August 2000
If I hadn't let Rachel talk me into one of her stupid celebrity stalking adventures, I never would have met him in the first place. What I had wanted to do that night was stay at home and watch tv, but instead I ended up hanging out in a loud, sweaty, dark ass club while she tried to catch a glimpse of some group I didn't even know anything about.
We didn't actually go to the show because she didn't want to get caught up with a bunch of screaming teenagers. But she knew some of the guys that worked at the venue and they got us backstage, where she charmed every roadie and security person she came across until someone told us where the after party was supposed to be.
As soon as Rachel and I hit the door, she was positive she saw one of the guys in the group and she took off in his direction like a bloodhound tracking a wounded deer. She left me without a second thought, which explains how I ended up sitting at the bar being hit on by a brother without a clue. He had hit me with every lame pick up line in the book. Each one more played out than the one before it.
He propped his elbow on the bar and leaned in close to me. "I'd better call heaven and see if they're missing an angel." Then he grinned at me with a grill full of gold, like that was the smoothest thing anyone had ever said.
Needless to say I had reached the end of my rope with him. "That line is so old, my grandfather got it from his grandfather. Can you please go bother someone else? I'm not interested."
"Come on now. What's a brother got to do to get just one dance?"
I had tried to be nice. I had tried to be direct. I was two seconds from pulling out my pepper spray, when a smooth male voice intervened on my behalf.
"Hey partner, the girl said she's not interested. Why don't you give it up?"
"What's it to you?"
"Nothing yet. But we can make it something if you want to."
"Forget this. You're not the only woman in this club. If you'd rather be with Vanilla Ice, fine by me." My would be suitor picked up his drink and headed to the other end of the bar.
I turned to face my savior and he was not exactly what I was expecting.. He was wearing a baby blue Sean John sweater and a pair of baggy, faded Phat Farm jeans. The Nikes on his feet were so fresh and clean they seemed to gleam in the dim light of the club. His hair was in corn rows in a zig zag pattern and he had huge diamond studs in both his ears. Everything about him screamed money including the big gaudy necklace that dangled from his neck. He had a baby face, but the crooked smile that graced his lips took some of the innocence from his look. And he had the most beautiful blue eyes I'd ever seen.
"You don't have to thank me. I just saw a beautiful girl being hassled and I figured it would be the gentlemanly thing to do to come to your rescue."
I could tell by the few words he'd spoken that he wasn't lacking in attitude or ego.
"I hadn't planned to thank you. This girl is a woman and she's perfectly capable of handling her own business."
"Slow down Sister Souljah. I meant no disrespect. I just saw that guy giving you the full court press and it looked like you could use some help."
Something about his smile and his soft spoken voice instantly put me at ease. "Sorry. I just don't want to be here. I shouldn't be taking it out on you."
He slid onto the bar stool next to me. "If you don't want to be here, why are you?"
"I came with my roommate. She found out that some group she likes was supposed to come here after their concert and she figured she could run into them. I just came to make sure she didn't get into too much trouble."
"Is that a fact? What group is it?"
"I don't know. Backdoor Boys, 58 Degrees, something like that. A bunch of white boys shaking their behinds and ripping off New Edition and The Jackson Five. No offense."
"None taken."
"I mean all those groups look exactly the same to me. There's a funny one, a shy one, the flirty one, the so called deep one and then you have to have the cute one. I think they have some sort of factory where they just churn them out, then unleash them on the world with sequined pants and a lifetime supply of hair gel."
He let out a loud, silly laugh. "I don't think I've ever heard that before. Here you are giving me all your best boy band conspiracy theories and I don't even know your name."
"I'm Kayla James." I extended my hand to him and instead of shaking it, he just held on to it. "This is the part where you should introduce yourself."
"Oh I'm going to. I'm just trying to figure out which one I must be." He turned his smirk up full blast. "Based on your descriptions, I guess I must be the cute one."
I could feel the heat rise to my cheeks and I know they must have been blazing. "Oh no. You mean you're one of them."
"Yeah. I'm Justin."
"Oh god. I am so sorry. I am so embarrassed right now."
"Calm down girl. It's not a big deal. People have said a lot worse things. Trust me."
"I feel like a total ass."
"Buy me a drink and we can pretend that the whole thing never happened."
"You think you're slick, don't you? You just let me sit here running off at the mouth."
"I thought you were funny. It's not often that I get to talk to someone that isn't trying to kiss my ass. It was refreshing."
"What are you doing out here with the regular folks? Shouldn't you be in VIP, sipping on Cristal?"
