“So what do you need to know about being Justin’s PA…” Trace mused as he sprawled out on a couch. “Let’s see…”

Brenna sat down on an armchair across from him and pulled her legs underneath her.

“Okay, well let me put it this way,” Trace finally said. “Being Justin’s PA is a lot like being his mom.”

“His mom?” she repeated.

“Yeah. I mean, you’ve seen him with Lynn. She does a lot of things for him like going to the store and getting him something if he needs it or making sure he’s on time for things or making sure he has everything he needs when he has meetings. Basically, as a PA you tie everything together. His manager or PR or whoever will set up an interview, but you gotta make sure he’s there on time. If something unexpected comes up, you gotta deal with it and fix it. Justin’ll depend on you a lot more than he thinks he will.”

“So how will I know when he has meetings or interviews?”

“Each week you have a meeting with Johnny Wright, Justin’s manager. He’ll give you the schedule for the week. It’s a good idea to get some kind of daytimer and record it all in there.”

“Okay.”

“When you’re a PA, you don’t really have a set schedule of things you do during the day. You just make sure everything happens when it’s supposed to happen and that everything goes smoothly. And if Justin needs something, you’re getting it, even if it seems outrageous.”

“Like what?”

“Um…well this one time he got this stain on a coat and he decided he wanted to wear it out that night so I had to go to the drycleaners to get it clean but they were just closing and it was only the clerk there and I had to convince her to call someone in just to get the stupid stain out.”

“How did you convince her?”

“Sometimes you gotta use everything you can to convince people. For the jacket I gave them a signed picture of Justin that they still have hanging up. A lot of times if you drop that you work for someone famous, people will do anything for you. And when that doesn’t work, money usually will. And, you know, sometimes you just gotta be rude. That’s one thing you’re gonna have to work on. You’re too nice right now.”

“I’m too nice?” she questioned.

“Yeah. And that can really work against you. People are different in LA than in Shelby Forest. People around here will screw you over if you show them that you aren’t tough. You can’t worry about making friends with these people. If they know you can be pushed over, they’ll walk all over you.”

Brenna found herself nodding, even though she wasn’t entirely sure if she would be able to do that.

“Really, if you gotta be rude, it’s a lot easier to do over the phone than in person. Speaking of that, we have to get you a phone today. I’m gonna transfer all my numbers and shit over to yours so you have it.”

“Okay.”

“Let’s just do that now. Get it out of the way.”

She got up with him and followed him towards the front of the house. “Is Justin still asleep?”

“Yep.”

“He probably killed his body last night being up so late. He’s still supposed to be getting a lot of sleep.”

Trace began to laugh. “You sound just like Lynn. You’re gonna be able to do this job just fine.”

“So what did you think of everything Trace told you?” Justin asked later that day.

Brenna sat down at the kitchen table. “Sounded like a lot.”

Justin grabbed a bottle of water form the fridge. “Trace makes everything sound complicated. He told me he thinks you’ll be fine.”

“Really?”

He leaned against the counter. “Yep. He got you a phone?”

“Yeah. And gave me way too many numbers. I don’t even know who these people are.”

“You’ll meet them all eventually. Don’t worry about it.”

“Yeah.”

“What’re you doing tonight?”

“Going with Kate over to that guy’s house. Tyler.”

Justin smirked. “Kate’s little boyfriend.”

“I don’t think they’re going out.”

“They will be by the end of the week. Guaranteed.” Justin checked his watch. “Man, where is Trace? He was supposed to be here by six.”

“Where’d he go?”

“To pick up one of our friends. The game starts on TV at six thirty. He better hurry up.”

“You’re staying here tonight?”

“Yeah, I’m still tired from last night. Don’t tell Mom we were out late, Bren. She’ll kill me.”

“Maybe that’s cause you’re still supposed to be taking it easy.”

“Yeah, I know. But it’s so hard to do that in LA. That’s part of the reason I came to Tennessee when I was really sick. But, yeah, don’t tell Mom.”

“I won’t.”

“Good.”

Brenna looked up at the faint sound of a door opening and voices coming from the front of the house. Justin set down his bottle.

“Cool. They’re here.”

Brenna was beyond surprised as the guy that came into the kitchen with Trace let out a loud “J-dawg!” and jumped on Justin in a half hug, half tackle. Justin laughed and she watched as he lost his balance and both he and the other guy fell to the floor. Neither seemed affected by the hard tile floor that they were now laying on and Brenna raised her eyes to Trace who was laughing.

“Man, it’s about damn time you got back!” the guy said, getting up and offering a hand to help Justin up.

“Tell me about it, man,” Justin said, getting up and brushing himself off.

“Bring me anything?”

“Nope. But I brought me something.” He gestured to her. “This is Brenna, my new PA. Bren, this is Matt.”

