Chapter Twenty Nine
Lauren
It was just past eleven and Elise and I were looking at that Once Upon A Song movie starring Lucy Hale. We were both decked out on the couch. Kenny had done the honors of ordering Mc Donald's for us so we were both munching on nuggets and fries.
"Bev is such a bitch." I said popping a fry into my mouth.
I turned to Elise to see her busily tapping on her phone. I nudged her. "Eli,come on. Get off your phone and watch the movie. The guy in it is cute."
Elise jumped in shock and looked up at me,a sudden new emotion entering her eyes. "Lauren,promise not to freak when I show you this.." she whispered,and I stared at her in bewilderment until she shoved the screen of her blackberry right up my face.
What I saw shattered every piece of my heart,and then before I knew what was happening,Elise had leant in and zoomed into the picture. My heart beat increased as my worst possible nightmare came to reality.
In the picture,were two people. The one person I was beginning to fall hard for and the other person was my enemy and stalker.
I tried speaking but no sense seemed to prevail so all that escaped my mouth were some weak squeak.
I looked at the way Justin was slumped up against the wall,his eyes closed. And even though the picture was a bit dark I could easily make out the brunette who had her lips on his. I haven't seen Maya more than once in my life but the horrid memory of when I first saw her seemed to etch into my brain.
I grabbed the phone and slowly,I double tapped the picture so that it would zoom out and slowly I scrolled through the report and I mentally cursed myself.
In big bold lettering were the words:
TEEN SENSATION JUSTIN BIEBER LYING ABOUT
...BEING SINGLE?
Admittedly,I wanted to do anything but read the report but curiosity was killing me. I just wanted to convince myself that this was all but a photoshopped picture. It just didn't sound like Justin. . .
Reluctantly I reached out for the screen and slowly I scrolled through reading the report that had just been posted. It read:
Teen sensation Justin Bieber seemed to have been lying when he admitted to being single on a radio interview just yesterday. This picture seemed to support that the Biebs has indeed gotten busy at Kesha's party.
What puzzles us more is the fact that this picture shows Justin kissing his ex Maya Fagan. Back in 2011,the two had publicly admitted to be seeing each other but near the end of August they both broke it off. Are they together?
Chances they are. After all the Biebs doesn't waste any time in finding him a girl...
Slowly,I gave Elise her phone.She stared at me for a moment. "Lauren..are you okay?You wanna cry?" she looked at me sympathetically.
"No.." I whispered but I already felt the tears spilling.
"Are you sure?" she enquired,her arms already out.
"Yeah..." I nodded but then a tear escaped.Then I started to full on sob. I know I sound pathetic but it's not easy seeing your boyfriend of almost three months who you've known practically your entire life macking on some other girl.
I leant into Elise's shoulder and willed no more tears to escape and no more cries to roll off my tongue. Elise wrapped an arm around my shoulder and squeezed me tight.
"I'm so so so sorry Lauren."
I pulled away and wiped a tear from my eye. So much for not acting pathetic..
"Don't be. I should have known something like this would have happened." My voice sounded like shit and cracked some places.
She opened her mouth to reply but I stood up.
"I don't feel up for watching the movie anymore. I'm going to my room." I took along my pillow and eased myself out of the couch.
As I was rounding the corner to my room,Pattie called out from behind me. Fighting back the tears and the hurt,I slowly pivoted around to her direction.
When she no doubt saw my puffy cheeks and tear stained face,she asked what was going on and walked up to me. She pulled me into a hug,and when she pulled away she stared at me with concerned eyes.
"Lauren what's the matter?"
I swallowed and sighed. "Thanks for the comfort Pat but I don't feel like talking about it..." I trailed off and zeroed in on the bubblegum pink carpet that lined the hallway of our dorm.
I gently pushed myself away from her embrace and slowly I threaded my way to my room.
This time I fell face down on the bed and cried.
Justin
About an hour or two later,I managed to finally squeeze my eyes open. Immediately,upon opening my eyes and regaining consciousness I had no clue where the hell I was. The first thing I realized was the unfamiliar surroundings I was in. My throat felt dry and most for all,I had this splitting headache.
A distant bass floated through to where I was seated slumped up against the wall and instantly,memories came flooding back to me. Me coming to the party,seeing Jasmine,performing,seeing Maya,the confession of Maya being in love with me,the kiss. The latter memory made me feel sick.
I slowly looked around and to say the least, I felt like crap. I pulled myself up and swaggered over to the stairs and a sudden sensation of vertigo consumed me as I ventured to the stairs.
The party was still on in full swing. Keeping my head down and pulling my hood up,I managed to make it to the front door. When I pushed open the swinging gold door, the inky dark night met my gaze.
As soon as I had started the engine to my car,my phone began ringing obnoxiously through the silence. Groaning in annoyance,I leant my head against the seat and regrettably tapped the 'Answer' button when the name 'Mom' appeared.
