Chapter 3Justin left the hospital in the dead of the night, when no one was around to see him leave. He had everything planned out perfectly. He’d leave in the middle of the night, fly to England, then travel to France. He was taking precautions. He didn’t want the guys to follow him. He didn’t want anyone to know where he was.
He’d had an agent buy him a small estate in France, near the border of Italy. There was a small village near his new home, according to the agent. He’d be left in peace, to do whatever he wanted.
The plane trip to England was long and uneventful. Boring, almost. Justin expected something breakthrough to happen, like maybe he’d wake up and realize all of this was a dream.
But he didn’t, and as he looked down at the dark Atlantic Sea, he thought of his friends, his brothers. He’d miss them all, from Chris’ craziness to Lance’s smooth new attitude that hid the shy man he still was. JC’s spaciness and Joey’s playfulness would be things he’d miss. The funs times they had together, not just on the road, but all of the other things they’d do together.
The plane landed and he had to shake himself from his depressing thoughts. If only he hadn’t been such an asshole, then maybe this wouldn’t have happened to him.
~~~
Justin was disembarking from the plane when he disappearance was discovered by the guys. Lance had walked into Justin’s room to find it empty, the bed freshly made, no sign of the guy that was his best friend in it.
"Where’s Justin Timberlake at?" he demanded of the head nurse at the nurse’s station.
"Mr. Timberlake signed himself out last night," she told Lance. "He refused to stay any longer."
"Damnit." Lance stormed off, back to the lounge where the others were waiting. "He’s gone," he told them. "He left last night."
"So this is it?" Chris asked, looking up at Lance from his seat.
"I guess so," Lance said. "We’ll never see him again."
"Maybe he’ll realize just how much he misses us and come back," Joey suggested optimistically.
Chris snorted. "And hell can freeze over."
"You never know, it could," JC said. "Actually, come to think of it, Dante’s hell is frozen. The last level of it is."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Chris said. "Who cares? Justin isn’t coming back. This is Justin we’re talking about. He thinks of himself as ugly. He won’t dare show his face in public while he thinks of himself as ugly."
"I’m just saying, maybe he’ll come to his senses and realize we’re still his friends," Joey said carefully, trying to not anger Chris. His temper was up, and Chris pissed was not a sight they wanted to see that day. Or any day for that matter.
"Quit trying to find a silver lining in every cloud, Joey," Chris all but shouted. "It’s fucking annoying and I can’t stand it anymore."
"Calm down Chris," JC said, placing a hand on his shoulder. "It’ll be okay."
"Why are all of you so fucking optimistic? Can’t you see that no, it’s not okay? We’re over, through, finished. Justin’s gone of to hide his face because he’s too chicken-shited to face the world. What the hell are we going to tell our fans? What are they going to think?" Chris’s face was red and he knew that if he didn’t get away from everyone, he was going to explode and he didn’t want to be around anyone when that happened.
So he turned on his heel and stormed out of the hospital.
Joey stood up to follow him, but Lance stopped him.
"He just needs time alone, Joey. He’s not angry at us, or even at Justin, just at everything else. Give him time to calm down. Then talk to him."
Joey sat back down next to JC as Lance stood up. "I’m going to go make some phone calls. I’ll talk to you guys later." He, too, left the hospital.
JC looked at Joey. "Looks like it’s just us," JC commented, trying his best to keep his voice steady and the tears he knew he had in his eyes from falling.
Joey didn’t even have to look at JC to know how upset he was. He just wrapped his arms around JC and hugged his friend.
JC broke down in Joey’s arms, right there in the hospital. He cried over the loss of his best friend and the loss of the group he had loved so much. He cried until he couldn’t cry anymore, soaking Joey’s shirt.