Chapter 22
2 days later
------------
"Ah,
"OK, now rule #1." Lonnie started as they walk through the front
doors. "No making out when I'm
around. Or in public places.
I know it's the "City of
"Yeah yeah,
whatever." Justin punched Lonnie's shoulder lightly as
Meredith got their keys and reservations set.
Lonnie looked at Justin. "This is pretty swanky. Haven't we stayed here, before?"
"Yeah, we come to the Royal Monceau every time we are in
After a few minutes of waiting in
the chairs in the lobby, Meredith walked up to them and smiled. "Let's go get our room."
"Room? As in singular?" Justin asked.
Meredith sat down in his lap. "Yeah, actually it's a suite. With two bedrooms, a
kitchen, and a big den area."
"Wow." Justin touched his nose with hers.
She pressed her forehead against
his. "Yeah, Johnny's idea."
"Figured." Justin giggled and
kissed her sweetly.
"Hey, HEY!! Nuh
UH!! Remember Rule #1??" Lonnie
said standing up.
"Damn." Justin snapped his finger and bounced his
knees to motion for her to stand up.
"Let's go check out our
crib." Justin stood up and
stretched.
"Gosh, could you TRY to be
more thuggish?" Meredith asked
sarcastically. Lonnie laughed at her and
Justin rolled his eyes.
They took the small elevator up to
the 4th floor and walked to their suite.
It was well, VERY nice. After
settling in, they all decided to go get something to eat. They spent the night at an expensive French
restaurant talking and laughing over everything imaginable.
The next day was spent visiting
the Lourve, walking up the Chante
Lessee to the Arc de Triumph. It was a
wonderful day without any worries or cares in the world. A day just for Meredith and
Justin to spend together. Lonnie had
stayed a careful distance behind them and let them do their own thing. He had noticed a few people stare at them,
amongst whispers. But only 2 young girls
had asked for an autograph.
That evening Justin and Meredith,
of course with Lonnie, took the Metro to the
Justin and Meredith stood close,
away from the tower, so they could look up at it. They whispered meaningful nothings to each
other, as Lonnie sat on a bench a few feet away.
"Hey, Lonnie will you come
here and take a picture of us?"
Meredith asked. He stood up and
walked towards them.
"Sure." He took her camera and took several pictures
of them holding each other close and smiling goofy smiles at him.
"Let's get a really good
one!" Justin piped in.
"What do you mean?" Meredith
asked.
"I mean this!" Justin picked Meredith up off her feet and
swung her around as they both laughed.
Lonnie snapped the camera as Justin placed her back on the ground and
kissed her passionately. Lonnie smiled
and took a great picture of them kissing with the
Lonnie brought the camera down and
smiled at the two still kissing. But he
heard a clicking noise and saw a quick change in light like a flash. He turned around and saw a man with a journalist's
camera taking a picture of the two.
"HEY!" Lonnie yelled. The guy clutched his camera and ran away
disappearing before Lonnie had the chance to do anything else. He slowly turned around to Meredith and
Justin. They were still kissing, completely
oblivious to what had just happened. He
looked around cautiously and sighed a breath of relief
when he didn't see anyone else that was suspicious.
"Umm, guys, we need to
go." Lonnie said with an amount of
fear. Justin broke away and looked at Meredith
and smiled lovingly. He turned his gazed
to Lonnie.
"What?" Justin finally looked at him and saw the
amount of fear on his face. "What
is it L?"
"Nothing. Just...sorry. Day dreaming." Lonnie faked a smile and they all walked back
to the hotel. Justin still confused at
Lonnie's behavior,
--------------------------------
Justin woke up and saw the sun
casting rays of light through the sheer curtains across the room and on the
bed. He looked at the girl sleeping
peacefully beside him. He smiled at her
content face and glanced at the clock.
It read
Justin stood up and pulled a
long-sleeved shirt over his head and pulled on some Adidas running pants and
slipped on some flip-flops. He walked out their bedroom and saw no sign
of Lonnie but he didn't think anything of it.
He rode the elevator down to the lobby and sauntered over to a
complementary magazine rack that was beside the front desk. He found the London Times and picked it
up. Before he had the chance to look at it,
he heard a familiar voice coming from the front doors.
"I DONT
CARE!
GET THEM AWAY FROM HERE NOW!"
Justin looked over to see Lonnie telling off the French security guard
that stood in front of the hotel at all times.
Lonnie turned back and spotted
Justin who had a confused look on his face.
Lonnie bowed his head. That's
when he noticed what was outside the hotel.
Reporters. Cameras. Posters.
Fans. Girls. Hell.
Lonnie returned his gaze to Justin
and Justin looked at him bewildered. He
slowly looked down at the paper in his hands that were shaking. The picture of him and Meredith kissing in
front of the
"TIMBERLAKE FINDS LOVE"
And the writers of the article
caused him to grip the paper in fury.
"Written by: Wills McVenan and Gillian Coles"
-----------
Justin couldn't believe this. This was not happening. It was like a dream. No, a nightmare. All he wanted was some privacy for 2
weeks. That's all. And it was taken away from him. He didn't even read the paper. His eyes just jerked between the headline,
the picture, and the author's names. He
knew there was something odd about them when he met them. He knew.
