"I like this... a lot."

"I hate it."

"You hate it?"

"Did I stutter?"

"Don't be ugly."

"I'm trying."

Justin looked away from me and back at the rental agent as if the conversation had never gone on. In the past week he'd gotten exceptionally good at ignoring me, which bothered me more than he would ever know. He better have gotten used to it. I'm not going to kiss his ass. Sure we're... friends and all, but I'm still Trevion. Friends... that word felt bitter against my tongue and for some reason didn't seem to live up to the relationship me and Justin were slowly building.

"Susan, is this the biggest unit you have?"

Susan, ugh.

The rental agent was a perky, well put together and exceptionally friendly lady. I hated her. I hated her from her stark straight hair all the way down to her perfectly manicured feet. She was nice, but I just didn't like her. Justin did, maybe that was why.

Hm, this must be what jealousy feels like, huh? Well, let me tell you, it sucks big ones.

"No, Justin. We actually have a 4000 square foot four bedroom but it doesn't have a view of the Strip like this unit does."

When she said these words Justin looked like he'd just been punched in the gut, "Damn..."

"Why is a view of the strip so important? Is it going to help you sleep easier? Improve your awful cooking?"

"Hey, I cooked for you once and that was in your dorm room's kitchen. Plus, your roommate was bothering me so--"

"Fine, Justin! You're the Iron Chef, okay? Damn."

He rolled his eyes and turned back to the agent.

"All I know is my Maccaronni was burnt when I came downstairs."

This time, both of them were looking at me as if the world's entire exsentince depended on my shutting up at that very moment. I pulled the nastiest glare at the rental agent and reveled in the look she gave Justin. It screamed 'why are you letting this angry black woman follow you around'? I'm just as curious as you, Susan. Except I'm not following him, I'm being dragged against my will. Except that I wasn't, I actually liked being aorund him. He would never know that, of course.

"You'll have to excuse Trevion, she--"

"She'll have to excuse me? What?!"

Justin looked at me like I had fallen out the ass of a spaceship before turning back to Susan. His expression immediatly shrunk into a polite smile and I all but gagged. He definitley had that bullshit grin down pat. He never smiled at me like that. I wonder if he ever smiled like that outside of big concerts and magazine covers. I've sure as hell never seen it.

"Susan, you've been wonderful, but I have a few other places I'm going to see today."

Susan laughed nervously. She really didn't deserve to endure my wrath, "Oh, okay. Well, thank you Mr. Timberlake, there will always be a place for you here at The Arbors."

"Thanks."

"If it makes any difference I did feel bad for being a bitch to her. Do you see what you're doing to me? I'm not supposed to be capable of guilt."

"It's called an emotion. We'll get a dictionary and go over that word point by point later."

"You couldn't have wanted to get in her pants more even if she naked shaking her tits at you. Pervert."

"What? Are you jealous? Is that what this is?"

Whatever. I'm not going to answer you. You don't exsist. Fucker.

"What is WRONG with you?"

"You know, you ask me that at least once a day."

"I'm genuinely curious."

"Well maybe we should set aside some alone time so we can both drill each other and set aside all of the curiousities we have."

"We're always alone."

"I know."

"We're alone right now."

"Okay, Nancy Drew, why are we apartment hunting in Las Vegas when you have a home in LA? Why are we going furniture shopping when you have enough furniture in your old house to fill two small countries? What did Britney Spears do to you? Why don't you ever answer your phone calls? Who is JC? Who are YOU?"

Justin looked horrified. I loved it.

"Just curious." I shrugged my shoulders while brushing by windblown bangs out of my eyes. I needed a haircut.

He came right back, "How do you move things with your mind? How do you make entire CITIES shake when you're in turmoil? Where are your parents? Why don't you have anyone in your life? Why are you so FUCKING scared of intimacy, Trevion, that you can't even look me in the eye right now?"

"Looking into other peoples eyes is overratted."

Justin took a step closer to me and stared me dead in the eye as he reached one hand up and touched the side of my arms. His eyes were so pretty. They were all blue and-- whoa! Snap the hell out of it Trevion! He's touching my arm, he's rubbing it. Shit, I'm enjoying this. Find a reason to push him away. What the fuck, you don't need a reason, just do it.

