Believe Me

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“Open the door.”

“No.”

“Yes.”

“No.”

“Yes!”

“No!”

“Why not?”

“Because!”

“Sarah, that’s not an answer.”

“So? I don’t have to answer you, Justin, and I’m not going to!”

“Why?”

“I already told you – just because!!”

Justin groaned and swore under his breath. Resting his head against the firmly locked door, he raked a hand through his dark curls. A bead of sweat dripped down his neck – though whether it was from the scorching summer heat he was being exposed to, or the fear he felt in his bones, he wasn’t sure.

“Sarah... please,” he said quietly, his voice strained and almost catching as he said her name. He heard a sniff and a muffled sob, and pressed himself closer to the door.

“You didn’t mean any of it, did you?” he heard her murmur. Her voice had taken on the low timbre it always got when she was crying; Justin wanted to punch himself for making her cry, after promising never to hurt her, always to protect her. He was the one person she trusted – not her family, not her other friends, not her professors – him. Just him. Because he was the only one who had never hurt her, never betrayed her, never left her. And that was the foundation upon which he had made his promise to her, when they were mere freshmen, after their first hellish day of High School.

Sarah ran, and kept running, pushing past the people on the sidewalk, running until she had left them all behind – all the big upper-classmen who pushed her aside, slamming her into the lockers. All the teasing from her old schoolmates about her newly dyed hair. All the staring, the whispering at the girl with the tall, almost scarily thin girl with the pink hair. As she ran, everything slipped away, until her lungs were burning and her eyes were streaming and she felt she could collapse with exhaustion.

He found her on the swings. She was always at the swings. One foot in tatty red Converse High-Tops scuffed the sand with every small swing. Her bubblegum pink hair lay in waves to her shoulders, tucked behind one ear, so he could just see her profile. Her cheeks were red, and her eyes – the bright cornflower blue that laughed and sparkled normally – were fixed on her feet.

He wanted to make everything right. He wanted to hold her, and feel her heart beating fast against his own. To hold her until the tears stopped, until she felt strong enough to become the feisty, outgoing girl she was again.

But he couldn’t. Trapped in his awkward, teenage body – all long limbs, an almost cracked voice (it still tended to waver embarrassingly sometimes) and no real idea of what to do with all of the feelings he knew he probably he shouldn’t be have for his best friend.

She didn’t move when he took the swing beside her. A lone tear dripped off the end of her nose, making a dark spot on the sand below.

“Why are people so cruel?” she whispered eventually.

“...I don’t know.”

“It’s not like it’s any of their business. So what if I dyed my hair? So what if my mom ran off with her boss?” He could tell she was bordering on hysterical – there was no other way she would talk like this. “So what if... if I’m not wearing a tiny skirt and heels? Why does it matter?!”

Abruptly, she threw herself from the swing and fell onto the white sand, pulling it into tight fists as more tears made more dark spots. He slid to his knees beside her, and pulled her close, trying to keep breathing normally and just be there for her. She needed him now, more than ever.

Her hair smelt of strawberries.

“I don’t know. I don’t know, Sarah, it shouldn’t matter, but to some idiots it does. But you don’t need them. You don’t need Alicia a-and Isabelle and the others. Because all they do is hurt you and you know it,” he whispered into her hair. Her grip on his skinny waist tightened and he felt her lips graze his neck, so softly, so innocently, like a summer breeze.

No. He had to concentrate.

“I promise –” he paused, swallowing down the tremor in his throat. “I promise I’ll always be here for you. I’ll never leave you alone like your mom has. I’ll never hurt you like those people at school do. I’ll never laugh at you... unless you’re acting like an idiot and I can’t help it.”

He could feel her lips smiling against his neck.

“Because that’s why I’m here. I’m here for you. Always.”

She loosened her death grip on his shirt and leant back a bit so she could search his face for the honest truth lurking in his voice. Justin’s hazel eyes were more green than brown, and then were darker and more serious than she had ever seen. His floppy curls were in disarray, and he didn’t seem to care his clothes were covered in sand.

She smiled through her tears – a wavering, flickering smile that lit the fire back in her eyes. “Promise?” she whispered, her voice husky from the tears still staining her cheeks.

“Promise,” he whispered back, his voice just as low, and he pulled her close again.

“I made that promise to you all those years ago for a reason, Sarah!” Justin hit the door with his fist as the memories faded, the dull ache in his fist not even registering over the ache in his chest. “The same reason I just spilled my heart out to you not ten minutes ago. The same reason I’ve always been there to pick up the pieces, to be your right-hand man, to be with you... anything to just be with you.”

He was whispering by the end, but Sarah heard it all. She was still trembling from when he’d suddenly blurted out, in the middle of the film, his... how he...

“I’m telling you, Jack Sparrow would beat Will in a fight!”

“No he couldn’t! Hel-lo, Jack always ends up losing or running away!”

