“Mom! There’s messages on the machine!” Justin yelled from the living room where the answering machine was to where his mom who was in the kitchen.
“If you wake your brothers up I’m will be so mad at you.” Lynn said through clenched teeth pointing at him as she got closer to him.
“Ok sorry. I forgot.” Justin said moving away from his mother.
“They need to stay sleeping they wake up you’re in trouble.”
“Ok ok.” Lynn pressed the play button on the answering machine. There were three messages. The first one was from Paul’s mother wishing them a Merry Christmas. The second one was Justin’s grandmother reminding them to bring a few folding chairs which didn’t make a lot of sense to do cause they were on their way there, so Paul had to go back home and get them. The third one almost made Justin fall off the armrest of the couch. It was JC.
Lynn looked at Justin and he sighed. “That was sweet of him to wish us a Merry Christmas.” Lynn said deleting all three messages. Justin’s heart stopped when the three disappeared into a zero. He was planning on listening to that again once his mom went inside. Just to hear his voice. Not hearing it in like three days was torture for him.
“Uh...yeah.” Justin choked out.
“Justin he really isn’t bad.” Lynn said looking down at her son. Justin smiled a little at her. “Just something about him touching you like that...”
“Mom he’s not.”
“But I’ve seen...”
“No you haven’t mom, ok.” Justin sighed again and stood up. “I don’t want to fight with you ok. It’s Christmas, we shouldn’t be fighting. But mom, if we were, you’d be the first to know. Ok?” Lynn nodded and walked closer to Justin and wrapping her arms around his waist and kissing his forehead.
“I love you.”
“I love you too mom.”
“Now go to bed. You want Santa to come right.” Lynn pushed him towards the stairs. Justin gave his mother a dirty look and she smiled. “Night honey.”
“Good night.” Justin smiled and ran as quietly as he could up the stairs.
*****
Justin and Britney walked into Justin’s house and went into the living room. Justin collapsed on the couch and Britney sat down next to him.
“This has been the worst and longest two weeks of my life!” Justin complained.
“It has not been two weeks.” Britney shook her head.
“Well almost.”
“Oh come on Justin you’re making Christmas so crappy this year.”
“Britney it is a shitty Christmas this year, Josh isn’t here.”
“Justin you don’t have to bring everyone down on the Christmas spirit with you though.”
“Well... I haven’t talked to him since he called when he was at the hotel.”
“He did call on Christmas Eve though.” Britney reminded him.
“Yeah but I missed it and he was supposed to call me back but he never did.”
“Justin, he is not your boyfriend. And even if he was he is entitled to have a life and spend Christmas with his family. And if you do not shut the hell up I am going to Christina’s for New Year’s and you’ll have to celebrate your Joshless New Year all by yourself.” Britney said and crossed her arms over her chest. Justin sighed and looked at her from the corner of his eye. Britney noticed and grabbed a pillow and hit him with it.
*****
“Brit, do you mind if I go and take a quick shower?” Justin asked.
“No go ahead.” Britney told him making herself comfortable on Justin’s bed. “I told her we’d be there at two. It’s only twelve.”
Justin nodded his head and walked out of his room and walked towards the bathroom. His mom was walking out of Stephen’s room and closing the door behind him. He threw a temper tantrum and bit Jonathon really hard and drew blood so he was being punished by staying in his room for fifteen minutes. “Mom. I’m taking a shower.”
She nodded. “Don’t take too long... Britney’s here, isn’t she.”
“Yeah. She’s in my room.” Lynn nodded. “So if anyone calls for me, can you give her the phone?” Lynn nodded and walked towards the stairs.
*****
“You’re freaking pathetic.” Britney groaned as she watched Justin pace back and forth in the living room of Christina‘s house as she waited for Christina to come downstairs. “Will you sit down already Justin?!” Britney yelled.
“No... what if he called? Then that’s gonna be the third time.” Justin got even more frustrated. “I shouldn’t have come.”
“Oh my God Justin will you stop or I’m sending you to China and you’ll never see your precious Josh again.”
“You send me there and Josh will come and get me.”
“Ha! You think he’s come and save you from a far away country and weird country? But you don’t think he likes you?” Justin nodded. “You’re mind works in scary ways.” Justin shrugged. “Oh wait... it doesn’t work at all.” Britney smiled at him and Justin reached over and threw a pillow at her. She grabbed it and started hitting him with it.
“Hey. That’s not fair.” Justin grabbed another pillow and started hitting her with it as well. She grabbed the pillow from him and started hitting him with both of them. Justin knelled on the couch and began tickling her.
