Chapter 11

"COCKADOODLEDOOOOOOOOOOOO

GOOD MORNING

GOOD MORNING

GOOR MORNINGAAA"

“HUH what, wha.."  Meredith shot up straight in her bed.  She had woken to the blaring sounds of the Beatles song "Good Morning."

"Morning, sunshine."  Someone turned off the stereo finally.

She rubbed her eyes and finally saw the impostor. "TIMBERFAKE WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!"

"Do I have to have a reason to visit my best friend?"

She looked at her clock, "At 8:00 in the morning you do!!!"

"You're cute..." Her walked towards her and touched the tip of her nose with his finger. She glared at him. 

"I made you breakfast."  He said sweetly

"Oh, how nice."  She said sarcastically and sat up in bed.  He brought a tray over to the bed and sat it over her lap. She raised an eyebrow at what was on the tray.

"OK, OK!  So Kellogg's made the breakfast, but I put it on the nice tray and poured the Orange Juice."

"And I'm so proud of you."  Meredith pinched his cheeks. She scooted over and patted the space beside her.  He sat down and brought his legs up on the bed and leaned back against the headboard.

"So, Justin, really, what brings you to my humble abode?  And HOW did you get in?"

"Well, I umm, was outside your door feeling like an idiot because I didn't want to wake you and Ms. Grenard stepped out of her apartment and said you and her have each others keys for emergencies. So bada bing, bada boom..."

Meredith took a big bite out of her cereal and spoke with a mouthful.  "That still doesn't answer the other question..."

"I wanted to spend some time with you." Meredith about spit out her cereal at this comment.

She swallowed the cereal and gave him a weird look, "Justin, you spend like every other day with me."

"No, *Nsync spends every other day with you.  Justin never gets any alone time..." He started to pout.

"OHHH me. You whine like a baby."  She sighed and looked at him. "So, what did you have in mind?"

"Well, I thought I'd take you to meet my mom and brothers, and then go back to my house and chill since you were so impressed with it last weekend..."

"Oh my gosh, your house is sooo awesome.  I know I'm not supposed to make your ego grow.  My job is to deteriorate it down to normal size but, that house is BUTTER!"

"I know, I know. I'm a god" She slapped him hard on his chest and he grumbled in pain.

"You might have a cool house, but you are still ugly."

"I'm not even going to respond to that one."  He rolled his eyes at her.  "Anyways, Jon will probably want to come back with us to my house, so, I hope you don't mind."

"No not at all, in fact I would love to spend the day with your mini-me."

"Good, now get ready!"  He jumped up.

"Justin its 8:20 do we have to go, now?" 

Justin relaxed back down beside her. "I guess not." 

He sighed, "I see you finally got everything moved in."

"Yup..."

He thought for a moment and looked at her.  "You don't have classes today, do you?"

"Nope..."

Justin nodded and looked around her room. "Are you going to that barbecue Johnny's having next weekend?"

"Yup..."

Justin whipped his head back around to her and narrowed his eyes. "Are you going to stop giving me one word answers?"

"Nope..."

He laughed. "Fell straight for that one didn't I?"

"Yup..."

"OK, that's it...."  Justin began tickling her and she almost spilled her breakfast on her bed, but she managed to save it in time.

"Stop it Justin!"

"YES! I knew I could get you to say more than one word."

"HMPH!"  Meredith took the tray off of her and set it on her nightstand.

When she lay back down on the bed, Justin immediately wrapped his arms around her and sighed.

Meredith yawned. "Umm, Justin..." 

"Yeah?"

"What are you doin?"  She giggled.

"Cuddelin' with a cutie.  What about you?"  Justin asked hoping for a similar response.  But when she didn't answer and he looked down at her in his arms.  She was breathing deeply and had her eyes close. 

"Sweet dreams, angel."  He kissed her head and held her tighter, the only thing separating them from full body contact was the sheet to her bed.

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

Meredith squinted her eyes and yawned.  She tried to stretch but something was holding her.  She opened her eyes further, looked at what was in front of her, and only saw a dark-green cloth-like something.  It was moving up and down slowly.  She pulled away and noticed it was a person.  Her eyes moved up the green clothing and saw a faded yellow lettering that spelled 'Abercrombie and Fitch'. She continued to the neckline, her eyes finally wandering to the face.  The beautiful face.  The face she had grown to love in so many ways.

