Justin stared dumbfounded at her for at minute, trying to find some kind of composure to his shocked physique. Once a reality started to set in, his anger slowly started to rise. His jawbone clenched together so hard that he was actually a hint afraid that he might break a tooth and his warm blood started to boil in fury. What was she DOING here?

His eyes passed over the guy that was standing next to her with his arm around her waist. His sneer got even worse. Out of ALL people, Ron Irizzary HAD to have been standing there like a fool with someone as horrible as her. Well, he never liked him to begin with...

The little veins in his neck that always popped out when he got angry were creeping out to rear their ugly heads and his hands balled together into fists. He was NOT going to let her ruin this party that he had worked so hard for, he was NOT going to let her beat him this time, and most importantly, he was not going to let her ruin the perfect relationship he had with Kelsie this time.

She broke away from Ron and pressed herself up against Justin's hard body, pushing her lips up to his ear. "I said...", she lowered her voice to a sexy whisper. "...did you miss me?" Her hands ran up and down his chest as that sickening smile kept growing on her face.

If anything else, that was what broke him. He completely snapped.

His hands grabbed her shoulders violently and he pushed her into Ron, who was standing with a grin behind her. Kelsie wasn't far behind Justin, either.

While she was just as shocked and maddened to see HER at this party that was supposed to be perfect, the anger in her system was almost out of control. It rose and rose, like the steam from boiled water, until she was so pissed that she just wanted to rip the strands out of her hair...one by one. She started to lunge towards her, but Justin's arm caught her around the waist. He spoke, his spiteful eyes still directed at the brown haired vixen in front of him. "Don't."

Kelsie's eyes were raging. "WHY NOT?"

He turned to look at her and held her close to him. "I need to take care of this. We can't let her win this time. She will NOT win this time.", he rubbed her shoulder. "Just stay calm..." He wished he could have followed his own advice as he faced her again.

He took a step towards her and glared at her with the most hateful eyes anyone could have possibly seen. "WHY ARE YOU HERE, CHLOE?"

Chloe smiled and flipped her hair, not really giving an answer.

Justin took another step towards her. "ANSWER the QUESTION. WHY are you HERE?"

She tilted her head teasingly. "I heard there was a party."

Kelsie jumped in front of Justin with her hands on her hips. "Did you hear the part where YOU weren't invited?"

Chloe chuckled it off and gave her a look. "I was invited. By this nice man right here.", she smiled and patted Ron's stomach. "So lose the attitude....bitch."

Justin stepped in front of Kelsie again to keep her from pouncing and ripping every hair out of Chloe's head. Actually, that might be fun to watch. He pondered for about half a second, decided against it, and grabbed Chloe's arm himself, literally growling into her ear. "I want you to LEAVE right now. You don't belong here. I never want to see you again, do you understand that?"

She reached up and touched his face. "I thought you would be thrilled to see me..."

Kelsie sneered at her and then turned to Ron, who stood behind her with a smug grin on his face. She walked right up to him and pushed him on the shoulder. "What do you think you're doing?"

"What? I was invited."

"NO ONE said you could bring HER."

He folded his arms. "No one said I couldn't. We 've been talking and I like her company, plus she's freaking hot. So get off my back."

Kelsie stared at him for a moment before she shuddered. "I'm not even gonna say anything.", she paused for a long moment, but couldn't hold her thoughts in. "Nevermind, I lied. Don't get involved with her unless you want your heart broken. She'll take you in and pretend to love you for a while then rip out your heart, suddenly, and leave you in the dust while she goes and does the same thing to her next victim. It's only a warning, Ron because I know you're better than her."

She didn't wait for his reaction, she just turned and walked back to stand behind Justin who was still yelling at Chloe from her last comment.

Justin jerked away from Chloe's gross touch and stared down at her. "After you succeeded in ruining my life through the media and the disgusting way in how you spread those false rumors about me and Kelsie, the only place I'd be thrilled to see you is AWAY from me. Seeing you is like PULLING teeth, Chloe, and just hearing your VOICE is like chewing on tin foil. I'd rather be laying in a ditch with snakes than be with you...and you know how much I HATE snakes."

