“So baby, how was your last day in Miami?” Nichole questioned as she settled onto the couch in her hotel suite.
“It was good. I had lunch with the guys and then ran into Riley on my way out to the beach,” Justin replied, running a hand through his curls, debating about whether to explain he’d spent the afternoon with her and then taken her to Wish for dinner; Wish being Nichole’s favorite restaurant in Miami Beach.
Nichole sensed he wasn’t telling her everything. She’d always been able to tell when there was something else on his mind that he wasn’t owning up to. “J, what aren’t you telling me?” she questioned carefully.
Sighing into the phone he knew he’d been caught. Nichole always busted him when he wasn’t telling her everything on his mind. “Babygirl, you always know when there’s something I’m not telling you.”
“That’s because I know you better than you think Justin. Now spill.”
Justin took a deep breath. He couldn’t lie. He and Nichole had agreed on honesty when they’d first gotten together. Being in the businesses they were in, honesty came few and far between and they cherished the fact that they had it with each other. “I spent the afternoon with her.” He heard Nichole sigh and continued to quickly explain himself. “See, she’d just gotten a call from her ex boyfriend and she was pretty upset and I just… I didn’t want to leave her like that and I…”
“Baby relax. It’s okay.” Nichole smiled into the receiver. He’d always been the strong, sensitive type; one of his characteristics that she loved most. “That’s the way you are J. Always looking after others, making sure they’re okay. So what’d you do for dinner?”
And there it was. The question he really didn’t want to answer. He couldn’t lie to her because she’d know he was lying. He always had been a terrible liar; especially to the people he loved. So out with the truth, it was. “I took Riley out.”
“That sounds like the right thing to do. Where’d you take her?”
“Wish,” he near whispered.
Silence hung on the other end of the phone. Nichole had no words. Wish was their restaurant. Wish was where Justin had taken her every time they’d been in Miami Beach. It was her favorite restaurant in the entire country and she’d been a lot of places. They always went to Wish on their first and last night’s in the city. He wasn’t supposed to take anyone else there, especially not another girl.
“Nic? Babygirl say something.” He knew he shouldn’t have taken Riley there, but they’d passed it on their walk down the beach and they’d been hungry and he just hadn’t been thinking. “Nichole?” Nothing. “Baby, I’m so sorry. I wasn’t thinking.”
“Or were you thinking with something other than your brain Justin?” Nichole finally spit out bitterly. “How could you? That’s our place Justin. You don’t even go there with the other guys; you’ve never even taken your mother there. Your mother Justin! And yet, you throw every special evening we’ve spent there, every romantic dinner, every shared dessert, every moment we’ve spent there together out the window for some girl you met a few days ago? I don’t understand Justin! I thought you loved me!”
“I do love you Nic! This has nothing to do with how I feel about you. We were hungry and we passed it while we were walking on the beach and I just… I wasn’t thinking.”
“No you sure as hell weren’t. I can’t ****ing believe you Justin. I leave for one day and you’re all over some other girl. I…I…” Nichole bit back the tears she was fighting, refusing to let him know how badly she was hurt, “I can’t talk to you anymore,” she whispered before closing the connection to southern Florida.
“Nic? Nichole? Baby?” Justin stammered into the phone. “****,” he mumbled, before slamming the phone back down onto the receiver and falling back onto the hotel bed.
***
Riley and Taylor stepped off the plane in New York and each inhaled a deep breath.
“I want to go back,” Taylor complained.
“You just want to go back so you can continue getting on that guy you met,” Riley joked.
“And you’re telling me you don’t want to spend some more time with Mr. Timberlake?” Taylor questioned, throwing a sideways glance at her best friend. She received a glare in return. “Don’t look at me like that Ry. I heard you two outside the hotel room door when he walked you back last night and I saw the look on your face the second you walked in the door. Do not try to tell me you don’t have a thing for Justin Timberlake.”
“I don’t!” Riley immediately denied. Silence hung between the friends as they made their way to baggage claim. Taylor waited patiently for her best friend to finish her thoughts. “Okay, so maybe I do. But how can you expect me not to? He’s smart, funny, sweet…”
“Drop dead gorgeous and crazy about you,” Taylor added.
Riley stopped dead in her tracks and grabbed Taylor by the arm. “He’s not crazy about me.”
Despite the serious look on Riley’s face, Taylor couldn’t stop herself from laughing. “Ry, you’ve got to be kidding me. The man brought you to his video shoot, he comforted you and took you to dinner after your ******* ex boyfriend called you and if you had seen the look on his face when he said goodbye to you last night… Trust me Riley. Justin Timberlake is definitely crazy about you.”
“He’s got a girlfriend, Tay. And not just any girlfriend; a model girlfriend. Do you have any idea how I match up to Nichole Adams?”
“There is no match up Ry. You’re ten times the woman she is and everything on you is real.”
Riley shook her head, trying to work through what her best friend was telling her. There was absolutely no way the Justin Timberlake had a thing for her; small town girl from Lake George, New York. He was a multimillionaire, she made thirty thousand dollars a year teaching elementary school; he spent his weeknights clubbing, drinking and hanging out with the rich and famous, she spent her evenings doing lesson plans and getting to bed around ten; he could drop hundreds of dollars on a pair of jeans, depending on the week, she’d have a hard time spending four dollars on Starbucks. They came from two totally different worlds, there was no way someone like Justin could ever want a woman like her.
Riley was pulled from her thoughts as her cell phone began to ring. She pulled if from her bag and glanced at the caller ID. Her eyes widened as ‘Justin’ flashed across the screen.
“Who is it?” Taylor questioned.
“Justin,” Riley whispered.
“Well answer it!” Taylor exclaimed, pulling Riley down onto a nearby bench and then heading over to gather their luggage.
Riley flipped open her phone. “Hello?”
“Hey Riley, its Justin.”
“Hi Justin.” She had no idea what to say. They’d exchanged phone numbers in case Justin and the guys were ever in her area, but she’d never expected him to use it for any reason other than that.
“You back in New York?”
“Yep. We just landed and Taylor’s attempting to get our luggage.”
“Did you have a good flight?” He honestly had no idea why he’d called her. After fighting with Nichole and not being able to get her back on the phone he’d just needed to talk to someone and Riley had been the first person to come to mind.
“Wasn’t too bad. I’m glad to be home though. Are you guys still in Miami?”
“We’re headed to Orlando tonight. It’ll be nice to be home for a while. We haven’t been back to Orlando in months.”
“I’ve always herd Orlando’s a great city.”
“You’ve never been?”
“No, sadly. Miami was my first trip to Florida ever.”
“You’re definitely going to have to come down for a visit. I’ll be your personal tour guide. You’ll not only get a tour of the city, but you’ll get it Timberlake-style.”
Riley couldn’t help but giggle. “Timberlake-style, huh? And just what does that mean?”
“It’ll be the tour of your life, girl. You can count on it.”
“Ry! I’ve got our luggage! Come help me!” Taylor called from the baggage belt.
“Hey Justin, Taylor’s got our luggage and I’ve gotta help her, so I better get going. It was great talking to you.”
“You to Riley. You mind if I call you sometime later this week?” he questioned cautiously.
Riley smiled into the phone, “I’d really like that.”
“Me too,” Justin grinned. “Okay, go help Taylor, tell her I said hi and drive carefully okay? I’ll talk to you soon.”
“Bye Justin.”
“Bye Ry.” Justin closed his phone and set it on the bedside table. He was definitely in trouble with this one.
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