“And I will take you in my arms and hold you right where you belong…”

A very familiar melody floats through my house and my brow knits in confusion.  I have no idea why I would be hearing that song in my house right now. 

I make my way back to the entertainment room and cringe a little at the nineteen-year-old version of my face staring back at me from the big screen.

“What are you doing?”  Abbey’s head pops up from the couch and she grins at me.

“Watching the HBO special of No Strings Attached.”

“I didn’t even know I had this tape in the house. I thought all that shit was at my mother’s.”  I plop down next to her, still unable to look at my face on the screen.  What was I thinking with the whole bandana thing?  Really.

“You didn’t, it’s my copy.”  I stare at her, a slightly bemused look on my face.

“You have a copy of this? And you brought it over to my house? To watch?”  I am just a little scared at the moment.

“I was feeling nostalgic, and you wanted me to meet you here so I brought it with me. Nice bedazzled bandanas, by the way.”

“Thanks.”  I sink down further into the couch.  This is slightly embarrassing. I mean, we did put on some kick ass shows, but I just wish we’d had better fashion sense.  And I will never say this out loud, but I was a huge dork.

“I was going to bust out some of the old MMC stuff, but I was more in the mood to stare at JC.”  She gives me a cheeky grin and I stick my tongue out at her.  This girl turns me into a bratty little kid again, I swear.

“You were a JC girl?”

“Actually, I was a Lance girl, but we all know how that turned out.”  I throw my head back with a laugh.

“Lance?  You mean you weren’t into me?”  I stick my lower lip out in a pout.

“You were a little too scrawny for me, sorry.”  She reaches over to squeeze my bicep.  “I’m just glad you bulked up and shaved your hair off.  You were a hot mess back then, Jus.”

I defend myself with a huff, “I was nineteen.  I’ll bet I can call up your mom and ask what you were like at nineteen and she’ll tell me that you were awkward and gangly.”

“Sure, but that’s just natural.  Acid washed jeans and rhinestone studded t-shirts, on the other hand, don’t happen in nature.”  I laugh again, knowing full well she’s got me on that one.

“Can we please turn this stuff off?  It’s embarrassing to watch myself like this, and it’s even more embarrassing to have my girlfriend watch this stuff.”  She grins at me again but grabs the remote and clicks off the TV.  That’s much better.

“I spent the majority of my teenage years watching this stuff, Boss man.  It’s not like I don’t know it all anyway.”  She leans over a bit and kisses me softly.

I mumble against her lips.  “That’s just weird.”

I deepen the kiss a little, pulling back after a moment to catch my breath.  I could kiss this girl forever and still not have enough of her.

“How were the radio shows today?”  She leans back against my chest and I straighten my legs out on the couch so we can get comfortable.  Taking a strand of her hair I twist it around my fingers.

“They were pretty good.  Everyone had great things to say about my album, which made me really happy.  The rest were the usual questions, how’s working with Justin? Who are you dating? You know, stuff like that.”

I turn my head slightly so she can see the smirk on my face, “So, who are you dating?”

“Eh, I told them that I was living the single life right now.  I mean, the guy I’m seeing is nothing to brag about.  In fact, I’m a little embarrassed by his past, especially the time he corn-rolled his hair. I don’t want word getting out that we’re actually together.”

I clutch my chest, letting out a gasp of air.  “Ouch, Jude.  Ouch.”

Even though it’s at my expense, I enjoy the laughter that spills out of her mouth.  Being around Abbey is intoxicating and I don’t think I could come up with a better way to spend my time, even if she’s just making fun of me.  Things between us have been awesome.  She’s so much fun to be around and she understands me better than a lot of other people do.  She especially understands my schedule and my crazy life.  I’m really happy that I actually made the move because I can only imagine how miserable I’d be without her now.

It’s official, I’m the worlds biggest sap.

When her laughter subsides she leans back against me, intertwining our fingers together. “Are you coming to my photo shoot tomorrow?”

“Yeah, I’ll be there.”  That’s a huge perk of being her manager.  I can spend a bunch of time with her in public and have a ready excuse for anyone questioning it.

We haven’t really talked much about it, but it’s almost an unspoken agreement that we’re not going to talk about our relationship just yet.  Things are still really new for us, and I’m sure that Abbey would have a tough time handling the media storm that would most definitely happen if word got out that we were together.  I’m a little worried about backlash, but there’s not much we can do about it except keep things as quiet as possible.

