“Why’s Justin going to LA anyway?” Alanna asked.
They’d just taken off from New York 30 minutes ago and Justin was the only one not accompanying them to Orlando.
JC looked up from the notebook he had been writing in. “He said he was visiting friends.”
“Who does he know in LA?”
“I don’t know, it could be any number of people, I think a couple of his friends from Tennessee go to college there and we’re always working there.”
“I guess,” she conceded.
Justin shifted position for the tenth time in as many minutes. They hadn’t even taken off yet and already he wanted off. He was off to LA, hunting down Ashlyn, when what he should have been doing was catching a flight home to his momma.
“Boy you better quit wriggling that ass of yours,” Mike warned.
Mike had been the lucky one picked to go with Justin to LA. Once the flight landed he was free to do as he wished seeing as Justin was on free time for a few days.
“These seats are so damn uncomfortable.”
“Well I’m sure someone in coach would gladly switch places with you. Quit bitching J, you don’t know how lucky you are.”
“Yeah man, everyone wants one of you guys following their every move,” he said sarcastically.
He’d been in a funk since he’d woken up that morning. Lack of sleep and a troublemaker named Ashlyn being the main reason.
The guys had been distracted with their own lives and plans and had readily accepted his “visiting friends” line. His mother who had been expecting him home hadn’t been as easy to fool. He wasn’t lying exactly, Ashlyn was his friend, or so he had thought before this whole mess.
He wasn’t sure how long he’d be staying yet; his powers of persuasion were going to be a big factor in the outcome.
“I know you want to spend some time with your family but do you think you could spare me a few hours tomorrow night?” JC asked as the driver pulled up outside her house.
“Hmmm I don’t know about that,” she teased.
“Please?”
She laughed. “Okay.” She placed a kiss on his lips as the driver got out to retrieve her luggage. “See you then.”
“Bye Joey,” she said to the only other person left in the van.
“See ya Alanna.”
“Say hi to your parents for me,” JC called out, as she walked towards her house.
She turned around and blew him a kiss. “Call me,” she shouted.
“You’re such a suck up,” Joey commented.
“Shut up man.”
Justin checked into the hotel and made his way to his room. As soon as he saw the bed he collapsed on it. The flights were draining and combined with all the hours they had been putting in lately he was ready for a long nap. He still had six hours according to the arrangement he had made with Christy.
He set the alarm on his phone and only removed his shoes before he crawled under the covers for some much-needed shut-eye.
“Ashlyn are you okay?” Christy asked as they passed each other behind the bar.
“Yeah I’m fine. That guy’s just pissing me off, he’s been bothering me all night.”
“You want me to have a word with Ray?” she asked, referring to the very large man on the door.
Ashlyn looked towards Ray. He reminded her of the many bodyguards she had encountered in past months. She knew most of them looked incredibly scary but when you got past that they were usually sweethearts, momma’s boys. Ray was no different and he looked after the girls like a big brother, even her who he’d only just met.
“Nah, it’s cool.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah, he’s just had one too many.”
“Okay, just let someone know if he gets out of hand.”
Ashlyn held up her wrist, taking note of the time on her watch. She still had two hours left of her shift. She was already exhausted and she wanted to be up and ready early tomorrow so she could start moving into her apartment. Not like she had much to move, a couple of suitcases full of clothes and a few bits Christy had to spare. Luckily the apartment was furnished, not exactly the nicest stuff in the world but she’d deal. This was the new Ashlyn and she could do without the luxuries.
“Ashlyn can you go collect some glasses?” Jack, the manager of the bar, called.
She made her way out from behind the bar and into the masses. The place was packed and extremely hot from all the bodies. She walked past the people dancing and over towards the tables cluttered with empty glasses.
She felt someone grab her arm and she spun around quickly.
“Hey sexy, fancy coming back to my place?”
Ashlyn moved her face, shying away from the stench of his breath. It was the guy who had been bothering her all night. He’d been in once before on her shift but hadn’t paid any attention to her in particular before now. “I don’t think so.”
“Oh come on, it’s my birthday,” he whined, drunkenly.
She pulled her arm from his grasp. “Then happy birthday but I have a job to do.”
“Aren’t the customers always right? Aren’t the staff supposed to please the customers?” He leant forward until his mouth was next to her ear. “You could please me.”
Justin took a taxi to the address he’d been given by Christy. As he looked up at the exterior he thought he recognised the place. He could have been there before, he visited LA often enough but then again he’d been to so many clubs one ran into another and they all seemed the same after a while.
He looked at the long line to get into the place and prayed he didn’t get recognised. He’d told Johnny he would be laying low on this trip and wouldn’t need security; he was now rethinking his decision.
He bypassed the line and headed straight to the guys at the door. He wasn’t taking advantage of his status, Christy had told him to go straight to Ray or Dave on the door and they would point him in the right direction.
He held his hand against his face slightly as he passed all the people waiting to gain entry. He knew he was looking ridiculous but he was getting quite a few looks from people obviously wanting to know why he didn’t have to get in line like everyone else. It was the best he could do though, he knew he wouldn’t be able to get in wearing his trusty baseball cap.
