WILDFIRE
By Aysia Anderson (a.k.a. Nikki)

Chapter Sixteen: Larger Than Life

The house was absolutely silent which was something altogether new in a place where a small child frolicked across the polished wood floors on a daily basis, her mother hummed unwritten melodies in her head, and her father’s infectious laughter echoed throughout the halls. By six AM the sun had begun to creep its way into the bedroom through the windows that existed without curtains and the doors that opened into the room from the balcony hung wide open. The warm Californian air whisked in sweeping over the plush chair sitting beside the open balcony doors, curling around the potted plant that sat on the glass side table to the right, and skid over the marble fireplace before caressing the skin of the two occupants of the bed.

Justin bit down hard on his inner lip, his fingertips melding into her skin, as he orchestrated Camille’s movements over his body. Having her lying flat against him as they moved together was something that drove him insane. Since their daughter’s appearance on the scene they had perfected the art of silence when engaged in their physical acts. Still, there were times when Justin wanted to shout out every dirty word or phrase that popped into his head at the top of his lungs and this was one of those times.

Noticing that he was on the brink of an explosion Camille lowered her lips down over his in an effort to curb the inevitable. It was funny to her that over the course of time she had learned how to turn the tables on him and force him to be the one screaming out her name. In the beginning of their marriage he was the one with all of the experience and had her going crazy every time he even looked at her in a suggestive manner. At least now, she thought, they were balanced.

“Mommy?” Nicole’s small voice filtered through the wood door causing the blood in both her mother and father’s veins to run cold. They froze instantly as if she had actually thrown open the door and seen them completely naked. As far as they were concerned, in that moment, it was one in the same.

“I’ll be out there in just a second, baby, hold on.” Camille called back after regaining her voice and slid away from her husband though he quietly protested under his breath. Quickly she slithered back into her gown and snatched her robe from the chair of the vanity. Justin swore silently and stepped out of bed wandering into the master bathroom closing the door behind him.

“Mommy, are you coming?” Nicole called again right before her mother opened the bedroom door.

“What’s up, midget?” Camille asked playfully and smiled as her daughter grinned up at her.

“I’m not a midget, you are!” she giggled excitedly.

“Ready for breakfast?”

“Oh, yes.”

“Pancakes or French toast?”

“French toast! French toast!” Nicole jumped up and down with the ears of her stuffed rabbit flopping up and down as she held it in her arms.

“Okay, then. Let mommy find her slippers and then she’ll be right down to make breakfast for you.” Camille kneeled down and kissed her daughter on the forehead before the smaller version of her and her husband bounded down the stairs and to the kitchen. She knew that by the time she located her fuzzy pink slippers her pint-sized clone would have already taken all of the ingredients for breakfast out of the refrigerator and had them set out to be prepared.

Justin emerged from the bathroom in his pajama pants as she turned back into the room to retrieve her slippers. “All I needed was like twenty more seconds,” he complained.

“Nicole has to eat.” Camille spotted her slippers near the walk-in closet and moved to get them. Once she had slipped her delicate toes within she turned back to her flustered husband. “Are you having French toast with us?”

“Can I get my last twenty seconds in?” he cracked.

“Thought that was what you ran off to the bathroom to do.”

“Ha, ha. Breakfast and then a mandatory couple’s showering.”

“I guess.” Camille shrugged and started out of the room.

“Babe, wait.” Justin called and scurried over to catch up with her. “So are we okay now?”

“I’m still upset with you and I don’t know how long it’s going to be before it’s all forgiven, you know?”

“Yeah,”

“So let’s just take this day by day and see how the rest of this week goes. If things get better and get back to normal then we stay together for us and not just for Nicole.”

Justin rubbed his hand over the side of her neck, “Either way we’re not talking about a divorce, right?”

“Divorce has never been in the game plan. I can either make you the happiest man alive for the rest of your days or make you regret the day that you were born.”

He laughed to himself somehow relieved by her words but still a little curious. “How will I know when things are back on track?”

Camille took his hand that had been moving over her neck and brought it to her lips, kissing his palm, “I’ve got the signal all planned out. You’ll know by the end of this week what your fate is.”

