It’s been almost a week since that whole Justin… thing. He’s called me two times every day but I’ve been ignoring the calls. I’m sorry, I tried to give it a chance and be an adult but there’s clearly something seriously wrong with him. I don’t have the time or the energy to deal with that and try to figure it out.

He hasn’t called me today; maybe he’s finally taken the hint.

I don’t have time to worry about it, and I don’t care enough to even if I did have the time. I have to pick up the kids.

As I sat in my car in front of my sister's high school I couldn’t help but think back to when I was there ten years earlier. God, that makes me feel old. Old and uncomfortable. I hated high school.

I watched as all the kids came out, waited as more kids came out, looked at the clock and waited some more. Finally, Jackie walked down the walkway, holding a guys hand. She stopped and pretty much made out with him in front of the school then made her way to my car.

“Hey!”

“Hey, put on your seatbelt, you were supposed to come right out. Who was that guy?” I asked as I drove to the middle school a few miles away.

Jackie giggled, “Matt.”

“Matt,” I answered in the same airhead tone, “Who is Matt?”

“My boyfriend.”

“How did I not know you have a boyfriend?” I asked seriously. I swear, I live a couple miles away and I’m completely out of everyone’s lives.

“I don’t know. Relax, it’s not like it’s serious.”

“It’s not serious? You had your tongue down his throat.”

Jackie rolled her eyes, “You’re such an old lady.”

“You’re fifteen, relax with that shit.”

“I’m almost sixteen.”

“Still, you’re young, don’t be a little whore. I’m not ready to be an aunt yet.”

She rolled her eyes again, “Cause you can get pregnant by making out? God Jules, get a clue.”

I hate her. I swear sometimes, I know she’s my sister and I’m supposed to love her, and I do for the most part, but I also hate her. She’s the complete opposite of me, in that she’s a huge girly girl and a complete idiot most of the time. She’s the girl I hated when I was in high school.

“Does Dad know?”

       “Obviously not Jules, since I’m only 15 and not supposed to date until I’m 18.”

       I laughed as I pulled up to the middle school, “He’s so going to kill you.”

       “You’re not going to tell him! Jules don’t tell him! Come on, please?”

       “I’m not going to tell him but seriously don’t be a little whore. Call me if you need to know stuff, all right? Don’t be stupid.”

       “I’m not stupid.”

       “Not at all,” I answered sarcastically as my youngest sister got in the car. “Hi sweetie.”

       “Hi Jules!” Jenna hugged me from the back seat. She’s 13 and hasn’t started her evil teenage years just yet. We’re a lot more alike.

       “Did you have a good day?”

       “Yeah, I got an A on my geography test!”

       “You are SUCH a nerd,” Jackie rolled her eyes, of course. I want to cut them out of her head sometimes. And this is yet another reason why I will never have kids.

       “Shut up,” I gave her a death glare that only caused her to roll her eyes again, “Good for you Jenna.”

       “Thanks Jules shut up Jackie. How did you do on your test? Another F?”

       “I didn’t get it back yet, shut up.”

       “Maybe if you spent more time studying and less time sucking face then you’d do better in school,” I answered with a laugh before stopping in front of Jonas’ school. He was sitting with his teacher and I saw the smile slide onto his face. I quickly got out of the car so he wouldn’t get in trouble and come running to me. “Hey Jonas!”

       “Hi Jules, hi!” he gives the best hugs. I swear, he really does.

       “Hi sweetie, did you have a good day?”

       “Yes. I got stickers, lots of stickers.”

       “He had a really great day,” his teacher said with a smile, “He kept telling us all about how excited he is because he’s having a sleepover at ‘his Jules’ tonight.”

       He melts my heart.

       “I’m very excited too, and super stoked that he was good. Thank you.”

I don’t get to see my family that much because everyone is always so busy. But, I’ve recently made it a point to have at least the youngest three over at least once a month. They usually stay over Friday night and then my parents have everyone over for dinner on Saturday.

I do love spending time with everyone but usually I’m more than ready for everything to be over when it is.  Although I’m all for a nice, quiet night in with some pizza and popcorn and a movie.

“Uh, Jules?” Jackie yelled from the living room while I dumped a bag of Doritos into a bowl in the kitchen, “Why is Justin Timberlake at your door?”

“What?” I took a deep breath and handed her the bowl of chips. What the hell? “Watch Jonas, alright? I’ll be right back.”

“No! Tell him to come in! How do you know Justin Timberlake?”

“Seriously Jackie, just do me this favor?”

“You’re totally fucking Justin Timberlake!”

“Shut up Jackie! Nobody is fucking anybody,” trust me sweetie, it’s not happening, “Stop it! I’ll be right back,” I walked out the door and closed it quickly behind me.

“Hey,” he said with a smile.

“Hey? What are you doing here?”

