Lance
decided to make his shower a quick one. He did not want JC to be by himself for
too long. He stood under the warm stream of water and replayed the evening’s
events trying to come up with a way to help JC overcome his fears. Short of
just throwing JC into the water, Lance couldn’t think of anything else that
could possibly help take the first step in facing his fears.
‘On the
other hand, should I even try to come up with something?’ Lance asked himself
with a frustrated snort as he began to rinse the soap from his hair. ‘Geez…I
came up with a plan and look where it got us…JC has a nightmare and I almost
had to take him to the hospital,’ Lance silently berated himself with a slight
growl. In frustration he balled up his washrag and flung it against the shower
wall as hard as he could, hitting it with a resounding smack before realizing
that it just might wake someone up.
Joey
woke up with a start. A muted thud coming from the bathroom had awakened him
and he listened for further noises but heard none besides the shower running.
He glanced over at the empty bed beside his and knew that it had to be either
Lance or JC taking a shower since it was after 2:00 in the morning.
“Just to
be on the safe side,” he whispered to himself as he sat up in bed and threw his
covers to the side. He wasn’t exactly sure how loud the noise had been and he
wanted to make sure that no one had fallen in the shower. He grabbed a wrinkled
t-shirt off the floor and pulled it on over his head before quietly opening his
bedroom door to head down the hallway to the bathroom door. As he passed by
JC’s bedroom, he quietly pushed the door ajar and glanced in to see that
someone was buried underneath the bedcovers of one of the two beds in the room.
Taking a small step into the room he could just barely make out a few tufts of
dark hair peeking out above the covers…’JC,’ Joey thought and that meant Lance
was in the shower. Joey quietly stepped back out of the room and closed the
door behind him before continuing on to the bathroom door. Once there, he could
hear the shower running, but little else in the way of movement in the room.
Lance
had just put more shampoo in his hair when he heard a quiet knock on the
bathroom door. He stuck his head under the spray trying to rinse the majority
of the suds from his hair before he quickly turned off the water and pulled a
towel around his waist before stepping out of the shower.
There
was another knock and this time a voice that Lance recognized as being Joey’s.
“Hey…Lance…you
okay in there?”
Lance
slowly opened the door and peered outside to see Joey standing in the hallway
in his boxers and a t-shirt with a worried look on his face.
“I’m
sorry I woke you up Joe,” Lance said with a small sigh and an even smaller
smile. “I was taking out some of my frustrations on the washrag.”
“Plan
didn’t work out right…did it?” Joey asked suppressing his own grin. Joey had
the feeling that Lance needed more sympathy than comedic relief right now.
Lance glanced down and shook his head no.
“Want to
talk about it after your shower?”
“No…maybe
later,” Lance said quietly as he continued to gaze at the floor. “I want to get
some sleep first and I want to check on JC…oh…um…I’m going to stay with him
tonight,” Lance quietly added.
“Because…”
Joey said as he patiently gestured for Lance to fill in the blanks for him.
Lance scratched the back of his head and grimaced as he made contact with
soapsuds before speaking quickly.
“He had
a pretty bad nightmare and didn’t want to go to sleep by himself so I offered
to stay in his bedroom with him tonight,” Lance said in a quiet rush.
“Geez…that
bad, huh,” Joey said as he raked a hand through his hair. “Listen…you finish up
with your shower,” Joey said as he put his hand on Lance’s head then pulled it
off to reveal soap bubbles on it. Lance smiled sheepishly and Joey quietly
laughed at his friend. “Like I was saying…finish up with you shower and
whatever and I’ll go check on JC for you and stay with him until you get out.”
“Okay
Joey…thanks,” Lance said still grinning wearily as he closed the bathroom door.
Joey
turned and made his way down the hall to JC’s room and carefully pushed the
door open. The small desk lamp near the doorway allowed just enough light for
Joey to see that JC was buried under the mound of covers on his bed. Very
quietly Joey crossed the room to stand at his friend’s bedside. He pulled back
the covers that hid JC’s face to see that the older man was sleeping
peacefully, his features relaxed…seemingly carefree.
Joey
stifled a yawn and eyed the bed next to JC’s. ‘Lance might be another 10 or 15
minutes so…I’ll just lay down for a few minutes,’ he thought to himself. Joey
quietly lay down on top of Lance’s bed and closed his eyes, not really
intending on falling asleep, but minutes later his deep even breaths joined
JC’s in filling the dimly lit room as sleep claimed him.
