Chapter 3
That night at the hotel, after the concert……
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK
"Where is she? What time is it Lance?" Chris asked.
"Its 11:45, she should be here."
"Maybe she's out clubbing." Joey thoughtfully said.
"Joey, Meredith is not the type to go clubbing by herself. I mean she JUST turned 18." JC said annoyingly
"How would you know, Daddio? Oh that's right you guys are butt-buddies."
"SHUT UP JOSEPHINE!"
"Knock it off you two!" a stern voice commanded.
Everyone turned and stood in shock.
"Justin is that you?? You actually think your baby-corn-rowin' self can boss us around?" JC asked with a smirk.
"Listen, I saw her this morning and I told her we were coming to her room. So she knows that after the concert we were going to be here. Maybe something came up. She does have the night off. She probably wants a break from us. She's around us 24/7. You guys can stand here and bicker about it but I'm going to go take a shower. I suggest you do the same."
The group dispersed. Each went into their own room.
"Hey J, You still got that CD of mine?"
"Yeah, come get it Lance, it's in my bag..."
Lance entered Justin's room. Justin went into the bathroom, to shower. Lance found the CD and just as he was about to open the door to leave, a knock sounded. He opened the door to reveal a tired looking Meredith.
"Hey M, where you been? We were going to party hardy in your room!"
"Sorry, I, umm, I got, I lost track of time." Meredith said quietly. She was in one of her moods. The guys noticed that about once every 2 weeks Meredith would just want to be alone and be extremely quiet and sad like. It worried them.
"You OK?" Lance asked concerned.
"Yeah. I'm fine. I went home today. I guess just seeing my family made me a little homesick. But it's all good, ya know?" Meredith forced a smile.
"Come 'ere g..." Lance gathered her into a hug. "We all get that way sometimes. But we are all, and I mean ALL, very glad that you are with us. This has been an amazing tour so far. And you have helped it become so amazing."
"Thanks L-boogie" Meredith ruffled his hair. "Go take a shower, sweat boy."
"Yes ma'am" Lance saluted her then left the room. But right as Meredith was about to sit down on the bed Lance popped his head in the door.
"Not to be nosy, but what are you doing in Justin's room anyway?"
"Oh, umm, I umm, I have to get something, I umm, let him, ugh, borrow. Yeah, borrow." Lance looked at her not believing a word she said.
"Uh, sure. Well, night g and in about 45 minutes if we don't go to sleep you might have 5 guys knocking on your door for a little 'presidential suite' fun."
"Get out of here, L-boogie." Meredith said lightly, trying to hide her worry.
After Lance left, Meredith found herself pacing the floor trying to figure out how she would tell Justin that his girlfriend was cheating on him. After a few minutes she plopped down on the bed and stared at the ceiling.
-How long does a shower take anyway?? I hope he hasn't drowned. Man, I do not want to do this. Girl, you don't have to. Just get up and walk out that door and don't say a word. No, I have to tell him. He needs to know. He is not going to like it, but its necessary. -
Meredith continued with her thoughts as she listened to the rhythmic noise of the shower. Every now and then she swore she heard light singing and humming coming from the bathroom but she couldn't tell what song it was. Soon, she was curled up in a ball on Justin's bed fast asleep.
She had a very tiring day. She spent it driving around all her favorite shops and stores. Finally around 3 she had ditched the limo and decided just to walk downtown like she had planned. She had to get her mind off Justin and Kim and the mystery guy. But it was useless. She spent the rest of the evening struggling with what to say what not to say. Even while she went back home for a few hours she thought about it. She was worn out.
About 5 minutes after Meredith had fallen into a deep sleep; Justin emerged from the bathroom with a towel around his waist. He walked over to his bag to get some boxers but noticed a figure curled up on his bed. HE slipped on his boxers and discarded the towel. He walked over to the figure and realized who it was.
Meredith. She was curled up in a fetal position clutching one of the pillows, as if it was her lifeline.
-Wow, she's breathtaking. I thought she looked good last night at the club, but this. Man, she's beautiful. And she's on my bed. Umm, Why is she on my bed? -
He noticed her facial expression it was content but it looked as if she had had a stressful day. HE nudged her lightly and quietly sang, "Mareeeedithhhhhh."
She scrunched her face and stretched her body, before opening her eyes. When she did she almost fell off the bed.
