Justin wobbled to the door, tired as hell. He’d
been studying for days on end. He opened the door with his head down, gazing up
once the door was completely open. Surprise and happiness crossed his features.
“Chris!”
he exclaimed, lunging at the man with a bright smile on his face.
“Hey
infant” Chris greeted as he hugged Justin back.
“Didn’t
change a bit huh old man”
“Nope
not a bit” Chris grinned.
“I’m
glad”
“Dude!
Did you get taller on me?” Chris suddenly asked, taking a step back from Justin
to check him over.
Justin
grinned.
“You
got taller!”
“Are
you gonna come in or what?” Justin teased.
Chris
shrugged. “Sure. So you live here now?”
“Yeah…
how did you find out by the way?”
“Your
roommate told me” Chris explained.
“Oh”
“So
where’s Josh?” Chris asked after checking the room and seeing no sign of him.
“I
don’t know,” Justin answered with a sigh. Chris frowned. “I think he’s with
Louisa”
“Louisa?”
Chris repeated.
“His
girlfriend” Justin said in a funny voice, a scowl on his face.
“And
you’re happy with it?” Chris frowned.
“Not
really… anyway how are you doing officer?”
Chris
grinned, noticing the subject change but letting it go; Justin had never been
good with talking about something when he wasn’t ready to talk, he would tell
him what was wrong in his own time.
“Good,
on a break actually” Chris replied, sitting down on the couch while Justin
walked to the fridge getting them something to drink. Justin turned suddenly
though at the information.
“You?
On a break?”
Chris
grinned. “Hard to believe huh?”
“Very,
you did nothing for a long time but once you started…”
“I
haven’t stopped I know” Chris finished nodding.
“Just
I thought I needed to, can’t always work now can I?”
Justin
smiled as he shook his head and handed him his drink. “How long is your break?”
“I
took up all my vacations days so three months”
“Wow”
Justin said amazed, plumping down on the couch next to Chris, wishing he could
have a three month break from everything, especially these tests that seemed
never ending.
“I
saved for a while”
“Good
thinking”
“Thank
you” Chris smiled, before really looking at Justin, examining him.
“You
look tired” he noted.
“Thanks”
Justin snorted.
“You
busy?”
“Busy
studying yeah” Justin said, rubbing a tired hand over his face.
“You
just woke up then?”
“Yeah”
he nodded, letting his hand drop to his side.
“What
do you say to a little one on one game?” Chris asked.
“Basketball?”
Justin asked incredulously.
“Of
course!”
“Chris
I’m tired and I got more studying to do” he whined, declining; he wasn’t in the
mood for basketball.
“Oh
you big whine baby, get changed it’ll be good for ya”
Justin
still didn’t look convinced.
“You
scared you’ll loose?” Chris challenged, knowing that would do the trick.
“Of
course not!” Justin jumped up and charged to his bedroom, changing quickly.
Only minutes he walked back out.
“Let’s
go old man, you gotta keep up now” Justin said as he walked to the front door
in a straight line, a basketball tucked under his right arm. Chris grinned,
shaking his head as he stood and followed.
“Too
easy”
***
They
had their one on one game, it was actually how their friendship had started;
basketball. About eight years ago Chris at 17 used to play basketball with his
friends in the park. They went there every day after school.
Around
summer vacation a young kid, named Justin, showed up on the court or at least
on the sidelines; watching them. Most of the times he was alone, with a
basketball tucked under his arm as he stared at the older kids playing their game.
Sometimes an older boy was with him, an older boy he’d soon gotten to know as
Justin’s older brother; Josh. After a few weeks of staring, twelve-year-old
Justin, stepped up to them and asked if he could join their game. They’d looked
at the short kid and told him no; he was too young. Justin however had been
persistent, he’d really wanted to play with them but the older kids had not
been pleased with that. They even chased him away one day and when Justin dared
to come back after almost a week they were ready to chase him away again but
Chris had intervened. He’d told them to lay off; he was just a kid. Chris had
left his friends and had taken Justin to another basketball court where they’d
played basketball together. They’d played basketball together ever since and
they became good friends, despite their age difference.
