Chapter Eighteen

Lauren looked at him and searched for any sign that he was joking or playing around, but everything from his stance to the look on his face told her that he was far from being funny. Her traitorous eyes looked him up and down a few times before she met his eyes again and pushed the evil thoughts away. "Hard…hard stuff?"

Justin tried to push the thoughts he had about Tristan to the side and tried to focus on her. The problem was that the hallway scene of those two together kept replaying over and over in his mind. "I just…I just think that we're not proving anything here."

She kicked off her shoes and folded her legs underneath her on the bed. "I thought we agreed to take things slow because forcing it and pushing the fact that we're together in their faces will only cause them to wonder and question. It would be too sudden to be…"

He started pacing again. "That's just it. Last Sunday when you were here, did anyone actually buy what we were doing? We were holding hands, sitting together, sitting CLOSELY together, and all I got was some stupid comment from Joey saying that you could be his leg warmer ANY day."

She raised an eyebrow. "Oh he did, did he? You just wait until I get my hands on his 'wanna be cute' ass and then we'll see how warm his butt is when I get finished beating…"

"You're not getting this."

"Justin, if I'm not getting this then you're not EXPLAINING it. It's almost midnight, you're tired, I'm tired, and tomorrow is going to be a very long day. So why don't we…"

It annoyed him that he couldn't say what he wanted to say and that she was treating him like some temperamental child who needed a nap, while she had been MORE than willing to joke around with Tristan the wonder guy in the hallway. "I don't want to sleep. I want to work this out so that we don't look like idiots tomorrow."

"You're going to be in fan central tomorrow and I doubt that I'll see you any more than at breakfast and when it's time to go to sleep. What HAPPENED to you this week?"

He stopped pacing and gave her a funny look. "What do you mean?"

She looked at his wrinkled clothes, his wild hair, the scruff on his face, and his tired eyes as he stood in front of her. "I don't mean to sound repetitive and I can't think of anything really creative to say, so blunt honesty is all I have left. You look like shit run over."

He stopped and rubbed his hair-roughened jaw. "Gee thanks. Can I just say how wonderful it is to have you here? Such cheerfulness and joy that only YOU can bring to my life."

"Don't mention it. Oh come on Justin, I'm the worrier and the one who freaks out whenever anything is going bad. I don't think it's time to freak out just yet. Yeah we have a lot to prove in a very short amount of time but we will do it. We will do it and Miranda will find out something along the way so that we won't have to be led by the nose by Tom anymore. I just have to keep telling myself that everything will be fine and it will be."

"Do you really believe it? Do you honestly and truly believe that everything will be fine if we just keep going the way we are?"

She took a deep breath and finally nodded slowly and hesitantly. "Yeah I do."

"What if Miranda doesn't find anything? What if at the end of these weeks Tom, as unstable as he is, decides that you and I wouldn't work well together in front of the fans? What in the HELL are we going to do if none of this works out and Shai is only one of the string of girls he has waiting to…"

"Ok now I really know that you're freaking out. You are Justin Timberlake, and that means that nobody is going to corner you into doing something you don't want to do. If you're afraid that Tom is going to force someone on you then make sure that you're careful about the girls who suddenly show a huge interest in you. I mean, they should be pretty obvious and if you refuse to give them the time of day then Tom doesn't have anything to work with now does he? He's not going to solve any of his problems if you go out with the girl of his choice and you openly act hostile towards her or ignore her in front of all the cameras that follow you around. You still have the power and the control here Justin."

He growled loudly and started pacing again. "I have the power here? I have the POWER? How in the HELL do you see that Val? If this is power then I would really hate to see what vulnerability looks like because I feel about as powerful as a two year old in a playpen. Everything around me is falling apart and I can't do a damn thing to stop it!"

Lauren jumped when he picked up the ice bucket that was sitting on the dresser and flung it across the room. It hit the wall with a loud crash and she took several deep breaths before speaking softly. "Uh…Justin? I think maybe you've snapped."

"ME? SNAP? What on earth could have possibly given you THAT idea?"

