The next few days went by too quickly for everyone involved. All the guys had been happy to see James, and spend some quality time with her. Especially Justin.
Justin and Jamie had spent as much time together as possible, getting to know each other, and exploring this thing they had found. They took it very slowly, in every aspect. There was a lot of flirting going on, but it was innocent. They had decided that they wanted to do this right. It was going to be hard for them if they started something heavy right now, and then Justin would leave for another two weeks, come home for a month, and then leave again for the second leg of the tour.
So their plan was lots of phone calls and some quality conversations.
“…It went really well, though. Other then missing those few dance steps.” Jamie heard Justin yawn for about the fifth time, and she felt bad for keeping him up.
“That’s great. Why don’t I let you go? You sound really tired.” Justin shook his head in protest but realized that she couldn’t see him.
“No…no, I’m fine. I haven’t talked to you in a while; I want to know how you are.” He let out a contended sigh when he heard her giggle slightly, that sound was music to his ears.
“Justin…I talked to you this morning.”
“I know, but it was only a five minute conversation. I miss having our hour long conversations…I miss you James.” She smiled at this, reminding herself why she had fallen for him in the first place.
“Where are you headed to next?” v “New Orleans, We should be there in about two more hours, and we’re there for two days. Than two more stops and were done for a month. Hey…I wanted to ask you something.”
“Hmm?” She yawned herself. It was closing in on midnight, and she had been up since five o’clock that morning.
“What do you think about coming down to Orlando?”
“What? What do you mean? I though you were going to spend some time in Tennessee?”
“Well, I am…but I want you to come back to Orlando with me. We hardly get to see each other as it is, but if you’re with me, than it won’t be as bad. And Johnny is getting married when we get back; I really want you at the wedding. You could stay with me, but if that’s too uncomfortable, you could stay at WEG, Johnny won’t mind.”
“Whoa, whoa…slow down there boy. I need to think about this, OK? Why don’t we just take this one day at a time? I’ll think it over, and we can discuss it when you come over.” She yawned again and Justin realized that it was getting very late.
“OK. I’m gonna let you go now, sweetie. I’ll call you tomorrow…what time do you get off work?”
“I should be home around three. I’ll talk to you later Justin.”
“Bye James.” He hung up the phone and threw himself back on his bunk. This long distance thing wasn’t all it was cracked up to be…and he was counting down the days until he could hold her again.
Jamie wiped her hands on her apron and checked the clock again. She was dismayed to see that it was about two minutes later than the last time she had looked. Pushing the hair that had fallen from her pony tail out of her face, she grabbed her tray and got back to work.
She smiled and went through the motions, filling coffee cups that didn’t need to be filled, anything to make time go faster. Justin was supposed to be coming in today, around four, and she wanted to meet him at that air port. She wasn’t expecting it, but she had missed him, more than she thought she would.
“Jamie, there’s a customer waiting at table 7, you might want to take him sometime tonight.” Lorain’s voice had a bite, but Jamie just wasn’t in the mood tonight.
“Lo, table 7 isn’t mine, and you know it. Where’s Chloe?” Her hands were on her hips in defiance and Lorain had to admire her spunk.
“Chloe is out on break…and the guy specifically asked for you.” She emphasized her point by tapping her finger on Jamie’s shoulder. Lorain looked around cautiously, and then leaned in to whisper. “You might want to be careful though…he looks a little shady if you ask me.” Then she turned and walked away. Jamie rolled her eyes and took a deep breath.
She grabbed a menu and headed over to table 7. The man was sitting all the way in the corner of the booth, a hat covering his face. She placed the menu down and cleared her throat. Gaining control over her wariness, she spoke.
“Good afternoon, welcome to Momma’s…would you like anything to drink?” She waited for a few minutes but there was no answer. She was starting to get worried. “Sir? Excuse me.” She bent down to see if she could get a look at him, but he made a sudden movement and before she knew what had hit her, this man’s lips were on her own.
Jamie struggled backward and was ready to slap him but he pulled away and started to chuckle. Jamie knew that laugh.
