Chapter 14

“It’s not funny.”

“Right.”

“It’s not!” He cut his eyes over to his bodyguard that was standing in front of them in the elevator, his shoulders shaking with chuckles.

Justin pushed him, but he didn’t move. “Shut up Mike.”

Mike didn’t turn around. Instead he shrugged. “Hey, I’m not the one who said it.”

“I didn’t say anything! She did it!”

Kristen sobered herself up enough to put her hands up in defense. “I didn’t do ANYTHING! I was just trying to hold your hand Justin!”

He narrowed his cold blue eyes at her and then rolled them. “Oh sure! Then why were you like…just UGH!”

The doors opened and Mike turned around, holding his hand on the “door open button.” He got close to Justin and loomed over him. “Calm down son! It’s not like it caused a riot and all you had to do was write two autographs and its not like the lady called the damn zoo police and have them kick you out for saying the F word.”

Feeling like he was being lectured he opened his hands to the sky and tried to give Mike a non-guilty, “I cant believe this is happening” look. “I wouldn’t have said it if she didn’t scare me!”

Kristen sighed but he knew she was just putting on a front. He knew what she had done. It was intentional. She was evil, no matter what she said. “I wasn’t TRYING TO!”

“Oh, I know what you look like when you are up to something. You’re going down one day!” He backed her into the corner and pointed his finger at her, trying not to smile through his frown.

She rolled her eyes and shook her head before she duck under his arm and walked out of the elevator, followed by Mike. “Ok Justin. Go stomp off and call your mom.”

He walked behind them, slowly. “The date was perfect and then YOU had to go and ruin it.”

She stopped, turned around and gave a very good performance of being hurt. “Well thanks. I guess we wont be going to play putt putt after all.” For a second he thought she was being serious, so he licked his lips. It was a intentional cocky maneuver and when he saw her eyes shift down a smidge and one little corner of her mouth twitch up he knew she wasn’t mad.

He had watched her a lot that day: it was his main purpose for taking her to the zoo. He wanted to see her reaction to situations, things, other people. He wanted to see how she would act away from the normal crowd; when it was just her and him, well Mike, too, but he did a good job of staying out of the way. He was amazed to find how her barriers crumbled. Sure they picked on each other and tried their best to annoy one another, but they also talked. They had real conversations about an array of things, without trying to make fun or get under the other’s skin. He got to know her, got to hear stories about when she was little and got to tell her things about himself and his family and life back in Memphis.

It was refreshing. Most people wanted to know about the celebrity Justin. She didn’t really give a damn about that. He found himself wondering how the hell he got to be the lucky one to see the real side of Kristen: The Kristen that knew how to have fun and get excited and not care if anyone saw her in a state totally different from her cool, take no shit, whatever attitude.

But he still liked the frisky Kristen. He still liked getting under her skin and teasing her and pissing her off. She was beautiful and cute at the zoo. But now, she was feisty and that made her sexy.

JC walked by at that moment and sighed. “What are you guys fighting about now?”

“Nothing.” Justin said, hoping she wouldn’t rat on him. What had happened that day was funny, but quite embarrassing for a guy like him. He really didn’t want anyone else to know he had acted like a little girl.

Kristen smiled innocently at JC, motioning towards Justin. “Oh, see. We were in the reptile section of the zoo and ya know how those places are like indoors and really dark. Well me and Justin were watching them feed this cobra, or something, and it was really pissed and like snapping at the rat and stuff. And I honestly got scared and wanted big ole Justin to hold my-“

He jumped in. “You wanted to scare me.”

He could tell Josh was holding back his laughter already. “What’d you do?”

Kristen’s eyes went wide and her voice was probably the fakest he had ever heard. She was lying out of her teeth. “I just really gently tried to hold his hand but instead I accidentally pinched at him a little and he jumped about 6 feet in the air, peed his pants and said “Holy Fuck” in front of about 10, five-year-old kids. Lets just say, some parents were not too happy.”

Justin pushed Kristen out of the way and looked at Josh trying to get the real story out. He didn’t care if other knew he was terrified of the snake part of the zoo. Most of them probably would have been too. But he didn’t want anyone thinking he had bladder control problems. He prayed that no one would start singing that “gotta go gotta go gotta go right now” song. “Ok! That’s NOT what happened. Kristen KNEW I was scared of snakes. I didn’t wanna go in there but they were making fun of me so I had to for my prides sake and then you SCARED me and I’m sorry I didn’t mean to say fuck but I thought a snake was attacking me and no I didn’t JUMP 6 feet, I just went “holy fuck” and I did NOT piss my pants. YOU were the one that had to run to the bathroom!” He slung his arm out towards Kristen.

