Justin sat in the recording studio staring out at the rest of the guys from under his hair. His legs were linked around the chair, and the backrest was pressed into his chest. He just didn’t understand it! He had tried everything! The basketball game, the food fight! Nothing seemed to work. The curly haired boy groaned as he wiped a hand down his face while tilting his head back. JC looked over at him momentarily from where he was fiddling with the controls on the soundboard. Dismissing the groan as nothing more than a lack of sleep, the dark haired man returned his attention to the task at hand. Justin rolled his head around, trying to relieve the tension in his neck as he watched Chris through the glass wall that separated them. The loud tapping of a keyboard invaded his ears, and Justin turned his head around to find Lance typing at his laptop.
“Do you mind?” Justin asked irritated. “That’s really annoying.”
Lance stopped typing and looked up at Justin with furrowed eyebrows. “What’s gotten into you?” the young man asked with an extremely confused look on his face.
“Nothing,” Justin snapped. “I’m just sick of hearing that constant tap tap of your damn keyboard. We all have business to do. You don’t see any of us bringing a laptop to the studio, do you?”
“Justin,” JC warned while looking over at his younger bandmate.
Justin widened his eyes and threw his hands in the air. “What?!” he exclaimed in frustration. “I can’t concentrate with that stupid banging going on all the time. We here to make music! Not surf the internet!”
“Justin, you’re not even in the booth,” JC pointed out while looking at him like he had lost his mind. “What exactly do you need to concentrate on if you’re not the one singing?”
“I’m trying to hear him!” Justin shouted while motioning to Chris who had stopped singing and was staring at the scene unfolding before him.
“Ok. What’s this about?” JC asked while turning from the soundboard to face Justin.
“Nothing. Play with your damn knobs,” the younger man snapped while looking away from JC to glare around the room at no one in particular.
“Is this about the community service thing?” Joey asked curiously from his stool next to JC where he had been reading a magazine.
“Oh yeah,” Lance said. “How’s that going? How’s …what’s the kid’s name?”
“Tyler,” Justin bit out. “And, it’s not going well,” he groaned while massaging his forehead with his hand. “I’ve tried everything. I took him to play basketball. I thought we were having a good time, he even beat me! We had a food fight last night at dinner. I’m telling you, nothing works. I don’t know what else to do.”
“Have you tried talking to him?” Joey asked.
“I either get one word answers or he yells at me. They should just give me another kid or something. This one obviously doesn’t want me around.”
“Why don’t you try getting to know him?” JC suggested. “Find out what he likes to do. Let him pick something to do, and then go do it together.”
“You make it sound so easy,” Justin said. “But you’re forgetting one thing,” he began while rolling his eyes towards the ceiling, “the kid won’t talk to me!” he shouted at the top of his lungs. “What did I do to deserve this. I didn’t even do anything wrong. I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time,” he muttered while swinging his feet back and forth in the air like a little kid.
Chris chuckled as he stepped out from behind the microphone and into the room that held the rest of the guys. “I think you might have more in common with him than you think,” he joked while leaning slightly on the counter.
“What are you talking about, old man?”
“I don’t know,” Chris mocked him while flailing his arms legs around like Justin had been doing a few second earlier. The rest of the group laughed as Justin glared at Chris.
“Real funny,” he frowned at the older man. “You’re the one with all the sisters. What am I suppose to do?”
“I don’t know,” Chris shrugged. “My sisters always talked to me,” he chuckled. Justin looked up and narrowed his eyes at him, and Chris immediately turned the laugh into a cough. “Why don’t you try taking him to an amusement park, or something?” Chris suggested.
“And if that doesn’t work?” Justin asked.
“If that doesn’t work, you could always ask to be reassigned,” he said.
“Hey Tyler,” Justin said as he slowly and cautiously walked into the little boy’s room. The young man knocked on the door lightly as he looked around the room for any sign of Tyler. His cars were all put neatly on bookshelf, and the room was completely silent.
Tyler turned over from where he was laying on his bed and frowned when his eyes met Justin’s. “Oh, it’s you,” he mumbled before turning back around. Justin’s eyes widened, but he caught himself just in time. This was just a little boy. It couldn’t be that difficult to get him to open up.
“What have you been up to today?” Justin asked while forcing a smile onto his face.
“I slept in,” Tyler muttered.
