If I Was Your Boyfriend

Justin’s Point of View

‘C’mon Chris – we’re going to be late.’ I murmur quietly after my shower the next morning. We had to be back in court at 9 for another day of the trial. ‘Baby.’ I urge, causing her to groan pulling the pillow over her head.

‘I can’t do it again Jay.’ She says barely above a whisper, ‘yesterday was horrible!’ With that, I crumble. I wish I could take all the hits for Chrissy. I hated that she had to even be in the same room as that creep.

‘The toughest part is over,’ I remind her, ‘You’ve already faced him and you passed with flying colors. Honestly, screw his lawyer – all he cares about is if Carter can pay. Just hang in there a little bit more and this will all be over soon enough.’

‘He tore me apart up there. I feel like I helped with Carter’s bogus insanity plea. I called him psychotic and sick all in five seconds.’ She explains, finally sitting up in the bed to face me. ‘I don’t know what I’d do if I help Carter walk out of there into some fancy rehab facility.’

‘Then don’t help him. Go, go up there and tell them every twisted thing he did to us. We cannot let this go unanswered. I think we owe it to ourselves to see this thing through, don’t you?’

‘We do.’ She agrees wrapping her arms around my neck to hug me, ‘I love you.’

‘I love you too.’ I smile as she goes to get ready.

While I wait for Chrissy to get ready for the court house, I sit outside while Rocky happily runs through the yard. He accidentally knocks his ball into the pool and he immediately darts his dark eyes over towards me. When I don’t move quick enough he runs over wagging his tail. I look down at the suit I was in and back at him. ‘Please don’t make me. I have to keep this on.’ I stroke his fur but this didn’t satisfy him. ‘Fine.’ I laugh hurrying over to the pool shed to get one of the long poles to retrieve his ball. I knock it out near the gate where Rocky sprints off to go get it.

‘What are you doing?’ Chrissy stands in the doorway with an amused smile on her face. ‘Is he still afraid of the water?’

‘Terrified.’ I correct with a laugh, ‘Rocky come inside!’

Chrissy refills his water dish after pouring him fresh food which he’d devour in a matter of minutes. I look at my watch as I stuff my feet down into these uncomfortable dress shoes that I hate so much. Chrissy patiently waits by the door on her phone, keeping herself distracted from what’s about to happen in court. I take her hand guiding her towards the blacked-out SUV that awaited us. On our way to the court house I pull her close to me kissing her hands and temple to calm her down.

‘Have I told you how much I love you today?’ I inquire, trying to break the tension.

‘No, I don’t think you have.’ She smiles up at me nestling herself in my chest that much more.

‘I love you more than any person has ever been loved. I think I love you more every day, actually.’

‘Is that so?’ She wonders playing with my fingers.

‘Yes, it is. I love your courage and your compassion. You just amaze me every single day. I’m sorry this is getting really mushy but I just want to tell you constantly how much I love you.’

‘Well do you know how much I love you?’

‘How much?’

‘I love you more than you love me, which is more than anyone has ever been loved so I win.’ Chrissy retorts pleased with herself.

‘Fair enough.’ I press my lips to her temple once more seeing we were finally at the court house. ‘Everything’s alright – I’m right here.’ I whisper sensing her nervousness. She grips my hand so tight, I could swear she was about to break it. ‘Look, they’re here for you.’ I point at the dozens of people with supportive signs shielded by the nearby barricades. ‘They and I have all the faith in the world in you.’

Chrissy’s Point of View

I understood what Justin was trying to do and I appreciated it more than I could ever tell him. As were walking into the court house I take a second to admire him. His hair had grown back from his previous buzz-cut. He wore his prescription glasses due to his slight astigmatism. He complained about dressing up but it actually suited him well.

‘Do you like the view?’ Justin taunts looking down at me.

‘I love the view.’ I admit just as we make it over to our friends and family.

‘Justin, we’re just going to finish up with Chrissy and then ask you a few questions.’ Mark explains as Justin gives me a hand a tight squeeze, ‘He probably won’t keep you up there too long, since he’s been itching to put Carter on the stand.’

‘I’m ready.’ Justin speaks confidently and I wish I could take even an ounce of his so I could mask my cowardliness. ‘We both are.’

The judge goes through his list of expectations yet again before I’m called to the stand. Carter sits in the same suit from the day before with the same slimy smile cockily on his face. His lawyer was getting to go first this morning and Carter seemed overjoyed that he was.

‘Hello, Miss. Thorton. I’m glad that you’ve come back to share your story with us today. Are you ready to finish?’ Carter lawyer starts with a smirk. He was planning on destroying me up here this morning. I knew it was about the money and winning such a high-profiled case, but he was enjoying this a little too much.

‘Could I address something that I said yesterday, first?’ I breathe looking over at the judge who curiously nods his head. ‘Yesterday, I was nervous. I never been in a court room let alone a part of a trial. Not just any trial, my own trial against the man who attempted to ruin my life just because he thought he could get away with it. Just because he felt entitled to it. I said some things about the man in the heat of the moment – I did call him psychotic and sick. The truth is while he may be disgusting, creepy, and dangerous, he is fully capable. He plotted and schemed these occurrences with high-level precision. He’s not sick, his plans are. I should’ve made that distinction yesterday, but thank you for giving me a chance this morning.’ I explain watching as Carter slides back in his seat uncomfortably. Chrissy 1. Carter 0.

…

‘I would now like to call Justin Bieber to the stand.’ Mark signals for Justin to take my previous place. I wish him a quiet good luck as I watch him easily make his way towards the stand. Carter watches on clearly tense, it was nice to see Justin still managed to get under his skin just by existing.

