More Than Friends
by: ukbootyliciousbaybee
Abs glanced out of the window as their plane made its descent into Miami International Airport, Amber sat beside him re-applying her lipstick. As he looked at her, she glanced at him and grinned, “excited?” she asked.
He nodded and smiled, “I can’t wait to land.” He’d never been to Miami before and intended to make the most of it, “we are gonna’ party,” he told her, “I hope Justin knows all the coolest clubs.”
Amber laughed, “what Justin doesn’t know about clubs ain’t worth knowing. But you are here to work too you know.”
“I know, I know,” Abs said, “but you know what they say about all work and no play…, anyway, what are you planning to do while I’m hard at work recording?”
Amber shrugged, “as little as possible, lie by Justin’s pool and make myself look gorgeous for when I hit the promotional circuit in a month’s time.”
“You’d look gorgeous in a bin bag and you know it,” Abs told her, “the day you stop turning heads is the day hell freezes over.”
Amber looped her arm through his as their plane touched down on the runway, “I knew there was reason we were best friends. Keep up the flattery and I might even offer my services for backing vocals on one of your tracks.”
Abs grinned, “excellent, as long as you don’t expect to get paid.”
“Whoa,” Abs exclaimed as the chauffer-driven Mercedes drove through huge wrought iron security gates and pulled to stop outside Justin’s cliff top mansion, “this is a house and a half.”
Amber nodded, “they don’t do things half-heartedly over here. Wait till you see the view from the back of the house.”
The chauffer came around and opened the doors for them and as he started taking their luggage out of the boot of the car, the front door opened and Justin ran out.
“Amber,” he yelled, grabbing her in a bear hug and swinging her around in a circle, “I’ve missed you.”
“Me too,” Amber told him, running her hand over his crew cut, “what happened to the hair?” Justin shrugged, “I felt it was time for a change, you like?”
Amber nodded, “you look even sexier, babe.”
Justin laughed, “you don’t change, still as big a flirt as ever.” He turned to Abs and held out his hand, “Justin, you must be Abs, I’ve heard a lot about you.”
Abs shook it and grinned, “same here, nice place you’ve got here.”
Justin indicated to the front door, “let’s go inside and I’ll give you the grand tour.”
Amber made her way down the spiral staircase and out to the poolside area where she had arranged to meet Justin and Abs. She’d been to Justin’s place a few times before so she had gone to freshen up while Abs had got the grand tour. Now she stepped out through the patio doors to find them sitting on sun loungers wearing almost identical outfits. Justin was wearing blue jeans and a black vest while Abs was wearing blue jeans and a white vest. “So,” she said, walking over and sitting on the end of Justin’s lounger, “where are you two gorgeous guys taking me tonight?”
Justin pretended to think it over, “umm, McDonalds??” he joked.
“Guess again,” Amber told him.
“Burger King??” Abs said, joining in the joke.
“Funny,” Amber poked her tongue out at him.
“Okay, I’m pushing the boat out here,” Justin said, “but you’ve twisted my arm, Pizza Hut.”
Amber hit his leg playfully, “you are so generous baby, how can I repay you?!”
Justin laughed and sat up, he draped his arm over her shoulders, “seriously, I thought if you guys weren’t feeling too jetlagged, we could go to this really cool Spanish place on Ocean Drive, have some food, a couple of margaritas and chill.”
“Sounds good to me,” Abs said, “I slept most of the flight so I feel fine, how about you Amber?”
Amber nodded, “yeah I slept most of the flight too so I’m wide awake now.” She glanced down at her outfit of an ultra short denim skirt with frayed hem, baby pink halter-neck and baby pink wedge heeled sandals, “is this okay to wear there or is a dressy place?”
Justin grinned, “You could turn up in a potato sack and they’d still let you in, you’re a Grammy award winner, the world’s number 1 female music artist, you can basically do what you like, they are going to be fawning all over you tonight.”
Amber leaned back against him, “you know, I don’t think I’ll ever get used to that, it’s mad to think that there are people out there in other countries who know intimate details about you.”
Justin nodded, “the trick is not to think about it too much, otherwise it’ll freak you out. Just appreciate all the good things it can bring and make the most of it because you never know when it’ll end.”
Amber stood up, “I don’t intend to let it end, I want to have a career that spans decades, like Madonna and Janet.” She held out a hand to Abs and Justin and when they took it, pulled them up off of the loungers, “come on boys, let’s go have some fun.”
Abs groaned and rolled over to look at the alarm clock by the side of the bed, it was 1pm and the bright Florida sun was glaring through the blinds. He sat up and put a hand to his head, he had the mother of all hangovers. As soon as the manager of the restaurant they had gone to last night had seen who his customers were, he had started plying them with free food and drink, and a couple of margaritas had turned into 8 or 9 and they hadn’t gotten back to Justin’s place till 3am.
