Hello :P It is Wednesday and I am back with a new update. Sometimes I set out to write stories and I think that they will be just for me and that I'll never upload them. This one started off that way but after being halfway through it, I was proud of it enough to know I had to upload it. This one is almost a very personal one for me because it feels pretty personal to Lynne. Shannon and I came up with her story along with Jordan's a long time ago and it's interesting to go back and go forward and wonder about other characters feelings about everything that they and she went through. This story is about Justin getting to know Lynne a bit more. And because of that, we get to know him a bit more too. I hope you enjoy :3
Ages:
Justin: 19
Lynne: 30
James: 39
Disclaimer: I own the stories and the OCs mentioned! Another heads up this week - there's a little bit of swearing in this one too. Also it deals with the subject of scars and cancer, just so you're aware.
As soon as James walked in through the door of the second annexe of his house with me on his shoulder and saw his deep purple haired son, we could both see that his was visibly upset. Though it was rather unreadable what was troubling him and what had led to his furrowed brow and flickering gaze, we both felt that something had really shaken him up. And even though the lavender haired male had only just entered Jordan and Lynne's apartment moments ago, he didn't hesitate to try and grab Justin by the elbow as he tried to leave through the same door, his guitar over his other shoulder.
"Hey, hey, hey." James uttered to his son, his own frown beginning to take over his face and a genuine amount of concern in his eyes. Justin remained trying to be on his way but his father was quietly determined. He didn't let go of his elbow. And he pulled it gently so he was encouraged to face him. "Are you okay?"
I saw it. Just for a moment. I saw it. Justin's eyes stopped flickering and though he remained unable to look at his father, his eyes stopped darting around so much. And they widened. He swallowed. But it all happened so fast. Justin's moment of honesty and vulnerability didn't last long. And in its place, he replaced both of these with a shake of the head and a smile. He tried to be convincing even though he pulled away from James.
"I'm all good. I've got to get going, though." The deep purple haired male told the older male as he pulled away for good and only gave me a second glance as he tried to leave the door all over again, adjusting his guitar case strap firmly over his shoulder. James let him go through. But he remained unconvinced, concerned that his eldest boy was hiding something from him all over again. "Sudden song idea. You know how it is."
And with that, Justin took a very brief inhalation of breath and I was the only one to notice it. Following that, he backed up his answers that he was fine by airily pressing a kiss to his father's head as his taller height loomed down on him before he gave him a somewhat genuine smile. I was still weary. I knew that James was too but I also knew that he didn't want to interrogate his son even further. He was still only nineteen years old, after all.
His expression that we had witnessed when we first entered the room could have been simply thoughtfulness or any other thing in the world. The lavender haired male chose to believe his son's words, understanding that if something really had been troubling him, then he would open up to him at a later date. He gave him the freedom of privacy in his own head. And he gave him the freedom to continue walking out the door too.
"I do know how it is." The lavender haired male found himself chuckling and nodding his head, knowing that his son could indeed get song ideas like a tornado and all of a sudden, he was off to wherever or see whoever about putting a glimpse of an idea to paper. Justin gave him a close mouthed smile as he made his way to properly exit the Mansion and on his way, James gave him a light slap on his back as we headed on our own way. "Good luck, buddy!"
I was certain that the deep purple haired male heard his father's words and caught sight of the polite (but unconvinced) smile I was giving him. But even so, the door slammed behind him. James just shook his head and continued continuing on his way. He was still in the mind-set of letting his son be and waiting for him to come to him with his problems. Like me, he did feel like he hadn't been mistaken over Justin's expressions but unlike me, he was letting it go.
The only thing that I let go of during those moments was James' shoulder as I hopped down from it and decided to go and pay a visit to Jorgie when I felt the lavender haired male was moving towards the bathroom and most likely looking for Lynne. I could smell the scent of the shower running and the aromas of various hair products and also knew that it was around the orange haired little baby's nap time so I chose to make my way to her instead. I may have been intruding by not believing Justin, but I didn't want to intrude on any couple time that James and Lynne may have ended up having.