She was leaning against the wall laughing again. He wanted to smile; he loved her laugh. It was loud but not obnoxious. It was a purely happy sound and he liked that. “I was laughing so hard!”

A hand was placed on his shoulder. “Ah! You’ve found a keeper young one.” He shrugged it off as JC walked on. “Well kids I’m going out tonight. You all wanna come?”

Kristen promptly yawned. “I’m beat.”

He agreed. “Me too.”

“Alright.” With that, JC walked a little further and then disappeared into one of the hotel rooms.

He looked over and saw staring at his ass. He wanted to call her on it. Damn I’m likin’ this. And he was. He really was enjoying his time with her. And he really was enjoying the fact that she was checking him out.

Mike interrupted his thoughts. “I think I’m gonna take his lead. Hope you two had fun.”

Justin smiled genuinely at his bodyguard. “Thanks Mike.”

“It’s my job.” He deadpanned.

Kristen walked over and gave him a hug. He watched amused at the size difference. She really was quite petite but against Mike, she looked like she was a midget. “I hope you had fun Mikey. We got to see them feed the monkeys!”

He patted her back and ruffled her hair a little. “Yeah, we did. See ya.” When he let her go he walked down the hallway, calling someone on his cell phone. He soon disappeared like JC had.

Kristen walked over to him and he smiled at her. “He’s nice. Once you get past that tough exterior.”

He winked, wondering if she would go back to cute Kristen or feisty Kristen and pick on him for trying too hard with the wink move. “Kinda like you eh?”

She shrugged and looked up at him. “I guess. Are you really mad at me?”

He casually nudged her with his elbow. “Naw, I’m just being overly dramatic. It’s my style.”

“I’ve noticed.”

They both laughed quietly and then he realized that this was it. It was the end of date one. He really didn’t know what to do then, he just knew he didn’t want her to go and he wasn’t ready to spend time away from her just yet. “Wanna go to my room and order pizza?”

“We just ate.”

He realized the stupidity of his suggestion but tried to cover up a mental lapse. He didn’t want her to know he was struggling with being so cool with this dating thing. His nerves were a little on edge and he was terrified he was going to do something stupid. “So. My sandwich didn’t fill me up.”

“You ate your fries, too and half of mine.”

“I’m a pig! So sue me.”

She laughed and it put him at ease. “I’ll come by but I wanna go take a shower and change and shit.”

But then she started to walk away, looking through her wallet for her electronic key card. He didn’t want her to go. “Ooo shower, eh?”

She looked over her shoulder and cocked an eyebrow at him still walking slowly. “No sir. Remember we haven’t gotten to the going out stage yet.”

He looked up at the ceiling and then back at her. “Oh yes. Dating stage. Which includes occasional kissing if I remember correctly.”

She had stopped in her tracks.

“I guess.”

He smiled.

Gotcha.

He walked over to where she was standing and looked down at her with a smirk. “So um…”

She sighed impatiently and looked off to the side. “If you’re gonna ask me if you can kiss me just go ahead and do it. Don’t stand there and make awkward small talk consisted of a lot of uhs and ums. It just makes it all too….weird.”

At first he was a little stunned by her bluntness, but if it got him a kiss, he didn’t give a damn what she said. He dropped his head a little and smiled. “Can I kiss you?”

She pushed him away and walked past him. “Fuck no.”

“See…That’s what I was talking about.”

She turned around with a mischievous smile, walking backwards. “What do you mean?”

“Remember, baboon thing.”

She nodded. “Oh yeah, the whole what if you had to inflate a red ass to get a date comment?”

“No. The you being a tease comment.”

Her mouth dropped, she stopped and then stalked back over to him. “I’m not a tease!”

Mission:Accomplished. She was not walking away anymore.

“Ok. You’re standing there “blah blah just ask me to kiss you” batting your eyes, and lickin your lips. Givin that little “sexy KT” smile and then you just totally go 180 from that and put up the attitude of “fuck no.” Ya know what I think it is?”

She put her hand on her hip and gave him attitude. If she saw a picture of herself right then she would probably be a little embarrassed. “What do you think it is professor Justin?”

He leaned down and smiled innocently, annoyingly, purposely and then whispered, “You’re scared.”

