"Can you just hurry up, Matthew? Just pick something already."

Lia was completely frustrated. No, she was beyond frustrated. They had been in The Gap for nearly 30 minutes now, and her little brother had yet to find a nice shirt that he needed for his school concert that weekend. Not to mention the fact that every person in the store had been staring her down since they walked in together. Yep, that didn't bother her at all.

Matt pouted up at her. "But Lia, it has to be perfect!!"

Lia sighed relunctantly and patted his shoulder. She felt bad for being short with him. He was only nine after all, and then he had to look at her with the damn lip. "Sorry sweetie. Go ahead and keep looking."

Matt perused through a rack of clothes, but saw someone staring at Lia on his left. He immediately eyed the girl. "Hey, that's my sister!"

The girl looked startled to have been caught staring, and immediately looked rather guilty. She was well aware of the accusatory stare the little boy was giving her for looking disdainfully at his sister. "Ummm, sorry."

Lia shook her head at Matt's comment before leaning down to his level. "Matt, I told you not to do things like that anymore. I told you it doesn't matter."

Matt shook his head with a purpose. "It does too matter. They don't know you like I know you. Mom told me so."

"No, they don't know me that way. But that doesn't mean you need to make a big deal out of it. You got me boy?"

He giggled at his sister's alternating and moving eyebrows. He had no idea how she could do that. "Alright, if you say so. Can I go try this one on?"

Lia looked at the shirt he held up to see if it was OK, and if it was something their mom would approve of. "Alright. I'll be waiting right here."

She watched him run off to go try on the shirt in the dressing room. Once he couldn't see her anymore, she relaxed and let her true discomfort show a little more. She tried to put on a brave front for Matt, but she was really wearing thin. As she looked around the place, she could see all of the workers watching her almost like they wanted to see if she'd steal something. As if. Like she would steal any of this preppy crap. Then, there were the shoppers wondering what the hell she was doing in The Gap. Yeah, well, it was for her baby brother. Like they even cared anyway. They can't even give her the respect for being a great older sister and taking him to get some clothes for their mom. What a world they happened to live in. It wasn't fair. A voice broke into her thoughts. "Can I help you miss?"

She looked toward the voice and saw the worker who had been staring at her the most since they'd been in the store. When she looked at her name tag, she noticed the girl was the manager. She had to bite her tongue with what she really wanted to tell the girl. "No, I don't need anything. Thanks though."

The girl smiled fakely. "Just checking."

Lia was riled. She didn't need that stupid fakeness. "Well, why don't you 'just check' over there?"

The girl narrowed her eyes at her. "Excuse me?"

Lia rolled her eyes. "Look, I don't need anything. Thank you."

The girl got all huffy as Lia walked away and closer to the dressing room. She couldn't help it. She would've told her off if she didn't have to come back there some day. Matt was a growing boy and seemed to need new clothes every freakin' day. It was more than likely she'd have to come back. She couldn't help but mumble to herself though. "Gah, what a bitch."

Just then, Matt came bolting out of the dressing room with a big smile on his face. "Lia! Lia! I like it so we can go now."

Lia smiled at him and ruffled his hair. He was so cute. "That's good Matt. I think mom will really like that one."

Matt beamed at her approval. "Can I pay for it, Natalia? Please?"

She nodded and handed him some money. She needed to get out of the store and fast. People could be so mean. "I'll be right out front. Bring me the change."

She watched him get in line to pay before walking rapidly and blindly out of the store to wait for him.

Justin was seriously in hell. He couldn't believe she had talked him into this. Here he was standing in a women's store in some random mall in New York City with Britney Spears wandering around trying on everything and handing him clothes she wants to buy, or rather wants him to buy her. It was really starting to piss him off. Why didn't he dump her last night like he had planned? Oh yeah, there was too many people around. Just like there were thousands of people walking around a mall so he couldn't break up with her right now.

"Justin, baby, I don't know if I want this shirt in pink too... I mean, I already grabbed it in blue becuase you like that color on me so much. What do you think?"

She was looking at him completely serious. He just wanted to laugh. "Umm, I really don't care Brit."

She pouted at him. "I was just curious Jay sweetie. I think I'm pretty much done here. Can I use your credit card honey?"

He looked around and saw a bunch of people waiting for his response. If he said no, it would be in the tabloids the next day guaranteed. "Umm, sure. He dug it out and handed it to her. She grabbed it and was about to pay for the mountain of clothing she had grabbed, but suddenly her face got all excited. "Oh my Gawd, would you look at that skirt? I simply HAVE to try it on!"