No that's a lie. He had no clue. He was taught not to trust anyone. But he had let that go. For one moment he had let down his
guard. And he was taken advantage of.
He was oblivious to the screaming
that had increased. Someone outside had
seen him through the glass front doors and a riot was starting outside. But he didn't realize it. Lonnie quickly walked over to him and put his
hands in his pockets and let out a deep breath.
"I tried the best I could,
but they said they can't get rid of them.
Let's go upstairs before we cause too big of a
scene." Lonnie placed a firm hand
on Justin's slightly trembling shoulder.
At the touch, Justin's head jerked up surprisingly and Lonnie could see
the fear and anger and horror in his eyes.
Justin's blurred sight finally focused on Lonnie. He then looked over Lonnie's shoulder to the
frenzy that was outside.
Security guards and police tried
their best to hold back the girls and reporters. He noticed a few of them notice HIM staring
at them and they started to wave frantically.
He stopped for a moment not knowing what to do.
So, he did what he was always told
to do. He plastered on a fake smile and
waved to the people outside. Lonnie's
worried face turned into one of relief.
"Let's get out of
here." Lonnie pushed Justin to the
elevators and they took it up to their floor.
They silently walked to the room and once inside Justin gently sat on
the couch and read the article.
Lonnie cringed. Justin would NOT like this. He walked to the kitchen and got Justin a
glass of water. He sat it down on the
coffee table in front of him and sat down on a chair in the corner.
All he could do know was
wait.
Wait for Justin to explode.
--------
Meredith sighed contently in their
huge comfortable bed. She stretched out
and saw that Justin wasn't there. The
absence of his body heat caused the cold air hit her like an anvil and she
desperately brought the covers around her to get warm. Once the feeling returned she smiled. She could smell his scent on his pillow. They had been there 2 full nights and he was
already leaving his mark.
That's when she heard it. Like a bomb exploding, she heard a sound of
anger and rage, along with broken glass against a wall. Her eyes popped open and the silence that
followed was deafening.
But it didn't last for long.
She heard his voice, but never
like this. THIS was scary.
"GET THIS FIXED NOW,
LONNIE! I DONT CARE
WHAT IT TAKES!"
It scared her. She didn't know what was going on. She slowly crept out of bed the cold air
hitting her again. She picked up one of
Justin's sweatshirts that was laying on the floor and
pulled it over her head to warm her body just covered by a tank top and flannel
pants. She walked to the door and slowly
opened it.
Justin was pacing around the room
mumbling obscenities. Lonnie had his
back to the wall, leaning against it, with a cell phone at his ear. She saw Justin's look. She was frightened by it.
He paced around one last time
before screaming, "DAMMIT!!"
He plopped down on the couch and picked up the paper furiously.
Meredith silently walked over to
the couch where he was sitting. Lonnie
took notice of her and stopped mid-sentence on his phone. Justin noticed this and looked up at him from
the article. He followed Lonnie's gaze
and saw her.
HE saw her. Standing there. Wide-eyed. Staring at the shattered vase and broken flowers, amongst a pool of
water that was on the floor in front of the door.
Confusion, anger, and hurt filled
the room. The room was silent. The silence was torture.
Meredith stuttered at first, but
finally found her voice, not looking up from the shattered glass. "Wh-wh-what
happened?" She whispered.
She finally looked at Justin who
was staring at shattered glass as well, not knowing what to do himself. He was
afraid he would blow up on her, and he DID NOT want that. So, he just looked at Lonnie, then back at
the glass, and finally rested his gaze on the paper in front of him.
"I'll call you back in a few
minutes, Johnny." Lonnie said
before hanging up his phone. He closed
his eyes and sighed from his position on the wall.
"OK, something is going on
here. What is it? Please..." Meredith begged. Lonnie opened his mouth to speak, but Justin
beat him to it.
"Wills and Gillian decided
they should write a story about us in the London Times." He said without emotion.
Meredith's face turned to anger, understandment, and disappointment. "Oh no."
"Yeah, my
thoughts exactly." Justin held up the paper and Meredith's mouth
dropped as the headline and picture was forced into her sight.
"I cant
believe..." Meredith shook her head and slowly walked to the couch. She cautiously sat down beside him and looked
at the picture.
"I don't want you to read
it." Justin said, glancing at her
from the corner of his eyes.
"Why?" She asked terrified.
Justin bowed his head. "They don't say very nice things,
Meredith. About either
of us." He paused and let
out a breath. "Especially you."
Meredith could only say one thing,
"Oh."
"Lonnie told me he saw
someone with a camera last night when he was taking our picture." Justin looked up at him.
"Since, you guys didn't
notice, I didn't say anything, because I thought, if you two didn't know, you
wouldn't have to worry about it. I
wasn't expecting this." Lonnie bowed his head. "I'm so sorry."
"Its
OK, Lonnie." Meredith
whispered. Justin opened the paper to
the next page.
"They must have had a camera
with them in
-Why did they do this? -
"Because
they can." Justin rested back on the couch and closed
his eyes.
