Tour With Me

Justin’s POV

I woke up pretty early the next morning. Natalie was still asleep next to me in the bed when I woke up. She was still tired from yesterday. We had spent the entire day at the beach, so I wasn’t surprised. We spent half of the time in the water or running on the beach. She had gone to sleep before she could climb into the bed, though I moved her there once I saw her on the couch.

The guys and I decided to go down to the basketball court outside while the girls were sleeping. We figured we would wake them up once we were finished.

There was one problem though, I couldn’t focus. Ever since last night, I had been thinking about Natalie at the beach. I kept thinking about how she tensed up when I told her that my cockiness was why she loved me. When I said it I was joking but the way that she tensed up, only made me more nervous.

How was I supposed to tell her that I really did love her, when she couldn’t even handle it as a joke? It was hard enough for me to see her everyday with her not knowing how I felt. I tried to show it when I held her, kissed her or when I was simply with her, but I guess she hadn’t noticed. In fact she might have tensed up because she didn’t feel the same way about me.

I groaned as I missed yet another shot. Ryan grabbed the ball as he turned around to face me. His face held just as much confusion as Chaz. I wasn’t the best at basketball, but I was good at it. Today, I was completely off my game. I couldn’t help it though; my mind kept wandering back to yesterday.

Ryan sighed as he shook his head. He dribbled the ball twice before passing it to Chaz. “Man, what’s up. You can’t sink one shot today,”

I sighed as I closed my eyes. A groan escaped my lips as I threw my head back. I opened my eyes staring at the clear blue sky.

“It’s Natalie,” I plainly responded.

I heard the sound of the ball hitting the pavement repeatedly. “Trouble in paradise?” Chaz questioned.

I shrugged my shoulders. “Not exactly,” I muttered.

“What is it exactly?”

I groaned once more. I didn’t want to tell them what was going on, knowing how they would react. Then again, they were my best friends. They would find a way to find out eventually.

“Yesterday I was joking with her and I said that she loved me, but she completely tensed up. She spaced out as if I wasn’t there and I had to snap her back into it,” I explained.

“Did you ever think that maybe it’s because she doesn’t love you,” Chaz spoke, doing a chest pass to Ryan. Ryan caught the ball as he looked at me.

My lips were now formed in a straight line. My hands were in the pocket of my basketball, as I looked to my left. I could care less about what was on the other side of the court; I simply wanted to hide how I felt.

Hearing Chaz say that Natalie didn’t love me was like being punched in the chest. I didn’t want to think about that. I knew that it was a possibility that she didn’t feel the same, but I didn’t want to think about it. Thinking that I was the only one who felt this way cut me deep. There was nothing worse than having the person you love not love you back.

“Oh my god,” Ryan spoke.

My gaze immediately shifted to him. A smirked was playing against his lips as he held the ball under his arms. A knowing look was plastered onto his face as he stared at me. He shook his head as he continued to smirk. It wasn’t long before he started to laugh. Chaz and I stared at him, utterly confused. Once his laughter died down, he set his gaze on me once more, as he continued to smirk.

“You’re in love with her aren’t you?” he questioned.

I immediately tensed up. This is why I didn’t want them to know. I knew exactly how they would react once they found out how I felt about her. I couldn’t blame them though; I would do the same thing in their position.

I crossed my arms over my chest as I looked away from him. “No,” I lied.

“Liar,” he pointed out with a smirk.

“What the hell dude?” Chaz added.

“What do you mean you’re in love with her? You’ve only been dating her for what two or three weeks and you’re already saying that you’re in love. That’s not even a month man. Not to mention you’re only sixteen. You’re supposed to date as many girls as you can when you’re sixteen, especially since you have about a million options. You settle down when you’re like twenty six not sixteen,”

I closed my eyes and groaned as Chaz ranted. He was only proving my reasoning for not telling them. I could have avoided this entire situation if I would have just kept my mouth shut.

“In fact you probably don’t even love her. She probably just seduced you into thinking that you love her. Seriously, hot girls are capable of doing that kind of shit. I’ve seen it—”

“Dude, shut-up,” Ryan interrupted. He threw the ball back at Chaz causing it to hit him in the chest. Chaz glared at him as he began to rub the sore spot.

“You sound really stupid right now. A girl can’t seduce you into thinking that you’re in love, she can trick you not seduce you ass,” Ryan explained.

“You’re making it seem like Natalie’s entire plan for dating Justin was to get him to fall in love with her. Cleary she wouldn’t feel the same way about him if she did,”

“Maybe her plan back fired,” Chaz muttered. “But I get what you’re saying,”

What Ryan had said registered in my head after a moment, causing me to look at him? I dropped my arms from my chest as I stared at him with a furrowed brow.

“What was that last thing you said?” I questioned.

Ryan gave me another confused look. “I said that Natalie wouldn’t feel the same way if her entire plan was to make you fall in love with her,”

“That’s what I thought you said,” I nodded. “But what makes you think that she feels the same way?”

Chaz suddenly began to smirk at me. “So you admit that you’re in love with her?” he questioned.

Before I could answer him, Ryan spoke up. “So how long have you known that you loved her?”

