CHAPTER 8
After a long couple of weeks at work, Anya was glad to be getting a break. She had agreed to go visit the guys in Los Angeles where they were shooting their next video. She hadn't seen the guys since they left 3 weeks ago and she was having the same withdrawal symptoms Justin said he had. Lisa was her best friend since elementary school, but the guys were different. They were becoming like brothers to her and she loved them all. At first, she felt strange hanging out with the guys, since, all but Chris, were younger than her. Adding the fact that they were famous didn't help either. She tried to look at them as five of her close friends. She knew who they were but tried to keep that out of their friendships. That is what they all needed. The guys needed friends that accepted them for who they were. Friends that would play jokes on them, keep them in line, not be afraid to tell them exactly how they felt. They found all that in Anya. She was like the older-sister, motherly type to most of them.
With Joey, he kept her on her toes. He would always joke around with her about them hooking up. He said that since Lisa was taken, it was time for him to move on to Anya. She knew he wasn't serious and played along with him. Lance was the one that surprised her the most. One minute he would be quiet and laid back, just watching everyone around him. The next minute, he would be talking her head off about stuff she had no idea what it meant. The other guys were always picking him on, probably because he let them. It never bothered him when they would give him a hard time about something, he just went with the flow. Chris was another thing. Although he was the oldest, he certainly didn't act like that most of the time. He was always cutting up and playing jokes on everyone. No one could get a straight answer out of him, ever. Many times Anya would talk with Chris on the phone about what was going on with him and his girlfriend. He would keep her laughing with his jokes, too. They had a great time together. JC was the sweetheart of the group. Anya found that she could talk to him any day or night. Before he left 3 weeks ago, he had taken her to the studio with him a couple of times to see what that was like. He was always so nice to her and she felt very close to him.
Then there was Justin. Although he was the farthest from her age, which bothered her at first, she was closest to him. After she had told him about Ben, they had become great friends. He was the one she turned to when she was sad or lonely. He always made her feel like the most important person in the world when they would talk. Some of the guys had asked her if there was anything going on between the two of them and she would just shrug it off and change the subject. Lately, she had been thinking a lot about him. Take out the age difference, the fact that he is part of a huge musical group, and that thousands of girls want him, yeah, we could get together. She laughed at herself for even thinking that.
In fact, he was the one who had called and invited her to come to Los Angeles to visit them. She was so excited to be able to hang out with the guys and catch up with them. She arrived at LAX to find a strange looking man, at least it looked like a man, standing by the gate, holding a sign with her name on it. This guy was dressed from head to toe in a black trench coat with dark glasses covering his eyes. The black hat he wore covered his hair completely. Anya was certain this guy was going to either kidnap her or flash her. Neither choice sounded good.
She approached the man slowly. "Excuse me. I am Anya. Are you here to take me to the hotel?" She asked, unsure of what was going on. Suddenly the man's mouth broke out into a huge smile and she knew immediately who it was. "Justin, what the hell are you doing here and why are you dressed like that? You gave me a heart attack. I thought you were going to flash me or something." He laughed at her comment.
"Do you want me to flash you, cause I can." He had to duck so he wouldn't be hit when she swung for his head. "Hey, you're going to knock my hat off and then everyone will stare at me."
"I don't think you have anything to worry about. People are already staring at you. Maybe all black isn't the way to go." She had to laugh at him. He did look funny dressed like that. This was the only way he would be allowed to meet her at the airport. Otherwise, people around him would know who he was and make a scene.
"Come on, let's get out of here. We are going to the set for wardrobe and discussing the video. The guys are looking forward to seeing you." He said as he took her bag from her and started to walk toward the waiting van.
"Oh, before I forget." She leaned up and gave him a kiss on the cheek. He was taken back by this and just stared at her. "Thank you for picking me up."
When he finally broke from his trance, he said, "Well, I'm glad I didn't let Joey do it like he wanted to. Otherwise you would have had to kiss him." She laughed at his comment. They both made it to the van and headed to the set.
When they got to the set, there were people everywhere. Everyone was running around trying to get things ready for tomorrow. Joey was the first to see Anya and ran up to her. "ANYA!" He picked her up and swung her around.
"Joey, put me down before I throw up." He immediately stopped and let her go. "Thank you. Now, what is going on here? It looks like WWIII."
"No, it always looks like this until the shoot is over. Everyone's trying to get things done for the next two days of shooting. It'll calm down later when we go over the video ideas." Joey said as if this was old stuff to him and the guys. It was old stuff to them but Anya had never seen so many people running around like chickens with their heads cut off.
"Whatever you say, Joey. Let's go find the other guys." With that, Joey, Anya, and Justin were off to find the others.
The day went on and Anya got bored fast. The guys all had to try on their clothes for their part of the video. Anya didn't understand why they tried on the exact same outfits on ten times. She did, however, meet the girls that would be playing their love interests in the video. Chris' girl was not his girlfriend for the video. She had done one of their other videos before and got a lot of flack from it by fans so they decided he would have someone else play his "girlfriend". The same thing for JC. His girlfriend would not be in the video, either. They didn't want the press to get anymore details about their private lives if they could help it. Anya really liked the girl that was chosen for Lance. She was very down to earth and sweet. She always said "please" and "thank you" to everyone. If Anya didn't know any better, she would have thought this girl was 15 years old, she was just so cute and innocent. Joey's girl was too prissy for Anya. She was talking to her agent the whole time and didn't even spend any time with the others or Joey to know her part in the video. Anya wasn't sure where they came up with this girl but someone needed to be shot for picking her. Anya recognized Justin's girl, Libby. She was an actress and seemed to be a good friend of his. They knew each other for about a year now and went out on occasion when he was in town. She seemed nice enough but something bugged Anya about her.
