Chapter 2

 

                Justin bit into his apple, chewing loudly as he read the paper that had been left on the table.  He bypassed most of the articles, all too depressing for such an early hour and paused only at the headlines that didn’t suggest any blood, prison time or investments gone sour.  It didn’t leave many articles, but it kept him somewhat up-to-date with what was happening in the world.

                “Where’s the cereal man?”  Chris asked, as he plopped himself next to Justin at the table.  The younger man scowled impatiently, as his eyes never left the paper.

                “Yes I like cereal.  Yes, I’m not necessarily human in the morning until I eat it, but I do eat other kinds of food every once in a while as well you know.  I am capable of such extremely impressive acts.”

                “They were all out?”  Chris asked as he cautiously poked the egg on his plate.

                “Of the good kinds anyway,”  Justin admitted.  He folded the part of the paper he was done with, and offered it to Chris who gladly accepted.  JC slammed a plate next to them both as he mumbled something about uncomfortable beds and stupid busy signals.  He sat on Justin’s other side, and proceeded to push his food around his plate, never actually making any kind of move to put any in his mouth.

                “Apparently they didn’t have his kind either,”  Justin added as he watched his friend fume silently.  Chris shrugged, concentrating once again on the meal before him.  It wasn’t that he didn’t care that something was bothering JC or that the boy looked anything but happy, but he had his own problems to worry about.  Meghan was gone and, he guessed from their little snatches of conversations last night after she’d arrived home, was miserable.  He’d kissed her and probably ruined the best working relationship he’d ever found.   And on top of all that, he was still a little bugged by Lance’s recent attitude.  The young man was not happy, in fact he seemed slightly depressed.  Chris had seen the same face take over other crew members, even a band member every now and then when the tour got to be too much, but he had never seen it creep up so quickly.  Usually there were some warning signs, or some kind of transition period, but from one day to the other, Lance had gone from moderately happy to what looked like completely miserable.  Let Justin work on JC, he had Lance, Meghan and himself to fix first.

                “Don’t they make anything edible around here?”  JC complained, though he hadn’t even bothered trying the food yet.  Justin smiled over at him ignoring how peeved his band mate already was.

                “What did you say to her?”

                JC’s head sprung up and he looked just about ready to send Justin an insult that would have his head reeling for quite a while.  The knowing look that his younger friend was giving him sent all the fight out of him however. 

                “Something stupid,” he admitted.

                “That’s usually the case,”  Justin chuckled.  “What stupid thing did you say this time though.”

                JC took a deep breath, well aware that Justin would take to the comment about as nicely as Christalee had.  Justin was very close to his mother, and if there was one thing he believed in, it was a woman’s right to make her own living.  He was one of the first people who had thwacked JC on the back of the head when they realised exactly what the problem between him and the girl of his dreams initially was.  JC figured that getting his ass kicked might help take some of the guilt he was feeling away, so he decided to simply come clean with Justin. 

                “I kind of suggested that she should quit her job.”

                It was Justin’s turn to take a deep breath as he tried to control his anger and get the full story before maiming one of the people he’d known since he’d first gotten a break of any kind.  “And you suggested she do what after she quit her job?”

                “Tour with me.”

                “You’re an ass,”  Justin answered, returning his attention to the paper before him.

                “I know,”  JC whined as he let his head fall into his hands.  Justin obviously wasn’t going to take the guilt away from him in any way, which meant he’d have to spend the entire day kicking himself in the butt for being so stubborn.

                “Jace, you know why she can’t quit her job right?  I mean, I thought you understood that.”  Justin tried to help, putting his friendship before whatever opinion JC was forcing him to form.

                “I do.  I just wanted her here so badly and I’d had such a crappy day, and God knows I didn’t think she was going to hear.  I just . . .  God I hate being away from her.”

                “And you think she doesn’t hate being away from you man.”  Justin handed the rest of the paper to Chris, fully aware that JC’s problem would take at least the remaining breakfast time and that he wouldn’t have the chance to finish reading the news.

