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

Chapter Seven: Harnessing One's Chi

Camille stood uncomfortably in front of the mirror in her bedroom in a red oriental styled dress that stopped just about mid-thigh with two slits on the sides. Her hair was pulled back into a spiky bun with chopsticks and her makeup was flawless. Nastassia had wanted her to wear high heels with the dress but she had decided to downplay the dressiness by wearing a pair of black doll shoes with rounded toe and strips of red thread embroidered in them for design. She had her own style and she didn't need anyone else to tell her how to dress.

About a half an hour previous Nastassia had received a phone call from the gentleman of the evening himself and had bolted off to his beck and call. Apparently Camille was not the only person feeling anxious. The only information that Nastassia had offered up was that he wanted a female's opinion on what he was wearing but that he pretty much had things together. In all honesty Camille didn't care what Justin arrived in just as long as he showed up.

Taking a deep breath she smoothed her hands over the sides of her dress and forced herself to smile. The same butterflies that she had had while standing onstage at the Grammy's waiting for the lights to go up were making a reappearance. It made no sense. She had never been nervous about seeing him before so why was she nervous now?

"Gees, it's just Justin." she told herself quietly in hopes that it would calm her down but once she heard the familiar sound of the doorbell resounding all around her she began to feel nauseous.

Without a word Camille lifted her handbag from the foot of the bed and made her way out of her room and into the hallway. Gripping the banister for dear life she walked cautiously down the stairs and smiled gently once she spotted him standing at the front door through the windows that framed the doorway. He held a look on his face as if he were about to pass out or vomit all over the place and his eyes were shifting from the driveway to the expanse of grass in her front yard. She hoped that he wasn't planning his getaway already.

Taking one final moment for herself she closed her eyes, exhaled, and slowly opened the front door. She noticed him take in a breath and stand up taller and straighter upon realizing that he was no longer alone and then their eyes connected. Whatever was happening had never happened between them before. Neither knew quite what to say.

"You look nice." Justin stated, finally breaking the ice, once taking in the entirety of her appearance. He was glad that he had called Nastassia in last minute for her opinion. The outfits that he had set out would have made him completely overdressed or underdressed in comparison to Camille. Since she had already seen what his date would be wearing she helped to dress him accordingly.

"You too." Camille replied with half of a smile taking him in as well. She was digging the loose fitting charcoal gray jeans, red t-shirt, and black button-down shirt with his simple silver chain and Nike Air Force Ones. He was still sporting his diamond studs but otherwise he was not iced up and something about seeing him looking nice without the Hollywood glitz did something for her. It made the evening seem as if it would be more real. Nastassia had done well. The only thing that he was missing was that Kodak smile. He was too nervous to show it.

"Well, let's get going. We don't want to be late." he cleared his throat and waited for her to close the door behind herself before heading back toward his silver Mercedes SUV.

It was odd walking with him to his truck in silence. Usually if they were going somewhere together he would have just waited for her to come outside while he sat in the driver's seat listening to the radio. In the rare event that he had actually come to the door to alert her that he was there they would have been picking on each other on the way back to his car or wrestling like two little kids.

"Thank you." Camille said politely as Justin opened the car door for her and helped her inside.

"Your welcome." he answered, avoiding her eyes, and closed the door. She watched through the windshield as he walked around the front of the truck and over to the driver's side. Once he was inside he restarted the engine, snapped on his seatbelt, adjusted the radio volume, adjusted the gears, and pressed the gas lightly to get them moving.

"Is it okay if we listen to a CD or something?"

"Yeah, whatever you want is cool." Justin gestured for her to check out the music selection on the CD holder that was attached to the blinder on her side of the car. He could feel her eyes on him as he slunk down in his seat, leaned to the side, and smoothed his knuckles over the underside of his chin with his elbow resting on the door. He knew that she wanted him to be his normal talkative self but he couldn't do that just yet. He didn't know where to start.

"Okay," Camille nodded slowly and pulled the blinder down to scan the CD's that he had. A lot of them were old school albums since that was his flavor but every so often there would be something contemporary thrown into the mix. "Prince okay with you?"

