Justin balanced the heavy bag on his shoulder as he tried to open his front door. He had just come back from a small promotional tour in New York City. He got the door opened and raced to the answering machine.

"...hey, Justin, I need to see you. Something happened with Brad and I just need to ta-"

"Hello? Freida?" Justin called breathlessly into the phone. "What's wrong?"

"Oh, you're there. How was the trip?"

Justin took a deep breath. "The trip was fine. Don't try to change the subject. You said something happened with Brad. What happened?"

Frieda mumbled a sentence.

"Can you please repeat that? You were mumbling."

"I said he died on Monday."

"What? Brad's dead? What happened?" Justin paused but continued before she got out the first syllable. "Let me come over so we can talk face to face."

"Umm, do you mind if I come over there? I've seen these walls too much this week. I need a change of scenery."

"Okay, but let me pick you up. You are in no condition to drive."

"All right. I'll see you in about ten minutes?"

"Yup." Justin took the forgotten heavy bag off his shoulder and twirled his keys around his pointer finger before leaving his house.

~~~~~~

"Thank for picking me up, Justin." Frieda sat on the edge of the couch and picked at a string at the end of her sleeve. "I was going stir crazy."

"I understand. You want anything to drink?" After she shook her head he sat on the chair next to where she was sitting. "So what happened while I was gone?"

"Well, Brad was going for his normal morning jog when someone decided that the cocaine they bought the night before wasn't enough and had to go see their dealer and..."

"I think I got the gist of it. Come here."

Justin opened his arms and the black haired girl fell into them. He let her sob her frustrations out. He closed his eyes when her face made its way into his neck. Justin held back the urge to moan and just let her release the bottled up emotions. Frieda shook her head against his chest before looking up at him.

"Thanks for letting me use you as a tissue."

"No problem. Anytime. Anything for you, you know that."

"Yeah I do and I appreciate it." Frieda caught Justin's eyes and held them. The blue of them electrified and sent warmth through her body. More tears welled up as she remembered all the times he had been there for her.

Justin saw the difference in the way she was looking at him and his heart sped up. He watched as her tongue guided his eyes slowly around the curves of her mouth. He could feel the current in the air tighten around him. This was the girl he had wanted so many years ago and she was vulnerable and looking like she wanted him to kiss her.

Frieda didn't know how it happened. One minute she was crying over her recently deceased boyfriend and now she was ready to jump into the arms of another man for comfort. Not just any man, the one who had known her forever and never judged her harsher than she deserved. Without thinking she nuzzled her face into his neck and drank in the smell of his cologne. She knew it was the wrong thing to do but she couldn't help herself. The past few days she had holed herself up in her apartment and now she had someone letting her into their heart to help her heal.

Justin felt her mouth give his neck a peck. He closed his eyes. He knew this was wrong, that she was too wrought with emotions to be thinking clearly. If he let this continue he would be taking advantage of her. Despite the voices in his head telling him to stop Justin moved his head and allowed her to tilt her face up so her lips could meet his. Justin saw fireworks as he let her set the pace of the kiss. The kiss continued slowly until she began to open her mouth under his. The kiss was so much more than Justin had ever imagined but he knew it could even be better under different circumstances. Before he lost total control Justin eased out of the kiss.

"No." Frieda felt the comfort drain from her body as Justin pulled away. She reached for him but he placed her hands on her own lap.

"No is right. We shouldn't be doing this, Frieda. It's not right."

"But..." She raised her hands only to bring them back to her lap.

"But nothing." Justin stood. "This is wrong. Your longtime boyfriend just died, Frieda. This is not how I wanted to kiss you. This is not the right time for you to be kissing anyone."

"You're right." She bit her bottom lip and hung her head. "It was probaly terrible anyway."

Justin watched her and wanted to kneel before her and kiss her again but this time common sense won and he stayed where he was. He wanted to tell her that the kiss was more powerful than any he had experienced in his 20 years on Earth. He wanted to tell her that the kiss they just shared couldn't compare to those in his dreams about her. He wanted to tell her all that and more but knew he couldn't. He sighed and sat on the arm of an overstuffed chair.

"Look at me please." She turned to face him and Justin had to dig his fingers into the cloth beneith him so he wouldn't move next to her. "There was nothing wrong with the kiss. I rather enjoyed it myself but this is not the time to be exploring my attraction to you. You have enough going on and you have to sort through your feelings about Brad and his death before you can even contemplate another guy. That is, of course, if you become attracted to anyone else." He held his breath.

"Oh, Justin, that kiss was amazing. You are an incredible guy and I would be a fool not to find you attractive, but you're right. I can't go jumping into anything this serious when I can barely say my name." She glanced aorund her before looking at him again. "I think it's better if you just take me home. I'll let you know when the services are."

Justin nodded and went into the hall to pick up his keys. He turned back and saw her staring at nothing. "What are you thinking?"

She sighed. "Just that we'll need to talk about this someday. Now that I see it your attraction toward me will never go unnoticed by me. And I can't deny what I felt either, it's just that now's not the right time and I have no idea when it will be the right time. Who knows if you'll even be around them."

Justin walked to her and took her hand. He waited until she looked at him and squeezed his hand.

"I've been waiting so long I think I can hold out some more."

"But, Justin, you've gone out with people and have had long relationships."

"I was just waiting for you." With that he walked out the door and started his car.