“Alright,” he moved his hand to draw her face to his and kissed her passionately. “Prelude to what you’re about to get in that shower after we eat.” he wiggled his eyebrows at her and she rolled her eyes, shaking her head, as he followed her down the stairs and into the kitchen where Nicole had already pulled out the skillet, toast, cinnamon, eggs, sugar, and butter.

“All ready, mommy!” she proclaimed excitedly.

“Wow! Someone must really be hungry this morning!” Justin smiled brightly as his daughter bounded across the kitchen to jump into his arms. He held her up proudly in the air and spun her around before positioning her on his side with one arm. “How did you sleep, honey?”

“Great!” Nicole giggled when her father lightly nibbled the end of her nose, something that he had been doing since she was a baby, instead of the old trick of ‘I got your nose’ that his own father had done to him. Somehow he remembered throwing fits about the loss.

“I see you set out everything to help mommy with breakfast. That was very sweet of you to do.”

“Mommy needs help sometimes. She helps everyone else so I want to help her.”

“Let’s pray that she never outgrows the helpful stage.” Camille joked as she began to prepare breakfast for her family.

“Oh, gees! I almost forgot!” Justin made a silly face at his daughter and guffawed. “I think I’ve got a special present in the closet for my two favorite girls.”

“Presents?” Nicole’s bright eyes seemed to lighten up even more than they already had which seemed nearly impossible.

“Yeah, you want to go to the guest room upstairs and look in the closet for the really big bag for me? I need you to bring the whole thing down because I want to see your face when you open it.”

“Okay,” his daughter nodded quickly and as soon as he set her down on her feet she took off running out of the room and to the stairs.

“What’d you get her, J?”

“She asked me for a new doll before I came back so I got her another one of those Victorian-styled porcelain dolls as well as one of those crap-your-pants dolls that Lonnie and Dre insisted that I buy.” Justin answered, leaning over the island as Camille prepared breakfast. “Your gift, though? It’s something different.”

“You actually bought me something?” she looked up at him, turning on the stovetop that was imbedded into the middle of the island. It had taken her a while to get used to baking in the double oven implanted on the wall because she was so used to the traditional set up of a kitchen but still the cooking in the middle of the kitchen island was odd to her.

“Yeah, I got you something nice. It’s not the expected jewelry or anything but something handcrafted.”

“I’m sure I’ll like it,” she diverted her attention to the doorway as Nicole bounded into the room struggling to carry the large shopping bag that was nearly the size of her entire body. “You got that, small stuff?”

“Yes!” Nicole stumbled her way over to her father and set down the bag on the floor, her stuffed rabbit sitting precariously inside so that both hands could have been freed to carry the merchandise. “Can I open it now, daddy?”

“That kid’s got restraint. I would have peeked upstairs.” Camille cracked as Justin gave their daughter the go ahead to open the bag. The first thing that she pulled out was the crap-your-pants doll which she examined carefully. It wasn’t what she was used to or even something that she would have requested.

“What is it?” she held up the large box that contained the doll and was unable to disguise her quizzical expression.

“It’s a doll from Mr. Dre and Mr. Lonnie.”

“Oh.”

Justin exchanged looks with his wife before telling Nicole to continue looking through the bag. He knew his daughter. She liked novelty items and not things that you could find in any old store. He was glad that he had picked up the original doll as well or else his security team would be reimbursing him for the doll she’d never give a second look.

Nicole’s eyes lit up as her second discovery from the bag was made. Drawing it out of the bag and up into the air before her eyes she smiled widely at the doll that she knew was from her father. It was a porcelain, hand-crafted and painted, with a stunning hand sewn and beaded bodice and dress. Nicole was on cloud nine.

“Thank you, daddy!”

“You’re welcome, baby.” Justin accepted an excited hug before she bounded over to her designated seat at the table to better examine her new find. Justin focused his attention on the quiet shelf. “Last but not least…” Camille looked up as he reached down into the bag and revealed a medium sized wrapped gift. “Open says me.”

After lifting the French toast that she had prepared on the skillet with a spatula, placing them on a platter, and turning off the stovetop, Camille turned to her husband as he handed her the gift. Carefully she peeled away the wrapping paper, sticking the oversized bow on his forehead playfully, and opened the box. Inside was an ebony and ivory statuette of two lovers that had been hand carved by an artisan. In that moment she didn’t think that she’d ever seen anything more beautiful.