I didn't see his face when I pushed his arms away but out of the corner of my eye I could see him smiling.

"Overratted, huh?"

"Fuck you."

I let him reach out and touch the red scarf wrapped around my neck. He poked his finger through the large hole at the bottom of it, "You really like scarfs, huh?"

"My mom gave it to me."

The words seemed to surprise him but I didn't understand the guilt that was on his face. He hadn't snatched it off the bed and ripped it.

He disarmed his brand new midnight blue Expedition and came around behind me.

"We're going to find an apartment, we're going to furnish it and then we're going to sit down and talk to each other like humans beings. Sound good?"

Finally! That's all I wanted! When I turned around to look at him I hardly recognized him. Maybe it was because he was finally ready to open himself up to me and it showed in his eyes. No, that couldn't be it. It was because I'd wanted nothing more than to jump his ass two seconds ago and still suffered the side effects. I'll be damned if his years of charming unsuspecting 13 year olds didn't make him a fucking pro. He'd somehow managed to take control of the entire conversation without me noticing. For that, he would surely pay.

"Uh... yup."

"Good."

"Good."

Yes, my IQ just dropped ten points.

--

Wow, this was nice. This was really nice.

In my entire life I don't think I've ever been in a place with more than two bedrooms so needless to say the five bedroom condo Justin and I were exploring now left me a bit speechless. It was in some big building that I'd always thought was a hotel. Top floor. View of the entire strip.

"Budget Suites my ass." I mumbled, running my fingers gingerly over the suede sofas and shining oak tables. Mirrors lined most of the walls of the living room and made it look twenty times bigger than it was. Unfortunately, it also reminded me of what a mess I was that day and how little I belonged here. When I gazed at the rental agent, Jay, and saw him smiling I smiled back. I liked him better than the last one. It was because he was a man, of course, but I would never admit that.

I held his gaze for a moment longer but my short-track mind moved on to bigger and better things. Like the flat screen in the bedroom over his head.

"Good god, Justin--"

When I looked at Justin he was looking back at me. Fuck. Why was he looking at me? Did he notice when I hadn't felt anything at all earlier in the afternoon when he'd touched me? Cocky bastard. He would pay.

I pointed towards the master bedroom, wondering what I was going to say, "Flat screen."

His eyes followed my finger and he smiled, "I have three."

"I'm shocked."

"I'm sure."

"Ya know, you don't have to respond to everything I say."

"Neither do you."

"Shut up."

"So, what do you think? It seems perfect for the two of you, if I may," Jay suggested. When he smiled my heart jumped a little. That was one fine black man. The honey colored suit that worked against his eyes like magic didn't hurt, either.

"We're not together." Let's get that straight right now.

"Oh."

"How much?" Justin asked, fumbling around in the pocket of his jeans. When was he going to get some new clothes? The fact that he could wear them nicely was impressive the first two days but now it was just nasty.

"3000 a month, sir, with a 6000 deposit."

God DAMN.

"God damn, Justin."

He looked at me like an embarassed mother would look at her child, "I think we'll take it."

"He'll take it."

"Jesus... I'll take it."

I looked at him like he was crazy for several seconds then blinked.

"Sometimes I forget how rich you are."

"Liar."

"Okay."

Jay's eyes narrowed between the two of us and I could tell that he was curious but, frankly, we were none of his damn business, "Wonderful, follow me please and we'll take care of all your paperwork. And can I say with the utmost reguard, welcome to The Embassy Suites, Mr. Timberlake."

justin did a lame little bow, "Thank you."

"Ew." I rolled my eyes when Justin motioned for me to walk in front of him, "and you and I are going to have a talk about this 'we' shit."

"Stop cussing for the love of god."

"For the love of god, Justin, kiss my black ass, please."

As Jay led us toward the elevator I tilted my head to the side. Dammit, his suit jacket was so ridiculously long. If only it was just a little shorter.

