Chapter 4
"In the middle of the
night..." Meredith sang in a mock cheesy voice
"Middle of the night..."
Justin repeated in a mock deep voice.
"I go walking in my
sleep..."
"Walking in sleep..."
"To the valley of
truth..."
"Valley of truth..."
"To the river so deeeppp"
"River so deep..."
"I be searching for
something..."
"Searching for
something..."
"OK you two, knock it off.
There are other people in this hotel."
Mike stopped them
"WE are in an elevator Mikey, no one can hear us!" Meredith said in a kid's voice
"Yeah, well I sure as hell
can, so shut up."
"Some one is a little grumpy,
what do you say Mr. Justin?" She
continued the kid voice.
"Miss Meredith I think we
need to sing him a song." Justin
offered.
"How about..." Mike interuppted Meredith.
"NO ANYTHING BUT THAT! I will
not listen to you two try and rap vanilla ice again."
Justin and Meredith looked at each
other and He started rapping as she did the backbeat. "STOP, COLLABORATE
AND LISTEN..."
Mike groaned just as the doors to
the elevator opened to Meredith's floor.
"Hey, Meredith remember to
come up to Chris's room later for a party." Justin reminded her as she stepped out in the
hallway.
"NO way man! We've all heard
you two sing enough tonight. Plus I'm
tired." Chris said.
Justin pushed the 'door open'
button and held it. "AH! Fine then, we will go to Lance's"
"J, Lance and JC said they
were going to bed I believe." Mike
said trying to scan his memory.
"Well, then Joey is up, I
KNOW Joey is up." Justin tried to
solve the problem.
"Joey's at a club"
Meredith said from the middle of the hallway.
"Then it looks like its just
me and you squirt. Come to my room, you
and me will have a PAR-TAY. Forget all
these losers..." Justin answered.
"I'm not a loser, I'm just
tired. We finally get 3 days off and I'm
going to sleep all 3 of them, starting in about 10 minutes."
"My thumb is about to fall
off from holding this damn button, so shut up Chris, Meredith bring up your 80s
CDs, because girl, me and you are about to PARTY HARDY!!"
"Oh, great...." Meredith said sarcastically. She turned back towards the elevator to smile
at him but the doors were already closed.
-------
"Oh my gosh, you DID
that??"
"Hey, I had to get her some
way."
"So you DID date Britney
Spears?"
"Yeah, but that was back in
the MMC days. We are still good friends
though."
"I want to meet her. I mean there are these two views of her.
1-sweet, innocent, Britney and 2-slutty, bitchy Britney. I want to find out the truth."
"She's really nice. You'd like her. She's goofy like you."
"I ain't
goofy!!"
"Yeah you are."
Meredith searched for a comeback.
"Well, well...you're ugly!!"
She giggled at the stupidity of the statement.
"Yeah, RIIIIIGHT" Justin
rolled his eyes.
"You are! You are
disgustingly ugly!" She stuck out
her tongue.
"Oh my gosh, you KNOW that is
not true."
"So now you are saying that
you are hot, is that it?"
"THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT I'm
SAYING!"
"Arrogant bastard." She
mumbled
"WHAT WAS THAT? Meredith did you just call me a bastard? I
can't believe you. I thought you were
against bad language and such."
"OH pulease,
I'm not miss goodie-goodie all the time."
"You sure do act like
it."
"Well excuse me for having
morals!"
"You're not excused....no
just kidding. Morals are great and
everything. But I've never seen anyone
so strict about them."
"Sorry..."
"It's not a bad thing. In fact I find it refreshing."
"Umm, k? Thanks I
guess."
"Can I ask you a question
without you getting angry? Just slap me
if I'm over stepping my boundaries."
"Shoot."
"Well, what made you decide
that you wanted to be abstinent. I mean
did one day you just wake up and say I'm not going to have sex until I'm
married.' Or did your parents instill it
in you, or what?"
"That's a good question. And one I've asked myself over and over
again. My parents yeah, they are a big
factor, my spirituality. You know a lot
of stuff." She paused and sighed.
"I've seen a lot of people
get hurt by sex. And I am not talking
about physically. An old friend of mine
gave her virginity to a guy that didn't give a crap about her. She got really messed up after that. She's fine now, but that's something she
can't get back. I guess because I've never had a boyfriend, I don't know what
those feeling are like to have. I mean
I've never been close enough to someone to WANT to share that with them. I've never been on a real date. I've only
been kissed once, and now I'm embarrassed because I just blurted that out. Gosh, that is embarrassing." Meredith covered her face in her hands,
shocked that she had just opened up to Justin and told him secrets about herself
no one else knew.
He looked at her and smiled. This girl was innocent. Sure she could get wild, but deep inside you
could tell she hadn't lived life much. You
could tell she have never felt love. And
you could tell that's what was eating her up inside.
