The Girl Next Door > jariana (COMPLETED)

six

Ariana

Justin and I sat in his room for hours, talking about music and his past tours. When I expressed interest in playing the guitar, he insisted on teaching me. When I finally looked over at the clock, it was 5:30 PM.

"Shit, the time!" I panicked. "Um, I should probably get going. I left my phone at home in my bag. The units are probably wondering where I'm at."

"Shit! And I forgot to call Rachel. Great. She's really gonna be happy now. Guess we're both in trouble, huh?" He slumped. "Now, don't get pissed, but I don't wanna hear it from her, so I'm not gonna tell her you stayed here the whole time. It's just easier."

He walked out of the room. I could hear his voice, but couldn't decipher his words with the music playing in the background. Then his voice grew louder. Were they fighting? I wanted to know more about this Rachel. I was going to ask my sister if she knew her and break out the yearbook so I could see what she looked like. Staring at the snapshots with the two girls again, I wondered which one she was.

Justin walked back in agitated. He threw his phone hard at the bed.

"You know, it's probably better it happened like this." He shut his door. He stood there shaking his head "Fuck, what a bitch. Oh, by the way, my mom's home now. I don't need her poking around here, that's why I shut the door."

"Why's your mom's a bitch?" I asked, shocked.

"No! Duh, Rachel." He plopped onto the bed. "She's too much. I'm glad it's out in the open, how lame she is. No matter what I told her, she still thought you were here."

"Well, I was...am...you know what they say about women's intuition."

He lifted his head from the pillow and leered at me. "Don't be a smartass. It's not like she's my girlfriend. She's been my friend for a long time and helps out with the band stuff a lot. We hang, but it's not like we're together."

"So, you don't think you could be leading her on? I mean, sorry to point it out, but you kind of acted like you cared when she came over earlier. You know, making excuses and trying to make her feel better about me being here."

His arms fell heavy against the mattress. "I see why she would think I like her like that, then. I mean I do, but not like that. That was a long time ago, when I thought I was interested." He sighed deeply, "Then with her freaking out about you and acting all territorial n'shit? I mean, she doesn't even fucking know you!" He gestured his hand at me. "She's lame."

"Tell her to beat it, then."

"Yeah, right. It's not gonna be that easy."

I looked out the back door and walked over to it. I stared at the far end of the backyard and wondered if the gate still worked. My dad had installed a gate so we could easily go from yard to yard when we were younger.

"Hey, is that gate still working?" I walked out the door. There were a couple of palm trees and other plants that blocked the path.

"I'm sure it does. We didn't do anything to it. I forgot it was there." He walked in front of me, rooting through the palms and unlatched it. He struggled with it a bit, and it finally opened.

"Yay!" I cheered and Justin raised his hand for me to give him a high-five. I squeezed through and was wedged against him for a moment. I felt that shock again when we touched and I loved it.

"Well, this is gonna make things interesting," he whispered.

What was that supposed to mean? My head spun. I turned back and hugged him. I couldn't help myself.