"What time is it? Party time!" The time was somewhere around 8AM when Usher was gallivanting around the house in his boxers and high spirits, waking up his fellow roommates. "Ladies and gentlemen, get your narrow asses up! It’s party day!"
Today is the day that me and Alicia’s joint birthday party is taking place.
Justin was already out of bed, dancing to Beyoncè, while making breakfast. He was also in a smiling mood, excited about the party tonight.
My boys are coming into town, I’m gonna party with my roommates at Platinum tonight. I think this is gonna be a lot of fun.
Meanwhile, Alicia cheerfully rose from her bed after being awaken by the sound of Usher’s voice, which, regretfully, sounded a lot like a foghorn. But she didn’t care in the least bit. – Ever since Justin greeted her with flowers and a smile on the morning of her actual birthday the previous Tuesday, she’d also been in a ridiculously good mood.
"Good mornin’, birthday girl," Justin smiled when she flew into the kitchen, dancing, with Usher not far behind.
"Good morning, birthday boy! What you over there cookin’?"
"Just some bacon and eggs. You want?"
"I do!" Usher interrupted, indulging in the salty aroma of Justin’s meal.
"I’ll take some of that, too," she responded.
The three of them soon scattered along the dining table, enjoying a somewhat quiet, but contented breakfast.
"So, Justin, what time do your ‘boys’ get in today?" Usher inquired, delicately taking a bite of his bacon.
"I have to pick them up from Reagan at three."
"Ooh! I wanna go!" Alicia piped up.
"Sure. Ursh, you wanna join us?"
"Nah, honey. I gotta get ready for the party."
Alicia and Justin chuckled animatedly until Christina sauntered into the room. They immediately went quiet and watched her tinker about their large kitchen.
"Good morning," she said, casually. No one bothered to respond, knowing that speaking to her always ended in a borderline disaster. She continued her venture into the refrigerator, finding that there was hardly any left of what she was looking for. She turned back to the three of them, who were dead set on remaining silent in her presence. "Who ate all the eggs?"
"We did," Justin finally answered.
She sighed with a frown and turned back to the refrigerator. "Well."
"Please don’t start any shit this morning," Usher told her. "We were just enjoying our breakfast and I, for one, would appreciate it if you didn’t fuck that up."
Christina rolled her eyes, making sure that Usher got the brunt of it and closed the red door of the fridge. "What I was going to say was, since it’s your birthday, I’ll let it slide." She even went so far as to walk to the table and give Justin a peck on the cheek, followed by taking a seat at the table. "So, what are you guys talking about?"
Justin’s eyes darted back and forth in complete and utter confusion – as did Usher and Alicia’s.
Christina comes into the kitchen and first thing she does is bitch about the eggs. So we all basically know she’s about to trip. Then, out of nowhere, she’s kissing Justin and wanting to talk with us. I’m like, "Oh, my goodness! Hell has frozen over!"
Alicia took a stab in the dark and, after two weeks, spoke to Christina again. "We were just talking about the party tonight."
Christina’s dark aqua eyes twinkled in the dim dining room as she smiled at her three roommates. "Cool."
"Are you okay?" Justin asked.
Christina is acting weird as hell. I think she smiled today for the first time since we’ve gotten in the house. And, well… it scared me.
"I’m great. How about you?"
"I’m fine." He took a few bites of bacon, tempted to pinch himself. He couldn’t figure out what the hell was going on.
"So let me make sure I got this right," she started. "Justin, your birthday is on Monday?"
"Yeah."
"And, Licia, yours was last Tuesday?"
Uh, she called me Licia. Who is this chick and where is the real Christina!
"Yes," Alicia answered quietly.
"Cool. This party should be fun, huh?"
Usher abruptly stood from the dining table, spontaneously bursting into erratic coughing. He headed out of the room, seemingly choking and laughing at the same time.
"Should we make sure that he’s all right?"
"Oh, shit!" Alicia was the next to shoot up from the table in disbelief. She couldn’t wrap her head around the concept of Christina being civil, much less, concerned.
"Well, damn. How rude are those two?"
After a few more seconds of bewilderment, Justin also escaped the weirdness of the dining room table without a word. Christina was just too much for them.
::::::::::
Alicia and Justin piled into their new car on Saturday afternoon, which had turned rather gray and gloomy. On their way to the airport, Alicia sat contently behind Justin as he drove. She admired his wet curly hair while he obliviously dodged traffic. "So, yo, you excited about seeing your homeboys?"
