“Can’t wait to know what happens?” Lance read her mind.
“You said it,” Julie replied.
“Don’t worry about it,” Lance told her, “If he cares about her almost as much as I care about y- Well, um, I’m sure they’ll be fine. They both know they like each other”
Julie nodded. Why won’t he say it?! Why is he so afraid to tell me how he feels?! Julie’s mind was screaming. “Need help?” Justin came up behind Julie.
“Oh, no thanks,” Julie shook her head. Justin leaned up against the counter watching Julie find pots and pans to prepare their meal. Julie stopped and looked at Justin. She smiled at him and then handed him a spatula. “OK, you can help,” she grinned. Justin gave her a hug both knowing that this submission meant more than just the preparing of dinner. She forgave him and now they could enjoy the rest of the weekend. Well, almost. There was still that whole Lance thing. But at this moment, what could Julie and Justin think of besides each other? Dinner was made with plenty of jokes, giggles, and playful hits, pushes, and shoves. Lance, of course, was dying inside. How could Justin do that after knowing how he felt about Julie? He finally convinced himself that it was he who was out of line, not Justin. Julie was Justin’s girlfriend and he needed to back off. “Dinner’s ready!!!” Julie hollered. As everyone gathered around, ready to eat, JC and Kristina loudly came through the door. They were nearly falling over each other as they stumbled in laughing hysterically.
“I can’t believe I just...”
“Nick still probably hasn’t figured out...”
“Did you see the look...?”
They were talking at once trying to catch their balance. They finally were able to settle down enough to stand up. They paused for a second , their laughter coming to a stop. JC leaned forward putting his arm around Kristina’s waist and pulling her towards him. He kissed her and pulled away suddenly noticing the audience they had. “Heh... hi guys. I found Kristina”
“Obviously,” Julie said with a smirk.
“Hey,” Chris said, suddenly coming into reality, “Are you two... together?”
“Gee, I don’t know,” Kris sarcastically replied, “JC, are we together?”
“Together? Define together,” JC said.
“Hmm...together...definition number one, a television boy band. Definition number two, we’re a couple”
“Huh...I think I’ll have to go with definition number two on that one”
‘Thought so,” Kris smiled, kissing JC softly.
“Oh, do you have to do that?” Chris complained, “I’m about to eat here!! Get a room would ya?!”
The two sat next to each other at the table, joining the others for dinner. They all ate as they listened to JC tell his story of stealing Kristina. Kristina, of course, would add her point of view every once in awhile. They were all relieved to hear that other than a kiss, nothing happened between Kris and Nick. Once they were done eating, Lance helped Julie clear the table and do the dishes. They didn’t talk much since they both had many thoughts of their own.
My God she’s beautiful!! Why? Why did it have to end up this way? I wish I could just hug her and kiss her and just-- Why can’t I just tell her how I feel? We know everything about each other! We’re best friends for crying out loud! We can talk about anything! But how do I say it? Who am I to steal one of my best friend’s girlfriend?
Julie was also deep in her own thoughts. Wow, it feels great to be back with Justin again. No more fighting or arguing. I can’t believe he’s leaving in two days! And the rest of the guys... I’m gonna miss them! And Lance... Lance!!! Oh no, what do I do about Lance? I can’t believe he loves me! What am I gonna do? I’m happy with Justin. I don’t need this confusion! Look at Lance and that poor, pathetic look on his face. What do I do?!
When the dishes were done, Lance finally got up the courage to mention Justin. “Uh, Jewels, are you and Justin, y’know...”
“Back together?”
“Yeah,” he said, afraid of the answer. Julie nodded hesitantly. “Oh,” he lowered his head feeling a tear coming on. He started to walk away.
“Lance? Where are you going?”
“I... I have something in my eye”
“Lance wait,” Julie put her hand on his arm. She hugged him tightly and whispered in his ear. “I’m not mad at you and most definitely don’t hate your guts”
Lance pulled Julie away from him taking a step back. He suddenly felt sick to his stomach. He wanted to die. He felt as though his knees were going to buckle at any moment. He opened his mouth to speak but struggled to get a word out. “You... over... heard... Oh My God,” Lance put his hands over his eyes, “Oh no please don’t let this be happening to me” Julie stepped towards him removing his hands from his face and taking them in hers.
“Tell me how you feel,” she whispered.
With his fingers interlaced with hers, he gingerly placed his lips on hers stirring up emotions locked deep down inside the both of them. “Understand?” Lance whispered
“Uh-Huh. Perfectly”
“That’s kiss number two. Now have I succeeded?”
“No,” Julie grinned, “But third time’s a charm” Lance smiled and leaned in for another kiss. About a minute later Julie pulled away to find Justin red-faced and in tears. “Justin, I-” Julie stuttered.
