Breathe Me ↦ JB; *hiatus*

XXII

The following days, every day after school and every single weekend, I spent as much time with Justin as I could. I made sure he was okay, and that nothing happened to him that would set him off. It was Thanksgiving weekend, meaning we had off from school for two days. My parents had invited Justin and Pattie over for dinner on Thanksgiving, right before they had gone back up to Canada to visit relatives for the weekend, and following week.

Pattie said at first that it was okay and that we didn't need to invite them over but I insisted since I wanted to spend time with Justin before having to go a week without him. She gave in and her and Justin had come over. We were all at the dinner table, eating dinner with a lot of my family that lived closeby. I sat next to Justin, watching as my family tried to engage in conversation with him, getting to know him better.

"So what sports do you like?" My uncle asked.

"Well, I'm into basketball and hockey mostly," Justin replied.

"Basketball and hockey? Those are my favorite sports besides baseball. What teams do you like?"

"Well, since I'm from Canada, I pretty much like Toronto teams."

"Now I never understood why Toronto plays with U.S. leagues. So you like the Raptors and Maple Leafs?"

Justin nodded. "Yep."

"The Raptors are good, but I feel like they can get too cocky. Especially in playoffs."

"Yeah, DeRozan and Lowry don't really do too well in those series."

"No kidding."

Then my cousin spoke up. She had been eyeing Justin down all night, and I was actually getting annoyed.

"So how long have you and Madison been together?" She asked, putting her chin in the palm of her hand.

"About 5 months now."

"What do you see in her? Like what do you like about her?"

I rolled my eyes. "Justin, you don't have to—"

"Well," Justin interrupted, giving me his infamous smirk. "I love how distracted she can get, and her obsession for reality shows, and how much she likes writing and taking photos and listening to music and just taking in her surroundings. Not to mention I love how frustrated she can get when it comes to doing her hair or picking out an outfit or whenever she's bored," he looked at me. "I love everything about her."

My cheeks were probably as red as a lobster and all of my family was staring at me.

"Wow," my cousin said. She was speechless.

Weren't expecting that, huh?

"Well all we have to make sure is that you keep loving those things and most especially, loving her," my dad said, breaking the current silence that took over.

"Most definitely," Justin said, taking grasp of my hand under the table.

Once the night had come to a close and everyone went home, Justin stayed behind and helped clean up. Then after we went up to my room and laid with one another.

"I don't want you to leave," I sighed out, playing with Justin's fingers.

"I know, baby," he said, stroking my hair slightly as my head lay on his chest. "I'll be back before you know it, I promise."

"Promise me you'll call whenever you can?" I said, looking up at him.

"It's a week, Madison, why are you so stressed?"

"Please."

"I promise," he began, sighing. "But why are you a mess over this?"

"I'm used to you being there, I don't want you to even go for a day," I stuffed my face into his chest.