~ Chapter 7: Being A Guest, Getting A Guest  ~

[ Justin’s POV: ]

“Za,” I called out, turning to look at him to see him texting on his phone.

“What?” he asked, from where he sat in his position on my hotel room couch.

“Can you come look at this?” I waved at him in my direction, prompting him to come over. He got the message and put his phone back in his pocket before standing up and making his way over to me.

“What?” he repeated, leaning down and placing his hands on his knees.

I moved my notebook so it entered his vision and looked at him again. “I’m trying to write a song, do you think it’s good so far?”

He glanced at me and shifted his attention to the page before reading what was written on it:

Heartbreaker

Oh girl, I got a secret place that we could go

‘Cause girl I really wanna be alone

And baby nobody else gotta know…

“That’s all you have so far?” he asked.

I nodded. “I started around five minutes ago. Want to hear how it sounds like?”

When Za copied me and nodded, I began to sing to him how I thought the song would go. He listened intently as I sang him all three lines, and after I was done, he was staring at me with eyes full of suspicion.

I furrowed my eyebrows together and waited for him to speak, but something told me he wasn’t opening his mouth anytime soon.

“Okay, why are you looking at me like that?” I frowned, pouting slightly.

“Justin…” he sighed, sitting down on the chair next to me. “Is this song… Is this song about Alicia?”

I felt my heart stop at the mention of her name. My eyes widened and I stared at Lil Za with shock.

“What the fuck made you come up with something like that?” I asked, a hint of anger in my voice.

“Dude, I didn’t mean to—”

“—Shut up.”

Standing from my seat, I slammed my notebook shut and picked it up before storming out of the living room and to my own bedroom. I closed the door and locked it, throwing my notebook across the room and collapsing on my bed. I stared at the ceiling, feeling unexplainable uncomfortableness rising up throughout my veins.

I remained in that position for a long while before I suddenly sat up and bolted out of my bed to pick up my notebook from the floor. Violently opening it and flipping through the pages, I ripped out the page titled Heartbreaker and teared the page into pieces bit by bit until there was a mess on the floor.

Breathing out a sigh in distress, I heard my phone beep, notifying me I had received a few text messages. I grumpily stood up, forcing myself to pick up the device and, when I read who sent the messages, my heart skipped a few beats.

From: Alicia Louise

Message:

– Hi Justin!

- I hope Cindy made it clear I wanted to see you real soon. I was wondering if you could come over at 7pm today? I’ll send you the address of where I’m staying, since I heard you’re also in Los Angeles. Listen, I just want to talk. But if you don’t ever want to see my face again, I understand as well. I really hope I can see you in person tonight. I’m really looking forward to it.

Of course I want to see her… How can she even think that I wouldn’t want to?

I held my breath as I texted back a reply, saying that I’d go. It wasn’t after my phone confirmed that the message was delivered that I decided to breath out again.

----

[ 3 hours ago ]

“So today’s when Jackie comes, right?” Alfredo asked me as I threw on a shirt and fixed my hair.

“Yeah,” I almost whispered, a smile creeping upon my lips. I turned around to look at him. “You ready to go get her?”

“Sure, don’t forget to add brownies to the list of snacks you’re going to buy while I’m over there giving her a ride here,” he winked.

“Brownies? Why?” I chuckled.

He rolled his eyes and leaned so close, our noses were touching. “Because I love brownies,” his breath tickled my skin. “You got a problem?”

I narrowed my eyes at him as he leaned away from me. “Fine, I’ll get brownies too.”

“Thank you,” he said in a high-pitched, girly voice before grabbing his car keys and skipping out of the room. I laughed silently to myself before fixing my bed and making the place look pleasant.

----

[ The Present, Later ]

I gripped the wheel tighter into both hands, driving attentively and keeping my eyes on the road. My heart was beating at an intensely fast pace and my brain was receiving a billion thoughts for each second that passed by.

