I had to cringe at Justins hysterical laughter.
"I could totally see you doing that!" he yelled, pointing to the TV.
"I wouldn't fall off the bed, smartass." I countered.
"Yes you would. If I called you up out of nowhere and told you I was gettin' married, you would totally fall off the bed and you know it." He turned to face me, convinced that he was right.
"Whatever" I wasn't in the mood to fight with him over this. It was a stupid thing to be fighting over.
"Aw, now don't pout cause you know I'm right." Justins taunting grin shined through at me as he turned his attention back to the TV.
We were watching My Best Friends Wedding. We had watched this movie more times than I could remember, but even so, we always watched it when it was on TV. It was just one of those movies that you could watch over and over, and never get bored of it. At least, that's how it was for us.
Reaching across my back, Justin pulled the bag of potato chips away from me. He already had 3 bags on his side of the bed, so why he wanted mine, I had no idea.
"Hey! Those are mine!" I whined, reaching over to retrieve my stolen chips. "You already have more chips there than a Hostess factory!"
"But I want this kind. I'm tired of these ones." Grabbing a bag of BBQ chips, he handed it to me. "Here, you can have these."
I gave him a dirty look before taking the chips. "Fine" I grumbled, as I reached in to get a chip. "You suck."
"I'm awesome." he stated plainly. "You suck"
I had to laugh at him. He was the best at comebacks. Even if they were stupid, or just plain retarded, you always laughed at them. He was just so quick to think of them.
We sat in silence for a while longer, our attention focused on the movie. Every so often, I would catch Justin mouthing the words to the movie along with the actors. We had seen it so many freaking times, he knew all the words.
"I want a friend like George" I spoke up. "He's cool."
"I'm cool, too" he whined, giving me a pitiful look.
"No you're not." I didnt bother to turn at look at him, but I knew he was pouting.
He stared at me in shock for a moment, before looking away to whine "Am too."
I couldn't stop the smile from creeping onto my face. I had found myself doing that alot lately when I was around Justin.
We had been friends for years. Almost best friends, with the exception of the other members of NSync. Justin always said he liked having a girl as a close friend, because it was easier to get the scoop on what girls wanted, rather than asking Joey. As if Joey had any idea what girls wanted......no wonder Justin was still single if he had been asking Joey for love advice.
I had always been attracted to him. How could I not be? He was beautiful. And I don't just mean physically. He was one of the sweetest guys I had ever met, which only added to his appeal. His sense of humor was something that you could never get over. He just had a way about him, that no matter what kind of mood you were in, he was always able to make you smile.
I hated how he got to me so easily. Anything he wanted, he got. He was used to that already, though. Being Justin Timberlake had its perks. But as far as favors from friends, he knew there was nothing I could deny him. And I hated that. He whined, he got his way. He smiled, he got his way. He blinked, he got his way!
The other guys would bug me from time to time, saying that I did things for him because I 'wanted his body', as Joey liked to put it. I just dismissed it as being a good friend. But even I knew better than that. Over the last little while, it was getting harder and harder to deny how I felt towards him.
JC had a more tactful way of approaching the situation than the other guys.
"You like him, don't you?" He asked me one day.
We were sitting at a picnic table, outside a studio where the guys were doing a shoot for a magazine. Justin had asked me to drive him there, because his car was in the shop. Of course, I did it without much persuasion.
"Who?" Yes, I was trying to play dumb. I looked over at him, giving him my best dumbass look.
JC only smiled at me. It was a 'Dont give me that shit' kind of smile.
"Yeah." I admitted. JC was probably the only one I would admit that to. He was one of the most trustworthy people I knew. And even admitting it to him had taken over a year.
I looked away from him, over where Justin, Joey, Lance and Chris were playing tag. I had to laugh at the fact that at their ages, they were playing tag. It looked like Joey was it, because everyone was running from him like he had cooties. He almost caught Chris, but tripped at the last minute, causing him to fall to the ground. Chris called a time, helped Joey up, then ran for his life again.
"You told him yet?" JCs question brought my attention back to him.
"No. I don't think I could ever tell him something like that." I said, looking down at my Pepsi can. I fumbled with the tab, twisting it around and around.
"Why not?" he asked honestly. Surely he knew why I couldn't tell Justin something like that. We were friends, nothing more. It was just one of those unspoken rules. You become friends, or you become more than friends. But friends cannot become more than friends. See, that was why it was an unspoken rule. Because no one would understand that gibberish if you said it out loud.
"Because. We're just friends, and that's the way its gotta stay." I didn't look up at him. I just kept twisting the tab on the can.
"Says who?" JC gave me a stern look. "I'm not sayin' that something like that would be easy to do, but you gotta at least be honest with him. Just wait for one of those perfect moments, and say it."
"Perfect moments?" I finally looked up from my supposedly interesting pop tab to stare at him confused.
"Yeah," he smiled. "One of those moments where you can say anything. They don't happen often, but when they do, if you have something to say, say it. Otherwise, the moment will pass, and so will your chance."
I smiled at him, before looking back over at Justin. He was running for his life from Lance, who was now obviously 'it'. He was laughing so hard, he could barely run, giving Lance an easy pursuit. At the right moment, Lance leaped out and tackled Justin, both of them falling to the ground.
I looked back down at my Pepsi can. I didnt think one of those moments were possible for me and Justin.
Justins laughter rang through the room again. He had a crazy way of laughing when no one else way around. He had his 'public' laugh. The one that didn't make him look like a lunatic. Then there was his comfortable laugh. The one that no one other than his closest friends would hear him do, because it was so crazy that you would swear he wasnt right in the head. Right then, he was doing his comfortable laugh.
I realized right then that I had zoned out, and we were already half way through the movie.
Julia Roberts was now on a boat with her best friend, talking about everything they had been through together.
Their friendship made me think of the one I had with Justin. There had been times when we would go for a month or more without talking to each other. But when we did get back in touch, it was like we had only spoken yesterday. We had our inside jokes, our memories, and our sayings. Things that meant something only to us. And I loved that.
"In our relationships, with other people I mean. We didn't use the word love alot, did we?" asked Michael, Julias best friend in the movie.
Julia simply shook her head.
I looked over at Justin. The dim light from the TV shadowing his features. He smiled at the TV before turning to look at me. His smile widened when he noticed me staring at him.
"Kimmy says, when you love someone, you say it. You say it right then, out loud. Otherwise, the moment just kind of............"
The dialogue in the film continued to sound around us.
We continued to stare at each other. Neither saying a word.
It hit me then. This was one of those moments. One of the moments that JC told me about, when you could say anything to someone. The moment I needed to say what I had wanted to say for so long now.
Justins smile widened more, as he mouthed the words along with Julia and her friend, in time with the movie.
"......passes you by......"
That was it. It was gone.
Justin winked at me, before looking back to the TV.
I continued to stare at him for a moment longer, before facing the movie again.
Julia was dancing with Michael now. He was singing 'their song', as she silently cried over his shoulder, realizing the moment was gone for her to tell him how she felt.
I thought of the moment that had just passed me by, as single tear slid down my cheek.
