Justin and Jen walked into the dorm room and the talk immediately stopped as five pairs of eyes glanced at them. Jen rolled her eyes and squeezed Justin's hand.
"Geez, I wonder what THEY were talking about!" she said loudly. JC coughed on a piece of his pizza, and Joey and Ashlee were laughing nervously. Lance looked down and shook his head, while Chris stood up and walked over to Justin and Jen.
"Silly, we were talking about you two of course!" Chris announced and tugged on one of Justin's curls. Jen giggled and yanked on one of Chris' dreads in retaliation.
"Ow! Eesh girl! We saved you some pizza and this is the thanks we get…" Chris started and turned towards a box of pizza. He opened it up and smiled proudly at the fact that he remembered.
"Um, Chris?" Justin asked as he glanced into the box.
"Yessssssss?"
"There's no pizza in here!" Chris turned the box towards him and checked it out.
"JOEY!" he yelled out. Joey looked up from his plate and with a mouth full of pizza sauce.
"What?" he asked nonchalantly. Jen grinned and looked over at Joey, then back to Justin.
"We can order something else right J?" she asked. He watched her and just smiled. Chris looked at them funny, but then shrugged it off. Justin continued to just stare at her, and she became uneasy.
"Why are you looking at me like that? Does the hat look bad on me or something?" she asked, fiddling with the brim. Justin shook his head 'no' and brought a hand up to her face and gently brushed her cheek.
"You look absolutely perfect," he said as his eyes roamed her features.
"Woah, what happened outside guys?" JC asked. Jen tore her gaze from Justin's eyes.
"We talked…" she trailed off.
"…And kinda cleared some things up," Justin finished for her. JC smiled, then Lance, and Ashlee and Joey, then finally Chris. Justin wrapped his arm around Jen's shoulders and smiled broadly.
"Pay up! All y'all! I won!" JC shouted and held out his hand. Chris looked and shook his head.
"No way buddy, you said the next time we saw her after her birthday party…and that was the barbecue, so you didn't win," Chris explained.
"Then I changed it at the table before we sang to her! I said, 'after we leave then come back', remember? And that is now, so fork it over, all of ya!" JC argued.
"You guys BET on this?" Jen asked, totally bewildered.
"Yes, we did. We saw it coming WAY before you two did, so we made a little wager-" Lance said.
"That I WON!" JC interrupted, still pushing the issue. Justin shook his head back and forth and chuckled a bit. Lance and Chris both pulled twenty bucks out of their pocket and handed it over to JC. Jen left Justin's side and walked over towards JC and plucked a twenty out of his hand.
"Hey! What are you doing? That's miiiiine!" he whined.
"Oh please JC, like you don't have twenty dollars to spare. Besides, this is food money for me and Justin since you guys ate OUR pizza!" Jen explained and then smiled sweetly.
JC obliged and Jen and Justin ordered some food. The guys decided to head back home for the night, much to Jen and Ashlee's disappointment. Justin gave Jen a quick kiss on the lips, surprising everyone, even himself. They piled into his car and head back to Orlando, while the guys fired questions at him a mile a minute.
"So Justin, it had to happen sooner or later eh?" JC said as soon as he closed the door. Justin rolled his eyes.
"Yeah JC, I guess right?"
"I guess you won't be screwing up at rehearsal anymore!" Joey added from the back seat.
"I guess so," Justin answered while keeping his eyes on the road, trying to stay vague. As much as he loved the guys, he had to figure out what was going on in his head, and in his heart.
"Justin buddy, what is wrong? You and Jen finally kiss and get a thing going, and you don't even seem excited," Chris asked. Justin sighed and decided to tell them what went on.
"Well, we were talking, and then all of the sudden, I just had to kiss her. I was like, 'no more puttin' this off Justin, go for it and suffer the consequences'. So I did and it was absolutely wonderful. Then she leaned up and kissed me again, which totally made everything perfect. So we both wanted it you know? But that was all it was. We didn't talk about relationship anything. I am so confused as to where this leaves us…is it friends who have kissed, or is it somethiing more? Or was it a 'let me see' type thing, like, 'ooh, kiss my best friend because my hormones are raging'?" Justin babbled on, hitting the steering wheel periodically.
