Chapter Six

It's not a silly little moment

It's not the storm before the calm

Jordin hummed along to John Mayer's track while she painted her toenails.  She'd hit a mental block while writing a song and thought that it would be best to take her mind off of it, let the inspiration come to her instead of the other way around.  And what better way to do that than listen to Mr. Mayer's latest live album and paint her little piggys?  John had just started his guitar solo when her phone vibrated, indicating she had a text message.

{Hey beautiful, what are you up to?}

Jordin grinned and hit ‘Reply'.

{Painting my toesies and listening to Mayer.  I hit a brick wall with my song. :( }

She sent the text to Justin and finished polishing her big toe, waiting for her phone to ring.  See, Justin had this thing he did, he'd text her or whoever and if they responded quickly he'd call them and if it took them a while to respond then he'd have a text conversation with them.  This habit made Jordin laugh at first but now she knew that he only did it because he'd rather talk than text most people.

Where do we go?

Who knows?

But each day gets better.

I just can't let her go, oh no.

Each kiss gets sweeter,

I just can't leave her, no.

Jordin listened to his ringtone for a bit before answering.

"Hey babe."

"Hey, were you busy?  I can call you back."

"Nope, I changed your ringtone and wanted to let it play for a bit," she said with a small laugh.

"Wow," he chuckled, "Only you, girl, only you.  So what song is it now?"

"Each day gets better by John Legend," she replied.  Jordin went through like panty hose.  Every couple of weeks she'd change them out, and not just one or two but all the ringtones.  It made Justin laugh, kept him young.

"Why is it that you always have one of their songs as ringtones for me?  Why not one of my own songs?" he asked.

"Because I want real music on my phone," she replied jokingly.  Justin scoffed.

"Excuse me!"

"I'm kidding!  I'm kidding!" she exclaimed, "I didn't want it to be so obvious."

"Oh ok," he replied sarcastically.

"Aww!  Are you jealous?" she teased in a baby voice. 

"No," he said, but she heard the pout in his voice.

"Aww, babe.  You know you're the one I come home to every night..."

"Actually you go home to your manager," Justin interjected.

"You know what I mean boy," Jordin chuckled, "Now I know you didn't call me to talk about your current ringtone, so what's up?"

"Oh yeah!  So there's this little party at Johnny's this weekend..."

"Umm hmm, I got the invitation yesterday," Jordin said softly.

"Well I was wondering if you wanted to go with me."

Like as a couple?"

"Well yeah, I guess."

"Really?  Like for real?"

"Yes Valley Girl, I'm for real," Justin laughed.

"Shut up!" Jordin chided, "I don't sound like a Valley girl."

"You did just then.  But that's beside the point; do you want to go with me?"

"I'd love to," Jordin said with the biggest grin on her face.

"Are you smiling, babe? I can hear it in your tone."

"Yes, gosh am I that obvious?" she giggled.

"Yep, but I think it's cute."

"Well I think you're cute," she said, her tone getting lower and huskier.  She didn't know how he did it, how he could turn her on with just his words, and over the phone no less.

"And I think you're beautiful," he replied in a velvet tone.

"Well this beautiful girlfriend thinks her cute boyfriend should come and see her because she misses him."

"I have a better idea, how about you come over here and I'll fix us some supper?"

"Supper?  Really Justin?  Southern much?"  Both of them laughed before she said, "I'm on my way now."  They hung up and Jordin powered down her laptop before grabbing her purse, keys and a pashmina before telling Janet that she was going to Justin's for a bit and leaving. 

~*~

Justin was flittering around the kitchen gathering all of the ingredients he'd need for that night's meal when his home phone started ringing.

"Hello."

"Wow, someone's in a chipper mood."  Justin laughed at his manager's choice of words.

"You could say that," he replied chuckling, "So to what do I owe the pleasure of this call, Johnny?"

"I was just calling around to finish up the guest list.  I wasn't sure if you were bringing a guest or not."

"I am, but she's already on the guest list so you won't have to worry about preparing for another person."

"Alright, well that's one down and like 150 more to go," Johnny said with a slight laugh, "Hey Justin, I have a quick question."

"Shoot."

"Are you bringing who I think you're bringing?"

"Who do you think I'm bringing?" Justin asked.

"Jordin."

"Oh, well yeah, that's who I'm bringing."

"Are the two of you dating?" Johnny questioned.  Justin didn't want to lie to him but he also wasn't ready for their relationship to go public yet.  Johnny sensed the hesitance in his answer and spoke before his client could.

"You don't have to answer that now, but I do want to remind you that those kinds of relationships are frowned upon, Justin."

"I know."

"Do you really though?  I'm not trying to tell you what to do with your lives, but if word got out that you two were a bit more than studio friends it could be career suicide for her." 

"I know," Justin responded, sighing heavily.  He was starting to rethink his decision of going to the party with Jordin now.   

"Ok, well I don't want to keep you; I'll see you at the party."

"Alright, bye," Justin said, hanging up the phone.  He placed the cordless device back in its cradle and leaned against the island.  He couldn't do this to her, couldn't do this to her career...especially not before it really started.  But what was he going to do?  He'd already asked her...it's not like he could take back his words...

~*~

Jordin was listening to the latest Danity Kane album as she drove the 20 minute trek to Justin's house.  It felt amazing outside and she was tempted to let the top down on her Mustang, but decided to just ride with the windows down. 

"Left turn ahead."

