Chapter 36:
January 5th, 2013
6:00am
I woke up and scratched my head. I slowly squinted my eyes open and sat up and stretched my arms towards the sky. Upon opening my eyes, I realized that I was covered with a black and white comforter. I glanced around once more to realize that I was in me and Justin’s bed. This was definitely not where I fell asleep… I swung my legs to the side of the bed and got out. Justin wasn’t in sight, so I went to look for him. To my surprise, he was in the guest bedroom. He was still sleeping too.
I walked towards him and sat at the foot of the bed. He looked so peaceful and angelic as he slept so soundly. I bowed my head and let a single tear fall to my lap, crashing against my skin in pain. Just seconds after I sniffled and wiped away a single tear, Justin turned over on his side.
“(YN)?” he spoke in his morning voice.
I stood up quickly and hid my nervous hands behind me, “Oh, um… I just came to wake you up. You’re bus leaves in an hour or so.”
He breathed deeply before groaning and sitting up. I started my way towards the door and out of the room, but he called from behind me.
“Are you staying for the rest of the North American branch of the tour?”
I turned back and smiled weakly, “I won’t be going on tour with you until June, when you come back to North America. At least that’s what I heard until further notice.”
His eyes glistened sadly and I quickly left the room. I shut the door behind me and ran back into our room, shutting the door yet again and falling to my knees. Just seeing him made me wanna brake down and cry; and knowing that I couldn’t cuddle up next to him each night in that small tour bus room made me cry more.
I grabbed my notebook from the dresser drawer and began writing like I usually did when I was sad or inspired. And this is so hard ‘cause I didn’t see That you were the love of my life and it kills me. Every thought I had I wrote down, because I needed to get my thoughts on paper. I would give it all to not be sleeping alone, alone. I wrote a whole song within, what, 10 minutes? It was so easy to write when I felt like this for some reason. I slipped my notebook under my pillow just as Justin walked in.
Our eyes never met but I watched every single one of his moves as he got ready to leave. It seemed like within just seconds he was ready to go. I wanted to grab his arm as I followed him out of our room and down the stairs and beg him to stay, but I knew that I couldn’t.
“Well, I guess this is goodbye for some time.” Justin said as he turned around at the door.
“I guess it is.” I replied with pain evident in my voice.
I was at the bottom of the stairs now just as he turned to leave. I watched him turn the door knob slowly and grab the handle of his suitcase again. The door creaked open and he started walking away. Away from me… away from us… away from everything.
“Justin wait!” I yelled after him.
He turned around quickly and his face seemed to light up, “Yeah?”
My breathe was cold and my heart was beating as I thought. What was I doing? I was actually stopping him… but what was I going to say to him to make him stay? Nothing. I wouldn’t say anything.
“Call me when you get there, so I know that you made it and everything, okay?” I forced myself to say.
“I-I will.”
I watched him turn yet again and leave once more. I closed my eyes and brought my hands up to my face to wipe away the tears when the door slammed shut. Now, time to clean myself and get ready for a dreadful interview.
I walked into the studio with a casual look on myself and confidence present. I tried my best to smile and look happy, but it wasn’t as easy as it seemed when you were breaking in two in reality. I sat down next to the interviewer and we began with simple questions like how are you and all of that. This was being taped, and to my surprise it was live.
“And you have a new album coming out at the end of this month, correct?” he said with a smile.
“Yup, actually the exact date is January 29th.”
That was the first time I had announced the album and I looked back to the managers who came with me like Allison and Scrappy as they both gave me a thumbs up. I laughed a bit as the interviewer sat back in surprise.
“If I’m not mistaken, isn’t that Justin’s release date for his new album also?”
My heart skipped a beat when he said Justin’s name. I thought that I had asked for him to not be brought up, but oh well. I had to face what was coming eventually.
“Yeah, it is.” I simply said.
“Anyways, let’s move on to rumors. There’s a rumor going around that you and one directions Harry Styles are dating… true or false?”
“False… Now,” I said with a blank expression, “we’re just friends.”
“Hmm, okay. Next one, is it true that you are single and ready to mingle?”
I faked a laugh, “Yep.”
“Completely available? No one else?” he reassured himself.
“Yep..” I answered again.
“Okay, next one.”
I continued to answer every question and what not. It was fine after those little bumps we went over there. I even revealed that there would be a song about Justin on there and everyone seemed to be surprised, even Allison, Scrappy, and Scooter.
“Would you wanna tell us the name or…?”
“That’s classified information, but trust me; you’ll know what song it’ll be when you see the track list on the 29th.”
The interview ended and I walked out of the room and to Allison, Scrappy and Scooter. Scooter escorted em out of the building and we all sat outside in the parking lot talking.
