Well, to no surprise of mine, Justin has been yelling at me since we got into his stupid vehicle. I realize I made a mistake but he is not breathing much and I am pretty sure his blood pressure is through the roof. He is going to end up having a heart attack or stroke, and then I will be hunted down by many, many fans. 

"How can you be so fucking irresponsible?!" He yells at me. I think he has asked me this question at least ten times now. "I ask you to come out here to visit, so I can see you and hope that you can see my show. Instead, I get you on the phone the whole time and openly threatening people, in front of my mother no less."

"I'm sorry." I apologize for the hundredth time. "I wasn't thinking. I got caught up in some things, and I wasn't paying attention. I heard the door open, and I just assumed it was you or one of the other two coming in to yell at me some more." I say as I look down. I am having a difficult time looking at him right now.  "Besides, she doesn't think anything about it" I try to rationalize, finally looking up at him, hoping to calm him.

"That is until she starts noticing your love for guns, knives, and any other kind of weapon. Plus, the fact that you've been shot multiple times, you follow through with deadly threats, and crazy things always seem to go on around you." Justin just may have his heart attack and/or stroke at this very moment.

"My bad, and she won't know that about me. I am not some psycho killer that only talks about death. I didn't even worry about it after she had walked in because I thought she was some wardrobe lady that didn't care what I said." I admit to him. "Seriously though, babe, you are blowing this way out of proportion. Your mom is okay and I believe it should be you telling me this, not vice versa. It's already done and over with and no one thinks anything about it, so I say chill out and lets figure out something to do tonight to celebrate a successful tour kickoff." I say slowly at the end, hoping to get him to breathe.

I turn to face him completely with a smirk on my face now. "Personally, I think you should comment on Tabbetha's outfit, at least for me." I smile at him and he finally returns it as he grabs my hand to hold. 

I see the red in his face slowly lighten, so this is a good sign. "I am still pissed that you felt the need to be so work focused tonight that my mom almost got pulled into this life of yours, but I am glad that you are here and you met my mom and step-dad. It means a lot to me." He rubs his thumb over the back of my hand in a soothing manner.

I try to think of so much to say but I have nothing. We are about to be back at his house with his parents and I have no idea what I am going to say to anyone, so I am silent for the remainder of the ride. I watch the trees pass by in a dark green blur as the bright stars and moon shine down on them. Other cars speed by with a few drivers staring at me for an unsafe amount of time as I sit there with my forehead pressed against the window. I imagine I look like a patient from the loony bin, on her way home, that is easily distracted by shiny objects. 

I am about to express my displeasure with all of this when Justin's phone rings loudly through the vehicle. His conversation is so simple that I cannot decide who is on the other side. He wishes the person a good night and makes plans to see them tomorrow before he ends the call and throws the phone into the back seat.

"That was mom. She and Paul decided to call it a night. They are going to be staying in my guest house, but they didn't really want to wait up for us." He summarizes the call for me.

I frown as I nod and look down into my lap. "They don't want to be around me, do they? I ruined it. I knew I should have stayed home." I quietly say, more to myself.

Justin chuckles a little at my response. "Don't be silly, woman. They were on a plane for a long trip to get hear today and then the concert. They are exhausted." He assures me. "If you don't believe me, you can ask them tomorrow during lunch. They invited us out to have lunch with them. Just you, me, mom, and Paul. You didn't mess anything up." He is now trying to convince me of this. It is funny how the tables turn like that. 

My disappointment turns to horror and then to a sick feeling. "I don't think that's such a good idea." 

We finally make it to the house at this point and he pulls into the driveway and puts the vehicle in park and turns the ignition off before turning completely towards me. "Why do you think that?"

"Because I don't think that will go well," I confess. "I'd have nothing to say. It's not like I have a family that I am close to that I can talk about. I don't talk about my childhood. I don't talk about girlie things like shoes and purses, and I'm pretty sure talking about weapons and the quickest or cleanest way to kill someone are good conversation starters. I don't do well with parents. They don't like me." I tell him.

"I highly doubt that. You are quite charming. What makes you  think they don't like you?"

"Well...it's..." I have to think. I am having difficulties thinking of the last parents I met. "I don't do parents. James is the only real ‘relationship' I've had since I was old enough to date. We see how that turned out." I try to joke, but it fails miserably. "I'm not parent material, unless your parents are trying to recruit me to be some ass kicking, gun toting, life threatening crazy lady." I grab Justin's hands as I look into his eyes. "I'm the girl that boys date when they don't want to take the girl home to the parents or when the boys don't want the parents to like the girlfriend. This is if I even agree to meet them and usually these are the only reasons I would agree to it. I'm the girl for the boys who don't want someone to push to meet the parents. There's no commitment - no strings attached thing. Parents don't like that, especially for their beloved son." I tell him upset with myself for getting worked up over this. I am usually proud of this and now I find myself ashamed of this.