She sat up in her bed and looked down at the figure, admiring him.  His curls were not gelled but somehow managed to be tamed.  His normal deep blue eyes were shut off from the real world.  His perfect lips were parted and were taking in deep breaths of air.  Her eyes moved down.  His defined chest could be seen through the shirt moving up and down, up and down. One well-shaped hand rested right below his chest, while the other was somewhere out of view. His green shirt was slightly raised and Meredith could see about one inch of his nicely defined and tanned stomach.  The elastic of his boxers were shown right above the waist of his blue jeans.  She smiled when she saw they were the pair she MADE him buy a week ago, when they all went shopping.  They were bright yellow and had a print on them that made them look like crime-scene tape with the words "No crossing beyond this point" on them. 

"Meredith Willis, I am ashamed!"  Meredith turned towards him and looked as if she had gotten caught with her hand in the cookie jar.

"I cannot believe you are staring at, well, that area when you think I'm not looking.  I thought you were a good little girl."  Justin exclaimed.  

"Umm, NO! Actually I was just looking at your boxers.  They are kinda hard to miss with all that "WARNING" stuff written on it."  She giggled

"I wore them just for you.  I was expecting you to see them later on tonight..." Justin wiggled his eyebrows and smiled a sexy smile.  She groaned when he did this and lay back on the bed looking anywhere but in his direction.

"You sleep well?" She asked after a few moments.

"Actually, yeah. I didn't think I was tired, but I guess I was wrong."

Meredith looked at her clock. "Well, since its 10:30 now, do you want to go?"

"Sure thang sweet cheeks."

"K, let me get dressed."  She pulled back her covers and grabbed some clothes and walked into her bathroom. 

"Hey, Justin..." She called from the bathroom.

"Yeah babes?"  He yawned.

"Make yourself at home, but don't go snooping around like I know you will."  She turned on the shower and got ready for the day.

Justin smiled at the comment, got off the bed, and walked around her room.  She had done a really good job decorating her new home, he thought.  It was hers and only hers.  Her personality shone through with every picture and every lamp.  It was just perfect for her.

He scanned the pictures and paintings on her wall.  He looked at one wall and saw a small corkboard.  He had seen it before but never had the chance to really look at it.  He studied it.  It had all types of pieces of paper and pictures from when they were on tour stuck to it.  He smiled when he was flooded with all the memories of the past summer.  It HAD been their best tour ever.

He made his way back to her bed and was about to lie down, but he noticed a picture frame on her nightstand.  He picked it up and studied the frame.  It was clear and had flower petals pressed in between the glass outlining the picture.  The picture was one he had never seen before.  The picture was from the night he took Meredith on the "Date."  He had his hands on her hips and she had her arms locked around his neck.  They were gazing into each other's eyes and both had on bright smiles.  It was taken while they were dancing that night. It was an amazing picture.  It was just purely amazing.  It captured everything that the two felt for each other.  It was perfect.

"I thought Lonnie did a great job..." Meredith appeared beside him showered and dressed.

Justin looked at her. "Huh?"

"With the picture, he took it.  I didn't even know he owned a camera but he gave this picture to me before I left.  I was stunned.  It's an awesome photo."

"Sure is."  He said dreamily

She pointed to the frame. "Notice the frame?  Those are some of the petals from the roses you gave me that night."

-OH my gosh, don't say that!  He might think the wrong idea.  Man he is hot.  SHUT UP. -

-ALRIGHT!  So this DOES mean something to her.  Sigh… God, I want her. -

"I didn't give you any roses." Justin smirked trying to ask serious.

"Oh, OK.  Then I guess you weren't the incredible, sweet, caring, wonderful person that sent me a HUGE bouquet of pink, red, and white roses.  OH WELL!" she sighed and he put his arm around her.

"Well maybe I WAS the person to send you the roses then."  She hit his shoulder playfully.

"I like this picture."

"Me too."  She said in a little kid's voice.

"Ready to go?"

"Yuppers. LET'S GO!"

"You want me to drive?" Justin asked

"Did you bring the Beemer?"

"Yeah."

"Umm, OK, so, YEAH you are driving."  She said like he should have known that already.

