‘Till the Next Time

Forgiveness

Justin limped back to the apartment he was sharing with Ethan. The rain masked the tears that were flowing freely down his face. This was the only place he had to go to, well for now that is.

Ethan wasn’t the man he thought he was. Ethan lied; he never meant what he said about forever loving Justin. He just liked the way Justin looked and wanted him to make everyone else jealous about his lover. He wanted Justin all to himself. That’s why he had started saying all of those untrue things, such as none of the gang wanted him with them anymore. Justin had broken Brian, so why would they want him to be with them?

Justin hadn’t believed him at all at first, but then he say the faces of his old friends one day as he was walking by the diner. They had stopped talking when they saw him and had just glared. It was at that moment that he started to buy into what Ethan was saying. Somehow, one part of him never truly believed. And tonight that part grew, until it started to take over him. He would find a way to make them want to be with him. He would win back their friendship, no matter what it took. Then he would get Brian back. Even if it killed him, he would get him back.

Justin, by now had reached the place where he was living with that sick liar. This had been the place where he thought he would live for the next few years, until they both finished school and moved some place wonderful. That dream was shattered by the one who had helped him build it. He turned on the light. Ethan wasn’t back yet; he was most likely fucking some guy from his inner circle of violin players. The light showed how the two had merged their lives together, even after such a short time.

He walked to where he kept his sketchbooks. There were only three of them here; these were the ones that meant the most to him . He picked up the first one, the one he was still working in when his dad beat-up Brain. This is the one he had taken to New York. He flipped the pages until he found the drawing of that beautiful woman that Brain had taken them all to see, after he had found Justin. She was a wonderfully kind woman, who seemed to have known Brain for a good part of their lives.

Before they had left her house, she had taken Justin aside and had written her cell and home phone numbers on the sketch he had done of her. All she had said to explain her actions was that Brain could be hard to deal with and if he ever needed anything to call her. He never had taken her offer seriously until now. He had always thought that he would be with Brain and everything would be okay. He had been wrong. So now he reached for the phone and started to dial her cell number, which she had said would always be on and answered more than the home phone. It started to ring, he prayed that she still remembered him and her offer.

“Hello?” A voice said on the other side.

“Yes, is Mela there? It’s Justin, the boy she met with Brian in New York,” He answered hesitantly.

“I remember you, Justin. What do you need? To tell you the truth, I’ve been waiting for this call, ever since I heard that you left Brain for Ethan,” her call voice relived Justin’s worries that she may not help him.

“I need a place to stay. Ethan and I just broke up and I don’t want to stay here anymore. How do you know about Ethan and me?,” he was curios, now that the hard part of asking for help was over. Brian had once said that being a man meant knowing when to ask for help and this sure was one of those times.

“You can stay with me. I have a townhouse near P.I.F.A’s main campus. I’ll be in Pittsburgh in about an hour. I have a meeting there, so it all will work out fine. I have my sources to find things out and keep tabs on everyone. Trust me, when you have become one of my friends, I watch out for you,” Mela was prepared for this moment. Ever since she had heard that Justin and Brian had broken up with out him trying to convince Justin to stay, she had been wait for Justin to call and ask for help.

“Thank you so much, Mela,” Justin slumped down in his seat. He never wanted to see Ethan again, and thanks to this woman, he at least wouldn’t have to live with him again.

“You’re welcome. Now, gather up all of the most important things you have, along with some clothes. If you don’t get it all together, I’ll buy you some new stuff. That is my gift to you, because I was never told of your birthday and have probably missed it. And I think that you needed some new things to start a new chapter in your life with. In an hour and a half meet me at Liberty Diner. Get something to eat, and I’ll pick you up there. Do you remember what I look like?,” Justin was happy to let someone else take care of him for now.

“Long black hair, 5 ft, and white skin with a darker undertone,” she was hauntingly beautiful, so that is why he remembered her so well.

“Yes, you truly are an artist. The only thing that has changed since we saw each other, is my hair. It now has sliver hints to it. I’ll see you in an hour and a half.”

“We shall. Good bye for now, Mela.”

“Good bye, Justin.”

With those last words, Mela hung up the phone. Justin still had his ear pressed to it, sitting there in a daze until the dial tone woke him up. He walked around the rooms picking up what were the most important items to him. His drawing things went into one suitcase with the computer Brian had gotten him. It was now a laptop, with the same drawing program. He fit some of his favorite books in there as well. With what room was left, he put some clothes in. In another suitcase, he put more clothes in and some random objects. The last bag he filled was his backpack. In it he put all the drawing he did for ‘Rage’ in it along with some of his school things.

