Chapter 21
4 days later
------------
Meredith got up from her lounge
chair from the deck of the boat and stood beside Justin who was leaning
slightly over the railing. "Wow, look at how clear the water is."
Meredith's eyes got huge and she
gasped. "Oh my gosh, do you see that."
He looked around at the port they
were passing. "No what?"
"Those old men are swimming
naked." She pointed to two
oversized men who stood up out of the water for the entire world to see.
Justin spotted them and pretended
to gag. "Ewww." He turned away and covered Meredith's eyes
with his hands.
"I know." She leaned against his chest and sighed
happily as he kept her eyes covered.
"Hey Meredith, what's our
next port?"
She pushed Justin's hands away and
turned to Lonnie who was sprawled out in a chair reading a book. "We stop
at
"OK." He returned to the book.
Meredith sighed and rested back
against Justin's body. She placed her
hands on top of his that were gripping the rail. He brought his mouth down to her ear and
kissed it softly before he spoke. "Besides those two men over there, this
is a beautiful place."
She giggled and looked at him
dreamily. "Yeah, that's why I brought you here. Bringing a beautiful man to a beautiful place
it just seemed to work out well."
Justin closed his eyes, pulled away slightly, and started to turn pink.
Meredith's eyes twinkled and she
opened her mouth in shock. "Did I just make you blush with a compliment. Oh
my. This is a momentous occasion."
"Shut up." He nudged her shoulder before snuggling back
close to her.
"So, what is there to do in
"I don't know. The only island
that we went to when I came with my school was Ageania."
He thought for a moment and spoke.
"We saw that one yesterday right?"
"You must be really jet laggin' if you can't remember." Meredith leaned her cheek on his head lazily.
"Yeah, well it's been a while
since I've been overseas."
She jerked her head back and
looked at him in shock, causing him to stand up straight. "What
about me?! Last time I was in
another country was 2 1/2 years ago. When I came here!"
He shrugged. "OK, so you got
me beat." She stood up on her toes
and kissed him on the lips very softly.
"Why don't we go sit down and
bother Lonnie?"
He leaned down and kissed her a
little longer before he responded. "Whatever you say
baby."
------------------------------
"I'm gone to bed." Lonnie walked to the door of Justin and
Meredith's hotel room.
Meredith slipped on her black
leather jacket. "Night Lonnie."
Lonnie opened the door and called
back to them. "Yeah, you two know the rules. Don't get into too much trouble."
"We wont." Justin said with a hint of mischief.
Lonnie rolled his eyes.
"Goodnight." When the door
shut Justin looked at Meredith.
"Ready?" He said reaching his hand for her. She accepted it with a nod, and smiled. They walked to their door and exited their room.
"I thought we could just walk
around and see what's going on. There
probably is a club or a small cafe around here somewhere. Grecians sure know how to party, I know that
much."
Justin turned and closed their
hotel door behind them. "Sounds good to me."
They walked down the hallway and
down the flight of stairs. Soon they
were in the lobby of the rather nice hotel.
It wasn't too nice, but it was perfect for what they were doing.
When they reached the outside of
the hotel the cool air hit their faces and Meredith shivered. Justin placed an arm around her and the two
walked silently down the sidewalk of the Grecian village. At this particular island no cars were
allowed, so it was rather nice. They
walked past several closed shops before entering a more lively part of town. A few bars and outdoor cafes were around but
not much excitement was happening.
"Do you want to keep walking
or stop and sit or what?" Justin
asked. Before Meredith had the chance to
speak a Grecian band began to play. The
two turned their attention to a cafe about a block away where the music was
coming from. A few dancers were out
doing an authentic Grecian dance.
Meredith nudged Justin and simply smiled before dragging him towards
that direction.
Soon they were standing, clapping
with the band and laughing and smiling at the dancers. Justin and Meredith found a table and sat
down.
After a few dances and songs the
band and dancers went back into the restaurant.
Meredith and Justin sat outside on the few outside tables and enjoyed
each other's company. They sat and
talked about everything and nothing. From the elderly couple sitting on a table across the walkway to
Christina Aguleria's new CD. They had completely lost track of time.
When Meredith finished her second
cup of Mocha Latte, the dancers came out of the restaurant again followed by
the band. They started playing a very
slow tune. Justin smiled at Meredith and
took her hand that was lying across the table.
He began to giggle. She tilted
her head to the side.
"What?"