“Why?” Justin’s voice quivered as the tears streamed down his cheeks, “WHY?!” he shouted, “Why did you do this to me?!” he lowered his voice and looked into Julie’s eyes, “I never thought you’d be one to do this to me. I just don’t understand” Justin wiped away a tear with his hand and ran to Julie’s room. Once inside he laid down on his stomach on Julie’s bed. He slowly reached for Julie’s pillow pulling it towards him. He pressed it up against his chest, closing his eyes and smelling it to capture Julie’s scent. After a while, Julie entered the room quietly. She sat on the edge of the bed waiting for Justin to respond. When he didn’t move, she leaned over to find him asleep with tear-stained cheeks. She lightly ran her fingers along the contour of his face. She started to play with his hair, something he’d never let her do if he was awake. As she sat there winding her finger around his ringlets, he slowly awoke. Julie quickly pulled her hand away and smiled. He looked up at her with the same intense blue eyes that first made her fall for him. “It was a dream,” he said to himself. He leaned forward, closed his eyes and kissed Julie.
“Justin, stop,” she said pulling away.
“It wasn’t a dream,” he said disappointedly looking away. He couldn’t bear to face her.
“I don’t know where to begin to explain what’s going through my mind right now,” Julie said slowly.
“Then why are you here? Can’t you let me suffer alone?”
“Look, I came to make sure you were alright”
“Alright?” he said sitting up, “Alright?! Julie, all my life, girls have cheated on me. But you, I cared so deeply for you. I still do. I thought you would be the only one who wouldn’t do such a thing. But, Julie, what all those other girls did was cheat on me. You... you hurt me right here,” he put his hand over his heart, “I’m not alright. And I won’t be for a long time”
“I’m sorry,” Julie said, trying to fight back tears, “You guys have an 8:00 interview so you’re going to need to forget about all this and focus on work OK? I know that sounds horrible but I don’t know any nice way to put it” Without a word, Justin hopped off the bed and left room. Within ten minutes, the guys were ready to go. They all piled in Justin’s car and were off. The girls headed back inside after seeing the guys off.
“OK Jewels, you need to talk to someone badly,” Kris told her.
“Yeah. I’m just so confused. I love Justin so much and he makes me so happy. But, Lance, I don’t know. When he kisses me, it’s amazing. It’s like the entire world stands still”
“I think I know what you need,” Kristina said, beaming, “A girl’s night out. C’mon let’s go”
**At the interview**
The guys were sitting comfortably arranged on a sofa set up in a room for the interview. The reporter had asked them many questions and as the night progressed, the tension was building between Lance and Justin. “OK guys,” the reporter said, “last question. And probably the most anticipated by your lady fans. Do you have girlfriends?”
“I do,” Chris replied.
“Nope,” Joey stated.
“Yep. Sure do. Hi Kristina baby!!” JC waved to the camera. Justin and Lance exchanged glances.
“Justin? How ‘bout you?” the reporter inquired. “Yes I do”
“Heh, no you don’t,” Lance quipped. “Yes I do. You don’t,” Justin replied sternly.
The reporter sat there puzzled. “That’s what you think,” Lance shot back.
“Oh really?” Justin started to get angry.
“Hey guys, relax,” the reporter said with a chuckle, thinking it was all a joke, “Well, that’s all the time we have. Thank you for being here guys. I’ll see you next time” The interview had come to an end. Justin and Lance walked out of the room.
“What do you think you’re doing? What was that about in there?!” Justin yelled.
“What was what about?! I was just correcting you”
“You were not just correcting me, you were starting something”
“I wasn’t starting anything. You don’t have a girlfriend. Get over it”
“I do to have a girlfriend and her name is Julie and I love her!!”
“It’s over!! Alright Justin?! It’s over between you two!!”
“Just because you kissed her and she liked it doesn’t mean she’ll be falling into your arms”
“No, but it does mean she’ll be falling out of yours. She may not become instantly mine, or be mine ever, but she’s definitely done with you. And you wanna why? Because you took her for granted. You were so worried about someone trying to steal her that you seemed to forget who you were trying to protect and now you’ve lost her and you don’t know why. Well I just told you why, so don’t go blaming me for not making the same mistake you did”
“Guys?” JC interrupted. Justin and Lance turned to see the rest of the guys with their heads out the interview room.
**Back at the apartment**
It was nearly eleven when Julie and Kris returned from the club. They entered the apartment each with a shopping bag. They found JC, Chris, and Joey sitting on the sofa. JC was asleep while Joey and Chris were watching the Cartoon Network. “Don’t you two do anything besides watch TV?” Julie asked.
Kris put her bag down and walked over to where JC was sitting. She kissed him on the cheek causing him to wake up. “Hi babe,” he said softly.
“Hey,” Kris said back, “Why are you here instead of in my room?”
