PART SIX

    Justin leaned over in his bed and grabbed his cell phone off of the table. He pushed the ‘talk’ button and dialed the number to Annie’s room at the hospital. The phone rang four times before anyone answered it. “Hello,” a woman’s voice replied.
    “Hey can I speak with Annie please?”
    “Annie is not here.”
    “Well do you know when she’ll be back?” he asked. He was surprised that she ventured out of her room.
    “No sir. She checked out last night.”
    “Last night? What?”
    “Well yes sir. Her doctor let her check out yesterday.”
    “Wow, okay thanks,” Justin sat up on his bed and rubbed his eyes. “Bye,” he said and then hung up his cell phone. “I can’t believe she didn’t let me know that she was getting discharged. Justin tried to wake up enough to clear his thoughts. He opened his phone up again and dialed Annie’s number. After almost ten rings Justin finally hung up. He hit clear on his phone and dialed JC’s number. “C, hey,” he said when he answered.
    “Justin, hey man,” JC said in a surprised tone.
    “Yeah uh, do you know where Annie is? I called the hos,” he started.
    “She got discharged bro,” he interrupted.
    “Yeah I know that now. I called her phone though and she isn’t answering. Do you know where she is?”
    “J you might wanna call Lance,” JC said trying to figure out what his best friend had spent the weekend doing.
    “Uhm, alright,” he stuttered. “I’ll talk to you later I guess.”
    “Later man,” he said and hung up his phone.
    Justin shook his head and sighed as he dialed Lance’s number. “Lance?”
    A very tired voice replied, “yeah?”
    “It’s Justin.”
    “Oh hey,” he scooted himself up in his bed.
    “Hey do you know where Annie is?”
    “Why?”
    “Uh because I don’t,” he said angrily.
    “And you care because?” Lance asked.
    “What the hell is going on?”
    “Don’t play all innocent Justin.”
    “What are you talking about Lance?” Justin was utterly confused and was beginning to get very upset. “Lance I asked you a question,” he said almost immediately when Lance hadn’t answered him.
    “Justin, Annie called you yesterday.”
    “Uh no she didn’t.”
    “Yes, she did. Some chic answered the phone.”
    Justin then remembered when the phone rang at his cabin and Tracey picked it up for him. Justin hit himself in the head, “Oh man, don’t tell me that.”
    “Justin don’t deny it. I was there and Annie was in tears man. She said she could hear you in the background yelling to just hang up.”
    “I said to hang up because no one was answering. I can’t believe you think that I would cheat on Annie.”
    “Well when stuff like this hits you dead on, it is kind of hard not to believe.”
    “Lance, that girl was Tracey. She works on the island at the cafe I ate at. She was in my room, when I was in THE OTHER room changing. She and I had no sort of fling. She’s the one that helped me figure out what the hell I was doing with my life.”
    Lance was silent.
    “Lance you have to believe me. Nothing happened.”
    “Look, even if I do believe you, it’s too late.”
    “What do you mean it’s too late?”
    “Annie called the airlines right after she checked out. She took the first flight out of here.”
    Justin hit his fists on the bed. “Where did she go?”
    “I don’t know.”
    “Lance where did she go?” he yelled.
    “She flew out to New York to see her best friend.”
    “She went out to Katie’s house?”
    “I guess.”
    “Lance!?”
    “Yes, Justin. Katie’s.”
    “Damnit,” he cursed. “Look, I gotta go.”
    “Where are you going?”
    “I’m gonna catch the next flight out of here. I gotta get home.”
    “Good timing J. She’s not here.”
    “I know that!” he yelled. “I can’t just go out to New York. I need to talk to her first.”
    “Well call me when you get here.”
    “Whatever,” he said and clicked off his phone. Anger took over him again and he just tried to breathe. He couldn’t believe that now, of all times, things were getting rough all over again. Justin had just thought he straightened everything out, but it was only getting worse again. Annie thought he was cheating on her. His own best friends didn’t even believe him.
    Justin grabbed all his stuff and threw it in his bags and then sat at the table in his room and called the airlines. He booked a flight out, but it wasn’t for another hour. He just wanted to go home and find a way to get a hold of Annie. He also needed to find a way to get the guys to believe him. Tracey was his only hope. He had to talk to her.

