Chapter 4

Jordin sat on the side of the bed rubbing her temples, her head was pounding. 

"How do you feel?" Justin asked softly, lying on his side to get a clearer view of her.

"Like there's a drumline playing a cadence on my brain."  Justin chuckled.

"Someone has a hangover," he said with an easy smile.  Jordin turned around to glower at him but changed her mind when she saw what he was wearing...or rather wasn't.  He was lying there, shirtless and looking like a greek god.  She had to remind herself to breathe and not to stare.  Instead she chose to look down at what she had on, a wife beater and boxers, both of which she assumed were his since she didn't pack an overnight bag for their unexpected sleepover.

"Here," Justin said, reaching past her to get to the bedside table.  He grabbed a bottle of water and a bottle of aspirin and handed them to her.

"Again with the random bottles of water," she said smiling.

"Like I said..."

"I know, I know," she said cutting him off.  Jordin swallowed two tablets and half of the water in the bottle before placing them back on the nightstand. 

"How is it that you don't feel as crappy as I do?" she asked when the pounding in her head calmed to a dull roar.

"I guess I just have a higher tolerance, and plus I only had one beer.  Your glass of wine had like three times as much alcohol in it than my beer did," Justin responded, sitting up in the bed.  He began rubbing her back in a soothing nature and Jordin froze under his touch...and not because his hand was cold.

"What?  Are you gonna be sick again?" he asked in a concerned tone.

"No, you just startled me," she lied...well sort of.  He had startled her, but that wasn't the only reason why she so jumpy at his touch.  The two of them were still in his bed, partially clothed and here he was, comforting her like they were an old married couple.

"Oh, I'm sorry.  Are you hungry?  I'm pretty sure you emptied the contents of your stomach between last night and now," he said with a slight chuckle.

"Not funny, Timberlake," Jordin whispered, leaning forward and resting her head in hands on her lap.

"I'm gonna go make breakfast, do you like oatmeal?"

"Yeah," she replied with a slight grin.

"Ok, well the bathroom's that way," he said, pointing to a door across the room, "I'll lay out a t-shirt and some sweatpants for you; and you can meet me downstairs when you're finished for breakfast."

"Alright," she said as she stood to her feet.  The room was still spinning slightly and Justin had to hold her waist to steady her.

"You good?" he asked after a few seconds.  Jordin nodded her head 'yes' and slowly began walking to the bathroom.  She reached the door and grabbed the knob and then turned around and asked,

"You said that you were gonna lay out some of your clothes for me; where are my clothes?"

"I sent them to be dry cleaned...you sort of made a mess."  Jordin groaned in embarrassment and nodded before thanking him and entering the restroom.  Great, if Justin didn't think she was an immature lightweight last night he definitely did now.  She couldn't believe that one glass of wine had this kind of effect on her.  All she wanted to do was take a long hot shower...preferably with him in there with her...  WHOA!  Where did that come from?  Jordin mentally scolded herself for thinking like that and then smirked.  Hey, a girl could dream right?  It didn't take her long to find towels and before long she was standing under the shower head letting the hot water wash away all traces of the previous evening.

~*~

Justin whistled along to Usher's 'You don't have to call' as he scrambled eggs for him and Jordin.  Maybe he should've asked her how she liked her eggs cooked...oh well.  Besides, who doesn't like scrambled eggs?  He was in the middle of chopping up the eggs when he heard his front door open.  This meant one of two things, a fanatic had found out where he lived and broken in, or his best friend would soon be gracing Justin with his presence in about ten seconds.

"Whoa!" Trace stated once he made his way to the kitchen, "Do my eyes deceive me or are you seriously up cooking breakfast?  And for me?" Trace asked once he saw the two plates Justin had laid out for himself and Jordin.

"Shut up asswipe, none of this is for you," Justin joked with a smile.  Trace walked over and gave him a manly hug before sitting in one of the barstools.

