Immediately after
soundcheck, JC headed directly to the Quiet Room. Once he was inside, he collapsed onto the sofa. Fatigue was beginning to set in and he idly
wondered how he was going to make it through the rest of the day. He rubbed his temples to ease the headache
that was quickly creeping up on him. He
rolled his neck on his shoulder and tried to stretch out the kinks. He looked up when the door opened.
“Hey.” Lance
nodded his head in greeting and sat down on the sofa opposite his friend. “How are you feeling?”
“Like I’ve been
run over by one of our buses.” He groaned.
“It almost killed me when Justin started singing the first few bars of
Gone.”
Lance nodded
sympathetically and JC looked at him with a pained expression.
“I can’t believe
I lost her again, Lance.” His voice cracked.
“I’ve been fighting with myself all day, I’m so tempted to call her or
stop by her room to see how she’s doing – but I’m terrified that she won’t want
to see me or talk to me.”
“Umm…”
“Have you had a
chance to talk to her today?” JC asked hopefully.
Lance
groaned. He really didn’t want to be
the one to tell JC that Laurie had left in the middle of the night. “Actually… she kind of left.”
JC’s head snapped
up. “What do you mean ‘she left’?”
Lance averted his
gaze from JC’s intense stare. “Michelle
went to check on her this morning and all of her stuff was gone. Security said she left in the middle of
night.”
JC buried his
head in his hands. “This is all my
fault. She didn’t tell anyone where she
was going?”
“I think she
would have told Michelle or myself if she was going to tell anyone. Michelle’s looking for her now, she’s going
to call Chris if she finds anything out.”
“Can you let me
know?” JC implored. “As soon you hear
anything?”
“Sure.”
“Promise me.”
“C, I promise
I’ll let you know what’s going on with Laurie as soon as I know.”
“Thank you.” JC
had never felt so weary in his life.
“Can umm… can you do something else for me?”
“Anything.”
“I doubt she’ll
come back on tour… but if you could keep in touch with her and just make sure
she’s doing all right… since I can’t…” He hung his head. “She probably hates me.”
“She doesn’t hate
you,” Lance told him. “She’s just hurt
right now… she lost you again, too. But
yeah, I’ll keep in touch with her and I’ll make sure she has my number so she
can check in with me too.”
JC brought a hand
up to his face to wipe away a tear that he didn’t want Lance to see. “Thank you.” He whispered.
“Anyway, I know
you want to be alone so I’m going to head out.
Hannah is flying home tomorrow and I want to spend some time with her.”
“Thanks Lance.”
JC still didn’t look up.
“Anytime.” Lance
replied softly and quietly left the room.
JC sighed and
reached over to turn the small radio on.
He found a station that was dedicated to music from the 80’s and froze
when he heard the song that was playing.
It was one of his favorites but it broke his heart to listen to it.
Some people live
their dreams
Some people close their eyes
Some people's destiny passes by
There are no guarantees, there are no alibis
That's how our love must be, don't ask why
It takes some time, god knows how long
I know that I can forget you
As soon as my heart stops breakin', anticipating
As soon as forever is through I'll be over you
Remembering times gone by
Promises we once made
What are the reasons why
Nothing stays the same
There were the nights holding you close
Someday I'll try to forget them
As soon as my heart stops breakin', anticipating
As soon as forever is through I'll be over you
As soon as my heart stops breakin', anticipating
Someday I'll be over you
As soon as my heart stops breakin', anticipating
As soon as forever is through I'll be over you
Someday I'll be over you
As soon as my heart stops breakin', anticipating
“Stupid song,” he
muttered when it ended and switched the radio off. “Even forever couldn’t help me get over her.”
He didn’t realize that tears were streaming down
his face.
**********
Lance entered the
Toy Room and looked at Chris expectantly, who in turn shook his head. Lance frowned just as Chris’ cell phone
rang. Chris glanced at the caller id
and answered it.
“Any luck?”
“Hi Chris, I’m
fine, thanks for asking.” Michelle said sarcastically.
“Sorry hun,” he
apologized sheepishly and shook his head at Lance again. Lance’s brow furrowed in concern.
“And no, I still
haven’t been able to contact her. She
hasn’t been at the office, but she must have stopped by the apartment because
most of her clothes are gone and her car is gone. I even drove over to Craig’s house to see if she was there.”
