"Hey Ry, you in here?"
Riley looked up at the blonde standing at her bedroom door and she smiled broadly at her sister, "Hey sweetie, come in!" Riley motioned to her sister patting the space next to her on her bed, "What’s up?"
Brynn plopped herself next to her sister, "I’m really bored and we haven’t really hung out at all this summer, you know with you graduating college, and then you going to Miami with Taylor and me going to San Diego with Michelle, I just miss hanging out with you." Brynn giggled, using her best baby voice and smiled putting her head on Riley’s shoulder.
"You’re such a pain in the butt." Riley laughed, turning the TV off.
"Are you busy today?"
"Well let’s see, it’s Thursday, its summer which means no school, and the stable is closed today, so I guess I’m not." She laughed poking her tongue out at her sister.
"So let’s go out! We’ll spend the whole day together." Brynn grinned widely, pulling Riley up and tearing open the door to her closet, "Pick out something cute to wear, and I’ll go get ready too. Be ready in like 10 minutes ok? Ok!"
Riley sighed letting out another laugh leaning against the door to her closet. Brynn was definitely one person that Riley knew she could never live without. Though she was 22 and Brynn was 16, they really depended on each other for a lot of things. Riley was the one that taught Brynn how to drive, and conquer her fear of getting on a horse when she was 8. Riley was there to talk to Brynn about anything and everything. When Brynn had her first crush, she went to Riley to talk about boys, and do her hair and make-up when she went to her first dance. If Riley didn't have Taylor, Brynn surely would be her best friend. Riley quickly threw an outfit together, hopefully nothing to close to what she new her sister would be wearing. Brynn always found her way to Riley's closet to snag a pair of jeans or a shirt...or a few shirts. She finally decided on pair of denim shorts, a white tank top, her orange Syracuse hat, and a pair of orange flip flops. She threw her purse over her shoulder calling out to Brynn that she'd meet her downstairs.
**
"So anything special happen in Miami? Besides the fact that you're peeling and sunburnt?" Brynn giggled poking Riley's cheek lightly.
Riley laughed, smacking Brynn's hand away, "Just the beach, clubbing, and alcohol." Brynn smiled, trying to hide the rest of her smile that she had an encounter with a certain Justin Timberlake, or a few encounters, "And boys...a lot of boys. But not many cute ones, except for one."
"Ok, what happpened?"
"Nothing! Everytime I talk about a guy, Brynn, you automatically think I slept with him." Riley sighed, letting out another laugh.
"Ok, ok, I'm sorry. Well, was he cute?" Brynn's green eyes beaming at her sister as they walked into another clothing store.
Riley started flipping through a rack of shirts, pulling out one trying to avert away from the conversation, "This is cute! Pick out some stuff so we can go try it on."
Brynn eyed her sister and laughed, "Ry, was the guy cute?"
Riley smiled to herself. But she couldn't tell her sister that it was him. That it was Justin Timberlake. That that guy was the guy that her sister had a poster of hanging on her closet door, so she decided on the best word to describe her secret Miami boy, "Try gorgeous."
Brynn smiled dreamily, "Man, it's too bad we don't have those up here."
Riley giggled, throwing a bunch of clothes over her arm and pulling her sister around the store.
**
The guys had just got done doing an interview with Rolling Stone, and Justin eyed his cell phone, sitting back in chair in the empty conference room. It had been 3 days since he last talked to Nichole, and they talked over everything and got over their fight. But Justin found that Nichole was a little too forgiving, that something was up. Everytime they fought, both were usually too stubborn to resolve anything so they'd just drop it. But when Justin told Nichole that he was sorry about taking Riley to Wish, Nichole dropped it quickly, and was quick to forgive him which was definetly not like her. On the flip side, he still thought about the other girl that was on his mind. He had told Riley that he'd call later on in the week and it had almost been a week since he had spoken to her, but he was really busy.
He smiled to himself, flipping open is phone going to retrieve her number to give her a call. Just as he was about to press send, his cell phone started to ring. He looked at his caller ID and saw that it was Nichole, "Hey Nic, baby."
"Hey J. How are you, baby?"
"Tired. Really tired. We did 4 interviews today, same questions over and over, and then we did 2 photoshoots today. Yeah, I'm beat. How's everything going in New York?" Justin waited for her response, but only heard a rustling in the background, "Nic, you there?"
"Oh, yeah, sorry babe, I dropped something. Well I've been working like crazy. I got booked for two covers for Elle magazine and for FHM. But the guy at FHM was really sweet and made me feel comfortable, so I know the photoshoot will go really good. And then I have an interview to do with them too."