                “I know she does.  It’s just that there’s no way I could ever leave the band to be with her, and I know how much she hates the job she has, so I really don’t see why she can’t at least try to find a job that’s, I don’t know, closer to me or something.”

                “Jace, you’re barely in the same town two nights in a row.  What kind of job is going to bring her anywhere closer to you?”  Justin countered, tossing the core of his apple into a garbage bin across the room.

                “I don’t know.  Just, why can’t she get a job where she just has to follow me around all day?  That sounds good.  Can’t she find a job like that?”

                “Oh, yeah,”  Chris intervened from his corner of the table.  “The follow JC around like a lost puppy job.  I heard there was an opening in that department.  Seriously, she’s in.”

                “Shut up,”  Justin automatically answered, knowing that Chris’ sarcastic opinion was the last thing JC needed so early in the morning.  Aware of the same fact, Chris merely shrugged before returning his attention to the paper before him.  “Look, seeing as there isn’t any job that actually entails that, you’re just going to have to tough it out man.  And apologise, apologising is good.  Apologising with chocolate and flowers is good.  You’re in deep shit at this point, combine the three.”

                JC groaned as he pushed his plate further away from him.  “Chocolates, flowers and apologising.  This is what you have for me?”

                “Hey, I didn’t get you in the mess and I completely agree with Chrissy on this one.”  JC scowled at Justin’s confession all too aware that deep down he too agreed with his girlfriend’s motives for being angry with him.  “You’re lucky I’m helping you at all.”

                “Yeah, whatever, I am fully aware that you’re doing this just to make sure I’ll be a hundred percent for all these interviews and shit.”  Justin pretended to look insulted at the comment, then slapped JC on the back as he chuckled at the comment.  JC gave him a quick grin before rising from his seat.  “Alright, well apparently I have some apologising to do, so I’m going to go see what I can work out. Hey, do you think she’d just forgive me if I wrote her a killer song?”

                “That’ll only work so many times Jace,”  Justin answered, then mumbled to himself, “believe me.”

                JC shrugged at the answer before leaving the room.  Justin smiled at the thought that maybe JC would be able to salvage his relationship with Christalee and avoid being a walking zombie for what would definitely be a long period of time.  He absentmindedly picked home fries off Chris’ plate and popped them in his mouth as he wondered why he was so good at giving JC relationship advice, something that he seemed to be doing on a regular basis in the last few years, when he was constantly getting himself in trouble with whatever girl he was currently dating.  Like now for example-

                “Oh shit,”  Chris yelled from next to him.

                “What’s up?”  Justin asked distractedly, fully expecting Chris to give some offbeat answer that would make no difference at all in his day.

                “This,”  Chris pointed to the paper in front of him.  Justin leaned over to read the heading for himself.

                “Arrested Boyfriend, Battered Remains,” Justin read out loud.  He let out a sigh as he began skimming the article, realising this was the exact type of literature he avoided.  This poor girl had been battered to an almost unidentifiable pulp and her boyfriend had simply run off without a trace.  It was an awful and depressing story, but that didn’t explain why Chris had jumped at the article.  “That sucks man, but what about it?”

                “You see that?”  Chris asked as he pointed to the victim’s name.

                “Leslie Kemp,”  Justin read to himself.  “Should I know that name?”

                “You should know the Kemp part.”  Chris answered only to be met with an even more bewildered look from Justin.  “Meghan’s last name is Kemp.”  Still, Justin looked confused.  “Meghan has a cousin named Leslie and Meghan was called home for some sort of family emergency that really upset her just yesterday.”

                “So this Leslie girl is Meghan’s cousin?  That really sucks man.  Are they close?”

                “Closer than sisters,”  Chris automatically answered. “I met her once when we were in Megs’ home town.  She was so tiny, how could anyone want to hurt her?”

                “I don’t know man.  There are some sick people out there.”  Justin reached out and folded the paper so the article wasn’t staring straight back at Chris.

