Grace stood slack jawed in front of the rental car, looking at the damage Justin had incurred on his drunken escapade.

            Justin giggled, ‘Hope they got insurance’

            As she slowly walked around SUV taking inventory of the damage, Grace couldn’t help but admire the fact that, though she was afraid to light a match within five feet of him, Justin had managed to drive back to her place and arrive without a scratch on him. The car, however, hadn’t been so lucky. With one of its headlights smashed in, a missing driver side mirror, a hood that looked like a sumo wrestler had used it as a trampoline, and the paint job with more scratches than a bathroom stall door, the poor Navigator had seen better times. Grace slowly shook her head,

            ‘Honey, I don’t think GEICO could insure this.’

            He shrugged and fumbled his way into the passenger seat.

            Grace sighed sent up a silent prayer before hopping in the beaten driver side door. As she turned the key in the ignition, the engine gave wet, emphysema-like cough and stilled. After a couple more tries, Grace groaned and let her head fall onto the steering wheel.

            ‘Here, lemme try.’

            Justin slowly leaned over, intentionally crowding Grace, making her push back into the drivers seat as far as possible. He locked eyes with her and turned the key, the engine springing back to life.

            ‘I always did have the magic touch.’

            Grace scoffed, ‘Or so you think.’

            ‘You didn’t seem to mind when I – ‘

            Grace quickly reached over and pressed the radio button, drowning Justin out with the heavy bass of the hip hop music. He gave a small triumphant smirk at her discomfort and leaned back into his seat. By the time they pulled onto the highway ten minutes later, her head was pounding to the beat of Drop It Like It’s Hot and she was irritated as hell. Quickly glancing at Justin sleeping in the passenger side, Grace turned to a classical station to try to relax.

            Oh you have GOT to be kidding me.

            Grace’s hand shot towards the radio to turn off the all too familiar tune, but was knocked away by Justin. His bloodshot eyes turned to her, looking glassy and far away.

            ‘Hey, this is our song.’

.           She rolled her eyes, ‘We don’t have a song, Timberlake.’

            ‘That’s what you think. After you left, I couldn’t listen to this song without crying. You know, I can’t even watch Ocean’s Eleven anymore and that’s our favorite movie.’

            ‘Oh woe is you.’

            He ignored her comment and closed his eyes, listening to the song. As the song ended, he opened his eyes to look back at her, giving the soft, gentile smile that his fans went crazy for.

            ‘I’d give anything for you to play that for  me again.’

            Grace stayed silent and kept her eyes focused on the road. She hated that smile. That smile she used to fall for each time. That smile that made her feel special and intimate with him in ways she couldn’t explain.

            ‘CeCe?’

            ‘No.’

            ‘Why not?’

            ‘Because I said so, Justin’

            ‘’S not an answer.’

            ‘Well, that’s the one you’re getting.’

            ‘Did you forget the song?’

Justin smirked as her jaw clinched in annoyance and watched as the speedometer crept to 80 mph.

‘Did you forget how to play?’

80 became 85.

 ‘Or better yet did you lose your violin?’

85 went up to 90.

‘Or is it because deep down you’re still not over me?’

‘AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!’

Grace violently turned the wheel, barely missing a lone Toyota, and flew across five lanes before screeching to a halt in the emergency lane with Justin screaming the whole way.

‘I AM SO SICK OF YOU!!! Why can’t you just shut the FUCK up and let me drive, huh?!?! You wanna know why I can’t play that damn song for you? Huh, do you? Cause I have RESPOSI-FUCKIN-BILITIES!! I needed money for rent and either I had to pawn the damn violin or we’d get kicked out. And I REFUSE to go down that road again, so I made the choice and now I have a home for the next month, okay? Okay?!? Now you know, so why don’t you just sit over there and let me enjoy the fuckin silence.’

            Justin, eyes wide and mouth slightly ajar, nodded and looked down, quietly absorbing what she’d just said.

            ‘THANK you. God!’ said Grace before taking a few calming breaths and edging back out into the freeway.

            After another ten minutes of silence, Grace began to see signs for Downtown and realized she had no idea where she was going. She took a deep breath and glanced over.

            ‘Where are you staying?’

            ‘Who’s we?’

            Grace paused, ‘Huh?’

            ‘You said we’d be kicked out. Who’s we?’

            ‘Justin…’

            ‘We’ll trade’

            She looked over again to see Justin set his mouth and weighed the options in her head.

            ‘Fine. We is myself and Luc, the man that I love.’

            Justin fell silent.

            ‘Well, which hotel?’

            Grace turned to watch Justin looking out the window, the glass reflecting his crestfallen look.

            After a stretch of silence, he whispered, ‘The Hilton’

            ‘Ok, what room number’

            He shrugged.

            ‘What name did you use for the reservations?’

            He shrugged again.

            She nodded and aimed towards the luxurious oasis situated in the heart of downtown Miami.  Inwardly, she gave a bitter laugh. Of all the hotels in the huge downtown area, he would pick the where she worked as a maid. Hell, come morning she’d probably have to clean his suite. Sometimes she’s hated life’s ironies.

            As Grace rode down Biscayne Boulevard, she smiled as she contemplated dropping Justin’s drunk ass off at the brightly lit front entrance of the hotel where the paparazzi would snap a million photos of him falling out of the car and passing out in the lobby. Her joy slowly died, however, as she thought of the embarrassment, the weeks of tabloid fodder, and all the shit Justin’s people would have to wade though to patch up his image. Damn her conscience. She sighed in longing as the beautiful glass castle came into view. Ever since she came to Miami, she had dreamed of watching the sun rise over the city through the panoramic windows in the lavish suites she cleaned on a daily basis, but her life had always been more pauper than prince. Grace morosely turned and went around to the hidden employees entrance in back.

            She turned to poke him in the arm.

            ‘Hey, wake up. We’re here.’

            Justin groaned and curled further into the seat.

            She poked him again with more force.

            ‘WAKE UP!”

            Justin rolled farther away from her and gave a garbled, ‘No, Don’t wanna.’

            Grace jumped out of the driver seat and gave the door a slam, hoping the noise would wake him up. Justin laid there, deaf to the world, annoying her even further. Wrenching open the passenger side door, Grace grunted as she tried to pull Justin out of the car, practically dislocating his arm.

            His eyes opened a crack.

            ‘Oooooowwwww.’

            ‘Come on, Justin. I’m sure Trace is worried sick about you.’

            ‘Trace dosssn’t care. He let me lose you.’

            Grace paused, took a deep breath, then pulled Justin out of his seat and onto his feet, staggering with his weight.

            Justin suddenly grasped her chin in his hand and looked into her eyes.

            ‘You are such a beautiful person.’

            Then his forehead fell to her shoulder as he emptied his stomach all over her tank top.

            Thirty minutes later, Grace knocked on the door marked 1108 which was immediately opened by an anxious Trace.

            ‘Lose something?’