Surprise! 

“SURPRISE!” was followed by a shrill scream. A popped bottle of champagne; the realization that she was not in danger but in fact in the midst of her surprise birthday party; a fit of giddy, almost hysterical laughter…

Cue the music and let the madness begin:

“You’re supposed to be serving the alcohol, not drinking it.”

Justin was leaned back, a shot glass poised at his lips. He smiled devilishly, straightened his posture, and held the glass out to me instead. “For you.”

I shook my head. “Uh-uh; I don’t do tequila.”

He laughed good-naturedly. “Ooooh yes, by the end of the night… believe me, you will.”

I was content; our amicable banter was genuinely making me smile, the fact that he was paying attention to me and not rubbing some big breasted strawberry blonde in my face was giving me a sense of deep joy; Charlotte had hugged me a million times, every time we crossed paths she thanked me profusely, I glanced at her from my spot by Justin’s booth and found her doubled over guffawing at something one of her coworkers had just said. She was happy and didn’t seem the least bit disappointed which meant that the party was going to be a success after all.

I raised an eyebrow flirtatiously. “Is that a promise?”

“It’s a guarantee.” He motioned to a half empty tray of jell-o shots. “Have one while I make you a drink.”

“One of your famous mojitos, please.”

He nodded once, curt and firm, then winked at me and said, “Yes, ma’am.”

No shit, Justin was one of those guys who let things (questionable things) happen without ever speaking of them again, but I was surprised to find that suddenly I preferred it that way. Case in point, my change in behavior around him, his change in behavior last night when out of the blue he offered to help. He didn’t ask why the smiles and smirks and jokes all of a sudden, and I didn’t want him to. I just wanted to eat, drink, and be merry; and live oblivious and drama free.

The jell-o was mushy, sweet, simply delicious, and I had managed to eat four before Justin finally stuck a straw in my glass and handed it to me. He’d been watching me and asked teasingly, “Hungry?”

And I had to admit that I was. It had to be close to four and I hadn’t eaten yet, in fact the last meal I had was some time in the afternoon the day before. My stomach growled loudly as it realized this, and I clutched it quickly, embarrassed. I pretended not to notice Justin trying to stifle his laughter, and said, “I’m going to start the grill,” then hurriedly made my way into the kitchen.

I found Trace stocking the refrigerator with three twelve-pack’s of beer.

After I’d threatened to cut off his genitals, we hadn’t had much to say to each other, although I was curious as to why he’d felt the need to aggravate me when it was clear how stressed I was. Still, I said nothing and waited patiently for him to finish so that I could retrieve the meat from the freezer. He seemed unlikely to speak as well, until… “I’m not staying; just thought you could use some… refreshment reinforcements.”

Which was awkward, to say the least, not only the way he’d phrased it but the way he was staring at the ground, like a child being reprimanded by an authority figure.

“Do you want to stay?” I asked, without really thinking.

He shrugged as if considering it for a moment, then said, “Nah. I don’t know anyone and JT’s busy. Thanks, though.” He closed the refrigerator door, threw away the empty beer cases, and shuffled into the living room.

I sipped my drink for a moment and let the feeling of our encounter linger. I couldn’t be sure what was happening, but nothing was really fazing me, throwing me off guard, or bugging me. I’ve learned that, that’s usually because in my life there’s a fine line between peace and chaos, and it’s with the slightest tilt, the tiniest twitch, the simplest of words or actions that send me plummeting from equanimity to complete and utter madness.

His name was Wes and he came tall and slender, with shoulder length hair and smoldering blue eyes, totally different from the men that usually took my breath away, and yet as alluring and disarming as ever. Of course, I didn’t know that right away; he said, “Where’s the restroom?” and turned me into a stuttering, stammering idiot.

~

“I… love you. You are the bestest friend a girl could ever have. I love you.” We hadn’t even cut the cake yet and Charlotte was already wasted, her arms drooped over my shoulders as she half hugged me, half used me to steady herself.

I looked past her loose blonde waves to the guy that had asked me for directions to the bathroom. He was good-looking in a Euro-chic kind of way, and I would kill myself if his last impression of me was: “Uh---um---uh… th-that way.” All I had to do was think of something (anything) coherent to say and I’d be satisfied, but the longer my eyes remained on him the more evident it became that, that was easier said than done.