                “No wonder Megs flipped out.  Leslie’s family lived right next door to her and Meghan would always baby-sit Leslie because her parents worked like fifty hours a week or something.  She practically raised the kid.  There’s no way she can be taking this well.”  Chris shook his head as he toyed with the paper.  His hands desperately wanted to unfold the object and look once again at the article, but he knew that reading about Meghan’s source of misery would only be some kind of sadistic torture.  He pushed the paper away from himself.

                “So how old is she if Meghan practically raised her?”  Justin asked, sensing that Chris needed something to distract him from his object of affection’s misery. 

                Everyone knew that Chris was in love with Meghan, everyone but Meghan it seemed, and at first it had been a kind of inside joke amongst the crew.  When after a few months they all realised that this was more than a little crush and that no amount of teasing was going to deter Chris, the jokes stopped and people began to take the attraction seriously.  Either they encouraged Chris to move on, or they simply tried to distract him from the girl he refused to pursue. Only his four band mates suggested he actually try to start a relationship with the girl, mostly because Chris wouldn’t get as angry with them as he did with anyone else who made the suggestion.

                “Well, Meghan’s my age right?  And I think she said that Leslie was ten years younger than her . . .  so that would make her about one year younger than you.”  Chris thought about it a moment longer, running numbers and passed conversations with Meghan through his mind until he was sure he had calculated correctly.  “Yep, that’s right, one year younger than you.”

                “Wow,”  Justin breathed.  “And she’s been through all this shit.  That ain’t right.”

                “What isn’t right?”  Lance asked as he joined the group, unconsciously correcting Justin’s slang expression.

                “Meghan’s cousin was practically killed by her boyfriend.  She’s in the hospital right now because of the jerk,”  Chris answered, hating the fact that he had to say the words once again.

                “That’s horrible.  Are you okay?”  Lance asked, squeezing Chris’ shoulder encouragingly as he asked.

                “Yeah, poor Meghan though,” he answered.

                “Poor Leslie.  Dude, she’s only twenty-one,”  Justin told Lance as he shook his head once again.

                “What is she going to do?  I mean, is she just going to live in the same town as she did with this guy and act like nothing happened?”  Chris shrugged, somewhat comforted by the worried tones that both men were talking with.

                “I gotta go.  I have to call Meghan,”  Chris stated, hurriedly leaving the room.

                “This is why I hate newspapers,”  Justin told Lance once Chris was far enough not to hear.

                “Yeah,”  Lance answered, distracted by the article he’d just found in the newspaper.  Leslie Kemp.  The girl’s picture, one from before she’d been battered, smiled up at him and for some reason, he couldn’t peel his eyes away.

 

                Joey looked at the shirt in front of him critically, certain that he would be laughed off the red carpet or kicked out of his family tree if he ever wore it.  “Must be Chris’,” he mumbled to himself as he threw the article of clothing across the room to where he hoped Chris’ clothes were laying about.  He picked up another one, then turned it in Justin’s direction.

                “Hey.  What do you think of this?” he asked, though he wasn’t entirely sure that he should be trusting Justin’s fashion advice.

                “Yeah.  That’s good,”  Justin answered, barely looking in his friends direction.

                “And how about this one?”  Joey asked, as he held up one of the dancer’s skirts that had somehow gotten mixed up in their laundry.

                “It’s great man.  Good choice,”  Justin answered again, obviously a little preoccupied by something other than Joey’s fashion dilemma.

                “Alright man,”  Joey said as he ripped some piece of clothing from Justin’s hands.  “What’s up?”

                “Huh?”  was the younger man’s only answer.

                “You’ve been more distracted than Chris after he’s had five pixie sticks. So what’s up Justin?  Anything I can help you with?”  Joey sat down on one of the few chairs in the room that wasn’t littered with clothes. Justin had to move clothes off the chair nearest him to face Joey.

                “Actually for once I’m not the one with the problem.”  Joey raised his eyebrows slightly, but didn’t say anything, waiting for Justin to continue.  “Shocking, I know.  I’m actually worried about JC and Chris, and maybe Lance while I’m at it.”  He shook his head for a second, trying to clear his fogged thoughts.  “I guess I should thank you for not having me worried man.”

                “No problem,”  Joey automatically answered. “So why are you worrying about everyone else and why am I not aware of any of this?”

