The next after
She hadn’t slept that late in a long,
long time. Waking up at twelve was
something she hadn’t done in a while.
Even in LA she had usually gotten up around eleven. But the bed was too comfortable and her body
was exhausted from the night before.
They hadn’t fallen asleep until way into the night. She didn’t know what time it was when they
finally sighed and he whispered goodnight against her shoulder but was positive
it was late. It was a good night, too.
He had treated like a queen and
had worshiped her with his mouth and fingers and taken her there twice. In between the times she had touched his body
all over, making him sigh and groan and say sexy little things she barely
understood. And when she had pushed him
on his back and made her way down to put him in her mouth, the look on his face
and the shock when he whispered, “are you sure?” turned her on more than she
ever thought possible. But thoughts like
that weren’t what she needed to be dwelling on right now. Right now she needed to be calm, cool, and
not act like a dinky little twit at the studio.
He had woken up early that morning
to the sound of an alarm clock. She
didn’t even know when or how it got set but it was, and she had pulled the
pillow over her head at the annoying blaring sound. He had slapped the alarm off, sighed and then
after a moment of feeling him run his hand over her side she felt him roll away
from her. Moments later, she felt a kiss
on her shoulder and the covers being placed over her from where they had fallen
to her waist.
She heard the shower run and then,
with a smile, fell back asleep only to half way wake up again when he kissed
her goodbye on her forehead, lips and the tip of her nose. When she had finally woken up much later in
the day, she had lazily put her clothes on and found a note on a small table in
the commons area of the room telling her to call Trace when she got up.
She did and he told her about what
the plans were for the day. After making
sure it was ok with Trace and then getting a call from Justin, her plan was to
get lunch and then go meet him at the studio before a little
After showering and getting ready
for her day she walked down to a local bagel shop she hadn’t been to in months
and sat outside for a little bit people watching as she enjoyed her lunch. She called Todd’s number and met him in the
lobby of the hotel and soon they were both in the back of the SUV with
Even though she had been in
And she couldn’t get her mind off
the night before. Every time she closed
her eyes or let her mind wander off into the world of daydreaming she thought
about him, about his hands, about his mouth, about his body. He was fucking gorgeous naked and just
thinking about him was making her want him again. She wanted him badly. She had hoped that the night before would
satiate her need for him, but instead it made it grow. Even the stuff that wasn’t so sexual made her
want him. Like when he got up completely
naked to get them a glass of water and stood there by the bed, taking long deep
gulps before handing her the glass. Or
when he curled up to her and spooned her, making sure to press every inch of
him against her. The night had been
perfect. He had treated her right and
she had returned the favor and she knew that they had reached some level that
was more intense and more special than she had with any other man she had been
with, even those she had claimed to love.
Something about that night and how
they surrendered to one another but talked and enjoyed and completely let each
other see the other one in a moment of pure animalistic humility and not laugh
and not think it strange– something about that made her fall in love with him.
Was she in love with him yet? She knew she was well on her way but didn’t
want to call it prematurely. Last night
had proven to her that she wasn’t ready to have sex with him. She was still shy about a few things and got
scared when she straddled him so he could feel her pressed against him. She had moved over him and suddenly got the
feeling, what if? What if he
accidentally went inside. That thought
had made her get off of him and that fear proved to her she wasn’t ready.
But soon she would be. She smiled.
“Man, you’ve been smiling crazy
girl. Tone down the wattage.”
She looked over to the man sitting
on the other side of the backseat with her.
He was wearing a Yankees hat tipped up on his head and a Jeter jersey on
with jeans. “What?”
He eyed her for a moment with an
amused smile and then turned to look outside again, “You look giddy as hell.”
She shrugged and looked down at
her hands. “I’m just excited to see the
studio and be in
“You really like him don’t you?”
“What?” She looked at him again a
little shocked he’d talk to her about this kind of stuff. She didn’t now if bodyguards were normally
this personable but in her short experience, which was summed up the day
before, they seemed to be fairly quiet and out of the way.
“That boy is fucking crazy for
you.” Todd laughed and shook his little a little, “He’s never invited a girl on
a business trip after only a month of knowing her.”
“Really?” Paranoia hit her that
maybe she was annoying everyone around her and distracting Justin. She didn’t want to be one of those
girlfriends. “Am I in the way?”
“No, not at all. It’s cool girl.” He smiled at her and nodded, “As long as you
keep him happy, it’s cool.”
She turned to look out at the
people walking down the street and smiled to herself. “He keeps me happy, too.”
The black Escalade came to a halt
and she looked outside at a building that looked like a normal unmarked
corporate office. “Alright, you ready?”
Todd asked. She nodded and opened her
door when he did, saying thanks to
The double set of tinted doors led
to a lobby with an older woman who was sitting behind a desk reading what
looked like a Reader’s Digest. On the
wall behind her was a sign and logo that said “Manhattan Center Studios.” Todd walked past her, “They still in studio four,
Ms. Betty?”
“Yes baby.” She smiled at them and Todd waved at Darcy to
follow him to the left down a hallway.
“That was Ms. Betty. She’s the best. We gotta be quiet alright? J-man said they’d be done about two-thirty
and we’re a little early and they might run late. So, we might be standing around watching him
sing for a while.”
“That’s ok.” She tried to stay calm but suddenly the idea
of seeing Justin perform, even if it was just recording, made her giddy with excitement. Sure he sang all the time, but normally he
was just being stupid and trying to annoy someone. This would be him, really, truly singing…and
songs she hadn’t heard that were probably going to be on his album.
She bit her lip as Todd opened the
door and walked in, holding it open for her.
