CHAPTER 4
Anya and Justin had gone to pick up Emma from JC's and found that he and Beth had gotten into a fight. Beth wanted to spend the day with JC and had completely forgot about watching Emma. JC said that she would be fine after she cooled off but maybe he shouldn't watch her the next day while they did their interview. Justin's mom was out of town or they would have asked her to watch the baby. Justin and Anya apologized to JC and told him thanks anyway for helping them out. Anya said that she would call Beth later and talk to her to see if she was going to be okay. She knew that her and Justin had been asking the guys a lot lately to help out with the baby. She also got the feeling that they weren't too happy that her and Justin were doing this article for Rolling Stone. A part of her thought that maybe they could be jealous because each of the guys had girlfriends but it was her and Justin that were chosen to be in the magazine. She quickly passed that thought off. All the guys were very supportive towards each other and any projects they had. The guys wouldn't care about this, or would they?
When they got home, Justin went to put Emma down for the night and get things ready for a late supper. They had ordered take-out at JC's and picked it up on the way home. Neither felt like cooking that night. While Justin got the table ready, Anya had gone to get the mail. She noticed another letter addressed to her in the same way the first was sent: typed name with no return address. She became nervous to open it and decided to look at it later that night after Justin had gone to bed.
"Hey, did we get anything good in the mail?"
"Um…no just some bills." Anya hurriedly stuffed the letter in her pocket before Justin could see it.
"Come on, dinner's ready. I can't believe how long the shoot took today. I am starving."
"Well, if someone wouldn't have tried to mess me up all day, then maybe we could have gotten out of there sooner." She approached him at the table and placed her jacket on the back of a chair.
"We talked about this before. I couldn't keep my hands off you…and still can't." He reached for her and pulled her down on his lap. He started kissing her neck and rubbing her thigh.
"Um…honey…I thought you said you were hungry?" She didn't want to stop but she wanted to eat, too.
"Who said I was hungry for food?" He turned her head to face him and brought his lips to hers. She began to moan when she felt him deepen the kiss and then about lose it when his hand ran up her thigh and under the skirt she was wearing.
"I guess we can…um…heat the food up…honey…are we going to do it right here in the kitchen?" She really liked that idea and soon found out that Justin did, too.
He picked her up and brought her over to the countertop. He sat her on top of it and began kissing her again. She spread her legs a little to allow him to get closer to her, then began to pull his shirt over his head. He stopped long enough to get it off and decided to remove her skirt, as well. He reached his hands under her skirt to take her underwear down. She loved this. His hands were her favorite part on him. They knew exactly where and how to touch her body.
She reached her hand down to his pants to unbutton them. She scooted to the edge of the counter and snaked her legs around his waist. He picked her up just enough to position her just right for him. She brought her hand up to his face and ran a finger down his cheek. "You are so beautiful." She began.
He blushed a little at her comment and turned his face toward her hand. He kissed her palm and said, "I love you."
Later that night, after Justin had fallen asleep, Anya got up to with Emma and remembered the letter in her jacket pocket. She took the baby with her downstairs to the kitchen. She smiled and laughed to herself when she passed the countertop. I'll never look at that the same way again. She grew serious when she reached inside her jacket and pulled out the letter. She sat down at the table and placed Emma in her arms. She had fallen asleep but Anya wanted her near right now.
When Anya picked up the letter, she noticed that although it didn't have a return address, the post-marked stamp was from Tennessee. That was where Anya was from. She didn't look at the first letter that close to see where it was from, just assumed it was a prank and threw it away. If this was from Tennessee, then it must be from someone she knew. She smiled to herself, relieved she hadn't received another mystery note. She opened the letter, expecting to see it was from a friend of hers, but as she read the few typed lines, she knew it wasn't a friend sending this. What would your boyfriend say if he knew what you were doing to me? You can't have it all. I'd watch your back, you never know where I'll be.
She sat there trying to figure out what it meant. What am I doing and who am I doing it to, I have no idea. From Tennessee, who have I made mad in Tennessee…wait…no…it couldn't be…how would he know…no…. "NO!" She shouted and woke Emma up. The baby started crying and Anya lost it. She sat there trying to console her daughter but only ended up crying with her. God, please don't let it be him.
The next morning Justin woke to find Anya not in bed. He hopped into the shower and then got dressed, a guy was coming to interview them today for the magazine article they were doing. He walked downstairs, expecting to see Anya playing with Emma, but, instead found them asleep on the couch. He crept over to the pair and was about to wake Anya up with a kiss when he noticed the tissues all over the floor. He knew she had been crying but wasn't sure why. He placed a hand on her arm and gently shook her. After a minute, she started to wake up. "Justin…hey, good morning…what time…wait…" She started as she quickly sat up with Emma still in her arms. "Where am I?"
"You're on the couch but what I'd like to know is why were you crying?"
She looked at the floor and saw the tissues. She remembered coming into the living room with the baby and crying over the letter she had received. She couldn't let Justin know about it. They had an interview to do today and he would only get upset, besides, she needed to figure out who was sending her notes and why.
"Um…" She stood and handed the baby to Justin. "I couldn't sleep so I brought Emma in here and stayed up watching a movie on TV. I must have fallen asleep." She hoped he would buy her lie.
He held onto his daughter who was now awake. "What movie?" He questioned.
"Thelma and Louise. You know I cry every time I see that movie."
He looked at her a minute then turned to go into the kitchen. "Okay…you better get ready, Dan will be here in a little while." He took Emma into the kitchen to fix her a bottle and get his own breakfast.
