STAND BY ME
"WHO LET THE DOGS OUT?" I cringed at the familiar sound. Would she EVER shut up with that STUPID song? Ever since she found out the Baha Men were opening up for us, she just wouldn't stop.
"WHO WHO WHO!" I opened my eyes and saw her indulging her self in some of the grapes from the fruit basket they had in each dressing room of the venue. She caught my opened eyes in the mirror and smiled brightly. "WHO LET THE DOGS OUT? JUST JUST JUST IN!!!" She giggled at her own rendition of the song.
I took a pillow and hurled it at her. "HEY!!" I heard seconds later.
"Would you shut up? I'm TYRING to take a nap."
"Oh really?" She said sarcastically. I had closed my eyes but knew she was walking towards me. Her Adidas pants were swishing against each other and I could smell her jasmine scented perfume or body wash, whatever it was, coming towards me. I figured she sat down on coffee table. I felt her hand reach out and touch my shoulder as if I were a rare antique and she was afraid she would break me. Finally I sighed when I felt both her hands press firmly into my back.
"Oh yeah..." I groaned. I heard her giggle. "I swear Timberlake, I feel like your slave half the time."
"Yeah, if you are going to give me a massage, I want some music." I quipped. Amazingly she stood up and walked to the radio in the room. But not without an exaggerated sigh.
She flipped through the stations. "Commercials.... Too fast...I don't want rap...."
I liked that song. "Hey, that was a good song, Jay-Z is cool."
"You know I don't like rap." She continued flipping. "..too slow...oh god! I hear enough Nsync as it is...." I laughed at her comment. "...too fast....commercial...darn it!...ahhh, just right."
"Good choice babe, now BACK TO WORK!" I yelled. I looked up at her and she was glaring at me.
"Shut up." She made her way over and sat down on my butt. I giggled. "Meredith, I keep telling you, NO! What if some one walks in!"
"Oh pulease." She hit my back a few times.
"Oww, hey, I thought you said you didn't want a slow song."
"I changed my mind." She began to knead and release all the tense muscles in my back. I groaned and listened to her hum the song and finally lightly sing it. "So, darling, darling, stand by me. Ohh, stand by me. Oh stand now..."
"I love your voice." I mumbled into the pillow.
"Yeah, sure. I'm Aretha Franklin's mini-me. SURE!" He sarcasm made me roll my eyes as she continued to work on my back. She gave the best massages.
Soon that song went off and they began playing a Beatles song. Of course she went a little nuts. Using my back as a drum set. I didn't mind.
Until she started using my head as a drum as well. "Lay off the curls, girl."
That just made her ruffle them more. "You don't look different, but you have changed. I'm Looking THROUGH YOU. YOUR NOTTT THE SAME!"
"Beatles? Where?" Chris burst through the open door. "Ahh, no fair. I want a massage too!!!" He started to whine bopping his head to the song on the radio. When the Beatles went off he changed it to another station.
Before I could even think, Lance was in the room also. "Hey, Justin is Britney coming by today?"
"Umm, no, why?"
"Well, because..."
"JUSTIN!"
I groaned when I saw the fake blonde rush into the room. I stood up, unexpectantly and Meredith almost fell on the floor. She rolled her eyes at me and started singing the new song loudly with Chris. "It's the END of the world as we know it! And I feel FINNNNNEEEE!"
"You are lookin fine too, Merey." Lance winked.
"Uhhh ohh!!! Lance got the moves. Yall hear that. Go Lance!!" Meredith yelled happily. "Hey, Britney how are you?"
Britney looked at me with a raised eyebrow not moving away from the intense stare we had going on. I knew I was in trouble. She didn't know Meredith was coming down to see me, but I didn't know Britney was coming down either. And I couldn't help but wonder what she thought about her sitting on top of me on the couch.
Who cares..?
"I'm fine, Meredith." She spoke without emotion. I mouthed to my girlfriend "be nice." She rolled her eyes. She really could be so rude.
