Every night, there he was again, showering her with affection. Not once that week had they met up at the coffee shop, he always came to her apartment, usually with flowers in hand. JC felt a tinge of guilt every time he saw Justin in the studio, but it never deterred him from his nightly encounters with Abbey. One day, JC knew it would all come out, but he certainly never gave it much thought.
The grin on his face when she opened the door each night, was enough to make anyone weak in the knees. It was that whole “I’ve-been-waiting-for-this-all-day-and-now-it’s-finally-here” look. Some nights they ordered take-out and watched movies, other nights they spent the whole night in bed, lost in each other.
This particular night, they had decided to catch a late movie. He wore a baseball cap and sunglasses that seemed to only draw more attention, especially since it was dark out. One arm draped across her shoulders as his other hand lifted her chin, bringing her lips to meet his, rounding the corner to her apartment. JC smiled to himself. The smile turned into a huge knot in his stomach as he immediately withdrew his arm and stopped walking. Abbey briefly looked at him in confusion before her attention turned towards her apartment.
“Who would have thunk?” His voice was antagonistic as he stood up.
“Justin, it’s--.”
“My best girl and my best friend. Together. And kissing nonetheless.”
“Let’s go inside and talk, Justin. Don’t do this out here.” Abbey fumbled for her key.
“Ya know, I came here to tell you to give it just one more try. Cause I love you that much. But it looks like you’ve moved on. You fucking her?” He turned towards JC briefly, returning his gaze to Abbey. “Nevermind, I don’t even want to hear it. Maybe you were fucking all along. Maybe you didn’t forget after all. Just maybe, this was all some sick lie you two created to be together. Whatever it was, I don’t care. I can’t fucking believe you, Abbey.” His voice was filled with anger and disbelief, yet he remained rather calm.
“J, man. It’s not like that.”
Justin turned his gaze to JC, inching closer, staring him in the face. “Then tell me you’re not fucking my girl behind my back.”
JC stood there for a minute, avoiding eye contact, before he finally met Justin’s gaze again, a strange confidence consuming him. “She’s not your girl anymore,” he said a lot cockier than he should have. Before anyone could say anything else, JC had fallen back, Justin on top of him pummeling him with clenched fists.
“Stop it, please!” Abbey yelled, trying to push her way between them. They were still going after each other, frantically punching and kicking. Abbey felt the pain in her face as she went stumbling backward, hitting the wall. The two men stopped as they heard her cry out. She looked up at them, JC with his bloody nose, Justin with his red face, both breathless. “Please, this is all my fault. Just don’t fight.”
Justin pushed himself to his feet, straightening his clothes and rubbing his jaw. “You’re not even fucking worth it.” He turned and walked away, not another word said.
JC stood, helping Abbey stand as well. Once in the apartment, she got some ice and tissue for his face. “We should have told him. Before any of this got started, we should have been honest.”
“He wouldn’t of handled it any better had we told him a week ago,” JC sighed. “Trust me, that boy’s got a temper like no other.”
Abbey backed away, narrowing her eyes as she spoke. “Can you blame him? How would you react?”
“Probably the same way.” He lowered his head, running one finger across his busted lip. “Maybe I should go try and find him. Talk about this and all.”
“That’s probably the last thing you should do. He’s angry right now, and you’re the person he wants to take it out on.”
“I hate it when you’re right,” his lips began to curl up into a smile, but stopped suddenly as he felt the pain in his face. “I think I should just go home.”
She nodded, following him to the door. “I’ll call you tomorrow.” With a light kiss on his forehead, she said goodnight, and closed the door.
Very little sleep came that night for all of them. Justin was angry, JC was anxious for a resolution, and Abbey was sad about it all. The following night, she lay there staring at the clock. The minutes slowly ticked away, counting down the early morning hours. Without much thought, she crawled out of bed and got dressed. It was only a short drive to his house, so she didn’t have much time to think of what was going to be said. But something needed to be said, she only hoped he would listen.
She knocked lightly at first, then harder as time passed, finally ringing the doorbell several times. He had heard her the first time, he stood just around the corner from the door.
“Justin?” she yelled, looking around hoping no one else in the neighborhood would be disturbed. “I don’t know if you’re in there, but your car is here, so I’m guessing that’s a yes. Maybe you don’t want to talk to me, but I want to talk to you. So please open the door. I swear to God I’ll camp out on your doorstep until you at least open the door and tell me to go to hell.”
She stood there, looking for some sign of life in the house. The lock clicked and he opened the door, that same hurt expression in his eyes.
“Can we talk?”
“You want to talk at four in the morning?”
“Were you asleep?”
“No.”
“Then I guess it doesn’t matter what time it is. Can I come in?”
“I don’t think I want to hear what you have to say.”
“That might be true. But you can’t go on hating me forever.”
“I don’t hate you. I’m hurt. Disappointed. Just when I thought you couldn’t break my heart anymore, you did. I never thought you could be such a hurtful and deceitful person. I don’t even know you. The Abbey I love would never do this to me.” His words were sharp, cutting through her like knives.
“Please just let me come in and explain everything. I’ll leave whenever you ask me to.”
He sighed, moving aside to let her walk in. Justin flipped on a dim light in the living room as they sat down.
“I never wanted to hurt you, Justin. You have to know that.”
“I don’t know anything right now except that someone who is supposed to be like a brother to me had his hands and lips all over you. How long has that been going on?”
“Just a week. It just happened, we didn’t mean for it to.”
“It just happened? How the hell does that just happen?”
“I don’t know. I just, I mean, Josh and I have gotten really close since I got out of the hospital.”
“I just can’t believe you did this to me. Even if you don’t love me, didn’t you stop and think how much this would have hurt me?”
“I did. But I love him. All I want is to be happy. I want you to be happy too.”
“You love him like I love you.”
“Yes,” she sighed, tears forming in her eyes.
“I think you should leave, Abbey.” He turned his back to her, clicking off the light as he walked out of the room.
Chapter 13: Remnants of the Past
Take Me Home!
