My Teenage Bucket List

I walked into the living area and my mom and Colbie’s mom were watching TV.

“Oh, Justin,” my mom said, keeping her eyes glued to the TV, “You left your phone out here on the table earlier and Selena called. She wanted to remind you that you guys made plans to go to the mall.”

Oh crap, I had totally forgotten about Selena. My girlfriend.

I rubbed my hand down my face and sighed. My mom handed me my phone and I grabbed two water bottles out of the fridge and went back to my room.

Ryan was chilling on my bed looking up at the TV playing Call of Duty: Black Ops.

“Dude,” he said, his fingers pressing the buttons and playing on the controller, “took ya long enough.”

I tossed the water bottle and it hit him in the stomach, he paused the game, “Ouch?” he asked looking at me.

I sat down next to him on the bed, “Sorry.”

“What were you doing?” he asked.

“Nothing,” I said, avoiding the question.

He eyed me, “Ok, that’s fine. You don’t have to tell me anything.”

“Well, I will tell you one thing; I’m hanging out with Selena at the Mall of America when we get to Minneapolis.”

“Whoa!” he said, putting his hands behind his head, “I totally forgot ‘bout your girlfriend. Specially with Colbie showing up all willy-nilly!”

I had gulped down half of my water bottle within ten seconds, “Well technically,” I cleared my throat, “it wasn’t ‘willy-nilly’ because my mom knew.”

“Well still,” he swallowed most of his water too, “you get my point!”

I chuckled and finished my water.

There were a couple seconds of silence, then Ryan spoke up.

“Where’s Chaz? I haven’t seen him since really early this morning.”

I sighed, “He’s in with Colbie.”

Ryan looked at me, “I have a bad feeling about that.”

“Oh trust me, I heard them talking. He’s hooked.”

“Ah ha! So that’s where you were!” he pointed at me.

I rolled my eyes and sighed, “Yes, Ryan that’s where I was.”

“What did you hear?” he asked, “Oh god, I sound like a chick.”

I laughed, “Well, nothing good.”

“Ok, ok, well let’s get back to the game.”

“Sure,” I picked up the controller and we went to the menu and started a new game. Waiting to arrive at our destination.



“Colbie,” Chaz gently shook my shoulder.

“Hm?” I hummed.

“We are here,” he said.

I opened my eyes and realized the motion of the bus indeed stopped.

“Did I fall asleep?” I mumbled.

He chuckled, “Yes.”

I moved off of him. My head had been laying on his chest.

“Wow, I sleep like a baby,” I said rubbing my face.

“You really do,” Chaz agreed.

He hopped off the bed and stood next to it and smiled back at me, “Don’t take too long.”

I smiled and lay back down on the bed, alone.

I sat up and filled my arms with my stuff and walked out to the living room. No one was there except my mom and Taylor.

“Well, good afternoon sunshine!” Taylor said cheerfully. She looked adorable as usual and her and my mom waited for me to go inside.

“Ready to go up to the room?” my mom asked.

“As I’ll ever be,” I shrugged.

We stepped out of the bus and luckily there was no paparazzi there. Of course why would there be? They don’t know us. Well, yet. I’m sure hanging out with Justin Bieber is gonna get us some attention eventually.

As we walked close to the entrance with the big revolving door there, on the left side of the door against the wall, sat a homeless man. His clothes were dirty and torn and his shoes were worn through. He held up a sign that read ‘free change?’ in scribbly handwriting.

I stopped and Taylor and my mom stopped and turned back to look at me.

“Honey what’s wrong?” my mom asked getting worried.

I looked at the homeless man and back at her, “Do you have a dollar?”

Her and Taylor looked over and she pulled out her wallet and slid out a dollar. She handed it too me and I walked over to him and dropped the dollar in the cup sitting next to him.

“Bless your heart lil lady,” he smiled.

“You’re welcome,” I smiled back and we went into the hotel.

We made our way over to the elevators and I had that good feeling in the pit of my stomach. The one good thing about hotels, everyone is used to seeing people in their pajamas.

Of course we were on the top floor because we were in one of the biggest rooms in the entire building.

We walked inside the door after my mom had opened it with her key card.

“Morning Colbie!” Pattie greeted as I walked in through the living room and past the kitchen where she was.

“Morning Pattie,” I smiled.

“I’ll show you our room,” Taylor said taking me down the hallway and into a nice big room with a huge bathroom and two queen sized beds.

My mom and Pattie shared a room, Taylor and I shared a room, and Justin, Chaz, and Ryan shared a room too.

Everyone else (like Ryan Good, Scooter, and Kenny) had another suite all together.

I dropped all my stuff on the bed that didn’t have Taylor’s stuff on it. Then we went back outside and wen’t into the living room where the guys were playing video games on the big screen TV.

I went and laid on the couch putting my head in Chaz’s lap and my feet in Ryan’s.

They were so focused on the game though, that they almost didn’t notice.

“Hi Colbie,” Chaz said not taking his eyes off the TV screen.

I laughed, “Hi.”

Justin was sitting down on the floor closest to the TV. I turned my head to look at what they were playing and I had noticed the back of his head.