“Stop! Justin stop.” Britney begged in between laughs from the tickling. “Stop!” Justin continued to tickle her getting all the places he knew she was the most ticklish in. “If you don’t.” She took a breath. “I’ll tell Josh...” He still didn’t stop. “...That you like him.”
Justin stopped and sat up on the couch and stared at her. “You wouldn’t do that.”
“Now that you stopped I won’t have to.”
*****
“You coming with us Chris?” Britney asked.
“No, my mom wants me to stay here.” Christina said. “Why are you leaving so early though?”
“He wants to leave.” Britney pointed to Justin and he just rolled his eyes.
“My mom wants me home by five.”
Britney shook her head no at Christina and then looked at Justin and laughed. “Liar.”
“I am not.” Justin started walking towards the front door. “Come on already.”
“Fine.” Britney groaned and pushed him when she got close enough to him.
Justin turned around and pushed her back. “Bite me.”
“Give me your finger... I will.”
“You guys...” Christina shook her head and laughed. “No words for you two.”
“See ya next year Chris.”
Christina laughed. “Yeah next year. Bye guys.”
*****
“I’m not gonna see him until next year. That’s a long time.” Justin whispered looking over at Britney as they were driving down the street away from Christina’s house.
“Justin next year is in...” Britney looked at her watch. It 5:30. “Like 6 hours.”
“Well...”
“You’re telling him.”
“No I’m not.”
“Yes you are. It’s new years... confessions.”
“I’m not telling him Britney.”
“Why are you being so difficult about it?”
“I’m not.”
“Yes you are.”
“No.”
“Justin I’m just gonna write in permanent marker on your freaking forehead that you love him.”
“And I’ll write that you love Wade on yours.”
“He already knows I like him.”
“Then why aren’t you going out?”
“Cause he’s with that skank Nicole from your math class.”
“Her?”
“Britney nodded and sighed. “Yup.”
“You could see her thong her skirts so short.”
“Bitch.”
Justin nodded. “When did he start dating her?”
“Who knows?” Britney looked out the window and a few seconds later she looked back at Justin. ”You’re gonna tell him.”
“Britney come on please stop... I am not telling him. Well...maybe when I’m twenty.”
“And then it’ll be too late.”
“Shut up.”
“You.”
*****
“10!”
“9!”
“8!”
“7!”
“6!”
“5!”
“4!”
“3!”
“2!”
“1!” Everyone yelled as they stood in the kitchen of Justin’s house watching the ball drop. It was now 2002! They all toasted their glasses and sipped their champagne.
“Eww gross this stuff taste like crap.” Britney grimaced and spit the liquid back into her glass.
“Haha.” Justin laughed at her. Britney shuddered. “Not sixteen, you get non-alcoholic.”
“You’re not sixteen.” Britney pointed out.
“Well I will be in thirty days.”
Britney rolled her eyes. “No fair.”
“Sucks for you.” Justin smiled at her as the phone rang. He looked around his mom was busy hugging and kissing his relatives and wishing them a Happy New Year and Paul was explaining to Jonathon that kids weren't allowed to drink alcohol. He reached for the phone.
“Hello.”
“Hey Jus.”
“Josh!” Justin said excitedly.
JC laughed. “Happy New Year.”
“Yeah, Happy New Year.”
Britney looked over at Justin. “JC?”
Justin nodded. “You never called me back on Christmas.”
“Yeah I know... I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay...”
“Hold on.... WHAT?” JC yelled. Justin could hear people talking in the background but he couldn’t make out who was talking or what they were saying. “I’LL BE OFF IN A MINUTE. TYLER TELL HER I’LL BE RIGHT THERE.... I’LL BE UP IN A SECOND!” Justin could hear the annoyance in JC’s tone of voice. “Ok sorry Jus.”
“That’s ok....”
“I’m leaving tomorrow, so I’ll see you Wednesday at school.”
“How was your Christmas?”
“Jus I gotta go. My mom’s yelling at me.”
“I thought that was Tyler?”
“She yelled at him to come and yell at me.”
“Oh.”
“So I’ll see you when I get back. Tell everyone I said Happy New Year. Bye.”
But before Justin could say anything back he hung up. “Yeah bye.” He whispered to the dial tone and slammed the phone down.
Britney noticed the anger and sadness in Justin's face and walked over to him to see what was wrong. “What happened?”
“Nothing!” Justin threw his glass of champagne in the sink. He didn’t even know if it broke or not.
“Justin?” One of his relatives looked at him.
He shook his head and ran towards the stairs. He looked back down and then ran up the stairs slamming his bedroom door behind him knocking off a picture from the wall.