“Are you feeling ok?” Justin asked. Tyler rolled over to face him and smiled from ear to ear.
“I’m feeling fine.” Tyler’s smile stayed on his face only long enough for him to finish his sentence. Then he let his cheeks drop and his eyes glared at Justin before rolling onto his side, leaving the young man with a view of his back.
‘That’s it. This kid hates me. I have to talk to Mary,’ Justin thought. He had done everything possible. The young man ran a hand through his hair trying to think of something to do so he wouldn’t be stuck inside the whole day. “What would you like to do today?” he asked the little boy.
“Sleep,” Tyler replied in a mumble.
Justin rolled his eyes and clenched his fists in his hair. “I’m gonna go find Mary really quick. I’ll be right back, ok?”
“Whatever,” the little boy said uninterested in whatever Justin was going to do.
The young man walked out the room and towards the staircase. Justin focused his eyes on the ground as he slowly began to walk down it, letting each leg plop fully on the next step. He was happy in his daze until he heard a loud screeching noise and felt a gust of wind rush by him. Justin picked his head up and found Mary rushing by him with a crying little girl in her arms.
“Mary, can I talk to you?” Justin asked.
The flustered woman stopped her ascent up the stairs. “I’ll be right with you,” she exhaled while trying to blow a piece of hair out of her face. “Let me take care of Angela, first.”
Justin’s eyes scanned the little girl and he recognized her as the blond child who had opened the door for him the other day. Her face was red and scrunched, and her eyes were squeezed tightly as tears flowed from them. Angela continued to cry, screaming through her mouth more than tears falling from her eyes as little kids often do. Justin’s eyes fell to the little girl’s knee, and he realized why she was so upset.
“Do you want some help?” he offered when he saw the huge scrape on the little girl’s knee that was still bleeding.
“That would be great,” Mary said while handing the child over to Justin. “Can you take her into the bathroom and wash her knee off. I need to go deal with the one that pushed her,” the woman explained as she rushed down the stairs again.
The little girl clung to Justin, screaming right into his ear. “Hey, shh,” Justin comforted Angela while patting her back. The young man turned and began to walk up the stairs. “You’re ok,” he said as he opened the door to the bathroom.
Justin sat the little girl down on the counter as he began to search for a washcloth. “You’re ok,” he told her while picking up a blue hand towel that was hanging a towel rack connected to the side of the wall. He quickly ran it under the cold water of the sink and squeezed the towel over her scrape. The little girl only began to wale louder as Justin dabbed the towel gently over her cut. After he had sufficiently cleaned it, he leaned down and blew on the scrape a little to relieve the stinging sensation for her. Angela’s crying began to die down, and Justin stood up to face her. “All better?” he asked with a smile on his face.
The little girl nodded as she wiped a few remaining tears from her eyes. Angela sporadically sniffed large gusts of air up her nose while smiling at him. “I’m Angela,” she offered while wiping her nose on her hand and then sticking it out for Justin to shake. The young man grimaced on the inside, but took her hand in his.
“I’m Justin,” he replied with a smile on his face. “It’s nice to meet you Angela,” he laughed as the little girl tried to shake his hand up and down.
A second later Mary rushed in the room. “Let’s see what we have hear,” she said while taking the Angela’s leg in her hand. “Are you ok, sweetheart,” the woman asked as she reached up and pulled a first aid kit out of the cabinet. Angela nodded, and Mary began to apply some ointment to the child’s scrape.
“Justin helped me!” the little girl exclaimed proudly.
“I’m sure he did,” Mary replied with a smile as she put a Band-Aid over the scrape. “There you go,” the woman said as she lifted the little girl off the counter and set her on her feet. “What do we say?”
“Thank you, Justin,” the little girl said with a huge smile on her face as she looked up at the curly haired man.
“You’re welcome,” he replied with a smile.
“I need to talk to Justin, now,” Mary explained. “Why don’t you go outside and play?”
“Ok,” Angela said before running out of the bathroom and down the stairs.
Mary sighed as she began to pack the first aid kit up. “What’s up?” she asked while throwing away the package that had contained the Band-Aid.
“I wanted to talk to you about Tyler,” Justin said.
“I figured as much,” the woman said with a slight frown. “What about him?”
