Last time on Chapter 25 of Love Interest -
"Um, Britt, Lance say's he's sorry for the way he handled what he did. He's sorry for doing that to you most of all though." Josh knew Brittney would only yell at him for bringing it up, but he couldn't ignore his friends request.
"Whatever. I don't care anymore, I'm over it. But I'm still mad at him." Brittney surprisingly remained calm under the situation, much to Josh's happiness.
"I don't see how you can think he really is sorry though. I bet he apologized for what he said about Justin too? Right?" Brittney asked, starting up the conversation again as Josh took a seat the table with his waffles.
"Yes, he did apologize to me for what he said to Justin. And I believe him, why would he lie about it?" Josh asked, taking a bite of the waffle that laid on top of the pile. Brittney stood and cleared the table of her and Joey's plates and put them in the sink. Rinsing them off, she looked over at Lynn.
"How come you guys never got a dishwasher Lynn?" She asked, as she dried off one of the plates she had used.
"I'm not completely helpless, I may like this new big house, with all the new things we got with the cash Justin makes, but I still want to be dependent on myself, not a machine to wash the dishes." Lynn responded, and went back to reading an article in the newspaper. After a few minutes of silence, both her ears and Josh's ears picked up a noise so faint, that Joey and Brittney didn't even hear the slightest of a sound. "I think Justi's sick again." She spoke, and Josh shook his head.
"I thought I heard that, but I wasn't sure." Josh took off for the bathroom, walking in he didn't notice any body or anything in the room, so he walked into the living room. Disgusted as he was, he couldn't help but feel bad for Justin. From what Josh saw, it looked like he had barely had enough time to get his head over the side of the couch before he threw up. His eyes were watering, and his nose was running, and although he was looking around, he didn't catch that Josh was in the room. "Don't worry, I'll clean it up." Josh smiled at Justin, and walked out of the room to grab a cloth.
"Is he okay?" Lynn asked, standing to make sure of it herself.
"Sit down Lynn, I can handle it. He didn't make it to the bathroom, I don't even think he tried." Josh joked, and walked back into the living room. Bending down he wiped up the mess and carefully took it back to the kitchen. Tossing it in the trash, and turned. "I'm gonna go sit with him for a while. Give him some company, help him get to sleep." Josh walked out of the room and back into the living room.
Justin was sitting up now, and when Josh walked in, he managed to smile briefly. "I'm really cold Josh. Could you get me one of your sweatshirts?" Justin asked, and Josh couldn't help but refuse. Without saying anything, he was gone and up the steps. Justin smiled, thinking of how lucky he was to have Josh. Josh came back down within a minute, one hand with the sweatshirt, and one with a pillow. Sliding the pillow behind Justin's back, he helped Justin slide into the shirt, before taking a seat in the chair again.
"Maybe we should take you to the doctor baby." Josh suggested, with clenched teeth all the while. He hated the doctor, but for Justin he would go. He wanted to make sure that Justin was okay, and he wanted to make sure he was their with Justin.
"No, I'm fine Josh. I really am, it's just a flu." Justin wasn't too intent on trying to sound healthy like he usually would. Most times he would contains his sniffles for the short time where he would try and convince his friends that he didn't need to see the doctor. Josh found that more comforting, knowing he could at least hide it for a while, but now it was obvious Justin was sick, and he couldn't even try to conceal it.
"Please babe. I hate the doctor's more then you do, but some times you need to go. If you're sick, I want you to get some medication to feel all better." Josh smiled, and Justin reacted with his own smile. "Now get some more sleep, I want you to relax as much as possible." Josh stood and walked from the room as he watched Justin lay back down in a flat position on the couch.
"Oh crap, I forgot to tell JC where we were." Lance muttered to himself as he looked around the room. Chris's house didn't even look the same to him. It had been so long since he was their, usually he would spend most of his time in Orlando at Justin and Josh's place, before he was with Brittney at her family's house. Now he didn't have those options, only one remained and that was Chris.
"Who cares. Some how I don't think they would be inviting us over just cuz they knew we were in town." Chris mumbled under his breath, cursing the fact that they still weren't talking.