"That's great. Justin you didn't tell me she was coming down." I heard Meredith say from the couch but I didn't move my gaze from Britney. She looked..different. I know she looked the same, but something was different about her. I couldn't tell what it was.
"I didn't know she was coming."
"Yeah it was a surprise." Britney for the first time smiled, at me. I remembered I use to go weak at that smile. It IS beautiful. But, kinda too beautiful. Too perfect. Do you know what I mean?
"Well, are you just going to stand there?" That right eyebrow was slightly raised higher than the other, a sign of mischief for Brit. I rolled my eyes and played along with her little game, as I bent down to wrap her in a hug.
I heard a husky, low voice whisper in my ear. "Let's go somewhere private."
"OK." She was my girlfriend, what else was I supposed to say?
----
"Damn, Brit. Slow down." I grabbed her wrists that were already at the hem of my shirt. The girl had gone nuts! We were in props closet right out of the stage area. And here she was, ready to strip me and I don't know WHAT was on that girls mind. Like I said. SHE HAD GONE NUTS!
"I just can't help it, J. You look so good. Please, just a little...."
"Britney, no. I'm at work. This is..no. Do you know how many people could walk in on us? No, Britney. Just no."
She began to pout and I knew those droopy eyes were going to come out too. I use to fall at her feet at that face. It doesn't phase me anymore.
I walked to the door of the closet and swung it open. "Calm down, girl. OK? I'll be in the dressing room with everyone else." She started giggling. "What?"
"You might want to buckle up, baby." She moved her eyes to my belt buckle. It was undone. That girl was...I don't know what she was, but she needed to stop!
I shook my head as I buckled my belt and walked back towards the dressing room. When I opened the door 4 heads looked at me with wide eyes, innocently, too innocently.
"Uhh, Hey Justin." Meredith smiled brightly.
Chris had the same cheesy smile on his face. "Yeah, man, how's it goin?"
Joey shook his head furiously. "Yeah, we weren't doing anything, nothing at all."
"JOEY!!" 3 people shouted.
"What?" He shrugged.
I laughed as I saw Lance give him a look.
"Spill it. What were you guys doin?" I gave them a fatherly look.
"Well, we were going to steal all your Stevie and Brian McNight CDs and replace them with Vanilla Ice, Milli Vanilli, uhh, what else? Mc Hammer..."
"Joey, you can SHUT UP now." Lance spoke up with a sigh.
I looked infront of me and saw Meredith staring at me confused. I mouthed "what" to her and she shook her head and slowly walked closer to me. She studied my face and I became very self-conscious under her intense stare. She looked at my hair and brought up a hand to fix it. She then let her fingers rub something on my cheek, chin, and finally my lips. I looked up at the other guys in the room that were looking at us strangely. I didn't know what was going on either.
She looked down at the floor and looked to the side, avoiding me. "You had some lipstick on you uhh, face..." She mumbled and brushed past me. "I'm going to the game room."
As she left Britney came in and wrapped her arms around my stomach. "Hey, baby."
"Hi." I said simply. What was all that about with Meredith?
"I'm going to go see what M's up to." Lance left with a weird look on his face. Joey was flipping through a magazine and Chris was bouncing around the room trying to find something to occupy his time.
"So, can we finish what I started, at the hotel tonight?" she turned towards my front to look up at me.
"Uhh, I don't know."
"Come on. I figure there is no point in me getting my own room. I'll just share with you." She began poking at my chest.
"Well, Meredith is sharing a room with me actually, and I would hate to do that to her."
"YOU ARE SHARING A ROOM WITH HER?" I didn't expect her to be that upset. Or that loud.
"Oh, Joey. JC wanted us to do something for him remember?" Chris said looking at me cautiously.
"What? I don't remember anything. What did he want us to do?" Joey said still enthralled with the magazine.
I tried not to laugh as Chris literally dragged Joey out of the room. He closed the door with a smile.
