“Alright. You’re done. Send Joey in.”

JC nodded before stepping out into the small hallway, directly across from a small powder room. He sighed softly as he walked the short distance towards the living room where the other four members of NSYNC were hanging out. Probably continuing the video game battle that’d been going on for the last couple days. It was how four of them would spend their time while waiting for the remaining member to finish going over his vocal part with Robin Wiley.

Robin was a vocal coach that’d been brought in to help them prepare for the upcoming demo they were going to record. There wasn’t a lot of time and they had to try to fit in as much as they possibly could to make sure they were ready for it. So they met with Robin every morning in the front room of the house to learn the songs they’d be performing for the demo.

JC entered the living room to find that his earlier assumption was correct. Joey and Justin’s fingers were moving swiftly over the buttons, causing the heavyweight boxers on the screen to go through an intricate combination of moves. Lance was watching them from the chair he was sitting in, while Chris sat behind them on the couch complaining about Joey’s strategy.

“Aw, c’mon! You should’ve seen that coming!” Chris moaned, leaning forward so his voice carried directly into Joey’s ear.

“Shut up,” Joey grunted as his face scrunched up in concentration while his fingers moved faster. If that was even possible.

But it proved to be futile because his character was knocked out, signaling that the fight was over. Justin dropped the controller to pump a fist in victory.

“Yes!” Justin glanced at Joey. “That makes it…what? Three times you’ve lost to me?”

“Yeah, yeah,” Joey grumbled, good-naturedly. “You’ll get yours.”

“Good timing anyway. You’re next,” JC told Joey as he pointed over his shoulder towards the front of the house.

Joey just nodded and rose from where he’d been sitting Indian style on the floor. He glanced down at Justin and said, “One of these days I’m going to whoop your ass.”

“Bring it on,” Justin replied, grinning broadly. He looked over at Lance as Joey left the room. “You wanna play, Lance?”

Lance hesitated before he said, “I don’t know. Why don’t you ask Chris or JC?”

“Because Chris is complaining about a cramped hand and—”

“I’ve played with you for like two days straight!” Chris defended. There was a slight pause before he crossed his arms over his chest and muttered, “Ungrateful brat.”

But Justin continued as if he hadn’t heard him. “And JC’s gonna say no anyway.”

“How do you know? You didn’t even ask me,” JC said from the seat that he’d taken next to Chris on the couch.

“I don’t have to,” Justin replied. “You have that deep in thought look going on, and you never do anything fun when you’re like that.”

JC couldn’t argue with that because it was true. It was never something he did on purpose, but on occasion he’d get carried away with whatever was on his mind. His introspectiveness had garnered teasing from Justin on numerous occasions, and this was certainly one of them.

Justin turned his attention back to Lance. “See? You’re my only hope to save me from boredom like Mr. Serious over there.”

“Not to mention there’s probably a decent gamer underneath that geeky exterior,” Chris teased.

JC glared at him. “Chris.”

“C’mon, Lance,” Justin pleaded. “You can even have the cool character.”

“Alright,” Lance agreed reluctantly as he slid from the chair to the floor and picked up the controller that Joey’d held earlier.

JC watched the two teenagers create new characters and set up for the next boxing match. He was glad that Lance had decided to play because things had been kind of awkward ever since he’d arrived nearly three days ago. They all tried to make Lance feel at home and part of the group, but there wasn’t much else they could do. The awkwardness would pass with time as Lance grew more comfortable around them.

Not that JC blamed him for feeling uneasy. He was the last one to join the group, and it had to be tough being the only one without a connection to someone else in the group like the rest of them. But as far as JC was concerned none of that mattered because there was no doubt that they’d all become good friends.

How could they not? Especially considering that they had a lot of work to do from now until the demo and then even more if they got signed with a record label. Regardless of what happened after the demo, this whole experience was going to bring them closer. And it didn’t hurt that they were all living in the same house together.

That’d been Lou Pearlman’s idea. He handled all of their finances, but he seemed really invested in making sure that they got along and things went smoothly. So Lou had set them up with this house so they could get used to being around each other all the time. Occasionally he would stop by to see how everything was going.

JC’s stomach churned at that thought. It unnerved him to have Lou watch them rehearse the choreography or their vocals. He knew it was ridiculous to feel that way because Lou was just making sure that his investment in them was paying off. But JC still couldn’t help the uneasiness that he felt whenever Lou was nearby.

It didn’t make any sense though. There had been people on the set of the Mickey Mouse Club that would watch him rehearse, and JC had never once felt as unsettled as he did when Lou watched them. So what made now different from then?

JC wasn’t sure, and he always tried to push those feelings as far down as he could. But he never felt better until Lou was gone. So far he hadn’t shown up, but JC was sure he’d come later. Lou had stopped by two days ago and mentioned that he’d be dropping by in a couple of days, so it seemed likely that he’d show up sometime today.

A sudden cry of indignation escaped Justin’s lips, drawing JC’s attention to him. He was scooting away from Chris’s outstretched hand and complaining about him trying to cheat by covering his eyes. Once Justin was sure that Chris wasn’t going to sabotage him anymore, he returned his attention to the screen. As JC watched Justin and Lance start the first round of the match, he let his thoughts drift to the upcoming demo.

Everything had been going fine so far. They all sounded great with their harmonies, and the dancing was slowly coming together. JC was just worried that they weren’t doing enough.

It was a ludicrous thought because they often didn’t finish rehearsals until eight or nine o’clock at night. Not to mention they usually started going over their vocals early in morning, meaning that they worked at least twelve hours a day. But at times like this where they were just sitting around, JC felt the constant need to be doing something to help them towards their goal. Anything.

“Hey, man.” A gentle elbow in his side forced JC to snap out of his thoughts and look over at Chris. “What’re you thinking about?”

JC stared at him for a second before he asked, “Shouldn’t we be doing something?”

“Uh…we are,” Chris said, looking at him as if he’d grown a second head before he shook his head slightly. “And I thought I was the old one. Alzheimer’s kicking in already?”

“Something besides video games. Something useful,” JC said, ignoring Chris’s jab at him.

“Hey!” Justin protested, glancing back at them. “I’m improving my hand eye coordination. That’s useful.”

“I just feel like we’re not doing enough. That we should be doing something instead of just sitting here,” JC insisted.

“Like what?” Chris asked.

JC shrugged. “I don’t know.”

“We could practice our signatures. You know, for when we’re famous and have to sign autographs,” Justin said.

“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, J. We don’t even have a demo yet,” JC replied.

Chris nodded at him. “Exactly. We can only do so much before we record the demo. I know you’re worried, but we’ve been working our asses off. We can have some down time too.”

Justin looked back at them and his fingers slackened slightly on the controller’s buttons. “JC doesn’t know how to relax.” His gaze met JC’s. “You need to be more like me.”

“A loser?” Chris asked, his lips curled in smirk.

“I’m not a loser!” Justin objected. Chris’s smirk just grew further and he gestured at the TV screen. Justin refocused his attention on the game and he saw that his character was currently being pinned by Lance’s. “Shit!”

“Justin Randall!” Lynn scolded from the hallway as she was passing the doorway. “What have I told you about watching your language?”

“Sorry, Mom,” Justin mumbled. Lynn just nodded and continued down the hall. She was staying with them so she could keep an eye on Justin.

Chris leaned forward to ruffle Justin’s curly hair. “Aw, isn’t that cute? Justin’s a lil momma’s boy.”

“I am not! If anyone’s a momma’s boy, it’s JC,” Justin said.

“I’m not the one who was just scolded for swearing,” JC replied.

“No,” Justin agreed. “But you’re the one who still lets his mom buy his clothes.”

Chris laughed and slung an arm over JC’s shoulders. “Tell me. Did mommy ever dress you like a girl?”

“No.” JC shrugged Chris’s arm off before looking at Justin. “And she hasn’t done that in years.”

“Try the Mickey Mouse Club,” Justin corrected.

“You’re just bringing this up because you’re sore that you finally lost,” JC said. He glanced over at Lance and smiled. “Good going, Lance. You knocked him down a peg.”

“That’s only because you distracted me!” Justin protested. JC’s smile grew and Lance was even smiling.

“Sure, sure. You just can’t accept the fact that there’s someone who can actually beat you,” JC said.

“Oh, I don’t know about that,” Lance started to object, but Chris cut in.

“It’s not your fault that Justin got distracted, so that really does make you the better player.”

JC shared a grin with Chris and said, “You know, I think he might be losing his touch. It’ll be all downhill from here.”

“We’ll see about that.” Justin picked up the controller that Lance had set down in the midst of their bickering and offered it to JC. “C’mon. Unless you don’t think you can handle it.”

“You’re on,” JC said, rising from the couch as Lance stood. They swapped seats and began to set up for the next game. JC was finally letting himself relax and got so into the game that he barely heard the front door open. Or Lou’s voice carrying from just inside the front door and into the living room as he talked to Lynn.

 

Joey followed Lance into their bedroom and immediately began to sift through the clothes at the top of his dresser, looking for his swimming suit. They’d just finished practicing their vocals nearly five minutes ago. Lou had shown up just as Joey had finished and had talked to them while Justin had been learning his part with Robin.

Once they’d finished, Robin had suggested that they try the song together. She’d wanted to make sure that they all had a solid grasp on what their part was for the new song. So they’d returned to the room they’d dubbed as the music room with Lou and Robin and ran through the song.

Both of them had said that it sounded like things were really coming together, and Robin had dismissed them. That gave them an hour before they had to leave for the warehouse where they practiced their choreography. They’d been ready to separate when Justin had suggested that they go swimming.

There hadn’t been much protest because the weather for the past few days had been rainy, which hadn’t allowed for any outdoor activities. But the humidity was still as thick as ever, which made the heat from the sun nearly unbearable. So they’d all headed back to their bedrooms in search of their bathing suits to allow themselves to cool off for an hour.

Joey looked up from where he was going through a pile of clothes that’d ended up strewn across the floor next to his bed and frowned when he saw the expression on Lance’s face. It almost seemed like he was uncomfortable with the idea of swimming with them. While it was understandable, Joey had been trying to make Lance feel at home.

“You need to watch out for Chris,” Joey told him as he went back to rummaging through his clothes.

Lance had just pulled his swimming trunks out of his dresser and turned to look at him. “What? Why?”

Joey saw Lance’s worried expression and quickly explained, “He likes to sneak up behind people and push them underwater.”

“Oh,” Lance said quietly, his face relaxing slightly. “OK.”

“And if he teases you then you just do it right back.” Joey went back to his dresser and began to shift clothes around, making a mess of the semi-folded clothes. “The same goes for Justin. If he gets annoying, then just tell him to shut up. We all do it. Even JC, and Justin like worships him.”

“Why are you telling me all this?” Lance asked, his eyes looking at Joey, but not meeting his own.

Joey moved his clothes once more and grinned briefly when he found his swimming trunks balled up in the corner of the drawer. Task completed, he turned to face Lance and said, “I just want you to feel comfortable around us.”

“Well, thanks, but there’s not really much you can do,” Lance replied.

Joey frowned. “What do you mean?”

“You can’t make someone fit in when they don’t.”

“You fit in!” Joey protested, his frown growing. He knew Lance was having a hard time adjusting, but he never thought Lance felt like he was an outsider. They all got along pretty well with him and tried to include him in whatever they did. So hearing that Lance didn’t feel like he fit in was surprising.

“Maybe my voice, but that’s it. I’m only here because you guys were in a hurry and needed a bass singer that sounded decent,” Lance said, lowering himself onto his bed.

“That’s not true.” Joey sat down next to Lance, his fingers playing with the drawstring of his swimming trunks that were still in his hands. He glanced at Lance and continued, “Do you know how many people we went through before we found you?”

“No,” Lance said quietly.

“Thirty.” Lance’s head snapped up in surprise and Joey nodded. “And you know why none of them made the cut?” Lance shook his head and Joey said, “Because they wouldn’t fit in with this. They may have been a bass, but we needed someone who could sing and could get along with us. Then we found you, and it was like something just clicked, you know? There was no doubt in our minds that you were in.”

“And look where it got you. You’re no closer than you were before I even came into the picture.” Lance paused. “I’m holding you back.”

“Lance…” Joey began, but Lance interrupted.

“I can’t do the choreography. You’d be so much further if I didn’t keep screwing up.”

“You’re getting it. What we’re doing’s hard,” Joey said. “Hell, I screw up all the time.”

“But you and Chris aren’t having as much trouble as I am. And Justin and JC make it look so easy,” Lance replied.

“Justin and JC are freaks of nature. Not to mention they’re used to that crap from the Mickey Mouse Club. It just takes time to get the hang of it.”

“We don’t have a lot of time,” Lance pointed out. “There’s eleven days until the demo, and I don’t know if I’ll be ready.”

“I don’t think any of us will,” Joey joked lightly.

 “I just don’t want to let you guys down,” Lance said, ignoring Joey’s small joke.

Joey threw an arm around Lance’s shoulders. “You won’t. The only way you’d let us down is if you gave up, and I get the feeling you’re not that kind of person.”

“I’m not,” Lance agreed.

“Then I have no doubt that you’ll get it. One day you’ll be doing the steps and everything will just click.” Joey’s eyes locked with Lance’s. “Trust me.”

Before Lance could say anything, a yell could be heard from in the hallway.

“Are you guys coming or what?”

A second later Justin appeared in the doorway with his swimming suit on and looking exasperated. “What are you doing? We’re leaving for rehearsal in an hour, and it takes five minutes to get there. And we’ll need ten minutes to dry off and get changed. Not to mention you guys have already wasted like ten minutes so we only have thirty-five minutes to swim.”

Joey grinned at Justin’s anxiousness. “Take a breath before you pass out.”

“So you coming or what?” Justin repeated.

“Yeah.” Joey glanced at Lance who nodded. “We’ll be out in a minute.”

Justin just nodded before turning around and racing down the hall. Joey shook his head as he left and said, “I guess we should get ready before Justin drives Chris and JC crazy.”

“Sometimes I don’t understand how he can have that much energy,” Lance said.

“You and me both,” Joey replied and smiled. Lance returned his smile, and it made Joey feel that his talk had helped. Hopefully it helped alleviate some of Lance’s insecurities and would make him feel more comfortable with them.

 

“I’m going to see what’s taking Joey and Lance so long,” Justin said before he climbed out of the pool and started for the side door that led into the living room.

“Dry off before you go into the house!” Lynn called.

JC turned his head to see that she was sitting at the patio table with Robin. Justin rolled his eyes at her, but grabbed his towel to dry his wet body off. Once he disappeared into the house, Lynn returned to the conversation that she’d been having with Robin.

“What do you think’s taking them so long?” Chris asked JC as he jumped out of the water slightly to shoot the small basketball into the equally small net that hung off the edge of the pool.

JC shrugged. “I don’t know.”

He honestly wasn’t sure, but he had a suspicion that Joey and Lance had ended up talking. It’d been hard not to notice Lance’s unease once they’d finished going over their vocals. JC didn’t know what the reason was, but he didn’t think it could’ve been something they’d done.

Except that Chris had thrown some jabs Lance’s way a few times that morning. Playful jabs, but Lance probably didn’t know that. Some of the things Chris said could be kind of harsh, even if he was kidding.

“Take it easy on Lance, huh?” JC requested, voicing his thoughts.

“I am,” Chris said and tossed the ball into the hoop again.

“You’re always picking on him,” JC said.

“So?” Chris jumped and caught the ball that JC had sent sailing towards the hoop. “I pick on all of you.”

JC sighed. “I don’t know if he realizes you’re kidding, and I don’t want to make him more uncomfortable than he already is.”

Chris stopped shooting baskets to look at him. “Look, I get it. You’re concerned about things being awkward, but trust me when I say that things would be a hell of a lot more awkward if I didn’t make fun of him. I’m treating him like I treat the rest of you, which is going to make it better in the long run.”

JC couldn’t really argue with that. It wasn’t something he’d thought about before, but it made sense. Treating Lance different would make him think that he didn’t fit in because they weren’t comfortable enough with him to treat him like they would each other.

“You’re right,” JC said.

Chris looked smug, but that was quickly erased by the wave of water that washed over them from Justin jumping back into the pool. He coughed and glared at Justin. “You’ll pay for that.”

Justin just shrugged and turned to JC. “They’ll be out in a minute,” he said before JC could ask.

JC sat back as he watched Justin steal the ball off of Chris and slam dunk it. He smiled as they fooled around, jumping on top of each other to get the ball. But then his attention was drawn by the sound of the patio door sliding open.

Joey and Lance walked out into the sunny yard. They dropped their towels on a pair of lawn chairs before they headed for the shallow end. JC swam over to meet them.

“Hey,” he greeted.

“Justin driving you crazy yet?” Joey asked.

“No, but there’s still time,” JC said, laughing as he heard Justin’s indignant protest. He barely heard the patio door open again and Lou’s voice as he joined Lynn and Robin. “So what do you guys want to do?”

“I thought we were swimming,” Lance replied.

“We usually do pool games.” Joey looked at JC. “Hey, we should see if Lance can beat you.”

JC shook his head. “I’m sure he doesn’t want to do that.”

“Or maybe you’re afraid that he’ll actually beat you,” Joey said.

“No. I just don’t want to make Lance do something that he doesn’t want to do,” JC replied.

“Well, maybe if he knew what it was then he could decide for himself,” Lance spoke up then.

“JC’s known for holding his breath underwater the longest. None of us have been able to beat him,” Joey explained.

“Maybe I can,” Lance offered.

“Don’t let Joey influence you, Lance. You don’t have to,” JC said.

Lance shook his head. “I want to.”

“Alright!” Joey grinned and slapped Lance on the back. He glanced at both of them. “You guys ready?”

JC and Lance took a few deep breaths and let them out. They nodded at Joey, and when he gave them the go ahead, they both took a deep breath before they lowered their faces into the water. Nearly twenty-five seconds had passed before JC could hear Lance come up, so he followed.

“You don’t even look out of breath,” Lance said, panting slightly.

“JC’s a freak,” Joey said and laughed. “It’s the only the pool game he’s good at.”

“That’s not true,” JC protested.

Joey ignored him and looked at Lance. “One time we were playing keep away and Chris went to throw it at him and it whacked JC in the head.”

“Only because he whipped it at me!” JC defended.

“You were supposed to catch it,” Joey said.

JC huffed and crossed his arms only to frown a second later as Joey and Lance started chuckling. “What’s so funny?” he asked, starting to turn his head to find the source of their amusement.

But before JC could turn around, he was roughly shoved underwater. He struggled against the hand that held him there and felt the grip loosen, allowing him to surface. As he did so, he was coughing from the water he’d unintentionally swallowed. There was only one person who would’ve done that, and sure enough, he could hear Chris laughing behind him.

“You’re a freakin’ jerk,” JC muttered, his eyes blinking rapidly as they tried to find relief from the burning chlorine. Not being able to take it anymore, JC blindly found the rough concrete and pulled himself out of the pool.

“What’s the matter?” Chris taunted. “Can’t handle a little water?”

“You got chlorine in my eyes,” JC said, picking up his towel and dabbing at his eyes.

“You should’ve closed your eyes then,” Chris replied.

JC didn’t bother to respond to that as he tried to get his eyes to stop burning. After fifteen seconds of rubbing with the towel, he realized he’d gotten most of it. He lowered the towel from his face and looked up, his eyes landing on Lou who was standing in front of the patio table watching him.

There was something different in Lou’s expression that he’d never seen on his face before. His lips were upturned in a small smile and his eyes were half open in a peering gaze that was dark and unsettling. It reminded JC of the lustful way guys would look at girls. JC shifted his weight as his stomach churned anxiously.

“Yo, JC! Finish wiping your girly eyes and get over here!” Chris yelled, snapping JC’s attention away from Lou. “We’re gonna play Marco Polo.”

JC sighed and let the towel drop to the chair below before he headed for the pool. As he got back in, he glanced over his shoulder at Lou, expecting him to still be watching. But Lou’s attention was on Robin as he said something to her. Justin explained to Lance the extra rules they added onto the game, and JC pushed the image of Lou watching him out of his mind, convinced that he’d just imagined the way Lou had looked at him.

Justin practically bounced in his seat from the leftover energy that still drummed through him from rehearsal. Choreography practice had ended about a half hour ago, and it was now going on eight thirty while they waited for Lynn to finish preparing for their usual late dinner.

Long, late practices had become routine, and Justin was surprised that his four band mates sat listlessly in front of the TV as if they’d practiced several hours more than usual. The energy seemed to have been drained from their bodies, which was understandable considering how hard they’d been working. Justin knew he should be feeling the effects of it too, but for whatever reason he wasn’t. He had to do something to get rid of this excess energy because he couldn’t sit still any longer.

“I can’t watch this,” Justin moaned as he shifted from the chair was sitting in.

Chris let his lazy gaze move from the TV to Justin briefly before returning to the sports highlights that newscasters on ESPN were recapping. “No one’s forcing you,” he mumbled.

Justin ignored him and leaned forward to grasp JC’s forearm that was resting on the end of the couch. “Come play basketball with me, C.”

“It’s too dark. You won’t be able to see,” JC pointed out, meeting Justin’s gaze.

“The court has lights,” Justin replied and shook JC’s arm. “Please, JC. Just a quick game before dinner.”

JC sighed softly. “I’m tired, J.”

“C’mon. Just one game,” Justin pleaded.

“Justin, leave him alone,” Lynn called from the kitchen in front of the sink where she was straining spaghetti noodles.

“But I need to do something,” Justin protested.

Lynn glanced over at him. “You can set the table. Dinner’s about ready anyway.”

Justin sighed, but let go of JC’s arm and rose from the chair. He walked into the kitchen and pulled out a stack of plates from a cupboard near the stove. In the middle of laying the silverware next to each plate, Lou entered the room.

The sight of him surprised Justin slightly. He’d forgotten that Lou was there. Lou had followed them home from practice, but had gotten a phone call almost as soon as he walked through the door. So he’d disappeared into another part of the house while the rest of them had settled themselves in the living room as Lynn started dinner.

“You boys did good today,” Lou said to Justin, stopping just inside the doorway. He glanced at the stove. “I see you’re about ready to eat, so I’m going to head home and do the same.”

“Would you like to stay for dinner?” Lynn asked as she set a bowl of salad in the center of the table.

“I don’t want to impose,” Lou said.

Lynn waved him off. “We have more than plenty.”

“Well, in that case, how can I refuse?” Lou replied and took a seat towards the end of table.

“Mom,” Justin hissed under his breath as he stepped closer so he was right next to her. “Why’d you do that?”

“He’s the one making all this happen for you. It wouldn’t hurt to be nice and get to know him, would it?”

“I guess not,” Justin muttered. He had nothing against Lou. In fact, Justin liked him. It seemed like Lou knew what he was doing and seemed to really believe in what they could do. But Lou had been around since they’d finished up their vocals earlier that morning and had spent most of the evening at the warehouse where they practiced. So Justin was more than ready for some downtime with the other guys. They’d worked hard and deserved some time to relax without having to worry about behaving in front of Lou.

“Dinner’s ready!” Lynn called into the living room.

A minute later Chris, Joey, Lance, and JC entered and gathered around the table. Justin sat down next to his mom and watched as JC paused briefly before taking the only seat left at the table across from Lou. There were no words exchanged as the seven of them piled food onto their plates.

“I was just telling Justin that you boys did good today,” Lou said after he took a rather large bite of pasta.

There was a scatter of thank yous from around the table.

Lou nodded and continued, “The choreography for We Can Work It Out still needs a little work, but your vocals sound pretty good.”

Lance’s head bowed slightly. Joey, who was sitting next to him, nudged him gently and offered him a small smile before saying, “We’ll get the steps.”

“Oh, I have no doubt,” Lou replied, smiling at him. “You’ve all made good progress for only having started a few days ago.”

“Well, it’s easy when we’re doing such a good song,” Chris said.

Justin nodded. “It was all JC could talk about for the first day.”

“Is that right?” Lou asked, looking over at JC.

“Yeah.” JC shrugged, looking down at his plate as he twirled the long noodles around his fork. “It’s The Beatles. I mean, what’s not to like?”

“So what’s next?” Justin asked after he took the few seconds of silence to drink some water. “After the demo, I mean.”

“Well, I’m going to give the demo to a few record companies, and one of them will pick you up. Then we’ll negotiate contracts to get you into the studio so you can start recording an album,” Lou explained.

“You really think we’ll get signed?” Chris asked with a mix of hope and skepticism.

“You boys are talented. There’s no mistaking that,” Lou said. “As long as you continue to work hard, I don’t see why you won’t get a record deal.”

The five members of NSYNC exchanged smiles, and Lynn said, “And anyone who doesn’t jump at the chance to sign you shouldn’t be in the music business.”

Lou opened his mouth to add something when pager began to beep. He excused himself before rising from the table and walking into the living room to use the cordless phone in there. Silence fell over the table again as the rest of them continued to fill up on spaghetti and salad.

“We should go out tonight,” Chris said.

Justin swallowed the food in his mouth as he nodded enthusiastically. “We should go to the arcade.” He leaned forward to look past Chris at JC, who was seated at the other end of the table. “What was the name of that place where you thought you beat me at Asteroids?”

“Silver Circle,” JC said.

Justin frowned. Sure he’d wanted to know the name of the place, but he’d expected to get into a playful argument with JC first. It was an old argument that they’d had many times before, and every time JC would insist that he actually beat Justin at the one arcade game they both spent so much time trying to win.

But not this time and Justin wondered if something was wrong. The thought lasted for only a second before he dismissed it. JC had said earlier that he was tired, which would explain why he didn’t want to play along like he normally would.

“I was actually thinking of something else.” Chris looked across the table at Joey. “Something better than an arcade in a roller rink.”

Justin’s expression darkened. He hated when they went to a club without him. It wasn’t fair that they excluded him like that, which was why he always tried to suggest things that they could do together. And most of the time they would go along with it. But it didn’t look like it was going to happen tonight.

“Hey, you know I’m in. We haven’t been to a club in ages,” Joey said. He looked to his left. “You should come with us, C.”

“No, he shouldn’t. He’s tired and wants to stay in with us,” Justin replied confidently.

“Now, Justin, you can’t force him to agree,” Lynn spoke up.

“I don’t have to. He doesn’t want to go clubbing,” Justin said.

JC hesitated before he said, “Actually, it’s been a while since I’ve gone out.”

Justin stared at JC in disbelief. He couldn’t believe JC was going out with Joey and Chris instead of staying in with him. The past few days had been crazy; they’d been going nonstop ever since Lance had joined. All Justin wanted was to hang out with JC.

Sure, they’d hung out earlier with the video games and swimming. But that was different because they hadn’t been able to really relax since they were just small breaks between rehearsals. And Justin was hurt that JC chose to go clubbing, especially knowing how he felt about being left behind. As his best friend, JC should’ve wanted to hang out with him.

“But you’re tired!” Justin protested, trying to convince JC to stay.

“Well, now I’m not,” JC said.

Joey brought his right hand down on JC’s shoulder to clap it good-naturedly. “That’s what I’m talking about!”

“But—”

“JC’s made his decision, Justin, and you have to respect that,” Lynn interrupted Justin’s objection.

Justin huffed and crossed his arms over his chest. “Fine. Me and Lance will have fun without you.”

Lou returned, but Justin didn’t bother to straighten from his slouched position. He hadn’t really expected to change JC’s mind, but he’d hoped. Not for the first time, Justin wished he was older. It was juvenile, but he was tired of being treated like a kid.

Glancing at JC, he could see that his older friend still looked tired and kind of distracted. There was more to the reason why JC wanted to go clubbing, but Justin knew it would be pointless to ask. JC would just avoid his question because he wasn’t able to lie very well. He’d probably say that just he needed to relax, which Justin understood. Things had been stressful lately.

So with that in mind, Justin finished up his dinner. But he swore to himself that if JC didn’t seem better when they returned, then he’d say something. After all, it was his duty as best friend to make sure nothing was wrong.

 

Lance watched as Matthew Broderick danced along to “Twist and Shout” on a German float that his character, Ferris Bueller, had jumped on. There had been nothing on TV, so Justin had suggested it. It seemed kind of mellow for Justin, especially after his idea to go out had been spoiled. But Lance wasn’t going to complain because he’d originally wanted to spend these few quiet hours to himself before going to bed.

Justin had other plans though. Without a word, he reached for the remote and turned off the TV with the press of a button. “We should do something.”

“Like what?” Lance asked, not bothering to point out that they had been until Justin had shut off the movie.

“Something fun,” Justin said.

Lance didn’t say anything, but nodded. He had expected this because of what Justin had said at dinner. The guys had left a couple hours ago, and so far they hadn’t done anything spectacular like Justin had hinted earlier. Part of Lance was worried to find out what exactly Justin would do for fun.

He’d even voiced his worry to Joey who’d just laughed and said that Justin wouldn’t do anything too crazy. After all, Lynn was there and she wouldn’t let him get away with much. But that had done little to ease Lance’s trepidation about hanging out with Justin. And that feeling returned now that Justin was bored.

“We should prank call people,” Justin said after a few seconds.

“What?” Lance replied, staring at him in surprise. Somehow that’d been the last thing he’d been expecting. It almost sounded kind of tame for Justin.

“Don’t tell me you’ve never done it before.” Lance shook his head as he watched Justin move from one end of the couch to the other where the phone was sitting on the end table. He picked up the cordless phone and the phone book that sat on the bottom shelf before sitting down in the chair. “Well, it’s a lot of fun.”

“That’s kind of mean though, don’t you think? Bothering people this late?”

Justin glanced up at Lance briefly before returning his attention to the off-white pages. “If people are in bed at ten-thirty on a Friday night, then they’re losers.”

Justin rifled through the dog-eared pages of the phone book before he randomly stopped and started to dial someone’s number. Lance sighed and sat back on the couch. He figured there was no point in arguing with Justin because he’d probably just do it anyway. So Lance watched as Justin waited for a couple seconds before speaking into the receiver.

“Yeah. Can I get a large pizza with everything on it? Oh, and those cheesy bread stick things you have?” There was a slight pause before Justin said with feigned innocence, “This is Papa John’s, isn’t it?”

Lance couldn’t stop the chuckle that escaped his lips. He’d almost expected Justin to do that corny refrigerator joke, but this was so much more creative. But if this was what Justin would do with every phone call, then he probably wouldn’t get bored with it as quickly as Lance had originally thought.

“Why do you refuse to serve me? Yeah, well, you can tell me I have the wrong number all you want. You still lost a customer, and I was a damn good one too,” Justin said before hanging up.

Lance shook his head even as he laughed slightly. “I can’t believe you did that.”

“It’s fun.” Justin held out the phone to him. “Here. You try it.”

“No thanks,” Lance declined.

Justin shrugged. “Suit yourself.”

As Justin punched in another set of numbers, Lance wondered just how often he did this. Justin spouted off a story to whoever he’d called this time about how he was from some kind of institution and was calling to conduct a survey. If they would just give him a minute of their time. All of it said in a voice that just oozed confidence.

Lance was amazed at just how comfortable Justin was with talking to people that he’d never met before. And then be able to come up with story on the spot as soon as the person answered. That was something Lance would never be able to do.

He’d been so nervous when meeting the guys that he’d felt like he was going to puke. Even at that point, Justin immediately started talking to him a mile a minute, not at all seeming to care that they’d just met seconds before. Lance wished he could have the confidence that Justin had and be able to talk to people so easily.

“Would you eat poop if someone paid you a million dollars?” Lance’s attention swiveled back to Justin who was grinning. No doubt at the expense of the person on the other end. “I already told you. This is a behavioral survey. We want to know the kind of things people do and would do.”

Lance had expected the person to hang up on Justin after that, but was surprised when Justin asked his next question. “What’s your favorite sex position?”

And that time the person hung up because Justin pulled the phone away from his ear and disconnected it with a shrug. He’d had his fun with that person, so now he was moving onto the next one. Justin smiled deviously before he picked up the phone again.

Lance inwardly groaned, wondering what Justin was going to do this time. He got his answer when seconds later Justin lowered his voice and asked, “Is Emily there? This is her boyfriend.”

There was more to this. Justin wouldn’t randomly call some girl’s house looking for her. And if he did, there would be no real reason to lower his voice. The next thing Justin said gave away just what he was doing.

“She never mentioned having a husband. Why do you think that is?”

Lance’s eyes widened. There was no doubt what Justin was up to now, and Lance knew he had to get him to hang up. The prank phone calls had been amusing before. But now it was down right cruel. Messing with a married couple.

“Justin! Give me the phone,” Lance demanded as he stood up from the couch and reached out for it.

Justin shot him an annoyed look and covered a hand over the receiver to say, “You had your chance earlier. Let me finish.”

Lance shook his head and reached for the phone again, but Justin stepped away from him and tried to continue to talk to the husband. As Lance stepped closer, he could hear the guy yelling at Justin. Once he was within reach, Lance grabbed the phone out of Justin’s hand and hung up.

Justin glared at him. “What did you do that for?”

“That was mean,” Lance said.

“Lighten up, Lance. It was a joke,” Justin replied.

Before anything else could be said the phone in Lance’s hand began to ring. The two of them exchanged nervous looks, knowing it had to be the guy Justin had been talking to. It was too late for anyone else to call.

“He must’ve star sixty-nined you,” Lance said.

“Well, aren’t you going to answer it?” Justin asked.

Lance shook his head. “I wasn’t the one who told him I was sleeping with his wife.”

“Yeah, but I wasn’t the one who hung up on him,” Justin countered.

“Just answer it before your mom does,” Lance said, holding out the phone.

Justin sighed, but accepted the phone. This time he talked with a false Spanish accent as he tried to deny that he’d been the one to call just minutes before. Lance would’ve laughed if it wasn’t so unnerving. Justin must’ve really pissed this guy off for him to call back and continue his tirade.

Then suddenly a voice asked, “Who are you talking to?”

Both of them turned to see Lynn standing in the doorway. Justin immediately dropped his accent and covered the end of the phone before he said, “Trace.”

“Well, wrap it up. It’s getting late,” Lynn replied before she turned and left.

Once she was gone, Justin reinforced the accent and continued to insist that the guy had the wrong number. After another minute, he hung up the phone and rested it back in its cradle with a sigh.

“I don’t think he believed me,” Justin said.

“I wouldn’t have either,” Lance replied. “It’s a little suspicious when the same number has two completely different people.”

“Well, he wouldn’t have even called if you hadn’t hung up on him,” Justin pointed out.

Lance just sighed. It was pointless to argue with Justin, and it didn’t really matter anyway. There would be no more prank calls tonight. That was for sure.

Without a word, they settled themselves back on the couch and finished the last ten minutes of the movie. The credits just started to roll when they heard the front door open and Joey, Chris, and JC walked into the living room.

JC took the remaining seat on the couch next to Justin, who glanced at the clock on the VCR and saw that it was just after midnight. “You’re back early,” Justin said.

“It was a bust,” Joey said.

“You’re just saying that because you didn’t hook up with anyone,” Chris replied, laughing.

“Yeah, but it was just getting interesting when we left. That blonde wanted me to do jello shots off—”

“It doesn’t matter,” JC said, interrupting Joey as he spared a quick look at Justin and Lance. “You couldn’t have done it because you’re underage.”

“So what did you guys do?” Chris asked.

“I prank called people,” Justin said.

Chris laughed and held up his right hand for Justin to slap. “Alright!”

“I tried to get Lance to do it, but he didn’t want to.” Justin looked over at Lance. “He’s a good boy.”

“Shut up,” Lance said, trying to look serious. But he couldn’t help the smile that spread across his face. For the first time since he’d arrived, he actually felt like part of the group. Things could only get better from here.

 

“Geez, Joey. What were you trying to do? A poor imitation of me?”

JC held back the annoyed sigh he wanted to release at the teasing Chris directed towards Joey. They had stopped three other times already and hadn’t even made it all the way through the song yet. And JC’s patience was already running thin.

It wasn’t the mistakes that bothered him as much as their constant need to screw around every time they stopped. He just wanted to get through the song at least once. The demo was quickly approaching, and they needed to be prepared.

Joey reached up and gently shoved Chris, who was leaning against the arm of the couch. He cleared his throat. “I had something in my throat.”

“What? Air?” Justin asked from the other end of the couch beside Joey. Both Chris and Justin laughed at Joey's expense.

“Besides,” Joey said, ignoring them, “I wouldn’t want to be like Chris.”

“Why? What’s wrong with me?”

Joey smirked at Chris. “Do you really want a list? Because we might be here all day.”

There was a collective uproar of laughter from the group, even JC managed to crack a smile as Chris protested loudly. It was nine o’clock in the morning, but you never would’ve guessed it by their rambunctious behavior. They were all tired, but trying to shake it off by having some fun. But the fun could only last so long.

“OK, guys. Time to focus,” Robin said, pulling their attention back to her. She looked over at Joey before she hit a key on the piano that was just inside the door in the opposite corner. “That’s where your pitch is supposed to be. OK?”

Joey nodded and the five of them looked down at the sheet music they held. Robin counted them off before JC started to sing with the other four harmonizing with him. That time they managed to make it through the song without any mistakes.

“That was good, guys. Now let’s try it without the sheet music,” Robin instructed.

The sound of paper fluttering could be heard as the five of them simultaneously tossed the sheets of music onto the floor. That was all Robin needed to know they were ready. She counted them off once again, and JC sang the beginning.

Everything went smoothly until Chris’s part. He’d started off good, but then adlibbed the rest of the words to his part. His voice hadn’t wavered at all through the mess up, and by the end of it, they were all laughing.

“Nice reference to McDonald’s there, Chris,” Joey said, still laughing.

“I was trying not to be too obvious,” Chris replied, grinning.

“But McDonald’s is the only one known for their ‘special sauce’,” Lance pointed out from the wall he was leaning against across from the couch.

“We should eat there for lunch,” Justin said. “Give the old man what he wants.”

“Hey!” Chris protested. “I’m not that old. JC’s older than me.”

JC frowned. “No, I’m not.”

“Well, you act like it,” Chris said.

“Yeah, well, at least he’s not suffering from memory loss,” Justin retorted with a smile before JC could even dismiss it.

Chris shook his head. “Oh, it’s on.”

“Alright, boys. You can finish this later. Right now, let’s get back to the song.” Robin glanced at Chris. “Let’s take it from the top. And no more confessions of love to McDonald’s.”

They started again, and that time the song was perfect. Everyone had the correct pitch and came in exactly where they were supposed to. And there were no forgotten lyrics. They’d just reached the last part of the song where they harmonized together when Lou walked in.

“That was good, boys,” Lou praised once the last note had been sung. JC’s heart skipped a beat because he hadn’t seen Lou come in since his back was to the door.

Like the night before at the dinner table, thank yous were heard all around.

“You mind if I stay and listen for a bit?” Lou asked. He smiled when no one objected. At least verbally.

JC didn’t want him there. It was a horrible thing to think, especially since Lou was financing them, but he couldn’t help it. Everything seemed awkward and uncomfortable when Lou was around. And Lou asking to stay just added to it.

Every time Lou would come to watch them, he would always ask if he could stay. As if any of them would say no. But the way that he was continuously so polite unsettled JC. It was nice to be polite and ask, but once Lou got the OK the first time, he shouldn’t have asked anymore.

“You want to run through that again for me?”

Robin nodded. “Sure thing, Lou.” She turned her attention to the five of them. “One…two…three…”

JC opened his mouth as his voice box vibrated to fill the room with his singing. He wasn’t even aware that Lou had stepped up behind him until a large hand was placed onto his shoulder. The hand felt heavy against his shoulder, and the feel of it made JC’s skin crawl.

But that was nothing compared to what Lou did next.

JC was nearly finished with the first verse and the others had just started to harmonize with him when Lou placed his other hand in the small of his back. It startled JC so much that he jumped and immediately stopped singing. That drew his friends’ attention to him, forcing Lou to remove his hands.

“Dude, what the hell?” Chris asked.

“Sorry,” JC apologized. “I uh…I felt something fall on me. I think it was a spider.”

At that, they all looked up at the ceiling fan that he was standing under. JC was sure it looked pretty comical, but he couldn’t laugh even if he wanted to. He was too freaked out by what’d just happened.

Finally, Chris shook his head and said, “You’re such a girl.”

JC didn’t say anything, but moved from where he’d been standing to sit down on a small chair that was in the corner of the room by the couch. He wanted to put as much distance between him and Lou as possible. His body shuddered as he remembered Lou’s hands on him. The one on his back lower than what would be considered appropriate and just an inch from touching his butt.

That was the first time Lou had touched JC like that, but JC had a bad a feeling that it wouldn’t be the last. Sure, there was a possibility that Lou hadn’t been aware how low his hand was. But coupling that with the way he’d looked at JC yesterday, there was no doubt that it’d been done intentionally.

The whole thing unsettled JC, but he wasn’t sure what to do about it. He didn’t think he’d be able to just forget that it happened, but he didn’t exactly want to tell anyone either. It was embarrassing.

“JC!”

JC’s attention snapped to Justin who was staring at him with a frown. “You OK?” Justin asked.

“Yeah,” JC lied. “Sorry. I just zoned out there for a second.”

“You ready to start again?” Robin asked.

JC nodded and did what was expected of him. He was going to keep this to himself. For now anyway. Nothing had really happened yet, and maybe it would stay that way. But as he glanced up and caught Lou staring at him, JC couldn’t help but think that maybe that was just wishful thinking.

Chris sat back in his chair, stomach full of another delicious meal compliments of Lynn. Before he’d met her, the last time he’d had a home cooked meal was when he was still living at home. It was nice to have something normal in the midst of something so abnormal. And as he looked at his friend’s empty, or near empty plates, it was easy to see they agreed.

They sat in a comfortable silence for a minute before Lynn rose to her feet in order to collect dishes to take to the sink. She had just picked up her plate and glass when Lance offered, “I can do the dishes if you want since you cooked dinner.”

“Thank you, Lance. That’s very sweet of you. But I’m used it to it.” Lynn glanced over at Justin and said pointedly, “After all, it is my job.”

“No, Mom. Lance is right. You should go relax and let us take care of the dishes,” Justin replied.

Lynn set down the plate and glass she’d been holding onto the counter next to the sink. She turned and eyed her son critically before she said, “As long as you’re sure.”

“Very.” Justin nodded with a smile. “Now go read your book or something, and leave the dishes to us.”

Lynn smiled at them before she left the room. Once she was gone, Joey turned in his seat to look at Justin and asked, “What was that all about?”

Justin ignored Joey as he stood up and started to collect dishes from the table. He carried what he could across the kitchen to the sink. Seeing that Justin wasn’t going to offer him an answer, Joey raised an eyebrow in Chris’s direction.

“He said something stupid to Lynn earlier,” Chris said.

“Well, that’s nothing new,” Joey replied.

Justin glared over his shoulder at them as he protested, “Hey!”

They couldn’t help but grin at the sour look on Justin’s face as he carried the last set of dishes over to the sink. The water ran in a steady stream as Justin turned the faucet on to fill up the sink.

“Lance, get over here and help me,” Justin demanded.

Lance blinked. “Why me?”

“Because you were the one who started this by offering,” Justin said, scowling. “So get over here and dry my dishes.”

Chris saw Joey’s motion for him to continue and explained, “Lynn stopped by our room to drop off clean laundry. Well, she was mad that Justin’s side of the room was a mess. And as she was cleaning up he told her…” He chuckled. “He told her it was her job to clean up after him.”

“Oh, Justin,” Joey said with mock disappointment as he shook his head slowly.

“She knew I didn’t mean it,” Justin defended.

Chris had gotten up from the table to get another can of soda. He’d just opened the fridge when he felt Justin glaring at his back. Turning and letting the door shut, Chris asked, “What?”

“What are you doing?” Justin asked.

“Getting a drink,” Chris said as if it were obvious.

Justin shook his head. “No. Not until you put the food away.”

“I don’t have to. You were the one that volunteered to do the dishes, not me,” Chris said.

“But my hands are all soapy,” Justin protested as he held up his hands that were covered in white bubbles before flicking them in Chris’s direction.

Chris lowered the hands that he’d raised to ward off the attack and relented, “Fine, but you better remember this the next time I need a favor.”

“Where are the tupperware?” Chris asked a few seconds later as he started to open random cupboards.

“Does this look like my house?” Justin retorted.

Chris rolled his eyes before continuing his search. He found them in the lower cabinet just next to Justin’s legs. Smiling deviously, Chris opened the cabinet door with a little more force than was necessary. Right into the side of Justin’s calf.

“Shit!” Justin yelled as he jumped slightly, sloshing dirty water from the casserole pan onto the floor. His eyes narrowed as he looked over at Chris, who’d stood up and was placing leftover rice into a bowl as if nothing had happened. “You asshole! Look at what you made me do!”

Chris smirked as he heard Joey’s footsteps come closer before he said, “Maybe you shouldn’t be so jumpy.”

“Just for that you can clean it up,” Justin said, still gesturing to the mess at his feet.

“No way, man. It’s your mess. You clean it up,” Joey replied.

“You should just do it,” Lance told him as he dried a plate and placed it into the cupboard on his right. “Before he does something to make you.”

Joey scoffed. “Please. What could he do?”

Without a word, Justin grabbed the hose that was attached to the sink before placing it over his shoulder. He pressed down on the handle and water sprayed out of it. Joey let out a cry of surprise as his face was pelted with warm water.

“You little brat!” Joey exclaimed.

Chris put the last tupperware container in the fridge even as he laughed. It was never a dull moment with them. Justin instigated a lot, which made him wonder how Lynn and JC had been able to put up with him.

The thought of JC made him glance around the room, not hearing his laughter among the rest of his friends. And rightfully so since JC wasn’t in the kitchen. That was strange because Chris couldn’t remember him leaving.

Wondering where JC went, Chris headed for the living room when Justin’s voice asked, “Where are you going?”

“I’m getting outta here before you get in trouble,” Chris replied with a laugh.

“We won’t,” Justin said, but Chris continued to walk out of the kitchen. He had nearly crossed the living room when he could hear Lynn scolding Justin for making such a mess. So much for Justin sucking up to his mom.

Chris didn’t even hesitate as he headed for the music room. As soon as he’d stepped out into the hall and away from the rambunctious laughter, he could hear the soft strains of the piano. And there’d been no doubt that he’d find JC in there.

The door to the music room was opened a crack, and Chris silently pushed it further into the room. He looked to the left and saw JC sitting at the piano with his head bowed. Just like he’d expected.

Chris thought about just turning around and leaving JC alone. He seemed to be deep in thought because he hadn’t even acknowledged that Chris was standing in the doorway. And JC never really liked to be bothered when he was trying to write.

But what if JC’s unawareness was more attributed to something bothering him than trying to write a song? There’d been something off about JC’s behavior the past couple of days. It wasn’t anything alarming, but it seemed like his focus wasn’t completely there. Like something was distracting him.

Chris noticed that JC hadn’t said much the night before when they had dinner with Lou and had talked about what would happen after they recorded the demo. Normally JC always enjoyed participating in those conversations, especially when they talked about the songs. But he’d let the conversation about We Can Work It Out pass by without really contributing to it.

Even when they’d gone to the club, JC still wasn’t completely there. He’d sat at the bar for most of the night, watching the people dance under the dim lights. A couple of girls managed to pull him on the dance floor, but he never was with them for more than one dance.

Chris had just shrugged it off as JC being tired or wanting to get out of the house without having to really do anything. But he’d been just as distracted that morning during rehearsal. It could be nothing, but considering JC had let whatever was on his mind occupy him for the past couple days then it had to be something.

Not to mention the music sounded so melancholy. Chris hadn’t known JC for very long, but it was easy to see that he practically bled music. He couldn’t go through the day without writing a song or humming to himself, and it usually always reflected how he was feeling.

As if JC could hear his thoughts, he heaved a deep sigh, causing his shoulders to slump forward as his fingers heavily dropped on the ivory keys. The note faded and JC finally looked up only to jump when he caught sight of Chris.

“Sorry,” Chris apologized, frowning at his friend. “Didn’t mean to startle you.”

“It’s alright. I just uh…” JC’s eyes wandered around the room before they landed back on Chris. “What’s up?”

Chris didn’t fail to notice the subject change. It wasn’t really surprising since JC had made it clear that he didn’t like talking about himself, especially when he wasn’t ready to. But Chris was going to find out the cause of JC’s recent mood.

“I was just wondering where you were. I didn’t see you leave the kitchen,” Chris said.