"I bet if we went over to the house and apologized..." Lance started, but stopped. He knew what he was going to say wasn't true. It would take a while for Brittney to accept an apology from him. And Chris would have to get on his knees a hundred times for Justin and JC to forgive him. And although it was Justin who took the initial brunt of Chris's attitude, it would probably be him who accepted first. And JC would take time, because he would still be upset at what Chris did to Justin.
"I don't think so Lansten. Something tells me they wouldn't even let us in the house." Chris joked, and took a sip from a beer. He tossed one to Lance, and Lance hesitantly opened it. "Um, how is every body anyways?" Lance was caught off guard, the hours they had spent together, Chris had acted like he could care less about his friends departures, now he was concerned about them. Lance just smiled, he knew Chris wasn't going to keep up the front the whole time, and he was slowly letting it show.
"Um, Joey's taking Brittney to her parent's place later today. Then he's driving himself home." Lance started, waiting to get Chris's reaction for that, before he would continue.
"Oh, why aren't Josh and Justin going with them? I mean, Joey doesn't have a car with him, how is he going to return Josh's or Just's?" Chris asked, and Lance smiled at him awkwardly. Chris just stared back confused, but soon he was smiling too. They both realized how stupid it was for them to have done what they did.
"Justin's sick, Josh said he's got a fever, and he's been throwing up. And Josh doesn...." Before Lance could continue, he was cut off by Chris.
"Leave him, Josh is so sweet." Chris smiled, and for the first time he could look at Justin and Josh and not get jealous. He was for once satisfied with their happiness, and he knew he would one day have that too, he would just have to wait.
"Yeah, he seemed really worried though, like he thought something was seriously wrong with Justin." Lance explained, remembering how worried Josh had sounded on the phone earlier. Their conversation had been short, and although Josh took only a minute or two to explain how Justin was doing, he seemed to more worried then usual over the flu.
"You know Josh, when it comes to Justin he makes a mole hill into a mountain." Chris laughed, he loved when people said stupid things like that, and when he said them they only made him laugh harder.
"Well, I hope so. It would suck for us to come back on speaking terms with all of them just cuz Just was sick." Lance frowned. "Maybe I should call Josh again to check on Justin." Chris shrugged his shoulders, not sure if he should or not.
"Um, I think I'd like to call. I know they may not answer the phone when they see my number, or even talk to me if they answer, but I wanna try." Chris grabbed his cordless phone and dialed the familiar number.
In the Harless residence the phone rung once, and Lynn waited for it to ring a second time so she could check the caller id. Reading the name, she hesitated before picking up.
"Hello?" Chris heard the voice, and gulped. He knew that the woman on the other line was going to be pissed at him for a long time.
"Um, hi Lynn. Could I talk to Josh?" Chris asked as polite as he could be, and Lynn could hear the nervousness in his voice while he asked.
"Hang on Christopher." Lynn set the phone aside and walked into the living room. Justin was still asleep, and she was happy to see that. Looking around and not seeing Josh, she went straight to the studio that was put in only a year and a half earlier for them to fool around in. "Josh, the phones for you. I left it in the kitchen." Lynn neglected to tell Josh who was on the other end of the phone.
"Who is it?" Josh asked, as he stood from the piano.
"Chris." Lynn responded, and Josh walked away a little faster. Once in the kitchen he saw the phone on the counter, and scooped it up quickly.
"What!" He asked loudly, and covered his mouth afterwards to make sure that Justin hadn't heard him and woke up.
"I just called to apologize, I know that isn't enough for you and Justin, but thats the only place I know where to start." Chris apologized, and waited. After a while he thought that Josh might have hung up, but then he heard a sigh.
"Chris, it's a start, but that's all it is. You are still our friend, and you will always be. But right now, you have got to find a better way to reclaim that, because what you did to Justin was uncalled for." Josh scolded trying to hold his voice down. Joey and Brittney were outside, practically right behind him sitting on the patio, and he didn't want them to come in and listen to the conversation. At the same time he knew Lynn was probably watching Justin, and he didn't want to disturb her or Justin.
