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Ali closed her eyes and leaned her head against the door with a heavy sign. She was fighting back all the tears that wanted to fall. When she opened her eyes everyone in the backroom was starring at her.
"How much of that did you guys hear?"
"From when you asked why he asked you to marry him." Joey answered.
Ali walked over to where Chris was sitting and sat down in his lap. She picked up one of the N-64 controllers and handed the other one to Joey.
"Shall we get started then?" Ali asked.
Everyone looked at Ali as if she were crazy.
"I think we should go and talk alone." Rori suggested.
Ali wiped away a few stray tears that had fallen and shook her head.
"No. I wanna play!"
"Are you ok Ali?" Chris asked her.
"I don’t wanna talk now. I need something to keep my mind off JC for the next five and a half hours so let’s play."
She pushed the start button on the controller. Rori was going to argue with her but Justin stood up quickly, taking her hand. He put one finger to his lips.
"But Justin. She…."
"Shh! Come on. Let’s get something to drink."
Rori reluctantly followed. She stopped at JC’s bunk. She received a not to nice look from Justin.
"Don’t give me that look. I just want to make sure he is ok." She whispered.
Justin nodded and Rori pulled back to curtain to JC’s bunk a little. He was curled in a ball hugging Ali’s stuffed pig. He had tearstains on his cheeks and the engagement ring in his hand. His sleep didn’t seem very peaceful but Rori couldn’t bring her self to wake him. She closed the curtain and walked into the kitchen.
"You weren’t reading that were you?"
"I was thinking about it."
Rori took a sip of the Pepsi that Justin had set on the table.
"Justin Randall! You can’t read his journal."
"Why not? I only wanna help him."
"You wouldn’t want him reading yours would you?"
Rori thought about this for a minute. She was a little curious. Very curious.
"Only what he wrote today?"
"I promise."
Pushing aside any guilt she was felling, Rori sat down next to Justin and they began to read.
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What was I thinking? I don’t think I am thinking. Maybe I should have waited before I asked her to marry me. Not maybe. I should have. What a great start to our life together. Here I am making stupid comments and Chris is all over her. There are so many things swirling around in my head right now that it is giving me a headache. Five months is way too soon. Why can’t Ali wait? What if it turns out that we don’t really love each other and this was all a temporary thing? I wonder if she has feelings for Chris. Just when you think you know who your real friends are. I pray that Ali can forget the stupid things that I said this morning. I’m just afraid that if we get married, music won’t be #1 for me anymore. I can’t let that happen. Ali is wonderful and I love her but music is my life right now. Always. She doesn’t understand that right now that’s how things are.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Justin closed the journal and returned it to its place on the couch.
"Well now. What have we learned here?" Rori asked.
"Do you think he is willing to risk his relationship with Ali for his career?"
"What time is it?"
"10:19. Why?"
Justin sighed as he absently rubbed Rori’s belly again.
"Five more hours. We need a stop."
"What we really need is a relationship counselor."
"That too." Justin laughed a little.
"How about a nap?" Rori suggested.
"You tired?"
Rori nodded as she laid her head on Justin’s shoulder.
"Justin, I can’t sleep…." Rori’s sentence was interrupted by a yawn. "Can’t sleep now."
"Can too. Remember what Dr. Sullivan said about lots of rest, more than usual because of the tour?"
"Yeah but…"
"No buts. You need sleep. Now be quiet."
Rori did as she was told to avoid getting into one their little pointless arguments. She found out that she was more tired than she originally thought. She easily fell asleep as Justin’s smooth voice floated through her ears.