Summary: Season 2 of MTV's hit reality show Newlyweds, brings to you Hollywood's most talked about, and America's most adored couple, Justin Timberlake and Meghan Carter Timberlake. Having just recently tied the knot, Justin and Meghan have decided to let MTV's cameras document ten months of their first year together as husband and wife. Follow the celebrity two some along as they endure the media, family, and friends as well as experience the hardships and trials of marriage first hand. Will they successfully make it through, or are some things just to hard to handle.
Categories: In Progress Het Stories Characters: Justin Timberlake
Awards: None
Genres: Drama, Fantasy, Humor, Parody, Romance, Suspense
Challenges: None
Series: From The Beginning 2 The End; Trials and Tribulations
Chapters: 3 Completed: No
Word count: 11368 Read: 6877
Published: Dec 07, 2007 Updated: Aug 10, 2008
1. Newlyweds; J&M Promo by Koralin_Timberlake
2. Meet The Family by Koralin_Timberlake
3. Episode 1: Second Guessing by Koralin_Timberlake
Newlyweds; J&M Promo by Koralin_Timberlake
Author's Notes:
I know, here I go starting something else. Lol. I originally had this story posted on the old N.F. but when it went down, unfortunately the story did as well. I had it backed on a disc but, yeah, that got lost somewhere that I don't even know. So, I decided that I wanted to give it another go and see how it works out. Hope it works out good. So with that enjoy:) Oh, and updates on my other stories, um.....soon? Idk, we'll see once my lazy brain gets to workin again.
The set was busy with the hustle and bustle of production crew members rushing against the clock, magically creating what is to be a lavish but simple living room setting. Redecorating the entire perimeter of a rented home in the hills of Hollywood, slight fumblings and droppings of items and props occasionally rang in the background or off set grounds but in the three hours that it took to begin set up, a few last adjustments of things here and there were performed and soon filming was set to be underway.
" Justin, can you bring her into your chest a bit more? Ok, right there."
His left arm draped around the back of the sofa, Justin drew his wife closer into his body and shifted his shoulder so that his position was of more comfort to him.
Noel, the director, with his specs dangling around his neck and a megaphone tucked underneath his armpit, stationed himself behind his bulky camera as he peered through the lens at the two figures seated in the creme sofa inches from him and the cameras locked solely on the two.
He hummed his discontent with the scene and stood upright for a proper view. With his hand he motioned for her to slightly inch her form over closer to the small pillows resting on the side of the couch but not too far so that there wouldn't be a space between she and Justin.
" Ok, Meghan you're good." He assured. " Now, place your hand on his thigh."
She did so. " Like this?"
Noel nodded but spoke otherwise. " No, more further down so that your fingers can curl around his knee."
Again, she did as she was told to which Noel chanted his satisfaction.
" Perfect." He beamed, bending over to peep into the lens once more. " Belinda, how about we get some more lighting focused on them please?"
A brunette woman about around the age of thirty, thirty one or so, balanced her form steady on a steel ladder as she cast the light fixture in their general area. Justin winced momentarily as he caught a blinding glare from his peripheral vision.
"And will some one push back the drapes on the windows. It's way to dim in here folks, let's make it sunny in here. Work with me people, work with me." He communicated impatiently.
Noel went on shouting out sudden orders and directions while Justin and Meghan were occupied by hair and make-up bombarding them with final touches on their features.
A quick sneeze from Meghan due to the massive amount of excess powder in the air and a displeased grunt from Justin aimed at the person sifting their fingers through his short mohawk of curls, it was only minutes before the entire set was cleared and ready to go as so Noel could begin filming for the two minute commercial spot.
Standing before the coffee table infront of the sofa, Noel went on to discuss and remind Meghan and Justin of their lines and posture while his hands moved about wildly. Stationed behind his camera once again after briefing them well, all crew members stood by, lingering in the shadows, as Noel switched into his ' Spielberg Mode', adjusting himself comfortably in his chair with his name scrawled on the back in neat italics.
" Alright, ok. This is looking good." He beamed with a sure nod. " Justin, Meghan, big smiles now; C'mon we have to remember that we're all happy and in love and all of that greatness. If I'm not convinced then the viewers won't be too convinced either. Soooo, cheese bright for me." He used his fingers to create a wide grin.
His enthusiam was just a tad bit much.
" Noel, I can't feel my lips. Any wider and I'm positive that they're going to split right down the middle." Meghan got out through clenched teeth all the while upkeeping her tight grin.
Noel simply chuckled that overly obnoxious chuckle of his and simply brushed aside the comment sidetracked as he beckoned for the male closest to his side to remove the flower fixture placed in the middle of the coffe table.
Justin cocked a tired brow at the gesture and mumbled for her to hear. " This is a joke. In a minute I'm about to get up and walk out of here. With you or without you." He added. Meghan subtly swirled her orbs at his mini threat or lack thereof. " This was all your idea." He accused. " Remember that."
Meghan seen the man remove the flowers and replace them with a stack of magazines before scampering off set. A couple more adjustments were being made somewhere along the background behind them.
" I'm not the one who held the gun to your head and told you to agree. You could have said no." She countered planting her hand firmly on his thigh to stop him from shifting uncomfortably as he has been doing the last couple of minutes. It was beginning to add to her already building irritation.
" We should stop by Walgreen's and get you some cream as soon as we get done because that is some rash you got there."
Justin stopped fidgeting and lowered his blues on the side of her face. " Real funny. No I'm serious, hilarious." He asserted flatly repositioning his fingers around her shoulder.
Offering him a smirk, their banter was cut short as Noel's voice broke out through his megaphone announcing that he was going to begin rolling.
" Okay, everyone, positions ready?" He called. " Justin, Meghan, looking directly into the camera at me, just an ounce more lighting Belinda, annnnnd......we're rolling."
With a snap of his fingers he counted down from three to one silently.
" 3, 2 ,1......"
On cue, they resumed their joyous demeanors as if just seconds ago they hadn't been nit picking at one another. Justin was first to recite his lines, gaping cheerily into the lens. All eyes in the room focused on him and his every word.
" Hello America, I'm Justin Timberlake." He greeted. " And sitting next to me is my beautiful wife Meghan."
She flashed if possible, an even bigger million dollar smile, her pearly whites gleaming before picking up where he had left off.
