Katlyn woke up in Justin’s arms. They had gone to his room and spent the whole night talking. She looked at the clock and laid her head back on his arm. Justin tightened his other arm around her in his sleep and moved closer to her. Katlyn slowly sat up in the bed, unable to sleep anymore, which caused Justin to start moving. She moved her arm and started rubbing his back then she moved her hand up to his head to play with curls that had finally come back. Once again he tightened his arm around her and moved so his head was lying on her stomach and his leg was stretched across hers.
With her other hand, she traced her finger across his cheek, over his lips, and down his chin, where the small hairs tickled her fingers. His hand suddenly came up, grabbed her hand bringing it to his face and kissed it and then tucked their clasped hands between them.
“Morning.” He mumbled.
“Morning.” She slid back down and turned to face him, his eyes still closed. She pulled her hand out of his and continued tracing his face. His eyes opened and he watched her concentrating.
“You know, this is the first night in a long time that I’ve been able to sleep.” Justin mumbled.
When she put her hand back down at her side, he slowly leaned down. Katlyn sat up before he could kiss her. Justin flipped onto his back and put his arm over his face.
Katlyn looked at him and put her hand on his forearm. “I’m sorry, I just...I can’t yet.”
Justin nodded. “I should have known, sorry.”
“We should probably start getting ready. It’s ten.” Katlyn got out of the bed. “I’ll see you a little later.” She said leaving back to her room.
When she walked in, Jackie and Laura were already up and packing.
“Morning.” Katlyn greeted.
They both looked up. “Good morning.”
Jackie sat Katlyn down. “So...”
Katlyn got up and started grabbing her stuff. “We talked.”
“And...” Laura cut in.
“Well, things aren’t back to normal, but they’re better.”
Laura and Jackie both smiled. “Good.”
A couple minutes later there was a knock on the door. Katlyn was sitting on the floor, suitcase open, with clothes scattered around as she tried to repack her bag. Laura got up to get it.
“Are you three ready to leave?” Katlyn’s dad asked.
Laura nodded. “I am, but I don’t know about them.”
“You guys have five minutes to get down to the lobby.”
Laura nodded and closed the door. “Five minutes!”
Katlyn finished putting the last of her clothes in her suitcase and zipped it up. She finished packing her backpack, put on a jacket and picked her bags up, following Jackie and Laura out the door.
They waited in the lobby as the rest of the group slowly came down.
“Kate, Jackie, and Laura, go get on your bus right now.” Johnny said.
A couple of the guards held the fans back while Dan walked in front of Katlyn. They loaded on the bus and started driving away. Minutes later, the other buses were driving as well.
They arrived at the venue and got out. Laura took pictures of the fans and then pictures of the guys waving at the fans. Jackie and Katlyn sat at the gate waiting for Katlyn’s other friends to get there.
“So, when is the rest of your party getting here?” Joey asked sitting on the bench with them.
“Any minute now, why?” Katlyn answered.
“I just like having girls around.”
“You have a girlfriend!” Katlyn laughed.
“I know I do!” Joey defended. “So...you and Justin are back together?”
Katlyn shrugged. “I don’t know.”
Joey waved at the fans screaming for him. “I know something you don’t know.”
“What?” Katlyn asked.
“I can’t tell you, because then it wont be a surprise.”
“Why do people do that? I hate that!” Katlyn waved to her friends that had walked up to the gate and brought them backstage. As they were walking, JC pulled Jackie into a room.
“What is going on?” Katlyn asked stopping to wait for Jackie.
“Kate! How are you doing?” Chris hugged her.
She pulled away from him and looked at him suspiciously. “What?”
“Why don’t you and your friends come with me.” Chris started pulling her away; she didn’t even notice Laura walk into the room Jackie and JC had gone into.
“So Los Angeles, how are you doin’ out there?” Justin asked the crowd. The screaming got louder. “You likin’ the concert so far?” More screams. “Well we’ve got something special for you tonight. Something we’ve never done before.”
Justin and the other four guys were walking down the catwalk. Once they reached the end they looked into the VIP area. Katlyn tensed up.
Jackie’s mom had let Jackie and Katlyn enjoy the show with their friends. The guys had also promised to be good and would be able to get dressed themselves.
Joey jumped into the VIP area and grabbed Katlyn, pulling her up on the stage.
“Now, I’m sure you remember hearing about how we sang ‘I’ll be good for you’ to Katlyn way back over a year ago at the ‘No Strings Attached’ concert in Florida. Does everyone remember Katlyn?” The cheering started again. The music to ‘I’ll be good for you’ started. Katlyn froze on the stage. Justin smiled at her. “Katlyn remembers it.” He smiled again at her. “We’re going to do something like that tonight.”
