Kelen rubbed her eyes wearily, praying that when she opened her eyes, the day’s events would suddenly disappear. She had stepped out of her room in the morning to see Christine and Sophie sitting on the floor in the living room with about six different magazines spread out on the floor. All of them had pictures of her and Justin dancing together over the weekend, splashed across the pages. The article titles calling her names ranging from his ‘mysterious new interest’ to ‘hot one night stand’, claiming that he had met her at the club and taken her home with him at four in the morning. When in reality, she had left with him and Christine at around 1 AM. She had tried calling him as she left to meet Alex for their weekly lunch, but had left him a voicemail instead. The last time she had talked to him was the morning after the aforementioned night, when she had called him to apologize for drunkenly trying to get him to stay the night with her. She winced as the memory flashed through her mind.

Kelen giggled quietly as Justin steered her towards her bedroom. His hands were placed on either side of her hips, making sure she didn’t injure herself as she stumbled through the dimly lit apartment. “Justin…” she said, turning and plopping down on her bed. “You are so sweet for walking me up here.”

“Well,” he shrugged, smirking at her. “It’s not like I had much choice, you would have hurt yourself coming up the steps.”

She giggled again, waving her hand at him. “Nonsense! I’m not that drunk. Anyways….why don’t you stay a little longer? My bed is amazing.”

He shook his head, chuckling quietly. “As appealing as that sounds, I really can’t. I have meetings tomorrow and you…. need a lot of sleep and water. Why don’t you get changed while I go get you a glass.”

“Fine,” she grumbled, falling backwards and glaring at him through heavy eyelids. He opened his mouth to respond, but closed his lips and looked at the door as Sophie walked through carrying a glass of water. He said goodnight to the girls instead and walked out of the bedroom.

“Kelen,” Alex’s voice broke through her thoughts. Kelen blinked and looked across the table at her brother. “Whas wrong?”

“Nothing, I’m just tired,” she smiled at him. He shrugged and turned back to his burger and fries. “So how was your week?”

He finished chewing and his eyes widened as he prepared to respond. “I saved a puppy at work! She was bleeding and hurt all over, and I cleaned her up and helped the doctor give her sitches.”

“Stitches,” she corrected him. “Wow, that’s exciting. How did she get hurt?”

“I dunno,” he shrugged. “But now…she only likes to play wif me! So I have to go back there today…”

“Do you want me to drop you off after ice cream?”

“Yah.” They finished their lunch and Kelen asked for the check, smiling when her brother offered to pay. Every week he would offer to pay for lunch, knowing full well that he didn’t have his wallet, and that Kelen would pay anyways. It was just nice to see that he had learned his manners. Kelen looked up when she saw a tall dark haired man approach their table. He stepped up and patted Alex’s back, making him jump around quickly.

“Eli!” Alex called out as recognition set in. “What you doin’ here?”

“I’m having lunch with my mother,” he answered, his mouth turning into a wide smile. “What about you? Who’s this?” They both looked over at Kelen. She smiled and held out her hand.

“Hi, I’m Kelen, Alex’s sister,” he shook her hand and smiled.

“Alex has told me many stories about you.”

“Really? How do you two know each other?” She asked, wondering how Alex and Eli seemed to have such a close relationship. She sometimes forgot how independent her brother had become ever since he started living in the assisted living center. He used to follow her around when they were younger, and it was strange seeing him live his own life.

“Eli comes to Riverside a lot. He comes on movie night, and game night, and even for lunch sometimes.”

Eli chuckled and nodded, “My mother started Riverside and I volunteer there a lot. Eventually, I’ll have to replace her and be the program director, but that won’t be for some time. Hopefully.” The waitress came up behind Eli and handed Kelen her tab. “Anyways, I just wanted to say hi. I’ll see you later buddy.”

“Bye!” Alex waved.

“It was nice meeting you Kelen.” He nodded before turning around and disappearing into the restaurant. As they waited for the waitress to return with Kelen’s credit card, her cell phone began to ring. She smiled when she saw that it was Justin on her caller ID.

