The last week and a half could be summed up in one word.
Hectic.
There really wasn't any better word to describe it. Hectic pretty much did it justice.
But for some reason, this kind of hectic wasn't that bad. It didn't have the same sense of dread that it usually held, especially considering how these guys were used to that word. When someone would say hectic to them, they knew that it was usually true. That they wouldn't have time to eat, let alone do anything else.
But this time, the word didn't hold that horrible feeling that made them tired just at the sound of it. This time, it brought a smile to their faces, and brought a strange sense of energy to their group of friends.
Because this time, things were hectic in their lives, because they were helping Erin move in with Justin.
This was something that all the guys had wanted to have happen for a very long time. A very, very long time. They all adored Erin, and were certain that there wasn't a better person in the world for Justin. She completed him, kept him grounded, and kept him in line when it seemed like no one else could. Without her, they surely would have kicked his ass a lot more than they did.
After Erin agreed to move in with Justin, they spent the majority of that night calling their friends and family. Of course, everyone was ecstatic, asking why they hadn't done this sooner.
The next couple of days were a little dull. Erin spoke to her landlord about her moving out, changed her address at the post office, and had her mail redirected to Justins home. She took care of all the little loose ends that were sure to arise in a move, while all Justin had to do was sit back and wait for 'moving day'.
Lance and Joey had helped Erin pack her things in boxes, while JC and Justin lined up a moving van for them to rent the day they had designated as 'moving day'. Chris spent the majority of his time running around singing "Moving day, moving day, everyone loves moving day." while he skipped and clapped his hands. Needless to say, he was banished from the pre-moving day festivities.
Her last night in her apartment, Erin couldn't deny that she felt a little sad. She had been living in this apartment for over four years, and even though she was excited about taking this step in her relationship with Justin, she felt a little scared. Before, if they had a fight, she had her retreat. Her place to escape and get away from him for a while to sort out her feelings and emotions. Now, she had nowhere to run. Where was she going to go? The next room? It didn't quite have the same effect as her apartment did.
But she couldn't deny that she was excited. They had talked about her moving in with him several times during the course of their relationship, but she never really knew for sure if it would happen. Justin was very independent, and she didn't see him as the type to move his girlfriend in with him. She didn't know why, and couldn't explain her reasoning for this feeling, but she had it anyway. Just the whole idea of his 'bachelor pad' and his territory made her wary. Now, she was moving in with all her 'girly' things. Justin did, however, make her promise not to 'feminize' his home too much. He didn't want to wake up to a big Hello Kitty poster on the door.
Looking around her apartment, it was barely recognizable to her on her last night. All her things were boxed up and ready to be moved out. Sitting on her couch, she took in her surroundings for the last time.
After this night, nothing would be the same. Everything had so much more meaning when you lived with someone, and even though she was a little scared, she had to admit that she was ready for whatever was to come between her and Justin.
Bright and early the next morning, JC pulled up out front of Erins building with the moving van. Joey, Chris and Lance jumped out of the back, and the moment their feet hit the ground, Joey and Chris were racing up the stairs to her apartment, leaving Lance to stroll casually behind at his own pace. Justin had driven his car, parking in front of the van.
They had considered hiring professional movers to help with the task, but Chris assured them that anything the pros could do, he could do better. Now, with Erins couch wedges in the doorway of her building, they realized the error of their confidence in Chris.
"For Christ sake, Chris!" Joey yelled as he struggled to hold the couch up. "Move to your left!"
Chris grumbled before moving to his right.
"Your other left, jackass!" Joey screamed as he tried to keep the couch from breaking the door frame.
"You said your left!" Chris defended.
"I said your left!"
"Your left!"
"Your left!"
"Yours!"
"Yours!"
"Mine!" Justin yelled as he ran up behind Chris and pushed the couch with all his strength. The sudden blow burst the couch through the doorway and outside, almost causing Joey to fall over, the couch landing on top of him.
When Joey regained his balance, he shot Justin an angry look. "Fuck head! You could have killed me!"
Justin simply shrugged before returning upstairs to bring down more boxes.
Entering the apartment, Justin passed JC and Lance as they were piling boxes on a cart to be wheeled down the stairs, and headed towards the bedroom in search of Erin.
Peeking his head inside, he smiled when he noticed her standing in the now empty room.
