"Okay, guys. That a wrap." Wade yelled from his place in the corner of the large dance studio. "You can all head home." With a clap of his hands, Wade called yet another day of hell to an end.
Joey groaned loudly before slumping down to the floor face first, his butt sticking up in the air.
JC wiped his face with the bottom of his shirt, before walking over to the couch at the side of the studio to gather his things. Lance was already there, packing his extra shirt and towel in his bag.
Chris seemed to have gotten a second wind, bouncing up and down as he looked around the room at his friends. "So what do you guys wanna do now?" he asked excitedly.
"Sleep"
"Sleep"
"Sleep"
"Eat"
Chris stopped his bouncing to look at them sadly. "Aw, com'on!" he whined. "I'm an old man and I'm still revvin' to go! Don't tell me I can out last you young whipper snappers." he taunted.
"Chris, do I need to remind you that yesterday we had to peel your raggedy ass off the floor and carry you to your car because you were so tired you couldn't walk?" JC called from over his shoulder as he zipped up his bag.
"No, I remember that quite clearly. Don't talk back to me, young man!" Chris warned, pointing his finger at JC. Looking down at the floor, Chris noticed Joeys butt still sticking up in the air. Knowing there was no way he could resist such a temptation, he quietly sneaked over behind him and pulled his leg back to kick Joey in the ass.
Just as Chris was about to throw his leg forward, Joeys muffled voice called to him in warning. "If you even think about kicking me, Kirkpatrick, they're gonna have to peel your wrinkly ass off the wall."
Dropping his foot back to the floor, Chris crossed his arms over his chest in a pout. "You guys are no fun."
Justin laughed at Chris. They had all be rather quiet since he had passed out earlier, but were still joking and trying to make things appear normal.
They had gone to the office that the girls had been using to see if they wanted to go to lunch, only to find it empty. There was a note on the desk from Lois, saying that they went out by themselves for a girls lunch. There was also another little note for Joey, warning him that there better be more Ben & Jerrys in the freezer when she got home.
If Justin thought he felt bad before for yelling at Ryan, he felt like shit run over twice now.
He was hoping to be able to talk to her about the night before, both to apologize and set a few things straight between them.
He knew she cared and was only worried about him, but he was really tired of having everyone hang over him and treat him like a baby. He was going to let her know that even though he appreciated her concern, he would appreciate it more if she let him be and trusted his judgment on what he could and could not handle.
Stretching his arms over his head, Justin yawned before walking over to the couch to sit down.
"What are you going to do tonight, J?" Lance asked as he sat beside Justin.
"Nothing much. Ill probably just take a shower, watch a little TV and go to bed." Justin said as he set his head on the back of the couch.
"You not gonna exercise?" Chris questioned as he approached them.
"Nope. I think Wade gave me enough of a workout today to last me the rest of the week." Smiling at Wade, Justin laughed when he winked at him in return. "Thank God its Friday and we don't have to come in tomorrow."
"What are you going to do this weekend?" Joey called from his place on the floor. He hadn't moved an inch, his eyes still closed.
"Probably sleep." Justin admitted.
And he meant it. He had been working so hard the last few weeks, that he felt he needed a break. Especially since he had caused himself to pass out. That was a huge wake up call for Justin, and he made a mental note to himself to back off a little.
"You and Ry wanna come over and hang with me and Lois?" Joey asked, his voice muffled into the floor.
"Hey!" Chris protested. "What about me?"
"Lois doesn't like you. She says you piss her off." Joey said plainly.
Jerking his head to look at Joey, Chris huffed. "Well, she's not so peachy herself."
"Yes, I am." Lois' voice called from the doorway. "I am sugar and spice and everything nice." she smiled sweetly at Chris before finishing. "So bite me."
Looking down to the floor, Lois smiled evilly at Joey, who was still laying with his ass sticking up in the air. "Fight the evil temptations Lois, fight, fight, fight" she spoke to herself before her face turned serious. "Oh, where is my camera when I need it?" she pondered.
"You probably left it in that dressing room the last time you walked in on me!" JC called from his place on the couch across the room.