"I didn't mean to say that outloud."
Meredith whispered.
"I'm going to fix this. I'm going to go in the kitchen and make a few
phone calls." Lonnie said pushing
himself from the wall.
"I'll call the guys and tell
them, in case anyone asks them, or whatever." Justin sighed.
Meredith stared at the floor then
at him. "What are you going to tell them to say?"
Justin looked at her for the first
time since all this had happened. He looked
at her directly in the eye and they could see how angry and scared the other
one was. "The truth."
She gave him a light smile and
stood up as he went to find his phone.
"I'll clean up the mess. Do
any of you want room service because I'm about to starve?" She giggled, trying to lighten the mood.
"Get
me...something." Lonnie said
returning back to his phone call.
Meredith went to find a broom in a
closet. She found one and turned around. "Justin? You want anything?"
"I'm not hungry." He mumbled, as he dialed a few numbers.
"OK." She said meekly and went to clean up the
shattered vase, while everyone else trying to clean up their shattered
vacation.
Lonnie spent the day on the phone
with everyone imaginable. Every now and
then he would go downstairs to check out the crowd. It kept getting larger.
Justin spent the day re-reading
the article and talking to the guys, Johnny, his mom, and their public
relations guy, Thomas.
Meredith sat in a chair out on the
balcony, eating an apple, and watching the peacefulness of this part of
Justin had not let her read the
article. But she was dying to get her
hands on it. She needed to know what
they had pictured her as. She NEEDED to
know.
She turned around from her chair
and look back into the room. Justin
walked into their bedroom, finally not on the phone and Lonnie had his back to
her at the kitchen table with a phone glued to his ear. She spotted the prize. Laying on the coffee
table. She stood up and placed her
headphones around her neck. She quickly but silently walked to the table and picked up the
paper. She walked back to her
perch on the balcony and shut the glass doors behind her, but closing the
drapes across them, first. She sat in
her seat and looked at the paper. She
smiled at the picture. It was very
good. She loved pictures like that of
her and Justin. They were just,
perfect. The headline replayed in her
mind. And she didn't think it was that
bad. "Timberlake finds
love." It's actually kinda sweet, or so she thought.
-------
Justin walked out of the bedroom
and sat across from Lonnie at the table.
Lonnie gave him a half smile and continued on talking.
"Really?...What
did they have to say about it?....Wow, that's great. GO
"Hold on for a
minute." Lonnie said in the phone
before he turned his focus on Justin.
"MTV got the news and Johnny has called them and asked them not say
anything. They were going to make it
part of the Newbrief on TRL. But
Justin nodded. He had done a lot of that today.
-Thank you
He thought for a while and looked
out to the balcony. His eyebrow
connected in confusion, when he saw the drapes closed. Justin stood up and patted Lonnie's shoulder
as he made his way to the doors. He
pulled the drape back and looked at her.
She was reading the article. He saw how her hands were firm, but not
gripping or shaking as she held the paper.
He could see the side of her face and saw that her cheeks her dry. So he figured, maybe she was OK with what was
said in the article. Maybe it didn't
bother her. Maybe she knew that all of
it was just a bunch of BS. Maybe she was
taking this much better than he thought she would. Maybe...
----------------------------
Lonnie, Meredith, Justin, and
Johnny (via speakerphone) all sat at the kitchen table of the luxurious suite
that for now, was their prison.
Lonnie had been able to go out and
about. He went down to the lobby several
times talking with the consiare and guards and
checking on the stability of the crowds.
Justin had been down their twice just because he couldn't stand being
locked up in a hotel room all day. He
even went to the indoor heated pool for a while. Meredith on the other hand had stayed inside
the room all day. She called everyone
possibly imaginable just to keep her mind off things and to help tame the
boredom. She had watched CNN (the only
Now they were all waiting on their
instructions. What to do next. What could they do next?
Over the phone Johnny spoke. "Well, we find it pointless to send more
security there. By the time they get
there, It will be time for you guys to be on a flight
to
"6, meaning we need to be at
the airport by
"OK, then tomorrow, do whatever. OK?
Don't worry about press or fans or anything. They shouldn't be a problem. Of course the whole world knows now that you
two are in
"It's already ruined one
day." Justin mumbled from his head
that lay on the table.
"I'll keep them safe,
Johnny. Don't worry." Lonnie spoke up. Meredith smiled at him and reached across the
table and squeezed his hand.
"I know you will Lonnie, I
know. So, everyone understands
everything. Early wake up, go to loft,
do whatever, then airport. K?"
"Thanks Johnny." Meredith said.
"Yeah, you guys be careful
out there."
"Bye." Justin mumbled.
"Wait. Justin, could you pick
up the phone? I want to speak to you privately."
"Yeah." He straightened
himself only to slouch down in the chair as he picked up the phone.
"I'm going to bed. Nothing better to do."
Meredith stood up and smiled at Lonnie and walked back to the bedroom and
shutting the door behind her. She
slipped off her clothes and into some pajamas.
The bed was like a sigh of relief.
Today had been such a strange day.
