The clicking of the blinker and the swish of the wipers made a mellow cadence throughout the cab of the vehicle.  Justin’s hands tightly gripped the wheel as he maneuvered down the streets of LA and toward his house.

“So, she’s really moving in with you?”  Trace’s voice sounded next to Justin, causing him to shift his eyes in his friend’s direction.

“Just until she finds a place of her own.”  He cleared his throat and tried to ignore the disapproval that was coming over in waves from the man next to him.

“She doesn’t have any other place to stay?”  Justin shrugged at the question.

“I didn’t ask her if she did, but I’m pretty sure she doesn’t really know anyone that’s got the space to take up an extra resident.”  He turned his head to make eye-contact with Trace for a moment.  “Even you.”

Trace nodded his head and turned to watch the water trickle its way down his window.

“This is a bad idea, Justin, even if you’re just trying to help.”  His voice was soft but his message was not lost.

“She doesn’t have any place else to go, and it’s only going to be a little while.  I couldn’t just sit back and watch her fall apart, Trace, you didn’t see the look on her face…she looked so…lost.”

Justin turned the vehicle down another street and sighed when his road came into view.  Rylee had taken a load of stuff over in her truck earlier and she was back at the apartment getting the last of her things ready.  Justin and Trace had a load of boxes in his truck and they were planning on storing it in Justin’s garage until Rylee found a storage unit and an apartment.

“So, she’s going to live with you, you’re going to work together, and now you’re dating.”  Trace’s voice was filled with a kind of judgment that was making Justin angry.

“Yes, that’s what’s going to happen.”  He pulled into his garage and angrily shifted his truck into park.  “What do you want me to do, Trace?  Kick her out because it might put a strain on our relationship?  Make her get a hotel room and waste money?  What? What’s your alternative?”

Trace held up his hands in defense and slid over toward the door.

“Hey, calm down, man.  I was just making sure you’d thought this whole thing through.”

Justin roughly opened the door and headed to the back of the truck, grabbing boxes and stacking them to the side.  He didn’t respond to Trace’s comment.

He had done a lot of thinking about the situation with Rylee, but he really couldn’t see any other way to work it.  She didn’t have anyone else that she could stay with and she needed to be out of her apartment tonight, so she didn’t have time to find something else yet.

He was afraid of it all, but he didn’t know what else to do.  Their relationship was new and it was already under a lot of strain, but he didn’t want to not offer his guest room when she was so desperately in need of a place to stay.  Justin was well aware of the complications that this arrangement could bring to their relationship, but he wasn’t going to leave her hanging just because of the ‘what ifs.’

He looked up to see Trace silently helping with the boxes and he grunted in a thanks.  He knew his friend was just looking out for him, but hearing how much of a bad idea this was didn’t really help.

~*~

Rylee stood in the living room and stared around, trying to see if there was anything else she’d forgotten.  She had Christina had purchased a lot of the furniture and decorations together, so Rylee felt uncomfortable taking those things.  Although, she had grabbed some pictures off of the bookshelf.

A sound next to her caused her to jump and clutch her heart.

Christina stood in the door way with a scowl on her face.

“Get out.”  Those two sharp words worked their way under Rylee’s skin, leaving a dull ache throughout her limbs.

“I’m almost finished.”

“Time is up, get the fuck out of my place.”  Christina couldn’t look at Rylee, hey eyes sweeping over anything but the other girl in the room.

Rylee nodded and started toward the door, one final box in her hands.

“Tina…”  She called after the retreating form of her friend and she gained a little hope when she stopped walking down the hallway.

“I thought I told you that you’re not allowed to call me that anymore?”  Her back was still to Rylee and the tension was obvious in her shoulders.

“I’m sorry…I just…can we talk about this, please?”  She was begging and she hated it, but she hated the fact that she was losing her best friend even more.

Christina let out a laugh that sent chills shivering down Rylee’s back and into her fingertips.  “You want to talk?  It’s a little late for that, Rylee.  Get out of my house.”

