“What the hell does THAT mean?” Deana said, seeing Danielle’s text.  “Did I do something in the last couple days?  I haven’t even seen her since the show.”

They got to her parents’ house, opening the door.  “Deana?” Danielle called.

“Yeah, we’re here,” she answered nervously.

Danielle pulled Deana into Deana’s old bedroom, Justin waiting outside in the hallway.  “When were you gonna tell me?!”

“What…?”

“That you’re fucking dating Justin fucking Randall Timberlake!!!” Danielle started hitting Deana in excitement and partial anger. 

“How did you…?”

“It’s all over the internet!!”

Justin opened the door.  “What?!”

He looked around her room, and felt like he was back in 1998.  A giant poster of him in khaki pants and a green and black fleece jacket, bleach blonde hair hung in the wall, among other posters and teen magazine pictures. 

“They caught you two out on a balcony at your party last night.  Here, let me load it.  The story popped up on my Google Alerts…”

“You get Google Alerts about Justin?  But you’re a JC girl…”

“What can I say, I need content, JC’s been in hermit mode for years…”

Sure enough, there was a tabloid website with pictures of them on the balcony.  It showed them talking, then hugging, kissing, before getting into his SUV alone.

“You’re not gonna like what they wrote…” Danielle warned.

“Chubby Chaser?  Justin Timberlake seen with an unknown plus sized woman, kissing before leaving alone in his private SUV,” Justin read.  “This must be what the text from my agent was about…”

“How long have you known?” Danielle asked.  “Who he was.”

“After the show…  I was expecting Bruce and got the shock of a lifetime.”

“You didn’t tell me yesterday when we talked?!”

“Yeah, cuz I was REALLY gonna throw that into a quick conversation…  We were going to tell you today, actually.  Quietly so it wouldn’t overshadow your party.  I know it’s just family, but still…”

“Your sister and the boys aren’t here yet.  You know she’s gonna flip…”

“He’s my boyfriend, why wouldn’t I bring him along?  You know Mom was wanting any excuse to meet him… Now was the perfect time.”

“It’s a terrible time cuz you’re gonna be on the front page of every tabloid in the city, in the COUNTRY,” Danielle raised her voice.

“Your fiance has known since the hospital.  If you’re gonna be mad at anyone for keeping secrets, be mad at him.”

“Hey now, I told him in strictest confidence,” Justin interjected.  “I used his hippocratic oath to my advantage.  Only because I needed someone to know.  I wanted to tell you SO many times, Deana, who I was.  At the same time, I had the plans for the concert, I wanted you to feel special in case shit went sideways after I confessed everything.”

“Why would things go sideways?” Deana asked.

“You were freaking out about it being me, like you were just gonna walk away from everything because it was ME, not Bruce.”

“I mean, I was definitely overwhelmed, that’s for sure.  I develop feelings, fall in love with someone, then find out I was being lied to by someone I had trusted with so much.”

“I wasn’t lying to hurt you, but to protect you, to protect US.  I think you would’ve walked away if something like this had happened earlier in our relationship.  It was nice to not be the celebrity side of me for a while, just be Justin, not JUSTIN.”

“This isn’t the time or place to discuss this.  We have a party to get out to.  We’ll tell everyone, but I don’t want to take away from your engagement,” Deana said. 

They walked down the hall and into the living room. Deana’s sister looked up and her jaw dropped. 

“What in the world…?”

“So not to take away from today, but everyone, this is my boyfriend, Justin,” Deana said softly. 

“THE Justin?” her sister replied. 

“Yeah, I’m still in shock…”

“What does THAT mean?” her sister asked. 

“I thought you said you’d been seeing someone for a while…” her mother interjected, confused. 

“Yeah, but I didn’t realize it was him…”

“Are you BLIND?!” her sister exclaimed. 

“It’s a long story for another time,” Justin said. “I’m happy to meet all of you before I steal her away next week…”

“What?!” her mom asked. 

“I’m taking vacation and a leave of absence at work to finish the tour with him. Get to travel, I can focus on school, spend more time together…”

“For how long?”