“You bastard.” She said sitting down and slapping him on the shoulder. “You sick bastard.” The man laughed harder and then removed his hat, unleashing a mass of curls and revealing beautiful blue eyes.
“I missed you James.” He leaned in and gave her another kiss. This one was gentler, and he took his time working at her mouth. When he pulled away he smiled a licked his lips. “Strawberry.” Jamie blushed and leaned her head on his shoulder.
“I thought your flight didn’t come until later?” He wrapped his arm around her shoulder and pulled her close to him.
“I got an earlier flight so I could surprise you…did it work?” Jamie looked up at his devilish smile and laughed.
“You’re a jackass.” He laughed too and sighed with contentment. He had wanted to do this since the day he had left.
This whole feeling was strange to Justin. He had been involved with girls before, but never had he missed someone as much as he had missed James. It was as if in their short few days together, they had created a bond, or a link that could only be stretched so far before they needed to come back to each other. Two weeks had been bad enough; he had no idea what he would do for the second leg of the tour.
“Hey…Space ball, come back to Earth will ya?” She smiled as Justin shook himself from his daze and she realized just how much she had missed him.
“What?” He asked, noting her stare.
“Nothing...just thinking. Anyway, I need to get back to work. I get off in an hour, so I could meet you at your grandmother’s if you want?” She asked but became puzzled when Justin shook his head ‘no.’
“Nope, you’re coming with me.” Her heart swelled at his soft voice and pleading eyes, but she knew that Lorain would ream her a new one if she left them with only two girls at the busiest time in the afternoon.
“J, I would love to come with you. God, that sounds heavenly right about now, but I really need to stay and work.” Just as she was about to explain some more, Lorain walked over and tapped Jamie on the shoulder.
“James, you get the rest of the afternoon off, Tammy just called and she’s going to come in, she could use the extra hours.” Before she left she winked at Justin and patted Jamie on the shoulder.
“What was that all about?” Jamie asked turning to see a mischievous gleam in Justin’s eyes.
“You heard the woman, Tammy needed the extra hours.” Jamie shook her head.
“What do you bribe her with? Tammy is the queen of ‘I can’t come in today…I’m too tired to work…’ ” He laughed and lightly pushed her out of the booth.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about…Let’s go James, I want to get going while the night is young.” Jamie threw another baffled glance at Justin before grabbing his outstretched hand and following him to his car. She was amazed but it wasn’t going keep her from loving the attention and enjoying every minute of this.
Jamie was surprised when he pulled into her drive way. She didn’t know what she was expecting, but this wasn’t it.
“What are you doing?” She asked as he exited the car and came around to her side to help her out.
“What? You don’t want to spend the night in those clothes, do you? Although I do think you look really cute in that uniform.” He winked at her and she blushed. Looking down at her worn work clothes she realized that he was right, she didn’t want to spend a night with Justin Timberlake in her uniform, no matter how cute she looked.
He led her inside and they went straight to her bed room. She was about to ask what she should wear when he spoke.
“Wear something comfortable. Jeans, t-shirt, even your favorite sweatshirt…and if I remember correctly, that’s actually mine.” She smiled shyly when he said this and shrugged.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” He laughed, realizing that she was using his words against him, and he reached over and hit her lightly with the pillow. Jamie stumbled backward and laughed before grabbing the pillow from him and beating him repeatedly.
“OK, OK, that’s enough…hurry up will ya? Oh, and you might want to put some extra clothes in a bag…You’re staying the night at my grandmother’s.” She looked up at him but said nothing. He leaned over and kissed her forehead before walking to her closet to help her.
A few minutes later Jamie shooed Justin out of her room and she changed into a pair of jeans and her…Justin’s… favorite sweatshirt. She then grabbed the bad of clothes and necessities she had packed and then headed down the hallway. Justin was in the living room looking at pictures and he smiled when he spotter her.
“Ready?” She nodded and took his hand.
“Oh wait, I should leave a note for my dad.” She started to pull away but he stopped her.
“I already called him and asked if it was OK that you stayed with me tonight. He knows you’re going to be with me.” She looked up at him, amazed, but said nothing and followed him out the door.
Justin Timberlake was something else.