She was with Justin physically, but it was like he was miles away. They had spoken all of about 7 words to each
other. They hadn't touched each other,
kissed, anything all day. It was almost
as if they were afraid someone might capture it on film and expose it.
Meredith pulled the covers around
her small body and clung to the pillow that Justin had been using. It was the closest thing to comfort she had
had all day.
She was scared. She wouldn't admit it, but she was. She was terrified of what people thought of
her. What the fans thought of her. She used to pick on them and laugh at how
crazy they were. But she had to respect
them because of their loyalty and support to the 5 guys she cared so much
about. That article had posted her as
someone that had stolen Justin. A nobody, that had brainwashed Justin to love her. They showed her as an enemy to the fans and
THAT scared her. Because if the fans
thought that she was doing something wrong to Justin, they would let her know. They would make SURE to let her know. She knew Justin owed everything he had to his
fans, and she hoped they would be compassionate because she wouldn't lose him
over this. She couldn't.
The tears fell freely now. And the one person that she needed to be
there wasn't.
Meanwhile....
"This sucks, Johnny. I hate this. I just want to be alone with her and not have
to worry about all this." Justin
sighed and looked at Lonnie. He made
some motion that said he was going to bed and patted Justin's shoulder as he
left.
"I know, I know I'm going to
have to make a statement...Did you read the article?...They
made her sound like a shedevil...God I hate
this!...Yeah, seriously. I don't know what we would have done if Lonnie wasn't
here...Yeah, I know...OK, tell everyone I said not to worry about us...We are
fine...OK, bye Johnny." Justin hung
up the phone and let out a frustrated sigh.
It had been probably one of the most stressful days of his life.
He pushed his chair back from the
table and stood up to stretch. He made
his way to their room and slowly pushed open the door. He saw the mound of covers and decided not to
wake her. He felt dirty and tired. A shower would be very refreshing, he thought. Justin walked to the bathroom, grabbing some
clean boxers on the way and closed the door behind him.
Minutes later Justin pushed the
shower door back open. Clad now in only
boxers, he rubbed his hair fiercely with the small white towel. He placed it around his neck as he bent down
to look through his bag for a shirt.
Before he could find one, she spoke.
"Justin?" Her voice was meek and scared.
"Yeah..." He responded
without emotion.
She hesitated for a moment before
flipping over in the bed, so that she was finally facing him. He looked up from his bag and saw her. Her eyes were red and puffy. Her cheeks were stained with dry tears and
her lips were cracked and dry. "I'm
so sorry."
Justin stood up and threw the
shirt he had in his hand back in the bag and tossed the towel around his neck
over the back of a chair. He took a deep
breath and pulled the covers back. He
slowly lay down and propped himself on one side so he could look at her. The covers were placed back around his body
and he studied her sorrow-filled expression.
He voice dropped to a smooth
whisper. "Baby, it's not your fault."
He lightly touched her cheek.
"But I let them sit with us, I invited them into our lives without a second
thought. I'm such an idiot."
"No you are NOT! I saw that you read that article, and I do
not want you to believe those things they wrote about you. I don't know what joy they get out of lying
about other people, but it's not worth letting them get to you."
"I thought you'd be mad at
me." She looked down at her hand
that was playing with a lose string of the pillow. Justin placed a hand over hers to stop it.
"Look at me, and tell me that
I'm mad at you." She looked at him and only saw love in his eyes and a
smile on his face. But she still felt
guilty.
"I'm so-"
Justin interrupted her. "Stop
apologizing. The only people that should
be apologizing right now are those reporters."
"I don't know why, but I feel
so cheap." He put a hand on her
waist and pulled her body to his. He
wrapped his arms around her as her head and hand rested on his chest.
"What can I do to make you
not feel that way? I'll do
anything." Justin whispered.
"Will you sing to
me?" She moved her head and looked
up at him. He leaned forward and pressed
his lips to her forehead.
"Of
course." They both relaxed back into their regular
positions and Meredith sighed as she heard Justin take a deep breath.
"Mmmbop
ba de ba dop ba do bop a de ba dop ba-"
She giggled. "Nooooo, something soft. One of *Nsync's
slow songs."
He smiled. "What about God must have spent?"
"Yeahhh." She whispered like a little child.
"Can this be true?
Tell me can this be real?
How can I put into words what I
feel?
My life was complete.
I thought I was whole.
Why do I feel like I'm losing
control?
He kept looking in her eyes and
singing the song to her. Meredith
brought her hand from his chest and moved her body, so that she was lying flat
on top of him. She let one hand play
with his damp curls, as he continued singing to her, smiling.
It got near the end of the song and Justin pulled her
face close to his and kissed her softly on her cheek, eyes, nose, chin,
forehead, everywhere as he breathed the next line.
"On you on you on you on
you"
Meredith propped her self above
him on her elbows, as she still lay straight on top of his body. He cupped her cheeks and brought her face
down to his, capturing her lips in a heavenly kiss. He pulled away and looked
into her deep eyes, smiling, as he saw everything she was feeling at that
moment.
"God must have spent a little
more time on you." As he dragged
out the last word he brought she brought her face closer to his.
