“I’m out of ideas.”

Justin finally threw both the map and the nearly exhausted list of addresses into the back seat and picked up his coffee from the cup holder. A stressed looking Renee in the passenger seat had been clutching her frappuccino the whole time, reading over his shoulder.

“The only thing I can think of is that when she said antique store maybe it was a jewellery specialist. I mean it was only jewellery she threw out, right?”

“We’ve got until tomorrow night. It took us this long just to get through these, if we have to go through every jewellery store in the area…” Justin shook his head before taking a sip.

“Maybe if we tried calling instead.”

“Because that worked so well last time.”

“But if it is jewellery specific rather than just some huge store that has everything under the sun… especially if it was something they’d only got recently?”

Renee grasped desperately at straws, unable to understand why Claire couldn’t just tell them where it was. Was this supposed to be yet another lesson for her to learn? How to drive to antiques stores and practically turn them upside down looking?

“I don’t think so, Ren.” He shook his head before pushing it back onto the headrest in exasperation. “I mean those antiques stores only had like one case of jewellery and they couldn’t remember what was in there, in a whole jewellery store?”

“Point taken,” she said miserably. “I can’t believe this.”

“Well I guess we just gotta keep trying.” He glanced out of the car window and saw that thankfully nobody was really giving them a second glance. They hadn’t wanted to risk staying in Starbucks so they had grabbed their drinks as fast as humanly possible and then driven for a few minutes to find a fairly empty parking lot.

“If I hadn’t sworn off wishing, I’d wish I’d never made that wish.” She muttered, causing an involuntary snort of amusement from beneath Justin’s Von Dutch cap.

“You still got one more to make if we actually manage to find the thing.”

“And if I don’t?”

The question which both had been so careful not to ask hung in the air. Justin’s face fell and he turned to look at her, though she was still staring at the wall they’d parked in front of. They’d talked like it was guaranteed she’d find the thing, but now with only just over twenty four hours to go until the deadline, it was becoming a very real possibility that they would fail. Renee could only think of how unfair that was – the stupid necklace was still going to grant wishes, so why couldn’t it still let her fix this?

“Well I guess it could be Pauly Shore stuck in my girlfriend’s body.”

“That’s not funny.” Her eyes flicked sideways to him and he saw that any humour was going to be lost on her.

“I just mean that you’re not so bad.” He gave her a tight smile.

“Really, ‘cause that’s not what…”

“I was saying before, I know,” Justin finished off for her, biting the inside of his own cheek. “I’m sorry.”

“No, you have the right.” Renee pulled off her own cap and pushed a weary hand through her bleached hair. “I lied.”

“You had to.”

Glancing sideways and seeing some genuine understanding in his eyes Renee gave him a tight, sad smile. Nice as this little moment was, and relieved as she was that he apparently didn’t hate her after all, it didn’t change the fact that maybe it turned out her destiny was to get stuck here. If it was, then why had Claire been going on and on at her about finding the stupid necklace and making the choice for herself? It didn’t feel right that this was where the story ended; why push her so hard if the decision was going to end up out of her hands?

“That’s quite the turn around, Mr Timberlake.”

“I was a little freaked; can you blame me for doing my nut?”

She chuckled. “You and me both. Well, I guess it’s a good thing you’ve decided maybe I’m okay after all because I think you’re getting stuck with me.”

Turning away from her and gripping his now empty coffee tightly in his hand, Justin thought about that for a second. How was it going to feel knowing that the woman he’d dated for three years was never coming back? What would he have to do about that: did he keep dating this Renee for the cameras, did he try and actually date her, or did they have an amicable split and keep in contact? What was he supposed to do? How was he supposed to deal with all the things he had found out from her, all the questions he needed answering?

“If I’m getting stuck with you… then I guess we need a clean slate.”

“Huh?” She twisted in her seat towards him, looking a little lost.

“Can we… do this somewhere else?” He asked, shifting uncomfortably.

“Sure.” Renee nodded and went to put her seatbelt on again, wondering exactly what ‘this’ was.

