Tour With Me

Natalie’s POV

My eyes slowly fluttered open that morning only to close once again. I wasn’t ready to get up, I was too comfortable, and content. I was no longer tired, since I was now well rested, but I just didn’t want to. I knew that I would have to eventually though. I should probably brush my teeth before morning breath kicks in.

I looked up and noticed that Justin was still asleep. Though his lips were formed in a straight line, the corners of his lips were turned upwards slightly. Justin really did always have a smile on his face. A small smile couldn’t help but form on my face. I knew that whatever was going through his mind made him happy.

I carefully tried to pull out of Justin’s grasp, making sure not to wake him. When I was almost out of his grasp, his grip around my waist tightened. Justin then pulled me closer to him so that I was once again pressed against his chest. He then nuzzled his face into the crock of my neck.

“Stop moving,” he breathed. His voice was low, groggy, and full of sleep. I couldn’t help but smile, as his warm breath hit my neck. My stomach began to do flips, as a shiver ran down my spine. The affects that this boy has on me is insane. I managed to suppress the giggle that was trying to escape.

“Justin—”

“Stop talking,” he interrupted.

He pulled me closer so that there was no space left between us. His hands slipped under my tank-top but stayed on my waist. My skin was on fire from his touch on my bare skin. He thumbs began to gently small circles on my skin. It was a small gesture that instantly relaxed and soothed me. I inwardly sighed in content.

“Go back to sleep,” he whispered.

I simply nodded my head as a smile danced across my lips. I couldn’t help it. I loved being in his arms, I loved how he relaxed me. I closed my eyes and simply enjoyed the moment.

Justin and I laid like that for a while. There was silence between us, but it was a comfortable silence, a silence that wasn’t meant to be broken. I continued to smile, knowing that Justin was smiling as well. I

Could feel his smile against my skin from the moment he started. I honestly, loved the fact that he was smiling. It let me know that he was enjoying this moment as much as I was.

It gets lonely in this business; need a homey
who’s the realest.
Someone who wants to find out all that I have to give.

I opened my eyes and glared at my phone on the nightstand behind Justin. Of all the times for Maya to call, she picks now. If she knew what was going on, I knew that she wouldn’t have called. She would have been too busy screaming in delight to pick up the phone.

Justin groaned causing my attention to focus on him, more than my phone that was playing “I Need a Girl by Trey Songz” I could feel Justin’s smile fall as my phone continued to ring.

“Don’t answer it,” he spoke.

I simply shook my head before I continued to glare at my phone. “I hadn’t even reached for it,” I spoke.

The phone stopped ringing, signaling that Maya was now listening to my voicemail. I could feel Justin smiling once again. He muttered something under his breath that I didn’t quite catch. I knew that he had spoke though, I could slightly feel his lips move against my skin. I smiled and bit my lip to suppress my giggle.

My phone began to ring on the nightstand again. Justin groaned in response. He then dropped his hands from my waist and rolled over on his back. His lips were in a straight line as he held his eyes closed tightly. I suddenly felt cold from the lack of contact between me and Justin. I inwardly sighed, and pushed my thoughts to the back of my mind.

I reached over Justin and grabbed my phone off the nightstand. I was beyond mad at Maya for ruining the moment I was having with Justin. I knew for a fact that she would be upset for calling once she knew what was happening.

“Yes?” I questioned, trying not to sound harsh.

“Lele!” I heard an all too familiar cheerful voice speak, “You answered! I miss you, sissy”

An enormous smile made its way onto my face. It was one of the widest smiles that I have smiled in a while. Any anger that I had built up for Maya instantly melted away at the sound of Dante’s voice. I missed him dearly, and I was glad to hear his voice.

“Tay! Oh my gosh, I miss you too. How are you?” I cheerfully spoke. I couldn’t describe how happy I was to hear his voice.

From the corner of my eyes I saw Justin open one of his eyes. He was now wondering who I was talking to. Honestly, I wasn’t paying that much attention to him any longer. My attention was focused on Dante. I sat crisscrossed-applesauce as I listened to Dante.

“I’m great sissy. I spend most of my time with Maya and Bryan. They’re the best, next to us anyways,” he cheerfully spoke. I could hear all of the excitement in his voice as I spoke. I knew for a fact that he was smiling.

