"GREAT. THIS IS JUST GREAT!" Liz yelled against the doors of the elevator as she pounded her fists in anger. "I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS!"
Justin just rolled his eyes at her. "Yeah, well do you think it's a picnic for me too?" He said as he suddenly heard the ringing of his cell phone. He quickly pulled it out of his pocket and flipped it open to talk to the person on the other end.
"Hello? Yeah, we're both fine…" He answered as Liz grunted out 'not for long if we don't get out of here.' Justin turned his back to her and ignored her foul mood. "Yes I'm still here. Uh huh…yeah, okay. That long…"
He tried to listen but that caught Liz's attention and she spun him around and mouthed 'how long for what?'
He waved her off and continued to listen to the bodyguard ramble off what was going on. "Yeah, I understand. Look, just call me back when you know something else. Okay, bye." He finished and clicked his phone off. He placed it back inside his pant pocket and raised his head to the ceiling. He had to mentally count to ten before he turned around and told Liz what was happening.
She was a bundle of nerves awaiting the news. It didn't look good from the way Justin was staring at her. "Just spill it. We're in here for awhile, right?" She asked and he slowly nodded his head up and down.
"Yeah, they said it would take at least thirty to forty-five minutes to even get a technician over here then another half an hour to get the elevator fixed."
Liz's eyes widened at that statement. "That's at least an hour or longer. I can't stay in here for an hour. I'll go insane. I can't do this. I have to get out. I have to leave this place." She rambled on as she began pounding on the doors again hoping they would miraculously open.
Justin could tell that Liz was having a hard time with the cramped space and would lose it even more than she already had if he didn't step forward to help. "Ebby, you have to stop this." He said as he pulled at her shoulders and made her face him.
He saw immediately that the situation was not good. Her eyes were filled with tears and she was shaking under his arms. "Justin, I can't stay here. I just can't. I have to get out. I…" She repeated as her shakes became worse.
It took about a second for him to realize what he had to do. He closed his eyes and prayed she wouldn't sue him for it. He slowly took one hand off her shoulder and brought it down to his side, then let it fly – swinging right at Liz's face.
When she felt his hand smack her across the cheek, her eyes widened even more in shock. "What the hell?" She yelled at him. She pushed him away from her and inched closer to the other side of the elevator. "How dare you hit me." She said as she brought a hand up and began rubbing the now red mark on her cheek.
Justin lowered his head ashamed of what he had done. "I'm sorry. That's the only way I could think of getting you to calm down."
"CALM DOWN? You hit me in the face and expect me to calm down. I think all those flashbulbs have messed up your mind." She said as she moved her jaw around to make sure it wasn't locked.
"Well, it got your mind off the fact that we're still stuck in here." He said, hoping to lighten the tension in the air. He gave her an innocent grin while leaning up against the railing inside the elevator.
She was beyond angry with him – for more reasons than just the slap in the face – but by the sweet look he was giving her, she had no other choice but to forgive him. "Yeah I guess it did help – a little." She said as she tried to keep the tough look up but cracked a smile when Justin started pouting.
"You are too much, you know that?" She asked as she saw him nod his head at her. She let out a sigh and decided that if she had to be stuck in this elevator, she might as well sit down and rest her legs. It would be awhile until they were free of this prison.
She slid her body down the side of the wall and pulled her legs up to her chest to rock back and forth.
Justin saw her start to relax and he followed her lead on the other side of the elevator. He slid his longer body down and assumed the same position that Liz had.
The two of them didn't say a word to one another for several minutes. Liz had her head buried in her knees and closed her eyes, trying to concentrate on her breathing and not the fact that she was trapped in this small space with the one man who had been driving her crazy for months now.
Justin was waging his own inner battles on the other side. He raised his eyes and head to the ceiling, which was one big mirror that didn't help his situation. In the glass, he could see her and could watch her without her knowledge. He saw her hair cascading over her shoulders and legs while her body moved slowly up and down from her breathing.
He could see her twitching to get the loose stands of hair off her leg and a part of him wanted to scoot closer to her and move it for her.
