Chapter Eight

"This one's good. My personal favorite."

Dru stared at the cover of the CD, as Justin got up to pop the disc into the player. She shrugged. No, she had absolutely no clue as to who the man in the picture was.

"You like him?" Justin inquired as he depressed the play button on the player. Immediately, the soulful sounds of Al Green began to fill the large hotel room.

"I don't know him." Dru admitted, twirling a strand of her hair around her finger.

Justin's eyes widened. "You don't know who Al Green is?"

She cocked her head to the side. "Why...is he famous?"

"Famous!" Justin excalimed. "D...the man is a living legend."

She rolled her eyes. Now he called her D. Yesterday it had been Dru, and now it was D. She didn't like D. Her mother had never called her D. "My name is Dru." She grumbled.

He didn't hear her. "In order to be in my posse D, you have to be an Al Green fan."

"Dru." She repeated.

Still not hearing her, he snatched the CD case out of her hands. He scanned the back of it with his eyes, searching for a certain song. "There." He shot up off the bed again, and quickly changed the song. "This song especially. This song is like...history." He began to hum along with the track, and a moment later, not being able to contain himself any longer, began to sing along.

Dru sat back, and listened, a smile of awe spread across her face. His voice was amazing, even better than Mr. Green's. Every note was met, and every verse that he sang, sounded like it was coming from his own personal experiences. Suddenly the song wasn't Al Green's song anymore. It was Justin's. Nobody could sing this song, quite like he could. Dru frowned as the song ended. She hadn't had wanted it to end. She knew she could have probably sat there all night, and just listened to him sing. "You sing really well." Dru smiled.

Justin nodded. "I know." He responded, without a smile.

"Oh." She muttered.

His ego hadn't gotten any smaller. If anything, it had grown in the few days she had been in the hotel.

Justin lowered the volume on the stereo and sat back down on the bed. "I didn't come here to sing for you tonight," he smiled.

His sudden attitude change had confused her. "Uh, ok."

He laughed. "Who cut your hair?"

She touched her hair with one hand. "M-Marissa took me yesterday. Why, you think it's ugly?"

"No."

"I do." Dru muttered.

"What? Why...it's the style." Justin informed her. "You look like hot shiyzah."

She gawked at him. "Shiyzah?"

"Hot shiyzah." He corrected her.

"Hot shiyzah?" Her tone was full of confusion. "Sorry, I'm not down with the lingo."

He shrugged. "You will be."

"I will be?"

He cleared his throat. "D...listen..." He began.

"Dammit Justin, my name is Dru!" She exclamied, but realizing what she had just done, covered her mouth. She shook with fear. She had done it now. She shielded her face with her hands, waiting for the inevitable. The she felt it, warmth breath on her neck, the scent of him...

"Dru...what's the matter?" Justin whispered.

"Don't hit me." She replied.

His mouth gaped. What in the world had made her think that he would want to hit her? He didn't hit women...he wasn't raised that way. The thing that was even more confusing was, she hadn't even done anything. "Dru," he said, pulling her hands away from her face. "I...I would never do that."

She jerked her hands from his, and slid away from him. "I didn't mean to yell."

He chuckled. "It...you didn't do anything." He shook his head vigorously. "You just want me to call you by your name. That's understandable. If anything...I should be the one apologizing."

"You...don't hit people?" She questioned him, as if he were from another planet.

"No...well, not women. I'm not going to tell you I've never hit a guy before. Because I have." He admitted.

"Oh."

"Were you abused?" He inquired, boldly.

She yawned. "I'm tired."

"Dru..."

"I'm kinda hungry too." She nodded. "You wanna order me some room service Justin?"

"Answer me." His voice was soft. "Were you abused? Is that why you don't want anybody touching you?"

"Are you afraid you'll lose your career? Is that why you won't admit that you're sick?" Dru shot at him.

He glared at her. "I told you. It's my issue."

"Oh yeah? Well my past is my issue." She nodded.

He smiled. The girl was smart. "I'm sorry."

She shook her head, and quickly flicked a tear that had managed to squeeze itself out, off of her cheek. "There's nothing to be sorry about. I'm just not...used to all this." She admitted.

"I understand." He paused, and then smiled. "I'm sure if I was thrust into all this after being in your world, I would be really nervous too."

"Are you any better? You know...with the blood and stuff?" She asked him. A hint of worry was apparent in her voice.

