CHAPTER THREE

Monday, September 1, 2003 (Four days later)

Not even a good eight hours after Christina had crawled into bed the night before was their a banging noise heard on the door that connected Justin's room to hers. But unfortunately, before the petite woman could even open her mouth to tell the older man to go away, he was all ready in her room and halfway to her bed.

"Justin, you better have a good excuse as to why you're waking me up at seven-thirty in the freaking morning." Christina angrily began, after taking a look at the digital clock beside her hotel bed.

Without even bothering to pay attention to the glare that Christina was throwing his way, Justin casually threw the magazine that he had in his hand towards his tour-mate and then afterwards quickly replied: "Oh, I do...and there it is."

Knowing that the sooner she looked at it, the sooner she could go back to sleep, caused Christina to reluctantly sat up on her bed--letting Justin take a seat next to her--and then quickly raise the magazine to her eye level. "Divas shooting from the lips: the three way kiss unfolds.....Justin, I thought we already went over this...I was sworn to secrecy, that's the only reason why I couldn't tell you."

After rolling his eyes slightly, Justin muttered, "I'm not talking about that..look at the bottom of the page."

After following his instructions, Christina looked towards the bottom of the page and couldn't help but widen her eyes in disbelief as she read what he was talking about.

After rereading the article once again, Christina slowly adverted her attention towards Justin--who was waiting for an angry response, which they both knew he wasn't going to get it. "Okay...either tell me that your lack of emotion means that you're angry at Star magazine for putting a bunch of b.s together and printing it out for the whole world to see or that you're in total disbelief over the fact that a tabloid paper put two and two together before you got the chance to tell me--one of your supposed closest friends--about you and the great white rapper."

Any other time, Christina would've probably laughed at Justin for being somewhat angry because he wasn't told the gossip first. But unfortunately though, this wasn't the time.

"Oddly enough, I'm not either, J." Christina began, while handing the magazine back to the younger male. "I mean, everything they said is true: we did go to a club together, we did spend most of the night dancing together, we did have a conversation backstage at the V.M.A's, and we did share an elevator up to our floor that night. But believe me, when I say that we didn't sleep together...we're not that close. We barely even talked the entire time we were at the club."

After taking in what the petite brunette beside him was saying and wondering if he might've missed something somewhere, Justin slowly replied in confusion: "Then why did you go there with him?"

A question which Christina was about to answer until sudden realization dawned on her and she realized that she couldn't betray Mya or Curtis's trust by saying that it was because the older female wanted her to meet the guy she was dating.

So, instead of giving Justin a reason, she instead responded back with: "That, I unfortunately, can't tell you." And even though every part of him was dying to know why the woman--he now considered a sister--was hanging out with someone who she used to say she couldn't stand, Justin respected Christina's privacy enough to just reply: "All right, fair enough...but just as a warning: I don't think that answer is going to fly right with the press. Their going to have a field day with this one."

"Tell me about it." Christina lazily replied, before sighing slightly and laying her head on Justin's shoulder; suddenly feeling too tired to even move.

September 11, 2003

Christina couldn't believe it, but finally after two weeks of being bombard with question upon question about her and Eminem and seeing several reporters and paparazzi members camped outside of her hotel--looking for any sign of the blonde rapper that they could find--all word of him and her love life seemed to be dying down.

Or so, she thought...until her phone begin to play Crazy in love around one o'clock Thursday afternoon.

"Hello?" She quickly asked, after spending about five seconds trying to locate her ringing cellphone.

"Yeah...is this Christina?"

After spending a couple of seconds trying to recognize the voice--but to no avail--Christina replied, "That depends, who is this?"

"It's Marshall a.k.a. Eminem a.k.a. the guy who you supposedly have ten kids with."

Even though she really didn't think that was funny, Christina couldn't help but laugh at the comment before furrowing her eyebrows in confusion; wondering how Em had gotten her number and also why he was calling her.

Fortunately though, before she even had a chance to ask him the questions, the older male continued with: "I hope you don't mind, but I got your number from Mya...I figured we needed to talk."

Not really sure as to where this was going caused Christina to quickly take a seat on the king-sized bed that was situated in the middle of the room before reluctantly replying: "Okay, I'm listening..what's up?"

Without even bothering to think about it for a second Marshall replied: "All right, the thing is: I've been getting phone call after phone call from the press asking if what Star Magazine said about us is true--which I'm sure you have as well. And at first, I was just telling everyone to go fuck themselves but after talking to Dre and one of his boys that works with Vibe Magazine, I found out that the best thing for us to do right now is just to admit the truth."