“I was waiting up for you. I didn’t want to go to bed alone” Kris laughed and kissed JC.
“You’re such a sweetie. You can go to bed now. I’ll be there in a minute”
“OK,” he said getting up and wobbling to Kris’ room.
“Where’s Justin?” Julie asked.
Joey and Chris shrugged. “Well, is he even in the apartment?”
“I don’t remember seeing him leave,” Joey said.
“I’ll be surprised if he is still around after what happened tonight,” Chris added.
“After what happened tonight? What are you talking about? Chris, what happened?”
“Nothing. He just got a bit of a tongue-lashing that’s all”
“Tongue-lashing?” Kris asked, “Who yelled at him?”
“Lance”
“Lance? Yell at Justin? You’re kidding!” Kris laughed.
“Nope”
“I have to find Justin,” Julie dropped her bag and went down the hall calling out Justin’s name. Suddenly, the door to her room opened and Lance standing in the doorway.
“He’s not here,” he said gravely. He stepped into the light revealing his black eye.
“Lance, what happened? Where’s Justin?” she cried.
“He just went to the corner store. You’re low on cereal and by the time Justin gets up tomorrow it’ll be gone and you know how he gets”
“Why do you have a black eye? What happened tonight? Chris said something happened and he’d be surprised if Justin was even here because of it. Something major went on tonight and I want to know what it is”
“OK,” Lance sighed, “I have a black eye because Justin punched me. We were arguing and it got a little out of hand”
“You were fighting over me weren’t you? This is all my fault. Because of me you’re hurt-”
“Julie, we weren’t fighting over you OK?” Lance fibbed.
“You weren’t?”
“No, we were just messing around. Nothing major”
“Then what that all about with Justin not being here?”
“I think he’s just a little embarrassed cuz he got a bit more bruised up than I did”
“He’s not really at the store is he?”
“No, he’s...” Lance lowered his voice, “...in the hospital”
“In the HOSPITAL?!?!”
“Julie? Julie, calm down. He’s fine. He’s probably on his way back right now. He just needed to get a stitch or two that’s it”
“Stitches?! Lance what did you do to him?!” “Shh..Julie, Joey and Chris don’t know that’s where he’s at so keep it down”
“I will NOT keep it down! You put my boyfriend in the hospital you creep!!”
“Boyfriend?”
“Yes, boyfriend! You know that guy whose name is Justin, curly ‘fro, blue eyes?”
“I know who you’re talking about! Jewels, what about us?”
“Us? There’s no ‘us’ Lance. Not right now. You kissed me, I liked it and I completely hurt Justin. That’s it”
“You mean just because it hurt Justin you going to forget how you felt when I kissed you?” Julie remained silent. “Julie,” Lance said taking her hand and looking into her eyes, “I’ve been afraid to tell you how I feel. But, I’m afraid this is my last chance to. Whenever I see you-”
“Would you keep it down please?! My favorite hobby is sleeping remember? Please support my hobby by shutting up!” JC yelled from Kris’ bedroom.
“Sorry!” Julie yelled back.
“Yeah yeah whatever,” JC put his pillow over his head.
“Lance, I have to see Justin. What hospital is he at?”
“The one a few blocks down from here”
“Thanks,” Julie said kissing him on the cheek.
Julie emerged from the hall to find Joey and Chris asleep on the sofa. Kristina sat at the table with a cup of hot chocolate. Julie quickly and quietly explained the situation. She grabbed her purse and her keys and headed to her car. Lance stopped her at the stairs. “Let me go with you”
“No, Lance. You stay right here. I am extremely furious at you right now and I need some time to cool off or I know I’ll say something I’ll regret. I’m gonna have a few words with you when I get back though that’s for sure”
“Julie, please. Let me go with you, please, I promise I won’t bother you. I’ll sit in the back if I have to just please let me go”
“If I take you, you’re riding in the trunk”
“I’ll take that as a no” Julie walked to her and drove off leaving Lance standing there on the stairs alone. When Julie got to the hospital, the nurse’s wouldn’t let her in to see Justin.
“But, ma’am, I’m his girlfriend,” Julie pleaded.
“Yeah, like I haven’t heard that one before”
“No, really, I am”
“Go home honey. I’ve seen enough teenyboppers for one evening”
“Lady, if you don’t let me in I’ll teeny bop you!”
“If you don’t leave right now, I’m gonna call security,” The nurse walked away. Julie stuck her tongue out at the nurse’s back. She turned to leave when she heard her name being yelled softly in the distance.
“Julie! Jewels!”
Julie turned to see something she knew she’d never forget. “Justin!”
Justin was in a stretcher being wheeled down the hallway. “Yo, man, can you stop for a second?” he asked the nurse.
The stretcher came to a stop and Julie ran up to him. “Justin! Oh My God! Baby, are you OK?” she asked frantically. She kissed him over and over as if he’d been gone for a million years.
