s I lay here, staring at his sleeping form, I think back to the beginning of all this. It’s crazy how I went from a stripper, to a mistress, to the girlfriend of a celebrity. After the fight we got into at the store and in the car, Justin and I went home and had yet another long conversation. I mean, I was thrilled that he wanted me to be his girlfriend, but I still had rules. I told him that I wasn’t going to be treated as his rag doll, that I wanted this to work just as much as he did. I told him I couldn’t put up with him flipping out like he had in the store. He said he understood, and that he was going to try harder in the future. I guess I believe him, but I’m seriously considering getting him a punching bag to hang in his room for moments when he feels the urge to flip out. He can beat the shit out of that instead of ragging on me.

I feel him stir next to me, and look at him. His eyes open slowly. I smile at his sleepy expression and reach out to run my fingers through his mess of hair. “Hey.”

"Why are you watching me sleep?," he groans. His body stretches out to the full length of the bed, and he looks at the clock. "At five in the morning?"

"Because I feel like it,” I say. “You have to get up and get into the shower anyway, the limo will be here in like an hour."

“No,“ he groans. “I don’t wanna get up now.“ His body curls itself into mine, and he shoves his head between my neck and shoulder. “I wanna sleep with my Deja.“ His lips attached themselves to my neck., and I smile. Hell, right now I just wanna say fuck it and stay in bed with him all day. But I know that isn’t possible. This charity thing…it’s important that he’s there.

I mean, I guess it is.

I push him off of me and leap out of bed, ripping the blankets off him.

“Cold!“ he yells

I laugh, and watch as he curls his naked body into a ball. His hand frantically begins to scan the bed, looking for something to cover himself with. When he comes up empty handed he looks at me and frowns.

"Why aren't you naked too?," he whines. “That’s not fair.”

"I was smart and got dressed the moment I woke up," I tell him. Instead of waiting around for him to try and seduce me, I go into the bathroom and start his shower for him. I hold my hand under the water, and take the normal ten minutes adjusting the temperature so that it is exactly right. I know, it’s pathetic…but his smelly ass won’t get into the shower if the water isn’t the right temperature. "Justin, its nice and warm in this hot, steaming, shower," I yell.

Seconds later he appears in the doorway. He didn’t bother slipping his boxers on. He lets out an amused, boyish chuckle and a moment later I find myself in the shower with him, clothes on…squealing with laughter as he begins to pull my clothes off. “We’re gonna be late!” I tell him

“Fashionably late,” he whispers, removing the last of my undergarments.

He’s all over me…kissing me…touching me…I’m in a watery heaven.

Oh hell. Screw being on time.

******

"Do you have to do that?"

I grin and press the button to the sunroof for the fifth time. The only reason I continue is because it’s annoying the hell out of him. It’s so much fun.

"Actually I don't, but its annoying you so I'll continue."

Justin grabs my hands and sets them in my lap with a cheesy grin. "Now honey, remember to keep your hands to yourself and be a good girl okay?" He pats my cheek and lets go of my hands.

"Okay, I'll remember to keep my hands to myself." I smirk. “Especially tonight.”

“Well…I wouldn’t go that far,“ he laughs, and begins to tickle me.

“Justin!“ I squeal. “Justin, I’m gonna pee if you don’t stop!“

“Take it back!“

“Okay!” I say, breathlessly. “Okay!!”

He stops and turns his whole body towards me, pulling me closer to him. His fingers intertwine with mine. "We never really talked about what it would be like once we tell people."

I rest my head against his chest and sigh. "You should have thought about that before. We can’t change anything now. Once we get there its going to be chaotic. There’s going to be press everywhere.”

He smiles and kisses the top of my head. "If only you knew what was going to happen."

I look into his eyes. "Tell me then. I want to be prepared."

"Well," he pauses. "After today I'm going to estimate about a hundred Anti- Deja sites will be up and running. We'll probably be on every magazine cover across America. The headlines will read “Justin’s new rebound girl.”

I laugh and roll my eyes. "I'll never understand why people care so much about you."

His jaw drops and his eyes bulge. "Because I'm freakin' sexy! God."

I smile. “You’re such an ego maniac.”

“But you love it,” he giggles softly and kisses me again. "Oh," he smiles. "I almost forgot. The guys are gonna be there. You’ll get to meet them today.“

I flash him a nervous smile. “Great. Let’s just hope they don’t think badly about us…about how we came about.”

He won‘t look at me.

“Justin?”