                “Simplest answer first, you were in Kelly Land, therefore immune to anything happening in the real world,”  Justin stated as he kicked away a shirt that could not in any fashion-conscious world be his.

                “Um . . .  Kelly . . . ”  Joey answered to himself as a faraway look took over his face.  He smiled in the nothingness and Justin couldn’t help but chuckle at his friend despite the panic he was almost in.

                “Yes, but the Kelly Land trip is over now.”  He snapped his fingers a few inches from Joey’s nose until he was positive he had his friend’s entire attention.  “Now, back to my worrying.  Chris is going insane because Meghan’s having this huge family crisis and had to leave for a little while, JC screwed up with Christalee yet again and Lance . . .  well, Lance just doesn’t seem to be happy lately.  I don’t know man, but it doesn’t look good.”  Justin chewed on his bottom lip nervously, despite the fact that he was desperately trying to rid himself of the habit.

                “Right.  Um, well, JC will make it up to Christalee somehow.  No matter what that girl says she’s as crazy about him as he is about her. Meghan will come back eventually because she adores Chris in her own special way.  And Lance is lonely, I’m not so sure what we can do about that, but that’s why he’s been in a funk lately.” Joey nodded his head once he was done, checking the fact that he’d managed to somehow find a solution for everything.  Unfortunately, Justin wasn’t as satisfied.

                “But what if Christalee doesn’t take him back, and what if Meghan has to stay with her family, and how the hell do you know that Lance is only lonely?  Maybe it’s something more serious.  Maybe he’s dying!”  Justin rose from his seat and began pacing nervously, all hopes of salvaging his bottom lip long forgotten.

                Joey shook his head, as he watched the boy’s frantic movements.  “How many people know that you’re this much of a freakin’ worry wort?  Take a deep breath man, things will work out and Lance is not going to die.  God, could you be a little more dramatic.”

                “But how do you know that he’s just lonely?”  Justin demanded without even slightly slowing down his pacing.

                “Because, would you stop moving for five seconds.”  Joey rose from his seat and held Justin still by pressing his hands strongly against Justin’s shoulders.  “First of all, I know Lance.  The boy isn’t that unpredictable.  Second of all, I would see it in any of us.  We’ve all had the look Lance has at one time or another.  JC when he and Christalee first broke up, Chris when Meghan went home for those two and a half weeks to take care of her father when he got sick, you when you and Britney broke up . . .  We’ve all been there and it was just a matter of time until Lance finally realised that he wanted someone other than us in his life.”  Joey smiled when he noticed the figure standing in the doorway, but tried to keep his facial expression subtle so Justin wouldn’t be driven to turn around.  “Besides, if the boy wasn’t in the band he’d probably have a ranch full of kids right about now.  Alright, better?” 

                Justin nodded his head, though he didn’t look like Joey’s speech had helped him at all. 

                “Fine then, close your eyes, take a deep breath and count to ten.”  Joey was met with a very sceptical look. “I’m serious, just do it.”

                Justin took a deep breath, closed his eyes, then took another and began counting slowly.  Joey winked to the person who had been watching them before he left the room.  Justin was at number seven when he felt someone’s lips press against his own.  His left eyebrow rose slowly, though he kept his eyes closed as he felt the contact.  The warm mouth nudged his until he finally complied and kissed back.  Once the contact was passed, the lips moved away from his.

                “When I open my eyes, I better not be looking at Joey,”  Justin warned.  He slowly opened his right eye, let out a sigh of relief at the sight before him, then opened the other eye.  His arms reached out and wrapped themselves around the person facing him. 

                “Hey baby,” he whispered, his face nuzzled in the woman’s long brown hair.

                “Howdy.  So, what are you doing to have Joey run out on you?”  Justin chuckled at her response, his hands travelling along her back as he pressed her body closer to his.

                “Worrying.  So, to what do I owe the pleasure of your company?”

                “Ah,” she shrugged indifferently.  “Had a half hour to waste, figured I’d come see what you were up to.”

