Part thirteen. What an unlucky number!
What can I say? Thanks for the e-mail and keep it up! I love
hearing from all of you.
Disclaimer- This story is fictional and is not meant to imply anything
about anyone. If you shouldn't read this then read and and then report
yourself to the proper authorities.
Model Romance- Part Thirteen
Zack found himself walking down a long, dimly lit
hallway. It had the kind of fuzziness that he recognized as a dream,
but as his dreams usually were, it was very real. Kind of like being
in a movie instead of just watching it. He moved slowly down the
corridor. Every so often he came to a door and he could see things
inside. The first was him swimming an winning a big race. Maybe
the Olympics. As he approached the door it slammed shut. The
next was him accepting an award in front of a huge audience. The
statue looked like an Oscar. The door slammed shut. Then there
was a scene with him in a large office, on the phone. He looked very
busy. The door slammed shut.
In each scene he was older than the nineteen years
he had lived so far. Probably in his mid twenties or early thirties.
At the next doorway he was wearing a suit and speaking to a group of journalists.
The door slammed shut. He began to walk more quickly, and the doors
slammed faster. He started running as more doors closed. He
could see the end of the hallway now. And he could see what was beyond
that doorway. Or who was beyond that doorway. Justin stood
there watching him. Begging him with his eyes to hurry. And
he ran faster. He didn't even notice the doors closing as he ran.
All his thoughts were on reaching that last door. He knew if it closed
his life would be empty and miserable. He was almost there.
And the door was swinging shut. Justin saw this and looked at him
angrily.
"Fight for me," he yelled. "You've given up
on everything in your life that didn't come easily to you. Will you
give up on me too?"
"I wont give up on you!"
"You are. It's almost too late."
The door was closing. He wasn't going to make
it.
"Fight for me! Don't give up!"
"I wont give up! Justin..."
"...I wont give up," he cried, waking himself.
He was back in his bed, drenched in sweat.
His heart was racing and his breathing was heavy, as if he had really been
running that race. He looked at the clock and saw that it was almost
time to get up anyway. He could see rays of sunlight peeking in from
behind the heavy drapes. Slowly he got out of bed and walked into
the bathroom to take a shower.
"I wont give up," he whispered to himself.
"I wont."
After he showered and got dressed, Zack walked across
the hall to Britney and JC's suite and knocked on the door. Britney
opened it almost immediately. She was already dressed and ready to
go.
"Hey I was just coming to check and see if you wanted
to have breakfast with us. Josh is still in the shower so I thought
room service would be the easiest thing."
"Sounds good to me. Mind if I call Lance,
Chris and Joey and ask them to join us? I have something I want you
guys to help me with."
"Um, sure. No problem. Might was well
call Christina too. Is something wrong."
"No," Zack said with a tight smile "I just remembered
something that I'd forgotten lately."
"What's that?"
"That the best things in life are worth fighting
for."
Zack made his phone calls while Britney ordered
room service. A short time later four out of five NSYNC'ers along
with Britney and Christina were sitting down to a large breakfast watching
him as he paced around the room, deep in thought.
"Do you know what's going on," Chris whispered to
Britney. She only shrugged.
Zack stopped pacing and looked at the group he had
assembled. This was his family now. He needed there help and
they were here for him. Only one person was missing, but he was going
to fix that.
"I think we'll all agree that no one here likes
Sebastian," he began. There were nods and murmurs of ascent, but
nothing more. "I also think that Justin knows this, and that's part
of what keeps him from throwing Sebastian out on his ass. But what
I need to know before we go any further is what you guys think of them.
I've made no secret of how I feel, but I need your opinions, because I
am biased."
"Well," Joey said after a moment. "I think
he's a punk who's messing with Curly's head. I never liked him from
the moment I laid eyes on him. And that was before they told me he
was Justin's new boyfriend."
"I think he's a shithead," Chris said blandly.
"Second that," Christina jumped in.
Britney looked to JC, who nodded, and then she spoke.
"Josh and I both agree that Sebastian is bad news.
But we don't want to do anything to hurt Justin either. I think we
all want Sebastian gone. But can we do that without hurting Justin?"
"Aren't we hurting him by letting him stay with
someone who's so wrong for him," Chris asked.
