She had made up her mind the night before that she would not become a victim of Justin’s flirtations. Amelia obviously had concerns about his fidelity. Why else would she be constantly trying to set him up? Did he have a history of this kind of thing? What about Felicity? Patti? Had he somehow propositioned them? Had he slept with one, the other, or both? Was he interested in sleeping with Charlotte, herself? All of these questions had swirled around in her mind, making it difficult for her to sleep, so waking this morning had been a treat, exhaustion mingling with her dread.

She was just going to do her job. She would be polite and helpful as she very well should be but she would remain professional. She wouldn’t fall for his flirtatious charm. As soon as he came in she would brief him on his schedule for the day. She would give him his phone messages. She would place calls he needed to return. She would ask if he would like to respond to emails. She would read him the emails and he would dictate to her his responses. No jokes, no flirtations, just business. This was her well thought out, carefully constructed plan.

She had expected him in at about 8:30, quarter to nine, so when he came strolling in at about ten after eight, it sent her well thought out, carefully constructed plan right out the window and it nearly sent her tumbling out of her desk chair.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you,” he had said as he shimmied out of his coat and hung it on the rack next to the door. “Amelia’s idea of breakfast is a bagel and coffee. I’m starving. Hey do you wanna go get something? Have you eaten? What’s my schedule like?”

She stares up at him dumbfounded, still reeling from the fact that he’s actually in front of her so it takes her a full beat before she even moves. She stutters slightly, reaching for the leather portfolio that holds his life for the next month.

“Ah who cares, come on let’s go,” he says, reaching for his coat again and Charlotte just stares at him open mouthed.

“Um…you have…phone calls you should return and-” Charlotte stutters, trying to remember the plan and his hand flies to his head as if just remembering something.

“Oh yeah I’ve gotta call Antunes about working on Grateman’s tour,” Justin says, shrugging his coat off again and checking his watch. “Shit I should do that now. How about you order breakfast. There’s a place just down the street that delivers. They make an egg sandwich like you wouldn’t believe.”

And with that he disappears into his office and Charlotte is left slightly dazed, wondering if he’s always like this. Even though Charlotte thought Amelia to be slightly insane, she had to admit that her boss’s hard-nosed nature worked well in business. She was cut throat and deathly practical and she never once deviated from the schedule. She lived and breathed by what was in her day planner and Charlotte kind of enjoyed the routine. It was the only way one could really get anything accomplished in her position. But Justin isn’t Amelia and if this is the way he works then she’ll have to get used to this, too.

After breakfast arrives and the delivery girl is paid and gone, Charlotte knocks softly on Justin’s door receiving a low “enter” from inside. She peeks her head in and finds Justin leaning back in his chair, the keyboard on his knees, and his socked feet propped up on the desk. His suit jacket has been discarded somewhere in the room, his shirt sleeves rolled up to his elbows, his tie slightly loose at his collar. He grins at her, chuckling a little at his own humor before his face changes to a look of longing when he sees the bag in her hand.

“Oh thank god, I was about to chew my arm off,” he exclaims, dropping his feet to the floor and letting the keyboard fall onto the desk with a clatter.

Charlotte cringes at the sound, stepping towards his desk. He moves various papers out of the way, rubbing his hands together as Charlotte sets the bag in front of him, pulling his schedule from under her arm and consulting it.

“Um…you have a-”

“Did you get yourself something?” he asks, pawing through the bag and pulling out a massive ball of butcher paper as the smell of bacon and fried egg fills the room.

“No,” Charlotte says, shaking her head and looking down at the portfolio in her hands, clearing her throat. “Today you have a-”

“Damn girl you’re really missing out,” he says, unwrapping the biggest breakfast sandwich Charlotte has ever seen, licking his lips before trying to wrap his mouth around it.

Charlotte fights the giggle in her throat. He looks ridiculous.

“Si’ ‘own,” he says, chewing slowly and motioning to the chair across from his desk.

Charlotte bites her lip, settling stiffly across from him. This was not how she envisioned this going. She had a plan dammit.

“So what am I doing today?” he asks, between bites and she eyes him for a moment before looking down at his schedule again.

