Chapter Nine

Lance woke up the next morning to the smell of eggs and bacon. He sat up and sniffed at the air,
wondering who was cooking. Justin couldn’t cook. He’d tried once and they all thought they were going to die of
food poisoning. He hadn’t even been near a stove after that.

Lance pulled on his clothes from the night before, amazed that they were dry. Actually, they were warm
and toasty, as though they’d just been taken from the drier. He walked out of his room, and once he had oriented
himself, made his way down the stairs and then following his nose to the kitchen.

The sight that greeted him when he pushed the kitchen door open amazed him. Justin, dressed in dark
jeans and a turtleneck sweater, was standing at the stove, expertly flipping eggs. Bacon rested on a platter along
with toast. If Justin hadn’t been wearing the black mask, Lance would have thought he was someone else.

“Who are you and what did you do with Justin?” Lance demanded in a joking voice, moving over to stand
next to Justin. He reached for a piece of bacon.

Justin slapped his hand. “Don’t touch. It’s for breakfast.”

“So you learned to cook,” Lance commented, watching Justin transfer the eggs from the pan to the platter.

“I had to, or else learn to live with cold food.” Justin shrugged his shoulders. “At first, everything I
cooked was terrible. But I’m getting the hang of it.”

“Desperate times call for desperate measures,” Lance said.

Justin looked at him, puzzlement in his eyes.

Lance’s heart contracted at the sight of Justin’s beautiful blue eyes. “I just remembered that you said once
you were glad we never let you cook. It was too menial for your tastes.”
Justin flushed and looked back at the pan. “God, did I really say that? I was such an asshole.”

Lance placed his hand on Justin’s shoulder. “Justin, you weren’t-”

“It’s too early to talk about that stuff, Lance.” Justin walked over to the refrigerator and took out a pitcher
of orange juice and another of milk. “Do me a favor and take these to the table?” he asked, handing them to Lance.

Lance carried them to the table, Justin following him with the platter of food. The table had already been
set, Lance noticed, when he placed the two pitchers down.

Justin set the platter in the center and slid into one of the chairs. Lance sat across from him.

“How are the others?” Justin asked conversationally.

“They’re... they’re okay. Chris is really upset and JC’s really sad and Joey is trying to keep both of them
happy.”

“I suppose they were mad when I disappeared.”

“We all were, Justin. We were your best friends and you just suddenly disappeared without a word. Did
you expect us to be happy?”

Justin looked down at the plate. “Lance, I know all of you care, but right now, I need to be on my own.”

“Being on your own is the last thing you need,” Lance told him. “You’ve had three weeks to yourself.
Now you’re stuck with me.”

“I don’t see why you would want to be stuck with an ugly freak who’s a total asshole,” Justin muttered.

Lance opened his mouth to begin his furious tirade when Justin held up a hand. “I’m sorry for saying that.
It’s just how I think about myself. I’ll try not to say anything like that again if you won’t yell at me or lecture me or
try to talk to me about it.”

Lance debated for a moment. “I’ll agree as long as you try not to get rid of me.” He wasn’t going to leave
without having gotten Justin out of the frame of mind he was in.

“Agreed.” Justin smiled at him and Lance saw his eyes light up for the first time since the accident and
wondered how he had lived without seeing his eyes for so long.

“Agreed.”

~~~
 

“I have to get my stuff,” Lance told Justin after breakfast. “I’ll be back in a few hours or so.”

“Don’t get lost,” Justin warned.

Back at the hotel, Lance called JC, knowing the brunette would be worried about him. He got his
answering machine.

He tried Joey next, and also got his answering machine.

Chris, however, was home.

“Had any luck finding Justin?”

Lance had already decided not to tell the others that he had found Justin. Justin couldn’t handle the other
guys descending on him, too. “No, not yet. Do you know where Joey and Jace are? I tried calling them, but neither of them were home.”

“JC was going crazy, so Joey took him to New York with him. They’re visiting Kelly and Brianna.”

“Okay. I’ll try their cells.”

“Good luck on finding Justin,” Chris said, just before they hung up.

“Thanks,” Lance said. He’d need luck if he was going to help Justin realize he wasn’t ugly and a freak.

Chapter Ten