six: let’s be honest
His phone had been vibrating relentlessly against his nightstand for what felt like an hour. And while it was only ten minutes in actuality, it was still quite a long time to hear that annoying buzz, so he finally rolled to the other side of his bed to pick it up.
“Hello,” he answered groggily.
“Justin?” It was Kristin.
“Yeah?”
“Are you up?”
“No,” he croaked out. “What time is it?”
“It’s like nine thirty. Sorry to wake you.”
“Is everything all right?” he frowned at the sunlight creeping into his bedroom.
“Everything’s fine. We’re still going to see you this weekend, right?”
“Yeah, of course.” He found himself sniffling as he finally sat up in his bed. “Don’t worry, I wouldn’t skip town on you guys.”
“That’s comforting,” she chuckled to herself. “But listen, two things…”
“I’m listening.”
“First thing, I would really, really appreciate it if you would give Nadia a call. Just to alleviate any awkwardness that might arise when you see each other again this weekend.”
“Kris, what are you talking about?”
“My friend, Nadia? You went home with her the night of my engagement party? Didn’t call the next day. Or any day since?”
He wracked his brain trying to recall that night that took place over a month ago, coming up empty. The truth of the matter was, after Mila broke the news that she was getting remarried, life had become a bit of a blur for Justin. And his apartment had become a turnstyle for a bevy of beautiful women, none of which really stood out more than the other.
“Jus, you there?”
“I’m here.”
“So can you call her?”
“I… yeah. Of course. What’s her number?”
She sighed heavily, unsure if she even wanted to put Nadia on this path of destruction. It probably would have been best to just pair her up with someone else for the wedding. But she just imagined them looking so good together. “You’re an asshole,” she told him coldly as she placed him on speakerphone to search for the phone number.
“It’s been a rough month,” he defended himself.
“From what I hear, it’s been a rough year.”
“That, too.”
“You ready?”
“Hold on,” he hopped out of bed to head for his kitchen, where he knew he kept pens and post-its. There, he was slightly stunned to find a collection of phone numbers waiting to be noticed. And sure enough, Nadia was among the ruins. “You know what, Kris, I think I got it.”
“You do.”
“Yeah, 347-623-5262?”
“God, you’re an asshole!” she laughed sarcastically. “What the heck, Justin?”
“I know. I know.” He glanced over the rest of the numbers, not even remembering speaking to most of these women, much less sleeping with them. Casey, Jenn, Amanda, Katy, Mia, Nicole… “I’m not sure what happened to me.”
“I get it. Mila is moving on and it sucks, but you can’t just play with people like this, Justin. Most certainly not my friends.”
“Won’t happen again,” he promised, quickly growing tired of the lecture. “I’m gonna call her.”
“Be nice,” she reminded him. “If you don’t like her, that’s okay. Just… be nice.”
Like her? He didn’t even remember her. “Okay, mom.”
“All right,” she sighed. “I guess I’ll let you loose then.”
“Wait, what was the other thing?”
“Umm… I’m not so sure I need to tell you that right now.” She had planned to tell him about Mila and how things probably weren’t so cut and dry as far as moving on was concerned. But that appeared to be the last thing he needed to hear. He would have held on to any shred of hope for dear life, and Kristin did not want to give him false hope, so she thought it best to keep to herself. “One thing at a time.”
“Call Nadia,” he confirmed.
“You got it.”
“Duly noted,” he sighed. “And I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Mañana, my friend.”
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Justin’s Audi Q7 pulled up at Nadia’s downtown Brooklyn brownstone at exactly 12 PM, just as he promised. He barely had enough time to open his door before Nadia was practically running down her steps with her weekend Louis luggage in tow. Justin hurried out of the car to greet her and help with the bags.
“Good morning,” he saluted her, studying her face as he did so. The minute their eyes met, everything came back to him, and he almost couldn’t believe that he hadn’t called on his own accord.
“Good afternoon.” She gave him a once-over, noting that she wasn’t crazy about grown men wearing shorts, but he somehow made it work. She handed him the bigger of her two bags and continued down the steps.
He admired her gait “ the way her long legs hit the pavement mesmerized him. “Good afternoon, indeed,” he mumbled.
