Chapter Two
When Rachael woke again, she was no longer on the couch, but snuggled up in her own bed. She looked around groggily and saw her roommate Laura wandering around the room. Laura glanced over at her and saw that she’d opened her eyes. “Well, good morning sleepy head,” she greeted her, perching at the end of Rachael’s bed.
“’Morning,” Rachael replied with a yawn, sitting up slightly.
“So, imagine my surprise when I walked into the apartment at 12:30 last night and found a strange man sprawled out on my couch.”
Rachael gave her friend a confused look. “Huh?”
“Justin, you dork. Why didn’t you tell me he was coming?”
“I…don’t think I knew. Justin’s here?” Rachael replied, still confused. The night before was kind of hazy. She didn’t even remember coming to bed. She remembered sitting on the couch and watching TV, then Brian had come to check on her and she’d fallen asleep.
Laura frowned. “You didn’t know? He said he made you dinner and you guys talked, then you fell asleep on the couch, so he carried you in here and put you to bed.”
As her friend spoke, the memories all came rushing back into Rachael’s mind. “Oh, right! Right! Yes, I know. Yeah, sorry. I’m ill, I’m allowed to forget these things. But I didn’t know he was coming, he just surprised me.”
Laura nodded. “Surprised me too. He scared the crap out of me and I threw my keys at him. I scratched him a bit, but I think he’s okay.”
Rachael laughed. “Good, he could use a little pain in his life.”
“I fed him some cereal and he perked right up, so I don’t think he’s holding a grudge.”
“Good to know. Should I get up? I’m going to be late for something, aren’t I? Class, or work, or something?”
Laura shook her head and grinned. “Nope. It’s Friday. You don’t have classes on Friday, I called and got someone to sub for the Jazz class you’re supposed to be teaching at the studio tonight, and I’m covering for you at the coffee shop this afternoon. You have all day to recover! Am I not the best roommate ever?”
“Indeed you are. And in that case, I’m going back to sleep,” Rachael replied, pulling her blankets over her head.
“And leave me to entertain your guest? I don’t think so.” Her roommate pulled the covers back.
Rachael pouted. “I thought I was supposed to be recovering!”
“Well, you can recover in the kitchen with Justin. I have to get going,” Laura replied as she stood up. “Oh, and there is a lovely bouquet of flowers and a get well card waiting for you in the living room from one Mr. Lance Bass.” She sighed. “That man is just so sweet it’s disturbing sometimes. I think you should marry him.”
Rachael raised an eyebrow. “Marry him? I’m not even dating him, why would I marry him?”
Laura shrugged. “I don’t know. You don’t find a guy like that every day, that’s all I’m saying.”
Her friend just rolled her eyes in response.
“I need to leave now, stop distracting me.”
“Fine. Get out of here,” Rachael replied with a laugh.
“See ya. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do,” Laura said with a grin as she disappeared out the door.
“What, you mean like sleep?”
Her friend stuck her head back into the room. “Exactly. Bye.”
“Bye.”
Laura made her final exit and Rachael found herself staring absently at the ceiling. She actually didn’t feel too terrible today, comparatively speaking, but she didn’t feel like getting up. It wasn’t every day she had to opportunity to sit around and do nothing. Finally, the image of Justin sitting all by himself in the kitchen got to her, and she decided to get up and join him just to be nice. She threw her covers off and padded down the hall to the kitchen, finding her friend sitting at the table and staring intently at the newspaper he held in his hands. “Morning,” she greeted him with a yawn.
“Hey,” Justin replied, smiling and glancing up at her briefly before returning his gaze to whatever apparently enthralling article he was reading.
She reached out to ruffle his hair, a habit she’d recently developed for the sole purpose of annoying him, and found stubble instead of his curls. She frowned as she sat down. “You’ve shaved your head again since the last time I saw you. How did I not notice that yesterday?”
“I was wearing a hat.”
“Ah yes, of course. Why must you do these things to me? After all I do for you, you still can’t spare me the peach fuzz. Why?”
“’Cause I look good,” Justin replied, running a hand over his head.
Rachael raised an eyebrow. “Whatever gave you that idea?” she questioned, pouring herself some cereal.
“Probably the millions of girls worldwide who are in love with me.” He grinned at her annoyingly.
She rolled her eyes. “Justin, if you came onstage in a pink dress and a horribly clashing Little Orphan Annie wig, those girls would still think you were sexy. And somehow, I don’t find myself doubting that you would do something like that either. Next thing I know, you’re gonna be sprouting some red, poofy and boofy hair do.”
“Poofy and boofy?”
Rachael shrugged. “It’s how my dad used to describe the look of my hair in the morning. Quite accurate, if I do say so myself.”
“Indeed. Actually, you know, that doesn’t sound like such a bad idea. I could grow my hair out real long,” he added, his only intention to annoy her. One thing Rachael seemed to feel very strongly about was his hair. She was very verbal about how she thought he should wear it and had a tendency to complain endlessly when he let it grow to long or cut it too short.
