Justin took a deep breath in and counted to ten. He knew he had to at least try again to talk to his friend, even though his friend didn’t really want to talk to him. He knew his past attempts had failed, but from what Chris and Trace had told him earlier, her had to try just one last time because this friendship was one that he couldn’t afford to loose. And he was on the breaking point of loosing it.
“Excuse me can I help you?” Justin opened his eyes and saw a grey haired woman in a nurse’s outfit standing before him, clipboard in hand and looking very annoyed. He smiled slightly and shook his head.
“No, I was just here to visit my friend,” Justin said, “JC Chasez?”
“Mr Chasez?” the nurse asked with confused look, “I’m sorry he was discharged earlier this morning.”
“What?” Justin asked with a frown, wondering why no one had told him. He knew JC would be ready to leave soon, but not that soon. “Uh, I know this may sound strange but did he say where he was going once he was discharged?”
“No,” the nurse shook her head at him. “I’m afraid not.”
“Well, uh, thanks anyways,” Justin replied and the nurse nodded in sympathy. Justin sighed heavily and turned around, getting ready to leave.
“But you could ask the front desk,” the nurse called after him, making him stop and turn around. “They usually request that information so that they can update their files as to where to send medication if needed.”
“Thanks,” Justin smiled in appreciation and waved once again as he turned and headed towards the front desk.
He closed his eyes and took a deep breath in before opening them again and looking around. He was no longer there, he wasn’t dreaming.
“Josh?” Madeline’s voice cut through his thoughts. He smiled at the sound of her voice and slowly turned around. Even though they’d been having rough patches at times, they had still managed to get over them and he loved the about her. “Is everything alright?”
“Yeah,” he nodded, placing his crutches by the wall and pulling her into his arms to embrace her in a tight hug, “It is now.” She looked up at him and gave a small smile.
“Yeah, now we’re home,” she whispered and he nodded again before lightly kissing her forehead.
“Yeah we are,” he agreed and looked into her eyes, “So what do you wanna do?”
“Well the doctor said you should still take it easy with your leg,” she replied and eyed his crutches. He rolled his eyes playfully at her and kissed her on the lips before saying anything.
“I know, but I wanna do something with you,” he said and she laughed lightly, knowing what he meant.
“Well, why don’t you just go lie down for a bit?” she suggested and he gave her pout. She laughed lightly and pulled away, handing his crutches back to him. “I just got a call from Joey and Lance, they want to come over and talk to you.” He gave her a small frown but nodded always.
“Alright,” he said with a sigh and hobbled over to the bed before turning and looking at her again. “How long will they be?”
“About half an hour,” she smiled and he raised an eyebrow at her.
“We can do a lot in half an hour,” he said with a sly smile. She laughed again and shook her head, leaning against the door frame.
“We could,” she replied, and twirled a strand of hair in her fingers, “But it’d be rushed and I wanna take it slow.” He smiled at her knowingly and sat down on the bed, not letting his eyes wander from her.
“Okay,” he said softly and patted the spot next to him on the bed. “But will you still come lie with me?” She smiled softly and nodded, that was one thing she could never say no to.
“Jayce, come on man you gotta at least try,” Joey said sitting opposite JC on the couch. JC gave a sigh and rubbed his face with his free hand.
“I already did guys,” JC replied and he noticed Lance roll his eyes.
“Yeah, we heard about that one,” Lance said sternly and looked at Joey, “You wanna tell him Joe?”
“Fine,” Joey muttered and glanced at JC. “Heard it was your meds that made you act that way. That was bullshit and you know it.”
“Alright, so it wasn’t the meds,” JC shrugged and felt Madeline squeeze his shoulder gently for reassurance.
“Then what was it?” Joey demanded giving him a firm look.
“It was… I dunno it’s just weird guys,” JC replied with a sigh, “You can’t just expect me to jump back onto the band wagon of let’s love Justin, especially after what happened.”
“But I thought you guys had gotten over that,” Lance said and JC snorted in response.
“Yeah we did. We ignored each other for years. We totally got over that,” JC laughed bitterly and gave his two friends a look. “We never got over it, we can’t. You know why.” Now he gave Madeline I side look and noticed her look away, not happy with the turn of the conversation. “Maddie?”
“I’m gonna go get a drink,” she said softly as if cueing for herself to leave. “Does anyone want anything?” The three men shook their heads at her, realising she had to get away and she smiled in appreciation before quickly leaving the room.
“She still hasn’t gotten over it, so neither can I,” JC said as she left, “Would you?”
“No, but at least he tried to fix things. He was there the whole time you were out,” Lance stated and JC nodded, knowing Lance was speaking the truth.
“I know, but there’s more to it than that,” JC said and glanced down at his hands. He didn’t want the other two to pick up on anything.
“Like what Jayce?” Lance asked, JC shrugged, refusing to look up. “Jayce…”
“You weren’t there when it happened,” JC began softly, his tone suddenly changing.
“Neither were you,” Lance pointed out but JC shook his head in protest.
“Yeah I was,” he whispered and slowly looked up. Suddenly they knew they weren’t talking about the same event.