“I’ve been trying to call you but… I have this weird feeling I was being ignored.”

‘I’ve been really busy. Look, I’m busy now. You can’t just pop up like this.”

“Alright. I’m sorry. I just didn’t know what was going on. I know last time I saw you was kinda…”

“It’s fine. I just… I’m busy and now’s really not a good time.”

He nodded his head, “You forgot your sweatshirt in my car.”

“Thank you,” I grabbed it from his hands and now we will stand out here in awkward silence.

“It looks like we’ve got an audience,” he chuckled looking at the window where Jackie was peaking out, “Having a party?”

       “No, it’s just my sister,” I made a motion for her to go away but she pretended not to see it, and then Jenna popped up, “my mother sister,” and now Jonas is looking out too, “and my brother.”

“I didn’t know you had siblings. Ya’ll look alike.” I nodded my head as he continued, “Are you the oldest?”

“Yeah. Well, technically Jake is the oldest.”

“Technically? How does that work?” he asked with a chuckle. He’s always laughing or smiling, he’s always happy. I don’t get it.

“Jake’s seven minutes older than me.”

“You have a twin brother?” he asked out of shock. I don’t think it’s that weird, he’s acting like I just told him I have three legs. “Are you serious?”

“Yes. Why would I not be serious?”

“I just though… I had no idea you had a twin brother. I thought twins were like… connected or something.”

“Siamese twins are connected. We’re just plain old paternal twins.”

He laughed again, “Obviously you’re not Siamese twins Jules. I’m just saying connected, in the sense that you have weird twin senses.”

I shrugged, “I guess, sometimes. He’s in Africa now though, so sometimes I eat pizza and it tastes like monkey brains cause that’s what he’s eating down there.” I laughed at the look on Justin’s face, “I’m kidding. I guess we have some weird senses but it’s nothing too serious.”

“I just can’t believe you have a twin.”

“It’s not that weird.”

“So you have a twin brother, two sisters and another brother?”

“One more brother. He’s in college,” I said as the pizza guy came to the door, “I just have to get my wallet.”

“I got it,” Justin said as he handed the guy some money, “Jeez, you each get your own pizza?”

“Everyone likes different stuff.”

He laughed and nodded his head, “I understand.”

“Well, let me get your money and then…”

“It’s cool Jules, I got it.”

“Thank you.” I really don’t know what to do with him. I just don’t get it and it’s driving me absolutely crazy. He’s just standing there, holding onto the pizza like I should go ahead and invite him in. I guess I could… but I just know Jackie is going to do something stupid. Oh, fuck it. “Did you want to come in? I mean, we’re just watching a movie. I’m sure you have other stuff to do but if you…”

“Yeah, sure. Sounds like fun,” he smiled. Of course he wants to spend the night watching movies with me and my three siblings who are fifteen and under. Of course he’d rather do that then go out or spend time with adults. I should make a list of all the weird things I’ll never get about him so I can some day try and figure it out.

“Ok, my brother has asperger's so he’s really like, set on some things and doesn’t like changes and stuff so don’t worry if he…”

“It’s fine Jules.”

I took a deep breath before opening the door. I don’t know why I’m doing this.  The girls ran to sit on the couch, as if I didn’t know they have been spying on us from the window the whole time. “Ok, everybody, this is Justin. Justin this is Jackie, Jenna and that’s Jonas over there.”

“Hey, nice to meet you guys.” Justin smiled, of course, since he’s always smiling.

“Hey, come sit over here,” Jackie called him over. I took another deep breath as I grabbed the pizzas from his hands and placed them on the coffee table before he walked over to the couch and sat next to Jackie.

“Hi Justin Timberlake.”

“Hi Jackie Nietzsche.”

“Oh my god, he pronounced our last name right! Jules, he knows our last name!”

“Wow, cool,” I called out from the kitchen. I understand that people find it so difficult to pronounce our last name so I guess I’m a little impressed, although not nearly as impressed as Jackie is. It’s not that though, Nietzsche, rhymes with ‘meetcha’.

“Plus ten points for that.”

“Plus ten?” Justin chuckled, “I didn’t know I was on a points system here. So, what am I at now? Ten?”

“No, a hundred and ten. On a scale of one to ten of hotness you got 100.”

Oh my god. “Jackie, leave him alone!” I grabbed a bottle of soda and made it back into the living room, “Stop.”

“Nah, keep going,” Justin laughed, he’s definitely blushing. It’s actually kind of cute.

“Jackie, come with me. Help me get the veggies.”

Surprisingly she waited until we got into the kitchen to speak, “I can’t believe you’re fucking Justin Timberlake.”

“First of all, no one is fucking anyone. Second of all, don’t talk like that, it’s rude. You’re fifteen.

“Almost 16.”

“I don’t care. Just don’t talk like that, dad would kill you.”

