Chapter 7: UNO
“I saw you on TV today.” I inform Justin with a smile.
“You did huh?” He replies, amusement in his voice.
“Yeah,” I say discarding a blue three. We’re just chillin’ on my bed playing UNO. I rock at this game by the way. We’ve played twice already and I kicked Justin’s ass both times. He claims to have let me win and he’s not gonna go easy on me this time. Right; let me quote my mom by saying, do I have stupid tattooed on my forehead?
Justin’s a riot though. I find myself constantly laughing whenever I’m with him; I love that he can make me laugh even when I feel like shit. It’s really amazing how things have turned around for us. I mean when I first met him I couldn’t stand him and now I don’t go a day without at least talking to him on the phone.
Weird.
“It was kinda weird.” I continue discarding a draw two card and getting a playful glare from Justin that I can’t help but giggle at.
“Why was it weird?” He asks, drawing his two cards.
“Well I don’t really think of you as famous, you know? You’re just…” I pause trying to gage the right words. “You’re just crazy, normal, Justin who smuggles me in Oreos and loves to play bored games; not a superstar.”
He laughs boastfully at that, tossing his head back in an exaggerated manor. I can’t help but laugh along with him, it’s contagious. “I’m glad you think of me like that, Zee.”
‘Zee’ is the nickname Justin invented for me. After I snapped at him for calling me Mack he came up with that saying that he gave all his friends nicknames so I shouldn’t even bother trying to get him to stop. Maybe I should come up with one for him.
“Mary Hart said you were planning to go on tour at the end of the month.”
“I was planning on telling you…”
He’s worried I’m upset with him; how cute! I giggle at him and toss down another of my cards announcing I have UNO and waving my single card in his face. He narrows his eyes teasingly and accuses me of cheating, which I of course deny. “So are you excited about the tour?”
“Yeah,” He says vaguely drawing a card and then dramatically discarding a draw four.
“You suck.” I sneer and draw my cards. “So that’s all I get, a yeah? I mean this is your first truly solo tour right? Your first tour was with Christina and now you’re on your own.”
“Yeah,” Justin sighs again folding his cards and dropping them in front of him as if giving up on the game. I mock his actions waiting for him to elaborate. “I’m nervous.” He runs a hand over his barely there curls, “This is like the true test for me. Last time I had Christina’s name to help headline the tour and get more ticket sales but this time it’s all up to me.”
“I’m sure you’ll do fine.” I reassure him giving his hand a squeeze. “Mary Hart was talking about how excited all your fans were and they anticipated it to be even better and bigger than your last.”
“That’s the problem,” He sighed yet again dropping my hand, “That’s a lot of pressure.”
“Justin, you have more than proven your talent with your last album. I’ll say it again and I’ll say it until I’m blue in the face, you have nothing to worry about.”
He is such a worry wart sometimes.
“So you liked my last album?” He asks timidly.
And I reach the fork in the road…do I tell him the truth or do I tell him what I think he’ll want to hear?
“Well,” I begin. He holds up his hand telling me to stop. “What?”
“Well means you didn’t like it.”
“I didn’t say that.”
“You implied it.”
I look at him incredulously, “All I said was well! You are acting crazy.”
“So first you criticize my music then you call me crazy?”
He acts like such a girl sometimes. I open my mouth to tell him just that when I notice the mischievous smirk on his face. I scoff at him and push him in the shoulder. “You are such a dork.”
“You love me anyway.” He smiles cheekily. “So what did you really think of my first album?”
“I liked what I heard of it.” I say slowly, choosing my words very carefully. “I heard Cry Me a River and Senorita. I really like Senorita.”
“You only heard two songs?” He asks disbelievingly. “I’ll have to get you a copy.”
“I don’t know if I want to listen to your whiny voice anymore than I already have to.” I tease.
“My whiny voice huh?” He tires to sound angry but he’s smiling way too widely to come off as believable. “You don’t have to listen to me. I’ll just leave right now and not come back.”
