "We've been hanging over him like he's a child, watching over him and hounding him. That is obviously not working and all it is doing is making him angry and more determined to push himself. Maybe if we back off, and let him calm down a little on his own, he will back off. We praise him for coming as far as he has, instead of commenting all the time on what he is doing wrong. This cant be easy for him Ry. He is used to being the strong one that is always in control of his life. For the past few months, he has had almost no control over what happens to him. That night took away his power of control, and he's fighting like hell to get it back. We just wait and trust him to get his life back together."
Ryan wasn't sure she liked this idea, but it made sense somehow. They had been treating Justin like an injured child, which was certainly beginning to piss him off. He was more than likely pushing himself as hard as he was to prove to everyone that he could handle his life, and the sooner he got back to his old self, the sooner they would back off.
Maybe if they backed off, he would too.
Ryan nodded her head in agreeance, before asking about her next problem. "But what do I do about our fight last night?"
Lois looked down at her hand, which was twirling the thread from the carpet around her finger. A sly smile slowly pressed her lips before she raised her eyes to Ryan.
"I think I have just the thing to fix that little problem."
