Part Four
Two Sides to Every Story
Okay, you know what? I think it’s about time I get my say in this. The number of times I’ve been called an asshole in the past…however long this has taken…I think I should have a chance to defend myself.
You see, the problem with the way Hallie tells the story of how we met and the first month or so that we knew each other is that it assumes I disliked her just as much as she disliked me. This was not the case. Okay, sure, that first night at the party I thought she was kind of a bitch and in the weeks to follow I often found her irritating, frustrating, and infuriating, but that doesn’t mean I hated her. In fact, I even sort of liked her. She intrigued me. You might even say she fascinated me. She was this tiny little girl with this loud, buoyant personality that made her seem ten feet tall and intimidating as all hell. Not that she intimidated me. I’m not intimidated by women, thank you. And she had all these bizarre little quirks, like memorizing the features on a map, or doing the running man to any music that ever came on, and of course reciting the Maryland state motto at random times in conversation (in case you're wondering, it's "Fatti Maschii, Parole Femine" and no, I have no idea what it means). And of course there was that biting sense of humor that I loved. Did I say loved? I meant to say it was cool. Very cool. Yes. Don’t look at me.
That’s not to say, of course, that I wasn’t fully aware of her flaws. She had some of the most annoying flaws in the entire world. Like, say, burping. Yes, burping. She thought it was liberating to belch as loudly as possible whenever the hell she felt like it. Normally I wouldn’t mind, but she was really loud and she did it in public. It was embarrassing, man. And she talked all the time, and did nothing but make fun of me or insult me every time I was within a five-mile radius of her. Yes, she was definitely annoying.
Of course, that’s one of the reasons she intrigued me. Hallie Evans could hold her own against me. I am fully aware that I can be rude and obnoxious sometimes and it almost gets annoying that girls will pretend I’m not so I’ll like them. Hallie is the only girl I’ve met post-stardom who is willing to get openly pissed off at me when I’m being obnoxious. Call me crazy, but I sort of like that. Granted, I don’t really enjoy being called an asshole or a bastard or any of the other names Hallie called me on a daily basis, but I do appreciate the fact that she had the guts to call me them instead of just sucking up to me like every other woman I knew.
This one time I was complaining about her to Lance and he said to me, “You’re just pissed because you’ve finally met your match.” That wasn’t it at all. I was ecstatic to have finally met my match. The fact that she hated my guts? That pissed me off. As far as I could see, I hadn’t done much to deserve such hatred. Yeah, I’d been kind of an ass to her those first couple of days, but I didn’t do anything that bad. I didn’t, for instance, purposely dump alcohol on her head like some people we know. I won’t name names. I asked JC about it once and all I could get out of him was that she said I reminded him of some guys she knew in high school. But I didn’t, and still don’t, see why I should have to pay for what some guys in high school did to her.
There’s one more thing I must address at this point and time and it is the idea that all of our arguments were my fault. One of Hallie’s most frequently spoken phrases (besides “Fuck you, Timberlake”) was, “He started it.” Honestly? She was usually right. Most of the time, I did start it. But the reason I did it was because it was the only way I could get her to talk to me. If I wasn’t being mean to her, she just completely ignored me. And I’m sorry, but I wanted to talk to her. So I made fun of her and I insulted her to get her to pay attention to me. I realize how very first grade that is and that it makes me seem like a complete loser, but maybe I am a complete loser. Did that ever occur to anyone? Did it ever occur to anyone that maybe, just maybe, Justin Timberlake is not really the epitome of cool? Of course not. Actually, let’s keep it that way. I don’t need anyone to know what a pathetic loser I really am.
Nothing changed between Hallie and me during that first month or two of the tour. I couldn’t complain, I guess. I fueled and encouraged the arguing all the time. Part of me wanted to have an actual friendship with her, but I really didn’t think she’d go for it, so I argued. It was better than nothing, anyway. Then one day something really bizarre happened.
It was only about an hour and a half before the show started and all of the other guys had already headed off to stretch and get a game of hackeysack going. I’d stayed behind to have some quiet time, but as I walked into the toy room, I found Hallie sitting alone on a couch and reading a book. Her dark blonde hair was pulled up into, well, it wasn’t even a bun exactly, more like just a lump of hair on her head, but it didn’t look bad. It was very Hallie. Crazy and nonsensical. And she was wearing glasses in place of her usual contacts. She actually looked kind of cute.
“Wow, Hals, you look like even more of a nerd than usual! I didn’t think it was possible,” I greeted her, making my presence known. She jumped slightly and looked up at me.
“Wow, Justin, your hair looks even bigger than usual! Maybe it’s trying to make room for your insanely huge ego,” she responded before giving me her usual fake sweet smile and returning to her book.
“I can’t believe you can come up with new jokes about my hair every day. You must lead a very pathetic life.” She snorted.
“What, like it’s hard? Your hair is just begging to be made fun of.” I sat down next to her and she scooted away from me immediately. “Don’t you have some pre-show ritual you should be participating in?” she asked, clearly eager for me to leave the room.