Justin calmly settles into the high chair, interlacing his fingers as Mark asks him to retell events with Carter. With a loud sigh and a shift in his seat Justin nods his head several times.

‘I honestly don’t know what I can say that Chrissy didn’t hit on the head. Carter stalked us, spied on us, and abducted us. There’s no way to sugarcoat it and I’m not going to go step-by-step with all the details.’ Justin explains as Mark pulls up a large poster of Justin’s cracked ribs x-ray. ‘That’s some of Carter’s handy work. I tracked him to his place one night, looking for Chrissy and he kicked me off the steps, repeatedly kicking me while I was down.’ Mark pulls up another board, this time of Justin’s facial injuries after we escaped the shed. ‘I had two black eyes and a busted lip because Carter thought he was a man by beating me up while my hands were behind my back.’

‘Justin, can you tell us how this has changed you and the way you live your life?’

‘Simply put, I would say that I have trust issues now. I don’t think people are genuinely good anymore. Like Chrissy said yesterday, there could be some person who is a little too close and you just go numb all over. There is a part of me that even doubts this trial now. I constantly think that somehow and some way Carter is going to walk out of here and try to end this little game of his once and for all. As for the way I live my life, I would just say that I’m that much more protective over the people I love. Chrissy, being the main person in my life right now, I just fear for her constantly. I know that I can’t always be with her and it kills me. It sucks how Carter has taken a piece of my life and tarnished it. He’s taken something from us that we can never get back. I think if given the chance, he’d do it all over again.’

‘Your witness.’ Mark excuses himself and sits down at the long, glossy table.

‘Mr. Bieber,’ Carter’s lawyer strides in front of the court with an envelope in his hands, ‘Would you say that you’re a violent person?’

‘I wouldn’t say that at all, no.’

‘I see here that you were arrested for assaulting Aiden Harding, do you remember that?’

‘I remember the charges being dropped.’ Justin answers picking at the skin of his thumb. Somehow, Scooter and Chloe were able to talk to Aiden’s agent and got him to drop the charges. I didn’t ask for details back then, I was just happy he did. Filming with him wasn’t too awkward, seeing as his character ended up having a small part in the movie. The director decided to go another way with the story, I was just grateful he did. ‘I also remember this trial being about Carter’s wrongdoings, not mine.’

‘It is, it is. I just want to get a bigger picture of this overall situation. Why didn’t you allow the police to handle this instead of taking matters in your own hands?’

‘If you look back at the “bigger picture” as you called it, you would see that I was the one who tracked down Carter, twice. The police weren’t getting anywhere and I wasn’t going to sit on my hands while God knows what happened to Chrissy.’ Justin hisses, evidently annoyed.

‘But it was also you who pointed the police in the direction of Jeff Thompson, Chrissy Thorton’s soon to be step-father, isn’t that right?’

‘After a slight error in judgement, yes.’ I glance over at Jeff who looked down regretfully. After everything calmed down, Justin and I repeatedly apologized for wrongfully accusing him.

‘So, an accidental liar with violent tendencies, it’s a wonder that it’s not you on trial, right?’

‘Badgering!’ Mark slaps his hands against the table as he forcefully stands up.

‘Mr. Calhoun – be careful.’ The judge advises Carter’s lawyer.

‘Nothing further.’ Mr. Calhoun walks off cockily walks off as Carter giddily sits in his seat.

‘We will resume tomorrow morning at 9AM.’ The judge release everyone once the jury has left the room.

‘Bye bye.’ Carter speaks for the first time in days sending a chill down my back. ‘I’ll see you tomorrow, my love. You looked perfect today.’

Justin nearly yanks me into his grasp, rushing out behind everyone else. I turn back to see Carter’s lawyer practically yelling at him for the little stunt he just pulled. My mom had to talk my dad rom going back in there and knocking the smug smile from Carter’s face. ‘I hate it!’ Justin slams the door once he’s inside. ‘I hate how he can still get me rattled after everything. He knows exactly what to do or say to screw with me.’

‘It’s okay, you did good up there today.’ I press my hand to his bouncing leg, attempting to calm him down. ‘Just a few more days and he’s behind us, right?’ He nods silently looking out the window, unconvinced. ‘I say that the two of us have a nice Carter-free day at home together, does that sound good? We can make dinner and watch movies in bed. Just the two of us.’ I appreciated the fact that our friends and families were here with us every step of the way but being around everyone could be exhausting. My parents were still looking at me, almost waiting for the other shoe to drop.

‘That sounds really good.’ He smiles ushering me to come under his arm, ‘I love you.’

‘I love you too.’

Once we get back to the house, we change out of our clothes to run to Whole Foods. Justin grabs the nearest basket leading the way into the store. I trail behind him with his tattooed arm wrapped around my own. ‘What are we eating, Chris?’

‘We can make pizzas.’ I suggest pointing over at the build-your-own pizza kits.

‘I am going to make the best pizza you’ve ever had.’ Justin smiles already throwing ingredients into the basket.

‘Wait are we having a pizza-off?’

‘Not a pizza-off,’ Justin corrects, ‘thepizza-off of the century and I’m pretty confident that I’m going to crush you.’

Back at the house, I get everything ready after changing into one of his shirts while Justin lets Rocky out in the backyard.

‘Are you trying to sabotage my ingredients?’ Justin accuses standing in the doorway with his arms folded over one another. A small smile played on his face as he grows closer to me.

‘I would never,’ I gasp ripping the top from the shredded cheese, ‘I don’t have to cheat like some people.’

‘You are going to regret that.’

For the first time in the last few days we were both genuinely happy.