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CHAPTER SEVEN

❝IF THERE'S SOMETHING YOU WANT TO TELL ME, SAY IT.❞

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Justin walked into the kitchen with his phone in his palm as he scrolled through his Instagram feed when he looked up to see Winnie at the kitchen table asleep on top of her laptop's keyboard.

Justin chuckled softly and shook his head as he walked over to the kitchen table and listened to Winnie's faint snoring for a moment and then sliding his phone into the pocket of his sweatpants.

Justin then hummed to himself and tilted his head in thought of how he'd wake Winnie up, just then a thought came to mind making him grin widely.

He rubbed his hands together and then took his right and lifted it as high as he could before forcefully bringing it down to bang on to kitchen table.

"Wake up!"

Winnie was scared so bad that she jumped and fell to the left and out of the chair with a sharp gasp and a loud thud making Justin snicker.

"You fucking asshole. . ."

Winnie groaned as the throbbing sensation formed in her left shoulder as she rose up from the floor to see Justin biting his bottom lip to prevent a laugh.

"Are you okay? I was just trying to wake you."

"I hate you so much."

"Oh, Winnie, that's not the morning spirit I was looking for!" Justin shouted out as he clapped his hands together making Winnie jolt again as she rubbed her tired eyes.

"I lost track of time. . .I was working on my book. All I know was so much was flowing and then I wanted some coffee. .so I came down here and crashed here."

Justin rose an eyebrow and opened the fridge and grabbed some orange juice and then proceeded to grab two glasses. "Don't you have a bedtime, Ms. Stone?"

"Don't you ever mind your business?"

"Oh, Winnie, it's my job to know everyone's business."

Winnie rolled her eyes and shook her head as she watched Justin walk up to her with the other glass of orange juice, she smiled and took it from his hold and thanked him.

Justin then sat down in the chair across from Winnie and watched her take a sip of her orange juice and start her laptop up as silence fell over them.

He took the opportunity to take his phone back out an scroll through Instagram again and check some of his Twitter feed while he was at it.

"So how was your date with—"

Justin stopped himself when he looked up to see Winnie resting her chin in the palm of her hand as it rested on the edge of the kitchen table.

Justin sighed softly and chuckled as he looked at Winnie. He got out of his seat and walked over to Winnie's side and picked her up and decided to take her upstairs to her bedroom.

Once he was upstairs, he kicked the door open with his foot and carried Winnie into her bedroom, the instant smell of that perfume he's smelled on Winnie before hitting his nostrils as he entered.

Justin bit his bottom lip softly as he gently placed Winnie down onto the mattress — only to have her moan in her sleep and grab onto Justin's shirt.

Justin creased his eyebrows and went to pull his shirt away only to have Winnie pull him closer by his shirt making him lie down in the bed with her.

"Winnie. . ."

Justin huffed and went to grab his shirt away again, only to have Winnie's grip tighten as she leaned into Justin and rested her tired body onto his toned chest.

Well this is awkward, Justin thought.

"Winnie. . .give me the damn shirt." Justin whispered softly into Winnie's ear once he pushed back her curls for her to clearly her him, yet it didn't work.

Winnie simply ignored Justin's request, she was too tired and in too deep of a sleep, Justin simply shook his head and huffed through his nostrils and made himself comfortable on Winnie's bed.

Justin took one glance down at Winnie and felt himself stop for a moment, this was the first time he'd ever been this close to Winnie — maybe it's better that she was asleep.

He simply looked over her features and he was instantly mesmerized by her beautifully and perfectly shaped face and how her skin flowed from the sun shining through her window and how her long black eyelashes curled perfectly upwards.

Before Justin knew it, he found himself growing sleepy once again and shut his eyes and let sleep take over.

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Winnie fluttered her eyes open slowly and sharply inhaled a breath of air as she looked down to see someone in her bed.

She creased her eyebrows and rubbed her eyes again and let her eyes adjust, and before she knew it, they were going wide as she saw Justin in her bed.

Winnie hopped up from her bed quickly and yelped as she hit the floor on her feet making a loud thud that woke Justin up and made him look around the room frantically.

Just then, he looked over to see Winnie looking at him as if he were a ghost in her own bed, he licked his lips and hopped up quickly. "Winnie, it's not what it looks like."

"What? What happened?"

"Well. . .for one you have the grip of a damn infant and two you fell asleep downstairs so I brought you up."

"So you just thought that was an invitation for a slumber party?"

"If all slumber parties are like that, then sign me up."

Winnie scoffed and shook her head as she took one of her pillows off her bed and threw it at Justin's face making him groan.

"I was joking."

"And I'm Beyoncé, now get out!"

Justin scoffed and creased his eyebrows. "No."

"No?"

"No. At least not until I get a thank you."

"You're unbelievable. . .thank you, asshole. Now, can you leave?"

Justin paused and rose an eyebrow. "Close enough, I'm gone!"

Winnie scoffed and crossed her arms over her chest and followed Justin to to door of her room, once he was out, she slammed the door behind her and puffed out a breath and slid down the wall slowly.

For some odd reason, seeing Justin sleeping in her bed next to her gave her this feeling she didn't know.

But she wanted it to go away.

And fast.

Just then, the sound of Winnie's phone made her crease her eyebrows and rise up from the floor and head over to her messy duvet and searched for her phone.

Winnie finally found it after a few seconds of searching and unlocked it to see she had a text from Jade making her open their messages to reply.

spill the tea, sis.

lol, what tea? it was just a date.

oh come on, did y'all do more than the date?

👀👀

you're crazy 😂 wanna come over?

sure, mama, i'll bring take out.

omg you are the goat. 🤧

lmaoo see you soon.