"Well…"

"I mean I only have an album coming out on Tuesday that will define the rest of my career. There are about a million or more people who are wanting to see my face on N SYNC Live tomorrow so that I can talk about that album. We are traveling all over the friggin' world for the next few weeks to talk about that album whether it is successful or not, and here on the homefront I have some sicko bastard who is trying to tear me apart from my best friend because he wants to prove a point that NOBODY IS GETTING! Am I stressed a bit? NOOOOOOOOOO."

Her eyes widened and she leaned back on her arms. "Okaaaaayyyyy…and in this corner, Lauren…the venting post! Give her a round of applause everyone!"

He rolled his eyes and plopped down on the bed with a sigh. His hands clutched painfully at his head and he closed his eyes. "I'm sorry. Really I am sorry about going off like that but you know it wasn't directed at you."

"I know."

"It just makes me so mad and it makes me even madder to think about how careful I'm having to live my life now because I'm suspicious of everyone I talk to. Ever since you told me about what Tom is up to I find that I can't talk to people the way I used to. I look at them and I wonder if they are genuine or if they are somehow a part of his plan too. I trust the guys, but they can't and don't know about this. So the only person I can really trust is…is you. That makes it really hard when you're not around, Val."

There was nothing she wanted more than to be able to spend more time with him, especially during all of this mess, but unfortunately she couldn't. As much as she loved and honored his dreams, there were sacrifices for obtaining them and losing a part of each other was one of those sacrifices. "I'm here now and you can talk to me about anything you want to. I just hate seeing you worked up like this when there's not a lot I can do about it."

He sat up on an elbow and stared at her. "Why is Tristan here?"

With a shrug she answered. "Your guess is as good as mine. On the plane he told me that…"

"Wait a minute, on the plane?"

Her attempt at trying to calm him down wasn't working because she saw his muscles tense again and his face was getting all red from building anger. "He…he was on the flight up here with me. Do you have a problem with Tristan? Is there something I should know about?"

He plopped back down onto his back and shook his head. "I don't like him. I don't know how to explain it to you but I just don't really like him."

"I hope you're not about to say that because you don't like him, I shouldn't like him. As much as I respect and trust your opinion…I'm not going to hate someone or push them away just because he gives you a 'vibe you can't explain'. I need more than that."

"I'm just going to ask you to be very careful and to stay away from him if you can. There's something about him that makes me…"

"That makes you jealous?" When the words were out she wished she would have bitten her tongue, but at the same time she wanted to see how he responded to it.

He responded by sitting completely up on the bed and dropping his jaw in shock. "Jealous? JEALOUS? Why would I be jealous of Tristan?"

It would be very interesting if he was upset over it, and if he was then at least she would know that he wasn't immune to her being interested in someone else…if that ever happened. "I don't know why you would be jealous. I mean, there's nothing going on between us and that's only the second time I've met the guy. I will say that it was nice being able to talk to someone on the long flight here and it made the time go by quickly. He's nice and I think his fans will be VERY loyal to whatever he does."

"Wait…you talked to him all the way here? How?"

She looked around the room while she tried to figure out if this was a trick question or not. "I listened to him when he talked, I turned to him, opened my mouth, and then answered his previous statement or question."

"He was close enough to you on the plane to talk the WHOLE TIME?"

"His seat was right next to mine. I thought it was kind of strange at first but…"

Justin jumped up off of his bed and started pacing again. "Val, that flight was booked solid. I worked for a solid week trying to get you on that plane and magically on Friday morning a seat became available. Are you telling me that it's only a coincidence that the ONE available seat on that whole damn plane happened to be the one right next to Tristan?"

She was hearing the scary music here too. "It's possible but not very likely. I never asked him if someone was supposed to fly with him so maybe he had a friend coming along with him and he or she backed out at the last minute?" Justin turned and gave her a 'get real' look. "Ok! So that doesn't sound realistic but what would you rather hear? Would you rather hear that the nice naïve guy is on Tom's payroll and he's out to do something sinister?"