He fought doing that, since they had just come from the war zone that was Liz's room to this. Neither one knew what to say to one another or where to start.
After the tension got so thick that Liz thought she would choke on it, she finally spoke up. "Ahem, thank…thank you for what you did back there." She said between her knees.
Justin had to strain to hear her muffled praise but he got the jest of it. "Um, what did I do?" He asked, unsure of exactly what she was talking about.
She slowly raised her head and met his eyes dead on. "For standing up for me in front of your friends. I know that was hard for you to do and I just want to thank you for that." She said as a slight smile spread across her mouth.
Justin nodded his head in thanks to her. "Yeah, well, what they did was beyond cruel. Not only did they set you up, but they messed with me and brought Britney in on it too. You should probably call her up and apologize for what you said to her." He started but quickly realized that that had been the WRONG thing to say.
Liz slapped herself in the head with her palm. "I can't believe this. Well, it took all of five minutes for you to mention her. I swear, I can't get within 10 feet of you without Britney coming into the picture." She just shook her head back and forth.
"Lord, Ebby, don't start with that. You're the one who called her a bitch and she doesn't deserve that and…"
Liz interrupted him before he could continue. She straightened her legs out and crossed her arms over her chest. "And she went along with the whole fake article thing. She knew I would get pissed but that didn't seem to bother her when she told the girls she would help."
Justin stood immediately when Liz's voice started to rise. "Yeah, she helped because she thought we would make a good couple – what was she thinking – oh that's right: of us. She wasn't thinking of herself like SOME people but was trying to get us together – so sue her." He said as he turned his back again and ran his fingers over the wooden rail trying to concentrate on that and not the anger inside of him.
Liz stood as well and approached him, yanking at his sleeve and getting right in his face as he turned around. She grabbed his face with both hands and forced him to turn to the wall and look at his reflection. "That's the person you should be yelling at for thinking only of themselves."
He snapped his head back and pushed her hands off him. "ME!" He yelled.
She nodded her head enthusiastically at him. "That's right, buddy. YOU have only been thinking of what's best for you and don't even say its me because I haven't paid you back for slapping me – and can think of a lot more ways to hurt you than just smacking you in the face."
He stepped right up in her face and hissed at her. "Try it. Just try it."
She rolled her eyes at him and glared back. "You wish I would hurt you? You'd like that, wouldn't you?" She hissed back.
He continued to stare at her and refused to back down. She was stubborn but he was the master at it. "Little girl, you don't have to guts to do anything to me." He said, smiling evilly at her.
She returned her own sinister look before bringing her hands up to his chest. She slowly ran her fingers over his upper body, then headed south. She stopped as her fingers grazed the belt around his pants and winked at him before lowering her hand and latching onto him, tightening her grip.
He doubled over and tried to get her to let go but she refused. As his body was at her level, she whispered in his ear. "Don't call me little girl." She said as she let go of his pants and stepped back. She tried not to laugh at his obvious discomfort but it felt so good to her to let out some of her frustration on him – for he was at the center of that frustration.
Justin turned his head and looked disgusted with her now. "Damn, you didn't have to grab my nuts." He winced out as he continued to hold onto his most prized possession to relieve the pain.
Liz just shook her head and smiled innocently at him. "Well if I would have known that you were that big, then I would have used both hands."
He was not thrilled by her smart-ass remark or what she had just done. "Look, you stay on your side of the elevator and I'll stay on mine until they let us out. I don't want you anywhere near me again." He said as he slumped himself back down on the floor.
Liz stuck out her lower lip at him and started to pout. "Oh come on Justin, you so deserved that."
"ME?" He questioned her.
"Yes YOU." She said pointing to him as she stood nearby. "You have been asking for that and worse, since I met you."
"What about you? You've been nothing but one big nightmare for me." He grunted out as he lessened the pressure on his pants – he was feeling a little better now.
Liz pretended to fan herself dramatically. "Oh my, Justin I didn't know I had invaded your dreams like that." She said as she leaned up against the other wall and smiled at him.
He just rolled his eyes at her. "Yeah, well like I said, they were nightmares so why don't you just be quiet until they get us out of here." He barked at her as he turned his head to look off to the side.
