guilty pleasure [bieber]

chapter 19

:༅𐐪𐑂｡:༅𐐪𐑂 :༅｡𐐪𐑂 °

"Thanks for helping me Liam, I really don't think I could have done this without you." I chuckle lowly hanging the picture frame on the wall. I stand back and admire our handy work. We were putting the finishing touches on my office and Liam was the only person I could think of that wouldn't mind helping me with this kind of stuff plus I had just felt bad for not calling him after what happened.

"I'm sure you could have." He retorts dryly

"I honestly couldn't have." I turn to face him; staring him in the eyes "Did you not want to help me?" I almost visibly frown thinking he was still pissed at me, but could I blame him? I'd pretty much gotten him fired and showed no attempts at reaching out to apologize

"That's not it. It's just that Justin, he called me about a week go. He apologized. We talked for a minute and he kind of offered to rehire me and I took it. I liked working for him and you know that you are obviously the best best friend turned girlfriend turned ex-girlfriend turned best friend someone could have." He chuckles lowly. "But he's pretty protective of whats his; he's made that pretty clear and I don't want to cause anymore drama."

I'm at a loss for words at first, what Justin did was possibly one of the best things he's done and the reason I fell in love with him. He was caring; he had a heart somewhere in there, but did a hell of a job at hiding from the rest of the world including me sometimes.

But then there was also the fact that he made people scared to be around me. Including people I knew long before him

"That's just it. I'm not one his properties. He can't say who's allowed to be around me. I was your friend first, I've known you almost all of my life. I love him. I really do, but that won't change who I was and who I knew before him. When he understands that and finally treats me as his equal then we'll be getting somewhere."

As the last words leave my mouth tears start to escape.

"I'm sorry Naomi." I shake my head. He didn't have any reason to be sorry; none of this was his fault.

My relationship with Justin was screwed from the moment we kissed in the elevator and deep down everything that was happening was just karma finally catching up to me. Barbara may have forgiven me, but I still had yet to forgive myself. What I did was wrong. What we did was wrong. Liam stalks over to me and pulls me into his arms. "I know this may not mean much because it's something you may already know, but he loves you. I've seen him at work and there's clearly something off with him–like he's missing a part of him." I look up at him. Me. He was missing me.

"I just want us to be perfect." My voice is low.

"No one is perfect and no one should ever strive to be. It really isn't healthy." He says holding me at arms length as tears continue to stream down my face. I hated for him to see me this way. He was still my ex after all. I just didn't know how much longer I could hold in everything; when all I wanted so bad was to forgive Justin.

"So are you saying I should forgive him?"

He shakes his head, "Thats not what I'm saying. I'm saying that you two are in love and anyone can see that, but if you feel like being apart right now is for the best then thats your decision; I don't want you think I'm talking you into getting back with him because he rehired me." We both chuckle. "But just know that perfection is unattainable."

"When did you become so wise?"

"No idea honestly" he laughs, "–now lets finish this up."

:::

The day had finally come and I was as nervous as ever. Aside from when I briefly worked for both Justin and Trevor, I haven't had a job in so long–it felt foreign. I also hated the fact that I would be leaving Stella. She was my precious little princess and I just wanted to be with her at all times. Part of me knows that I could but there was nothing like having your own job and relying on yourself