"I want to hear that he's nowhere around you. That's what I would rather hear."

"Do you know how much you're sounding like Jayce here? Before I left I had to hear the big brother crap so please don't be his echo. I heard it twice the first time."

He stretched out on the bed beside her and rested his head on her stomach. "It's already happening."

She looked down at him and placed a hand in his hair to rub his scalp lightly. "What is?"

"Tom is already starting to pull us apart…bit by bit."

"Tom isn't doing anything we aren't allowing him to do. There's a lot of stress flying around you right now, you're worried about how your life is going to be a month from now, and I don't blame you for lashing out. I would rather you lash out at me…a person who will forgive you, than to hold it inside and/or beat someone up for it."

He shifted until his hand was under his cheek and splayed across her stomach. "I don't trust Tristan. I didn't like him when we met at Pleasure Island, I didn't like him when he just happened to show up where you are, and I definitely didn't like him when he looked at you like he wanted you on top of his dining room table."

"Do you want to know what I think? Sure you do. I think that Tristan is a bit starstruck, he's very naïve, he's a dreamer, he's VERY passionate about music, and he's finally realizing that all of his dreams are coming true. I don't know him very well, but so far I've seen in him what I saw in you at that stage of your life. He seems too bright and too reserved to be teamed with Tom."

"But…"

She tightened her fingers around his curls playfully until he stopped talking. "But you're going to have to trust MY feelings here too. I'll stay away from him if that makes things easier for you…for now. But I'm not going to alienate him when he probably already feels that way around this crew."

He reached up and pulled her fingers away from his hair. "Underneath that attitude of yours is too much of a heart."

"Lucky for you. Can we please forget about Tristan and talk about what you meant when you said that we need to go for the hard stuff?"

He groaned and buried his face into her shirt. "Nevermind."

"Oh no you don't. Don't you even try to get out of this one. You had me worried when you said that and if you think that the plan isn't going to work then I'm all for listening to your ideas."

He opened his eyes and looked at her. "I think that we need to speed this up a bit. I'm not saying that I think we should be clawing at one another around the guys just so Tom can see, but I definitely think something needs to be done."

She could tell by the tiredness in his voice and the lack of patience in his tone, that something was pushing him over the edge. "Shai has been leeching, hasn't she?"

"I can't breathe without her being there."

It was Lauren's turn to start turning red with anger. "I see, and Tom?"

Justin felt her stomach muscles tense underneath his hand. "Tom has been hell bent on making sure that she is there. He even 'accidentally' underbooked the vans that were taking us to the AOL chat, and guess who was basically in my lap all the way there and back."

"Basically in your lap…" Her control was a fragile thing at this moment.

The muscles were getting tighter and tighter. "Ok she…she was half on my lap and half on Lance's, but her hand…her hand was…it was a tight space and I wouldn't normally read into it but her hands were…"

And that did it. Her temper and her restraint finally snapped with those words and the embarrassment she saw on Justin's face. She slid away from him but Justin completely anticipated her movement so he popped up before she could move too far. He grabbed her by the shoulders and stopped her forward motion. "Don't fight this."

She pushed against him but his strong hands held her in place. "Let go of me Justin."

They were both on their knees and Justin had to quietly admit to himself that she was a lot stronger than he remembered her being. It was almost taking every bit of strength he had to keep her on that bed and away from Shai. "What are you going to do? Are you going to storm down there and pull her hair out?"

"DAMN GOOD BEGINNING!"

She ducked under his arm and he caught her around the waist before she got too far. Her fingers clawed at the bedspread while he dragged her back across the bed towards him. "My God! Would you calm DOWN? You're like a rabid pit bull when you're riled."

Lauren let go of the blanket and tried to pull his hands away from her waist. When that didn't work she kicked at him and tried to fight her way free that way, but Justin dodged her feet and grabbed her flailing legs. "Let me go! I don't want to hurt you Justin."