"No, I already developed that film." she commented.
JCs eyes went wide as his jaw dropped. "I want those pictures, Lois!" he warned.
"And I want to conceive your children. But we don't get everything we want, now do we?" she said, not wavering her eyes from Joeys butt.
"Hey!" Joey protested, turning his head just far enough to shoot Lois a glare. "The only kids you'll be conceiving are mine! You stay away from him." he warned as he pointed towards where he heard JCs voice come from.
"Dude! She's not doing anything with me!" Justins voice called from across the room.
Joey looked up to see that he had been pointing at Justin instead of JC.
"Damn right I'm not! I'm not a child molester!" Lois pointed.
"Hey!" Justin whined at her comment. Looking around, Justin realized that Ryan was not with her. "Where's Ryan?" he asked.
"Not here." Lois stated as she walked up to sit on the floor beside Joey.
"Why not?" Justin asked, leaning forward on the couch to place his elbows on his knees.
"Don't know. She said she was tired or something so she went home about an hour ago." Looking up at Justin, Lois faked her best concerned look. "She seemed pretty upset when she left."
Justin felt his heart break. She was upset because of him. God, he sucked.
Standing up from the couch, Justin gathered his things and headed for the door. "Ill see you guys later." he called over his shoulder as he rushed out of the room.
When he disappeared around the corner, Lois smiled.
"What are you so happy about?" Joey questioned as he flopped his butt to the side.
"Nothing." she shrugged.
Joey watched her closely before a smile came to his own face. "You guys made a plan, didn't you?"
"Whatever makes you think that?" Lois asked coyly as she grinned down at Joey.
"Because I know you." he said flatly. "And you are Lois."
Justin groaned loudly in frustration. He had been driving around for the past hour and a half trying to find Ryan. He had went to her apartment, but she wasn't there. Normally, he wouldn't have just let himself in without her knowing. Especially when they weren't on the best of terms. But he used his key to enter her apartment only to find it empty.
He had called her parents home to ask if she was there. Her father answered and assured Justin that she had not been there. Justin chatted politely to Mr. Garner before letting him go to call Cheryl, Lynn and Monica. None of them had seen or heard from her, and Justin was beginning to get worried.
He knew she was probably mad at him, but she was the kind of person who would always confront you if you wronged her. She never ran and hid when something happened, and always pressed Justin to do the same.
Justin dismissed the thought of her being at his place. She was mad at him, why the hell would she go to his house?
When he had finally run out of ideas, he decided to head home. If she was mad enough to make it this impossible for him to find her, then maybe it was better that he didn't.
Pulling into his driveway, he pulled his car into the garage and headed inside.
Stepping into the small laundry room inside the door from the garage, Justin sighed. He tossed his bag onto the dryer before walking down the hall to the kitchen.
All he could think about was what he had said to Ryan the night before. He had been so mad, that he honestly hadn't been thinking of the words before they left his mouth. He never would have intentionally said any of them, knowing how much it would hurt her.
Kicking his shoes off at the front door as he passed, Justin shuffled into the kitchen to grab something to eat before taking and shower and going to bed.
As he walked through the door, his eyes immediately fell to the dining room table across the large kitchen. His jaw dropped as his eyes took in the sight before him.
The lights were dim, lit only by four tall candles. The table was set for two, with a bottle of wine chilling in a bucket of ice. Rose petals were scattered along the table top, falling onto the floor around it.
Justin had to shake his head a few times to be able to take it all in. This was certainly the last thing he had expected to come home to.
Walking up to the table, his eyes scanned the perfect setting.
Looking at his spot at the table where he always sat, a small note caught his eye. Picking it up, he unfolded the plain page to read the message inside.
The words were simple.
"I'm Sorry"
Justin grinned slightly as he read the message several times.
A noise beside him brought his attention from the note in his hands, to the girl at his side.
There Ryan stood, her hair pulled up loosely as fringes fell around her face. She wore a simple black dress, the one Justin had picked out for her one day in Dallas when they had gone shopping. He could smell her perfume, which always made him smile.
