“C’mon Jace. Can you make it to the couch?” Justin asked, trying to support his friend’s weight. It was hard seeing as JC was so wasted he could barely stay on his feet. If Justin wasn’t there JC would probably be glued to the floor.

“Do you think he’ll regain his senses long enough to give me his credit card like he promised?” Bobbie demanded, following them. “I really need it. I’m going to New York this weekend.”

“Will you shut up for once?” Justin snapped without looking at her as he continued his struggles to get JC to the couch. “God, the damn world doesn’t revolve around you! JC’s wasted and you don’t even care.”

Bobbie rolled her eyes. “I care. I just learned to let him deal with this on his own. He’s too much of a hassle when he’s drunk.”

“If you cared you’d take care of him instead of jetting off to New York,” Joey shot back, coming into the compound behind her. He held JC’s shoes at arm’s length. Even though they were in a plastic Ziploc bag and a plastic grocery bag the smell of puke was still able to waft out.

“Whatever.” Bobbie dismissed him with a wave of her hand, turned, and stalked out of the house, slamming the door shut behind her.

“Good riddance,” Chris muttered from the stairs. “God, how does JC deal with her? She’s nothing but a thieving whore.”

“Sssh!” Lance hissed, bring his finger to his lips and pointing at JC who was tossing and turning on the couch, emitting whines such as a five-year-old would make. “Can you go make him some coffee?” He asked Mack who was leaning against the doorway that separated the living room from the kitchen. She nodded and went to do as she was told. “Guys, I’m worried about him,” Lance announced, dropping his voice.

“Why? So he drank a little too much,” Justin shrugged.

“Yes, but this is JC we’re talking about. JC hardly ever lets a full glass of beer past his lips. Now he’s wasted and can’t hold anything in,” Lance replied. “It’s not like him at all.”

“Well there’s only one person to blame,” Chris said as he looked over at the shut front door. No one said anything so Chris felt the need to continue. “You don’t think JC is doing this to himself, do you? That’s not like him at all. He hasn’t been the same since he and Bobzilla started dating and breaking up and dating and breaking up and dating. He’s not as responsible as he used to be and that’s exhibit A.”

“We can’t really do much about it,” Joey pointed out. “JC’s as stubborn as a mule. He’s the only one who can stop this behavior. If we talk to him about it, it’ll just make him even worse.”

“Unless he’s acting like this to tell himself that nothing’s wrong,” Lance pointed out. “Then we’ll have to do something, talking some sense into him.” He paused. “I…” He let his voice trail off.

“What is it?” Justin asked.

“I don’t want JC to end up making some bad decisions if we don’t do anything.”

“So we’ll just watch him,” Justin replied. “We won’t interfere but we’ll keep an eye on him to make sure nothing happens.

JC suddenly started laughing hysterically.  They all turned to see him sitting upright on the couch. He had rolled up his pants so his knees were exposed. A grin was on his face as he knocked his knees together. “Hey guys!” He shouted, even though they weren’t that far away from him. “My knees look like boobs!” He stopped in mid laugh and widened his eyes. “Mack, show me your boobs!”

“Only in your dreams, Chasez,” she commented, coming back into the living room with a mug of coffee in her hand.

“How do you know what I dream about?” He asked. He let out a loud gasp and widened his eyes. “Are you psychic? Can you read my mind? What am I thinking right now?”

“That if you don’t shut up I’m going to hit you with this mug,” she replied, setting it down on the coffee table in front of him. “Drink that. It’ll help you feel better.”

“Wait a minute, coffee doesn’t help you get sober faster,” Joey spoke up.

“I know. But if makes you more alert and aware of what you’re doing,” Lance explained. “This way, JC would probably realize what he did wrong faster than he would if we left him alone.” He stifled a yawn and looked at his watch. “Man, it’s that late all ready?” He mumbled to himself. “Ok guys, we should hit the sack. We’re going to be up early tomorrow.”

“But Daaad, it’s not a school night,” Chris said in a childish tone as he elbowed Justin and the two started chuckling. Lance blushed and shook his head. Chris and Justin referred to Lance as Daddy Jr., whenever JC wasn’t around to act like a dad towards them it was a given that Lance would pick up the slack.

“Guys,” Lance said in a warning tone.

“Yeah. Yeah. See you in the morning,” Justin said with a wave of his hand and a yawn. “Oh,wait. One of us should stay up and help Jace to bed, just in case.”

“Ok. We should–” Mack started.

“Nose goes!” Chris yelled and quickly stuck his finger on his nose. Lance, Joey, and Justin quickly followed suit as Mack groaned. “Have fun, Little One!” he chirped before running up the stairs to get to his room.

“I’ll set your alarm clock for you, ok?” Justin said as he moved over to where she was sitting on the floor and wrapped his arms around her in a hug. “My door’s always open if you need anything. Don’t hesitate to wake me.”

