"Change. We don't like it. We fear it, but we can't stop it from coming. We either adapt to change or we get left behind. It hurts to grow, anybody who tells you it doesn't is lying, but here's the truth, sometimes the more things change the more they stay the same.  And sometimes, oh, sometimes change is good. Sometimes change is everything."

            What felt like days was actually a couple hours. I woke up and it was nearly midnight. I had cried myself to sleep a little over five hours ago.  The excessive makeup that I was wearing for the video shoot is now all over the pillow case and the mascara has ran down my entire face. I'm sure they will charge me a couple hundred dollars for that damn pillow case.

I eventually shut my phone off because Justin called nonstop. Maybe he hasn't learned yet that calling nonstop will get him nowhere and it will actually piss me off even more.

Everything had changed. Everything I knew was gone. Change is everything.

            I really needed something to take my mind off of everything that has happened today, I start running my water to take a nice long hot bath. There was a knock at the door. I throw my robe back on and I am almost positive when I open that door it is going to be Justin. How he found me, I wasn't sure but I knew it was going to be him when I opened that door. I stood behind that door for a moment, almost hesitate to open it. Then I heard a female voice on the other end saying, "Mel, it's me. Let me in." Did he seriously send my assistant over to find me? That voice wasn't Meredith's voice. Did he send Rachel? Or his Mother? It couldn't be them they were in Tennessee this week.

 "Mel. Please let me in." I reach for the door handle, take a deep breath and open it. I was shocked at who was behind that door. "Kia?"

"Wow, you look like hell." Kia doesn't seem too thrilled to be here.

"It's nice to see you too."

"What the hell is going on?"

"I'm sorry I am a little confused. Why are you in California?"

"The same reason you are in this hotel room."

"Justin called you?" I shake my head in disbelief.

"Yes he did. He was hysterical. He didn't know what to do or where to find you. I didn't hesitate I just said I would be on the first flight out. And here I am. But I was coming to L.A. this week anyway."

"See that's what... " I was frustrated and pissed. "...Why can't he just handle this himself? He is the one that screwed up. He should be the one driving all over this damn city trying to find me not having my best friend fly 3,000 miles to handle his problem."

"I wanted to fly here."

"You shouldn't have flown out here. I can handle this."

"I beg to differ."

"So he told you?" I couldn't believe that this was happening.

"Well he told me his side. What do you think happened?"

"Kia there were pictures... fifty or so pictures of him fucking someone else. And I'm not talking PG-13 photos... he was actually in the thrust."

"Are you sure they were him? Did you look at them?"

"I didn't have to examine the size of the penis of the guy in the photo to know it was him."

"Are you sure they were of him?"

"Well... aren't we on Team Timberlake." My best friend is supposed to take me side, no matter what.  "The damn stamp on the surveillance camera or whatever it was taking the pictures was dated for last week."

            She sits there quiet. I wanted to know what he told her, but a part of me just wanted to say fuck it I have seen enough proof. But she is convinced that he hasn't done anything wrong. "Is there any way these photos could be fake. Maybe they are edited. People do crazy things with editing programs nowadays. Is the date possible? Take the date on the photos and compare it to your schedules, is it possible?

            I get up and walk away. I knew she was only here to help but it pissed me off that he wouldn't handle this himself. He was supposed to be the one in the relationship with me. He is the one that should have knocked on the fucking door. Was I over reacting to what happened? Was I wrong to just want to get out of the house before I completely exploded? I needed to breathe and I couldn't do that in his house, in his bedroom, or in his living room. I just couldn't do that there. It was his house, his things, it was all him. I had all intentions on going back to the house tonight. I just needed to breathe. And now, now I look like the one that ran from the problem... again.

            She finds me in the bedroom with my face buried in my hands, sobbing. She kneels down in front of me and removes my hands from my face. "Mel, he wouldn't cheat on you. It's not who he is."

"I know that. I know that he would never cheat. But I... I have been wrong before..."

"Those guys were different. They had potential of cheating. Justin, he doesn't have an ounce in him that would make him cheat. He loves you with everything he is."

"I know..." I am suddenly remembering those photos. I am straining to remember the one close up of his face. I keep seeing his face. What was different about it? What does it make me think now there is something wrong with the photo? Something that should be there...

"Mel, what are you thinking?"

 It's quiet, my eyes get huge... "Oh my god..." I feel the breath that I could breathe a moment ago escape.

Kia is startled, "What?"

"Those pictures are Justin." I start to cry, "But those photos are not new."

"What makes you say that?"

"His hair."

"Justin's hair?" She is really confused now.

"Justin's hair is full of curls. He hasn't cut it since we have been together, other than a trim."

"What does his hair have to do with anything?"

"Everything."

I know what I have to do. "I need to go home."

She wraps her arms around me and whispers in my ear, "He is waiting downstairs for you." I look up at her. "I made the decision to fly here, I made the decision to be the first one to come up and see you. It was a fight between Justin and me. He wanted to come straight up here but I needed to make sure you were ok first." She pauses then says, "I will stay here. If you feel like you can't be there tonight come back here and we will hang out. If not I will see you tomorrow."

