Chapter Twenty-Seven
The one thing that had always annoyed Justin about the master bedroom in his LA home was the bay window on the east side of the room. It was a beautiful window and it let in a lot of sunlight, but that was the problem. Said sunlight had a tendency to shine right in his eyes in the mornings and wake him up whether he felt like being woken up or not. That was the case this morning as he was quite rudely awoken from a very nice dream in which Rachael had told him she was in love with him. Or maybe it wasn't the sun that had woken him up. Maybe it was the fact that something, or someone, was laying next to him and cutting off the circulation to his right arm.
Wait, why is there someone else in my bed? His eyes flew open and he turned his head to see Rachael snuggled up next to him, still asleep and looking perfectly serene. Okay, so maybe it hadn't been a dream. The memories of the night before began to flood his mind and suddenly he didn't care about the fact that his arm was feeling like it was about to fall off. She was there with him; he'd been able to kiss her and tell her he loved her and for once she hadn't run away. This had to be what heaven felt like, because he couldn't imagine ever being happier than he was at this moment. Rachael rolled over in her sleep, finally allowing the blood to flow back into his arm and he shook it a little before scooting closer to her. All he wanted right now, or ever for that matter, was to be near her. Burying his face in her hair, he inhaled and a smile spread over his face as her scent filled his senses. Her hair smelled like his shampoo, but somehow it smelled so much sweeter and feminine on her.
"Okay, please tell me you did not just sniff my hair," Rachael's voice snapped him out of his daze. Justin chuckled; he hadn't even known she was awake.
"I did not just sniff your hair," he replied solemnly as she turned around to face him.
"You're a really bad liar," she stated with a grin.
"Thank you." He smiled and placed a soft kiss on her lips. "Did you sleep well?"
"Yeah, after you stopped snoring," she replied, a smirk playing at her lips. It was true, too. She'd been awake for a good hour after he'd fallen asleep, his loud snores keeping her awake. She hadn't minded all that much, though. As much as she'd always promised herself she would never be one of those sappy, lovestruck girls who claimed they were happy just watching their boyfriend sleep, she'd found she really could spend all night watching Justin slumber. He looked peaceful and happy and far too cute for his own good. Even when he was snoring.
"I do not snore!" Justin protested immediately.
"Oh, yes you do. Very loudly, might I add." Rachael had to laugh at the look of indignation on his face as he sat up, seeming quite insulted that she would even suggest such a thing.
"I do not! Somebody would have told me by now," he huffed, folding his arms and doing a very good impression of a 3-year-old who hadn't gotten his way. Rachael rolled her eyes, putting a hand on his shoulder and pushing him back into a laying position so she could move closer to him and rest her head on his bare chest.
"Stop being such a baby." Justin was about to protest that he was not being a baby, but she distracted him by placing a few light kisses on his shoulder and he sighed, running his hand over her hair.
"I could do this all day, you know?" he said softly.
"Do what? Talk about the fact that you snore like a...something that snores loudly?" Rachael joked. He laughed.
"No. Lay here with you. I could do it forever."
"I couldn't. I have a feeling it would get really boring." She looked up at him and grinned as he shook his head at her.
"You're so good for my self-esteem," he stated sarcastically.
"I'm kidding," she assured him with a laugh as she trailed a finger down his chest. "I really don't want to get up from this spot. Like...ever."
"I know what you mean." He sighed and wrapped his arms around her, trying not to think about the fact that they had to get up very soon. She needed to go back to Hollie and Gaby's so she could get her car and go back to San Francisco, and it was only a few hours before he had to be on an airplane to New York so he could resume the tour. It figured that when he finally got what he wanted with her, he'd have to leave her again. Life was cruel like that.
"When do you have to leave?" Rachael asked quietly, shifting slightly so she could be even closer to him. Sometime in the past twelve hours she'd developed a weird need to be as close to him as she possibly could. Justin glanced at the clock next to the bed.
"There'll be a car here to pick me up in an hour," he admitted. "I could just tell them I'm not coming and stay here though!" Obviously he knew he couldn't really do that, but it was nice to think about. How he wished he had a job where he could just call in sick if he felt like it without disappointing thousands of people.
"Oh, yeah," Rachael agreed sarcastically. "What are you going to say? 'Sorry, guys, I have to cancel my concert because I'm too busy sitting on my lazy bum with my...'" Her voice trailed off as she didn't really know how to finish that sentence. What was she now? His girlfriend? They hadn't actually talked about that yet. They'd been too busy "watching a movie."