"Yeah, I'll do that. I'll be down in a few minutes. " Anya ran upstairs and jumped into the shower. While she was in there, she began to realize what she had done. The note scared her this time and she lied to Justin about its existence. They promised each other no more secrets and she was keeping a big one. She sat down in the shower, feeling the water run over her body and cried. She had broken a promise to him and for that, she despised herself. He wouldn't understand. He would only worry. I can't put this on him. He has enough on his mind right now. I won't tell him yet. I can't.
She finished getting ready and came down the stairs only to be greeted by a tall, dark-haired man talking to Justin. "You must be Dan. I'm Anya, nice to meet you."
He extended his hand to shake hers. "Nice to meet you, too. Justin was just showing me around. You have a very nice place here."
"Thank you. Justin did all the work. He deserves all the credit here." She walked up to Justin and put her arms around him. He was still holding the baby or he would have held onto Anya.
"Well, then Justin, the place looks great. Say, where do you want to talk?"
"How about outside. It's such a nice day and Emma can get some fresh air." Anya suggested.
"Sounds fine to me. Lead the way." Dan said as Anya showed him the door to the patio.
Beyond the pool, there was a small garden and a table where they all could sit. Justin brought some things to keep Emma occupied so the adults could talk.
"First off, let me thank you both for doing this interview. I know you have a lot going on right now, so I won't keep you too long. I want to start by asking some basic questions to fill in open spots in the article, like where you first met, how old you are, Anya, what's your favorite thing to do together, stuff like that…"
Anya and Justin busted out laughing at the last part of his question. Both knew what the other was thinking. Anya coughed to try to stop herself. "Excuse us…we get like this some times. Get us laughing and we can't stop…anyway…um…well, I am 25, our favorite thing to do together is none of your business, and we met at the park beside my old apartment. Justin was playing basketball with Joey and some friends. A friend of mine joined the game and almost kicked his butt."
"Hey, I had a bad team. Call Lisa up, I'll take her one-on-one and we'll see then."
Anya playfully rolled her eyes at him. "That was the exact attitude he had when I met him. I thought he was a loudmouth kid. He talked a good game, that's for sure."
Dan started to laugh with her. "So, when did things change?"
"Well, Justin got hurt when Joey had an accident and I came over to see what happened. His shoulder was banged up and I offered to help him but he just flashed me that million-dollar smile of his and said no thanks. Two seconds later, he was wincing in pain. I dragged him to my apartment to fix him up and its been love ever since." She looked over to Justin and smiled.
Dan noticed the look and quickly jotted down some observations in his note pad. He was taping the interview but would write things that couldn't be picked up on tape. "So, Justin, when did you know Anya was the one for you?"
He reached over and took her hand. "Probably the first time I saw her cry. I knew she was someone with a lot of feelings and emotions and I wanted to be there for her. That was when she opened her heart up and let me in. She put everything out for me to see and I remember thinking how much courage she must have in trusting me with so much. That was the day I knew I loved her." He picked up Anya's hand and kissed her palm. She looked at him with tears in her eyes. The day he had described was the one when she told him, JC and Lance about her ex-boyfriend Ben and how he abused her. She never knew that was when Justin had begun to love her.
"You never told me that. Why didn't you say anything sooner?"
He took his free hand and wiped a tear from her cheek. "I was afraid you didn't feel the same. I knew that the age difference was hard on you in the beginning and I didn't want to ruin our friendship."
If Dan hadn't been there, Justin would have leaned over and kissed her. Anya, on the other hand, didn't care. She pulled him to her and kissed him. He was so wonderful to her and she wanted him to know it.
"Well, I can tell the age thing isn't a problem anymore." Anya and Justin broke apart and started to laugh.
"Sorry about that, we get carried away some times." Anya apologized.
"No, don't be. I have to be honest and say that when I first came here, I wasn't sure what to expect. All I knew was that I was interviewing a pop star and his older girlfriend. I didn't know I would meet a loving family not afraid to show how much they care for each other. You two seem very comfortable around each other and I can tell that you guys really adore one another. I wish more couples were like you two."
"Please, you caught us on a good day…No, I'm just kidding. It's hard work. This relationship, this partnership, is hard enough but add a baby into the picture and it gets worse. We have been very fortunate to have a network of people that help us with everything. Our family and friends help us out in so many ways and allow us the time we need to keep our relationship working and growing. We owe them so much and I owe this lady beside me so much too. She has given me a beautiful daughter that I cherish and has given me herself to be with the rest of my life." He looked over at Anya and saw her smiling at him.
"Since we're on the subject, you two have an announcement to make?"
"Yes, we are getting married. I know this will be unsettling for some people but this is something we feel we are ready for. I know some people will speculated why I am getting married so young, and I want to dispel any rumors that it is because of Emma or that Anya is forcing me, I heard that one the other day. I am getting married because I want Anya with me always. If it were just to be with my daughter, I wouldn't be doing this. Anya would never keep me from Emma. This is because I can't imagine myself with anyone else. Sorry to all the fans out there, but I have found someone that accepts me for me and isn't afraid to love me no matter what."
"You mind if I steal that line and use it on my girlfriend?" Both Justin and Anya burst out laughing at Dan.
"If you think it'll help."
The rest of the afternoon was spent asking simple questions and proving many rumors false. Dan thanked them and left a short time later. Anya was very tired from the previous night and asked Justin to watch Emma so she could go take a nap.
"Yeah, I think I'll call JC and make sure everything is okay with Beth."
"Okay, let me know how it goes." She walked upstairs and climbed into bed. Her thoughts quickly returned to the note she received yesterday. What have I done to hurt someone? Who could it be? She fell asleep thinking about what she could have done.