I looked back down at Britney. "WHAT?" I said.
"SO, are you cheating on me now?"
"WHAT?????? Girl, you are TRIPPIN."
"Well, you KNOW Meredith is only around you because she has a crush on you. I mean why else would she fly out to see you."
Wow. What a ...I'm not going to say it. But my gosh, am I THAT pathetic? I couldn't believe she would just deteriorate me like that. She basically just said I wasn't worth someone's friendship. I had to sit down.
"I can't believe..." I couldn't finish. I was so mad and hurt. "Did it ever occur to you that maybe she is my friend? That maybe, just maybe she wants to see me because she HASNT in about a month? What did you expect, me just to forget my best friend? Is that IT? LET ME TELL YOU SOMETHING BRITNEY!!! I invited her down here. In fact I had to beg her parents to let her come. It was ME, ME, who asked her to come down here. I don't know WHY you feel so threatened by her. If you didn't notice, she is my BEST friend. Nothing more. And by the way. I didn't INVITE you down here. So I wonder why would YOU fly out to see me. All you seem to care about is getting some action tonight!"
Umm, I have this temper problem. IT will start off real calm and then BOOM it will just explode. I couldn't see straight. I don't know WHY I was that upset but I was.
I was so hurt.
I couldn't care about what Britney had said. Until she deteriorated my friendship with Meredith.
That just went TOO far.
"Justin...." She whined. Ugh, it's SO annoying. "I'm sorry baby. Maybe I am jealous. You treat her better than you treat me..."
"WHAT?" No she didn't. What the HELL was she talking about? I treated her like a GODDESS. Something I was learning she WASNT.
"Well you always..."
"You know what Britney, just get out. I don't want to see you right now." I pointed to the door.
Her mouth DROPPED. "You're kicking me out?"
"Uhh YEAH!" I looked at her. She had tears in her eyes. Usually I would immediately say I was sorry, hold her and beg for forgiveness.
Right now, I didn't give a damn.
"Fine. I'll just leave. I'll wait for you to cool down. I'll go find JC or somebody..." She began to mumble and she left the room quietly.
I flipped back onto the couch.
I live in a soap opera, folks. I swear it would be an Emmy nominated show. The Bold and the Confused. Days of Justin's life. All my girlfriends. As Justin's world turns.
I'd be the king of daytime TV.
-----
Meredith was already asleep in her bed. I saw the mound of covers and decided not to wake her. I didn't really know where Britney was, and I really didn't care. I saw her that afternoon still hanging around the venue. She was laughing. Obviously she wasn't THAT upset.
But I hadn't seen Meredith once. It was like she disappeared. None of the guys saw her either. JC said she was asleep at around 3. I don't know. The show went OK but I was tired and I just ready to get into bed.
I stripped down to my boxers and undershirt and crawled under the covers. I was ready to be knocked out. I was so close to being in my dreamland, the only place that I was never confused now a days, when I heard the covers move in her bed. I didn't think anything of it until I felt a body pressed against mine.
It scared me. "Uhhh, what are you doing?"
"Finishing what I started."
"BRITNEY!" I yelled. How did she get in there, and...Where was Meredith?
I searched for the light and tried to get her off me, she wouldn't budge. But I did get the light on.
"What are you doing in here?"
"I wanted to see you. And I wanted to say I'm sorry. I'm so sorry baby." A sly smile came to her face. "Let me make it up to you."
"No. Britney..." I sighed as she began to kiss my neck. God, that was my weak spot.
Stay Strong Justin. Stay Strong.
I couldn't do it.
Man, I hate myself sometimes.
But, the hatred for myself was about to increase, rapidly, greatly.
The door to the hotel room swung open and I heard a girl singing loudly to my song, our song. Our song with Joe.
One of her favorite songs. "I believeeee in youuuu. I swear that forever from today. No one will ever take your...."
