Chapter Sixteen
Rachael held open the door to her dorm room as Justin waddled in, carried a huge box of her clothes. “Please remind me why I agreed to help you move in here?” he requested as he set it down, panting.
“Because my dad couldn’t do it and you don’t get enough exercise in your every day life,” she responded, looking around the room skeptically. It was small, which she’d expected, but she was wondering if she’d be able to live there with a complete stranger without wanting to kill her roommate.
“I don’t?” Justin replied with amusement, clearly not convinced that touring and dancing almost every night constituted not getting enough exercise. Rachael shook her head and sat down on one of the two beds.
“Nope, you don’t. Please don’t question me. We both know that never ends well.”
“We do?” Justin replied with a mischievous grin as he lowered himself down next to her on the bed and Rachael laughed.
“You’re a dork.”
“Thank you. I can’t believe you’re going to college. It’s unreal, yo.”
“ ‘It’s unreal, yo’?” she repeated. “Are you serious?” He just gave her an “of course I’m serious” look and she erupted into a fit of giggles, falling backwards onto the bed. “Have I mentioned that you’re a dork?”
“Oh, only once or twice a minute all day,” he replied, laying down next to her. “Do you remember when we used to talk about how we’d go to college together and wreak havoc on campus?” Rachael nodded and laughed.
“Yeah, but that was before you went and decided to be all famous and crap.”
“Nah, I was always planning on being famous.”
“And crap,” Rachael added for him.
“And crap. The only reason I even thought about going to college was so I could be with you.” Rachael raised an eyebrow and turned her head so she could look at him.
“Really?”
“No.”
“Nerd.” She stuck her tongue out at him and he laughed.
“I’m kidding. Yeah, really. Because a world without Rachael is a world without sunshine.”
“Oh, god. Have you been listening to the Backstreet Boys again? Because it really sounds like you have.”
“Hey, I do not listen to the Backstreet Boys, thank you very much.”
“Oh, right, you just imitate them.” She turned her head back to him so she could smirk annoyingly and Justin’s eyes widened in disbelief.
“Okay, you did not just say that.” Rachael jumped up off of the bed, fully aware that he was probably going to try and tickle her for revenge.
“Yes, actually, I think I did,” she replied with an evil smile as he hopped up off the bed as well. As he did so, Rachael realized that provoking him had probably not been such a good idea since they were in a tiny dorm room and there wasn’t much room for her to run away from him.
“I suggest you start running, short one,” Justin informed her, knowing full well she had nowhere to go. Rachael looked around, then darted for the door and he followed her out into the hall as she began singing to the tune of “I Want it That Way.”
“Howie’s your fire. Your one desire. Believe when I say, you wish you could sing like AJ.”
“You are going to pay for that one, little girl!” he called after her and she just cackled in response. He chased her down the narrow hall and it wasn’t long before he’d caught up to her and locked his arms around her to keep her from moving. It was lucky for them that they’d come a day before all of the other students, since they were making quite a racket as Justin began exacting his tickling revenge with Rachael laughing and screaming for him to stop. As far as either of them knew, they were probably the only two 20-year-olds in the world who still did things like this on a regular basis, but they didn’t care. He’d pinned her to the ground and was continuing the torture when the door at the end of the hall opened and a very confused brunette looked at them curiously. Rachael was laying on her back with Justin very nearly sitting on top of her stomach and her hands intertwined with his, struggling to keep them away from her. She looked up when she heard the door open and they both stopped moving.
“Hello,” she greeted the newcomer, acting as though it was perfectly normal for her to be lying in the middle of the dorm hall pinned to the ground by an international popstar.
“Hi,” the brunette replied slowly, her gaze drifting between Rachael and Justin.
“ ‘Sup?” Justin greeted with a nod of the head.
“J, this would probably be a good time to let me up,” Rachael suggested in a whisper.
“Good point.” He scrambled up off the ground, then gave Rachael his hand and pulled her up as well.
“You don’t happen to be Rachael Jacques, do you?” the other girl asked nervously. Rachael nodded.
“I am indeed. Are you Laura?”
“Yeah, that’s me. I guess we’re roommates.” Laura didn’t sound entirely enthusiastic about the idea and was eyeing Justin as though she thought he seemed like a rather shady character.
“Cool! Great to meet you. This is Justin,” Rachael gestured towards Justin and he shook hands with Laura.
“Nice to meet you,” he greeted her politely.
“Do you need anything to be carried up from your car?” Rachael asked her new roommate. “Cause I can totally make him do it for you if you want.”
“Thanks a lot, Rach. Way to volunteer my services.”
“Dude, that’s the whole reason you’re here. If you’re going to insist on talking about your rippling muscles all the time, we may as well put them to use.”
“I only talked about them once!”
“Yeah, I could use some help, to tell you the truth. My stuff’s sitting out on the sidewalk, actually,” Laura interrupted, pretty sure the two people standing in front of her would have forgotten she was even there if she didn’t say anything.
“Go get it for her,” Rachael ordered Justin.
