Driving home, Ryan found herself being more cautious with her driving. She was much more aware of the traffic around her, looking around at the other cars surrounding her as she drove down the highway.
She truly believed that life never handed you anything that you couldn't handle. That life was a hard teacher, because she gave the test first, the lesson afterwards.
She wasn't sure yet if Justin had learned a lesson from the experiences of last night, but she knew she had. Even though she wasn't the one involved in the accident, she was much more careful when approaching intersections, and kept herself aware of her surroundings.
She remembered Lynn telling her a long time ago about how her brakes had failed as she approached a stop sign. Luckily, it was a quiet country road, and there was no traffic coming across the way. She had managed to slow herself down enough before the brakes failed to coast herself to a stop. But ever since then, she found herself slowing down way before she needed to, just incase that ever happened again. She was fortunate enough not to be hurt, and she learned a lesson that had stayed with her since.
After calling her parents from the hospital, Ryan went back in to check on Justin one last time. The doctor said that he was doing well, but that he would have to stay in the hospital for a few days until they were sure he was not going to have any more complications.
They guys all headed home, assuring Justin that they would be back before the end of visiting hours to check in on him. Joey even said he would bring him magazines, chocolate bars, and other things to keep him occupied while in the hospital. Justin got bored easily and would definitely need something to keep him from bouncing off the walls.
Lynn had stayed on to be with her son. She would go home later that night when visiting hours were finished, but she felt that she needed to be there as long as possible.
After saying her goodbyes to everyone, and checking in on Justin quickly, Ryan headed home. She was planning on staying at the hospital for at least a night or two. She hated the thought of leaving Justin, even if the doctors had assured her that he would be well taken care of. She trusted their judgment, but still felt the need to be with him. She still blamed herself for what happened, but learned to keep her concerns and blame to herself. The other guys would only reprimand her, telling her that she was being silly and none of what happened was her fault.
Pulling up to her building, Ryan pulled in to her parking spot and headed up to her apartment.
As she stood at her door, fumbling through her purse in search of her key, she stopped and looked up at her closed door. She smiled as she remembered Justin standing where she was at that moment, agonizing over whether or not to kiss her that first night. The thought of her standing on the other side of that door, wondering why he hadn't kissed her made her giggle to herself.
That night was only the beginning for Justin and Ryan.
"So," Lois asked inquisitively, an evil grin pressed her lips. "How was your date last night?"
"Fine." Ryan answered. She made sure to keep her face completely unreadable. Justin had come up with a plan to get Lois back for her little set up, even if they had both agreed that they were glad she did. But that didn't mean that they couldn't have a little fun with Lois.
"Fine? What do you mean 'Fine'?" Lois stopped to stare at Ryan.
The two women were going over plans for the tour with Lynn, Monica and Cheryl. They thought it would be a good idea to get together and get a feel for what each other was thinking as far as the guys image went. It would be easier to work together if they knew what each other had in mind.
Lynn had called Ryan that morning, asking her if she wanted to come over to Cheryls for a little meeting. Ryan had a feeling that this 'little meeting' was mostly Lois' idea, wanting to know what had happened the night before between her and Justin.
The five women were all sitting around Cheryls living room. Papers, sketches and photographs scattered the floor in front of them as they all sat in a circle with the papers in the middle. The conversation had mainly stayed on topic for the most part, only getting sidetracked once or twice when a good video would come on MTV. The television was playing behind Lynn, the volume turned down. Cheryl said she worked better with some sort of distraction. This comment causing a jab from Lois, saying that something as simple as lint was a distraction to Cheryl. Giving Lois a dirty look, Cheryl commented "Oh I know you're not talkin' about being easily distracted, hon. If I recall, you were the one who walked into a pole when you thought that a cute guy was checking you out at that one club."
Monica began laughing hysterically as she remembered the incident Cheryl was referring to. "Turns out the guy was checkin' out Lance!" Monica snorted before continuing. "That was the best!"
"Shut up." Lois pouted, bringing her feet from under her to stretch out across the floor. "Ya'll don't respect me enough. Where's the Lois love?"
"Respect for what? Gluing my ass to the toilet seat in Phoenix?" Cheryl pointed, giving Lois another dirty look.
Ryan looked around at the women surrounding her. By the sounds of it, they were more than active participants in the practical jokes that she was warned the guys liked to play. She was a good sport for the most part, but having her butt glued to a toilet seat was not something she cared to experience.
"So, how was your date?" Lois called, bringing Ryans attention back to her. "And don't say 'fine'. I know the boy is fine, but you gotta have more to say about him than that."
"It was okay. Besides, it wasn't a date. He just took me around the town, which Ive lived in my whole life, by the way," Ryan shot Lois a warning glance before looking down to the papers in her hand. "And we hung out. No big deal."