2 inches away from her was Justin. HE was so close to her she could feel his warm breath on her face. And he was smiling SO big. She pulled away from him shocked and he laughed.
"Bet you've always dreamed to wake up next to my smiling face. HEHE"
"Shut up, Timberfake"
"Ew, someone's grumpy." HE stood up and went to his bag and searched for a shirt. That's when she noticed he had no shirt on. He was a god. Meredith couldn't help but stare at his muscular back, which glistened in the dim hotel light from the lingering wetness of his shower. She had noticed his muscular arms before and had seen him with a wifebeater on in the bus, but this was MUCH better. She was gawking at him, just like one of his adoring fans. She quickly shook her head when he turned around barechested with a shirt in his hands.
She then stared some more. His chiseled chest and nice abdominal muscles were extremely pleasant to look at. With her eyes she followed a droplet of water that ran down from his damp cornrows, down the side of his face over his neck down his body, and soaked into the elastic of his boxers. Meredith looked up at his face and she noticed his broad smile and sparkling eyes.
"Like what you see, eh?" That broke the trance.
"More like what I don't see. Especially with those corn rows, what ARE you thinking?"
"Goodness, we are just full of comebacks tonight aren't we, squirt. And don't worry they are coming out tomorrow, probably."
"Don't call me squirt, Timberfake." She narrowed her eyes at him
"Don't call me Timberfake, squirt." He then busted into giggles at her annoyed expression while putting the T-shirt on. "Why are you here anyway? You DO realize we rented out that extremely nice, extremely expensive, room down the hallway."
She sighed remembering why she was there. "Oh yeah, umm Justin, I got something really, really important I need to tell you. But your not going to like it." Justin saw her voice and attitude change. She looked like a wide-eye child that had witnessed a crime and was terrified to tell anyone.
Justin sat down beside her on the bed and took her hands in his. "You can tell me anything, Mere." When she didn't answer he took his finger and moved her head so that she was looking straight into his eyes. "What is it?"
Meredith took a deep breath, and took her hands away from his but keep his stare. She quietly but firmly let it all out.
"Today, I went to one of my favorite restaurants for lunch. It's an Italian restaurant called the Open Kitchen. Well while I was there I saw Kim with some guy." She looked at Justin.
"Yeah, She said she was going to get lunch with him before she left town this afternoon. She has some shoots in New York tomorrow. Was the guy tall, dark hair, real muscular?" Justin inquired.
"Yeah, how did you know?"
"That's her agent, Chad. He goes wherever she goes. Don't worry about it Meredith. I appreciate you looking out for me, but Kim has made it clear that there is nothing going on between them."
"Oh." Meredith looked down at her hands and Justin got up to finish what ever he needed to do, but Meredith grabbed his wrist. He turned and looked down at her bowed head and she finally looked up at him. "That's not all."
He sat down once more beside her with a confused and impatient face. "What?"
"OK, brace yourself. Whew, OK. I was there. She entered holding his hand. I was suspicious so I kinda spied on them. I mean I stayed at my table but watched them. Anyways. They were laughing and talking, flirting about who knows what and I saw it. Justin...she leaned over the table and kissed him. I mean at first I was shocked. Then I tried to convince myself it was just a friendly kiss. But then she walked out of her side of the booth to his. He hugged her and kissed her. And I mean KISSED her. She was kissing back. I mean if I didn't know them I would probably be laughing at the massive amount of PDA going on. Justin, she was making out with the guy."
She looked back down at her hands and whispered. "I just thought you should know."
Justin sat there in silence. So many things were going through his mind. Anger, sadness, betrayal. Kim was cheating on him. Or Meredith was lying. He just didn't know. So he went with what was easiest. What was most logical? What he was used to.
"How could you?" He said with an accusing voice.
Meredith's head snapped up and looked at him in shocked. "Justin, I..." she shook her head.
"NO! I knew it!! I knew the whole time. All you GROUPIES are the same. You work your way into Nsync and then screw me and the rest of the guys over. Why do you want to do this? I have a GREAT relationship with Kim and you are TYRING your BEST to ruin it. WHY MEREDITH? ARE YOU JEALOUS?? THATS IT!! YOURE SO JEALOUS!! YOU WANT ME, BAD!! YOU WANT TO LOOK LIKE KIM! WELL YOU KNOW WHAT? SCREW YOU! YOU WILL AND CAN NEVER BE AS PERFECT AND GREAT AS KIM! GET OUT OF MY ROOM!" Justin was now standing towering over her screaming at her.