“Hey.”

“Hey. I’m so sorry I didn’t call back sooner. I’ve been busy all morning with meetings and shit,” he immediately apologized.

“It’s fine. But I just called to ask you about the magazines…”

“Oh,” his cheery tone disappeared from his voice. “I should have known you’d seen them. My publicist called me a few hours ago when I was in a meeting. Are you mad?” Kelen looked up as the waitress set down her receipt, and she stood up, watching Alex follow her actions.

“No…why should I be mad? I feel bad because if it weren’t for me, they wouldn’t have gotten those pictures in the first place. And they said such horrible things about you,” she frowned. “They didn’t get any shots of my face, thankfully, so everything’s fine.”

He sighed loudly, and she heard a door slam in the background. “Yeah…those things will say anything just to get people’s attention. I mean, almost all of the shit they say are lies. So I don’t pay any attention to it. I’m just glad you’re not pissed at me. Anyways…where are you right now?”

“I’m having lunch with my younger brother,” she answered as she unlocked her car. Alex jumped in and waited patiently, tapping his hands on his thighs. “What about you?”

“I’m heading home, finally. I’ll probably work out a bit,” he answered. “So I still owe you a birthday present.”

“Justin…that’s ridiculous. You don’t have to give me anything,” she shook her head, as if he could see her.

“Well I want to. It’s the least I could do, after having pictures of you spread across the world. Why don’t you come over tonight for dinner? We can pop in a movie and just chill.”

Kelen bit her lip, trying not to let her smile break through. Just the mere thought of spending time with him made her stomach feel like goo. “Um…yeah. That sounds perfect.”

“Good. I’ll see you around 7 then and you better not stand me up, girl,” he chuckled. She rolled her eyes, as if she’d ever stand up Justin Timberlake.

“I’ll see you tonight Justin,” she answered before closing her phone. She slipped into the car and took a deep breath, calming the butterflies in her stomach. “Ready for ice cream?” she turned to look at Alex. He nodded excitedly, jumping up and down in his seat as she started the car.

-----------------------------------------

Justin looked up at the clock anxiously as he stood in the kitchen, overlooking the pot of rice on the stove. He had no idea where the idea had come from, but he had wanted to see Kelen when he was on the phone with her earlier, and his mouth just blurted out an invitation to invite her over. So he had to rush from his workout at the gym, to the market to buy food, and then rush back home, cook, and shower before she arrived. It was now nearing the time she had said she’d come, and he was starting to get anxious. He hadn’t cooked for a girl in a long time, let alone a girl who was an amazing cook herself, and prayed that everything would taste somewhat decent. He should have just called Jacques and made him cook dinner, but he figured he owed Kelen at least a dinner after throwing her into the chaos known as his life.

“Whatcha makin?” Rachel’s voice called out. He turned and smiled at his cousin as she strolled into the kitchen. She peered into the skillet on the stove and grinned, turning back to him slowly. “Peppered chicken? You got a hot date tonight?”

He rolled his eyes as she tasted a piece of chicken. “That’s none of your damn business.”

“So that’s a yes then,” she chuckled. “Well it tastes good, so that at least counts for something. Who are you inviting over?”

“Kelen,” he answered, wincing when she let out a loud squeal and jumped up excitedly.

“Thank the fucking lord,” she groaned out. “I was praying you weren’t inviting another strange girl over, because then we’d have to change the locks on our doors again.”

Justin shook his head slowly, “That happened once okay? No need to remind me of that catastrophe.”

“Well it serves you right for bringing random chicks home! And finally you get your act together and ask the girl out! Tiff and I have been taking bets as to how long it would take you.”

“I’ve only known the girl for one week! I’m allowed to take it slow,” he frowned, upset that his romance life was now the subject of Rachel and Tiffany’s conversations.

“Whatever. I like Kelen a lot, so don’t fuck things up. Be a gentleman and act like your momma taught you,” she wiggled a finger at him. The doorbell rang and Rachel’s smile turned into a grin.

