Joey sighed and looked around the deserted breakfast area of their hotel. It had been this way for the past couple of weeks, him sitting alone at the table for five, waiting for everyone to come down and eat together, but no one ever did.
Even if they were in a different hotel than the one right before, it didn't change anything. They never ate together anymore. They barely even did stuff as a group anymore, unless it was necessary. Rehearsals, photo shoots, concerts, and that was about it.
Chris walked into the room and sat down next to Joey. "Why do you do this, man? Why do you sit here every morning, expecting us all to come down and eat together, like everything's okay with us. In case you didn't notice, this group has some major issues right now."
"Oh really, so *that* must be why everyone's acting so awkward all the time! Thanks Chris," Joey said with a smile.
"Shut up," Chris said with a laugh, and then said, "At least everyone still likes me and you."
Joey nodded his agreement.
"Yeah, I don't who it'd be worse to be. I mean, JC lost Lance and Justin, plus he has to deal with his whole guilt complex thing I'm sure he's been building up. Then there's Justin, who is just stuck in the middle of that whole mess. And Lance, who has to deal with being cheated on, turned down, and heartbreak. Who would I most want to be? None of them," Joey said.
Chris agreed and they ate their cereal in silence. After they finished, they threw away the plastic plates the hotel provided and left.
"You'll be back tomorrow, won't you?" Chris asked Joey as they walked back to their room.
"Where else would I be?"
*
Lance was trying as hard as he could to concentrate on the papers he was working on, but his mind just wasn't into it.
It had been three weeks. Three of the worst weeks of his life. Three weeks of crying himself to sleep every night, three weeks of avoiding everyone and making contact with the other guys only when it was necessary.
Three weeks of pure hell.
Lance sighed and moved all of the papers scattered all over his bed into a neat pile and put them back into his bag. 'Might as well start packing, since we leave tonight,' Lance thought as he started to gather all his things that were scattered around the hotel room.
As he packed, his thoughts were running a marathon. He was torn between wanting to try again with JC and giving it a chance with Justin. He knew that JC would give them one more chance in a heartbeat, but that was only because he had been the one to mess them up in the first place. Justin, though, might turn Lance down. Lance could still remember the day he had tried to get Justin to be with him. At the time, Lance had felt horrible by being rejected, but after the reality of JC had done had sank in, Lance felt himself falling for Justin even more for what he did.
What frustrated Lance the most was that he felt like JC hadn't even cheated on him, because he was still trying to chose between him and Justin. Only now things were different. He could risk getting shot down by Justin, or be with JC and risk getting his heart broken again.
Lance let out a frustrated sigh and grabbed the first thing he could get his hands on, throwing it across the room. It was only after he had thrown it, that he realized it was the necklace Justin had given him. Lance went over and picked it up, making sure he hadn't broken it. It was still in perfect condition, and Lance just stared at it, willing it to give him the answers he wanted. The answers he needed.
Lance jumped when someone knocked on the door, and slipped the necklace in his pocket. He went to the door and opened it, revealing Justin holding a McDonald's bag, grinning.
"Hungry?" he asked.
Lance couldn't hold back his small smile as he nodded.
"Good, because I got you food, and I would've been mad if I had wasted my $2.50," Justin said jokingly.
Lance opened the door for Justin to come in and as he was shutting it, he thought he saw JC come out of the elevator, but he decided he was probably imagining it.
"So, I have hash browns, egg McMuffins, sausage McMuffins, muffin muffins, stuff like that," Justin said, going through the bag and dumping out all the contents onto the table right by the door.
"You didn't have to get me breakfast," Lance said.
"Yeah, I did. You never eat anymore. Look at you, Mr. Stick Boy. I'm gonna start calling you sticky," Justin said, opening on of the egg McMuffins and taking a bite.
"You do that and people'll get the wrong idea," Lance said with a grin before he could stop himself. Justin coughed, choking on his food, and once he cleared his throat, he laughed. "And here I was, thinking you had a clean mind."
Lance just smiled and grabbed the hash browns. "This is sweet. Thank you, Justin," Lance said and Justin looked down, his face turning red.
"Well, I figure what better way to get you to talk to me than to bring you food?" Justin asked.
Lance looked away for a moment. "About that, I'm really sorry Justin. There's no reason me and you can't still hang out and stuff, I guess I just didn't want the other guys to-"
"Think that we're together," Justin finished for him. "It's cool. You always were the peace maker."
Lance laughed silently and gave Justin a tiny smile. "I guess not this time, huh?"
"Hey, this whole mess isn't your fault. You can't help it if you're so wonderful that it makes it hard for anyone not to want you," Justin said, blushing when he realized what he had said exactly.
Lance thought what Justin had said was so sweet, he didn't know what to say. "Look, I think I better go now, before I-"
"Do you really mean that?" Lance asked, interrupting Justin.
"What? That you're wonderful and it's hard not to love you? I wouldn't have said it if I didn't mean it."
They finished eating their breakfast in awkward silence, and when they finished, Justin said, "I need to go. See you later, right?"
Lance stood up and said, "Of course." Lance walked Justin to the door and opened it for him. "Ever the gentlemen," Justin said with a slight smile.
"So, do you want your money for breakfast?" Lance asked.
"Yes, plus interest," Justin said. "No, you nerd, I don't want any money. Let's just think of it this way. Next time we eat out, you pay for me."
"Yeah, and next time we eat out, your meal will cost fifty dollars," Lance said.
"Exactly," Justin grinned. Lance just shook his head and waved good-bye to Justin. He moved back into his room to shut the door, and he looked up to see JC, across the hall, the door to his room open, as if he was just about to go in.
They just stood there, looking at each other, saying nothing.
"Morning," Lance finally said.
"Good morning," JC replied. More silence. Then, "So, you and Justin went out to breakfast this morning?"
"No, he brought me something from the McDonald's down the street."
"Oh. So...how are you Lance?" JC asked, trying to make pleasant conversation.
"I've been better," Lance replied.
They stood there for a moment in the silence again. "So, are you and Justin..." JC asked, letting his sentence trail off.
"Not that it's any of your business, but no, we're not together. Anything else you need to know?" Lance asked, his tone a little colder than he had intended it to be.
"Dammit Lance, I was just asking. Okay, maybe I wanted to know if I still had a shot with you, maybe I miss talking to you, I'm sorry if me trying to fix this void between us isn't acceptable to you," JC said, irritated.
"We're never going to be anything more than just friends, ever again. There's too much damage, too much pain. I want to be friends with you JC, I do, but anything more than that isn't a possibility for me right now. You broke my heart, and I can't just forgive you for that," Lance said, looking at JC sadly.
JC looked away and nodded. "I better get packing, we leave here pretty soon."
Lance watched as JC turned and went back into his room.
"But I want to," Lance added softly as he turned into his own room.
*
Chris came back to the group with a horrified look on his face. They were all standing in the lobby of the new hotel they had just arrived at, and Chris had volunteered to get their room keys.
"There's a problem guys, they screwed up our room reservations. Instead of five separate rooms, they gave us two rooms, one with three beds, one with two. And they can't fix it."
Everyone was quiet as they realized what that meant. There was no putting Lance, Justin, and JC all in separate rooms. Anyway you worked it, two of them were going to end up together.
"Well, I think this is going to present a problem."
*
