Epilogue
She kneeled down on the comforter,
dropping her flip flops onto the hardwood floor and eyeing him suspiciously as
he carefully unwrapped his burger. She
sat the paper cup filled with Sprite down on his nightstand and moved to get
situated beside him on the bed, careful not to hit his foot.
Before she could lay back his hand
smacked into the mattress startling her. He groaned loudly and then yelled, “God
Dammit Darcy!”
Her head whipped around to look at
him like he was crazy and saw him lifting the bun off his burger and turning
his nose up at the white condiment lathered on the bread. She rolled her
eyes. Ever since he had hurt his foot he
had been acting like a child. At times
she thought it was adorable, other times, like now, she wanted to smack the
pout off his face.
“Oh, fuck yourself. I’m sorry,
ok?” After a few quiet moments, he was still looking like a child and she
sighed angrily and moved to swipe his burger from him. “Just give it here and I’ll scrape it off.”
“No! I’ll fucking eat it.” He pulled it away from her and glared at her,
looking at her for the first time in a half hour. She had left when he was complaining of
hunger and figured it would do her good to get out of the house and away from
his sore attitude. Plus, she was determined
to figure out some of
“You’re gonna get fat,” she
teased.
“Shut up.”
She wasn’t too surprised by his
tone but was still upset about it. He
had been this way too long and needed to suck it up. It was getting to the point where he was
complaining just to complain. She was
there to help him, to comfort him and aide him, not to be bitched at every
second. Of course he had his moments
where he wasn’t upset and angry with her and seemed thankful and appreciative
that she was there, but those moments were scarce. She knew he was just frustrated, but it
didn’t give him the right to take it out on her.
She wasn’t one to put up with his
bull shit. It was something she had
learned over the past month. She had
learned to pick her battles, learned when he was being ridiculous and when he
really did need to be lectured. And he
didn’t put up with her shit either. It
sounded horrible but it worked. They
called each other out a lot when the other one started getting in a mood. Most of the time it stopped a fight before it
started.
She had learned to laugh at
herself and was teaching him to do the same.
They hadn’t recovered completely
from all the mistakes they both had made, but they were getting there. And so far they had worked hard and it had
paid off.
She glanced at him and he was
pouting and grabbing in the McDonald’s bag beside him, pulling out a fry and
chewing on it pathetically. She tried
not to smile at him. “I’m telling your
mom you’re being a bitch to me.”
He rolled his eyes and picked up
the remote, turning up the volume.
That was her sign to get up and
let him have his tantrum alone. She
pushed herself off the bed without a word and moved to leave his bedroom and go
see what his mother was up to.
“Ugh, just come back here…”
She turned on her heel, put her
hand on her hip and stared at him. She
could see in his face that he knew he was being ridiculous but was unable to
get himself out of it now, unable to explain his pathetic behavior. “Do you
want me to scrape it off?”
“No I’m ok.”
He took a bite of the burger and
gulped it down with a painful expression.
She rolled her eyes. “You look
like you’re going to gag.”
He twisted his body and tried to
reach the cup of Sprite she had put on his nightstand. He was smack dab in the middle of his
enormous bed, and even for him, with his long arms, he had trouble reaching to
get his drink. “I can’t believe you
didn’t tell them no mayo.”
“I did Justin.” She sighed and walked over, closer to the bed
he was propped up in. “They just didn’t
listen”
“Fucking McDonald’s.” He took
several gulps out of the straw he was sucking on and then promptly handed her
the cup to put back on the stand for him.
She did so with a sigh and then
turned to look at him some more. She was
surprised he wasn’t complaining about how hot it was. He was under all the covers and had a hooded
sweatshirt on. It was cold outside but
his mother had put the heat on, and in her jeans and long sleeve shirt Darcy
felt warm. He seemed to want to hide
inside of his sweatshirt and bed, and she wondered why he didn’t have the hood
pulled over his head.
She grinned at the thought.
Even when he was annoying the snot
out of her she could always step back and realize how cute he was. She figured that was really pathetic and
girly, but it was the truth. Even on
early mornings when he barely slept and had a hang over, when he was purely
upset, angry, and frustrated with everything possible, there was part of him
that was adorable and sexy and she loved that part of him. It helped her put up with his bad moods and
it always showed her that even though he seemed angry with the world, including
her, that she really wasn’t a part of that, that he really was glad she was
there.
