"Have you got everything?" Stephanie asked as she looked around Whitney's small bedroom.

"I think so..Justin's taking me to get a dress as soon as I get there, which is the same for Emily too..but I think I have everything ready. My plane leaves at five..what time is it now?"

Stephanie rolled her eyes before laughing. "Its two-thirty. What time are you suppose to pick Em up?"

"I think I told her at three cause we have to drive for thirty minutes to get to the airport and we should have plenty of time to get everything sorted out," Whitney said as she picked up her suitcase and walked downstairs with it.

"Are you excited about seeing Justin?"

Whitney blushed slightly before nodding her head. "What can I say, Steph, the boy's good in bed."

Stephanie groaned before grabbing her keys and hugging Whitney. "Just be careful up there, Whitney...anything can happen."

"I know, Steph, I'll behave myself up there, I promise," she said as she pulled back and smiled. "I'll behave during the day, but not at night."

Stephanie laughed before walking out the screened door. "Call me when you get there and tell Lance I said hi," she said before walking to her car and driving off. Whitney watched as Steph's car left her sight before walking back into the kitchen to sit down and mentally make sure she had everything. She had just finished checking everything off when the phone rang, bringing her out of her thoughts.

She picked it up and brought it to her ear, expecting it to be Emily. "Hey, Em," she said casually into the phone.

"Well hello to you too, but this isn't Em," Justin's voice replied.

She laughed before crossing her legs and propping her arms against the counter. "Sorry, I didn't expect anyone else to be calling me considering almost everyone knows I'm about to get on a plane to New York for a certain popstar who caught me at a moment of weakness," she told him sarcastically.

He chuckled deeply into the phone, causing her to tingle with anticipation of what would be happening in a short period of time. "What time is your plane suppose to land so I can send someone to pick you up..I would come myself but I'm very likely to be attacked in the airport."

"It takes off at five but Em's the only one that knows when it lands. I didn't bother to find out the small details. You're smart, figure it out."

"Just look for a sign that says Justy on it," he told her, knowing that a huge blush was already on her face.

"That's not funny, Justin..I didn't mean to yell that out," she said softly before looking at the clock. "Listen, I have to go get Em and we have to go catch our plane..but I will see you later."

"Have a good flight, Sweetheart," he said stickly sweet into the phone.

"Bye, Justin," she said before hanging up the phone and grabbing her keys. She locked her door, loaded her stuff into her car before pulling out and driving as fast as she could to Emily's, whom she saw sitting on the steps by her suitcase. Once she was parked, Whitney hoped out and loaded Emily's stuff before the two girl's headed off towards the airport.

"This is weird," Emily said softly as she rested her head against the glass of the window. "I've never been to a big city before."

"I only made it to Charleston and I'm sure its nothing compared to New York City," Whitney said as she relaxed back into her seat, paying direct attention to the highway they were driving on.

"Do you like Justin or is this just a fling type thing?"

Whitney sighed before shrugging. "It doesn't matter what I want because I wouldn't get it. He's famous, I'm a small town girl, and there's nothing going to happen beside a few nights of raw passion."

Emily laughed at the way her friend described the situation. "You never know, girl..its not like your some chick that randomly got to sleep with him..he called you back, so that's a good sign."

Whitney rolled her eyes before turning the radio up when the dj announced a special announcement about Nsync. "The latest news off the music scene is that Justin Timberlake and Britney Spears are a couple yet again. Its not been confirmed by either party, but it wouldn't be anything new to have them secretly dating. We'll keep you informed as soon as we hear more," the dj said before a song came over the radio.

Whitney reached over and turned the radio back down before looking at Emily with a told-you-so look on her face. "See!"

"A rumor doesn't mean shit, Whitney..you never know, you could end up marrying him and baring his children. You can't predict the future so you don't need to short cut yourself."

"Whatever," Whitney replied before resting her head against the headrest and letting the silence come over the two of them as they headed towards the airport.

She rolled her eyes before sighing and nodding her head. "Sure I'll do anything for my favorite curly-haired pop star."

