"Back already?" Pattie asked,from the living room. Both Justin and I gazed up simultaneously to meet Pattie's eyes. She raised a fully plucked eyebrow at us;probably sensing something. Justin held a hand to his chest.
"God,you scared me for a moment there,"
Pattie smiled warmly at us,her questioning gaze not faltering a bit,at all.
"We'll just,um-" Justin stuttered point to the staircase that led to upstairs;obviously trying to escape from his mother's weird,penetrating gaze. He took my hand in his and I blushed when his shoulder gazed against my arm;I blush about stupid things it's not even funny!
Pattie's gaze traveled to our interlaced grasp,obviously perplexed. I heard Justin curse silently under his breath,we hadn't planned on telling Pattie about our relationship yet.....
Shit.
"A little cosy,are we?" Pattie questioned,an underlying meaning protruding through her words.
"Well,it's not what it seems to be." I began just as Justin said,
"It's nothing to worry about."
We glanced at each other quickly before having our gazes meet Pattie's once again.
"Both of you. On the couch. Now. You've got some explaining to do."
Now,you can't really argue with that,can you?
_+_
"Spill.Now." Pattie instructed as I plumped down on the love seat,nerves whacking more than anything.
Justin sighed, his head falling in his hands in defeat. "This is so embarrassing." I heard him mutter,his voice sounding annoyed.
"Well,Justin an I are-Well we," I paused feeling ashamed for not being able to form a full sentence.
"We are,um.............going out." I said slowly gaging her immediate reaction. At first her face was blank then she started smiling. Talk about un-comfortable and awkward....
All this time Justin hadn't moved from his position.
"You are?! Oh my gosh! Since when?" she gushed,acting like a total school girl. If the situation wasn't so awkward,I would have been laughing my butt off by now. Meanwhile Justin was doing several face-palms,much to my amusement.Then he interrupted saying,
"Mom,just stop it. You graduated from high school seventeen years ago,don't push it okay? There isn't a single time machine in existence to even send you back to the days where you could act like this but all for now,where none of that is existent,the least you can do is act your age."
Pattie smiled in response to Justin's jibe that had me on the verge of erupting into laughter.
"I think it's cute that you and Lauren here-" she begun but in a second,I was off the chair. Justin grabbed my hand leading me clear of his mother and up into his room. Once he closed the door behind him,he sighed with relief.
"She just doesn't know when to shut up." he explained before plopping down on the bed,pulling me after him,resulting in me landing smack down beside him.
A beep emitted from across us just as a long,weary sigh escaped from my lips. I turned to see my phone flashing as the ringtone started. The intro beats sounded and I snapped it from the table,pulling it to my ear whilst pressing the answer button.
"Hello?"I said feeling stupid all of a sudden when I realized I hadn't checked the caller ID.
"Well,I got the number right then?" the voice deadpanned from the other end,accomplishment lacing every word. Fear curdled in my stomach and my heart felt like it was flipping repeatedly,non-stop.
My body went almost still with apprehension as I recognized the voice.
I could feel Justin's questioning gaze as he stared at me intently in confusion. His words came out silent to my ear and everything went numb and silent. The re-echo of every heart beat coming from inside me,was pounding loudly in my ear. Adrenalin rushed coldly in my veins as another emotion sparked up within me.
Anger.
"Piss off," I muttered strongly ending the phone call abruptly. I slammed the phone back on the desk,my hands now as clammy as ever.
"Who was that?" Justin asked,worry punctuating his sentence.
I laughed bitterly. Who would have thought my life would change so drastically over an hour?First this weird stalker chic claims the end of me now she calls my freaking phone! This was beyond jealousy. I mean,out of nowhere she shows up.
But something baffled me. How did she even know of my existence? I thought back for a full minute before everything came crashing down. That was it.
Images and flashbacks came rushing back to me at that very day when she could have learnt of my existence. The day I had gone to the beach with Justin and the papparazzi had showed up was that day. The day she saw me;probably on the covers of many pathetic tabloids and websites. Damn,even when the photos were taken,Justin and I weren't even together yet!
"Lauren," Justin's voice pulled me out of my reverie,disturbing my train of thought.
Numbly,I turned to him.
"Who was that?" he repeated,any previous emotions of amusement replaced with all- seriousness.
"It was Maya." I confessed.
******
"I need to get my wretched number changed." I stated lamely as Justin took hold of my arms,our gaze connecting.
"Lauren,calm down. She's not harmful." he reprimanded but that wasn't enough. I was a person to always over-react or worry senselessly. "Once I'm here,everything will be fine."
