Sam walked quickly across the parking lot, Justin a step behind her. She stopped beside his BMW convertible and waited for him to deactivate the alarm before she climbed inside, shutting the door with force. He got behind the wheel and started the car. The soft sounds of a ballad played through the radio, which was tuned to an R&B station. Justin was the first to speak as they made their way from the parking and onto the road.
“Don’t worry Sami. We’ll go have some dinner, you’ll feel better, Lance will calm down. You guys will talk and work it out like always. It’ll be fine.”
“I don’t want to go to dinner. I don’t feel like dealing with anybody right now,” Sam snapped.
“Okay then, where do you want to go?” He asked turning his head towards her.
Sam sighed, an apologetic look on her face. “Can we just drive for awhile?”
“We can do that. We should probably stick to the highways though, considering I have no security with me.”
“Oh, I completely forgot you guys were supposed to meet them at the restaurant. Are you sure it’ll be okay?” Sam worried as they drove down the busy street. “You could always just drop me back off and I can go by myself. I do have a car now, I keep forgetting that,” she said referring to the new silver Jeep Grand Cherokee Lance had leased for her the day before. He insisted that she needed it for work, and even if there were other reasons behind its purchase, Sam knew she couldn’t argue with that.
“We should be fine as long as we stick to the highways, it’s not like they’ll be able to run fast enough to catch the car,” Justin joked. “Besides, I don’t want you to be alone right now.”
Sam managed as smile as he reached over and placed his hand over top of hers, lightly squeezing. Justin smiled back before placing his hand back on the steering wheel. “Ugh, enough of this crap!” she complained, turning the stereo to the CD function as she picked up the leather case holding Justin’s CDs. She flipped through the sleeves until finding something she knew wouldn’t conjure any romantic or sentimental feelings.
Justin was surprised when Eminem began filtering from the speakers. “I thought you said you didn’t really like this album?”
“I don’t, but it sorta fits my mood right now,” Sam answered turning the volume up as Justin continued driving to the expressway.
Immediately after the Marshall Mathers LP, Sam selected DMX’s latest release, followed directly after that by Mystical’s new album. Justin understood her actions to mean that she wasn’t ready to talk about what happened earlier and listened along with her as he drove across the speeding highway with no destination. After the last CD ended Sam didn’t bother to choose another and they sat quietly until Justin once again broke the silence.
“Isn’t there anymore angry music to choose from?” he teased with a smirk.
“I’m sure there is, but I have a headache now,” she pouted, unable to contain her own grin.
Justin’s expression turned serious as he spoke again. “I’m sorry Sami.”
“For what?” she asked, quickly turning her head towards him. “It wasn’t your fault.”
“I heard pretty much the whole argument. Your apartment building is exactly what you could call soundproof,” he explained meeting her gaze.
“Justin, that fight wasn’t about you,” Sam said looking out the window at the passing cars.
“How can you say that? Are we talking about the same fight?”
“Yes, it might have ended up being about you, and I’m sure he meant most of the things he said about my relationship with you, but that’s not why it started. Lance was upset with me before he even walked in that door tonight.”
“Why? What could possibly make him so angry with you?” Justin asked, concern heavy in his voice.
“You know how we always say we can talk to each other about anything? Do you really mean that?” she asked timidly.
“Sami you know I do. Now what’s wrong?”
Sam sighed heavily. “Sex.”
Justin choked on a laugh. “Are you serious?” he questioned, thinking for a minute that she was pulling his leg until he saw the somber look on her face. “You are serious. Is it really that bad?”
“Yeah, I think so.”
“Well,” he started, shifting uncomfortably in his seat. “Have you thought about trying some new things to spice it up a little?”
“I think we have a little miscommunication here,” Sam laughed at Justin’s obvious discomfort. “I didn’t mean the sex itself was bad.”
“Oh.”
“How can it be, when it doesn’t exist?” she finished.
“You guys have hit a dry spell already?” he asked surprised. “It’s only been, what? A month?”
“What are you talking about?” Sam asked confused.
“I thought we were talking about your sex life!” Justin shouted playfully.
“I don’t have a sex life!” she responded with the same tone.
“Oh please, what’s it been? Two whole days?” he taunted.
“Oh my god,” Sam gasped. “You think Lance and I are having sex!”
“Well not at this moment, but yes,” Justin replied sarcastically as he saw the dumfounded look on her face. “Wait a minute, are you saying…”
“We’re not…we haven’t…not yet,” Sam interrupted.