Liz just slumped down again and agreed. "FINE!" She yelled out, feeling like a forth grader fighting with the cutest boy in school but not wanting him to know she liked him.
She resumed her position with her head on her tucked knees and sighed into them. This was NOT the way she hoped her and Justin would turn out but she couldn't get her mouth to stop moving when it got started. Besides, the topic of Britney was one subject that she did NOT want to think about any longer.
Justin heard her sigh and turned to see her curled up body and felt a tug on his heart. He didn't want to make her shut up but he was suffering from the same disease she had: diarrhea mouth. The words just didn't know when to stop flowing.
After a few minutes of silence, Justin heard the faint sounds of sniffles and looked at Liz to see if she was crying. He saw her head turn to the side and rest her cheek against her knees as a tear ran down it. She didn't even bother wiping it off as it fell.
He slowly scooted over to her after giving it a thought. He didn't know what he was going to do but he didn't want to see her cry. His body crept beside hers and as he reached out with his hand to touch her shoulder, she popped her head up to look at him.
"Justin don't." She said as she scooted an inch over and away from him. He could see the sadness in her eyes and without thinking, he brought his hand back up and pushed a strand of hair out of her face. She tried to push him away but he grabbed her hand. "Justin, I said don't." She repeated but it was no use.
He took his free hand and wiped the watery leftovers of the tear that had escaped her eye a moment ago. "What's wrong?" He asked.
She turned her head to look across the elevator and not at him. "What's wrong? Well, let's see: I finally found a group of people that I considered my friends – who turned out to conspire against me to interfere in my so-called love life – which completely backfired and now I'm dealing with the fact that I have to apologize to a girl that has the heart of the guy of my dreams – who now doesn't want anything to do with me because I grabbed his nuts."
She turned her head to face him and let a few tears run down her cheek. "And for the life of me, I don't know why but all I want to do is get down on my knees and beg for his forgiveness."
Justin just stared at her, not knowing how to respond. He did the only thing he could. He took one of his hands and wiped the tears away as he leaned towards her.
Liz knew what was happening and pushed him away. She stood and adjusted her clothing before wrapping her arms protectively across her body. "Justin, please don't do that."
Justin shook his head and stood as well. He winced a little at his sudden straight stance and had to hunch over a little. He walked up to Liz – who's back was towards him.
He hesitated a second before taking a deep breath and bringing his arms around to hold her.
She tried to get out of his grasp but he held tight. "Justin, let go of me. Don't do this." She said as she could feel the tears fighting to break free. She only let a few escape but was willing the others to say in.
"I'm not letting go until we work this out." He said into her ear then turned her around in his arms and looked her square in the eye. "Britney doesn't have my heart. Sure she means a lot to me but I promise you that there's someone else that has taken my heart and I don't think I want it back." He said as he gave her a slight smile.
"But what about…" She started.
"What about what? All those times I was with her?" Liz slowly nodded her head. "Ebby, I spend time with her because we are FRIENDS. Yes we have leaned on one another too much at times, but we've talked about it and she knows that I'm crazy about you and she's fine with it. I promise you that we're only friends and nothing else now."
Liz couldn't hold back the tears any longer, this was what she had been waiting to hear. For some reason, she believed every word he said. She let go of herself with her hands and slowly brought them to him. She slid them up his chest but was stopped when he spoke to her.
"Don't hurt me again." He said as she lowered her head and chuckled before bringing her hands up and around his neck.
She raised her head and through tears of joy now, she smiled and told him, "Never again."
When he heard that, he pulled her closer and let her bury her head in his shoulder to let out all the tears. He could feel her shaking a little and heard her cries and wanted to hold her tighter. "Please don't cry Elizabeth. You're going to make me cry too and you don't want to see me with red puffy eyes. It's not a pretty site."
She giggled against his shoulder but brought her head up to look at him. She freed one of her hands and wiped her own tears away before speaking to him. "You said my real name. I've never heard you say it before."