“Mid April. Then we’ll be back in the City for a while. I dunno, we hadn’t really talked about too much after that…”

“I’m ready to start settling down,” Justin said. “New York will be my home base from now on. If we need to travel for things, we can, but New York will always be where I live now. I’ll have Deana, and she’ll still be close to all of you.  No wedding bells yet, that’s on those two, but I think we’re headed that way at some point.”

Tears welled up in Deana’s mom’s eyes. “I’m just happy you have such a wonderful man in your life, sweetheart,” she said, hugging Deana. 

“This isn’t about us. We’re here for Jonathan and Danielle, so can we move on now?” Deana said. 

They had a brunch that Deana’s mom had made, getting to know more about Justin through small talk, along with sharing family stories. 

Justin’s hand found hers under the table, running his thumb over the back of her hand. She smiled, softly looking at him. 

Deana helped wash dishes, and Justin helped dry. As she finished, Deana’s mom pulled her aside. 

“I know today is about your brother, but I really am happy for you. You’ve been so happy lately and I know he is part of the reason why. I was worried after Morgan broke your heart, that you’d never find a love like that again. I think you found something even BETTER in Justin.”

“I think so, too.”

They sat in the living room, and things quickly turned to embarrassing stories about Deana as a kid and going through old photo albums. 

Justin smiled as her mom showed pictures playing dress up or a series of pictures of her playing on her bed with her favorite stuffed animal. Deana tried her best not to turn various shades of red as stories got more embarrassing. He put an arm around her, pulling her close to him on the couch. 

“THIS is what I love about Deana. She helps me stay so down to earth. Family is important to you, I can tell, and I feel like I’m already part of your family. Thank you.”

“So Justin, what do you do that you’re on tour?” Deana’s mom asked. 

“Mom, that’s THE Justin, the posters she has on her walls, the CDs she’d blast in her room…” Jonathan shared. 

“Boys, he’s the voice of Branch from Trolls…” Deana’s sister told the boys.

“What? That’s so cool!!” the boys shouted. 

“No… THIS is that cute curly blonde haired boy you obsessed over?” Deana blushed, hiding her face with her hands. “Well, you’ve certainly grown up well, Justin…” Deana’s mom said. 

Now it was Justin’s turn to blush. “Thank you…”

“How long have you been on this tour?”

“Well, it started last March, I was supposed to be finishing around now, but then when I got put on vocal rest for bruised vocal cords, it pushed everything out. I was supposed to perform at Coachella out in California, but rescheduling my tour means I can’t make it. I’m hearing buzzes of certain people and things to take that spot, but it was definitely disappointing to cancel. But without it, I’d never have met Deana, so she’s my silver lining in all of this. It really helped when certain days were hard knowing I could text her and got away from things for a while.”

“Sounds like she’s been good for you, too,” her mom said. 

“In ways I never imagined,” he said, pulling her close and kissing the top of her head. 

They continued to talk, and soon it was 4:00. “Well, I think we need to head home,” said Deana’s sister. “It’s getting dark and we’ve got a bit of a drive home…”

“Mom, can’t we stay over tonight?” the boys begged. 

“I didn’t bring pajamas or clean clothes…” she answered. 

“We have stuff for them, you know that,” her mom added. 

“Thanks Mom, but we need to head home. Maybe another time.”

“Can we watch Trolls with you sometime, Auntie?” the boys asked. She knew they really wanted to hang out with Justin. 

“I tell you what. I have a theater room at my house. Next time you’re here on a school break and I’m home, we can have your auntie and you boys over and we’ll have pizza and junk food?”

“AWESOME!!” they cheered. 

“Easy boys, settle down. Mommy will coordinate with auntie and Justin on when to set that up, but it’s certainly not today.  Bye everyone, love you.”

“We should head out, too,” Danielle said. “More wedding stuff to work on.  I’m glad everyone could make it. Deana, we’ll talk later, maid of honor…”

Deana and Justin headed home as well, dropping Deana off to get ready for their date night before going home himself. 

I really enjoyed meeting your family today, I think they like me… Justin texted. 

I think they like YOU better than they like ME…. It went a lot better than I thought. 

Can we talk about yesterday, before we have our date tonight?

Not canceling, are you? she asked. 

