Chapter
16
Justin eyed the two quietly talking to each other. The question why, why did Lance hang out with him still on his mind. It was just that Justin didn’t trust Josh, something about him he mistrusted but Lance didn’t seem to notice that. Something about Josh was just not right, he couldn’t point his finger on it but it just gave him a bad feeling. But Lance didn’t seem to share the feeling. He was still curious though, Lance must have had his reason as to why he wanted to get in contact with Josh. However Justin still didn’t know what that reason was…
***
“Why do you keep hanging out with Josh? You’re in love with him or something?” Justin asked bluntly. Lance had avoided those kind of questions since the beginning. He kept telling him it was because he thought everyone deserved a second chance but Justin didn’t really believe that. As time went on, the feeling that there was something else, some other reason for Lance to try so hard, didn’t seem to be so far from the truth after all.
“No!” Lance denied smacking Justin’s arm.
“Then why are you trying so hard?” Lance shrugged, not wanting to tell Justin what the reason was behind his interest in the lonely boy.
“Oh come on Lance” Justin said, getting more curious.
“No, I ain’t telling you” Lance said turning away from him.
“You really like him don’t you?”
“Just because you’re gay doesn’t mean the whole world is” Lance told him irritated and he realized Justin wouldn’t lay off, he was far too curious to just drop it. He’d kept him at bay for a long time and he had the feeling Justin wouldn’t settle for that anymore.
“Ouch” Justin said, pretending to be hurt by Lance’s remark.
“Tell me” Justin persisted.
“Tell me, tell me, tell me” he repeated till he saw Lance give in.
“Alright, alright!” Lance agreed before turning to face his friend.
“Promise me you won’t tell anyone” Lance said seriously, the seriousness in Lance’s tone made him want to know what was going on even more.
“I promise” Justin said quickly to find out what the big secret was.
“If you’re not gonna be serious about it, forget it” Lance said already ready to leave.
“Ok ok, I swear I won’t tell anyone” he said stopping Lance.
“Happy?” he asked with an innocent look in his eyes. Lance stared at him, searching his face for insincerity but he found none.
“Ok,” he started slowly while they took a seat outside on one of the benches scattered around the school building.
“I saw Josh for the first time when, when,” he shifted nervously and Justin just waited but brought his head closer to Lance as if he would hear it sooner if they were closer.
“When he broke into my parent’s house” Lance finished.
“What?!” Justin exclaimed, “He broke into your house?” Lance nodded.
“And you didn’t report him?” he asked incredulously, he didn’t even wait for a reply since he already knew the answer,
“You gotta call the cops man” Justin said not knowing what Lance was waiting for.
“No” Lance said simply not further explaining his decision.
“Then I will” Justin said jumping up from his seat.
“No! Justin you can’t, you said you wouldn’t tell anyone” Lance said in a slight panic while he grabbed the other man’s wrist to pull him back.
“But he can’t just get away with it, you’re letting him off the hook!”
“Justin this doesn’t concern you” Lance said shaking his head.
“Yes it does,” Justin said angry pulling his wrist out of Lance’s grasp. He could not believe this! Justin of course knew Josh stole a lot but he didn’t know he also broke into people’s houses. He could not believe Lance was saying this, why would he deserve a second chance now?
“I don’t want to go to school with a thief”
“Justin please listen” Lance pleaded, pulling Justin down next to him, shifting so he was sitting opposite of Justin and could look in him in the eye.
“I don’t know what’s going on with him but something ain’t right, he’s not doing this because he wants to I’m sure of it”
“What makes you so sure Lance?” Justin asked gentler now as he saw the look in Lance’s eyes.
“You know why I let him go?” Lance asked in return.
“You didn’t answer my question Lance” Justin stated simply ignoring his question as Lance had done with his.
“Stop being so stupid! I’m getting to that, just shut up and listen!” Lance exclaimed exasperated, Justin wanted to know exactly what was going on but he couldn’t keep his mouth shut for more than two seconds. Justin didn’t say anything in return just motioned for him to continue.
“Thank you,” Lance said with a little smile.
“When he broke into my parent’s house I caught him. I had him under shot. I could have waited till the police got there since we could already here sirens but I decided to let him go. Because he had this look in his eyes…” Lance said but got cut off once again by Justin.