Squeezing my eyes shut,I slowly struggled out a greeting. "Hello?"
After I had spoken,my mom went into this never ending rant. It wasn't helping that my hangover's intensity was building in momentum as her words bounced around my head repeatedly as she screamed into the phone in aggression,the most prominent emotion being disappointment.
"Justin what the heck is wrong with you? I was jut notified of that report online,and I am very disappointed in you right now. It's almost midnight now so I don't care where the heck you are but you get your lazy ass from wherever you are and come home this instant!"
The line clicked dead followed by silence. I tossed the phone in my backseat and ran my hand through my hair in frustration. How did my mom know of that? Then it hit me like a tone of bricks.
I suddenly willed it to be one scary imaginative assumption all grafted together by my wide imagination.
Maya couldn't have possibly posted that picture online could she?
Heck yeah she would. Why would she take it anyway?I groaned again and dropped my head unto the steering wheel. So that meant that stupid picture of when I was drunk kissing Maya was surfacing and being distributed around the Internet. That meant all those tabloids had already gotten hold of the picture. Don't even mention the social networking sites. Twitter and Facebook would no doubt be blowing up with controversy.
I then reached for my phone in the backseat and went to my twitter app. About five hundred mentions were rolling in by the second. No exaggeration there.
Scooter would be pissed,no,he'd go mental.Trust me to cause so much drama just before I leave for Italy tomorrow.
The fact is,I was in deep shit.
One person was hurting right now.The one person I was beginning to fall staggeringly hard for,the one person I held all my secrets to. The one person who had seen me cry,who had seen me vulnerable when my mom and dad filed for a divorce.
I felt horrible. To her I might have come across as a egotistical, cheating two timing douche bag. When in fact I was trying to be anything but that.
I had hurt her before and made a vow to never do it again.
God,I had screwed up.
Royally.
I was hurting my best friend and girlfriend Lauren.
I arrived home at midnight. The truth and actual fact is that the hotel wasn't even far away from the club Kesha booked,I reached home so late because of many reasons:
1)Freaking out over Lauren's reaction. She will be pissed but I forced myself into believing that if I supplied her with the facts and the truth,we'd see eye to eye.
2) My mom's reaction. Again,I have another person mad at me for no apparent reason.
3) See,as soon as the call with my mom had ended,Scooter called. It sounded like this:
-Flashback-
"Hello?" I said leaning back into my seat. Thank God for caller ID so I knew it was Scooter who had called. It had taken me a full ten seconds to answer the phone. I was mentally preparing myself for the fit he would no doubt throw. And no,I wasn't even remotely scared off my manager.
But he's really intimidating when he's mad. He also was obsessed with me not drawing too much attention to myself and yet maintaining my spotlight in the music industry. If you know what I mean. . When there was touring,I had to focus and not push any stupid details about my personal life into the picture example my psychopathic ex who was slowly ruining my current love life.
Well,anyways back to my conversation with Scooter.
"What's up?" I managed to utter,my voice oozing calmness. Inside I was freaking out.
"ARE YOU nuts?! I finally gave you some freedom. I made you go to a club because well,you're gonna be eighteen in seven months. And you somehow meet up with that worthless dumbo ex of yours ?!" he yelled. I pulled the phone away from my ear and sighed. When I didn't hear any more from him,I slowly pulled the phone back to my ear.
"First,I did not meet up with her. She stalked me,and drugged me with some shitty drug and then kissed me when I was slipping into unconsciousness." I raked a hand through my hair and closed my eyes already feeling more of a hangover settle over me.
I was freaking seventeen and I had all this stupid problems.
"Justin,you have to be careful.You know you've got a lot of people rooting for your failures," Scoot droned on from the other end but his words faded out to mumbles I couldn't understand at this point so I cut him off.
"Does Lauren know?" I asked feeling my heart clench and unclench and a deep emotion I couldn't comprehend raced through my body where my heart quickened.
Scooter sighed from the other end. "Yeah she does. According to Pat,Elise saw it on her phone and then showed Lauren."
My worst possible nightmare came to be sheer reality I couldn't face. Those stupid tabloids. Who knows if they twisted around everything I said at that radio interview?
I sighed and ran a hand through my hair. "Shit. Look,I'm sorry. I didn't mean for this shit to happen. I'll find a way to fix this." I reassured him.
Scooter tsked. "Justin,you leave for Italy at four tomorrow afternoon. There's not much fixing..Look,sorry for getting all creepy manager on you. You obviously didn't see this happening. I'll find a way to fix this." Scooter replied.
Ah thank God. I had no damn idea how I was going to get out of this. I ended the phone call and presumed driving my car from where I had parked.
I knocked the hotel dorm and waited for a response as I stepped back. I had pulled my hood up to mask my face in the lobby just so I wouldn't get noticed by anyone.
