Lulu sat and waited. And waited, and waited, and waited. She was sick of waiting.
Every night Joey was late. When she demanded an explanation he just offered the same lame excuse. That they were busy in the studio.
She knew that it was a lie. A big lie.
Lulu got up and found her keys. Their day of reckoning had come. When she found him, she would demand the truth.
And once she had it, she would make him pay.
Lance sat on the playground and watched the swings sway in the wind. He raised his teary eyes to the sky and prayed.
He hadn't cried in a long time. And he had never cried over a girl.
But he had never actually loved any other girl.
Lance didn't know what to do. He felt so helpless. He couldn't eat, he couldn't sleep, he was merely existing. Just an object with no feelings or emotions, until the day when, he too, would be gone.
And to add to his problems one of his best friends was missing. He hoped that September and JC were at least together so that they could keep each other company.
One thing was certain, however. He wasn't going to find them sitting there. Suddenly determined, he got up and began walking towards his car. His thoughts were so full of September that he walked straight into somebody.
"Why don't you watch where the fuck you're goin' asshole!?" the figure sprawled on the ground yelled.
"Lulu?" asked Lance, helping her up.
"Yeah, whadayawan?" she slurred.
"What's wrong? Have you been drinking?" he wiped his eyes and hoped that she wouldn't notice that he had been crying.
"Well my life's goin' down da shitter ifitmakesanydifferencetoya!" She stumbled slightly and Lance caught her. Her hands wrapped around his arms. "Dayum boy! Yagotsumfineassmuscles!" Lance sighed and began to walk her to the bench.
Lulu gazed up at him and licked her lips. She wrapped her arms around his neck and began to pull his lips down to hers.
Lance lost himself in Lulu. He imagined that it was September, ready and willing, in his arms. He closed his eyes and was almost able to smell her perfume. Like vanilla and. . .
Vodka?
He stopped himself an instant before their lips touched.
"Wayastop?" she slurred. Lance pushed her away.
"You're drunk. And not September." He managed to half drag, half carry her to the bench and she fell on it.
Lance sat next to her. He couldn't just leave her there like that. He looked over and saw that she was crying. Lance was shocked. Lulu never cried. At first he thought that she couldn't remember that he was there because of the vodka she had drank. But he realized that she was perfectly conscious of where she was and with whom.
"Why'd he have to do it Lance?" she cried.
Lance didn't know how to comfort her so he just sat there. Lulu continued to babble.
"I didn't want to do it. It was a joke. It was like this little voice in my head. Why'd he have to do it?" Lulu looked up at him for one moment before she passed out.
Jamie wearily climbed the stairs. She wanted to talk to Mariette but no one was allowed to see her. It was almost dawn and Jamie could see the first pale rays of the sun falling on the earth.
As she passed by Corey's room she got a funny feeling. She opened the door and looked in.
Brett and Corey were both sleeping peacefully. Corey looked a little too peaceful. Jamie kneeled down by the side of the bed. He was having trouble breathing. Corey's small breath was barely rising and falling. Jamie grabbed his hand. He couldn't die now.
"Corey?" she whispered, looking at him closely. He opened his eyes and looked at her. His big brown eyes were cloudy and he tried to focus on her face. "Oh God!" she whispered frantically reaching for the pills. But Corey's voice, suprisingly strong, stopped her.
"No! It's too late. If it's my time to go then it's my time to go. Pills won't change that."
"But Co. . ."
"Listen, I know what's been going on. And I know that it's only going to get worse for you and your friends. It was like this little voice, telling me what was happening. And it wouldn't go away. I know who's doing it Jamie."
Jamie stared at him dumbly. How could he have known? Corey continued and Jamie gripped his hand tighter.
"It's not their fault. They don't realize what they're doing. Don't blame them for what they've done."
"Corey, save your strength. I'll get mom, tell her that you love her." Jamie began to get up, not wanting to hear the final, terrible verdict.
"No. Do you wanna know or not?"
Jamie hesitated a moment before answering. "Yes."
"Good. I'm going to tell you now. . ." Corey paused and took a deep breath. "It is. . ."
Suddenly Corey's eyes closed and his breathing stopped.
"Corey?" Jamie asked, even though she knew that there would be no answer. "Oh God!" Jamie pressed her face into his palm and cried.