“What?”

“You’re scared to kiss me.”

She laughed and in an arrogant manner said, “I’ve done it before.”

He crossed his arms over his chest and rocked back on his heels. “Yeah but you were drunk. And the time before that I was drunk. We’ve never done it sober before.”

She backed a step away. He had her caught. “What are you getting at?”

“You’re SCARED!”

“I’m NOT scared.”

He nodded sarcastically. “Riiight.

She clinched her fist. He had her right where he wanted her. “I’m not!”

“Prove it.”

“Fine. I will.”

A minute past and she hadn’t moved.

“I’m waiting.”

Her eyes jumped to him quickly. She was scared alright. “On what?”

“For you to prove you aren’t scared and to kiss me right now. I aint doing jack shit. You get that cute ass over here and you pucker up girly since you’re all miss tough.”

And out came the dramatics and insults: her beloved line of defense. “Hell no. I might get a disease.”

He nodded to himself. “And now your resorting to insults. Don’t make me start making chicken noises.”

The next thing that happened he had expected. She got mock-mad. She squinted her eyes and said in a low voice, “Ya know what. You can forget about a second date. And I’m serious. This isn’t cool.”

He made his voice an annoying high pitch and said, “Everybody’s doin it!”

“Stop! I will not be peer pressured into kissing you!!”

He put his hands up and back away a little. “Ok. I’m not trying to pressure you.” She rolled her eyes. “Ok, so I kinda am because I wouldn’t mind it. But I don’t want to if you aren’t comfortable. But just admit it. You’re scared.”

“I’m NOT scared.”

He sighed and tried his best not to smile. He had gotten under her skin. He knew she wanted it but he wanted to get to her and make her squirm a little. He also wanted to see if she would take the initiative and make the next step for them. “Fine. You go take your shower and do whatever else it is you need to do. Come back over to chill and I’ll be waiting for my kiss. I’m being nice-“

She rolled here eyes, once again. “Pshh”

“I’m giving you time to grow the balls to kiss me.”

She grinned evilly. “You want me to have balls?”

To piss her off a little he ran his finger down her nose quickly and then plucked under her chin. “Figuratively my dear. That’s a nother tactic: changing the subject. Damn I love unraveling your little plans.”

She pushed him hard and had a scowl on her face. She narrowed her eyes once more and gritted out through her teeth, “The only thing your unraveling is any chance you had with me. You’re an asshole Justin. You’ve ruined possibly the best day I’ve ever had on tour. You had a real chance here but not anymore. I hope you have a great fuckin’ night.” She then turned sharply and stomped down the hall, pressed the button to the elevator and waited with her hands on her hips and her back to him. When the doors open she stomped in, pressed some buttons and flipped him off before the doors closed.

He smiled to himself, shook his head and turned around to head to his room. See ya in few

-----

Half an hour later...

She paced outside his doorway. She stopped, looked at the door and then called herself a “pathetic loser” before starting to pace again. He had called her out right on the nose. She was terrified to kiss him. The first time he had kissed her she was in a daze and he was drunk. The second time she was drunk and wasn’t thinking properly. Now, all she was doing was thinking: Thinking about what would come out of that kiss, what it would lead up to, and what it would mean.

Did he really like her? Was this all some mean joke? The day at the zoo had been wonderful. She had had the best time and it was one of the first times, in a long time, that she could enjoy herself and not think and worry about how others saw her.

The day had also been hard for her. It brought back a lot of memories with her family. She really didn’t have a family now and it was hard for her to share something, even as simple as going to the zoo, with anyone anymore. She knew if she wasn’t careful, she was gonna fall into quick-sand with Justin, and never be able to get out. She was already having a hard enough time escaping her feelings for him.

On the one hand, he aggravated the snot out of her. Sometimes she just wanted to rip out his little pricks of hair. He knew exactly how to push her buttons and he knew exactly what to do and say to make her in a tizzy. And she did NOT like that.

But then again, he knew how to make her smile. Sometimes she just wanted to curl up inside of him and have him love her and hold her and let her know that there was someone out there that cared. He knew exactly how to look at her and make her feel important and happy. And she liked that.

No. She loved that.

She jumped back and clutched her heart when the door to his room opened and he stepped out in a pair of tacky purple and yellow Lakers sweat pants she had seen him wear way too many times and a gray wife-beater. He looked surprised at first and then he relaxed against the doorframe and cocked an eyebrow at her.

