"You okay, Pebbles?" Justin asked, looking at Lauren over the rim of his glass. Orange juice dribbled down the front of his shirt, which he just wiped away with his hand before continuing. "You've been kinda strange all morning. Well, more strange that you usually are."
"I'm fine, Justin." She didn't even raise her eyes from her plate to look at him. The phone call from Jimmy had been plaguing her all morning. There was no way she was going to tell Justin, because he would tell JC. She knew she had promised to tell him if anything else happened, but she also knew that things would get crazy around here if she told him. The fact that Jimmy actually called to threaten her would not sit well with JC. He was way too overprotective of her, in her opinion. She appreciated his concern for her, but didn't understand why he felt so strongly about it. Sure, he was her best friend, but sometimes he just got a little carried away.
"You sure?" Justin said, shoving another fork full of food in his mouth.
He had actually made a pretty good breakfast, even though he tore the kitchen apart in the process. Pots, pans and ingredients still scattered the counters. He would clean it up later, or at least he said he would. He had even impressed himself with his culinary abilities. He made pancakes; some of which stuck to the ceiling in an attempt to flip them from the pan and catch them again like he had seen on TV. Didn't quite work as well for him as it did that cooking show guy. He made eggs; a few shells fell in there, but he got them all out. Bacon, and hash browns, too. He didn't have any problems with them, although he did burn his finger on a slice of bacon, and flung it in the air. It landed on the floor with the splat. Taking a quick look around to make sure no one noticed, he dusted it off and put it back on the plate. What they didn't see wouldn't kill them, he figured.
Lauren ate as much as she could. She wasn't very hungry, either because of the phone call or the fact that she knew Justin had dropped the piece of bacon on the floor. She didn't want him to think anything was wrong, so she did her best to act normal. But her thoughts kept running away with her, so she wasn't doing a very good job.
"Yeah, I'm sure." she replied, finally looking up to meet his blue eyes. "Dang, Justin! How does one person fit that much food in their mouth at one time?"
"Its a gift" Smiling, he opened his mouth to show her his half-chewed food. Something only a man would find funny.
"Jesus, Justin, that's disgusting! Don't make me tell your Mama!"
Justin just smiled with pride at his accomplishment. He loved grossing her out. Turning back to his plate, he filled his fork with eggs before speaking again. "So, what are you planning on doing today?"
"Why? You trying to plan your day around guard duties?" she said sarcastically.
"Aw, now don't be like that." He places his fork on the edge of his plate, and finished chewing before continuing. "You said you would go along with it and not complain. That was one of JCs rules, remember?"
"Yeah, I remember. But remember one of mine was that I didn't want someone attached to my hip. I don't know why he thinks I need someone watching over me all the time. Jimmy's not going to do anything." She turned her attention back to her plate. It was easier to lie to someone if you didn't have to look at them.
"I know what you're doing."
"What?"
"You looked away from me because you're lying. You do that when you don't want someone to see that you're not telling the truth."
Whoa. Laurens eyes shot up to meets Justins. He smirked with knowing pride at confronting her. She hadn't realized that he had noticed her do that, or even knew why that's why she had done it.. She thought only JC knew her little trick at avoiding peoples eyes. She had to give Justin credit for being observant.
"You're losing it Justin." she replied, lowering her eyes back to her plate. Damn it, she did it again!
"He cant lose what he never had."
Lauren looked up again to see JC standing in the far doorway to the kitchen. With one hand on his hip, he looked around his destroyed kitchen in shock, before resting his eyes on the young blonde pop star at the table. Justins eyes shot open wide at recognition of the voice. 'Uh-oh' He was in trouble now.
"What the hell happened in here!" JC didn't know what to focus on first. The pots and pans filling the sink. The flour, eggs, butter and batter that was smeared across the counter and kitchen. Or the flour in Justins hair.
"Justin cooked all by himself." Lauren came to his defense. Maybe if she helped him out with JC, he wouldn't tell him that he thought something else had happened. "Isn't that good?" Lauren nodded her head encouragingly towards JC, smiling.
Justin turned in his chair cautiously, smiling proudly and tentatively at JC. 'Look adorable, Timberlake. No one can resist your cuteness' he told himself.
"Don't bother Justin. I am immune to that look"
Damn.
"But look, JC. He made pancakes, eggs, bacon......all by himself." Lauren urged.
JC sighed with frustration before looking up at the ceiling in defeat. Was that a pancake stuck up there?
"Fine. But Justin, you clean this up! And I do mean YOU clean this up, not paying Joey to do it like you did when you spilled mayonnaise all over Lances couch."
"No problem" Wow, he wasn't gonna get yelled at! Lauren had actually helped him from the beat down that was sure to come. Okay, she was up to something. Probably just didn't want him to question her more on why she was so distracted. Justin made a mental note to question her about it later.
Sitting in the chair beside Lauren, JC looked over her plate. Justin had really outdone himself. The only thing he usually made was Kraft Dinner. And the occasional hot dog.
