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Alex was the first one to leave the stadium. She sneaked away right after the last costume change and before the guys got off stage. All five agreed to meet Shae outside of Alex's room after they had had time to shower. Shae reminded them that whatever Alex was going through, real friends would help her through it. Even Justin agreed.

Shae knocked on the hotel room door for the third time. No answer. She slipped a key card out of her pocket. "Where did you get the key to Alex's room?", Chris asked. "Whenever we are not lucky enough to get connected rooms. we always exchange keys - just in case."
"In case of what?", Chris questioned.
"In case of an emergency, you know, I need to borrow some clothes or hairspray or feminine hygene products. Girlfriend emergencies."
Chris laughed,. "I see, good to know." He rubbed his chin deviously, "We might need to crash someone's room one night when they are least expecting it."

Alex was sitting at the head of the bed, with her back towards them, hugging her knees.
"Alex," Shae began softly.
"Please just leave me alone," Alex interrupted, "I don't much feel like talking."
"We're worried about you. Care to shed some light on the scene this evening?"
Alex turned around and looked at the group in her hotel room. If looks could have killed, it would have been bloody, JC thought to himself.
"Okay," Alex spat, "If you must know."
"We must." Shae replied.
"Then sit down, it's a long story and I won't be repeating it." She said, coldly and turned back to face the wall. Shae sat down on the other bed in the room next to Chris. The other four remained standing.
"Before I came to work here, I was living with my boyfriend. We had been together for two years. I thought I was going to marry him. When we first started dating he was so sweet and loving. I thought I had met the one. We were happy for a time, then things changed. He seemed to get mad at me for everything. He wanted everything to be perfect, including me, and if it wasn't perfect..." Alex trailed off.
"Go on," Shae encouraged.
Alex whipped her head around to glare at her. "Do you want to hear this or not - Don't rush me". She turned back to face the wall again.
"It took a year for the transformation to take place but after that year, Greg was not the man I fell in love with. He was mean and ugly. I think he was only truly happy when he was hurting someone else.
"Two years with Greg taught me a lot. I learned that the human face is a wonder. It can take many hits before it actually shows a visible bruise. But I also learn just how hard you have to be hit before a bruise will show up there. I learned that all it takes is one person to destroy another. And I learned just how much it hurts to wake up in the morning with bruises on your body from the person you love the most in the world.
"Last December, I missed a period. I was pregnant. I thought that it would change things. I would give Greg a child and then he would love me and we would be a family. Plus, I didn't think he would hit me if I was pregnant. I wanted to tell him in a special way. I wanted it to be memorable. Oh it was memorable all right.
"I cleaned the house and made a candle lit dinner. Everything was...perfect. Greg came home late that night. He had been drinking so I decided to wait to tell him. He asked me to get him a beer from the fridge, stupid me, I brought it to him in the wrong glass. He made me lay on the floor on my back. He sat on my chest and put a pillow over my face until I almost blacked out, twice."
It suddenly twigged to Joey why Alex never had a pillow in her room.
"Then, when I couldn't stand up because I was too woozy, he kicked me. He kicked me again and again. I never cried. Not once. I learned long before that crying just made you feel worse and never accomplished anything and it usually made him hit harder. Greg used to call me a heartless bitch because I never cried at movies, even the ones that made him cry. I always thought that was funny, that he could cry at a tender moment in a movie then turn around and backhand me."
Justin closed his eyes and tightened his fists. A lone tear slid down Shae's cheek.
"Greg went out after that. I left the house with my purse and the clothes I was wearing. I didn't take the time to pack anything because I was afraid that Greg would come back before I was gone. I bought a bus ticket for as far as I could get from there and I never looked back."
Alex was now speaking only to herself. She was oblivious to everyone else in the room.
"I know exactly what it feels like to have your heart shattered into a million bits. It’s happened to me twice. Once was there on the floor in my very own house, where I should have been safe."
Justin moved over to where Alex was sitting. He put her hand on her shoulder. Alex winced as if he had slapped her face. She snapped back to the present and turned to Justin. "Now that you've heard what you wanted to know, you can leave". She glared at him long and hard, boring a hole right through his heart.
Justin opened his mouth to speak but Alex cut him off. "Just go!” She yelled. "All of you. Get out!'
Wide-eyed, all six people silently shuffled out of the room.

~*~

Back in Shae's room, everyone was in shock. No one spoke but no one wanted to go to sleep. So they sat on the beds in her room in silence, each one lost in their own thoughts. Shae was crying softly in JC's arms. After what seemed like hours of silence, Joey flipped on the TV. Switching channels, he found MTV. Smack my bitch up by Prodigy was playing. "How ironic." Joey said dryly. Justin blanched, punched the wall and left the room.

~*~

Justin opened the door connecting his room with Alex's. She hadn't closed her side of the door. He took a few apprehensive steps into her room. She was sitting on the window seat, leaned up against the wall. Her head was laid back and her eyes were closed. Her long blond hair fell down around her face and shoulders and rested on the bench. It looked like spun gold in the moonlight, just begging for him to touch it. Her left arm was propped up against the window, her hand on her forehead. Her right hand was clenched around the neck of a 26 of vodka, half empty. Justin tiptoed up to her and reached for the bottle.
"Don't even think about it." She growled and Justin jumped.
"Do you want to talk?"
"No, go away" she replied without opening her eyes
"Are you drunk"
"No, go away" she repeated.
"Alex" Justin whispered
"What!" Her eyes snapped open and then narrowed. "Oh, are you still here?" She took another swig from the bottle and closed her eyes again. "Leave me alone."
"You are drunk." He stated
"Then why does it still hurt?" She swung her legs over the side of the bench and stood up. "Can you tell me that?" Her finger was jabbing him in the chest with each question. "Why do I feel so empty inside? And why do you care?" She turned away from him.
"Alex, I do care. I care more than you know. Please let me-"
"I don't want you to care! I don't need you to care. And I never asked you to." She viciously spat back at him.
"But I do, and even if you don't want me to care, I'm still going to." He said evenly.

Alex walked over to the bed and sat down with her back to him. Silence filled the room for what seemed like an eternity, then Justin heard a low, ugly laugh. "You are such a bastard, Justin Timberlake. You just made this heartless bitch cry for the first time in a very, very long time." After another silence he heard soft sobs coming from behind him.
"Oh no Alex, don't" He whispered and wrapped his arms around her. She buried her face in his chest. Justin held her as wave after wave of sobs shook her body. He had never known anyone living with so much pain and heartache inside. After crying for close to an hour, Alex fell asleep in Justin's arms. He began to get up but her grip tightened around his waist. He knew he was stuck there for the duration of the night and lay back down on the bed. The sweet scent of Alex's hair filled his nostrils as he drifted off.