Now enough with my blabbling, please read, enjoy and then let me know what you think. Gracias!
“A male roommate. She’s getting a male roommate!” Justin said. “Tell me if that makes any sense. She doesn’t want to move in with me “ her boyfriend “ but she’s willing to live with another man…who she doesn’t know. Tell me if that makes any sense.” He paused this time, waiting for confirmation on this before continuing. “Of course it doesn’t!”
When K eventually wandered into the kitchen looking to pop some popcorn, she found Justin pacing the floor.
“You almost ready to watch the movie yet?” She asked, grabbing a package of popcorn out of the pantry. “Dang, you’re still on the phone? You’ve been talking on the phone for nearly an hour now.” She said, spying the phone still clasped in his hands as she placed the package into the microwave. “Who are you talking to anyways?”
“My mom.”
“Oh lawd.” She sighed, wondering what he could have been talking to her about for so long and hoping it wasn’t what she thought it was. “You didn’t tell her about…”
“You trying to live in sin with a man you don’t even know?”
“I wouldn’t have worded it like that…but yeah, that.”
Smiling now he said, “What do you think?”
Groaning, she said, “Ugh, I can’t believe you, J.”
“Well believe it and she wants to talk to you now.”
“To me?” K said taken aback.
Laughing he said, “Yeah, to you.”
She reluctantly took the phone in her hand, raising it to her ear she prepared herself to be yelled at. “Hello?” She said hesitatingly.
“K?”
“Yes, it’s me.” She replied, waiting for the lecture to begin.
“Is Justin nearby?”
“Mmmhmm. Smirking in waiting for you rip me a new one.”
Lynn laughed. “Well, that’s too bad for him, cause I ain’t gonna do that.”
“You aren’t?” She smiled, noticing the frown on Justin’s face when he heard her cheerful response.
“No, but you gotta make faces and stuff like I’m yelling at you. Otherwise Justin’s gonna be suspicious.”
“Okay,” She sighed, adding in a roll of the eyes for Justin’s sake. He nodded to himself then, glad in his thinking that the lecture was back on track.
“All I’m going to say is that you should make sure the guy isn’t a psycho and good luck getting Justin used to the idea of you having a guy roommate.” She laughed, knowing how stubborn and overprotective Justin could be, especially when it came to matters involving K.
“Yeah, thanks. I’ll need it.” K replied. “You wanna talk to Justin?”
“Why, K, I let you off the hook and then you turn around and want off the line completely?” Lynn said, pretending to be hurt.
Laughing, K said, “You know how antsy he gets when he thinks people are talking about him.”
“Y’all are talking about me?” Justin said, leaning in to press his ear near the phone K was still holding.
Rolling her eyes, she pushed him away. “See what I’m talking about?” She laughed. “He thinks everything is about him.”
“Alright, then let me talk to him real quick. I gotta go soon anyways.”
“Okay, bye!” K said, handing the phone over to Justin before grabbing her popcorn out of the microwave, dumping it into a bowl and making her way out of the kitchen.
“So when are you going to tell them?” Lynn asked, once she heard her son’s ‘hello’ at the other end of the phone.
“Tell who what?”
“Tell the guys you want to go solo.”
He sighed, not wanting to have this conversation. “I don’t want to go solo.”
“Justin, how long do you think that sorry ass line is going to work? You’ve already started recording some songs.”
“I’m just…” He trailed off, trying to collect his thoughts. “I’m just, um, tinkering with some ideas I’ve had for a while. Nothing special, just making some demos. I haven’t gone to Johnny with it or anything.”
“Okay, Justin. I have to go; my yoga class starts in ten minutes. So I’m gonna be late. But anyways just remember I know you, I raised you, I birthed your big-headed self, so there’s no use pretending…I know you’re going to make a solo album. I’ve had the feeling that you would for a while now. And if this is something that you really want to do, then don’t be afraid to go for it, but at the same time don’t be stupid and realize there’s four other guys you should be talking to before you plunge into this thing. *NSYNC does not need to be pulling a Destiny’s Child’s on withholding important information from group members.”
“Yeah, I know.” He sighed.
“So you better be telling those boys soon, before they find out some other way, cause…”
Interrupting her, he said, “I thought you said you were going to be late for your yoga class.”