"There's more in the microwave. I slightly misjudged the amount I needed." Justin offered, still making sure to hold his 'adorable' smile. Couldn't hurt to keep the charm going until he knew he was out of trouble.
"Um, that's okay, J. Maybe later" JC wasn't sure if he was feeling brave enough to eat what Justin had made. Justin was worse than him in the kitchen.
"So, where did you run off to this morning?" Lauren asked, popping a piece of hash brown in her mouth.
"Yeah. Lauren almost beat me to death with a candle holder!" Justin whined.
"Well, I wouldn't have had to defend myself if you hadn't made so much damn noise and scared the hell out of me!" Lauren turned to him defensively
"Well, if someone hadn't piled all the pots a mile high on top of each other, maybe they wouldn't have fallen out when I opened the cupboard!" he returned.
"Well, maybe........"
Lauren was cut off by JCs, hand covering her mouth. The other pointing at Justin in warning. "Okay, children, that's enough!" Giving them both fatherly looks, he removed his hand from Laurens mouth. "Damn, I swear you two are too much alike sometimes."
"I resent that!" Lauren turned to JC in offense.
"Hey! I resent your resentment!" Justin replied, pretending to be hurt.
"Oh, God" JC covered his face with his hands It wasn't even noon and he was getting a headache.
"So, where were you?" Laurens asked, leaning back in her chair.
"I checked out the gate and fence this morning. I couldn't find anywhere that he could have gotten in. I changed the code at the gate, just incase. Its 8-8-7-6 now."
"Well, that's better than your oh-so-original 1-2-3-4." Justin commented, popping the last bite of bacon in his mouth.
"Justin......my kitchen is still a mess. Don't test me!" JC warned, pointing a finger at Justin.
Raising his hands in defense, Justin stood to put his dishes in the sink. There was no more room because of all the pots, so he tried to place them beside the sink. That was hard, because of all the flour and butter mashed onto the countertop. "Ill take care of these later" he said before sitting back down at the table. He was going to put it off as long as he could. Or until Joey came over and he could pay him to do it.
"I also went to Kip, the alarm guy. He said that my system was still fine, so I didn't need to upgrade anything."
"How does he know its fine without being here?" Lauren asked.
"Its on computer from their office, apparently. If the alarm goes off, an operator will call and ask if they need to send police, or fire department or whatever." Turning to Justin, JC smiled "Justin knows all about that, dontcha J?"
"Its not my fault you locked the door!" Justin complained, leaning back in his seat hard in a sulk.
"Justin set off the alarm?" Lauren could hardly wait to hear this story.
"Oh you bet he did." JC stated. "He had been showing up in the middle of the night whenever he couldn't sleep to use the studio downstairs. But you know Justin, he's hardly a quiet person. He would be banging around downstairs and wake me up" Lauren knew that was true all too well "So, one night, I locked the front door. I figured it would keep him out, and he would go home." Turning to give Justin an annoyed look, he continued "Instead, he pried open the window above the sinks, there, " waving his hand towards the sinks to made his point. "Setting off the alarm."
"Yeah! And you left a sink full of water, so when I stepped in, my foot got soaked!" Justin sat straight up in his seat to share his version of the story "Then, I slipped, and my butt somehow landed in the sink! And I couldn't get out! Here I am, my foot soaked, with my ass stuck in a sink, when JC comes running downstairs."
"I was tempted to tell the operator that I had a blonde haired little intruder when she called" JC smirked at Justin, who returned a mocking similar glance.
"Justins butt was stuck in your sink?" Oh lordy, she would have paid good money to see this.
"Yeah. But it worked out well in the end. He didn't come over in the middle of the night again for a while." JC smiled.
"Ya'll don't give me any respect." Justin pouted, standing and heading out of the kitchen. Sulking across the foyer, he headed into the living room.
"Justin, don't you dare sit on my couch! You have butter on your ass!" JC stood quickly and ran into the living room before Justin could leave a butter imprint of his butt on the couch.
"Hey, what's this?" Justin asked, picking up the small book from Laurens night stand. Flipping open the cover, he turned the pages, scanning some of the quotes inside.
Lauren had come upstairs to find her address book to make a few phone calls, and Justin had followed her. Probably just to keep JC from making him clean up his mess in the kitchen. And of course, he loved to pester her.
Snatching the book from his hands, Lauren gave Justin a warning look "No-si-ness!" Pushing him aside, she put the book in the drawer of the night stand. "Jeez, Justin, what if that was my journal or something?"
"Then I would have made sure to read more before you took it away."
"Punk."
"No, seriously, what was it?" Justin was already opening the drawer to retrieve the book. He hated not knowing things, and when someone tried to keep things from him, it just made him more determined to find out what they were.
"Argh! Its my quote book, Justin." she walked over to him again, and reached for the book. He held it high above his head, out of her reach. She wasn't short, standing five foot eight inches, but compared to Justin, she was a midget. Justin smiled down at her as she jumped up and down trying to reach the book.
"So if its not your journal, why cant I look at it?"
