The thought of how welcoming death would be was the first thing that passed through Simonia’s mind the next morning as she woke up. She had always been fortunate to avoid hangovers but that didn’t stop her body from aching all over. She knew part of it was from her hours of partying the night before but the way she was laying in bed, her neck twisted to the other side and one leg bent under her, probably wasn’t helping.

With a groan, she rolled over onto her side and onto a hard object that definitely was not her mattress, evoking another groan from her. She brought up a hand and rubbed her face as she squinted open an eye. She blinked a few times and swallowed before shifting to the side and staring at the object she had been laying on. It was an arm and an obviously very male arm at that. With a feeling of dread, her eyes slowly traveled up the arm, to the shoulder, and finally to the sleeping face of Justin Timberlake.

“Shit,” she mumbled, the image of him laying in her hotel bed processing. “Shit!” She sat up and looked down as the blankets fell from her body. She was still in her clothes from the previous night and a quick glance under the blankets told her that Justin still had his pants on although his shirt was on the floor.

She stared down at Justin, desperately trying to remember what had gone on the night before. She couldn’t remember much past the shots she did at the bar. How had she gone from that to waking up beside him in bed?

The sound of her door opening brought her back to the present.

“Simonia, I’m going to…”

She turned to Patrick with wide eyes and found his eyes to be resting on Justin’s figure.

“Holy shit.” His eyes jerked to her. “Is that…? Did you guys…?”

She jumped out of bed and grabbed his arm, dragging him out of the room and into the hallways, the door closing behind them.

“Holy shit!” Patrick said again. “How the hell did that happen?”

She rubbed her eyes. “I don’t know.”

“Did you guys sleep-”

“No!” she quickly said. “No way.”

“Are you sure?”

She glared at him. “I would know if we had sex, Patrick.”

He held up his hands. “Okay, okay. But what happened then?”

She slumped against the wall and sighed. “I don’t remember. At the club last night we met up and I drank way too much. I don’t even remember leaving the club.”

“Oh, shit. You guys didn’t get married or something, did you?”

“No!” Damn, Patrick. We’re not in Vegas. There’s not chapels everywhere marrying two drunk people.”

“I still think I’ll pick up the tabloids on my way out.”

“Out? Where?”

He raised his eyebrows. “Saturday?” He waited for a second and she stared at him. “Hello, Simonia? It’s Saturday. Ethan?”

Her eyes widened. “Damnit! I forgot.” She looked back at the door to her room. “And Justin…shit.”

“Yeah, well, I’m going to get him and we’re gonna be back in forty minutes. What are you gonna do with lover boy?”

She glared at him again. “He’ll be gone. Ethan will flip out.”

“Probably.”

She sighed and moved back to her room, opening the door. “Call me if it turns out we got married?”

“You’ll be first on my list.”

She slipped back into her room, pulling the door shut behind her. Justin was still passed out on the bed and instead of trying to wake him, she first decided to take a much needed shower. She reeked of smoke and alcohol and felt disgusting.

When she got into the bathroom, she quickly stripped down and got under the hot water. She took as little amount of time in the shower as possible, aware of the limited amount of time she had.

When she stepped out of the shower, she discarded the idea of putting the clothes from the previous night back on and instead wrapped one of the hotel towels around her. She went back into the room and grabbed some clothes. After she had changed, she grabbed a brush and decided she had to wake Justin up if she was going to get him out of there. When she came out of the bathroom though, it turned out she didn’t have to wake him up. Justin was propped up on one elbow in bed, rubbing his eyes. She went over to the bed and put the glass of water and aspirin she had brought out from the bathroom on the table beside him. His hand fell from his face and his eyes met her.

“Thanks,” he mumbled, taking the drugs.

She crossed her arms over her chest and stared at him as he threw the pills into his mouth and took a large gulp of water. He sat up a bit more and ran his hands over his face. “Shit.”

“What the hell happened last night?” she finally asked.

He moaned. “Way too much alcohol,” he mumbled.

“How did we end up in MY hotel room?”

“You don’t remember?”

“I don’t remember shit from last night. Do you?”

“It’s all kind of blurry. I was hoping you’d remember.”

She sighed and sat down on the couch. “Damnit.”

“We, uh…”

“No.”

“Okay. Just wondering. That’s what I thought.” He ran his hand over his head. “Uh, do you mind if I take a quick shower?”

“Just be quick. You have to be gone by time Ethan gets here.”

“Ethan?”

“My brother.”

“Oh.”

She watched him stand up and he disappeared into the bathroom. As soon as the door was shut, she pulled out her cell phone and dialed Patrick’s number.

“Hello?”

“Where are you guys?”

“Just leaving the airport.”

“Okay. Shit.”

“Is…?”

“No. He’s having a shower.”

“Oh, really.”

“Give it up, Patrick. We both smelt from last night from the bar.”

She could almost hear the smirk in his voice. “Yeah, that’s it.”

“Shut up. You suck.”

“Well, I sure hope you didn’t last night.”

“I hate you.”

“You love me. Hurry up. We’re gonna be there in fifteen.”

“Yeah, got it. Bye.” She flipped the phone shut and then went to work on her hair, brushing out the tangles. She listened to the sounds of the shower running and was relieved when it stopped after being on for only five minutes. At least he was fast.

He exited the bathroom a couple minute later, in the same clothes. He grabbed his shirt from the floor and she averted her eyes as he pulled it on.

“Isn’t your bodyguard going to be freaking out?” she asked.

“Shit,” he said, pulling his phone from his pocket. “I turned it off. Hold on.”

She watched him turn away and dial a number. He mumbled into the phone for a minute and then hung up.