"Well if it's not for me, then who is it for?"  Trace asked, and before Justin could answer he blurted out, "Wait, is someone here?  Like a chick?  Did you hit it last night?"

"And you wonder why you're single," Justin said, shaking his head.  He turned off all the burners and washed his hands before grabbing some mugs and pouring coffee for himself and Jordin.

"You want some?" he offered to Trace.

"Naw, I'm cool.  But you never answered my question.  Did you have a chick over last night?"

"Yes, but it's not like that.  We went to the Red Cat last night since they had a live jazz band and it got late so we decided that it would be best if she just stayed the night and I'm gonna take her home after we eat."  Justin decided to leave out the part about Jordin getting sick, he didn't want to embarrass her before she met Trace.  Come to think of it, he was surprised that they hadn't met yet.  He shrugged, oh well, they'd meet today...maybe sooner than Justin expected.  Jordin sauntered into the kitchen at that moment, greeting both men with a smile.

"How was your shower?  Did you find everything ok?" Justin asked.

"Yeah, it was fine; I finished off your body wash so I'll get you another bottle."  Justin brushed it off.

"Don't worry about it, I was gonna buy some more the next time I went to the store.  You ready for breakfast?"  Jordin nodded her head 'yes' in response and walked over to him to fix her plate. 

"Well since Justin's being rude, I'll introduce myself," Trace said, extending a hand to shake Jordin.

"I'm Trace."

"Also known as my jackass best friend," Justin joked.

"I resent that, you're the jackass!" Trace shot back.

"Now now guys, let's save the fighting for after breakfast," Jordin joked, "And Justin, watch your language, that's no way to talk to your best friend," she said with a smile.  Trace wrapped an arm around her shoulder.

"I like this one," he beamed, "Don't do anything to mess this one up, J."  Both Jordin and Justin's eyes widened with Trace's last statement.

"No, no, it's not like that.  We're not dating," Jordin said, clearing up the situation.

"But Justin said that ya'll went out last night and you're standing here clothes that I'm gonna assume are his since they're like two sizes too big on you.  And ya'll are way too chummy for this to be a one-night-stand."

"We went to the jazz cafe to get ideas for her album.  This is Jordin Sparks, the latest American Idol; I'm producing her album."

"Oh!  I thought I recognized you from somewhere!" Trace exclaimed, "Well then why..."

"I spent the night because I had a bit too much to drink and Justin didn't want me to be at home by myself in case I got sick again," Jordin filled in, already knowing what he was thinking.

"Wow," was the only thing Trace could say.

"I know right?  He actually has a heart," Jordin said sarcastically.  Both Justin and Trace laughed at her comment.

"Nice one!" Trace said, connecting his fist with hers. 

"Whatever, lets just eat," Justin said before filling his plate with the various breakfast dishes he'd prepared. 

"So I know this question is gonna sound a little cliché, but how does it feel to be an American Idol?" Trace asked.  He'd grabbed a plate from one of the cabinets and was helping himself to the breakfast that Justin had cooked.

"It's still sinking in actually," Jordin began, "and I know that sounds cliché as well; but I still feel like that same small town girl who would meet up with my best friends at McDonald's for breakfast before school and here I am sitting here eating breakfast in Justin Timberlake's house."
"You say that like it's some sort of honor or something," Trace joked.  Justin threw a biscuit at his best friend and Jordin laughed.

"I didn't mean it like that, but it just feels weird, you know?  Not a bad feeling, just a different one," Jordin said before she ate a spoonful of oatmeal.

"It does take some getting used to, I mean you're hanging out with me everyday," Justin said jokingly.  Both Trace and Jordin rolled their eyes at his comment.

"Naw, I'm kidding," Justin continued, "but you will get used to all of this, especially with me and Trace here to help...well take that back about Trace, he may be a bad influence on you."  This comment merited a biscuit being thrown at him by his best friend.  The rest of the meal was finished in silence and it was decided that they'd take Trace's car to drop Jordin off at home and then he and Justin would be on their way to the William Rast office to go over some specifics about their upcoming fall line.  Both men walked Jordin to her door and told her to have a great day.