“Shit.” Chris
murmured. “Have you tried her calling
her cell again?”
“Many times. It’s still off.”
“I’m sure she’s
all right… we gave her the week off from work, she’ll probably be there on
Monday.”
“I forgot about
that.” Michelle sighed. “I’m going to
stay here in case she happens to come back for something, ok?”
“Where’s here?”
“I’m at the
apartment.”
“You’re not
coming back for the show?”
“What did I just
say, Chris?”
“All right, all
right. I guess I’ll see you tomorrow
morning then, I’ll get C to drop me off on his way home. Did you pick up the dogs?”
“Yeah, they’re
here.” She scratched Korea’s ear affectionately. “They seem happy to be home.”
“That’s what I’ll
be,” Chris grinned. “Two whole days
off!”
Michelle
laughed. “Your beer is already here.”
“Aww… I knew I
kept you around for a reason.” Chris
paused. “Food is here, I have to go
before Joey eats it all.”
“All right, I’ll
see you tomorrow and I’ll leave a message on your phone if anything
changes. Love you.”
“Love you too –
JOEY I WANTED THAT!” Chris yelled and dropped his phone. Michelle just laughed and ended the call.
“No luck, huh?”
Lance asked as he spooned some rice onto his plate.
“Nothing. Michelle even went to Craig’s to see if
Laurie had gone back there.”
“She didn’t, did
she?” Lance looked up sharply.
“No and to be
honest, I don’t think she would have gone there.”
“What’s going
on?” Joey asked with a mouthful of food.
“How come Laurie isn’t here?”
There was an
uncomfortable silence as Lance, Chris and Justin exchanged uneasy glances. Justin and Chris turned away, leaving Lance
to respond to Joey’s question.
“Thanks guys,”
Lance mumbled and faced Joey who had a very befuddled expression on his
face. “Laurie broke up with JC last
night…”
“She WHAT!” Joey
exclaimed and dropped his plate. “The
hell?”
“Alexandria is
pregnant.” Lance told him softly. The
very words made him cringe.
“Psst…” Justin
nudged Chris. “I don’t think Joey’s
eyes can get any wider.”
“When the HELL
did all this happen? Where was I?” Joey
demanded.
“You were still
at the club and you were probably passed out in your room when Lance told us.”
Chris said.
“Well damn.” He
looked around. “So she left? Just like that?”
“Yep. Middle of the night. And now no one can get a hold of her and
Michelle can’t find her.”
Joey suddenly
started to laugh and everyone gave him a dirty look.
“Sorry guys,”
Joey paused to catch his breath. “But
can you imagine Miss High-and-Mighty being a mother? Changing diapers?”
Chris’ mouth
twitched a little and Justin snorted.
Their eyes met and they couldn’t contain their laughter.
“She’ll probably
have a nanny,” Lance reminded them.
“And I’m sure she’d have someone give birth for her too if that were
possible.”
Justin’s eyes
narrowed and he immediately stopped laughing.
“There is no way in HELL C would let his child be raised by a nanny.”
Joey sat down at
the table. “JC with a kid… can you
imagine?” He shook his head. “How is he holding up?”
“Not very well,”
Lance told him and sat down across from Joey.
“He’s in the Quiet Room right now and between the shock of Alexandria
telling him she’s pregnant and Laurie breaking up with him… it’s a wonder he’s
still standing.”
“But I don’t
understand why she would dump him instead of supporting him?”
“She told him
that his child needs to come first… and she’s worried about what would happen
if Alexandria found out about his relationship with her… she doesn’t want him
to lose his future son or daughter because of her.” Lance explained.
“That makes
sense.” Joey looked around. “He’s gonna
need us more than ever.”
**********
Laurie didn’t pay
attention to what she was grabbing when she was at the apartment. She grabbed her suitcase and accidentally caught
a glimpse of herself in the mirror on the way out. Her eyes were puffy and her face was blotchy from the amount of
crying she had already done. She didn’t
bother fighting it because she knew there would be more.
She took her
sunglasses out of her purse and placed them on her face before she took the
back stairs down to the garage to get her car.
She threw her suitcase in the backseat and headed to Highway 1 and just
kept driving.