He looked at her strangely. "Well, that's your name isn't it?" He asked but she brought her hand down and tried to elbow him in the stomach. "Hey I thought you said you'd never hurt me again?"
Liz just smiled at him. "Yeah, well only if you deserve it."
He pulled her as close as he could before answering her. "Then I guess I'll never do anything to deserve it again." He replied as he began to run his hands over the small of her back.
"You know I'm still mad at you for the slap." She said as she raised her head towards him.
He released his hold on her with one hand and brought it up to her still red cheek. He brushed his fingertips across it then leaned in to place a gentle kiss on the bruised area.
She closed her eyes at the feel of his lips on her skin again. It was a warm and comforting kiss that made Liz smile from the inside out.
He released his lips on her cheek but didn't move away. Instead, he leaned towards her ear to whisper to her. "I'm sorry about that. I shouldn't have slapped you."
She shivered under his airy breath but answered him anyway. "Well, it probably helped knock some sense into me."
He pulled back a little and laughed at that statement. "Yeah, well you probably did the same thing for me by grabbing my…"
Liz removed one of her hands from his neck and placed it over her cheek. "Oh, no. Justin I am so sorry about that. I really didn't mean to do it." She said, trying not to laugh. It was pretty funny to see him hunched over holding himself like that.
He just rolled his eyes at her. "Yeah, I'm sure you're real sorry." He said as Liz lifted her head and gave him a shocked look.
"Justin, I am." She said but when he questioned her honesty, she figured he was just playing with her. "Fine, do you need me to prove it?" She asked, giving him a raised eye.
He smiled slyly at her. "Yeah, prove it." He said, hoping she would take the hint and do what he wanted her to do.
She got the message loud and clear. She brought her hand up to his face and ran her fingers across his cheek. Her eyes followed the path of her fingers and her temperature began to rise when she ran them over his lips.
He smiled against her fingers as she pried his mouth open with two of them. She leaned up as close as she could towards him without touching his mouth and breathed into him. "I really am sorry for everything and I hope you'll know that from now on."
She finished her apology then gently placed her lips on his. She was going for sweet and sorry -but he had other plans.
At the first touch of their lips on one another, he tightened his hold on her and made her slam into him. He had been waiting for this for far too long and was going to take every advantage that he could. She moaned against his mouth and felt her legs going limp under his touch.
She wrapped her free hand back around his neck and held on as he began to devour her. This was beyond wonderful to her. It was more like…like…well, the right word would be…
'DING.'
Liz broke the kiss and opened her eyes to look at him. "If that's your cell phone, I'm gonna have to smash the damn thing." She said but he merely shrugged.
She didn't know what the noise was until she heard snickering coming from outside the elevator. She slowly turned her head, along with Justin, and noticed a dozen people crowded around the opening of the door.
The girls were covering their mouths, trying not to laugh and the guys all had that smug 'all right Justin' look on their faces. Liz chuckled and buried her head in Justin's neck. "I can't believe they caught us." She mumbled into his skin.
Justin gave them all a wink before letting go of Liz with one hand. She felt him do that and immediately raised her head to see what he was doing. She caught on quickly and waved a hand to the on lookers as Justin reached the buttons on the side of the elevator.
He quickly pushed one of them and waited for the doors to close. "Don't think we've forgotten about kicking your ass for what you did. We WILL get you back." He said as the doors began to close and he returned his attention to Liz.
They could hear a round a applause from the group but didn't let that stop them from getting back to what they had been doing before they were interrupted.
"Um, Justin…" Liz tried to say as Justin continued to kiss her lips. He wasn't letting up so she pulled his head away from hers and looked him in the eyes. "If you insist on kissing me while I talk, then do it here." She said, forcing his head down towards her neck.
She heard him laugh at her command and raised her head in pleasure as his warm lips met the tender skin of her neck. She had to shake her head to help her concentrate on what she was trying to say.
"Jus…Justin, oh um, that feels good…yeah, ahem…okay…what are we going to do when, um…when we um…yeah right there…yeah…ahem, when we get out of here?" She finally got it all out. He was driving her crazy right now and she had to mentally hit herself for ever thinking twice about him.