I felt the lavender haired male giving me a sheepish but grateful smile as he made his way to the bathroom and paused outside. I just stuck my nose in the air back but I was being playful. I was with him to give Ash and Misty some couple time so I was amused that I might be up against the same sort of thing all over again.
James then chuckled to himself and I did too before he noticed that the door to the bathroom was not locked; it was left ajar with quite a large crack. He didn't think anything of it. He knew that Lynne was then home alone with their daughter so just headed on inside. Meanwhile, I found myself pausing outside of Jorgie's room. I remembered something that James clearly hadn't. Lynne hadn't been home alone the entire time.
And because of his innocence, James just headed into the bathroom where he knew Lynne was and expected to find her like he often did. In her towel and in front of the mirror, brushing her long and ginger locks. Or perhaps wearing his dressing gown, bunching her ginger and long locks into a bun on the top of her head, like the magenta haired female had inspired her to do. But from the noise of concern that exited the lavender haired male's lips after he closed the door in the same way that he had found it and the words that followed, I knew that he hadn't found her in the peaceful state of either of those scenarios.
"O-Oh angel, what's the matter? What happened?" he asked his beloved girlfriend and I could already imagine the wide and concern in his green orbs before I even turned my heel and darted to where they both were, sticking my nose worriedly through the gap in the door. I knew it was okay. I knew I would be allowed. Lynne was family. They both were. And I wanted her to be content as much as Justin hopefully was. The lavender haired male went down on his knees in front of her while she sat on the edge of the bath tub. She was crying softly. "Oh baby, please tell me?"
For once and it was clearly a very rare occasion indeed, my best friend's orange haired mother-in-law barely noticed the presence of James and she remained staring down at her lap, her fingers clenched together as she gripped at her own towel, tears staining her porcelain cheeks. She gulped. She finally felt that her boyfriend was in front of her and on his knees but she shook her head. She still didn't look at him. She tried to stand up and brush him aside but he wasn't having anything. He stood up and persisted.
"Hey, don't shut me out. What did I do? You have to tell me." He asked of her rather than told her and I found it interesting that he was so persistent with his girlfriend but he wasn't that way with his son. But I quickly shook those thoughts away. They were two different people. And I was so concerned upon seeing the normally joyful Lynne looking so shaken up and upset that I didn't hesitate to focus on her. "I can help you."
"You won't be able to help me, James. Just leave me alone. Please. I mean it." Lynne finally looked at her lavender haired boyfriend and she tried to shoot him a firm look but instead, when she saw his face, she found herself remembering what had happened all over again. Her voice cracked. Her face crumpled. More tears slid out of her eyes. "Just go. I don't want you to see me like this."
The ex-rocketeer took a moment to step back from the situation and take a step back from his girlfriend. He wanted more than anything to reach out to her and comfort her but he knew he had to take her words seriously. She never normally pushed him away when she was hurting. Most of the time, she enveloped him in the truth and allowed him to be a listening ear. The only time that she wanted to be alone was when she was truly hurt or ashamed or embarrassed. James' mind began to race.
He hadn't noticed that when she said those words, she wrapped her arms around herself as she wore her boyfriend's dressing gown. The lavender haired male was too busy believing that she didn't want him to see her in a vulnerable and crying state. And even though he was taking a step back and observing, I was doing that too and clearly seeing a little more. I couldn't help but wonder…? But before I could wonder anymore, more words came out of Lynne that became the focus of my attention.
"I don't want you to see me like this too." Lynne whispered and once again, she tried to say her words firmly but they came out with no strength at all. She wrapped her arms further around herself. My head pricked up. A lump filled my throat. I knew that I was right to see more than the lavender haired male saw. I was beginning to piece everything else together in my head while James' head only just snapped up.
"Wait…" he mumbled and took another step back. For once, he was being a lot slower than I was and perhaps it was the concern bubbling that both his beloved son and his beloved girlfriend were not okay. And then it hit him. It couldn't have been coincidence that they were both shaken up so close together in the same day. His mind started ticking. His mind started racing. His eyes widened. He pieced everything together too. I nodded my head sympathetically and forlornly while James must've mouthed his eldest son's name because Lynne broke down yet another time.
