Morganville (Justin Bieber)

Chapter 5

Morning dawned bright and early, and I woke up to the smell of frying bacon. I stumbled to the bathroom down the hall, yawning, barely aware that I was scantily dressed in my extra-long t-shirt until I remembered. Shit, boys live here too. Luckily, nobody saw, and the bathroom was free. Somebody had already been in it this morning; the mirrors were still frosted with steam, and the big black and white room glistened with drops of water. It smelt, clean, though. And kind of fruity.

The fruity smell was shampoo, I found, as I lathered and rinsed my body under the warm water. When I wiped the mirror down and and stared at myself, I saw the patterns of bruises up and down both sides of my pale skin. I could have died. I had been so lucky.

I tossed the t-shirt back on, then dashed back to my room to dig out the panties I had recused yesterday from the washer. They were still damp, but I had to put them on anyway.

On impulse, I opened the closet, and found some old stuff pushed to the back, t-shirts, mostly, from bands I had never even heard of, a few I remembered as ancient. A couple of sweaters, too. I stripped off my bloodstained shirt and dragged on a faded black one, and, after thinking about it, left my shoes on the floor.

Downstairs, Eve and Justin were arguing in the kitchen about the right way to make scrambled eggs. Eve said they needed milk. Justin said the milk was for pussies. I padded silently past them, over to the refrigerator, and pulled out a carton of orange juice. I splashed some into a glass, then silently held up the carton for the other two. Eve took it and poured herself a glass then handed it to Justin.

"So" Justin asked. "Micheal didn't pitch you out"

"No" I replied before taking a sip of juice.

Justin nodded slowly. He was even taller and bigger than I remembered, and his skin was a tanned colour, he had clearly spent a lot of time in the sun. His hair had a bronze sheen to it too. Okay, he was fearfully hot. I wished I hadn't just thought that, but at least I hadn't said it out loud.

"Something you should know about Micheal" he said. "He doesn't like taking chances. I wasn't sure he'd let you stay. If he did, then he's got a good vibe off of you. Don't disrespect that because if you do, I won't be happy. Got it?" Justin almost threatened me.

Eve was silently watching, which I figured was a new experience for her, at least the not talking part.

"He's your friend, right?" I asked Justin.

"He saved my life" Justin said. "I'd die for him, but it'd be a pretty dumbass thing to do to thank him for it. So yeah. He's been my friend all my life, and he's more like a brother. So don't get him into trouble" he warned me.

"I won't" I said. "No milk in the eggs" I added.

"See?" Justin turned back to the counter and starting cracking eggs into a bowl. "Told ya"

"Traitor" Eve sighed, and poked at the frying bacon with a fork. "Fine. So how was Linda last night?" Eve asked Justin.

"Laura" Justin corrected rolling his eyes.

"Whatever. Not like I have to remember a name for more than one date, anyway" Eve argued.

"She bowled a one fifty" Justin said.

"God, you're such a disappointment, share already!" Eve whined.

Justin smiled tightly down at the eggs. "Hey, not in front of the kid, you got the note"

"Kid?" That hurt. I dropped plates onto the counter with a little too much force. "What note?" I asked.

Justin handed me over a folded piece of paper. It was short and sweet, and signed 'Micheal' and it told them I was underage, and that the two of them were meant to look out for me when I was in the house.