“I had a song I wanted to write. Besides, I didn’t want to get pulled into helping Justin,” JC replied, a smile on his face. But Chris could tell that it was forced.

“Are you OK?” Chris asked after a few seconds passed. He figured it was better to just jump right in instead of trying to ease it into a conversation.

“Yeah,” JC said with a touch of suspicion. The question had probably been the last thing he’d expected Chris to say. “Why?”

“You’ve been kind of quiet,” Chris replied.

“I’m always quiet,” JC said.

Chris nodded and said, “You’ve been distracted.”

“Nah,” JC tried to deny. Chris just raised an eyebrow in response and JC sighed. “Well, yeah. Maybe a little.”

“You wanna talk about it?” Chris asked.

JC shook his head slowly. “It’s stupid.”

“Obviously not if it’s bothering you,” Chris pointed out.

“You wouldn’t understand,” JC said.

Chris frowned. “Why not?”

“Because…” JC paused, his fingers running down the top of the sleek black piano. “Because you’re not freaking out about the demo.”

Chris’s eyes widened in surprise. He’d had a feeling that JC’s distraction probably involved the upcoming demo, but he never thought JC felt he was alone in the fear and nervousness of it all. It made him wonder just how perceptive JC really was. Unless what he’d just admitted was only part of it.

Pushing himself off the doorjamb, Chris crossed the few feet to the piano bench and motioned for JC to scoot down. JC did, and Chris sat down next to him so they were shoulder to shoulder.

“I am freaking out. We all are. We’re just trying to keep our minds off it because what we’re doing…it’s a big deal. Our future depends on how this demo goes,” Chris said.

JC nodded solemnly. “I know.”

“But you shouldn’t worry so much. Something good will come out of it.”

“How do you know?” JC asked, looking at Chris from the corner of his eye.

“It’s just a feeling I have. Besides, you heard Lou. There’s no reason why we won’t get signed,” Chris said.

“But what if we don’t?”

Chris clapped JC on the shoulder. “We will, man. Don’t worry about it.”

“But what if we don’t?” JC stressed, clearly not satisfied with Chris’s optimism. There was a slight pause before he turned miserable eyes onto Chris. “I don’t want to quit music.”

“No one said you had to,” Chris said.

“There’s nothing left to try after this, Chris. I tried LA and they didn’t want me. Said I wouldn’t make it.” JC sighed. “Maybe they were right.”

Chris had never realized how insecure JC was before. And Chris wasn’t sure why. JC was one of the most talented people he’d ever met. There was no reason for him to think otherwise, and hopefully he’d see that once they got signed to a label because Chris believed that they sounded amazing as a group. A record company would have to be crazy to say no to them.

Gently, Chris bumped his shoulder against JC’s. “Hey. Forget about LA. They were idiots to let you go. But look at it this way. It was good for us because otherwise you wouldn’t be here. And as soon as this demo is done, we’re gonna have the time of our lives.”

JC was silent and Chris wondered if he was going to fight him on that. But a few seconds later all he said was, “You channeling Dirty Dancing?”

Chris smiled easily, glad that something he said to JC must’ve sunk in. “If you think I’m going to bust out into a corny song for you, you’ve got another thing coming.”

“Wouldn’t be the first time,” JC pointed out.

“Yeah, well, I’m all sung out for today.” Chris grinned before turning serious. “I guess I’ll let you get back to your song now.”

Chris rose from the sleek bench before he started to walk across the room. He was nearly to the door when JC’s voice stopped him.

“Chris?”

Chris turned around to see JC pressing softly onto the keys in front of him. “Yeah?”

“I uh…” JC turned his attention from depressing the keys to Chris. “Thanks.”

“That’s what I’m here for,” Chris said. He offered JC a smile before he walked out of the room and pulled the door closed behind him.

As Chris headed towards the living room, he realized that talking to JC had gone a lot better than he’d expected. He’d gotten a look at how JC really felt, which was something none of them were really privy to. JC wore his heart on his sleeve, but it wasn’t often that he talked to one of them about his feelings or something that was bothering him. Chris hoped that JC felt better after their talk and wouldn’t hang onto those feelings anymore.

 

JC was sprawled out across his bed on his stomach with his right arm curled underneath his pillow. He’d been lying there for over an hour now and sleep continued to elude him. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to; he just couldn’t. His thoughts kept going back to the one thing he didn’t want to think about. Lou.

No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t get what’d happened that morning out of his head. And if he did, it never lasted longer than five or ten minutes. It didn’t help that Lou had stopped by periodically throughout the day. Every time it just set JC on edge, forcing him to watch Lou and miss his dance steps.

He hadn’t really realized just how distracted he was until Chris had pointed it out. JC hadn’t wanted to lie to Chris like he had, but he couldn’t tell him the truth either. Besides, everything JC had told him was true. It just wasn’t the main thing that was bothering him and forcing him to mess up during rehearsals.

Some good had come out of Chris talking to him though. JC did feel better about his fear of what would happen if the demo didn’t pan out. The feelings weren’t completely gone, but they weren’t fighting for attention like they’d been before. The other good thing had been that it made JC aware that if he wanted to keep this from people then he’d have to get better at acting like himself so he wouldn’t tip them off that something was wrong.

Part of JC still believed that what’d happened that morning and outside the day before had just been a fluke thing. It was stupid and irrational, but he was going to cling to it. And probably would until something happened. If something happened.

He’d been doing a lot of thinking while he’d been lying in bed, and he realized that there was nothing for Lou to gain by acting on whatever it was that was driving him to make JC feel uncomfortable. If Lou got caught, then that would essentially be the end of his career. And he seemed like a sensible business man who wouldn’t want to risk that.

Comforted by that fact, JC allowed his muscles to relax into the mattress. His mind started to clear for the first time in hours. Relief washed over his tired body, ready to welcome sleep with open arms. He was about to drift off when a mattress groaned near his bed.

JC withheld the groan of aggravation he wanted to release. He didn’t have to open his eyes to know who was having trouble sleeping. Justin had been changing positions every few minutes since he and Chris had gotten into bed twenty minutes ago.

It hadn’t bothered JC earlier because he hadn’t been able to sleep anyway. But now when he was finally ready to get some rest, he was forced to listen to Justin’s bed creak with every uncomfortable shift of position that was accompanied by rustling sheets. JC couldn’t blame Justin though because he didn’t even know he was keeping him awake.

But JC was sure he wasn’t the only one. Out of the three of them, Chris was the one who had the most problems staying asleep. He could fall asleep pretty quickly, but he was a light sleeper so he’d wake up to something as simple as the floor creaking. Justin and JC were the complete opposite.

The bedsprings creaked again and a sigh followed. Then the room fell silent. JC figured that Justin had finally found a comfortable position and was on his way to sleep. So JC let the darkness pull him to a peaceful slumber, but it was interrupted by Justin again.

“Did you go to prom?”

JC started to open his mouth before he remembered that he was supposed to be asleep. He could answer, but then he’d have to explain why he was still awake when he’d gone to bed almost an hour before Justin and Chris. So he was content to just listen.

“What?” Chris mumbled, voice showcasing his tiredness.

“Prom,” Justin repeated. “Did you go?”

“Yeah. Not much else to do for a senior in a small town,” Chris said.

“And you were on the football team?” Justin asked.

“Shortest wide receiver,” Chris replied with a hint of pride.

“Was your team any good?”

Chris laughed. “We had a five and eight season. Won every fight though.”

JC wanted to shake his head. That sounded like Chris. People tended to underestimate him because of his size. Chris had shared quite a few stories with him and his teammates stealing the opposing team’s mascot, which often broke out those fights he mentioned.

It was quiet for a few seconds before Justin asked, “Did you ever have a food fight?”

“Dude, what the hell?” Chris cried in exasperation. JC wasn’t surprised that his patience had run out. It’d just been one question after another, and he’d been wondering what Justin was up to.

“What?” Justin asked.

“What’s with all the questions?”

There was a slight pause before Justin said, “I just wanted to know what high school was like for you.”

“Why?” Chris demanded impatiently. Probably irritated that he couldn’t get any sleep.

“If we make it big, I’ll never get to experience any of that,” Justin said.

JC felt his heart momentarily stop. Justin usually acted so mature for his age that he often forgot that Justin was still so young. He wasn’t even old enough to drive yet, and they were working towards a goal that a lot of people would say was impossible.

They all were sacrificing things to try their hand at being a successful musical group, but Justin was giving up the most. And Lance too. Both of them would miss out on everything the rest of them had gone through. The bad cafeteria food, monotone teachers, and just being a kid.

A bed squeaked again, but this time it came from the far side of the room. Chris had probably rolled over to face Justin. “Did you want to?”

JC could imagine Justin shrugging as he said, “Sort of. It’s supposed to be the best years of your life, right?”

“Yeah right,” Chris snorted.

“Doesn’t sound like it was too bad for you,” Justin said.

“Some of it, yeah. But a lot of it is the same shit you had to deal with in junior high. You’re just a little bit older,” Chris explained.

“But wouldn’t I be missing out on something really important?”

“I guess, but you’d be experiencing things people couldn’t imagine in their wildest dreams. You’d be signing autographs, being mobbed by rabid fans, and, most importantly, entertaining thousands of people,” Chris said.

“That’s what I want,” Justin agreed. “Sometimes I just wonder what I’ll be missing out on that my friends will be doing. Like going to prom.”

“Price of fame I guess.”

Chris was right. Not going to a proper school was a price to pay for what they were working towards. But there were so many more that were much worse. And it wasn’t like Justin wouldn’t be getting an education because he’d have tutors much like they had on the Mickey Mouse Club. It was still a lot to ask of a kid, but JC knew that Justin wouldn’t give up his dream of being a star for anything. School and normalcy be damned.

It was silent for a second before Chris asked, “How do you know we’ll even make it?”

JC’s forehead creased slightly. That was skepticism if he’d ever heard it. But then, what happened to all of the optimism Chris had showered him with before? Maybe all of JC’s negative thoughts had made Chris doubt his optimism.

But the more JC thought about it, the more he realized that wasn’t the case at all. Chris was never someone to be swayed easily, especially when he believed in something. So there was no way he would’ve let JC’s thoughts plant doubt into his head, which meant that the doubt had already been there. The optimism hadn’t been something Chris had felt, but he had probably only said all those positive things to make JC feel better.

“I just have this feeling,” Justin said. “We’re going to take the world by storm. I just know it.”

“Is that right?”

“Yeah. We’ll sell millions of albums, break…no shatter all kinds of records, walk the red carpet, sell out arenas…”

JC smiled into his pillow. Justin sure knew how to dream big. What they were doing was exciting, but there was so much uncertainty that it was hard to share in his enthusiasm and optimism. It was fun to listen to him though, and JC hoped that they did make it big. That would make all their sacrifices worth it.

Chris laughed, interrupting Justin’s excited ramblings about being famous. “Let’s take it one thing at time. We don’t even have our demo recorded.”

“Just nine more days and things’ll blow up,” Justin said. “We’ll be so busy.”

“We’re busy now,” Chris pointed out.

“Then we’ll be busier.”

“You should rest up now while you can.”

“You’ll see, Chris,” Justin said around a yawn. “We’re gonna be huge. I can feel it.”

“Go to sleep, J. We’ve got nine busy days ahead of us,” Chris said quietly.

“And many more to come,” Justin whispered before he finally fell silent.

A quiet sigh could be heard before the creaking of an old mattress. The darkness and silence that JC had wished for earlier was back, but now he wasn’t ready for it. Justin’s words weighed heavily in his head.

When he was in high school, he couldn’t wait to get out. And if they did end up becoming successful like Lou and Chris had said, then Justin would never understand that feeling. Sure, he had the normal distaste for school and doing homework, but it wasn’t the same.

It had to be even worse for Lance because while Justin didn’t know what he was going to be missing out on, he did. Lance had already been in high school for two years and probably had looked forward to going to his senior prom with some beautiful girl.

Briefly JC wondered if they were doing the right thing by letting Justin and Lance give up the rest of their childhood. But he quickly realized it wasn’t his decision to make. It was theirs, and they’d made it. They wanted to become a popular music group, or else they wouldn’t be here.

As JC turned his head so it was facing the direction Justin’s bed was in, he promised himself that he would do everything in his power to make sure their sacrifices weren’t for nothing.

High pitched beeping barely registered through the haziness that’d wrapped around JC’s mind from sleep. Mornings were his least favorite time of the day, especially when he hadn’t gotten much sleep the night before. Justin and Chris had fallen asleep almost directly after their talk, but JC had lied awake for another hour before sleep finally claimed him.

So it was with a tired groan that JC blindly reached out his left arm to shut off the alarm clock on the nightstand. It was time to get up. He’d hit the snooze button three times already and knew that if he didn’t get up soon then the guys would come in to wake him.

They usually got up sometime after six thirty to allow for each of them to get time in the bathroom they shared. It was important that everyone was up and ready by eight thirty so they could start their vocal rehearsals with Robin. And JC always made sure that he maxed out his time to sleep while making sure he had enough time to shower and get ready. But already his hour had been cut down to forty-five minutes, and it was only a matter of time before the guys came in.

Normally they would’ve already bothered him, but today was JC’s day to sleep in. They all took turns to give each other a chance to get at least an extra half hour of sleep. It didn’t sound like much, but they all looked forward to the day when they got to sleep in. JC always made the most of it, ignoring his alarm clock, which brought the guys into his room.

JC knew from experience how unpleasant wakeup calls from them could be, but he couldn’t motivate himself to move. It’d taken him so long to fall asleep from the time he’d originally gone to bed that now he didn’t want to get up. He didn’t even care that the bed sagged a little in the middle. All he knew was that it felt like heaven right then.

But then JC could hear footsteps making their way down the hall and let out another groan as he buried his head under his pillow. Depending on who was waking him would determine how bad the wakeup call would be. He desperately wished today Justin and Chris hadn’t volunteered to do it. They were the worst.

The footsteps walked into the room and hesitated briefly in the doorway. JC had to hold back a sigh of relief. It couldn’t be Chris or Justin because they would normally run in, not caring how much noise they made.

“JC,” Lance said from somewhere next to his bed. “Wake up.”

“You’ll never wake him up like that. Watch and learn.”

There were a few shuffled steps, and JC’s body tensed, knowing what was coming. Sure enough, Justin jumped on top of him and laughed as JC let out a wheezed breath. “C’mon, C! Rise and shine!” Justin said, far too cheerfully.

Justin’s cheerfulness was a sure sign that he’d been up for a while and had already eaten his cereal. It was unbelievable how a bowl of his favorite cereal could totally turn his mood around. When Justin first woke up, he was cranky and snapped at anyone who tried talking to him. But as soon as his sugary cereal kicked in, he was back to his normal energetic, annoying self.

JC moaned and pulled the pillow tighter around his head. Silently he cursed himself for naively believing he’d get a normal wakeup call for once. “Why can’t you leave me alone?”

“Because we have to listen to your alarm go off every five minutes since you keep hitting the snooze button,” Justin replied, yanking the pillow out of his grasp and smiling brightly when JC glared at him.

“Alright, alright. I’m up,” JC said, rolling over and sitting up. He yawned and caught sight of Lance standing by the door. Probably moved when Justin went running and jumped on the bed. “How did you get roped into this?”

“Justin,” Lance said simply, and JC nodded. Justin could be very persuasive when he wanted.

“Hurry up and get dressed. Mom made pancakes,” Justin told JC, ignoring the exchange between him and Lance.

“Has anyone ever told you you’re demanding?” JC asked.

“Anyone tell you you sleep too much?” Justin retorted. He grinned at Lance and stepped out into the hallway.

“Not possible!” JC yelled at their retreating backs. He smiled slightly to himself. Justin could be kind of annoying, but that was part of him being a kid. Something that JC was happy to see.

But his smile vanished as quickly as it’d appeared when Lou walked into the room a second later. JC felt that familiar churning in his stomach as he watched Lou smile at him before he closed the door. His heart beat rapidly against his chest, and he stumbled out of his covers and to his feet.

Being on the bed made him too vulnerable, and that wasn’t something JC wanted to be. Lou made him apprehensive enough as it was. No need to add to it. JC tried to tell himself that nothing was going to happen. The door could’ve been closed because maybe Lou wanted to say something to him that he didn’t want the others to hear. OK, no matter how he put it, it sounded bad.

“Can I talk to you for a second?” Lou asked.

JC swallowed the lump in his throat and said, “Sure.”

JC tried to force his muscles to relax. Nothing was going to happen. Lou just wanted to talk to him. That was it. But the repeated mantra in his head did nothing to calm him, especially when Lou stepped further into the room.

Immediately JC sprung into action. There was four feet between his bed and the door. He had to get to the door without alerting Lou. JC could feel the heavy gaze on him and knew that was easier said than done.

Slowly, he walked over to his dresser, trying not to show how tense he was. “So,” JC began and cleared his throat. “What did you want to talk about?”

“I just wanted to see if you were OK,” Lou said.

“Oh. Well, yeah. I’m alright,” JC replied as he pulled a shirt out of his middle drawer. At that moment all he wanted to do was bolt for the door. Screw getting a change of clothes and what Lou thought. But that wasn’t an option at the moment.

Lou wasn’t standing directly in front of the door, but was close enough that JC wouldn’t be able to slip out. He just had to bide his time until Lou did move away from the door. So he turned his attention back to his dresser.

“Why do you ask?” JC asked, stealing glimpses of the door out of his peripheral to check the availability of his only escape route.

“You seemed jumpy yesterday,” Lou explained.

JC froze momentarily from closing his bottom drawer. His eyes flicked up to Lou who had a small knowing smile on his face, and all of his fears from earlier intensified. Lou knew exactly why he’d been jumping out of his skin and was messing with him.

“I just…had a lot on my mind,” JC finally said once he was sure he could talk without his voice wavering.

“That’s good.” Lou stepped forward, away from the door and towards JC. It was only then that JC realized he’d made a big mistake by waiting by his dresser for the doorway to be clear. He’d gotten himself backed into a corner. Lou placed a hand on his shoulder and gently kneaded the muscles there as he said, “I wouldn’t want you to be uncomfortable.”

JC’s left eye twitched. A result of trying to hold in the flinch he wanted to release. His eyes wandered to the unblocked door, and he pushed through his feelings of anxiety to try to figure out how he was going to get out. What he needed was a distraction. Something that would give him enough time to slip past Lou and out the door. A few seconds was all he needed.

But as the pressure on his shoulder disappeared, JC quickly focused his attention back on Lou. His hand moved down JC’s body without touching before hovering just below his belly button.

“No.” JC shook his head, knowing what was coming. “You can’t do this.”

Lou didn’t say anything, but raised an eyebrow. He stretched the elastic of JC’s sweatpants and boxers before lowering his hand in between the fabric and JC’s skin. His body stiffened and his breath hitched as Lou’s fingers fondled him. Then, his instincts took over.

JC brought his hands up to push Lou away from him only to have them intercepted roughly. Lou’s right hand continued to work below JC’s waist, making him squirm, while his left squeezed JC’s wrists together and raised them above his head against the wall. But JC’s struggles didn’t weaken.

He didn’t stand a chance against Lou who was twice his size. However, that didn’t stop him from trying to fight back. All his mind could focus on was how much he wanted Lou’s hands off of him. JC tugged at his arms, trying to pull them free, but neither of Lou’s grips lessened. Lou’s body weight kept him pressed against the wall, but JC wouldn’t stop struggling. If he didn’t fight back, it meant he was giving into Lou, allowing him to touch him this way.

“Get off me,” JC whimpered. He continued to struggle against Lou, despite the fact that he was losing the feeling in his arms. His legs were feeling weak too, but he was doing his best to ignore it. “Let me go.”

A shudder wracked JC’s body as Lou’s right hand continued its ministrations, weakening what little resolve he had left. The exertion from thrashing against the large man in front of him left him breathing heavily. His eyes were locked on the door about a foot away, but there was no escape. He was trapped.

JC closed his eyes, not wanting to look at Lou or the reminder that safety had been just a few feet away before he’d gotten backed into a corner. He wondered how much longer it was going to be before Lou was done with him. It’d gone on too long already.

His leg muscles spasmed before he sagged against the wall. JC tried to hold himself up, but his legs folded beneath him. He didn’t attempt to move because he was sure he couldn’t even if he wanted to. But his eyes snapped open when he heard the door close with a click.

Lou was gone, which made sense considering he was sitting on the floor. If Lou wasn’t finished with him, he’d probably still be pressed up against the wall. JC let out a shaky sigh of relief. But what’d happened quickly overshadowed that relief.

He sat there in disbelief, leaning wearily against the wall. JC had feared something like this happening. He’d even admitted that it might, but that didn’t take away the absolute shock of Lou touching him so inappropriately. And while JC had been scared, he never imagined how disgusted he would be. How could Lou be so sick?

It made JC wonder what exactly Lou hoped to gain from it. Nothing that he could see, but there had to have been some reason. That was when the image of Lou staring at him out by the pool with something JC had suspected was desire made itself known once again. Had Lou really just felt him up out of desire?

The thought made JC feel sick to his stomach, but it made sense. There was no other way JC could rationalize it. Unless Lou was just twisted. Either way, it didn’t change the fact that it’d happened and left JC feeling dirty.

Maybe a shower would make him feel better. JC leaned forward to grab the clothes that were just out of reach from when they’d fallen out of his hand earlier. Slowly, he pushed himself to his feet, using his free hand to take some of his weight. He managed to get to his feet even as his legs quaked, feeling like gelatin.

JC took a deep breath before he opened the door. He wasted no time in walking the few feet it took to reach the bathroom. Turning the lock, JC felt more at ease already. It was comforting to finally have a locked door between him and Lou. If he was around.

A minute later JC was under the spray of hot water. Steam collected in the small area as he let the water pelt against his skin. The temperature was probably hotter than it should have been, especially considering how humid it’d been lately, but the heat would guarantee that any hint of Lou still on him would be washed down the drain.

JC closed his eyes and tipped his head back under the showerhead, trying to relax. But that was difficult when he couldn’t stop thinking about what’d happened. The memory of Lou’s hand touching him in such a sexual way made JC shudder, despite the scalding water.

Shaking his head, JC opened his eyes and grabbed the bottle of shampoo. If he could, he would stand there all day. But in order for him to feel better, he needed to cleanse himself with soap. So he set about his usual shower routine as if it were just another day. The only exception was that he scrubbed his skin harder with the soapy washcloth, trying to get rid of the feel of Lou’s hands.

He watched as the suds carried water down the drain at his feet and continued to stand there, even though there was nothing more for him to do. JC wasn’t quite sure what to do with himself. Never had he been put in this type of situation.

What he did know was that he needed to tell someone. But he dreaded the awkwardness of that conversation and he didn’t even want to think about that right now. It was nearly time for rehearsal anyway, and they’d be going nonstop from then on for most of the day. There wouldn’t be any time.

JC only hoped that no one had heard his cries of protest. Though, he figured that if someone had heard, they would have come to the room to investigate. JC thanked God no one had walked in on that. It would have been incredibly embarrassing.

The water turned cold, and that was enough to motivate JC to get out of the shower. He turned off the water and stepped out before quickly drying and dressing himself. After combing his bangs out of his eyes, JC scrutinized the person staring back at him in the mirror. His skin was tinged pink from the burning water, but that seemed to be the worst of it.

Satisfied that he didn’t look too terrible, JC walked out of the bathroom. He turned and headed down the hall for the kitchen where he’d last heard the guys. Lance and Joey were just rising from the table when he entered.

“Hey, Sleepy,” Joey greeted. “You just about slept through breakfast.”

JC just shrugged. “I’m not really hungry anyway.”

“You sure?” Lynn asked from the sink where she was washing dishes. “I can heat you up something.”

“No thanks,” JC declined. He wasn’t lying when he said he wasn’t hungry. Normally he enjoyed Lynn’s pancakes, but his appetite had vanished by the time Lou had left him alone.

“Your loss, man,” Joey said as he led the way towards the front of the house. JC frowned, knowing that he would’ve much rather had been in the kitchen eating with them than trapped in his bedroom with Lou. Silently he sent a prayer, hoping that he wouldn’t see Lou for a long while. He’d had more than enough of him already.

 

Joey pinched the front of his t-shirt and shook it, trying to get air to circulate through the damp material. It felt like it was a hundred degrees in the warehouse where they practiced their choreography. And that was saying something considering that it was nearly eleven o’clock at night and the temperature usually dropped to a more manageable level in the evenings. Dancing was a big part of him feeling hot too though.

“Thanks for coming in late, guys. I’ll see you tomorrow,” the choreographer said as he slung his duffle over his shoulder and headed out the door.

They’d had gotten a call from him an hour before they were supposed to show up for rehearsal asking if it could be pushed back a few hours because another job he had was going to run over. There’d been no hesitation when they agreed, glad to have a couple hour break between rehearsals. Lynn took advantage of that and made dinner before they left. It’d been nice to eat at a normal time for a change rather than late in the evening.

“You boys want some ice cream?” Lou asked, coming closer to where the five of them stood.

Justin, who’d been leaning tiredly against the wall next to JC, suddenly stood up straight and visibly brightened. “Yes!”

Joey laughed at Justin’s enthusiasm, but he couldn’t blame him. Ice cream sounded great. It would be a nice treat, especially since they were all so hot. They could all use a little bit of sugar to pick them up.

“Guys, it’s late. We should go home and get some sleep,” JC said as he wiped sweat off his forehead with the back of his hand.

“Don’t be such a party pooper, JC. We can sleep after we get ice cream,” Justin replied.

“Besides, we let you sleep in this morning,” Chris added.

“It wasn’t enough,” JC mumbled before he sighed and relented. “OK. Let’s go.”

Joey frowned slightly. He didn’t want to make JC go if he didn’t want to, but since they only had one car, the five of them had to go everywhere together. But maybe it would do him some good. They’d all been kind of stressed and overworked, and there was just something about how a few scoops of ice cream could make you feel better.

“So we’ll follow you?” Joey asked, turning his attention to Lou.

“Actually, I thought I could ride with you. I want to see if the van’s still driving OK,” Lou said. It was kind of a weird request, especially when he had his own car sitting out in the parking lot. But he’d been the one to loan them the car, so they could get around town.

“What about your car?” Chris asked.

“I’ll get it on the way back,” Lou said.

There was no further argument as the six of them left the building that served as their dance studio and walked into the dimly lit parking lot. They walked past Lou’s shiny compact to the rustic van behind it. It was probably at least ten years old and had definitely seen better days. But it was enough to get all five of them around town.

Lou accepted the keys that Chris offered to him before he walked around to the driver’s side. He unlocked his door before the rest of the locks sprung up, signaling that they had followed suit. JC was the first one in the van and climbed into the second backseat.

They all got in and settled themselves against the polyester seats. Somehow Lance had gotten stuck up front with Lou. Joey felt bad because while Lance was still awkward around them, it was even worse with Lou. But maybe this would help break him out of his shell a little.

The car was silent as they pulled out of the parking lot and onto the road. It didn’t stay that way for long though. They’d gotten no further than a couple miles down the street when Justin suddenly said, “Aerosmith.”

“Beatles,” Chris said, grinning at Justin. Then he turned in his seat to look at Joey expectantly.

“Uh…” Joey thought for a second before he came up with, “The Carpenters.”

It was a game that they played often when they were driving around. Justin had been the one to start the game earlier in the week. They’d already done movies and places. Now it looked like they were doing musicians.

Silence returned and filled the car for almost ten seconds before Justin whined, “JC…”

JC, who’d been staring out the car window, blinked and met Justin’s impatient gaze. “What?”

“It’s your turn,” Justin said.

“For what?” JC asked, forehead crinkled in confusion.

Justin rolled his eyes and sighed. “The alphabet game.”

“Just give us a musician that starts with a d,” Chris said once it was apparent JC still hadn’t caught on to what they were doing.

“Devo,” JC said, barely pausing to think about it. It never ceased to amaze Joey just how many musicians JC listened to and could remember, especially the lesser known ones.

No one’s head swiveled towards the front of the car, but it was obvious that it was Lance’s turn now. Justin’s leg bounced rapidly as he waited for his contribution to the game. Finally Justin lost his patience and moaned, “C’mon.”

“I’m thinking,” Lance replied.

“Think king of rock ‘n roll,” Lou said.

“Oh. Elvis,” Lance supplied, embarrassment evident in his voice.

“Geez, Lance. You should’ve gotten that right away,” Justin said.

Lance turned in his seat to look at him as he defended, “My mind blanked.”

“Sure it did,” Justin replied, giving him a humoring nod.

“Well, it’s your turn. And seeing as you haven’t named a musician, it makes me think you’re stalling,” Chris said, smirking.

“I’m not!” Justin protested and his face scrunched up as he probably ran through a list of musicians that he’d heard of in his head. Chris’s smirk grew and smiled knowingly at Justin. A few seconds later Justin blurted out his answer and the game continued.

Lou continued to drive down the road while the rest of them moved through the alphabet with Lou helping or throwing out his own suggestion every couple letters. It went smoothly with barely any more pauses until they hit the letter w.

“Wonder,” Chris said.

“Stevie Wonder?” Joey asked.

“Yep,” Chris agreed.

Justin shook his head. “That doesn’t count!”

“Why not? It’s a w.”

“Yeah, the last name. The entire game we’ve been going by first names,” Lance pointed out.

“Well, w’s hard!” Chris argued.

“You could’ve said William Shatner,” JC said.

Joey shook his head. “Dude, he’s an actor. Not a musician.”

“He recorded an album,” JC replied.

“That doesn’t suddenly make him a musician. And even if it did, he’s not very good,” Chris said.

JC just shrugged in response, letting the argument go. Joey frowned at his odd behavior. Normally JC really got into this game. Almost as much Justin, and he never would’ve let that argument drop that easily. He would’ve gone on about what exactly qualifies a person to be a musician by certain standards of society. Or at least something to that effect.

Sure, he didn’t zone out again like he had at the beginning of the game, and he played along happily enough. But the problem laid in his tone. It’d been dull and just sounded off.

Joey was distracted from his thoughts as the car stopped. He looked out the window and saw that they were parked in front of the entrance to Dairy Queen. Chris slid the door open and continued to argue with Justin about the rules of the game as they got out of the car. The rest of them abandoned the car and went inside the brick building, the playful banter stopping to survey the menu and order.

It was dead at that time of night, so they’d ordered and received their ice cream in five minutes. They opted to stay in the air conditioning rather than eating at the picnic table on the sidewalk right next to the entrance. So they situated themselves around a large table.

“Aw, man,” Justin whined as he twirled his ice cream with his spoon. “I have nuts.”

“Well, I’d sure hope so. You are a guy,” Chris said dryly.

Joey chuckled around a lick of his chocolate ice cream. He glanced across the table to see a small smile play across Lance’s lips even as he blushed. But JC, who’d been drinking his milkshake when Chris had said that, was now choking and pounding on his chest as he looked warily at Lou.

Chris rolled his eyes even as he slapped JC’s back. “God, C. Don’t be such a prude.”

JC’s uneasy gaze at Lou made Joey realized what an inappropriate comment that was. Casually, he looked out of the corner of his eye to see what Lou’s reaction was. But Lou didn’t say anything. He just ate his ice cream and appeared to be content to let it slide.

“Very funny,” Justin said sarcastically before he turned serious. “I asked for no nuts on my ice cream.”

“So go back and get it fixed,” Joey replied.

Justin shook his head. “It’s not a big deal.”

“Then quit whining,” Chris said.

“Gee, Chris. You’re all heart,” Justin replied, sarcasm thick.

“What do you boys like to do for fun?” Lou asked, inadvertently stopping any further teasing between Chris and Justin.

“Basketball,” Justin answered immediately, quickly swallowing the ice cream in his mouth. “And video games.”

“Me too. Give me a game system, and I’m set. Or take me clubbing and buy me a drink. But no 151. That shit’s potent and fu-freaking burns,” Chris said, amending the end of his sentence when he caught Lou’s disapproving glare.

“You shouldn’t swear like that,” Lou reprimanded.

“I know. I’m working on it,” Chris said.

Lou nodded and focused his attention across the table on Joey. “So what do you do?”

“I’ll pretty much do anything. I play sports, games, and go clubbing with Chris occasionally,” Joey said.

“Do you drink?” Lou asked.

Joey shook his head. “I just go for the dancing.”

“That’s not all he goes for,” Chris said, raising his eyebrows suggestively.

“That’s just an added bonus,” Joey replied, grinning.

“You just dance with them though, right?” Lance spoke up.

“Usually, but I wouldn’t be opposed to decline something else if she offered,” Joey said.

“Is that what you’re going to say when an interviewer asks you?” Lou asked.

Justin frowned. “Interviewer?”

“When you boys become famous, you’re going to have to do interviews. And you have to keep it clean. No talk about sex or drinking, and you can’t swear,” Lou addressed all of them, but his gaze was more focused on Joey and Chris.

“So what are we supposed to say then?” Chris asked.

“Just that you go clubbing to dance and have fun. Don’t go into detail. You have to keep it clean because your fans are going to look up to you,” Lou said.

Chris ate the last bite of his waffle cone and wiped his hands with a napkin. “So the fans don’t really get to know us? We just tell them what they want to hear?”

“It’s going to be best for your image as a group if you’re not completely truthful about everything. I mean, you wouldn’t go around telling people about your sex life, would you?”

“I guess not,” Chris admitted and Lou nodded, apparently satisfied.

“But what if they find out we lied? Wouldn’t that make everything worse?” Lance asked.

“No because you’re not lying. You’re still going to be yourselves. Just a little more behaved in public. That’s all,” Lou assured.

Lou rose from the table and carried his trash over to the garbage can. Joey exchanged weary glances with the guys. Apparently the conversation was over, and Lou had really laid down the law as far as how to talk in interviews.

It was exactly how Joey thought it would be, but he wasn’t going to fight it. Lou had been in the business long enough to know what he was doing, so Joey trusted him. He could handle not going into too much detail because he wouldn’t have done so anyway. At most he would’ve made some joke or innuendo. So it didn’t seem like it would be much of a problem.

But that wasn’t worth thinking about right then. They would record the demo and see how things went from there. If a record company did sign them, then they could worry about their public image. Until then, Joey wasn’t worried.

“We should probably get going. It’s getting late and you boys have to be up early,” Lou said, coming back and standing near JC.

There was no argument as they walked out of the building with JC throwing his cup in the trash on the way. Joey figured they probably wouldn’t go to bed when they got back to the house, but it would still be nice to get back so they could relax. The sugar seemed to have done its job because as soon as the asphalt was beneath their feet Chris and Justin started bickering over who would get to ride shotgun.

“I’m older than you, which means I’m privileged,” Chris said.

“In a restaurant maybe. Senior special, anyone?” Justin replied.

Chris opened his mouth to fire back a retort when Lou stepped in front of them and said, “There’s only one fair way to decide this. All of you pick a number between one and twenty and who ever is closest gets to ride up front.”

“Seven,” Justin said immediately and looked over at Chris. “Lucky number seven.”

Chris matched Justin’s gaze evenly and said, “Thirteen. Just to counter your luck.”

Joey and Lance chose eighteen and four respectively. Then all eyes landed on JC as they waited for him to pick a number. But JC shook his head.

“I don’t want to sit up front,” JC said.

“It has to be fair,” Lou replied.

JC sighed heavily. “Alright. Sixteen.”

“JC wins,” Lou declared. “The number was fifteen.”

“Stupid seven,” Justin muttered and scuffed his sneaker against the ground.

“Really. I don’t want it,” JC insisted. “Someone else can have it.”

“Now, now, JC. You won fair and square, so go ahead and sit up front,” Lou said, smiling at him.

JC sighed once again before he opened the passenger door and got in. The rest of them piled into the backseat and a couple minutes later, they were heading back in the direction they’d come. But there was no game to fill the silence this time.

It didn’t bother Joey though. He didn’t mind the quiet because it could really be peaceful. Their days were always crazy, working around the clock that it was nice to get a few minutes to let everything kind of settle. Apparently Justin didn’t agree though because suddenly his head poked through the space between Joey and Chris’s shoulders.

“Want some gum?” he asked.

“I got enough from the smell thanks,” Chris said dryly.

“At least my breath doesn’t stink,” Justin replied.

“No, but you chew like a cow,” Chris shot back playfully.

Justin frowned as he glared at him. “I do not!”

“Moo,” Chris taunted and mimed Justin chewing heavily.

Joey couldn’t help but let out a laugh at his friends’ antics. Glancing behind at Lance, he saw that he felt the same. It was amusing to listen to the two of them bicker because it sounded like they’d known each other forever with the way they went on and on, continuously sending barbs back and forth.

But Joey’s laughter faded as he caught sight of JC. The center console was still flipped up from earlier in the week when they’d gone out to eat with Lynn since it served as an additional seat, so he could only see JC’s upper body. JC’s jaw ticked and his posture was rigid.

Then he shifted in the seat before moving an inch closer to the passenger door. Joey thought maybe it was just a one time thing. That JC was just tired and trying to get comfortable. But he did it again a few seconds later.

Joey frowned. His earlier thoughts that something was up with JC returned. First the lack of enthusiasm in the game and now this. It made him wonder what was going on. And JC’s tense body language made it seem like he was mad about something. There was no reason Joey could think of that would explain JC’s behavior.

But it was then that he remembered JC had missed a few steps at rehearsal. He was harder on himself than he had to be. Always striving for perfection. Though, considering what was coming up, it wasn’t hard to relate to his frustration. They all wanted the demo to go amazing, so they all rode themselves pretty hard. That’s probably what it was.

Joey let himself relax, certain that was it. He made a mental note to himself to get JC to lighten up though. If he pushed himself too hard, there could be dire consequences. And Joey believed there was nothing more important than their health.

Justin jogged down the asphalt basketball court, dribbling the ball with his right hand. He just passed center court when Chris stepped out in front of him and made a swipe for the ball. But Justin easily pivoted on his left foot and spun away from him before successfully shooting a lay-up.

“Oh yeah!” Justin cheered as he glanced back at Chris. “Never mess with the master.”

Chris raised an eyebrow. “The master? You think you’re an expert at basketball or something?”

“I’m better than you,” Justin said.

“What if I’ve been letting you win?” Chris countered.

“Well, that would explain why you suck.”

“I don’t suck!” Chris protested. “I just don’t want you to feel like a loser.”

“That’s impossible. I know how good I am,” Justin said.

Chris rolled his eyes as he scoffed. “That’s some ego you got there, kid.”

“I’m not a kid,” Justin objected, nose scrunching up at the suggestion. “And it’s not ego. It’s confidence.”

“Hey, man, whatever you say. Now throw the ball,” Chris said.

And just like that their game of one on one turned into shooting lazy baskets. It was their afternoon break between rehearsals. Not long after the five of them had eaten lunch, Justin had coerced Chris into playing a quick game of basketball with him.

Everyone else had dispersed from the kitchen to do their own thing. While Justin would’ve liked it if someone else had joined him and Chris, he understood why they hadn’t. There was no denying that they all got along well together, but they needed some alone time too. And that was hard to come by considering how busy they were with only a few hours a day available for down time.

“We should do something tonight,” Chris said as he released the ball, causing it to hit the backboard and miss the basket.

“Like what?” Justin asked.

Chris shrugged and rolled his eyes as Justin’s shot went through the net with a swoosh. “That’s why I’m asking.”

“You didn’t ask,” Justin pointed out.

“Well, I brought it up,” Chris replied with a hint of exasperation, and Justin couldn’t help but smile. It aggravated Chris when he was difficult, which provided some amusement. “So what do you wanna do?”

“Doesn’t matter. You guys probably want to go clubbing,” Justin mumbled.

Chris stopped dribbling and looked over at him. “Is there something wrong with that?”

“No,” Justin admitted.

“Then what’s the problem?” Chris asked.

“Nothing.”

“Something,” Chris insisted, staring expectantly at Justin. “You always get pissy when I talk about going out.”

Justin glanced up at the sun as he wiped the sweat on his face onto his t-shirt and sighed. “It’s just…I don’t understand why you guys have to go out all the time.”

“We go out two…maybe three nights a week, J. That’s not a lot,” Chris said.

“It is when we don’t get a lot of time off,” Justin replied.

At most they got four or five hours to themselves a night once they got home from rehearsal and had dinner. Was wanting to spend some time with his friends too much to ask? Justin didn’t think so, especially since it allowed them to be open and get to know each other better. The difficulty of what they were doing was tolerable because of the friendship they shared, and Justin didn’t want to lose that.

“But it’s not like we stay out all night,” Chris said.

“No,” Justin agreed. “But that’s time that the five of us could spend hanging out together.”

“We’re together all day,” Chris pointed out.

Justin shook his head. “Not when it counts. It’s different when we don’t have to be at rehearsal or worry about behaving for Lou.”

“So…what? You’re upset that we don’t spend every second together?” Chris asked.

“No. I just…I feel like you’re trying to get away from me. Like you don’t like hanging out with me.”

Chris stared at him in disbelief. “You know that’s not true.”

“Then why do you go out?” Justin asked.

“To relax and unwind,” Chris said.

“You could do that here or at an arcade or something.”

“It’s different at a club. I can’t really explain it, but it’s one of those things you’ll understand when you’re older,” Chris told him.

Justin growled in frustration. “Do you know how tired I am of hearing that? It’s just an excuse for adults to do what they want, and I’m sick of it.” He paused. “I’m stranded here while you’re off drinking and partying.”

“You’re not alone though,” Chris pointed out. “Lance is underage too.”

“Yeah, but only for a few years. Then he’ll be old enough to go clubbing with you guys and what’ll that leave me? Basketball?”

If there was one thing Justin dreaded, it was being alone. There was no denying that he was a people person. His mother had always been surprised at how quickly he made friends, and that was something Justin prided himself on. But a lot of people saw him as just a kid. Something that he desperately fought because he didn’t want to feel left out.

“Don’t worry about it, J. Like you said, that’s still a few years down the road. And maybe we’ll be able to sneak you in.” Chris winked at him before he turned serious. “But in the meantime, hang out with Lance.”

“I’m trying, but it’s easier with JC,” Justin said.

“Of course it is. You’ve known him the longest. Lance will come out of his shell. Just give him some time.”

“I am,” Justin assured. “It’s just…JC and I clicked right away, you know? We always hung out.”

“And that’s great, but you need to learn to let him go a little.” Justin opened his mouth to protest and Chris continued, “All I’m saying is that you need to let him go out and have some fun every once in a while. Try not to make him feel bad about going out.”

“I don’t,” Justin objected.

“He barely did anything the night we went out. Probably was thinking about how he disappointed you.”

“I never asked him to,” Justin said, feeling the need to defend himself. He didn’t want to be held responsible for JC having a miserable time when he went out. And Justin only really complained about them going out without him because he was afraid JC wouldn’t want him as a best friend anymore.

“I know,” Chris agreed, nodding. “It comes with the territory of being friends, especially when you and JC are so close. But you should work on getting that with Joey and Lance because if we make it big, we’ll be together for a long time.”

Chris was right. Justin wasn’t as close with the rest of them as he was with JC, but it wasn’t like they were complete strangers either. They all got along well enough for not having known each other that long. And they were just going to get closer as time went on, so Justin wasn’t worried.

It was then that Justin realized those nights spent clubbing were just another opportunity for them to spend time getting to know each other. He wasn’t going to lose JC as a best friend, but gain three others. That was going to play a huge part in the group dynamic and make this whole experience more enjoyable.

“You’re right,” Justin said finally, meeting Chris’s gaze.

Chris smirked and passed the ball to him. “Of course I am.”

Justin easily caught the ball and tossed the ball at the net, glad that he’d talked to Chris. He felt like every little thing brought them closer, and that was one of those things.

 

JC scribbled down a line to add to the first verse. He started from the beginning and read it to see how it worked with the previous lines. Not very well, so he scratched the unacceptable line out. That was the third line that he’d tried to end the first verse with, and so far no luck.

It wasn’t that he was blocked. More like he was distracted. JC tried to focus on the song in front of him, but his thoughts kept wandering to yesterday. Even though that was the last thing he wanted to think about.

When Lou had first touched him two days ago, JC had been unsettled by the inappropriateness of it. But that was nothing compared to what’d happened yesterday. Both in the bedroom and in the car.

On the way back to the warehouse, Lou had taken advantage of JC riding shotgun. JC’d had to keep himself from jumping out of his skin when Lou had first placed a hand on his thigh. He’d tried to slowly inch towards the door, hoping to stop Lou from going any further. But Lou’s hand had just slid further up his leg and into his crotch, squeezing the denim clad muscle.

It’d been a toned down version of what’d happened earlier that morning, but that hadn’t made it any better. And it’d been in front of the guys even if they hadn’t noticed what’d been going on in the front. That’d just added to the discomfort because JC had been afraid that one of them would see.

But at the same time, he’d almost wanted someone to notice because that would ensure that Lou couldn’t continue touching him like that. Part of JC was surprised that Lou had even done it in the car with the others there in the first place. It was risky considering that he couldn’t have banked on no one realizing that something was going on in the front. And it made JC wonder just how far Lou would go since he hadn’t had any qualms about doing it with the possibility of getting caught.

One thing JC knew for sure was that what Lou was doing to him was wrong, and he needed to tell someone about it. He glanced over at Joey, who was sitting at the other end of the couch watching TV, and considered bringing it up now. It was just them in the living room because Lance was in the bedroom he shared with Joey talking to his mom, and Chris and Justin were outside playing basketball.

That was when Lou’s words from last night came rushing back. They’d gotten back to the warehouse for Lou to pick up his car, and it’d gone unspoken that JC was going to drive home since he was already up front. So he’d gotten out of the car to grab the keys off Lou, and that was when Lou had warned him not tell anyone about what’d happened or that’d be the end of their careers.

Heaving a deep sigh, JC closed his notebook and tossed it onto the coffee table in front of him. He wasn’t going to get any further on the song, so there was no point in trying anymore. It would just have to wait until he could actually think straight and focus.

“It’s just as well,” Joey said, briefly looking at him before returning his attention to flipping through the channels. “We have to leave soon.”

“Yeah, but I still would’ve liked to have gotten something done,” JC replied.

“Writer’s block?” Joey asked.

JC hesitated. “Sort of, but not really. It’s kind of hard to explain.”

Joey didn’t say anything, but nodded. A comfortable silence fell between them as JC turned his attention towards the TV screen. The channels continued to change and Joey said, “I’m surprised Lou hasn’t shown up yet.”

“Why?” JC asked.

“He just always seems to be around,” Joey said.

A multitude of sounds filled the room as Joey kept going through all the channels. JC was sure that he had to have gone through all of them at least twice, but figured Joey was doing it more out of boredom than anything. And now would be the perfect time for him to tell Joey about what’d happened yesterday. Lou had already been brought up, so it wasn’t like it’d be coming from nowhere.

“What do you think about him?” JC asked, trying to sound casual about it.

Joey paused in channel surfing and looked over at him. “Who? Lou?” JC nodded and Joey shrugged as he said, “He seems nice enough. Why?”

“It’s just…” JC paused. “Don’t you think there’s something kind of…off with him?”

“What do you mean?” Joey asked, frowning slightly in confusion.

JC had to ease into telling Joey. What he had to say wasn’t going to be easy to say, so he wanted to try to explain his feelings about Lou and see if Joey felt something similar. Probably not, but it would make JC feel better if he did.

“He’s polite, but it’s almost excessive, you know? And the way he’s always watching us…”

“He’s just making sure that everything’s coming together. Making sure that we’ll be ready for the demo,” Joey said.

JC nodded, not surprised by Joey’s reaction to his discomfort with Lou. There was no reason for Joey to feel the same way as him. Lou hadn’t touched him in such a sexual way or stared at him with lust. But if JC was going to tell Joey about what’d happened, he was going to have to push through.

“There’s just something about him I can’t quite put my finger on,” JC insisted.

“You may be right, but he seems alright. I mean, it’s not like he’s suckering us, telling us what we want to hear. He seems to know what he’s doing and what’s best for our careers,” Joey said. “I couldn’t imagine doing this without his help because it’s not like we have the resources to make a demo and get heard.”

JC averted his eyes from Joey, knowing that he was right. Like it or not, they needed Lou to make it in the music business. And JC didn’t want to be responsible for crushing all of their hopes of getting signed.

It didn’t escape his attention what that meant. No one could know about what’d happened. But that also meant that if JC didn’t say anything now, then he would never say anything. Even if Lou did something else.

JC knew it should be exposed that Lou was less than professional, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it. So much was riding on them getting signed and becoming successful that he wasn’t going to do anything to ruin their chances. Hoping that nothing else would happen was all he could do at the moment.