“Don’t get smart with me, boy. You ain’t too old to get put over my knee y’know.”
He laughed. “I was just trying to look out for you, Mama.”
“Mmmhmm, I bet you were. Now go give that beautiful girlfriend of yours a kiss for me and tell her she should start coming to my Sunday dinners more often. And once every other month ain’t often, if that’s what she’s thinking…”
“Ma…” He sighed.
“Boy, hush. I’m just gonna say one more thing then I gotta go, you’re making me late.” She laughed, knowing he was going to want to protest her last statement. “But anyways, you need to relax about K and this new roommate thing. If you trust her that should be good enough for you.”
“I do trust her! I just don’t trust him. And I thought you were on my side!”
“I am on your side. I’m always on your side. Even when you’re wrong, like now, ‘cause that’s what mother’s do.” She laughed again. “You know that girl is crazy about you and only you, so you don’t have to worry about that other man. Cause she’s not thinking about him and likewise neither should you. But at the same time don’t hesitate to jump in if you feel like he’s getting out of line with her.”
“Okay,” He sighed.
“Alright, Mama’s gotta go now, baby. I know you wanna hold me on this phone and keep on talking about your life, but I gotta go and partake in my own.”
He laughed. “What a shame.”
“Don’t forget you’re never too old for Mama to whoop that ass.”
“Sorry Mama.” He quickly corrected himself.
“That’s better.” She smiled. “And get off the phone and go pay your girlfriend some attention. Love you, Ciao!” She said, before hanging up so fast that Justin didn’t even have a chance to reply.
“Should I be nervous?” Nate asked, tying up his white Air Forces Ones.
“No.” Joyce replied, shoving her keys into her opened purse, before glancing over at him. He was dressed in a blue and white stripped Ralph Lauren polo, tucked in slightly at the front to display his name inscribed on his belt buckle. His light denim jeans hung low on his waist.
Right after Coach Carter had hit the theatre’s he’d gotten a lot of ‘Hey, you look like that white boy from Coach Carter?’ which had then inspired him to renew his gym membership to further help along his resemblance to Channing Tatum. Despite his on-again off-again girlfriend not liking the extra female attention he was getting from this, he’d enjoyed it. Truth be told, he reveled in it.
Joyce had been the first to downplay his being such a close Channing T. look-a-like, but the more he worked out, the more his once merely tall and lean body gained some definition, the less even she could find an argument against the resemblance. He was a good looking man that was for sure, but that was nothing new to Joyce; she had always considered him to be a little cutie, though she would never admit this aloud. Especially not with his anger management needy girlfriend, Tamela, within hearing distance.
“Well I am.” He admitted, picking at his jeans.
“Don’t be.”
“I can’t help it. You know I’m not good with first impressions, Joy. I always manage to do the wrong thing. Say the wrong thing. Trip, fall, break something.”
She laughed. “You’re gonna be fine.”
“And what’s she like? She knows I’m a guy right? Tamela is gonna flip out when she finds out about this!”
Joyce frowned at the mention of Tamela’s name. “I thought y’all were broken up.”
“We were on Monday. But it’s Tuesday now.”
Joyce rolled her eyes at him, not sure if he was being serious or not. His relationship with Tamela was crazy enough that something like that would be considered ‘normal’ for them. “You don’t even know if Keisha’s gonna say yes yet. So don’t worry about Tam’s crazy ass for now.”
“You know I don’t like when you call her crazy. She’s not crazy.” He snapped.
“Then what is she? Deranged? Mentally unstable? A psychopath?”
“She just gets slightly…off balance sometimes when she doesn’t have her meds.”
“Uh-huh.” Joy muttered. She must be off them most of the time then. She thought. “You sure do make a lot of excuses for her.”
“I don’t make excuses for her, that’s the truth.”
“No, the truth is the girl you fell in love with is outside her mind and you’re too in love to see that.” She countered. “The girl set your clothes on fire because she thought she caught you talking to another woman. Talking, Nate. Not cheating, just simply having a conversation…and that was good enough reason to light your shit up.”
“I needed new clothes anyways.” Nate shrugged, before continuing when he saw Joyce throwing her hands up in the air in frustration. “When she realized she was wrong she apologized and bought me new clothes.”