Justin gazed at her through the rearview mirror and smiled that smile that could grace the cover of GQ like a motherfucker. "Yeah, this is the longest we’ve ever been apart from one another."
"Two weeks?"
"Yep."
"Even when you went to college?"
"They were right there with me. The only time me and Trace were separated for longer than this was for those two months that he was alive before I was born."
Alicia’s mouth dropped in slight shock, and an air of endearment. "That’s fuckin’ cool as shit, man."
"Yeah, he’s like my other half. Seriously."
My best friend, Trace is coming today, and I could not be more excited. I knew that coming here, it would be really weird to not have him with me, so it’s gonna be like a breath of fresh air to have him back. I think maybe I’ll feel a little more in my element with him and my cousin here.
"I feel you. And so who else is coming?" she asked, reassuring herself that Missy wasn’t on the guest list.
"My cousin, Nick."
"And that’s it?"
"Don’t worry," he grinned, "Missy can’t make it."
Alicia let out a playful sigh of relief and gave him a friendly hit in the head. "How you know I was even thinkin’ about that."
"I know you, girl."
She lifted her eyebrow and smiled brightly at the notion. "Is that so?"
"That is so." Justin refocused on his driving, searching the highway signs directing him to the right area of the airport. "Shit. I forgot what airline they’re supposed to be on."
"Wasn’t it… I think it was American Airlines."
"I think you’re right," he replied, switching lanes. "Girl, what would I do without you?"
"You don’t even wanna know," she laughed.
"True dat."
His ghetto conventions always made her laugh hysterically. "Not long now," she added, pulling her puffy black coat on.
"Why are you so excited?"
"Well, because you are. And I’m excited to see what your friends are like."
I think it’s awesome that Licia has taken such an interest in me as a person and not like, just someone to fuck. I think that’s cool. It gives her a whole new dimension.
The two of them, cold and comfortable, exited their Expedition, huddled together and entered the confines of Reagan International Airport, searching for the baggage claim. Before they could even reach the American Airlines carousel, the pair heard the thunderous sound of the name, "Bubba!" being shouted across the airport.
Justin instantly recognized the noise and left Alicia’s grasp to run towards the declaration. Alicia followed behind, smiling as Justin raucously hugged who she assumed to be Trace and Nick. After they rambunctiously embraced each other, Justin finally took the time to introduce his roommate to his friends.
It’s so cute to see Justin with his friends together. They way they interact, you’d think they’ve been apart for a year or something.
"Licia, meet Trace," he said, as a short version of Justin stepped forward. He had curly dark hair, those cherub-like cheeks when he smiled, and twinkling brown eyes. "Trace, this is Alicia."
"Hey," Trace said, "It’s good to finally put a face to your name."
Alicia beamed at his Southern drawl, feeling right at home. "Oh, does that mean Justin talks about me a lot."
"Only everyday," he smiled back.
"And," Justin interrupted, not wanting to be embarrassed, "this is Nick."
Another short guy, with dark, wavy locks and impish good looks stepped in to shake her hand. "How you doin’?"
I’m goin’ home with three gorgeous country boys today. Oh, I’m in Heaven! Happy Birthday to me!
After being officially introduced, the group of four retreated to the car, making the typical ‘We-just-met/Haven’t-seen-you-in-a-while’ conversation.
"So, Alicia, has Justin told y’all his big secret yet?" Trace asked, laughing crazily.
Alicia stared in Justin’s direction, suspiciously, wondering what his secret could be. "Actually, Trace, I don’t think he has."
Nick and Trace looked at one another knowingly and, in unison, exclaimed, "Oh, shit!"
"Dude, you haven’t told them!" Nick asked Justin.
Justin merely continued to focus on the road ahead of him. "I don’t know what you’re talkin’ about," he finally replied, smiling.
"Well, somebody better tell me!" Alicia injected.
"It’s nothing."
"Oh, it’s something," Trace shot back.
We’re in the car, riding along from the airport and Trace says that Justin has a secret.
"Then tell me!"
I really can’t tell if Trace and Nick are serious, or what.
Trace leaned into Alicia and lowly said, "Justin’s a virgin."
But Trace tells me that Justin is a virgin. I’m in shock.
Alicia’s mouth dropped and she stared at the roommate in front of her that she was so desperately crushing on. It was one of those moments where, if it had been on television, the music would have stopped and it would be time for a commercial break. Even the cameraman started coughing awkwardly.
