Justin raised an eyebrow. "Really?"
"No..." Megan started playing with her hands. Justin knelt in front of her and covered her hands with his.
"Talk to me Megan." He said softly. He put a finger under her chin "You can tell me anything, you know that right?"
"Yes." She looked up at his eyes. "It's hard though. To talk about it, you know?"
"I have all night." He smiled.
"Well, Megan. As long as you're gonna be ok, I'm going to bed." Joey said standing up. Megan jumped slightly. She had totally forgotten he was there.
"Thanks Joey." Justin said.
"If you need anything, knock on the door." He said hugging her.
"Ok, I think I'll be fine though." Megan assured him. Joey nodded and walked out of the room. "Talk to you tomorrow Joe." She said as the door closed. As soon as the locked clicked, Justin got Megan's attention again.
"I can't stand seeing you like this." He said running his thumb over her tear streaked cheek. "What happened to you that made you have a dream like that?"
"This guy that I used go out with...you might remember him, he was that guy that I was with when we met the first time."
"That guy that was way older than you?" Justin asked.
"He wasn't 'way older than me.'“ Megan said. "He was 19."
"And you were fifteen." He pointed out.
"That's not the point." She said. "The point is he was a horrible person and he was horrible to me."
"What did he do to you?"
"Last year when I was taking some classes upstate, he cheated on me...he didn't know that I was coming home early...and I caught him...while he was cheating...in bed with a close friend of mine, Cassie." She said between her tears.
"I'm so sorry Megan." Justin said. "You never should have had to go through that."
"It gets worse, trust me." She laughed lightly. "Of course, I dumped him on the spot. About a month later, I hooked up with somebody new. His name was Craig. Jacob never liked him too much and he especially didn't like the fact that I was with him.
"One night, Craig and I were eating dinner at my apartment. I guess Jacob decided that he would pay me a visit. He burst through the door and had a fit. I knew what he was going to do so I sent Craig home. As soon as he left, Jacob and I started fighting. He slapped me and I hit him back. I had never done that before and it surprised him. He got really mad and started beating me." She started crying again. "When I woke up, I was in the hospital and Joey was by my bed --"
"Wait!" Justin interrupted. "I remember when he left last year. He said that someone in his family was hurt and he had to go home...that was you?"
"Yes."
"Why didn't he tell me you were hurt?" He asked angrily.
"I told him not to." Megan said softly.
"Why? I would have come with him and been with you."
"I didn't want you to worry." She said. "Besides, you were probably busy with Britney."
"Don't say that." He said. "You know I would have come see you."
"Maybe. We didn't exactly leave each other on the best terms." She pointed out.
"That doesn't have anything to do with it." He said. "What did Joey say about all this."
"He asked me if I wanted to press charges and I said no."
"What?! Why?"
"Because it would have only made things worse." Megan said. "Look, you don't know Jacob like I do. He doesn't take things like other people. It wouldn't matter if I had a restraining order on him. He'd still come back."
"He's not coming back this time, I'll make sure of that." Justin said. He pulled her into his arms and held her close. "I'm not going to let anything like that happen to you again, I promise." He said softly. "I'm never going to leave you again either. I'm to afraid something is going to happen to you."
"I'll be fine as long as Jacob doesn't find out that we're together." She told him.
"Even if he does find out, he won't touch you." He said. "I'll make sure of it."
"Thank you Justin."
"Don't thank me." He pulled away from her and smiled. "I'm just being a good boyfriend."
"You're a better boyfriend than I thought you'd be."
"Well, what did you think?" He raised an eyebrow.
"I figured you would be different than you were before, but you're not. You're exactly the same as I remembered..."
"Except for the fact that I'm even hotter than I used to be." He smiled.
"And your ego hasn't changed a bit either." She laughed at his cocky attitude.
"You're so cute when you laugh." He commented. "Much better than you look when you're crying..."
"I'll be fine now that you're here." She said snuggling against him. He laid next to her and wrapped his arms around her.
"Tomorrow, we'll go the VMA's and have a good time and forget about all our problems for one night." He said. "Try not to think about Jacob okay...Everything will be fine..."
Megan fell asleep hearing the words Joey had said to her earlier: Famous last words, remember that...
"Megan, the limo is waiting. Aren't you ready yet?" Justin asked running a hand through his hair. His short curls sprung back into place.
"I don't know about this dress Justin." Megan called back. "If I turn the wrong way and the wind catches it...nope. I can't wear this! I'm not going!"
"Baby, just let me see how you look, I'm sure it's fine." He said walking toward the bathroom. "Steven told me you looked great in it." He knocked on the door to the bathroom and heard the lock click. "Megan!"
"I'm not coming out!" She yelled. "I look like a street walker!"
"Babe, let me see it. It's probably not as bad as you think it is." He heard the lock click and smiled triumphantly. Megan stuck her head out and gave him a 'look'.
"You better give me an honest reaction." She warned.
"Just let me see you!" He laughed. She opened the door so he could get a full view of her. She shrugged at the dress and looked at him. She couldn't tell from the look on his face if he liked it or not. His mouth was hanging open and his eyes were wide.