I guess Justin saw Jay's jacket slowly inching it's way up and over his ass because the moment I was about to get a gander at the goods he pushed me.

"Stop it."

"You're not my daddy."

"No, neither is he."

"Is that jealousy, Justin?"

"Don't flatter yourself."

"Believe me, I'm not."

I'm NOT.

--

Holy shit.

"Fuck."

"Good GOD, Justin."

"Just... hold my hand, alright?"

"Okay, that's gonna happen."

He didn't come back at me that time. I hardly expected him to. In fact, I didn't think he was even capable of normal thought at the moment. I knew I wasn't. I had hated the feeling of one camera flash going off in my face after we sang 'I Believe I Can Fly' during fifth grade graduation and my mother couldn't stop taking pictures.

But this was different. Really different. This was actually kinda fucking scary.

They obviously didn't give a damn about me since they were all screaming out Justin's name. Through the blinding flashes I was somehow able to make out about five guys and seven cameras. All of them were going off like wild fire and all of them were highly expensive, that much was obvious.

My mind finally made on coherant thought and with that one thought I had an eternal pity for any and all celebrities in the world. Yup, I'd watched this with Kim on some channel. Celebrities Uncensored! That was it. Damn, whatever happened to that show? Anyways, I had always thought it was funny how much the stars freaked out and made themselves look like idiots. It amused me to crazy levels.

Now... not so much.

"Paparazzi."

"Tell her what she's won, Bob." Justin said.

Yeah, he's definitely been hanging with me for too long.

His hand took a hold of the top of my arm as he hurried towards his car even though I'd told him not to touch me. I was too uncomfortable and freaked out to stop him, though.

"But... how do they know? How did they find you?"

He didn't answer me and at that moment I saw that they'd all but barricaded the front door of his brand new truck. Oh, this is cute.

"Is that allowed?"

"This isn't soccer, Trevion."

"Fuck you, you know what I mean. They can't do that, can they? I mean, it's not legal."

"It's very legal."

"But--"

"Do you really want to do this right now?"

Not really. Damn.

"Just stay close to me."

Before I knew it the two of us were facing Justin's car and all of the guys with cameras. I swear to god if one more flash goes off in my face someone's getting the shit knocked out of him.

One flash turned into two and two into ten. After a while there were so many people to slap that shit out of that I lost count. It didn't even seem worth it.

Names were flying everywhere. Britney. JC. Nsync. Ferrari. Malibu. Justin. Justin! JUSTIN!

I don't remember the exact moment that I'd hit someone. All I knew was that they had gotten too close. Way too close, way too fast. My heart stopped from sheer panic and my hands just flew. It stung against the hard metal of the camera and the sound of it smashing against the ground freaked me out even more. The owner of the device was screaming all kinds of crazy shit at me so I swung again. I think it was his face that I hit. It could have been his dick. I wasn't sure.

He was screaming about private property and lawyers and the cameras were still flashing in my face and people were screaming and my ears were pounding and I was PISSED and... ARGH!

Justin was trying to pull me away and that's when I realized I was still swinging. By the time I'd stopped myself we were both in the car and a few of those... animals were still banging on the windows and taking their fucking pictures.

Were they all putting together a fucking Timberlake scrapbook where they need his every step and every breathe point by point? Justin's not THAT interesting, believe me. I've got a sock rabbit in the back of my closet that I've had more fun with.

Some of them were standing in front of the car, others were in the back. Are they trying to barricade him in? Oh, way too cute.

I did know one thing though, these mother fuckers wouldn't stop taking pictures if their momma's life depended on it. Talk about persistense.

We had to literally push our way to the passengers side door and when Justin got it open he all but threw me in. He was in on his side minutes later. The first thing he did was start his car. Not like he could go anywhere. Unless he'd planned on double homicide when he'd woken up that morning.

"Oh my god!"

"You can't hit people, Trev, okay? You can't, you can't, you can't!"

"WHAT?!"

"Look... I understand--"

"No!" Was he really taking their side right now? "WHAT?!"

Justin rolled his window down and didn't even blink once at the million flashes that went off in his face, "You guys, can you please just step away from my car? This is ridiculous. PLEASE?"