                “Have I mentioned how much I love the fact that you are on tour with us?  Because I really truly greatly do,” he said as he slowly led her toward the couch in the room, mindless of the fact that it was covered in heaps of clothing.

                “I believe you have said something about it once or twice, or every time I come to see you during one of my breaks,” she answered.  Justin pulled her down to sit next to him on top of all the clothes that covered the piece of furniture.  “You know, I don’t appreciate this position at all.”

                “Um, let’s try this,” Justin suggested, as he pulled her closer to him.

                “I’m serious Justin.”  She sprang from the couch and put her hands on her hips as she glared down at him.  “Get up and get up right now.”

                Justin didn’t even bother protesting knowing by the tone in his girlfriend’s voice that remaining in his current position would only cause a fight he wasn’t willing to have at the moment.  “What, what’s wrong Sam?”

                “What’s wrong?”  Samantha repeated, looking at him as though she couldn’t believe that he would dare ask such a question.  “Do you know how much time I spend ironing and mending and cleaning and I don’t know whating those clothes that we were just sitting on!  Don’t sit on the clothes Timberlake.”  She half-heartedly smacked his arm to get her point across.

                “I don’t so much like your job though.  Can’t you get a job on tour in which I’m not involved at all?  That way you would never have a reason to yell at me.  I have the perfect job in mind.  You could-”

                “First of all,” she interrupted him, “I’m sure you’d find some reason to have me yell at you.  Second of all, I like my job.  Third of all, need I remind you that I had this job before I started dating you.  The job came first, let’s all remember that.”

                “Fine,” he mumbled, his voice muffled against her hair as he nuzzled her neck again.  “Be mean.  See if I care.”

                “You know you love it.”  Samantha twisted her neck until she could kiss Justin’s head in apology.  “So what were you and Joey talking about until I got here?  It looked pretty serious, I hope I didn’t interrupt.”

                “Naw.”  He planted a sloppy kiss on her neck before guiding her to a seat in the room that he wouldn’t get yelled at for sitting on.  “I mean, it was important, but you weren’t really interrupting.  I think Joey and I were as far as we were going to get in that conversation.”

                “Yeah?” she asked, peeling herself a little from his body so she could look him in the eyes.  “What about?”

                “The guys,” Justin answered as he tried to pull her back against his body.  “Lance is lonely, Chris misses Meghan and Jace screwed up with Chrissy again.”

                “You know she hates it when you call her that.”

                “That’s why I call her that,”  Justin replied, his right hand tracing lazy patterns on the material covering his girlfriend’s thigh as he tried to think of a way he could help his friends.

                “So what did JC do this time?”  Sam asked, almost repeating Justin’s earlier question from when he heard that the couple was having trouble.

                “Jace is just being an ass about her job again.  I mean, the girl’s wants to work.  That’s cool, proves she’s not after him cause he’s got money.  Can’t he just let her work?”

                “Come on baby, you know that if I didn’t work here with you, you’d have as much trouble with my job as JC has with Christalee’s.   Give the guy a break for once.”

                “Yeah, yeah.  I’m just saying, I wouldn’t get all mad at you because you couldn’t be with me every single moment,” Justin defended himself, all too aware that he was lying through his teeth.

                “Um, no.  You already get mad at me because we don’t spend enough time together.  Maybe I should just give Christalee my job so she can be around JC more often, then at least one of you guys would be satisfied.”

                “What did you just say?”  Justin asked, suddenly grabbing her by the waist.

                “I said that JC would actually appreciate Christalee being around, unlike you who just finds more reasons to complain.”

                “No the other part.  You said you’d give Christalee your job.”

                “I was kidding baby.  I love Christalee, but we both know that there is absolutely no way I’m giving this job up.  It’s what I love and-”

                It was Justin’s turn to interrupt her.  “You’re a genius.”  He placed a quick peck on her lips as he stood up, steadying her with his arms when she teetered from the quick movement.  “Thank you Sam.  You just made my day.”  He gave her another quick kiss, then fled from the room.

                “Alright, I have no idea what just happened.”