“Okay, then what about Sox?”
Nate frowned, the memory of Sox still a sore spot for him. “She said that was an accident.”
“How in the world do you run a cat over five times by accident, Nate?!”
“She’s not the one who ran him over!” He snapped, ready to spit out the words that Tamela had handfed him at the time of the ‘accident.’ “She said she’d accidently left the door open, he got out and was hit by a car.”
“Not one, but two neighbors saw her do it.”
“Mrs. Gary ain’t been right in the head since her no good, two-timing husband left her for that bearded lady. And Allison just likes to run her mouth, she’ll say anything she can if it’ll mean you’ll stick around and listen to her nonsense.”
“Whateva Nate. That’s your crazy ass woman. Just please don’t have any kids with her.”
Rolling his eyes, he said, “If we have children together, Tamela will be a great mother.”
“If you say so.” She muttered. “Look, let’s get out of here. We don’t want to be late. And if you could, try for me…cause I really want this to work out so I can kick you up outta my place so I don’t ever have to see that woman again. Try your best not to ramble on and on. I know you only do that when you’re nervous. But please, just listen more than anything. And…”
“I know, I know,” He groaned. “Don’t talk too much about Tamela.”
“I wasn’t gonna say that, but yeah, the less you mention about her the better. And also leave all your little corny jokes and back in the day stories back here, cause I’m sure she don’t wanna hear ‘em.”
“Whateva. My jokes ain’t corny. Tamela tells me I’m hilarious.”
“Again, I go back to my ‘Tamela’s crazy as hell’ argument, for which you have just added another point against her.”
“Shut up.” He laughed. “And let’s get out of here before I decide to stay with you in this cramped up apartment again.”
“Oh you ain’t staying! Not if you’re still with Tam you ain’t. So yeah, let’s get up outta here.” Joy agreed.
She was nervous.
Which considering her luck with the other roommate interviews was perfectly understandable, wouldn’t you think?
She’d already cleaned…twice. Dusting, vacuuming, polishing (what little was left to polish), and the windows had been cleaned. She’d rearranged the family room furniture, rearranged the photos that she had out on display a couple of times. Each arrangement making her more annoyed with it than the one before, until finally she told herself to give it up and go take her shower.
That had been thirty minutes ago though. So now she was showered, dressed, and itching to do some more rearranging.
Everything had to be perfect. This felt to her like it one of her last chances to get a roommate before she’d have to cave and give into Justin’s offer. An offer which despite her resistance to, she realized wasn’t the worst she could do. But she liked having her own space, liking being able to put the stamp of ‘mine’ on a spot without having to attach someone else’s name to it, especially if she could find herself potentially dependent on that person.
This apartment though barely the size of two rooms in Justin’s house was hers. Her safe haven. And had been for going on two years now. She’d grown in this apartment, maybe not in the physical sense. But there had definitely been a mental and emotional growth. Sure she still had some growing to do, and sure she could grow probably just as well in a new location as she’d been doing in the one she was at.
But this was home. Her casa, her castle, her spot. And she liked it.
She’d grown to love and appreciate the quirks of the place, from the various creaking floorboards to the way virtually no sunlight came in through her bedroom window in the summer time during the mornings “ what could be more perfect for a sleeping vampire-ish person than that?
She’d decorated the place…kinda. Okay, really Nicole had with a little help from Coral, but she’d said what she liked and didn’t like so that must count for something “ for supervising at least. Hey, interior design wasn’t her thing “ or at least that’s the reason she’d given to avoid being dragged off to one furniture and hardware store after another.
This apartment had become like a cocoon to her and she’d originally had planned on staying in it with her other caterpillar buddy, Nicole, until graduation. Then life happened, boyfriends beckoned and Nicole went her own separate way, breaking free from the cocoon prematurely (prematurely according to K’s plans at least.) So there was one little caterpillar left in the cocoon now. One little caterpillar waiting for the day when it would be her turn to break free.
But that day wasn’t to-day.
He was pissed.
Which considering the fact that his girlfriend was just about to make one of the biggest mistakes of her life was perfectly understandable, wouldn’t you think?