"It was boring as hell in VIP. Besides if I stayed stuck back there all night, I wouldn't have met you."
Just as I was about to ask him what he wanted to drink, Rachel came running up, dragging some guy behind her. I could tell what she had been doing by the blush on her normally pale cheeks and the way her long red hair had been tossed.
"I was looking all over for you Kay. I want you to meet Joey. Joey, this is my best friend Kay."
Joey didn't bother to shake my hand. He just leaned over and planted a loud kiss on my cheek.
"I see you already met a friend of mine." Joey pointed to Justin, and Rachel finally noticed him sitting beside me. Her green eyes got so big, I thought they were going to roll right out of her head.
"Will you guys excuse us for a second?" Rachel pulled me off the barstool and led me to the ladies room.
"Kay, do you have any idea who that guy is?"
"Yeah. He said his name was Justin. He seems nice."
"Nice? Is that all you have to say? You are being hit on by Justin Timberlake and that's all you have to say?"
"He wasn't really hitting on me. We were just talking."
"You are so clueless. I can't believe that I had to make you come here and you end up getting with Justin Timberlake."
"Would you stop calling him by his whole name? And I'm not getting with him. We were just talking. Nothing's gonna happen with him."
"Are you sure? Cause it would really help me if you could keep yourself occupied for a few hours."
"What does that mean?"
"Joey invited me back to his hotel room."
"What am I supposed to be doing while you're with him?"
"I don't know."
"At this point, you're on your own. I'll leave the car here, but I'm getting a cab and going home."
"Please don't leave me. What if this guy turns out to be a nut? I need you to have my back."
"Rachel, you should have thought of that before you threw yourself at someone that you don't know anything about."
"Please Kay. Pretty please."
"I want to go home, Rach."
"I promise to do your laundry and wash all the dishes for a month."
"Fine."
Rachel gave me a big hug. "Thank you so much."
We got back to the bar and Rachel wandered off with Joey to let security know they were ready to leave. I sat back down next to Justin.
"So, it looks like my friend and your friend are hitting it off pretty well."
"That's the polite way to put it."
"What are you gonna do while they're hooking up?"
"I don't know. I guess I could hang out in the hotel lobby or the bar. Hopefully no one will mistake me for a prostitute."
"You don't have to do that. You can come to my room if you want."
I looked down at the hoochified low cut top and mini skirt that Rachel had talked me into wearing and it crossed my mind what kind of woman he probably thought I was.
I turned and looked him straight in the eye. "Maybe the fact that my friend is obviously making herself available to your friend has given you the wrong idea about me. So let me just make one thing perfectly clear. If you're looking to get laid, you're barking up the wrong tree. You're cute and all, but I don't sleep with guys that I don't know."
"There are women all over this club and camped out all around our hotel, that would sleep with me if I snapped my fingers in their direction. I don't need to trick women into coming to my room. I'm not trying to pull a fast one on you."
"I still don't know if it's a good idea."
"I swear on my mother's life that I will be a perfect gentleman."
There was genuine sincerity in his voice and his eyes. And it's not like I really had a lot of choices. "Alright. Thank you."
"Besides, I saw that pepper spray in your purse. I'm not trying to get jacked up."
I gave him a playful push on the shoulder and he treated me to one of the most beautiful smiles I'd ever seen.
Thankfully the ride back to the hotel was a short one. Rachel and Joey were all hands, practically sitting in each other's laps in the limo. Justin and I were sitting across from them so it was kind of hard to miss the show they were putting on.
At one point I guess they forgot we were there because Joey stuck both his hands straight up the front of Rachel's shirt.
Justin took notice of the uncomfortable look on my face and kicked Joey in the leg. "How about a little respect, man?"
Joey eased his hands out of Rachel's shirt and gave me a sheepish grin. "Sorry."
All during the ride, I could see Justin trying to stare at me on the sly. His eyes wandered around my cleavage, then up one leg and down the other. He was definitely checking me out. I still hadn't planned to let him lay a hand on me, but I was flattered by the attention.
Finally we got back to the hotel. Their bodyguards formed a wall around us so that we could get past the crowds of screaming girls waiting outside. As soon as we got upstairs, Rachel gave me a wave over her shoulder and disappeared into Joey's room.
Justin stepped to one of the rooms across the hall and held the door open for me. They were staying at the Ritz and the suite he was in was absolutely beautiful.
"This is quite a room."
