By now Jamie knew that the guys were there, and she was still too shocked to move. Chris spotted her just sitting there, and so he made his way over and picked her up into a hug.

      “Hey James, how are you doing?” He asked, noting that she looked wonderful, and full of life.

      “I’m great Chris, how about you?” He answered her and then glanced at the bathroom door and worried aloud about Justin.

      “Chris, this isn’t about me, is it?” concern crossed the young girls face, and the thought of lying crossed Chris’ mind, but he knew that she would see right through it.

      “Um…let’s go outside for a bit. We’ll talk.” Jamie nodded and followed Chris outside, after saying hi to the rest of the guys.

Chris thrust his hands deep into his pockets and rocked back and fourth on his heels. Jamie had started biting at her bottom lip, anxiously awaiting Chris’ explanation.

      “So, how have you been Jamie?” She was shocked by the question, because she was expecting an answer to this madness, but she decided to play along.

      “I’ve been doing really well. My dad got himself a new job, and that’s why we’re in Memphis again. He makes enough so we can afford a small apartment, and he even has a car. I got myself a job at a small diner called ‘Momma’s Southern Grits.’ I also got a small gig singing at a local bar. Thing are really looking up Chris.” The man’s features softened when he heard this confession. He had known about Jamie’s situation, and how hard it had been for her and her father. He was genuinely happy to hear that they were getting along just fine.

      “That’s great James. I’m truly glad to hear that.” He shuffled his feet a bit, not sure how to approach the subject, but he needn’t have worried, because Jamie took care of that for him.

      “Chris, when I left Justin at the air port, I didn’t know it would tear him apart like that. I assumed that his mother had talked him into apologizing to me and that’s why he was there. I never expected to hear him confess feelings for me, and I got scared. He’s gonna be all right though, isn’t he?”

Chris cleared his throat and took a moment before he answered. He didn’t want to make his best friend sound like a psychopath, but he did want Jamie to understand Justin a little better.

      “James, Justin is a very passionate person, and he rarely shows that passion on a personal level. Professionally, we see that every day. That boy has more talent and love for his music than anyone I’ve ever known. And he gladly displays it for the world to see.” He paused for a second before continuing.

      “What you don’t see a lot from Justin is his personal feelings. He likes to keep it all to himself. Sometimes, though, those feelings get to be too much. I think that he had fallen for you from the moment he laid eyes on you, but he was too scared and emotionally beat up to want to do anything about it. So he sat on them. He let those feelings fester and grow until he couldn’t take it anymore. The day he realized he needed you, was the day you walked away."

He stopped too see if she was understand all of this, and when he looked into her eyes he noted the smallest trace of tears.

      “I don’t think he meant to scare you Jamie, but he did, didn’t he?” She nodded slowly, looking at anything but him.

      “I didn’t know what to say. I wanted to melt right there in his arms when he kissed me, but-“

      “He kissed you?” Jamie wasn’t sure if it was the tone of voice or the dropped jaw that indicated that Justin had kept a few secrets about that night.

      “He had asked me to stay, and when I tried to explain that I couldn’t make heads or tales of my feelings, he didn’t let me finish and he kissed me. God, it was the best kiss I have ever had.” She brought her hand up to her mouth and ran a finger lightly across her lips as she relived that moment again. Chris cleared his throat and racked his brain for something to say. Apparently Justin had fallen much harder than he had assumed.

He was about to say something when a rather muscular male came charging out the door and headed straight in their direction. He bypassed Chris and went right to Jamie and turned her around.

      “James is everything OK?” He had that big brother, protective boyfriend type vibe, and Chris wondered if the situation could get any worse.

      “Yeah, Luke it’s fine. Um…Chris, this is my best friend, Luke. And Luke, this is Chris Kirkpatrick from *NSYNC.” Luke reached out his hand and shook with Chris.

      “All right, what’s going on here?” He glanced back and fourth between Chris and James and waited for an explanation.

      “I think I better give you the Reader’s Digest version. Otherwise, we could be here for a long time.” Jamie sat down on the curb and began to describe what had gone down in Orlando, and just now in the restaurant. He watched as Luke’s face hardened as Jamie described Justin’s coldness and then the meeting at the airport. “So now he’s in the bathroom doing God knows what because he saw me here tonight.”

Before anyone could stop him, Luke stood up and headed back inside. Right away both Chris and Jamie knew where he was going, but it was too late to stop him, and to be honest, neither of them wanted to try.

Luke knocked on the bathroom door, and when there was no answer he swung the door open and looked around. He spotted Justin sitting on the floor across the small room, his back up against the wall.

Justin looked up when the door opened and when he realized it was the man he saw Jamie with, a pang of jealousy went right through his heart. He didn’t know why he felt this way, but it was there, and it wasn’t helping the mood.

