CHAPTER 15
THREE MONTHS LATER:
"Anya, it's about time you got here, Justin has been worried about you guys."
"Sorry Dan, traffic was a mess and then I get here and it's worse. Have you seen the crowd outside, those fans are everywhere."
"Tell me about it. Every show they seem to get louder. You might want these." Dan, one of the crewmembers, gave Anya two pairs of earplugs for the concert.
"Thanks, we'll need them. So, where is that blue-haired monster of mine?"
"So I see you've heard about what they did?"
"Are you kidding me, Justin hasn't kept quiet about it for days. I still can't believe JC did it, too." Dan laughed with her. All the guys wanted to do something different for their last show of the tour. They decided to dye their hair different colors. Joey was the easiest. He kept the red in his hair. Justin, of course, picked blue. Lance picked green and Chris had silvery-white hair. JC was the one that surprised Anya the most.
Since he broke up with Beth, he hadn't been in the best of moods. He focused on his music and nothing else. He had Anya worried. Justin would call to tell her about how he was doing. She tried to help when she could. It would take time for JC to get over this, if ever.
Anya smiled to herself when she thought about JC dying his hair. The whole idea was his and he chose orange for his hair. She couldn't wait to see the guys.
"Dan, I guess I better get going. I don't want to make him worry anymore. It's been weeks since I've seen him."
"Hey, just don't make him late for sound check this time."
Anya blushed when she remembered the last time she was at one of their shows and her and Justin got a little carried away. It wasn't until Lance walked in the dressing room that they realized that Justin was suppose to be at sound check. Poor Lance, he got the shock of his life that day. "Yeah, I'll remember that." She laughed as she walked away to find the guys.
She walked around backstage with one of the bodyguards trying to find Justin. The first person she ran into was Kiley. "Hey girl, it's about time you…"
"Yeah I know. Traffic." Kiley laughed. She knew that Justin would calm down now that her and Emma had arrived safe. "Have you seen him yet?"
"He is probably running around with Chris trying to get in trouble. Those two have been trying to convince the band to dye their hair, too but I don't think it is wor…"
"I'M GOING TO KILL YOU GUYS!"
Just then, Anya and Kiley saw Justin and Chris round the corner where they stood. One of the guys in the band was right on their heels. When the girls saw him, they busted out laughing. The guys must have figured out a way to get his hair colored because a madman with purple hair was trying to catch them.
"Anya, thank God you're here." Justin started. He grabbed Emma and held her in front of him just as the guy caught him. "You wouldn't hurt me when I have the baby with me, now would you?" He smiled his million-dollar smile at him.
"Hey a real man doesn't hide behind a baby."
"Who said he was a real man?" Justin turned to look at Anya. "What?"
"That's not what you said last time I saw you."
"Okay, sheesh guys, I didn't need to know that. Anyway, I'll let you off because I know Anya will kick my butt if anything happens to you…but, Mr. Kirkpatrick, I don't think your wife would mind me stomping you to the ground, would you Kiley?"
Chris and Kiley had gotten married right after Anya and the guys returned from LA. They did elope just as they said they would and then threw a party later. "Not at all. This way I'll have to take care of him…just the way he likes it."
Chris looked at Kiley and she raised her eyebrows to him. He took the hint, stepped forward and stuck his chest out. "Go for it. Give me your best shot." Everybody busted out laughing at him. "What, I really like the way she takes care of me."
"Man, you guys are really sick…all of you." With that, the purple-haired drummer left them to try to get the goo out of his hair.
They continued to laugh until Justin grew serious and faced Anya. He reached his free hand out and put it around her waist to bring her closer to him. He leaned down to her level. "I really missed you."
She was a little taken back. "Justin, I missed you too. Is everything okay you got serious all of a sudden?"
He looked her in the eyes, searching for something. "I am serious, I missed you. I have been so home sick for you and Emma it has been driving me crazy. I am so glad this is the last show for a while. All I want to do is take you two home and not leave the house for weeks. Would that be okay?"
She put her arms around him, careful to not squeeze Emma too tight. "I think that sounds wonderful, but what would we do all day long?" Her question was out of her mouth before she knew it. She looked at him and knew what he was thinking before he said it. "Yes, we can do that, but I mean what else?"
He laughed at her and then gave her a quick kiss on the forehead. "I don't know. I was planning on doing THAT all the time. I hope you can handle it?"
"Hey, you guys really are sick. Is that all you ever do?" Chris asked.
"Yeah, we always clean the house together when Justin gets home." Anya answered. Chris and Kiley both eyed Anya, then she started to laugh. "Okay, so we don't clean the house."
Before Chris could say anything to Anya, JC walked up to the group. "Hey, Anya you finally made it, how's it going?"
Anya let go of Justin and walked over to JC. "It's fine, how are you?" She was very serious and looked him in the eyes.
"Well, I'm okay, that's all I can say. I'm taking it one day at a time. Sometimes, one minute at a time. It's hard but I will survive." He reached over to her and hugged her.
"You're going to be just fine. If you need anything, you know my number."
"Yeah, thank you…for everything." He leaned his head close to her ear. "I love you."
She held him closer to her and returned the words to him. "I love you, too."
The rest of the group looked at them but didn't say anything. They all knew that JC and Anya were the closest of friends and although Beth had thought there was something more to it, everyone else knew different.
They pulled apart and JC announced that it was time for sound check to start. Just then, Lance and Joey walked up. Lance heard what JC said and looked at Anya. She smiled at him and he immediately turned bright red, remembering the last time Anya was around for sound check.
Justin had told the rest of the guys about it and when they saw Lance blush, they all started laughing. "Okay, great, is it going to be like this every time I see you two?"
Justin handed Emma back to Anya and walked over to Lance. He put his arm around his shoulder. "Yeah it is." Justin continued to laugh. Lance just rolled his eyes at his friend.
They all walked off to get ready for the sound check. Anya and Kiley could hear them laugh all the way down the hall. "Hey Anya, let's sit in."
"Okay, fine by me." The two girls took Emma and followed the guys.