"Olivia?", a voice echoed through her wooden door. "Can I come in, pumpkin?"

Liv pounded the small book closed from where she was reading silently to herself on her inflatable chair and stuffed it under her mattress. "Yeah, daddy. Come in.", she called back to her father.

A tall, athletic looking man with a full head of silky brown hair poked his head in her doorway and blinked his sharp, hazel eyes. "I'm going to run a few errands and then go over to the gym for a workout. Want to join me?"

She thought about it for a second and answered, "Sure, I don't have anything better to do. Let me just get changed and I'll be downstairs in five minutes."

Mr. Jacobs smiled and closed the door behind him. Liv threw on a gray tank top, sweat shorts, and her Adidas sneakers, before pulling her light brown hair up in a loose ponytail. She hopped down the fifteen stairs in her house while applying shimmer lip gloss and grabbed a duffel bag that held her gym gear. Her father looked at her and smiled. "Getting prissy for the machines again?"

She smirked. "Actually, it's more like getting prissy for the hot guys in wifebeaters ON the machines."

He laughed and shook his head. "What am I gonna do with you?"

She smiled innocently. "You could always get me my own apartment and pay the rent for me!"

Her dad rolled his eyes and started the ignition, backing the car out of the driveway. Olivia turned on the radio and flipped around for awhile until she found a song she liked. As soon as the music to "Tearin' Up My Heart" blasted through the speakers, a grin somehow managed to plaster across her face and the words softly hummed out of her lips. Her mind flashed to Justin right away. She hadn't seen him for months and they had talked on the phone maybe two or three times after they saw each other at the Janet Jackson concert. "Wonder what he's up to these days..."

For a Saturday afternoon, the athletic center was packed. The gym where she belonged was seldom filled with people. She shrugged and went to find a spare basketball to dribble around on the court, while her father went to use the machines. Liv couldn't find any so she jogged over to a young girl who was shooting a ball in the hoop. "Excuse me..."

Before the girl could answer, one of her friends ran up and whispered something in her ear excitedly. An excited scream escaped her lip-glossed mouth. "OH MY GOD! HE'S HERE!?", she cried, taking off into a fast paced sprint. Olivia stood back in shock, rubbing her ear. "Um..." She picked up the bouncing basketball and started dribbling. "Guess she saw her crush..."

Ten minutes later, Liv was totally engulfed in her little game that she was extremely taken off guard when another basketball knocked hers out of the way making it's way into the net. She spun around ready to argue, but when her mouth opened, no words came out. Her jaw dropped straight to the floor.

"Mind if I join you?"

Olivia's eyes roamed up and down his body, where the tight, sweaty wifebeater he was wearing was sticking to his chest and his Nike snap pants hung loosely on his legs. She swallowed hard and tensed up immediately. "H-hi..."

Justin flashed the grin that made teenage hearts flutter and dribbled his ball. "Hey, Liv. Long time no see. What's...", he shot the ball and watched as it sailed through the net with a swoosh. "...up?"

She stuttered as she tried to get the words out. "I-I'm fine... w-why are you here? Shouldn't you be t-touring or something?"

He laughed and wiped the sweat off his forehead. "A guy's gotta have SOME time to keep his body toned, don't ya think?"

"I think you're good to go...", she sputtered and then mumbled. "Damn, a body like that at seventeen should be illegal..."

He smirked. "Illegal? That’s a new one...I’ll have to remember it...”

She blushed. "You heard me?"

Justin smiled and nodded his curly head. "You betcha. I have good hearing."

Liv turned crimson red and quickly changed the subject. "You're not here alone are you?"

"Of course not, you're right here."

"You know what I mean, Justin."

Unexpectantly, his stomach jumped when she said his name and he didn't have any clue why. The way that it came out of her mouth was so smooth and heartfelt, like he was one of the most important people in her life. It made him feel really special and he smiled at her compassionately. The way she was staring at him at that moment made him really nervous, so he turned and bounced the ball to the net. "Uh, no, my bodyguard's here. I can't go anywhere without him, so you know..."

"Yeah...", she looked towards the net and watched as his basketball casually swooped through the raggedy basket. "You're pretty good..."

His blue eyes sparkled and a cocky smirk spread on his lips. "I know.", he dribbled the ball between his legs and looked up at her again. "Care to have a one-on-one?"

Liv scraped her sneakers against the shiny court and looked down at her feet. "I don't know... I mean, I'm not that good...", she lied believably.

"C'mon, it's a good way to get a feel of each other, ya know? It'll help you feel more comfortable around me, because I can tell that you're extremely uncomfortable right now. Just give it a...", he bounced the ball and took off for a lay-up, dunking it in the net from the side. "...shot."

She looked up at him and smiled. "Well, all right, I guess so..." With a quick movement of her feet, she stole the ball away from a startled Justin and started dribbling around the court. "You want to play the hard way, or do you want to make it easy on yourself?"

He looked at her in shock. This was a totally different side to her. It was like as soon as the ball touched her hands, her shyness disappeared and it was just her and the basket... she was in her own little realm, free from any harm that the outside world could have caused her. She was dribbling the ball in and out of her legs, waiting for him to answer. There was a challenging gleam in her eyes, something he loved to see...because simply put--he loved challenges. "All right...let's see what you got, hotshot."

"I get ball first. No rules...play as hard as you got, don't let me win because I'm a girl. Got it? I want you playing with all the skill you possess.", she ordered him, pushing a fallen strand of her shiny hair behind her ear. Her once clouded eyes now glistened with the bright blue that she was born with which only made the beauty she possessed radiate out of her body magnificently.

Justin was so caught up in the little ways that she was playing with the soft tendrils of her hair that had fallen loosely on her face, dribbling the orange basketball with her small hand, and staring at him waiting for his agreement, that the only part he heard of her sentence was 'I want you'.