Lois looked at Ryan hard, trying to see if she could pick out any details from her expression. Ryans eyes were locked on the paper in her hands, reading it over. Her face was completely expressionless. Damn, she was good.
But Lois was better.
"Yeah, that's what he said." Lois sniffed, leaning back on her elbows. Tapping her toes together, she looked down at her feet as she continued. "He said you were nice and all, but that he didn't really see anything happenin'."
The last comment brought Ryans attention to Lois, who was nonchalantly staring at her feet. It must be the florescent striped socks she was wearing that were so interesting. Now Ryan knew why she allowed JC to wear some of the thing she did.
"Really?" Ryan whispered, trying to keep the hint of disappointment out of her voice. Justin suggested that they didn't say anything to Lois about their night other than that it was okay. They agreed to give her absolutely no details what's so ever, and here he was saying that he couldn't see anything happening between them? After they had spent hours talking together all night, even after the kiss at her door. There had been a few other kisses that night, and Ryan felt that they had a connection. And Justin didn't think anything would happen? She thought it already did.
"Yup." Lois sighed. "So much for my match making." Looking up at Lynn, Lois smiled. "Hey, Lynn! You want me to set you up with Justin?"
Lynn looked at Lois like she was insane. "Um, no. I think my fiancé wouldn't approve too much of that idea. But thanks anyways."
"Wait," Ryan spoke up, grabbing Lois by her toes. "Justin said he didn't see anything happening between us?"
Lois had to fight to keep the grin off her face. "Yeah. He said you guys had a good enough time, but that he thought you were kinda........blah."
"Blah!" Ryan yelled as she stared at Lois. "Blah!? What the hell! So he just kisses every girl he thinks is blah, eh?"
"Ah-ha!" Lois pointed triumphantly. "I knew it! Something did happen between you guys last night!" Looking down at her nails, Lois rubbed them on her shirt proudly. "Don't mess with the master, Timberlake."
Ryan could feel her face growing warm, a red blush crossing her cheeks. Justin hadn't warned her about how tricky Lois could be, so she was going to have to learn the hard way.
"So, ya gonna tell us what happened, or do we have to wait and have Lois trick him into telling us everything?" Cheryl asked as she smiled at Ryans flustered face.
"Its not a big deal, honestly. We just drove around town, got McDonalds," Ryans story was interrupted by Lois laughing.
"Oh, Justin, you're such a smooth one. Take a girl to McDonalds, eh?" she laughed as she talked to the air above her.
"Anyways," Ryan continued. "We spent most of the night just talking. Ive honestly never felt as comfortable with someone as I do with him. We just talked about anything and everything. When he took me home, we said goodnight and I went inside my apartment. But a few seconds later, he knocked on the door again." A smiled crept across Ryans face as she remembered the night before. "I opened it to find him standing exactly where I had left him. He just leaned down and kissed me." She was smiling and giggling like a schoolgirl as she described her night. "It was nice."
"Oh, girl, that was more than nice. The look on your face suggests that it was a hell of a lot more than nice." Cheryl chimed in.
"So, why didn't you just tell us that in the first place? Why did Lois have to go and drag it out of you?" Lynn asked as she picked up a photograph from the floor.
"Justin told me that we should try and get Lois back for setting us up like that. Just kinda drag it out until we drove her crazy." Ryan confessed, smiling sheepishly at Lois.
"Really?" Lois asked, raising an eyebrow at Ryan. "Well, Ill pop that little zit when I find him."
Once Ryan had spilled her guts to the girls about her night, and how she thought she was really going to like working with everyone, they resumed the work at hand.
After a few hours, they had basically agreed on what kind of styles and looks they wanted the guys to portray, and decided to head out for a girls night.
Since Ryan was new, they thought it was a good idea to have a night on the town to welcome her to the crew. There was a party at Johnny Wrights the day after tomorrow, where the entire crew would gather to kick off the tour. The guys would of course be there, and Ryan was a little nervous about seeing Justin again. Especially now that Lois knew about their night. She promised Ryan not to embarrass her in front of him, but said that she could make no promises that Justin would be in one piece when she was done with him.
Lynn explained that Lois and Justin had a friendly rivalry going on, ever since Justin had drawn "Porn Star" across Lois' face one night as she slept. Apparently, she had slept in that morning, and was rushed out to the bus before she had a chance to actually look at herself in the mirror. She wondered why everyone was staring and laughing at her, but never thought too much of it. It was a strange group of people that she worked with, so she ignored them. It wasn't until Joey came up and smiled down at her with an evil look in his eyes that she knew something was up.
"So, you wanna give me a show?" he asked, sitting down next to her on the couch.
"What?" she looked at him confused.
"Well, if you're really a porn star, it would be nice to get a show now and then." he smiled cheekily at her.
