IMPORTANT: I have a super long/important note at the end of this chapter, just to let you know about my updating 'schedule' for the rest of the year + NEW fanfics/stories. Please, please, please read it! Thanks in advance. :)
PS
Thanks so much for 900 followers I love you all sooooooo much! Thanks for the endless amount of support!
~
Bea Ashby:
Mr Wallis' house was decorated accordingly to the occasion. There were lot's of lights inside and outside the house, the place decorated with lots of red and gold colours. A humungous christmas tree stood proudly in the centre of the room, decorated beautifully. There were waiters holding trays filled with what looked like champagne and other drinks and lots of guests, chatting and drinking.
"Is my mom here yet?" Noah asks my dad and he nods. "They are somewhere around here, oh! There they are." Dad smiles, walking over to meet Jennifer in the middle.
Turning to the direction he was walking in, my feel my breath hitch from the sight in front of me.
There Justin stood, in a beautiful black tux and tie with his eyes right on me. He looked so handsome, but I couldn't seem to comprehend the big and visible change that took place.
He cut his hair.
The brown shoulder length that I've adored so much over the past couple of months was all chopped off into some stylish hairstyles. I had to admit, it made him look 100 times more handsome if that was even possible.
I instantly rushed over to him, ignoring whoever was watching us. "Your hair!" I exclaimed, reaching out to touch his, now, short hair. Justin chuckled, reaching over to grab my hand and place it on his check adoringly.
I had to admit, I really liked this look on Justin. The way his hair was styled on the top of his head just suited him so much.
"Avocado looks beautiful," Justin comments and I blush, not bothering to hide the smile that forms on my lips.
"Thank you," I reply in a sweet tone. I bring my hand down from his cheek and slowly turn around to notice that some people were staring, including Jennifer. My dad hasn't noticed, but she seems to have caught on to what just happened.
Clearing my throat, I carefully back away from Justin and place a friendly distance between us. My dad and Jennifer can't suspect anything about what I feel to Justin. I just know they'll disapprove and I couldn't bear the thought of dad not letting me see Justin because of what I felt towards him. I don't want to risk it.
Justin's eyes lock on Jennifer and he looks between us until a waiter with a tray of drinks passes by us. He reaches over and grabs an expensive looking glass filled with some sort of drink, but I'm quick to grab it from him before he can take a sip from it. It's alcoholic and Justin is obviously on a no alcohol rule.
Dad notices and shakes his head at him, walking over to us. "You should't drink any of that, okay? You'll keep an eye on him after we return, right? I want to go find Mr Wallis." Dad says.
"Sure,"
Soon dad and Justin are gone to find Mr Wallis and i'm with Jennifer, awkwardly sitting next to her after she's returned from talking with some friends.
"You and Justin seemed rather friendly tonight," She muses. "He looks incredibly dashing now, doesn't he? The new haircut suits him." A smile etches onto her face.
"It's nice," I simply reply, looking down at my lap. Does she suspect anything going on between us? I couldn't help but worry just a bit.
Jennifer is about to speak up again, but Jamie and Hayden have already made their way over with big smiles. "Hey!" Jamie waves, strutting over in her beautiful emerald green dress.
"You look gorgeous, Bea!" She squeals, hugging me once I've stood up. "Says the pretty girl in the emerald green dress." I tease and she smiles. I greet Hayden with a warm hug and we all talk together. I feel myself relax a little.
We find Noah perched between two girls chatting him up and I snicker when I see Noah pout at me from across the room. He looks a little bored, but he's obviously too polite to just walk away from the girls that are clearly into him.
That is until their eyes land on Justin.
I frown as my dad and Justin approach Noah, the two girls that were once interested into my soon to be step brother now interested in the jungle boy with the new haircut.
My dad is soon whisked away by a few other guys, probably some friends, and they walk off to the other side of the room where there was a bartender making drinks.
Noah sighs in relief from across the room and he catches my eye, quirking an eyebrow at me with an amused look on his face as if he was saying, 'Jealous?'.
Shaking my head at him, I walk over to where the two girls were surrounding a clearly uncomfortable looking Justin. He was new to the amount of attention he's been getting, looking left and right on a way out.
His soft brown eyes catch sight of me and he smiles past the two girls and right at me. "Justin," I cut into their blabbering. I keep my eyes on him, ignoring the two other girls who were clearly glaring at me. "Would you like to dance?"