Justin closed his eyes as her hand directed his face closer to her own so that she could kiss him. He didn’t know why but every time that they touched it always felt like the first time. Every time that he saw her face, waking up first thing in the morning, it was as if he had never seen her before a day in his life because she always took his breath away.

“This is beautiful, J, where did you get it?” she asked, setting down the box and feeling the smooth surface of the statuette with her fingers as she held it in her hands.

“This little shop that I don’t think anyone even knows about.” He answered vaguely as he prepared his daughter’s plate and carried it over to her at the table with a glass of milk.

“You’ve always been the best at finding the perfect gift. Do you remember the purple dress?”

“How could I forget…?”

/*/*/

“You bought her a Couture dress?!” Nastassia exclaimed as Justin held up a royal purple, lavender and lilac dress with a jaggedly cut hemline and plunging back. “Oh, my God!”

“I tracked down her stylist to get her measurements and then gave the information to the designers. They’ve actually been trying to get her into one of their dresses for a while now.” He informed his girlfriend’s closest friend as they stood together in her living room. “I need you to keep it here because I’m scared she might find it and that would ruin everything.”

“Yeah, no problem.” Nastassia couldn’t take her eyes off of the dress. The material was flawless. “How much did this set you back, kid?”

“Twelve thousand dollars.”

“What?! Shit, I didn’t know Couture dresses were that expensive!”

“It’s worth it though.” Justin shrugged. “I want her to have the best birthday of her life.”

“A twelve thousand dollar dress would make me happy, I’ll tell you that.” She led him into the guestroom so that he could hang the dress in the closet. “You pick the colors and everything or you just gave them the measurements and let them do their thing?”

“I actually brought in some pictures of her so that they could really get a look at what they had to work with and threw out a few ideas. I told them to do something sexy yet tasteful since her whole family and everyone will be there for the party. I don’t want anyone having a heart attack, myself included.”

Nastassia laughed, “So what did you do for the one year mark last night? You just tied with David’s record of serious boyfriend time.”

“We went to the 40/40 Club, you know, Jay-Z’s nightclub?”

“Yeah, I’ve been there once.”

“We did the VIP room there. Got a little toasted.”

“So you finally got her drunk, eh?”

“She was a little tipsy but nowhere near stumbling around and slurring her words. I think her subconscious is always there telling her to slow it down.” Justin shrugged. “She tell you about a few weeks back when I went overboard out at the Highlands Club?”

“Nope.”

“Hmm, so she doesn’t tell you everything?”

“She tells me enough. What happened?” Nastassia countered as he hung the dress up in the closet.

“Lonnie and Dre had to drop me off at the crib ‘cause I admittedly was drunk off of my ass and feeling sick. I think I threw up like twice outside the club, man.” He began to explain as if he were telling an old war story. “You know she’d been in and out of the studio and doing all those interviews about the new album so she hadn’t been up to going out with me. So I went out with Chad and Pharell and we all did our thing. Anyway, I’m backtracking.” He cleared his throat. “I got home and thought I was going to die cause I was so sick and your friend, my girlfriend, just gets up out of bed and sits with me passed out next to the toilet rubbing my back all night.”

“That’s love right there. I would have let your drunk ass suffer alone.”

“Aw, Nani, you don’t mean that!”

“Quit adding nicknames for me! I have one too many already!” she socked him playfully in the arm.

“Ow! Okay, okay!” Justin rubbed his arm and laughed as they exited the guestroom and went back into the living room.

“So what’s the game plan?”

“Game plan is that I take her out to Hawaii three days before her birthday so we can enjoy our alone time and then, the day before, everyone flies out after us to get situated in a separate hotel. The day of her birthday I have a few things planned for her and I to do together but at six-thirty PM the whole family will board the Southern Cross Yacht…”

“You got the yacht P. Diddy had? The forty thousand dollar pimp of the sea?!”

“Nastassia!”

“Sorry, sorry.” she apologized. “Continue.”

“So at six-thirty everyone needs to be on the yacht and I’ll have Camille there by seven. You think I should have Jessica Simpson jump out of a birthday cake like she did for Nick on his thirtieth birthday?”

