“Justin? Justin Chasez?” an unfamiliar guy asked.
“Yes,
do I know you?” Justin asked in return, he’d never seen this guy before; how
does he know my name?
“I’m
Dan,” the unfamiliar guy introduced himself, no recognition dawned on Justin.
“Dan
Treydson” he added when he saw the confused look on the boy’s face.
“Oh,
wait I recognize that name” Justin said, he tilted his head while he gazed at
the sky; thinking the answer would come from there. Dan decided to help him a
little.
“I’m
Louisa’s brother”
“Oh
right! She’s dating…. my brother” Justin said, pausing for a brief moment when
the word ‘dating’ left his mouth.
What
did this guy want? he asked himself, he looked too smooth, too
self-confident.
Oh!
Stop it Justin, he’s probably just being nice he told himself
but he didn’t really believe it.
“He
told me a lot about you, kid” Dan told Justin, the tone in his voice made the
hairs on the back of his neck stand up, no this dude was bad news.
“He
did?” Justin asked with a hint of suspicion in his voice, nope he didn’t
like the guy.
“Yeah,”
Dan confirmed with a smile.
“Anyway
tell him I said hi, okay? I’ll see you around”
“Okay”
Justin said slowly while he turned and watched the man’s back as he walked
away. Justin shook his head, clearing his head; he had a test in a couple of
days, a major one, no time for other stuff. He hoisted his backpack higher on
his shoulder before he walked towards the school library.
***
“Josh,
can I crash here for a while?” Justin asked once the door opened and his
brother stood in the doorway.
Josh
sighed, “Sure why?”
“My
roommate is a pain in the butt!” he exclaimed while he pushed himself past
Josh.
“Even
worse than you?” Josh asked and Justin could hear the smile in his voice.
“Yes!”
he replied scowling.
“I
don’t believe it!” he mocked.
“Well
believe it. I got a test and he takes no consideration what so ever, he’s damn
annoying” he countered.
“You
know, now you finally know what it felt like to live with you for years” Josh
said with a smirk.
“It’d
be good for you to see what you can be like” he teased.
“Josh!”
he whined, turning to face his brother who still stood by the door, arms
crossed over his chest and a smirk across his face.
“I’m
telling mom!” he said as if they were 7 and 10.
“You
do that, not much she can do…..” he started, walking towards Justin, putting
his face an inch away from Justin’s.
“….from
Europe” he finished, a smug expression painted on his face. Their parents moved
to Europe when Justin was ready for college, they’d always wanted to move to
Europe but they didn’t want to put their kid’s through a big change like that.
When Justin was old enough to move out on his own they’d packed their bags and
two months later they left for Europe, France to be exact.
“Hmph”
Justin scowled, which made Josh roll his eyes at him. Sometimes Justin could
act like the biggest baby, at 20. Their mother often let him get away with it,
saying he was and always would be the youngest but now that their parents lived
in Europe Justin didn’t have the support of his mother and Josh refused to fall
for his baby act, he simply wasn’t buying it.
“Do
you want to stay here or not?” Josh asked, raising his eyebrows and cocking his
head to the side. Justin always thought he looked so much like their dad, in a
scary way, when he did that.
“Yes”
he grumbled, annoyed Josh had won this argument.
“Fine,
just get your junk out of the way, throw it in the guest room or something. I
don’t want to break my neck falling over one of your shoes” he said pointing
towards the bags Justin had set down in the middle of the room.
“Yes
dad” he mocked, picking up his backs. Josh lunged for him and Justin high
tailed out of the room, towards the guestroom at the end of the hall with a
high squeak, dragging his bag with him. Josh stopped running when Justin was
halfway and just laughed at him, a moment later Justin came back out of the
room still giggling. He followed Josh back to the living room and sat down on
the couch.
“Oh!
You know I met some dude yesterday” Justin said as the thought popped in his
head, he’d been meaning to tell Josh of his little run in with his girlfriend’s
brother but simply forgot.
“I
thought you liked girls” Josh said confused while he walked towards the
refrigerator and grabbed a few drinks.
“Dork!
I do, it wasn’t like that, idiot” Justin responded, Josh snickered as he walked
towards Justin.
“It
was Louisa’s brother, Dan or something” Josh froze at the mention of his name,
his hand extended still holding the coke can out for Justin to take. Justin
grabbed it out of his hand.
“Yo!
Dude you okay?” Justin asked waving a hand in front of his brother’s face.
“Uh,
yeah… I’m fine… uh..” he coughed.
“What
did he say?” he asked trying to sound nonchalant while he moved to sit in one
of the chairs.
“He
told me to say hi” Justin answered while he opened the coke can, not seeing the
concerned look that passed Josh’s features.
“Oh,”
Josh simply said.
“Yeah,
it was really weird, what a scary dude… anyway I think I better start studying,
I’ll see you later” he waved it off, getting up from the couch before walking
towards his temporary room at the end of the hallway.
“Yeah…”
Josh said absentmindedly, thoughts flew through his mind, he suddenly jumped
up.
“Justy,
I gotta go pick something up, I’ll be back later!” he yelled before he grabbed
his jacket and flew out the door, not even waiting for Justin’s reply.
