Lance cleared his throat and averted Joey’s gaze. “Uh,
hey, Joe, I was just…uh..leaving.” Jesus christ, please tell me he
didn’t hear all of that.
Joey nodded and continued to stare a hole through Lance. “All right man. Guess
I’ll see you around,” he said, his tone unreadable.
Lance forced a smile and wormed his way past Joey, sprinting down the stairs and
nearly tumbling head first in his haste to get out of the house.
His heart was beating a mile a minute when by the time he started his car.
And his cell phone rang the minute he pulled away from the curb.
“Hello?”
“Tell me Joey didn’t hear that, because if he did…”
“FUCK Chris…FUCK FUCK FUCK.”
“Dude, I know! He’s already so pissed at me he’s ready to kick me out of
the house! And he’s got all the guys against me. If
he finds out the truth—“
“I don’t want to think about that. I have to go,” Lance said, clicking off
his phone and tossing it aside angrily.
Fuck.
He’d been crying for an hour straight, and his eyes were so puffy that he
feared he wouldn’t be able to keep them open much longer.
It’s not fair, he thought, tugging at the covers. I love him…
His heart jumped in his chest and his hopes soared when he heard a knock at his
door. He flew from the bed and flung the door open, but Josh wasn’t standing
there.
It was Britney.
An extremely unhappy Britney.
His face stung from the slap she suddenly laid there, and he decided that
unhappy wasn’t the right word.
Furious was more like it.
“How the fuck COULD you?” she asked, pushing past him, storming into the
room. He touched his cheek gingerly
and shut the door, almost afraid to turn around and face her.
“Do you have any idea how much he fucking loves you, Justin? Huh?”
Justin nodded and opened his mouth to speak, but she wasn’t finished.
“He would have done anything for you. ANYTHING. He would have given his
fucking life for you and this is how you repay him? You tell him you love him, you let him make love to you, and
then two days later you fuck around on him? What the fuck kind of a person are
you, Justin?”
That was all it took. He collapsed
into a heap on the floor, sobbing uncontrollably. “Brit…” he choked. “I…I love him…I…it wasn’t…my…fault…”
She frowned and folded her arms across her chest. “Oh really Justin? Then
who’s fault was it? Josh’s?”
“I…said…no…” he gasped between sobs. “I swear, Brit…I said
no…”
“What do you mean?” she asked, her expression softening just slightly.
“Please…” he whispered, trying to regain his composure. “Please, Britney…let
me explain…no one will let me explain…”
She sighed and sat down on the chair, crossing her legs, arms still folded.
“Fine. I’m listening.”
Taking a deep breath, he wiped the tears from his eyes and started talking. “I
was drunk. I admit, I was drunk. Joey put me to bed. ALONE. You can ask him. Then
I wake up and someone’s…someone’s on top of me…and they’re pulling my
clothes off…”
Fresh tears streamed down his cheeks at the remembrance of someone violating him
like that, and he reached deep inside to find the strength to continue.
“I said no…I told him to stop…I knew it wasn’t Josh…and then he gave
me these pills…sleeping pills he said…and after that…I don’t remember.”
Britney gasped and rushed to Justin’s side, kneeling beside him. “Justin..god,
I’m sorry…I just…you know what it looked like…and…”
“He doesn’t believe me, Brit…” Justin whispered. “He thinks I don’t love him.”
“Oh, baby…god, I’m sorry…” She
stroked his hair and held him close, suddenly angry at the thought of someone
doing this to him. “Justin?”
“Yeah?”
“Do you know who it was?”
“Someone from the frat…I don’t know…I…I can’t remember.”
“Jesus…Josh knows though, right? Knows who it was?”
Justin nodded and let Britney lead him to his bed. “You get some rest, ok
baby? I’m going to go talk to Josh. It’ll be ok, babe, I promise.” She
kissed him on the top of the head and whispered, “I’m sorry for hitting you.”
He laughed softly and closed his eyes. “S’okay. You were just protecting Josh. I would have done the same
thing if I were you.”
“Get some sleep, Justin. I’ll
talk to him. OK?”
He nodded and pulled the covers to his chin, asleep before she was even out the
door.
“So that’s what happened,” Britney said softly, hand tangled in Josh’s
wild hair.
Hot tears streamed down Josh’s cheeks, and he shuddered at the thought of
someone taking advantage of his boy like that. “I’ll
kill him, Britney. I swear, I’ll fucking kill him when I see him.”
“Josh, you can’t do that. It’ll only make things worse.”
“They can’t get any worse, Brit.”
She sighed and pulled him close, rubbing small circles on his back. “You
need to go to him, Josh. He’s broken.”
“I was an ass, Brit. I didn’t even give him a chance to explain.”
“You saw what you saw, Josh. He
understands that.”
“He doesn’t hate me?”
“God, Josh! No! All he could say was how much he loves you. Go. Now.”
She released him from the embrace and nudged him towards the door, smiling when
he stepped into Justin’s room and closed the door behind him.