"Whoa!" Chris said, jumping back. He collected himself and then continued. "How is it none of my business when I got this car just as dirty as you did?"
"Do you wanna help, Chris?" Joey asked. "Cause I got another brush there..." He pointed across the garage to a brush sitting on a table.
"No!" Chris said, holding up his hands. "I don't think so..."
"Then why do you keep bothering me?"
Meanwhile, Lori walked out of the kitchen and into the living room. She saw Lance sitting on the couch and plopped down next to him. "Hey."
"Hi..." he said softly.
Lori looked up at him and noticed that he had been crying. "What's wrong, Lance?" she asked, scooting closer to him.
He let out a small sob and another tear rolled down his cheek. "I'm fine..." he lied.
"No, you're not. You're crying and that's not fine."
He looked up at her, wondering if he should tell her. Someone could walk in at any time. He didn't want any of the guys to hear about his problems. "Can we talk about this somewhere else?" he asked her, hoping she would agree.
"Sure."
They got up and walked upstairs to Lance's room.
Lori sat down on his bed and watched as he sat next to her. "Now, what's on your mind?"
Lance didn't say anything. He looked down at the floor and thought about how to say it.
"Lance... Come on..." she said, putting her hand on his shoulder.
He finally looked up into her blue eyes. "I..." he started but couldn't finish. He decided to go about it in a different way. "Do you think I'm attractive?" he asked her.
"What?" Lori said, surprised by his question.
"I knew it..." Lance hung his head, "You don't."
"I didn't say that, Lance. I just wasn't expecting you to say that," she replied.
"But, you don't... do you..."
"You're a good looking guy... you-"
"But SHE doesn't think so..." Lance choked, feeling more tears in his eyes.
"Am I bothering you?" Chris asked. "I'll leave..." He turned towards the door and opened it.
"Yeah... okay, whatever," Joey mumbled as he stuck the brush into the bucket again.
"Yeah, okay, whatever!" Chris mimicked once he had shut the door. He was glad that Joey was cleaning Justin's car. Now he could go be with Lori. He smiled as he jogged up the stairs towards her room.
When he passed Lance's room he heard Lori's voice. He knew that he shouldn't have been listening, but once again his curiosity made him stay. The door was open a crack so he peeked in.
"Who's she?" Lori wondered.
Lance ignored her question. He was so hurt that he didn't know what to do. "What would you do if I kissed you?" he asked, looking into her eyes.
Lori was shocked. "Lance, I-" but before she could get another word out she felt his lips on hers.
Outside the room, Chris felt his heart breaking. He couldn't move or even breathe. Everything had stopped and all he saw was Lance kissing the love of his life. What had gone wrong?
He stumbled backwards and leaned against the wall. This wasn't happening... this couldn't be happening! He felt his knees collapse as he slid to the floor. All of the strength was leaving his body.
Lori pulled away from Lance and gave him a funny look. "Lance, please don't ever do that again," she told him.
Lance felt more tears form in his eyes. "I'm sorry, Lori... It's just that I needed to feel something before I went crazy. There's so much pain..."
"It's okay, I guess," Lori was confused and she turned her head away from his. She heard something in the hallway and went out to investigate. She opened the door and looked out. Hmm... nothing was there.
Chris didn't know how he had pulled himself up from the floor, but he had done it and that was all that mattered. He grabbed his keys off the kitchen table and quickly made his way out of the house. He had to get out, and fast. There was no way he could bare the pain any longer.
An hour later Chris was still driving. Finally he pulled over and leaned his head against the steering wheel. "Why?" he mumbled through his tears. "Why is this happening?"
He looked up and through the window and found that he had no idea where he was. Of course his vision was blurry, but he knew that he hadn't been paying much attention while driving. He wiped his eyes with the back of his hands and looked for a street sign. When he found one he realized that he did know where he was. He was only about fifteen minuets away from home. But did he want to go home? No way. Not with Lori and Lance there. Chris cringed... it hurt so much when he thought about it.
Lori opened the garage door and saw Joey draped across the front of Justin's car scrubbing the side of the leather seat. She looked at him funny and then shook her head. "Hi, Joey. Have you seen Chris?"
Joey looked up when he heard her voice. "Yeah, about an hour ago. He was in here bothering me for a while." Joey looked back down at the seat and continued to scrub.
"Hmm... I wonder where he is. He didn't even tell me he was going anywhere." Lori said, looking out the garage door and onto the street." She paused and thought for a second. "Thanks anyway, Joey."
Lori walked through the living room and into the kitchen. She leaned against the counter, looking out the window. She looked up and down the street. There was no sign of Chris or his car.
She had fallen asleep on the couch waiting for Chris to come home. When the door opened she jumped and sat up. JC and Justin appeared.
"Hey, Lori..." JC said. He saw the look of disappointment on her face. "What's wrong?"
