Lance lay on the spare bed in JC’s hotel room and watched the TV flicker. The sound was on low so as to not wake JC. He had tried to fall asleep, but had only managed to dose off for a couple of hours. He wondered what had happened to Joey since he was supposed to have relieved him by now, but then he figured that Joey must’ve fallen asleep.

Lance looked over at JC and was glad to see that he was still sleeping peacefully. He hadn’t had any nightmares since they had put him in bed earlier. He was about to look away when JC shot up in his bed. Too bad it didn’t last. He had actually been getting some much needed sleep, Lance thought.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Lance asked, knowing that JC just had another nightmare.

JC sighed. “What do you think?”

“Is that a no?” Lance sighed when JC gave him a ‘duh’ look. “You’re going to have to talk about your nightmares to the guys eventually though.”

“Why?” JC asked.

“Because they’re your friends. They deserve to know what’s bothering you,” Lance said.

JC averted his eyes to his fingers that were busy picking at the bed’s comforter. “But you know. I don’t understand why I have to tell them when you know.”

“You never actually told me, JC,” Lance reminded. “It’s like I told you in the hospital. Talking about it helps make the nightmares stop.”

JC sighed. “Fine, but not now.”

“OK, but if you don’t tell them soon I will,” Lance said. He knew that JC was still hesitant about talking about his nightmares and would try to avoid it as long as possible. Lance was hoping that he would tell the guys on his own. He didn’t want to have to force him to talk.

JC looked at Lance in surprise. “Where did that come from?”

“I’ve just been thinking the sooner you talk about your nightmares the sooner they’ll get better,” Lance said remembering the conversation he had with Justin at the hospital. Justin had said that JC was going to have to be pressured into talking because otherwise he wouldn’t do it on his own. Lance was trying to give JC a push into talking to the others without pissing him off like he did before.

“All right. I get it. I’ll talk about it when I’m ready,” JC said.

“Good,” Lance replied.

Silence once again fell between the two. JC still sat in bed picking away at his comforter. “What are we doing today?”

Lance looked over at JC. “Well, we’ll be on the road in,” Lance paused to look at his watch, “three hours.”

“We’re continuing with the tour?” JC asked.

“Yeah,” Lance admitted grudgingly.

“What’s the matter?” JC asked. When Lance didn’t answer it dawned on him. “You don’t think I can do it, do you?”

Lance hesitated. He knew that if he agreed with JC he would only succeed in pissing him off. However, Lance knew that he couldn’t lie to JC. He had never been very good at it. “Well, it’s not that I don’t think you can do it. I just think it’s too soon.”

Lance watched as JC threw back his covers and stood up. “Look at me. I’m standing. I’m fine.”

JC began to walk around the room. “I’m walking, and I’m still fine.” JC then started to jump up and down. “Now I’m jumping, and I’m completely fine.”

“Really? Because I think you’re a little crazy now,” Lance said.

JC tried to hold back his laughter, but he couldn’t. He burst out laughing. Before Lance knew it he was laughing with him. About a minute later they managed to get control over themselves.

“I’m going to take a shower,” JC said. He wasn’t going to give Lance a chance to continue the conversation. He was glad he cared, but he didn’t want him and the others to treat him like he was made of glass.

“Afterwards, you should go spend some time with Justin,” Lance suggested.

“Why?” JC asked.

“Because he’s your friend, and it’s been a while since you two have done something together,” Lance said.

“Why him? Why not Joey or Chris then? I haven’t spent a lot of time with them lately either,” JC said.

Lance hesitated briefly before saying, “Because I think Justin’s jealous of me.”

JC stared at him. “What are you talking about?”

“Think about it, JC. We’ve been spending a lot of time together. I think Justin doesn’t feel like he’s as close to you anymore, especially since he knows that I’m connected to you in a way that he isn’t.”

“You know that Justin knows?” JC asked.

“Yeah. He told me earlier while you were in the hospital. I was kind of shocked that he knew,” Lance explained.

“I was going to tell you, but everything seemed to happen at once. I didn’t get the chance,” JC said.

“I figured as much, but let’s get back on track. You need to spend time with Justin,” Lance said.

“Right. You really think he’s jealous of you?” JC asked.

“Well, he said no when I asked him, but it’s easy to see that he misses hanging out with you.”

JC thought about what Lance had said for a few minutes before he nodded. “You’re right. I’ll go meet up with him after my shower.”

Lance was about to tell JC to enjoy when Justin came walking in the door. He looked surprised to see Lance. “What are you doing here?”

Lance looked at Justin as if he just asked the dumbest question ever. “I was keeping an eye on JC.”

“Where’s Joey? Joey was supposed to relieve you,” Justin said.

“I don’t know.” Lance shrugged. “He never showed up.”

“We should go look for him,” Justin said.

“Why? He probably just fell asleep,” JC said, his shower temporarily forgotten.

“Well then, we should go wake him up. We only have a couple hours left before we leave,” Justin said. He was worried about Joey because it wasn’t like him to forget to do something important like this. While he had been acting differently lately, he had still done everything that he was told. Justin just couldn’t figure out what would cause Joey to not follow through with a responsibility he volunteered for.

“Why is it so important that you go wake him up?” JC asked.

“I want to know why he didn’t come relieve Lance like he said he would,” Justin answered. “Now Lance didn’t get any sleep last night.”

“I got a couple of hours,” Lance objected.

Justin rolled his eyes. “Like that’s good enough.”

“I don’t know why you had to have someone watch over me anyway. It’s not like I was going to go anywhere,” JC said.

