Over the last year the stars have gone from 'good friends' to vacationing couple.
For those speculating about whether or not
Justin Bieber and
Selena Gomez are more than friends, new photos of the pair vacationing together in St. Lucia should quiet the rumors mostly because they confirm that the two are, well, dating.
"I love Justin. When he first started to come over from Canada his manager contacted me and he just said that he would like to meet me and he was just such a good kid," she explained. "And I feel like a big sister now, 'cause I want to protect him. So I'm always very cautious with him, but he is so talented and he's so sweet, so that just started us wanting to work together. Now he's just become one of my good friends."
Later that year, in July, Gomez voiced a similar sentiment, still sticking to her assessment of
Bieber as a little brother. "I love him. He's like my little brother. I like to say his name onstage because if I'm performing badly, I say his name and the audience will cheer," she joked, adding that she had some advice for the singer: "You're short, embrace it."
By September, the pair was hanging out at the VMAs together and Gomez wanted the world to know that she
hoped Bieber would take home a Moonman. "I think he's worked really hard," she said. "I think he works harder than a lot of people I know, so he deserves it."
Gomez wanted to cut Bieber's hair in October, and by November Bieber was brushing off romance rumors when they were spotted hanging out at a football game together. "It was weird. No one bothered me at all," Justin explained about hanging out with Jaden and Will Smith (Gomez just happened to be there, too). "We were at a high school game and [Selena] came too. It was the weirdest thing. She's sweet. She's a sweetheart."
By December, things were heating up as
Gomez chose Bieber as her Grammy pick and was forced to defend getting pancakes with the singer. "It was pancakes. Who doesn't like pancakes?"
Gomez explained. "We were both performing in the same place so we went and had pancakes together. That's all it is. All innocent."
Weeks later,
Bieber danced around the rumors, calling Gomez "amazing." "I think that people are always gonna be interested in my personal life ... but I gotta keep some things to myself," he said of the speculation. "I'm just having fun being a teenager."