Figuring she had heard wrong and that Marshall wasn't asking her to sell out their friends caused Christina to disbelievingly ask: "You want me to tell the press about Mya and Curtis?"

A question which Marshall immediately responded back with: "No...I want you to tell them about me and you. I want you to give them what they want to hear: the whole story about how after you and me called it truce last year, you decided that we should get to know one another better so their would be no more false rumors going around if I ever thought about putting you in another song of mine. And then--after doing so--I want you to tell them about how we accidentally fell for one another in the process of getting to know each other better."

"So, basically you're asking me to lie?" Christina asked, rather bluntly; causing Marshall to slightly chuckle for a second before replying: "Pretty much...but you have until next Thursday to decide what you want to do. After that, we either make arrangements to get together and handle this shit or I cut my cellphone off and you can handle this one by yourself."

Not knowing if he was joking or not caused Christina to pause for a second before replying: "All right...but if we do this and I'm not saying we're going to--I haven't made up my mind yet--I have one condition that needs to be stuck by."

"I'm listening."

Even though she knew this might lose her some fans, Christina replied: "If we do this, no matter what, when Mya and Curtis come out about their relationship, we come out about all our lies, all right?"

Figuring that he had nothing to lose, since he really didn't care what anybody thought about him anyways, caused Marshall to reply: "All right...deal. But hey, before I forget, Curtis told me to tell you that he's sorry about the US Weekly situation. He said they asked him one question, but printed his answer with a different Q&A."

Even though Christina wasn't sure as to what US weekly situation Marshall was talking about, she knew all she had to do was ask the right person to find out.

So, with that thought in mind, Christina quickly told the older man that she had to get going if she wanted to make it to the venue on time for sound-check and that she'd call him later on in the week with her decision.

"All right, have a good one."

"You too." Christina replied, before hanging up her cellphone and making her way towards the door which connected her room to Justin's; unfortunately enough, having to give it a few hard knocks before the older man peeked his head out; a slightly irritated expression on his face.

"What?"

Without even bothering to hide her surprise at the tone in her friend's voice, Christina opened her mouth to ask the younger man what his problem was. But then after noticing the large beads of sweat traveling down his forehead and the fact that--even from where she was standing--she could tell that he was naked from the neck down, Christina couldn't help but slyly smile before sweetly replying: "Sorry to bother you..but I just wanted to know if either you or Cameron happened to have this week's edition of US weekly."

After blushing slightly, Justin turned his attention to the woman lying on his bed; silently asking her to throw him the magazine before handing it to the petite brunette in front of him and replying with a hard glare: "Here.. keep it."

"Thanks." Christina yelled, as the connecting door quickly slammed shut in her face. Priceless...

After letting her laughter die down after a second, Christina made her way back towards the bed in the middle of the room and began flipping through the popular magazine until she got to what she wanted: The loose talk section.

"50 Cent on the rumors about Christina Aguilera and his mentor Eminem: Christina's a cool girl. We've hung out a couple of times and she's showed me that she's not just another pretty face with no brain. I give her much respect and [them] much love in the future."

Even though the brunette could tell the editors at US weekly had reworded Curtis's statement a little so that it looked like he was spilling the beans on her and Em, she couldn't help but slightly smile at the nice things that he had said about her--even though, they were unfortunately enough making it even harder for her to come to a final decision.

I'm just going to have to do what Em says and give it a week....hopefully by then I'll have driven myself through insanity enough to make up my mind.

Monday, September 15, 2003 (Four days later)

"Hey Chrissy, have you seen my copy of your schedule for this week?"

Without even bothering to turn her attention away from the episode of Unsolved Mysteries that she was watching, Christina pointed a blind finger towards her carryon bag that was laying on the kitchen table. "Yeah, it's over there..I lost mine on the bus last night so I borrowed yours for a second to copy down the information--hope you don't mind."

After slightly rolling her eyes and making her way towards the schedule that was right where Christina said it would be, Stacey sarcastically replied: "Of course, I don't mind...I always enjoy walking around the hallways of this hotel; not knowing where you're supposed to be and not knowing where I'm supposed to go."

Knowing that her assistant was just being difficult because it was the last week of the tour and she--like everyone else--just wanted to go home all ready, caused Christina to not even bat an eyebrow at the older woman's sarcastic outburst.

"You know..." Stacey began, in a voice much normal than the one before, "You should really use this week's press conference as a way to handle all these rumors that are going around about you and Eminem."