This time he merely nodded his approval only adding to the tension that was already about to suffocate them both. She could have killed him but instead she took a deep breath and removed the CD from the case and placed it into the player. Once she had settled back into her seat and had diverted her attention outside of her own window he spied her out of the corner of his eye. She didn't make another move, not even when he reached forward to skip ahead on the CD.

"Your daddy used to sing you this song, right?" Justin asked as the melody of The Most Beautiful Girl In The World began to sound through the speakers. She nodded slowly as he stopped the truck at a stoplight but still kept her eyes outside of the car. "I can see why."

"Justin, shut up."

"Fine," he curled his lips up to his nose and took in the all too familiar silence. "Awkward."

Camille turned to him just in time to see him smile. The uneasiness had been lifted. "You get way too much Mike Meyers in your life."

"Because I said `awkward'?"

"Because of the way you said it. You're such a dork."

"Eh, maybe." he shrugged, reaching over to her and tilting her chin up with his index finger to get a better look at her face. "You're wearing makeup?"

"Nastassia made me." Camille grimaced.

"I like you better without it. Don't get me wrong, you still look amazing, but you're beautiful au natural."

"Yes, dear." she rolled her eyes as the light turned green and he turned his attention back onto the road.

"So do you start off all of your dates by dumbfounding the guy taking you out?"

"Just how did I dumbfound you, Timberlake?"

"You're wearing lipstick so I didn't know what to say to you." he cracked as she swatted him on the arm. "I was expecting to come pick up a tomboy but I got a woman."

"Ah-ha," Camille laughed sarcastically.

"I thought you weren't going to wear dresses around me because they were so easy for me to get under?"

"I did say that didn't I?"

Justin looked her over on the sly as he continued driving them toward their destination. "Something like that."

////

"Is there anything that you can tell us about Justin and Camille's first date together?" Gary asked, unsure of if asking for the intimate details was appropriate or not.

"I'll just say that it was well thought out and orchestrated. Justin put on quite a show for her." Nastassia answered vaguely. "Gosh, I've told so much already. I won't go into great detail but I'll share just a little bit of what was told to me…"

////

Justin sighed inwardly once spotting the crowd of people gathered outside of the restaurant. They were relentless. The establishment was closed to the public but still they were hanging around trying to steal a glance of something out of the ordinary. Camille peered passed him and out of his window to see what he was seeing before he pulled the truck around into the back and into an underground garage. Once the truck was inside the door shut out the onlookers outside and Justin parked near a door leading up into the restaurant.

"Covert operation." she chuckled as he cut the engine and pulled his key out of the ignition. "Every thing is so hush-hush."

"I'm not in the mood to sign autographs tonight." he attempted to explain himself. "I just want to have this night with you, for at least a few hours, uninterrupted."

Camille smiled at his words feeling like a little school girl. Quietly they both stepped out of the truck, Justin setting the alarm as if there was a need for extra security, and walked together toward the door. Almost immediately a man showed up, unlocking it from within, and opened it wide for them to make their way inside.

"I hope you didn't have any problems getting here. We put up the signs and announced that CHI would be closed for the night but still your fans flocked here just to see if you'd make a pit stop." the broad shouldered man said once they were inside and locked the door. "We've got everything ready."

Justin nodded his head, "Awesome."

"Awesome." Camille mimicked him as they followed the other man down a hallway and up a set of stairs. On the first floor they could see a cluster of hopefuls standing outside peering in from the distance. She paused a moment to wave at them before scurrying along after Justin whom had kept walking.

"Alright," the man turned to them once leading them behind a door that had been hidden behind a red velvet curtain that led to yet another corridor. "Japanese screen doors at the end of the hall on your left."

"Thanks, man." Justin shook hands with him before they watched him disappear back out of the door and he turned to Camille. "You cool?"

"Yeah," Camille nodded, "I just didn't know that our first date would be like Mission Impossible."