It was now his turn to roll his eyes. "Whatever..but I need you to go and pick up Whitney, my date for the awards and also JC's date."

"Wait..JC doesn't have a date..what the hell have you done?" she asked him, stopping dead in her tracks and giving him a questioning look.

"I didn't do anything! It was all Lance," he defended before sighing. "We met these girls when our bus broke down..I connected with Whitney, the girl I'm wanting you to go pick up, and JC and Emily connected.. to make a long story short, Lance arranged for Emily to be JC's date as a surprise and if you don't go pick them up, I'm going to have to go and I'm going to be attacked!"

Cait laughed before smiling. "You guys always have to interfer in each others lives."

"Speaking of which..what do I need to do to push you and Joey together? You've got that dreamy look in your eyes and there is only one person that is causing that because I can tell," he told her before sliding his arm around her shoulders.

She blushed befoer nodding her head. "Its true...he's a lot different than I first thought him to be."

"Just go for it, Cait..you'll never know what a relationship with him is like. But we'll have this conversation another time. Their flight lands in about an hour and I heard traffic is horrible. You have to find something and write Justy on it so they'll know its who they're looking for."

"Justy?"

Justin blushed before nodding his head. "Just do it and don't question it."

"I'm not going to question it right now, but trust me, when you talk to me about Joey, this topic is going to come up. Oh by the way..have you heard the new rumors about you and Britney starting back up?"

"They aren't exactly rumors," he said as he leaned up against the wall next to the elevator. "We are dating but I don't want to be dating her."

"That's sort of confusing. Do you know the publicity you're going to get from bringing another girl out into the public eye?"

He shrugged. "I don't really care. I want to have fun at this award show for once and Whitney's fun to be around. Britney, the press and the fans can just get over it."

She pinched his cheek before stepping into the elevator that had just arrived. "That's a good attitude to have. I'm going to pick up those girls now..that doesn't sound right," she said as the door closed, leaving Justin standing there laughing.  

He walked back towards his room knowing that he has just a short period of time to get things ready for the night that he had planned. They luckily didn't have a show tonight and he planned on showing Whitney what it was like to experience a night in the city that never slept.

"I've had worse people run into me..I'm not complaining at all," he said before winking at her and looking her over.

She blushed slightly before moving to the left of him. "I'm in a hurry to go pick someone up, so if you're excuse me.."

He moved over blocking her path and smiling goofily at her. "I'm sorry..but wouldn't you rather stay here and talk to me?"

"I would, but how would I explain that to the two girls I am needing to go pick up at the airport..I don't think they'd understand if I told them that I was late all because Joey wanted to stand here and flirt."

He moved away from her and watched as she walked off, only to stop and turn back to look at him. "Would you like to disguise yourself and come with me?"

"I thought you'd never ask," he said as he pulled a hat out of his back pocket and slipped his sunglasses over his eyes. "Lets go my darling," he said as he took her hand and lead her out the door. The two of them climbed into the rented 4-runner that Lance often drove and gave directions to the airport. Thirty minutes later, the two of them were walking through it, dodging the people that were practically running through it.

"This thing starts to feel like my third home. We stay in tour buses, hotels and these things so much, they start to get a homey feel to them."

"Hey, atleast you get paid to go through these things..I don't!" she said jokingly as she held up the sign the two of them had made on the trip there. "I hope there plane gets here soon..I'm ready to go."

"I'm wanting to get back and interrogate Justin and Lance about their plans to pull this off."

"Trust me..they'll find a way.." Whitney and Emily followed the group of people off the plane, both of them glad to be out of the air. "Do you have any idea who we're looking for?" Emily asked as the two girls headed towards baggage claim.

Whitney shook her head. "Justin said someone would come pick us up and to look for a sign saying Justy...that's all that I know. It could be female, male or hell even an alien for all I know."

"You know, that would be interesting. I could go back and tell Steph that we were picked up at the airport by an alien."

Whitney laughed before grabbing her suitcase as it came around to her. After both girls had collected their bags, they walked back out into the busy airport, looking for the sign. "I found it!" Emily exclaimed fifteen minutes later.