He laughed "Come on G, let's go meet my family."  With that they left the apartment and headed to the Harless residence.

--------

"Umm, I think I change my mind.  Maybe we can meet them another time." 

"Come on Mere!  You were fine until we got here.  DO NOT be nervous."

"What if they don't like me?"  She asked in a scared voice.

"Name me one person that doesn't like you."

"Well practically my whole home town, but I don't want to get into that.  Umm, there is that man down at the gas station at Berks Park that hates me because I wouldn't give him my phone number.  Uhh, you and Chris hated me at the..."

"OK OK! Listen..." Justin grabbed her shoulders and lowered his head so that they were eye level.

"My mom has been dying to meet you.  You're my best friend and my mom hasn't met you, yet.  She is GOING to be nice to you, and I KNOW she will love you just as much as I do. And Jon, well, if you tell him you are a friend of mine he will automatically want to hang around you.  Don't worry girl, just be yourself, act like you always do, and they will like you just fine."

"WHOA, Deja vu!"

"Huh?"

"JC told me that exact thing before I went to eat lunch with you guys at Joe's for the first time.  And you still hated me, even more so than before."  She looked at the pavement below them.

"Meredith...Look...at...me!"  Justin forced her to stare into his eyes.  "I will say this till the day I die: I was a fool to treat you the way I did. OK?"  When she didn't respond he got annoyed.

"OK?"  He said louder.

"OK."  She whispered.

Justin sighed and wrapped his arms around her. "Meredith, I love you so much, but you HAVE to stop being insecure.  Just do this for me."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry, angel.  Just..." He paused thinking of what to say. "Just be yourself."

She nodded and he took her hand and laced his fingers with hers.  He stepped onto the brick pathway of a huge brick house and walked up to the porch.  Justin placed a key in the lock and opened the door.  Before he stepped in the house he turned and looked at the wide-eyed girl behind him.

"You'll be fine." He turned to step in the house and hollered, "MOM!! JON!! I brought company."

Meredith stepped into the house.  It was a lot different from Justin's. Justin's house was elegant, glamorous, a rock stars home.  This house was just as big, but had a much more earthy and homey feel.  She liked it.  It was a regular, well besides being huge, southern home.

Soon the pitter-patter of feet were heard coming from the direction of the steps.  Meredith looked towards them and saw a younger version of the man beside her racing down the steps.

"JUSTIN!!!", the little boy yelled as he was swooped up into Justin's arms

"Hey bro, whatsup?" Justin swung his brother around and finally planted him firmly back on the ground. "Jon, this is Meredith.  Be nice to her because she is a really good friend of mine."

"Hi."  Jon said shyly, coming up to her.  She squatted down to be eye-level with him and looked at the younger kid.  She smiled because he simply was Justin's mini-me.

"Hey Jon, its great to finally meet you.  Your brother talks about you non-stop."  Jon studied Meredith's face and turned and looked up at his big brother.

"Justin, is this the girl you said was more beautiful than an angel?"   Justin's eyes immediately widened then shut in embarrassment and his face started turning a deep shade of red.  Meredith looked up at the tall man standing in front of her from her position close to the floor and just stared at him with a curious and radiant smile. 

Justin opened his eyes and looked straight down into Meredith's, ignoring Jon's impatient look. 

"Yes Jon, this is the girl."  He said quietly, finally smiling.

"Oh, I thought so.  Well, did you come over to play because its Saturday and I don't have school.  I want to spend the day with you Justin, pullleasseeee."  Justin was still staring at Meredith who was now looking at Jon adoringly and giggling.

"Justin, JUSTIN!!" Jon yelled and pulled on his brother's jeans to get his attention.

"What Jon?"  He asked slightly annoyed finally looking at his brother.

"Did you come to play?"

"Ohh yeah, right.  Umm, you want to spend the day with Meredith and me?  We are going back to my house!"

"YES!!" Jon jumped up and down excitedly.

"OK, go get your bag and remember to pack your swim trunks."  Justin told his brother who immediately ran off and up the stairs.

"Hey Jon, where's mom?" Justin called after him.

Jon yelled from somewhere in the house. "Outside!" 

Justin looked back at Meredith who was now standing up looking around the room.  He brought her into a hug and kissed her forehead gently.  Meredith pulled back and looked up at him questionably.