 

                “But you’re sure you’re okay?  Positive?  I’m serious, I worry about you.”  Chris took a deep breath as he listened to Meghan’s calm voice over the phone line.  She sounded fine, really she did, but Meghan could always make her voice sound fine when she wanted to.  The problem was that Chris could clearly hear what she was hiding in her voice, the fact that she was really worried about something.  And unluckily for him, it wasn’t the fact that they were miles apart at the moment.

                “Meghan?  Megs?  Stop talking for a second!”  The rambling that had been travelling over the line ceased and Chris took another deep breath to calm his nerves before he continued.  “Listen, I know you’ve got something on your mind other than when you’re coming back, so why don’t you just tell me what it is and make both of us feel a whole lot better.”

                He obviously couldn’t see her over the phone line, but Chris was well aware that Meghan was debating her options, her bottom lip firmly secured in place by her teeth.  He started a countdown in his head, and by the time he reached one, he heard her take a deep breath and finally start to talk.  He listened as she hesitantly began her rehearsed monologue.

                “What kind of favour?”  Chris asked.

 

                “No.”

                “Come on.”

                “No.”

                “It’ll be good for you.”

                “No.”

                “Please, I already promised her.”

                “No.”

                “Lance!”  Joey whined as he plopped down on the bed next to his friend.  “Come on, I’m telling you, you’re going to have fun.”

                “And I’m telling you I’m not interested,” Lance countered.

                “You are interested, you just don’t know it yet.”  This time, Lance didn’t even bother formulating an answer.  He simply stared at Joey in a way that left absolutely no doubt as to where he stood on this subject.  “Alright, listen man, seriously.  Are you listening to me?”

                “Yes,” Lance answered, if only in the hopes that Joey would get done faster and leave him alone so he could continue to . . .  well, do nothing.  But, at least to do nothing alone.

                “I understand that the whole blind date thing sucks and stuff.  But dude, you have to get out, even if you already know that this isn’t the girl you want to spend the rest of your life with.” The fact that Lance snorted at the comment did absolutely nothing to deter Joey’s attempt.  “She’s a friend of Kelly’s and their coming down together.  I can’t very well just leave her in the hotel room while me and Kelly go out on the town, you know?”

                “Well why can’t you get someone else to do it?” Lance fell on his back, looking up at the ceiling and wishing the conversation would simply end.

                “Because Justin and Cee have girlfriends, and Chris wouldn’t be much company since all he’s doing is worrying about Meghan.  That leaves you,” he reasoned.

                “Yeah, me and about a hundred other guys on the crew.  Just, set her up with Steve or Chad, or Marty even.  Have you seen the crew we’re dragging along with us?  You aren’t lacking in selection Joe, and you know that some of those guys are single, so get one of them to do it.”

                “But I’m not asking them, I’m asking you,” again he whined.  His voice was becoming really annoying to Lance’s ears.  “I’d do it for you.”

                “You better not let Kelly hear you say that,” Lance answered with a short chuckle.

                “Fine, you’re right, I wouldn’t.  I just . . .  come on Lance, get out some.  Don’t stay here alone.”  Joey’s voice dropped slightly, letting Lance know that he was completely serious.

                “Look I know where you’re going with this.”  And he did.  Joey was always trying to cheer them up when they got homesick or lonely.  It usually worked, but Lance just wasn’t in the mood for it at the moment.  He didn’t want to go out and witness the fact that there being no more single girls that appealed to him might be a reality.  He wasn’t ready for that yet.  “But seriously, I’m just not interested, maybe another time.”

                “Are you, like, sure man?”  Joey asked tentatively hoping that Lance would change his mind and suddenly decided that a night out was exactly what he needed.

                “Yeah, thanks though.”  Joey knew that any more pleading would be useless, so he simply gave Lance a shrug and a feeble smile before leaving the room.

                Lance let out a sigh of relief when the door closed behind his friend.  It wasn’t that he didn’t like spending time with Joey, it was just that he didn’t really feel like spending time with anyone.  He just wanted to lay there and be pitiful for a little while longer.  He was sure his mini-slump wouldn’t last for much more time, but he fully intended on being pitiful when he felt this miserable.  He didn’t get very far in his plan however, before the door burst open. 

