Sadie sat up, stretching. She looked down at the sleeping man beside her and smiled to herself. She had never had a friend like him before. Someone to care for her who wasn't bound by blood. She worried about the curly haired man who wanted to help her so much. She knew that he had problems of his own, but he didn't talk about them with her. He would rather talk about her problems. She wanted to help him as much as he wanted to help her, but she didn't know how.

Sighing, Sadie crept out of the bed that she had been sharing with Justin and made her way down the hall to the bathroom. After a quick shower and dressing, she went into the kitchen to fix some coffee.

"Why didn't you wake me up?" Justin asked, sitting at the counter separating the kitchen from the dinning room.

"You just looked so sweet and adorable. I hated to wake you up and ruin it." Sadie told him, smiling at him over her shoulder.

"Hardy har har. Where is everyone?"

"They went out to dinner without us I guess. They didn't leave a note or anything, but seeing as we were supposed to leave at four and it is now five thirty, I think it is a safe bet." Sadie finished getting the coffee ready and sat down at the counter, opposite of Justin, waiting for the coffee to brew.

"Figures. So since we have slept all day, what do you want to do now?" Justin inquired, stifling a yawn as he leaned back in the chair to stretch.

"I don't know. What kind of stuff is there to do around here?" Sadie asked, poking him in the stomach while he stretched. He laughed and grabbed her hand before she could poke him again. After removing her hand, he pulled the hem of his wife-beater back down.

"Well, there are clubs, movies, just about anything you want to do." Justin told her, leaning on his elbows, still tired from the long hours of sleeping.

"What do you want to do?" she asked him, not able to make up her mind.

"Well, why don't we go catch a movie and then some ice cream. That sounds good and then we can see if you sister and the guys want to go out to a club. We haven't done that in a while. How does that sound to you?" he questioned, a smile on his face at the possibility of actually going out.

"Sounds like a plan to me. Just give me some time to get some caffeine in my system and we can go. You want some coffee?" Sadie asked, getting up to pour herself a cup.

"Naw, but do you have any O.J. I could really use some of that." Justin asked, rubbing his stomach.

"What do you think this is, of course we have orange juice. What kind of house hold would we be if we didn't?" Sadie said, laughing. She went to the refrigerator to retrieve the carton, setting it and a glass in front of Justin. "That's your one. From now on you get it for your self." "Gottcha. Now, what movie do you want to see?"

"You know what, that was probably the sixth time I have seen that movie since it came out and it just keeps getting better and better every time!" Sadie exclaimed excitedly as they exited the Movie Theater.

"I know exactly what you mean. I could watch "Star Wars" everyday. I really liked the old ones though. They were so break through for their time period." Justin dodging some kids having a plastic light sabers battle.

"Yea, that's true. I didn't think I would like the new ones because of that. I figured it wouldn't fit well, but even with the new technology, it is awesome." Sadie explained, waiting for Justin to open the passenger door to his M-class. He unlocked the door and opened it for her. "Why thank you gallant sir." She said, laughing.

Justin took a small bow. "You are forever welcome kind lady." He said, joining in her little play. He closed the door and walked over to the driver's side of the car. "So where to now?" He asked starting the car and looking over to her.

"Hmmmm, I believe some curly haired, basketball playing, ghetto wannabe said something about ice cream." Sadie said, putting her finger to her chin as if in deep thought.

"You want to use my phone so you can call him and get him to take you?" Justin asked, holding out his cell phone to her.

"Funny, JT. What do you want to do?"

Justin thought for a moment and then his eyes lit up. "I know, why don't we go get some banana splits from that place across from the park and then go sit by the lake in the park? Sound good to you? I really don't want to be inside." Justin said a pleading look in his eyes.

"Sounds fun. Let's do it." They drove to the park and got out of the car, making their way across the street to the small ice cream shop. They then headed over to the lake that sat in the middle of the park to eat their ice cream. Sitting down by the lake, Sadie watched couples walking hand in hand down the small wooded path that wound through the park. She averted her gaze out over the lake, gazing out at the star's reflection in the rippling mirror. Leaning closer she could see herself in the liquid mirror, gazing back at her. Someone she didn't know anymore.

Justin noticed she was deep in thought, a worried furrow in her brow. Concerned, he scooted closer to her on the grass, sitting just inches away from her. "Penny for your thoughts?"

"I don't think my thoughts are worth that much." Sadie said, tearing her gaze away from the lake and smiling at Justin. Her joke fell flat. "Come on, Justin. Don't go getting serious on me now." Sadie said, pleading with him.