“Stop that,” he warned her. “Don’t make me kick you out. You may be family, but that doesn’t mean I won’t do it.” He walked out of the kitchen and flicked on the lights in the hallway. He smoothed down the vintage t-shirt he was wearing and swung the door open, smiling when he saw Kelen standing on his door step wearing jeans and a navy blue top that showed off her shoulders and collar bone.

“Hey,” she smiled at him. He took a step back, allowing her to come inside.

“Hey, you look cute,” he winked, chuckling to himself when he saw her cheeks turn pink.

“Well thank you sir,” she teased back. “You look pretty decent yourself.” She followed him down the hall and into the kitchen, smiling when she saw Rachel standing at the kitchen island opening a bottle of water. “Hey! I didn’t know you’d be here.”

“Yeah,” Rachel nodded slowly. “I didn’t either, but this guy I was supposed to go out with canceled on me. So I’m going out with my friends later tonight. Don’t worry about me though; I’ll be out of your way in a few minutes.”

Justin quickly checked on the rice, surprised to see that the stove was already turned off and the rice had been drained. He turned to Rachel in question, and she just winked at him before turning back to Kelen.

“So I saw some pretty interesting pictures from your birthday party, Kelen. Getting a little frisky with my cousin, there,” Rachel teased. Justin rolled his eyes, pointing his finger at his cousin in a threatening manner.

“We were just dancing,” Kelen answered softly. Rachel nodded, laughing quietly to herself when she saw Kelen blush. It was way too much fun teasing the woman. She’d have to toughen up a bit if she planned on sticking around their group, but Rachel was more than happy to help Kelen ease into it. She just hoped her cousin wouldn’t treat Kelen the same as he had treated other girls in the recent months. For some reason, he had suddenly felt the need to “sow his oats” and bring strange women home with him recently, even if it was the same three women, they visited in different rotations, and Rachel was just praying that tonight would end that pattern. As an independent woman herself, she hated it when he got into his phases because he would just act like any other perverted jerk, even though she knew he was not like that at all.

“Okay, well I’m off to do some laundry,” Rachel said, grabbing her pile of mail and smiling at the two. “Have fun tonight. And do remember that I live only a few yards away from your bedroom window, J.”

“Oh ha ha,” Justin shook his head, flipping up his middle finger. Rachel laughed as she walked out of the kitchen, giving him a swift kick to his bottom. Kelen watched amusedly as Justin rubbed his bottom with a pout. He turned to her and placed two wine glasses on the counter. “I’m sorry you had to suffer through that. Rachel and I act like two year olds.”

“I think it’s cute,” she grinned at him, pulling herself up to sit on the stool at the counter. She watched as he poured wine into the two glasses and handed one to her. She took it from his hands and took a sip as he walked over to the stove to plate their food. “So what did Chef Timberlake make for me tonight? I’m expecting a lot, based on the expensive stove top you have here.”

“Well then you may have to lower your expectations,” he answered. “For tonight madam, I’ve prepared an exquizeet peppered chicken and rice,” he smirked in a cheesy French accent. “And to follow up zee entrée…a scrumptious chocolate soufflé, courtesy of my real chef Jacques.”

“Wow, I’m impressed,” Kelen smiled from behind her glass. He grinned at her as he turned around and carried both plates of food to the table. Kelen slid off of the stool and followed him over, their glasses and the bottle of wine in her hands. She sat down in her seat and watched as he re-filled their wine glasses and held his glass up to her. She followed suit, and both clinked their glasses softly together.

“Happy birthday,” he raised his glass before bringing the glass down to his lips. Kelen smiled, looking down at her food excitedly.

“Thank you so much for this. I didn’t expect you to cook dinner at all, it was a wonderful surprise.”

“I did consider getting Chinese, but I figured I had to go to the grocery store anyway, so I might as well attempt to give you a proper home cooked meal,” he shrugged, taking a bite of his work. He moaned loudly, nodding his head up and down. “And you got lucky today, my meal actually turned out to be edible.”

