After we ate J.C. made a hasty exit, claiming he needed to make a few phone calls and I was left by myself. I took a long relaxing shower, before busying myself with packing mine and Justin’s things up. I was lost in a rerun of The Real World when Justin came busting through the door in a fury, Trace behind him.
“I know, I know we have to leave, I just need to quickly throw my shit together.”He hastily said as he made his way over to his suitcase.
“Relax J, it’s done.” I smirked over at him.
Justin stopped and quickly surveyed the room, realizing everything was indeed packed, before taking a steadying calming breath, “Thanks baby.”
“No problem.” I grinned climbing off the bed and making my way over to him.
I kissed him lightly as I wrapped my arms around his neck, but he pulled away slightly a puzzled look on his face, “Where’s J.C.?”
“He had some phone calls to make or something, he said he’d meet us on the bus.” I shrugged as someone started to pound on the door.
Trace moved to open it and Justin’s bodyguard Mike pushed his way into the room griping, “Justin you better be ready, you’ve had more than enough time this morning to get your shit together.”
I giggled at the seriousness on Mikes face, and the annoyed looked that crossed over Justin’s, “I’m ready shit! Why don’t you take our suitcases down and we’ll meet you out there in a minute.”
Mike narrowed his eyes at Justin, “ten minutes,” he warned and then grabbed both our suitcases and made his way from the room.
I noticed the solemn look that passed over both Justin and Trace’s faces and decided to make my exit and give them a minute alone. “I’m glad you came out Trace, don’t stay away for three months this time, Justin needs his Trace time.” I said pulling Trace into a hug.
“Trace time?” Justin snorted from behind me.
I pulled away, glancing back at him, “Yes, and trust me you get cranky when you don’t get it.”
Justin opened his mouth to respond but Trace cut him off, “Thanks Madi, for everything.”
I smiled over at him pulling him into another hug, before pulling away and quickly making my way towards the door, “Have a safe flight. I’ll be downstairs J,” and with that I left the two of them alone to say goodbye.
I made my way downstairs and to the back of the hotel where all the buses were lined up, already running waiting on us. I quickly glanced around and not seeing J.C. anywhere figured he must already be on the bus, so I made my way towards Chris to greet him. A couple minutes later Justin brushed by us, his face slightly red and headed straight for the bus without a word. “What was that about?” Chris questioned confused.
“Trace is leaving, I’m going to go check on him.” I sighed leaning in to hug Chris before turning and following Justin.
I stepped onto the bus and noticed J.C. hunched in the corner furiously writing in a notebook, lost in thought, and Justin stretched out across the couch his eyes closed. I slowly made my way towards Justin, finally sitting beside him, “You okay J?” I asked softly, my hand resting on his arm.
“I’m fine.” Justin snapped not opening his eyes. It took everything I had not to snap back at him, but I knew he was upset whether he wanted to admit it or not, so instead I curled myself into him, wrapping my arms around his waist and placing my head on his chest. Justin said nothing, but wrapped his arms me, hugging me tightly to him.
I must have fell asleep because I woke up a little bit later, completely stiff and my back hurting from the odd angle I was in. I tried to untangle myself from Justin’s grasp without waking him up, but failed miserably, his eyes snapping open, taking in his surroundings for a few seconds before calming down. I stood and stretched out before making my way over to the mini fridge and taking a redbull out of it, noticing J.C. in the exact same spot from before. I took a long drink of my redbull as I sat down across from J.C., “Whatcha working on?” I asked innocently.
“A song.” J.C. replied, not looking up from what he was doing.
“Oh, you haven’t moved in a while, are you stuck?” I asked him curiously.
“No.” was J.C.’s short reply.
“Can I see it?” I asked leaning over the table to get a look at the notebook.
“No.” J.C. softly said pulling the notebook off the table and out of my view.
I fell back in my seat baffled as he refused to look at me, “Is everything okay?” I whispered, willing him to look up at me.
“I’m fine.” J.C. sighed as he got up and made his way to the back of the bus, leaving me sitting at the table by myself confused.
I made my way back to the couch where Justin had put a movie in and sat down beside him leaning into him, baffled by J.C.’s behavior. Justin was into the movie, laughing at it, but I couldn’t focus on it as my mind began to wander to all the events of the last twenty-four hours. I had an amazing time with Justin and J.C.; the whole thing far surpassing anything I could have dreamt up in my head, but now I was starting to wonder if it was all worth it. J.C. was being standoffish, although I wasn’t completely sure why, he was fine the whole time through breakfast. Thinking back on it, I was glad he decided to leave after we ate, because although Justin knowingly left us alone together, I’m not sure how I would have felt if anything would have happened without Justin there. I thought to how comfortably I kissed J.C. after Justin left us alone and that scared me. J.C. and I have always been close, and it was no secret that he was good looking, but I was with Justin and as much as I enjoyed kissing J.C. I was afraid that if I let it continue any further I wouldn’t be able to stop.