She looked hurt...but only for a second until she regained her composure and sneered at him. "You WERE with me, Justin. And if I didn't say so myself, you LOVED being with me. You were obsessed with me, so you shouldn't be talking!"

He wanted to slap her. "The key word there is WERE. We WERE together. It's in the PAST and I couldn't be more happier that it is OVER."

Chloe glanced at Kelsie and then looked back at Justin. "Did you tell your sweet little girlfriend about what you did to screw over poor little Vikki Barrett? Maybe then she'll understand that you go around and stab all of your damn girlfriends in the BACK...just like you did to me."

He threw his hands up in the air. "Could you be ANYMORE random? Vikki is the past, YOU are the past, and I like living in the present. Get out of my face, Chloe. I don't have time to deal with you."

"Ohhh sure, Justin. Ignore it and keep avoiding it. It's just like you. You're never HONEST. You know as well as I do that how you USED Vikki is the same thing that you're doing to Kelsie right now."

Kelsie was standing off to the side, looking back and forth between the two of them, wishing that she wasn't in a dress so she could knock the crap out of Chloe. She had no idea what they were talking about but she was sure Justin would tell her eventually. She didn't like how her name was being brought into this fight.

Justin was steaming. His face was red, his hands were clenched, and his eyes were like daggers. "DON'T bring Kelsie into this, do you UNDERSTAND ME? This is between YOU and ME."

She brought her hands up to rest on her hips and gave him a 'puh-lease' look. "Oh get over yourself, Justin. I'm only stating the facts that I know since I don't know much about your relationships before Vikki. I DO know the feelings that she went through and the ones that I'm sure Kelsie will be dealing with soon enough, if not already. Don't try to play games, Justin."

He wanted to hit her so bad. If he wasn't the well-brought up guy he was, he sure as hell would have been pounding her through the ground right now. However, he knew flat out that you DON'T hit women, even if they are disgustingly vulgar creatures. "Oh...my...GOD. WHY are you LYING SO BAD?! I didn't do jack SHIT to you, except treat you like a fucking GODDESS. I put you on the highest pedestal that any man could ever have done, so high up there that I couldn't even see above your ankles. I gave you everything -- things I didn't even HAVE I gave to you but YOU were the one who threw them away. And Christ, Vikki Barrett? Okay, so I didn't treat her the best that I could have, but don't even DARE start to tell me that I didn't do anything good for you. Don't even DARE..."

All four of them were oblivious that the scene they were making had caught the attention of most people in the ballroom. They watched in confusion and curiousity while Justin and Chloe stood nose to nose in blind fury.

"Oh, you treated me good, Justin... The best thing you gave me was the nice big crack in my heart. That left a GOOD scar, thanks.", she raised her voice with a sarcastic hint. She turned to Kelsie with a cock of her eyebrow. "You know, I'm only trying to warn you. After what happened with Vikki, especially, I ca--"

"STOP trying to bring the past back and STOP trying to make me feel guilty about something I already regret! It's not working so leave it ALONE."

Kelsie glanced between them one last time, smoothed out the wrinkle in her dress and interjected in their conversation. "Tell me about this Vikki, J. What happened?"

Justin rolled his eyes. Ohh great, now she's curious. I should kill Chloe right on the spot. Right now. "Nothing, I'll tell you later."

Chloe liked his uneasiness on the topic. It made her smile to watch him squirm and she ate it up like a starving dog. "You haven't even told her yet!!!? You told me about her like, on our first date!"

He held up a hand to her face. "That's it. SHUT. UP.", he lowered his hand and glared deep into her eyes. "I let you win ONCE, Chloe Andrews. I hope you relish in that for the rest of your miserable life because it's all you have left. It will never happen again.", his scowl grew. "NEVER...AGAIN."

He grabbed Kelsie's hand and walked away from the filthy thing. That's all he had to do. Just walk away... and concentrate on the fact that tonight was about JC and Katherine, not about himself.

Kelsie tried her best to keep up with the pace that he was walking and keep her dress off the ground at the same time, but, as she realized soon enough, it wasn't working quite well. Periodically, she would trip on the dress material and lag behind him, only to be dragged along from the force that he was pulling her with, tripping AGAIN over her feet. When she noticed that he had basically dragged her across the entire ballroom, she grabbed his shoulder to make him slow down. "Justin...calm down. Deep breath, honey..."