"Such is life now. Get used to it." he made a face at her and stuck his tongue out before taking her hand and leading her down the hallway. "Privacy is harder and harder to achieve the more famous that you become."

"You would know better than I would." she peered around him as he slid open the Japanese screen door and stepped out of his shoes. Without another word she followed his example and lost her own shoes before following him inside of the all white room.

The setting was simple yet romantic all at once. The floor was sprinkled with white and powder pink rose petals and a small pool filled with Japanese goldfish sat in the far right corner of the room. Against the wall that they were facing was a small wooden stage with a display of exotic flowers lined in front of it and inset lights. Japanese lanterns and candles served as the only other lighting and in the middle of the room was a black granite slab surrounded by oversized cream colored pillows. She couldn't believe her eyes.

"Okay, I've changed my mind about that whole waiting until marriage thing." Camille said as her eyes took in everything around them that he had organized for their night together. "You can cash in on my v-card right now."

Justin laughed to himself and squeezed her hand gently. "Come sit down with me."

Quietly Camille did as requested and followed close behind him to the pillows placed around the large slab of granite that she could only assume would serve as their table. All of her life she had had an obsession with Japanese culture so bringing her to his restaurant and forming a setting like this one scored him more points than he could have ever believed. Carefully they sat down on the pillows together, Camille tucking her legs to her side and sitting between Justin's legs.

"You do this for all of your girls?"

"No, I took everyone else to MacDonald's for a Big Mac and fries." he joked with her as she leaned back against him and draped one hand over his left knee. "You like everything so far?"

"Yes, this is really nice, Justin." she nodded her head feeling his steady heartbeat against her back.

"So I'm still getting some tonight?" he questioned with a smirk.

"Quite possibly yes."

"I'm cool with that."

"Yeah, you better be." she laughed as a young man entered the room toting two steaming hot white towels on a simple wooden board with a pair of tongs in hand. Graciously both she and Justin accepted the towels that he passed to them with the tongs and cleaned off their hands. He smiled at them both before retreating from the room.

"I forgot to ask you if you were against eating anything exotic." Justin said into Camille's neck sending shivers up and down her spine from the heat of his breath hitting her skin.

"As long as there are no eyes or legs I'll be great." she replied. She shouldn't have started out things by sitting so close to him cuddled up. He couldn't know how crazy he was driving her just by touching her.

"So you do the sushi thing? Calamari, oysters…"

"I'm a little weary of the oyster thing." Camille admitted upfront. "Freshman year of high school, dissection…it's burned into my memory for all time.

Justin couldn't help but to laugh. "That's fair."

"So what all do you have planned for this evening? I was told to expect something out of the ordinary."

"Well, there's dinner of course because there's nothing that I'd rather do than feed you." His voice was sexy as hell for some reason. "Then I have some entertainment coming in here for you which is all I'm going to say right now. Everything else you'll just have to be patient and wait and see."

Camille smiled as he shifted her over slightly, still leaning back against him, so that they could face each other. She wanted to say something but she couldn't find the words. All she wanted in the world at that moment was to feel his lips over her own but instead his lips pressed gently to her forehead.

"You are so cute right now."

"Alright, let me move." she took a deep breath and started to make a space between them.

"What's wrong?"

"I've got nineteen years of sexual energy suppressed inside of me as of two weeks from now and if we keep cuddling like this then you're going to get jumped."

"Is that a threat or a guarantee?" Justin questioned, pulling her back and into his arms regardless of her statement.

"A little bit of both."

"You've controlled your hormones pretty well thus far so I don't think you'll make any mistakes any time soon…not that it would be a mistake."

A voice belonging to a small Asian woman dressed in traditional Japanese garbs interrupted their flirtation from the doorway. Behind her stood two more women, both holding trays of sushi in hand, that smiled warmly at the two `friends' sitting inside of the room. Justin and Camille pulled away from each other only slightly as the trio entered the room and placed the trays of raw fish, rice, and vegetables onto the granite slab that they had been leaning against.