"I'm just worried about you is all. You looked so depressed. Almost to the point of tears. I thought we were having fun. I didn't want anything to ruin it." Justin admitted, putting his hand on hers. Sadie looked down at their hands for a moment and then back up into his steely blue gaze.

"We are having fun, but you know what would make this even more fun?" Sadie asked, standing up, bringing Justin with her, their ice cream long forgotten.

"What?" Justin asked, still looking into her eyes.

"A swim." Sadie said, pushing Justin into the lake. He fell back with a splash. Sadie doubled over laughing as Justin came up sputtering, baggy clothes hanging off of his thin body, curly hair matted down to his head, murky water running in his eyes.

"You know, it's a good thing I took my cell phone out of my pocket and left it in the car." Justin said, shaking his head to rid his curls of some of the water. He rubbed his hands over his face to remove the droplets of water that were running down.

"I am so sorry. I just couldn't resist. I was tempted by the devil." Sadie gasped between giggles, as Justin made his way back up to dry land.

"I know the temptation is strong to do a lot of things, but most people ignore an impulse like that." Justin reasoned, walking closer to her. She spied his mischievous look and slowly backed away from him. Justin kept walking towards her, not threateningly, just sauntering up to her. He didn't fool Sadie.

"Don't do it, Justin. Please."

"Justin? What ever happened to JT. I was getting used to that." Justin said, putting on a hurt puppy look.

Sadie didn't respond. A loud honking behind them distracted her. Justin took this opportunity to make his move. While she was looking back toward the parking lot, he rushed forward and picked her up over his shoulder. She shrieked in surprise.

"Justin! JT, put me down! Please!" she yelled to him, trying to break free of his grasp. He ignored her and made his way to the lake. He stopped at the edge, spinning her around in circles. "Justin, please stop! I'm going to be sick. Put me down!" Sadie demanded, feeling he stomach churn.

"Ok." Was all Justin said, before flinging her into the water. On her way down, she grabbed on to Justin's belt buckle, bringing him back in with her. She landed in the water, Justin falling in on top of her. Justin pushed himself up immediately, in the deep water. He stood up, spitting water out of his mouth. "Sadie, you ok?" he asked, not being able to see around him because of the water in his eyes. When he didn't get an answer, he quickly wiped the water from his eyes and looked around. Sadie was no where in sight. "Sadie!?" Justin yelled into the air around him. He frantically began to search the murky water around him, feeling in the darkness for her. Just as he began to panic, he heard splashing behind him, near the middle of the lake. He turned quickly to see Sadie swimming towards him. When the water was shallow enough for her to stand, she did and slowly made her way through the water to Justin, her clothing clinging to her, revealing more than she was comfortable with.

"What happened? Where did you go? I thought maybe I crushed you or something." Justin said, grabbing her into a tight hug, pressing her wet body up against his.

Sadie pulled back from him, wiping a hand over her face to remove her hair from her eyes. "Sorry, I got tangled in some plants at the bottom. When I came up, I was way over there. Don't know how I got there, but I was there none the less." Sadie said, shivering.

"Man, I didn't realize how cold it was out here, until now. What do you say we go home and get changed." Justin said, taking her hand in his and leading her out of the water.

"Sounds good to me, but what about your car? We are soaked." Sadie said, looking down at her clothing, water running everywhere.

"I have some towels in the trunk, from where I go to the beach. We can sit on those." Justin said, heading back to the car.

"Well, we can't say that we didn't have fun." Sadie said, shaking the excess water from her short hair.

"I have to say, that was the most interesting date I have ever been on." Justin said laughing at her as he started the engine. Sadie froze where she was rubbing her hair with a towel to dry it some before they got home.

'What does he mean date?' Sadie thought to herself. She couldn't understand why he would think that. Why he would want to think that.

"What's wrong, Sadie?" Justin asked glancing at her.

"Huh? Oh, nothing. Just got lost in my thoughts is all." Sadie said, laying the towel aside as they got on the main road.

"Ok. I have a brush in the glove box incase you, ya know, want to comb your hair out. I doubt you want the world to see it like that." Justin pointed out, stifling a laugh. Sadie looked at him strangely and flipped down the visor, looking in the mirror. She nearly died of shock right there.

"Oh my God. I look like Medusa." Sadie exclaimed, hurriedly searching through Justin's glove box for the brush.

"I think it looks cute. Gives you that mysterious, yet mature, feminine look. Not that you don't look feminine already, but�.uh�you know what I mean." Justin said, turning red and putting his attention back on the road.

"What? Was that twice in two weeks that I have had the all mighty Justin Randall Timberlake speechless. The world is coming to an end." Sadie laughed, pulling the brush through her hair.

