The next morning I woke up drooling on my pillow. Slightly disgusted, I rose up and looked around, trying to wake up before going to take a shower. I looked at my bedside table to see a light blinking on my phone. I had a text message.
“I wonder how long this thing’s been blinking…” I said to myself.
*New Text from Justin*
9:27am
I glanced at my clock to see that it was 9:43am. At least it’s not too long after he texted.
From: Justin
9:27am
Good morning beautiful
I stared at my phone for a moment making sure I’d read that correctly. After all, I was still half awake.
“Beautiful? Man, this kid’s got a flirting problem.”
New Message to: Justin
Hey Justin, what’s happenin’?
I hit send and went into the bathroom for my shower. I had just stepped in when my phone rang.
“What is it with people calling me when I’m in the shower?!” Fully expecting to see Charlotte’s name on my caller ID, I glanced at it.
Incoming call…
Justin
Surprised, I answered. “Hello?”
“Hey Emma, what’s up?” He asked. Thinking about how flirty he was, I decided not to tell him I was in the shower.
“Oh, not much… How about you?”
“I’m taking a break in rehearsals. Listen, I just found out I’ve got a few free days this week. I was wondering if you wanted to do anything.”
“Sure, what did you have in mind?”
“Well, I thought maybe I could take you out to dinner, we could see a movie, you know something like that.”
“Justin, that sounds an awful lot like a date.”
“Yeah… What’s wrong with that?” Oh jeeze, I was hoping I wouldn’t have to get into this. Especially not while standing butt-naked.
“Justin… I’m too old for you.”
“No you’re not! You’re just three years older than me! That’s not bad. Nobody cares anyway. Age ain’t nothin’ but a number, right?” He sure was arguing his case.
“Yeah, but Justin…people will care. For one thing, your fans will care. Your fans will care a whole damn lot. I’ll get death threats. The press will go crazy, too. They’ll be all like, ‘New untalented singer uses Justin Bieber to get famous.’ I’m not down for that.” I was arguing mine, too.
“Em, it won’t be like that. For one thing, my fans won’t send you death threats-“
“HA!”
“Ok…so you’ll get a few in the beginning-“
“More like a few thousand…”
“But I’ll tell ‘em to quit and they will! If they’re really my fans they’ll be happy for me. And I don’t care what the press says, and you shouldn’t either. You’re very talented. You don’t need my help.” I smiled despite myself.
“All of that may be true, but really… I’m still too old for you.”
“C’mon, Em…” He was pleading. You’re making me feel like ****, Bieber.
“Justin…”
“Well, at least hang out with me. It doesn’t have to be a date. Let’s just chill and get to know each other better. THEN you can decide if you want to date me or not.” He doesn’t give up, does he?
“Fine. But I’m not going to date you, Justin Bieber.”
“We’ll see.” I knew he was smiling that same smile… “I’ll text you soon, ok?”
“Alright.”
“Bye Em.”
“Bye.”
I was already starting to prune up and I hadn’t even showered yet. So I hurried up with that and finished getting ready. I had nothing to do that day, so I decided I’d go mess around with my guitar a little bit. I knew I had a busy week ahead of me, and the best thing I could do was try to relax a little before it got too hectic.
----
The next few days went by in quite a whirl. I was doing interviews, more photo shoots, and preparing for the release of my album in less than a month. If I didn’t love performing so much I don’t know if I’d have stuck with it.
Friday finally rolled around. Justin was going to be back in New York and we were going to see each other that night. I was happy to see him, but I was still a little cautious. I didn’t want to give him the wrong idea. I couldn’t date him. I was hoping he would understand.
That night at 6:00, we were to meet each other at Alesandro’s, a little restaurant that according to Justin was “really good, and no one will see us there.” I was thankful for that. I wasn’t sure I was ready for the paparazzi stuff just yet.
I walked in the restaurant a little cautiously, afraid that some camera lens would pop up right in my face. To my relief, though, there wasn’t a single photographer in sight. I looked around the room and finally spotted Justin towards the back sitting at a table for two.
