Chapter 3
Let's see, this chapter is going to be a little hectic. Summer and Mary are coming to visit, and Mary makes the big mistake of bringing a cousin with her. Problems will arise, friendships will be tested and you'll be disgusted by how cuddly Summer and Lance are in front of the guys. LOL. Anyways, just wait and see, this chapter will cuz some good turmoil for the story.
Thanks to everyone who has sent in feedback, it's been appreciated.
Last time in Chapter 2
"You don't have to apologize. I'm just pissed about a lot of shit, not at you." Justin answered.
"Oh, wanna talk about it?"
"No." That was a first. Justin never shut himself out to JC, but JC knew when not to push situations.
"Okay, but I'll be in my room if you do."
"Okay." JC took that as a sign of being asked to leave, and he backed out of the room and down the hall. The mood in the room made JC wonder if Justin really wasn't made at him, but he decided to wait until tomorrow when the girls came to figure it out. He was going to have to see what Mary thought before anything else.
"Josh!" Justin cringed at the sight of someone else calling his best friend Josh, and his anger grew as he watched JC grab Mary and pull her into a hug. A few feet away Lance and Mary were whispering words back in forth in an embrace. Justin stood next to Joey and Chris who were handing him some of the girls things to carry inside the house. He was yet to be introduced to the guy the girls had brought along, and was wondering if they were always rude.
"Oh guys, I forgot. This is my cousin Jordan, Jordan meet the guys, Chris, Joey, Justin, Lance, and JC." Mary replied quickly after noticing the looks of confusion the guys had as they stared at the boy.
"Hey." Jordan replied happily.
"Hey" Joey said for the whole group.
"Come in, come in." Lynn ushered every one into the house, and let them set their things down in the main hall before rushing them into the living room. She insisted that they sit on the couch, which left two seats open, she took one and JC took the other. Leaving Justin, Joey, Chris and Lance to stand. Lance seemed not to even care, he just continued to hold his girl friends hand standing next to her side of the couch. Justin however was annoyed that he had been removed of his own seat. "How was the flight?"
"Great Ms. Harless." Jordan answered.
"Please, call me Lynn or mom, all the boys do."
"Okay Lynn, it was great." Jordan laughed and changed his answer.
"Good, are any of you hungry, I could fix you lunch."
"I'm kinda hungry mom." Justin answered.
"You know where the food is, I was asking if the guests were hungry honey." Lynn ignored Justin, and went back to having conversation with the guests. Justin tired of the situation walked out of the room angrily, and he knew that everyone in the room could tell. Even though he was hungry he didn't go to the kitchen, he went up to his room to complain.
"Mind if I come in?" Justin turned from his seat on the bed to see Mary.
"How'd you know I would be here?" Justin asked as he motioned with her hand for her to enter.
"I just kinda guessed, I usually go to my room when I'm pissed too." Mary replied.
"Yeah, well, I like to be alone when I'm pissed." Justin replied a little rudely.
"No you don't, JC told me you don't like to be alone at all." Mary smiled at him, trying to pin him into talking to her.
"What else does JC tell you bout me?" Justin asked a little intrigued that JC would tell someone else something between them.
"Nothing important if that's what you mean. He doesn't tell me your secrets or anything, he's your best friend you can trust him with that." Mary laughed.
"I know."
"So, what's bothering you?"
"You, Summer, Jordan, all this. My mom asks if anyone's hungry and ignores the fact that I am. I have to stand in my own living room, I have to carry the bags even though you aren't my guest. The fact that you, you..." Justin stopped short of finishing and stared up at Mary. She was listening intently.
"The fact that Josh hugged me, the fact that I call Josh, Josh." Mary finished for him.
"I'm not jealous, it's just, Josh doesn't let many people call him that." Justin explained.
"I know, but me and him have always been close. You don't have anything to worry about though."
"Okay." Justin replied, but Mary could tell he was still mad at something.