“Ha
beat you old man and you thought I was scared I’d loose” Justin said
victoriously as they bounded back inside. Chris smiled; he remembered the
sweet, eager but oh so determined teenager that had been practically bouncing
on the sidelines, wanting to be apart of the older kids game.
“Yeah
yeah, it’s only ‘cause you’re taller”
Justin
laughed. “You keep saying that to yourself”
“I
will” Chris said, sticking his nose in the air in mock arrogance. Justin
laughed harder before getting two bottles of water out of the fridge, handing
one to Chris as he plumped on the couch.
“I’m
glad you’re back, I haven’t done that in a while, Josh really is no
competition” he smirked but it somehow wasn’t a real smile Chris could see.
Chris could also see that something was still bothering his friend. Justin had
never been good with hiding the way he felt, at least not to people he cared
about. Chris knew however that Justin would tell him what was wrong when he was
ready. He would tell him in his own time.
***
Guess
that didn’t take long, a few days later Chris and Justin were on the couch
watching a basketball game, something he couldn’t really do with Josh who was
more into movies, Chris was more for sports. Justin was apparently ready to
talk and Chris was there to listen.
“I’m
glad you’re here” he started.
“Me
too infant” Justin scowled but Chris just laughed. Finally Justin couldn’t hold
it in any longer either, he smiled too; Chris always had that affect on him and
Justin was glad it hadn’t changed. He hadn’t seen Chris in a while. He’d gotten
a job offer, last year, in the next town and had taken it. The job was great
but busy and he didn’t have a lot of free time. He’d taken a few months off; he
needed to recharge and he wanted to visit some friends, Justin being one of
them, and family.
“Can…
can I talk to you?” Justin asked.
“Sure
Justy, what’s up?” Chris asked a little concerned about the seriousness in his
friend’s voice.
“I
just um…” Justin started slowly, he then turned fully towards his friend.
“I’m
kind of worried about Josh” he outed. He’d been worried for some time now. He’d
confronted Louisa with his thoughts and she’d brushed them off, then Josh
himself told him there was nothing wrong but it all still bothered him. Lately
Josh hadn’t responded to his phone calls all that much, he hadn’t dropped by as
frequently and he was just different and Justin was worried. He was glad Chris
was here, maybe he could help him.
“You
getting your brother’s father feelings?” Chris teased.
“Shut
up Chris, I’m serious” Justin countered annoyed.
“What
do you mean?” Chris asked seriously, he could tell the difference between a
friendly annoyed snarl and a real one and this was certainly the latter.
“I’m
worried about him”
“You
said that but why?”
“Because
I don’t trust the girl he’s dating” Justin admitted.
“Why
not?”
“She’s
just so possessive, he’s even living with her now. Josh wouldn’t do that so
hastily. It’s not like him, he always needs time, he wants to be safe and eight
months is not safe enough for him, three years isn’t even enough!” he ranted;
it just wasn’t like Josh to do this.
“A
little jealous are we?” Chris smirked.
“What
the fuck are you talking about?” Justin snapped.
“He’s
spending more time with her than with you” Chris noted.
“Chris,”
Justin said calmly. “Josh is my brother, not my boyfriend”
“Dude
I know” Chris laughed.
“Then
stop acting like he is”
“You
stop” Chris countered.
“Look
Chris I’m not jealous something’s wrong”
“What
is?”
“I
don’t know, something about the whole situation. It just… it gives me a bad
feeling”
“Then
talk to Josh about it” Chris advised.
“He’ll
just brush it off, act like nothing’s wrong” Justin said angrily.
“Well
maybe nothing is wrong. Told you before you have a lively imagination kid”
Chris said smiling. Although he’s a cop he couldn’t always assume the bad he’d
go nuts and besides Justin had always been a drama queen. They all knew it.
“It’s
more than that”
“You’re
probably just reading too much into this”
Justin
shook his head, “I don’t know… maybe”
