(Two days later)
Ryan walked dazed and not quite awake down the stairs of the hotel they were located at. She headed towards the lobby and turned down a corridor. She stopped in front of two large wooden doors, and stared at them like she had never seen doors before. Ryan snapped out of her trance and pushed open the doors.
The dinning hall was pretty much empty, except for the crew-members that attended.
"Uh oh, someone looks like crap!" Chris mocked, referring to Ryan.
"Gee, Thanks…" Ryan said with a sarcastic tone.
"Ouch! Someone got off the wrong side of the bed! Maybe you should eat some cereal…It works for Justin!"
Justin narrowed his eyes at Chris and took another bite of his Applejacks.
Ryan's eyes drooped tiredly. She ran her hand through her recently brushed hair.
"Sleep well?"
Ryan looked up from her juice she grabbed on her way to the table and smiled lazily at JC.
"No…I can't sleep in unfamiliar places…especially when it's not my bed or pillow."
"You'll get use to it Ryan. It'll become easier as times rolls by."
Ryan took a sip of her drink and nodded as she swallowed. She leaned her elbows at the edge of the table and cupped her face in her hand. Her eyes grew heavy as she listened to the boys munch on their early breakfast.
Suddenly an object hit Ryan in the head causing her to open her eyes; She looked around and saw everyone acting casual as if nothing happened. Ryan rolled her eyes and yawned softly.Lance coughed roughly, causing everyone to look at him.
"Oh no! You're not getting sick again are you?"
Lance coughed again and cleared his throat. "It's probably just a twenty-four hour thing, no biggie."
"You'll need to get lots of rest…or else the virus will take over."
Everyone looked in complete awe. Ryan's expression remained confused, as the prying eyes looked at her.
"What?"
"Why do you care?" Lance asked leaning forward to take a sip of his orange juice.
"Because I do…and if you have -"
"Nope, I don't have a problem with it."
Ryan's mouth hung loosely in shock. 'OK, this is TOO weird! Where's his attitude? The rudeness? No insult? There was no way that he'd change like that!'
"I gotta go! I'll see you guys tonight!"
With that Ryan got up from her seat and walked away baffled. As Ryan walked up the stairs to go back up to her room, she tried to figure out what just happened. Ryan couldn't come up with a reasonable explanation.
"It's just the cold! It's going to his head!"
(Later that night, at the concert)
"Thank you Mississippi! WE…LOVE…YOU!" Justin ran off the stage and grabbed his water bottle. He placed his white jacket in a large bin and kept on running. He jumped onto the tour bus.
"Number five! Let's roll!" A large African American male yelled climbing in after Justin.
Justin wiped the sweat off of his face and stood up, hanging onto Joey for support. Justin turned his attention to Lance, who was sweating more than usual and coughing up a storm.
"Lance? Are you OK?" Lance looked up at Justin. Lance's face was pale and looked to be freezing.
"Yea, I just need to rest."
"No partying for you my man!" Joey said half joking.
"Oh darn…" Lance coughed again, he looked up and smiled.
"You're not staying my yourself! That's for sure!" JC said bobbing his knee up and down. "We'll have you stay in…26B-"
"But that's-"
"Yes, I know Justin…" Justin got the hint and quickly shut his mouth. "You'll stay there until we get back, got it?"
Lance nodded and leaned back into the couch, holding his head. Hoping to stop the spinning.
"JC," Justin whispered moving closer to him. His eyes going back and fourth to JC and Lance, like a game of Ping-Pong.
"Someone's already in 26B."
"Yea…I know."
Justin looked at JC not quite understanding. Justin shot up from his position and grabbed the room list that hung on wall. He scanned the list until he found 26B. Right across the name read, "Ryan Joleigh." Justin's head snapped upright at to JC. His mouth slightly gapped.
"Oh…you're good! Damn good!"
JC smiled widely knowing he was doing the right thing here.
"Hey Tony? Make sure Lance doesn't leave 26B until we get back, no matter the conditions! K?"
(About twenty minutes later)
"Here, Lance..." Justin handed Lance a spare key to the room that he would be staying in for the time being. "We'll be back around...well...I'd say until Joey gets sick of girls dissing him."
Lance forced a smile, not really wanting to anything but sleep.
"Get better Poofoo, we need you!"
"Yea, we don't need you to collapses on us again now do we?" Chris called, trying to lighten up the mood a bit. Everyone turned and stared at him blankly. "God! Soooorrrryyyy! Why does everyone get upset with me when I try to put some humor into the environment?"
The blank looks remained on their faces. Chris, getting offended threw his hands in the air and sat on the carpet floor, crossing his arms over his chest.
"Right," JC mumbled.
He turned back to Lance and smiled at him. Lance sniffed and waved good bye to the guys. He shut the door behind him and leaned up against the door.
"Finally!" he let out with much relief.
"See!! He's actually HAPPY that we're gone! Remind myself to never do anything for that boy ever again."
Lance laughed when he realized Chris could hear through the walls since he was leaning against it also. Lance itched his face and coughed. Lance groaned and pushed himself toward the bed that appeared to look like a big puffy cloud to him at the time.
He fell face first onto the bed. His arms pushed him up when he couldn't breathe any longer, followed by an aching cough.
"Errrrrr, I HATE being sick..." Lance cleared his throat and cuddled himself underneath the covers that looked so comforting.
Lance's chest slowly rose and fell, in a steady rhythm. He caressed his cheeks against the soft pillow and placed his hand under it. His comfortable daily sleeping position. He fought himself to stay awake, but failed.
"JC, are you sure that your doing the right thing? I have reason to believe that one of them won't make it out alive," Joey jogged up beside JC to hear his reply.
"Things will work out...I know that we shouldn't screw with faith or destiny...but I can't stand to see those two bicker the way that they do."
"Awww, JC are we playing match maker?" Chris asked taking a sip out of his cup. JC looked at him puzzled.
"Not really...you couldn't get those two to like each other even if hell froze over. I'm just trying to lighten up there's burdens for each other."
This time it was JC who received the blank looks.
"No...no..."
"No what?"
"Nothing..." Chris got up at left the table they were all huddled around giving JC "the hand." JC just shrugged it off and laughed to himself.
"You think that you did the right this JC?"
JC turned to the voice and smiled weakly at Justin. "I hope so...I really hope so."