“Maya and I went to the pool, yesterday. It was so much fun. We were there almost all day, until Summer came and picked us up. Then we ate spaghetti for dinner, and Vader kept begging for some, but Summer wouldn’t let me feed him. You would have loved it sissy; I wish you were there,”

My smile falter slight from hearing him say that. “You sound like you had a lot of fun,” I spoke, pushing my negative thoughts to the back of my mind.

“I did it was awesome and I went to the park with Bryan once. That reminds me is Justin there?”

I furrowed my brows out of confusion. I didn’t understand why he was asking about Justin? That was one of the most random things that he could do right now.

“Uh, yeah he is?” I spoke.

“Cool, can I talk to him?”

“Uh, sure I’ll see,” I spoke, confusion pouring out of each word I spoke.

I pulled the phone from my ear and stared at it in confusion. I then handed the phone over to Justin, confusion still plastered onto my face. Justin looked at me with a raised brow. He then shrugged his shoulders and took the phone out of my hand.

“Hello?” he spoke. His face then brightened up, probably from hearing Dante’s voice. “Hey D, what’s up”

They talked for a while, though I could only hear Justin’s side of the conversation. I was still utterly confused about what they were talking about. I was confused about how Justin and Dante became so close. They had only met once, maybe twice.

Don’t get me wrong, I love the fact that Justin gets along so well with the most important person in my life, but it was a bit weird how it happened.Not only that but I was a bit jealous of the fact that Dante ended our conversation to talk to him.

Close to the end of the conversation Justin’s gaze darted over to me. His face was completely serious, with a mix of sadness and sympathy. I was confused by his mood swing. What had happened to make him change so quickly? I simply sat there and stared back at him.

“Don’t worry D, she’s coming back, that won’t happen,” he spoke. I tensed up slightly at his words. I didn’t know what they were talking about but I didn’t like what Justin had just said.

I looked down at my hands in my lap. Even then, I could still feel Justin’s gaze on me, despite the fact that I was looking at him. I wasn’t feeling too confident at the moment.

Justin said his goodbyes before he hung up the phone. An eerie silence hung between us. It wasn’t very long until Justin decided to break it.

“Dante asked me something……”

I sighed and ran a hand through my hair. “Oh?” I spoke. “What was it?”

Justin sighed. “He asked me if you were going on the same type of trip that your parents did, are taking. He asked me that if you were going to come back, or……...” he swallowed, “Stay on the same trip as your parents,”

I easily tensed up more than before. Guilt began to wash over me. He thought that I was leaving and never coming back. How could I do this to him? I hadn’t even thought that Dante would think that. I had completely forgotten that I had told Dante that instead of the truth.

Justin placed his hand over mind, snapping me out of my gaze. I looked up at him a bit surprised by his actions. He simply sent me a reassuring smile. He opened his mouth to speak, but was cut off by my voice. “Dante doesn’t know about my parents’ death,”

I could see a bit of shock cross Justin’s face. I looked away from him. I simply ignored his expression and continued to speak. “I was twelve when my parents died, Dante was almost one, but not quite there yet. They died in a car accident, hit by a drunk driver on a rainy day,”

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath as my emotions began to come back to me. “My mom was killed instantly since the truck hit the passenger side. My dad was severely injured and sent to ER. He died shortly after, though I did get to see him one last time before he left,”

“After they died, Dante and I had to move to Atlanta to live with my aunt, much to her dismay. She didn’t want us with her, never did, she hated our side of the family, but I guess she didn’t have much of a choice but to take me and Dante,”

“When we got down there, she didn’t want anything to do with us. The most she would ever do was give me money to put Dante in day care while I was in school, everything else was up to me,”

“I basically became a teenage mother. I had to wake up late in the night to take care of him, if something went wrong. I had to by baby food, clothes, and all the essentials for him. It was a lot for me to take on before I was even thirteen,”

“As Dante got older, he started to get smart, more curious. One day he asked me where our parents were. Honestly, I was surprised that he even remembered them, I mean they died before he was one, not many kids would remember, but he did,”

“I didn’t know what to tell him, I couldn’t bear to crush him and tell him that his parents were taken away from him before he even got to know them. I couldn’t tell him that I was the only person he had left. It would be worse than telling a kid that fairytales are all lies,”

“So, I told him they went on a trip. It wasn’t exactly a lie, since they were going on a trip when the accident happened, I just told myself that it was best for him,”

“Once in a while, he would ask me again, usually around mother’s day or father’s day. I would always tell him the same thing, each time it became harder and harder, to tell him. Then one day, he stopped asking, he never brought it up again. I just convinced myself that he forgot about what happened, but deep down, I knew that it wasn’t true,”

“I’m going to have to tell him the truth one day, when he gets older, but I don’t think that I can. When I do he’s going to hate me for lying to him, and then everything’s going to be worse. I would give anything to make him happy, but I lied about one of the worse things that I could have ever lied about,”

I opened my eyes once I finished. I had never talked to anyone about my situation or my parents’ death. It was private and I always kept it that way. The only people that knew about my situation were Maya’s family and Allan. Then again, Allan only knew half of the story, hardly enough to compete with what I had just told Justin.