I run down the hallway to the elevator. Push the button for the ground floor... ok so I push it like twenty five times. As if that is going to help it goes any faster. Finally the elevator stops and the doors open finally. I run through the parking garage and there he stands leaning against his car. He looks like a complete mess. I walk up to him and run my hands through his curls. "Your hair!"

He steps back, "Mel?!" he's surprised to see me and relieved at the same time.

"Your hair!"

"Are you drunk?"

"No, no... your hair... You haven't cut your hair other than a trim since we have been together."

He is really confused now. "Mel, what does my hair have to do with anything?"

"Your curls are not in those photos. Your hair was short in those pictures. They haven't been that short since the day we met."

            He runs his hands through his curls. "I keep them long because you like it."

"I know. I know. Those pictures have been doctored. Those pictures are from when you... when you slept with... Ashley. Ashley... Those photos are from Ashley... I should have known better. I fell right into her trap. I did exactly what she wanted me to do. I believed them. She wanted me to leave you."

"But you didn't, you are standing right in front of me. You are not going anywhere."

"I'm sorry I didn't trust you enough to let you explain. I'm sorry I was a fool to just believe the photos that came to me."

"Hun, you had ever right to be suspicious. I almost believed them myself but then I realized they were supposed to be me in them and I knew that I haven't been with anyone since the day we met."

"I'm so sorry. I was sure that you had cheated. But this was all part of her game. She is never going to leave us alone is she?"

"I wish I had an answer for you."

"I'm sorry... I'm so sorry."

"You have to know you can always trust me. Always. We cannot let past relationships dictate how we deal with this one. Eventually you are going to let that guard down. Because Mel... this one... this one is forever. I promise you that."

"I love you..." I hug him and hold on for dear life. "I promise you, I trust you. This is forever."

"Forever."

            We stand there for a couple minutes just holding each other. I need to let go of the past, I need to remember that Justin isn't Matt. Justin shouldn't have to suffer consequences of someone else's mistakes and poor choices. And Ashley... she needed to be stopped.

I look up at Justin, "Let's go home."

***

            So today, Justin and I had to attend a hearing at the court house. Ashley had violated the restraining order; maybe just maybe this would be the end of the Ashley drama in our lives. I sure hope so. The judge ordered her to spend ninety days in jail and one year probation. The restraining order would stay in effect until the parties agreed that she wasn't an issue anymore. I hope that in this time she really gets some clarity. She needed some kind of evaluation of life itself.
            Tonight we celebrate a victory, but this victory has nothing to do with Ashley. I hold in my hands the very first copy of the album. The still untitled album, but it is the first mastered copy. When Justin walked into the room and handed it to me, I cried and cried. This had really been done. I had really done this. Seeing the basic lettering on the disc that read "Melissa Roberts ‘Untitled'" was more than I can handle. It was pretty amazing.

"This is truly something I never expected to achieve in my lifetime. You never know what life can throw at you." I saw with the biggest smile on my face.

"You never know..." My beautiful sympathetic boyfriend agrees.

I look like the light bulb had just turned on. "That's perfect."

"What is?"

"You Never Know."

"Sorry I'm confused."

"Well that doesn't take much."

"Hey now..." He points at himself. "The man you love remember."

"Oh yea... I forgot for a moment." I had finally made the decision. "You Never Know is the album title."

He is shaking his head yes, "It is perfect."

"Maybe a beautiful script font over that picture with the ocean in the background or the one in the purple top..."

"Melissa."

"Yes Dear." I bat my eyes at him and smile.

"That's not your job. Let marketing worry about all that."

"I know I know, just ideas running through my mind."

"Well now that's a scary thought."

My mouth drops open. "You are so freaking hilarious..."

He winks at me, "I know."

Then he bolts through the kitchen, "Boy if you ever want to get laid again, I would stop now."  I chase him down the hallway, up the staircase and then pin him against the wall. He just smiles at me with that gorgeous smile and those beautiful blue eyes. "Not worried?"

"I have no worries." Gosh, I love that sexy stern voice.

"You better."

"You would never deny yourself sex so I know that won't happen." Damn he was right. He turns the tables and has me pinned against the wall. "You enjoy me too much!"

"Do you think you're a genius in bed or something? You are pretty confident."

"Live and learn honey... live and learn." He now has my clothing removed in entirety.

"Kia will be here in twenty minutes"

"I guess we better make this quick then."

"You don't know what quick is."

"I guess that's a challenge I will have to take." He lifts me off the ground and carries me to the bed.

            Just as I'm getting my clothes off the floor I hear the door bell ring. Justin is in just a pair of jeans and he runs downstairs to let Kia in. I hurry to find something to wear that isn't wrinkled on the floor. I have to make a decision very quickly because Kia is coming up the stairs.

"MEL!!"

"I'm in the closet."

"Are you dressed?"

"No, but I have enough clothing on. Come in."

            She walks into the closet and is holding in one hand my bra that must have gotten lost in the process... and in the other hand my top that I was wearing.

"Did I interrupt something?"

My face turns a shade of pink. "No, we were finished."

"I'm glad I showed up ten minutes late."

"Shit, we are going to be late for our reservations."

"Mel, your boyfriend is Justin Timberlake, the biggest superstar in the world. You can be as late as you want."

"Just because he is Justin Timberlake, doesn't give us the right to late. I hate that."

"Yes, I know!"