"Maybe, but until we see some proof of that..."
"Screw proof," Joey interrupted. "I say we
just go to Justin and tell him how we all feel. I mean we're his
friends. Our opinions should hold some weight."
"Are we his friends," JC asked. "Let's not
forget what caused this in the first place. People saying things
they shouldn't."
"You can't blame the problem with Sebastian on a
bad joke," Lance said quietly. "Nick and I managed to get over that."
"Lance is right," Zack said. "I'm the one
who's most directly responsible for this..."
"Wait a minute! If anyone is at fault here
it's me! I'm the one to blame for you and Justin..."
"Lance, you can't blame yourself for trying to protect
someone you cared about. I shouldn't have run away..."
"That's enough of the blame game," JC said firmly.
"You're right JC, but what I was saying is important.
I shouldn't have run away, but I did. Because I always run away when
things get tough. And I'm still running away. Even in coming
out here I still ran from my problems. Well now I'm done running
away. I am going to do what I should have done as soon as I laid
eyes on Sebastian. I'm going to fight for Justin. And I'm going
to win."
Chris and Joey broke out into applause, but Zack
quieted them.
"I'm not finished. Yes, I'm going to fight
and I'll need your help to do it. But I can't ask you guys to do
anything you don't want to do. So that's why I asked you all here.
I need to know if you'll help me get my... boyfriend back."
As usual Joey was the first to get the words out.
"Hey I'd do anything to help Justin, and I can't think of anything that
would help him more than getting back with you dude."
Chris was not far behind. "I'm in. Even
if I wasn't helping you and Justin out, I'd just be happy to get rid of
Sebastian."
Britney smiled warmly at Zack. "I knew you
two were meant for each other before either one of you did. Of course
I'll help you."
"I guess that means I don't have a choice," JC said
smiling. "But I would have said yes anyway."
"All I can say is it's about time," Christina said.
Lance was a little slower, but he smiled just as
warmly as anyone. "I'm not the sneaky or underhanded one in the group,
but I'll help you how ever I can. I still feel responsible.
And I'll talk to Nick. I'm sure he'll help too."
"Thank you. All of you. Now I haven't
thought this through all the way to the end, but here's what I've got so
far.
As he talked, the smiles around the room got even
bigger. Everyone was more than willing to do their part. JC
suggested bringing Johnny Wright, NSYNC's manager, into the conspiracy.
He was flying in that morning to meet the guys at rehearsal. Zack
was a little hesitant because he'd never met the man but JC, Chris, Lance,
and Joey assured him that "Bling Bling" would be more than willing to help
his boys out.
Soon it was time to get to the arena for rehearsals.
Zack spent all morning working with vocal coaches and choreographers.
Britney and Christina were very helpful. In the afternoon he got
his lines for the show and started reading over what he had to say.
He didn't tell anyone, but he was really nervous about performing in front
of so many people. Of course he was so busy that there wasn't much
time to worry. Justin had been avoiding him all day, but he finally
cornered the object of his affections just before dinner.
"Justin, can I talk to you about yesterday?"
"I'm not really interested in hearing any more about
it Zack."
"Please, I just want to apologize. I had no
right to say the things I did without proof. I guess I just jumped
to conclusions, but anyway that doesn't matter. I just want you to
know that I still care about you and if you need anything you can come
to me."
And then he walked away leaving a flabbergasted
Justin behind. He met his little war party for dinner and afterwards
he worked with the guys on a little suprise for the next day. Tomorrow
he was officially declaring war on Sebastian.
The next day was an unusually cold one in LA, even
for November. The sky was a sort of brownish gray that came from
a mixture of foreboding clouds and the ever-present smog that hung over
the city. Despite the dreary weather rehearsals were going much better
than in previous days. It appeared that, as usual, everything was
going to come together at the last minute.
During their lunch break Zack snuck off with the
NSYNC boys minus Justin to put the finishing touches on their suprise.
Johnny Wright was with them. In Zack's eyes Johnny had more than
lived up to the guys' glowing descriptions of him. It was obvious
he was like a second father to them all and he extended that feeling to
Zack almost immediately.
After lunch NSYNC was scheduled to run through their
set with the new choreography. Zack and Johnny watched from backstage
as the guys moved smoothly across the stage. Towards the end of "Tearin
Up My Heart," Johnny turned to Zack.