"What...?" Jumping up from the couch, Lois ran into the bathroom at the back of the bus. Seconds later, a horrified scream rang through the bus. "Aaaaccckk! Justin!"
A roar of laughter sounded down the length of the bus, as Lois came stomping out into the living area. "What the hell! Where is that curly haired freak! He's about to get the ass kicking of a lifetime!"
Joey could barely speak, laughing so hard he was wheezing. "He's on the other bus with Chris and JC." he sputtered.
With a frustrated grunt, Lois stomped to the back of the bus. Just because Justin wasn't within strangling range didn't mean that he would get away with this. Grabbing her cell phone, she quickly dialed Chris' number.
As the buses pulled up in front of the hotel, Justin was shaken awake. "J, wake up dude." JCs faint voice woke Justin from his deep slumber.
"Whaaa..." he grumbled, rolling over onto his side away from JC.
"Dude, get up. We're here."
Justin only grunted in response, before he found himself being pulling from the couch to land on the floor with a thud.
"Dude, what the hell?" he whined.
"Get up, we gotta go in. You can sleep when you get to your room." JC called as he left Justin sitting on the floor.
Rubbing his tired eyes, Justin stood from the floor and grabbed his bag from his bunk. As he approached the front of the bus, he noticed Chris looking at him strangely.
"What are you lookin' at?" he groaned.
"I'm tryin' to figure that out, dude." Chris smiled evilly as he stepped down and out of the bus.
Following Chris into the hotel, Justin was thankful that there were no fans around to hound him. He loved his fans very much, but sometimes he just wanted peace and quiet.
An attractive receptionist sat at the front desk, and smiled at Justin. He smiled back as he passed her, noticing her cover her mouth to muffle a laugh. He looked at her confused before shrugging it off and heading for the elevator.
Once inside, he heard the snickers from the others around him. JC stood in the far corner, his lips pressed together tightly to keep himself from laughing. Two bodyguards just stared at the ceiling. They were used to this kind of crap, so it wasn't too hard for them to ignore. Chris was whimpering behind Justin, an occasional squeak escaping his lips. When Justin turned to face him, Chris burst out laughing.
"What!" he yelled, grabbing Chris by the shirt.
"Hey, man, I just did what I was told. No need to get all blue about it." Chris had barely finished his sentence before the entire elevator was laughing around him.
The moment the doors opened, Justin rushed down the hall to his room, pushing his key card into the lock. Once inside, he ran into the bathroom and flicked on the light.
Out in the hallway, JC, Joey, Chris, Lois and Monica stood with grins on their faces. Seconds later, a loud scream sounded from the room Justin had entered. The entire hallway erupted with laughter as Justin stormed out of his room.
"What the hell!" he squealed, pointing to his hair. "What the hell did you do to me!"
"Serves you right!" Lois pointed at him. "That will teach you to write on peoples faces while they sleep."
"Dude, you look good. Its a good look for ya." Joey nodded. Justin rolled his eyes. Joey was one to talk, he had red hair!
"Hey, Justin, I'm sorry I had to use blue. But we ran out of green koolaid." Chris laughed.
Justin glared at the people in the hallway, who were laughing to hard they could barely keep their balance. Lois was hanging on Joey, gripping his shirt to keep herself from falling. Monica and JC were polite enough to at least cover their mouths to hold back their giggles, while Chris was doubled over and wheezing uncontrollably.
"You're all going to hell." Justin pouted before returning to his room with a slam of the door.
"You didnt really do that to him, did you?" Ryan asked Lois from across the table.
"I did." Lois nodded proudly. "And Id do it again in a heartbeat."
"Yeah, you werent the one who had to wash that crap out of his hair!" Cheryl complained.
Sitting around a table at the local Hard Rock Cafe, Ryan was enjoying listening to the stories from the other women of past tours. Some of the pranks they had pulled on the guys, some of the backstage disasters, even some embarrassing moments were all memories that Ryan couldn't wait to make over the next three months.
The sounds of her phone ringing turned her attention from the conversation in front of her.
"Hello?" she called into the phone.
"Hey," a smooth voice answered. "How's my favorite makeup artist today?"
"Hey," Ryan smiled at the recognition of the voice. "I'm good." Noticing Lois send a questioning glance her way from across the table, Ryan lowered her voice. "I'm out with the other girls."
"Ah, so has Lois given you the third degree yet?" Justin asked.
"Yeah. I'm sorry, but I broke. You didn't warn me that she was sneaky. She told me that you thought I was 'blah'" Ryan confessed. The moment she heard Ryans words, Lois immediately knew who was on the phone. She motioned for Ryan to hand it over to her, her famous evil grin crossing her face.
Lois grabbed the phone and placed it to her ear just as Justin began to speak. "Yeah, well, she's a pain in the ass. I'm not even going to tell you some of the crap shes put me through. I swear, if I didn't love her, Ill kill her."