***
“Oh,
Josh how nice of you to visit us” Dan said sweetly when he opened the door,
he’d seen Josh walk up and knew exactly why he was there.
“Asshole!
You leave him alone!” Josh spat at him pushing him inside.
“Now
that isn’t very nice, I was just trying to get to know him” Dan said innocently
letting himself be pushed.
“You
know just in case…”
“You
leave him alone! You hear me? Don’t go near him again!” Josh ordered grabbing
Dan’s expansive jacket, pulling him closer so they were face to face.
“Now
Josh I don’t think you’re in a position to be giving orders” he said pushing
Josh away from him. Josh glared at him, his teeth pressed together in anger.
“Stay.
Away. From him” he said, teeth pressed together in anger.
“Depends
on you Josh” Dan simply said.
“You
know I gave you a choice a week ago and since I didn’t hear from you I thought
I’d check what’s going on” Josh’s face fell as he understood Dan’s plan. Dan
sought out his brother and had him pass the message, he knew Josh would
understand and would come to him, to tell him to stay away from his brother.
And
I fell for it, he thought. Stupid!
“You
know I don’t like being ignored and Louisa missed you” he informed the young
man.
“I
wasn’t… I wasn’t ignoring you…. I was uh…. thinking” he offered as an excuse
when in fact he’d been dreading. He’d been dreading to give him his answer, of
course there wasn’t really a decision to make but he’d been trying to hold it
off for as long as possible. When the days went by and he still hadn’t heard
from Dan or Louisa he thought, they’d come to their senses. It was just a
moment of craziness he figured but now it was once again proven that it wasn’t.
“Oh!”
Dan exclaimed like he suddenly understood.
“Yeah
I know it was a very difficult decision to make” he mocked.
“So
what did you decide?”
Josh
didn’t respond, he continued to glare at the man because once he agreed there
was no turning back although there had been no turning back ever since the
choice was first revealed.
“Do
you want me to let some of my good friends visit your brother? Huh? Is that
what you want?”
“No!”
Josh yelled, panic in his eyes.
“No”
he repeated softer this time.
“You
know now that you’re here, you could spend some time with my sister. You know
make up for the time you weren’t here the past week” he challenged.
Josh
knew what he had to say, the words just got stuck in his throat so he settled
for a simple nod. Dan smiled satisfied with the answer as he led Josh towards
the stairs.
“Can
I call my brother I’ll be home later? I told him I’d only be gone for a little
while” he asked cautiously.
“Yeah
sure, I’m not a bad person, wouldn’t want him to worry about you now do we?”
Dan said with a voice filled with amusement.
“No,”
Josh said in a small voice.
“Good,
go up to Louisa and you can call in her room” he informed Josh while he gave
him a little push towards the stairs.
“Okay”
Josh replied while he slowly started up the stairs. Dan watched him go, another
smile crossed his face, he’d smiled a lot since this boy came into their lives
and he wasn’t about to give up on him. Not anytime soon anyway.
***
“You
just got home?” Justin frowned as he grabbed a drink from the refrigerator.
“Uh,
yeah” Josh responded hesitantly, turning his back on Justin as he shrugged out
of his jacket.
“I
thought you’d only be gone for a little while?”
“Yeah
so?”
“It’s
been three hours Josh, where were you?”
“Since
when did you become my mother?”
“Josh,”
Justin sighed. “I’m just asking”
“If
you must know I was with Louisa”
“Oh”
“Oh?”
Josh frowned.
“Yeah
oh”
“What?”
“Nothing”
Justin denied.
“Justin!”
Josh warned.
“I
just think it’s a little strange; you don’t like her and you still hang out
with her”
“I
never said I didn’t like her” Josh muttered.
“Yeah
you did” Justin said seriously.
“I
can change my mind” Josh countered.
“Maybe”
Justin said doubtfully.
“Justin”
Josh whined; he knew Justin was right he just couldn’t have Justin being suspicious.
“What?”
“Ugh”
Josh said frustrated.
“What’s
going on Josh?” Justin asked seriously.
“What
do you mean?”
“I
can see there is something going on. Something is frustrating you, you always
act childishly when you’re frustrated”
“No
I don’t” Josh countered childishly, proving Justin point. Justin crossed his
arms pointedly.
“I
just… I hate it that I can’t… figure out what I feel” Josh gave in, telling
Justin something but it wasn’t the truth. Somewhere the truth transformed in a
lie and he knew it had been on purpose. He just didn’t want to tell Justin, he
didn’t want him to get hurt. Justin eyed him for a long time; making Josh feel
as if he didn’t believe him. Finally he said.
“You
just have to trust your instincts” Josh sighed.
“I
know. Why can’t you just tell me what I feel… what to do” Josh said, mumbling
the last part; he really wished Justin could help him but in fact he needed to
help Justin. Justin chuckled.
“I
know”
“Why
can’t you?” Josh asked suddenly, Justin was baffled for a moment then
remembered the request from Josh a few days earlier.
“You
asked me to let you figure it out so I will, just be careful”
“I
will” Josh mumbled. ...to keep you safe.
