So you want to hear our story huh? About how we got together? Alright I’ll tell you. But I gotta warn you; it’s very…unusual. Downright confusing at times. I still can’t figure out how it happened.

If you had told me two years ago that I would end up with pop’s number one superstar I would have laughed in your face. Okay, okay, I’ll get on with it.

********

Lauren grabbed a drink from the bar and turned to her right looking around the room. There weren’t as many people here as she thought there would be. In the house she counted somewhere around fifty, although she had yet to go outside. She had only been there maybe an hour and she already wanted to go home. She always felt like she was an outsider at these things. It was probably why she never partied. She could never connect or open up to anyone at parties. It was never any fun for her and the fact that the people here were usually looking for a certain type of release, whether it was sex, drugs, or alcohol. She didn’t do drugs, she was on meds that prevented it, but after the day she had, the other two didn’t sound so bad.

She took a large swig of her beer.

‘I have to get something stronger next time.’

She walked toward where the sliding glass door was and stepped outside, reveling in the fresh air. She watched the sight in front of her unfold and chuckled quietly. For a guy worth millions this sure looked like a cheap college party. There were massive amounts of empty bottles, all sizes, spread out everywhere, and she could see the group over in the corner with the drugs. She didn’t want to deal with that but was determined to add about four or five bottles to those growing piles. She drove there but Erika could drive them home, she didn’t drink. She only wanted to go because the guy she liked was there, hence the reason Lauren stood there. She was forced to go.

She looked over towards the opposite end of the pool and saw Erika, her roommate, happily snuggled in a guys’ embrace; she assumed that boy-toy was the reason they were there. The guy was pretty cute and she saw him lean over and whisper something in her ear and Lauren rolled her eyes. That girl was never without a guy hanging on her. She didn’t understand the concept. Men were disappointments as her boyfriend-well, ex-boyfriend now- proved to her today.

‘Men are nothing but bad news.’

She threw the rest of her beer back in her throat and tossed her empty bottle in the pile. She headed back inside to the bar, determined to order something a bit stronger to help her escape reality. She didn’t notice the tall guy leaning against the doorway and staring at her intently.

********

Justin tore his gaze away from the brunette at the bar and walked through the house surveying the damage. And it was only halfway into the night, if that. He sighed and ran his hands over his short haircut; he really didn’t want to be there. Even with the massive amounts of people in his house and outside he felt just as alone as he had the past few months. He looked around and saw the air puffs coming from a corner in the backyard.

‘Thank God it’s not in the house.’

The old him would have wanted to join in but he didn’t do that anymore. He had finally started to see the light, why people didn’t do them. They fucked you up. They fucked you up bad. He had too many nights back then when he couldn’t remember the events of the previous night. He looked around and saw all the empty bottles and even though he had already had two beers he didn’t even want to drink anything.

‘There must be something wrong with me.’

Why he had even agreed to host this shindig was beyond him; he obviously hadn’t been in the right frame of mind when he agreed. He saw his best friend outside across the pool and saw him curled up with a girl. He saw all of his friends curled up with someone and there he was, alone.

‘God my life sucks,’ he thought.

No, he took that back. He had a great life. He had an amazing family, a great circle of friends, albeit small, he would never have to worry about whether he would be able to pay the bills or not, and he had a job he loved. Well, most of the time anyway. The constant following of the cameras sucked. No, he was living an amazing life. It was just a lonely one.

He managed to avoid the people stumbling by him and leaned against the wood pole on the back patio. Everyone was socializing and seemed to be having fun; everyone except for him. He noticed his best friend had moved with the pretty blond closer to the pool and he was glad that he had found someone; especially after what his last girlfriend did to him. At least he found out before he got married. He saw Trace glance at him, mouthing ‘are you okay’ and he nodded. Trace didn’t need to worry about him tonight; he just needed to enjoy himself and the girl he was with. He breathed deeply and looked around again, this time spotting the young woman he was staring at earlier against the wall of the house, seemingly lost in her thoughts.