I know you’re heart’s anticipating
and my love is on your mind
Well don’t worry I won’t keep you waiting
Cause I ain’t never seen a lady so fine
I know you want me to
It’s in your eyes that say you do
They’re telling me you’ll open your heart to me
And if you want me to
I’ll sacrifice my world for you
And show you the way loves suppose to be...
As JC started singing, Chris pushed Katlyn towards Justin. She didn’t move, she just stood in front of him. He grabbed her hand and started pulling her towards the main stage as they finished the song.
“Ok, now did you guys read about where ‘Gone’ came from?” There were tons of screams. “Well for those of you who don’t know, Katlyn and I had gotten into a fight and that night I wrote ‘Gone’ thinking I wouldn’t see her again.” The crowd let out a few ‘aww’s’. “And if I remember correctly, Katlyn’s favorite song is ‘Gone’.” He turned to Katlyn, who looked down at her hands.
There’s a thousand words that I could say
to make you come home
It seems so long ago you walked away
and left me alone
And I remember what you said to me
you were acting so strange
And maybe I was to blind to see
that you needed a change
Was it something I said to make you turn away
to make you walk out and leave me cold
If I could just find a way to make it so that you were right here
right now
I’ve been sitting here
Can’t get you off my mind
I’m trying my best to be a man and be strong
I drove myself insane
wishing I could touch your face
But the truth remains your
Gone...
Katlyn had been seated on a chair and was fighting everything inside of her not to cry, but she had tears falling down her cheeks. Justin kneeled down in front of her and wiped the tears away as he continued singing.
So I’ll just hang around
and fine some things to do
To take my mind off of missing you
and I know in my heart
You can’t say that you don’t love me too
Please say you do
As he sang the long note, his eyes closed. Katlyn reached up and touched his cheek, forgetting about the crowd watching them. Justin opened his eyes and smiled at her. On one of the last “Sitting here...can’t get you off of my mind”, Justin dropped to his knees in front of her, closing his eyes once again, making Katlyn cry even more. As the song ended, he wiped the last of her tears away and stood up.
“Now ‘Something like You’ was written for Katlyn too. I wanted to write a song that showed my love for her.” He smiled at Katlyn again.
So many times I thought I held it in my hands
But just like grains of sand, love slips through my fingers
And so many nights I asked the lord above
Please make me lucky enough to find a love that lingers
Something keeps telling me that you can be my extra pray
You must be heaven sent I swear
Cause
Something happens when you look at me I forget to speak
Something happens when you kiss my mouth my knees get so weak
Could it be true this is what god has meant for me
Cause Baby I can’t believe
That something like you can happen to me...
The four guys walked back on the catwalk and back over to the VIP section. They started pulling her friends up and on to the catwalk and ushered them on to the stage over by Katlyn, he had been moved to the side of the stage. They looked at her puzzled, but she just shook her head not knowing what was going on.
“Ok...In the song ‘Girlfriend’ you know the line ‘I know you hear your friends when they say you should’? Well these are Katlyn’s friends and tonight all of you are going to be her friends too. So when we say that line, we want you guys to scream, yell, cheer, whatever you think will make her say yes.” Justin explained.
The crowd was screaming the whole time, cheering Katlyn on. Her friends were also saying little things to her like “You guys were perfect”, “You love him”, “He loves you”.
Katlyn looked out at the crowd, which was all trying to get her to say yes. She looked over at the guys who were all dancing. Justin winked at her quickly. She turned to look at her friends, who were all nodding their heads like crazy.
When the song ended, Justin stepped in front of Katlyn. Chris shushed the crowd. Katlyn looked up at Justin, who was staring at her intently. As seconds passed by she watched Justin gulp nervously. She looked behind him at JC, who was trying to encourage her. She looked back up at Justin, who now had dread in his eyes. He looked down at the ground and his eyes welled up with tears. Katlyn pushed all the thoughts of Jennifer and all the lies aside and stood up. Justin looked up at her. She smiled, took a step forwards and wrapped her arms around his neck. Justin immediately wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her closer. The crowd erupted into loud cheers.
“I love you.” Justin whispered into her ear.
“I love you too.” She whispered back.
Katlyn’s friends went back to the VIP section to watch the rest of the concert while Katlyn went backstage.
As soon as it ended, Katlyn was right there to be in Justin’s arms. Justin leaned down and touched his lips to hers. The kiss started small but then deepened.
JC patted Justin’s back. “Glad you two are back together, but we gotta go.”
