The Lake House [ Justin Bieber ]

seventeen.

Justin

I lay staring at Ana from across her bed. She sat up against the wall, talking animatedly about something she'd read in the newspaper this morning. I didn't miss the way she'd managed to keep from touching me intimately the entire afternoon.

And for the last month.

"Are you even listening to me?" She sighed, punching me on the arm.

I grabbed her fist. "Why aren't you touching me?"

"I'll take that as a no." She muttered, moving closer. "What do you mean?"

I took a strand of her hair. "I've been here for hours and you haven't touched me. You've barely touched me in the past month." I curled the brown lock around my index finger, watching it bounce when I released it.

"It took you a month to realize?" She murmured, looking away. She was blushing, like she didn't know what to say.

"About that night..." I started. I was still embarrassed about shoving her away like that. It was like I had no control over it. "It's not that I don't want it, because believe me I do, especially with you. Just not yet."

Ana nodded. "I just don't know your boundaries. I don't want to make you uncomfortable."

I took her hands in mine, placing them on my chest. She grinned up at me, sliding forward to curl up on top of me. I wound my arms around her, laying my head back. Her fingers ran up and down the inside of my arm.

"What are these from?"

I lifted my head to see Ana staring down at the long, pale lines that stood out against my skin. Panic coursed through me. "Oh, I, um--" I licked my lips. "I used to claw at my skin whenever I was upset." Ana stayed silent. "A teacher noticed and I had to go to the hospital. Had to get in the ambulance in front of everyone too. Humiliating, huh? Went through all of these evaluations and shit. The doctors said it was PTSD. They said I self-harmed because I was dealing with guilt in the only way I knew how."

Ana stayed silent, turning her face into my stomach. "'Love you." She mumbled into the fabric of my shirt.

We dozed off until we heard the front door opening. Ana expertly rolled off of me and threw my extracted sweater directly at my face. She shoved our schoolbooks onto the bed, opening them to a random page.

Her dad popped in moments later. "Is Justin staying for dinner?"

"Not today, sir." I replied, shutting my Calculus textbook.

"Then I think it's time to head home."

I nodded, shoving my stuff into my backpack to stand up. I leaned over to kiss Ana quickly, ignoring her dad's scrutinizing glare as I walked by.

"Why do you always do that? He didn't do anything wrong!" I heard Ana yell.

I heard multiple voices on the other side of my front door. I locked the door behind me when I stepped inside, raising an eyebrow at the three men sitting on my couch. One of them was the same one who I'd seen before.

"Hey." I said, kicking my sneakers off onto the tray.

Richard stepped out from the kitchen. "My nephew can't seem to follow directions given to him."

I rolled my eyes. "Are we really doing this?"

"This is Justin." Richard ignored my question, placing a hand on my back and turning me. "This is Anthony, Henry and Joseph."

"Let me guess," I nodded at them. "Old friends?"

"Precisely." Richard smiled. "They do work for me. You asked how we make money, well this is it. You met them when you were young."