"FHM, huh? Sounds hot." Justin let out a laugh before he heard the same rustling on Nichole's end. Justin furrowed is eyebrows, "Nic, baby, is everything ok?"
"Yeah. Everything is good, babe. But I have to go. I love you, bye." Nichole abrubtly hung up her end of the phone.
Justin eyed his cell phone akwardly knowing that something was up. He didn't like the way she was acting, and he knew something was up. He needed someone to talk to, and he knew the one voice that would make him smile. Even the thought made his lips curl.
**
Riley and Brynn dropped their shopping bags in the foyer, and Riley started flipping through the mail, "I wonder where mom and dad went."
"They probably went out to dinner." Brynn shrugged her shoulders.
"Great, which means we have to fend for ourselves." Riley laughed looking at her sister.
"Pizza?" Brynn laughed, already knowing the answer.
"Speed dial it, girl." Riley laughed, feeling her purse vibrate. She reached into and saw that she had a missed call from, Justin. Her eyed widen slightly and she called her voicemail quickly to retrieve the message.
"Hey Ry, it's Justin. I'm sorry I didn't call you back sooner, but we've been so busy with all this promotion ****, but I'm calling you now." Riley let out a light giggle when she heard him laugh slightly in the message, "Whenever you get this, and you're not busy, give me a call back. Talk to you later, girl. Bye."
"Who was that?" Brynn asked her sister.
"What? Oh, it was Taylor. She just left me a message seeing if I was busy."
"Oh. Ok, well I'm gonna bring my stuff upstairs and I'm gonna call Alexa."
"Ok, when you're done, we can go out and rent a couple movies or something. Sound good?"
"Sure!"
Riley watched Brynn run upstairs and waited till she heard her bedroom door close, and then she ran to the livingroom and dropped herself on the couch calling Justin's number.
"Hello?"
"Hey, Justin." Riley smiled into the phone.
Justin let out a sigh, smiling hearing her voice, "Hey Riley, what's up? Get my message?"
"Obviously." Riley laughed, "I'm doing good. I just got back from shopping all day with my sister. We splurged and I really shouldn't have. What about you?"
Justin laughed, "Hey hey, it's ok to splurge. I'm doing ok, really tired though. But I'm back at my house so I'm relaxing now."
"That's good. I think Brynn and I are going to do the same. Rent some movies, and just be bums."
"Sounds good, sounds good." Justin laughed, "Hey, Riley, listen. I was thinking that in November, when the new album comes out, and things die down a little for me, maybe around the end of November, if you're not too busy and you can take off for a long weekend, if you'd like to come down to Orlando. Free of charge, and look, you get your own personal tour guide." Justin smiled, feeling Riley smile on the other end.
"Justin I'd really love to. I mean, I'd have to see how everything goes first. My second graders would miss me you know."
Justin laughed, "I can imagine. But you'd really to?"
"Of course. I've never been to Orlando, and I've always wanted to go to Disney and see Mickey." She laughed.
"Well, I think we could do that. Going to Orlando is nothing without going to see Mickey. Duh."
"You just let me know the exact time, because I'd have to put in for it in advance, ok?"
"I definetly will. But listen, I really hate to cut this short, but I have another conference with Jive in about 10 minutes and Johnny will cut my throat if I'm late."
"Oh man, and we wouldn't want to end *NSYNC now."
"Funny. Very funny." Justin laughed.
"I try. Ok, Justin. I'll talk to you later, then."
"I'll try and give you a call next week, or this weekend. I shouldn't be that busy this weekend."
"Ok, sounds good. Bye, Justin."
"Bye, Riley." Justin smiled, closing his phone.
**
Nichole screamed another set of obsenities at her boyfriend who was trying to figure out what was going on with his girlfriend, "Justin, just because I'm acting a little different doesn't mean anything is going on! I'm stressed with work and everything, ok? Jesus!"
"I'm sorry for caring about my girlfriend!" Justin hollered back, "****, Nichole, I really know something is going on. Now tell me, please! Is Luke giving you a hard time? Is he working you to hard?"
"No, Justin! No! It's nothing, I sware, ok?! Now, I have to go. I'll call you tomorrow after the shoot. Bye." Nichole hung up abruptly again, throwing her cell phone across the marble counter top in her hotel bathroom. She looked at her half naked self in the mirror, wiping the sweat of her forehead, and brushing her teeth till her gums bled. Hiding the other taste in her mouth from her absent boyfriend.
**
Justin knew that something wasn't right, and he was going to find out what was going on with Nichole. He knew she was probably working way to hard, and that she was stressed from all the photoshoots and interviews at once. He needed to talk to her, and he made the call the Johnny, and then found himself a flight the following afternoon. Nichole wasn't going to hide anything from him.
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