Chapter Thirty Eight

"Eryn, when I was talking to you on the phone those nights," Lance took a deep breath. "And you would always say, you are such a great friend, and stuff. You honestly never thought of me as anything more?"

Eryn hesitated, debating whether to tell him the truth. "I did." She admitted. "I mean, you were so nice, and stuff... and you WERE such a great friend..."

"Okay, I just wanted to know," Lance said, starting to get up.

"Wait," Eryn said, putting a hand on Lance's shoulder. He sat back down. "Lance... if I told you, right now, that I liked you and Justin, what would you say to this?" She leaned over and kissed him. This time, Lance kissed back.

***

Justin walked into the washroom to look for a clean bandage. I can't find any, he thought, looking through the doors. Maybe Eryn or Sasha had them in their one of their rooms.

He walked down the hall to Eryn's bedroom.

***

Lance pushed back. "Someone's coming," he whispered. He got off the bed, and walked over to the window, pretending he was looking at something. Eryn grabbed her magazine.

Justin walked in. "Hey guys."

"Hey, Justin," Eryn said, avoiding his eyes.

"Hi," he answered. Eryn walked over to him, and kissed his cheek. "How was your day?"

"Good," she said. "And yours?"

"Fun," he said. "Hey Lance."

"Hey," Lance mumbled, embarrassed.

"Eryn, I need to put on a new bandage, do you have any clean gauze?" Justin asked her.

"Yeah, it's in the living room, from when I changed yours yesterday," she answered.

"Thanks," he said, kissing her cheek. He walked out of the room.

"Oh, that was way too close," Eryn said, breathing a sigh of relief. "I mean, out of all people, too, Justin had to -"

Lance slowly turned around and cut her off. "I love you," he said softly.

***

"I can't believe how big of a loser you are!" JC exclaimed to Chris. "I mean, I thought my life was bad, but you just suck!"

"Yeah. I know," Chris said sarcastically. "Hey, are you guys in the mood for take out or something tonight?"

"Sure," Joey said. "That sounds good. From where?"

"I don't know..." Chris said. "How about Chinese?"

"Chinese is good," JC agreed.

"Yeah, sounds good," Joey said.

"What sounds good?" Justin asked, walking into the room.

"Chinese, for dinner," Joey said.

"Okay," Justin said. "Do you want me to ask Eryn and Lance what they want?"

"I will," JC offered. "You've done too much today. You need to relax."

"Thanks," Justin said, wincing in pain as he took off his soiled bandage.

JC walked upstairs.

***

Eryn stopped breathing. "L-L-Lance..." she stammered. "I mean, wow... Words can't express what I am thinking, I mean, I just-"

"Eryn," Lance cut her off again. "I don't want you to say anything. I just wanted to-"

"Hey guys," JC said, walking in the room. He noticed how quiet it was. "Am I interrupting? Because I can just come back and..."

"No, no," Eryn smiled. "Don't be ridiculous. What would you like?"

"Um, I was just wondering if you guys wanted Chinese food for dinner. Chris was going to order it." JC said.

"Sounds great," Eryn said.

"Yeah, great," Lance echoed.

"Good," JC said. "Later on, can I talk to you Lance?"

"Sure," Lance said. "Bye..."

"Hint, hint," JC smiled. "Okay, see you. I'll let you know when it's dinner..."

"Thanks," Eryn said, and JC walked out of the room.

***

JC walked downstairs. "Chinese food is alright," he reported.

"Great," Chris said. He picked up the phonebook, found a place and called. He put in their orders. "Okay, he said it would be about twenty minutes. Who's going to pick it up?"

"I will," JC offered.

"Great," Chris said.

***

"I think I should have kept that to myself," Lance said quietly.

"Why?" Eryn said. "I mean, how long have you felt this way?"

"For a little while," Lance admitted. "I do... Eryn, I really do. It's so hard to see you and Justin together."

"I really like Justin," Eryn told him. "But when we were friends, I liked you... our conversations made me feel so good. I know this sounds crazy, but..."

"But what?" Lance asked.

"I really want to say I feel the same way," Eryn said. "But I also really like Justin. I swear Lance, if Justin wasn't here, I would tell you everything. But right now, I am with Justin, and after being away from him for so long, I can't give him up. I'm sorry."

"That's okay," Lance strained a small smile. "I understand. I mean, it's okay... Really."

"I'm so sorry, Lance," she said.

"I said, it's okay," Lance said. "I think we should go downstairs..."

"They're probably wondering where we are," Eryn said. "I'm really glad we talked. Do you think our friendship can stay the way it used to be?"

"I think that would be a good idea," Lance said.

***

"It's been twenty minutes, JC," Chris said. "And I'm starving." He picked up the keys on the table and tossed them to him. "Go get my food."

"Sure," JC laughed. He picked up Chris's wallet and took some money. "Thanks."

"No problem," Chris said, making a face. JC walked out the door.

Lance and Eryn walked downstairs. "Hey guys," Lance said. "Who just left? JC?"

"Yeah," Justin said.

"That's great," Lance said. "I wanted to suggest something that we could do for JC... for his birthday."

"What is it?" Joey asked.

"Okay, you know, he's pretty down lately, right? I mean, the thing with Sasha, and I don't think this break was the best thing for him. He seems lost without his singing and dancing."

"I know what you mean," Chris said. "He really needs something to lift his spirits. What did you have in mind?"

"A surprise party," Lance said triumphantly. "He'll love it."

"That's a great idea!" Justin exclaimed. "Are we going to have it on his birthday?"

"Sure," Lance said. "But the only people we can invite are who are here... and Sasha."

"That's enough," Justin said. "We'll get everything he likes. We'll have it here, I guess."

"Yeah," Lance replied. "I don't know, and I think we should go all out and buy him something special. Something that he would really like... but I have no idea what."

"Neither do I," Chris said. "But we have about a week to figure it out." The front door opened. Chris dropped his voice down to a whisper. "Okay, he's home, we'll talk about this later."

"Hey guys," JC said, setting down two brown bags full of Chinese food. "Time to eat!"

End of Chapter Thirty Eight