***

The talk they were supposed to be having had of course been put off the second they had got back to the room. Justin had muttered something about calling his mother – a complete lie, as he was terrified of calling his mother after the disappearing act he’d pulled – and Renee had taken the excuse to go take a shower which had to date lasted about forty five minutes. It was to the point where steam was beginning to permeate the door and he could catch a slight whiff of the scented gels and lotions she used.

Those were the things that were all the same. The perfume, her favourite foods, her early morning habits, those things hadn’t changed one single bit. He could look at her and watch her do those things and it was like she was the same person.

However, as their most recent experiences had testified she really wasn't the same person and he couldn’t hide from that even when he tried to turn a blind eye. Justin had to admit that he had done so, before the whole thing with seeing her dead best friend, but the fact was that this Renee Anderson was a very different one to the one he knew. No better or worse (perhaps a little more together emotionally speaking but then she hadn’t had to deal with spending the most significant maturing period of her life under the glare of stage lighting and camera flashes) but she was a different person.

That was the part he couldn’t deal with. He saw so much of his girlfriend in her; so much of what he had originally fallen for.

The Renee he had met at Billboard had been a girl who had an aura of calm. It wasn’t that she never got nervous or upset but at the core of her she was fairly together, could deal with most things and keep her head. The girlfriend he knew now dealt with work by throwing herself into it and everything else by putting a rain check on it. She hid from people. Maybe not physically, but mentally she hid from people - had been hiding from Justin for a while when up until then he had been the only person she truly communicated with.

The girl who had just walked into the room in loose sweatpants and a tank with soaking wet hair hanging in loose curls around her face that she would blow dry straight in a second, she was still that calm. A little less daring than his Renee and a lot more likely to play it safe than to take the risk, but in his head he was suddenly starting to wonder if it would be so bad, her sticking around.

Maybe he could start again, fix what had gone wrong with his Renee with her. They were the same in many ways; he knew he could love her. Despite the nasty stuff he had said, he really did like her. It was nice to think that as the prospect of loosing his actual girlfriend loomed and he faced the fact that maybe his relationship was gone and that all the heart and soul he had put into trying to fix what had led to that stupid break was for nothing. It was comforting.

“So… what did you want to talk about?” Apparently she wasn't going to blow dry.

“Umm… I just… I need to get something off my chest.” He shifted on the edge of the bed and let her sit down next to him.

“Okay.”

“And… you know what you said about not wanting to tell me stuff that was her business not yours?”

“Uh huh.” Renee nodded slowly, having a horrible idea where this was going.

“I think if you’re staying here anyway maybe you should just tell me ‘cause I can’t…” He rubbed his nose awkwardly. “I need to know and I can’t ask her. I can’t not know.”

“Okay.”

“You know she does that too.” His face scrunched up like he was about to laugh but then thought better of it. “She makes that face at me… you remind me so much of her.”

“I’ve been told we look alike.”

“I wasn't talking about that.”

“I know,” she replied grimly. “Let’s not go there, okay?”

“Okay.” Justin took the deepest breath of his life, wondering how to tell her what he wanted to say but unable to think of anything more sophisticated or subtle than just blurting it out. “I heard you and Claire the other night.”

“You… what did you hear?” Renee’s face drained of all colour. Normally she’d get pissed that he’d been eavesdropping but right now she was far more concerned with the fact that he had been listening to a conversation that had involved discussion of his girlfriend cheating on him.

“Not everything. Claire was saying Renee gets a lot of crap about Christina and that’s why she lied about MMC.”

Her mind was in overdrive, trying to gauge exactly what he must have heard from that point, until she looked up at Justin and saw the mournful expression on his face and just had to put an arm around his shoulders.

“I should’ve figured. I can’t believe my girlfriend had to feel embarrassed and second best and I never even realised. I was always dragging her over to Christina at award shows and stuff; I never noticed she was uncomfortable.”

