Justin and Kerri had never talked about their past relationships. That is what appealed to him the most about her. She didn't seem interested in who he had dated. She wasn’t trying to dig for information or run back to the tabloids. She rarely asked him any personal questions and seemed genuinely interest in him. Nothing more. Nothing less. It was that simple.

"Oh," was all Kerri could come up with to say as she watched the house get further and further away. She found it odd that they lived within a few miles of one another, but assumed he had decided to buy the house when the two of them were still a couple.

When they got in the house Justin lingered in the driveway, telling Kelly and Marty that he would see them Monday for rehearsals. He then went to shower and change. There wasn’t a TV in the guest bedroom and Kerri didn’t want to sit downstairs, so she crawled up on his bed and caught up with the last few minutes of ‘Friends’. When Justin came out of the bathroom he could see her eyes were slightly open and she was drifting by the second.

"Get under the blanket, Ker." He said as he rounded the bed.

"No, I’m about to get up and go crash.” She sat up and stretched her arms above her head, running her hands along the white puffy down comforter. “This bed is so comfortable! Or maybe I’m just so tired.”

“Then crawl your stubborn ass back in it and relax. I mean it's big enough to fit 4 people, Ker." He smiled.

“And you would know this how?” she asked with a raised eyebrow.

Justin grabbed a pillow from the top of the bed and threw it to the end. “I don’t kiss and tell.” He smirked.

They both snuggled up under the covers and watched TV briefly before discovering there was nothing on. He pushed the button on the remote and turned off the TV before pressing another button to turn on the stereo. Brian McKnight's song "Anytime" was playing. He turned on his side, resting his head against his palm and adjusted his pajama bottoms with his free one. He watched Kerri haphazardly put her hair up in a bun. "So what is going on in the dating life of Kerri Robert's these days?"

"Wow...An actual personal question." she remarked sarcastically.

Justin pinched her arm.

"Oww, fucker!” she yelled rubbing her arm. “If you must know...Not a damn thing. I'm too busy to date. Plus, with you dragging me all over the place with you, it's hard to find a guy. You’re twat blocking me, Timberlake.” She smiled.

Justin tossed his pillow at her. She threw it back to him and said, “Hopefully, I'm not cock blocking you too."

Justin lightly laughed and turned the page in the magazine he had grabbed off the nightstand. "Nah. I'm not trying to get back out there just yet."

She could sense that this conversation was becoming more serious and didn’t want to venture down that road, but for some reason her mouth betrayed her. "Same here. Not trying to get my heart broken all over again so soon."

Justin looked up at her and asked, "Who broke your heart?"

She took a deep breath before responding, "...This guy I work with. The same one that took the Polaroid you found."

"You still work with him? How long had you been dating?"

"Don’t have a choice. He’s my boss. And we dated almost four years."

She was being short with her answer’s and Justin could tell the subject of why she was still working with the guy who broke her heart was uncomfortable for her. "Four years, huh? Same here."

"Oh. With…?" she was afraid to even utter the name.

"Yeah." He answered softly looking away from her.

"You miss her?"

"I'd be lying if I said I didn't.” He finally met her gaze. “You miss him?"

"Hell, no! I'd chop off my arm before I'd miss someone who’s broken my heart."

"You're so full of shit." he teased, seeing right through the wall she was building around herself.

Kerri was surprised at the ease of which Justin opened up to her. She could barely talk about her ex, and here he was just as cool as a cucumber about his. As if they were talking about the weather. Why couldn’t she do that? Why was it so hard for her to say the things that were at the forefront of her mind. Why did she have to always be defensive when it came to her feelings? She listened as he continued to talk about the subject of love and relationships. "...I mean, I'm a very loving, caring person, and if I start dating you - you know, as a girl-"

She looked down her shirt double-checking for breasts. "Well I hope I'm a girl."

Justin rolled his eyes. "It may take me a long time to give myself away to you, but once I do, that's it. You can have whatever you want. But I've had my heart broken plenty of times." He pressed his lips together and fluttered a sad noise. "Three times, actually."

The smile disappeared from Kerri's face as he continued his story. "I was fifteen the first time. She cheated on me, and I broke up with her. That's reason enough, right? 'Oops, sorry, see ya'." he mocked. "I'd been going with her for a year. The second one I saw for a year and a half. And the third one..." Justin paused thinking of his ex "...was for three and a half years.”

Justin let out a sight before laying on his back and looking up at the ceiling, "It was the same with her as with the first girl who broke my heart and the second. They've all gone down the same way.  All of them. Three strikes, I'm out. I mean, she has a beautiful heart, but if I've lost my trust in someone, I don't think it's right for me to be with them. I'm not gonna to let my baggage with somebody else become my baggage with a new person. But I'll tell you, Kerri, I have little, little hope. Three strikes. Little hope."

It was scary that they had so much in common. Kerri’s mouth betrayed her again when she told him about the three relationships that she had been in, which all failed because the guys cheated on her with other women. It was like finding her kindred spirit. She didn't really go into much detail, but Justin didn't seem to mind. He didn't want to have to reciprocate and give many more details about his recently failed relationship.

"...Don't get all conceited on me, but you don't look like you need any help getting a date, Justin."