“Well,” Justin started but paused to take a breath before he continued. “He hates me. I’ve tried everything. He won’t even talk to me. So, I was wondering…” the young man trailed off not really wanting to finish his sentence.
“You were wondering if I could reassign you,” Mary finished for him. The woman shook her head as she closed the first aid kit and put it back in the cabinet above her head. “I’m sorry, Justin. I can’t do that. I can’t have you around here working with someone else now that Tyler knows that you were suppose to work with him. These kids are here because people gave up on them. I can’t have them thinking that someone new will give up on them so easily too.”
“Mary, I understand; but Tyler won’t even talk to me.”
“I’m sorry, Justin. There’s nothing I can do,” Mary stated firmly. “You’re great with kids. Look at how you just interacted with Angela. All you have to do is do that with Tyler.”
“But Tyler won’t let me do that with him,” Justin whined.
“Well, if you’re willing to give up this easily, maybe this isn’t the best way for you to fulfill you community service,” Mary said while looking up at him and making eye contact for the first time. “I understand that Tyler can be difficult, but you can’t call it a game after two days, and I can’t reassign you. This is a punishment. It’s not supposed to be easy. Either you fulfill your sentence by working with Tyler, or you find another place to do it.” She reached up to push a stray wisp of hair out of her eyes and then placed her hands on her hips. “Now if you’ll excuse me I’ve got some things to attend to. Let me know what you decide.”
With that the woman turned around and disappeared out of site. Justin sighed begrudgingly and trudged back down the hall towards Tyler’s room. Once again he knocked on the little boy’s door and was replied with that all too familiar silence. Justin sighed again before pulling the door open. He stepped a few feet into the room and peered over to the little boy’s bed. There was a lump under the comforter covers better known as Tyler, not making a sound.
“Uh Tyler?” Justin called uncertainly. A loud unmistakably fake snore filled the room in response. Justin rolled his eyes in frustration and annoyance.
‘Fine if he wants to play things this way. I don’t want to be here anyway,’ Justin thought to himself before replying outloud a bit louder than normal, “Oh well, I guess he’s asleep, I guess I’ll just see him this Saturday.” As he left the room he heard the little boy snicker under the covers.
As soon as Justin’s car pulled onto the road outside the children’s home he floored the gas. The wheels squealed and the engine roared in response. That powerful sound brought a smile to his face. Going for a ride always helped him to clear his mind. As he was heading down the Interstate to go home he made a last minute decision and skipped his exit. A couple miles down the road he took another familiar exit and within minutes he was pulling into JC’s neighborhood. He pulled the car to a stop at the big iron gates and rolled the window down so he could reach out to punch in the security code. A moment later the heavy gates were swinging open allowing him entry.
Justin pulled up the long driveway and parked near the garage. He walked over to the large front door and knocked. A moment later JC pulled the door open. A smile broke out across his face.
“Hey man what’s up?” JC exclaimed as he moved aside to let Justin in. Seeing the extremely grumpy look on his friend’s face his smile turned into a look of concern. “What’s the matter?”
“Damn it man! It’s that stupid community service thing I have to do. That kid is a total brat and he won’t talk to me!” He huffed as he threw himself on the sofa and crossed his arms over his chest.
JC took a seat in a chair across from Justin and leaned forward with his elbows on his knees. “Did you talk to the director about getting reassigned to a different kid?”
“Yeah, it didn’t help at all. She won’t reassign me.”
“Well she sounds like a reasonable person from what you’ve told me. I’m sure she had her reasons,” JC said.
“Yeah, Mary’s cool, and I know where she’s coming from, but that still doesn’t help me.”
JC scooted forward on his seat and looked intently at his friend. “Well Justin, for as long as I’ve known you, you’ve never been one to refuse a challenge.” Justin glanced up from his arms.
“Remember when you were having a hard time in MMC with that other guy stealing your solos? That was a challenge and you over came that didn’t you?” The two broke out laughing. They both remembered as if it was yesterday exactly what Justin had done to get back his solos. He’d made a little trip over to the guy’s house and his mom was more than happy to invite him in for milk and cookies. Before their afternoon had been over his mom had brought out the photo album and Justin had seen more than one incriminating photos. One of the boy naked in the bath tub when he was little and another of him dressed up in a little Bo-peep costume when he was about four. Justin had managed to snag a couple of the photos before he left and the kid never messed with Justin again once Justin had explained how sad it would be if one of the photos were to flash across the screen in the middle of an episode of their show.