"Hello, Justin?? I'm talking to you!"

He pushed away the pulsating feeling of nervousness that kept panging his stomach and focused in on her voice. "Oh...oh, right...ok."

She put her free arm on her hip and cocked an eyebrow, while the other hand bounced the ball playfully. "What did I just say?"

As much as Justin was shocked by her sudden confidence, the only thing his brain was letting him focus on was the way her lips were moving, the way she was standing with the weight on one leg, and the way that she was looking at him. It was so utterly delicious that it made him even more anxious to get to know her better. "...um, you, uh...you said..." He scratched his chin and raised his left eyebrow in uncertainty. "...I want you...something?"

She rolled her eyes. "You're such a guy. Now come on, let's play!" She checked him the ball and when she got it back, she sped dexterously towards the net. Skillfully doing a move around her slender legs, she jumped and shot the ball into the basket. It swooshed in and made the rebound right back to Liv, not even giving Justin a chance.

A few minutes later, the score was twenty-one to nineteen, Olivia leading by a two-pointer. Sweat was dripping down Justin's face; he refused to lose to her... With a rapid rotation of his thighs, he grabbed the ball and cleared it before jogging it back to the net. She ran up behind him to get the rebound, but since he was practically looming over her in height difference, he smacked into her when he spun around. The ball flew from his grip and he got his muscular leg entwined with Olivia's sending them both into a tangled heap on the floor.

In an instant, Liv's bashfulness set in and she squirmed to get out of his body's weight. He was sprawled on top of her, and looking into her shy eyes his stomach began to jump in high-strung excitement. He could feel her warm breath on his face, which just made him more nervous.

"J-Justin...?"

Lost in her gentle eyes, he mumbled, "Mmm?"

"G-get off me...", she half-ordered while squirming against his body.

He shook off the strange feeling of comfort that had set off from his head to his toes and jumped off her, dusting himself off. "Oh...um, sorry..." He blushed and turned away, embarrassed.

Suddenly, footsteps pounded against the floor outside of the basketball court and eight prepubescent girls burst through the doorway. One of them shrieked when she saw who was standing on the court. “OH MY GOD! HE IS HERE!!!”

Justin’s head whipped around when he heard the shrill cry and he groaned. “Not now...”, then put on his best smile for the young girls and waved, giving a distressed look to Jason, his bodyguard. Olivia jumped five feet in the air when she heard the scream, dropping the basketball and spinning around to see the girls charging at Justin. She glanced over at him. He seemed to be as cool as a cucumber, like this was nothing to him. He signed the girls’ shirts, smiling and looking damn well happy.

“I wish I had his life. I bet he can get anyone, anything, and everything he wants...”, she muttered and turned away from the chaos.

“Can I play with your hair, Justin?”, one of the hormonal little girls asked while batting her eyelashes. He laughed nervously, “Um…”. Just then, Jason calmly approached him and guarded him from possible danger while holding the girls back. “Justin has to get himself to an interview now, so you’ll have to excuse him.”, he started to push Justin forward towards the door but stopped short when Justin suddenly halted and looked back at Olivia who was dribbling the ball around the court as if nothing had happened. “Hang on Jason…”, he said and began to walk over to Liv.

Jason grabbed him by the arm. “Where are you going?”

“I have to say goodbye to a friend.”

“You can’t. These girls are going to think she’s your girlfriend.”

He thought for a minute and decided that Jason was right. “Yeah, I guess you’re right…” He looked over at her again and sighed. “Sorry Olivia…”

On her and her father’s way out of the gym, the receptionist at the main desk stopped them. “Mr. Jacobs! It’s good to see you again!”, she smiled warmly.

“Good afternoon, Mrs. Bently. Is there something I need to fill out today?”

“No, dear. Today I have something for your beautiful daughter.”, the elderly woman replied kindly.

Olivia’s eyes grew wide with curiosity and she approached the woman in confusion. “For me?”

“Yes, dear. A young man left here about an hour and a half ago and left a note with me to give to you.”

A sudden pulse jolted her stomach. He couldn't have... "Oh? Um, who was it?"

Mrs. Bently smiled and handed her the piece of stationary that was scribbled on furiously. Olivia took it and rested her eyes on it, reading it over and then reading it over again:

"Olivia,
Hey! Sorry for running out on you, I had an interview to catch and you already seemed so engulfed in your dribbling. I had a great time playing ball with you, we should do it again so I can beat you. Maybe we can get together for lunch or something later this week if I'm not too busy. Sound good to you? Give me a call. The number is at the bottom, but please don't give it out. Thanks, girl. Hope you get this!
Love, Justin."

The corners of her mouth twitched into a small smile and she suddenly felt really special, which was something that had been missing from her life ever since the downward spiral of her popularity. Her fingers grazed the paper as the smile on her face widened.

"Who's it from, sweetie?"

She looked up at her dad, her eyes sparkling. "Justin."

"Oh! Is he the one you were playing basketball with?"

She nodded. "Yeah, and I beat him too."

Her father patted her head. "That's my girl. Knockin' 'em out one by one.", he turned to the smiling woman behind the desk. "Thank you Mrs. Bently, it looks as though you had a part in making my daughters eyes finally glow again. Hopefully I'll see you later this week!"

She waved them off and returned to her work.

As soon as Liv got home, she dashed upstairs and picked up the phone, anxious to talk to Justin. Before she dialed, a few beeps signifyed that she had messages. "Maybe he called...?" She punched in her code number and listened hopefully for Justin's voice.

But it wasn't Justin that had called.

"Watch your back, Olivia.", was all the cold, angry voice growled into the machine, leaving Liv as scared as a lost toddler in a crowd full of people. Her blood ran cold and she began to tremble.