Justin was in a small room with a
glass window situated behind the large control panel. He was standing in front of a microphone,
singing with earphones over his head and moving a little bit to the beat. A couple men were sitting behind the panel,
one was familiar but she tried not to make a scene at the fact that Timbaland
was in the same room as her and followed Todd against the back wall of the
room, leaning against it and just watching him sing. Tiny was sitting in a
chair by them, reading a magazine. He
nodded at them but said nothing else.
The song was interesting and had a
little bit of a Middle Eastern flavor. She imaged a music video with Arabian
Gypsies dancing around and flying carpets.
The image of Justin dressed as Aladdin made her smile, and she swallowed
the giggles and concentrated on him singing.
He had his eyes closed and was
moving his body back and forth and making his hands move to the music. The men behind the panel were moving to the
beats of the music too, and she thought they all looked a little funny, bopping
their heads like bobble head figures.
She smiled and once again tried to concentrate on him singing. He was looking good in a plain t-shirt and
jeans. He had yet to notice her and she
enjoyed being able to look at him and check him out without him paying
attention.
But then his eyes opened and they
looked straight ahead for a moment singing, “Baby, I can tell that you want to
do more than just dance with me and I don't mind you flirting.” His low voice made her bite her lip. It was husky and low like his late night
voice the night before. But then, then he moved his eyes to hers and stared
straight at her smiling just a bit and singing in a voice that seemed like he
was aching to be up on her, “But
honestly do you really wanna spend the whole night passing looks at me.” He licked his lips and she noticed his eyes
checking her out a little bit. “Come
over here and get to working…”
The music cut off and Timbaland
nodded and said into a microphone using his signature deep, gravelly voice,
“That was the shit man. You wanna do it
again?”
“Nope!” He said eagerly, sliding
the earphones off and pointing to her.
“My girl’s here.”
Her eyes widened when everyone in
the room turned around and stared at her for a moment. “Ohmigod,” she whispered to herself, not
believing he had just pointed her out like that. From what she had heard from Trace and other
people, he hated distractions when he worked and would often get in arguments
with Britney or anyone for that matter when they came to see him work.
Timbaland shook his head and waved
him out of the booth. “Come listen to
the playback.”
Justin emerged from the booth,
drinking from a bottle of water. As he screwed the cap back on he winked at her
and she could feel herself blushing. She
didn’t know why this was bothering her so much.
Well, it wasn’t that it was bothering her, she was just not expecting
this much affection towards her in this type of setting. In fact she was expecting him not to even acknowledge
her until they got in the car, and that was ok.
She knew this was business and he needed to be on his toes and
concentrating on his music, not her. To
say that she felt good to have him winking and smiling and talking about her
was an understatement.
It proved to her how much he liked
her. She just hoped she wasn’t being a
distraction and pissing off anyone else.
Justin stood beside Timbaland at
the panel as they played back the track.
He got a very serious look on his face and had his arms crossed over his
chest. When the recorded part of the
track was done he nodded and said in a soft voice, “Works. Might need a little something else.”
“Like what?”
“I don’t know.” He shrugged and
turned to glance at her for a moment before looking back down at the man beside
him. “Let me think about it for a
night. I’m thinking its something in the
background. Not much.”
“I’ll tweak a little.”
“For sure.” He turned back to her
and smiled fully, and she savored the moment, concentrating only on him and
passing a shy smile back. It was the
first time they really got to see each other since the night before. She knew something had changed in their
relationship and by the way he was acting, he thought so too. He nodded his head at her waving her over. “Come ‘ere.”
She bit her lip and looked at Todd
for encouragement but he wasn’t paying attention to her. She pushed herself from where she had glued
herself to the wall and padded over to him.
He smiled and ran his hand down her arm.
She was wearing a spaghetti strap shirt since it was so hot outside and
she realized the more skin she had exposed the more dangerous he was going to
be. At least her light skirt was pretty
long.
“This is Timbaland, his producing
part of my album and this is Steve and Jimmy.
They’re helping us record and shit.”
“Nice to meet you.” She smiled and
waved at the guys, suddenly feeling a little shy in the presence of these other
men.
“Cute little shorty you got here J,”
Timbaland said and she felt herself blush.
“You think I don’t know this.”
Justin said in an animated tone and then wrapped an arm around her and rubbed
her back a little bit. “What’s going on
babe?”
“Not much,” She said, not really
knowing what he expected from her in this setting.
“You ready to go have fun?”
“If you are. I don’t wanna take you away-“
He cut her off. “We’re finished. I’ll be back here tomorrow morning for a
little bit. You can come if you want,
but it’ll be early.”
She rolled her eyes playfully and
smiled at him, “Depends on what time I get to bed tonight.”
He nodded slowly at her and licked
his lips in a flirting manner, “Mmhmm.” He quickly changed his attitude and
waved at the guys at the control panel.
One of them was already standing up and stretching. “Alright thanks guys. I’ll see ya’ll tomorrow.”
Darcy waved to the guys and they
all smiled at her and that made her feel good.
She didn’t want them to see her as the nagging girlfriend who took
Justin away from his work. He had been
the one to call the shots and end the session, she just hoped he knew what he
was doing.
Justin walked over to the doorway
where Todd and Tiny were already ready to go.
She followed him like a little puppy.
“What’s up Todd?” Justin asked.
“Chillin’.”
They walked out into the hallway
and he turned to look over his shoulder and came beside her to walk with her. “What
did you think about the song?”
“Well from the ten seconds of it I
heard, it sounds good.” She nudged him and he nudged her back, reaching down to
grab her hand.
“I got a song I wrote about you,”
he whispered and she widened her eyes.
She didn’t expect that. “But I
haven’t recorded it yet.”
“Wh-what?” She asked as they
walked into the lobby. Why would he
write a song about her? She knew he
liked her but enough to write a song?