"Please? You can't be nice to people like this! They feed on your weakness!"

"Not now!"

"I don't think I'm the one you want to be screaming at right now!"

"Shut up!"

Oh no, oh hell no.

"I'm sorry, okay? Just let me handle this."

Well, EXCUSE the fuck out of me!

They were all screaming at him and that made me so angry. Justin was trying to talk to their asses like humans beings and they were treating him like shit! All while shoving their fucking camera's in his face. I was still pissed off at him for standing up for them and yelling at me but I was still on his side, too. It was hard not to be. It was like a team effort to barricade Justin's car until he gave them some answers but it was none of their buisiness. I guess that didn't matter.

"Trevion!"

There I go again, dissapearing into my own little world. When my eyes focused on Justin he was panicked. It wasn't the same kind of panic he'd had that day on the roof, though. It was a controlled panic. He'd been dealing with this shit for a long time. Being a rookie and all I was obviously losing my mind with paranoia and I could admit to myself how happy I was that he was here.

"Stay in the car." I didn't hear him say the words but I could read his lips and when he tried to climb out I saw my arm reach out to grab him. It was like I was another person watching this entire thing go down. He removed my hand from his back without even looking at me and climbed out of the car. When he slammed the door shut I fell back against the seat and let my wide eyes take everything in. This was just insanity. There was no other word for it. All of Justin's window's were tinted except for the wind shield. There was some relentless bastard standing on the bumper flashing my picture like I was fucking Madonna.

I'm just an angry college student with ten dollars in my pocket and a roommate named Kim. What the hell could he want with me?

Sure, I could move things with my mind but he didn't know that.

Oh wait.

I could move things with my mind... but he didn't know that.

And here I thought there was nothing in the world that could stop these people.

When the bastard's camera flew out of his hand and knocked him sqaure in the forehead my head swam with happiness. When he flew off of the bumper and laded on his back ten feet from the car it put a pretty smile on my face.

Justin jumped back into the car and slammed the door. He was giving me a look of pure death. WHAT was it going to take to get him on my side today?

"A thank you will suffice."

"Trevion... don't DO that!"

Huh?

"Okay, Burns."

He glared at me and I was actually a little intimidated. What was happening to me?

"I was saving your ass, Justin. Don't you want people to leave you alone?"

"I don't want anything to happen to you."

"Nothing's gonna happen to me." I pointed a finger out of the driver's side window and cackled evily as each and every camera in each and every hand went flying into the air. I didn't think I'd ever been so amused in my life as they all scrambled around like monkeys making sure their specific camera didn't crash onto the pavement. Of course, this was combined with the confusion of how the hell all that had just happened.

When Justin started his truck and sped away I looked out of the back window they were all standing there with their silly little cameras looking stupid as shit. Only one of them hopped into a vehicle to follow us.

When I looked back at Justin he was pissed. SO pissed.

Did I care? Not so much.

--

"They can't follow us in here." Justin mumbled.

Our paparazzi adventure had led us straight to the Boulevard Mall. The men's section of Dillards to be exact.

"This is the perfect opportunity to get you some new clothes. I think it's appropriate that we all get down on our knees and thank the lord for this blessing."

He didn't laugh.

A bright yellow pullover caught my eye and when I touched it the softness made my skin tingle, "This is nice."

God damn if I wasn't trying to be nice to him right now and he was being a complete dick.

"Justin, I'm not going to kiss your ass, okay?"

He didn't say a word as he fumbled with a few ties. Even though everything on him was dirty his hands were clean and soft as a baby's ass. I don't think I've ever met anyone who washes their hands as much as he does. It was weird at first but it was growing on me. The silent treatment... was not.

I grabbed the ties he was fooling around with and threw them on the other end of the display. I'll be damned if he wasn't taking me down to his kindergarden level.

"I was under the impression that there was only one girl in this group."

He sighed.

Fine.

"Fine... fuck you, too, Justin."

