“What are you doing tonight,” Justin asked Blair over the telephone. He was on his way back to the studio after having a meeting with the label executives and his longtime manager, Johnny Wright. He knew he was probably interrupting her increasingly busy day working at a high profile restaurant as a buyer. That basically meant she sat in an office at some sort of headquarters buying fresh food required for every recipe and food that was served. That also included making sure the food was as fresh as possible, and when it wasn’t, she had to be the one to send it back and refuse to pay. She was getting better at refusing.
“You know,” Blair said, pressing the down arrow on her keyboard, “We don’t have to see each other every day. In fact, I would like it if we didn’t. You’re annoying.”
“Thanks,” Justin said sarcastically, “I just adore you, too.”
“Oh, I know,” she laughed, giving up on finding that phone number she was looking for. She’d ask her assistant to go through the paper Rolodex. She didn’t feel like trying to figure out the new system. “You don’t have to tell me how fabulous I am twice.”
“Don’t flatter yourself, Blair-ular,” Justin teased, using a stupid nickname he had recently made up to annoy her. Hey, he needed something to lighten a moment of extreme pregnancy hormones. “I wasn’t going to.”
Blair sighed and dropped her pen down on her desk. She rested her head on her free hand and stared out of the window in her office.
“Long day?” he asked, making a left turn.
“Sort of,” she yawned before taking a sip from the water bottle sitting on her desk. “How was your meeting?”
“It was okay,” Justin shrugged. “They want me to go back to the safe kind of music. It’s stupid. They know that’s not who I am anymore. They know I’m fully capable of writing my own music.”
“Hmm,” Blair said, picking her pen back up and doodling on the back of a fax she had received earlier that day. “That sucks, I’m sorry.”
“Yeah,” Justin said, pulling into the parking lot. “So, what are you doing tonight?”
Blair yawned again. “Nothing, what are you doing?”
“Nothing.”
Blair laughed as her eyes refocused from the tears that always show up while she yawns. “Our lives are so boring. How cool are we?”
“So cool,” Justin said in an overly excited way, “Duh, you do get to hang out with the Justin Timberlake everyday. I would be stoked if I were you.”
“You say that like you’re some kind of celebrity,” Blair was just teasing him now. “To me, Justin, you’re just a stupid guy.”
“Oh, good,” he laughed, finally getting out of his car. “I’m glad the hormones are back.”
She shook her head, “No, darling, that was really me. Plus, how would you know if half of the things were really just what I was thinking but felt sort of bad saying so I blamed it on hormones, when in reality there are no hormones.”
“Oh no,” he nodded, opening the door to the studio lobby. “Trust me, there are. One second you’re laughing and the next you’re sobbing. There is definitely something unbalanced there.” He waved to the receptionist to say he was going to the end of the hall and that he was expected. She smiled sweetly to him and allowed him to go merrily on his way. “Hey, I’m about to go into the booth to finish that song I was telling you about, so we’ll talk later, okay?”
“Okedoke,” she said, yawning once more. “Call me later, you jerk.”
“Whoa-”
“I was just kidding, Justin, cool your jets.”
“Oh,” he smiled slightly and held up his finger to The Neptunes. “Okay, I’ll call you later.”
“Can’t wait,” she said sarcastically.
“Bye.”
“Bye, Justin.” When she hung up, she rolled her eyes and shook her head.
After successfully winning the battle of deciding what they would have for dinner, Blair felt the need to gloat. She sat on one of the counters in the kitchen with a big smile on her face as she watched Justin shuffle through the kitchen gather ingredients and pots & pans while pouting. He had voted for takeout Chinese food, but Blair had blatantly refused to eat it because the smell of the food alone made her want to vomit, she said. She wanted pasta, but she didn’t want to go out because then she would have to put real clothes on and that just didn’t suit her. All she wanted to do was sit in a cool house in a pair of comfy pants and a tank top. She had accomplished the task at hand, making Justin make dinner for the two of them.
