I was hiding on my bus after the show because someone told me that Etta James wanted to meet me. I’m afraid to meet her. I’m not trying to lie to anyone; I don’t want to meet her. She’s one of my idols and she’s fantastic but I don’t want to meet her. I turned all the lights on the bus off and hid in the back bedroom area hoping that no one would notice that was where I was hiding out.
“Gianna” I heard Justin Timberlake calling my name and cursed the fact that I did not lock the door to my bus. I didn’t move and tried to hold my breath so he couldn’t hear me; “I know you’re in here Gi” his voice was getting closer. I wish I had night vision eyes so I could see if he was there or not. Now that we’re on superpowers, I wish I had the power to disappear. He turned on the light and saw me sitting on the bed and let out a quick chuckle, “What’s going on Pooky?” he asked as he sat down next to me
“Nothing, I’m just ready to go”
He nodded his head and laughed, “Are you trying to act like you don’t know Etta James is out there waiting for you?” I nodded my head, “Alright. I’ll go along with it. But they know I came looking for you, so you’ll have to come out. I know you’re nervous but she really wants to meet you. She came all the way out here to see you. She’s not intimidating at all”
I nodded my head, “I know she’s probably not but I’m still freaking out a little”
“Yeah, a little” he laughed, “It’s not that bad. She’ll just talk to you for a couple minutes then we have to get going, we don’t have much time anyway. I’ll stay with you, if that’ll help. Just give me a sign and I’ll take all the attention off you”
“Really?”
“Yeah. Just uh… scratch your nose. Alright?” I nodded my head and he stood up and held his arm out to help me up, “You got this Gigi”
I took a deep breath as he helped me up and followed him closely, “I’m sorry you have to be my babysitter slash therapist. I know you have plenty of other things going on”
“I’m a Jack of All Trades Pooky” he smiled and before I knew it I was face to face with Etta James. I felt my mouth drop open it literally dropped open. As if I didn’t look weird enough coming out in a pair of sweatpants and a tank top with no makeup on and my hair up in a very messy ponytail, the fact that I could not close my mouth put it over the edge. I saw Justin Timberlake look at me out of the corner of my eye and he let out a quick chuckle, “This is Gianna Gibralda, Gigi this is the one and only Etta James”
“It’s so great to meet you” Etta James said as she pulled me into a hug and I swear I almost passed out, “You have an amazing voice sweetie. I heard all about you and I just had to come and see it for myself”
“Thank you” I managed to get out softly
“She didn’t even know you were here” I looked over at Justin speaking, “She was on the bus ready to go”
I nodded my head, “I’m sorry”
I actually made it through talking to her without any hives or panic attacks. I don’t know what’s getting into me.
“See, it wasn’t that bad right?”
“No” I shook my head, “Thanks for saving me”
“No problem. Do you want to come on my bus and watch a movie or something?”
“Yeah, sure” why did I just agree to go on his bus? Sure, in theory it sounds great and it would be for any normal person. But my hives are going to show up any second and I’m probably going to have a panic attack halfway to wherever it is we are going.
“Cool, I got some good ones” he smiled as I followed him on the bus, “Welcome. Home sweet home” he laughed as he sat down on the couch and I sat down next to him, “You’re from Georgia aren’t you?” I nodded my head, “So were all your friends out there tonight?” I shook my head. I don’t have too many friends, how am I supposed to say that to Justin Timberlake? His friends filled up a whole arena in Memphis. I don’t think it’d be such a surprise to him, it is pretty obvious I’m a huge nerd, “I didn’t get to meet your family”
“They didn’t come,” I answered softly
“Your family didn’t come?” he asked out of disbelief.
“No, my father couldn’t get away”
“He couldn’t get away?” is he really going to just repeat everything I say? I shook my head, I know he’s really close to his family but some people aren’t, “I’m sorry, I just…”
“It’s ok,”
“I really know nothing about you” except that I have panic attacks
“I don’t really know anything about you either Justin Timberlake”
He laughed, another one of those where he throws his head back, “Really?”
I nodded my head, “Well no, not really. I know you’re from Memphis and you’re really close to your mother. Your favorite color is baby blue and you like cereal and you prefer boxers over briefs”
He laughed and nodded his head, “Alright, if we’re going to play like that. I know your favorite color is also blue, favorite food is pizza with mushrooms, and you like to make up your own drinks that are already drinks” he smiled, “You’re not the only one that’s hit up the google”
“You’ve got me all figured out”
“Hardly. Are you not close to your family?”
“It’s just my father. We’re close, I mean he’s my dad”
“I’m sorry, you don’t have to talk about it”
“Oh no, it’s ok. My mother left like… when I was born. They were really young when they had me and she couldn’t handle it and ran away from it”
“Shit. I’m sorry”
“It’s not a big deal. I never met her so… it’s good. I don’t want anything to do with her”
“Do you have any brothers or sisters?”
