“I need to pee!” Carla screamed into my ear.

“Okay,” I screamed back, just hearing her voice over the loud music, “I’ll meet you at the bar. Want anything?”

“Tequilla Sunrise!”

“Okay!” We parted and I walked up to the bar, propped my elbows on the edge of the bar, squeezing my arms together to get the attention of the cute bartender who’d been giving us free drinks – aka Grand Canyon style cleavage! He turned his head and noticed, and walked straight over.

“Hey J, what can I get ya?”

“Hey Matt, I’ll have a tequila sunrise and whatever you suggest!” I flirted with him and gave him a coy smile.

“Rightio.” He gazed lingeringly at my cleavage and then went to work.

Guys can be easily manipulated. Especially when it comes to anything remotely related to sex!

Within five minutes, I had a tequila sunrise and a JägerBomb sitting in front of me. I looked around for Carla but didn’t find her. I shrugged off the thought and just figured the line up was long. I turned back around to Matt and followed his orders on how to drink the drink – drop the Jägermeister shot into the glass of RedBull and drink really fast. After the third, I started getting worried about Carla.

After I looked in the toilets, I went and looked back on the dance floor. I still couldn’t see her. ‘Where is Carla?’ I thought to myself. I decided to go and ring her on my mobile. I headed out the back and into the ally behind the club. I dialled up her number and waited for the ringing tone. As I waited, I could hear what sounded like a mobile phone ring in the distance. I ended the call because Carla still hadn’t picked up. The ringing stopped. ‘That’s odd.’ I thought to myself. I re-dialled Carla’s number and the ringing started again. I was going to end the call, but I kept it going and walked closer to the sound. I could see in a distance what seemed to be a shoe of some sort, poking out from behind the dumpster. I walked closer and noticed it was attached to something. I saw the bottom of some black leather pants which had red and yellow flames.

“OH NO!” I screamed out. I ran down beside the body and I was right. It was Carla. “CARLA! CARLA!” I screamed. Carla laid there with her back up against the wall and her head resting against the dumpster. She had a cut under her right eye; scratches down her arm, a few bruises here and there, and her clothes were torn and ripped. Blood was dripping from her nose. I grabbed my mobile and dialled up Justin’s mobile. His answering machine kicked in. “SHIT!” I dialled up Lance’s. Thank god that he always leaves it on.

Lance looked at the ID and saw MJ across his screen. “Hey babe.” He said as he answered it.

“Lance! Lance!” I said, tears forming in my eyes.

“Yeah babe, what’s wrong?” He said sounding really worried.

“Carla…it’s Carla…where are you guys?” I said, crying in between the words.

“We are actually about five minutes away from the club. Why what’s wrong with Carla?” Lance said. It was just Lance and Justin in the car. JC was taking the other two back to the hotel. Lance was driving and Justin was staring out through the window. His head snapped around at the word ‘Carla’.

“Carla? What do you mean something’s wrong with Carla?” Justin asked, getting really worried.

“Hang on.” Lance said to him. “MJ, babe, where are you?”

“Umm…we are in the back ally behind the club. Hurry, please, she needs to go to the hospital.” I said, holding onto Carla’s hand, shaking it, not knowing what use it had.

“Be there in five seconds.” Lance said, and started to speed up, hanging up the phone.

“Carla...Carla?” I said softly, tears fully running down my face. Carla wouldn’t wake up. A few minutes later, I heard tyres screech, doors open and shut and feet thudding down the ally way, stepping in puddles every so often.

“MONTANA?!” I heard Justin scream out. Justin was in front of Lance - Justin jumped out of the car before it had even stopped.

“Justin?” I said softly, not sure if he heard. He came to a skidding halt and bent down to Carla. I stood up and wiped the tears away from my eyes. Lance came beside Justin.

“Carla…hunny?” Justin said, placing his hand under her chin.

“Okay, Justin, we gotta get her to the car and take her to the hospital, NOW!” Lance said. Lance helped Justin pick Carla up. Justin held Carla in his arms and walked quickly to Lance’s car. Lance grabbed my hand and we followed behind Justin.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

As we sat and waited in the waiting room of the hospital, all I did was cry and apologize to Justin. “Justin, I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean too, I swear, it’s all my fault.” Justin sat there, stunned and quiet. Tears running down his face as he held his head up with his hands.