“See what I mean? You just need to think about this as a challenge,” JC added with an encouraging smile.
“Yeah, the look on his face was hilarious! But that was totally different. This kid tries his hardest to make things not work out. Plus, I have no idea what to do with him.”
“Hmm,” JC said as he bit his lower lip while deep in thought. “What about Chris' amusement park idea? You could always take him to Disney or Universal Studios. He might like the new Islands of Adventure Park”
“I could try that, but it might be kind of awkward with all the crowds and stuff.”
“Well, you could have Mike kind of trail you guys if you’re worried about your safety,” JC said referring to one of their many security guards.
“Yeah, that might work,” Justin said thoughtfully.
Their conversation was interrupted a moment later by a knock at the door. JC got up to answer it and came back joined with Joey and Chris.
“Hey guys,” Justin said with a wave.
“Awe, you guys are having a party and you didn’t invite us?” Chris said with his bottom lip stuck out in a pout.
“Justin just stopped by a couple minutes ago,” JC explained. “We’ve been talking about his community service.”
“Oh yeah, any luck yet?” Joey asked with raised eyebrows as he walked over and plopped himself down next to Justin on the couch.
“None,” Justin said gloomily. “Hey Chris, I think I might try your amusement park idea.”
“Good idea, what kid doesn’t like amusement parks?” Chris called over his shoulder. He emerged from the kitchen a moment later carrying a 6 pack of Pepsi. He passed the sodas around.
"Jeez man, why don't you just make yourself at home?" JC exclaimed as Chris passed around his six pack of pepsi.
"Don't mind if I do!" Chris said with an evil grin as he popped the top of his can open.
“Hey, are any of you guys busy this Saturday?” Justin said. He looked around the room hopefully at his friends. “Anyone want to go to an amusement park…on me?” He added a moment later.
“Sorry I can’t. I have some work to do in the studio," JC said.
“I wish I could help but I’m going to the coast with a friend,” Joey added.
“Um, I think I’m free,” Chris said. A second later he added. “Yeah, I’m not doing anything. Besides I want to meet this kid.”
Justin gave Chris a grateful smile. ‘At least I won’t have to do this alone this time,’ he thought to himself.
That Saturday morning the day was perfect. There was not a cloud in the sky. The weatherman had said that it was supposed to be 85 degrees the night before on the news. On the ride over Justin had put the top down on the convertible, he thought that Tyler might enjoy it on the ride to the park. Before long Justin and Chris found themselves sitting in Justin’s silver Roadster in front of the Orlando Children’s home. Both were ready for a day at Universal Studios Islands of Adventure. They both adorned baseball hats and glasses to try and conceal their identities from possible fans.
“Why don’t you just wait here, I’ll be back in a second,” Justin said to Chris as he opened the car door. Chris nodded his ascent and watched Justin disappear into the large house.
“So, decided to stick it out?” Mary asked when she saw him standing in the entryway. She crossed her arms and gave Justin a smile.
“Yeah, I’m going to try and make this work,” Justin replied.
“Do you have any plans for today?” She asked as she picked up a coat off the ground and hooked it back on the coat rack near the door.
“Actually me and my friend Chris are planning on taking Tyler to Universal Studios. Is that alright?” He added a moment later. A look of worry flashed across his face. It never occurred to him that he should probably get Mary’s permission first.
Doubt flashed across her face for a moment, “Justin I can’t give you any money for that. The park’s entry costs like $40. With as many kids as I have to take care of, our funds can’t cover things like that.”
“Oh no, don’t worry about that, I don’t mind paying for it,” Justin said. “I thought Tyler might enjoy getting to go to the new part of the park.”
“Are you sure?”
“Really, it’s no big deal,” he replied with a hopeful look on his face.
“Well alright then, I suppose that’ll be alright,” she finally replied after a moment’s thought. “Wait a second, what about you? Aren’t you worried about being recognized?” A worried expression covered her face.
“I already thought of that. One of our security guards, Mike, is going to meet us at the park. He’s going to trail behind us. Tyler shouldn’t even know he’s there. Besides, I’ve got these,” Justin said with a smile as he pulled his dark sunglasses out of his pocket. He placed them over his eyes and tugged the bill of his hat a little lower on his head.