"I'm not letting you go so you can run down there and scalp the girl. That's exactly what those two want and you would be in jail for assault quicker than that tongue of yours can get going on a debate." She kicked at him again and he flipped her over onto her back so he could reason with her directly. "STOP fighting me Val. I'm not going to let you run down there and get yourself in trouble because of some girl who I wouldn't touch in a million years."

She stopped moving and looked up at him with narrowed eyes and breathing heavily.

Justin was a little shocked by her sudden halt but he relaxed some the longer she was still. "I didn't know it would piss you off so bad or I wouldn't have told you."

"I'm glad you did. Because now…" She looked him in the eyes. "…now I can do what I've been wanting to do for a long time!"

She suddenly kicked against his thighs and almost succeeded in going right off of the bed but he grabbed her legs again and pulled her back. In her rage, she struggled even harder against him until he was forced to lay across her and pin her down with his body. "Dammit would you calm DOWN? Where is this coming from?"

She pushed against his chest, his hips, and fought to get away from him but he held her fast and he was too heavy to move. Justin just waited it out and he could feel her slowly but surely giving up the fight as her tired body just couldn't keep it up for very much longer. After a few minutes she stopped, and then turned her head to the side with a cry.

"I'm so tired of this! I'm so tired…of…of…"

He could tell that she was completely relaxed this time and the defeat in voice worried him. "Tell me."

She turned to look up at him and was shocked to realize that his concerned face was only inches away from her own. Most of his weight was rested on his elbows, which were on either side of her shoulders, and he was fighting to get his breath back just as much as she was. "I'm so tired of watching this happen to you…to us…and having to push it aside like it means nothing. I'm tired of having to look at those two and know that they have the upper hand here. I'm tired of worrying about what is going to happen, about what might happen, and what may happen to you when I leave. I'm tired of being careful, I'm tired of being pushed, I'm tired of being the strong one, I'm tired of having to smile when really I would love to break down and cry."

She felt his fingers start massaging the top of her head, but his eyes never left hers. "I'm tired of feeling that I CAN'T cry, I'm tired of having feelings that I don't understand, I'm tired of having to explain things to people or myself, I'm tired of not being ABLE to explain, I'm tired of looking at things differently than other people look at them. I'm…TIRED of hating people, of having people hate me, of…of loving people who either don't know how to return that love or can't see it. I'm tired of this hysteria, I'm tired of giving you up when I want to hold on, I'm tired of wondering if I'm crazy, I'm tired of people pushing my buttons just to see if they can get a reaction, I'm tired of seeing that lost look in your eyes, I'm tired of fighting everyone's battles including my own, and I'm tired of feeling like I'm one wrong word away from losing everything I love most in this world."

He swallowed hard and prayed that she didn't cry because he didn't know if he could handle that. "What else?"

She felt her throat swell with emotions as she looked at his beautiful face and she managed to whisper, "I'm…I'm tired of dreaming about things that never come true. Justin, how come dreams come true for everyone…but me?"

Very slowly he rolled off of her to lay down beside her, and then put his arms around her to pull her tightly against his chest. His eyes closed when he felt her burrow close to him and tighten her arms around his waist. "I don't know what to say to all of that. I don't know what words will make you feel better or will make you understand how important you are to the people around you." He lowered his head until his nose was against the top of her head. "There's not a day that goes by that I don't thank God for allowing me to be near you and for letting you allow me into your life. I couldn't have found a better friend if I would have searched for one and…" His voice broke and his arms tightened around her while he took a deep breath.

"We've been through a lot, we're going through a lot, and we're going to make it. I don't want you to ever feel like you can't tell me something. If you need to scream and yell, if you need to kick and scream, then let me know and I'll get the battle armor ready. But holding all of this inside of you is going to kill you. I've seen it building and building for a few weeks now and I didn't know how to bring it up. I never thought that the explanation of my week would do it, but I have to admit that I'm glad it finally happened."

If possible, she snuggled closer to him. "It wasn't your words as much as it was the look on your face when you said them. I'm angry at myself for causing that look because this is all my…my fault."