“You’re right,” JC agreed quietly, watching as Chris and Justin walked in from the backyard.

“What the hell are you watching?” Chris asked as he sat down between JC and Joey.

“I just stopped on it,” Joey said.

“Well, then change it. Unless you have some secret desire to find out what happens on General Hospital,” Chris replied.

“Maybe you have a secret desire to watch General Hospital. I mean, you knew what it was,” Justin said.

“Or maybe I can read,” Chris shot back, pointing at the screen where the title sequence was shown.

Justin opened his mouth to retort, but forgot all about it when Lance walked into the room saying, “Do you guys know anything about this recording session?”

All eyes landed on Lance who was holding up the schedule that was normally posted on the fridge. “What?” Joey asked.

“Tomorrow we have a block of time that’s marked as ‘studio time,’” Lance said and handed the paper to JC.

“Not only tomorrow, but for the next few days,” JC added as he examined the schedule. It didn’t surprise him that they were only finding out about this now because they usually only looked at the schedule for the day. Taking it one day at a time was the best way to keep all of them from stressing out too much.

“Why do you think we’re recording?” Joey asked.

“Probably to have something professionally recorded in addition to the live concert,” Chris said.

“This is so exciting! It’ll be our first time in a studio together. It’s like we’ve already made it,” Justin rambled as he bounced on the edge of the armchair he was sitting in.

“Calm down, kid. We haven’t made it yet,” Chris told him.

“Yeah, but I don’t see any reason why we won’t. Why else would Lou book us studio time?” Justin replied.

“I wonder why Lou hasn’t said anything about it,” Joey said.

“Well, we can ask him when we see him. But right now we have to go,” Lance said and gestured to the clock that hung on the wall.

Almost immediately the five of them dispersed to put on shoes and grab water bottles. They all met in the driveway like they normally did before they piled into the van. Once they were in the car, it only took ten minutes to reach the warehouse.

Chris followed Justin, who was moving at a faster pace than normal. The excitement of recording making him even more energetic than usual. Not that Chris could blame him. It was pretty exciting, and it gave them even more hope that they’d be picked up by a record company. And that thought allowed all of them to walk into rehearsal with a smile on their face.

They waved at the choreographer as they set their stuff off to the side. Then they started stretching for all the dancing they’d be doing. Normally not many words were said from now until rehearsal was over because they needed all their concentration on the dance routines. But as Chris looked up from stretching his calf muscles to see Lou walk in, he knew today was going to be an exception.

“How are you boys doing today?” Lou asked, coming closer.

“Great,” Justin said with a smile.

Lou returned the smile. “I’m glad to hear it.”

Chris exchanged glances with the other guys. It was obvious that if they wanted to ask about the recording sessions they were booked for, now was the time to do it. No one seemed willing to volunteer to do it though. So Chris took it into his own hands.

“Hey, Lou,” he said, trying to focus Lou’s attention back on them since he was occupied with looking at something on his pager.

Lou looked at him and pocketed the device. “Yes?”

“We noticed that starting tomorrow we’re going to be spending a few days in a recording studio,” Chris said.

“Yes, that’s right,” Lou agreed, nodding.

“Why didn’t you mention it to us before?” Chris asked.

“I didn’t want to distract you boys. You had enough to worry about with learning the songs and the choreography that I felt it would be better to hold off for a while,” Lou explained.

“So is this going out with the demo that we’ll be filming?” Justin asked.

Lou chuckled slightly. “No. It’s going to be the audio for the demo.”

As soon as the words left Lou’s mouth, the excitement that’d lain between the five of them was zapped. None of them had been expecting that. But surely he didn’t mean what they thought he meant.

“What do you mean?” Joey asked warily.

“The audience is only going to hear the studio tracks,” Lou said.

“So we’re going to lip sync?” Lance asked.

Lou nodded. “That’s right.”

Chris frowned. “But don’t musicians who lip sync have bad reputations?”

“Those musicians don’t have the talent to back it up like you boys do,” Lou said.

“Then why do we have to lip sync?” Chris asked. None of this was making sense to him. Why would they lip sync when they could really sing? Wasn’t singing live part of the whole concert experience?

“It’s just to ensure that nothing goes wrong. It has nothing to do with your talent,” Lou tried to pacify.

“That’s what we did on the Mickey Mouse Club,” Justin spoke up, and Lou smiled at him.

The mention of Mickey Mouse Club made Chris realize that JC hadn’t said anything since they’d started this conversation. JC was normally very vocal about anything that involved music, so it registered as weird that he hadn’t contributed his opinion. Looking over at him revealed that he was sitting Indian style and was staring at the floor.

“What do you think about this, JC? You OK with lip syncing?” Chris asked.

JC’s head snapped up and he met Chris’s gaze. After a second he glanced at Lou before lowering it to the floor again. “Yeah. I think it’s a good idea.”

Chris’s frown deepened. He had been confident that JC would agree with him because he was the one who always went on about how real musicians didn’t hide behind a studio recording. But then he went and agreed with Lou, despite his feelings on the subject.

It made Chris wonder why JC wouldn’t stand up to Lou. Normally if JC disagreed with something he’d say so without any hesitation. So what made now different than when the five of them would get on bizarre conversations?

That was when Chris realized that while JC probably disagreed with the idea of lip syncing, he wasn’t going to say anything before rehearsal. JC was always intent on making them focus and fighting about this would definitely cause them to be even more distracted. But Chris hoped that JC would say something to Lou after rehearsal because he just knew that JC was as against lip syncing as he was.

“Well, can’t we still practice it like we’re going to do it live?” Joey asked.

“Look.” Lou sighed. “I appreciate that you guys want to do it live. It shows that you’re really serious about this. But the most important thing to me is your performance. I’m more concerned about how you appear onstage and interact with the audience than your vocals.”

“Aren’t they the most important thing though?” Chris asked.

“Yes, but you’ve already proven that you boys can sing. And the audience will still be able to hear that. I just want your stage presence to be perfect, and by not actually singing I’m giving you one less thing to worry about,” Lou explained.

“But—” Chris tried to protest when Lou cut him off.

“We can talk about this more later if you want, but right now you have some choreography to learn,” Lou said with a hint of impatience.

Chris sighed, but nodded. It didn’t escape his attention that Lou’s tone implied the discussion was closed. There would be no more talk about it, especially since they started recording tomorrow. But that didn’t change how Chris felt about it. He’d never lip synced before and didn’t want to start, especially since every little thing made a difference between getting a record deal and not.

It was just a sacrifice he was going to have to make for the group. They all were sacrificing a lot in hopes that this would work out in their favor. What was one more sacrifice if it got them a record deal? Then maybe they could do things how they wanted.

Joey was perched on the edge of an oversized sofa as he watched Justin record his vocals for I’ll Be Back For More, one of the songs they’d be performing in just seven days. The studio Lou had booked for them was privately owned, so the room they were in was small. It didn’t help that Lou and Robin had joined them and the studio engineer, making them feel cramped.

There was an empty lounge across the hall, but none of them wanted to wait in there while the others recorded their vocals. Being in the studio itself was exciting, and they looked forward to it being a large part of their careers if the demo succeeded.

However, there wasn’t much to do while they waited, especially since Lou was there. The five of them felt awkward having him around since they’d had objections about recording these tracks yesterday. Needless to say, time creeped by.

The only exception was when the waiting was over and each of them stepped into the recording booth to sing. Singing always seemed to provide them with euphoria no matter what the circumstances. But it never lasted long. Joey had finished his part nearly a half an hour ago and already was impatient with waiting again.

Justin had his eyes closed as he sung the last note, and Joey knew he was enjoying every second of it. They were getting a little taste of what the future could be and they wanted more. It was just another thing to push them to do well for the demo so they could get signed.

“Alright. That’s perfect. Thanks, Justin,” the sound engineer said, pressing a button so Justin could hear him inside in the booth.

Justin smiled and lifted the headphones off his head, replacing them on the stool he’d been sitting on just seconds ago. He pushed open the glass door and stepped back into the room. Robin smiled as she moved aside so he could join the rest of them sitting on the couch, but before he could, Lou put a hand on his shoulder.

“Good job, son,” Lou said.

“Thanks,” Justin replied. Lou nodded, removing his hand, and Justin finished walking over to the couch. When he saw there were no seats left he whined, “Can’t one of you guys scooch over?”

“Where would you like us to go, Justin?” Chris asked. For it being an oversized sofa, the three of them took up the cushions, leaving Joey to rest on the arm.

“Then get up so I can sit,” Justin said.

Chris rolled his eyes. “I’m not going to switch with you.”

“JC, you’re up,” Robin said, interrupting them.

Justin smiled smugly as he waited for JC to rise to his feet. Once JC was clear of the couch, Justin went to sit down in the vacant seat. But Joey slid off the arm and landed next to Lance before Justin had a chance to take JC’s spot. Joey grinned as Justin huffed and crossed his arms.

“Sit on the arm, J. It’s not that bad,” Joey said.

“What do you know,” Justin mumbled, but hung off the arm like Joey had.

Joey and Chris exchanged grins before they focused their attention on JC, who’d just put the headphones over his ears. Once the sound engineer was certain that JC was ready, he cued the music. A couple seconds passed before JC’s voice blended with the instrumental track.

A minute later, JC’s voice faded out with the last note. He smiled softly and nodded when the sound engineer asked him to do it again from the top. It was something they all had to do whether or not their first take had gone well so there would be a couple versions for the engineer to work with.

The music started again and was quickly followed by JC’s voice. It went as smoothly as it had the first time. Joey wasn’t surprised by that because while Justin was sickeningly good at almost everything, JC had one of the best singing voices he had ever heard.

So he was surprised when Lou grabbed the microphone before the sound engineer could and told JC to do it over. Joey hadn’t heard anything wrong with either of JC’s takes, but he supposed it couldn’t hurt to have another one. Once again the music was cued, and JC sang his part all the way through.

“Try it again,” Lou instructed. “You were a little flat.”

The four of them looked at each other in disbelief. They hadn’t heard anything different than the first two takes. JC had already started singing though, so they weren’t able to protest. A couple minutes later the song ended, and again Lou wasn’t happy.

“Try to put more emotion in it this time,” Lou said. JC just nodded and readjusted the headphones.

Joey and Chris exchanged wary glances. JC always sang with so much emotion, which made Lou’s reason for making him to do it again a bullshit excuse. For whatever reason Lou seemed determined to give JC a hard time, and Joey felt anger rise in him. And a glance at Chris showed that he was feeling the same.

“Lou—” Chris started to object, but Lou cut him off.

“He needs to get this right,” Lou said. He turned his attention back to JC and nodded at him. JC cleared his throat before the music started to play and put even more emotion than he normally did into a song, trying to appease Lou.

“One more time. Your voice cracked on that high note,” Lou said.

“Actually, it’s time for lunch,” Robin said, stepping in. “We can pick this up afterwards if we need to, but I think we have enough to work with.”

Lou just nodded. “OK. I’m going to make some calls, but I’ll be back to check in later.”

The door closed behind Lou, and Joey watched as JC’s shoulders sagged slightly as he took off the headphones and left the booth. He accepted the bottle of water that Robin offered him and gave a weak smile of thanks. It didn’t take long for him to drain it, showing just how raw his throat probably felt.

“Why don’t you boys go across the hall and eat your lunch? I’m sure Lynn probably left something for you in there,” Robin said.

Justin slid off the arm of the couch and led the way out of the room. JC slowly followed and threw the now empty water bottle in the trash can on the way out the door. The five of them walked into the lounge where there were a couple warm paper bags of fast food.

It wasn’t surprising that Lynn brought lunch for them because she always made sure that they ate. Normally they got to eat at the house, but their schedule today didn’t permit that. And there was no way she would pass up the opportunity to provide lunch, especially since she always lectured them about how important it was to eat because they worked so hard.

They all crowded around the table to grab their food before they dispersed. Joey and Lance sat on the couch near the table, while Justin stretched out on the loveseat across the room. So that left Chris and JC sitting at the table.

The quiet sounds of eating filled the room, but it didn’t last long. Chris looked up from his burger at JC and asked, “Why won’t you stand up for yourself?”

Joey glanced up from his food to look across the room at Chris and JC. He’d figured that Chris would say something to JC about what’d happened in the recording booth sooner or later. They all wondered why JC hadn’t tried to tell Lou that he didn’t need to record any more takes.

“What are you talking about?” JC replied, not meeting Chris’s gaze and trying to sound nonchalant.

“You know exactly what I’m talking about,” Chris said. “You let Lou tell you to sing your part over and over again even though you knew it was fine.”

“Well, it has to be better than fine. It has to be perfect,” JC replied.

Chris raised an eyebrow. “Even at the cost of your voice?”

“My voice is fine,” JC said, firmly.

“Only because Robin finally said something since you weren’t going to,” Chris replied.

“I was doing my job,” JC said.

“Your job was done before Lou even started demanding that you do it over. He didn’t do that to the rest of us, and you want to sit here and tell me that he was in the right?”

“He probably heard something that the rest of us didn’t,” JC said.

Chris rolled his eyes. “That’s bullshit, and you know it!” There was a slight pause before he continued, “I shouldn’t be surprised though. This isn’t the first time you went along with whatever he wanted.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I know you’re not OK with us lip syncing,” Chris said.

“How?” JC demanded, his voice rising slightly. “How do you know that’s not how I feel?”

“Because I know you, and I know when you’re lying. And it has to stop because every time you don’t argue with him, you’re letting him have more and more control over us,” Chris said.

Joey exchanged uneasy glances with Lance and Justin. He’d been prepared to let Chris and JC work through it themselves, but it was starting to escalate. And it was more than unsettling to see them argue because there hadn’t been any real disagreement in the group. Until now anyway.

“Guys, maybe we should just take a second to breathe and talk about this,” Joey suggested, trying to grab their attention.

“How dare you put that on me! You don’t even really know me, so how the hell could you know I was lying?” JC yelled, ignoring Joey. “I actually gave an opinion. If you’re so concerned about Lou controlling us, then why don’t you get on Lance or Justin’s case? They didn’t even say anything one way or the other.”

“They don’t suck up to Lou any chance they get!” Chris shot back.

JC’s eyes narrowed. “Excuse me for not wanting to piss off the guy who’s financing our entire career right now.”

“I think it’s more than that. I think you’re willing to do anything to please Lou,” Chris said.

Abruptly, JC stood up from the table, causing the chair to teeter. “You don’t know what the hell you’re talking about!” JC shouted, his face pinched and his voice rough.

Joey watched as JC stormed out of the room and slammed the door behind him, leaving his half eaten lunch on the table. The air was tense as Chris stiffly reached for his burger to finish his lunch. Something probably should have been said, but Joey didn’t know what.

All he knew was that he didn’t blame JC for storming out like he had. What Chris had said to him had been uncalled for, but Joey couldn’t tell Chris that. At least not yet. He’d have to wait until Chris cooled down because he wouldn’t listen otherwise.

But what he could do was check on JC. So Joey stood up and threw his garbage away before walking out of the room. He stood in the hall for a moment, wondering where JC would’ve gone. The place wasn’t that big so he couldn’t have gone far.

That was when Joey remembered that there had been a conference room to the left when they’d first walked in the front door. It seemed as good a place as any for JC to be since no one else was there. So Joey walked to the next room down and opened the closed door slowly.

His heart stopped momentarily when he saw JC sitting in a leather chair, his head bowed and his shoulders shaking with sobs. For a moment Joey thought about just turning around and leaving JC be. He hadn’t given any indication that he’d heard Joey come in and probably wanted to be alone. But Joey quickly dismissed that thought, knowing he couldn’t leave JC when he was so upset.

Joey softly closed the door behind him and stepped forward asking, “Are you OK?”

JC’s breath hitched as he wiped at his eyes. “Yeah,” he said, trying to offer Joey a watery smile and failing. “I’m fine.”

“Do you want to talk about it?” Joey asked.

“No,” JC said softly, shaking his head.

Joey nodded, having expected JC to decline his offer. But he wasn’t going to leave JC just yet. He was going to stay until JC had himself under control and was ready to face the others. So he pulled out a chair and sat next to JC.

They sat in silence for a few minutes. JC’s shoulders had finally stopped shaking, but tears were still falling from his eyes. He heaved a shaky sigh before he raised his head slightly, glancing at Joey out of the corner of his eye.

“He just doesn’t understand,” JC about whispered.

Joey couldn’t argue with that because that much had been obvious just by the argument between JC and Chris. But there wasn’t anything he could say to JC to make it better either. All Joey could do was be there for him in case he wanted to talk.

Without a word, Joey scooted his chair closer to JC and threw an arm around JC’s shoulders. He squeezed JC’s arm slightly, and JC sagged a little in the chair, letting his head rest on Joey’s shoulder as he wiped at his tears.

 

That night the five of them walked into the local arcade just before nine thirty. It’d been Chris’s idea because they hadn’t gotten a chance to go out the night before. And after hearing Justin’s concerns about being left behind when the rest of them went out, Chris felt like they should spend some time together.

The arcade was pretty large and was nearly empty, which was a bonus. They hated going when it was so crowded that they couldn’t have their pick of games. Not that it was much of a problem lately considering they didn’t even get out of rehearsal until at least eight.

So they split up and gravitated towards the games that served as a favorite. Nearly ten minutes passed as they all played and spent the small amount of money that Lou had given them earlier that week. Chris sighed in frustration as he turned away from Frogger and noticed that Lance was playing Pac-Man next to him.

“You know, you can make him go faster,” Justin said, leaning over Lance’s shoulder.

“Yeah, but I want to keep control so it’ll be easier to clear the level,” Lance replied.

“It makes it more challenging though,” Justin objected and took control of the joystick. Lance tried to push his hand away while keeping his attention focused on the game. A few seconds later, a low tone sounded, signaling that Lance lost.

Lance sighed and turned to look at Justin. “It also makes it challenging when someone won’t let go of the joystick.”

Chris watched the exchange with a grin, glad that Lance was finally starting to feel comfortable around them. Or at least with Justin. He hadn’t really had a chance to bond with Lance like Justin had, and Chris decided that maybe it was time.

“Hey, Lance?” Chris waited until Lance faced him before he asked, “You wanna play air hockey with me?”

Lance shrugged and nodded. “Sure. Why not?”

“Why not me?” Justin asked, pouting slightly.

“Because you whine like a baby when you lose,” Chris said. He looked up at Lance from where he was kneeling to insert the quarters, ignoring Justin’s cry of protest. “What do you say we make it interesting?”

“What do you mean?” Lance asked, standing at one end and grabbing one of the mallets.

“We bet a couple of bucks for the winner to claim,” Chris said.

“All I have is a dollar,” Lance replied.

“That’s OK. You can bet that and I’ll still bet two,” Chris told him, placing two stacks of quarters on the edge of the table. Lance stared at him for a second before he put his dollar by Chris’s.

Without a word, Chris pushed in the money and the table instantly turned on, causing the puck to start gliding across the table. Out of the corner of his eye, Chris noticed that the other guys had come over to watch. He glanced up and smirked when he saw that Lance was staring at the puck with a look of concentration on his face.

“You know, this isn’t a game of concentration. You just have to feel it,” Chris said.

Lance barely glanced up at him as he asked, “Are you feeling it?”

“Please,” Chris said, waving his left hand in a dismissive manner as his right moved the mallet to the right, sending the red disc back to Lance. “I could do this in my sleep.”

“Then maybe you should wake up,” Lance returned with a smirk as a clink sounded. Chris looked down and saw the disc sitting in his goal. He was surprised at Lance’s cockiness, but enjoyed seeing it. Already this was going well, and they’d only just started.

“I see you’re already resorting to cheating. Can’t say I’m surprised,” Chris said, putting the puck back on the table and hitting it towards Lance’s goal.

“I’ve never cheated,” Lance objected.

“Go ahead and deny it, but I know what happened with Go Fish. Justin told me all about it,” Chris said, winking at Justin, who laughed and shook his head.

Lance’s hand slipped at that, opening the goal for the disc to slide into. He frowned, and Chris just grinned at him. With a clink, the puck was placed back on the table and the game resumed.

“At least I don’t have to talk to distract my opponent from how much I suck,” Lance said, glancing at Chris knowingly.

“You’re talking just as much as me,” Chris pointed out. 

Lance managed to get another goal just then and smirked at Chris. “I’m actually winning though.”

“Oh yeah?” Chris challenged and connected the mallet with the puck. It started to float across the table only to stop in the middle as the game shut off. “Aw, man.”

Joey laughed and clasped Lance on the back. “Nice one, Lance. You knocked Chris down a peg and got two dollars out of it.”

“Whatever. I let him win,” Chris said, trying to sound like he meant it, but he couldn’t help the grin that spread across his face. He’d been surprised that Lance had sparred with him verbally, but was pleased. It was a good icebreaker, and Chris had no doubt that Lance would continue to open up with all of them.

“C’mon, Joe. Let’s play pool,” Chris suggested, reaching into his pocket for the dollar they’d need only to come up empty. He looked over at Lance. “Can I have a dollar back?”

The guys laughed as Lance made a show of sighing before handing over the money. Chris accepted the four quarters with a smile and motioned for Joey to follow him back to the pool tables. He racked the balls while Joey grabbed cue sticks for them and rubbed chalk onto his own.

“You break,” Chris instructed as he picked up the blue chalk.

Joey lined up the cue ball and forcefully struck it, sending it right into the other balls and spreading them across the table. The number two ball landed in the corner pocket, making him solid and Chris stripes. Once Joey’s turn was over, Chris stepped up to the table and lined up his first shot.

It went in easily, and he moved around the table to set up his next shot. Chris rolled his shoulders slightly, trying to loosen some of the muscles before he bent over the table. The cue ball was already in motion when Joey suddenly said, “Maybe you should apologize to JC.”

Chris sighed heavily. He had missed his shot, but it was more because of what Joey said. It was something he’d expected earlier, especially since Joey had been the one to go after JC. But when Joey hadn’t said anything, Chris had started to think that maybe he’d just let it go. The last thing he wanted was to get into this with Joey, but it didn’t look like he had a choice.

“Why?” Chris asked, straightening and leaning against the side of the table. “We just had a fight. It’s not like I hit him or anything.”

Joey frowned. “Is that the only thing you apologize for? Hitting people?” There was a slight pause before Joey said, “What you said to him…”

“Hasn’t changed,” Chris finished. “And I stand by what I said.”

“So you have nothing to apologize for?” Joey asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

Chris sighed again and met Joey’s gaze. “Look, I know what you’re getting at. I’ll admit I didn’t have a lot of tact with what I said, but that doesn’t change how I feel. And JC knows that, so there’s no point in bringing it up again.”

Joey raised an eyebrow. “Does he?”

“Yeah,” Chris said simply.

“Then tell me why he hasn’t said two words to you all day. Or tried to beg out of coming when you mentioned going out,” Joey countered, staring at him expectantly.

“I don’t know. He probably wanted to work on a song or something,” Chris said.

“Or he was trying to avoid you,” Joey replied.

Joey was right. There was no denying it, and Chris had figured that he’d bring that up. He hadn’t failed to notice how JC went out of his way to keep his distance from him. It hadn’t really bothered him though because he assumed JC had just needed some time to cool off. They had both gotten pretty pissed at lunch.

But Joey was concerned and was expecting Chris to fix this. Something that Chris didn’t think needed fixing. It’d been bound to happen sooner or later because they spent so much time together. And that’s what he was attributing it to, so he didn’t see the sense in apologizing for differing in opinion on something.

“What do you want from me, Joey?” Chris asked.

“I want you to smooth things out with JC.” Chris started to protest and Joey continued, “Whether you think it’s necessary or not, you said some pretty harsh things.”

“So, what? You want me to sugarcoat it for him every time we have a disagreement?”

“No, I just…He was so…” Joey shook his head. “There are better ways to get your opinion across, you know?”

Chris opened his mouth to reply, but quickly closed it when he saw JC approach.

“Sorry to interrupt,” JC said, glancing at Chris before looking at Joey. “Justin sent me over here to ask if you have another dollar. He’s got a new game addiction to feed.”

“Yeah, I have some change,” Joey said, but ignored JC’s outstretched hand. “I’ll take it to him.”

JC withdrew his hand and shoved both of his hands into his pockets. He watched as Joey headed over to the other side of the arcade. After a few more seconds of standing there awkwardly, he started to turn to leave. Chris almost let him go, but knew Joey expected him to settle things with JC.

“JC, wait,” Chris said, reaching out to grab JC’s bicep. He felt the muscles tense slightly and dropped his hand. JC must still really be upset about what he’d said at lunch. “I’m sorry I was so harsh with you earlier, but I meant what I said.”

JC nodded in understanding, but still didn’t meet his eyes. “I know. It’s not a big deal.”

Chris stood there for a second, trying to decide if JC was sincere or not. He sounded like he was OK, but he hadn’t really made eye contact with him yet. And he shifted back and forth on his feet, obviously uncomfortable. Chris could hear Joey in his head and recognized that he couldn’t leave things awkward between him and JC.

“So why are you so afraid of Lou?” Chris asked, trying to really have this conversation with JC. As much as he wanted to fix things for the group harmony, he wanted to know what really happened that afternoon too. What was really going on in JC’s head.

JC’s head snapped up and his gaze was fiery as he firmly said, “I’m not.”

Chris was a little taken aback from the fierceness in JC’s gaze, but asked, “Then why won’t you stand up to him?”

“About the lip syncing or the recording?”

“Both,” Chris said simply.

“I guess it’s just…we can do what we want when we get signed. We can sing live and not worry about the consequences. But right now, it has to be perfect,” JC explained.

“Nothing’s perfect,” Chris said.

“Well, this has to be,” JC insisted.

Chris frowned. “Why? Because Lou said so?”

“He’s the one making all this happen for us, trying to get us a record deal. If he wants it perfect, then that’s how it should be,” JC said.

“What if he wants us to…do a naked photo shoot? Would you go along with that just because ‘that’s what he wants’?” Chris asked, wanting to get through to JC that it was OK to say no to Lou. That even though this man was financing their future right now, he didn’t get a say in everything.

“No,” JC said.

Chris leaned forward slightly. “So tell me how that’s different than what happened this morning.”

“Did it ever occur to you that maybe I’m OK with lip syncing?” JC asked.

“No because I know you’re not. And before you start on your whole ‘you don’t know me’ crap, you’ve made it perfectly clear in the few weeks I’ve known you that a real musician doesn’t lip sync. So are we not real musicians?”

“Of course we are,” JC said.

“Then why didn’t you say something during rehearsal yesterday? It seemed like I was trying to cause trouble because I was the only arguing with Lou. If you’d said something, we might’ve been able to talk him out of it,” Chris replied.

JC sighed. “We’re not going to have to deal with this forever. When we get signed, we can tell Lou how we feel and take more control.”

“Why can’t we do that now?”

Chris stared expectantly at JC, wanting him to answer the question. He was trying to understand why JC wouldn’t say anything against Lou’s ideas, but it was difficult. It was hard for him to comprehend it because sticking up for himself had been part of growing up.

But JC wasn’t offering up an answer. Chris was about to push the issue some more when Justin came running over with Joey resignedly following him. Immediately the kid attached himself to JC’s side and started to pull on his arm.

“C’mon, C. I want you to play Galaxia with me,” Justin said. “I need you to get me up to level ten.”

JC let out a small, forced laugh. “Alright. Let’s go.”

Justin and JC walked to another part of the arcade. As soon as they were out of earshot, Joey turned to Chris and asked, “What happened?”

“Nothing,” Chris denied.

“You made things worse,” Joey said.

Chris crossed his arms. “How? I was talking to JC, wasn’t I?”

“Yeah, but you saw how fast he jumped at the opportunity to leave. He was uncomfortable,” Joey said.

“Well, I don’t know what to tell you. I tried, but he’s like impossible to understand. It’s like he’s schizo or something,” Chris replied.

Joey laughed. “Some would say the same about you.”

“Well, this schizo’s about to kick your ass in pool,” Chris said, picking up Joey’s cue stick and handing it to him. Joey accepted it and their game continued as if there had been no interruption.

“The name of the game is Crazy Eights with eights being wild and—”

“Chris, we all know how to play. Just deal the cards,” Joey interrupted, impatient.

“I’m trying to make it more exciting since someone,” Chris glanced at JC, “won’t let me play poker.”

JC sighed. “Because Justin and Lance don’t know how to play.”

“I told you I’d teach them,” Chris said.

“And I told you no, so just deal already,” JC replied.

“But I wanna learn!” Justin whined.

“Justin…” JC started, but Chris cut him off.

“Don’t worry, kid. I’ll teach you later.”

JC rolled his eyes and muttered, “And face the wrath of Lynn.”

Chris finally started dealing each of them the number of cards they’d need to start off with, and JC stifled a yawn as he collected them. It’d taken him a while to fall asleep last night because he couldn’t stop thinking about everything Chris had said to him. He didn’t want to come off as weak and submissive, but he didn’t exactly want to argue with Lou either. JC was afraid it would draw even more attention to himself, and that if he kind of stayed in the background then maybe Lou would just forget about him. It’d seemed like it was working too. At least until yesterday in the studio.

“JC, it’s your turn,” Lance said, snapping JC out of his thoughts.

“See, this is why I wanted to play poker. You can’t space as much,” Chris said.

“I wasn’t spacing,” JC denied, throwing a six of spades on top of the pile.

“Are your cards in Hebrew or something then? ‘Cause you were staring at them for like five minutes,” Chris said.

JC rolled his eyes. “I believe it’s your turn. Unless you want to try to talk your way out of this game too.”

“You’ll be changing your tune when I win.” Chris laid down an eight of clubs. “Hearts.”

It was Joey’s turn and he was starting to pull a card out to put on the pile when Justin said, “No, not that card. Put down the seven so I can change the suit.”

“You little cheater! Stop looking at my cards,” Joey complained, immediately sitting back and pulling his right hand closer to his chest, so Justin couldn’t lean in and see.

“That was the first time,” Justin protested.

“My ass,” Joey mumbled, putting down a five of hearts, much to Justin’s chagrin.

Justin picked up a card from the draw pile and grinned when he laid down a two of hearts. Play continued after that with both Lance and JC placing a card from the suit of hearts on the pile. It reached Chris and he grumbled under his breath as he reached for the draw pile.

“Why did you say hearts if you didn’t have any?” Lance asked.

“I was trying to throw you off,” Chris said, still picking up cards. They played that you had to pick up cards until you got something that you could play.

Joey smirked. “Good thing we use two decks. You must have like twenty cards in your hand already.”

JC laughed slightly before it was interrupted with a long yawn. Chris noticed and glared at him. “I’m sorry. Are you not entertained by watching me pick up an endless amount of cards?”

“Not really,” Justin said before JC could and grinning when Chris turned his glare on him.

Chris resumed drawing cards before he sighed in relief and placed a king of diamonds on top of JC’s king of hearts. The next few rounds went smoothly with the guys laughing when Chris dumped all the cards in his lap from trying to whip one out of his hand. They were still laughing about it, especially when they glanced at Chris, who was struggling with the large amount of cards he held.

“Cheater!” Chris yelled, pointing an accusing finger at JC once he placed his last card on the pile.

Joey frowned. “When did you get down to one card?”

“After Chris nearly dropped his cards,” Lance said.

“Why didn’t you stop him?” Chris asked.

“I didn’t know if ya’ll played where you called the person out and penalized them or not,” Lance tried to defend.

“Of course we do! We’re all about the punishment.” Chris shook his head, looking at JC. “I should’ve known you and Lance were in cahoots.”

“We’re unstoppable,” JC said, winking at Lance, who laughed.

Chris sighed and turned to Justin and Joey. “And you two! What were you doing?”

“I was trying to get Justin to stop cheating,” Joey said, glaring slightly at Justin.

Justin just grinned and threw his cards in the middle of the table. “Let’s play basketball!”

No one argued as they tossed their cards onto the others. JC rolled his eyes, knowing Lynn wouldn’t be happy if she returned from the grocery store and they’d left the table a mess, but he couldn’t bring himself to put them away. Instead, he rose from his chair like the rest of them and headed for the hallway, intending to take a nap.

JC walked to the end of the hallway and turned into the bedroom, throwing himself onto his unmade bed. There were footsteps coming into the room, and he turned his head to see Chris and Justin. Chris grabbed his shoes that’d been thrown carelessly at the foot of his bed, while Justin dug around in his closet.

“Aren’t you going to play?” Justin asked, glancing up at JC as he smiled victoriously at finding one shoe under his dirty clothes.

“No,” JC said, closing his eyes.

“But JC…” Justin whined.

“I’m tired, Justin,” JC said, not opening his eyes.

“C’mon, JC.” Justin jumped on JC’s bed, landing on top of his legs. “It’ll be fun.”

“So will sleeping,” JC muttered and buried his head deeper into his pillow. “Go away, Justin.”

“C’mon, let’s leave Sleeping Beauty alone,” Chris said.

Justin huffed, but got up. JC heard him and Chris leave the room and sighed as he sank further into his bed. He felt kind of bad for telling Justin to leave, but he was tired. Besides, Justin would forget all about it later, and JC would feel more rested to do something with him.

Above him, the ceiling fan whirled quietly, trying to cool the room from the heat and humidity that hung heavily in the air. The hum was soothing, and JC’s breathing started to even out as he was pulled closer to sleep. He was nearly there when a weight was pressed on his back.

JC figured it was Justin again, so he turned his head to tell him to go away. But his heart leaped into his throat when he saw that it wasn’t Justin. It was Lou.

Immediately, JC rolled over and started to push himself out of bed. But Lou brought his left arm down onto his upper chest and across his shoulders, effectively pinning him to the bed. JC tried to swing at Lou with his right arm only to yelp when Lou dug his elbow into his shoulder. Since he couldn’t move his upper body, he was going to take advantage of his legs being free to kick Lou in the groin so he could escape.

He hadn’t brought his right leg up more than a couple inches when Lou straddled him, his calves pressing JC’s legs into the bed. Nearly his entire body was pinned now, rendering him practically immobile. Something that Lou was using to slowly unzip his jeans.

JC’s eyes grew wide and his heat beat so hard and fast against his ribcage that it was almost painful. He moved as much as he could underneath Lou’s weight, trying desperately to break free. To stop what he knew was coming from happening.

He struggled as he hard as he could, twisting and turning as much as Lou’s crushing weight would let him. JC even tried to dislodge Lou from him by bucking his hips, hoping to at least get his legs free. But the only thing he succeeded in was arousing Lou even more.

“We’ll get to that soon enough,” Lou said, eyeing him lustfully.

JC couldn’t help the shudder that wracked his body. He continued to thrash about underneath Lou, hoping he’d be able to get away. Lou had just gotten his jeans down below his knees. There was still time.

“Get the hell off me!” JC growled as Lou reached for the waistband of his boxers.

Lou wasn’t deterred though as he slowly pulled JC’s boxers to where his jeans were pooled around his knees. He stared at JC appreciatively before he reached for his own jeans. JC swallowed roughly and turned his head away, not wanting to see Lou undress.

He heard jeans being unzipped and rustling as they were probably pushed down. JC’s body tensed and he held his breath, knowing what was coming. And there was nothing he could do to stop it.

A few seconds later, JC gasped and scrunched his eyes in pain as Lou penetrated him. That was bad enough, but then Lou started to thrust forcefully. The pain was unlike anything JC had ever experienced before.

“Stop!” JC yelled. “Stop it!”

“Shh. It’s alright,” Lou told him breathily.

JC grimaced and tossed his head to the other side. His fingers clutched his sheets as his body moved in time with Lou’s thrusts. Each one painfully jolting him. All he could think about was the blinding pain and wish for it to stop.

“Leave me alone! Please!” JC shouted, tears starting to fall from his eyes.

“You know you want this. Stop fighting it,” Lou whispered.

JC’s breathing sped up as his tears started falling more frequently. He cried out in a strangled voice as Lou slammed harder into him before picking up speed. It had to be over soon. It just had to be.

“Stop. Please, stop,” JC pleaded just below a whisper, salty tears running down his cheeks and onto his pillow.

Lou either didn’t hear him or ignored him as he continued to pound into JC. Another couple minutes passed, but it felt like so much longer. When Lou finally came, JC’s body shuddered painfully.

JC shakily drew a breath as he opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling. Lou pulled out of him, but didn’t leave like JC expected. Instead, Lou reached out his right hand and stroked JC’s cheek, causing him to flinch.

“You’re so beautiful,” Lou whispered in JC’s ear, his hand caressing his face before cupping his chin. He forced JC to meet his eyes. “Yes, so beautiful.”

A shiver ran down JC’s spine, and he turned his head away from Lou. He didn’t want to hear this. Nothing could justify what Lou had just done to him.

“I just want you to be perfect. And you’re so close,” Lou said, running a hand through JC’s long hair and JC cringed.

Lou finally sat up and pulled up his pants. Once he was finished, he got off the bed without another word. JC watched him open the door and walk out into the hallway. And all he could do was lie there in disbelief.

JC took a deep breath as his stomach started to churn. It didn’t settle though. Bile started to rise in his throat, forcing him to move his tired and sore body. He yanked his boxers and pants up to his hips before bolting out the door and down the hall.

JC slammed the bathroom door shut, ignoring the stabbing pain in his shoulder before dropping to his knees in front of the toilet where he threw up everything he’d eaten just an hour earlier. And his sobs didn’t help at all. If anything, it got him even more worked up. As JC puked violently, agitating his aching body even more, he wished that he could just curl up and die.

 

Lance sighed as he missed another step. He ran a hand through his hair before he reset himself, ready to start the choreography for Tell Me That I’m Dreaming again. Things had gotten more comfortable with the guys, but dancing still left him feeling out of place.

It still took him longer than the others to pick up the steps and get through the routine without any mistakes. Lance wasn’t worried about not getting it though because Joey was right. The steps would click eventually like they had when they’d learned the choreography for We Can Work It Out earlier that week.

But that didn’t make Lance feel any less awkward during rehearsal. He didn’t think he was doing too badly. His dancing had certainly gotten better since he’d first started, but he was still nowhere near the level of the other guys.

Joey and Chris were closer to him, but still didn’t miss nearly as many steps as he did. And JC and Justin still made the whole thing seem effortless. Though, JC didn’t seem to be throwing as much energy into the routine today as he normally did. But Lance just figured he was still tired, despite that nap that he’d taken earlier.

Not that tiredness wasn’t justified. Their days were full of rehearsals that were draining physically and mentally. It would all be worth it though when they made it through the demo, and Lance was sure that he’d be comfortable with the choreography by then. At least that was what he was banking on now that he knew the guys wouldn’t replace him just because it was taking him a little longer to pick up the routines.

Dave, the choreographer, counted them off before cuing the music, and the five of them launched into the routine again. Lance counted in his head as he watched himself in the large mirror, trying to make sure he hit all of the steps correctly. Everything was going well until he reached a turn they did.

Lance’s feet had gotten crossed the wrong way, causing him to turn the opposite direction. After a couple seconds, the music stopped, and Lance withheld the sigh he wanted to release. That’d been the closest he’d been to getting the routine down and he messed up on a stupid little turn.

“Alright, that was good, guys. Lance, you nearly had it. You just need to make sure you turn the other way next time,” Dave said, smiling.

Lance blushed slightly, not believing he’d made such a silly mistake. But then Joey reached over and nudged him gently, offering an encouraging smile. That made Lance smile a little, knowing that he was getting better and they were bound to have easy screw ups occasionally.

“OK. Let’s take it once more from the top. Then we’ll move on to the second half of it,” Dave instructed.

“Make sure you turn the right way this time,” Chris told Lance, a smile taking out the sting of his words.

“You’re one to talk, old man,” Justin retorted. “Wasn’t it just like twenty minutes ago you got busted for doing a hop step instead of a jump?”

Chris glared playfully at him. “Don’t be surprised if my foot accidentally comes out and trips you.”

“Alright, let’s focus guys,” Dave called, trying to reign in their attention. He walked over to the stereo. “Get into position, and we’ll go through it again.”

Without another word, the five of them all reset themselves in the starting position for the song. Dave turned on the music, signaling the start of the routine. This time it was nearly flawless, and Lance felt more comfortable with the steps.

“Good job, guys. We’re going to move on now and pick it up with Lance’s solo around the bridge,” Dave said.

“You mean Lance’s sexy talk,” Chris corrected, laughing. Joey and Justin joined him and JC smiled slightly, but Lance didn’t mind. It was all in good fun.

“You’re just jealous,” Lance replied.

“Of that corny cheese you have to say?” Chris shot back playfully. “You wish.”

“Leave him alone, Chris. It’s not like he wrote it,” Joey said, smiling at Lance.

“No. It’d probably be worse,” Chris replied.

“Oh!” the others chorused while Lance laughed. Earlier that week he probably would’ve taken offence to that. But now that he’d gotten to know them, it was easy to see that they didn’t mean anything by it.

“OK, that’s enough. Lance,” Dave looked over at him, “I’m going to do something a little different with you today. I want you to come to the front and work the crowd for a few seconds during your solo.”

Lance frowned. “Work the crowd?”

“It doesn’t have to be a lot. You can just reach out and grab their hands or something. Then you’ll do the moves that we’d practiced earlier this week while the others are doing their flips,” Dave instructed.

“So am I going to the left or the right?” Lance asked.

Dave thought for a second before he said, “To the left. You can back up a bit when you go to do your steps as the others are flipping, but I don’t want you to go too far. OK?”

Lance nodded, and Dave walked back over to the stereo. Dave gave his own nod to Lance before he hit play. Feeling self-conscious with the guys watching him, Lance moved forward to the left and knelt down as if the crowd was really there.

He felt ridiculous pretending that a crowd of people were there when really he was just looking at himself in the mirror. Behind him, the guys snickered quietly to themselves. But Lance tried to focus on picturing what it would be like to have an audience in front of him, which made it seem a little less awkward.

“C’mon, Lance,” Justin called. “Work it. Give the ladies what they want.”

Lance rolled his eyes and shook his head as he rose to his feet. He started to move his hips and swing his right arm like he’d been taught earlier that week. The other four moved behind him and set themselves up for their flips.

They were all supposed to flip at the same time, and Lance watched in the mirror as Justin and Joey did a back flip to the right, while Chris and JC moved to the left. Normally it went smoothly, but not this time. JC was doing a one-handed backhand spring and pushed his body into the air only to fall hard as his shoulder folded beneath him.

Dave stopped the music as Joey laughed slightly, asking, “Man, are you OK?”

They all expected JC to jump up right away because the fall hadn’t looked too bad. Not to mention, when he did mess up, he was usually quick about getting right back into it. So it was concerning that he was still lying there and clutching his shoulder.

Before any of them could try to help JC up, Dave came over and knelt down next to him. Lance stepped closer, wanting to know exactly what was wrong, but far enough that he wouldn’t interfere. He hoped that JC had just gotten the wind knocked out of him, but his face pinched in pain made that seem unlikely.

Dave gently pried JC’s left hand away from his shoulder and touched it, causing JC to hiss in pain. “I’m going to help you sit up, so we can take a look at that shoulder, alright?”

JC nodded and Dave pushed him to a slumped sitting position. When Dave crouched in front of JC, he asked, “Can you move your arm out to the side?”

“I don’t think so,” JC said even as he moved his right arm slightly, causing him to grimace.

“You should probably get checked out,” Dave replied.

Chris frowned from above them. “Is it that serious?”

“I don’t know. It could just be that he did something to one of the muscles, but it’s a good idea to get it looked at. Just in case it’s something more serious, so it can heal properly,” Dave explained.

“What about rehearsal?” Lance asked, staring at JC worriedly. It definitely didn’t sound good.

“We can’t do anything more today, so we’ll catch up whatever we need to tomorrow,” Dave said. “You guys got a doctor you can take him to?”

“Yeah, there’s a clinic my mom found back when we were on MMC,” Justin said.

Dave nodded and dismissed them, wishing JC luck at the doctor. Joey grabbed JC’s left hand and pulled him to his feet quickly. Together the five of them headed for the van, worry radiating off of all of them. This was the first time they’d had to deal with an injury that was serious enough to warrant being looked at by a doctor, and it was unnerving. So Lance hoped, for JC’s sake, that nothing was seriously wrong.

 

Chris leaned his head back against the wall his bed was pressed up against and flipped the page of the latest issue of Sports Illustrated that he’d picked up earlier that week. It was a nice way for him to unwind before bed, especially after how eventful the day had been. More specifically, the visit to the doctor’s office.

That’d been something that’d really worried all of them. They’d all experienced injuries before, but they’d feared the worst with JC’s shoulder. After all, he’d landed on it pretty hard and it seemed to cause him intense pain.

Just then JC walked in dressed in sweatpants and a t-shirt, his typical bed wear. He offered Chris a small smile before he lied down on his bed, shifting so that he was slightly upright. But Chris didn’t miss the wince of pain as JC tried to find a comfortable position.

It was obvious that his shoulder was still bothering him, but he was trying to downplay it. That was something that JC had done in the doctor’s office while Chris waited in the examination room with him for the x-rays.

“What exactly happened at the warehouse?” Chris asked.

JC stared at him in disbelief, and said simply, “I fell.”

“I know, but you always nail that flip,” Chris pointed out.

“I can’t be perfect,” JC said, rocking slightly on the examination table he was sitting on.

“No one’s asking you to be.”

JC turned his head towards the door for a moment before focusing his attention on his feet dangling off the table. “Then what’s the big deal?”

“You should say something if you’re not feeling a hundred percent,” Chris said, leaning against the opposite wall.

“What are you talking about?” JC asked, looking up at him.

“You were rubbing your shoulder all through rehearsal,” Chris explained.

“It was just a little stiff. It wasn’t the reason I fell,” JC said.

Chris had wanted to say more, but that’d been when the doctor had come in with the x-ray results. Nothing had been broken like they’d expected. But what they had found out was that the muscle had been overworked and putting all of his weight on it had been what caused JC to fall.

And that just confirmed the worry that Chris had expressed to JC. He didn’t want him to feel like he had to keep going no matter what the cost would be to his body. It wasn’t healthy and it was stupid to risk injuring himself seriously.

The doctor had put an icepack on JC’s shoulder and wrapped it with gauze to prevent swelling. He’d also told JC to take it easy on his shoulder and gave him a few simple exercises he should do in order to keep the muscle from stiffening up. But Chris knew JC wasn’t going to adhere to taking it easy on his shoulder since he probably felt he had to do the choreography.

“Mom,” Justin complained, walking into the room with Lynn behind him. “I don’t need you to tuck me in. I’m not a little kid anymore.”

“You know, someday you’ll miss this,” Lynn told him matter-of-factly.

“Yeah, someday. Not today,” Justin said.

“C’mon, get under,” Lynn said, holding the sheets up for Justin to slide under. Justin grumbled even as he acquiesced with her request.

Chris couldn’t hold back the smirk that he felt cross his lips. It was amusing to see Justin so agitated with Lynn because he was trying desperately to act like he didn’t need his mom anymore. But all of them got mothered by her in some way, especially JC.

Lynn had about freaked when they’d walked in the door and she saw the icepack attached to JC’s shoulder. It’d taken them up through dinner to convince her that JC was alright and given instructions on how to care for his shoulder. But that hadn’t stopped her from fussing over him.

“Good night, sweetie,” Lynn told Justin, leaning over to kiss his forehead.

Justin sighed, but said, “Good night, Mom.”

Lynn smiled at him and turned to leave when she stopped at the foot of JC’s bed. He hadn’t moved since he’d first lied down, and he didn’t really look that comfortable. And apparently, Lynn agreed.

“JC, honey, why don’t you get under the covers?” she suggested.

JC shook his head slightly. “I’m hot,” he said when Lynn opened her mouth to ask why.

Immediately, Lynn frowned and moved to the side of JC’s bed. She bent over him and placed her hand on his forehead. After a second, she pulled away slightly and said, “Well, you don’t have a fever…”

“I’m not sick,” JC confirmed. “I’m just kind of hot right now.”

“Well, do you want me to get you a blanket you can pull over you if you get cold?” Lynn asked.

“Mom,” Justin complained. “Leave him alone. If he gets cold, he can get under his covers.”

Lynn stared at JC for a moment before she nodded and sighed. “Alright. I’ll see you boys in the morning.”

Chris tossed his magazine on the dresser as she turned out the light. Once she was gone, he lied flat on his back. He glanced over at JC’s bed and hoped that JC would take care of his shoulder. Because while it hadn’t been his fault that he’d gotten hurt, it was a setback for them. The demo was only six days away, so it was approaching quickly. But, at the same time, Chris hoped that JC had learned a lesson from today and wouldn’t push himself past his limits.