                Lance somewhat expected to see Chris, only because the older member had been the cause the last time his door was so rudely plowed through.  He was somewhat surprised to see Justin standing before him with the biggest grin conceivable on his face.  For all Lance knew, Samantha didn’t have anything to do this afternoon, therefore the sight of Justin anywhere that he wasn’t glued to his girlfriend was somewhat of a surprise.

                “Lance!  I need your help.”

                “I’m not going,” Lance automatically answered, fully prepared to defend himself from another blind date.

                “Good,”  Justin answered wearily, perplexed at Lance’s sudden outburst, “because I need your help.”

                “I don’t want to meet whoever you need ‘help’ with Justin, I appreciate the offer, but I’m just not interested.”  Lance was barely listening to the only member of the group younger than him, fully decided that Justin was trying to set him up and that he would have absolutely nothing to do with it.

                “Um, that’s not why I’m here, but if you want to be set up I know this girl man, I’m serious, you’ll love her.”

                “I said no Justin,” Lance answered before realising what his friend had just told him.  “Wait, why are you here?”

                “I just told you, I need your help.”  Justin sat on the bed next to Lance, and tore the remote control from his hands, intent on having Lance’s full attention if only for a few moments.

                “With what exactly?”

                “Business stuff.  I want to know about contracts.”

                “You people do realise that we have employees for this kind of stuff.  I’m majoring in business, but the important part there is the ‘ing’, that means I’m not done yet, still have a lot to learn.  You understand?”  Lance reached for the remote, but Justin pulled it away from him before he could retrieve it.

                “Yes, and that’s what I love about you.  I understand.  I went and talked to these employee people, and didn’t have a clue what they were saying to me.  So, I nodded and smiled, took the papers they gave me, and now I’m here, where you’re going to help and make everything better.”  He smiled at Lance and received nothing but an unimpressed glare in answer.  “You are going to help me, right?”

                Lance took in a deep breath, completely indifferent to the fact that Justin would undoubtedly hear his sigh, then decided that the quickest way to rid himself of Justin was to simply help him as much as he could.  “Fine, what have you got there?”

                Justin bounced a little on the mattress in what Lance figured must be a little joy dance. He opened the folder and set it on Lance’s lap.  “Contracts . . .  um, I think.  That’s what I asked for, you know, before they lost me.”

                “Okay, if you don’t know what a contract is yet-” Lance started teasingly.

                “I know what a contract is thank you very much, but I was so lost by the time they stopped talking that I didn’t dare look at what they had given me in fear that my brain would explode, so I kind of just grabbed the papers and ran.  So, is that a contract?”

                “Yep, this would be a contract of employment.  Looking for a job Juju?”  Lance stressed the last word, only to see the look of disgust that immediately crossed Justin’s face.

                “No I’m not Poofu,” he automatically countered.  “But I am looking to fill one of these out.”

                “Why?”

                “Well, Samantha just gave me one of the best ideas ever.”

 

                He called again though he was well aware that she wouldn’t answer.  JC had been trying to reach Christalee for two days now and he could do nothing but get hold of her answering machine.  He wasn’t sure if she was purposely missing his calls or simply too busy, she had said she wouldn’t be able to clear her schedule for the week after all, but either way he didn’t like it.

                He’d tried asking Justin for more advice, but the younger man wouldn’t open his mouth on the subject anymore, unless it was to tell JC that he’d gotten himself in this mess, and he should be the one to find a way out of it.  The new attitude was a little odd since Justin always said he thought Christalee was nothing but good for JC and would often push the other man to reconciliation whenever the couple fought.

                JC closed his cell phone, resigned to the fact that Christalee was not home.  The one thing that kept him from panicking was the thought that in less than a week she would be done the project that was currently taking up all of her time, and hopefully have time for a little vacation to come out and see him.  He knew that he wasn’t her favourite person at the moment, but Christalee was usually able to keep in mind that they rarely had any opportunity to be together in the same time zone, even when they were fighting.  When she could, she would come and see him regardless of the fact that she wanted to slap him at times.

