Beezus had searched all over the building for AJ, in every office, the cafeteria, the bathrooms, the stairs. . .Everywhere. A whole morning spent in vain; she had had no luck in finding him.
Presently, she peered over the balcony outside of Max's office, her eyes skimming over the few people milling about. From behind a palm tree sitting in a large terra cotta pot, a head of blue spiked hair bobbed up and down. Beezus grinned to herself and caught the elevator to the ground level, then dawdled over to him and punched his shoulder.
"What the fuck?" he said, rubbing his wounded arm. "Ow, Beez, what was that for?"
"For not telling me Farm Boy has a girlfriend," she answered, reaching into his McDonald's bag.
"Didn't think you'd have cared so much." She shrugged, annoyed, and continued shuffling through the paper bag. He swatted her away from his food, taking a hash brown square out and biting the corner.
"Why didn't you brng me back anything?" she asked, sticking out her bottom lip. He chuckled, blocking her attempts to steal his breakfast.
"You are the only girl I know that would eat this crap so early in the morning." She turned away and sulked. "Hey, listen, I didn't know I was supposed to bring you back anything. And why does it suddenly matter if Brian has a girl or not? Last time I checked you two had it in for each other."
"We still do, probably always will," she answered. "But it definately would have been nice to have had some sort of warning before walking in on them necking in Max's office." AJ grimaced. "Yep, me too. Oh, by and by, do you have a date for the Grammys yet? Or do I have to drag your sorry ass there myself?" She smiled playfully as she waited for his responce.
"No luck yet date-wise, my dear," he sighed. "But I can't go with you anyway. I have standards that I have to stick to." Her brow furrowed in confusion, and he ruffled her hair. "I won't subject myself to be used, not even if I harbor some secret passion for you. But that's another story for another day."
"Why do you say I'd be using you?" she asked, knowing perfectly well that she would be using him. "We'd be going only as friends, not lovers or anything else."
"And let me be the first to tell you that I couldn't have a more lovely friend or lover," he said, dropping the McDonald's bag into the trash and walking towards the elevators. "I'm still not going with you."
"Hmph." Beezus crossed her arms over her stomach and pouted, trying to look upset by his words. He simply shook his head and boarded the lift.
"It isn't any surprise that you have a secret thing for Brian, Beez," he sighed. Her eyes widened, her jaw dropped, and she stared at AJ in disbelief. "I have seen the way you two act together. You're flirting all the time, even if it is on a seventh grade level."
"What is your problem?" she demanded. "I hate that boy from the tips of his toes to the top of his curly little blonde head. There is no way I have a quote-unquote 'thing' for him." AJ shrugged, staring at his feet silently. "And why do you think I'd be using you?! If I want Brian so much I'd have sent that Danni slut back to New York weeks ago."
"I rest my case." The elevator chimed for their floor, and AJ walked out calmly. Beezus stormed along behind him, fuming at his answers.
"What case?!" she cried. "I still don't see how this all ties togther. Care to shed a little light on the subject?" He sighed as they passed through the doorway of Max's office and turned to her.
"You like him, Beez. He has a girlfriend, and you are so terribly outraged that he would actually be dating that bleached bitch," he explianed. "So you go and use the Grammys as the perfect oppourtunity to put him into the same jealous rage that you have suffered through.
"You chose me out of all of those single, attractive, young musicians here at Jive, me being the handsome devil that I am, to escort you to the awards show and attempt to make me yet another pawn in your master plan because you think I'm stupidly gullible. Which I am not, by the way."
Beezus knew all too well what AJ was saying; it made perfect sense to her. A heavy weight had settled in her heart; hearing someone say what she had been thinking for so long aloud made her seem so conniving, so evil, so . . .pathetic.
"In a perfect world, Brian would seek you out after breaking things off with, as you called her, that Danni slut, and come begging on his knees for your undying affection. You then do one of two things; you brush him off like an annoying mosquito, or you admit your true feelings, and then, ta-da! Happy endings, on the house." She gazed at him, dumbfounded. How he knew so much was beyond her comprehension, and quite frankly it scared her to no end.
"Well, unfortunately, I am the exception in this, of course," he added, glancing from the corner of his eye at her. "I, inevitably, am sent into a misery and pain worse than death because I also have been keeping a secret; I have been harboring hidden feelings for you, and my dreams end up being brutally crushed into shards." Beezus studied his face a moment, searching for a hint of fun, but the glimmer of mockery that usually resided in his deep, dark eyes was missing.
