If I Was Your Boyfriend

I blink and blink again to see if I'm seeing this correctly. The man's figure never moved. I hurry out into the hallway and downstairs to look from the kitchen.

‘Jeff?’ I say aloud looking at him asleep on the sofa.

Was he there when I came in?

‘Chris? What's the matter?’ Jeff's large frame stumbles up from the sofa.

‘There's someone in the backyard!’ I inform him, the words rush out of my mouth in an instant.

‘What?’ he says with wide eyes. ‘Wait here.’

Before I could say anything else Jeff was jogging toward the backyard.

‘Let's just call the police.’ I insist running behind him.

Jeff cautiously grabs one of the baseball bats from the garage and presses himself against the side of the wall. He takes a peek out the back window before swinging the door open. I scurry behind him wanting to get a hold of his shirt. He looks around and walks out into the middle of the yard.

‘I don't see anyone.’ He says aloud after walking around both sides of the house. ‘Maybe it was just some creep pap.’

‘He didn't have a camera. He just sort of stood there.’

‘Looks like he's long gone now.’ Jeff ushers me back inside and into my room. ‘Try to get some sleep - it's late.’

‘Okay.’ I agree, ‘sorry for waking you up.’

‘Don't worry about it.’

‘Thanks Jeff.’

‘Goodnight Chrissy.’

I leave the door cracked letting in the light from the hallway as I lay there until my eyes finally decide to shut. The next morning when I wake up my nostrils are filled with the smell of fresh bacon. Grabbing my phone I hurry downstairs into the kitchen. On the kitchen table were my mom's chocolate chip pancakes, bacon, scrambled eggs, and a pitcher of orange juice.

‘There she is! Congratulations sweetie!’ My mom throws her arms around me for a tight hug. ‘I am so proud of you!’

‘Thank you!’ I smile taking a seat at the table. ‘Is Jeff around?’

‘No, he went to the office.’ she answers grabbing two cups from the cabinet.

‘Did he tell you about last night?’

‘What happened last night?’

‘I came to your room at 3:00 in the morning saying there was someone in the backyar- he didn't tell you?’

‘No he didn't. Who was in the backyard?’

‘I don't know! It was just some man standing there.’

‘Did you call the police?’

‘Jeff said whoever it was is probably long gone now or it was probably just some creep pap.’ I explain chewing off a piece of bacon.

‘The police still should've be called and someone should've woke me up.’

‘I just say Jeff on the sofa and he went to the backyard to check.’

‘I'm calling the police.’ My mom says pushing up from the table and going back into her office.

While she's gone I go onto Instagram to post some of the pictures from last night. I see Justin posted a picture of me going onto the stage to accept my award last night.

JustinBieber: So proud of you @chrissythorton!

I like the picture and go to twitter.

@ChrissyThorton: last night was incredible!! I loved every moment of it and it's all because of y'all!

@ChrissyThorton: thank you so so so so so much for voting!! It means so much to me! Follow spree??

I follow a lot of the people in my mentions before I couldn't follow anymore. My mom returns from her phone call to the police and we finish our breakfast.

‘They're sending someone out just as safety precaution.’ She informs me already taking the plates to the sink.

‘Okay.’ I nod checking my phone to see I had a new message from my dad.

Here’s something just to show how proud we are of you. - Dad.

I click play on the video and watch as my siblings faces appear.

“CONGRATULATIONS CHRISSY!!” They all shout out in unison. “We're so happy that you won! And we can't wait to see your shiny award. Call us soon!” The video then goes to my dad who smiles warmly. “Congratulations Chris. You've made me a very proud dad. We'll talk soon.”

Thank you guys! I loved it! Sending all my love. - Chrissy.

As we wait for the police I take a shower and get dressed for the day.

‘Chrissy, come down here please.’ My mom calls as I hear the front door open.

Once I make it downstairs I see four officers in the living room standing around my mom. They all introduce themselves – Officer Holbrook, Officer Reynolds, Officer Carter, and Officer Malloy. Malloy and Reynolds head to the backyard for what reason I don’t know while Carter talks with my mom about safety precautions that we should take.