Justin had tried to reason with her, telling her how incredibly bad this could turn out. Sure, in the beginning the guy would seem okay. But what about after she agreed to let him move in? What if he tries to make a move on her one day…or night? Then Justin would have to kill him. What if they got into an argument over some household issue and he just hauls off and hits her? Then Justin would have to kill him.
Justin didn’t want anyone’s blood on his hands, but K wasn’t understanding that. To her it was so simple: she needed a roommate, he needed a place to stay and if he seemed nice and ‘normal’ they could kill two birds with one stone.
But the only person Justin wanted her killing birds with was him. Strictly in the metaphorical sense of course.
Besides the obvious potentials of this guy becoming a hazard to her health, the last thing Justin needed was live-in competition. It was already hard enough for him to defend what was his - what with her going to school and his fast paced career that kept them apart for long periods of time. And although he would never for a moment doubt her fidelity, he knew sometimes when they were apart that she had to get lonely. The kind of lonely that hanging out with her girlfriends wasn’t gonna satisfy.
Now add in a man who would potentially have almost constant contact with her “ with them living together and all “ plus or minus what he brings in looks and charm and that all equals up to be more temptation than Justin was comfortable with her being around so regularly.
And what if they don’t find each other attractive, but become the best of friends instead somehow? Then whatever alone time he could have been getting with her could possibly be cut into by him and their new friendship.
And what if she started to find that she liked this new guy more than she did Justin? Liked that he was around more, there for her whenever she needed it in ways that Justin just couldn’t.
What if she finds the bastard charming, intelligent, sophisticated yet down to earth, funny, and good looking? Everything she’s ever been looking for in a man. What if she falls for him? What if she wanted to be with him?
Then Justin would have to kill him!
Nathan, Joyce and K had finally gotten through with the awkward small talk, and were just starting to relax around each other a little bit when there came a loud knocking at the door.
“Were you expecting company?” Joy asked.
“No.” K said, wondering who it could be as she rose to answer the door. Peeking out the peep hole K saw Justin’s distorted form standing outside her door. Sighing, she cracked the door open slightly and frowned at him. “Justin, what are you…”
Ignoring her, he barged in making up some stupid excuse about how he was just in the neighborhood, before pretending to be surprised when he saw Joyce as if K hadn’t already told him that this meeting was going on that day. He relaxed as his eyes scanned the room, finding himself to be the only man in it.
“Hi, I’m Justin.” He greeted Joyce with a warm smile as he extended his hand to her.
Shaking his hand, she returned his smile. “I’m Joyce.” She replied, wondering to herself if he was who she thought he was, but not wanting to look stupid by asking.
“So you’re thinking about moving in here?” He asked and before she could answer he plunged ahead ready to sell her on the idea if she hadn’t been sold already, his happiness at this non-male roommate possibility urging him on. But before he could get too far into how much she would like living there…in walked Nathan. Shirtless.
“I don’t have anything to worry about, huh?” He muttered, nodding annoyedly to himself. “The fucker hasn’t even moved in yet and he’s already fucking falling out of his fucking clothes!”
Pushing Justin down the hall and toward her room, Keisha smiled at Joy and Nate when she said, “Um, we’ll be right back. Don’t mind him, he seems to think you’re supposed to sound crazy when you’re making first impressions.”
With a small hallway and a closed bedroom door now separating them from the other two, K said, “Justin, what the hell was that about?”
“That’s what the fuck I’d like to know!”
“Will you stop screaming the word ‘fuck’?!” She hissed, trying to get him to lower his voice several notches.
“Fuck no!”
“Oh, real mature, Justin.” She muttered, rolling her eyes. “Real mature.”
Taking a moment to calm down a little, he said, “I didn’t come here to fight with you.”
“Well, you did a great job of that.”
“K…” He sighed, trailing off as he reigned in his temper. “All I want to know is, why is he walking around half-naked?”
“Because when you barged in he didn’t have time to pull on his pants and put on his shirt after the amazingly mind-blowing threesome we’d just had.”
“K…” He said, gritting his teeth.
“Relax, Columbo. It’s not a hard to solve mystery. He spilt something on his shirt, so I told him he could take it off and I’d wash it for him.”
“Uh-huh. So he’s got you doing his laundry like some fucking maid?! You don’t even do my laundry!”
“Is that what this is about? You want me to do your laundry?” She said, rolling her eyes.
