Over The Counter by AllisonDiana

Summary: When Justin becomes addicted to pain killers, he is forced to detox before rejoining his band. His time in rehab is hellish until one girl changes his world.
Rated: PG-13
Categories: Completed Het Stories Characters: Group, Justin Timberlake
Awards: None
Genres: Angst
Series: None
Chapters: 14 Completed: Yes
Word count: 17600 Read: 23929
Published: Apr 26, 2010 Updated: Apr 26, 2010

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1. Chapter 1 by AllisonDiana [Comments - 2] (1390 words)
Justin winced as pain shot through his ankle. "God dammit!" he screamed and collapsed onto the sidewalk. He was mere yards away from his destination, he couldn't quit now. The red light from the CVS sign shown dully on his face, giving him that extra fight he needed to press on.

The night was humid and wet from the chain of thunderstorms that were currently ripping through Central Florida. He was soaked from head to toe but that didn't stop him from limping the rest of the way to the entrance of CVS.

The doors opened automatically and Justin trudged forward and to the back of the Consumer Value Store. A woman wearing a white suit and a red name tag baring the name 'Donna' came to greet him. "Hi Justin," she said warmly. Her smile soon turned into a frown when she saw the pathetic state he'd allowed himself to get into.

"Hey Donna," he said, spent.

"Are…you okay?"

"I'm fine. I'm here for my prescription."

"Which one did your doctor say to go for?"

"The Oxy."

"Oxycontin?"

"Yeah."

"How many milligrams?"

"The...biggest one."

"80?"

"Yeah."

Donna left the counter for a moment and returned with a vile full of large blue pills. "Now you know you've gotta be careful with these right?"

"Mmmhum."

"They're powerful. Take only as many as you need."

Justin nodded and smiled. "Thanks Donna. I'll be back later."

"You're always welcome." Donna waved goodbye as Justin stepped back into the moist, electrical air.

"It's a shame," she said under her breath. "One day everything's gonna come crashing down. He won't even know what hit him."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

JC liked to work at dusk. Why? He wasn't quite sure. Something about the day changing into night inspired him so he made sure to always be a the studio or somewhere nice and quiet when it happened. It was far past dusk now and home was looking as appetizing as ever when he slid his key into the lock and turned to doorknob, being sure to jiggle it just enough.

The lights were off and there appeared to be no one else home which was quite odd, Justin was the only other person staying at his place but it was only because he couldn't get around his own very easily. But JC's house was always a sort of gathering place for the guys. Go figure. He flicked the light switch to illuminate the foyer and as soon as he did, he heard a moan come from the living room. "If Joey brought another girl over here..." he said to himself and entered the room.
He was way off. Instead of finding Joey and his newest fling making out on his couch, he saw Justin laying face up on the floor in nothing but white Tommy Hilfiger boxers and a sock.

The TV was on but it was muted. Hum, he'd seen this before. Justin opened one eye and shielded it from the stream of light emulating from the foyer. "J?" JC asked.

"Hi," Justin replied raspily.

JC looked around for any proof of what he knew had occurred but found none. Justin laughed. A discentered, nebulous laugh very much unlike his own.

"The Lance Bass Show," he said between laughing bouts. "Will Sasso is so funny."

JC looked to the television. Sure enough, MAD TV was on and one of the cast members was doing an impression of Lance, and a damn good one at that. JC didn't care about Will Sasso though, or MAD TV or even the fact that there was no sound. "Where is it?" JC asked and clenched his jaw.

"What?"

"Where's the Oxy?"

Justin moaned. "I told you, I ran out."

"Justin, don't lie to me."

"I ran out. You saw it. I don't have any left."

JC straddled his friend and opened one of his eyes. "Red."

"I'm sick."

"You're stoned. FUCK!" JC screamed and punch the ground next to him. "Justin, where is it? I want it now."

"I don't have it."

"Where is it?"

Justin shrugged. "Could be in my room, could be on the table, could be in my shorts…" he laughed at the last one but JC didn't find it so funny.

He sat still while JC moved him every which way to see if he was laying on it. He patted him down and finally went for his boxers.

"Heeey!" Justin said and grabbed his waistband. "I'm sick. You shouldn't try to take advantage of me. I'm telling Chris."

JC rolled his eyes. "I'm looking for the Oxy, not sex."

Justin opened an eye again and looked JC up and down. "Sometimes I wonder about you."

"Oh Jesus," JC said but stopped himself from laughing. He knew Justin had done something but he had no solid proof. He sat for a moment and thought before he came up with an idea.

"Where you goin'" Justin said and reached for JC's sleeve. "Don't leave me. Come watch the show and…"

Justin's voice faded off as JC headed up the stairs and into the guest room that Justin was staying in. He did a quick scan for any drugs but saw none before picking up the phone and dialing the number for CVS. It rang a few times before someone picked up. "CVS pharmacy, Donna speaking. Can I help you?"

"Uh yea. This is Josh Chasez, I wanted to know if a Mr. Justin Timberlake stopped by there today."

"Justin? Sure he did. Not too long ago."

"Did he get Oxycontin?"

"I really can't reveal that information."

JC sighed. "Okay, look lady.."

"Donna."

"Donna. I think that my friend took a little too much . medicine and I just want to know what it is. Can you please just tell me if what I'm guessing is wrong or right?"

There was silence on the other line. Donna was probably contemplating whether or not to say anything. "Right," she said at last.

"Thank you. So much," JC said gratefully.

"I'm never doing that again so next time keep an eye out for him okay?"

"I promise."

He hung up the phone and looked around. Justin's clothes and shoes were everywhere and walking in the room was damn near impossible. Nevertheless, in less than four minutes, JC had searched every cubic inch of Justin's room but his efforts were in vain. His hunt had turned up negative. He ran back downstairs to check on his friend who was still sprawled out on the floor. This time he noticed something he hadn't before. Next to Justin was a coffee table with powder on one of the corners.

He leaned down for a closer look and sure enough, it had a bluish tint to it. "80 mg?" JC said to himself. "Shit!" he shouted, purposely disturbing Justin. He bent down, grabbed Justin by the shoulders and pulled him into a sitting position. "What the fuck are you trying to do, kill yourself?!"

"I didn't take Oxy today."

"Oh yeah? What’s this then?" JC said and pointed to the powder. "You crushed it up? You know you're not supposed to do that."

"It's better. It helps more."

"I called the pharmacy, they said you were in today."

"I didn't get nothing."

"Really? They beg to differ."

Justin groaned. "I need it. The doctor says I need it for my ankle. My ankle is broken. I need…it hurts JC. And at least I sleep now."

Justin was almost delirious but JC knew what he was talking about. "The Oxy isn't for your insomnia Justin."

"But it helps."

"Shit. I can't believe you're doing this."

"My ankle is...it hurts, it's broken."

"Yeah I know so how'd you get to CVS?"

"I walk- I went by…I walked."

"You walked on a broken ankle?"

"It wasn't bad."

"On a broken fucking ankle?"

"The Oxy makes it better."

"No it doesn't!"

There was no use trying to reason with him when he wasn't even in his right mind. He'd have to wait until the drugs wore off, whenever that would be. In the meantime JC carried Justin to his room which was rather difficult. Besides getting through to obstacle that was Justin's room, getting the highly medicated youngster up the stairs was a chore. Not only was Justin taller than JC but he was heavier as well. "This will never happen again," JC said, half to himself, half to Justin. He just hoped that he could hold up his promise.