Lance
flicked off the light switch in the bathroom and quietly walked down the
hallway to JC’s room. He stifled a mighty yawn and walked blindly into the room
and dropped his clothes to the floor before opening his eyes. To his surprise,
Joey was sleeping soundly on his stomach on the extra bed. With a shake of his
head and a small grin, Lance walked over to JC and checked on him and found
that he was sleeping peacefully. He then left the room and returned minutes
later with a blanket from the back of one of the couches in the living room. He
carefully placed it over Joey without his even stirring.
“Keep an
eye on him for me Joey,” Lance whispered before turning to leave the room. He
hesitated at the door, not sure if he should leave the desk light on or not,
then decided against turning it off. It just might help in warding off JC’s
demons tonight.
With those thoughts in mind, Lance quietly closed
the door behind him and crossed the hallway to the bedroom that he had been
sharing with Joey.
Early
the next morning, Jan, Justin and Chris were already up. Justin and Chris had
plans that morning to go to the studio to see what JC had been working so hard
on for the past week and to meet with Johnny about other matters. Jan didn’t
have any plans other than trying to catch up on the laundry and straightening
up around the house. Lynn would be coming home soon, if Aunt Dora’s treatments
continued to go well and she wanted to get an early start in getting things
ready for her.
“What’s
Joey going to do this morning?” Justin asked as he poured himself a bowl of
cereal.
“Dr.
Shannon wants him to take a swim today,” Chris answered. “Something about
chlorine helping his infection…I don’t know…” his voice trailed off as he took
a sip of his coffee.
Justin
raised his eyebrows at that information before popping his first bite of cereal
into his mouth.
“I’ve
heard of that, but does it really work?” Jan said from behind the open
refrigerator door. She was pulling out eggs, bacon and a can of biscuits for
breakfast.
“I don’t
know…I guess we’ll find out,” Chris answered before turning his attention to
the newspaper.
There
was several more minutes of silence only being only broken by the sounds of the
newspaper being shuffled by Chris, the soft crunching of Justin eating his
cereal and the cracking of eggs and popping of bacon in the pans that Jan was
standing over at the stove.
“Does
one of us need to wake Lance up?” Jan asked after looking at the digital display
of the clock on the stove.
“Yes
ma’am,” Justin mumbled between bites of Oreos. He glanced over at Chris and
gave him a pleading look.
“Um…I’ll
get him,” Chris said with a laugh, looking at Justin as he popped another
spoonful of cereal into his mouth. “I think he has a meeting at Freelance this
morning at 10:00,” Chris added, glancing over the top of the newspaper up at
the clock on the kitchen wall to see that it was already 8:30.
Just as
Chris rose from his chair to go get Lance up from bed, he noticed movement out
of the corner of his eye and turned to see who was entering the room.
“Well,
speak of the devil,” Chris said with a grin as he sank back into his chair.
“Morning
ya’ll,” Lance said wearily as he stifled a yawn as he walked over into the kitchen
for a cup of coffee.
Jan
turned around and she, Justin and Chris immediately took in Lance’s tired
appearance.
“I take
it things didn’t go too well last night,” Jan said as she took enough time to
pour Lance a cup of coffee before returning her attention to the stove.
Lance
nodded his head as he added cream and sugar to his coffee then made his way
over to the table. Justin reached out to pull a chair out for Lance who
gratefully sank down onto it with a nod of thanks.
“How did
it go last night,” Chris added in a voice full of concern. If Lance looked this
bad, he could only imagine how bad JC was going to look once he got up from
bed.
“Yeah…what
happened?” Justin asked before popping another spoonful of cereal into his
mouth.
Lance
took a sip of his coffee and shook his head. “What didn’t happen would be a
better question to ask,” Lance tiredly replied after swallowing the coffee. He
put down his coffee cup then ran his hands through his hair causing it to stand
up even further then he rested his arms on the table. He put his chin on his
arms as he told the group about what had happened the previous evening at the
studio.
“You
should have called us,” Jan said once Lance finished. She walked over to the
table and set plates of eggs, bacon, and biscuits in front of Lance and Chris
before sitting down to eat a bowl of Justin’s cereal having given Lance her
breakfast.
“I know
that…but when it was happening…I just didn’t think of it,” Lance admitted. “I
was just too busy trying to get him calmed down.” He began to push his eggs
about his plate in between small bites. He just wasn’t very hungry at the
moment. Reliving last night took his appetite away and soon he rose from the
table with his plate and took it into the kitchen and scraped what was left on
his plate into the trashcan. He looked up from his task and saw that Jan was
looking at him, as was Chris who was quickly polishing off what Jan had fixed
for them. Lance instantly felt bad and silently berated himself…once again he
had screwed up and now Jan was hurt by something he had done without thinking
about it.