Chris shook his head back and forth with a knowing smile on his face. "Only you know the answers, Curly. This is all new ground for both of you, so you better believe she is probably thinking the same things right now. So, while we're on break in the studio and what not, call her and talk. Just to talk, not to figure things out-take it slow, nothing has to be rushed," he explained. Justin kept glancing at him through the rearview mirror, listening intently. Joey looked to Justin from the passenger seat and smiled wide.
"This is so cute. We are behind you and Jen 100% bud, just so ya know," he said and patted Justin's shoulder. Justin smiled back and the continued the drive home in deep thought, while the others carried on other conversations.
Jen…wow…I kissed Jen tonight. It would be great to be together; she already knows everything about me. What if we already know too much? There's no new ground…no, don't think like that Justin. I wonder what she thinks about all this? I'll call her later, just to talk. Maybe she'll bring it up first…
Jen flopped onto the futon and let out a huge sigh, smiling brightly. Ashlee watched her, giggling at Jen's schoolgirl reaction, but thought it was absolutely adorable nonetheless.
"Girl, you better tell me what happened!" Ashlee said, finally breaking the silence. Jen tilted her head in Ashlee's direction and threw a pillow at her.
"Like you don't already know that we kissed outside and it was incredible," Jen replied, then started to stare at the ceiling again, totally oblivious. Ashlee was cleaning up the empty pizza boxes when she looked over and furrowed her eyebrows.
"Not the 'incredible' part, but hey, I could've guessed that. So, what's the deal then? You guys like, together, or what?"
Jen sat up and crossed her legs Indian-style. She ran a hand through her hair and bit her lower lip, thinking.
"You know what? I really don't have the slightest what this all means. I mean, we were walking, then all of the sudden he just kissed me. It was so great, Ash. It didn't feel like it was enough, so I kissed him back and we totally got wrapped up in it for a few minutes. It was just…wow…breath-taking. It seemed so…right. But you make a good point, where does it leave us? What if he just wanted to see if he was attracted to me? What if he isn't? Oh my god, what if he was just testing it out and isn't? What am I gonna do…everything will be different…" Jen rambled on. Ashlee sighed and sat next to her on the futon and put her hand on her shoulder.
"Ok Jen, if that were the case, he wouldn't have kissed you good bye right before they left," Ashlee reasoned. Jen sighed and nodded in agreement.
"Hmm, you're right…I think. Ugh, this is frustrating, he's my best friend, do I really want this twist in our relationship? Is it worth it?" she questioned out loud, looking up at the poster of the Justin by her bed. Ashlee stared at her and saw how obvious the emotions were written across her face. She smiled to herself knowingly.
"Well, you'll figure that out I am sure. What a day today has been, I think I am just gonna go to bed and leave ya to your thoughts girl," she replied and changed into her pajamas. Jen nodded and did the same, still lost in her own world.
Wow, Justin and I…at least I know that these feelings are mutual. But could it really work? With his schedule, I mean, being friends is totally different from being together. Maybe he'll bring it up first…
Jens thoughts were racing while she climbed into bed. She sighed and rolled over on her side, staring up at the picture and reading the message again.
"JJ- Wassup up mah girl? Just wanna wish ya luck with school this year! Hit those books, I wanna see good grades, or else! I am so glad you are finally this close to me, I miss ya like crazy. OK, well, I hope this is a good enough message for ya, if not, I am sure I'll hear about it (smiley face). I love ya girl, you are the best friend I could ever have. Love ya alwayz and forever, Justin Timberlake".
She smiled and brought her hand up and touched his face through the frame. Her fingers ran over his lips, remembering the feel of them against hers. She shivered and brought her hand back down to her pillow.
Justin and I…who would have thought anything would happen between us? Well, seems like all the guys did…
She giggled and buried her face into the pillow, trying not to wake up Ashlee. She then flipped onto her back and stared at the ceiling, her mind solely focused on Justin. She finally drifted off to sleep, dreaming of being together and happy.