‘Can you tell me what happened?’ Holbrook wonders curiously taking a seat at the table.

‘I came home from the awards late. My friends and I stopped at iHop and hung out there for a few hours and then I got dropped off at home. I went up to my room to change for bed and go to sleep. I walked over to close the window when I saw someone just standing directly in the backyard looking up here. I hurried downstairs where my mom’s boyfriend Jeff was asleep on the sofa and that’s when we went out to the backyard where the person was gone.’

‘Is there anything specific you can remember about this person? Height? Race? Build? Was he were a mask?’

‘Well I couldn’t tell much from a window on the second floor but he looked tall I guess. It was really dark because it was around three in the morning so I can’t really give an accurate description.’

‘There’s not much else we can do about that unless he comes back and we catch him. It could’ve been a peeping Tom or at least that’s what I’m guessing. If you see anything out of the ordinary at all give me a call.’ He says handing me his card from his jacket pocket. ‘Anytime.’

‘Thanks.’ I say placing the card down onto the table.

They stay for about ten minutes more before finally leaving. While my mom is walking them out I grab my phone from the coffee table to see I had a miss call from Justin ten minutes ago.

‘Hello?’ he answers on the second ring, as always.

‘Hey, sorry. The police were here.’ I sit back on the sofa just as my mom opens the front door and closes it.

‘Police? Why?’ Already I could hear the worry and stress that hide behind his voice.

‘Long story. Did you call?’

‘Yeah. Ryan, Nichole, and I were going to go bowling and wanted to see if you Garrett, and Danielle wanted to join us.’

‘Sure, sounds good to me. I’ll just call Dani and Garrett to invite them. Which bowling alley?’

‘AMF Lanes on 63rd. We’ll probably leave here in about half an hour.’

‘Okay, I’ll see you then.’ I hang up the phone before rushing upstairs to grab a jacket and slid my feet into a pair of boots.

‘Mom, I’m going out with Justin and some friends.’ I get my car keys from the table by the door throwing my jacket over my shoulder.

‘Okay be careful.’

‘Are you going to be okay here by yourself?’

‘Yes, Chrissy.’ She lets out a small laugh, ‘Jeff will be here any minute so don’t worry about me. I’ll see you later.’

‘See you later.’

Hey grab Garrett and meet us at AMF Lanes! – Chrissy.

Sounds fun! See ya then. – Danielle.

I start the car up and ended up driving to the gas station before AMF Lanes. Once I get into the parking lot I spotted the familiar Range Rover and pulled right beside it. Justin sat in his car, in the driver’s seat leaning back in the seat. He spots me and gets out of his car sliding into mine and closing the door.

‘What are you doing?’ I ask as I cut the engine. ‘Where are Nichole and Ryan?’

‘They’re inside I wanted to talk to you before everyone got here. What happened?’

‘There was this guy in the backyard after you dropped me off last night or at least I think there was. When I got outside with Jeff they were gone.’

‘What guy? Who was standing in your yard?’

‘I don’t know. Jeff thinks it was just some pap or something. The police suggests we install cameras to catch the guy next time he comes around.’

‘Next time?’ Justin shakes his head repeatedly, ‘there will not be a next time.’

‘It was probably just some peeping Tom or something.’

‘You should’ve called me.’

‘Well he was gone before I got outside and you live about 15 minutes away, remember?’

‘I would’ve made it there in about five minutes.’ Justin insists with a small smile, ‘I just don’t want anything to happen to you. I don’t know what I’d do if I lost yo-…’

‘Stop.’ I cut him off as I grab his hand, ‘don’t talk like that.’

‘I’m serious Chris.’ Justin’s brown eyes never leave my face while we sit in the car, ‘call me as soon as anything happens IF anything does happen again?’

‘I promise.’ I nod getting out of the car.

‘Alright, time to bowl.’ Justin follows me through the entrance of the door.