Nodding, he lightly pushes past the two girls and to my side. I flash a smile at the two girls and turn on my heels, holding onto Justin's hand as we walk away together.
"Clearly not jealous," Noah sarcastically snickers as we pass him.
I discreetly flip him off so only he could see and not the rest of the party guests and stop myself from laughing at the confused expression on Justin's face as he tries to comprehend what Noah just said.
We move to the dance floor that was filled with party guests dancing together and I guide Justin's hands to where they need to go. I place on hand on my waist and the other in my own. I put my other hand right onto his shoulder and allow Justin to pull me a little closer towards him.
He's not very good at leading since it's obviously his first time doing something like this so I tell him to follow my own steps and lead as we dance together to the music.
Justin then surprises me by twirling me out of nowhere and swiftly pulling me to his chest where he brings down his hand to firmly grasp me by my lower back, so our chests are right against each other.
I gasped from the sudden move, my eyes wide as I stared up at him. The way he looked at me was somewhat calm yet intense and I could feel my heartbeat quicken by the second.
"Where did you learn that from?" I manage to sputter.
A sly smirk etches on his lips as he merely shrugs. We haven't moved yet, just standing there in each other's arms as we looked at each other. Everyone around us were dancing, not paying attention to us as we had a stare down.
Justin slowly leans in to my ear, "Come with me?"
Nodding, I let him lead the way from the dance floor as we walk past people, including the two girls who were still sulking from when I cut in their conversation with Justin. I just smile and continue to follow Justin until we're somewhere a little more private in Mr Wallis' big house.
It's a large hallway with a big window at the very end. The dark red curtains were pulled back to reveal the cold outside. White flecks of snowflakes fell from the sky and softly landed on the ground, adding to the piles of snow from earlier this week.
Justin takes a sit on the very expensive and victorian looking red and gold chaise lounge right in front of the large window and pats the spot next to him.
Walking over, I take the seat next to him and admire the nice interior of the place. Mr Wallis has a very nice house. The floor is made of marble and the walls are covered in exquisite artwork.
I feel a pair of cold fingers touch my chin, directing my face to Justin's face that was very close to mine.
My lips part as I search for a clue in what Justin might say. But he doesn't say anything. His lips just quirk into a small smile as he looks up above our heads.
My eyebrows furrow as I look up to where he was looking. At first I don't understand why he's smiling like that when I notice the mistletoe hanging right above our heads.
"Oh," I breath out.
Without another word, Justin leans in towards me, connecting our lips together. His lips are a little cold against mine, but I don't mind as I let him work his lips against my own.
We slowly part after the kiss, but don't pull back completely as we just hold each other. "We should go back before anyone realizes we're gone." I say, still wondering how Justin even knew what a mistletoe was.
I glance up at the plant that hung above our heads. "How did you even know about that?"
Justin fiddles with his fingers, "Learned about Christmas from J-jennifer."
Ahh, so that's what Jennifer's been teaching him this past week. Not just about manners, but some Christmas traditions.
Giggling, I stand up and help Justin up from the chair. We exit the hall and back into the main room where everyone was getting ready to eat the big Christmas Eve dinner.
Smiling over at Justin, I couldn't help but feel happy. This was the best Christmas Eve ever.
~
We return from Mr Wallis' house late that night. It's a little past 3 am by the time we get home. Mr Wallis was very found of Justin, smiling and talking to him with a big smile on his face. He was very friendly and I think Justin felt comfortable around him too.
Weirdly, I wasn't all that tired when I got home. I felt a little giddy and excited if anything. "It's Christmas!" I happily sang, making Noah roll his eyes at me.
"Merry Christmas. Now shut up and go to bed." He tiredly rubbed his eyes, trudging up the stairs like the grumpy/sleep deprived teenager he was.
I stuck my tongue out at him and followed him up the steps and to my room. Justin was patiently standing outside my bedroom door, no longer wearing his tuxedo.
"Hi," I feel the familiar butterflies in my stomach.
He just smiles and I open the door, letting him into my room. Justin sits on bed, turning around to let me change in privacy and I go in front of the mirror and attempt to unzip my dress.
After a few failed attempts, I awkwardly call out to him. "Justin?" He perks up at my voice, "Do you mind, um, unzipping this for me?"
Slowly, he turns and walks over to the mirror and stands right behind me. I watch him through the mirror has his cold fingers clasp around the back of the dress, lightly skimming over my skin. I shiver under his touch.