“Oh, god no, Justin. We do not need the return of the fro. Can’t you just find some happy medium? Like how you had your hair a few months ago “ short and natural. That looked ho---okay.”
An evil grin spread over Justin’s face immediately. “You were about to say it looked hot,” he stated.
Rachael shook her head. “Nope. No I wasn’t.”
“You most certainly were. Unless hawokay is a new word you’ve invented.”
She glared at him. “You’re imagining things.”
“No I’m not,” he replied in a singsong voice.
“Yes you are,” Rachael imitated and stuck her tongue out at him.
Justin grinned at her and pushed his chair closer to hers. “You know you want me,” he said in what he clearly thought was a seductive voice. It wasn’t.
“I know I want you to shut up,” his friend replied with a roll of the eyes. “I have admitted before that I might think you are somewhat attractive, isn’t that enough? I swear to God…”
“Yeah. You want me. I can tell.”
Rachael rolled her eyes again and stood up. “If this is how you’re going to be, I’m just going to walk over here and smell the pretty flowers that Lance sent me. Lance never tries to get me to say he’s hot.”
“I didn’t have to try, babe. You let it out all on your own. I was just calling you on it.” He winked at her.
Rachael sighed in annoyance, but smiled to herself as she smelled the flowers Lance had sent her. She was actually glad that she and Justin were once again feeling comfortable enough with each other to joke about things like this. The last time he’d visited her it had been the first time they’d been alone together for a substantial amount of time since she’d stopped talking to him for five months. Considering everything that had gone on between them before their hiatus from each other, things were a little awkward at first. Justin would react strangely when she was too close to him, Rachael would find herself staring at him all the time, and they certainly would never have been able joke about her thinking he was hot. But this was good, they were back to normal. No more tension, and no more wondering, wishing, or hoping about what could have happened between them.
“So, what, are you taking math or something?” Justin interrupted her thoughts.
“Hmm?” Rachael replied, turning to look at him as she absently opened the card that had been sitting next to the flowers.
Justin gestured to the calculator and pieces of paper covered in equations that were spread over the table. “Are you taking math this semester?”
“Oh. No, I’ve just been trying to figure out how I’m going to pay for rent next month. Let me tell you, living in San Francisco is not cheap.”
Her friend frowned. “I thought you just got another job?”
Rachael nodded, sitting back down at the table and scanning Lance’s card. It contained all the usual get well wishes. “I did. I’m still teaching at the dance studio in the mall and Laura got me a job at this coffee shop she works at on campus. But it’s still a little tight, what with tuition, books, car payments, insurance, food, gas, blah blah blah. You know how it is…or no, you probably don’t.”
“You know, Rach, if you need help financially, I’d be more than willing to-“
“I’m not taking your money, Justin, so don’t even offer,” Rachael cut him off.
“Well, you could always pay me back or something if you want to.”
She shook her head vigorously. “No, no, and no again. I’ll be fine; I don’t need your help. I got another scholarship for this semester, so that’s helping out a bit and I’ll figure out a way to scrape enough money together to get rent paid this month.”
Justin’s brow furrowed in concern. “Are you sure? It really isn’t a problem.”
“Justin?”
“Yeah?”
“Drop it.”
“But-“
“I said, ‘drop it.’”
“Rach, I-“
“Drop. It.”
***
“So, how are things at the studio?” Justin questioned. “Ooh, double green.”
“Pretty good. My 8-10 year old jazz class is obsessed with you, though. I let them do one dance to ‘Like I Love You,’ and now every class they’re all, ‘Miss Rachael, can we please do the Justin dance?’ They also like to talk about how hot you are. I think I might kill myself,” Rachael replied, rolling her eyes.
Justin laughed. “How sad for you.”
“I know! Why do I always get stuck in this gumdrop thing?”
“Because the gods of Candyland are against you,” Justin stated with a grin as he drew another card. The two friends were sitting on the floor playing the game to end all kiddie games “ Candyland. It was certainly a very Justin and Rachael kind of activity, strange yet fun.
“’Gods of Candyland?’ And I thought I was weird.”
“You are. Take your turn.”
“Ooh, but there’s this one girl that always tells the other kids that listening to your music too much will brainwash them and make them key players in your evil plot to take over the world,” Rachael returned to the subject of her jazz class as she took her turn in the game.
Justin laughed. “Damn. She’s onto me.”
“I know. Smart girl, that one. I call her ‘Mini Me,” cause she is so much like me it’s scary.”
“That is scary. Yes! Queen Frostine!”
Rachael’s jaw dropped. “You so rigged the game!”
“Did not,” Justin replied indignantly.
“You did too. You rigged it when I went to the bathroom,” she stated folding her arms.
“No I didn’t. Stop being a sore loser and take you’re turn already.”
Rachael drew a card, still grumbling about how this was all a conspiracy. She didn’t get the card she needed to move on, so she returned it to the discard pile and glared silently at her opponent as he took his turn.
“So…any men in your life?” Justin asked nonchalantly as the game progressed.
“No one significant, no.”
“You and Lance seem to be getting pretty close.”