Lori couldn't contain her tears any longer and she let them pour on to her cheeks. "I don't know where Chris is," she told them.
JC sat down next to Lori while Justin closed the door. "I wouldn't worry. You know Chris... he probably just got a craving for tacos and took off. He'll be back soon."
"But he's been gone for almost five hours!" she cried.
JC let Lori cry on his shoulder as he looked up at Justin. Five hours? That wasn't like Chris at all. "I'm sure he's fine," JC lied, patting Lori's back.
Chris found himself in the park. He parked the car and looked at the clock. It was five thirty-four. Everyone was probably wondering where he was. He got out of the car and walked down a grassy hill. When he found a shady spot he sat down and hugged his knees, wondering how he could get the courage to go home.
Next to Chris was a large tree. He scooted over and leaned against it. In front of him were a few kids playing on a swing set. He watched as they took turns pushing each other and jumping off into the sand.
He had to do something to get rid of the pain in his heart and the awful feeling in his stomach. The problem was, that he didn't know what. All he could do was sit there and try not to think about it. But it was hard when you're heart controlled your brain.
At nine fifteen Chris was still nowhere to be found.
"That's it..." Justin said, frowning at the phone. "I've called practically everywhere in town and there's no sign of Chris."
"What are we gonna do?" JC wondered.
Justin looked up at JC. "I'm gonna go look for him. Something is wrong. Chris never stays out this long without letting us know where he is."
"Want me to come with you?" JC asked.
"Naw... it's okay." Justin walked towards the garage.
"Good luck!" JC called.
Justin turned and gave a small smile. Then he opened the door and grinned at his very clean Mercedes. "Nice work, Joey..." he muttered. He hopped in and started the engine.
A half hour later, Justin was driving down a quiet street when he saw a familiar car. He parked behind it and got out after locking the doors. Down the hill he saw Chris leaning against a tree.
"Chris!" Justin yelled.
Chris looked up and saw Justin standing on the top of the hill. What was he doing here? Chris looked away from him and didn't say anything.
Justin ran down the hill and stood a few feet away from Chris. "Man, what are you doing out here? Lori's worried sick!"
Something in Chris snapped. "Oh! So Lori's worried sick?" he yelled in a hurt voice. "Well maybe she should have thought about that before she-" he stopped himself. He didn't want Justin to know what he had witnessed between Lori and Lance.
"Before she what?" Justin asked, sitting down next to him.
More tears ran down Chris cheeks. He looked down and pulled out a few blades of grass.
"Chris, why are you so upset? Have you been here all day?"
Chris decided to ignore the first question and answer the second. "No... I was driving around for a while..."
"Why?"
"Because I felt like it!" Chris snapped at Justin.
"Bull shit, you felt like it," Justin frowned. "I know that something happened between you and Lori so why don't you just tell me what?"
Chris took a deep breath. He could tell that Justin wasn't going to leave him alone. "It's not what happened between Lori and I. It's what happened between Lori and..." He couldn't even say Lance's name.
"Lori and who? What happened?"
"Look, I really don't feel like talking about this, so if you could just go back to where you came from..." Chris trailed off.
Justin chuckled. "I'm not going anywhere unless you're coming with me," he told Chris.
"Justin, please..." Chris begged. "I just need to be left alone right now."
"Come home and then I'll leave you alone," Justin bargained.
Chris closed his eyes. He couldn't go home. Lori was there... so was Lance...
"What do you say?"
"No! I can't!" he cried.
"Why not?" Justin wondered as he watched Chris tie and retie with his shoelace.
"Just because!" Chris yelled. "Now, go away!"
"No!" Justin said, getting up and grabbing Chris' arm. "You're coming home."
Chris pulled away from Justin and stood up. "That's the last place I'm going," he said, glaring at Justin.
"We'll see..." Justin grabbed Chris again and tried to drag him up the hill.
"Let go, Justin!" Chris shouted, and tried to break free. He couldn't. Justin was stronger than him.
Justin threw him in the back seat of his car and slammed the door. He then walked around the car and got into the front.
Once in the back seat, Chris burst into tears. He sat in the middle with his head in his hands. How was he gonna face everyone?
When they reached the house, Justin had to pull Chris out of the car and drag him do the door.
"Don't you understand, Justin?" Chris asked as Justin put his free hand on the doorknob. "I can't go in there!" he cried, still trying to break loose from Justin's grasp.
"Then tell me why," Justin demanded.
"Fine!" Chris sighed. By now he would do anything to keep Justin from forcing him to go inside. He pulled Justin down on the steps.
"Now, why are you so determined to stay out of this house?" Justin asked, still holding onto Chris arm, just in case he decided to try and run off.
Chris took a deep breath and looked down at the cement. "I saw Lance kissing Lori," he said as quickly as possible.
