All Bad

17. Starving

I didn't know that I was starving 'til I tasted you
Don't need no butterflies when you give me the whole damn zoo
By the way, right away you do things to my body
I didn't know that I was starving 'til I tasted you....
- Hailee Steinfield

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Justin's POV

My foot tapped impatiently against the wooden floor of my kitchen. As an already impatient person it was killing me to wait for Brie to arrive at my house.

As much as I tried to ignore them, I had definitely had some nerves. Without a doubt this was a big deal to me that she was coming to stay at my house for a few days. I'd seen her in her natural habitat and now it was my go.

Mass preparation had gone into this; my whole house was cleaned, food all stocked up, friends kicked out. You know, I wanted to make a good impression especially because this wasn't the best time in life for her.

Our contact since Brie's grandmother's funeral was minimal. I sensed she wasn't really in the mood to talk but we still kept in touch and spoke via text or phone call every day. When I did get to hear her voice she always sounded down and the call usually only lasted about ten minutes. She had sounded a little more upbeat when I spoke to her before to let her know that Mikey would be picking her up to bring her to my place and I was hoping that was a good sign.

I gazed at the screen of my Macbook, I was barely paying any attention to the Twitter mentions I was looking through. My mind was definitely elsewhere. The sound of the doorbell made me jump slightly. A smile grew effortlessly on my face as I got up off my chair and almost skidded on the floor as I hastily made my way to my front door.

I looked through the peephole and sure enough there she was in the flesh, with her reddish brown curly hair and beautifully freckled face along with Mikey who stood behind her holding her bags.

Nervously I ran my hands over my clothes wondering whether I'd dressed too casual. Was a hoodie and basketball shorts too sloppy? Should I have gotten a haircut? Would she expect me to put something nicer on? These thoughts vanished as quickly as they had come. I knew I was being stupid as I knew full well that Brie wouldn't be bothered with what I was wearing despite her job title.

To my relief Brie's tired looking face burst into a smile as I opened the door. I immediately scooped her into my arms as soon as she stepped inside leaving Mikey to bring the bags in and shut the door. Brie's hands gripped my shoulders as I held her tightly and rocked her.

"Hey." She mumbled smiling with her face buried into my chest.

I dipped my face into her curly hair and then gently kissed her forehead. "You good?"

Brie nodded before tipping her head up 'til her lips met mine.

I wanted to kiss her more than anything in that moment. It took a lot of willpower to stay cool as she brushed her soft full lips over mine and ever so gently kissed my bottom lip. Her mouth lingered on mine for a moment tempting and taunting me. I wanted to kiss her properly so bad.

She backed up after a second and I almost sighed with relief. My attention turned to Mikey who was standing a few feet from us looking bored as shit. Brie buried her face back in my chest again and wrapped her arms around me as she noticed his presence too causing me to laugh as I asked Mikey to put the bags in my room.

- - -

I tried really hard not to stare at all. Honestly, I did. But to my dismay I was fighting a losing battle because every few seconds my gaze would set upon her once again. Brie must have been able to feel my eyes on her as she sat adjacent to me in my kitchen. There was no way she hadn't noticed that I couldn't keep my eyes off of her.