Last time on Chapter 23 of Love Interest -
"When are you heading back out to work on the next cd? Or aren't you doing another cd?" Randall asked, which caused a little silence to fill the table.
"We aren't sure yet, whenever Lance and Chris come down here and we work out our differences." Joey answered that question, and smiled at Randall, giving him a slight warning not to say anything more about the situation.
"Oh, well I'm sure you boys can work things out. It's not like you all to be on non-speaking terms." Lynn spoke with wisdom gained through experience. She used to tour with the group, insisting on it when Justin was still young, and in that time she got to know the group better then any of the other mothers. And during the time, she also realized that they were all close, and fights never lasted long.
"You're probably right." This came from Josh, although he really didn't feel that way, he had to agree to drop the subject.
"I know I am, give them a few days and they will apologize." Lynn shook her head for double assurance, and went back to eating.
Dinner was over, and the large group of family and friends were enjoying a conversation in the living room. Brittney was the only one absence, as she went about unpacking her things in Justin's room. She had been told she could sleep their, since Justin wouldn't be using the room much at all. Joey had already unpacked in the guest bedroom, but he promised he wouldn't be staying with them for long, just a night or two.
"So we were in the mall, and little Jonathon saw one of those manicures, and it was wearing the same dress as me. Well, he walked up to it, and started pulling it's sleeve from behind. And he was saying mommy the whole time, and then he pulled the arm out. He screamed, and when I heard it I rushed over to him. You should have seen his face when he saw me and the manicure, I think he was in shock." Lisa Timberlake's story brought a round of laughter from the room. Jonathon wasn't even paying attention to the story, he was busy watching a cartoon on tv.
"He reminds me so much of Justin." Lynn cooed, as she looked at Justin in Josh's arms on the couch, and then at Jonathon. "Maybe not in the looks, but definetly in the personalities. They are both so rambuctious, and outgoing. You better watch out for him, he's nearing that age where he'll wanna do everything by himself. I don't think Justin grew out of that phase until he went off to Mickey Mouse." Lynn teased, and Justin just smirked back at her.
"Yeah, well I was losing my mommy when I went away to do that. If it wasn't for Josh I would have been lost their. Even though you were around all the time. Same thing with tour, when you left it was almost like I didn't lose any thing, because Josh was just as protective of me as you were." Justin laughed, and Josh just gave him a squeeze.
"Someone should have told you what to do when you went on Star Search." Joey laughed at his own joke, that at the time no one even understood.
"What do you mean?" Justin asked confused, and everyone else waited for an answer from Joey.
"That shirt you wore. What were you thinking, and Lynn why would you let him wear that? I bet you that's why he lost." Joey giggled, and the room erupted into laughter. Justin just blushed, remembering the multi-colored cowboy shirt he had worn for the show.
"I think you looked cute." Josh whispered into his ears, and Justin smiled at that.
"I know, I think we did over due it for that show. You were in every type of cowboy clothing we could find. You looked like a junior rodeo star. But you did perform well, you sounded like a genuine cowboy kid." Lynn smiled, and laughed causing Justin to blush again as his friends and family laughed as well. Brittney had heard the story just as she returned and she too was laughing. Justin just stuck his head into Josh's chest for more laughs, and then returned it out with the blushes gone.
"I don't think we need to tease me any more tonight. We've had enough of making fun of me."
"Oh, don't ruin the fun. I was just getting started at funny stories." Lynn couldn't continue before she was ushered to stop by Justin.
"Everyone here knows those funny stories mom. Josh and Joey are in the band and you've told them all the stories of my childhood a million times. As for Britt, she's just like them, heard them all. And the rest of the people in the room are my parents, so they know them too." Justin insisted her to stop.
"Alright, I guess you're right. They do all know the stories, and I can't think of any embarrassing one that I haven't told, so I'll pick on some one else." Lynn teased, and the room fell silence, not out of being awkward, but because they were so familiar with each other that it was a comfortable silence.
"Oh, I completely forgot. I'll be back in a minute, my mom was begging me to give her a call once a week now. And I completely forgot, she's probably been calling my cell phone all day." Josh startled by remembering almost threw Justin off of him. "Sorry baby." He helped Justin back to his feet and Justin took a seat in the chair where Josh had been sitting.
"Great boyfriend you are, you forgot I was even on your lap." Justin teased, and Josh just smirked at him as he ran to the study for a phone that was in a silent area.
"Mom?" Josh asked after the other end of the line turned from a dialing signal to a voice.
"Son." Josh smiled at his mother's voice, although remembering the last time he talked to her, it was about him and Justin. And she was not to enthused about their relationship. But he knew she was probably used to it by now.
"Hi, did you try calling me at all today?" Josh asked, hoping the answer would be no.
"Yes, and your cell phone was off all day. I figured logically you would be with Justin and I dialed up his and his was off too. Where are you two?" She asked quizically.