Maybe it was a bad one, maybe it was about some annoying bitch. But he wouldn’t do that and she knew he
didn’t find her annoying. She just was
shocked he would have something artistic or poetic to say about her. Yeah, they had fun together and had a lot to
talk about and were incredibly attracted to one another, but it still shocked
her. Maybe it was the left over of the
fandom that was getting to her. She had
done a good job of getting over the fact that he was The Justin Timberlake, but
she still found it a little unbelievable that he would like her. And having a
song written about her was a whole level she didn’t know if she’d be able to
grasp.
He ignored her shock and winked at
her before waving to the secretary. “See ya tomorrow Ms. Betty.”
“Bye babydoll. Have a good one.” She smiled.
Darcy dropped his hand as soon as
they were outside.
He raised his eyebrows at
her.
“You wrote a song for me?”
He smiled. “Yup.”
“What’s it called?” She asked,
eager to find out about it.
“Not sure yet.” He shrugged and moved his arms over his head
in a yawn. He looked tired but it was a
good tired, and she knew why. That
thought made her giddy inside. “Nothing
Else, I think. Kind of Stevie Wonder
feel. Not really like what you just
heard at all.”
“When are you recording that?”
“I’m going to
It was quiet and she felt him
staring at her. She bit her lip and
asked him, “It’s about me?”
He smiled, nodded and padded the
space right beside him. “Come here.” She
could see it in his eyes what he wanted and she was a little unsure with other
people in the car. Tiny and the driver
were talking and Todd was talking on his cell phone at this point. She cautiously slid over to his side and he
immediately wrapped his arm around her shoulders and brought his hand to her
face to make her look him in the eyes.
He lowered his eyelashes and whispered, “You look so fuckin’ good.”
His lips met hers and he kissed
her softly and right before he was going to deepen the kiss she pulled away and
whispered, “Justin…” hoping he’d be jolted back into the reality. They were in a car with three other people
and she didn’t find it quite appropriate to be making out in the back seat.
“I want you again…” He whispered
against her ear, pressing his lips there.
She giggled and pushed him away,
trying to pretend that his husky voice and his hand on her thigh didn’t make
her squirm. “I’ve unleashed a monster.”
She tilted her head up and whispered close to his ear, “I cant give you head
ever again if you are gonna be begging
for it all the freaking time.”
“Fine I wont give you any either.”
He pulled away and crossed his arms over his chest. She giggled at him as he pouted and looked
out the window. She knew it wouldn’t
last long and when she stared at him a little more and then lifted up to kiss
his cheek he turned to her with a smile and wrapped her in his arms again. He sighed, “God Darcy, you felt so good last
night. Thank you…”
“For what?” She asked.
He kissed her shyly and said, “Sharing
that with me…” She nodded and felt him
touching her arms and skimming his fingers down her skin. She had never thought of her arms as sexual
areas but the way he was lightly touching her brought memories of how gentle he
was the night before and she immediately was swarmed with want. And then…then, he started to sing lightly to
her. “I was just walking that day
aimlessly…la da da dum, da da da dum”
She looked up at him, “What?”
A bright smile came on his face
and his kissed her forehead trying to silence her, “Nothing…”
It was quiet in the car and she
realized that
“Pretty good. Too early, though.” He licked his lips and
smiled at her, trying to flirt again.
“Someone kept me up late last night.”
She rolled her eyes tried her best
to keep talk off the night before. “So
what are we doing today?”
“I wanna take you to this store.” He stretched again and yawned and when he
raised his arms above his head his shirt rode up a little from his pants and
she saw the newly tanned skin of his stomach.
She wanted to touch him but resisted the urge. “I really think you’ll like their stuff. It’s your style.”
“What’s it called?” She asked,
curious to if she had ever been there before.
She hoped not. She loved new
stores and was fairly excited to go shopping.
“A secret,” he smiled.
She nudged him and licked her lips
at him, and went back on her own urge and teased him just a bit. “
He narrowed his eyes at her and
then leaned down to whisper at her, “You want me to take advantage of you right
here in front of everyone.”
“I dare you.” She challenged him
with a raised eyebrow and he just pulled away and pouted. She laughed at him, trying to get a rise out
of him. “Ha ha, knew you wouldn’t have the balls to
do it.”
Before she could think, he was on
her. He had pressed into her side and
licked up her neck to her ear, tugging on it a bit with his teeth before
whispering, “Just wait till I get you alone.” She felt his hand slide across
her belly and dip down into the stretchy ban of her skirt and tease the
boundary of the front of her thong. And
then, when she thought things had gotten far enough out of hand, she felt him
lightly kissing her neck and shoulders as he took her hand and put it on his
crotch. He was hard and when she gasped
and looked over, she could see that he was obviously turned on. “Do you want it?” He whispered in her ear.
She gulped and quickly brought her
hand back into her lap and pushed him away.
He chuckled to himself and winked at her, fully aware of the chaos he
had just unleashed on her. It wasn’t
much but it was enough to make her ache her him burst through her and she
decided she didn’t want to go shopping.
She wanted to get back to the hotel and fuck him.
She looked over from where she had
slid herself back against the other side and saw that he was now leaning
forward talking to Todd about something.
She narrowed her eyes at him and
he caught her look and smiled triumphantly.
He was in trouble and she was going to make him pay somehow.
----------------------
As they got out of the car and
looked up at the building in front of them, she inwardly groaned. This was going to be awkward. The whole fear thing came back. She was certain they were going to recognize
her here. She would bet her life on it. She
glanced at him and he was looking down at her with a bright smile. He had his hand on her back, leading her
towards the doorway.
The white letters that said, “Blue
Nada” on the glass front of the store hit her hard. Justin looked down at her, “Have you been
here before?”
