Chapter two "Oh my god!" Emma said running through the foyer with the news paper in hand. "April get up!" She said standing at the edge of the stairs. " April!?" "Geez what is the deal?" April said walking down the stairs rubbing her eyes. "You've got to see this." Emma said now walking through the house onto the patio. "Okay what have i GOT to see?" she said sitting down "Okay first i have to tell you something." Emma said looking away nervously "This sounds serious." "Well no not really, just your gonna hate me." "Try me." "okay." she said taking a deep breath. "The other night when i got that ride home from that guy... you remember?" "Yeah so..." "Well yesterday he came back." Emma said starting to pace "Here?" April asked cutting her off "Yeah here. Anyway he came back to bring me my purse. See i was so out of it that i forgot it in his car." "Call me stupid but i'm not getting the big deal." "I gotta finish...you impatient person." Emma said laughing "So as i was saying, he returned my purse and then asked me to go get coffee. So i went because i figured it would be good for me to get out of my house. Okay so this morning i go out to get the paper and part of it feel out; i pick up the entertain part first and this is what was on it." Emma said holding up the paper and stopped pacing. "Em this is you." April said looking at her. "Uh huh." Emma said avoiding her stare "And correct me if i'm wrong, but is this... Justin Timberlake?" she said looking up Emma gave her one look and started running around all the pool furniture trying to get away from the now very mad April. Ducking into the kitchen and grabbing a big cooking spoon off the counter she held it up infront of her face to ward off April. "Back up! Don't make me use this. I swear i will." Emma said gasping for air. "Why on god's earth didn't you tell me it was him that brought you home?" "Honestly april i didn't know it was him. It was dark, i was upset, i wasn't even aware of some of the things that were going on around me." "And what about yesterday when you went on this little date?" April said pointing to the paper that was still in her hand. "First of all it wasn't a date. Second when he showed up at the door it took everything in me not to make a fool of myself. Third he left in such a hurry that i didn't even get a number or anything. And fourth i didn't even see you the rest of the day yesterday." Emma said now letting down her guard. "I just can't believe it." April said looking at the paper "How do you think i feel. I've now got my face plastered all over every paper in los angles. Before you know it it'll be on all the news channels and anything else you can think of." Emma said walking away. "What are you doing?" April asked "I'm gonna call his ass." "But i thought you said he didn't give you his phone number." "We have caller id." "But he hasn't called you." "I called here the other night from his phone." Emma said lookin up at april "What are you gonna say to him?" "I'm gonna give him a piece of my mind about these photos." she said now dialing the number "But you knew he was a celebrity. You had to have known this would happen." "I really didn't and he thinks i don't know who he is." "But emma-" "Hello is this justin?" emma said holding up her had at April "Yeah this is justin. Who is this?" "It's Emma. Listen have you seen the front page of the entertainment section?" she said sternly "No.. Are you mad about something." He sounded confused "You just might wanna look at the paper." "Oh my god... Emma i'm so sorry." He said with and upset tone "Yeah... what's gonna happen now.. just as soon as people start noticing me their gonna be following me around everywhere. I'm not gonna be able to leave my house." "Emma... Emma calm down. " "Calm down?" she said her voice now raising. "i'm going to get dressed for church you better hurry or were gonna be late." April said walking out of the kitchen and leaveing emma on the phone. "Listen i'm really sorry Emma i was gonna tell you everything i really was." "When... the next time you showed up at my front door unannounced?" Emma said bitterly "Please don't be mad at me... i just.. i liked how it felt to be around someone who didnt' treat me like they knew who i really was." "Justin... your face is everywhere. okay... i don't live under a rock. I know who you are." "Well why did you... why are you so upset then?" Emma sighed loudly... "I don't know.. Because i didn't really think this would happen and i figured i would never see you again..." "Well i wanna see you again..." He said with a hopeful tone "Justin i just got out of a really serious realtionship." Emma said closing her eyes "Oh.. i'm sorry i didn't know." He said sounding disappointed "No it's