Rewind Please

I looked away for one second and then looked back and they were all over each other.
Ok, whoa, whoa, whoa! FREEZE.
Before I go on, I’ll let you in on a couple things that you need to know to get the gist of the moment. My name is Bailee Wilkerson. I’m 15 and I’m a dancer in Justin Bieber’s “Baby” music video. But, the twist is that I’m best friends with Justin himself; and sadly enough I wanna be more than that, but he doesn’t know it and won’t know it if I have anything to do with it. It would so ruin our friendship.
Now, back to the moment I’m having. We’ve been working on the music video for hours every day. And yes, I have met that Jasmine chick who is playing the girl Justin is chasing around, and she is not the greatest person to hang out with (at least I don’t think so). She’s so competitive! And it really gets on my nerves because she’s competitive over Justin! I’ve dealt with jealous fans before but this chick takes it to a new level! I wanna punch her in the nose so badly!
But, that’s not why I’m equally pissed and depressed at the same time. The reason is because not only did she kiss him, but, he. Kissed. Back. He kissed back!
He told me he wasn’t interested in her because she wasn’t his type. Well, now, look how stupid I am for believing him.
So back to the moment.
I looked behind me to see my new friend Sierra walking up to me and my other friend Candy, with 3 cold bottles of water in her hands. They were dancers too and so I had grown to be good friends with them both. They weren’t crazy fan girls of Justin’s so they listened to my situation without jealously or aggravation. They just kinda, got me.
And a little info about Sierra and Candy; ya know the redhead who totally shows off her break dancing moves during the dance off in the music vid? Yeah, that’s Sierra; one pretty fricken amazing dancer. Candy was the one with the purple and black cheetah spot shirt and the black skinnies.
(Now me, I was the wavy brown haired one with the denim skinnies, and the black jacket. Sadly enough, I had to be next to Jasmine most of the time.)
So once I turned back to look at Justin and Jasmine, I turned to look at my heart being stomped on and stabbed.
His hand was caressing her cheek and the other planted firmly on her hip keeping her in place. Her hand was on his neck and the other on his back. Both of their eyes were closed and they couldn’t be closer to each other if they tried.
It felt as if my heart burst into ice cold flames that cut and stabbed my heart. My eyes filled with hot tears and I couldn’t take it anymore; I ran out of the room pushing people out of my way in the process.
“Bailee!” Sierra called, as she and Candy followed me outside into the cold air.
I found myself sitting on a bench near the escalators that were in the video, bawling my eyes out.
“Bailee,” Candy and Sierra said sitting on either side of me. Sierra wrapped her arms around me and I laid my head on her shoulder just letting the warm tears flow freely down my cheeks. Candy rubbed my back and lay against my shoulder too. Even though my heart had been pulverized I was glad I had them to keep me safe in a time like this. We stayed in this position for a long time and the tears and sobs never slowed, sometimes I mumbled things like, “Why did he lie?” and “Why do I care so much?” But every time I mumbled something either Candy or Sierra would go, “Shh,” and kind of rock me to try to relax me.
We stayed like that for the next hour. That is until he came looking for us.
“Bailee? Candy? Sier- Whoa, um, am I interrupting something?” he said when he turned and found us there.
Suddenly Sierra got up and so Candy wrapped me in her arms this time. I watched them disappear around the corner and fresh tears of just seeing him poured out.
“Shh, it will be alright, Sierra is taking care of things,” Candy muttered, as I cried on her shoulder too.

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“What’s going on?” Justin asked Sierra as she dragged him away from the scene he had just witnessed.
“It’s none of your business Bieber-boy, now will you call us in when they are actually doing filming?” she snapped. Sierra was one of the sweetest girls you could ever meet, but when you messed with her best friends you had the possibility of getting your head ripped off.
“No, now I wanna know what’s going on! Why is Bailee crying?!” he asked, getting aggravated. He also hated seeing his friends in pain.
“Has it ever occurred to you that you might be the reason why?! Have you noticed how she acts around you? She treats you like fricken royalty and you don’t even realize it! I mean come on! Ask anyone, her eyes sparkle and light up whenever you walk into the room!” she said angrily.
That’s when a switch flicked on in Justin’s mind. It was true, and he had finally realized it.
“Oh god, she does like me,” he said running his hand through his hair. At first he didn’t think that was a good thing, considering the fact they had been friends for so long. But, then he thought of her one last time and noticed those cute little things about her; her bright smile, her sparkly eyes, her wavy brown hair, and her soft skin. She had been there with him through everything. She was his shoulder to cry on and she was always the first one to know about his girlfriends and kisses. That explained why she was always acting funny when he brought that subject up.
“Yes, smart one, and it kills her everyday to watch you flirt and dance with every single one of these girls except her. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a best friend to comfort. And by the way, we don’t want you coming around here right now. We will be back inside soon and we will finish our jobs and be out of your hair soon enough,” she said and she turned and walked back to Candy and Bailee, leaving Justin to think things over.