Before she had a chance to answer,
the door was opened for him and she tried to hide her face even though she knew
it wasn’t going make a difference. “Hey
there Justin, thanks for coming by today.”
The young woman standing there
brought Justin into a small hug and Darcy heard him say in response, “No,
thanks for fixing everything up for me.”
“Well, we got the shades ready
incase the razzi catch on but I haven’t seen any today, so maybe we’ll be in
luck.”
“I hope so. I could use a quiet afternoon.”
“This is Amanda and Elliot and
they’re here to help. Casey is in the
back getting some things set up. So just
look around and…”
Darcy sighed when the woman stopped
her speech short and stared straight at her.
Her eyes widened and a small shocked smile formed on her face. “Darcy?”
“Darcella is here?!” Elliot said
excitedly and she looked over to see Amanda and Elliot coming closer with
beaming smiles. It made her feel good to
know that they were so happy to see her.
Despite the fact that she only knew them from the store, she had spent
quite a bit of time here and gotten to know everyone pretty well. But she knew Justin would be curious as to
why she knew them well and she wasn’t sure if she wanted to tell them that she
had her own personal account at the store, one that no one else did.
“Hey guys.” She waved.
“Oh my god. I thought you had died.” Amanda laughed and
shook her head. “You haven’t been by in
months.”
“I told you to tell everyone I was
going out to
“I know, I know,” she said resting
her arm on one of the clothing racks that had some jeans on them. “But I thought you’d be back by now. Are you here with your mom?”
“God no,” She waved her hand and
turned to put her hand on Justin’s arm and bring him up to her. “I’m here with Justin.”
“Really?!” Amanda squealed.
“Yes, really.” She giggled and
looked up at him. He had a confused look
on his face and his eyebrows were bunched together.
His hand took her arm off of him
and he said slowly, “Wait...what’s going on?”
Darcy shook her head and him and
turned back to Lucille, “Why would you think I was here with my mom? You know I hate shopping with her.”
“We saw her earlier.” She
shrugged.
Elliot nodded, “Yeah like thirty
minutes ago.”
“What!” She couldn’t believe her
mom was in the area. She knew her mom loved
to shop in this part of
Before anyone was able to say
anything else about her mom she heard a squeal, “Morena!”
“Rubia!” She smiled as the blonde
woman came shuffling towards her barefooted.
Casey was one of the main designers for Blue Nada. They were a group of four young New Yorkers,
three girls and one guy and were the best in Darcy’s opinion. Casey was also a foot model on the side and
walked around her store always barefoot, showing off her gorgeous manicured
feet. In fact, the more she thought
about it, she realized how sweet it was for Justin to bring her here. He had no idea how much this shop meant to
her, in fact he didn’t even know she liked it.
She wondered how he guessed that she would like this type of clothing
and where he had heard about it from.
She had noticed a couple things in his wardrobe that looked like some of
Blue Nada’s creations but never asked. Maybe
he had been snooping and saw that most of the tags in her clothing had the tiny
cotton tab that said, “B.Nothing”
“Yeah, your mom stopped by to say,
“hello darlings’,” she said grandly, rolling her eyes. “And show off the new pooch.”
“Oh god, Princess?”
“Yeah. Thing tried to bite me.” Casey laughed.
“Wait…wait!” She looked over at Justin and saw him
scratching his short curls and looking at her more than confused. “What is going on?”
“Nothing.” She ignored him and turned back to Casey and
the other guys, “Oh my god, do you think she’s still around?”
“She was going across the street
to Dior,” Elliot groaned.
“Oh god.” Darcy’s eyes widened and she turned and
looked through the window across the narrow street. Sure enough there was the sleek black car and
there was Reynolds, reading the newspaper as he waited patiently in the
driver’s seat. “Oh no…there’s the car.”
“Hold up a minute!” Justin said,
grabbing her arm and pulling her back beside him from where she was walking to
the front windows.
“What?” She asked, curious as to
why he was flipping out. Actually she knew why, but was trying to play it off
like she didn’t realize.
“What the hell is going on?”
“Nothing, I’ve just been here
before.” She shrugged.
“That’s an understatement.” Amanda
laughed.
“Darcy’s our favorite client,
Justin.” Casey beamed, “I’m so glad you two are here together though. That’s great.”
“Oh puhlease.” Darcy rolled her
eyes, not liking all the attention on her and the fact that she shopped there
way too much. “I’m not your favorite.”
“You are, too! You keep us in
business,” Casey said.
“You keep me stylin’.” She smiled.
Amanda and Elliot stepped forward
and Amanda said, “We’re gonna go get the changing rooms set up for you
two. Do you want something to drink?”
“I’m good.” Darcy waved her hand
and turned back to look across the street.
She heard Justin say in a raspy voice, “I could use some water.”
“God, I hope she doesn’t like, see
me.” She moaned.
“I’m so confused.”
She rolled her eyes and walked
over and latched her arms around his middle.
He looked down at her and she hugged him for a moment and pulled away. “Justin, I shop here a lot. This is my favorite store in the world. Pretty much my whole wardrobe is from here.”
He shook his head and started to
say, “But this is design-”
But before he could finish, her
mother walked out of doors of the store across the street, looking like she was
Jackie O. or something, and she cut him off. “Uh oh…”
Her mother was on her cell phone
and had the nerve to wear white gloves.
She had her pooch in a Coach styled carry bag, and was obviously to the
fact that Reynolds had gotten out of the car and was helping people pile in bags
into the truck. Huge sunglasses covered
her eyes and she had on a big hat to match her outfit. It was embarrassing and she wanted to hide
from the world. She then realized she
was hiding. She had her hands on his
shoulders and was peeking behind Justin, who was turned staring at her mother
as well. She looked up at him and forced
a smile, “Shit, is it bad that I’m hiding from my mom?”