“Hey. Nice to meet you,” the guy greeted.

She smiled. “You too.” She stood up as Matt and Justin began talking. Kate was supposed to pick her up at seven and she still wanted to shower and change. She quietly excused herself and went upstairs. She took a shower quickly and dried her hair before exiting the bathroom and going back into her room. She had just began debating on what to wear when someone knocked on her door.

“Brenna?”

She recognized Kate’s voice and opened her door, tightening the bathrobe she had on at the same time.

“Sorry I’m early,” Kate said as she breezed into the room. “I was out thought and I didn’t feel like going home before I came over here.”

“What time is it?”

“Six thirtyish. Don’t you have a clock in here?”

“No. I need to get one.”

Kate set her things on the bed and went over to Brenna’s dresser. “What are you wearing?”

“I don’t know.”

“I’ll find you something.”

Brenna sat on the edge of her bed and waited as Kate went through her clothes. She eventually emerged with a pair of jeans and a t-shirt that they had bought the day before. “These are perfect.”

Brenna slid them on and Kate nodded.

“Those jeans look so good on you, Bren. And that shirt’s amazing. They always have the best shirts at vintage stores. That’s where I get a lot of Justin’s clothes.”

Brenna fingered the green material of the shirt. “Yeah, it’s nice. They aren’t too tight or anything, are they?”

“They’re form fitting. Don’t worry. If you look like a ho, I’ll be the first to tell you.”

Brenna smiled. “Thanks.”

“Can I do your makeup?”

“I wasn’t going to wear any.”

“I’m just gonna do a bit of mascara. And some blush. Damn, you’re lucky though. You have such good skin. You need no concealer.”

Brenna sat down on the edge of the bed as Kate pulled out some makeup. “Good genes I guess.”

“Lucky you. And you have such a natural looking tan.”

Brenna began to laugh. “It is natural.”

Kate giggled. “Oh yeah.” She pulled a desk chair over in front of Brenna and sat down. “Justin’s tan is really good from being in Tennessee. But now he’s complaining about how out of shape he is.”

Brenna tried to stay still as Kate applied some mascara. “Yeah, he wasn’t supposed to do any strenuous physical activity. I think he can now.”

“Mm hmm. So have you ever thought of modeling?”

“Uh, no.”

“You should.”

“I’m not skinny enough.”

“Oh please. You’re what, a size two?”

“Four.”

“That’s skinny enough. No, seriously, I could hook you up with some designers if you want.”

Brenna started to smile until she realized Kate was serious. “Uh, no that’s okay. That wouldn’t be my thing.”

“Hmm. Okay.” Kate leaned back. “There. Gorgeous. Now will you let me do something to your hair?”

“Okay.”

“Cool.”

Brenna sat still as Kate teased and hair sprayed her hair until she was satisfied. Brenna was a little surprised when she looked in the mirror. She hardly ever wore makeup or did much with her hair. The mascara and blush brought out her eyes and made her cheekbones seem higher. And Kate had given her hair a slightly messy look, which also made her look different.

“Like it?”

“Yeah, I do.”

“Cool. We should go. It’s after seven.”

“Okay.” Brenna followed Kate downstairs. Kate stopped in the doorway of the entertainment room where the guys were.

“We’re going now, my boys,” Kate announced. “You behave.”

“And you have a fun night of sex with Tyler,” Justin smirked, looking away from the television.

Kate flipped him off. “You know, for the amount of time you spend talking about Tyler, I’m beginning to think you want him.”

“Oh yeah. Please,” Justin deadpanned, rolling his eyes. “Bren, I see Kate got to you with her makeup obsession.”

Brenna’s hand immediately went to her hair. “Does it not look good?”

“No, it looks good,” he said. “Different but good.”

“Well, I’m enjoying the compliments on my makeover abilities, but we’re leaving now. Sex and all, right, J?”

Justin smirked and turned back to the TV. “Bye.”

Kate laughed and turned towards the front door. Brenna followed her out to Kate’s car and they got in.

“The lovely Drew will be there,” Kate said as she backed out of the driveway. “Does this make you happy?”

Brenna smiled. “It’s alright.”

“Alright, alright, alright. It’s marvelous, darling.”

Brenna laughed and leaned her head against the back of the seat. They arrived at an apartment complex about twenty minutes later. She followed Kate into the front door and Kate buzzed up to Tyler’s apartment.

“Yeah,” a male voice came over the intercom.

“Let us up, Stud.”

A buzzer sounded and Kate pulled open the door. They climbed a few flights of stairs and Kate led her to a door that was partially open. They went into the apartment and Kate dropped her purse on the floor. Tyler came into the hall and smiled.

“You’re late.”

“I’m always late,” Kate replied. “Where’s Drew?”

“Setting up the movie. I was getting drinks. Hey, Brenna.”

