Morganville (Justin Bieber)

Chapter 31

"Justin?" I whispered.

He was on his side in the floor, shuddering, curled up into a ball. I slid down next to him and put my hands on his broad back. Under the thin T-shirt his skin was clammy, and his muscles were these as a steel cable. He was making sounds, agonising gasps that weren't sobs but weren't quite not, either.

I didn't know what to do. I'd felt helpless a lot in the past few hours, but this was worse, somehow, because Micheal and Eve were no where to be seen, and I wasn't sure if Justin would have wanted them to see him like this.

"I'm okay" he gasped out. "I'm okay. I'm okay" he didn't sound okay. He sounded scared.

He managed to sit up. I wrapped my arms around him, hugging him tight, after a few seconds of resistance I felt him say against me, and hug me back. His hand stroked my hair.

"Shh" I whispered to him, the way a mother would to a baby. "You're here. You're safe. You're okay"

"You should go to bed" he pulled back from me, avoiding looking at me.

"Yeah" I agreed. "You first"

"Can't sleep" he said. More like he didn't want to. "I just need some coffee or something"

"Coke?" I asked.

"Whatever" he replied.

I fetched it for him, and Justin drowned it like a frat boy at a mixer, belched, and shrugged an apology.

"Where's Micheal?" he asked and I spread my hands. "Eve?" I did another silent pantomime of ignorance. "well, at least somebody's getting a good nights sleep. They together?"

"I don't know" I replied.

"Christ, I hope so" Justin said. "They deserve a little fun, even in hell"

It was hell, and we were the lost souls, and it was coming on towards morning and I'd been scared for what felt like a very long time.

He was watching me closely, in a way that made me feel warmth all over my skin, like a light sunburn.

"How about us?" I heard myself ask. "Don't we deserve a little fun?" I did not just say that. Only I did.

He smiled. I wondered if the shadows were ever going to leave his eyes again. "I could do something fun" he said.

"Umm" I licked my lips. "Define fun" I whispered.

"Quit doing that, jailbait. It's distracting" he said. I didn't know what I was doing, but my breath hitched in my throat.

The whole idea that somebody would think of me as jailbait was tremendously exciting. Especially Justin. I tried to hide that, and act like I wasn't quaking on the inside like a jello fruit salad.

"So now you want me to stay up? I thought you said I should go to bed?" I asked.

"You should" he didn't put an particular emphasis on it. "Cause if you stay down here, there's going to be fun. I'm just saying"

"Video game fun?" I asked.

His eyes widened. "You want to play video games?"

"Do you?" I asked, smirking slightly.

"You're the weirdest girl" Justin shook his head.

"Please. You live with Eve" I was not doing this right. How did girls seduce boys? What did they say? Because I was pretty sure that talking about video games and bringing up roommates wasn't in the have fun game plan.

Eve would know. She'd had those garter hose on, and those thong panties, and I didn't even own those things, or have any idea how to get them. And Eve had worn them for Micheal, or maybe just as a secret little excitement for herself around Micheal.

Say something sexy, I commanded myself, and in a blind panic, I opened my mouth and blurted, "Do you think they're doing it?" I was so appalled I clapped both my hands over my mouth.

And then he laughed. "Man, I hope. Those two could use a good...uh-" he blinked and saw my age flash in front of his eyes. "Hell. Never mind"

Words weren't working for me. I leant forwards and kissed him. It felt weird, and awkward, and he didn't immediately respond - maybe he was too surprised. Maybe I was doing too badly for him, or I'd been wrong to try and make a move on him.

His lips parted under mine, damp and soft and warm, and I forgot all of that. My entire life focused on the sensations, the gentle pressure that grew more intense the longer the kiss went on. Chaste kisses, then dirtier ones, and man, those tasted good. They tasted better the wider we opened our mouths to satisfy our yearning for each other.

I could of done a whole semester of kissing with Justin. Intense personal study. With lab classes.

Time really wasn't happening for me, but eventually I realised there was a soft glow coming from the windows, and I was numb and sore from sitting in the floor. I winced as a muscle in my back protested, and Justin reached out, pulled me up, and settled myself on the couch.

He stretched out, and extended a hand to me. I started, tingling and confused. "There's no room" I said.

"Plenty of room" he said.

I felt breathless and kind of wild, stretching out on the tiny area of sofa cushion available next to me, and then smothered a yelp as Justin picked me up and draped me over his chest, and over all of the rest of him.

"Better?" He asked, and raised his eyebrows. It was a real question, and he was looking for a real answer. I felt a blush building a fire in my cheeks, but I didn't look away from his gaze.

"Perfect" I said, finally.

It felt like being naked, except for all the clothes. The kisses this time we're wet and urgent and deep, and the feeling on Justin's muscles tensing and relaxing under me was incredibly exciting.

Justin might not have been Micheal, with all the responsibility, but he definitely wasn't impulsive. At least, not with me. His hands roamed, but never to places where I wanted them to - badly - and some of the places they roamed made me wonder why I'd never wanted someone to touch me there before. Like the small of my back, where the skin dipped into a shallow valley. Or the back of my neck. Or inside of my arms.

As he was bringing his hands up my sides, his fingers just barely brushed the outer curve of my breasts, and I gasped into his mouth.

Justin immediately sat me upright, and moved to the other end of the couch. His face was flushed; his eyes were bright and no longer looked even a bit tired.

"No" he said, and held out his hand like a traffic cop when I tried to scoot closer. "Red flag. If you make that sound again, we are in trouble. Or I am, anyway"

"But-" I felt that blush creeping again, and I had no idea what it was going to be like putting this into words. "What about you? You know-"

"Don't worry about me. I needed this" he was still breathing deeply, but he did look better. "So? Did we have fun?"

"Fun" I agreed faintly. "Um, I need to-"

"Yeah, me too" but Justin made no move to go. I swallowed hard and took the course of the better part of valour, up the stairs to my room. I shut the door and locked it, threw myself on my brand new mattress.