"I told you he would like you."  Justin smirked then winked at her.  She rolled her eyes and he led her through the living room to the back porch.  He slid the sliding door open and stepped out, with Meredith in toe.

"Hey, Mom?"  Justin asked looking around.  A sweet voice with a heavy southern accent was heard coming from a few feet away.

"Hey honey, what brings you here?"  A very pretty and petite lady stood up from a garden. She had on working gloves and her reddish-blonde curly hair was pulled up into a sloppy bun.

"Mom, this is Meredith."

"OH my goodness.  Come here dear.  I've heard so much about you!"  Justin's mother said pulling off her dirty work gloves and wrapping her in a hug.  Meredith was surprised at first but soon returned the hug.

"It's a pleasure to finally meet you Mrs. Harless."

"Call me Lynn, honey.  I feel like I already know you.  Justin talks about you ALL THE TIME!"  Lynn said accenting the last words.

"Mom, please do not embarrass me."  Justin mumbled.  Lynn looked at Meredith and said, "After all I've done for the boy and he still treats me this way."

"Oh come on, you know I love you."  Justin said annoyingly.

"YOU BETTER!"  Lynn walked up to him and Justin placed an arm around her shoulders and looked down at his mother.

"This is a great day.  My two favorite women finally meet each other. " Justin sighed and Lynn patted her son's chest.

"Come, let's go inside."  The three walked back into the house.

"Do yall want anything to drink?"  Lynn asked as they walked to the kitchen.

"I'm fine thank you."  Meredith responded sweetly.  Before Justin had a chance to answer Jon came in.

"Justin, I need your help." Jon put his hands on his hips.

"With what little J?" 

"Just come with me."  He said a little annoyed.

"Excuse me, I'll be right back." Justin said smugly and then followed Jon out of the room.

Lynn poured herself a glass of tea and motioned for Meredith to sit down at the table with her.  She took a sip from her glass and stared at Meredith.  Meredith looked around the kitchen trying not to notice Lynn's stare.

"I really like your house Lynn."  Meredith said trying to start a conversation.

Lynn ignored the comment. "Meredith, I'm going to speak my mind and please don't take me as being rude.  But my Justin is really wrapped up in you." Meredith now looked at Lynn a little shocked. 

"He really likes you.  No, he loves you.  And I'm not really sure how deep his feelings go, but I don't want to see him hurt again.  His heart has been broken too many times.  He is still VERY young and he has been through more heartache than I think I've been through, and I've been married twice." Lynn sighed and looked down at her hand concentrating on her wedding band. 

"I know you are a great girl.  Justin wouldn't talk about you the way he does if you weren't.  I just hope you realize the boy's heart IS fragile.  Meredith, you should hear the WAY he talks about you.  When he found out you were going to be the boys full time assistant, well, he called me that night. He was giddy.  The boy is NEVER giddy."  Meredith and Lynn laughed at that comment. And Meredith finally spoke up.

"Lynn, your son has done more for me than anyone else I've ever known has done for me.  He gave me a friend when I needed it most.  He is my BEST friend and that's not a very easy position to be in.  But I love him more than life itself and I would kill myself before I would even think about breaking his heart.  I know how fragile it is, because mine is just as fragile."  Lynn picked up Meredith's hand that was resting on the table and squeezed it.

"I like you Meredith, I really do.  And I'm really glad Justin has you in his life.  He has a sparkle back in his eyes that has been missing for a while now and its good to have that back." Lynn smiled at Meredith and she returned the smile.  Just then Justin came in the room with Jon on his back.

"All right, you ready to go, g?"  Justin said.

Lynn looked at him confused. "Where are you going?"

"Oh, we are taking Jon back to my house, I thought I told you."

She nodded her head. "No, but that's fine.  Just have him back by 3:30 or 4."

"K, mom." Justin walked towards his mother.

"Have fun today, and it was really great to meet you Meredith." Lynn said as she gave Meredith a small hug.

"You too Lynn."

Justin kissed his mom on the cheek.  "Bye Mom, love you."

"Love you too." Justin, with Jon on his back and Meredith by his side turned to leave but his mother's voice stopped him.

"Jon?  You forgetting something?" Lynn said firmly.

