Joey, surprisingly, made the first comment. He uttered his baby talk goodbye to Briahna over his cell phone. He flipped the phone closed and placed it in his pocket as he turned around. His eyes widened and his mouth hung open at what he saw.
�Go ahead and say it, Joey,� challenged Justin.
Joey just stood there, mouth open, no sound coming out. Justin was almost relieved that Joey hadn�t said anything. His hopes were dashed when the older man burst into laughter.
Justin looked around the room and looked at his other bandmates� reactions. Chris stood at an arcade game, giggling like a schoolgirl. Lance and JC stood at an adjacent ping pong table, paddles froze mid-air, ball bouncing off the table to roll away, and shocked expressions that soon evolved into boisterous laughter.
Justin just stood there, arms crossed and watched as the four elder men giggled and laughed to their hearts content. He took it in until the laughing and giggling subsided and was replaced with gasping for breath.
�Come on, out with it,� demanded Justin. �I know y�all have some smart ass remark to say, so go on and get it out of your system.�
Joey had placed his hand on Justin�s shoulder to steady himself and was bent over at the waist, gasping for breath, a giggle coming out every now and then, �What bet did you lose?�
Justin shrugged Joey�s hand off his shoulder. �No bet, just felt like a change.�
�You don�t just change for change, Cur�� Chris said, the once familiar nickname coming out out of habit. �Or is that Q-ball now?�
Everyone burst into giggles once again as Justin glared at Chris. �Like you have any room to talk, Chris. Mr. Pineapplehead.�
Chris giggled and threw his hands up in mock defense, �OOOO!!! Mr. Pineapplehead! I�m so insulted, Homer.�
�D�OH!�
Justin whirled around and glared at Joey who had the biggest shit-eating grin on his face. Chris, JC, and Lance were laughing even harder by now.
�Hey, Mr. Burns, do we get to wax your head now instead of buying those industrial sized containers of gel?�
�Fuck off, Chris,� replied Justin. He ran his hand over his shaved head and mumbled, �I�ve still got hair.�
�That�s not hair,� giggled Joey. �That�s peach fuzz.�
Chris snorted and the rest joined in laughing once again. Justin turned towards JC and Lance and looked pointedly at them in turn, �Well, you two got any witty remarks to say?�
JC just shook his head, trying to regain his composure. Lance had his hands on the edge of the table, head down, giggling like a hyena.
�Wait, wait, I�ve got one,� announced Lance between giggles. He stood up and composed himself and with the biggest grin on his face he began singing the first few lines of the Mr. Clean song.
The room erupted into laughter and Lance grabbed his stomach and leaned over laughing. Chris was jumping up and down going absolutely crazy.
�That was great!� he hooted. �Lance, man, I didn�t think you had it in ya�!�
Lance whipped his eyes from the tears that were streaming down his face and grinned like the Cheshire cat.
Justin looked at JC and glared, �Come on, C, everyone but you has said something. I�m sure you�ve got some comment you�d like to say.�
JC looked up and giggled a little bit. He shook his head. �Justin, I can�t believe you took it this far.�
�Took what so far?� asked Justin, confused.
Chris, Lance, and Joey looked at JC, waiting for an explanation as to what he was referring to.
�Dude, I know you love Michael Jordan and all,� started JC. �But this hero worship thing you�ve got going on is just a little bit too intense.�
�Man, I didn�t shave my head so I could be like Michael,� explained Justin. �I just cut it cause I wanted a change, plus the fro was getting to hard to take care of.�
�Surreeee,� said Joey, clapping Justin on the back before leaving the playroom.
Justin turned and yelled after Joey, �I�m telling you, man. I didn�t do it cause of that!�
Lance shook his head and walked towards the door. �As funny as this was, and believe me, it still is, I gotta get some FreeLance stuff done.�
JC nodded his agreement and followed Lance out of the room while shaking his head and patting Justin on the shoulder.
�Dude, that�s not why I cut my hair,� Justin tried to explain to JC�s retreating figure.
Justin turned and looked at Chris with achallenging stare. He knew it was coming. Chris couldn�t not say anything.
Chris grinned and skipped towards the door singing, �I wanna be like Mike�� He pat Justin on the cheeks and skipped out of the room still singing.
Justin flopped down on the couch and pouted. He ran a hand over his prickly scalp and mumbled, �I didn�t shave my head so I could be like Mike.