[chapter twenty-two]
JC stormed out of the hotel diner
and immediately found the stairwell that led up the guest floors, tears pricking
the back of his eyelids as he walked. He was fuming, he was confused, and
he was sorry. As soon as he had walked away from her, JC felt guilty about
the way he had yelled at Caitlin. In retrospect, he could see how difficult
the confession must have been, and how much she must have been hurting.
But that didn't make the whole thing okay. Not by a longshot.
He took the stairs two at a time, bound to find Chris before Caitlin did. He and Caitlin would forgive each other, and things would continue pretty much as before. JC knew that. But Chris...Chris he needed to deal with. JC flung open the door to their assigned floor and walked quickly down the hall to the room Chris and Justin were sharing. As usual, the door was propped open and the sounds of chatting and laughter could be heard from the hallway.
JC marched into the room, caught sight of Chris and immediately lost all semblance of reasonable thought he had formed while climbing the stairs. His rage, confusion and hurt took over, and he barreled across the room and straight into Chris, who was standing near one of the beds. Grabbing Chris around the waist, JC tossed him to the ground, then threw himself onto the smaller man. Chris fought back--smaller, but quicker than his younger friend. Without words, the two of them tussled on the floor, throwing punches and grunting when they connected until Justin jumped into the mix and pulled JC off of Chris.
"C! Jesus, chill the fuck out!" Justin insisted, placing himself between the panting JC and Chris, who was still lying on the floor.
"Let me go." JC commanded in a low voice, his eyes locked on Chris.
"Yeah. Right." Justin said sarcastically. "Someone mind telling me why the hell you two are beating the hell out of each other?" He demanded.
"Ask Chris. He's the one trying to get in my girlfriend's pants." JC spat.
Chris got up slowly, and faced his younger friend head on. "That's not true and you know it. Why don't you stop being Mr. Macho Man and let me explain."
"Fuck you." JC said, spinning on his heel and heading for the door. He only took two steps before Justin, younger but unarguably stronger, grabbed JC and held him.
"Talk this out. Now." Justin demanded. "Hear him out. Stop being such a stubborn ass."
"Where do you get off? You don't even know what's going on." JC said, even as he turned again to face Chris. "Fine. Talk." He said, crossing his arms across his chest.
"Don't blame her. She had nothing to do with it." Chris said evenly. "I felt something, I had to find out if she felt the same way, she didn't, end of story."
"End of story?" JC demanded. "I don't think so. How could you do this?"
"Caitlin and I have been hanging out as friends for months. As I've gotten over Dani, I've developed feelings for Caitlin. Surely you can understand that part. You're in love with her--can't you see how someone else might be?" JC paused for a moment, then nodded slowly, gesturing for Chris to continue. "I didn't mean to kiss her, man. It just happened. And she didn't feel the same way. She's in love with you, not me."
"Why didn't you tell me about all this before last night?" JC asked.
"Put yourself in my shoes, man. You wouldn't have had the balls to tell you, either." JC gave a hint of a smile at Chris' words, but quickly recovered. "And speaking of balls, you racked me pretty good there." Chris added, trying to break the tension between the two men.
"Sorry about that. But I'm not sorry about being angry. For weeks I've had this feeling that something more was going on, and the more I convinced myself it was nothing, apparently the more you were into Caitie." JC said.
"I can't do anything except say I'm sorry." Chris said maturely. "Take it or leave it."
JC sighed and nodded almost imperceptibly. "I need to go find her and talk to her. I blew up pretty good back there."
"With your temper, I can only imagine." Justin said, reminding the other two of his presence. "Go."
JC walked back out into the hall and almost immediately ran into House. "C, I've been looking for you."
"What's up, House?" JC asked distractedly, trying to continue down the hall.
"It's about Caitlin. She's gone. She asked me to tell 'Mr. Chasez' that she was leaving for awhile." House said.
"Shit." JC muttered. "Thanks, man." JC added as he swiftly moved down the hall towards the room he and Caitlin had shared while she was visiting. He dug the key out of his pocket, and after fumbling for a few moments, threw open the door. Her bag, her clothes, her toiletries--all gone.
JC walked into the room and sank down onto one of the bed. "Damn." Was all he could think of to say. "Damn."
He felt bad enough about their argument, but now he had chased her out of town with his damn temper. And he felt even worse about the "expense" comment-that was a cheap shot and he regretted it the minute he said it. JC lay back onto the bed, his head sinking into the pillow. He could still smell the soft scent of Caitlin's perfume and shampoo. Turning onto his side, he pulled the pillow close as tears spilled down his cheeks.
(Several hours later)
"Chris?" Caitlin's voice came through his cell phone as he snapped it open.
"Caitlin?" He whispered, barely out of earshot where JC was lying on the bed, half asleep. They were not due for sound check for a few more minutes, so everyone was corralled in one room trying to relax. "Hang on." Chris walked out of the hotel room and into the hallway. Moments later he was in the stairwell heading for the roof. "Okay, I'm here. Sorry."