      Luke held his hand down and helped Justin up. He didn’t miss the redness that settled around his eyes, and he was aware that Justin had been crying.

      “Who might you be?” Justin asked, splashing cold water on his face, hoping to hide the signs of distress.

      “Luke Benson. I’m Jamie’s-“

      “Boy friend, I know.” Justin turned quickly when he heard Luke’s laughter ring through out the room.

      “Slow down there Killer. I’m not her boyfriend. Believe me, I love James and all, but she’s like my little sister and there’s no way in Hell I would ever date her.” He chuckled again, and this made Justin angry.

      “Why? What’s wrong with her?” He didn’t know why he was fighting this man in a restroom in Memphis, but he was. If it had been any other time, he would laugh, but right now he wasn’t in the laughing mood.

      “There’s nothing wrong with Jamie, just trust me when I tell you that nothing could ever happen between us. Man, she’s my best friend, and I would die for her, but there’s no competition here. She’s all yours.” Justin did laugh at that, but it was a bitter sound.

      “I don’t think Jamie wants me…She made that very clear when she walked away from me.” Justin stared down at the floor and Luke wanted to slap him silly for being so naive.

      “Can I say something?” He didn’t wait for an answer, he just continued. “Now, I don’t want to sound like a prick or anything…well, actually Yes, I do. You’re completely blind and incredibly stupid, if you ask me.” Justin’s jaw fell to the floor and he was about to stand up and argue, but Luke didn’t give him a chance.

“Humor me for a minute, will ya? Now, if you were an eighteen year old girl from a small southern town, and you have just moved to a huge city to pursue a career that you had no clue about, wouldn’t that intimidate you a little? And if you were stuck living with five guys, one of which wouldn’t give you the time of day, I can bet you’d feel a little awkward. And to top it all off, if you finally decided that you didn’t fit in there, and you had made up your mind to leave, that same guy that called you a WHORE decided to chase you down at the air port and give you one of the most passionate kisses you’ve ever had. Now if you weren’t COMPLETELY and utterly scared by that, then by God you must have nerves of steel.” 

“I wasn’t trying to scare Jamie; I just didn’t want her to leave.” Justin had started pacing a few minutes ago, and Luke grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him lightly.     

      “Justin, you’re an idiot! If you thought that you weren’t going to confuse the Hell out of Jamie, or that she wouldn’t be the tiniest bit upset by your actions, then you must live under a damn rock! No woman likes to be mauled by Justin Tim….ok, so there may be some that would, but that’s beside the point.”  He let go of Justin’s shoulders when he threw him a dirty look.

      “Whatever…She never made any attempt to contact me, and she didn’t look very happy to see me here tonight.” He huffed and Luke was amazed at how much of a brat this guy was.

      “Justin, you never made an attempt to stop her after your little confession and you never tried to call her. And I don’t think it was you being here that upset James, I think it was the way you were acting. She’s a smart girl and she knows her manners. Give her a little credit here.” He waited for a rebuttal and when the man was silent, Luke gave up.

      “Whatever. You’re here now, and so is she…I suggest you two grow up a bit and talk to each other. Either kiss and make up or end things for good, but don’t let this thing fester because it’s getting old, REAL fast.”

Justin lay back on his hotel bed with a heavy sigh. It had been a long day and all he wanted to do was sleep, but that wasn’t going to happen any time soon. The advice that Luke had given him was now swimming through his head at an alarming rate, and he couldn’t seem to find the solution to his problems. He knew exactly what he wanted to do, and that was to go up to Jamie and confess everything that had been plaguing him for the past year. But it wasn’t that simple, not by a long shot.

He had no idea how Jamie felt about all of this, and that was the hardest part. If he knew what she was feeling, then he would know what to say. But, then again, if he knew what she had been feeling that day at the airport, this could have been avoided a long time ago.

He sat up and ran his hands over his face roughly, hoping maybe that would help, but all it accomplished was adding to his headache and his frustrations. With something that resembled a primal grunt, he threw the pillow across the room and watched as it thudded against the deep red walls. He looked around the room and wondered what he was doing in this place. This place with its expensive silk sheets, and it’s fully stocked bar. Where he really wanted to be more than anywhere in the world right now, was in an old colonial house with high ceilings and the fresh smell of peach cobbler teasing his senses.

Letting out another sigh he made his way into the bathroom and got ready for bed. Losing out on sleep wouldn’t help any in his attempt to gain Jamie’s trust, and scaring her away because he looked like a zombie wasn’t a good idea either.

