For Better, For Worse (BWWM) | COMPLETE ✔

✔ Thirty Three: "It's going to be okay."

Justin

After the press conference, we hurried off to our hotel to catch a breather. It was quiet among us and I paced back and forth in front of the large window in the sitting area of my suite to gather my wits.

"Justin," My mom's voice soothed me, easing me out of my thoughts.

I looked at her and found she was walking towards me with a cup of coffee in her hands.

"Thank you." I tried to smile.

Liv was sitting quietly on the couch, staring into space, and I knew that she was still in a state of shock from everything that had happened today: the hounding of the paparazzi, questions being thrown at us from every direction, the press conference itself, and how hard it was to get back into the hotel with people being aware now of who we are. I knew that she wouldn't take it all in at once. I felt guilty for having shoved her into the deep end and I knew that I had a lot of making up to do later.

Scooter was still out doing whatever damage control he thought he had to do. We'd left him out at the hotel entrance where a bunch of story hungry paparazzi and media people were gathered.

"Liv, here's your tea." My mom was now at Liv's side.

Liv smiled softly and quietly thanked my mom before sipping on her tea.

I sighed and unfastened my tie.

This had had to be the hardest thing I'd ever had to do in my whole life. Walking through the crowds of people with cameras was much scarier than I remembered and I didn't know how I'd expected Liv to brave through that ordeal when she'd never gotten that much attention in her life.

Her phone had been ringing off the hook since leaving that press conference. She'd eventually switched it off to calm down too, I presumed. She'd been quiet since we got back and I very much wanted to calm her down and have a serious talk with her.

My mom went to get the door after someone had knocked a few times, and Scooter walked in with a small smile on his face.

"How did it go?" My mom asked him as he walked further into the room.

"It's going to take a bit of time, but I've said my part and the media is going to have a field day with what happened today."

"Isn't that a bad thing?" Liv asked, her voice cracking from her being quiet for so long.

"Bottom line is that the world will know that Justin is here-- alive and well-- by the end of the day. That's what we want, along with his side of the story."

Liv simply nodded her head then went back to sipping her tea.

"Justin," Scooter walked over to me. He placed his hand on my shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze. "It's going to be okay."

"I'm starting to regret this decision," I admitted truthfully, glancing at Liv.

"You gotta trust me on this one, buddy. I promise you, after this storm will come the calm."

I didn't know if I could believe that.

"Your royalties are coming in a couple of days," Scooter smiled, "after that, we need to get a song recorded and drop a single and then we're on our way."

I smiled a little too.

Here was my silver lining.

"Thanks, Scooter." I said.

He gave me a hug and reassured me that things would work out then he left us alone.

"I should go to my suite too," My mom said, "I need a lot of rest after what happened today."