The two girls walked over to the two people that were standing with the sign and smiled. "I'm Whitney and this is Emily," Whitney said to the girl holding the cardboard sign.

'I'm Cait and this is Joey but I think you guys have already met," she said as she shook their hands. Joey took some of the luggage and the four of them exited the airport with Joey never being noticed. After a short ride back to the hotel, they managed to sneak Emily up to the girl's room without JC seeing her.

"I feel as if I'm in some witness protection program," she told Whitney before sitting down on the bed. "I imagine you're gonna go say hi to Justin, so I'm gonna go call Steph and let her know that we made it."

Whitney laughed before nodding her head. "I'll be back shortly," she told her before walking out the door and down the hall, tapping Cait on the shoulder when she came to her and Joey standing in the middle of the hall, talking quietly. "Which room is Justin's?"

"Its the last one on the left," Joey said as he pointed down the hallway.Whitney smiled gratefully at him before walking down the hall and knocking on the door that Joey had told her. Within a few seconds the door swung open to reveal Justin standing there with a small towel wrapped firmly around his waist. He ran a hand through his curls, bringing them back off his face as Whitney stood there with her mouth hanging open.

"I didn't think you'd be here by now," Justin said as he leaned up against the doorframe.

She simply nodded and continued to stare, causing him to chuckle. He reached up and pushed her chin closed. "Drooling isn't attractive."

She snapped out of her trance before blushing at how she had acted. "Sorry about that but its not everyday you knock on someones hotel door and they answer it wearing only a thin white towel."

He shrugged before smiling brightly. "I'm glad that you got to see me this way," he told her before pulling her into the room and shutting the door.

He pressed her up against it before smiling at her with the smile that was strong enough to mess anyone's train of thought up. "Just like I promised, I thought about you," he whispered as he kissed her neck and pressed his body up against hers.

"You couldn't have thought about me much considering you have Britney Spears to think about," she said pushing against his him to back him off. "I have to know this..are you two really dating?"

His face dropped before he sighed. "In a way yes and in a way no."

She rolled her eyes. "Which one is it, Justin?"

"Yes we're dating," he said quietly as he walked over and sat down on the bed, looking at her to see what her next move would be.

"And why am I here at the awards with you, instead of her being your date?"

"I can't stand the girl and I would rather have one night of fun with you than hear her constant whining."

She couldn't help but laugh at the desperate look he held on his face. "Why don't you break things off with her?"

"She just keeps calling and calling so I told her we could work things out just to make her shut up."

She sat down on the bed beside him before sighing. "Well then, why don't you just tell her you cant' stand her, change your number and move on?"

"You know, that's a really good idea, I honestly hadn't thought about doing that," Justin told her before smiling. "Thank you for just saving my sanity."

She rested her head against his damp shoulder and couldn't resist kissing the soft skin. His hands reached up to pull her face away from his shoulder, bringing her face level with his. She opened her eyes to see his crystal blue ones starring at her, causing her muscles to go weak. Without another word being spoken, the two of them laid back on the bed, recreating the night that they had first experienced together.

He chuckled softly before stopping and taking hold of her hand. "The only thing I see is a beautiful thing starring back at me."

She coughed nervously before pulling away and walking towards the elevator, stopping to push the button to go up. She avoided Joey's stare because she knew that it was a questioning look that she didn't know how to interperate.

"Why won't you look at me?" he asked her placing his hand on her shoulder.

"I dunno what to say to you cause I know you're wanting me to say something, but Joey I don't know what you want from me!"

The elevator doors slid open and she quickly stepped in , hoping he wouldn't follow her. Her luck wasn't that great because he stepped in beside her and placed his hand back on her shoulder. "Listen to me, Cait. All I want is for you to give me a chance."

"I don't know if I can do that, Joe."

He touched her face gently and smiled reassuringly. "Listen to me, Cait..you have to take a chance at something you want..you can't tell me you don't want me."

"I can't take that chance," she told him, looking into his eyes. A tear slipped down her cheek and he gently wiped it away.

"You can, but your scared you might actually fall in love with me...tell me, what would be so bad about that?"

