Cara
"That would be me." I say. To Justin Bieber. "How are you doing?" Be as normal as possible.
"Yeah." He says. Head in hands. "Partied a little too hard I think." Mumble. All he's doing is mumbling.
Make him feel better. "Me too." I offer. "But, free bar." I'm talking slower than usual. Why is he sat here? Opposite me?
His hand reaches across the table. "I'm Justin."
Shake hand. "Cara. Good to meet you." I pull my hand back.
"Cara." He breaths out slowly. "Cara, I knew he mentioned it. I knew I made some stupid lambo' joke." He says.
"Do you want like a water?" I ask. "Or a coffee."
"No." He stands. "It just really bothered me I didn't remember your name." He looks around. Pulls hood up. "Later." He walks out of the dining area without turning back.
So fucking weird.
I drink my coffee. Phone rings. "Hello."
"Hey girl. We're outside!" Taylor says. Sounds chipper. Collect my purse from the seat next to me. Walk through reception. Justin is talking at the desk. I walk up.
"Hi there." I say to the free concierge. "I'm just dropping off the key for room 22, floor 9." I put the keycard on the desk.
"Thank you." She says taking the card. "There are some extra charges here." I panic.
"Oh um," I wonder what his last name is. "It can be billed to Aaron.."
"Just bill it to the card on file." Justin speaks up to the lady helping me. "You good, Cara?"
"Thank you." I smile at him. "I appreciate that." He smiles back. "Are we good here?" I ask the concierge.
"That's fine, Miss...?"
"Nolan."
"Miss Nolan. You have a good day now." She smiles and starts typing away.
"You too." I sling my purse over my shoulder. "Have a good one, Justin."
"You too, Miss. Nolan." He says with a cheekiness to his grin. "Where are you headed?"
"Breakfast with Scotty and Taylor." Say it in a tone of questioning. "Why?"
He shrugs. Don't invite him. Don't make a fool of yourself. "Bye."
"Can you tell Scotty to text me. About the studio."
I turn and walk away. Just an all-round very strange set of interactions with him. Look back. He's on his phone. Walk to doors. Opened for me. Taylor is sat with her head against the passenger seat window. Scotty sat looking ahead into the Californian sun. Shit. Left his glasses somewhere. Can't remember where.
"Morning." I say climbing into the backseat. Taylor whips her head around.
"Why the fuck did you not come home?" She asks. Devilish tone. She thinks I slept with Aaron.
"Because I stayed with Aaron."
"Well did you bang him?" Scotty asks, looking ate me through the rearview mirror.
"No I didn't bang him. I had no way home after you two ditched me." I say. "Actually though I had a good night." I pass my phone to Taylor. "Put this on charge, please."
She does so. "You didn't sleep with him?" She asks. Almost dumbfounded.
"No." I laugh. "He's cool. There's potential for a friendship. He's invited me to the studio." I say.
"My studio?" Scotty says. I roll my eyes.
"Oh, Justin wants you to text him about the studio." I say.
"Justin Bieber?"
"Justin Bieber?!" Taylor says. "Babe that's amazing!" She looks at Scotty. Looks back at me "When the hell did you meet Justin Bieber?!"
"It was really weird." I reminisce. "So he and Aaron partied last night and we like, seen each other as I was getting the keycard for the room. He asked me to stay and party. He was gone. White Girl Wasted." Taylor laughs. She hates when I say White Girl Wasted in a literal sense because I am a white girl. Who often gets wasted. "And then he like, sat down with me at breakfast this morning whilst I had a coffee. Asked me my name, said something about a joke lambo' and stood up and left." I tell them.
"That's weird."
"So he wants a studio session?" Scotty says. "I don't even have his number." He ponders. "I don't really want to miss the opportunity to mix for Justin Bieber."
"Maybe Aaron could give it to you?" I suggest. He nods. "Where's breakfast?"
"I'm not even gonna lie, Cara. I need carbs. Can we just swing by am iHop or some" he says.
"That's absolutely fine with me."
We drive to iHop - there's a queue. Don't want to wait. It feels ridiculously warm for November. Maybe I'm just hungover. Look at phone. 24% three hours until Paula can chat. Open text messages. Photo of me and Aaron from an unsaved number. Save it as Aaron. Text him back.
iMessage
Today 11:03
Thanks for letting me
crash ln. Could u text
Scotty JB number
pls? He's askin ab the studio
sure thang shawty. U gud?
Yeah! R u?
Seen 11:20
"Aaron is going to text you Justin's number."
I tell Scotty as we take a seat. "God I got so fucked up last night." I say putting my head on the cold table.
"Get your damn head off this dirty ass table girl." Tay says tapping my shoulder, I lift my head up. "Am I dreaming that you were like hanging out with Kendal Jenner last night?" She asks.
"We like kept bumping in to each other and then she was going to follow me on Instagram and then Hailey Bieber had like a huge thing with Justin, stormed off and demanded Kendall leave with her so we didn't actually get to like." I trail off. "I don't know." I shake my head. "It was such a weird night. Did you guys have fun?"
"Yeah. It was hella fun." Scotty says. "I'm stoked Bieber wants to work with me."
"He heard the song last night, baby! He knows how talented you are!" Taylor says. Don't have the heart to tell her he wasn't at the announcement party, so he wouldn't have.
Unless a track was playing at the afters? I don't know. I need to eat. And sleep.
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