"I'll see you bright and early Monday morning ok?" Justin said, waving as he and Trace walked back to the car.

"And you sure you didn't hit that?" Trace asked as he navigated the vehicle on the freeway.

"What?  No man!  Why would you ask that?"

"Well you obviously want to, I could feel the tension in the room while we ate; you could cut it with a butterknife."

"I don't know what you're talking about, man," Justin replied.

"You can fake the funk all you want, but I can see it.  Did you at least kiss her?"  Justin hesitated before he answered.

"Yeah, we sort of kissed."

"Sort of kissed!?!"

~*~

"Yeah, we sort of kissed," Jordin confirmed.  She was on the phone with her best friend of a decade Isabella.

"Ok, you either kissed or you didn't, there's no in-between hun."

"Well I guess we kissed then, Bella."  Jordin had to pull the phone away from her ear when her best friend squealed loudly.

"Ohmygosh!  How was it?  Is he a good kisser?"

"Ok, one question at a time, sweetheart.  Now, you asked me how the kiss was and honestly I can't really say.  It was one of those feather light kisses, one of those that you aren't sure are real; but I guess it still left me breathless...and also nauseas."

"He made you sick?" Bella asked.

"No, the wine did; for some odd reason I was some kind of light-weight last night.  Red wine usually doesn't do that to me, but I got sick...I actually ended staying at his place last night."

"What!?!" Bella screamed.

"It wasn't like that, he didn't want me by myself in case I got sick again."

"So you slept over, like in a guest room or in his room."

"What would you say if I told you I slept in his arms?" Jordin asked gingerly.

"ARE YOU SERIOUS?!"  Once again Jordin had to take the phone away from her ear because of her friend's screaming.

"Ya'll slept in bed together?" Bella asked.

"Yeah, he wanted to make sure that he be there if I got sick again, wanted to make sure I was ok."

"So did anything happen?"

"Nope, when I woke up this morning I had on some of his clothes and he had on sweatpants."

"Wait, you changed clothes?" Bella questioned.

"Yeah, he said that I sort of made a mess on myself...I know, gross right?"

"Yeah, just a bit.  But he gave some of his clothes to put on, that was sweet."

"Yeah, and I'm not sure, but I think he changed me too," Jordin heard her best friend gasp and quickly added, "but I still had on my underwear so if he did change me he didn't see much."

"I still can't get over the fact that ya'll slept together."

~*~

"In the literal sense of the word," Justin reiterated, "We didn't have sex, Trace."

"But you wanted to," Trace stated plainly.  Justin's jaw dropped when his best friend said that.

"And don't think of denying it, I can tell by the look in you eyes, Timberlake."

"Maybe I did, but who cares."

"You do realize that she's younger than you right?"

"Yeah, but she's legal; you act like she's 15."

"She may be legal, but just barely.  She just turned 18 at the end of the show man.  You're still robbing the cradle.  And even if you weren't, you're her producer.  You can't sleep with your co-workers."

"That's only in white-collar jobs.  We're in the music industry, those rules don't matter."

"Yes they do!" Trace exclaimed, "What if things don't work out?  How awkward would it be to work together everyday if ya'll got together and then break up.  And you know chicks take it harder than us...plus she's younger, man.  At least give her some time to mature before you go dating the girl."

"So you say it would be better if she was older?"

"Hell yeah, give her some time to mature both in life and in this music industry; at least that's my opinion," Trace said, shrugging.  Justin often teased his best friend about the way he handled the ladies, but Trace had a point this time.  What would the public say if he started dating Jordin?  They'd tear her apart, saying that she only got with Justin to get ahead in the music game and that he was a cradle robber.  This time the double standard was affecting him negatively.