Knocking softly on the door, Justin took a step inside. "You okay?"
Erin nodded, turning to face him. "Yeah, I'm okay." she said in a small voice.
Justin grinned at her, walking up to her slowly. "You sure?"
"Yeah." she sighed. "Its just strange to be moving out, you know?"
Wrapping his arms around her waist from behind, Justin rest his chin on her shoulder. "I know."
Rocking back and forth for a moment, Justin sighed. "You having second thoughts?"
Erins head immediately turned to look at him. "No." she said strongly. "No, I'm not. I'm just a little sad. I really love this place."
Justin smiled at her, before kissing the end of her nose. "Well, I promise, Ill do whatever it takes to make you love my place just as much."
Erin smiled at him. "I already do."
Suddenly, JC appeared in the doorway. "J?"
"Yeah?" Justin said, turning to JC.
"You better come out here. Chris and Joey are trying to load the bed in the van, and somehow got it stuck underneath."
Laughing, Justin turned and gave Erin a quick kiss on the lips, before following JC outside.
Now alone in her bedroom, Erin took one last look around.
She had no doubts of her love for Justin, or whether or not this was a good move. She knew she wanted to be with him, and nothing could convince her otherwise. But that didn't mean that it wasn't still a little scary. That taking such a big step wasn't unnerving, even to the most confident.
Listening to the sounds of Justin yelling at Joey and Chris outside, Erin grinned.
She knew she was doing the right thing.
Moving everything out of Erins apartment only took a little over two hours. Luckily, everything fit in the van, and it only took one trip. Most of the boxes were loaded into Justins car, leaving the van for the larger items.
Unloading was proving to be a more difficult task than they had originally anticipated.
Justins house was almost completely furnished, but there were still a couple of rooms that did not have much in them.
When he first bought the house, he wasn't sure if he was going to need all this room for just himself. He furnished the main rooms, but there was still a bedroom and rec room downstairs that were left partially untouched.
They hadn't put much thought into where everything was going to go, until they found themselves unloading Erins things, with absolutly no plan.
Her bed and dresser went in the spare bedroom, while her couch, entertainment unit and tables went in the rec room downstairs. Chris liked this idea, figuring he could now use it as a playroom rather than having to mess up Justins living room.
Once all the larger items were unloaded and placed in their designated rooms, all that was left was the unpacking of what seemed like hundreds of boxes. JC and Lance took care of unpacking the kitchen boxes, while Chris and Joey volunteered for the living room and rec room. They wanted to do those rooms most, figuring that they would just watch TV and play around while they unpacked. Made things more fun that way.
Justin and Erin were left with the upstairs, unpacking her clothes and other items.
Justin had to smile at the excited look on Erins face as she grabbed a boxed marked 'Bathroom' and quickly made her way towards his main master bathroom.
He was left in the bedroom, unpacking a few boxes that had been placed on the bed.
Four boxes sat in front of the closet, while several garment bags were slung over the chair in the corner. Justin already owned more clothes than anyone he knew, and he had to wonder if Erin would be able to fit anything of hers in his closet. If not, there were still seven other closets upstairs that she could claim.
Opening one of the boxes on the bed, Justin began to pull out several stuffed animals. His eyes immediately widened, slightly rolling.
"Erin!" he yelled. Moments later, she peaked her head out of the bathroom. "Where do you want these?" he asked, holding up a small stuffed bunny.
"I was thinking that they could stay on the head of the bed, then at night we could pile them around us." she said, an evil smirk on her face.
Justin grinned, slightly less than amused. "Ha." he said dryly.
Erin laughed. "Just put them with yours in the spare room."
Justin smiled to himself as he watched her disappear back into the bathroom. Picking up the box, he made his way out of the master bedroom, and down the hall to a spare room.
He had received thousands of stuffed animals from fans over the years of his career. Most of the items were donated to charities, but the guys did go through them first to pick out items that they wanted for themselves. Justin had to admit that he had quite an impressive collection of stuffed animals. Most men didn't own one, and he was certain he had more than five hundred. He had designated an entire spare room into his 'Fan Room'. Drawings of himself and the guys that fans had given them lined the walls. Letters and notes lay scattered along the tops of two night tables. The large bed was covered completely in stuffed animals, as were the two chairs in either corner, and an entire wall along the far side of the room. It was like FAO Shwartz had thrown up in his house.