"Yes, James!" she cried out and sniffed, her hand going over her mouth at slight embarrassment at the way she was reacting but she couldn't help it. Like her boyfriend before her, she took steps away from him and almost backed into the wall. She shuddered at herself. Or perhaps she shuddered at Justin. "Your son! Justin! He walked in on me and he saw… And he saw…" As Lynne sniffed more, her cheeks suddenly flushed a heart-breaking red and her face crumpled almost more than I had ever seen. She couldn't even say the words. So she just gestured to her body. "He saw this! And he looked so disgusted!"
I didn't hesitate to shake my head frantically and I wanted to dart into the room and comfort Lynne with all of my heart but the gap in the door was too small for me to push all the way in. And besides, I didn't know if it was okay for me to intrude that much. While I was having that little dilemma, James needed to take even more steps back. In fact, he needed to sit down. So he did.
He sat down on the edge of the bath that his girlfriend had previously been sitting on and felt the humidity of the bathroom flushing his chest. Or perhaps it was emotion. He wasn't surprised at all when he found himself tearing up at Lynne's words and shaking his head. He knew what those actions meant and I did too but the orange haired woman took them another way.
Lynne nodded her head and wiped the bottom of her nose with her finger before purposely untying her boyfriend's dressing gown and tying it up even further. While the lavender haired male ran a hand through his hair at everything she was doing, she wrapped her arms over her chest once again. She didn't want him to have even the slightest chance of seeing it again. And she certainly didn't want Justin to.
"Yes. Y-Yes. I know what I saw." The orange haired woman persisted weakly as she finally leaned against the wall, shutting her eyes. Her eyelids twitched and then tensed at the memory as she tried to make her boyfriend believe her. She didn't realise that his tears and head shake was because he couldn't believe that something he found so beautiful and unique about her was an embarrassment and upset to her. "Your son walked in on me. J-Justin walked in on me. And his eyes dropped down. And then they widened. He looked so disgusted. He was disgusted. And then he left."
Misty's mother's words started off shaky but as she recounted what had happened, she found herself growing slightly numb to protect herself. Her sentences came out robotic. I was aching even more to be by her side and make her feel okay about feeling every little emotion she was having. And I was aching for James to reassure her of her beauty and her strength too. But for once, he didn't. He wanted to. But he stood up back off the edge of the bath and found himself defending his son. He shook his head.
"No." he mumbled as he looked over at Lynne and he tried to keep that empathy and reassurance that he always had for her when she expressed insecurity of her battle with cancer and the scars that it had left her with but potentially slightly more so, he was filled with defensiveness of his boy. "N-No. Justin wouldn't be like that. Justin wouldn't do that. He loves you. My own flesh and blood? No. You are mistaken, Lynne."
"Don't tell me what I saw or didn't see!" Lynne flushed all over again and she pushed past the fact she was beginning to tremble and approached her boyfriend. Her face and her eyes were full of hurt. Her voice was rising. I never really saw that with her. James didn't either. He quickly winced and looked away from her. But it was too late. She breathed out. She lowered her voice again. But she was still taken over by a quiet insistence. "I know what I saw. Your son saw me. And he was appalled. So he left."
"I'm not doubting you, Lynne. I'm not doubting what you saw. Maybe his eyes did widen and they did drop down and he did look… That." James looked at his girlfriend once again but he couldn't say the words that she had said. He still didn't believe that his boy would have it in him to be like that. But he didn't want to upset his girlfriend further. He wanted to be there for her. Like he always had been. "Maybe he looked like that. But maybe it wasn't for those reasons. Maybe you read it wrong."
A very tense and chilling silence happened at that very moment. As I peeked in through the door and felt the pressure of the gap clamping slightly at my neck, more prominently than the first thing, I felt a shiver go over my spine. It was like someone walked over my grave.
Neither James nor Lynne said anything for a good few moments. They both looked at each other. The orange haired female with her insecure-filled but adamant gaze and the lavender haired male with his doubtful but supportive one. The only thing that James did next was tilt his head. He didn't say anything. He just merely moved his head. And that was what caused Lynne to finally break down and passionately so.
