Love Yourself (JB+AG)

[6]

Justin

Wednesday, 5:50 pm

After cleaning up the bottle of pills, I'm scared to put them back in the cabinet, because I know she'll try it. We'll have to deal with it later, though, because I know she's crying, and Derrick wouldn't care to try and comfort her.

She's not in the bedroom, so I ask Nicole to check in the other rooms. She finds Ariana in the music room, sitting facing away from the door and towards the window.

"Thank you." I whisper to Nicole.

She nods, leaving me with Ariana.

"Ari? Are you okay?" I ask.

I walk across the room, stopping next to to the bay window she's sitting in.

"Fine. Why are you still here?" She replies.

"I'll let your attitude slide since I know you're upset. What's wrong?"

"Justin, you've asked me that like a million times. Do you honestly think I'm gonna answer you?"

"Not really. But it's worth a shot. I know you'll tell me eventually, if you trust me, which you obviously don't."
"I do trust you. Just not with certain stuff."

"What can I do to get you to trust me even more?"

"Well, I guess it would help if I knew more about you. I know we talked about the simple things, but we can go deeper."

"Ask me a question."

"I don't know. Do you have any siblings? Pets? Did you live with both of your parents?"

"Yes, yes and yes."

"Names?"

"Jazmyn is 8 and Jaxon is 6. I have a dog named Esther. Obviously, they're all back in Canada. My parents are Patricia and Jeremy. They have a nice relationship, I guess. It could be better, but it's whatever. Your turn."

"I have an older brother named Frankie. He's 10 years older than me. We don't have the same dad, but we have the same mom. My mom and dad are divorced. I've never had a pet, but I really love dogs. The end."

"Not the end. I have questions."

"I didn't ask questions."

"That's your fault." She giggles.

A smile.

"You said your parents owned a business together or something."

"Business is why they got a divorce. They both had controlling personalities and they just didn't work together." She shrugs.

We're both silent for a second before she breaks it.

"I know you can sing, but do you play any instruments?" She asks.

"I play the guitar."

"Cool. I play the piano. A little. Can you play something on the guitar?" She points to the guitar leaning against the wall.

"Like what?"

"A song. Duh." Ariana says.

"Yeah. Sure." She stands up, walking across the room to close the door.

"I don't want Derrick coming to complain that we're 'interrupting his precious game'." She says.

I chuckle, picking up the guitar. I think of a song while testing the guitar. I pick a song that I know Ariana could use. Something inspirational.

I play, and sing, What Makes You Beautiful by One Direction. She blushes the whole time, her face covered by her hands.

"That was amazing." Ariana says when I'm done.

I can see tears glimmering in her eyes, even though she's smiling. I know she's good at hiding emotions.

"Thank you." I put the guitar down, looking at her the whole time.

"Your turn." I say.

"For what?"

"You said you could play the piano."

"No, no, no! I said a little. I don't play the piano, I play with it." I smirk at her and she blushes.

"Stop!" She giggles.

"Come on. You can't be that bad."

It takes a little convincing, but finally, Ariana decides to play something. I sit next to her on the bench.

"You can do it, Ari. Just go for it."

"Don't fuckinf judge me." She says.

"I won't." I put my hands up in surrender and she nods.

Just as she's about to play the first note, the door opens and Derick walks in.

"What the hell are you two doing?" He asks.

"Minding our business. Go away, Derrick." Ariana says.

"Do you have something going on with my wife?" Derrick asks.

I fight the urge to roll my eyes.

"No, I do not. She was bored so we came in here."

He sends me a death glare, and I can almost see the fire in his eyes.

"Derrick, Justin obviously cares about me more than you. Leave us the fuck alone." Ariana says.

"What have you been doing to her?" I stand up.

"It's none of your business what I do with my wife." Derrick replies.

"Do you understand that she does not love you? Or even remotely like you?" He chuckles, walking closer to me.

I was a full inch or two taller than him.

"Listen here, buddy. Ariana is my wife, and I can do whatever I want with her. I suggest you stay out my business, and her's, for your sake." He says.

This pisses me off.

"She is not a fucking doll! You can't treat her however you want. She is a human being and she deserves as much love and respect as you. Maybe even more. What the hell are you doing to her?" Derrick is definitely taken aback by my sudden outburst.

He's silent for a second.

"Get the fuck out of my house." He mutters.

"You're tearing her apart." My voice was calmer now.

I was getting dangerously close to revealing Ariana's secret, but I couldn't help it.

Derrick looks over at Ariana. She's still sitting on the piano bench, but her face is covered. She's crying.

"I think it would be best if I left. Bye Ariana. I'm sorry." I take one last look at her.

She's so fragile, so easily broken. And I don't know what to do. I couldn't call the police because I didn't have enough evidence of anything. All I had was the pills and her injured face, but there was no proof that he hurt her. Only I knew that he did, and the police probably wouldn't care what I did or did not know.

I obviously couldn't ask her, because she didn't trust me enough. I had to change that. It was the only way.