*Alisan*

My head was pounding. A loud, monotone thump-type pounding that didn't seem to want to stop. It was painless, but annoying. So annoying that even mentally blocking it out didn't seem to work. I heard mumbling from beside me, felt an arm grip my naked waist and jumped slightly. Wake up calls.

"Go away, Lonnie!" I called, turning on my side as the arm gripping my waist pulled me closer, up against more bare skin. "We're up!"

"Good!"

I heard him walk away, his heavy footsteps making their rounds in the hall. Surely enough, about ten seconds later, his loud pounding was heard once again. I grumbled, picking up my pillow and throwing it over my head, hearing objections from behind me. "Sorry, J," I mumbled, pressing the pillow down to my ear once more as he buried his face in my neck, playfully gnawing at the skin as I squirmed, laughing. "What are you, a vampire?"

"Only for your sweet blood," he said, voice still grainy from sleep. "What time is it?"

I lifted my head up from underneath the pillow, reaching for my Blackberry. "8."

He groaned, pulling himself away from me and letting the body heat escape with him. I protested against his absence, back now cool. "Come on, sleepy. We've got twenty minutes before we have to be down to check out and another ten before we have to get to the car. Get your stuff together."

"Can't you?" I mumbled, eyes settling on the two bags that I claimed as my own sat in the corner of the room, looking as if they had exploded. Justin had begged me to move my things into his room so that neither of us would have to continue our little affair by sneaking back and forth, since most of the lurking people with camera's seemed to come out and pry into his business, trying to figure out who the 'mysterious Alisan girl' was and why she was on tour with him, while Katie was back at home.

I felt guilty. I know that Lucas and I are basically over; that had been said and done weeks ago. He and Katie weren't serious, but they were pretty close to losing the casual status and moving forward into serious. With our little ... well, not so little adventure (make that adventures) between the sheets, both will probably be gone within the week.

"Alisan," he called, voice way too perky for me at this time in the morning. "Come on!" He gripped the blankets, pulling them from me and laughing as I kept a firm grip on the comforter, covering my naked body. "Oh, come on - it's not cold in here!"

"It is when you're naked!"

"What do you think I am? Dressed for winter?" He asked as I turned my head, catching his hip lines and the contours going down to his pelvis, unable to hide the smirk on my face. "That, you aren't," I said, the smile forming wider as he stood there, shaking his head. "What?! You're just, standing there as if you're supposed to!"

"Well, how do you supposed I get dressed? Summon the clothes to me?"

"It could happen."

He laughed, walking towards me and crawling onto the bed, pulling the comforter over himself as he sprawled on top of me, placing soft kisses on my face. "Or I could just cover myself with you ..."

"Right, 'cause that's any more appropriate," I laughed, rolling my eyes as he nudged my nose gently upward, making it so I tilted my chin upward so my mouth was in his access. I reached up, holding the back of his neck and running my fingers through his short hair, he giving me a sweet smile before kissing me. "Weren't you just trying to get me out of bed?" I laughed, pulling my head away as I studied him. He looked happy, refreshed. "Doing this is not gonna make me want to leave this bed ..."

"You're right," he said, knees nudging my legs apart as he rested between them and placed himself at my entrance, "so we'll make this quick. Instead of twenty minutes, we'll have five."

"Justin -" I stopped as I felt him enter me, biting my lip as he grinned triumphantly, keeping eye contact as he kept the thrusts at a medium pace. I would have objected if he hadn't felt so good, wrapping my legs around his waist and letting him continue, gripping his shoulders and inhaling as I felt him begin to assault my neck (adding on to the more hickies near my collarbone that was sure to spark some controversy).

The first time we slept together was not the last, as this moment proves. It was probably the tenth, maybe even more in the middle teens. We just couldn't seem to get enough of each other, though the sex seemed to be more fast-paced and erotic rather than slow and passionate. Our kisses were always passionate, but with the people buzzing around the hotel and never knowing when someone would be knocking on the door looking for him, it was now or never to even attempt.

I wasn't complaining. We had a full day to ourselves (with interruptions) without practicing for a show or interviews to do whatever we wanted, but majority rule usually kept us at cuddling in fear that we'd be in the middle of it and not be able to finish.

This wasn't an exception.