He wondered what she could be thinking about that had her in such a zone of concentration. He also wondered why she was standing by herself and not chatting up a storm with one of the groups that had broken off from each other. She wasn’t gorgeous but she certainly didn’t lack in the looks department. She wasn’t stick thin, she had curves which he liked, even though his past few girlfriends hadn’t had any. He saw the brunette swirl the beer around in the bottle she was holding and sigh. As he stared at her for a few minutes he watched her expression turn from annoyance to boredom. He found himself wondering what she was like and what her personality was. He wondered what music she listened to. He wondered where she was from. He wondered if she was here with someone; he didn’t want to move in on someone else’s girl. Although as long as he had been watching her she hadn’t been with anyone. He couldn’t imagine she would be here by herself; but he couldn’t imagine anyone leaving her alone at the party and going off. It looked like she didn’t know anyone here. He unfortunately was not as lucky. He pushed off of the pole and quietly walked around the people that were stumbling over each other. He came up beside her and leaned his body against the wall next to hers.

“This is going to be hell to clean up tomorrow.”

The woman turned toward him snapping out of her trance. “Yeah it is. I feel sorry for you. There will be a lot to do.”

He smiled as she looked back toward the pool. So she knew who he was. That was usually never good but maybe she was different. “Yeah, I’m sure you do. You could always stick around and help me if you feel so bad.”

“Yeah I have to work early in the morning.”

“Oh yeah of course you do, I can tell you’re upset about it,” Justin replied chuckling. “I’m Justin.” He held his hand out and waited for her to do the same. She did.

“Lauren.”

He grinned at the brunette and shook their hands. “It’s a pleasure to meet you Lauren.” He expected her to say something along the same line but she just turned her attention back to the surroundings. Clearly he would have to try harder. “So Lauren who are you hear with?”

Lauren pointed across the yard to Erika who was still curled up at the edge of the pool with the guy. “I came with my roommate Erika but she ditched me for a guy. I’ve been hanging around by myself all night.”

Now that was just wrong. He might have to keep her company tonight; what a shame. Justin looked across to where she had pointed and saw her roommate curled up with Trace. “Well the guy your roommate is curled up with is my best friend. I can promise you she’s in good hands.”

“Well, I’m glad about that but unfortunately that means I’ll be hanging out by myself for the rest of the night.”

“And why do you think that?”

Lauren sighed and glanced at him with an annoyed expression. “Well I don’t know anyone here, you know, since my roommate is with your best friend, and considering I’ve been myself tonight so far, I think it’s safe to assume that will be the rest of my night.”

Justin’s eyebrows furrowed as he contemplated that information. “And how long have you been here?”

She looked down at her watch on her wrist and looked back up at him. “About two and a half hours.”

His eyes almost popped out of his head. “By yourself? What have you been doing?”

“Don’t worry I’m used to being by myself all the time. I’ve been people watching.”

He wondered what she meant about being used to being by herself but ignored it for the time being. “People watching. Really?”

She nodded and turned her head to face him. “Yes. There are some very…interesting people here.”

“Yeah, I’ve noticed,” he replied laughing.

“And about how many do you know?”

“Ummm…” That was a good question. He panned around the yard, scratching his head, and then glanced back in the house. “About twenty, maybe twenty-five.”

She grinned at him. “And how many people are here?”

He rolled his eyes at her but returned her smile. “Yeah, yeah, I know. This used to be my kind of crowd though.”

“And what kind of crowd would that be?”

“Do you always begin your questions with ‘and’?” Truth be told he was amused by it. “The ‘try to escape reality’ crowd.”

“Ahhh,” she replied nodding her head. “So drugs, sex, and alcohol.”

“Yeah I don’t do those anymore.” She raised her eyebrow at him and he realized what he had said. “Drugs. I mean I don’t do drugs anymore. The alcohol I’ve just cut down on and you can’t live without sex.”

She rolled her eyes and turned her entire body toward him. “Sure you can. You just choose not to.”

Now it was his turn to raise his eyebrow at her. “Oh I can huh? So, Miss Prophet, what do you do for release then?”

She shrugged and tilted her head to the side. “Lots of things. None of them involving my hand.”

Wow, she was feisty. “Ouch, that hurts. That really hurts.” He noticed that during the course of their…well whatever it was… that she had finished her beer and realized his own hands felt empty not holding anything. “Let me grab you another beer,” he told her, leaning in close and gently taking the bottle from her hand. He walked away toward the bar but turned around when he heard her call his name.