“You have a meeting with Eytan Sugarman at ten to discuss new sous-chef possibilities for your restaurant,” Charlotte pauses looking up at Justin, waiting for him to interrupt her but he just nods his head. “You have lunch with accounting and distribution to discuss the funding for Kalaya’s record. You have a meeting with a song writer at two, it doesn’t say who-”

“Probably some new guy the reps hired,” Justin sighs, rolling his eyes. “I keep telling them, you need to buy the songs not hire the song writers.”

Charlotte nods like she knows what he’s talking about. He shakes his head and is about to take another bite of his sandwich when he looks at her.

“You want a bite?” he asks, offering his sandwich out to her and Charlotte looks at it for a moment before shaking her head.

“Uh…no I’m good…thanks.”

“You sure? I swear to god this is the best thing since they invented the egg.” He goes to take another bite, grinning, waiting for Charlotte’s giggle. She smiles tightly at him.

“You have some calls you need to return and some emails to respond to. Which would you like to do first?”

Justin looks at her, his sandwich halfway to his mouth and he chuckles. “Well I wanna finish my sandwich.”

Charlotte closes her eyes, cringing at her own idiocy. “Right. Of course. Sorry.”

“Returning phone calls while eating is bad etiquette,” he says, taking a huge bite of his sandwich, working his jaw slowly for a moment, and then begins to speak, his words barely discernable through the wad of food in his mouth “’hy ‘es ‘ister ‘ank’am! I ‘ould ‘ove ‘oo ‘ave ‘unds ‘or a ‘ew ‘ecord.”

Charlotte bites her lip, forcing down a laugh. She won’t laugh at him. She won’t be charmed by him. He will NOT get in her pants. What? Charlotte’s eyes widen and she fumbles with the portfolio as she fights the urge to clasp her hand over her mouth just in case that thought was to slip out.

“Um you have a meeting with Johan Lindeberg at three to discuss the promotion for the spring line of your clothing company and you’re meeting Amelia for drinks at seven.”

Charlotte rambles this off quickly, swallowing hard at the end and he narrows his eyes at her over the last bit of his sandwich, regarding her curiously. Well, she may look like an idiot but at least she’s not sending him the wrong signal. She tucks her hair behind her ear.

“You have lots of phone calls to return and emails to respond to,” Charlotte murmurs, not meeting his eyes. “Which would you prefer to do first?”

Justin eyes her, his expression still curious, as he shoves the last piece of his sandwich in his mouth, chewing slowly before shrugging and dusting the crumbs from his hands.

“We can do emails I guess.”

“Would you like me to read them to you and you dictate back to me?” Charlotte asks when he doesn’t move from his seat. A slow grin pulls across his face.

“You just wanna sit in my comfy chair don’t you?” he jokes, spinning from side to side, a playful glint in his eyes. Charlotte almost smiles but she pushes it down.

“Well, I figured it would be easier,” she replies casually and his smile fades into that curious look again with a hint of something Charlotte can’t quite place.

He sighs, nodding. “Sure.”

They both stand and go to move around the desk but come to an impass when they nearly run smack into each other. Charlotte ducks her head moving left as Justin moves right. She ducks her head lower and goes to move right as Justin moves left. He chuckles.

“If you wanted to dance all you had to do was ask,” he says, his voice quiet and deep and Charlotte looks up her green eyes crashing into his blue orbs.

He’s smiling at her softly clearly amused and she feels her heart drop to her toes. He’s staring down at her, his body mere inches from hers, the light musk of his cologne enveloping her. Dancing. Definitely not in the plan. She clears her throat, slipping past him quickly and falling into his chair with a plop, trying to avoid his eyes. He looks back at her, narrowing his eyes, wondering what’s gotten into her.

Charlotte quickly opens his email finding a long list of unopened messages. This was going to take awhile. Justin settles in the seat she just recently occupied, slouching low and smoothing his tie down his chest. He watches her for a moment before resolving to try again.

“Charlotte,” he says, crossing one leg over the other and regarding her amusedly. She glances at him quickly but doesn’t hold his gaze.

