"Hi, I'm Ali," she said extending her hand and smiling sincerely. "Hi, I'm Justin," he said shaking her hand and returning the smile. Justin couldn't help but think how adorable this girl was. She had a cute and spunky air about her, confident, but not arrogant, but a little bit of shyness still showed. She had her hair pulled back into two messy pigtails, and she had on a lavender plaid shirt and white shorts and her Doc Marten sandals. "C'mon Justin, don't fall for the first girl you meet," he told himself, “This is ridiculous," he finished telling himself.
Ali couldn't help but just stare into Justin's beautiful blue eyes. They were so mesmerizing, she could stare into them for hours. He looked cuter than she had ever seen him, with a North Carolina shirt on and jeans. His curls were going crazy as usual, and it almost made her laugh it was so cute. He noticed her staring at him and gave her a small smile. Embarrassed, she looked down, but couldn't help but look up and give him a shy smile back.
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Right after that the professor walked in and put his briefcase on his desk. "Well, this is quite a big class," he observed. "I'd appreciate it if you stayed in the seats you're in now for the rest of the semester so that I can remember you all a little better," he said as he opened his briefcase and rummaged through it.
"Looks like you're stuck with me for awhile," Justin said playfully to Ali, flashing her that killer smile. "I guess so. But I think I'll manage okay," she said shyly, smiling back.
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"Well, that class is going to be absolutely boring for the whole year, I can already tell," Justin said as soon as the class was over, rubbing his eyes, as the class had made him tired. "Yeah, I know what you mean. Just taking notes the whole time then a test over them the next day," Ali complained. "Hey, whadd'ya say I walk ya back to your dorm?" Justin offered. "Okay, I'd like that," Ali said quietly smiling to Justin.
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"It's such a beautiful day!" Justin said as soon as they walked out into the beautiful sunshine, "It's not Orlando, but it'll do!" he said. "Yeah, it's definitely not Orlando, but it's still pretty nice," Ali said. "So why did you come here?" she asked. "Huh?" Justin asked, as if he'd been in another world. "Why did you come to U of I, of all the places in the world you could've gone?" she asked again. "Well, I don't know. It's kind of hard to explain. I guess I just wanted to get away for awhile. I need to live a normal life. It's like I just woke up and realized I had kind of wasted all my teenage years. I mean, don't get me wrong, I wouldn't change the experiences I've had with *NSYNC for anything in the whole world, but I just need to be a normal, regular guy for awhile. I just want to be a normal college guy, going to parties, chasing after girls, that kinda thing," he said with a sly smile. "Oh, I see what it's all about!" Ali joked. "Oh no, I was just joking, it's not completely about the girls!" he joked. "Nah, just a little of it. Maybe you'll do some studying and end up with a college degree in the process of bettering your love life," she said smugly. "No, it's really not abo-" "I know, I'm just joking!" Ali said cutting him off. "Geez, ya take everything so seriously!" "Nah, not really," he replied smiling.
"So why'd you come here? Why'd you pick the glamorous U of I?" Justin asked. "Hmm, well I've always loved this school. My dad came here, and I guess he kind of always wanted me to come here," Ali said. "So you came here because your dad wanted you to?" Justin questioned. "No, no, I've always loved this school, and I've always wanted to go here, my dad really had nothing to do with it," Ali replied. "And since I'm kind of shy, I was hoping a big school would kind of help me break out of my shell, you know what I mean?" she said. "Yeah, exactly. Well, I don't think you're too shy. I mean, you introduced yourself to me," Justin said. "I guess I'm just a friendly kind of person," Ali said smiling, "Hey, I was voted friendliest out of my senior class last year!" she joked. "I can tell why," Justin said seriously. Ali just smiled shyly and looked down as they continued walking.
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They eventually made it to Ali's dorm. "So, you want to come in and see my beautiful living space?" Ali asked. "Sure, why not?" Justin replied. Ali was especially glad she'd taken Caitlin's advice and taken down the pictures.
Justin was enjoying looking at pictures of Ali's friends and family and having her tell him stories about them. "And that's my best friend Ashley, we've had some funny times together," Ali said. "You'll have to tell me about them sometime," Justin said looking at the picture. "Okay, I can do that. I could talk about my friends and family for hours," Ali said. "Aww, that's sweet," Justin said with a smile.
He then noticed a picture of Ali and a guy at a dance, probably the Prom. "Hey, who's this?" Justin asked picking the picture up off the desk. "Oh, that's my boyfriend Brian," Ali said kind of quietly. "Oh, I didn't know you had a boyfriend. How long have you guys been together?" Justin asked, trying to sound really interested, when inside his heart was breaking. "I can't believe she has a boyfriend. The first girl I've been interested in in a long time and she has a boyfriend, just my luck. I can finally settle down and have a real relationship, and she has a boyfriend," Justin told himself sadly.
"Oh, about a year and a half," Ali said with a smile. It was obvious she really liked this guy. "Oh, that's cool, so are you guys doing the long distance thing, or what?" Justin asked. "Yeah, he's going to school at the junior college back home, and he's gonna try to come visit every weekend he doesn't have to work." "Well that's good then, I'm sure it'll work out for you guys," Justin said with a smile. Ali smiled back. "Yeah, thanks,” she said quietly.
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"Well, I should be going, I've got a class in fifteen minutes," Justin said looking at his watch. "Okay, I'll see you tomorrow morning then?" Ali asked. "Sure thing, bright and early at eight o'clock!" Justin replied flashing that smile that made her melt inside. "Okay, I'll see you then. It was nice meeting you, Justin," Ali said with a smile. "It was nice meeting you too. Bye," Justin said as he walked to the elevator.
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"Ali, get a hold of yourself!" Ali told herself. "You can't fall for the first guy you meet, even if he is Justin Timberlake. You have Brian. You love Brian. Just be friends with Justin, you can do it. But his eyes. And his hair. And his personality. This is gonna be hard. Just ignore any feelings for Justin. Think of Brian," Ali told herself when Justin left.
"Timberlake, what are you doing?" Justin asked himself walking to his next class. "She's the most amazing girl I've ever met before. But she's got Brian. She's with Brian, she loves Brian. Just ignore it, it's impossible. Just be friends, you can do that," he told himself.
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Neither one of them knew it, but ignoring their feelings would be harder than they thought.
*Chapter 3*
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