Katlyn pulled away, since Justin seemed to be oblivious to everything.
“J, we need to go.” Katlyn said pulling on his hands.
Justin pulled on her hand, causing her to stop. She turned around to face him. “Will you come stay with me on my bus?”
Katlyn pulled on his hands again and they started walking. “Of course.”
“Justin! Katlyn! Hurry up! There are fans starting to crowd around and we gotta go!” Johnny yelled.
Justin started running, pulling Katlyn behind him. They ran outside and on to his and Chris’ bus.
“Oh great, now I have to deal with you two love birds.” Chris joked.
“Sorry Chris. I don’t know what to tell you.” Katlyn laughed.
Justin collapsed on the front couch and pulled on Katlyn’s hands. She sat down next to him as the busses started to move. Justin propped himself up on the couch and pulled Katlyn so she was lying between his legs and on top of him. She tightly wrapped her arms around his waist and rested her head on his chest. His hands were gently rubbing her back.
Chris walked back out, looked at the two of them and turned back around, closing the door behind him.
“Kate, I am so sorry for everything I did and put you through.” Justin said softly.
Katlyn leaned up and kissed his jaw. “Let’s just forget about that.”
“It may be easy for you to forget, but I thought I lost you.”
“You didn’t lose me though, I’m right here.”
Justin sighed and kissed the top of her head. “I couldn’t sleep at night, I could barely concentrate...I couldn’t stand you being mad at me.”
“I loved you the whole time.” Katlyn said truthfully.
They sat in silence for a few minutes.
“When did you know that you loved me?” Justin asked suddenly.
“Did you forget I was a fan before meeting you? I’ve been in love with you since like ’98.” Katlyn laughed a little.
“No, after we met.”
Katlyn thought for a second and smiled. “When you took me out that night on our first date, even though I didn’t know about it. When we were sitting together on that rock and you sang to me. It was definitely one of my favorite moments.”
Justin smiled. “Yeah, that was nice.”
“What about you? When did you know you were in love with me?” Katlyn asked.
“The first time I saw you.” Justin said without even having to think about it. “The more we talked, the more I loved you.”
Katlyn smiled and snuggled closer.
“I don’t mean to ruin this beautiful moment, but may I ask you a question?”
Katlyn nodded. “Yeah, what?”
Justin paused for a second. “Did you and JC ever...you know...do anything?”
“The most we ever did was talk. I thought you knew that by now.”
“That night at the VMA’s, when you were in his room, what did you guys talk about?”
“JC needed to talk to me about Bobbie. All we did was talk about her.”
It was quiet for a few minutes.
“What did Jennifer have against us?” Justin asked.
“She was mad at me because I had you. Then she was mad at you because you didn’t want her.” Justin nodded. “Now we have to figure out what to do with her.”
“No, now we have to get her back.”
“Justin, Katlyn, wake up.” Chris said softly.
They had fallen asleep in the same position.
“Justin! Katlyn!” Chris gave up being nice and yelled.
They both jumped up, looking up at him.
“What?!” Justin yelled annoyed.
“We’re in Arizona at the venue. It’s time to get up.”
Katlyn slowly sat up, untangling herself from Justin. They all walked into the venue with fans screaming.
Katlyn tiredly walked, leaning into Justin, her head resting on his shoulder.
Justin tightened his arm around her. “Are you still tired?”
“Yes. I didn’t have an exactly nice wakening.” Katlyn complained.
Justin leaned down and kissed her temple. “That’s Chris for you.”
They all went into the toy room.
“Kate, we know you and Justin are catching up, but can we talk to you?” Jackie asked.
Katlyn nodded and followed them out the door.
“We were talking about how to get Jennifer back.” Laura said.
“And we thought of something that may work.” Jackie continued.
“What did you come up with?”
“So, how is everything going?” JC asked Justin.
“Perfect. I think things are back to normal.” Justin smiled.
“You guys look like you’re attached at the hip again.” Joey joked.
“Yeah, it looks cute, but you didn’t have to share a bus with them.” Chris complained.
“Shut up, Chris.” Justin said throwing a pillow off of the couch at him.
Chris threw the pillow back at him. “I love you sooo much...I’m sooo sorry.” Chris mimicked and then made kissing noises.
Justin threw the pillow back at him again. “You’re just jealous.”
“I’m telling you guys...in a week we’re going to wish we never got them back together.”
“Ok, Chris...we get it.” Lance said annoyed.
The door opened and Katlyn, Jackie, and Laura all walked in. Katlyn sat back down next to Justin. The group continued talking until sound check.