“All right. ‘Night guys.” She grumbled under her breath and rubbed a hand over her face, trying to rub the sleepiness out of her eyes. She turned around and was instantly met with JC’s piercing blue eyes, studying her. “What?” She demanded, somewhat harshly. No one could blame her, though. He was the one who decided to invite his girlfriend, without telling anyone, and she spent the night insulting her. And JC had thrown up on her shoes as well as his own and that wasn’t going to fly with her.

“Why do you hate me?” His question was so blunt it startled her. He tilted his head slightly, never taking his eyes off of her face.

“I don’t hate you,” she mumbled in response.

He took a large sip of his coffee and nodded, putting the mug back down on the table. “Yes you do. Does it have to do with me dating Bobbie? Or her insults? I’ll talk to her about it. You don’t deserve the insults, you know? You are pretty, she doesn’t know what she’s talking about. She’s the one who isn’t really pretty. Well, she is, but not in a natural way, which is a shame.”

Mack chuckled and shook her head. They were right when they said that being drunk brings out the truth and in JC’s case the ‘truth’ was like a verbal waterfall. She then got an idea. “So why are you dating her then?” She asked which she hoped was in a casual tone.

JC stayed silent for a few seconds before replying, “I’m trying to get over someone else. She can’t see how perfect we are for each other. Why wait? She’ll realize it eventually.”

“That’s not really fair.”

“To whom? To me or to her.”

“Both.”

“Life aint fair, Honey.” He took another sip from his mug. “Let me ask you something, how would you feel if you liked someone and they were completely oblivious to it?” His gaze was so intense that she had to turn away from him. “You can’t tell me that you’d sit around and do nothing.”

“Whatever happened to telling people when you care about them?” She questioned, looking at the floor as if it was suddenly interesting to her.

“People grew up and became smart and stopped believing in fairy tales,” JC replied somewhat bitterly. Mack sighed and stood. “Where are you going? Aren’t you supposed to be taking care of me?” He pouted.

“You’re negative energy is making me want to throw myself at a wall. I’m going to sleep,” she replied, turning around so she could leave the room.

“No!” He jumped up from the couch and grabbed her elbow and the top of her arm. “You’re supposed to take care of me!” he uttered and gave her arm a hard tug.

She suddenly dropped to her knees, screaming in pain and clutching her right arm with her left hand. JC dropped her arm as if he had been burned and backed away from her. The thunder of footsteps were heard and the rest of the boys rushed into the room, surveying the damage.

“Mack? Mack, look at me. What’s wrong? What happened?” Justin asked, lifting her chin. JC flinched when he saw a tear roll down her cheek. He wanted to brush the tear away and make everything better for her, but knew he couldn’t. After all, he was the one who hurt her. “What’s happened to your arm?”

Mack glanced back at JC. He bit his lip and lowered his head. He sucked in a breath. “I–”

“I had moved to sit on the coffee table so JC and I could be at eye level when we talked. I, stupidly, decided to jump off it and landed on my arm,” Mack said quickly, wincing in pain as the seconds passed. “Owww, J, it really hurts.”

“Let me see,” Lance said as he knelt by Justin and looked at her arm. He whistled. “It might me dislocated. Come on, we’re going to the hospital.” He looped his arm around her waist for extra support as they shuffled out the front door, her sniffling and stifling sobs the entire way.

“I’ll go with them. Someone will have to tell her parents,” Justin said. “You guys want to come?”

“JC should stay here considering the circumstances,” Joey replied, looking at the mentioned man who stared at the ground. “I’ll stay too. Chris can go. Just call us once you hear something.” Justin nodded before he and Chris ran out the front door. Joey closed the door behind them and turned to face JC.

“It’s my fault,” JC mumbled.

“It was an accident. It’s not your fault,” Joey replied with a small smile. “I’m sure she’ll be fine. It’s probably just a bruise or something. Don’t blame yourself. You should get some sleep. I’ll bring you some water and aspiring, you’re going to need it.”

JC nodded and slowly made his way to his room. He flopped down onto his bed and bit his lip, stopping the urge to yell at himself. He broke the one promise that he had made years ago, that he wouldn’t hurt her. Ever.

What was worse was that he was drunk too. He couldn’t control himself. He needed to be around her, he felt alive when she was around. He was close to admitting his feelings for her, not that she would have believed him in his state, and he ruined it. He hated himself for hurting her and for making such a stupid decision.

“Are you ok man?” Joey asked, setting the glass of water and aspirin tablets onto his bedside table.

“Yeah, it’s been a long night,” JC replied.

“Get some sleep. You’ll need your energy tomorrow if you’re not too hungover.”

JC nodded and tried to settle into sleep but he couldn’t get her scream out of his head. Every time he heard it another part of his heart shattered. To think that he was the reason for her pain kept him from sleeping.

He could only hope that tomorrow would be a better day.