“I got you a present.”
He stopped from where he was
eating his burger and looked up at her.
Hunger must have taken over since now he seemed unfazed by the mayonnaise. He was curious and she was happy to see no frustration
on his face. “A present?”
“Yeah…” She looked away, picked up
the remote and turned the volume considerably down. Her arms crossed over her chest and she said
in an accent that matched many of those that she had heard in the past two
weeks, “But you ain’t getting it until you’re nice to me.”
“Oh, come on.”
She nudged him with her elbow and
turned up on her side on top of the covers to look at him, her arm propping up
her head. “You come on. You’ve been a
bastard the past three days.”
“I’m frustrated.”
She chuckled, “Clearly.”
“You break your foot in the middle
of promo and see how you like it.” He
angrily chomped down on a fry. She was
waiting for him to complain about the lack of ketchup.
“You’re not in the middle of
promo, doofus.” She laughed and poked
him in the chest while he pouted. “You’re
on Christmas break and you’re a klutz and you’re embarrassed and ashamed so you’re
being a bitch to everyone, and I’m not gonna show you what I got you.”
“I’m sorry, ok?”
She mocked his pouting now that
she was certain he was staring at her. “You
should be. I didn’t realize you were kicking
me out tonight.”
“What?”
“Your mom said your friends were
coming over tonight to watch some game on TV and that me and her were going to
go to the mall.”
He immediately busied himself,
rolling up the rest of the hamburger he didn’t eat in its papers and putting it
in the bag. “I thought I told you.” She watched him pull out the small fry
container.
“Nope, and this is after I got you
my present.”
“Come on, what’d you get me?” He smiled at her, the first real smile of
that day. It made her good to see that
smile even though she wished she had seen it more lately. She snatched a fry from him and laughed. She was going to try harder and get that smile
to come out more.
“What you promised me we’d do if
we ever were forced to spend an extensive period of time in doors and in bed.”
He sighed and hit his head back
against the pillows he was propped up on.
“Are you serious? All three?”
“Yup.”
“You’re gonna quote the whole damn
thing aren’t you?”
“You’re mean.” She swatted at him
and he just put the half eaten fries back in the paper bag and twisted himself
with a groan to place it on the other side of his bed. She wondered what other disgusting things he
had hidden over there and made a mental note to go check on it later.
“You fucking hobbit,” he mumbled
when he moved himself right again.
“You promised.”
“Yeah, but I didn’t promise
tonight. It’s one of the only times I
get to hang out with the guys and watch a football game.”
“And so you’re just gonna conveniently
break your foot again so we can do our marathon?”
He passed her a look. “Your marathon.”
“Screw you.” She glared at him and pouted. She knew she was acting just like him, but he
was really starting to piss her off now.
It was one thing to be grumpy, but he was just being right out mean for
no reason. She was trying to be nice,
get him food and presents and spend time with him and he didn’t care. Just because he had a broken foot didn’t give
him the right to act like this. His mother
might’ve been willing to put up with his frustrated, childish behavior but
Darcy was not.
He glanced at her with a raised
eyebrow. Darcy was amazed by the happy, mischievous little look on his face. “Really?”
“Oh, you little…” Her hands went
flying and she lightly smacked at his shoulder and chest, and he laughed at
her, trying to grab at her hands.
When he finally did grab a hold of
her she was leaning over him and he had slid down further on the bed so that he
was lying underneath her. His attitude
immediately changed, his eyes softened at her, and he let her hands go so that
his own could run through her hair. “Hey…”
But she wasn’t convinced. “Yes?”
“I promise, all day tomorrow it’ll
be just me and you. It’s supposed to
rain and we can just fort it up here or in the basement and eat crap all day
and you can quote the entire Lord of the Rings
trilogy to me.”
She leaned against his stomach a
little bit and smiled at him. “Can we dress up as elves and hobbits?”
“You really scare me
sometimes. I’m just glad I know when you’re
joking.”
“Who says I’m joking?” He just
smiled at her and she poked at his chest in return. “Your mom told me I could
give you a sponge bath later.”
He rolled his eyes and she knew he
wasn’t getting at what she was hinting.
He was thinking more about how immobile he was instead of the fact that
her hands would be all over his naked body.
