Justin

Life as I knew it was officially out the window. The trust, respect, and loyalty I had with him were all vanished in a split second of a one sided conversation. I see Steve's arms flying around in the air. He was furious, as he should be but he has the wrong information. He only heard what she said.

"Steve, man you have all this wrong. This isn't what you think it was..." I began to ramble, "I was recording this song for Mel, waiting on Elizabeth to get here and... "

"No... No... don't try to make fucking excuses." He interrupted as his tone got louder and louder, "I want to know right now what is going on? I trusted you. I trusted you with my best friend in the world." He shakes his head, disgusted. "After everything you both have been through over the years, this is how you choose to deal with it?" Steve face is full of redness, he was furious, with no sign of calming down.

"Steve, I don't know if you heard that whole conversation but she has no idea what she is talking about. I'm not involved with her that way."

Elizabeth chimes in her thoughts, "Justin baby, this is stupid. Tell him how you feel."

My blood pressure is rising and I can feel the heat in my face, "You are living in a delusion. I think you need to get the fuck out of here. RIGHT NOW." I demanded. I haven't been this angry in a very long time. I forgot what it felt like to have every ounce of blood in your body boil. Not the greatest feeling in the world.

"I'm not going anywhere." She said, bobbing her head back and forth.

Steve's still irate; his face is turning a deeper shade of red. "I can't believe that you would cheat on Mel, with her."  He points over to Elizabeth who can't keep her mouth shut.

"Fool, you have no idea what you're talking about." Elizabeth snapped at him.

"Shut the fuck up." He demanded at her. "I don't want to hear your voice right now. Shut up."

 I had never seen Steve like this. I knew that he was very protective of Mel and I was glad he was but I had done nothing wrong, I was the innocent one. I had nothing to say to anyone, I had done nothing wrong, other than the fact that I didn't listen to JC yesterday.

Stupid me. Stupid me. How could I have not seen all the signs?

I turned to look at Elizabeth, as I see Steve pacing around the room. I demanded that she leave, she just wouldn't listen. "Elizabeth, the shit you pulled today is... it's just I can't believe you would do something like that after all I have done for your career. I have spent millions of my own money to make sure this album gets done... I'm just done. You need to leave. I will have my assistant call you with a new recording schedule with JC... that is if he still wants to produce your album. As of this very moment, I'm done being your producer. The label and their funds are going to be responsible for you album. I am so done with you."

"You can't just quit." She snapped up.

"Why not? It's my money I threw away... It's my life you just fucked up... All because of some silly story you had made up in your mind. I hope you realized the gratitude of what you have just done..."

"Love always has consequences. Sometimes -" She said titling her head to the side, biting her bottom lip.

"I DO NOT LOVE YOU." I started to scream. "I love my wife. Melissa is the one I love. The ONLY ONE!"

                She stormed out of the room slamming the door behind her. "Fuck you Justin. FUCK YOU!"

I drop down into my chair, placing my head into my hands, what a mess I have gotten myself into. I knew that Steve was still here and he wasn't going anywhere until he got some answers. I turn to talk to him but before I could he was already talking. Placing his hand over his chest, "I trusted you with her." He was calm but disappointed. "I trusted... that you would never hurt her." His eyes begin to well up with tears.

"I haven't hurt her. I haven't done anything." I blurted, "I swear I would never hurt her like that. I would never cheat on her." How was I going to convince him that I had done nothing wrong? How was I going to prove to him that I still love my wife with all my heart?

"How do I know that you are not lying to me right now? All cheaters try to cover up their mistakes after they have been caught."

"I have no reason to lie to you." I said calmly. I knew being upset and urging about this was going to make him think I was guilty. "If I was trying to cover something up I would be running in circles trying to do it. I have never been a good liar. I wouldn't be able to lie if I tried to and get away with it. If I have done anything wrong it's that I didn't listen to JC when he said that she had a thing for me."

"When did he tell you this?" he asked.

"Yesterday. I never saw the signs before. I would have never if he didn't point it out to me. I'm in love with my wife... that's all that matters to me."

He shakes his head. Still trying hard not to believe a word I say."I don't know if I can't trust what you're saying. Why couldn't you have just told her to stay away, why couldn't you just stick up for your wife?"

