Upper Class Love (a Justin Bieber love story novella)

Chapter Twenty-Four

“Hey, Baby!”

            Here goes. “Hey, Justin.”

            Justin smiled as he slowed his job to a walk. It was late, late at night and I told him to meet me at the park. He wrapped his arms around my waist and held me close.

            “I missed you! Where have you been all day?” He whispered in my ear, pushing back my hair.

            “Oh… Just… Met up with some old friends.” I smiled, feeling awkward knowing something he doesn’t. Isn’t that always the case? When you’re with your boyfriend and you know you’ve done something wrong, but he still thinks everything is fine… “Justin…”

            “Yeah, Babe?” Justin asked, planting a kiss on my cheek. He frowned. “You okay?”

            I sighed and plopped down on the blue rubber ground of the playground. Justin joined by sitting across from me and play with my hands. We both smiled and looked into each other’s eyes, and I instantly felt regret for cheating on him. I’m such a whore. I don’t deserve him. There are millions and millions of girls that would die to be in my position, and I threw it all away with a kiss. Well, more than one kiss…

            Justin leaned in for a kiss after we sat there staring into each other’s eyes for a while. I resisted and he pulled away mid-kiss. “Did I do something, Marley?” Justin asked, notably annoyed by me.

            “It’s nothing you did, Justin.” I weakly smiled, caressing his cheek with my right hand. Before he could respond, I added quickly, “Do you remember your first love?”

            “What if I said you’re my first love?” He smiled, pressing our foreheads together.

            I laughed. “I’m being serious.”

            “Well then… Of course I do. You never forget someone you truly love.” I couldn’t see directly into his eyes because of our foreheads touching, but I could tell he was deep in a memory of this girl. “She was, or I guess still is, beautiful. We would hang out all the time. I’ve known her for as long as I could remember.” His voice was traveling farther and farther away from me, despite the fact our mouths were but centimeters apart. “One day, I just stopped lying to myself. I realized I was in love with her. So deeply, madly in love with her…” My heart twanged. It hurt to hear someone you love talk about someone else they love. But it was my turn next. “By then, she had a boyfriend. But we were in middle school, and I won’t say I’m proud, but I broke them up pretty easily. We were together all through middle school. The summer before freshman year she moved away with her mom to go to some high-end school district. We promised to stay together, to make it work…” He trailed off, lost in thought and twirling my hair.

            I kissed him softly on the lips, a tear escaping my eye. Justin snapped out of his haze and frowned.

            “What’s wrong? I hate to see you cry…” He wiped away the tear and kissed my cheek. When I didn’t respond, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small box. “I got you something,” Justin whispered, smiling. He opened the small blue velvet box to reveal a dazzling silver ring.

            I gasped, tears rushing down my face now. I’m so stupid. I’m so stupid. I’m so stupid. “Justin!...”

            “It’s a promise ring.” Justin’s smile grew wider as he grabbed my limp left hand and slid it onto the ring finger. “I’m so in love with you, Marley. No other love could compare. I want to be with you for forever, but you’re not eighteen yet. This is our promise that we will be with each other forever. I even got it engraved with your name in it.” Justin kept rambling on about our undying love for each other and the ring and marriage and babies and love and commitment… No he wasn’t. I don’t know what he was talking about. All I can hear is “You whore, you slut, you hoe, you player, you bitch, you homie-hopper.”