I spot Ryan and Nichole down at the furthest lane and walk over to join them. I was planning on keeping the stranger in the backyard just between me, my mom, Jeff, the police, and Justin – for now. As much as I was creeped out there’s no use of causing a lot of hysteria over a peeping Tom.

‘There he is.’ Ryan says out once Justin is sitting beside him, ‘waited for your girlfriend, huh?’ I could tell Ryan was only teasing Justin but the simple words made me feel jittery. Girlfriend. Justin and I have been spending a lot of time together lately but we weren’t dating and didn’t really say more than twenty words on the subject. Justin hasn’t brought it up since Verona so I wondered if the thought even crossed his mind again.

‘Shut up.’ Justin shakes his head through a cute laugh that made my heart swell, cutting into my thoughts. ‘Help me with the drinks.’ He changes the subject standing up again.

Ryan follows, leaving me with Nichole. I didn’t get to talk to her much last night but we exchanged several small conversations throughout the night.

‘So the guys tell me you’re a model?’ I raise an eyebrow sliding down next to her, ‘do you like it?’

‘I love it. You get to travel the world and wear amazing clothes. It’s everything that I’ve ever I wanted so I’m really happy with life right now.’ Nichole gushes happily.

‘Who do you model for?’

‘A few different things right now. Forever 21, Brandy Melville, American Apparel, Wet Seal are some of the major ones.’

‘I officially want to be a model.’

‘But what about you? How is being both an actress and a dancer?’

‘Dancing was everything originally but now I discovered this hidden passion for acting. I love being someone else.’

‘It definitely sounds amazing.’

‘Quick question – what’s up with Ryan?’ I ask turning around to see Ryan and Justin in the concession line. Once they see that we were looking they both awkwardly turn away.

‘What about Ryan?’ I watch as Nichole examines her fingernails, picking at her thumbnail. A nervous habit I’m guessing.

‘Do you like him?’

‘Ryan’s my best friend.’ She says coyly taking a quick glance back at Ryan.

‘Even more reason.’

‘I’m waiting for him.’ She finally says after awhile, ‘every day I think he’s going to make the first move but he doesn’t.’

‘He likes you too.’

‘He does?’

Justin’s Point of View

So I drive to the bowling alley with Ryan and Nichole, who go inside while I wait for Chrissy to show up. Thankfully she shows up alone allowing me to slip into the passenger’s seat. She tells me about some creep standing in her backyard in the middle of the night when I dropped her off. The thought of someone watching Chrissy’s every move made my stomach turn. I try to tell her that I wouldn’t know what to do if I lost her God forbid. She blows me off, not wanting to hear it. In fact she tells me not to talk like that and insists on getting out of the car. Anyway, she promises to call me if anything happens again before getting out of the car. Once we get inside I ask Ryan to go get the drinks with me while we wait for Danielle and Garrett to show up. Nearly as soon as I walk away Chrissy was talking with Nichole. I try not to look at her from over here but she takes all the attention in any room she’s in. I couldn’t help it. This line was taking forever. Danielle and Garrett come in and head over to us.

‘Chrissy and Nichole are at the very last lane over there.’ I point and Danielle nods in response.

Thankfully I had a chance to pull her aside last night and ask if she was completely pissed off at me for what I did but she didn’t seem to be anymore. She told me it was all in the past and gave me a warning about if I hurt her best friend again. I wasn’t planning on it, ever again.

‘I’ll see you over there.’ She kisses Garrett before snaking around the tables where people sit down to eat.

‘Aren’t you cute?’ I nudge his arm moving forward in the line.

‘Whatever.’ He fans me off, ‘just get ready to lose.’

‘I’ve already told you a thousand times Garrett, there is no game that you can beat me in. I am the champ.’

‘Yeah, we’ll see about that.’ Ryan joins in ordering the drinks.

‘Yes we will.’ I grab Chrissy’s drink with one hand and mine with the other following them back to the lane. ‘Here you go.’ I hand Chrissy her cup sitting beside her in the small chair. She slightly moves over making room for me.

‘Just in time. You’re on my team.’ She smiles as I put an arm around the chair.

‘I wouldn’t want it any other way.’