"Oh hush. I'm sure you have been speechless before." Justin countered pulling into the complex parking lot. He shifted the car into park and turned off the engine, waiting on Sadie to finish with her hair before going inside.

"Not that I can recall. I don't think I have ever been speechless in my life." Sadie said, laughing into the mirror.

"I bet I could make you speechless." Justin said, a challenging tone in his voice. Sadie glanced at him to see him staring back at her. She quickly turned her head back to the mirror where she was still trying to get tangles out of her hair.

"I doubt it. Words are my passion, and I like to talk too much to be speechless." Sadie told him.

"Want to bet on it? I bet you dinner tomorrow that I can make you speechless. You win, I make you dinner. I win, you make me dinner. Deal?" Justin asked, a mischievous grin on his face.

Sadie looked at him, her smirk leaving her face when she saw his. His eyes were glowing with deviousness. Despite her better judgement, she felt the need to prove him wrong. "As much as I think I might regret this, you're on." Sadie said, stretching her hand out to shake on the deal. Justin smiled, took her hand, shook it once and pulled. Caught off guard, Sadie fell up against Justin in the seat.

"I hope not." Justin whispered. Justin wasted no time. He leaned down quickly and brought his lips to hers, wrapping his arms around her waist.

Sadie was shocked at first. She didn't know what to do. Suddenly she found herself responding to the kiss, kissing him back. She wrapped her arms around his neck. He tightened his grip around her torso and brought her as close as he could in the confines of the car.

Sadie and Justin groaned in pleasure as the kiss continued. Sadie knew that if she were standing, she would have surely fallen to the ground. Her knees felt like jelly and everywhere his skin contacted, felt as if it were on fire.

Justin was feeling the same thing. He knew that his heart was about to jump out of his chest, with the rapid beat it was carrying. He felt his lungs screaming for more air than what he was getting, but he couldn't bring himself to break away from her. The longer he kissed her the more he wanted to kiss her.

Finally, when both their lungs were screaming for air and they felt as if they would pass out any second from exhilaration, the two broke apart. Breathing heavily, Sadie sat back up in her seat and stared out the windshield. Justin gripped the steering wheel again, giving him something to do with his hands so that they wouldn't shake.

After both had calmed down some, Justin got a wicked smile on his face. He turned slightly to Sadie, looking at her. He nearly burst out laughing. She sat there, eyes wide, breathing heavily, a shocked expression on her face. "So what time should I come by for dinner tomorrow?" he asked, his voice shakier than he had expected. He turned away from her quickly, so she wouldn't see how he had been affected by the kiss.

Sadie snapped back to reality. She tried to think of something to say. "Uh�Um�I'm�Uh� Oh hell, seven thirty." Sadie said, scowling, realizing she had lost their bet. She quickly opened the door of the car and started for the apartment building. Justin sat there confused for a moment, then ran after her. He caught up with her as she waited for the elevator.

"Sadie, wait!" Justin called to her, paying the doorman no mind. He reached her as the elevator door opened and she stepped in. He quickly followed her. "What's wrong?" Justin asked, looking at her.

"Nothing." Sadie said, shortly.

"Something. I want to know what. You aren't mad at me for kissing you are you?" Justin asked worriedly. He hoped that she didn't regret it. He had felt that she wanted it just as badly as he realized he did.

"No, nothing's wrong." Sadie said, no emotion in her voice.

"Was it something I did? You can't lie to me. You should know that by now. Please tell me." Justin pleaded, grabbing her shoulders and turning her to face him. He looked deeply in her eyes. He looked down at her in confusion, when he saw laughter there. "What is so funny?" Justin asked, as she burst out laughing.

"You really thought that I was mad at you. I can't believe it. How could I be mad at you. You're my best friend, and you won a bet, maybe by some weird means, but you won it none the less. I guess we are a lot alike. I would just about anything to win a bet. But you caught me by surprise. Out of everything that was the last thing I expected." Sadie explained to him, plastering a smile on her face. Deep down she wanted more than anything for him to have really wanted to kiss her. She wanted him to care about her as more than a friend, but she knew that it could never happen. There were too many things holding them back. And even if there weren't, she knew that he would never care about her the way she wanted so badly to care about him.

"Ok so you got me. I really thought you were mad at me. I didn't want to ruin things between us. When you stormed out of the car, I thought I had really made you mad and I was going to lose my best friend." Justin said, sincerely.

Sadie's heart fell a little more. She put on another smile as the elevator doors opened on his floor. "I'm not going anywhere for a while." She said stepping out of the elevator. They walked down the hall, Justin's arm draped over her shoulder as they talked about going to the club the next night.