Meredith tried to dam the tears in her eyes from spilling over but it was no use. A single tear came from her eye and soon another followed and another. She knew he would be upset. But this was pure hate coming from him.
"Justin, I thought if the positions were reversed I would want you to do the same." She quietly choked out.
"GET OUT OF MY HOTEL ROOM, YOU, YOU BITCH!!!!!!!!!" He yelled at her and collapsed onto his bed and held his head in his hands. He did not know why he was this upset. He just was. HE pointed to his door.
Meredith got up and went toward the door but stopped turned and just stood there, crying. Suddenly the door jerked open and Lance, JC, Joey, Chris, Lonnie, and Dre entered the room.
"What's going on in here?" Lonnie asked with a fatherly tone while staring at Meredith's back and Justin bowed position.
After a few moments of silence and Justin in the same position with his head bowed and hand pointing to the door, Meredith spoke.
"Nothing's going on, nothing at all." With that she turned to leave. Then the guys who had barged in noticed her face. It looked like a tormented puppy. She seriously looked as if she had just been told she had 1 hour to live. She stopped abruptly and turned back to Justin.
"I forgive you." She quietly stated.
He looked up at her the hate-filled eyes and laughed a sick laugh. "HA! Why the hell is a bitch like you forgiving me? What the hell did I DO?"
Meredith shook her head and looked at the floor then lifted her head and met his stare. She stared right back into his fierce blue eyes and finally said, "One day you are going to realize that I was right. When you figure out the truth you will come to me asking me to forgive you for not believing me, for the things you've said, everything. I'm just going ahead and telling you, that you're already forgiven."
With that she pushed her way through the guys crowed around the door. And slowly walked to her room. JC and Lance came up to her but before they could even say anything she opened the door to her room and said "I just want to be alone." and closed the door without even looking at them.
Chris had tried to approach Justin but before Chris could reach him he whispered, "I just want to be alone."
Seconds later, Lance, JC, Joey, Chris, Lonnie and Dre stood in the hallway of the top floor of the hotel just staring at each other and the two doors that held Meredith and Justin. Finally Chris had the courage to speak.
"What the hell just happened??"
Joey responded quietly "I don't know man, I don't know."
------------------------------------------------
The bus was unusually quiet. They all had been on the bus for about 30 minutes and had 1 1/2 hours till they would reach their hotel in Greensboro. JC was sleeping. Lance was in the kitchenette talking on the phone. Meredith was there with him but just stared out the window with her headphones on. In the back of the bus where the lounge area was, Joey and Chris were playing N64 and Justin sat there with a glazed over expression looking at the screen.
Meredith got up to leave.
"Yeah, uhh huh, oh really? I miss you too Leslie. Hey hold on a sec k?...Where ya going Mere?"
"Sleep"
"Oh OK" When Meredith left, Lance returned to his phone call. "Its real bad Leslie. I mean I've seen her down before but this is unreal. She won't talk, eat, anything. All she wants to do is sleep. It's only been a day. But, she looks like hell. Justin's no better"
"Well, I think he likes her."
"Oh pulease, Les, he has Kim."
"But he never sees Kim, what caused this melt down anyway?"
"That's the thing, no one knows. And the only two people that do are not saying anything."
Meanwhile...
"Man, you suck."
“No, I rule, you suck."
"Nooo, you..."
"SHUT UP BOTH OF YOU!"
"Sorry J, we were just playing around." Joey thoughtfully said.
"Yeah well I'm tired of it. I'm tired of everything. I'm going to bed. DO NOT WAKE ME UP, until we get to the hotel."
When Justin left, Joey turned to Chris.
"This ain't right. I mean he use to not like her, but he was NEVER like this."
"I wonder what she said to him?" Chris asked.
"What makes you think it was Meredith?"
"Lance told me that while he went to go get a CD from Justin's room, that Meredith came into Justin's room claiming he had 'borrowed' something from her."
"Hmm, This sucks. I hate seeing Justin like this. I hate seeing Meredith like this even more."
"Yeah, well lets just wade it out. Maybe everything will figure itself out. 'nother round?"
"You're on!" Joey said as Chris re-started the game.
------
Justin stepped into the bunk area of the bus. He closed the door behind him. He could hear JC's light snore. But then he heard the most heart-wrentching noise ever.
In a sobbing whisper Meredith talked on the phone with her sister.
