A few days later
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"Lexy!!!"
"It's ON!"
"Ahh, I'm coming!"
"HURRY!!!!"
Alex stormed down the steps, caught herself on the banister and swung around through the hallway, past her room and into the game room. She fell to the ground beside Jon and laid on her stomach, just like him looking up at the big screen.
Jen was sprawled out on the couch.
Alex was upstairs putting Justin's clean laundry on his bed when she heard Jen and Jon yell for her.
She stared at the screen, waiting, hoping for Justin to appear on screen. After not blinking and staring mouth open at some of the outfit she screamed with Jon and yelled. "LOOK!!! JUSTIN!!!"
Jen gasped. "WHAT DID HE DO TO HIS HEAD?"
"Shaved it." Jon giggled watching his brother be interview by an MTV correspondent.
"His...curls..." Jen couldn't believe her eyes.
Alex bit her lip and watched as he responded to question and made gestured and funny faces in the camera. The room became quiet except for the blaring TV. After they answered a few questions it cut to commercial. Alex sighed, knowing that would be the only snippet of her man for a while.
Jen started blabbing. "I can't believe it. Why did he do that?"
"I think it looks good." Alex turned to her back and sat up, smiling at her friend.
"You WOULD! I'm going to use the bathroom before they come back." Jen stood and walked out of the room and to the bathroom down the hall. Alex rolled over and nudged Jon in his side.
She noticed that he was being very quiet. Usually if his brother was on TV he would be jumping up and down, pointing and screaming. But he was just lying there, looking away towards the big window of the room. "Jon, you ok?"
"There were a lot of cameras there." His voice was barely audible.
Alex bit her lip in thought. "Yeah, so. There are always a lot of cameras when Justin is on TV."
"There were a lot of people too."
"Jon...what's wrong?" She was overly concerned now.
They came back from commercial and Jen ran in the room. Alex looked at Jon out of the corner of her eye. He was chewing on his fingernails.
She was scared. She had never seen him like this.
And what was scarier than that, was that Alex didn't know what was going on. She knew Jon like he was her own, and for the first time, she didn't have a clue what was going on inside his head.
She was terrified.
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A little after 11
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Alex closed the front door after Jen and watched as she got in her car and drove down the driveway and out of site. She turned to the small security panel and tried to remember the codes Justin had written for her to remember. After staring blankly at the wall it hit her and she punched in the codes.
She quietly walked back into the playroom and pushed power on the TV to turn it off. Jon was sleeping on the couch. She would have moved him to a bed, but he was so peaceful and she was afraid of waking him.
When the Grammies started Jon was better. He was jumping around and yelling and sang along to This I Promise You. He would point out his mother when they showed glimpses of the guys and Alex was happy he was back to normal. He fell asleep on the couch beside Jen before the show was over. Alexandria was sad they hadn't won but then again was glad that Jon didn't miss anything.
She knew he would be sad his brother didn't win a Grammy, but he would have been so heartbroken if he had and he missed it.
Her body bent to pick up the drinks and snacks that were scattered on the floor and she walked back through the hallway and into the kitchen. She put everything back where it was supposed to go and through their trash in the trash can.
She was baby-sitting Jon and he had to get up and go to school the next day. She knew he would be tired. So would she. Her plane had gotten in the night before, late. Justin had had a separate flight to LA.
It had been 2 days. She missed him, terribly.
She was tired and worn out from the past week, and it was already getting late and she would have to get up early to take Jon to school. Just as she was turning the lights off in the kitchen a ringing noise interrupted the quietness of the house. She picked up the cordless phone and pressed Talk. "Hello?"
"Hey baby."
She sighed. She had missed his voice. "Hey. Sorry you didn't win."
"Hey, being nominated is all that matters." He chuckled sarcastically.
"Where are you right now?" She walked past the front door for the third time and entered her bedroom.
"In the limo, headed to a party. Mom says hi. How's Jon?"
"He is asleep on the couch in the play room. I would move him but he is too peaceful. Tell Lynn said hi back."
Justin mumbled "hi back" to his mom and returned to the phone. "I wish you could be here. I miss you."
She smiled at his whispered words. "I miss you too."
"Listen, I gotta ask you something and I hate doing this over the phone. But I wanted to ask you before I do anything."
"What?"
She could hear him sigh. She sat down, wondering what he was going to say. "Well, uhh. Ok there is this Janet Jackson tribute thing MTV is doing next weekend. And, ok. Please don't get mad, but what would you think if I took Britney?"
She was quiet. She thought about it. Didn't like the idea. She thought about it something. Still didn't like it.
"Lexia...listen, if you don't feel comfortable then that's fine. I wanted to ask you before I even mentioned it to her. I would take you; I would LOVE to take you. But you know I cant. Not unless you want to go and have your picture taken with me and people...ya know..."
"Yeah, well. It's ok. I guess." Her voice was so uneasy.
"You don't want me to. That's ok. I just wanted to-"
"Justin..." She interrupted. "...its fine. I mean I'm not thrilled. I'm not going to praise you for taking your ex but I mean, you guys are still friends and I don't have any right to stop you from doing things with her."
"Are you sure? Because I don't want you to like get weirded out and be mean to me."
"How is that different from normal?" She giggled.
He breathed deeply in the phone. "Everyone is staring at me Lexia. They are all up in our conversation."
"Who?"
He whined. "All the guys and mom and everyone."
"Oh. Sorry." She giggled. "But really it's ok. This will throw off some people and I mean I'm ok with it. I trust you."
Justin was quiet for a second and finally he whispered, "It feels so good to hear you say that."
"Lexy?"
Alex raised her head at the sleep filled voice. He was standing there, rubbing one eye with his fist. "Hey hold on." She spoke in the phone and then to Jon. "Hey buddy, why don't you go change in your pjs and then you can go to bed ok?"
"Ok." His hand dropped tiredly from his eye and he grabbed his bag that was right inside the doorway of her room and turned to go change...somewhere.
"You're brother just woke up."
"Oh, tell him I love him. Hey we are at the place. Listen I'll call ya sometime tomorrow."
"Ok."
"Listen. I love you, I miss you." She heard a bit of laughter in the background and kissing noises. She figured the guys were making fun of him.
"Thank babe. I love you and miss you too."
"Ok, bye Lexia."
"Bye." She clicked the phone off and at the same time Jon shuffled into the room and crawled up on her bed. She pulled back the covers and kissed his head. "Justin said he loved you."
"Oh." He mumbled quietly, already closing his eyes.
"Is everything ok Jon?" Alex asked.
He nodded and clutched the pillow.
"All right, well I'm going to go upstairs and go to bed, or do you want me to stay down here with you?"
He yawned and shrugged. Alex just stared at his relaxed position. This was not the Jonathan Harless she knew and loved. "Ok, well...goodnight."
"Night." He mumbled.
"I love you Jon." She kissed his forehead and stood off her bed. She walked to her dresser and pulled out her pjs and crossed the room to the door. She looked back to see him breathing deeply, holding her pillow, fast asleep.
She was worried. Very worried.
But she didn't know what to do. So she just went on with everything. She flicked off the lights and shuffled to the steps, walking up them and into Justin's bedroom.
Too bad sleep didn't come to her as easily as it did for the little boy downstairs.