“K…” He said, rubbing his temples. “You’re giving me a headache.”
“Good! And I hope it’s at least half as big as the one you’re giving me.”
Frowning, he asked innocently, “What did I do?”
“What did you do? He asks.” She said, shaking her head at him. “Try not trusting me for one.”
“Who says I don’t trust you?”
“Your actions, cause if you had any faith in me you’d know I would never do anything with another man.”
“Who says you’d do it willingly?”
“You haven’t even met the man and you’re calling him a rapist?”
“First of all, I have met him. All shirtless him. And second of all, rapist…who said anything about raping somebody? Those were your words, not mine. I merely pointed out…”
“…that he might try to take advantage of me, i.e. rape my ass.”
“And how do you know he won’t?”
She sighed. “I don’t. But I’d like to think my judgment of character is a good enough to detect rapist characteristics.”
“And I’d like to think that you aren’t so naïve as to think that you could tell that about someone within such a short time of knowing them.”
“Exactly!”
“Exactly what?” Justin asked, confusion sprinkling across his brow.
“You’ve hardly known him either, so don’t jump to him raping me.”
“Cause the other option of wait and see sounds so much better.” He countered with a roll of his eyes.
“Justin,” She sighed. “I’m not going to get raped just ‘cause I have a man as a roommate. There’s probably just as much chance of that happening if I had of gotten another girl roommate.”
“Alright, let’s test that out. Go find another girl to room with.”
She laughed then. “Justin, I wish you could hear how ridiculous you sound right now.”
“I can hear myself just fine and the only one who’s being ridiculous is you. You know you could have found a girl to room with. And if not, there’s me.”
“And finally we get to the real reason that you’ve lost your mind.”
“Don’t start that shit with me, K. This is about your safety.”
“Safety, my ass. This is about you and your ego. And the fact of the matter is this…Nate’s moving in. We’re not going to be anything more than roommates, possibly friends to each other. And you’re just going to have to get over it.”
Justin opened his mouth to protest, before she quickly cut him off. “And you’re just going to have to get over it.” She smiled at him, before moving toward him, getting on her tippy toes and kissing his now pouting lips. “Cause I’m in love with yo’ dumbass and the sooner you realize this, the better.” She smiled at him again, noticing the slight smirk that now gently tugged at the corners of his lips. Kissing him one last time, she said, “C’mon, let’s go back out there. And you gotta make nice this time. And if that’s too hard for you to do, despite how much I hate it, just slip into celebrity mode for a second to counteract your earlier weirdness.”
He frowned, before whining, “But I don’t wanna. Can’t I just…”
She cut him off with another kiss, this time she made it slower. Deeper. “If you’re a good boy now, I’ll make sure to give you extra desert with dinner.”
“Extra?” He asked, his eyebrow rose with curiosity.
She nodded, grinning at him. “Anyway you want it.”
Justin was leaned back, sitting on the couch, resisting the release of a long postponed yawn, which had been starting to itch for escape ever since Nathan had decided it was story time. Justin had sat patiently, politely listening and laughing at the appropriate times through the first few. But now at least a half hour into the countless, seemingly endless stream of stories to say he was restless was definitely an understatement.
He shifted in his seat, trying to find a more comfortable position to sit in, glancing at K as he did so. K who was perched next to him, looking like the cookie monster at a cookie giveaway with the way she was eating up every word Nate spoke.
Placing his hand on her thigh casually, Justin tried to regain some of her attention. He smiled when she responded by draping her legs over his. He rested his hands on her knee-length skirt covered legs for a moment before moving to her bared skin. His fingers lightly skating up and down her calves, before disappearing slightly up her skirt “ only to be swatted by a smiling Keisha as she mouthed ‘be good.’
He pouted then, causing her to lean into him, kissing him lightly before gently nibbling on his bottom lip. Pulling away, she took his hand into hers.
Her eyes immediately fell back on Nate, only to find him quietly watching the two of them with a small smile on his face.
“So how long have y’all been together?” Nate asked.
“Forever.” K said with a laugh. “Or at least it feels that way.”
“Hey,” Justin said, nudging her side.
“In a good way, of course.” She said, laughing again.