He was lucky that there was only one week left until the semester was over. Then he would have a few months to deal with the way his life was going. He looked at the clock. Time had been flying by. It had taken him an hour to pack all of his things. He only had a half an hour to get to the diner and have some food, if he could eat.

He strapped on his backpack and lugged his two suitcases down the stairs. When he had reached the door and was outside, he looked up. Then he remembered he had never written Ethan a note to say good bye, but Ethan knew that he had to leave. What had happened could never be taken back with kind words and a gentle smile. It was too late. And so, Justin turned around and in doing that action he closed the chapter of his life that included living and loving Ethan. He got a taxi to the diner and waited for Mela.

What he didn’t expect to find was ‘the boys’ having dinner. Of course, since Debbie did work there, Michael came by with the others to get together before doing something. It was their meeting place. The place where they could plan what to do or just hang out before they had to go their own ways.

He opened the door and looked around. It was a habit he hadn’t bothered breaking yet, because he hadn’t been here in forever it seemed. There they were. Sitting there, trying to get Brian to go something other than just sit there and stare off into space. He hated seeing Brian like that. He knew it was his fault. If only... well things did happen. He had always loved hearing the bell above the door ring and no matter where he was, he always looked to see who it was. Now, he hated that bell because it told them all that he was there.

Debbie heard the bell, too, and looked up. “Hey there, Sunshine.” She said breaking out into that smile she had when ever they saw each other. “Long time, no see. What have you been up to, stranger?”

He looked up from the floor, with no trace of his trademark smile. Debbie knew in that moment something was wrong. She knew that before she even had seen the bags he had. She was always telling him to hang out with people his own age. Well, he had and he was worse off for it.

“Debbie, I don’t want to talk about it. I just want something to eat before I’m picked up,” the sadness in his eyes scared her. She had never seen such sadness in anyone’s eyes before. He looked like he had just had the whole world’s sadness put on his shoulders.

“Sure, Sunshine. Let me help you with those bags. Where are you going?” she asked as she walked around the counter to help him with his bags.

“I’m going to stay at a friend’s house until my life makes sense again.”

‘The boys’ had all heard Debbie call out ‘Sunshine’. But, they didn’t believe it was him until they heard his voice. That was when they all, but Brian turned around to look at the door. There he was, looking even sadder than Brian did, if that was possible. Emmett was the first one to do anything. He called out saying, “Hey, honey. How are you?”

Justin didn’t seem to hear him as he went to the counter and ordered a muffin and hot coco. That was when they all, even Brian got up and walked to him. He didn’t notice as the seats around him were taken up. He was only thinking about what had happened. If he hadn’t been trying to save his friend from getting hurt, then maybe he wouldn’t have gotten hurt. But, who could tell what would have happened?

“Boy Wonder.” Those two words woke him up to the fact that he wasn’t sitting by himself at the counter anymore. He looked to the right and the left and saw the whole gang there, watching him.

“Yes?” That one word sounded it had come from the mouth of a little lost kid. The one thing that Justin hated feeling like. If anyone had wanted to tear him apart, now was the time. They all saw this and changed what they were about to say to him.

“Where’s Ethan?,” Ted asked. He would always ask the plain questions, so that they could get to the not so plain ones.

“What that lying, stupid, selfish, cheating bastard? You really want to know where he is, well let me tell you. I have no fucking clue where he is and I don’t give a flying fuck about it.” He whispered in such a voice filled with hatred that they all thought to themselves that it would have been better if he had yelled.

As they all looked at each other over his head, the door open. The bell rang and Justin looked up. There was the angel that had taken him in without asking a question. He sat up and waved to her. She came over and put a hand on his shoulder.

“Justin, are you ready to go?,” her voice was the motherly sound he needed.

“Yes, I am,” he looked up to her with trust filled eyes that she would hate to break.

“Here, Sunshine, your hot coco to go and a muffin. And you would be?” the last part of what she said was to Mela.

“Thank you, Debbie,” Justin said getting up to go.

“My name is Mela. Justin called me to ask for help and I’m giving it to him. Your bags?” Mela asked Justin, holding out her hands. He gave them to her and they left. The door was closing before any of them could react.

Brian looked up at Debbie and said, “Don’t worry about him. He is in the best of hands. Mela is a close friend, I had them meet in case he needed anything, ever that he didn’t feel like he could ask us for. She will tell us anything we need to know.”

They all looked at him with amazement in their eyes. This was the first time in a while that Brain had talked without being asked something first and for so long. Maybe having this Mela here wasn’t all that bad. If she could make Brian talk without even being in the room and make Justin happier, then maybe the world wasn’t going to end in the next few

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