"You shouldn't be
embarrassed. It's not that big of
deal. But since you are making it out to
be, why don't we just drop it and watch a movie. K?" He said with an encouraging smile.
"GREAT idea! Sorry I got on my soapbox there. I tend to do that about things I'm passionate
about." She rolled over on her
stomach and turned on the TV. He sat up
against the headboard.
"I think its great that you
are passionate about things like that.
And the amazing thing is, you don't scold or look down on people who
aren't like you. I know a lot of people
who preach one thing and do another. And I know a lot of people that think they
are perfect and look down on people that aren't exactly like them. But you are not like that at all. You have made these bold decisions and have
stuck by them, but it's YOUR decision and you don't make other people feel bad
because they haven't made the same decisions.
For an 18-year-old you act more like 35."
"Well my decisions are
between me and God, and me and God only."
He pointed at her; "You are
an angel from heaven aren't you?"
Justin asked with a triumphant face as if finally solving a mystery.
Meredith quietly laughed and shook
her head. "Not quite."
Justin sighed and looked around
his hotel room. It was a complete and
utter disaster. Meredith and him had
done so much that night. They had
ordered room service and picked at it, then went to the drink and food machines
and practically bought them out. After too much sugar and caffeine, they had pretended
to karoke to 80s music with hair brushes and Meredith
had even done a fashion show for him in his clothes all the while she was
trying to act like the members of Nsync. She had successfully portrayed JC,
Joey, Chris, Lance, and Justin to a tee.
He had had the best time that night.
He was actually able to act like a kid, and not be embarrassed to do
so. Now, they had spent about 2 hours
just chatting away about family, the tour, their childhood, old songs and TV
shows, religion, music, life, everything.
They had learned so much about each other in a matter of a few
hours. And they also had both learned
they had a best friend in each other.
"So which movie are we going
to watch?"
"Ummm,
Have you seen the Matrix?" Justin
shook his head no. "OH MY
GOSH! It is THE best movie. That's what
we are watching."
Meredith got comfortable on the
bed, parallel to Justin but lying in opposite directions. Halfway through the
movie Justin nudged her leg to see if she was awake. She didn't move. So he quietly lay down beside her on his
stomach, just like her. He studied her
face. She was breathing deeply and had
her eyes closed. She was smiling. And he smiled back at her even though she
couldn't see him. This girl was
special. It took him a while to notice
just how special she was.
He had noticed how shy she got
when people gave her compliments. Like
when he called her an angel. In his
eyes, that was what she was. An
angel. A perfect angel.
"Hey, hey Mere. Wake up." Justin whispered
"I'm awake." Meredith said in a groggy voice without
moving or opening your eyes.
He continued in a whispered almost
secretive voice. "OK, but I want you to know you are on my bed, in the
clothes you wore all today, falling asleep."
"Fine, I'll leave. What time is it anyway?"
"Oh my gosh, its
"I guess I should be
going" Meredith stayed right where she was.
Justin laughed. "Meredith you aren't moving..."
"I know, I'm just really
comfortable. You guys get nicer beds
than we do. There is another bed in here
anyway, you go sleep in it..."
"Excuse me, this is MY
room!" Justin stopped saying
anything else and stared at her. She
stayed in her position, falling asleep.
"Well you can stay here but I
want you to change clothes. I know how
you get when you don't sleep in comfortable clothes." He remembered the
time on the bus when they had to ride all night and Meredith didn't have any
comfortable clothes to wear and complained the whole day about it. Justin went to his bag and pulled out some
boxers and a T-shirt and threw them at her.
When she didn't make a move to take the thrown articles off or any move
for that matter he sighed and mumbled, "OK we will do this the hard
way..." He went over to her and jerked her up and dragged her to the bathroom. Meredith stared laughing.
"OK OK! I get the point.
GEEZ!!" Meredith narrowed her eyes at him but then smiled sweetly and shut
the door to the bathroom. A few moments later she emerged from the bathroom in
Justin's clothes and found that the bedroom was now dark.
"Thanks, now I can't see
where I'm walking..."
CRUNCH
"What was that?" Justin's laughing voice came from one of the
beds.
"That, was a potato chip,
JUSTIN! Thanks to you, I stepped on it because there is no light."
Suddenly the light switched on and
Meredith squinted her eyes because of the change. She then noticed Justin laying in one of the
beds with no shirt on and only a thin sheet covering him from waist down. He had his hands behind his head. He yawned
and said, "Better?"
"Much, thanks." She said quietly trying not to stare at his
bare chest.
She stepped over bags and can
drinks and made her way to HIS bed.
"Meredith, you are NOT
sleeping with me! As much as I know you want
to, I don't think it would be a good idea.
