Melissa walked away from her room as fast as she could, but then she decided to slow down her pace. It wasn't like Justin was chasing her or something. As she thought about it and the closer she got downstairs, the angrier she got. Why the hell do people come at all the wrong times? You don't see me knocking on your damn door when your trying to get your freak on... Melissa suddenly laughed out loud. She had just used the work freak to describe what was going on between her and Justin. Things just got weirder and weirder each day.
She opened the door and was surprised to see JC, Chris, Lance, and Joey standing there. With bags of food. Only wearing their pajamas. It kind of made you think if they were okay in the head.
"We're here!" Chris bounded into the main corridor with a bag of food with the guys following behind him.
"Yeah, and the thing is, why are you guys here?" She followed them into the kitchen where they were setting things up on the long Spanish-tiled counter.
"You don't remember? The movie?" JC studied her curiously. "You of all people would jump at the chance to make fun of Justin. Are you okay.?"
Then it dawned on her. She had asked the guys to come over earlier in the week to come see Justin's movie, Model Behavior. It was sort of like a big movie night sleepover. With all the things that had happened that day, and that week especially, she had totally forgotten about it.
"What other reason would I be here other than to show off my new taco bell pajamas." Chris spun dramatically around in a circle.
"And for once, you people actually bought food with you instead of eating all of ours. I'm speechless."
"Yeah for once in your life..." Chris quickly ducked to avoid coming in contact with Melissa fist.
Joey came up to her with a large bag grinning. "Speaking of food, I have something special for you."
Melissa peered into the bag and rolled her eyes. "Joey, Let's get this straight. There is no way in hell are you going to be able to seduce me with pineapples."
Joey frowned. "Are you sure?"
"Positive."
"Damn. Then why did I waste 50 bucks on 100 cans of pineapples? I could have brought over pizza."
Melissa snatched the bag and grabbed a spoon. "Because you're a very nice person and have given me a very nice early birthday present." She kissed him on the cheek quickly. "Now you can never touch me again."
"Woohoo! She kissed me! Ha! Finally!" Joey danced around the kitchen. "Ha! You each owe me $100!"
The remaining three Nsync members turned to Lissa and threw her a dirty look as they reached for their wallets.
"Thanks a lot, Melissa. Now we actually have to pay the big fat dork." Chris said as he reluctantly handed Joey a crisp 100 dollar bill.
Melissa laughed at the sulking men. "Serves you right for making bets about me."
"Hey, what are you guys doing here?" Justin strolled into the kitchen slowly with a curious look on his face.
Melissa quickly swallowed that laugh. His appearance slightly sent shivers down her neck.
"Hey there Justy, Justy.” Chris walked towards Justin with a smirk on his face. Justin saw his smirk and turned nervous.
"Hey Chris. What’s going on, man?” He watched as the other guys surrounded him also.
"Would you call yourself a good actor, Justin? I really don't enjoy watching crappy movies." JC looked at him with a sly grin.
"Okay. What's the matter with you guys?" Did Chris put cough syrup in coffee your coffee again, or something?"
"Would you say your acting was sort of like, oh I don't know, a Model's Behavior?"
The group of men had finally backed Justin into a small corner in the kitchen. Justin had nowhere to run.
"Oh shit." Justin's face drained of all color. "Today is the movie premiere, isn't it?"
"Ding, ding, ding! Let's give him a prize Johnny!"
"Screw!" He quickly tried to break away from the corner but the other guys' combined weight was way too strong for him. It was hopeless.
"Thought it was funny when I was on 7th Heaven, didn't you? It's payback time, Curly."
"Aw, come on Lance! What did I ever do to you? You're my friend. My amigo. It was only funny for the first week anyway. How could you be so cruel?"
"Hey I can't take credit for this devious plan. Maybe you should talk to your green eyed dark-haired friend here."
"Melissa! How could you? I thought you were my friend and all! I'll never forgive you."
Melissa rolled her eyes and smiled. "Don't worry little Ju-Ju. It's just a movie. No need to get your boxers all in a bunch." She laughed as JC and Lance lifted Justin into the air and carried him to the den against his will. Chris and Joey followed behind chanting.
"Help meeee!!!" Justin kicked and screamed in the air. "Nooooo!!!"
