I came out of the bathroom, my hair down, low top on. Justin looked up at me, his eyes scanning my body. He just laughed and walked over to me.
“How’s this fair?” he complained, holding me by the waist. I tried not to gasp at his touch. One of his hands had caused my top to ride up ever so slightly and I could feel his cool skin against mine.
“It’s perfectly fair,” I pointed out. “You get to walk around shirtless and smell good, so I get to do this.” I gestured to myself.
Justin studied me, before leaning in close. “Fine.” His lips were right by my ear for his next sentence. “You look hot.”
I blushed. When he leaned away, I visibly looked him up and down, my eyes lingering on his bare torso. “So do you.”
He smirked, running a finger lightly down my cheek. Goosebumps appeared on my arms but I tried not to show how much his touch affected me. I smiled, and then went to sit next to Christina as the bus started moving again.
“You guys are really taking this bet seriously, huh,” Christina commented.
I nodded, laughing. “Yeah. It’s gonna be fun.” I looked at her slyly. “So what’s happening between you and CJ?”
She shrugged. “Nothing really. We talk, we flirt, but that’s kind of it.”
“Maybe at New Year something will happen.” I winked.
“Yeah, but New Year is like three months away,” she pointed out.
“I guess. Hey, you got any ideas as to how I can win this bet?”
Christina frowned in thought. “I don’t really know. I mean, Justin likes you, so just be yourself I guess.”
“That’s cheesy.”
Christina grinned. “Yeah. It is. Just be sexy, I suppose, smell good, compliment him and all that jazz. And also, when we’re rehearsing tomorrow, be sure to dance nice and close to him. I mean, you guys usually do that–“ I snorted, “– and so do all the girls because we all basically have a crush on him, but do it more.”
“All the girls have a crush on him?” I said, raising an eyebrow.
“Of course, but you’re the one that got him.”
I smiled.
A while later, we were nearly at Los Angeles, and I was sitting, watching the palm trees go by. A weight suddenly settled next to me, and I looked over to see Justin. He put his arm round me and I looked at him suspiciously. He met my gaze.
“What? Am I not allowed to sit with you?” he asked innocently. I rolled my eyes, remembering my part of the bet.
“Of course you are,” I said, smiling and leaning into him, my hand resting lightly on his chest. I could faintly feel his heartbeat speeding up ever so slightly. I smirked. I liked knowing I had that kind of effect on him.
His hand dangled over my shoulder, and he started tracing patterns on my arm. It made me shiver ever so slightly, and admittedly, my heart rate increased. It seemed we had the same effect on each other.
“Anyway, there is something I kind of want to talk about with you,” Justin said to me, his words sounding by my ear.
“Mm-hm.” Right now I was very content in Justin’s arms, not even really thinking about the bet. The chatter around us was just a comforting buzz in my ears.
“You know that night after the first show, when you kinda got drunk after two drinks?”
I scowled. “Yes, I know, I’m a lightweight. Why?”
“You know how you told me about your dad?”
“Yeah.”
“Well… can we talk about that?”
I turned my head upwards to look at him, curious. “Okay.”
Justin sighed. “So, you never met him?”
I shook my head. “No. I don’t even know anything about him.”
Justin exhaled. "That's worse than my situation. At least I know both of my parents."
I nodded. "Yeah. It is. And it really sucks to know it was his choice." I shrugged as if it wasn't that much of a big deal. But in truth, it was. Justin was the first person I'd ever really talked to about my absent dad. I'd barely ever talked to my mom about it.
"Well he definitely doesn't deserve you now," Justin commented. "I mean, what kind of ass would leave someone like you?"
I chuckled, blushing slightly. My hand trailed down his chest, running over his toned abdomen. "Someone who doesn't want the responsibility, I suppose." I shrugged slightly. "I can't miss him because I never met him. You can't miss what you never had."
Justin sighed. "The world's not fair, right."
"Right," I agreed. "And I'm sorry you had to find out the way you did."
Justin laughed. "Don't worry about it. I'll just know next time to keep the drinks away from you."
I rolled my eyes. "It's not my fault I'm a lightweight. My height has a lot to do with it."
I was very small. Quite a lot smaller than Justin, which is saying something since he's not a giant.
Justin smiled, and opened his mouth to say something, but was interrupted my someone's phone ringing. I quickly realized it was mine, and I pulled it out of my pocket. Glancing at the caller ID, I found out it was Ethan. My heart sank.
"Who is it?" Justin asked, looking over at the screen. He saw that it was Ethan, and grimaced. "He's you boyfriend, right?"
I nodded, debating as to whether or not I wanted to answer it. Deciding I may as well, I tapped the answer icon.
"Hello?" I said slightly nervously.
"Hey Ellen." Ethan's voice sounded pretty normal, if not a bit worried, at the moment.
"Everything okay?" I bit my lip, looking over at Justin. His gaze went down to my lips. I immediately stopped biting my lip, giving him a look. He just smirked.
"Yeah. I think so. I just wanted to ask you something."
My stomach filled with butterflies. "Sure."
"Are you pregnant?"
Whoa.
Hold up.
Rewind please.
Did he just ask me if I was pregnant?
"What?" I said incredulously.
"It's just... I left something at your house the other day, so I went back to get it. Your mum let me in and everything, and, well, I saw a positive pregnancy test."
Oh my god.
"No, Ethan, I assure you I'm not pregnant." I glanced at Justin, who was gaping at me. I tried my hardest to hold in a laugh. "I swear on my life I never took a pregnancy test."
Ethan exhaled. "Okay. That's good. But... then who's is it?"
"I don't know." My mom was the only other women in the house – only other person in that house, full stop, except from when her current boyfriend, Jason, sometimes stayed over – so it must belong to her. "It must be my mom's."
My mom? Pregnant? Really?
I was going to be an older sister?
"Guess so. Sorry, I just had to check."
I laughed. "No, of course. Don't worry, I'm not the one who's pregnant."
"Okay. Well, I'll see you in LA?"
"Yeah." I felt a pang of guilt. "I'll see you then." And I hung up before he could say 'I love you' or anything. Because I really didn't know how I would respond to that.
I turned to look at Justin, who was just staring at me.
"Ellen, uh, what the hell was that?" he questioned.
I smirked. "Ethan thought I was pregnant."
"And, uh, are you?" His expression was worried.
Shaking my head, I chuckled. "No. I think my mom is, though."
"Oh my god, Ellen," Justin muttered, running a hand through his hair. "You scared me."
I laughed again. Then my humor vanished as I realized that Ethan obviously hadn't seen the magazines yet. He didn't realize. Or maybe he saw it, and thought nothing of it. It's not like the magazines had a picture of us kissing. Sure, there were plenty of pictures of us dancing close together and laughing together, but still.
"He doesn't know," I said to Justin worriedly.
"Oh." Realization dawned in his eyes. "That means you have to tell him in LA."
I put my head in my hands. "But I can't. I just can't."
He stroked my hair ever so slightly. "Do you want to carry on cheating on him then?"
I shook my head, "No, but..."
"Then you kind of have to tell him."
I sighed. "Yeah. I suppose."
Justin kissed the top of my head. "Sorry."
I smiled. "It's not your fault." I tilted my head up to look at Justin. Our eyes met and his hand stroked my face. I couldn't help it.
I leaned in to kiss him.
His hand went to the back of my neck to pull me closer, and his other hand snaked around my waist. I wound my arms around his neck, running my fingers through his hair. When we broke apart, Justin grinned at me.
"I won."
There y'all have it.
VOMMENTAN <3