Imagine Locking Eyes With Justin Bieber At A Suburban Target

Plenty of Montclairians responded to Bieber’s arrival with avowed disinterest — “I’ve used behavioral techniques with our children so that whenever someone says the words Justin Bieber they hear instead Sviatoslav Richter,” Lee Siegel, a writer who lives in town, said — and even longtime Bieber fans weren’t quite sure what to do with the fact that their icon had disrupted their suburban existence. Montclair’s most ardent Belieber, according to some locals, is 18-year-old Sami Cytron, who has been to 15 Bieber concerts and wears purple every year on his birthday. She spent much of the summer learning to operate a stick shift by driving up and down the block where she heard Bieber was living, which she admitted was a bad idea. “If he comes out, I’m just gonna drive my dad’s Porsche into a tree,” she said. After days spent driving around looking for Bieber, Cytron’s boyfriend tried sending him a message on Instagram asking him to just come outside for a moment, so he could have his girlfriend back. (It didn’t work.) Then a funny thing happened. Cytron finally saw Bieber, walking out of a spa in town, but she was too embarrassed to approach him. “Ever since the sixth grade, I’ve been desperate for the day he’d be living in my town,” Cytron said. “The day has finally come, and I’m too old to be crazy about it. Everybody grows up. And Justin is growing up, too.”

I know “we” were all “talking” about this story “yesterday” but if you haven’t done so yet, please take a moment to read Reeves Wiedeman on Justin Bieber in Montclair, New Jersey. It’s a goddamn delight.