"I did everything I could. You have to remember who I am." I said sounding cocky, but that's not the way I meant it.

"What's that supposed to mean?" he questioned, confused.

"I'm Justin Timberlake, the guy that has some money and an easy target for all kinds of lawsuits. Trust me back there I wanted to scream in her face but I know that I can't. If I would like to keep my job and hell if I would not like to hand her a couple millions dollars, I have to keep my mouth shut. I know that I haven't done anything wrong. I know that whatever she thinks is all her thoughts but she can run to the press in a heartbeat and tell them this story and they will believe it. She could say that as her boss I treated her unfairly... there's a lot that can happen, I can't take that chance."

"So Melissa isn't worth that chance is that what you're saying?"

"I'm saying if Melissa and I would like to support our children, I needed to shut my mouth."

"You have enough money for the rest of your life."

"Your right, I do but it's a huge risk to take. You have seen Melissa's shopping traits." He chuckles. "I would like my kids to not have to worry about money either. I would like them to have the best possible life. I don't want them to have a worry about life."

He understands, but still disappointed. "You need to call Melissa... and you need to do it before I do."

"Steve, you have known me for a long time. You know that I love Melissa more than life in itself. You know deep down that all of this is Elizabeth's bullshit. I need you to trust me. I need you to know that I would never ever hurt Melissa."

"I want to believe you, I really think I can but what I walked in on wasn't so promising."

"You walked in three seconds after I pushed her away from me. You missed everything I had to say to her."

"I ... I just need you to talk to Mel about this. At the end of the day she is the only person I'm worried about."

"I will talk to her. I promise you I will explain everything to her."  I sat down in the chair trying to figure out what else I can say to him to make him believe me. "But I am worried that I have broken your trust, I need you to trust me. I wouldn't hurt her." Thinking about her makes a smile creep up on my face, I loved her unconditionally. "I love her, I just love her... and you and Kia have always been family."

"I know that Justin, I really do. I want to believe you and trust you..."

                Steve's broken trust hurt. I have always been a very honest person with everyone I have come in contract with and if this was just anyone, it wouldn't hurt nearly as bad. Steve was someone that I would never be dishonest with. I trusted my life in his hands. I respected him as a person, as my friend, as my brother.

Watching him walk out of that studio with uncertainty about me heartbreaking.

Melissa

I took my jacket off. I closed my eyes tight. I took the jacket off, the very jacket that was covering my very swollen abdomen.

 "Fuck." I dropped my head.

                A pit in my stomach forms the size of the Grand Canyon.

Shit.

                I had no way around this now. I had to tell them.

"Well... I guess I should share the news." I stood with a super dry mouth and nerves making my knees shake.  My dust  my sweaty palms on my jeans, hoping to help but it doesn't. I was having a harder time telling these people in this room that I was pregnant than I would be in front of twenty thousand screaming fans. "I'm pregnant." I finally blurted.

The entire room started clapping. Make face turned beat red.

"Please don't do that. Justin and I would like to keep it as quiet as possible for a while. As long as we can... Rumors are rumors and they will never go away but we want to share the news with our families first. So please, keep this information to yourself because once the conformation is out there the paparazzi will be horribly bad."

"Worse than it already is?" Meredith asked jokingly.

"I can't imagine it worse than it is, but I'm sure it would get worse."

"I don't know how you do it some days."

"Me either.... Enough about me. We have a dress to finish."

                Hours and hours have past, everyone has left, the sun has gone down and the stars are shinning but the only thing I see is a finished product right in front of me. Resting on a mannequin was a work of art. Piecing the right pieces together, watching it go from nothing to something was incredible. I hadn't done that in a very long time. That was the one thing about being successful at what you do. You have to give up pieces to make sure everything gets done. I missed watching the pieces fall together.

 Putting together pieces of fabric together makes you think about all the things I have done in my life, all the little pieces of my life that had been sewed together to make that incredible something. The life I lived in Ohio made me the person I was today but not a single piece of me regretted the choice I made to move to L.A. I was immensely happy in my life with him. He has become the best part of me.

                Calling for the car finally, I wait in the lobby patiently. It had been a long day and I was ready to relax for the evening. The apartment was steaming hot and the air seemed to take forever to cool the place down. Tank top and panties was the most comfortable thing for me right now. I felt like I was middle aged and having a heat flash.

