Chapter 5

( 4 days later - Texas )

“I swear to you Trace, it’s the funniest damn thing I have ever seen in my life!” Kerrigan laughed.  “You shoulda seen the look on his face.”

“It wasn’t that funny, Kerrigan.” Justin groaned, as he continued to walk down the long hallway of the venue.  Both Kerrigan and Trace laughing hysterically at his expense.

“I wish I woulda been there.  It would have been funny has hell to see Justin get his ego deflated.” Trace laughed.

“Oh, it was.  When that blonde walked up to him, his eyes nearly popped out of his head.  He was all whispering to me as she was making her way over about how she was so hot and so sexy.  He thought he had it made.  And then when she found out he wasn’t Ryan Phillipe, and walked off not giving him a second look.  Oh my god, I about died.  He just stood there totally shocked.  And totally confused.  Like he couldn’t believe that she wouldn’t want him.  She didn’t even know who Justin Timberlake was!” Kerrigan continued to laugh, as she explained to Trace the encounter she and Justin had, had at the mall earlier that afternoon.

“It REALLY wasn’t that funny, Kerrigan.” Justin rolled his eyes at her.

“But if you could have seen your face, J.  You’d be laughing too.” Kerrigan smirked at him.

“Whatever.  She wasn’t all that anyways.” Justin shrugged nonchalantly, and turned to walk out onto the stage where he was supposed to meet the other guys for sound check.

“He says that now.  Now that he was dissed and dismissed.” Trace chuckled.

“She did not diss me!” Justin argued.

“Who dissed Justin?” Joey questioned, overhearing their conversation as they stepped onto the stage.

“Oh, let me tell you the story…” Kerrigan began.

Justin silenced her by quickly placing his hand over her mouth.  “No, let’s not!”

Since Kerrigan couldn’t share the news Trace did.  “Some girl dissed Justin at the mall because he wasn’t Ryan Phillipe.”

Joey immediately began laughing.  “I wish I coulda seen that.  Did he pout about it?”

Kerrigan tried to answer, but Justin had yet to remove his hand from her mouth so she vigorously shook her head yes.

“NO I DIDN’T!” Justin cried out, as he removed his hand from Kerrigan’s mouth.

“Yes, you did J.  It was your all famous pout, when you don’t get your way.  I know that pout too well.  Trust me.  You were pouting.” Kerrigan smiled.

“Whatever.” he said, then turning his attention to the other guys that were standing there watching with amused smirks on their faces.  “I DID NOT pout!” he said when he seen them.  “You know what, never mind.  Let’s get sound check started.  I’ve had enough of Kerrigan trying to embarrass me today.” he said giving her a gentle shove as he walked over to the other guys.

“Well, you make it so easy.  I really don’t have to try too hard, Justin.”

“Don’t you have something to do?” he asked her, giving her a playful glare.

Over the last few days Justin had been sure to pay more attention to Kerrigan and spend more time with her.  After their night in Arizona, and it being pointed out to him by not only Kerrigan but also Chris that he had been ignoring her he had retreated to his room that night and thought it over.

Thinking back over his actions he realized they were both right, and made it a point not to ignore her.  He didn’t want Kerrigan feeling left out.  He enjoyed having her around, and he honestly didn’t know what he would do if she at some point decided to stop being his assistant and go her own way.  She was an important part of his life, and he didn’t want to neglect their friendship anymore than he already had for fear she would get fed up and walk.  Only this time it wouldn’t be from some club he had dragged her out to.  This time it would be from his day to day life, and he knew he wouldn’t be able to deal with that.  He had grown dependant on her presence, and not having her around simply wasn’t an option.

“Yeah, yeah.” Kerrigan rolled her eyes at him.

“You know, Kerr you really need to kick his ass.” Joey stated out of no where.

“Why should she do that?” Justin asked, giving Joey a peculiar look.

“Just because I think it would be fun to watch.” he shrugged.

Kerrigan laughed at Joey.  He was always coming up with off the wall stuff, and she couldn’t help but to laugh at him.  But it was a part of his charm.  “Maybe some other time, Joe.  Right now I have “something” to do.” she said, emphasizing the something.

“What would that something be?” Lance asked, playing with his mic set.

“Gotta look over some paperwork for the Justin Timberlake Foundation.” she shrugged.  “It’ll take me all but a half hour.”

“Well, why don’t you hang here with us then?” Chris asked.  “Drool over us five gorgeous men.” he smirked at her playfully.

“Sorry, that’s Trace’s job.” Kerrigan grinned over at Trace, and then quickly exited the stage before he could reply, although she did hear him calling something after her but she couldn‘t make out just what.