Jonathan sighed and jumped off Justin's back and ran to give his mom a hug. " I love you mom."

"Back at ya!" Lynn let her son go and ruffled his hair before he ran back up and grabbed Justin's hand.  Meredith stared at their clasped hands.  Jon's barely fit into Justin much larger hand.  She smiled at the two brothers.

"Bye MOM!"  Justin said as he closed the door behind him.

"Justin?" Meredith asked as they walked to his car.

"Yeah?"

"There aren't enough seats for all of us." Meredith said pointing to his small convertible.

"You mind letting Jon sit in your lap?  It's not that far of a drive from here and he knows to behave when he is in my car.  Right bro?"

"Right!" Jon said proudly.

"OK, whatever." Meredith got in the car and Jon plopped down in her lap.  Justin strapped the seatbelt over both of them so they were squished together. The two laughed.

"Justin, I could have done that."  Meredith giggled.

"I know, I just wanted to be helpful."  He gave her a sexy smiled and closed the door.  Justin got into his side of the car and turned on the engine.  As Justin was pulling out of the driveway, Jon snuggled up in Meredith's lap and whispered to her.

"I like you Mere"

"I like you too, little J." Meredith touched the tip of his nose and turned to smile at Justin.  He was staring at the two, grinning.

"What?"  Meredith asked.

Justin shook his head and finished backing out of the driveway.  "Nothing, nothing at all."

After a few quiet moments Meredith spoke, looking at the passing scenery. "I really like your mom, Justin."

Justin smiled. "I told you, you would."

"I can tell she really, REALLY loves you."

Justin groaned. "Oh no. What did she say to you?"

She chuckled and mocked him, "Nothing, nothing at all."

----------

"Well they said if its not here in 30 minutes its free!"  Justin exclaimed stepping out of the pool and grabbing a towel.

"Justin, did you open the security gates?" Meredith asked looking up from her magazine over the rim of her sunglasses.

"Oh, crap!  Watch Jon for me."  Justin wrapped the towel around him and ran in the house.  He grabbed his wallet from the kitchen table and ran to the front door.  He opened and squinted to see a pizza truck parked at the gate. Justin looked beside the door at a panel and pressed a button and held it down while he spoke.

"Sorry, I was outside and didn't even think about the gate.  I'm going to open it now."  Justin pressed another button and saw the gates at the end of the long driveway open.  He sighed and shook his head in embarrassment as the pizza guy drove up and got out of the car.

"I'm soo Sorry!" Justin said as the guy approached.

"It's OK.  Hey, aren't you that guy from that boy band?"

"Yeah, that's me!"  Justin sighed while opening his wallet to find some money.  "How much was it?"

"$12.80."  Justin exchanged a 20 for the pizza.

"Keep the change."

"Hey thanks man! Oh, would you mind signing something for my sister? She absolutely loves this kind of stuff."

"Umm sure..."

"Hey, is it here?"  Meredith asked from the large white living room.

"PIZZA!!"  Jon yelled.

"Yeah, its here."  Meredith walked up to Justin and smiled at the pizza guy.

"You will have to forgive him.  All the hair products have gone to his brain and he forgets things like security gates."  The pizza guy laughed as Meredith ruffled Justin's damp hair and he just glared at her.

"Will you take this into the kitchen and hush up."  Justin pushed the pizza box into Meredith's exposed stomach and she grumbled something as her and Jon went into the cozy kitchen.  Justin finished signing something on a piece of paper and handed it back to the guy.

"Thanks man.  I really appreciate this."

"It's the least I could do for making you wait."

"Hey, I know its none of my business but is that your girlfriend?"

"No, she is just my best friend."  Justin responded kinda disappointed.

"Well, it's not my place to say, but if I were you, I'd go for it.  You see that bikini she has on? WHEW, She's HOT, dude!" 

"I'll keep that in mind.  Bye."  Justin laughed and watched the pizza guy get in his truck and drive off.

-I'll keep that in mind. -

"JUSTIN, come on!!!  We are going to eat it all!!"  Jon yelled from the kitchen.

"I'm coming, I'm coming."  Justin walked into the kitchen to find Meredith and Jon, in their bathing suits, feeding each other pizza.

"Jon, you aren't trying to make the moves on my woman, are you?"  Justin placed his hands on his hips.