She laughed, bringing the fork away from her lips. “It’s really good, actually. So I’ll just have to add this to the growing list of things Justin Timberlake can do well.”

“Well,” he smirked, his eyebrows arching up. “It’s hard being this perfect…but I think I do a pretty good job.” She rolled her eyes as he continued to laugh at his own joke. They spent the rest of the meal discussing everything from their day’s activities to their childhood. Kelen told him about Alex, his autism, and how she and her older brother Ryan had moved to Los Angeles for school and had to take care of Alex themselves because their parents were too busy to care for his demanding needs.

“Why couldn’t your parents hire someone to help around?”

Kelen shrugged and looked down at the chocolate soufflé sitting in front of her. “They didn’t like the idea of a stranger taking care of their fifteen year-old son. My mom tried to care for him, but because Ryan and I weren’t at home, he acted out more. I was the closest with him while we grew up, and I guess he wasn’t used to not being near me. When my parents came to visit us over Thanksgiving Break, Alex threw a fit and wouldn’t get into the car to go back home to Texas. And my parents couldn’t move out here…my dad has his law firm and my mom runs a day care at home. So after two years of living with my parents, we tried to let him live with us in Ryan’s apartment…but after awhile even that got difficult.”

“What happened?” Kelen looked up and was surprised to see Justin’s bright blue eyes staring back at her. She was taken aback by the deep concern he had. Usually when she told other people the story, they would just voice their concern and pity. Justin, instead, had a gentler look of concern that reached his eyes.

“Um…Ryan got into medical school so he was busier than ever, and I was in school. Alex was growing older and had more interests… he needed to get out and socialize more. But since we were so busy, we didn’t have time to take him out during the day. I mean, we’d always have dinner together and spend mornings together…but it wasn’t enough. Ryan finally found an assisted living center where he could live in a small apartment and be around other people who needed special attention…so we brought Alex there and he loved it immediately. He saw all of the other people like him, playing games and didn’t want to leave. So we moved him into a small apartment there, and he’s been there ever since,” Kelen smiled when she finished her story. Justin nodded and smiled at her.

“Damn that’s a lot of shit you had to go through. And all of that happened when you were just nineteen?” Kelen nodded and blushed when Justin let out a low whistle. “That’s very admirable.”

“Oh, shut up,” she rolled her eyes and leaned back in her chair. “I’ve told you all about my life…what about you? I don’t know anything about Justin Timberlake. Except for the fact that your favorite color is baby blue, and that you were in the Mickey Mouse Club.”

Justin laughed when she stuck out her tongue at the mention of the Mickey Mouse Club. “You mean the MMC. That’s what true fans called it. And how did you know all of that stuff?”

“I did own a T.V. when I was ten. My best friend and I used to rush home and watch it after school. You were her favorite actually!”

“Really? What about you? Who did little Kelen Tyler have a crush on?” Kelen shrugged, hiding her face from him with her hands. “Come on…I won’t tell or laugh.”

“Ryan…” she confessed softly. He immediately began to laugh, slapping his hand on the table. “Shut up…you said you wouldn’t laugh!”

Justin immediately shut his mouth; his eyes shining brightly back at her. “I know…it’s just fucking hilarious. I expected you to say JC or Josh or even Tony….not scrawny little Ryan Gosling.” Kelen merely shook her head at him, laughing softly along with him. “Oh well…he’s a nice guy. Maybe I’ll introduce you one day.”

Kelen’s eyes widened and her smiled turned into a wide grin, “Seriously? You really think you could introduce me to Ryan Gosling?!” Justin eyed her carefully as she leaned forward in her seat. “I don’t care how embarrassing I’m acting right now…meeting him has been a childhood fantasy of mine since…forever.” She grinned at him as he rolled his eyes and laughed at her.

“Wow…maybe I won’t introduce you. Not if you’re going to act like a little teeny bopper…it might ruin my reputation somehow,” he shrugged as he took her plate and carried it to the sink. Kelen frowned and followed him to the sink. She leaned against the kitchen island as he rinsed the dishes and placed them into the dish washer.

