Wake up call [Trixya]

Chapter 19

Justin kept stirring in his coffee, not saying a single word. A waiter comes and places my coffee in front me and I thank him. "So, why did you want to see me?" I ask him. He looks up and stares at me. "Well, first off I wanted to apologise.. I shouldn't have come for you like that. You couldn't help it." He says and I raise an eyebrow. "Couldn't help what?" I ask, interested in where this is going. "That you had feelings for two people, didn't you?" He says. I'm baffled. Is that what Sharon made him think? "I didn't have feelings for two people, I don't know where you got that but that's not true." I say, my tone slightly more angry. "That's what Sharon told me, she told me she came over to your house one day and you were all over her." He states and I almost crush the ear of my cup. I can't believe Sharon would make me look like the bad guy. Justin looks at me with big eyes. I sigh and run a hand through my hair. "Well, if that's what you heard from her I can't possibly beat that." I say as sarcastic as possible. "Are we good? I never wanted to fight with you." Justin asks. I nod. "Yes, we're good." I reply and I can hear him sigh happily. Yet his eyes tell a completely different story, there's something he isn't telling me and it's kind of stressing me out. I look at him and notice he's nervously looking around with big eyes, tears almost forming. "Justin?" I softly ask. He hums and looks up at me. "Is there something more, something you're not telling me?" I ask as gently as possible. He shakes his head, looking down at his coffee. "Justin, did Sharon force you to do this?" I ask and as the word 'force' rolls out of my mouth he looks at me with a shocked expression, his hands tremble for a second and he swallows. "Sharon? N-No, she would never force me!" He replies a bit too fast. I softly grab ahold of his hand, he wants to pull it back at first but leaves it for me to hold. It now occurs to me that he's wearing a cardigan, it's way too hot outside to wear one. "Show me your arms." I say, not too stern. He looks down and shakes his head violently. "Justin?" I ask him but he still looks down. I pull him closer to me on the round couch and softly wrap my arms around him. I can feel him sob into my chest. As he's doing so I gently lift up one of the sleeves, only to be greeted by a few small bruises and one in the form of a hand. My breathing stops for a second. "Jesus christ." I mutter under my breath.

A good twenty minutes later we both leave, I hug him and we part ways. I turn to walk to the car and I angrily walk towards it. Brian notices this and immediately has a scared expression on his face. I open the door and sit down before slamming it closed again. "So, it went well?" Brian softly asks. "Oh between me and Justin it went well. But apparently, Sharon made me look like the bad guy." I angrily say. "And no-" I cut him off, anger filling my whole body. "She's hitting him, Brian. I saw it. Justin has bruises all over his arms." I say, not knowing if it's the best thing to do but I needed to get it out of my system. Brian's eyes widen as he's struggling looking for words to say. I sigh and lean back in my car seat. "I never expected this from her, her especially." I say with a hint of sadness in my voice. Sharon and I have been friends for years. She's sworn to never drink again unless it's with me, but I think that's the case here. "Maybe you should talk with her as well, there might be something going on. Maybe even involving you." Brian softly exclaims, starting up the car before driving it away. "Yes. Skip the puppies, drive to Sharon's house." I say and hear Brian aw'ing. I notice Justin's car is still in the parking lot, he hasn't moved one bit since he stepped in. I decided to text him:

T: Don't go home. Gonna talk to Sharon.

As I want to put my phone away I feel it almost immediately buzz.

J: Nonono you can't
J: Please don't
J: Please
J: Bri?