“I’m not having sex with you!”

He grinned and kept walking. “I never asked you to!”

********

As Justin walked toward the bar he shook his head. There was something about that girl. He had only known her about half an hour and he was already enthralled. He looked back to where she was standing and found that she was staring back at him. He wondered, if she was his girlfriend, what life would be like with her. She would certainly keep him on his toes. He shook his head and placed the empty bottles in the pile that was next to the bar. ‘Where did those thoughts come from?’

“For a party you sure look serious.”

Justin smirked at his friend. “You finally decided to come up for air huh?”

“She’s a doll J, seriously, I really like her. What about you? I saw you hanging out with her roommate.”

He nodded as he grabbed the two new beer bottles off of the bar counter. “Yeah she’s cool. She’s feisty, keeps me on my toes.”

Trace studied his friends face for a second and then he realized it. “You like her.”

Justin looked at him and shook his head sideways. “I do not. She’s a cool girl but I don’t know her well enough to like her.”

Trace clicked his tongue and backed up away from him. “Nope I’ve seen it before. You like her.”

Justin rolled his eyes and started walking back to Lauren. So what if he liked her? He doubted anything would come of it. So for the night he would just talk to her and enjoy her company.

********

Lauren didn’t know where that came from. She would never talk like that normally, especially to a guy. She was surprised that he hadn’t turned around and walked away. She did try to ignore him; he just refused to let her. As he walked up to the bar he turned around and caught her staring at him. She blushed and turned back around to see Erika walking toward her. “Well you two sure look cozy.”

Erika grinned and hugged Lauren. “I really like him, he’s so sweet. I haven’t met a guy like that in, well, ever.”

Lauren chuckled and imagined all the previous guys Erika had dated. They weren’t good. “Well I’m glad that you finally found a nice guy. Hopefully I won’t have to kick this one’s ass.”

The blonde rolled her eyes. “It was one time! How was I supposed to know what he wanted?”

Lauren shook her head from side to side and sighed. “So naïve, Erika, so naïve.”

“Anyway what about you? Are you having fun?”

She nodded and stuck her hands in the pockets of her denim jeans. “I am now. Shouldn’t you be off with boy-toy?”

“Hey he’s not my boy-toy! Okay well maybe a little bit, but in a good way. He went to go get a drink but I’m going to go find him. Hey, umm, could you get home by yourself tonight? I mean I’ll leave the car for you, but uh…”

Lauren rolled her eyes and the corners of her lips tugged up a bit. “Yeah fine. Go. Have fun.”

Erika grabbed her in a quick hug and dropped the keys in her hand. “Thanks girl, I owe you!”

“Yeah I’m keeping track too,” she mumbled as Erika bounced away. She turned around to see Justin standing behind her holding two beers.

“So you’ve been having fun with me huh?”

Lauren blushed and looked away. “How long have you been standing there?”

He had a cheshire-cat grin on his face as he handed her the beer. “Long enough to hear you say that now you were having fun.” He walked up to her so he stood about an inch away from her face. “That wouldn’t be because of me would it?”

She swallowed slowly and looked up at him, deciding to take a chance. “And what if it was?”

“I’d have to say I’m glad you’re having fun with me.” He leaned in and whispered in her ear, “I’m fun to be around.” He pulled back to find that her eyes were closed. He quite liked the effect he was having on her. He hadn’t affected someone like that in a long time. Trace was right; he did like her.

She opened her eyes to find him gazing down at her. “What are you thinking,” she whispered, not wanting to break the silence of the moment between them.

He breathed deeply and found his hand creeping up her arm. “I’m thinking that even though I’ve only known you for a little bit that I really like you.” He saw the surprise register in her eyes and smiled. He looked around and noticed that it was starting to get crowded outside and gently grabbed her hand.

“Come on let’s go somewhere more quiet.” He tugged her arm and she followed him into the house. He led her into a quiet corner of the family room that was unoccupied and over to the loveseat. It was something that his mom made him buy and he was silently starting to thank her. She sat down next to him and pulled her leg underneath her so that she was facing him.

