A little after ten.
"Wow, that was...wow."
"What?" Justin relaxed into the front seat of her car and smirked at her.
Liz smiled and looked in her rear view mirror. "All those girl. ah ha, they were pissed at ME! If only they knew how much of a dork you REALLY were. he he."
"Now, how did you meet her, Justin? I LIKE her." Lonnie chuckled from the back.
Justin turned sharply and pointed to him with narrowed eyes. "Hush up."
"Aww, that's no way to talk to your beloved bodyguard." Liz giggled, turning the volume up slightly on her stereo.
"Why did I agree to this? All day it's going to be pick on Justin." He mumbled.
Liz shrugged, turning the wheel and pulling onto the Baltimore Freeway. "Well they did make it National pick on Justin day."
"Oh did they?" Justin cocked an eyebrow in her direction.
"Yup, it was when Peter Jennings made the statement about CurlyGAY."
His blue eyes rolled sharply and he smiled a tiny smile, looking out of the car. "So what are we doing today?"
"I don't care. I live here, there's not much exciting stuff to do." Her voice chuckled and made him look at her.
"Well we have to meet Patty and Lance for lunch at 12:30."
"Is there anything you've been wanting to do that you haven't had the chance since you are on tour and everything?" She asked, changing her sarcastic voice to one that was actually very caring.
"Uh, I haven't been to the mall recently."
As soon as the word "mall" left his lips, Lonnie started laughing like a mad man in the back seat. Liz chuckled, knowing what was coming. "What?"
"The boy is the mall king. He LOVES to shop. Don't take us to a mall. He will come out with 20 new shoes and 15 new outfits."
"Hey, I'm not that bad." Justin pouted.
Liz giggled and pulled off the highway to go towards the Baltimore mall. "Ya know, my sisters really close friend Jamie LOVES to shop."
"Oh really? How old is she?" Justin said very interested.
"25 and its a he. He's gay. You'd make a cute couple."
His eyes narrowed in on her. "Shut up, Lizzie. Just shut up."
"Can I borrow your cell?" She asked.
"Sure, why?"
She took the device he handed her and flipped it open. "Because I need to call up the Enquirer and tell em that Justin Timberlake is a punk."
"Give me that back." He snatched it from her fingers.
"Awww, the baby wants his pacifier."
And just like a baby, he sunk down in his seat and pouted. "Liz, you are mean."
She laughed an infectious, loud laugh. "And you love it. You absolutely LOVE IT!"
He shook his head with a smile and looked out the window. -You have no idea. -
--------
11:15
"Why don't you go try on something?"
Elizabeth shot Lonnie a look and offered him some of her pretzel. He refused. "Because there is no point in trying on something in a store that isn't my style and way too expensive for me."
"So, you can still try it on just for fun."
Liz huffed and stared at the door that contained the room where Justin Timberlake was trying on clothes. "Can we PULEASE go to American Eagle next."
He started out mocking her. "Can we please go to..come on Lizzie, just try on some leather pants or something sexy for me."
She slouched down on the bench out in the hallway of dressing room area of the clothing store they were in. "Why? Why does it have to be leather or sexy? Huh? Do you not think my Abercrombie jeans and this red plain T-shirt is not sexy enough for you. Ohh, excuse me next time I'll put on my knee high boots and plaid skirt, tie my little catholic school girl top to show my navel and put my hair in hot pink thingys and pigtails. Maybe then I'll be sexy enough for you."
Lonnie chuckled as she took a big bite out of her pretzel. "Ah ga ga ga ga...not funny." Justin said.
Lonnie nudged her a said. "I kinda thought it was humorous."
"Lonnie, you are a bodyguard. You guard bodies. It never says in your contract that you are supposed to speak. So don't."
He rolled his eyes and looked at the door. "Justin, just let me remind you that I am a 6 foot 5, 240 pound black man that will break your 6 foot 1, 160 pound white boy stick of a body in half with the snap of my fingers. And then I'll let Liz sell your body parts to your fans."
"ooo, I wonder which part would sell the most. Definitely not the brain." Liz said seriously.
Justin laughed. "What about my-nevermind. I'm going to keep it clean...so..." Justin swung open the door and turned on his heels. "Whatcha think."
Liz looked him up and down, looked at Lonnie and then back at Justin. "I think that that orange is just a TAD bright buddy."