I ignore them since I'm a 100% sure of what I'm doing. They're both good friends of mine but I won't tolerate violence. Brian speeds up quite nice, being there in almost half an hour. I quickly get out and rush to the front door, knocking on it furiously. The door opens and a strong scent of alcohol leaves the house. Aaron opens up in just his underwear, a bottle in his hand. As soon as he realises who's standing in front of him he freezes, dropping the bottle and looks at me with a shocked expression. "I.. I didn't ex-expect you here." He hardly gets a sentence out and I sigh. "How long has this been going on?" I ask him and I can see him think. "I can't remember.." He softly slurs out. He steps aside and allows me in. As Brian wants to come in as well he holds him back. "Me, him, alone." He says and slams the door shut. "Excuse me?" I ask. "Well y-you're obviously here to t-talk, so let's fucking talk!" He almost yells. "I'm only here because you forced your boyfriend to go talk to me, you should've seen him back there! Scared for his fucking life, Aaron! He didn't even dare to look at me!" I say and he throws me an angry look. "Shouldn't have fucked his boyfriend then." He simply says, getting more and more sober. "Oh no, no no no don't even start that right now! You know that's not true!" I yell at him. "Well what the fuck was I supposed to do?!" He replies, his eyes getting watery. "You know what you were supposed to do, talk with Justin. The boy is head over heels for you and look what you're doing to him! Making him attack me, forcing him to apologise to me, hitting him? Why?" I ask, my tone loud and angry. Aaron's eyes widen as he's trying to find the right words "You've broken a promise to me, Ar. Was it worth it? Was whatever was bothering you so worth it?" I ask, speaking in a soft and gentle tone now. Aaron falls down to his knees and after a little while looks up at me. "Haven't you figured it out yet?" He asks me and I shake my head, raising an eyebrow. He swallows. "I'm in love with you."

For the next 5 minutes I've been awkwardly shuffling around, my throat feeling like it's being squeezed together and my stomach in a knot. This can't be. Am I the one that's causing Aaron to behave like this? "Can you at least say anything?" He softly asks, his knees up to his chest now. "Please stand up. It's weird talking to you from this angle." I say as I cross my arms. He does so and we're on the same level again. "What am I supposed to do? I've ruined everything. Me and my dignity, me and Justin and now me and you." He softly says. His arms dangling next to him like he's some lifeless doll. I feel bad somehow. But I don't know who I feel the most bad for. "You haven't ruined us. What we've done was a mistake and it will never happen again. If you love Justin you talk to him and work this out. But please promise me you lay off the drinking again, and keep your hands off of Justin." I say to him. He just nods and I pull him in for a hug. He wraps his arms back around me. I inhale a sharp scent of alcohol which almost makes me gag. I pull back a good while later, looking at him. "You're going to talk with him, promise?" I ask him and he holds up his pinky. This might be the dumbest thing but we've never broken a pinky promise. I hook my pink around his and we shake it. "And don't think we're on good terms right away, you've still broken a promise to me." I sternly say and he nods. He guides me back to the door and let's me out, as I open the door Brian is still standing there. I let out a yelp since I didn't expect that and both him and Aaron giggle. I step outside and grab my phone real quick:

T: It's safe to come home, Sharon wants to talk to you.
J: Really?
T: Yes baby.
J: Tell her I'll be home in 20

"Justin's here in 20 minutes, to talk. So please take a shower and freshen yourself up. You're letting me know what happened, okay?" I say to him and he nods, a small smile forming on his face. We walk back to our car and get in. I sigh as we drive away. "It sounded like fun." Brian says. "Have you been eavesdropping?" I ask him with a chuckle. "Duh! He slammed the door shut right in my face! But you handled that really well, I'm proud of you." He says. I lean in and peck his cheek real quick. I move with my lips to his neck, knowing he can't push my face away because he has to focus on the road I start sucking on his skin. "Brian don't you fucking dare!" I continue and even use my teeth. I can feel his breathing getting faster and him getting warmer. I pull his skin back by sucking on it and let go, letting it spring back. I look at the little bloodred and bruised spot and lick over it with my tongue. He groans and as I sit back in my seat he glances at me. "You're so getting this back." He says sternly. I can feel my cheeks getting hot. "It looks really good on you, though." I say with a soft giggle. "They suit you better. A handprint on your butt also suits you." He says with a smirk, not even looking at me. "I'm intrigued to see that." I say in a fancy manner, making both of us laugh. "Oh you will, you definitely will." He says, laying his hand on my thigh. Like this we drive back home, with my hand on his drawing circles on the back of his hand with my thumb.