“Nice car,” she turned to say.
“Thanks,” he returned, placing her luggage in the trunk along with his own. “I just got it.”
“Must be nice.” She daintily took the passenger’s seat and watched him head for the driver’s side of the car.
“You all set?”
She pulled her Ray-Bans from the top of her head and perched them on her face before nodding. “I’m ready.”
He smiled, admiring how utterly cool she looked. “All right then.”
“This is like a two hour drive, right?”
“From here to Southampton? Yeah, without traffic, I guess.”
“But it’s Fourth of July weekend, so there will obviously be traffic…”
“You are right about that,” he conceded, pulling out of his space. “But it would have taken you longer if you’d taken the train, so…”
“That’s debatable.”
“You also wouldn’t have had me to keep you company.”
“Is that supposed to be a point for or against the train?”
“Ouch,” he held his heart in pretend pain.
“I’m kidding. I appreciate the ride.” She threw her purse to the space behind Justin’s seat and got comfortable in her own. “It’s actually nice to not have to take the train in this heat.”
“I bet.”
“You feel like playing a game?”
“What, like the license plate game?” he grinned.
“Not quite,” she smiled back charmingly. “On our show, we play a game every once in a while called Let’s Be Honest.”
“Okay…”
“And basically, I get to ask you anything I want and you have to tell the truth, no matter how uncomfortable the answer may be.”
“Okay…”
“You in?”
Justin wasn’t exactly known as a purveyor of truth, but he figured it couldn’t hurt too much to try something new. Maybe he’d learn something about himself in the process. And maybe genuinely get to know someone else for the first time in a long time. “I get to ask you questions too, right?”
“Of course. We’ll go back and forth.”
He sighed heavily, resisting the urge to smile at this ridiculous notion. “All right. Shoot.”
“Okay.” She turned down his radio, which had been playing a Drake song, and stared at him curiously, trying to think of a fairly easy one to start things off. “Are you a MoMA or a Met?” she posed as if she’d asked that question several times in her lifetime.
“What?”
“Oh, you’re gonna try to act brand new,” she rolled her eyes playfully. “You live in New York, do you not?”
“Of course I do.”
“Well I classify New Yorkers into two types “ MoMA or Met. Which one are you?”
“As in the museums?” he looked befuddled.
“You are not as intelligent as I’ve been led to believe,” she laughed. “Yes, the museums. What is your preference?”
“Well I’m not answering that until you tell me what it means. If I say MoMA, what does that say about me?”
“What, so you can pick the right answer?”
“There’s not a right answer. Is there?”
“If you wanna fuck with me, there is.”
“Well I’ve already fucked with you, so…” His sarcasm melted into another smile as he hopped onto the BQE. “I guess my answer doesn’t matter.”
“Yeah, I guess not.” She sat back in her seat, enjoying the view of the city ahead of her. She always enjoyed going through the city actually getting to see her surroundings. She was used to taking the train, where views of graffiti-covered tunnels reigned supreme, so it was always a big deal to her when she got to ride in a car. Especially for free. And then, for some reason, it dawned on her that she left her cell phone at home. “Fuck.”
Justin looked over to her, alarmed by her sudden outburst. “What?”
“I forgot my phone. I can see it sitting on my mail table.”
“Oh.”
“We gotta go back.”
“You can’t go a couple of days without your phone?”
“No! It’s my lifeline. I can’t go a whole three days without it!” She was panicking, which was a very un-Nadia-like thing to do. “We have to go back.”
“Calm down,” he was laughing, maneuvering his way across the highway. “We’ll go back, that’s fine with me. But whatever you were running from is probably still waiting for you, so just keep that in mind.”
“Fuck.”
“You say that a lot.”
“I needed you to point that out.”
“What were you running from anyway?”
“Who told you I was running from something?”
“Seriously? You shot out of your front door like a cannon. And I know it wasn’t because you wanted to see me.”
“You are right about that.”
“So what gives?”
“Excuse you, it’s not your turn yet.”
“Fine, I’m a MoMA.”
“No, you’re not.”
“What?” he chirped incredulously. “How can you tell me what I am?”
