THE PAST // JUSTIN TRUDEAU

5 - 1993

Over the next three years Justin and I had a perfect relationship. We rarely argued and even if we did it was over whether my pale blue dress matched my black boots, or if Justin's red tie clashed with his baby pink shirt (which it did). When we weren't in class we spent every minute together, enjoying one another's company, going on dates and just being happy together. A year into our relationship Justin introduced me to his parents and younger brothers when we spent Christmas together. His dad was firm and a tough man but I saw his soft spot for his family, whereas his mum was kind and gentle, both of them accepting me into their family instantly. Justin's brothers Alexandre and Michael were easy to get on with and constantly teased Justin about me, which I also joined in with occasionally as I loved seeing him blush bashfully. All three boys showed me around their home town and we regularly went on days out together. The following year I took Justin to my family home for Christmas, where both of my parents gushed over Justin and told me how lucky I was to have a boy like him. I knew I was lucky, not many girls are. During Summer we travelled to exotic countries and learnt about new cultures. Both of us had a burning desire to travel around the world, meet interesting people and broaden our horizons and we got to do it together.

Now 21 years old we were facing the end of our third year of college and it was time to prepare for our final year. But I couldn't do it. History was always challenging and I'd been failing my exams, handing in work late and falling asleep in class. Every lesson was more confusing than the previous one and I recently had emotional breakdowns about it, Justin consoling and comforting me after each of them. I'd had many tearful phone calls with my parents about my future and what I wanted to do and I'd made the decision to drop out of college and spend the next few years travelling. I knew that Justin would be hurt by my choice to leave him but I had to do this for myself and I'd learnt the hard way that sometimes I had to put myself first.

We sat together on the small leather sofa in Justin's dorm room, watching the TV. I was snuggled into Justin's side and he had his arm slung around me, rubbing small circles on my arm. I had to tell him right now. If I left it any longer I wouldn't be able to tell him. I took a deep breath, mustering up all of my courage before saying, "Justin can we talk?"

"Of course De, what's up?" He replied and I sat up straight to face him.

"I have to tell you something Justin, but I need you to listen to me and hear me out and please don't be annoyed at me," I said already trying to fight back my tears.

"Okay De, you're making me worried now," Justin responded with an awkward laugh trying to ease the situation.

"I'm just going to say it, I'm leaving college."

I saw Justin's gorgeous smile fall and instead it was replaced with a confused frown, his eyebrows knitted together and his eyes stared deeply into mine. "What do you mean?" He asked, his voice now seemed emotionless.

"I can't carry on going to college, we have exams next year and I'm already failing, it's too late for me to try and change things, even my tutors said the same," I answered and took a hold of his hands, not wanting him to distance himself from me.

"Well I can help you study, we can-" I cut him off before he could finish.

"It's not worth it Justin, you need to focus on your studies not mine," I replied, slowly stroking my thumbs over his hands trying to calm him down.

"Well what will you do instead?" Justin asked me. His eyes were no longer confused and instead were concerned at what I had planned.

"I'm going to go travelling for a while. I need to go away and just clear my head before I decide to do anything else," I replied, and couldn't help but notice how Justin's eyes glazed over. God please don't cry, I won't be able to cope.

He began shaking his head and held tighter onto my hands. "You can't Delilah, you can't leave me. I barely have any friends here and you're the only person I have a real connection with, you can't just throw that away," he said, his voice starting to break as a few tears rolled down his cheeks.

"Justin your friends are amazing people and you always have time to meet new people. I'm not throwing our relationship away. I'll come and visit you as often as I can and I'll come home for Christmas and New Year and birthdays, but I have to go. I want to see the world and learn new things, I can't do that here," I said and the tears then rolled down my face. This was so much harder then I thought it would be.

"Can't you just wait for a year and we'll go together? We can go wherever you want love," he was practically pleading with me now but I just shook my head in response. "When are you leaving?"

"This weekend, I'm going to move back to my parent's house for two days and then I'm off," I replied and I saw the shook on Justin's face obviously not expecting me too be going so quickly.

"But that means I only have three more days with you Delilah," Justin said and now the tears streamed down his face as well as mine.

"I know, but we'll make the most of those three days, okay? We can do whatever you want Justin," I said and removed my hands from his, allowing me to wipe away his tears. He didn't say anything, just nodded his head instead.

The next three days were spent relaxing together. We went to an insanely posh restaurant, spent a day on the beach and cuddled in bed together watching films. Occasionally Justin would try to change my mind but to no avail as I had made my choice. I had to do this for myself, I needed to get away from college and just disconnect from life for awhile. Friday saw an emotional farewell with Justin before I left for my parent's home and then left Canada.

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A/N: Hey guys! Thank you so much if you've actually read this far and I hope you're enjoying the story so far! This is also my longest chapter so far which is crazy. So I decide to do a time jump because I want to actually get to the present day where Delilah returns to Canada and reunites with Justin, so the next few chapters will probably be over a few years. I'll try to make it clear but sorry in advance if it gets confusing.