    Justin knew that Tracey should be just getting into the cafe for her morning shift. They were supposed to meet for brunch, but Justin would be gone by then. He opened the door to the cafe and looked around to see if he could find Tracey anywhere. Finally he spotted her in the back. Tracey had just turned in time to catch Justin out of the corner of her eye. Luckily no other customers were there yet, so he might have time to talk to her.
    “Justin what are you doing here?” she asked as she approached him.
    “We need to talk. Can you spare a couple minutes?”
    She looked at her watch and told him yeah. “Let’s go over here,” she said and pointed to a table in the back. Justin followed her to the booth and let out a huge sigh as he sat down. “Justin what’s wrong?” she asked. She could tell that something was wrong.
    “Annie left. The guys don’t believe me. She heard you.”
    “What? Whoa tiger. Start at the beginning.”
    “Yesterday Annie called. You answered the phone.”
    “When no one answered?”
    “Yeah, that was Annie.”
    “Oh man, and she thought that I,” she began.
    “Exactly,” he stated.
    “Justin I am so sorry.”
    “I didn’t even think when I told you to answer the phone. We do that all the time. Whoever is near the phone picks it up. I didn’t think it was a big deal.”
    “Neither did I.”
    “Well I called her and she didn’t answer. I then called JC and he said to call Lance. So I called Lance and he was acting like a royal prick the whole conversation. He thinks that I came up here and then had a hot fling with you.”
    “Justin I am so sorry.”
    “Yeah, well I finally managed to get Lance to tell me where Annie was.”
    “Where is she?”
    “She took the firsts flight out of Orlando. She went to New York to visit her friend. Tracey what if she doesn’t come back? What if I can’t convince her that nothing happened with us?”
    “I don’t know. If she really loves you, she’ll let you try to explain. Is there anything I can do?” she really did feel bad.
    “Can you talk to Lance for me?”
    “What?”
    “Look I’ll call him,” he said and took out his phone.
    Tracey got nervous. It was one thing to be talking to Justin, but to Lance too. “What am I supposed to say?”
    “Tell him I am freaking. I don’t know.”
    Justin handed the phone to Tracey right when it started ringing. “What?” a tired voice said.
    “Uh?”
    Lance opened his eyes as he heard the unfamiliar voice. “Hello?”
    “Is this Lance?”
    “Who is this?”
    “This is Tracey. I’m a friend of Justin’s.”
    “A friend huh?” he said.
    “Look Lance. Justin is spazzing out here. He told me what you guys all think. I just wanted to tell you myself that nothing happened with Justin and I. He never once made a pass at me. He loves Annie. She’s all that he talked about.”
    “Really?” he said relieved. Annie was like a sister to him, but then again Justin was like a brother to him. He hated having to choose sides. He did believe Tracey though, and Justin too for that matter.
    “Yes really.”
    “Tell Justin that I am sorry for accusing him, but he wasn’t stuck in my position when his girlfriend was crying her eyes out because you answered the phone.”
    “I understand that. Justin said that all of you answer each other’s phones. We really didn’t think anything of it.”
    “He’s right. I should have listened to his side before I took sides.”
    “Yes you should have. Justin too is going through a lot and needs just as much comfort as Annie does.”
    “I know. Thanks.”
    “Well, that’s all I got to say. Thanks for not hanging up on me or anything.”
    Laughed let out a soft chuckle. “Thanks for clearing it up. Tell J to call when he gets in town.”
    “I will. Bye.”
    “Thanks,” Justin said and took his phone back. “What did he say?”
    “He believes us. He said he was sorry, and he wants you to call when you get into town.”
    “Okay.”
    “So I guess that means you are leaving today huh?”
    Justin looked at his watch. “In less than an hour actually. I’m sorry Tracey. I just need to clear everything up and try to get my life back on track.”
    “Don’t apologize Justin.”
    Justin smiled.
    “Promise you’ll keep in touch?”
    “I promise. Thanks for everything Tracey. I really mean that.”
    “Anytime. Have a safe trip okay?”
    “I will.”
    “Remember what is important to you Justin.”
    “I will,” he said again.
    “Call me and let me know how things turn out,” she said and then took out her pen and wrote her number on a napkin. “I’m gonna miss you ya big dork,” she said trying to lighten the mood.
    “I’ll miss you too,” he said and took the napkin and shoved it in his pocket. “I should get going. I need to check my rental car in and stuff too.”
    “Okay.”
    “Maybe I will see you again sometime.”
    “And on better circumstances,” she laughed.
    “Right.”
    The two of them stood and hugged. “Bye Justin,” she said.
    “Bye,” he said back and then stepped out of the cafe for the last time.

