Gotta Be You (Justin Bieber Love Story)

Chapter Sixteen

I soon realized why everything had been nailed to the wall.

The bus turned a corner and everything that had not been joined to the wall fell out spectacularly, with an earsplitting crash that made me jump. Justin laughed at my jump, and we settled back down.

Amanda called to, as she put it, ‘check up on me’. I mean, how embarrassing is that? Your older sister all over you like a protective mother hen. Justin silently laughed while I blushed on the phone and stammered out that I was fine, and that, thank you for your concern, but Justin and I weren’t up to anything.

The awkward-est part was sleeping. There was a section with some bunks (all but welded to the wall), but it was the actual sleeping I was concerned about. What if I fell out when the bus made a tight corner? I doubted that would be healthy.

I did my first set of shopping that very afternoon. Macy’s is one of my top five favorite stores, and so I naturally made a beeline for it when Pattie and I entered the large, welcoming mall.

Fifteen minutes later I was looking through their summer selection, she said, “You know, Anna, Justin . . . . . I think he really likes you.” I tried to look nonchalant, though my heart had stuttered, stopped for a moment, then had picked up at twice the speed it should be.

“Does he?” I asked, allowing surprise to color my tone. I hoped it was believable. A million and one possibilities were racing through my mind at that moment, and some of them were, well. . . . let’s just say they were very un- Annaliese- like.

“I think so.” She looked at me, her face carefully guarded. “He talks in his sleep, and he’s always saying your name. then again, he says ‘knee’ a lot too, so  . . . . ” she drifted off, drowning at the top in her hands. I felt like I’d just run a marathon, my heart was thumping so hard. I’d have given anything to bet it wasn’t ‘knee’ Justin was saying, like Pattie supposed, it was actually ‘Nie’, his nickname for me. . . .

My legs were suddenly shaking. I desperately held on to the rack in front of me for support.

“Are you okay?” she asked, her dark brown eyes warm with concern. I shook myself- internally.

“Yes, thank you. If you didn’t pick that for yourself, I’d like to try it on please. It’ll go well with these shorts.” I pointed to the light blue top in her hands. She seemed dazed for a moment.

“Here you are,” she said finally, handing me the article. I skipped along to the changing room, hopong she didn’t notice that my hands were suddenly sweaty, or that my balance was off-center.

Securely locked in a cubicle, I tried to calm my racing pulse and succeeded somewhat. Justin was muttering in his sleep. I wondered if Amanda knew that, and if I should tell her. But then I might have to say what he was talking about, and that was my secret. From my family, at least.

I came out of my happy reverie only to learn that, to my chagrin, my top and pants did not, in the least way, match at all.

2 WEEKS LATER

“That was tiring,” Justin complained, yawning, as he entered the bus, finished another one of his concerts. There were so many of them now, it felt like I must be running on empty most of the time.

“You were wonderful,” I assured him. He grinned tiredly, and sung an arm around my shoulders.

“Thanks, though you’re awfully biased, you know.”

“Who, me?”

“Nah, just a random friend of mine.” The sarcasm was evident in his voice. I smiled slightly, but I didn’t let him see me. Silence reigned for a few minutes. “What time is it?” he finally asked.