“New song? Woah, you need to tell me these things you can’t just-“
“Scooter calm down. I just wrote it this morning and I was going to see if we can get it on the album.”
“I don’t know it’s kinda a late notice-“
“Scooter please.”
He sighed and mumbled, “I’ll see what I can do. I can’t believe you and Justin did the same thing…”
“Same thing- wait what do you mean?” I asked as I stopped him from walking back to his car.
“Justin is putting a last minute song on his album too that he just wrote, about you.”
I bit my lip and smiled somewhat, “he did that?”
“Look kiddo, I gotta catch a flight to Utah in a half an hour. But I’ll talk to you later tonight, bye.”
I watched him walk away and I walked back to my car. Justin wrote a song about me? I felt sad, but happy. My emotions were so mixed at the moment.
I got home and changed into comfy clothes, slouching down on the couch and eating ice cream while I watched chick flicks. Every movie made me miss Justin more, but I couldn’t stop myself from watching them all. It got late quickly because the time passed quickly while watching movies. I finished a whole bucket of ice cream, and I started to regret it immediately. I got up to throw it away and just as I came back, my phone started ringing. I least expected it was Justin, but it was. I answered it quickly while pausing the movie The Notebook.
“Hello?” I asked dumbly.
“Hey, I just thought I’d call before my performance.” Justin’s soft voice said.
“Oh, well, I’m glad you called.”
There were a few awkward moments of silence, like we’d never talked on the phone before. Eventually, I broke the silence.
“You probably have to go, but good luck.” I said with a smile on my face that he couldn’t see.
“Thanks, I’ll see you soon hopefully.”
We said our goodbyes and I hung up the phone. I was praying that I’d see him soon too, because I couldn’t stand being single anymore.
January 29th, 2013
6:00am
I woke up ready and energetic. Today was the day that Justin’s album came out, and I was more excited for his then mine at the moment. We hadn’t talked in over a week and we were still in an awkward stage, but this was exciting. I grabbed my phone quickly, clicked iTunes and searched his album. I clicked download without hesitation and waited for each song to download. Once they did, I went to the last three unfamiliar songs. Yellow Raincoat, I Would, and Nothing Like Us. I clicked play andlaid back down, finally hearing him sing to me once again.
I woke up from my nap and was wide awake. I grabbed my phone quickly and clicked iTunes. After waiting forever, (YN)’s album finally came out! I was more excited than anyone I’d known. I clicked download and waited and waited and waited. I knew practically every song on the album except a few. There was one called Stay, Stay, Stay, another It Won’t Stop, and the last one was called 'The Justin Song'. My jaw dropped at seeing my name and I clicked play all. That one was playing last, and I couldn’t wait to hear it.
Nothing Like Us came on after what seemed like forever and I listened carefully. The lyrics hurt me because they were so deep. I started feeling bad and my heart started breaking once again. I could hear the pain in his once again and it killed. I swallowed hard and when the song ended, I cried harder. I decided to drench the pain in alcohol, getting my sorrows out somehow. We always had alcohol somewhere in our house, don’t ask why. But at least it was easy to access.
The Justin Song started playing and I listened carefully, to the lyrics and the tone of her voice. Her voice seemed so fragile and even though it was more of an upbeat song, it was incredible how much emotion was expressed. I hurt inside, and I just wanted her back in my arms. I paced the floors of the jet and prayed that we’d be home sooner than later; so that I could grab her and beg her to come back to me. I wondered what she was doing right now and if she’d heard Nothing Like Us. I prayed once more that she was okay.
I swallowed whatever was contained in the bottle as I fell to the floor in tears. I was a complete mess and I had no idea how else to get my emotions out without slipping into depression again. I tried hard to fight the urge to cry again, but it was so hard. I practically destroyed everything in the house before I finally laid down in our bed and wrapped myself up in a ball. I was delirious and I could tell that I was drunk, but I wasn’t that drunk. I laid in bed for hours, and by the time I got up I was sobering up. I heard the door open and I started breathing hard.
I walked out of our room and ran down the stairs and stopped at the bottom. Justin dropped his bags and we stared into each other’s eyes for a few minutes. I couldn’t stand the distance anymore and I ran towards him. He picked me up off of the ground as he wrapped his arms around me in a strong hold. I sobbed into his shirt and I had to pull away.
“Justin I love you. I’ve never stopped loving you and I never want to. I don’t know what I did to make you want her but I can’t go through that again. I just want you back-“
“(YN) I love you more than you could imagine and it was a mistake. Everything I did or said to make you feel like you weren’t wanted by me was a mistake. I don’t know what I was thinking or doing but I just want you back.”
He held his strong arms around me and squeezed me tight as we stood in the doorway. I cried into his shirt once more before I pulled away and pressed my lips against his.
“I accept your apology.”