“A step sister” I nodded my head, “She’s five. That’s kind of sick isn’t it?”
He laughed, “No, it’s not sick”
“It is sick” I laughed, “I was twenty when she was born. I went to school with kids who have children older than my sister. Whenever we’re together everyone thinks she’s my daughter”
“That’s not a big deal though. A lot of families are like that now, and you said your parents were young when they had you. Mine were too. My mother was only 19”
“Mine was 17”
He nodded his head, “So have you been singing and everything for awhile?”
“Yeah, since I was a kid”
“Me too, I’ve been taking lessons since I was like five”
“I never took lessons”
“Really? How long have you been playing?”
“Since I was like three”
“And you never took lessons for the piano either?”
“Well I did, but my teacher was mean and made me cut my fingernails so I quit”
“So you taught yourself?” I nodded my head, it’s not that big of a deal but he seems to be quite impressed, “Are you serious?”
“It’s not that hard, it’s just pressing buttons”
“Pressing buttons?” he laughed, “it took me so long to play, I hated my teacher too and I would rather go out back climbing trees as a five year old”
I nodded my head even though I didn’t really agree with him. I was a music nerd since I was a kid. I never really had too many friends. Possibly one of the reasons why is because I was always home by myself playing piano and writing music. Another reason could be because I’m crazy and have panic attacks and get hives.
I sat down next to Justin Timberlake on his bed watching the movie. The fact that I was sitting next to Justin Timberlake on his bed made me want to go a little crazy. On his bed. Did you get that?
I didn’t watch much of the movie. I was too busy thinking about why Justin Timberlake is so impressed with me as a musician. I don’t really get it. I think I’m good, but I don’t really know if I’m as good as he thinks I am. I also don’t know why he seems to be impressed with me as a person, at least enough to invite me on the bus with him to watch a movie. My first thought was that he’s all alone and had no one else. But obviously this is his tour and he has a million people that want to hang out with him. Maybe he feels bad for me. That would make sense. He obviously knows how crazy I am and he feels like it’s his job as the headliner to make sure his opening act feels comfortable enough not to ruin his whole tour.
“Do you really only wear boxers once and then throw them away?”
“What?” he asked laughing as he put the movie on mute, “Are you serious?”
“I just heard that, and I didn’t…”
“Random. No” he broke in, still laughing, “I do not”
“OK. Good. Because that would be really weird and I thought you did. And I didn’t get why because you wear the same clothes two days in a row so like”
He broke in again, “What? I do not”
“Yeah, you do”
“No, I don’t” He’s smiling but I can’t tell if it’s one of those where he thinks it’s funny or that he’s really insulted, “When have I worn the same clothes two days in a row?”
“The first night. You had on those gray sweatpants and a t-shirt before the dress rehearsal and then the same thing the next morning when I saw you”
“For two hours” he sat up, “I wore that for a couple hours between the rehearsal and the actual show. Then I wore it again for a couple hours the next day. That equals out to not even a day”
“I didn’t mean it as a bad thing” I answered, now he’s got me feeling bad
“Yeah, uh huh” he smiled, “You’re calling me a scrub”
“No, I’m not. I’m sorry if it came across like that”
“I’ll let it slide this time Pooky” he laid on the bed, “You can lay down. You look so uncomfortable, relax” Sitting with Justin Timberlake on his bed is one thing but lying with Justin Timberlake on his bed is a totally different thing. He laughed when I didn’t move and then pulled me down next to him, “Relax, I don’t bite”
Please don’t get hives; please don’t get hives, “I know, I’m not”
“We should do a song together”
“Why?”
He laughed, and I’m pretty positive if he could have thrown his head back he could have, “OK. We should not do a song together”
“I didn’t mean it like that. I just don’t understand why you would want to do a song with me”
“It would be tight. It’d help you out… it would help me out. It’d be fun to work with you. What the hell? I mean we have all this time together we might as well take advantage of it and write a hit right?” I smiled as I watched him. He gets so into it when he’s talking about music, it’s really cute. He looked over at me, “No?”
“Yeah. But who gets the song?”
He shrugged, “We’ll fight over it later”
“Alright. But your cd just came out and mine didn’t come out yet. So it would kind of make sense” I smiled but he broke in
“We’ll fight over it later” he repeated with a chuckle, “We could do two, if it’s that big of a deal”
“OK, but I get first dibs”
“Oh, Gianna” he said as he stretched his arms over his head, “I’m not agreeing to that”
Author's Chapter Notes:
Thank for reading and leaving feedback :) I usually have the whole thing written before I even start posting haha but I don't for this one so sorry if the updates are slow. Feedback helps ;) Thanks!
Story Tags: Be the first to add a tag to this story