It wouldn’t be so bad in a few days, but the doctor told him to stay in
bed for five days, and it was making him restless. He had a cast on his foot and had crutches
right beside his bed, but he had been informed by everyone, his doctor, Johnny,
Marty, even his mother that for the first bit he couldn’t take any
chances. It had been a pretty rough
break. “I can get in the bath just fine.”
“I know but help is always fun.”
He sighed and pulled on her with his
arms and hands to get her lying beside him and in his arms. “I’m sorry if I’ve
been a dick. I just…I really hate not
being able to move around.”
“I know, but Justin can’t you just
relax a little. Ok?” She eased beside
him, careful to not put any pressure on his leg and leaning her chin against
his shoulder. “Let me play nurse and
make all that go away. I’m staying as long as you want me. Your mom even invited me to stay for the
holidays.”
“Really?” She smiled and kissed
him, happy when he kissed her back. “I
don’t wanna keep you from your family, though.
And I don’t wanna keep you from settling in. I know your so excited about your new house.”
She giggled at him. “I’m excited because
I’ll be living to be close to you dumb butt.
Plus, I need your bulging muscles to help me move furniture and boxes. You being crippled doesn’t help me much. And my mom and dad are going to the
“Hey…” She looked into his eyes
and he kissed her softly saying, “I love you.”
“Hey…” She could feel his body
react to being this close to her. He was
pushing towards her with her torso and she knew that he wished he could move
his legs and press into her like he really wanted. Despite his bad attitude he was still her
boyfriend, her boyfriend, the one she had been scared of, the one she had
needed more than air, the one she had come back to and fought for. And she wanted him, broken foot or not. Plus, she could think of a million better
things to do than watch TV if he was forced in bed all day. She rubbed her nose
against his for a moment, smiled and kissed him briefly. “You too busy with
your daytime talk shows to let me make out with me a little bit?”
He seemed a little shocked and
smiled at her just a bit. “You wanna fool around? Even after I’ve been a royal ass today?”
She laughed at him. “And yesterday
and the day before.”
“Hush, you know what I mean.”
She moved and leaned against him a
little bit, making sure to press her breasts into his chest and smile at him as
she played with the drawstrings of his hoodie.
“Well if you are hanging with your friends tonight and tomorrow we’re
having our Lord of the Rings day,
which will occupy all my time and energy, then we won’t have time to ya know,
be together this way, and we haven’t been together in like four days, before
your foot broke and….and your mom told me when I got back a few minutes ago
that she was leaving to go over to your grandmothers for a few hours.”
She looked up at him, trying her
best to pass him a sexy look. He was
staring back at her and seemed to be breathing hard. Suddenly he whispered, “Go shut the door…”
She grinned to herself, turned and
bit her lip as she went to do what he asked.
She pushed the door closed and leaned against it. He had taken off his grey sweatshirt in the
amount of time it had taken her to get to the door and he was lying there with
a white undershirt on, still breathing hard and looking up and down her body. She hadn’t seen him look at her like this in
such a long time and it made her giddy inside.
“Calm down, play boy.”
“It’s just hard…” She smiled at
his choice of words and he smiled as well while he pushed himself up against
the pillows. “It’s difficult to be
stranded in bed for days and not have anything to do except watch TV and…and
watch your sexy woman walk around the room and lie beside you and help you
out. It’s frustrating. I wanna be able to grab you and pin you
underneath me and make you squeal and…and stuff.”
She walked back over to him and
crawled up the bed as he pushed the covers off of his body down towards his knees.
“And stuff?”
“Yeah…”
“What if I decide to pin you
underneath me?”
She straddled his hips, liking the
way he was staring at her. “R-really?”
She gently sat down against his
lap, but as soon as she did her hips lifted off of him and she looked down. “Holy
shit…”
He was blushing when she looked up
from the obvious erection in his shorts. He hadn’t blushed with her in so long. “I told you, it’s been difficult.”
“Poor thing.” She sat back down
against him.
“Don’t make fun.”
Her body sunk against his, leaning
down over his torso, smiling at him and fingering the short curls against his
head. He had been talking about shaving his head again and she wanted to enjoy
the feel of his hair against her fingers as much as possible. “Think about me. Here I have to walk around the house with
nothing really to do but wait on you hand and foot and all I wanna do is pounce
on you and hang out. I can’t even sleep in
the same bed with you anymore.”