Saturday, a day of rest, relaxation and cool, tall, glasses of lemonade to wet the lips and take some bite out of the sun. That was what Saturdays were made of…usually. This Saturday was different, and Jamie cursed the day Justin Timberlake walked into her life and stole her heart.

She had fought with herself for most of the night, and she felt like crap right now. After her whole struggle with falling asleep, she hadn’t come to any more of a conclusion than before. And the only thing she knew right now was that Justin Timberlake was probably the most confusing guy she had ever laid eyes on.

She was beginning to believe her previous accusation that Justin was bipolar because of the way his emotions shifted. Chris had assured her that he wasn’t, but she wasn’t so sure anymore. The one decision she had made, was that they needed to talk. As much as she hated the thought of being alone in a room with him…Aw, who was she kidding? Just the thought of being alone with him, and having his attention fully tuned on her was enough to make her tingle.

She shook her head and decided that today they needed to talk. They had put this off for long enough, and it was time that they lay it all out on the table and go from there. She sighed and plopped heavily on her bed. She had made her decision, now all she needed to do was track down the guys and get Justin alone. But that…was easier said than done.

Chris snapped his cell phone shut and smiled. He glanced across the room and spotted Justin bopping his head along to the music from his headphones. He checked his watched and figured he had to keep the boy occupied for about ten more minutes. Luke had just called and said that he had Jamie and was on his way.

The two men had put their heads together and decided that the two love birds needed a little push in the right direction. He smiled again and watched Justin. Making eye contact with Lance he motioned the man over and whispered his plan.

      “Dude, Luke is on his way with Jamie, so in about ten minutes you need to clear out. We’re gonna accidentally lock Justin and James in this room together until they realize that they need each other.” Lance chuckled when he head their plan.

      “Don’t you think that Justin will be a little pissed? I mean, he isn’t too keen on being locked in a room for any amount of time. You figured that one out that one night on the bus when you “accidentally” locked him in the bathroom.” Chris grew an impish grin and raised an eyebrow.

      “It was an accident, I swear.”

      “Just like it was a coincidence that MTV was filming us on the bus that day…right?” Chris laughed evilly again and Lance shook his head and walked away. Truthfully, Chris scared him sometimes.

A few minutes later there was a knock on the door and Chris nodded to Lance. Lance casually made his way to the outside exit, and slipped out unseen. Chris opened the door to reveal Luke holding tightly onto Jamie’s hand.

      “You got the goods?” Chris whispered conspiratorially. Luke nodded and Chris opened the door wider and let the two slip in.

      “What is this about? Luke, I thought you were taking me out to lunch. What are we…?” Her sentence trailed off as she noticed Justin and she knew that they had been set up.  She whipped around quickly and saw the retreating form of Luke slip out the door. She lunged at him but the door shut and locked with a click.

By now Justin had realized that something was going on, and he had shut off his walkman. When he realized that he and Jamie were now alone, his heart started to beat faster and he suddenly forgot everything he wanted to say.

It was quiet in the room for a moment until someone pounded on the outside of the door and yelled through the wooded barricade.

      “I don’t hear any talking in there! You two aren’t going anywhere until you kiss and make up. And Justin, I want you to put that tongue of yours to good use, and really kiss and make up…if you know what I mean.” Both Jamie and Justin rolled their eyes at Chris’ comment, but the intrusion had seemed to break the tension, somewhat.

Jamie crossed the room and sat down on the couch. She stared up at Justin and waited. When he looked everywhere but at her, she cleared her throat and decided it was her turn to start.

      “Justin…you scared me.” His head came up sharply, but he waited for her to finish, his bright eyes watching her very closely. “I had all but given up on trying to understand you, and just when I think I know what I want, and know what’s good for me…you come along and change all that. I wanted to leave without a scene, I wanted to leave thinking that the feelings I had for you were unjustified, and that I should just move on. I had almost made it too, but when I say you sitting there at the air port, I knew that no matter what I did, there was no way I would be able to let you go. But then, when you kissed me and told me what you were feeling, the exact same way I was… I ran.” She paused for a second and Justin felt that he had to say something. Although, the words he chose weren’t exactly the right words for the situation.

      “I noticed.”

      “Don’t go making me out to be the bad guy here. Both of us held feelings from the other, and I know that it scared you too Justin. So don’t go making me look like the bitch that walked away. I was so damn scared about what all this meant, and I had to get away.” She laughed bitterly and then continued. “You know, I was even stupid enough to stop in the skyway and wait for you to come running after me. But you never did. I waited, and almost missed my flight because I was foolish enough to think that you might want me as much as I wanted you.”

By now the tears had come out in full force, and although Jamie wasn’t trying to make Justin feel guilty, she was doing a damned good job of it. “Was I wrong it that assumption Justin? Was it just my imagination when you kissed me? Or were you really there?” She had stood up forcefully and now she waited for his answer.