Seeing that a commercial was about to come on, Christina finally turned her attention away from the TV and towards the woman standing on the opposite end of the room; afterwards furrowing her eyebrows slightly as she realized what Stacey had just said. "What press conference?"

Without even bothering to hold back another roll of the eyes, Stacey quickly threw Christina's schedule on the bed in front of the petite brunette before swiftly replying: "Thursday mornings press conference. You know, the one you and J are having to promote the live taping of your concert that night and the one you're also having to announce what you two plan to do the next couple of months since the tour will finally be over."

After sarcastically replying, "Oh, that press conference," Christina finally registered what Stacey had said earlier and grabbed her cellphone off it's charger before quickly beginning to make her way towards their room's bathroom.

"Where are you going?"

Without even bothering to meet the confused woman's eye, Christina threw over her shoulder that she was going to make a phone call in private before stepping into the bathroom and closing the door behind her.

Now to call him with my decision.

After hesitating for just a second, Christina quickly dialed the number that Marshall had called her on the week before and then silently waited for him to pick up his phone.

"Hello?"

After letting out the sigh that she hadn't even known she'd been holding in, Christina replied: "Hey Em, it's me..Christina."

When nothing but silence was heard through the phone, Christina couldn't tell if she had called the older man at a bad time or if he hadn't heard what she had said. So, after another brief pause of silence was heard, she spoke up once again: "Hello?"

This time getting an answer in less than six seconds.

"Yeah...hey, sorry about that. Hailie's watching a movie so I had to change rooms. What's up?"

"Nothing.." Christina replied, while feeling somewhat bad that she had interrupted a father-daughter bonding moment. "I was just calling to tell you that I had made my final decision, but I can call you back later if you want to get back to what you were doing."

Without even bothering to think about it for a second, Marshall quickly replied: "No, that's okay...she's watching Clueless for the thousandth time this week. And no offense to Alicia Silverstone or any of the other actors in that movie: but I swear if I hear my daughter say like or as if one more time today, I seriously am going to sue the pants off those bastards for trying to control my baby's brain."

After quietly laughing at the image of Marshall doing just that, Christina cleared her throat slightly before getting back to the subject at hand. "Okay...well, anyway, after taking some time to think about your proposition, I've decided that if pretending to be dating you gets some of the press off my back and keeps them away from Curtis and Mya's relationship--and what we were really doing that night at the club--then I'll do it...for Mya."

Before Marshall could even reply to that statement, Christina continued with: "But before you start coming up with ways for this to work, I just want to say two things. The first one being that I still stand by what I said before: no matter what, once Mya and Curtis come clean, we also have to come clean and stop pretending to be boyfriend and girlfriend. And the second one being that, because of the fact that I think we should just hurry up and start this--I want to officially announce that we're a couple this Thursday at my end of the tour press conference...is that okay with you?"

While hiding the slight chuckle he wanted to let out because of the fact that the younger woman was sounding so proper and business like, Marshall replied: "Yeah, it's fine with me...but don't you think that we should wait until we're in the same state before talking to anyone about us?"

Even though a part of her knew that the older man was right, Christina couldn't help but stick by her previous decision. "That would be a great idea, but I think that--since they'll be asking me about the rumors anyways-- that talking about it Thursday in front of almost every broadcast journalist in America is a better idea than waiting a couple more weeks just so people can spy on us together again, don't you think?"

Having a feeling that the woman on the other end of the phone wasn't going to back down anytime soon caused Marshall to reply: "If you say so...but look, I just remembered I have to go make a couple of phone-calls real quick, but I'll call you as soon as I'm done so we can discuss this some more, all right?"

Without even bothering to think about it, Christina replied: "All right, talk to you later then."

"All right..peace."

September 18, 2003

By the time Thursday morning had finally rolled around, Christina and Marshall had spent almost every waking moment on the phone; trying to come up with answers to the somewhat difficult questions that they both knew reporters would want to know about certain aspects of their relationship. And so far, they both had agreed that Christina would tell the reporters the story that Marshall had made up about how she wanted them to get to know one another better for future references and that she'd also tell them that whereas she wasn't sure if she was in love with him or not, she knew that she couldn't really imagine a day going by where she didn't need to hear his voice atleast once or crave his presence beside her when she went to sleep at night.

The kind of sappy shit that desperate old women like to hear, Marshall had mused earlier that week when speaking on the idea; causing Christina to slightly laugh to herself before switching the conversation to another question that they hadn't come up with an answer for yet.