    “Wait!” Justin yelled as he ran through the airport towards his terminal. “Wait,” he let out again as he got closer. He held out his ticket to the lady and tried to catch his breath.
    “You better hury sir,” she said sweetly and then pointed down the terminal hallway.
    “Thanks,” he said and took off down the hall. It took longer than he thought it would to turn in his rental car and then to pick up his tickets at the main desk of the airport. He was just thankful that the place wasn’t filled with screaming fans.
    Justin stepped onto the plane and head up to first class. He plopped himself into his seat and fastened his seatbelt. He listened to the lady tell the rules of flight, yada yada, and then leaned his head back in the seat and closed his eyes. Justin kept thinking about what he was going to say to Annie when he talked to her. Actually he kept thinking about the possibility of never seeing her again. What if she didn’t believe him? Or if she didn’t even give him the chance to explain it to her? All he could do was hope.

    “Katie that’s not what it’s like,” Annie said trying to stick up for Justin.
    “Annie he hit you. How could that not be what it is like? And why are you here? Because he was off with some girl while you were in the hospital.”
    Annie didn’t say anything.
    “That’s what I thought,” Katie said. “Annie look at you!”
    “Everyone makes mistakes.”
    “Oh my God girl. Listen to yourself. If you really thought that you wouldn’t have trucked out of Florida so fast after hearing some chic on your boyfriend’s phone.”
    “I just freaked okay. Maybe there is an explanation. I never even tried to call back to check.”
    “You just went with your instincts right?”
    “Yeah I guess, but,” she tried to fix it.
    “But nothing Annie.”
    “You should go into politics,” Annie tried to joke.
    “I’m serious here girl. You did the right thing. Leave the jerk alone.”
    “I just need some time is all.”
    “Time for you to go back and go through this all over again?”
    “Katie, stop. I didn’t come here for this. I need your support... not for you to tell me how stupid I was, or am,” Annie started crying.
    Katie went up to Annie and put her arms around her. “I’m sorry sweetie. I just don’t want to see you get hurt again.”
    “I know. But I love him so much Katie. I don’t understand what is going on.”
    “Neither,” she was interrupted by the phone, “do I,” she finished and then picked up the phone.
    “Katie this is Lance. Can I talk to Annie?”
    “Yeah, hang on. Annie,” she said and handed her the phone. “It’s Lance.”
    “Lance?”
    “Yeah. I just got a call from Justin.”
    “Lance I really don’t,” he cut her off.
    “That girl was no one Annie. I even talked to her. She told me how all Justin did was talk about you.”
    “Really?” she said and another tear fell.
    “Yes.”
    “Look Lance... I just can’t talk to him right now, or see him.”
    “He loves you Annie bear.”
    “I love him too, but I can’t see him. I need my time. Please don’t tell him you talked to me.”
    “If that’s what you really want.”
    “It is,” she said. She thought that she wanted it at least. She wasn’t actually sure what she wanted.
    “Okay. Take care Annie. Justin is on a plane home right now, just so you know. I‘m sure he‘ll call.”
    “Thanks Lance. I’ll talk to you later okay.”
    “Okay,” he said and hung up the phone.
    Annie just put her head in her hands and tried to get rid of everything. She just wanted everything to be like it was before that horrible night.

    Justin tapped his foot on the floor of the airplane as the flight seemed to take forever. He gently hit his head on his head rest of the chair. He did this a numerous amount of times before he got bored with it.
    “We’ll be landing soon. Please put your seats in the upright position, put on your seatbelts, and make sure your tray is up in the locked position,” a voice said over the intercom.
    “Finally,” Justin said and fastened his seatbelt. A few minutes later, the plane came to a complete stop and Justin got up. He grabbed his smaller bag that he brought with him. “Ah crap,” he said as he entered the hallway. Justin had just remembered that he was back in Orlando, and it was the afternoon, and the tabloid had been out for a few days. He needed a security guard with him. Justin took out his phone and dialed Mike’s number. “Hey, I am at the airport, you think you can come help me outta here?”
    “Sure. Give me ten. Hide out.”
    “I will,” Justin said and then hurried along to a little area that he and the guys always waited at if they had to.
    A little over ten minutes later, the big guy that Justin had been waiting for showed up. “Let’s go,” he said.
    “Gladly,” Justin replied and followed Mike out. A few girls caught sight of him, but it wasn’t anything major. Justin was relieve when he got to his car. The two of them headed out and Justin was thriving getting to his own place and trying to get everything fixed again.