“Yes?” she asks after a moment, clicking on an email from Amelia that’s still rallying on about the invitations. She’ll save that one for later.

“Charlotte,” he says her name again, his eyes narrowed just slightly, studying her intently, his tongue moving slowly across the inside of his lip.  “Hmmm… Charlotte.” He says again, drawing out the vowels in her name and she’s about to respond again when he breaks into a grin. “Mind if I call you Charlie?”

Her hands stop what they’re doing, freezing over the keyboard. She turns her face to him slowly, finding him smiling with child-like glee. She swallows hard. She hates when people call her Charlie.

“Um…actually…” she cringes wondering if she should be reprimanding her boss. “I kinda do yeah.”

Justin’s grin widens. “Never shoulda told me that.” He chuckles.

Charlotte sighs. He’s like a little kid. She could almost see why Amelia was so stern with him. He’s like a force of nature, bounding from one topic to the next so quickly that you’re brain gets completely turned around. Maybe this was one of his tactics... She doesn’t respond, just stares blankly at the screen, not even looking at him.

“You don’t find me funny anymore do you?”

Charlotte’s head whips to face him and she finds him looking at her curiously from across his desk, his blue eyes surveying her as if he were trying to solve a riddle. She is slightly taken aback by the intensity of his gaze, her stomach knotting. Is he flirting with her? Is he trying to get closer to her? Amelia must have her concerns for a reason. But all these questions suddenly seem ludicrous to Charlotte and she doesn’t really know why.

“Huh?” is her only response, too muddled in her own thoughts to come up with something else.

“You used to laugh at my jokes and now you don’t,” he states simply.

Charlotte merely blinks at him, her mind racing. Where could he possibly be going with this? She doesn’t laugh at his jokes. A lot of people don’t laugh at a lot of different jokes It doesn’t necessarily mean anything. Just because she used to laugh before doesn’t mean she’s willing to sleep with him. What? Charlotte swallows hard, biting her lip incase that thought should slip out.  He shakes his head suddenly as if he just realized he was staring and looks down at the foot that’s resting on his thigh, fiddling with his shoelace.

“Forget it,” he says, shaking his head as he smoothes a hand over the hem of his pants.

He sighs, settling back in his chair, looking at her blankly and it’s as if someone dimmed the lights, his usual playful nature quelled into a quiet professional air. She studies him for a moment, finding his face pleasant but lacking his usual humor. He almost looks disappointed for some reason. Possibly because she’s not responding to his flirtation? Or maybe that she’s not responding to him at all…

“How ‘bout those emails?” he asks, a small smile playing over his lips and Charlotte shakes her head hard, turning back to the screen and beginning to read, wondering all the while if her plan was really worth all this trouble.

***

It is while sliding across the warm leather seats of the town car that Charlotte first senses something amiss. Justin slips in behind her, folding his lanky frame inside and sighing as he settles next to her, running a hand over his hair restlessly. She studies him for a moment, his face blank as he watches the curb pull away and they slide easily into the midday traffic.

Charlotte shakes her head, brushing away the thought away as she flips open the portfolio that has all of the specs for the meeting they were attending. Photos are paper clipped to documents holding minute aspects of each man’s life, as well as business notes, facts and figures that could aid Justin in convincing them to give him more funding.

“You’re meeting with Johnson Brines who’s the head of distribution for Jive, he goes by John, his wife’s name is Mandy, they have no children-”

“Charlotte?” he interrupts and she looks up to find him gazing at her like she’s grown another head. “Why are you telling me this?”

“Um…” Charlotte says looking down at her carefully prepared notes. “You don’t want to be prepped?”

He narrows his eyes, confused. “Prepped?”

“Um…yeah where I give you information on-”

“Oh,” Justin says, smiling in realization. “The whole fake greeting thing.” He nods. “’How are you John, how’s Mandy, she buggin’ you for kids yet?’ That sort of thing?”

“Yeah,” Charlotte responds weakly and Justin sighs, turning back to the window.

