...With You

Chapter 19


Justin grabbed two drinks from the bar and headed towards Madison. The crowd and thinned out dramatically. Only the guys and a few guests were left.
"Hey" he smiled, handed her the glass. "We gotta talk." He said.
"Yeah" she tried to force a smile.
"Come on. Follow me." He said, pulling her towards the back when him and Lance talked only an hour before. Once back there the two just stood there looking at each other.
"Interesting night, huh?" he asked.
"You could say that." Madison smiled, looking down at the floor.
"Madison… Lance knows." He said flatly. "He bombarded me with questions and everything just sorta came out." he finished.
"And the plot thickens…" Madison looked at him. "JC asked for me to forgive him and try again... again" She told him.
"And?" Justin asked.
"And… I had to lie to get out of it" Madison looked over at him.
They were standing against opposite walls and just looking at each other.
"Madd, come here" he said, extending his hand toward her. He pulled her into a hug and just held her. "Everything is going to be ok, Madd. I promise." He said, burying his head into her hair.
"Justin, something's got to give here. Because you keep promising that everything is going to be ok, and I know it's difficult but, everything is not ok. I hate being around JC because I feel so guilty. I shouldn't have to feel guilty!" she said, pulling away to face him.
"Don't you think I know what you mean? I spend every waking moment with him and have to listen to him talk about how he wants you back, how he should have never let you go and what he's going to do the next time he sees you. It kills me Madd!" he exclaimed, but keeping his voice low.
Madison looked towards the ground. "I know, you're right. I'm sorry." She said.
"Don't be sorry, Madd." Justin smiled. "I know it's hard for you too."
Madison pressed her lips onto his, taking him by surprise. He welcomed her lips on his and slowly caressed her back. They parted and both smiled, looking into each others' eyes.
"You know what? I don't care who knows. No matter what is going on around us, no matter who knows about us, I just wanna be with you. I love you Madison." He said, running his fingertips up and down the sides of her neck.
"I love you too Justin. More than anything." She smiled.
He pulled her face to his and softly caressed her lips with his own. Moving his kisses down her neck, she welcomed his loving touch. As his lips met with hers again they fell deep into each other, forgetting where they were.
"Madd, Madd." He said slowing down. "As great as this is, this probably isn't the place." He smiled.
"Yeah. I guess your right." Madison smiled back at him.
"You ready to go?" Justin asked.
"Yeah." Madison said.
"Alright, I'll meet you back at your place as soon as I can, ok?" he asked.
"Yeah, sounds good." She smiled.
"Good." He smiled, kissing her lightly on the lips as he went back out to the main room.
Madison waited a few seconds before doing the same.

**~*~*~*~**

JC stood away from the rest of the guys, still shocked by what he had just heard… and saw. He had started to head towards the back when he saw Justin's hands and lips all over Madison. 'This can't be happening. Not Madison. And definitely not Justin.' he thought to himself. He saw Justin emerge from the back and not too long after, Madison slipped out from the back as well. JC had to turn away, looking at either of them would bring back images that he didn't want to re-live.

**~*~*~*~**

Justin walked out into the room.
"It's looks like everybody's gone, huh?" Justin said to all the guys, but no one in particular.
"Yeah, the last one just left" Chris said.

Madison slowly walked over to where at least four of the guys were.
"Am I the last to leave again?" she asked, smiling.
"Ah, Madd. You know you're one of us! You don't count as a guest anymore." Joey smiled, putting his arm around her.
"Does that mean she gets to help us clean up?" Chris asked.
"Chris. We don't have to clean up…" Lance laughed.
"Detail, details" he smiled.