"A little
more time on you." As soon as he finished, Meredith touched her
lips with his. They both needed this
comfort. They had missed it all day, and
were in dire need after all the stress that had taken over them.
After a few minutes of kissing and
holding each other, Justin pulled away.
"No matter what happens,
ever, to either one of us, I want you to remember I will ALWAYS and I mean
ALWAYS love you." He claimed her
lips once more and this time she broke away.
"I know, Justin. I'll love you for forever, too." She brought up her hand, so that he could see
the promise ring. The
constant reminder to both of them, of each other's love.
"We need to go to bed,
"OK. Goodnight, J." Meredith kissed him one last, brief time
before snuggling close to his shirtless body.
Justin wrapped a protective arm
around, and they got into their normal position, of him on his back, her on her
side snuggled to him. "Goodnight, angel."
----------------------------------------
Lonnie quietly walked across the
suite to the other bedroom door. He had
been up for an hour, finalizing everything, calling a limo, ect. He went
down stairs, earlier, and to his amazement only saw 3 reporters and maybe 4
fans waiting. A big
improvement from yesterday. He
quietly knocked on the door and when no answer came he cracked the door and peeked his head in.
"Hey, you two, get up. It's
"Go away Lonnie." Justin mumbled and rolled over; laying half
his body on Meredith's still sleeping one.
"No, get up. Don't make me drag you out of that
bed." Lonnie laughed when Justin
sat up. His curls were untamed and his
eyes were only tiny slits.
"I'm up, now
leave." Justin plopped back on the
bed, causing Meredith to stir awake. He
noticed and smiled at her tenderly as her eyes open. "Sorry, babe."
She yawned and stretched. "It's
OK. What time is it?"
"Time to
get up!" Lonnie yelled. Meredith didn't realize he was in there and
this caused her to jump.
"Lonnie, we will be ready,
just 5 more minutes." Justin put a
pillow over his head.
"OK, fine. You get 5 more minutes." Lonnie walked over to them and pulled all the
covers off and threw them on the floor. "I'll
be back in 5 minutes." He smiled at
the two, now shivering, and left them.
Meredith shivered and looked at
Justin. HE was just in boxers huddled in
a ball, and she was at least a little better with a T-shirt and, boxers, and
socks. He was rubbing his arms furiously
and his teeth were chattering. Meredith
giggled and scooted close to him.
"Here, body heat." She snuggled close to him and he wrapped his
arms around her.
He looked at her and smiled
devilishly. "I know how to make
some body heat."
"Oh pul-"
Before Meredith had a change to comment Justin tackled her, and pinned her to
the bed. He kissed her playfully and
finally pulled away only to attack her neck.
But before Justin got too carried away, Lonnie swung the door open.
"Good morning Sun- Oh
SORRY!" Lonnie shut the door quickly.
Meredith looked up at Justin who was peering over his shoulder at the
now shut door. She began laughing
uncontrollably.
"What?"
"He just thought we were
doing something"
"We were." Justin smiled before kissing her neck
again. She pushed him away.
"Justin! Stop my love. We need to pack." She looked up at his puppy face.
"Nooo..."
He whined. She smiled and brought his
face down to hers for one slow, soft, sensual, LONG kiss. When they broke away, they were both
breathless. She smiled sweetly and
pushed him off of her and walked out of their room. She found Lonnie carrying his bags to the
front door.
"Lonnie, nothing was going
on."
"Surrreee. Don't worry I don't need to know." He
rolled his eyes.
"Seriously, nothing
happened. I don't want you to assume
things." She smiled evilly and
turned back to the door.
"I don't assume, I
know." She stopped at the door and
turned around, giving him a "look."
"And what do you know
exactly?" She put her hands on her
hips.
"Why are we having a
conversation about you and Justin's sex life. I really don't care about it."
"We are having a conversation
because me and Justin's sex life is
non-existent."
"Oh yeah,
sure.
Just like he and Kim's were- nevermind."
"Nuh
uhhhh, you GOTTA tell me now!" Meredith smiled curiously and walked towards
him. Before she got too far, two hands
grabbed her waist and pulled her back to the bedroom. Before Justin shut the door, he smiled a fake
smile at Lonnie.
"Thanks Lonnie, appreciate
that!" Justin said sarcastically,
slamming the door. He turned to
Meredith, who was looking at him amused and said; "We need to pack."
"I'm almost finished. I did some yesterday. Why don't we talk about
this whole little "SEX" thing, Lonnie brought up." She giggled putting on some jeans and a
T-shirt. He looked at her and shook his
head before returning to stuffing things in his bag.
"Meredith, I don't want to
talk about my former girlfriends and whether or not I had sex with
them." He walked into the bathroom
and started packing all his toiletries.
Meredith finished getting dress then sat on the bed for a moment thinking, before she got up and followed him. She leaned on the doorframe.
"Why not? Why don't you want
to tell me? I mean I know its personal,
but..." She saw how he wasn't acknowledging her.
She sighed. "Nevermind." She walked into the bathroom and picked up
her shampoo, conditioner, razor, etc.
When she turned around she saw Justin staring at her through the mirror.
