"Damn it, Chris! Don't make me have to kick your ass!" Justin yelled as he tried to climb over the table to strangle Chris.
"Whatever, Lake. You couldn't even kick your own ass!" Chris said, taunting Justin from just out of his reach.
"Oh, I can SO kick my own ass!" Justin replied. As soon as the words left his mouth, he felt retarded. He waited for everyone to start laughing. Seconds later, they did.
"Well, I can kick ALL your asses, now sit down, shut up and deal the flicking cards!" Lois said, tossing a piece of popcorn at Justin. She laughed hysterically when it landed in his hair.
Sitting back down in his seat, Justin pouted. "Y'all are always laughin' at me."
"That's cause you're always doing or saying something stupid, man." JC smiled. "You make it too easy."
Justin couldn't stop the smile from crossing his face.
He had missed this. He had missed hanging out with his friends, joking, and picking on each other like they always had. For the life of him, he couldn't understand why he had let it slip away, even if it was only for a little while.
After talking things through with Ryan, Justin had completely turned his life around.
He was sleeping more, and had reduced his exercise routine back to what it was usually before a tour. He was not pushing himself and he accepted what progress me made as he made it, without trying to move things along.
Dr. Hughes had given him a clean bill of health, saying it was lucky that he hadn't cause more damage at the way he had strained his body.
Over the next month, he had noticed a change in himself. He was becoming a different person.
He was becoming himself again.
Looking around the table, Justin smiled at this friends.
They were all gathered at his house, playing a game of poker. Joey refused to use money, saying that the last time he had played with Lois, she had won all his money, plus his pants. She protested, saying that she gave the pants back. After a while, anyway.
Popcorn, chocolate and candy scattered the table top in front of them, as they all chatted away about the upcoming tour.
Johnny had pushed it back for another month, giving Justin more time to sort through his situation. They were going to be setting out on the road in one week, and Justin felt secure in his recovery. He knew he had come a long way, and was certain that he could handle the pressures of tour life again. In fact, he couldnt wait.
They guys had been incredibly supportive after he apologized profusely to them for being such a pain in the ass. They had all forgiven him, as he knew they would, but not before reprimanding him for his actions.
He knew they would, so he didn't fuss. He just stood there, in the middle of the studio, as they ranted on and on about having to put up with a frustrated Lois. She had been so stressed over the tour, that adding his actions to it was making her hell to live with. Joey said she had made him cry more than once, and that Justin owed him big time.
Now, everything was right. They had put it all behind them, and moved on.
Picking up Docs deck of cards, Justin shuffled. "So, who's winning?"
"That would be me." Lois grinned, raising her hand triumphantly. "Who else would be winning? Sure has flying crap wouldn't be Joey."
"Hey!" Joey whined. "I won a game!"
"Only because I let you." she said.
"You never let me! You don't let me do anything!" he pointed.
"Now you KNOW that's not true." Lois smiled, giving him a knowing look.
Lance rolled his eyes. "Oh dear GOD, please do NOT start talkin' about ya'lls sex life! Its bad enough I have to sit next to you and you grope each other under the table."
"Hey, I'm sorry dude, but I thought that was her leg!" Joey said, grinning at Lance. "By the way, you have very soft skin."
Lance stared at Joey in shock as the rest of the table laughed hysterically.
"You are just not right." Lance said, before scooting his chair away from Joey.
"Okay, shush." JC called. "Lets get back to the game." Turning to look at Lois, he gave her a look of warning. "And you!" he pointed. "Stop running your foot up my leg!"
"I'm not!" she yelled. "Believe me, Chasez. I would be doing a hell of a lot more than running my foot up your leg if I wanted to! I know exactly what to grab for, since I know what you're packin'!"
JC could only stare at Lois in response. Was she ever going to let him live the fact that she saw his 'stuff' down?
Looking around the table, JCs jaw fell open as he noticed Chris waving at him.
"DUDE!" he yelled.
"What? Everyone over there is gettin' all felt up. I didn't want you to feel left out." Chris shrugged.
"What the hell is wrong with you people!" JC yelled as he stood up from the table to head for the kitchen.
Everyone burst out laughing as he made his way out of the living room.
Ryan calmed her laughter and looked around the room at the people surrounding her.
Everyone was happy again. They were enjoying their lives like they always had, and were enjoying the company of those special to them.
Turning, she looked at Justins happy face as he tossed a Herseys Kiss at Lois. It hit her in the side of the head, as she turned to give him a look of warning. "You better watch it, Curly man. We wouldn't want you to break the other leg and have to go through all this again, now would we?" she said.
"You don't scare me." Justin replied, puffing his chest out.
When Lois stood up from her chair, Justin scrambled to his feet and ran to the other side of the living room.
JC returned, a glass of water in his hands.
As soon as Justin saw him, he grabbed JC and hid behind him.
"Dude, what are you doing?" JC asked.
"Hiding from Lois." he replied.
JC looked over and noticed Lois' angry stare. Widening his eyes, he walked away, leaving Justin without cover. "Oh hell no. I'm not gettin' in the middle of this."
Justins eyes darted around the room for a place to hide as Lois walked around the table towards him.
Within seconds, they were chasing each other around the room. Justin was screaming at the top of his lungs, while Lois warned that if she caught him, he would be screaming at that high tone for a very long time.
After a while, Lois grew tired of chasing Justin and returned to her seat. Justin peeked around the door frame of the living room, cautiously looking to see if Lois was going to pursue him further.
"Sit down Justin. I'm bored with you now." she said, picking up the cards Lance had dealt.
Justin pouted a little at her comment before returning to his seat.
Picking up his cards, he frowned. "I don't like this hand."
"Then use the other one." Lois called, not looking up from her cards.
Justin furrowed his brow in confusion for a moment, before he realized the real meaning of her perverted comment.
"Dude!" he yelled.
Lois just shrugged in response as she set out a chocolate in the middle of the table.
"I bet one Kiss." she said.
Joey smiled, leaning over to kiss her.
Pulling back, Lois giggled. "That's not what I meant, but okay."
"Lord, please!" Chris said, dropping his cards to place his hands together in a prayer. "Don't let Lois bet one naked Joey."
"Don't tempt me, Kirkpatrick." she said, giving him a warning look. "Oh, I kinda like that idea." she grinned at Joey.
Ryan smiled at their pointless banter.
They had been through a lot over the last few months, but had managed to keep it all together. They were closer than ever, and she knew that she wouldn't have made it through this without these people.
She still found herself wondering what would have happened if Justin hadn't made it through that first night. If he had actually died.
She would always dismiss her thoughts, not wanting to actually consider those possibilities. But occasionally they would still creep into her mind, and she would find herself wondering.
Looking over at Justin again, she smiled. It only took him a moment to realize she was looking at him before he turned to her and kissed her softly.
She stared into his blue eyes, and thanked God now more than ever that he didn't make her have to find out the answer to that question.