She busted out laughing. Those guys were too unreal. She grabbed a soda from the refrigerator and popped it open. Chris bounded back into the kitchen cheering.
"Hey hot mama. You coming? We've tied up Justin on the couch and he can't leave. Whining like a bitch, though."
"I was just heading there. But now you have the honor of being my escort."
"Then off we go my lady." He extended his arm with a hokey smile. They walked into the den and walked straight into madness. Joey was slamming Justin into a wall. JC was jumping from couch to couch like he had lost his mind. Lance was putting on music from the stereo system. Melissa dropped her jaw. These so called men were acting like children. Very large children.
"Excuse me?! I know I do not see you messing up my house! You sit down. You do not act like you don’t have no home training. Lance and Justin! Where the hell is your southern hospitality? Don't make me get crunk on ya'll! "
The guys had remained silent while she was talking. Until she said crunk. That just brought on a fit of laughter.
Melissa put her head in her hands. "Now I'm positive I've known Justin way to long. God help me, I'm starting to use the boy's words. For shame."
She walked back into the kitchen to grab a bag of chips. When she returned the guys had already claimed all of the available couches. She walked to where Justin was sprawled out over a very large couch. “Scoot over Justin.”
“No.” He didn’t even bother to look up at her. “You can sit on the floor.”
“Come on Justin! Stop being a baby. Scoot over so I can sit down.”
“There’s a big thing on the floor called carpet. Grab a pillow and find out how to use it. This is my couch.”
Melissa had known Justin to be a little bit stubborn at times, but this was just ridiculous. “Fine, you curly haired brat.” She stormed over to where JC was sitting on a large one sitter chair. She smiled at him sweetly. “JC, can I sit with you, since my friend has all of sudden decided to be an asshole?”
“Sure, I guess. But I don’t see how your going to fit. The chair is pretty small.”
“We can find a way.” She sat in JC lap and tried to get comfortable. “See?” Melissa knew she was flirting an awful lot with JC, but she really wanted to get a rise out of Justin. From the corner of her eye she could see Justin shooting daggers at JC. Perfect.
Melissa wasn’t the only one who noticed. Chris and Joey shared a silent look at each other. “Is something going on between those two?” Chris mouthed quietly to Joey. Joey shrugged and concentrated back on the movie. Chris glanced at Justin one more time. There was something going on between them. And he was going find out what.
Justin yawned and stretched. It was still dark and the TV. was still on. He glanced at his watch. It was only 3:00. His movie had long gone finished. He remembered watching a second one but then everything was a little hazy after that. He glanced around the den. Joey was snoring loudly in one corner and Chris was sleeping quietly with Melissa's dog, Pokey, in another corner. Lance wasn’t here so he guessed he went to sleep upstairs in a room. He was very picky about that. JC was curled up in the small chair snoring lightly. He threw a small glare at him. He was still upset about what had happened earlier on. Melissa acted like she wanted to jump his bones right then and there. And JC, he seemed like he enjoyed the attention. He had practically bashed his teeth in when Melissa had started to feed him some ice cream. Not that he was jealous or anything. Frankly, he didn’t care Melissa wanted to do with JC…At least not much anyway.
He saw Melissa curled on the floor in a tight ball. “At least she decided not to jump JC’s bones after all,” he mused to himself. He looked at her again and saw her shiver slightly and stood up and walked up to her. He debated whether or not to carry her upstairs. He picked her up off the floor and carried her up towards the couch that he had been laying on and put her down carefully.
He grabbed the blanket off the floor and laid it over her. He stared at her again and then sat down on the floor next to the couch next to her. He grabbed her hand and rubbed it in his softly. “I’m sorry for being a jerk Lissa,” he said quietly to her. Then he spread out on the floor with her hand still in his.
“Do you think we should wake them up?” JC stared down at the two, still sleeping peacefully.
“They look too happy. It’s just not right. Let’s get Pokey to pee on Justin.”
A round of hands came and slapped Chris across the head. He rubbed his head sheepishly. “It was just a suggestion.”
“We have to be at the video sight in 40 minutes. I think we should wake them up.” Lance stared at his watch. “I can imagine that Justin needs a long time to fix his hair, especially since he slept on the floor.”
