TWO DAYS LATERThe thing about making up a celebrity Christmas party list without the help of the celebrity giving the party is that you never know who to invite, who to leave off, and who to not even think about putting on the list. Sitting at my desk in the office at Justin's house, I'm swamped with past emails, invitations, and Christmas cards to see who gets the OK and who doesn't. The only thing remotely helping out is that I've got a glass of white wine and put on Josh Groban's Christmas album, though I don't know if it's helping or not because now I'd really like to invite Josh Groban. I search through anything that might lend a clue as to whether or not he and Justin are even friends. Oh, why the hell not? It's Christmas and it's a Christmas party for A-listers. Justin has to approve and why wouldn't he approve Josh Groban? There. Settled. Josh Groban is invited to Justin's Timberlake Tinsel and Light Party. That's the name his party planner, Margaret picked for it. I think it sounds like a girly theme, but I don't dare mention that to Margaret. She's in charge of decorating the house, the caterers, and everything else. I just have to make up a huge list and see to it that my boss approves.

To give Justin some credit, he has jotted down a few names on a piece of paper and handed it to me in a rush before he left to play golf this morning. I look over it and immediately make a face at the first names listed:Kim Kardashian & Kanye West.

Ugh. Really? Really? Sighing, I type it into my Excel File, aptly titled "AP" for "Asshole's Party." If he ever found it I'd just tell him it was the abbreviation for "A Party", but since Justin hardly steps foot in my office, he'll never see it anyway. Next on the list is JC Chasez, Lance Bass, then he's printed "if there's room, invite Joey and Chris, but they're in Orlando". Here's another surprise for you. Justin is friends with JC and Lance but only because those two are the only ones from Nsync who seem to keep popping up in the news. Joey does as well, as I've often reminded him, but sometimes I think Joey steals the spotlight whenever he and Justin are at a party together. And Chris might as well have fallen off the face of the earth because it's rare that he's ever around L.A. anymore. 

After an hour of putting people into the invite list, I take a look at it. Will Ferrell, Ashton Kutcher, Mila Kunis, Jennifer Aniston, Justin Lawrence, Jennifer Lawrence (although Justin had her listed as "the girl who plays Katniss Everdeen"), Emma Stone, Andrew Garfield, Ryan Gosling, Ellen Degeneres, Portia DeRossi, all of the Kardashians (he had them listed way down at the bottom as "Kim's whole family"), Tobey Maguire, Leonardo DiCaprio (yeah right, like he'll show up, is my immediate thought), George Clooney (see note on previous guest), Tom Hanks, Rita Wilson, Rachel McAdams, Anne Hathaway, Josh Groban, Kim Kardashian, Kanye West, JC Chasez, Lance Bass, Joey Fatone, Chris Kirkpatrick (I added them anyway. I mean, he's got Leonardo DiCaprio down as a guest. He might as well have people who might actually come), Ashlee Simpson, John Mayer, Katy Perry.....my eyes start to hurt as I continue reading. And I'm not even finished with it. He still has a whole email account he wants me to go through. 

I hear the door open downstairs and emerge out of my office to see Justin coming in with his golf bags in tow. I can tell he's in a good mood and must have won his round because he's got a smile on his face and he's laughing loudly on his phone. He sees me, nods, and then goes into the living room. I usually take that as a sign that he doesn't need me, so I go back into the office. Five minutes later, my iPhone vibrates. He's texted me. From downstairs. Wow, I didn't realize a whole set of stairs prevents him from actually speaking to me face to face. But I should be used to this now. I look at the text How's the list?

Been working most of the day. Do you want to see it?

 Sure. And ask Danelle to make me a sandwich on your way.

Danelle is Justin's housekeeper and cook. She's been with him since the start of his solo career and is an older woman from Costa Rica. She has a thick Spanish accent and when she says "Mr. Justin" it sounds like "Mr. Yustin." I love Danelle and she and I get along great. Danelle is in Justin's massively huge master suite. It takes up the entire third floor of the house. When I walk up the next flight of stairs, Danelle is making Justin's bed and jumps in surprise when she sees me enter. Then again, Danelle startles easily. Once when she was putting towels away in one of the guest bathrooms, I came in and startled her so bad she threw the towels in the air and they landed in the bucket of Mr. Clean. 

"Hi. Sorry to barge in," I begin, "Justin wants a sandwich."

Danelle nods and finishes tucking in the top sheet on his bed. I can't help but gaze at how large that bed is. I don't know where he ordered it from because I have never seen a bed so huge before in my life. 

"Coming up, Miss Marli," Danelle smiles at me and I exit, heading down to the first floor. Justin is sprawled on his couch, aimlessly flipping through TV channels with the remote in one hand and his other hand texting on his phone. 

"Hi," I greet him, coming in and sitting across from him on the ottoman. "I have the list if-"

Justin puts a the remote up as if to silence me and finishes his text. He puts his phone down, sits up a little and looks at me. "Well?"

"Do you want me to read off the names, then?" I ask, immediately regretting my question. Of course he does. He's certainly not going to make the effort of reading it himself. I wait for the sarcasm or patronizing to ensue, but Justin just nods.

