Chapter 71

There he was.

Not moving.

Not looking.

Not doing anything at all but laying there.

She couldn't believe she missed it. There were two palm trees, kinda out of the way, but still close enough to his house and a hammock was in-between the trunks. Justin was lying peacefully in the white roped hammock.

She didn't think she was moving, but sure enough, her legs were taking her closer and closer to him. And with every step she got a better glimpse of him. Dark sunglasses masked his eyes, his chest was bare except for an open book that was lying open and face down on his chest. One hand was on his stomach; the other dangled off the hammock. He had swim shorts on that were riding low and one leg was bent, his foot behind the other legs knee. There was a bottle of water sitting upright in the sand beside the hammock.

She was now 10 feet away, at most. His chest rose and fell with each deep breath he took. His lips were parted, his head tilted to the side.

Her eyes began to water. It was hitting her how much she had missed him, how much she had needed him and still did. He was doing nothing but sleeping and she felt like she could die in that very moment and be content with life, because she knew that she love him. And that was all that mattered.

She walked closer until she was right by the hammock, looking down on him. She looked over the title of the book he was reading. It was her book, Stormy Weather. She smiled. He was reading HER book.

Before she always had to resist the urge to reach out and touch him. This time she didn't care. Her finger lightly touched the book at first, running over the title, before skimming down and touching his hand. As soon as she touched him, tears fell from her eyes.

Her hand moved up over his arm and up to his face. Her palm caressed his cheek, lightly rubbing it, before making her thumb run across his lips. She was caressing him like he was her favorite antique or something. She was holding him like he would break. She was touching him like...

...like he was her everything.

She let out a breath and it came as a sob. Her tears began to fall on his chest. "God, I thought I had lost you Justin. I missed you so much."

Her hand traveled down, to skim over his chest where his heart was. She continued crying until she heard a giggle.

She looked up and saw a bright, white smile that belonged to the one and only Justin Timberlake.

"Stooooppp. That tickles." He tried to curl up his body, pushing away her light touch that caused him to giggle.

She stood up with a stern face. "You...UGH!" She began hitting him with her fist. "You TRICKED ME! I thought you were leaving me you prick! UGH!!!" She kept trying to hit him, but he just laughed.

Finally she got him in the chest. "ow..."

"That's for calling me a whore. I can't believe you JUSTIN!!"

But he just kept giggling, and rubbing the spot on his chest where she hit him.

"Ugh, I hate you..." She exclaimed, but as soon as she had said the words, she was falling forward. He had pulled her over him so that she was leaning all her weight on his body, her head just above him, the book trapped between them.

"And I love you." He whispered, looking up at her face and tucking the hair behind her ears.

She just stared down at him. She needed to see his eyes so she pulled off his sunglasses and tossed them into the sand. "Hey, those were expensive."

She raised an eyebrow as he took her sunglasses and tossed them in the sand as well. "Hey, those were expensive." She mocked. He also pried the book from between them and laid it on the ground.

He didn't find her mocking very funny. His hand cupped her cheek and he looked deep into those icy light blue eyes that had captured his heart to begin with. "Lexia..."

Her eyes closed and on instinct she didn't give him a chance to speak, but her lips had muffled his words. She had questions that needed to be answered, and they had a lot they needed to work on, but now that didn't matter.

She needed to kiss him. She needed to feel his lips move slowly with her own, and she needed to let the warmness of his tongue make the rest of her body shiver.

His hand plunged into her hair, forcing her head not to move as his lips and tongue worked with hers. Finally, the need for air became necessary and Alex pulled away and snuggled her face into his neck. His hand stayed in her hair and his other caressed her back. "Why did you leave me Justin?" She cried softly.

"I didn't-"

"I thought I had lost you...for good." She interrupted him and rested her head on his shoulder, watching as her hand made circles on his chest.

"Baby, you'll never lose me." Justin whispered into her ear.

She lifted her head and looked down at him. "Yeah, I did! For 3 days, not make that at least 5 because you haven't been mentally with me since Sunday. What did I do that made you so...untrusting towards me?" Her voice was whiny, she was pleading.