“If Camille had a thing for girls then the answer would be yes but since she doesn’t I don’t think it would be the wisest choice.”

“Point taken.” Justin agreed. “Okay, so you and I are going to have to meet up secretly at our hotel about five so I can give her the dress. Everything else should just fall into place.”

“Straight. Let’s do this!”

/*/*/

“So you had Nastassia in on pretty much everything from the beginning, did you?” Camille asked as she cut Nicole’s French toast into little squares so that she could eat them safely.

“Pretty much. Trust me, I’m just as shocked as you are that the girl could hold her water. You two tell each other everything.” Justin replied, dousing his breakfast with maple syrup.

“That’s not true. You tell Trace far more than I could ever tell Nastassia.”

“Hey, I don’t tell him the sacred sh…stuff.” He caught himself before swearing in front of his highly impressionable daughter.

“The only thing that you don’t tell him is when I beat you at video games or anything athletic. Otherwise your gums are flapping.”

“Hardy-har-har.”

Nicole giggled at her father and began to spear a square of French toast with her fork. Hungrily she directed it into her mouth and began to chew excitedly. Her legs kicked back and forth under the table causing her entire body to bounce up and down.

“If it makes you feel any better, J, you were a great teacher in Hawaii. Paulo had nothing on you.” Camille grinned evilly and began to eat her own breakfast.

“I can’t believe you just brought that guy up! I hate him!”

“You never even met him.” She laughed.

“I hate him all the same.”

/*/*/

“This is the perfect time to come out here. There’s choice waves and everybody and their mommas aren’t out here yet.” Justin explained as he and Camille walked along the Hawaiian beach line together with surfboards in arm early morning. “You’ve surfed before, right?”

“Like once ever.” She reported, adjusting her board under her arm. “Right before my first album was mastered I went out with some of my friends to the beach and this guy that I met there tried to teach me.”

“Really? Just some random guy?”

“Just some random guy. I guess he thought I was cute or something.”

“You guess?”

“He asked me for my number, Justin, are you happy now?”

Justin grinned mischievously. “Did you give him your number?”

“No…! He gave me his.”

“That’s pretty pimp right there, Chamomile. Did you call him? Why didn’t you give him your number?”

“Because I’ve had my fair share of boys blowing up my phone when they don’t even know me so I wasn’t into a repeat performance.” Camille explained herself. “So, yeah, I called him.”

“And what happened with that?”

“Nothing, obviously, because I’m here with you.”

Justin started to say something more but chose to hold his tongue. She refrained from questioning him about his past with other girls so he could only have the same common courtesy of not prying into her past escapades as well. He didn’t really want to know if she had kissed him or if they had had something serious before he, David or Usher had ever come into play in her life.

“I wonder what’s going on at home. As much as I hate all the cameras following us around it’s strange when they’re not doing it now, you know?” Camille broke the silence as they came to stand in front of the sparkling blue waters as the sun began to peek over the horizon. Since the interview with 20/20 had broken three months earlier the paparazzi had been following her and Justin’s every move like flies to fresh cocka.

“Either no one cares or the media is in a frenzy trying to track us down for some juicy clips. Lucky for us, no one knows where we are.”

“Hooray, for us!” she giggled as Justin set down his surfboard and pulled his shirt over his head showing off his ripped abs and bulging biceps. His working out at the gym with his trainer mostly everyday of the week was paying off. Bullets would likely bounce off of his chiseled frame.

“So how well did that guy teach you to surf?” he couldn’t help but to ask as she followed his lead, slithering out of her black hot pants down to her Billabong swimsuit.

He took in the sight of her in brown bikini bottoms with a pink belt attachment and bikini top that patterned pink, brown, and white horizontal lines. Before she had moved in with him she hadn’t done much exercising but being somehow influenced by his athleticism she ended up hiring a woman named Ashley Borden to train her. The little paunch that she had had that he had always found adorable was now gone. Either way it went she was incredibly sexy to him, flat stomach or mini-gut included.

“Paulo and I didn’t do much surfing.” Camille replied and removed the clip from her hair so that it spun out of it’s twist and bounced down beneath her shoulder blades.