Brenna smiled. “Hi.”

“We’ll go find Drew,” Kate said.

Brenna followed Kate through the apartment to a room where there was a couch and loveseat facing a television. Drew was sitting on the couch, looking at the back of a DVD. He looked up and smiled when they entered.

“Hey, Brenna.”

“Hi.”

“You look nice.”

She felt her cheeks redden a little. “Thanks.”

“How was your day?”

She sat down on the edge of the loveseat. “Pretty good. Yours?”

“Great.”

“Hey, Drew. I’m doing good too, Drew. My day was great, Drew. Thanks for asking,” Kate said, reaching over the back of the couch to grab a couple DVD’s that were laying on the cushion.

Drew rolled his eyes. “Hi, Kate.”

“Star Wars?” Kate asked, wrinkling her nose as she read the title of the DVD in her hand. “Do we really have to watch this?”

“No, I got like four movies. We can watch any of them.” Drew turned back to Brenna. “So are you getting a little more used to LA?”

“Yeah. Trace had me out all day pretty much so it’s getting more familiar.”

“That’s good.”

Tyler came into the room with Drinks and Brenna accepted a can of Pepsi from him. Tyler and Drew agreed with a romantic comedy as long as the next movie they watched was one of their choices. Brenna slid further onto one side of the loveseat as Drew stuck the movie in. Kate and Tyler were on the couch and once Drew had the DVD in, he came over and sat on the floor in front of the loveseat, right beside where her legs were.

“You’re sitting on the floor?” she asked.

He smiled at her. “I’m kind of a floor person.”

“Oh. Okay.” She turned to the television as the movie started and focused on that. About halfway through the movie, she stretched out and laid down sideways on the loveseat to get more comfortable. She had been like that for a few minutes when she saw Drew move. He got up and flipped off the lights so the room was mostly lit up by the television. When he returned to the loveseat, instead of sitting back on the floor, he sat on the other side, in the space between her legs and the back of the couch, his legs draped over hers. She started to move her legs to give him more room but he stopped her.

“You don’t have to move,” he whispered. “I’m good.”

She nodded and turned back to the TV. Her thoughts were now distracted with the comfortable weight of his legs on hers and his hand that was pressed against her calf. She couldn’t deny that she thought he was cute and this was just adding to it.

She wasn’t quite sure how it happened, but somehow Drew gradually shifted on the loveseat to the point where he was leaning against her. She moved her upper body closer to the edge of the cushion and when she did, he shifted a bit more and suddenly he was laying behind her. He moved his legs so they were behind hers. She stared at the TV but wasn’t paying any attention as he moved into this position.

“This okay?”

She shivered a bit as he said that quietly, and nodded, not turning her head to look at him. She moved her eyes to the side to see if Kate or Tyler had noticed. Kate was sitting pretty much on Tyler’s lap and both their heads were close together as they watched the movie. Neither had noticed, or if they had, neither cared.

Brenna moved her eyes back to the TV, letting her body relax a bit. Her heart was beating faster than usual at the closeness of Drew. She wasn’t sure what to make of it.

She could hear the steady quietness of his breath and a small smile formed on her lips. She had always been the type to like being close like this to a guy and the warmth it brought inside of her made her feel pretty and wanted.

She had just become very comfortable when the movie ended. She held her breath a bit as the end credits rolled across the screen, not sure of what would happen next. Drew made no attempt to move and after a couple minutes, Tyler pushed himself up to put in a different movie. Out of the corner of her eye, Brenna saw Kate look over at them but Brenna didn’t look at her, figuring it would be easier to stare at the carpet rather than meet Kate’s eyes.

She relaxed again as another movie started and Tyler returned to the couch. She let out a soft sigh and shifted deeper into the loveseat cushion. She was glad that another movie was in and that she could stay there with Drew for a couple more hours.

She jumped slightly in surprise when she felt Drew’s hand brush her hip and then rest there. There was absolutely no hope for watching the movie at that point. Although she kept her eyes on the TV, the only thing registering in her brain was Drew. She could smell his cologne and feel the warmth of his body and the slight weight of his hand on her hip and it was putting her thoughts into overdrive.

She wanted to stay there forever but she knew as the movie ended that she was going to have to get up. Kate was the first to move, getting up and going over to shut the TV off. Brenna shut her eyes briefly and then slowly sat up. Drew’s hand slid from her hip and he cleared his throat.

“My brain’s gonna fry if we watch anymore TV,” Kate said, flipping on the lights. “What time is it?”

Tyler checked his watch. “Ten after twelve.”

Brenna yawned and stood up, her muscles stiff from being in one position for so long.

“We should probably go,” Kate said, stretching her hands over her head. “I have a doctor’s appointment tomorrow morning and I have to drive Bren home.”