"I'm not listening to that. I'm not going to listen to that at all. The only people at fault are Tom and whoever else he has that is playing along with this whole damn thing. But Val…we have to stick together and we have to lean on one another. If we fall apart then he's won." He felt her arm relax around him and heard her breathing slow down. "As for your dreams…I'll do everything in my power to make sure that those come true."

He lowered his voice and whispered forcefully. "Even if that means I have to sacrifice part of myself for the cause."

(Early the next morning)

Lauren woke up gradually when she heard the alarm clock going off beside her. She reached in the direction of the noise and couldn't seem to find it in the darkness. Her hand blindly searched the table for the offensive machine and she managed to knock everything off of the table in her attempt to find it and silence it.

She was just about to yell in frustration and tiredness when the bed shifted beside her and she felt a warm arm cross over the side of her neck. The noise stopped and the room was silent again.

"Justin?"

His exhausted mumble sounded right beside her ear. "Mmmhmm?"

"What time is it?"

"Time for me to shoot that alarm clock and you if I don't get five more minutes of sleep."

She reached up to figure out where he was on the bed and ended up slapping him in the face…hard. "Sorry about that."

"Owwww…that's ok. I have another cheek if anyone feels the desire to kiss it without kissing a welt."

She stretched her arms up above her head and yawned. "Time to wake up."

Justin grabbed the covers and pulled them over his head. "In five minutes."

She pushed his shoulder, at least she assumed that was his shoulder, and smiled. "What is five minutes going to do for you?"

"A lot more if you would shut up."

Since they were both under the same covers, she was glad that it was dark because Justin would have one hell of a peep show. Her baggy T-shirt had ridden up above her waist during the night and he would get one hell of a view if the lights were on. "Are you nervous? Justin?"

"I'm tired."

"I was just wondering because I know that I'm nervous. I mean, I'm not even the one who is going to be on national TV but I'm nervous about what you all are going to have to do here today. All of those people and all of those fans just trying…"

"Trying to get some sleep like I AM?"

"Just trying to get a glimpse of their idols." She giggled and rubbed her eyes. "I know that you all are teen idols but it's so hard for me to look at it that way. When I look at the five of you guys I still see JC with that God awful Caesar cut, Chris crying the first time he was getting his braids put in, Lance…" She stopped talking when one of his fingers started poking her in the side, her neck, in her ear, and on her nose. "What are you doing?"

"I'm trying to figure out where the hell YOUR snooze button is."

When his finger touched her mouth, she bit down on it. "How's this?"

He jerked back but his finger remained between her teeth. "Ok very funny. Release the popstar's magic finger."

She released him and sighed. "I don't EVEN want to know what its magical use is."

He sat up with a groan and she could hear him run his fingers over the coarse hair on his chin and jawline. "This is inhumane."

"I have to admit that it's rather cruel to make someone wake up this early but…"

"I'm not talking about the time. I'm talking about having to sleep next to you when you only have that big baggy T-shirt and underwear on. Torture…pure torture."

Her eyes widened and she pulled on the blanket. "I thought you couldn't see."

He laughed when he felt the fabric move and turned to her. "I couldn't, but sweetheart…darkness doesn't have any effect on what I'm able to feel."

If it were possible, she almost swallowed her tongue. "Am…am I supposed to be following your lead here?"

He quietly pushed off of the bed, giggled as he walked towards the bathroom, and closed the door behind him.

"Holy…thank God for the darkness because drool isn't sexy. Wow."

She dressed quickly while she listened to the sound of the shower running and was in the middle of pulling on her shoes when there was a knock at the door. Opening it up she smiled at Mike when he froze in the process of rubbing his forehead. "Good morning Mike."

"I was expecting to see Justin with that scary head of his. This is a VERY nice change."

"Kind of like taking a drink expecting it to be tea and you get Sprite instead?"

"He's awake right?"

"Showering as we speak. What time does he need to be down there?"

Mike checked his watch and thought for a moment. "He has about twenty minutes before they'll all need to grab something to eat. We're rushing them because the crowd is massive outside of the hotel and it will only get worse the closer we get to Times Square."