She made her way through the backstage area, and out into one of the main hallways of the venue, saying hi to some of the staff and crew members as she passed.

Ducking quickly into Justin’s dressing room, Kerrigan found her backpack and dug through it to find the papers she needed to look over.  After finding them she walked back out of the dressing room and headed back down the hall towards the stage again.  Since she knew it wouldn’t take her long to go over the paperwork, she figured she might as well amuse herself with the guys antics on stage.  They were always clowning around.  Yet another thing she loved about them.

Turning the corner, she looked up from the papers she had been studying just in time to prevent from walking right into someone.  Then she realized that someone was Cody.

Cody noticed her and smiled.  “Hey there.”

“Hey there yourself.” she smiled back.

“Oh my god she speaks!” he feigned astonishment.

“Cute.” Kerrigan said, rolling her eyes at him.

“Well, you’re definitely in better sprits today.”

“Yeah, well like I said the other night.  I was tired, and just wanted to crawl into my bed and sleep.  Thanks again for sharing your taxi with me.”

“Not a problem.  We were both going to the same place.” he shrugged.

“Yeah, but still.  Thanks.” she smiled awkwardly, not really sure of what else to say.

They stood there silently for a moment before Cody spoke up again.  “So where was ya headed?”

“I was just going to go out and watch the guys sound check.  I’m looking over some paperwork for J, and I knew it wouldn’t take long so I figured I might as well come back and get a good laugh at their expense.”

“They are some pretty funny guys.” Cody nodded in agreement.

“They’re friggin’ crazy.” Kerrigan laughed.

“Well, I was just headed in that way too.  Gotta finish setting up the lighting for the show tonight, so is it ok if I walk with you?”

“I don’t see why not.” Kerrigan shrugged and began to walk again.  Cody following quickly beside her.

“So you’re close to Justin, huh?  How do you two know each other?” he asked, trying to make conversation.  He had seen her around on several occasions, just hanging out and having a good time with the guys.  There was something about Kerrigan that intrigued him and he’d be lying if he said he didn’t want to get to know her better.

“Oh, we’ve known each other since we were babies.  Our parents were friends, therefore we ended up being friends.”

“And so he just brings you on tour with him?  Are you two like dating or something?”

“No.  We’re just friends.  I’m actually one of his personal assistants.  Both me and Trace help J out with stuff.  It’s his way of bringing us along with him and keeping us close.”

“Well, that’s nice of him.” Cody smiled at her as they walked into the arena area.

“Yeah.” Kerrigan agreed.

The two of them continued into the room, Kerrigan quickly finding a chair to plop down in, so she could look over the papers.  Cody was still following her, just talking about random things.  He was really nice.  And VERY cute.  Hell, she’d even go as far as to steal one of Justin’s words and say he was hot.

He reminded her a lot of the actor Orlando Bloom, with his rugged brown hair and brown eyes.  From what she could see in his jeans and staff t-shirt he had a nice body too.  She guessed he probably worked out on a regular basis.  That or his job just kept him fit, because he definitely had nice arms.  A feature that Kerrigan enjoyed immensely on men.  As far as she was concerned there was nothing like a nice set of arms.

After a minute of awkwardly just standing in front of her while talking to her, Cody finally took a seat in the chair next to her as they were getting into a conversation about the lighting and what all he had to do to set it up.  Usually that kind of conversation would bore Kerrigan senseless, but for some reason she was completely captivated by him when he spoke and she didn’t care what he was talking about.

Meanwhile, Justin was up on stage talking with the guys and joking around.  He hadn’t even noticed Kerrigan sitting out in the first row of chairs until he noticed JC looking off in that direction.  He turned to see what JC was staring at and that’s when he noticed Kerrigan.  And the fact that she wasn’t alone.

Justin wasn’t sure, because he hadn’t gotten a good look at the guy she left with the other night, but he did remember that the guy had brown hair, so he assumed that the guy she was sitting out there talking to was the same she had road back to the hotel with the other night.

JC noticed that Justin was staring and decided to ask who the guy Kerrigan was talking to was.  All of the guys were protective of her in their own way.  JC had known her the longest out of the other guys, because he had met her while on MMC with Justin.  And it was just odd to see her talking to some guy.  She talked to guys all the time, but very rarely did she talk to guys her age.  Outside of him, Justin, Trace, Lance, Joey, and Chris anyways.

“Who’s that guy Kerrigan’s talking to?” JC asked.

“I’m not sure, but I think he’s the guy that she road back to the hotel with the other night.  I think she said he works on lighting.” Justin shrugged.

“Oh, he must be one of the new guys then.  I’ve seen him around, but haven’t really had the chance to talk to him or anything.” JC stated.

“Yeah, me either.” Justin said still watching the interaction between Kerrigan and Cody.

