Deana sat in her apartment, and was curious about the pictures from the night before. She did a search for news on Justin on her phone.
She saw a headline that hit her hard. Plus Size Shocker- Justin Timberlake was seen canoodling with a frumpy, plus sized woman at his birthday party last night. The question on everyone’s mind tonight, is WHY? Being linked to thin, beautiful celebs like Britney Spears, Cameron Diaz, and Jessica Biel, only to pull a 180 and go the other way...
She took a screenshot and sent it to Justin, trying not to cry. So much for them not attacking me.
Baby, don’t go looking for that stuff. I’m sorry. I still love you.
Love you, too.
Finishing up the statement, then I’ll take a picture of us once I pick you up. That way we control the pictures. I may not use your name, but that’s only to protect you in the meantime. They may try to get your name out of me at some point. I’m sorry you have to go through this so early on after finding out the truth.
Gotta admit, it makes me want to lose weight even more, so there’s less ammunition for them.
Don’t bother with them. If you lose too much they’ll criticize you for it, or say that I made you do it to stay with me. I don’t see it, I just see you.
More reasons to love you. I’ll see you soon. Question- hair curly or straight?
Yours- whatever. Mine- it’s complicated ???? I guess curly for tonight.
She started to get ready, adding product to her hair to help bring out her natural curl. She put on the dress, doing a silver eye palette, her go to recently. She made sure to wear the perfume Justin had bought for her, and put her heels and jacket by the door.
She went into her bathroom one last time, looking at herself in her full length mirror on the back of the door.
“Frumpy my ass,” she sneered.
Justin soon buzzed. “I’m coming up,” he said through the speaker. She waited by the door.
He knocked softly on the door to her apartment. She slowly opened the door.
Justin gasped. “You… are BREATHTAKING, babe. Absolutely beautiful.” He kissed her softly, pulling a bouquet of calla lilies from behind his back.
“You listen well,” she smiled.
“Let’s get a picture to send along with things to my team. I was thinking maybe include a couple other pictures of us. Maybe from Halloween and the one where you’re asleep. They won’t know you’re asleep, just that your eyes are closed. Especially if I rotate it like this…” He showed her the picture.
“Not bad. Where should we take the picture for tonight? Should I post a copy? Like ‘NBD, just a dinner date with my man’? Tagging you doesn’t mean your followers see it, just you and my followers, right? Not that I have all that many.”
“I won’t tag you but you can try tagging me and see what happens. Just don’t be surprised if you get more followers if your friends share it. Maybe make it a story?”
“I know very little about Instagram, I feel that’s the safer option. I’ll see if I can make my post where you can’t share it on Facebook, I don’t know. I don’t want to hide it, but I don’t want an inbox full of haters.”
“It’s up to you, we might need to have my social media team take a look at your profile and make it more private. For now, I’d say post only for friends to see.”
He pulled her close, getting a picture of them together, focused more on their faces.
“We can try a kissing shot too, an extra excuse to kiss you…”
He turned and kissed her, hoping he was getting pictures.
“Perfect. I’ll pass these on to my team and have them use their best judgement on which pictures to post along with the statement.”
“What did you write? Though I follow you, so I guess I’ll see once it posts.”
“Pretty close to what was said on the phone earlier. How we’re happy and that should be all that matters. You ready? Your chariot awaits and we have a reservation to keep.” She nodded, taking his arm.
She smiled at their driver. “Good evening, Miss Deana,” he said, nodding in greeting at her. They got inside, Deana rode nervously to their destination. She had no idea if there would be people there, somehow knowing they had reservations under Deana’s name.
“It’ll be fine, I’m sure,” he said, resting his hand on her knee. She took his hand and smiled softly.
They pulled up in front of a hotel. “The restaurant is at the top, sir, enjoy,” their driver said. There were no cameras, making Deana feel safe enough to walk in with Justin.
“Even if there had been cameras, I’d have done something to protect you,” he said, his arm around her waist as they walked in.
They got up to the floor they needed. “Good evening,” said the hostess. “Do you have a reservation?”
“Yes, for Deana,” she said.
“Is this your first time here?” the hostess asked. They both nodded.
“Very well, we have a window table ready for you, right this way.” She definitely wasn’t overdressed, and Justin of course had enough confidence and charisma to charm the whole restaurant.
They sat down, Deana looking at the view of the city. “What made you pick this place for our date?”
