Chapter 6
The next few days were like hell for Chanice. when she finally went home the following day she locked herself in her room, only emerging for food and the restroom. She told her parents that she and Pierre had a fight and that they weren’t together anymore. She asked them to tell him that she wasn’t home if he called or stopped by, and she blocked his number on her cell phone. She decided to make an appearance for the outside world on Sunday when Justin came and picked her up for their longstanding weekly workout. They’d been hitting up the local 24 Hour Fitness since Justin got his driver’s permit 3 years earlier. During those three hours the two of them worked off all their frustration with Pierre and more. Both were beat when they pulled into the Smoothie King’s parking lot.
“You want your regular?” Justin asked, unbuckling his seatbelt.
“Jay! You don’t have to buy it.”
“It’s ok, you bought ‘em last week. I got you, Babygirl.” Chanice smiled…for the first time since Friday night she smiled.
“You know I hate that nickname,” she laughed.
“No you don’t,” he replied, chuckling, “So, your regular, Babygirl?”
“Timberlake…” she replied in a warning tone.
“Alright.” Chanice chuckled and rolled her eyes at him.
“Get me a 20 oz this time.”
“Ok. I’ll be back in a minute, Babygirl,” he said before getting out of the car.
“Timberlake!” Chanice replied, throwing a penny at him. She sighed and slouched back in her seat. He was right, she secretly enjoyed that nickname…when she was the only one being referred to as his ’Babygirl’. It’s not like she was jealous or anything, but she didn’t want Britney sharing the pet name with her. That wasn’t jealousy…right? Justin was back with their smoothies before she could answer herself.
“I got you an extra energy boost, you looked like you needed it.”
“Thanks,” she replied, accepting her drink from him.
“No prob. So, where to?”
“I don’t care; I just don’t wanna go home now.”
“So yesterday you didn’t wanna leave your house---no, your room, and now you don’t wanna go back? Damn, you females are so fuckin’ hormonal!” Chanice scoffed.
“Fuck you, Timberlake!” she replied, shoving his shoulder.
“Ouch! Damn girl, I was just playin’!”
“I bet you were,” she replied, rolling her eyes at him.
“Well since you have all this damn pent-up frustration, let’s go shoot some hoops.” A worried look flashed across Chanice’s face. It only lasted about a second, but Justin caught it. She didn’t want to run into Pierre on the court at the park.
“You know, we don’t have to go to the park. Paul put up a goal in the back a few months ago.” Chanice smiled.
“That’s a bet. So you ready to get ya azz handed to you?”
“Already startin’ to trash talk, damn! You seem pretty confident this time. Same wages as always?”
“Yeah, but this time it’s two lunches.”
“That’s a bet,” Justin replied, starting the engine and pulling out the parking lot.
~*~
“DJ won’t you play this girl a love song. She really needs to hear this freakin’ love song.” Chanice pressed the ‘Talk’ button on her phone, already knowing who it was.
“Wassup Jay?”
“Are you dressed?”
“Yeah,” she replied, looking down at her black tank top and khaki gauchos.
“Good, I’m coming in.” Before she could respond he’d already hung up and opened the door to her room.
“Damn Jay! I coulda been naked!”
“Which is why I called first,” he replied cooly.
“Oooook. So, what’s the reason for this early morning visit?”
“Oh, so now I need a reason to come by?” he said, giving her his signature Timberlake smile.
“When it’s this early, yes. What do you need?”
“Can you come with me to help me pick out Brit’s gift?”
“Yeah, but couldn’t you just wait ’til after school to ask me?”
“No, cuz we’re going now.”
“Jay…”
“What? You have TA first period and Music Theory after that. That’s like a whole 3 hours of nothing.”
“But what about you? Yeah, you have 1st period off, but don’t you have Dual English afterwards?”
“Yeah, but we’re watching ’Gattaca’ and I’ve seen that movie a million times.”
“That’s right. It is one of Aunt Lynn’s favorites.”
“So?”
“Yeah; but I’m ridin’ with you. It makes no sense to take two cars.”
“Alright; and I’ll bring you back home after practice tonight.”
“That’s a bet. Lemme just grab my shoes and we can go.”
