Justin had been playing the guitar for five hours now and his fingertips were damn near worn to the bone. He didn't bother going to breakfast anymore since the other day when Sean and Bryan had put ammonia in his orange juice. Luckily, he hadn't drank much of it but his stomach was still queasy from the chemicals. He struck a few more chords then stopped to write them down. Now to put words to it.
He closed his eyes and let his heart do the rest. He remained frozen that way for a good three minutes before opening his eyes to write down what he'd come up with. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a lock of long , brown hair and a few fingertips holding onto the door jam. He put his hand over the strings to stop their vibrations. "Hello?" he said craning his next to see who was at his door. The hand disappeared. "Wait no," Justin said and put his guitar on Corky's bed. He limped over to the door only to end up face to face with the brunette he'd caught of a glimpse of. She looked familiar.
"I'm sorry," he said and took a step back, "I thought you left."
"Why? It's obvious you didn't want me to."
He recognized her now. "Jenna.." Justin said, confused. "What."
"What am I doing here?"
"Yeah."
"I heard you playing and I wanted to hear more."
"You mean, you don't hate me?"
"Not completely. But, don't take that the wrong way either. Just because I don't hate you doesn't meant I like you. Got it?" Justin nodded, more than happy. At least he'd gotten someone to talk to him. "Can, I come in?"
"Uh...sure."
"Thanks," Jenna said and slid her way past Justin's broad shoulders.
He reclaimed his guitar and sat besides Jenna on his bed. "I just want you to know, I'm not like those other little girls. Always winking and giggling.."
Winking and giggling? Why hadn't Justin noticed any of this before?
"Well, they can wink and giggle all they want. I'm wonderfully spoken for."
"Really.." Jenna said with a sly smile, "that's not what I heard."
Justin frowned. "Yeah I know. Brit...she's, we're not on the best terms right now. She loves me though, I know she does."
There was silence for a moment. "You know Justin, you're not as much of a jackass as I thought you were."
He looked at her in disbelief. "What?"
She smiled. "Not used to hearing that kind of thing are you?"
"Not really, no."
"Yeah. You're nose is kinda big but, you're a good person. And I like your hair, it's cute. When you have hair."
"Thanks. I don't like it though. There's too much of it."
"Same here. I wanna cut it but since they don't let us have scissors in here..."
"See? That's something we have in common. I'm not so much unlike you guys."
"Nope."
"Then why does everyone hate me so much?"
"Jealously. I mean God Justin, look at you."
He surveyed himself. "What?" He didn't see a difference between his body and that of any other guy. He admitted, normally he was little more defined than others but the withdrawal had left him thin and flabby, especially since he wasn't able to work out. He'd been doing push ups but the weakness that was accompanying the ammonia had taken it's toll.
Jenna shook her head. "Nevermind. Bottom line, they're just trying to clip your wings, hold you down. It's a shame too because from what I can see, they've succeeded."
"Whatever, I'm gonna be out of here soon enough."
"So you're basically running away? What would you do if you had to stay here for four months like everyone else? Would you still run away from everything?"
Justin shrugged. "I don't know. I've never had to deal with that."
"Think about it and get back to me but now we have to get to OTC group." Jenna stood up but Justin held her from advancing toward the door.
"So what does this mean?" he asked sincerely. "What happens when we get to dinner tonight? It's easy to be friends in here but, are we friends out there?"
"You're really searching aren't you?" Justin nodded. "We'll see," she said and walked out the door. "You comin'?" she asked and poked her head back in.
He laid his guitar down and followed her. He couldn't help himself from looking forward to dinner that night. It seemed as though his luck was starting to change.
Story Tags: rehab