I finally arrived at my destination and wasted no time in hurrying out of my car and into the hotel in front of me. I soon found myself walking the hallway on the sixth floor, searching for the correct room. Once I found it, I rang the doorbell and knocked a few times, tapping my foot impatiently as I waited for the door to be opened.

The minute it did, I suddenly realized that I had made absolutely no plan on what to do when I see her face again, so I just stood there, frozen.

“Justin,” Alicia half-smiled, stepping aside to let me in. “It’s nice to see you.”

I cleared my throat and walked inside slowly. “You too,” I mumbled before she shut the door and took a seat near a table.

“So how are things?” Alicia smiled, signaling me to sit down on the chair across from her—which I did.

“Don’t act like you don’t read the news,” I rolled my eyes, and a sudden silence fell upon us.

I watched as Alicia shifted uncomfortably on her seat and she tucked a loose strand of hair over her ear.

“Justin,” she sighed. “I know I broke up with you but… It kinda came with the business.”

“Came with the business? What kind of bullshit are you throwing at me?” I narrowed my eyes at her. “We’re celebrities, Ali, but that doesn’t mean anyone else can tell us who we can or can’t date.”

“I just wanted to see how you were doing,” she tried to change the subject.

“Stop that,” I said quietly.

“Stop what?”

“That. Changing the subject,” I clarified.

“It’s not like we haven’t spoken about this before,” she mumbled.

“But you broke up with me anyway, didn’t you? Cindy can’t decide that for you, Ali,” I tried to get my point across. “Don’t just act like you still don’t love me. Like you don’t have any feelings left for me.”

Alicia closed her eyes. “Justin, I made my decision. I broke up with you for a reason.”

“The media isn’t a reason,” I said angrily. “They can’t get in the way of love. If you really love me, you wouldn’t let this happen.”

“Justin…” she warned, fluttering her eyes open and giving me that look.

“You know I’m right,” I gritted my teeth together.

“Say you are, it still doesn’t change the fact that we’re not getting back together, Justin. I didn’t beg Cindy to see you so I could regain our relationship back. I just simply wanted to see how you were doing,” she spoke quietly. “You were right about one thing, though. I do read the news.”

I clenched my fists together, feeling my heart drop at her words. My eyes glistened with tears, however they never slipped from their sockets.

“Coming here…” I began, slowly standing up. “Was a mistake.”

I began walking towards the door, waiting to see if Alicia would even run or call after me.

But she didn’t.

She just let me walk away—something she’s accustomed to doing by now.

As I was returning to my car in the parking lot, thoughts about Alicia engulfing me rather violently, my phone vibrated in my pocket, snapping me out of my fantasy world. Reaching my left hand into my pocket, I pulled out my phone to see I had gotten a text.

From: Alfredo

Message:

Hey bro, Jackie and I just got back to our hotel room, we’re waiting for you now. Where the hell are you?

I sighed, throwing my head back in frustration. I hadn’t even bought the snacks yet. But it’s not like I can go do that quickly without getting recognized as a certain pop singer. So, instead, I dialed Lil Twist’s number and asked him to stop by with a few snacks, in which I’ll pay him back later.

Finally getting inside my car, I drove back to my hotel, the anger Alicia had injected in me was still circling inside me quite vividly. The way she spoke to me tonight just gets me to wonder… Did she ever even love me at all?

Arriving sooner than I had thought, I took my time walking towards the elevator and to our hotel room. Slipping the keys out of my pocket, I swung the door open and saw Jackie sitting on the couch, talking to Fredo. She noticed me come in and her face lit up, a smile spreading across her lips.

“Hi Justin!” she beamed.

I forced a smile, the pain in my heart increasing. “Hey,” I whispered. She stood up and gave me a hug, in which I barely hugged back, and then motioned me to come sit with her.

“Umm… Would you excuse me for a second?” I stuttered. Jackie looked up at me, concern flashing into her eyes.

“Sure,” she nodded. “Take your time.”

*****************************

Wow, I hate school. I’m literally so much more busy which is why I updated Sunday -_-

Anyway, what’d you guys think? Poor Justin…

- Nina xx