Winnie smiled and put her phone down back onto her nightstand and made her way to her bedroom door and opened it to head downstairs.

As she reached the last step, she heard the doorbell making her crease her eyebrows and head to the door.

Once she got to the door, she opened the door and came face to face with Iris — but this time her face was red and her cheeks were tear stained and black streaks from her mascara followed behind.

"Clown competition isn't for another month, doll."

"I don't have time for your jokes, Winnie. . .is Justin home?" Iris asked in a croak making Winnie sigh heavily and lick her lips as she stepped back into the house.

"Justin! You have. . .company."

Winnie then smacked her teeth and motioned with her head for Iris to come inside, she smiled weakly and stepped inside and let Winnie shut the door.

This is awkward, Winnie thought.

She simply pursed her lips and headed to the living room once she heard the sound of footsteps on the staircase, leaving Iris at the door.

Justin finally got to the last step on the staircase and slowed down his pace at the sight of Iris, he creased his eyebrows and walked up to her slowly as the tears started again.

"Iris, what's wrong?"

"J-Justin I didn't mean it, I swear. . ."

"What?"

"To act like a bitch! I-I really like you. . ." Iris stuttered our as Justin sighed softly and looked to the living room seeing Winnie sitting on the couch.

"Come with me."

Iris nodded and sniffed as she followed Justin up the staircase to his bedroom, once they were in his bedroom, he shut the door and headed to the bathroom.

He found a clean cloth and wet it in the sink and walked out to give it to Iris as she stood in the middle of the room holding herself.

"Thank you. . ."

"Iris. . .you can't just show up here like this."

"But—"

"Iris I really like you too, but I said I wanted to take a break."

Iris puffed out a breath as she slowly wiped her left cheek softly and then looked up to Justin. "Is this because of her?"

"Because of who?"

"Winnie."

Justin didn't answer. He did open his mouth to speak, but nothing came out, so he simply shut his mouth and placed his hands into the pocket of his sweatpants.

Iris scoffed and licked her lips softly as she wiped her right cheek and sniffed as Justin watched her finish up. "Iris—"

"Forget it. . .I thought coming here and confessing my feelings would make you reconsider."

"Iris. . .I think we both know there's more to consider about a relationship than just saying your feelings."

Iris sucked on her bottom lip softly and nodded slowly before passing Justin back the now dirty cloth making him take it slowly and watch her crease her eyebrows.

"I understand. . .then that's it?"

"No, just give me some time to figure things out, I promise."

Iris nodded and gave Justin a weak smile before turning around and heading out of his bedroom to make her way out of the house as quickly as possible.

Winnie followed behind and went to shut the door but stopped at the door when she saw Jade's truck headlights pulling into the driveway making her smile and wave.

She headed out and watched Iris take her keys out of her red leather jacket pocket, she bit her bottom lip softly and jogged over to her. "Iris!"

"What?"

"Can we talk?"

"We are now aren't we?"

Winnie sighed softly. "Look, I don't know why we have beef. . .but can we squash it?"

"And I'd wanna do that because?"

"Because we're both two adults who can settle the tension by talking it out."

Iris scoffed and opened the door to her car. "You're so clueless aren't you?"

"What?"

"Justin won't get back together with me because of you."

Winnie was taken back by her words, she didn't know why, but she felt this feeling in her stomach — almost like it was doing flips. She creased her eyebrows and shook her head and looked her in the eyes.

"What are you getting at? Justin doesn't—"

"Look, if you want to be oblivious to it, then so be it. . .," Iris murmured softly as she threw her hands up in defense and shook her head as she slid into her car. "I just won't be around to see him crawl back to me."

"But—"

Before Winnie could finish talking, Iris had slammed her door making Winnie jerk her head back and step back as Iris's car engine roared and she sped out of the driveway.

"Winnie?"

Winnie turned around to see Jade walking up to her with two bags in her hands making her weakly smile and walk over to take one out of her hands.

"Hey."

"You okay?"

"Of course, movie night?"

"Hell yeah." Jade spoke out as a wide smile came to her lips and her and Winnie stepped back into the house as Jade shut the door behind them.

Just when they walked back into the house, Justin came down the staircase making Winnie's heart thud as the two made eye contact.

"Winnie. . ."

"Can we talk?"

Justin creased his eyebrows but nodded as Winnie pursed her lips and walked over to Jade and gave her the bag back and told her she would be a minute.

Once Jade headed to the kitchen, Winnie followed Justin upstairs and into his bedroom, once he shut the door behind him, Winnie felt her palms getting clammy.

"What did you want to talk to me about?"

"I. . .I talked to Iris."

"Yeah, I saw from my window, everything okay?"

Winnie let out a nervous laugh. "I don't know, you tell me, Justin."

"What?"

Winnie pursed her lips and fiddled with her fingers but her eyes remained on Justin's as she walked a bit closer to him making his heart begin to beat faster.

"Justin. . .if there's something you want to tell me, say it."

Justin didn't speak. He just stared into Winnie's mesmerizing eyes that he was growing to love and unexpectedly licked his lips as Winnie watched the action.

Justin took a small step toward Winnie as he creased his eyebrows and momentarily looked at Winnie's lips.

Just as Justin went to bend down, the sound of Jade's voice made them snap out of their daze and step away from each other.

"I should. . ."

Justin scratched the back of his neck. "Yeah."

And with that, Winnie nodded and cleared her throat as she headed out of Justin's bedroom with her heart beating faster than what it should be as she headed down the staircase.

And that night, Winnie felt herself being extremely conflicted.

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