"I just really really REALLY am glad that I get
this. I mean we get vacations and short
breaks, but nothing compares to this.
For once I get to just get away from everything. Everything that has to do
with Nsync and fame."
"Well I hate to burst your
bubble but you still have Lonnie. And
I'm here." She smiled sheepishly
Justin played with her fingers and
spoke, "What do you mean?"
"I have something to do with Nsync, I work for them, and I'm here." She bit her lip.
He smiled so brightly she was
almost blinded. "Yeah, but that's different. You have something to do with Nsync, but you also have something that doesn't have
anything to do with it, that is ten times better than Nsync."
"And what's that?" She looked at him with curiosity
Justin took a deep breath and
looked at the table before looking back up at her. "You have my
soul."
Meredith eyes
widened in shock. She had no idea what to say. She stuttered and her lip trembled.
"Justin, I don't-"
He leaned over the table to quiet
her with his lips. When he pulled away
he touched her cheek lightly. "You don't have to say anything."
Meredith squeezed his other hand
and smiled at him. She was starting to
form a smile that she would only give him.
Of course she didn't realize this, but he did, and it made him ecstatic.
Justin turned his attention back
to the dancers and noticed that the pace of the music had sped up quite a
bit. A few people that weren't dancers
were joined with them dancing. Meredith
followed his gaze and laughed when she spotted a few tourists that had been
pulled from their seats and forced to learn the dance.
Justin and Meredith were laughing
and cutting up so much that they didn't notice the dancing coming closer to
them and before they knew it a 40 year Grecian lady was pulling Justin up out
of his seat and dragging him to the circle of dancers.
Meredith laughed at Justin's
shocked and embarrassed face. She
laughed as two ladies took both his hand and started showing him the
dance. It was one huge circle of
dancers, other Grecians, and a few tourist, and Justin. They were all jumping and moving around. All the non-Grecians were having problems
keeping up and not screwing up the dance.
Soon they were all in step.
At the beginning Justin looked
like he could kill someone, but now he had a huge smile on his face. He had no idea what the people were
saying. Everyone was Greek except for a
Japanese couple that had no clue as to what they were doing but were having the
best time and another couple that were speaking French and looked
miserable. Justin just smiled at
Meredith and waved.
"OPA!" Everyone shouted at
once. Justin winked at Meredith who in
return covered her face in her hands.
She was embarrassed to be seen with such a goofball.
When the song was over everyone in
the area clapped loudly and laughed, even a few whistles were heard. Justin sauntered back over to Meredith and
pulled his chair that was across from her to right beside her. He smiled as she peeked through her hands.
She mumbled, "You are so
embarrassing."
Justin took both hands and placed
them on his chest. "ME? I got
dragged up there. So, I decided to have
fun with it."
"You looked like a
DORK!" She giggled and bent over to
place her forehead on one of his knees.
Justin leaned down and whispered
into her hair before kissing the top of her head. "I don't care. I'll never see these people again,
anyway."
"Excuse me. May we sit with you." A heavy British accent said.
Meredith took her head off of
Justin's knee and looked up at the nice couple.
Without a second thought she said, "OH surely!"
The lady smiled brightly and
pointed at Justin. "We saw you up their dancing and thought we would come
by and say hello."
Justin face immediately turned
bright red. "I'm Meredith and the cute one with the extremely red face
here is Justin."
The man shook Meredith's hand.
"It's good to meet you. I'm Wills
and this is my fiancee
Gillian."
They all shook hands and Wills
looked at Justin with a titled head. "You look very familiar."
"Umm, yeah, a lot of people
say I look like Ryan Phillipe." Justin smiled secretively at Meredith.
"HE just wishes." She joked.
Gillian nodded. "Yeah I can kinda see the resemblance."
"So are you too here on
vacation together?" Meredith
inquired.
Gillian smiled. "It's business related.
But we are visiting my grandparents, who are from here. MY mother is Greek, but I was born in
"Oh wow. So when do you two get married?" Meredith smiled pointing at the ring on her
finger.
"In 2 months." Wills and Gillian turned and smiled at each
other.
"That's sweet." Meredith
gushed.
Gillian rested her head on Wills
shoulder and directed her attention to Justin. "Yeah, you sure are being
quiet."
Meredith patted his knee.
"Oh, he is just embarrassed because you two caught his awful dancing
skills."
"Don't even make me comment
on that. You KNOW I can
dance." Justin rolled his eyes.
Meredith poked at his stomach.