“Speaking of sleeping on the floor, what was up with you and Melissa last night. If you guys got anymore friendlier, Justin might have planned out your murder. Do you like Melissa or something?” Joey stared at JC with an evil grin on his face.
JC blushed furiously. “I don’t. She was just being nice to me and all.”
Joey smiled again. “Whatever you say JC.” Then he began to hum the chorus of Digital Getdown.
“Shut-up Joey.”
“Well I don’t care what you guys say, I’m waking them up.” Chris leaned over to Melissa’s ear. "WAKEY-WAKEY!"
Melissa jerked awake and abruptly fell on the floor. On top of Justin. He yawned awake and smiled sleepily at her. “Hey there, Sexy.”
Melissa's eyes widened as she let out a little yelp and jumped up and walked away fast. The guys watched as she climbed up the stairs hurriedly.
Justin yawned again standing up off the floor. “Was it something I said?”
Melissa let the hot water run over her head in the shower. What the hell had happened to her? She remembered falling asleep during a movie and the next thing she remembered was laying on top of Justin. It was awfully weird since she had had that dream about him. The dream. It still made her smile even though it wasn't real. It felt real. Especially all the feelings she had about Justin. It also made her nervous and jumpy. Which was why she had ran out the den so quickly. She sighed and closed her eyes as the stream of water fell into rhythm with the beat of her heart...
She knocked on the door. The rain was falling harder now and she was soaked to the skin. She felt awfully stupid for leaving the house keys on the kitchen counter. She heard the thunder rage behind her and the wind blow faster. She began to pound harder. Where was he?
As if he read her mind, the door flew open and he ushered her inside quickly. She saw the roaring fire and gravitated towards it.
The flames flickered and danced giving off the delicious heat she needed. He appeared by her side with big fluffy white towels and set them on the floor where she was sitting.
She smiled at him graciously and took the towels and wiped off her very damp hair. She could feel him watch her every move. With each look her face burned with redness.
Suddenly she felt a soft touch on the back of her neck. Slowly running up from the tiny hairs on her neck to the beginning of her back. She closed her eyes sighing at the gentle touch. It felt wonderful. Then the feeling disappeared. But not long before being replaced by a new touch. Softer than the first, running from her neck to her high cheekbones.
She opened her eyes and stared at the person in front of her. Did he feel what her heart was feeling? There was only one way to find out.
She leaned over running her hand softly over his face tracing the outline of his features. She stared at his deep set eyes, wanting to see his every reaction to her touch. He stared at her for a second more and then leaned over and kissed her full on the lips. Her heart soared because he made the first move. He really must care about her…
“Melissa!!!! Hey, you drown or something!? We have to get going!” Chris pounded insistently on the door. Melissa snapped back into reality, the water still streaming down her face. She turned off the shower. Too bad it was only a dream.
Melissa hurriedly blow dried her hair, not caring what she looked like. She grabbed her small backpack purse and flew down the stairs where the guys were waiting for her. " I'm so sorry you guys. I kind of got distracted this morning and..." Melissa trailed off her sentence when she noticed the guys were awfully quiet.
"What?"
The five guys gaped at her.
She stared at them confused. Maybe Chris had put cough syrup in their coffee after all. "What's wrong?"
JC spoke up first. "Your hair...Its...like...Wow..."
Melissa stared at him again and took out her compact from her purse. She looked at herself. Everything look o.k. to her. She hadn't taken the time to straighten out her hair and all, but she didn't think it would make such a difference. "So?"
Chris shook his head in his own stupor. "I never thought I'd ever say this in a million years, but your hair is curlier than fro-boy here."
"Woohoo! Endless days of name calling are over! I'm free!!" Justin started dancing around the room in happiness.
Melissa rolled her eyes and stuck her tongue out at him. "Shut-up, Fro-boy."
Justin stopped dancing and came up to her. "Make me, Fro-girl." He loved to challenge her, ever since they were kids. He loved it especially now since he outweighed her 2 to 1.
"Bring it on, Mama's boy. You want a piece of this. I can take you down right here, right now."
JC rolled his eyes and stepped between the two. "Normally I would love to see you beat up Justin on a daily basis, but now we just don't have the time."
Melissa smirked. "Don't worry, Jussie. When we get back, me and you are going to take it to the court." She never backed down on a challenge. "I'm so gonna kick your ass."