“He’s kinda pissed,” he said with a crooked smile as he turned back to her.

“Mine would be too.”

He shifted his weight to one foot. “I don’t usually hook up with girls like this.”

“We didn’t hook up. We got drunk and passed out.”

“I know. I…just don’t want you to think I’m that kind of guy.”

“I don’t. And just so you know, I don’t normally bring guys back to my hotel.”

“I know you wouldn’t.”

She raised an eyebrow. “Oh you do, huh?” She wasn’t sure but she thought she saw some color in his face.

“Uh, I just, um, figured.”

She leaned back in her chair and watched him stuff his hands in his pockets, pull them out, and put them back in. She sighed and rubbed her eyes. “Damnit. Sit down.”

He gave her an odd look but did sit on a chair across from her.

“This is all awkward and annoying. We both know nothing really happened last night, right? So besides the whole waking up in bed with you, this is a completely normal situation.”

“Yeah,” he agreed.

“Good.” She nodded her head. “From what I do remember last night, I know I had a fun time.”

He seemed to relax a bit. “Me too. We should do it again sometime.” He coughed. “You know, minus the whole getting wasted and…” he looked towards the bed quickly and coughed again. “…all that shit.”

She nodded. “Yeah, sure.” She tapped her fingers against her thigh and stared at him. He shifted in his chair.

“You’re intimidating, you know that?”

“Only for people who are in love with me,” she said, smiling a bit.

“I’m not in-”

“According to Carson Daly…”

He rolled his eyes but this time she was sure she saw his face go a few shades darker. “Carson’s an ass.”

“Uh huh.”

“When’s your brother getting here?”

Her eyes widened. “Shit!” She jumped up from her chair. “You gotta go.”

He picked up his jacket. “I know.”

“Do you need a ride or…?”

“Mike was going to send over a car. Should be here by now.”

“Okay.” She moved towards the door. He followed her but spoke before she could open the door.

“Uh, could you just check and make sure no one’s out there?”

“Yeah, no problem.” She opened the door and took one step out into the hallway, glancing around. She froze and yanked the door shut behind her as she saw her brother and Patrick coming down the hallway.

Shit.

“Hey, Monia,” Ethan grinned. “So excited to see me you’re waiting in the hall?”

She forced a smile onto her face and hugged him. “Something like that.” She looked over at Patrick. He raised his eyebrows and she gave her head a small shake. His eyes filled with laughter and she looked away.

“So.” Ethan gave her a strange look. “Are we just gonna stand out here?”

“I was thinking we should go for lunch,” she said, hoping he’d go along with it.

“Okay. But I need to put my bags somewhere-”

“Rob will get them.”

“-And I have to go to the bathroom,” he finished. “Just let me use your bathroom and I’ll be ready.”

“You can’t go at the restaurant?”

“What’s wrong with your bathroom?”

“Oh, well nothing, but…” she trailed off when she heard her door open. She sighed as Justin came out, his head ducked slightly. He didn’t say a word as he slipped past everyone and went to the elevator. Ethan gaped after him and she glared at Patrick’s smirk.

As soon as the elevator doors closed behind Justin, Ethan’s head whipped back to her. “Simonia!”

She closed her eyes and sighed again. “I know.”

“Did you guys sleep together?!”

“No! Ugh!” She stalked into her room and Ethan followed. “No, we definitely didn’t.” She flopped down onto her bed and stared up at the ceiling. “We were both at that club opening last night and got really drunk and somehow ended up here but we didn’t do anything.” She rubbed her hands over face. “We didn’t have sex or anything and Patrick’s already given me plenty of hell for it, okay?”

“Call me. Justin.”

She raised her head and found Ethan standing by the dresser, smirking as he held up a scrap of paper. “Ugh.”

“Aw, he has a crush on you.”

“I know that. Apparently the whole work knows that.”

“I can’t believe you and him-”

She stood up and snatched the paper from him, stuffing it in the back pocket of her jeans. “Let’s just go for lunch, okay?”

Justin arrived at his hotel later that day and immediately went to change clothes. Once that was accomplished, he went to the kitchenette area and ate some cereal dry. He had a flight booked later that day for Los Angeles but still had some time to kill before then.

He had just finished eating when his cell phone rang. He glanced at the number on the screen and then picked up.

“Hey.”

“Hey, man,” Pharral William’s voice came over the line. “Where ya been at?”

“Out. Was at the club opening last night.”

“Still in New York?”

“Yeah. Flying to LA in a couple hours though. I’ll be there by five.”

“I’ve been tryin to call you. Phone been off?”

“Yeah. Somehow managed to get turned off over everything last night.”

Pharral began to laugh. “Aw, man, who’d you sleep with?”

He grinned. “No one, man. But you’ll never believe who I woke up to today.”

“Man, if you say Britney, I’ll kick your white ass.”

He laughed and leaned against the counter. “Naw. I woke up this morning to Simonia Lahey coming out of the bathroom.”

“Shit, man,” Pharral laughed. “Simonia Lahey?”

“I know. Crazy, huh?”

“Hell, yeah. What went down?”

“Both got piss drunk and somehow winded up at her hotel. Didn’t’ have sex or anything.”

“Too bad. She’s a hot piece of ass.”

He smirked. “I know, man.”

“You gonna hook up with her again?”

“Hope so. I left her my cell number. She’ll probably call.”

“Shit. Introduce me to her, J.”

He laughed again. “Whatever man.”

“Hey, you up for some recording? I’m producing a track that could use some backup vocals. You interested?”

“Sure.”

“Call me when you get to LA. We’ll get a time.”

“Okay.”

“Later, J.”

“Later.”