He finally stopped and stared at the wall in front of him, taking in breath after breath until he felt the heat slowly disappear from his face. He lowered his head so that his chin touched his chest and scratched the back of his neck. "I'm sorry...it's just that she makes me so MAD! She lies through her teeth like no one."

Kelsie moved behind him so that she could rub his shoulders. "I know. But there's always gonna be people like that. You told her the right thing, though...she won't win anymore because you're strong enough to beat her. You're gonna be fine."

His eyes closed for a minute in sheer pleasure that her rubbing his shoulders gave him but winced as she found a knot to untangle. "Ooow....", he wailed in pain as her fingers kneaded the lump flat. He finally sighed in relief when it was gone. "Thanks..."

"No problem."

"It just makes me so mad that she's HERE. Now I'm gonna feel like she's watching me like a hawk all night and I'll get that grimy, crawling feeling all over my body.", he shuddered. "Why can't she just disappear?"

Kelsie pat his back gently and turned him to look at her. "She probably will watch you all night, but you know that the only thing you can do for that is make it look like you couldn't give two shits! You know that saying, 'dance like no one's watching'? Well, do it! Live like she doesn't exist."

He nodded. "Yeah, you're right. Cus right now I'm still letting her win because she's getting to me. Not anymore though.", he shook his head. "Why are you so smart?"

Kelsie shrugged. "Well, it's not that I'm smart, it's just that you're dumb so it MAKES me look smart.", she smirked and grabbed his hand. "Now come on, I didn't get in this dress for nothing, let's party!"

He laughed. "Did I tell you how HOT you look in that dress?"

She smiled. "Not in the last ten minutes or so, I'm beginning to feel ugly!"

Justin gave her a crooked smile and took her hand, pulling her close to him. "Not possible.", he wrapped his free arm around her waist as they started to sway to the song. "Did you know that God himself told me the other night that He personally intended to make you the most beautiful creature of all the Earth? He told me and I couldn't have agreed with Him more."

She chuckled quietly and leaned her forehead against his. "You're slick, Timberlake. Real slick..."

And while she laughed the compliment off, her heart was pounding in ecstasy, because she knew that no one could have ever said anything so sweet and romantic, while saying it with so much pure adoration and heart at the same time, except Justin. And there was no one that she would have rather heard it from.

_________________________________________________________________________________

Hours later, the party was still in high gear. People seemed to have forgotten the whole argument between Chloe and Justin and looked to be having a great time, especially the guests of honor. Justin smiled as he watched them from afar. JC's smile couldn't have been any wider and Kat's sheer pleasure radiated like the sun off her. He watched as they slow danced, with their foreheads pressed together and their hands entwined at their chests. He watched as Kat laughed at something that JC said, throwing her head back slightly, the dimples in her cheeks making their appearance...and the way that their eyes fluttered closed when they kissed.

Justin smiled again and looked away. He was happy for his friend. Kat was a great girl and it was about time JC found someone who treated him the way he deserved to be treated. He crossed his leg over the other and rested his elbow on the table that he was sitting at. His eyes found their way across the room where Kelsie was dancing with Chris. Now...SHE was something. He watched her carefully, the smile still playing on his pink lips, his heart beat beginning to pick up.

Sometimes, when he was all mixed up inside about emotions or things going on in his life, all he had to do was look at her and he felt better. Just knowing how much that she supported him, and how much she cared for him, made him want to live his life ten times better than he already was...just for her. Just to see that incredible smile on her lips, just to hear that beautiful melody that was her laughter, and just to know that all of it was directed at him.

He buried his cheek in his hand to keep it up and shook his head as he watched them. Chris was leading her in the Tango across the room with a rose in his mouth. Kelsie threw her head back as they turned and kicked up her leg slightly. Then, they started across the room again. When the song ended, Justin watched as she laughed cheerfully and hugged Chris, then met his eyes from the distance that separated them. He smiled. Her green eyes were so piercing, he could see them perfectly detailed from where he was sitting. She waved and then broke their stare to jump on Joey's back.