“Whatever you’re so fucking him… sorry, sleeping with him.”

“I’m not,” I assured her, trust me sweetie, there is no fucking.

“Then why did he bring over your clothes?”

“It’s a sweatshirt Jackie, you’re acting like he brought over my panties. I forgot my sweatshirt in his car when we went paintballing. Don’t be an idiot. Relax. Don’t annoy him.”

“Never,” she gave me a half smile that only assured me that she would be annoying the shit out of him. Well, I guess if I wanted to get rid of him this will surely do the trick. 

I went back into the living room and placed the veggie tray next to the pizza. I was surprised that Jenna and Justin were actually talking; she’s usually really shy. I would have thought she would have found a way to escape so she’s not left alone with him.

Jonas came running in as soon as the pizza box opened.  “Who are you?”

“He’s Justin. Jonas, say hi.” He of course ignored me and grabbed a piece of pizza, “Jonas, say hi to Justin.”

“Hi Justin.” he answered without looking up from his pizza and plopped on the couch next to me.

“Hey man, how are you doing?” Justin asked but Jackie broke in before he could even finish.

“So Justin, tell us how you know my sister. Why did you have her shirt?”

“She forgot it in my car last week when we went paintballing.”

“Hmm,” she tapped her chin all dramatically. Why did I tell him to come in again? “The stories match.”

“Because it’s not a story. Stop.” I gave her a dirty look but she ignored it, obviously Justin just laughed.

       “Anyway, “ Jackie began, “My birthday is coming up, sweet sixteen. You should come to my party; it’s going to be epic. Jules is making me some kick ass shoes, aren’t you Jules?”

“I am,” I said as I placed a baby carrot on Jonas’ plate.

“Dad is buying me a Bentley.”

“He is not buying you a Bentley,” I laughed. She’s dreaming, completely dreaming.

“Yes he is. He bought you a Bentley.”

“I bought myself a Bentley. For my sixteenth birthday he got me a Jetta that I had to share with Jake. He’s not buying you a Bentley, keep dreaming.”

The rest of the night actually went pretty smoothly. Jonas only had one major breakdown and Justin actually managed to help calm him down. I was quite impressed by that, not many people can calm Jonas down.  We set up the blankets on the floor and soon all three of the kids were sleeping soundly. Justin was then allowed to sit on the couch with me, since Jonas got so upset when he tried before because the couch is where Jonas sits, not where Justin can sit.

“I should head out, you’re falling asleep,” Justin whispered.

I nodded my head and sat up quickly, I was indeed falling asleep, with my head on his shoulder so that needs to stop. “I’ll walk you out.”

“I had fun,” he smiled as we stood in front of his car.

“Really?”

“Yeah, really,” he chuckled, “Why really?”

“I don’t know. Jackie is annoying as hell, I’m sorry she kept asking you all those questions.”

“It’s fine, she’s sweet.”

Sweet is definitely not a word I would use to describe her.

“And Jonas is difficult sometimes but he seems to really like you.”

“He’s a good kid. They’re good kids, I had fun. I’d love to do something with them again sometime.”

I nodded my head and bit at my bottom lip. Why can’t I just get used to the fact that he says the right thing all the time and does the right things all the time? I need to just deal with that. “What are you doing next weekend?”

“Nothing. What are you thinking?”

“Do you,” I paused trying to decide if I should ask him or not. Fuck it. “Do you want to go to my friends wedding with me so I don’t have to go alone and sit at the kids table because I don’t have a date?”

Justin chuckled, “That’s quite the question, Jules. Of course, we don’t want you being stuck at the kids table.”

“Wait though, before you agree let me tell you the whole story and I completely understand if you don’t want to. It’s in San Diego, first of all. I’m also a bridesmaid but she’s not having a table for the wedding party or anything at the reception. I’m going down Friday morning to do bridesmaid stuff and the wedding is Saturday so I’ll come back Sunday. But, you can come down Saturday if you’d rather, or Friday of course works too.”

“Friday is good. What time should I pick you up?”

“Seriously? That’s it?”

“Yeah, why? I don’t see the problem. Who wouldn’t want to spend a weekend in San Diego?”

“She’s crazy, my friend, like complete Bridezilla.”

He laughed, “It’s cool. What time should I pick you up?”

“I was going to leave around eleven.”

“Alright then, I’ll be here a little before eleven on Friday.”

“You’re kinda saving me with this. Thank you.”

“Absolutely. I’ll call you some time this week to finalize everything.”

“OK,” I nodded my head.

“Alright. Well thanks for inviting me, and thanks for tonight. I had fun. I’ll see you soon.”

“Me too. Thanks,” I said before he moved closer and pressed his lips against mine.

“Have a good night Jules, sweet dreams.”

“Bye Justin,” I stood in the driveway as he got in the car and waved to him as he drove away.

Shit.

I’m screwed.