"My what?" Justin asked softly, looking down at her inquisitively. He knew what he wanted her to be, but he wasn't sure if she was on the same page. Rachael frowned and wriggled out of his grip so she could sit up and look him in the eye. Justin followed suit, sitting up and staring back at her as she shrugged.
"You tell me," Rachael replied, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear. Justin sighed.
"Well I know what I want you to be."
"Okay. What do you want me to be?" Rachael was feeling like she couldn't breathe again. It was the second time that had happened in the past 24 hours and she was beginning to think this whole being close to Justin in a more than friends sort of way might be bad for her health. Not that she cared all that much. Justin took her hand into his and just looked at it for a minute before bringing his sapphire eyes back up to her face.
"I want you to be my girl...friend." The second syllable was almost like an afterthought. His brain seemed to have frozen in the middle of the word when Rachael had squeezed his hand lightly, sending shivers through his entire arm. He bit his lip as she took a deep breath.
"Okay," she responded quietly, as small smile appearing on her face.
"Okay?" Justin replied sounding not unlike a small child at Christmas. Rachael nodded, her smile growing as she reached over and pulled his lips down to hers.
"Okay," she repeated as she broke away. "But this doesn't mean I have to start calling you by gross pet names like 'sweetums' and 'Justy' does it?" It wasn't in Rachael's nature to let sappy moments like this go on too long and she always felt the need to break them up with a joke.
"Nah," Justin replied with a wave of his hand. "'Dork' and 'loser' are just fine by me. I don't think I'd realize you were talking to me if you called me anything else." Rachael laughed.
"Good." She placed another kiss on his lips and he pulled her into him, deepening the kiss as her hands found their way into his curls and his softly carressed her back.
***
"Okay, there should be a cab here to pick you up in about twenty minutes," Justin informed Rachael as she returned from a trek down to one of the guest bathrooms where she'd been sure she left a toothbrush the last time she had stayed with him. "Did you find the toothbrush?"
"I did indeed," she confirmed with a nod as she plopped down next to where he was sitting on the bed. "Now I'm all minty fresh!"
"Good to hear." Justin gave her a quick kiss on the lips as if to test her claim. "And yes, you really are."
"Did you doubt me?"
"Never!" he exclaimed as though it were completely ridiculous for her to even suggest such a thing.
"Good." Rachael stuck her tongue out at him before folding her legs under her and turning serious. "So twenty minutes, huh? I suppose I should go put my own clothes on."
"You don't want to?" Justin asked, laughing at how depressed she sounded.
"No way, dude. Your stuff is comfy. Except for the whole thing where I tripped over the pants about five times on my way down the hall." Justin shrugged.
"Keep 'em."
"Really?"
"Yeah, why not? I won't miss them. They look better on you anyway."
"Of course they do. It's me. I am so stylin'." She grinned at him gratefully.
"Stylin'?" Justin repeated with a snort. "And you call me a dork."
"Because you are. Oh, hey, we should probably turn our phones back on," Rachael realized aloud as her eyes fell on the pair of phones sitting on Justin's dresser. They had turned them off and unplugged Justin's home phone the night before, not wanting to be disturbed by the calls that would undoubtedly be coming when their friends and dates realized they had disappeared from the party. They had both felt they needed at least one night to just be alone together and figure out what was going on with them before the rest of the world had a chance to interfere. Justin sighed and nodded. He had already plugged his home phone back in so he could call a cab company for Rachael, but he knew if he turned the cell on he'd soon be getting calls from Britney and Trace and everyone else.
"I guess," he agreed reluctantly as Rachael stood up and walked over to the dresser, tripping over her pants on the way.
"You know we can't hide out forever," she reminded gently before tossing his phone to him and turning her own on. The minute they turned them on, both phones started ringing and they groaned in unison.
"Welcome back to reality," Justin said glumly and Rachael gave him an encouraging smile as she pushed the 'talk' button on her phone.
"What's up?" she asked the person on the other end.
"Rachael, where the hell are you?" Hollie's voice greeted her forcefully. Rachael sighed and ran a hand through her hair as she tried to decide exactly how much she wanted to divulge about where she was, why she was there, and what she had done in her time there.
"Justin's," she replied quietly.
"Why the hell has your phone been off all night? And his too? We've all been worried sick about you." Hollie had actually figured Rachael and Justin were together, seeing as they'd disappeared around the same time and neither Britney nor Lance knew where they were. Gaby had also told her about her conversation with Rachael the night before, so they were hoping for the best and assuming Rachael was at Justin's. However, the fact that no one had been able to get into contact with either of the people in question had been a little disconcerting. For all they knew, the both of them had been mugged and shot and were laying dead in a gutter somewhere. It was unlikely, but possible, and it had been enough to keep Hollie and Gaby worried.