"I know, but thats not the only reason I called. I just wanted to tell you that when Lance called he was calling from my house. We came back this morning." Chris explained, he was trying to work his way up to asking how Justin was, knowing that Josh would probably yell at him. Even though it would be nice to ask how your friend was doing, Josh would take it as a way to squeeze back in, and he wasn't going to let that happen so soon.
"Alright, maybe we can get together later this week to work out all this shit." Josh replied, but he wasn't sure if he meant what he said.
"Cool, but I kinda had a question for you. Lance was telling me about Justin, and he said you seemed really worried. Well, Lance and I are worried too, we just wanted to know if he's okay." Chris tried his hardest to sound sincere and polite, and it didn't take much. When thinking about one of his friends in pain, he did feel sad for them. Cursing himself, he realized he should have felt that way when he kissed Josh, or when he beat Justin.
"I don't know Chris. I'm taking him to the doctor tomorrow I think. I wanna make sure this isn't anything but the flu. " Josh explained, and Chris could hear the worry starting to rise in his voice.
"I'm sure he'll be fine Josh. And even though me and Lance aren't at the top of your friend list, if anything is wrong, call us. Please?" Chris was begging, and Josh could tell in the voice that came out.
"I will Chris. I gotta go." Josh clicked off the phone, and walked back towards the studio. On his way he passed the living room, and decided to stop in their instead of working on music.
"He's taking Justin to the doctor tomorrow." Chris explained to Lance as he hung up the phone. Lance shook his head with the knowledge he learned from the conversation.
"I hope he's fine. Maybe he's just stressed out. I mean, what happened between you, him, and Josh. And then what I said to him, it just might have all gotten to him at once." Lance thought out loud, and he probably shouldn't have. What he said only made himself and Chris feel more like shit. Now he knew that for the rest of the day they would be thinking about them having caused what ever Justin had.
"What did he have to say?" Lynn asked as Josh took a seat across from her.
"He apologized, and asked how Justin was. I accepted the apology, but I explained to him that it would take a lot more then just that. But him and Lance seemed genuinely upset about Justin's health." Josh explained, as he played with his fingers. Bending them back and forth in an attempt to crack them, but he had to give up. He had been cracking them all day, along with the folding and unfolding his arms, and pacing the room. Any time the conversation of Justin came up he just began to worry more.
"Well, I'm sure it's just the flu Joshua. And when you take him to the doctor tomorrow it will be confirmed." Lynn smiled, and sent Josh a reassuring look.
"Hey guys, sorry to interrupt, but I think it's time I should be going." Brittney frowned at what she was saying. She hated leaving the guys, they were like big brothers to her, but she had to work on her own music now.
"Alright, I'll wake Justin." Josh frowned himself, in part because Brittney was leaving, but mostly because he had to wake up Justin. He turned to see that the room was clearing out. "Oh no you guys don't. He's not that bad when he wakes up." Josh joked, and shook Justin slightly. "Get up baby, Britt's leaving." Justin stirred and looked up to see Josh.
"Mmmm." He just mumbled. Josh smiled, and slowly Justin's eyes focusedon the room.
"I gotta go Just." Brittney frowned, it was always hardest for her to say good bye to Justin. Probably because they knew each other the most, or because both of them were not good at saying good byes, even when it was for short periods of time. "I came to say good bye, before me and Joey get on our way. I stopped by you first, the others are gonna walk me to the door."
"I'll walk you too." Justin insisted, but Josh held him down before he could even try and get up.
"No you won't. You and I can say good bye to her from here, and I'll stay here while Lynn walks them to the car." Josh insisted on that, and Justin just nodded in agreement. He wasn't feeling like arguing, he wasn't feeling like anything at the moment.
"I'll miss you Justin. Get better for me please." Brittney asked, trying to keep back tears. It was no joke when saying she was sentimental with good byes. Justin hugged her, and just smiled. Brittney turned to Josh. "Take care of him for me. And help him get better." Brittney asked of Josh, and he smiled at her and nodded. Pulling her into a hug, he just smiled knowing that she was fighting hard to keep back the tears.