"Aw, Justin, its so good to know you care." Lois smiled through the phone, placing a hand to her heart. "I think I'm gonna cry."
There was silence on the other end for a moment, before Justins annoyed voice called back. "Damn it, Lois!" he whined.
"You just wait, little man. Be afraid. Be very, very afraid." Lois warned.
"Around you, I always am." he replied cheekily. "Can I talk to Ryan, now? Or are you not finished tormenting me?"
"Well, I'm finished for now, so I supposed Ill let you talk to her. But I like her, so I don't know why I'm punishing her and making her talk to you." Lois grinned as she passed the phone back to Ryan.
Placing it to her ear, Ryan laughed as Justin replied to Lois' smartass comments. "I'm gonna rip the ass out of every pair of pants you put me in, so you're stuck in the change room for the entire tour fixing them!" he whined.
"Well, that's not such a bad idea. Your butt hanging out for the world to see would make good headlines." Ryan taunted as Lois shot her a smile before laughing out loud.
Again, Justin was silent before whining "Damn it, are you guys gonna do this to me for the entire tour? If so, I think I'm gonna cry."
Ryan laughed at the cute voice he was making. She had only known him for a couple days, and was already wondering if he ever stopped whining.
"You are comin' to Johnnys party, right?" Justin asked.
"Yeah, I think so. Lynn just told me about it today." Ryan answered as she looked over her menu.
"Um, do you wanna go together?" Justin asked nervously. "I mean, Ill pick you up and stuff."
Ryan couldn't stop the excited smile from crossing her face. She had barely been able to sleep the night before, thinking about Justin. The thought of going with him to Johnnys tour kick off party make her stomach flutter.
"Sure. Id love to."
"Great!" Justin exclaimed excitedly. "Pick ya up around three? Its a pool party and barbecue, so that should be a good enough time, right?"
"Sure, sounds great. See you then."
"See ya then."
Turning her phone off, Ryan smiled down at her menu. Little did she know what her simple beginnings with Justin would turn into.
Ryan gathered a few belongings from her apartment and stuffed them into an overnight bag. She tossed in a couple magazines, her walkman, and Justins Gameboy before hurrying out to her car.
She had promised her father that she would stop by their house that afternoon to check in. She didn't tell them too many details of Justins condition, since at that time she didn't know herself.
She made it to her parents in fifteen minutes, pulling her car around the front.
She smiled up at her old house. She had always been very fortunate, and had never had to go without anything as a child. Her mother was a in real estate, while her father worked as a lawyer. Even though they had money, they taught their children to work for what they wanted. They never had anything handed to them, and were not the typical spoiled brats that most people would assume they would be. Ryan believed she had the best parents in the world, and they had raised her well.
Stepping inside the large house, Ryan called out. "Hello? Anyone home?"
Frank Garner came out of the kitchen and smiled at his eldest daughter. "Honey, how are you?" he asked, pulling her to him in a fatherly hug. Looking down at her, he lost his smile. "How is Justin?"
"He's alright, dad." she answered, following him back into the kitchen. Her mother was out showing a house, but promised to be home before Ryan headed back to the hospital. Her little sister Katie was playing upstairs.
"So, what happened?" Mr. Garner asked as he poured Ryan a glass of water.
"Well, we don't know everything really. Justin doesn't remember much, so all we know is what the police told us. Some guy ran a red light and hit Justins car. He was slammed into a hydro pole and was knocked unconscious when his head hit the window." Ryan found herself becoming emotional as she described what Justin had gone through. "He, um," he paused as she cleared her throat. "He hit his stomach on the steering wheel, and the doctors say that is where the majority of his injuries are. His head is okay, even though he has a horrible headache. They are going to keep him in for a few days until they can assure that he is well enough to come home."
Mr. Garner nodded as he sat at the table with his daughter. Ryan stared at the glass of water in front of her, remembering back to the nightmare she had the night before. It had felt so real, so terrifying, that it scared her still to remember.
"I'm sure he will be fine. He's a strong man." Mr. Garner tried to assure his daughter.
Ryan nodded as she smiled weakly at her father. Her lip began to quiver as the tears fell from her eyes.
"I was so scared, dad." she cried.
Mr. Garner pulled Ryan to him, holding her close as she cried softly against his chest. "Shhh, he's okay. He's going to be just fine."
Ryan sniffed against her fathers shirt, leaning into him further. She had always felt so safe with him, and no one would ever be able to comfort her the way her father did.
"I thought I was going to lose him." she whispered.
"Well, you didn't. He's going to be fine, honey, you'll see."
Ryan closed her eyes and exhaled deeply.
She snuggled her face deeper into the comfort of her fathers hold, relaxing at the touch of his hand stroking her hair gently.
She hoped he was right. If she lost Justin, she would lose a part of herself.