"Um, at home." Josh replied, looking around the room he was glad to be their.
"Why, what happened to the tour? Is everyone all right?" Josh laughed at his mother, she was always thinking the worst, out of things that were usually small. Although what happened was small, it was far from being a horrible event.
"Nothing mom, just a lot of little things. Right now, the tour is cancelled, and we aren't all on speaking grounds." Josh responded to the questions, and waited for his mother to ask more.
"Who aren't on speaking grounds? You and Justin are still a couple, right? You promised me you weren't going to treat this relationship like the rest of them. Were you lying to me, was he just a fling?" Karen asked repeated questions, and Josh smiled and laughed at them.
"Me, Just, and Joey are here at the house. And Brittney's with us. Christina went back out to work on her own upcoming tour. Lance and Chris are some where, but none of us really care. And yes, Justin and I are still dating. I'm not going to let him go mother. Justin is too good for a fling, he deserves the best he can get, and I am that mom." Josh answered all the questions easily, and he could hear a sigh on the other line.
"Well that's good to hear. But would you mind telling me why you guys don't care where Chris and Lance are?"
"Um, Chris, Justin, and I had a big ordeal during the tour. Chris kinda kissed me, and no I didn't return it mother." Josh waited for his mother's reaction to what he was telling her.
"He kissed you? You mean on the lips?" Karen asked, but Josh was expecting her to be upset, or at least shocked, but she asked the questions calmly.
"Yeah, and Justin saw. I hit Chris, and since Justin had watched, he also knew that I didn't want the kiss to happen, he wasn't even upset with me. But then Chris beat up Justin."
"He what? How did that happen? Why weren't you their?" Karen had the same reaction to the story as Paul and Randall did when Joey told them abou it. All of their reactions were to yell at Josh for not being their for his boyfriend.
"I was out taking a walk to calm down from the kiss. Do you know how bad I wanted to kill Chris after I got back and found out what he did? If it wasn't for the fact that Justin wanted me to stay with him, I would have. No doubt about it, I should have, but I let it go. He apologized, but things got worse last night. Things blew up, and Brittney and Lance broke up, and we all left. Hopped a flight this morning, and ended up here." Josh explained his situation, and he could hear his mother calming down on the other side of the line.
"Whoa! A lot really has happened since I last talked to you. Well, I'll let you get back to Justin, but son, be careful. I believe you when you say you and Justin have something good together, and I don't want it to be short lived. I know I wasn't the happiest person when you told me you were gay, but I grew to live with it. And I know I wasn't happy about all the boyfriends you were with. Their is one thing I can say though, you and Justin being together makes me a happy person. I've always loved you as my son, and I've loved Justin as one too, one day I hope you can make him my official son." Josh smiled and blushed at his mother compliments about him and Justin.
"I hope so too mom. Tell Tyler and dad that I miss them. Maybe Justin and I will come visit soon since we have a while off."
"Alright, I hope you do. I love you Josh, and while you are at it, tell everyone at that house I say hi. And tell Justin I love him too." Josh giggled at his mother, and shook his head, although she couldn't see it.
"I will mom, bye."
"bye honey." And with that Josh hung up the phone, and stood. Walking out of the study, he returned to the living room. His seat was occupied by Justin, but Justin got up and let Josh take it. Justin took his place on Josh's lap quickly, and smiled.
"How's your mother Josh?" Paul asked, the first to remember that's why he had left the room.
"She's fine, she says hi to ya'll. Oh, and Just, she loves you." Josh smiled, and laughed at Justin's reddening face.
"I'll have to tell her I love her too the next time I see her." Justin smiled back at Josh.
"I was actually thinking we could go see my family soon. It's been a while since I visited them, and I'm sure they want to see you too." Josh gave Justin puppy dog eyes in his way of begging for Justin to say yes.
"Sure, it's been a while since I've seen them. How old is Tyler now?" Justin asked quizically, trying to relapse threw his head. "It's so hard to remember ages and birthdays of people when you know so many people. I mean, I've got to remember Joey's brother and sister, Lance's sister, you're brother, mine, and then who knows else." Justin just stopped trying to think about it, and waited for Josh to answer.
"I think he's 18 now, maybe still 17." Josh responded, but he too was having a hard time remembering how old he was. "I think I might need to ask my mom, and make sure, she'll probably yell at me for forgetting, but it's better then mistaking his age when I talk to him."
"I can't believe you two, not even able to remember family birthdays. I raised you better then that Justin." Lynn scolded her son for his ignorance. He just blushed and apologized under his breath. "Josh, Tyler is 18." Josh and Justin raised their eyebrows at her, shocked that she knew Josh's brother's birthday better then they did.
"Thanks Lynn." Josh politely took the information, and blushed because he was embarrassed that he didn't know it. He took the scolding that Justin got as one of his own, because he had forgotten the same things Justin had. "I'm gonna have to remember things from now on."