“I’m
sorry Aunt Jan,” Lance said as he rinsed the plate off in the sink then placed
it into the dishwasher. “I’m just not very hungry…talking about last
night…it…well…” he stammered.
“Sweetie…I
understand,” Jan said with a small smile. “Maybe you’ll have a better appetite
for supper tonight. Is there something that you’d like for me to fix for
you…something special that you want?” Jan asked.
Lance
smiled and nodded his head as he answered, “Your Mexican straw hat…that sounds
good.”
“Okay…it’s
a Tex-Mex night then,” Jan said. “Do you know when your meeting might be over
so I’ll know when to expect you?”
“Um…no
ma’am…not really, but I can’t see it lasting as late as some of the others,”
Lance answered as he glanced up at the clock.
“Well, I
better go get ready. JC is still asleep…so is Joey,” Lance said over his
shoulder.
“Don’t
worry about them…well let them wake up on their own,” Chris called out to
Lance’s retreating figure. Lance waved his hand in understanding before
trotting up the stairs.
Chris
waited until Lance had made it up the stairs before he spoke.
“We’re
going to have to do something soon…I mean…something or someone is going to have
to give sooner or later.” He looked at Justin and Jan then dropped his gaze to
his plate. “Did you notice how bad Lance looked…I don’t want to have to worry
about him too on top of worrying about Jace,” Chris said in a voice bordering
exasperation. He was clueless as to how to go about in helping JC. He had had a
few ideas days ago, but knew that they wouldn’t work now…not after last night.
“I know
what you mean but what do you think we should do?” Justin asked slightly
confused by what Chris was saying. “What are you trying to say Chris?”
“I don’t
know,” Chris said quietly as he pushed his plate away before resting his elbows
on the table. “I guess somehow we need to help JC get past his fears. Do
you have any ideas Jan?” Chris rested his head on one hand while tracing a
pattern on the table with the other.
Jan sat
quietly for a moment, gathering her thoughts together. She was frustrated with
the whole situation and she was afraid that her feelings were going to come out
in that manner, but she had to let them know how she was feeling. Jan took a
deep breath and decided to jump in with both feet.
“You
know…I don’t even think JC is exactly sure of what he’s afraid of anymore,” she
began quietly, allowing only a hint of her frustration to show in her voice.
“Well… we know he’s afraid of the water and all…I mean…I might be wrong, but
how do we know for sure what his fears are when he won’t even talk to anyone
about what’s bothering him.” Jan looked at Chris and Justin and saw that they
were slowly nodding their heads in agreement so she decided to press on, her
voice gaining volume and confidence as she continued to speak.
“JC’s
been avoiding us by staying at the studio until all hours of the night and I
know that he’s doing that so that he can stay busy enough to avoid the whole
issue. Then, when he comes home we barely get two words out of him before he
goes to bed. And, I don’t know about you two, but I’m ready for the old JC to
come back…” Jan’s voice trailed off and she looked up to see Chris and Justin
seemed just as surprised by her final outburst as she was. Jan felt her face
grow hot with embarrassment and shame. She hadn’t meant for her words to sound
so harsh…so unfeeling and she quickly began apologizing for speaking so rashly.
“Guys…I’m
so sorry…I don’t know where that came from. Um…just forget I said anything…okay,”
Jan stammered as she quickly got up from the table and grabbed their plates and
bowls before going into the kitchen, not allowing Justin or Chris the chance to
reply to her comments.
In
stunned silence, both young men watched Jan as she hurriedly rinsed the plates
off before placing them in the dishwasher. Neither had known how strongly Jan
felt about the situation. Justin and Chris continued to watch Jan as she made
quick work of cleaning off the stovetop and countertop. As she performed these
tasks she was busily trying to think of how she was going to be able to pass
back through the dining area where Justin and Chris were still sitting, staring
at her without having to confront them. She finally decided that if she walked
by them as quickly as possible without looking at them, they would get the idea
that she didn’t want to talk about what she had said. Yeah…she knew that it was
the cowardly way of handling what she had said, but she didn’t feel too much
courage at that very moment and running away sounded real good for the moment.
Minutes
later, with her mind made up, Jan quickly passed back through the dining area
without looking at either of the boys but she didn’t get very far before Justin
put his hand on her shoulder stopping her in her tracks.
“You
know Aunt Jan…you’re right,” Justin said quietly. “We’re all ready for the old
JC to come back.”
“It’s
just up to us to find out how to get him back,” Chris added as he joined the
pair in the living room.
“So…you’re
not mad about what I said?” Jan asked in a small voice. “I was pretty harsh
back there.”