Mary looked him up and down. Finally satisfied that Tyler was in no immediate danger she nodded her head. “Alright, you sound like you’ve got your bases covered. Will you have him home by dinner?”
“Um, I’m not sure. If we are going to miss it I’ll give you a call on my cell phone. If we need to we can always grab a bit to eat at one of the restaurants in the park.”
Mary nodded her head and smiled. “Ok, sounds good. Tyler should be up in his room.”
“Ok, thanks. I’ll talk to you later!” Justin said before turning and taking the steps two at a time up the stairs.
When he emerged at the top of the stairs he walked down the hall and stopped in front of Tyler’s open door. He peered in side and was grateful to see that Tyler was not in bed this morning and he was fully dressed.
“Hey Tyler,” Justin spoke to the boy.
Tyler looked up from where he was seated on the floor in front of his bookcase. He seemed to be working on a new model car. “Hey,” he replied before looking back down at his project.
“Oh wow, is that a BMW Roadster?” Justin said as he crossed the room in two long strides and kneeled down next to him.
“Yeah, I got this the other day. I think it’ll be finished soon.”
“I like the color you chose for the exterior, that silver is going to look awesome when you’re done,” Justin said as he leaned a little closer to examine the detail of the car.
Tyler looked up and studied Justin’s face for a second. Seeing that Justin was being genuine he finally smiled up at him. “Thanks, this is the actual color they have on the real cars. It’s my favorite.”
“Mine too,” Justin said with a smile. He couldn’t wait to see the look on Tyler’s face when they went outside.
“Well,” Justin said changing the subject, “I kind of have a surprise for you.” Tyler looked up, trying not to look too interested. “I thought we could go to Islands of Adventure.”
Tyler’s eyes grew wide with astonishment and excitement. “Are you serious?”
“Yeah, my friend Chris is going to come with is too. He’s waiting downstairs in the car for us. So, do you want to go?”
Tyler blinked a couple times, still trying to figure out if this was for real. It dawned on him how excited he looked so he changed his expression to one of cool and mild interest. “I suppose we could do that. I didn’t really have much else to do today.”
“Alright then, grab your shoes and we’ll hit the road. We want to get there before the place gets packed don’t we?”
Before Justin had even finished his sentence Tyler had jumped up and grabbed his shoes. He hastily slid them on his feet before announcing, “Ok, I’m ready. Let’s go.”
The two trotted down the stairs and Justin waved over his shoulder as they passed Mary before heading outside. They had just reached the edge of the front steps when Tyler stopped dead in his tracks.
“Wow! Look at that car! I wonder who’s that is?” He stood still, his feet planted in the same spot as he continued to stare at the silver Roadster sitting in the driveway.
Justin walked down the steps passed Tyler and began to walk toward the car. A moment later when he realized Tyler wasn’t following he turned around, “Well come on!” He walked up to the drivers seat and pulled the door open and sat down on the smooth black leather. He turned and looked over his shoulder once again, this time Chris doing the same. “Don’t you want to go?”
A split second later Tyler was careening down the steps and ran over to the car. Chris opened the passenger door and stood up. “Hey bud, I’m Chris. Wanna sit in the front or the back?”
“H-hi I’m Tyler. Would it be alright if I sat in front?” Tyler replied as he gazed into the car. He was almost mesmerized by all the controls on the dashboard. “Sure no problem,” Chris exclaimed brightly as he pulled the lever to flip the seat forward and slid behind the seat. He pulled the seat back to its normal position and Tyler hopped in.
A moment later Justin exclaimed, “Everyone buckled up?” He heard a chorus of two yeses before he exclaimed, “Lets go!” He punched the gas and they flew down the drive way towards the street.
“Remind me not to let you teach me how to drive,” Tyler said sarcastically as he clutched the dashboard. “What did you do? Flunk driver’s ed?”
Chris burst into laughter. “Good one, little man!” he said while ruffling the young boy’s hair.
“Thanks,” Tyler replied with a faint smile on his face.
Chris leaned forward. “Don’t worry. You get use to it,” he whispered into Tyler’s ear. “But, if you feel like you’re gonna lose your lunch, just make sure you aim it at him and not me.”