"You don't like it!" She exclaimed wrapping her arms around her body.
"No!" He said pulling her arms away. "No, I love it. It...It’s perfect."
"Are you sure?"
"I'm positive. You look amazing." He smiled. She still wasn't sure.
Steven had done a wonderful job for making it in one night. It was green, the same as the silk shirt he was wearing and fit her perfectly in all the right places. It had one strap, on her right shoulder. The fabric on the bottom part of the dress was a different material than the top; it was shinier and seemed to shimmer every time she moved. But the cut of the dress was obviously the best part. It was cut diagonally with the highest part coming to her middle right thigh, the longest on the left side going her calf. Her shoes were simple green opened toed heels buckling around the ankles. They made her a few inched taller than she really was.
Her jewelry was simple: An emerald stone on a simple silver chain around her neck and silver rings on her hands one of which had a large green stone in it. She also had small emerald earrings.
She didn't need much make-up but what she did have on made her stunning. Dark green glittery eye shadow and pink lip gloss. Her cheeks a rosy red. The green dress contrasted perfectly with her light olive skin and made her green eyes shades darker than they really were. Her hair, which was normally curly, was straight and had green ribbon twisted into it.
"I've never seen you look this beautiful before." Justin said, still stunned.
"You wanna take a picture? It might last longer." She joked when she saw him looking her up and down. He snapped out of his daze and smirked.
"Ha Ha Princess." He said. He stepped closer to her and held out his arms. "C'mere and let me hold you." She smiled and stepped into his arms and wrapped hers around his waist. "We're gonna have so much fun tonight." He said inhaling the scent of her mango shampoo.
"I hope so." She nodded. "I really hope people like me..."
"It doesn't matter if they like you or not because I like you and that's all that matters." He said. He placed a kiss on the tip of her nose and hugged her again. "Now let's go! You took so long in the bathroom, we're probably late now!"
"It's not my fault you wanted me to wear half a dress to this thing." She retorted as he drug her out of the room.
"You look hot, just quit complaining." He laughed. They used the back entrance and found the limo waiting for them.
"Jeez, what took you so long?" Lance asked.
"Well, if I know Justin, it was probably his fault." Angela giggled.
"Well then you must not know me that well then because it wasn't." Justin smiled sarcastically. "Megan wouldn't come out of the bathroom. She said her dress made her look like a street walker."
"I like your dress Megan." Bobbee said. "You know, you're the only one who had their dress made?"
"Yeah I was upset too." Chris cut in. "Nobody would make a dress for me so I had to go out and buy a suit." Everybody laughed at Chris' joke that was much like all his other's: so dumb it's hilarious.
"We agreed that I would look better in a dress than him." Bridget said. More laughter.
"We're gonna have a blast tonight, guys." JC said. "We've all got our girls here. And Justin and Megan finally got together."
"It took you guys long enough!" Joey exclaimed. Kelly elbowed him in the ribs.
"We're all happy for you guys." She smiled sweetly.
"We're outside the music hall." The drivers voice came over the intercom.
"Thank you." JC said. "Well, here we go."
"Are you ready?" Justin asked Megan, taking her hand. She nodded. "You're gonna do fine. Just keep smiling and if anybody asks you a question, just answer and smile. They'll probably gonna be asking me all the questions so it won't be a problem."
"OK. Let's go." She said. Justin smiled and kissed her lightly. He started to get out but she pulled him back.
"Oh no." He laughed. "You're not backing out on me now."
"Now silly. You have my gloss on your lips." She said wiping his lips with her thumb.
"My princess, always looking out for me." He smiled. "Let's go."
They stepped out of the limo and were met by flashes of light and voices calling Justin's name. Megan did exactly what Justin had told her to do; she smiled and held onto his hand as he led her through the crowd. Every once in a while, he'd squeeze her hand and give her a reassuring smile. They made it through the press junket and entered Radio City Music Hall.
The giant stage had the elaborate set, custom to every Video Music Awards show and people were running all over the place checking set pieces over one last time before the show started, musicians mingling with other musicians...the usual, at least Megan thought it was the usual. She had never been to an awards show, let alone the MTV Video Music Awards. She had always heard that this show was very different from the Grammy's and the American Music Awards, but she never expected anything like this. She looked around her trying to take everything in at once when she felt Justin tug on her arm.
“Megan c’mon, I want you to meet some people.” He said. “Why are you going so slow?”
“You try walking in 3 inch heels.” She laughed.
“I don’t think they’d go with my outfit.” He shot back. She shoved him a little. His sarcasm that was practically dripping like honey, and he stopped to pull her closer. In her heels, Megan was able to see his face without looking up and she could feel his breath on her mouth. He smirked looking at her feet. “Besides, my feet are too big…” He leaned closer to her. “But you know what they say about guys with big feet...” Megan laughed and pushed him away.
“Way to ruin a moment Timberlake!” She said.
“What?!” He asked, a look of innocence on his face. “I was talking about socks!”