"S'okay." Caitlin replied. "You alright? Did he come after you?"
"He banged me up pretty good, but I'm scrappy." Chris said lightly. "Where are you?"
"I just got back from the airport. I had to get out of there. I'm sure that pissed JC off even more, but I needed some...distance. Are you mad?" Caitlin asked.
"About what?" Chris asked, throwing open the door to the top floor and walking out into the bright sunshine.
"About me leaving you there alone? About…dammit, about everything, you dork." Caitlin said, not able to help laughing.
"No, I understand." Chris said soothingly. "C was pretty mad when he found out you'd left, though."
"Serves him right." Caitlin said. "He was pretty brutal to me. I can only imagine how he laid into you."
"We seem to have come to a rather uneasy truce at the moment." Chris replied. "We aren't on good terms, but he's not beating the crap out of me either, so that's a bonus."
"I'm so sorry, Chris." Caitlin said. "Anything I can do?"
Chris had to smile to himself. Typical Caitlin, always wanting to make things better, always wanting everyone to get along, even at her own expense. He only wished she knew how much the five guys had come to love, respect and need her. "The fact that we're still talking and friends and stuff is more than enough." Chris answered honestly.
"Chris…" Caitlin began.
"Don't." He interrupted. "I'm sorry about this. We'll do it better next time."
"Well, I'm no expert but I think we did it pretty good this time." Caitlin said, grinning, quoting the American President.
"Yah, right." Chris said, laughing. "You going to talk it out with JC?"
"I don't have the strength to talk to him today. We'll work things through in a day or two, I'm sure. He'll cool off, I'll cool off, and we'll both be more reasonable. It's better that way." Caitlin said. "But I wanted to make sure you were okay."
"I'm okay." Chris replied. "But JC's really upset about you leaving. He wants to talk to you really badly. I think he's been crying."
Caitlin resolve not to talk to JC for a day or two cracked, but she held firm. "I'm upset too, but we'll work it out. In a few days." She said.
Chris understood. "Take care, and give me a call in a day or two, let me know how things are going."
"Will do." Caitlin promised. "Take care of yourself too. Lock your bedroom door tonight." She added, teasingly.
Chris laughed. "Talk to ya soon."
"Bye Christopher."
Chris walked back down the stairs and into their 'waiting room'. JC had sat up and eyed Chris warily as he walked back in, tucking away his cell phone.
"Was that her?" JC asked quietly. "Is she okay?" Chris was originally not going to tell JC that Caitlin was on the phone, but couldn't bear the sad look in his friend's eyes. Chris nodded in answer to the questions.
"She's okay. She's back home." Chris answered. "But I think she needs a little time. But things will work out."
JC nodded slowly. "I was such an asshole to her. I feel like dirt for treating her that way."
"She understands." Chris said compassionately. "She just needs a little alone, girly time." JC smiled slightly at Chris' response.
"I'm at least going to call her to make sure she's home safe." JC said. "Be back in a few minutes." JC walked into the adjoining room and lifted the receiver of the phone near the bed. He dialed the numbers he knew by heart, and prayed that Caitlin would answer.
The phone rang shrilly through the house, but Caitlin hesitated to answer it. She lifted the receiver of her pink Hello Kitty phone by her bed to see the caller ID display. Noting the Wisconsin area code, she almost hit "talk" but then she gently put the phone back down and waited for the answering machine to pick up. As JC's voice sounded through the house, she almost picked up again, but fought the urge.
"Hey sweetie. It's me. I just wanted to make sure you were home safe. I'm worried about you, and I hope you know how completely and totally sorry I am for the asshole I was being. You deserve a better man-after the luck you've had, god knows you deserve better. I'm hoping you'll call soon and we can work things out. I miss you. And I'm so sorry. I love you so much, Caitie. With all of me."
JC paused, and Caitlin's eyes welled with tears. "You're still my girl, right?" He asked softly, before the machine clicked off. A few warm tears flowed down Caitlin's cheeks as she practically flew out of her room and down the stairs to the answering machine in the family room.
She played his message several times, and made sure to save it when she was sure she couldn't hear it anymore. Brushing the tears from her cheeks, Caitlin stood up to go back to her room to try and take a nap. She didn't have to work for the next two days-days she was supposed to be on tour-so she was looking forward to just resting, relaxing and being alone in her own skin. Alex, Jon and Scout were at the base 24/7 for the next week, so she knew the house would be undisturbed.
"Perfect for a little R and R." Caitlin muttered to herself, shrugging her shoulders to loosen her muscles.
As she walked towards the stairs, she heard a noise behind her. Before she could turn around, two arms enclosed around her, one covering her mouth, the other wrapping around her chest. Caitlin wanted to scream, but she couldn't move. She stood, frozen, terrified of the intruder in her house. Her terror became something deeper when the intruder spoke.
"Hi honey, miss me?" He whispered gently in her ear. "I think we have a little catching up to do. And you have a little explaining to do. Who's Romeo on the phone?"
Ray. He'd made good on his threat.