“Yeah I don’t usually do that,” he replies simply, his voice devoid of any kind of emotion, his index finger tracing designs on the fogged window. Then he adds quietly, almost as if speaking to himself, “Amelia is so much better at schmoozing than I am.”

There’s a pang of longing in his voice that Charlotte doesn’t quite understand and she looks back down at her copious amount of notes on each of the three men Justin will be meeting with. It seems that it was all for naught.

“Keep going,” Justin sighs, turning back to her and waiting expectantly.

“Are you sure?” Charlotte asks, suddenly sensitive to the fact that she’d slipped into her role as Amelia’s assistant and all the expectations that went with that job as opposed to the one that was at hand.

“Yeah,” Justin says, smiling brightly but it doesn’t quite reach his eyes. “Yeah it can only help right?”

“Right,” Charlotte replies, returning his smile and continuing to rattle off facts as Justin repeats them in an attempt to remember.

The town car pulls up to the Chambers hotel, the large woven wood doors standing out starkly from the modern glass windows. Charlotte braces her hands on the seat, getting ready to scoot herself out after Justin but he doesn’t move, just looks out at the doors to the hotel, his face a mask.

“Hey,” Charlotte says quietly and he jumps, looking over at her and she sees just a hint of insecurity in his eyes before he smiles at her.

And now she understands. He’s nervous.

It’s slightly unsettling to her, Charlotte having never seen him anything less then confident but it was also rather endearing. She smiles warmly at him and his smile brightens, his shoulders slumping just a little.

“I hate these things,” he concedes quietly, looking out the window again, staring at the ominous wooden doors.

“You’re gonna do great,” Charlotte says, nodding encouragingly and he glances back at her quickly before returning his gaze to the doors.

“Kalaya’s album depends on me getting money from these guys,” Justin responds with a sigh. “Her career…her future…”

His stomach knots suddenly and he’s reminded once again that he’s not a businessman. So many people in his place would be anticipating this, ready for a fight. Justin wasn’t like that. He just wanted his artists to make their music, grow in their sound, find themselves as musicians. He doesn’t give a damn how much it costs. He’s an artist. He’s a musician and these guys are businessmen, more concerned with money than craft. He fears it will be like trying to talk to a wall.

“You know what needs to be done,” Charlotte says and he turns to her, finding her face set and determined. She nods confidently at him. “You know what you want and what Kalaya wants. The only thing you have to do is convince them of that.”

Justin blinks at her slowly. He hadn’t been expecting that. So often he’d heard “Justin you’re being ridiculous just go in there and get it done,” Amelia’s annoyance by his sudden lack of confidence sharp and unsympathetic. Charlotte nodded at him again, smiling uncertainly and he realized he’d been staring at her. He shook his head, smiling back at her, a silent thank you for her encouragement.

“Alright lets do this,” he says nodding, pushing the door to the car open and stepping out into the winter chill.

They bustle inside, making their way through the ultra modern lobby, towards the restaurant entrance. The host takes their heavy coats and Charlotte tells him that they’re meeting Johnson Brines for lunch. The host replies that their party is already seated as he hangs their coats on the racks. Charlotte looks into the dining room and spots the sleek dark head of Johnson Brine, his chiseled face the exact same as the one in the picture inside her portfolio. She takes a step toward the dining room and Justin reaches for her arm, his fingertips warm against the delicate skin of her inner elbow.

She turns back to him, bewildered by the sudden contact. Why is he touching her? Is this all some ploy to get in her good graces? Is he trying to get closer to her? But instead of finding him smiling at her, which she was sure he would be given her preoccupation with the fact that he was trying to sleep with her, she finds his face slightly uncertain.

”How’s my tie?” he asks, jutting out his chin and she chuckles slightly at herself.

“It’s a little crooked,” she says and he sighs, reaching up to straighten it but only succeeds in skewing it more. “Hang on,” Charlotte says, setting her portfolio on the host stand and reaching up.

He stands stock still, allowing her to adjust his tie at his throat and she smiles at him, smoothing it against his chest slightly before snatching her hands back. What is she doing? Her hands tremble slightly as she reaches for her portfolio again, awkwardness settling over her. She chances a look up at him and he smiles at her, not in a lustful way but in gratitude and Charlotte begins to wonder if she was overreacting, if Amelia’s concerns really had any validity at all.