The early morning sun warmed Chris’s back as he sat on the kitchen counter in front of the window. He’d been up for a while, so he was already dressed and enjoying his breakfast. It was just toast and coffee because he hadn’t felt like actually cooking something, but that was perfectly fine with him. Lynn spoiled them with all the cooking she did.

A peaceful quiet encompassed the house, broken only by the rhythmic pulse of the washing machine in the next room. Lynn had been doing laundry ever since Chris had gotten up, which was nearly forty-five minutes ago. He could hear her humming and figured she was folding clothes.

As he took another bite of toast, Chris registered that the soft humming stopped. That was when Lynn stepped out of the laundry room with a t-shirt in her hands. “Joey,” she said. “Is this yours?”

Joey, who’d been searching the cupboards for something to eat, turned around to look at the t-shirt that she was now holding up. He eyed it for a second before he shook his head and said, “That’s JC’s.”

Lynn nodded her thanks and walked back into the laundry room. She did laundry for the other guys since they didn’t exactly have time to do it themselves. But Chris insisted on doing his himself. He was used to doing it and felt that he didn’t need Lynn to mother him as much since he was the oldest.

Chris popped the last piece of toast into his mouth before wiping the crumbs off his hands just as Justin walked into the room. He greeted him with a smile, and Justin acknowledged it with a grunt as he went straight for the cabinet that held the dishes. Time for his daily bowl of cereal.

Joey placed a Pop Tart into the toaster, having decided what he wanted. He sighed and rested his left elbow on the counter in front of him, rubbing at his eyes. A loud yawn escaped his lips, and he dropped his head tiredly.

“God, I’m so tired,” Joey moaned as he straightened.

“Aren’t we all,” Chris muttered. They’d been keeping to the same routine for a week now, so you’d think they’d be used to it by now. But they all dragged this early in the morning, especially since they worked all day and hardly got time to relax.

“I need a night out,” Joey said.

“You wanna go to Citrus tonight?” Chris asked. Justin, who’d reached past Joey for the box of Apple Jacks, rolled his eyes at that before taking his cereal to the table where he’d placed his bowl.

Joey sighed. “We always go there. We should go somewhere else.”

“How about that place that’s across from the movie theater? Tabu,” Chris suggested.

“Yeah,” Joey agreed, smiling. “We can even get McDonald’s afterwards. You know, late night snack.”

Justin mumbled something to himself as he put the milk back in the fridge, having added it to his cereal. Chris frowned, but ignored his behavior. He’d be better once he ate his breakfast.

“Sounds like a plan,” Chris said, returning his attention to Joey.

They were interrupted by the toaster popping up. Joey grabbed the Pop Tart and wrinkled his nose in disgust at it. So he tossed the charred pastry into the garbage and put another Pop Tart in the toaster, setting the toaster on a lower level.

“I can’t believe you just wasted a perfectly good Pop Tart,” Chris said.

“Perfectly good?” Joey echoed, looking at him in disbelief. “It was black.”

Chris shrugged. “I would’ve eaten it.”

“Well, you’re weird,” Joey said, and Chris couldn’t help but smile. That hadn’t been the first time Joey had forgotten to change the setting on the toaster and had thrown out burnt food because of it. But it still amused Chris when it happened.

Lynn came out of the laundry room, closing the door behind her. She was carrying a basket full of clothes and had nearly crossed the kitchen when she frowned at Justin. He was dumping some sugar onto his already sugary cereal.

“Sweetie, why don’t you take it easy with the sugar, huh?” Lynn said, setting the laundry basket on the other end of the table as she focused her attention on Justin.

Justin glared up at his mom from where he was sitting at the table. “Would you just leave me alone?” he snapped.

Chris stared at his youngest friend in surprise. He’d never heard him actually yell at Lynn before in the month that he’d known him. Sure, he’d sounded annoyed with her mothering, but never had he snapped at her like that. But clearly, this was something that Lynn was used to.

“I just don’t think you need that much sugar,” Lynn said. Justin just rolled his eyes and went back to eating his cereal.

“What’s the matter, Justy? Get up on the wrong side of the bed today?” Chris teased, drawing Justin’s piercing gaze to him.

Chris could practically see Justin grinding his teeth together and working his jaw like he was going to say something when his attention was grabbed by his mom. Lynn had taken the cereal box off the table and closed it before taking it back to the cabinet Justin had gotten it out of earlier. And if the angry expression on Justin’s face was any indication, it wasn’t something that was appreciated.

Just then JC tiredly shuffled into the room, looking like he just rolled out of bed. He was still dressed in his pajamas and his hair was sticking up in odd places. It’d been his day to sleep in a bit longer, so Chris was kind of surprised to see him up already because he hadn’t expected him for another half hour.

“Nice hair, man,” Chris greeted, smirking slightly.

JC just hummed in agreement as he reached into the cupboard for a mug and poured himself a cup of coffee. Lynn turned and frowned slightly when she saw what he was doing.

“Aren’t you a little young to be drinking coffee?” she asked, watching as JC poured some milk into it.

“Let the man have his coffee,” Chris said, coming to JC’s defense. JC still looked half asleep and probably didn’t know what to say. “It’s not like he’d be bouncing off the walls like Justin.”

Lynn smiled, while Chris noticed Justin’s face twist at the slight jab out of the corner of his eye. It was obvious that Justin’s mood wasn’t improving, but Chris was going to leave him alone for the moment. He glanced over at Joey, who was fighting another yawn and JC, who looked equally as tired.

“Hey, Jace,” Chris said, waiting until JC’s blue eyes met his own brown. “Me and Joey are going to Tabu tonight. You interested?”

JC shrugged and nodded. “Sure.”

“Is that really such a good idea? Shouldn’t you stay home and rest your shoulder?” Lynn asked, her forehead creased with concern.

“I feel fine,” JC said. “I mean, it’s a little stiff, but I just woke up.”

“I just don’t want you overdoing it and injuring it further,” Lynn said.

“I’ll come home if it starts to hurt. I promise,” JC told her.

“Alright,” she agreed and offered him a smile. “You boys better finish eating. You’re going to have to leave soon.”

They nodded and Lynn picked up the laundry basket before walking out of the room. The toaster popped then for the second time, but Joey let it sit there as he went into the fridge for the carton of orange juice. He pulled down a glass from the cabinet next to the sink.

“So what’s the plan for tonight?” Chris asked.

Joey closed the carton and said, “We drop off Lance and Baby J, and then we head out.”

“What about dinner?” Chris asked.

“We can grab something on the way there,” Joey said. “No way am I missing out on dinner.”

Chris looked over at JC, who’d yet to say anything about their plans. “Sound good?” he asked.

JC swallowed a mouthful of coffee and said, “Yeah.”

Joey grinned and patted him on the shoulder. He tossed the Pop Tart on his plate before grabbing it and the glass. With his breakfast in hand, Joey walked into the living room, and JC refilled his mug before following him.

That left just Chris and Justin in the kitchen. Chris took that opportunity to really look at Justin. He’d been a lot quieter than he normally was, even with him eating his cereal. The only exception being when he’d yelled at Lynn.

Justin’s mouth seemed to be set in a permanent frown. He was staring at his bowl as he played with the food that was still floating in the milk. But he was very stiff, especially with how he was sitting. Chris had never seen Justin look so mature before. And it made him think that there was something bothering Justin other than usual morning grouchiness.

“What’s wrong, J? Why you in such a bad mood?” Chris asked. Justin didn’t say anything, but grunted as he shoved a spoonful of Apple Jacks into his mouth. There was a slight pause before Chris tried again. “Teenage hormones acting up?”

Justin released his spoon, letting it clang loudly against the porcelain bowl. He scowled at Chris as he propelled the chair backwards and rose to his feet. Without another glance at Chris, Justin stormed out of the kitchen towards his bedroom.

Chris watched him go and frowned. It was so weird to see Justin so miserable since he was usually always in a good mood and energetic. But that didn’t mean he couldn’t have a bad day now and then. And that’s what Chris was attributing it to. After all, what they were doing was hard on Justin, especially since he was still a kid.

 

Lance stared out the window from the backseat of Lynn’s car. She was taking him and Justin to the movies. It’d been Justin’s idea to go because he’d wanted to see a movie for almost a week, but they’d never had the time. Though, there was more to it than that.

Justin had made it pretty obvious that he didn’t want to just sit at home while the other guys were out clubbing. Not that Lance was complaining. Their days were so busy that it’d be nice to spend a few hours relaxing, especially after today’s rehearsal.

Dave had to skip over the bridge of Tell Me That I’m Dreaming since JC couldn’t do the flip and it would’ve looked off with only three of them doing back flips. The rest of the routine had gone a lot slower than normal because Dave wanted to take it slow for JC’s sake, even though JC had continuously insisted that he was fine.

Finally, they’d decided to move onto a new routine because there was still more they needed to work on. They started learning the steps for Give into Me. The difficulty wasn’t as high as the other songs, but it was still hard to get the new moves while keeping the old ones straight. So a night of relaxation was more than deserved.

The car came to a stop and Lynn turned in her seat to smile at Lance. “I’ll be back here at twelve-thirty to pick you boys up.”

“Mom,” Justin complained, rolling his eyes. “We’re gonna be late.”

“Alright. Go enjoy the movie and I’ll see you right out front afterwards,” Lynn said, handing Justin a twenty dollar bill.

“Thanks, Mom,” Justin said as he pushed open the passenger door. Lance echoed his words of thanks before getting out. Together the two of them walked into the movie theater and stepped up to the end of the line for the ticket counter.

There were at least four people in front of them, but it seemed to be moving fairly quickly. Lance looked up at the show times on the board and glanced down at his watch. They’d had at least ten minutes before the movie started.

“We’ll have just enough time to stop at the concession stand,” Lance said.

“Uh huh.” Justin’s attention was focused out the huge glass window as he muttered to himself, “C’mon.”

Lance frowned as he stepped forward, the line having moved. He looked over his shoulder, wondering what Justin was staring at. All he could see was Lynn’s car pulling away from the front of the building and heading down the street, back towards the house. But apparently that was what Justin had been waiting for because he walked out of line and towards the door they’d just come through.

“Justin, what are you doing?” Lance asked, following him, knowing that he wouldn’t get an answer if he didn’t.

Justin glanced over at him in disbelief before he said, “Leaving.”

“But what about the movie?”

“We’re going to do something better,” Justin said as he led them to the crosswalk and pressed the button.

“What?” Lance asked, sure that he wasn’t going to like the answer, but wanted to know why Justin was hiding it behind the guise of seeing a movie.

“We’re going to Tabu,” Justin told him.

Lance stared at him. “You mean the club that Chris, Joey, and JC are at?”

“It’s not fair that they always go out without us,” Justin said.

Lance sighed, but started to cross the street when Justin pulled on the fabric of his t-shirt. He really shouldn’t have been surprised because Justin had made such a big stink about the others going clubbing the last time they went out. And Lance could understand where he was coming from. That didn’t mean he agreed with this sudden impromptu trip to a club they weren’t even able to go to though.

“How exactly are we going to get in?” Lance asked. “We’re underage, remember?”

“We sneak in the back,” Justin said as if it were obvious.

“Don’t you think they’d have bouncers back there to prevent that kind of thing?”

Justin shook his head. “I doubt it. I mean, how many people really try to go in through the back?”

Lance didn’t have an answer as they started to walk past the front entrance of the club. They rounded the corner and entered a dimly lit alley. Immediately, he felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up and he glanced over his shoulder. He didn’t expect anything to be there, but he couldn’t help the uneasy feeling that came over him.

“Can’t we just go back to the movie theater?” Lance asked, not liking sneaking around a dark alley at such a late hour.

“We can’t go back now. We’re nearly there,” Justin said.

Lance wanted to point out that it’d be easy to turn back because all they’d done was cross the street. It wasn’t like they’d had to walk twenty blocks just to try to sneak into this club. But he didn’t bother because he knew that Justin wouldn’t listen. He seemed to have his mind made up and probably would only abandon the idea if they couldn’t get in.

Just then they reached the end of the alley, and Lance sighed in relief when he saw a tall fence between them and the back door to the club. He figured Justin would realize what a bad idea it was and turn around. Instead, Justin grabbed onto the fence and carefully started to climb.

“C’mon, Lance,” Justin called to him once he was halfway up and glanced over his shoulder to see that Lance was still standing at the base of the fence.

Lance wanted to protest about how dangerous it was and that he was crazy, but Justin was already nearing the top of the fence. They’d passed the point of backing out of this. So with much reluctance, Lance thread each hand through an open diamond in the fence and slowly climbed up, wishing that they’d just stayed at the movie theater.

 

JC stood on the second level of the club, leaning against the balcony railing. He’d been at the bar earlier, but left shortly after he’d gotten his drink. The club was crowded, and he’d lost sight of Chris a while ago. Last time he’d seen him, he’d been dancing with a leggy blonde.

The balcony hadn’t been too congested when JC had first gotten there, but it seemed that more people were joining him. Not that he’d expected anything less. From what he’d heard this nightclub was one of the best in the area.

Taking a sip from his water bottle, JC scanned the dance floor below him and watched all of the people dance to the song that was currently blasting from large speakers. He vaguely wondered where Joey had gone off to because he’d seen him at the bar nearly fifteen minutes ago. But he figured Joey was somewhere dancing with the girl he’d been chatting with earlier.

“Hey, man!” a voice greeted as a hand fell onto his shoulder. JC couldn’t help but flinch in surprise at the touch, even as he recognized the voice to be Joey’s.

JC turned slightly and offered his friend a smile. “Hey, Joe. Having fun?”

“Loads,” Joey said with a big grin. “What about you? I haven’t really seen you dance.”

JC gave a one shoulder shrug, trying to be mindful of his injury. “I don’t really feel like it.”

“You should at least hit it up with some girl.” Joey’s eyes scanned the crowd before he gently nudged JC and pointed to a petite brunette sitting at the bar. “There. Go buy her a drink and talk to her.”

JC didn’t really feel like striking up a conversation with some girl that he didn’t even know. The only reason he’d really wanted to come was to hopefully tire himself out, so he could actually get some sleep. But he didn’t want to make a big deal about just wanting to hang out, so he nodded at Joey and headed downstairs towards the bar.

As JC made his way through the throng of people, he could easily see how pretty this girl was. She had long, flowing hair and beautiful brown eyes. It was kind of too bad that he wasn’t interested because she definitely was his type. But that was certainly the last thing on his mind at the moment.

“Can I buy you a drink?” JC asked, leaning in so she could hear him once he’d reached the bar. Since he wasn’t twenty-one, he wasn’t able to buy alcoholic drinks and the red wristband on his left wrist made sure the bartenders knew it. However, he could pay for her drink if she ordered something alcoholic.

“Oh, well, I’ve already got one,” she said as she gestured to a glass full of a red liquid. Probably some kind of mixed drink.

“Oh, OK,” JC said, and he turned to go. Part of him was relieved that he hadn’t had to try to talk to her. But that relief was short lived because she wrapped a hand around his wrist.

“Where you going, cutie?” she asked with a smile. “Pull up a seat and let’s get to know each other.”

“What’s your name?” JC asked.

She opened her mouth to answer and JC’s mind wandered. His shoulder was starting to twinge and he was about ready to leave. That probably wouldn’t happen for a while though because Joey and Chris were clearly having a good time. Not that JC really minded since he was banking on being out late to help him sleep.

“So you don’t have to worry about any telekinesis,” she said, laughing slightly. JC blinked before he forced a chuckle, knowing that he probably should be laughing, but not quite sure at what. “And what about you?”

It took JC a second for him to realize that she was asking him what his name was. “JC,” he said.

“Well, JC,” she leaned closer to him and put her hand on top of his, “I’m glad you came over to talk to me.”

“Yeah, me too,” JC said, forcing a smile. It all felt wrong, but he didn’t want to hurt her feelings. “So, uh…you come here often?”

She laughed, and JC felt his cheeks redden slightly. Had he really just tossed her a pickup line? He’d just been searching for something to say, and that’d been the first thing that’d popped into his head. It wasn’t like he was trying to use corny pickup lines.

“You’re cute,” she told him. “Yes, I’m here every weekend with my friends.”

“Where are they at?” JC asked.

She shrugged. “Around.” Just then a new song started pounding through the speakers and she sat up straighter. “You wanna dance?”

JC hesitated. He didn’t want to, but he didn’t want to come off as rude. And one dance wouldn’t kill him, so he said, “Sure.”

She wrapped her hand around his and led him towards the dance floor. They managed to find a small space for the two of them among the tightly packed crowd. Without saying a word, she grabbed his hands and placed them on her hips before throwing her arms around his neck.

The pulse of the beat flowed into him, and their bodies moved in rhythm with each other and the music. JC tried to keep some distance between them, but every time he pulled away slightly, she’d just press against him tighter. It was uncomfortable, but he could tolerate it for this one song.

What he couldn’t stand was when her hands moved from his neck and started to roam down his chest. Gently, he tried once again to pull away, but she continued to feel his body. It was when she started to grope his crotch that JC’s mind flashbacked to what’d happened yesterday, making him sick to his stomach.

JC tried to step back, out of her reach, but he backed into someone. Immediately, his breathing sped up as the feeling of being trapped consumed him. It was like what’d happened with Lou all over again, and he couldn’t handle it.

An overwhelming need to get her off him came over JC. He pushed her away, ignoring her glare and protest as he moved swiftly off the dance floor. Bile started to rise in his throat and JC picked up his pace. The men’s room was a few feet in front of him now, and he made it there in record time.

As soon as he crossed the threshold, he went into a stall and dropped to his knees, not bothering to close the door. Flashes of Lou assaulting him raced through his mind, causing his body to retch painfully. It lasted for a couple of minutes before JC sat back on his heels, shaking and trying to catch his breath to calm his churning stomach.

Nearly a minute passed before JC was able to rise to his feet on unsteady legs. He walked out of the stall and realized that he lucked out. No one was in the bathroom but him. So he took his time and made his way to the sink.

JC turned on the faucet and cupped some water in his hands before splashing his face with it. He looked into the dirt covered mirror and frowned at his pale complexion. Maybe some air would do him good. Tiredly, he wiped his face with a paper towel before wandering out of the bathroom and towards the back door.

 

“So what’s the plan again?”

Justin sighed and glanced over at Lance. They were crouched in the shadows so they were hidden from view, but could still keep an eye on the door. Nearly ten minutes had passed and so far nothing had happened.

“We wait for someone to come out and catch the door before it can close,” Justin said.

“Well, how do we know someone’s even going to come out?” Lance asked.

“Why else would they have a door here?” Justin countered.

It was Lance’s turn to sigh. Justin could really be stubborn when he set his mind on something. Clearly, he wouldn’t be persuaded that this wasn’t a good idea very easily.

“It’s probably just an emergency exit,” Lance said. It made sense because why else would there be no handles on the outside? When he’d first seen that, he thought for sure that Justin would give up the idea. He should’ve known better.

“Well, whoever comes out here’s probably not smart enough to realize that,” Justin replied.

“Can’t we just go back?” Lance asked after a moment. “We can probably make the next showing.”

“No,” Justin said, firmly.

Lance frowned. It seemed like there was more to this that Justin wasn’t telling him. “Why’s it so important to you that we get in?”

“Because I’m tired of them going out without me. Without us,” Justin said.

“We’re not exactly old enough to go out with them,” Lance pointed out.

“Why are you defending them?” Justin asked, his voice rising slightly. “They’re excluding you too.”

“I know, but it’s not like they have any control over it,” Lance said.

“They could stay home. Or they could do something with us. But do they? No. They desert me for some stupid club and girls they’ll probably never see again, and they expect me to just be OK with it. It’s not fair,” Justin ranted.

“You’re right.” Lance wasn’t too surprised at what Justin was saying because he’d quickly realized that the other guys talking about going clubbing really bothered him. He just never knew how much until now. And Lance sympathized with him because even though he was two years older, he was in the same boat. “But isn’t there a better way to let them know that?”

“If they see me in there, then maybe they’ll stop treating me like a kid,” Justin said.

“Or maybe they’ll treat you like a kid even more,” Lance countered.

Justin’s eyebrows furrowed. “What are you talking about? Getting into the club shows that I was smart enough to sneak in.”

“What it shows is that it bothers you,” Lance said.

“Well, of course it bothers me!” Justin exclaimed. “They go out and leave me at home with my mom. Now don’t get me wrong, I love my mom, but I’m the only one whose mom’s here. And that’s just one more thing Chris uses to tease me.”

“Have you told him how you feel? Maybe he’d stop if he knew.”

Justin shrugged. “We talked, but obviously he didn’t listen to a word I said. He still goes clubbing every chance he gets and makes me feel like a kid.”

“He probably just does it because he knows that he’ll get a rise out of you,” Lance said. “And that’s exactly what he’ll do if he sees you in that club.”

“Well, it’s not just that.”

“What else?” Lance asked, wondering how deep Justin’s ill feelings towards the others going clubbing really ran.

“JC’s always going out with Joey and Chris,” Justin said.

“What’s wrong with that?”

“Nothing,” Justin said. “But he used to spend more time with me. Now he goes out every time they do.”

Lance frowned, feeling like he should say something. Nothing was coming to mind though because he had to tread lightly. Justin obviously felt comfortable enough to tell him how he was feeling that Lance didn’t want to screw that up by saying something that would upset him even more.

“It’s not that he can’t go out and have fun, but that used to be something that we did together. I feel like Joey and Chris are taking my place, and I’m being phased out. I’m losing my best friend, and there’s not a damn thing I can do about it,” Justin ranted.

“What are you talking about? I’ve seen how close you guys are. JC’ll never stop being your friend,” Lance said.

“Yeah, friend,” Justin replied, the word leaving his lips like it disgusted him. “That’s all he is right now. He’s supposed to be my best friend, but he’s not acting like it.”

Some people might think that Justin was being immature and possessive by being so upset about his best friend hanging out with other people, but Lance understood why he was so upset. He would be too if he had the relationship Justin had with JC. A best friend was something that you cherished and never wanted to let go of, so it wasn’t hard to understand where Justin was coming from.

“Why haven’t you told JC this? I’m sure he wouldn’t go out as much if he knew that it bothered you,” Lance said.

“I want him to hang out with me because he wants to. I don’t want him to do it just because he feels guilty or is doing it out of pity.” There was a pause before Justin said quietly, “I just want my best friend back.”

Lance looked over at Justin and saw the pinched expression on his face. Like he was trying not to cry. Something needed to be said, but Lance wasn’t sure what. He couldn’t believe that JC was purposely avoiding Justin by going clubbing with Joey and Chris, but he didn’t know what to make of it either. Because while he didn’t really know JC that well, Justin seemed to think that JC’s behavior of late was out of character, so who was Lance to say that Justin was wrong?

But before Lance could say anything, the door started to open. He half expected Justin to prepare to bolt for the door, but all thoughts of sneaking in died when they saw who walked out. It was JC.

Lance spared a glance at Justin, wondering what they were going to do now that they were essentially caught. Justin didn’t meet his eyes as he rose from his crouched position and quickly wiped at his eyes before stepping out of the shadows. Following his lead, Lance stood up too.

The door closed behind JC with a click as he stepped out into the cool night air. Closing his eyes, he took a deep breath and released it slowly. He ran a hand through his hair before it rested on the back of his neck.

“Hey,” Justin said, moving closer.

JC jumped and quickly turned to see them. “Geez, Justin,” JC let out in a breath, his features relaxing. “Don’t sneak up on me like that.”

“Sorry,” Justin apologized.

Lance understood why JC had startled. It was unnerving having someone sneak up on you, especially when you were in a dimly lit area behind a club. He still looked a little unsettled, but his focus was on them, obviously trying to push that feeling away.

“What are you guys doing here?” JC asked.

“We were trying to sneak in.” When JC sighed heavily, Justin added, “I know it was a bad idea.”

“Then why, Justin?”

“I just wanted to see if I could do it,” Justin said, shrugging slightly and lacking the boastfulness that would’ve accompanied it. Lance figured that what Justin had confided to him must’ve brought him down and made him realize they shouldn’t have been there in the first place.

When Justin noticed the weary look on JC’s face, he added, “Yeah, it was stupid. I don’t even know what we would done if we got in.”

JC didn’t say anything, but let out another sigh. He averted his eyes and stared at the brick wall opposite of them. And Justin took advantage of the silence to ask a question of his own.

“Why are you out here?”

JC brought his eyes up to meet Justin’s and said, “I just needed air. It’s stuffy in there.”

“Well, you know you’re locked out, right?” Justin asked, gesturing to the door behind JC.

“Great,” JC muttered, turning and confirming what Justin had said. He returned his attention to them. “Does your mom even know you’re gone?”

“Yeah. She dropped us off at the movies,” Justin said.

“Then you guys should probably head back,” JC replied.

There was no argument as they led JC over to the fence that separated the back of the club from the alley. Obviously he needed to go over with them so he could get back into the club. But it was clear that JC disapproved of what they’d done to sneak in.

“You climbed a fence?” JC asked, exasperation evident in his voice.

“It’s not like it was an electric fence,” Justin mumbled, grabbing onto the open diamond and starting to climb.

JC hesitated briefly before he followed Justin, grimacing slightly as he did so. He was probably agitating his shoulder with all that movement. Lance felt kind of bad about it, but JC would’ve had to climb the fence anyway since he’d gone outside where there was no way to get back in.

It only took them a few minutes to climb over and walk out of the alley. They paused on the corner of the street, just near the club’s entrance. JC glanced across the street, and Justin’s eyes followed his gaze.

“Do you want to come with us?” Justin asked. He said it casually enough, but Lance could tell that Justin was probably hoping that JC would say yes. It was like he trying to be grown up about it, but all he really wanted was to hang out with his best friend.

“I should get back in there,” JC said. Though, it didn’t sound like he really wanted to. But he added, “We’ll probably be home soon. Now get outta here before you get in trouble.”

Justin offered JC a small smile and pressed the button for the crosswalk. The light changed and the two of them crossed the street. It only took five minutes to make it back to the movie theater. By that time, they’d missed half the movie, but decided to buy a ticket anyway.

They stopped at the concession stand, loading up on soda and popcorn before entering the dark theater. Since it was so dark, they sat towards the back and tried to get into the movie. But they found they’d missed too much of the plot, so they started off quietly pointing out stupid things that the characters did.

Eventually, it escalated to them actually laughing at the ridiculousness of it. At one point they were laughing so loud that a middle-aged woman sitting in front of them actually turned around to shush them, which just made them laugh harder. Lance was happy to see Justin enjoying himself, especially since his mood had darkened back behind the club. But something good came out of it. He felt closer to Justin now than he ever had.

Joey unconsciously tapped out the beat to the song playing on a local radio station against the side of the car. He, Chris, and Justin were on their way back from the mall. They’d had a couple of hours before they had to meet at the warehouse for choreography, and Chris had wanted to use that time to buy a new pair of sneakers since his were getting pretty worn.

It’d been a while since they’d been to the mall, so Chris had invited the rest of them to join him. Joey hadn’t needed anything, but figured it’d be a nice way to relax for a bit before they continued their hectic day. And Justin had jumped at the chance to get out of the house. JC and Lance, on the other hand, had declined, and Justin had just accepted JC’s refusal. That’d surprised Joey because normally Justin would pester JC until he agreed to go, but he figured that Justin must’ve recognized how tired JC had looked.

Everyone seemed to be dragging more than usual today. Probably because they’d all stayed out so late. They’d gotten back a little after one, only to find Justin and Lance still up because they’d come home from the movies just a half hour before them. So needless to say, none of them got a whole lot of sleep.

Up ahead, golden arches caught Joey’s attention. They hadn’t gone to McDonald’s last night because by the time he and Chris had caught up with JC, it’d been late and JC had just wanted to get back. That’d been fine, but now Joey wanted to satisfy that craving.

“Hey, let’s stop at Mickey D’s for lunch,” Joey suggested.

“Sounds good,” Chris said, flicking his right turn signal on before switching lanes.

“What about JC and Lance?” Justin asked, leaning forward from the back seat.

“We’ll get them something and take it back,” Chris said.

They pulled into the McDonald’s parking lot then, and it took them a minute to find an empty parking space. Since it was during the lunch rush, it was packed full of people. The drive-thru was backed up, so they were hoping that it wouldn’t be as bad inside.

Together the three of them walked into the restaurant, and Joey groaned when he saw the line wrapped around a couple railings. They took their place at the end of the line and looked up at the menu. It wasn’t that they really needed to, but it was something that would kill time while they waited.

“What kind of happy meal do you want, Justy?” Chris teased.

Justin shrugged and said, “Doesn’t matter. Just make sure it comes with the toy you want.” At Chris’s raised eyebrow, Justin added, “I saw the way you were looking at that Barbie.”

Joey burst out laughing and slapped Chris on the back. “I didn’t know you liked dolls, man.”

“I was looking at the Hot Wheels car,” Chris mumbled, trying to keep a straight face and failing miserably.

Joey chuckled to himself, glad they’d gone out. It was nice to get out of the house without having to worry about preparing for the demo or behaving for Lou. While they liked to have as much fun as they could during rehearsals, the whole situation was really stressful since they were striving for perfection. So it felt good to put some distance between themselves and the large amount of responsibility that rested on their shoulders. At least for a few hours anyway.

“Ugh. That’s disgusting,” Justin blurted. Joey inched forward as the line moved up before following Justin’s gaze. A young kid, that was probably no more than six years old, had sneezed and gotten snot on a blue ball in the ball pit at the base of the indoor playground.

“Just think, J. You used to be a snotty kid like that,” Chris said, smirking at the disgusted look on Justin’s face.

Justin shook his head. “I was never like that. No way would I still be playing in the balls after I just sneezed all over them.”

“Aren’t those things supposed to be like really diseased anyway?” Joey asked.

“Well, that’d make sense. Kids carry so many germs, and it’s not like they disinfect those things,” Chris said.

“They should because that’s just nasty,” Justin replied.

“Would you clean up after kids that’ve probably left all kinds of bodily fluids in there?” Chris asked. Justin wrinkled his nose, and Chris nodded. “Exactly.”

“Guys, we’re up,” Joey said, nudging them forward towards the waiting cashier.

They approached the counter, and Joey and Chris ordered for themselves as well as Lance and JC. Chris glanced over his shoulder at Justin and said, “What do you want, J?”

“I’ve got it,” Justin told him.

“Just tell her what you want, and you can give your money to me if you really want to pay for yourself,” Chris said.

Justin sighed, but rattled off his order to the woman behind the register. Once all of their food was ordered, they scooched down to the left where they could wait for their food. They watched as the employees behind the counter hustled to get all of the orders fulfilled.

“Hey,” Chris elbowed Justin in the side, “better hope Drippy Nose Guy doesn’t lean too far and drip on your burger.”

Joey focused his attention on a guy that looked to be about his age who was putting the fixings on a burger to make it a Big Mac. The guy suddenly sniffed and wiped his nose with the back of his hand. It wasn’t hard to miss the smirk on Chris’s face at the grossed out expression on Justin’s face.

About five minutes later, they were handed three paper bags. They grabbed a few packets of ketchup at the island with condiments before walking out of the crowded restaurant. Justin reached into the bag and pulled out a couple fries to shove into his mouth as they piled back into the car.

Joey joined Justin in snacking on fries so there wasn’t a lot of conversation during the short drive back to the house. They pulled into the driveway behind Lynn’s car and wasted no time in getting inside, anxious to eat their lunch. As soon as they walked in they saw JC lying across the couch, and Lance sitting on the loveseat, watching TV.

“We didn’t know what you’d want, so we got you one of everything,” Joey told Lance as he placed the bag he was carrying onto the coffee table in front of the couch.

“And whatever you don’t eat, Joey will,” Justin added.

“Hey!” Joey protested. “I resent that.”

“Well, it’s true, isn’t it?” Justin asked.

“Yeah, but I don’t like you insinuating I’m a pig,” Joey complained even as he reached into the bag and grabbed two burgers and a fry.

“JC, we got food,” Chris said, ruffling his hair as he passed by the couch.

JC didn’t say anything, but rolled over so he was facing the cushions. He buried his face into the pillow, obviously not enticed by lunch. Joey wasn’t surprised by JC’s actions. They’d all come to learn that he hated to be woken up, especially when he was as tired as he’d look when they’d left.

“C’mon, C. You’re hogging the whole couch,” Chris said. Justin, who was already chowing down on his burger, had taken the last available seat next to Lance.

There was no reaction from JC. So without another word, Chris grabbed him by the waist and started to pull him off the couch. But he didn’t get very far because JC startled awake and lashed out, forcing Chris to let go and take a step back.

“Whoa, calm down, man. It’s just me,” Chris said.

JC’s eyes were wide with fright and seemed unfocused. He was panting as he sat up and looked around, taking in his surroundings. His breathing started to slow and he glanced over at Joey and Chris, calmer than he was a minute ago.

“Are you alright?” Joey asked.

“Fine,” JC mumbled, his voice kind of rough from sleep as he rubbed at his eyes.

Before anyone could say anything else to him, JC rose from the couch and left the room, heading towards his bedroom. He’d much rather sleep than eat lunch, so he was going to take advantage of the others eating to do just that. JC walked through the kitchen and entered the hallway before he caught Lynn in her bedroom out of the corner of his eye.

She was sitting on her bed, reading a book. JC didn’t really want to interrupt, but he wanted to ensure that he’d be left alone to get some sleep. He was exhausted and wanted to use the last hour they had before rehearsal to continue his nap.

Lynn caught him hovering just outside her doorway and smiled at him, asking, “What’s up, JC?”

“Do you know where Lou is?” JC asked. If he was taking a nap, he’d feel much better if he knew exactly where Lou would be. Lou hadn’t shown up at the recording session that morning, and JC worried that he’d show up at the house at some point that afternoon. After all, that’d been what’d gotten him in such a vulnerable situation in the first place.

“I think he mentioned he had some meeting to attend,” Lynn said. “Why?”

JC shrugged, trying to be nonchalant. “Just curious.”

“Are Justin, Chris, and Joey back from the mall yet?” Lynn asked.

“Yeah.” There was a pause before JC asked, “Can you do me a favor?”

“Of course, hun. What do you need?”

“Can you make sure that no one bothers me? I’m going to take a nap, and I don’t want Chris or Justin to wake me up until we have to leave,” JC said.

Lynn’s smile fell. “Are you feeling OK?”

“I’m fine,” JC assured. “Just really tired.”

“Alright. I’ll make sure they leave you alone,” Lynn said.

JC offered her a small smile. “Thanks.”

With that settled, JC continued down the hall until he reached his bedroom. As soon as he walked in and closed the door, his eyes fell onto his bed. He really didn’t want to sleep there, despite the fact that Lynn had washed his sheets the day before. Cleanliness wasn’t enough to make him forget what’d happened in that bed, and the memory of it haunted him, making it hard for him to sleep.

That was when he noticed Justin’s bed. It was unmade and looked a lot more inviting than his own. JC knew he should try to sleep in his own bed, but he was so tired. He didn’t want to spend his last hour of free time tossing and turning instead of trying to catch up on his sleep. Having made up his mind, JC climbed into Justin’s bed and sighed as he relaxed into the sheets. And sleep came much faster than it had the past two nights.

 

Justin crumpled up the hamburger wrapper and tossed it into the empty bag that sat on the floor in front of the loveseat that he and Lance were sitting on. He wasn’t really sure what to do with himself now that he’d finished eating. The others were watching a rerun of The Adam’s Family that they’d managed to find among all the talk shows and soap operas, but Justin wasn’t interested in watching TV at the moment.

He shifted in his seat, so his legs were hanging off the large arm of the loveseat. His movement caused the plastic bag at his feet to crinkle, reminding him that he’d dropped his bags from the mall there when he’d come in. And since there was nothing better to do, Justin rose to his feet to take it back to his bedroom and put it away.

Justin had picked up the bag and walked into the kitchen where his mom was at the counter fixing herself a sandwich. She turned and smiled at him before she noticed that he was heading for the hall.

“Where are you going?” Lynn asked.

Justin stopped and stared at her for a second. Was she seriously asking where he was going? The house was only so big, so it should be pretty obvious.

“My bedroom to put my stuff away,” Justin said, lifting the bag slightly as proof.

“Why don’t you just wait and do it later?” Lynn suggested.

“You always yell at me to clean up after myself and now that I am, you’re telling me to wait?”

“JC’s sleeping,” Lynn said.

“I’ll be quiet,” Justin replied dismissively. He’d thought that maybe there was something else going on, but JC taking a nap was pretty normal. No reason for Lynn to make a big deal about him going into the bedroom.

“He doesn’t want to be bothered,” she told him. “And he looked pretty tired, so I don’t want you waking him up.”

“I’ll be quiet. I swear,” Justin insisted.

Lynn was silent for a moment before she sighed, nodding. “Alright.”

Having that settled, Justin entered the hallway and walked the length of it until he reached the room that he shared with JC and Chris. The door was shut, so he carefully turned the knob and slowly pushed it open, trying to make as little noise as possible. He left it open, so he didn’t have to worry about it squeaking again when he was ready to leave.

Since he hadn’t opened the door all the way, Justin didn’t notice that JC was sleeping in his bed until he fully stepped into the room. He looked at his best friend lying in his bed and glanced at JC’s empty one in confusion. It wasn’t like he had a problem with it. Justin just didn’t know why JC was in his bed, especially since his own was closer to the door.

But it didn’t change the fact that JC was sleeping or the warning his mom had given him. JC had looked pretty tired while they’d been recording this morning, so Justin was more than happy to let him sleep. After all, he’d lived with JC for a while now, so he was used to it.

Justin gently lowered his bag onto the floor in front of his dresser since his bed was occupied. He’d bought a couple new t-shirts that he wanted to wear and didn’t have the patience to wait for his mom to wash them first. Kneeling down, Justin opened the bag and grabbed a shirt that was on top of the pile, trying to be quiet.

The bag rustled, seeming much louder in the silent room than it normally would. Worried that the noise had woken JC up, Justin immediately stopped what he was doing and looked up at his bed. JC’s eyes were still closed and he was lying just as he was when Justin had first entered, causing Justin to sigh in relief.

He didn’t want to risk waking JC up though, which would be hard since the plastic bag made so much noise. So Justin decided to just put the stuff away when they got back later that night. Carefully, he lowered the shirt back into the bag and stood up.

Justin crossed the room and stopped in the doorway to double check that JC was still sleeping. Satisfied that he was, Justin stepped back out into the hall and closed the door behind him as softly as he could, wincing at the knob squeaking as it was returned to its original position. Having nothing to do now, he headed for the living room to hang out with the guys before they had to leave.

They were all just as Justin had left them when he walked into the living room. The only difference was that the channels were flashing since Chris was searching for something new to watch. Justin rejoined Lance on the loveseat since Joey and Chris had stretched out and were taking up a lot of the couch.

“Would you guys sleep in someone else’s bed?” Justin asked after a minute of watching snippets of TV shows flicker on the screen.

Joey glanced over at him and said, “Yes. If it’s a woman.”

“I’m not asking if you’d have sex in someone’s bed,” Justin replied. “I’m asking if you’d sleep in a friend’s bed. Like mine.”

“I don’t know if I like what you’re getting at,” Chris joked.

Justin rolled his eyes as the other three laughed. “JC’s sleeping in my bed.”

“So?” Chris asked, going back to flipping.

“So isn’t that weird?” Justin pushed.

“No, but apparently you think so,” Chris said.

“Well, I’m just confused. I mean, why wouldn’t he sleep in his own bed?” Justin asked.

“Maybe it’s lumpy,” Joey offered and chuckled at Justin’s skeptical look. “Why are you getting all worked up over this? Possessive much?”

“No. I just thought it was weird, but whatever,” Justin replied. Chris landed on some game show that Justin didn’t recognize, and he focused on figuring out what the object of it was, all thoughts of the oddity of JC sleeping in his bed dissipating from his mind.

 

Tiredly, Lance sagged against the cool concrete wall. They were taking a much needed break from their choreography routines. Dave’d had them go over the steps they’d learned yesterday for Give into Me because he wanted to make sure that they got it before they moved on.

The steps weren’t overly complicated. At least in comparison to some of the other routines they’d learned. That didn’t mean it was easy though, especially since all of them seemed to be lacking energy, despite the restful afternoon they’d had. So they’d been more than ready for the fifteen minute break Dave was giving them.

JC was sitting next to where Lance was standing with his legs sprawled out in front of him and his head tilted back, resting against the wall. His eyes were closed, which, at first glance, made Lance think he was relaxing. But when he looked closer, he noticed that JC’s forehead was creased slightly and his eyes scrunched up more. It wasn’t until he reached up to massage his temples that Lance realized he must be suffering from a headache.

But he had a feeling there was more to it than that. JC had been acting kind of strange all day. His weird behavior could be attributed to the lack of sleep and a headache, but it seemed like something was bothering him. There was nothing that explicitly made it true, but throughout the day JC had almost seemed detached from what was going on around him.

“Don’t get too comfy. We have to get back to work soon,” Joey said, approaching them from where he’d been talking to Justin and Chris.

JC opened his eyes and looked up at Joey. “I’m just resting.”

“You still look pretty energized…considering,” Lance told Joey.

Joey took a swig of water and laughed. “Do I? Because I feel so drained.”

“Maybe you shouldn’t stay out so late then,” Lance said.

“Look who’s talking,” Joey replied with a knowing smile. He glanced down at JC and said, “At least it was worth it, right JC?”

“Yeah,” JC agreed, listlessly.

Joey frowned slightly before his lips turned up into a mischievous smile. “Chris! C’mere for a sec.”

“What’s up?” Chris asked after he crossed the couple of feet that’d separated them. Justin had wandered over to Dave and they were talking.

Joey didn’t answer, but tossed the rest of the contents in his water bottle at Chris. There hadn’t been a lot of water in the bottle, but it’d been enough to get the front of Chris’s shirt wet. They laughed at the surprised look on his face. Even JC broke into a genuine smile.

“What the hell was that for?” Chris exclaimed.

“A little payback,” Joey said, winking at JC, who let out a short laugh. Lance grinned, glad to see that Joey had managed to bring JC out of whatever funk he’d been in. He just hoped it’d last.

“Normally you’d be dead for pulling a stunt like that, but you were actually doing me a favor,” Chris said, looking more refreshed. That was another thing that always made rehearsal tough. The warehouse always got so stuffy, especially once they started dancing. So it wasn’t uncommon for them to leave covered in sweat.

Joey and Chris started to joke around, and Lance looked on in amusement. Things were never boring with them, which was a good thing for a day like today when they all needed a little pick-me-up. It certainly helped JC get in better spirits.

Just then Lance noticed JC tense out of the corner of his eye before rising quickly. He frowned, wondering what elicited such a reaction and followed JC’s gaze. Lou had just entered the warehouse and was walking towards them. Lance couldn’t figure why JC would react like that to seeing Lou, but he rationalized that maybe JC was afraid he’d somehow get into trouble for injuring his shoulder since he hadn’t seen Lou since it’d happened.

“Hey, boys,” Lou greeted as he got closer. “How’s it going?”

Joey and Chris sobered, and Joey answered, “Good.”

“I’m glad to hear it.” Lou looked over at JC and said, “Now what’s this I heard about you hurting your shoulder?”

“It’s nothing. I’m fine,” JC replied, avoiding Lou’s gaze.

Chris eyed JC for a moment before returning his attention to Lou. “The doctor says he overworked it.”

“What happened?” Lou asked, concerned.

“He was doing a back flip, and it gave out on him,” Lance supplied when it seemed that JC wasn’t going to offer an explanation. He must still be worried about Lou’s reaction, even though Lou didn’t seem angry.

Lou glanced at JC. “Are you alright?”

“Yeah,” JC said, quietly as he played with the hem of his shirt.

Lou smiled. “Good.”

“OK, guys. Break’s over,” Dave announced, drawing their attention to the middle of the room where he was standing.

They joined Justin and Dave and got into the positions for We Can Work It Out since Dave wanted to start going over the routines they’d learned earlier that week to make sure it was cemented. The five of them started once the music was cued with Lou standing off to the side watching. It was nerve wracking to have Lou there, especially since Lance wasn’t as comfortable with the steps as the others.

But it turned out that JC was the one having the problems, not him. JC was a beat behind the rest of them for the majority of the song. So Dave restarted the music and they went at it again. Instead of getting better, JC seemed to be off even more. He stumbled through a lot of the steps and really seemed to be struggling, which wasn’t normal for him.

Dave offered for JC to take a break or at least refrain from doing all of the arm movements, but JC refused, insisting that he was fine. They tried it once more, but nothing was different. It was clear he was having difficulties focusing, and Dave seemed to recognize that because he decided to call it a day.

As they gathered their stuff, Lance couldn’t help but wonder if his distraction came from more than his shoulder. Because if his mood from earlier was a factor, Lance hoped that JC talked to someone before he let whatever was bothering him eat him up inside.

 

Justin pulled one of his new t-shirts out of the bag. He was finally putting his purchases away. They’d just finished dinner and nothing else was planned for the rest of the evening, giving Justin the opportunity to finally complete the task he’d started that afternoon.

Like last time, JC was in the room, only he wasn’t sleeping. He was sitting on his own bed, watching as Justin put his stuff away. JC’s body language was relaxed, but he looked kind of distracted like he was wrapped up in his thoughts.

That wasn’t anything new though. JC often would don a distant expression, lost in whatever preoccupied his mind at that moment. And Justin knew there was probably no point in trying to talk to him about it. At least not yet because there was no indication that it was anything serious.

The only thing JC was probably thinking about was how he’d messed up the choreography just a couple hours ago. He was a perfectionist, which usually caused him a lot of stress. So Justin knew that screwing up a few dance steps was consuming him, and he wished that JC would let the little stuff go.

Justin reached into the bag and grabbed the Michael Jackson album, HIStory, he’d bought. He tossed it into JC’s lap, not bothering to try his hand at opening it. The stupid thing was packaged so tight that he always had difficulties tearing it away from the jewel case.

“Can you open that?” Justin asked, noticing that JC had looked over at him with a questioning expression.

JC just nodded and started to patiently work at pulling away the plastic. Justin turned back to the bag and lifted another shirt out of it. It was still folded from when the sales woman had done it, so he just laid it in his drawer. The two of them worked in silence until there was a noise in the doorway. They glanced over and saw Chris standing there.

“We’re gonna start a movie in five minutes if you guys are interested,” Chris said before leaving the room.

“I don’t feel like watching a movie,” JC said quietly. He managed to create a tear in the plastic, making it easy to separate it from the case. “Here, J.”

Justin accepted the CD from JC’s outstretched hand and placed it into the stereo that sat on a small table. He didn’t really want to watch a movie either. Instead, he was content to just listen to music and hang out with JC, especially since he hadn’t gotten to spend a lot of time with him lately.

Music flooded out of the speakers at a comfortable volume, and Justin settled himself on his bed, sitting cross legged. A few songs played while they sat there happy to just listen to it. They were some of Michael Jackson’s greatest hits, but Justin still marveled how great they were, even years after they’d first been released.

“I wish I could write songs like this,” Justin said.

JC looked over at him. “Why can’t you?”

“Well, I guess I could, but I don’t think I’d be very good. I mean, it’s not like I have a lot of experience. What am I supposed to write about? Basketball?”

“You’ve experienced things that other people haven’t, and anything can be a good song if you approach it in the right way,” JC said.

“You’re right, but I don’t really know what I’m doing, you know?” Justin flipped the stereo remote that he was holding as he continued to talk, “I want to learn how to write songs, but I’m not sure how to go about it. You’re always writing, and you seem to be pretty good at it. So maybe—”

Justin stopped abruptly when he heard JC’s bed creak and looked up to see his best friend bolting from the room. He frowned and jumped up to follow him. “JC!”

JC had run down the hall to the bathroom and flung the door behind him. The door didn’t close all the way though, so when Justin got closer he heard retching and saw JC kneeling in front of the toilet. He figured it was probably just the flu, but he went to get his mom.

Quickly, Justin made his way down the hall and towards the kitchen where he’d last seen her. As he reached the end of the hall, he could see that she was loading the dishwasher. She looked up and frowned at him.

“What’s wrong, Justin?” Lynn asked.

“JC’s sick,” Justin said bluntly before turning and heading back for the bathroom, knowing that she would follow.

