February 3rd
Tuesday
5:43 PM
"Is your brother home?" Justin asked through the phone, my knees pulled into my chest as I laid against my pillows.
"No, he's not...he's at college. Do you want to come over for a while?"
"Yeah, sure. No Dad either?"
"No," I laughed, shaking my head as I picked at my nails. "He had some stuff to do in Nebraska."
"Ok, ok I'm in the car. I'll be there soon."
"Ok, bye." I laughed, standing up off my bed.
"Bye buttercup."
I smiled at that, quickly running into my closet and changed back into jeans, my wavy hair already in a ponytail, so I put on a fresh layer of mascara before he came.
I didn't want to look like a total slob, but this wasn't a date either.
He was just casually coming over while it was snowing outside.
There wasn't really anything else we could do, and I had school tomorrow.
I answered when there was a knock at the door, Justin's collar popped to keep the snow off of him, and his hair wasn't gelled up, instead it just looked kind of ruffled.
"Hi." I stepped aside, letting him in and smiled wider then I already was as he kissed my cheek.
"Hi, do you feel how cold it is out there?"
"Yeah," I laughed, making sure the door was shut as he took his coat off. "Hopefully I won't have school tomorrow."
"We could make a snowman." He chortled, taking my hands from my side into his, letting my fingers fall through as he leaned down the rest of the way and kissed me.
"We probably could." My lips were against his as I talked, trying to fight the smile that wanted to curl on my face as I pecked his lips this time. "Would you like to watch a movie?"
"Yeah, that sounds good."
"Have you eaten yet?"
"No, I haven't actually."
"Me neither. I'll order something. Chinese, or pizza?"
"I love them both, so you pick."
"Don't do that again."
"Fine...um pizza."
"Ok. Do you want anything on it?" I pulled out my phone, unlocking it and went to the app I had.
"Just cheese. I'm a simple guy."
I shook my head, playfully rolling my eyes after I had ordered the pizza on my phone, then sat it down on the table.
"You let me pick the movie when we went out, so you get to pick this time." I told him, sitting beside him on the couch.
"Alright, I like scary movies. Is that ok?"
"It's fine." I handed him the remote, relaxing into his side as he put his arm around me. "There are a few new ones on demand."
"What about this one?" He pointed to the one closest to the top, me simply nodding my head, wrapping my arm around his torso with my head on his chest.
"You smell good." I laughed, feeling him laughing with me, his fingertips moving on my arm.
"So does your hair, like coconuts."
"That's my shampoo."
"I figured."
We were quiet as the movie started, talking only here and there, the other times I was either jumping - making him laugh, or we were kissing, which was still fine with me.
The knock on the door made me jump, Justin's laughter filling the room again because of me.
"You're mean." I told him as I got up, trying not to laugh as I walked away and answered the door, paying the guy with the pizza, shutting the door after and jumped yet again to see Justin behind me. "Stop it!"
"I'm sorry, it's just funny."
"No it's not!"
"I'm sorry." He took the pizza, where I quickly followed into the kitchen and got down plates, then his hands were on my waist, making me swallow nervously. "Please don't be mad."
"I'm not mad." I turned my head, leaning back into his touch.
"Good. You can scare me all you want next time."
"Alright." I laughed, still holding my breath as his hands slid further around me. "There are soda's in the fridge, and lemonade, stuff like that."
"Yum." He let out a low chuckle, letting go of me and went over to the fridge. "What do you want?"
"A sprite please. Thank you."
"No problem."
We went back into the living room, sitting beside Justin again and hit play on the movie.
"So, I remember you telling me that you applied to New York? What college?" He asked me before lifting up his pizza.
"A lot of them, but I applied for a scholarship to NYU, so that would be really awesome."
"I've never been to New York."
"You've never been to New York?!" I was so lucky I didn't have food in my mouth when he said that, or it would have been disgusting.
"No, never. I think it'd be neat though."
"It's my favorite place."
"You've told me."
I loved that he was laughing - he did a lot, and it was great, he had a wonderful smile, but I had a feeling it wasn't shown very much.
