TheLWHchap15

JC sat in his car for the next five minutes now able to move. He had brown hair. And it had blond highlights in it. Did Justin mean him? <No, he couldn�t have, he�s not gay, right?> JC asked himself. When he was finally able to walk, he got out of the car and walked slowly into the house.

When he got inside, he searched downstairs for Justin, but didn�t find him. He then went up to his room, and noticed that the bathroom door was locked. <So that�s where he is,> JC thought to himself, wishing that Justin hadn�t run away from him so quickly.

He heard the shower start and sighed. He�d have to wait to talk to Justin. He figured he might as well do something while he waited. He changed into a tee shirt and shorts, grabbed a basketball from his room, and headed down to the driveway.

****

Justin stepped into the cool shower, cursing himself. <What is going on?> he asked himself, <now I can�t even be around JC without getting hard.>

He stayed in the shower until he started to shiver from the freezing water. He got out and dried off, before wrapping the towel around his waist. He walked into his room and put on some pajama pants and a tee shirt, wanting to be comfortable. He grabbed his journal before walking downstairs and into the kitchen for some water.

He wondered where JC had gone. <Probably out with his friends. I�m sure my comment scared him off,> Justin thought to himself. He suddenly wished that he hadn�t said it. But he couldn�t take it back now.

He made his way through the front hall, planning to sit on the swing on the front porch and think. He froze when he saw JC out playing basketball. Justin wasn�t sure if he could face him yet. But he figured if JC came over to talk to him, it would be ok.

He opened the front door as quietly as possible, not wanting JC to notice him yet. He moved over to the swing and sat down, sitting indian-style, his journal in his lap. He opened it to a blank page and began to write.

He�d neglected to write in his journal since he�d moved into JC�s house. He�d had so many other things on his mind. The last entry was written on the night before he left Tennessee. He�d been so worried that he�d be teased in Orlando too. But everyone was so accepting and caring. JC�s friends had taken him in ad now he was one of them. The girls� reaction to him earlier that day had been hard for him to believe. <Why do all the girls want me all of the sudden?> he asked himself.

He probably had JC to thank for that. JC hadn�t changed Justin�s physical appearance, he wouldn�t even let Justin change his hair. �The curls are beautiful, Justin, don�t cut them,� JC had said. And that had been the end of that.

The part of Justin that JC had changed was on the inside. When JC had accepted Justin into his house with out even knowing him, he�d helped build Justin�s trust in other people. JC had also helped him be more confident about his talents. He was still a little nervous about showing his work to Chris, but he was sure that JC would get rid of his nervousness with a little pep talk.

Justin was so grateful that JC had become a part of his life. With out JC, he�d probably still be afraid of anyone he didn�t know. He�d be afraid to let his real personality out. But he did have JC.

He looked up and watched JC shoot hoops for a minute. He watched JC get a concentrated look on his face as he aimed. He noticed how the muscles in JC�s arms flexed as he shot the ball.

Justin wasn�t sure of many things in his life at that point. But there was one thing that he was sure of. He wasn�t looking at JC as just a friend anymore, and it was scaring the hell out of him.

****

JC could feel someone watching him. out of the corner of his eye, he saw Justin sitting on the porch swing. He continued to play, pretending that he didn�t know that Justin was watching him. he tried to think of something to say to Justin. But he didn�t know what to do.

He decided to take a break so he put the ball down in the grass and sat down beside it, his back to Justin. The front yard sloped down to the street quite steeply. There were a few trees beside that road that blocked the view of the house form the road. Those trees had been there since JC was born. He remembered climbing those trees and building forts in them with Joey and Steve when he was younger. He wondered if he could still climb.

Suddenly, he stood up, turning to see Justin still looking at him. JC smiled at him and the saw Justin blush and look down to his lap.

�Come here,� JC said to Justin before turning back around and walking down the slope of the lawn.

Justin wasn�t sure what to do. He wanted to be around JC, but he wasn�t sure what to say. He hadn�t gotten much thinking done and he�d written next to nothing in his journal. Instead, he�d been staring at JC. He was embarrassed that JC had caught him staring.

He looked down the yard, wondering what JC was doing down there. Curiosity got the best of him and he made his way down the lawn.

When he got to the trees, he stopped, trying to figure out where JC had gone.

�Up here!� he heard JC�s voice say from above him.

He looked up, and sure enough, there was JC, sitting on a large branch about ten feet about him.

Justin was about to ask JC what he was doing up there, but JC shushed him and told him to come up.

Justin agreed and climbed up to where JC was sitting easily.

�Hey,� JC said.

�Hi,� Justin replied, smiling.

�So,� they both said together before looking at each other and laughing.

When JC noticed that Justin wasn�t going to talk before he did, he cleared his throat and said, �Joey, Steve, and I used to climb these trees when we were little. We made forts too.� His eyes lit up at the memories that rushed to him, and then he continued. �This one time Joey and Steve were trying to find a tree to build another fort in and the tree they finally picked didn�t look big enough. But they started making the fort anyway. It ended up collapsing and they were upset then, but not it�s actually kind of funny. Anyway, sorry about that, I was just remembering some things.�

�It�s ok,� Justin replied, grinning at JC. �You know what Jace?�

�What?� JC asked, looking over at Justin.

�You�re my best friend. I�ve never really had a best friend, or any friends for that matter. Thank you so much for not caring that I�m a nerd,� Justin blurted out, smiling shyly.

�No need to thank me, Justin. You�re not a nerd either, you are a great person, and I love to hang out with you,� JC responded.

Justin only smiled.

�Now, I think we should talk about what you said in the car,� JC said, climbing down from the tree, followed closely by Justin. There was silence between them for a moment.

Then Justin said, �you we probably should.� They both stood looking at each other, neither knowing what to say to the other.

Justin was about to speak again when he heard someone calling his name. He looked toward the house to see his mom on the porch.

�Must be dinner time,� JC muttered, angry that they were being interrupted. He wanted to know why Justin had said what he�d said. But he would just have to wait.

�Yeah,� Justin agreed as they walked back towards the house. �We�ll talk after dinner, ok?�

�Ok,� JC said as they reached the house. Justin smiled at JC one more time before heading into the bathroom to wash his hands for dinner.

He had no idea what he was going to say to JC when they talked after dinner, but he figured that he should let his heart do the talking for once.