"What's wrong with her?! I know y’all broke up but - "
"That's exactly what's wrong with it!" Justin snapped. "My girlfriend, the woman I love is in a coma and I'm here washing Britney's dirty dinner dishes! Why can't you just tell her to leave?"
"Because I like having her here." Lynn said handing him a plate to dry.
"That's the problem Momma." He whined. "She broke my heart! She cheated on me and you still love her like a daughter. If you knew Megan, you'd know that there's so much more to love in her than there is in HER!" Justin pointed to the living room.
"Justin I didn't know - “ His mom tried to apologize.
"Well you didn't even ask me, did you? You didn't even care to ask how I felt about it did you? No. You just invited her over after I said I didn't want her here!" He said in a loud whisper. "I'm making her leave now." He set the plate down and walked into the living room.
"Hi J!" Britney jumped to her feet and walked over to him.
"Britney - "
His sentence was cut short when she wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed her lips to his. He stood there in shock as her lips moved over his. After a few seconds, he snapped out of it and pushed her away.
"What are you doing?!” He asked wiping his mouth hoping to permanently remove the taste of her watermelon lip gloss.
“What I know we both want.” Britney smiled walking back to him. She tried to kiss him again, but, again, he pushed her away.
“No. I have a girlfriend that I love. You shouldn't be here right now.“ He held her back by her shoulders.
“Justin you're not thinking straight.” Britney said. “She's got your mind so clouded that you can't see anything but her.”
She reached up and kissed him again. He was about to give in; it felt good to be kissed again. But then he realized that it was Britney that was kissing him. Disgusted, he shoved her away. She fell back onto the couch and pouted.
“Why are you doing this!? “ Justin yelled.
“Because I love- “
“Get out!” He interrupted her before she could finish. He handed her her purse. “You have no idea how disappointed I am right now. I can't believe you would put me in a situation like this!” He mumbled as he walked her to the door. “Don’t come here again.”
“But Justin - “
“Good-bye Britney.” He closed the door and leaned against it.
“I'm sorry Justin.” His head snapped up and he saw his mother standing in the doorway to the kitchen. “I had no idea.”
“I have to get out of here.” Justin grabbed his helmet and keys and started toward the garage where his motorcycle was parked.
“Justin?” Lynn called after him. “Justin where are you going?! You promised you'd stay here!”
“I'm just going to blow off some steam mom I’ll be back in a while.” He started his motorcycle and sped away before his mom could say anything else.
He rode around for hours, thinking about the past 9 months. He thought about the first day he had met Megan , how he had fallen in love with her then, he just didn't realize it until 7 years later. He was in love with her and he was going to make sure that she stayed with him forever. He didn't care what he had promised his mother, he had to see her. Now.
“I'm sorry Mr. Timberlake, but the young man that is visiting Miss Ardini has asked that no one interrupt them.” The nurse on duty told an outraged Justin.
“I don’t give a fuck what he said!” Justin yelled his voice booming off the walls of the empty hospital. “That is my girlfriend in there and right now I don’t trust anybody but myself or one of my friends to be in there without me. Now let me in there or I’ll go by myself.”
“Alright, just hold on one minute and I’ll call somebody.” The nurse picked up the phone and called a higher authority while Justin stood fuming on the other side of the counter. “Alright, Mr. Timberlake,” She said when she hung up the phone. “You can go in now. I'm sorry about that.”
“Thank you.” Justin snapped.
He practically ran to Megan's room ready to kill whoever was in there. He took a deep breath before opening the door. He swung the door open and it slammed the wall making the man sitting next to Megan's bed jump in fright.
“Who are you?” Justin asked immediately.
“Shit Justin, you scared me.”
“Dammit I asked who are you?!” Justin yelled.
“Chill man, don’t you remember me?” The man held his hands away from Megan hoping to show Justin that he wasn't going to hurt her. “It's me…Collin.”
“Who?” Justin asked advancing toward him.
“I can't believe you don’t remember me - ”
“Look, I don’t care who you are!” Justin bellowed. “What are you doing here with my girlfriend? And why did you tell the nurse not to let anyone in?”
"Justin, chill man...I'm not going to hurt her. Even if I wanted to, I could have done it a long time ago. Let me explain." He walked up to Justin. "I was Jacob's best friend-"
"Not a good explanation." Justin interrupted. "Stay away from her."
"Listen to me!" Collin yelled. "I've known her since before she was born. When she was with Jacob I was there when he hit her. I was against the whole relationship. I mean he was 5 years older than she was for Christ sakes! It was illegal for them to see each other but they insisted so I backed off. But that last time...when she landed in the hospital, I've been trying to disconnect myself from him. He told me what he was going to do to her...and I tried to come and stop him, but I was too late. Joey called and told me what happened and I got here as soon as I could. You have to understand Justin, I would never do anything to hurt her."
"Maybe not, but right now, I don't trust anybody but myself." Justin said taking his place next to Megan. He took her pale hand in his and kissed it lightly. "It's ok baby...I'm here now..."
Collin stood angry at the foot of the bed. He couldn't believe that Justin was being like this. He understood that Megan was hurt and that he was concerned, but he was totally losing it! He had to convince Justin that he was a good guy.
"I remember when Megan was 8 and I was 15," He recalled. Justin looked at him like he was crazy. What the hell was he talking about?! "She was running around in Joey's backyard while I baby-sat her. Joey had gone with his parents somewhere and her mom and dad were out of state on business as usual. Anyway, she was running around jumping out of trees and stuff - she always liked climbing in the big trees in the woods behind Joey's house, they always built forts and stuff back there and she would disappear for hours in the tree house she built." Justin smiled slightly.