“You’re so demanding,” Justin complained as he headed out the door to do as he was told. Rachael shook her head and chuckled as she went back into their new dorm room and Laura followed.
“Your boyfriend seems nice,” Laura commented politely. She wasn’t normally much for small talk, but having just walked in on her new roommate being pinned to the ground by what appeared to be Justin Timberlake had left her kind of at a loss for words.
“My what?” Rachael responded, surprised at this comment. Laura laughed.
“Justin. He seems nice,” she repeated and Rachael shook her head fervently, an odd knot forming in her stomach as it did anytime someone made that mistake.
“Oh, no, he’s not my boyfriend. We’re just friends.”
“Oh…sorry…I just thought…you seemed…I assumed…never mind,” she finished with a laugh. “My mistake.” Rachael found herself blushing and waved a hand dismissively. She was used to people making that mistake, though it was happening less often than usual since Justin and Britney had made their relationship public.
“Don’t worry about it. It happens all the time.”
The girls’ conversation was interrupted as Justin returned, having gotten lost on the confusing staircase and seeming quite lost. “Wait, where am I going?” he questioned and the new roommates burst into laughter at the look of utter confusion on his face.
“I swear, if you want anything done, you have to do it yourself,” Rachael stated, shaking her head and grabbing his hand. “Come on.”
***
“Rachael, I don’t see why I even have to participate in this whole party-planning thing,” Laura moaned, wiping down the counter at the coffee shop where the two friends worked. It was the slow part of the afternoon and they were the only two working at the moment, so were free to talk as much as they liked without getting yelled at. “Justin and I aren’t even really friends. We’re just like…acquaintances by default.”
“Yes, but you and I are friends and I need help. I tried to get Gaby and Hollie to do it, but they’re really busy and 7 hours away, so you’ll have to do,” Rachael reasoned as began brewing a pot of coffee. “Besides, I’m getting Chris to help and he’ll be on speakerphone the whole time so you won’t be tortured alone.”
“Chris? Oh, good. My secret lover,” Laura joked before leaning back on the counter and folding her arms.
“Your secret lover?” Rachael replied, raising an eyebrow and following suit. “I don’t want to know. Anyway, I have to tell you about how awesome I am.”
“Please do.”
“Well, see, when Justin planned his tour, they planned it so that he’d have his birthday off and then the concert the next day would be in LA, so he could be at his house for his birthday, right? So I called up Johnny the other day and I talked him into telling Justin that they accidentally scheduled the venue for the wrong day, so he’ll think he has to perform on his birthday and get all pissy, then we can surprise him with the party!” Rachael finished gleefully, clearly thinking this was quite possibly the best plan she’d ever come up with. Laura shrugged.
“Why can’t you two just give each other normal parties instead of planning these huge schemes to piss each other off before the party?” she questioned. Rachael looked as though the idea had never occurred to her.
“I guess because this way he won’t go trying to plan something himself. And, as I’m sure I’ve already mentioned, I still have to get him back for my 21st.”
“You loved your 21st birthday,”
“I did, but it was evil. Awesome, but evil.”
Laura rolled her eyes. “Whatever. But since we’re on the subject of Justin, you’ve been back here for four days and haven’t mentioned him acting weird once. Could the two of you have actually spent time together without drama ensuing?” Laura asked, clutching at her chest and throwing in a gasp for good measure. Rachael glared at her, but didn’t answer. Of course it was pretty much impossible for her and Justin to spend time together without drama ensuing anymore, but she’d adopted a new tactic that she liked to call, “I’m not going to let this bother me,” and it seemed to be working quite well as long as no one asked her any questions.
“Is that a no?” Laura asked, raising an eyebrow in interest. But Rachael was saved from answering the question as a customer approached the counter and the two girls were forced to actually do their jobs. The girls made two tall mochas and then returned to their positions leaning against the counter with their arms folded identically. Laura was pretty sure she wasn’t going to get anymore information about the Justin situation, so decided to take another approach. “Talked to Lance lately?” Rachael groaned.
“Laura, shouldn’t you get another hobby? One that doesn’t involve my love life?” she pleaded.
“I should, but I don’t see it happening any time soon. Are you going out with him again?”
“Laura,” Rachael whined in response.
“Is that a yes? Do I detect a yes?” Laura questioned eagerly.
“Why are you so obsessed with this?”
“Because I already have a boyfriend, so I have to butt into someone else’s life to keep me interested in the world of love. So are you? Are you going out with him again?” Rachael rolled her eyes, getting quite tired of Laura’s little matchmaking streak.
“I agreed to go to the Grammy’s with him,” she mumbled.
“What?!” Laura exclaimed excitedly and causing a few customers to look.
“Shh,” Rachael hissed, looking around nervously like she thought someone would overhear and go spreading it around.
“Since when?” Laura questioned going to the other extreme and whispering.
“Since last night. He called and asked and I feel so bad about our last date that I couldn’t bring myself to say, ‘no.’” Laura frowned.
“Why would you want to say ‘no’?” she asked skeptically. Rachael just shrugged was saved again by the approach of another customer.
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