I mean we've only been friends for 12 hours." Justin laughed as she
approached him.
"I'm not coming to sleep with
you, Justin. That's the LAST thing I
would WANT to do. I just came to say
thanks."
"For what?"
She sat down on the edge of his
bed, leaned over and kissed his forehead.
She pulled away and he looked up at her with raised eyebrows and a smirk
on his face.
-She just kissed my forehead. OH. MY. GOSH! -
-I just kissed his forehead. OH. MY. GOSH! -
"For giving me a
chance." She smiled and patted his
shoulder. "Night kiddo."
"Kiddo? Me?
I'm older than you by a year and a half you know that, right?"
"Yeah, I know...kiddo."
He sighed. " well I guess
anything is better than Timberfake."
"HEhe, Night Justin...Timberfake!!! BAWHAHAHAH!" Meredith laughed evilly and got into bed and
pulled up the covers around her.
Justin leaned over to turn the
light off and narrowed his eyes at her as she smiled brightly and
sheepishly. "You know if I wasn't
this tired I would come over there and attack you but I guess you are just in
luck."
Meredith grinned smugly and said,
"I guess so."
HE turned off the light and they
were engulfed in darkness.
"Night Meredith"
"Night Justin"
After about 5 minutes of silence,
Meredith was just about asleep when...
"Meredith..."
"whuuuuut?" A strained groan was voiced.
"Just wanted to tell you that
you looked cute in my boxers and shirt"
Meredith's grumpy face slowly
turned into a smile. Her back was turned
to him and it was pitch black but she knew he was smiling as well.
"I look cute in
anything." Meredith said with a
short laugh.
"That's the truth."
Justin said while he turned over in his bed, and was soon asleep.
-Let her think about THAT for a
while. HEHE. See if she can sleep NOW.-
Meredith was now wide-awake.
-Uhh,
hello? He just told me that I was
cute. Does that mean anything? Girl, he is on the rebound. Do not even think that. Plus, you've just become friends with him. Gosh, he IS an awesome friend. Oh my God did you see him laying in the bed
without a shirt on, WOW. I'm so glad we've worked this out. Man, I hope these are clean boxers. MMMMMMM, his shirt smells so good. It smells like.... Him. -
And with that, Meredith was fast
asleep.
-------------------
KNOCK KNOCK
"JUSTIN, WAKE UP
MAN!!" Lance yelled through his
door.
Justin groaned and Meredith
laughed. They had both been woken up
about a minute ago by Lance's knocking. Justin's
face had an imprint of something on it, but she couldn't tell what it was. His face was scrunched up and his eyes were
squinted. He took his hands and rubbed
the sleep out of his eyes. His massive
afro was sticking out in every direction.
He looked like a little kid, and Meredith just giggled to herself at his
appearance.
-Man, I bet all them little 14
year olds would just LOVE to see this right now. Where is my camera? -
"LANCE DO YOU KNOW WHAT TIME
IT IS??" Justin finally yelled.
"YEAH, DO YOU!! IT'S
Justin looked at Meredith who was
quietly giggling. He managed to start
giggling too. Finally he pulled the
covers off of him and stormed to the door.
Just as his was going to open it, Meredith ran and stretched out her
arms across the door and stood in the way.
"What ARE you
doing?" Justin asked annoyed.
Meredith smiled evilly and wiggled
her eyebrows. "Wanna
have some fun?"
Justin smiled curiously and said,
"What kinda fun?"
"You yell at Lance and say,
'I'll be there in 5 minutes, let me put some clothes on.'" Justin smiled brightly when he started
understanding her plan.
Meredith continued, "I'll go
make one of the beds and mess up the other one really good. I'm going to go in the bathroom. You bring Lance in and just, hehe, follow my lead k?"
"I'm kinda
confused."
"Oh, this is going to work
perfectly." She rubbed her hands
together and smiled devilishly
"You are evil."
"I don't like people waking
me up in the mornings, err, afternoons."
She said evilly.
"ME either!" Justin and her slapped hands and got to work.
"JUSTIN?? WHATS GOING ON IN THERE?" Lance called.
"HEY I'M COMING. JUST LET ME
PUT SOME CLOTHES ON." Justin snickered to himself.
Meredith made up one bed and
messed the other one up in record time.
She quickly took her and Justin's articles of clothing from the day
before and randomly threw them around the room.
She took her bra and blindly threw it a Justin by accident.
HE caught it and they both laughed
hard but silently. Justin hung the bra
over the mirror where he was sure Lance would notice it.
Meredith ran into the bathroom,
closed the door and started the shower.
She took off Justin's shirt and put her head under the water to get it
wet. She wrapped it up in a towel and
put Justin's shirt back on. She then
looked at her self in the mirror.