“I wanted to come and talk where I could actually hear you, it was getting pretty crowded out there.”

“Yeah it was,” she replied glancing around her to see how many people were left in the room. “So what did you pull me back here to talk about Mr. Timberlake?”

“Hey that’s not fair,” he pouted, “you can’t call me that because I don’t know your last name.”

She smiled and chuckled. “Combs. My last name is Combs.”

“And what is it that you do Ms. Combs?”

“I’m an event planner.”

“Really, an event planner,” he responded. “What kind of events do you do? Weddings?”

She laughed and made a face. “God no! Too much drama. I just do special events, like parties, premieres and such.”

“That sounds like a lot of fun.”

“It’s a lot of work but I love it and it pays off. What about you? Do you like what you do?”

His face lit up and she could tell he was passionate about it. “I love what I do. I’m a whole different person up on stage. There’s a couple of things that I don’t love, like the paparazzi and media attention, but I’d rather put up with it than not sing.”

She nodded, understanding where he was coming from. “I can imagine that would be difficult to deal with. But it’s a small price to pay if you get to do what you love.”

“Yeah, that’s always what I tell myself. Although it’s hard to remember that when you have six cars of photographers following you while you’re driving.” He breathed deeply thinking about it; it was always something he despised in his life. “So where are you from?”

She could tell that he wanted to change the subject so she went along with it. “I’m from Seattle; my family still lives up there. I’m really close to my mom so it’s hard for me, but I’d rather be down here than up there.”

“I couldn’t live in a city like that, where it rains all the time. I need sunny weather; I get too depressed with gloomy weather.” Justin was rambling on and on and he didn’t know why.

He just knew that he didn’t want her to go yet.

She glanced around wondering how big this place was. “So how big is this monstrous house? I mean I can tell it’s huge.” She saw his expression and knew she should explain herself. “I’ve never been in a house this big or this nice before and I’m just curious. Always have been.”

He nodded understanding; he used to feel the same way. “It’s six bedrooms, seven baths, I added a lot though. There’s a big music room too.” He gestured around and continued. “There’s a huge kitchen, although I don’t really know how to cook. And I added a huge garage for my cars and stuff.”

He saw her eyes widen a bit as he told her about the house, and he decided he didn’t want to sit anymore. He stood up, grabbing her hand and pulling her up, and started walking with her past everyone. “Come on, I’ll give you a tour.”

As they weaved through the crowd a group of people ran by them and bumped him into Lauren and she grabbed onto him to keep from falling. She stared up at him as he gazed into her eyes and he felt his heart racing. He felt his hand migrating up her arm and stroking his thumb across her cheek. He leaned in and gently touched his lips to hers, hoping he wasn’t too forward; there was electricity between them that he couldn’t ignore.

He pulled away for a second, his lips hovering over hers, waiting for her to decide the next move. Before he knew it her lips crashed against his and it quickly became feverish. His tongue outlined her lips, waiting for her to let him in. She felt her back press against the wall and wondered how they made it there. He grabbed her hands and locked them around his waist. They broke apart in desperate need of air. She placed her hands on his chest, raised up on her tip-toes, and placed her head next to his.

“Upstairs. Now.”

He reached for her hands, giving her a quick peck, and led her up the stairs to the end of the hall. He opened the door and stepped inside, waiting for her to completely walk inside before locking the door. He walked toward her, slowly backing her up. He pinned her body against the wall and attacked her mouth with his. She sighed in pleasure as he trailed his lips down her jawline and neck. He slipped his hand under her shirt and traced figures lightly with his fingers before trailing them up her stomach. He ran his fingers over the barely-there lace bra she wore and grinned when she moaned, taking that opportunity to deepen the kiss. He lifted her up and she wrapped her legs around his waist as he carried her toward the bed and carefully set her down before attacking her lips again. He slowly peeled her top off and threw it to the side then went back to his previous task. She flipped them over so she was on top and pulled his body up, lifting his shirt over his head. She unbuttoned his jeans and unzipped them, sliding them off and tossing them somewhere behind her. As she kissed her way up his body she felt his hands tangle themselves in her hair.

He looked down at her and tried to catch his breath as the came face to face. “I thought you weren’t going to have sex with me.”

“Shut up.”