Lining Erins animals along a wall, Justin made his way back to the bedroom.
Erin was still in the bathroom, as Justin turned his attention to the next box on the bed.
Looking at the side, he smiled at the label.
'Pictures'
Erin had quite an impression photo collection. She loved to take photos, very rarely being found without her camera if the situation allowed. She took pictures of them on vacations, at concerts, or just hanging around. Justin loved to sit around the house sometimes, looking through some of her pictures. Remembering when each was taken, and the memories they held.
Excitedly, Justin hopped up onto the bed, crossing his legs in front of him. Pulling the box close to his side, he pulled the tape from the top, and flipped the flaps open.
Leaning forward, Justin looked inside and found the box full of photo boxes. Reaching in, he pulled out the first box.
More than an hour later, Justin was still flipping through photos. Erin had finished in the bathroom, and already put all her clothes in the dresser and closet. All the boxes for upstairs were unpacked, and Justin was still looking at pictures.
Laughing at him, Erin kissed him on the forehead before going downstairs to see if there was anything else left to be unpacked.
Looking around himself, Justin saw that he was surrounded by photos. He had spread them all around him, boxes and albums laying open. Pictures from Chris's birthday party. Joeys RENT premiere. Erins University graduation. Pictures from his brothers school play. His parents anniversary and more.
Justin couldn't help but smile at all the memories flooding back to him. They surrounded him.
Stretching his arms over his head, he yawned. It was already after six, and he had yet to stop and have anything to eat. Sliding carefully off the bed, Justin turned and laughed at the picture-less area from where he had been sitting. There was a small area in the middle of the bed, with photos all around it.
Jogging downstairs, he met up with JC and Lance in the kitchen.
"You guys hungry?" he asked, stretching his arms over his head again.
"Freaking right." Lance said, tossing one of the boxes to the pile in the corner. "Joey said about an hour ago if he didn't get something to eat soon, he was going to eat his own foot. Chris bet him ten bucks he wouldn't. So you got about five minutes before Joey starts personal cannibalization."
Laughing, Justin raised his hands in defense. "Okay. Ill call and order some pizzas."
After checking in with Chris, Joey and Erin in the living room, Justin ordered pizza, much to Joeys gratitude.
Everything was pretty much unpacked, and with the exception of the hundreds of boxes that still scattered the rooms, everything was more or less tidy.
Jogging back upstairs to his room to clean up his photo mess, Justin sighed.
He had been pondering this move for more than a year. He knew he wanted Erin to move in with him, but for some reason, he never had the courage to do anything about it. Finally, he had, and now that it was done, he couldn't seem to figure out why he hadn't done it long ago.
He knew he did the right thing, and even if he wanted her there for her protection as well as because he loved her, he knew it was for the best.
Returning to his room, Justin approached the bed. Photos still covered the surface, boxes and albums peaking out from underneath pictures.
Looking at the spot where he had been sitting less than ten minutes ago, Justins eyebrows merged in confusion.
When he had left, it had been vacant. There had been no photos sitting there he had been. But now, there was. One single photo sat in the center of the area.
Maybe it slipped from the pile when he got up? Maybe there was a breeze from the open window and it blew the picture to there?
Stepping up to the edge of the bed, Justin leaned forward and brought the photo to his face.
When his eyes focused on the image staring back at him, Justin knew for certain that those excuses were not true.
This wasn't one of Erins photos. She hadn't taken this, and neither had any of the rest of them.
Justins eyes widened at the picture in his hands, his stomach muscles tightening. His hand began to shake, the photo quivering in his fingers.
Justins blue eyes ran over the image over and over, as if trying to figure out how it could be real. It couldn't be? How could this be real?
Staring back at him was a picture of himself. He was sitting in what appeared to be a booth at some kind of club. But he wasn't alone. He was with a woman. And not just any woman. He was with Trystan.
And they were kissing.
Justin began to shake his head, slowly, as if trying to assure himself that it wasn't real.
'This cant be. It cant be real. This is a fake. Its not real.'
But it was. It was there in his hands, and he wasn't sure what scared him more. The fact that it was real, or the thought of how it got in his room.
