“Jas, chill. It’s 10:00. Who’s to say they didn’t come here this morning.”
“Because he’s still wearing only his boxers and a wife-beater.”
I looked at him and smiled. “Good point.” I untangled myself from him and climbed down from the bunked bed. I grabbed some clothes and headed to the bathroom to take a shower and get dressed. When I came back, Justin was fully dressed. “So what are you doing today?” I asked Jas.
“I have a paper to write. It’ll take me all day today and tomorrow to write it.”
“Sounds like fun. How long are you in town for, Jeff?”
“We’re leaving this afternoon, but I’ll be back next week when the tour is over.”
“Cool.”
“What are you doing today?” Jas asked.
“I don’t know. Whatever this big lug is probably.”
“Hey I take offense to that,” Justin said.
I smiled. “You know I love ya.” Justin smiled. “So what are we doing today?”
“Probably just chillin at my house. I would say here, but I wouldn’t want to interrupt Jas with her paper.”
“Sounds good.” I grabbed a book off my desk and my purse. “Why don’t we get going and leave Jas to her paper.”
“Ok. Bye, Jeff. See ya later, Jas.”
I hugged her. “I’ll see ya later.” Then I hugged Jeff. “See ya next week. Tell all the guys I said hi.”
“Will do. Bye.” Justin and I left.
As we were walking to the car Justin asked, “What’s the book for?”
“I just have to answer a few questions.” During the drive we talked about how happy Justin was to be home. When we walked into his house, JC was sitting on the couch.
“Morning, Curly. Hi, Soph.”
“I’m going to go take a shower. I’ll be back,” Justin said.
“Ok,” I said and sat down next to JC. “How are you doing?”
“Not good. We don’t even sleep in the same room anymore. She says it’s because she doesn’t want Lynn to think bad of here, but I know it’s more. I can see it in her eyes.”
“I’m going to talk to her. I don’t know what the dream is about and I don’t know what could be so bad that it would make her act this way, but I’m sure going to find out.”
“I just don’t want to lose her. I love her so much and I don’t think I can live without her.”
“Don’t worry. You won’t have to. We’re going to work this all out.”
“Thanks,” JC said hugging me. When I pulled back I saw Bri walk in and sit down. She didn’t say anything to either of us. I got up and walked over to her.
“We need to talk.” She got up and followed me out to the backyard. “What’s up with you? Have you told JC about the dream?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“I don’t know.”
“You need to tell him. He’s worried.”
“Ok. I’ll tell him, but I want you and Justin there.”
“Ok.” We walked into the house. There sat JC and Justin. Justin’s hair was still wet and he had a towel trying to dry it. “Just the guys we were looking for.” I sat in a chair beside the couch and Bri sat across the room.
“I’m going to tell you about the dreams I’ve been. I’ve been having 2 reoccurring ones. In one dream I became friends with my ex-boyfriend. We hung out all the time. Then one night he took me to a deserted beach. It was beautiful. Then he started kissing me. I pushed him away reminding him that I had a boyfriend. He just wouldn’t quit. To make a long story short, he r..ra..raped me.” We all sat there shocked. Bri had tears running down her face. “The second dream starts of as a typical day on tour. Nothing to drastic. I’m with JC and we're goofing off like always. Then Sohpie and Justin come into the dream holding hands. I look up at Justin and he’s staring me down. I didn’t think anything about it, maybe I had something on me that he was trying to point out. I didn’t know. The two of you walked on. Come the concert Soph and I are backstage before the group prayer and Justin comes up behind me aggressively. Sophie had left previously so she didn’t see a thing. Justin turns me around and starts kissing me. I tried so hard to pull away but nothing was working. I couldn’t think of anything. The more he kissed me, the more I enjoyed it. So I found myself returning the kiss." She stopped and looked at us. JC’s grip got tighter. I was beyond shocked that Bri would have a dream like this. But it was just the beginning and I knew I shouldn’t jump to any conclusions. “Well, JC and Sophie turn the corner and see us kissing. They didn’t say anything to me. Sophie didn’t watch the concert with us. I sat alone watching the concert. The tension between Justin and JC was unbearable. The more I tried not looking, the worse it got. The concert ended and we took separate buses. We got