The door flew open and suddenly,I was embraced in a familiar colossal hug. My mom held on to me rocking me back and forth,both thanking the heavens I was home and cursing me the same time.
From behind her Elise was glaring at me. When my mom pulled away,Elise flipped me the bird and stalked off.
"Scooter told me everything. Maya drugged you?" mom asked,leading me over to the couch. I pulled off my hoodie and placed it on the other couch and nodded. My mind wasn't there. I wanted to go explain everything to Lauren who no doubt was hurting terribly all because of me.
"And then she kissed me,snapped a pic and lied to the tabloids just to get back at me." I explained in a rush,feeling my blood boil. I wanted to kill her right now.
I stood from the couch before my mom could respond and threaded down the hallway. When I came to our door,I sighed and lifted my hand and knocked it.
No response came so I repeated that action.
Finally I decided to call out to her.
"Lauren...?"
There was suddenly a dull thud which I heard. I smirked,she must have been holding something in her hand and dropped it at the sound of my voice. Typical Lauren.
Then I took a different approach. "Hey,how was the night without me?" I knew I sounded conceited but I was actually asking her all those seemingly ignorant questions because I was trying my hardest to hide my inner freak attack.
"Go away!" she called out and the sound of her voice,it was not the usual bubbly voice. It was broken,cracked,scratchy,hoarse and forced. Her words became muffled as they travelled through the door.
Her heartbroken cry broke my heart leaving it shattered. And don't say I'm going deep here,I'm freaking expressing my emotions.
And clearly I can't express them that well...
"No,I can't." I stated confidently leaning against the door and sliding down until I was seated on the mat.
"It's easy Justin trust me."
"Just let me explain. . . Okay? You know how pissed I get when Maya messes with you. I guess you didn't know that day a few months back when you were sick I met her by my car as I was walking out the supermarket. I set her straight then,because I didn't want her coming between us. Do you honestly think I would just go and make out with her like that?"
When she didn't reply,I continued.
"She somehow got into contact with one of those bar tenders and she drugged my drink and snapped that picture of us kissing when I was drifting into unconsciousness."
I looked ahead and sighed. "Do you honestly think that I would just jeopardize our relationship like that?"
The door opened catching me off guard so I fell unto my back. I stared up at Lauren who was dressed in a dark blue shorts and golden yellow top. Her tone legs were displaying a lovely view from where she was.
Her face was a slight pink and I thanked the heavens(she must have not been crying THAT much) but the fact that she still did,hurt me. Her tear stained cheeks were evident and sneaking out her under-vest was a clean tissue.
Instead of replying,she laid down next to me. "I still didn't believe the report one hundred percent since you know,it's the paps. Still,I had my doubts. It was a celeb party you were at so most likely any celeb would be there. I just..."
I turned my head so my cheek was pressed up on the mat of our room,and I turned to look at her. "I got jealous. I get that we're really good friends and a little bit more since we're kinda dating but I knew the capability of a teenage girl who saw her ex with some other guy.I have my insecurities and I guessed when I saw the photo on Elise's phone,I sort of just felt even more...well,I felt.."
"Felt how?" I pressed.
"I felt small. I'm just a girl you managed to meet at a Kids Meet almost eleven years now so I just thought that I'm pretty much average compared to all those glamorous girls you dated and Maya's one of them."
Somehow,I was slightly upset at this new confession from Lauren. Sure,she hadn't been the most confident but I just made it my duty to make her know how truly special she was.
I shifted to my side still very much aware of our positions. We were laying on the floor,our hotel door opened behind us.
"I...I'd never break up with you and unless I have to okay?" I clasped my hand over the side of her perfect face."And by 'have to' I mean if it's like the end of the world and we have to like break up," I teased her with a grin and she smiled back with that heart stopping smile of hers."because aliens demanded we had to..." I laughed along with her.
"And Maya's a slut. You're anything but that. You're my best friend. You've always been there for me for like," I paused to lick my lips. I saw her gaze travel over to them and I smirked. I continued my on with my rant. "forever and you're awesome and hott,funny,sweet,lovely, witty,cute, sexy,hott, hott..." I trailed off.
Her smile made everything better."And you're like the best kisser ever,"
She blushed and stared up at me. I chuckled and held her close. "I am so sorry for freaking you out. I just..I had no clue she'd be there."
"I'm sorry too." she whispered back.
"For what?" I questioned disbelievingly.
I was the one who put through all of this. And Maya had been stupid to think that one little incident could shatter mine and Lauren's relationship.
"For not trusting you entirely,"
I kissed her forehead. "Don't worry baby,everything's gonna be alright."
~~⋆ ✡ †
A/N I didn't want Lauren to get super mad at Justin because that would be stupid and senseless since Justin explained and it wasn't his fault. So,yeah they're cool again. But you guys know this isn't the end...you guys know that I'd kick up the drama..right? Vote comment fan! (: Oh and I would really appreciate it if you guys vote!