He swung his legs over the side of the king-size bed and gingerly got to his feet and walked over to the huge floor to ceiling windows which over-looked Justin’s Olympic size swimming pool and the ocean sparkling at the bottom of the cliffs Justin’s place was built on, he parted the blinds and glanced down, Justin and Amber were already up, Justin was lying on a sun lounger in blue swimming trunks with silver wraparound sunglasses hiding his eyes and Amber was floating in the centre of the pool, on a pink lilo, wearing a matching hot pink bikini and her favourite black Gucci shades. He decided to jump in the shower to wake himself up and join them.
“Hey,” Amber called as Abs walked out to the poolside, “you finally decided to re-join us in the land of the living.”
Abs sat down on the lounger next to Justin’s, “that was one hell of an introduction to Miami last night.”
Justin laughed, “yeah our quiet night didn’t exactly go as planned. Tonight we’ll stay in and order pizza!”
Amber climbed off the lilo and swam to the side of the pool, “when are you going to start work on the tracks?”
Justin looked at Abs, “if you feel up to it, I thought I could play you the songs later and then we could go into studio tomorrow and get to work, I know you’ve only got a month here so the soon we start the better.”
“Sounds good to me,” Abs said, “who’s producing them?”
“One of the hottest up and coming producers in the USA, Joe Lehane, he’s normally booked solid for months but he happens to be a good friend of mine so he’s made himself available,” Justin told them, “from what Amber’s told me, he sounds exactly right for the type of sound you’re going with for your album.”
Justin pressed the stop button on the tape deck as the last notes of the song faded. “What do you think?” He, Amber and Abs were in the recording studio attached to the side of his house. Abs leant back in his black leather swivel chair, “they are amazing, exactly what I’m looking for, I wanna get started now!”
Justin smiled, “thanks man, I take it you are up for starting work tomorrow then?”
Abs nodded, “definitely.”
Amber got out of her seat and walked over and sat on the arm of Abs’ chair, she reached over and hugged him, “UK number one here you come.”
Justin leant forward, “I was thinking maybe we could add in a choir effect for the last chorus of the first track, what do you think?”
Amber stood up, “guys, I’m gonna leave you to talk shop, I’ve had months of this while I’ve been recording my album, I’m gonna hang out by the pool and top up my tan.”
“OK,” Justin said, “pizza at 8, alright?”
Amber nodded, “if you guys are still down here I’ll come get you.”
Amber walked out to the pool and sat on the side with her legs dangling in the water. Abs and Justin were getting like a house on fire and the tracks Justin had written sounded amazing, Abs had at two potential top 5 hits on his hands, if not two number ones. But she was wondering what she was going to do while the two of them were in the studio every day. The cordless phone she had brought out to the pool with her rang suddenly, startling her, she picked it up and pressed talk, “Hello Justin’s place.”
“Amber is that you?” a familiar voice said.
“JC!” Amber exclaimed, “I was wondering when you’d get around to calling to say hi.”
“I’ve been visiting the folks,” he told her, “having fun at Justin’s?”
“We only arrived yesterday, and already he’s had us out partying,” Amber said. JC laughed, “that’s the Justin we all know and love, has he mentioned the Britney/Jenna thing?”
“Briefly,” Amber said, “he’s pretty adamant that him and Britney are over for good, and he’s assured me that him and Jenna are just friends, regardless of whether she’d like it to be more.”
“Yeah, that’s more or less the same story I’ve been getting from him,” JC said, “he seems pretty together about the whole saga anyway. So, what have you got planned while Justin and your friend Abs are in the recording studio?”
Amber frowned, “that’s just what I’ve been thinking about, to be honest, I don’t know, I was planning to just laze by the pool but I think I’ll be bored after a week of that, let alone a month.”
“Hey, I’ve got a great idea,” JC said, “why don’t you come visit me in Orlando?”
Amber shook her head, “I don’t think that’s a good idea, you know I’d love to see you, but you know me and Bobbi don’t exactly see eye to eye.”
“Conveniently she’s visiting her parents in New York for a month,” JC told her, “so you don’t have to worry about that. Come on Am, it’ll be fun, better than hanging there by yourself for a month.”
“Ok, ok, I’ll run it by Abs and if he’s ok with it, then I’ll come,” Amber agreed.
“Excellent,” JC said, “ok, call me tonight and let me know where and when and I’ll pick you up from the airport.”
“Alright,” Amber said, “talk to you later.” She pressed the ‘end call’ button on the phone and went to break the news to Abs and Justin.