She stopped when she saw us. Britney was straddling my stomach and I was just lying there like a fool. She had headphones on her ears connected to a CD player she had in her hand. It dropped and hung in the air because of the headphones and finally crashed to the floor when the headphone plug slipped out of its socket. She just stood there.
I stared at her and she stared at me.
"Excuse you." Britney said with her hands on her hips and tons of attitudes. I looked up and realized that she was in a spaghetti strap tank top and underwear. That's it.
God, I know we looked awful.
Meredith finally spoke. "Ohhh, I'm so sorry. I'm leaving." She took the headphones off and picked up her CD player and looked at me one last time.
And there it was.
I could have shot myself.
I saw a tear slip from those bright brown eyes.
She hurried to the door and opened it.
I didn't have time to think. I had pushed Britney off me ran after her. I ignored her threats coming from the one on the bed.
I found her outside in the hallway crying her eyes out into her knees. I sat beside her and wrapped my arms around her. She seemed not even to care.
"Why is she so mean to me? And why does it bother me so much that you two are together? Why Justin? I'm so confused. I don't need this right now. Not with everything going on."
I whispered into her hair, smelling it. God, I loved that smell. "I'm so sorry."
"It's OK. She's your girlfriend. What else are you supposed to do?"
"Yeah, but..but you're my girl. You're my Meredith." I cupped her face upwards and made her look at me. "You're my everything."
Her eyes got huge and her eyes kept crying, silently.
And there it was.
For the first time, she went for it.
And by no means did I stop her.
She wrapped her arms around my neck as her lips crushed into mine. I pulled her into my lap and pressed her back so that her front was pressed into mine.
It felt so right. So good. So...pure, to be with her like that.
Whenever I was with Britney I felt guilty. But never with Meredith.
She had tilted her head to the side and let me take control. She smelled like jasmine. I knew I probably stunk. I hadn't taken a shower since I had gotten back from the show. I was just too tired.
I thought I would just get some nice peaceful rest...boy was I wrong.
She must have run out of breath because she gently pulled away and brought her lips to my forehead. "I love you so much, Justin. Too much at times. And it hurts me, it hurts me so much to see you with her." She looked into my eyes and I brought a hand up to wipe away the tears on her beautiful face. "But I also know you are confused. I don't want you to do anything you regret. I called my dad this afternoon. I'm leaving first thing tomorrow."
No. She couldn't do this to me. "But.."
"Listen. It's only 2 days shorter than what we planned. And with Britney here, well, you know. Spend time with her. Figure yourself out. I can't do it for you. And I can't stand to lose you. I know..." She paused and thought about what she was going to say. I stared at her intently, waiting. She turned to the side. Avoiding me
"I know, you love her. I know you love me. But, I, just...nevermind." I turned her head back to mine.
"What?" I whispered. I could barely find my voice.
"I know you love me, but you just don't know which way yet. That's hard Justin. That's hard on me. But whatever you decide, I'll be willing to take." She let another tear fall from her red eyes and whispered. "I just want to be around you..."
I moved in for another kiss but she pulled away. "I'll go stay in Lance's room. I'll pack my things tomorrow." She stood up and looked down the hallway as the elevators opened and some of the crew stepped out and went to their rooms. "My flight leaves at 10."
"But we have a interview at 10."
She looked at me and nodded. "I know. I better go. Goodnight."
And with that she turned and walked a few doors down. I stood up and stared at her as she knocked and the door opened. She spoke softly and Lance peeked out and looked at me. He gave me a grin and Meredith looked at me one last time before stepping into his room.
"You OK?" Lance's deep voice asked me
I nodded and headed back to my door. I knocked because I had no key and the door had locked shut when I ran out. I looked down and realized I was standing in the hallway in my underwear. I blushed slightly.
Then the door swung open. My mouth DROPPED at the sight. "NOW we can finish!!!!" I groaned as I was literally pulled inside the door and was pressed up against the wall.
I felt like SUCH a player.
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