Justin and I spent most of the afternoon on the couch just lounging around and I was glad he was so engrossed in the tv because my mind kept wandering off to things I needed to stop thinking about but didn’t want to. I was broke from yet another daydream when my phone began to ring.
“Hey Chris.” I sighed picking up my phone and moving away from Justin slightly.
“Hey are you guys hungry? We want to stop and get dinner.” Chris chirped in my ear, full of energy.
“Uh, yeah that sounds good to me, how soon?” I asked glancing over at the clock to see the time.
“Next exit, about ten minutes.” Chris replied, before yelping.
“What was that?” I asked slightly alarmed.
“JO-EYYY.” I heard Chris yell before shaking my head and hanging up the phone.
“What’s up?” Justin asked glancing over at me.
“I guess we’re going to stop for dinner.” I said as Justin’s eyes lit up at the mention of food. “I’m going to go let J.C. know.” I said quietly getting up and making my way to the back to see J.C. sitting across the bed messing around on his keyboard with sheet music scattered all around him.
J.C. glanced up at me when he heard me enter, but he immediately turned his attention back to what he was doing.
“Hey.” I whispered, still standing in the doorway suddenly uncomfortable in his presence. He glanced back up at me quickly but didn’t say anything.
“Uh, we’re getting ready to stop and get something to eat.” I quietly said.
“I’m not hungry.” J.C. shrugged his indifference, without even bothering to look up at me this time.
“C, you need to eat.” I sighed, absentmindedly playing with my necklace.
“Madison, please just leave me be.” J.C. pleaded, his eyes clouded over with sadness.
“I…uh..alright. I’m sorry.” I mumbled, staring down at the floor before turning and shutting the door.
I stood outside the door trying to regain my composure and wrap my head around what just happened when Justin bellowed out making his way towards me, “Madi, J.C., what the fuck are you doing?”
“He’s not coming.” I managed to get out as I took a step towards Justin.
“What? Why?” Justin asked perplexed.
“He’s working on a song you know how he can get.” I said, making excuses for J.C.’s behavior. Justin nodded knowingly however, and must have been satisfied with my answer, because he turned to make his way towards the front of the bus, me following slowly behind him.
I sat quietly watching all the guys talk excitedly while we waited on our food. “You okay Madi?” Chris asked nudging me with his elbow as he leaned into me.
“Yeah.” I plastered a smile on looking over at him.
“Are you and Justin fighting?” Chris sighed leaning into me as he looked over at Justin who was engaged in some conversation with Joey and Lance.
“No, I’m fine.” I said tightlipped, refusing to make eye contact with him.
“No, you’re a horrible liar.” Chris rolled his eyes at me as our food arrived.
“Can I place a to-go order?” I stopped the waitress before she had a chance to leave.
“What are you doing?” Justin spoke up confused.
“I….uh…I just figured J.C. might be hungry later.” I mumbled looking down into my plate, embarrassed that I was so worried about J.C. all of a sudden.
“Oh, good idea!” Justin nodded and turned and started to devour his food, oblivious to my discomfort.
When we got back on the bus I made my way back to J.C. and opened the door slightly and poked my head in, “I brought you something to eat,” I said softly, holding the to-go box up for him to see.
“I’m not hungry.” J.C. said slightly annoyed this time.
“Oh, okay. Well it’s here if you want it.” I quietly said retreating back to the front of the bus as I heard J.C. sigh exasperated.
I made my way to the front of the bus to see Justin on the phone and I made my way over to him and laid down, placing my head in his lap. Justin looked down at me with a raised eyebrow, but continued his conversation.
“Yeah, hold on, let me grab my notebook.” Justin said as he tried to get up from under me, much to my dismay. He found the notebook he was looking for and sat back down flipping through it, as I moved to lay back in his lap.
“Madi, what the fuck are you doing? Go bother J.C. for a while, damn!” Justin yelled out frustrated as he pushed my head away and stood up walking over to the table.
Tears welled up in my eyes at Justin’s outburst and I got up and started to make my way back to J.C., before stopping, realizing he didn’t want me around either. J.C. and Chris were always there when Justin decided to be an ass; they always knew what to say to make me feel better without tearing Justin down in the process. I let out an involuntary sob as I stood there, feeling alone, as tears started to stream down my face.
J.C. slowly opened the door, his face soft and his eyes sad, “Are you okay?” he lightly asked. I just sobbed harder not sure what was going on and J.C. took a step forward and wrapped his arms around me cradling my head as he gently rocked us back and forth, “I heard J, I’m sorry.” J.C. whispered into my hair, bringing me back to reality.