"You what?" Justin asked in disbelief. "Don't make me repeat it!" Chris yelled as he watched a tear hit the ground. "Don't you think it hurts enough?"
"Come on, Chris... there has to be an explanation! Lori loves you!" Justin told Chris. "Was she kissing him back?"
Chris thought about it for a second. "I don't remember..." he said softly. "It's all a big blur."
"So..." Justin started. "You're not even sure of what you saw..."
Chris looked up at Justin and wiped his eyes. "I saw Lance kissing Lori. I'm sure of it."
"Come on, Chris. Go in there and let her explain. I know that she loves you more than anything." Justin pulled Chris to his feet and took a step towards the door. "You're just afraid that she's gonna tell you that she likes Lance or something. Well, let me tell you something, Chris... I'm absolutely positive that that's not the case."
"How do you know?" Chris asked as he tried to move away from Justin. "I just can't talk to them now..."
"Them? You only have to talk to Lori."
Chris squeezed his eyes shut. They burned and he opened them quickly to let more tears flow out. "I can't." He finally shook his arm away from Justin's grasp and ran.
"Chris!" Justin called. "Come back here!" He ran after Chris and followed him down the street.
Maybe Chris could have outran Justin if Justin wasn't ten years younger than him. Or maybe if his whole body didn't ache from crying all day. He finally stopped and Justin caught up with him.
"Chris... what are... you doing..." Justin said, gasping for breath.
"I can't face... them now..." Chris choked out, plopping down on the boulevard. He put his face in his hands and let out a sob.
"You can't run away from your problems..." Justin told him, leaning against a tree.
"I just need a while to think!" Chris snapped.
"The longer you stay away, the harder it's gonna be to come back," Justin warned Chris as he started to walk back to the house.
Chris watched him walk away. He couldn't do this alone. He needed someone to talk to. "Justin, wait!" he called.
Justin turned around really fast, as if he were expecting Chris to call him back. "What?" he asked as he jogged back over to Chris.
Chris looked away from Justin and at a car parked across the street. "Nothing... I just don't want to be alone..." he muttered.
Justin smiled to himself. He was finally getting through to Chris. "As long as I don't make you go back... right?"
"Right," Chris agreed. "You finally understand."
"Okay, Chris..." Justin continued as he pulled out his cell phone. "I won't make you go back, but I'm gonna call home and tell everyone that you're okay. All right?"
"Fine..." he agreed. "Just don't tell them why I ran off."
Justin sighed. "I won't."
Chris watched as Justin punched in the numbers.
"Hi... yeah." Justin said into the phone while glancing over at Chris. "He's fine. Um... you want to talk to him?"
Chris shook his head and mouthed, 'No!'
"He's kinda busy now. Yeah... I'm sure. He's fine," Justin lied. "We'll be back later. Okay?" he paused. "All right, bye."
"Was that Lori?" Chris asked, not sure what he wanted the answer to be.
"Yeah," Justin admitted, closing his phone.
Chris hugged his knees and stared out at the street while Justin sat there and watched him.
"Thank God, he's okay!" Lori said as she sat down at the kitchen table. "I wonder where he was all this time..."
"Geez... where would Chris go, spend the whole day there and not tell anyone where he was going?" JC said, as he looked up at the clock. "It's late and I'm exhausted... I'm gonna-"
"Go to sleep," Lori and Joey finished for him.
JC looked at them for a few seconds. "Yeah..." he said slowly, getting up from the table.
After JC had left, Lance entered the kitchen and sat down across from Lori and Joey. He put his elbow on the table and then rested his head in his hand.
"What?" Joey asked when he realized that Lance was staring at him.
"Can I talk to Lori?" Lance asked.
"Hey..." Joey gave a small smile. "No one's stoppin' ya."
Lance frowned. "Let me put that in Joey language... Can you please leave?"
"God, Lance..." Joey said, getting up. "What's gotten into you?"
"Nothing," Lance replied.
Joey left and Lance turned his gaze on Lori.
"You could have been a little more gentle with Joey. He doesn't know that you're having problems with Beth," Lori told Lance.
Lance's face softened and tears came to his eyes. "I'm sorry..."
"Tell him that, not me."
"I will later," Lance promised as he scooted closer to the table. "But I want to tell you that I'm sorry too... for kissing you and all. I don't know what I was thinking. If Chris found out he would beat the crap out of me..."
"It's okay, Lance. I know that you're in pain. You weren't thinking clearly."
"Just pretend that it never happened... please?" he pleaded.
"Okay," she smiled.
Justin and Chris had been sitting there for quite a while when suddenly Chris stood up.
He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "I think I'm ready..." he said. "But I'm not talking to anyone. I'm just gonna go up to my room and lie down."
"Good!" Justin breathed a sigh of relief as he stood up. "Let's go."
Chapter 8
A Chance
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