Unbroken

Chapter 4; Clearly

Justin’s p.o.v

I watched as Juliet slept soundly on the plane to California. She was curled up in a ball with a blanket wrapped around her. It had been a day since I had helped her pack, and even talked to her. She was strange, but not in a bad way. I couldn’t tell if I liked her, or if she just intrigued me. She was pretty, but clearly not into me and I was clearly not her type. I knew her dad would kill me if I even tried to make a move on her. I was a fuck up, I fucked everything up that I touched. I sure as hell didn’t want to fuck her up too. She was fragile, clearly. Maybe someone had hurt her or maybe she was just hurt over feeling abandoned by her parents. I could related with her in that area. Knowing your own parents hated your guts enough to move thousands of miles away from you, that sucks. I knew I couldn’t be anything more than a friend to her, if that.

The plane wasn’t going to land for another hour and I was stuck on this damn plane with my thoughts running wild. I just couldn’t do anything about it. I hoped that when we landed I could stay on the right path. I couldn’t afford slipping back into my own bad habits. Josh, Juliet’s dad, and Scott would rip up my contract. I couldn’t afford loosing this contract. I wasn’t going to let go of it, I needed to have music in my life. It was the only good thing I had left, I couldn’t fuck that up.

I am a struggling musician. I love writing and singing my own music. It has always been something I held on to even when I was moving from place to place in Canada. I used to struggle to get a job, and get on my feet. I turned to music to help me through my hard times. I wrote and sang on the streets trying to earn some money, even some food. That’s how Scott found me. He offered me a better life and a better career. I agreed to move to California and write and sing under a contract with him and Josh.

Although smoking and drinking didn't come a long at first. It crept in after my parents tried to contact me asking for money. From time to time they still contact me. Like they deserve any of my money. After they contacted me, I became depressed and unattached to the things around me. I became a fucked up person. Drinking and smoking took away some of the pain and memories of life before my parents divorced. It helped me get through the reoccurring pain. Scott and Josh finally knocked some sense into me and put me in rehab for three months in Cornerstone, Tennessee.

Josh said he used to live there and knew it would be a safe place for me to recover. I followed through with the program, although I still struggle. I have been clean for three months now, and I am proud of that. That is the only good thing I have going for myself. I just hope that when I get to California I can stay on the right track. When Josh picked me up on Sunday I expected that we would leave the same day, but he had to get his daughter to come with us. When he first told me the whole story about Juliet and her mom, I was surprised. I didn’t even know he had a daughter. When he showed me her music, I fell in love with her voice. She was an amazing singer and writer. Her dad wanted to get her to sign a contract, and write and sing under his company name. He wanted her to do great things; he also knew it would help his company a great deal. After my issues the company went from doing great to not so great, nobody wanted to listen to some junky sing. I knew they would definitely want to listen to Juliet. She was pretty, smart, talented, and amazing at what she did.

“We will be landing in thirty minutes. Are you sure you are ready?” Josh asked sitting down next to me.

“Yeah…I can do this.” I assured him, and myself.

“You are like a son to me, so if you ever need anything or someone to talk to I will always be here for you.” He said.

“Thanks, it means a lot.”

“Scott is excited to see you. He has missed having someone to pick on” Josh laughed.

“I have missed having someone to pull pranks on.” I laughed. “Can I ask you something?”