“No,” I lied with a smug smile. “You know…we’re sitting here alone in an empty room.” I moved closer to her. “We should take advantage of this situation.” I grinned and she looked up at me with one of the most disgusted expressions I’ve ever seen. Hallie hated it when I pretended to come onto her. Which is why I did it.
“Please die,” she replied before returning her gaze to her book once more.
“Not today, thanks.” I moved closer again, just to be good and annoying and she stood up.
“You know, I think I’ll just leave and let you and your ego be alone for a little while,” she informed me and turned to walk out the door.
“No, wait!” I exclaimed, jumping up off the couch. God, could I have been any more obvious? She turned to look at me, an eyebrow raised in confusion.
“What do you want?” That was a very good question. What did I want? I hadn’t figured that out when I’d asked her to wait, it had just flown out of my mouth like an unruly bird. You know what? I have no idea what the hell I’m talking about. Unruly bird? I don’t know.
“I…um…hmmm…”
“What are you mute now? I’m leaving.”
“Wait!” You know what I did next? I grabbed her glasses. Yes. I grabbed her glasses so I could play keep away with them and force her to stay. Why me, God? Why me? I’m such a moron.
“Justin, what the hell is wrong with you?” she questioned, and reached to take them back from me, but I held them out of her reach. That’s the nice thing about being tall. Small people like Hallie can’t reach things when you extend your arm all the way up.
“Hals, don’t you ever get tired of hating me?”
“No. God, why are you such a 2-year-old?” she spat, trying in vain to reach her glasses.
“Why are you so annoying?” I countered.
“Why are you such a bastard?”
“Don’t know. Why are you such a bitch?”
“Shut the fuck up and just give me my fucking glasses!” she whined, stomping her foot. Ha. And she calls me a 2-year-old.
“Hallie, listen,” I began and she interrupted me.
“I don’t want to listen, Justin. There’s nothing you could say that could interest me in the least right now.”
“Hallie,” I tried to interject, but she kept going.
“I can’t believe that you are so bent on being an annoying moron that you’re playing keep-away with my glasses.”
“Hallie-“
“Seriously, I don’t know what I ever did to you to make you hate me so much, but I’m really sick and fucking tired of it!”
“Hallie-“ She was so worked up and in the midst of her little whine fest that she didn’t even notice I’d set her glasses down on the table and they were no longer out of her reach. She continued talking.
“All I was doing was sitting here peacefully reading my book and then you and your big stupid annoying egotistical self had to come and ruin it for me!”
“Hallie-”
“Why can’t you just leave me alone for once in your life, huh? Why, why, why?”
“Hallie-“
“God, just-“ She finally stopped talking as I grabbed her shoulders and firmly placed my lips on hers. I don’t know why I did it, I really don’t. Maybe it was because I just wanted her to shut up. Maybe it was because I actually found her kind of attractive when she got all worked up like that. Maybe it was because I actually found her kind of attractive all the time. Maybe I can’t believe I just admitted that. Anyway, I did it and her eyes widened in shock before she pushed me away from her.
“What are you doing?” she exclaimed in horror.
“Kissing you,” was my stupid reply. It was the only thing I could think of to say. I was kind of in shock myself.
“Why?” she screeched.
“I don’t know!” I threw my hands up into the air in frustration.
“You’re such an idiot!” she exclaimed, pushing me again.
“I’m sorry!” I took a step back. She was a violent person when she got really good and upset, let me tell you.
“What is wrong with you? Seriously! What is wrong with you?” She kicked me.
“Ow! Stop!”
“You can’t just do stuff like that, Justin! You just…you can’t!” she shrieked. It should have occurred to me that she was getting way too worked up about this.
“I’m sorry, okay? God!” I nearly moved away again as I saw her reach for me, but then she did something I didn’t expect. Hallie grabbed my shirt, pulled my body into her and crashed her lips against mine. There I was thinking she was going to hit me again, and she was kissing me. At first it was kind of awkward, but then we both sort of relaxed into it and it turned into this really slow, gentle kind of kiss. I never thought I’d ever describe anything Hallie Evans did as gentle, but that’s what it was. It slowly began to deepen as her arms snaked around my neck and mine went around her waist. It was the most random, unexpected thing I’d ever had happen to me, but it was wonderful. There’s no other way to describe it. It was the most amazing kiss I’d ever shared with someone who hated my guts. Well, it was the only kiss I’d ever shared with someone who hated my guts, but you get what I’m saying, right? I have no idea how long it would have gone on if the door hadn’t opened right then.
“Hey, Justin, are you-“ JC’s voice cut off and Hallie and I jumped apart to see both him and Lance staring at us in shock. We all just kind of looked at each other awkwardly for a minute before I finally spoke.
“Hey, guys,” I greeted lamely. “Ready for hackeysack? Yes? Oh, good.” I walked out of the room, hoping they’d just follow me and not ask any questions. Hallie followed my example.
“I’m gonna go read on the bus,” she mumbled and pushed past them, heading the opposite way of me. And JC and Lance were left standing in the doorway, undoubtedly having a hard time believing they'd just walked in on what they thought they'd just walked in on.
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