Part 6

Justin was just falling asleep, his head rolling to land on JC's, but the other didn't notice, just shifted, pressing into Justin more.

A cell phone vibrating against his leg shook Justin and his hand blindly reached out, groping for the small phone. He brought it out and pressed it to his ear.

"What?"

"What the fuck is going on?! Justin, where the fuck are you and Marcelle?! Oh my... oh my..."

Justin groaned. Great.

"Look, Slim it wasn't our fault-"

"I don't care who the fuck's fault it is, was. Where are you?"

Justin cleared his throat and nudged JC off of his shoulder, the man's body falling over. Justin raised an eyebrow quickly before standing up from his seat, the brunette getting comfortable.

"Alright, so me and Marcelle was just chillin, getting a smoke, walkin, ya know? And then these girls tried to get hit, but we wasn't bout them. So then we were telllin'' em no, and these dudes rolled up on us from nowhere and the bitch was telling the guy that I was tryna get at her. So then, ya know... we was doing whatever and we got into this thing-"

"Thing? That's what you call it?"

"It was just a little fight. And me and Marcelle was running, right? And then they just pulled out they guns and got Marcelle in the leg. We're at the hospital right now. We're waiting for the doctor to tell us if he's alright-"

"We?"

Justin nodded and looked at JC again. "That cop. He gave us a ride."

The other line was silent for a while and Justin bit his lip, anticipating.

"He gave you a ride? The cop actually gave yall a ride... damn, maybe he is one of those do gooders." Slim thought aloud.

"Hold up, how'd you find out?"

Slim shook his head. "Not only did they go by your place, and Marcelle's-"

"They know who we are?" Justin grunted, knowing this couldn't be good.

"You white people aren't smart, I tell ya. You are the only cracka on our side and you know how you two are, always together and shit. So they got all their 64 boys-"

"Fuck! They were 64's?" Justin looked around when the desk person gasped. He took a deep breath and headed for the exit doors.

As he passed and settled into the sunlight, he took a deep breath. "Ok, hold up. So they were 64's?"

"Hell yea they were. What were you thinking goin round there-"

"We wasn't even paying attention." Justin kicked the ground. "So they was at my house?"

"And Marcelle's. And mine, motherfucker! They came in and tried to rough me up, asked where you were. Boy, you in some deep shit."

Justin wiped a hand across his forehead. "Fuck, slim. Fuck!" He turned around and kicked the wall. "I didn't mean to... god, this is not what I need-"

"Us either, white boy. What are you gonna do?"

Justin shook his head, tearing up his lip. "I don't fucking know... god dammit! Stupid dumbass broad."

"Well you can't come round 'here. They got your ass marked." Slim warned and Justin's eyes became wide.

"They got me marked? Fuck, man. Just cause I gave him a single punch?"

Slim sighed on the other line. "You made that mistake-"

"He was motherfucking choking Marcelle, what was I s'pposed to do?"

Slim was silent and Justin leaned against the wall.

"J..." Justin breathed in deeply. "You can't come back here."

"Mr. Timberlake?" The doctor bent down and shook JC's shoulder who jolted up, clearing his throat and blinking rapidly. "Mr. Timberlake?"

JC shook his head and looked over to his left, finding Justin missing. He looked to his left, no Justin. "But um, I'm his friend. Is everything ok?"

The doctor nodded. "Is Mr. Timberlake here?"

JC looked around him again and shrugged. "Maybe he went to the bathroom or something. But anyway, is he ok?"

The doctor nodded again and checked his chart. "He's more than ok. Luckily, the bullet wasn't deep and the worst is that he will have to be in a wheelchair, or on crutches for at least 3 weeks. He's gonna need to stay overnight though, just so we can observe his vitals. He did loose a lot of blood, an unusual amount of blood so we'll be keeping him for that. Well, if you'd like to go in and see Mr. Giuseppe, you may now. Though visitor hours left at least 8 hours ago." he laughed to himself and JC just nodded sleepily, the joke sailing right over his head. The doctor nodded. "Alright, well, if you see Mr. Timberlake, be sure to relay that to him?"

JC sat up and popped a joint subtly. "Sure thing. Thanks." he said and the doctor nodded before walking down the long corridor, his feet loud against the squeaky clean floors.

JC looked around, searching for Justin's face again. He wanted to get home and in his bed, but he didn't want to leave Justin hanging like that.

But, 15 minutes later JC's eyes wouldn't stay up and he blinked hard. He had gotten Justin and his friend here. He had done enough.

He stood up, walking out the exit yawning greatly. That's when he saw Justin leaning against the wall, talking animatedly into a cell phone. He turned to Justin and waved a hand in front of his face.

The blonde looked up, and his eyes brightened but no smile accompanied it, unfortunately. Justin held up his finger.

"Ey, Slim. I'll talk to you in a minut-... it wasn't MY fault, I-... ah, forget it, I'm ghost." Justin pressed the off button with his thumb, his eyes trained on JC. "Ey, JC-"

"Ah, so he knows my name. Didn't think you did." JC gave him a tired smile and continued. "Right, so your friend is alright. But he's gotta use crutches. And you can visit him... or something. He's staying over but just for a night and..." he racked his brain, his tongue coming to the corner of his mouth as he thought. He looked back to Justin. "Oh, nothing more. And now I'm gonna head on home, and your welcome." Justin jumped at him and he stepped back.

"Wait, about going home... Well..." Ah, what was he thinking? Was he crazy? Maybe, but he knew he needed a place to stay for a night. "Ah, see there's these people that are now, after me and... Well... ya know, since ya helped us this much I was thinking maybe... maybe I could. I know this is crazy talk," he looked up. "Considering the shit between us but maybe I could-"

"No."

Justin stopped talking and his face screwed up. "Do you even know what I was gonna ask?"

"Yes, you need a place to stay. You could tell by your face. And the answer is no." He shook his head, silencing Justin's protest. "Considering the shit between us, the answer is no."

Justin scowled and he was getting angry quickly. All this man had to do was let him stay on his couch for a few days. Nothing too damn drastic! He opened his mouth to protest again but JC looked back at him.

"If you stay, you gotta help me."

Justin's mouth shut and he narrowed his wary eyes. "What do you want?"

"You help me get on the inside. Hell you are the inside. Alright, I need you to help me get it through these people's heads that we're not a threat... or at least I'm not-"

"That's bullshit. I can't preach about something I don't believe."

JC shrugged. It was merely business now. "Fine, guess I'll see ya around." He started for his car but turned around pointing a finger at Justin. "Oh wait, maybe not." He turned back around, smiling to himself when he heard Justin's feet padding after him.

"Dammit, alright. I'll fucking help you.. .or whatever, but I aint guaranteeing shit."

JC nodded. "You at least have to believe me though. I'm not here to pick winners out of yall. I'm just tryna smooth out these streets. We won't do anything to yall."

Justin looked at him with suspicious eyes, and silently weighed his choices. Go back to 118, get his ass killed in 2 seconds flat. Or, go with the cop who says he's not one and help him do his good deed of the year...

Justin licked his lips and looked at the man before him for a long second before nodding, walking to the brunette's car.

JC followed with a small smile on his face. Maybe this could work out after all.

He snuck a glance at Justin when they were in the car, the young man's face handsome and JC blushed.

Maybe this could work out after all... for the both of them.