“That’s not the point. Joey was supposed to relieve Lance. He didn’t, and I want to know why,” Justin said. “And I can’t wait.”

Justin left the room. Lance and JC had no choice but to follow if they wanted to find out what happened. Their curiosity was piqued. The three of them let themselves into Joey’s room with the spare room key.

At first they didn’t see anything, but the smell of alcohol hit them as soon as they walked across the threshold. They couldn’t see Joey until they walked further into the room where they saw him laying face down on the couch.

“What the hell happened in here?” Justin asked.

“Isn’t it obvious? He got himself trashed,” JC said.

“Shouldn’t we wait to see what his story is before jumping to conclusions?” Lance asked.

JC turned to look at him. “What other explanation is there? Someone forced him to drink the entire mini bar?”

Justin jumped in before Lance could reply. “Why don’t we just wake him up? Then we can find out what happened.”

“We already know what happened,” JC mumbled and Justin glared at him.

“Shut up, JC.” Justin walked over to the couch where he leaned over to shake Joey awake. It took a few minutes before Joey groaned and rolled over, grabbing a pillow to put over his head as he did so.

“C’mon, Joey, you need to wake up,” Lance said. He had moved closer to the couch when Justin had tried waking him up. JC, however, was standing back watching the scene play out with his arms crossed.

“No,” Joey mumbled into the scratchy surface of the couch.

“Yes. Joey, man, we have to leave in two and a half hours. You need to get ready,” Justin said.

Joey groaned, but he slowly began to push himself into a sitting position. “Fine,” he grumbled.

“What the hell were you thinking?” JC asked not being able to wait for the answer anymore.

“Can you lower your voice? I have a killer headache,” Joey complained as he grabbed his head.

“Gee, I wonder why,” JC said sarcastically.

“So I drink a little. Big deal. It helps me unwind,” Joey said.

“It puts your health in jeopardy,” JC replied.

“Who was it that collapsed on stage?” Joey shot back.

JC turned a couple shades of red. “You have a problem!”

“Look who’s talking,” Joey said.

“Guys, enough!” Justin yelled as he stepped in between Joey and JC. “You both have a problem. Accept it and move on.”

Silence fell among the group and Justin spoke up when he realized that they weren’t going to say anything else. “Joey, go take some aspirin and get a shower.”

“Fine,” Joey mumbled as he walked into the bathroom. Justin waited for the door to close before he turned to JC.

“And you shouldn’t be getting all worked up. You just got out of the hospital a few hours ago,” Justin said.

“But you’re not better, JC. And I don’t know what to do anymore,” Justin said.

Justin sent a hurt look JC’s way before he left Joey’s room, letting the door shut behind him. As soon as he was gone Lance faced JC. “Nice, JC. After what we just talked about, you go and treat him like crap.”

“Yeah, I know,” JC said as he ran a hand through his hair. He looked down at the floor. “I just don’t want you guys treating me like I’m weak because I’m not.”

“You should’ve told him in a nicer way,” Lance said.

“You’re right,” JC said. “I’ll go talk to him.”

“I’ll clean up in here and make sure Joey isn’t too hung over by the time we leave,” Lance said.

JC nodded. “I’ll see you later.”

JC left Lance in Joey’s room. He walked out into the hall and stopped for a minute to think where Justin could be. He briefly thought that Justin might be in his room, but then he remembered seeing a basketball court behind the hotel and knew that was where Justin would be.

He took the stairs since he didn’t want to wait for the elevator. He ducked through the lobby quickly before he found himself outside by the pool. He walked past the pool to the basketball court. Sure enough, Justin was there dribbling a basketball.

“Hey,” JC said as he approached.

Justin looked up briefly, but he didn’t stop dribbling. “Hey.”

The silence stretched between the two of them for a few minutes before JC finally took a deep breath and said, “I’m sorry.”

“Are you really?” Justin asked as he stopped dribbling and looked up at JC.

“Yeah, I was a real jerk back there,” JC said. “I know you said what you did because you care.”

“I do,” Justin said. “I don’t want something like that to happen to you again. You scared the hell out of me, JC.”

“I’m sorry,” JC apologized again.

Justin sighed as he ran a hand over his face. “I just don’t understand why you didn’t talk to any of us. You should’ve told us that you were still having problems with what happened.”

“You’re right. I should have, but…” JC paused for a minute before he continued. “I didn’t want to bring it up. I thought you guys were over it and I didn’t want to dig it up again.”

Justin walked over and put a hand on JC’s shoulder. “You could’ve talked to any of us about it.” Justin thought for a minute before he said, “Maybe we should talk about it now.”

“Now?” JC asked in surprise.

“Yeah,” Justin said as he nodded. “We don’t have to leave for a couple of hours. We can talk about it right here, right now.”

JC hesitated for a minute before he said, “I don’t really want to talk about it right now.”

“I’m sick of you dodging this conversation. Anytime one of us wants to talk about it you freak. I just don’t know what to do anymore,” Justin said.

“Justin—“ JC started, but Justin cut him off.

“Forget it, JC. I don’t understand why you won’t talk to me. I must’ve done—“ Justin cut himself off as he realized he was revealing too much. “If you don’t want to talk about it, fine. I’ll stop bugging you. Do what you want.”

Justin turned around and resumed dribbling the basketball. JC turned around to leave. He thought that he was finally getting what he wanted. Justin had said that he’d stop bugging him, but JC knew that Justin really cared. That was why he was trying to get him to talk. He was only trying to help JC.

JC sighed as he turned around. He thought for a second before he blurted, “I have dreams that you die.”