Between finishing up the unpacking of their new apartment and starting their jobs, Cierra never felt so overwhelmed. Actually, that’s a lie. Senior year of college would be up on that list, too. Her phone conversation with Justin on Sunday was short and even awkward. He seemed distant on the phone and their chat ended rather abruptly with him saying he’d call her right back. It was now Thursday.
Cierra unlocked the door to the apartment and walked inside, sighing when the air conditioning hit her. These past couple days had been hot in Los Angeles, something she wasn’t used to. She got off of work early due to her boss needing to go out of town and that also meant she would have Friday off. I could get used to this, She thought. This also meant she had the apartment for a good three or four hours before AJ would be getting home.
She made the quick trip down the hallway to her room, pushing the door open as she walked in. Kicking her heels off, she crawled up to the head of her bed. She laid her briefcase at the foot of the bed before sitting against the bed frame; she grabbed her remote and turned on the television. It just so happened that the last thing she watched was a rerun of ‘Living Lohan’ on E which is the station her television was playing when it finally cut on.
She cocked her head to the side, her brows scrunched up in confusion. Photos of Justin and Jessica Biel from the previous night appeared on the screen, the two of them holding hands at a restaurant. It then flashed to photos of them shopping on Monday, eating lunch on Tuesday and walking his dogs on Wednesday. Rolling her eyes, she flipped through the channels until she finally settled on a Lifetime movie. So much for being broken up! Way to go Justin, She scowled to herself. Her cell phone was on her night stand and she sat the remote down her ringtone of “Live Your Life” started playing and she rolled her eyes at the caller, “I should really ignore you,” She answered.
Justin leaned back in the chair in front of the sound booth. He was at the recording studio, laying down his vocals for a new T.I. song when he realized he hadn’t talked to her in a few days, “What did I do now?”
“Um, said you’d call me right back and it’s been four days. Must’ve been something awful important but I suppose your ex is right up there on the list,” She had no right to be jealous. They were just friends but for some reason she couldn’t shake the pit in her stomach.
Justin ran a hand over his face and groaned, “I’m sorry. I lost track of time. Things got pretty busy and hectic; you know that can happen with my job. Besides, honey, the phone works both ways. You could’ve called me if you needed to talk to me so damn bad. I detect a hint of jealousy and if my mind serves me right, you’re the one who wouldn’t let me kiss you. So what I do and who I do in my private life, is just that, mine.”
Cierra lay back until her head rested on her pillow; she was staring up at the ceiling, not saying a word. Beep. Pulling the phone away from her face, she looked and saw who was beeping in before placing the phone back to ear, “You’re right. I’m sorry. We’ve known each other maybe a week, so we’re not exactly the best of friends. Therefore what you do or who you do has nothing to do with me. My friend is beeping in so I have to go. Have a good weekend, Justin.” She didn’t let him respond before clicking over, “Where the hell are ya’ll!? Ya’ll were supposed to have left last weekend.”
Brandi smiled on the other end. She and Cierra had been best friends for years and she was driving her car across country, spending a few days with her and then flying home. Whitney was riding shot gun and in the car behind her was Melissa and Jess in AJ’s car. “Somewhere in BFE, you do realize it takes about a fucking week to drive across country, right?” She answered with a laugh. “I think the last sign we passed said Nevada. We’re going to stop and rest up for the rest of the day and into the night. We should be there sometime tomorrow night. The girls want to gamble in Vegas. What time do you get off of work?”
Cierra bent her legs up and crossed one over the other, “I am off actually, and my boss is going out of town so I still get paid but I can stay in my pajamas all day if I want to. Being the first assistant to a pricey prosecutor is hard ass work. I swear, he’s a mental case.” She paused, “Hey! If I can’t gamble in Vegas, neither can ya’ll!”
Brandi looked out the side-view mirror before switching lanes, “Then come down for the weekend, we’ll make it a girls thing.”
Cierra shook her head, “I can’t. I should catch up on this stupid paperwork while I can.” Beep. She looked at the caller I.D and groaned, really loudly.
Brandi laughed, “What?”
“Justin. Again.”
Giggling, Brandi said, “Well answer it dumbass. I think it’s kind of cute that you have a thing for a pop star that you met in an airport and got into a car with, then went to his home to party and get drunk. Not odd at all.”
Rolling her eyes, Cierra sucked in a breath, “I already hung up on him once. Apparently, that wasn’t a big enough hint that I don’t want to talk to him. Call me once ya’ll make it to the hotel, love you.” She clicked over.
“What do you want?” She asked, not hiding the fact that he is the last person she wants to talk to.
“To not argue with you when I have no idea what we’re supposed to be fighting about.” He answered, leaning his head back against the chair. Tony made it very clear that he was being an asshole so he figured he’d try this again. “I’m sorry I didn’t call you. I’m in the studio and have been for the past few days. Yes, I was out with Jessica but it was nothing. Just… something to make the breakup final. I meant what I said Saturday night, when we were all talking. I am done with her but when you love someone – no matter what – it is still hard to let go. You know this.”
Cierra sat up on the edge of her bed, “You don’t have to explain anything to me. Just stop being an ass. What are you doing at the studio?”