JC watched as the guys stood around talking to Madison. 'All this time' he thought to himself, getting more angry by the second.
"Hey JC!" yelled Chris "Come on over here man! Watcha doin' all the way over there?" he asked.
JC started to walk over to where the rest the guys were standing with Madison. Justin started to walk toward JC. Just looking at him made him sick. JC tried to avoid looking at him as he neared.
"Have a good time tonight, J? JC asked cynically.
Justin looked at him suspiciously. "Yeah, man… " he said smiling. "It was a good night."
The anger in JC's body rose to a level of incomprehension. 'That's it!' JC thought to himself. Justin was about to pass as JC's fist rose and hit Justin across the face and threw him down to the ground.
"WHAT THE HELL!" Justin yelled, looking up at JC.
Madison, Joey, Chris and Lance shot their heads up to see Justin on the floor holding his face, and JC standing over him. The four immediately ran over to the center of the floor where the two stood. Madison ran over to Justin without hesitation and crouched down over him, the others just stood along the outside.
"How long has this been going on!" JC yelled, looking back and forth from Justin to Madison. "HOW LONG! How long have you been making an ass of me!" he asked.
Madison helped Justin to his feet. Lance shook his head, knowing that this night was far from over, and that this was NOT going to be pretty. Chris and Joey looked on, still shocked, still waiting for confirmation.
"JC…" Justin started. "We didn't want you to find out this way." He said.
"Don't worry Justin. It really spared my feelings seeing you all over her in the back room." He said sarcastically. "What about you guys? You know about this?" JC snapped his head around the other three.
Chris, Joey and Lance shook their heads 'NO' and JC's attention was turned back to Justin and Madison. Justin stepped away from Madison's arms and approached JC.
"JC -- we didn't mean to hur--" Justin started.
"Wait! Wait! Wait! Let me guess. You didn't mean to hurt me, right?" JC asked, smiling from irony. "Well, let me tell you something. You did! Congratulations to the both of you for being able to stomp on my heart!" he finished.
"JC, we wanted to tell you, we just didn't know the right time." Madison spoke up.
"Ah. Listen to this. This is good, coming from the girl who knows how to rip at my heart from all directions!" he exclaimed. "What? You didn't feel you hurt me enough before? You had to go behind my back and try to destroy the remaining pieces of my heart?" he asked.
"JC it wasn’t like that at all" Madison started.
"Please. Spare me the details." JC yelled. He snapped his head back towards Justin. "So man, tell me. Is it just about the sex? Cause as I remember, she was a pretty good lay!" he said.
"Alright! That's it… " Justin said angrily approaching JC.
"Hey! Both of you!" Madison screamed, stepping in between them. "Stop! JC, I know you're hurt but saying things that you're going to regret isn't going to help that." She said, turning her glance toward him. "We're over. You and I ended months ago, I don't know what it is that you think is still there. I'm free to see who ever I want. Justin is who I want." She said.
JC backed away from her and Justin, taking a step back from his ‘best friend’ and the girl he would never have. He turned around and walked towards and then out the front door.
Chris and Joey looked towards Madison and Justin. "I guess the party's over" Chris said solemnly. They smiled and nodded towards them and headed off, following JC. Lance looked at the two of them, still standing where JC left them. He patted Justin's back and squeezed Madison's arm. "He'll settle down guys, hang in there." He said softly before he turned around and headed off to join the others.
Madison turned around to face Justin. Tears threatened to run down her face, but she quickly stopped them. Justin looked at her and pursed his lips together and slightly smiled at her. She sighed and looked at him, slightly returning his smile.
"Can we go home now?" she asked.
Justin smiled and took her into his arms, holding her for what seemed an eternity before they too walked out of the club, into the early morning hours of the New York streets.

**~*~*~*~**

JC, Joey, Lance and Chris walked into their hotel room. JC walked quickly towards his room.
"JC, do you want to talk --" Lance asked.
JC turned around to face them. The looks of pity on their faces were brilliantly obvious.
"Thanks guys. But I think I'm just gonna head off to bed." JC said groggily.
"Alright. Goodnight." Lance said.
"Goodnight" the other two said.
JC walked into his room and crashed onto the bed.
"Why Justin?" he asked himself.
As if getting over Madison could be any harder, he had lost her to his best friend. He had said some things that he knew that he was going to regret later. He made Madison out to be a slut and a whore. Two things, which he well knew, she wasn't.
"Why am I feeling guilty? She ripped my heart out!" he said to himself.
The truth hurt, more than words could say. Seeing Madison with any other guy would be painful for him, but seeing her with Justin made it that much harder. Images of her and Justin kissing crept back into his mind, images that he'd be been seeing since they occurred. They wouldn't leave his mind. JC crawled under the covers, closed his eyes and tried to drift off to sleep, desperately hoping to wake up from this nightmare.

