Bea Ashby:
Anxious.
That's how I felt when I woke up early this morning.
I roll out of bed and run my fingers through my hair with a small tug on my lips. I hate when my hair gets all tangled. I drag myself to my bathroom and the water to take a warm shower. Today, Justin would be moving in and to say less than enthusiastic would be a major understatement.
Noah, on the other hand, was counting the days down over the week when Justin would arrive just so he could laugh at me. All of this was just working to his advantage.
After taking a shower, I blow dry my hair and pull it back from my face into a ponytail. I couldn't be happier to see the regular brown strands back instead of the green hair I had been sporting a few days ago.
I pull up a pair of jean shorts over my legs and change into a white button up top before heading downstairs for some breakfast. Dad wasn't home which means he was probably at the institution to check up on Justin and finalize the process of bringing him here.
I was nervous about this. What if the guy hates me? Does he speak English? What if he tries to attack me or something? The last one seemed kinda crazy, but from what the clips of I've seen of him so far, I wouldn't be surprised if he did try to rip my head off.
When I reach the kitchen, Noah is sitting at the kitchen island with a bowl of cereal in front of him. He slurps the milk and shovels quick spoonfuls of cereal into his mouth, spilling droplets of milk everywhere.
Why face scrunches up in distaste. Cringing, I ask, "Do you have to eat like a pig?"
"Do you have to criticize everything I do?" He retorts with a mouthful of cereal.
Noah swallows the food, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. "You excited to see, Jungle Boy?" He grins and I roll my eyes at him. I pull out some yogurt and the tub filled with freshly cut inside from the fridge and then grab a bowl, a spoon, and the granola grain box. I set the things on the counter so I could start making my breakfast.
"You just love to see me suffer, don't you?" I respond, not looking up from what I was doing.
"You betcha!" I could practically see the grin on Noah's face even if I wasn't looking at him. "Morning," A new voice pipes in. I stiffen hearing Jennifer's voice. "Hi mom," Noah replies and I mumble a quick hello as well.
I didn't exactly like Jennifer. Usually, we both tend to ignore each other, but when it comes between Noah and I, that's when she puts her nosey little butt in between us. She always sides with her son and dad always has to agree with her.
"Aren't those shorts a little short, Beatrice?" Jennifer asks when I set my bowl down at the kitchen island.
I furrow my brows and glance down at my shorts. They covered my bum completely, they weren't ripped and they weren't cut off's either. "Um, no." I reply, sitting down.
Jennifer purses her red painted lips and grabs her freshly brewed cup of coffee from the coffee brewer.
I can see Noah snickering from the corner of my eye, but I don't care. I don't even regard what Jennifer has to say to me because she isn't my mother. Even when she'll be my legal stepmom she would never come close to it. The same way I won't ever consider Noah as my brother.
I eat a spoonful of my breakfast and watch the news from where I was sitting. "I have a business trip to attend in Paris. It's with some important buyers, so I won't be here next week. I hope you learned your lesson." Jennifer talks before taking a sip of coffee, her eyes set on me.
I don't reply and when she turns away I mock her under my breath in an exaggerated, high pitch voice.
The sound of feet padding against the floor is heard and I perk up in my seat. "Milo!" I say in cute baby voice and my dog comes running my way. Milo is only three and he's a golden retriever. I got him when I was about thirteen years old and he's been my best friend from the start.
Jennifer huffs and I roll my eyes at her, kneeling down to cuddle my dog. "Hi, Milo!" I continue to baby him and he happily wags his tail at me and licks my face, letting me spoil him with affection.
Noah walks by to put his bowl away and Milo looks back at him. The only thing that sucked was that Milo likes Noah. If I'm not around, Milo tends to be by Noah's side. Maybe it's because Noah likes to spoil Milo like his own, but it did annoy me a bit.
But on the bright side, Milo prefers me more so ha, in your face Noah.
I stand up from my crouched position and finish up my food as Noah puts some dog food out for Milo. He pets him for a bit and I watch the two as I finish eating.
"I'm going to take Milo for a walk," I say to no one in particular, hoping off the stool to put my bowl away. "Milo, let's go." I call out for him and he follows after me. I grab his black leash and attach it to his collar before grabbing my shoes and keys.
It's super sunny out, it's no surprise since it is August, and so the sun feels good against my skin and I smile a bit. We live on a street with lots of big houses in the 'upper east side' in New York.
The streets are busy today, as usual, and I run into a friend from school, Sandra Worder. She asks about Justin moving in with us and I give her short replies, not really in the mood to discuss the details surrounding our new housemate. I was having such a good time with Milo until his name was mentioned.
"I'll see you back in school, Beatrice." Sandra waves goodbye to me and I wave back, continuing my walk with Milo.
Eventually, we start to head back home.
When we get home, I unclip Milo's leash from his collar and put it away. Milo circles my legs and I smile down at him.
Jennifer isn't home which means she left for work and I didn't see Noah so he was probably at football practice or something.
For the rest of the day I hang out in my bedroom and watch endless episodes of Doctor Who until it's about six o'clock. I'm surprised I don't have a headache yet from the amount of time I spend staring at the computer screen.
The sound of the front door opening and closing loudly is heard and I can make out the sound of my dad's voice. I feel my heart beat quicken and the anxiety from this morning returns.
I take look in the mirror and flaten out my shirt. Time to meet the boy from the jungle.
Slowly, I pad down the stairs and inch closer and closer to the voices that are talking. There is one small bag by the door that I don't recognize, but that is it. I'm assuming it belongs to Justin.
When I reach the kitchen, I see my dad standing next to a boy. They're facing Noah and Jennifer who both seem to have a nervous look on their features. All I could see was Justin's back to me since he was facing the other two.