"Nervous?"
"Hmm? About what? This?"
"Yes. And about the concert. It's only
three days away."
"I know. I guess I am a little nervous.
Not about this. I mean this is something I want...that I need to
do."
"And you don't want to do the concert?"
"No I do. But it's a different kind of wanting.
Know what I mean."
"Yeah I know what you mean. Just remember
that what ever happens we've got your back."
"Thanks Johnny I appreciate that."
"Hey it's my job."
NSYNC was wrapping up now and Johnny walked out
onto the stage. He played his part perfectly.
"Excellent job guys. I know we haven't quite
finished, but I want to try something new here and I think you're all comfortable
enough with your stuff that we can do it. Justin would you come with
me?"
Justin followed Johnny off the stage and into the
second row of seats with a confused expression on his face. He looked
at the other guys questioningly, but their faces were practiced masks,
revealing nothing..
"OK Justin. I've brought you out here to give
you a different perspective on NSYNC's performance. I'm gonna have
the guys run through another song and I want you to watch and see what
you think. Pay attention to everything about the performance.
I think it will help us all understand...everything a little more clearly."
"Um...alright. But how are they going to perform
without me Johnny?"
"Easy. I've hired a...ah...stunt double of
sorts. Just watch. OK kill the lights. Places boys."
The lights went down and everyone took their places
on the stage. The backlights came up showing the silohuettes of five
guys on the stage in different poses. Without warning they began.
A voice echoed across the nearly empty arena.
It was supposed to be Justin's voice, but of course it wasn't because he
was sitting in the audience. And anyone who knew Justin's voice well
(which was everyone there) could tell that it was not him. This voice
was not as light and pure. It was beautiful though for it had something
of Justin in it, but with some of JC's soulfulness mixed in. In the
back of the arena the Backstreet Boys heard it and stopped working.
Nick knew what was going on, but he said nothing. Christina and Britney
sat side by side behind Justin like two proud parents, with big grins on
their faces. Johnny kept his expression carefully neutral, although
it was a useless gesture. Justin knew immediately who belonged to
that voice. He'd heard it before, and he wouldn't have forgotten
it if a thousand years had passed.
It was of course Zack's voice. And he stood
at the center of the stage with his eyes, locked on Justin. But nobody
could tell that yet because of the backlighting. Of course anyone
with have a brain who listened to the lyrics could tell what he was thinking.
I was haning with the fellas
Saw you with your new boyfriend, it made me jealous
I was hoping that I'd never see you with him
But it's all good, 'cause I'm glad that I met him
Heh
'Cause now I know the competition's very slim to none
And I can tell by looking that he's not the one
He's not the type you said you liked
His style is wack, clothes are bad
Come on boy, let him go
I want you back
Then JC's voice joined in and spotlights hit both
him and Zack, illuminating them and revealing the mysterious singer for
anyone who hadn't already figured it out.
Call me a hater, if you want to,
But I only hate on him 'cause I want you
Say I'm trippin' if you feel like
But you without me ain't right
You can say Im crazy, if you want to
That's true, I'm crazy 'bout you
You could say I'm breakin' down inside
'Cause I can't see you with another guy
Then the rest of the guys joined in and the stage
was illuminated fully. They started dancing too, except for Zack
who came to the front of the stage to be as close to Justin as possible.
Their eyes met, blue against blue, emotion flying back and forth:
Regret, anger, shock, love, hate, passion and a hundred more.
It makes me ill
To see you give
Love and attention at his will
And you can't imagine how it makes me feel
To see you with him
Oh, it makes me ill
To see you give
Love and attention at his will
And you can't imagine how it makes me feel
To see you with him
The next verse would have normally been JC's, but
everyone had agreed that it made more sense to let Zack continue, so he
kept singing.
Boy I know that we broke up
But that doesn't mean you should give the cold shoulder
'Cause you know I truly do adore ya
And that other guy can't do nothing' for ya
Uh
See
I can tell that you don't really love that guy
But there's no need for you to go and waste your time
I think you know I love ya more
Boy you gotta let him go
I want you so just give him the door
Call me a hater, if you want to
But I only hate on him 'cause I want you
You can say I'm trippin' if you fell like
But you without me ain't right
You can say I'm crazy, if you want to
That's true, I'm crazy 'bout you
You could say I'm breakin' down inside
'Cause I can't see you with another guy
There was one other person listening to this performance.