Joey awoke to find his limbs entangled with Sasha's and the dog collar tangled around them.
"Shit!" he yelled as he jumped up and ran into the bathroom.
"Joey what. . .?" asked Sasha sleepily.
"I'm supposed to be at Lulu's in 10 minutes!" He jumped into a cold shower and began to scrub his body with a vengeance.
Sasha stretched and got out of bed. She wrapped her silk kimono around her body and was about to leave the room, when a buzzing noise began coming from Joey's pants.
She pulled out the cell phone, and even though she knew she shouldn't, she held it up to her ear.
"Hello, Joey's pants, he's not in them right now. Can I take a message?" she whispered.
"Ummmm. I must have the wrong number," a voice said.
"Are you looking for Joey?" she asked before they hung up.
"Ummmmmm yeah," said the unsure voice. "Who are you?"
"Just a friend,"she replied flippantly.
"Ummm Ok. Well could you put him on? I really need to talk to him."
"He's in the shower."
"This is important. Could you please get him out?"
"I'll take a message."
The voice sighed.
"Just tell him that Justin called and that it got JC. Thanks. Bye," they said and hung up.
Sasha slinked out of bed and into the bathroom.
"Joey?" she called.
"What?"
"You got a call."
Joey stopped scrubbing his body. "What?"
"You got a phone call."
Joey resumed washing himself. Sasha wouldn't be so stupid as to say anything.
"They said that it got JC. What does that mean?"
"Fuck!" Joey yelled.
He jumped out of the shower. No longer caring that his affair with Sasha had been found out. He only cared about his friend. "I gotta go!" he called as he got dressed. He ran out of the apartment.
Sasha just smiled secretly to herself as she began to clean up.
After he had dropped Lulu off, Lance went back to his house. He checked his messages as he stripped. He had been out all night and he needed some sleep.
There was one message from Justin.
"Lance, Jamie's brother died, after she got home from going to JC's. The funeral is tomorrow afternoon. If you're around. . .we're going. Jamie's pretty bummed. Call me."
Lance sighed. The message had completely ruined his mood for sleeping.
Justin was laying in bed with Jamie. For several hours she had been crying on his brand new Nike shirt. He was glad that he was the one she ran to. She had finally fallen asleep from exhaustion.
He heard his phone ringing and rearranged Jamie so that she wouldn't wake up.
"Hello?" he whispered.
"How's Jamie?" Lance asked.
"Asleep. I think she ruined my shirt, she was crying."
"I feel bad for her."
"Yeah. She's actually taking it pretty well."
"Just give her my love."
"Yeah."
Justin and Lance continued their conversation and Jamie began to wake up. Her face rubbed over his chest and his reaction to it was purely male.
"I gotta go," Justin said, his voice cracking slightly.
"See ya later," Lance said as they hung up.
Justin placed the phone on the nightstand and began to trace slow, erotic circles on Jamie's back.
"I just keep thinking that everything that has happened in the past three weeks is some horrible nightmare. Then I wake up and it's all real," she whispered.
"Ssssshhhh," Justin whispered, bending gown to whisper in her ear. "I can make you stop thinking about it." His tongue snaked out and traced her earlobe before gently nipping at it with his teeth. He blew lightly into her ear. "If you'll let me."
Jamie raised her lips to meet his and she kissed him feverishly. Justin suckled on her lips, he felt like a baby kitten, trying to get its mother's milk. Jamie suckled on his lips, in turn, and ran her tongue over his even white teeth.
Justin gently straddled her body and urged her closer.
Justin's warm hands slipped under her shirt and ran over the skin of her midriff. He slowly inched his hands closer to her breasts, but stopped just underneath them instead. Justin's fingers barely grazed them with each of her shallow breaths. Jamie moaned into his lips, he was driving her crazy.
Justin's hands slowly began to lift her shirt, letting his fingers trail over her skin. He pulled it over her head and his lips returned to hers, the strayed to her throat. Justin sucked on her skin, then gently bit at it, leaving small love bites on her neck.
Jamie's breathing was heavy and Justin's lips continued down her throat and over her chest. He gently scraped his teeth over her breasts and undid the clasp on her bra with his teeth.
It popped open and Jamie's glorious breasts spilled from the cups. Justin's lips latched onto the hard nub of her right nipple.
