As the weeks wore on, Megan’s physical therapy sessions were going better and better. She had her good days and bad days but not once did she complain. She knew that this was going to be the only way she was going to be able to dance again. Finally, Dr. O’Bannan allowed Megan to go back to Florida with Justin to continue her physical therapy closer to home.
“Joseph! Come help me with these bags!” Megan yelled opening the door to Justin’s house.
“MEGAN?!” The most excited voice she had ever heard came from upstairs.
“No, it’s the Great and Powerful Oz. Of course it’s me.” She laughed. “Now, get your ass down here and help me!” Joey came flying down the stairs and scooped Megan up into his arms.
“I’m so glad you’re home.” He said. “Where’s Justin?”
“Right here.” Justin came up behind Megan with a number of bags hanging off of his body.
“Where did all this stuff come from?” Joey asked removing the bag that was hung around Justin’s neck.
“Princess here decided that she had to go shopping or she was going to die.” Justin explained.
“Hey, I’ve been cooped up in a hospital room for almost 2 months I needed some new clothes and stuff.” Megan retorted.
“J, don’t you remember when she was a tomboy and didn’t even dream of wearing these?” Joey asked reaching into a bag and pulling out a shiny silver thong. Justin burst into laughter as Megan jumped onto Joey fighting him for her new underwear.
“Joey, that’s mine!” She yelled.
“Since when do you wear stuff like this?”
“Since Justin told me to buy it.”
“WHAT?!” Joey stopped and gave Justin a look of death.
“HA!” Megan grabbed her underwear from a distracted Joey’s grasp. She shoved it back in the bag. “Now stay away from my underwear!” She smacked him in the back of the head and ran to find Kelly and Brianna. Joey rubbed the back of his head painfully.
“So…I see she’s back to normal.” He said.
“She’s getting there…” Justin said looking at his hands like they were the most interesting things in the world.
“Is everything OK?” Joey asked, worriedly. Justin didn’t say anything. “Justin is there something you’re not telling me about Megan?!”
“No! It’s something else…I did something that I’m not really that proud of while Megan was in the hospital.” A look of guilt came over Justin’s face.
“What happened?”
Justin hesitated before trying to explain the whole thing in one breath. “It was so stupid Joe! I can’t believe it happened but she just walked up and kissed me and I couldn’t do anything about it and - ”
“Justin what are you talking about?!” Joey asked.
“BRITNEY!” Justin yelled. “My mom came to California and made me leave the hospital so she could take care of me for a while. We went to JC’s place and after I had taken a shower the doorbell rang and it was Britney. She stayed for dinner and when I went to tell her to leave, she kissed me.”
“Did you kiss her back?”
“I almost did.” Justin confessed. “But Joe, you have to understand that I would never do anything to hurt Megan.”
“You have to tell her.” Joey said.
“I’d like to live until tomorrow, Joe.” Justin said.
“Then I’ll tell her.” Joey got up to find Megan.
“NO!” Justin grabbed his arm. “I didn’t do anything wrong! It was all Britney. There’s nothing to tell Megan. Please Joey…Don’t.”
“Fine. But when she find’s out, don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
Joey left Justin to think about the situation. It seemed to Justin that this past week had been extremely emotionally draining. He felt his eyes get heavy and went upstairs to get some sleep before dinner.
Justin was woken up hours later to Megan and Joey jumping on his bed, Megan in one of her new outfits and Joey in leather pants and a shiny silver shirt.
“What are you doing?” Justin groaned covering his head with a pillow.
“Can we go to Kaos?” Megan asked, referring to her favorite club.
“Nooooo!”
“C’mon baby. I haven’t been in so long. Pleeeease?” Megan begged hugging him. She started making whimpering puppy noises.
“Don’t do that…Megan you know what that does to me…Please…” She kept making noises and soon Joey joined in also. “Alright! I’ll go, just stop making those damn puppy noises.”
“Yahoo!” Megan jumped off of him and ran out of the room, Joey not far behind.
“Megan don’t run! You’re going to hurt yourself!” Justin yelled after her.
“Thank you daddy!” She called back in a little girl voice.
“Yeah, yeah…”
Justin climbed out of the bed and stretched before heading to the bathroom. After a quick shower, Justin picked out an outfit, put some gel in him hair and went downstairs where Megan, Joey, Kelly, Lance and Angela were waiting for him.
“Hey everybody.” He said sitting next to Megan.
“Hey Slowpoke. It took you long enough.” Megan said poking him in his side.
“Are you sure you’re ready to go out?” Justin asked sounding very concerned.
“Justin I’ll be fine. Dr. O’Bannan said I could go out and do the things I normally did, I just couldn’t over do it. Don’t worry.”
“Alright…”
“Good! Now, Joey already went and dropped Brianna off at JC’s house so let’s get going!”
They all piled up into Joey’s truck and went to Megan’s favorite club. As soon as they got there, Megan and Justin hit the dance floor. Justin was trying to have as much fun as possible while worrying about Megan at the same time. She seemed to be doing fine, although he thought him asking her if she was thirsty and needed something to drink was beginning to annoy her. She finally gave in though and let him buy her a diet Pepsi since she wasn’t in the mood for her usual Rum & Coke.
While they were sitting at the bar, talking about their plans for the next day, Justin spotted something that made his blood boil. There, in the middle of the dance floor, was Megan’s ex-boyfriend, Jacob. Before he could get up and confront him, Joey sat down next to him and slapped his shoulder playfully.
“What’s the matter Curly, you losing your pelvic thrusting energy?” He joked.
