Justin’s P.O.V.
I sighed and shut the door behind the officers, one glance at the clock told me it was a little after midnight when the police left; I sighed then looked at Bella. She sat on the couch with her knees pulled up to her chest and an afghan draped around her shoulders, she had been a wreck ever since she opened that twisted demented box people would’ve called a present. I rubbed the back of my neck in frustration with myself, I felt so bad because I didn’t know how to comfort my new found sister. The only way I knew how to comfort was hug and kiss her then go out and buy her something or something like that, I knew she didn’t want that; and I’m pretty sure she didn’t want me to read her a story like my younger sister Jazzy would’ve wanted me to do.
I walked into the kitchen and looked around, my first instinct to make her feel better was grab a bottle of wine and let her watch her and Alexis’ favorite T.V. show, Teen Wolf. But she’s had way too much of her fair share in the alcohol department, I sighed before digging out my phone, I punched in the memorized number and put the phone to my ear; I peeked in the living room to see Bella hadn’t so much as moved a muscle. “Hello?” The cheerful voice answered.
“Hey, Mom. Uh, I need to ask you something.” I said as a greeting.
Half an Hour Later…
“Alright, thanks Mom.”
“You’re welcome, Sweetie. Now remember, when this important stuff is over I want you to bring that young girl over here. Bring Alexis and Taylor too, I want to meet them.” I laughed.
“Sure thing, Mom. Alright, I gotta go.”
“Alright honey, bye. I love you.”
“Love you too, bye Mom.”
I tapped the end button before punching in another number. “Justin?” I breathed a sigh of relief.
“Hey babe.”
“What are you calling me for? It’s one in the morning!” There was a pause and rustling followed by a loud male grunt and groan. “Oh geez, I’m sorry Taylor.”
“He’s still there?” I asked, she sighed.
“Yeah, said he wasn’t gonna leave until you both came back.” She explained, I heard Taylor grumble something; all I got out of it was Bella’s room. “Okay, don’t mind her dog. She’ll grumble at first but she’s really sweet.” There was a moment’s pause before she spoke again. “See you in the morning, Tay.”
“He okay?” I asked, I felt bad for just ditching my girlfriend and my best friend to go after my girlfriend’s best friend; but hey someone had to do it, and knowing if Taylor had gone after her they most likely would’ve skipped dinner and went straight for fucking.
“Yeah, I accidently kicked him in the ribs but he’s okay. He’s worried about you and Bella, but he’ll be fine. Are you sure you two are okay?” She asked, I blew out a breath then looked into the living room; Bella sat still as a statue, not moving. I had to move closer to see her shoulders moving just to make sure she was breathing.
“Yeah, we’re okay.. Er, or as okay as we can be right now.”
“What are you talking about? Justin, what’s going on?” She demanded, I sighed but told her what happened after I hung up with her before; I left out the part where I called my mom and asked her for advice on making Bella feel better, since I was gonna ask her that. “Oh my god, that fucking bastard!”
“Yeah, tell me about it.”
“Justin, you don’t know the half of it.”
“Actually, I know all of it.”
There was a pause before she spoke, or whisper would be more accurate.
“Did… Did Bella tell you? About him?”
“Yeah, I knew you weren’t ever going to so I asked her. But before you get mad she didn’t just up and tell me, I had to convince her it was better if I knew. She’ll have to tell Tay too, we made a deal that she would tell both of us.” There was silence on the other end, did she hang up? “Lex? You still there?”
“Sorry, yeah I’m here. And I’m sorry I didn’t tell you Justin, I was only trying to protect you.”
“Lex?”
“Yeah?”
“Next time, protect me by telling me the truth.”
“Okay Jay.”
“On another matter, I need your help.” I said, I heard her yawn on the other end or was that me? Either way I felt bad for waking her up but I wanted Bella in somewhat normal state before I pass out.
“What is it?” Lex asked, I sighed before looking at Bella once again; the only thing moving was her shoulders as she breathed.
“It’s Bella, she’s scaring me.” I told her, that must’ve woke her up because she was suddenly alert.
“What’s she doing?”
“Nothing.”
“Nothing?”
“Nope, the only thing she’s doing is breathing.” I said, I walked in front of her to see her face emotionless as she stared at the floor; she must’ve done this before because Alexis started to ask questions.
“Is she hugging her knees to her chest?” I furrowed my eyebrows.
“Uh, yeah.”
“Her face expressionless?”
“Uh-huh.”
“She’s only breathing and looking at the floor?”
“Yep, has she done this before?”
“A few times, get a pencil and a pad of paper. I know what you gotta do.” I sighed but got what she asked. “You ready?”
“Yeah, go ahead.”
“Okay, first things first how much did she drink?” I had to rack my brain before I answered her.
“Uh, we both had a few beers then she had maybe three or four glasses of wine.”
“Oh boy, first thing you need to do is make a pot of coffee. Make her drink at least two cups, I don’t care if you have to hold her down and force it down her throat. Make sure she drinks two whole cups and it has to be straight black.” I scribbled furiously.
“Okay, what next?”
“Turn off all the lights and light a lot of candles.” I opened my mouth about to protest that it would be a romantic setting but she interrupted me. “It isn’t meant to be romantic, Jay. Candles help her relax, don’t ask me how or why it just does.”
“Oookaaay then.”
“Next make her some warm cocoa, that always soothes her. If she doesn’t want cocoa then make her some chamomile tea, you can find tea bags about the stove. Then by her T.V. find the movie A Walk to Remember, put that in. She should fall asleep in the middle or just before the end, if she doesn’t call me back okay?” I finished scribbling before answering her.
“Okay, thanks babe.”
“No problem, now take care of my best friend.”
“Don’t worry, Lex. I will.”
“Then take care of yourself.”
“Yeah, okay. I’ll go ahead and get started on this.”
“Okay, love you Jay. Bye.”
“Love you too, Boo.” I clicked off then looked around, the only thing on my mind right now was why do candles relax most females?
Bella drank the coffee with no problem, I walked into the kitchen after her second cup and set it in the sink; next I began to look for candles, which wasn’t really that hard since they were scattered about the house. Seventeen lit candles later I saw Bella curl on her side and rest her head on the arm rest, she’s getting better already I thought then smiled to myself. I went back to the list to see what I had written down after the candles, make warm cocoa or tea. I got a clean mug from the cupboard then a small pot, I filled it about an inch with milk; while that came to a simmer I started searching for cocoa, I found some packets next to the toaster. I dumped a packet in the mug then a couple minutes later I carefully poured the heated milk in then stirred it, turning off the stove and oven light I had flicked on I made my way to the living room. With how many candles I lit it felt like there was a fire lit, it reminded me of Alexis’ house, I suddenly realized I wanted to be there instead of here; I shook my head as if to clear, no, you made a promise to Lex now keep that promise by taking care of Bella I scolded myself. I tapped Bella’s shoulder, she glanced up at me before moving into a sitting position; she cradled the mug of the warm drink before blowing on it and taking a careful sip, I walked over to the entertainment center and began searching for the movie Lex suggested. I found it next to a movie called Expelled, I popped it in the DVD player then snagged the remote and sat on the floor next to Bella. As the movie went on about how a cancer patient fell in love with the home town bad boy I heard Bella sigh, sip, and softly giggle. It was around the time that Jamie told Landon that she was dying that I turned back to Bella to see she had set the mug aside and was fast asleep, not long after I also feel asleep.
______________________________________
Copyright © BellaBaker1023 ღ