Don't Get Too Close (Justin Bieber Love Story / Fan Fiction)

Thirty-Three: "She hates me."

"Wait," I called as her small hand lay upon the doorknob. She turned around and crossed her arms over her stomach, looking vulnerable as ever. "I, um-- since my mom isn't home to help me out, I was wondering if maybe you could. It will only take a second and I could really use your help."

Lies, I thought. I don't need her help, I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself. But I'm nowhere near capable of handling all of this time without Natalie. Whatever I can do to keep her around, I'll do it.

She scrunched her eyebrows downwards. Her puzzled emotion quickly fled, though. I knew it was because of the second-guessing thing.

"I just need help changing this bandage on my forehead. It's kind of hard to stand up and look in a mirror when I can't even stand on my own," I chuckled, pushing another joke.

That time, she didn't even try to fake a laugh. She just nodded and it broke my heart. Even after I voiced all of the things I didn't like about her and made her feel like shit, she still felt obligated to help me.

But as guilty as I felt, I would have done anything to get her back. She made me so, so happy and if I ever had the opportunity to win her over, I would make sure not to screw up again.

So she followed me up the stairs. It was a little more difficult to go upstairs in crutches rather than down, so I was kind of slow.

"Are you sure you should be doing this?" she asked, true concern in her voice.

I laughed and turned to her once I reached the top step. "Probably not, but that's never stopped me before."

Her lips twisted into a soft grin and I knew it was genuine. It was small, but it was a start. It felt like I was back to square one: trying my hardest to get even the littlest of emotions from her. I used to try so hard because I knew deep down that she wasn't the way she presented herself. Rather than being cold and sad, she was really a caring and trustworthy person. But in that moment, I didn't know who she was. It was a side of her I had never seen before and I really didn't like it at all.

It's your fault, don't get mad at her.

We reached the bathroom and I turned to her. "All of the first aid stuff is in the drawer right there," I motioned with my eyes.

She bent down and pulled it open, bringing the box out with her. She placed it on the counter and began rummaging through it. "Is there any special way I need to do it, or--"

"Nope," I shook my head, my eyes glued to her. She wasn't looking at me, but I couldn't stop my eyes from scanning over her face. She was so pretty and it took all of me not to kiss her right then. I knew it would make her mad, though. Although she didn't appear to be, I knew for a fact that she was extremely pissed off at me. I would have been, too.

She nodded, taking out a bottle of saline solution to clean it and one of the bandages. Then she turned to me and looked up, sighing suddenly. "You're, um, a little too tall. Can you--"

Before she could say anything else, I moved around her and slowly eased myself down to sit on the edge of the bathtub for her. I set my crutches off to the side. If she wasn't so upset with me, I would have cracked a joke about how short she was or how funny it was that she couldn't reach me, but I knew it wasn't the time. Things weren't going to be like that with us anymore.

Moving close to me, she began slowly peeling off the bandage that was in use. I flinched considering it still kind of hurt, but I had to hand it to her because she was being way more gentle than my mom had been or the nurses at the hospital.

"Sorry," her cool breath swept across my lips due to her closeness. She didn't seem to be affected by how close we were because she was so concentrated on what she was doing, but it was definitely hard for me to sit there and not do anything. It was too soon for her.