Tyler laughed as his smile grew wider. Justin watched the two in amazement, realizing that this was the first time he’d ever seen the little boy smile. Well, at least it was the first time he’d seen a genuine one on Tyler’s face. How did Chris do it?! He had only spent two minutes with the kid, and they were already friends. ‘Well, if Chris can do it, I can do it too,’ Justin thought determinedly.
About an hour later, Chris, Justin, and Tyler were standing in line for another roller coaster. Chris was regaling Tyler with yet another story of something embarrassing and stupid that Justin had done. The younger man stood with his hands shoved in his pockets as he glared at his bandmate.
“Chris can I talk to you for a second?” Justin snapped as soon as the older man delivered his punch line and Tyler burst out laughing again.
“Sure man,” Chris replied. “Will you hold our spots?”
Tyler nodded. “I think I can manage,” the little boy said.
“Thanks,” Justin smiled before yanking Chris by the collar and pulling him a few feet away. “What the hell are you doing?!” he demanded when they were about five feet away from Tyler. It was the perfect distance to be just out of earshot but close enough to see and get to the little boy if something happened.
“Talking to him?” Chris asked more than he said.
“You’re supposed to be helping me! Not giving him more ammunition to use against me!” Justin shouted.
“Will you calm down!” Chris whispered harshly while glancing over Justin’s shoulder at Tyler. “He will hear you.”
“Your point? He hates me anyway. I’m sure one little outburst won’t taint his image of me,” the young man replied with a roll of his eyes.
“See man! That’s your problem. You’ve already given up on him.”
“Well you seemed to have an easy in,” Justin snapped.
“Cuz I made him laugh. I made him have a little fun. That’s all you gotta do. Don’t give him the option to hate you by making it fun to be around you,” Chris said. “Make him laugh. Crack a few jokes. Be yourself. Stop worrying so much.”
Justin frowned for a second as he twisted his lips around. “Make him have fun, huh?” the young man said while thinking it over. “I can do that.”
“Good. Now lets get back before he starts to wonder what it is we’re talking about,” Chris said while walking back to Tyler. “Hey, little man. Did anything exciting happen while we were gone?” Chris asked the little boy while plastering a wide smile on his face.
“Yeah. The line moved about two inches,” Tyler replied sarcastically.
“Well amusement parks can be that way some times,” the older man shrugged while ruffling Tyler’s hair.
“Yeah,” Justin agreed. “Besides, if they move much faster, Chris couldn’t keep up. He’s too old to walk that fast,” the young man joked. Tyler laughed at Chris’ expense as the older man’s mouth dropped to the floor.
“At least I don’t have little kids telling me that I drive like a maniac,” Chris countered jokingly. The little boy burst out laughing extremely loudly at the two bandmates. “And, just what is so funny?” Chris asked while looking down at Tyler with his hands on his hips.
“I know five year olds that get along better than you two,” the little boy laughed.
“Well, if you think we’re funny together, you should see some of the stuff that Chris does on his own,” Justin chuckled while smiling at Tyler.
“Youngen!” Chris warned playfully. “Don’t make me hurt you!”
“What has he done?” Tyler questioned curiously with a smile on his face.
Justin looked out of the corner of his eye and saw Chris giving him a look that said he would tackle him right then and there if he said anything. The young man smiled and jerked his head towards the front of the line. “Line’s moving,” Justin said while motioning Tyler to turn around and walk with the moving crowd of people. “I’ll tell you later,” he said while leaning down to whisper in the young boy’s ear. They made it all the way to the entrance of the roller coaster when the park worker closed the gate right in front of them.
“Awe man!” Tyler groaned while kicking the cement ground underneath his feet.
“Don’t worry,” Justin smiled down at him. “We’ll get the front next time. That’s much better than being stuck in the boring back. A huge smile appeared on the little boy’s face as he looked up at Justin.
“I didn’t think even think about that!” the little boy exclaimed. A few minutes later an empty roller coaster pulled to a stop in front of the gate. The three entered only to find that there were only two seats per row on the ride.
“Do you want the front row or the second one?” Justin asked turning to Tyler.
“I got the front!” Tyler exclaimed while hopping inside the roller coaster. Justin and Chris stood staring at each other, wondering who should sit next to the little boy or who the little boy wanted to sit next to. Seeing their hesitation Tyler turned around and smiled at them. “You coming Justin?” he asked.
