Chapter 3

Jordin's eyelashes fluttered up and she immediately shielded her eyes from the blinding sunshine coming in through the windows. She reached up and stretched and yawned, and when she brought her arms back down to the bed she felt a body instead of feeling a mattress.

"Good morning to you too," Justin said in a groggy voice. Jordin froze, her eyes in shock. She lifted up the comforter and saw that she was clothed, not in much, but still she had clothes on...and then she realized that she wasn't even in her apartment. But the million dollar question was why was she in the bed with Justin? And why was his arm around her waist, holding her? Her body immediately went into panic mode and she threw the covers off of her and rose to her feet. Ooh, bad idea; she stood too quickly and the room started spinning.

"Whoa there," Justin said, catching her just as she fell back on the bed, "You ok?"

"Yeah."

No.

She was trying to remember last night's events and how she ended up in Justin's bed...with him. It took her a moment before everything came to her.

~*~Flashback~*~

Knock Knock!

Justin was right on time, 10:30 like they'd planned. Jordin smoothed the front of her slacks before opening the door for him.

"Hey," he said with the classic Timberlake smile, "You look great," he said after giving her a once over.

"Thanks; so do you. You ready to go?" Justin nodded in response and Jordin grabbed her purse off the hallway table before locking her door and walking with Justin to his car.

"I swear you change vehicles more than I change pantyhose," she said in a joking manner.

"You wear pantyhose?" Justin asked.

"It's just a figure of speech, you goober. How many cars do you own anyway? I know I've seen you in at least three since we started working together."

"Wow superfan, I'm surprised you already don't know," he replied sarcastically as the engine came to life. Jordin scoffed and rolled her eyes at him.

"I'm kidding," Justin said when he realized his words upset her, "I have a couple of cars and bikes. I tend to drive which ever vehicle fits my mood of the day."

"Superstar much?" Jordin whispered under her breath.

"What was that?" Justin asked.

"Nothing, nevermind. So which jazz club did you say we're going to?"

"I didn't," Justin began with a smile, "We're going to the Red Cat; there's supposed to be this quintet doing jazz covers tonight and I thought you might enjoy them." Jordin couldn't fight the smile that grew on her face.

"And he has a heart," she joked.

"You'd be surprised what all I have," he said, looking over at her in the passengers' seat and wiggling his eyebrows.

Ok, I know I'm not imagining things now...he's GOT to be flirting with me.

Jordin just smiled and kept quiet, not sure what to say at that point. She hadn't realized it before but Justin had Norman Brown playing softly from his stereo.

"I love his cover of 'Your Body's Calling Me'," Jordin stated.

"I think that's the next track," Justin replied, grinning, "and I'm not sure if I said this before, but you look very nice tonight."

"Thanks, you don't look that bad yourself Timberlake." The rest of the short ride was pretty quiet, the only sound coming from the vehicle's stereo system. They pulled up in front of the club and Justin saw the shock on Jordin's face.

"It's a..."

"Hole in the wall," he said, finishing her statement.

"Yeah," she replied nodding.

"Not what you expected?"

"Not at all." Within moments he was opening her door and escorting her into the building. Jordin understood why Justin chose this place instead of another club; it looked so run-down on the outside that the paparazzi didn't even think about going near it, but the inside was a completely different story.

"Wow," Jordin gasped when they crossed the threshold.

"Nice, huh?" Justin asked. Jordin nodded in response.

"You can't always judge a book by it's cover," he said, leading her to a nearby table. The room was dimly lit and the atmosphere was inviting. It wasn't long before one of the few waitresses in the place approached them for a drink order.

"A corona for me," Justin answered.

"And a glass of red wine for me," Jordin answered smoothly, quickly noting the raised eyebrow Justin was giving her. He waited until the waitress walked away to say something.

"And how old are you again?" he asked with a slight smile.

"Legal enough to drink in Canada, the UK, and Mexico."

"But not in this country," he replied with a chuckle.

"Hush, it's just a glass of wine. Calm down; it's not like I'm trying to or gonna get drunk."

"Good; the last thing we need is for tomorrow's headlines to read 'Timberlake takes advantage of drunken pop star on a wild night on the town'." She laughed under her breath.

"Who said I would let you take advantage of me?" she asked mischievously, "I could be the one taking advantage of you."

"Well in that case, I'm all yours," he responded with open arms. The waitress had returned with their drinks before Jordin could respond.

"You know," Justin began once they were alone again, "I wonder why she never carded you."

"Probably because I'm with you. I guess she figured that I must be at least 21 if I'm out with Justin Timberlake," she responded, stressing the last two words.

"And what's that supposed to mean?"

"You're 27, I'm 18. Put two and two together hun." Justin sighed before answering her.

"I know our ages Jordin. And I don't find anything wrong with two people our ages hanging out. We're both legal, consenting adults. And honestly I didn't even think about our ages until you brought it up; you're quite mature for your age."

"Thanks," she replied softly, "And I'm sorry if I soured the mood."

"Don't - you have nothing to apologize for," he said with a soft smile. He raised his glass to hers and they enjoyed their drinks and the music the quintet was playing. Right now they were playing a cover of Erykah Badu's 'You Got Me' and Justin and Jordin were nodding along. She even sang the chorus softly when the band got to that part of the room. Jordin didn't realize how loud she was until she saw Justin smiling at her as she ran an index finger around the rim of her wine glass.

