Ch. 3 - Cali, Baby

~ Chapter 3: Cali, Baby ~

[ Justin’s POV: ]

“Rise and shine!” I heard a voice shout before feeling a light hand slapping my cheek.

I groaned, turning away from the source that had woken me up, dragging a pillow along with me to cover my head with.

“Justin, you need to get up,” the voice said, and it took a few seconds for me to process it as Kenny.

“Go away,” I murmured, my eyes closed as I relaxed into the mattress. “It’s too early for this.”

“We need to catch a plane and remember that we’re heading to California for a vacation, not to torture you,” he chuckled, shaking me. “Now get up.”

“No,” I said firmly.

“Yes.” I could picture him rolling his eyes before he began shaking me harder.

“No!” I said, louder this time.

“Justin,” he whined, “We need you to get up.”

“Too bad,” I muttered, my voice coming off muffled due to the pillow that covered my head.

“Just get up. It’s not that hard,” Kenny prompted, finally letting go of me. I didn’t reply, waiting for sleep to take over once more. I heard Kenny sigh before walking to the end of the bed. “Don’t make me get Scooter.”

“Scooter doesn’t scare me,” I said.

“Fine,” he mumbled. “Then I’ll just force you out of bed.”

I ignored his remark, not thinking he’d do anything about it before I felt two hands grab both of my feet and I began to slide down towards the end of the bed, where Kenny was pulling me from.

“Nooo,” I dragged out the word, grabbing the sheets in front of me to fight from his grip, but failing epically. Kenny then managed to pick me up over his shoulder and exit the room, carrying me down the hallway as I fought against the grasp he had on me. “Let go off me,” I groaned.

“Gladly,” he smirked, putting me down on what I now noticed was the bathroom. “Now take a shower and get dressed.”

“You little…” I trailed off, glaring at him. He laughed, eyeing me before giving me an amused grin.

“Nice boxers,” he chuckled, exiting the bathroom and leaving me confused. I looked down at myself, noticing I had only slept in my boxers, as I have accustomed myself to doing every night nowadays, and blushed when I saw I happened to be wearing my spongebob boxers.

I rubbed my eyes in slight frustration and started the shower, slipping off the one undergarment covering my body and stepping in, letting the water run through every inch of my skin. My tense muscles immediately calmed and I lowered my head, letting the water wash over my hair before getting a bottle of shampoo.

As I massaged my scalp to clear it of its dirty particles, my head ran a billion thoughts through my brain and I began thinking about everything that’s been going on in my life. My heart clenched as I remembered the days where I was younger, ones where I wasn’t famous yet and ones where I was, but everything was much more simple. I then began to think about my fans, which I hadn’t done in a while, with all the stress I’ve been handling. I didn’t know if they were proud or disappointed in me. It hurts to think they’d doubt me or leave me and I’d do anything to make things right with them once more.

Then there’s the obvious problem that is the media. The thing I don’t like is that I hate their guts, but I have to be the fucking bigger person and brush them off like their actions aren’t affecting me as a person and as an idol. My career is something they want to just step over and smash with every inch of their foot as if I’m some disgusting bug that had crawled into their home.

I’m only 19 and I’ve already accomplished more than they’ll ever accomplish by the time they’re 40. But maybe that’s why they hate me so much. I just don’t understand why. And I don’t know why I’m even letting them get to me. I haven’t been myself in days, and I’m sick of it. First it was because of my break up with Alicia, but the media are adding on to that stress. My heart’s just unstable at the moment and there’s nothing I can do about it. Maybe a break in California is the perfect thing for me right now. At least, no matter how things seem, Scooter really does care about me and he’s noticed my personality change and that I need to reconsider my actions lately.

And then there’s Jackie.

A simple, normal, everyday, average girl who just so happens to be my fan. Even if she was dying inside when she met me, I respect her for the calm demeanor she put up with me and the way she treated me like a normal guy she just bumped into at a hotel. She freaked out for like 3 seconds when she met me, and instantly calmed herself, which I can imagine takes a lot of guts to accomplish. I truly hope yesterday wasn’t the last time I’ll ever see her. And I’m going to make sure that happens since I’ve got her number now.

“Justin, are you in there?” Scooter’s voice snapped me from my thoughts. I stepped out of the shower and dried myself with a towel before wrapping it around my waist.

“Yeah, I’m almost done,” I called back. Picking up a toothbrush, I slid toothpaste across the brush before sticking it to my teeth.

“Alright, don’t take long. We still have to catch that flight,” he reminded me, and I tried to reply but it didn’t come out right because of the toothbrush in my mouth.

“I knoashghs, I’m beiegnaigi ash fasht ash I cagn.”

“What?”

I spat into the bathroom sink, washing my mouth with water before splashing some on my face.

“I said I’m being as fast as I can,” I clarified before rolling my eyes and opening the door, revealing Scooter’s face staring at me in confusion. “’Scuse me,” I maneuvered my way around him and into my room to get properly dressed.

Before I knew it, I was sitting on a van as the crew and I made their way to the airport to catch the plane to California.