He was standing in the back where no one could see him. And as he
listened, his hands clenched into fists and his jaw tightened. Sebastian
was not a happy man at that moment.
It makes me ill
To see you give
Love and attention at his will
And you can't imagine how it makes me feel
To see you, with him
Oh, it makes me ill
To see you give
Love and attention at his will
And you can't imagine how it makes me feel
To see you with him
Ohhhhh
It makes me ill cause you used to me my guy
Used to be (my guy)
Used to be my guy yeahh
It makes me ill cause you used to be my guy
My guy
So baby come back to me
It makes me ill
To see you give
Love and attention at his will
And you can't imagine how it makes me feel
To see you with him
Oh, it makes me ill
To see you give
Love and attention at his will
And you can't imagine how it makes me feel
To see you with him
Oh it makes me ill
To see you give
Love and attention at his will
And you can't imagine how it makes me feel
To see you with him
Oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh
Oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh..
-"It Makes Me I'll," by NSYNC (with slight modification)
The song trailed off and the music faded.
The guys stood on the stage breathing heavily. Applause came from
the Backstreet Boys, but Johnny, Britney and Christina sat still because
they were close enough to Justin to feel the tension radiating from him.
He stood up slowly and walked to the aisle. He turned back to Johnny
and said softly:
"He's good. Maybe you should replace me on
a more permanent basis."
His tone was so completely neutral that no one knew
if he was kidding or not. Finally Christina gave a nervous laugh.
He ignored it and walked back up onto the stage. He passed Joey,
Lance, Chris and finally JC. He stopped and looked at JC for a minute.
Actually he stared at him. Hard. Then he came to Zack.
Neither one said anything they just looked at each other. While this
was happening Sebastian slipped out quietly, his features fixed in grimace
of rage. Justin didn't see because his back was to the audience.
"So," Justin said at last. "I trust you've
all enjoyed a good laugh at my expense. Again," he added, with a
look to JC and Chris.
"It's not a joke," Zack said quietly.
"No? Maybe not for you. Then what did
you hope to accomplish by acting like a spoiled child? And dragging
all of my quote unquote friends into it with you? That was
very unprofessional of you. Of all of you," he amended looking not
only to the guys, but at Johnny, Britney and Christina. "Did you
really think you could get me back by prancing around and singing one of
our campy songs?"
"I meant every word," Zack growled fiercely.
"It's not campy if it's true."
"Fine. Have it your way then. What do
you think this is? Some kind of fairy tale where you can just sing
a song and do a little dance and magically everything is better?
Life is not a Disney movie, Zack. If I were you I'd figure that out
real soon. Now I'm going to leave and go work on my music somewhere
else. Because I am a professional musician. I'll see you all
tomorrow and I hope to see some of that professionalism that I thought
you all had."
And then he was gone. Leaving behind a very
speechless group of people. Johnny sighed heavily. Britney
had tears in her eyes and Christina was massaging her temples as if she
had a migraine. Zack sat down on the stage right where he was.
"Wow," Joey said. "That couldn't have gone
much worse."
"Ya think," Zack asked bitterly.
Justin managed to keep himself composed until he
reached the safety of his suite. Once there he just lost it.
He threw himself on the bed and cried as his emotions tortured him.
How could Zack play games like this? He had worked hard to get over
him and move on with Sebastian. And now Zack was assaulting the little
happiness he had made for himself. It was so unfair. It was
true what he said. Life wasn't like a fairy tale, but he wished it
could be. Part of him had wanted to simply kiss Zack and let everything
be ok. Not that it would be. Life's problems couldn't be solved
with love songs and kisses.
The real problem was deeper than that though and
he knew it. The truth was he hadn't gotten over Zack and Sebastian
was simply the next best thing. A poor substitute. He would
never admit that consciously, even to himself, but he knew it deep down
inside in a little part of his heart where he kept pieces of information
that were too dangerous to store in his head.
