As wrong as it was, she sulked through her classes and she couldn't get the disappointment out of her head. Once the disappointment was over her feelings turned to anger. He had known what he was doing the whole time and he knew that it would toy with her emotions to get a letter like that on Valentine's Day. He made it out to be such a big deal. He made it out to be such a big wonderful surprise and even though she didn't like Valentine's Day she was looking forward to having SOMETHING from him that would put a smile on her face. Now she could chalk this up to another bad one in her record books and move on from it.
Mary Beth looked over at Lauren's dazed expression and whispered, "Are you ok?"
"Yeah I'm fine. I'm just…tired I guess." Tired of getting her hopes up over stupid things that she should know better.
The class seemed to last forever but it was finally time to get out of there and go home where she could sit and dive into a big bowl of ice cream while she waited for the call she knew would come. If she could just figure out what to say to him and a way to make herself cheerful and giddy then…
"Excuse me for interrupting everyone but is there a Lauren Owsley here?"
She looked up from putting her notebook into her backpack and gave the man a strange look. "That's me."
He walked over to her and dug around in the bag at his hip for something. "I have something for you here."
"For me? Are you certain that it's for me?"
He grinned and continued to dig in his bag. "I'm absolutely certain. Just give me a minute here…ah here it is."
Lauren looked at Mary Beth and saw her shrug. "This is a joke right?"
"I'm a little too busy on Valentine's Day to be delivering jokes. Here's your package and just sign right here."
After signing the clipboard she looked down and saw that it was addressed to her on campus, in this classroom, at this specific time…the time when she would be getting out of class. "Umm…ok. This is strange."
"Is it a bomb?"
Lauren rolled her eyes at her and they walked out of the room together. "I hope not but I will say that this is probably the freakiest Valentine's Day I've ever had. A strange note this morning and now this strange box."
"Well you make sure you tell me all about it tomorrow. I need to go home so I can get ready for my date tonight."
Lauren waved absently and continued walking to her car. "Yeah…yeah have fun. See you tomorrow."
She basically ran to her car, jumped in, and after locking the doors…tore into the small package. Inside lay a CD and a little note attached to it. She picked up the note and read the scrawling.
Listen to the CD as you drive to the airport.
She was confused and unsure, but she popped in the CD and turned the volume up as she pulled out of the parking space and started driving towards the airport. The first thing she heard was Justin's voice and she had to smile at his playful tone.
"You thought I was a rat bastard right? I can almost see what your face must have looked like when you opened that letter and saw that it was a cheesy postcard. Hopefully you're not so pissed that you have refused to listen to this message because I have a treat for you today my girl. Today is Valentine's Day and while I'm all the way across the ocean that doesn't mean that I can't share something special with the girl who means the world to me. Oh and I'm not talking about that stupid girl Monica who…uh…nevermind. This is your day and this is only the beginning. Enough of my yapping and on with the show. Make sure you follow all the directions closely and you will be fine. Take care of yourself and be careful. I miss you and love ya Val."
She was about to turn off the CD when his voice spoke up again. "Oh yeah…I almost forgot. When you get to the airport there should be a man sitting at a bench in front. His name is Murray and he'll have the next clue. Until then…I'm done."
The trip to the airport had never seemed longer but she finally made it there. She got out of the car and walked quickly to the front but to her dismay there were about fifty guys all sitting in the benches in front of the airport. She walked up to the first guy and asked him if he was Murray but he yelled at her in Spanish and walked away.
"Yeah…thanks so much. Are you Murray? You wouldn't happen to be Murray would you? This is so stupid and I feel like an idiot. WHO IS MURRAY HERE?"
An older gentleman with a dark blue suit stood up and waved to her. "I'm Murray."
She stood in front of him and swallowed hard. "I was told to ask for you. I'm Lauren."
He looked her up and down and then smiled as he handed her an envelope. "Here you go Miss. Good luck."
Her eager hands tore into the envelope and inside she found an orange key that led to what she could only assume was one of the airport lockers. The note inside was also in Justin's handwriting.
The airport is a pretty big place, but you'll find your next clue next to the fountain space.
"Next to the fountain space? Justin…a poet you are NOT."
She pushed people aside and looked around everywhere for a fountain but there were none that she could see. What she DID see were about a thousand lockers and there was no way that she was about to go through every single one to see where the key fit. She walked around the corner to look at the next row and saw a water fountain at the end of the row. There was a small row of lockers right beside it and she attacked each one with the key in her hand until it opened one of them.
When the locker door opened a wad of rose petals fell out and she smiled at them as she pushed them aside and reached for the rose and the envelope inside. The envelope was bulky and it was heavy so she sat down on the floor and yanked it open. Inside of it were lots of pieces to a puzzle.
"A puzzle huh? Hmmm."
