Eight

Three weeks later 

 

“Hey, baby, I'm home,” Josh said. He struggled through the door, carrying two bags of groceries. “Um…could I get some help?”

“Huh?” Lance looked up from his books, rubbing at his forehead. “Oh!” Lance hurried over and rescued one of the bags. “Sorry.” He kissed Josh's cheek and headed for the kitchen.

“How was school today?” Josh began to unpack his bag of groceries.

“Good…but I'm really stressing. I have three tests tomorrow.” Lance glanced at the clock. “You're home early.”

“It was slow,” Josh said. “I thought maybe we could go out for a late dinner.”

Lance smiled at Josh apologetically. “I'd love to…because I've hardly seen you. But I really need to study, Josh.”

“That's okay,” Josh said, shrugging. “I know…I'll order in Chinese. You can study til it gets here, then take a short break to eat with me. We'll do something special this weekend.”

“That sounds fabulous.” Lance poked his glasses up on his nose as he sat back down at the table.

Josh finished putting the groceries away in silence, then went to take a shower. He needed to wash the grime of the restaurant off of him. As he stood under the hot water, he sighed. Quick dinners between studying and jobs seemed to be all they could find lately. His suggestion about spending time together on the weekend was a joke. He'd be working Friday and Saturday nights, and they usually had to get errands done on Sunday. Josh leaned his forehead against the wall of the shower. He wanted Lance to achieve his dreams, but it seemed that they were sacrificing each other in the process. 

“Jussin!” Melody yelled, jumping into Justin's arms.

“Ouch!” Chris hit his head as he appeared from under the kitchen sink. “Hi, J.”

“Hey.” Justin smiled at Chris. “You've got something all over your face.”

“Grease, probably. This garbage disposal is on my last nerve.” Chris sat up and stretched. “Do you know how hard it is to do repairs when you can't swear?”

“I can imagine.” Justin leaned down and gave Chris a kiss. “Want me to take care of this one for a while?”

“Yes,” Chris said gratefully. “She's been pretty good, but she almost crayoned on Heath and Stan's white carpet. They'd have a heart attack.”

“I need to go grocery shopping. I'll take her with me,” Justin said. He put Melody's lightweight jacket on her. He looked at Chris and sighed. They had played “let's forget Justin's tantrum” for three weeks, and it was getting old. “I'm sorry, you know. I know it's hard for you, adapting to this new way of life…and I wasn't very much help.”

“No, baby.” Chris stood and hugged Justin. “I shouldn't just expect you to jump in and become a part of it, too.”

“I'm your boyfriend. It's my job to support you.”

Chris kissed Justin's nose. “You taking her for an hour or so would be a HUGE support for me right now…and then maybe I could do something supportive of you…like supporting you over the back of my sofa…” Chris teased gently. Justin let out something that sounded suspiciously like a meow and kissed him.

“Kiss me!” Melody demanded. Justin laughed and kissed behind her ear. She giggled.

“We'll be back in a flash. I'll keep her at my place.”

“Okay. Love you.” Chris gave Justin one last kiss before going back under the sink. 

“Oh, what a cute little girl!” The woman gushed, leaning over Justin's cart. He sighed and stretched a bit.

“Thank you,” he said politely.

“Are you helping your Daddy shop?” The woman asked Melody. Melody shook her head.

“No. My daddy back at home. Me and Daddy Jussin shopping,” Melody told her. Justin hid a smile at the look on the woman's face.

“Oh…I see. Well, have a nice day.” The woman did a quick about face and walked away.

“Daddy Justin, huh?” Justin asked Melody. She nodded.

“Daddy Jussin,” she repeated.

“Oh, my God! Justin Timberlake!” Justin whirled around. Two men he didn't know rushed over to him. “We see your show every week!”

“I'm Charlie, and that's Steve,” the smaller of the men said.

“Oh, I didn't know you had a daughter!” The first man, Steve, reached over to touch Melody's cheek. Melody frowned and pulled back.

“She's adorable. Is she yours, or did you adopt?” Charlie asked, his eyes running over Justin. Justin smiled his best smile. God, he missed flirting.

“Neither. She isn't mine. I'm just watching her for a while.”

“She is the most precious thing!” Steve said, reaching out again. Melody actually made a move to bite his finger.

“Melody!” Justin snapped, embarrassed. “Oh, God, I'm sorry!”

“It's okay. We'll still come see you. You're performing on Saturday, right?” Steve asked hopefully.

“I sure am. Make sure and sit in front,” Justin told him, and Steve smiled.

“Okay. Bye, Justin! Bye, sweetheart!”

Melody seemed to growl at Steve's back as they walked away. “Melody, that was a very bad girl. You don't do that!”

“They were bad,” Melody told him. “Bad men!”

Justin shook his head and kept pushing her through the store.

Nine