"You guys gonna join us anytime soon or are you gonna continue to sleep?!"

He continued thrusting, face in the midst of one of passion as I released my lip. He placed his head on my collarbone, grumbling obsceneties under his breath as I inhaled, trying to steady my voice as I answered, "we're putting our stuff in our bags!"

"All right!"

"God," he mumbled, "oh, God ..." I felt his fingers grip onto me tightly as we both reached climax, he collapsing against me and pulling on top of him, kissing my mouth hard. "I don't think we'll ever have time to ourselves until we get home ..."

"Which will probably be limited since you'll have family coming to see you after your long absence ... and Trace. Not to mention JC and all your other buddies ..."

He tilted his head, licking and nipping at my neck gently as he groaned, already hating the idea. "Can I just tell them I'm staying here a day and they can all go back? Let us have a day alone?"

I laughed, pulling myself away as I wrapped the blanket around my chest and got up, he left with a sheet covering his still somewhat erect member. I noticed this and grinned, he reddening slightly as a hand went down to cover it in somewhat modesty, watching as I walked into the bathroom, cleaning myself up and dressing in a tank top and skirt, preparing for the immense heat that would greet us as soon as we stepped outside. "Not a chance. They all know you've prepared for your homecoming for months now. As I recall, you are also planning a party for tomorrow night when we get home."

"Like that's gonna keep my sleep schedule in synch," he said, getting up and grabbing a pair of pants, pulling them on, a t-shirt following. "I'll never understand why everyone has to be on different time zones. Why can't they just make the AM and PM different? It'd be so much more easier for me to cope with."

"Highly doubted," I laughed, reaching for my things that sat on the counter near the mirror in the hall. If we went home, would everything just settle between us and just burn out? Or would this actually continue? Suddenly, I was doubting everything and was unsure of anything that was occurring in my life at the moment. Did he still love me, or was this just some sort of thing he let fade and let happen because it could and it did? "J," I said finally, he appearing a few moments later with a toothbrush hanging out of his mouth and some paste hinting on his lips, "what is gonna happen to us when we go back home? Is it going to be like before ... or completely different? Are we going to last?"

He disappeared for a second, reappearing in front of me and walking up to me, holding my face in his hands. "Nothing is ever going to be the same between us again," he said softly, smoothing my knotty and disheveled hair. "It's going to be better, it's going to be what it should have been."

"Should have been ..." I looked up at him, eyes burning into mine as he kissed me sweet and slow, bottom lip lingering on mine before he pulled away completely, nuzzling his face against the side of mine, mouth by my ear. "We should have been ... together?"

"You and me. Together. That's how it should have been a long time ago. You're my girl. I wish I would have told you a long time ago how I felt, because I know you wouldn't have been as scared ..."

"Why wouldn't I have been?"

"Because you didn't have that whole 'being alone for the rest of my life' thing stuck in your head. When I told you after JC said I needed to, I knew it wasn't gonna happen, though I prayed it would. JC was one person I never wanted to hurt, but I knew you had to be mine."

I laughed, shaking my head against his. "I was sure you were going to tell me you are in love with him or something. Get some juicy Chalake action going on or something ..."

"No, no, no," Justin laughed, gripping me still. "I love JC like a mentor, a big brother, my family. That's as far as that love goes."

"Well, I'm very happy about that because I would have been in love with two gay men who were in love with each other or something ..."

He pulled away, shaking his head in disbelief with a smile on his face. "C isn't gay, I'm not gay. You don't need to worry about that. Besides, he's dating some girl named Brooke now. He's off limits for me." He faked a sad expression, poking my sides as he began to grin, we both jumping as Lonnie began knocking again. "Lon! Dude, we're almost ready to go! Give us two minutes!"

"You need to be down there in two minutes!"

"Then the world will wait!" He called, turning on his heel and disappearing back into the main stretch of the room as I zipped up my smaller bag, turning and grabbing my purse and heading back into the main room, giving Justin a smile as he zipped up my last bag. "Thanks, J."

"No problem, baby," he said, catching the look on my face at the name he had called me. "What?"

"Nothing," I shrugged, walking over to him and kissing him hard on the mouth. "I just ... I've never been called that before in that context."