"Whatever."
"So are you two here on
vacation, honeymoon, what?" Wills
asked.
"You hear that,
honeymoon." Justin smiled evilly at
Meredith.
She pushed his shoulder playfully.
"You wish. No, this is part of his
birthday present from me. After
"Where are you going in
"Oh, that's a surprise for my
baby." Meredith winked at Justin
who in return rolled his eyes.
"Wow, how come you never did
anything sweet like that for me?"
Wills asked Gillian.
She turned and looked up at the
sky. "Because you don't deserve it."
"You know I can take this
ring back." Wills pretended to take
the ring off.
Gillian giggled and pushed his
hand away before bringing her face closer to his. "No, no. You know I love you."
"I know." Wills smiled before kissing his fiancee.
Justin looked at Meredith and
smiled a shy smile. She looked at him
straight in the eyes before making a goofy face.
Wills looked at his watch.
"Goodness, we better go."
Justin looked at his also.
"Oh my gosh, its
"Yeah, it was good talking to
you Gillian, Wills." Meredith waved
and smiled at them before turning around
Gillian called after them.
"You too, have a nice birthday Justin."
Justin turned around and smiled.
"Thank you."
Justin and Meredith parted from
Gillian and Wills. They walked hand in
hand back to the hotel, stopping every now and then to kiss.
Gillian and Wills watched them as
they left.
"Do you think they suspected
anything?" Gillian asked him.
Wills smiled evilly. "No,
they were clueless. Wait till we tell
the boss we saw Justin Timberlake with a girl in
"Front page news." Wills and Gillian shared a quick kiss and
turned back around and walked in the opposite direction.
Wills looked around before asking.
"Did you get the pictures?"
"Hell yeah, I got the ones of
them kissing and everything."
"I'm going to call Mr. Helms
and tell him that we need tickets to
--------------------
"Justin, get up!" Meredith said to the lump of covers.
She walked to the other bed and
sat down as she put on her tennis shoes.
She picked up her bookbag and checked to make
sure she had everything in it. She
pulled out a brochure and studied it.
She looked up from it and at the creature in the bed, still asleep.
"Justin, don't make me get
violent." All she got in return was
a grunt. She sighed and walked to the
door that connected their room to Lonnie's.
She knocked lightly and heard a
'come in' from the other side. She poked
her head in and saw Lonnie flipping through the channels.
"We need to leave here in 15
minutes because our train leaves in 30."
He turned off the TV and looked up
at her. "OK, I'm ready whenever.
Justin is another story, is he even up yet?"
"No, I might need your
help." She giggled.
"Just hollar."
"K." She smiled and left the door opened. She saw Justin lying on his side looking
rather comfortable in the bed.
"Justin GET
UP!" She tickled his foot through
the covers. He groaned and flipped over on
his back covering his face with a pillow.
"I can be JUST as
difficult." With that she climbed
up on the bed and straddled his stomach.
She began bouncing on him and tickling him. He squirmed and pulled her down on top of his
chest, removing the pillow in the process.
"Justin we HAVE to be at the
station in 30 minutes. Get out of this
bed NOW!" She said staring down at
his peaceful face.
"Nooo." He groaned and rolled over still holding on
to her. Now she was pinned between him
and the bed. She looked up and saw him
with his eyes closed but smiling evilly.
"LONNNNIIIEEE!" She screamed. Justin chuckled but soon was lifted by two
very large hands and dragged to the bathroom.
He was literally thrown in the bathroom and only had time enough to turn
around to see Lonnie slam the door in his face.
"Justin, you better be out
here, showered, dressed, and ready to go in 15 minutes or I will personally
come in there and drag you out, whether you are clothed or not and force you to
come with us."
Lonnie was about to say something
else to threaten Justin but heard the water of the shower begin to run so
decided against it.
"Thanks, you're good at
that. I just got molested when I
tried." Meredith smiled.
"Believe me, that's not the first time I've had to do that." Lonnie walked back into his room. "I'm
going to watch some more of Swiss Oprah.
Tell me if he causes any more problems."
A few minutes later Justin came
out of the shower in a cloud of steam.
Meredith looked up from her notebook that she was writing something on
and nodded to his bed that was now halfway made and had clothes laid out for
him.
"I laid out everything for
you. You'll need to bundle up, what we
are doing today will be rather cold."