He gets up off the bed and makes his way towards the door. I’m too busy laughing to say anything. He is too crazy.
Once my laughter dies down I wait for him to come bursting back through the door telling me how he can’t believe I let him just walk out. I wait….and wait…..and wait.
I starting to panic and a sinking feeling enters my stomach. He wouldn’t really leave would he? Why isn’t he coming back in here? My breathing has picked up and I think I’m going to cry if he doesn’t get his butt back in here.
I’m gonna close my eyes and count to three and when I open them he’ll be standing here with a goofy smile on his face.
One….
Two….
Three….
“Justin!” I scream as tears start to flow. “Justin!”
He bolts into the room and rushes to my side pulling me into his arms. “I’m sorry Zee, I was just kidding,” He sooths running his hand up and down my back comfortingly. I know I’m over reacting but the thought him abandoning me like everyone else in my life has scares the hell out of me. I don’t think I could handle that; he’s all I have.
“I’m sorry,” I mumble in to his shoulder before pulling back to wipe my eyes. “You just scared me for a second. I though you really weren’t gonna come back.”
He smiles soothingly. “I was waiting for you to stop me. What took you so long anyway?”
I smile at his playfulness and pat the spot he occupied on my bed earlier. “Let’s finish our game so I can kick your scrawny butt.”
“Scrawny?” Justin rolls up his sleeve and flexes his right arm cockily. “Does this look scrawny to you babe?”
“Put that away muscle man and get back to the game.” I roll my eyes. “UNO!”
~*~*~*~
I’m leaving to start my tour tomorrow morning and I’m freakin’ out a little. It’s not because I’m afraid of disappointing my management team or my friends or family or even my fans. I’m worried about leaving Mackenzie.
My mind just keeps on rewinding back to that afternoon I walked out as a joke and she practically had a nervous break down. I mean this time when I leave I won’t be coming back for at least a month, most likely longer. She’s been doing so well lately with her physically therapy and I’m afraid that if I leave her she’ll resort back to her old ways when she wouldn’t get out of bed all day and closed herself off from all human contact.
I’m trying to stay positive, I really am. I know it doesn’t sound like it but I am. I try to tell myself that I’ll just make sure to call as much as I can or email or something and that’ll be enough. Maybe I’m overanalyzing the situation. I sure hope so.
“Visiting hours are almost over Mr. Timberlake.” Nurse Kate reminds me before she leaves the room. I gaze at Mackenzie sitting opposite me on her bed. She’s staring down at her legs clad in purple pajama pants.
“I guess we should get this over with huh?” She mutters sadly bringing her eyes to meet mine.
“What over with?” I ask naively as if I have no idea what she’s talking about. I know she sees right through me but she doesn’t say anything.
“The dreaded goodbye.”
“I’m gonna call you as much as I can.” She replies with a quiet, I know. “I’ll be back here annoying you before you know it.” Again she offers me a sad I know. “I’ll miss you Zee.”
She sniffles out a weak ‘I know’ before wiping her eyes. I hate to see her cry; it breaks my heart. Right now I’m about ready to cancel this tour and stay here with Mackenzie just to hear her laugh again.
“Mr. Timberlake,” Kate interrupts flashing me her watch. I nod and assure her I’ll be out in a minute. She disappears through the door and I move off the bed to stand beside Mackenzie.
“You think I can get a hug before I go?” I ask with a pout holding my arms open wide.
She looks up at me and her frown deepens. “You’re crying.”
I touch my hand to my cheek feeling the salty tears I hadn’t even realized had fallen. Saying goodbye to Mackenzie is a lot harder than I anticipated. “I guess I am.” I try to smile and pull her to me. We both cling to each other as though we’ll never see one another again.
Mackenzie gently wipes my tears with the pads of her thumbs after we pull back and whispers that she will miss me and that I better call.
Unable to take this sad farewell any longer I place a quick kiss on her forehead and start towards the door. I offer a small wave, which she returns and a wink before stepping out.
God, please let her be okay…
TBC.....(As always, please review!)
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