"Oh yeah." He lied. "I've been better since that day. Nothing like that has happened since."

She half smiled. "That's good."

"Anyway...I was trying to tell you before, about what's going on." He nodded, his expression becoming serious, businesslike.

She turned towards the picture window. It was one of the best features of the room. You could see the entire city. The sun was setting, causing the sky to turn brilliant shades of oranges, purples, and pinks. For the first time, she was finally be able to enjoy the beauty of New York City at sunset. Usually at this time of day, she would have been digging through a dumpster, trying to find dinner. "Going on?" She finally replied.

"I...I should have told you about this the other day." Justin admitted, standing beside her now.

She met his gaze. "What are you talking about?"

"Remember that charity I told you about?"

"The one about hands or something?"

He laughed. "Yeah, it's called Hand in Hand."

"What about it?" She replied nonchanlantly.

"You're going to be my..." His eyes shifted around nervously. "My case."

She gasped. "What!"

"You're going to pretend that you're from the charity." He informed her. "It's a really cool program actually, I take someone like you, and show them the world."

"From the charity! Someone like me!" She exclaimed, and pushed him. "Who the hell do you think you are?"

"Just...wait a second." He protested. "It's not that bad."

She stomped her foot in anger. "I'm not about to stand next to you and let the world feel sorry for me. Justin, I'm not some girl you can just display to make yourself look good!"

He shook his head. "It's not just for my sake. I...want to help you."

"Regardless." She supplied. "I'm not a charity case."

He crossed his arms. "Then why are you here?"

She plopped down in the chair that sat next to the window. "You wouldn't let me leave, remember?"

"Please Dru." He pleaded. "Please just do this for me. I promise, I won't make the world feel sorry for you."

"No." She grumbled.

"Aww!" He pouted childlishy. "Dru...come ooooooooooooonnnnnn!"

She let out a small whimper. She knew, he wasn't going to give in. "Justin...I...I really don't want to."

"But...you'll get to go on tour with me!" He provided.

"Oooo." She droned sarcastically.

"You know, you're probably the only girl I know that would take that for granted." He chuckled.

His smile faded. She wasn't laughing. "Dru."

"What."

"Please."

"No!" She protested sternly. "No, no, no."

"Awww." He pouted. "Isn't there anything I can do, that'll make you say yes."

She was silent for a moment, but then smiled. "All right Justin. I'll tell you what you can do."

His eyes lit up. "Tell me!"

"I'll do whatever it is you need me to do," she paused and let her smile grow wider. "If you go to the doctor's."

He narrowed his eyes at her. "I hate you."

"Funny, so does that Britney person." She shrugged. "I guess you..."

He cut her off. "Hold up," he paused. "Britney?"

"I've been meaning to ask you about her. The other day Marissa and I ran into her. Boy, does she hate you."

He shot her a hateful glance. "You don't know anything about it." His tone was cold, and full of pain. "So don't act like you do."

"Awww, what happened?" Dru smirked. "Did she dump you? You poor..."

"You know, I'll go to the f *cking doctor." He interrupted. He turned around and picked up his box of CD's. "And then you'll do what I want you to do." He nodded, backing up towards the door. "But this coversation is over. Lord, I can't even look at you anymore. Don't you know how...no, no I'm done. I'm not getting into this now."

"Look, I didn't mean..."

"Night." He flashed her a fake smile, and pushed himself out the door.

It slammed shut.

Dru was left standing in the center of the room, feeling smaller than she had felt in a long time. She had...hurt him. She felt like crying. Britney obviously had played a significant part in Justin's life. She didn't have the right to bring her up like she had. But she had.

And had probably lost what could have been a good friendship in the process.
****************
He was swimming. At least he was trying to but, for some reason, the water was too thick. And sticky. It was all over him. Well, of course it was. He was swimming in it, wasn't he? Every stroke, every labored breath felt like he was pushing through iron. Iron. Yes, the water tasted like iron. Funny. No, not really. It wasn't funny at all...he couldn't breathe. He was sinking, drowning. It was all around him...in his ears, nose, lungs...

Justin's eyes snapped open. He could still taste the iron. Maybe...it hadn't been a dream. But, how could that be? He was in his hotel room...in bed. He extended his arm out and yanked on the chain. The light came on.

"Oh my god."

It was everywhere. His shirt, the sheets, the comforter. He jumped out of the bed.