She said and turned back to her notebook. Justin secured his towel and grabbed his
boxers she put out for him. Before he
went back into the bathroom, he bent down to Meredith and kissed her cheek,
lingering there for a moment.
"Good morning,
Angel."
She looked up at him. He was staring at her so lovingly she didn't
have the courage to speak. He smiled a
brilliant smile and stood up and walked towards the bathroom grabbing his pants
and T-shirt on his way.
He turned back before entering the
bathroom and saw her still staring at him.
He laughed loudly and entered the bathroom.
------------------------
"So, your surprise for me is
spending the day on a train."
Justin looked at Lonnie who was sleeping in the chair across from
them. He then turned his attention to
Meredith who was beside him.
Meredith spoke as she watched the
scenery pass. "Justin, stop worrying about it. Just go with the flow."
He gave up with a sigh and turned
quickly to Meredith and glared at her.
"This better be worth spending all day on a train."
"I thought you said you liked
trains." Lonnie chuckled.
Justin pointed a finger at him.
"Hush and go back to sleep."
Meredith rolled her eyes.
"PLEASE stop being a 5 year old and act your age. I'm doing this for you Justin. FOR YOU. So SHUT UP
and just look out the window."
"Meredith..." Justin
whined.
She crossed her arms over her
stomach and looked at the woman across the aisle with a sleeping baby in her
arms. "No, I'm tired of hearing it.
I've done ALL of this for you and you are treating me like nothing."
Justin lifted up the armrest that
was separating their bodies. He put an
arm around her and forced her to snuggle close to him. He bent down and whispered in her hair.
"I'm sorry baby. I'm just tired. We've been going non-stop for almost a
week."
"I know, so spend this time
relaxing and just watch the scenery as we ride through
"It is." After a long pause Justin spoke again. "I'm not complaining but how much longer
are we going to be on a train."
Meredith groaned and shook her
head. "We get off at the next stop."
"Yes." Justin quietly cheered.
"But..." He closed his
eyes when she said this. "We get on another train. We will be on that train about 30 minutes, then get on another train for about an hour."
"OK." Was all he said. He said a silent prayer to give him patience.
"Hey, when we get off at our
next stop I'll show you where we are going, OK?"
"Serious?" He was now ecstatic.
"No, Justin I just said that
to trick you." She deadpanned. He stuck out his tongue and kissed her
forehead before turning his gaze towards the Swiss Alps that were they were
slowly coming closer and closer to. His
mind was running with thoughts of what her surprise was.
--------------------------------
"So...." Justin dragged out as he rocked back and
forth on his heels.
Meredith bent and looked down the
track at the train station, to see if their train was in sight. "So what?"
Justin's eyes got huge. "Soooo, you said you'd tell me where we are
going."
She giggled. "Oh yeah,
actually I said I'd show you."
"Whatever, just get on with
it." Justin said impatiently.
Meredith looked at Lonnie.
"Is he always this impatient?"
"I thought you would know by
now." He chuckled.
Meredith pointed to Justin.
"I've never seen him THIS bad."
"MERRREEDITHHHH..." He
whined.
"No! You are whining
now."
"Fine then, Lonnie will tell
me." Justin smiled at Lonnie very
sweetly.
Lonnie crossed his arms over his
chest. "Nuh uh."
"You guys suck." Meredith could have sworn he was about to
start sucking his thumb. She exaggerated
a sigh and grabbed his arm.
"Come with me."
"K!" He smiled like a happy 5-year-old.
Meredith brought him away from the
platform of the train station to and open area.
The scenery was beautiful. They
were in the middle of a quaint Swiss village.
The
"Huh?" Justin looked at her and to where she
pointing, then back at her.
She shook her finger at the
mountain. "That mountain right there. We are going to the top."
He raised an eyebrow. "How?"
"By
train." She dropped her arm and smiled at him.
Justin shook his head, confused.
"But.."
She cut him off. "This train
will take us to a stop call Kliendrig. From there we will take a tunnel train to the
top. So we will be like IN the
mountain."
"Oh WOW." Justin was still a little confused, but
amazed.
"Justin it's going to be 45
minutes to an hour in a tunnel. Will you
promise not to whine."
He nodded his head vigorously.
"I'm too excited to whine now!"
"Good." She let out a
deep breath and looked at him. He was
grinning at her lovingly. Before she had
any time to think, his lips were on hers and his arms were around her small
body. The sound of a train whistle rang
in their ears.
She mumbled against his lips.
"I hear our train coming."