There was a slight pause before he could hear footsteps behind him. Justin stopped outside of the bathroom more than willing to let his mom handle this. She was good at making him feel better when he was sick, so he knew she’d take care of JC.

Without hesitation, Lynn entered the bathroom and wetted a washcloth with cold water. JC was still kneeling in front of the toilet with his head hanging so low that his chin nearly touched his chest. Lynn placed the washcloth on the back of JC’s neck, causing him to jump and a shiver to wrack his body. “It’s OK, honey,” she soothed.

“’m alright,” JC mumbled even as he breathed heavily and had a painful grimace on his face. He was probably embarrassed to have Lynn taking care of him, especially since he wasn’t feeling well. But Justin knew he’d appreciate it once he was feeling better because moms were a comforting part of being sick.

“Of course you are,” Lynn said, rubbing JC’s back gently. “How’s your stomach? You up for moving?”

JC nodded slightly and groaned as he slowly pushed himself to his feet, Lynn removing the washcloth and stepping back to give him some room. He let out a shaky breath before looking over at Lynn, signaling that he was ready. Without a word, she led him out of the bathroom. They crossed the short distance to the bedroom, and Justin followed, wanting to make sure that JC was OK.

Once they were in the room, Lynn eased JC onto his bed and under the sheets. She pushed back his hair with her hand as she felt his forehead. “You feel a little hot,” she said quietly, more to herself than to JC.

Justin sat at the foot of JC’s bed as his mom left the room, only to return a minute later with a thermometer in hand. She instructed JC to open his mouth, and it was obvious that JC didn’t really want to be bothered with it. But he ended up opening his mouth, letting her place the thermometer inside. About twenty seconds later, it beeped and Lynn removed it.

“100.8,” Lynn read, frowning. She glanced down at JC, whose eyes were half closed. “It’s probably just a bug, so you should try to get some sleep. We’ll see how you’re feeling in the morning.”

JC just nodded and closed his eyes. Lynn left the room once more, and Justin stared at his friend with sympathy. It sucked being sick, especially now since they’d been so busy and were only a few days away from the demo. And it was weird to see JC sick because he didn’t get sick very often.

It didn’t help that it came at such a bad time. There was still so much work to be done, but it was more than that. JC had already injured his shoulder, so it really seemed unlucky that JC got sick in such a short amount of time after. He couldn’t seem to catch a break lately, but hopefully once he got over this, that’d be the end of it.

“Justin, let’s leave him alone. He needs to rest,” Lynn said, startling him out of his thoughts.

Justin glanced at JC and saw that he now had a washcloth laying on his forehead. He slowly rose from the bed, careful not to jostle it and maybe cause JC’s stomach to turn. Hopefully it wouldn’t be too long before he started to feel better. Justin stepped out into the hall and Lynn closed the door to ensure that JC got the rest he needed.

Chris’s eyes followed the quarter as it rose and fell in the air. He caught it effortlessly before flipping it again. The room was quiet with the exception of Lance’s bass voice singing his part to the song they were currently recording, so it was easy for boredom to set in. That was how Chris had ended up flipping the quarter that he’d had in his pocket.

After a few more times, he switched to his left hand to make it more challenging. His thumb sent the light piece of metal into air, only there was too much force behind it. The quarter was out of his grasp and landed on the couch with a thump next to a sleeping JC. It hadn’t made much noise, but it was enough to cause JC to roll onto his back.

“Way to go, Chris,” Justin said, glaring at him from across the room where he was sitting with his back against the wall. “You trying to wake him up?”

“It’s not like I did it on purpose,” Chris replied as he swiped the coin off the couch cushion, glad that he hadn’t woken JC.

JC had fallen asleep shortly after he’d finished recording his part. He’d gone first because they’d wanted to make sure that he could rest for the rest of the morning and afternoon. It was the only way that Lynn had agreed to JC going.

Initially, they’d been ready to walk out the door without JC, but he’d rushed into the kitchen asking why they hadn’t woken him up. As they’d eaten breakfast, Chris had wondered if they should wake JC to at least see if he felt up to going, but Lynn had insisted that they leave JC alone because he needed sleep. There hadn’t been any argument because they’d all heard about how sick he’d been the night before.

But JC had gotten up and was mad that they’d let him sleep. They’d explained that they hadn’t wanted him to go if he still felt sick, but JC had insisted that he was fine. Lynn hadn’t been convinced though, so JC had to promise that he’d take it easy at the recording session since there was no way that he could miss it. That was the only reason she’d let him leave the house.

Chris glanced over at JC, thinking that maybe she’d been right in wanting JC to stay home. It wasn’t weird that JC was sleeping because he seemed to grab as much as he could whenever he could, but he’d gotten a decent night’s sleep. Obviously, he needed more in order to get better, but a recording studio probably wasn’t the best place for that.

“When’s Lou coming in?” Joey asked, bringing Chris’s attention to him.

“Is he supposed to?” Chris asked.

Joey nodded. “I thought so.”

“Didn’t he tell you boys?” Robin didn’t wait for an answer before she continued, “He left this morning for LA and he won’t be back until Saturday morning.”

“Why’d he leave when we’re so close to the demo?” Justin asked.

“I’m not sure, but he said something about needing to take care of a few things with his other group,” Robin explained.

Chris frowned. He’d known that Lou had another group that he’d been working with for a while, but it seemed kind of weird for him to meet with them when the demo was rapidly approaching. But maybe Lou had confidence that they’d be ready. After all, he’d been to a lot of their rehearsals over the past week and seemed happy with their improvement.

The door to the recording booth opened, and Chris looked up to see Lance walk out of the soundproof room. Robin told them to break for lunch, so Chris pushed himself off the floor. Joey and Justin walked past him, heading for the lounge across the hall where they always ate lunch.

Chris was about to step out into the hall when Lance asked, “Shouldn’t we wake JC?”

“Nah. Just leave him be,” Chris said, knowing that sleep was the best thing for him at the moment. Not to mention, JC probably wouldn’t eat even if he was awake anyway.

Lance didn’t argue, but closed the door behind him before he and Chris crossed the few feet to the lounge. They entered the room and saw that Joey and Justin had already dug in. So they joined them at the table and grabbed some food for themselves.

The four of them ate quietly for a few minutes before Joey said, “I hope what JC has isn’t contagious.”

“I don’t think so,” Chris replied.

“How do you know?” Joey asked.

“I was talking to Lynn this morning, and she thinks it’s stress.”

Lance frowned slightly, setting his drink back onto the table. “Can you really get sick from stress?”

“It all depends on how you handle it. If you let it get to you enough, eventually your body gets rundown,” Chris explained.

“And Lynn thinks that’s what JC did?” Joey asked.

Chris shrugged and nodded. “That’s what she said.”

“Well, do you agree with her?”

“It makes sense,” Chris said. At first he’d been surprised when Lynn had brought it up earlier that morning, but he quickly realized that she was right. He’d had his suspicions that something had been bothering JC and that he would push himself too hard. It always seemed he was stressed the couple of times that Chris had seriously talked to him.

“Why?” Lance asked.

“Because he strives for perfection and obsesses over the little things,” Chris said.

It was Joey’s turn to frown. “But wouldn’t he say something if he was feeling so stressed?”

“Not necessarily,” Chris said.

“What makes you say that?” Joey asked around a mouthful of sandwich.

“The other day when he hurt his shoulder, it was bothering him before he did that back flip. And he never said anything.”

Lance furrowed his eyebrows. “How do you know it was bothering him?”

“He was rubbing at it all through rehearsal,” Chris said. “Not saying anything about his shoulder proves that he’s willing to push himself no matter what the cost.”

Joey’s frown deepened. “That’s kind of a jump to make, don’t you think?”

“No.” Chris shook his head. “He could’ve seriously injured his shoulder. He had to have known that was a possibility, but still he took the chance anyway.”

“Maybe he didn’t think it was a big deal,” Justin defended. Chris glanced over at his youngest friend, not surprised in the least that Justin was sticking up for JC. He did find it weird that Justin hadn’t said anything before now though. But maybe Justin just hadn’t known exactly what to say.

“Well, it turned into a big deal, didn’t it?” Chris returned. “I mean, he hasn’t exactly been able to do the choreography since then.”

“But he couldn’t have known that he was going to screw up that flip,” Justin argued, narrowing his eyes as if challenging Chris to disagree.

“No, but he shouldn’t have risked it. It’s clear that he doesn’t care how hard he pushes himself as long as he gets perfection out of it.”

“You can’t really blame him though,” Lance spoke up, crinkling the sandwich wrapper and leaving it in the middle of the table. “I mean, aren’t we all trying to be perfect? The demo’s only a few days away and that’s a lot of pressure.”

“Yeah,” Chris agreed. “But he takes it to another level. He stresses about it in a way that the rest of us don’t.”

“He doesn’t seem to be having fun with it anymore either,” Joey said.

“Exactly. He’s working himself so hard that we practically have to twist his arm to lighten up and have fun with us.” Chris paused. “We’re doing this to get signed and become successful, but we’re also doing it for fun too. And it’s like JC’s forgotten that.”

“I know I haven’t known him that long, but he seems like he takes things seriously,” Lance said.

Joey nodded. “He does, but he’s never been this bad before.”

“We’ve never been this close to the demo before,” Chris said.

“What about the Mickey Mouse Club?” Lance asked. “How did JC deal with that?”

They turned their attention to Justin and looked at him expectantly. He was the one who knew JC best, so he’d probably have a better idea about how JC dealt with stress. If he’d reacted in a similar way while working on the set of the Mickey Mouse Club, then what’d happened now would make more sense. But if not, then maybe there was something more to it.

Justin shrugged. “I don’t remember JC ever getting sick.”

“Well, that doesn’t mean he wasn’t stressed. Did he ever beat himself up if he screwed up a line or something?” Chris asked.

“Sure, but that’s how JC is.” Chris nodded knowingly and Justin added, “He’s a perfectionist, but he never took it too far.”

“That you know of,” Chris said. He was aware that there was a real possibility that JC had hid that part of himself from Justin.

Justin glared at him. “He would’ve told me if he was really stressed. We’re best friends.”

“Well, clearly he’s stressed now,” Chris said.

“What if it’s more than just the demo?” Lance asked.

Joey looked over at him. “What do you mean?”

“I just…” Lance hesitated slightly before he said, “I haven’t really heard him say a whole lot the past few days. Is it normal for him to be so quiet?”

Joey donned a thoughtful expression before he shook his head slightly. “He’s usually kind of reserved, but lately he has been kind of isolating himself.”

“I talked to him earlier this week because he seemed kind of distracted, and he said that he was just worried about the demo,” Chris said.

“Do you think that’s still true?” Joey asked.

Chris shrugged and nodded. “He seemed pretty sincere about it, and the demo’s the reason he’s pushing himself for perfection. I mean, he’s even told me that it needs to be perfect.”

“So what are we supposed to do?”

“I don’t know.” Chris sighed and met Joey’s gaze. “I guess maybe we should try to talk to him about taking it easy.”

“Do you think that’ll work?” Joey asked.

“It’s worth a try. But right now, he needs to work on getting some rest,” Chris said.

“Should we call Justin’s mom then so he doesn’t have to sleep on the couch in the studio?” Lance asked.

“That’s probably a good idea,” Chris agreed.

“I’ll go call her,” Justin said and rose from the table.

Chris watched as Justin left the room to find a phone, hoping that it wouldn’t take long for JC to bounce back from being so rundown. He didn’t look forward to talking to JC, but it was important for him to know that he could take what they were doing seriously without doing harm to his body. Making himself sick was just going to hurt him in the long run.

 

Justin walked into the bedroom and sat on his bed, facing JC. He’d come in to keep JC company while he ate the soup that Lynn had brought in just minutes before. JC was propped up against the wall with the bowl of soup resting on his lap.

“How are you feeling?” Justin asked.

JC looked up from his soup and lowered the spoon back into the bowl. “Better. I think that nap helped.”

“That’s good,” Justin said.

Silence fell over the two of them. Justin wasn’t really sure what to say because not a lot had happened since his mom had picked up JC from the studio and taken him back to the house to rest. But he didn’t want to sit in silence either. That was when he remembered something funny that’d happened at the studio that he could share with JC.

“You should’ve seen what Joey did after lunch. It was the most hilarious thing,” Justin said.

“What?” JC asked.

“We were walking down the hall from the lounge and there was this door open up ahead. Joey didn’t see it. How is beyond me. But he walked right into it.” Justin laughed at the memory, and JC smiled slightly. “That’s not even the best part though. When he ran into it, he fell backwards in like slow motion. And he didn’t even seem to register that he was falling. Like he didn’t try to grab onto something or anything.”

Justin broke off, laughing as the image of it replayed in his mind. He laughed for nearly thirty seconds before it tapered off to just soft chuckles. That was when he noticed that JC wasn’t really laughing.

“I guess you had to have been there,” Justin said.

“I’m sorry I missed it,” JC replied, running the spoon through his soup.

Justin realized too late that instead of his story cheering JC up, it probably made him feel worse since he’d left the recording session early. And that was the last thing he’d wanted to do. Wanting to change the subject, Justin glanced around the room as he tried to think of something else to talk about. His eyes landed on JC’s still full bowl that JC was stirring listlessly.

“Aren’t you hungry?” Justin asked.

“Not really,” JC admitted softly, releasing the spoon from his hold and letting it rest in the bowl.

“Well, you shouldn’t force yourself to eat, especially if you’ll just puke it back up anyway,” Justin said.

“But I need energy for rehearsal,” JC replied.

“Are you up for that?” Justin asked. JC looked a little tired, but overall he seemed to be much better than the night before. Or even that morning. But Justin wanted to make sure that JC was doing what was best for him.

“Yeah, of course,” JC said. “I mean, it’s not like I can learn the steps lying in bed, right?”

“Yeah, but…”

“But what, Justin?” JC asked.

Justin hesitated, not sure if he should tell JC what he and the guys had talked about earlier. But he quickly pushed it away and said, “My mom and the guys think you got sick from pushing yourself too hard.”

“What do you think?” JC asked, looking over at Justin.

“I don’t know what to think. I’m not even sure I know what it means.” Justin sighed as he pulled on the edge of his bedcover, glancing at JC. “I mean, how can you get sick when you do exactly the same stuff the rest of us do? It’s not like you’re practicing more than us. It’s weird and I just don’t understand. I don’t think you’re stressed or pushing yourself too hard, but I don’t know.”

“I’m fine,” JC assured, offering him a small smile.

Justin nodded. “OK. I just didn’t know if something was bothering you. I mean, you haven’t really been yourself lately and don’t seem to be having fun with us anymore.” He paused. “But if something was, I hope that you’d tell me.”

There was a beat of silence before JC sighed and carefully placed his lunch on the nightstand beside his bed. He shifted slightly so he was facing Justin, signaling to Justin that maybe there was something after all. Justin sat up a little straighter and gave JC his full attention, more than willing to listen to whatever he had to say.

“There’s kind of something,” JC started.

Justin frowned. “Kind of?”

“It’s over, but it might explain why I’ve been acting a little weird this week,” JC explained.

“OK,” Justin said. He had no idea what JC was going to reveal to him, but he was glad that JC was going to get it off his chest. It was especially good if it would help him to let go of some stress.

“I’ve been having these…nightmares.”

Justin leaned forward slightly. “What were they about?”

“There was this…guy who was trying to…hurt me,” JC said.

“And you had this nightmare a lot?” Justin asked.

JC nodded. “Pretty much every night for the past few days.”

“But you’re not having it anymore?”

“No. I just need to get caught up on my sleep now. I think I’m done with going out for a while,” JC told him with a small smile.

“Why did you go out if you were having trouble sleeping?” Justin asked.

JC let out another sigh. “I thought if I stayed out late then I’d be tired enough to fall asleep and stay asleep. But it didn’t exactly work.”

“So you just got sick because you haven’t been sleeping well?”

“I guess,” JC said with a shrug.

Justin was glad to hear that JC’s problem hadn’t been too serious. It was bad that he’d gotten rundown from lack of sleep, but it hadn’t been his fault. JC couldn’t help that he’d been having nightmares. Besides, he’d be able to catch up on his sleep now that they were gone, and there was no reason to worry about his health now.

“Is that why you slept in my bed?” Justin asked, thinking back to yesterday.

JC hesitated. “No. I was just lazy and your bed was unmade.”

Justin realized that JC was a little uncomfortable about him knowing about that, so he let it drop. It made sense, and it really didn’t bother Justin. He’d just been curious. Besides, he’d found out what’d been bothering JC for the past few days, and that was what really mattered.

“You gonna try to eat?” Justin asked, gesturing to the untouched food sitting on the nightstand.

“No. I don’t think I can eat it,” JC said. “At least not right now.”

Justin knew that JC should probably eat his lunch, but he stood by what he’d said earlier. JC shouldn’t eat if he wasn’t hungry, and it wasn’t like he was refusing to eat. He was just putting it off until he was actually hungry.

So Justin wasn’t worried about JC. He always took care of himself, even if he didn’t act like it. And since Justin knew the truth, he wasn’t going to let the guys give JC a hard time. JC had told him what’d been going on, so no one else needed to know about it, especially since he had it under control.

 

Joey was hanging out with Lance in the backyard. They’d gone out there after lunch to leisurely shoot a few hoops to kill time before rehearsal. It was just as hot as it’d been earlier that week. If anything, it felt like it was getting steadily hotter every day. So needless to say, the heat added to their sluggish attempts at making baskets.

“I think I’m done,” Lance said, watching as the ball danced around the rim before falling outside the hoop.

“That’s just as well,” Joey replied. “We’ll probably be leaving soon.”

“How long do you think?” Lance asked.

Joey shrugged. “Probably like fifteen minutes.” He frowned. “Why?”

There was a pause before Lance asked, “Can you help me with those faster steps around the middle of We Can Work It Out?”

“Sure. What are you having trouble with?”

“I’m not sure,” Lance said with a sigh and a helpless look on his face.

Joey stepped forward. “Alright. Why don’t you run through it once and we’ll see what’s giving you problems.”

Lance nodded and set himself up in the starting position. He went through the steps before he abruptly stopped and looked over at Joey. Almost immediately Joey was able to see what was giving Lance trouble with that part of the routine.

“You’re just not getting your feet in the right positions, which is throwing you off. You need to set your feet before you move on, but without stopping the flow of motion,” Joey said. “Does that make sense?”

Lance’s forehead creased in confusion. “A little…”

“Like this.” Joey faced Lance and demonstrated it for him. Once he was finished, he met Lance’s intent gaze. “You think you got it?”

“Maybe.”

“Well, let’s see,” Joey said. He felt weird helping Lance with the choreography because it wasn’t like he was the best at it. That was JC or Justin. But he knew that Lance had asked him because he was the one Lance felt the most comfortable with.

Joey watched as Lance ran through the steps for a second time, biting his lip in concentration as he did so. The concentration quickly turned to frustration when Lance didn’t get his feet in the right position halfway through. This made Joey remember his talk with Lance last week and how he’d felt he was holding the rest of them back. Since then Lance had made numerous strides, but it obviously still bothered him that he couldn’t keep all of the routines straight.

“Hey, man. Don’t sweat it. You’ll get it,” Joey said, trying to be encouraging.

“But I should already have it!” Lance cried out in agitation. “I shouldn’t be making mistakes like this, especially when the demo’s just a few days away.”

Joey opened his mouth to reply, but changed what he was going to say when he saw over Lance’s shoulder that Lynn approaching them. “Hey, Lynn. What’s up?”

Immediately, Lance froze before he turned to greet her. “Hi, Ms Harless.”

“Shouldn’t you boys be getting ready? You’re leaving soon, right?” she asked.

“Yeah. We were just running through some things,” Joey said.

“It looks like it’s coming together,” Lynn replied, and they nodded. She sighed. “I just don’t want you boys to stress yourselves out.”

“Is this about JC?” Joey asked, knowing that was the reason why she was bringing that up now.

“I don’t want to see the same thing happen to you. Your mothers expect me to look after you, and I don’t want to give them a reason to worry. And I’m sure you don’t either,” Lynn said.

“No,” Lance agreed.

Joey nodded. “We’ll take care of ourselves.”

“That’s all I wanted to hear,” Lynn said, smiling at them. After a moment, she grew serious. “How do you think you’ll do without JC?”

“What are you talking about?” a voice asked from behind Lynn. She spun around, revealing that Justin was standing behind her.

“JC’s not going to rehearsal,” she said.

“Well, he’s getting his shoes on right now,” Justin replied, jerking his thumb in the direction of the house.

Lynn didn’t say anything, but headed for the house with Justin right behind her. Joey glanced at Lance and shrugged before following them. He wanted to see how JC was and if he really was planning on going to choreography. While JC hadn’t looked horrible earlier that morning, it’d been apparent that he wasn’t a hundred percent.

“Mom, leave JC alone. He’s fine,” Justin said as they stepped through the backdoor and into the kitchen.

Lynn stopped and looked at her son. “I just want to see for myself.”

“But I just saw him. He’s fine,” Justin insisted.

Before Lynn could say anything, JC came walking into the kitchen and stopped abruptly when he saw them. Joey figured he probably hadn’t expected to just run into them in the middle of the kitchen. But that didn’t stop JC from staying on task.

“Where’s Chris?” he asked, glancing around the room before looking at them. “We’re gonna be late.”

“Are you sure you’re feeling up to it?” Lynn asked JC, ignoring his first question.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” JC said, dismissively.

Lynn frowned. “You still look a little pale. You don’t still have a fever, do you?”

“No,” JC denied, swatting away her hand as she reached out to feel his forehead.

Joey took in his friend’s appearance and decided that he really didn’t look too bad considering. Lynn was right. JC did still look pale, but that seemed to be the extent of it. He did look better, and if he was dressed, then he probably was. But then again, that was how they’d gotten into this mess in the first place.

“Maybe you should stay home. Just for today,” she added when she saw JC frown. “You haven’t really given yourself any time to recoup.”

“Lynn, I swear to you, I’m fine. I wouldn’t say that if I wasn’t,” JC said.

“You know, C, it’s not a big deal to stay here and rest. It’s just one rehearsal, and you could do that stuff in your sleep,” Joey replied, thinking maybe JC was just being so insistent because he felt like it’d cause problems if he skipped rehearsal.

JC shook his head, an annoyed expression on his face. “Obviously not. You saw how much I screwed up yesterday. I can’t afford to miss a rehearsal, especially so close to the demo.”

“But it’s better to miss one now than later this week,” Lynn countered. “Right?”

“I don’t need to miss any!” JC cried out in exasperation. That just caused Lynn’s frown to deepen.

“I just don’t want you to work yourself too hard. You need to take care yourself,” she said.

“I am,” JC said through practically gritted teeth. “Stop saying that I’m not. You don’t even know what’s going on!”

Joey’s eyes widened as he shared a quick glance with Lance. JC had pretty much confirmed their suspicions that something had been going on. He wanted to know what, and apparently, Lynn did too because she’d started to ask when Chris walked in from the living room. Chris’s eyes immediately fell on JC.

“You’re going to rehearsal?” he asked JC, a hint of surprise evident in his tone.

JC clenched his fists and opened his mouth like he was going to start yelling. But he took a breath and his fingers unfurled. “No,” JC said in a lower octave, his expression dark. “I’m not.”

Without another word, JC turned on his heel and left the kitchen. Joey just stared after him in disbelief. He hadn’t expected JC to just give in like that, especially after how much he’d argued before Chris walked in. But Joey figured that everyone getting on his case had finally pushed him enough that he’d decided it wasn’t worth it.

Lynn started to move forward towards the hallway, but stopped when Justin asked, “Where are you going?”

“To talk to JC,” she said, simply.

“Mom, no. Leave him alone. He doesn’t want you bothering him,” Justin replied.

“He’s upset,” Lynn said.

Justin crossed his arms over his chest. “Because you keep pestering him.”

“Even more reason for me to talk to him,” Lynn insisted. “I need to know what’s going on.”

“It’s nothing, Mom. Trust me,” Justin said.

“How would you know? It sure seemed like something,” Joey replied. He might not be as close to JC as Justin, but he knew him well enough to know that JC didn’t get worked up for no reason.

Justin sighed. “Because he told me.”

“He could’ve been lying to you, Justin,” Chris said.

Justin glared at him. “He wouldn’t do that. We’re best friends.”

“Well, what’s wrong? What’s been going on?” Lynn asked, frowning.

“I can’t tell you. He told me in confidence, but I swear it’s not a big deal. He’s got it under control,” Justin said.

Lynn stared at him for a few seconds before she sighed. “I just want what’s best for him.”

“I know, but you should have some faith in him. JC’s not stupid. He can take care of himself,” Justin said.

Lynn just nodded, but didn’t say anything. She glanced at the microwave and noticed the time. “You boys better go. You don’t want to be late.”

There was no argument as the four of them headed for the front door. As they walked out into the driveway, Joey couldn’t help but hope that Justin was right. That whatever had been going on with JC was over, and things would get back to normal.

JC yawned as he made his way down the hall. He’d woken up nearly twenty minutes ago and hadn’t been able to go back to sleep, despite his best efforts. This was the first day in the past week and a half that they didn’t have to get up as early. Since they’d finished recording the tracks for the demo yesterday, the only thing that was really left to focus on was choreography.

They weren’t going to the warehouse until noon, after they’d eaten lunch. The next day was the demo, which meant that this would be the last real rehearsal at the warehouse because tomorrow they’d do one run through onstage and that’d be it.

Knowing that there was a very real possibility that today was going to be tiring, JC had wanted to get as much sleep as possible. But here he was, awake a couple hours before he had to be. It wasn’t from having trouble sleeping though.

As much as JC had fought with Lynn on Wednesday about missing out on rehearsal, it’d been a good thing. He’d finally gotten caught up on his sleep, making him feel more rested than he had in days. That alone had made him feel better, but it’d also given him an easier time with eating since nausea wasn’t a factor anymore.

He wouldn’t have been able to get caught up on his sleep though if Lou hadn’t gone out of town. For the first time in a week, JC had been able to relax without worrying about where Lou was and what, if anything, he’d do next. But today would be the last day of that since Lou was returning tomorrow.

JC was trying not to think about that, wanting to enjoy the freedom that he had from Lou being gone and focus on the upcoming demo. The pressure was building now that it was so close. And there was no telling how rehearsal would go because it was easily apparent that the other guys felt just as nervous.

That wasn’t for at least a few hours, so JC pushed the thought to the back of his mind. He wanted to just hang out on this rare morning off. So without another thought, JC entered the kitchen.

It was empty with the exception of Chris. That didn’t really surprise JC because Justin had still been sleeping when he’d left the bedroom for once, and he’d seen that Joey and Lance were still in bed when he’d headed for the kitchen. Apparently JC wasn’t the only one that’d wanted to take advantage of it.

“I’m surprised to see you up already,” Chris said, looking over his shoulder as he grabbed a mug out of a cupboard to the left of the sink.

JC shrugged. “I just couldn’t sleep.”

“Are you OK?” Chris asked, frowning slightly.

“I’m fine,” JC said with a hint of aggravation. This wasn’t the first time that they’d asked him that since he’d gotten sick. He understood why they were concerned, but that didn’t stop it from grating on his nerves. “I’m just anxious about the demo, alright?”

“Alright.” There was a slight pause before Chris changed the subject. “You want some coffee?”

“Nah. I think I’m gonna have some tea,” JC said, glad that Chris had dropped the worry about him sleeping.

“What happened? I thought you were all about the coffee,” Chris replied.

JC grabbed the tea kettle from where it sat on the counter and ran it under the faucet, filling it up. “Tea’s better for the voice.”

“Not like you really need to worry about that since we’re not gonna be singing,” Chris muttered, pouring freshly brewed coffee into his mug.

JC set the kettle on the hot burner and sighed. “Chris.”

“I’m not trying to start something,” Chris said. “I’ve accepted it, but it still bothers me.”

“Me too,” JC admitted, turning so that his back was to the stove. He was tired of denying it every time Chris brought up them lip syncing the demo.

Chris eyed him carefully. “Really?”

“Yeah.” JC nodded, knowing that Chris wondered if he was serious since he’d fought with him about it all week. “Musicians should sound the same live as they do in the studio. They shouldn’t have music prefabricated for a live show. It’s not right.”

“That’s what I’ve been saying!” Chris exclaimed, throwing up his hands.

“I know, and I’m telling you I agree.”

Chris leaned against the counter and looked over at him. “Why? You’ve spent so much time arguing with me about it, and now you’re telling me that I was right?”

“I didn’t want to get on Lou’s bad side,” JC said, turning back to the stove and adding the hot water to the teabag sitting in his mug.

“That’s not what you said before,” Chris replied, frowning.

JC sighed. “Well, I’m saying it now.”

“Why do you care so much about what Lou thinks?” Chris asked.

“If we fought with Lou about his decision, he might’ve thought we weren’t worth the effort and time,” JC explained.

“He wouldn’t have done that,” Chris said, shaking his head. “I mean, what would he have gained from that? He knows we’re talented, and we can go far.”

“Yeah, but he’s not going to want to defend all of his decisions. Talent is only part of it. He wants people who won’t fight him every step of the way,” JC said.

Chris took a sip of his coffee before setting it on the counter. “I don’t think he’s that much of an asshole. He’s gonna make decisions that we don’t agree with, but he knows what’s best.”

“But we wouldn’t have to worry about that if we leave him. I mean, once we’ve got the demo, it’d be easy to get picked up by someone else,” JC said.

“Weren’t you the one saying that he’s doing what’s necessary for our careers?” Chris asked.

“Yeah,” JC admitted. “But now that the demo’s just a day away, I’m worried that lip syncing isn’t the best thing for our careers. We’d almost be better off without him.”

Chris’s frown deepened. “Why do you want to leave Lou so bad?”

JC paused. He was pushing the idea of leaving Lou to see how the guys would react to it. If he could get them to leave Lou, then he wouldn’t have to worry about Lou touching him anymore. But JC couldn’t just come right out and say that, so he was having trouble coming up with a reason Chris would accept. The last thing he wanted to do was tip them off that something was really wrong with Lou.

“If there’s any reason that we shouldn’t be with Lou, then we need to know about it,” Chris said after a minute had passed.

JC recognized that this was the perfect opportunity if he wanted to let someone know what Lou had done to him. It was just the two of them in the kitchen, and Chris acted like he really wanted to know if something was wrong. But JC couldn’t.

All the reasons that he had before for keeping what’d happened a secret still held true. If he said something, then they could kiss their careers goodbye. Lou was providing them a huge opportunity by setting them up with this demo, and JC wasn’t going to blow it by telling the guys that he’d been raped.

“No,” JC said finally. “I just don’t know if Lou has our best interests in mind.”

“What gives you that idea? I mean, it’s not like he’s trying to sabotage us or anything,” Chris said.

JC shrugged, trying to act casual. “It’s just a feeling I get.”

“That’s crap,” Chris said.

“Well, you wanted to know. What do you want from me?” JC retorted.

Chris crossed his arms over his chest. “I want you to tell me the truth.”

“I did!” JC exclaimed. He wasn’t doing himself any good by getting worked up, so he needed to leave. Sighing softly, he said, “I think I’m gonna try to get some more sleep.”

JC left the room without another word, leaving his untouched tea sitting next to the stove. Retracing his steps from earlier, he sighed. Talking about leaving Lou had been worth a shot, but clearly hadn’t gotten him anywhere. He just had to accept that there was no getting away from Lou. At least not without telling the guys and that wasn’t something he was prepared to do. 

 

“That was good, guys. Let’s just run through it once more.”

JC nodded and took the starting position for Give Into Me with the other guys following suit. Once Dave was sure they were ready, he pressed play on the stereo. The music started and the five of them began the routine as their voices flowed out of the small boom box speakers.

When JC’s solo started, he stepped forward and watched the others through the large mirrors in front of him do their choreography behind him with a smile. For the first time since they’d started, he really felt good about what they were doing. And when Justin came to stand next to him a few seconds later, JC glanced over at him with a genuine smile, which Justin returned.

For going into rehearsal not knowing what to expect, it’d certainly turned out a lot better than any of them could’ve hoped. It’d started off a little shaky at first. They all knew that this would be the last real rehearsal, and they wanted perfection. It was important that they knew they were ready for tomorrow once Dave called it a night and they went back to the house.

And that’d just made them tense. Something that Dave had picked up on, especially once they’d started to go through the routines because their tension made the steps feel rigid and stiff. That was when Dave had sat them down and told them not to worry so much. He’d basically given them a pep talk saying that they knew the steps, so they needed to not think about it so much and just have fun with it.

It hadn’t been much, but it’d had a positive impact on the rest of rehearsal. Naturally, they still messed up some of the steps, especially the routines that had more than the rest. But they didn’t let it get to them. They just laughed it off because they were finally having fun with it.

JC hadn’t felt so relaxed during rehearsal in a long time, and it definitely showed. The worry and fear about the demo was still there, but it was pushed aside for the moment. He was enjoying doing choreography with his friends, and JC couldn’t help but think that this was how it should’ve been from the beginning.

Lou had been the main reason that it hadn’t been fun, and JC was determined not to let him have that kind of control again. Everything was finally clicking for them. The routines almost seemed flawless, which made them feel more confident about performing in front of a couple hundred people tomorrow night.

The rest of the song went as seamlessly as the beginning. Granted, the steps for Give Into Me were probably the easiest ones out of the four songs they’d be performing, but remembering where they all had to be onstage was a challenge. They all moved around so much that it was hard to keep straight exactly where they were supposed to be at a certain part of the song. But it seemed they had it down now. Whether or not that stuck still remained to be seen.

“Alright, that was great. We’ll take a fifteen minute break and pick it up with Tell Me,” Dave said.

They all grinned and walked over to where all of their stuff was sitting up against the back wall. JC bent down and grabbed his bottle of water, taking a couple large swallows.

“You know, I don’t even feel that tired,” Joey said, throwing his water bottle up into the air and catching it as it came back down.

“Well, it is only five o’clock,” Lance replied, glancing down at his watch.

Joey rolled his eyes even as he smiled. “Ha ha. Very funny. You know what I mean.”

“It is kind of weird,” Chris said. “I’m normally dragging by now and we even got started a couple hours early today.”

“That’s just because you’re old and don’t have the stamina for it,” Justin shot back, smirking at the indignant look on Chris’s face.

“Oh yeah?” Chris challenged and tackled Justin. He immediately went for Justin’s sides and began to tickle him mercilessly.

“Stop!” Justin begged even as he giggled. He tried to reach out and wrap his hand around JC’s arm. “JC, help me!”

JC shook his head, grinning as he scooted away from Justin. “No way. You brought it on yourself.”

It was when Justin was panting from laughing so hard that Chris finally stopped, looking triumphant. “Jerk,” Justin managed as he sat up and tried to get his breathing back under control.

The four of them smiled at each other and a comfortable silence fell over them. Joey finally sat down, but continued to twirl his bottle of water. It was nice to just sit there and enjoy this moment. JC realized that by obsessing so much over Lou, he’d missed stuff like this.

“Alligator,” Justin blurted.

JC glanced to his left where Justin was sitting and smiled. “Baboon.”

“Crocodile,” Joey said.

“Joey,” Justin whined. “I already said alligator.”

“Yeah, so? They’re two different things,” Joey said.

“Nu uh. They’re like the same thing with different names,” Justin protested.

Joey shook his head. “Alligators and crocodiles are not the same.” He looked over at Lance. “C’mon, Lance. Back me up over here.”

“I don’t know what the difference is,” Lance said.

“But you acknowledge that there is one,” Joey replied. “And that’s good enough for me.”

Justin leaned forward slightly. “Not me. You need to come up with another animal.”

“If I should have to come up with another one, then so should you,” Joey said.

Justin’s grin grew. “Sorry, that’s not how the game works.”

“Just say another animal so Lance and I can go,” Chris told Joey, who sighed. It was so much easier to give into Justin than it was to fight him on something, especially when it was something so stupid. JC had learned that shortly after Justin had joined the cast of the Mickey Mouse Club.

“Cat.”

“Dog,” Lance said before Chris could.

“Damn it!” Chris cursed and glared playfully at him. “You stole my turn.”

“That’s not very creative,” Justin complained.

“You never said it had to be,” Lance said.

“Come up with something else,” Justin insisted.

Lance stared blankly with a look of concentration on his face before he suddenly refocused on Justin. “Dingo.”

Chris mumbled something about kids trying to upstage him, but then gave his answer. The game continued with them throwing out answers whenever it was their turn. It moved pretty quickly, despite the fact that they’d exchange banter in between the different letters.

“Jackal,” Joey said.

Chris raised an eyebrow. “You tapping into the smarts there?”

“I’m smart,” Joey defended, and Chris just smirked.

“Kangaroo,” Lance said.

Chris’s smirk grew. “Lou.”

“Oh, diss!” Justin laughed.

“That was a little inappropriate, don’t you think?” JC asked, staring at Chris in disbelief. He couldn’t believe that Lou randomly popped up in the middle of a game they were playing. It was almost like JC couldn’t escape him.

Chris just shrugged, trying to look innocent. “I couldn’t come up with anything else.”

“You could’ve said llama or lion,” Lance provided.

“Yeah, Chris. Sex animals don’t count,” Joey said, sarcastically.

“Ugh!” Justin cried out in disgust. “Joey!”

“Yeah,” Chris agreed. “I mean, can you see him having sex? I don’t even know who’d want to have sex with him.”

“He’d probably have to coerce some poor girl. Or spend some quality time with his hand,” Joey said with a laugh.

JC stared at his friends, unable to believe that they were still talking about Lou. And in such an inappropriate way. This wasn’t something he wanted to hear. It was bad enough that he was haunted by Lou raping him, he didn’t need to hear them talk about Lou like that. He’d expected to avoid talking about Lou when he was with his friends, especially since it always seemed to occupy his thoughts.

The thing that made it even worse was that if they knew what he’d gone through, they wouldn’t be talking about Lou in such a sexual way. It made JC sick to listen to them because it almost seemed to make light of the terrible things he’d gone through. This conversation was getting to be too much for him.

JC’s eyes unfocused and he felt like he was back in his bedroom being assaulted by Lou. He knew he was still sitting on the floor of the warehouse, but his mind took him back to that dreadful afternoon. A shiver wracked his body as he heard Lou’s voice whispering in his ear.

“You’re so beautiful.”

Pain shot through his shoulder, adding to the nausea he was beginning to feel. JC closed his eyes, willing the memory to go away. But if anything, it got stronger. He remembered feeling trapped under Lou’s weight and struggling to get away. The lustful way Lou looked at him. The painful way that he slammed into JC. Feeling his hands all over his body.

JC’s stomach rolled, and his eyes flew open. The feeling of claustrophobia closed in on him. He needed to get out. If he didn’t get out and get some air, he’d end up vomiting. And that was the last thing he needed right now.

Abruptly, JC got to his feet and hurried out the door. As soon as his feet hit the parking lot asphalt, he took in a slow breath, trying to calm his churning stomach. He tried to think about something else. Something other than Lou and what he’d done to him.

“JC?” Footsteps came closer, and JC turned to see Justin. “Are you OK?”

“I’m fine,” JC mumbled, rubbing a hand over his face. He hated that he had them so worried that he couldn’t leave without having one of them follow him.

“Why’d you leave?” Justin asked.

JC sighed, looking down at the black asphalt. He hated having to lie, but he had no other choice. It was the only way to get them off his back and give him some space.

“I just needed some air,” JC said. “It’s hot in there.”

“You’re not getting sick again, are you?” Justin asked, his voice filled with concern. Something that sent JC’s blood boiling. He’d already said he was fine. Why couldn’t Justin just leave it at that?

“I’m fine!” JC snapped, finally turning to meet Justin’s worried gaze. “I just need a minute, OK? Go back inside and leave me alone!”

Justin’s eyes widened slightly as he took a step back. The shock quickly faded and was replaced with hurt, but Justin did what JC wanted. He left without another word.

Once he was gone, JC sighed heavily and lowered his head. He hadn’t wanted to yell at Justin like that, but he couldn’t take the constant concern they put on him anymore. They seemed incapable of accepting that he was fine. Something that made it hard for him to keep what Lou’d done a secret.

But maybe it was time to finally tell someone. JC had been able to handle keeping it from everyone until he’d gotten sick. Since then tension had just been building between him and the guys, and it’d become too much for him. If they knew what Lou’d done to him, they wouldn’t be getting on his case like they had been. They’d also make sure Lou couldn’t do anything else, and that’s what JC really wanted.

The demo was only a little over twenty-four hours away, and JC wasn’t going to say anything until it was over. If he told them before, they’d surely cancel it. He wasn’t about to let them do that because they’d worked too hard to not go through with it. Waiting one more day wouldn’t kill him, especially considering how long he’d kept it a secret already.

The only way to fix it now was to go back inside and act like getting some air was all he’d needed. That he hadn’t snapped at his best friend for another reason. Knowing that their break was probably about up, JC took one more deep breath and headed for the door, pushing all thoughts of Lou out of his mind. The only thing he needed to focus on right now was getting through the rest of rehearsal.

 

JC’s eyes shot open and he flew into a sitting position, his chest heaving. He wildly looked around the room, caught up in the remnants of the nightmare he’d been having. As his heart rate started to slowly calm, he realized that Lou wasn’t there. It’d just been a nightmare.

Running a hand tiredly over his face, JC sighed. That wasn’t the first nightmare he’d had since it’d happened, but it hadn’t been this bad before. His other nightmares had been reliving parts of the rape, but this one had been the entire thing. It’d been more intense than ever before. At times it’d felt like it was actually happening.

JC glanced over at Justin and Chris to make sure they were still asleep. He remembered fighting against Lou in the dream, and he had no idea of knowing if he’d actual been vocal with his protests. But obviously he hadn’t, which was a relief. They didn’t need to wake up to him screaming and crying like he’d been in his dream.

Slowly, JC took a calming breath and lied back down. If the quietness that settled over the house was any indicator, it was late. He needed to go back to sleep. Tomorrow was an important day, and he needed to be well rested for the demo.

With that thought in mind, JC shifted slightly and closed his eyes. He tried to clear his mind of the nightmare he’d just had so he could go back to sleep. But then he thought he heard a creak.

Immediately, JC’s eyes flew open and he turned to look at the open doorway. There was no one there. Not that JC really expected anyone to be. After all, it was late, and Lou wouldn’t even be back in town for at least another five hours. But that didn’t stop him from worrying about it.

Every time Lou had done something to him, it’d been in that room. It’d started off with Lou groping him and then had escalated to actual rape. That made it hard for JC to sleep there because Lou had always come in while he was in bed. While he was vulnerable. And it didn’t seem like there was any indication that it would stop. If anything, it’d get worse.

JC wasn’t sure what could really be worse than rape, but he didn’t exactly want to find out either. He’d already been through enough. If something else happened, he didn’t know if he could take it anymore. The scary thing was that there was a very real possibility that it could happen too.

With Lou coming back, JC wasn’t sure what to expect. He was sure that Lou wouldn’t stop coming to him and doing such horrible things to him, but part of him hoped that it’d be over. That Lou would just leave him alone.

It was foolish to think that, especially since Lou had been gone a couple of days. Lou probably looked forward to seeing JC again since he’d enjoyed it so much last time. The thought of what could happen brought back the nausea that JC had felt earlier, and he bit his lip as he turned on his side, facing the door.

JC berated himself for thinking about that. He needed to stop and push it away if he was going to get any more sleep. But he couldn’t. JC was terrified of what was going to happen when he saw Lou again tomorrow, especially if he found out that he’d been sick. Hearing what kind of affect he had on JC would probably give Lou some kind of pleasure.

The thought caused JC’s heart to race, despite his best efforts to remain calm. He couldn’t do anything about it now. Nothing was going to happen to him. It was late and the house was full of people. So even if Lou could get in early, he wouldn’t be able to do anything with Justin and Chris in the room.

Instead of calming him, it just made JC freak out even more. Both times that Lou had touched him, the guys had been around. The first time they’d been in the living room, and the last time they’d been right outside. Having people around obviously didn’t deter Lou because he found a way around it, so that meant the odds of it happening again were probably good.

JC’s heart pounded against his chest, and he took a shaky breath. Obsessing about it wasn’t doing him any good. Once again, JC let his eyes slide closed. Instead of trying to clear his mind, he tried to think about earlier that day when he and the guys had been having fun during rehearsal, laughing at their mistakes. Or even that evening when they’d gotten back and put in a movie. For a minute, he thought it’d worked, but then he heard another creak.

But there was nothing there when he opened his eyes. With a quiet moan, JC buried his head into his pillow. He needed sleep, but he couldn’t calm himself enough to get there. The five of them had stayed up later than they normally did since they didn’t have to be anywhere until four o’clock to do one final run through at the club they’d be performing at. So he’d only been asleep for a couple of hours before his nightmare had forced him awake.

That wasn’t even close to the amount that JC knew he needed. He wanted to sleep, but he couldn’t. Not while his thoughts were being consumed by Lou, the memories of what’d happened, and the fear of what could happen. But maybe lying in the bed and being in the room that held all of those horrible memories were part of it. Maybe if he lied down on the couch he’d be able to get some sleep.

JC slowly sat up, his mind made up. He wasn’t going to get any sleep where he was, so it was worth a try. The tricky thing was that he had to be very careful about it, so he wouldn’t wake anyone up and could avoid questions. But he figured if someone did wake up, he could just say he was going to the bathroom or something.

The bed creaked as JC rose from it, and he winced at the noise, it seeming louder than it was in the still house. Cautiously, he glanced over his shoulder at Justin and Chris and sighed quietly with relief when he saw they were still sleeping. He tiptoed to the doorway and hovered just inside of it, making sure that he was still in the clear. Certain that he was he stepped out into the hall.

JC tried to be as quiet as he could, which was kind of hard to do in such an old house. He had no problem getting past Joey and Lance’s room because their door was closed, surely muffling any sound that he did make. But the difficult part was getting past Lynn’s room. Her door was open, and JC knew from experience that she was a fairly light sleeper.

Slowly, he tiptoed as carefully as he could past her doorway. He winced and stopped when he stepped on a floorboard that groaned under his weight. But a quick glance into her room showed that while she’d rolled over, she was still asleep. JC took advantage of that to finish walking past her room as quickly and quietly as he could.

Once he made it into the kitchen, he sighed with deep relief. The hardest part was over. He walked into the moonlit living room and lied down on the couch. JC couldn’t believe that he’d made it without getting caught, but it was late. There was no reason for anyone else to be up.

Already, JC felt a little better. It wasn’t completely rational because he was out in the open compared to the bedroom. But that almost made the couch perfect because there was no privacy. It was a common area that everyone was in.

JC adjusted the throw pillow under his head and pulled the afghan that rested on the back of the couch over him. He froze from adjusting it when he heard footsteps coming down the hall. Silently, he cursed to himself. Had he woken up Lynn after all? JC hoped not. Hopefully it was one of the guys. Either way he was caught, but he couldn’t deal with Lynn. Not now.

The footsteps grew closer before the person appeared in the kitchen. JC nearly sighed in relief at the sight of Joey. He still hated that he’d woken someone up, but he just was thankful it wasn’t Lynn. And since Joey hadn’t noticed him yet, JC figured that maybe if he acted like he was asleep, Joey wouldn’t bother him either.

So JC closed his eyes and tried to relax. He could hear Joey’s footsteps shuffle slightly on the carpet before they stopped. JC forced himself not to move, sure that Joey was probably trying to figure out if he was sleeping or not.

“JC?” It was silent for a few seconds as Joey most likely waited for him to respond. Finally, he said, “I just heard you like two minutes ago, and I know you don’t fall asleep that fast.”

JC sighed and opened his eyes, pushing himself to a sitting position. The moonlight allowed him to see for the first time that Joey was carrying a bat. “Were you going to hit me with that?” he asked, gesturing to it.

“I heard someone walking around. I thought it was a burglar or something,” Joey said, setting the wooden object in the chair before he joined JC on the couch. There was a pause before Joey asked, “What are you doing up?”

“I couldn’t sleep,” JC said simply.

“Anxious about tomorrow?” Joey asked.

JC nodded. “Yeah.”

“Me too,” Joey admitted. They sat there for a moment before he shifted slightly, looking at JC. “You shouldn’t worry so much though. I mean, we did awesome at rehearsal. We’re ready.”

“I know.”

“The hard part’s over. We just need to get through tomorrow and put on a helluva show. Then Lou’ll take it to record companies and hopefully we’ll get signed,” Joey said.

“But what if we don’t?” JC asked.