“Aww, you tease,” she whined. She watched him quietly as he finished cleaning up the counter, enjoying the chance to just watch him move around. He finally put away the left-overs and turned back around to face her.

“So what do you want to do now?” he asked softly, stepping closer to her. Kelen shrugged, taking a deep breath when his fingers brushed against her arm as he reached for his glass of wine. He watched her quietly as he tipped the glass to his lips, smirking when he watched her eyes stare at his lips. It was reassuring to know she was just as attracted to him as he was to her. Now, he was sure he could make his move.

“Um…” she gulped, her hazel eyes looking up at him. “Movie?”

He nodded and reached for her hand, wrapping his fingers around his as he pulled her out of the kitchen and into the living room. She sat down on the plush couch as he turned on the expensive entertainment system. He fumbled with the remote, turning the light on instead of the TV, and laughed at himself as she waited quietly. “I hate this thing. Why are there so many damn buttons to turn on a TV?”

He finally put in a comedy with Steve Carell and sat down next to her, stretching his arms across the back of the couch. His left hand reached down and nudged her shoulder as a sign to scoot in closer to him. Kelen turned to him, laughing softly when he wiggled his eyebrows at her. “Come closer, girl. I’m cold.” She rolled her eyes at the cheesy line but obliged anyway, scooting closer to sit against his side. “See? Isn’t this so much more comfy now?” The combination of Justin’s warmth and the wine in her stomach was starting to make Kelen sleepy, and after a few minutes she laid her head on his shoulder and smiled when his arm came down rub against her arm.

“Gettin’ tired?” his voice whispered against her ear. She nodded against his shoulder, her eyes looking up at him.

“A little.”

“Maybe I should take you home now,” he suggested, sitting up a little straighter. Kelen raised her head and shook her head defiantly.

“No…I can drive.”

He chuckled, grabbing her hand when she went to stand up. “I’m not letting you drive when you’re sleepy and have alcohol in your system. Girl, who do you think I am? Come on, let’s get your bag. I can ask Rachel to drive your car to your place tomorrow morning before I go to my photo shoot.” Kelen followed him into the garage and he opened the door to his BMW, helping her slide into the passenger seat before closing the door and getting in himself. The drive back was relatively quiet as they listened to the radio.

“Is it weird hearing yourself on the radio?” She asked when she noticed he would change the station every time one of his songs would come on.

“A little,” he nodded. “At first it was really cool…but now, it’s gotten to the point where I hear my own songs in my sleep. I don’t need to hear them when I’m driving in LA traffic.” Kelen nodded as he pulled up to her apartment building. He parked the car and turned to her smiling when he saw her reclined position. “Thanks for coming over tonight. I’m sorry about the photos.”

“Don’t worry about it…I never really cared about my own image. I was just worried about your career,” she shrugged as she sat up and reached for the door handle. “Thanks for driving me home, Justin. Good night.” Before she could turn to get out of the car, he grabbed her hand and she turned around quickly, a worried look in her eyes. He reached his hand up and pulled her chin closer to him as he leaned over the middle console.

“Goodnight,” he whispered right before he pressed his lips gently over hers. She sighed immediately, returning his kiss full force as her hand reached up and gripped the short bristles of hair at the base of his neck. After a few intense minutes, he finally pulled away, smiling when he saw her soft smile and her green eyes blinking slowly. He felt just as dazed as she was. She licked her lips and smirked at him as she tucked her hair behind her hair.

“I’m suddenly not so sleepy anymore.”

Justin chuckled, shaking his head slowly. “Girl…you better get your butt upstairs before I drive off with you.” She smiled and leaned in, placing one last soft kiss against his lips.

“Goodnight Justin. And don’t forget to return my car,” she wiggled her finger at him before stepping out of his car. He watched as she made her way into the building and waved back at him before disappearing out of his sight. He took a calming breath and gripped the steering wheel before backing out of the parking space.