"Don't waste your energy baby, you know I got the skills and they're multiplying." He rubbed his knuckles against his shirt.
"What are you, some John Travolta reject?" Melissa stood her ground staring at him right in the face.
"When will it end, Ward?" Chris put his head on Joey's shoulder gesturing at the bickering two.
Joey grinned and put his arm around Chris. "I don't know June. I just don't know."
Chris turned to JC. "Hey Wally, do you know what's up with the Beav?"
JC shrugged and looked at his watch. "If you ask me, I think the Beav has his head up his ass."
The group arrived at the video site about 30 minutes later. Already there were people running about shouting different things to each other. Melissa had been to several of Nsync video shoots and already knew what to expect.
As soon she had arrived she rushed straight into hair and makeup. Not that she didn’t mind being pampered and all…She just wasn’t expecting that phone call…
Melissa heard the insistent ring of her cell phone in her purse and sighed. “Can someone please get that for me?”
The only reply she got was the brush being caught in another snarl in her hair. “Ow!” She flinched and made a grab for her phone. “Hello?”
“Hey girl! You know I couldn’t go without calling you this week!”
Melissa smiled when she heard the happy and bouncy voice on the other line.
Britney and Melissa had been friends ever since Justin had been on the Mickey Mouse club. The two had met when Melissa had came up to Orlando to see one of Justin's shows.
“How’s the tour?”
Britney sighed and wrinkled her nose. “It’s totally killing me. I haven’t had a good night sleep since god knows when.”
Melissa rolled her eyes as Britney whined. “Oh yeah. Being a multi-millionaire popstar is just such hard work. I totally feel for you.”
“There’s that sarcasm that I’ve been waiting to hear all week! I’ve been just dying without you. There has been no one to make fun of my wardrobe and how I should just quit singing and join a strip joint somewhere. Speaking of, when are you coming on tour girl? I know you're not going to leave me hanging like this.”
She smiled slyly to herself. “You may be seeing me sooner than you think. Watch MTV later this week and you’ll see.”
“Lissa…What the heck is going on? You and that devil boy better not be planning something against me. How is the little antichrist anyways?”
“Oh, he’s just as annoying as ever."
But just as cute as ever too,” she thought smiling. Wait a minute. Did she just say that?
“Here, Melissa. The wardrobe for the first shoot.” Lisa, the clothing advisor, put the clothes on the chair next to her.
“Shoot? If I didn’t know better, I’d think you were doing a video..."
“Sorry, Brit. I gotta go. Catch you later,” Melissa interrupted.
“Don’t you dare hang up that phone, Melissa Nicole Brown! What the hell are you doing?” Britney was practically screaming in her ear.
“Bye bye, Brit!” Melissa smiled cheerfully as she hung up the phone and stuck it back into her purse. She grabbed the outfit on the chair and quickly hopped into the changing room. There’s just some stuff that people just have to keep to themselves…
Melissa finally walked out of the hair and make-up station 30 minutes later. She had to change so many times that she was already ridiculously tired. She vowed to never make fun of the guys ever again. At least everyone except for Justin anyway. That boy was just too easy to make fun of.
When she had arrived to the site earlier she never got the chance to take a look at it. They were going to be shooting the video on a small strip of beach, right of the South coast of Florida. The view of the ocean was quite breathtaking as she stared at it longingly. She wished she had her drawing pad with her. It was just too beautiful.
Things weren’t exactly ready yet so Melissa walked towards the recreation tent and found herself a seat. She had been around hustle and bustle all day and all she wanted right now was some peace and quiet.
“Come on…come on! You want a piece of me? Well I’m right here bitch!”
Suddenly she saw two figures wrestle their way into the tent rolling all over the floor. She rolled her eyes and realized that it was only Chris and Justin acting stupid again.
“You wanna talk smack, ho? Well say it to my face!” Chris jumped on Justin’s head causing Justin to wail like a little baby.
“Damnit, Chris! That hurt. You know that this face is insured by Jive Records!”
Chris stopped jumping around and came up to Justin. “Oh. I’m sorry man. I didn’t really think I’d hurt you.” He came up closer to apologize. Justin took this opportunity to put Chris into a pretty strong headlock.
“Heh-he-he! I got you whipped again!”