Joey frowned, shaking his head. “We’re too talented, and Lou’s been taking good care of us. He’ll make sure that we get signed, and then we’ll probably be insanely busy recording and touring. And Lou’ll be there to make sure it all continues to go smooth.”

JC felt his stomach drop at the thought of Lou being around all the time. He had enough time with him, and Lou wasn’t even around as much as he could be. As much as he would be if they got signed and he continued to be their manager.

It would never be over. The rest of the guys had no idea what Lou was really like, so they had no reason not to trust him. If only they knew what he was capable of, they’d want to leave him. But JC didn’t want to cause problems, which meant he was doomed to how many more uncomfortable intimate moments with Lou. He didn’t know if he could handle that.

“What’s wrong?” Joey asked, his frown deepening. When JC shook his head slightly, he added, “C’mon, C. You can talk to me. If you need to get something off your chest, it’ll stay between us. I swear.”

JC bit his lip. He knew he should just try to brush it off and come up with some lie, but he was so tired. All he’d been doing for the past week and a half was lie, and he was tired of it. And here Joey was saying that he was willing to listen if JC needed to tell him something. He even swore that no one else would know but him.

This was the opportunity JC had been waiting for. He’d always wanted to tell someone what’d happened to him, and Joey seemed like the perfect person. There wouldn’t be as strong of a reaction from him as if JC’d told someone else like Chris, and Joey had already promised he’d keep it to himself. JC knew he’d said he was going to wait until after the demo, but he probably wouldn’t get another chance like this.

“I can’t…I can’t take this anymore. I can’t lie anymore,” JC said, more to himself than to Joey. “I hate the way he looks at me.”

“Whoa, hang on, JC. Slow down,” Joey said, putting a hand on his shoulder and looking him in the eye. “You hate the way who looks at you?”

“Lou,” JC said quietly.

“How does he look at you?” There was a slight pause before Joey asked, “What happened, JC?”

JC looked away from Joey and pulled the pillow into his lap. There was still time to back out of this. He didn’t have to tell Joey. Except that he did. He needed someone else to know what he’d gone through.

“He…” JC took a shaky breath and hugged the pillow closer to his body before whispering, “He hurt me.”

“Is that how you injured your shoulder? Lou did that you?” Joey asked.

“Yeah,” JC admitted quietly.

Joey shook his head and mumbled something to himself. He focused his attention back on JC. “That not all he did, is it?” he asked, warily.

“No,” JC whispered, closing his eyes against the memory. “He…he forced me onto my bed, and…he…” A shiver ran down his back, remembering how his skin had crawled. “He touched me and he…”

“Did he…rape you?”

JC lowered his head, a tear leaking out from his closed eyelids and running down his cheek. He swallowed and said barely above a whisper, “Yeah.”

“What?” Joey exclaimed, his voice much louder than the hushed tones they’d been talking in.

JC’s eyes flew open and he glanced around, panicked that someone had heard him. Joey didn’t seem concerned though. He was staring at JC in shock, as if he were trying to wrap his head around it.

“I can’t believe this,” Joey mumbled, rubbing the back of his neck.

JC avoided eye contact with Joey. No matter how much he wanted Joey to know, it was still embarrassing. It was something that never should’ve happened, and he didn’t want Joey to look at him differently like he was weak for letting it happen.

“When did it happen?” Joey asked softly, his voice filled with disbelief.

“Sunday,” JC said.

“Sunday?” Joey repeated, his head jutting forward. “JC, that was five days ago. Why didn’t you say anything sooner?”

JC glanced at Joey briefly before looking back down at the pillow. “I was going to. After the demo.” He saw Joey frown out of the corner of his eye. “I knew if I said anything sooner, you guys would want to leave him.”

“You’re damn right we would’ve,” Joey said. He rubbed at his forehead. “Do you even want to do the demo?”

“Yes,” JC said without hesitation. He was still adamant about that. Telling Joey what’d happened wasn’t going to change that.

Joey sighed. “JC, it’s not that important. We can always find someone else to help us put together a demo.”

“No, we can’t,” JC said, meeting Joey’s eyes for the first time. “We’ve worked too hard to quit now.”

“Lou’s a bastard for what he did to you, and we can’t let him get away with it. We need to tell the police.”

JC’s eyes widened in fear as he objected. “We can’t.”

“JC—”

“Not yet. Let’s get through the demo and then we can tell everyone,” JC bargained. He figured that everyone would find out eventually, but he didn’t want to get the police involved. That was too embarrassing. He just wanted to leave Lou and forget that anything had ever happened. “Please, Joey.”

There was a look of contemplation on Joey’s face before he reluctantly agreed. “Alright. We’ll wait until after the demo.”

JC sighed, thankful, and silence fell over the two of them. He could practically feel his body shaking, and he wasn’t exactly sure why. It must’ve been from finally letting it out. They just sat there, JC knowing that Joey was probably trying to process everything.

Finally, Joey asked, “You didn’t tell Justin about this, did you?”

“God, no,” JC said, horrified at the suggestion. “I wouldn’t put that on him. He’s just a kid.”

“Well, Justin seems to think he knows what’s really going on with you. That it’s not a big deal,” Joey replied.

“He was asking questions and…” JC shook his head and whispered, “I can’t believe I lied to him.”

“It’s not a big deal, JC. He’ll understand when he knows what’s been going on,” Joey said.

JC just nodded and sniffled. Everything seemed so messed up. He’d never felt so awful about protecting Justin from something. It didn’t matter that he was doing what he thought was best; it still made him feel horrible.

“It was just that one time, right?” Joey asked a minute later, drawing his attention away from his thoughts.

“No…well, kind of…” Joey’s brow furrowed in confusion, and JC took another shaky breath. “He…raped me once, but there was also…other stuff.”

Joey inhaled, looking a little more surprised than he probably should have. He turned so he was facing JC better. “What happened? I want to know everything.”

JC could feel tears building in his eyes. The last thing he wanted to do was relive all of the horrible things he’d gone through, but he owed it to Joey. If he was going to mess up their careers, then he owed it to them to be truthful. So JC slowly began to recount what’d happened to him over the past week and a half.

Joey sat on the floor in front of the couch, watching TV without really processing what he was seeing. There was a lot on his mind. He couldn’t stop thinking about what JC had told him last night.

Everything he’d found out still left Joey in disbelief that something so terrible had happened without them knowing. His heart had broken a little more each time JC had mentioned something else and seeing how upset just talking about it had made him. It killed Joey that JC had kept it a secret as long as he had. But what made it even worse was that Lou had tormented JC when they were around, and they’d had no idea.

Everything JC had gone through was because they hadn’t taken the time to notice that something was really wrong. At least until it was too late. There’d been plenty of signs that JC wasn’t comfortable around Lou, and Joey had ignored every single one of them.

There was that day at the studio when he’d found JC crying in the conference room. Chris had said some pretty hurtful things during lunch, and Joey had attributed that to the reason why JC had been so upset. But now he knew it hadn’t been just that. Having Chris say that JC would do anything to please Lou had probably made him feel that if he’d told them about what’d happened, that they wouldn’t understand and maybe think he’d brought it on himself.

It was a ludicrous idea, but it wasn’t surprising. In the few years that Joey had known JC, he’d always remembered how personally he took negative comments about himself. Joey had tried numerous times to get him to lighten up, but JC took everything he did seriously.

The same thing applied to keeping what Lou had done to him a secret. He’d revealed to Joey last night that he hadn’t said anything sooner because he hadn’t wanted to mess up the opportunity to do the demo, but Joey knew that wasn’t the only reason. After what’d happened with Chris at the studio, JC had probably worried obsessively how they’d react to it. Keeping the rape a secret, JC had to find a balance between sticking up for himself and trying not to do anything to trigger another situation with Lou without coming off as a suck up.

But there was no balance. Just hearing JC recount the events that’d happened since they’d started rehearsing for the demo made Joey realize that fear had been a very dominating feeling for him. The idea that Lou could do something else to him had JC terrified, making him do anything to avoid giving Lou a reason to get him alone. Like going along with lip syncing or letting Lou force him to sing until his voice became hoarse.

Not that the bastard needed a reason. He took advantage of situations where he could be alone with JC, but that wasn’t going to happen anymore. Tonight after the demo, everyone would know, and Lou wouldn’t be allowed within ten feet of JC.

Earlier that morning, Joey had woken up on the loveseat that he’d fallen asleep on after he and JC had finished talking. He’d stayed out in the living room in case JC had a nightmare and needed to talk. It’d seemed like a good idea until he’d run into Lynn in the kitchen, who had been concerned about them sleeping on the couch.

As tired as he’d been, Joey had thought quickly and simply told her that he and JC hadn’t been able to sleep. That they’d stayed up for a few hours last night talking and fell asleep out in the living room. Lynn had bought it, and Joey had sighed in relief. One less thing for JC to worry about when he woke up.

“You wanna play something?”

Justin’s voice snapped Joey out of his thoughts, and he glanced around the room, wondering if Justin was directing that at one of them. He didn’t seem to be, and no one seemed enthusiastic about playing either. They’d just been listlessly watching TV, each of them wrapped up in their own thoughts.

After a few more seconds, Chris said, “Sure.”

As Chris grabbed the remote to change it to the input screen, Justin swapped out a video game with another one. The screen flickered for a second before the game’s opening sequence started. Justin took a seat next to Chris and handed him a controller. Without a word, the two of them started their game.

Joey watched them direct their vehicles around the track. They were lacking the intensity and competitiveness they normally possessed. There was no yelling when their vehicle hit a road hazard or verbal sparring about how the other sucked. It was strange to see them so calm.

Justin had a look of concentration on his face, which looked so out of place for him. He didn’t have to concentrate on much because he was naturally talented at everything. But he was obviously distracted.

The same went for Chris. His vehicle was behind the majority of the others, nearing last place. While Justin was good at all of the games, this was usually one that Chris could beat him at. He’d probably agreed to play because he wanted to take his mind off the one thing that was occupying all of their thoughts.

It was impossible not to think about the demo. This was something they’d been working towards for almost two weeks, and it was hard to believe that it’d finally come. For a while it’d seemed like it would never come, but now that it had, they were second guessing themselves.

Out of the corner of his eye, Joey noticed that Lance was biting his lip. While Lance had constantly worried about the level of his dancing compared to the rest of them all week, Joey knew that was amplified even more today. But he wasn’t the only one. Despite the great rehearsal they’d had yesterday, they were all starting to doubt if they were ready.

Joey sighed softly, knowing that the worry and fear about screwing up wouldn’t go away until they did the demo. Only then would they be able to relax. And until then, they just had to try to distract themselves and not think about it. Easier said than done.

A low moan could be heard and Joey’s eyes darted to JC thinking that a nightmare was starting only to see JC stretching. After a couple seconds of that, he turned over onto his back and slowly sat up, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. His eyes slowly roamed around the room.

“Morning,” Joey greeted, offering him a smile.

That drew Justin’s attention away from the game briefly. “Hey, JC,” he said.

“Hey,” JC echoed, his voice gritty. He smiled at Joey before he got to his feet, walking out of the room and leaving the four of them in silence again.

It remained that way for another fifteen minutes until the sound of the doorbell broke the silence. Justin and Chris didn’t even look up from their game, still trying to act as though they were more engaged in it than they actually were. Lance glanced over at Joey with a questioning look, and Joey shrugged. He didn’t really want to open the door because he had a pretty good idea who it was, and he didn’t know if he could keep himself from punching Lou.

“Isn’t someone going to get that?” Lance asked as the doorbell sounded again.

“Mom!” Justin yelled. “Someone’s at the door!”

Lynn poked her head into the living room from the kitchen and said, “I’m not your servant, Justin. Put the game down and answer the door.”

Justin sighed, but set his controller down and pushed himself to his feet. He crossed the few feet to the front door and unlocked it, pulling it open. “Hey, Lou,” he greeted.

“Hi, Justin. You ready for tonight?” Lou asked, stepping inside and letting Justin close the door behind him.

Justin shrugged and nodded. “Yeah.”

“Good.” Lou walked further into the room and asked, “How are you boys doing?”

“Like you care,” Joey muttered under his breath. He knew he shouldn’t do or say anything that could possibly alert Lou that he was aware of what had been going on, but he couldn’t help it. Just seeing Lou sent his blood boiling.

Chris shot him a weird look as he turned off the game system before turning his attention to Lou. “We’re good,” he said, joining Justin on the couch.

“Good,” Lou replied, smiling. “I hear that you boys had a great rehearsal yesterday.”

Chris nodded. “I think we’re ready.”

JC returned, fully dressed now, only to stop in his tracks when he noticed Lou standing next to the couch. Almost immediately his posture stiffened and he eyed Lou warily before quickly averting his gaze. Joey frowned slightly, hating the affect just being in the same room as Lou had on JC.

“How are you feeling, JC?” Lou asked.

“I’m OK,” JC said, glancing at Lou briefly before fixing his gaze on a spot on the other side of the room.

“You’re not sick anymore, are you? Dave told me that you missed rehearsal on Wednesday because you weren’t feeling well,” Lou replied.

“It was just the flu,” Joey told Lou, watching JC shift his weight from one foot to the other.

Lou was about to reply when his pager began beeping inside his pocket. He dug it out and looked at the display. “Excuse me,” he said, walking towards the kitchen.

As Lou walked past JC, he patted his shoulder. The contact was brief, but it was enough to cause JC to flinch.

Once Lou had disappeared into the kitchen, JC wasted no time in crossing the living room to sit on the other end of the couch next to Chris. He stared at the TV as Justin flipped through the channels. Joey watched JC in concern, wondering just how he’d managed to deal with everything Lou put him through for so long without help.

After a couple of minutes, Lou reentered the room and asked, “Are you boys hungry? I was thinking about taking you out for lunch.”

The five of them glanced at each other briefly. They didn’t necessarily want to hang out with Lou, but it wasn’t like they were going to say no. Though, Joey wanted to just so JC wouldn’t have to deal with Lou any longer than he had to. In the end, they all agreed and were out the door in a matter of minutes.

They piled into the van, much like they had when Lou had taken them for ice cream. Joey volunteered to sit up front to ensure that JC didn’t have to worry about getting stuck up front and having a repeat of last time. It was weird sitting next to Lou, especially since he knew what’d happened to JC. But glancing back at JC who looked less tense made it worth it.

About fifteen minutes later, Lou pulled into the parking lot of a restaurant that also served as a sports lounge. It was a little after noon, so it wasn’t as crowded as it would be if they’d gone later. As a result, they were seated almost immediately. The waitress led them to a large round table towards the back.

Joey had been right next to JC, but somehow the others got in front of him as they followed the waitress. So when he approached the table, there were only two seats left. One was next to JC, which Lou was heading for. JC was staring at the tabletop, but Joey knew he was aware of Lou’s intentions by the way he kept glancing at him out of the corner of his eye. Knowing that he had to do something, Joey stepped forward, drawing Lou’s attention.

“Actually, you mind if I sit here?” Joey asked, stepping closer to the empty seat and putting himself between Lou and JC. “This has a better view of the game.”

Chris turned and looked at the big screen. “Since when do you care about college football?”

“Hey, football’s football,” Joey said. He turned his attention back to Lou who was still standing there. “What do you say, Lou? Can I sit here?”

Lou hesitated for a second before he forced a smile. “Sure,” he said, making his way to the other side of the table.

Joey watched him go with a grin. He sat down and looked over at JC, who had relaxed in his chair. As Joey offered JC a smile, he couldn’t help but feel good. He’d managed to save JC from what probably would’ve been a very uncomfortable meal.

The six of them perused the menus that the waitress had left with them while she fetched their drinks. Out of the corner of his eye, Joey saw JC sit back and move his menu upright, his fingers clutching the laminated paper. Joey looked up and immediately noticed the cause for JC’s behavior.

Lou was gazing at JC over the top of his menu, and JC was trying to avoid looking at him any way he could. But it wasn’t Lou looking at JC that seemed to make him uncomfortable. It was the way Lou was looking at him. Joey had to resist the urge to gag when he noticed the lust that lingered in Lou’s eyes when he stared at JC.

Less than a minute later, the waitress returned and took their orders. She also took their menus, which JC reluctantly handed over. Joey frowned slightly, knowing that his friend probably liked having something to block Lou’s gaze.

“So, Lou,” Joey started once the waitress had disappeared once again, drawing Lou’s attention to him. “How was your trip?”

“It was good,” Lou said. His eyes wandered to Joey’s right as Justin started to complain about his soda being flat.

“I hate flat pop,” Justin whined, stirring it with the white straw.

“Aw poor baby,” Chris said sarcastically. He leaned in and reached for Justin’s drink. “Here. I’ll fix it.”

“No!” Justin scooted his chair to the left slightly and moved his glass out of Chris’s reach.

While the two of them bickered about Chris trying to help give Justin’s soda fizz by blowing bubbles into it and Lance chuckled in amusement, Joey watched JC shift in his seat. His knee was bouncing almost uncontrollably.

“Robin said that you went to see your other group,” Joey said. Immediately all eyes were on him.

Lou nodded. “That’s right.”

“Well, what do you do with them? I mean, can we expect to do the same kind of stuff that you’re doing with them?” Joey asked. Chris and Justin were staring at him as if he’d grown another head. Even JC was shooting him a dirty look, making Joey realize that maybe he could’ve brought it up better. But he’d just wanted to stop Lou from staring at JC.

Lou started to answer the question, and Joey tuned him out. He made sure to keep his attention focused on Lou and nod occasionally, but didn’t actually listen to what was being said. All that mattered was trying to keep Lou occupied.

“But we have to wait and see how the demo goes,” Lou finished.

“If we get signed, are we gonna get to travel?” Lance asked.

As the Justin and Chris turned their heads to listen to Lou’s answer, JC leaned slightly towards Joey and said quietly, “Stop it.”

Joey abruptly stopped drinking his soda and looked over at JC. “Stop what? Drinking?”

“You know what I’m talking about,” JC said, narrowing his eyes.

“I’m trying to help you out,” Joey replied, frowning. Sure he hadn’t been doing it the best way, but he’d thought JC would appreciate what he was doing.

“Well, stop. You’re being too obvious.”

“Sorry. I was just trying to keep his focus off you. You look so uncomfortable,” Joey said.

“I’m fine,” JC said, his voice rising on the last word and drawing the attention of the other guys.

“What’d you say, Jace?” Chris asked.

“Uh…” JC hesitated, and Joey could tell that his mind was racing for an excuse they would buy. Joey was about to step in and say something when JC said, “Didn’t you see that girl? She was fine.”

The three of them laughed, and Joey couldn’t help but join in. Color rose in JC’s cheeks as he averted his eyes in embarrassment. In the years that Joey had known JC, he’d never heard him talk like that. But that was what made it so funny.

“I don’t see a girl,” Justin said, using the table to push himself up slightly as he searched the restaurant for the imaginary girl JC was talking about.

“Oh, she just walked past,” JC replied, quickly. “Must’ve been on her way out.”

As the laughter started to die down, the waitress returned and started to distribute their food. Joey watched JC avoid Lou’s gaze and realized that maybe he needed to back off a bit. After all, JC had managed to deal with it for almost a week by himself. But that didn’t mean he wasn’t going to speak up if Lou was taking it too far. Just because JC was used to dealing with this by himself, didn’t mean that he had to anymore.

 

Chris went through the motions for We Can Work It Out. After worrying about it all day, it came so much easier than he thought it would. Of course, rehearsing and actually performing it live were two completely different things. The thought of which churned his stomach, despite repeated efforts to push the concern about messing up during the show to the back of his mind.

“JC, you need to be a little sharper with your steps. It’s looking kind of sloppy,” Dave said.

JC rubbed at his forehead, nodding and moved to the starting position as Dave motioned to one of the sound guys to prepare the song. Chris sighed and fell in line with the rest of the guys. They’d gotten started late because they’d had to try on their outfits for the show since they were treating this last rehearsal as a full dress rehearsal. Normally that wouldn’t have taken as long as it had, but Joey’s pants were too large. So they had to discuss what the best course of action would be, and eventually Robin volunteered to find someone who could fix it.

Nearly fifteen minutes had passed since then and Chris was already tired. They hadn’t made it passed the first song because JC was struggling with the steps. It was incredibly frustrating because Chris at least wanted to move onto the next song. But it was also nerve wracking because out of the five of them, JC and Justin were the ones that weren’t supposed to mess up. That just increased Chris’s worries about all of the things that could go wrong during the demo, and he sincerely hoped that JC could shake off whatever was causing him to screw up.

The music was cued, and the five of them went through the routine once again. They made it through the entire routine, but Dave still didn’t look very happy. But he wasn’t the only one. Lou was standing next to their choreographer watching them with his arms crossed and a displeased look on his face.

“Alright.” Dave sighed. “We’ll come back to it. Let’s move onto the next song, OK?”

There were no objections, and they took their respective positions. Chris was just glad they were finally moving on. He’d never been so happy to do the choreography for Give Into Me.

The song started, and everything went smoothly until they were transitioning into the second verse. JC, who’d been on the right side of the stage, was supposed to cross over to the left with Chris. Only that didn’t happen. Or at least it wouldn’t have if Chris hadn’t grabbed hold of JC’s sleeve and pulled him to the other side of the stage.

But that one mistake was enough to throw JC off completely. He had trouble synchronizing himself with the rest of them while Justin sang the second verse. Chris had to hold back a groan as the music was stopped once again. All he wanted was to get through all the songs without too much trouble.

Dave sighed for the second time in the last five minutes. “JC, I don’t know what’s going on, but you’re—”

“Off,” Lou finished stiffly. He fixed JC with a stern look. “What’s wrong with you? You haven’t been able to get any of the steps.”

“I’m sorry,” JC said meekly, his gaze fixed firmly on the shiny black surface of the stage.

“Sorry’s not going to cut it. You guys are on in less than three hours, and you can’t even keep your position onstage straight. Not to mention your mistakes are bringing down the others, so you better pull yourself together. When you’re onstage you represent me, and I will not be embarrassed,” Lou said.

Chris stared at Lou in surprise. He couldn’t believe he’d been so harsh. Yes, JC wasn’t doing well, but degrading him like that wasn’t going to help. Lou had to know that, so it made Chris wonder exactly what he was hoping to gain from being so mean and blunt.

Quickly, Chris glanced over at JC and frowned when he saw tears of frustration building in his eyes. JC pinched the bridge of his nose as he closed his eyes and turned so his back was to the open area where the crowd would be in just a few hours. Even with his back turned, Chris could just feel the misery that was radiating off JC. It was disconcerting because it was very rare that JC got upset, especially to the point where he was about to cry.

Apparently, Justin felt the same way because he started to make his way towards JC. He stopped suddenly when Joey reached JC before he could. Hurt crossed his face as he frowned at the two of them, and Chris wondered what exactly was going through Justin’s mind. It was no secret that he thought his friendship with JC was in jeopardy, which made Joey going over to JC that much worse.

But as Chris watched Joey whisper into JC’s ear with a comforting arm wrapped around his shoulders, he thought maybe it was for the best that Justin wasn’t the one comforting JC. He wasn’t sure if Justin would be able to comfort JC as well, despite the fact that he seemed to know something about what was going on that they didn’t. After all, Justin was still just a kid and probably didn’t have a lot of experience with comforting someone who was so upset. Besides, Joey seemed to be doing alright. JC still looked frustrated and like he could still give into the tears at any second, but he was nodding slightly to whatever Joey was saying to him. Something was getting through to him.

“Could you give us some time?”

Chris turned and saw Dave talking to Lou, who was staring at the five of them onstage with a deep frown set on his face. Lou’s eyes didn’t leave them, and more specifically where JC and Joey stood, as he said, “They need to be ready for this.”

“And they will be,” Dave assured. “All I’m asking is for you to give us some time to work things out.”

Lou finally tore his gaze away and looked at Dave. He was silent for a few seconds before he nodded slowly. “Fine,” he said. “I need to take care of a few things anyway.”

Without another word, Lou walked away and headed for the main strip of Pleasure Island. The stage they were performing on was outside, so Chris’s eyes followed Lou until he couldn’t see him anymore. Once he was completely out of sight, Chris heaved a heavy sigh. Maybe they could get somewhere now that he was gone because that would be a little less pressure on all of them.

Dave joined them onstage and walked over to JC. “How you doing?”

“Fine,” JC said, barely glancing up at Dave.

“Look.” Dave sighed. “You’re being too hard on yourself, and don’t listen to what Lou said. You know this, JC. You’re just letting nerves get in the way.”

JC nodded and said quietly, “I know.”

“You just need to let go and have fun with it.” Dave paused. “You ready to try it again?”

JC finally looked up and met Dave’s gaze, red rimmed blue meeting clear green. “Can I just have ten minutes?”

“Sure,” Dave said. JC offered a weak smile of thanks before walking over to the edge of the stage and sitting so his legs dangled in front of it. Joey followed him and sat down next to him, while Justin stood off to the side with Lance talking quietly. “So how are you doing?”

It took Chris a second to realize that Dave was talking to him. He focused his attention on their choreographer and said, “Like I’m gonna puke. But other than that, I’m good.”

Dave chuckled. “You have no reason to be nervous. If you’re nervous, then you’re more likely to screw up.”

“Thanks. You sure know how to make a guy feel better,” Chris said sarcastically. He smiled as Dave laughed.

“You’ll be fine,” Dave told him.

Just then Joey joined them, his face somber. “What’s up, Joe?” Chris asked. He glanced over at JC who was still sitting on the edge of the stage, but was now joined by Justin and Lance. Chris looked back at Joey. “Is JC alright?”

“He’s OK,” Joey said. “He just took what Lou said really hard.”

“Lou was pretty rough, but JC shouldn’t let what he said get to him,” Dave replied.

Joey nodded. “I know, but he doesn’t think he can do it in front of Lou. He’s afraid of disappointing him.”

Chris frowned and let his eyes flicker to JC. That’s what got JC so upset? Fear of disappointing Lou? It was hard to believe, but then he thought back to the conversation they’d had just a couple days ago about how JC felt like everything had to be perfect. He still didn’t understand it, but he just had to accept that was how JC was. There probably wasn’t anything they could do to change that.

“I’ll make sure Lou stays away for the rest of rehearsal,” Dave said and clapped Joey on the shoulder before walking offstage to talk to some of the security guards hired for the event.

It was another five minutes before Dave returned, but when he did he called for the sound tech to start the music from the beginning again. “Alright, guys. Get into formation. We’re going to start from the beginning and see how it goes.”

Chris wasn’t looking forward to doing We Can Work It Out again, but he got into place. The music started and it was like a switch had been flipped. They hadn’t done as well as they had the day before, but they made it through the entire set without any major mistakes. There was a collective sigh of relief when they all finished.

“That was good, guys. I think you’ll do fine,” Dave said, grinning at them. “Now get outta here. Go relax and get something to eat.”

They didn’t have to be told twice. The five of them left the stage, leaving the feelings of frustration and nervousness behind. Chris glanced at JC and saw that the stress lines in his face had relaxed. It made him smile, thinking that maybe, just maybe, the demo would go off without a hitch after all.

 

JC propped his head up with his left hand as his right pushed at the food in the Styrofoam container. They’d gotten take out from a restaurant a few blocks up, but he wasn’t very hungry. In less than an hour they’d be taking the stage, and the thought caused JC’s stomach to churn.

He was terrified that he would screw up, which would make everything that he’d gone through for nothing. The rehearsal had gone well after Lou had left, but there was no way he be absent from the actual taping of the demo. As much as JC didn’t want to admit it, he was afraid of Lou.

The idea of what could happen if the demo didn’t go well unsettled JC. It was bad enough that he had pressure to do well because their careers were riding on how it went, but then he thought about what Lou had said to him during rehearsal. Lou had said that he didn’t want to be embarrassed, and JC had caught the underlying message that if he did embarrass Lou, there’d be some kind of punishment. And he could only imagine what that would be.

“Joey,” Robin’s voice said. JC looked up at Joey, who was sitting across from him, before looking at their vocal coach standing in the doorway. “You’re needed down the hall. That woman’s here to fix your pants.”

Joey nodded and rose from the table that they’d been eating at. “I’ll be right back, guys,” he said as his eyes locked on JC’s, silently asking him if he’d be OK. JC nodded and gave him a small smile.

“You better be quick. The show’ll start soon,” Justin said.

“I’ll be back before then,” Joey replied, looking at JC once more before following Robin out into the hall.

With a sigh, JC set down his fork. There was no way he was going to eat now because as time passed, his nausea seemed to worsen. He needed to stop worrying about the demo, but he couldn’t help it. This was what they’d been working towards for the past week and a half, so they had to do well.

But even once it was over, he wouldn’t be able to relax. JC would have to tell everyone what he’d told Joey last night. He didn’t really want to. It’d been good enough to tell Joey because he’d finally gotten it off his chest and someone finally understood why he’d been acting so weird. JC couldn’t even really get mad at Joey for being kind of obvious throughout the day because he had been trying to help.

That was the main problem with telling everyone else. If they all knew about it, they would insist on getting the police involved, thinking they were helping him. Lynn would be the worst, and that was something JC wanted to avoid. It wasn’t that he didn’t think Lou deserved to be punished, but he didn’t want more people to know than necessary. And the last thing he wanted was for his parents to find out because they would freak out, and that wasn’t something he wanted to put them through. He couldn’t really back out of telling though because Joey would probably bring it up when they got home.

A noise to JC’s left caught his attention, and he lifted his head off his hand to look for the source. When he saw the other three start to rise from the couch and Lou standing just inside the room by the door, his heart started to race. They couldn’t be leaving him alone with Lou. Not after the way Lou had treated him during rehearsal.

“Where are you guys going?” JC asked, trying to stay calm as he slowly rose from the table. He glanced at Lou warily before turning his attention on the guys.

“We’ll see you soon,” Chris assured as Justin and Lance walked out in front of him. “Lou just wants to talk to you for a minute.”

“But—” JC started to protest, but Chris already stepped out into the hall.

Once he was gone, Lou shut the door and turned the lock into place. He slowly started to walk towards JC, and immediately JC felt that feeling of claustrophobia return. Knowing that he had to get out of there, JC took off running for the door.

As JC got closer to the door, he tried to dodge around Lou. But Lou easily wrapped a thick arm around his stomach. He used that as leverage to roughly shove JC, catching him off guard and causing him to fall to the floor.

JC was momentarily stunned, but quickly tried to shake it off. He needed to get up and get out of such a vulnerable position. But before he could push himself to his feet, Lou was on top of him.

“No,” JC protested, struggling to get away.

Lou pressed his weight on JC, limiting his movement as he worked on pulling down JC’s pants. JC closed his eyes as his struggles grew weaker. His limbs felt like lead and fighting against Lou drained him of energy.

As JC felt his boxers being yanked down to his ankles, tears leaked out of his eyes. He couldn’t believe this was happening all over again. And just like before, there was no escape.

 

Joey hurried down the hall towards backstage. He’d already passed the lounge they’d been hanging out in, and it was empty. The only place they could be was backstage, and as Joey got closer he noticed them fidgeting and looking very anxious.

“Joey!” Justin exclaimed in relief as he turned, noticing him.

“We didn’t think you were going to make it,” Lance said.

“Took longer than I thought,” Joey replied, shrugging. He hadn’t thought taking in pants would take as long as it did, but that just showed how much he knew about fashion.

“Well, did you get it taken care of?” Chris asked. Joey nodded, and Chris sighed in relief.

Joey frowned when he spotted JC standing off to the side. He looked really pale and a little shaky. What they were about to do was nerve wracking, but Joey briefly wondered if it was something more.

“Are you OK?” he whispered to JC, gently putting a hand on his shoulder.

“I’m fine,” JC said, his voice shaking slightly. Joey frowned, but before he could say anything, JC took a breath and turned to look at him with determination. “Let’s do this.”

Joey wanted to object, but there wasn’t time. The lights dimmed and the crowd roared. It was show time.

Justin couldn’t help grinning as he threw himself into the steps of We Can Work It Out. All of the nerves he’d been feeling since rehearsal disappeared as soon as he’d stepped out onstage. The excitement he felt coursing through his body made the choreography that much sharper. There was no doubt in his mind that he belonged onstage.

Glancing to his right, Justin saw the proud look on his mom’s face as she watched them offstage, and he knew that she felt the same. Everything they’d gone through to get here was worth it. The crowd was giving off an energy that was unlike anything Justin had ever experienced, and he loved it.

Chris watched JC mouth the lyrics to the first verse of Give Into Me, and he realized why Lou had been so insistent on their lip syncing. There was so much pressure with keeping the dance routines straight, that it was almost a relief to not worry how his voice sounded. Considering he still felt like he was going to puke, he was sure that if he had to sing live his voice would crack. Though, that didn’t mean that Chris wanted to get used to lip syncing. In the long run, it would be better to represent themselves as strictly live performers. For now, however, it was necessary. There was too much riding on how well this performance went.

When it came time for Lance’s solo during Tell Me That I’m Dreaming, he found that it wasn’t as uncomfortable as he’d thought it would be. As he knelt in front of the crowd, he smiled and reached out to grab the hand of a screaming teenage girl. He sung a couple of words to her before rising to his feet to move into position, his smile growing as he listened to the girls continue to scream.

Lance joined the guys in the center of the stage as the choreography picked up. He missed a step, but it didn’t affect him like it would’ve if it’d happened during rehearsal. Being onstage and in the moment, Lance found that he was enjoying himself too much to beat himself up about a mistake that no one probably even noticed. For the first time since they’d started rehearsing, he actually felt comfortable with what they were doing.

One more song, JC thought. Just gotta make it through this last song. JC repeated these words in his head as he stood in the background while Joey sang the beginning of I’ll Be Back For More. He felt absolutely drained of energy and had moments of lightheadedness, but he was determined to get through the demo. That was the only thing that seemed to keep him on his feet.

JC was running on pure adrenaline, but he still struggled not to give into the exhaustion he was feeling. He barely hit his marks with the choreography and almost missed his cues a couple times, but it was almost worse just standing there. So JC kept up his mantra and tried to subtly move. Anything to keep him going.

As Joey moved to the back, he eyed JC critically as he stepped forward to sing. JC still looked just as pale as he had right before they went onstage, but Joey wasn’t sure if it was performing or if there was something else. Though even if there was something wrong, there was nothing he could do right now anyway.

Joey sang the chorus with the other four and went through the minimal choreography the song had. He kept glancing at JC whenever he could, getting anxious for the demo to be over. It was still exciting, but how JC was doing was more important.

Finally after a very long minute, the song ended and the five of them took their bows as they thanked the crowd for coming out. Together, the five of them walked off the stage where they were immediately met by Lynn’s smiling face. She gathered Justin into a hug, while Chris slapped Lance on the back and they began to talk excitedly.

Joey grinned, reveling in the fact that they’d done it. The demo was done and now they could all breathe a little easier. It was one less thing to worry about, and hopefully something good would come out of it.

“Joey,” JC said, grabbing onto Joey’s arm.

JC’s voice had almost gotten lost in the commotion backstage, but Joey heard him. He turned, about to ask JC if he was OK when JC’s eyes rolled back and his legs buckled.

Joey’s eyes widened, but he reacted instantly. He managed to catch JC before he could hit the ground. Slowly, he lowered JC to the dirty floor of the backstage area and positioned himself behind JC, allowing his friend’s dead weight to rest against his chest.

“JC!” Joey said, trying to shake him slightly as he tried not to freak out.

What he’d said must’ve been loud enough to catch the others’ attention because they stopped talking when they turned and saw him and JC on the ground. Immediately, Chris rushed to his side, while Lance hovered by his feet.

“Oh my God!” Lynn crouched down, her eyes darting between Joey and JC. “What happened?”

Joey shook his head slightly, cursing himself for getting caught up in the moment when they stepped offstage and not checking on JC. “I’m not sure. He just passed out I think.”

“I thought he was feeling better,” Lance said.

“He was,” Joey replied. “I don’t know what happened.”

“C’mon, JC,” Chris said, his hand on JC’s shoulder as he shook him. JC continued to lie limp in Joey’s arms. “Damn it, JC. Wake up.”

Lynn slipped her hand into JC’s limp one. Joey looked over at her, wondering why she hadn’t said anything or tried to take charge of the situation. She chewed on her lower lip, tears welling up in her eyes. An unsteady hand came up to wipe at them, and Joey realized she probably didn’t know what to do.

Joey frowned, realizing that he hadn’t seen or heard Justin. He looked up and saw their youngest friend standing a few feet back with a shocked expression. Seeing Justin so upset made Joey want to comfort him, but he could only deal with one problem at a time.

JC continued to lie still in his arms, and Joey was on the verge of panic when Chris started to gently slap JC’s cheeks. Joey wasn’t sure that was going to work, but after a few seconds, his eyelids started to flutter.

“That’s it, C,” Chris encouraged. “C’mon.”

Finally, JC slowly opened his eyes and blinked up at them. “Wha…”

“Are you OK, sweetie?” Lynn asked, rubbing her thumb over JC’s hand that she still held onto.

JC swallowed and blinked again. “Yeah. Yeah, I’m alright.”

“We should take you to the hospital,” Lynn said with a frown, clearly not taking his word for it. “Chris, go pull the car around. Sand Lake is less than ten minutes away.”

“No!” JC objected, his eyes wide as he tried to sit up. Joey kept his arm across JC’s chest, not wanting him to move until they knew he was OK.

“You just passed out. You need to see a doctor,” Lynn said.

“No,” JC repeated, but it was weaker that time. He awkwardly turned his head so he was looking up at Joey. JC’s eyes locked with Joey’s as he begged, “Please don’t make me go.”

Joey’s frown deepened. Like Lynn, he was worried that something was wrong. Sure, JC had seemed pale and shaky before the demo, but it hadn’t seemed like anything serious enough to warrant him passing out. That was what was so concerning.

But Joey couldn’t force JC to go to the hospital, especially when he was pleading with him. Joey sighed softly, knowing that JC was hoping that he’d back him up. It probably wasn’t the best idea because they had no idea why he’d collapsed, but he’d woken up almost immediately and he seemed OK now.

“Let’s wait on the hospital,” Joey said finally, glancing at Lynn and Chris. The relief on JC’s face didn’t escape his attention.

Chris shook his head. “What if he’s really sick?”

“What if he’s not?” Joey countered. Chris opened his mouth to reply and Joey added, “He’s terrified of hospitals. Do you really want to put him through that if it’s not necessary?”

It was silent for a minute. Lynn looked at JC worriedly and reached up with her free hand to brush back his hair before she said, “Alright, we’ll hold off on the hospital for now.”

“And if he doesn’t get better?” Chris asked, frowning.

“Then we’ll take him,” Joey said simply.

“OK,” JC agreed quietly.

Joey glanced up at Chris and saw that his face was twisted with concern. For a second, he thought Chris was going to argue about it some more. But as Chris glanced over at Lynn, Joey realized that if she wasn’t forcing the issue then he wasn’t going to either. With a sigh, Joey glanced down at JC, hoping that he hadn’t made the wrong decision.

 

Lynn gently pressed her palm against JC’s forehead. She’d been checking on him periodically since they’d gotten home nearly an hour ago. Frowning, she removed her hand. He still didn’t have a fever.

It wasn’t that Lynn wanted him to have a fever, but it would make JC’s collapse backstage less alarming. If he hadn’t been feeling well or was getting sick again, there’d be signs of that. But so far there hadn’t been anything. That was what worried her the most.

The one good thing was that JC seemed to be sleeping peacefully. He hadn’t woken up at all since she’d put him to bed, and that made her feel a little better. Sleep was probably the best thing for him right now, and she hoped that was all he would need.

Lynn pulled the sheet that’d pooled around his waist up to the middle of his chest. She looked down at him once more before she left the room. Sighing softly, she walked down the hall and glanced briefly into Joey and Lance’s room as she passed.

She ended up in the kitchen, not knowing what to do with herself. There wasn’t anything she could do for JC right now, which she hated. Being the only mom there, she felt it was her responsibility to take care of all of the boys.

Knowing that she’d want to be notified if her son had collapsed, Lynn picked up the phone that was mounted to the wall. She held it in her hand, hesitating as she looked at the clock.

JC’s parents should know what was going on with their son, but it was late. If she called them now, it would only result in freaking them out. That was the last thing she wanted to do, especially if there wasn’t a serious reason for JC’s collapse.

Having made up her mind to wait ‘til morning, Lynn replaced the phone in its cradle. She decided to see where Justin was because she hadn’t really seen him since they’d gotten back. He had to be upset about JC’s collapse and probably needed to talk about it.

Lynn walked into the living room, thinking that was where her son would be only to find Chris turning off the TV.

“How is he?” Chris asked, looking over at her.

“He’s doing OK,” Lynn said, not at all surprised by his question. They’d all been pretty quiet ever since they left Pleasure Island, each wrapped up in their own shock and concern.

“But you’re still worried,” Chris replied.

Lynn sighed. Sometimes she forgot how perceptive Chris was. “He doesn’t have a fever. It doesn’t seem like anything’s wrong.” She paused. “There’s nothing to explain why he suddenly collapsed.”

“Well, you didn’t see him during rehearsal. He was pretty bad,” Chris said.

“What do you mean?” Lynn asked.

“He was messing up the steps and really beating himself up over it. So he was probably really feeling the pressure,” Chris explained.

Lynn frowned. She wasn’t really surprised by that because pushing himself was in JC’s nature. After all, that was what had happened when he’d gotten sick earlier that week. But she didn’t know if she was ready to accept that as the reason for the collapse. She was still going to be on the lookout for another reason.

“Do you know where Justin is?” Lynn asked, remembering the reason for coming into the living room in the first place.

“The music room, I think,” Chris said.

Lynn nodded and smiled her thanks. She left the room and headed for the front of the house, ready to provide Justin comfort.

 

Joey was lying on his bed, facing the wall. The quiet was unsettling and made it impossible to ignore the thoughts that raced through his mind. Thoughts about JC and the secret he’d promised to keep.

Initially, he had been willing to keep what Lou had done a secret since JC had agreed on telling everyone after the demo. Now Joey wasn’t sure that’d been the best thing he could’ve done for JC. He had been a mess during rehearsal with Lou watching them, and Joey wondered if the stress and anxiety of that had been what caused JC to collapse.

If that was the case, then Joey felt compelled to at least tell Lynn so she’d stop worrying and checking on JC in fifteen minute intervals. Not that that’d actually work. If anything, it would make her worry even more. Besides, it wasn’t like he even knew that the effect Lou had on JC had made him collapse. It wasn’t much of a stretch though considering what’d happened at rehearsal.

With a quiet sigh, Joey rolled onto his back and sat up. He slouched against the headboard, his knees bent. Joey spared a glance to the other side of the room where Lance was lying on his stomach with a pen in his hand and a crossword puzzle in front of him. Part of him envied Lance for not knowing what JC had told him because it weighed heavily on his mind, but it was better that way.

That didn’t stop Joey from considering telling someone though. He hated being the only one to know, especially since he’d seen firsthand the effect that Lou had on JC. But he wasn’t sure how JC would react to knowing that Joey had told his secret without him being there.

Joey hated that JC put him in this position. He hadn’t minded keeping it a secret when he knew that everyone would know once they’d completed the demo, but now everything was up in the air. But did JC really expect him to keep this a secret, especially after he’d collapsed?

As Joey stared at the white wall across the room, his eyes started to burn as he replayed the image of JC lying limp in his arms. He blinked back tears, willing himself not to cry. That wasn’t bringing him any closer to reaching a decision on what to do.

“Joey?”

Joey tore his gaze away from the wall, looking over at Lance’s bed and frowning when he saw that it was empty. That was when he noticed Chris standing near the foot of his bed. It made him wonder just how long Chris had been in there because he hadn’t even heard him come in.

“Are you OK?” Chris asked, bringing Joey’s attention back to him.

“Yeah,” Joey said, stiffly. He barely met Chris’s concerned gaze, looking over his shoulder at the wall.

Chris sighed, clearly not believing him. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” Joey said with a hint of aggravation.

“Don’t lie to me, Joey,” Chris replied. “It’s obvious something’s bothering you.”

“Nothing’s bothering me!” Joey cried, finally looking Chris in the eyes even as he felt his own start to water again. “Just leave me alone!”

Chris frowned. “Joey…” He lowered himself onto the end of Joey’s bed. “What happened to JC was scary, but you can’t let it eat you up like this.”

Joey exhaled heavily and lowered his head as he ran a hand through his tousled hair, unsettled by Chris’s inquisitive eyes staring at him. Chris had no idea what he was talking about. Not that Joey expected him to since he didn’t know what he did. But he could change that right here.

“I should’ve done something,” Joey said quietly.

“Like what?” Chris asked. “There’s nothing you could’ve done.”

“I could’ve said something. I wanted to say something, but I promised JC I wouldn’t.” Joey bit his lip, wondering if he was doing the right thing. “I know I shouldn’t have done that, but JC was upset and I didn’t know what else to do.” He blinked back tears. “Maybe if I’d told someone, JC would be OK. Or at least better than he is now,” Joey said, gesturing in the direction of JC’s bedroom.

“It’s not your fault that JC got so worked up over the demo. He pushed himself too hard,” Chris said.

Joey shook his head. Chris didn’t understand; he wouldn’t understand. He’d constantly fought with JC with how much he obsessed over things being perfect, and that was what he was attributing JC’s collapse to. Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea after all.

“I can’t do this,” Joey mumbled, closing his eyes to try to fight off another onslaught of tears. It felt wrong to do this without JC because it was his secret, not Joey’s.

“Do what?” Chris asked. “Joey, talk to me.”

“I can’t,” Joey repeated quietly.

“You’re kind of freakin’ me out here, man,” Chris said.

“Sorry.”

Chris sighed. “C’mon, Joey, talk to me. Maybe I can help.”

“You can’t. So just leave me alone,” Joey said, turning away from Chris.

But Chris was having none of that. He reached out to grab Joey’s shoulder, gently forcing him to turn and look at him. “I can’t do that. Not when you’re this upset.”

“I’m fine,” Joey mumbled, refusing to look Chris in the eye.

“Uh huh,” Chris said, disbelievingly. “Whatever it is, you need to tell me. It’s gotta be something serious to get you so worked up.”

“I don’t know how to tell you,” Joey said.

“The beginning’s a good place to start,” Chris replied. He tried to look encouraging, but the lines on his forehead showed hints of frustration.

Joey spared a glance at Chris before shaking his head. “It’s not really my secret to tell.”

“Then I’ll just have to talk to JC,” Chris said with a shrug. “I need to know what’s going on, especially if you think it caused him to collapse.”

Joey realized that Chris was determined to get an answer, and he would probably try to talk to JC when he woke up. Being badgered was the last thing JC needed. As horrible as it was to tell his secret while he was sleeping, maybe it was a good thing. If they already knew what had been going on, then maybe they wouldn’t worry and bother JC as much.

“Not saying something is only hurting JC. I don’t care what he’s told you. If it’s serious then we need to know about it,” Chris pushed, his agitation growing.

Joey paused before he said, “Lou’s been hurting JC.”

“What?” Chris stared at a Joey in disbelief. His shoulders stiffened, and he clenched his fists.

But before Chris could really process that, Joey looked down at the comforter and blurted, “He raped him.”

Instantly, relief washed over Joey. It felt good to finally have someone else know. He barely registered the weight that lifted from the bed. But his head snapped up as he heard Lou’s voice a second before heavy footsteps.

Chris flung the door open, fury evident on his face. Joey jumped up from the bed, hastily wiping the tears from his eyes as he chased after him. He had to get to Chris before he did something stupid.

“Chris!”

Joey picked up his pace as they entered the kitchen. He grabbed Chris’s arm, trying to stop him from going into the living room where everyone was talking to Lou. Chris turned, and Joey could see the anger smoldering in his eyes.

“Don’t do this, Chris,” Joey said.

Without a word, Chris roughly yanked his arm out of Joey’s grasp. He marched right over to Lou and pulled back his right fist before letting it fly. The punch landed square on Lou’s jaw, causing him to stumble backwards.

“Chris!” Lynn yelled in surprise. “What’s going on?”

“I can’t believe you!” Chris yelled, ignoring Lynn as he shoved Lou. “After everything you’ve done for us! Getting us this house, giving us spending money, setting us up with Robin and Dave…”

“C’mon, Chris. Not here.” Joey managed to take hold of Chris’s arm and tried to pull him away. But Chris rolled his shoulder, throwing off Joey’s grip.

Movement to the right caught Joey’s attention. He groaned when he saw JC standing there, rumpled from sleep.

