It wasn’t until later that she came down stairs and saw all six boys sitting outside on the porch drinking beers. She smiled lazily and rested a hand on her belly, leaning gently against the door frame in silence. She watched the way Justin kept glaring angrily at Lance and the way Lance averted his eyes from everyone. The looks Justin was giving Lance gave her a sense of uneasiness, wondering if he knew what she had once tried to tell him.
“Hey Tiff,” Trace noticed her standing by the doorway watching them. She smiled softly and walked out to them. “How was your nap?”
“Good,” she nodded and noticed Lance glance up as she walked up, “It helped a lot.”
“Well at least now you’re well rested,” Justin smiled and reached out for her hand. She allowed him to take it and pull her gently towards him.
“Yeah,” she agreed with a nod and sat on his lap, leaning back against his chest as he snaked his arms around her waist and placed a hand on her belly and rested it there.
“So what time do we have to be up and ready tomorrow?” Chris asked and took a swig from his beer. Both Justin and Tiffany looked at him with small eyes.
“Seven,” Tiffany answered, “Coz you lot have to be out of here by eight. My bridal party’s coming over at eight thirty.”
“Shit,” Chris grumbled and put his feet up on the table, “I don’t think I can do that.”
“I’m afraid you have to,” Tiffany laughed and Justin kissed her shoulder gently.
“Yeah man, even I gotta get up and skedaddle,” Justin smiled, “The ladies need to do all the girly stuff.”
“What time we gotta be at the church?” Joey asked, Justin shrugged and looked at Tiffany.
“Four? But the ceremony doesn’t start till sunset, I don’t want you lot to be late so be there early,” she replied and slowly sat up.
“Man, can’t we just meet the J man there?” Chris complained and Justin shook his head as Tiffany stood up.
“No man, we gotta do the male bonding thing,” Justin laughed and eyed Tiffany. She smiled softly and looked around her.
“Well I’m going to head on inside for some tea,” she said, the talk of the wedding getting to her. She wasn’t really ready for anything that was to happen the next day, trying to push it aside until the time came.
“Alright, we’ll be inside in a sec,” Justin nodded and took her hand, looking into her eyes, “Take it easy though.”
“I will,” she smiled and pulled away from him, heading for the door. “I’ll see you guys in a bit.”
“See ya in a bit Tiff,” Chris smiled and she nodded, walking inside. As she left she managed to glance at Lance, and noticed his eyes down cast, and his frame slouched. Well that made two of them that weren’t ready for this wedding.
“Why so glum?” Lance looked up from staring into his glass of clear water and sighed as he noticed Joey frowning at him with concern.
“I don’t think I should be here Joe,” he grumbled and ran a hand through his hair, “I mean after seeing her like that and everything…” Joey sighed heavily and plonked himself down next to Lance in a nearby chair.
“I know but I thought we went over this?” Joey asked, rubbing his chin. “It’s not been proven that...”
“I know!” Lance sighed in aspiration and then looked around nervously, wondering if anyone had heard. “But after I saw her, I just… I dunno I got this feeling, and it felt right.”
“What the feeling that she was carrying your child?” Joey asked, making sure to lower his voice so that no one over heard what was being said. Lance nodded and glanced slightly back to the house, and saw her figure in one of the windows.
“Yeah that,” he replied and placed his glass back down before standing up. “I need to go talk to her.”
“And tell her what?” Joey asked raising an eyebrow and following suit, “Besides if you follow her J will become suspicious.”
“I’ll tell him I need to piss,” Lance replied rolling his eyes as if it was obvious, “I just need to talk to her. Alone.” He noticed Joey getting ready to follow him just in case.
“Fine go,” Joey grumbled and looked around them, “I’ll tell J you had to use the John.”
“Thanks man,” he replied with a small smile and began heading inside, as he did so he heard Joey grumble something in response but ignored it. There were more important things on his mind.
He stood by the door and watched her for a moment before saying anything, and then when she had finally stopped moving and sat herself down at the table, with her back to him, he entered the room.
“Busy day eh?” he asked and stepped up next to her, pulling out a chair. She turned her head slightly and seeing him she smiled.
“Hi Lance,” she said and grasped a hold of the cup she had before her more tightly. “Yeah you could say that.” He nodded and they fell into an awkward silence as he sat down.