Justin dropped his keycard down on the coffee table and let out a slight chuckle. "Yeah, I guess it is. You should have seen some of the places we used to stay in. We were lucky if the heat worked and there were enough blankets that we didn't have to sleep two to a bed."
He pulled his sweater over his head and threw it across the chair in the corner. He was wearing a white wifebeater under the sweater and it was obvious that he spent a healthy amount of time at the gym.
I know he must have seen me giving him the once over, but he never said anything about it. "Make yourself comfortable. Do you want something to drink?"
"Yeah. A coke's fine."
He stepped over to the mini bar and filled two glasses with ice. He split a can of Coke between the two glasses, then added a generous splash of rum to one of them. He came over and handed me the plain coke.
I took a closer look at him in the bright lights of the hotel room and for the first time it occurred to me that he might not even be legal. "Are you old enough to be drinking that?"
He smirked at me and raised the glass to his lips. "Old enough."
"How old?"
"I'm nineteen."
"You seem older. The way you carry yourself."
"Thanks."
"Before you ask, I'm twenty two."
"I wasn't gonna ask. One, it's rude to ask a woman her age and two, it doesn't matter."
He hadn't done anything but look at me, but I could feel myself becoming aroused by him. I put my drink down and walked over to the window, so that I could put some distance between us.
His room looked out over the twinkling lights of the Atlanta skyline. "The view is beautiful."
"Yes it is." I jumped at the sound of his voice. I hadn't even heard him move, but he was standing close enough behind me that I could feel the heat coming from his body.
I turned around to face him and again his eyes locked right on to mine. I could feel his gaze like a prickling heat rising up off my skin.
"So. We're probably going to be here for awhile. Do you want to do something?"
He raised one of his straight, thick eyebrows and licked his lips. "Something like what?"
The devilish tone of his voice was obvious. I put my hands against his chest to back him up a little bit. "Maybe we could watch tv."
"Okay." He slid his hand down my arm and linked my fingers with his. Then he started leading me to the back of the suite.
"Hold up. Where are you taking me?"
"The tv is in the bedroom. I like to watch while I'm laying down. That's not a problem is it?"
"No." Of course the bedroom was as gorgeously decorated as the rest of the suite. There was a huge tv against the wall and in the middle of the room, sat the biggest bed I'd ever seen in my life.
As a matter of fact the tv and the bed took up so much space, that there wasn't room for anything else, like a chair. "Where am I supposed to sit?"
"Last time I checked there was a really big bed right in the middle of the room. I told you, you can trust me. Just sit down."
I perched on the edge of the bed and started looking around for the remote. Justin started mumbling under his breath and furiously scratching his head.
"What's wrong with you?"
"These mother–. I mean these corn rows."
I thought it was cute, the way he tried to stop himself from cursing so much, but the truth is Justin has a dirty mouth. He had one then and he still has it now. It's funny to remember a time when he tried so hard not to curse in front of me. Now, not only will he curse in front of me, he's actually cursed me out a few times.
"What's the matter with your braids?"
"For one thing, everybody I know has dogged me out for getting them done and right now, they are itching like a son of a-." He stopped again. "They itch. I think they're too tight. I'm just gonna get them undone tomorrow. I'd do it myself, but I'm too tired to fool with them tonight."
"I'll undo them for you."
"Really?"
"Yeah. It won't take that long and I don't have anything else to do."
"Are you sure?"
"Honestly, I don't mind. Hand me a comb." He went to the corner of the room and dug around in the duffle bag sitting there. He came up with a wide toothed comb and gave it to me.
"You don't know what my hair looks like when it's loose, do you?"
"No."
"I didn't think so. I don't think that comb is going to be much use to you." He sat down on the floor with his back to me. I pulled him towards me and I could have sworn that I felt an actual shock when his bare shoulder brushed against my leg.
As I slowly started to unwind his braids, I began to see what he meant about his hair. That comb would have done more harm than good. I don't even know why he had it. I just used my fingers instead. His hair was a mass of whirling curls and felt so soft under my hands. By the time I got the last of the braids undone, his eyes were closed and his softly stubbled cheek was resting against my knee.
I smoothed his hair back from his face and gave him a gentle tap on the shoulder. "Wake up. I'm done."
His eyes opened with a sudden fluttering of his long lashes. "I wasn't asleep." When he stood up and stretched his shirt rode up just a little bit, revealing a sliver of his tanned, muscled stomach.
He mussed his hands through his hair and gave me a sweet smile. "I must look like a mess."
