Morganville (Justin Bieber)

Chapter 125

The day went on quietly. I got out my books and spent part of the day trying to study, but I couldn't get my brain to stop spinning. Every few minutes, I checked my email and my phone, hoping for something, anything, from Amelie. You can't just leave us like this. We don't know what to do.

Except keep moving forward. Like Justin had said, we couldn't stay still. The world kept on turning.

Eve drove me to my parents' house in the afternoon, where I had cake and iced tea and listened to my mother's frantic flow of good cheer. My dad looked sallow and unwell, and I worried about his heart, as always. But he seemed okay when he told me he loved me, and that he worried, and that he wanted me to move back home.

Just when I thought they'd gotten past that . . .

I exchanged a quick look with Eve. "Maybe we should talk about that when things get back to normal?" As if they ever were normal in Morganville. "Next week?"

Dad nodded. "Fine, but I'm not going to change my mind, Ana. You're better off here, at home." Whatever spell Mr. Bishop had cast over my father, it was still working great; he was singleminded about wanting me out of the Glass House. And maybe it hadn't been a spell at all; maybe it was just normal parental instinct.

I crammed my mouth with cake and pretended not to hear, and asked my mom about the new curtains. That filled another twenty minutes, and then Eve was able to make excuses about needing to get home, and then we were in the car.

"Wow," Eve said, and started the engine. "So. Are you going to do it? Move in with them?"

I shrugged helplessly. "I don't know. I don't know if we're going to get through the day! It's kind of hard to make plans." I wasn't going to say anything, truly, I wasn't, but the words had been boiling and bubbling inside me all day, and as Eve put the car in drive, I said, "Justin said he loved me."

Eve hit the brakes, hard enough to make our seat belts click in place. "Justin what? Said what?"

"Justin said he loved me."

"Okay, first impressions--fantastic, good, that's what I was hoping you'd said." Eve took a deep breath and let up on the brake, steering out into the deserted street. "Second impressions, well, I hope that you two . . . um . . . how can I put this? Watch yourselves?"

"You mean, don't have sex? We won't." I said it with a little bit of an edge. "Even if we wanted to. I mean, he promised, and he's not going to break that promise, not even if I say it's okay."

"Oh. Oh." Eve stared at me, wideeyed, for way too long for road safety. "You're kidding! Wait, you're not. He said he loved you, and then he said--"

"No," I said. "He said no."

"Oh." Funny, how many meanings that word could have. This time it was full of sympathy. "You know, that makes him--"

"Great? Superbly awesome? Yeah, I know. I just--" I threw up my hands. "I just want him, okay?"

"He'll still be there in a couple of months, Ana. At seventeen, you're not a kid, at least in Texas."

"You've put some thought into this."

"Not me," Eve said, and gave me an apologetic look.

"Justin? You mean--you mean you talked about this? With Justin?"

"He needed some girl guidance. I mean, he's taking this really seriously--a lot more seriously than I expected. He wants to do the right thing. That's cool, right? I think that's cool. Most guys, it's just, whatever."

I clenched my jaw so hard I felt my teeth grinding. "I can't believe he talked to you about it!"

"Well, you're talking to me about it."