February 11, 2000

“Do you even know what day it is?” I asked softly, looking up at Justin who was sitting on my bed with his back against the headboard, strumming on his guitar. He didn’t respond, too caught up in his song to even notice me, probably. 

I turned to my stomach and tried to get his attention, “Justin, do you even know what day it is?”

He stopped playing and gave me a smile, “What are you talking about?”

“What day is it? Do you know?”

“No, I dunno. Tuesday? Wednesday? What does it matter?”

“I’d say it matters. Do you know what time it is? I’m so confused.”

“Are you on drugs?” he asked with a chuckle and reached for his cell phone, looked at the time, then tossed it across the room to the couch “It’s 12:45.”

“What day?”

He shrugged, “I dunno, Mac. Tuesday? Wednesday?”

“Don’t you have to go to work or anything?”

“You trying to get rid of me?”

“No.”

“I’m on vacation,” he started strumming the guitar again, “If you want me to leave, just say it.”

“I don’t want you to leave. I’m just confused. All you do is tell me how you’re such a big deal but, you kinda seem like a bum.”

He threw his head back and cackled, “A bum? Girl, I spent the last two months in the studio nonstop recording an album. I need a vacation, you know?”

“Mmmhmm.”

“Like you should be talking. I thought you were in college. Miss triple major over here—“

“Double and a minor,” I corrected him. 

“Don’t you have classes?”

“Yeah, that’s why I’m asking you what day it is.”

“Tuesday or Wednesday. Probably.”

“Well, if it’s Wednesday I have class in fifteen minutes. If it’s Tuesday I have class at six.”

“In that case it’s definitely Tuesday,” he smiled as he stood up and went to the couch to grab his phone, “Thursday. How the hell did that happen?”

“It’s Thursday?” I sat up, “Well, I don’t have class until six but how is it already Thursday?” I chuckled, “I’m hungry, want to go get food?”

“Yeah, lets go to the diner,” he suggested, plopping back on my bed wearing nothing but a pair of gray sweatpants.

“I’ll take a shower,” I stood up and walked towards the bathroom but stopped when I was in front of Justin. 

“OK,” he chuckled, leaned the guitar on the floor against the bed and wrapped his arms around my waist. 

“I’m kinda glad you’re such a bum, Justin.”

“Yeah, me too,” he leaned back and pulled me down with him, “I’m glad you’re such a bum too, Mac.”

“I’m not a bum.”

“No?” Justin chuckled as he attached his lips to mine. 

“No, I’m just a dumb girl who got caught up with the wrong guy.”

“Ha, please,” I could feel him smiling as he kissed my neck and slid his hand up my shirt. 

“Justin.”

“Mmhmm?”

“I’m hungry.”

“Me too,” he gave me a sexy smile as he moved his lips back to mine. 

“I need to shower.”

“Then why you pulling at the drawstring of my sweats?”

“I am not!” I laughed and held my hands up, “Stop imagining things!”

He chuckled and started kissing my neck again, “Real quick.”

“I will shower real quick.”

“You know damn well that is not what I’m talking about!”

I giggled, kissed his lips quickly and stood up, “After lunch I’m going to rock your world, Timberlake.”

He laughed and threw a pillow at me as a response, but luckily I’m too fast for him and closed the door before it hit me. 

As I stepped out of the shower I heard the front door open. I wrapped a towel around myself but listened carefully. “Who the hell are you? Where’s my daughter?”

Shit. 

I couldn’t put my clothes on fast enough. 

“Oh,” I heard Justin jump out of bed and speak nervously, “Mac’s in the shower. I’m Justin. It’s uh— it’s nice to meet you Mr— uh, Mr—“

“Mr…? You don’t know my daughter’s last name? That’s a good sign,” my father answered sarcastically as I pulled my clothes over my soaking wet body. “Are you just waking up? It’s one o’clock in the afternoon.”

“No sir, I’ve just been—“ Justin stopped talking as I walked out of the bathroom. My father turned to me and Justin took the chance to pull his hoodie over his bare chest before letting out at a noticeable sigh of relief as I walked towards my father. 

“Dad? What are you doing here?”

“It’s Thursday. At one o’clock. We’re getting lunch, are we not?”

“Oh yeah, of course. Sorry, it’s just been a busy week.”

“I can see that,” he eyed Justin and adjusted the cuffs of his suit. 

I giggled nervously, “Have you met Justin?”

“I sure have met the half naked young man on your bed who does not know your last name.”