His hair amazed me. From every angle, it was perfect. It was long and looked silky and beautiful.

Taylor had taken a seat in one of the recliners and was watching the game. I had gotten bored quickly.

Luckily for me some random people I hadn’t met knocked on the door.

Pattie answered and 3 young men walked into the room. Well they weren’t too young. One seemed to be in his twenties, he was wearing a hat and he was the shortest. He had longer wavy hair sticking out under his hat.

Another was tallest by just a little with spiky hair and a huge grin, he looked about in his early thirties. And the last was a round faced one with short hair and a small smile (late thirties maybe?).

“Oh hey boys,” Pattie said sweetly.

“Hey guys,” Justin said, yet again not taking his eyes off the screen.

“Oh sweet, Call of Duty!” the tallest guy said excitedly, coming over into the living room. His voice already sounded familiar.

The shorter guy came and sat on the other side of Ryan on the couch.

“Hey Dan,” Ryan said simply, still focusing on the game.

I sat here watching and soon I caught the eye of the guy sitting next to Ryan.

“Well, hi!” he said to me.

Justin then paused the game, “Oh yeah Dan, this is Colbie,” he motioned towards me, “Colbie this is Dan Kanter; the guitarist.”

“Hi, nice to meet you!” I smiled.

“You too,” he smiled back at me.

“And Ry, you met her once. In the elevator this morning I think,” Justin said.

“Right! You were fast asleep,” Ryan smiled.

“So you’re Ryan Good?” I asked him.

“That’s me,” he grinned, “Justin’s stylist.”

“Well nice to meet you too!” I laughed, “I’m gonna need to get you a nickname so I won’t get you mixed up with Butler here.”

He chuckled, “It’s my pleasure and whatever you want is fine with me! And Scooter, who is the one over there talking to Pattie, was there this morning too.”

I looked over my shoulder at him and Pattie and my mom chatting away.

“Ah, well, now I’ve almost met everyone important!” I joked.

They chuckled, “Oh you haven’t met half the team yet,” Dan laughed.

“Oh boy,” I said, pushing some hair out of my face.

“Well, we came up here to see if you guys wanted to shoot some hoops down in the gym,” Ryan Good asked.

“Sure!” Justin replied.

“Sounds like plan,” Chaz agreed, it was then I realized he had started playing with a strand of my hair. 

“But in about an hour I’m going to the Mall of America with Selena,” Justin reminded them.

Selena? As in Gomez? Oh, right. I forgot they were “dating”.

“We know,” Dan laughed, “We are going with you.”

“What? They get to go and your best friends can’t?” Ryan (Butler) asked.

“Well, yeah you guys should come!” Justin agreed.

I was still lying with my head in Chaz’s lap. Ryan had stood up so my feet were no longer on him. And right about now I was feeling a little left out of the loop.

Chaz looked down at me and then spoke up, “Colbie and Taylor too right?”

I smiled when he mentioned me.

“Well duh! We can’t leave the ladies out!” Ryan (Good) replied.

“Well, then Colbie and I better get ready while you guys go play basketball!” Taylor spoke. She hadn’t said anything before.

She came over and grabbed my hand and made me sit up. We then rushed back into the bedroom as she shouted, “You boys have fun!”

After she shut the door behind us, she turned and looked me up and down.

“You need a shower,” she pushed me into the bathroom as I said, “Hey!”

“What? You do! You look terrible. And you know I mean that in the best way possible!” she smiled and shut the door, “Now clean up!”

I sighed and decided to do what she told me. She would get her way even if I protested anyways.



Taylor had dragged Colbie and I chuckled at the look on Colbie’s face which was a mix of confusion, annoyance, and surprise.

Then Ryan, other Ryan, Chaz, Dan, Kenny, and I went down to the basketball courts they had out in the courtyard of the hotel.

“So Justin,” Dan spoke, “Is that the Colbie we had heard so much about before?”

I knew where he was going with this.

I rolled my eyes and replied, “Yes,” as we walked out of the elevator and out into the lobby. I flipped my hood up over my head. It was a reflex now a days.

“Oooh!” Ryan (Good) cooed, “I could tell.”

“What? Do you have some super teen angst sense now?” Kenny asked.

We all laughed, “I’ve always been that way,” Ryan popped his collar and we grabbed some basketballs from the rack and trotted out onto the court.

We had requested that the gym be separated by the curtain so that we could play basketball without people coming up to us. So I took off my hoodie and flung it over to the side of the court.

“Don’t you still like her?” Dan asked, tossing the ball up towards the hoop and missing.

I stood at the half court line and made a swoosh. Ryan (Butler) came up next to me and said, “Showoff.”

I laughed and answered Dan’s question, “I guess.”

“He still does,” Ryan (Butler) whispered to him.

“I heard that!” I shouted at them making another basket.

It was then that I noticed I hadn’t heard Chaz say anything. So I looked around and couldn’t find him anywhere.

“Yo, guys, where did Chaz go?” I asked.

“I think he went to the restroom,” Ryan (Good) replied.

I nodded and dribbled the ball. I couldn’t help but think he was actually somewhere else. But two minutes later, he came back. Shows you how much I worry.