The restaurant was actually very beautiful. There were faux grape vines hanging on trellises that lined some of the walls. There were photographs on the walls that appeared to be very old. Italian music was playing in the whole place. The food HAS to be good here.
I walked over to Justin and he stood up. What a gentleman.
“Hey, Emma, you look beautiful.” I had a feeling he was going a little far with the “beautiful” comment. I wasn’t wearing anything special.
“Thanks, Justin. You’re lookin’ pretty handsome yourself.” He did. He had a green button-up on with black pants. I don’t think it was his clothes, but he looked a little more mature. Maybe it was the setting.
“Thanks,” he said as he held out my chair for me to sit down. He sat down, too.
“What do you think of this place?” He asked.
“I think it’s beautiful. Italian food is my favorite.”
“Awesome. The food here is great. I don’t understand why people don’t come in here that much.” He began scanning his menu.
“Oh, so you’ve brought other girls in here, have you?” He looked at me startled.
“Oh, no! Just Mom. She likes Italian food too, so we found this place on accident one night.” I smiled at him.
“I was just giving you a hard time.”
“Oh…”
We ordered and our food came not too long after. We talked about everything, just like the first time we talked. I noticed once again how easy it was for me to talk to Justin. He listened, too. He gave me advice about how to deal with fame. He told me stories about him when he was younger. We really connected, and to be honest, it scared me.
After dinner, we were sort of at a loss for something to do next.
“We can’t go anywhere. It’s because of me, I’m sorry,” he said. I gave him a smile to let him know that it was no biggie.
“It’s cool. We can just go by my place. No one really knows me yet so I doubt they’ll be anyone out.”
“What do you wanna do?”
“Well, I guess we could watch a movie.”
“Sounds good.” He smiled the cutest smile I’d seen. Hey, WHOA sister, cut that out. This kid is SIXTEEN. I quickly snapped myself back to reality and we walked outside to get a cab.
We arrived at my building and we rushed inside just in case anyone saw him. When we got to my apartment, we started debating on a movie.
“You like Will Ferrell?” I asked.
“Yeah, of course. What movies of his do you have?”
“Pretty much all of them. You got a favorite?”
“’Anchorman,’ definitely.”
“That works for me,” I said, getting the case out and setting the movie up.
I couldn’t help but laugh at Justin watching the movie. When what I imagine were his favorite parts would come up, he’d mouth the line and then laugh like he’d never seen the movie before. His laugh was contagious. The more he laughed, the more I did.
A scene that was a little, shall we say, “racy” came up and I quickly realized just how close Justin was sitting next to me. It was so awkward. When it finally ended, though, it went back to just the way it was before, with Justin laughing and me joining in.
It was getting late, and I knew he would have to leave soon. So when the movie finished, he turned to me and smiled.
“What is it?” I asked.
“Nothin’.”
“Ok…”
“I’m going to have to leave in a few minutes. I know my body guard’s going to be texting me soon and telling me he’s on his way up. That’s cool right?”
“Oh yeah, whatever you need to do.”
“I had a good time with you today.” I could feel the heat in my face rise.
“I had a good time today, too.”
“Promise me we’ll get to do it again.”
“Ok. But only for you, I don’t really like promises.”
“Why’s that?” He asked, looking slightly surprised.
“Promises tend to get broken, and I’d hate to do that to you.”
“Hey, brighten up sunshine. We’ll hang out again. You can pinky promise me. If you break the promise, I won’t be mad. I just get your pinky.” I giggled.
“Ok then.” We pinky promised and then his phone went off.
“He’s on his way up now.”
“Oh.” We sat in silence for a few minutes just looking at each other. Occasionally, he’d fake-punch my leg and I’d fake-punch his back. Then his body guard finally knocked at the door. Justin got up and looked through the peep-hole.
“Yep, that’s him.”
“Alright.” I got up and walked over to the door.
“I’ll be texting you, ok? Calling you, too. I don’t know when my next days off are exactly, but I know
I’ll be able to see you.”
“Sounds good to me Just.”
“Awesome.” He pulled me into a hug and rubbed my back. “I’ll see you, ok?”
“Ok. Bye Justin.” He was smiling at me and I couldn’t help but smile back.
He winked, and was out the door.
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