"What time do we leave for the award show?" Alex asked, walking into the suite.
AJ looked up at her. "Three."
"Ok." She walked towards her room. Thirty minutes later, she walked out of her room. "Bye."
"You mean you're leaving us so soon?" AJ asked.
"Yep." Alex laughed at AJ's expression. "I have to go get some information from UCLA." She left.
She was back at noon, with a stack of information.
They left at three for the VMA's.***
"I can't believe I'm at the VMA's," Alex said, sitting down next to Ashley.
"You can't? I can't believe I'm here." Ashley sighed as she looked around. "It's unbelievable. And I'll be here year after year."
"That would be so wonderful," Alex replied. "I'm jealous. You're gonna be here, while I'm gonna be at home, watching them on TV."
"Not if my prediction comes true," AJ said from the other side of Ashley. "And you fall in love with a member of a boy band."
"What is it with you and hooking me up with a pop star?" Alex asked AJ.
"I just have a feeling that's what gonna happen." I also know you were talking to Justin Timberlake earlier.
"Well, your feeling is wrong," Alex told him.
"Is not."
"Is too."
"Is not."
"Stop it, you two," Kevin told them.
"AJ started it," Alex said.
"Did not."
"Did too."
"Alexandria Jade Royce, Alexander James McLean," Ashley warned. "Shut up."
"But-" Alex began.
"Just do us a favor, and be quiet," Kevin told them. "Or we'll make you shut up."
"Fine," Alex and AJ muttered at the same time.
The show began, lasting three hours. Alex didn't pay much attention to the awards given out, so she didn't realize the guy she'd been talking to earlier was Justin Timberlake.
It was only at the party afterwards that she realized it.
Alex was talking to Ashley, standing at the bar, when someone approached her.
"Hello, Alexandria," he said, slipping his arm around her waist.
"What the hell?" Alex exclaimed, turning around. She looked up at him. "Oh, it's you. What are you doing here?"
"You sound thrilled to see me. I'm here because I had to be. N'Sync won awards."
"No, I'm not thrilled to see you, especially now that I know you're part of N'Sync." Alex shuddered. "God, I need out of here. I'm surrounded by pop stars."
Ashley and Justin laughed. "You're the new member of Backstreet, I take it?" Justin asked Ashley.
"Yes."
"Congratulations on winning." He stuck out his hand. "I'm Justin Timberlake."
"Ashley Morgan." She smiled at him. "Where did you meet Alex?"
"At the pool this morning." Justin looked down at her. "Care to dance?" he asked, as he turned her towards the dance floor.
"Do I have a choice?" Alex asked.
"Nope." Justin looked down into her dark brown eyes. "We're going to dance. And we're going out to dinner tomorrow night."
"Says who?"
"Me."
"I don't think so."
"You know you want to."
"There's no way in hell I'd ever date an egotistical, chauvinistic man like you."
"You make me blush with your compliments."
Alex couldn't help it. She laughed, though she didn't want to. She didn't want him to know he could make her laugh.
Justin smiled. "So I can make you laugh. Good sign or bad?"
"If I could lie to you, I'd say bad." She sighed. "But unfortunately, I can't lie to you, so good."
"A point in my favor. Admit it, you want me."
"Are you always like this, or do you just want to be annoying and egotistical, and boost your already huge self- image?"
"Oh, I'm always like this."
"I feel sorry for your friends."
"To give them a break, you can agree to go on a date with me tomorrow."
"But then I'd have to put up with you."
"I'm just gonna keep bugging you until you agree."
Alex sighed. "I'll agree just so you leave me alone."
"I got you to agree."
"I can always tell you something came up and I can't go."
"But you won't, because you just told me you could do that."
"Damn," Alex muttered.
Justin laughed.***
"Did Justin ask you out?" Ashley asked, as she, the guys, and Alex walked in the hotel suite.
"Yes."
"Did you agree?" Ashley inquired.
"Unfortunately."
The guys and Ashley started laughing. Alex glared at him. "What's so funny?"
"I knew you were going to end up with the member of a boy band," AJ told her.
"We're going on one date. That doesn't mean we're going to end up married or anything."
"Just watch what you say," AJ warned her. "You once said you'd never go on a date with the member of a boy band."
"God, I hate all of you people," Alex fumed, walking to her room. "You're all annoying."
"You know you love us," AJ called.
"Do not."
"Do too, Alex," Ashley told her.
"I do not love annoying people who are constantly trying to predict my life and warn me from saying things. I love people who keep their noses out f my life."
"But we wouldn't be your friends then," Ashley told her. "And besides, we're just looking out for your best interests."
"Go look out for them somewhere else." Alex's door slammed closed behind her.
The six people left in the main room of the suite started laughing.***
Alex was once again swimming laps when she felt someone's eyes on her. She looked up, and noticed Justin watching her from the same spot he'd been at the day before.
"You swim everyday?" he asked, as she got out of the pool and walked toward him.
"I try to," Alex replied. "What do you want?"
You, in my bed, naked. A day of peace and quiet so we can spend all day making love. "I wanted to get your phone number," Justin told her instead. "Or your room number. Something so I can confirm our date tonight, and tell you what it's gonna be."
"You can just tell me now."
"But I'll need to know where to pick you up. And if anything happens, I'll need a number where I can reach you."
"You never give up, do you?"
"Nope."
"And do you always get what you want?"
"Usually."
Alex glanced at him through narrowed eyes. "Don't think I'm gonna be easy to get. Or that I'll let you use me and then leave me."
"I didn't expect you to be an easy conquest, nor did I think you'd let me use you." That's one thing that attracts me to you.
"And I'm not going to be a conquest, a prize you had to win just to prove something to someone."
"I had no intentions of making you a conquest."
"Good."
"Are you going to tell me you'll never have sex with me?"
Alex looked at him, eyebrow arched. "Would you still date me?"
"Of course. I'm not some jerk only looking for a good lay."
"Well, I wouldn't know if I was a good lay or not, seeing how I'm still a virgin. And that right there should tell you whether or not I'll have sex with you."
"That's a no."
"You're a smart man."
"High praise."
"From me? Yes, very. I've noticed many men aren't smart."
Justin laughed. "Ouch."
"What, they're not."
"Just the ones you've met."
"Which is quiet enough for me to prove men are on the whole, idiots."
"God, I'd hate to be on your bad side."
"Oh, you're a really smart man. Or a suck up."
"I'll think I'll go with the really smart man."
"Of course you would."
Justin laughed again. "Dinner tonight. Formal. Eight sharp."
"You mean, you actually think a woman would be on time?"
"Would you?"
"Oh, hell yeah. I can't stand being late for anything."
"Then I'll see you at eight tonight."
"Formal, right? Dress?"
"Please."
"I suppose I can do. It means another shopping trip, but ok."
"And do you mind the shopping trip?"
"Um, do I look stupid? No, I don't mind it. I love shopping."
"Me too."
"Oh dear, I'm worried. Another thing we have in common."
She left Justin laughing.