" Aww, honey, you're so sweet." Her gave her a cheeky grin as she then aimed her attention at the camera. " Well, as I'm sure that you all know, me and my love here Justin have just recently tied the knot and we couldn't be more happier at this moment now that we are finally married." She cooed. She and Justin simultaneously turned to one another and large doe eyes dripping with affection.
Justin even went as far as to playfully tap the bridge of her nose with his finger making a cutesy face in the process.
Her hand that was placed on his thigh, he removed his arm from around her shoulder and covered her petite hand with his large one as she continued.
" In fact, Justin and I are so immensely overjoyed at this perfect time in our lives that we feel that there is no possible way that we could contain our excitement only to ourselves so being that we absolutely love and care for all our fans so dearly," Her hand went to her heart. " We have decided that we would like to share our bliss with all of you."
Justin rested his cheek on the top of her head and darted his eyes to the sky as if he were just overwhelmed with love.
" Oh what a wonderful feeling it is to be young and in love." He spoke warmly.
Meghan worked in an overdone giggle. " Oh yes honey. The words you speak are so true."
He wrinkled his nose boyishly. " Just as she was saying America, we want to invite you in by opening our doors as well as our hearts to you and let you spend time living life through our eyes and ears and in the end we can only hope that your journey will last as long as our love for you all. And I should add, that it will go on for eternities to come."
" We really hope that you'll enjoy and cherish your stay with us." She asserted with all kindess.
Coming together now, the two leaned into one another with eyes full of adoration as they gazed into their blues lovingly. Snuggling herself into his arms, Justin and Meghan both faced the camera as they recited their last lines as one.
" We're the Timberlakes and this is MTV Newlyweds Season Two."
" And Cut."
Breaking the soft silence in the air, Meghan and Justin relunctantly fell apart, rubbing their cheeks and whatnot to rid themselves of their painful smiles and cheesy actions just as Noel ambled over to the two with spirits a mile and a half high.
He gave a single clap, clamping his hands together. " I couldn't have asked for anything better you two. You both were just....amazing. I think that this could be it. That was hands down awesome. We don't.....I don't even think that we need to do a second one. We have gold here."
He ranted further unaware of the exchange of looks between the couple staring up at him. Justin sat up, swiping his palms on his jeans.
" Noel, um, hey man listen, no disrespect to you at all but I'm- we," He went back over his words to include his wife. " We aren't too sure about this. I mean this really isn't us..... " He motioned up and down to his 50's style apparel. " at all. I mean, I thought that we were clear that you wanted to capture us as a ' real ' couple but from the moment we stepped in here all that you have been capturing of us is some ' real ' fake ass people. We don't ever act like this."
Noel shook his head with whole hearted disagreement, once again expressing himself with his hands as he spoke. " No, no, no, guys, It's ok. This is perfect. There is nothing wrong here. What I'm doing is only portraying you to how your target audience would like you guys to be seen. I want to get in as many viewers as possible to watch the show. I mean that's the goal here isn't it? By moving in this route we'll be sure to have people tuning in practically every night."
It was as if everything that Justin said had went in one ear and out the other. Meghan crinkled her face, interjecting before he went on.
" No, Noel, This is all wrong. There isn't a thing normal about any of this. We're trying to shoot a reality show not a....Barbie Dream House skit. After we spin this commercial our target audience won't be anything but twelve year old little children."
" No, see, you're both not focusing in on the picture here. Trust me, I know what I am doing. Let me just explain every-"
Smoothing his tounge over his teeth, Justin abruptly stood, cutting him off as he held up his hand to pause the man and beckoned for the man standing near the food table speaking with one of the show's producer.
" Johnny!"
Glancing over his shoulder after his name had been called, well more like shouted, Johnny ended his conversation with Dana and traveled onset to an upset looking Justin and somewhat confused director.
" Hey everyone." He came up near Noel's side and quickly smiled at Meghan who remained seated, then to Justin. " Great work by the way. Now, what seems to be the problem?" He inquired aware of his client's sour mood.
" Man, can you tell me what in the hell we are doing here?" Justin bursted. " I'm positive that this is not what we agreed nor signed up for."
Johnny nodded not at all fazed with Justin's sudden displeasure. He turned to Noel. " Could you excuse us for a moment?"
Annoyed as well as a quite bit offended, Noel stepped away from the group to serve out more orders around the set.
Johnny let out an amused chuckle as he turned back to Justin. Justin though, didn't find any humor with the situation.
" Okay, now let's calm down and start over. What is it exactly that is bothering you about the shoot? Is it the clothes, the hair, you guys don't like the couch or the flowers? What is it?"
Justin glared at the man. " I'm glad that this is all funny to you, Johnny."
Johnny wiped away the grin tugging at his lips as he took in Justin's outfit. Just as he was about to apologize, Justin huffed with a roll of his eyes.
" It's this whole entire gig that you've got set up here. This is exactly the opposite of what you told us that we were going to do. Have you taken a tour around this place? It's like we stepped into a damn episode of the fuckin Brady Bunch!" He exclaimed.
A few snickers emitted around the room from his sudden outburst. Johnny caught a crew member toting a painting to another room struggling to keep his laughter to himself.
" This is not going to work with us, Wright. You really need to go have a talk with Noel or something or the other because if that's the case, I'm ready to call this entire thing off. Fuck the contracts and all of the producers. You can go ahead and cancel all of the checks, I really don't care at this point. Meghan and I will just leave this all like it is and we can all go our seperate ways." He breathed.
Snatching off his tie, Justin tossed it to the side where it landed on the floor behind the couch. A member walking by noticed it and picked it up.
Crossing his arms across his broad chest, Johnny nodded. " Well...." He fixed his attention on Meghan who seemed not as upset as Justin but held an expectant expression. " All of this go for you as well?"
Meghan pursed her lips and pointed at herself. " I think that my clothes speak for themselves." She responded.
Johnny uncrossed his arms and let them fall at his side. Retrieving his phone that rang against his hip, he silenced it for the time being and shrugged.
" Ok, this isn't a problem. What is it that you want to do?" He posed the question to the both of them but was staring at Justin.
Justin rubbed the back of his head as he searched for a solution. " Shit, I don't know. Just......change this. Get rid of all of this phony crap in here and damn....just.....let us be us." He licked his lips with a sure nod. " Yeah, let us direct it. I mean, it's our show anyway. We might as well do it ourselves. Noel is great at what he does and all but, he's a cornball when it comes to this."