"You really do have a beautiful voice," he said, slightly above a whisper. Jordin grinned sheepishly.

"Thanks," she said, and could instantly feel the heat rushing to her face. He was giving her that look again...those eyes that made her melt. She took another sip of her drink and glanced out to the make-shift dance floor. There weren't that many people on it, but then again there weren't that many people in the club.

"Do you wanna dance?" Justin asked once he realized what had her attention.

"What? Oh, no, I'm fine."

"What? You scared?"

"I'm not really a dancer; you know the whole two left feet thing," she said with a low chuckle. Justin joined in with her laughter.

"Well you'll definitely be doing some dancing on tour, why not start now," he said, extending his hand for her to take. Jordin took one more drink from her glass before accepting and the two of them were off to the dance floor. The quintet began playing a slower piece, a song that Jordin soon recognized was Dru Hill's 'Beauty'.

"I love this song," she said barely above a whisper into Justin's ear as he wrapped his arms around her. The two of them swayed to the beat and Jordin wasn't sure if the alcohol had finally taken it's course in her system, but she suddenly felt more comfortable, more at ease. She wrapped her arms tighter around his neck and his response was wrapping his more tightly around her waist, bringing them closer together. The alcohol had definitely hit her, she closed her eyes and let Justin lead. This was nice, kind of hard to believe, but nice. If someone would have told her a year ago that she would be an American Idol and slow dancing with Justin Timberlake...no, strike that The Justin Timberlake at a jazz club she'd ask them what kind of crack they were smoking. But here she was, here they were.

"Walks by me everyday; her and love are the same. A woman has stolen my heart, and Beauty is her name," Justin sang softly in Jordin's ear, snapping her out of her daydream.

"Why Mr. Timberlake, I do believe that you are the one with the beautiful voice," she said with an exaggerated southern accent.

"Well that makes two of us then," he said, and Jordin could feel him smiling against her head. The song changed to a more upbeat tune, but they continued slow dancing, not caring if they were dancing off-beat if anyone was watching. For that moment in time it was just the two of them and Jordin couldn't have been happier.

"Justin," she whispered.

"Hmm?"

"We're the only ones on the floor."

"Ok."

"There's no music playing," she said, loosening her arms. He took the opposite action, not wanting the moment to end just yet he refused to let her go and began to hum Al Green's 'Let's Stay Together'.

"There, you happy now?" Once again Jordin could feel him smiling against her head and this time she could feel the vibrations as he hummed. They continued their dancing until the band began playing again.

"Stormy Weather," she stated plainly.

"Huh?" he asked, confused.

"They're playing 'Stormy Weather'. I sang this song with the jazz band in high school." Jordin sang a line of the song softly, looking into his eyes as she did and Justin couldn't help but smile. He was falling for this girl, hard. He stared at her lips as she finished singing, and what beautiful lips did she have. His eyes bounced back and forth between them and her eyes, almost as if he was asking for her permission...and he got just that when she blinked slowly and smiled gently. The kiss was so light that Jordin wasn't even sure that it had actually happened. Her heart was beating erratically and she had butterflies in her stomach, but the rest of her was completely still. Once again Justin's eyes asked for permission and this kiss was more tender than the first. He took his time, wanting to make it last and when they separated she was breathless. And for some odd reason the butterflies in her stomach grew stronger.

Uh oh.

Jordin backed away from him quickly, immediately covering her mouth with her hand.

"What's wrong? Are you ok?" he asked in a panicked voice. Jordin scanned the room and barely made it to the ladies' room before the contents of her stomach poured out into the porcelain bowl. Great, just great. The one time she couldn't hold her liquor had to be when she was with Justin. What would he think of her now? Jordin heard the bathroom door open and Justin's voice asking if she was alright...she didn't have time to answer him before round two started. He was at her side in an instant, rubbing her back and whispering words of comfort.

"It's ok, you're gonna be fine."

"I can't believe this. I swear this never happens," she said, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand.

"This is nothing. I've done and seen worse than this darling," he said, smiling at her. Jordin flushed the toilet and walked over to the sink to wash her hands and gargle with water.

"You ok?" he asked once she'd finished.

"Yeah; I just want to go home. Do you mind?"

"Not at all, I was just about to suggest the same thing," he replied, wrapping an arm around her waist and leading her out of the restroom and club. They got in his car and weren't five miles from the club when he had to pull over so she could throw up again. He handed her a bottle of water for her gargle with.

"You keep random bottles of water in your car?" she asked, chuckling softly.

"Yeah, you never know when someone has to puke," he joked.

"Haha, very funny," she replied sarcastically, "Can I just go home now?"

"No, you're coming with me."

"To where?" she asked quickly.

"My place. I'm not gonna leave you by yourself tonight. The last thing I need is for you to throw up in the middle of the night and choke on it."

"Eww! Gross! And thanks for thinking the worst in a situation."

"It happens, and I want to make sure you're ok tonight. So you're coming back to my place."

"But - "

"No buts," Justin interrupted.

"Fine," she agreed, "But answer one question for me."

"Ok."

"Is this some kind of sick ploy to get me to go back to your place with you?" Justin laughed.

"I don't need a ploy to get you to come home with me," he said with a mischievous grin and left it at that.

~*~End Flashback~*~