I could tell by the way that he said it, that he knew exactly what he looked like. That whole false modesty, aw shucks you think I'm cute thing, that Justin does is just as phony as it seems. He is well aware of the affect that he has on people in general, women particularly and me especially.
At the time though, I found myself charmed by his smile and I briefly wondered what it would feel like to be wrapped up in his arms. He walked towards me and I froze in place but he only reached behind me to pick up the tv remote.
"I need to take a shower. In the meantime, why don't you find us something to watch?"
"Sure." He got some clean clothes out of his duffel and disappeared into the bathroom. The entire time that he was gone, I tried to stop myself from thinking about the fact that he was just a few feet away, soaking wet and completely naked. He might have had a baby face, but as far as I could tell, the rest of him was all grown up.
About twenty minutes later, the bathroom door opened and he came out. He was wearing a black wifebeater and a pair of baggy grey sweats. And he had a big, fluffy towel wrapped around his head. I tried to stifle my laugh by putting my hand over my mouth.
"I see you over there laughing at me. I know I look ridiculous, but my hair is a bitch to get dry."
"Why don't you just use a hair dryer?"
He put his hands on his hips and looked at me like I had suggested something blasphemous. "Blow drying makes it frizzy. It looks better if it dries naturally."
"Come here." He sat down on the side of the bed and I moved to stand in front of him. I unwrapped his head and started to briskly dry his hair with the towel.
"I'm tempted to just cut it all off."
"Don't do that. It makes you stand out."
"Yeah. Nothing says cool like a white guy with a 'fro."
"I'm serious." As I leaned closer to him to dry the back of his head, he put his hands on my hips to help steady me. It didn't feel like he was trying to be fresh, it just felt natural.
"Is this how you usually spend your time after concerts? Luring unsuspecting women back to your room so they can tend to your hair?"
"I know. Pretty exciting, isn't it? I'd usually be doing something with one of the guys, but Chris is with his girlfriend Dani, JC just started seeing some girl that I really don't like, and he's all holed up in his room talking to her on the phone. Who knows what Lance is up to. And we both know what Joey's doing."
"Don't you have a girlfriend that you could call?"
"Nah. I just broke up with somebody a little while back."
"Sorry to hear that."
"I really couldn't spend a lot of time with her and eventually she just started seeing somebody else. Would've been nice if she could have just told me that instead of me hearing it from other people. But I understand where she was coming from."
"There's never a good reason for cheating on someone. If you're dissatisfied in your relationship you should just say so and then move on."
"I feel the same way. I've never cheated on anyone and I don't think I ever could."
Knowing what I know now, that seems like a laughable statement. But I truly think he meant it at the time.
I took the towel off his head and ran my fingers through his still slightly damp hair. "I think you're okay now."
"Thanks." He took the towel from my hands and put it on the night stand. "Did you find anything good on the tv?"
"A South Park marathon is supposed to be starting on Comedy Central in a few minutes."
"You like South Park?"
"I love South Park. I didn't like it at first, but those little bad ass kids grew on me."
"Who's your favorite?"
"Most people would probably say Cartman, but I've got a soft spot for Kenny."
He yawned a little bit and rubbed his hand over his face and for the first time it occurred to me how tired he must be.
"Are you sure you want me hanging around in here? You must be tired. I should leave and let you get some sleep."
"I'm not that tired. I'm still riding an adrenaline rush from the show and we're not leaving until late tomorrow, so I'll be able to sleep in. Besides, I don't want you to go. I like talking to you."
"I like talking to you too." Being with him was like hanging out with one of the guys I grew up with. It felt like a no pressure situation, like spending time with an old friend.
The theme from South Park started up on the tv and Justin swung his legs around , scooting over to the middle of the bed. I moved around to the foot of the bed and sat down.
"What are you doing down there? Come up here with me." I looked back at Justin and he was propped against the pillows, patting the space beside him. "If I was gonna jump you, don't you think I would have done it by now?"
I hesitated, not because I didn't trust him, but because it seemed odd to me to be so comfortable with someone that I had just met. There I was at two o'clock in the morning in a hotel room with a strange guy and it didn't seem weird to me to be there.
"Girl, kick those shoes off and get over here. I don't bite."
"Unless you're asked to?"
"Now you can't come up in here stealing all my best lines." Then he turned another of those big cheesy smiles on me.
I slid my heels off and climbed onto the bed beside him. I started off with a decent amount of space between us, but as the night wore on the distance between us lessened. We were inching closer to each other until eventually we met in the middle and Justin rested his head against my shoulder. We sat that way for awhile, the silence occasionally interrupted by our laughter. I was starting to drift off when Justin spoke.