“If she’s anything like me she doesn’t mind so much.” Renee attempted to comfort him. “I mean sometimes I got a little depressed about it but generally I just figure that maybe I wasn't quite what they were looking for but that doesn’t mean I don’t have my own talent. The last five out of how many thousand ain’t so bad, right? I mean I own Christina’s CDs. Maybe she just knew what people would say and didn’t want to have to keep dwelling on it.”

“I guess…”

“And this Renee… she made it. Maybe she didn’t get MMC but she made it anyway. I figure that’s got to help her cope better than me sitting in my dorm room with a ton of assignments.”

“True.” Justin could feel the tension in his muscles and knew he had to get to the part he really wanted to ask about. “So how much do you know about her cheating on me?”

Renee dropped her arm from his shoulders instantly and buried her face in her hands. “Oh God…”

“I need to know.” He felt like he should be crying but instead the world-weary voice expressed all emotion for him. He needed an excuse, any excuse to forgive her. Normally cheating on him was an automatic deal breaker but this was Renee, he didn’t want to believe that she could have done that to him.

“On the break,” she replied dully, not wanting to have to tell him this. “She met this guy in a bar and they went out a few times.”

“Did she sleep with him?”

“Justin…”

“Did she?” His voice rose.

“Yes.” She could barely choke it out.

“Is she still sleeping with him? I mean, was she when you…”

“No.” She gave a firm answer. “She broke it off the second you guys made up.”

“Well that makes me feel better.”

He wasn't quite sure if he was being sarcastic or not. The image had immediately burned itself into his brain – some other guy touching her, touching his woman. On the other hand, they had been on a break and he had nearly done the same when he hadn’t even been the one who wanted freedom. Maybe he should have expected it. Maybe it wasn't exactly a breaking up kind of misdemeanour but it hurt like hell. He didn’t know; he needed more.

“Why?”

“I don’t know everything.”

“What do you know?” He continued pressing as he stared at the carpet, unable to look at her and see his girlfriend. He’d get angry with her if he had to but she was telling him one way or another.

“She was lonely.” Renee shrugged, as uncomfortable as she’d ever been in her life. “She was having a hard time dealing with you always being away and feeling like her job was ruling her life and she had no-one she could turn to about it and she just… rebelled, I guess.”

“Rebelled against me?” A hot tear sprang from his eye.

“Not you,” she said, slowly realising. “Her whole life. She broke up with you because she couldn’t deal with missing you and then the whole… love, sex, whatever, that was the only thing left she could control. I think… I’m not sure… he was there and he was paying her attention.”

“Because I never did?” He retorted angrily.

“That’s not what I meant.”

“That’s what she meant.”

“No, Justin, it’s not.” Her defence of the woman was somewhat surprising in its forcefulness. “She never thought it was your fault you… you just couldn’t physically be there. But when you’re that lonely I think anything starts looking like a good idea.”

“What about after we got back together?” He sniffled, fighting the tears. “Was she planning on dumping me again? Why didn’t she tell me?”

“I…I’m sorry, I… I don’t know.”

With that he actually started crying and she ran out of all words except blind reassurances that it would be okay. She had no belief in that sentiment; she had no idea if it would be okay if pop star Renee ever got back, or even if she would. As he cried into her shoulder, clinging to her as if she were life, all she could do was hug him back and keep saying ‘shh’. It was a pathetic effort but she really just didn’t know what else to say.

***

The sound of the bathroom door opening and shutting raised Renee from her dazed state. She had been stretched out on the bed, staring at the ceiling, trying to think of some way to heal Justin’s pain and also to find the stupid necklace. They had until midnight tomorrow and then it was done whether she was prepared or not. Justin, once he had decided to stop crying, had taken the opportunity to go take a shower that had been almost as long as hers. She had figured he needed his space and hadn’t bothered pressing him any further.

“Hey. All clean?” She cursed herself for the stupidity of the greeting.

“Yep. Nothin’ like getting clean to make you feel better.”