She groaned.

“What are you doin’ darling?”

“Oh I was just, ya know…” Her voice trailed off into a mumble

He smiled and nodded and in a cocky manner, finishing for her. “Waiting in front of my doorway. For what, may I ask?”

She narrowed her eyes. She needed some means of escape. “The Easter bunny.”

“Hmm, you got about a month to go. Did you get so fresh and so clean clean?”

She looked at him like she hadn’t heard him right and rolled her eyes. These little sayings of him were a little strange. Of course, the girly part of her thought they were cute. She wanted to bitch out her girly part at times. Hoping to annoy him so he’d leave her alone with her thoughts, her thoughts about how good his chest looked in a tank, she gave him a thick attitude. “Did I what? I took a shower if that’s what you are asking. Duh, my hairs wet.”

“I took a shower too. I smell purty.”

She looked at him hard. “Um…” He gave her a bright smile and figured he was in too weird of a mood to make him annoyed at her. “Alrighty then.”

He stepped out with a couple dollars in his hands and his keycard in the other. “Want a soda?”

“Sure.” She leaned against his door as he started walking down the hallway to the room where the ice machine and vending machines were.

“What do you-never mind.” He waved her off with his hand.

“What?”

“I know you, sweetheart.”

“Huh?” He ignored her and she watched him disappear into the small room. A minute later he emerged with a drink in each hand.

He handed her one. “See. Sunkist. That’s what you wanted right?”

She smiled and in a sarcastic, but friendly way said, “So smooth.”

He shrugged and opened his door for her, letting her walk in first. “I try. Come on in.”

She walked in and was once again enwrapped in all that was him. A large duffel bag sat on one of the chairs from the table in the corner. It was open and clothes were bursting out of it. The bed was unmade and the sheets were crumpled. The TV was on espn and muted and a manila folder was open on the dresser beside the TV with his wallet, a watch, some change and his cell phone and charger. She stood over by his duffel bag, near the table and balcony. The A/C was on her full blast. She hugged her arms to herself and looked at him, now sprawled out on the bed, one leg out straight, one bent with his foot under his knee. His arms were helping the pillows support his head. “So uh…”

He laughed and nodded to the bed. “You can sit down ya know.”

“I know. I’d rather stand.”

He looked at her for a minute and then shrugged. “Suit yourself. I just wanna see what the score to this game was then we can pick out a movie or whatever”

“Ok. Sure.”

After about 2 minutes he sighed and she watched as his arms fell beside him and he looked up at the ceiling. “Dear God, please sit down.”

“Ok.” She perched her self on the far corner of the bed, away from him, playing with the tab of her Sunkist can.

She was terrified. He was lying there casual as hell on his bed and she knew something was gonna happen that night. It was the night of their date. They had already talked and figured out that a kiss was going to happen soon, probably that night, and here he was as cool as a autumn day; he had not a care in the world. In fact, he looked like he was enjoying himself. It made her sick that he wasn’t the tad bit nervous about this. It made her wonder how many times he had been in a situation like this before. She knew he probably had been with more girls than she would ever be with guys but she didn’t really want to be just another number or tally on the list.

It meant something, this…whatever it was they had. It meant a lot to her.

“Uh…”

She looked over at him. He was giving her a crazed look. “What?”

He scrambled to get up and took the remote and turned the TV off. “Ok. That’s it. TV’s off. I cant believe this…”

Her body tensed up as he walked over and in front of her and snatched the can from her hand, setting it on the tv. “Cant believe what?”

“Stand up.”

“I thought you wanted me to sit down.”

“Stand up, Kristen.”

She was confused about what was going on and it was making her more nervous than she already was. “No.”

“Fine, I’ll sit down…” He plopped down beside her and she stood up quickly. She didn’t know what was happening but suddenly she began to feel her stomach knot up. “What the hell? I’m not gonna bite you.”

“Why are you getting close?”

He stood back up and sighed tiredly, like he was a impatient parent with a 2 year old. “Kristen. Just shut the fuck up for a second, ok?”

“What?”

He stared at her, and she stared at him. He was less than a foot from her. She could smell the soap he used from the shower and she could almost feel the heat from his body in the insanely cold room. “Will you close your eyes?”

She gulped. “Why?”

He sighed again and looked off to the side. When he looked back at her, his head was tilted and his eyes were looking at her softly. He smiled. “Just close em.”

“No why?”