“That’s your mom?” He asked with
an amused smile and then moved away from her.
She knew where he was going before he even stepped there. She knew he was about to leave the store and
go introduce himself and she couldn’t have that. She would be mortified.
“No Justin. Don’t you dare!”
“I wanna meet her.”
“No! Just, just…”
She sighed, feeling herself get on edge.
She put her hands up and said, “God, stay here and shop, ok? You do NOT want to meet her. Promise me.
She’ll just annoy you. Stay here
where it’s safe.”
“But…”
Before he said anything she was
already at the door. “Just stay
here. I’ll be right back.” She gave her
purse to Tiny and he held it looking almost as confused as Justin had. She
turned back around and said, “Pray for me.”
Todd crossed him self and laughed,
looking a little confused himself but not as upset about it as Tiny and Justin
seemed.
She sighed, collected herself and made
sure that her clothing was straight, then looked both ways and saw the street
was pretty empty and crossed the street where her mother was about to sit down
in the car. “Mom…” she called out.
“What?” Her mother’s mouth dropped and she took her
sunglasses off. “Is this really my baby?!”
“Hey…” She said and was
immediately brought into a hug. Her
mother squeezed her tightly and then kissed her cheek.
“Darcella! What are you doing here?” She asked in a
disapproving tone, “Why didn’t you tell me you were in
“No, no. I’m just here for a few days.”
“You’re over at your little store aren’t
you.” Her mother beamed. Her little dog
made a yelp in his carrier and she unzipped the end just a bit so the small
“Well, I’ve been busy and having a
lot of fun.” She stared at poor Princess
who was trying her best to wiggle her way out.
She felt horrible that the dog wasn’t able to run around and smell the
ground and was being spoiled despite its instincts to run and play.
“Are you at your apartment? I made Reynolds go by earlier this week and
check on it. He says everything is still
fine.”
“Good.” She immediately felt bad for leaving out the
only sane member of her family. He
wasn’t technically a blood member but had been around for as long as she could
remember. He taught her how to ride a
bike and taught her how to drive. He was
the only normal one when she went home.
Everyone else was always freaking out about something and Reynolds,
their trusty driver, didn’t even flinch at horrendous traffic. She stepped over and smiled at the aging man,
“Hey Reynolds.”
She wrapped her arms around his
neck and gave him a tight hug. It was
good to see him and know he was still doing ok and was still able to put up
with her mom’s petty attitude. “What’s
up, Miss Dee?”
She pulled away, seeing a
disapproving look from her mother. Her
parents never understood her relationship with Reynolds or any one of the other
helpers they had. They were the only
descent people she saw when she went home.
Everyone else was so far up in their own world that it was hard to have
a normal conversation. She noticed
someone was missing and asked her mom where her faithful, bumbling, shy
assistant was, “Where’s Christine?”
“She has the day off. Some family thing, I don’t know.” Her mother sighed and touched the end of her
hat, making sure it was on right. “I’m
just a mess without her.” Princess
yelped again and Darcy’s mother made kissing noises and looking down at the
dog’s head that was still trying to wiggle its way out. “Isn’t that right my little princess?” Darcy subdued the urge to gag and reached in
and brought the dog out for a moment, holding it in one hand. She pulled the dog up against her chest and
the little pooch immediately started to smell her and his little nub of a tail
started to wag.
“Hey girl…”
Her mother smiled at her, “Ya
know, she only likes me and you. Must be
because you take after me so much. So,
where are you staying? Did the apartment
look ok to you?”
She tried not to laugh, but her
mother always cracked her up. She was
always full of questions and always talking way too fast for Darcy’s laid back
attitude. “No, I’m not staying
there. I’m at the Trump.”
“Why-” She heard her mom gasp and
had a feeling of what was about to come, “You’re with that new boy of yours, aren’t
you?”
She groaned and worked to put the
dog back in his carrier, “Mom…”
But then she heard a male voice
call out, “Hey…” It was one that wasn’t
Reynolds, one that was distinctly owned by the man that made her melt into
mush. She cautiously looked to the side
and saw him approaching them, already more than halfway across the street. Tiny was on the other side, looking around
suspiciously.
“What are you doing?” She said in
a hushed tone.
“You not gonna introduce me
Darcy?” He smiled and winked at
her. She wanted to kill him. This wasn’t not how she wanted her mom to
meet Justin or Justin meet her mom. In
fact, she was hoping the exchange would miraculously never take place. But it was, right before her eyes, right as
she zipped up Princess in her prison, right as Reynolds sighed and checked his
watch, it was all happening. He was
beaming, knowing he was pissing her off, but some how excited at that
fact. His hand eased forward in front of
her mother and he plastered on a charming smile. “Hi, I’m Justin Timberlake.”
She wasn’t embarrassed about
Justin. In fact, she knew that her mom
and dad, despite the fact that he was a singer and not “old money” would be
forced to like him. He was charming and
attractive and knew how to croon an audience, no matter who they were.
No, she was scared about how
pathetic her mom would act. She hit her
forehead with her palm when her mother said in a grand voice, putting her
dainty gloved hand into his, “Hello Justin. I’m Marie Vanderbilt Height,
Darcy’s mother.” Their hands parted and
Darcy wanted to throw up when her mother resituated her carrier and purse and
gave him a small half hug, rubbing his chest a little bit. “Darcy you didn’t tell me he was so
handsome.”
She rolled her eyes and groaned
out, “Well, I didn’t think that was what was most important to you. But oh, I
was mistaken.”
“Darcy…” Her mother said in a
faked shocked voice. So fake that
seconds later she was beaming again, looking up at Justin. She wanted to laugh. She could already tell her mom had the hots
for her boyfriend. “So what are you two doing
up here in
“Actually I’m here on business,
working a little bit on my album.” Justin said smoothly, “I just, thought it’d
be fun to have Darcy come with me. She’s
a really great girl, Mrs. Height. You
must have raised her well.”
