Stronger - Sequel to Broken Pieces

Part 13

*Justin's POV*

Selena looked absolutely beautiful tonight. There was no way to describe how good she looked because no matter what word I used it wouldn't be good enough.

"Right this way, Mr. Bieber and Ms. Gomez," the hostess lady said grabbing our menus out of the podium.

She sat us in a booth in the back as I requested and handed us our menus telling us that the waiter would be right with us.

"Thank you for doing this," Selena said looking up from her menu.

"I owe you. I know that it's going to take a lot more than one dinner to make up for what I did but I'm willing to do it all for you. I actually wanted to talk to you about that now that I mention it."

"Justin," she said shaking her head. "We don't have to talk about it."

"No Selena. I owe you an explanation. I wasn't in my right mind, literally. I haven't talk anyone this but like I said, I owe it to you. I did some drugs when I went out with the guys that first night I cheated on you. And after that I didn't stop. I felt so bad about cheating, that when I did the drugs, it numbed the pain and it didn't feel like I was doing anything wrong because I could say 'oh it was just the drugs. It wasn't really me.' But that didn't make it okay. And I'm not trying to make excuses. I know that drugs are bad and I stopped recently and I'm not drinking anymore either. I've really changed."

It felt great to get that off my chest even if that means that Selena wasn't going to trust me anymore especially with the kids. But I knew that I did the right thing by telling her.

I looked up to see Selena looking down at her menu absentmindingly.

"You hate me now," I stated mater-of-factly.

She sighed deeply before finally looking at me. "Justin, I don't hate you. I just wished you would have told me so we could have gotten you help before it got this bad."

"I thought I could handle it. I thought I was handling it and it took you leaving me to realize that I didn't have anything under control."

She opened her mouth up to talk when our waiter came up to take our drink orders. She ordered a water and a glass of wine and I just got a Coke, but the whole time he was taking the orders he was checking Selena out, which caused me to feel a little jealous of course.

I let out a sigh of relief once he left which caused Selena to look at me with a raised eyebrow.

"He was totally checking you out," I said.

*Selena's POV*

I let out a loud laugh. "Are you jealous Mr. Pop star?"

He left out a huff. "Of course not. It's just rude."

"Good, cause I'm totally single and I was thinking he's kind of cute," I said joking around.

Justin's face intently went hard and he crossed his arms tight over his chest.

"I'm kidding, Justin," I said laughing lightly.

He softened up which made a big smile appear on my face.

The waiter came back with our drinks and I innocently flirted with him to see Justin get all upset. He took our orders than left again.

"Anyway back to what we were saying. I'm glad that you told me. I'm glad that you trust me enough to tell me something like that. I don't really know what to say. Are you okay? Do you need to get help?"

"No, I'm okay now. I swore off drugs."

I nodded not really knowing what to say.

"I wonder how the kids are doing?" I asked breaking the awkwardness.

"Selena, I'm sure they are fine. They take after their mother and she's strong," Justin said with a smile that didn't quite touch his eyes.

"Can I ask you something?" I asked looking down at my hands that were on my lap.

"Of course," he said.

I cleared my throat quietly. "What happened with you and Kate?"

I heard him sigh, "For one, I was just fed up with her. Two, I found out that Hayden wasn't mine so I found no reason to stay because honestly that was the only reason I was there, Hayden."

I nodded chewing on the inside of my lip.

"Your turn," he said making me finally look up at him.

"What?" I asked confused.

"What happened with Jake? You guys were perfect the other day."

"I woke up and his bags were packed. I went looking for him and he sat me down and told me that he woke up last night and saw all of us playing and he said I looked happy and he didn't want to get in the middle of it. He wanted me to give us another try," I explained honestly.

"So do you?" he asked after a while.

"Excuse me?" I asked confused yet again.

"Do you want to try again?" he asked. This time he was the one looking down.

"Justin," I sighed.

"I get it," he said no letting me finish.

"No. It's my turn to talk and your turn to listen," I said raising my voice. I could tell he was shocked by the way I had acted so I used his silence to my advantage. "For starters, I'm not the same girl I was a year ago. I am much stronger, more independent. I don't allow people to walk on me or take advantage of me. I'm not that sweet and innocent girl. I've grown up. I had to. If you want to be with me you have to accept that because I'm not changing who I am for anyone. I'm so glad you told me about the drug thing and I would love to give us another try but I will not allow it to happen like last time. I'm not going to sit around crying when you don't pick up the phone. I'm gonna go out and I'm going to have a drink or a few. We have to accept who we are now."

Justin nodded and took my hand across the table. "Selena I won't hurt you this time. I won't be stupid enough to make that mistake twice. Plus Kate was totally not worth it. She wasn't you. No one can compare to you."