fine i didn't really get around to that yesterday.. it's a touchy subject right now." "I understand.. listen i have a lot of explaining to do with my manager about these photos. And i'll see what i can do to clear this up." "That would be good." Emma said with her eyes still closed "Well maybe i'll talk to you later. Give me a call if you feel like talking." "Maybe... bye." Emma said as she blinked and a single tear rolled down her cheek "Bye." Emma laid the phone down and her gaze automatically went to the bulltin board above the phone. There was a few pictures of her and lucas. She remembered how happy they had been. And how bad she wanted to see Justin again. She wiped away the tear noticing the time. She grabbed a paper towel from by the sink and wiped her face. She was going to make it through the rest of the day without crying if it killed her. "Damn it!" Justin said slamming his phone down on the conference table. " I've really screwed it up this time." looking up he noticed Marie, the receptionest, walking down the hall. "Marie." justin said hollering. "What! I swear i didn't do it." she said feeling her heart drop to the bottom of the stomach. "oh it's just you." She said turning around "I haven't got time for your games i do actually have work to do." "Yeah i know and you do it so well." He said now sucking up. "But i need you to do me a really really big favor." "Umm.. let me think about it for a second.... NO!" she said starting to walk off. Grabbing her arm and turning her around Justin Pleaded with her. "I'll even get on my knees if that's what it takes." "Well... " "Fine is this what you want." He said dropping to his knees... "Will you please do me a favor now?" " I tell you what justin... you promise to never ever EVER pester or bother me with the crap you like to pull on me and i'll do it." "Oh yeah yeah... i promise no more..." "Fine." "thank you thank you." he said jumping up and hugging her. "Hey get off of me." She said pulling his arms away. " What is it that's so damn important anyway. Your acting like your gonna die." "Ok call a florist, i don't care which one, order a dozen white roses and a dozen red roses all in one thing okay, and put this with it."He said walking back over to the table and grabbing a pen and paper. He wrote a few things down and handed it back to her. "Here i wrote the address on the back try to get them to do it today as soon as possible." he said handing her the paper "Alright you remember you promised." "I know i promise i won't bother you any more." He said rubbing his knees now noticing the the pain "What's this all about? Justin promising not to bother you anymore? Hell must have froze over." Mark said as he walked into the room "Oh yes! Mr. Timberlake here got on his knees to beg for a favor." "No way." Mark said "Yep and all for a few flowers to some girl named Emma." she said looking at the note. "Oh well this must be the girl then." Mark said holding up the newspaper. "yeah." Justin said avoiding his gaze "This is getting to serious." Marie said walking away. "Thank you again." Justin calling down the hall "Uh huh." Marie said waving her hand. "So talk to me. What the hell were you thinking going out to a place like that in the middle of the day. Most of all with a girl." Mark said setting the paper down "What i'm not even aloud to go out anymore." Justin said getting definsive "Hey you drop that tone with me. I'm trying my best not to get upset about this. You just broke up with Britney. The last thing you need is rumors about some girl you probably hardly know." "Who she is and how well I know her has nothing to do with this." "Okay i'll be fair. your right it doesn't matter, but shes still a girl and your still... this just isn't what you needed right now... your suppose to start things up with the guys in a week and it can't be all about justin and who he's dating." "Dont you think the mere fact that nsync is getting back together will override all this." he said gesturing to the paper "I know your not that stupid." Mark said in amazement. "Justin shes got your head all clouded. You know damn good well that that's not going to make this go away." "Alright fine. You deal with it the best way you know how, But all i'm worried about is how am i going to keep her safe and away from the photographers?" "How long have you known this girl?" "Why?" "Because your acting like shes your mom or br- nevermind. I'll see what i can do." Mark said looking away knowing he had made the wrong move. "She's not Britney and she never will be." Justin said getting so serious you could hear the pain in his voice. "Yeah i'm sorry.. it just slipped out." "But yeah please try and keep the photographers away from her." Justin said