"I'll let him know. He will be down there in no more than twenty minutes even if I have to drag him."

He turned to walk to the next room and laughed at her words. "I have no doubt that you would."

She called to him when the door closed. "Oh Justin?" When there was no answer she beat on the door. "Justin?"

She beat on the door even harder and it partially cracked open. "JUSTIN?"

"I can't hear you Val."

"Then how did you answer? Mike said that you need to hurry up. You have twenty minutes."

"What?"

She closed her eyes and leaned close to the crack in the door. "I said that you need to hurry."

"I still can't understand what you're saying."

She wanted to tell him to turn the damn water off but didn't. "HURRY UP!"

He chuckled and she heard the water turn on harder. "And if I don't?"

"I'll come in there and drag you out."

There was a long pause before he answered. "If there was ever one reason for me to remain in this shower…you just hit it. Bring it on baby."

Even though she shouldn't have, she pushed the door open a little wider. "Justin, you really don't want me to follow your lead with this one. It could involve a lot of pain."

"Don't throw out a bluff unless you're ready for it to be called."

He was feisty this morning and it made her feel better about everything that was going on. He was also openly flirting with her and her head was pounding with the fact that he wasn't trying to flirt in order to prove something to anyone. They were the only two people in the room and yet he was still doing it.

"Val? Could you hand me a towel?"

She had been in the process of walking away but his words stopped her. They stopped her almost to the point of flooring her. "What?"

The water turned off and his voice was stronger. "A towel…hand me one. I forgot to grab one and they're hanging on the door."

This was going to take too much restraint. A door between herself and him in the shower was one thing, a wall was another thing, but a thin piece of plastic separating her from a naked and wet Justin was a little bit of sensual overload. "Uh…sure."

Her hand slowly pushed the door open until there was room for her to step inside. Her eyes were half closed out of respect and out of pain, but she opened them when she saw that he was still completely covered by the screen. After grabbing the towel she put it on the counter and turned to leave. "I'll just put it here on the counter and you can…"

"Why leave it there? Hand it to me since you're already in here and that way I won't get the floor wet."

She snatched the towel up in her hand and walked closer to the shower. That was probably one of the longest walks she had ever made in her life because her ears were open to every single sound in the room. She could hear the water going down the drain, his breathing, and worst of all she could hear the water dripping off of him.

Just as she was about to throw it over the top of the shower curtain, it opened up a little and he stuck his head out. "I'm over here."

She fought hard to have an unaffected look on her face, but so much for good intentions. "Here's the towel."

This moment would go down in her own personal favorite moment book and it only more interesting when not a second after grabbing the towel, he jerked open the curtain, and stepped out of the shower. Lauren's eyes immediately locked on him and she closed them after seeing that he had indeed wrapped the towel around his waist before stepping out.

He smiled down at her as he walked past her and over to the mirror. "You wear red well."

"That…wasn't…funny."

After wiping the steam off of the mirror he looked at her through it and smiled evilly. "I'm glad you think so because I wasn't trying to be funny."

Lauren noticed that he had already shaved and it surprised her that he had shaved in the shower because she always imagined he would be a "mirror shaver". Of course the confidence that he exuded had to also include confidence with sharp objects running over his face. "I need to finish getting ready. Mike said be at breakfast in twenty…um fifteen minutes."

As she walked by he poked out his butt and when it hit her in the side she slammed into the door. She shoved him back and smiled when she heard him hit the cabinet in front of him. "Follow your lead, my ass. You'd lead me right over a cliff if you could."

Since she was about as low maintenance as a person could be, she pulled her hair up into a loose ponytail, rubbed some powder over her face, applied Chapstick to her dry lips, and pulled on her jacket. "Are you ready?"

"I was born ready."

After grabbing her bag that had her camera inside of it, she sat down on the edge of the bed. "I'm not going to even go there. Why take so much time getting ready? They're just going to primp and pamper you when you get there."

"Because I've found that if I'm clean and spring fresh when Suzy finally gets her claws on me then the session isn't as painful. Call me crazy but I'd really like to avoid a headache if possible."