Again, it helps that I’m her manager.  I don’t have to hide her in public.  We’re still in the stage where things are new and exciting and we keep mostly to her apartment or my house, but when we do start venturing out in the public it won’t be out of the ordinary.

“Hey, Boss man.”  Abbey waves her hand in front of my face, “I lost you there for a second.  Where’d ya go?”

I shrug. “Just thinking.”  I give her a grin, “I’m hoping that there will be some more lacy panty outfits at the photo shoot tomorrow.”

I gain a smack on the arm for that.  What a violent woman! “Just kidding.”  I feign innocence.

“Yeah, right, and the Pope ain’t catholic.”  My girl is witty.  “So, why exactly did you want me to meet you here?”  She’s settled herself back on my chest and I’ve taken to twirling that strand of hair again.

“Rachel and Trace want to go out to dinner tonight.  I just wanted you here so we could hang out some before everyone else gets here.”

She starts to trace a pattern on the leg of my jeans, leaning her weight into me a little more.  I could stay like this forever, I swear.  She’s probably my favorite place to be, other than home.  And no, I don’t mean that in the perverted way, although, now that I think about it…

“Does it ever seem weird to you?” She asks.  Her fingers are pretty far up on my thigh and I squirm because it tickles.

“What seem weird?”

“You and me?”  Ahh, so we’re going to have this conversation.  I was wondering when it would happen.  I thought it would have been a lot sooner than this, actually.

“I suppose, it might seem a little strange to some, but not for me.”  I wrap my arm around her shoulder and slide us down the couch a little more so we’re mostly laying down.

“When did you realize that your feelings for me were more than platonic?”  She shifts, squeezing herself between me and the back of the couch so she can rest her head on my chest.  I might fall asleep if we lay here too long.

“After that huge blow up with John.  You know? The night we went out bowling and he hit me in the face?”

She chuckles a little, “Yeah, and you socked him in the eye.  So that’s what it takes to turn you on?”

“You know I like it rough.” It’s my turn to laugh.  “No, it was the fact that I hated seeing you so upset.  I just wanted to protect you from all that…and…I realized that my feelings stretched beyond just friendship.”  I rub my hands up and down her back.  I love touching her, even something as innocent as this.

“I had no idea.  I convinced myself that you would never go for a girl like me.”  This surprises me.

“What do you mean, ‘a girl like you?’” She shrugs against me.

“Justin, I am by no means like those girls I’ve seen you with.  I mean, look at Jill.  She was as high maintenance as they come.  She was such a Hollywood type, and that’s not me.”  She leans up and places a small peck on my chin.  “Plus, I figured since we didn’t fall in love the moment we met like I’d always dreamed about things between us were destined to stay platonic.”

“You’d dreamed about me falling in love with you?”  This is venturing into some strange territory.

“I told you I was a fan.  When I was twelve I’d been convinced that we were meant for each other.  You’re near sighted, I’m near sighted.  You’re a total dork, I’m the coolest chick on the planet…”

“Hey!”  I see the grin on her face and feel my own grow.  “I am not a total dork.  I can be cool.”

She pats my chest, “Sure, Boss man.  You can be cool.”

“Whoa, whoa, wait.  Let’s back up here and talk about you being obsessed with me when you were twelve.  And you think I’m the dork?  You own the No Strings Attached HBO video.”

She seems to ponder for a minute before coming back at me with a retort.  “I still think you’re bandanas and fro are way worse than any memorabilia I might own.  Clearly I was way cooler than you when we were younger.”

“Yeah, but you probably thought it was hot.”  I am seriously reconsidering having Abbey over today.  She’s really ragging on me here.  I’m just glad no one else is around to join in.  Bash on Justin Day is not my favorite day of the year.

“Eh, I was young and stupid.”  I shift a little and give her a look.  “I’m just teasing you, Boss man.  I promise I still think you’re a stud.”

“I think I liked you better when you were still slightly uncomfortable with all of this.  I don’t know how much I’m going to like getting beat up on everyday.  I don’t think my ego can take it.”

“At least you’ll be getting some great sex out of all this.”

Girl makes a good point.  “Very true, Jude.”  I glance at my watch.  “We’ve still got time before everyone gets here.  Want to make my ego feel better?”

She just rolls her eyes, settling further into my chest and pressing the button on the remote.  My face fills the screen and I cringe.  I guess this means we’re not having sex right now.