"I was following you until that bit about you harboring feelings for me," she said, raising an eyebrow to him. "I thought you said that you weren't madly in love with me down in the lobby just now." He grinned, turning away and shuffling his feet across the carpet.
"I said it was another story, Beez." Beezus sighed, shaking her head slowly, and left the office to find Danielle and Brian walking down the hallway together, Danni clad in the most scandelous outfit she had ever seen outside of the American Music Awards.
"Nice outfit, Dannielle," she snickered. Without so much as a blink, Danni tightened her arms around Brian's shoulders and pouted through her icy glare on Beezus.
"You know I look good," she remarked smugly. AJ coughed loudly from the doorway, covering a chuckle. "Alexander, take one long look at me, and then a look a at her. Who is sexier?" She shifted, removing her arms from around Brian's neck, so that her barely-there cleavage was nearly falling out of the shimmery silver halter top she sported, making sickening kissing noises at him. AJ eyed her, then Beezus in her grungy t-shirt and baggy jeans. He draped an arm protectively over her shoulders and shurgged.
"I pick the babe with the purple hair," he answered innocently. Dannielle huffed and glared at Brian, beckoning with a long, painted fingernail, before storming into the office. Beezus ran a hand over her newly dyed purple locks, having almost forgotten about the tube of Very Berry coloring she had applied the night before.
"Violet is definately your color, Beatrice." She squeezed her eyes shut, groaning inwardly to herself. AJ sensed her muscles tensing up and looked at him.
"Hey, Justin," he said through clenched teeth. It was a well-known fact around Jive that if anyone did not get along well, it was AJ McLean and Justin Timberlake. They could barely stand the sight of one another. "We were just on our way out to an early lunch." A disappointed pout came over Justin's face that filled Beezus with relief.
"I owe you one," she whispered into AJ's ear. "Come on, I here Shun Hou's has excellent egg rolls." She hooked her arm through his and lead him down the hall towards the elevators.
"Hey," Justin called after them. "Could I talk to Beatrice alone for a minute, pal?" The words were forced, and AJ grimaced at the use of the word pal.
"Sure, I'll be downstairs, Beez." He dropped a quick peck on her cheek and glared at his rivil before sauntering off to the lifts.
"So . . .You and AJ . . .You two are . . .?" The light bulb clicked on in her mind, and she smiled brightly.
"Oh, haven't you heard? We've been dating for weeks now. On and off, of course!" She laughed giddily, hoping she sounded happily invovled with AJ. "Nothing too serious, but I just love the poor dear to the ends of the earth. It's just that we have too much in common." She realized her mistake all too late. His eyes lit up, and a smile tickled the corners of his mouth.
"So, um, are you two going to go . . ." He looked up at her with hopeful eyes. She cringed at the innocent sparkle in his eyes. Did he expect every girl on the planet swoon and sigh for that face? It wouldn't happen with Beezus, not now or ever.
"The Grammys?" she finished his sentance slowly, "No, he's taking a family friend, if she can make it." In her mind, everything was clicking together nicely into a well-formed plan. "Why? I'm sure a stunning guy such as yourself would have a pretty girl to escort already." He blushed, his cheeks turning crimson, and the color trailing up to the tips of his ears. Beezus smiled to herself, and continued inflating his ego. "It would be insane to not have a date when you were named hottest star under twenty five by Teen People, right?"
"Actually, I was hoping I could go with you," he blurted out. He gazed at her apologetically, then stuttered through his words, trying to cover up his blunder. "I mean, since AJ is taking his friend, and I'm free, and you're free, and . . .Well, it's logical for us to go together then, isn't it?"
"I would simply love to go with you, Justin." Silently, she thanked her parents for years of forced acting lessons, and prayed that the show would go by quickly. Justin was beaming by this time, a wide grin spreading from ear to ear.
"Great. So, do you want to go shopping for a dress sometime, or can you handle that on your own? I'm sort of new at this," he admitted bashfully.
"I'll be fine, don't worry. AJ will come with me. We'll talk later, all right? Age is waiting for me downstairs . . ." He nodded, all too eager, and shuffled his feet in the carpet.
"Okay!" Beezus smiled sweetly, and turned away. She could not believe what she had just done, manipulating the poor boy like she had. But she master plan was back into play, and Brian knew exactly how much Justin already liked her.
"Perfect as a plan can get," she whispered to herself as she entered the elevator. "Couldn't have gone better if I had written a script."