Justin clears his throat and pushes back his shoulders, a quiet confidence washing over him and the effect is dazzling as he strides past Charlotte and into the low-lit dining room. Heads turn and quiet whispers follow him as he glides effortlessly around the small clothed tables, and it’s as if all the energy in the room is contained in him. Charlotte has to hurry to catch up.

“John!” Justin exclaims jovially, reaching for his hand and the other occupants of the table stand to greet him. “How’re you doin’? How’s Mandy?”

“I’m doing well, Justin,” John replies, smiling widely and nodding as he shakes his hand. “Mandy’s fine, just got involved with some charity so she’s never around. Gotta love that.” He chuckles at his own joke and Justin smiles courteously. “This is Jedson Sawyer, from accounting,” John says, leaning back and gesturing to a tall, lean man in his mid forties, dark hair graying at his temples.

Justin reaches for his hand. “Jed,” he says nodding. “How’s your daughter?” he screws up his face in a caricature of contemplation that has Charlotte impressed. “She’s at… Columbia yes?”

Jed smiles widely, shaking Justin’s hand heartily. “Yes indeed. Made the dean’s list this year.”

Justin’s face registers pure joy and Charlotte can hardly believe he thinks he’s bad at this. “Well how do ya like that!” Justin exclaims grinning, and his eyes fall on the last man at the table who looks to be about Charlotte’s age, his sand colored hair perfectly coiffed, his expression smug.

“Justin this is Chris Wickham,” John says, slapping the young man on the back and Chris reaches for Justin’s hand.

“Pleasure to meet you sir,” Chris says, giving Justin a dazzling smile and Justin nods, shaking his hand politely.

“Chris is learning the ropes,” John says and his smile widens as his eyes fall on Charlotte. “And who is this lovely young thing?”

Charlotte fights her blush, trying to smile as all eyes turn to her and Justin grins, motioning her forward. She steps up next to him, cringing when she feels his hand rest on the small of her back for just a moment before he pulls away at the feel of her discomfort.

“This is my assistant Charlotte,” Justin says with a small smile. “She’s here so I don’t embarrass myself horrendously.”

The men chuckle. Chris tilts his head to the side.

“Didn’t you work for Anderson Cripps at Gauge-Whitney?”

The other three men look at Charlotte, eyebrows raised and she can’t tell if they’re shocked or impressed. She shifts her feet awkwardly.

“Um…yes,” she says, nodding and smiling.

“I thought you worked for Amelia Domineck now,” Chris asks as they all move to take their seats.

All except Justin who pulls out a chair and looks at Charlotte expectantly. She looks at him perplexed for a moment before realizing he wants her to sit. She blushes, moving to settle into the seat and Justin slides it under her, a perfect gentleman to the last. He settles down beside her and Charlotte finds the men at the table regarding her curiously.

“She does,” Justin responds for her, grabbing his napkin and laying it across his lap. “I’m borrowing her for the week while my assistant is on vacation.”

The force in his voice is unfamiliar to Charlotte. It’s not unfriendly but it holds a finality that shows the subject is closed. The other men seem to sense this as well settling in their seats.

“Ah yes how is Amelia?” John asks and Justin smiles.

“She’s doing well, got her hands full with the wedding,” he responds with a sigh.

The other men chuckle in knowing acknowledgement.

“Heard she’s quite the bridezilla,” John teases and it takes everything Charlotte has to fight the laugh in her throat.

Justin brushes it away. “She just wants everything to be perfect,” he replies airily and Charlotte thinks that this is the understatement of the century

After everything is ordered and the food comes, ensuring that there will be no more interruptions, talk turns to business.

“John I’ve gotta get more funding for Kalaya’s album,” Justin says, his voice slightly earnest.

His forwardness surprises Charlotte. In every other business lunch she’d ever been to, with Amelia or otherwise, the actual business was slipped in between talk of artichoke boulangere and the Jets’ winning streak. The other men seem to be somewhat startled as well, their forks stopping halfway to their mouths, knives pausing partway through their roasted chicken. Charlotte marvels at how John’s happy-go-lucky attitude turns quickly to cool businesslike disapproval.