"You didn't do anything, Lexia. It was all me. Listen, I went nuts. I just had one bad thought in my head and I didn't let it go and it started building up and it exploded. I was afraid that one day, one day I might lose you and then I don't know what I would do. I needed to come here to clear my head and..it worked. I had faith that you would call me and come here and that we could work this out."

"Justin? You STILL are nuts. How was I supposed to know you came here? Everyone was sooo worried. We thought something bad had happened."

"Why? I left you a note on the kitchen island."

"No you didn't."

"Yes I did."

"No..you didn't." Alex widened her eyes to show him that she wasn't joking.

"I swear I left a little letter to you that explained that I was only going for a week and I told you where you could find the number for where I was."

"I never got a note Justin."

"Well then how did you find me?"

"We were all pretty freaked out and for some reason Jon got a hold of one of your annuals and to make a long story short...when I saw the letter from Mrs. Belask things started to click. I went to the phone book and saw it circled and called and she said she was expecting me."

"Wow, now is that fate or what?" He grinned boyishly.

"It was one of the weirdest moments of my life." She smiled and rested her head back on his shoulder. "I see you stole my book."

"Yeah, it's boring."

"IS NOT!" She said defensively.

"It's a chick book. It's about romance and love and blah."

"Oh my gosh, it is so good. You just don't know what good literature is. You think Maxim is the Pulitzer prize winner...men...."

"I'm kidding Lexia. It was ok. Not my thing. But it was definitely something you would like, so therefore I was able to bear it. It reads kinda quickly, so I started on it agian. I'm reading it twice."

"Really wow. Why?"

"I'm trying to figure out what you think is so great about it."

"HEY!" She hit him playfully a few times causing him to chuckle.

After a few minutes of silent listening of the ocean and holding each other in the hammock Justin's timid quiet voice hit her ears. "I'm sorry I called you a whore."

"It's-"

"It's not ok. It's very far from being ok. I crossed the line. If I were you I would be doing some major butt kickin' right now."

"I'm too nice."

"Yeah, I know." He giggled. "But seriously..." He shifted and made her lift her head so that it hovered over his own. "I- I don't think I can forgive myself for saying that to you. It was wrong. You'll..." He let his hands hold her face above his own and wiped across her cheeks with his thumbs. "...You'll never be my whore." He tilted his head up and hers down and kissed her forehead. "Maybe my girlfriend..."

She grinned and her put his lips on her cheek. "Maybe my lover..." His lips brushed the corner of her eye. "Maybe my heart..." His smiled and kissed the tip of her nose making her smile innocently. "Maybe my soul..." Her smile faded to a look of seriousness and so did his. "But never my whore..."

"Thank you." She whispered, looking deep into the dark blue eyes that had stole her heart to begin with.

"For what?"

"For being Justin Timberlake." She smiled.

"Well, sometimes I wish I wasn't him. Sometimes I wish there was a whole lot more to my life than being a popstar."

Alex sighed and looked off towards the beach. "Ya know what. I spent a good part of last year thinking that same question. I spent all my time wondering if there was more to life than just being lonely and liking clouds. But...I think I've realized now that you can make life out to be what you want it, ya know? I mean if you are content with being lonely and liking clouds that's the most life is ever going to be. But if you aren't content, then obviously there is a lot more. I don't wonder about that question anymore."

"Why not?"

"Because there is nothing more than this right here. There's nothing more that I would rather be doing than just laying here with you. We don't even have to talk, and I'm fine with that.

Justin turned her head back to his and pressed his lips to hers. He pulled away moments later. "Will you help me?"

"Sure. Doing what?"

He took in a deep breath and let it out whispering, "Will you help me find what more there is in my life than being famous?"

She smiled and nodded. "You helped me, I'll be happy to help you." She rested her head back on his shoulder and shift a bit so that she was more curled up to his body and more comfortable in the hammock.

"Lexia, I love you."

She sighed against his body and let all of her muscles relax as she seemed to melt into him and the thick white ropes. "I know Justin. I love you too."

The breeze lightly swung the hammock back and forth; the palm trees rattled in the wind and the ocean lulled them both into a sleepy state. Minute after minute past and they both drifted away from the world.

Justin knew Alex was asleep, but he muttered it anyway. "You know what Lexia. You're right. There's nothing more than this right here."

Unknowing to him, a smile spread wide on Alexandria's lips.