I don't have to deal with this shit. Those are the doors to Dillards. Those doors lead to the outside world where all the normal people live. People who don't have to deal with Justin on a daily basis like I do. I actually found it hard to remember a time when Justin wasn't in my life. I didn't know if that was a good or a bad thing. I did know that I wasn't afraid to find out. As those doors got closer and closer they felt more and more like freedom.

I didn't want to go, but I'll be damned if I was going to stand around and be ignored when I hadn't even wanted him in the first place. God damn him for bombarding into my life and MAKING me like him. Fuck.

"Where you goin'?"

"I see you've discovered the miracle of speech."

Don't stop walking. Those are the doors.

"Don't you think this is a little extreme?"

"No, I think twenty camera's in my face is a little extreme. I think you taking their side is a little EXTREME, Justin!"

"You're being such a hypocrite right now."

"Fine."

"You get pissed off at me all the time."

"But I DON'T ignore you!"

"I'm sorry, okay?"

No, not okay! Keep walking!

"Somebody told me it's lame to run away from your problems."

"Oh, that's clever."

"But you're numb to cleverness."

"There ya go." Doors, yes! Open them and run. The doors are open, you're out of the store. Cameras, cameras, cameras. Flashes, flashes and more flashes.

Shit, I forgot. One minor setback. I'll find another store, leave through there.

I didn't even give my eyes enough time to adjust and ran into a door that I thought was open, "Ow! Fuck."

I heard Justin's hysterical laughter but I wouldn't let myself be amused. It was my turn to be pissed off. When he touched my arms I saw red.

"Don't TOUCH me." I somehow stumbled back into the store and when my vision focused I headed towards the opening to the mall.

"Common! Stop walking away from me, okay? I was just looking out for you."

"I ran into a wall and you still can't keep the laughter out of your voice. Talk about looking out for me." I turned around to face him and had to squint my left eye against the camera flashes flying through the windows. Shit, what was I thinking to have turned around and looked at him? He was still smiling and I'll be damned if it didn't make me want to smile. He smiled like he could see my resolve crumbling. Lord knows he already knew me like the back of his hand.

"Where are you gonna go?"

"Home."

"To Kim?"

"If I must."

"You don't have a ride."

"I'll WALK."

"It's 50 degrees outside and you're wearing shorts. You hate the Cat bus. Look, I said I was sorry. I have marshmellows in the car."

God, he did know his audience.

"I don't give a shit about marshmellows."

"Do you have any idea how hard it is for me to apologize about anything? This is huge for me."

"I'm flattered."

"No you're not."

"No, I'm not."

"Are you mad at me?"

"I'm talking to you, aren't I?"

"I'm sorry about the cameras."

"Me too. But it's not your fault."

"You can't use your powers in front of them. That's really important to me."

"And it's really important to me that you not grow into Burns the sequel."

"Okay."

"For some reason I think that was too easy, but I'm letting it slide."

"It actually took them a week to find me. I was kind of hoping they wouldn't."

"So can I assume they're an added bonus to being your friend?"

"You can, but I'll protect you."

"Don't make me barf. Get this." I grabbed up the yellow fleece and threw it at him.

"You want to help me find some furniture, too?"

"For the Embassy? It's already furnished."

"Yeah, but I don't like it."

"They're not going to let you move their stuff out... wait. God, I keep forgetting who you are."

He smiled, "That's what I like about you."

"Shut up."

"Look, people are going to know that you're associated with me really soon. They're going to do everything they can to tear you apart and bring you down. They're going to lie to you about every little thing. We just have to have trust. We're like a team, you and me, okay?"

Not really.

"Sure."

"Good."

He put his arm around me and I was sure thanking god that I let him keep it there with his life still intact. As we passed a case full of sunglasses I fingered some really girly ones. It was something I would never buy but they were nice. Nothing wrong with admiring.

"You want 'em?"

"And let you use them against me for the rest of my life? God no."

"The rest of your life, huh?"

"That was a bad choice of words. Okay, that's enough."

I threw his arm from around my shoulder and he laughed.

"Oh, this is nice."

We weaved in and out of the clothing racks until both of our arms were filled with piles and piles of clothes. Shirts, jeans, sweaters, socks, ties, any and everything you could think of Justin and I had.