"What?" She said annoyed. He stuck his tongue out playfully at her
through the mirror and she just rolled her eyes. She brushed past him out of the bathroom and
placed all the stuff she was carrying in her bag. Justin followed her and wrapped his arms
around her shoulders and whispered into the back of her neck.
"Do you really want to
know?"
She turned in his embrace and
placed her hands on his upper arms. "It's up to you. I'm curious, yeah. But I don't want you to tell me if you don't
want to. Even though we've never talked
about it, I just figured you weren't a virgin."
He tilted his head to the side and
looked at her sincerely. "Does that bother you?"
"No, that's your
decision. Besides, I kinda
like having someone that is more experienced than me." She shrugged and kissed his lips quickly,
before turning back around and zipping up her packed bag.
Justin let her go and went back to
his own bags. "You are so cute."
"Random." She giggled.
Justin folded a shirt and put it
in his bag. "No, I mean. A lot of
people would care. But YOU don't, that's
cute."
"How old were you?" She was done packing so she scanned the room
for anything she forgot.
Justin zipped up his packed bag.
"18."
"Was that when you were
dating Lindsey?" She sat down on
the bed and watched as he placed another 1/2 empty bag beside her and started
filling it with clothes.
"Yeah." He smiled and
nodded. She smiled back and giggled.
"Are you going to put any
more clothes on today, or are you just going to strut around in your
underwear?"
"You would like that wouldn't
you?"
"Yeah but Lonnie
wouldn't." They both laughed and
then an awkward silence entered the room.
"You are still curious aren't
you?" Justin smiled a half smile at
her position on the bed.
She looked at him and simply shook
her head no, not looking at him directly.
Justin zipped the duffel bag closed and placed it beside the rest of his
luggage. He walked over to the bed and
sat down beside Meredith.
"OK, so here we go. I lost my virginity to Lindsey when I had
just turned 18. About 6 months later we
broke up. She was my longest girlfriend. I off and on dated people, but never
had sex with anyone until February of last year when I met Kim. I didn't love her like I did Lindsey, but we still..ya know." He said in almost one breath. Meredith looked at him and smiled.
"Thanks."
"So now you know." He smiled back at her and she just rolled her
eyes.
"Put some clothes on,
J." She stood up, but he pulled her
back down in his lap.
"You know one day, YOU are
going to be added to that list." He
smiled and rubbed his nose with hers.
"Yeah, I know." She said nervously.
"You might not believe this,
but I'm glad we are waiting. It's going
to be so special, and beautiful, and magical, and.."
"Hey guys, are you packed
yet?" Lonnie called through the
door, interrupting Justin.
"Yeah, L-dawg." Meredith sighed and kissed Justin's forehead
before she got up to open the door and let Lonnie in.
"Are you going to put any
clothes on, boy?" Lonnie laughed at
Justin, as he picked up their bags.
"Nah, I'm just going to walk
around
"Well it's almost
"The limo is already here,
just get dressed. I'm taking these bags
down to the lobby, so the driver can get them in the car."
"OK Lonnie." They both said.
After Lonnie came back from
loading the limo, Justin and Meredith were finally ready to go. They double-checked the hotel to make sure
they weren't missing anything and left the suite.
"Man, I'm glad to get out of
there." Meredith sighed as they
waited for the elevator.
Justin thought for a moment. "Yeah, you were cooped up in there for..damn, for a LONG time. ARE YOU OK?" Justin shook her shoulders and giggled. As they entered the elevator.
"Maybe you should ask
yourself that, J." She playfully
rolled her eyes. They got to the lobby
and Lonnie stopped at the front desk to secure everything as Meredith and
Justin just kinda hung back. Lonnie approached them and sighed.
"OK. There aren't many people out there. I'm going to walk behind you, and the hotel
guard will lead. Just, get in the limo
and go. There are 3 girls out there and
3 reporters. You don't want to sign
autographs do you?"
"If it's only 3, I guess its
no big deal."
"Sure?"
"Yeah. Sure." Justin shrugged.
"OK. But do it quickly. Meredith is not use to all this stuff. Oh, and don't answer the reporters questions. Just ignore them." Lonnie said, more to Meredith than to Justin.
"So are we all
set?" Justin asked.
"Yeah. Lets
go." Lonnie said. Justin firmly grasped Meredith's hand
protectively and made his way out of the hotel.
Camera's immediately started
flashing and the young girls started squealing.
Justin showed a grin to the cameras and girls and squeezed Meredith's
hand lightly. Justin stopped for only 10
seconds to scribble his name on the pieces of paper the young girls waved in
front of his face. The reporters yelled
Justin's and even Meredith's name, but she just stay with Justin and smiled at
the few girls that were there.
Surprisingly they smiled back.
The next thing Meredith knew, she
was in a limo sitting beside Justin, and across from Lonnie. Justin looked at her and laughed a short
laugh. "Welcome to the life in
front of the camera."