"Oh my goodness," I stood up, setting the rest of my pizza on the table and went to the window, looking outside to see a few inches of snow stuck to the ground. "There is a few inches out there."
"Really?" He came over, looking out the window like I had. "I might have to go before it gets much worse..."
"You could just stay in my room like you did the other night, I'm not going to have school."
"Are you sure about that?"
"Yeah, but if you don't want to you don't have to."
"No, that would be great. I wouldn't just want to eat and leave, that's rude."
"It's snowing, it would really be ok."
"Bella, come on, I'm not gonna do that." He gave me a look, then back out the window.
"Ok, then you can stay."
_____________________________
*Justin*
Thursday:
2:06 PM
"I need you to run this to Santini." Manny told me, patting a box over in the corner. "Nothing major."
"Alright." I nodded, picking up the box, looking back at him quickly. "Anything else?"
"Nah, that's it."
"Ok."
I left the warehouse, putting the box in the back of my car, then hopped in, sticking my key in the ignition and turned on the radio as I pulled out.
I grabbed a cigarette out of my pocket, lighting it at the end of the driveway, slipping the lighter back in my pocket and got on the road.
Santini's was a good twenty minutes away, which gave me time to clear my head.
These jobs always varied, one day I'm delivering packages where I have no idea what's inside, then I'm threatening somebody while Manny makes a mess that I clean up later.
I found myself humming along to the radio, ignoring people as they stared, by now I was used to it, and I didn't care anyway.
Bella and Jaxon were just now getting out of school...damn. I'm just now doing a job for the day.
But then again I was up late last night...
When I pulled up to Santini's, there was just a little snow on the ground, lightly covering up the snow from yesterday.
I hopped out of the car, grabbing the box from the box seat and walked up to the door, doing the knock I had learned that was only for business- that way they knew who was who.
Santini answered the door, recognizing me immediately and gently took the package of my hands.
"He's still having you drive in the snow huh?"
"Yes sir." I nodded my head, chuckling as he sat it down, handing me money from his pocket. "Oh, that's not-"
"Take it. Don't worry about it. You know I like to give you a tip when you come, and yet you always try to be polite and not accept it."
"Thanks." I chuckled, trying to make myself feel comfortable in front of him- I knew he was just like Manny.
"Not a problem. Have a good day."
"You too."
I turned around then, going to walk down the steps when a blonde caught my eye, then a brunette beside her.
I quickly sucked in my breath, ducking my head and walked quickly back to my car.
I shouldn't have looked up again, but I did, meeting Bella's gaze momentarily before I hopped inside and drove away.
You idiot. You'll be lucky if she talks to you now- but I can't have Santini seeing her with me, then he could tell Manny she was with me, he'd ask me what she knew and when I said nothing he would take her and kill her. I knew how it worked.
I would not be seen with her while I was taking care of business with these guys.
But I couldn't ignore the feeling of guilt in my stomach, because I knew she saw me, I had intentionally ignored her and left.
I guess Jackie lived by Santini and I didn't know.
I pulled out another cigarette, lighting it quickly and slowed down, tossing the lighter in the passenger seat.
I'd have to call her tonight, I'd have to do something.
___________________
*Bella*
4:13
"No, he looked right at me, then got in the car and drive away. That's called ignoring." I said to Jackie, sitting on the couch in her living room. "And you can't tell me that wasn't Justin, because it was."
"Izzy, he wasn't fooling around with another girl, a creepy guy lives there. No girls as far as I'm concerned."
"Then why would he ignore me?"
"I don't know. Maybe because he didn't want the creepy guy to see you there."
"It still wasn't right." I sighed, standing up. "I think I'm gonna go home, I have some homework to do."
"Alright, well if you find out why he ignored you tell me."
"I'm not talking to him," I laughed, getting my bag off the ground onto my shoulder. "I'll ignore him too. Bye."
"Bye Izzy."
I got in my car, looking at the house Justin had been at, then pulled away back to my house.
My phone was buzzing beside me, and I knew exactly who it was, plus I was in the car, I wasn't going to bother with it.
It rang again as I pulled up in the driveway, this time I was able to reach over and hit ignore, putting my car in park and turned it off, walking up to my empty house.