I stopped tapping about on my phone to look at him inquisitively raising an eyebrow.
"You know you never explained everything from the beginning to me right?"
He looked at me for a while then he finally sighed. "We were going out-"
I cut in. "You were seriously going out with a complete psychopath?"
Justin sighed running a hand through his hazelnut,olive brown hair."Would you let me finish now?" he questioned,as I nodded simply.
"First,our relationship was out of publicity.She was doing some promotional stunt for some unknown charity and her manager ordered that I pretend to like her,hold her hand in public and all that messed up shit.Truth was, I never like her. At first she was okay but then she'd call every hour to see where I was.She began getting clingy and when both our managers had called off the publicity stunt,we lost touch and I haven't seen her since,well up until today of course. I honestly forgot about her."
"Then why can't she just leave me alone then? Are you sure her brain was not defected and replaced with a brain belonging to a complete imbecile?"
Justin laughed, "Probably."
I sighed and pushed myself off the bed,strolling to my duffel bag on the far left side of the room. I unzipped,throwing the bag open pulling out a t-shirt and a pair of shorts.
I headed for the bathroom and quickly changed,brushing my teeth and by the time I was out of the bathroom,Justin had vanished. Sighing to myself,I settled in the layers of comforters,letting my eyes droop shut. A weight dipped into the other side of the bed and by my guesses,it was Justin because not too long after I was drifting into sleep,I felt his lips on my cheek before I was consumed with beauty sleep.
****
A ray of sunlight peeped through the see through curtains,landing on my face,instantly waking me up. Without hesitation,I hopped out of bed;Justin wasn't on the bed so he probably was downstairs,and headed to the bathroom where I washed my face. I ran a hand through my hair washing as it flowed as waves as I combed through the roots.
Something just didn't feel right. It was like something terribly dreadful and frightening was threatening to happen to me,it was leaving me paranoid.
Nevertheless,I pushed aside those thoughts and plodded downstairs. Justin was seated on a stool while Pattie was searching through a cabinet.
"Goodmorning," I greeted skipping into the kitchen,taking a seat beside Justin.He greeted me with a light kiss,one that Pattie wasn't aware of as she rummaged through the cabinet,answering my 'Goodmorning'.
"Morning." Justin said,smiling at me. Immediately my belly chose that moment as a revenue to growl loudly,much to my embarrassment. A blush crawled upon my cheeks as Pattie shot me a smile.
"Don't worry Laurie,breakfast is just a moment away."
Justin laughed and I quickly slapped him on the arm. "Don't laugh."
That only caused more laughs from him.
Ah,boys...They love reverse psychology.
After eating,my mom called saying that she was flying back in town and would possibly be back in town sometime after noon so she ordered that I head home and wait for her. I reluctantly packed and after a solid thirty minutes I was out of the house,Justin on my heel;he was my ride to my house. After I buckled up and ready in the passenger's seat,we were off.
"I could phone my mom and tell her that I'll keep you company." Justin suggested,rounding a curb. I sighed and turned to him.
"As much as I'd like to,I would prefer if I was home alone. My mom's orders are not to be disobeyed and besides,you don't have to worry about me. I'd be happier at home by myself than a bird with a fry."
He tossed a sideways glance at me. "Weird simile."
I grinned,"Oh shut up."
He pouted turning to me,letting his eyes leave the road for a second.
"You don't have to be modest. Really. I have nothing to do at home."
I patted him on the arm. "Trust me on this one."
The car stopped and before I could hop out,Justin pulled me back. "No goodbye kiss?"
I sighed playfully and brushed his lips against mine.Justin smiled in the kiss,deepening it causing a strange feeling of dizziness to overcome me.
Before I could even fully respond,he pulled away.
"Bye."
Smiling,I hopped out whispering my 'Bye'. I waved to him one last time before he reversed,turn and speed off. I ran up the porch steps to the front of my door in haste. I was about to open the door when a note lying idly on the mat caught my attention.
I stooped down,grabbing it to see what it read.
Written in a fine ink were the words;
You can't have him any longer,bitch.
Those seven words were enough to have me in utter apprehension and I didn't have to think twice to know who it was.
Guess.It's obvious who wrote this note obviously assigned to me.
Maya.
__________________________
Another chappie! Sorry for the late-ness. I was ill for a few days and couldn't post so sorry...again.
Thanks again everyone!
Can't express that enough,you guys are so awesome!
Anyways,please do the usual(:
Song of the chapter-Untouched by The Veronicas.