Sarah scowled and paused the film, leaving Johnny Depp nose-to-nose with Orlando Bloom in Sarah’s current favorite movie, ‘Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End’. “But Jack’s too gorgeous not to win!” she whined, popping another spoonful of strawberry ice-cream in her mouth. Justin’s head flopped back onto his sofa cushions and he laughed quietly.

“I love you,” he chuckled.

She felt her chest tighten slightly and pushed the feeling aside. “Love you too,” she said, taking another spoonful of ice-cream.

He sat up and gently took the tub out of her hands and placed it on the table. “No, Sarah,” he murmured, his voice suddenly intensely serious, his eyes green, not brown or hazel, so breathtakingly intense. “I love you. I... I’m in love with you.”

The spoon fell with a clang from her numb fingers, but she didn’t even notice. “W-What?” she breathed. Her heart was pounding, the sound echoing in her ears with his words.

The corners of his mouth lifted, until he was positively grinning. “I can’t believe how easy that was to say,” she heard his mutter, then louder, again, “I love you!” His large, strong hand reached up and pushed a strand of bubblegum pink hair behind her ear, softly touching her cheek as he did so.

“N-No... you can’t... y-you... stop lying to me.”

A crease appeared between Justin’s eyebrows, and he gripped her hand tightly. “Lying? How could I possibly lie about this? I’ve never lied about my feelings for you, Sarah. They’ve always been there... you just never really noticed.”

The trembles set in. Tears pricked at her eyes, and she knew she had to get out. To run. Get away from all this confusion... from these feelings. She leapt to her feet, almost falling over in her haste, and grabbed her keys from the coffee table.

“Sarah, where are you going?” Justin was standing too, holding onto her arm. “Sarah, look at me. I know you feel the same –”

“Stop it,” she gasped, heart pounding, pushing him away and wrenching open the front door. “You can’t mean that.”

“Sarah, I’ve never been more serious in my life! I love y-”

“Stop it!”

And then she ran.

And still he had followed her, back to her own apartment, where she had slammed and locked the door, and slid down against the wall as the tears fell.

He couldn’t mean that. For how many years had she loved him? Loved his stubbornness and resilience. Loved how he never gave up on her, even when she was being such a bitch she could barely stand herself. How he bought her ice-cream and chocolate, and God knows how many gifts over the years. How he always knew how she was feeling. How she could talk to him in a way she couldn’t with anyone else. How her heart had skipped a beat whenever he held her close, hugging her tightly.

It was all just a big joke. It wasn’t possible. She was the loudmouth with the pink hair. He was the polite and charming dream-boy. It could never be more than that – just a dream.

“Sarah, please... just... just open the door, and let me talk to you. Please.”

She bit back another sob and pushed herself up, fumbling with her keys, and unlocked the door. At the loud click he raised his head, and stared at her from beneath his mass of dark curls, as she peeked around the door. They stood in silence for a few seconds, before Sarah stood aside and let him through. Once in the cool hallway they stood, backs against opposite walls, and just watched one another.

Sarah licked her dry lips and simply asked, “…Why?”

A half-smile lit up Justin’s eyes. “Because you’re everything I could ever want, and more.” She drew in a deep, shaky breath at his words, and stepped forward cautiously. He daren’t move, but couldn’t help his quiet intake of breath as her tiny hand came to rest on his chest, over his heart.

She could feel his heart, his soul, his life, thumping desperately beneath her fingers. Calling. Crying out. She lifted her head and met his eyes once more. “For me?” she murmured, and he knew she was talking about his racing heart.

“Every beat. Every breath. For you.” Another tear slipped free and he hesitantly brushed it away with the pad of his thumb. She was trembling.

Unable to resist, and desperate to prove his feelings, Justin closed the distance between them and brushed her pink lips softly with his own. There was a long, torturous moment, where everything hung in the balance, and then he felt her lips move against his, tentatively kissing him. He responded immediately, settling his big hand on her narrow hips and kissing her again, still soft, still light, and so very full of love.

Sarah drew back after a few moments, her hands touching his cheeks. Her palms were soft and cool, and she pulled his head down until their foreheads rested together. “Did you mean it?” she whispered, wanting to hear the words again.

He smiled softly. “I love you, Sarah Parker. I meant every word.”

Her bright blue eyes lit up with her brilliant smile, and she pressed a light kiss to his jaw line. “Well I guess it’s a good job I love you too, Justin Everson.” And with that finally said, she pulled his lips back down for a scorching kiss.

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Disclaimer: I don't own PotC in any way, shape or form. Except for being the proud owner of all three DVDs hah.

Pointless, sappy fluff. Written as a get-out-of-revision attempt. I wish I could update AtbM but I've dug myself into a hole and am desperately trying to dig myself back out again.

Anyway. Thanks for reading. Reviews would be amazing.