"Well, get used to it," he grinned. "C'mon, we've gotta jet before Lon has you and I both up on his mantle." He grabbed his bags, throwing them out into the hallway as a bellboy came with a cart to carry all his belongings in, reaching for mine and tossing them on top of his.

"What about Katie?" I asked suddenly, he gripping my hand and turning to me as we followed the bell boy, he making sure he had all his belongings as he stopped, panicked. "Shit, I forgot my cell phone and Blackberry -"

"Nope," I grinned, lifting up my purse and patting it. "I picked them up last night and tossed them in. I figured you'd forget them."

"You're a genius," he laughed, turning around and continuing his trek behind the other man. "And Katie ... is history. She actually broke up with me last night."

"This wouldn't be the argument you were having while I was in the shower, was it?"

"Actually, yeah," he said, slowing down his steps so we were a bit further behind the bell boy. "How'd you know?"

"I heard."

"Sorry. I didn't think I was being that loud."

"What happened?"

"Well, we weren't serious, so it wasn't like she couldn't see other people, and I couldn't, either ... she met someone, on top of seeing the tabloids about you and I. She knew I was in love with you, she saw that I finally had you -"

"Wait ... what tabloid?"

"The Enquirer," he said, laughing. "What's funny is that 90% of the story was true. Said something about you being a dancer for me, which took off a few percent, how we've been sleeping together since the beginning of the tour, which also took a few points, and that Katie was my serious girlfriend of almost a year and had been cheating on her with you since the beginning. Everything else, talking about how you and I always had a thing for each other, you being a dancer, being Alyssa's cousin ... was all true. It basically was just 'a source said this' and 'a source said that' kind of crap. The picture from us at the beach surfaced with us kissing and she saw it. She wasn't really mad about that ... she was more mad that I hadn't told her that you were here. Go figure."

"Oh."

"But basically, she broke it off before I could, which really doesn't bother me at all. She's been kind of seeing some guy from her job that was just hired and she really likes him so she's gonna try serious with him. Like she needed to tell me, because I didn't really care, but you know ..."

"Well ... I don't," I said, he turning and looking at me weirdly. "I don't know that you don't care, that's all I'm saying."

He released my hand, and I felt our first argument as a couple brewing. "J, I didn't mean it in an untrusting way -"

"I chose you," he said, voice low. "I chose you, I want to be with you. I don't care what she does."

"I know you chose me," I said, trying to laugh and lighten up the situation as the bell boy stopped to look at us, he hitting the down button of the elevator as Justin pulled me through the doors of the stairwell. 20 floors? Really? "J, 20 floors is a lot -"

"I don't want you questioning me about this, San," he said, pushing me up against the wall near the door. "It took me years to finally get the balls to say something to you, months to get you. I'm not gonna fuck this up. I need you. I want you. I love you more than anything on this entire planet. You are more important to me than my music, my label, my entire career. Just, know that, okay?"

I gripped his wrists that rested on my shoulders, pressing gently down on me to keep in place so that I wouldn't fidget and miss something he'd say. "All right. J, I wasn't trying to cause an argument, I just -"

"I know. I just had to settle that before it even became something that neither of us wanted to deal with."

I nodded. "All right."

"I love you."

I felt the butterflies, heart pounding heavily. I had heard him tell me numerous times beforehand: before his admittance, after his admittance; but he had never said it to me since that night. It felt right, it felt good, felt electrifying. "I love you, too."

He grinned, kissing me sweetly before pulling me away from the wall and back towards the elevators. "Good. Now, let's get downstairs before Lonnie hunts us down and shoots us."


Needless to say, Lonnie was standing at the door, cracking his knuckles and staring at us like two teenagers who had just broken curfew and were about to be grounded for eternity. With a sweet smile from me and Justin promising a pay raise, Lonnie nonchalantly waved us away as he foresaw all the luggage being handled properly and not opened to peek through. We sat down in the plane and hour and some minutes later, hearing the roar of the engine as I clenched my eyes shut, the take off my least favorite part as I felt Justin's hand slide down my arm to my hand, resting on top of mine as I turned mine, gripping it tightly.

"It'll be fine," he whispered to me, bringing our hands to his lips, kissing my hand gently. "Everything will be fine. We'll get through this, just like everything else."

And I believed him.