Joanna ran to the car and jumped in. She sped down the street and whimpered. The tears she wanted to cry so badly kept themselves hidden. The rain was so bad, she could barely see past the hood of her car.

Jo pounded the steering wheel with her fists. "God! Why does it always have to happen to me?" She screamed in anger. "Why do I always have to fail at love?"

She switched the windshield wipers on a higher power and decreased her speed slightly. Jo turned on the radio, hoping to catch a radio station, she needed to know the conditions of the weather. There were no signals, all she could get was static.

Jo drove in the only direction she knew, straight to her best friend's house. The rain picked up, the wind blew harder. Her hands tightened on the steering wheel, forcing the car to stay on the road. A trash can blew out in front of her and she screamed, before swerving to the right. She felt a slight bump as she ran over something.

"Oh please Lord, do not let that be an animal." Her speed increased slightly as she got closer to the house. Her breathing picked up when she heard the tornado sirens. "Let me make it, let me make it." Jo prayed over and over, hoping she could get to the house in time to take cover.

She pulled into the driveway and grabbed the key from her glove box. Jo ran up the walkway and slammed open the door. She was already soaked from the short time it took to get in the house.

"Justin?" She called. "Jay, are you here? Anybody?"

There was no answer and a loud crack of thunder shook the house. She jumped and clutched the keys in her hand. "Dammit, fine time for him to leave the house."

Lightening lit up the house as she ran up the stairs. The sirens had stopped, but she was still rushing to get downstairs. She threw open the door to Justin's room and grabbed a clean sweatshirt off his dresser. She quickly changed shirts and walked to the bathroom.

Throwing open the door, she tossed the sweatshirt in the bathroom. The image she saw caused her to slam against the door and she opened her mouth in a scream.

"Jesus, Justin! What the hell are you doing?" Jo screamed at him.

"Me? What the hell are you doing? This is my house, my bathroom!" Justin yelled back at her.

"Nice towel." Jo smirked at him. He had just stepped out of the shower and luckily, he had a towel wrapped around his body when she walked in the bathroom.

"Yeah, you are SO lucky I was in a towel..." He paused, "or unlucky."

"Oh, very cute." Jo looked away and turned to walk out of the bathroom.

Justin stepped forward, grabbing her arm. "Joey, what's wrong?" He could tell something was bothering her, she was never this jumpy and she had given up on their mini argument almost instantly.

"Nothing, I'm just scared. There's a huge ass storm going on, sirens are going off and I'm wet. Get dressed and let's get downstairs before we get sent to the Land of Oz."

Justin hurriedly threw on jeans and a sweatshirt. He walked out of the bathroom and found Jo sitting on the top of the steps. She had her head rested on her arms, gently swaying back and forth.

He sighed and sat down on the step above her. "Do you wanna talk about it?"

A sob answered him and he looked down alarmed. "Jo, what is it?" She turned away from him and he scooted down to the step below her. Justin kneeled on the step and lifted her chin up. "Tell me what happened? Please?" He pleaded with her. She jerked her chin out of his hand and hastily wiped at the tears. They escaped faster than what she could stop them. "I can't help you Jo, if you don't tell me."

Jo leaned forward and placed her head against his chest. He slowly wrapped his arms around her back as she buried deeper into him. Justin pushed her legs open farther, so he could lean in closer to her. He brought her closer to his chest and she trembled against him.

"Is it Alex? Did he do something?"

Jo didn't answer, but trembled harder. Justin stroked her hair and rubbed her back soothingly. Thunder crashed outside and Jo jumped in fright. "It's okay, I'm here. It's going to be okay, I won't leave." Justin whispered.

Jo wrapped her legs around his waist, pulling him in closer. She slammed against his chest and he raised his eyebrows in shock. "Now, this could get interesting..." He laughed quietly and she sniffled.

Justin rocked her back and forth as he continued to rub her back. After a few minutes, she started giggling. "What are you laughing about?"

"I'm just hearing your comment about it getting interesting." Jo laughed harder and leaned against Justin's shoulder for support. He wrapped his arms around her and hugged her.

"Yeah, well, it's not everyday a girl decides to wrap her legs around me."

Jo pulled back and smiled up at Justin. "First time for everything." She raised her eyebrows up at him.

He leaned forward and gently kissed her forehead. "Please talk to me?"

Jo stood up and reached for Justin's hand. They walked down the stairs hand in hand to the living room.

She sat on the couch and turned to face Justin. "I was going to Alex's house. It had just started to rain, so I was in a bit of a hurry to get there. I noticed there was another car in the driveway, but I didn't really think anything of it. I thought maybe it was just one of his friends or something. I let myself in and I could hear noises coming from the bedroom."

Justin stared at her intently, desperately hoping that it wasn't what he thought it was.

"I thought maybe it was the television. I heard them more clearly when I reached the top of the stairs." Jo closed her eyes against the vision and the pain she felt.

"I could hear them. God, Justin! I could hear them!" She clenched her teeth in anger. "I walked into the bedroom and I saw them. Alex didn't even notice
I was there, she had to point it out to him."

"He looked at me and didn't say a word, and I ran out of the room."

Justin cleared his throat, "Did you he follow you or anything?"

Jo shook her head no and looked at the floor. "Do you have any idea what it's like?"

"What, what's like?"

"To see the man you're in love with having sex with another woman? It's awful, Justin. I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy."

"Joey, I'm so sorry..."

"It hurts like something awful. It feels like my heart ... my heart is being squeezed through a small vice and it can't breathe." She whimpered.

Justin scooted over and hugged her close to him. He closed his eyes and clenched his teeth. He wanted to kill Alex, for hurting such an amazing and beautiful woman. For hurting his best friend.
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