| Chapter 19 |
| Justin smiled nervously at Lance and sighed, drinking in the sight of his ex-lover. 'Damn I missed him,' he thought. 'How is it possible for a person to look so *good* after only a few weeks? Those wide green eyes and messed up hair ... he must have just woken up.' He cocked his head slightly. 'His lips look a little swollen. I wonder why? The only other time he's looked like that is after we...' Justin coughed and ducked his head to keep Lance from seeing his widening eyes. 'Oh God. It can't be. It couldn't have been ... no. With who? Only one way to find out.' "So," said Justin, breaking the silence and trying to look over Lance's shoulder. "Can I come in?" He saw the hesitant look in Lance's eyes. "Or am I, you know, interrupting something?" Lance bit his lip and subconsciously ran a hand through his hair to straighten the crooked spikes out. 'Should I let him in?' he wondered. 'What does he want? What about JC? Should I tell him about JC? Why me? Why NOW?' "Lance? Is something wrong?" Lance shook his head and stepped aside, allowing Justin room to pass by. "Nope," he lied, "come on in." ~*~ Joey and Chris were fighting about player statistics when Lance reentered the room. He cleared his throat loudly, but when they still ignored him he sighed and grabbed the remote, turning off the TV. "Hey!" They both cried in unison. Turning around, they were both fully prepared to complain and bitch at Lance, until they spotted Justin standing a few feet behind him. Chris whistled softly and stood up. "Woah, look at the time," he said, looking down at his wrist. "I better be going." "You don't even have a watch on," said Joey rolling his eyes. Standing up and giving Lance a worried look, he grabbed Chris's arm and helped him up. "Come on, I'll walk you to the door." Chris sighed and batted his eyelashes. "Such a gentleman." Joey glared at him as they walked by. "Whatever. Get moving." Making eye contact with Lance over Justin's shoulder, he saw the younger man shrug helplessly. He nodded and winked, his silent promise to not leave just yet. Watching Joey leave the room, Lance sighed and looked at Justin. The other man was walking around the living room, checking things out and nodding occasionally. "Everything looks good," said Justin, sitting down on the couch and looking at Lance. "Was the place a good price?" Lance nodded, not moving from his standing position by the couch's arm. "Yeah, it was," he said. "It still needs a lot of work, but I'm getting there with some help." Justin nodded and stood up. "Lance, I-" "Sorry, sorry!" said Joey, walking into the room quickly with his hands over his ears. "I still have some of my crap in the uh, bedroom. Yeah, that's good. The bedroom. Ignore me." He looked at Lance out of the corner of his eye. "Joey." Lance waited until Joey turned to look at him before he winked subtly. "Could you please look for my *sleeping bag* for me? I can't find it. You might check the bed." He thanked the lord that Joey really wasn't as stupid as he acted sometimes. "Sure thing," he said, glancing at Justin before dashing out of the room. ~*~ JC tapped his foot on the bed as he flipped through the pages of a magazine he had found in one of Lance's boxes. 'Geez, where is that boy?' he wondered. 'Who could be at the door that's taking so long? Maybe it's the pizza guy with lunch, and Joey and Lance are busy arguing over toppings.' He snorted and grinned. 'I wouldn't be shocked if that were true.' He heard the door open, and felt the blood return to his cheeks and *other* areas as he tossed the magazine aside and shot up in bed. "About time you got back-Joey?" Joey stood next to the door, giving JC a weird smile as he shuffled his feet. "What's up Jace?" he asked randomly. JC chuckled. "Not much," he said. "Just waiting for Lance to get back." "Cool," whispered Joey, and JC leaned forward to hear him. "What? Joe, why are you whispering?" "Um, because." JC laughed. "Okay." When he stretched his legs and moved to get out of bed, Joey's eyes widened. "Where are you going?" he asked. JC rolled his eyes and grinned. "Out to see Lance." "But why?" asked Joey frantically. "You see him all the time." He picked up a framed photo out of an open box and shoved it in JC's hands. "There's a picture of him. Live it up dude." JC shook his head and moved to the door, Joey moving in front of him. JC faked a move to his right, and Joey followed. Anticipating the move, JC dodged back left and passed Joey. He heard a mumbled 'shit' come from the other man just as he opened the door. He poked his head out, his smile disappearing as he saw who Lance was talking to. 'Justin.' ~*~ JC's face went slightly pale, and he turned around to look behind him. Joey just gave him a shrug and a helpless look and flopped back on the bed. Shaking his head, JC returned to watching the two men in the living room. He couldn't hear much, but from what he could see it looked like Justin was doing most of the talking. 'Well, this is it,' he told himself. 'This is when you find out if Lance really cares about you, or if he was just using you as a way to get back at Justin.' He crossed his fingers and his toes and kept silent. Leaning forward to where Lance and Justin still couldn't see him unless they looked, he caught the last part of what Justin was saying. "...give us another shot. I want you back Lance." |