“Don’t be ridiculous Daddy, of course he knows my last name is Cole,” I smiled back at Justin, who silently thanked me for saving him. 

“Did you skip class this morning?” my father asked sternly, crossing his arms over his chest. 

“Nooo, I didn’t have class this morning. Tuesday/Thursday I only have night class.”

“Then you should have a job. Why aren’t you working?” he answered with a half smile. 

I rolled my eyes, “Because then I couldn’t have lunch with you, could I?”

“Fair enough,” my father nodded his head and pulled me into a hug, finally letting go of his tough guy persona. “Will you be joining us, Justin?”

“Oh no, Mr— uh, Mr—“

“Cole” my father dragged it out as if he were trying to feed it to him. 

“Yeah, Mr. Cole,” Justin chuckled nervously, “Thanks, but I…”

“Just come,” It was funny to see Justin so nervous, especially in front of my father who in all reality is the biggest softie in the world,  “My dad’s cool.”

“Yeah, I’m cool,” my father smiled, “Unless you’re missing class, in which case I am most definitely not cool.”

“I’m not missing class,” Justin answered, running his hand through his hair. 

“Great, let’s go. I’ll be in the car.”

As the door closed behind my father Justin let out the breath he’d been holding in since my father walked into my studio.He fell to the bed and I laughed, “You ok?”

“Are you  kidding? I’m laying on your bed, without a shirt on, and your father just walks in. A little warning would have been nice, he’s over here grilling me and I don’t even know your last name!”

“Cole!” I laughed before falling on top of him, “I’m sorry. I completely forgot. He’s just messing with you. You don’t have to come. It’s kind of weird, right? I mean, it’s been like a few days.”

“It’s not that. I just don’t want your father’s first impression of me to be laying half naked on his daughter’s bed.”

“It could have been worse.”

“Yeah, it could have been worse,” Justin answered with a smile and pushed me off of himself, pulling on a pair of jeans “alright, let’s do this.”

“He really is cool, he’s just messing with you. He likes to mess with people.”

“Good to know. Again, it would have been even better to know that about ten minutes ago.”

My father always manages to find the weirdest places to go to lunch. It’s not like we could go to a normal restaurant, we always end up at these tiny hole in the wall places. I’m not complaining, the food is always amazing, it’s just so strange to me that he even knows all these places. 

I guess it has something to do with the fact that he’s an entertainment lawyer, so he’s always going to lunch with his big name clients that don’t exactly want to be gawked at while they’re eating their pad thai. 

“So. Justin,” my father began as he placed the menu on the table, “Do you always wear a hat at the table?”

Justin looked around the quiet restaurant and I spoke up for him, “Dad, he—“

“It’s a quiet restaurant, you can take it off,” my father continued, turning his attention back to his menu.

Justin gave me a quick smile as he pulled his hat off and ran his hand through his wavy hair. 

My father took a deep breath and looked between Justin and I. “So. What’s the story? How did you two meet?

“We met at a party.” 

“Oh, great, a party,” my father answered sarcastically.

“You know how I feel about parties, Dad. It wasn’t really a party, more like a gathering.”

“Oh of course, yeah. Sure. A gathering. Where you drank root beer and ate candy cigarettes.”

“You really get college life,” I answered with a smile, my father rolled his eyes. 

“I think the problem, Mackenzie, is that I do get it,” he took a sip from his water before continuing,  “So. Justin, what are you studying?”

Justin looked at me before answering, “Oh, I’m not. I’m not in school.”

“Oh, he’s not in school. Fantastic,” my father and the sarcastic go well, that’s for sure, “What is it, that you do?”

“I’m kind of, I’m in a band.”

“Oh, he’s in a band,” my father gave me a look, “he just keeps getting better and better.”

“Dad!”  I laughed, “Stop, you’re being such a jerk!”

“Oh no sweetie, please, this is every father’s dream. A guy in a band. Please Justin, what kind of a band?”

Justin glanced at me before turning to face my father, “Probably not the kind of band you’re thinking of, I mean I don’t bite the heads off chickens or anything,” he smiled making a joke, but my father just stared at him, “I’m in a pop singing group. Have you heard of ’N SYNC?”

My father took a deep breath and turned to look at me, then turned back to Justin. I’m not sure why he’s being so difficult. “Do I look like someone who has heard of a pop music group?”

Justin spoke nervously, “No sir, I didn’t mean to— I’m in a pop music group. We have a record deal, I’m just asking if you heard of us because we’ve been in the news a lot lately. We’ve had some record label issues.”

