Chapter 4

"In the middle of the night..." Meredith sang in a mock cheesy voice

"Middle of the night..." Justin repeated in a mock deep voice.

"I go walking in my sleep..."

"Walking in sleep..."

"To the valley of truth..."

"Valley of truth..."

"To the river so deeeppp"

"River so deep..."

"I be searching for something..."

"Searching for something..."

"OK you two, knock it off. There are other people in this hotel." Mike stopped them

"WE are in an elevator Mikey, no one can hear us!" Meredith said in a kid's voice

"Yeah, well I sure as hell can, so shut up."

"Some one is a little grumpy, what do you say Mr. Justin?" She continued the kid voice.

"Miss Meredith I think we need to sing him a song." Justin offered.

"How about..." Mike interuppted Meredith.

"NO ANYTHING BUT THAT! I will not listen to you two try and rap vanilla ice again."

Justin and Meredith looked at each other and He started rapping as she did the backbeat. "STOP, COLLABORATE AND LISTEN..."

Mike groaned just as the doors to the elevator opened to Meredith's floor.

"Hey, Meredith remember to come up to Chris's room later for a party." Justin reminded her as she stepped out in the hallway.

"NO way man! We've all heard you two sing enough tonight. Plus I'm tired." Chris said.

Justin pushed the 'door open' button and held it. "AH! Fine then, we will go to Lance's"

"J, Lance and JC said they were going to bed I believe." Mike said trying to scan his memory.

"Well, then Joey is up, I KNOW Joey is up." Justin tried to solve the problem.

"Joey's at a club" Meredith said from the middle of the hallway.

"Then it looks like its just me and you squirt. Come to my room, you and me will have a PAR-TAY. Forget all these losers..." Justin answered.

"I'm not a loser, I'm just tired. We finally get 3 days off and I'm going to sleep all 3 of them, starting in about 10 minutes."

"My thumb is about to fall off from holding this damn button, so shut up Chris, Meredith bring up your 80s CDs, because girl, me and you are about to PARTY HARDY!!"

"Oh, great...." Meredith said sarcastically. She turned back towards the elevator to smile at him but the doors were already closed.

-------

3:00am

"Oh my gosh, you DID that??"

"Hey, I had to get her some way."

"So you DID date Britney Spears?"

"Yeah, but that was back in the MMC days. We are still good friends though."

"I want to meet her. I mean there are these two views of her. 1-sweet, innocent, Britney and 2-slutty, bitchy Britney. I want to find out the truth."

"She's really nice. You'd like her. She's goofy like you."

"I ain't goofy!!"

"Yeah you are."

Meredith searched for a comeback. "Well, well...you're ugly!!" She giggled at the stupidity of the statement.

"Yeah, RIIIIIGHT" Justin rolled his eyes.

"You are! You are disgustingly ugly!" She stuck out her tongue.

"Oh my gosh, you KNOW that is not true."

"So now you are saying that you are hot, is that it?"

"THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT I'm SAYING!"

"Arrogant bastard." She mumbled

"WHAT WAS THAT? Meredith did you just call me a bastard? I can't believe you. I thought you were against bad language and such."

"OH pulease, I'm not miss goodie-goodie all the time."

"You sure do act like it."

"Well excuse me for having morals!"

"You're not excused....no just kidding. Morals are great and everything. But I've never seen anyone so strict about them."

"Sorry..."

"It's not a bad thing. In fact I find it refreshing."

"Umm, k? Thanks I guess."

"Can I ask you a question without you getting angry? Just slap me if I'm over stepping my boundaries."

"Shoot."

"Well, what made you decide that you wanted to be abstinent. I mean did one day you just wake up and say I'm not going to have sex until I'm married.' Or did your parents instill it in you, or what?"

"That's a good question. And one I've asked myself over and over again. My parents yeah, they are a big factor, my spirituality. You know a lot of stuff." She paused and sighed.

"I've seen a lot of people get hurt by sex. And I am not talking about physically. An old friend of mine gave her virginity to a guy that didn't give a crap about her. She got really messed up after that. She's fine now, but that's something she can't get back. I guess because I've never had a boyfriend, I don't know what those feeling are like to have. I mean I've never been close enough to someone to WANT to share that with them. I've never been on a real date. I've only been kissed once, and now I'm embarrassed because I just blurted that out. Gosh, that is embarrassing." Meredith covered her face in her hands, shocked that she had just opened up to Justin and told him secrets about herself no one else knew.

