And Then You Appeared
By Tami
For Leslie
Venus Crew Production

-----------------

"Could this day get any worse?" Leslie sighed looking up at the ceiling. She was at her waitressing job and she just had a pitcher of water spilled on her for the second time that day. She had her shift changed a couple of times on top of that. She was now working two hours later than what she thought she had to. It got worse, she had to clean throw up off the bathroom floor. A little kid decided he couldn't hold it anymore. She was disgusted and tired. "All I want to do is go home, take a nice hot shower, listen to Alanis Morisette and go to bed. That's it. Is that too much to ask for?" She whined, looking up at the ceiling.

"Join the club, sweetheart." A male voice sounded sarcastically behind her.

Leslie jumped when she heard the sound and quickly turned around. She forgot about the plate of spaghetti in her hand and it landed all over both of them. "Damnit! What the hell is the matter with you? Do you enjoy scaring people and butting into their conversations with themselves or something? Jesus." She shrieked at him.

"Woah, woah. Easy, killer. I was just trying to cheer you up and by the way, I'm in a bad mood too. So, it's not really a great idea to piss me off." The man said grumpily to her.

"That's good to know." She snapped at him. "Now, the question is why would I give a shit?! Does it look like I'm Miss Mary Sunshine myself?" She said with fury in her voice and anger flashing in her eyes. She finally got a good look at him. He was tall around six feet maybe, with broad shoulders. He had curly reddish hair with gold highlights in it. His blue eyes were framed with long, luscious eyelashes. "Figures, the guys always get beautiful eyes." She thought bitterly. His eyes were beautiful, even with anger evident in them. He had nice, full lips and she wondered what it was like to kiss them. He took the cloth she was holding in her hands and wiped his shirt off with it. She noticed how graceful and big his hands were. When he wiped his shirt off, it stretched across his chest and she took notice of the shape of his muscles.

He threw the rag back at her. "Thank you. Maybe you should wipe yourself off too. Oh and take a shower." He said snidely before walking back to his table where his friends sat. He sat at his table and noticed the pain in her face. Her face fell and her shoulders sagged as she wiped the sauce off her shirt. He took notice of the evident pain and continued disappointment on her face. He knew she had been hurt in the past. Never had he felt so ashamed of himself.

She felt tears gather up in her eyes. The man was attractive, obviously. But, his personality wasn't. Why did everybody always have to bust and rip on her? Why couldn't they just accept her for who she was? Why couldn't she accept herself? She was never satisfied with her appearance or her weight. People told her she was beautiful everyday, but sometimes it fell on deaf ears. She asked her manager if she could leave early, saying she felt sick. Her manager agreed, but only if she stayed for another half hour. She eagerly finished waiting her tables, avoiding the man that insulted her carefully. Although she felt his eyes on her the whole time though. A half hour later she was walking down the street to her apartment briskly. She heard footsteps behind her and walked faster. She started to scream as a hand grasped her arm. She spun around, prepared to punch her attacker.

"Hey. Stop, relax! It's just me. I'm from the restaurant, remember." The man, said grabbing ahold of her fist before it hit him.

"What the hell do you want? No, skip that. What the hell are you doing?!" She screamed at him. She was nervous. She didn't know anything about this guy and he could be a rapist for all she knew.

"Look, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to insult you that way. I'm just really tired and I want to go home." He apologized, looking at the ground.

"So what? Do you think that I'm not tired? That I didn't want to go home? You didn't see me telling you to take a shower. Mind you, I worked like 12 hours today! Thankyou! You don't know anything about me or what I'm about. I don't know anything about you either. You were incredibly mean to me and I have never been disgusted with the male species like I was tonight." She yelled a tirade at him. "Now, I'm tired and I'm going home. So, if you'd kindly walk away from me I would appreciate it." She started to walk away.

"Please." He started.

She stopped when she heard the tone of his voice. She never could resist a throaty plea. She sighed and turned around. "I'm Leslie." She stuck out her hand. It was obvious he needed a friend right now, as did she.

~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~
When you feel all alone
And the world has turned it's back on you
Give me a moment please to tame your wild wild heart
I know you feel like the walls are closing in on you
It's hard to find relief and people can be so cold
When darkness is upon your door and you feel like you can't take anymore
~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~

He smiled gratefully back at her and shook her hand. "My name is Justin." His hand swallowed hers and they decided to go to an all night coffee diner. "

I hope you don't mind my appearance." Leslie toyed with the bottom of her work shirt nervously.

"You? Look at me! I've got spaghetti sauce all over me. No, I don't care." He laughed, holding open the door.

~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@
Let me be the one you call
If you jump I'll break your fall
Lift you up and fly away with you into the night
If you need to fall apart I can mend a broken heart
If you need to crash then crash and burn
You're not alone
~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@

"People have always judged me by my appearance. Nobody has ever looked at me for me." Justin said, staring into his coffee. "I just wish that I could make friends and not have to worry about their pretenses. Are they friends with me because I'm Justin? Or are they friends with me because I'm Justin Timberlake, famous person?" He said staring out the window.

"Famous person? What? How are you famous?" She asked, surprised. She'd never seen him before. Until tonight that is.

"You don't know me? I'm in the group *NSYNC. We sing pop music. You know, girls love us, we travel all over the place, we've won awards, blah blah blah." He said, bored.

She was shocked. She had heard of *NSYNC, but she didn't really know their music or anything. "Why are you bored with it? If that was me, I would love it. Do you know how bad I crave to be accepted everywhere I go? How bad I want to get out of this mundane life? It's horrible. I look in the mirror and I see this overweight, not so pretty girl. I'm overlooked everywhere I go."