to the hotel and all went clubbing but in different cars. I was in the car with Joey, Lance and Justin. JC, Sohpie, and Chris were in the other one. We got to the club just fine, JC’s car too a little while later. By now the other guys knew what happened. Everyone was avoiding someone else. I saw Sophie and Justin talking to each other rather calmly. Several minutes later she runs out of the club with tears in her eyes.” She stopped again. We started to understand why Bri would keep this from all of them. “I didn’t know what to do. For five minutes I thought about going out there and chasing after her to explain my half of the story even though it may not be any use. Then it happened.” There was a long pause before she continued. I knew then something bad was going to happen next. “It happened so fast. There was an accident. A severe one that would change my life forever. Sohpie was hit by a drunk driver head on.” My heart sank. Tears started to form in my eyes. I stayed as quiet as possible so Bri could continue on. There was so much fear in her eyes. It was starting to scare all of us. “The drunk driver’s car veered off the road hitting a nearby tree. The five of us ran out to Sophie but it was too late. She died instantly. I saw from the corner of my eye, Chris getting up to see if the driver of the car was okay. I looked over to him and saw the horrid expression on his face. Something I can’t erase. He pulled out the driver and screamed causing all of us but Justin to run over to Chris. He was huddled over the driver holding him close. I screamed and yelled for Chris to get off him and when he did I almost died. The drunk driver was JC and in his pocket was a note for me I suppose. It was an apology letter to me because he felt bad for not trying to listen to me. After what had just happened he still loved me and I ruined it. The two people I cared about the most were gone.”
There was an annoying silence again. No one knew what to say. I now completely understood all her reasonings why she didn’t tell us. I kneeled down in front of her. I looked up at her and she dropped down and hugged me tightly. “Everything’s going to be okay, Bri. You will NEVER lose me. I love you too much to let that happen. I know that JC feels the same way only stronger. We all love you. Nothing will happen I promise you that much.” I told her in tears.
I composed myself and sat back with Justin. JC took Bri’s hand and they left the room. “Soph, I would never do that to you. I love you with all my heart and would never think of going to another girl. You’re the only one for me.” He said holding me. “Sohpie, I love you.”
“You said that already.” I said breaking the moment.
“I know and I’ll say it again, I love you. Don’t think for an instance that I would love another person. You’re too precious to me. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself.”
That was all I needed to hear from him. I put my arms on his shoulders and kissed him gently then wrapped my arms around him. Several minutes later we pulled apart and looked into each other’s eyes again. He kissed my forehead and we sat down to watch TV.
JC led Bri up to his room. They sat on his bed. He hugged her. “Babe, I’m here for you. You’ll never lose me. I love you too much to let that happen. Don’t worry about the dreams. They’re only dreams and won’t come true. I will never let anyone hurt you. NEVER!” Bri just cried softly into his shoulder soaking his shirt. He held her until she stopped crying.
“I love you, Josh. I promise I’ll never keep anything from you again. You are my sun, moon, and stars.”
“I feel the same way.” They laid down and just held each other.
That night at 8:00 my cell phone rang. Justin and I were laying on his bed. We had just started watching a movie. I climbed over Justin to get off the bed. I walked to his dresser and answered the phone. “Hello?”
“Hey, Soph. Whatcha up to?”
“Drew?”
“Yup it’s me. Can you talk?”
“I’m kinda in the middle of watching a movie.”
“It’s ok. I’ll call you tomorrow night. What time would be good.”
“Um…how about 10:00 tomorrow night.”
“Sounds good.”
“Ok. Bye.”
“Bye.” I hung up the phone and climbed back over Justin.
“Was that Drew Lachey?”
“Yeah.”
“I didn’t realize you two were friends.”
“I told you I was friends with all of them.”
“But none of the others call you all the time.”
I looked over at Justin. He was jealous. “I think someone is jealous.”
“I am not.”
“Well you have no reason to be. I love you and only you.”