Nate had noticed how much more she laughed and how much more she seemed to enjoy herself in general since Justin had arrived. He nodded before saying, “I know how that can be. That’s how it feels with me and Tamela sometimes and we’ve only been together for two and a half years.” Thinking of the nearly three years worth of problems him and Tamela had dealt with and how trying that had been, he couldn’t imagine adding celebrity drama in the mix on top of all that, which prompted his next question. “So how do y’all do it?”
“Do what?” K asked, her fingers busy intertwining with Justin’s.
“Make it work…with Justin’s celebrity.”
Keisha felt Justin bristle slightly at his name being brought up into the conversation again. The first time being right after Justin had agreed to play nice, in which involved Nate taking a few small playful shots at him and his boy band member status. Naturally that didn’t help Justin to warm up to him any and only further provoked him to stay on the defensive.
K opened her mouth to respond before closing it again, taking her time to speak as if what she was going to say was going to be really deep whenever she got around to saying it. “The key to making it work,” She began. “Is working at it.” She paused for a moment before adding with a laugh, “I think I heard that off of Oprah one day.”
“'It' being sex.” Justin spoke up for one of the few times he'd done so since he’d been trying to be ‘nice.’ “Speaking of which, we oughta get to work on it. Right. About. Now.” He finished, scooping K up into her arms, ready to carry her away into the bedroom.
Nate laughed at that, standing up now. “Well, I ain’t one to stand in between a man trying to spend some quality time alone with his girl. It was nice meeting y’all.” He said, moving toward the door.
Justin liked Nate a little bit at that moment, but not nearly enough to like the idea of him moving in with K. “Yeah, back at ya. Bye!” Justin rushed out, eager to be rid of them.
“I’ll talk to you later, okay?” Joyce called over her shoulder as she walked out the door behind Nate.
“Okay, see ya girl. Bye Nate…don’t forget your shirt!” K called back, laughing as she noticed Nate glance down at his naked chest before smiling embarrassedly as he made moves to retrieve his missing shirt - Justin already trying to whisk her away.
Throwing her onto the bed, Justin literally pounced on her. She giggled feeling his mouth on her neck.
“Justin,” She started. “J…Blue, listen to me.”
Sighing, he retracted himself enough from her that his now dark blue lust filled eyes lock with hers; giving the appearance that he was listening, his breath slightly on the ragged side, his mind in the process of undressing of her.
“You’re acting like I’ve deprived you or something.” She laughed. “Slow down, horndog. There’s no rush, you’ve already chased away our company.”
“I want you so bad right now, that it hurts.” He moaned, in a harsh whisper.
“I told you about wearing them tight ass pants.” She grinned.
“K,” He growled low in her ear, before nibbling on her ‘lobe.
She smiled then, loving the need in his voice. “Tell Mama where it hurts and I’ll make it feel better.”
He sighed, shifting his weight back and forth between his arms, his body still lingering above hers. “Don’t play K.”
“Who’s playing?” She frowned, innocently. “It’s not my fault I have a strong gag reflex.”
“Okay that may be so.” He consented, rolling over so that he could lay down beside her. “But the time you started laughing…that was just wrong. I may be pretty confident, but it would take one helluva strong man to be able to just lay there, pants down, while his girl openly laughs at his goods.”
“Aww, baby, I wasn’t laughing at you. I was laughing at me, cause I knew I couldn’t do it. You know how long it took me to be able to touch it.” She said, before changing the subject as her thoughts shifted. “Will you go lock the door?” Hearing him grumbling as he got to his feet, she added, “…please. Thank you, Blue.”
He entered back into the bedroom a minute later, finding himself to be the only occupant. Plopping down on the bed, he rooted around with his hands until he found the remote.
Returning a minute or two later, K asked, “You want some?” Upon seeing the devilish smirk that was beginning to break across his face, she clarified herself. “I mean, some of this.” She added, holding up her glass of Kool-Aid she’d just made.
He just shook his head, his eyes focused on the TV again.
Sighing, she wasn’t sure how it had happened but Justin had managed to get himself in a bad mood within the two minute time span she’d been gone. “What’s wrong?” She asked, moving toward the bed, placing her glass on the nightstand, her eyes studying his shadow ridden features.
“Nothing.” He vaguely muttered, his eyes still trained on the screen.