“It can’t be done Justin,” John says shaking his head, forking a roasted artichoke into his mouth and chewing slowly.

“She just needs more time,” Justin says as if this should be enough of a reason for anyone. When the other men blink back at him he adds, “She’s just now coming into a sound she’s comfortable with.”

“The truth is the money just isn’t there,” Jed says with a sigh. “Grateman’s tour is coming up and, as you well know, funding that is going to take up a lot of your budget.”

“Yes but it will also bring in double the budget,” Justin says and then grins. “I very well know that too.”

John narrows his eyes at Justin’s cheek. “It still doesn’t change the fact that the money isn’t there.”

“Look, I’m meeting with Apple next week to talk about sponsoring Grateman’s tour. I’m almost positive they’re gonna swing the whole thing,” Justin says and the three other men look at him dumbfounded.

“How are you going to manage that?” Chris asks, slightly astonished. “Apple hasn’t sponsored a tour in…ever?” Chris turns to John. “Have they ever?”

“Not that I’ve heard of,” John says eyeing Justin skeptically.

Justin grins. “Their new head of Media and Sponsorship likes me.”

A slow smile pulls across Chris’s face. “Isn’t that Collin Ankerman?”

Justin nods, cutting a piece of his pork chop and forking it into his mouth.

“And isn’t his daughter about twenty-four.”

Justin nods chewing slowly.

“Which would make her about thirteen or fourteen when Nsync came out.”

Justin grins widely.

“He and I have already talked about me performing at her next birthday,” Justin chuckles to himself and Charlotte gazes at him impressed.

“That doesn’t change the fact that Kalaya’s album is already about thirty thousand dollars in the hole,” John snaps, taking a sip of his iced tea and Justin looks up at him bewildered. He’d thought he’d won.

“She just needs more time,” Justin says flippantly. “She’s coming into a great sound.”

“I’m sure what she has already recorded will be wonderful,” John says placatingly as if talking to a child.

“It’s not wonderful,” Justin says and that force is back in his voice, causing the rest of the table to tense. “John you know money. It’s what you’re good at,” he says as if this is the most obvious thing in the world and John sighs, humoring him. “I know music. Its what I’m best at. And I can’t say I don’t understand where you’re coming from…” Justin trails and his nonchalance morphs effortlessly into a determination that is almost over powering and Charlotte is utterly enthralled. “But I also know that if you don’t have good music no one is gonna buy the damn album. You want sales? You want revenue? You have to put out a superior product and what she’s got in the can right now is mediocre at best. She’s coming into something great, John. She just needs more time.”

“How much are we talking?” John asks cautiously and Justin shrugs.

“Fifty grand.”

“No,” John says, laughing. “No that can’t be done.”

“Oh come on!” Justin laughs incredulously. “You spent about that much on your wardrobe.”

John bristles, stuttering slightly.

“Fifty grand, John. That’s all she needs to make something spectacular.” He pauses, setting his eyes on the older man and then adding. “And you’re going to give it to her.”

John’s eyes widen as do the rest of the men at the table. Charlotte is staring at him open mouthed, but snaps it shut as the waitress comes by to refill drinks. The silence at the table is electric and the waitress scurries away quickly from the tension. Justin’s eyes don’t leave the older man’s and his face shows that he knows he’s already won even though Charlotte isn’t sure. It’s hard to believe that this is the same man that sat with her in the car just an hour ago, the same man who lets Amelia trample him to the ground day after day.

John sighs, eyeing him slowly, sizing him up and Justin doesn’t flinch, his face still holding that confidence, that air that he’s already won. This battle is over in his mind.

“Alright,” John says finally and Charlotte releases the breath she hadn’t even realized she’d been holding.

Justin’s smile lights up the room. “You won’t regret it, John,” he says with a sigh.

“I better not,” he grumbles. “And this is the last time!” he adds, trying to regain some sense of control over the situation.

“Of course,” Justin replies airily, tucking back into his food, a small satisfied smile playing across his lips.