There was something both captivating and inhibiting about him, his confidence which was just that: confidence; not arrogance, not pompousness, not condescension; just a sense of security in who he was and where he stood in the world. I wanted to be like that; I wanted something so pure like that to be in my life.

I decided that I would say hi and let the pieces fall where they may, but before I could untangle myself from Charlotte, Justin was by my side.

“Is she drunk?”

I heaved a sigh. “Yes.”

Char shouted, “Justin!” Then giggled, throwing her arms up high, before plopping herself onto him in an embrace similar to the one that she and I had been locked in.

He laughed and said, “Hey, birthday girl.”

Oh God, if Char could see herself she’d go into cardiac arrest. I tried to pull her away from him so that I could guide her to one of the couches in the cabana but she tightened her grip. He laughed again and said, “C-Town... lets get you some water.” And because I couldn’t just let him drag her off somewhere without me I followed, wistfully glancing back to the beautiful stranger.

~

“Alright, alright, he’s handsome, we get it…” Justin reached over Charlotte and tapped my shoulder. “You can stop staring now.”

I hadn’t realized that I’d been watching him, and turned back to the situation at hand so that I was no longer looking over my shoulder. I couldn’t help it. "Hi," just wasn't good enough; I was trying to construct the perfect sentence to say to him, and looking at him seemed like the best way to do so. “You are gorgeous,” sounded so trite, like something the woman he was currently talking to might say. I had to differentiate myself, be intriguingly original.

I focused on Char as she drank from the cup of water we’d given her and didn’t speak, but I could feel Justin’s gaze, curious and questioning.

“You smell nice,” he said, finally; softly; sincerely.

I crossed my arms over my chest and hugged myself. Don’t do this, I begged. Don’t make this about you. Because whenever things were 100%, all about Justin Timberlake, I stopped being righteous and became a walking disaster. I had to rise above, I was going to rise above.

With firm determination, I said, “Thank you.”

“You look nice, too; I like your hair.”

“Thank you.”

“You know, I really am sorry about the past couple of weeks, I---”

I was going to make myself dizzy, I was shaking my head so hard. Don’t do this. What was so wonderful between us all of a sudden was the fact that we weren’t doing this; I tried to speak, his name at the tip of my tongue, and he seemed ready to continue his spiel; but then something kind of amazing happened, and I had to hold myself back from kissing Char with deep gratitude.

She belched. A loud, gnarly, fat man of a belch. And just like that, the moment was gone and there seemed nothing else to say. I was going to lead her to the cabana like I’d planned to earlier and bring her another cup of water, anything to escape before he started up again, but then as if on cue, the inevitable also happened. A beautiful brunette with wide sea foam green eyes approached us, or more accurately, approached Justin.

“You’re the ’bartender’ right?”

Justin’s eyes flit quickly between me and the woman; me and Cassie all over again. “Uh, yeah.”

She held out her hand. “Sophie.”

“Sophie!” And then Char’s arms were up and she was falling all over, yet, another person.

~

When I finally got Charlotte settled on the couch with another cup of water, I decided to take a seat beside her and take in the party. Everyone seemed to be having a really good time with a cluster of people here and a cluster of people there; I’d gotten several compliments on the food; heard a few people say that they liked the decorations and heard a lot of people say that they loved Justin’s drinks. I couldn’t have done it without him… which reminded me that I needed a drink. The last one I had was the mojito and if I was going to stop thinking about what could’ve been said between us before “Sophie” had interrupted, and what could be said between me and the beautiful stranger, I was going to need alcohol pronto.

They really seemed to be hitting it off, him and "Sophie." She had a gorgeous smile and ample cleavage, of course they were. I mean, Jesus Christ, how was any other woman here supposed to get laid with that bombshell walking around? The beautiful stranger had probably already set his eyes on her and was devising a plan to lure her away from Justin. I could’ve driven myself off of a cliff at any moment, my insecurities going into sensory overload.

And then…

“Wes!” He was in the midst of sitting beside me and Charlotte’s arms were in the air, before she fell over me and into his lap.

(Gah, I love that girl.)