All alone, or so it seemed (Justin Bieber)

18. "You're like a tough cookie."

I jump up from the sofa and turn around. There he stands, handsome as ever. However, his jaw is bruised and his nose is bleeding. He looks tough, yet in his eyes I see only good things.

I rush towards him. ''Are you okay?'' I softly touch his jaw and he flinches.

''Yes, I'm fine.'' he answers, still flinching a bit.

''No, you're not.'' I reply and pull him towards the sofa to make him sit down, slowly pushing him backwards on the couch until he falls onto the cushions and rests his head against the back.

I grab a towel in the kitchen and an icepack from the fridge and run towards the bathroom to grab a first-aid kit. I then rush back to Justin, to find him looking at me with an amused expression .

''What's so funny, mister?'' I look at him, confused out of my mind. He just smiles back at me and shakes his head.

''I just think you're cute when you're worried. I'm fine, baby. It's just a bruise and a nosebleed.'' he assures me, a hint of amusement still present in his eyes.

I smile back at him. ''Oh, shut up.'' I blush. ''Would you tell me what happened to you? Who did all this?''

I wrap the towel around the icepack and softly touch his jaw with it. Relief washes over his face when the coldness touches his purple jaw, but it soon changes into a worried look.

''Don't be mad at me, please.'' he says.

''Why would I be mad at you, Justin?'' What the fuck has he done?

''What happened? Who did this to you?'' I repeat myself, grabbing the first-aid kit to clean up his nose.

''I went to see Trent.'' he states, and I gasp in response.

''Why would you do that? Don't you know what he's capable of?'' I yell a little too loudly. I cover my mouth with my free hand. ''Sorry.''

''Don't apologize, you have every right to be mad at me. But please just let me tell you the reason why I went and what happened, yeah? Listen to the whole story?'' I nod at his request, and he continues.

''So I went to see Trent to just talk to him. I wanted to tell him to leave you alone, because I just want you to be able to go outside without being afraid he's gonna be there, you know. I wanted to help, and the only way I could think of was to go to him and tell him to stop bothering you. When he laughed at my request, I told him I'd go to the police and it scared the crap out of him. He did not like that idea at all. That's when he threw the first punch. I didn't want to fight him, but I had to defend myself, so I threw a few punches back at him and left.''

I smile fondly at Justin. ''You're cute.'' I state.

''I'm not cute. I'm tough.'' he laughs.

''Sure, okay, you're tough. And cute. You're like a tough cookie.'' I wink.

He laughs and I wonder out loud. ''How did you know Trents address, though?''

''Some of my buddies have detective skills.'' He shrugs. I laugh at this information and he looks at me, clearly amused.

''I love your laugh, Ash. I want to hear it more often.''

I blush and look at the result of my cleaning up. ''You sure you're okay?''

''Yeah, I'm good, I promise.'' he smiles.

''What did you wanna talk to me about?''

''Huh?'' I respond, not understanding his question.

''You were leaving me a voicemail message.'''

''Oh yeah, um, I just wanted to talk to you about something my counsellor told me.''

''So talk.'' he smiles. ''Let me hear it, babe.''

''Um, her name is Mrs. Young. I had an appointment with her this afternoon. I told her about everything that's happened the last couple of days and well, I won't go into too much detail, but basically she told me to trust you and to put her and 911 as my speed dial so that if something ever happens again, I can reach them and they'll help me. So, I wanted to just say that I'm gonna try to go outside more often, and maybe work it into my daily routine or something.'' I blabber.

Justin smiles, reaches for my hand and squeezes it. ''That's great, baby.''

Gosh, every time he calls me baby, I feel as though I'm melting away. I literally feel like Olaf in summer, but without my personal flurry. I just melt every time Justin uses a pet name to address me. He is so sweet and I don't really understand how he makes me feel the way I do - but he does it anyhow. I feel so comfortable, yet so nervous around him. I just wanna talk to him all the time, because I feel like he really listens to me. I feel like he cares, somehow. Which is crazy, of course, given the fact that he's only known me for a couple of days. So he can't really care that much about me. But it feels as though he does, which makes me feel all giddy.

''What are you thinking about?'' Justin smiles.

''Oh, nothing, sorry, I just zoned out for a second.''

''Daydreaming, huh?'' he smirks. He squeezes my hand again and that's when I notice, he's been holding my hand this whole time. I look at my hand, safely surrounded by his. I can feel Justin looking at me, probably wondering what I'm thinking, but nonetheless, I decide to play with his hand. I stroke the back of it with my thumb and squeeze his hand back, just to try it out.

I look up to find Justin smiling down at me. I blush and lean against his side, feeling safe in this exact moment. I close my eyes for a second and breathe.

''It's 10 pm. I should probably get going, huh, so you can have some time for yourself?'' Justin speaks up. I can hear the doubt in his question.

''You can stay if you want. But you don't have to. Don't feel pressured or anything. It's obviously your choice. It's your time. You know.'' I respond, way too fast. I laugh at myself. ''What am I even saying?''

Justin smiles. ''I'd love to stay.''

''Good.''

I lay my head on his shoulder, but he pulls my face towards his and pecks me on the lips. ''You're so cute.'' he whispers.

''You are, cookie.'' I giggle.