"Nothing," she whispered as she leaned into him suddenly wanting to feel his lips against hers.

"Are you willing to take a chance with me, Cait?" he murmured as his face inched closer to hers.

"Anything for you," she said reaching up about to press her lips to his when the doors swung open. She groaned before stepping out, waiting for him to do the same. He stepped out only to slid his hand around her waist and bend down, pressing his lips against hers.

Her hands went to his hair, pulling him closer against her mouth, suddenly not being able to get him close enough to her. She had feelings floating around in her head that she couldn't explain and at that moment, she didn't want to. She just wanted the situation to be what it was and not analyze it for once.

With a groan of protest from her, Joey pulled back and rested his head against hers. "I have waited for a long time to do that."

She continued to play with his hair, only stopping when his hands slid up her arms and grasped hers. "I have to head back downstairs before they send security after me..I'll see you later," he told her before turning and pressing the elevator button to go back down. She stood there and watched him until the doors closed not allowing her to be able to see him anymore.

She smiled brightly after standing there a few more minutes, and headed towards her room. Once she was inside she couldn't stop giggling because for the first time in a long time, she felt free and happy. "Things are about to get interesting," she whispered out into the room.

She was about to lay back on the bed and take a nap when there was a knock on the door. She groaned and slowly stood up to answer it. She pulled it back to see Justin causually leaning against the door frame, smiling innocently at her. "I need one more favor."

"Find someone else to do it," she said moving to shut the door, but stopping when he slid his foot in.  

"Please, Cait..you're the only female on this tour that I trust," he pleaded as he began to pout.

"You and that damn pout, come on in," she said moving aside so he could enter. "What do you need and make it quick cause I want to take a nap. Having to deal with the five of you wear me out."

"I think Joey wore you out, but we won't go into that," he said grinning brightly at her. "I need you to take Whitney and Emily dress shopping. You can have my credit card and everything will be set up, they just don't know where to go in this city."

"Why the hell do I have to do it? You know about New York, Justin..you take them!"

"That would spoil the surprise of me getting to see Whitney in the killer dress you're gonna help her pick out..and besides, don't you need a dress of your own? If you take them, I'll buy you one too..come on you can't refuse that!"

She smiled evily at him before shaking her head. "I'll do it, but there isn't a price limit on what I buy, got it?"

"That sounds fine, but please don't max out my credit card," he told her as he stood up and walked towards the door, leaving her sitting on the bed.

"You've got yourself a deal. Tomorrow morning, tell them to be ready by ten because we're gonna have a whole day of shopping and maxing out Justin's credit card!"

"Cait!" he said as his voice raised.

"I'm just kidding with you," she told him as she winked. "I would NEVER do that to you, Justin...nope never. I would never try and pay you back for springing things at me at the last moment..NEVER." "CAIT!" he said as his voice raised in warning. "I'd actually like to have some room on it so I can shop too!" She rolled her eyes before pointing to the door. "Just get your lazy ass out of here." "Fine," he said before shutting the door.

She giggled as she laid back on the bed, smiling at how everything seemed to be working out at the moment. If things with Joey took off, every aspect of her life would be filled. She had the job that she adored, friends that were there for her, and if she had Joey, she may have the love that she had often dreamed of. "Maybe my dreams are starting to finally come true," she whispered into the room.

"We haven't exactly thought of that yet," he said shyly before shrugging. "That's just a minor detail that needs to be worked out. The main thing we were worried about was actually getting you here."

"You should always think about minor details," Emily said, her southern accent shinning through.

"You know who you remind me of," Chris said as he played with a straw that he had picked up from the restaurant downstaris in the lobby. "You remind me of Lance when her first came here...he had that southern accent like you have now!"

Everyone stopped moving around and starred at Chris who looked pleased with his discovery. Lance started laughing causing everyone else to join in with Chris looking lost. "What?"

"Dude you're a dumbass!" Justin said as he leaned against Whitney for support as he continued to laugh.

"I was just pointing something out!" Chris defended before getting up and walking towards the door. "I won't take this abuse!" he said before walking out and slamming the door.