“James, you walked away from me! How was I supposed to know that you wanted me to come running after you when you didn’t give me any sort of hint as to what you were feeling? God, you expect me to know exactly what you want, but to be completely honest, I don’t even know what I want! The only thing I know right now; is that I’m so damn confused about this whole thing, I don’t know which way is up anymore.”

It grew silent for a moment while they digested the information they had just received. After a few moments, Jamie let out a large sigh and plopped herself down on the sofa behind her.

      “I didn’t come here to yell at you, and I didn’t come here for you to yell at me.  I thought maybe we could talk things out, but again….I was wrong.”  Jamie closed her eyes after she finished speaking, feeling that familiar sting of tears threatening to fall.

Justin watched her from across the room, he knew she was going to cry and he wanted to stop it, but he didn’t know how.

      “What can I do fix this?” His voice was rough when he spoke, and Jamie thought he was going to cry too.

      “Be honest with me Justin.”

It was a simple request, but one that scared Justin more than he wanted to admit.  She was asking him to let it all go and lay it all out.  The last time he opened up to someone about his feelings, he ended up a wreck.  It was hard enough rebuilding after that breakup, but he knew that if he allowed himself to really, truly fall for Jamie, then he would be giving up a much larger portion of his heart.

He was scared.

The silence in the room stretched into minutes, and after a while of nothing but unsteady breathing, Jamie decided that she couldn’t wait any longer.

      “I’m going to take this silence as you’re answer, and I’m going to leave you alone now.  Have fun in Memphis, tell your Mom I said hi…”  She trailed off uncertainly.  This wasn’t what she wanted to be doing, but he was giving her no other choice.  Shakily, she stood from the couch and made her way over to the door. She was just about to reach for the handle when Justin cried out.

      “No!” 

It was as if the spell over him had been broken, and seeing Jamie almost walk out the door made him realize that it was much worse to lose her before he even got a chance to have her.

      “James, please, don’t leave.  I…just stay.”  He watched her as she stood at the door, her back to him.  He saw her shoulders rise as she took a deep breath and slowly turned around.

Tears stained her face as she fought for composure.  Justin hesitated, not know if he should go to her, before his heart won out.  He closed the space between them, gently wiping the tears off her cheeks and leading her back to the couch.

      “I’m sorry.” He whispered.  Jamie sat stiffly next to him, wanting to give into it all but afraid that he would pull away again.

      “Be honest with me Justin…just tell me what you’re thinking.”

Taking a deep breath, Justin prayed for strength as he started to speak.

      “You terrified me, James.  From the moment you walked into the room in Orlando, I’ve been completely captivated by you, and that was something I was fighting for control over.”

Jamie turned to watch him as he spoke, shocked by his confessions, but relieved at the same time.

“Before you came down to Orlando, I had recently broken up with my girlfriend of over a year.  I thought she was the one James, and I thought that I loved her enough to make it work.  I guess she had other plans.  When you arrived with Chris, I wanted nothing to do with you, simply because you made me feel again.  I wanted to be numb, I wanted to forget, and I certainly didn’t want to fall for someone else.  But you changed that, and it scared me.  I had never met someone that could make me feel like you do James, and I didn’t know how to handle that, so I did my best to push you away.”

He stopped, not really sure what else he should say.  Jamie’s eyes were focused on the floor, her hands twisting each other in a nervous gesture.  The longer she stayed quiet, the more Justin started to fear her answer.

      “James…say something, please.”

It seemed like ages for her deep blue eyes to turn and look into his, and even longer for her to start speaking.

      “I suppose the two of us are on the same boat.”  She started slowly, not really sure of what she wanted to say, but knowing that she was ready to be honest with Justin.

      “I saw you for the first time when you walked into the Steak House with Lance.  You, Justin, are a very attractive man.  I have never felt that way before, and I wasn’t as much scared by it, as I was surprised.  When you basically gave me the cold shoulder, I played off my feelings as nothing by attraction and left it at that.  But they wouldn’t go away.  The harder I tried to ignore you and what you made me feel, the stronger I felt it.  I guess that’s what got me the most, was not being able to stop feeling for you and then having you call me a whore.”

      “I’m so sorry about that James, I really didn’t mean it.”

Her lips twisted into a small smile and she glanced up at him.

      “You’re going to have to do more than that for forgiveness.”  She laughed as his eyes widened in shock.  “I want to give in to you Justin, I want to just let go and feel whatever it is that you make me feel, but I’m scared.  I need to know that you want in too…enough to really let me in.”

He licked his lips and cleared his throat before answering.

“James, I’m willing to do whatever it takes to give this a chance.”