Joey's turn was next. Leaning down he pulled Justin into a hug, being careful not to make him sick while doing it. "Hey little dude, don't give Josh any problems about the doctor. And go easy on him while you're sick." Justin smiled, and shook his head. Joey didn't move his mouth their, and whispered something else. "But you know he'll do anything you ask of him, use it to your advantage." Justin laughed, and Joey walked over to Josh.
"See ya Joe." Josh smiled, and Joey walked by him. Joey wasn't much of a hug person, the only reason he had hugged Justin was because he was leaving when he was sick.
"I'll see ya Josh, and take care of Justin." Joey stopped, and turned around. "Oh, and don't pass out at the doctors tomorrow." Josh just flipped him off, after making sure the room was clear of Lynn and laughed. Josh took a seat on the couch after lifting Justin's feet, and then he gently plopped them back down on his lap.
"So my sweet boy toy, what do you want to do for the rest of the day? I can take you upstairs, or into the studio. You could watch me work on music, or we could relax in bed. Or we could play a board game, cards, watch a movie? What ever you want to do." Justin smiled at his boyfriend, so insistent on making him content. And knowing that made Justin content.
"Um, let's watch a movie." Justin answered, and when Josh stood to pop one in he frowned. "Um, could we watch it upstairs?"
"Why, you're already comfortable right their?" Josh qestioned confused, and Justin blushed.
"I want you to lay next to me, and uh....hold me." Justin answered, and Josh just giggled.
"I'd be glad to. What movie should I take with us?" Josh asked before walking over to get Justin.
"Um, something nice. One of my favorites." Justin requested, and Josh frowned. He knew some of Justin's favorites, but he hated when Justin did things like that. If he screwed up he knew it would hurt Justin's feelings.
"Okay, hang on while I go tell Lynn that we'll be upstairs. " Josh left Justin alone for a few moments, while he went to find Lynn. She was still standing on the front porch, as Josh's car pulled out of the driveway. "Oh, um, we are gonna be upstairs watching a movie in my bedroom. If you want anything just holler." Josh spoke to Lynn in his politest voice. And all she could do was smile at the young man standing before her. He was the perfect choice for Justin, man or woman.
"Alright." Lynn acknowledged the information and watched Josh run back to the living room. Once in the room, Josh scooped Justin into his arms, and set the movie on Justin's lap as he carried him.
"And don't peak at that movie, not until I put it in the vcr." Josh requested, as he walked up the steps. Justin stopped what he was doing, his hand was only inches away from grabbing the video, Josh knew him to well. He laughed, and enjoyed the strong arms carrying him.
Inside their bedroom, Josh gently set him down. Justin smiled, comfortable to be in a bed and not on a couch. Relaxing, he let Josh cover him up, before Josh himself got in the bed. Josh brought one cover for himself, and covered himself, but couldn't help but squeeze under the other one to so he could be closer to Justin.
Pulling Justin tight, he watched as the movie started. Justin smiled, Josh was right it was one of his favorites. Cruel Intentions, Justin had seen it so many times, but it always was his favorite movie. He said something about all the hype around Ryan Phillepe's character was something he could relate to. Although they were two different settings, a campus and fame, they both had reputations, and Justin liked the movie because of it.
Josh looked over at Justin and noticed that he was shaking. Wrapping his arms around him, he pulled Justin close to his body, and rubbed his back. Pulling the second cover so it was only around Justin, he made it so the boy could get warmer. "Justin, if you feel sick just tell me. I'll clean it up if you throw up." Josh offered, and Justin just shook his head. Relaxing into Josh's strong chest and arms, he nodded in and out of sleep as the movie continued.
TBC.....
I'm having a blast writing this story, and I want to thank all of my fans. I also want to thank all the other authors on Nifty for writing excellent stories. I've read most stories on the site, even those about the Backstreet Boys....EWww. And I can say that I've enjoyed all of them in a sense.
Oh, quick poll for the readers. I was wondering if I should involve the Backstreet Boys in my story some how. I usually do in my stories, so I was wondering if I should involve them in this one. Let me know if you think I should involve all of them, maybe just a few, or maybe just one.
I'll take any suggestions at aci_85@hotmail.com