More Than Friends
by: ukbootyliciousbaybee
“Oh my God Justin,” Amber exclaimed as soon as he answered the phone, “ I just heard about you and Britney, why the hell didn’t you call me? Why did I have to find out from a trashy tabloid newspaper?”
Justin smiled and settled back on the huge white leather sofa in his equal huge white lounge room, Amber was in full rant mode so the call could take awhile, “ I knew you were working against a tight deadline to finish your album, I didn’t want to distract you,” he told her. “ I know what you’re like, you would have been on the first flight out here.”
“Damn right I would have,” Amber agreed, “you need friends around at times like this.”
“The rest of the band have been great,” Justin said, “especially JC… and there’s Jenna…,”
“Hmm, yeah I’ve read about her in the tabloids too,” Amber said, “according to them, she’s the reason you and Britney split.” She frowned down at the phone, wishing she could see his face, “come on now J, I want to know the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.”
“Okay,” Justin agreed, “are you sitting comfortably? This could take awhile.”
“… so Justin got fed up with Britney trying to tie him down into marriage and broke it off,” concluded Amber.
“What about this Jenna person?” asked Abs.
“she’s just a friend, I think she’d be open to taking things further, but Justin just wants to play the field for awhile,” Amber told him. “Anyway, enough about that, the main reason I came around to see you is, I mentioned to Justin that you were working on a solo album now 5ive had split and he mentioned that he’s got a couple of songs he’s working on that could be perfect for you.”
“Really?” Abs asked, “that’s great, is he going to send them over so I can hear them?”
“Even better,” Amber told him, “we’re going over there, I’ve got us booked on flights to Miami on Saturday.”
“What?” exclaimed Abs, “you’re joking right?”
Amber shook her head, “no,” she put her hand on his arm, “you’re my best bud in the whole world, I know you’ve been having a few problems with the album and I want to help you anyway I can. I’ve heard some of the stuff Justin’s been writing, it’s excellent, he’s been getting a lot of interest from different bands, so we need to get in there first.” She grinned, “luckily yours truly is one of his closest friends, and he’s promised we get first dibs on these two tracks but we need to get out there and get you recording as soon as possible.”
Abs shook his head, “you are amazing you know that? I’ve known you almost forever and yet you still have to ability to surprise me,” he grinned, “what the heck? Let’s do it!”
“So, everything’s cool with the album?” Amber asked her manager Rob as they sat in his plush Knightsbridge office.
Rob nodded, “Yep, it’s being remixed in New York as we speak, so go to Miami, relax, have a good time and when you get back in a month it’ll be perfect and we can make space on the walls for another one of those,” he nodded in the direction of the platinum discs lining the room.
Amber grinned, “I knew there was a reason I paid you the big bucks, you are so good for my ego!” She stood up and reached across the desk to hug him, “ok, so I guess I’ll see you in a month.” She walked towards the door, “I’ll send you a postcard.”
“Ok, ok, I’ll be there in one minute,” Amber shouted back, “tell him to chill, we’ve still got a couple of hours before our flight.”
Abs shook his head, walked in the living room and sat down on the huge red leather sofa that dominated the room, he may as well get comfy, he’d known Amber long enough to know that her one minute was more like half an hour.
He and Amber had grown up together on the same East London estate, their parents had been best friends and they’d passed that onto their oldest children. Ever since they’d been in nappies they’d been inseparable, they’d gone to the same school, been in the same class and had both decided to pursue careers in music. But whereas Abs had gone the boy band route, and in the process had had to do a lot of things and perform a lot of music which just wasn’t him, Amber had decide to keep control of her career and gone the solo route. He’d had almost overnight fame and fortune with 5ive, and had had years in the spotlight while Amber had only just started seeing rewards of five years hard work. But she had achieved something that had eluded him while in 5ive and that was worldwide success. Currently Amber was the top-selling female artist in the UK and Europe, USA, Canada & Australia, out-selling artists like Britney Spears and J-Lo ten to one. Abs hoped to recreate at least some of that success with the launch of his solo career. He looked up at the platinum disc which took pride of place on Amber’s living room wall, which declared that she had sold over 1 million copies of her debut album, and mentally crossed his fingers that he’d have one of those this time next year.
“Ok, I’m ready,” Amber said poking her head through the door and startling him out of his thoughts, “where’s Mike? I need help with these bags.” She pointed behind her at the mini mountain of suitcases.
“When are you going to master the art of packing light?” Abs asked her, “we are only going for a month babe, not emigrating.”
“A girl’s gotta be prepared,” Amber told him, “now stop yapping and help carry my bags.”
“See I told you we’d make in time,” Amber said as they reach the Upper Class check-in desk for their Virgin flight to Miami, she looked at her Cartier watch, “and we’ve still got some time spare for duty free shopping.”
Abs groaned but decided to suffer in silence as Amber turned down an escort through to the Executive Lounge and dragged him off to Duty Free.
As they browsed, or as Amber browsed and Abs followed, they started to attract more and more attention, until suddenly they were surrounded by fifty or more autograph hunters, most of whom were clamouring for Amber’s autograph.
“Umm, Amber,” Abs whispered, “maybe this wasn’t such a good idea.”
“It’s ok,” Amber said, “I’ll just sign a few autographs and we’ll make quick exit”. She caught the eye of one of the security guards stationed in the store, and as he made his way over, announced to the group of people around her, “it’s been great meeting you all, I’ve gotta go catch my flight now, take care.” She grabbed Abs’ hand and in a low voice said to the security guard, “get us out of here!”