And now what was he supposed to do? Zack had
made it abundantly clear that he wanted Sebastian gone. Justin was
just thankful that Sebastian hadn't witnessed that display. The results
could have been disastrous. He couldn't simply get rid of Sebastian
because he did care for him. He felt a bond to him and he was grateful
that Sebastian had been there for him. That aside, it pissed him
off that no one was even willing to give Sebastian a chance. Zack
might have been to blame for that little stunt but he'd bet that Britney
and JC had been a big part of it. Hell, everyone was so eager to
get rid of Sebastian the whole tour had probably been in on it. Johnny
hadn't even met Sebastian yet and he was already on Zack's side.
Well he would show them all and stick with what he had. He had committed
to Sebastian and he wanted to be with Sebastian. Zack couldn't change
that no matter how many songs he sang.
Right on cue Sebastian walked in. His face
was devoid of any expression and when Justin ran to hug him he did not
return it.
"Baby, what's wrong?"
"Don't call me that."
"Huh? Ok how bout I call you sweetie then?"
"Shut up. Don't play games with me."
"Sebastian what are you talking about?"
"You know exactly what I'm talking about," he screamed.
His eyes were wet with tears and his voiced quivered as he went on more
softly. "I trusted you! You said it was over with him.
And when I came to suprise you at rehearsal what did I find? Him
up on the stage singing to you, batting his eyes and telling you to dump
me. And you sat there and watched the whole thing"
"Oh Sebastian I'm sorry you saw that. It was
just a bad joke that they played on me. Come here. It's ok."
Justin moved to hug him again, but he was shoved
roughly away.
"Don't touch me. I don't want to hear any
more of your filthy lies. Is this what you spend all your time doing
when I'm not around? Making fun of me? Of us? Our entire
relationship is just a joke isn't it?"
"No that's not true! Please believe me."
Justin was crying again too. This was all going so wrong.
"Believe you? I'll never believe you again."
"Sebastian..."
SLAP. Justin recoiled, anger and frustration
leaking into his sorrow.
"Sebastian you promised never to do that again,"
he said quietly.
SLAP.
"Obviously promises mean nothing to you Justin.
You promised that things were over with you and him."
"I'm not going to talk to you when you're like this."
"If you leave now don't bother coming back."
"Sebastian be reasonable!"
"You don't deserve reasonable."
"You can't hit me anymore! Sebastian please
! I told you I want to be with you. Why wont you believe me?"
"Because you're a stupid lying bitch!"
Sebastian advanced towards Justin and he retreated
back into the bedroom.
"Sebastian...don't come near me again."
But Sebastian kept coming, and Justin found himself
backed to the wall. Sebastian shut the bedroom door behind him.
There were now two very thick very locked doors between him and any sort
of help. Justin braced himself for what he now had to do. Sebastian
came closer.
"Sebastian."
He kept coming.
"I'm going to fight back this time."
He kept coming.
"It doesn't have to be this way."
Sebsatian's right hand came at him with a savage
blow, but Justin blocked it with his left and hit Sebastian as hard as
he could with his right fist, squarely in the jaw. It was Sebastian's
turn to step back. The expressions on his face went from shock to
rage to cold amusement.
"So you've got some spirit after all. Fine.
You're just gonna make things harder for yourself."
Justin was neither small nor helpless. He
had had self defense training and he was in good shape. But Sebastian
was every bit as tall as Justin and a good bit more muscular. And
he had a lot more experience in beating people up. He came at Justin
feinting left then right. When Justin lashed out with his right hand
again Sebastian backstepped and grabbed his wrist, twisting his arm behind
his back. He slammed Justin up against the wall. Justin struggled,
but to no avail.
"If I put much more pressure on this arm, it's going
to break sweetie. Now wouldn't that be a shame? Then
you couldn't put on your pretty little concert with all your friends."
"And you would be in jail," Justin spat back.
In answer Sebastian grabbed Justin by his hair and
smashed his head against the wall.
"If I were you, I'd be quiet. Otherwise I
might get angry." He chuckled and added, "And you wouldn't like me
when I'm angry."
After Justin left rehearsals resumed for about five
minutes. At that point Johnny told everybody to take the rest of
the day off because it was obvious that no one was focusing on the concert.
Zack shared a limo with Britney, JC, Lance, Nick and Christina. Chris
and Joey said they were going to a bar for a drink and Brian and the rest
of the Backstreet Boys joined them.