He looked at her and smiled. This girl was innocent. Sure she could get wild, but deep inside you could tell she hadn't lived life much. You could tell she have never felt love. And you could tell that's what was eating her up inside.

"You shouldn't be embarrassed. It's not that big of deal. But since you are making it out to be, why don't we just drop it and watch a movie. K?" He said with an encouraging smile.

"GREAT idea! Sorry I got on my soapbox there. I tend to do that about things I'm passionate about." She rolled over on her stomach and turned on the TV. He sat up against the headboard.

"I think its great that you are passionate about things like that. And the amazing thing is, you don't scold or look down on people who aren't like you. I know a lot of people who preach one thing and do another. And I know a lot of people that think they are perfect and look down on people that aren't exactly like them. But you are not like that at all. You have made these bold decisions and have stuck by them, but it's YOUR decision and you don't make other people feel bad because they haven't made the same decisions. For an 18-year-old you act more like 35."

"Well my decisions are between me and God, and me and God only."

He pointed at her; "You are an angel from heaven aren't you?" Justin asked with a triumphant face as if finally solving a mystery.

Meredith quietly laughed and shook her head. "Not quite."

Justin sighed and looked around his hotel room. It was a complete and utter disaster. Meredith and him had done so much that night. They had ordered room service and picked at it, then went to the drink and food machines and practically bought them out. After too much sugar and caffeine, they had pretended to karoke to 80s music with hair brushes and Meredith had even done a fashion show for him in his clothes all the while she was trying to act like the members of Nsync. She had successfully portrayed JC, Joey, Chris, Lance, and Justin to a tee. He had had the best time that night. He was actually able to act like a kid, and not be embarrassed to do so. Now, they had spent about 2 hours just chatting away about family, the tour, their childhood, old songs and TV shows, religion, music, life, everything. They had learned so much about each other in a matter of a few hours. And they also had both learned they had a best friend in each other.

"So which movie are we going to watch?"

"Ummm, Have you seen the Matrix?" Justin shook his head no. "OH MY GOSH! It is THE best movie. That's what we are watching."

Meredith got comfortable on the bed, parallel to Justin but lying in opposite directions. Halfway through the movie Justin nudged her leg to see if she was awake. She didn't move. So he quietly lay down beside her on his stomach, just like her. He studied her face. She was breathing deeply and had her eyes closed. She was smiling. And he smiled back at her even though she couldn't see him. This girl was special. It took him a while to notice just how special she was.

He had noticed how shy she got when people gave her compliments. Like when he called her an angel. In his eyes, that was what she was. An angel. A perfect angel.

"Hey, hey Mere. Wake up." Justin whispered

"I'm awake." Meredith said in a groggy voice without moving or opening your eyes.

He continued in a whispered almost secretive voice. "OK, but I want you to know you are on my bed, in the clothes you wore all today, falling asleep."

"Fine, I'll leave. What time is it anyway?"

"Oh my gosh, its 4:30"

"I guess I should be going" Meredith stayed right where she was.

Justin laughed. "Meredith you aren't moving..."

"I know, I'm just really comfortable. You guys get nicer beds than we do. There is another bed in here anyway, you go sleep in it..."

"Excuse me, this is MY room!" Justin stopped saying anything else and stared at her. She stayed in her position, falling asleep.

"Well you can stay here but I want you to change clothes. I know how you get when you don't sleep in comfortable clothes." He remembered the time on the bus when they had to ride all night and Meredith didn't have any comfortable clothes to wear and complained the whole day about it. Justin went to his bag and pulled out some boxers and a T-shirt and threw them at her. When she didn't make a move to take the thrown articles off or any move for that matter he sighed and mumbled, "OK we will do this the hard way..." He went over to her and jerked her up and dragged her to the bathroom. Meredith stared laughing.

"OK OK! I get the point. GEEZ!!" Meredith narrowed her eyes at him but then smiled sweetly and shut the door to the bathroom. A few moments later she emerged from the bathroom in Justin's clothes and found that the bedroom was now dark.

"Thanks, now I can't see where I'm walking..."

CRUNCH

"What was that?" Justin's laughing voice came from one of the beds.

"That, was a potato chip, JUSTIN! Thanks to you, I stepped on it because there is no light."

Suddenly the light switched on and Meredith squinted her eyes because of the change. She then noticed Justin laying in one of the beds with no shirt on and only a thin sheet covering him from waist down. He had his hands behind his head. He yawned and said, "Better?"

"Much, thanks." She said quietly trying not to stare at his bare chest.

