Erika’s parents had become comfortable with the guys and trusted them with their daughter. They knew that they would protect her and never let any one hurt her. One weekend, her parents went out of town on vacation so she was going to spend the weekend at JC’s house. She practically lived there on weekends any way and had her own room so it wasn’t a big deal but, she was allowed to have Liz and Rachel over for part of the time so she wouldn’t feel like the only girl. The three girls came over on Friday around noon. The entire day was spent swimming in the pool in the back yard. Once they all took showers and got dressed, they went back down stairs to watch some television with the guys before they would go to sleep. It was around 11 when Justin got up and announced he was going to spend the night at a friend’s house and would be back the next afternoon. He hugged the girls’ good bye and left. A few more hours past and a few more shows were watched before they all decided to call it a night.
Erika began to make the sleeping arrangements, “Rachel and Liz can take the guest bedroom and I’ll sleep on the coach down here.”
“No, you can sleep in Justin’s room; he won’t be back until tomorrow so it’s ok. That way you don’t have to sleep down here by yourself.”
Everyone said their good nights and went to bed.
******
(A few hours later; 7 a.m.)
Erika was on the edge of the bed about to fall off so she turned round onto her other side so she would have more room and be more comfortable. She was half-awake because of the sunlight that was coming in the window but was still half-asleep. When she rolled over her arm hit a hard warm object.
“Hi Justin”
“Hi Erika”
“Justin?” “Erika?” They both jumped out of bed and stared at each other. They both began talking at the same time.
“What are you doing here? Me? What about you?” Again there was silence.
“Ok ok, one at a time now. Justin. Why are here? You’re supposed to be at your friend’s house.”
“I know, but I got bored so I decided to come home. I think the better question is what are you doing in my bed?”
“Liz and Rachel are in the guestroom and since you weren’t supposed to be here, I took your room.”
“Oh God, what if someone sees us in here?”
“Well, we’re best friends and you and I both know nothing happened and that’s all that matters. Right?”
“Right. Ok, well I’m going down stairs. I can’t go back to sleep now.”
“Me neither. I’ll come with you.” They both walked out of the room. Erika walked out first and Justin after. Just as they were coming out, Liz was walking down the hallway from her room towards them. All she saw was Justin and Erika walking out of a room together and Justin pulling on his shirt.
“What the hell were you two doing?” She asked with a shocked look on her face. Erika turned her head around and Justin gave her an evil grin and a wink.
“We had rough sex.” Erika knew she had to along with this one. Liz was a blonde. What else is there to say?
“Oh yea. Justin was it good for you?” She and Justin both continued to walk down he hallway to the stairs while Liz stood there leaning against the wall with her mouth open.
“It was amazing.” They both started laughing and kept on walking. “We’re just joshing Liz.”
Just Joshing was one of the stupidest phrases and they just had to throw it there to piss her off even more. So far this day was off to a very good start.
Everyone was sitting around the table in the kitchen while Erika was looking for something to eat.
“You guys have nothing in here!”
“Well, I can’t say we’re here much.” Snapped back JC.
They all poured themselves a bowl of cereal because that’s all they actually had in that house.
“So what are we gonna do today?”
“It’s completely up to the three lovely ladies here.” JC tried do sound as suave as possible.
“Lovely ladies? Where? Lemme at them!” Justin shot out of his chair and started look around.
“Haha...how very NOT funny. But if it’s up to us then we’re going to the mall!” Rachel’s head shot up from her cereal, “Can I get hells ya!”
On the way to the mall they picked up another of Erika’s friends, Elyssa. They arrived at the mall and all the guys were in costumes so they wouldn’t be recognized but of course the huge bodyguards following them around won’t give them away. The first stop was American Eagle.
“I want this belt and this belt and this one!” Elyssa was obsessed with both American Eagle and belts. Rachel and Liz were obsessed with plain old shopping. By the end of the day, Justin had more bags then the three girls combined.
“I always knew those lips were too feminine. You’re a girl aren’t you Justin? I mean no guys shops THAT much.” Liz was by far the most sarcastic one of the group. Although they all shared the same sarcastic humor, she took it to the max.
“Shut up twig” Liz was short and thin and was really light so all the guys got on her back about it.
“Who are you calling twig? Next time I go skiing, I’ll remember to ask your nose.”