The ride back to the hotel was a quiet one.
Lance and Nick were cuddling, Britney was resting her head against JC's
shoulder, Christina was napping and Zack was staring off into space.
When the limo got to the hotel everyone walked to the elevator without
a word. It seemed to have been predetermined that they would all
retire to their respective rooms. As the doors opened onto the floor
reserved for them they began to disperse. But Zack stopped them.
"Wait. I need to apologize for dragging you
into this. I'm sorry and I hope that I haven't done any permanent
damage."
"We did it because we wanted to and because it was
the right thing to do," Britney said. "Maybe we went about it in
the wrong way, but that doesn't mean we were wrong."
"No Brit, we were. It's time to let this go.
Justin is happy with Sebastian and we all need to except that. I
am going to talk to Johnny and the rest of management tomorrow and discuss
my resigning from the tour. I think it might be best."
Everyone started to speak at once. When they
quieted JC said, "You can't do that Zack. It would be a disaster
for your career. We can work this out."
"No, I need to stop thinking about myself and start
thinking about everyone else. If I stay it could tear NSYNC apart
and I wont have that on my conscience. I haven't decided anything
for sure. I'm going to go lie down for a while and try to think things
through. I'll see you all later."
"See Justin, my dear, it's amazing how much pain
you can inflict on the human body without leaving any evidence," Sebastian
said cheerfully as he dug his thumb into Justin's neck and a very specific
point.
Justin was lying on his bed, trembling with fear
and pain. His nose was bleeding and his jaw hurt from the gag that
had been stuffed into his mouth. He had lost track of how long this
had been going on. First with Sebastian beating him and then when
he had no fight left in him, he had been gagged and tossed on the bed.
The Sebastian had settled into jabbing at different pressure points, each
one more painful that the last. Apparently after his parents had
died he had made an extensive study of causing pain to others to help him
deal with his own pain.
"Alright I'm going to take your gag out now.
I assume you're going to behave?"
Justin simply nodded. And Sebastian pulled
the wadded strip of cloth out of his mouth and used it to wipe the blood
coming from Justin's nose.
"Good boy. Now you get to thank me for teaching
you some manners. Get over here on the floor."
Justin allowed himself to be dragged of the bed
and collapsed at Sebastian's feet.
"Good. Now get on your knees."
Justin did as he was told. He knew what was
coming and his heart cried out for it to stop. He wanted it to stop,
but he was afraid. Afraid of what Sebastian would do to him and afraid
of more pain. He couldn't stand any more pain.
"Now, take off my pants."
Justin obeyed. He unzipped Sebastian's jeans
and pulled them down. Sebastian was already rock hard and the bulge
of his cock was obvious through his boxers.
"And my underwear," Sebastian said thickly.
Justin pulled down Sebastian's boxers, exposing
his hard shaft.
"Open wide sweetie. Prove all that
bullshit you said earlier about wanting me. Now I'll know it's true."
Justin parted his lips and Sebastian slipped his
cock into his mouth. At once he grabbed a handful of Justin's hair
in each hand and began sliding in and out of Justin's mouth. Justin
didn't move, he began to cry and gagged when Sebastian thrust too deeply,
but he didn't resist. He had been stripped bare of all his courage.
His righteous anger was gone. Love and hate were gone. And
that little light in his eyes died as Sebastian slid in and out.
Eventually it was over. With one last thrust
Sebastian forced himself down Justin's throat and held him there while
he came. And Justin coughed and gagged some more and when Sebastian
let him go Justin wilted to the floor and lay there.
"That's a good boy. Now I'm going out to get
a few things. You just lay here and rest. When I get back you
can thank me even more."
Justin barely heard. He retreated deep inside
himself and while outside body ached and throbbed with pain and his tears
fell, inside he floated in nothingness.
Zack sat in his room for a long time thinking about
how his life had changed in the last five months. He had fulfilled
his hopes in dreams in that time and then managed to screw it all up.
Perhaps it was time to give up and go home. He hadn't seen his family
for a long time. He could go home and go back to school and get a
normal job. Maybe even find a nice girl and get married. Have
a normal life. And be miserable until the day he died.