“Yeah I’m fine. I got two stitches see?” He pulled the front part of his hair away above his left eye.
“How did that happen?”
“Lance’s ring. When he hit me, the cut was pretty deep. I’m just surprised it got through my afro”
Julie giggled with relief. “I was so scared. When I saw you on the stretcher, my heart dropped. I thought you were hurt. I thought I was gonna lose you”
“Lose me? Over a hit on the head? Girl, please!” Justin looked at Julie with those blue puppy eyes, “You were really worried about me?”
“Well, of course. Every girl worries about her boyfriend from time to time”
“Boyfriend. You don’t know how happy I am to hear you say that word” Julie smiled and kissed Justin sweetly.
“Um... Excuse me Mr. Timberlake but we need to go now if you want your clothes back before we release you”
“Oh, yeah. Jewels, stay right here and I’ll be back. He’s wheeling me down to get my clothes. I’ll be back in a minute OK?”
“I don’t know. I kinda like you in scrubs”
“Umm... These are the kind without a back to them”
“Hey, I ain’t complaining,” Julie grinned.
“Come here,” Justin put his hand on Julie’s back, slightly underneath her shirt. He pulled her closer to him kissing her passionately.
“Ahem,” the nurse cleared his throat. Justin pulled away blushing with embarrassment. “Sorry. OK I’m ready,” Justin told the nurse.
The nurse wheeled him away as Julie found an open seat in the lobby. After a few minutes, Justin came back out wearing his street clothes. Julie joined him at the counter as Justin waited for someone to assist him in signing out. As the time went by with no service, Julie and Justin kept busy by playing with each others hands, laughing, and lots of kissing. “May I help you, Mr. Timberlake?” the same nurse that gave Julie a hard time appeared behind the counter.
“Yes, I need to sign out please”
“Right here,” the nurse handed him a clipboard, “Hey, didn’t I tell you to leave before I call security. He’s just getting out of the hospital he doesn’t want to sign autographs. Now beat it”
“Excuse me ma’am, you wouldn’t happen to be talking to my girlfriend would you?”
“That’s you’re girlfriend?”
“Yes, it is. I think she deserves a little bit more respect if you don’t mind. In fact, I know she deserves more respect than that. Now would you please give it to her?”
“I’m sorry miss. It won’t happen again”
“Well, see that it never happens again. Now get back to work,” Julie told her. The nurse walked away feeling stupid. Julie and Justin walked out of the hospital and burst into laughter once outside the door.
“She thought I was serious!” Julie chuckled, “Did you see her face when you told her I was your girlfriend?! Oh man, that was hilarious!”
“Yeah,” Justin laughed, “That was funny! But, I was serious when I said you deserved more respect. I’m sorry about what I said back at the apartment earlier today. You really did hurt me Jewels. But, you could’ve stayed home with Lance and not care about me being in the hospital but you didn’t. You rushed right over here and you were really worried about me which shows you truly care for me. And that’s what makes you deserve more respect than you’ve gotten from me lately”
“Justin, you don’t need to apologize. I know what I did was wrong and I’m sorry. you just worry about how we’re spending tomorrow with each other”
“Well, I was thinking of taking you and Kris with us to the studio to record a song for our new album”
“That’s sounds like fun! But, I was kinda referring to what we were gonna do. Just me and you. Alone” Justin smiled from ear to ear.
“I’m sure we can think of something,” he said pulling out a bag from under his overcoat. In it was a pair of hospital scrubs.
“JUSTIN!!” Julie shrieked smacking Justin in the arm.
“I was kidding! I was kidding! It was a joke!! AHH! Stop hitting me!” Justin started running to Julie’s car. When he got there, he dropped the bag and started to tickle Julie.
“No, no! Justin, no! Please don’t tickle me! AHH!” Julie fell to the floor laughing pulling Justin with her. Justin stopped tickling her suddenly realizing the position they were in.
“Umm... sorry,” he said awkwardly, “Here, let me get u-” Julie grabbed his collar and kissed him. He put his hand on her back kissing her more passionately. His hand started up her shirt when Julie suddenly pulled away.
“Maybe we should go home now,” she said quickly.
Justin took a breath before answering, “OK,” he said getting up. Once he was on his feet, he helped Julie up.
“You want me to drive?” he asked.
“You think you should drive in your condition?” Julie asked, “By the way, how did you get here?”
“JC drove me”
“You mean Lance didn’t even bother driving you here after what he did?”
“Nope”
“Oh that’s it! He is in so much trouble when I get home!”
“Jewels, maybe I should drive. I don’t want to end up back here in the hospital because of a sudden fit of road rage or something”
“Oh shutup!”
Justin laughed to himself as Julie tossed him the keys.
To Be Continued…