"At least its not "oh my god, baby blue." God its like he's always pregnant or something." Lonnie said with exaggeration.
"I've heard about that little fetish. Very unattractive." Lizzie said thoughtfully.
"What about this one." Justin pulled a shirt from the huge pile of clothes in his dressing room and started taking off the orange one.
"Close the stupid door! You don't want any little girls running back here like some tourists snapping photos." Lonnie demanded.
"For the 100th time. Shut up." Justin muffled putting the shirt over his head.
"Ooo, red. MUCH better." Liz said seriously.
"You really think."
"Yeah, forgive me dear God for saying this but, you look hot." She nodded with her statement.
His smiled reached all the way to his eyes and he pointed at her. "I KNEW IT! You think I'm sexy."
"No, I said hot. Not sexy. And I did mean hot. I can see the sweat dripping down your neck right now."
He rolled his eyes and shut the door. "I am not sweating."
"Well you smell like it." She giggled.
"No, I deodorized and put on cologne this morning, THANK YOU."
"I know! Next time lay off on the Tommy all right bud?" she smiled and waved her hand in front of her face as Lonnie just shook his head at her cracks on Justin.
"The only thing I can say is that you just called me "bud" short for "buddy" which is a term of friendship." He swung the door open, his arms full with the clothes he was going to purchase.
"Or "Bud" could be Budda, like how northerners say butter." Elizabeth offered.
"OR Budwiser."
She looked at Lonnie and thoughtfully said. "Maybe budget. Like Justin watch the budget on your credit card when you by all that "wannabe- ghetto-but-my-Tennessee-redneck-self-wont-allow-it" clothing."
Justin threw all his clothes on the counter to pay and closed his eyes for a moment with a loud sigh. It had been a long time since his ego had been this small, and it was all because of this one girl. And this one girl would just NOT let up.
---------
lunchtime
"AHhh, they have the BEST quesadilla's here. Mmmmmm." Liz moaned as she looked over the menu.
Justin looked over his menu and then to her. "Is that what you are getting?"
"Yeah, everything is good here though. I come here a lot with my friends."
Patty who was sitting beside Lance, across from the other two pointed to herself and then to them. "Look at this. It's like we are on a little double date."
"Except you love Lance. Lance loves you. Justin loves me, but I hate him." Liz corrected.
Justin pouted. "I thought it was strongly dislike."
"It's practically the same thing." She shrugged.
"So, how did you guys start talking online?" Patty inquired.
"Ohhh god." Liz rolled her eyes and looked over at the table near them where Lonnie and Dre were sitting. Dre had been with Lance and Patty that morning.
"Well, um, one night I couldn't sleep on the bus and Lance had his new laptop on the bus and I just signed on AOL and started looking up profiles and stumbled across hers and we began talking."
Elizabeth shook her head and finished for Justin. "Naw, you left off the good part. So It's like 2 in the morning I'm trying to study for my stupid Chemistry class that I'm ALL BUT failing. And I get this little IM that say a/s/l? So while I'm already mad at the world because I don't understand the periodic table this little punk thinks he is going to be 12 years old and send me a/s/l. So I practically tell him to go to hell. And then get so fed up I sign off. Two weeks later I get Imed by him again, I give him a hard time and he is able to dish it back so I decide he's not so bad after all. And if he DID turn out to be bad then I was just able to mess with his mind."
"That's so sweet." Lance deadpanned.
"Yeah, It's going to be a afterschool special on ABC next month."
Lizzie looked over at Justin with a smile. "Ooo, I'm proud." She sighed and ruffed his bleached curls. "Teaching my baby how to be sarcastic. Awww..."
"Shut up." He mumbled.
"Ok, so how did you and Lance meet?"
Justin kept glancing at Liz while she listened to Patty and Lance tell her how they met. She seemed so enthralled with their story. It was weird for him to see his cynical little Lizzie so into a love story that wasn't too spectacular. Lance didn't rescue Patty or anything heroic like that. They had just met at a party and hit it off, and yet here Elizabeth was listening like it was some romance novel. It was a little odd for him. She wasn't supposed to be into all that girly stuff.
But the look in her eyes and the smile on her face proved to Justin that there was a LOT more behind the mask of sarcastic Elizabeth Meyers.