"That trait wasn't yours Josh, it was always Lance's." Joey teased, and Brittney just groaned.
"Could we please not bring up that man?" She asked rudely, and Joey just shook his head. He had forgotten that she might not want him mentioned.
"I hate to say it, but I think it's getting close to Jonny's bed time." Randall Timberlake stood up. Jon just shook his head, but couldn't fight it when Randall scooped him up. Lisa picked up Steven, and smiled. After the four had said their good byes, and Justin promised to visit more often, the room had resumed in conversation.
"What are you all up to for tomorrow?" Paul asked, walking back into the living room with a beer. Noticing that no one else had anything to drink he, blushed. "I can get anyone anything if they want it. We've got some pepsi, or water, milk, hell if you want a beer."
"It's okay Paul, I can get it myself." Joey stood to go get himself a beer. "Anyone else want anything?"
"Could you get me a pepsi Joe?" Brittney asked politely.
"I'll take a beer." Josh requested, it was unusual for him to have alochol, but he did have a drink here or their.
"Me too." Justin followed in the request, but was quickly shot down.
"NO!" He frowned, not only did his mother turn him down, but Josh too gave the thumbs down for the option of Justin getting any alcohol. Both Josh and his mother laughed at the reaction they shared, and Paul just frowned.
"It's only one beer, I think the boy can handle it. Brittney,if you want one too, just ask for it." Brittney smiled at him but shook her head. Josh and Lynn shook their heads at Paul, but they didn't feel like an arguement, and Joey went to the kitchen with okay from Paul to give Justin a drink. Justin smiled at his dad, and like a little kid waited for the drink.
"Here ya go." Joey returned, and handed each of them their drinks. Brittney took the pepsi, and Justin and Josh took their beers. Paul smiled at his son while he took a drink, not losing any of his anxiousness to drink it.
"I wish you wouldn't let him drink." Lynn leaned over and scolded her husband ina hushed tone. "He thinks he's real cool when he does it." She giggled, and Paul laughed with her.
"Back to what I asked, what's the plans for tomorrow for you guys?" Paul asked, smiling.
"Um, I'm gonna head over to my place." Joey replied, taking a swig of his beer.
"I think I'm heading over to my mom's, she'll be surprised to hear from me so soon. If she hasn't heard about the tour being cancelled on tv already." Brittney giggled, and stood. She had been sitting on the floor, but now that the Timberlake's were gone, their was an open seat on the couch, and she gratefully took it.
"What about you two?" Paul question, obviously referring to Justin and Josh.
"I don't know, we should probably plan to get tickets and stuff for going to see my folks, but other then that, nothing." Josh answered for the two of them, and Justin continued to drink his beer. "You two working?" Josh asked referring to Lynn and Paul.
"I am, but Lynn isn't. She has a few days off this week." Paul replied, and laughed as Justin finished his beer and set it down on the coffee table.
"Can I have another one?" Justin asked, directly looking at his father, knowing he would be the most likely of the three in the room to say yes.
"Don't ask me, I got in trouble for giving you one." Paul laughed, at his son, and Justin just frowned.
"Please mom, I'm at home, what's the worst that could happen."
"Ask Josh, he's the one that has to put up with you the rest of the night if you get drunk." Lynn pointed her finger at Josh, she too didn't want to be the one to say yes. Justin frowned again, knowing that with Josh, he was not likely to get a yes.
"Baby?" Justin turned so his face was inches away from Josh. "Can I have a drink?"Justin smiled his bright smile, and waited.
"Yeah" Justin jumped off of Josh quickly and rushed to the kitchen, his mother just frowned at him as he ran in with three more beers.
"I brought extra case some body else wanted them. And if not I'll just finish them off." Justin smiled and opened another can. Josh took the other two and placed them by the side of him.
"No you won't. I agree to one more, not three." Justin frowned at Josh, but knew that he wasn't going to get any where.
"Thanks." Justin chirped, and went about drinking his final can of beer.
TBC....
I am getting ahead of myself in chapters, so I have one to send in every day now. So there shouldn't be a day without the story for a good while, until I run out and have to start running them day by day again.
I hope you are enjoying the story, and I appriciate any criticism, suggestions, or just an e-mail about the story whether you like it or not. The e-mail address is aci_85@hotmail.com
I also want to suggest a few stories for readers if they don't have anything else to do....
- Curly and Josh 2. Josh and Just 3. Brian and Justin 4. No Painless Way (The Triology) 5. Devotion (I don't know what happened to the story, it is unended, but the part that is up are really good.) 6. Tears in Your Eyes
P.S. I am sure their are some really other good ones out their that I didn't list. If any one has any suggestions of good Justin and JC stories that I didn't list, please let me know, because those are my favorites.
See ya next time.