"Enjoy," the older woman that Camille assumed to be in charge smiled as the two other tiny women scurried away. "Would you like entertainment come now or come dinner time?" she asked in broken English.

"In like ten minutes or so would be fine." Justin answered and she nodded before vacating the premises as well. Both he and Camille turned around to the table and looked over the assortment of sushi that had been brought out for them.

"She was cute." she commented. "I wish I was born Asian."

"What?" he turned to look at her quizzically after picking up a pair of chopsticks from one of the trays and lifting a roll of sushi with them.

"I should have been born Asian." Camille repeated. "You see, my mom is totally in love with Latino culture, learned how to speak Spanish fluently, and dated only Latino men after she and my father split. I, on the other hand, am in love with Asian culture. I love the cuisine, the traditions, the way of living, the art…" she could feel him staring at her as she lifted her own chopsticks and pinched a seaweed, rice, and carrot sushi roll. "So my mom should have been born Latina and I should have been born Asian."

"You scare me sometimes." Justin popped the sushi that he had been holding into his mouth and shook his head.

"You love it."

"I do." he admitted as she bit into one of her own.

"Can I ask you something?" she didn't wait for a yes or no before continuing on. "Why do all of this?"

"All of what?"

"The expensive meal and whatever else that it is you have planned for the night? Somewhere in there you have to know that I'd want to be with you even if you did just take me to MacDonald's like your other girls."

"Well, first off, you're not all of the other girls." he pinched up another roll of sushi. "You're different from them. I could be joking with you one minute and the next be making love to you. You know what I mean? I was attracted to you from the first night that I met you but we were friends before this night and I know we'll be friends after it. As to why I pulled together this thing the way I did," he shrugged, "I just think that sometimes a woman needs to be swept off of her feet. I want to be the guy doing that for you all of the time."

Camille stared at the intensity of his eyes. She had never seen them that blue before. Then again, it wasn't as if she stared lovingly at him before this night, but she would have noticed something like that. "I'm not going to be able to survive you, am I?"

"No," he said softly as a line of Japanese performers entered the room and make their way to the stage. They wouldn't have noticed the extra bodies in the room had the servers not come in after them and set out a new spread of food. "Oh, this is great. You've got to see this."

Camille nodded and turned to the stage. As the performance began she nibbled on wantons and sat close to Justin once again. He moved his arm around her and slid his fingertips up and down her bare arm while snacking on the food before him. It wasn't far into the performance before he stopped watching the performers and started watching Camille. He couldn't take his eyes off of her as she sat in his arms completely engulfed in the show and barely touching the food anymore.

It was a test of will for her to keep her focus on the traditional Japanese dancers dancing slowly on the stage in full makeup. She was acutely aware of the sensations ripping through her as the pads of his fingers gently smoothed over her skin. It felt so good just to be in his arms feeling his chest rise and fall as he breathed. Slowly she turned to face him against her better judgment.

Justin's eyes didn't stray from Camille's as her fingers found the last roll of sushi on the tray. Her eyes shifted to his lips only for a second as he bit into the roll that she held between her fingers. They continued staring at each other as he chewed and as she lifted the second half of the roll back up to his lips he took it into his mouth along with the tips of her fingers. She looked on as he kissed them gently and out of nowhere her nervousness at the moment swept back over her. Her focus returned to the performers.

"You know that Nastassia and Nelly are dating on the down-low now?" Camille asked to break the silence after the dancers had completed their show and disappeared to allow she and Justin to finish their meal. "They think nobody knows about it but they know."

"Yeah, I figured that." Justin replied, stabbing a chunk of meat from the large lobster's tail in the middle of the table, drenching it with lemon and butter, and offering it to his date.

"I think they've kissed or something already." Camille said before allowing him to slide the lobster into her mouth with the fork.

"He told me that they kissed for the first time after the Grammy Awards." he used the side of his index finger to wipe away the bit of butter left on her lips from the fork.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"I thought Nastassia would have told you by now."

"That bitch." she shook her head. "She was acting funny as hell all of this week. I figured that something happened with them because she was going on and on about his kids, I told you that she doesn't like kids, right? Well, she was acting like she was in love with them or something, like she wanted some of her own."