-I DO look cute in his clothes-
Meanwhile...
"Come in, sorry I didn't get
much sleep last night."
Lance looked at Justin; he looked
like he had just gotten up, and that WAS the truth. HE also noticed that Justin just had on
boxers.
"Umm, J, I thought you said
you had to put on clothes. You just have
on boxers..."
"Umm, yeah, well, you see, I
had to put on boxers, uhh..." Justin stuttered.
"Since when did you start
sleeping naked?" Lance looked at
him disgustingly.
"Well, umm..." Justin
didn't know how far Meredith was going to take this joke. She had said, "follow her lead."
Lance had lost interest in
Justin's apparel when he saw the bra. He
stared at it and opened his mouth in shock as Justin fiddled around searching
for some clothes.
"Umm, Justin, have you seen,
umm, Meredith. She's not in her room.
And, umm, what is, uhh, a, umm, bra doing in your, uhh, room?"
Lance stuttered.
"Oh, umm..."
"JUSTY, BABY???...OH hi
Lance...Could you hand me my bra please?" Meredith stuck her head wrapped
in a towel out of the bathroom door.
Lance stared at her and then at Justin.
As Lance turned his head and looked at Justin, Meredith winked and
mouthed 'Play along'. She smiled and
Justin smiled back.
"Sure thang, doll." He went and grabbed the bra off the mirror
and handed it to her. She looked up and
him and he stared down at her. She stood
on her tiptoes and planted a loud kiss on his cheek. Lance stood in shock.
Meredith finally re-entered the
room in Justin's shirt and boxers drying her hair with the towel. She sneaked
up behind Justin. He was rummaging
through a bag. He now had on jeans but
no shirt. She wrapped her arms around
him from behind and he straightened and turned in her arms.
"Morning buttercup, did you
sleep well?" Justin asked.
"You KNOW I slept, REALLLLLL
well." Meredith smiled
playfully. Justin smiled back at her in
his arms.
"WHAT KIND OF PARTY DID YOU
TWO HAVE LAST NIGHT?" Lance yelled
in shock.
Meredith looked up at Justin
sheepishly and he bent down and kissed her temple quickly, and went back to
search for a shirt. Meredith sauntered
up to Lance. Justin found a shirt,
turned around and watched Meredith finish her plan.
She got right up to Lance and ran
a finger across his jawbone, down his neck, to his chest where she poked it
playfully. "Lance, don't tell me
you didn't know that me and Justin well, that we have a little agreement to
fulfill each others needs, sexually, whenever desired."
Meredith turned and looked at
Justin who stood in shock at her boldness.
Lance was staring at Meredith also so he didn't notice Justin's
shock. "I thought everybody knew."
She winked at him and he just shook his head in disbelief.
She turned her attention back to
Lance and said, "Anytime you need YOUR needs to be fulfilled, you KNOW
whom to call." With that she grabbed her clothes from the day before from
their random spaces around the room.
She walked to the door, opened it
and called back to them, "Tell everyone be ready at
Lance and Justin starred at each
other and then both ran after Meredith.
"WHAT KIND OF
RIDE?" Justin yelled after her.
"Get your mind out of the
gutter, Curly Q. I'm taking *Nsync to my
hometown!" With that she stepped in
the elevator and waved as the doors closed, still clad in Justin's clothes.
Lance turned and looked at
Justin. "You gots some explaining
to do..."
"No, Lance, it's not what you
think. It was all a joke. We stayed up the whole night talking and she was too
tired to walk back to the room so she slept in there with me. Well not WITH me. But in the room. Different beds." Justin laughed.
"But, the clothes, the bed,
the kisses..." Lance asked trying to make sense out of it all.
"It was all a joke,
Lance." Justin sighed,
disappointed.
Lance looked at Justin. Something was different. "You like her
don't you?"
"Of course I like her, she is
a great friend."
"No, you like her, like
her." Lance said teasingly
“Lance, I just got on her good
side yesterday. I don't believe I've
grown feelings for her that fast." Justin said almost trying to convince
himself.
"I'm just an observer. But listen Curly, if you ARE falling for her,
you better watch out. She's not your
typical fan. She's not your typical
groupie. She's not your typical girl. She's different. And she won't know what she's getting into
with you. And you probably wont realize
what you are getting into with her, either.
So, be careful with her. I know
you've been hurt before. But don't give
up your heart too easily. Because once
you do, with THAT girl, its permanent."
Lance turned and walked down to his room.
Justin stood there in shock. Why was Lance telling him this? Why did he listen? He wasn't falling for her. He had spent one night with her. It doesn't happen that fast. Or does it?
He couldn't be falling for her.
It wasn't possible. He just
couldn't, could he?