"I turned around for one second to pick up some of the toys that she had left out when I heard a crash and a screamed. I turned around and she was holding her leg and crying like the day she was born. I ran over to her and asked her if she was ok and she nodded but I could see that she wasn't. Her leg was broken.
"I gathered her into my arms and rushed her to the hospital...she cried the whole way but tried to hid it because she didn't want me to think she was a baby or something. I felt so bad because I had taken my eye off of her for two seconds and something had happened to her. I kept thinking that if I had just watched her for a few more seconds that I could have prevented it from happening."
"That's exactly how I feel..." Justin said softly.
"But she got through it." Collin said. "She made it in that cast that she hated and she turned out fine. She's a tough kid."
"This isn't exactly the same situation Collin." Justin said. "She's not just going to wake up and start dancing around the room any time soon."
"Justin?..." His eyes snapped back to the bed. Her eyes were fluttering.
"Megan?!" He exclaimed. "Omigod! Baby, it's me, open your eyes Megan."
"It hurts Justin." She said, her voice almost inaudible.
"I know it hurts baby but you have to wake up...you have to come back to me." By this time, Collin was also at Megan's side.
“Megan, it's Collin. Open your eyes baby girl. Wake up for us.” He begged her.
“Collin go get a doctor. Hurry!”
Collin ran out of the room while Justin stayed encouraging Megan. She kept saying his name and that she was in pain. He stayed by her side telling her that everything was going to be allright. Finally Collin came back with Megan's doctor.
"What's wrong?!" Dr. O'Bannan asked running to the bed.
"She's talking. I think she's trying to wake up." Justin said.
"What was she saying?"
"My name...and she said that it hurt. Omigod! She's hurting, do something!" Justin exclaimed.
"I know what's happening." The doctor said. "She's trying to come back. I can't do anything for her. She has to come back by herself. Just keep talking to her and encouraging her."
"Did you ever figure out why she got this way in the first place?" Justin asked.
"We think what happened was, she had a massive asthma attack. That along with the blows she sustained from the beating caused her body to basically shut down. Her heart is still going and all her vitals seem to be fine but her mind is still stationary. All we can do is wait."
"Thank you doctor." Collin said. He nodded and left Justin and Collin alone with Megan who was still saying Justin's name softly.
"Collin...Um, can I be with her alone for awhile?" Justin asked quietly.
"Yeah. I'm just gonna go get some air."
Collin left closing the door quietly behind him. Justin turned his attention back to Megan who was now laying quietly.
"Megan," He started. "You have to wake up. I don't think I can take this anymore." She didn't say anything but her eyes fluttered. He continued. "I've never asked you for anything except your love, but now I'm asking you to help me. It's eating me up inside not having you with me. Every morning I wake up hoping that you'll be awake...so we can get out of this Godawful hospital!" His head dropped into his hands as he rubbed away the tears that threatened to spill from his eyes.
"I'll take that as an apology."
He looked at Megan. Her eyes were open as much as they could be with the blinding florescent lights of the room shining in her eyes. His eyes widened and the tears started to fall. He laughed and cried all at the same time. He was tempted to just grab her and take her home right then but Collin came back at that moment.
"Collin, she's awake!" Justin exclaimed.
"Hey Col." Megan smiled softly. "Justin...get a doctor...please."
Justin grabbed the little remote by her bed and hit the emergency button. Within seconds, Dr. O'Bannan was in the room.
"She's awake!" Justin exclaimed. How many times am I going to say that?! He thought.
"Megan? How do you feel?" The doctor said when he reached her side. She said something inaudible that only the doctor seemed to understand. He nodded and turned to Justin and Collin. "I need to examine her." Collin seemed to understand that that meant that they needed to leave but Justin was glued to the chair he was sitting in.
"C'mon Justin, let's go get something to drink." Justin finally realized what was happening.
"OK...Megan, I'll be right back." He kissed her forehead lightly and gave her a reassuring smile.
"Justin?" Megan called, her voice low and scratchy.
"Yeah baby?"
"I love you." She whispered. <> "I love you too Angel Face." He whispered back before being whisked out of the room.
Justin and Collin had been sitting in small chairs outside Megan's room for over an hour waiting to hear something - anything - about Megan's condition and Justin was going crazy with worry. He was thinking the worst: She had brain damage, she was paralyzed from the neck down, she only had hours to live...it didn't help that there was no sound coming from Megan's room. For all he knew they were determining time of death.
"Mr. Timberlake?" Justin jumped to his feet. The look on the doctor's face was not one of encouragement.
"What's wrong with her?" He asked worriedly.
"She seems fine. There's no brain damage..." The doctor trailed off as if there was something wrong, but he didn't want to say what.
"God dammit, what's wrong with her!?" Justin yelled making an elderly woman down the hall turn sharply toward the sounds of blasphemy coming from Justin's way.
"It's her legs." Oh god not her legs. Anything but that. Justin prayed. "She will be able to walk after she has a long period of physical therapy, but the chances of her being able to dance again...are very slim."
"Are you positive?" Justin asked.
"Nothing is positive yet, but we are very sure." He confirmed.
"Have you told her yet?"
"Yes...she asked to see you immediately." The doctor said he placed a hand on Justin's shoulder. "I'm very sorry." Justin just nodded and hurriedly went into Megan's room.
She was crying - sobbing. Justin ran to her side and wrapped his arms around her. He couldn't believe this was happening to her. Her whole life was ruined because of one person. Her career was over before it even started because of Jacob. And so help him, if he ever found Jacob, he would make sure that he never came near Megan or any other woman ever again.