"Baby, you don't have anything to worry about. I know who you are. I'm aware of how things were, but you aren't that way anymore. You are the girl who is in a relationship, who has made a commitment, and who wants to meet the parents. You are with a boy that wants you to meet and be around the parents." He smiles a comforting smile. "You make me extremely happy and they know that, and that is the main concern with them. If you will just be yourself, they will love you. I just suggest that you leave out the number of people you've tortured and/or killed, and the conversation should go smooth." He jokes to lighten the mood.

I love this man. I hate that I am just a damn softy when I am around him. It is such a nuisance, and not very safe in my line of work. 

We make it into the house to find Chase and Tabbetha waiting impatiently for us to get here. Trace comes in from another room to greet us and ask for the plans. According to him, he has some 'hot babe' that is going to meet up with us. 

"Well, I have a few ideas," Justin starts. "I mean, since Tabbetha is dressed for it and all, we could hit up the strip joints and make the cash needed to get into the clubs." He does not even crack a smile. 

I can barely contain myself though. The huge smile on my face is the only way I could control the laughter that was building up inside. Chase's eyes widen with surprising humor, and Trace just had a spit take with whatever he was drinking. Tabbetha glares at us all.

"I hate each and everyone of you. I do not look that bad, but if that is how it is going to be then I'll just stay here tonight." She fumes.

Now I am laughing. "Yeah right. You aren't going to be staying in, and you know that more than the rest of us." 

"I guess I'll go change our of my 'whorish' outfit before we go. We wouldn't want Justin's precious reputation ruined by hanging out with 'the likes of me'" She is so pissed at us.

"Whatever. You look hot, baby," Chase tells her as he pulls her into a hug. "We're just playing with you. You know Arianna's a bitch like that. We've done the same thing to other people." He rocks her side to side to calm her. "Make sure you can take it if you want to give it. Besides, Justin's rep won't be ruined. We're leaving that in the hand of the 'slow and painful killer' over there." Chase laughs as he looks up at me. 

I cannot seem to stop my eyes from rolling. "That's fun to bring up." 

"Oh you only know it's funny because--"

"It was in front of his mom. I know, right? What a great first impression I gave." I cut him off, looking over at Trace who was texting someone so he was not paying too much attention. Trace has no idea what I do either and I prefer to keep the people who do down to a bare minimum. 

"Oh, you have nothing to worry about, Arianna." Trace closes his phone and puts it in his pocket as he walks over to us. "Mama Mia just wants boy wonder over here happy and if you are what does that then you are good in her books. Just be careful. You break his hear, and you may be the one who is slowly and painfully killed." Trace pats me on the back. 

I really do like Trace. If Justin told me that he wanted to tell Trace about me, I probably would let him. He seems like a good guy and he is definitely a great friend to Justin. I am sure it would be good for Justin to have someone to talk to about all of this, but right now I can't afford to let others know. Besides, Justin can talk to Chase for now. Anyway, that was irrelevant I am sure. 

"Guess we can all go hang out then." I suggest as I walk back towards the door that I had just entered through a few minutes ago.

"Sounds good. I guess we'll just make up the night's plans as we go." Tabbetha follows suit. "These always lead to fun nights." She walks out the door and my eyes follow her to see her walk straight to Justin's Escalade and climb into the back seat. 

Chase is not far behind her. "Here we go." He leans down to whisper in my ear before he walks out the door. "I think it's funny because she doesn't realize you really are a slow and painful killer." He laughs as I punch him in the arm and tell him how funny he really isn't. He joins Tabbetha in the back seat. 

Trace decides to drive so he can have his car in case his night with his chick work out in his favor. Justin and I join the other two in the Escalade and make our way through town. We decide to hit up a couple of bars and clubs and just drink it up and dance it up. This is exactly what we ended up doing, and stay out to a really late hour (or early hour, depending on how you look at it) just enjoying our time together. Trace ended up taking his chick back to her place to do who knows what (and personally I do not want to know). Chase and Tabbetha get wasted and come close to having to be carried out to the vehicle at the end of the night. Justin and I were pretty tipsy ourselves (maybe drunk). We had one of his guards drive us home and I think the sun was beginning to rise when we finally all passed out. It was extremely nice, and strange, to be able to hang out and not think about work once the entire time. I could get used to it.