“It’s the only revolving restaurant in the city, I figured it might give us a different perspective of a city we both love so much. And like our relationship, it’s slow but beautiful and worth the wait.”
She took his hand from across the table. “You always know what to say.”
“I try,” he smiled.
Deana’s phone buzzed. “Your post is up…”
“Do you want to look at it now? Might as well so you aren’t thinking about it during dinner. Just don’t look at the comments… at least not now.”
She opened Instagram and his post popped up. She looked through the pictures along with the post. The picture from when they first met, and the closeup of them kissing he’d taken earlier. She began to read the text.
When I went on vocal rest, my world was shattered. I felt I’d let everyone down by something out of my control. Little did I know it would change my life forever. I met an amazing woman, kind, generous, compassionate, with the voice of an angel. I couldn’t help but fall for her. We got to know each other, she got to know the REAL me, no flaunting my celebrity status. This is the happiest either of us have been, possibly ever. Last night, paparazzi took pictures and exposed the woman I love (yes, I said it) to the ugliness of my lifestyle. She did nothing wrong, WE did nothing wrong, and we’re both being painted as something to be made fun of. Love knows no color, creed, height, weight, age. We will continue our journey together and live in love and beauty, even if the world around us is ugly. #lovehasnolabels
Tears filled Deana’s eyes, trying so hard to keep it in. “What you said, it’s beautiful…”
“I meant every word. Now that our secret is out, I’ll make sure you have security nearby during shows, so that you’re protected from fans. You don’t even have to go out there unless you don’t want to.”
“I want to. Being able to see you do what you love most, being up on that stage, I can’t imagine being anywhere else but right there. I could hide backstage, but I might miss moments where you change people’s lives by a look, a touch of their hand, a selfie. As a fan, I know how I felt at your birthday show. To watch you give those experiences to others, that’s pretty awesome to watch and I wouldn’t want to miss it for the world.”
She looked back down at her phone. “Not reading the comments, but it’s getting a lot of likes, so that’s good, right? I know it doesn’t matter, but I think a lot of fans might just be happy that you’re happy. They know how hard those breakups were on you, so to find something again, they might be supportive. As long as I don’t go and mess things up. I’m in a couple fan groups, it’ll be interesting to see it from the fan perspective. I’ll just make sure I don’t post in there anymore and give myself away. Putting my phone on airplane mode. I want to take pictures as we go around, get pictures of us.”
They ordered drinks and their dinner, looking out at the city beneath them, everything lit up. “There’s a place like this in Vancouver, maybe we go there our first night, get a look at the city,” he suggested.
“I love it. Tonight is perfect. No one is watching us, we have a great 360 view of the city, what sounds like amazing food, it’s amazing. It’s romantic, but not where anyone would expect you to go. It’s like we’re still flying under the radar.”
“It is. I’m sorry I have to leave tomorrow, but I know I’ll see you in a few days. Nothing is taking you away from me again. I just wish I could be with you in court, I’m sure it’ll be hard being near him again.”
“I’m a big girl. My thick skin has to start somewhere. Might as well start with making sure he can never bother me again,” she said. “If I start to worry about it, I’ll just think of you, and how excited I am to be spending time with you once this is all done.”
“I’ll confirm everything with my assistant, but I’ll fly overnight so we can fly to Vancouver together the next day. I’ll probably sleep on the flight with you, it takes a while to wind down after a show, so that flight will be at least productive. I found the perfect cabin, some great views, a hot tub to soak in, a jetted tub in the bathroom with a big window to look out, no one around to look in. It’s not far from the city for dinners and excursions. Let’s be honest, I think we both know what we’ll spend most of our time doing…” he smiled, giving her a look.
“No complaints here,” she smiled back. “I’m just excited to really get away from things, and spend some time with you while I’m at it.”
They ate their food, watching the city as they ate, taking Instagram worthy pictures, clinking their drinks together, just getting their hands, beautiful shots of the city.
They finished dinner, and headed to the elevator. “Let me check my phone now that we’re finished,” Deana said.
Her phone buzzed with notifications. “It’s texts from my friends. They all saw the post. At least my friends are happy for us… Oh, here’s one from Danielle.”
Justin’s post is going CRAZY! There will always be haters, but there’s a lot of love in there too. I’m so excited for you two, to see what your future holds. Just saying, I better be matron of honor at your wedding…
Deana smiled. They rode down the elevator, the doors opening to the hotel lobby. They got into their car.
“Your place or mine?” he asked.
“OUR place…”