“Aww well… ya know.” She waved her
hand about like it was nothing. Darcy
wanted to say that it was because her mother barely raised her. That was owed more to the man behind them, and
a few others. That thought made her smile and she looked at him standing there,
holding his cap in his hand as he scratched his head.
“Reynolds come meet my boytoy.”
She giggled.
“Boytoy?! Darcella!” Her mother
exclaimed. She loved how she could rile
her mom up so much by being “inappropriate.”
She knew Justin didn’t care.
Sometimes she wondered if her mother had any sort of sense of humor.
“Mom I’m joking. Justin this is Reynolds.”
“Nice to meet you.” The two of them shook hands and she watched
Reynolds closely to see what he thought.
He was smiling so she assumed that meant he approved. Good,
she thought. His opinion mattered
greatly to her.
“Well mom we probably need to get
going and I’m sure you have tons of things to do today in the city.”
“You’re right but we should go to
dinner tonight. Are you still going to
be in the city?”
She was horrified of the idea of
her mother joining, her, Justin, Trace and the rest of the crew out to eat at
this little pizza shack Justin and her were talking about earlier. She knew her mother would be appalled by the
robust Italian waiters and the picnic style tables and tablecloths. “I don’t know, we sorta had plans.”
“It’s not-” Justin started to say,
but she snatched his hand and squeezed it tightly.
“We should probably get back in
side before anyone spots you,” She said, looking up to him, narrowing her eyes a
bit. “Tiny would kill you.”
“Who’s Tiny?”
“He’s my bodyguard,” Justin said.
“Ooo, bodyguard?”
She watched as her mom practically
orgasmed at the sight of Tiny standing across the street, and wouldn’t be
surprised if she called up Christine and had her look into getting her
one. She figured it was time to finally
end this. She needed a release like
shopping and the more she thought about it, she needed a hug and a kiss from
her boyfriend. She didn’t realize how
stressed out she was getting until the inside of her cheek started to ache from
where she had been anxiously chewing on it.
“I gotta go mom. I’ll talk to you
later.”
“Wait!” Darcy sighed, wishing she had never come out
there. “Are you going to come up next
weekend for your sister’s party?”
“What party?” Justin asked
excitedly.
But it wasn’t the type of party
that he was use to. This would be a
stuffy party with snobs complimenting each other until all the egos exploded
into a massive blob of rich drunkenness.
“Engagement party,” she said monotone.
“You didn’t tell me about it.” He
nudged her, this time squeezing her hand tightly.
“Oh my, you two just have to come
up. It’s going to be huge. Please, please come,” her mother begged.
She was just about to say they had
plans with Justin quickly piped in, “Of course we’ll be there.” She wanted a gun so she could shoot him in
the foot. Scratch the kiss and the hug. He was going to get a beat down.
“Oh I’m so excited! I can’t wait to tell your sister. She’ll be so happy!”
“I’m sure.” Darcy eyed Justin but
he paid no attention to her.
“Ok baby…” Darcy let go of his
hand as her mother gave her a hug and quickly moved on to Justin, lingering on
him longer and kissing both his cheeks like she was French or something. “Call me about dinner tonight ok?” Her mom leaned down a bit and then whispered
loud enough for the world to hear, “And about Justin…” She giggled and waved to them as Reynolds
held open the backseat door for her, “Ciao.
Nice meeting you Justin!”
“You too, Mrs. Height,” he said
smoothly.
The door shut and she sighed and
looked at Reynolds who was coolly sauntering around the front end of the
car. “I’m praying for you Reynolds.” She
laughed.
“Girl, after twenty years I don’t
think prayer is going to help me.” She
gave him another hug and heard him say, “Good seeing you Miss Dee.”
“Bye kid!” She waved as he got in
car, resituated his cap and slammed the door shut.
She tugged on Justin’s arm, looked
both ways and quickly got out of there and back to her safe house. When they reached Tiny, he pulled on her hand
to stop her and she turned to him, ready for him to say something smart. But he didn’t, all he said was, “Well…”
“Ok?” She looked at him quixotically and asked, “
can we go inside now?”
“That was your mom…” She nodded painfully. “And her…”
“Driver,” she finished for him,
wondering what else he thought Reynolds would be.
“Really?” He rubbed his chin and looked like he was
about to break the mystery of life.
“My mom hates driving in
“I didn’t think drivers wore
outfits like that still.”
She rolled her eyes and became
even more embarrassed. Reynolds’s
“uniform” was an old style limo driver’s uniform complete with a cap and a nice
suit. He normally wore gloves but was
sure that it was too hot today for such a thing. He use to joke with her that his life was
just like the movie “Driving Miss Daisy” but he complained that he wasn’t as
cool as Morgan Freeman and her mom was a bazillion times worse than Miss Daisy.
“She likes humiliating him.”
Tiny opened the door to Blue Nada for
them and as they walked in Justin put his hands on her hips and leaned down to
whisper in her ear, “I’ve figured you out.”
“What?” she turned around, curious
as to what in the world he was talking about.
“There’s been this little secret
you haven’t been telling me and I’m getting to the bottom of it.” He winked at her.
“What are you talking about?” She
asked harshly.
“Nothing, just nothing.”
“How was it?” Elliot asked, “It
looked painful.”
“Oh it was. And thanks to mister Timberlake we’re going
to a party next weekend.”
“The engagement party?” Lucille
asked as Amanda handed Justin his glass of water. He thanked her. “At least it’ll be fun.”
“No it won’t.”
“Come on. There’ll be a band and free booze and ball
gowns and tuxes.”