“Then how come two minutes ago you were delirious with desire for me and now you look like you could take me or leave me, leaning more towards the latter?”
“How come you gotta get a guy roommate?” He blurted out, his eyes on her for a while before shifting back to the TV again when she began to speak.
“That’s what this is about?” She sighed, wondering how long they’d be having this argument.
“That and the fact that you were so enthralled by him.”
“Entralled how?”
“I’ve never seen you so interested in a person’s stories before.” He said, glancing at her.
“Yeah, and?”
“I just found it odd that’s all. I expected to look over at you and see your eyes glazing over with boredom like mine were…not the complete and utter adoration that I found instead.”
Rolling her eyes, she sighed. “Justin, there was no adoration in my eyes. He just had a lot of interesting things to say.”
“So do I! And you never act like that when I tell a story.”
“Maybe I would, if I hadn’t either been there when the story took place or hadn’t already heard the story fifty million times.”
“I don’t tell the same stories all time.” He said, stubbornly.
“Oh yes you do.” She laughed.
“Then how come you never said anything before?”
“Justin, I’ve only said that a million and one times and every time I say it you’re like ‘Oh well…I bet you’ve never heard me tell it in this voice,’ before going into some stupid little made-up voice of yours.”
He laughed. “That’s funny though.”
She smiled, shaking her head at him. “So says you, Justin. So says you.”
He was quiet for a moment, before he asked softly, “So I’m not interesting to you?”
“Did I say you weren’t interesting?” She sighed. “I said, you tell the same stories all the time. There’s plenty of ‘interesting’ things about you.”
“Like what?” He asked, his eyes completely focused on her.
She hesitated then, not knowing why at moments like this he still had the ability to make her nervous. Maybe it was just that he was giving too much eye contact at that moment, maybe it was the way he was looking at her with that deeply concentrated intensity like she were his world and her next words could either make or break him. Or maybe it was just him and there would always be moments like this.
She thought for a moment to rattle off the short list of Justin's pros, but the moment passed before she could open her mouth and instead she fell into a more typical Keisha response.
“Like the way you fish for compliments like there aren’t enough people or words in the world to kiss that petite lil’ ass of yours as it is.”
Rolling his eyes, he said, “Is it so bad to want to know what your girlfriend thinks of you?”
“You know what I think of you. I’ve told you.”
“Well why can’t you just say it again?”
She sighed. “Justin, sometimes I wonder why you don’t just admit that you want to go solo.” She said, changing the topic as her thoughts suddenly moved in a different direction.
Used to her abrupt shifts in conversation, Justin didn’t miss a beat. “I don’t want to go solo.”
“That’s why you left for two straight months?”
“I was just messing around with some stuff. It was nothing serious.”
“Is that what you told Chad and Pharrell?”
Sighing, he said, “Okay, so I am thinking about it.”
“You’re doing more than thinking, J. You’re doing it.” She said, pausing before adding, “So when are you going to tell the guys?”
“I dunno. I know I should, but I don’t want to. I’m afraid of how they’ll react. What if they don’t want me to?”
“Justin, you should know them well enough by now that even if they didn’t want you to, they’d never stop you. Cause you’re their friend and they want you to succeed, but mostly importantly they want you to be happy.”
“But they’ve been suspicious of this before and I told them point blank that I wasn’t going solo.”
“So you changed your mind. People change their minds.” She shrugged. “They’re not going to hold that against you. Just let them know what’s going on so you can stop sneaking around. ‘Sides I wanna hear some of your new stuff.”
“You want to hear it?” He asked, looking at her curiously. He’d been so excited about his new stuff that he’d been dying to share it with someone, but at the same time due to the content of the music he was a more than a little wary of letting anyone outside those who were contributing to it directly hear it. After all who knew how K’d react to his new stuff, considering how it wouldn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out who’d been his primary muse for this new album.
“Yeah, I want to hear it. I mean, I think it’s only fair that I hear the stuff that has been pulling you away from me for months at a time.”
He watched her for awhile. “Are you sure?”
“Don’t I always demand to listen to your stuff before the rest of the public?”
“Yeah, but…”
“But nothing. This is no different. In fact this is more important ‘cause this is all you.”