walking out of the office. "Oh J?" Mark said calling out to him. "Yeah?" Justin said sticking his head back in the office. "I would steer clear of the big shots for a few days. Their not to happy with you being late yesterday and if they find out it was because of some girl their really gonna get mad. "Yeah thanks." He said walking away. "So did you see lucas this morning?" April asked on their way back from church "No i don't think he came this morning, But everyone was asking me where he was." Emma said turning away from the window to look at April "Oh yeah? what did you tell them?" "Nothing just that i didn't know." "You didn't tell ya'll arn't still together?" "No why would i? They'll find out sooner or later." "Yeah i guess your right." April said as she pulled into the gate of their house. "what are you gonna do about you stuff at his place?" "I don't know.. i need to go get it though because i was looking for a pair of shoes this morning that i think i left over there." Emma said getting out of the car and shutting the door. Just then her cell phone rang. She noticed from the caller id it was lucas. "Oh look speak of the devil. What lucas?" "Oh what a nice mood your in this morning." "Yeah well it just got worse." "Emma look at this." April said squating down and picking up some boquet ok flowers "They must be for you because i certainly don't have anyone that loves me enough to send me... " she paused to get a rough count of the flowers. "Two dozen flowers." Emma said into the phone so lucas could hear. Emma walked into the house and laid all her stuff on the table by the door and walked to the nearest couch and sat down. She contenuied to fuse with Lucas as April looked at the flowers in awe. Thinking how could anyone send her flowers like this. Her wonderful thoughts and mood quickly drained from her like a rush of wind and her heart sank when she realized that the flowers were for Emma from none other then Justin himself. Sitting them on the end table next to Emma she took off up the stairs to her room. "Listen Lucas i dont' wanna fight with you on the phone. Hell i dont' wanna fight with you at all.. i just wish things could go back to the way they were." "Well we all know that nothing can go back to the way it was. YOU of all people should know that." "Shut up Lucas. All i want is my stuff from you place." "And all i want is my brief case from you house." "Fine i'll bring it to you tomorrow." Emma said getting up and walking to the flowers "Why not today?" "Because April and i both have to go to the airport to pick up Kimberly." "Oh... i didn't know she was coming." "Yeah well believe it or not you don't know everything." "Fine. Tomorrow then." "Yeah i'll come by about 5 or 6." "Fine." "Oh and lucas." "What?" "Make sure she's not there." with taht said Emma hung up the phone. Picking up the card on the flowers she noticed they were addressed to her. She swore to herself to throw them against the wall if they were from Lucas. opening the envelope she realized that they weren't from lucas and that she also didn't recgonize the handwriting. Her eyes watered with tears as she realized they were from Justin. He was apologizing for the mess he had gotten her into. IF he only knew how he had helped her those last couple days. The tears feel from her eyes and she could automatically taste the water in her mouth. She was so tired of crying she didn't know what to do. For once she was going to be happy about something. Looking up at the flowers she finally realized how pretty they were. She dried her eyes with the hands and wiped them on her skirt. As she made her way up the stairs to Aprils room her spirits started to lift. She hadn't had anyone send her flowers since she was about 17. She was so overcome with excitement that her stomach started to twist in knots. "April look." Emma said barging into Aprils room. "April whats the matter?" She asked becoming concerened looking at the note in emmas hand she started to cry. "Nothing , nothings wrong." SHe said getting off the bed. Emma looked down at her hands now realizing what she was crying for. "Oh god April i'm sorry." she said now following april into her bathroom "About what?" April said drying her eyes with a wash cloth. "The flowers." "No i'm being silly.. really i'm fine." "I had no idea they were for me. really i didn't.. i'm so sorry." "Seriously. it's ok i don't even know what im crying about. And there's to many people saying there sorry about here." She said as she walked into her closet. "Now go change. We've got to go get Kim and we should take her out to eat. don't ya think?" "Your really not mad?" "Really." April said grabbing her hand. "i'm not mad. Now GO get dressed." She said pushing her playfully. "And