"I'm telling you, Mom..Justin really isn't here. He's in New York with the guys to do some promotional stuff..no I wasn't invited," Whitney said as she drove to her house. She was in a bitter mood for the fact that Justin hadn't invited her to New York with them, it was the least that he could have done in her opinion. "Listen, Mom..I'm almost to the house so I'm going to go..I'll call you soon..love you too," she said before clicking the phone off and placing it back in her purse.
In a few minutes, she would be at the lonely house that was a reminder that he wasn't there to share this night with her. "Justin, I swear I don't know why I put up with you," she whispered into the empty car. No sooner had she spoke, her cell phone began to ring. Sighing, she placed it to her ear and spoke bitterly into the reciever. "Hello?"
"What's wrong? I'm sorry that I can't be there for your birthday, Sweetie, you know I'd be there if I could," Justin coaxed to her on the other end of the line.
She sighed again, noting how it relieved some of the anger that she was feeling toward him at that moment. "Just don't worry about it. Why did you call?"
He sucked in a breath and then it was his turn to sigh. "Whitney, don't be this way. I didn't invite you because I didn't think you'd want to spend your birthday cramped inside a building."
"No instead I get to spend it at home alone. Atleast I would have been with you," she whinned.
On the other side of the phone, Justin was grinning from ear to ear, knowing that soon she would walk through the door and be surprised to see that all the guys were still in Orlando. "Whitney...you know that I love you..I hate it when you're mad at me.."
"You should have thought of that before you left me here all alone on my birthday," she spat back at him.
He was finding it hard to hold in his laughter but he was fighting because he didn't want to ruin the surprise that she was fast approaching. "Baby..don't do this. I don't want to fight with you. I'd rather love you and be happy knowing that you're happy."
She laughed bitterly. "You could be making love to me right now..but how do you suggest we do that? You want me to do it over the phone..ohh baby, lower Justin..ha, I don't think so," she said before hitting the end button and hanging up on him. She didn't want to direct her anger towards him, but she had no other way to direct it. As she pulled into the driveway, her anger started to rise when she saw that the lights were off, which reminded her that tonight she was going to be all alone.
After digging out her house keys, she walked up to the front door, opened it before slamming it shut. As soon as she flipped on the lights, she jumped when she saw a huge group of people standing in the living room. "Surprise, Baby," Justin said as he wrapped his arms around her waist. His eyes sparkled as he watched her slide around to face him.
"I..I thought..but..no..oh crap..I hate you, Justin!" she said before tearing from his grasp and running up the stairs. Justin's face fell in confusion as he followed after her.
Ashley, who was talking to JC looked worried. "What was wrong with her?"
"Whitney hates surprises..and I have a feeling that he's in for an earful. But hey in the mean time enjoy the party!"
Meanwhile, Justin pounded on the bedroom door, pleading with her to open it and allow him in. "NO! Just go away and leave me alone," she sobbed to him.
He wasn't going to give up that easy. "Whitney..open the damn door so we can talk this out instead of standing here yelling at each other," he said leaning on the door, which was a mistake. She threw the door open and he went crashing into the room. He looked up from his new position on the floor to see that she was standing there looking far from amused with him. He pushed off the floor and closed the door softly, before turning his full attention to her. "What's wrong girl?" he asked as he sat down beside her on the huge bed.
She shrugged. "Don't worry about it. Go downstairs and just leave me alone."
He reached out and touched her shoulder and sighed when she squirmed away from him. "Damn it girl, I did this to surprise you, I don't understand why you are acting this way!"
"You had me thinking that you didn't care for me! You would have abandoned me on my 20th birthday! How the hell do you think that makes me feel? Then I come home and find that you lied to me!"
He tried not to laugh but he couldn't hold it in. He pulled her over to him and rested his forehead against hers. "Listen to me, I wanted to make this night special so I had to lie to you. Do you honestly think that I would leave you alone on your birthday? For the past three years that we have known each other, I have been with you, and I will be until the day we're gone from this Earth, do you hear me?"
She sniffled before closing her eyes. "I'm sorry for acting the way that I did, Justin. I just..I don't know what happened."
He kissed her lips and smiled when he felt her increase the pressure. She had forgiven him and knew that she was trying to make up for the way she had acted, but it would be rude to leave the guests alone. He was about to pull away, but felt her tongue trace his lower lip, causing him to open his lips wider and allow it to enter.
She pushed against him and caused him to fall back, which meant that she was gaining control. Just when she was about to remove her shirt, the bass from the music vibrated the walls, snapping them out of their trance that they were in. She rolled off of him and sighed. "I guess we'll have to wait until tonight," she whispered as she kissed the base of his neck.