"I love you." He
whispered tucking a piece of hair behind her ear.
She giggled. "That was
random."
"I don't care." He said before claiming her lips again.
She pushed him away. "We need
to go."
"ummk." He
said with a dreamy expression on his face.
They walked back over to where Lonnie
was standing. "Did you tell him?"
"Yeah, I told him, kinda."
Meredith shrugged.
Justin placed his arm around her
shoulders. "What do you mean kinda?"
"Well, you don't know what is
up there. All you know is that that's
where we are going."
Justin watched as the train came
to a stop right in front of them. "AT least I know we do have a
destination."
Meredith bent down and picked up
her bookbag. "Come on,
let's get a window seat, babes."
"YES! She is using nicknames again. She's no longer mad." Justin rooted.
"TIMBERFAKE COME
ON!" She yelled from the steps of
the train.
Lonnie began chuckling and Justin
glared at him. "Stop laughing."
"Aye Aye
Captain." Lonnie saluted him and
they both started laughing. They boarded
the plane and followed Meredith to a perfect window seat.
-------------------
An hour or so later
"Man, this is kinda scary."
Justin peered out the window of the train and all he saw was the
reflection of himself, inside the train against black.
"We should be there
soon." Meredith said looking at the
Lonnie laughed. "Hey, look at
this. It seems that our little Britney
threw a tantrum at the
"God I hate
tabloids." Justin mumbled.
"I think it is sad that
people have to be so intrigued by the juicy details, real or not, of peoples lives. I mean
that's all you are, a person. But I
guess they just don't realize that." Meredith looked at Justin,
she could tell he was a little angry.
Even though it wasn't him that the article was talking about, he had
been in the situation MANY times before, and Britney was a friend.
"Yeah, they think we are
perfect. So in order to make our life
more dramatic they make up shit."
Justin said grabbing the paper and glancing over the article. "I wonder what Mr. Wills McVenan would think if I probed into HIS life."
"Who?"
"Wills McVenan, the writer of this article."
"Oh that's weird, we met that
guy named Wills from
"Yeah..." Justin said in
a distant tone. He looked at something
on the paper for a minute and back up at Meredith.
"What is it, J?"
"Oh it's probably nothing,
but there is another article in here written by a Gillian."
Meredith's eyes got big. Then she shook her head. "You don't think..."
"Nah,
probably not. I HOPE not."
Lonnie looked back and forth
between the two. "What's going on? Guys?"
"In
"Oh yeah, show us the dance
again J." Lonnie chuckled. Justin just stared at the paper.
She continued. "Anyway, a
couple, Wills and Gillian, from
Justin interrupted her. "No!
NO! We are just paranoid. I do not want to have to spend my time
worrying about this. It's just a coincidence. Wills and Gillian are VERY popular British
names. Let's just enjoy this." Justin looked out the window at the
blackness.
Meredith looked at Lonnie, who was
giving her a worried glance. It was a
long shot, but it was enough to make all of them worry. She stood up and picked up their bookbags and extra coats that occupied the seat beside
Justin and put them in the seat beside Lonnie.
She lifted the armrest and sat down in the seat beside Justin. She looked at him for a while. He didn't move or acknowledge her. Just stared out the window. He was biting his nails and his fingers were trembling.
She looked down to his lap. He was gripping the material of his jeans on top of
his thigh so hard, his knuckles were white.
She placed her hand on top of his gripping hand. He stopped gripping he
material and slowly turned his hand and took her hand in his. He brought it up to his mouth kissed the back
of her hand. With his lock on her hand
he pulled her close to him and allowed her to snuggle to his shoulder. He unlaced their fingers and wrapped a
comforting arm around her shoulders.
"Don't worry. No matter what
happens, I'm not going anywhere."
She looked up at him and smiled.
"I know you aren't. I'm just so use to this that it's
sickening. I'm sure it's nothing to
worry about." Justin said with a
sigh.
Before they knew it, outside the
train, lights started appearing and the blackness turned into a brown. Then the train slowly came to a stop. Meredith smiled brightly.
"We're here." She whispered excitedly. They all grabbed their stuff and they stepped
off the train in the now, dimly lit tunnel.
Justin shivered and pulled a sweatshirt over his long-sleeved shirt.
"You were right! It IS chilly."
"It's going to get warmer,
but then its going to get even COLDER!" She smiled and put on her ski jacket.