“Sami you don’t have to lie to me. I’m not going to think any less of you for having sex with the man you love.”
“Justin, I ‘m not lying. Honestly, we haven’t had sex yet.”
“Yes you have, I saw you!”
“What are you talking about?”
“That morning in the hotel room after you guys first got together. You were in bed with him and you were naked,” he reminded.
“No we weren’t. Not completely anyway. You didn’t see our bottom halves,” she laughed. “You’ve thought we’ve been sleeping together all this time?”
“Yes! Are you sure you’re not?”
“Umm, not that I have a whole lot of experience with it, but I think I would know if I were.”
“Whoa,” he said shaking his head in shock. “What about your birthday? You were acting kind of…” he paused.
“Whorish? Sluty? Trampish?” she interjected.
“I was gonna say flirty, but I suppose those would work too,” Justin laughed glancing sideways at her as he turned on the windshield wipers to clear the light droplets of rain that had started to fall from the sky.
“Yeah, I passed out cold after he helped me out of my clothes.”
“And the night before that? When he took you out to dinner and everything?”
“We stayed up for a couple hours talking and stuff, but it was late and he was so tired because of everything going on,” Sam explained.
“I’m sure he would’ve found the energy,” Justin smirked. “Speaking of last week, when you came to my room to talk you said something about Lance not getting to sleep as soon as I did, what was that all about?”
“We were fooling around,” she shrugged.
“Okay, so let me get this straight. You lay in bed in your underwear together and he helps your drunken alter ego undress, you fool around, but haven’t had actual sex yet. Are we on the same page now?”
“I think so.”
“So what exactly DO you do all these times when you’re naked together but not having sex?” he teased.
“Stuff,” Sam answered with an embarrassed giggle.
“Stuff like, you do for him, he does for you?” Justin harassed as he turned to her with a raised eyebrow.
“Something like that,” she said, her laughter continuing as her face reddened.
“You are so cute, getting all giggly and blushy about it,” he mocked reaching out to pinch her cheek.
“Shut up,” she whined swatting his hand away.
“So why aren’t you having sex?”
“I’m just not ready.”
“Do you want to talk about it?” Justin asked with a comforting tone. “The reasons why I mean.”
“There’s a couple of them,” she said softly.
“I’m listening,” he said switching off the wipers. The sprinkles of rain had passed for now.
“It scares me.”
“I admit the male anatomy isn’t the most attractive thing to look at but it’s nothing to be afraid of,” Justin cracked with his trademark grin.
“You idiot,” Sam said rolling her eyes. “I didn’t mean that ‘it’. I meant ‘it’ sex. Anytime you do something for the first time it’s bound to be a little scary.”
“So you are a virgin?” It was almost more of a statement than a question.
“You don’t sound surprised.”
“I’m not really. It makes sense. You’ve never been in a serious relationship before Lance and you, being who you are, would never give yourself to someone unless you were in love.”
“You know me too well,” she mused before continuing their topic of discussion. “As for the other reason…it’s just complicated.”
Justin hesitated before he spoke his next words. “The rape?”
“You knew?” Sam asked with wide eyes.
“I wasn’t sure. But I figured it had to be something more than just an ex-boyfriend for you to keep it from Lance. And the way you cringed whenever Scott’s name was mentioned was pretty telling.”
“Like I said, you know me too well.”
“I could say the same to you,” he smiled warmly at her. “Sami, you said that Lance was upset with you, are you saying it’s because you won’t have sex with him?”
“I’m saying I think he’s more like frustrated with me I guess. I thought I was ready last night but I obviously wasn’t because I just shut down and I couldn’t go through with it,” she confided.
“And he was pissed off?”
“No, he was great about it actually. I just think the more he thought about it though, the more it hurts him. Sometimes it’s probably hard for him to remember that it’s not him that I’m afraid of.”
“What an ass,” he said, a hint of anger in his voice.
“Justin,” Sam protested.
“No Sami, I’m sorry, but that is just unforgivable of him to me. Especially considering your situation.”
“Stop that. He’s been wonderful to me through this whole thing. This is the first time it’s even been a problem. Besides if you were in his place, don’t you think you’d get a little frustrated too? Especially considering everything else we’ve done so far.”
“I think he’s an idiot for not realizing how difficult it must be for you to allow yourself to trust him to get close to you at all, and for not treasuring whatever it is you’re willing to give of yourself. No matter how much or little that is,” Justin replied, the anger now consuming his tone. “I’m sorry,” he sighed. “You don’t need to hear this right now,” he said grasping her hand.