Justin stared back at Alicia, via the mirror, hoping that she’d take it for a joke. "Licia, don’t listen to them."
Okay, let it be known that I’m not a virgin. It’s just… It’s been a while. Me and Missy are waiting until we get married. But I’ll say it again. No, no, hell no, I am NOT a virgin.
Alicia continued to eye him, confused and shocked. "So it’s not true?"
"It’s not true," he replied, smiling meekly.
Justin says it’s not true, but… I don’t know. I guess that if it were really true, his boys wouldn’t have called him out like that. So it had to be a joke. Right?
::::::::::
Got time, but I don’t mind
I just wanna rock you, girl
I’ll have whatever you have
Come on, just give it a whirl
The party at Platinum was definitely going off without a hitch. – Well, Lindsay almost didn’t get into the club, but Adam made sure to take care of that. Christina’s weirdly pleasant mood continued into the night, in spite of the fact that most of her roommates continued to ignore her. Britney, Lindsay, and Adam danced back and forth between the bar and the DJ booth, where Usher seemed to have found himself parked for the majority of the night.
The remaining cast members – Alicia and Justin – as well as Justin’s friends, spent a lot of time talking, drinking and mainly getting to know one another. Alicia, never in a million years, thought she’d ever spend her birthday sitting around talking – and in the middle of a club, no less. The funny part about that was, she was indisputably having a good time.
After a while, though, she had to get up. She took a last swig of her free Corona and whispered to Justin, "You wanna dance with me?"
You owe yourself to
Come dance with me
Romance with me
Take a chance with me, my baby
He looked back at her, nervously. He wasn’t exactly Michael Jackson when it came to the dance floor. "I dunno, Licia. It’s kinda crowded."
You owe yourself to
Let go with me
Feel the flow with me
Take hold of me
Don’t be so quick to walk away
Dance with me
"Come on, Justin," she beseeched. "For my birthday?"
At that moment, Usher spotted his friends, still sitting at that same table after all this time, and he decided that he needed to coerce them to the dance floor before the night was over. Smiling, he grabbed the DJ mic and brought everyone’s attention to Justin and Alicia. "Birthday boy and birthday girl! What are the two of you doing sitting down!"
Justin looked around sheepishly while Alicia laughed and tried to pull him up from the table.
"Now I know we didn’t have this party so you could sit around and talk," Usher proclaimed, "so get your booties up and dance! I’m playin’ one of my favorites for y’all so you better get up."
Baby boy, you stay on my mind
Fulfill my fantasies
I think about you all the time
I see you in my dreams
The addictive beat of Beyoncè’s "Baby Boy" went booming through the club’s speakers and the crowd went crazy. Alicia held tight onto Justin’s hand as she moved her hips from side to side in syncopation with the up-tempo percussion, mixed with the Eastern-influenced instrumentation, intensely mouthing the words of the song to her roommate.
Baby boy, not a day goes by
Without my fantasies
I think about you all the time
I see you in my dreams
"You ain’t gonna get up and dance with me?" she yelled over the music.
He wanted to dance with her. He really did. But he wasn’t in any mood to be embarrassed at his own damn party. He simply continued to stare intently at her hips, licking his lips with internal excitement. "I’m sorry. I just don’t dance, man."
She nodded in compliance and kept shaking her ass to the beat. "That’s cool."
Justin thought he was off the hook when she sat back down next to him. Little did he know, it was only to take another drink of her beer. Without another word, still rocking to the beat, she left the table, returning seconds later with a solitary chair and a devious little smile.
"Sit," she told Justin.
He looked at her and then back to Nick and Trace as if they were supposed to know what she was up to.
Usher, in the background, was back on the mic, handing out orders. "Justin, you better do what she says, honey."
Smiling and confused, Justin took the seat that Alicia had brought for him and laughed as she grinned at the many onlookers, including the other smiling roommates, and took a seat on top of him.
Ahh, Ohh
My baby’s fly, baby go
Yes, no
Hurt me so good, baby oh
I’m so wrapped up in your love, let me go
Let me breathe
Stay out my fantasies
She straddled him, resting her short arms over his broad shoulders. Her dark, almond-shaped eyes met his small, round, blue orbs and they got positively lost with one another. She started off slowly, gyrating her hips over Justin’s crotch, satisfied to feel his shiver at her touch. As she continued, the volume of the song seemed to rise, along with the heat, and… a few other things.
