Here Comes Trouble

Chapter Fifteen - Fallen

Justin's POV

I close my eyes against the unrelenting pound of the bass, careful not to jostle my ribs too much, letting my fingers get lost in Baylor's fur. Her head cradled into my side.

Dad hasn't come around to tell me to turn down the music, rant about someone calling them cops or with an angry scowl and threats of punishment. I don't know whether I want him to, whether I want him to do something other than bring me food, and look at me like he can't recognize who I am.

I don't know whether I'm too angry to even breathe in his direction, or if I desperately want him to sit by my bed and talk to me. I don't know.

And to be completely honest, it's a toxic mixture of emotions I've never felt all at once, a minefield I don't know how to navigate.

Baylor noses at my side, opening her mouth in something I think might be a bark. I tip my head at her in confusion, before blinking in realization.

My phone was buzzing in my pocket.

It's been five days since Selena left, and five days worth of messages and voicemails I've been leaving her. Apparently unconcerned with pride or self respect. I've also taken to ignoring Mere and Ry, considering the frankly car crash of conversations we've had recently.

Ryan is full of barely concealed anger, as he just manages not to mention we go and hunt Jason and bring Selena back as a prize. Instead he asks me where she is, why she left, why she didn't say goodbye. He asks me why she's not answering her phone as if I've been some well of information on Selena Gomez in the past.

Meredith can't stop herself from full on sobbing, saying she knew Selena was trouble from the beginning and I was better off without her. How she would make everything better. I can't place what rubbed me the wrong way about that. If it was the lingering feelings for Lena that I just couldn't shake, or the way she pretended we were the only two people in the universe. But every time Mere's name flashed on my screen, my spine snapped straighter and my head felt heavier.

I tap my finger against the side of my phone, frowning at the Caller ID. It's just a bunch of numbers, that I don't recognize. Normally, I wouldn't even consider answering it, because it was most certainly somebody trying to sell me something. But—and I hated myself for this—my heart slammed against my chest, at the possibility that it might be Selena. Maybe she got her phone taken, maybe this was her new number, maybe maybe maybe. I hated that the possibility that it might be her, completely threw me for a loop.

I didn't even want to see her because of my inane crush, I just missed her. It seemed she was the only person in the world I could stand to even think about, let alone talk to.

My phone rang on, before I swallowed my anxiety and tried to quell the Hope blooming in my stomach. (I failed)

"Hello?"

"Justin?"

Well, it wasn't Selena, I could probably pick her voice out of a crowd of hundreds. Seems it's on constant loop in my head, her teasing me, her cursing some innocent bystander to high hell, her ranting about something so completely inconsequential to literally every other person in the world.

I ignored the sinking feeling washing over me, "Yes?"

"Oh good, I wasn't sure your dumb jock friend could be trusted."

The smile appearing on my face was too quick to stop, they sounded a lot like Selena whoever they were. "He's not that dumb."

"Sure, sure. I realize I haven't told you who I am. It's uh, Ellie. You know, of Selena Gomez infamy."