"You don't have any idea what it's like! You have no idea at all, James! You weren't there when it happened like Jordan was! You don't know what it's like to have someone you love and walk in on you and look like that!" she almost yelled and for once, I flinched but James didn't. He just listened. In some perverse way, I knew that he was almost admiring her for being honest, even though she was being as loud as she was. But what she said next didn't fill him with admiration. It swallowed him with pain. "You have no idea what it's like! When you have a wife who looks like she does! And I look like this!"
I almost found myself crying upon hearing that and I wasn't ashamed to admit that. I didn't try and resist that. I felt so sad for Lynne but empathetic too. I nodded my head. I nodded my head slowly. I nodded my head understandingly. No one understood her battle with an illness and her body like she did. People could try, but it was unique for her and to her and her alone.
I had a feeling that James would do a very rare thing that day and give up. I thought that seeing his girlfriend so insecure and upset that day would make him shut down and just feel sorry for himself. But he didn't so. There was a chance that he'd have liked to; it was breaking his heart that his lovely angel felt that way.
But instead, slowly and calmly, he took a few steps to Lynne and got so close to her that their noses were practically touching. His chest flushed with emotion but he kept the rest of it hidden. He just looked at her. He just looked at her with truth filled eyes. And he shook his head. She gulped.
"No. You have no idea what it's like." He muttered to her as he began telling her everything that he was feeling. He didn't want to make it about him instead. He just wanted to make sure that she understood how precious she was to him and how much he admired her for every little thing.
"You just don't see yourself the way everyone else does. The way I do. You don't know what it's like. Sure, I wasn't there like Jordan was but I am here now. And you told me yourself, I was the second person ever you let see bare and in the form that you are now. You have no idea what it's like. To fall in love with a woman who is once again everything you've ever dreamed of and makes you feel calmer and more loved than you ever have felt. And she just doubts herself over some scars on her chest. I'd be lying if I said I didn't see them. I would be lying if I said I didn't see that you look different from Jessie. But I don't give a damn. I love you both. And I love you infinitely for the battle that you fought. And I will never stop."
And with that, James took hold of his girlfriend's hands and he squeezed them before he made her arms wrap around him and he hugged her tight with his own arms and he didn't let her go. Lynne listened to everything that James had said and I did too.
I sniffed right away. She needed a minute to absorb it all but when she did, she was engulfed with emotion. She was overwhelmed. She had found such reassurance and acceptance and love and it was within the man that she loved more than anything. After breaking down a little all over again, she clung back onto him and hugged him tight.
She felt as though she didn't deserve him. She had raised her voice at him. She had doubted his son. She still felt like Justin had been judging her but she also knew that that was just a reflection of herself. That certainty and defensiveness that she felt towards him was just guilt that she knew she was that judgemental of herself. She knew it. But James didn't care. I didn't either. I pushed my head a bit further in the door while the lavender haired male just held his girlfriend.
He held her tight for a good few moments and stroked every inch of her fingers and her hands and her arms softly. And then he finally pulled away. Of course, he still felt rather heavy at her display of emotions and his too. But he pushed them aside. He didn't ignore them. He just knew they would be there to deal with at a later date.
James stopped hugging Lynne and though she tried to hug onto him further when he did so, he pulled away from her for good and made her look at him with those tear stained ocean blue orbs of hers. He cupped her face in his hands. He pressed a kiss to her nose. And he spoke to her lovingly and calmly, like he always did.
"I want to be here with you, I really do. But Justin was upset. He left and I was certain that I was going to leave it and wait for him to tell me but I need to go and find him. I need to talk to him." The lavender haired male mumbled to Lynne and automatically, her gaze dropped at the mention of his deep purple haired son. But James didn't let her. He lifted her chin up all over again and pressed a light kiss to her lips before continuing. He tucked a loose strand of hair back behind her ear. "Now, you can stay in my dressing gown all you like. It's adorable. But Jorgie will be waking up from her nap soon and will need a cuddle and I need you to take care of that for me. I need you to feel better while hugging our daughter. So I need you to do that for me, okay?"