“Yes you can.”
She pouted, remembering what the
doctor had told them and what
“Oh, that’s right.”
She smiled at him, thoughts like
that weren’t going to get them anywhere and feeling his chest under her palms
made her want to seem him naked. He had
been doing a lot of dance practice lately, it was the reason he broke his
foot. The practice was making his
muscles grow and as vain as it made her feel, seeing him with a body even more
muscular than before was all it took to get her going.
“Take this off,” she whined,
sitting up against him and pulling at the white shirt.
He laughed at her and moved his
hands to the hem of her own shirt. “You take this off.”
She teased, “It’s cold in here…”
With a roll of his eyes he said, “Get
under here with me.” She did as he asked, slipping out of her shirt as
well. She helped him with his own and
was careful of where she laid her body and her legs, careful not to bump into
his right foot too much. He sighed against
her when their bodies touched, his fingers gripping at her skin, pulling on
her, and wanting her against him more firmly.
She was trying, really she was, but it was difficult with him not able
to move. He ripped away from their deep
kiss and pounded his fists against the mattress. “Fuck! I hate this. I hate not being able to, to touch you like I
want.”
“Calm down,” she whispered,
kissing his neck and running her hand over his chest. She laid there with him for a moment, trying
to get him to do what she asked. She didn’t like seeing him like this, so
frustrated and annoyed with himself and his situation.
She was starting to realize how
much of a test this had been on their relationship. It really had only been a little more than a
month since they had been back together, since they had tried to work on
this. The first week she spent every
moment she could with him. The promotion
was draining, not just on him but on her as well. Most nights he was too tired to even talk to
her about them, about what they needed to do to fix it. And strangely, that seemed to be good. That seemed to work. Not having time to talk and think and worry
with their problems made her realize how amazingly insignificant they really
were. She was having a good time with
him, and he seemed to enjoy her company as well. Trace even noted to her how amazingly well
and calm Justin was that week, how he had expected Justin to flip out because
of his album release.
He never flipped out. He was excited and he seemed excited that she
was there to share that moment with him.
Experiencing that with him seemed to make everything better and make
everything worth it. After a few days
they were able to talk about their problems, but it wasn’t the same. Suddenly they were back into couple mode,
back to lying together on the couch, back to kissing briefly when no one was
looking, back to holding hands in the backseat of the car and lying in bed together
at night, watching TV or making love.
At first she was worried, scared
that they were both just ignoring the problems that would eventually come
back. But then she realized that she was
happy, and so was he and that she could barely remember why they were apart,
why they were fighting and why everything had happened the way it had. Suddenly, like lightening, they were together
again and nothing else mattered.
It wasn’t an easy thing, and it hadn’t
been easy. There had been days when they
fought and he annoyed her and she was ready to smack him in the face, but there
were many, many more days when she couldn’t get enough of him and the very
sight of him made her body relaxed and comfortable.
When he had asked her to come to
It made it all real. It made the fantasy and the dream of being
with a guy like Justin Timberlake real.
And it made the fact that they had
climbed out of their hole and were walking again, side by side, that much
sweeter.
There might have been doubt in her
mind before, but now she had no doubts and was positive with every part of her
being that they could do this.
They were going to make it.
He turned his head towards hers on
the pillow and she kissed him for a moment before saying, “Let me handle
this. I promise when your foot gets
better you can touch me however you want, whenever you want.”
He smiled at her and ran a hand
over her hip, pulling her leg over his lap. “Whenever?”
They kissed again and again and he
started to move his hands over her breasts and then behind to get rid of the
material holding them back from him. His lips grazed against her jaw and her
neck and she felt immediately like an addict.
It was that feeling she got when they were like this, that turned on
feeling, that feeling that if she didn’t have him she’d explode. “Justin…”
And it wasn’t just a sexual
thing. Of course it came when they were
making out and working their way to sex, that feeling came deep within her core
and her stomach. But that same feeling
sometimes came from within her chest, and it made her hurt. It was the feeling she had had for three
months. It was the feeling that broke
her and the feeling that brought them back together.
It was the need she had for him.
“Hmm?” he breathed, nuzzling her
neck.
“Thank you for sticking with me.”
His lips halted near her shoulder
and she moved onto her side so she could look at him. His fingers lightly
touched her cheek and his eyes smiled at her. “Thank you for sticking by me.”