Thoughts suddenly began to fill up his mind. They were coming so fast he couldn't process them all at the same time...words, perfect, beautiful words that could explain everything. His eyes searched around for a piece of paper that he could write on and he grabbed for a clean napkin. The pen that he had found in his jacket's pocket moved quickly across the paper cloth, scribbling things that he didn't even know he was thinking...

And when he was finished, he looked down to read what he had written. A slow smile spread across his lips. This could definitely be a song. He stuffed the napkin into his pocket, planning to work on it later. His eyes locked onto Kelsie again, who was doing the robot. He laughed quietly to himself and picked himself up to go over to her.

He was halfway there, his eyes focused on her, when Chloe grabbed his arm. "Justin...let's dance..."

He didn't look at her, he just kept walking. She trailed along by his arm, her whiny voice pleading after him. "Jusssstin...come on, it'll give us a chance to clear some things up..."

He shook her arm off and rolled his eyes. "Get off of me."

She glared after him as he kept walking. This wasn't working as well as she wanted it to. "WHAT'S SHE GOT THAT I DON'T?", she yelled.

He stopped walking and slowly turned around to face her, a smile playing on his lips. He stared at her for a second before speaking. "Integrity. Heart. Love..." He didn't wait for a response, just turned around and walked to rest of the distance to Kelsie, his smile now a full-fledged grin.

Chloe stood behind him with her hands on her hips, angry. She couldn't think of anything to say so she only turned around and stormed off with a hmmph.

Justin snuck up behind Kelsie and smiled when she let out a yelp. She swirled in his arms. "Well it's about time you got off your butt, party pooper."

He shrugged, made a quick glance to Chloe who was off to the side still glaring at him, and bent down to kiss her.

"What was that for?"

He shrugged again. "For not being Chloe.", he laughed.

She rolled her eyes and hit the side of his head playfully. "Did you see Kat and JC?"

He nodded and made his arm comfortable around her waist. "Yeah. Seems like they're having a great time."

"We did good."

Just then, Kat ran by with Chris chasing her. A squeal was let out as Kat tried to bat him away. "Chris if you rip my dress, I think I'll be as rich as you!" She slid on her stockings and hid behind Kelsie.

"Having fun Kat?"

Kat grinned. "Yes ma'am...but please tell Chris to stop chasing me! I have to get back to my elderly boyfriend!"

"Elderly?", she laughed.

JC walked up behind them, glared at Chris who slinked away sheepishly and ran his fingers through Kat's blonde hair. "I heard that."

Kat smiled. "It's all in love, sweetheart. But you know, I think my mom would kill me if she knew I was dating a man five years older than me.", she laughed.

JC rolled his eyes. "We're really only FOUR years apart!", he turned to Justin. "She makes me out to be way older than her or something, I really don't get it."

"Maybe she has a thing for older men. Just go with it, dude."

JC shruged, grabbed Kat's hand and pulled her. "Come on..let's go.."

Justin and Kelsie watched the couple jog away towards the middle of the floor. Kelsie chuckled and blew out a breath. "I'm sure glad she met JC."

Justin rubbed her back. "Why?"

She looked up at him. "Because if she hadn't, she'd be chasing after you instead. And I just wouldn't have that."

Justin laughed. "You definitely wouldn't."

_________________________________________________________________________________

Kelsie pushed her way through the mess on the floor of the hotel and opened the door that connected to Justin's room. She glanced around, but saw nothing except scattered clothes on the rug, and a light on by the bed. The bathroom door was opened and the smell of shampoo lingered by the frame. Kelsie peeked her head in. "Justin?" No sign of him. "Hm, wonder where he went.", she mumbled out loud to herself and went back to her room.

She flicked off the television and switched off the bathroom light while she hung up her damp towel on the rack. As she made her way back to her bed, the light from the moon attracted her towards the balcany that stretched the length of her room to Justin's room. She grabbed a book and headed over to read outside for a bit. She slid the door open and slipped out, rolling up her sleeves from the humidity.

She was just about to sit down when she saw a shadowed figure sitting on the floor with his feet dangling over the edge through the little pillars. She smiled and walked over to him to sit down. Her voice was quiet, not wanting to disturb him if he was thinking. "What are you doing out here?"