Johnny finally released a chuckle after that last statement and without hesitation handed them the reins. " If that's what you want then you got it. You're right, this is your guys show and whatever you feel would make you both more comfortable then by all means do what you need to do. I'll go over and talk to Noel and you two figure out how your going to rearrange, everything." He spoke calmy, more thrown with the idea of them taking over.
" Thanks Johnny." Justin appreciated.
Another simper in Meghan's direction and a pat on the shoulder to Justin, Johnny went off to locate Noel and tell them of the new plans.
" Sooo." Meghan sounded, crossing one leg over the other she felt out the material of the couch, skimming her fingers along the arm. " What are we going to-"
" This is still all of your fault. I don't neccessarily blame Noel as much but you," He paused with a disdain shake of his head, holding his hand out so to pull her up. " I'm very disappointed."
She let him aid her onto her feet, now standing before him a slight difference in their height, his 6'1 to her 5'11.
" Well that's a first. It's like we've switched positions or something because usually it's you that just so happens to end up on the couch at the end of the day."
" A true comedian, you are. Just got me tickling on the inside." Came his dry retort.
Helping her remove the barrettes that kept her 50's updo in place, she held her palm open for them as she tussled with her hair to relieve the itch that inevitably formed due to the enourmous amount of hair spray that had been poured all over her head earlier in the day.
" You're dumb." She mumbled when she felt the magic of his fingers digging into her scalp. She dropped her hands all together and just let him massage her scalp.
She almost wanted to frown when he stopped after a moment. Shaking her hair out, she breathed a loud one and brightened.
" Here's an idea; I say you and I ditch the duds, fire Noel, head back to the trailers and if there's still time, get a quick one in there while we brainstorm on how we're going to make this work. Sound good to you? Sounds perfect to me."
Her sudden eager tone brought him along to chuckle. " I knew that I did the right thing when I asked you to marry me." He spoke while she undid the buttons on his wool coat, revealing his navy cashmere sweater underneath.
" Oh yeah?" She perked. " And tell me, why is that?"
" Come on." She let him take hold of her hand, moving in step behind him, keeping out of the paths of the men and women passing to and fro in and off set. " You'll see."
His words lingered in the air as he led the both of them to the direction of where the trailers were camped outside.
" The couple of the evening." Johnny proclaimed as his clients returned on set in complete tranformation.
Appearing in clothes more comfortable of what they were accustomed to wearing, the only change in hairstyle was Meghan having arranged her locks in deep waves cascading down her shoulders and around her face, while Justin mainly did very little but run his fingers through his mini mohawk.
" So are we all decided?" He inquired.
The two took up space on the sofa once again just as Justin shrugged.
" Nope." He breathed.
This time it was Noel that stepped in curious as to what they were going to do as far as direction. " What about a script? Tell me, you atleast have some sort of lines prepared."
" Nah," Justin briefly glanced at Meghan and dropped a heavy hand onto her leg. " We're just going to go ahead and wing it."
That was all the information that he gave as Noel turned to Johnny with a questioning gaze to which Johnny gave the go ahead to begin production once more.
" I hope you two know what you're doing." He warned mildy before making his way off set.
" Don't worry, we don't." Meghan joked at his back.
Again, Noel was perched behind the camera, gaping through the lens just as before. With no other choice but to go along with the new set of plans, again, he silently counted down with his fingers.
" In 3, 2 ,1......"
*~**~**~*
" We're rolling!"
As the lens zoomed out then in on the both of them speaking in low volumes with one another, Noel's voice in the background brought their attention back to the camera ahead.
" Huh? Oh!" Meghan perked. Observing from across the room, an arm folded across his chest, Johnny's other hand slid down his face as his shoulders shook with a chuckle. " Hey, um, can we do that again? We weren't ready." She questioned, staring overhead at Noel.
Beside her, Justin smoothed his hands over his thighs and sighed gruffly, clearing his throat loudly in the process while the signs of boredom on his part began to seep in through his expressions.
A quick displeased glance in his direction ensued another round of chatter between he and his wife as she scolded him along with his slumped position. Noel's voice broke in once again.
" Ok, doing it over one more time, let's get it right. Newlyweds, Justin and Meghan, annnnd, we're on."
" No, I'm comfortable. I'll sit which ever way I want. I might even lay down on this carpet. You know I'll do it. Watch me......"
( Take 2 )
" Hey everyone out there, what's up, I'm Meghan Carter and-"
" No, no, no, wait," Her smile faltered as she meet his gaze.
Sitting up, he wrinkled his face at her in question. " Why do you get to go first?"
She made a face. " Because." She supplied as her answer. " You were just sitting there so I-"
He interjected. " I'm the man. I should be the one doing all the talking here." He spoke defiantly, speaking into the camera. " Cut. I don't like it. I want a do over."
Meghan cocked a brow at him. " You must be kidding me." The longing stare she bestowed on him was followed by a pillow to his face along with a roll of her eyes.
" See, now everyone will know where all of my bruises come from." He remarked, throwing the camera a well known glance. " You guys see that?
( Take 3 )
Lazily lolling his head from side to side, Justin cut his eyes at her and yawned tiredly.
Holding a single finger up, Meghan pressed her cellphone to her ear as she attempted to rush the person on the other line, but instead released a few small giggles.
Justin cut his eyes at her once more and groaned. " Oh my- woman if you don't get off of that phone."
A quick goodbye, snapping her cell shut and stuffing it behind the pillows, she turned to Justin then to the crew with an apologetic grin.
" Sorry." She pardoned innocently, pointing towards the camera. " Are we still filming?"
Justin stared at the camera dead on and shook his head sadly.
Meghan puckered her lips and shrugged in response to his gesture. " What?"
( Take 4 )
" I'm Justin Timberlake and that's all you need to know, now watch the show."
Among the silence in the background erupted a round of sniggers.
" Oh, and this is my wife, Meghan."
Slinging his arm around her shoulder, full fledged laughter blew up when Meghan eventually nodded her head along with his introduction.
" I like it."
( Final Take )
" Hey, what's up everyone, I'm Meghan Carter."
" And, I'm admirably handsome. But you can call me Justin Timberlake."
His charming smile was followed by her short laughter.
" We're just here to remind you all that for your viewing pleasure at nine o clock p.m. on MTV, the ' World Premiere '" She teased. " Of our show, Newlyweds Season Two will be showing on your television screens for the very first time. And trust me when I say that we couldn't be any more excited about letting America, which means, you all, see how it is that I live and deal with this man." She pointed her thumb in his direction, pretending not to notice his narrowed eyes.