He got up off the bed and waited for her to do the same. "Oh baby..I can't wait..but now its time to go party," he said throwing the door open and heading downstairs. When they walked into the living room, the party was in full swing. The first person to come up and greet Whitney was Cait, who was blushing like a school girl. "Whit, I just wanted to wish you happy birthday..Dan says happy birthday..umm something came up so we have to go..sorry girl! Call me later!" she said, hugging her quickly before practically running through the door.
Justin laughed before wrapping his arms around Whitney. "I remember that we did that one time.."
It was her turn to laugh. "Actually, Justin, we did that a couple of times," she said as she spotted JC and Bobbie dancing to a slow song that was now playing. She grabbed Justin's hand and lead him over to the couple before flashing a grateful smile at JC. "I know you were drug into helping plan this, so thank you, I'm flattered."
He chuckled softly before scowling at Justin. "Curly here made me blow up all these damn balloons without any help. I swear I thought I was going to die from putting so much oxygen into them," he said as he continued to look at Justin.
Justin rolled his eyes. "Quit being a baby. Like the girl said, she's thankful for your input, just like I told you she would be," he said before turning to Bobbie. "You're boyfriend whines too much. I don't know how you put up with him."
Bobbie chuckled before sighing. "I don't know why I do either..maybe its because of the fact he buys me stuff..or he sings to me every night..I know one thing, he's spoiled me."
JC's mouth dropped. "You're using me?"
She rolled her eyes before answering him. "What do you think JC?....I'm kidding hunnie, you know I love you," she said reaching up to kiss his lips. When the two of them didn't show any sign of breaking apart soon, Justin and Whitney danced away from them so they wouldn't have to witness the scene. As she looked around at who all was there, she smiled when her eyes landed on Ashley, who was dancing with some girl she had never seen before.
"Who are you looking at?" Justin asked her, causing her eyes to advert to him. She shrugged. "I was just seeing who all was here..and saw Ashley dancing with some girl, so I naturally wondered if he has a girlfriend."
Justin kissed her forehead, accepting the answer that she had given him. He couldn't wait to give her the gift that he had gotten her, but he was wanting to save that for the last thing since, to him, it was going to be the best part of the night.
She chuckled softly before kissing him. "We had to make an appearance so we wouldn't come off as being rude," she told him softly as he opened the door to the bedroom. He placed her gently on the bed before laying on top of her, shifting his weight so he wouldn't smoother her.
His lips gently pressed themselves to hers before making a trail of burning kisses down her jaw and down her neck. "Dan," she whispered softly as he sucked on her neck. "Don't tease, its not nice."
His eyes looked up at her and she sucked in her breath when she saw the love reflecting in them. He shook his head, knowing that she was growing impacient. "Trust me, Cait. Its time that I showed you just how much you mean to me, and that's why we are going to go slow."
She smiled tenderly and nodded her head, telling him that she was ready for him to continue. His hands sent an electric current through her as he unzipped her dress and she knew that she had found the man that could give her everything that she desired. He could create the chills and tingles from his touch, and to her, that wasn't hormones, that was love.
His eyes showed a mixture of joy and shock to see her. "Hi..happy birthday," he said hugging her tightly to him. She pulled away and looked curiously at the girl standing beside Ashley. "Who's your friend?"
At first, Ashley looked confused as to what she was talking about, but then snapped back into reality. "Whitney, this is Denise," he said bringing the girl forward.
Denise smiled before giggling slightly at Ashley. "It took you long enough to introduce us. By the way, Whitney, happy birthday."
She felt someone tap her shoulder, and she turned to see Trevor standing there holding out his hand to her. "May I have this dance?"
She nodded her head and the two of them excused theirselves from Ashley and Denise. They walked to the temporary dance floor and began dancing. It wasn't normal dancing because nothing with Trevor was normal. By the time they really got going, the floor had cleared and the attention was being directed towards them. Everyone was laughing at the facial expressions of Trevor, even Whitney herself. She was finding it hard to keep moving because she just wanted to stop and laugh. The song came to an end, and she felt him spin her around before letting go. The next thing she knew, a pair of strong arms were wrapped around her waist.
She turned around and felt her breath catch in her throat as her eyes slammed into Ashley's blue orbs. "You should be careful," he whispered to her as he steadied her before letting go. She stood there a moment before snapping out of her gaze when Denise leaned up against Ashley. "Lets dance hunnie," she said before pulling Ashley away from Whitney.
Whitney was about to walk away when someone stopped her from behind. She turned around and found herself now starring into Justin's blue eyes. "Come on, I have to do something with you," he whispered to her as he lead her towards the patio. The two of them stepped outside and the breeze immediately made her shiver. She wasn't cold for long though, because Justin pressed his warm body up against hers. "What did you need to show me?"she asked him as she leaned back into him.
