CHAPTER 9

When he told Lance what happened the next morning at breakfast, Lance just smiled.

"Well well, looks like someone is interested in you too."

"I think so too," JC said with a wide smile. Then the smile disappeared. "Still, I broke his brother's arm! God, I broke a little kid's arm!"

"It was an accident, JC. You didn't do it on purpose," Lance patiently explained as he drank from his coffee mug.

"I still feel like shit."

"So just go over now and visit. Check on the kid and it will also give you a chance to make nice."

"They didn't come back last night. I think Justin must have taken Jon back to his mom and then stayed there."

Lance looked closely at JC.
"JC? How long did you stay up last night after Chris and I turned in and wait for Justin to return?"

JC scratched his neck sheepishly.
"Till 3 in the morning."

Lance rolled his eyes.
"Ok, you've got it bad."

"Anyway," JC ignored Lance's comment. "What should I say to him when I see him, Lance?"

"What is there to say? Just act as per normal. And maybe this time you can ask him out. He made the first move so now it's your turn."

JC sipped on his tea and considered Lance's suggestion.

"Lance, I'm not reading too much into it, am I? It really was a date, right?"

"JC, trust me. It was a date. Justin was very subtle and smooth about asking you but from what you have told me happened, yes, he definitely was flirting," Lance concluded.

JC grinned.

**

JC kept listening for Justin's return the whole day and could not even concentrate on his work. It was only at about 7 in the evening that he heard footsteps outside the door. JC quickly ran to check through the peep-hole and confirmed that indeed it was Justin who was returning. He was about to open the door when he stopped himself. How desperate would it seem if he opened the door right then? He should probably wait.

JC waited for about 10 minutes before he opened the door and walked across the corridor. He paused outside Justin's door, then raised his hand and rang the doorbell.

It was after a few minutes that the door opened.

"Hey, Just..." JC swallowed the rest of his words because Justin was standing there, in just a white towel that was wrapped around his hips and with water droplets clinging to his bare skin from head to toe.

"Hi, JC. What's up?"

JC quickly recovered and dragged his eyes to meet Justin's.
"Um...so...er, how's Jon?"

"He's fine. Just a fracture. No big deal."

"Oh, that's good. I mean not good but better than...you know what I mean."

Justin just smiled tiredly.
"Yeah. Look, can we talk later? I stayed up the whole night with Jon because he couldn't sleep due to the cast and I'm really tired."

"Oh, yeah! Of course! Sorry. I'll er...I'll talk to you later."

"Ok, bye," Justin said with a smile before closing the door.

JC stared at the closed door, trying to burn the memory of a wet, nearly naked Justin into his eyelids. Grinning to himself, he turned and went back to his work.

**

However, JC didn't get to see Justin that night or the next morning. Johnny had asked him to meet him to sign some papers and arrange some dates for the photoshoot and so JC had left early in the morning and returned only in the late afternoon. When he knocked on Justin's door though, no one answered.

JC sighed in disappointment. He had really hoped Justin was in because tonight again, Lance and Chris were going out and this time JC wanted to ask Justinn out on a date...and call it just that. A date. But now he just had to wait for Justin to return, probably from the studio.

By 10pm, JC had given up. Justin had not returned and JC knew that there was no way that they could still make a date for that night. 'Maybe the next night!' JC's mind piped in hopefully.

Bored of the television and feeling cooped up, JC decided to take a walk around the block. It was a nice warm evening so JC left his jacket behind and grabbed the keys before heading out.

Just as JC reached the stair landing to the lobby, he heard someone talking softly. Hoping it was Justin or maybe Chris and Lance, he skipped down the stairs with a smile on his face.

He was right. It was Justin...and he was not alone.

JC froze on the last step and blinked hard when he saw Justin and another man kissing just inside the entrance to the apartments.

JC's fingers suddenly became numb and he dropped the keys which fell with a soft clang to the floor. It was enough to alert the kissing couple though.

Justin and the guy pulled away from each other and JC saw Justin wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. JC's heart clenched at the sight.

"Oh...um sorry," JC mumbled, reaching down to grab the keys and then starting to walk towards the door with his head down.

"Wait, JC." JC paused when Justin called out. "Um where are you going?"

"For a walk," JC replied, not looking up.

"Let me introduce my friend. This is Alex. Alex, this is JC. He is staying with Lance and Chris."

Alex. The name sounded familiar. Yeah, of course. Chris' friend. The blind date guy who had gotten into an accident and not been able to make the date that night a week ago. So Justin was still interested in that guy and had gone on a date with him. So what did the dinner two nights ago mean?

'Just dinner, moron,' JC mind yelled at him.

"Nice to meet you, JC," Alex said pleasantly.

"Yeah. You too. Got to go," JC said and without another word, turned and walked out of the apartment block.

It was only when JC was a block away that he stopped and sat on one of the stairs leading up to some apartments. He sighed and slumped against the railing.

So all that day, Justin had been with Alex. Probably on a date. A real date. Not the make believe date that JC thought he had been on. After all, Alex got a kiss. JC got...tickles.

He felt foolish. Whatever made him think that Justin was interested in him? Yeah so they shared Chinese take out, talked about each other's lives, teased each other a little and got into a tickle war. But that hardly meant that Justin was interested in him. Yeah sure maybe even Lance thought he was but Lance wasn't there. Lance could only judge from what JC told him and obviously JC had added a lot of wishful thinking to what he had told Lance.

'Idiot!'

JC sighed once again and looked up at the night sky. He wondered if he was just so deperate for love that he always made horrible choices. Maybe he was one of those needy people who looked for love in all the wrong places. Or maybe he was some kind of masochist who set himself for a fall all the time. Whatever he was, he had to stop being that person and start being more in control. Didn't he learn better from Marshall?

But Justin was different. Wasn't he? He had seemed too good to be true and in the end, he was.

JC took a deep breath and stood up. Ok, that was it then. No more looking for love. He was going to swear off relationships. Who needed heartbreak like that? Not him! He had had enough heartbreak to last him the rest of his lifetime. He was only going to focus on his career from henceforth and forget about hot, blue-eyed blonds! Yes siree!

Having made his decision, JC began to walk back to Lance's apartment. And as soon as his book was finished, he was moving out and finding his own place. Just so he did not have to see Justin Timberlake again.

JC told himself this again as he opened the door to Lance's apartment and looked over at the closed door of Justin's apartment.

Yep. No more Justin Timberlake.
 

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