"Ya know, you missed important things downstairs. Jordan isn't big on secrets, so he told everyone that he was gay. They all took it well, I guess cuz they don't know him. He wanted to see what you thought about that too."
"I don't care, it's his business." Justin replied, trying to end the conversation.
"I'll leave you to yourself now, just wanted to see if you were okay, and let you know about Jordan." Mary smiled and walked out of the room. Knowing that Justin was okay with Jordan meant that maybe JC could realize that he could tell the guys too.
Meanwhile in the living room, JC couldn't help but notice the stares he was receiving from Jordan. After Jordan had come out, he thought that maybe the awestruck face he had on his face had made cause for stares. He didn't know whether or not Jordan could tell he was gay or not. Or if Mary had said something to him. He had hoped she hadn't, she hadn't even told her best friend, Summer was still clueless so that was a good sign.
But on the same hand, Summer was clueless because of her admiration of Lance. The group had all become accustomed to the cuddling, but Summer was practically in Lance's pants right in front of them, ignoring the blatant fact that Justin's mother was only five or so feet away from them. But she just smiled at the couple, and ignored it best she could.
"Where did Justin go?" Lynn obviously tried to make conversation to avoid the couple.
"He's in his bedroom." Mary replied walking back into the room and taking a seat on the floor.
"Why?" Lynn asked a little confused, Mary just shrugged at her, unsure really of the actual reason. She really hadn't gotten an answer out of Justin.
"Hey, Josh, can I talk to you for a minute?" Mary stood up, calling for JC to go some where with her privately.
"Yeah." JC replied, following her outside. Once the door was closed, Mary turned to JC with a serious look on her face, which was accompanied by a smile.
"Good news." Mary's smile grew. "Justin doesn't care that Jordan is gay. That means you can tell him your gay and he won't care either." Mary smiled, but it soon faded, when she noticed that JC wasn't returning a smile, not even a sparkle or glimmer of one.
"That isn't good news Mar, that just proves that he doesn't care about a stranger. Justin doesn't know Jordan, he doesn't live with him, sleep in his bed when he's scared and work with him. I have to see Justin every day, that's different, Jordan's a complete stranger." JC explained.
"But it still means that you have a better chance of him not caring, doesn't it?" Mary asked with some confusion.
"No, it doesn't. It just means Justin could care less about Jordan. And what's with Jordan anyways. You didn't tell him I was gay did you? Because he's in the living room staring at me for the past twenty minutes, while you were gone." JC started to get upset.
"He's got a crush on you, that's all. If he knows you're gay I didn't tell him. But gay guys do have gay-dar Josh. And anyways, you aren't going to hook up with Justin most likely, so maybe, you..."
"No, don't even say it Mar."
"But Josh, you two would be good together. He has a lot of interests that are similar to Justin's, he likes basketball. He's younger then you, he's cute, he's funny." Mary started to describe features of Jordan in an attempt to get JC to cave.
"No Mary, I'm not dating Jordan. First off it would mean ruining my life, I'd have to come out to the guys right away, and it wouldn't be pretty. And the biggest reason, I can't date anyone. I'm in love with Justin, I wouldn't be able to give myself to any one else." JC countered.
"Okay, well, um, let's just go inside and drop this. I don't want to fight with you while I'm here on vacation." Mary smiled at him, hoping he would accept. "I'm sorry, now can I have a hug?" JC walked over and pulled Mary into a hug. Mary giggled and pushed him back. "I didn't say kill me you asshole."
"Oh, my mistake." JC mocked sincerity.
"You coming inside?"
"No, I wanna cool down for a bit. Tell them I'll be in a little bit." JC replied, and watched as Mary walked into the house. The door shut, and he settled down on the railing of the front porch. It was a nice day, a little chilly, but that was good, because he needed to release some of his anger, and freezing would do that to him.
It came to him as a surprise when the front door popped open. He turned to see Jordan standing there. He smiled and turned back to staring, hoping that Jordan would get the picture that he wanted to be left alone.
