“It feels SO good to be home!” I exclaimed as we walked into our home. JC walked in behind me, pulling our luggage with him. He left our suitcases at the door and pulled me into an embrace.

“I’m so happy we’re back home.” He sighed, loudly.

The tour was coming to a close. We had made our way back to the west coast. After two months of continuous traveling, I was so excited to be back home. JC had one more show left. It was going to be tomorrow night at The Forum.

JC was particularly excited about this show because it was close to home and his friends would be attending.

"What's the first thing you want to do now that we're home?" I asked, circling my arms around his waist, subtly hinting at something sexual but knowing we were both extremely tired.

JC pulled away slowly, kissed me on the cheek and said "SLEEP!" before he bolted towards the stairs leading to the bedrooms.

I shook my head and chuckled quietly as I trailed behind him. He truly loves his sleep. I couldn't deny that a nap sounded pretty amazing after all of the traveling we had done. By the time I reached our bedroom, he was snuggled under the covers already looking at me with half lidded eyes. I climbed into bed with him and soon drifted off to sleep.

--

I awoke sometime later and noticed I was alone in bed. It was late afternoon and my stomach was growling loudly.  I decided to venture downstairs in search of JC and some food.

I got halfway down the staircase and froze as I heard JC and another familiar voice talking in the kitchen. Thankfully they couldn't see me. I stood there briefly to hear what was being said. Sure, I was eavesdropping, but I was the topic of conversation so it was okay, right?

"I really don't know what I was thinking C. I was totally out of line. I'm sorry. I really feel like a jerk." Justin stated solemnly.

Life had been great. We got to totally avoid the Justin issue for awhile. We weren't even home a couple of hours and it was back. I wasn't prepared to deal with this today, but I guess I had no choice. I could just hide here on the staircase and avoid it some more.

"I don't know, man. I know we've had our issues over girls before, but this one is different. I'm really serious about her. I was really shocked to hear about you coming on to her. What the fuck, dude?" JC retorted. I cringed at the hint of anger in his voice.

"I know you are serious about her. That's why I stopped everything. I came to my senses. You're my brother and I just want you to be happy. You have every right to be mad at me, though." Justin reasoned.

"I'm not mad at you, J. Just a little disappointed. Just don't ever try that shit again." JC answered. I relaxed some hearing him say he wasn't mad at Justin. Truthfully, I wanted them to be okay and I wanted it to be okay to be around Justin without any weird tension.

“I won’t, dude. I actually met someone recently that I’m really into. So, you and Layla are pretty serious, huh? Have you thought about settling down with her soon?” Justin asked, and suddenly I felt like I really was intruding on a private conversation, but I was dying to know JC’s answer.

“Actually I’ve been thinking about it a lot. I think that will be happening sooner than later..”

I wonder how long I can hide here on the stairs before they find me.

ACHOO!

Real smooth, Layla. Now they're going to know I was snooping on their conversation.

"Layla? Is that you?" I heard JC ask as he came around the corner stopping right in front of the staircase, eyeing me curiously.

"Hey. Yep, yeah its me."  I waved awkwardly.

 I saw Justin follow behind him and look up at me.

"How long have you been listening to our conversation?" JC smirked, clearly amused that I was caught.

"Uhh.. Not long." I answered, shrugging my shoulders and looking away.

Justin chuckled. "She was totally listening to us. Well, then you know I came here to apologize to the both of you. I was out of line. I'm sorry, Layla. I hope that we can restart our friendship?" He held out a hand to me. I walked down the rest of the staircase and met his handshake.

"Thank you for apologizing, Justin. I think we can start over." I smiled, genuinely.

JC looked back and forth at us and beamed. "Good, because you both are stuck with me forever so you don't have a choice."

--

“I told you it would all work out.” Bianca said, looking through our selection of wine.

I exhaled loudly, as if I had been holding my breath since I first told JC about Justin. “You were right. I had to go through some shit before that, but eventually yes, it did all work out.”

Bianca settled on a bottle of Merlot and poured us both a glass. JC had snuck off to his studio at some point after Justin left. You would think he wanted a break from music since he had been on tour for months, but he just had to get to his studio and work on some new ideas he had. So, I called my best friend to come over since it had been weeks since I saw her. I really missed her, plus I wanted to tell her all about tour life.

“I’m dying to know… is it weird having sex on a tour bus?” Bianca asked, giggling.

I gasped at my friend’s blunt question, but really I knew better than to be surprised.

“Yes. It is weird, but the extra movement of the bus is definitely a plus." I laughed, reminiscing on the many things that happened on that bus from city to city.

"You lucky bitch!" Bianca exclaimed, playfully pushing my shoulder.

"Are you coming to the show tomorrow? I can get you some VIP tickets."

"Of course! I wouldn't miss it. I'm excited to see JC perform!"

"You're going to be blown away. He's amazing." I gushed.

Tomorrow night was going to epic.