The alarm sounded in Justin's ear as he reached over and hit the snooze button.
"Justin, you gotta wake up. That thing has already gone off five times." Jo smiled against his ear, "you'll be late, again."
Justin mumbled incoherently as Jo pushed herself out of bed. She walked over to the alarm, and turned the sound up louder. She headed into the bathroom, and began to get ready.
Five minutes later, the alarm sounded again. Only this time, it blared Limp Bizkit into Justin's ears. He jumped, and rolled over to his side. Picking up the alarm clock, he slammed it against the wall.
"JUSTIN!" Jo screamed from the bathroom, "get your lazy ASS out of bed NOW!"
Justin grumbled, and climbed out of bed. He shoved his way into the bathroom, knocking Jo against the sink. "You scared the heck out of me. You better hurry up, because you've got about twenty minutes before the meeting, and now we've have to buy you a new alarm clock. What the hell are you doing!?" Jo shrieked. She had been so busy yelling at Justin, she wasn't even paying attention to the fact that he was starting to pee in front of her.
"I'm pissin', what does it look like?" Justin replied, his soft southern drawl coming out. His accent always came out stronger in the morning, when he first woke up.
"Yes, I can see that! But why are you peeing with me in here?" Jo yelled, turning her back on him.
"You were in my way, and besides if you're gonna stay with me, you better get used to this." Justin smirked at her back.
"Oh. My. GOD."
"Relax, I'm done." Justin turned her around, "you can finish your make up now." He smiled, and kissed her cheek.
"Oh thank you so very much."
"No problem." He walked into the hallway, and got a towel and wash cloth.
"Now what are you doing?" Jo asked him.
"I'm taking a shower, what does it look like?"
"IN HERE?"
"Yes." Justin sighed, "where else am I going to take one?"
"In the guest bathroom?"
"No, that's your bathroom. I'm taking one in my bathroom. All my stuff is in here anyway."
Jo screamed in frustration. "I am not moving! I was here FIRST!" She gritted out between her clenched teeth.
"Okay, you can stay here. Just turn your back, while I get undressed. Or you can watch." Justin wiggled his eyebrows at her.
"Oh please. Do you want me to laugh at you?" Jo smirked at him, as he peeled off his sweat pants. She giggled at the sight of his boxers. "Very cute."
"I thought you'd like it." Justin grabbed the waistband, preparing to pull them down. He raised his eyebrow at her, and she gulped, before turning her back towards him.
Jo turned back around when she heard the shower start, and finished getting ready. "So, what's this meeting about?"
"We're going to decide what songs are going to be played, which one of you girls is coming on tour and when, and discussing who's going to be on the tour as openers. Johnny wants everybody there."
"Why?" Jo questioned, confused.
"He wants us to decide what we're going to do all together. I guess he figures that with you guys there, we won't fight over who's coming on first, last, and who's staying the longest. It would solve arguments faster."
"And arm wrestling matches faster too." Jo giggled into the mirror. Justin snorted in laughter, and hurried to finish.
"I'm done in here, so you might want to leave the bathroom." Justin suggested to Jo.
"Yeah, that's good. I'm done too. I'll be downstairs, hurry up." Jo left the bathroom, closing the door behind her.
She smiled to herself as she walked down the stairs. A few minutes later, Justin ran down the stairs. "C'mon! Hurry up, we're gonna be late!" Justin yelled at her. Jo rolled her eyes at him, and grabbed the keys.
The ride to the studio was mostly silent. Jo stared out the window, wondering how she was going to make it two months without having Justin by her side. They hadn't toured in a while, she had gotten used to him always being there. Alex was also on her mind. She knew her time was running out, sooner or later, she was going to have to face him and their relationship. The thought alone made her heart race in fear. Jo didn't know how she was going to be able to resist him. She was angry at him, angrier than she'd ever been, but she also loved him very much. It was hard to throw something like that out of her mind, and her heart.
Justin looked over at Jo, noticing the far away look in her eyes. He reached over, and rubbed her knee. "It's going to be all right, Joey. I promise."
Jo placed her hand on top of Justin's, "i hope so, Jay. I really do." She wrapped her fingers with his, rubbing the back of his hand in slow circles.
Justin parked in his reserved parking spot, and climbed out of the car. Jo followed his action, and leaned against the door. Justin walked over to her, "do you not wanna do this?" He questioned her.
