Chapter 10: Enough is Enough
Justin awoke the next morning not feeling any better than he did last night. His head was pounding furiously due to the fact that he didn't get much sleep. Celeste's tear stained face as she walked away from him was etched in his mind.
Justin realized that in trying to defend himself and make a point he only made the situation between him and Celeste much worst. He didn't know that she would start crying when he repeated her own words back to her. In fact, he suspected that she would laugh it off with a fiery comeback.
Hearing a sound, Justin quickly slid off the bed and toward the door. He opened his bedroom door and peered around the apartment.
The doorknob rattled again putting Justin at a state of unease. "I'm not in the mood for this." He grabbed the bat by his door on instinct.
The door opened wide and revealed a man in a hooded sweater. Justin stormed toward the intruder with bat in hand ready to swing.
Kyle pulled his hood down off his head just in time to miss Justin's deadly swing. "What the hell!" He stepped inside the apartment to see the hole Justin had rooted into the wall.
"I hope you have the money to pay for that." Kyle smirked as he brushed past a stunned Justin.
At that moment Celeste charged into the room dripping wet from an interrupted shower with only a loose towel to cover her naked frame.
Justin couldn't tell if she was shaking because she was wet and freezing or because she was frightened. Perhaps it was both.
For one it was cold enough in his barely heated shit hole of an apartment. And two, the metal bat beating against the wall sounded like a gunshot. That would scare the hell out of anyone.
"What happened?" Celeste mumbled as she rocked back and forth on the balls of her feet. If she had never been more embarrassed in her life, the time was now. Not only did Justin have the privilege of humiliating her last night, but as she stood before him and his friend Kyle she couldn't help but wonder what was going through his mind.
"Um…" Justin gulped as he wondered if she knew that all she had on was a towel. Her apple cinnamon scent sailed into the room behind her as he surveyed her damp locks resting on her shoulders and the wetness of her skin.
"Go put some clothes on Celeste." Justin said softly for fear that he would upset her again.
Celeste looked toward the hole in the wall, "I wanted to know what happened."
Justin looked toward Kyle to see him openly staring at Celeste. "Celeste…" His voice dragged off as he started toward her.
Celeste stepped back when she saw him coming, before she had time to wonder what he was going to do, Justin had grabbed her arm and pulled her into the bathroom. He closed the door behind them.
"What do you think you were doing?" His critical glare caused her to shiver slightly.
"I hope you don't have a habit of parading around in only a towel. And if you do I find that very hard to believe since you've never been kissed, which means no one has ever seen you naked. Am I right?" Justin wanted to regret his statement as soon as it left his lips even though he knew it was the truth. The look on her face told him that she was not humiliated, but hurt.
"Celeste I'm-" Before he had the chance to apologize Celeste's hand came across his face. Justin winced at the sting of her forceful slap. He tightened his hand into a fist refusing to let the anger cause him to harm her. Then a second later he had her back pushed against the door.
Celeste cringed under his fuming gaze hovering above her. "Let me go Justin." She seethed through tight lips.
Justin obeyed her request and allowed her to leave the bathroom but not before he saw the tears streaming down her face.
Kyle watched Celeste rush into the bedroom and slam the door close. Justin staggered into the living room and dropped down heavily onto the couch beside him.
"Man what the hell happened between the two of ya'll?" Kyle was thrown off by the sudden chaos since he'd been out of the city for a little more than a week.
"Nothing that concerns you." Justin snapped.
"I think it does. You see…when I left you had one scar now you have acquired two more." Kyle was referring to the mark from Celeste's slap and the gash still viewable on Justin's bottom lip.
"Just leave me the hell alone okay." Justin was getting very irritated by the fact that he was being viewed as weak again.
"Damn Justin calm down. No one is trying to make you feel weak or anything, but you don't have to act like you are bigger and better than everyone." Kyle rationalized.
Meanwhile, Celeste paced back and forth in the room as Tatiana continued to sleep peacefully. Wiping the cascading tear from her cheek, she fumed with fury for one man in particular.
Celeste had never cried so much in her life since her father's death. Justin was able to upset her with any and everything he did or said. So far he had three occasions under his belt where Celeste was the one leaving with tears, two instances occurred within less than 24 hours.
"Why do I keep letting him get away with this!" She scolded herself for not standing up to him. The only thing Celeste was able to do in retaliation to Justin's antics was hurt him physically. But she wanted to hurt him verbally with her words instead like he had hurt her with his.
"I do not think I am bigger and better than everyone. It's just that Celeste and I have been trouble-"
"What are ya'll like a couple now?" Kyle interrupted him.
Justin rolled his eyes, "No we're not a couple. I was just going to say that we've had a confrontation on more than one occasion. And it was not a good one either."
"Well what did you do to her?" Kyle assumed.
"What do you mean? I didn't do anything to her. How bout' asking what she did to me?" Justin pointed to the evidence on his lip and the now present mark on his cheek.
"I didn't do anything to you Justin." A fully dressed Celeste appeared in the living room with her hands on her hips.
"What? Look at my face!"
"Well you deserved it. You insulted me." Celeste walked closer to him as she felt her confidence rising.
"Just because I knew that you had never been kissed before that incident last week is far from an insult. I was just stating the facts." Justin explained. He knew that he had hit another sore spot, but he didn't care at the moment.
Celeste's wall of confidence recoiled as she realized that now Kyle too was aware of her humiliating status. "I hate you." She seethed, allowing Justin to get a clear glimpse of her rage before the tears had the chance to erupt.
Kyle watched silently as Celeste walked out of the apartment.
Ten minutes later Justin had calmed down enough to speak, "God she knows how to tick me off." He wanted to control his temper and his mouth, but Celeste had bruised his ego again and he didn't want to come off as weak in front of Kyle.
"You're not going to go after her?"
"No I'm not. She can find her own way back. At least I got my room back now." Justin boasted.
"Yeah and you got shorty too." Kyle enlightened him then laughed.