The young man turned to Chris with a huge smile on his face and a look that said thank you in his eyes. “Yeah, man,” he smiled and jumped in the seat next Tyler.
The next few minutes were full of loopdiloops and screams from a very scared Chris in the seat behind Justin and Tyler. Had the older man known the roller coaster went so high, he would have sat this one out.
“I’m hungry,” Tyler said while clutching his stomach after they got off the ride.
“I gotta go to the bathroom,” Chris groaned. “I think I need to throw up.”
Justin simply laughed while smacking Chris on the back. “Do you need to go to the bathroom Tyler?” he asked.
The little boy shrugged. “A little,” he replied.
Although he had asked, Justin hadn’t been ready for that reply. He looked at Chris with a grimace on his face. The older man rolled his eyes. “Come on,” Chris said while taking Tyler’s hand. “I’ll take him to the bathroom and then we’ll all get something to eat.”
“There’s one right there!” Tyler shouted while pointing at a restroom. Within seconds, he took off running in the direction of the cement building that he had been pointing at. Chris laughed and began running into the men’s restroom, trying to catch up with Tyler. As he watched them go, Justin saw a flash and heard something click. He knew that sound and that type of light all too well. That was a camera, but it wasn’t just any camera. That was a professional camera. He turned around and saw his worst fear. There was a photographer with a camera pointed straight in the direction of Chris and Tyler. Sighing, Justin wiped a hand down his face as he began to walk towards the reporter. The man pointed his camera at Justin and took a few pictures as the young man walked over to him.
“Can I help you?” Justin asked as he approached the photographer.
“How long have you known that Mr. Kirkpatrick has had a child?” the reporter asked while snapping another picture of Justin. “Or is he your son?” the man asked with a gleam in his eye.
“And I would have been what 10 when I fathered him?” Justin laughed at the absurdity of the question.
“So he is Chris’s child?” the reporter asked while setting down his camera and taking out a small pad of paper and a pencil.
Justin rolled his eyes. “Look. If you’re gonna print a story, at least print the right one. He’s not either of ours. His name is Tyler, and he’s a little boy from an orphanage that I’m spending some time with. Kind of like a big brother program,” Justin explained.
“Ah huh,” the reporter replied while twisting his the side of his lip down. “That seems a little too squeaky clean. Don’t you think?”
“You can think whatever you want,” Justin said. “It’s the truth.” With that, Justin walked off fuming on the inside. He reached into his pocket and took out his cell phone. Quickly, he dialed Chris’s number.
“Dominoes. How can I help you,” the older man we picked up the phone.
“We’ve got a problem,” Justin said.
“A problem of the young teenage girl kind or the mean and nasty reporter kind that’s gonna be waiting for me to come out of here?”
“Mean and nasty reporter kind,” the younger man replied. “Just find some way to sneak out and meet me at the food court.”
“Ok,” Chris sighed. “See ya in a few.”
“Bye.”
“Bye.”
Justin pulled into the parking lot of the big house, hoping that Tyler had a good time with him. Mary saw the two young men pull up and waved at Justin with a smile on her face. The young man smiled and hopped out of the car. Tyler opened the door and ran to the front of the house.
“Hey Tyler!” Mary exclaimed. “Did you have fun with Justin today?”
“I had a blast!” Tyler exclaimed. “We went to the amusement park and rode 100 roller coasters! And Justin even brought his friend!” the little boy shouted with a huge smile on his face.
“Sounds like you had quite a day!” Mary smiled at him.
“Yep!” the little boy smiled.
“What do we say to Justin?”
“Thanks Justin!” Tyler shouted. “I can’t wait till next time!”
“Me either,” Justin smiled while ruffling his hair.
“Go get washed up,” Mary told Tyler.
“Ok,” the little boy frowned before running inside the house.
“Well, that looks like it went well,” Mary smiled at Justin with surprise in her eyes. After their last conversation, she honestly hadn’t expected to see him and Tyler getting along so well. In fact, she really hadn’t expected to even see Justin again.
“Yeah. We had a good time,” Justin smiled. “I just wanted to let you know that we already fed him dinner.”
“Thanks,” Mary replied. “We’ll see you soon?” she asked the young man.
Justin began to stumble to his car while nodding his head. “Yeah,” he smiled. “You’ll see me soon.”