"Lauren, I cant do this...I was trying to be helpful. I really was. He thinks I was trying to hurt him. I would NEVER do that. I know first hand what its like. I would NEVER put that type of pain on anyone. EVER!...yeah, I know I know...Thanks, yeah...please do, it would be great to see you. I saw mom and dad yesterday...I love you too. Bye."
Justin stood there listening. He shook his head.
-Doesn't prove anything-
Just as he was climbing into his bunk, her curtain to her bunk slid open and she stood up not paying attention and bumped into Justin.
"Sorry..." she whispered.
She turned to walk away but he grabbed her arm, hard. "You think this little game of pretending to be upset is going to work on me. Well I'm smarter than that. You're just a slut, a conniving little evil slut. You're an ugly, selfish, piece of trash. GET OUT OF MY SIGHT BITCH!!!!" Justin yelled. This caused JC to wake up and stand between Meredith and Justin. Lance, Joey, and Chris all entered the doorways of the small bunk area.
"You want to make a scene, go ahead. WE'RE ALL WAITING MISS MEREDITH!!!" Justin screamed.
Meredith couldn't move, couldn't cry, couldn't do anything. Everything she had ever considered herself as, he threw back at her. Slut. Ugly. Selfish. Trash. Bitch. HE was right, in her mind. So, she gave up.
"You're right, I'm nothing. I'm not worth any of yalls time or energy. My sister is coming to see me in Greensboro. I'll be going back home. Now if you excuse me, I need to pack." With that she entered her bunk, shut the curtain, and gathered all her things. She could hear voices outside of her bunk.
"She cannot leave."
"YOU HAVE NO RIGHT!!!"
"I have every damn right I want. SHE'S A SLUT. SHE'S A BITCH. AND I'M HAPPY SHE IS LEAVING. YOUR PRECIOUS LITTLE MEREDITH IS LEAVING. HALIEGHLUAH!!! HER NAME IS MORE LIKE MER-DEATH!!!!"
Justin was raging. But what he didn't realize was that he had just caused her to break. It wasn't the ugly things he was saying. It wasn't his tone of voice. He had just called her, unknowingly, Mer-death. A name only one other person had ever called her. A name she feared more than dying. Now SHE was raging.
She slung her curtain opened and faced Justin. Her eyes were brimming with tears and her face was red. "Don't, Don't you ever, EVER, EVER FUCKING CALL ME THAT AGIAN!!!!"
The bus stood still. Meredith never cussed. Meredith was a devout Christian. To hear her cuss was like to hear Limp Bizket sing opera. Everyone, even Justin was stunned.
"UUU, soft spot?? You don't like me calling you BITCH?? Or was it SLUT???" Justin teased.
"Mer-death. I don't want to hear that name again." She said fiercely in a lowered but quiet tone.
"What was that?? OHH MERRRRRRR-DDDDEEEEATTTTHHHHH!!! You don't want me to call you MER-DEATH. I GET IT!! What’s the big damn deal anyway? I’m just saying a stupid name. You’re pathetic." Justin said in a stupid voice. But he was in for a surprise.
The next thing he knew Meredith's fist had plowed into his left jaw causing him to growl in pain and fall backwards on to Joey and Chris. She stormed out of the bunk area past JC and Lance and went into the bathroom and locked herself in. She had NEVER, EVER, hit anyone before and it hurt her. Not in her fist, her body was numb, but her heart felt like a million bricks had been placed onto it.
At the Greensboro hotel they were staying at. JC had explained to Lonnie and Dre since they had seen the incident the night before, what had happened. They were both worried but the rest of the Nsync members begged them not to say anything to anyone and they reluctantly obliged.
"Meredith, honey, we are at the hotel." Dre's deep but soft voice said through the bathroom door.
Meredith immediately opened the door and let Dre lead her through the bus, which was now empty. She stopped to get her backpack but kept on right behind him into the Hotel. They went straight to the elevator. And up to the 5th floor to her room. Neither said anything.
"You need something, come get me." Dre said then closed the door behind him.
She immediately climbed into bed. She hadn't had a wink of sleep the night before and the events on the bus caused her to become even more tired. She fell asleep and about 4 hours later woke up. She looked at the clock. It was 3:30pm. She had a headache and was very hungry. She was about to order room service when she realized she just wanted junk food. She grabbed her purse and walked down the hall where the drink and food machines were.