"Tell me something about yourself."
"Something like what?"
"I don't know. What kind of work do you do? What's your favorite song? What's the last movie you saw? Tell me anything."
"I'm a pediatric care nurse. My current favorite song is Try Again by Aaliyah, my all time favorite song is Let's Stay Together by Al Green and the last movie I saw was Coyote Ugly. And by the way, that movie sucked. That's ninety minutes and seven dollars I'll never get back."
He let out a slight laugh at that.
"Why do you want to know?"
"I just do. I meant what I said before. I don't usually get an opportunity to talk to someone that doesn't want anything from me. It's nice to have a normal conversation with a normal person."
All the cockiness was gone from his voice. I'd never heard anyone sound so lonely before. I put my arm around his shoulder without even thinking about it. He moved closer to me, nestling against my side.
"Justin?"
"Yeah?"
"Why did you come up to me at the club?"
"I thought you were pretty."
"There were plenty of pretty women there."
"But only one of them was you. It just seemed like there was something special about you."
He was probably talking a bunch of yang, but at the time he seemed sincere. We were quiet for a while after that. When I looked at him his eyes were closed. I clicked off the bedside lamp, turned off the tv and soon after that I fell asleep myself.
******************************************************************
When I woke up it took me awhile to remember where I was. Justin had his arm slung across my waist and even though I tried to ease out from under him, I still managed to wake him up when I moved.
"Hey. What time is it?"
I squinted my eyes in the dark and looked at my watch. "It's almost four."
He sat up and wiped the sleep from his eyes. Even in the dim light of the room I could see him staring at me. He reached towards me and trailed the back of his hand against my cheek.
"Kayla." That was the first time he'd said my name and it sounded so good coming from his lips. He moved his hand to the back of my neck and gently pulled me towards him. He moved slowly, giving me every opportunity to stop him if I wanted to. But I didn't want to.
The first touch of his lips to mine was feather light and barely there, but I felt it right down to my soul. The second kiss was stronger and with it Justin became bolder. He leaned over me, easing me back into a reclining position. The next thing I knew I was laying flat on the bed and he was hovering over me. His upper body supported by his forearms, his lower body settled down between my legs.
He continued moving his lips against mine. Each kiss longer and deeper than the last. I rested one hand against the small of his back and tangled the other in his hair. I slipped my tongue past his slightly parted lips, where it was eagerly greeted by his own. Our tongues caressed each other, softly at first, and then with increasing intensity.
I slipped his undershirt off and moved my hands all over his back. My fingertips slid up and down his spine and across his broad shoulders. I loved the soft feeling of his skin and the hard muscles moving underneath. I pushed him away from me, but only so that I could pull my own shirt over my head. I needed to feel his bare skin against mine.
He trailed his tongue over my collar bone and unhooked the clasp on the front of my bra. He pushed the straps down my shoulders and pushed the cups out of the way. My nipples hardened the second they came into contact with his chest. He skimmed his fingertips up and down my arms and settled his mouth onto the crook of my neck. He licked and nibbled on the skin there, softly sucking my flesh into his mouth.
Justin started to slowly rock his hips into mine. I raised my knees against his sides, letting my skirt hike up until it was almost around my waist. I began lifting my hips up towards his and apparently I was hitting the right spot, because he dropped his hands to my waist to hold me in place.
Everything he did to me felt good and made me feel like a teenager myself. That feeling I used to get making out on my parent's couch. When kissing and touching meant everything and it never had to go any further. It felt urgent, but not rushed. Innocent and raunchy, too much, but not enough.
He brought his mouth back to mine and then he slipped a hand between our moving bodies. He ran his finger across my underwear and I knew he could easily feel how wet I was through that thin layer of cloth. He started to push the fabric to the side, but I caught his wrist to stop him. My brain had made the return trip back from wherever it had disappeared to.
Justin pulled back and looked into my eyes. "What's wrong?"
I had already done way more than I'd intended to do. Despite the fact that I wanted him, I knew it was time to stop.
"Nothing's wrong. I just think we should stop before we're not able to."
He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "Okay."
He rolled off of me without another word. He lay next to me for a second, panting and trying to catch his breath. After a few moments passed, he reached over to smooth my skirt down over my legs and he gave me a kiss on the forehead.
I'd expected at least a slight protest from him, but he didn't seem the least bit upset. He stood up from the bed. "Get up."
