*~Morning*~
After reenacting what she had the previous morning, Korey had began to wonder why she was staying at Chris's house if two for two nights had been spent on the cold bathroom floor. Repeating her past processes, she quickly stumbled into her bedroom.
She wasn't in there for very long when she found Justin's limp body sprawled across her bed. She didn't want to be around him. She wasn't sure what he had meant last night, but she would be too embarrassed to ask. She had just screwed up for herself a whole week of getting to know him.
She crept silently to the closet and grabbed a pair of stone washed flares and a dark green abercrombie shirt before digging through the kitchen for breakfast. It was Monday morning, the guys were gonna be home soon. She was anxious because she knew they would kill any of the tenseness she felt around Justin. After slopping through some cherios, she left the soggy bowl in the sink and headed to the shower. Justin heard the water go on and woke up glancing at the clock. It was 9 and he knew the guys would be home soon so he decided to drag himself up. His smile faded as he walked into the hallway and spotted the doorknob he had taken off last night. Suddenly the memories of what she had screamed so intensely, came back. He shuddered and quickly bent down to fix the knob. Justin laughed sweetly when a large puff of steam flowed from the bathroom. "Still takes ya ten hours huh," He teased She was startled to hear his voice when she thought he had been sleeping, but the simple fact that he could joke with her, made her ease up. "Im surprised you ask again, like I said, a girls gotta do what a girls gotta do," she whispered walking past him to the laundry room. He held his nose in the air as she did so. He stayed in his crouched position on the floor breathing deeply to capture the remarkably clean smell she gave off. "So when are the guys comin back?" she called to him as she folded her clothes from the last two days. "Um they should be home actually any minute now," Justin called back to her as he turned the last screw, securing the knob, "Looks good as new." He said to himself as she was walking back down the hall in his direction. When she heard him say that, she realized he was referring to the knob he had to take off to get in her room last night. She felt like she needed to apologize, or say something about it, she knew it was still on his mind. What she wanted to know so deeply the most was why he had screamed to her that she didn't love him. "Where you dreaming too?" she accidentally whispered. "Huh?" he said jerking his head up like lightening had struck her. She blushed before avoiding his curiosity. "Korey what did you just say?" "Nothin why?" "No ya said something, I cant be goin deaf already...we need to talk." "Theres nothing to talk about." "Obviously there is if your so quick to say there isnt," he argued "Lets just both forget about it ok? Lets forget about this whole weekend, our whole time the guys have been gone, its vanished! gone...zip...zilch...nada" "Ok! I get your point but I dont think thats right Korey, it took a lot of courage to do some of the things I tried to do for you in this time." She held her head down as she spoke, "Justin, I never wanted you to do anything for me, I appreciated it, but I didn't ask it, and I dont want anything from you except your friendship." "Korey, the fact that you dont want anything, just makes me want to give you so much more." "Huh?" She confusedly responded as the door slammed open giving her an excuse to run away. "Steamy!" lance shouted hauling in Chris's bags. "Hey lance" she yelled back running to hug him. "Hey girlie whats up?" Jc asked pulling her from Lance's arms to his. "It's pass the Korey! im in im in!" Chris yelled grabbing her from Jc's arms to his own. Joey entered and followed the pattern until there weren't any more hugs anyone could give. "I'm so glad you guys are home! Its been so quiet around here." She exclaimed as she noticed Justin shake his head and walk to the back hallway. The guys eyes all followed him until he was out of sight, and wished for their good friends sake, that she hadn't said something like that. JC had called him later the first day they were alone, and Justin was so thrilled to tell him his marvelous plan. JC finally excused himself to go after Justin as Chris Joey and Lance continued to greet Korey and tell her all about the new choreography, and also how they wanted to spend their month vacation. "You guys are not serious, if you wanna do all that with me you better bring a gun cuz your gonna get pretty damn sick of me after about....the first thing Lance said." "The first thing Lance said was the first thing anyone said silly!" Chris laughed "Exactly." She giggled helping Chris's last