“Joe, please tell me that that’s not who I think it is.” Justin said pointing in Jacob’s direction.
“Holy shit that’s Jacob!” Joey yelled causing Megan to pull away from her conversation with Kelly.
“What?” She asked. She saw the troubled look on his face and became a little frightened. “Joey what’s wrong?” Her eyes followed Justin’s gaze and fell on Jacob. “Omigod!”
Finally, Justin couldn’t take sitting there and watching the man that had almost killed his girlfriend bump and grind with some girl like nothing was wrong. He slammed his drink on the counter and raised from the stool.
“Justin no!” Megan said grabbing his arm. “He’s not worth it.”
“You expect me to just sit here and look at him?!” Justin yelled. “I’m surprised you’re not out there beating the shit out of him right now.”
“And have him beat the shit out of me? I’ve been through that before, no thank you.”
“Well, I’m not just going to sit here.” Justin informed her. “You can come with me or you can sit here but I’m going over there.”
Justin walked over and tapped Jacob on the shoulder. The look on Jacob’s face when he turned around and saw Justin no more than a foot away from him was a mixture of surprise and amusement. He waited until the moment was right, then Justin’s well-placed fist against Jacob’s chin sent him reeling backwards. He retaliated and swung wildly at Justin’s head. Justin parried quickly to his left, ducking the blow, simultaneously catching Jacob’s chin with his elbow. He landed hard against the wall and sank to the ground in an ignominious, drunken heap.
“It’s different when it’s not a woman, huh?” Justin asked menacingly. When Jacob didn’t answer, Justin gave him an abrupt kick in the side. “C’mon Jake. According to Megan, you like to talk shit. Don’t have much to say now, do ya?”
“Justin, STOP!” He heard Megan scream from behind him. He turned, surprised to see her so close to the fight and tried to get her further away so she wouldn’t get hurt. A sudden shout warned him of Jacob’s’ recovery. Spinning around, he barely had enough time to suck in his breath before Jacob’s fist landed square in his mouth.
By this time, everyone in the club was gathered around the two fighting men - along with the bouncers that had been watching the whole time. They waited until Justin and Jacob were out of breath and energy before they lunged forward and separated them.
“Don’t you ever come near her again!” He yelled.
“You can have the bitch. She wasn’t worth the trouble anyway.” Jacob smiled. Justin tried to lunge at him, but the bouncer, who was about as big as one of his own body guards, held him back.
“Look Justin, I don’t care how famous you are. If you ever come into my club and do this again, I’m calling the cops, you got it?” The club owner said as he led Justin to the door. “We’re gonna take care of your friend. I assume he did something pretty bad if you wanted to hurt him.”
“Damn right. He beat the crap out of my girlfriend.” Justin said. “Check the Sacramento Police Department records, there’s a warrant out for his arrest.”
“Just go home and chill out. Get cleaned up. I’ll take care of it.”
“Thanks Dean.” Justin said.
“No problem kid.”
“Megan, please open the door!” Justin said for the hundredth time that night. And for the hundredth time, she didn’t answer. “Baby please...look I’m sorry about what I did. I was just upset and - ” Just then the door swung open.
“Of course you’re sorry!” Megan yelled. “You’re always sorry! But you know what Justin? Sorry doesn’t cut it anymore!” She tried to slam the door in his face, but his hand shot out and held it open. No matter how hard she tried, his 6’1” frame was much bigger and stronger than hers was. “Uhhh! Why are you being such a baby?!”
“Because you won’t listen to me!” Justin yelled back.
“I have nothing to say to you.” She growled.
“Don’t say anything then. Just listen.”
Megan groaned in annoyance again, but stopped fighting him for the door. She stomped to the bed and climbed back under the covers, facing away from him. She felt the bed dip as he sat behind her and again when he lay down. She felt his arm around her waist and tried to move away. His grip tightened.
“Don’t move away.” He pleaded. “Look at me.”
“I don’t want to.” She said.
“Why?” He asked.
“Because then I won’t be able to be mad at you anymore.” Just grinned and turned her to face him. He kissed her deeply and after some hesitation, she kissed him back.
“I just love you so much, AngelFace.” He said softly. “I’m so sorry for doing what I did in the club. I just lost my mind when I saw him there.”
“I know baby.” Megan said. “If I wasn’t so afraid of him, I’d have done the same thing.”
“You don’t have to worry about being afraid of him anymore. I’m going to make sure he stays away from you. I promise.” Justin vowed. Megan studied his face.
“Jesus, look at you.” She stated, noticing the cut on his cheek and the bruise on his temple.
“Ah, it doesn’t hurt that bad anymore.” He said. Megan reached up to touch his bruise and he winced in pain.
“You need to put some ice on that.” She said climbing out of the bed.
“Where are you going?” He asked.
“To get some ice from the kitchen.” Justin grabbed her hand.
“I don’t need any ice.” He said. “Can’t you just lay here with me?”
“If you’re sure you don’t need any ice?”
“Megan I’m fine!” He said exasperated. “Just come here.”
She smiled and jumped back onto the bed, snuggling against him carefully as to not hurt his bruised body. They talked about the past year and the things that had happened, good and bad. They both agreed that the best thing was their time together.
Kelly knocked on their door hours later to check and see if Megan was ok. When she got no answer, she opened the door and smiled at what she saw. Megan was curled up next to Justin, her head lying on his chest and his arm wrapped protectively around her waist. She flipped off the lights and closed the door. She was going to be just fine.