"Its more of something I have to ask you about us," he whispered to her, turning her around so he could look into her eyes. "Whitney...do you see us together when we are old and I don't mean in our thirties..I mean in our elder years."
His question surprised her and for a moment she was speechless. "I really don't know.."
He tilted her chin up so his eyes could look into hers. "I want you to be honest with me, Whitney."
She felt fear pass through her that he was going to break up with her. "Why are you asking me this, baby..you..you don't want to break up with me do you?" she asked quietly.
He shook his head and kissed her lips gently. "I never want to break up with you, I just want to know where you think we are headed."
"I really don't know, Justin. Things are going to happen that we have no control over..but I hope and pray that we are together for as long as we are living," she told him, wondering why he was springing this on her.
He smiled brightly at her. "Good..that will make what I'm about to do easier then," he said pulling out a small box that was wrapped and handing it to her. "Open it," he urged her.
Her heart was beating fast as she tore into the wrapping paper. The box was small, and placed with his words, he could be proposing to her. She removed all the paper and opened the box to reveal a small ring. "Justin," she whispered, her eyes starting to become teary.
He took the ring from her before taking a deep breath. "This isn't what you think..its just a step below that. This is an engaged to be engaged ring..yes that's confusing but I don't think we're ready to get married because we are so young, but I do know that I want to spend the rest of my life with you and this is just to secure that you will be mine," he said slipping the ring on her finger. "I want you to say that you'll be mine forever and always and that you will do me the honor of waiting until the time is right to join in marriage."
She allowed a few tears to slip down her face before breaking out into a bright smile. "You know I'll wait...I love you, Justin," she said flinging herself in his arms.
"Happy birthday, baby," he whispered to her as he kissed the side of her head. They turned around to see that a crowd had gathered at the doors, and they both couldn't stop from chuckling at the sight all of them made pressed up against the glass. They joined hands before walking to the door, having to wait to open it because the guests were still moving away. As soon as they were inside, Chris yelled out,"Are you two going to get married?"
Justin chuckled softly and shook his head. "No..we're engaged to be engaged...."
Joey sighed. "You have to do things the complicated way don't you? Get us all excited and then just drop us..." he said heading back towards the dance floor.
The party lasted until three in the morning, and by the time the last guest left, Whitney was about to drop from exhaustion. As she picked up the last cup that was on the floor, she sighed in relief. "Tired, hun?" Justin asked as he tied a trash bag together.
"You have no idea," she said as she made her way towards the steps, Justin right behind her, turning off the lights. When she opened the door to the bedroom, she stopped when she saw a box that was wrapped and sitting on her bed. She turned around to see Justin smiling shyly at her before motioning for her to open it. She shook her head before grabbing the box and sitting down on the edge of the bed so she could see what it was. Once she had it opened, she pulled out a photo album. She looked at him with confusion as he sat down beside her. "Just open it and look through it..first though you might want to turn it over and read what the front says," he said winking at her.
She flipped it over and felt the tears come to her eyes as she read what was inscribed. To my soulmate, may these photos remind you of how much I love you "Justin," she whispered to him not knowing what to say.
He gently took the album from her and opened it to the first page. There on the first page was a picture of her when she had just been born. Underneath the picture, there was a caption that read: The day you came into this world, not knowing that you were going to be an angel to some. On the other page, there was a picture of Justin when he was a baby and written underneath it was: Me, young and not prepared to meet the girl that would win over my heart.
As he continued to flip the pages, they were filled with pictures of her through her youth, as well as him, but towards the back, it was pictures of their friendship coming around, then it finally progressed to their now relationship. By the time Justin had explained everything, she was sobbing. "Baby, don't cry.." he told her, as he wiped away his own tears that had begun to fall.
"I...I can't help it..Justin, this is the sweetest thing that anyone has ever done for me."
He kissed her lips before moving the album to rest on the nightstand that was next to the bed. "Listen to me, that album is just one way of me showing how much I love you. If I could bring you the stars, or anything else, you know I would. You complete me, Whitney. The reason I acted the way I did with you gone on tour was because I was scared that you would leave me, and then I would have no more life to live. You are my life and each day I love waking up so that I can learn and experience more. You teach me, help me get through tough times, but most of all you let me love you and for that I owe you more than you could ever realize."
She slid out on the bed, and he soon joined her, wrapping his arms around her so he could bring her as close to him as she could get. "I love you, Justin. Thank you for doing all of this for me," she told her, her eyes already closing.
He smiled as he rested his head against hers. "You were worth every minute of it..I love you."