The light brown highlights in her dark brown hair worked on her. He hadn’t noticed until that moment how much she had physically changed and developed since he had started seeing her exclusively. The girl next door was turning into a very sexy young woman right before his eyes. He had seen a transformation like that before with one of his exes. The difference that a year could make.

“Oh, so now surfer boy has a name? Paulo?” He feigned an accent and looked her over in a lethargic manner so that she knew exactly what he was doing. “Bring your board and come out with me.”

Rolling her eyes Camille waited for him to pick his board up again and then waded with him into the clear Hawaiian waters. As the tropical breeze whisked around them they stopped their pace once the surface of the water touched her navel. Following his lead she pressed down onto the board and jumped up and onto it.

“Tuck your legs underneath yourself.” Justin instructed. “There you go. Now lean forward like this and paddle the water so we can get further out there for the waves. We’ll do the little ones first.”

“The little ones?”

“I don’t want you to get hurt.” He insisted as she began to paddle out ahead of him on her board. Forty-five minutes later she was up to speed and performing just as well if not better than he was. He wondered if the one-day surfing experience with Paulo had really only been that one day.

“Ride this one with me!” she shouted, nodding her head toward a wave that was steadily building.

“You think you can handle one like that?”

“I’m prepared to die trying!” she challenged with a brave smile.

“Alright, then! Let’s go!” Justin shouted and began to paddle out toward it on his board with her on her own board merely a foot away.

As the wave rose they were both lifted up into the air. Justin was on his feet instantly along with Camille. Their fingers touched once delicately as the wave began to subside and they both skidded into separate directions on their boards. A moment later they were back together, boards side by side, facing each other as they straddled them.

“I see Paulo taught you well.”

“You’re not going to let it go, are you?”

“No,” he shook his head with a smile. “You shocked me. The first fifteen minutes or so you were a little shaky but then after that I don’t know what happened to my girlfriend.”

“She stepped up to the plate.” Camille responded as he reached over and lightly rubbed his right hand over her left side. “You better not kiss me, Justin.”

“Why not?”

“Aren’t there already photos of you and Cameron Diaz making out on a surf board? I don’t intend to have the same experiences in the tabloids, sir.”

Justin licked his bottom lip, “We were on the same board though so this is different.”

“Don’t do it! Don’t do it! Don’t do it!” she snickered as he leaned forward and to the side to capture her lips with his own. Against her own will her hand cupped the side of his face prodding him to turn the peck into a foreign festivity. “Good grief.”

“You are the most indecisive woman in the world.” He commented between kisses. “No, Justin! Don’t kiss me!”

“You like it.” She slid her lips up to his top one.

“I love it.” He gripped the side of her board so that she wouldn’t float away from him as they made out but the session came to an abrupt end at the sound of hoots and hollers from the shore.

“We’ve got spectators.” Camille informed him and he followed her eyes to see about five college-aged students, guys and girls, cheering excitedly and calling out their names. “Hmm, we should go and hang out with them.”

“What?” Justin stared at his girlfriend quizzically.

“They look like locals. I like making friends everywhere I go so then no matter where I am I’m never alone.”

Before Justin could make a protest she was paddling back over to the shore where the kids jumped up and down and danced near the clothing that she and Justin had discarded earlier. After a few moments of debate he followed after her. By the time he had reached the sandy beach she had already set down her board and was in a full on conversation with the individuals that appeared to be about her age.

“You guys totally have to show me where all of the hotspots are around here because I haven’t been dancing in forever!” Camille laughed with them as they filled her in on all the places that were a must to visit. “What I really want to do is go to a luau. Believe it or not this is my first time in Hawaii and I’ve always wanted to learn how to do the hula dancing and everything. I’m so corny.”

Cautiously Justin set down his board near his girlfriend’s and approached the group coming to stand at her side. Quickly she introduced him to the group which consisted of two girls, Rae and Mina, and three guys, Shane, Elliot and Kai. They all seemed harmless enough as he shook their hands cordially.

“Rae is studying to be a marine biologist, Kai is a fitness instructor, and Mina is actually a model with Royal Modeling & Talent Agency.” Camille fed him all of the information that they had given her though he only remembered the first three that she had said.

“So the two of you are officially dating now?” Kai, the tallest and most physically fit guy, asked curiously.

“Obviously, Kai. Where have you been the past few months?” Rae shook her head at him.

