The Girl Next Door > jariana (COMPLETED)

thirty-three

Justin

I'd become numb to arguing with my mother. I usually knew exactly what to say to her because she was usually so predictable, but now I wasn't so sure and she laid into me harder than ever.

"You just disappear and think it's okay to waltz right back in here?" My mother's brow furrowed in anger. "Enough is enough already, Justin."

"I didn't disappear," I said smartly, raising my voice. "I told you already. I texted Notting that'd I'd be home in the morning and here I am."

She blinked, taking in my words and her eyes narrowed. "If you think you can come and go as you please, without any accountability, you're sorely mistaken."

"Mom! Why can't you just leave me alone?"

She glared at me. "Because I need to know what you're doing and where you're at when so much is going on with the band, Justin. I've invested too much to let you just run things into the ground. What's wrong with you? What's going on with Ariana?"

"No, no you don't need to know everything about me, mom! I need privacy! This, this right here." I gestured between us. "You're making it really easy for me not to want to talk to you. You act like I'm freaking ten years old! I'm not an idiot..."

"Well, you're certainly acting like one!" She shouted in my face, cutting me off. "You're going to ruin everything if you don't stop acting like you've lost your mind! Now, what the hell is going on with Ariana?"

"Nothing's going on with Ariana. We hang out sometimes and she asked if she could come to the studio. I didn't think it would be such a big deal. Her friend Nadine likes me or something." I tried to throw her off by slipping in another girl's name. At least it wasn't an out right lie, I told myself.

***

My mother's warnings echoed around in my head as I sat in my truck, deflated. I started feeling bad about arguing with her. I knew I was wrong, but she was too, that I was certain. I stared at the cracks in my house's tan colored stucco, wondering how long it would take for them to get bigger and how much it would cost to fix them. Just like the dents in my truck. Ugh, I bet that's how my mom felt about me. I'd been cracking, denting and ruining everything in her eyes.

As I drove to Rachel's I wondered were Bobby was. It was strange I hadn't heard from him yet. It was 6:30 p.m. and I dialed his number.

It sounded like I'd woken him up. "Hello," he said in a raspy, tired voice.

"Dude, where are you? Did you forget that we're playing at Rachel's soon?" I asked a bit annoyed.

"Aw man, yeah I did." He breathed heavily.

"So?" My voice grew anxiously louder. "You're coming, right?"

"Yeah man, I'll be there," he replied, reassuringly.

"A late one, I'm guessing." I probed.

"Hollywood, yeah."

"Who'd you go with? Anyone I know?"

"No one you know."

"We ever gonna meet these new friends of yours?" I asked with a half laugh. "You should invite them to a show."

Another deep sigh. "Yeah, well our music isn't really what they're into," he explained, grunting. "They like that club shit, ya know."

"So you're going dancing?" I laughed. "Man, she better be throwing down for that one!"

"Yeah, something like that," he said dryly.

"There was silence on the other end. "Hello," I said, thinking we'd been disconnected.