----

“It’s Cali, baby!” Fredo screamed as he danced around under the Californian sun. I grumpily shoved past him, dropping about a million luggages that I carried from the van.

“You don’t mind helping me out here?” I mumbled irritably.

“Nah, it looks like you got it,” he winked, and I shot him a deathly glare, causing him to roll his eyes. “I’m kidding!”

Leaning down, he picked up some of the luggages I had dropped and Kenny helped us carry them inside the hotel. Both Scooter and Kenny were staying in a different hotel room while Alfredo and I were going to share one of our own.

Once we got a couple of things settled in, Fredo turned to me with a cheeky grin on his face.

“So,” he clapped his hands together before rubbing them, “What are we going to do first?”

“First?” I asked, scratching the top of my head.

“We could hit the beach but that wouldn’t end well,” he narrowed his eyes at the realization.

“Fans don’t even know I’m here yet,” I reminded him.

“But they will when you arrive casually at a public beach,” he sighed, throwing himself on the couch. I was about to say something when my ringtone interrupted me, my phone vibrating violently inside my pocket. I took my phone into my hands and saw the called I.D, a smile creeping upon my lips.

“My man,” I answered, a playful tone in my voice.

“Bieber!” Lil Za screamed happily. “It’s about time you picked up your damn phone.”

“I’ve had stuff going on nonstop lately,” I said, plopping down next to Alfredo on the couch.

There was a pause on the other line before Za spoke again. “Yeah, you’re top news on every tabloid and celebrity gossip site,” he murmured.

“Go figure,” I rolled my eyes.

“Well, where you at bro? I need to hang out with my boy.”

“I just arrived here in Cali, taking a break from all the bullshit and stuff,” I shrugged.

“Cali? What part?”

“None other than L.A,” I smirked.

“Really? Twist and I are here at Santa Barbara,” he said. “Why don’t we all do something tomorrow? We’d all be at Los Angeles by then.”

“Swaggy,” I grinned. “Sounds dope. Are we hitting the clubs?”

“You know it. We ‘bout to get turned up,” he laughed. “Now, I gotta go. Just wanted to have a quick chat with you to make sure you were still alive.”

“Gee, thanks,” I muttered, a tint of sarcasm in my voice.

“You know what I mean,” he snorted. “See you.”

“Bye.”

[ Jackie’s POV: ]

“Jackie!” my best friend threw herself at me, hugging me before I even got the chance to walk inside.

“Robin!” I hugged her back, causing her to giggle. She then pulled away and looked straight into my eyes.

“Where have you been, girl?! I thought you were supposed to come over yesterday,” she scolded, letting me inside the house before shutting the door.

It was actually Robin’s grandparent’s home, but the only reason Robin and her mother was here was to visit them just like she does every year. My parents occasionally let me tag along about a week after they arrive at England. But before I came here, Robin told me her parents went out with her grandparents and she wanted to stay behind to greet me.

“I know,” I sighed, sitting on the love seat across from the television. “I got caught up with something.” I couldn’t help the smile that was forming on my face, my heartbeat still unstable from what happened yesterday.

How the hell was I able to act so normal around him? Around the Justin Drew Bieber, the guy I look up to more than anything in this world.

“Caught up with something? What kind of excuse is that?” she crossed her arms at me, eyeing me suspiciously. “Did you meet a boy?”

I didn’t say anything. Instead, I avoided her gaze while biting down on my bottom lip.

“Oh my god,” her eyes widened. “You met a boy, didn’t you?”

“No!” I quickly countered. “I mean… Yes… Kind of.”

“Kind of? Was he a man-woman?” she asked, her voice interested as she waited for my reply.

“What?! Ew, no! He was much better than a man-woman,” I scrunched up my nose in disgust.

“What’s his name?” she smiled.

“Justin.” I felt my heart skip a beat as I said his name out loud.

“Justin? Ooh nice name. It sounds like Justin Bieber,” she joked, sitting on the chair across from me.

“But…” I trailed off. “It was Justin Bieber.”

She froze, her jaw dropping as she looked at me in shock. “You’re lying…”

“No, I’m not,” I smiled lightly. “He gave me his number.”

“How’d you two meet?”

“Your friend Sara told me to wait for her at the hotel he happened to be staying in and I ran into him. He spilled my coffee all over me,” I laughed.

“You’re lying…” she repeated.

“I can prove it!” I said with determination. “Do you want me to ring him up? He told me not to be shy and that I can message him anytime. He even said we could hang out sometime, when I return back home. He left for California today.”

“Fine, then call him,” she challenged.

“I will,” I stuck my tongue out at her and pulled my phone out, scrolling through my contact list. When I found the name Justin Bieber on the list, I did a double take, not used to the fact that I actually have my idol’s phone number. Tapping his name, the phone dialed his number and I put it on speaker so that Robin could hear it was really him.

“Hello?” he answered, sending butterflies to my stomach. I can’t believe he actually answered me.

“Justin?” I asked, smiling up at Robin, whose face was just priceless.

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Picture of Justin and Lil Za on the side —>