I sit on the warm carpet of my house, the fireplace on in the background, the tree still up because I refuse to take down the beautiful thing. My mind constantly tells me to look at my phone, check my calls or text messages but I have to tell it to shut-up because I know that if I look at it, my life’s fate is decided.

So here I sit, glass of wine in hand, Martina McBride playing in the background, contemplating the decisions in my life. It’s a new year, new life, and I can’t continue to force myself to play a part that I just can’t. I’m either in Justin’s life completely or out of it for good. I flip the phone over, but refuse to hit the button that will tell me what’s about to happen in my life. He called me before he took her to get it done and he said they’d know within a couple of hours. 

A part of me wants to forget the phone and the whole situation, just flip it back over, forget that part of my life and focus on my career. I could have the world with it, I could make partner in the firm, I could possibly start my own firm after a while. I wouldn’t have to take a backseat to the fame because I wouldn’t have Justin in my life anymore. My heart aches at the thought, knowing that without him, my life wouldn’t ever be the same. Every laugh, every smile, every tear, it would all be gone in a long lost memory to her and her selfish ways.

I hear a faint sound coming from the hallway and the familiar sound of keys dropping in the bowl. My stomach gets the repeated butterflies that come around every time he’s near me. He slowly walks in to the living room, not saying anything, his face blank. He comes and sits right next to me on the floor, his back up against the couch and he wraps his arm around me. 

I look up at him cautiously, afraid that if I do he might tell me something I don’t want to hear. 

“If you checked your phone you’d know what’s going on by now,” he states calmly. “But Liz never checks her phone, no, why would she do that,” the sarcasm oozing out of his voice. 

He picks up the phone on the floor, turns it over, hitting the button that illuminates the touch pad. Ten missed calls, fifteen texts, and two voicemail. He hands it to me, after accessing the voicemail that is apparently the most important.

“You’ll want to listen to this before you say anything to me,” I turn the phone on speaker, holding his hand as I do. 

Hey you, I just thought I’d call you and let you know, again, that it’s... not mine. Yup, I said it, not mine. I’ll be at your house in ten minutes. I love you. 

I look up at him, tears flowing down my face. I move closer to him and wrap my arms around him, he continuously runs his fingers through my hair letting me just cry. I smile, not knowing what else to do and he mirrors my expression and we just sit there for a couple of minutes. 

“It’s over, right?” I ask, afraid that he might not be through with her yet. 

“She’s moving out as we speak, her bags have all been packed for her and Tiny’s driving her to the apartment she shares with Nick Evans. I called your firm and told them that we wouldn’t be pursuing a case now or never. Tiffany’s has their ring back but I told them I might be back someday,” he smiles down at me again, his face inches closer to mine every second that goes by. 

“So where does this leave us? You ask?” He questions, “It leaves me, here with you, every moment of every day. I hope that doesn’t bother you much.” 

I laugh at the last comment and press my face forward to his, our lips finally touch and that familiar feeling inside my stomach flows throughout the rest of my body as he pulls me on top of him. 

“You, Mr. Timberlake, owe me big time,” I say, breaking the kiss and he laughs the hearty laugh that makes me turn to mush. 

“I have my whole life to pay you back, that should be good enough, right?” He questions, moving his hands onto my jeans, trying to undo the button. I bite my head and nod, knowing where this is about to go and I couldn’t be happier. 

I move my face over his ear, “Just promise me one thing...” I pause, and he turns to kiss me again. He stops and allows his lips to hover over mine, “What’s that?”

“Don’t ever break my heart again,” I say and he smiles and kisses me again. 

“I promise, but that doesn’t mean I won’t be breaking other things. Like these jeans for example, fuckin’ buttons.” 

“Justin?” He looks at me again, his eyes staring at me like brilliant stars. 

“Liz?” I can feel somebody shaking me, “Liz! Wake up!” 

I open my eyes, looking around, noting the familiar scene of my living room, but I’m unable to understand why Trace is standing next to Justin the entire time. 

“Oh you’ve got to be kidding me,” I ramble on to myself. I move to wake myself up. Looking at the phone, I notice that there’s nothing there, nothing but an empty screen with no messages or voicemail. 

“Liz, shut up.” Justin states, his face looks at me like he’s apologizing. I start to feel the tears well up in my eyes and unable to control my emotion, I let them fall over my cheeks, trailing with mascara. 

Trace moves to sit next to me, “I’m sorry,” he says and puts an arm around me. 

“No, it can’t be. Justin?” I begin to cry harder unable to control my emotions.

Trace looks at me again unable to hide the smile from his face, “I’m sorry... but Liz-bo, that girl is a tramp. She is a h-o-b-a-g. Sleeping with way too many men.” 

I stand up and look at Justin and he’s smiling that smile again. I run up to him and jump and his arms wrap around me, letting me know every thing’s going to be okay. 

He moves to kiss me and I just stay there for a moment, embracing everything about this moment. The way his lips feel on top of mine, the little jolts of lightning and Trace making gagging noises in the background. I can feel Justin lifting one hand, apparently flipping him off. 

He breaks the kiss, smiling at me again. “Hi,” he calmly states. 

“Hi,” I reply back. Unable to move from his grasp or stop looking at him. “It’s over, right?”

Trace quotes Justin, “Get the fuck out of my house, you triflin’ ho and get your shit, too!”

I laugh with him and Justin puts me down, “Yes, it’s over. In fact, it never should’ve begun. She found another celebrity to say the least. And me? I’m happy as fucking hell here, this is where I belong.”

Trace moves over to us, “I was just the driver, I’m going home. I’ll see you two tomorrow.” He smiles and makes gagging noises as Justin begins to kiss me again. 

“God damn that girl for leaving,” Trace quips, “now I have to deal with this lovesick shit. Hey Liz-bo, any more roommates I need to know about?”

I smile and shake my head at Trace, “Nope, not that I know of.”

“Damn,” he snaps his finger, “guess I’ll have to find some other gold-digger.”

“I can think of a few people,” I state. With that, Trace walks out the door and I move, heading up the stairs, Justin following me.

“Where do you think you’re going?” I ask.

“To make love to my girlfriend,” He states and picks me up, unable to stop laughing.