"Bye, Drew," I said, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek. Drew gave me a tight hug. "It was great seeing you again, Stace." "You too." I turned to see Justin standing yards away with his hands in his pockets and kicking rocks. "Call me up," I said louder, "We have to get together again before I leave to college." I emphasized college. A place Justin wished to go to, but never would have the time for. Many times, Justin has clouded my mind and made up for things but I just got back to being mad again. Drew is my ex-boyfriend from high school. He had been set up for a blind date but his date never showed and he had bought tickets to see "Down to You" early. We bumped into each other and I exaggerated the fact that I had an ex from high school to bump into at the movies. Justin�s only ex�s are now Backstreet Boy fans and his high school classrooms were tour buses and five star hotel rooms. "Good seein� you around, Justin," Drew said. "Yeah. You too," Justin answered reluctantly. "Bye babe," Drew smiled. I gave him a real kiss, I hadn�t kissed Drew in a long time, and he smiled contentedly. "Bye boy." Drew waved goodbye and left. "So where are we going next?" I asked Justin perkily like I hadn�t just made him feel like dirt. "The Rage, right?" "Yeah, if you wanna," he smiled. I�m bad. I hate using my best friend, but right now I hated my best friend so it�s cool. The Rage is the most exclusive expensive club in Orlando. I�ve only been there twice. Once with Justin before, when we were friends, and once when Drew and my two other friends Holly and Jared snuck in when we were seventeen. Justin would�ve been there too but he was on tour. Being on tour is his life. We walked to the car and drove off to the club. We slid in to the club (as easy as Britney Spears can slide under the covers) as soon as a slutty girl started screaming, "Oh my God! You�re Justin Timberlake from �Nsync! Ahhh!" "Great fans you got there," I yelled over the music. "They�d do anything for you. You know that right?" "What�d you say Stace?" he yelled back. I know he heard me but I don�t wanna bother squeezing out the fact that he doesn�t care shit about his fans. Jordan Knight�s "Give it to You" started blasting through the speakers. "Wanna dance?" Justin asked. I looked around and most of the guys looked taken so I nodded and followed Justin onto the floor. I guess Justin isn�t as choreographed as his videos are because he�s a pretty good dancer. Drew�s better but� We stayed on the floor a couple songs longer and finally I fell back into my chair exhausted. Justin still had some energy left (I guess you need a ton of it when you�re dancing on a stage under hot lights for five hours straight everyday) but he still followed me to the booth. We sat there, talking, but like acquaintances with little small talk instead of best friend gossiping. This slightly short redhead girl who seemed to be the only girl in this place wearing a tube top and didn�t look like a slut crept up behind Justin and tapped him on the shoulder. I swear to God, that boy screams like a girl. He fell back into his seat after jumping a mile into the air. The girl giggled a little looking behind her where a table full of other girls seemed to be urging her to do something, and then asked, "Um, aren�t you Justin Timberlake?" Justin was still pale with cold sweat on his forehead and he nodded. "Uh, I�m Alison. Wanna dance or something?" She looked at me with a it�s-not-my-fault smile on her face, "If it�s okay with you, that is." I smiled. "Oh go ahead." I stood up. "Besides, I�m gonna go get a margarita or martini or something else that starts with an �M�." Justin stood up and took Alison�s hand. They came back when the song was over and I was sipping away at my martini. "It was fun Alison," Justin charmed as he gave her a kiss on the cheek. Poor girl. If he sleeps with her tonight, she�ll never see him in person again. Seen it happen many times. He�s such a player. Nothing will ever change that. Alison smiled and left to her giggling group of friends. "You love that, don�t you?" I asked. I meant it seriously though. Not to critisize but as a sincere question. "Being in the center of attention." As mad as I am at Justin, he suddenly makes me majorly interested. Justin smiled his goofy smile trying to make my seriousness go away. "Well, I have to. It comes with the looks." I groaned and rolled my eyes and he laughed with delight. The Djs had just gotten back from their breaks and played a sweet slow song; "My First Night With You" by Mya. How ironic. This isn�t my first night with Justin the way Miss Mya meant it by but it�s been the first night just hangin� in a long time. Justin stood up and took my hand that he kissed lightly. "Care to dance, madam?" he asked with his French accent. "Of course, Monsieur." I replied. We slowly swayed back and forth on the dance floor and I rested my head on his shoulder. He�s got a very comfy shoulder and very comfy arms to be held in. I suddenly forgot that I was mad at him. The fact that he lied about me, gossiped about me, acted like I didn�t exist, denied he did anything wrong, and cheated me, him, and a dozen other people out of something that was important to all of us, seemed to fade away. All of a sudden I feel very close to Justin like he�s the only person in the world I could trust. I lifted my head slowly so my mouth was close to his ear, "I�m sorry, Justin." He pulled away a bit just so he could look at me. "Why are you saying that? I�m the one who should be asking for forgiveness. Again." I shook my head and leaned against him. "No, you�re my best friend and I should have forgiven you the first time." I sighed. "And I have to apologize about how I blew up on you yesterday. You�re not that much of an ego-maniac." "Oh thanks, Stace." I half-laughed and half-sighed. "And I�m sorry I�ve used you all day and paid no attention to you and ditched you for Drew." "It�s cool, Stacey. I just want your forgiveness." Justin paused as if thinking something over. He lifted my chin with his finger. "I love you Stacey. You know that, right?" "I love you too, Justin," I blurted. I regretted saying that at first but I changed my mind because meant it. I loved him. Really. I looked up at his eyes that seemed to be laughing at a secret that I didn�t know. I love that. I lifted my head up and kissed him as softly and lightly as possible. We let go and without thinking kissed again, not as softly and not as lightly. I pulled away, wide-eyed. I�m not suppose to be doing this. I�m not mad at him anymore, but he�s my best friend. We don�t do this. We can�t do this. I love him but not like a boyfriend, like a brother. I pulled out of his arms and walked as fast as I could out of the club. "Stacey," his voice said. "Wait!" He kept repeating that but I don�t want to face anything that doesn�t need to faced. I stood outside, about to hail a cab. "Stacey," Justin�s voice said out of breath. He placed his hands on my shoulders. "I�m sorry." I spun around. "Justin," I said. "Don�t do this to me." He put his hands on my shoulders again, concerned. "Do what Stacey? Whatever I did, I didn�t mean." I turned and looked up at the full moon in the sky. The moon was just like this when we first met. Justin leaned in and whispered in my ear, "Stacey, tell me what you want. I�d do anything for you." I turned around. Oh God. This isn�t happening. I�m about to spill something that I refuse to spill and I can�t stop myself. "The one thing that I want Justin is to hug you and to know that you love me the way I love you and that I�m just-just-" I sighed. "Being a complete block head idiot for telling you this." "Stacey, you�re not being an idiot. I love you." I shook my head twice vigorously with tears suddenly streaming down my face. Shit. I can�t stop this, can I? "No you don�t Justin. You have millions of screaming girls throwing themselves at you. You have your family that loves you to death. You have four of the best friends to work with. And you fucking love it. Don�t deny that. You love the world your in and I�m just a speck of dust that needs to be blown away Justin seemed spellbound and suddenly he leaned down and kissed me. And not the sweet soft kiss I gave him earlier. It was a long, hard, passionate kiss that seemed to last forever. I pulled away slowly. "What the hell was that?" Justin shook his head. "I don�t know. But I liked it." "So did I." Our faces grew closer again but I stopped him. "Does this mean something?" "Definitely." Our lips touched once again, even longer. |