| "I will Jace, yes, no don't." She threw herself onto the hotel bed, starting to regret calling JC at all. Suddenly her ears perked up at the sound of Justin's voice in the background. "Is that Jaden? Tell her the PDA is hers, I will send it to her. I have no use for it." Justin lifted the object off the counter, studying it for a brief second then replacing. "Jace, I have to go, call me when your show is over." She hung up without any objections, wishing Justin would have acted the way he did in a city they weren't staying four days in. Searching through her bag, she grabbed some clothes, then settled into a hot bath. Where she slept until a light knock at her door woke her, beckoning for her to acknowledge the person on the other side. "Just a second." She called, pulling a robe around her as she made her way to the door. "Hi." He said, watching her for any sign that she didn't want him to be there. "Hi." She threw the door open, retreating to the bathroom to change into some appropriate attire. "You forgot this." Justin set the PDA on her bedside table, looking over the beautiful room. In the living room was a large bath tub, which was full with water and bubbles, a queen size bed, a fireplace in one corner, and windows that looked over the lit city. "Thanks." She walked out off the bathroom, looking to the table to see what he had set there. "You keep that." "No, I got it for you." He took a seat at the computer desk in the room, receiving odd looks from Jaden while she thought of a way to get him out. "Ok, fine, but shouldn't you be at the hotel sleeping? You have a long day tomorrow." "I wanted to talk to you." His eyes followed her to the bed, where she took a seat, anxiously looking at Justin. "Talk, and hurry, I have some things to do in the morning." "What are you doing tomorrow?" He delayed his speach, curious to know what plans she had made in one day. "I have some calls to make, I think I will be joining another tour for Johnny, as a stylist. Then I have some other errands to run and a dinner date." "Who are you having dinner with?" He stood, pacing from the desk to the tub, waiting for her words to reach his ears. "An old friend." She ran her finger over the design on the bed spread, enjoying seeing him jealous. Little did he know it was just an old friend she had gone to high school with who was currently living in town. "Oh, what errands do you have to run?" "Justin, you didn't come over here to talk to me about errands and dinner dates, what do you need?" She stood ready to dismiss him at the first chance, while he looked to his feet for the words to say. "Jaden, I am so sorry. I knew I did something wrong, and I guess I took it out on you." Suddenly, his eyes jerked up to meet hers, wanting the acceptance of her smile once again. "Thank you for apologizing Justin, I really appreciate it. But I do have to get up early so I'll have to ask you to leave." She pointed to the door, proud of the courage she had built up to resist him. "What?" He bridged the gap between them, letting his lips fall close to hers. "I have to get up early." She clarified, taking a few steps back, while keeping her hand held out to the door. "Jaden, I just apologized." Stuttering, he looked at her in disbelief that she hadn't jumped into his arms for a reunion kiss the minute the words left him mouth. "I know, and I appreciate it." "But, we're supposed to.." He trailed off, not sure how to communicate to her that she was doing this all wrong. "Supposed to what? Walk off into the sunset hand in hand? Not this time, Justin. Time and time again I have forgiven you, and everytime it takes a little off the top of my heart. This time was the final straw, it's over. Friends is fine with me, but we will never be lovers again. My heart can't stand up to that, you are just too much for it to handle." She held her hand out for him to shake it, watching as the realization of what she had said sunk in, causing his face to turn from confused to hurt. "But...I love you." Taking another step closer, he reached out for her face. Only to have her quickly pull it from his reach, keeping the cold glare she had had the whole time. "I love you, too. And I always will, I just can't deal with the drama that comes with loving you." "Jaden, this isn't right. You have to forgive me." Blue eyes staring deep into hers, he felt the tears making thier way to release. "Just because I always have before doesn't mean I have to now. Third strike and your out." She closed her eyes to wash away the horrible picture of the tears falling down his cheeks. "Wow, I guess that's it. We're friends again." He took her hand in his, shaking it quickly then slinked from the room, wondering if he could ever get her to reconsider. --------------------------------------------------Three Weeks Later--------------------------------------------------------- "Hey how's the tour?" Jaden's familar voice greeted him, as he pulled the cell phone to his ear. "Great, yours?" Justin crawled into his bunk for some privacy, glancing at the bunk that had once been Jaden's, before tearing his eyes from it to concentrate on the conversation. "Great, how are the guys?" "The usual, I talked to JC today." He heard her breath catch, it was true. She had met a guy on the other tour, just like JC had tried to carefully explain to him. "So the two face told you, huh?" She tried to keep the mood light, as she attempted to draw Justin's face in her mind. "Yeah, so who is he?" "You don't want to hear about it Justin, I wouldn't want to hear about your new girlfriends." "So he's your boyfriend?" It was all falling apart, he had been sure with some time apart she would come running back to him, not to another guy. "No, our tour ends next week, yours?" "Day after tomorrow is the last day for us. Does he live in Orlando?" Sizing up his competition was becoming a hard task, Jaden and JC both refused to give any details. "No, Justin, please stop." "Jaden, I am your friend, you are supposed to tell me stuff like this." "Justin, you are my friend, and I don't want you to go through this, so I choose not to tell you these things." "So how long have you been seeing each other?" Justin persisted, growing angry at the fact that she was with another man. "Not long at all, maybe two three dates." She relented, growing weary of the ongoing battle. "Hmm, is he good to you?" "Yeah, opens my doors, walks me to my trailer, a real gentleman." She rolled her neck, ready for anything he had to say. "That's great, I hope he can make you happy." It was all getting too hard, he decided it was time to give in, let her move on, and try to do the same. "Thank you Justin." "Your welcome. I better go, see you in Orlando." "Yeah, you too. Bye bye." "Bye." He resisted the urge to throw his cell phone from the bus window, setting it to the side instead. |
| Chapter Twenty Four |