Jo wrapped her arms around his waist, pulling him closer to her. She laid her head on his chest, and squeezed her eyes shut.
Justin kissed the top of her head, breathing in her smell. He rubbed her back, comfortingly, before pulling away. "Let's go." His tone husky with emotion.
They walked through the hallways hand in hand, as they got closer to the meeting room, the noise level rose in volumes. "They're already going at it." Jo sighed.
The door swung open, just as Justin and Jo reached it. "Boy! It's about damn time. I was getting ready to call you." Johnny yelled at Justin, pulling him in the door.
He greeted Jo with a hug and a kiss on the cheek. "You ready for this?"
"Never." Jo sighed with a sad smile.
Johnny whistled through his teeth, as Jo sat down in between Jayla and Rachel. They both grabbed each of her hands and squeezed them in anticipation. "How's this going down?" Jo questioned.
"The boys are going to draw pieces of paper out of this can. There will be a number of weeks on it, along with a different number telling what order everybody's coming out. Here's an example: Chris draws a slip of paper, it'll say two weeks, and then after that it'll say 3. Erica will spend two weeks on the tour and she'll be the third person to come out. Everybody got it?" Johnny looked around the long conference table.
They all nodded, eyeing the can, wondering how well everybody was going to take it.
"Let's get started." Johnny rubbed his hands together. "We'll go in order of age. Chris, you start."
Chris reached into the can and pulled out a slip of paper. "Let's wait until we all get numbers."
The others agreed and all pulled out pieces of paper. Chris opened his first.
"Three weeks, number two." Erica smiled in relief, knowing that she'd get to spend a while with Chris and she'd only have to wait a few weeks. Jo smiled over at her, and Erica winked at her.
JC opened his next. "Four weeks, number three." Jo hugged Jayla, congratulating her.
"This is so funny! We're all acting like this is some big competition or something." Jayla giggled at everybody and their tenseness.
"Quiet woman! It's what it's all about!" Joey laughed at her. The others laughed at the brother and sister, glad that the tension was broken.
Joey opened his next, "three weeks, number one! YES!" He hugged and kissed Sarah on the lips in his excitement.
"Dork." Jayla grumbled under her breath. Lance nudged her with his shoulder, and she shot him a dirty look.
Lance opened his piece of paper next and stared at it in surprise. "Five weeks, number four." He blinked at Rachel, and smiled. "Wow!"
Rachel squealed with excitement and hugged Jo tightly. "That is so awesome Rae! I'm glad you guys get to spend a lot of time together!" Rachel and Lance had just started their relationship a few months ago, it would be good for them.
Jo looked down at the table, knowing she was the last one on the tour. She crossed her fingers, hoping she would get a lot of time. Jayla and Rachel looked at each other knowingly, they could feel her fingers crossing around their hands.
It felt like an eternity
before Justin finally opened his piece of paper. He stared at it
dumbfounded, his heart sinking into his stomach. "Uhh, it
says
one week, number five."
Jo looked at him, shocked. Out of everybody, she was having the hardest time, and she got the less time out of everyone. She knew she was being selfish, but she couldn't help feeling a bit angry, and well, jealous.
Her eyes filled with tears, as she quickly looked down at the table. Jo knew she could live without Justin for a few weeks, even a month, but a whole tour! Rachel let go of her hand, and gently rubbed her back.
Jo blinked back the tears, she refused to show how upset she was in front of everybody. "All right, what's next?" She asked Johnny.
"Nothing, you guys are free to go. I decided to save all the other stuff for the day after tomorrow. You girls would be bored sitting through it all, plus I have a lot of work to catch up on."
The all jumped up, and ran for the door, excited to go back to their vacation. Jo hung back, still in her chair. Justin looked at her from across the table, not moving either.
He placed his hands on the table, debating what to say. "Well, uh, this really sucks."
Jo let her head finally fall in her hands, the tears unable to keep themselves behind her eyes. Justin jumped from his seat and ran around the table.
He knelt down in front of her, "please don't cry, baby. Please don't cry. We'll work something out, I promise." Justin leaned his head against her shoulder, tears gathering in his eyes as well. He knew there was nothing to work out, the arrangements had already been made. It finally hit him, that he was going to have to go a few months without seeing his best friend.
Justin pulled her up from her seat, burrowing his head in her shoulder. He wrapped his arms around Jo's waist, pulling her up and tighter against him. They were both seeking comfort in each other's embrace, knowing it would be one of the last hugs they would share for a while.