He groaned. “Don’t remind me. That’s one of the main reasons I’ve been so hesitant to go for this fully. Cause if I do then it’s all me. If it’s bad it’s all me.”
“But if it’s good…”
“What if they don’t like it?”
“They who? The fans or the critics?”
“Both.”
“Your fans are pretty loyal and will probably eat it up just cause it has your name on it. The critics, who knows, they’re so fickle sometimes. One day they love you, the next they’re ready to roast your ass on spit.”
“I know…that’s what worrying me.” He sighed. “All that media attention, with no one to bounce it off of.”
“Well if you want honesty…you’ve already gotten more of the spotlight than the rest of the guys. You’ve been set apart from them for awhile now and everyone had already guessed if y’all broke up you’d be the one to have a chance at making it as a solo act.”
“Yeah, but what if I don’t make it.”
“Then you say that album was just you experimenting and growing as an artist and stay with *NSYNC.”
“And if it does well?”
“Sky’s the limit.” She smiled. “Just don’t forget the ones who helped you along the way.” She added, smiling as she pointed as herself.
He chuckled that deep manly laugh that she loved to hear. “Yeah, and I’ll be sure to thank you when I win my first Grammy.” He joked, doubting that he’d ever get a Grammy for himself. Especially on his first shot out the box as a solo artist, which in a way would cause him to be like a new artist in order to stand out from the shadow of *NSYNC.
“You better or else there sure as hell ain’t gonna be no victory sex.” She laughed.
“But if I lose? You’ll still gimme some of that sweet lovin’ then, won’t you?” He asked, pulling her into him.
“Negro please!” She scoffed, pushing him away from her then as if she were offended by his words. “I’m much too fine to be sleeping with a loser!” She laughed.
“Not even some pity sex?” He asked, playfully pouting at her.
“Well…” She hesitated, considering it.
“Please.” He said using both the pout and his big baby blues against her know. Knowing that individually they might have been ineffective but together they were damn near irresistible to K.
“Maybe if you beg for it.” She smirked, listening to him beg now. “On your knees.” She said, watching him comply. “Then crawl towards me.” Shaking her head, she said, “No, not like that. Slowly. Like you’re lost in the dessert and I’m your last chance at water, but you can’t rush ‘cause you don’t have the energy.” Smiling, she nodded. “Yes, like that. But don’t stop begging.”
Reaching her, he kissed his way up her feet, to her ankles. Slowly up her calves to her knee, leaving soft, gentle kisses in the wake of his loving lips. Drawing out his pace to an even slower, more measured and deliberate one, he lingered by her inner thighs, until he heard her soft whimper letting him know her body was anxious now.
“You like that?” He breathed out, controlling his own urges to further prolong her sweet torture. His lips and tongue now in the process of a teasing dance that involved quick, quick, then slow flicks across her sensitive skin before his mouth gently sucked, then pulled away when she tried to get him to continue his northward journey. “Not yet.” He whispered, giving her inner thigh one last kiss before backing away from her completely.
Her frown was immediate. “Justin…” She whined. “I need you.” She groaned, moving toward him, trying to close the space that he’d created between their bodies, all the while frustrated and extremely turned on that he’d managed so easily take control.
“I know.” He smirked devilishly at her, yet keeping his distance.
“Don’t you want me too?” She asked, her hands gliding suggestively along her body now. If he wasn’t going to let her come to him, then she’d decided that she was going to get him to come to her instead.
He nodded silently, but didn’t move from his spot, his eyes trained on her hands as they moved skillfully over her body - touching places that he longed to.
“I told you I’d give you extra desert with dinner, didn’t I?” A slow grin took over her face as he watched him nodding, knowing that whatever coyness he’d had before was about to fully dissipate.
“Bu-but we haven’t eaten dinner yet.” He stammered, his eyes still glued to her ever wandering hands.
She smirked. “I got your dinner right here.” She said, undressing from the bottom first. Resisting getting too dirty and laying on the bed, her legs spread and saying to him ‘eat up,' knowing that she'd probably ruin a perfectly good semi-pornographic moment by punctuating it with a laugh. When he didn’t immediately jump her bones, she cocked her head to side with a sly grin on her face. “Aren’t you hungry?”
And she didn’t have to ask him twice.