Justin nodded, dipping more lobster meet into the butter and chewing on some for himself. "They make a cute couple."

"Yeah, I guess." Camille sighed heavily and shifted her legs under herself so that she was sitting on them. "So are you having fun with me or am I boring the hell out of you right now?"

"No, you're not boring me."

"You want me to stop talking about Nastassia and Nelly?"

"We can talk about whatever it is you want to talk about." he set down his fork and turned his head to face her as she sat with her whole body in his direction.

"You can admit that you're tired of me talking about their relationship and her career and how she killed Lil' Kim in the first ever female rap battle." Camille smiled at him and watched him shift his body around to face hers. Before she knew it his legs were on either side of her. If she had been wearing pants she would have cancelled out the space between them by moving her legs over his and behind him but wearing a dress restricted that move completely.

"Yes, she did tear Lil' Kim a new one and I'm not tired of hearing about it because I have much respect for Nastassia and her rhymes. I also know that you've got a love for her because she's like a sister to you. I'd never tell you to stop talking about her." Justin explained, leaning back on his hands. "I'd just like to talk a little bit more about where our relationship is going right now, you know?"

"What do you want to know in specific?"

"Are we going to do this date thing again? Do you just want to be friends or more than that? All of the pertinent questions."

"I don't think we should do the date thing again." Camille shook her head. "I think in many ways we've been dating since things between David and I ended."

"So then what is it that you want to do, Camille?"

"I don't want to be your friend anymore and I don't want to be just some girl that you're casually dating…I want to be more than that."

"Sweetheart," Justin shook his head at her, "you've always been more than that. Much more."

"I've been a girl that is your friend." she took a deep breath. "I'd rather be a friend that is your girl."

"Then let me move." he slid back away from her.

"What? Why?"

"Because I've got a year of sexual energy built up for you as of tonight and if I sit that close to you while you're talking about wanting to be my girl then I may have to kiss you."

"Is that a threat or a guarantee?" Camille crawled over closer to him bringing up his own words since he had twisted hers from earlier on in the evening.

"A little bit of both."

////

"From what I remember Camille telling me she and Justin ended up dancing to some R&B classics that he had played over speakers in the room after they had finished eating by the staff. The whole place was theirs for four hours." Nastassia stated. "She said that the first date was completely amazing and by the end of it the only thing she wanted to do was to kiss him because it would have been the perfect ending to a perfect evening…"

////

"You have a good time tonight?" Justin asked once he and Camille had made it to the front door of her home later that evening.

"Yeah, it was perfect." her voice was soft as she leaned against the door and stared up at him with stars in her eyes.

"That's good. That's good." he balanced his weight on his heels before issuing a warning. "Stop looking at me like you want me to do you right here on the front step."

"Sorry!" Camille looked away quickly deciding to focus on the bushes to her side.

Justin chuckled to himself and took a step closer to her. She smirked as he cupped her face in his hands and turned her face him. "You my girl, Camille?"

"I'm your girl, Justin."

"Alright, no take backs." he joked, looking her over for a minute before slowly canceling out the space that had stood between their lips.

"Mm, where are you going?" Camille asked when she felt his lips separate from her own and him moving as if he were about to walk away.

"Home," he whispered, still holding her face in his hands, lips only about half an inch apart.

"You're just going to give me a peck on the lips and then go home for the night?"

"That was the plan," he smiled. "I don't even kiss on the first date so you ain't getting no tongue, baby girl."

"Stop playing."

"I'm not playing." Justin dropped his hands to his side and slowly began to walk away from her.

"Justin!" Camille narrowed her eyes at him. "You suck so bad right now."

"New Year's Eve party tomorrow night at my guy Trace's house." he announced, still waking backward toward his car.

"Hello? It's February!"

"We go by Trace's schedule. I worked New Year's Eve and this is makeup night so let's just say that I want to kiss you how you want to be kissed at midnight, okay?"

Can she wait that long?