He smiled in the darkness, knowing that she would have found him eventually. They always seemed to "bump" into each other, kind of like they always knew where the other would be. "Just thinking.", he said quietly while staring at the moon.

Kelsie put her book down and slid closer to him. "About what?"

Justin turned his head slightly to look at her. "Lots of stuff. Life, love, hatred...basketball."

Kelsie giggled. "BASKETBALL?", she shook her head. "You just had to throw that in there, right?"

He grinned. "You asked what I was thinking about!"

Neither of them needed to expand on that, because each other already knew what the other was really thinking. Silence was heard then, except for the cars on the highway or the sounds from little animals. Kelsie rested her head against his shoulder and stared at the moon, smiling at the face she saw in it.

Justin wrapped his arm around her shoulder and held her close. Words weren't needed...just yet. Justin had a lot on his mind, which wasn't quite a change because he was always thinking. Sometimes he even found himself thinking about thoughts. It would then remind him of one of his new favorite movies, one that Kelsie had introduced to him, "Empire Records", when Lucas utters: "Who knows where thoughts come from? They just appear!" Then he would laugh, think about the movie for a minute, and then his mind would divert to something completely different.

Tonight was a little unlike the usual. Tonight, Justin's mind was more on the deep side of things. He wondered about true love, he wondered about the meaning of life, and he questioned his beliefs. He had been sitting outside for awhile watching the moon and the stars and he tried to picture his future. A clear picture was stuck in his head...he saw himself in the music business until he was fairly old, some acting here and there, and then maybe some behind the scenes work. Well, maybe not. He liked the spotlight too much to not be in it...

He had scratched his chin then with a small smirk. His mother had always told him never to plan his future because it would never turn out the way he wanted. So he closed his eyes and just let the picture come to him. Then he saw a nice house with two little children running around and ... Kelsie leaning against the kitchen counter with a smile, drinking her coffee.

And while Justin had smiled, he couldn't help but wonder if he was getting himself in too deep. Yes, he loved her incredibly and he wanted to be with her for the rest of his life, but just the sight of seeing her in that little fantasy he had had was a little shocking. Maybe he was moving too fast...he was only nineteen.

That had been when Kelsie had come out to join him and here they were now, sitting in the darkness as daylight was beginning to break through the sky, holding each other. They enjoyed the quiet for a little while longer until finally Justin broke it, quite suddenly, the random thoughts in his head needing to get out.

"Before I was with Chloe, there was a girl named Vikki Barrett...She was a friend of my pal Trace and was a couple years older than me. She was involved with an agency that had amazing promotion... Vikki was a pretty girl. She was very sweet...she'd never do anything to hurt a soul.", he frowned at his stupidity. "But anyway, when I found out that she worked with that agency, I freaked, knowing that I could get the guys and I some awesome publicity. I never really felt anything for her though...I tried, but there was no spark at all for me."

He paused for a few minutes and Kelsie turned to look at him.

"But I made her think there was. She believed it and she did so much for me. She's one of the reasons why we got such a good start, besides the Disney thing. Time passed quickly and we'd been together, if you want to call it that, for about a year or so. I can't really remember.", he sighed. "The worst part is that it got bad as time went by. I started to take her for granted, asking her to do things for me and never repaying her for them. It was 'call these people, get us on this show, do this, do that'...and when she didn't, I would get angry with her. Then she'd do it and I never felt any remorse...until now. I even knew that she loved me so much, but even that didn't stop me..."

Justin's arm dropped from around Kelsie's shoulder and he brought his hand up to rub his head. "When I met Chloe, I was knocked off my feet and kind of left Vikki in the dust. I used her so bad and I'm so sorry for it. I'm such a hypocrite for saying that I would never do something like that when I did do it...I'm so sorry...", he closed his eyes. "She was such a sweet girl."

He paused again and finished in tone slightly louder than a whisper. "I told her that we couldn't see each other anymore because the time I had was less and less and the tour would take up my life, when really I had Chloe on my left arm the whole time.", he grimaced. "And you know the rest..."