“I love you.” I climbed on top of him. I looked down at him and he looked up at me. I leaned down until my lips met his. My hands ran through his silky curls. His hands rested at my hips. After about 20 minutes of this I pulled away.
“God, how I missed you.”
Justin smiled. “Missed me or missed my lips?”
“Both.” We laughed.
“So how long are you guys here for?”
“We have 2 complete months off. Then we start promotional stuff for the new album and finish recording everything. I’m guessing a good 6 months before we start touring again.”
“But you start getting busy again in 2 months right?”
“Yeah. I guess so.”
“Well at least we have 2 months.”
“Yup. 2 wonderful months.”
“Yeah.” I tried to get enthused, but I couldn’t. All I could think about was that in 2 months I would lose him again. I didn’t know if I could handle that again. “Babe, are you ok? You seem to be in another world.”
“Yeah, I’m fine. I guess I’m just tired. I should probably be heading back to the dorms.”
“I don’t think so. You can stay with me tonight. I’m sure mom won’t care.”
“Are you sure? I wouldn’t want her thinking bad things about me.”
“Don’t worry. She won’t.”
“OK.” I laid my head on his chest and tried not to think about what was going to happen in 2 months. Soon I was asleep.
The next morning I woke up and Justin was gone. I got up and went in search for him. All I found was his mom in the kitchen. “Hey, Lynn.”
“Morning, hon. Did you sleep good?”
“Yeah…I guess.” Truth be told I hadn’t slept well at all. I had dreams about what would happen in 2 months.
“What’s wrong hun?”
“Oh, nothing. I’m just tired. The past couple of weeks have been real killers.”
“So college is going good?”
“Yeah. It’s great. It’s exhausting though.”
“I’m sure.”
“Do you know where Justin is?”
“They had to go to the studio for a while. Justin told me to tell you to stay here. He’ll be back as soon as he can.”
“Well actually I have some homework to do. When he gets home, just tell him I headed back to my dorm.”
“Will do. It was good to see you.”
“Same here. Is Jon up yet?”
“Nope and after yesterday I don’t expect him up any time soon.”
“Me either. Just tell him I said bye. I’ll see ya later.”
“Bye.” I grabbed my purse and book and headed out to my car. I drove to the dorms and tiredly walked up to my room. I opened the door quietly thinking Jas would still be asleep. To my surprise Jas was sitting on her bed typing on her laptop. “Having fun?”
“Oh yeah. Lots,” she said not taking her eyes off her computer. “How was yesterday?”
“It was interesting.”
“Drew called for you last night.”
“Yeah, he called my cell phone.”
She looked up at me. “Was Justin there?”
“Yeah.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t think he would call you.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I told Drew that you were out and wouldn’t be back all night. I figured he would get the jist not to call you. I didn’t even know he had your cell phone number.”
“I didn’t either. But it’s no big deal.”
Jas got up and walked over to me. “You mean Justin didn’t get mad?”
“Nope. I’ve got work to do, and if I’m not mistaken you have a paper to write.” “Yeah. Paper.” Jas sat back down on her bed and started typing on her laptop. I sat at my desk and started answering questions for my history class. About 2 hours later the phone rang scaring both of us. Jas answered it since it was laying on her bed. “Hello?”
“Hey, Jas. Is Soph there?”
“Yeah. Hold on. Soph, it’s Justin.”
I got up and grabbed the phone. “Hey Sexy! What’s up?”
“I’m mad at you.”
“Mad at me? Why?”
“You were supposed to stay. I came home excited to see you and my mom tells me you left. Why?”
“Because I wasn’t going to sit around your house when you weren’t there. I felt like crap anyway. Curly your mom asked me how I slept.”
“She what? Oh that’s funny.” He started laughing.
“Justin, it’s not funny.”
“Yeah it is babe.”
I was getting mad. “Justin, please stop laughing. It’s really not that funny.”
“Yeah it is. She didn’t mean anything by it.”
“Goodbye, Justin.”
“Babe, wa…” I hung up the phone. I threw it on Jas’s bed.
“If he calls again I’m not here and you have no idea where I am.”
“What happened?”
“I’ll explain it later?”
Just then the phone started ringing. “Hello?”