****

"uuuuggghhhh" is the grunt that I hear as I roll over a little. I lift my head up a bit and look at Justin who has his arm over his face, blocking the light I am sure. "Don't touch me," he groans again. "I think I may die. My head will explode with any sound. My stomach will empty out if I eat anything or smell anything that is food. I cannot believe how much we drank last night." He does not move a millimeter while he is talking.

I cannot help but smile at him. I can feel the slightest bit of a headache coming on, and my stomach is not feel great but I could definitely go for some food. I roll back over, away from Justin. He, of course, groans again when the bed moves as I do this. I grab my phone and see that I missed calls from James, but I just clear them out and check the time. It takes me a split second before I am out of the bed, grabbing clothes out of my bag that is across the room. 

"What are you doing? Stop running." Justin says from the bed.

"It is almost noon, and I haven't showered or anything. We are supposed to go to lunch with your mom and we are still in bed. Your mom is not going to have a good impression of me by the end of this weekend." I state as I make my way to the bathroom to start the shower, throwing the clothes I picked out on the toilet. 

"Stop yelling!" He almost yells himself, but grabs his head and curses as he catches himself. 

I ignore him and jump in the shower. I don't get the shampoo completely rinsed out of my before Justin is jumping in. I continue to rinse my hair and wash off as I work around him doing the same. "I thought you were going to die in the bed if you tried to move." I give him a quick kiss as I finish up and after I figured he was pass the killing-me-for-talking stage. 

"I figured if you were going to get up and get ready I should, too. How are you not feeling like death?" He turns the water off and hands me a towel before getting one of his own. 

"Well I obviously can handle my alcohol better than you. Also, I ate and drank lots of water while I was drinking. I didn't realize you were as drunk as you were until you decided to hit on blonde chick. I think you hit on Tabbetha, too. That one was amusing for both me and Chase." I laugh as I make sure I am completely dried off before putting on my clothes. I hate to put my clothes on right after a shower because I feel like it sticks to me and its restricting, but I do not have time to run around in my panties and bra until I am ready to do so. "I mean we did accuse her of dressing like that to get your  attention and get you to fall in love with her, so when you hit on her it was so great for me. It allowed me to keep the joke running." 

I get my jeans on and the nice black shirt I picked out. Its sleeveless and long enough to go over my butt with a wide elastic band that makes it fit more snugly around my ass. It has a scoop neck with a slight design sewn in around the edge of the neck. The back goes up to my neck with a keyhole that goes from the neck to mid back. My jeans are dark ones and I am going to be wearing black heels with some turquoise jewelry. 

"I really hit on Tabbetha?" Justin wonders.

"Yep, along with a blonde girl and I think two of her friends." I inform him as I try to get my hair brushed out, so I can get it dried.

"And you let me live?" 

"Please. I was amused all night. You were entertaining me with your pickup lines. My favorite had to be 'Hi. I'm Justin Timberlake. Wanna do me?'" I feel my sides ache from laughing so hard.

"I did not say that." He rolls his eyes as he walks out of the bathroom to, hopefully, put on some clothes other than the towel wrapped around his waist. 

I grab my hair dryer and get to work on this mess that is my hair. It takes about twenty minutes to get it mostly dried. I run a brush through my hair a couple of times before I exit the bathroom to find the bedroom empty. I assume Justin went down to see his parents and probably try to do something about his hangover. I slowly make my way down the stairs to join them myself. Everyone is sitting around the living room talking about anything and everything. I walk into the room and Trace jumps up to run over to me.

He grabs my hand and shakes it. "Hi, I'm Trace Ayala. Wanna do me?" 

I laugh as I look up to see Justin glaring at me. "Oh come on. It was hilarious. The girl was in Heaven, and if Trace hadn't have been there to pull you away, I am sure the girl would have taken you to the bathroom so you could have your way with her."

"She does have a point." Trace nods.

"Why was it Trace that stopped me?" He asks me as I sit down beside him. "Why would you let me act this way? Would you have let me go with this girl?"

I scoff as I roll my eyes. "Those girl wouldn't have gotten your belt undone before I broke their arm. I figured Trace is better for you imagine to the public. He can pull you away and it is just a good friend looking out for you and your relationship with the one you love. If it had been me, I would be the crazy girlfriend that goes around breaking people's bones. I prefer the media's first pictures of me being of me breaking your bones because you wanted to test out a hilariously retarded pickup line." I lean over and kiss him on the cheek.

