Chapter 68

(Following Morning)

Trace made his way down the hallway towards Justin’s bedroom.  He had just gotten home from Becca’s house and he wanted to check in on Justin and Kerrigan to make sure everything was ok after the way they had abruptly left the party the night before.

He had already checked Kerrigan’s room, but as usual she wasn’t in it, so now he was headed for Justin’s.  Positive he would find them both there.

Upon reaching the door he grasped the doorknob and attempted to enter the room, only to find that the door was locked.  Right away he knew something was off, the door was never locked.  So he did the only thing he could at that point and began knocking on the door.

It took a few minutes, but before long Justin and Kerrigan stirred in bed, both slowly waking up to the sound of someone knocking on the door.  Justin shifted to his side facing Kerrigan, as he groaned.  “WHAT?” he called out.

“Are ya’ll awake?” came Trace’s voice.

“We are now.” Justin called back, annoyed.

It was quiet for a moment before they heard Trace‘s voice again.  “What are you guys doing in there?” he asked.

“Sleeping.” Justin replied, looking over at Kerrigan with a knowing smirk.

“Then why’s the door locked?”

“Cause we didn’t want you to wake us up.” Justin said, shifting in the bed, pulling Kerrigan’s body closer to his.

“Surrrre.” Trace echoed from the hall.  “Well, I hope you two had FUN last night.” he snorted, realizing that they were NOT just sleeping.

Kerrigan smiled up at Justin before calling out to the door.  “Oh, we did.  We had a blast.”

Justin laughed, rolling over on top of Kerrigan as she giggled, kissing her soundly on her lips.  Kerrigan’s hands slid to the back of Justin’s neck, pulling him closer.

Their moment was interrupted however by the sound of Trace’s laughter.  “Sounds like you’re having fun again, so I’ll just go back downstairs.”

“You do that.” Justin called over his shoulder towards the door.

The two looked at each other and laughed, only going back to their kissing after they heard Trace’s footsteps fade away.
 

It was after noon before Kerrigan and Justin finally made their way downstairs.  They had spent the entire morning wrapped up in each others arms.  Had the sun light not been shining through the windows of Justin’s bedroom so brightly they would have likely laid in the bed for the entire day.  Relishing in the glory of their love and love making.

However, they had decided to drag themselves from bed.  After showering and dressing they both proceeded to go downstairs.  Hand in hand, glowing.

Trace looked up as the couple entered the room together.  There was no way you could miss what was going on between the two.  Even if he hadn’t gone to their room that morning and found the door locked, as soon as he seem them as they were now, it would have been obvious.

Completely obvious that they had taken the next step in their relationship.  That they had given themselves to the other and while a part of him was extremely happy, another part of him was disappointed.

“So did you two finally decide to join the living?” he questioned, as he watched them sit down on the sofa together.  Justin holding Kerrigan closely to his side in almost a protective way.

Kerrigan smiled over at Trace and he couldn’t help but to smile in return.  The way her eyes lit up with happiness warmed his heart.  She had been lost and depressed for so long.  He had feared he would never see that kind of happiness in her eyes again.  But it was there now, and he knew why.

“We thought we’d grace you with our presence.” she stated.

“Oh, is that what this is?  You’re gracing me?” he glared at them playfully.

“What else would we be doing?  We could always just go back up to bed if you’d rather be alone.” Justin laughed.

And for some reason that statement bothered Trace.  It bothered him immensely.  “I think you two already spent enough time in bed together.” he stated, his tone harsh.

The smile disappeared from Justin’s face and he eyed Trace carefully.  “What’s your problem man?”

“I don’t have a problem.  I just don’t think ya’ll need to spend anymore time in bed together.” Trace defended.

“What? Does it ruin all your fun because you’re not the only one getting some now?” Kerrigan asked, raising an eyebrow in question at Trace.

Justin turned to look at her in shock.  Never would he have expected her of all people to make a statement like that, and to Trace none the less.

Trace meanwhile groaned.  “I SO don’t wanna hear this.”

“Well, if you didn’t want to hear it, then why did you start making jokes about it?” she questioned.

Justin smirked at Trace.  “She’s got you there.  Obviously you were curious.”

Trace rolled his eyes.  “So what?  Maybe I was a little curious.  I mean ya’ll sleep together every night in the same bed.  But you’ve never locked the door before, that was your first mistake right there.”

“Mistake?” Justin questioned.  “Why was it a mistake?”

“It was a dead giveaway.” Trace retorted.

“Well, I’d say based on the habit you have of just walking into a room without knocking that it wasn’t a mistake.  I’d say it was pretty damn smart.”

“Whatever.  All I’m saying was if you didn’t want me to know ya’ll were fucking then you shouldn’t have locked the door.”

Justin extracted himself from Kerrigan, getting up from their seat and walked over to stand before Trace, glaring at him.  “First of all I would appreciate it very much if you wouldn’t refer to me and Kerrigan’s private relations as “fucking”.  Second of all, we have nothing to hide.  We’re in love and we’re both grown and if we want to be…well together, then we’re aloud.”

“Whatever.” Trace grumbled.

