Chapter 23
A few weeks had past since Chris had spilled out his feelings to Shannon and things had seemed to die down. Jessica was out of town with JC promoting her new album. Justin was in the midst of a legal battle with Britney; she was suing him for her pain and suffering. Lance and Joey were always moping around, and that in itself was strange since they were the energetic ones. It was the middle of March and the weather was getting warmer. Justin decided to have a small cookout, that way everyone could get together and have a good time. Everyone just sat around and talked about life as it was for them at the time. Lance seemed to look sad as did Joey. "Why are you two so gloomy lately?," Justin asked them, sitting forward in his chair. Lance and Joey looked at each other, then looked at Justin. "We miss our girls," Joey said, running his hand through his hair. Lance agreed with him, "We wish they could come down here and be with us." Shannon rolled her eyes, "Well then why don’t they?" Lance just shrugged his shoulders, "I never asked." Justin let out a chuckle, "Well that’s your problem! Ask them and maybe they will come. Then you two can stop being so damn sad all the time." Chris perked up in his chair; he didn’t want to be questioned about his sadness too. How could he tell his best friend that he wanted his fiancée? It just wasn’t possible, or at least not without hurting someone.
Lance and Joey went inside to call Mandi and Tracy while Justin made small talk with Chris. he soon went inside to get a drink, leaving Shannon alone with Chris. There was an awkward moment of silence between them. "How come you seem so distant?," she asked him. She seemed to have snapped him out of a trance. "Oh, no reason," he said, chomping on his nails. "There has to be a reason," she said, staring at him in the eye, "You have been this way ever since that day we talked at Mandi’s." She let out a deep breath, "It’s me, isn’t it?" Chris sighed, "Yeah, bit don’t worry about it. It is something I have to deal with." Just then, Justin came outside with a glass of tea in his hand. Night was starting to fall already, and Lance and Joey made their way home.
Shannon sat in the grass, watching the sunset with Justin’s arm around her. She was startled by the sound of Chris’s voice. "Dammit, I can’t take this stress anymore. Justin, there is something I have to tell you." Shannon looked at Chris with mixed emotions. Justin turned around and looked at his best friend, who had tears in his eyes and his fists tightened. "What’s up? What do you need to tell me?" Chris wiped his eyes, "There is no getting around it, I want Shannon." Just had a look of shock in his face, "What do you mean?" Chris looked at him again, "I wish it was me that was with Shannon." With that being said, he ran into the house.
"Okay, so Chris wants you. Why is he upset about it?" Shannon gasped, "What?!" "Did I stutter?," he asked her, "Why is he so upset?" Shannon looked at him with her mouth open, "What the fuck! He’s upset because he has feeling for me, and he feels he shouldn’t. Also, he was worried about hurting you. Now you tell me why he wouldn’t be upset that he has feelings for his best friends’ girl!" Justin looked down at his feet, "I didn’t think of it that way. I’m not mad about it though, if that is what you think." "You aren’t?," she asked. "Hell no. Shannon, if we are truly meant to be, something like this won’t affect our relationship. And anyways, I can’t control who likes you and who doesn’t, but for now, I think we both need to talk to Chris and work it all out." Shannon smiled and kissed Justin softly on the lips. They stood up and went inside, finding Chris laying on the couch staring at the ceiling. He saw them walk in and he covered his face. Justin sat down in the recliner, while Shannon sat down in front of the couch near Chris. Justin leaned forward in his seat, fidgeting with his hands. "We need to talk about this. We can’t avoid it if we are going to still live together."
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