Painfully slowly, he unzips the dress until it's loose enough to fall to the floor and make a pool around of silky material around my legs.
"Thanks," I blush around his stare through the mirror and turn to face him. He's looking at me intensely, but he takes a step back, giving me some space to go to the bathroom and properly change.
After changing out my dress, I join Justin on my bed where we both sit together in silence. "Beatrice?" He's the first to speak.
He has his arms around me, holding me closely to him with my head on his chest. I can hear his steady heartbeat.
"Hmm?"
"W-why do you call Jennifer 'Jennifer'?" He asks.
I move out from his grasp and look up at him in confusion. "What do you mean by that?" I question. Justin shifts, leaning against the headboard of my bed. "Why you call her that when Noah calls her, um, mom?" He says the last part with uncertainty.
My lips part from his question, finally understanding what he meant. I never thought Justin would ask me something like this. I never thought he'd even notice the fact that Jennifer is in fact not my real mother because, well, we never really got to that part.
I think it through, trying to find a simple way to explain it to him without confusing him too much. I'm glad Justin's improved his english more during the past few months because this makes it a little easier for me to explain.
"Well, Jennifer isn't my mom," I start carefully, "She's Noah's mom. And my dad is my dad, but not Noah's dad." Justin nods, seeming to understand what I mean. "Noah and you not brother and sister?" He questions.
"Not by blood," I reply, "But soon by marriage when my dad and his mom marry." I answer. "Do you what it means when you marry someone?" I ask. I know Justin has learned about families. He knows what a mom, dad, brother, sister, uncle and so on mean, he just hasn't learned about the 'step' sibling and parent stuff.
"Sort of?" He replies, twiddling with his fingers.
"When you marry someone, it's because you are in love with them and you want to spend the rest of your life with them." I keep it simple, deciding not to go into full explanation on that. Sure, some people do get married for other reasons, but for the sake of the both of us I just say that.
"L-love?" Justin tests out the unfamiliar word. "What is 'love'?"
Well damn. I don't really know how to answer his question because, well, I don't really know what it means to 'be in love' and whatnot.
"Honestly?" I sigh, "I don't really know." Justin doesn't seem to be too satisfied with my answer so I try to give him the best answer I can come up with.
I think back to my Jennifer and my dad and what I've read in books.
"I think to be in love with someone means that you want to put them first and see them succeed no matter what because in the end, seeing them happy makes you happy," I lightly say, not too sure if what I said to him made sense. "It also means to look beyond the imperfections because if you love someone a lot, you'll work through the hard times because in the end, you care a lot for them."
"Love is love," I conclude with a simple shrug. What I might think that love means might be different to what Justin will one day think it means. I truly don't know what it means to be in love with someone, but with everyday that goes by I can't help, but think I'm getting closer to it, even if I don't really know what it is. There's just something about the way Justin makes me feel.
After a few moments of silence and taking in what I just said, Justin speaks up again. "Avocado in love with Justin?"
My breath hitches my throat and I feel my heartbeat race from his question. He made it sound so simple, yet the question was far from it.
"I-i," I can't seem to put any words together. Am I in love with him? I care about him, I really do like him, I want to see him happy, but how can I be in love with someone who barely knows what it means? Heck, I barely know what it means to be in love!
"Not in love, but I do really like you, Justin." I honestly reply, hoping he wouldn't be upset with my answer. I'm relieved when I don't see a look of disappointment. He just smiles, nodding along.
"I like you too, Avocado." His words make me smile.
We finally move past the subject of 'love' and I feel a little relieved. Thinking back to the subject of 'family' I couldn't help, but let the question slip.
"Justin, do you know what happened to your family?" I ask, hoping I wasn't being too intrusive. "You don't have to tell me, if you don't want to." I quickly add right after.
Justin thinks for a little. "I had... a mom?" He looks at me for confirmation and I nod. "You had a mom." I nod, trying to not be too sad about the 'had' part.
"When young," Justin starts carefully, "Mom... not wake up?"
He doesn't seem too sure how to put his words together and I regret asking him. It's around four in the morning on Christmas morning and I'm asking Justin about his deceased mother.
"She died," I say in a low voice. "Died." He confirms, not sounding too emotional about it. "She... died and Justin- I," He corrects himself, "I continue to live in the jungle."