And in that moment Charlotte knows he’d not only earned their respect, but hers as well.

After the check is paid, the party meanders their way out into the lobby, chattering idly about golf and the weather as they shrug on their coats. Charlotte follows, talking quietly on her cell phone to their driver, asking him to meet them out front.

“Well Justin, it was a pleasure,” Jed says, patting Justin on the back and Justin smiles.

“That it was,” he nods smiling.

“I was wondering,” Jed says, his eyes turning uncertain and Justin regards him curiously. “My daughter is a huge fan…”

Justin grins. “You want me to sign something?”

Jed breathes a sigh of relief. “If you don’t mind…”

“Not at all,” Justin says and turns to Charlotte. “Charlie do you have a pen and paper I could borrow?”

Charlotte narrows her eyes at him and he grins at her, winking quickly and she cringes.

“Actually,” Jed says and Justin turns to find him pulling a CD and sharpie out if his briefcase, fumbling embarrassed. “If you could just…”

“Even better,” Justin grins, taking the CD and marker from him.

He flips open the CD case, pulling out the album booklet and he remembers when he would sit at a table in a record store and sign these for hours. He remembers how he would come back to his hotel room, exhausted, his hand cramping, his face sore from smiling. He never thought he’d miss that. But he does. He really does.

“What’s her name?” he asks, shaking off the memories, poising the sharpie over the white space just above his name and the name of the album.

His last album. He never thought it would be his last. But it was a good way to go he supposed. Three number one singles. Nine million albums sold world wide. Two Grammys. The second highest grossing tour of 2007. An emmy award winning HBO special. He certainly went out on top. But he just wished he would have known it was the last.

“Lauren,” Jed says smiling and Justin grins, writing a short message and then signing with a flourish.

“Here ya go man,” Justin says slipping the album cover carefully back into the case and handing it to him. “Tell her to stay in school.”

“Oh I will,” Jed grins as they make their way out into the winter chill. “She wants to know when you’re gonna record another album.”

Justin chuckles. “Me too,” he adds joking and the other man laughs.

“You take care,” Jed says, following John and Chris into a sleek black Lincoln and Justin waves as they pull from the curb, disappearing amid the sea of identical cars.

And now it’s just Justin and Charlotte, standing in front of the building and waiting. Charlotte checks her watch. The driver said he’d be there in five minutes. She cranes her neck, shivering as she looks down the street but it’s impossible to tell, the street full of black town cars identical to the one that’s coming for them. Justin bounces on the balls of his feet and sighs. Charlotte tenses.

“I’m sorry, I’ll call the car again,” she says, reaching into her pocket for her phone.

“Nah its fine,” Justin says casually, continuing his light bouncing. Charlotte watches him skeptically. “No sweat…” he adds and then grins, “literally. It’s cold as fuck out here.”

“I’ll call.” Charlotte says flipping open her phone and Justin sighs.

“Seriously its fine,” then he grins knowingly at her. “I’m not gonna rip your head off” They share a smile.

“Okay,” Charlotte concedes finally, placing her phone back in her pocket

“Okay then,” Justin replies nodding, still bouncing idly.

They’re quiet for a moment, each of them looking down the road and waiting. Charlotte sneaks glances at him out of the corner of her eye. She still can’t get over the fact that he did it and so effortlessly it seemed. He was stern and refused to take no for an answer. He didn’t just roll over and take it.

“You did really well in there,” Charlotte finds herself saying.

Justin’s bouncing stops and he turns his head to her slowly. She’s not looking at him, her eyes trained down the road and he’s somewhat shocked by her unprompted praise. Usually he had to fish for compliments and even when he did all he usually got was a “that’s nice, dear” and then was forced to move on to talk of cake flavors and table cards.

Just then the car pulls up and he shakes his head to clear it, grinning slightly.

“Well thank you Charlie,” He says jovially and he watches her cringe and roll her eyes. “See…never should have told me that.”

And with that he opens the car door for her, grinning cheekily at the withered look he receives from her before she slips inside and he follows, escaping the bitter cold and heading back to the office.