"You're overlooked? I hate being looked at. I would love to switch places with you for one day." He argued.

They both realized the craziness of the subject and started giggling. They knew they were going to be in their situations for a long time. There was nothing they could do about it. "Have you ever thought about just disappearing Justin? Just....just ending it?" She sadly, looked at him.

"No. Not at all, as much as I hate it sometimes. As much as I just want to crawl into bed. No, I don't. Please tell me you feel the same way?" Justin said with worry in his voice.

~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^
When you feel all alone
And a loyal friend is hard to find
You're caught in a one way street
With the monsters in your head
When hopes and dreams are far away
and You feel like you can't face the day
~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^
"Sometimes. Not so much anymore, hardly at all. I've made some great friends and I write a lot. That helps me. But, sometimes, it just gets so hard." She could feel tears gathering in her eyes.
"Don't ever give up Les. You truly are an angel, don't you see. Look what happened today. I'm so glad we ran into each other. If I hadn't, I would have never met a great, amazing person. I'm trusting you so much and I've only known you for a few short hours. I have never clicked faster with a person before." Justin told her with anxiety in his voice. "Please, don't ever do anything stupid. I'll give you my number, and whenever you feel rushed, or stressed, or sad, or rotten, or even just bored don't hesitate to call me. It'll be my cell phone number and I'll give you my pager number too."

~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~
Let me be the one you call
If you jump I'll break your fall
Lift you up and fly away with you into the night
If you need to fall apart I can mend a broken heart
If you need to crash then crash and burn
You're not alone
~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~

"Thankyou so much Justin. The same goes for you too. I think we just found each other's life long friend."

She giggled. "Yeah, I think so."

He reached over and laid his hand on top of Leslie's. "I don't think this world will make it without people like you in it."

Her eyes filled with tears. Nobody had ever really told her that, they just kind of saw her there. It amazed her how this one person who she only knew for a few hours could affect her so much. He wasn't judging her and he was giving her his full attention. Everybody else just drifted through their own life, half heartedly listening to her. "Don't ever lose the amazing quality you have in you, Justin." She smiled gratefully at him. She squeezed his hand and stood up.

~~(~~(~~(~~(~~(~~(~~(~~(~~(~~
Because there has always been heartache and pain
And when it's over you'll breathe again
You'll breath again
~~(~~(~~(~~(~~(~~(~~(~~(~~(~~

"Where are we going?" Justin looked up at her. He still wanted to talk to her.

"Somewhere else, this place is closing and I'm tired." She said tugging on his arm.

"We could go to my hotel room." He offered. "I'm sharing a room with JC and I'll have a bodyguard in front of the door the whole time, I promise." He quickly finished, noticing the look on her face.

"Okay, I guess. But, I have mace in my purse buddy. And, I have an awesome right hook." She tried to make a menacing face, but she ended up giggling.

~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#
When you feel all alone And the world has turned its back on you
Give me a moment please To tame your wild wild heart
~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#

Justin and Leslie stayed up talking all night long. "Thank God, I have a day off today." She joked to him.

"Well, good. We can sleep for a couple of hours and then hang out some more today. You can come to our concert too." He said, excitedly.

"This is unbelievable." Leslie thought to herself. It was unlikely that she could find such a good friend, so fast. She felt like she could trust him with anything, which was weird for her. She never trusted anyone right away, and here was this incredible person who she trusted everything with. She knew they would be close friends. She took one look in his eyes and knew he was going to be her sanity. Even if he would be five thousand miles away.

~$~$~$~$~$~$~~$~$~$~$~$~
When you feel all alone And the world has turned its back on you
Give me a moment please To tame your wild wild heart
~$~$~$~$~$~$~$~$~$~$~$~

"I was so scared that I would never find a person I could trust with everything. That I would never find that person to be my sanity." Leslie said, staring into his face. She searched for some kind of insincere look. When she could find none, she continued. "Then you appeared. And, in a sense I'm scared. Why did I only find you now? And, why did I trust you so soon? I've known people for years and I still don't trust them. I know you for a couple of hours and I tell you my life story."

"Same goes here. I've told you practically everything about me. Thankyou so much Leslie. For everything, you have given me hope that mankind has good in it. I was blessed the minute you ran into me." He said, walking her to the door.

She threw her arms around him. "Thankyou Justin. You blessed me with so much tonight. I've learned to trust again and to smile and to feel hope. Thankyou. I'll see you later today. Why don't we exchange numbers now? In case for some reason, we can't get together a little later." They quickly exchanged numbers.

"This one is my home phone number, this one is my cell phone number." He pointed out the digits on the piece of paper. "This one is my pager, and these are all of my groupmates numbers, in case you can't get ahold of me."

Leslie laughed. "Thanks Justin. These are my home number, cell number and pager numbers. I don't have anything else." She giggled again. "I'm not famous, what can I say."

"I just want to make sure you can get ahold of me, if you ever need me right away." He blushed.

She quickly hugged him. "I'll see you later today."

"Definitely." He hugged her again, his arms encircling her thin waist. "Oh, and Les. You are not overweight and I think you're beautiful and perfect just the way you are." He winked at her and kissed her gently on the cheek. She looked into his eyes and saw her past years and she saw all of the future years in them. She saw herself greeting him at the airport and calling him all the time, when she needed him and when she didn't. She saw him calling her every night and picking her up at the airport, she saw them on vacations together. They were going to be each other's sanities. She smiled at him and walked out the door, only to find herself back in the room five hours later, prepared to start where they left off.

~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~! Lyrics: Crash and Burn by Savage Garden ~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!

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