She remembered that he had once offered to make her dinner when she wasn’t feeling well, near the beginning of their relationship. At the time, she rejected his offer, telling him to go stuff it because seeing his “stupid face” was the last thing she wanted to do. He hadn’t offered since. However, Blair had elected him official chef of the evening. That job included making the pasta from scratch. Of course, he had objected to that, saying that making the pasta from scratch would take entirely too long and delay dinner even more. She agreed with his point and allowed him to make dinner with pre-made fresh pasta, an oxymoron.
Right before Justin placed the noodles in the boiling water, he remembered that his mom had brought over some homemade lasagna a couple weeks ago. It was still in his freezer. He stopped what he was doing and opened the freezer. Blair was confused about what he was doing and stopped mid-sentence of what she was saying to ask what he was doing. He told her that he had homemade lasagna in the freezer and that that would be easier. He informed her that they would have to wait for a while for it to thaw a little bit, but it would be really good. Blair said it was okay to wait and she didn’t mind having a late dinner. After all, it was another Friday night. She didn’t have anything else to do.
While they waited, Blair had gotten off of the counter and snuggled into the large leather couch that resided in the living room. She reached for the remote that was sitting on the coffee table just over a foot away from the couch. She just recently gotten the hang out using the huge remote that controlled just about everything in the entertainment center. At first, the number of buttons had been overwhelming, but now it was nothing but an ordinary remote control.
The pair watched a movie while their dinner both thawed and baked in the oven. When the timer went off, Justin pulled the lasagna out of the oven and set it on glass table he had set for dinner. After a while of eating, Justin’s cell phone rang. He stood from the table wordlessly and picked his phone up off of the kitchen counter. He checked the caller ID before answering; it was JC.
“What’s up?” he asked, sitting back down in his chair.
“Bad news, man.” JC said severely.
Justin furrowed his eyebrows and glanced at Blair, who had stopped eating and listened to his side of the conversation. At least she wasn’t pretending to not listen. “What do you mean?”
“I mean,” JC said, “People and Us have an article about you.”
“They always have an article about me,” Justin reasoned, “There’s always a comment on my outfit or something stupid like that.”
“No, J, this time it’s different. They know, man.”
Justin’s eyes got large and he could feel panic welling inside of him. “How?”
“Someone leaked it. I didn’t tell anyone,” JC said, defending himself. “I mean, really, no one would have told, no one close anyway. Who else did you tell?”
“Johnny, of course, the guys, my parents,” Justin began listing people.
“What about Blair,” JC asked, “Would anyone she knows leak it to the press?”
“I don’t know,” he said, shaking his head. “I’m gonna talk to her and I’ll call you back later.”
“She’s there?” JC asked.
“Yeah,” he nodded, “Why?”
“You guys just spend a lot of time together, considering you told me you felt nothing for her and stuff.”
“Oh,” Justin said. “Well, I’ll talk to you later.”
“Okay, man.” JC said, “Good luck.”
Justin closed his phone and set it on the table. He took a sip of his drink before saying anything to Blair. In fact, he had started to eat again. It was as though he was trying to ignore her. Blair didn’t want to press because it wasn’t exactly polite to openly eavesdrop like she had been, but she couldn’t help it. She knew they were talking about her and whatever it was, it wasn’t good. Justin looked stressed and worried. He tried to play it off with a tight smile when Blair gave him a funny look, but even that failed miserably.
“Are you going to tell me why you’re acting so strange?” Blair asked, clanking her fork on the edge of her plate a little louder than needed. She crossed folded her hands on the table right in front of her.
“What do you mean?”
Blair sighed and rolled her eyes. “Fine.” She stood up and walked out of the room and down the hall.
She walked into a guest room where she closed the door much louder than necessary. She sat in the large chair and turned the television. She knew she should have threatened to leave instead of being immature and slamming the door to one of the many rooms In his house, but if she had left, he might have let her go and then she wouldn’t have known what was said until at least the next day. This way, she’d be there and waiting for him to come to his sense and tell her what had happened.
Like she suspected, Justin knocked lightly on the door a couple times before opening the door. Of course, she hadn’t answered him when he knocked and said her name. He sat on the edge of the bed nearest the chair she was seated in. She hit the mute button on the remote and silenced the television. He saw that her turquoise tank top had slid up just a little bit on her still small belly. He also finally took notice of the light purple capri yoga pants she was wearing. He had to note her style. As of late, she didn’t really care what she put on her body. As long as it was comfortable, it was good.