Jamie gasped and pushed Justin's curly head away from her.
"Justin I. . .I don't think that this is right. . .I. . .I mean. . .my. . .Corey," Jamie's eyes filled with tears as she tried to fix her bra but her fingers fumbled with the clasp.
Justin gently removed her hands and fixed it for her. He brushed her long hair out of her face and cupped her cheek in his palm.
"I can take your mind off it," he offered.
"I. . .I don't think that I'm ready Justin," she said shakily.
The tears in her eyes that had threatened to spill over did, sparkling on her lashes and running down her cheeks.
Justin caught a tear on his finger and smeared the wetness in his hand.
"Hey! Don't cry!" he said, enveloping her in his arms and holding her tightly against his body. "If it's not cool with you then it's not cool with me."
Justin let Jamie cry onto him until she had no tears left.
"Feel better?" he asked when she stopped crying. She nodded her head and Justin kissed her sweetly on the lips.
"Don't worry. When you're ready I'll be waiting," said Justin.
Mariette rolled over.
"Oh Josh!" she murmured. "I had such a horrible nightmare!" She waited for his arms to wrap around her but when they didn't, she opened her eyes.
She was in a hospital room.
The memories of the previous night came flooding back to her in a rush. Returning home to find the house saturated in blood and JC missing.
"Mariette?" her mother whispered. Mariette turned to her.
"Yes?"
"Do you know what happened?"
"I came home. Josh was gone."
Confusion showed on her mother's face.
"Home? I thought that you were staying with Jamie."
"Mom. . .Josh and I. . .we've been living together for. . ."
"So how's my patient today?" asked the doctor, breezing into the room.
He was the same doctor that had tended to Justin and Jamie, and Mariette had a sickening feeling that they would be seeing a lot more of him.
"As good as I can be, considering my boyfriend is missing," Mariette snapped testily. The doctor appeared uncomfortable for a moment.
"Miss Linnet. . .you've been living with your boyfriend?" he asked.
"Yes."
His eyes darted nervously to her mother.
"I'm not sure if you're aware Miss Linnet, but you are one month pregnant."
Mariette's world came to a crashing halt. She was only 18 and now she was responsible for another living, breathing human being. This was what she had wanted. To be able to have some small part of JC with her always.
"Mariette? Would you care to explain?" asked her mother coldly.
"I. . .I don't know what to say," Mariette stammered.
"Is it possible that you have had unprotected sex in the past month?" asked the doctor.
"My boyfriend and I don't have sex. We make love," Mariette said, avoiding the question.
"Answer the question Mariette," answered her mother.
"Yes," she answered softly.
"Mariette how could you? That was such an incredibly stupid thing to do!" her mother yelled, in tears. The doctor placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.
"Maybe Mariette has something that she's like to say," he said. Her mother turned toward her.
"Mom. . .it was only one time. . .and I'm not going to have an abortion or give it up. . ."
"You're so young!" her mother protested.
"Mom! Josh and I love each other! We've talked about marriage! This isn't just a fling! If something has happened to him. . .then. . .then at least I'll have a part of him with me always!" Mariette tried to get her mother to understand. But it wasn't working.
"What do you know about love? You're only 18! He's an adult! He shouldn't have taken advantage of you! You shouldn't have been so stupid as to let him! I didn't expect you to have an abortion but how could you possibly take care of a child?"
"It isn't like we hadn't talked about it. We weren't really expecting kids so soon but. . .we talked about marriage mom!"
"How do you expect to have a relationship with him? He's not around much and he doesn't have time to be bogged down by children at this point in his career! And how would you feel? With him always gone and you never knowing what he was doing?"
"I trust and love Josh and whether you like it or not we are going to raise this child together. You're just going to have to accept that."
"I will not accept that and you are not going to keep this child!"
"Mrs. Linnet, I understand your concern but your daughter is 18 and capable of making her own decisions. She's stated her opinions and you've stated yours. It's up to her whether she listens or not. I can give you a referral to an OBGYN, but that's all I can do for you."
Mariette's mother nodded her head and looked at her daughter.
"I don't want to see you hurt."
"Mom, nothing bad is going to happen to me and I am sure that Josh is fine."
Mariette knew that those words were only said to convince herself.