Meredith looked at him and them rested her cheek against his shoulder. He wrapped an arm around her, as she watched
them ride down the streets of
-------------------------------------
After dropping by the loft just to
have breakfast and put down their luggage, Justin and Meredith decided to do a
little shopping at the Galleries Lafayette, what they were supposed to do the
day before. They had spent the morning
shopping and browsing, not being bothered by too many people. Lonnie didn't let
them go into very crowded stores in the gallery so that was help. The three stuck out like a sore thumb, with a
young couple, one clad in baseball cap, being followed by a bulky guard, but
not many people were around. They were
in line at a cash register. The line was
rather long because the salesperson looked like they had no clue as to what
they were doing.
"Hey, I'm going to go right
over there and check out that jewelry.
I'm supposed to bring mom back something and I haven't even looked for
ANYTHING yet!"
"Umm, OK. Uhh, let me
think." Lonnie thought for a
moment. "OK, I'll go with you
Justin, but I'm keeping an eye on you Meredith.
I'll be right over there if you need me."
"OK." Meredith smiled as Justin and Lonnie walked
to the jewelry case 10 ft. away.
Meredith rocked back and forth on
her heels as she balanced the 3 pieces of clothing draped across her arm. She glanced at Lonnie and Justin. Justin pulled the cap lower on his head as
the sales lady brought out a bracelet for him to look at. Lonnie spotted her and smiled at her watching
Justin.
"Excuse me, do you speak
English?" Meredith turned to face
the middle-aged guy, who had an American accent, behind her. She smiled and spoke.
"Yeah."
"Can you tell me what time it
is, we are supposed to meet my wife at
Meredith glanced at her watch and
smiled. "You are in luck its 10
till 11."
"Oh thank you. So are you here on vacation?"
"You could say
that." Meredith sighed then noticed
a young girl about the age of 13 run up to the man and hand him a shirt.
"I like this one
daddy." She said.
"OK, sugar." The man took the shirt and held it with the
other items he was holding. Meredith
smiled at the girl and was about to turn around when the girl spoke.
"You're that Meredith
girl." Meredith's eyes got
big. She WAS "that Meredith
girl". She thought about not
agreeing but kinda wanted to see what this girl
thought about her. Meredith turned
around and looked at the girl and smiled.
"How do you know my
name?"
"Duh, that article! I can't believe you are dating Justin
Timberlake!" The girl said a little
disgusted. Her father just looked back
and forth in-between Meredith and the girl.
"Yeah, me either." Meredith giggled. "So what's your name?"
"Rebecca. This is my dad."
"Are you having a good time
in
"Why are you...nevermind."
"No, go ahead, you can ask
me."
"Why are you being nice? Aren't you supposed to be some sort of, I
don't know, mean person?"
"REBECCA! How dare you say that." Her father reprimanded her. Meredith just smiled.
"Yeah, that article in the
Times. Well, about the only thing that is true in it, is that me and Justin are
dating and that we are in
"Really?"
"Yeah." Meredith smiled and
nodded.
"So you two have been going
out since this summer? Why didn't you go
to the VMA's with him? Why did he go with Britney?" The girl was just a ball of questions, and
Meredith just shook her head. This girl
had been reeled RIGHT in by all the media and press. She was a perfect example of why fame wasn't
as glamorous as it seemed.
"What is going on
here?" Her father interjected. Meredith noticed Lonnie's eyes on her, so she
turned to look at him. He nudged Justin
and they both gave her a concerned look.
She just smiled and they nodded in confusion. All the while, Rebecca was explaining to her
dad who Meredith was. He still didn't really
understand, or care.
"Oh, OK. Whatever." He rolled his eyes and laughed.
"Well, to answer your questions
Rebecca, no we have not been going out sense this summer. We got together in October, on the 2nd leg of
their tour. That's why I didn't go to
the VMA's with him.
We were just friends then, of course we were best friends, but I was kinda out of town at that moment." Meredith thought, it did kinda
seem confusing, but oh well.
"Oh, that's cool. I can't wait to get back home and tell my
friends I met you. You are a lot nicer
than I thought."
"Let me tell you something
Rebecca. You can't always believe what
you read. Most of it isn't the truth,
especially about celebrities. Just be
more selective about what you believe, OK?"
"All right. Hey, I have a web
site dedicated to the guys, do you mind if I get a picture of you?" She
turned to her dad. "You got the
camera right?" He nodded. Meredith smiled. She really wanted this girl to be on her good
side, even if it was just one person.
"I have an idea. If you give me your site address, I'll go
check it out, make sure you don't say anything bad about me, maybe I'll sign
your guestbook." Meredith giggled
and continued. "I can email you, and why don't we get a picture of you and
Justin as well."
"What?" The girl's eyes turned to the size of
baseballs and Meredith shushed her squeal that Meredith KNEW was coming.
"But you are going to have to
be quiet. We don't want to make a
scene. OK?" Meredith smiled as the girl frantically
nodded.
"Hey,
Lonnie, J. Come here." She called to them. They turned and walked towards her. She saw Justin had got something.
"Did you find your mom
something?"
"Sure did." He smiled sweetly and stood right beside her,
he was about to kiss her cheek when he saw a young teenage girl staring at him
like he was God himself.
"You're.... You're....youuu..." The girl stuttered. He glanced at Meredith who was smiling at the
girl's father and smiled at the girl.
"Brad Pitt? Nah, I wish.