“I would just like to say how lovely you’re looking at the moment,” Justin smiled.
“Bite me, asshole.”
“Hey, now,” Justin put his hand over his heart. “I was being serious. You look great.”
“That’s what you were talking about over the phone?” she asked, crossing her arms.
“No,” he shrugged and shook his head. “But it doesn’t matter. We can talk about it later.”
“I’d really like to talk about it now,” she protested.
Justin leaned forward so he was closer to her. “Listen, I’m sorry, okay? I just really don’t wanna talk about it now. There’s this thing hanging out there with me and I’d rather not think about dealing with it right now.”
She hadn’t thought he would get so upset and defensive over a phone call. He looked intense. She nodded silently and stared into his blue eyes. They seemed to be staring straight into her own blue eyes. “Okay,” she nodded again, “We don’t have to talk about it now.”
“Good.”
He kept leaning closer. Her bright blue eyes were shining so brightly into his. He felt something. He saw her eyes question his. What was he doing? Even he didn’t know. That was it. He broke the connection. His eyes were closed. Blair wasn’t sure what to do or where to look. It seemed as though the moment was taking forever. It couldn’t have taken more than three seconds. She had glanced away from his face to the muted television when she felt his lips on hers. She instinctively closed her own eyes and leaned a little bit closer into him. Justin had gotten off of the corner of the bed and was kneeling on the floor by her chair. She had turned her body slightly to face him and she felt him wrap his arms around her.
What a cliché, she couldn’t help but think while this was happening. Stuff like this didn’t happen in real life. No way could she have gone from severely annoyed to quiet and reserved to making out with Justin Timberlake.
Blair had lifted her hands to his face. They broke apart for a moment, as if they had both been thinking the same thing. It only took a moment for them to alter their current positions to standing. Blair had moved her hands from his face to linking them around his neck as he tightened his hold of her around her waist.
“Wait,” Blair said, breaking the kiss and backing away from him. “What is this? What are you doing?”
“What am I doing?” Justin asked, “What are you doing?”
Blair shook her head and closed her eyes, trying to gather her thoughts. “You kissed me first.”
“You kissed me back.”
“But--” she stumbled, “You… but you kissed me first!”
Justin didn’t say anything. In fact, he felt kind of foolish. He didn’t know what had possessed him to kiss her. It was just a sudden urge, if you will. “Are you mad?”
She had to think about that for a moment. Was she mad? Mad that she had kissed him or mad that he had made the first move? She didn’t know what made her kiss him back. It was like a force field, pulling them together. His eyes, oh God those eyes. Those icy blue orbs boring into her soul, breaking her barriers and seeing her heart. He was gorgeous, but boy did he have an attitude. But back to the question, was she mad?
“No,” she shook her head.
They walked out to the living room where they had begun to clear the table and deal with the dishes from dinner. Blair put the uneaten food away in the refrigerator while Justin rinsed their dishes in the sink before putting them in the dishwasher. Once the dishes were done Blair sort of wandered around the room, trying to figure out whether or not she should leave then. She felt kind of awkward about what had taken place in the guest room.
She had her hands on her hips as she stared out of the French doors to the patio. She felt like all she did anymore was watch television and lounge around the house, and not just her own. It was carrying over to his house now. She thought it odd that she was spending so much time around him and in his home. She thought she needed some space from him. She had to remember that she didn’t want to start a romantic relationship with him. Even if they did start a romantic relationship with one another, how would she know it wasn’t just out of pity? How would she know that he wasn’t just thinking he was feeling something towards her, when in reality he was just feeling sorry for her?
“Would you mind if I kissed you again?”
Blair jumped. She was surprised to find Justin standing behind her while she stared out the window. She shook her head, “No, I wouldn’t mind.”
“Good,” Justin said.
As soon as they reached the couch, the phone rang. Blair, once again, broke the kiss and turned her head towards the phone that was ringing. This time it was the house phone. The cordless phone sat on the bar of the kitchen. She looked at him like she was waiting for him to get up and answer it. He simply told her that the machine would get it. Again, Justin gently touched his lips to hers.
