Morganville (Justin Bieber)

Chapter 11

Justin's turn for cooking dinner, and he came up with chilli dogs - more chilli, but at least he didn't good job with it. I had two, watching in amazement as Micheal and Justin downed four each, and Eve nibbled one. She smiled at Justin, and shot back barbs whenever he sent one sailing her way, but I noticed something else.

Eve couldn't keep her eyes off of Micheal. At first I thought, she knows something, but then I saw the flush in Eve's cheeks showing through her pale make up, and the glitter in her eyes.

Oh. Well, I guessed Micheal had looked pretty hot, grabbing her out of danger like that and dragging her out of harms way. And now that I had thought about it, Eve had been making little glances in his direction every time they had been together.

Eve finally shoved her plate away and claimed dibs on the bathroom for a long, hot, soaking bubble bath. Which I wished I had thought of first. Me and Micheal did the dishes while Justin practiced his zombie-fighting skills on the Xbox.

"Eve likes you, you know" I said casually as I was rinsing off the last plate. He nearly dropped the one he was drying.

"What?" He asks.

"She does" I nodded.

"Did she tell you that?" He panics.

"No" I mutter.

"I don't think you understand Eve, then" he says.

"Do you like her?" I ask.

"Of course I like her!" He cries.

"Enough to...?" I smirk.

"I am not talking about this" He put the plate into the drainer. "Jesus. Ana!"

"Oh, come on. You like her, don't you?" I press on.

"Even if I did-" He stopped short, glancing towards the doorway lowering his voice. "Even if I did, there are a few problems, don't you think?"

"Everybody's got problems" I said. "Especially in this town. I've only been here six weeks, and I already know that"

Whatever he thought about that, he dried his hands and walked out. I heard him talking to Justin, and when I went out the two of them were deep into the video game, elbowing each other and fighting for every point.

I was on my way to my room, passing the bathroom, when I heard Eve crying. I knocked quietly, and looked in when Eve muffled her sobs. The door wasn't locked.

Eve was dressed in a black fluffy robe, sitting on the toilet; she'd stripped off her make up and let her hair down, and she looked like a little girl in a too large adult outfit. Fragile. She gave me a shaky grin and wiped tear tracks from her face.

"Sorry" she said, and cleared her throat. "Kind of a suck-ass day, you know?"

"That guy. That vampire. He acted like he knew you" I said.

"Yeah. He- he's the one who gives my family protection. I turned him down. He's not too happy." She said giving a hollow laugh. "Guess nobody likes rejection"

I studied her. "You okay, though?"

"Sure. Peachy." Eve waved me out. "Go study. Get smart enough to blow this town. I'm just a little bit down. Don't worry about it"

Later, when Micheal started playing, I heard Eve crying through the wall again. I didn't go to investigate, and I didn't watch Micheal vanish. I didn't think I had the courage.

Justin went with me the next day to buy some clothes. It was only thee blocks to the colourless retail section of town, with all it's dingy-looking thrift stores; I didn't want his company, but he wasn't letting me go alone.