“Because I can just tell. Only a unique few are MoMAs, and you’re no MoMA.”
“I’m offended.”
“I don’t think I care,” she shrugged teasingly.
“Oh okay, well then I don’t care about going back to get your phone.”
“Oh wow, well played,” she grinned at him. “That’s fine. I honestly don’t want to go back anyway.”
“Sure you don’t.”
“I don’t!”
“So it’s my turn, right?”
“It is your turn, sir.”
“What were you running from?”
“Fuck me,” she whispered to herself, still not wanting to open that can of worms. But she was the one who wanted to play the game in the first place. “I was running from Alex.”
“Alex.”
“Yep.”
“That’s your boyfriend?” he sullenly surmised.
“No,” she simpered. “She lives with me.”
“Is she a psycho roommate or something? You owe her rent?”
Nadia laughed at the mere thought of owing anybody anything. “No, I don’t owe her rent. But she wanted to come along, and we got into a big fight because I said no, and so she thinks that I’m ashamed of her around all my ‘rich friends’ and it’s just a big fuckin’ mess. So when I saw your car pull up, I ran out of there as fast as I could.”
“Huh.”
“I’m not crazy,” she proclaimed, hearing the tentativeness in his voice. “I just like to keep shit compartmentalized.”
“I get that,” he promised. “But I mean, is she your best friend? Why wouldn’t you want her to come?”
“She’s not my best friend. I don’t even have a best friend. She’s… a friend, and she’s met Kristin and Grant before, so it’s not like I’m keeping her away from anyone. I just don’t see any need for her to be there. You’re not bringing anyone.”
“Yeah, but if my buddy Trace wanted to come, I wouldn’t be like, Nah man, stay away from me,” he laughed. “You know?”
“I know. But trust me, running out was the quickest way out of there.”
“Fair enough,” he surrendered, amused by all of this. “You go.”
“My go. Okay. Let’s see,” she sighed. “Scale of one to ten, how would you rate me in bed?”
“Wow, you hold no punches, I guess.”
“Clearly.”
“Wow.” He adjusted his grip on the steering wheel as his hands became slightly damp at the notion of actually answering. Was he really supposed to tell her he didn’t quite remember it? “You want me to be honest, right?”
“That is why it’s called, ‘Let’s Be Honest,’” she confirmed. “Just don’t say some bitch shit.”
“Well. I don’t exactly… recall that night very well. It’s like a really big blur.”
“Oh.” She was obviously crestfallen by his admission. “I see.”
“I’m an asshole,” he went on. “Please don’t take it personally.”
“It’s cool,” she lied. “I dig your honesty.”
“I didn’t wanna lie…”
And while she had to respect that, a small part of her wished that he had. “Your turn.”
“We don’t have to play this.”
“We have over two hours of silence to fill, so we might as well do it now before I get sick of you.”
“Fair enough,” he smiled at her frankness. “Five words you’d use to describe yourself?”
“Five words. All right. I am smart, I like to think I’m open-minded, though some might tell you differently. I can be provocative, I’m loyal, and I’m sarcastic.”
“So you’re a bitch,” he joked at the end of her description. “Got it.”
She punched him in the arm, not wanting to agree with him, but knowing it was not at all far from the truth. “In one word, perhaps.”
“That’s cool. I freely admit to being an asshole, so maybe Kristin and Grant knew what they were doing when they paired us up.”
“Ha,” she snorted. “Maybe so.”
The two of them continued their inquisitive game for another hour, very much enjoying one another’s company and the opportunity to get inside the other’s head. Nadia was used to being the interviewer, and Justin used to being a very guarded interviewee, so it was a nice departure for both of them to step outside their comfort zones.
“Your turn,” Justin told Nadia with a long yawn as they reached a slowdown in traffic. Apparently, everyone had left New York City at the same time.
“Why on earth did you leave *NSYNC?”
Justin’s yawn immediately turned to a full-fledged cackle in response to her question. “Seriously?”
“Yes! I want to know.”