“We trusted you!” Chris shouted, forcefully shoving Lou. “All this time we thought you were taking care of us, you were hurting JC! You bastard!”

Lynn frowned, glancing at JC before returning her attention to Chris. “What are you talking about? What happened?”

“He raped JC!” Chris yelled.

All eyes swiveled to JC, who was standing just in the doorway with a mixture of fear and embarrassment on his face. His eyes locked with Lou for a second before he turned and ran out the room. Joey muttered a curse and followed him.

Justin dropped heavily onto the couch that he was standing in front of, the sound seeming very loud in the silent room. Lance stood, staring at Lou in surprise and barely reacted when Lynn gently put a hand on his shoulder, offering him comfort even though she was just as shocked.

“I…” Lou cleared his throat. “I don’t know what he’s talking about. It’s probably just some ploy for attention.”

Chris’s eyes narrowed and was about to punch him again, but was stopped when Lynn spoke.

“Get out,” she said coldly, her arms crossed as she glared fiercely at Lou. Chris had never heard her sound like that, but he knew she meant business. And clearly Lou did too because he rushed for the front door, pulling it closed behind him.

Once he was gone, Chris swiped the clock off the end table and threw it against the wall. It shattered with a loud crash, causing Lance to jump. Chris breathed heavily, turning and seeing Joey reenter the room.

“How the hell could we have let this happen?” Chris demanded loudly before Joey could say anything, barely registering Lynn walking past him.

Joey shook his head sadly. “We didn’t know.”

“How could we not?” Chris countered. “Lou treated him like shit!”

“That didn’t mean he was raping him,” Joey said.

“All of the signs were there!” Chris argued. “I mean, the way that he criticized him over every little thing and the pressure he put on him…he didn’t do that to the rest of us.”

Joey opened his mouth to reply, but Lynn interrupted them.

“Would you both just shut up for a second?” she snapped.

Chris spun around, almost having forgotten she was there. He saw that she was standing in front of the patio door with her head bowed slightly. She ran a hand through her hair as she sighed heavily before turning away from the glass door.

“How’s JC?” she asked Joey.

“He doesn’t want to talk to anyone.”

Lynn frowned, but didn’t say anything else about it. Instead she looked at Chris and asked, “How did you find out?”

“Joey told me,” Chris said simply.

“How did you find out?” Lynn asked again, directing the question at Joey this time.

“JC told me everything last night,” Joey said.

“Alright.” Lynn rubbed at her forehead. Chris could tell that she probably wanted to know more, but she was probably afraid of losing control if she said too much. “I have some phone calls to make.”  She looked at both of them. “Try talking to JC again.”

Joey nodded, and Chris followed him through the kitchen and into the hallway. But instead of walking the entire length of it to get to the three person bedroom, Joey stopped in front of the bathroom.

“He locked himself in the bathroom?” Chris asked, frowning.

“Yeah,” Joey said and sighed. He knocked on the bathroom door. “JC? Are you alright?”

There was no answer, and Chris stepped forward to try. “C’mon, JC. We’re not mad at you. We just wanna talk.”

He and Joey tried for another minute or two to get JC to open the door, but nothing was working. Chris leaned against the wall and exchanged a worried glance with Joey, who merely shrugged. It seemed like there was nothing they could do to get him to come out.

“Any luck?” Lynn asked, stepping into the hall.

Chris shook his head. “He hasn’t even said anything.”

Lynn frowned. “Well, just leave him alone for now, I guess.” She looked over at Joey. “Joey, I need you to come down to the police station with me since you know what happened.”

“Where are Justin and Lance?” Chris asked, just realizing that he had no idea where they were. He’d been so blinded by his anger and then trying to coax JC to open the bathroom door that he hadn’t really thought about how this must be affecting them, Justin especially.

“They’re in the living room. Justin’s really shaken up,” Lynn said.

“I’ll talk to them,” Chris told her. He could tell that she wanted to talk to Justin and make sure he was alright, but she probably felt responsible for making sure everything was being done for JC.

Lynn gave him a weak smile of thanks. “We’ll be back soon.”

Chris nodded and watched as she and Joey walked away. He sighed, glancing at the bathroom door. Maybe Lynn was right. It was best to just leave JC alone for a while and try again later.

He pushed himself away from the wall, and headed for the living room. When he crossed the threshold, he noticed that Justin and Lance were sitting next to each other on the couch. Chris settled himself on the loveseat and turned so he was facing them.

“How are you guys doing?” he asked.

“How’s JC?” Lance countered.

“He’s…alright,” Chris said. “Or at least he will be.”

Lance nodded even though he didn’t look completely convinced. Chris looked over at Justin and frowned. He was sitting stiffly and lacked color in his face. As concerning as that was, it was more so that Chris couldn’t remember Justin really saying anything since he’d revealed that Lou raped JC.

“Are you OK, Justin?” Chris asked.

“Yeah,” Justin said, slowly raising his eyes to meet Chris’s. “I’m just shocked, you know?”

Chris nodded slowly. He couldn’t really relate because he hadn’t been nearly as shocked as Justin seemed. It wasn’t that he’d expected Lou to rape JC, but he’d always thought something was off with Lou. And that made it that much worse. Chris had been the one that’d introduced them to Lou. If he hadn’t, then JC never would’ve been raped.

The silence that had settled over them was broken when Lance asked, “What happens now?”

Chris sighed. “Well, Lynn and Joey are at the police station right now filing a report against Lou. He’ll probably be arrested. After that, I’m not sure. There’ll probably be a trial.”

“What if JC doesn’t want to testify?” Lance asked.

“He will,” Chris said. “That bastard will go to jail, I can promise you that.”

“I wish he would’ve said something,” Justin mumbled.

Chris could understand where Justin was coming from. He couldn’t believe that JC hadn’t told anyone sooner. But then he thought about what he’d do if it’d been him and realized that he probably would’ve done the same thing. Having something that horrible happen to you wasn’t exactly something you wanted people to know about.

“Me too,” Chris said finally, knowing that he had to say something. “But you can’t be mad at him for not saying anything. He was probably scared and didn’t know what to do.”

Justin didn’t respond, and the room lapsed into silence again. Chris frowned. “Are you sure you guys are OK?”

“Are you?” Lance countered, glancing over his shoulder at the clock that laid in pieces near the front door.

Chris followed his gaze. “Yeah, sorry about that. I didn’t mean to freak out like that.”

Lance shrugged. “You were upset.”

“Yeah, but you guys should’ve never found out like that.” Chris paused. “You never answered my question.”

“I’m alright,” Lance said.

Chris glanced at Justin. “Justin?”

Justin looked over at him and nodded. “I’m fine.”

Chris nodded as he settled back against the loveseat. Lance asked another question, and they continued to talk about what’d happened. Chris answered his questions as best he could, considering he didn’t know much. Occasionally, Chris would glance over at Justin wondering if he was going to say anything, but he never did. It was concerning, but he figured it was probably best to just let Justin be for the moment.

When there was nothing else to say, Chris noted the time on the VCR and saw that nearly a half hour had passed since he’d last checked on JC. He rose to his feet. Might as well see how JC was doing and see if he could get him to open the door.

Chris retraced his steps to just outside the bathroom door. He knocked on the bathroom door, hoping that this time he could get through to JC. “JC?”

A long ten seconds passed without an answer. Chris sighed, not really that surprised. Why would JC say something now when he hadn’t earlier? Unless of course he couldn’t say something because something had happened like he’d committed suicide. It was an extreme thought, but JC had been so upset when he’d first gone in that it wasn’t out of the realm of possibility.

Images of JC lying on the bathroom floor dead flashed through Chris’s mind, causing his heart to race. He needed to get into that bathroom to make sure that everything was alright. Chris could pick the lock, but he’d need something small to pop it open.

With that in mind, he walked back into the kitchen and started to rummage through the junk drawer. After a few seconds of searching, Chris found a paperclip. He grabbed it and closed the drawer, glancing briefly at Lance who’d wandered into the kitchen before he walked back to the bathroom door.

Chris unwrapped the paperclip to straighten it and stuck it into the hole. He’d just started to carefully manipulate the small piece of metal in the lock when he felt eyes on him. Glancing over his shoulder, Chris saw that Lance standing there with a frown etched on his face.

“What?”

Lance bit his lip for a second before he asked, “Should you really be doing that? I mean, if JC wants to be left alone…”

“What if something’s wrong? He’s been in there for over an hour now and he still hasn’t said anything,” Chris said.

“Let me try,” Lance suggested.

Chris eyed Lance for a moment. He was impressed that Lance felt comfortable enough to get involved, and it wasn’t like it would do any more damage. It was definitely worth a try. So Chris pulled the paperclip out of the lock and rose to his feet, moving away from the door.

Lance crossed the width of the hall and gently knocked on the wood door. “Hey, JC? Chris is about ready to break down the door. So if you don’t want him in there, you have let us know that you’re alright.”

There was a pause, and Chris was sure that JC wasn’t going to answer. But after a few seconds, JC’s voice could be heard through the door.

“I’m OK.”

Chris sighed in relief and smiled at Lance. He didn’t bother pushing JC to open the door because he was happy to know that he was OK. If JC still wanted some alone time, then they’d leave him alone. At least for a little while longer.

“You wanna watch TV or something?” Chris asked Lance. He didn’t know how much longer Lynn and Joey would be gone, but he was going to wait up for them. So he needed something to do while he waited and figured maybe Lance did too.

Lance shook his head. “I think I’m gonna try to get some sleep.”

“OK, I’ll try to keep it down.”

Lance gave him a small smile before turning and walking into the bedroom he shared with Joey.

Chris walked back out into the living room and settled himself on the loveseat. He glanced over at Justin, who’d stretched out on the couch. Since he wasn’t sure if Justin was sleeping or not, he turned down the TV to make sure it didn’t wake him if he was.

He spent an hour flipping through the channels their cable provided, mostly being left to deal with infomercials since it was so late. Chris turned off the TV when he heard the front door being unlocked. Lynn and Joey walked in looking beat.

“How’d it go?” Chris asked.

“The police officer took down everything Joey said, and they’re going to send a detective tomorrow to talk to JC,” Lynn explained.

“How is he?” Joey asked Chris.

Chris sighed. “He still won’t come out of the bathroom, but Lance got him to at least let us know that he’s OK.”

Lynn looked over at the couch. “Is Justin sleeping?”

“Yeah, and Lance is too,” Chris said.

Lynn walked over and settled on the empty couch cushion near Justin’s head. Joey turned his attention to Chris and asked, “Have you tried again recently?”

“About a half hour ago.”

“I’m gonna try again,” Joey said, crossing the living room and walked through the kitchen.

Chris joined him outside the bathroom door for what felt like the hundredth time that night. Joey sighed and rapped his knuckles on the door. There was no answer, but they’d expected that.

“JC? Can I come in? I just want to talk to you for a minute,” Joey said.

It was silent, but then JC’s voice said, “Just you?”

“Just me,” Joey assured. “C’mon, JC. Open up.”

There was a slight pause before Joey could hear movement on the other side of the door and the lock popping. Joey glanced back at Chris and grabbed the knob, twisting it while pushing the door open. He walked in and closed the door behind him.

Immediately, his eyes fell on JC who was sitting with his knees pulled up to his chest in front of the bathtub. He seemed so small and vulnerable, making Joey’s heart ache. It was like he’d rapidly approached his breaking point.

Joey offered him a small smile as he lowered himself to the floor and sat so he was facing JC. They sat there, neither of them saying anything. It was a little awkward because Joey knew he was the reason that JC had locked himself in the bathroom because he’d told Chris. And the last thing he’d wanted was to make JC uncomfortable.

“I’m really sorry, JC. I didn’t mean for it to come out like that,” Joey said.

“I’m not mad,” JC replied.

“Are you sure?” Joey asked.

JC shrugged and nodded slightly. “They were going to find out eventually, right?”

“Yeah.” Joey paused. “Lynn and I went to the police.”

“I know,” JC said softly, averting his eyes from Joey’s.

“They’re going to send a detective over tomorrow to talk to you and some guy to collect your sheets,” Joey told him.

JC didn’t say anything, but Joey knew he probably wasn’t happy about it. The way that he’d reacted to Joey suggesting it last night made it clear that he wasn’t comfortable with other people knowing. But it was too late to do anything about that now.

“Your parents are coming in tomorrow,” Joey said.

“When?” JC asked quietly.

“By ten I think.”

JC sighed and laid his head on his knees. He looked absolutely exhausted. It had been bad enough that he’d collapsed earlier, but all of this stress with everyone finding out certainly hadn’t helped any.

“You think you’re ready to come out now?” Joey asked, gently. “You’re really freaking everyone out.”

JC shook his head. “No, not yet.”

It was Joey’s turn to sigh. “C’mon, C. You need to get some rest.” He paused. “I’ll make sure that they leave you alone, so you don’t have to worry about talking to anyone.”

“No,” JC repeated, his voice still quiet but a little firmer than it’d been. Joey recognized that there was no way he was going to convince JC to come out.

“Do you want me to at least get you a pillow?” Joey asked.

JC paused. “OK.”

Joey gave him a weak smile and got to his feet. He stepped back out into the hall, closing the door behind him and wasn’t at all surprised to hear the lock click again. Barely looking at Chris who’d positioned himself against the opposite wall, Joey headed for JC’s bedroom.

“Well?” Chris prompted, walking beside him.

“I’m getting him a pillow,” Joey mumbled.

Chris stared at him in disbelief. “He’s not coming out?”

“He’s not ready,” Joey said.

“So, what? He’s gonna sleep in the bathroom?” Chris asked, frowning as Joey grabbed the pillow off JC’s bed.

Joey hesitated at the foot of the bed before he nodded to himself and grabbed the throw blanket too. He looked up at Chris and said, “That’s where he’s comfortable, and I’m not going to force him.”

“That’s weird,” Chris said, shaking his head.

Joey agreed, but he stood by what he said. There was something about being in the bathroom that made JC feel better, and Joey wasn’t going to take that away from him. Not when he was so vulnerable. Besides, his parents would be there soon and they could take care of him then.

Not another word was said as Joey returned to the bathroom and once again knocked. “JC, I got your pillow.”

He waited and a few seconds later, he heard the lock pop. Instead of going in, Joey just opened the door and handed the pillow and blanket to JC. The gratitude was apparent on JC’s face as he accepted them. Joey stepped out of the doorway, and JC closed the door and locked it again.

Having nothing more to do, Joey and Chris walked back into the living room. They entered to see Lynn still sitting on the couch, running a hand through Justin’s blonde curls. She looked up at them as they came in.

“How is he?” she asked.

“He doesn’t wanna come out,” Joey said. “I gave him a pillow and blanket so he’d be more comfortable.”

Lynn sighed. “Well, we’ve done all we can do. His parents will be here soon. Maybe they’ll have better luck.”

Joey nodded and joined Chris on the loveseat. It was late and they should try to sleep, but so much had gone on that Joey doubted he’d be able to, despite the tiredness he felt. He sunk into the cushions, feeling like he hadn’t done enough, but knowing there would be plenty left to do to make sure Lou was punished.

Rubbing at his eyes, Joey tiredly sunk against the soft cushions of the armchair he was sitting in. The late morning sun was retreating from the living room, the lack of light making him feel even more tired. He’d caught a couple hours earlier, but it wasn’t nearly enough.

Not that he would’ve been able to sleep longer even if he wanted to. His worry for JC seemed to overpower the need for rest. They hadn’t even checked on JC until sometime after seven because they’d figured it’d be better to not disturb him in case he’d fallen asleep.

There hadn’t been much of a response from JC. Not that they had really expected one, but they’d hoped. So with nothing else to do, they’d gone back to trying not to worry too much while they waited for his parents to arrive.

JC’s parents had gotten in shortly after ten o’clock, both looking much older than the last time Joey had seen them. No doubt a result from the lack of sleep and worry for their oldest son. Even still, Joey had been glad to see them because they could maybe provide JC strength and comfort where they couldn’t.

Barely any words had been exchanged before they’d led Roy and Karen to the bathroom that JC had spent the night in. They’d knocked and quietly spoke to JC, causing the door to open almost instantly. But Joey had barely caught a glance of JC before the door had closed again, this time with Karen and Roy inside.

That’d been almost an hour ago, and Joey assumed that they were talking. He wasn’t exactly sure what was being said because JC had gone to such great lengths to make sure that no one found out, but it wasn’t like there was any sense in holding back details now. Regardless, they were there, and Joey was sure JC would need their help to deal with what he’d been through.

Just then the doorbell rang, and Joey opened his eyes to see Chris rise from the couch. Chris opened the door and stepped back to let two men into the living room. One was wearing a suit, which Joey figured was the detective. The other was dressed in a uniform with an emblem on his chest. Joey wasn’t sure what he was there for, but remembered that the police had said they would send someone to collect JC’s sheets.

“Morning,” the detective said, stepping forward to grasp Lynn’s hand as she walked in from the kitchen. “I’m Detective Haughton. And this,” he gestured to the younger man standing beside him, “is CSI Parks.”

Parks nodded. “I’m here to collect any potential evidence, so if someone could show me where the crime happened…”

“I will,” Lance volunteered, getting up from the end of the couch. Joey was kind of surprised, but realized that Lance probably wanted to feel like he was doing something. Something Joey could relate to.

Lance left the room with Parks following him. Once they had disappeared, Lynn looked over at the detective with a frown and asked, “Will he find anything? It happened nearly a week ago.”

“I’m going to be honest with you,” Detective Haughton said, meeting Lynn’s concerned gaze. “It would’ve been better if the rape had been reported right away because there would be more evidence. However, that doesn’t mean that you don’t have a case.”

“But will we win?” Joey asked.

“It’s not really my place to make that judgment. That’s the jury’s job.” The detective paused. “I’ve dealt with a few rape cases over the years, and I’ve found that they can go either way.”

Chris glanced at Lance, who’d reentered the room, before turning his attention to the detective. “So what can we do?”

Detective Haughton sighed. “There’s not really much you can do. You reported it, so now it’s up to Mr. Chasez to tell me what happened.”

Before anything else could be said, JC walked into the room with Roy and Karen right behind him. He stopped just inside the doorway, his eyes darting around the room as he shifted before finally settling on the carpet at his feet.

Joey frowned, hating to see JC so uncomfortable, but not surprised. When he’d first mentioned going to the police, JC had all but freaked out. Despite the fact that he’d told Joey, it was easy to see that he hadn’t been interested in telling anyone else, especially a stranger.

“Hi. I’m Detective Haughton,” the detective said, crossing the short distance and offering his hand, which JC hesitantly shook. He also shook Roy and Karen’s hands before focusing his attention on JC. “I’m here to find exactly what happened that night. If you’re feeling up to it.”

“OK,” JC said quietly. Karen gently slipped her hand into his and squeezed it.

Detective Haughton offered him a small smile. “Why don’t we go somewhere a bit more private?” He paused. “Your parents can come if you want.”

“No, I’m alright,” JC said.

Karen frowned at her son. “Honey, are you sure? You don’t have to.”

JC turned his head to offer her a weak smile. “I can handle it.”

It seemed like Karen wanted to insist, but Roy put a hand on JC’s shoulder and said, “If that’s what you want.” JC nodded and he continued, “But if you need anything…”

“Thanks, Dad,” JC said softly.

The detective asked where they could talk, and Lynn directed him to the music room. JC glanced over at his parents once more before he followed Detective Haughton. Joey watched him go, hoping that being alone with the detective would make it easier to tell him.

“Can I get you some coffee or tea?” Lynn asked Roy and Karen. They accepted, and the three of them moved into the kitchen.

Chris sighed as he retook his original position on the couch next to Lance. It was time for them to play the waiting game again. Something that they were quickly getting used to.

Silence reigned over the living room, much like it had for the past twelve hours. The quiet made it easy for Joey to hear the hushed tones of Lynn explaining to JC’s parents everything that’d happened over the past week with their son.

“This is weird,” Lance said suddenly.

Joey and Chris couldn’t help but agree.

 

“Take your time,” Detective Haughton said, offering JC a compassionate smile. “I know this must be hard for you.”

They’d been sitting in silence ever since they’d sat down. JC was on the couch, and the detective was in the chair opposite him. In a way, it was nerve wracking to be able to look up and meet the detective’s expectant gaze, especially since he hadn’t wanted to get the police involved. It was too embarrassing.

But as JC recognized a hint of understanding in the detective’s eyes, he relaxed slightly. He still didn’t really want to tell yet another person what’d happened, but he appreciated the detective’s patience with him. It seemed as if this guy really cared and wanted to help keep Lou away from him. Something he couldn’t do if JC didn’t talk to him.

“I uh…” JC cleared his throat. “How much do you need to know?”

“I don’t need explicit details or anything. I just need to hear what happened from you,” Detective Haughton said.

JC nodded slowly, looking down at his hands. Even though recounting it again would ultimately help him, JC didn’t want to relive the past week over again. Twice had been more than enough. But he knew there was no way of getting out of this now, not with his parents just in the other room.

After taking a deep breath, JC began to tell the detective about the first rape and the events leading up to it. At first, he was still very uncomfortable about discussing such a private thing with a complete stranger.

But as time went on, JC found that it wasn’t as bad as he’d been making it out to be. If anything, it was almost easier because he wouldn’t see this guy again once it was all said and done. His family and friends on the other hand, he’d have to see them all the time and know that they probably looked at him differently now.

Eventually, JC fell silent, having told the detective everything that he’d told Joey and his parents. He watched as the detective finished taking notes in the pad that he’d pulled out of his pocket. The unease from earlier seemed to have returned, JC not knowing what the next step was and wanting to be done.

Detective Haughton must’ve noticed JC’s discomfort because he said, “Don’t worry. We’re going to do whatever we can to catch this guy and put him in jail.”

“But it’s my word against his. Why would anyone believe me?” JC asked, his hands picking at a loose thread on the arm of the couch. It was something he’d thought about ever since Lou had groped him.

“I believe you, and the jury will too.” Detective Haughton paused. “But I’m not going to lie, it’s going to be harder. Since it happened a week ago, we don’t have much evidence to support what you’re saying.”

JC bit his lip. He hadn’t wanted to say anything about Lou raping him again before the demo because it was bad enough that everyone knew about the first time. But if it would help put Lou in jail, then he should say something. Besides, just because he was telling the detective didn’t mean that everyone else had to know.

“Well…” JC took a deep breath. “There’s something else I didn’t tell you.”

Detective Haughton didn’t say anything, but nodded like he’d suspected that JC had been keeping something from him.

“It happened more than once,” JC said.

“When?” the detective asked, leaning forward.

“Last night,” JC said quietly.

Immediately, Detective Haughton sat up straight. “Have you showered?”

JC frowned. “No.”

Detective Haughton nodded again, his gaze sympathetic. “Alright, here’s what we need to do. We need to collect the clothes you were wearing, and you need to see a doctor.”

“Why?” JC asked, his frown deepening. Already he didn’t like where this was headed. Going to the doctors wasn’t something he’d even considered, nor did he want to. “Can’t you just take my clothes?”

“A doctor’s report will help support your case. And you really should be examined after what happened to you. To make sure you’re all right.”

JC got to his feet, shaking his head. This wasn’t what he wanted. He just thought that saying that it happened twice would give what he was saying more weight. The last thing he wanted was doctors poking and prodding him, probably taking pictures of his body. He had to get out of this somehow.

“I lied,” JC said quickly, trying to take back everything he’d told the detective. He started to inch his way towards the door. “I wasn’t raped. I just said that stuff because I really don’t like Lou.”

“I know you’re scared,” Detective Haughton started gently. “But this can only help. No one else is going to hurt you.”

“I’m sorry,” JC said before turning and bolting out of the door. He didn’t slow down as he rushed through the living room for the patio door. Barely even registering that Joey, Chris, and Lance were rising from their seats.

Once he was outside, JC exhaled shakily. He ran a hand through his hair, trying to get the pounding in his heart to subside.

“Are you OK?”

JC’s head snapped up to see Justin sitting on the edge of the pool with his legs in the water, staring at him with a concerned expression on his face. That’s all JC had been seeing lately, and he couldn’t take it anymore. He needed to get away from the prying questions, the pitying gazes, all of it.

Without another thought, JC turned on his heel and ran across the patio for the fenced gate. He quickly lifted the latch and ran out onto the sidewalk, the wooden gate slamming behind him. JC didn’t look back as he pushed himself to run faster, wanting to put as much distance between him and everyone else as possible.

 

Justin stared after JC in disbelief. He hadn’t expected JC to react like that, especially with him. All he’d been trying to do was help. And what did he get? His best friend running away from him.

Angrily, Justin kicked his left leg forward, cutting through the cool water and causing some of it to splash up onto the jean shorts he was wearing. He glared at the bottom of the pool, hating that JC didn’t want to talk to him. But most of all, hating that it proved that their friendship wasn’t as strong as Justin thought.

He frowned, wishing there was some way to get JC to stop seeing him as a kid. Instead, Justin wanted JC to see him as a friend – someone to talk to. Just because he was younger than JC didn’t mean that he wasn’t able to talk about something as serious as rape. Justin would do anything to help his friend, and he hated that JC refused to give him that chance.

As soon as JC had stepped outside, Justin had seen that he needed to talk. It had been obvious that something had him freaked, and it’d worried Justin. Everything seemed to be happening so fast, and he didn’t want JC keeping whatever was bothering him to himself again and making things worse. But apparently JC didn’t agree.

Behind Justin, the patio door slid open. He glanced over his shoulder to see Lance and Joey, not really surprised to see them. It seemed likely that someone had seen JC come out here.

“Where is he?” Joey asked.

Justin sighed. “He took off,” he said indifferently, pointing towards the gate.

Immediately, Joey took off, heading in the same direction that JC had taken just minutes earlier. Lance looked over at Justin before shifting his gaze to the gate Joey had disappeared through. It seemed like he was going to follow, but instead he turned towards Justin.

“Are you OK?” he asked.

“No,” Justin said, bitterly. There was no point in trying to hide it. Besides, JC did that enough for all of them. At least one of them should tell the truth.

Lance stepped closer, frowning. “Why? What’s wrong?”

“What’s wrong?” Justin repeated incredulously, his foot connecting with the tiled wall of the pool. “My best friend won’t talk to me!”

Lance’s forehead crinkled in confusion. “What happened?”

“He came out looking completely freaked, so I ask him if he’s OK. And you know what he does?” Justin didn’t wait for Lance to answer. “He runs away from me!”

“You shouldn’t take it personally. He ran out on the detective, and he probably didn’t feel like dealing with anyone else right then,” Lance said.

“But I’m not just anyone,” Justin protested. “I’m his best friend. Shouldn’t that count for something?”

“It does, but not when he doesn’t want to talk,” Lance said.

Justin shook his head. “Doesn’t want to talk to me is what you mean.”

“That’s ridiculous,” Lance started, but Justin cut him off.

“Oh yeah? How much you wanna bet that he’ll talk to Joey?” Justin crossed his arms, glaring at the direction JC and Joey had gone. Knowing that JC was probably talking to Joey at that very moment made his blood boil. He should be the one JC went to, not Joey. “It’ll be just like before.”

“What are you talking about?” Lance asked.

“He told Joey about the rape and lied to me!” Justin yelled.

Once again Lance looked confused. “How did he lie to you?”

“He told me he was just having nightmares and needed more sleep. But Joey…Joey he tells the truth.” Justin’s face twisted in anger as he remembered sitting on his bed, listening to JC talk about what was wrong and feeling so great that his best friend was confiding in him. But it’d been fake and patronizing, something Justin hated. “He should’ve told me!”

“He probably didn’t know how to tell you,” Lance suggested.

Justin glared at him. “That’s crap and you know it! We’ve known each other for years. Longer than he’s known Joey.” He paused. “If we were really friends, he would’ve told me.”

Lance sighed. “Look, I know you’re upset—”

“Damn right I’m upset,” Justin interrupted loudly. “JC won’t talk to me because he thinks I’m too young to understand. I’m tired of being treated like a kid. No one takes me seriously.”

“Maybe it’s because you’re not serious,” Lance said.

“Whose side are you on?” Justin stared down Lance, clenching his fists at his side. “I thought you’d understand.”

“I do, but you’re mad for all the wrong reasons.” Justin crossed his arms, but didn’t say anything. Lance continued, “You should be mad at Lou, not JC. He’s the one that hurt JC. All of this is his fault. JC was just trying to cope with what’d happened.”

Justin unfolded his arms and looked down at his bare feet. He still wasn’t happy that JC hadn’t told him, but he agreed with what Lance was saying. Lou was the one that deserved his anger, not JC. That was how it should’ve been as soon as he’d found out, and Justin hated himself for directing his anger at JC instead of making sure he was OK.

“And you might think that he doesn’t need you right now, but he will. He’s going to need your support to get through this,” Lance said.

“I tried to be there for him, and he ran away from me,” Justin reminded.

Lance shook his head slightly. “You don’t have to talk to him to support him. He just needs to know you’re there in case he does want to talk and that you’ll stand behind him. He’s especially going to need that when he goes to trial.”

All of the anger drained out of Justin as he considered what Lance said. He’d blindly let his anger take over, and that’d kept him from going after JC. If he had, he might’ve been able to get JC to talk. But even if he hadn’t, Justin knew him well enough to know that he couldn’t push JC – something that JC would have been appreciative of.

With a soft sigh, Justin raised his eyes to meet Lance’s and offered him a small smile. “Thanks, Lance.”

Lance just nodded, his lips turned upward slightly. Justin was glad he’d helped because he knew now that he’d needed someone to set him straight. Now he could focus on helping JC and getting things back to normal.

 

Joey ran down the sidewalk, his eyes bouncing back and forth between both sides of the street. He had no idea where JC went, but he figured he couldn’t have gone too far since he hadn’t really recovered from collapsing the night before. Then again, JC had more stamina and stubbornness than the rest of them.

But JC needed to let go of that some so they could help him. It seemed that he was still determined to handle this on his own, despite the fact that everyone knew now. He’d looked so upset when he’d rushed out of the music room that Joey hoped he hadn’t done anything stupid.

That thought made Joey push himself to run faster, while keeping an eye out for his friend. But it turned out that wasn’t really necessary. As the end of the street came into view, Joey could make out JC kneeling in the middle of the sidewalk.

Joey reached JC’s side, panting from the exertion. JC didn’t even look up at Joey from his hunched over position. It didn’t seem that he noticed he wasn’t alone anymore; his shoulders continued to shake as he cried.

Unable to watch JC cry anymore, Joey took a breath and stepped forward. “JC?”

There was no answer, but JC stiffened slightly. Joey took another step and crouched down beside him. “Are you OK?” he asked, putting a hand on JC’s shoulder.

Immediately, JC jumped to his feet, the motion catching Joey off guard and causing him to lose his balance. JC glared down at Joey and said huskily, “Leave me alone.”

As Joey slowly started to rise to his feet, he looked up at him. JC was breathing heavily, but Joey wasn’t so sure anymore that it was just from crying. For as upset as he looked, he also looked pissed.

“No,” Joey said, now facing JC. Rumbling forced Joey to look up at the black clouds that seemed to be growing darker. He looked back at JC, knowing that they shouldn’t do this here. “We should get back.”

Joey tried to gently lead JC in the direction he’d just come, but JC wasn’t having any of it. He ripped his arm out of Joey’s grasp. “I’m not going,” he said in a low voice, his lips forming a thin line.

“Why? What happened with the detective?” Joey asked.

“Nothing,” JC denied.

Joey gave him a disbelieving look. “Something,” he insisted. “Something must have happened to get you this upset.”

“It’s none of your business,” JC said.

Joey blinked, taken aback by that. He wasn’t used to JC being so harsh and blunt. That just made him even more concerned.

“I’m trying to help, JC.”

JC shook his head and turned his back on him. “I don’t want help, so you might as well save yourself the trouble and just leave.”

“I can’t,” Joey said. “Not when you’re this upset.”

JC spun around, his eyes mere slits. “What do you care? You’re the reason I’m upset.”

“What?” Joey asked, taking a step back in surprise.

“You and everyone else,” JC said, advancing on Joey. “You’re forcing me into things that I don’t want to do. That I’m not comfortable with.”

“You never said anything,” Joey replied, finding his voice. It made him feel a little better to know that he wasn’t being directly accused for upsetting JC, but not much.

“No one gave me a chance!” JC yelled. He took a breath and glanced around at the houses that surrounded him before lowering his voice. “You all decided things without even talking to me.”

Joey nodded, realizing that they hadn’t really asked JC what he wanted to do. But at the same time, it wasn’t like that was really an option since he’d locked himself in the bathroom. Not that Joey was going to bring that up, knowing it would just piss JC off. Instead, he said, “We just assumed you’d want to press charges.”

“It wasn’t your decision to make,” JC said, glaring at Joey.

“You’re right, and I’m sorry.” Joey met JC’s dark gaze. “But nothing’s set in stone. Let’s go back and sit down and talk about what you want to do.”

JC shook his head slightly. “They won’t listen to me.”

“Yes, they will,” Joey said. “But if they don’t, I’ll be there to back you up. Everyone just wants to do whatever they can to help you.”

For the first time since they started talking, JC didn’t look so pissed. He bit his lip, no doubt considering Joey’s suggestion. It was then that Joey realized that maybe they’d jumped into action too soon because they could never understand what JC had gone through.

Finally, JC nodded and said, “OK. Let’s go talk.”

Joey smiled and wrapped an arm around JC’s shoulders, glad that JC didn’t pull away. Glancing over at him, Joey saw that in addition to JC’s eyes being tinged with red, there were also dark circles under them. He looked exhausted, so Joey let him set the pace.

Slowly, the two of them walked down the street. Not a word was said as they approached the house a few minutes later. They opened the gate and walked into the side yard, only to see that Roy and Karen were there.

“There you are!” Karen exclaimed, relief visible on her face. She walked over to JC and asked, “Where did you go?”

“Up the street. I just needed to get away for a bit,” JC said.

Roy pulled a set of keys out of his pocket and asked, “You wanna go for a ride?”

JC looked over his shoulder at Joey, who offered him an encouraging smile. Joey knew that Roy and Karen probably wanted to talk to him, and that was something JC needed to do.

“Sure,” JC agreed.

Joey watched as the three of them walked out through the gate and made a left towards the driveway. Hopefully the talk would go good. Not that there would be any reason why it wouldn’t because JC’s parents seemed to be pretty understanding.

Glancing once more at the dark sky, Joey crossed the small patio and opened the door. As soon as he stepped inside, he could hear Lynn and Chris arguing in the kitchen. Joey frowned as he walked the short distance and watched them in the doorway for a minute.

“It’s not necessary,” Chris said.

“Yes, it is. You can’t hide something like this from them,” Lynn replied.

“But what good will it do?” Chris challenged. “It’s not like it’ll change anything. They’ll just get even more upset, and things’ll be worse than they are now.”

Lynn shook her head. “You’re not giving them enough credit. Yes, they’ll be upset, but they’re not going to let it interfere with being there for JC.”

“You really want to put that on them though? I mean, they’re still trying to wrap their heads around what happened,” Chris said.

Lynn fixed Chris with a stern look and crossed her arms. “I’m not going to lie to my son. He deserves to know everything that JC went through.”

Joey frowned at the exchange. Lynn and Chris weren’t yelling, but it was obvious they weren’t going to agree anytime soon. It made Joey wonder what’d happened while he’d gone after JC because he’d never seen Chris face off with Lynn like this. Even if it was kind of mild.

“What’s going on?” Joey asked finally, stepping into the kitchen. At once, Lynn and Chris’s heads swiveled in his direction.

They glanced at each other before Lynn sighed. “We’re trying to decide what to tell the boys.”

“About what?” Joey asked.

Chris sighed, meeting Joey’s concerned gaze with a solemn one. “JC was raped more than once.”

Joey felt the air leave him as if someone had punched him in the stomach. “What?”

“Yeah.” Chris nodded. “Apparently JC was keeping things from us.”

“When did it happen?” Joey asked. He didn’t bother asking about how they found out because there was only one person who would’ve told them:  the detective.

“Last night,” Lynn said.

“Before the demo,” Joey said quietly to himself, shaking his head. He couldn’t believe he hadn’t figured it out. JC had looked like shit when they were ready to go on stage. He should’ve known that Lou had to have done something when he’d gone to get his pants fixed. That was the only time he’d left JC alone. “It’s all my fault.”

“The only person responsible for what happened to JC is Lou,” Chris tried to assure.

“No,” Joey denied. “I shouldn’t have left him alone. I knew what Lou had been doing to him. I was supposed to protect him.”

“Hey, you weren’t the one that left him alone with that piece of shit,” Chris pointed out.

“But you didn’t know!” Joey objected. “You didn’t know what was going on. I did.”

“You didn’t know Lou was going to rape JC again.” Chris held Joey’s gaze, obviously saying that he should believe him. He added, “Besides, there’s nothing you could’ve done. Lou would’ve found some way to be alone with JC no matter what you did.”

Joey considered that and knew that was probably true. Lou had done things to JC before without their knowing. He probably would’ve found some way to get them out of the way. That didn’t make Joey feel any better though.

“It still shouldn’t have happened,” Joey muttered.

Chris nodded. “You’re right, but now we’re gonna make it right. Lou’s gonna pay for what he did.”

Joey glanced at Lynn, seeing a similar determination that was on Chris’s face. He had no doubt that Lou needed to be punished for hurting JC. But after talking to JC, Joey wasn’t so sure that JC would agree in the way that they wanted him to.

From now on, Joey would stand by JC’s decision. He wouldn’t let anyone force JC into anything. Lou had already done enough of that.

JC stared out the window at the dark sky as his dad drove through the city. It looked as if it would pour at any moment, and he couldn’t help but think that it would be fitting considering how this day had been going. Even now, he couldn’t escape the awkwardness.

They’d been driving for nearly ten minutes in tense silence. JC had thought they were going to talk, or at least that was the impression he’d gotten when his parents had offered to go for a ride. It wasn’t that he wanted to talk, but he knew it was necessary to tell them how he felt about being forced into things.

That didn’t mean he was going to be the first one to speak. Despite knowing what he needed to say, JC found it difficult to actually do it. He was hesitant to talk to them about not pressing charges because he knew they wouldn’t take it well.

But maybe he wasn’t giving them enough credit. After all, they’d been handling everything pretty well, or at least better than he’d thought they would. JC just wasn’t sure that would last because he’d seen the underlying anger on their faces when he told them what Lou had done.

Feeling eyes on him, JC looked to the front seat and met his mom’s concerned gaze. She offered him a small smile, which he weakly returned. He was about to look away when she said, “You want to tell us what happened with the detective?”

JC sighed. “I just…I couldn’t take it anymore.”

“Take what?” Roy asked.

“Just everything,” JC said. He didn’t want to go into detail because he still didn’t want them to know about the second rape. If they knew, that would just be an even stronger reason for them to insist on taking Lou to court.

His parents glanced at each other before Roy looked at JC through the rearview mirror. “The detective told us you tried to take back what you said about being raped.”

JC averted his gaze, feeling his stomach clench. There was no question that Lou deserved to go to jail, but everything was becoming overwhelming. He had to do so much to make that happen, and he wasn’t sure he could do what was asked of him. But JC knew his parents wouldn’t let him drop the charges, especially if they found out about the second rape.

Suddenly, JC’s eyes widened and he slowly looked towards the front, knowing he still had his parents’ attention. “He told you everything, didn’t he?” he said.

“Honey, why didn’t you tell us?” Karen asked JC, confirming what he already knew. The detective couldn’t tell his parents he freaked without them demanding an explanation.

“I didn’t want anyone to know,” JC mumbled, looking down at the carpeted floor beneath his feet.

It was quiet for a moment before Roy said, “There’s nothing to be ashamed of. What happened isn’t your fault.”

“I should’ve fought harder.” JC rested his forehead against the window. “I shouldn’t have been so weak.”

“You’re not weak,” Karen said.

JC didn’t respond as he continued to stare out the window. He couldn’t believe that. If he wasn’t weak, he wouldn’t have let Lou take advantage of him again.

Karen sighed. “Josh, look at me.” JC glanced at her, but didn’t meet her gaze. She frowned and said firmly, “Joshua.”

JC knew that tone and slowly raised his eyes to meet her own. Once Karen was satisfied that she had his attention, she continued. “You’re not weak,” she repeated. “Your father and I don’t think so, and I know no one else thinks so. It’s amazing you were able to keep something so horrible to yourself for so long.”

“Are you mad?” JC asked, looking at both his parents before lowering his eyes once again. Despite everything they’d been telling him, he couldn’t help feeling that they looked at him differently now.

“We’re mad at Lou for hurting you,” Roy said, glancing at Karen who nodded. “But we’re not mad at you. We’re not happy that you didn’t say anything sooner, but we know that you dealt with it the best way you knew how.”

JC was about to apologize when he noticed that they were pulling into the hospital’s parking lot. “What are we doing here?” he asked, a feeling of dread washing over him.

“You’re going to get examined by a doctor,” Karen said.

JC shook his head. He’d expected as much, but he wasn’t going to be forced into another thing he didn’t want to do. Not this time. “No.”

Roy turned in his seat so he could see JC better and said, “The detective told us how important it is that you’re examined.”

“I don’t care,” JC said. “I don’t want to do it.”

“Why?” Karen asked, frowning.

“Haven’t I been through enough?”

Karen looked over at Roy before returning her gaze to JC as she sighed. “I know you hate doctors, but your father and I would really like it if you’d let a doctor look at you.”

“So what I want doesn’t matter?” JC demanded.

“You could be hurt and when you’re hurt, you see a doctor,” Roy said. “I know you don’t want to, but it’s only going to help your case. The less evidence they have, the longer it’s gonna take to get Lou in jail.”

“What if I don’t want to press charges?” JC asked. He recognized that this wasn’t the best way to bring it up, but he couldn’t help it. They weren’t taking no for an answer, and he was losing his patience.

Roy shook his head. “You’re going to see a doctor and use any evidence they find to put Lou in jail.”

“You can’t tell me what to do,” JC said, glaring. “Just because you’re my parents doesn’t mean you always know what’s best. Neither of you can possibly understand what I went through, so you don’t have a say in what I do. Not this time.” He looked at them and said firmly, “I am not going in there.”

“Josh…” Karen began gently, but JC opened his door. He didn’t want to hear anything else they had to say; he was done listening.

JC got out of the car, slamming his door. He quickly glanced around the parking lot before he started to storm off in the direction of the road, ignoring the rumbling thunder. Behind him, he could hear the slight squeak of the car doors, but he paid them no mind.

“Joshua,” his father said sternly.

JC didn’t pay any attention to Roy, continuing to put distance between himself and his parents. He had nothing else to say. If they refused to accept it, then that was their problem. Right now, all he wanted was some space so he could collect his thoughts. But he hadn’t put as much distance between them as he’d thought.

“We’re not done talking, Joshua,” Roy said, grabbing onto JC’s right shoulder forcefully and turning him.

Immediately, panic set in. JC yanked his shoulder out of his father’s grasp, stumbling backwards. He panted heavily as his heart raced, beating painfully against his ribcage as memories were pushed to the forefront his mind.

JC unconsciously rubbed at his right shoulder, remembering the pain he’d felt from Lou’s pressing weight. The feeling of being trapped, held down by Lou and being completely immobile, was something JC didn’t think he’d ever forget. It haunted him.

He hated that Lou affected him even when he wasn’t around. There seemed to be no escape from what’d happened. It was all anyone talked about, and JC just wanted it to end. The nightmares, the flashbacks, the nagging thoughts of what if…he wanted them to disappear.

“Josh, sweetie…”

JC looked up, surprised to find himself kneeling on the ground with his parents crouching in front of him. He didn’t remember falling to his knees, having been too caught up in his thoughts. But seeing the concern in his parents’ eyes, JC had no doubt that he’d probably scared them.

Karen seemed to realize that she finally had his attention and reached out to touch JC’s arm, only to have him shy away from her. “Don’t,” JC said, his voice shakier than he’d thought it would be.

“This is why we want you to get looked at,” Roy told him gently. “We need to make sure nothing’s wrong. That you’re OK.”

JC shook his head. “I’m fine.”

“You don’t have to do this anymore. You don’t have to pretend you’re OK.” Karen ducked her head to meet JC’s gaze, tears falling freely. “We’re here now. Let us help you.”

JC swallowed and looked away, feeling moisture on his cheek. For a second he thought it was raining, but he realized that he was crying too. It felt like everything was crumbling around him. He was exhausted and had no more energy left to fight.

“I’m scared,” JC whispered as another tear fell.

Karen reached out her hand once more, but this time JC didn’t avoid her touch. She seemed relieved as she gently held his hand and said, “It’s alright. We’ll be with you every step of the way.”

JC glanced over at his father, who nodded in agreement. He still didn’t want to see a doctor, but he didn’t have the energy to fight anymore. Exhaustion was setting in, and he just wanted to go home.

“Do I still have to press charges?” JC asked, hesitantly.

Roy and Karen glanced at each other before Roy said, “No, not if you don’t want to. But at least wait until the doctor examines you before you make up your mind, OK?”

JC nodded. He knew that they were probably hoping that he would change his mind, but he was glad that they weren’t forcing the issue anymore. It made him feel a little bit better about seeing a doctor.

Slowly, the three of them got to their feet. Karen continued to hold JC’s hand as Roy led them to the hospital’s entrance. As they walked into the lobby, JC took a deep breath and prayed that the examination would be quick.

 

Chris dribbled the basketball, switching hands as Joey made a swipe for it. He backpedaled slightly to put a little more space between them and looked to his left. Justin was standing a couple feet away from the hoop with Lance guarding him. Knowing that he wouldn’t be able to reach it himself, Chris faked to the right before passing the ball to Justin.

The ball was easily caught, and Justin turned to position himself to shoot a basket. Lance moved closer and raised his arms, trying to prevent Justin from getting a shot off. But Justin jumped and extended his arms, sending the ball sailing through the air and into the hoop effortlessly.

There was no celebration as Lance took the ball and tossed it to Joey, forcing the four of them towards the basket at the other end of the court. Justin jogged lightly, clearly not in a hurry to put himself on defense. It wasn’t an intense game so it wasn’t like his actions were weird, but Chris had hoped that Justin would get into it.

Not that Chris blamed him. It was hard enough accepting that your best friend had been raped, but to find out it had happened twice was too much to deal with. That was why Chris had argued with Lynn about telling Justin and Lance, but she couldn’t be swayed. He’d recognized that and eventually let it go.

Almost immediately after, Lynn had gone searching for Justin. She’d found him in the back bedroom with Lance and broke the news to both of them. At first Chris had hated that she’d told Lance because while he couldn’t stop her from telling her son, that didn’t mean that Lance had to know. But Chris realized that it wouldn’t have been fair to Lance to be the only one out of the loop.

And really, they hadn’t reacted as bad as he’d thought they might. He hadn’t known what to expect, but he’d figured that Justin would be especially vocal. Instead, Justin had emerged from the bedroom tight lipped, looking like he wanted to hurt someone even as he held back tears. Lance hadn’t been much better.

That had been when Chris had gotten the idea to play basketball. He’d thought engaging them in something would help to take their mind off it. Justin had tried to protest, but he’d insisted. So far it didn’t have the effect he’d hoped for, but Chris wasn’t ready to give up yet.

The sound of the hoop shaking as the ball hit the backboard brought him back to the game. Quickly, Chris glanced at Justin before moving forward to catch the rebound since his partner wasn’t going to. He caught the ball and turned to head back down the court, Joey following him every step of the way.

Joey seemed more into the game than Lance or Justin, but Chris wasn’t fooled. It was obvious by the way that Joey kept up with him and faced off against him that he had a lot on his mind. Really it was more a game of one on one since Lance and Justin weren’t participating much.

Wanting to change that, Chris passed the ball to Justin who was a couple feet in front of him. Justin barely caught it before forcefully tossing it back to him, looking annoyed. Chris barely suppressed a sigh before he took a shot.

The ball danced around the rim before falling outside. Lance caught it and immediately tossed it to Joey, who jogged down the court. Again, the game shifted as the four of them went to other side of the court.

Chris moved to guard Lance, forcing Justin to go up against Joey. If the glare Justin sent Chris’s way was any indication, he didn’t appreciate what he was trying to do. So he hardly tried to block the pass from Joey to Lance.

Immediately, Lance focused on the basket. He just sent the ball towards the hoop when the back door opened, drawing their attention. Joey absently grabbed the rebound as he looked over at Lynn, who was standing in the doorway.

