One Life

Chapter 23

Justin's POV

"Hey" Lauren smiled.

She was smiling at me, which I saw as a good sign. She looked happy to see me. I was expecting her to get angry at me and tell me to go away.

We both stood there for a while just looking at each other, both of us not knowing what to do. Lauren was wearing at t-shirt and sweatpants. She wasn't wearing any makeup which didn't bother me because I always thought she looked beautiful without it no matter what.

I decided to test the waters and walk up to her. As I got closer to her I became more nervous. I was nervous because I didn't know what to say to her. On the way over my head was full of things that I'd say to her, but now that I was here I didn't know what to say. When we were face to face I decided to hug her tight.

"Let's go inside and talk" Lauren mumbled, when the hug broke apart. I nodded my head and followed her inside. We went to the living room and sat next to each other on the sofa. There was silence between us. I decided that I'd begin the conversation.

"How have you been?" I asked. As much as I wanted to talk about us, I didn't want to launch straight into it. It was easier to start a normal conversation first.

"I'm good. I heard your speech on the radio" she replied.

She heard it. Was she happy about what I said? It seemed so. I mean she looked happy to see me. She even wanted to talk to me. Maybe she actually had feelings for me? Or else she's talking to me to tell me once and for all that she feels nothing for me.

She took my hand in hers and took a deep breath. She looked nervous. My heart began to beat heavily. Before she could say anything the rest of the girls walked in. They seemed to be arguing over what to watch on TV.

"Dinah we are not watching Vampire Diaries again" Camila sighed.

"Why not? It's such a good show" Dinah argued.

"Um guys? We're trying to have a conversation here" Lauren interrupted.

It was only now that the girls realised that both Lauren and I were in the room. The girls looked embarrassed but to be honest I found the situation amusing.

"We'll just continue this debate elsewhere" Dinah said awkwardly.

"It's nice seeing you again Justin" Normani smiled.

The girls left as fast as they could leaving just Lauren and I in the room. The silence that followed was awkward. I wanted to say something but I kept my mouth shut incase I said the wrong thing.

"Ok let me start that again" Lauren mumbled.

"It's ok, take your time" I replied.

"Ok Justin, you gave me a speech and now it's my turn to give you one" she sighed.

"Justin for awhile I had feelings for you" she began. "I was confused as hell over them, I mean I was dating Brad at the time. I kept thinking to myself, why do I have feelings for a guy I'm not even dating? It's kind of why I avoided you that time you came to visit."

"Towards the end I just told myself to stop lying and just be honest to myself. My feelings for you were basically why I broke up with Brad" she confessed.

I looked at her. I didn't expect her to say that. I tried my best to hold back a smile. Lauren admitted to having feelings for me. I wondered if she still did. I was going to say something but she began to speak again.

"I was planning to tell you how I felt, but I was scared" she continued. "I was scared incase you didn't feel the same way. When you told me how you felt, I'm not going to lie I was so happy. I was happy because you felt the same way. But Justin I was scared"

I looked at Lauren and I could see that she was starting to cry. I was shocked. Why was she crying? I moved closer to her and took her hands in mine.

"It's ok" I said soothingly. "Please don't cry or else I'll start crying"

"Justin as happy as I was that we both felt the same way, I was scared what would happen if we broke up" she sighed. "I know I shouldn't of lied when I said I didn't feel the same way. I guess I was hoping you would stay and when I was ready we could start something. It broke my heart when you reacted the way you did" she said sadly.

Now I understood why she lied. I knew she was scared but I didn't know why really. She valued our friendship more. She didn't want us dating and then breaking up and not being friends. She was also probably thinking about the girls as well. She knew that my friendship with them would falter, because if I was around them she would more than likely be with them, and it would be awkward as hell.

"Lauren, I'm so sorry for the way I reacted that day" I began. "I was upset and hurt but that doesn't give me an excuse to have over reacted"

Lauren shook her head. "Its ok. I understand why you reacted the way you did. I probably would of done the same"

"No it's not ok" I said. "I had no right to act like that. I must of hurt you acting like that. Do you forgive me?"

"Of course I forgive you Justin" she smiled. "As far as I'm concerned you never did anything wrong"

I smiled at her and she smiled back. An awkward silence followed. I was going to say something to break the silence but I saw Lauren take a deep breath to calm herself. Damn I was scared. What was she going to say that she needed to remain calm for?

"Justin I'm in love with you" she confessed.

I couldn't stop the smile that formed in my face. She loved me. I felt like jumping for joy. I felt like the happiest man on earth. I wanted to kiss her but I felt like there was a 'but' coming.

"I know you said on the radio that you love me too, but I don't know weather you were just saying that or if you meant it" she shrugged. "Just know that if you ever wanted to start a relationship I would quite happily be your girlfriend"

"I need to tell you something, this is something I didn't really want to say over the radio" I began. "When we first met I didn't want to fall for you. I mean I was in a relationship. Funny isn't it that we were both with someone yet there we were falling for each other. For so long I wanted you to be mine. It was torture seeing you with Brad all the time knowing that I couldn't have you."

"Now we're both single and want to be together" I continued. "Please bare with my cheesiness but, Lauren Michelle Jauregui will you be my girlfriend?" I asked.

She smiled and I took that as my opportunity to kiss her. My lips crashed into hers. She wrapped her hands around my neck whilst I ran my hands through her hair. The feel of her lips on mine was the most amazing feeling. Our tongues crashed into each other as we both battled for dominance.  After a while Lauren broke the kiss. I was disappointed because I wanted to kiss her again but I knew we'd have all the time in the world for that. She had a smile on her face which made me fall even more in love with her, if that was even possible.

"Finally" I smiled. I kissed the top of her head and bundled her into a hug.

"Can we come in now? We want to know if you're together or not" Dinah shouted outside the door.

Both Lauren and I looked at each other. Did the girls seriously wait outside the door the entire time? We rolled our eyes and laughed. Lauren got up and opened the door for them.

"You guys are unbelievable" she laughed. "But if you must know, yes we're together"

The girls screamed in delight. I was taken aback. Why were they acting like this? You swear we'd gotten engaged or something.

"Its about time you guys got together" Camila squealed.

"We're all team Jauren as fuck" Normani laughed.

Ally just rolled her eyes. "I've said it before Justin and I'll say it again, these four girls are like children and I feel like their mother"

I laughed at Ally and shook my head in disbelief. I got off the sofa and hugged Lauren from behind and kissed her neck.

I was happy. So happy. Lauren was finally my girlfriend.