"I'm not your woman!"  Meredith said as she took a bite into the slice Jon was holding up to her face.

"That's what you think."  Justin mumbled.

"WHAT WAS THAT?" She said with an attitude.  She watched Justin grab a Pepsi from the fridge and sit down on the barstool beside of her. 

"You heard what I said."  He grinned slyly and picked up a piece of pizza.  He opened his mouth but noticed Meredith still staring at him.  He turned his eyes to her and raised his eyebrows with his mouth still open.

"You annoy me." She said narrowing her eyes.  He clamped his mouth down on the slice and hungrily bit into the pizza, practically ripping off a huge chuck of it like a tiger.  Half of it hung out of his mouth and the other half was in his hand as he chewed.

"Hungry are we?" She said questionably. He just took a gulp of his Pepsi, waited a few moments and burped, extremely loud.  Jon giggled and Meredith acted, as he was the most disgusting person on earth.

"Gosh you are SO attractive." Meredith said very sarcastically.  After Justin finished his HUGE bite, he wiped his mouth and leaned towards Meredith.  He gently brushed the hair from her shoulder and began kissing it, softly. 

She looked down at him like he was crazy and he just kept moving his warm lips across her shoulder and up her neck to her ear, placing light kisses on her skin along the way.  He then whispered, "I'm only hungry for you."  Meredith's eyes grew wide and he kissed her loudly on her cheek.

"MUAH!" He exclaimed as he kissed her.

"EWWWW."  Jon scrunched up his nose at Justin.

"I bet you are just jealous."  Justin said snobbishly to his brother.

"Jellyous of what?"  Jon said stumbling over the words.

"I got to kiss Meredith and you didn't. HA!"  Justin plopped another slice of pizza on his paper plate.

"I could kiss her if I wanted to."  Jon said quietly.  Meredith just sat back and looked back and forth between the brothers.

"YEAH RIGHT!"  Justin said rolling his eyes.  Jon bowed his head in defeat and Meredith felt bad for the younger brother. 

She turned and looked at Justin proudly eating his pizza.  She then looked at Jon with his head bowed sadly.  She nudged him and he looked up at her.  She leaned closer to the younger version of Justin and winked at him.  Justin noticed Meredith and Jon getting closer and eyed the two.  Finally Meredith placed a soft peck on Jon's puckered up lips and pulled away giggling.

"Oh my gosh. I just got kissed by a girl."  Jon said amazed.  Meredith laughed and looked at Justin who sat there in shock.

"NO WAY! My brother gets more action from you than I do?"  Justin exclaimed.  Meredith shrugged and Jon looked confused.

"Action?  Like boom?  Car crash?"  He said trying to understand.  Meredith looked at Jon.

"Jon, will you be my boyfriend?"

"Sure, why not."  The little boy shrugged.

"OH NO!!  You do NOT do this to me! You kissed him AND asked him to be your boyfriend?" Justin said actually angry.

"Justin, who's the jealous one now, huh?" Meredith asked smiling a forced smile. "Come on Jon, let's go back outside."

"OK, girlfriend."  Jon picked up Meredith's hand.  They threw their trash in the trashcan and walked outside hand in hand.  At the door Meredith turned around and winked at a still shocked Justin. He shook his head and she then blew him a kiss.  He caught it and touched his bare chest. She then turned back around and headed towards the pool with Jon.

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

Justin watched as Jon ran out of the pool and picked up the cordless phone. He turned back to Meredith. "I can't believe you kissed my brother."

"You might want to ask him for a few pointers.  He is a lot better at it than you."  Meredith said flirty.

"You confuse me girl..." Justin mumbled.

"NOOO MOMMY!...I wanna stay with Justin and Mere..." Jon whined into the phone. "...OK....GUESS WHAT?....Meredith asked me to be her girlfriend."  He said triumphantly and stuck his tongue out at Justin who just rolled his eyes.

"Justin Timberlake." Meredith said firmly

"What?"

"Do not tell me that you are ACTUALLY jealous of your brother."

Justin looked away and swam to the other side of the pool away from her. "I'm not."

"Then stop acting like a jerk!"  She said annoyed and swam towards the steps of the pool to get out.

"Wait."