bags in the door. "Geez, what in the WORLD could you possibly need all this for?" "A guy needs what a guy needs!" Chris sarcastically mocked. Meanwhile, Jc finished his pep talk to Justin, and both walked back to the area of chaos with cheerful grins as they dug into the leftover food Korey had barely touched all weekend. Korey sat next to JC on the couch when she saw him pat it. He was writing lyrics to a song. She was amused in his work as he came up with catch after catch. She focused on his quick paced mind as well as pencil capturing his thoughts. A few minutes later Korey noticed Chris had entered the room. As his humming became louder, Korey was frozen. She couldn't stop herself from yelling. "Chris!" "Huh?" he looked up at her confusedly. "What did he tell you?! why are you singing that?!" She freaked out as she heard the words flow from his lips. "What do u mean he? Me and Joe are watchin Top Gun in the other room...did you rent it? We just wanted to see if you wanted to watch with us." He explained before continuing his humming of "Take my breath away" She held her head down in embarrassment and tried to persuade her heart to beat again. She was afraid Justin had told all of the guys what she had done to him and how unappreciative she was. "Oh ok, um nah im watchin Jc...maybe later," She smiled praying he would walk away without a fight. She cringed as he spoke again, "Man, some songs really get to you dont they? Like in the car, you practically cried." "What do u mean get to me, they dont get to me! He has no effect on me at all and neither do songs to remind me of him!" She yelled in defense "What on earth are you...." Chris stopped himself as he realized what she was saying...."Korey, I was meaning with your mother and Greg...." "Dont finish that Chris, please dont finish that." She screamed to herself. "I didn't mean about Justin silly, no need to get all defensive...theres nothin to hide." He smiled popping a pringle in his mouth before backing out of the room. JC smiled to himself pretending to still be working on his lyrics. She sighed deeply as her heart sped back up. "There is something really strange going on, its like their all helping him be overly nice to me, I dont deserve it," She thought focusing her attention back to JC. A few days of nothing passed. Korey had gone frequently for long walks in the park by Chris's house to gather her thoughts. She wondered why God had picked her to be the most lucky person on the planet to be able to hang out with these guys. She also wondered about her job, and when she would be able to dance again. She knew she'd have to get out of Chris's way sooner or later. *Two weeks later* The guys had gone to a local arcade besides Justin. By this time, Korey had let herself free of her worries, and stopped pulling away from Justin so much. He was only trying to be nice. It was around 4pm on a lazy Saturday. Korey looked up from her magazine as Justin spoke to her. "We should do something....i bet the guys wont be back for a while." He suggested. "Like what?" she positively responded forcing Justin to smile. "OH my goodness your cooperating, shoulda gotten that on tape." "Im gettin used to it, guess theres nothin I can do! You seem to force me to go everywhere anyway." She laughed "Well, im in for some shoppin, what about you." He raised his eyebrows while rubbing his hands together. She threw her magazine down from her lap and hopped up. "Well what are ya waiting for?!" She asked two seconds later when Justin was still sitting. He chuckled as she grabbed his hand and pulled him out of his chair. "I think thats the first time you've ever willingly touched me for no reason to thank me." He smiled causing her to drop his hand as she casually walked to the door. "Ill meet you in the car." She smiled After about two hours of shopping in every Champs and Finish line in the mall, and 4 pairs of shoes later...Justin turned to her tiredly. "Got enough?" She asked as she thought about how amusing it was to shop with someone who had no idea what he wanted yet found something in every store he set his wealthy lil feet to. "I think so sass but you aint got nothin." HE realized "I aint got nothin cuz I aint wantin nothin." She smiled imitating him "Well I think we need to fix that, lets start with some...." Before he could finish his sentence he pushed her down into a bench and ran towards the food court. She waited anxiously before she spotted him with two ice cream cones. "This my little lady is for you." He informed taking a bite off the top of hers before handing it to her. "Hey! Now its got your slobber all over it." She laughed taking it from his hand. A few minutes later Justin was lost watching her enjoy something for a change. "Ya know sassy, if I could see that tongue work like