"Okay, who took my last fudge round?" Danielle asked an empty kitchen. She squatted down on the floor and began digging through the cabinet. "I dunno." Justin mumbled, sneaking behind her, and indulging the very fudge round Danielle was searching frantically for. "Timberlake?" she asked, standing back up, "Do you ever go home?" she asked annoyed. She watched a very carefree Justin, plop himself down on the sofa, and reach for the remote control. He quickly became sucked into a daily edition of Sportscenter.
"Sometimes." he mumbled, taking another bite and smiling at her innocently. "Great. I hope you feel good knowing I'm starving to death because you ate my LAST fudge round." she replied sarcastically. Danielle started frantically pacing the living room, while pulling her hair into a ponytail, searching for her shoes. Justin watched her panic and chuckled to himself.
"What?" she asked irritated. Justin shook his head. "So what if you're late? You think JC is gonna fire you or something?" he asked. Danielle stopped searching briefly and looked at him oddly.
"He just might!" she exclaimed. Justin shook his head. "He won't fire you. He's in love with you for crying out loud." Justin said, turning his attention to the television screen. Danielle looked blankly at the floor, then slowly sat herself down at the
coffee table in front of him. She was so confused. What had he just said? Did he just say what she's wanted to hear for so long? She was startled by what he said; shocked and happy at the same time. She wasn't sure just what exactly to think.
"What?" she asked softly. Justin looked at her, and his smile quickly faded, upon seeing her reaction. He finally realized what had just came out of his mouth.
Danielle sat facing him; a look of confusion she wore on her face. Justin glanced around the room, searching for the right words. "Well, to me, it's obvious. I mean, he's never directly told me, Danielle, but I watch the way he looks at you and the way he talks to you, he feels something for you." Danielle rested her head in her hands. She sat in a state of shock.
"No, no, no, Justin." she said, in disbelief, standing back up. "This is ridiculous." she pleaded. She located her shoes and sat down on the sofa, next to him. "He has Bobbie and he's happy with her." She tied her shoes, and looked back up at Justin. "He is." she mumbled, jumping back up. "Look, Danielle, maybe I shouldn't have said that." he said, following her back into the kitchen. He paused as he watched Danielle brush her hair in the mirror. "He's just not happy with her anymore. He use to, but....things are different now. It's like he looks at you, the way he use to look at her." Danielle stopped brushing and looked at Justin. She couldn't let herself believe what he was saying. It was insane to her, unbelievable. She shook her head at him.
"I figured you felt the same way about him." His statement caught her off guard. Justin knew? He could see it? "Boy, Timberlake, nothing gets by you does it?" she asked sarcastically, picking up her purse. "Look, this is insane okay, and I don't want to talk about it anymore. I mean, thank you for thinking he does but, we both know he doesn't, so let's just drop it, okay?" she pleaded with him. Justin nodded in agreement. Danielle was almost wishing he wouldn't let her drop it; that he'd plead with her some more. She liked the words he told her, but she couldn't let herself believe something she knew was not true. She sighed and located her keys.
"Make sure Mercedes is up by at least noon, ok? She has a meeting with those people from Green House at 2:00. She CAN'T be late." Danielle told him.
Justin nodded, and returned to his seat on the sofa. "And for the love of God, will you two keep it down? Some people around here have to get up early and go to work you know? Sleep is kind of a vital thing." she smacked Justin, and headed out the door. He laughed, and shut the door behind her. "See ya." he hollered. "Oh, and Danielle, I didn't mean to freak you out or anything. You okay?" he asked, following her onto the lawn. "Me? I'm fine! Never been better, except that sleep issue, which we will discuss later!" Danielle waved and started her car. Her stomach hurt. "He's not in love with me." she said out loud. "That's ridiculous."
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" Danielle, pleaded, dropping her purse to the ground. "Justin ate my last fudge round- I didn't have anything for breakfast! So, I stopped by McDonalds. Then, they screwed up." "Danielle, its okay." Josh interrupted her, smiling. "Well, I'm still sorry so, to show just HOW sorry, I'm gonna go get you a nice big cup of that crap they call coffee, okay?" she asked sweetly. Josh nodded and Danielle walked across the hall.
"Um, it's not a hard decision to make: decaf or regular." Ryan said, interrupting Danielle's thought. She must have been staring at that pot for a long time, dwelling on what Justin had told her earlier. She smiled at him her best fake smile. "Here, I'll get it for you, babe." Ryan said, leaning over Danielle, placing his hand on her waist.
Danielle glanced at him oddly out of the corner of her eye. "Here you go." he said, handing her the cup, his arm still around her, and his hand still sitting on her waist. He softly rubbed Danielle's side, and winked at her. "Well," Danielle said in a panic, backing away from Ryan and heading towards the door. "I better get this to Josh." She bolted across the hall to find
Josh talking on his cellular phone. He sat with his back to the door and his head in his hand. Danielle quickly backed out of the room, hoping Josh wouldn't notice her. She stood listening to his conversation outside the door.
"No, babe, I want you to come... I just don't know if this weekend is a good time." he pleaded with the person on the other end of the conversation. He shook his head in distraught and rubbed his forehead fiercely with the tips of his fingers. "Fine, okay Monday? I love you, too, bye." he mumbled, hanging up the phone. Danielle hesitated to enter. She stood outside the door watching Josh sit in despair.
"Here you go." Danielle said happily, handing Josh his coffee. Josh immediately sat up at the sound of her voice. "A nice cup of...black crap."Josh laughed, gazing into the cup. "Thanks."Danielle sat, staring at him slowly drink his coffee. "You, okay?" she finally asked.
He gazed at her, and half-smiled. "Ya, I'm just tired." Josh shrugged, and turned his body to the control board. He began fiddling with knobs and buttons, improving the sound of the music that was playing out loud over the speakers.
"Hey, have you ever heard of Two Kings Carnival?" Josh shook his head at her. "Well, its this really cheesy looking carnival I saw roll into town last week. It's only about 6 blocks from my apartment. Anyway, I've been dying to go but, Mercedes doesn't exactly do rides well, so..." Josh smiled. He knew what she was getting at, and found her oh so sly way of asking amusing. "You did say you just LOVE rides?" she continued, taping her fingers on the control board. He shook his head. "I'd be recognized."
"Na, na, na you wouldn't. We won't go til after dark, and we'll get you a hat." She leaned closer to him. "Nobody will ever know its you." Josh shook his head. "Come on you have to go! We'll have so much fun!" Danielle pouted at him. "Okay, okay fine! I'll go!" he exclaimed. Danielle smiled with satisfaction.
"Let's go already." Ryan exclaimed, bursting through the door. Josh and Danielle sat straight up in their chairs and scouted closer to the control board. "Oh, Danielle?" Jana paged, entering the studio. "Mr. Richards was wondering if you wouldn't care to do some promotional work for Ryan?? If you wouldn't care?" Jana begged. Danielle nodded and rose to her feet.
"See you at 8:00." she said sweetly walking out the door. "Your girlfriend gone?" Ryan asked sarcastically through the microphone. "She's not my girlfriend."
"Sorry." Ryan responded. "Your MISTRESS gone yet?" he asked annoyed. Josh grinned. "Unfortunately, yeah, she is.�
Seven