Kelsie remained quiet for a moment, in case he wanted to add anything. He didn't. She touched his shoulder and spoke softly. "Why did you tell me that, Justin?"

He looked at her. She hadn't said it as if she were upset with him for telling her, but more like she was glad he had and wanted to know why he felt it important that she know about Vikki. "Because I can't keep anything from you, Kelsie. You make me feel better when you just listen to me... Plus, it's very important to me that you know that is something I'd never ever do again and I regret every moment that I abused when I was with Vikki. I need you to realize that you will NEVER be someone that I could ever treat like that...especially with all this crap happening with the rumors and Chloe trying to convince you to believe her..."

Kelsie smiled and leaned up to kiss him gently. "Maybe if you spent less time worrying about what I would think, you'd be better off in your decisions.", she rubbed her hand up and down his arm. "Ok? All you have to remember is that I'll always be here."

Justin smiled and turned back to stare up at the sky, his face lit just bright enough by the moon to see the sparkle in his eyes. "I like hearing that. I'll always be here.", he repeated. He paused just enough to watch a shooting star sail across the vast sky and then spoke again. "How come you never talk about your past? I mean, with old boyfriends and stuff."

She pulled her legs up into an Indian style position and thought about his question briefly. "I live in the moment, I don't dwell on the past. I mean, why should I? Now is what matters, now is what I should be focused on and I have everything I could want, right? I have you, I have Kat, and the guys. I have a great job...Why should I let myself fall back on the old people and places that don't even come close to what I live for now?"

He turned to look at her. "But what about the good things? The past is important...it contains your memories, your childhood, the list of all your firsts. It's not something you just put away and close the door on. And I'm not saying you should live for it, but in some ways the past is your key to the future. Where would you be now if your parents hadn't let you take dance? Or where would you be now if one of your old boyfriends didn't dump you? Maybe that boyfriend taught you to be careful when you picked guys...", he shrugged. "I don't know. I just think that you should let in the bad memories with the good ones. You shouldn't shove them out of your life because sometimes, the bad ones hold a lesson that you learned which helped you get to where you are now."

Kelsie scratched her head and nodded slowly. "Yeah, you're right. I guess I just don't like to think about old guys because most of them never treated me like I needed to be treated. There were a few but most of them were intimidated with me, you know? The few that were good to me slip into my mind every so often but they're the past and I don't like to pull myself back into it. I like living now.", she shook herself out of the little daze she had fallen into and then looked back at Justin, who stared at her through concerned eyes. "But anyway, have you talked with Vikki since then?"

He was quiet for a minute, not wanting to steer away from her life but he knew that she didn't want to talk about it anymore. "Nope. Trace was kind of PO'd at me for treating her like that but we're cool now..."

"...Well, are you going to do something about it?"

"About what? Vikki? There's nothing I can do...is there?"

She picked a piece of lint off of his tee shirt and shrugged. "Sure there is. I'll let you figure that out though.", she stood up and patted the top of his head. Grabbing her book, she disappeared inside of her room.

Justin watched until she was gone and looked back at the sky. He knew what he had to do within five minutes of sitting there. He stood up and peered discreetly inside the glass doors to Kelsie's room. She was sitting up on her bed reading her book. Her hair was pulled into a very loose, damp bun and cute little reading glasses covered her eyes. He kissed his fingers and pressed them against the glass door before heading for the phone in his room. "Thank you, Kelsie."

The phone rang three times before a very familiar voice picked up. "Dude? What's wrong or did you just call in the middle of the night to annoy the hell out of me?"

Justin chuckled. "Sorry man, I kind of forgot it was so late."

Trace yawned and rolled his eyes as he shifted in his bed. "And your point is...?"

Justin paused for a second. "Um, do you have Vikki Barrett's number still?"

Trace sat up, rubbed his eyes, and yawned again. "What the hell are you gonna do? Leave her alone, J."

"No. I need to apologize to her."

"What! Since when?"

"Since now. I had a discussion with my girlfriend who made me realize what I had to do. I told her the whole story from Vikki to Chloe and she helped me. Trace, you have to meet this girl. She's incredible."

"I thought you still were with that model chick, Chloe?"