He hugged her body against his side none the less. " Yeah, what she said. Now, this ain't going to be no Nick Lachey, Dave and Carmen, that Blink 182 dude and his lady, kind of..." He paused to search for an seemingly appropriate way to end that sentence. " Theatrics. Unh, unh, you will not find any of that here. We're all real in this house. So real that, sex won't even be an issue. Guaranteed that there will be plently of that going on with or without that cameras."
That earned him a round of hushed laughter.
Meghan shyly averted her eyes away from the lens and bit down on her lip to prevent the smile tugging at her lips.
" Ok, what he said." She asserted, repeating his line from seconds ago. She let a chuckle escape. " Um......yeah..... I think that we'll just leave it like that. Uh, again, tonight at nine o clock, Newlyweds Season Two. Watch and learn."
Ending the last line, she swiveled her head to get a good look at Justin who gave her a suggestive wink before facing the camera with a sly grin and a head nod. The notion caused her to fall out beside him in hysterics.
A round of applause and a series of whistles erupted as filming ended for the day and congrats we're given to the couple. Praises from Noel and Johnny on an excellent job well done and another round of applause their way, Meghan and Justin ran through the changes of clothes in their trailers and we're soon in his car with him behind the wheel on the road back to their Spanish Style Villa.
" Tell me again why we've decided to have a reality show, which I'm still very much against just so you know?"
Meghan posted her feet up on the dashboard, her hair blowing against the wind in a sloppy pony as she observed what she could of the sights while Justin continued to press the speed limit of 60 mph.
" Because you love me and because it could very well be a perfect opportunity for us to grow as a couple." She supplied, reaching over to turn down the radio some.
She smirked in his direction, awaiting his response that he seemed to be mulling over at the moment.
Removing his eyes off the road for a quick second, he offered her a smile back, and moved his hand towards the back of her neck where he gently massaged.
" I thought it was because you promised me endless amounts of sex, but your answer works well too."
He applied a small amount of pressure on her neck when he felt her stiffen and cast him a dirty glare.
" You're impossible."
Premiere Season 2 Newlyweds; Justin Timberlake and Meghan Carter, tonight at 9:00 on MTV.
End Notes:
Disclaimer: All work is mine, characters, photos, and other things like that. :) Yeah, you get the picture.
Meet The Family by Koralin_Timberlake
Author's Notes:
Um, an update? Yeah, um, soon. Lol.
Episode 1: Second Guessing by Koralin_Timberlake
Author's Notes:
More than long over due, I finally broke though some of my writers block with this chapter and came through with something. :) Sincere apologies for the wait. Hope you enjoy though. As always feedback is welcomed and appreciated.
" I would be the one to choose to spend eternity attached to that man." Meghan spoke to herself, gathering up the remaining soda cans on the floor of their theatre room. She went further on to neatly re arrange his golf and sports magazines on the ottoman as well as swipe up the scattered pieces of potato chip crumbs almost embedded inside one of the creme cushion recliner seats. Adjustments made to the pillows and the remote set back in it's holder on top of the stereo, she dimmed the lights and exited the room only to stumble into the hallway.
Recovering before her head would collide against the hall closet, she casted her attention towards the floor where the offensive object laid on it's side. Bending down, she picked up his sneaker, it's mate no where in sight, she released a boisterous sigh and toted his shoe along with her around the corner, into their master bedroom.
The silent camera man who'd been trailing all of her movements since the start of the day filmed Meghan dipping inside the walk in closet. Catching up to her, he found her staring at the many shelves aligned on the wall on his side decorated with shoes and hats. Trash bag in one hand, shoe in the other, her lips pursed and her blue orbs scanned up and down, back and forth, hoping to locate the missing space where his shoe should have been but the problem came to be that her husband just had too many damn shoes to account for. Defeated, she left his sneaker ontop of the large dresser in the middle of the closet and left it for him to put back on his own time.
More time was spent recording the pop singer clean and pick up about their room, only filling half of the trash bag when a slam of a door came following his voice.
" I'm home." his words verberated loud. She resumed her cleaning spree, discovering a green polo shirt of his hapharzadly strewn on the arm of the chair sitting in the corner of the room. It was quickly tossed inside of the hamper in the closet. " Woman, where are you?"
" I'm in here." she responded, ignoring his lovely term of endearment. " I'll be down in a minute."
" Could you make it a second? I want to show you something."
She heard him shuffling about downstairs while she finished knotting the tip of the trash bag, padding out of their bedroom towards the top of the stairs. " Yeah. Let me just drop what I'm doing." the sound boom hovering over the camera man picked her up mumbling as she gathered the two other trash bags resting against the banister, carting them with her down the steps.
" What is all that?" Justin inquired as she breezed past him, into the kitchen. He followed and found her bent down behind the island, emptying the trash bag out of the garbage compacter. The other three trash bags sat in a pile at her feet.
" Your things." she replied, placing a fresh bag inside of the compactor that she pulled from the small roll tucked inside the back of her blue draw string pilates shorts.
" I decided upstairs after I almost slammed my face into the hall door when I tripped over your shoe..... that this isn't going to work out between us anymore." standing from her crouched low position, she grabbed the remaining trash bags, adding the fourth from the compactor and carried them over to the trash can at the end of the counter where she sat them on the ground. " My first thought was to leave them sitting out in the driveway but then I figured that you would just run them over when you came home so, I'm leaving them right here. When you have some time you can look through them if you want."
" That's funny."
" I know it. Want to know what else is funny?" she didn't wait for him to respond not that he was going to anyway. He was preoccupied with his phone at the moment. Padding toward the fridge, she opened and claimed her left over glass of O.J. from earlier " The mess that you, Matt and Trace left for me after yall's little last hoorah get together the other night. I had a lot of fun picking chip crumbs out of the buttons on the remote so that they wouldn't get stuck and crusted. So, thanks for that." and shut the fridge door with a soft thump. She turned round to finally face him, seeing him leaned against the counter directly across from where she stood.
" You're welcome." came his reply and she opted to sip from her juice before she instead hurled the kitchen sponge at his chest. Done with his phone messages, he dropped it on the counter top behind him and stood upright. " I told you that I was going to clean it up before I left, didn't I? If I know how to make a mess then I know how to clean it up too. You didn't have to do anything if you didn't want to."