Justin looked over at his recording partner and smiled. Cierra had also mentioned on Saturday that she was a T.I. fan. He waited a moment before answering, “Working on a song with T.I.”
Cierra’s eyes widen, “Are you serious? You lucky bastard. Tell him I said Hi.”
Justin laughed and looked over, “Cierra says hi.” T.I. looked over his shoulder and grinned, “Hi Cierra.” Pulling his phone back to his ear he could hear her squealing quietly on the other end, “Why don’t you come down here? We’re going to be here well into the night. Wait… shouldn’t you be at work?”
Standing up, Cierra started to unzip her skirt as she looked for a pair of jeans, “Got off early. What studio are you at?”
“We are at Conway Studios, on the corner of St. Andrews Place in Hollywood. I can get Tony to meet you outside once you come through the gate.” He answered looking over at Tony, who was grinning from ear to ear.
After leaving AJ a note, Cierra made her way to the studio thanks to her handy GPS. After an hour, she pulled to the gate and the security officer nodded before letting her in. She parked her car and smiled at Tony as she got out, “Hey!” She walked over to him and gave him a hug.
“How are you doing, beautiful?” Tony responded before pointing towards a garden path. The two of them walked towards the doors and Cierra pushed her sunglasses onto the top of her head, “I’m doing well.” Tony took a minute to look over at her, he really did like her. There was something about her that made him want for her and Justin to get together. She was wearing a purple graphic tee that read ‘let’s hug it out’ in white lettering and a pair of light blue denim jeans. She had white flip flops on and Tony wishes Justin would leave Jessica alone for her.
After walking down a hallway they stopped in front of Studio C and Tony opened the door for her. She looked around and smiled in amazement. She’d never been in a studio before, her uncle worked for Jive Records and was always trying to get her to come help out but she never thought music was her thing, other than listening to it on her IPOD. Turning she spotted Justin on the other side of the glass, standing in front of the microphone. He was wearing a tan t-shirt and dark jeans. For some reason, she couldn’t stop staring at him. Suddenly, his voice could be heard, “You alright in there?” He winked before exiting the room through a side door, which led into the main room she was standing in.
Walking over to her he opened his arms and she stepped right in. My gosh, he smells good. Like vanilla and soap. “You’re so quiet. You were ready to cuss me out when we met, but you see this fool over here and you go speechless.” He pulled back and smiled.
Before she could stop herself, the words that she was thinking in her head were actually coming out of her mouth, “He’s not the one who has me speechless, Justin.” Her eyes widened and she backed up a little, looking around she realized she hadn’t said it too loud but by the look on Justin’s face, she said it loud enough for him to hear.
They were interrupted by a voice from behind, “You must be Cierra.” She turned around and blushed, “Hello.” Reaching out she shook T.I’s hand and giggled, “I’m usually not like this, I swear.”
She jumped a little when she felt an arm go around her waist, “I told you she would get all giggly.” Justin looked down at Cierra and winked, I could kiss her right now.
T.I. laughed and sat down, Justin removed his arm from around her waist and sitting in the chair across from him. She started to turn and sit on the couch beside Tony when she felt Justin’s hands on her waist, pulling her to sit on his lap. She sat down and looked at him over her shoulder, “The couch would be comfortable, too.”
He shook his head, “No, this is better.”
For the next three hours or more, Cierra sat and watched in amazement. She eventually moved to sit near Tony so the other two men could work with the sound booth. She watched Justin go in and out of the tracking room, recording and re-recording his vocals. She listened to the two men playfully bicker and tell jokes to each other. She couldn’t help but smile, they both seemed so happy in the studio. She must have dozed off, unsure of when, because she felt a hand shaking her, “Ci, wake up.”
She opened her eyes and smiled when she saw Justin smiling back at her. She reached her arms over her head and stretched, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to fall asleep, are you guys done?” She sat up and looked around but didn’t see T.I. or Tony, “Where’d they go?”
Justin sat beside her on the couch, his arm resting on the back of the couch. Cierra turned to look at him when he spoke, “T.I. finished for the day, we still have some mixing but it’s about 6 in the evening and he needed to get home. Tony ran out to get the car and as cute as you look asleep, I needed to wake you up.”
Justin leaned his head down, grinning at the look of surprise on her face and rested his forehead against her own, “You know,” He whispered, his voice husky, “there is something about you that does something to me. I don’t know what but I can’t get you out of my head. I can’t get the idea of kissing you out of my head, what it would be like.”
Shifting so her entire body was facing him, Cierra leaned forward more until her lips were almost touching his and whispered, “So find out.”
That’s all it took. Justin touched her lips with his, gently, sighing when she responded back. The kiss was short and sweet but the emotion that when into it had Cierra pulling back slightly, “We should go.”
Justin stood up and reached his hand out for her to grab, “Yeah we should. Are you up for some company for a little bit?”
Grabbing his hand, Cierra stood up and stole another quick kiss, “AJ probably cooked dinner so sure. We could watch a movie.”
She walked ahead of him, out into the studio hallway. Justin followed, watching her in amazement. He wanted to take things slow, see where they went but he couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong, something she hadn’t told him about her life yet.