She knew he meant what he said because no one could fake this. He was putting everything he had inside for her and letting it all out at that moment and she couldn't be happier. He was what she had wished for in a man and now he was hers.
Justin stopped with the kissing for a moment and ran his tongue up her neck to her earlobe where he bit lightly on it before answering her. "We're gonna go to my room and…and." He started but Liz forced him away from her.
She looked at him with shock written all over her face. "AND WHAT? Buddy, I may have the hots for you but I'm not doing THAT just yet." She said as she noticed a slight grin to his face.
He leaned down and brushed his lips ever so softly against hers while whispering, "I wasn't meaning that, I meant go to my room and sleep."
She felt her cheeks heat up from the embarrassment she had caused herself. "But I have my own room. I don't think we need to be doing that just yet. What will the others think?" She asked as he pulled himself away from her and leaned over to the buttons on the elevator.
He pushed another one and smiled as he grabbed her hand. "We're gonna walk out of here, give our friends the cold shoulder and make them sweat, thinking we're up to something. Serves them right for what they did."
She returned his smile and took a deep breath as the doors slowly opened to reveal the same dozen people looking at them. "Sounds like a plan." She said as she tightened her hold on his hand and allowed herself to be led out of the elevator.
They heard their friends ask them what happened, what was going on and where they were headed but Liz and Justin refused to look at them or answer their questions. They walked over to Justin's door and when JC came up to them, Justin held out his other hand to stop him. "Nope, it's just the two of us tonight. Sorry but you'll have to find your own place to stay. We have A LOT to do inside." He said as he opened the door and allowed Liz to go in first. He winked at the group that had followed, then slid his body in the room.
When the door closed, the group of singers, along with several bodyguards, all exchanged curious looks.
"They're planning our demise." Nikki said out of nowhere.
"No they're shacking up." Chris chimed in.
"THEY BETTER NOT BE!"
All eyes turned to see Lynn standing in the frame of her door down the hall. She had seen the look Justin gave her as he passed and she knew they weren't doing anything wrong tonight, she trusted both of them.
"Um, Lynn…oh, you know they wouldn't do that…um, with you here and…"
"Lance, quit stuttering and go to sleep. I know they aren't so why don't you all just go to bed. You can grill them in the morning." She said as she smiled to the groups and shut her door.
"Yeah, she's right. Those two wouldn't go that far so soon, would they?" Jenny asked, uncertain of the answer.
"We'll find out tomorrow." JC said as he looked over to Joey. "Well, can I stay with you tonight?" He asked his friend.
Joey nodded and then the groups split up and headed to their own rooms.
Inside, "Justin, they probably think we're getting it on or something." Liz said as she slid into JC's bed.
Justin just snickered to himself as he did the same in his bed. "Well, I'm sure they'll let us know what they're thinking when we see the tomorrow at breakfast. Good night, Ebby." He said as he slid his hand over to the lamp and turned it off.
Liz lay there in the dark a second before speaking back up. "But I don't want them to think something that isn't true." She said as her eyes began to adjust to the darkened room.
Justin shifted in his bed an let out a groan. "Well, we could always prove them right in their assumptions."
Liz laughed at that and picked up a pillow to launch it across the room. It hit Justin's bed as she began again. "Yeah right. Just go to sleep and have another nightmare about me, why don't you." She said, trying to sound upset but knew he wouldn't buy it.
Justin grabbed the pillow and snuggled up with it. "Only if it involves spaghetti." He said, remembering his dream about her that he had.
"What?" She asked but he said it was nothing and to go to sleep as well. "Okay then. Good night Justin." She said as she let out a sigh and soon heard the soft breathing of him beside her.
She smiled while she lay there and thought of the night's events. She had run through just about every emotion in herself and thankfully, ended up with the best one: happiness.
She knew that tomorrow when they woke up, they would have a lot of questions that needed to be answered and she would take each one as they came. But, all she could think about right now was the fact that she had gotten everything she had hoped for and more by accepting this job for the summer. Tomorrow she would start the day – and every other one after that – doing what she wanted to do and knowing in her heart that she had made the right decisions.