" You're absolutely right, I didn't; But I did anyway because by the time you would have gotten around to it, I would have little roaches and spiders moving in here next week."
His head tilted to the side. She was just being ridiculous now. " Baby, stop. It was not that serious." sighing from having been out of the house all morning as it was now somewhere round three in the afternoon, Justin stepped around the island towards her side and went for the fridge as well in search of a drink or maybe even something to munch on. " I'm sorry, ok? I'll make it up you. How does dinner sound tonight? You pick where you want to go and I'll take you."
Planting her bottom on one of the five stools seats, she reached across the island for the white bulky package laid on top and slid it toward her. She sat her now empty glass of juice to the side as she tore open into the packet that he must have put there. " It's a nice gesture but I'll take a rain check. Just don't make me have to have this talk again." she reprimanded him sternly but then smiled to herself. She heard him mumble something but his head was too into the fridge for her to understand.
Settling on just a can of Mountain Dew, Justin stood, shut the door, and turned round behind her, tugging gently on the end of her hair peeking out of her hair clip. " You're bossy, you know that? I don't like bossy people that push me around. They end up fired. Do you want me to fire you?"
The pop of him opening his can, she heard behind her along with a series of gulps. She decided to ignore him for the time being and focus on the catalog in her hand. " Hey, is this the new Rast Fall women's catalog?" She asked, flipping through the pages.
Justin peered over her shoulder, mid drink, and nodded. " And mens too." he corrected, polishing off the rest and setting the emtpy can next to her glass.
Meghan spotted it out of the corner of her eye. " In the trash can, please." she told him. He did as she asked but made sure to wrap his hand around the back of her neck and apply some pressure. " Thank you." she cheesed.
" Hmph. Anyway," she slapped the side of his jean clad thigh as he moved around the side of the island and claimed the stool closest to her. Easily he slid the mens catalog toward himself. " What are you thinking? Looks good? Do you like it?"
" I don't hate it." she flipped a page, then another, " I'm just kidding. Everything looks great." then another. " Ooh, especially these shorts. Whose idea was it to move along with the minis? Oh, hey, these are nice too. I'm telling you right now that I'm going to need about five pairs of these in just about every wash. I really like the urban cut without the pockets, though. Very sexy."
Justin chuckled at her, more than happy that she was excited as she was. " You can call and thank Madeline and Rachel. If it hadn't been for her bugging the shit out of me to come up with shorts that make her legs appear longer than I definately would have stuck with just long jeans and T shirts. She was pushing for skirts too but I don't think so."
" Why not skirts?"
" Because I don't want the line to look like we're trying to compete against J.C. Penney or some thing like that. Our clothing is original. Original thoughts, original ideas and that's how we would like to keep it."
It was her turn to chuckle as she eyed one of the newer of the tops. It was a turqouise Vneck tee with the WR logo patched on the top right in gold. " Jus, your clothes are not original. The only thing original you've come up with is the name William Rast but honey, these styles and patterns have all been duplicated and done before."
" You just think that you're so smart, don't you?" he said. " Don't worry, It's cute."
" I try." she quipped maturely just as the telephone sounded in the background. It was more his cellphone and he got up to answer it.
" Yeah..... I was about to right now.......Cool, man. I'll call you back later. Right. Bye." this time stuffing his phone inside of his pocket, Meghan looked up from her read at him.
" You were about to what? Who was that?"
He skimmed his hand over his head, feeling out the growing curls. " I need to get haircut." he reminded himself. " That was Trace. He and Joanna want to come by later." she responded with a ' yeah, cool '. " Before they come though, I wanted to ask you something."
" That's what I'm here for. What's on your mind, Jizzle?"
He paused and blinked at her. " You and only you are not allowed to call me that again." she smiled and he half grinned. " But uh, Trace and I were thinking about getting into some contracts with a few more models to showcase the new fall line and I thought that it would be a good idea if I could have you maybe agree to help us in promotions with the shorts." her eyebrow quirked and she folded over the cover of the catalog. " I already talked to Johnny about it and I got his opinion and he thinks it a good idea that we should run with."
" Ok." she said slowly. " But what would I exactly be doing? I mean, of course I want to help if it means more time spent with you but I'm not exactly seeing where I can come into all of this."
" Let's talk about it then." he motioned for her to come here which she did, opting to perch herself onto of the island while he rested his back aganist the counter. " If you're thinking management it's nothing like that." he assured. She nodded. " Just..." he halted abruptly to push himself off, towards her and dropped his hands on her knees. " How would you feel about being an acutal model? We would shoot some ads and you would be the one representing the shorts? It's not like you haven't been behind the camera before." his hands gently squeezed" And like you said it's more time that you and I get to spend together." coercing her legs apart, he spread them so he could stand in between them, planting his hands on the marble top on either side.
He was seeing the hesitant expression on her face and the answer in her eyes that seemed to be leaning more toward a 'no ' so before she actually said it, he added. " I don't expect you to say yes right away, I just want you to take some time to think it over. We're in no rush to sign contracts right away."
It seemed to have worked because she seemed to be pondering the idea with a bit more interest. "Okay. Um, I'll think about it but I can tell you right now Justin, that I'm not too crazy over getting paid your money to wear the same clothes that all the time I wear for free. It's weird and to be honest, It's a bit cheesy. How am I going to look posing on a billboard in clothes that my husband makes?"
He just laughed. " What do you mean? You do it all the time for other designers. The both of us last year even agreed to be the faces for Ralph Lauren. I know that you didn't forget with those five shopping bags of clothes you stole from the set."
Meghan simply snorted and placed her hand on his shoulder so she could hop down." Shut up, I did not. They were given to me and you're still just jealous about the boots that I got to take home and the hat that you couldn't." a knowing finger was prodded into his chest." Plus That was different. I didn't get married to Ralph Lauren. I married you; Justin Timberlake." he heeled her footsteps from the kitchen, following her up the stairs.
" You're saying it like it's a bad thing? I don't see the problem. I'm sexy."
The camera filmed them taking the steps one by one with Meghan leading the way toward the top.
" Of course you don't, Jus."