Justin turned away and rolled his eyes. He watched her mull through the racks for her size before heading to the dressing room. Everyone was making a fuss over her, including their bodyguards, so he made a quick exit. He needed some air, and fast. He started walking rather hastily to get away from the store unnoticed. He lowered his hat to hide his face some and pushed his sunglasses higher on his nose. He was almost to the exit where they had come in at so he could go wait out in the car for Britney and the rest of their entourage, but then someone slammed into him on his right.

He immediately heard purse contents scatter and he held out his hands to steady the girl as well as steady himself. She quickly leaned down to pick up some of the items that had fallen, apologizing the whole time. "I'm so sorry. I wasn't watching where I was going."

He leaned down to help her pick up the items. "No, it was completely my fault. I was the one not really looking. I didn't mean to hit you. Did I break anything? OH."

He finally got a good look at her. He was immediately grabbed by the rare and bright green eyes surounded by dark eye make-up and the rest of her beautiful face. She had her hair looped in all sorts of directions with strands framing her face and falling loosely everywhere, she had lots of piercings, she wore a cute long-sleeved black sweater that ended just under her chest, a long jean skirt that looked to be sewed together by hand in various patches and colors that had slits up both legs to her mid-thigh or slightly higher, and she had on these knee high boots that were laced all the way up. He had to admit she looked incredibly hot, but well, it was rather surprising to see someone dressed that way. The expression she was giving him now though was not an apologetic one, and he realized he didn't mean to sound so harsh in his surprise over her outfit of choice. She looked rather pissed off now. "OH? OH what exactly?"

Justin looked uncomfortable at her words. "I didn't mean anything by it."

She just nodded. "Riiiight. Sure you didn't. That's what they all say."

Justin narrowed his eyes at her sarcasm even though she probably couldn't see them through his sunglasses. "Excuse me? If I say I didn't mean anything by it, then I didn't mean anything by it!"

She rolled her eyes and started gesturing with her hands. "Bull. You saw me in my outfit and immediately thought I was some sort of a freak, right? Your momma ever teach you not to judge someone by their appearance or what?"

Justin was getting more than a little pissed off by the girl in front of him. Britney was driving him crazy, he was under pressure from work, and he really didn't need this right now. He finally just let himself go. "You know what? Come off your high horse for one fucking second. It was just one fucking word, alright? I said I didn't mean anything by it!"

She narrowed her eyes at him when he started to get more than a little pissed. "Whatever." She leaned in a little closer to him to whisper. "I didn't jump all over you and assume shit about you just because you're fucking Justin Timberlake, now did I?"

He backed up surprised that she'd recognized him and quickly did a surveilance around them to see if any others had noticed. Her laughter stopped him. "Didn't think I'd recognize ya there, did you? Some crazy freak girl must not know anything about the music realm, hmmm? Assuming more shit about me?"

"Whatever. It doesn't matter."

She got in his face again. "Of course it matters. Stop freakin' judging me!"

He was almost nose-to-nose with her now. "I'm not!"

He would've added more, but he suddenly heard a child's voice. "Lia, what's going on?"

He watched the girl's face soften as she backed away from him. "Nothing, Matt. You all ready there, buddy?"

He smiled when she looked at him. Justin could tell he admired her. "Yup. Here's the change, all $13.74 of it."

Justin watched her smile at the little boy. She had a beautiful smile, and something inside of him wished it was directed at him instead. Instead, he was her target of choice. "Good boy. Let's get going before mom freaks out because we were gone so long." She turned to Justin because he was still just watching her and not saying anything. She rolled her eyes at the fact that he hadn't gone away yet. "Thanks for being an ass." Then, she turned and started walking away. "Come on, Matt. Let's go."

Before he could respond to her comment, the little boy, Matt, piped up and was looking at him all upset. "You hurt Lia. You don't know anything about her. She's the best big sister in the whole world."

He opened his mouth to respond to the little boy, but he had nothing to say. He really was an ass. Just then, he heard Lia's voice a little bit away from them. "Matthew, let's go. Leave the guy alone, alright? It doesn't matter anyway, remember?"

He watched Matt run to where she was standing and take her hand. He could barely hear their conversation, but tried to listen anyway. He deserved this. "But Natalia, he was mean to you."

"I know, Matt. Just let it go like I always do."