i was thinking we should go out tonight... just the three of us. We haven't done that in so long. Besides we all need to get some things off of our mind. " "Sounds good to me." Emma said walking out of her room.. "It really really sounds good." she said to her self as she walked to her room. "There she is." April said waving at her friend "Yeah i see her." Emma said walking to her "HEY GIRLS!!" Kimberly said running to them. "Hey." Both Emma and April said embracing Kim's hug "Did you have a good flight?" Emma asked "Oh yeah. It was great. There was this really cute guy sitting a few seats infront of me." She said smiling. "so yeah. I had a really good flight." "Just like you to always be thinking about the guy." April said helping her with her bags. "Yeah you know me. Look there he is now." Kim said pointing "You were right." April said staring. "Yeah there's no point in getting attached." Kim said starting to walk. "So Emma your being awfully quite, where's Lucas?" "Sore subject." April said leaning. "I heard that. And i don't know and i don't care." "I swore i thought i would never hear you say that stuff." "Yeah well things change and so do people." Said Emma as she began to feel her stomach churn. "emma are you serious? you've been inlove with him since you were sixteen." "Well what.... what do you want me to say?" She said covering her mouth. " I think i'm gonna be sick." "What's a matter?" April said standing in front of her. "you look so pale all of a sudden." "I don't... know." Emma said taking off to the nearest bathroom. "Is she gonna be okay?" Kimberly asked following April to the bathroom. "Who knows." "Well hey tell me what happened with her and Lucas." Kim said grabbing her to the side. "Lucas broke up with her a couple nights ago. " "So no wedding?" "Well that's usually what happens. Anyway it's because he's seeing some 18 year old girl." "He was sleeping with her?" "Yep. But it's okay because she's got Justin Timberlake." April said gesturing toward Emma "Justin Timberlake?" Kim asked confused "Yeah that same night she locked all her keys and stuff in her car. And justin gave her a ride home. And this morning she woke to find her face in the news paper." "All because she got a ride home from him?" Kim asked confused "No sorry.. she left her purse in his car that night on accident and yesterday he brought it back to her and they went to starbucks together." "So that's why her picture was in the newspaper?" "Yep." "Okay lets go. " Emma said coming out of the bathroom "Are you okay?" Kim asked "Yeah i just haven't eaten lately.. and i've been under so much stress... it's just-" "Hey it's fine." Kim said grabbing arm. "April told me all about it." Emma just gave april a cold stare "What?" April said catching up. "Alright i'll talk to you soon." Justin said walking out of a recording room "Oh hey Marie do you know if they got those flowers to... that house." "Oh you mean Emma's house." Marie said picking at him "Yes Marie Emma. Did they get there or do you not know." "What you can't take what you dish out." "Sure i can take it.. but right now all i wanna know is if the flowers got there." He said as he pulled his cell phone from his pocket "Yes Justin they got there." "Thank you . Now if you'll excuse me i have to take this." He said walking away. "Hey JC what's up?" "Nothing much man. Just called to see how things were going?" "It's pretty slow around here today." "That's not what i hear." "what are you talking about?" Justin asked leaning against the wall "Oh i just happened to pick up the paper today and there's quite a few pictures here of you and might i say a very pretty girl." "It's all the way over there too?" "Yep." "Well it's nothing. According to Mark i'm not aloud to see her anymore." "So she was your girlfriend or something." "No... i gave her a ride home friday night and she left something in my car so i took it back to her yesterday and today out picture was in the paper." "That's rough man." "Yeah. She seemed really great." "Well it happens to the best of us..." "Your telling me. So i'll see you Tuesday?" "Yeah Me and Lance both bright and early." "Alright well i'll be at the airport." "Okay man see ya there. Bye." "Bye." Justin said closing his phone. Leaning his head against the wall he realized how bad he really wanted to see Emma. Since Britney he hadn't wanted to see or talk to anyone but her. But now. He thought smiling. All he could think about was emma and he welcomed the change. Rubbing his face he sighed from deep within. "Hey Justin." a blonde girl walking down the hall said Great it s her again. Justin thought "Hi." He said waving. Obviously she hadn't seen the paper this morning he thought. Or she was just that desperate.