He raised the towel around his neck in mock salute and Renee tried very hard not to look at the bare chest. Thankfully the pressure was slightly eased by the presence of sweatpants rather than the customary towel over his bottom half, because the whole naked issue was still a weird one. She’d played his girlfriend to the point where she had even slept with him and seen him in his natural state, but it was awkward

“Good.” She smiled softly at him, not wanting to elaborate on anything. They both knew what he was talking about and there was no need to incite the waterworks again.

It was awkward watching a grown man cry. As much as she liked to tell her male friends back at college to be more sensitive and in tune and everything, there was just something disconcerting about men crying. She was sure her sociology professor would have something to say on that point about the social construction of gender roles but at this juncture she really didn’t care.

“What you been doing?”

“Wondering how I’m finding the necklace in just over twenty four hours.” It was truthful but just not elaborative.

“You know… that was the other part I overheard.” Losing the towel, Justin sat on the other side of the bed and then scooted over to sit next to her. “What Claire said about me making your decision for you.”

“Justin…”

He placed a finger to her lips to silence her. “She was right. I got mad and I pressured you, I’m sorry. She’s right; you can’t let me make your choices for you. This is your destiny, didn’t she say that?”

“Something like that,” she answered wryly, chuckling. She had heard that word way too many times lately. “If you find the necklace… don’t just go back because I asked you to, okay?”

“It’s more complicated than that…” Renee began to protest.

“Exactly.” He stopped her firmly. “It’s more complicated than you just trying to placate me when I’m being an asshole. So you need to make your own decision.”

“Uhh…” She tried to retaliate but she was lost for words as she realised that she’d just landed herself right back at square one – she really was going to have to choose, wasn't she? “Okay.”

“I mean it.” Justin replied firmly. “If you want to stay, stay. Don’t just go because of me. Though having said that, I don’t think I’d mind so much if you did stay.”

Alarm bells went off in Renee’s head as he finished speaking and leaned over to kiss her forehead. Something inside was screaming that he was having avoidance issues and just didn’t want to deal with the other Renee and what had happened to their relationship when she got back.

“Don’t just say that.” It was the only lame answer she could come up with which didn’t actually repeat what she was thinking – she seriously didn’t need him to go mental on her again.

“I’m not just saying that. You’re a good person, Renee. I like ya.” He misinterpreted.

“Justin…”

“I mean it. You’re sweet, and you’re funny, and okay I’m not so hot about the part where you lied to me but you had a good reason and you’re a good listener and you let me offload all this crap on you and you’ve been so nice to me, even when I was being a bastard to you… you really cared about me.”

It had started off as a huge outburst of speed talking but had got slower and slower and his stare was getting more and more intense as he looked at her and she was actually beginning to get uncomfortable under his blue eyed gaze.

“Justin…”

Yet again he cut her off but this time it was through him cutting the space between them and landing his lips on hers. She was so shocked that for a few seconds all she could do was let it happen before she came back to her senses and pushed him away.

“Let’s just forget you did that.” Renee let out, breathing a little heavy.

“Why?”

Okay, now she was panicking. Dark blue eyes stared intently at her and he looked all smouldering and Byronic and this was just not good. “Because you’re only doing it because you’re needy and hurting and this is not a good idea Justin. You’re only kissing me because I look like…”

“But you’re not.” He pre-empted her, knowing exactly whom she was about to refer to. “You’re not her.”

With that he re-launched his attack, only this time with more persistence. Renee tried vainly to push a hand against his chest but the problem with that was that the skin contact with the hot guy who was trying to kiss the hell out of her was more of a distraction than a good escape plan. Justin’s lips moved pleadingly against hers and his words rang through her head.

The whole time she had been with him before, guilt had plagued her because he thought she was somebody else; he knew exactly who she was now. Yet he was still cupping his hands behind her head and burying them in her hair and trying to make her respond to his kisses - which she was starting to do. Justin Timberlake knew that the woman he was kissing was really a college student with barely a dime to her name and he still wanted her. It had a fairly potent effect and made resistance nigh on impossible.

As the thought flashed through her mind that this was going to create even more trouble, she pushed it aside and slid her hands over Justin’s back as his mouth started trailing along her neck.