Emily looked on with a worried look. "He's not mad is he?"

"Chris is use to this treatment..he thrives on it," Joey explained.

"Oh," Emily said as there was a knock on the door.

"Lance?" JC called out from the other side of the door. Emily jumped up and ran into the closet as everyone waited until she was hidden before Lance stood up and let him in.

"What can I do for you, JC?"

"Why is everyone in here and I wasn't invited? Are we having some type of a group meeting? Are you gonna kick me out of the group?" he asked coming into the room his tone taking on a paniced tone.

"Hey, JC," Whitney said as she pushed Justin's hand off her thigh.

"Oh..when did you get in?" he asked walking over and hugging her quickly.

"Keep your hands off my playmate," Justin said in warning as he stood up and playfully pushed JC away.

"Dude..grow up," JC said before sighing. "Since this meeting isn't anything important, I'm going back to my room and watch a movie or something...see you all later," he said slowly walking towards the door and out into the hall without turning back.

"What's wrong with him?" Joey asked as he stood up and stretched.

"JC goes through depressed periods..you should know that," Justin said as Emily came out of the closet.

"Maybe I should go talk to him."

"That would ruin the whole surprise!" Lance said jumping up to keep her from moving towards the door.

"Oh yeah," she said sitting back down and crossing her legs.

"We'll just reveal you to JC in the limo..somehow we'll have you already in there and then send JC in there first and you guys can meet like that," Lance said suddenly as his face lite up with excitement.

"Get Cait to help you arrange it," Justin said as an evil smile played on his lips.

"She'll kill your ass if you have her doing anything else for us!" Joey said heading towards the door. "Speaking of Cait, I'm gonna go check on her so I'll check in with you all later..bye," he said before closing the door as everyone one smiled at the new found interest that Joey had.

"Speaking of heading out..I'm gonna go take a nap," Emily said standing up and heading towards the door. "I'll see you guys later."

"Stay out of JC's site!" Lance said yet again.

"Dude, you're starting to sound like a broken record," Justin said standing up and pulling on Whitney's hand to make her stand up. "We're gonna head out and do something, see ya later," he called to Lance practically running out the door.

Lance looked around the now empty room and sighed. "They all left me..."

"So...have you seen that sexy thang Lance?" Stephanie asked before laughing. "Better yet..does he look good naked?"

"STEPH!" she exclaimed before giggling. "I'm sure he does but I haven't seen. The only one that I could probably account for would be Justin, but that would mean asking Whitney."

"Speaking of the crazy bitch, is she behaving?"

"You have such nice names for us..but yes, so far she is."

"That's good..listen, Em..I have to go cause I have to be at the diner, so I'll talk to you later. Tell Whit I said to call me sometime soon."

"I sure will..we miss you..bye, Steph," she said hanging up the phone and sighing. "Whitney..get your ass out of there and hurry up so we can go and get started..you can't ever pick out anything without debating over it for two or three hours."

Whitney walked out wearing a pair of blue jeans and a white tank top and a frown. "I can't get my hair to do anything because their water is different than ours."

"Just pull it back for Christ's sakes!"

"No!"

"Then wear it like that and get your ass together. I'm leaving now," Emily said standing up and grabbing the key to their room. She heard Whitney sigh in frustration causing her to turn around and look at her friend who was in the process of pulling it back into a ponytail. Emily flashed her a knowing smile before throwing the door open and looking out into the hallway to make sure that JC wasn't there.

She didn't find JC but she did find Justin leaning against the wall next to their door with his eyes partially closed. "Don't fall asleep or you might fall over and break your neck."

Justin's eyes shot fully open before he rolled them. "I wasn't about to fall asleep. I'm just standing guard incase JC comes through here. None of the other guys wanted to get up out of bed to do this, and especially not Lance, and this was his idea!"

"Justin, shut up with the whinning," Whitney's voice said as she walked out into the hall way.

He just looked at her without shooting out a come back to her. He finally looked at Emily and checked his watch. "Cait is probably waiting on you..that is, hopefully she's up."