“Jas, can I talk to Soph?”
“She just walked out the door.”
“Do you know where she went?”
“Nope. Didn’t say a thing. Just left.”
“Ok. Do you mind if I come over and wait for her to come back?”
“Um… No, not at all.”
“Thanks. Bye.”
“Bye.”
“Babe, you better get out of here. He’s coming over to wait for you to come back.”
“Oh God! Why don’t guys ever give up? I’m going to the library. I’ll call before I come back. Talk to you later.”
“Bye.” I grabbed some books and put them in my backpack. I walked out the door and headed to the library. I spent 3 hours there studying and writing some stuff that I had been putting off. When I got tired of working I got an idea. I grabbed my cell phone and dialed Drew’s number.
“Hello?”
“Drew?”
“Soph? Hey what’s up?”
“I know I said 10, but I got done a little early.”
“That’s ok. I’m just sitting here flipping through channels.”
“Where are you at?”
“The Hilton here in Orlando.”
“You’re in Orlando?”
“Yeah.”
“Where’s Jeff?”
“He and the rest of the guys went to Canada to see an old friend. We have a show in a week to officially end the tour. I decided to stay here.”
“What room are you in? I’ll come over and we can hang out.”
“Ok. Room 309.”
“OK. See you in a little bit.”
“Bye.” I walked to the Hilton and knocked on 309. Drew answered the door wearing a wifebeater and jeans. He took my breath away. “Hey, Soph. How are you doing?”
He hugged me. “I’m good. How are you doing?”
I pulled back. “I’m doing great. Getting some rest and relaxation.” We walked into his room, and he closed the door.
“I bet. So what were you watching?”
“Nothing really. I was just flipping through channels.”
I flopped down on my stomach on the bed. “Well lets find something.”
“Ok.” Drew sat on the bed with his back against the headboard. He flipped through the channels until he came to the movie Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me. After the movie I rolled over on my back and looked at the ceiling. “What’s wrong Soph?”
“Nothing. I’ve just been thinking a lot about my future.”
“About your future with Justin?”
I looked at him. “You’re observant.”
“You don’t have anything to worry about. I can tell you love him very very much and I’m pretty sure he loves you just as much.”
“Yeah, but is love enough?”
“That depends on the people involved.”
“Well enough of my love life. What’s yours look like?”
“Nonexistent is what it is.”
“Come on there must be someone.”
“I do have my eyes on someone, but she’s taken so there really is no one.”
“Don’t worry, you’re soul mate will come along. You just have to be patient.” We sat there talking for the next 4 hours. “Wow! It’s getting late. I better be going.”
“Ok. I’ll talk to you later.”
“Why don’t we get together on Wednesday for lunch?”
“Ok. Sounds good.”
“Call me.” I walked out the door and back to the dorm. When I got there, I found Jas gone and Justin sitting on my bed.
“Hello, Sophie.” I knew he was mad. He never called me Sophie.
“Justin.” I put my book bag on my desk.
“Where were you all day?”
“I was at the library studying. Why? How long have you been here?”
“Since you hung up on me this morning.”
I turned and looked at him. I couldn’t believe he had stayed all day. “You’ve been here all day?”
“Yeah, I have been.” I climbed up on the bed where he was sitting.
“Where’s Jas?”
“She said she was staying with a friend tonight.”
“Cool. Are you mad at me?”
“No. Are you mad at me?”
“Not anymore.”
“Why were you earlier?”
“Justin, I love you. I love you so much. But sometimes you are so immature. I was really upset about the whole thing. I love your mom like she was my own, and I can’t handle the thought that she disapproves of something I did.”
“Honey, she was probably just kidding. She asked me last night if you were going to stay over. I asked her how she would feel if you did and she said she wouldn’t care. She trusts us. She knows we’re not stupid and wouldn’t do something stupid. Plus why would we do anything when her and my dad are both in the house along with JC and Chris.”
“I see your point.”
“Good. Now give me the kiss I’ve been waiting for all day.”
I kissed him deeply. Then I pulled away. “What did you miss today by sitting here waiting for me?”
“Nothing important.” He kissed me again.
To Be Continued…