Don't Fight It- 7

Justin threw open his curtain to his bunk bed and stepped back in surprise.
He was tired and he wanted to sleep. The past event that happened with Lance
was a shock to everybody. He couldn't imagine what Rachel must feel like.
 
  "Rachel? How long have you been in here?" Justin asked her, worried. She
didn't look too good, kind of sick.
 
  Her eyes stared blankly back at him and searched his face. "Rae, can you
take off the headphones?" He asked, motioning to his ears. She smiled lightly
and took them off.
 
  He repeated his question to her and she looked beyond his shoulder before
answering. "I've been in here for a couple of hours now. I listened to your
discman. I hope you don't mind?" She answered, apologetically.
 
  "No, I don't mind at all. Why are you in my bunk though? Why not in yours?"
He questioned. He was confused as to why she was there.
 
  "I just didn't want to sleep in mine. In here, I feel comforted. You're
here with me, I can smell you. Don't tell the other's, but you've always
comforted me the best. After Lance that is." Her eyes lost their glimmer at
the mere mention of his name.
 
  "Hey. Hey, it's okay Rae. Everything will be okay." He rested his chin on
the bunk and rubbed her arm, comfortingly.
 
  She closed her eyes and let a few tears slip out. She didn't know if that
was true and she was scared. Lance had never lied to her before and it was
her best friend he had been with. Her ex best friend, she corrected herself.
 
  "Going out with Sierra wasn't bad enough. You'd think that would be
betrayal enough for him. But, then he sleeps with her! Then he lies to me!
that's..." She gulped in air. "God. Justin, this hurts so bad." She quietly
sobbed.
 
  He jumped into the bunk and crawled over her. "What are you doing?" She
sniffled.
 
  "I'm comforting you. Now, shut the curtain. Nobody can see in that way." He
wiggled his eyebrows, hoping that she would catch the humor in his joke.
 
  She managed a small smile and pulled the fabric closed. She rolled over and
pressed her head into Justin's chest. He wrapped his arm around her back and
pulled her closer. He tucked one of his hands around her neck and buried his
own head into her shoulder. "I'm here Rae. It's going to be better now, I'm
here." He whispered. He didn't know how to make her feel better, there was
nothing he could say. He hoped that hugging her and holding her would help.
 
  "I hate the fact that he lied to me." She whispered against his neck. "How
do I know that he didn't lie to me about other things?"
 
  "Rachel. You know that he would never lie to you about something, unless he
did it to protect you." Justin spoke quietly to her, he hated the fact that
she doubted his best friend. He knew Lance would never lie to her, unless it
was for her own good. But, that wasn't too good either. He shook his head and
tried to focus on her and not his thoughts.
 
  "I don't need him to protect me Justin. I can protect myself!" She said
loudly. Justin silently put his finger over his mouth, telling her to lower
her voice.
 
  "Rachel, why don't you talk to me instead of somebody who's associated with
me?" Lance asked angrily from the other side of the bunk. He couldn't believe
she was in Justin's bunk, with him, talking to him about their problems.
 
  Justin gulped in air, he knew he had over-stepped his boundaries by the
tone of Lance's voice.
 
  "Ew." Was Rachel's only reply. Justin nodded at her and she sighed. She
rolled out of the bunk and jumped to her feet in front of Lance.
 
  "Talk to you? Funny, you should say that. Considering the fact that you
don't even talk to me! How could you lie to me that way?" She shouted at him.
She was hurt. He probably should have left it alone for a few days, to let
her cool down.
 
  "Oh right! Me talk to you? How about you talking to me! Or maybe we should
just talk about you and Justin?" He shouted back at her angrily. He had never
been so jealous before.
 
  She was confused as to why Lance kept bringing up her and Justin. There was
nothing going on between them and everybody knew it. They both knew it.
Justin was in love with Leslie, not her. "Don't talk to me about that! It's
so not the point! Why did you lie to me about you and Sierra? How could you
betray me like that?"
 
  "I didn't lie to you and I didn't betray you. I tried to get over you and
in the process I lied to myself and I betrayed myself. Not you. It's not
always about you, you know that?!" He shouted in her face.
 
  "You lied to yourself and betrayed yourself? Okay, here's my response to
that one, Bullshit. Okay, Bullshit?" Rachel smiled angrily at him. "Until you
can really answer me with the truth and you can admit everything to yourself,
don't talk to me." With that, she turned and walked out of the room.
 
  Joey looked up at Lance out of his bunk. "Oh you did it now. Way to go
Slick. You made her swear." He looked up at Lance with mock terror on his
face.
 
  "So what Joey. What does that have to do with anything?" He ran a hand
through his hair irritably.
 
  "Rachel never swears. Only when she's really angry. Angry to the point
where she wants to hit something, which is why she probably walked away. But,
then again. You should know that, you are her best friend. Right?" Justin
answered quietly for Joey. He slipped back into his bunk and closed the
curtain. Joey shrugged his shoulders at Lance and rolled over.
 
  "Oh, this is wonderful. Can You make anything else go wrong in my life?"
Lance asked angrily and sarcastically towards the heavens.
 

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