Emma was relaxing on the couch around 9AM with Riley when she heard a loud beeping noise followed by an equally loud crash coming from Justin's room. Shortly after the door swung open and he trudged out looking completely run down.
"Daddy!"
Emma tried not to laugh when he noticably cringed at the high pitched squeal. Riley was already running towards him and he slowly bent down so he could pick her up when she reached him.
"Good morning Riley," he mumbled and walked over to sit down in one of the arm chairs. Riley scrambled off his lap and sat down on the floor, focusing intently on the cartoon characters moving about the screen. Justin shut his eyes and leaned his head against the back of the chair. His fingertips pinched the bridge of his nose and his face scrunched up.
"Long night?" Emma asked innocently "Were all those meetings tough to get through?" Her voice changed and Justin sensed her sarcastic tone.
Justin didn't answer, he just stood up and disappeared into his bedroom again, returning with a bottle of tylonol. He filled a cup with water, downed three of the little blue gelcaps and then sat back down in the chair.
"Justin, I don't know what you're trying to pull and I really don't care what you do with your free time... or who you do for that matter. But, I really think you should start concentrating less on yourself and more on Riley. She deserves her Daddy, not some hungover half-assed ghost of him." Emma tossed the remote on the couch and stood up quickly. "Spend some time with your daughter, I'm going to go shower." She said roughly and started to walk away.
"I'm not paying you to think," she heard Justin mutter sarcastically.
"That's okay, I'll do that for free." She shouted back and slammed the bathroom door behind her.
Justin groaned and held his head with his hands. Then a loud knock came at the door and he groaned again. He stood up slowly, and trudged to the door, tearing it open and ending up face to face with Mike. He rolled his shoulders and turned around to walk back to the chair, leaving the door wide open so Mike could come in.
"You're up." Mike said.
"Yeah well... someone set my alarm clock." He glared at Mike.
"Hey man, it wasn't me." Mike held up his hands and shook his head. Justin then redirected his glare toward the bathroom door. His stare hardened when he heard Emma singing, nearly screaming the lyrics to an old Alanis Morrisette song. Mike looked from the bathoom door and then at Justin and raised an eyebrow in question.
"Don't ask." Justin said.
"Right." Mike nodded, "Well I just came to make sure you were up. We gotta go soon so get everything together man and I'll be back in a half hour." Justin nodded and Mike left him to get ready.
"Alright Riley, Daddy has to shower so can you come play in Daddy's room?" He stood up too quickly and suddenly felt a little dizzy. He sat back down again for a moment and then stood up again, very slowly. Riley was already trekking down the hallway with her stuffed dog under her arm. Justin turned on the TV in his room and then went into the bathroom, leaving the door open so he could hear Riley if something happened. He showered quickly and then got both himself and Riley dressed before packing everything up and getting ready to face Emma again.
By the time 10AM rolled around, Justin's headache was starting to fade away. The hot water of his shower, the amount of pain medication, and the familiarity of the feeling forced it to dull and drift away quickly. It probably wasn't a good thing that he was so used to the hangover that the whole feeling barely affected him anymore but he didn't care.
"Come on Riley. Let's go baby girl." Justin was standing near the door when he heard Mike knock and then use his security key to come inside. He pushed a luggage cart in and started to load up the bags. Justin leaned down and scooped Riley into his arms just as Emma came out of her room, her duffel bag weighing her down completely. Justin's eyebrows lifted and he immediately walked towards Emma.
"Here, give me that, and you take her." Justin said, already reaching for the strap of the bag and twisting so that Riley was in Emma's reach.
"Don't do me any favors... okay then." Emma trailed off when Justin ignored her completely and took the bag anyway. She cuddled Riley close to her. "Hey pretty girl. How are you doing?"
"I'm otay." Riley responded, her blue eyes watching her father's every move. Emma shook her head at the amazment in the child's eyes. If only she knew what her father was really like.
(One week later. Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. 11:45pm)
Emma felt the bus shift as someone climbed on. She tossed a casual glance at the door, waiting to see if whoever it was would be bothering her and when no one appeared after a minute or so she returned to the book that was open in her lap. Rapidly her eyes moved over the words as she concentrated on the story. Soon enough though her reading was inturrupted when Justin sauntered into the room and leaned against the doorframe. The strong scent of pot and alcohol clung to his clothing and wafted through the air, finally reaching Emma's nose and she coughed and glared at him. He was grinning at her, a stupid drunk look on his face. Thank God Riley was asleep, Emma thought, because her dad was about to get an earful and the words that would be said were definitely not for a child's ears.
"Jesus Crist Justin, didn't you just get off stage?!" Emma shouted and stood up, throwing her book on the couch.
Justin's grin faded and his eyes narrowed. "Yeah, so what!" He rambled back, his words tripping over themselves much the same way his feet were as he stumbled further into the room.
"You must be god damn gifted in order to produce an applause worthy show in this state," she scoffed and pushed him to the side when he stopped in front of her. He fell into the couch with a haphazard 'hey!' and Emma felt his fingers close around her wrist. She spun around, her eyes blazing fire as she thought about the little girl sleeping down the hall.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Justin shouted.
"Exactly what I said. You're completely plastered, and stoned too! And you just got off-stage. How the hell did you sing? You can barely talk!"
"Shut up!" Justin stammered. "So I had downed a couple drinks with Tim when I got off-stage. I'm not stoned."
"Yeah right." Emma yanked her arm from his grasp and rolled her eyes.
"I'm not! Some of the dancers lit up a joint in the dressing room, but I didn't hit it. I don't do that shit anymore."
"You're still drunk." Emma stated, even though this argument was slowly pulling him out of his stupor.
"I'm legal." Justin said, and as if to prove a point he reached over to the mini-fridge and pulled out a Corona. He locked his eyes with her as he reached for a bottle opener, popped off the top and took a long swig. "Want some?" His eyebrows raised and he held it out to her. Daring her to question him.
"Whatever Justin. I don't give two shits what you do on your time, but I swear to God, if you're fighting a hangover tomorrow and that little girl has to suffer you will regret it."
"Right." Justin scoffed.
"I mean it Justin. Tomorrow you have the day off and she has barely seen you at all for the last week. You owe her." Emma didn't give him any chance to reply. She stormed out of the room and he could hear her moving things around and finally crawling into her bunk to sleep.
He looked at the beer in his hand and then slowly stood up. He walked over to the tiny sink in the corner and poured it down the drain and then tossed the empty bottle into the garbage. Even though he wouldn't readily admit it, Emma's words had gotten to him. He left the room and stood in the hall lined on either side with bunk beds. He could see a light coming out from behind the curtain that closed off Emma's bunk. He moved through the hall and reached the end where his room was. He shut the door and leaned against it, watching his tiny daughter sleeping peacefully in the portable crib tucked next to his bed. He stripped down to his boxers and sat on the bed next to the crib. His hand reached over and he brushed a finger along Riley's cheek.
"I'm sorry baby girl, so sorry. I haven't been that great to you this past week have I?" he whispered.
Justin had sobered up considerably and he blinked and tucked a blanket around Riley and with a heavy sigh he pulled back the blankets of his bed and lay back against the pillows. He made a pact with himself as he stared at the ceiling that he would shape up and start being the man his mother raised him to be. 'If only she could see me now', he thought and continued to stare blankly above him. The headlights of other cars filtered through the curtains as the bus made its way to Georgia and it would be quite a while before Justin dozed off.