"Where are you going?"

I looked back at him, then towards the door I'd been heading for, "Towards that big hole in the wall called a fitting room?"

"Nah, common, we'll stop at a few more places."

"What if it doesn't fit?"

"I'll donate it."

"You're sick."

"Tax write off."

"Your insensitivity is charming."

"I thought you couldn't be charmed."

His words stopped me in mid retort and I found myself wondering the same thing.

I thought so, too.

--

"Do you realize you spent... fifteen thousand seven hundred fifty-seven dollars and three cents today?"

"You kept count?"

"Somebody should."

He chuckled.

"Who's JC?"

Justin stopped mid-fold and sighed softly. From my place in the middle of his bed I could see the exact moment when he spine froze and his folding stopped. He'd already filled his closet with clothes and was now working on his dresser drawers. I'd never been so convinced of his complete reluctance to return to Los Angeles until this very day.

He cleared is throat and I knew he was looking for a way to change the conversation but that wasn't happening. Not this time.

"I guess you're not longer amused with jumping on the bed?"

"No, that got old faster than I thought it would."

"I figured Mike would have told you by now."

"Who's Mike?"

Justin looked at me and I looked right back at him. What?

"What? Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Mike? Your therapist?"

Oh!

"Oh, his name's not Mike. It's Burns. My parents made me call him Uncle Burns when I was little. Then I found out he wasn't really my uncle and was momentarily traumatized. Needless to say I axed the uncle and have called him Burns ever since."

"Thanks for the novel."

"Fuck you."

"So... he didn't tell you?"

Did I stutter?

I shoved some marshmellows in my mouth and shrugged, "He didn't tell me, Justin. That's why I'm asking. You promised we'd talk about it."

"I know I did..."

I'm waiting.

"He was part of NSync with me."

After he said the words he went back to his folding as if that was all that needed to be said.

"Oh, so he was apart of Nsync with you. That makes it crystal clear why you tried to kill yourself. I don't know how I missed it."

"Trevion."

"Justin."

"I don't want to talk about it."

"Tough titty."

"That's classy."

"Oh, you've known I was trash from the moment you met me, don't try to act all shocked and shit."

"You're not trash."

Heartwarming.

"You're the only good thing that's happened to me in months."

Okay, it really was that time.

"God, give it a rest."

"Your compassion is astounding."

"I guess you think you've gotten me to forget about JC, right?"

He threw down the pair of boxers he was working on and turned to face me, "He was like my brother, my best friend. We went through a lot of shit together and he got me through a lot of shit. I would have jumped in fucking traffic for him."

A marshmellow hung halfway out of my mouth because I was so flabbergasted at his sudden intensity, "Would have?"

Justin sighed, but he didn't take his eyes off of mine, he was going to tell me.

FINALLY.

"He fucked Britney."

Oh shit.

I didn't even realize my hand was over my mouth until I felt the moist marshmellow sticking to it. The tears that made his eyes shine but didn't fall hurt my heart a little bit. That had been so hard for him to say it made his entire body shake with rage.

"I've never said that out loud before."

No shit.

"Happy?"`

He was not all about crying in front of me and jumped off of the bed. Within seconds he'd slammed the door to the bathroom leaving me sitting in the middle of the king sized bed, my heart pounding from shock.

"No... not really."

I knew there had to be more. A friend fucking your girlfriend wasn't enough to make you want to kill yourself. And I knew Justin enough by now to know that alone wouldn't be enough. From now on, though, I wasn't going to probe him about it. If he wanted to tell me then he would tell me.

But I wanted to know now! Damn him.

A shiny object hanging out of one of the last few bags caught my eye and I reached out to grab it. What in the world would Justin need with something sparkly and--

"Oh fuck you."

The really girly sunglasses hung from my fingers and seemed to be taunting me like they could feel the guilt that was running through my bones. Like they could sense the exact moment that I'd lost all control of the wall I built between me and Justin. Those damn sunglasses heard that very wall crumbling to the ground and I'll be damned if I didn't want to throw them on and rock them all the way home.

Damn him.