“Hey, some folks just make out for fun but keep it on a friendship level.” he defended himself. “Besides, I’m not into all of that celebrity mumbo jumbo and collecting all of the facts. They’re just people.”

“Don’t mind him.”

“No, no.” Justin disagreed with Rae and shook Kai’s hand once more. “Welcome to the club, partner.”

/*/*/

“Mommy, daddy taught you how to surf?” Nicole questioned as she chewed.

“Yeah, something like that.” Camille made a face at her husband.

“Paulo…I like that name…Paulo.” the little girl repeated causing her mother to snicker under her breath and Justin to shake his head in disgust.

“You see what you’ve done, Chamomile? You see this? You’ve pitted my daughter against me in the name of Paulo.”

“It’s all out of love, baby.”

“Nikki, you want to hear a story? Let me tell you about mommy’s twentieth birthday…”

/*/*/

“How is everything going along?” Justin asked as he accepted the Couture dress from Nastassia in the hallway outside of his and Camille’s hotel room.

“Everyone is getting ready right now and getting their gifts together for the yacht.” she answered out of breath from sprinting into the hotel and down the hallway after getting off of the elevator. “How are things here?”

“It’s going good. It’s going good.” Justin answered anxiously. “We went surfing earlier this morning, took some hula dance lessons, and did some hiking. Right now Camille’s in the shower so I better get back in there before she starts to wonder where I am.”

“Eyew, don’t tell me that the two of you shower together!”

Justin wiggled his eyebrows at his friend as she recoiled in disgust.

“The man-whore and the virgin naked together under running water! Not a pretty picture!” she shook away her heebie-jeebies and began to retreat. “I’ll see you two around seven!”

“Later, hon!” Justin waved goodbye before unlocking the hotel room door with his keycard and scrambling back inside with the dress. Quickly he removed it from the plastic protecting it and draped it over the bed. He had been able to successfully pack away a pair of matching heels from his girlfriend’s designer as well as accessories to boot. By the time he heard the running water in the shower cease he had everything laid out and ready to go.

“Baby, I’m not sure what I should wear to the luau but…” Camille’s voice trailed off as she emerged from the bathroom with wet curly hair and noticed the spread laid out for her on the bed. Unable to find the words to speak she tightened the terry cloth robe around her with mouth slightly agape.

“No luau tonight.” Justin came to stand at her side and pressed his lips to her temple. “I’ve got something better planned for tonight, birthday girl.”

“Justin, where did you…? How did you…?” she was at a loss for words as she shifted her body to face him. “I…”

“Just say that you like it.”

“It’s beautiful, baby, but just bringing me to Hawaii was enough for my birthday.”

“Sweetheart, it’s never enough.” Justin disagreed and brought his lips down to hers. “I only want to make you happy.”

“J, you already do make me happy.” She assured him. “Thank you for all of this.”

“You’re welcome. Go on and get dressed now. You’ve got quite the evening spread out for you.”

****
After making a few appearances at local Hawaiian hotspots Justin and Camille were driven to the marina where their yacht awaited. Silently they walked hand in hand occasionally throwing dreamy looks into one another’s direction and stealing innocent kisses. They were young, in love, and completely happy that they could be together.

Justin looked amazing in a lavender button down shirt with the top two buttons undone, black slacks and polished dress shoes. To accessorize he sported his studs, two signature beaded necklaces, and the BREITLING wristwatch that Camille had purchased for his birthday a month and a half earlier. He and the mogul of Virgin Records were now among the top few individuals to own one of it’s caliber.

Camille, herself, looked stunning in the dress that he had bought for her birthday and for once, instead of straightening her naturally curly hair, she pinned her curly tendrils up into a playfully messy bun accented with a lavender rose. The little makeup that she was wearing was clean and flawless. On the scale of coordination they could have given David and Victoria Beckham a run for their money.

“Have you been enjoying yourself so far?” Justin asked as they neared the darkened yacht and spun her around to face him.

“It’s been beautiful. Definitely the best birthday of my life.”

“I wanted to take you out on a little midnight cruise, just you and I…” he paused for effect. “I think some other people caught wind of what I wanted to do though.”