“It’s okay, I’m glad you’re being honest with me. You can’t help the way you feel. But you also don’t know how Lance is feeling either, or the exact details, so please don’t be so quick to put all the blame on him,” she pointed out.
“You’re right, I don’t know how Lance thinks or feels, but I do know that if it were me, I’d feel like the luckiest man alive knowing that you loved me and I’d wait as long as I had to for you.”
The two friends locked eyes for what seemed like an eternity before Justin turned his attention back to the road ahead. The silence between them was deafening.
“I’m hungry,” Sam finally said minutes later, pulling her hand away from Justin’s to tuck a stray piece of hair behind her ear.
“Me too. Somebody pulled me away from my dinner plans,” Justin teased.
“OOH! There’s an Applebee’s at the next exit!” she squealed, excitedly pointing to the sign on the side of the highway. “Do you think it’d be safe enough for your pop star ass?” she taunted.
“Well we’ve long since missed the dinner crowd,” he said referring to the late hour. “Where are we though?”
“What do you mean where are we? You’re the one driving!” she said looking around at the brightly colored signs. “We’re in Port Charlotte you retard.”
“Port Charlotte? Where the hell is Port Charlotte?”
“Umm, again, you’re the driver not me. And how the hell would I know where it is? I’ve lived in Florida for about eight months, three of which I wasn’t even here. How long have you lived here now? Eight years?”
“Hey, I’m hardly ever home either smart ass,” Justin shot back with a smile. “But seeing as how I don’t remember ever hearing of it, Port Charlotte can’t be a big place so it should be okay,” he said turning onto the exit. “I have a hat with me, and it’s late.”
“I’ll go in and scope it out for ya, like a spy. Make sure there aren’t a bunch a youngins hanging around the joint,” Sam said with an exaggerated authoritative voice.
“Well with you protecting me I have nothing to worry about,” he mocked.
“That’s right, ain’t no rabid fans gonna keep me away from my steak toppers…or maybe one of those oriental chicken salad thingies. Hmm, decisions, decisions.”
Justin just laughed as she continued rattling off items from the menu. As they made their way through the town and to the restaurant the rain had started again and was falling steadily by the time they arrived. Just as they had hoped, the place was fairly empty and most of the patrons were older. The pair chose a private booth in the corner and Sam finally decided on an entrée. Justin kept his tattered bucket hat pulled down close to his eyes and refrained from looking around the room. He mainly focused his gaze down at the table as they ate, occasionally glancing up at Sam as they talked intermittently throughout their meal. Mostly the two of them just tried to blend in and look as inconspicuous as possible. As they were waiting for the check, Justin sat with his elbow on the table; his chin propped up on his hand. Sam noticed he seemed to be focusing on her for some reason.
“What?” she asked. There was something different, yet somehow familiar about the way he was staring at her. But she couldn’t put her finger on it.
“Nothing,” he said with a shake of his head and a yawn as the waiter placed the check on the table. “So I assume I’m paying for this?” he asked reaching for his wallet in the back pocket of his jeans.
“Unless you want to wash dishes. I left my purse back at my apartment during my grand exit,” she replied sarcastically.
“A likely story. Cheapskate,” he mumbled placing the amount due along with a generous tip in the small tray with the bill. “So we heading home now?”
“In this stuff?” she pointed to the window. Outside the rain had turned into a downpour and the wind had picked up, creating a nasty storm and horrible driving conditions. “It’s over three hours back home. The weather is like this over pretty much all of Florida,” she explained motioning up to the television tuned to The Weather Channel. “And you’re exhausted. I can see it in your eyes. I might attempt to drive us home, if it weren’t for the weather and…”
“The fact that you can’t drive a stick?” he smirked, mischief in his eyes.
“Don’t even go there Justin,” she warned.
He laughed. “So what are you suggesting? That we stay here in Port Charlotte?”
“I’m saying we can’t drive home, not until the storm lets up anyway and you get some rest.”
“We passed a sign for a Days Inn coming off the expressway on the way here. I’m sure we could make it back down the road okay.”
“Justin Timberlake roughing it in a discount hotel?” Sam gasped, saying his name quietly in case anyone was paying attention to their conversation.
“Hey! I wasn’t always a rich, superficial bastard,” he said defensively before bursting into a grin. “I’ll go get the car and pull it up to the door. No sense in both of us being all wet,” he said standing up.
“I’m not a afraid of a little rain,” she said following him out.
