Beauty and the Beast

We climbed into the car, dad had opted for a limo tonight, and I felt rather self-conscious. Justin had been staring at me slack jawed since the second he had seen me and although it should make me feel good about myself, it made me feel awkward. I pulled at my dress trying to make it longer, but with no avail. I knew I was being stupid, but I couldn’t help it. Kayleigh gave me a reproving look, telling me to stop it. I grimaced but stopped playing with my dress.

Justin had opted for the seat opposite me, which made me even more uncomfortable. I was careful to keep my legs crossed at the ankles and knees together so that Justin couldn’t see up my dress. I scolded myself mentally for wearing such a revealing dress. Justin had finally managed to stop gawking by the time my dad had started talking.

My dad looked at me carefully before speaking, “We need to make one stop first someone will be joining us for dinner.” We all stared at him in confusion.

“Who?” I asked for everyone.

He eyed me carefully for a moment, analysing me, “A friend of mine, her name is Demi.” I visibly tensed and my father noticed, “Please don’t be like that Lyric, she’s a friend from work. Please be nice to her.” I couldn’t bring myself to speak, and I noticed that Maria and Kayleigh were giving me sympathetic looks. I glared at them, telling them to stop. I would be fine. I mean, she was just a friend right? Nothing for me to worry about.

The car pulled to a stop not long after. I shut my eyes as I mentally prepared myself. The door opened a few seconds later, I opened my eyes to be met by a very beautiful woman. She was younger than my dad, but not by much. She had long flowing hair that nearly reached her waist, and her eyes were a deep chestnut that radiated warmth and kindness. I took one look at her and knew she wasn’t just my dad’s ‘friend’ and somehow that made her warmth and kindness a bad thing.

My dad leaned over to place a peck on her cheek, which caused me to look away, “Demi, this is Justin, Maria, and Kayleigh, and this is my daughter Lyric.” he said as he gestured to each of us. They all exchanged polite ‘hellos’ and finally it was my turn.
“So you’re the famous Lyric I have heard so much about.” she gushed. I couldn’t bring myself to meet her eyes. I didn’t want her here. I was happy with the family I had.

“Sorry, I wish I could say the same, but he’s never even mentioned you before.” I grumbled earing a reproaching look from my father. Maria and Kayleigh exchanged looks of disapproval, earning a scowl from me. I knew what they were thinking, and they were right. I was acting like a spoilt brat yet again, this was different though. My father hadn’t dated since my mother, or at least not that I knew of. If he was introducing her to me, even as a friend, it was something serious.

Demi blushed, and stuttered. “So how long have you two been seeing each other?” I asked bluntly. No point in beating around the bush is there?

My father frowned in mock confusion, “Lyric I told you, we’re just friends.” I rolled my eyes.

“Dad one would have to be an idiot to believe that.” I may be many things, but an idiot I am not.

He finally relented, “Nearly nine months.” I felt a lump form in my throat, making it nearly impossible to speak. I simply nodded instead and turned my head to look out the window.
The rest of the journey was made in silence, it was awkward yet no one said a word. If you listened carefully you could hear the sound of everyone’s breathing over the soft hum of the engine.

Eventually the car pulled to a stop in front of the restaurant. It was a grand building, built hundreds of years ago, a manor house in its previous life. There was ivy crawling up the front of the manor and it made it look all the more beautiful. I loved this place, and although the food didn’t amaze me it didn’t matter because the building itself did. We made our way to the entrance to be met by the maître d’. He smiled politely at us, making brief conversation with my father, in French of course. I’d never been fond of the language and dropped it quickly, I preferred Italian.

He led us to the back of the restaurant where it was less crowded. I took a seat between Justin and Maria, unfortunately, Demi decided to sit opposite me. She was trying hard to make small talk, asking what she should order, what my favourite was, and what a nice wine was, but I wasn’t listening. Instead Maria and Kayleigh answered the questions for me. I knew I’d have hell to pay later but I couldn’t bring myself to care.

The waiter came to take out order and I rattled off my usual without thinking. I sat staring out the window until dinner was served. There was idle chatter around me but I wasn’t paying attention. I couldn’t believe he had kept this from me for so long. It wasn’t like him to keep secrets from me, let alone something this big. I won’t deny him the right to see who he pleases but to keep it a secret from me for this long, that’s a whole other thing.

I felt someone’s hand grasp mine under the table, Justin. I was tempted to pull away, but I liked the gentle feeling of comfort it was giving me. I felt more at ease right now than I had all night. I smiled softly at him and he gave my hand a gentle squeeze. We sat hand in hand the rest of the night, he didn’t even let go to eat. His thumb was rubbing gentle circles on the back of my hand.

By the end of the night I was desperate to get home, to crawl up into bed and cry myself to sleep. The lump in my throat hadn’t gone and I had barely managed to eat because of it. I needed to cry and I wasn’t going to do it in the middle of a crowded restaurant. Finally we were allowed to go home. Justin unlinked his hand from mine and I immediately began to miss the feeling.

We climbed back into the limo, this time Justin took the seat next to me, sitting close enough that our arms were touching. The ride home was silent again, apart from the few parting words as we dropped Demi back home. I mumbled a goodbye as she climbed out the car, still not making eye contact. I felt guilty, it wasn’t her fault yet it was her I want punishing. I just wasn’t used to my dad dating, let alone getting serious with someone. I guess I figured he still wasn’t over mum, but I was clearly wrong. I didn’t want my dad to be hung up on my mum, she was a bitch who never deserved him, but it still came as a shock to know he wasn’t.
I climbed out of the car and made my way to my room, pulling off my dress as I slammed the door. I knew Kayleigh and Maria wouldn’t disturb me, they knew better. I pulled on a pair of cotton pyjama shorts and a tank top. I was ready to climb into bed when I heard a soft knock at the door, so soft I nearly thought I had imagined it. I opened it to find Justin stood there in a pair of flannel pyjama bottoms and a white wife beater. He looked nervous as he shifted his weight from foot to foot.
“I just came to see if you were okay, I can go if you like?” I shook my head profusely. I didn’t want him to leave. “You want to watch a movie, we never got to finish Chatroom?” he offered.

