Part 5


Knock knock knock.

Justin rolled over onto his stomach and pulled the covers over his head.

Knock knock knock.

He groaned and burrowed deeper in the bed, mumbling “go away” into his pillow.

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK. “NBA, get your ass out of bed!’

“NO!” he yelled back.

He heard Josh laugh on the other side of the door, and he couldn't help but smiling himself. He tossed the covers aside and threw a hand over his eyes. The sun was making his headache a hundred times worse.

“Hurry up and open the damn door, Justin!”

“I’m coming!” he groaned as he trudged towards the door.

He opened the door to find Josh grinning from ear to ear. "Britney likes you."

“What?”

Josh pushed past Justin into the room and made himself comfortable on Justin’s bed. “She thinks you’re hot.”

“What?” Justin repeated, rubbing his temples furiously.

“BRITNEY WANTS YOU, dude!” Josh was still grinning.

“Great.”

Justin’s unenthused response caused Josh’s grin to fade. “You don’t think she’s hot?”

No, Justin thought. It’s not that. She’s beautiful. Too bad she’s a girl.

"No, it's not that. She's gorgeous."

“Well what then? I thought you’d be pumped, man!”

Justin decided that there was only one thing to do.

He smiled wickedly. “I am, man! Hook me up with her number!”

After getting way too excited for his own good, Josh finally handed Justin the number. “You better call her, Justin! Take her out tonight! There’s this little Mexican restaurant that she loves. I haven’t taken her there in months, she’ll love it!”

“Ok, OK! I’ll call her! Now get the hell out of here and let me sleep off this hangover!”

Josh laughed and shook his head. “That’ll teach ya.”

“OUT!” Justin threw a pillow at Josh’s retreating back.

“Call her, NBA!” he called as the door slammed shut.

Justin curled back under the covers and wondered just how he was going to get himself out of this one.



He sat by the phone, playing with the small piece of paper he held in his hand.

Britney-731-4581.

He sighed and thought about what Josh had said earlier.

You better call her, man!

"Ok, Josh, I'll call her," he said aloud, sighing as he picked up the phone and dialed.

One ring.

Then two, then three.

He was just about to hang up with a breathless Britney picked up the phone. “Hello?” she huffed.

“Uh…is Britney there?”

“Yeah, this is. Sorry it took me so long to get to the phone, I was upstairs.”

“That’s ok. Um…this is Justin, ya know, from last night?”

He could hear the smile in her voice when she replied, “Justin! Hi! How are you feeling?”

He laughed. “My head still hurts, but other than that I’m all right. Just remind me not to drink so much EVER AGAIN.”

She giggled. “Ok, I promise. So…what’s up?”

“Well…Josh gave me your number…and I was just wondering if maybe…um…do you have plans tonight?”

“Nope, not so far.” He could tell she was trying to hide her excitement.

“Well, you think maybe you’d want to go to Chico’s with me? Maybe we could catch a movie after or something.”

“Sure! That sounds great. I’d love to. Thanks so much for…” she stopped, and he heard her giggle again.

“What?”

“Nothing. I just realized how desperate I was just acting.”

He laughed. “Nah, you were just graciously accepting my offer.”

”Well, if you put it that way, I feel better about it.”

“Good. So, do you want to meet me over here at seven? Or…”

“Yeah, that’s fine. 7:00 it is. See you then, Justin.”

“Bye, Britney.”

He hung up the phone and smiled. Maybe Britney wasn’t so bad after all. And at least he’d be able to keep his mind off of Josh for a night.





“Josh is SUCH a sweet guy! We’ve been best friends like, FOREVER!” Britney said, taking a sip from her soda. “Seriously, Justin, he’s great.”

So much for not thinking about Josh tonight. He forced a smile and took a bite of his taco.

Britney sensed that something was wrong, and her eyes widened. “Oh, no Justin, it’s not like that at all with Josh and me. We’re friends, and that’s it.”

Justin had to laugh.

“Why are you laughing?” she said, unable to hide her own grin.

“Nothing, it’s just that Josh said the same thing last night. After I saw you guys kissing.”

She blushed immediately and looked down at her plate. “Oh. That.”

“It’s ok, he explained it.”

She laughed. “Oh, he did, did he? And what did he have to say about it?”

“He said sometimes you guys just kiss.”

“Yeah. Usually when we’re intoxicated.”

“He also said you were a good kisser.”

The blush returned to her cheeks. “Well, what can I say.”

“I bet he’s right.”

“Justin! If I blush any more I’m going to look like a tomato! Now stop!” she laughed.

“Ok, I’m sorry. Now enough talk about Josh. Tell me about you.”

“Ok…well, what do you want to know?” She tucked a piece of hair behind her ear and took a small bite of her enchilada, chewing slowly. Justin wasn’t attracted to women, but he had to admit that Britney was beautiful.

“Ok…how old are you, what’s your last name, what’s your major…”

“Woah there, Timberlake. One at a time!”

“Ok. Let’s start with how old you are.”

“I’m eighteen. You?”

“Nineteen. What’s your last name?”

“Ok…I don’t understand what relevance this has,” she laughed, “but it’s Spears. Britney Spears.”

“You already know mine…somehow…” he cocked an eyebrow at her and grinned. “Someone doing a little research?”

“Justin! Stop it!” she giggled. “Moving on…”

“Yeah. What’s your major.”

“Music.”

”Like Josh.”

“Yeah. I’ve known Josh almost all my life, and I KNEW he was born to be musician, but he argued and argued. Now he finally decided that I was right.” She smiled and leaned her chin on her hand.

“And what about you?”

“I’ve been singing all my life. My biggest love is dance, but I figure if I can put them both together it’ll work out better in the long run.”

“Good plan.”

“And what about you, Justin? What makes your heart race?”

Josh. “I guess I really don’t know…I sing…but I don’t know how good I am, so for right now my major is business.”

Her face lit up. “You sing?”

He nodded and took another bite of his taco.

“I would love to hear you sing sometime.”

He blushed, then smiled. “Maybe.”

They spent the rest of the night laughing, talking, and getting to know each other. Justin decided that Britney was really great, and he'd definitely be spending a lot more time with her.

They walked hand in hand back to his dorm, and when they reached the door, Justin hugged her. “I had a really great time, Britney.”

“Me too, Justin. So…”

“Yeah…”

“Justin?”

“Hmmm?”

“Can I…kiss you?”

Justin thought about it for a minute…then decided that there was really no harm in a little peck. So he nodded.

Britney leaned up and pressed her lips gently to his.

Across the hall, Josh peeked his head out the door.

When he saw Britney kiss Justin, his heart fell to his knes.



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