Are you kidding? I’ve been looking forward to this ever since you sent me the picture of you in that dress. Wear heels though, you don’t have to dress it down tonight. 

She called him. “So what do we need to talk about?”

“You did AMAZINGLY with my mom, just so you know. You really didn’t have to explain yourself to her. But about last night, and the pictures…”

“I didn’t think about the possibility of cameras catching us…” Deana admitted. 

“How could you have thought about that?”

“I tend to hide away if I’m feeling like I don’t fit in, or I’m not wanted. Used to drive my ex crazy, cuz he’d notice I was gone from our group of friends and he’d have to come find me.  I would do it as a test to see how long it would take someone to notice I was missing…”

“What was the longest it took?”

“I gave up after half an hour.  I’d try to slip back in, sometimes it worked, other times they’d notice and say something about seeing I was gone. I knew they didn’t actually notice though.”

“Well, I certainly can’t have that while we’re on tour. What made you feel you needed to hide?”

“All the things we talked about. That I’m nowhere near as good a singer as the people around you, I started to feel overwhelmed that I wouldn’t fit in.”

“You’ll always have me.”

“I can’t follow you around 24/7…”

“How are you handling that tabloids blew our cover?  I’m getting ready to talk to my manager and publicist, but I wanted to talk to you first. Odds are tonight there will be cameras, and no one else to use to hide it. Do you think you can handle that?”

“I don’t know.”

“It’s a lot to deal with, I know. They aren’t always kind. At least this time they focused on me.”

“I’m more than just a plus size woman, so that wasn’t exactly all that great to be judged by my weight, but I said early on no ones gonna look at us and think we’re a natural couple.”

“I don’t care what they say, what anyone says. Trace has been a real dick about this, that you aren’t my normal type, this and that. He knows I’m happy but can’t seem to let certain things go. I swear I almost punched him last night. THAT would’ve been a headline…”

“So what do we do?”

“Unless you’re that worried about what they might say, I say fuck em and we have a great night out. I have a beautiful woman I want to take out tonight, and I’m not ashamed about it.”

“Who is she, I’ll cut her…” Deana teased. 

“Seriously though, I don’t give in to what they say. As long as I know what I’m doing is right, that you’re happy and safe, they can say what they want. We’ll just prove them all wrong by going the distance.”

“You really think so?” Deana asked hopefully. 

“That’s my plan, yes.  I meant what I said, I’m ready to settle down. You might not be what people expect for me, but I know what I feel and I am determined not to mess things up.”

“I’m glad you feel that way,” she said. “I think I can handle things if nothing is going to change how you feel about me.”  

“Tabloids aren’t going to change my mind. Do you want to be on the call with my manager and publicist? So we’re a united front.”

“I guess.”

Justin called his team. “I’m sure you’ve heard by now, but there’s pictures of you from the party last night…” his manager said. 

“How many different sites have the story?” Deana asked. 

“Is that Deana?” 

“Yes. Sorry we’re meeting under these circumstances…”

“It’s hard to tell, the pictures are online so anyone can write what they want about it. How do you want to handle this?”

“Can we just ignore it?” Deana asked. 

“People are gonna ask me at interviews and things until the world gets an answer,” Justin replied. “Until then, they’ll follow me around to get more pictures and stories. I think honesty is the best way to go here.”

“Justin…” his publicist started. 

“I have nothing to hide. I love her. That should be enough. I’ll write something up and we’ll post in on all my social media. Cut this off before they start saying terrible things about the person I care most about.”

“It’s nothing I haven’t heard before,” Deana said. 

“It’s a whole other level, Deana.  This is on the internet, in magazines. Out there for the world to see and make assumptions about you. I’m not gonna beat around the bush. These have been the best 3 months of my life, even with the bumps in the road. Fuck, I’d marry you tonight if I could.”

“I wouldn’t put that in your statement,” Deana said, “but it’s nice to hear.”

“Fine. Get us a statement.  We’ll get it out tonight to get ahead of this.”

“Deana, I’ll see you soon for our date.  I’ll try and get everything out before that so we have less to worry about.”

“See you soon.”  Deana hung up. He loves me, like full on LOVES me, she thought. How can life get any better?