~*~Newlyweds; Justin & Meghan~*~
I wish I could burn out a page of my memory
Cause I don't have to take all that you did to me
Can't wait until I get through this phase
It's more than draining me
I wouldn't want to re-write our history
Later in the same day, Meghan held a firm grip on the head phones pressed against her ears as her eyes scanned the lyrics on the yellow piece of paper perched on a stand infront of her. Though Keri, her producer sitting in her black exec chair on the other side of the two way window replayed the first verse back again, Meghan heard her voice run through the lyrics and the beat but she more so concentrated on correcting her mistakes in the up coming pre chorus.
She felt it coming and went at it for the second time.
Used to be a mystery
Why he's here with me
It's hard to believe I'm still lonely
Patience faded away
Don't come back to me
This wasn't how it's supposed to be
She proceeded to sing through to the chorus.
Drownin in nightmares from sleeping with the enemy ( enemy, no, no )
I'll never reverse the chemistry ( chemistry )
Not gonna make you be the end of me
This love is takin all of my energy ( energy )
Energy ( energy )
It's killin me (energy )
Takin all of my energy ( energy )
Energy ( energy )
My energy ( energy )
Takin all of my energy ( energy )
Leaving the melody to continue, Meghan slipped the phones off of her ears, letting them dangle around her neck. She stared through the window at Keri behind the sound board beside Harem, her sound engineer and lastly Bridgette, a close friend who'd flown into California from Chicago three days ago.
Awaiting any and all sorts of reactions, she seen Keri press down on the button that signaled the intercom. " It looks like we got everything that we need." she smiled. " Sounds good. Step on out, mama."
" It could be just my own opinion but how much do you want to bet that once the song is released that everyone is going to jump up and claim that she and Justin are getting a divorce?" Keri nudged Bridgette with her elbow.
Before Keri could respond, Meghan entered the room through the leathered padded door connecting the booth to the room. " I would put some money down on that but then how would that make me look?" she pointed at herself and they laughed. " But I will say that you Keri were the one who produced it." she shifted the blame, moving to stand beside Harem. Placing her hand on the back of his chair she looked on as he worked his magic on the monitor.
" Yeah; after the fact that you're the one who wrote it." Keri pointed out. Meghan shrugged. " The only part I'll take credit for is just the background vocals and some of the ad-libbing. After that, you're on your own, darlin."
Satisfied with what he showed her, Meghan smiled at him and thanked him after giving him a small pat on the shoulder.
" I'll be back in a few." he told her after he stood and offered her his chair. She sat in it and spun round, facing the monitor and began to fiddle with some of the keys. Standing tall, Harem addressed the three of them about going to get some more jewel cases before exiting the studio. The camera caught a snag of his back as he left then panned back over to the women.
Today was another day in the studio for Meghan as recording for her upcoming album was almost set to be finished. At the most, all she had were about four more tracks to record out of the twenty one that she had already done. Reason why she had written and recorded so many had been because she was still some what coming down from her high that was her last album ' Hypocrite ' and 'Unrevealed World Tour' in 2006 through 2007. Also a majority of her new songs were written and recorded during that time.
Now working on completing her sixth of studio albums; Business N Pleasure, she decided to title it, had a release date of August 30th, 2008 but it was unclear due to complications between her management and Jive, no official announcement had been made just yet. For Meghan it was just another issue to stress about seeing as instead of releasing the album then moving into a tour, this time she decided to twist it around so that the tour came first, album second. It seemed like a good idea at the time but of course nothing ever goes according to plan.
So while she was not so patiently sitting back and waiting on word from Johnny, her time was spent in the booth or either with her choreographer Brian Friedman planning production details and things for the tour and what not; which by the way was and still has plans to kick off at the end of July. Or so that how it looks for now.
' Energy ' is the name of the song that Meghan chose to be the track that had to be readily recorded because of most important and personal reasons. The inspiration came along after a three year relationship between her bestfriend and her boyfriend finally came to an end. A very damaging end at that. In other words, he slept with someone else. It was Meghan who had been the shoulder to cry on for her friend and after asking permission, she saw it fit to take matters into her own hands and attempt to better the situation by doing what she did best which was pour her friend's emotions into a song.
It hadn't even been three days when she finished creating what she hoped could help ease the pain her friend was suffering through. That was three weeks ago since the day she was given the chance to do something good for her friend and at the same time hopefully give her ex the wake up call that he needed.
Finally she was ready for it all to be heard.
" Have you talked to Janaie at all lately?"
Meghan shook her head no at Keri's inquiry. This made Keri frown at the thought of the poor girl. She'd gotten to hang out and get to know the girl on a couple of occasions and determined that she was cool.
Shifting from side to side in her chair, Meghan lazily relieved the itch crawling up her left arm, her bracelet jiggling in the back ground. " I've been meaning to call her but there's so much going on and...." she trailed into a sigh. " I haven't told Harem yet but as soon as he gets done mixing I was going to send it to her and have her take a listen. Hopefully he'll be finished before tomorrow." she said, chewing on her bottom lip.
Both Keri and Bridgette nodded that they understood then a bout of silence fell over them for a moment, the three of them thinking about the situation.
" Man, what a loser." Bridgette stated suddenly causing Keri and Meghan to look at her and snicker. Bridgette tried not to but cracked a smile even though she was just as angry." What? It's the truth. I wish I would have known from the second she introduced him to me that he was going screw her like that. I promise you that I would have put an end to him way before this could have ever started." she huffed.
Keri and Meghan were amused. " Really now? Like how?"
" I don't know right now but I would have done something." Bridgette revealed through slight frustration. Meghan shook her head. " Had him beat up infront of her house so that-" she broke into laughter, not able to finish her own rant. Keri and Meghan had just sobered up from before until she continued. " I'm not mean but ugh, I just hate it when people hurt other people that I care about. It really pisses me off like you don't even know."she said in a more calmer state. " Karma is going to bite him in the ass so hard. I hope it leaves a good mark on that bastard."
Keri had been adjusting the dials on the sound board while Meghan had been picking up the three pens that fell on the ground after she accidentally bumped into the desk behind her. Sticking them back into the cup, she caught sight of the back up copy cd Harem placed beside the keyboard in a case and picked it up.
" Speaking of karma," she began, examining it front to back. Keri and Brigdette briefly looked over at her. Meghan waved it in her hand. " I have his right here."
Just as she said that, the door opened and coming back as he said he would, Harem trotted into the studio with more jewel cases and a treat for the girls. A box of a dozen glazed KK donuts.
" Guess who brought you lovelies some sweet donuts." He joyfully announced.