Lynne found herself sniffing all over again when James moved away from her for good and showed no signs of coming back to hug her. The lavender haired male opened the door and I was finally allowed extra room to breathe. I looked up at him. We didn't need to acknowledge that we both knew we had both seen the same thing. We just looked at each other. We didn't smile with our mouths. But our eyes did. We were in it together.
I hopped on his shoulder and the orange haired female started to gradually return to her usual caring self after her boyfriend had been so lovingly patient with him.
"Do you think Justin has gone far?" she couldn't help but ask with a slight lip bite as she followed James in his dressing gown to the front door with me. She tucked loose strands of her own hair behind her ears. She crinkled her nose. She was being oddly rather stubborn but she was still soft. "Did you see him go?"
"I saw him go." The lavender haired male nodded his head and answered his girlfriend and I skilfully went on one of his shoulders to the other while he put his warm jacket on. Lynne bit her lip all the more at her boyfriend's words and looked down once again but James just smiled. After opening the front door, he leaned forward and pressed a lingering kiss to her cheek. She didn't hesitate to look up right away. I smiled too. "He told me that he was going off to write a song. I thought he was lying to me. After hearing your side of it, I'm definitely sure that he was lying to me. But that's okay. Unless he's suddenly got the urge to write about women all over again. I don't know. Oh well. See you in a bit."
And with that, as Lynne found herself sniffing all over again when she realised how potentially ruthless she'd been with the deep purple haired male, the lavender haired male and I headed off. We headed off on foot.
Like I expected, James' calm and reassuring demeanour or fell just a little bit when he was out of the way of his girlfriend. He furrowed his brow and shook his head. He couldn't believe that she'd think so lowly of Justin. But like she knew it too, he knew that it was just out of insecurity. And after getting over her accusing his eldest son, he just felt sad that she didn't think highly of her appearance too. I felt the same way. I smiled sadly.
While the lavender haired male decided to phone Justin's boyfriend for any clues to where he went when he was sad or frustrated and James followed the instructions and went all the way to his son's significant other's apartment, I had a long and hard think to myself. I had a long and hard think. I was still silent and I was still doing that after James had found the flat to be empty and decided to move on to the second possible location – the high-street just opposite to the prior building.
Lynne had been through a long and hard battle with breast cancer and it ended in a defeat for her. But I understood that the actual illness and leaving behind her husband and her daughters was a scar that strangely faded far quicker than the one's on her actual body. She had been reunited with Jordan a few years after and they could have a life together all over again, even though it wasn't back here on earth. And when Ash and Misty had children of their own, both Jordan and Lynne were able to visit them and play the rather active role in their lives. So those scars hadn't gone away completely but they had both been given a second chance so they accepted it, rather than dwelling on how they both left the earth.
But for the orange haired woman, the scars left behind from the operations that tried to save her life were harder to forget. She forgot about them most of the time when she was with Jordan and James too. In fact, the lavender haired male was the reason that she was a whole lot more secure in herself than she had previously been.
After all, he had only known her in the shape that she was currently in and he didn't think of anything different. He didn't want her to be any different. He certainly didn't want her to look like Jessie. He loved Jessie but he had Jessie. He didn't need two of them! He loved Lynne for exactly how she was and for how she looked. Lynne knew this. Lynne was confident of this.
She just always thought that the way that the Morgan children would truly understand how she felt and see how she truly looked would come about in a different way. It would happen through conversation, that's what she thought. She subject came up quite a lot when they witnessed her feeding Jorgie and she was rather comfortable in all that. She was happy to talk about it. She just wasn't ready to show it.
And that whole assumption was ripped apart when Justin walked in on her and saw her in her most vulnerable state. She thought that he or any of the children would be shown in a much more mutual and comfortable way. She was upset that that scenario had been taken away from her; perhaps more than Justin walking in in itself. She thought that it was going to be different. And she didn't realise that Justin felt the exact same way. And was shaken up for that exact reason.