When she didn't respond, Justin swam up to her and pulled on her foot.  His touch scared her and she pulled away fiercely.  She looked down at the water that Justin was still submerged and tried to pull him up.  When he shook his head under the water she squatted down so she was totally covered by the water, also.  He was floating, holding his breath.  Meredith looked at him like he was insane and he just shook his head.  He then puckered up his lips and made hand motions that said something like "no kiss, no coming up."  She shrugged and popped back out of the water to breathe hoping he wouldn't be so stubborn about this. 

Jon was now off the phone and sitting on the edge of the pool pouting, and touching the water with the bottoms of his feet.

"What's wrong, Jon?"  She approached him.

He quietly stated, "I have to go now."

"I'm sorry, we will be able to do this again sometime."  Meredith reassured him.

"Probably not.  Justin leaves in a few weeks for the tour."  He sighed a precious sigh that only a kid his age could pull off.

"Jon, why don't you go inside and get all your stuff together, I'll get your brother out of the pool."

Jon ran back inside and Meredith turned to Justin.  He was still under the water and it was starting to scare her.  She waded over to him and tried to pull him up.  But he wouldn't move.  She started yelling at him even though she knew he would only be able to hear a muffled voice.

She knew Jon would be ready soon and Justin being as stubborn as he was, would not take a breath until he got what he wanted.

She submerged herself and saw his face.  He was dying there, literally.  She mouthed "We have to take Jon home."  But Justin shook his head and smiled.  Meredith giggled because all his curls were unraveling and floating all around his head.  She just looked at him and finally gave in.  She mouthed "OK" and he looking at her curiously.  She screamed in the water "OK I WILL KISS YOU." 

He couldn't make out all of it underwater, but he understood enough.  He had her RIGHT where he wanted.

He smiled and finally stood up out of the water and took a much-needed breath.  Meredith slowly came out of the water with her eyes shut and back turned to Justin, wondering what she got herself into.  But when she opened her eyes and turned around, he wasn't there.  Meredith looked around and finally saw him outside of the pool, drying himself off with a towel. She looked at him confused.

"But, what, what about..." She stuttered, and he turned his attention to her, while drying off his body. "...What about the kiss."

"Who said anything about a kiss?"  He said trying not to die laughing at her shocked face.  "I'm really glad I had to take all those breathing lessons when this whole music thing started.  That was a pretty long time to be waiting without a breath.  I knew I could do it." 

She opened her mouth to say a smart comment but just then Jon appeared ready to go. 

"I'm ready." He said reluctantly.

"Meredith, get out of the pool.  Jon is ready."  Justin said fatherly but with a hidden laughter. Meredith glared at Justin as she came out of the pool and grabbed a towel.

Her eyes narrowed even more as she entered the house. "Timberfake, YOU are on my bad list."

"OHH NOOO!"  Justin dramatically stated.

"I'm serious, Justin.  That was NOT funny."

Justin breathed, "Now you know how I feel."

"What's that supposed to mean?" She stopped walking and stared at him.

-It's supposed to mean that I'm tired of you leading me on. -

"Jon, you ready? Meredith you might want to put something over your bathing suit. Riding in a convertible with just a bikini and a towel might make you a little, what do they call it?  Umm, Nipply?"  Justin remarked smugly.

"I cannot believe you just said that."  Meredith said extremely quiet.  She was very mad and a little embarrassed.

She looked at Jon and remembered how uncomfortable the ride to Justin's house was in the 2-seater. "Why don't we just take the Mercedes, that way we all can have a seat and more space."

"YEAH!!" Jon yelled.

"I thought you liked the Beemer?" Justin looked at his brother.

"I do.  But I like the Mer..Mer...How do you say it?" Jon tried to say it

"Mercedes." Justin giggled at his younger self.

Jon looked triumphantly. "Yeah, that. I like that too."

"OK, the Mercedes it is." Justin pushed Jon out of the doorway into the garage and turned to a now clothed Meredith.  "I think you were right about wanting a little more space.  The Roadster's not the best type of car to, well, you know, if things were to get a little hot, we will have more space to maneuver." Justin winked at her.  She was getting very annoyed at all the little sexual and flirty remarks he kept giving her throughout the day.  But she just shook her head and brushed past Justin and climbed into Mercedes.

-Yup, that boy hasn't gotten any action in a LONG time. -