“What do you mean?” Camille asked, staring into his eyes for answers when the sound of a chorus of voices from behind her sounded. Nearly jumping out of her skin she turned to see the Southern Cross Yacht lit up with lights and just about every person she had ever encountered in her life coming together on the various decks singing to her. She felt faint.

“Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you,” a powerful and familiar voice sounded above all of the rest from the speakers placed all around the yacht. Camille’s eyes searched the faces of all of her loved ones for the face of the singer that she had grown up listening to. When her eyes landed on Ms. Whitney Houston with a microphone in hand she could barely breathe “Happy birthday, dear Camille. Happy birthday to you!”

Camille could feel the tears as the yacht full of guests clapped and cheered loudly. She was glad that Justin was escorting her along the yachting marina because after hearing the greatest voice known to man sing specifically for her she was ready to die. Nervously she boarded the large yacht with her boyfriend and took in the monstrous applause from her family, friends, and peers in the entertainment industry.

“Justin, how did you get all of these people to come here?”

“I mentioned your name.” He answered, putting an arm around her as they entered the yacht and greeted everyone that they could. All of the A-listed stars were there from the top dogs to the newcomers. After a while it was difficult to keep track.

Camille spent as much time as she could talking to everyone. She reconnected with family members that she had been separated from due to her career and high-paced lifestyle. She discussed possible movie roles in future films with directors and actors and talked duets and collaborations with music artists. It was the largest networking setting and social gathering imaginable.

“Now what you did in Flirting With Flowers opposite George Clooney was amazing, Camille.” Halle Berry praised the young star, “Its a rarity to see so much charisma and raw talent in a newcomer these days. You’ve got a lot going for you.”

Camille was almost stunned into silence. This was an Academy Award winning actress that she looked up to telling her that she had something. She wasn’t going to be able to make it through the night. “I don’t even know how to respond to that. You’re the most talented and beautiful woman in Hollywood and…wow, I’m speechless.”

“You know what? I’m supposed to be doing this movie in the fall. I could see if I could pull a few strings and get you a role in the film.” Halle offered. “I’m not sure if they’ve cast all of the roles yet but I can look into it.”

“Are you serious? You’d do that for me?”

“Hey, I know a rising star when I see one, honey! We need someone besides me winning the awards!”

“Oh! Thank you so much!” Camille and Halle embraced like old chums and spent most of the evening discussing their future plans on-screen and off.

“Ah, here are the two most beautiful women in the whole joint!” Justin approached the corner table that the two women had escaped to gossip and laugh. “Do you mind if I steal the birthday girl away from you for a little while?”

“Be my guest.” Halle smiled and reminded Camille to call her before she headed off to socialize with the other guests and Justin lead her friend out onto the nearly vacant deck under the stars.

“Busy, busy, busy.” Justin chuckled, commenting on the frantic pace that his girlfriend had been keeping up in order to let everyone know that their showing up for her birthday party was appreciated. “I see you’ve made new friends.”

“Lots of new friends.” She stepped out of her heels and took a sigh of relief as he leaned back against the railing and locked his arms around her tiny waist. “This is all so beautiful. I can’t believe you did it.”

“I just want to make you smile everyday for the rest of our lives. I want you to always be happy with me.”

Camille closed her eyes as their lips met and moved her hands over his arms. He was so intoxicating. He was like a drug and if you had him once in any way, shape, or form you had to have him again

“Baby?”

“Hmm?” She moved in his arms putting her back against his chest and leaned into him. Justin adjusted quickly with arms still around her and laced his fingers together. She instinctively crossed her arms loosely above his and caressed his right forearm with her left hand and folded her free hand over his left.

“You know I love you, right?”

Camille nodded, eyes closed, just content to be somewhat alone with him and feel his arms around her.

“And you know I’d do anything in the world to make you happy?”

“I think you proved that tonight.”

Justin bit the inside of his lip, “I don’t want this to ever stop, Chamomile. I don’t want this night to ever end or these moments to fade away.”

“J?” Camille giggled lightly, “Whatever you want to say it’s okay. I’m here and I’m listening.”

“I want to marry you.” He blurted out his words, his nerves screwing up his entire plan.

“Stop playing.”

“I’m serious.”

“Okay,” Camille laughed, “since when?”