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“W-what did you s-say to him?” I choked out, as soon as Sierra had returned and sat next to me.
“I just kinda told him off delicately,” she said simply, “You don’t have to worry ok?”
“Ok,” I said. There was a moment of silence as I just leaned on Candy’s shoulder and Sierra hugged me. Then I spoke up, “I can’t do this anymore.”
“What do you mean?” Candy asked me.
“I quit. I can’t dance in the music video anymore. I just can’t,” I said sitting up.
“Good for you!” Sierra said.
“Sierra, can you take me home, I don’t wanna be here another minute,” I sniffed.
“Of course baby girl, let’s go,” she said, and we stood up.
“You want me to let Justin and the director, know that you quit?” Candy asked.
“Yes please, if you don’t mind,” I said.
“Of course not,” Candy replied with a smile. I hugged her.
“Thank you Candy, I don’t know what I’d do without you,” I whispered.
“That’s what best friends are for,” she said back.
And so we went our separate ways and Sierra and I headed out to her car. She was almost 17 and had her license already.

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Candy walked back inside right as the director was yelling at all the kids to get back to work and they were going to start filming again. She decided to tell them when they were finished shooting the scene. But, then Justin came up to her.
“Candy! Where is Bailee?” he asked.
“She quit,” she said simply, crossing her arms.
“What?!” he asked, shocked.
“She quit! She couldn’t take it anymore! Sierra took her home,” she said, getting mad and walking away. But, Justin grabbed her wrist and made her turn again.
“She can’t quit!” he said, with a hint of begging in his voice.
“Well, she did, and there’s nothing you can do about it!” she said sternly, and walked away from him.

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The trees and houses passed by so fast. My mind was racing and going haywire. How could this happen?
“Ok, we are here,” Sierra said stopping in my driveway.
“Thank you,” I said quietly, “For everything.”
“You deserve it, girly,” she said taking hold of my hand and squeezing it. I squeezed back. We were like sisters. All three of us were, and I bet to some people we looked like lesbos, but we couldn’t care less.
So I got out of the car and said bye to Sierra, then went inside my house and up to my room trying to avoid my parents in the living room. Because they would probably wonder why my face was tear stained. Once I got up to my room I shut the door behind me and took off my jacket and laid my cell phone on the bedside table. As I did so my phone buzzed with the 3rd of three new texts. I looked at who they were from and they were all from Justin. I closed my eyes and took in a deep breath remembering the picture of them kissing.

where did u go? One said.

why was u cryin?! Another one said.

WHY DID U QUIT?! and bails plz answr ur fone!!! The last one read.

I didn’t want to answer them but because I was such a nice person I replied with three words.

I. Hate. You.

Even though it was the opposite of how I actually felt deep down, I really did hate him at the moment.
Not 3 seconds past when I got a reply.

is this b/c of that kiss? He asked.

That was a dumb question.

thats a stupid question I replied.

it is! i knew it! He replied.

YOU DON’T GET IT DO YOU?! im sincerely pissed at u! now go die in a hole w/ jasmine! I replied angrily.

As much as it pained me to insult him, it felt good to get that off my chest.

im sorry His reply said.

Tears started to run down my face again and I didn’t even reply to that text message.
I got in my pajamas and got into bed, I listened to some music, and finally fell asleep around 11.

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The next few days were a living hell, to say the least. I’d lost my best friend.
They had finished the music video and it was on iTunes. They all did a great job of course.
Sierra and Candy were the brightest things in my life. Even though they didn’t go to my school they were defiantly my new best friends.
It was summer, and I was ruining it for myself.
I mostly just swam in the pool in the backyard all the time. Sometimes I felt like I was being watched and I had glanced up at Justin’s window next door only to see his curtains being moved by the wind (or was it the wind?).
Occasionally he’d text me saying how sorry he was and I either wouldn’t reply or would reply with one word. And even when he called I didn’t pick up. He left a message once or twice (they were at least 10 minutes in length and I would save them just to listen to his voice).