that as often as I wanted...I think i'd buy ya a lifetime supply of ice-cream." "Your such a pervert." She laughed pushing his shoulder. "So do you have a boyfriend?" He asked bluntly "Nope, he would have been at the party if I did, then your hero actions wouldn't have taken place." She whispered making a playful frowning face "Good thing huh." "Huh?" "Oh God Korey not this again, I know its hard for you to get close to anyone after that, i hear how it is all the time on the news and everything...but ive just got to be honest." he explained "Honesty is good...go ahead." She cluelessly encouraged "Well, no lie, Ive never met anyone like you in my life." he licked his lips and swallowed the last bit of his cone before sitting back,"I feel sort of strange, like i need to do something about that, ya know?" "Not really...?" She replied honestly "OK, well what I mean is, I want to spend more time with you, I like the way you make me feel Korey," He continued. After a few minutes of silence she replied, "Wow, I don't really know what to say, I just dont understand after how cold ive been to you." "Korey, you haven't been one bit of anything but pure sweet to me, I know your having a hard time. I don't want to lose contact with you though. We only have two more weeks left, I want to make the best of them." "That would be nice." She replied stupidly, "No one else seems to want my company so I guess ill be here when your up for some more shoppin!" She smiled. "Oh im sure people want your company, but i'd be honored to spend more time with you." "I have to admit ive heard those lines a time or two...but they never meant more to me than now." She smiled brightly, slowly losing her grip on that stubbornness she cherished in herself, "Honestly I really can't think of anything to say but thank you." "Don't even say thank you...eat your icecream." He smiled breathing deeply in relief as he leaned back. "I think I should go see my mom tomorrow." She informed ending her deep thought. Justin turned to her, "Need me to come with you?" He asked sincerely. "No, Ill be fine" she smiled, "Might need a ride though." "It would be my pleasure," He smiled picking up her hand to place a gentle kiss on her palm. She giggled and swallowed her last bit of ice-cream. *~Next Day*~ Korey finished another episode of Full House reruns before checking to see if Justin was awake for the third time. "Steam, ya just want me to take ya? Im sure he wouldn't care." Chris offered. "Well, that would actually be nice. I do want to get this over as fast as I can." "So your just gonna go in and make sure she knows your ok?" "Basically yea...think I should do anything else?" She asked "Maybe you could give her a date you might be moving back in, ya know, to give her something to look forward to," JC suggested. "Yea that'd be cool." She smiled before throwing Chris his keys as he pranced out the door. IN the car, playful small talk was exchanged before they pulled up into the familiar driveway. Korey took a deep breath, remembering her experience last time she entered that very door. "Good luck steamy," Chris smiled giving her a peck on the cheek. "Thanks so much Chris, If im not back in a half hour...YOUR COMIN IN...right?" she laughed. "Sure am." He smiled nodding for her to go. She walked slowly up to the door taking a deep breath. As she inhaled she smelled her mothers flowers. Her mom had always been out in the garden. Their whole house always smelled like roses. She smiled at the memories of herself eating a tulip when she was small. As she pushed open the door, she called throughout, like she had last time. "Mom?" Her kitten circled her ankles. She noticed his empty bowl and filled it with water from the kitchen sink before continuing to call her mom. "Mom!" she yelled. "HM, maybe she went shopping or something, i didn't bother to look in the garage for her car" She thought. She realized the cat didn't have food either after furthering down the hall. "Mom musta forgot all about you baby!" she whispered to him as he continued to pur at her feet. She brought his food bowl to the garage door to scoop some food in from a large bag they kept so the smell wouldn't invade the house. A dark figure caught her eye. Her heart fluttered as Greg's face began to flash in the darkness. She shook her head and flipped on the light. That very second, she felt her life shred into millions of pieces. Nothing in the world could have described how she felt. Shooting pains pierced her heart. Her last thoughts were "I thought ive been through enough" before her sweaty palms clutched her sickly pale face, her eyes slid back into her head, and she collapsed without a sound down the steps to the lifeless garage floor, not making it a step further.
LiNKS
HoME
PaRT 7
e*mail amy!! (the author)