She flipped the pieces over and saw bits of writing on each piece so she dumped them out and got to work on putting it together. About fifteen minutes later she was staring down at a puzzle lying in the middle of rose petals and on the puzzle read the words "Give Murray your car keys and meet Richard out front. You'll know who he is and he'll know where to go." She chewed on her lip again and stood up with the puzzle put back into the envelope. "Give Murray my keys? You have got to be kidding me."
She was getting strange looks from the people she walked by because of the rose petals on the ground and it probably wasn't a common occurrence to see a girl sitting on the floor of an airport putting together a puzzle. She ignored all of that to walk out of the main doors and her jaw hit the floor when parked in front of her was a limo.
"Uh…there's…there's no way that…that that is for me. No way."
Murray stepped up beside her and held his hand out. "Your keys miss? Your car will be taken care of."
"You know where I live? Of course you know where I live if you're in on all this. Here you go."
He took them out of her hand and placed them in his pocket before pointing to the man standing beside the limo. "That is Richard and I believe he's waiting for you."
Lauren slowly and cautiously walked over to the limo and smiled at the man. "This is a joke right?"
He shook his head slowly and opened the door for her.
"This has to be a joke. Are you sure?"
His head nodded slowly up and down this time.
Since there was no denying it anymore she sat down inside and waited to see where they were heading. Her leg bobbed up and down nervously while she waited for him to say something but he remained quiet. "Can you tell me where we're going?"
"No miss, but there is a note on the television."
A smile spread across her face when she saw it. It was taped to the television screen and she couldn't get across the car fast enough to pull it down and rip it open.
By now you're seeing that this isn't all a game, but I have more planned for you all the same. Turn on the TV, and oh my lookie who you see!
The privacy glass raised in front of her so she could no longer see the driver and she pushed the button to the TV. A tape started playing and even though she didn't think her smile could get any bigger, it did when she saw Justin on the screen. He looked so good sitting there in a director's chair with a black screen behind him. There was a reddish glow on him and he had an evil grin on his face.
"Just so you know, I have you right where I want you. I wish I could see you the way you're seeing me right now but enough of that. Now comes the gifts and I know how much you can't stand Valentine's Day so my project this year is to get you to love it. I certainly hope that you have as much fun today as I did in planning it." He rubbed his forehead and chuckled. "Of course I'm also hoping that I didn't screw up in leaving the clues or you're going to get lost along the way. Richard has been instructed to drive you wherever you tell him to and he has been lectured on how precious his cargo is so don't worry about your safety. He has been a driver for us a few times."
She sat back and couldn't stop smiling as she watched him on the screen.
"I've been thinking about our friendship a lot lately and I don't know how I could have gotten this far in my life if you hadn't been a part of it. I know it's silly for me to get all mushy but it's Valentine's Day so bear with me here. Your head is probably swimming with thoughts at the moment but I just want to say that you always have and always will have a very important role in my life and a…a…special place in my heart."
He coughed nervously a few times and grinned again at the camera. "Enough of the mushy stuff right? I don't have much time because I'm sure the guys are about to bust in here any time but the next clue is to look under the waterfall. There ya go Val…have fun."
The TV went black and after turning it off she looked out the window while her fingers twirled the rose he had left for her in the locker. Well, the rose that he had asked someone to leave in the locker for her because this rose was still too new and too beautiful to have been left on Tuesday when he had left to go to overseas.
A little while later the limo pulled off of International Drive and stopped in front of the putt putt golf complex called "Pirate's Cove". Richard opened the door for her and she stepped out to look up at the massive complex that she remembered visiting with Justin when they were thirteen or fourteen. It was during the "down time" when he wasn't too famous for being on MMC and he hadn't hit N SYNC land yet. This used to be their Friday night hang out place and she hadn't been here in years.
She walked up to the counter and reached into her purse to pull out some money to get in but the woman grinned and handed her a note. "You're kidding me right?"
The woman buzzed the door to open it and Lauren strolled in as she read the note. "Waterfall is in sight at the hole you beat me on every Friday night. The hole I beat him on every Friday night? OH!"
She ran across the drawbridge and across the huge pirate ship until she reached the bottom of the cliff and the base of the waterfall. "This is hole number nine and I used to kick is butt every time on this one."
Her eyes scanned the area and she searched in every bush and under every piece of scenery around the waterfall but she found nothing. She stood up straight with her hands on her hips and was about to give up when her eyes caught the gleam of something under the waterfall itself. "Oh you're kidding me right? I have to get IN the water? Justin you better be glad that you're blowing me away here because only YOU would cause me to get into cold water when it's like fifty degrees outside."
She rolled up her pants and the sleeves of her sweater before kicking her shoes off and stepping into the water. The temperature of it made her suck in her breath with a hiss and question why she was doing this in the first place. The first and only thing that came to mind…it was fun.
After grabbing the small metal box from under the water she quickly stepped out and rearranged her clothes to get warm again. She waited until she got back inside the limo before opening the box up and seeing what was inside. There was a Ziplock bag inside with a note and another tiny box inside. The car wasn't moving yet so she guessed that Richard had orders to wait until she had had plenty of time to open this treasure to go on to the next.