I hated be alone, but sometimes it had its perks.
I sat down at the piano, working on the new music Ms. Martin had given me, rearranging it in a different way.
I had had a concert in November where scouts from NYU had been there, I was supposed to find out by the middle of march if I had gotten a scholarship or not...I was so nervous about that. I wanted that scholarship more than anything.
I kept playing, changing a few things here and there - when there was a knock on my door.
For some reason my feet were moving towards the door, opening it up to reveal Justin on the porch.
It was definitely him I had seen a couple hours ago.
"Bella, I-"
"Did you see me? You saw me when you were leaving that persons house?"
"Yes, but-"
I shut the door, locking it behind me and went off to my room, pulling out clothes to change into before I went and got a shower.
If I did that I had a good reason for not answering the door again.
"Bella!" I jumped seeing Justin on the balcony, licking his lips from the cold I assumed, a look on his face that made my stomach twist. "Please just let me in for five minutes."
I sighed, running my hand through my hair and walked over, letting him in, the brisk wind following after.
"The only reason I did that was because one of my boss' clients lives at that house. I was there for work. If he were to see you with me he'd tell Manny that you knew stuff. They have cameras attached up in the houses, they would have seen. I won't let what happened to Grace happen with anyone else. I'm sorry I ignored you, but it's not like I wanted to."
"Then you could have at least waved or something instead of pretending you just didn't see me!"
"Bella," His words were soft, his hands catching my hips to tug me closer, my own rested on his chest. "You're right and I'm sorry, I will next time, but the only time I would ever do that us when I would be doing something like that. That includes Jackie and your friends. I'm not going to associate the two because I don't want anyone hurt."
"But you let them hurt you?" I whispered back, my fingertips touching his cheek.
"I don't let anyone hurt me, sometimes they're just lucky enough to get the first swing."
"I'm sorry I shut the door in your face." My eyes fell down to the floor, no longer looking at him, but his hands slid further around my back, unfortunately pulling me close enough to where I had to look at him.
"It's fine, I would have probably done the same thing."
"You can stay for a little longer than five minutes if you want."
"If you want me to, I will."
"I do." I nodded, pulling myself up on my tiptoes and kissed him, the feeling of our lips moving together like that sending butterflies and shock waves through my stomach.
"Well, what would you like to do baby doll. You still have homework?"
"Yeah, chemistry, and I'm not very good at that."
"I was fantastic at chemistry, I still am." He winked, making me laugh as he placed a kiss on my cheek.
"So is your brother. I usually text him for help or get him to tell me the answers."
"I'll help you."
"Really? I thought you didn't like school?"
"Who does?" He chuckled, letting go of me with one hand and put his arm around my waist. "I don't mind helping with something I'm good at."
"Or you can just do it for me."
"Ha. Ha." He made a face, letting me go as I went over to my bag and pulled out my folder, showing him the worksheet and then got myself a pencil. "Ew."
"I know."
"Just give me a minute to remember...It's been a couple of years." He sat down at the table, and I sat down beside him, watching his eyebrows come together, then was jotting stuff down.
"I would have just stared at it for 15 minutes." I laughed, seeing a chuckle escape his lips.
"That was me and English."
"I'm pretty good at English."
"Just not very good at chemistry."
"I'm dating you, aren't I?" I leaned myself closer, barely leaving any space between us.
"That's a very good point." With that he came in the rest of the way, touching our lips together for a few seconds. "Ok, now back to your homework."
"Joy." I mumbled, resting my chin in my hand as he explained what he did, why this was that way and why it couldn't be this and that.
"It's complicated." He shrugged, sitting back in the seat.
"It doesn't seem that complicated for you, I can't believe you remembered all of that. How are you not in college?"
"I hate school."
"I know you do. You should just do it for me."
"Do you still not understand?"
"I do, I just don't feel like doing it. I can change the writing later." I laughed, resting my head on his shoulder.
"You honestly think I'm going to do your homework?"
"Fine." I pouted, taking the pencil and did one problem, then moved on and started labeling stuff. "Is that right?"
