Opposites

1.5

raise your hand if you got midterms next week lolz i hate everything but i know i forgot to update last week and this is a short chapter but whatever enjoyyy 

I woke up the next morning in a state of confusion. The room I was in smelled like a mix of axe spray and potpourri. I breathed in deeply. I blinked a few times to adjust to my surroundings. I yawned and realized I was at Justin’s home. I rubbed my eyes and groaned as I realized my eyeliner smeared off onto my fists. Ugh. I began to get up, but immediately became aware of a weight across my torso. Justin groaned and tightened his grip around me. I turned my head and saw he was still asleep.

The room was relatively still dark. I turned on the bedside lamp and saw that the clock said that it was half past six in the morning. I really had to get out of there. Before my mind could even fully comprehend my thoughts, I fell back asleep and tucked myself farther into Justin. He was warm anyways. 

Around nine, I woke up again. Justin’s arms were completely around me and his head was in the crook of my neck. I shook Justin’s arms until I heard him start to wake up. I pretended I was asleep until he got up. He went into the bathroom, and I took that as my cue to get up. I sat criss-cross on his bed and turned the lamp on. I swallowed down my paranoia of everything and waited for Justin to come out. He did a few minutes later. 

“Oh hey, you’re up. I was just about to try and wake you to see if you wanted to go get breakfast?” 

“Like out somewhere?” I raised my eyebrows. Did he seriously think I was gonna go out after a night like last night?

“Yeah, nevermind, that was a stupid idea. We have cinnamon rolls in the fridge if you want to make any?” 

“Duh,” 

We sat for about forty minutes on his couch downstairs eating the cinnamon rolls and watching Tom and Jerry. Justin still hadn’t gotten me any pants to wear and I was beginning to think he never wanted to have me in pants again. I grabbed the remote from Justin’s hands and turned off the tv. Justin groaned loudly and turned to face me. 

He opened his mouth to speak, but I interrupted him before he could, “We need to talk about last night.” I almost yelled it, thinking he was going to try to speak over me, but he didn’t.

“Okay…” his eyes narrowed and he knitted his eyebrows together.

“Last night was amazing,” I started.

Justin smirked at me, “I agree.” 

“It was wonderful, but it was a mistake. We were both confused and had just gone through something terrible.” I looked down at my lap.

“Okay.” Justin’s voice dropped a few octaves. He stood up and held a hand out in front of me. I gave him a questioning look.

“I should probably get you home.” he said.

“Emilia’s, not my house. I still don’t want to go anywhere near there.” I took Justin’s hand and he pulled me up from the brown, leather sofa. 

The car ride there was unbearable. My destroyed phone sat in my lap. I wore my torn up pants from work to Justin’s obvious disdain. He must have been thinking a lot about last night; not the “us” part, but everything else that happened. I put my hand on Justin’s thigh as we pulled into the parking lot. I didn’t look at him.

“I could never repay you for how you helped me last night. I don’t know what I would have done without you to stop things,” I swallowed hard as I looked out of the window, “I’m glad we’re friends. I really trust you, Justin.” I sighed and closed my eyes for a few seconds as I mentally prepared myself to face Emilia and the real world.

Justin didn’t speak for a moment. He peeled my hand off of him and held my hand in his for a moment. 

“Okay,” he spoke, letting go of my hand. 

I didn’t turn to face him as I got out of the red pick up truck and walked straight into the bar. Emilia was cleaning her bar kitchen. 

“Hey, Emilia. Is it all right if I spend a couple of nights here? There are some things I’m sorting through right now and…”

She didn’t turn around from whatever dish she was washing, “Sure, sweetie. What’s going on?” She turned around to face me and her eyes went wide. I hadn’t looked at myself in the mirror since the night before, so I had no idea what to expect. Justin was bruised and cut, but he didn’t look terrible, he never did. 

I blinked back tears, “It’s not what it seems like.” My stomach dropped to my toes.

“What the hell, Cali!” she shouted. I didn’t make eye contact with her. 

“I was at a party last night and some drunk guy tried to feel me up and we ended up fighting. Justin was there too, he stopped him from hurting me too badly.” My eyes were watery, but I refused to cry any more.

“Thank goodness he was there. You better keep that guy around. Did you go to the hospital yet?” 

“I don’t need to. Really, trust me. We even called the cops on the guy too. Everything is fine.” Too many lies to keep track of. 

“Let’s get you washed up, okay?