He smiled at her and turned his body around, placing his head in her thigh as he looked towards her and continued to talk her ear off, "Well, usually when I meet somebody, on a social level and dating wise, I'm always so skeptical, like, Why are they being so nice to me? What do they want?  I guess that's why I was so mystified by you, cause you were very ballsy with me and had no problem telling me off the night I met you at that club. But these days, as far as dating goes, I think I'm in this zone where I don't want to be attached to anyone."

"I feel ya." She nodded in agreement, massaging his head with her fingers.

Kerri noticed that when he spoke of his ex, he never called her by name. It was almost as if it were too hard for him. "When we were together it was bliss," he said, "like something from a damn fairy tale. But right now, I just don't see...it's just so hard.  I'm the type of person, if I'm not exactly sure about something, then I'll wait it out and see. I may not ever get over her. That's why I'm kinda chillin. I'm waiting to see. I do have to come to the realization that I might never."

"I don't think we ever truly get over it.” she chimed in.

"I think now, more than ever, everything is Okay. But I still love her."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"How are you going to come home and tell me about your sleepover and say 'yeah, he told me about his ex' and not tell me what he said, Kerri?" Serena whined. She followed Kerri around the apartment as she unpacked.

"Look, you know I'd tell you in a second, but he asked me to keep it to myself."

Serena was hurt, "You don't trust me?"

"Of course I do, but I promised him I wouldn't say anything, Serena."

"Fine." She huffed in defeat as she walked over to answer the ringing phone. "Hello?"

Kerri watched Serena roll her eyes. "...Hold on." Serena tossed the phone onto Kerri’s bed, "It's your new best friend." she mumbled, before disappearing out onto the balcony to smoke a cigarette.

Kerri noticed the tone in her voice and followed her with phone in hand, "Hey..." Kerri looked over at Serena, who instantly knew they were talking about her. "…She's okay. She just missed me!" Kerri smirked grabbing her friends cheek and pinching it lightly. Serena pushed her hand away. "...Yeah.  Call me later and tell me how it went. Bye."

Kerri leaned back against the railing and stared at her roommate. "What's your problem?"

"You've practically traveled the world with this guy and I have yet to have an actual conversation with him." Serena griped. Kerri couldn't believe that her friend was jealous.

They sat and talked about her trip, and Kerri promised her that she would introduce Justin to her when they hung out again.

Off on the opposite side of town, Justin was getting the same treatment from Trace. Even Justin's own mother was wondering why he was devoting so much time to this new 'stranger in his life.'

"...No, Ma. You'll never believe this!" Trace yelled out to the woman he thought of as his second mother. "He meets her after picking up a photo off the ground in a parking lot."

Justin's mother was busy in the kitchen mixing spaghetti. "Well, where does that club downtown come into all of this?" she asked with a confused look on her face.

Trace walked into the kitchen and grabbed a plate from the cabinet, "We go to the club and by freaky coincidence she's the damn DJ.”

Kyle was on his way out the door when he interjected, “To be honest, I thought she was a real bitch, Mrs. H!"

Justin sucked in his teeth, "You only thought that cause she cursed you out for being an asshole."

"She didn't!?" His mom tried her best not to smile.

Kyle rolled his eyes and headed out the door to run errands for Justin. "Hell yeah! And this guy," Trace lightly smacked Justin on the back of the head, "has me hunting her down for her number. He's gone crazy."

"Is she pretty?"

"She's not one of Justin's usual chicks, but she definitely ain't bad to look at." Trace snatched the newly developed pictures from Justin's grip and handed them to his mom. Lynn looked through the photos and saw a dark brown haired girl staring back at her smiling. Trace was right. She looked nothing like the blonde, light eyed girls Justin had dated in the past. This woman had dark brown eyes and a well defined jaw line. She was exotic and had the brightest smile. She didn’t have any makeup on in the photos but Lynn still found her to be stunning. "She's very pretty." Lynn smiled.

She walked over and showed him a photo of the two of them with their cheeks pressed together. She could tell Justin took it, because his arm was outstretched in front of them in the picture. "You look like you really enjoyed yourself. You sure the two of you are just friends?"

Justin's face turned a light shade of red. He grabbed the pictures from his mom's hands, "Yeah, I'm sure. It's not even like that with us. She's different."

Trace took out two 50's from his wallet and placed them on the counter, "I'll give it a month."

"A month before what?" Lynn asked, dishing him out a plate.

"A month before their friendship turns into something else. Once she's outta his system he'll be on to the next 'different' thing."

"You should at least give it a month and a half." Lynn joked.

Justin held up his middle finger to Trace. Thinking that it was meant for her, Justin's mom threw an orange from the fruit bowl at him, hitting him right in the shoulder. The buzzing of his cell phone on the glass table suddenly startled everyone. He quickly picked it up and answered it, "You're late! You were supposed to call me 10 minutes ago." He teased, spinning the noodles around on his fork.

Traced shrugged his shoulders, "You can tell it's her. Look at how his face lit up and shit when it rang."

Justin grabbed the orange and chucked it at Trace before returning to his conversation with Kerri. His mom and Trace went back to talking to one another about his newfound friend.

"I'm gonna be in town for like two weeks before I have to hit the road again. I want to see you...I need to talk to you about something important...Don't worry about it. I'll tell you when I see you." He smirked.