“I don’t know what crawled up your ass and died, but you need to extract it and quick.  I mean, what the fuck is up with you today man?”

“I just think you two are moving a little too quickly is all.  You’ve only been together a couple days and you’re already SLEEPING together.”

“Who the hell are you to judge?” Justin glared at him, his anger growing.  He couldn’t figure out what Trace’s problem was all of the sudden.

Trace got to his feet, standing before Justin.  “Look, I just don’t want to see either of you get hurt, that’s all I’m saying.  You’re my friends and I just want you to be sure you know what you’re doing.”

Seeing the tension growing between the two men, Kerrigan walked over and placed herself between them.  She pushed Justin back slightly and then turned to Trace.  “We appreciate your concern, Trace.  But we know what we’re doing.  We wouldn’t have taken that step if we weren’t ready.  We love each other very much, you’ve got no reason to worry.”

Trace nodded, looking down at the floor.  “I know you two love each other.  I’m sorry I snapped at you guys.  I guess it just caught me a little off guard is all.  But I’m happy for both of you.  I just want you to be happy.”

Kerrigan smiled, yanking Trace into a hug causing him to laugh at her sudden action.

Trace looked at Justin over Kerrigan’s shoulder as she continued to hug him.  The two friends smiled at each other.  Justin shrugged,  “We might as well make this a group hug.” he said, stepping up behind Kerrigan and wrapping his arms around both Kerrigan and Trace.

Kerrigan laughed.  “This is how it should be.  This is how it should always be.”

Justin kissed the top of her head.  “Don’t worry, Kerr.  It’s always been just the three of us.  And that’s never gonna change.”

“Well, what about me?” came a female voice.

The three friends all turned towards the direction of the voice to find Becca standing just inside the doorway of the living room, hands planted firmly on her hips, trying desperately to appear offended.

“Where’d you come from?” Justin asked, he hadn’t seen her or heard her come in.

“Just got here.  I let myself in after I’d been knocking for a few minutes and no one answered.  The front door was unlocked.” she replied making her way further into the room.

The three friends looked at each other and shrugged.  They’d been so caught up in their brief argument that they hadn’t even heard her at the door.

Becca walked over to Kerrigan and pulled her into a hug.  “You ok?  I was a little worried about you last night after you left.”

“I’m fine.” she smiled, glancing over at Justin.  “We just needed to talk some things out, but everything’s fine.”

Trace snorted.  “Everything’s more than fine.”

Justin eyed him, hoping he wasn’t about to start in again with his little rant, but quickly seen that Trace no longer appeared upset.  The smirk on Trace’s face told Justin everything he needed to know.

Becca eyed the couple, then turning her attention to her boyfriend.  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Oh, nothing.  Just that things are more than fine.” he shrugged.

Kerrigan rolled her eyes.  “He’s hinting towards the fact that me and Justin got busy last night.”

Becca smiled.  “Oooooh, so you really did “talk” everything out.”

Justin shrugged, pulling Kerrigan’s back against his chest, wrapping his arms tightly around her.  “We have our own language.”

Becca laughed at that.  “Whatever works.” she smiled.  “But back to this conversation I walked in on.  About it just being the three of you.  Where the hell do I fall in?  I don’t wanna be left out.” she playfully pouted.

Kerrigan broke away from Justin’s embrace to pull Becca into a hug.  “You know the two idiots can’t count.  Of course you’re part of our group.  We couldn’t leave you out if we wanted to.  Someone’s gotta keep Trace’s ass in line.”

“HEY!” Trace yelled, stepping up behind Becca and wrapping his arms around the two girls.  “I take offense to that.”

Kerrigan snorted.  “You take offense to everything.”

“No, I don’t.” Trace argued.

“Yes, you do.” Justin said, stepping up behind Kerrigan and wrapping his arms around her and his friends the best he could, so that they were once again in a group hug.

“Shut up, Justin.  Leave my man alone.” Becca scolded him.

Justin lowered his head down to Kerrigan’s shoulder.  “Do we really have to let her be a part of our group.  She’s mean to me.” he whined.

“Well, just think of it this way…” Kerrigan turned in his arms slightly so she could look at him.  “When she’s mean to you, you can come to me and I can make it all better.”

A grin spread across Justin’s face.  “I like the sound of that.  How will you make it all better?” he asked in a husky voice.

Trace groaned pulling away from the hug.  “I don’t care what anyone says.  I can’t take this.  It’s just weird.”

Kerrigan, Becca and Justin laughed at his outburst.  “I think it’s cute.” Becca added.

“Yeah, my two best friends.  Practically brother and sister making sexual innuendos to each other is cute.”  he huffed playfully.  They could all tell he wasn’t really being serious.

“You were pulling for this, Trace.  Don’t deny it.” Justin stated.

Trace shrugged and smiled.  “Yeah, I was.  I still don’t know what took you so damn long, but still this will take some getting used to.  But honestly I think ya’ll  make the perfect couple.  This was bound to happen sooner or later.”

Kerrigan smiled over at Justin.  “Seems like everyone knew but us.”

“Nah.” Justin said, shaking his head gently.  “We knew, we just wouldn’t admit it.”