"You seem better this morning."

"So do you. I'm really sorry about hitting you with all of that last night but I knew you would understand. We've both been holding back all week and trying to cope so when it finally hit for both of us…you know what happened."

She stood up and walked over to lean against the doorway of the bathroom. He looked good with his freshly washed hair, tamed curls, black T-shirt, and baggy jeans on. "Dana is going to attack you with her clothes rack."

He turned his head and lowered his eyebrows in thought. "Have you ever noticed how many people around me seem to 'attack' when they need something taken care of? Hmmm…wonder what that means."

"The way you're saying it…kinky."

He turned off the light and slid his wallet into his pocket while he smiled at her. "Let's go eat breakfast and stir up some trouble."

"I'm ready when you are." He opened his mouth to say something but she cut him off. "I know…I know, you were born ready. Let's just go."

He held onto her hand as they walked down the hallway to the elevator and while they were standing there, Mike came out of Joey's room. "I don't EVEN want to know where that came from."

"It's not bad."

"Like I said, I don't even want to know. Just make sure that everything is…nevermind. I'm going to void myself from this situation." He saw Justin and Lauren standing there and grinned. "Well if it isn't the Doublemint Twins. Going down for a little breakfast?"

They looked back and forth between each other before Justin reached out and patted Mike's shoulder. "You seem stressed. Anything I can do to help?"

He chewed on the inside of his cheek when he heard Justin's sarcastic tone. "Anything you can do? How about join O-Town? Nobody likes them anyway and I wouldn't have to live like this."

"Harsh."

"By the way, where are you headed?"

"We were planning on getting some breakfast. That's downstairs right?"

Mike sighed again, turned them both towards the hall, and gave a little push. "I swear it's like directing traffic or babysitting two year olds. The food is down there so you don't have to mess with fans. Save some for the rest of the guys."

Lauren looked up at Justin as they walked and noticed the way he was fighting not to laugh. "I think he's a little pissed."

"I think he's a little whacked in the head."

"I HEARD THAT."

After grabbing some food they walked over to the table where Miranda, JC, and Lance were sitting. Chris was over by the window talking to Suzy about something to do with his hair, and Lauren groaned when she saw Tom and Shai sitting over on one of the sofas drinking coffee.

Justin followed her line of vision and pulled out her chair. "Don't look at them."

Lauren still watched and she grimaced when Tom winked at her over his coffee cup. "I need food, I need orange juice, and I need a knife…" The other three people at the table gave her a strange look. "For the cream cheese on my bagel."

Miranda dug around in the bag beside her while she finished chewing and then tossed some papers at Justin. "That's the outline I have so far on your part of the biography. If you want to add anything or delete anything then make sure you let me know."

Justin looked down at it while he poured milk into a glass. "What are all of these checks and crosses for?"

"The checks are what you have talked to me about, and the crosses are for what I need to STILL talk to you about."

His eyes widened and he coughed. "There are about twenty things on here that haven't been covered yet."

She pushed her hair back and smiled. "So you're beginning to finally understand my pushiness and stress. Bravo Justin, and Lance said it couldn't be done."

Lance looked up with a mouth full of toast. "Wha?"

JC held up a piece of bread and pushed it into her mouth. "Chew very slowly honey and we'll all remember that this bitchy phase of yours only lasts a week at most every month."

Lauren turned to Justin and they both started laughing at Miranda's expression and JC's comment. "Miranda are you going with the guys or are you going to ride with me?"

In a VERY un-Miranda like way, she leaned over and spit out the chewed food in her mouth onto JC's napkin. She smiled at him and batted her eyelashes. "Push food in my face again and see what you get…honey."

"Even strawberries?"

She chewed on her bottom lip for a second before answering. "Hmmm…we'll talk about that one later. To answer your question Lauren, I'm going to go in with the guys. I know that outside will be fan heaven and I could interview a lot of them, but the fans inside will be calmer because they have to be or MTV will kick them out."

"Always thinking and always planning." JC mumbled under his breath.