He couldn't have felt like a bigger ass. He did judge her. He shouldn't have assumed things about her just by how she looked. He got mad at people every day for doing the same thing to him. He pulled his hand over his face with a sigh before starting to walk in the opposite direction toward the exit like he had planned. This had been one hell of an afternoon.

"Natalia, Matt told me that some guy bothered you at the mall today. Now, what happened already?"

Lia rolled her eyes. Her mom had been talking with her about the mall excursion for the past twenty minutes. She should've known this was the information she was after. "Mom, it was nothing."

Marie watched her daughter as she was putting on her stage make-up. She knew that she was simply holding in her feelings like usual. She knew that Lia faced all sorts of hurtful people during the day. It was bound to get to her sometime. She just hoped she was around for a shoulder for her daughter to cry on. She liked to think of herself as an open-minded mother, but she had no idea how other people couldn't see the outer beauty of her daughter in whatever she wore coupled with the beautiful heart she had inside her like she did. She had no idea how you could miss it. "If you say so honey."

Lia watched her mom busy herself with tidying up her area of the dressing room. She shared it with two of the other actresses who had already finished with their hair and make-up already. Lia, of course, had been running a bit late. She didn't enter for a bit anyway, but she needed to be out there like now. "Mom, just drop it please. If it really bothered me, I would let you know. It was just some guy who decided to assume some things about me. I guess I could've been a little nicer to him too. It wasn't completely his fault that we seemed to be all hyped up. I was just so pissed off because all of these other people had already been doing the same thing to me. He was just the last straw, you know? So we sort of had a moment, and then Matt walked up."

Her mother nodded. "OK, sweetie. I'll drop it. I need to get out in the audience because the show's gonna start in like five minutes anyway. I'll see you after the show. Good luck."

Lia watched her mother leave. "See ya mom. Thanks."

Lia looked back into the mirror after her mother left and wished she felt more like the confident woman staring back at her. "Why can't things just be simple for once? Why do they have to be so damn difficult?"

She messed around with her hair a bit, trying to make it look more tousled and dirty. Whenever she straightened her hair for a show it tended to look all perfect. She needed it to be grungy for her character. She was just getting up to leave when Clarice poked her head in the door. "You ready? We need to be waiting out there now, and you still need to be miked."

Lia sighed, but still managed to smile. She was in her element now. "You bet. Let's go."

Lia walked out the door and left all of her troubled thoughts behind. Who cares if Justin Timberlake was an ass? She had a show to do.

"Quit being a party pooper Jay. Broadway is not as boring as you think."

Justin rolled his eyes at Joey's comment before leaning back lower into the couch he was sitting on. "I know it's not boring Joe. I just really don't want to go out with Britney anymore, and this is a double date with you and Kelly. I don't want to go. I just wanted to have a quiet evening where she and I stayed in so I could break up with her properly. Why'd did you have to ask me to go when she was there and we were in public?"

Joey smiled into his hand to hide his amusement from Justin. "Having trouble ending it there stud?"

Justin hit him in his stomach as he was sitting next to him. "Shut up man. I'm working on it, alright?"

Joey couldn't help but laugh. "Riiiiight. Sure you are. You're still under her spell. Admit it."

"I just haven't been alone with her to do it in a good way. There's always been people around. Now, we'll be sitting together in a Broadway show. It's not like I can dump her there."

"Well, dump her now."

Justin put his hands on his head and groaned. "I can't!! Now, she's all here and ready to go out on a date. It would be rude. I'm a nice guy man."

Before Joey could respond, Britney and Kelly walked into the room. Kelly smiled. "Hi boys."

Joey smiled and got up to give his girl a kiss. "Hey sweetheart. You look beautiful."

Britney looked expectantly at Justin for a similar comment and action. He looked down and hid his obvious displeasure before standing up with a big smile and kissed her on her forehead. "Hey Brit. You look great."

She beamed. "Thanks baby."

Even Kelly knew something was going on. She'd known Justin for a while now, and he often outdid Joey or any of the other guys for that matter, with compliments for his girlfriends. She was surprised Britney was missing how much he couldn't stand her. Joey tried to keep his laughter at bay. Justin was being too funny. "AHEM. Everyone ready to go?"

Britney immediately looped her arm onto Justin's with a smile. "Of course. It's going to be so much fun. Right, Justin?"

Justin was sure it was going to be an evening of hell. "Yeah. It should be awesome."