She stepped over bags and can drinks and made her way to HIS bed.

"Meredith, you are NOT sleeping with me! As much as I know you want to, I don't think it would be a good idea. I mean we've only been friends for 12 hours." Justin laughed as she approached him.

"I'm not coming to sleep with you, Justin. That's the LAST thing I would WANT to do. I just came to say thanks."

"For what?"

She sat down on the edge of his bed, leaned over and kissed his forehead. She pulled away and he looked up at her with raised eyebrows and a smirk on his face.

-She just kissed my forehead. OH. MY. GOSH! -

-I just kissed his forehead. OH. MY. GOSH! -

"For giving me a chance." She smiled and patted his shoulder. "Night kiddo."

"Kiddo? Me? I'm older than you by a year and a half you know that, right?"

"Yeah, I know...kiddo."

He sighed. " well I guess anything is better than Timberfake."

"HEhe, Night Justin...Timberfake!!! BAWHAHAHAH!" Meredith laughed evilly and got into bed and pulled up the covers around her.

Justin leaned over to turn the light off and narrowed his eyes at her as she smiled brightly and sheepishly. "You know if I wasn't this tired I would come over there and attack you but I guess you are just in luck."

Meredith grinned smugly and said, "I guess so."

HE turned off the light and they were engulfed in darkness.

"Night Meredith"

"Night Justin"

After about 5 minutes of silence, Meredith was just about asleep when...

"Meredith..."

"whuuuuut?" A strained groan was voiced.

"Just wanted to tell you that you looked cute in my boxers and shirt"

Meredith's grumpy face slowly turned into a smile. Her back was turned to him and it was pitch black but she knew he was smiling as well.

"I look cute in anything." Meredith said with a short laugh.

"That's the truth." Justin said while he turned over in his bed, and was soon asleep.

-Let her think about THAT for a while. HEHE. See if she can sleep NOW.-

Meredith was now wide-awake.

-Uhh, hello? He just told me that I was cute. Does that mean anything? Girl, he is on the rebound. Do not even think that. Plus, you've just become friends with him. Gosh, he IS an awesome friend. Oh my God did you see him laying in the bed without a shirt on, WOW. I'm so glad we've worked this out. Man, I hope these are clean boxers. MMMMMMM, his shirt smells so good. It smells like.... Him. -

And with that, Meredith was fast asleep.

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

KNOCK KNOCK

"JUSTIN, WAKE UP MAN!!" Lance yelled through his door.

Justin groaned and Meredith laughed. They had both been woken up about a minute ago by Lance's knocking. Justin's face had an imprint of something on it, but she couldn't tell what it was. His face was scrunched up and his eyes were squinted. He took his hands and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. His massive afro was sticking out in every direction. He looked like a little kid, and Meredith just giggled to herself at his appearance.

-Man, I bet all them little 14 year olds would just LOVE to see this right now. Where is my camera? -

"LANCE DO YOU KNOW WHAT TIME IT IS??" Justin finally yelled.

"YEAH, DO YOU!! IT'S 12:30 CURLY"

Justin looked at Meredith who was quietly giggling. He managed to start giggling too. Finally he pulled the covers off of him and stormed to the door. Just as his was going to open it, Meredith ran and stretched out her arms across the door and stood in the way.

"What ARE you doing?" Justin asked annoyed.

Meredith smiled evilly and wiggled her eyebrows. "Wanna have some fun?"

Justin smiled curiously and said, "What kinda fun?"

"You yell at Lance and say, 'I'll be there in 5 minutes, let me put some clothes on.'" Justin smiled brightly when he started understanding her plan.

Meredith continued, "I'll go make one of the beds and mess up the other one really good. I'm going to go in the bathroom. You bring Lance in and just, hehe, follow my lead k?"

"I'm kinda confused."

"Oh, this is going to work perfectly." She rubbed her hands together and smiled devilishly

"You are evil."

"I don't like people waking me up in the mornings, err, afternoons." She said evilly.

"ME either!" Justin and her slapped hands and got to work.

"JUSTIN?? WHATS GOING ON IN THERE?" Lance called.

"HEY I'M COMING. JUST LET ME PUT SOME CLOTHES ON." Justin snickered to himself.

Meredith made up one bed and messed the other one up in record time. She quickly took her and Justin's articles of clothing from the day before and randomly threw them around the room. She took her bra and blindly threw it a Justin by accident.

HE caught it and they both laughed hard but silently. Justin hung the bra over the mirror where he was sure Lance would notice it.