“Yeah, come in. We can watch it on the projector.” I offered, stepping aside to allow him entry. He looked nervously around the room, “Just sit on the bed Justin, I don’t bite.”

He smirked at me, “No, but you did say if I ever came in your room you’d chop my balls off and feed them to the sharks.” I chuckled at the memory, it was less than a week ago but it felt like a whole other time.
“Yeah, I’m sorry about that.” I smiled gently as I turned on the projector, selecting the film I wanted to watch. I climbed into bed, snuggling under the covers, before lifting them, offering Justin to do the same. He climbed under the covers next to me, careful to keep distance between us as not to spook me. “Thank you, for earlier, it really helped.” I admitted.

“You’re welcome. I know the feeling, the first time both of my parents moved on it crushed me. I got so angry and I hated it all and then when I found out Erin and dad were getting married, I flipped. I just couldn’t cope with it. I treated her like shit and then when I found out she was pregnant? That was the worst. I ran away from home and when they found me I hit my dad, but you’ve seen pictures of me back then, it was pathetic.” he laughed at himself, “The truth is, I was just scared of losing him. My dad and I haven’t had the best relationship, not to start with anyway, but even if we had I think I’d have been the same. I just didn’t want to become second priority. I thought he’d forget about me and move on with his life with Erin. I realised later that it was stupid, but it didn’t feel that way at the time. I just want you to know, you’re dads never going to replace you, and you’ll always be the most important thing to him.” I felt the tears role down my face as I tried to hold back the whimpers, but it wasn’t working.

I felt my whole body begin to shake with sobs as Justin pulled me close, my face resting in the crook of his neck as I cried salty tears all over him. I wrapped my arms tightly around him, clinging on desperately. I just needed someone to understand and Justin understood. He shushed me quietly as he rubbed comforting circles on my back.

We stayed like this for a while until I managed to calm my breathing. Eventually the tears had stopped and I was breathing normally again, I pulled away to see Justin staring at me with a look of concern.

“Thank you, I’m so sorry about crying all over you…I shouldn’t have done that, you shouldn’t have to deal with my crap. You’re here to get away from crap, you don’t need mine added on top.” I buried my face in my pillow.

I could hear the frown in his voice as he spoke, “Lyric, I don’t mind you crying all over me, or hearing about your problems. I just mind not being able to stop it. If I didn’t want to get involved I wouldn’t have come to see you would I?” I lifted my head from the pillow to look at him, he was being sincere and it made this all so much harder. “Now, we are going to watch this film and we can face all this tomorrow when you’ve calmed down.” I nodded in agreement as he pressed play and pulled me closer to him, keeping his arm wrapped tightly around my waist.

As I watched the film, I thought. I thought about how long this could possibly last. We’d be going back to school on Monday; he’d be surrounded by people again, would he change? Would he become the cocky arrogant little boy that I’d heard so much about? Would it all go to his head? I couldn’t bear to think about it. I liked this Justin. I didn’t want to meet the other Justin that I knew existed somewhere. Would we still be able to do this?
I don’t know when but I eventually fell asleep. It was full of dreams, some nightmares and some not. I dreamt that my dad had forgotten about me and that he and Demi were living the perfect life and he didn’t even recognise me. I dreamt that Justin kissed me, and it was amazing. I dreamt of school on Monday, and everyone crowding around Justin and when he escaped them he was some kind of monster.
When I woke I found myself wrapped in Justin’s arms, with my head buried in the crook of his neck. I was startled for a moment, forgetting where I was and who I was with. I’d never realised how good Justin smelt before.

I carefully pried myself from his arms, careful not to wake him. I stood at the foot of my bed for a moment, he looked so peaceful, and pulling out my camera I took a picture of him. That could go on twitter, let’s see what the little girlies make of that.

I took a quick shower and when I returned Justin had gone. I felt my smile falter slightly as I looked at my empty bed. Somehow it didn’t look right without him. I sighed looking at the clock I realised that it was late and I still had lots to do. I had several essays that needed to be complete tomorrow, and although I’d had the whole week off to complete them I hadn’t even looked at them. I ran downstairs to grab some breakfast before making my way back to my room to finish up.

It was 11 o’clock before I finished. I stifled a yawn, today had been busy and I hadn’t seen anyone. I pulled on my pyjamas before climbing into bed, it felt empty without Justin. I tried to sleep but it was impossible.
After an hour of tossing and turning there was a knock at my door. I didn’t bother getting out of bed, I just yelled for them to come in. The door opened and there stood Justin with a sheepish look on his face.

“I don’t want to seem presumptuous, but I really can’t sleep. I was wondering if I could sleep in your bed again.” I saw a hint of pink rise in his cheeks and the tips of his ears. I thought about taking the piss for a moment before realising that it may cause him to flee and I needed him.
“It’s okay, climb in.” He smiled softly before making his way over to the bed and climbing in next to me and pulling me close again. I knew there was nothing romantic to this, but it felt nice anyway. I felt the worry come back, we had school tomorrow and I was scared this was going to change again. I had grown used to having Justin around in the short period he had been here and it would feel unnatural for him not to be here.

All my fears drifted away though as Justin squeezed my gently in his sleep. Not long after I fell into a sweet, peaceful sleep. Tomorrow was a new day and who knew what it held, but in those few moments before I drifted off to sleep, it didn’t matter.