******
(That evening back at the house)
“Holy carp this is a nice house!” It was Elyssa’s first time at the house. She was more impressed by the house than knowing the guys. She wasn’t really a pop fan; she was more into Dave Matthews Band.
“C’mon Elyssa, say it, you’re impressed.” Lance said while nudging her in her side.
“By the house...yes, by you guys...no.” She blushed at the fact that Lance was even touching her. Elyssa never liked to admit it but she used to be in love with Nsync, but especially Lance. She had pictures of him all over her wall at one point. When she finally found out that she would never marry him, well, it all went down hill from there, and that’s where her fascination with pop ended.
Elyssa, Rachel, and Liz all went home a few hours later leaving Erika alone with the guys. She got bored so she decided to go out back to play some basketball. A little bit later Justin came out and stole the ball from her.
“Hey! Give that back!”
“You didn’t ask me to play.”
“Dammit, do you ever act your age and not your shoe size? Fine one on one.” They started to play and it was a good game. Erika was catching up to Justin and had a chance of winning. Of course he wasn’t too happy with this. She was about to shoot the winning basket when Justin comes up behind and lift her up so her shot got screwed up and it didn’t go in.
“What the hell did you do that for?”
“You were gonna win. I can’t have that happening now can I?
“Spare me. There’s not enough room out here for your ego, the fro, and me!” At that, he ran over to her and lifted her over his shoulder but she started laughing.
“What’s so funny?” He asked totally confused.
“Nothing, I’m just ticklish.”
“Ooooo, so you’re ticklish, huh?” He had an evil twinkle in his eyes.
“Oh shit!”
“We’re gonna have some fun over here!”
She flipped over his shoulders and ran as fast as her legs could take her. Justin being the skinny fast type caught up to her in no time. He caught her and through her to the ground and started tickling her.
“Stop it! I’m gonna piss in my pants!” She was trying to talk in between gasps of breath; she was laughing that hard. Erika was so ticklish that you could point a finger at her getting closer and closer and she would start laughing before you even touch her. She got out of Justin’s grasp and ran towards the pool.
“If you take another step, I swear I’ll jump!” She was on the edge of the diving bored so one step back she would end up in the pool.
“You’re bluffing.” He started walking to her and she jumped in with a giant splash getting Justin soaked.
“Ok...that’s it...you’re dead!” He jumped in after her and when he surface he was inches away from her face. They stood face to face without moving for what seemed forever. Suddenly he reached for the top of her head and dunked her. She came out of the water gasping for air. Justin was laughing and pointing at her.
“You look like a wet rat!”
She was pissed off. Without saying a word she walked over to the steps and got out of the pool leaving Justin there wet and laughing. She took a shower and went over to Liz’s house to meet up with her and the other girls. A few minutes after she left, the phone rang. Lance went over to pick up the phone.
“Hello?”
“Good evening. Can I speak to Erika...”?
******
(Later that evening)
Erika opens the door to find all the guys sitting on the coach in silence.
“Hey guys, What’s up? Did somebody die?” She asked jokingly. They slowly lifted their head and looked at each other before looking back at her.
“Oh my God. Did somebody actually die? I’m so sorry. You guys can tell me, I can help you through this.” Justin got up and walked towards her.
“Um...Erika...Maybe you should sit down.”
“What? Was it someone I know?” She sat in a chair facing the couch where they guys were.
“ After you left, we got a phone call. Your parents were in a car accident.” He paused hoping for some reaction out of her, but nothing.
“They were hit by a tractor trailer truck and flipped over.”
“This is a cruel joke Justin! I can’t believe you would stoop this low. I can’t believe any of you would stoop this low!”
“Do you seriously think I would joke about something like this Erika? They were practically my parents too!” He took a few seep breaths before continuing. “By the time the ambulance came, they were already dead.”
Erika stood there in shock with her mouth open. She didn’t say anything else; she just walked up the stairs to her room and locked the door shut. She put in her Limp Bizkit cd and cranked it all the way up. The guys figured she needed time to herself to think so they kept their distance. She stood in her room when reality hit her. Her parents were dead, she didn’t even get a chance to say good-bye before they died, she didn’t have a house, she had no money, and she had no relatives in this country. She had...nothing. She looked around the room and realized that nothing was hers. The posters weren’t hers, the bed wasn’t hers, and the clothes weren’t even hers. They guys had bought her all of it. She snapped. She began to completely tear apart her room. She was tearing down all the posters from her walls, throwing her clothes all on the floor and throwing picture frames across the room sending glass shattering everywhere. She was screaming and yelling as she did all of this but no one heard because the music was still cranked to maximum volume. The song was “Break Stuff”.