Jennifer Aniston is FINNNEEE!"
He giggled, until Meredith punched him in the stomach and he doubled
over in a bit of pain. "Owww, jeezs I was just
kidding." He laughed and she rolled
her eyes.
"Justin, this is
Rebecca. Rebecca you already know
Justin." She turned and put her
attention on Justin. "She read the
article."
"Oh, Becca
you know that what they said is NOT true about Meredith here." Justin said sweetly and cautiously. Rebecca still stood there amazed and finally
found her voice.
"Uh huh. Uhh,
yeah I know. Hehe. It's nice to meet you, I..I..I
just love you guys. *Nsync
is my FAVORITE group!" She smiled a
HUGE smile.
Meredith said in a loud
whisper. "I like the Backstreet
Boys better, personally."
Justin stared at Rebecca and
pointed at Meredith. "See what I have to go through."
"He loves me." Meredith
said smugly.
Surprisingly, Justin leaned over
and kissed her temple and spoke.
"That I do." Meredith
turned to him and gave him an amused smile as Rebecca sighed.
"You two are PERFECT for each
other."
"Yeah, I think so too." Justin put an arm around Meredith's
shoulders. Lonnie tapped him on the
shoulder.
"Hey guys, you are holding up
the line."
"Pay for them will you? I'm talking to two fine women L-dawg." Justin
smiled as Lonnie took their clothes and rolled his eyes.
"Dad, can I stay and talk
with Justin and Meredith?" The
father eyed the young couple and nodded his head.
"Don't go anywhere else. Stay RIGHT there." He smiled and followed in line, behind
Lonnie. Meredith watched as Lonnie and
the dad struck up a conversation.
"This is SO cool. I have this website dedicated to you guys;
I'm so going to have to write about this.
Do you mind?"
"As long as
you tell the truth." Justin smiled a charming smile.
"I want the address so I can
check it out." Meredith looked in her purse and pulled out a sheet of
paper and two pens. She gave a pen each
to Justin and Rebecca and tore the paper in two. Justin looked at her like she was crazy.
"Weirdo, you are going to
give the girl an autograph, and not the normal "JRT". Right a message, a LONG message!" Meredith demanded. She turned to Rebecca as Justin giggled and
bent over to use his thigh as a surface to write on.
"Will you give me the address
please? I really want to check it out
and see what other people have to say about me and Justin." The girl scribbled the address on the paper
and handed back to Meredith. Justin
wrote a rather long message to the girl and handed to her with a smile. She read it and smiled very brightly.
"This has made my day, no my
YEAR!" Meredith and Justin laughed.
"Go get your dad's camera and
we will get a picture all together."
The girl opened her mouth in shock and quickly ran to her dad and
brought the camera back with her.
"K, Justin, you two get close."
Justin smiled and put his arm around the young girl and pressed the side
of his face to hers. They smiled and
Meredith snapped the picture.
"Can I get one with
you?" Rebecca pointed to Meredith.
"Sure." Meredith and smiled at the camera as Justin
took the photo.
"Why don't we get a goofy
one?" Justin smiled. They both made weird faces as Justin snapped
the picture.
"Work it ladies!" He laughed.
He handed Rebecca back her camera and they all stood there for a moment.
"Would you mind if I got one
of you two together?" She asked
cautiously.
Justin looked at Meredith sweetly
and she nodded. Justin turned to
Rebecca. "It would be our
pleasure. Do you want us to pose, smile,
what?"
"Whatever." The girl shrugged. He looked at Meredith and they just smiled at
each other for a moment, not really knowing why. Rebecca gasped.
"Don't move! That's perfect." She quickly took the picture of them just
staring into each others eyes and before they had a chance to say or do
anything else, her father and Lonnie walked up to them.
"Do you mind telling me the
time again?" The father asked
Meredith.
"No, its
"OK, Rebecca, we need to go
meet your mom and brother."
"Nooo. Man, well, it was really great to meet you
Justin, and you too Meredith. I'm really
glad you aren't bad like the article said you were." Meredith just bowed her head and mouthed. "Me too." to the floor.
"Thanks, for being a TRUE fan
Rebecca." Justin smiled and opened his arms to the girl. Meredith looked up and thought that Rebecca
was about to faint, but she composed herself and stepped into his arms. After they hugged, the girl looked at
Meredith and she smiled. Meredith
wrapped the girl in a hug and whispered to her.
"Thanks Rebecca. I'm glad you got to see the REAL me. You have a job to make sure you let everyone
know that I'm not what that article says, OK?"
Rebecca stepped back and
smiled. "I won't let you down. Bye you guys.
Thanks for everything." Her
father grabbed her hand as she waved with the other one, and soon they were out
of sight.
"Well...." Justin said looking at Meredith. Meredith just sighed and looked up at
him.
"Let's go eat." He smiled down at her. Nothing needed to be said. Lonnie was full of questions about what had
just happened, but Meredith and Justin knew that that was a very special moment
for both of them. It was their first
REAL encounter with a fan, together.
They spent the rest of the
afternoon shopping until it was time to go back to the loft and get ready for
the plane trip. They all showered and
changed and soon were on their way to the airport.