I shrugged once more. “Like two months, almost three,”

“And you haven’t told her?” Chaz questioned. His voice was dripping with nothing but pure disbelief. As if he couldn’t believe that I loved her and didn’t tell her. He was shocked and utterly surprised.

I raised my brow at him. “First, you hate the fact that I’m in love with her. Now you hate the fact that I haven’t told her. Make up your mind,” I spoke.

Chaz rolled his eyes before crossing his arms over his chest. He looked over his shoulder away from me. “I never said that I hated it,” I rolled my eyes at how immature he was being.

“Anyway,” Ryan spoke, gaining out attention. “When are you going to tell her?”

I sighed. I ran my hands through my hair, before flipping it back into place. I looked down at my shoes, causing some of my hair to fall into my eyes.

“I don’t know. After what happened yesterday……I just don’t think that now is the right time to tell her…how I feel. The last thing that I want to do is lose her, and that would be the worst way to do it,”

“Damn,” he spoke. “You got it bad,”

“Tell me something that I don’t know,” I muttered.

“You don’t know how to tell her,” Chaz pointed out.

I quickly sent him a cold hard glare. If I was standing near him I would have hit or, or threw the ball at him. That was not what I wanted to hear right now. It just seemed like he didn’t know what to say to me today.

Chaz quickly realized what he had said. “Sorry man, but it’s true,” I continued to glare at him, unfazed by what he had said.

“But I still think that you should tell her,” he added. “She’s a hot girl dude. Not to mention, funny, flirty, and fun…the three F’s man. She’s a triple threat without me even knowing her that well. Technically she has the four F’s because she’s fine to, but hey, we’re not talking about that right now,”

“If I wasn’t your best friend I would steal her from you, so imagine what a guy who doesn’t know you would do,”

“He has a point,” Ryan added.

I groaned once more as I closed my eyes. I didn’t need this right now. Things were going to well between me and Natalie.

I didn’t need the fact that I was in love with her hanging over my shoulders. I didn’t need to think about how to tell her and when to tell her. I especially didn’t need or want to think about losing her to another guy. This was simply too much to deal with right now.

“And you might want to start thinking about when to tell her, because she’s walking over here right now,” Ryan pointed out.

I opened my eyes and looked towards the path to the hotel. Natalie was indeed walking towards the basketball court. Her gaze was focused on her shoes as she carried a towel in her hands. Her hair was down once more, and would move along with the wind, causing her to tuck a few hairs behind her ears.

I felt a small smile begin to form on my lips as I watched her. I heard Ryan muttered something to Chaz, but I couldn’t hear him. I was a bit too focused on Natalie to care.

It wasn’t long before she had reached the court. She looked up and sent me a smile, showing the deep dimples that I love.

“Hey guys, how’s it going,” she greeted as became within earshot.

“Hey Nat,” Ryan spoke.

“Hey. And I guess I can say I’m doing pretty well. Justin on the other hand, not so much. I’ve been kicking his ass all morning, though that isn’t different from what happens every time I play him,” Chaz spoke.

I rolled my eyes as Natalie laughed. Her laugh caused my stomach to knot up once more. I tried to ignore it as if nothing had happened.

“Well I can’t really talk, I can’t play to save my life. Dane oh hell yes, play basketball, uh no,” she spoke.

“I’m sure Justin could show you the few moves that he knows,” Ryan smirked, sending me a quick glance.

She shook her head at them. “Nah, I’d rather not show him my flaws yet. Instead just call me your water girl,”

She unwrapped the towel, revealing three bottles of vitamin water. Ryan and Chaz quickly lunged for a bottle, grabbing it as soon as they could. Natalie shook her head, as she handed me the last bottle. I gladly took it, sending her a smile before I took a sip. She then up wrapped the towel once more, revealing three separate ones. She tossed s each one, telling us to dry off.

“Your mom and I cooked upstairs so try not to smell like sweat,” she spoke.

“You cook?” Ryan and Chaz questioned in unison.

Natalie and I both nodded our head in unison. I smirked as I threw my arms over her shoulder. “Don’t I have good taste?” I questioned.

Natalie rolled her eyes, despite the smile dancing across her lips. She put her right arm around my waist before she leaned into me.

“Awe, aren’t they just the cutest,” Chaz spoke in a baby voice.

Natalie raised her brow at Chaz. “Keep talking Chaz and I’ll make sure that you don’t eat anything,”

Chaz eyes went wide as he stared at her. “You wouldn’t really do that would you?” he questioned.

Natalie smirked in response. “I don’t know, how badly did you beat my alleged boyfriend again,” she looked up at me and winked. I smirked as I winked back, taking a sip of my vitamin water.

“Oh come-on that’s not fair,” he whined.

“Well if life was fair you would have a hot girlfriend who likes to cook who is just oh so cute with Justin, right?”

“Damn,” Ryan laughed.

I soon joined Ryan as I stared at Chaz’s face. Nothing but pure shock could describe the way that he looked. He jaw was slack and his eyes were wide. He held his bottle of vitamin water in his hands lifelessly as he stared at her.

Natalie looked up at me once more, a smile present on her face. “And that’s why you love me,” she spoke. I smiled as I nodded my head.

If only she knew how right she was about that sentence.