She grinned at him sheepishly. "I'm sorry, Justin." she stated. "I never meant to make you mad."
Placing the note on the table, Justin turned to pull Ryan into his arms. "I'm so sorry, baby." he assured her. "You only did what you did because you care about me, and I had no right to go off on you like that."
"You were tired and stressed and," Justin cut her off with a shake of his head.
"None of that excuses the way I spoke to you. I had no right to yell or cuss at you, and I swear it will never happen again." Justin dipped his head to hers, kissing her gently before pulling her even closer into a hug.
Ryan smiled over his shoulder. Lets hope Lois' other plan works out as well as this one.
"If I ever do anything like this again, you have my permission to allow Lois to kick my ass." Justin grinned at her as he pulled back.
Ryan laughed. "I'm pretty sure I wont need your permission. Lois would probably just go ahead and do it anyways."
Justin smiled at her. "Well, then its a good thing that I'm not going to do this again, huh?"
"You bet your ass." she laughed.
Sitting down at the table, Justin watched as Ryan served dinner. She had made ceasar salad, grilled chicken over fetuccini alfredo, and even had chocolate cake for dessert.
Justin couldn't remember the last time he had eaten to much and felt as if his stomach was going to explode. It was a good feeling though, since he had not exactly been taking care of himself as well as he should. The fact that he had just eaten an entire meal was making his body do a happy dance.
Sitting across the table from Justin, Ryan smiled at his content expression.
"I really am sorry, Justin." she whispered to him as he undid his pants to allow his stomach to expand. She laughed at his satisfied sigh and happy smile.
"I know you are." he smiled at her sweetly. "I know you didn't mean anything you said."
Ryans face fell a little. She didn't say that. She meant everything she had said. Because it was the truth. Justin had been lying to everyone, he had not been taking care of himself as he should, and he had been pushing himself too hard. The only thing she regretted was making him angry and not approaching the subject better.
"I didn't mean that." she corrected. "I meant what I said, I'm just sorry that it came out the way it did."
Justins eyes locked on hers for a moment as a confused expression crossed his face. "What do you mean?"
"I mean that I meant what I said." she stated as she leaned back in her chair. "I really do believe that you are pushing yourself too hard, you're not taking care of yourself properly, and whenever we ask you if you are okay you just say yes when you know that you're not."
The content expression that once filled Justins features faded into one of anger.
He thought that she was sorry for doubting or questioning him. But she was only sorry for him being mad.
"So, you are saying that I am lying to you, is that it?" he said, fighting to control his temper. "You think that I'm in constant pain, but I'm denying it to myself and everyone else, right?"
"I didn't say that." she defended. "I'm just saying that you aren't admitting to anyone that you may need a little more time or help to get over what happened."
Justins eyes dropped to his plate. He took deep breaths in an attempt to keep his temper in check. The breathing wasn't hurting his chest for once, but he knew that if he allowed himself to lose control like he had earlier that day with the guys, that he may end up worse off than he was now.
Looking at Ryan quickly, Justin stood from his chair and turned towards the door.
Ryan flew from her seat to his side. "Justin, I'm sorry. But I'm not going to just let you keep going like this."
"Well, its not your decision how I handle this, Ryan." Justin said calmly. Almost too calmly.
Ryan followed his quick pace to the door, and watched as he slipped on his shoes again.
"Where are you going?" she asked as he pulled his car keys from his pocket.
"Somewhere other than here." he said as he turned to the door.
Ryan grabbed his arm, spinning him around to face her. "You cant run from this Justin!" she yelled, her eyes pleading with him to stay and talk to her. Dropping her eyes to his chest, she fought to control her emotions. "You cant run from me." she whispered.
Justin couldn't bare to see her this upset, but he knew if he stayed that he would only repeat the mistakes from the night before.
Before he had the chance to say anything else he would regret, he turned and walked out of the house, leaving Ryan at the door.
He rushed into the garage, jumped into his car and sped down the driveway.
He was running away from his problems again.
And all Ryan could do was watch him go.