She didn’t say another word as she made her way down the rest of the hallway and slammed her bedroom door shut.  Rylee angrily wiped at the tears that had fallen down her face and she silently exited the apartment, giving it one last look.

She threw the box haphazardly on her passenger seat before climbing into her truck and resting her head on the steering wheel.  The tears wouldn’t stop and she was shaking violently. 

It was her fault, it was her mistake, and now she had lost one of the most important people in her life because she couldn’t control her hormones. 

“Fuck!”  She slammed her hand on the dashboard and cursed again at the pain shooting through her arm.  Wiping the tears from her face she started the truck and headed out of the parking lot and toward Justin’s.  The sooner she got out of this place the sooner she could start to forget the pain she’d put everyone through.

The drive seemed short because she wasn’t paying attention, and Rylee was actually thankful for the rain because less people were on the road.

The garage door was open when she pulled into the driveway and Justin and Trace were unloading her boxed.  Rylee took a deep breath and tried to compose herself as best as possible, but she really wasn’t in the right frame of mind at the moment.

“Hey, you got everything?”  Justin walked over and started taking the boxes off of her passenger seat.

“I hope so.”  She avoided his gaze and busied herself with grabbing things and bringing them into the garage.

“Hey Ryles, what can I grab?”  Trace made his way over to the truck too, watching her carefully.

“Uhm…my suitcases are in the back, I need those.  Everything else is stuff that needs to be stored, so we can leave it in the back tonight if we don’t get to moving it.” 

The conversation stopped as everyone worked at moving the boxes and getting things out of the rain.  Rylee had a cover on the bed of her truck so most everything under there would stay dry, but they wanted to make sure nothing would get ruined.

After everything was placed in the garage and Rylee made sure she had what she needed, they made their way into the house.

“I’m going to put my stuff down and go take a shower.”  Rylee quickly disappeared up the stairs and toward the guest room.  Justin and Trace watched her retreating form with frowns on their faces.

“Something’s wrong.”  Justin’s brows knitted together in confusion as his eyes stayed trained on the spot she had just been.

“No shit Sherlock, she’s just been kicked out of her apartment.” 

“Thanks, Captain Obvious, but that’s not what I mean.  Something else is wrong.”  Trace shrugged and bounced on his heels.

“Hell if I know, but I think I’m gonna take off and head back to my place.  I don’t think that she’s going to be up for company tonight.”  He patted Justin on the back before making his way toward the door.  “Good luck, man.”

“Yeah, goodnight.”  Justin waved Trace off and turned his eyes back to the stairwell.

After thinking about it for a second, he started up the stairs and in the direction of the guestroom.  He could hear the water running but it wasn’t able to drown out the sniffles and sobs that were coming from the occupant inside the shower.

“Ry?”  The crying stopped suddenly when he spoke.

“Yeah?”  She sounded like she was holding her breath, attempting to keep it all in until he was out of ear shot again.

“Are you OK?  Do you need anything?”  Justin pushed the bedroom door open and stepped closer to the bathroom, listening for her voice.

“No, I’m fine.”

The bathroom door was open a crack so he pushed it the rest of the way open and sat down on the closed toilet cover.

“Bullshit.”

Rylee screamed and jumped, her heart racing in her chest.

“Jesus, Justin, you scared the shit out of me!  What are you doing in here?  I’m taking a shower!”  Even though the curtain was opaque and he couldn’t see her, she still felt uncomfortable vulnerable with him sitting there.

“You’re lying to me, you’re not ok.  What’s going on?”

Rylee poked her head around the curtain, making sure to keep it close to her naked body.

“What the fuck do you think is wrong, Justin?  Are you forgetting why you moved all of my stuff into your house today?  Or are you just under the illusion that we’re playing house here?”

A hurt look crossed his features and he sat back, away from her.

“Sorry…I was just concerned about you. I’ll leave you alone, though.”  He quickly left the room before she could apologize and Rylee let out a frustrated grunt.