                The memory of all the occasions when she would fly to see him just because he had a day off in his schedule and she happened to be off as well sent a pang to his heart.  She did strive to make time for him.  There had been some of those moments when she came to see him even though only two days earlier he had made her cry after saying something stupid over the phone.  He was sure she hadn’t completely forgiven him yet when she stepped on that plane, but she flew to him anyway because she understood that another such occasion may be only at a much later time and that they would both later regret a missed tryst.

                He was such a jerk.  He picked up the phone again, feeling the need to hear her voice more than ever.

 

                “He’s going crazy.  You could at least answer the phone.”

                “Or not.”

                “Come on Chrissy.  The guy is so sorry for what he said.  You know that I was the first one to have your back, but that doesn’t mean you have to completely ignore him. By all means, make  him beg and grovel and plead, but make him do it to you and not your answering machine.”

                “Justin . . . ” she whined

                “Chrissy . . . ” he automatically retorted.

                “Look, I’m not ready to talk to him.”  She wanted to add a reason to the statement, but Justin interrupted her before she had the chance to continue.

                “Sure you are, deep down inside you want to talk to him Chrissy.  You miss him more than you’re willing to admit.  I know it.”  He’d started off teasing, but by the end of his mini-monologue, she could clearly hear the concern in his voice.

                “I do want to talk to him, but I can’t.”

                “Why not?  Give me one good reason.”  He was sure he was about to get his way, definitely not anticipating her response.

                “Because if I do talk to him, I’ll tell him what’s going on.”

                “What’s going on?”  Justin asked, all too preoccupied with the thought of JC and Christalee back together to realise what she was talking about.

                “With you, Justin and why you’ve been calling me practically every five minutes lately and why I’m rearranging my entire life.”

                “Oh that.  But you can’t tell him Chrissy.  It’s supposed to be a secret until it’s definite.  You can’t tell him.”

                “I know that Justin.”  She sighed loudly, wishing she’d never given Justin her number to start with.  Sure, she wouldn’t have met JC then, but still, the boy could get all kinds of annoying when he wanted.

                “Then you can’t tell him!”

                “Then I can’t call him,” she countered.  She heard Justin take a deep breath on the other end of the line as he tried to think of some way she could talk to JC without ruining his plans.  He was all too aware that the couple couldn’t keep anything from one another whether it be the fact that Christalee was freaking out because of some article that suggested she was only dating JC for his money - though her name was never in any of the articles due to the fact that she and JC weren’t a public couple - or that JC had kissed another girl at some party where he’d had way too much to drink.

                “Chrissy, he’s seriously freaking out here.  I’m pretty sure he thinks you’re going to end it for good this time, and that’s not something he seems to be able to handle.  Can’t you do something for the guy?”

                Christalee cringed at the thought.  She didn’t want JC to be hurting, she had actually almost called him the night of their fight, all too aware that a few wrong words would convince JC that they were possibly over.  One of her girlfriends had come over however, and she’d kept Christalee so busy that the girl wouldn’t even have had time to dial JC’s number before getting interrupted.

                She would have called him the next day, but was completely wrapped up in a huge project at work that was too close to its deadline for her comfort.  Then Justin had called her and changed everything.  She knew she’d already forgiven JC and that he didn’t have reason enough not to forgive her.  But Justin had sworn her to secrecy and the mere fact that she wasn’t allowed to tell JC something meant that she would inevitably slip the next time she talked to him.

                “Um, well, you know what, I’ll send him an e-mail from work or something.”

                “An e-mail?”  Justin repeated in disgust.  “Could you get a little more impersonal?”

                “I could send a letter through a fan club.  Look Justin if I talk to him, I’ll tell him.  The only other way I can get through to him is e-mail.  It’s all I’ve got.”

                “Fine. Just convince him that you don’t hate him.  I’m supposed to be the grumpy one in the morning.  I’m not about to give my spot up.”

                “Fine,” she laughed.  “I’ll see what I can do for you.  Talk to you later.”

 

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