The brawl continued until Chris pulled the fight outside, rolling once again on the floor.
Melissa sighed, getting up. “So much for peace and quiet. I can only imagine what that little argument was all about.”
“Hey Miss Foxy Brown. You’re looking awfully fresh this morning.” Joey strutted over to her, slowly running his eyes over her outfit. “And I do mean fresh.”
Melissa had on light blue tank top that ended right above her belly button and a yellow sun flower skirt that flowed gracefully around her. She laughed and shook her head at Joey. “Hmm… Why do I get the feeling that you’re slowly undressing me in your mind…again?”
“Probably because I am…again.”
“Lovely Joey. Do you kiss your mother with that mouth?”
“Baby, I can kiss a lot of things right now and my mother is certainty not high on my list. How bout you, me, in the recreation tent, a bowl of honey and a little nudity?” Joey raised his eyebrows suggestively.
“Better yet how bout me, you, in the forest, with honey, a little nudity, while I watch the insects attack and eat you slowly but surely? Besides the things you probably want to do with me aren’t even legal yet. Hell, I’m not even legal. Can't you hold out for a week and a half Joey? At least until I turn 19? Cause I could cry out something statutory right about now.”
“Oohh. Right for jugular. You really know how to hurt a man’s pride.”
“I’m a fighter Joey. Can you handle this?” Melissa diverted her attention towards the video camera that was tapping Justin in the far right. Something evil just popped into her head. “Can you excuse me Joey?”
Apparently Justin hadn’t noticed her presence and continued to talk. She stood behind him looking bored. Then she took the opportunity to stick her tongue out at Justin behind his back.
The cameraman chuckled a little but kept quiet.
Justin, oblivious to what was happening, continued to babble on and on about the video.
Melissa rolled her eyes. Obviously the boy needed to be shut-up. He was boring half of the people around him and especially her. She tapped him on the shoulder and he turned around.
“Hey Ju-ju. Before you embarrass yourself further, you need to know that you have something on your shirt.”
Justin immediately looked down and searched for what was wrong.
Melissa laughed and grabbed the waistband of his pants and pulled them down. Justin turned around shocked. “Whoops, Did I say shirt? I think I meant boxers. By the way, I’m totally enjoying the view of your pack-I mean your Snoopy boxers.” She slowly backed away taking in the redness of Justin face.
“Just wait till I get my hands on you Melissa Nicole!” He quickly grabbed his pants and broke out into a run after Melissa.
Melissa obviously enjoying the attention took the time to turn around and wave at Justin sticking out her tongue. “Wow, it’s only been an hour and already two people have used my full name. I feel so loved.”
“You're going to feel pain when I catch you, girl!” Justin ran ahead full speed and grabbed her by the waist lifting her up in his arms.
“Be careful, Jussie. You break it, you buy it!” Melissa giggled as he threw her over his shoulder. She stopped laughing when she saw where he was heading to. “Justin Randall Timberlake, don’t even think for one second that you are going to throw me into that water. As soon as you let go I’m going to cut your balls off with a spoon.”
“As tempting as that may seem, that doesn’t make up for pulling my pants down on television. You got an awfully ballsy mouth being in the position that you're in.” He walked even closer to the water.
Melissa paled for a second. “Come on Justin! I was just playing with you. It wasn’t even live TV! They can edit it out. I just got out of hair and make-up and wardrobe for an hour!”
“And I’m sure they’ll make you even prettier the second time around.” She could practically see the devil horns growing straight out of his head. Wait a minute. Did he just say I was pretty? “Help! Justin’s being a bastard again!”
“Aww, and to think I was just going to let you go with just a stern talking to. But you had to call me a bastard. Tsk. You never shut that big mouth of yours for a second, do you?”
“Put me down, Justin. I’m not kidding.” She struggled against him but he kept his grip tight. Even worse, they had got the attention of the people around them.
“Say that Justin is the king of basketball, the sexiest bitch ever and…and…” He grinned at her evilly. “And say all I want to do is have hot, steamy, sex with him.”
“Not a chance in hell.”
“Wrong words, Lissa. Looks like you’re going to have to pay the price.” He dramatically raised her above his head. “Any last words, sweetheart?”
“You are so going to hell for this.”
