You Light Up the Sky Like Lightning

Chapter Twenty Seven

Chapter Twenty-Seven

*Justin's POV* 

"Babe?" I asked. 

"Hmm?" she mumbled.  She was laying on my shoulder in the arena, and I was about to do rehearsals.  

Yay.  

No.  I hate rehearsals.  They are a waste of time.  I wasn’t going to mess up.  I knew what I was doing.  All I wanted to do was spend time with Landry.

I wanted to ask her if she meant it when she said that she loved me this morning.  The things she said about me hit me like a ton of bricks, and it just made me love her even more.  The words kept playing in my head over and over again.  'That's not why I love him.  His fame has nothing to do with it.'  She actually loved me for me and not for who the rest of the world though I was.  I had never considered that.  

I know that I sure as hell meant it when I said that I loved her.  But I just didn't know how to ask her about it.  Weird right?  

I looked at her- her head on my shoulder, her eyes closed, her arms wrapped around my arm that was closest to her.  She was just . . . amazing.  She is truly something else. 

I know that I sound like a love sick teenager, but that's what I was, so just deal with it. 

I guess I had paused long enough to make her curious or something, because she lifted her head from my shoulder, looked at me, and said, "Justin?"

"Hm?  What?" I said, clueless, completely lost in my own little world.  "Oh, yeah."

She gave me a weird look, obviously having no clue what was going through my brain.  

"Sorry," I said.  She giggled a little.  I smiled at her, and she smiled back before resting her head back on my shoulder.  

"Justin?" she asked. 

"Yes, baby?" 

She sighed.  "How are we going to do this?"

I crinkled my forehead.  "Do what?"

She spoke really quietly.  "Stay together.  In . . . private, if that's what's needed.  And without Scooter around every corner nagging us, and telling you to focus.  How are we going to be able to make it out of this tour together?  As a couple?  Do . . . do you even want to?  Or do you not even . . ." she trailed off and shook her head. 

"Not even what?" I whispered into her ear.  I put my hand on her back, and rubbed it. 

"Not even love me back," she whispered very quietly.  So quietly that I'm not even sure that's what she said. 

But I was pretty certain that she did say that. 

I picked up her head off my shoulder gently.  I moved in my seat- since we were in random seats in the arena- to face her completely.  She wouldn't look a me, and I didn't know why.  But when I softly touched her chin and turned her head so that she could see me, I saw tears on the brim of her eyes.  

"Aw, baby girl, don't cry," I said, pulling her out of her seat and into my lap.  She adjusted herself so that she was sideways in my lap, her head resting on my chest.  Her hand found mine, and she started playing with my fingers.  I wrapped my other arm around her as tightly and as comfortingly as I could. 

She sniffed and closed her eyes. I kissed her forehead and said, "I meant it when I said that I loved all those things about you this morning when my dad came in."

I saw her smile a little.  But she didn't say anything. 

"And I really do love you for you, and not you being someone else," I whispered.