********

So you’re probably wondering what happens next right? You might be thinking that we hit it off right there, started dating, and ended up together right? That maybe we were inseparable?

Well, let me tell you. You’re wrong there. Alright, I admit, part of it was my fault. I woke up the next morning and got a little scared. I mean who has that strong of feelings when they only met the guy the night before? I certainly never heard of it. So I did a bad thing: I left in the morning while he was sleeping. I know, I know, I always promised myself I would never do something like that. As much as I liked him I didn’t know what the hell to do. I had never been a girlfriend to someone before, if it would have gotten to that point. Plus, I mean come on, Justin Timberlake, why would he want little old me?

Well, when I left I wrote a brief note and left it on his dresser: again, I know. I left in such a hurry that I forgot my jacket. It had been my favorite too, but I just wanted out of there, and I certainly wasn’t going to go back. So I pretended that it never happened. The only thing I had forgotten about and didn’t count on is that Erika and Trace kept seeing each other. Where Trace goes, Justin usually follows unless something is in his way, and through powers of persuasion Erika gave Justin our address. So he shows up at the door about a month later and…well here…

********

Lauren looked up as the doorbell rang and put aside the book she was reading. She had gone to a seminar on a new type of event planning and was interested in reading about it. She walked up to the door, looked through the peephole and froze.

‘Oh my god, how did he find me?’ She took in a deep breath and slowly opened the door. “Hi.”

“Hi yourself. I think you and I need to have a little chat.”

“Oh really?” She laughed in nervousness as he pushed past her into her apartment. She hadn’t seen him in about seven months; since that night. “Sure, come on in Justin.”

“Thank you I will.” He glanced around her apartment; it was really cozy for the two girls. “So I think you and I need to talk.”

“Really? About what?” Oh, she had an idea what it was about.

He pointed at her as he walked toward her with a smirk on his face. “You left me. After that night. That wasn’t very nice.”

She bit the corner of her lip and tried to think of something to say. “Sorry?”

“Sorry? That’s all I get? We have a great night talking, it gets even better, I tell you how much I like you, and you leave? And sorry is all I get?”

“I got scared okay?” She sighed in frustration and tried to walk away but he grabbed her hand and pulled her back.

“No you aren’t going anywhere, not again. Why were, or are, you scared?” He got a thought in his head and his face softened. “Did I do something?”

The surprise registered on her face and she couldn’t believe he thought that. “No! Not at all. I’d never done anything like that before, and I really started to like you too. But we had only known each other not even a day and you aren’t supposed to feel things like that in a day. It scared the crap out of me.”

Well, he kind of understood. He had gone through most of the same feelings. “You know I felt that way when I woke up and you weren’t there next to me. But then I thought, there are people who only knew each other a few minutes and knew in that time that the other person was it for them.”

He walked up to her and pressed his hand against her face. “That’s the way I felt and still feel, and I’m not letting go of you again.”

“But it doesn’t--” He crashed his lips down on hers before she could get anything else out and she found herself reciprocating the kiss.

They pulled apart and Justin smiled down at her. “Any other objections I can clear up for you?”

She sighed knowing she couldn’t escape it. “I don’t know how to be a girlfriend. I’ve never been one.”

He shrugged and pulled her in for a hug. “Just do what feels right. It’s not hard. Just be you.”

She chuckled and gazed up at him. “Just be me huh? Hey, how did you find me?”

He pulled back and chuckled. “Have you forgotten about your roommate and my best friend?”

“Ahhh,” she replied nodding her head. “Sell out.”

He pulled her over to the couch and curled up on it with her. “Yeah, but aren’t you glad?”

She nodded before touching her lips to his. “Yeah I am.”

“Oh, by the way,” he kissed her neck, “your jacket is hanging up in my closet. We can go get it later.”

********

He’s always been stubborn. Can’t ever take no for an answer. It’s the one thing we fight about. Lovingly, of course, but still fight about it. See, I told you it was odd, the way we got together. But I thank God everyday that he had the brains and liked me enough to come find me. I never would have had the courage to find him. And it turns out that leaving my jacket at his house was one of the best things that ever happened.

Oh, just in case you were wondering: the wedding is next week in Memphis.