"Is it okay if I sit with you?" Jordan asked politely.
"It's cool." JC replied, as pissed off as he was, he couldn't be purposefully mean to some one.
"Thanks." Jordan sat down next to him on the railing, and looked out, maybe intent on finding the same thing JC was staring at. "Um, you okay? Cuz Mary came back in, and you didn't, so I was just wondering?"
"I'm fine, just upset about something." JC replied.
"Yeah, I know how it is. I get upset over stuff like this too, a few of my friends at home don't know that I'm gay, and they never understand that. So it's hard putting up a front for some and not others." Jordan's words shocked JC into reality. His eyes no longer roamed the area in front of him, but focused directly on Jordan with anger and confusion.
"How'd you, did Mary tell you?"
"No Mary didn't tell me. We're close, but not close enough that she would betray you. I just know, I can tell, ya know, I can sense it. It's true about gay-dar, we really do have it. Or at least some of us, cuz I know guys who have it really bad, and they just think they have it." Jordan replied, and JC couldn't help but laugh a little. "Don't you have it?"
"I guess I can kinda tell when people are gay. But I don't know, it's confusing, so many singles can be picked up on as wrong ones. And it's so hard to read men." JC replied.
"I know." Jordan replied, and JC suddenly became aware that he was face to face with Jordan. He was unsure of how it happened, but slowly the two leaned in, and as lips met, Jordan grabbed JC pulling him close for the kiss to become more passionate.
And as quick as it had started, JC regretfully became aware of what he was doing. And just like that he pushed Jordan backwards. "Sorry, I just, I can't be doing this."
"Why not, I'm single, you're single?" Jordan asked.
"Because I like some one else."
"Who?" Jordan asked.
"A friend, some one who no matter, even if they aren't gay, even if they don't know it, could never be replaced. I could never date any one else, because I could never be there for them. He comes first to me, he always will. His health, his happiness, they are me, I don't need a relationship to find that." JC replied honestly.
"I guess I'm sorry then. I just thought that you wanted it too." Jordan replied.
"I did, I mean, I don't know. I've never kissed a guy, and you were a great first. I just didn't mean for it to happen, but it wasn't bad." JC felt like he was making an ass out of himself. Every time he tried to explain, he either couldn't do it with hurting Jordan's feelings or making it seem like he wanted more then just that kiss.
"I get it. Whaddya say we get inside so they don't get curious as to what's going on out here?" Jordan asked.
"Thanks, but you aren't going to tell them are you?" JC asked concerned
"No, I would never do that." Jordan replied and they walked back into the living room.
"Well, how would you girls like to help me with dinner in the kitchen? And we can leave the guys to make Jordan feel like family." Lynn stood, and ushered the girls out of the living room. The girls didn't have much objection to it though, and followed happily, Mary turning to smile at JC to see if he was okay. She was a little surprised to see that JC was even more upset now then he was before. Knowing she couldn't bring it up in front of everyone she went back to the task at hand. Making dinner with the other girls.
JC took a seat far away from Jordan. He didn't want to be near the kid right now, quite frankly he was unsure why he had even let the kiss happen. He forced himself to believe that it was because it was in the moment. But the more he thought about it, he knew one of the secret reasons was because Mary was right, the kid did have a lot in common with Justin, including a child-like innocence and charm. Not to mention his good looks.
"So, what were you doing out there!?!" Chris spoke in his usual joking manner, hinting at the obvious that Jordan being gay could have been putting the moves on their JC.
"Nothing!" JC responded pretty quickly and soon after turned beet red, which only confused Chris and the others. Jordan looked over at him and smiled, hoping that JC wouldn't make an outburst like that again.
"You got pretty upset very nothing." Joey teased.
"Shut up!" JC yelled pretty loudly, in fact he was surprised that Ms. Harless or Justin running to see what was going on hadn't interrupted him.
