A Long Time Coming

Chapter Fifteen

Justin's POV

"Justin, get up." I heard Scooter's voice ringing through my head.

I groaned, not moving. "Justin, now!" Scooter again.

"Don't talk to me!" I shouted and put my head under my pillow. I heard a sigh and a door slamming.

Scooter's POV

"If this is about that stupid girl, I told him to just forget about her." I muttered to myself while on my way to Pattie's room.

I knocked. "Come in." I heard her soft voice.

"Will you please come and wake Justin up? He's not listening to me. It's already noon." She could hear the distress in my voice.

"Is something wrong with him? Is he sick?" Leave it to a mom to think the first thing wrong is an illness.

"I don't know. I just know he's not getting up and he was pretty down last night." I walked out of the room.

Justin's POV

"Justin, sweetie, what's wrong?" I felt a dip on the side of my bed from my mom sitting next to me.

I kept my head under my pillow. "Everything." I mumbled just loud enough for myself to hear.

"What was that?" She started rubbing my back.

"Nothing." I took my head out from under my pillow.

"It's time to get up. We have a long day of driving." She stood up and started walking to the other side of the room.

"Mom?" She turned around and looked at me with her eyebrows raised in a questioning manner. "Will you come here?" She walked back to my bed and sat down. I hugged her. We stayed like that for minutes, each minute my grip getting tighter.

"Are you sure you're okay?" She pulled away and looked at me with worry.

"It was just... a rough night." I looked down.

She gave me a kiss and walked to the door. "Get ready. And Justin?" She looked to make sure I was looking back. "I love you." She gave me a smile and headed out the door.

"Love you too." I got out of bed and got dressed. I didn't really care what I looked like today, mainly because I would be on the bus but also because I didn't feel like caring. I slipped on some grey chachimama pants and a striped shirt, grabbed a beanie and put on my supras and I was done. I had to get all my stuff together because we were supposed to be on the bus and leaving by quarter to one. It was 12:35.

I walked down to the lobby and was going to leave, but then I grabbed some ice cream. It was only $3.00 but I gave them a $20.00 and left. I saw Fredo first.

"Hey, bud, how's everything." He was trying to be cheerful.

"How do you think?" I blew past him and went onto the bus. I went back to my room and crashed on my bed. I heard voices outside my room. It sounded like my mom, Fredo, and Scooter.

"He's just upset. Last night was a little tough for him." Fredo was trying to explain.

"I told him not to get involved." Scooter was basically saying that he didn't care and it wasn't his fault.

"He just needs some space. He'll sort things out. He always does. Everyone just needs to leave him alone for a little bit. When he's ready to talk, he will." My mom knows me better than anyone.

I put on my headphones and blared my music, I didn't want anyone bothering me until we stopped. I laid on my side with my eyes wide open for hours, not moving. I couldn't hear anything but my music, and even that was hard to hear over my thoughts.