They followed the rest of the
passengers through two sets of double doors and they looked like to be in some
sort of lodge. It was very cozy and warm. There were tables, a cafeteria,
brochure stands, an information desk, and a gift shop. People dressed like Eskimos buzzed
around. Meredith smiled as she
remembered the place.
A few years before, her family had
taken a trip to
"Back up." She looked around to make sure he wouldn't
trip on anything.
"Umm
OK?" Justin did as he was told.
"OK, you can stop." She looked out the windows and sighed. "Turn around."
Justin quickly did as he was told
and his mouth dropped open. He smiled
slowly and breathed, "Wow."
"I'm not a very big, mountain
person, but that is AWESOME!"
Lonnie said staring at the amazing sight in front of them.
Outside the glass window was a
range of snowcapped mountains. It was a
perfectly clear day and an untouched glacier was glistening in the sunlight
right before them.
Meredith looked at the sight and
then back at the two men taken in the sight.
"If you guys think this is cool,
you aint seen NOTHING yet." She smiled at them when they turned and
looked at her. "Come on, follow
me."
They followed her and walked up a
few steps. They stood in an area in
front of double doors that people were entering. "OK fellows, get bundled up. We are going into a
ice cave."
"A
what?" Lonnie asked like she was
crazy.
"It's a cave made of just
ice. I don't know how they keep it from
melting with all the people that walk through there. But there are all types of ice sculptures and
tunnels. But it's rather chilly and also
kinda slippery.
So, if you start to fall, don't grab me, because I don't want to go down
with you." She giggled and they all
got wrapped in warm clothes.
"Ready?" She smiled.
"This is exciting!" Justin said happily.
"And this is not even the
HALF of it!" She kissed him on the
cheek and looked at Lonnie. She busted
out laughing. He looked like a big black
Eskimo.
"I better like
this." He grumbled.
Meredith grabbed his hand and
stood in-between Justin and him. She
grabbed Justin's hand as well as nudged Lonnie.
"Just pretend you are 10 years old.
And you will enjoy this."
She walked ahead of them and
pulled the door open. There in front of
them was an elevator. Meredith pressed
the button that said down and started humming a tune as they waiting for the
elevator.
"Meredith, could you NOT hum
the darth vadar
theme?" Lonnie breathed.
"Oh I'm sorry." She smiled brightly and when the elevator
doors open she guiding them in. They were the only ones in the elevator and
as it made its was down Meredith began quietly singing
another song. "It's the end of the world as we know it, It's
the end..."
"OK. I'm being very nice. You know I hate cold weather and here you are
dragging me into the depths of
Before any of them had time to say
anything else the doors opened and they stepped out into a blank room with two
wooden doors that had the words "ICE HOUSE" printed on them in
several languages. A poster with
warnings and such was posted beside the doors.
"Everyone
warm?" She asked and they nodded with grins.
"OK. Here we go." Meredith opened the doors grandly and they
were all hit with the cold air of the "ice house". They walked in looked around as an aqua
clearness surrounded them.
"Oh my gosh
look at those bears!" Lonnie
pointed to 3 sculptures of bears.
Meredith raised an eyebrow at Justin and locked her hand with his as
they followed Lonnie through the icehouse.
They had fun marveling and laughing at the sculptures and passing
through the tunnels. At one part there
was a dining room sculpture where people could actually sit down at the
table. All three of them sat down as a
German man took their photo.
As they stood up Meredith grabbed
Justin's hand. They began walking and
Meredith's tennis shoes didn't grip the ice right and she fell down with a
thud, bringing Justin with her. He lay
straight on top of her.
"You OK?" He whispered.
"Oh, believe me, I'm
fine." She smiled at him smiling
back at her.
"That you are." He closed the gap between their faces and
claimed her lips.
"UHHUMMM!" Someone cleared their throat.
They looked up and saw Lonnie
standing above them. They both
giggled. Justin pushed himself off of
her and pulled her up.
"Thank you for realizing that
this IS a public place." Lonnie
smiled and motioned for them to go in front of him.
They continued on through the
tunnels. Meredith laughed so hard when
they went down "Midget's tunnel" which was a tunnel for only the
short and skinny. Justin had to bend
over to pass through and Meredith took a picture of his butt that was staring
her in the face as he crouched through the tunnel. Meredith had no trouble
passing through and turned around to see Lonnie not even trying to pass
through. She took a picture of him with
his hands on his hips raising an eyebrow at her in the tunnel.