I walk over timidly and my dad hears my steps, turning right around. He's got a huge smile on his face. "Beatrice!" He taps on the boy's shoulder who turns and I almost gasp, but I bite down on my tongue. "Bea, this is Justin," He gestures to the boy or should I say man? He looks older than me, maybe around his twenties.
My eyes take in everything in front of me. Justin has long hair that reaches a little bit past his shoulders, hazel eyes and numerous tattoo's that cover his skin. How he got them, I don't know, but the only thing I could focus on was how good looking he was.
"Justin, this is my daughter, Beatrice. She's going to help you out around here." Dad kindly tells him. Justin just grunts in response, barely giving me a second look.
His cold hazel eyes skim over me before he completely looks the other way. Noah snickers behind him and Justin snaps his head back to look his way. Noah stops laughing almost right away. I smile a bit, but quickly stop.
"Okay... Justin must be hungry. Let's get some food into his system, yeah?" Jennifer suggests.
Dad claps his hands together, "Great idea. We'll eat and then Bea can show him his room." Dad looks over at me and I give him a small nod.
We all go to sit around the dinner table. Justin sits across from me and next to my dad. Jennifer sits on the other side of my dad and Noah in on my right. "He's kinda scary looking," He whispers in my ear, eyes set on Justin.
He's eyeing the soup that is set down in front of him, leaning forward to sniff it. Jennifer cringes and my dad doesn't even flinch. He just pats Justin on the back and the boy-man (probably man) sits back and picks up the fork.
"Wrong one, bud." Dad tells him.
He grunts, setting it down with a clatter and picks up the spoon. My dad nods with a smile and picks up his own spoon.
We all follow their lead and I try not to stare at Justin as he eats. He's quick to finish his soup and drop the utensil back into the bowl when he's finished. I see him wiping his mouth with the back of his hand and wait.
Soon other dishes with mashed potato, chicken, veggies and salad are coming in. Dad helps Justin with filling his plate and we all watch in horror as he gobbles everything up. He's eating fast, not even taking time to properly chew the food before he swallows it all down.
Jennifer looks disgusted and Noah still looks visibly nervous. I will myself to focus on my own food and not on the newcomer across from me.
Dad and Noah talk about his football game and Justin completely ignores them as he continues to eat. I pick at my veggies and take a few hesitant bites. I slowly peek up from my dinner and glance at the man in front of me.
He's stuffing his face with the mash potatoes, gravy dripping down his chin. Justin pushes back his long hair from his face and his eyes meet mine, making me practically jump out of my skin.
I tear my gaze away the second our eyes meet, a little embarrassed that he caught me. I didn't mean for him to catch me looking. If I'm being honest here, I'm kind of scared of Justin. He just looks so intimidating.
After dinner, dad leans back into his seat. "Well then, let's get you set up, yeah?" He looks over at Justin for confirmation. He just grunts in response. "Beatrice," Dad says towards me and I sigh, standing up.
"Okay. Let's go to your room." I say to Justin without exactly looking right his way. I was kinda scared to make eye contact with him after the first time we did over dinner. I stand up from my seat, pushing the chair back all the way so I can move.
I start walking, not exactly waiting to see if Justin follows or not. I patiently wait at the end of the staircase as dad and Justin walk towards the doorway. Justin picks up the bag by the door and doesn't say a word as my dad talks and talks. He seems way too excited about this whole thing if I'm being honest here.
"Can you take it from here, kiddo?"
"Yeah."
"Great," Dad pats Justin's back, "He's all yours now."
I roll my eyes at him and start going up the stairs, trying to ignore Justin's eyes which were set on me. I could practically feel them burning holes through my body as I went up the stairs. I'm pretty sure he glanced at my butt a few times too.
I pull on the end of my button up shirt for extra measures and guide Justin down the hallway upstairs. We pass several photos of myself and Noah that hung on the walls and a few of the vases and artworks that Jennifer made my dad put up.
We reach my bedroom and I walk to the door across from it, opening it up. We had this room prepared for Justin in advance. "Well, this is it," I awkwardly gesture to the bedroom when we walk inside.
He simply peers inside, taking in the large king sized bed, dresser and desk in the room. There were a few plants in there as well and a large picture frame hung above the bed with a mirror hung above the drawers for Justin's clothes which were filled with new clothes for him.
The walls of the room were a plain beige with dark wooden flooring. There were two sofa chairs in the corner of the room with a small table between them which were set up by the large window that lead out to a balcony. There was also a chest at the end of the bed for the many pillows that were set on his bed, but I doubt he'd even use it. The room was the one of the largest guest rooms we had with a built in bathroom and walk in closet. Dad made sure it was perfect for Justin's stay.
Justin drops his bag in the middle of the room and just stands there staring at me. I slowly back away from him and towards the door. "So, you good? Or do you need me to show you how the bathroom works?" I stupidly ask. He knows how to use a bathroom, Bea! The voice in my head reminds me. He isn't stupid.
Justin doesn't utter a word.
I take his silence as a clear 'no'. "Okay then. My room is right across from yours so if you have any questions... yeah." I ramble, rushing out the room as soon as I was done. I almost tripped over my own feet and rammed into the wall.
I groan when I enter my room, flopping down on the bed. This was terrible.
How am I going to get along with this guy? He doesn't even talk!
I pull out my phone and text Jamie, telling her every detail about the dinner and meeting Justin.
That night, I can barely fall asleep. The only thing on my mind is the jungle boy who now lives in my house and is right across my door.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A/N:
Yay! Justin and Bea have met!
Hope this wasn't too boring :/ I couldn't really find a more interesting way for them to meet, I legit wrote and re-wrote this chapter like three times. Anywho, comment, vote and add if you want!
Thoughts on this chapter?
Love you guys loads,
-Diana