He groaned, rolled his eyes and mumbled, “I swear to god if this is the way it is every time…”

“Every time what?”

He shook his head and widened his eyes to try and get her to trust him. “Just close your eyes ok? Relax.”

She didn’t know how or why but suddenly she felt her eyes were closed and she was completely at his mercy. She was almost shaking with nerves, but she couldn’t stop herself from doing what he asked. She trusted him and she had never really trusted anyone else before. “Is this like one of those trust games that they make you do at camp?”

He half-laughed, “Close enough.”

A few moments later she hadn’t heard or felt or noticed anything different. She called out softly, “Justin?” When there was no response she started to open her eyes and said, “I’m gonna open my-J-Justin?” She stopped because she felt the presence of someone else near her. Body heat was dangerously close to her. Skin brushed against her arm. An exhale tickled her lips. He was so close to her.

She was standing there, blind, helpless, wanting him so bad she thought she might die; and still scared to death.

And that’s when it happened. She felt lips against hers for a moment. It was a small kiss, a timid kiss. His lips pulled away and she jumped when a hand curved around the side of her neck. Her body was stiff and felt awkward. Her arms were covered in chill bumps and her eyes were tightly closed. He massaged her neck muscles a little and whispered against her lips, “relax.”

He kissed her again, this time using her neck to keep her against him. His other hand slid around her waist and pressed her lower back so her body was pushed against him. She let a whimper escape.

Her eyes opened wide.

He was starting at her, holding her. His hand that was on her neck ran over the side of her head, forcing her damp hair out of the way. “I got you girl. You can let it go. I wont tell anyone.”

When she tried to speak it came out a whisper. “T- tell anyone what?”

“That your scared. That you crave affection. That you really do want people to care about you and you really do care about other people. I wont tell them you’re not a hard-ass.” One side of his upper lip raised slightly, baring a bit of his white teeth.

She had to stop him. She had to do something to stop him from breaking her open. This was going way too far. “What? You don’t know what the fuc-“

He cut her off with a smooth whisper. “Just shut up Kristen. You’re so scared. Why are you so scared?” His eyes narrowed at her.

She didn’t like this. She felt like she was 2 inches tall. It was like he had found her diary and was reading all her inner most secrets to her, letting her know he knew. “W- why are you making me feel like I’m nothing?”

His hand kept running through her hair, lulling her eyes closed like she was his pet. “I’m not trying to. I just wanna know what’s got you so terrified. If you are this hard-ass girl you say you are, why are you clinging to me? Why are you stuttering? Why did you whimper like you needed me? Why did-“

She looked away and swallowed. He was pushing her buttons, her emotional buttons and she was close to crying in front of him. She couldn’t let that happen. “Just shut up ok.”

“But I wanna know.”

“I just…I don’t wanna get played.”

Both his arms wrapped around her and she buried her forehead against his chest. “I wont play you Kristen.”

She mumbled into his chest, clinching her fist by her sides, wanting to give into him but feeling her strength come back a little. Her self-control was slowly oozing back and she was gonna try her damndest to not fall completely, like she was seconds from doing. “I want you to care about me, too. I want you to want me and I don’t want this to just be some girl from the tour that you got to have sex with you…”

She felt him start to chuckle. “But we haven’t-“

She cut him off and broke away from him, looking up at him seriously. “I’m not done. I- I like you Justin. I like you a lot. But you’re right. I’m scared. I’m fucking terrified because with you I’m not that hard-ass girl. This is all so brand new to me. I don’t know what its like to date someone. I don’t know what its like to have someone that flirts with you and actually WANTS to be around you. No ones ever cared about me before.”

“That’s not…”

She sighed while she pulled away from him. She was tired of standing and let her body fall back on his bed. She slung her arm over her eyes so he wouldn’t see a few tears escape. “Yes it is Justin. I’m not…I’m not popular like you, as high-school as that sounds. I don’t have this great family that loves me and supports me. I don’t have this tight group of friends I’m close to. My grandparents are really old and I don’t really see them much. Rick is the only friend from back home I have. I didn’t have a lot of friends in high school. I don’t have people calling me and checking up on me. I don’t have- I don’t really have a home I can go to. Like I don’t even know what the hell I’m gonna do after this tour. I have no money, no job, no place to-“

“I’ll help you.”

She wiped her eyes and stared at the white spackled ceiling. “I don’t want your charity Justin.”