“Ok great so because he had this look in his eye I’m supposed to trust him?” Justin asked not accepting his excuse while he stood up once again.
“No, I’m asking you to trust me” Lance said, tilting his head so he could look him in the eye. Justin dropped back in his seat and sighed heavily.
“Ok, fine. But be careful ok? I might trust you but I still don’t trust him” he gave in, still reluctant because he did not want to let this go. Josh broke into Lance’s house and as far as Justin was concerned Josh needed to be punished for that but when he saw the determined look in Lance’s eyes, convinced that Josh didn’t do this because he wanted to he gave in. He trusted Lance, Lance wouldn’t just say anything, Lance really thought something was wrong and frankly deep inside Justin knew there was something wrong as well. He just didn’t want to acknowledge it, he was not yet as aware of those feelings as Lance was, besides he trusted Lance’s intuition and let it go, for now.
“I will, thanks” Lance said grateful and Justin just nodded in response, that was enough for the both of them.
***
“I told Justin you broke into my house” Lance stated suddenly as they were walking home from school. Josh almost tripped over his own feet, catching himself just in time for him not to fall before he turned his shocked eyes onto his friend.
“You what?!”
“I told him”
“Why?” Josh cried panicking.
“Because he’s my friend”
“I thought I was your friend”
“You are too”
“I thought friends kept secrets”
“Justin will keep the secret”
“Yeah at what cost?” Josh asked angrily.
“It’s not like that,” Lance sighed.
“Justin won’t do that”
“Right” Josh snorted.
“Just… what does he want, just tell me alright…” Josh started but Lance cut him off.
“Josh for the last time; he is not like that. People are not always looking for stuff to use against you. Why do you keep thinking they are?” Josh looked away.
“Well?”
“That’s how the world works”
“Not my world”
“Well then you live in a better world than me”
“What do you mean?”
“Nothing forget it” Josh dismissed.
“No what?” Josh stared at Lance.
“Not everyone is as sweet as you are”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean… there are people who are looking for stuff to use against you. Not all people are as nice as you, forgiving and all” Josh blushed, looking down at his shoes.
“Like whom?” Lance questioned but as soon as Josh opened his mouth to response Lance knew exactly the name that would come up.
“Don’t say Justin!” Lance warned.
“Lance” Josh sighed.
“No I mean it, I trust him” Lance said.
“I asked him not to tell and I trust him to keep his word”
“That doesn’t mean I should trust him” Josh countered.
“You two are hopeless” Lance said wearily, having had the exact same conversation with Justin just a few hours prior.
“What do you mean? What did he say?” Josh wanted to know all of a sudden, suspicious and afraid. Just because Justin had said he wouldn’t tell didn’t mean he wouldn’t make Josh’s life miserable. He could do a lot of things to make it even worse than it was now without actually telling anyone about his knowledge.
“He said nothing ok! I told him, I asked him to keep it quiet and he said he would. End of story”
“But what is the guarantee he won’t tell anyone?”
“You don’t have that guarantee, you’ll have to trust him…” Lance said. Josh snorted.
“And me” Lance added, looking him in the eye. Josh met Lance’s eyes for a few moments, and then looked the other way.
***
Josh went over the conversation he’d had with Lance and only came to one conclusion; he had to trust Justin to keep his mouth shut. But he did not trust Justin to do so. Why would he?
Josh knew Justin disliked him and was probably dying to inform the cops about a certain burglary and burglar he knew. The only guarantee Josh had was his word. And Lance’s word. He kind of trusted Lance, Lance had been nothing but kind to him ever since he met him and if he hadn’t turned him in by now he did not believe Lance was really after getting him arrested. What good would it do him to make friends with him and then turn him in? It just didn’t make sense.
However Justin might be interested in getting him arrested. He just couldn’t be relaxed when he knew Justin was aware of his crime. A crime that would certainly land him in jail and worse get the wrath of Henry upon him. Justin’s word to keep quiet was not enough for him and therefore he avoided Justin as best as he could. Maybe if he didn’t see him, Justin wouldn’t think about the scrutinizing information he knew about Josh and he would forget all about it. It was not realistic but it was at least something he could do.