"Yes." He laughed, tucking my hair back behind my ear.
"Good."
I quickly did the rest of them, slamming my pencil down happily with my arms crossed over my chest.
"Do you want to go out and do something?" I asked him, fixing the collar of his jacket.
"Sure, have you eaten yet?"
"No, have you?"
"No, I haven't."
"Alright, we can go someplace." He stood up with me, letting me go so I could get my bag.
As I took his hand again I heard the door open, making both of us freeze in the middle of the hallway.
"Hey Bell!" It was Dad's voice, then he turned the corner, standing face to face with Justin and I. "Oh, Hi."
"Dad," I cleared my throat, giving Justin's hand a gentle squeeze. "This is Justin."
"Nice to meet you sir." Justin said, letting go of my hand to shake Dad's hand.
It took everything I had to keep my mouth shut, fighting the urge to let it fall open.
"You too, you're going out Bell?"
"Yeah, I didn't know you were coming home. I just finished my homework, so we were going to go get something to eat."
"Alright..."
"I'll have her back by 9. Promise." Justin said with a smile as I reached for his hand again, my heart beating at 100 miles per minutes.
"Good, have fun."
We left my house then, me letting out a deep breath - mainly because I hadn't been prepared for that. I thought they would meet for the first time at a dinner or something, not with Justin already in the house.
I'm just glad we weren't on the couch kissing like a few days again. My cheeks would have been blood red.
"Sorry about that." I said to Justin as we got in the car, covering my face with both of my hands.
"Why are you sorry?" He raised an eyebrow, turning the key in the ignition to start the car.
"Because you were put on the spot. I didn't even know he was coming home, usually he tells me. That was out of the blue."
"It's fine, don't worry about it. He was going to have to meet me sometime."
"Yeah, but- I don't know. That felt weird."
"It's fine."
_______________________________
8:56 PM
"Hey Dad." I said as I walked inside, walking quickly through the hall way.
"That boy is good." He chuckled, his eyes over on the clock.
It was 8:57.
"Yeah..." I laughed nervously, leaning with my arms against the counter.
"But, you know that's who Josh always complained about? Right?"
"Josh has said stuff to me." I shrugged.
"Well it was pretty bad stuff. About Justin getting suspended for fighting..."
"Probably with Josh's friends, right?"
"Yeah, but that's no excuse."
"But you know how Josh is," I protested, straightening myself up. "We went bowling the other night with Justin's friends and mine, we come back home and Josh is standing on the porch! He literally attacked Justin!"
"Izzy, calm down."
"Dad, you're judging him off of things Josh has said. That's not fair."
"Because I see plenty everyday. He sounds like nothing but trouble."
"But it's ok for Josh to get in trouble and smoke weed? Josh isn't trouble too?!"
"Isabelle Rose," He warned, but I didn't stop there.
"No, what else has Josh said?"
"Nothing else, but I got that call from the school. When Josh got in trouble for that fight? Who do you think that was?"
"So you're going to blame it all on Justin?!" My hand went to the door, pointing from where I had come from. "That's not fair! You haven't even tried to know him! You're always gone!"
"What I know is that this is a huge campaign - you seeing a boy like that out in public - What happens when he's doing something out there with you and gets in trouble? That's an outlook on me, it reflects me and this whole entire family. A whole campaign out the window because of you and a boy?"
"Because I want to be happy! I'm sick of being alone in this house all the time! I'm sick of not knowing when your going to be home or having five minute phone calls because you have a meeting or someone else is more important than I am!"
"How long have you been seeing him?"
"A month."
"This isn't the daughter I raised, clearly Josh was right."
"Of course Josh is right," I said with an eye roll. "You just love Josh don't you Dad? Josh could never do anything wrong. Instead let's blame Isabelle's boyfriend!"
"That is enough young lady! You're grounded! Two weeks! And I don't want you in public with him, got it?!"
I ran away off to my room, slamming the door behind me and locked it, too angry to actually be upset at the moment.
It was always Josh this, Josh that. So of course since Josh had said bad things about Justin, Dad was quick to believe it, and he didn't even care who Justin was- even if he literally met him for 30 seconds.