“Sorry to interrupt. Lance, your mom’s on the phone,” Lynn said, holding up the cordless phone.

Lance quickly crossed the asphalt and accepted the phone she held out. Once it was out of her hands, Lynn turned and went back into the house with Lance following her. More than likely, Diane had called to see how the demo had gone. She’d be getting more news than she’d bargained for.

Justin watched them leave, frowning. His mom returned to the kitchen table where Roy and Karen were sitting. They’d only gotten back about five minutes ago, and already there was no sign of JC. Justin understood why JC kept avoiding them, knowing how embarrassed and uncomfortable he must feel about the whole thing, but Justin hated that JC felt like he couldn’t talk to him.

Justin started for the back door.

“Hey. Where you going?” Chris asked.

Justin glanced over his shoulder briefly. “Inside,” he mumbled.

Chris looked like he wanted to argue, but Justin didn’t pay any attention to him. He knew why Chris was objecting, and he didn’t appreciate it. The game was Chris’s way of distracting him, but it hadn’t worked. And he was done humoring him.

Justin walked the short distance to the back door and stepped into the kitchen. He glanced into the living room, spotting Lance who was talking to his mom on the couch. Looking away, Justin continued to move towards the hallway.

The parents were quietly talking and didn’t seem to notice him walking by. Something that Justin was grateful for. There was only one person he wanted to talk to. Someone who was probably lying on his bed, trying to deal with everything on his own.

As Justin made his way down the hall to the back bedroom, he tried to mentally prepare himself. He wasn’t exactly sure what he was going to say to JC, but one thing he knew was that he’d have to say the right things.

The bedroom door was partially closed, and Justin paused in front of it briefly to take a deep breath. He released it slowly as he pushed open the door, stepped into the room. But he stopped in his tracks, staring at his best friend in disbelief. JC was packing.

“What are you doing?” Justin asked, making his presence known since JC didn’t appear to have heard him come in.

JC jumped and quickly turned, letting out a breath when he saw Justin. “God, J. Don’t sneak up on me like that.”

“What are you doing?” Justin repeated. He wasn’t going to be deterred that easily.

JC sighed and grabbed another shirt out of his open dresser drawer, placing it in the partially full suitcase. With his back to Justin, he said quietly, “I’m going home.”

Justin felt his stomach drop. After everything that JC had been through, it wasn’t outrageous for him to want to go home, but Justin couldn’t believe JC was just gonna leave. Right away too by the looks of things. And that hurt the most. He wouldn’t have found out JC was leaving until he came out to say goodbye. But even ignoring the fact that Justin didn’t want him to leave, he wasn’t sure how JC could. Didn’t he have to stay put until this stuff with Lou was dealt with?

“Can you still talk to the police and stuff from D.C.?” Justin asked. There was no answer, and Justin prompted, “JC.”

“I’m not pressing charges,” JC said, his eyes focused on the t-shirt that he was smoothing a wrinkle out of.

Justin blinked, taking a step back. “What?”

JC didn’t say anything as he continued packing. Justin moved around the bed and into his line of sight. “But why? What happened?”

JC met his gaze briefly before looking back down at his suitcase. “Nothing. I just don’t want to go through that.”

Justin frowned, knowing that JC wasn’t telling him everything. He knew how JC felt about sharing his private life with strangers, but he’d talked to the detective. That was when it hit Justin.

“Does this have to do with what happened earlier with the detective? Is that why you changed your mind?” Justin asked.

JC’s head snapped up. “I didn’t change my mind. I never wanted to press charges.”

“So you’re just gonna let Lou get away with what he did?” Justin asked, unable to believe that. JC always tried to do the right thing, so it was hard to understand how he could just let it go. He had to know that Lou needed to be punished for what he’d done.

“I guess I am,” JC said evenly.

Justin shook his head, watching as JC continued to pack. “That’s not right, JC.”

“Not right?” JC threw down the shirt and glared at Justin. “Why does everyone think I should be doing the right thing? Lou didn’t, so why should I? Why is it my responsibility?”

“Because you always do the right thing,” Justin said, his forehead creasing in confusion.

JC scoffed slightly. “Yeah, well, not this time.”

Justin couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Never had he heard JC talk like this, and it was disconcerting. The JC he knew would never back out of doing what he thought was right. It made Justin wonder if JC had considered what might happen if he dropped the charges or if it’d been something he’d decided impulsively.

“Can you really just let him go free? What if he hurts someone else?”

“All I’ve been doing this whole time is thinking about other people. I kept it a secret and put up with Lou’s crap because I knew what would happen to our careers if I said something.” JC’s eyes locked with Justin’s. “After all that, don’t I deserve to be a little selfish?”

Justin couldn’t really argue with that. JC had been through a lot, so he should do what he wanted and think of himself for once. But that wasn’t him. He wasn’t a selfish person.

“Just think about this. If you let Lou walk away, he’ll go out and find another group. He’ll pick someone that he likes. It could be someone like you, or maybe someone like me. Either way, he’ll take advantage of that person’s trust and hurt them. Just like he hurt you.” Justin stepped closer and said quietly, “You can put a stop to it. You can save someone else from the pain you’re going through.”

JC didn’t say anything, but was looking down at the bed with a small frown on his face. Even though JC wasn’t looking at him, Justin could almost see his thoughts churning. It made him hopeful.

But then again, why would JC listen to him? Yes they were best friends, but JC already had it in his head that he couldn’t talk to Justin about this stuff. Joey was the one he went to now, not Justin. As much as that hurt, that wasn’t even the worst part. Their friendship wasn’t as strong as it used to be. If anything, it was weaker. Everything that’d happened over the past week proved that. And despite Chris and Lance’s reassurances, Justin had been right. He was losing JC.

“Look,” Justin sighed. JC raised his head to look at him. “I know you think I don’t understand, and you’re right. I don’t. But I want to help.” Justin paused, trying to find the right words. “I think it’s wrong to let Lou get away with this, but if that’s what you want…then I’m with you.”

Justin glanced at JC, seeing that he’d returned his gaze to the bed and was clearly thinking. For once, Justin had no idea what he was thinking, and he hated that. But there was nothing else he could do right now. It was up to JC.

As Justin left the room, he hoped that the JC he knew was still in there somewhere and would do what he thought was best. No matter what that meant.

 

Joey sat across from Justin at the kitchen table, watching as Lance gave Chris two of the cards he’d asked for. The four of them were playing Go Fish as a way to unwind and relax a bit. JC and his parents had left a couple hours ago for a nearby hotel.

There had been no objection about JC staying at a hotel. Not that Joey had really expected one. They all knew how much trouble JC had been having sleeping in the house and for good reason. Joey could barely stand it just knowing what’d happened under their noses, but at least this would be their last night.

Hearing that JC was going to stick around and press charges had sent the rest of them into action. There’d been no question that they wouldn’t be going anywhere. All of them wanted to be there for JC.

Chris had gotten things squared away with his apartment, so Joey was going to stay with him. And the last Joey saw, Lynn had been on the phone trying to make arrangements to get an apartment for her and Justin. None of them really knew what was going on with Lance since his mom was coming, but Lynn had already made it clear that he would be welcome to stay with her and Justin.

Regardless, they were all packed and ready for tomorrow. They’d wasted no time in finding new places to stay because they certainly couldn’t continue living in Lou’s house with JC pressing charges. Not that they wanted to.

Just then Lynn walked by and grabbed some more cleaning supplies before disappearing into the living room again. She’d spent the last half hour cleaning, and Joey wondered why she cared so much after what Lou had done. But maybe it wasn’t about Lou. Maybe keeping busy was just her way of coping. She probably knew that it could just as easily have been Justin that Lou had taken advantage of.

Joey glanced at Justin, glad to see him more relaxed. He’d been so upset earlier that Joey had shared Chris’s worry about him. But Justin’s mood had really improved once they’d heard that JC was going to take Lou to court. It seemed Justin had something to do with that. Joey and Chris had been in the kitchen getting a drink when Justin had come out of the back bedroom, looking troubled. Then shortly after JC had walked in and they’d found out that he’d decided to go through with it after all. So clearly, Justin had to have gotten through to JC somehow.

Joey was curious what exactly Justin had said because JC had been so against the idea before. He wasn’t going to question it though. It had worked, and that was all that really mattered.

“You guys are killing me,” Chris grumbled, pulling three cards out of his hands. Justin accepted the cards and laid down four fives.

“Do you have any queens?” Justin asked, looking down at his cards.

Chris made a noise of disgust. “Why don’t you ask Joey or Lance? He’s the one who’s cheating.”

“No, I’m not,” Lance said stiffly. Joey frowned, wondering why he was so tense. But as Lance glanced at the clock, he realized that he was probably just anxious for his mom to arrive.

“Uh huh,” Chris replied, disbelief evident.

Justin cracked a smile. “Chris. The cards.”

Chris sighed, but handed a queen over even as he grumbled. Justin’s smile grew as he laid down another set of cards, causing Joey to smile. It was nice to have a moment like this considering how upset everyone had been the past twenty-four hours.

The game continued. Justin and Lance were pretty much tied with the number of matches they had. Chris was out of the game because he’d run out of cards, so they were close to the end. But before they could find out who the winner was, the doorbell rang.

Lance put his cards down, abandoning the game as they listened to Lynn greet Diane. A moment later, the two mothers came into the kitchen. Diane glanced around at the four of them and said, “Hi boys.”

There was chorus of hellos around the table. Diane offered them a sympathetic smile and asked, “How are you doing?”

“We’re alright,” Joey said.

Diane nodded. “What about JC?”

“He’s doing better,” Justin spoke up. “He’s staying with his parents up the road.”

“I’m glad. When Lance told me what’d happened, I couldn’t believe it,” Diane said.

“Yeah, we were all pretty shocked,” Joey agreed. It was a little weird talking about it like this because the shock had only just worn off. But it wasn’t like Diane really knew what they’d all been going through since last night.

“Is he pressing charges? Lance mentioned that you weren’t sure,” Diane said.

“Yeah, we weren’t sure what he was going to decide, but he is,” Lynn told her.

“That’s good. Hopefully everything will turn out alright.”

Joey echoed Diane’s sentiments because he knew that this wasn’t going to be easy for JC. But at least he was going to have a good support system. Hopefully that would make what was sure to be a long process easier.

Diane glanced at her watch and adjusted it on her wrist before looking at Lance. “You ready to go?”

“No,” Lance said.

“Aren’t you packed?” Diane asked, frowning.

“Yes. I just don’t want to leave,” Lance told her.

Diane sighed. “Lance, we talked about this.”

“No, we didn’t. You just said you were coming to take me home. You never asked me what I wanted,” Lance said.

Joey looked at Lance in surprise. He had no idea that Diane wanted to take Lance back to Mississippi, but obviously Lance had. That explained why he’d been acting so on edge earlier. It wasn't because he’d been anxious for her to arrive, but because he’d been dreading it.

“This isn’t your decision to make,” Diane said.

Lance frowned. “Why not? It’s my life. I should be allowed to decide what I want to do.”

“You’re only sixteen.” Diane paused briefly. “I didn’t even want you out here by yourself with people I didn’t know.”

“You may not know them, but I do. They’re my friends, Momma, and I want to stay with them,” Lance said.

Diane shook her head. “That’s not going to happen. You’ve only been here for a few weeks and look what happened.”

“What happened is that I made some great friends, and I can’t leave them now. Not when JC needs help,” Lance told her.

“I appreciate that you want to help him,” Diane started. “But I think you’d be better off at home and graduating from high school. Your father and I let you try this, but it didn’t work.”

Joey felt a pit in his stomach. He had a sinking feeling that if Lance went home, there was a good chance that he wouldn’t be coming back. It didn’t help that NSYNC’s future was uncertain. This was quickly turning for the worse, but Joey didn’t feel it was his place to say anything.

“With all due respect, shouldn’t you let Lance decide what’s best?” Chris asked, obviously not afraid of speaking his mind. “I know you’re worried that what happened will happen again, but I can promise you it won’t. We’d never let that happen.”

“But you let it happen the first time, didn’t you?” Diane returned. “You put your trust in the wrong people, and they took advantage of that. I’m not going to expose my son to this anymore.”

Chris frowned. “You can’t take him out of the group. I know you don’t see it, but we’ve gotten close over the last few weeks. We can’t do this without him.”

Joey glanced at Lance, who blushed slightly. He probably hadn’t expected Chris to stand up for him, much less say something like that. And Joey knew that meant a lot to him because of how insecure he was about his place in the group when they first started rehearsals.

“I’m sorry, but you’re going to have to find someone else. Lance and I had an understanding that if this didn’t work for whatever reason, that he’d come back home,” Diane said.

“But it did work,” Chris protested. “We made a demo and—”

“Chris,” Lynn interrupted. “Diane’s doing what she thinks is best. It’s what any mother would do. It’s what I would do if I was in her position.” She looked over at Lance. “Lance, it’s alright. I promise we’ll keep you updated on what’s going on.”

There was a moment of silence before Diane said, “C’mon, Lance. Let’s get your things.”

Lance sighed, defeated. He pushed his chair away from the table and stood up. Reluctantly, he headed for the bedroom with Diane following close behind.

Once they were gone, Joey looked around the room at the somber expressions. None of them had expected this to happen, and they didn’t want to see Lance go. They’d already gone through so much and grown close that they wanted to stick together, especially for JC’s sake. But they were still friends and that wasn’t going to change no matter what.

“Ugh.” Chris dropped the half eaten slice of Mexican pizza onto his plate, a disgusted expression on his face. “I can’t eat any more of this.”

Joey looked up from his burger and smirked. “You were the one who wanted Mexican pizza.”

“This isn’t pizza,” Chris objected. He looked down at his plate and muttered, “It looked good.”

“Should’ve stuck with the staple,” Joey said, gesturing to his burger and fries. Chris just grumbled to himself, reaching over to steal some fries.

They’d been at the mall for an hour before they’d decided to get something to eat. It’d been a week since they’d moved out of the house and into Chris’s apartment and they weren’t sure what to do with themselves. There’d been an understanding that while they wanted to be there for JC, they would give him some space. So they were just trying to stay out of the way for a while since there wasn’t much else they could do.

That didn’t stop Joey from being concerned though. He’d spent most of the week wondering what JC was doing and how he was handling what’d happened. It was a lot to deal with, and Joey had been worried how JC was reacting to having to prepare for a trial since he knew how much JC hated talking about it. Finally, he’d caved and called JC earlier, needing to know how things were going.

“I talked to JC this morning,” Joey said.

Chris, who’d been looking over his shoulder at the other side of the food court, turned around and gave Joey his full attention. “Yeah? How’s he doing?”

“Alright, I guess,” Joey said. “He had to go to the police station today to go over what he’s going to say for court.”

“When’s that?” Chris asked.

“Uh…around two,” Joey said.

Chris looked down at his watch. “It’s after two now.” He paused, his eyes landing on Joey’s nearly empty plate. “You ready to go?”

“Go where?”

“The police station,” Chris said as if it were obvious.

Joey frowned. “Do you think that’s a good idea?”

“Yeah, I do,” Chris said earnestly. “We’ve left him alone for a week. I think it’s time we talk to him.”

“I don’t know…”

Joey wasn’t sure if JC wanted them around while he was talking to the police. He’d been nervous enough when it’d been just the detective at the house, but being at the police station having to tell even more people would probably be worse. The last thing Joey wanted to do was stress JC out even more by showing up at a place that already made him uncomfortable.

“Look,” Chris began, pulling Joey out of his thoughts as he rested his arms against the table and leaned forward. “I know you don’t want to upset him, but he needs to know that we’re here for him because we want to be. Not because we feel obligated.”

Joey frowned slightly, thinking it over. He hoped that JC already knew that, but he realized that he didn’t know for sure. They’d grown close, but there was still a lot they didn’t know about each other. In all of the chaos and uncertainty of what was going on, the one thing Joey wanted JC to be sure about was that he could depend on their friendship.

“OK,” Joey finally agreed.

They gathered up their trash to throw away before heading for the mall’s exit. It was a short walk to Chris’s car since the mall wasn’t very crowded and they’d gotten a spot close to the entrance. As soon as Joey shut the passenger door, Chris backed out of the parking space, wasting no time.

Almost fifteen minutes later, they arrived at the police station. Once Chris had parked alongside the street and fed the parking meter with a dollar’s worth of quarters, the two of them walked up the stairs and into the lobby.

It seemed empty; much like it had the other night when Joey had gone with Lynn. The only person they could see was the secretary that was stationed at a large desk in front of them. From there, there were two hallways. Chris raised an eyebrow at Joey, clearly asking what they should do.

Joey stepped forward and crossed the lobby to the front desk, Chris right behind him. As they approached, a man who seemed to be about thirty looked up from a stack of paperwork. “Can I help you?” he asked.

“Uh, yeah,” Joey said. He glanced at Chris before returning his gaze to the man behind the desk. “We’re looking for a friend of ours. Joshua Chasez. He came in here to go over his testimony.”

The man opened his mouth to say something, but he was interrupted when a voice nearby said, “What are you boys doing here?”

Immediately, Chris and Joey turned at the sound of Roy’s voice. He was standing in a doorway that was just inside the hallway to the right. As they walked towards him, Joey could see over Roy’s shoulder and into the room, which looked like a lounge.

“We came down to see JC,” Chris said just as they reached Roy.

Roy nodded and walked into the room. He glanced over his shoulder at them and said, “He’s with Detective Haughton right now, but you can wait around until he’s done.”

Roy sat down on a dark green couch, and Joey joined him. Glancing around the room, Joey noticed that it wasn’t very big, especially with the two vending machines on the far wall. The chair Chris was sitting in squeaked slightly as he leaned forward, catching Joey’s attention.

“So how’s he really doing?” Chris asked, meeting Roy’s gaze.

Roy sighed. “He’s doing OK considering. Karen and I are doing our best to help him, but it’s hard since we really can’t understand what he went through.”

“No offense, but you lie about as well as your son,” Chris told him. Joey looked at Chris in surprise, unable to believe he’d just said that. But if the light chuckle from Roy was any indication, it wasn’t taken personally.

“I guess you’re right.” Roy rubbed at his face and looked at them before he said, “Truthfully, this has been hard on him. He hasn’t been sleeping well.”

“Nightmares?” Joey asked, knowingly. Once JC had told him the truth about what’d been going on, he understood why JC had always looked so exhausted. The fear JC had of Lou was the reason, and it probably wouldn’t go away for a while.

Roy nodded. “He’s had one pretty much every night this week. I hate that he’s going through this.”

Joey felt the same way. Even though a week had passed, he still couldn’t believe that something so horrible had happened to JC. They’d known going into this that things were going to change when they got to the demo, but they’d never anticipated it changing for the worse. The only good thing was that JC was pressing charges, ensuring that Lou wouldn’t be able to hurt him anymore.

“Do you know when the trial’s gonna be?” Chris asked.

“No, they haven’t given us an exact date,” Roy said. “Apparently, they’re backlogged, so it’s not going to be for at least a couple months.”

Chris sighed. “Well, what are the police saying? Do they think he has a strong case?”

“They seem to think the evidence is pretty solid and will definitely help his case. At this point, it’s important that they prepare Josh for the trial.”

“So the odds are in his favor?” Joey asked. He knew that JC probably wasn’t happy about having to wait so long for the trial, that he just wanted to get it over with and move on. It would be worth it though if it resulted in Lou being locked up prison.

“Detective Haughton thinks so. He says there’s no way a jury would let Lou off when they see the evidence and hear Josh’s testimony,” Roy said.

Chris nodded. “They’d be crazy not to.”

Just then, quick footsteps could be heard coming down the hall. Reflexively, they all looked out into the hall just in time to see JC race past. Roy started to get up, but Chris held up a hand even as he rose to his feet.

“Let me try talking to him, alright?” he asked.

Roy barely hesitated before he nodded. Immediately, Chris turned on his heel and hurried out of the room in the direction JC had gone.

Joey looked over at Roy and noticed that he looked tired…almost defeated. Considering how easily he’d let Chris go after JC, it made Joey think that Roy hadn’t been having a lot of luck getting through to JC. It seemed as if JC was still trying to deal with everything by himself by closing himself off from not only them but his parents too. Not that it surprised Joey, but he’d hoped that JC would let go of his embarrassment and open up to someone.

The silence was heavy, causing Joey to shift on his end of the couch. He glanced at Roy once more before lowering his gaze to the vending machine on the other side of the room, looking at the array of snacks. It seemed like he should say something, but Joey had no idea what. He didn’t know Roy that well, and this wasn’t a circumstance to get to know him. There were more important things to worry about, so any efforts at trying to take his mind off things probably wouldn’t be appreciated.

“You know,” Roy cleared his throat, solving Joey’s dilemma of what to say. “I don’t think I ever thanked you.”

Joey looked up at him, surprised. “For what?”

“For what you did for Josh,” Roy said.

“I didn’t really do anything,” Joey replied, averting his eyes. That was something that continued to eat away at him. He hadn’t done enough to help JC once he’d found out.

“You listened to him. You were there for him.”

Joey sighed. “Yeah, but I should’ve told someone sooner. I mean, I could’ve saved him from going through more pain.”

“I know you feel like you’re responsible, but you shouldn’t.” Roy locked eyes with Joey. “What happened isn’t your fault. You did what you thought was right.”

“And what good did that do? JC was raped again.” Joey paused. “I should’ve insisted that he go to the police, or at least cancel the demo.”

Roy shook his head. “Josh opened up to you because he knew he could trust you. He wouldn’t have done that if he’d thought you’d push him into something he wasn’t ready for.”

“But I did push him,” Joey objected. “By telling the police what happened, I forced him to deal with something he didn’t want.”

“Joey, you need to stop beating yourself up over this. Karen and I don’t blame you for what happened, and I know Josh doesn’t either. In fact, I’m glad that he opened up to you because that wasn’t something he should’ve been keeping to himself.”

Joey frowned. It was hard for him to accept that he wasn’t responsible for the rape that’d happened at Pleasure Island before the demo. He’d been the only one to know about what Lou had been doing, and he’d left JC. While he hadn’t known that the others were going to leave him alone with Lou, it was a mistake that haunted him. And he’d thought for sure that JC’s parents would be upset that he hadn’t done anything to stop it, but everything Roy was saying contradicted that.

“I’m serious, Joey. Whether you believe it or not, you helped him. Josh is lucky to have you and the others as friends. He’s going to need your support as this trial gets closer,” Roy said.

Staring at the tan carpet, Joey let the words sink in. He still wasn’t sure he’d done the right thing, but he felt better knowing that no one blamed him for what’d happened the day of the demo. So much time had been spent thinking about what he’d done wrong, that he hadn’t focused on what he’d done right.

By going out into the living room that night and gently pushing JC to talk, he was able to run interference with Lou and JC. Lunch before the demo had been a more manageable affair because of what Joey had done, and he’d offered JC the support that he needed to take the weight off dealing with Lou on his own. It didn’t seem like much, but Joey remembered the relief on JC’s face and realized that it had made a difference. He didn’t even want to think about what would’ve happened if JC hadn’t talked to him, and he’d been in the dark.

Now the most important thing was helping JC get through this trial to put Lou in jail. Based off the fear that Joey knew still existed in JC, it was going to be very trying, and he’d need support to face Lou. Something that Joey was more than willing to provide.

“We’ll be there,” Joey said finally, meeting Roy’s gaze. Roy offered him a small smile, and Joey felt the weight on his shoulders lighten.

 

Chris rounded the corner and saw that JC was nearly at the doors that led out to the street. He quickened his pace, wanting to catch JC before he could leave. Clearly something had happened, and Chris was determined to find out what.

“JC!” he called, only a few feet away from him now.

JC, whose hand was resting on the long door handle, sighed. Reluctantly, he let go of it and turned to face Chris. He shoved his hands into his pockets, his shoulders hunched and his eyes focused on the bright tile.

Chris stopped just in front of JC. Being closer allowed him to see how upset JC was, and it made him want to pull him into a hug. But Chris didn’t move because he didn’t want to push JC. It looked like he was ready to bolt at a moment’s notice.

“What happened?” Chris asked.

“What, no question to see if I’m alright?”

“No. It’s a waste of time. I already know that you’re not,” Chris said. “So what happened?”

“Nothing,” JC mumbled, scuffing the floor with the toe of his sneaker.

Chris crossed his arms and said disbelievingly, “Uh huh. You’re not a very good liar, so you wanna try that again?”

“I’m not lying.” JC glanced up at Chris briefly, annoyed. “Nothing happened.”

“Then why’d you take off?” Chris asked.

JC shook his head, looking out at the street through the glass door before lowering his eyes back to the floor. He refused to make eye contact with Chris, which was a hint that he didn’t want to talk about it. Chris didn’t want to push JC and upset him more, but he couldn’t let this go. Not when JC was so upset.

“Jace,” Chris stepped forward and gently placed a hand on JC’s shoulder. JC flinched, and Chris frowned, removing his hand. “C’mon, JC, talk to me. What’s wrong?”

Chris watched JC, unsure of what he would do but hoping he’d open up. Finally, JC said softly, “I can’t do it.”

“Do what?”

“All of it.” JC looked up, his eyes wet from the tears that threatened to fall. “Just all of it.”

The confession didn’t really surprise Chris. He couldn’t even imagine what JC was going through, and it made it worse that he couldn’t seem to let anyone help him deal with it. The past couple weeks had proven that much, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t hard to see him like this. JC seemed to be barely holding it together.

“I just want to forget it ever happened. I don’t want to be here anymore.” JC’s gaze returned to looking out the glass. He whispered, “I want to go home.”

“You can if you want,” Chris said simply.

JC tore his eyes away from the street and stared at him in surprise. “What?”

“I’m serious. No one’s forcing you to stay. If you want, me and you will walk outta here right now and I’ll drive you to the airport,” Chris said. “But only if that’s what you really want. Don’t do it because you’re scared.”

“But I am scared,” JC admitted quietly.

“There’s no reason to be.”

JC gave him a disbelieving look. “What if Lou gets off? I don’t want all this,” he swept his arm out, gesturing to the police station, “to be for nothing.”

“It won’t,” Chris assured him. “Lou will go to jail.”

“I can’t have that kind of confidence.”

“You just need to channel your fear into something else,” Chris said.

“Like what?” JC asked.

“I don’t know, but you’ve been living in fear for the last two weeks.” Chris thought for a second. “You should be excited that you’re finally putting all this behind you. Or, hell, be angry at Lou for what he did to you.”

JC just nodded, once again lowering his head. After a moment, he said, “I want to be, you know?” He glanced up briefly. “I do. But I can’t.”

“Yes, you can. You just haven’t allowed yourself to be angry because you were afraid. You were too focused on what Lou would do next instead of being angry for what he did.”

JC was silent as he frowned down at his sneakers. He said, “You’re right. I let him hurt me.”

“You didn’t let him do anything,” Chris objected, unable to believe what he was hearing. He knew that JC put unnecessary blame on himself, but this was ridiculous. “That bastard took advantage of you.”

“Because he knew I wouldn’t say anything. I never said anything against him.”

Chris reflected on the past couple weeks and remembered his frustration that JC went along with whatever Lou wanted. First, it’d been the lip syncing and then when Lou made JC re-sing his part half a dozen times. All through it, JC had never said a word. Chris hadn’t been able to understand why. At least until now.

“You didn’t want to give him another reason to hurt you,” Chris said.

“That’s not what you said before. You said that I was sucking up to him.” JC paused, chewing on his bottom lip. “Maybe you were right. Maybe I was trying to please him. Maybe some part of me actually wanted it.”

Chris stared at JC, his jaw slackened. He tried to say something, but his brain was scattered and he couldn’t seem to get his mouth to form the words that did come to mind. Surely there was no way JC believed that.

Finally, Chris found his voice and said, “Forget what I said. I was a moron.”

JC shook his head. “No. You called it like you saw it.”

“I’m serious, JC. I was an idiot,” Chris stressed. “I had no idea what was going on. If I had, I never would’ve said that.”

“But—”

“No.” Chris stepped forward and ducked his head to lock eyes with JC. He had to get through to him. “Listen to me, JC. I only said what I did because I was mad and I didn’t understand why you wouldn’t argue with him. I’m sorry that I didn’t take the time to figure out what was going on instead of making assumptions.”

“It’s OK,” JC said.

“No, it’s not. If I’d actually tried talking to you, I could’ve helped you fight off Lou,” Chris replied. He realized that was what Joey had tried to do, and despite his best efforts, it hadn’t stopped the second rape from happening. But if anything, that just made Chris even more regretful because he’d been the one to leave JC alone with Lou, thinking Lou was going to apologize to him for ragging on him during rehearsal. Something that never would’ve happened if he’d known.

“I was too weak to fight him off,” JC said.

It was Chris’s turn to shake his head. He should’ve seen that coming, but he never figured that JC put so much blame on himself. “This is why you need to go through with the trial. You need to stand up to him and prove to him that you’re not weak.”

“I don’t know if I can face him. Not after…everything.”

“You can. You’re strong enough to do it, and you need to realize that.” Chris paused. He realized that was asking a lot of JC right now because he was so insecure, but it would help JC in the end. “But if you don’t do it to show Lou you’re better than him, then do it for yourself. You’ll never be able to really move on if you don’t face him.”

JC looked up at Chris briefly before turning his gaze out to the street and asking, “What happened to letting me leave? Can’t I just go home and put this all behind me?”

“Would you be able to? Would you be able to just forget about it knowing that Lou just walked free?” Chris sighed and reached out a hand, placing it on JC’s shoulder in what he hoped was a comforting manner. He was encouraged when JC didn’t flinch or pull away. “I know you’ve already been through so much and don’t want to deal with this, but shouldn’t that be reason enough to stand up to him? You can walk away from this if you want, but you’ll be constantly looking over your shoulder, worrying that it’ll happen again. You need closure.”

“You make it sound so easy.”

Chris held back the sigh of relief he wanted to release. He moved even closer to JC and squeezed his shoulder reassuringly. “It’d be a lot easier if you’d let us help you. You don’t have to handle all of this alone.”

“I know. I just can’t always help it, you know?” JC said. Chris nodded. He’d recognized early on that JC was very self-reliant, but JC had to realize that it was alright to lean on others. JC added, “But I’ll try.”

“Good,” Chris said simply. He slung an arm around JC’s shoulders. “What do you say we go see what your dad and Joey are up to?”

JC glanced at Chris out of the corner of his eye. “Joey’s hanging out with my dad?”

“Yeah. They’re probably arguing about the unfair distribution of M&Ms or something,” Chris joked.

JC cracked a smile, albeit a small one, but it was one nonetheless. It was obvious that he still wasn’t alright, but Chris had faith that he would be. He was going to make it his mission to make sure that he was there to offer any support that JC might need. While it didn’t make up for his lack of understanding from before, Chris felt better knowing that JC didn’t hold it against him. From that moment, Chris vowed to himself that he would always look out for JC and the other three guys that were quickly becoming like brothers to him.

“Dude, just get on with it already,” Justin complained.

 

Lance sighed. “I was trying to put an image in your head.”

 

“I don’t need an image. Just tell the story,” Justin said. He moved the phone to his other ear and glanced at his mom from where he was sitting on the couch as she walked by. It’d been almost a week since he’d last heard from Lance so they were in the process of catching up.

 

“Alright, well, it was a pretty uneventful day at lunch. At least until some guy decided that he wanted to see if he could shove his whole burger into his mouth.”

 

“What’s so great about that? I could do that,” Justin said.

 

“It was like the size of a Big Mac,” Lance replied.

 

Justin’s eyes widened slightly. “So did he do it?”

 

“Yeah, but the guy’s got a big mouth,” Lance said dismissively. “But that wasn’t what everyone was talking about for the rest of the day.”

 

“Then, what?”

 

“Well, when he tried to chew and swallow it, he started to choke.”

 

“Well, yeah,” Justin said. “That’s what happens when you shove a burger that huge into your mouth.”

 

“No. He was actually choking.”

 

Justin sat up. “Are you kidding me?”

 

“No,” Lance said again, and Justin could picture him shaking his head. “One of the math teachers had to do the Heimlich, and he spent the rest of the day in the nurse’s office.”

 

“And you saw this happen?” Justin asked.

 

“He was sitting at the table behind me. You would’ve known that if you hadn’t interrupted me.”

 

Justin rolled his eyes. He should’ve expected that Lance would throw that back in his face. “Yeah yeah.”

 

It was silent for a moment before Lance cleared his throat and asked, “So how’s JC?”

 

Justin sighed heavily. He’d known this was coming because checking on JC was probably a large reason why he called, but Justin had liked talking about nothing. It’d been nice to pretend that things were mostly back to normal, but he knew that wasn’t fair to Lance, who was obviously worried about JC.

 

“He’s fine,” Justin said finally.

 

“Really? You don’t sound convinced.”

 

“Well, that’s what he wants everyone to believe.”

 

“And as his best friend, you know the truth,” Lance said. “So how’s he doing?”

 

“He’s…” Justin hesitated, wondering how much he should say. He didn’t want to worry Lance too much since he was back in Mississippi, but he needed to talk to someone. “I think he’s doing better, but I don’t really know. He doesn’t say much to me.”

 

“I know it’s hard to accept that he doesn’t want to talk about what happened,” Lance started, but Justin interrupted him.

 

“No, that’s not it. Well, OK, some of it, but he won’t even talk to me about stupid stuff.”

 

“Maybe he feels weird talking about that stuff with everything that’s going on. Maybe if you went to see him—”

 

“I do,” Justin said. “I’ve gone over to see him a few times in the past week to try to get his mind off things, you know? I tell him a joke and, if I’m lucky, I get a small smile. So most of the time we just hang out in this awkward silence.”

 

“Have you tried to get him involved in something? Maybe doing something would help,” Lance suggested.

 

Justin shook his head. “I’ve tried that. I tried playing basketball with him, watching a movie, and other things. Nothing’s worked. He doesn’t seem into anything, and I don’t know what else to try. I don’t know how to get through to him.”

 

There was a pause, and Justin knew that Lance was trying to come up with something to say. He didn’t know if Lance would be able to give him a suggestion since it felt like he’d tried everything. Even though he accepted that Lance probably wouldn’t be able to tell him what to do next, Justin hoped that Lance would come up with something.

 

Finally, Lance said, “Well, you can’t give up. He’s in a bad place right now, but he’ll come around eventually.”

 

“What if he doesn’t?” Justin asked.

 

“He will,” Lance assured. “You just have to give him some time.”

 

Justin growled in frustration, jumping to his feet and gripping the phone tightly. “Yeah, time,” he said sarcastically as he began to pace across the living room. “That word’s been tossed around a lot lately. Whoever said that things get better with time is full of crap. Things with JC aren’t getting better. He’s just becoming more distant.”

 

“How? It doesn’t sound like he’s shutting himself away anymore,” Lance said.

 

“He might not be hiding in his room anymore, but he still won’t talk to anyone.” Justin stopped pacing. “He won’t talk to me.”

 

Lance sighed. “Justin…”

 

“No.” Justin resumed pacing. “I know what you’re going to say. You’re going to tell me to just be there for him, that he’ll talk when he’s ready. But how can I believe that when that’s what I’ve been doing and he hasn’t opened up at all?”

 

“That’s not true. You talked to him and convinced him to press charges. That has to count for something.”

 

“But that’s the thing. We didn’t really talk. Yeah, something I said must’ve sunk in, but he didn’t tell me anything. I asked him about stuff and he avoided talking about the police or anything else if he could help it,” Justin said. “He doesn’t trust me. He has it in his head that he can’t talk to me about this.”

 

Suddenly spent, Justin sat back down on the couch. He said quietly, “I’m losing him.”

 

“Justin, you need to talk to him. You need to tell him how you feel.”

 

“He’s got enough to deal with right now. He doesn’t need to hear about my dumb problems,” Justin said. The last thing he wanted was to force JC to help him when he should be the one helping JC. JC shouldn’t have to worry about his feelings on top of everything else.

 

“They’re not dumb. You can’t help how you feel,” Lance said.

 

Justin sighed, running his free hand through his short curls. “I feel like a whiny little kid.”

 

“Maybe that’s how it was before, but not anymore. It’s deeper than that.” Lance repeated, “You really should talk to him.”

 

“It just feels wrong to say something now. I mean, it’s so small and meaningless compared to what happened to him,” Justin said.

 

Lance was quiet for a few seconds. “I know you’re worried about overloading him, but did it ever occur to you that now would be a good time to bring this up? He’d probably appreciate having the focus off him for a while.”

 

Justin considered that and realized that Lance had a good point. One thing JC hated was being the center of attention, so the past week was probably killing him. Maybe it wouldn’t be such a bad idea to bring it up.

 

“Just think about it, alright?” Lance said, snapping Justin out of his thoughts.

 

Justin nodded even though he knew Lance couldn’t see him. “I will.”

 

“Good.” There was a pause. “So, I’ve been trying to talk to my mom. You know, convince her into letting me come back and see if we can try again.”

 

“And?”

 

“Not a chance in hell,” Lance said.

 

Justin chuckled a little. “That a direct quote?”

 

“No, but I know that’s what she’s thinking.” Lance sighed. “But I’m not giving up. I’ll find some way to get through to her.”

 

“Well, you have some time. The trials not for a couple of months, and I doubt JC’s gonna want to do anything before then,” Justin said.

 

“But even when it’s over, do you think JC will want to do it?” Lance asked.

 

“Why wouldn’t he? I mean, this is JC we’re talking about.”

 

“Yeah, but he went through something pretty traumatic. If it were me, I don’t know if I could handle it.”

 

“JC’s strong,” Justin said confidently. “He won’t let this keep him from doing what he wants to. And it’s not like it’ll happen again.”

 

“Yeah, we know better now,” Lance agreed. “We’ll be able to do it right – get a good manager and just be more involved.”

 

“And we’ll create an even better demo. One where we don’t lip sync. Then, bam! We’ll be famous with tons of fans. It’ll be total chaos.” Justin smiled at the thought. It still wouldn’t happen for a while, but he was confident that it would happen.

 

“That’s quite a fantasy, Justin.”

 

“It’s not a fantasy!” Justin objected. “It’s what’s going to happen. I can feel it.”

 

Lance laughed, but then there was distant yelling in the background and he said he had to go. So they said their goodbyes, and Justin hung up the phone, relaxing into the couch cushions. He was glad that Lance had called because he’d been able to get some stuff off his chest. Talking to Lance made him realize just how much he missed him. Justin felt so close to him already that he hoped that everything would work out, and Lance would be able to join the four of them soon.

  

 

 

JC watched his car go around the winding race track listlessly, his fingers barely pressing the buttons to make it move. He felt so tired. The restless nights were definitely catching up to him. He was mentally tired as well, which created an exhaustion that he hadn’t experienced before, not even during rehearsals. So much of his energy was spent preparing for the trial that it was hard to summon more to do other things.

 

JC glanced over to his left at Justin, whose eyes were focused on the game. Though, JC wasn’t fooled. He knew that Justin was probably watching him out of the corner of his eye, hoping that he finally found something to engage him in. That seemed to be his mission ever since his first visit earlier that week. JC wanted to let go and have some fun, not only to put Justin at ease but for himself too. He wanted to take his mind off the things that constantly weighed on him, but he couldn’t help it. It felt impossible to act carefree and normal when everything was still so up in the air.

 

Everyone was so worried about how he was handling everything, and the trial was still months away. It didn’t help that Lou had been able to make bail. Even though Lou was out there, JC knew that he would be stupid to come near him. Still, his stomach twisted in knots every time he thought about Lou and the trial, so he really appreciated Justin’s attempts at getting him to relax and feel normal. But the only thing that would make JC feel better would be the day that Lou went to jail and he could finally put everything behind him.

 

“Damn it,” Justin mumbled, forcing JC to blink and actually register what was on the screen. Justin had come in third, while JC came in dead last. Maybe JC wasn’t the only one distracted.

 

After a beat of silence, Justin said, “JC.” He put the controller down, leaving the results of the race up on the TV. “Can I ask you something?”

 

JC mirrored Justin’s actions, setting the controller down on the carpet. “Sure. What’s up?’

 

Justin looked at JC before he lowered his eyes, chewing on his bottom lip. JC frowned. Whatever Justin had to say must be serious, and it made JC wonder if something was wrong. No one had mentioned anything to him, but then again, everyone seemed to be walking on eggshells around him.

 

“Justin,” JC said. Justin looked up at him, locking nervous eyes with JC’s concerned ones. “What’s wrong?”

 

Justin picked at his thumbnail and muttered, “I should be asking you that.”

 

“What?” JC’s frown deepened.

 

Justin sighed and shook his head. “Nothing.”

 

JC turned his body so he was facing Justin, giving him his full attention. As much as he didn’t want to talk about himself, there was obviously something that was bothering Justin.

 

“No, J.” JC reached out and grabbed onto Justin’s shoulder, gently turning him towards him. “What? Tell me.”

 

“I just…” Justin glanced at JC and shifted uncomfortably. “Why won’t you talk to me?”

 

JC’s brow furrowed. “What are you talking about? We talk.”

 

“No we don’t. When I come over all we do is say hello and then sit in silence for the rest of the time,” Justin said.

 

JC sighed. “I’m sorry,” he said. Part of him wasn’t surprised that Justin was bringing this up because he hated being out of the loop, but JC was tired of talking about Lou and the upcoming trial.

 

“Look,” Justin took a deep breath. “I’m not trying to be a pain or force you to talk or anything. I just…I’m hurt that you’ll talk to everyone else about what’s going on but me, and I don’t understand why. I thought we were best friends.”

 

JC’s eyes widened in surprise. He knew that he’d been kind of distant from Justin, but it wasn’t like he’d done it on purpose. At least not entirely. In the beginning he had, but he’d been staying away from everyone so it wasn’t anything against Justin. But apparently, Justin didn’t see it that way.

 

“We are best friends,” JC assured.

 

“It doesn’t feel like it,” Justin said softly, going back to picking his nails.

 

JC rubbed the back of his neck. He was going through so much himself that sometimes he forgot what everyone else must be feeling, especially Justin. “I never meant to make you feel like that.”

 

Justin nodded. “I know. I wasn’t even going to say anything, but…I was scared.”

 

“Of what?” JC asked.

 

“Of losing you. Your friendship.”

 

“That’s not going to happen,” JC said. He couldn’t believe what Justin was saying, but it had to have come from somewhere.

 

“I’m not so sure. I mean, how much further can our friendship go if you refuse to confide in me because you think I’m just a kid.”

 

JC shook his head. He had no idea that Justin felt that way, and it seemed like those feelings had been around for a while. Part of JC felt guilty for making Justin feel like they weren’t close anymore, but he’d done what he thought was right at the time.

 

“I don’t think you’re a kid,” JC leaned forward slightly and put a hand on Justin’s thigh, causing Justin to meet his gaze, “and I didn’t mean to push you away. I just…a lot happened and I was trying to deal with it.”

 

“I know, and I feel kinda stupid bringing this up. It’s just that,” Justin sighed, “you still won’t really talk to me. Not about what happened, not about the trial, not anything.”

 

“It’s nothing against you, Justin,” JC assured. “I promise.”

 

Justin frowned. “Then what? Why won’t you talk to me?”

 

“Honestly? I’m tired of talking about it. Every time I go to the police station, they make me relive what happened, and I just don’t have the strength to tell anyone else about it.” JC locked eyes with Justin. “You don’t want to know the details. Trust me.”

 

“I don’t need to know the details. I just wanted you to tell me what happened yourself like you did with Joey. I shouldn’t have found out from Chris,” Justin said.

 

“You’re right. I should’ve told you,” JC agreed. He couldn’t imagine how it must’ve felt for Justin to hear something so horrible about his best friend from Chris, who hadn’t tried to be discreet or break the news gently. “You know, I was actually going to tell you, tell everyone. Joey was going to help me do it after the demo, but…well, you know.”

 

Justin looked down at his lap and nodded, the corners of his mouth turned down in a frown. “I’m glad you at least told someone, but why Joey? Why couldn’t you have told me what was wrong when you got sick instead of lying to me?”

 

JC winced. He figured that was going to come back to bite him in the ass, and Justin’s hurt was understandable. “I didn’t want to tell Joey what happened. I didn’t want to tell anyone because I knew it would screw up everything.”

 

“So then why’d you tell him?” Justin asked. There wasn’t any accusation to his tone, just curiosity.

 

“Because he was there when all the stress caught up to me. It was late and I couldn’t sleep because I was freaking out about seeing Lou,” JC explained. “It wasn’t like I planned on telling him. I just couldn’t take it anymore.”

 

“Were you glad you told him?”

 

“It was a relief, yeah.” Justin look dejected and JC added, “But Justin, it doesn’t change anything between us. You’ll always be my best friend.”

 

Justin looked at him. “How can you be so sure?”

 

“Because we’re like brothers, and family doesn’t abandon each other.” JC paused, seeing that he hadn’t exactly gotten through to Justin yet. “You wanna know why I didn’t even think about our friendship? Why I wasn’t worried?”

 

JC didn’t wait for an answer and said, “It’s because I knew you weren’t going anywhere. You stuck around because you know I need you. We’re friends for life. You just have to be patient while I try to get back to normal.”

 

Justin was silent for a moment before a smile slowly spread across his face. “Good luck with that,” he said.

 

JC returned the smile, not minding the dig on him not being normal. He was glad to see Justin in a better mood, and all of the discomfort from earlier seemed to have disappeared completely.

 

A comfortable silence settled between them, and JC figured that Justin would pick up his controller and insist on playing again. Instead, Justin said, “You know, I talked to Lance earlier.”

 

“Yeah? How’s he doing?” JC asked.

 

“Good.” Justin paused slightly. “He’s trying to get around his mom so he can come back and we can try again. But you know, right this time.”

 

“You still want it?”

 

“Yeah!” Justin said. His tone implied how ridiculous that question was, and JC supposed it was. There was no doubt that Justin was meant to be a performer. Justin frowned at him and said, “Why? Don’t you?”

 

JC slowly shook his head. “I don’t know, J.”

 

“What?” Justin stared in disbelief. “How can you say that? You love music.”

 

“I never said I didn’t. I just…” JC sighed, averting his eyes. “I don’t think I can do it all again.”

 

“JC, you can’t let what Lou did to you affect your decision. He was an asshole, but he saw how good we were. And if he could see it, then someone else will too.”

 

“It’s not just that. I mean, that’s a big part of it, but…”

 

Justin leaned forward. “But what?”

 

“If it was meant to be, it would’ve happened by now. First LA and now this.” JC’s eyes met Justin’s. “The odds of being successful now are really slim.”

 

“You and your fate crap,” Justin muttered, shaking his head. He looked at JC seriously. “You can’t give up on this. And I know you don’t want to. Music is your life. It makes you happy, and after everything, you deserve to be happy.”

 

JC tore his eyes away from Justin’s knowing gaze, choosing to look at the tan carpet instead. Justin was saying things that Chris had pretty much told him at the police station; that he couldn’t give up because that would be letting Lou win. They were right. That much JC knew, but it was too soon. He wasn’t prepared to move on yet and try again.

 

“I’m not ready,” JC said finally.

 

“That’s OK,” Justin assured. “We’ll wait until you are.”

 

JC looked up at him. “You don’t have to do that. Who knows how long it’ll take, and I don’t want you guys waiting around for me.” He paused. “You should find someone else.”

 

“I don’t want to find someone else. I want you,” Justin said. He reached out and put a hand on JC’s shoulder. “There’s no NSYNC without you. It’s the five of us or nothing, and I know the others feel the same. We’ll wait forever if we have to. We’re not going anywhere.”

 

JC could see the sincerity in Justin’s eyes as he let the words sink in. He’d kept his distance from the guys because he’d been afraid that they would treat him differently once they knew. But that couldn’t have been further from the truth. They were concerned and upset, but they never once blamed him or called him weak.

 

And now, Justin was saying that they wanted to wait for him and try their luck in the music industry again. That meant a lot to JC and helped restore some confidence in himself. He’d been so sure that revealing this huge secret he’d kept hidden for so long would be the end of their careers, but he’d been wrong. They were willing to keep going, to try again. And if he’d been wrong about that, then maybe he was wrong for thinking that Lou would get off.

 

For the first time since that dreadful night when the truth had been revealed, JC felt like he was doing the right thing, and he owed it all to his friends. There was no way he would’ve been strong enough to do it without them, and he knew that strength would come in handy in the next couple months as the trial drew closer. It was still terrifying, but JC had no doubt that he’d get through it with the help of his friends.