I know you dig da way me step da way me make my stride
Follow your feelings, baby boy because they cannot be denied
Come check me in-a night and make we get it amplified
Alicia closed her eyes, feeling Justin’s hot breath dancing across her chest and allowed her neck to roll in the same manner as her hips. She blocked out the sound of everyone cheering, and enjoyed the fact that their lap dance had escalated into something more intricate. She’d decided that Justin’s physical response shouted more urgency than ignorance. There was no way in hell that baby boy was a virgin. And that, alone, was enough of a birthday present.
Picture us dancing real close in the dark, dark corner of a basement party
Every time I close my eyes it’s like everyone left but you and me
In our own little world, the music is the sun
The dance floor becomes the sea
Feels like true paradise to me
I don’t know what made me decide to give Justin that lap dance. I think it started with being frustrated that he wouldn’t dance with me. But I’m glad I did it because I felt connected to him for a few minutes, and that’s all I really wanted for my birthday.
True paradise, indeed.
::::::::::
Hours after the lap dance heard around the world, the cast mates, as well as Nick, Trace, and the many acquaintances that the seven roommates had made throughout the course of the night, gathered at the bar for the ritualistic singing of Happy Birthday.
Alicia was perched over Justin’s neck, beaming like a kid on Christmas, while Justin stood beneath her with an identical expression, as they waited for the arrival of their cake.
In an uncomfortable twist of events, however, more than just a cake appeared from behind the bar. Everyone had been having a just about perfect night, and then, Nick and Trace dropped the bomb – a skinny blonde one.
Dressed casually in a long black leather skirt and black sweater, the blonde-haired, blue-eyed, angelic genuineness of ‘the girlfriend back home’ came smiling through the crowd. While Justin’s smile grew wider with every second, Alicia’s faded, because she just knew who it was as soon as she spotted her damn face.
This is why Nick and Trace are my best friends. They knew that the one thing I wanted was to see my girlfriend for my birthday, and they made that come true. It was the best surprise of my life.
"Missy!" Justin yelled. He immediately let go of Alicia’s hands to will her off of his neck and set her down on a stool in front of the bar. Half a second later, Justin was in Missy’s arms, kissing any spot he could find, leaving Alicia to look on in jealousy.
It’s my party, and I’ll cry if I want to
Her jaw tightened, her eyes narrowed, and she nodded to herself slowly. She walked up behind Justin, where he continued to embrace his girlfriend, and she maliciously whispered to him, "Happy Birthday. Baby boy." With that, she stormed off into the crowd.
You would cry too, if it happened to you
Justin, despite his naivety, took notice of her despondency and resentment, and attempted to go after her. "I’ll be right back," he told his girlfriend.
"Where are you going, J?"
"My roommate – I think she might be a little upset with me."
"About what?"
I know that Alicia is upset about Missy showing up. I know I have a tendency to be slow about these kinds of things, but in the past couple of weeks, I’ve figured a few things out about her.
He turned to look back into the crowd, hoping that she wasn’t so far gone that he couldn’t find her, and finally turned back to his girlfriend. "I – it’s a long story. But I think I should make sure she’s all right."
"Baby. Let one of your other roommates get her. We don’t have much time together." She grinned sweetly at him, melting his heart, and then began to kiss his face lightly. "I’ve missed you."
"I really – I should," Justin tried to escape his girlfriend’s grasp, feeling guilty about leaving Alicia high and dry that way. "Missy, just give me a few minutes to make sure she’s all right."
Missy had watched the show long enough to know that if she didn’t step in now, she’d soon be stepping down. She gave him a stern, but loving stare, and sent him on a whole new guilt trip. "All right, J. Whatever you need to do. I came to see you, and you’d rather spend our time with someone you live with. I see." She hung her head low, shoving strands of blonde hair behind her ears. "Go ahead."
Justin’s heart sunk about fifty feet when he saw his girlfriend drop her head. If he had to choose between her and Alicia, there was no contest. "Baby, don’t do that. I’m not going anywhere."
I feel bad about Licia, but really, what can I do?
You belong to me
Tell her you were fooling
You belong to me
You don’t even know her
You belong to me
Tell her that I love you
You belong to me
Any thoughts that he had of Alicia soon drifted away and he was glad to be able to spend the remainder of the night in the arms of the love of his life – no matter who didn’t like it.
On the next Real World :: NBA All-Star Weekend has hit DC. :: The roommates have a job to do and Britney is going to make sure it gets done. And she doesn’t care who gets stepped on (or fired) in the process.
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