“Oh yeah…” Justin said, clearing
his throat and taking another sip. “I’ve
figured it out.”
“What? That you’re gonna have to wear a tux?” She
rolled her eyes at him. He was starting
to annoy her. In fact, everyone
was. Even Lucille and Elliot.
“No, who you really are.” He laughed and
she shook her head and tried to busy herself with looking for some tops she
wanted. She spotted one quickly, but
before she was able to respond she heard Amanda say with a laugh, “What? You don’t know who she is?”
“I’m nobody!” She almost screamed
and ripped the magenta and blue shirt from the rack. “I’m just a girl from
“She’s a little princess.” Elliot
whispered in a voice that everyone could hear.
“I am not a princess!” She said through clenched teeth. She wanted to stomp her foot and growl but
resisted the urge. “I’m no one, ok? Can’t we just shop without something else
going wrong? I’d like to have a nice
afternoon, thank you!”
“Definitely a princess.” Justin said, causing everyone else to burst into
laughter. She hated that they were
laughing at her and hated that Justin now thought she was a spoiled bratty
little girl. She almost felt her eyes
stinging with tears. Before she had a
breakdown she felt an arm against her shoulders and looked to her side to see
Casey there, comforting her. She was
glad she was there to keep cool about everything.
“Come back here with me…” She said
calmly, “We’ll get you all set up. I got some things that I haven’t finished and
I wanna see how they’d fit on you.”
“Thanks…” She sighed and ran her hands through her
tousled hair. She began to follow Casey
back into the back where they had changing and fitting rooms. Before she was about to disappear from view
she turned and zoned in on him. He was
still standing there staring at her, hard, trying to get inside her head.
She hated that he had figured her
out, even though he was still off a little.
She wasn’t a princess, not by any means but didn’t like the fact that he
and everyone else was now picking on her for the stereotype that was her
life. She was a rich kid and had always
resented the fact. No one had ever
understood that. Everyone thought she
was just ungrateful and selfish, and maybe she was. But she didn’t find it fair that she had such
an abnormal life and an abnormal family.
She had always been told that
nothing in life was normal, but having a driver and assistants and other such
things, and living in a house that wasn’t a house but instead called an
“estate” got under her skin. She couldn’t
take all the balls and the stuck up rich boys in their foreign cars and polo
shirts. She didn’t even know why she was
attracted to Justin. His house was huge,
his cars were outrageous and he had been known to dress preppy.
But he was real. And even though his life had been as far from
normal as hers was, it was different and something about that attracted him to
her faster than a fly to a light bulb.
She sighed when he licked his lips at her from far away and she really
wished they were alone so she could fight with him about all this and come to
some resolution and then, then make up with him.
As crazy as both their pasts and
their life’s were, he formed some sort of stability and she was terrified that
if he found out the truth about her, that that stability would crumble, he
would want nothing to do with her, or worse, want to be with her for all the
wrong reasons.
-------
It was fascinating to her how one
evening could go so well and then the next could erupt into this horrible thing
she wanted to hide from. She hid by
being alone, curled up in bed. After
meeting her mother, Justin had insisted on picking on her the rest of the
day. Maybe she was overreacting but he
didn’t know her mother like she did and he didn’t know her family and how much
she had to deal with. She was insanely
jealous of the relationship Justin had with his mother and wished she could
have that with her mom. In fact, she
probably could have. Her sister, Emily and her mom were as close as mother and
daughter could be. But Darcy was
different. The person she most related
to was her father but he was never around and when he was he was often too busy
to talk too. Justin had explained to her
in great detail his family situation, about his parents divorce and his
brothers and Paul and Lisa and difference between Dad and Daddy. She didn’t have that.
Her parents, though still
together, functioned as merely an arrangement of two companies, so to
speak. Two families that came together
for the greater good of the future of their lives. She had often wondered if her parents had
ever loved one another and cherished old photos of them in the late sixties
when her mother was a beautiful young woman, bursting with energy and her
father was a handsome, perfect student, heading the business department at
Harvard. They looked truly happy to be
with one another in those photos and not forced and tired like the ones taken
recently.
It was something that she was
afraid of, deathly afraid of, and even though she was usually pretty good about
suppressing her worry, that afternoon it haunted her. She looked at Justin and wondered about their
future. She knew there was one, but
wondered how long it would last.
Would she turn fifty and find
affection in a young landscaping boy, and drink herself a bottle of expensive
white wine every night just to put her to sleep?
Would she only come home four
times a year, for as short as time as possible and obsess herself with whatever
work she had?
She had been silent during dinner
and felt bad that she hadn’t called her mother to invite her to join them. She knew her mom probably didn’t think twice
about it but as she watched Justin playfully kid around with his friends and
his bodyguards she wished her mom could be there to see how happy she was, even
though at that moment she was miserable.
Her mother had annoyed her all her life and betrayed her trust by always
caring more about who her daughter was dating than her actual daughter.
But she was starting to understand
it. Her mother didn’t want her to be
alone.
She could remember being young and
even though her mom was very much she same fifteen years ago, she could
remember sitting out on the veranda facing the lake and just sitting there in
the big rocking chairs, watching the breeze ripple the smooth water and hearing
the birds sing to one another and being frightened every time a bee came by to
browse her lemonade.
Before the depression that hit her
at dinner, Blue Nada had been ok. They
had spent a couple hours trying on clothes and then she finally bought way too
much, but she was given a lot, too.
Justin made comments on how much she was buying but she didn’t
care. He annoyed her to no end and had
accumulated some arrogance after her met her mom, like he knew her whole life
story better than she did. On the way to
pick up Trace and to the restaurant he had been on the phone with random people
and pretty much ignored her. She was
thankful for the loneliness.