-Out of Order, could this day be any more perfect? -
She went to the elevator without thinking and pressed 6, the floor where Nsync was. But she hadn't even thought of that. All she had thought of was her growling stomach and her strange craving for sugar, soft drinks, and potato chips. She rounded the corner of the doorway of the place where the machines were but wasn't paying attention to where she was going. She was looking down in her purse searching for some quarters when she bumped into someone. Her purse fell and all its contents spewed everywhere. She looked up and gasped. There holding a icepack to his face with one hand and a soda in the other, was Justin.
"Sorry..."
"Looks like you have a problem with bumping into people today." Justin mumbled through one side of his mouth.
She ignored the comment and bent down to pick up her things. Justin walked out but noticed two orange bottles that had rolled away from her. They were medicine bottles. Being curious he picked them up and eyed Meredith who wasn't paying attention. He read the labels.
-"Prozac, take two tablets daily." "Celexa, take 4 tablets daily." Aren't these drugs for...-
"Dropped these..." Justin said quietly handing them to her.
She looked up at him shocked when she realized what he had picked up. "Uhh, thanks..." She quickly put the bottles in her purse and got up and went to buy her snacks.
"I didn't know...that you were, that you...umm...struggled with....uhhh.." Justin stuttered.
"Depression? Well now you know..." Meredith said without emotion.
She grabbed her Snickers bar, Dr. Pepper, and BBQ potato chips and quickly walked away.
"Hey Meredith?" Justin called after her.
She stopped but didn't turn around expecting some rude comment. Justin took the icepack off his face and gently wiped off the water on his cheek that had seeped through. He smiled then cringed at the way it hurt. "I cant talk long, doubt you want to do that anyway..." he smirked and continued, " Uhh, I'm going to get these corn rows taken out tomorrow." He sighed and looked at her back. "I just wanted you to know that, umm, well, you throw one hell of a mean punch." With that Justin turned and walked away, but this time Meredith's voice stopped him.
"Please don't tell anyone...about the medicine, about me, about my problem. The only other person that knows on the tour is Johnny." Meredith asked of him.
HE turned and started walking backwards and said, "Wasn't planning on it..." HE grinned on one side of his face, turned, and jogged off.
-----------------
The Next day everyone was at the Greensboro Coliseum getting ready for the Concert that night. All the guys were looking forward to their three days off. Meredith was taking all the guys minus Justin to her hometown and house tomorrow afternoon and she was happy they would get to meet her parents and stuff. Meredith's sister had came and visited her the night before and calmed many of her doubts and worries about Justin, Dan, and life in general. She was feeling a little better but still had a lot of guilt with her for some reason. It was just past lunchtime and everyone had a 2 and 1/2-hour break until sound check. The guys were all off doing their separate things and Meredith was about to go meet JC and Lance and the mall for a little shopping spree but Johnny had stopped her.
"Mere, I hate to ask you this, but do you think you could clean out the guys bus. I know you don't want to, but I'll raise your pay. Please Please Please!!!!" Johnny whined.
"Well, sigh, OK. IT is my bus too ya know?"
"THANK YOU! I know it's your bus. Have you looked around? ITS GROSS! You are a sweetheart! Bye g." Johnny left her alone.
Meredith pulled out her cell phone while she strolled over to the bus. When she got on, she went to the lowest cabinet of the kitchenette and pulled out 409, Windex, ect.
"Yello?" JC answered.
"C its M, got bad news."
"Oh no, what is it?"
"I got stuck cleaning the bus. I can't meet you and ward off the teenyboppers. Sorry."
"Man, that sucks, we were going to go into the Music store and buy Nsync CDs and mess with the clerks head."
"THAT WAS MY IDEA!! You cannot do that. It wouldn't be fair. I have to be there when you do that."
"I know, I know. But the bus does need to be cleaned."
"Forreal, I want you to know that I expect some presents from you guys. You and Lance need to buy me stuff at the mall, Joey owes me a backrub, Chris owes me a free pass to crack on the braids, and Justin...well Justin owes me a lot after what he has pulled. Just kidding, you don't own me a thang, sweet cheeks. BUT ANWAY. Have fun today. Stay out of trouble and I'll see you guys at sound check, k?" She said in one breath.
"Whoa now, breathe. Aight g, oh by the way, Lance says hello..."
"HEY L-BOOGIE!!" she could hear him yell "whut up, g?" in the background.