The camera filmed them rising out of their seats toward the table across the room where he placed the box of warm delights.
~*~Newlyweds; Justin & Meghan~*~
" I don't know why I let Meghan drag me into this whole stupid thing. I don't like it when they follow me all over the place when I'm outside, why the hell would I want them in my house? I'm already tired of waking up in the morning to a camera being shoved into my face and we're not even half way through our obligations."
Coming around the corner, the camera filmed into the downstairs entertainment room where Justin sat on the couch with his legs thrown onto the coffee table, sneakers still on his feet and phone to his ear with the television remote in his lap.
He spotted them from the corner of his eye approaching and inwardly groaned, cutting his eyes onto the plasma screen. He wasn't really even paying any attention to what was on. He just needed to find something that would keep him from standing and walking out in search of place in the house that would allow him some privacy to talk to his mother. Not that he was going to find any with cameras posted all around the house and most irritating of them all, the persistance of the crew following his every switch and turn.
It wasn't a secret that Justin extremely disliked the matter of himself being filmed. It didn't bother him when it was for events, award shows and such but the fact that it was happening in his home that he deemed his resting place from his life in the media; a man has a right to his own limits and he's certainly reached his a long time ago.
" I don't know what you want me to tell you, Justin. But in the end it was the both of yall's decisions to make. Personally, I don't see the problem here. I mean I completely understand where you're coming from but you're both adults and no one forced your signature on to that paper. Sweetie, if you didn't agree with the idea the option to say no didn't go anywhere."
Justin took in a breath, rubbing his hand over his eyes. " Mama I know, but it's Meghan. She just wouldn't let up on me until I actually sat and listened to what the offer was. Hell yeah I would have said no if it was just me but she so damn thinks that some how we're going to benefit from this." he breathed, silently watching the camera as it watched him. Shuffling in the background was the result of the crew moving around in search of better positions. " She could be right but.....I don't....I don't want this. I don't need it. We don't need it."
" Look. The only advice that I can give you is to sit her down and tell her how you're feeling. If it's an issue to you as it seems then you need to talk to her about it. Don't be afraid that she's going to be angry or that you're going to hurt her feelings. Meghan is not that kind of sensitive type. She'll listen to you if you just talk to her. Do I even need to be telling you this?" she asked.
Their calls and conversations were supposed to be put on speaker as agreed upon but Justin undoubtedly refused to air his private moments between he and his mother no matter what the producers told him. If it was his house, it would be his choice to steer things the way he wanted to steer them.
And it was his house.
" No. No you don't but I appreciate you doing so. I know."
More things were spoken back and forth as he lazily dropped his feet onto the ground below, shifting his body so that his elbow was propped on the arm of the sofa and his fingers absentmindedly skimmed along his forehead.
" I'm going to let you go now. I know that you have some things to take care of and I'm on my way to the store to pick up some groceries so your dad will have some good home cooked peach cobbler tonight." Justin's stomach did flip flops at the mention of his favorite dessert and he grunted. " Don't go thinkin that I forgot about you all of a sudden. I'll be there with a container full when I come out to visit next week." she breathed a chuckle.
" I love you, mama. Have I told you that you look beautiful today?"
" Ha. Like you can even see me?" he smiled warmly at her tone. " I'll check on you another time, baby. Mama's gotta go. Call your wife, ok? I love you. Bye."
" Bye, mother." he played with her. " I love you too. Thank you."
Feeling much lighter after their talk, Justin closed his phone only to have it ring a second later. Recognizing the selected ringer instantly, he flipped it open and answered it. Even putting it on speaker just so he wouldn't have to hear about it from the producers later on.
" Hey there. What are you up to?" Meghan's voice sounded.
Shifting his position once more, he sunk himself deeper into the cushions, propping up only one leg this time. " Laying here waiting for you to come back and give me that back massage you promised me."
" I promised? Or is that you're way of telling me that you want me to give you a back massage?" she countered.
He thought about it, rubbing a hand down his shirt. " The second one."
" That sounds about right."
He genuinely chuckled which he did almost whenever the two of them talked. Clearly he loved the woman out of this world. She just always possessed the ability of making him feel so comfortable and at ease.
Contented, he furrowed his brow at the traffic noise on her end. " Are you driving? You're done with the studio? How was it?" A commercial on television peaked his interest.
Though he couldn't see, she nodded like he could, manuvering into the right lane as she cruised down Olvera street. " Um, fine. There's still some tweaking and crap to do but Keri and Harem were great. Bridgette even came along for the ride and then we all went out to lunch that I'm just coming back from." Justin knew Bridgette through Meghan back when she and him were dating and found nothing wrong with the girl. He got along with her just fine. " I was shooting for getting the track finished for Janaie today so that I could have you listen to it before I send it out to her but, looks like that'll all be tomorrow. Will you though? Listen to it with me?"
" Just name me the time and place. I'll be there." he told her while idly chewing on the nail of his thumb. " Hey. You got a minute?" he asked, sitting up a bit. " There's something that I've been meaning to talk to you about. I was going to wait until you were here to bring it up but-
Rolling down her window, Meghan kindly let the car on the side of her cut infront. "I have plenty of minutes. They're unlimited." she humored, unintentionally cutting him short. " What's going on?"
Not wanting to beat around the bush, he decided to just come straight forward with it. Though he truly didn't need it, Lynn's advice was still fresh in his thoughts and he was glad to have had her put it there.
" Before anything, I just really would like if you could hear me out first before, you know, saying anything."
" Ok. I'm listening." she complied. " What happened?"
This time, he moved so that he was sitting completely up right. The camera panned in as close as they could up to the side of his face from the distance across the room next to the window and entry way. " It's nothing that happened. It's more something that I kind of want- not kind of, want to see happen."
" Like what? I don't get what you're trying to sa-"
The vague noise in his throat that sounded like a cough cut her off and he reached for the remote to shut the television completely off.
" Honey, are you alright over there?"
He cleared his throat just as one of the crew members, the one aiding with the cords accidentally brushed up against the wall near the entry way in result knocking down a painting off of the wall. Justin immediately whipped his head around at the sound and frowned.
" What the hell?" He spoke, standing to survey the damage. On the other end, Meghan could be heard asking the same question.
" Justin? Jay, what was that? Did something break? Did somebody fall or trip on something?"
Justin just held onto the phone as the man quickly picked up the painting and carefully placed it back. He apologized and moved toward a more open space not so close.