“Alright,” Justin replied, plopping down on her bed. From experience, he knew that it was gonna take her a couple of minutes to get through that department store that she called a closet and choose a pair of shoes. She bent over gave him the perfect view of her onion booty; so beautiful it could make any man cry. In fact, those gauchos displayed every one of her voluptuous curves. The girl had a bangin’ body and wasn’t afraid to show flaunt it…in a tasteful way.
“You ready?” Chanice asked, snapping him back to reality.
“Oh, yeah.” He watched as she put a wide headband on her head and earrings in her ears.
“Alright, how do I look?”
Sexy as hell. “You look aight.”
“Shut up!” she replied playfully. Justin gave her another once over, starting from her Grecian sandal covered feet to her flowing dark brown hair. She really did look beautiful, but he’d never tell her that.
“Is there something wrong?” Chanice asked, eyeing him suspiciously.
“No. Why?”
“You’re starin’ at me.”
“Oh, sorry.”
“It’s ok; I’d be enchanted by my beauty if I was you too,” she replied playfully.
“Shut up. Let’s go.”
“Right behind ya.” The two of them headed downstairs and grabbed a couple of bagels from the kitchen before piling into his Explorer.
“So where are we off to?” Chanice asked once they were out on the open road.
“Memphis.”
“For what?”
“Jewelry.”
“What kind?”
“Damn girl! Is this ‘20 Questions’? Just sit back and ride,” he replied lightly.
“How am I supposed to help you if I don’t know what we’re shopping for?”
“I dunno; we’ll figure it out when we get there though.”
“Well damn, that makes a lot of sense.”
“Hush child. Here, put this in,” he said, handing her Kanye West’s ‘Late Registration’. They rode in silence for a while, just letting Kanye’s rhymes echo throughout the vehicle; until Chanice said, “You know, if you ever decided to do the Hollywood thing you’d fit right in.”
“What? Why do you say that?” he replied, taking his eyes off the road for a quick second to glance at her.
“Look at your outfit.” Justin obeyed and looked down at his Rolling Stones 40 Licks tee and jeans and black flip-flops.
“Yeah, what about it?”
“You’re dressed like a teen star; dude.”
“No I’m not.”
“Yeah, you are. You even have the shades to top it all off. But I’m not sayin’ that it’s a bad thing,” she quickly added.
“Damn right,” he replied jokingly.
“For real. You’d really fit in the music industry. You have an ok voice,” she said recalling the times she was serenaded by him.
“Whatever Cece.”
“For real Jay! If you ever get injured or anything playin’ ball you should try the music biz. Shit, Tank did and he made millions.”
“Whatever,” he replied, changing the subject, “So I’m thinkin’ about gettin’ Brit a ring…” The two of them walked into the jewelry store and walked over to the ring display when they saw that the attendant was busy with another customer.
“This one’s pretty,” Chanice said, pointing to a platinum band ring with turquoise stone surrounded by tiny diamonds.
“Yeah, but I was looking at this one,” he said, pointing to a simple silver band ring with a pink diamond in the center.
“That may be a little out of your price range, Jay. But it is pretty though.”
“That it is. So you two here looking for an engagement or wedding band?” Both Justin and Chanice looked up at the sales attendant and chuckled.
“We’re not engaged,” Chanice replied with a smile, “We’re not even dating.”
“Oh; I apologize. I just assumed you two were a couple. Ya’ll are so cute together though; you ought to.”
“I’m actually here looking for a ring for my girlfriend,” Justin replied.
“Oh; and what did you have in mind, sir?” Forty-five minutes later Chanice and Justin exited the jewelry store. He’d custom built Britney’s ring and would be back to pick it up the day before prom.
“So, we still have…” Chanice looked down at her watch, “an hour and a half before our lunch period is over. What do you wanna do?”
“How ‘bout we do lunch; I mean since you owe me two.”
“Shut up. I was this close,” she held up her index and thumb with a centimeter of space between them, “to beating you.” And she was. The final score was 52-50; Justin won at the last minute with a 3-pointer.
“Yep, but you lost; and I want Bennigans.”
“Whatever Timberlake. Let’s just go; you’re startin’ to piss me off now; bein’ so damn cocky.”
“It’s called continuity.” Chanice laughed in his face.
“You wish!”