"We gotta go, I think we've been spotted, yup we have, here come 2 girls right now. Just great, hopefully they won't scream."
In the background she heard "OH MY GOD ITS LANCE AND JC!!"
"Too late, go boy, run, run, run. RUN FOR YOUR LIFE!!" Meredith joked.
"I'm about to!! Gotta jet, fans await. They are already molesting Lance, hehe. Later M"
"Bye"
Meredith quietly hummed while she cleaned the bus. She thought she could hear someone talking in the back, but then again it was probably just her imagination. Being on tour she wasn't use to much quiet time.
She had cleaned the entire bus and headed back to the lounge area, the only place she hadn't cleaned. She was about to open the door but she heard someone in there. She didn't mean to be nosy but her curiosity got to her, so she listened.
"Why?....how could you?...I thought you loved me....yeah I know, nothing serious....but it still hurts....Kimberly, I don't know what hurts more, the fact that you did this or the fact that it has happened so many times to me.....You do realize you are like the 5th one...yeah, whatever....I'll miss you too....There's nothing we can do about it now...I'll think about it....Maybe when I get over the shock I'll call you...Bye."
Meredith stood there straining to hear. Her breathing had stopped. It had happened. Somehow he had found out the truth.
-Go in there now and rub it in his face. DO IT DO IT!! No, no. Give him time. He will come to you. In time.... -
Meredith turned to leave and was almost out the door but she heard a crash coming from the back of the bus and decided it would be best to see if he was all right. She slowly walked to the door and listened. Silence. She knocked quietly. Silence. Then she remembered the time when She and the rest of the guys about wet their pants watching Tommy Boy.
"Room service, you want clean towel?" Meredith said in a high pitched foreign accent.
Silence.
She opened the door and stuck her head in and saw him. He was wrapped in a blanket hugging on to a pillow. It was 90 degrees outside and Meredith was surprised to see him shiver under the blanket.
"Justin? You OK?"
No answer. But he did move. He looked up at her and stared into her brown eyes. His blue ones bore into hers. But she couldn't breathe at the sight of him. His face was drained of color and his cheeks were stained with tears.
"Justin..." She said in a gasped whisper. He just moved his head and looked out the window.
She sighed and turned to leave. "I'll just leave you alone." She was out the door and it was almost closed when she heard a weak painfilled voice call out.
"Wait!" She came into the room and held the door open.
"Are you a good listener?" He choked out. She shut the door behind her and nodded her head.
"Yeah" she whispered. He patted the spot beside him and she sat down and looked at him. He bowed his head and began to speak.
"You were right. Ever since I've known you, you've been right. I was wrong. I should have never treated you the way I have. I was so used to girls using our name and our status to get them somewhere and when Johnny unexpectedly brought you on tour, being such a good friend of his, well, it just seemed too coincidental. I was scared. And I'm really sorry."
He looked out the window and sighed. "Kim was never supposed to be serious. She never was. But it still hurts to know that I wasn't enough for her. She said Chad was giving her what she needed, I wasn't. They've been together for a few weeks. This is best for us, but it hurts. I just ruined my cell phone." He pointed to a shattered phone that had been thrown against the wall.
“It just hurts too much, sometimes. All this time I was worried about you hurting me, and you were the only person that could help me. I was such a fool. I take back everything I've said badly about you. You are definitely not a slut. You are not a bitch, except when you don't get your sleep, hehe. You're a wonderful person, and I'm sooo sorry. I'll be forever sorry for any pain I've put you through. You don't deserve it. I've just haven't had the best luck with females. They either want me for my fame or because of the preconceived picture of me on TV. Only a few people like me for Justin, just Justin. You were one of those, but I know you probably hate me now. I hate me, too. Is there anything I can do to make this up to you? I was so wrong." He stopped, looked up at her, and was shocked when he saw the broad smile on her face.
"Justin I told you, I forgive you. I told you that two nights ago. It's still in tact. And I don't hate you. I never have. Even when you called me...when you, when you called me, Mer-death. I was upset, I was angry. But I didn't hate you. I don't think I can. I've never told anyone that I've hated them. It's like the word love. It's too strong of a word and means too much to be used lightly."
"You're amazing, you know that?"
"Well, I try." Meredith shrugged and they both laughed.