The lavender haired male finally located the coffee shop that his deep purple haired son was hiding out in after reading the name he had written on his hand from the mouth of Sammy over the phone wrong and going to the wrong one. The people behind the counter had directed him to the coffee house at the very end of the street, on the corner and overlooking a busy section of the high-street. So James and I headed there.
And as soon as we walked inside, we heard the hustle and bustle and heard the low music on the radio playing. I snapped out of my thoughts of Lynne and breathed out. It seemed like a place that the eldest Morgan son would like. And I, James and Sammy were all right. At the bar by the window and looking out at the drizzling rain of the late January was a deep purple haired flash. James decided to get a drink for himself and a cup of milk for me too before he finally joined his son.
His hand reached out to the back of his head and he let it linger there for a good few moments before he took the seat next to Justin. I hopped on the table. The deep purple haired male barely reacted. He was staring right out the window, his cheeks in both of his hands while his elbows were propped up on the coffee bar table.
"This must be the place that you wrote one of your songs in." James couldn't help but mumble to his son and he carried on like always, almost forgetting all of the information that he knew from Lynne and emotions he was holding deep in his heart. He found himself copying his son's posture and rested his own cheeks in his hands, looking right out at all the people in the rain getting on with their lives. "It's a right little inspiration trap."
"What are you doing here, Dad?" Justin finally mumbled to his father and he turned to look at him, completely forgetting that earlier in the day he had tried to convince him that he was absolutely fine. He had smiled at him too. But in that moment, he couldn't manage it. And he didn't want to, either. He couldn't lie to the lavender haired male all over again. "I said I was going to write a song."
"And you look really busy at it." James said to his son sarcastically but it wasn't in an extroverted way. It was extremely subtle and he moved one of his elbows off the table to playfully poke all of the empty tea cups that he had ordered and drunk. His expression didn't change. But his tone did. It got slightly more serious. But it was still gentle. He knew his son. At last. "You know why I'm here."
"I do." The deep purple haired male breathed out and he almost winced. Like his father before him, he stopped resting his elbows on the coffee bar and moved his hands to his lap. He turned to face the older male and his flickering gaze returned as he decided to occupy his hands with the anchor embroidery on his jacket instead. "I'm sorry."
At that moment in time, James knew his son very, very well. He liked to think that he knew almost everything about his boy. Of course, that was impossible but he knew the good nature of his heart. He knew that he was kind and accepting and witty and encouraging; everything that was the opposite of the boy and actions that Lynne had described.
But despite knowing him so very well, he wasn't expecting an apology out of him. So instead of talking and filling the air with his own words, he just locked eyes on his son and tilted his head at him. This quiet, simple gesture worked on Justin like it had done with Lynne. I nodded approvingly. They weren't so distant after all.
"I… I'm sorry." Justin repeated his words with a shake of his head and swapped his hands all over again so they were back in his lap. It was like he didn't know what to do with them. He wanted to occupy them with something. But everything was wrong. That was because he knew that he'd been wrong. "I didn't mean for it to happen like that. Of course I wanted to understand more about Lynne but not like that. I swear. I didn't go in on purpose. I-"
"Of course you didn't." James breathed out and nodded his head at his eldest son, not questioning his words for even a second. He reached out and briefly held onto his Justin's hands so he finally had something real to occupy his fingers with. This made even more words from the younger male come gushing out. He winced all over again.
"I didn't mean to walk in on her. And I didn't mean for my face to do whatever it did. I know she probably told you and I didn't hear – I left right away. But I saw her face and it was too late. I saw her face and I knew I hadn't reacted in the right way. I… I'm sorry." Justin words came rushing out rather fast and it was almost in the same way as when he sang passionately. I almost imagined that he needed to pick his guitar off the floor and get it out of the case and pluck some strings to cool down. "I… I let you down, didn't I? I know it. I know I did."
Out of all the words that the long haired male could have said, it was these that made James react the most. He didn't react obviously and he didn't react out-rightly either. It was everything that he didn't say that seemed to say the most.
His eyes flickered with sadness for his son and his head tilted even more. He just wanted his son to get everything off his chest. Like with Lynne, he just wanted him to explain everything. And so he did. He licked his lips and was a little tongue tied but got on with it anyway.
