torch, [email protected]
October 2, 2005
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Totally normal
Like, he and JC'd had the Mouseketeer bond from way back when, and he'd gotten pretty close to Lance during those years of always sharing a room, and of course then he and Chris had discovered that they practically shared a brain. JC'd had a period of looking after Lance, and stuff, even though it was funny now to think that Lance had ever needed a protective big brother and that JC could ever have looked convincing in the role. Joey and Lance had done the movie thing and Lance was Briahna's godfather. JC and Joey went through these phases when they hung out and laughed and mock-wrestled and had some running joke about pizza toppings that no one else got or wanted to try to get. Stuff like that.
It was totally normal. It was what they did. So this new thing where JC and Chris were always together, and JC was somehow always in the background when Justin called Chris, and Chris kept saying things like "Gotta go now, J, C and I are gonna go bowling," or catch a movie, or mess around in the studio, that was just one of these things, too. Like the other things.
Justin was busy, anyway. Really busy. He put the phone down and rested his elbows on his knees, let his hands dangle. Wake-up call at five, cereal, hotel gym booked at five thirty, stylist at seven, first appearance at eight. It was good to know that his friends were keeping busy, too. Really good.
He flopped back and closed his eyes and fell asleep without taking his sneakers off.
The next day, he called JC instead of Chris.