"I honestly don't believe I would have done anything, no matter how drunk I was." He leans his forehead against mine as he smiles at me. "I still can't believe that I got that drunk."

We all start to laugh again, but the laughter comes to an abrupt halt when we hear Justin's name being yelled through the house. The anger was apparent, no questions about it. It isn't a full minute before Lynn storms into the living room from the kitchen. She probably came in through the back door. I am very aware of how intimidating I can be. It is part of my lifestyle, after all. It is extremely rare for someone to be able to intimidate me, but I was feeling a little bit of intimidation as I sit here beside Justin as his mom stands, staring down at him with her arms crossed, without saying anything.

I want to move somewhere else, but I feel frozen. It is no wonder the little people end up spilling their guts to me before I have the pleasure of torturing them. I am almost ready to let her in on some of my secrets. I shake my head a slightly. This action causes Justin to look away from his mother's intense stare towards me with a confused look. I shrug letting him know that I have no idea what is going on that would cause his mom to be so pissed. 

"May I ask what has got you so upset, my dear sweet mother?" He asks sweetly, with a look of innocence that will fool almost anyone.

"Actually you can. I got up early this morning because I know we had made plans to go to lunch today. I figured you'd sleep in a little because you had an exciting night last night." I put my head down. I feel horrible for making her wait on us. "I continued to wait while I ate breakfast and read the newspaper. I even checked my email and made some business calls." I am definitely not feeling any better as she goes on. "Funny thing is, I was fine with the wait until I realized why you were in such need of sleeping in. I don't normally pay much attention to stupid gossip about celebrities. Its normally either false or exaggerated to please the audience. This time though, I couldn't help but have my attention drawn to the TV when it starts talking about you and your tour kickoff. I was interested in hearing what people were saying about it. Proud mother likes to know." She starts to walk closer and maintains eye contact with Justin the entire time. I keep mine on the floor as I bite on my lip. "There was nothing but good things about your show, and then there was the after show that also gets reviews. I can't help but hear that you got trashed and then offered to have sex with several other girls while your girlfriend is a few feet away. Trace had to pull you off some girl." She glares at Justin as I hear the others trying to silence their own laughter. I bite down on my lip a little harder to keep mine silent. I feel Justin's elbow dig into my ribs. He can probably feel me laughing. "How dare you act so ridiculous. You have a great night, about to go on a great tour, and have a great lady by your side. Why do you act this way?" My head bolted up when she called me a 'great lady.' 

I am shocked to hear her call me 'great' but to call me a 'lady'? I don't think anyone has ever called me a lady before. I guess Justin really hasn't told his mom anything about me. 

"Mother dearest, I realize I drank too much. My wonderful friends have be reminding ever second since I woke up. I acted stupid. I know. I don't need you to tell me." He rolls his eyes as he leans back to rest his head on the back of the couch. 

"Don't get smart with me. I'm hear to point out that you need to be more careful. Personally, I don't think I need to remind you how lucky you are that you have Arianna. Most girls would have left your ass at that bar, and tell you where you can stick it. She's a good one. I have a feeling that she may be one to put you in your place if she needs to also. My advice: stop being an ass, and keep this girl around." Lynn smiles at me and then over at Justin. 

"I'm aware of this." I look back to Justin and he is pouting. 

"I think I just had my entertainment for the day." Trace continues laughing as he stands up and walks over to Lynn. He gives her a big hug and then continues on his path into the kitchen.

"My advice to you, buddy, is to keep your mouth shut." Justin yells out to him. 

"I say we get up and go to lunch." I stand up and offer my hand to Justin to pull him up. He takes it and after he is on his two feet, I turn to my two best friends. "You two want to go somewhere for lunch?" I ask them. I was going to buy their lunch since I was leaving them behind in a town that they are not familiar with. 

"We made plans with Trace." Chase answers. "We're going to go to lunch then come back here and enjoy the pool. Enjoy your lunch." He tells me, and I can tell he means more behind that. He supports and encourages me.

"Just call us when you are done. We'll get together afterwards. No bars or clubs tonight." Tabbetha jokes, getting a groan from Justin. "You all have fun, just watch out for the fans. They might have heard how open your relationship is."

We all get ready and Justin's parents ride along with Justin and I to the restaurant for lunch. I feel a little more at ease than I was last night, but I am still nervous about how this is going to go. I am unsure what I am going to tell her about what I do for a living. I am sure she is going to ask, especially since she heard me on the phone last night. I came over as a top dog in a company, so I will need to have an idea of what I do for a living that is not illegal and terrible to most. What am I going to do to keep his mom from changing her perspective of me?