Who knows why I told Justin? I just felt as if I could trust him. I felt as if it would be okay for me to tell him what was going on. I knew that he wouldn’t tell anyone. I knew that he would be there for me. I knew that he wouldn’t judge me.

As always I felt guilty, horrible, and vulnerable when I finished, but my eyes were dry. Not one tear had formed during my speech. I hardly ever cry anymore, unless it’s something serious. As serious as this was, I wouldn’t cry. I simply put up my wall and drained myself of emotions. It was something that I had taught myself since I started raising Dante. I needed to be strong for him.

Justin entwined his fingers with mine and gave my hand a reassuring squeeze. I looked over at him, knowing exactly how he was going to react. His face would be etched with nothing but sympathy, it was a reaction that I had gotten, many times before.

As my eyes locked with Justin’s I was a bit shocked by what I saw. His eyes did in fact hold sympathy, but they also held something else. They held concern, pain, admiration and another emotion that I couldn’t place. The emotion was warm, comforting, it made me wish that I knew what it was, but I didn’t.

Justin licked his lips as he stared at me. “Natalie, I honestly don’t know what to say,” he spoke. I knew that he was serious, since he called me Natalie. He never called me Natalie, unless it was serious.

“I can’t imagine what you’re going through, and I’m not going to pretend that I do, but…...” he sighed as his free hand ran through his hair.

“But you shouldn’t be mad at yourself for what you did. You were twelve, I’m sure anyone in your situation would have done the same thing. When Dante gets older and you tell him, he’s going to understand. He may be mad at first but he’ll get over it, you don’t have anything to worry about,”

Justin then gave my hand a reassuring squeeze once again. “I’m going to be there for you when you tell him regardless, of what is reaction will be,”

Normally I would have smiled at the kind gesture, but instead I looked down at our hands. His fingers were entwined with mine, making his hand fit in my hand perfectly. I ignored this small gesture that I loved so much, and focused on our conversation.

“Justin, you can’t promise that,” I spoke.

“Yes I can, and I am,” he spoke.

He then gently put his index finger under my chin. He lifted my chin so that I was once again staring into his eyes. I didn’t bother to close my eyes or to tear my gaze away from his.

“I’ve always been there for you when you needed me, and I’m not going to stop now. I don’t care what you say I’m going to be there for you,” his voice was stern and determined.

I didn’t bother to argue with him. Not only because I knew I wouldn’t win, but because it was really sweet of him to say that. I don’t think anyone has said anything like that before.

I simply smiled as I stared up at him. A smile soon made its way onto Justin’s face as well. As usual his smile was warm and inviting. My eyes couldn’t help but drift down to his lips. They looked just as inviting as his smile. They were just as soft as they looked, I knew from experience. Justin must have noticed that my gaze shifted because his smile seemed to fall slightly.

Before I could question what happened, Justin gently placed his lips soft on mine. He was holding back, I could tell. His lips were hardly on mine, almost as if he was asking permission. The fact that he wasn’t kissing me like he wanted, only drove me more insane than the fact that he was kissing me.

I practically kissed back the minute he kissed me. I could feel him smile against my lips before he deepened it. I melted into the kiss, the same way that I had before.

His lips moved rhythmically, urgently against mine. He was trying to make the kiss last for as long as he could. Passion was surging through each kiss, easily making my mind go blank.

How I was able to kiss anyone else after Justin, completely baffled me. This kiss was amazing, how could I even think about kissing anyone else. The way that my heart skipped beats, and the way that my stomach flipped, could only happen with Justin.

I managed to wrap my arms around Justin’s waist, deepening the kiss further. Justin then snaked his arms around my waist, as we continued to kiss.

Honestly this is what I missed. I missed being able to kiss Justin. I missed the feel of his lips moving against mine. It was pure bliss. It was hard for me to describe in words, how I felt from Justin’s kiss.

These next few days were going to be just that, bliss.