"I don't know." Rachael's voice sounded uncannily like it always had when she was in trouble with her mother.
"You don't know?" Hollie repeated and while Rachael couldn't see her, her tone suggested she was raising her eyebrows and resting a hand on her hip.
"Nope. Listen, Hols, I'm going to be at your place in, like, half an hour and I'll explain everything to you then, okay? But I need to get going now." She really didn't need to get going, but this wasn't exactly something she wanted to talk about over the phone. And besides that, she was still unsure of how much she wanted to tell. She was not exactly in the mood for the gloating and "I told you so" looks that Hollie and Gaby would give her when she told them she was Justin's girlfriend. She smiled involuntarily even thinking that phrase. She was Justin's girlfriend. For someone who had spent quite a lot of time and energy on insisting she wasn't in love with the man, she was unusually ecstatic about this new development.
"Fine," Hollie aquiesced begrudgingly. "But you better explain everything. Everything."
"I will. Talk to you soon, Hols."
"Okay. Bye, Rach."
Rachael sighed as she pushed the end button and looked at Justin, who was just finishing his conversation as well. He looked a lot more distressed than she felt and Rachael bit down on her lip nervously. "Who was that?" she asked.
"Johnny," Justin replied with a sigh. "Apparently US Weekly has a great little feature about how Britney and I are back together but I'm already cheating on her with a 'mystery girl.'" Rachael frowned.
"A 'mystery girl'?" she repeated and he nodded.
"Yeah, apparently someone got pictures of you and me leaving together last night. I'm surprised it's out so soon, but it won't be long until it spreads. It's going to be PR hell."
"Oh. So what are you going to do about it?" Rachael had been pictured with Justin in the tabloids before and it had always been weird and awkward to deal with, but all of those times it was either the paparazzi making something out of nothing or a, supposedly, one-time thing between them where they'd kissed. She'd never had to deal with it when she actually was his girlfriend and it was an entirely different feeling.
"My reps are going to make a statement today denying that Britney and I are anything more than friends and I told them I had to talk to you before telling them what to say as far as that whole thing is concerned. So what do you want me to say?"
"I don't know." She really didn't. She was in that stage where she wanted to run to the top of a mountain and scream to everyone that she was with him because she was so happy about it, but at the same time she really didn't want to deal with the press and fans butting into her relationship quite yet. It was theirs and a big part of her really wanted to keep it between them. "I mean...I guess if they ask you about it, you can tell them we're dating. But I don't really want you to go making some big announcement that we're dating. Not that I don't want people to know we're dating, but I don't really want to deal with all the..."
"Interference?" Justin supplied, a twinge of bitterness in his voice.
"Yeah." Rachael nodded. That was the perfect way to describe what she was trying to say.
"I completely understand. Okay, here's what I'll do. I'll tell Johnny to just leave you out of the statement and we won't say anything about it unless someone asks me about it in an interview. In which case I'll tell them I'm dating the most beautiful creature on the face of the planet."
"Whoa, when did you and Johnny Depp get together?" Rachael questioned, feigning shock and widening her eyes dramatically. Justin laughed and nudged her slightly.
"You're such a smart ass."
"Yes, my ass is very smart. I think it has a higher IQ than your entire body." She smirked at him as Justin's jaw dropped in mock surprise.
"You're a very mean person," he stated simply.
"I know I am, but you like me anyway. Which proves that you aren't the brightest crayon in the box." Justin shook his head at her and let out an exaggerated sigh.
"I think we really need to stop talking before you bruise my ego anymore." He tossed his phone to the side and grinned at his girlfriend mischievously.
"Oh, and what do you propose we do instead?" Rachael questioned, raising an eyebrow.
"Well, I personally would like to further explore this new thing where I get to kiss you whenever I want 'cause you're my girlfriend." He accentuated his point by attaching his mouth to hers and Rachael allowed it for a second before pushing him away.
"Whenever you want?" she repeated playfully. "Says who?"
"Says me," Justin replied, pulling her onto his lap and beginning to place torturous kisses on her neck, jaw and chin. Rachael sighed, putting her hand to the back of his head and twisting a few of his curls around her fingers.
"Shouldn't you be getting ready to leave?" The question took longer than usual to get out as she was again having trouble breathing.
"Yes," Justin replied, pulling away from her neck and looking her in the eye. "But that can wait." It took maybe half a second for his mouth to find hers again, assisted in great part by her hand pulling his head down towards hers.
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