They made their way back through the town in the torrential rain. The wipers on Justin’s tiny sports car were just about useless against the continuous flow of precipitation. They found the closest spot in the parking lot.
“Are you sure you don’t want me to drop you off at the door?” Justin offered as he parked and turned off the ignition.
“That’d just be stupid now. I’m already wet. Besides, haven’t I ever told you how much I like playing in the rain?” she said opening the door and climbing out of the car. Justin got out as well and activated the alarm before they ran to the main entrance of the hotel. Once inside they stood at the front desk, waiting behind a balding man who was also checking in. “I really should have used the bathroom at the restaurant before we left,” Sam said dancing about.
Justin laughed at her torment. “Look,” he said pointing to a small hallway off the lobby. “There’s a bathroom right there. Go pee before you explode and I’ll get the rooms.”
“Don’t you have to go?”
“No. I went when we first got to the restaurant remember?”
“So did I.”
“Yes, but you have the bladder of a ninety year old man.”
“Oh yeah,” she smiled before hurrying off to the ladies room. She returned a few minutes later to found Justin leaning against one of the chairs in the lobby with a strange look on his face. “Where’s my key?” she said walking up to him. He handed her the one key held in his hand. “Okay, where’s your key then?”
“I just gave it to you,” he explained. “They only had one room available.”
“Wait, let me guess, it only has one bed too right?”
“That would be correct. King size in fact,” he said widening his eyes for effect.
“Do you hear anything?” Sam asked darting her eyes quickly around the room.
“Could you be more specific? I hear lots of things.”
“I was just waiting for the dramatic music to play,” she replied as Justin looked at her with confusion. “Come on think about it, girl gets in fight with boyfriend, runs off with boyfriend’s friend, who she just happens to have a past indiscretion with, they get stranded in some random small town, there’s only one hotel room available, with one bed. Now all we need is the dramatic music to play us out to commercial and we’d have the perfect soap opera story line.”
He smiled at her dramatic explanation. “We don’t have to stay. We can probably make it home okay.”
“Maybe if we had a car that weighed a little more than large dog,” she teased.
“Don’t be knockin’ on my car woman,” he scrunched his eyes together. “I’ll sleep on the couch or a chair, or the floor if I have to,” he said through a yawn while rubbing a hand over his tired face.
“No you won’t. You’re exhausted. You’ve only been off the tour for a couple days and I know your body isn’t fully recouped yet. I’m the reason we’re stuck here. You take the bed, and I’ll sleep on whatever else is in there,” she reasoned.
“No,” he said flatly refusing her offer. “I’m not gonna let you stay awake all night uncomfortable. It’ll be hard enough as it is for you to sleep with the day you had and everything that’s running through your mind.”
“Stop being so stubborn Justin!”
“You stop Sami!”
“Ugh! Fine!” she shouted in frustration. “This is what we’re gonna do. It’s a big ass king size bed right?” He nodded his head in agreement. “We’ll split it. We’re both adults, for the most part. We’re wet. We’re tired. We just wanna get some rest. You’ll stay on your side. I’ll stay on my side. Agreed?”
“If you’re okay with it, it’s fine with me,” he shrugged.
“Good. Now what floor are we on?” she asked turning towards the elevator.
“Two,” he answered walking up beside her.
“Justin?” Sam asked, her voice now a softer tone.
“Yeah?”
“I just wanted to say thank you for everything tonight,” she said looking up into his blue eyes. “For getting me away with no questions asked, driving for miles without a second thought, for being my sounding board as always, for just being my friend.”
“Anytime,” he winked. “I’d do anything for you Sami.”
“That’s good to know,” she said with a grin as they stepped into the elevator. “Because there’s one more thing I need you to do for me.”
“What’s that?”
“Call JC?” she asked timidly.
“Why JC?”
“Well because we need to let somebody know we’re okay and didn’t get washed away by the storm. I can’t deal with Mel and Jen right now because they’ll have tons of questions and comments. Joey would probably forget to tell them if we called him,” Sam kidded. “Chris would just laugh at us being marooned in some random town. So that leaves JC, not to mention he’s probably the most calm and rational of all of them.”
“What about Lance?” Justin asked her.
“I can’t talk to him yet,” Sam answered barely above a whisper as she stared at the floor.
“I’ll call JC,” he agreed, placing a reassuring arm around her shoulders as they exited the elevator on the second floor.
“Thank you,” she sighed, leaning against his chest, allowing herself to accept his comforting embrace as they walked down the hallway to their room.