And that was how my lovely week went. Christina thought to herself before looking up as Justin's best friend and assistant, Trace--who was also her assistant today since Stacey was nowhere to be found--came in; telling her that the press conference was about to start.

"All right..just give me one more second." Christina replied, before waiting until the older man had left the room before proceeding to try Marshall on his cell once again; having promised him the night before that she'd call him right before she went onstage so he could watch it on E! News. But unfortunately for her, he hadn't been answering his phone all day.

Dammit, where is he?

After waiting until around the sixth ring was heard, Christina quickly hung up her phone--putting it into her purse, as an afterthought--and then hurriedly stood up as Trace entered the room once again--with Justin in tow.

"Hey, you ready to go squash those rumors surrounding you and Eminem?"

Not wanting to look her friend in the eye as she lied to him caused Christina to begin walking towards the main-lobby--which was where the press-conference was being held. And then afterwards, as if doing it as an afterthought, she weakly threw over her shoulder that she wasn't sure but that she hoped she was ready.

Causing both Justin and Trace to look at her funny before following the petite woman towards the stage.

After an hour and a half of telling everyone that she'd be taking a small vacation before starting her European tour and answering several questions about tonight's live performance at the Bradley Center, Christina couldn't help but think to herself: Maybe they wont ask me about me and Marshall.

But just as the thought had entered her mind, it was quickly erased as a slightly older woman from the local Milwaukee Journal Sentinel stood up and said:

"My question is for you, Miss. Aguilera.....is it true that you and Marshall Mathers, also known as Eminem, have been secretly dating for some time now?"

As if someone had just shouted for the entire room to shut-up, an abrupt hush began to fall over the lobby as everyone waited quietly for Christina to either confirm the accusation or deny it.

Well, here goes nothing...She couldn't help but think to herself before leaning foreword so that her answer could be picked up on her microphone and quickly replying: "Yes..that is indeed correct."

A comment which not only sent everyone in front of her into a bit of questioning frenzy but also Justin--who was sitting beside her now throwing sharp daggers at the side of her head--into one as well.

"You told me that their was nothing going on between you two."

Not wanting to get into this with him right now caused Christina to advert her attention back towards the crowd in front of her and quickly begin answering the many questions that were being thrown at her as best as she could--or better yet--as best as she could remember.

"How long has this been going on?"

"We've been somewhat friends ever since last year's V.M.A's...but we really didn't start to explore our feelings for one another until right around the time my CD came out in November."

"Are any of the songs on your album about him?"

Having not thought about that question before caused Christina to absentmindedly name a few songs off the top of her head that would hopefully look--if you really paid attention--like they could be about Marshall. "Loving me for me....Impossible....Fighter and Get mine-Get yours were all about him."

"I can't believe this..." Justin harshly whispered; causing Christina to stare at him through the side of her eye for just a second, "Me and Cam had sex to that last one..and it was about him? That's just gross."

Without even bothering to hold it back, Christina couldn't help but slightly laugh at that statement before letting her smile melt away as the people in front of her continued to ask questions.

Have you two been intimately together since you first started seeing one another?

Even though Marshall had told her that if someone had the balls to ask her that question, that she should just tell them to mind their own fucking business, Christina couldn't help but let some of her attitude come out as she sweetly smiled before mischievously asking the reporter what he thought.

A question which caused another frantic murmur in the crowd until the woman from the Milwaukee Journal stood up once again; asking another question that made the entire room go quiet.

"Will Marshall be attending tonight's festivities?"

"You can tell this woman will be getting a promotion at her job."

After smirking slightly at Justin's comment, Christina opened her mouth to tell the crowd that no, he would not be because he was in Detroit visiting his daughter.

But interestingly enough, before she could do so, another voice rang out in the crowd saying: "I wouldn't miss it for the world." Causing everyone to turn towards the back of the room where Marshall was standing--slowly making his way towards the front of the room where Christina and Justin were seated.

Well, now I know why he never answered his phone.

As everyone continued to silently watch as the older man casually took a seat in the unoccupied chair to Christina's left, she couldn't help but want to ask him what he was doing there when he was supposed to be in Detroit. But thankfully enough for her and Marshall, she remembered that her microphone was still on and instead just asked him: "What took you so long?"

A question that sent the reporters in front of them into a writing frenzy until Marshall did the unthinkable and shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly before casually taking Christina's smaller hand in his and replying: "I was stuck in traffic....but I'm here with you now." Afterwards dotting the sentence with a small kiss on Christina's lips and causing the crowd to grow more louder as he asked:

"Now, who here has a question for me to answer?"

***