Chapter 2
Shannon woke up, taking a deep breath of the morning air. The aroma of a fresh cooked breakfast filled the room and she climbed her way out of bed. Staggering out to the kitchen, she is greeted by Chris’ smiling face. "Mornin’ girl!," he said cheerfully as he stirred some creamer into his coffee. She felt uneasy being around him sometimes. Before she was with Justin, she always wanted Chris but he never knew it. They tried making small talk while they waited for Justin to awake from his restless sleep. Minutes passed while they sat there waiting, Shannon staring into nothingness. She snapped out of her trance when she heard Chris’ voice filled with concern. "Is there something wrong with you and Justin? The two of you aren’t yourselves anymore." She tried to crack a smile as she shook her head. "Just stress is all." As she finished her sentence, a ragged looking Justin came into the kitchen. You could clearly see that he had been crying by the look in his eyes. Shannon hopped up and gave Justin a hug. The three sat down and had a quiet breakfast, hardly a word was said the whole time. Chris tried to make some small talk, but Justin just sat there, staring at the food sitting on his plate. Letting out a sigh, Shannon excused herself from the table, giving Justin a light kiss on the cheek. She turned to see him smiling slightly. All she wanted was for him to be happy again; for him to be the youthful, jovial musician she met backstage at a concert.
A few hours passed as she sat on the couch, staring at the TV screen. She was startled by arms being wrapped around her. Letting out a tiny yelp, she turned to see Justin standing behind her. He looked a little more like himself, but knew that he had to have been hiding a lot of his pain. "I’m going outside on the patio to catch some sun, want to join me?," he whispered in her ear. The sound of his voice always sent shivers up her spine. Rising up from the couch, she followed behind him, hand in hand, and out to the patio. They sat in silence for a good 15 minutes until a gentle sob came from Justin’s lips. She looked over with concern to see her boyfriend crying once again. She took her hand and placed it on his, and asked what was wrong. "I just can’t get the pictures out of my head. All I can see are crazed little girls chasing after me. It is just horrifying." He stared into her eyes, his amazing eyes twinkling as they always did, even if it was because of the tears he was shedding. "I just wish I could never go back. I just want to be normal. Have a job I could go to everyday, do things that normal men would do. I don’t want to worry about the next 12 year old girl that is going to grab my hair, or claw me to death. I just want to be....Justin, an unknown guy." Shannon’s eyes welled up with tears once again as she kissed him lightly on the forehead, bringing his head down to rest on her shoulder, allowing him to cry as he wanted. Bringing his head up, he looked at her deep in the eyes and began to say the words that he could never seem to form before. Any person could tell that he was thinking what he was going to say. Suddenly, he looks up, with a look in his eyes that she has never seen before, and he speaks out, "I love you so much. I never in my life thought that I would find someone so caring, let alone that I would find this person in a chance encounter. I’m so glad that you got backstage that day. If I would have never of met you, I don’t think I could make it. You make my life worth living, and I love you." Shannon’s tears came more forcefully as she pulled Justin to her, holding him tight, never wanting to let him go.
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