As he reached the door he was faced with two burly men. He was around security for the better part of most days so he should have been used to it but he still found them rather intimidating.
“Can I help you?” one of them asked.
“Yeah I’m here to see Christy, she said that you’d point me in the right direction.”
“You’re…”
“Yeah I’m Justin,” he mumbled quietly, not wanting the man with the booming voice to say his name in front of all of the waiting people. Who knew what would happen if they put two and two together, pandemonium had been known on occasion.
The man ushered Justin inside and pointed a girl out behind the bar. Justin nodded his thanks and headed straight for her, not wanting to waste any more time than necessary. The quicker he was out of full view the better.
He took a seat at the bar while she finished serving another customer. His eyes roamed the room but he didn’t spot Ashlyn anywhere.
“What’ll it be?” Christy asked as she handed the other customer his change and turned to Justin.
“Directions to Ashlyn please.”
Christy looked at Justin in surprise. “Well, well, she never told me she had a popstar as a friend.”
“Shhh I’m trying to stay incognito.”
“Why didn’t you tell me over the phone who you were?”
“For one I doubt you would’ve believed me, when I tell strangers over the phone that I’m…,” he looked around quickly before leaning in closer, “Justin Timberlake the next thing I usually hear is the dial tone.”
“Okay you’ve probably got a point,” she admitted. “I thought you said you worked with her?”
“I did.”
“How?”
“She worked on our tour. Sorry for cutting this off, I know I probably sound rude, but can you tell me where she is? I haven’t seen her in a while and I’m getting kinda anxious.” Yes he was definitely anxious but he didn’t know if he would wring her neck or hug her when he saw her.
“It’s okay, I understand. She went to collect glasses.” She glanced around the room before she spotted her. “She’s over there.” She pointed Ashlyn out to Justin.
Justin followed the direction of her finger, and after moving his head to look around bodies, spotted her. He sat glued to the spot for a second.
“Do you see her?” Christy asked.
“Yeah.”
“Damn that’s the guy that’s been bothering her tonight,” she muttered.
“What do you mean?” Justin asked glancing quickly at Christy before his eyes were trained on Ashlyn again.
“He’s had a few too many drinks and was hassling her a bit earlier, she said she was fine but I should check on her.”
Justin stood up immediately. “No, let me.”
“Are you by any chance her boyfriend?” Christy asked.
Justin didn’t answer; he made his way straight to the escalating scene before him.
“So how does it feel to be home?” JC asked Alanna.
“Good.” She smiled as she snuggled under the covers of her bed, twirling the phone cord with her finger.
“How did the family reunion go?”
“My mom always tears up and gets me started,” she laughed. “It’s good to see them again though and I got a home-cooked meal at last. My mom is waiting on me hand and foot and I’m taking full advantage of it, I feel kinda guilty.”
JC laughed. “My mom’s the same when I go home. Don’t worry about it, they live for that kinda thing, trust me they love it.”
“If you say so. Oh and Ryan said thanks for the autographed basketball. In his words it was “awesome!”. I can’t believe you got that for him.”
“No problem. What’s the point in your big sister having a famous boyfriend if you don’t get the perks?”
Alanna smiled. She was like a love-struck teenager. Even now him referring to himself as her boyfriend turned her to mush, she was pathetic, she conceded. “You don’t have to do stuff like that though, he already likes you. Of course you’re now like God to him.”
“Wow I’m that good huh?” he joked.
“So what’s the plan for tomorrow?”
“You. Me. Dinner. Seven.”
“Ooh sounds nice. How are we getting around the fan thing though?” The fans had no idea of their relationship. They themselves were surprised at the fact that nobody had even hinted at it. There had been a story in one of the tabloids that she was in fact being romanced by Justin, if only they knew. Justin had put cold water on that particular rumour during a television interview and for once the fans seemed to believe him.
“Leave it all up to me, I’ve got it figured out.”
“’Kay,” she said, followed by a yawn.
“You’re tired.”
“A bit,” she admitted.
“I’ll let you go then, we’ve got plenty of time to talk tomorrow. I’ll just go to my big cold bed alone,” he joked.
“Stop pouting,”
“Sorry, I got spoilt these last few days, I got to cuddle up to a very pretty lady every night.”
She smiled. “You did huh?”
“Uh huh. But the pretty lady needs her rest now and this hunk of a man could do with some too.”
She chuckled. “Night JC.”
“Night Allie.”
She hung up the phone and rolled over, burying her head in her pillow. “He’s just too damn perfect.”
Justin walked towards Ashlyn. He hadn’t seen her in months but she looked exactly the same as he remembered.
He saw her face crease as she spoke to the man in front of her.
She tried to walk away but the guy pulled her back.
“Shit,” Justin cursed. He pushed through the crowd as fast as he could getting a few none too pleased looks as he battled through the bodies.
Ashlyn caught sight of him out of the corner of her eye.
Justin saw her eyes widen in shock, not taking her gaze off him even as the guy tried to wrap his arms around her.
Justin pushed the intoxicated man away, grabbed Ashlyn’s face and before she could say a word he planted a kiss on her unsuspecting lips.
After what seemed like an eternity he pulled back. “Hi honey.”
Chapter 6
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