“Camille,” he started to speak when the fireworks began to ricochet through the sky in vibrant blues, greens, pinks and yellows. The guests on the yacht began to filter out onto the deck to observe the light show. Panicking, Justin directed the love of his life toward the bow of the ship where no one was around but their parents and few best friends just out of hearing range.

“Justin, you got fireworks too? That is so beautiful!” she smiled brightly up at the sky and started to say something more when she notice Justin bend down on one knee. “Justin?”

“Baby, I swear to God that I’ve never been more serious about anything in my whole life.” he began, staring up into her eyes as he held her trembling hand. “Since I’ve been with you I’ve never felt more complete and the mere thought of you not being with me tears me apart inside. I know that we’re both really young and that we’re bound to make mistakes but, Camille, there is no other woman in this world that I’d want to make those mistakes with than you. The night that I met you I knew that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you. I felt something deep down inside of me that said that you were it for me. You are the one person on this earth that I’m meant to be with.”

She had never wanted to be like the typical woman to burst into tears when a man proposed to her. She had always wanted to just stand there and listen to his words and say yea or nay. Camille Henderson had never imagined herself to be the woman that she was in that moment. Her tears were falling like torrents of rain and she was helpless to stop them.

“I just want the chance to be everything that you are to me for you. I want to be that person that you run to when everyone else has let you down. I want to be the one that you tell all of your secrets and dreams to and the one person in this world that you know really gets you when you don’t make sense to anyone else.” He could feel his throat tightening but still continued his speech. “Baby, I want to settle down with you and start a family together and spend every single one of my days making you happier than any other woman could ever be…all you have to do is say-”

“Yes,” Camille’s voice was barely above a whisper but still he heard her loud and clear. “Yes, Justin. Yes, I’ll marry you.”

“No shit?” was all that he could think of to say as it slowly began to hit him that she hadn’t just tossed his carcass over the side of the yacht in disgust.

“No shit.” She answered, hiking up her twelve thousand dollar dress and kneeling down before him. “I don’t ever want to be with anyone else but you. You’re my everything.”

“Baby, you have got to stop crying or else I’m going to cry too.”

“You’re already crying!” she laughed as they wiped away each other’s tears and began a steamy kiss that could have started the whole place ablaze.

“Ahem,” Lynn Harless appeared and waited patiently for the pair to separate their mouths from one another and stand back up to their feet. “I’ll take that little public display of affection as an acceptance to a proposal?”

“You have it?” Justin asked causing Camille to stare at him quizzically.

Lynn opened her embroidered handbag and reached inside. Slowly she withdrew a small velvet box and handed it to her son. Without another word she backed away to join the few other individuals that had witnessed her son’s speech. They all needed to see this reaction.

“Where did he get it?” Linda Henderson whispered her question to the other mother as the anticipation rose. The proposal was not complete without the ring. There had been a quiet buzz all night about it. Some were saying it was worth four million dollars.

“Harry Winston.” Lynn answered.

“Okay,” Justin stared deep into Camille’s eyes, “let me do this the right way, now.”

“I think you did it right already.” She took her bottom lip into her teeth and then giggled.

“Camille Henderson?”

“Justin Timberlake?”

“Will you do me the honor of making me the happiest man alive and be my wife?” Justin asked and cracked open the lid of the velvet box taking Camille’s, and every other woman that had stumbled in on the proposal, breath away.

“Justin, oh my, God!” she could barely believe her eyes as she took in the sight of the biggest stone she had ever seen in her life. An 8-carat light blue diamond set in a white gold band that was formed to appear like two dolphins coming together with white diamonds as eyes. She couldn’t feel her body.

“What do you say?”

Camille shook her head staring back at him, her mind no longer on the ring, “Justin, it’s a yes no matter how many times you ask me. It’s always going to be yes.”

/*/*/

As Justin cleared the table and Nicole bounced off to her playroom, Camille sat at the kitchen table replaying the entire night over and over again in her head. She had known then that it would never matter what he did wrong or how many mistakes he made because she would always take him back. In a way he had foreshadowed their marriage. Mistakes would be made but they would make those mistakes together.

“Babe?” Justin’s voice broke her from her thoughts. “Paulo will cost you more than twenty-seconds of making up in the shower.” He kissed her neck. “Follow me, love.”

No more Paulo...