“You’re going to go interrogate him aren’t you?” JC asked, noticing the menacing look on Justin’s face.

“What would make you say that?” Justin asked innocently.

“I know you, J.  And any time a guy comes near Kerrigan, you’re interrogating them.  You’ve probably scared off half her date prospects.” JC chuckled.

“I don’t interrogate them!”

“Yes you do!  You ask them all kinds of stupid questions.  And glare at them in this weird fatherly way.  I mean if Kerrigan knew about half the guys you’ve basically warned to steer clear of her she’d probably strangle you.”

“I haven’t warned anyone to stay away from her.” Justin lied.

“Maybe not verbally, but I’ve seen the way you look at the guys when you catch them staring at her.  You give them this look and that’s enough right there.  You don’t even need to verbalize it.”

“I honestly don’t know what you’re talking about, JC.”

“OK.  Go find a mirror and check out the expression on your face right now.  If that guy were looking at you, and seen the expression on your face, which clearly says  STAY AWAY, then you’d know what I’m talking about.”  JC smiled knowingly.

“Well, I don’t do it on purpose.  It’s just I know how these guys are.  They’re on the road, and a lot of them tend to take advantage.  I don’t want Kerrigan getting mixed up with anyone like that.  She’s my friend, I gotta look out for her.”

“Hey, I’m not trying to give you a hard time dude.  Just merely pointing out the fact that sooner or later your fatherly look isn’t gonna work on one of these guys.  Kerrigan’s, a great girl, and a good catch.  And sooner or later some guys gonna wanna catch her, if you know what I mean.  And that looks not gonna work, and then well you know.  Hell, I’m not really making any sense am I?”

“Not really, but amazingly enough I actually understood what you just said.” Justin gave him a funny look.

“Yeah, well anyways.  Back to work.” JC said before turning and walking over to talk to Lance.

Justin stood there for a moment thinking about what JC had said.  He honestly didn’t know that he gave guys that look when he caught them checking Kerrigan out, but he would have to admit he had pretty much all but threatened a few.

Kerrigan wasn’t just any girl.  She was special to him and he wasn’t about to let just any guy around her.  He wasn’t going to let any guy use and abuse her for their own selfish needs or wants.  And if he didn’t think the guys were suitable for her, he wasn’t afraid to let the guy know that.

Of course he had NEVER mentioned that to Kerrigan.  She’d have his head on a platter if he told her that he’d actually physically threatened a couple guys that he had overheard talking about asking her out.  She would give him some long ass lecture about minding his own business, and yell and cuss at him a bit.  And that was something Justin tried to avoid whenever possible.  The girl had a temper to be reconded with.

Justin gave a look around at the other guys.  So much for sound check, they all seemed to be caught up in their own conversations so Justin decided he’d go over and see what this guy Cody and Kerrigan were talking about.  They’d been sitting there for a few minutes now just talking.  And Kerrigan was smiling like a fool.  She was obviously diggin’ this guy, and of course Justin needed to further inspect the guy since he knew nothing about him.

Walking over to the edge of the stage, he sat down on the edge and waited for Kerrigan to look up at him.  But when she didn’t even notice his presence, he spoke up.  “Did you get those papers all looked over?” he asked, and then silently scolded himself for such a lame question.  He really needed to be a little more original.

Kerrigan looked up at Justin surprised to see him sitting right in front of her on the stage.  “I’ll be done with them in a few minutes.  There’s not really much to it, so it won't take long.”

“Well, no rush.  Just thought I’d ask.  The other guys seemed to have forgotten what we were here for, and are off in their own worlds again.” he said looking over Kerrigan and then glancing over to Cody.

“You all have such short attention spans.” Kerrigan smirked at him.

“Ha Ha” Justin rolled his eyes at her and then focused his attention on Cody.  “So you must be the guy that brought Kerr back to the hotel the other night.  Thanks for making sure she got back ok.”

Cody looked up at Justin.  “Oh, it was no problem.  I seen her coming out and figured since we were going to the same place we might as well share the taxi.” he shrugged.

“That was mighty considerate of you.” Justin stated, and Kerrigan gave him a funny look.  She didn’t miss the bitterness in Justin’s tone, although Cody didn’t seem to notice.

Figuring now would be as good a time as any to introduce the two, Kerrigan spoke up.  “J, this is Cody.  Cody this is Justin.”

“Nice to meet ya man.” Cody said, standing and extending his hand to Justin.

“Yeah.  You too.” Justin said, taking Cody‘s hand briefly to shake it..

An awkward silence fell over the three of them and Cody took that as he queue to get back to work.  He was picking up some unfriendly vibes from Justin and though he was choosing to ignore them, he also knew he needed to get back to work.