Finally, the wardrobe people left and the guys met with the director to discuss the concept of the video. "Okay, here goes. Each guy and his girl will have a scene that reflects their personalities, with the added element of romance in it. Since this is a song about promises and being there for the one you love, there may be some, shall I say, intimate situations in the scenes. We will see how each one goes and decide from there, okay?" The director said as each guy looked nervously around the room.
"Oh come on, I've seen all of you making out with girls before." Anya said to the guys.
"Yeah, but not with a total stranger and not in front of fifty people." JC said reluctantly.
"Hey, I'm up for it!"
"We know, Joey. We know." They all got a good laugh at that before the director cut in.
"Okay, now I didn't say you would be making out with the girls. We will just see how each scene plays out. All I ask it that you keep an open mind about things, okay?" They all nodded their heads in agreement.
"Good, now here is the scenarios for each of you. Chris, you will be roller blading in the park. JC, you will be teaching your girl to play the piano. Justin, you will be playing basketball. Lance, you will be at the beach riding horses. Joey, you will be cooking breakfast with your girl. Now, any questions?" No one had anything to ask except if they were done for the night. They all wanted to go back to the hotel and get ready for the next day. "Yes, you guys are done. Go home and rest up for tomorrow. Joey, Justin and JC will go tomorrow. Chris and Lance will go the next day." With that, the guys and Anya were on their way back to the hotel.
They all met up in Lance and Joey's room to decide what to do. JC and Lance wanted to stay in that night. Joey and Chris wanted to go to a club. That left Justin and Anya to do whatever they wanted to do. "I think I would like to see a movie, do you want to come with me?" Justin asked Anya, hoping she would say yes.
"Sure, that would be okay. Can we get something to eat first, I am starving." They both laughed when they heard her stomach growling. "And the sooner the better."
So, the groups went their separate ways. After they ate a quick dinner, Justin and Anya decided on a scary movie to watch. They got to the theater after the lights had gone down so no one would see Justin. It was hard to miss him with the huge bodyguard by his side, but they tried. During the first half of the movie, Justin kept looking over at Anya and wondered if she would mind him putting his arm around her. When he got the nerve to do it, it was at a scary part in the movie and Anya jumped and screamed. "I am so sorry. I wasn't trying to scare you, I promise." Justin tried not to laugh at her when he saw the look on her face.
"Well you did. You scared the crap out of me."
"Would you like me to hold your hand to make you feel better." He said in a baby voice to mock her.
"I don't need you to make me feel better, but I wouldn't mind you holding my hand anyway." She said it before she could take it back. What the hell did you just say to him? Good going, Anya. She tried to act as if she hadn't said anything but she knew he had heard her. She could feel her cheeks getting red and then on fire when she felt his hand touch hers.
"I'd love to hold your hand." That was all he said and then turned around to finish watching the movie. Anya found the rest of the movie not so bad and smiled the whole time. When the movie was over, they left out the exit in the theater with the bodyguard. Anya thought that Justin would have let go of her hand by now, but he continued to hold it all the way to the van. She was not complaining. It felt awkward at first to be holding hands with him.
Sure, they had done it before, but this time something felt different. It wasn't a friendly touch like he had given her before. This time it felt like more. The way he would rub his thumb over her hand and squeeze it a little every now and then to let her know he still knew she was there. She liked it. She liked it a lot. Lord, don't tell me I'm falling for him. Sure he is great and all, but he is a good friend, that's it, nothing more. Yeah, right, keep telling yourself that and maybe one day you will believe it. She couldn't believe she was thinking these thoughts about Justin. He would never feel the same and if he did, nothing would come of it. They were too far apart in age and he was, well, he was famous and she was average, to say the least. Someone like him deserved someone glamorous. Someone who would look good on his arm. Someone younger. Stop it. You are being silly. Quite thinking like that. He is your friend, nothing more.
The ride back to the hotel was shorter than it seemed. Both Anya and Justin were feeling something towards each other but not sure of what to do about it. Justin walked Anya to her room to tell her goodnight. "Thank you, Justin, for dinner and the movie, and for inviting me to come out to LA with you…I mean… with you and the guys." Great slip up there.
"It was my pleasure. I am glad you came out here to see me…I mean me and the guys." He said, mocking her. Her cheeks turned a slight shade of pink. She knew he was giving her a hard time for her little slip up.
"Boy, I'd watch it if I were you. I can still tell everyone about the skinny dipping incident." She smiled, pleased with the fact that she had something over him. A secret he had only told her.
"Oh, that's hitting below the belt. I better get going before I really tick you off." He said, pretending to be offended.
"I'm just kidding. I would never tell anyone any of the things you tell me. You know that, right. You can trust me."
He didn't say anything. He closed the distance between them and pulled her into his arms for a big hug. She felt her knees go weak and thought she was going to fall over. Man he feels so good, she thought. When he let go, he said "I trust you with my life. Goodnight Anya. I'll see you tomorrow."
"Goodnight Justin." And with that, she entered her room and went to take a cold shower.