"No, long story. I'll explain everything when we get home. I'm with Kelsie, our choreographer now and she's the best thing that's ever happened to me."

"Ohh, her. I've seen her on a couple shows with you guys. Aight, hold on for a second..."

Justin remained quiet while he heard Trace stumble around dropping things or bumping into things until a few minutes later, his voice was heard on the line again. "Vikki's number is 627-8965. Don't screw around with her, man, I'm so warning you. Now leave me alone so I can sleep."

"Thanks, man. I love ya. See ya soon."

Justin hung up the phone and looked at the number he had written on the little piece of paper. He'd call her in the morning. He fished around in his suit jacket for his cell phone but only felt a piece of napkin. He pulled it out and glanced at it, seeing the words he had written earlier that night about Kelsie. With a smile, he grabbed a new sheet of paper and started expanding on it, knowing that it would be the perfect song.

__________________________________________________________________________________

(a week later)

JC plopped down into the chair next to Justin and stared at him for a minute, watching as Justin seemed completely at ease, not even fazed in the slightest bit as to what had happened in the last week. Here they were, the tour was finally over, a two month break jumped up and down in front of them and rumors were spreading like wildfire...again.

Justin was sprawled out on his lounge chair, his arms tucked behind his head, brand new Ray-Beams wrapped around his eyes protecting them from the sun, without a care in the world. He was on his break, sitting outside in the gorgeous August weather on the back deck of his beach house. In his opinion, he could care less what the rest of the world was saying about him, he could care less about the person who had caused the rest of the world to talk about him...in fact, he could care less about everything even slightly related to the mass media right now.

To him, he was in his grandest moment right now.

JC studied him intently. There was a smile on his face as he stared into the sun and his breathing was smooth and controlled. JC just couldn't understand it. "Man, spill the beans."

Without so much of a movement, Justin's mouth twitched and his lips parted slightly to answer. "The beans...were spilt a lonng time ago. There's a broom in the closet if you want to clean them up."

JC leaned close to Justin. "Don't you realize what is going on around you?"

Justin's arms lowered to rest by his sides and helped him sit up straight. He tilted his head to look at JC with a cocked eyebrow. "I do. ", he motioned with his hand at the beautiful horizon. "I have the world in the palm of my hand, JC. Everything in my world is perfect right now. I love my girlfriend, I'm on vacation, I conquered my greatest enemy and I'm enjoying every second of it."

"How have you conquered her when she still goes around destroying not just YOUR IMAGE but the entire band's image? How can you sit here and not care? She's running with what she's got and --"

Justin smiled. "...And eventually she's gonna run out.", he shook his head slightly. "If I've learned anything, JC, it's that you can't sit around waiting and hoping things will go away. You have to tell yourself, beat it into your brain, that a woman like her does not control you. I realized it, I fought against her, and I ... WON. I WON."

"You're sitting around now waiting and hoping that these new rumors will go away."

"No, you see, this time it doesn't bother me. She can't do anything that will change the person that I am. She can't SAY anything that is going to make ME believe that I'm any less of a person. I'VE learned to believe in MYSELF and to go with the flow, not always worry about what people say about me. They can say whatever rocks their boat, that I'm a cheater, a user, an egomaniac...it doesn't change what I think about me, it doesn't change what Kelsie thinks about me, and it shouldn't change what YOU think about me. I'm better than that."

JC rubbed his chin. His young friend had come a long way and he was proud of him. A couple of months ago, he wouldn't be caught dead talking like that. And then a girl named Kelsie came along....

Justin continued, rubbing his neck. "I'll release a statement, sure. The press can do what they want with it, go ga-ga over it, whatever. That way I can finish her off, get her out of my memory, my mind, and my world. She doesn't belong there..."

JC stood up and patted Justin on the shoulder. "You're a good kid, Justin."

Justin watched from the very corner of his eye as JC slid back inside and resumed to his previous position. Chloe had been at it again, since the night of the party. She had pretty much stayed away from him, but only a day or two after the party, headlines were on newspapers everywhere, saying such things as "Justin seen Dancing with Another Girl -- What would Kelsie say??" or "NSYNC Breaking Up". Then of course there was still the old ones floating around, only fueled up again by more of Chloe's gossip. "Oooh, Justin's playing with Kelsie's mind and using her for attention..."