Chuckling, Jordin adjusted the volume on her TomTom navigator; she never was good with directions.   She should know how to get to his place by now; she'd been there enough times.  She turned up the volume on her stereo and sang along with girls.  ‘Sucka for Love' was currently playing and there couldn't have been a more perfect song for the mood she was in.  Things were going good with Justin, better than good actually.  Things were great between them and they were going to go public this weekend at Johnny's party.  They would walk the carpet and for the first time there would be pictures of them as a couple.  Jordin couldn't stop the smile that was growing on her face.  She pulled in front of Justin's gate and pressed the intercom buzzer.  After a few moments she heard his voice.

"Hello."

"Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles, I have your order," she said brightly.  Justin laughed.

"I hope you didn't bring food, I spent all day slaving over this hot stove for you."  It was Jordin's turn to laugh.

"Hush boy, and let me in."  Justin did as he was told and was waiting for Jordin when she walked up the steps to his front door.

"Hey gorgeous," he said, enveloping her in his arms.

"Hey yourself," she grinned, her body melding into his.

"How was your day?" he asked, loosening the embrace and wrapping an arm around her shoulders.

"Pretty good, I've been writing...or at least trying to," she replied as he closed the door behind them and led her to the kitchen.

"Mmm, it smells amazing in here; what did you cook?"

"Spaghetti and garlic bread, something simple and quick."

"Texas toast?" Jordin asked, her eyes hopeful.

"Yes, I remember that that's your favorite," he replied, smiling down at her.  She leaned up on her toes and placed a sweet kiss on his lips.

"I knew I kept you around for something," she whispered against his lips.  She kissed him once more before walked over to the stove and peeked under the lid at the pasta.

"Mmm.  I'm starving, lets eat," Jordin said before maneuvering her way around the kitchen and locating dishes and utensils for them.  She fixed both plates and carried them over to the island, placing Justin's plate in front of him before digging into her own plate.  Justin didn't follow in her actions.

"What's wrong babe?  You didn't poison the food did you?" she asked jokingly.  Justin didn't laugh.  He wasn't sure how he was going to phrase his next statement.

"Wait, I was kidding about the poison...but you didn't do that right?"

"No," he said, shaking his head, "But I do need to talk to you about something."

"Ok, speak."

"I think it would be best if you were seated for this." And away from the kitchen knives.  Justin left out that last thought.

"You're not pregnant are you?  Because if so, it isn't mine," she chuckled, still trying to make the situation light.  But she did have a point, they hadn't slept together, in that since, yet.  Justin chuckled, that was one of the things he loved about her; she was a jokester and would try to ease tension with comedy.

"No, I'm not pregnant," he said, moving their plates aside and grabbing her by the waist and placing her on the island.

"Wow, you were serious when you said I should have a seat huh?" she said as she pulled him between her legs.  She cupped his face in her hands and was pulling him in for a kiss when she felt his hands wrap around her wrists.

"I have to talk to you about something."

"Ok," she replied, noticing his serious tone.

"You know Johnny's party?"

"Yeah, what about it?  Are you concerned about what we're going to wear?  Is that what this is about?" she said with a grin, "Don't worry, I don't want to be all matchy-matchy so you won't have to worry about another denim fiasco," she said, referring to the matching all denim outfit he did with Britney a few years back.  Justin laughed with her.

"No, that's not what I'm concerned about."  Justin cleared his throat.

"How would you feel about walking down the carpet separately, like arriving in different cars and everything."

"As if we weren't there together?" Jordin inquired, her mood darkening.

"Sort of...well yeah."

"And I'm guessing that you don't want to be seen with me inside too often either, so people wouldn't get too suspicious, right?"  Justin lowered his head and sighed.  This is the exact thing that he was trying to prevent.  She was upset and it was his fault.

"You're sending me mixed signals.  You either want to be with me or you don't Justin, it's as simple as that."

"You know I want to be with you."

"Just not in public right?"

"It's not like that and you know it."

"Really?  So you're not ashamed of me and don't want the rest of the world to know about me?"

"No, you know I'm not ashamed of you."

"You're not?  Well I definitely couldn't tell," she scoffed.

"I'm doing this for you..."

"Let me guess, for my career right?" she said in a patronizing tone, "I'm so sick of that bullshit excuse Justin!"  Jordin pushed him out of her way and hopped down off of the counter.

"I'm so sick of everyone and their moms making decisions about my career!  I don't give two shits what other people think, and I expected that much, if not more from you of all people!" she said, punctuating the last five words by poking him squarely on the chest. 

"I do..."

"Do you really?" Jordin asked, cutting him off mid-sentence, "because with this stunt you just pulled, you're just as bad as everyone else.  Well I'm going to make this easier on you, don't worry about Saturday.  You won't have to worry about pretending that there's nothing going on between us because from this moment on..."  Justin grabbed her face in his hands and crushed his lips against hers.  Damn, it was hard to stop this girl once she got going.  She was feisty and he almost felt bad that he was getting turned on by her chastising.  Jordin tried to pull away but his hold was too strong...and honestly she didn't want to.  That boy knew how to work his lips!  They finally separated for some much needed air but his lips never left her body.  He kissed her cheeks, her chin and worked his way down to her neck.

"You were saying something?" he asked between pecks.

"Jerk," she all but moaned, "You get on my nerves."

"Do I really?" he smirked, "I'm sorry.  About it all," he said, pausing his actions and standing up with his blues boring into her chocolate eyes.

"I'm just really concerned about your career, babe."  Jordin sighed heavily.

"And you think I'm not?  I worry just as much as everyone else does, but if people stop listening to my music and judging my talent because of who I'm dating then they were never really fans from the jump."  She had a point and Justin had to acknowledge that.

"You're right."

"I know I am," she said with a slight smile, "So are we still on for Saturday?"

"Yes ma'am we are."

"Good, because I was gonna be pissed if you were questioning this relationship right when I was getting comfortable," she said before giving him a quick peck on the lips and grabbing her plate.