“What’s going on Tiff?” he asked without looking at her. He heard her sigh before she answered.
“What do you mean?” she asked. He shook his head and ran a hand through his hair, then finally glanced at her.
“You know what I mean. With the baby,” he said the last part softly as if he were afraid of something. Again she sighed and placed a hand on his arm.
“Nothing, the doctor said it was normal,” she replied knowing he was referring to what had happened earlier. He shook his head, not believing her.
“It’s not Tiff. You saw Kelly when she was pregnant and she was nothing like that,” he stated. Her smile tightened and she pulled her hand away before looking away.
“I don’t see why you’re so concerned all of a sudden. It’s been five months Lance,” she stated and then forced herself to look at him. He nodded slowly before answering.
“I know and I’m sorry for that. But you have to understand Tiff, it was hard for me. The thought of him raising our baby was…” he began but she cut him off with a sharp tone to her voice.
“It’s not our anything Lance,” she snapped, “I don’t know whose it is.”
“Well maybe you should find out,” he snapped back, his anger getting the better of him as he heard the tone in her voice. “Maybe then it’ll save us all this trouble.”
She glared at him and refused to say anything, when he realised she wasn’t going to say another word he got up and stood, walking out of the room silently.
She knew Lance was right; he always had been about these things. But she just couldn’t allow herself to do it, because then she knew she’d have to tell Justin the truth, again. And she just couldn’t do that.
She took a deep breath in and closed her eyes, allowing her hands to rest gently on her belly as she felt a soft kick coming from within her. She smiled softly, knowing that the child was trying to tell her something but not wanting to listen to it.
“Not now,” she whispered to herself and opened her eyes again. “I can’t do it now.”
“Do what now?” She almost jumped at the sound of the voice and turned her head slightly to see Justin leaning in the doorway. She smiled at him and shook her head.
“Nothing,” she whispered and slowly allowed herself to stand up, “Just the laundry.” Justin smiled back and pushed himself off the frame and walked towards her.
“Yeah, you shouldn’t do it,” he said and managed to wrap him arms around her waist gently, “You need to take it easy like I said. So are you done in here?”
“Yeah,” she nodded and looked up at him, “I’m done. Where are the others? Don’t tell me you left them out there all by themselves.” Justin smiled and shook his head as she rested her head on his shoulder.
“Nah, Trace is with them. Besides I wanted to spend sometime alone with you,” he said softly and kissed her forehead. She sighed contently grateful for the interruption into her thoughts. “What happened with Lance?”
“What?” she snapped her head up and looked at Justin who just shrugged, not letting go of her. “What do you mean?”
“Nothing, it’s just that he came back out looking pissed as hell and told Joe they had to leave,” Justin answered, she noticed his concern in his voice.
“Why do you think I would have any idea what happened?” she asked. He smiled and her and shook his head.
“I don’t, I just thought you might have passed him while he was inside that’s all. And maybe you caught something that had happened to him,” Justin replied, she let out a sigh and shook her head.
“No I didn’t see him when he came in,” she lied, “Did they go yet? Him and Joey?”
“Yeah,” Justin nodded, “They just left, and you know what was weird about it?”
“What?” she asked, holding her breath again.
“He left without even saying goodbye.”
Lance tried to control his breathing, but somehow couldn’t. He knew he shouldn’t have snapped at her like that, but he just couldn’t help himself.
“Okay Lance,” Joey’s voice cut through his thoughts angrily, “What the fuck happened back there?” Lance snapped his head up and shook his head.
“Nothing happened,” he lied and Joey rolled his eyes, knowing his friend too well.
“Yeah, I totally believe that,” Joey nodded and leaned back in his chair. “So what happened?” Lance sighed and rubbed his face before looking at his friend and replying.
“I snapped Joe,” he admitted and Joey raised an eyebrow for more information. Lance sighed and leaned his head back. “I basically told her she was causing us trouble.”
“You did what?” Joey asked with shock clearly in his voice. Lance shrugged and sighed again. “Don’t shrug at me. How has she caused all this trouble you’re in?”
“By not finding out if the kid’s mine or Js,” Lance snapped back, his anger coming back and getting the better of him again. Joey gave him a stern look and shook his head.
