"Montana?"
I turned around and saw Maddie staring at me. "Yeah?"
"Can you go and get Chris and Justin for me?" Maddie had all of these costumes and patterns all over the lounge room floor.
"No problem." I got up off the couch and headed upstairs. The guys finally had some time off because a bad storm hit one of the arenas. Johnny had all the other shows pushed back until the arena is in working condition. We were all on alert for the news of starting again. Maddie took the chance to fix up a couple of the outfits. I rounded the corner and knocked on Justin's door. "Yo, Justin. Ya decent?" I heard a faint mumble and thought that he was still asleep. I slowly opened the door and looked into the room.
"Becareful, it could be dangerous in there. Enter at your own risk."
I looked back into the hallway and saw Chris walking down towards me. "That reminds me. Maddie wants to see you downstairs about costumes or something."
"Is she in the lounge?" He asked.
"Yeah."
"Thanks."
I watched him walk down the rest of the hallway. I turned and walked into Justin's room and shut the door behind me. Justin was simply sitting on the end of his bed, a pile of paper laying at his feet. "Justin?" I walked closer to him but he made no move to acknowledge me. I glanced at his hands and saw them shaking. I reached out and touched his shoulder with my fingertips. He jumped and looked at me. "Justin, you okay buddy?" He looked like shit. His hair was a mess, eyes were puffy and bloodshot, tear stains down his face and he was wearing the same clothes as last night.
"Huh?" Was all that came out of his mouth.
"Justin you look like shit. Go take a shower and we'll talk afterwards, okay?"
"Uh huh." He made no attempt to get up. I grabbed his elbow and helped him off the bed. I led him to his bathroom and let him slowly walk inside himself. Clothes. He needed fresh clothes. I walked around his room, grabbing a pair of sweats, wifebeater and underwear then placing it on the counter in the bathroom. He still hadn't moved.
'This boy is whacked.' I thought to myself. "Shower, Justin. Go for a shower. You look LIKE SHIT!" I said a bit louder. I think that got his attention.
"Okay." He said, slowly taking off his jacket.
I walked out of the bathroom, closing the door behind me. I walked over to his window and opened the blinds and the window, letting in some fresh air and sunshine. I went back around to the front of his bed and picked up the paper on the floor. My eyes caught on a piece of paper. Each word was spelt with letters out of a magazine or something.
You and me were meant to be
That other bitch has got to go
You don't quite see, but I understand
Life as a popstar is always tough
But soon enough
The bitch will be gone
We'll be back to the way we were
More letters. Each one of them was from her. I always thought that Bear kept all of this stuff out of the usual fan collection. I grabbed the phone of Justin's side table and rang Bear's mobile.
"Martin here."
"Hey Bear, it's Montana."
"Hey girl, what up?"
"How did Justin get these letters?"
"Which ones?"
"The ones from Laura."
"Ah those." He paused for a moment.
"Bear, tell me, cause it's scaring the shit out of me seeing Justin this way. I had to physically make him take a shower just now. It's tearing him up!" I quickly caught a breath, "I thought I said for you guys to not let Justin see any more letters. The first three got him shaken up a bit, but all of these have just made him parinoid."
"He asked for them so I gave it to him after a heated fight between us. He has a right to know."
"I know."
"Look, just talk to him and get it through to him that she's safe and don't forget she knows about it now, so she's keeping an eye out for herself as well. We have a watchful eye on her. She's been going everywhere with Bubba and you know that. I can come over if ya want."
"Na, I should be fine. Look, I just wanted to know where these came from cause I wasn't sure if he got a new stack from her or if they were the old ones. That's all."
"I know ya care, Montana."
"They are both my best friends ya know, and I love them very much. I just wanna see them get hurt."
"I know ya do, but you have to stay strong until this thing passes."
"Thanks Bear, you're a darl."
"Don't flatter me, it's bad for my image."
I laughed. "Whatever. Thanks for telling me. I'll talk to ya later."
"Bye girl."
"Bye Bear." I hung up the phone and placed it back on the cradle. I placed the letters on his bedside table before moving over to the side of his bed. I started pulling at the sheets and made his bed. Once I finished I climbed onto the bed at sat with my back up against the bed head.
Not long after, Justin emerged from the bathroom. "Hey." He quietly said.
"Hey. Do you feel better now?" I asked him.
"Yeah thanks." He maneuvered his way around the room to the other side of the bed and sat down on it. I sat there and waited until he was ready to talk. "I don't know what to do. I'm so scared about her safety. What's gonna happen when I'm not here? What if something happens to her and I can't help her? I just... I..." He trailed off. He was reaching his breaking point. Tears were threatening to fall.
All I did was place my hand around the back of his neck and he cracked. The tears began to fall uncontrollably. I pulled him down and his body came along. He was now laying on his right side with his head in my lap. I gently ran my fingers over his head, trying to soothe him and let him know, that I was still here. I could already feel the wetness on my legs from his tears through my pants. That's all I could do for him now. I would let him get this all out. He knew that I can't answer the questions that he wants to know the answers too, but he knew, I was his shoulder to cry on, well, lap in this case. 'Let it all out, that's all you can do.' That line ran through my head over and over again.
Slowly, but surely, his tears became less and his breathing became slower and steadier. He had finally cried himself to sleep. There was a soft knock on the door and Chris poked his head in. "Tell Maddie he'll do whatever she wants done later." I whispered to him.
"Kay," he said, closing the door again.
Justin had finally woken up after about three hours of sleep. He turned around and looked at me. "Thanks for that, I really needed to get that out."
"No problem. I don't see what you are worried about. Carla knows how to handle herself and she's got Bubba with her at all times. She's not going to go anywhere without him knowing, okay?"
"Yeah, but still."
"But still nothing. Stop worrying about it. Now, the main reason why I came up here 3 hours ago was to tell you that Maddie wants you downstairs to fix up your costumes or something. Now move that skinny ass down there!" I said, practically pushing him off the bed.
"But I know you like it! Skinny and everything!" He stood up and shoved his ass in front of my face. I grabbed the pen off his side table and stuck the capped end into his right cheek and he quickly moved it away. "Ow!"
"Move it."
He pouted a little bit and strutted off out of the room.