“Well, I guess I better get back to work before I get in trouble.” he said standing.  “Maybe I’ll see ya around later?” he asked, looking to Kerrigan for some form of encouragement.

“Yeah, I’m sure I’ll see ya around.” she smiled.

“Ok.  Well then I’ll see ya later.” Cody smiled at her, and then turned to Justin.  “Nice to meet ya.  Later man.” and then walked off.

Justin watched his retreating back and waited until he was out of ear shot before he hopped down off the stage and took a seat next to Kerrigan.  “So what was that all about?”

“What was what all about?” Kerrigan asked, not looking up from the papers she had now focused on.

“You and him.  What were you talking about?” Justin pushed.  So what if he was being nosey, he looked at it as his job as her friend.

“We were just talking, Justin.  Nothing important, just talking.”

“He was hitting on you.” Justin pointed out.

Kerrigan’s eyes lifted for the first time from the papers she had become engrossed in.  “I seriously doubt that, J.” she said, looking at him as if he were insane.

“He was TOTALLY hitting on you, Kerr.  How can you not know that he was hitting on you?  “Maybe I’ll see ya around later?”, he was hitting on you!” Justin mocked.

“So what if he was?” Kerrigan shrugged.  This was something new for her.  She didn’t really think he was hitting on her, she just thought he was being nice.  But if Justin was correct, and he usually was, then this was definitely new for her.

“Well, what are you going to do?” Justin asked.

“About?”

“If he asks you out or something?   How much do you know about the guy?  I think before you agree to go out anywhere with him alone, we need to find out more about him.” Justin said, drifting off in thought.

Kerrigan studied Justin’s face.  He seemed to be thinking hard about something.  It was like he already had her paired up with this guy.  She didn’t know weather to be hurt or encouraged.  “It’s probably nothing Justin, so stop trying to plan out my wedding to him.”

“Plan out your wedding?  You don’t even know the guy!  I don’t think you should even be alone in a room with him, let alone planning out your wedding.”

“Well, what are you going on about then?”

“I’m just saying, he’s obviously into you, Kerr.  He was hitting on you, right IN FRONT of me.” Justin scoffed.

“So?” Kerrigan gave him a confused look.  So what if he was hitting on her in front of Justin.  Why was that such a big deal?

“How the hell does he know we’re not together?  I mean, you could be my girlfriend or something, and he’s just hitting on you like that.”

Kerrigan laughed.  Full on laughed at him.  “You’re girlfriend?  What the hell, J?”

“I’m just saying he doesn’t know.” he shrugged feeling a bit foolish, especially since Kerrigan was laughing at the notion.  He didn’t think it was so preposterous.  I mean sure they were only friends, and he didn’t think of Kerrigan that way, but how was this guy Cody supposed to know that.  They’d been mistaken for a couple many times before.  Why was this guy different?

“I told him we were just friends, J.” Kerrigan said, still snickering at Justin’s comment.

“He asked you that already?”

“Yeah, he asked if we were dating or something, and I told him we were just friends.  That I was one of your personal assistants.” Kerrigan answered, looking back to the papers.

“Did you tell him that we were best friends?  That we’ve known each other since we were kids?”

Kerrigan nodded, not really understanding why that information was important, but she had mentioned it so she had nodded yes to his answer.

“What did he say?” Justin probed.

Kerrigan was about to speak, when Lance’s voice interrupted her.  “Yo, J.  We’re ready to get this sound check back in order.”

“Ok, just a sec.” Justin said waving the guys off and turning his attention back to Kerrigan.  “So what did he say?” he persisted.

“Why’s it important?” Kerrigna eyed him.

“I just wanted to know what he said.”

“He really didn’t say anything, other than it was nice of you to bring me along and give me a job.  Like I said before, Justin.  We were just talking.  Not about anything important, so I really don’t understand what’s up with the interogation.”

“I’m not trying to interogate ya.  I was just curious is all.” he paused in thought, trying to come up with a reason for all of his questions.  “I mean it’s not every day some guy is hitting on our Kerrigan, so I was just curious.  Gotta check it out, ya know?”  he smiled.

Kerrigan looked at Justin in amazement, before getting to her feet.  She looked down at Justin, the hurt in her eyes evident to him, although he wasn’t sure why.  “Kerr, what’s wrong?” he asked.

“Oh, nothing.  I mean I think I’m just in shock.  Like you said, it’s not every day a guy is hitting on me.  I don’t know what to do.  I mean, it’s just absolutely obsurd that a guy might actually find me actractive and hit on me.  God forbid that happen!  I mean I am just one of the guys.” she said and then stormed off, leaving a very confused Justin in her wake.