    Slowly the door creaked as Justin entered it. He threw his bags on the floor and went straight to his phone and check for messages. After listening to almost ten messages, he sighed in pain. There was none from Annie. “Dang it all,” he said as then sat on his couch. He reached over and grabbed the portable phone off the hook and dialed Lance’s number.
    “Hello?”
    “Lance, it’s me. I just wanted to let you know that I am here.”
    “Thanks,” he said. He wanted to tell Justin so bad that he had talked to Annie and that she knew the truth now, but he promised that he wouldn’t say anything.
    “Well I gotta go. I need to get a hold of Annie.”
    “Okay. I’ll talk to you later then.”
    “Later,” he then clicked the ‘off’ button on the phone. He stared at the phone and then got up and went over to the desk near the staircase. Justin opened the drawer and shuffled through the papers and stopped when he came across a small note pad. “Bingo,” he said and took it out of the desk.
    “Hello,” a voice said after four rings.
    “Katie?”
    “Who is this?”
    “This is Justin.”
    “Oh, hi.”
    “Look, I need to talk to Annie. Is she there?”
    “Sorry, but she’s in the shower right now.”
    Justin bit his lower lip and replied with, “well can you tell her to call me?”
    “I’ll tell her you called, yes,” she said and then ended with a brief goodbye and hung up.
    “Thanks,” Annie said from the other side of the living room.
    “No problem,” Katie said back. “You can’t avoid him forever you know.”
    “Yes, I know that. I just need my time. I can’t guarantee anything right now though.”
    “Did you believe what Lance told you?”
    “Lance would never tell me something that he didn’t believe himself.”
    “I guess this is all up to you then now.”
    “I guess so,” she relied back and ran her hands through her hair. “I just wish it wasn’t so hard to fix.”
    “Life isn’t a box of chocolates.”
    “No kidding. Who ever told Forrest’s mom that lied to her,” she tried to joke back.
    “You’ll figure it out,” Katie told Annie. Katie took the two glasses off of the coffee table and headed to the kitchen to leave Annie with some time alone to think.

    About two hours after Justin’s arrival home he heard the doorbell ring. He jogged down his stairs and headed for the front door. “I’m coming,” he yelled as he hit the last step. When he made it to the door he was greeted by JC.
    “Hey bro.”
    “Hey,” Justin said back. “Come on in,” he said and turned so that JC could walk past him. He closed the door after JC stepped in and then followed him into the living room. “Want something to drink or anything?”
    “Uh, yeah. Get me one of those Code Red’s. You got any left?”
    Justin chuckled. “I have a lot left.” JC had secretly stocked up Justin’s second fridge with a bunch of the red Mountain Dew’s.
    “I just had to make sure, ya know,” he laughed back.
    Justin went into the kitchen and got both him and JC a drink and also grabbed the bag of chips off the top of the refrigerator. “So?” he asked. Justin knew that JC had stopped by for a reason.
    “So what?”
    “I know you’re here for something. Did you come to hassle me about Tracey too?”
    “No. I talked to Lance earlier and he gave me the low down. I was surprised that she didn’t like try to hit on you at all.”
    “She didn’t. Tracey was an amazing girl. She reminded me a lot of Annie in some ways. We talked a lot and she was there for me when I nearly fell apart yesterday.”
    “What happened?”
    “Well I went to that counseling thing that I told Annie about. It was like down in a shopping center thing. Anyhow, I ran across a tabloid and it screwed with my head. A lot.”
    “We all saw that same tabloid Justin. You of all people should know that those things are all lies anyway. Hardly anyone believes anything that is printed in them.”
    “I know, but it just fucked with my brain man. I had thought that I was gonna go there and fix whatever was wrong with me, or at least find out what made me snap. Instead I find tabloids that just,” he tried to finish.
    JC finished for him, “I know what you mean.”
    “Anyhow, I freaked out and went buck wild. I drove back to my cabin like a manic and I went out on to the shore and just,” he paused. “I cried. It hurts no more to admit it, than to do it. I was a mess JC. Thoughts were going through my head, and I was remembering all the great times I had with Annie. Then Tracey showed up. I was embarrassed because I was letting down my front, and I couldn’t let anyone see me like that. She tried to talk to me and I blew up at her and she took off.”
    “Wow.”
    “No kidding. I didn’t mean to yell, but she just showed up at the wrong time.”
    “So if you scared her off, how did she help you?”
    “Once I got my act together I went over to her cabin and apologized to her. We went out on the horses and stopped somewhere and just talked. It felt like it was for forever. She made me realize that the reason I got all angry with Annie was because she threatened to leave me. I can’t begin to imagine my life without her C.”
    “So you think all this anger was brought out because of this?”
    “Well, the majority of it yes. I am assuming that the stress only topped it off. I’m gonna talk to Rae. Tracey also helped me understand that I don’t have to go into any kind of detail with Rae, which is what I was afraid I would have to do. I just need someone to talk to. Someone to lead me into my own thoughts, ya know.”
    “Well if anyone is good at that, Rae is.” The both laughed because they knew exactly what JC meant by that comment. Rae could say one thing and the guys would go into something totally off the wall, and she smuggled secret information out of a few of them because of it.
    “I just need to talk to Annie.”
    “Well try calling her.”
    “I did and Katie said she was in the shower.”
    “Try later then.”
    “I think I will. I just have to talk to her. I need to have her here with me so I can fix everything.”
    “Well bro, good luck. Things are gonna work out just fine,” JC said and he got up and grabbed his soda.
    “Where you off to?”
    “I, Casanova, have a date.”
    “A date?” Justin said in a surprised manner.
    “Yup. Diane, the little girl we met, has a very beautiful and smart sister. I went out with her yesterday too.”
    “Well congrats man. You deserve something good after that last gold digging girl you brought home.”
    “Yeah yeah. Well, I’ll talk to you tomorrow and find out what is going down.”
    “Okay,” he said and followed him to the door. “Thanks for kinda just listening.”
    “Anytime,” JC replied and lightly punched Justin in the arm. “Later,” he said and then trotted down the sidewalk to his car.
    Justin went back inside and tried to figure out what he would say to Annie if he got a hold of her later that night. It had to make a point, and a strong one for that matter. He needed to make sure that she knew just how much he loved her, and how much he needed her there with him.