Rachael raised an eyebrow. “Yeah, I guess. He’s a good friend.”
Justin nodded. “That he is.”
“How about you? Any new girlfriends that need my stamp of approval?”
“Nope, I’m still single too.”
“No good ones throwing themselves at you lately, eh?”
Justin laughed. “I just don’t think I’m ready for another girlfriend right now, that’s all.”
Rachael just looked at him for a minute, then nodded. “I know what you mean.”
“Yeah. I win,” he added, placing his figure at the end of the board.
Rachael’s eyes widened. “What? What?!? NO!” She fell backwards dramatically. “I can’t believe I lost!” she exclaimed from where she was now lying on the floor and staring up at the ceiling in mock despair.
Justin laid down next to her, propping himself up on his side. “What can I say? I’m the Candyland king of the world and you are merely a peasant.”
Rachael snorted. “If only your fans could see you now, gloating over a game of Candyland. You’re such a dork.”
“Look who’s talking,” her friend replied, giving her an affectionate poke in the ribs. “I believe playing the game was your idea in the first place.”
“Don’t pretend you didn’t want to play. As I recall, your exact words were, ‘Sweet! I love Candyland!”
“You lie!”
“I would never!” Rachael replied with a gasp.
“Yeah, well…so?”
She laughed and rolled over onto her side and propped herself up with her elbow so that she could face Justin. “Ooh, nice comeback.”
“Thank you, I try,” he replied smugly. As she grinned back at him, Justin found himself thinking about how beautiful her smile was and how cute her hair looked all curly and messy like it was right now. “Stop it!” he screamed at himself inwardly, averting his gaze and abruptly sitting up so he wouldn’t have to look at her. “Do you want to watch a movie or something?”
“Sure,” Rachael replied slowly, a little thrown off by his actions.
“Great! You pick and I’ll go pop some popcorn!” He jumped up off the floor and hurried into the kitchen to do just that. Rachael stood up and grabbed ‘Center Stage’ from the vast collection that she and Laura had between them, put it in the DVD player and sat down on the couch. She tried not to think about Justin’s sudden weirdness, hoping she was just imagining things.
“What’d you pick?” Justin questioned as he returned with the popcorn and plopped down next to her.
“’Center Stage.”
“Wow, there’s a shocker.” It seemed like every time he let Rachael pick, she picked ‘Center Stage.’ It was her favorite movie, and even Justin could quote the whole thing by heart after all the times he’d been forced to sit through it.
Rachael opened her mouth to respond but was cut off by the ringing of the telephone. “Saved by the bell, Timberlake. Hold on,” she stated, standing up to answer the phone. “Hello? Oh, hi Lancey! How are you?…Yeah, I’m doing all right…Feeling much better, thanks. And thank you for the flowers, they’re so beautiful!…Yeah…Yeah…Are you really?…Oh, totally…If you’re here, you better come see me or I’ll hurt you…Yeah.”
Justin sat on the couch, listening to Rachael’s end of the conversation and cursing himself for feeling s jealous of Rachael’s relationship with Lance. She looked happy when she talked to him, her entire face lit up. It was stupid of him to let that upset him, though. Lance was one of his best friends and so was Rachael. Why should it bother him that two of his best friends had become so close with one another?
“Because you’re afraid it’s more than that,” a little voice in the back of his head stated.
But why should I care about that? he thought. So maybe it is more than friendship. Maybe Rachael and Lance will end up together. Why should that matter to me?
“Because you wanted that to be you. You wanted to mean more to her. You thought you did…” the voice reminded him.
Oh. Right. That.
“Sorry about that,” Rachael apologized as she sat back down next to Justin.
“No problem.” He pushed the play button and Rachael snuggled up against him as she always had when they watched movies. Unfortunately, at the moment it was having a different effect on him than it usually did. He wanted to hold her, he wanted to kiss her. No! No, he didn’t! What was wrong with him? Why was he still obsessing over things that had happened months ago? Why was he still having feelings he should have been over already? Rachael was obviously over them. He stood up quickly. “I-I’m gonna go get some water, you want anything?” he stammered.
Rachael gave him a confused look. “No, I’m good, thanks.”
“Okay.”
All right, so that she could not ignore. He had practically run out of the room to get away from her. He was acting just as he had the last time she’d seen her, as though every time she touched him all he wanted was to get away from her as quickly as possible. And when he returned, he sat down on the opposite end of the couch. They both just stared at the screen silently, neither one really paying attention to what was happening.
“Justin?” Rachael ventured quietly.
“Hmm?” he replied, looking at her.
“Are you okay?”
“Fine. I’m fine.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes. Just watch the movie, okay?”
“I’ve seen the movie. If something’s wrong, you know you can tell me.”
“Nothing’s wrong. Just drop it, okay?”
“But-“
“I said ‘drop it.’”
“J, I-“
“Drop. It.”
Rachael sighed and sank deeper into her seat. She knew he wasn’t fine and neither was she. She’d really thought that things were getting back to normal, but she was beginning to think their friendship would never be the same again.
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