"Excuse me, I'm looking for the friends and family of Joshua Chasez."
"We're his friends. His family is still en route. How is he?"
"Right now he is still unconscious. We're doing a blood work up now, but I'd like to ask you some questions. If you would please come upstairs to the conference room next to my office, I can begin to figure out what is wrong with your friend." The four remaining members of NSYNC, their bodyguards and their manager followed Rhianna quietly through the hospital to her office and the adjoining conference room.
"Please, sit, make yourselves comfortable. Due to the nature of what I'm about to tell you, I ask that you listen and let me finish with our preliminary observations before asking questions or making accusations. When Joshua was brought into the ER, the attending physician called me down to assess the situation. At the very least, Joshua has a problem with being severely underweight. While I was examining him, I found many small puncture marks on his wrist, under the area his watch band would normally cover. These marks are the size of a hypodermic needle. I'm having him admitted here to our psychiatric ward for the next seventy-two hours for observation."
"This is bullshit! JC would never use drugs!!"
"Justin, sit down, please," Johnny said giving the young man a stern look.
"This comes as a huge shock to most loved ones when they find out that someone close to them has a drug problem. It's normal to be angry and act irrationally. The truth, however, does not change no matter how much you yell at the messenger. That said, have any of you ever seen Joshua with a needle?"
"Dr. Montgomery, I think it's safe to say from Justin's reaction alone that this is the first we've heard of a problem like this where JC is concerned."
"I understand completely, Mr. Wright. Would it be possible for any of you to clue me in on his eating habits?"
"Food is supplied before every show by a caterer. I've only seen him put healthy stuff on his plate. I don't know what he eats when he's on his own. He honestly doesn't look any different than he did a couple years ago," Lance said rubbing his temples.
"Do you guys spend most of your time together?"
"Hello, it's called touring together, lady!"
"Justin, would you shut up, please?! She's just trying to help."
"Fuck that! You're just going to sit around here and listen to her lies? JC would never do this to us! Never! He's not like that at all, Joey, and you know it. He's always the responsible one...the one we can always count on..." Justin choked back a sob as Joey caught him in a hug.
"He's the one you look up to the most, isn't he, Justin," Rhianna asked softly as she knelt down in front of him.
"Yes," he whispered trying to fight back the tears that formed a lump in his throat. The door to the conference room burst open then, cutting off Rhianna's next statement.
"Rhianna, your patient is waking up and he's not happy to be here. Dan says you owe him for the two stitches this kid gave him."
"I thought you guys said that he was the responsible one," Rhianna muttered jogging out of the room and down the hall.
"Who the hell do you think you are?? Let go of me! You can't keep me here!"
"Oh, but I believe we can, Joshua." Upon hearing a new voice in the room, JC stopped struggling and looked for its source.
"Who are you?"
"I'm your doctor as of one hour ago."
"Well discharge me then."
"That's not how this works." It was a standoff of wills and Rhianna wasn't about to lose. She had been handling cases like this too long to lose. She wasn't about to take his shit.
"Do you have any fucking clue who I am?!"
"Andrew, Matt, as soon as you finish restraining him, you may leave."
"Rhi --"
"I'll be fine, Matt," she said never taking her eyes off JC.
"My lawyer is going to have a field day with this one."
"And why would that be, Joshua?"
"Jesus Christ! Who the hell said you could call me that? You're not my mother!"
"No, I'm not your mother and I sincerely hope that you've never talked to her in such a manner."
"Oh shut up, bitch! What right do you have to lecture me?!"
"I have every right since I'm not the whine ass popstar drug addict tied to the hospital bed. And to think I actually let my daughter listen to some of your music."
"Fuck off," JC said rolling his eyes. Within seconds, Rhianna was invading his three feet of personal space.
"Like it or not, Joshua, I run the show around here. For the next seventy-two hours, I decide who you can see, when and what you can eat and when you can get up to take a piss. I don't care that you might be one of the most famous people on the face of the Earth and I could really care less if Johnnie Cochran was your fucking lawyer. You're going to need me when the cravings get so bad that they make you scream; when your body starts to shake because you haven't gotten a fix in the past couple hours. I am your only link to the outside world for the next three days, so don't fuck with me or my staff. You want to curse and call us names while we help you, you'll soon find out that it won't make a difference. You'll still have to stay here. Until you start acting like a civilized person, you're going to remain in these restraints since they are the only thing guaranteeing the safety of myself, my staff and anyone who wants to visit your sorry ass. You got that?" JC merely nodded...too stunned to speak.
"Good. My name is Rhianna Montgomery. I'll be back to check on you in twenty minutes, so think about everything I've said. You leave here after three days and go back to using, I have no problem notifying the right authorities. You alone will decide to make our time together Hell on Earth. I'll see you as soon as I'm done speaking with your friends." Rhianna walked out of the room and was both surprised and relieved to hear JC crying quietly. She'd broken through the selfish exterior, gotten through to him and she felt that he'd be easier to deal with from now on. She cringed as she noticed his four friends and manager standing right outside the room.
"I'm sorry you guys had to be witness to that."
"No, Dr. Mongomery, it's okay. He needed to hear the truth and who better to tell him than you. These boys are used to getting away with a lot of stuff, but JC's behavior and his current condition are unacceptable."
"Please, call me Rhianna. Once he admits himself, you'll probably be talking to me a lot. I need to get down to the lab and find out what drugs are in his system. he could have been shooting Ajax into his veins for all I know."
"It would be a wise decision to cancel what we have going on, wouldn't it?"
"Detoxification and recovery can run anywhere from thirty to ninety days. If his drug problem is compounded by an eating disorder, which I strongly believe it is, it could be a while before he is even close to being recovered. A few patiens always manage to surprise me though. I'm going to try my hardest to help him guys. You're welcome to hang out in the waiting room while I go get his results. I really think he needs to be alone right now."
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