"Right," I nod, blinking back some tears. How young was he? How did him and his mother even end up there? I don't know much about Justin's parents expect for the fact that he's the son of the late Jeremy Bieber, but I think I read something about his mom being a wildlife ecologist or something, getting the opportunity to go to the Hamix island to study the wildlife there.
"I find food, water, lived in the jungle with big and small animals..." He continues, "before mom died, I learn to live in jungle with what's around me." He continues to explain that his mom taught him how to survive on whatever was around him if anything was to happen.
Apparently, the night his mom passed away, he found scratch marks on her, concluding it was an animal that might have attacked. I read somewhere about an accident occurring and the body being found months later, but no signs of Justin around. They all thought he died too, but he didn't.
"I lived and made the jungle my home. Also learned to live with the animals." He sighs, picking at the ends of his sleeves.
I felt my eyes water a bit, but I blink away the tears. I can't believe he was stranded there for most of his life. He had to be young, but how young? Maybe 7? Maybe younger or even older? "Do you remember life before the jungle?" I ask in a soft voice.
He shakes his head. "No. Life always in the jungle." He must have traveled before then. Maybe his mom's trips were long and she couldn't bear the thought of not having her son with her?
Justin pushes up his sleeve a bit, revealing the ink on his arms. I lightly place a hand on his arm. "Can I?"
He nods and I roll up his sleeves, letting my hands feel his arms. These didn't feel liker regular tattoo. They felt somewhat bumpy, almost like they were carved on his skin unless...?
I gasp, getting a closer look at the different swirls, patterns and images covering his arms. "Did you-" I gasp, covering my mouth with my hands.
Justin glances at the dark carved images on his skin before lifting off his shirt to reveal the rest of the carved patterns on his chest, stomach and arms. "I did myself," He replies, "with sharp tools I find."
"Oh my God..."
He carefully takes my shaky hand in his own and places it right over a carved image on his chest. It looked a little bit like an arrow. There were some images that I could make it that he probably drew from what he saw like claw marks, leaves and roots. Others were patterns and swirls with some images that I didn't recognize.
Closing my eyes, I touched the ink carved onto his skin and shuddered. Because he wore long sleeved shirts all the time, I've never properly felt them before. Plus, the ones on his chest were much deeper than the ones on his arms.
"I think it's time we go to bed," I say. I've learned a lot tonight about Justin, his mother and a little bit about his past.
Justin nods, standing up after he presses a kiss to my forehead. "Goodnight, Justin." I say. "See you in the morning.
"Goodnight, Avocado."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A/N:
Okay first things first, please do not bash Beatrice about how she feels towards Justin. Obviously Justin has no clue what 'love' is and I feel like it's too early for them to exchange those words when neither of them really understand the true meaning of love yet. Please just give it some time and try to understand that you can't just throw those words around like that. You might think I'm overreacting, but I just want to make it seem more realistic, okay?
Anyway, hey guys. I'm currently writing this message after my first week of school and now I'm home, typing away for a bit cause I have some time. Basically my first day back kinda sucked aha. I mean, I like my courses I guess? And the teachers aren't that bad, but i'm super annoyed of all the people in my grade. Just kinda hoping there would be new transfers and stuff, but I guess not!
Anywhooo, this semester is super busy for with my psychology, anthropology & sociology class (one course) with chem, bio and a french credit course so i apologize if the future updates are slow! This year is super important for me and I know I have to put school/my grades before my writing on Wattpad (unfortunately) so I apologize.
So i've had some questions on how I update and if I plan to make a schedule to let you guys when I will update on what days every week. The answer is that I will not be doing that because I don't think I can keep up with it myself. I'm very busy and my family likes to travel so I would always have to be putting off the update that I promised to give because of it and I don't want to do that to you guys.
In the meantime, updates will just happen when I get the chance (hopefully every week or so) and I hope you guys understand if in the future I don't update as often as I'd like to. It's only the first day and I got a lot of homework from my teachers including a quiz everyday until next, next monday when I will be having a test. Point is, this year is very important for me and I need to work hard! So please bear with me and my slow updating. I hope you can understand.
ON THE EXCITING TOPIC OF NEW FANFICS & STORIESSSSS.... I have a few ideas of fanfics that i'd like to type and publish and hopefully I'll be able to do that, but I also need to try and finish up other fanfics that I'm currently writing/publishing. I have two really exciting story ideas though and i cannot wait to share them with you guys!!
I love you all very much and thank you for all the love and support. You guys are amazing! <3
-Diana