“Nope, never heard of it.”

“Dad, stop, you’re freaking him out,” I answered and turned to Justin, “My father is an entertainment lawyer so I’m pretty sure he knows exactly what you’re talking about and is just being a complete. jerk.”

My father took a sip of water to hide his smile, “Just giving you a hard time, Mr. Timberlake. Payback for finding you in my daughter’s bed without a shirt on.”

“Nothing happened! I was talking a shower, he just came over to hang out.”

My father cleared his throat and threw a hand up, “I don’t want to hear anything about that. Ever. Got it?” I nodded my head, “Who are your lawyers, Justin?”

“Uh, Steve Flanagan, Larry Groves, Tom Simmons.”

He nodded his head, “I’m familiar with your record label issues, seems like you’re in good hands. I’ll give you my card in case you need it.”

“Dad. Seriously?”

“He might need to get in touch with me, Mackenzie,” he gave me a death glare and handed Justin his card.

“He won’t need to get in touch with you.”

“I’m not trying to get a new client,” he turned to Justin and repeated himself, “I’m not trying to get a new client. I’m simply saying you can give me a call, as you’re a friend of my daughter’s, and I’m sure there is a line of people looking to take advantage of you. So I'm happy to offer my assistance, or recommend to you someone who can be of assistance if I can’t.”

“God Dad, stop with the lawyer talk,” I whined. 

“OK, we won’t talk about that. So Justin, what are your intentions with my daughter?”

“Dad!”

My father chuckled and took a sip, “OK, what can we talk about, Mackenzie? The weather? The Lakers?”

“Kobe’s on fire this year, huh?” Justin spoke up, placing my father’s card in his pocket. 

Luckily, my father decided to stop embarrassing me and focused on the Lakers. As awkward as the whole situation began, it ended almost normally. 

When we got back to my studio apartment I fell down on my bed, “That was so embarrassing, I’m sorry.”

“Why are you sorry?” Justin chuckled as he fell down next to me, “I like your father, I had fun.”

I gave him a look, “Really?”

“Yeah, really. I think it’s cool he takes you out to lunch every week. I know lots of guys in his business that don’t give a shit and are always working.”

“Yeah, family is important to him.”

Justin nodded his head and pulled me to his chest, “He’s a good guy. I like him.”

“What’s your father like?”

“My parents divorced when I was little, I don’t even remember a time when they were together. He remarried, had a new family, wasn’t really interested in us,” he stopped and looked at me, then chuckled, “God, that sounded so sad. It’s not a big deal. My mom remarried, I was older though. Paul is cool. The point is your dad is cool. I like him.”

“Well, good. But don’t call him unless he’s a last resort, ok? He’s a great lawyer but, he’s my dad.”

“I’m good, don’t worry,” he smiled. 

“I feel like I should go to class. I don’t want to, but I feel like I should.”

“Yeah, you should go,” Justin said as he ran his hand through my hair, “I’ll stay here and sleep.”

“That’s so not fair.”

“It’s absolutely fair. I’m on vacation,” he reminded me once again, “I’ll go get a movie or something, have dinner ready. Just leave me your keys.”

“Ooh, you’ll have dinner ready? We’ve advanced to an old married couple.”

Justin chuckled, “I mean, we met almost a week ago, it’s about time we take this relationship to the next level.”

I laughed as I forced myself out of bed, “Everything is sped up, isn’t it? You already met my father,” I tossed my keys at him, “Please make sure you’re home by eight, my class is over at eight.”

“I’ll be back by eight, I’ll leave now,” he stood up and grabbed his cell phone from his pocket, “Let me give you my number just in case.”

“So smooth,” I laughed as I grabbed my cell phone from my bag, “That’s how you’re going to ask me for my number?”

“Nah,” he cleared his throat and tried again, “Hey baby, let me get your number.”

I shook my head, “No, that’s kind of creepy.”

“Alright,” he chuckled, “There’s something wrong with my cell phone. It doesn’t have your number in it.”

I laughed, “That is a problem. God, it’s a good thing you didn’t ask me for my number Friday night or you definitely never would have seen me again.”

“Right,” he laughed, “I forgot my phone number, can I have yours?”

“Oh my god, stop! You’re embarrassing yourself!”

“Mackenzie… what’s your middle name?”

“Elizabeth”

“OK, Mackenzie Elizabeth Cole, will you do me the honor of giving me your number?”

“I mean, you could have got down on one knee but,” I laughed as he wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me onto the bed, “Yes! You can have my number!”