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One day I went to our neighborhood park to lounge in the gazebo. Dark storm clouds were rolling in and I knew I would get caught in the rain, so I grabbed a jacket on my way out.
I stuck my headphones in my ears and blasted some Britt Nicole as I walked.
I finally reached the gazebo within 10 minutes and sat on the swinging bench inside of it.
Some little kids were playing on the playground and I watched as their mother told them they should head home and eat dinner before it started to rain.
So once the park was deserted some boy showed up with his hood up and ear phones in just like me and he sat down and slowly started to swing back and forth on the swings.
I watched him as a low rumble shook the air from the clouds all the way to the ground and it started to sprinkle. He walked towards the gazebo where, to me, his hoodie became oddly familiar.
Then it hit me once he stepped an Osiris shoed foot in the gazebo. It was Justin.
I immediately put my hood up before he looked up at me.
I pulled my legs up and kept the bench swinging as I kept my legs close to me.
His eyes looked up at me and I could feel it, but I kept my face as well hidden as I could as I pointlessly scanned through all the albums on my iPod.
He stood up from where he was sitting on the other end of the gazebo and came to sit next to me on the swinging bench. I was toast.
A tear escaped my eye when I knew he knew it was me, and he pushed his hood off his face. From the corner of my eye I could see his golden hair and his perfect lips. He hadn’t changed one bit.
He slowly put his iPod in his pocket and quit listening to it.
Then he lifted his hand and pushed my hood away from my face to reveal a pitiful version of what had become me since the last time he had seen my face.
Tears ran down my cheeks and I kept my eyes closed as I tried to breathe. My breath had caught in my throat and my iPod sat helplessly paused in my hand which had lost all its strength along with the rest of my body.
Even with eyes shut tight tears still squeezed their way out.
I managed to turn slightly away from him and my ear buds fell out of my ears. The sound of rain hitting pavement, leaves, and the gazebo filled my ears.
And then a sound I thought I would never hear again rung out and made my head spin, “Bailee,” Justin whispered.
That’s when I started sobbing and it felt like everything on me went numb.
In a split second his arms were engulfing me and I was pushed against his chest. His scent filled my nose and I wrapped my arms around him and grabbed his jacket in my fists. My crying didn’t slow; in fact it got worse before it got better.
“Shh,” he whispered, as his hand rubbed my back. I almost thought I had died or even drowned in my swimming pool the day before and wasn’t actually alive anymore.
We sat there, entangled in each other, for what seemed like forever. The rain wasn’t as profuse as it was before and my sobs weren’t as drastic.
“I m-missed you,” I managed to say. I almost felt bad because his jacket was wet with my tears now, but he owed me one for forgiving him like this.
He almost chuckled, “I missed you too,” he whispered back, “So do you forgive me? Because I realize how big of a mistake I made.”
I almost smiled but I said, “Yes, I forgive you.”
“Good,” he said and he squeezed me closer to him.
“By the way,” he said, I waited for him to finish, “I love you, with all my heart.”
My eyes opened and I almost thought my ears were playing tricks on me.
“I’m sorry,” I said and I sat up looking at his beautiful face, “I thought I heard you say you loved me.” I looked down at my fingers.
“Oh I wasn’t lying, I really do,” he said and he tilted my chin up to look at him and he inched his face closer to mine.
Within seconds our lips were together. My mind was racing and my heart was pounding for about the first 5 seconds but then I got really relaxed and my hand made its way up to touch his cheek.
His arm snaked around my waist pulling me into him and his hand was cradling my face.
Both of our eyes were closed and I smiled when he licked my bottom lip.
For my first kiss this sure was amazing.
After a couple of minutes of continuous kissing, we had to break apart to breathe. But my hand stayed entangled in his hair and his arms stayed around me.
We put our foreheads together and he whispered, “That was so much better than Jasmine. It felt like she was gonna eat my face while I was kissing her.”
I laughed and was so jittery with joy I didn’t know if I was capable of doing anything.
“Was I good for a first timer?” I asked sweetly.
“Better than good babe, way better than good,” he said and he put his lips on mine yet again.