I knew he was taking the whole thing too easily. I thought we had arrived at the part of the night where he would call me a tease and throw me out into the hallway. Instead, he turned back the covers and got into bed. He fluffed up the pillows and opened his arms to me.
I climbed into bed next to him. He pulled the covers up over us and wrapped his arms around me. I could feel the vibrations through his chest when he started talking.
"You already know what I do for a living. I can't remember the last time I went to see a movie. My current favorite song is Big Pimpin by Jay-z. And Let's Stay Together is my all time favorite song too."
We talked for a long time after that. About anything and everything. Justin was so open and unguarded that night. Unlike now, when practically everything that comes out of his mouth is a carefully crafted, management approved statement.
We talked until we couldn't keep our eyes open any longer.
*****************************************************************
We were woken up by a pounding on the door. Justin stumbled out of bed and went to see who it was. I got up and went behind him. When he cracked the door open, I could see Rachel standing in the hallway.
Rachel took one look at Justin standing there with no shirt on and my disheveled appearance and a knowing smile showed up on her face. I knew she was going to give me beaucoup shit later on.
"Hey Kayla. Sorry to disturb you two, but we probably need to get going now. Joey's having someone drive us back to the club to pick up the car."
I started smoothing my skirt and trying to fix up my hair a little bit. "Okay. Give me a minute. I'll be right there."
Justin closed the door and I stepped back into the room to put on my shoes and pick up my purse. He watched me while I got my things together and for the first time, I felt awkward around him. I didn't know what to say and it didn't seem like he was going to say anything, so I just headed for the door, but he stopped me.
"I'm really glad that I met you, Kayla."
"It was nice meeting you too." Which seemed like a really lame thing to say after the night that we had shared, but I didn't know what else to say. "I guess I'll just be going."
"Wait." Justin picked up a notepad and an ink pen from the coffee table. "Give me your phone number."
"You don't have to do that."
"Do what?"
"You don't have to ask for my phone number. I'm an adult, not some love struck teenager. I don't expect anything from you."
"If I didn't want your number, I wouldn't ask for it." He extended the pen and paper to me and I scribbled down my number.
"We've got a few more dates coming up to finish up our tour, but I've got some time off coming in October. If I came through here, do you think we could get together? I'd like to see you again."
I didn't bother to disguise the skepticism in my voice. "Yeah, right."
"I know you don't believe me, but you'll see."
"I really need to get going now." He took my hand into his and walked me to the door.
"I'd walk you downstairs, but, you know."
"I understand." He opened the door and as I went to join Rachel in the hallway, he pulled me back towards him for a kiss. I know it probably only lasted a few seconds, but that kiss seemed to go on forever. When he finally pulled away from me, I actually felt dizzy.
Lonnie, one of their bodyguards, appeared in the hallway and I knew it was time to go.
Justin reluctantly let go of me. "Bye Kayla. See you in October."
Rachel and I followed Lonnie to the elevator. When I looked back over my shoulder, Justin was still leaning in the doorway, watching me.
We rode back to the club in silence, but as soon as we got in our own car, Rachel started in on me.
"Kayla, Kayla, Kayla."
I refused to acknowledge her.
"Uh, uh, uh. You sneaky little trick. I thought you said you weren't going to hook up with him."
"We didn't hook up."
"The hickey on your neck tells a different story."
Immediately I pulled my compact out and took a look. Sure enough there was a tell tale mark on my neck. "We kissed a little bit, it wasn't a big deal."
"I don't know about that. You must have really put it on that little boy. I saw the way he was looking at you."
"I'm telling you, we just made out. I didn't put anything on him." Truth be told, he had put it on me, but Rachel was already having too much fun at my expense.
"Did he ask for your phone number?"
"Yeah. Then he gave me some old cat daddy line about how he wants to see me when he comes back to town."
"Do you know what that means?"
"Yeah. I just came really close to letting myself get turned out by someone that's not old enough to buy his own beer. I'm sure Joey told you the same thing."
"Actually he didn't. He didn't ask for my phone number either. What happened with me and him was what it was. Just a one time thing."
"What happened with me and Justin was a one time thing too."
Rachel shook her head and looked at me out the corner of her eye. "I'm telling you, I don't think so."
"I'm not holding my breath waiting for him to show up."
I'd had a good time with Justin and I really did think he was a sweet guy. But the way I saw it, he probably met girls all the time and I was sure he would have forgotten about me by the time his tour bus pulled into the next city. So I went about my business and I didn't give him another thought.
Until the day I came home and found him sitting in my living room.