“I want to take care of you Kristen. I CARE about you. The reason you weren’t popular in high school is because you shut people out. Am I right?” She looked off to her side. She heard him sigh like he was tired and frustrated with her. Just perfect. Now she had managed to annoy him.

Her head jerked forward when she felt pressure on the mattress. She looked up and saw him leaning over her, hands on either side of her pressing into the mattress, him looking like he was doing push ups above her. She couldn’t move and was forced to stare straight into his eyes and listen to every word he said. “You’ve let me in. Why? Because you want me to take care of you. I will. I promise. I- I really wanna see where this leads. It’s a cheesy line to say, but I really haven’t felt anything like this before. It’s so new, and refreshing, and complicated but simple, and I cant explain it but I like you Kristen. God, so much.” His head hung a little and he shook it, like he was still amazed by it all.

“Does this mean…”

He looked back up at her and said in a goofy voice, “Kristen will you be my girlfriend?”

She rolled her eyes, trying not to giggle and let him know that she wanted to be whatever he wanted her to be, as long as she got to be with him; be herself with him. “Oh my god that was pathetic.” She pushed herself out from under him and propped herself against the pillows and headboard of the unmade bed.

He let his body relax a little and laid on his side next to her, his head propped up beside her stomach. “Is that a yes or a no?”

“It was a maybe.”

He rolled on his back and rooted his fist in the air. “Oh you’re so my girlfriend.”

She bit her lip to keep from smiling, and said in a slow voice so he’d understand what she wanted. She wasn’t sure if being Justin Timberlake’s “girlfriend” was a title she was ready to have, but she was definitely willing to find out. “We’re dating.”

His hand waved in the air and then landed on her thigh. “Same thing.”

She stared down at his hand and laughed when he looked up at her with a devilish grin. “You just want the sex.”

He turned over and crawled up to her. She would have pulled away a little but there was no where to go. He leaned in and kissed her cheek. “No, I just want to be able to let you know you’re a special person to me. And I’ll always care about you. Unless you like cut off my balls, then we might have to rethink it.”

Normally she would have laughed at him and made a joke back. But he was so close. He smelled good. He looked good. His mouth was so close to hers and she wanted to feel that connection with him again. She wanted more, more than the light kisses he had pleasured her in moments before.

She looked from his mouth to his eyes and breathed, “I haven’t kissed you yet.”

His eyes narrowed and then it dawned on him. “Yeah you...oh that’s right.” He smiled a boyish grin.

He seemed calm, but she felt all the breath escape her lungs. Her heartbeat was going crazy and all she could do was stare at that bottom lip, begging her to latch on to it. “I- I’d like to give it a go.”

He smiled and licked his lips, staying exactly where he was for her. “Lay it on me.”

It took her a few moments but finally she took her hands on either side of his face and looked him in the eyes. The childish smile that was there before had disappeared and his eyelids had lowered, looking at her heavily with want.

She brought his face down to hers with her hands and started to smile when he did. She could feel it against her. She puckered slightly and the next thing she knew she was kissing him.

His lips responded slightly to hers, kissing her back. His hands wedged themselves under her body, letting his arms wrap around her as he laid his body on her, and her hands smoothed over the sides of his head, her arms going around his neck. Her mouth parted slightly and her tongue met his. They kept kissing until she felt him pulling her. She pulled away but he pushed forward, his mouth open against hers, kissing her deeply.

When he finally pulled away she found herself now laying on him, his arms around her and her hands smushed in-between their bodies. He smiled and leaned in for one more light kiss. “Mmmm, you’re a good kisser KT.”

Her head tucked into her chest and he started to laugh. She didn’t mean to be shy with him but she wasn’t use to situations like this. And he was being way too sexy for her to handle right then. She needed to get away, or at least get so she didn’t have to see him. She wiggled a little, trying to get situated, and finally found a spot beside him, with her head facing the TV, laying on his chest. She didn’t say anything as she flipped to the hotel channel and searched for the movies you could buy.

She found one she wanted and gave him the remote. “I wanna watch Tommy Boy.”

He pressed the play button and set the remote on the other side of him. “Amazing choice.”

“Thank you.”

Soon his hand was running up and down her back and she was lying against him, not paying a bit of attention to the movie and smiling so big, her face was staring to hurt.

He said he would take care of her. She reveled in that thought and for some reason all her worries disappeared, and maybe it was too soon to tell but she couldn’t help it. Her hopes soared, and something told her that Justin would be in her life for a while.