Part 7


Justin reached over and hit the alarm clock, groaning as he rolled onto his stomach.  He shielded his eyes with one hand, twisting the blinds closed to keep out the offending sunlight.

He scratched his stomach and sat up, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.  “I need a shower,” he decided, grabbing his soap, shampoo, and towel before padding down the hallway to the bathroom.

Across the hall, Josh was already awake.  He realized that he’d forgotten to tell Justin about the meeting they had tonight, so he walked across the hall and rapped on Justin’s door. When there was no answer, he turned the knob to find that it was open, and he laughed when he saw the mess of clothes on Justin’s floor.  “You still asleep, NBA?”
  
When Justin didn’t answer, JC walked into the room.  Justin wasn’t there. “Probably went to take a shower,” he said aloud.  When he turned to leave the room, he tripped on something.  Cursing, he looked down to see what it was.  A photo album. An open photo album.

His forehead creased and he knelt down to look at the pictures that were showing.  And his heart stopped in his chest.

It was Justin. With a guy.  A guy with his arms wrapped around Justin’s waist…a guy with his chin on Justin’s shoulder…

Written underneath the photo were the words Justin loves Lance.

Suddenly it was very warm in the room, and Josh felt like he couldn’t breathe.  He stood up, wiped his hands on his jeans, and rushed from Justin’s room back to his, leaning against the door.  

“Justin’s gay,” he breathed, finally allowing the realization to hit him.  A slow smile spread across his face, and a giddy feeling built in the pit of his stomach.  “Justin’s gay.”

A knock at his door startled him, and he jumped before answering it.  It was Justin.  Dripping wet. Wearing only a small towel wrapped around his waist.

“Hey, Josh. Were you in my room a second ago?”

Shit. Shit shit shit. “Uh…yeah…I wanted to um…” he avoided Justin’s eyes, suddenly very nervous.  “We have a meeting tonight, at five, so, um…I just wanted to tell you that.”

Justin frowned at the nervous boy in front of him. “You ok, man?”

“Huh? Oh, yeah, I’m fine. Why?”

“You’re just acting…weird, I guess…is this about Britney? And why you don’t want me to see her anymore?”
Josh almost laughed. Because he didn’t care if Britney saw Justin anymore. Because Justin was gay.  

“I didn’t say I didn’t want her to see you anymore…she decided that on her own…”

“But it was because of you. I know it was. Do you want to explain to me why you don’t want me to see her anymore?”  

“Justin, don’t do this right now, ok? I don’t want to fight with you, and I don’t want to talk to you about it right now. It’s not the right time.”

“Why not?”

Josh cracked a smile. “Well for one thing, you’re not wearing anything but a towel.”

Justin blushed, and Josh’s grin broadened.  “Ok. Fine. But we’re talking about it later.”  Josh nodded. “So how about I meet you here at four, we can grab some food before the meeting.”

“Sure. Sounds good.”

“Ok. See ya then.” Justin went back to his room and closed the door, looking around and wondering why Josh had been acting so strange.

When he saw the photo album, his heart jumped to his throat. “Oh god. No. Please, tell me he didn’t see that…”

But it would explain a lot. Like why Josh wouldn’t look him in the eye. And why he was acting so nervous.
He sat down on his bed and buried his face in his hands. “Shit.”



“Hello?”

“Brit, it’s me.”

Britney smiled. “Hey babe, what’s up?”

“Justin’s gay.”

Britney nearly choked on the water she was drinking. “Excuse me?”

“Gay. He’s gay, Brit.”

“Come on, Josh. Justin is not gay. Where the hell did you get that from?”

“I went in his room this morning to tell him about the meeting tonight…and he wasn’t in there…so when I was leaving, I tripped on this photo album.  I kneel down to look at it, and there’s this picture of Justin, with this guy, and the guy has his arms around Justin…and underneath is written Justin loves Lance.”

Silence on the other end. Britney was chewing on her lip, her brow furrowed in thought. “Are you serious?”
“Would I lie about something like this?”

“No. I guess not. So what are you going to do?”

“What do you mean, what am I going to do?”

“Are you going to tell him you know?”

“NO! God, no. If he wants to tell me, he’ll tell me.”

“But Josh—“

“I said no, Brit. And don’ t you DARE tell him that I know.
Promise me, Brit.”

She sighed, rolling her eyes.  “Fine, Josh. I promise. But you’re going to have to tell him eventually.”

“Whatever. Have fun today, Brit. DON’T TELL HIM!”

“I won’t. Bye Josh.”

“Bye.”

He hung up the phone and laid back on his bed, unable to wipe the smile from his face.

Justin’s gay.



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