Her cold and trembling hands opened the note and she sniffled before starting to read it. "That box better have some cold medicine in it. Ahem…now you will go where art is on the menu, the clue there will help you continue."
She put the paper down and laughed so hard that tears came to her eyes. "You write songs that girls scream over Justin Timberlake and this is the BEST you can come up with. Oh you're a strange one…yes you are."
The limo drove only a short ways until it stopped in front of the restaurant Tu Tu Tango which dealt with artwork from local artists and it was one of the restaurants that Justin always dragged her to whenever he was in town. She didn't have to be dragged very hard because the food was awesome but she never thought that he would leave a clue here. So far every place they had stopped had meant something to them in their lives somehow. The airport was where they always said goodbye or reunited after a long trip, the putt putt place had been a hang out of theirs as children, and now this. This was more of their style now.
The door opened for her to exit the car and she quickly walked into the restaurant. "Hello my name is Lauren and…"
The man behind the counter smiled at her and held out his hand. "We have been expecting you Miss Owsley. Right this way."
"This is getting weirder and weirder by the second. You wouldn't happen to have a place where I could dry off because my clothes got wet and…oh my God."
She froze in place when he pointed to a beautiful dark blue full length dress and grinned at her.
"Tell me that's not for me."
He reached up and held it out in front of her. "This has been left for you and you can change in that room over there if you'd like. There was also a note left for you on one of our paintings but I'm not allowed to tell you which one."
"Can you hold this for a second while I go find the note?"
He nodded and bowed in front of her dramatically. "Certainly miss."
There were so many beautiful paintings around the room and so many talented pieces of artwork that she didn't know where to begin. She wasn't about to start touching everything because with her luck she would break the most expensive piece in the place but one painting caught her eye. Whenever she came there with Justin they would always sit in the same table in the back where they could have some privacy in case some fans walked in and she had always admired a painting but it wasn't something she would spend that much money on. It was a painting of a young woman looking at a man who was walking away from her and the look on her face showed a pure love, a complete love, and a look of determination that assured that she would go to the ends of the earth to protect this man she was staring at. It had always touched Lauren's heart and Justin would pick on her every time they ate there because she spent most of her time staring at the painting instead of talking to him.
She walked over to that painting and her eyes started to get watery when she saw a note on the painting with the words "sold to Lauren Owsley" on the corner of it. She took a deep breath to compose herself and picked up the card. On the back was that familiar handwriting again.
It was the least I could do because even though I never told you this…I have seen the look on that woman's face directed at me so many times when you thought I wasn't paying attention. It's just as beautiful to see in the painting as it is to see on your face. Now maybe when we eat you will TALK to me and stop staring at it.
She laughed through the tears and sniffled when the man came up behind her. "This is me."
He grinned at her proudly and nodded. "Yes miss. We will have that shipped to your house within the week. Are you ready to get changed out of those wet clothes?"
Ten minutes later she was spinning around in front of the mirror while she looked at herself. "This is absolutely beautiful. I can't believe he picked this out."
The middle-aged woman standing next to her was so giddy she was jumping up and down. "It's perfect for you. I didn't know you had blue eyes until you put that dress on. Now they are like liquid blue fire."
Lauren giggled and looked over her shoulder at the glass. "I didn't realize that a dress would look so good on my figure."
"You have a beautiful figure miss."
She turned around to stare at the woman and she almost didn't ask the question she wanted to ask, but it came out anyway. "Do I…do I look stupid in this?"
"Why do you say that?"
"No seriously, I can't believe I'm asking this but…do I look like a boy playing dress up?"
The woman spun her around, straightened out her shoulders, lifted her chin, and pulled her hair out of the ponytail to lay the tresses over her shoulders. "You are a beautiful woman, but the depth of it is hidden from your sight."
"You think so?"
"I think so, and the young man who bought you this dress thinks so too."
Lauren smiled tenderly when she thought about him and spun around. "He's just my best friend. We've been best friends forever but nothing more."
She grabbed Lauren's hand and patted it comfortingly. Her voice was slow and it took on the tone that she had heard out of her grandmother many times. "No man young or old buys a dress like that for a woman unless he wants to see her in it. And if a man wants to see her in it…then he sees the beauty that shines through whether he wants to admit it or not."
She wanted to convince herself that Justin saw her as something other than his "little Val" but no matter how hard she tried she couldn't break herself free of the fear of losing their friendship. If she were to read into this, and Justin had no intentions other than to do something nice, then it would put a strain in their relationship. It could even destroy it and there was no way she was going to allow that to happen.
"Here's another note miss. Good luck tonight."
Tucked into the note was another rose and she held it up to her nose for a second before reading the note. "Music is the key to the heart, go to the place where an album gets its start. Hmmm…album gets its start. I guess I'm about to make an appearance at Jive. Here I come!"