Matt opened the door, meeting a curly headed young
man.
“You’re
Mr. Chasez’s brother?” Matt asked the smiling youth, who was obviously
impressed.
“Yes,
I’m Justin” he responded, surprised and impressed Josh didn’t open the door
himself.
“Come
in” Matt offered but Justin noticed he never smiled.
“Thank
you” he said as he stepped in, shrugging out of his jacket to give it to Matt
as he held out his hand for his jacket.
“Hey
Justin!” Josh greeted happily as he came down the stairs, seeing his guest had
arrived. He rushed towards him and hugged him tight.
“Oh
my God Josh this house is huge!” Justin exclaimed once he’d pulled back from
his brother. Josh smiled wearily.
“Uh-huh”
“You
gotta give me a tour man!” Josh eyed Matt before saying, “Oh… okay. Sure”
“Cool”
Justin exclaimed.
“Thank
you Matt” Josh said meaningful, basically telling him that he didn’t have to
come with him, before leading Justin away, quickly guiding him to the living
room, away from Dan’s offices. The last thing he wanted was that they’d run
into each other. Justin didn’t even notice he was too busy looking around him.
***
Josh
showed Justin the whole house, except for the offices of course. He avoided
those rooms like the plague. After almost an hour they ended up at the indoor
swimming pool. Justin seemed mesmerized by the reflection of the blue water on
the walls. The walls were beautifully decorated and the water was completely
still.
“Wow”
Justin breathed as he stepped inside completely. Josh smiled a little.
“Let’s
swim” Justin suddenly suggested playfully.
“Justin,”
Josh laughed. “You don’t have your swimsuit with you”
“So?”
“Justin
we’re not going to swim” Josh said strictly.
“Damn”
“Did
I show you the game room?” Josh asked knowingly.
“No!
You got one?” he asked, his whole face lit up in excitement.
Josh
nodded. “Yup come on, I’ll show you”
Josh
laughed as Justin followed him, his step bouncing. They turned the corner at
the end of the hall, Josh thinking about whether or not they were walking in
the right direction. He still didn’t have the whole house figured out. He just
walked and hoped he’d end up at the place he’d intended to go.
Josh
startled violently when Dan suddenly stood in the hallway they’d just turned
into. Josh knew he’d been waiting for them. He could see it in his eyes; they
held an amused and evil gleam.
“Hi
Josh” Dan greeted him, quite friendly.
“Hi”
Josh said, letting the hand that had ‘held’ his heart drop to his side.
“Ah
the brother!” Dan noted as he eyed Justin who was standing slightly behind
Josh.
“Yes”
Josh answered for him, knowing Dan was steering him into an introduction. He
did so but ever so reluctant.
“Dan,
this is my little brother Justin” he started, forcing himself not to say but
you already knew that.
“Justin,
this is Louisa’s brother Dan”
“We
already met” Justin stated simply, no friendliness in his voice.
“You
did?” Josh asked quite surprised.
“Yes,
remember a few months ago” Dan cleared.
“Ah
yes” Josh said with a fake smile. When Dan had used Justin to get Josh to come
back to them. He remembered that dirty trick yes.
“Welcome
in my house” Dan said with a smile to Justin.
“Thank
you” Justin said returning the smile but it made his skin crawl. What a
creep.
“Good
then, I’m going to go back to work. Bye Justin” Dan excused himself to Josh’s
relief.
“Bye”
Justin responded before he turned a corner and was out of sight. Josh took a
deep breath before resuming their plan.
“Come
on, let’s go to the game room” Justin followed but frowned a little
suspiciously; he would ask Josh later.
***
“Now
I understand why you moved out so quickly” Justin commented as he broke off.
The clinging of the pool balls filling the room as Josh smiled in what he hoped
was a happy and convincing way.
“It’s
so big!” Justin went on about the house but Josh barely smiled.
“The
only bad thing is that brother Dan”
“What
do you mean?” Josh asked, surprised suddenly. He’d went on and on about the
house, why would he say this?
“He’s
just… I don’t know. He gives me a bad feeling… he’s creepy”
Josh
was momentarily tempted to tell Justin the truth but the threat Dan had outed
the day before kept the words from falling over his lips.
“It’s…
it’s not that bad” Josh said instead, somehow happy Justin sensed there was
something off.
“Maybe
not but he just… I don’t… he makes my skin crawl” Justin said leaning on his
cue, waiting for his turn as he tried to explain his feelings to Josh.
Josh
shrugged. “Didn’t really notice”
“Just
think about it, consider it and watch out” Justin advised.
“I
will dude” Josh reassured. Justin smiled a small smile.
“Thanks
for letting me come here”
“You
didn’t leave me a choice did ya?” Josh teased.
“Shut
up” Justin countered playfully.
“Do
you want me to kick you out?” Josh asked playfully threatening.
“You
love me” Justin countered smugly.
“Sad
to admit but yeah I do” Josh sighed, playfully defeated. Justin’s smug smile
grew.
“You
better”
“Just
shoot lazy brat”
“Yeah
yeah” Justin said bending over, preparing to shoot the green ball in the far
corner. He hit the ball just right and it rolled neatly into the little net,
diagonal from him.
“Yes!”
he said happily, bowing showingly.
“I
love this room. This house is great”
“Yeah”
Josh said not totally convinced.
“You
don’t seem too happy about it” Justin noted. Josh suddenly sobered, putting on
the biggest smile he could muster without it looking fake. Justin would see
right through him.
“I
am. I love this house too, how can you not?” Josh said, trying his best to
convince Justin all the while making sure he wasn’t too obvious about it.
“Are
you happy here?” Justin asked with a tiny bit of a frown on his face. Josh
smiled again, the biggest one he could honestly make appear.
“I
am” Josh said.
“Sure?”
Justin asked to make sure.
“Yes”
***
After
a few hours of talking Josh guided Justin back to the front door. When he waved
him off he could see Justin was satisfied and happy. Happy to be proven wrong;
proven wrong in the fact that his brother wasn’t ashamed of him and for Josh it
made it all worth while.
Josh
was relieved the visit had gone well. Dan hadn’t let anything slip and as far
as Josh could tell Justin hadn’t suspected a thing, which kind of made him sad
as well. Justin had told him that he thought Dan was a creep and Justin had
asked him once again if he was happy here, which he took as a sign that Justin
wasn’t totally sure he was indeed happy.
It
made Josh feel good that Justin somehow felt something was wrong but it also
made it a lot harder to say he was indeed happy here. He had no choice though,
there was no way he could have told Justin he wasn’t happy here because sure
Dan would have found out, he didn’t know how but he probably would have found
out.
He
could have taken a chance but with Justin in Dan’s direct reach the risk was
just too big for Josh to take a chance.