"Oh my god."

He trembled. The blood...it had never happened this way before. Not in his sleep...

The bathroom floor felt like ice on the bottoms of his feet. He touched a hand to his cheek...it felt as cold as the floor did.

"What do I do?" He spoke to the man that stood in the mirror.

"Dru can help." Justin number two informed him.

He shook his head vigorously. This was the first time he had experienced a hallucination due to his ailment. "I can't go see her." He replied. "She can't help."

"Can't you take my advice for once? I hate that you always have the say." His reflection spoke back to him, angry now.

He turned on the water. It felt good on his face, but it wasn't helping him to feel better. It had always helped him to feel better before. He sobbed. He was frightened. Probably more frightened than he had ever been before. He stared back into the mirror, looking for an answer. He chuckled, there was no answer. He had simply been hallucinating...or was he going insane?
Uncertainty was a bad thing.

Maybe...medicine. He stroked the hair on his chin, debating whether venturing out at this ungodly hour would be worth it. He shrugged. He didn't know what else he could do. He wasn't about to wake anybody up, and he certainly wasn't going to call an ambulance in the middle of the night. No, the hospital would be overrun with press by six a.m. Yes, medicine would be a good thing...but what did one take for...bleeding?

He ran back into the bathroom. "Hey."

The man rolled his eyes. "So now you want my say?"

"Yeah." Justin nodded.

"Nyquil."

"Nyquil? Are you sure." He asked, skeptically.

"What the hell do I know? I'm not real."

Justin blinked several times. Now his reflection seemed...normal. "Hello?"

Of course there was no answer, he was in the mirror...and he didn't have a clue.
*********************
"Huh?"

"Dru."

The voice sounded distant, but she could feel the warmness of the strangers breath on her neck.

"Dru...Dru come on. You gotta help me Dru."

Dru opened her eyes. A blurred image of Justin immediately came into view. She shifted slightly. "What...what's going on."

He coughed. "F *ck."

She reached out to the side and turned the light on. Justin sat on her bed, his t-shirt speckled with blood. She said nothing, she couldn't...she didn't know what to say.

"Dru." He grasped her hand. "Please."

She pulled her hand away. "What happened?"

"I don't know."

"You need to go to the hospital Justin." She yawned. Was this a dream? Maybe...

"Dru..." His voice was weaker. "I really...I don't think I'm doing too good right now."

"What...can I do?" She shrugged. It was the middle of the night, she couldn't read, she couldn't drive, she wasn't a f *cking doctor. Lord, what did he expect from her? She was a bum. "I can't help you Justin. Go get Trace, Marissa...somebody other than me."

Too sick to think, he grasped her by the shoulders. "Don't you get it! I...can't tell anybody! F *ck girl, I wouldn't be here right now if I could."

"Don't!" She pushed him away from her roughly, and shot out of the bed. "Don't you ever touch me! Ever!"

"I'm..." He paused to catch his breath. "Sorry."

"I've had it. You can't do this to yourself." She stormed towards the door.

"No." He called after her. It was taking all of his energy to catch up to her. He was confused, he had never felt this way before. In the past he had always been able to bounce back, but this time it was different. By the time he reached the door, she had almost escaped him. He grabbed her wrist and held onto it tightly. He didn't care about her "no touching" rule, he wasn't about to let her expose his secret to Trace at four in the morning.

"Let go!"

"Please..." He pleaded with her. "Dru...please don't do this to me." Tears ran down his face.

She gasped. Not at the fact that he was touching her, no. But at the fact that she was crying...in front of somebody else. Never, in all the years that she had been living on her own had she expressed her true feelings to somebody. She didn't want to believe that she was really crying, but as she felt the tears sliding down her face, she knew she had to accept it. She, Dru Lisbon...was getting emotional over somebody else's pain. A man's pain no less.

He was on his knees now. "Dru, I know...I know that I was a big jerk tonight. But, I can make it up to you, all right? Please...please just say...say you'll come with me. Please say you won't tell anybody."

She didn't want to give in. In her heart, she knew the right thing to do would be to go wake Trace up so he could get Justin the help he needed. But, as she looked at him...on his knees, crying, begging her to help him...she just couldn't. She couldn't do it to him. Nobody had treated her this way her entire life. Nobody had ever cared. Nobody had ever confided in her for anything. She spoke no words to him, she simply nodded.

It was enough.