It was only about this stupid campaign and how it made him look. It's always been about him and politics.
He wasn't even home to make sure I stayed in the house, so I could see Justin if I wanted, and I would.
_________________________________
*Justin*
9:34 PM
I stuck my key in the lock, pushing the door open to my apartment as I saw the door open next store.
"Hi Ms. Gale." I smiled at her, the old woman happily smiling back.
"You're home awfully early - at least for you."
"Yeah, I was just out at dinner, then I came home for the night."
"Oh, you've gotten yourself a girlfriend, hmm?" She laughed, still holding onto the door knob.
"Yeah I do, Sean Knowle's daughter actually, Bella."
"You're joking."
"No," I gave my head a shake, putting both of my hands in my pockets. "She's a very sweet girl. I like her a lot."
"Well good, I'm glad it's one girl and not a bunch."
"Thanks." I said with a blush, rubbing the back of my neck with my palm. "I'm going to head in for the night. Goodnight."
"Goodnight Justin."
I ducked inside, locking the door behind me and took off my jacket, hanging it up in the closet and pulled my phone out as it started to buzz.
"Bella?" I said to myself, answering the phone as I walked to my room. "Hey, are you ok?"
"No." I heard a hiccup, feeling a familiar pit in my stomach at the sound.
"Hey," I said softly, sitting on the edge of my bed. "What's wrong? What happened?"
"My brother is what happened. I got back and everything was fine, then my dad said stuff about Josh talking about you back in high school and how you were this horrible person that just was trouble. Dad didn't know that's who you were, but he recognized you before we left, we got in a huge fight about it and he doesn't want me to be seen with you anymore, not to mention the fact that it would hurt his campaign for the press to see his daughter out with someone like you."
"But you're dad doesn't even know me, he's going to go off of something Josh said?"
"Yeah, which doesn't surprise me. He loves Josh, and when it comes to his campaign we don't even matter. On top of all that I'm grounded for two weeks."
"How is that? That he can ground you? He's never even home." I threw one hand up in the air, now standing up, pulling feverishly at the ends of my hair. "He doesn't even know me."
"I know! I don't know what to do. There isn't anyway I'm not seeing you. I don't want that."
"I don't want that either Bella," My hand ran over my face, looking out the window. "We'll figure out something. Don't worry too much."
"I've only been grounded once and when I was he'd call at random times to make sure I was home, he'll probably have Josh calling me too...I won't be able to leave the house."
"Even Jackie's? You couldn't go to Jackie's?"
"Maybe, my dad loves her. He doesn't have any reason to ground me."
"Well you do have the balcony. I don't know how keen you are on sneaking out, or I could come over. It's not in public."
"Yeah, I'll try and talk to him again in the morning. He'll probably want to take me to school, which means he'd pick me up. I was going to say we could talk, but that's not the case."
"Just let me think...I call you whenever I can. I'm pretty good at the whole sneaking out thing. Don't cry over this, ok? It'll be fine."
"Ok."
"If your dad wants to take you to school, let him. Being bitter towards him won't help, and I guess if you try to get on his good side about it he'll let you off your grounding. Be on his side."
"You want me to agree with my dad on this?" She asked, her voice now a whisper.
"Yes, exactly. If he believes that you're on his side, maybe you'll get off your grounding earlier, not right away, but earlier. He'll let you out more. We can figure out ways to see each other, but if he's on your brothers side, there isn't any changing his mind."
"This sucks."
"I know," I let out a small laugh, sitting back on my bed. "Try to get some sleep. I'll call you tomorrow. Would night be easier?"
"Yeah, so my dad isn't on my case."
"Ok, you'll hear from me. I have work too, so it'll probably be after then. Night Bella."
"Night Justin."
I hung up, letting out a groan and fell backwards, staring up at my ceiling.
Of course when I actually like a girl - I'm not even allowed to see her.
Go figure.
___________________
Author's Note:
Ahhhh! This is where is gonna get really good! COMMENT AND VOTE PLEASE!
AND SHARE SHARE SHARE! Tweet out the link, share the trailer :) we can get some other people's temptation rising too, ok?
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