"When… When I thought about her showing me for the first time. It was never going to happen that way. I mean, if she ever did want to show me, I knew that I had to be as accepting and respectful as you. It's a lot to live up to, I know, but I knew I had to be that way. But I wasn't. I just wasn't. I really fucked it up, didn't I?"
The deep purple haired male ended his words with a chuckle and picked up one of his empty cups to see if the contents truly had gone but the way that his eyes flickered a bit more spoke volumes. He was expressing how much he wanted to be like his dad but felt like he had let him down. That moved James very deeply.
But before he could say anything and reassure his son with words, all he had time for was to reach his hand back out to the back of his head. Justin spoke once more. He furrowed his brow all over again. He shook his head.
"If I could go back, I would do it so differently. I would definitely keep my face a lot more level. And I'd walk out of there correctly - without reacting. And then afterwards tell Lynne how cool I think she is. Because I do. I think she's wicked." Justin finally said with a bit of a grin but there were tears in his eyes too. There were tears in James' and mine too. We both nodded. We both nodded our heads but James was the one to reach his hand out to his son's thigh as he continued. He tried to stop his face from falling again. "But I lost that chance. I didn't do the right thing. I did the wrong thing. So that is that."
After glancing at the deep purple haired male and studying his expression that was trying to be nonchalant and accepting but was full of disappointment, I looked at his father. I expected James' face to be filled with sympathy and emotion and sadness. But it wasn't.
The lavender haired male's head at stopped tilting and it surprised me to see that he was smiling. His eyes were not filled with sympathy or emotion or sadness. They were filled with wisdom. He smiled at his son. And he reached out to touch the place on his cheek that his dimple usually resided.
"My boy…" he began and this got Justin's attention right away. He raised both of his eyebrows but he was listening. His eyes flickered a little more at first but then they focused on his dad. They focused on the truth. "A million times a day, we have the chance to do the right thing. Sometimes we take it. Sometimes we do not. Sometimes we think we're doing the right thing but it's not the right thing. The point is, nothing you could ever do could be really wrong, Justin. I know you. I know your intentions. I know your heart. Lynne does too. You might have royally messed it up in that tiny moment. Who knows? But you're lucky. Because you have the rest of this day. You have the rest of your life. And whenever you're ready, you can tell Lynne how 'wicked' you think she is. And she'll be listening. Because she knows you too. So well. And you could never let us down. Because you are our boy."
And because, like James said, he knew his son inside out and knew that he was every bit that made him Justin Morgan, it didn't surprise him when his face suddenly softened to a smile and tackled us both with a clumsy hug before he got out of his seat. We knew what he was doing before he even told us with words. He picked up his guitar case off the floor, (left James with the bill), and headed home. And he headed back to tell Lynne how 'wicked' he thought she was and everything that she had been through.
And after Justin had left us alone, he left us both chuckling together. We were laughing and we were shaking our heads fondly. But we knew something lovely was about to happen.
Justin and Lynne were about to get even closer and understand each other even more. For good. They had known each other for many years and had been step mother and step son for just a little bit. But all along, they had been family. And no matter what insecurities and emotions and uncertainties got in the way, they never really doubted one and other. Not truly. They knew each other. They knew each other's hearts. And they could hear them too. And that might have never been possible without the scars decorating Lynne's.
The End.
There you go! Thanks so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed :3 It's important to see this side of Lynne. She's very positive and kind-hearted and accepting but, like everyone, she has insecurities. Her main insecurities are of course her body after being operated on and that causes her to doubt people. In this one, she doubts Justin. This story along with some others, really shows how Justin looks up to his father. He always wants to do right by him and live up to the example he's set. But that's something he'll never be able to do, really. He's not a carbon copy of James! But he is just as good as him. Maybe one day he'll understand that :P This story tackles a good few subjects and for that, I'm proud of it. So I really really hope you enjoyed. Thanks again for reading and I will be back next Wednesday with another chapter so see you then!
AmyBieberKetchum signing out :3