I stretched out on the bed on the chilly sheets. It felt great against my skin. I stare at the ceiling, wishing Justin was here with me with his arms wrapped tightly around me. Feeling his heart beat under his skin. Having the stubbles of his five o'clock shadow graze against my neck as he nuzzles his chin into the groove of my neck.

RING.... RING...

                Who would be calling me at one in the morning? Reached over and a smile rose on my face. I picked it up answering it with, "You must have somehow known that I was thinking of you." I rattled off, "I have been thinking of you all day."

He was quiet. He had no words. That wasn't normal for him.

"J- you there?" I sat up on the bed.

"Yes." he got quiet again, I could hear him crying.

"Is there something wrong? Why are you crying? Don't get quiet like that..."

He starts as a whisper, "I don't know what to say to you... or even how to say this to you..."

A thousand reasons why he could be calling could have run through my head, but no, the only thing I could think about was him not being happy.

Divorce.

What else could possibly make him this upset?

"Mel... honey... there is something I need to tell you."

Divorce maybe... but not just because he wasn't happy. Adultery. My stomach began to turn uncontrollably. I forgot how to breathe. I was frozen. I was about to break into a million little pieces.

"Justin... just say it." I needed it to be out there. I needed to hear it.

I could hear him shuffling around something. It sounded like a glass being titled on its rim, rolling on the granite countertops.
                "Elizabeth."

Elizabeth? Wow.... Elizabeth.

"Studio...Steve..." he couldn't form entire sentences.

"Steve, what does this have to do with Steve..." my heart began to race. "Please tell me that Steve and Elizabeth didn't..."

He interrupts, "No... no..." he pauses, exhales deeply, "I need to just say it. But please let me finish before you come to conclusions on your own..."

"Okay..." My foot began to shake. Nervousness set in, in the worst way.

"You know that I love you and that I would never hurt you... I need you to know that. I love you more than anything in this world." I couldn't think straight, I felt my world crashing down in slow motion and I was watching it happen, not attempting to stop it. "It has come to my attention that Elizabeth... is in love with me. She professed her love for me today. I didn't see any of the signs. I never paid attention to her enough to see the signs I guess... until today"

My hands started to tremble, "Are you trying to tell me that you have feelings for her?"

"NO! I'm trying to say that... gosh, I don't even know what to say."

"Just spit it out. I can't take the drawn out crap... I need to know." I started to panic. I didn't know what he was going to say.

"Steve walked into the studio hearing Elizabeth say we didn't need to hide our feelings anymore..."

My heart sank. "WHAT?"

"Mel..." he said softly.

I swallowed hard.

"I'm more in love with you every second of every day. There will never be someone else like you in my life. Never think for a moment that I don't love you. I have and always will be hopelessly in love with you... Elizabeth... she means nothing to me. She had this idea or plan or whatever in her head. She had this huge story made up that she begun to believe was reality. I have never nor will I ever love her."

I felt a sense of relief.

He continued..." I was recording this song and I said something like I can't wait for her to hear it and then Elizabeth was there saying, I knew you felt the same way... I was referring to you and she, she was far beyond the realm of reality. I needed to tell you before a story could come out of it. I needed to tell you because the last thing I would ever want is for you to believe any part of it..."

I was the quiet one now. I didn't know what to say.

"Mel..." his tone broke my heart.

I began to flick my finger nails together, digging one into the other. A nervous habit I never could get rid of. "I'm here..."

"I... I don't know what else to say." he pauses, "Stop doing that to your nails..."

"I need you to tell me the truth. All I need is to hear from you that this is all her. This was-"

"Melissa Timberlake." I could almost see his smile as he sat in the kitchen in the same spot he always does, running his finger around the rim of the glass... "I love every single piece of you. I have never even looked at another woman. I have no need to. I have everything I could ever need or want with you. I love you. I would never dishonor your trust or our marriage."

 Without hesitation I knew he was telling the truth. Justin couldn't lie. He didn't know how to lie to me. "I believe you."

I heard his sign of relief. His stress level had dropped I could hear the release in his voice, "I love you."

Who would have thought this is how my day would end... or should I say this is how not how I thought my day would start. My heavy head hit the pillow and I laid there wide awake until I heard the alarm go off, slowly climbing out of bed and starting the day.