"I guess it is a little late to go clubbing. It's nearly three in the morning as it is. Why am I up here anyway?" Sadie asked quietly as Justin opened the door to his apartment.

"Because you are going to wait for me to change and then we are going back down to your apartment and spend the night talking since, I know I am not going to be able to sleep for a while and I doubt you will even go to bed." Justin whispered. The lights in the apartment were off. 'Chris must have gone to bed.' Justin thought. He walked into the living room and turned on the light. He nearly leapt three feet off of the ground when he saw the people in the living room. Sadie turned and let out a little yell.

"My God, what are you trying to do? Give us a heart attack?" Sadie asked the five people in the living room. JC, Joey, Chris, Lance and Sheryl were sitting there, none of them looking happy at first, then breaking out into giggles when they saw the state of the people in front of them.

"What are you guys doing here?" Justin asked, his heart rate slowing back to normal. He ran a hand through is curly hair and then remembered what took place at the lake. He realized what they were laughing at. He turned to look at Sadie. Due to their bet she hadn't been able to get all of her hair under control. It was sticking up in some places. Her clothes were still wet and clinging to her a little. For a moment he got lost in the memory of her pressed up against him while they kissed. He quickly scolded himself and brought his attention back to the people in front of him.

"What in the world happened to you two?" Joey asked, laughing at the sight in front of him. Sadie and Justin looked at each other for a moment, blushing.

"It was all her fault." Justin said pointing to the girl beside him. She opened her eyes wide with shock.

"Me? Excuse me, but you were the one who tried to get serious on me and if I am not mistaken you are the one who did this to me." Sadie defended, turning to face him, pointing to her hair and then her clothes.

"What!? You were the one who pushed me in the lake. I was just trying to get revenge. You didn't have to and drag me back in with you." Justin stated, looking at her defiantly.

"Well, at least your hair is somewhat under control. I would have been able to get mine under control if you hadn't made that stupid bet with me and then k�" Sadie stopped, remembering their audience. She glanced at them quickly and then back to Justin. He stood there wide-eyed.

"What bet?" Chris asked, excited about the news. Justin and Sadie exchanged nervous glances and then, blushing again, turned back to the group. They were met with curious stares.

"Uh�nothing really. We�uh�just bet on�um�"Justin stammered, not wanting to tell them what really happened.

"On who could eat our ice cream the fastest. He won, the bottomless pit. So now I have to make him dinner tomorrow." Sadie said, saving Justin. He looked at her, silently thanking her.

"What!? You beat her when Mike couldn't? Man, what did you do, swallow the thing whole?" Joey exclaimed, wide-eyed. Justin just shrugged.

"Uh, well. What did you guys say you were doing here, again?" Sadie asked, trying to take the heat of off her and Justin. Her plan didn't work exactly as planned.

"I came up here to see if you were here since you said you were going to be with Justin." Sheryl said from her spot on the couch between Joey and Lance. "Dr. Townsend called. He said that the only time he can see you this week is tomorrow at four. I told him you would be there. I came up here to tell you and you weren't here. When you didn't show up for a couple of hours and we hadn't heard from either of you, Chris and I got worried. The rest of the guys just happened to show up." Sheryl explained. She could already tell that Sadie wasn't happy.

"Where were you guys? We have all been worried sick." Chris questioned, growing serious.

"We went to a movie, then went to the park, then we came home. Is that enough detail for you or do you want exact times and what we stepped on at the movie theater too?" Justin questioned, obviously not happy about being questioned as to his where abouts.

"God, you would think we are old enough to go places by our selves. We aren't hardened criminals you know." Sadie added angrily.

"We didn't say you were. We were just worried. Sadie, I didn't know where you were or when you were coming home. It's nearly three in the morning." Sheryl said, getting angry herself.

"I left you a note saying I was with Justin. What? Now you don't trust him either." Sadie asked, her eyes narrowing into slits.

"I didn't say that. Don't do that. Don't put words into my mouth. I trust him and you completely, but that doesn't mean we are all going to stop worrying about you."

"I'm going downstairs. I'll see you guys later." Sadie said, and angrily stormed out the door.

"Sadie! Sheena, wait!" Justin called after her. Without glancing back at the five people in the living room, Justin grabbed his gym bag off of the table beside the door and ran down the hall after her.

"I don't know what I'm going to do with her. She just doesn't understand. She worries about everyone and everything, but gets defensive when ever anyone even thinks about worrying about her. I just don't get it." Sheryl said, putting her head in her hands.

"Justin gets that way sometimes too. Especially in the beginning. Don't worry. Everything will work out just fine." Chris tried to comfort her.

Chapter 8

Chapter 10