Meredith ran into the bathroom, closed the door and started the shower. She took off Justin's shirt and put her head under the water to get it wet. She wrapped it up in a towel and put Justin's shirt back on. She then looked at her self in the mirror.

-I DO look cute in his clothes-

Meanwhile...

"Come in, sorry I didn't get much sleep last night."

Lance looked at Justin; he looked like he had just gotten up, and that WAS the truth. HE also noticed that Justin just had on boxers.

"Umm, J, I thought you said you had to put on clothes. You just have on boxers..."

"Umm, yeah, well, you see, I had to put on boxers, uhh..." Justin stuttered.

"Since when did you start sleeping naked?" Lance looked at him disgustingly.

"Well, umm..." Justin didn't know how far Meredith was going to take this joke. She had said, "follow her lead."

Lance had lost interest in Justin's apparel when he saw the bra. He stared at it and opened his mouth in shock as Justin fiddled around searching for some clothes.

"Umm, Justin, have you seen, umm, Meredith. She's not in her room. And, umm, what is, uhh, a, umm, bra doing in your, uhh, room?" Lance stuttered.

"Oh, umm..."

"JUSTY, BABY???...OH hi Lance...Could you hand me my bra please?" Meredith stuck her head wrapped in a towel out of the bathroom door. Lance stared at her and then at Justin. As Lance turned his head and looked at Justin, Meredith winked and mouthed 'Play along'. She smiled and Justin smiled back.

"Sure thang, doll." He went and grabbed the bra off the mirror and handed it to her. She looked up and him and he stared down at her. She stood on her tiptoes and planted a loud kiss on his cheek. Lance stood in shock.

Meredith finally re-entered the room in Justin's shirt and boxers drying her hair with the towel. She sneaked up behind Justin. He was rummaging through a bag. He now had on jeans but no shirt. She wrapped her arms around him from behind and he straightened and turned in her arms.

"Morning buttercup, did you sleep well?" Justin asked.

"You KNOW I slept, REALLLLLL well." Meredith smiled playfully. Justin smiled back at her in his arms.

"WHAT KIND OF PARTY DID YOU TWO HAVE LAST NIGHT?" Lance yelled in shock.

Meredith looked up at Justin sheepishly and he bent down and kissed her temple quickly, and went back to search for a shirt. Meredith sauntered up to Lance. Justin found a shirt, turned around and watched Meredith finish her plan.

She got right up to Lance and ran a finger across his jawbone, down his neck, to his chest where she poked it playfully. "Lance, don't tell me you didn't know that me and Justin well, that we have a little agreement to fulfill each others needs, sexually, whenever desired."

Meredith turned and looked at Justin who stood in shock at her boldness. Lance was staring at Meredith also so he didn't notice Justin's shock. "I thought everybody knew." She winked at him and he just shook his head in disbelief.

She turned her attention back to Lance and said, "Anytime you need YOUR needs to be fulfilled, you KNOW whom to call." With that she grabbed her clothes from the day before from their random spaces around the room.

She walked to the door, opened it and called back to them, "Tell everyone be ready at 1:30, we are going for a RIDEEEE." With that she left.

Lance and Justin starred at each other and then both ran after Meredith.

"WHAT KIND OF RIDE?" Justin yelled after her.

"Get your mind out of the gutter, Curly Q. I'm taking *Nsync to my hometown!" With that she stepped in the elevator and waved as the doors closed, still clad in Justin's clothes.

Lance turned and looked at Justin. "You gots some explaining to do..."

"No, Lance, it's not what you think. It was all a joke. We stayed up the whole night talking and she was too tired to walk back to the room so she slept in there with me. Well not WITH me. But in the room. Different beds." Justin laughed.

"But, the clothes, the bed, the kisses..." Lance asked trying to make sense out of it all.

"It was all a joke, Lance." Justin sighed, disappointed.

Lance looked at Justin. Something was different. "You like her don't you?"

"Of course I like her, she is a great friend."

"No, you like her, like her." Lance said teasingly

“Lance, I just got on her good side yesterday. I don't believe I've grown feelings for her that fast." Justin said almost trying to convince himself.

"I'm just an observer. But listen Curly, if you ARE falling for her, you better watch out. She's not your typical fan. She's not your typical groupie. She's not your typical girl. She's different. And she won't know what she's getting into with you. And you probably wont realize what you are getting into with her, either. So, be careful with her. I know you've been hurt before. But don't give up your heart too easily. Because once you do, with THAT girl, its permanent." Lance turned and walked down to his room.