J.C.’s mood swing was enough to give me whiplash, but I also was way too comforted by his embrace. I couldn’t let myself be swayed this much by J.C.; it was dangerous territory. “Don’t, just don’t.” I cried, pushing him away.
“Madison.” J.C. sighed softly, reaching out to grab my hand.
“I can’t right now.” I whispered, backing away from him slightly, before crawling into my bunk and closing the curtain. I heard J.C. sigh before shuffling back to the back and the giant bed back there. Him and Justin usually took turns sleeping back there, but Justin usually won more often than not when I was around, apparently that wasn’t the case tonight however.
A while later I woke up to Justin shaking me, “Hey baby we’re at the hotel, let’s go inside,” he said sleepily. I fumbled for my phone seeing it was nearly three a.m. and groaned. I wasn’t really in the mood to sleep next to Justin right now, but I definitely did not want to stay on the bus either.
I got up and started to gather a few things, while Justin stood watching me, waiting on me. I moved towards the exit and Justin followed and immediately wrapped his arm around my shoulder as we stepped off the bus. Normally I would have already forgiven Justin, but my mind was such a mess, trying to process how to handle him and J.C. both being mad at me that I was still upset. When I saw Chris, I immediately shrugged Justin’s arm off and made my way over to him where I collapsed into his arms.
“Madi?” Chris questioned bewildered as he wrapped his arms around me. I had no idea how to even start to explain to Chris what was wrong however, so I just hugged him tighter. Chris rubbed my back comfortingly and glanced over at Justin who looked back just as confused and shrugged his shoulders in response.
“Can I stay with you?” I asked, my voice muffled by his shirt.
“Yeah, of course, come on.” Chris agreed still confused as he ushered me through the lobby and over to the elevators.
I immediately collapsed onto the bed and brought the comforter up over my head, ignoring Chris’ questioning eyes. The next morning I woke myself up by crying in my sleep. I angrily wiped away the tears, to see Chris sitting by the bed glaring at me, “What’s going on Madison?”
“Nothing.” I sighed, getting up and making my way towards the bathroom, away from him.
“Bullshit!” Chris screamed, slapping his hands down onto his thighs, before standing and stalking towards me. “Justin said he snapped at you last night. Is there more to it than that?” Chris questioned, trying to control his slowly rising anger.
“No, I’m not mad at Justin anymore.” I quietly said, looking down at the floor, refusing to make eye contact with him. It was true, I wasn’t upset with Justin anymore, he got annoyed and snapped, but when he was done doing whatever it was he was doing he came back expecting me to come to bed with him and I refused. I never stayed mad at Justin that long, especially over such trivial shit and now all I really wanted to do was to be in his arms.
“Well then why are you so upset? Why are you crying in your fucking sleep?” Chris questioned exasperated.
“I don’t know.” I mumbled, shrinking away from him, intimidated by his booming voice.
“Madison I’m sorry,” Chris said his voice softening as he took a step towards me and pulled me into him hugging me, “it’s just not like you to get so upset over something dumb Justin did.”
“I don’t know, it was stupid,” I mumbled before pulling away, “I’m going to take a shower and go find him.”
“He already left for the studio with J.C., but Lonnie or someone can run you over.” Chris said, narrowing his eyes at my sharp intake of breath at the mention of J.C. “Are you and J.C. fighting?” He asked suspiciously.
“I…What? Don’t be ridiculous, when have J.C. and I ever fought?” I said hurriedly making my way into the bathroom and shutting the door in his face hoping to end the conversation.
After my shower, I came out of the bathroom to find Chris still sitting there waiting on me. “So about J.C…..” Chris trailed off looking up at me.
“What about him?” I shrugged, refusing to turn around and look at Chris.
“Don’t play dumb Madison.” Chris said exasperated.
“I’m not; I have no idea what you are talking about.” I said slipping my tennis shoes on and heading for the door, trying to get away from Chris as quickly as possible.
“Where are you going?” Chris relented as I was halfway out the door.
“Down to the gym.” I said, but Chris had already jumped up from his seat and was right behind me.
“I thought you were going to see Justin?” Chris smirked at me.
“I will later, I’m sure he’s not going anywhere.” I said rolling my eyes at Chris.
“Yeah, tell me again how you tow aren’t fighting. Or how you and J.C. aren’t.” Chris said a smug smile on his face.
“Fine! I’ll go to the studio!” I exclaimed throwing my hands up in the air and stomping over to the elevators, with Lonnie following close behind after Chris ushered him after me. Chris was really starting to get on my nerves, so if getting away from him meant I had to be in an enclose space with Justin and J.C. for the day then I would do it.
Chapter End Notes:
Hmmmmm.....Well what do we think?
Story Tags: druggiej roughsex jealous triangles threeway justinandtrace jc justin
