Fame | Joel Pimentel

10

Today is the day I get to see Joel after about 2 months. I was at Joel's house waiting for Joel to come home, along with Joel's family and siblings.

"They're here!" One of Joel's cousins yelled as she peeked out the window.

We all went and stood infront of the door. The door opened and it revealed Joel.

"Welcome home!" Everyone yelled and cheered as he looked at all of us with a smile.

He hugged and greeted everyone and when he saw me his smile dropped a little.

"Hi! I missed you." I say as I hugged him.

"I missed you too." He says as he wraps his arm around me.

"How did the tour go?" I asked excitedly as I pulled away.

"Great. We had so much fun and everything was just... great." He smiled.

I smiled and nodded as he looked around the room and then to the floor. He walked over to a little table and examined it. There was some objects and he just scanned them as he touched them.

"Well uh, I have something I need to tell you." I grabbed his hand, making him turn his attention to me.

"Yeah?" He said as he looked down at our hands.

"I convinced them and i've only got one more month with Shawn." I smiled.

He looked up at me and gave me a small smile. Something was up.

"Isn't that great?" I excitedly asked.

"Yeah, totally." He tried to sound excited.

I sighed and took him to a room that was behind us so we wouldn't be surrounded by so many people. I let go of his hand and he seemed confused.

"What's wrong?" I quietly asked.

"Nothing, why?" He asked tensing up.

"You seem... off." I said trying to study his face.

"I'm sorry, like I said i'm just exhausted, that's all. I'm happy you're here though." He gave me a reassuring smile as he hugged me when he said the last part.

Somehow I didn't really believe him but I hugged him back and smiled.

"About our relationship..." I began to say.

He pulled back and sighed," Mariana."

"We have to wait just a tad bit to confirm it because-" I was cut off.

"Mariana!" Joel put his hands on my shoulders.

I was startled and stopped talking. He looked at me as if he wanted to tell me something. I began to worry and stayed silent as he turned around and took a few steps, then faced me and walked over to me.

"I'm sorry." He said.

"About?" I raised an eyebrow.

He took a deep breath before he spoke, "2 nights ago, the guys and I went out to explore a city. We met some girls and there was this one girl. We talked and everything and well... I began to like her and we hooked up..." He said as he looked down to the floor.

A rush of sadness, anger, jealousy and disappointment rushed over me. I didn't know what to say. I looked anywhere but his eyes and felt tears coming up but I tried my best to not cry.

"Oh... i'm glad you told me..." I quietly said.

He was about to say something but I spoke up before he did, "Don't."

I reached for my pocket and he watched as I took something out. It was a bracelet I had gotten him. I placed it on a table that was besides us. Without saying anything else, I walked off and left the house.

Joel's POV:
I looked at the bracelet and took it in my hands. I tried to go after her but my mom stopped me, telling me to go greet the rest of my family. I sighed knowing I didn't finish telling her everything. I don't like that girl, I mean I did but I guess I just thought she was pretty. I didn't even get her number so she didn't mean anything. I just felt so guilty that I did what I did. Oh god, I felt so bad. If I hadn't gone, this wouldn't be happening. Since I can't go after her right now, I'll try to text her or something. If that doesn't work, i'll try to go to her house later on tonight.

Mariana's POV:
I went up to my room and locked my door. I ran my finger through my hair and took out my phone. I went on twitter and tweeted 'dang... '. A few minutes later Joel had liked it and suddenly my phone rang. It was Joel, I declined his call and it went to voicemail. He then texted me but I didn't reply causing him to blow up my phone with messages. I groaned and blocked his number. I didn't want to talk with him or anything. He then dm'd me through twitter but I muted him. Before he could contact me through anywhere else, I shut off my phone. I didn't want to talk with him, i'm probably being so dramatic. I guess I was just really disappointed and led on. I decided to take a nap.

The sound of the doorbell woke me up. I stretched and looked at the clock, it was already somewhat late. How long did I sleep? I went downstairs to see who it was. When I opened the door, Shawn was there.

"Hey, what are you doing here?" I asked still half asleep.

"Well I tried to call you but your phone was off." He pointed out.

"Oh sorry, my phone died so." I lied.

He just nodded and waited for me to invite him, which of course I did. After he came inside, I saw my mom pull up in the driveway. She came inside and I greeted her, so did Shawn.

"Um we'll be upstairs." I informed my mom.

"Alright sweetie." She says as she sat down at the table.

Shawn and I went up to my room and I closed the door. I went over and sat on my bed, next to him.

"So you're probably wondering why I kinda stormed off yesterday during the meeting." He scratched the back of his head.

"Yeah, actually I am." I crossed my arms.

"It was because I got kinda mad.." He said the last word slowly.

"Why?" I asked.

"Well, I mean you didn't even tell me first. You caught me by surprise." He said.

"I thought you didn't want a fake relationship with me?" I somewhat asked.

"I don't." He shook his head quickly.

"Then? I'm confused." I frowned.

"Remember what I said when we were doing that one interview?" He asked.

I thought for a second, "No, we've had so many interviews." I giggled.

"I said 'the more we hung out, the more I fell for her' well I wasn't lying." He sighed.

I studied his face, without saying anything and he just looked at me.

"I'm actually starting to like you, for real. That's why I stormed off." He admitted.

I looked at him in shock, then looked at the floor then back at him. I didn't even notice that he leaned in and was a few inches away from my lips. We were literally about to kiss, until my door swung open.