Justin just shook his head, accepting the apology. " Look man, next time just be careful where you stand, alright." he spoke calmly, completely forgetting the rules of no direct conversation with the crew while filming was being done. " The last thing I want is someone having to go to the hospital in here." he thought he mumbled quick enough for them not to catch but the sound boom heard it all.
" Baby it's ok. It was just one of the paintings that fell. It's fine. Nothing's broken." he assured her of her worries. Finding it better to just leave the room, they cleared space for him as he walked out. As expected, they followed. Justin tried not to look at the camera but he couldn't help it as the guy literally paced to keep up with his long strides. Keeping cool, Justin just took the stairs two by two and ambled down the hall toward their bedroom. " Look, Meghan. I don't want to do this anymore--"
That was the last the camera caught of his sentence and his figure before a brown crafted oak door slammed shut, stopping them in their tracks.
From there the camera switched to filming on Meghan's side as she slowed down at the light going from yellow to red.
"-- I'm honestly ready to give a call to Johnny and tell him that we've changed our minds and we're calling the entire production off. I want to quit this and I want you to want to quit it too. I'm uncomfortable and I'm not comfortable with being uncomfortable when its' the house that we bought and we live in. They're standing outside of the door and what do you want to bet that ears are all pressed up against the door trying to listen in." By then he'd switched from putting her on speaker to holding the phone against his ear.
" It would help if you took me off speaker and you're not supposed to lock yourself in the bathroom, Jay."
He blinked, " I didn't lock myself in the bathroom, you're not on speaker, and were you even listening at all to anything I just said?" keeping his tone neutral.
" Yes, I heard every word. I just don't know what to tell you right now. I, uh, I.........don't know." locked on her surprised expression from the passenger seat, Meghan kept her attention focused on the road ahead as the light turned green and she footed the gas. Disconnecting her cell from the car outlet, she switched hands on the wheel as she lifted it off the console and held it up to her ear. " It's all of a sudden that you're just telling me now. Sorry but I'm a little thrown off with-."
" How are you thrown off? I haven't been against it when we discussed it from the beginning? After the meeting and everything else? Please tell me that you were there? Tell me that you side right beside me in the car arguing the entire drive to the office when I told you that I didn't think that it would be a good idea?"
" I was there at the meeting with you, Jay."
" Okay, thank you. And in the car?"
" I didn't even argue the whole drive down there, but, yes, I was in the car with you and I was listening despite what you might think. I heard you."
Regardless of the words that were being exchanged back and forth some one could have easily mistaken their conversation as an arguement but it wasn't in the least that way. No voices were being raised and no tempers were being flared. It just all happened to be the matter of one person's frustration and the other's attempt to understand and figure it all through in the event that anything actually did turn heated.
Taking a moment to breathe to himself, Meghan could feel his breath sink into reciever. " Baby, this would go much better if you and I weren't trying to do this over the phone. Listen, I'm just going to turn the car around and come home, ok? I'll be there in about twenty minutes and you and I are going to talk."
" Yeah. That's fine. I'll see you in a few then." he almost sounded defeated to which Meghan felt partially guilty for having him feel that way. " I love you."
" I love you too, Jus. Bye."
She made sure to close the phone after she heard the ' bye ' on his part. For a beat, the ride turned silent and she reached forward and turned up the volume on the radio to drown out the sound of mainly breathing of the crew and traffic noise outside. Another reason was to mask the somber expression on her face but no music was going to help that. Her sunglasses she sat in her lap along with her phone, she slipped them over her eyes.
Of course not a minute later did her phone go off but she was slightly thankful for the momentary distraction.
" Hello?" she greeted, discarding the caller's id.
" Meghan, it's Leslie."
The younger of two older sisters, Meghan made a sharp left on Rodeo drive searching for an upcoming u-turn that would get her moving in the quickest direction back to Justin and his sudden sullen mood.
" Leslie, what's going on? What's up?" she perked, putting aside her problem at the moment.
" Aaron is what's up. I just got off of the phone with B.J. and she told me that he got himself into trouble again. The idiot got himself locked up and he wants us to call dad to help get him out."
Inadvertantly footing the break pedal instead of the gas, everyone jerked forward, lucky to be wearing seat belts and Meghan immediatly went apologetic as she glanced in her rear mirror at the cars honking behind her. She fell back into the flow of traffic.
" He's in jail right now? Where?"
" Where you are. L.A. He was pulled over for a possible DUI but instead they took him in for the dope bag and cocaine he had stuffed inside of his jacket. Three ounces, Meghan. I called you before I called either Nick or dad since you're much closer to him than any of us are."
" Are you serious right now?" Meghan spoke, not much surprised but still a little shocked. She rested her arm against the window. " Damn, call dad. You should call mom too. Maybe even Ginger. Do we even know which jail is holding him?"
" West Hollywood Station. I don't even know if there is going to be a bond set-"
" He better hope there isn't one because I'm not going to pay his way out of jail. He's freakin twenty years old, Les. He shouldn't need to be crying mommy and daddy at this point. Listen, um, I'm going to go down there right now, just call everyone and let them know that I'm going to atleast try and get him. If there's anything else I'll just call you." she directed.
" Ok. I'll keep my phone on just in case. Dad will probably call you before that though." she said.
Meghan nodded her head and agreed." Right. Okay just wait for my call I guess. Bye."
" Bye."
Pressing the end button, Meghan went on to dial the home phone number waiting three rings until Justin finally answered.
" Are you pulling up?" she heard him ask.
" No, not yet." she flipped on her turn signal. " Jus Aaron's in jail. I'm on my way over to West Station right now to pick him up."
After explaining everything to him, Justin told her to call him if she needed him to come along and minutes later they were off of the phone and she was making the thirty minute drive way across town, the crew filming outside of the window at the scenes whizzing by as she pressed the speed limit.
You'd think that right at that moment that she would get some of what Justin's issues were with the crew and keeping family things private but the thought didn't even cross her mind.
It's just another world of publicity that, sadly, but steadily she'd grown more than accustomed to.
Tune in next week for a brand new episode of Newlyweds; Justin and Meghan, at 9:00 p.m right here on Mtv.
End Notes:
Song Credit: ' Energy ' Keri Hilson. You've might have noticed that I changed some of the words around. Just only to fit the scenario better. :) No harm done.
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters and settings are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended.