"Because," she said, ceasing in her attempts to reach the book to look at him. "I just don't show too many people, is all."
"Why? Are they dirty quotes or somethin'?"
God he was a pain in the ass sometimes.
"No, you pervert. They're just sayings and stuff that mean something to me. I just don't show too many people. Its personal, Justin!"
"Have you shown JC?"
"No. He knows I have it, but he isn't as nosy as you are, so he's never tried to read it"
"Have you ever shown anyone?"
"Yeah."
"Who?"
"Britney"
"You showed my girlfriend, but you wont show me?" Justin faked hurt, placing a hand to his chest. "You love her more than me?" he cried, throwing himself on the bed dramatically, pretending to cry.
"God, you're such a loser." Lauren had to laugh at the sight he made. She had never been able to stay mad at him. Ever. He had a charming way about him that made him impossible to stay mad at. And he knew it.
"So, will you read me some?" Justin finally spoke, turning to look at Lauren from over his shoulder.
"Do I have a choice?"
"Well, I can read them for myself if you would rather..." Justin teased.
"Fine. But just a couple."
Lauren took the book from Justins hands, sitting on the edge of the bed. He sat up and leaned against the headboard, stretching his feet towards her as she flipped through the book. There were hundreds of quotes inside, most of which she got from friends, movies, songs or books. Some of them only made sense to her, since they were from a movie or book that you would have to see to understand where they originated. Finally settling on a few generic ones, she read aloud.
"Be happy for this moment. This moment is your life"
Justin pulled his legs up, crossing them in front of him. "That was neat."
"Neat? Does anyone use that word anymore?" she had to get him back for being a pain in the ass somehow. May as well tease him a little.
"Didn't you hear? I'm a trendsetter." he answered, leaning back on the headboard. "What else do ya got in there?"
Flipping through a few more pages, she came across another. "Just because fate isn't by your side right now, doesn't mean she wont eventually get there. It just means she currently busy with someone else."
Justin smiled at that particular quote. He thought about its meaning before speaking. "I like that one. I used to think about that before we got our record deal. JC always said it was fate that brought us together, but I used to wonder if it was fate, then why was it taking so damn long. I guess that's the suck ass thing about fate. It seems to take its 'Ill get there when I'm damn good and ready' time."
Lauren laughed at his comments. Justin had quite a way of taking things and turning them into his own little meaning.
"I wanna hear another!" Justin clapped his hands excitedly, like a child awaiting another bedtime story.
"Okay." she scanned the page in front of her "Life is not counted by the amount of breaths we take. But by the moments that leave us breathless."
"Aw, how sweet." Justin wiped away a fake tear from his eyes. "I got one!" He sat up and bounced on the bed as if he had the most amazing quote in the world. "If you don't like someone, walk a mile in their shoes. In the end, you'll be a mile away. And you'll have their shoes!" Justin laughed hysterically at his own humor, slapping his leg as he laughed. Lauren had to admit that it was pretty cute.
"You wanna add that one to your book?" Justin asked.
"Actually, yeah. That was pretty good, Lake."
"Thanks! Oh, let me do it!" Grabbing the book from her hands, he reached over and took the pencil from her night stand. Crossing his legs to sit Indian style, he lowered his head to add the quote to the book. His tongue stuck out slightly as he carefully wrote in the words to his fabulous antic dote.
When he was finished, he handed the book back to Lauren. She looked over the page to where Justin had added his quote, and smiled at his signature below it.
"I had to make sure you never forgot that it was me who came up with that!" he smiled proudly.
"Oh I don't think I would ever be able to forget that, Justin." She closed the book and set it back on her night stand. Leaning back, she met Justins eyes. They were all of a sudden serious, and Lauren wasn't sure she liked that.
"Lauren," his tone was soft, and she knew what he was going to ask "Why were you so distant this morning? I mean, you were fine when you tried to club me over the head with the candle holder. But then when you came in to eat, you seemed worried about something. What's wrong?"
She appreciated his concern. She really did. She loved the fact that he cared enough about her to bring up the fact she seemed upset. She had never had friends like that growing up, and other than Janssyn and a couple of the other girls, she didnt have many really close friends. Until she met the guys. They were such a tight knit group, she would sometimes sit back and marvel at their friendship. She was amazed at how close they were, and how much they cared for each other. She was even more amazed when they had let her in to their world.
"Nothing, Justin. I just started thinking about everything that has happened, and I guess it got to me a little." She wasn't meeting his eyes again, and she knew he noticed it. "I was just trying to figure out why everything had to be so hard all the time. Why everything has to be such a fight, you know?"
Justin was quiet for a minute before answering "The real things that matter in life wont matter unless you fight for them"
Laurens eyes rose to meet Justins. He had a sweet, gentle smile playing across his lips. Slowly, a smile spread across her face.
"Another Justin Timberlake original?"
"Yup" he smiled proudly. "Want me to add that one too?"
Reaching over, she tossed the book back on his lap. "Go for it. You're on a roll."
