nothing like us

Chapter 16

September 24 2017

BELLA

I spent the rest of the day with Justin helping him work out what he was going to say for the phone conference on Friday of next week. We stayed at the office pretty late, since I had a day off this Friday and his schedule next week was very busy.

I went to bed right when I got home, and I was almost late this morning but I managed to get ready, and get coffee for Justin, all the while still being at work by seven thirty five. I had a great sense of pride today that I felt needed to be unleashed on someone.

Along with Justin's coffee, I got this pure cranberry juice shot that was supposed to be very great for morning metabolism, so I got one for Justin too. I greeted Greta as always and stepped into the office where Justin was sitting at his desk like he normally was every day.

"Good morning Isabella." He smiled.

"Morning Sir." I placed his coffee down in front of him and grabbed the cranberry shot and gave it to him as well.

"What's this?" He eyed the cup suspiciously and brought it to his nose.

"Pure cranberry juice. It's good for you." He sniffed it again and then took a small sip, making a face at the bitter taste.

"It tastes like hell." He gagged and pushed it back.

"Just drink it, your metabolism will thank me or something like that." He circled the liquid in the glass bit still didn't drink anything. "So um... could you possibly do me a favor?" I asked him and he looked up at me.

"What is it?"

"I need you to not me my boss for five seconds, or my ex-boyfriend. I just need you to be Justin... my erm... friend?" He nodded slowly and I took a small step forward while clearing my throat.

"So today is exactly one year since... Jason. And I uh- I thought I'd feel you know like sad or even scared, but I don't. I feel- I don't know like empowered or something. And yeah, I just needed to say that." I finished my small ramble and he smiled while coming around the desk, and doing that incredibly sexy thing where he leans against it. I took a step back because we were standing pretty close and our eyes locked.

"You aren't that person that he made you think you were. What he did to you was...horrible. But you know, as your friend, you're probably the strongest person I know." He reached over and grabbed my hand holding it firmly in his and I almost want to cry, I'm not supposed to be crossing this line, but Justin, my friend, just reminded me that I came through that. Jason did something so horrible and I'm still here. I have a lot of other horrible shit in my life, but well, here I am.

"Thank you." I smile, he's still holding my hand and he raised it up a little and I take a step closer. This isn't professional is it? I can hear Melissa in my head beating the shit out of me. I let go, and clear my throat in hopes that'll clear the tension. "Now drink your juice, we should continue working on the presentation." We went back into work mode, Justin took the shot of cranberry juice, and was a complete drama queen about it for a whole five minutes until he got over the taste.

I sat in front his desk like I normally did when we would work together and we were currently going over financial points for Mr. Roden. We had Olivia bring up all the numbers, and suggested numbers of money that Bieberwould bring in, and how much it would benefit Mr. Roden if he decided to choose Justin.

"I feel like I'm being too repetitive. I don't want to just shove information down his throat, I want to really sell it." He pushed his sleeves up to his elbows and crossed out what he had just written down on his paper. Damn it he was so hot. I pushed up the pencil and smacked his hand lightly.