They ate in almost silence after that. Lauren couldn't tell if they were talking anyway because she kept her attention on what Tom and Shai were doing. They were talking very quietly to one another and from time to time they would giggle over something the other said. It was sickening to watch them act to happy when they knew for a fact that they were trying their hardest to pull two people apart.

Justin's hand cupped her cheek and turned her towards him before he kissed her cheek softly. "Stop it."

"I'm trying but…"

His finger touched her lips and he gave her a look of warning. "I'm serious."

They turned back to the table and JC, Miranda, and Lance were all staring at them curiously. Justin smiled sheepishly and reached for his glass of milk. "Just a little…uh…pep talk."

The door opened with a crash and Mike stood there with his hands on his hips. "Time to go all of you popsters. Your fans await and does ANYONE have any Tylenol?"

Miranda gathered up her things while JC and Lance rushed to finish eating. "I have some. Oh no wait…that's Midol."

JC choked on his food. "I knew it."

Justin chewed on his last bite of toast and stood up. "Work calls. I'll see you over there Val and be careful around all of the fans."

She looked up at him and smiled. "Will do. Have fun."

And never in her wildest dreams would she have guessed that Justin would pull what he did next. She got a vague idea when he gave her an evil smile and started leaning towards her, but until it actually happened…she questioned it. Very quickly and very briefly his lips touched hers before he straightened and pulled his jacket on.

Miranda froze in mid reach, JC froze with a napkin to his mouth, Lance froze with his spoon halfway to his mouth, and Lauren was too shocked and tingly to move. The entire room appeared to halt and the sound of their kiss seemed to still echo in the now dead silent room.

Justin casually zipped up his jacket and cleared his throat. "Are we going or what? We're going to be late if we don't move now."

He winked down at Lauren's shocked face and then walked past Mike. "Not one word."

Mike held up his hands and shook his head. "I wasn't going to say a thing. Not one thing."

Lauren turned and laughed nervously at all of the faces still staring at her. "You don't want to be late."

The three in front of her all looked back and forth between one another and then finally grabbed their stuff. Miranda took a deep breath and smiled reassuringly. "Let me know if you get any good shots because I'd like to use them in…in the biography."

"I can do that."

After everyone had cleared out she sighed loudly and touched her lips. It hadn't been any more than what they had shared on the dance floor at her birthday but it seemed A LOT different. Maybe it was because he had done that in front of their friends, he had done it in front of people who would question him, and he did it in front of people who mattered something to both of them. It was like he was showing everyone that he wasn't embarrassed about openly showing affection towards her.

Of course, this was all because of Tom's plan.

She slung her bag over her shoulder and walked towards the door. "Follow his lead and that doesn't include dreaming or wishful thinking, Lauren."

"I enjoyed the show a lot."

Halfway down the hallway she stopped at his words and turned to find Tom lounging against the door to his room. "What show? Oh you mean when Justin kissed me? Yes that really was something, wasn't it?"

He pushed away from the door and walked towards her. "I must say that I expected you two to get together pretty quickly once the fires were finally lit, but even I was a little taken aback by that display at breakfast."

"Maybe you just underestimated the feelings that Justin and I have for one another. Neither one of us are shy and that works in my favor. Right? I mean, I only have a few weeks to accomplish the impossible so it's not like we can take our time."

He grinned and rubbed his jaw with a hand. "What's with the 'we' part of the plan? YOU can't take your time, but you're throwing around the word 'we' like you and Justin are working together. Is there anything I need to know here?"

She shook her head and kept walking. "Nothing that you haven't heard before, I'm sure."

She pushed the button to the elevator and waited. As the door opened, his voice called out to her again. "Oh and Lauren? Enjoy the show today."

Halfway in the doors she leaned out and smiled. "I'll enjoy it about as much as I enjoyed the show at breakfast. Try not to frighten any small children today Tom, they're trying to SELL albums today…remember?"

Tom couldn't help but smile brightly at her spunk as he walked back to his room. "You'll enjoy it, but not as much as you probably THINK you will."