She and Justin got through the
tunnel and walked back through an ice hallway to where Lonnie was waiting.
"So, that's it of the ice
house. You guys ready to have some more
fun?"
Justin kissed her temple. "Yeah! This is
really cool M!"
"Even I had FUN!" Lonnie said dramatically.
"Let's go." They exited out a different door and they
took a different elevator back to the lodge area.
"Let's eat first before we do
the main thing." They got in line
at the cafeteria and Meredith turned to Justin and Lonnie. "Now this IS cafeteria food. I'd go with the fries. I know they are safe."
They went through the line and
turned their nose up at most of the food before they settled down at a
cafeteria table by a window with that glorious view.
"So after we eat what are we
doing?" Justin asked playfully.
"We go outside."
Lonnie choked on his food. "Outside?"
"Yeah." Meredith shrugged.
Lonnie eyed Justin and Justin
looked at Meredith and mouthed 'crazy'. And pointed at her when she wasn't watching.
"I saw that Timberfake."
She said not looking at him.
"How..what...you....uggh!" Justin let a frustrated sigh escape. Meredith giggled and smiled at him sweetly
before stuffing his mouth with 3 fries.
------------
When they finished talking and
eating, Meredith stood up and looked at the two men sitting there laughing at
something.
"OK, boys. Listen up."
They turned and looked at her.
"I know it's only
Justin looked at her questionably,
but she just picked up their plates and threw them away as they bundled back
up.
"Alrighty,
follow me, as usual." She smiled
and led them up several flights of stairs to glass door. They walked through the door and waited with
about 10 other people while a man spoke in several languages. He first gave the instructions in German,
then English.
"When you go outside,
remember that the black ropes are for your safety. Please do NOT cross these ropes. If you do it can be life threatening. Parents please keep your children close to
you and do not let them get too close to the ropes."
Meredith whispered in Justin ear,
"Stay away form the black ropes honey." He glared at her, playfully.
The speaker finished off.
"OK, you are welcome to go outside now."
The man opened the thick metal
door and allowed people to walk through.
Justin, Meredith and Lonnie all slipped on their sunglasses as they
headed out into a blinding white. They
walked up a pathway of snow. It was
piled over their heads so they couldn't see anything but the person in front of
them. The path started to incline and a
few steps later they were at their destination.
An area about the size of a
basketball court was marked off in the packed snow. A Swiss flag on a 20ft pole flapped in the
wind in the middle of the area. On one
end about 40 ft from the rope the mountain dropped off and you could see all
the way to the bottom of the mountain.
They were so high up; they were above the few lingering clouds.
"This is...." Lonnie spoke but couldn't put into words the
sight he saw. Justin looked at the view
and at Meredith before he pulled her close and wrapped his arms around her from
behind.
"I love you." He whispered.
"You'll love me even more
when you turn around."
"What's there?" They turned their heads to look at each
other. Meredith sighed.
"My
favorite thing to look at besides you." He kissed her
briefly and turned both of them around.
Justin just stared at the beautiful view of mountains upon
mountains. Glaciers intertwined between
them. It looked like a painting, a
postcard, something unreal. It was a
beautiful sight.
"I remember coming here and
for the first time after Dan died feeling some sort of peace. Like I could still make it, I could still
move on. That's probably why I like it so
much. I know its
just a view and bit of ice and mountains.
So I am sorry if it doesn't mean that much to you. I guess it wasn't really a great
surprise. I just needed to come back
here. Like closure on
that part of my life. I'm
sorry..."
"Shut up, please?" Justin interrupted her and kissed her temple
before taking in a deep breath. "I
love this place. It's perfect. It's untouched, it's....I don't know, I cant describe it.
Thank you for sharing this with me.
This is the best surprise ANYONE could ever give me."
"Thank you for saying
that." Meredith leaned against him
and they stood there amazed at the beauty in front of them, for as long as they
needed.
For Justin this place signified a
place that didn't know his name, hadn't seen him, a place he cherished. Places like this, places that were clean from
him, his business, and the media were odd things in the world he knew. It was a place just to get away. It reminded him that there IS more out there
for him to see and do, even though he had done SO much already. And it was something that SHE had shared with
him. A place that he
had no idea about and a place that obviously meant a lot to her. And she had brought him there. That meant more to him and anything he would
ever possessed.
Meredith was very content with her
life. Justin was with her. Dan was gone.
But she was able to get over it, because of Justin. And this place. He was her life now. Without him, she was nothing.