“That is not her fault,” Joey replied and sighed, “Maybe she’s just scared, that’s why she hasn’t found out yet.”
“Scared about what?” Lance asked angrily.
“Scared of the truth Lance,” Joey answered and looked at his friend with solemn eyes.
“What truth Joe? That it’s mine?” Lance asked, his tone in voice rising. Joey leaned forward and put a hand on his arm.
“Calm down Lance,” Joey said, “Have you ever stopped to think what will happen if it was really yours? How would she tell J without him going insane on her? Have you ever thought of that?”
“Of course I...” Lance began but stopped, realising that Joey was right he hadn’t stopped and thought about that.
Joey nodded and gave him a knowing look, “I thought not.”
Tyres screeched on the gravel outside the house and Justin sat up from his position on the couch. He checked his watch, and then looked over at Tiffany, noticing that she too had sat up and was now glancing out the window.
“They came back,” she told him, a smile creeping onto her face as she spoke the words making Justin feel once again uneasy.
“Maybe they came back so Lance could be decent,” Justin grumbled to himself and stood up, noticing she hadn’t even heard the first word he spoke. He dusted off the front of his pants and heard footsteps run through the house as his stomach fell.
He knew he shouldn’t feel this way towards his friend, but he was still angry at the way Lance had just up and left without an explanation, because Lance had at least had the courtesy to turn up after months of no communication.
“Justin!” Tiffany’s voice called from the doorway as he heard her open it. He sighed, ran a hand through his mangled curls and took a few steps forward.
“Coming!” He called back and forced himself to push aside his feelings so he could at least be civil to the man who was supposed to be his brother.
Joey pushed him roughly out of the car, grumbling something about being civil and apologize about his rude behaviour. Lance rolled his eyes, and struggled not to fall on his face, grabbing hold of the side of the car as the door to the house flew open and Tiffany stood in front of them.
“You came back,” her voice was soft and she looked down at her feet.
“Uh, yeah,” Lance nodded and glanced at Joey who had leaned against the closed door and gave him a grim look. “I uh…”
“He came to apologize,” Joey cut in and stepped up beside him. “Right Lance?”
“Yeah right,” Lance nodded and shifted uneasily on the spot as he could feel her eyes glare accusingly at him, knowing why he had left.
“There’s nothing to apologize for,” she said and offered a small smile. Lance frowned in response, wondering why she had so suddenly changed her demeanour; it was then that he noticed Justin standing behind her.
“Nothing but leaving without saying goodbye,” Justin put-in with a small chuckle, one that Lance could sense was uneasy.
“Yeah that,” Lance nodded and swallowed a bit of air. “Just wanted to come say goodbye.”
“Goodbye?” Tiffany asked with a frown, “Why?”
“Uh, there was something I remembered we needed to shoot before tomorrow morning,” Lance lied; he could feel Joey glaring into the back of his head. “We’ll be back by three for the ceremony.” He added the last part hastily, just to give Joey some satisfaction.
“You will?” Tiffany asked, her voice rising as he told her this. Lance nodded and glanced over to Justin.
“Yeah promise,” he licked his lips and shifted once again on his feet.
“Good,” Justin cut in and stepped in front of Tiffany. “Well you guys better head out then, so you can be back for the ceremony.”
“Uh, yeah we better,” Lance nodded and grabbed Joey’s arm, to pull him back towards the car. “We’ll see you guys tomorrow. And again sorry for being rude.”
Justin smiled at him and gave him a small nod, “Sure man no problems. Just make sure you’re back on time, I want you guys to be there.”
“Don’t worry,” Lance nodded and began backing up, dragging Joey with him. “We’ll be there.”
Tiffany watched in disappointment as the car pulled away again. She had truly hoped that when she’d heard the tyres outside it meant he had come back to stay for good and save her from this wedding. But he hadn’t, instead he had just pulled away again and she doubted that he would really come back.
“They’ll be back,” Justin’s voice whispered in her ear and forced her to move backwards as he took he hand and led her back into the house.
“I know,” she said, although she didn’t really know if she believed it and turned around to face him, taking one glance back. “I know.”
Incomplete
Story Tags: justin lance