“I’ll drive you home, Bren,” Drew said, standing up.

Brenna turned to look at him. “You don’t have to.”

“No, it’s good. Kate, do you mind?”

Kate smiled at Brenna and raised her eyebrows. “Go for it, Drew.”

He got up. “Want to go now, Brenna?”

“Um, sure.” She followed him towards the front of the apartment. Kate followed behind.

“Bren, call me tomorrow afternoon,” Kate said when they reached the door. “I probably won’t come over to the house but maybe we could do something later.”

“Okay.” Brenna slipped on her shoes and Drew opened the door.

“See you guys later,” he said.

“Bye,” Kate and Tyler replied together.

Brenna followed Drew out of the apartment and towards the stairs.

“So that second movie was kind of a dud,” he said as they went down the stairs.

She honestly couldn’t remember the plot of the movie since she had been so wrapped up in her thoughts of him. “Yeah, it was a little boring,” she replied, hoping she sounded like she knew what she was talking about.

“First was good though.”

“Yeah. It was funny.”

They reached the bottom of the stairs and Drew opened the door of the apartment complex, stepping to the side so she could walk out first. She smiled slightly at his action and stepped outside. The air had cooled down since she had Kate had arrived and she shivered slightly.

“Are you cold?” Drew asked. “Do you want my jacket?” He started to shrug his jacket off but she stopped him.

“No, I’m fine.”

“Sure?’

“Yeah.”

“My car’s over there,” he said, pointing to a small sports car a few spaces away.

“Your car’s really nice,” she said as they reached it.

“Thanks. I actually just got it a few months ago.” He unlocked the doors and opened hers for her. She got in and he shut it, coming around to the other side of the car.

“Yeah, I’ve done a lot of dancing gigs for not a lot of money,” he said as he got into the car. “But I toured with Christina Aguilera last summer and that paid really good so I decided to trade in my old junk bucket for this.” He started the engine. “Do you drive?”

“I can drive but I don’t have a car. Justin mentioned something about letting me use one of his cars.”

“That’s cool.”

She did up her seatbelt. “Yeah.”

They talked the entire drive to Justin’s house, although alter, she couldn’t remember a thing that she had said. She was too busy focusing on his laugh and his dimple and too busy silently cursing herself out for being such a girl with her crush.

She was disappointed when Drew reached the house. She had had such a good night with him and didn’t want it to end.

Drew put his car in park and she undid her seatbelt.

“I know Kate asked if you wanted to do something with her tomorrow but do you think she’d mind too much if I stole you for supper?”

Her lips curved up as she realized he was asking her out on a date. “I think she’d be okay with that.”

He smiled. “Cool.” He leaned across the seat to give her a hug and her smile widened as she accepted it. Her heard jumped a bit when she felt his lips brush her temple as he pulled back and she was glad for the darkness of the car so her now red cheeks would be hidden.

“So is six tomorrow okay?”

She nodded. “Sure.” She opened her door. “Thanks for the ride.”

“Anytime. See you tomorrow.”

“Bye.” She got out of the car and shut the door behind her. Giggling softly, she walked towards the front door. Her one hand absentmindedly touched her temple as she punched in the code that opened the front door. She could still feel his lips there.

She stepped into the house and quietly shut the door behind her, leaning back against it.

What an amazing night.

“Kate’s not coming in?”

She opened her eyes and saw Justin standing a few feet away. “Hmm?”

“Kate’s not coming in?”

She stared at him for a second before she understood what he was asking. “Oh. Kate didn’t drive me back. Drew did.”

“Oh. How come?”

She shrugged. “He offered.” She slid off her shoes and walked towards the stairs. Justin followed behind her.

“Guess what we’re doing tomorrow,” he said as he climbed the stairs behind her.

“Um…what?”

“We’re going to the beach!”

She went into her room and dropped her purse on her bed. “Who?”

“You, me, maybe Kate.”

“She has some sort of doctor’s appointment in the morning.”

“She can come later then. I know this really great secluded beach we can go and not be bothered.”

“How long will we be there?”

“I dunno. However long we want.”

“Is it okay if we’re back by like five?”

“Sure. Why?”

“I’m going for supper with Drew tomorrow.”

Justin smirked and leaned against the doorframe, crossing his arms over his chest. “Going on a date?”

Her cheeks went hot. “We’re just going for supper.”

“Sure you are.”

“You’re not funny.”

“Yes I am. Well since you’re gonna be off with him tomorrow night, let’s go at like eleven in the morning.”

“Okay.”

“Are you going to bed?”

“Yeah.”

“Sweet dreams…about Drew.”

She picked up her pillow and threw it at him but he had already ducked out of the room and shut the door before her pillow could hit him. She rolled her eyes and smiled as she heard the sound of his laughter and then began to get ready for bed.