Emily walked towards the elevators, leaving the two of them to stand there and look at each other. "What color of dress do you think I should get?"

He shrugged and remained silent.

"Why the hell aren't you talking?" she asked as she cocked her hip to the side and continued to look at him.

He shrugged again before opening his mouth to speak before closing it suddenly. It was her this time that rolled her eyes before leaving him standing there by himself and joining Emily in the awaiting elevator. As the doors closed she looked at Emily who looked worried and tired. "What's wrong?"

"I don't know..I just have a feeling that somethings gonna happen and I can't shake it."

"Relax hun, we're here to have fun and everything is gonna be just peachy," Whitney reasured her before stepping out of the elevators when the heavy silver doors slid open. As soon as they stepped out, they met up with Cait who looked like she needed more sleep.

The three girls silently rode down in the elevator and stepping out quickly to head towards the awaiting limo that Justin had arranged. "The boy goes all out," Cait said once the three of them were seated into the extravagant vehicle.

"This is my first time riding in a limo," Emily informed the two girls who smiled back at her. "It isn't anything like I had imagined."

"Its just like an expanded car," Cait said as she closed her eyes and rested her head against the leather seat.

"Yeah well, we don't exactly have these nice cars in our town, population maybe a hundred," Emily joked.

"I don't know what you're talking about...my nice little P.O.S. is just as good as this limo," Whitney said sarcastically as she looked out the windows and took in the city. "This place is huge."

"Tell me about it..I've been through here so many times, but I still find it very easy to get lost," Cait murmured before sitting up straight and grabbing the phone that was right next to her. "I'm gonna call Justin and bug him," she said suddenly as she punched in his number, smiling innocently at the two girls who were looking at her with anticipation of what she was going to say. "I'm gonna put it on speaker phone."

The three of them waited in silence before smiling as they heard Justin's voice float into the limo. "Hello?"

"Hey hot stuff."

"Please don't tell me you've already managed to max out my credit card!" he cried desperately.

Cait placed her finger against her lips motioning for the other two girls to remain silent. "Yes I did,actually...Whitney bought this beautiful dress that was close to ten thousand dollars."

"TEN THOUSAND DOLLARS?" Justin cried. "How the hell can you spend that much on a dress?"

"Its really beautiful," Cait lied trying to keep the laughter out of her voice.

He groaned loudly showing his frustration. "You better be joking with me."

"I'm not, she really did buy this dress that is red and its long, and has this high split up to her thigh..its a designer orginal," Cait pressed as she watched Whitney roll her eyes.

"Ohmigod..I'm gonna breath before I actually say something that I dont' mean...but please..please tell me she didn't spend ten thousand dollars on a dress."

"I'm afraid she did, and Emily and I haven't even bought ours yet..I'm sorry buddy, but it looks like that credit card of yours is going to reach its limit."

He was silent for a long time before coming back across the line in a cool, calm voice. "Let me talk to Whitney."

"Hang on," Cait said before laughing and handing Whitney the phone, ending the speaker phone conversation.

"This is Whitney."

"Is Cait telling me the truth about your dress?"

"Yeah I guess...its red and beautiful," Whitney continued as Cait smiled brightly in appreciation.

"Did it honestly cost ten thousand dollars?"

"I'm sorry, Justin..I didn't think you'd mind me spending that much since I've never owned a dress that cost over a hundred."

He sighed before softening his voice completely. "Its ok..I really don't mind..but please, if you ever go shopping on my credit card again...try to find something a little less expensive."

"I've got to go help Emily, so here's Cait," she said handing the phone back to her.

"Justin..you're so dense and gullible!"

"What?"

"Do you honestly believe that she'd buy a ten thousand dollar dress? Geez, I didn't think you'd buy that little joke, but boy you bought it and you bought it good!"

"CAIT I SWEAR TO GOD..." he started before she hit the end button and bursting out laughing. "That just made my day so much better. What do you say, ladies, would you like to get this ball rolling or what?" she asked as the limo came to a stop.

Emily and Whitney exchanged smiles before nodding their heads and stepping out into the sunlight, ready to experience some shopping New York style.

Chapter Seven