But then, after dinner and after
she had met some of Trace’s and Justin’s friends who had accompanied them to
dinner, they all planned to come back to the hotel to hang out since Justin had
another early morning. They had all
piled into the SUV like sardines and she had been pushed up against a window
with Justin beside her. He had grabbed
her hand, put his arm around her shoulders and leaned down to whisper, “what’s
wrong?”
She had shook her head in response
and he had looked at her hard, hurt and almost angry. Before he said anything else, someone had
gotten his attention and when they had gotten back to the Trump she had
complained of a headache and gone straight to their room. Justin had tried to follow her but she had
pulled Trace aside and told him to keep Justin occupied for a little bit
because she wanted to be alone. He
didn’t ask questions and quickly engaged Justin in a conversation as she
slipped away.
That was at eight and now, now it
was almost eleven. She sniffed, rolled off the bed, from where she had been
watching a special on peoples of
Her body was tired and her eyes
ached from the hard crying she had done about an hour before. She decided she should just go to sleep. He had his own key and figured she’d go ahead
and turn out all the lights. On her way
to the outer room and foyer, she was stopped.
The door to their room opened, and the one person she had at first
wanted to leave her alone, and then shortly after missed more than her heart
could stand, was right there, staring at her as he softly shut the door.
“Hey…” She said hoarsely.
He didn’t respond but just stepped
towards her. The look on his face was indescribable
and she hated not being able to read his emotions. When he was close enough for her to touch she
couldn’t help herself and latched onto him.
She squeezed his middle and buried her cheek into his shoulder. A breath she had been holding all day, was
expelled and she finally relaxed.
His body was stiff and when his
arms finally came around her he shook her a little and made her look up at
him. “God baby, what’s going on?” His eyes searched hers. “You’re freaking me out.”
“Nothing…” She bowed her head and
stared at the shirt he was wearing.
“That’s bull shit Darcy.” He said
harshly, but not letting her go. “Ever
since I found out you were a rich girl you’ve-“
“I’m NOT a rich girl!” She yelled and pushed him away. She didn’t know why this was bothering her so
much but it really was. It was like she
finally had something or someone to physically take out all her anxiety and
worry on and even though it was completely unfair to him, she couldn’t keep
herself from dishing it out. She rolled
her eyes and said, “My family has a little bit of money. Ok? So
we’re rich. That’s all. There are a lot of people especially in LA
and
“Shhh, calm down…” He said. He marched to her and grabbed her arm, making
her follow him to the couch. He sat her
down and she went willingly, looking up at him as he said, “You’re the one
that’s made it out to be a big deal. And
you’re the one that’s kept it a secret.”
“Look I didn’t…”
“Can I talk, please?” He sat down beside her and turned to her,
looking at her dead on. “I found it
weird that you were so nervous about me meeting your parents. But it makes since now. Your dad at the trump, going overseas, your
mom and her dog and her driver. Fuck,
the Rolls-Royce. Your brothers holy shit
condo and, your hot little rental car…”
He started to smile and looked at her sweetly, “It’s ok if you’re wealthy.”
“I just…” She sighed and ran her
hand through her hair. “My whole life
I’ve dated people because of the fact that I’m part of the blue blooded class
and I hate it Justin. I absolutely,
fucking hate it. I don’t want to date a
guy that likes me for money but I also don’t want to spend my life alone. I wanna be with you and I want you to like me
for me and not because of who my daddy is.”
“I don’t know your dad. Who is
your dad? Is he some king of some small,
rich country?”
She pushed at him, again, this
time playfully. “No. I’m not a
princess.”
“You’re my princess.” He said,
pulling her against him and then leaning back against the side of the
couch. It felt good to be against him
and she quickly found herself lying on top of him, facing him with their front
pressed into one another.
She toyed with the shirt line
underneath his neck and said to him, “He’s into real estate, I think. I mean, I really don’t know what my dad does
exactly. His name is Jackson Height. He
owns property here in
“Big Pimpin’,” he said, rubbing
her back.
“Please don’t pick on me. You picked on me all day and I hated it.”
“I’m not. Girl, you think I care?” He laughed. “I mean look, you got me because you’re sweet
and you’re genuine when you’re with me, you’re sexy and beautiful and-and…” He dipped forward and kissed her
forehead. “When I first met you I, I can’t
explain it, but I liked you so much right away.
And as time has gone on I-I’ve gotten to know you…” He took a deep
breath and when she looked at him she knew.
She knew exactly what he was thinking.
She gulped. “And I really, I really…”
“You don’t have to say it.” She cut him off short, not ready to hear
those words, not ready to say them back.
He looked stunned for a moment and then suddenly snapped out of it, like
he had been asleep all that time and suddenly come back into reality.
His mouth twitched into a smile
and he whispered, “…how about I tell you a secret, too?”
“What?”
“You’re the girl of my dreams.”
She laughed and turned her face
into his chest, chuckling into it as she said, “Oh my god, you are cheesy…”
“But you are…” He poked at her sides and when she looked up,
he was smiling at her. “And I don’t care
about where you came from or what your last name is. All I care about is that you’re my Darcy and
that you stay that way.”
“Really?” She asked
seriously.
“Yeah…” He nodded and cupped her
face in his hand, straining his neck up so he could kiss her. Before his lips touched hers he asked softly,
“Are you really mine?”
She didn’t say anything but
answered him with a deep kiss, pushing her body fully into his and holding onto
him as he rolled them over on the couch.
She didn’t know how long they stayed there, but knew they were there
fore a while, just kissing, nothing more.
And as his lips moved against her
she knew she really was his, and nothing was going to change that. The fear she had was pushed away and she
knew, as long as he was with her, as long as he was honest with her and talked
with her and loved her, like he was so good at doing, they would be ok.
And that would mean she’d be ok.