"Okay," I start off, "Will Ferrell, Kim and Kanye, Ashton Kutcher..." it takes me about fifteen minutes to finish the entire list. I save Josh Groban next to last. When Justin hears it, he raises an eyebrow and looks at me, questioningly. 

"Josh Groban?!" he looks at me as if I've put down someone awful. "I don't know him."

"Well, yes, but he's an A-lister and-"

I can see Justin smirking and feel my face turning red. He knows. He knows I've added Josh Groban for my own self. "Fine, Marli. Go on."

"Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner. Those are the last two on the list," I finish, putting it down next to me. "Sound good?"

Justin sits up and suddenly looks at me with interest. Usually when he does this, he has some important project for me. Like his dry cleaning. Or picking up a tux from Barney's. "Marli, why do you think people are so all about Christmas?" he asks. 
Because it's a worldwide holiday, maybe? Because everyone usually gets some sort of Christmasy spirit?

Because what other day of the year lets you put up a random tree in your house, filled with things you've been wanting for at least the last six months to a year? I clear my throat, "Um, well, erm, I guess because it's just a fun time of the year. Family seems closer, friends seem closer, there's traveling, the presents, Baby Jesus, and there's just that spirit in the air..."I start to trail off because Justin's eyes look glazed over. "Sorry, you asked. I'm just telling you."

He shakes his head at me. "No, it's not that. I guess I just get tired of all of it. It's all commercialism and it's stupid,"

Says the guy in the designer jeans, I think to myself. 

"I just wish it were simple," he finishes his thought and looks at me and for a split second we lock eyes. I break away and then Justin clears his throat and does the same. "Just simple."

"Well," I begin to twirl a piece of brown hair around my finger, nervously. "Well, I don't think that means you have to be so hateful about it. I mean, yes, itis commercialized and people do go all out. But I think, for the most part, everyone's heart is in the right place." I glance at him again and he's looking at me with that same look he had when we locked eyes. Or it's probably just my imagination. I mean, yes, Justin is handsome, I'm not going to pretend I don't notice. But he's never once looked at me the way he has been in these last five minutes. 

He breaks his gaze and shakes out of whatever trance he was just in. "Yeah. Yeah, okay. We'll do this Christmas party and I'll pretend to be all about it. Go on and check my Gmail account when you get upstairs. And ask Danelle about my sandwich again. Oh and can you text me Christina's email. She wanted me to help her out on The Voice next season and I forgot to get back to her." Well, that moment, that whatever that was, certainly ended and he was back to the Justin I had grown accustomed to. And it was probably my imagination, like I said. 

**

"This," Michelle hands me a one-shouldered red dress that hits just at my thigh. "This is it. This is what you should wear for the Christmas party." We're at her house the day before the party. She's laid out every outfit imaginable on her bed, we've got a bottle of wine sitting on her dresser, and the She and Him Christmas album playing on Spotify. 

"You forget. The party is not for me. I'm his assistant. I'll be lucky if I'm even seen," I remind her. Michelle seems to think that every event Justin goes to or has that I'm his unofficial date. She was really confused last year the Oscars when I wasn't on his arm on the red carpet. I've tried to explain to her how it works, but I might as well give up now. 

"That doesn't matter! Do you realize who all will be there? I mean, you said you invited Leonardo DiCaprio!" See what I mean? I didn't invite them. Justin did. 

"It's not my party, Michelle," I sigh and put the dress back in her closet. "And I'm still confused as to why DiCaprio was invited. Also, he tends to date women a lot younger than he is and-"

Michelle has grown bored and isn't listening to me because she's gone into her closet and I can hear her rooting around for yet another party outfit option. She comes out with a simplified version of the red dress, except this one's green and a little longer. It's strapless and might very well work. "Here," she tosses the dress to me. "I think this is perfect." I think she's right. Justin will love it. Wait! What in the world have I even just let myself think? Who cares what Justin thinks about it?! 

"So, Justin got a little weird the other day," I casually say to Michelle as we're ridding her bed of her clothes and putting them back in the closet. 

"Well, that's not surprising," Michelle scoffs. "He is weird. But what happened?" Michelle is always up for gossip. Especially involving Justin. Or any celebrity for that matter. 

"Well, so I was running over the Christmas invite list with him and I dunno, all the sudden we like, locked eyes or something. And then he was looking at me really intently for a second," I look at Michelle, whose shaking her head at me.

"Really, Marli. Don't start falling for your boss!" she puts the red dress back on its hanger. "And besides, it was for like, what, a second? You can't base anything on that."

"I know," I reply, a little defensively. "I just, well, he's never even given me the time of day and-"

Michelle sighs and raises an eyebrow at me. "Marli, he's a charmer."

Well, she's right about that. He was probably just trying to charm me into eventually doing something for him. I shouldn't be surprised about that. "Yeah, your'e right." I drop the subject and we eventually finish off two bottles of wine and end the evening ridiculously dancing around the living room and singing along with She and Him.