Lani

He was a Timberlake; he was part of the family that my family despised. I should have seen the signs that were there. Whenever he was in my room he was always so fascinated with the family pictures on my walls, what Timberlake wouldn’t be? And that weird look he gave that man in my house was not a look of terror, more like a ‘what the fuck is going on look’. I brought him around my family, twice, why didn’t they notice the similarities? Okay, maybe he doesn’t even look like his dad, but my uncles are usually really good at telling who belongs to what family if they’re in the ‘businesses.

I couldn’t even think straight once Dom and Justin left the waiting room, can you blame me? When Gianni stepped off of the elevator with my Uncle Tony and Uncle Sal the only thing I could do was cry, my mind went numb at that point. Gianni and I sat around for hours talking about the good times we had with my dad, as if he were going to die, until I saw Justin walk back up to his dad’s room, with a mournful look on his face.

“Isn’t that Justin?” I looked across the room at my Uncle Tony.

“Yeah.”

“What is he doing here?”

“His dad is here.” Everyone in the room, except for Dom, plastered this confused look on their faces until Uncle Sal got the hint.

“Oh shit, are you kidding me?”

“No, I’m not.” He walked over to me and crouched down in front of the chair I was curled up in.

“I’m sorry Principessa; I know how much you like him.” I didn’t respond, and everyone got the picture that I didn’t want to talk about it anymore. For the remainder of the time we were in the hospital Justin was not mentioned at all.

Phone calls kept coming in from people associated with my dad, but they went ignored. Those annoying ass buzzing phones weren’t the only things ignored though, no one had been in to talk to my family about my dad’s condition since we had gotten there. We were all getting frustrated and worried because hours had passed by and there had been no sign of a doctor or a nurse to tell us what was going on.

Not knowing anything only made the crying worse. I didn’t think I had been that loud until I saw a teenage male poke his head out of the door Justin went into earlier. When he saw me look at him he quickly went back inside and Justin came out a few minutes later, with his head down, walking right past us again. I made the excuse that I needed to go get something to eat and went to look for him. I know I should have stayed away, but I couldn’t. I found him at the end of a long hallway on the floor, sitting with his back to a wall with his head buried in his hands.

“Hi.” He didn’t even pick his head up to look at me, but he knew who it was.

“You shouldn’t be here with me.”

“Nobody cares and they wouldn’t find us down here if they did.” I sat down against the wall across from him and just stared at a paint speckle on the tiled floor.

“How is he?” For the first time since we’ve been at the hospital we made eye contact.

“I don’t know.” I hadn’t even realized more tears had started to fall until a few dripped onto the top of my sweatpants.

“No one has told you anything?”

“I haven’t seen a doctor since I’ve been here. All I know is that he got shot twice, and that’s only because Carmine was there.”

“I’m sorry Melania, I really am.”

“Have you known all along Justin?”

“Known what?”

“Have you known about my family this whole time?” I saw a look of shame wave over his face before he spoke.

“I’ve known since the first day at your apartment. I’ve never told anyone though if that’s what you’re concerned about. Like I told you, I just met my father a few years back so I don’t really get involved with what he does.”

“But your family knew about…” I couldn’t really say us because there was no us.

“They knew about me being close with you only because of the day that guy broke into your apartment. I don’t, and haven’t told them anything else.” We sat in silence for a few minutes before he crouched in front of where I was sitting and pulled me to my feet. I didn’t expect him to wrap his arms around me and pull me into a hug, but he did.

“I’m so sorry about what I said last night. I was drunk and mad and you weren’t returning my phone calls all week. I wanted to explain what happened outside of my building and then I saw you and Dominic kissing…” He stopped talking when I wrapped my arms back around his waist, almost as if he were surprised.

“I haven’t been thinking about it, and besides I think we have bigger problems now.” Before I knew what was going on he bent his head down to kiss me, and I didn’t stop him until a few seconds later.

“Bye Lani.”

“What?” But he didn’t answer. He turned around, back down the hallway we had come from without even a glance back. That was the last time that I spoke to him that day, or for a while for that matter.

I should have hated him for everything that I’ve been through in the past couple months. I should have told him off when I found him on the floor. I should have been so mad that I caused a big scene in the hospital.