Nicole rolled over expecting to see Gabe at her door again. When she saw Justin, her eyes filled with tears once more. “Get out!” she cried.
“I just want to talk,” he tried to answer calmly.
“No, you don’t have the right to want to talk to me now. Not after the other day.”
“Nicole, please listen. Trace never told me you were online or needed help.”
“Oh yeah? Then why’d you say all those things?” she asked bitterly.
“What things?”
“Don’t act dumb, Justin. You're a smart man.”
“Sweetie, I honestly don’t know what you're talking about. I haven’t talked to you since dinner a few weeks ago,” he told her confused.
“Man, you are clueless. Why’d you say you didn’t care? Why’d you say I annoy you? That you...hate me?” he voice broke with another sob at the last part.
“What?” Justin whispered. “I never said that.”
“Just cut the act. You never wanted to be friends, you were just pitying me. Now get out!” With the strength left in her, Nicole threw something at him.
Tears blurred his vision as he picked up the item at his feet. It was the necklace he’d given her when they met face-to-face. In small, fancy letters it read: Angel. That’s what she was to him – an angel.
Stumbling out of the room, Justin made his way to the door. He didn’t look at Gabe as he left.
---
Justin didn’t know how he made it home without crashing. He barged in his front door, straight for the man who did all this damage. He grabbed Trace by the shirt & shoved him to the floor.
“What the - ?” he started but didn’t get a chance as Justin started yelling.
“WHY’D YOU DO IT?! WHY’D YOU TELL HER THOSE THINGS?!”
“Dude, what are you doing? What stuff?”
“YOU KNOW WHAT YOU DID, JUST TELL ME WHY! WHY’D YOU HAVE TO RUIN EVERYTHING NICOLE & I HAD? WHY?!”
A smile that seemed twisted & cold formed on Trace’s face. “It was just a joke, man. I was just messing with her. Jeez, did she kill your sense of humor along with your reasoning?”
“A JOKE?! YOU THINK PRETENDING TO BE ME & TELLING NICOLE I HATE HER IS A JOKE? GOD, ARE YOU THAT JEALOUS OR THAT IMMATURE??”
Justin lifted the shorter man up & pinned him against the wall. Before he could hit him, Justin’s dad Paul & JC came running in.
They pulled the 2 apart, Justin still struggling. “What is this? I come to see my brother because he can't stop talking about some girl he met & I find this?”
JC called Justin his brother all the time. All the *NSYNC guys were brothers after being friends this long. It saddened him to see 1 of his best friends this upset.
“Trace told Nicole I hate her! He told her she was talking to me & said I didn’t want to be her friend anymore. She thinks I - that I abandoned her. Do you know what that does to her? She thinks she's nothing to me.” Justin had tears running freely & JC realized that this girl had a hold something fierce over his friend.
“It was a joke. Jeez. You are so wrapped in this girl that you can't see how messed up she is,” Trace laughed. “She’s whiny, she makes everything into a big dramatic & she’s basically stalking you. She ain’t even hot, J. She’s a retard!”
Justin & JC both lunged at Trace. JC hadn’t met Nicole yet but he knew enough that she had an effect on Justin. No one deserved to be called those names.
“Ok, boys. Enough!” Paul intervened after getting Lonnie from outside. “Trace, you need to leave. Now.”
The young man scoffed. “Fine, I’ll leave but don’t come running to me when you realize who your real friends are.”
He stormed out of the house.
Author's Chapter Notes:
***LINES ADDED*******
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