"Dude, Jace, calm down. We're just teasing. We know you aren't gay." Lance tried to calm down his friend, but his laughter turned him in.
"What if I were?" JC said, and even that shocked Jordan. Minutes ago he thought JC was the type to never come out. But guesses could always be wrong, and his was.
"Are you serious?" Joey was the first to speak after it. His eyes transfixed on one of his best friends as he seemingly just came out of the closet. Lance and Chris sat in silence, Lance because he had no clue what to say. And Chris because he hadn't expected JC to admit it to everyone.
"Yeah, I'm gay." JC said in a calmer manner, a look of embarrassment crossed his face as the realization of what he had just down came over him. He sat down, half expecting a fight, and half expecting the silence to consume them all.
"Well, um, I'm still your friend Jace." Joey was once again the first one to speak. "You being, uh, gay doesn't change a think about that."
"Thanks Joe."
"Me too, you can fuck whatever you want. As long as you are the one fucking." Chris laughed, standing up and giving a quick friendly handshake to his friend.
"You and Jordan, aren't, well I mean, you know, having sex?" Lance didn't say anything besides that.
"We just met!" Jordan jumped in before JC could say anything.
"Sorry, but what were you two doing out there?" Lance asked, still defending himself.
"Nothing." Jordan replied.
"No, it's okay Jordan. We kissed, it was a mistake. I don't like Jordan like that." JC replied, smiling at Jordan.
"So, you aren't, dating anyone?" Lance asked, his attitude towards the situation was still unsure of as far as JC could tell.
"No."
"Oh, well I'm cool with it." Lance replied, slapping him on the shoulder. "Like Chris said, just as long as you are fucking."
The room broke into laughter, and it remained liked that for a few minutes, until another voice was hear.
"What's so funny?" They all turned to see Justin. Turning again, the look on JC's face made it evident that he didn't tell Justin yet.
"Nothing." Joey chuckled, his laughter ending, and gaining a straight face.
"Fine!" Justin turned and walked out of the room, an upset look covering his face. He walked into his bedroom and slammed the door shut, angering and sadness running through his body. He was tired of being treated like shit today. First he had to carry in the bags of everyone else's guests. Then he wasn't even introduced into the guests, and then he was forced to stand in his own home. And to top it off, the worst part was that when he left the room, JC had stayed with Mary, and he even allowed the girl to call him Josh. Something that Justin had thought only he was allowed to do. And now, to top everything off, he had walked in on some secret, something, funny and was informed that it was nothing. He figured most likely because he was too young.
He wasn't too young for every thing though. Usually JC trusted him with everything. He liked that, it made him feel important. And all he felt now was like shit. Soon enough the anger had subsided and only the sadness was left. Tears slowly started to form in his eyes and as much as he hated to cry he couldn't help it. Maybe they would have stopped if he had been comforted. But in the past few days, he didn't see JC much, and JC was the only one who comforts him.
Sitting in his bed, his head tucked into his pillow tightly he cried. Slight sobs were barely audible to JC who stood in the doorway. He was surprised that Justin hadn't over heard him open the door. And now, he didn't know what to do, there lay his best friend, the angel of his desire upset and emotional and for the first time he didn't know what was bothering him.
"Justin we need to talk about something important." JC decided that was the best way to begin. If the others knew, he knew that Justin had to be informed too. He wasn't going to tell him that he loved him, just that he was gay, and maybe about the kiss with Jordan.
Justin didn't respond though, just continued to cry. JC knew just what to do and sat down on the bed. "Justin, this is going to be hard for you to hear, and it's hurt for me to say, so I'm just gonna say it...."
TBC...
Okay, what is JC going to say? Is he going to admit that he's gay? Will he have enough guts to do it? And what is wrong with Justin? Is it just the fact that he feels like he's being ousted from everything and over all just having a bad day? Or could it be more? I don't know, you can answer some of them if you like, I'm open for suggestions.
See ya in a week.
Brown Eyes