But what were the alternatives? To stay and
risk tearing apart the entire tour? Or pretend none of this had happened
and isolate himself from all of his friends and focus on the music?
He needed to talk to someone. And there was really only one person
he to talk to. He had to fix things with Justin one way or another.
There had to be closure, for everyone's sake.
He got up with a purpose. He left his suite
and walked down the hall to Justin's room. As usual Lonnie, on of
NSYNC's bodyguards was standing outside.
"Hey Lonnie what's up? Justin home?"
"Yeah he's there."
"He alone."
"Yup. That Sebastian guy left about half an
hour ago. Said he was going to the store and that Justin didn't want
anyone to bother him."
"Oh really? Think I'd be bothering him if
I went in to talk for a minute?"
"Honestly, I'm not sure if Justin even knows he
said that. There's something kind of funny about Sebastian."
"Yeah I know what you mean."
Zack knocked on the door, but there was no answer.
He tried it and it was locked.
"Correct me if I'm wrong, but does Justin ever lock
his door?"
"Not that I know of. That's why I'm here."
"You gotta key?"
"Yeah."
"Think you could let me in."
"I'm not sure I could stop you from getting in there
anyway, so I guess so. 'Sides, I'm a little worried about our boy."
"Me too."
Lonnie unlocked the door and opened it. Zack
went in and shut it behind him.
"Justin," he called softly.
There was no answer. The lights were off,
even though it was getting dark outside. The door to the bedroom
was ajar but Zack couldn't see inside because it was even darker.
The blinds must have been down. He opened the door a little and peered
inside.
"Justin?"
He entered the room quietly, not wanting to wake
Justin if he was sleeping. As his eyes adjusted to the dark he could
see the bed was messed up but empty. The bathroom door was open and
the light was off, so he wouldn't be in there. Zack was just beginning
to think that Justin had snuck out when he heard a little whimper from
the other side of the bed.
He ran over and knelt beside Justin's prone form.
Quickly he switched on the light so he could see. Justin's face was
stained with tears and there was dried blood smeared beneath his nose.
His upper lip was swollen.
"Oh my god no," Zack breathed. "Justin!
Please speak to me."
"What...Zack? Is that you," Justin said softly.
"Is this a dream?"
"No it's not," Zack said, tears burning hotly in
his eyes. "I'm here. What happened?"
Justin shuddered and whimpered again. "Please
hold me Zack. I'm scared. Don't let him hurt me anymore."
Zack gathered Justin in his arms and lifted him
into the bed. He held him there tightly, rocking him gently.
"I wont," he said fiercely. "It was Sebastian
wasn't it?"
Justin nodded.
Zack removed one arm from Justin and reached for
the phone. He dialed JC and Britney's room. After a few rings
JC's voice answered.
"Hello?"
"It's me. Come down to Justin's room.
Now. Bring Britney and on your way tell Lonnie not to let anyone
else in hear until we say so."
"Alright, but is everything ok?"
"No. Just hurry."
Zack hung up the phone and went back to comforting
Justin. He smoothed his hair with one had and made soothing noises.
Justin snuggled up against him and stopped shaking. Zack felt tears
staining his cheeks. Tears of sorrow and of rage. That was
how JC and Britney found them a minute later.
"Oh god what happened," Britney cried.
"Sebastian," Zack growled.
"Just, are you alright," JC asked.
He nodded and buried his face in Zack's chest.
Britney started crying as she went to the bathroom
and got a wet washcloth to clean Justin's face.
"Did you call an ambulance," JC asked tightly.
"No. You're the only ones I called.
I think he's ok. Nothing broken. He should probably see a doctor
though."
JC nodded and picked up the phone.
"I'll have the hospital send an ambulance over.
They can check him out here and see if he needs treatment."
Zack nodded. "Then call the police and tell
them to arrest that bastard."
"Are you sure you want me to do that?"
"Are you crazy? Of course!"
"Wouldn't you rather wait for him to come back.
Then we could take care of him."
Zack shook his head. "I wont do that to Justin.
Call the cops and have them bring him in. Don't worry," he added
darkly. "Sebastian will get what's coming to him."
Well that was kind of exciting wasn't it?
Hold on kids cause it's not over yet. E-mail me with your thoughts
at zack02cool@hotmail.com. Until next time.