After moments of smiling at each
other, the shy look that he always got in his eyes was there. He bit his lip and she pulled him against her
in a tight hold. It was a strange look that
he always seemed to give her, shy yet completely sure, as if he wanted her more
than anything but amazed that she was his.
That look never faded from his eyes from the moment she had met
him. It was what made her fall in love
with him and what kept her in love with him through all their drama and even
now, when they were really getting to know each other, faults, hang-ups and
all.
“Are you ready?” she whispered.
He nodded and they separated for a
moment, her removing herself of her pants and underwear and getting rid of the
bra he had half-way pulled off of her. Normally
they would spend much more time together before actually going ahead with the
act. He was a master at foreplay and she
loved how they would build each other up until they were practically begging
each other for sex. But today was
different, and even though she wanted to be with him and had desire to be with
him, it was about more than just getting off.
He needed to feel loved and in some pathetic, weird way he needed to
feel like a man. She knew him laying
there with strict orders not to move made him feel inadequate. Most people wouldn’t have to take as much caution
as him, but breaking your foot when part of your lively hood depended on your
dancing skill was a serious ordeal.
She watched him when she was done
undressing; he was hesitating, hands at the waistline of his basketball shorts,
teeth chewing his lip. “This is kind of
weird.”
“Well we’re both kind of weird
people.” She smiled at him, attempting to get him to lighten up, but he only
stared back at her. “Would you rather go
watch Lord of the Rings?”
“No…no…” He sighed and moved with a groan to push his
shorts and boxers down over his hips as far as he could get them to his
thighs. “Just be gentle with me.”
She giggled at his words and at the
sight of his exposed body. Then she sat up on her knees, looking down at his
body. “Can you scoot up so I don’t have
to lean down as much if I wanna kiss you?”
“God, I feel like a fucking old
man,” he complained.
“You need to calm down. We’re about to have sex and you’re freaking
out.”
He huffed trying to get himself in
the position she wanted. “It’s just awkward and difficult.”
“Justin…” She sighed as he worked
to sit himself further up on the pillows.
She wanted him to lie like this so she wouldn’t have to put as much
effort into leaning down and kissing him, so their bodies could touch and so he
could do more with her than just lay there.
She closed her eyes for a moment.
This was getting technical and wasn’t romantic at all. She wanted it to be special and she wanted
him to enjoy it. So she pushed
everything else aside and moved her legs over on each side of him, hovering
over him for a moment. “Please, relax. Let me take care of you.”
“I’m sorry, I just…”
She touched his face with both of
her hands and kissed him firmly. When she pulled away she hushed him, looking
into his eyes. He was staring at her, a
small lost, yet anticipating stare. She
knew how frustrated he was, she knew he felt embarrassed and miserable because
his stupid foot was broken, and she wanted to show him that she didn’t care,
that he was still hers and she wanted him still.
She moved her hand and quickly
fixed their bodies so she could do what she wanted. She smiled at him as he
just stared back at her. Slowly, she eased down on him, holding onto his
shoulders, feeling herself engulf him.
“Fuck,” he breathed out and she
smiled, breathing hard herself, trying to relax at the intense feeing of him
inside of her. That never changed, and
every time this happened to her with him she felt like the wind had been
knocked out of her.
But it was a damn good feeling.
“Does…does that make it better?” she
asked in a breathless whisper.
His eyes were closed, his head was
titled back and he was licking his lips. “Uh huh…”
She reached for his arms and moved
his hands to her hips. She wanted him to
be apart of this, to help her. She
wanted him to touch her. “Put your hands
here…”
He opened his eyes slowly and smirked
at her. “I know how to have sex, Darcy.”
She smiled. This was what she needed. She needed them to be connected, for the rest
of the world to slip away, for all the frustrations and complaints about the
day to melt and for them to be there together, pressed tightly and firmly,
connected and happy.
It was what she had fought for,
and what he had brought back into her life, happiness. With him, for the first time in her life the
joy she felt was true and pure. They were happy together and that was all that
mattered.
She leaned into him, kissed him briefly
and rocked against him, feeling his hands grip her hips tightly at the
movement. She pulled back and looked
deep into his eyes, seeing all the love she needed right there, staring back at
her.
“Then show me.” She smiled, and
held onto him, with no intention of ever letting him go again.