“Pick up this phone, Justin Randall,” his mother shouted through the answering machine. “I know you’re home. JUSTIN!” she paused for a moment, hoping he would pick up. Justin ignored the shouting from the kitchen. “Fine. Both JC and Johnny have been calling me and telling me that there is a situation at hand. Apparently, someone has leaked that you’re having a child to both People Weekly and Us. You best talk to Blair about it, inform her of the potential scandal and paparazzi issues-” The answering machine cut off his mother. Apparently her message was too long.
Justin broke away from Blair and leaned back on the couch. Shit.
“Scandal?” Blair asked, crossing her legs under her on the couch so she was sitting Indian style next to him. “Paparazzi issues?”
“Hold on,” Justin said, crossing his arms over his chest. “She’ll finish in a second.”
She turned herself around and rested her head on his shoulder. Justin uncrossed his arms and wrapped one arm around her shoulders and played with her fingers with his other hand.
“Justin Randall Timberlake!” she had called again. “I cannot believe you’re not picking up the telephone. I know you’re there. I see your car. I’m coming in.” Lynn closed her own cell phone and unlocked the door. Both of them jumped apart so there was at least a foot between them on the couch. It was as though they were teenagers who had been caught kissing by their parents. It was ridiculous, really.
“Why wouldn’t you answer the phone?” Lynn asked, throwing her arms up in the air. She stood in the middle of the living room staring incredulously at her son. She hadn’t even noticed Blair sitting beside him cross-legged.
“Sorry, Mom.”
“Well, you better be sorry. I’m your mother, for God’s sake!” Blair shot a tight smile to Blair. “Both JC and Johnny are coming over. Have you even talked to Joey, Chris or Lance?”
“Yes!” he stood up, beginning to pace. “They all know.”
“Well, good!”
“Why are you shouting at me?”
“I’m not shouting!”
“I came over as soon as Johnny called,” Lance said, entering the house. “I called Melinda to let her know that we were going to need her to deal with the press. Oh, and Kelly called me to say that Joey’s on his way, but he forgot his phone.”
Blair was flabbergasted. She was just starting to find out that this pregnancy and child didn’t just affect her and Justin, but all those connected to Justin. Lance’s frantic behavior made Blair feel somewhat nervous. Why would telling everyone someone didn’t have his or her cell phone be relevant? This whole situation seemed unreal.
“Oh, good, Lynn,” Lance said, kicking off his shoes and entering the living room. He hugged his friend’s mother and kissed her cheek. “I’m glad you’re here. Here, I grabbed my address book for phone numbers. Now, I know, Justin, you have a lot of these, but I thought just in case…” Lance walked over to the dining room table where he pulled out a chair and began flipping through the pages.
“Oh good,” someone said from the door. Blair had still not gotten up from the couch. People were acting as though wasn’t even there. “I’m so glad Lance made it over here safely. Wendy called saying Lance was absolutely flustered over this.” This voice sounded rather sarcastic.
“Yeah, I would have called, J, to tell you I was on my way, but I left in such a hurry I didn’t even grab my phone. I am without any kind of communication.”
People continued to flow through the door. Johnny was the last to arrive. He hugged and said hello to everyone and when he finally noticed that he didn’t know the woman he was hugging, who was sitting on the couch, he looked at her funny. “I’m sorry,” he said, “I don’t know you.”
Blair laughed uncomfortably. “I’m-”
“Oh, Johnny, This is-”
“She can speak for herself, Justin.” Johnny interrupted.
“I’m Blair,” she smiled slightly. She felt all eyes on her. “I’m the pregnant one.”
“Oh,” Johnny smiled warmly. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Blair. I’m Johnny, these guys’ manager.”
“It’s very nice meeting you….” she said, scanning the room while tugging slightly on her tank top. She really wished she had something a little nicer on, at least something that matched. “All of you.”
Everyone waved at her and she heard a chorus of hellos. Then, Johnny stood up to address everyone in the room. “It’s great that we’re all here together. This way, we can figure out what we’re going to do and what will be best for all of us. I’d just like to let all of you know, in case there’s any confusion, all hell is about to break loose.”