“Umm… well to be honest, I’d been approached several times between the first and second album, people told me to strike while the iron was hot and all this nonsense, so it wasn’t like out of the blue. But I put it out of my head for a long time because I felt like the five of us had something really special. But then I met Mila, and she was the one who convinced me that, like, the world was mine for the taking. She told me I could do it, and it didn’t make sense to me until then. And it seemed like good timing with Lance going to Russia and everything, so I thought… why the fuck not.”
“Why the fuck not,” she nodded in agreement. “I dig that.”
“And for the record, I had every intention of going back. I had no idea that it would turn into what it did.”
“How could you have,” she shrugged. “For the record, no one in their right mind would have gone back, and fuck anyone that says differently.”
He laughed at that advice, wishing someone had told him that seven years ago. He’d felt like a perpetual bad guy in 2004. “Thankfully, I’m very much past that now.”
“I was a nurse in the Lenox Hill ER back when your first album came out, and I swear you got me through some long ass nights.”
“Seriously?”
“Very seriously.”
“You were a nurse? No bullshit?”
“I was a nurse from when I graduated college ‘til I was about twenty-seven,” she nodded. “Best and worst five years of my life.”
“Wow.”
“I’m full of surprises, I know.”
“You are certainly that,” he agreed with raised eyebrows. “And I’m super curious as to how one goes from being an ER nurse to a morning show host on a Top 40 station.”
“I am multifaceted, obviously.”
“I’ve never listened to the show, so I cannot confirm or deny the legitimacy of that statement.”
“Shut the fuck up,” she chuckled. “I actually met Kristin at an event for the hospital. They had been in the process of looking for a replacement for one of the female DJ’s that left and after we talked for a few minutes, she asked me to audition because she liked the way I spoke. We became good friends really fast and… the rest is history.”
“That’s funny, I’ve known Kris for almost twenty years now and I would just never peg you as her type.”
“Well she’s come a long way from her Memphis roots. Her taste is, umm… interesting.”
“Apparently.”
“And being the producer on a show like that, she would have to be.”
“I can dig it,” he grinned, purposely stealing her favorite phrase. “Is it my turn or yours?”
“It’s mine,” she sighed.
“Oh, are you bored? We can stop playing if you are.”
“No, stupid. I’m just trying to figure out whether I want to ask you this question.”
“How bad could it be.”
“It’s not bad, but last time I asked you something in reference to me, you basically said I was an unmemorable fuck, so…”
“Nadia, I said I was sorry.”
“Did you?”
“Come on,” he pouted. “We’re doing well here.”
She exhaled again, knowing she probably didn’t want to get an answer to this question, but asked it anyway. “So you didn’t remember fucking me, what made you decide to call after a month?”
“I told you I only recently discovered your number.” Which was true.
“Yeah, but now that I know the sex was forgettable for you, what was it that made you actually dial the numbers?”
“Nadia…”
“You said I had nice tits. Did you mean that?”
“I-I-I’m sure you do.”
“Do you remember now?” She lifted her white tank to reveal what would certainly be classified as nice tits. “Still a blur?”
“Nadia, what the fuck are you doing,” he couldn’t help but lick his lips at the sight. He also couldn’t keep his eyes on the road. “Do you want me to kill us? Is that what’s happening here?”
“I’m just trying to get an answer.” She let her shirt back down, but kept her eyes fixated on him.
“You failed to mention you were also crazy.”
“Now you know. Answer me.”
“What was the question again?”
“Why the fuck did you suddenly call me after a month of nothing?” she shouted at him. “And don’t lie!”
“Kristin,” he finally revealed quietly.
“Excuse me?”
“Kristin asked me to call you,” he repeated, louder this time. “Not for your sake or mine, but for the sake of her wedding.”
“I see.”
“And for the record, she didn’t ask me to pick you up or anything like that. So this isn’t a pity ride.”
“Got it,” she returned sarcastically with a nod to match. “Thank you for clearing that up.”
“You’re mad.”
“I’m fine.”
“Are you sure?”
“Positive.” She then turned to her window, and stared out to all the cars heading to the Hamptons with them. Of all the cars on the road, how did she end up in this one, she thought.
“So is it my turn now?”
“Let’s not play anymore. I think we’ve had enough honesty for one day.”
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