He tilted his head back and enjoyed the beating of the sun on his bare chest, hoping that he was getting at least a LITTLE color. A smile came over his face, lighting up his best features. He decided that he'd do a statement later on tonight, although the whole concept of writing one was pretty absurd. But if satisfaction is what the press and the fans needed, then he'd give it to them. Personally, he was completely satisfied with himself at the moment and that's all that really mattered.

The door slid open against and a person sat down next to him, resting a newspaper on his stomach. Justin's head rolled to one side to smile at Kelsie. "What's this?"

She fingered his newly cut hair and shrugged. "The newest news on our relationship."

Justin pulled himself up and pushed his shades up on his head. "YES! I've been waiting for the new installment. I'm telling you, it keeps you waiting for more...Almost worse than 'FRIENDS'."

Kelsie laughed as he read the little blurb. "Seems as though you cheated on me and I'm so sick of your sneaky ways that I ended it between us."

"Oh, nice.", he chuckled and put the paper down. "Enough of that dumb bullshit. Did I tell you that I talked to Vikki?"

"Oh, you did? What'd you say? Did you apologize?"

He nodded. "Yeah, I called her a couple of days ago. I think she was really shocked to hear from me. We talked for awhile though and she's not mad at me anymore. Yes, I apologized...like twenty times.", he laughed.

Kelsie smiled. "That's good."

"Yeah. She told me that she's been in a really serious relationship for the past two years. She thinks he's 'the one'. And she's working for the head of the promotion agency now. I'm really happy for her because she definitely deserves everything she's gotten.", he smiled. "But anyway, I wanted to thank you for it because I probably wouldn't have done anything if we hadn't talked about it."

"You're welcome...", she stared down at the waves crashing up against the sandy beach and stood up. "Do you want to go for a walk?"

He flipped his sunglasses over his eyes again and stood up with her, grabbed her hand and headed towards the sand.

Unaware that they were being watched from a window in the beach house, they strolled through the soft water, laughing, cuddling, and holding hands the entire time. Kat eyed them from her window with a smile. She loved seeing Kelsie so happy. It had been such a long time since she had been in a good, solid relationship where the feelings were equally shared. This one, especially, was a special one because Kat knew how much the both of them were learning from each other. Kelsie was able to teach Justin so many things about life in general and Justin was able to teach Kelsie many things about love, sharing, and being cared for. Things that either one was not fully accustomed to, the other taught him or her how to accept it and love it.

Kat closed the blinds with a smile after one last glance. Out of everyone she knew, including herself, she was one hundred percent positive that Justin and Kelsie would be forever.

_________________________________________________________________________________

While the rumors continued to get worse as the weeks flew by, the world sat and listened to what Justin's statement read. It spoke volumes to people, and finally, they understood that a celebrity needed love, respect, privacy and happiness in their lives just as they would. They understood that real love cannot be torn apart by a few bad lies. And they learned that trying to break love that strong is simply just a waste of one's time...

"Rumors. It's an ugly word that really has no good to it. However, they're just words...Words that never die unless someone finally tries to put an end to them. The past month or so has been made a living hell because of untrue things that have been said by a cold hearted ex of mine. So if it's the satisfaction of knowing that I do not use women for attention or cheat like some people expect rock stars to do, then you have my guaranteed word. Kelsie is someone that I would give up everything I own for. She's taught me more than I could probably ever learn in all my life and I'm positive that she loves me for the person inside of me. I would never do anything as deliberate or as heartless as using her, ever. It baffles me that people would even think that, because she is the love of my life. I once read this passage in a Chicken Soup book, and I thought it read my exact thoughts:

'Regardless of whether you love them, hate them, wish they would die or know that you would die without them...it matters not. Because once they come into your life, whatever they are to the world, they become everything to you. When you look them in the eyes, traveling to the depths of their souls, and you say a million things without a trace of sound, you know that your own life is inevitably consumed within the rhythmetic beatings of their very hearts. We love women for a million reasons. It is a thing not of the mind, but of the heart. A feeling. Only felt.'"