“Nah…”
Justin said as he ran his hand down Jan’s long red hair that was flowing about
freely against her back before resting it on one of her shoulders. “I know it
was just the red head temper coming out…right?”
Jan
laughed then looked over at Chris who had shifted slightly beside her.
“What
you said wasn’t harsh…you were being honest and I bet if we put our heads
together, we might come up with some sort of plan,” Chris said as he put his
hand on Jan’s other shoulder.
“Yeah…why
don’t you come up to the studio with us,” Justin suggested. “We were going to
listen to the tracks that JC was laying to see if we could help him out
somehow. Maybe while we’re doing that we can come up with some sort of game
plan on how to help JC.”
“That
sounds like a good idea,” Jan replied in relief. “I haven’t been to the studio
in a long time.”
“Okay…sounds
like a date,” Chris said with a smile. “Can you be ready to go in about a half
hour or so?”
“Sure.”
Thirty minutes later, Jan, Justin, and Chris left
Joey and JC a note on the kitchen table before walking out the door.
Joey
and Jace…gone out for a while. Will be back before 6:00 so Jan can fix that
straw-hat meal of hers.
Got our cells and pagers if you need us.
Later…Chris, J, and Jan
JC woke
with a start and sat up in bed with a scream caught in his throat. His
breathing was heavy and ragged as his eyes darted wildly about the room until
he realized that he had had almost the same nightmare as last night and recognized
that he was in his bedroom. The memory of the nightmare was unclear…just
snippets here and there…just enough to cause a shudder to course through JC’s
body as he threw his covers aside and swung his still shaking legs over the
edge of his bed. This nightmare had not been quite as bad as last night’s but
the combination of the two was enough to cause his stomach to roll. With eyes
closed, he took several deep breaths until the nausea gradually disappeared and
he was left with a slight after taste of bile in his throat and mouth.
‘Geez…get
a grip JC,’ he quietly berated himself as he willed his body and breathing to
relax. He certainly didn’t want a replay of he had gone through several hours
ago. Last night had been horrible. The nightmare had been bad enough, but
having turned into a quivering mass of jelly in front of Lance was even worse.
‘Man…they’ve got to be getting just as tired of this as I am,’ JC thought as he
ran his still shaking hands over his head.
He slowly opened his eyes and glanced over to see
that the bed beside his was empty. Lance had a meeting at Freelance at 10:00 so
JC reasoned that it must be at least 10:00 or maybe even later. Glancing over
at the nearby clock, JC found that it was indeed later…almost 11:30. Beside the
clock, JC saw a note written in Justin’s messy scrawls.
JC…David Lewis called. Wants to know how you’re
doing and Emilianne says hi. Call him at…
JC
slightly grinned at the note. ‘I’ll call later,’ he thought to himself. He
wanted another chance to visit with Emilianne in order to reassure her that he
was okay.
‘I’ll
try to make it where everyone can meet each other…Chris would fall in love with
Emilianne…she’s about Taylor’s age…I think,’ JC thought to himself.
‘Yeah…that’ll give me something to think about in the shower…better than those
nightmares,’ he reasoned with a small smile.
With a
slight groan, he stood up and made his way over to the dresser and began
pulling out drawers looking for something to wear after his shower. Minutes
later, he headed out of the bedroom to the bathroom down the hallway. A hot
shower was going to feel good.
JC stood in the shower and let the hot water beat
against his back before turning to face the spray. He reached for the bar of
soap and washrag and slowly began to rub the soap against the cloth all the
while trying to keep his thoughts occupied with things other than the most
recent nightmares. Unfortunately, he wasn’t having too much success. With a
frustrated sigh, JC sank down to the floor of the shower and closed his eyes
deciding that if he allowed his mind to recall the nightmares, he could somehow
work through his fears. He had been trying to avoid everything lately and that
didn’t seem to be working. Maybe this would work. With a deep breath, JC
allowed his mind to recall the images that had caused him such terror.
The warmth of the sun turned into bone chilling
cold as the situation develops. Shouts of laughter turned into frantic,
unanswered yells for help and screams of horror. Blood in the water…floating
bodies sinking to the bottom of the pool…his friends…dead…dying…drowning.
With a
shudder and a small sob of frustration, JC’s eyes flew open and he shakily
stood up, gripping the walls of the shower.
“That
didn’t work too well,” he quietly muttered to himself as silent tears ran down
his face. With another shudder, he quickly finished his shower. He knew that
there was really only one way to face his fears and possibly end the nightmares
that had been plaguing his sleep since his accident, but he didn’t know if he
would find the courage to do it.