**~*~*~*~**

"Do you think he's ok?" Joey asked.
"I wouldn't be ok, would you?" Chris asked.
"No. Guess not." Joey said, shaking his head.
Lance walked over to the other two sitting on the couch.
"JC's tough. He'll be ok, he just needs time" Lance said.
"Maybe. But even JC is going to need awhile to get over this one. He's still not over Madison and that was before Justin -- well, before anything like this happened." Joey said.
"What is he thinking?" Chris asked. "Seriously. He knows JC is still crazy about her, what would inspire him to do this?"
"Can I play devil's advocate here?" Lance asked.
"Be my guest" Chris answered.
"I don't think Justin opted to fall in love with her, it just sorta happened." Lance said.
"You don't just sorta fall in love. And how are you so well informed about this. Did you know?" Chris asked.
"Not really. I suspected it for awhile, but when I approached Justin about it he denied everything and told me that I was worrying about nothing. Then, tonight when I saw them talking earlier in the night, things just looked weird so I pulled Justin aside and he didn't deny it this time." Lance answered.
"And he's in love with her?" Joey asked.
"Oh yeah" Lance said "Head over heels."
"I still think he should have told JC" Chris said.
"And said what Chris? 'Hey JC, I know you're my best friend and I know that you're still crazy about Madison, but do you mind that I'm hopelessly in love with her?' That wouldn't have worked either." Lance said.
"Wow. You're really taking his side with this one." Joey said surprised.
"Woah. I'm not taking sides at all in this one. But I don't think we should only look at it from JC's point of view. If we're going to work through this as a group we have to consider everyone, plus Madison." Lance said.
The other two nodded at Lance's reasoning.
"Well, I am exhausted" Joey stood up. "I'm heading to bed."
"Me too" Chris said, rising from his seat.
"Yeah, it's been a long day. I'm hitting the hay too." Lance said. "Goodnight guys."

**~*~*~*~**

Madison walked into the apartment with Justin right behind her, as he shut the door behind him. Madison flicked on the light and Jacey came running to the door excited to see her.
"Hey girl" Madison smiled. "You still up?"
The dog circled Madison and ran up to Justin, nudging him to pet her.
"Alright. Alright, Jacey." Justin said kneeling down on the floor the play with her.
"J, you better get some ice on that eye" Madison said softly, putting her arms around his shoulders.
He paused from playing with Jacey and put his hands on Madison's arms.
"How about you? Are you ok?" he asked.
"I'm not the one that got hit!" Madison forced a smile.
Justin picked himself up, faced Madison and looked into her eyes. She looked so hurt inside, that his eye didn't seem to matter.
"He said some pretty cruel things" Justin said.
"Yes." Madison said turning away. "Yes, he did." She said.
"He'll calm down" Justin said, turning her face towards him.
"I know." Madison said. "But we both know that nothing is going to be the same." She said.
"You're right, Madd. We don't have to hide anymore!" he smiled.
"Justin, this may be great for us but you have a very hurt friend back at the hotel. This isn't just going to blow over by tomorrow." She said reasonably.
"I know." He said, walking over and taking a seat on the couch.
Madison went into the kitchen and got some ice. She walked back into the living room with Justin on the couch.
"Here sweetie" she said, gently putting the ice onto Justin's face.
"Ouch." He squinted.
"Oh. I'm sorry baby." She said, wincing at his pain.
"That’s ok, you didn't do it" he said, smiling lightly.
"Yeah, I know." She smiled. "I didn't think JC had it in him." She said.
"Yeah, me either. I've never seen him do that before!" Justin said. "I certainly didn't think I'd be on the other end of it."
"I feel like this is my fault." Madison said, relaxing next to Justin as he held the ice to his face.
"Madd, don't ever feel like this is your fault. It's nobody's fault. I love you, it's gonna take more than a punch for that to change." He said, turning to face her.
She smiled. "Good. Because I love you too." She said.
"We will be ok, Madd. I know this is far from over with JC, but we'll work it out. The good news for us is that we don't have to hide anymore." Justin said.
"That's a plus" Madison smiled.
Justin removed the ice from his eye and leaned in to kiss Madison. His lips found hers and slowly caressed them. He pulled her closer to him just held her as their kiss ended.
"Justin?" Madison asked.
"Yeah?" Justin replied.
"Will you just hold me tonight?" she asked.
Justin released her to look her into the eye. He smiled.
"I'd be honored." He said.
She stood up and held out her hand, waiting for Justin to take it. He stood up next to her and looked sweetly at her.
"Madison, you're the best thing in my life." He smiled. "I'm going to hold onto you until there's nothing to hold, and even then, I'll still be here." He said.
Madison smiled and pressed her lips against his. "I love you Justin. Please don't ever doubt that." She said.
"Never" he answered. "Now, come on baby. Let's go to bed, I'm beat." He smiled.
Madison nodded and followed him into her bedroom. This evening was one that would not soon be forgotten, but being able to end it lying in Justin's arms made it all worthwhile.

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