"Whew...Thanks for listening." She stretched out her arms and he pulled himself up to her. She engulfed him in her arms. Her arms were around his neck massaging his the bottom of his hairline where his curls met his neck. His arms were around her back and his hands gently grazed up and down her spine. It caused her to shiver and he held her tighter. "Anytime, anytime" She whispered. They remain like that for a few minutes. Holding each other.
-Man, she smells good. I've been such an idiot. Thank you, God, for bringing her here. She truly is amazing. -
-Oh my gosh, he smells sooo...intoxicating. Don't ever let go of him, ever!!-
Just then they heard the familiar voices of Joey, Chris, Lance, and JC enter the bus.
"So the girls were ecstatic. They screamed so loud that the whole mall knew we were there. After a few autographs we had to make excuses to get out of there before it got out of hand."
"So, Joey, the answer to your question is no, we did not have time to get your Superman video." Lance stated
"Man...That sucks."
"Ah ha, you gonna cry about it?" Chris teased
Just then the door opened. They found Justin mocking Meredith behind her back who was complaining about him stealing her CD. Justin was sitting on the couch flipping through the channels on the TV and Meredith was going through random backpacks.
"What did you do with it?"
"I didn't do a damn thing, stop accusing me for stuff."
"You're a prick you know that."
"Gosh, Meredith you think you could get a better comeback that that." She threw a pillow at him.
"Hey, watch the face, I got punched yesterday by a psycho girl!!"
"Well, excuse me Mister I-make-millions-of-13-year-olds-melt-with-the-swivel-of-my-hips. I cannot wait for the day when I hurt you so bad that your hip action fails to work and you look like an idiot up there. Then all the girls will head over to the backstreet boys and be watching Nick Carter's swiveling hips. HA! Oh and by the way, thanks for getting rid of the 'rows. I think all of us know by now, even without the corn-rows, that you're just a wanna-be thug."
"That's it. Get out, NOW!"
"It's my bus too, ya know! I DID just clean it for you guys too. You might think you are mister everything, but in reality you ain't jack!"
Justin picked Meredith up by her legs and slung her over his shoulder. "Fine then I'll just remove you myself!!"
The guys watched in amazement. They were fighting, as usual, but Justin had a glimmer back in his eyes they hadn't seen in a while. Joey and Chris laughed at the two and JC and Lance stood in shock.
Justin made his way out of the bus all the while she was screaming and hitting him.
"Put me down!! NOW TIMBERFAKE!!"
"I thought I told you not to call me that, squirt!"
"That's it!!" She took her hand and slapped him extremely hard on his butt.
"WHOAAA, WHOO HOO! YEAHHHH, BABY!! HARDER!!!" He spun her around a few times and before they knew it they were in the venue.
"Justinnnnnn, the blood has rushed to my head, and I'm dizzy. This was just supposed to throw off the rest of the guys so they wouldn't suspect anything, not cause me permanent brain damage. Please put me down!!" She whined.
He put her down and she wobbled a bit so he steadied her with his hands. "Sorry, hehe, that was fun." He busted out laughing at her face. She had her nose scrunched up and was pouting.
"Now I have a headache." She whined in a little kid's voice.
"Aww, poor baby."
Just then Lonnie and Dre past by and gave them a strange look. Justin and Meredith stared back at them and narrowed their eyes. "Geez, sorry!" Lonnie said.
Once they had passed by and were out of sight Justin and Meredith fell into a fit of laughter.
"What...is....soo...funny???" Justin asked between laughs.
Meredith took a deep breath and collected herself. "I don't know."
Justin quit laughing abruptly and put his hand on her shoulders. He lowered his head so that he was eye level with her. He stared into her chocolate eyes and she into his bright blue ones. He grinned and began to speak.
"We friends?" He asked carefully and hopefully.
She sighed and looked away, "Well, I don't know, I mean, you did call me some nasty things..."
His eyes got big and his bottom lip began to poke out. "OH, no, not that face...not THE pout."
She tried to look away but he would move his head so that she was forced to look at him.
"Oh all right! I give up. Justin Timberlake, congratulations, you are now my friend!!"
"YEAH!!! And the crowd goes wild, HAAAAAAAAAAAA" He ran around and imitated a crowd screaming.
"Come on, Timberlake, let's go to sound check."
"OK....wait a minute...you just called me TimberLAKE."
"Yeah, so? I mean if you want me to go back to TimberFAKE, I can..."
"No, no, this is fine." He put his arm around her shoulders and she put hers across his back as they walked to sound check. "This is just fine."