Erika didn’t leave her room at all for days. They guys were down stairs eating when JC spoke up.
“Do you guys think we should check up on her? I mean we haven’t seen her in a while.”
“No man, she still needs some time.” JC ignored that and went up stairs to check up on her and to see how she was feeling.
He knocked on the door and no one answered. “Erika, open the door.” There was still no answer so he tried to open the door only to find it was locked.
“Ok Erika, I’m getting a little freaked out now. Open this Goddamn door right NOW!” Still no answer. He started banging on the door with his shoulder and finally opened the door. He walked in and the room was turned upside down, completely trashed.
“Oh my God” was the first thing that came out of his mouth. “Erika? Where are you?” He walked into her closet and found her sitting in the corner with her legs tucked up to her chest rocking back and forth as she was crying silently. He sat down next to her and put his arms tightly around her holding her close to him. She was pale, thin, weak, and had circles under her eyes. It looked like she hadn’t eaten or slept in days, which she hadn’t.
“Have you eaten any thing?” She didn’t say any thing.
“You’re scaring me Hunny; you have to eat SOMETHING.” He scooped her up in his arms and took her downstairs.
He took her downstairs and everyone was shocked when they saw how pale she was. JC practically had to shove the food down her throat.
******
They all went to the funeral a few days later. Erika spent all day at the cemetery. She went home that night and went straight to her room. Elyssa called but when she didn’t pick up the phone, she called the other line that led down stairs. Lance picked up the phone and explained to her what was going on. He asked her to call Rachel and Liz as well to let them in on it too. The next morning Erika went downstairs to willingly eat some breakfast, which was an improvement. Everyone said their good mornings and hellos to her but didn’t expect a reply because she hadn’t spoken a word an about a week. She had finished eating and went over to the sink to wash her plate.
She heard Justin talking to Lance. “ She just needs time; she’ll get over it. Whatever.”
“WHATEVER?” She screamed out at the top of her lungs. She picked up the plate she was washing and threw it on the ground.
JC turned the corner and stared at Justin. “What did you say to her? You know she doesn’t have any parents. Oops, did I just say that?”
“You don’t have the right to say that!”
“This is my house and you broke my plate.”
“I don’t need this shit.” She took a car key off the hook and walked out the door.
A half an hour later Justin was going to go over to the store to buy some food when he couldn’t find his keys. “Have you guys seen my keys? Oh shit.” He immediately called Rachel.
“Rachel, is she over there?”
“Huh? Who?” Justin hung up. He called Liz. “Is she over there?”
“Who? The dog? Yea she’s right here. Say hello Shelly.”
“Cut the crap. You know who I’m talking about.” Liz handed the phone to Erika
“Erika? Are you ok? Is my car ok?”
“I think your car is the LAST thing you should be worried about.”
“Oh my God Er (that was his nickname for her. Sounds like air), don’t do any thing you’re gonna regret. Stay away from sharp objects and hand the phone the Liz.” She shoved the phone in her face while she was still eating her lo mien.
“Don’t let her kill herself!”
“She’s not gonna kill herself, don’t worry. I can’t believe she talked to you, she didn’t say any thing since she got her. I opened the door and she just walked in and over to my refrigerator. She‘s eating all my Chinese food!”
******
A few hours later, Erika came in through the door and through the keys at Justin.
“Hey people!” She was cheerful and talking.
“Are you ok? You’re.... Peppy.”
“As much as I hate to admit this.... You were right Justin.” You could hear everyone take in a deep gasp. “I’m still gonna be upset about my parents dying, but I have to move on. I can’t be in total zombie mode my whole life.”
Chris tried to lighten the mood a little bit, “That’s right, ‘cause you’re always in bitch mode.”
She started to laugh a little bit but then answered him. “Oh no you did NOT just go there grandpa!”
They all started laughing and Chris walked up to her and gave her a big hug. “We are so glad you’re back Er. We’ve missed you.”