“I know, I know.” He dropped her into the water with a huge splash. He turned around and took a bow for the crew. Little did he know that payback was an awful bitch. Melissa grabbed one of his legs and brought him down with her. She grabbed onto his curls and dunked his head into the water hold him under.
JC shook his head and turned around to the rest of the band members. “Those two are just too much.”
“How much do you want to bet she’s going to let him drown?” A round of hands came around and hit Chris on the head. “What? It would change things for the better. I could be the heartthrob, Joey could be the Southern sweetheart, Lance could be the Italian Stallion, and JC could be the responsible older member of the group! We can steal Nick Carter and he'll be the boring one just like JC.”
“You? Responsible? I think Chrissie made a funny, you guys.”
Lance batted his eye lashes at Chris. “You think I’m a sweetheart, Chris? You’re so cute.”
“Bite me, Lance.”
Joey smiled. “Doesn’t Kat take care of all the biting?” he said suggestively about his girlfriend. “
I can’t help it if she can’t contain her frustration around my sexy body. She wants me man.”
“What was that Chris?”
Chris mentally kicked himself in the ass. He forgot that Kat was flying home from Millington today. “Nothing Kat. I swear.”
“Are you sure Chris? Cause if I’m not mistaken, you just said that I couldn’t take my hands off of you. Though that may be true in some cases, most cases really, you really don’t need to be boasting to your friends about our relationship. Save the boasting for me. Now come over here and give me my hello kiss.”
Chris grinned to himself happily. “If I must, then it must be done.”
Kat rolled her eyes and kissed her boyfriend tenderly on the lips. “Wow Chris, don’t sound so excited. I mean I'm just your girlfriend whom you haven’t seen for weeks! I know I don’t matter.”
Chris nodded. “It’s good that you know already. Then I don’t have to tell you myself.”
Kat punched his arm in reply. “Keep talking like that and you won’t be telling anybody anything for weeks especially since you won’t have the lips to do it.”
Chris hugged her again. “It’s good to have you back. I missed you.”
“I missed you too, chocolate pants.”
JC smiled wryly. “Now I see where Melissa gets it from. It’s genetic.”
“Speaking of, where is my crazy little sister? I haven’t bugged her in weeks.”
All the band members gestured towards where Melissa was still holding Justin’s head underwater.
Kat sighed. “I leave for a short vacation and she's already killing the infant. Not that I’m surprised. I’ve taught her well. I told mother she should have stopped having kids after me, but did she listen? Nope, not one bit. Just had to keep popping them out one after one after one. Well, it looks like I have my work cut out for me.”
Kat strutted over to Melissa and Justin slowly. Chris’ eyes widened. “Gotta love that strut. Beautiful.”
“Well, well, well, lookie what we have here. My little sister killing another famous popstar. Justin Timberlake, no doubt. Do you have a death wish, little sis?”
Melissa stood up, pushing Justin’s head into the water for a final time. “Hey big sis.”
Chris looked at the two shaking his head. “Brace yourself you guys, this is going to be brutal.”
Melissa and Kat were as close as two sisters could be despite their age differences. But whenever these two got around each other they were sure to cause trouble.
Melissa smirked at her. "I see you're doing well. Mom's been treating you right? Gain a few couple of pounds?"
"And once again, I find you flirting with Justin. When are you just going to pull him into an empty broom closet and rough him up a bit, like you've always wanted?"
The two sister glared at each other. Then they busted out laughing. Melissa gave her a big hug. "That's better. Its been a while since we've insulted each other."
"Its been too long."
Justin pulled some seaweed from his curls. "Can somebody please give me a hand here?"
Kat turned and started to applaud loudly. "Bravo! I just love what you've done to your hair, Justin. Are you still perming it regularly?"
Justin's face flushed red. "Hey! You promised you wouldn't tell!" He looked around nervously. "I think I'm going to go change my clothes, now." He stood up and walked away, his head hanging low.
"I think you hurt his manly pride."
Kat cocked her head at her sister. "What manly pride?"
Melissa nodded in agreement. "Yes, that is true."
Kat took a look at her sister's figure. "Speaking of truths, walk with me, talk with me, and tell me why are you wearing a skirt?"
Melissa laughed as she glanced down at her wet clothes. "It's a long story. A very complicated one indeed."