Tears were also forming in Lance’s eyes as he tried to comfort me and tell me that it wasn’t my fault. I was sitting on Lances’ lap, crying into the crook of his neck with my arms wrapped around his neck. Lance had his arms around my waist and was slowly rocking me back and forth. The doctor hadn’t come out, so I cried myself to sleep waiting for the doctor. When I woke up, Joey, Chris and JC had come and were now trying to comfort Justin and talk to Lance.

“Has the doctor come out yet?” I asked.

Joey was sitting next to Lance and he looked into my puffy, red, bloodshot eyes. “No, not yet.”

I put my head back into the crook of Lance’s neck and reached for Joey’s hand. He took mine in his to show me that he was here for me and I was here for him. Lance kissed my forehead and held me tight. I still couldn’t get it out of my head. It was all my fault. I was supposed to take care of her.

“Yes.” I quietly replied. “Do you know what happened?”

“Well…” The doctor started. “Carla has suffered from the obvious cuts, scratches and bruises over her arms, back and a few on her face.” He paused for a minutes while we prepared ourselves for the news to come. “Carla was knocked unconscious, by a blow to the head with a blunt object.” Justin dropped his head lower and rubbed his hand over his shaven head.

“Oh no.” I said, and more tears ran down my faces as I buried my head into Lance’s chest.

“Can we see her?” Justin said slowly. The room fell silent. “Can we see her?” Justin said more loudly, looking up at the doctor.

“Yes, but only two people at a time.” The doctor said looking at one of his files.

Everyone looked at me as if to say ‘You should pick who to go with’. Justin looked at me with sadness in his eyes. Tear marks were down his cheeks and his eyes were red, puffy and bloodshot. “You can go with me.” I said getting up and walking over to him. I held out my left hand for him to take. He put his right hand into my left hand and we walked down the corridor, following the doctor to Carla’s room. The doctor opened the door and let us walk in. The doctor closed the door behind us to let us have some privacy and he went on his way.

We looked at Carla connected to tubes, wires and machines, with flashing lights and constant beeps to keep track of her heart rate. Justin slowly walked over to the bed and sat down on the edge, picking up Carla’s hand in his own, clasping it with both of his hands. I just stood there stunned, not knowing what to do. I couldn’t stand looking at Carla connected to all of that high tech stuff. Tears flowed freely down my face. I turned away and faced the wall, not handling the sight of her lying there.

After a while, I turned back and all I could see was the love radiating out of Justin and into Carla, reassuring her, that he was there for her. He was going to be there through it all. About half an hour later, the others were allowed in to visit Carla. I still stood against the wall, not moving at all since I got to the room. Justin hadn’t moved either. He sat there, holding her hand and constantly brush her hair behind her eyes and then tracing his fingers down her face. He kissed her forehead every so often.

Lance walked over to me and wrapped his arms around me, kissing me on my head. I again buried my head in his head, putting my hands up to his shoulders to bring him closer to me. JC walked to the other side of Carla and grabbed her free hand, kissing the back of her hand. Joey walked up behind me and rubbed my back up and down before walking over to Justin, patting him on the shoulder. Chris stayed at the foot of her bed, rubbing his hand up and down her leg. I could see the tears in his eyes. Then doctor soon came in later and told us that we had to leave.

We started leaving and Justin didn’t move. I walked over to the doctor with Lance still attached to me and said, “Could Justin stay here, because he won’t leave without a fight, and we don’t want to cause a scene.”

The doctor looked at Justin and saw that Justin hadn’t moved an inch. “Fine.” The doctor said. “He can stay, but tomorrow morning, at least one of you has to come back and pick him up.”

“Sure. Thanks a lot.” I said, smiling at Justin, still there, doing the same thing over and over again, and not paying any attention to the world around him. Lance and I left with the others, letting Justin stay the night.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Carla woke to find a sleeping head next to her on her bed and hands clasping her left hand. Her eyes fluttered open, her eyes slowly adjusted to the light penetrating off the light above her bed.

“Justin...Justin?” Carla softly said, finally figuring out who it was sleeping next to her. She put all the strength she had and shook his hand lightly.