    It was eleven at night and Justin was laying in his bed staring at the ceiling. Justin drummed his finger tips on the headboard of his bed, and he kept looking over at the clock and watching the little red numbers morph into different ones. He wanted to call Annie, but he was afraid that for some reason she wouldn’t be there again. Justin knew that the only way to find out would be for him to call, so he clicked on his phone and dialed Katie’s number again.
    Annie was still awake, sitting in the living room watching TV and munching on some popcorn. Katie had crashed on the couch and finally decided to get up and go to bed a little while earlier, so when the phone rang Annie reached over quickly to get it so that it didn’t wake Katie up. “Hello?” she said in a soft whisper as if Katie was within hearing distance.
    “Annie?” Justin said when he heard her sweet voice. He was so glad that he actually caught her.
    Annie was shocked that he would call again, in the same day even. “Yeah?” she finally answered.
    “Did I wake you?”
    “No, I was still awake.”
    “Did you get my message?”
    “Yeah, I’ve just been kind of busy.”
    “Oh,” he said back in a low voice. “Look, Annie,” he began.
    “Justin I really don’t want to talk about it right now.”
    “But Annie you have to hear me out. I know you think I am a low down jerk who played you for a fool over the weekend, but I didn’t. I promise I didn’t.”
    “Justin,” she tried.
    “No, I’m not done.”
    “Yes Justin, you are. I can’t be dealing with this right now. I don’t even know who you are anymore.” Annie was trying to think of the words to say. “You have turned into this man that I can’t even,” she was trying so hard not to hate him all over again, “that I can’t even trust,” she finished finally. “The fact that I had to worry when I heard that girl’s voice. I shouldn’t have had that doubt in my mind Justin.”
    “But...”
    “No, I don’t care if she was no one, and if you didn’t do anything.” Annie’s voice was starting to crack.
    “Nothing happened,” he interrupted.
    “The point is that the trust I had vanished in those ten seconds that I was on the phone listening to the two of you talk.” Annie took a deep breath and then continued. “Justin, I was in the hospital trying to recover from the hell that you put me through, and you were off... off,” she stuttered, “off spending time with some chic. Not a professional. I wanted you to be with me so bad Justin,” she cried. “But instead, I tried to understand that you had to leave to clear your own thoughts and get yourself back on track.”
    “And I am trying.”
    “I don’t know if it is going to be good enough Justin.”
    A single tear fell down Justin’s face.
    “I wanted this to work so bad,” she cried out.
    “And now you don’t?” his voice also cracked.
    “I don’t know what I want anymore, but I do know that I can’t talk to... I don’t want to talk to.”
    “But Annie, we can fix this. I love....”
    “Goodbye Justin,” she said and hung up.
    Justin stared at the phone in disbelief and then clicked the off button and set it beside him on the bed.
    That was the hardest thing that Annie had ever had to do. She really didn’t know what it was that she wanted. She hated him, but she loved him at the same time. On one side, she wanted to be with him, but on the other, she just didn’t want anything to do with him. It was all just something that she couldn’t deal with.
    Back in Florida, Justin was still laying in his bed. He was on his stomach, with his face smothered into the pillow, and he was doing everything he could just to keep himself from breaking down and crying like he did on the island. So instead, he just let the anger get pent up inside of him, and with a few tears falling, he fell into a deep calming sleep.

Part Seven