"I…I didn’t exactly tell them about that part…of us,” he tells me. “I mean…can you blame me Deja?”

"Thanks for the confidence booster," I frown

“Aw Dej,“ He coos, giving my leg a comforting pat. “You know its not like that.”

I sigh. I have to give in. I can’t help myself. “I know.”

Moments later the limo comes to a stop. Justin grabs for my hand and scoots closer to the door, resting his hand on the handle. The door flies open. I gasp. Flashes go off in every direction. There are screams, shouts. I glance at my outfit, and want to crawl into a hole and die. I’m in a t-shirt and jeans. With all the time I spent helping Justin pick out what to wear, I simply hadn’t noticed how simple my outfit was. I want to kick myself. How am I going to look on the arm of Justin Timberlake, dressed like this? Justin doesn’t give me any time to protest however. Before I know what is happening he pulls me out of the limo and onto the plush red carpeting leading up to the building.

The walk past the line of paparazzi doesn’t last more than a minute or two, but it seems like an hour to me. Eric is guiding us to the entrance, making sure nobody gets closer than they are allowed. I don’t know how Justin keeps his smile spread for so long. Not with the way they are all hollering at him, questioning him about who I am, and shoving their cameras and microphones in his face. In the store, he had been ready to kill that guy with the camera. Why this moment is different…I have no idea. I guess when it comes right down to it, Justin can be as professional as any other celebrity. He simply squeezes my hand tighter as we move past them, and guides me into the arena. I look over my shoulder. There they are, pressing their lenses against the windows, trying to get one last picture before Eric leads us around a corner. I wonder if they realize how ridiculous they are?

Pathetic.

He looks at me and smiles. “That wasn’t so bad.”

“No,“ I say.

He kisses me softly, and we continue on to the back of the arena. It’s easier to walk through here. They haven’t let the crowds in yet. Our hands are still intertwined when we entered the backstage area, and I don’t get nervous because nobody seems to care who Justin is, let alone that he’s holding my hand.

Well, nobody except the guy that comes running out of nowhere, nearly barreling into Justin and I. He’s kinda tall, about the same height of Justin. Italian looking. I stare at the shirt he’s wearing, and shoot him a confused glance. It says, “It’s not gonna suck itself.”

I’m uncomfortable.

"Jay, how you doin' man?" he says excitedly.

“Hey,” Justin smiles. He lets go of my hand and pulls the other man into a manly hug. They begin to chat about matters I know nothing about. I look down at the ground. I feel out of place.

“C’mere you.“

I take my gaze off the floor. Justin is motioning for me to come closer. When I don’t, he places his hand on the small of my back and pulls me closer to him. I smile at his friend, but don‘t make direct eye contact with him.

"This is my girl, Deja,” Justin informs him. “The one that I told you about."

The man holds his hand out to me and smiles. “Hi, I’m Joey. And of course I already know who you are…this one won’t shut up about you,” he says, motioning to Justin. “You should really try to get him to do something about that.“

I laugh and shake his hand. “Nice to meet you,“ I blush. I shoot Justin a confused look. I had no idea he talked about me to his friends this much. I didn’t think he cared…not that much anyway. With all the weird circumstances surrounding our relationship, I’m still surprised he wanted to bring me out here. I don’t know why…but I’m starting to doubt this whole weekend for some reason. I just feel like…we’re together, but our relationship has been shined up and fluffed up to look good for people. I mean, if Justin didn’t tell Joey and the rest of his friends how really met…then just what did he tell them? I guess it doesn’t matter, because whatever it is…it’s still a lie.

“So where is everybody?” Justin asks him, wrapping his hands around my waist and resting his chin on top of my head. “Fashionably late?”

Joey laughs. “Nah, J. That’s you.”

“I resent that,” I hear him say. A moment later his face is in mine. “Tell him babe, I’m never late.“

Okay is it just me? Or is Justin putting on a front in front of his friend? He’s never this…“hokey dokey I’m so in love with my baby” way. It’s casual with us. He’s scaring me. “You’re late a lot.” I say.

He stares at me for several moments. He knows I’m not kidding around, but still, he smiles. Probably so Joey doesn’t get any ideas. “Such a kidder,” he says to Joey.

“I think she’s smart actually,” Joey snickers. “Anyway…I know the other guys are putzing around here someplace. There’s a catering table around the corner. I bet that’s where they’ll be.”

“Alright man. See you out there.”

“Nice to meet you Deja,” Joey smiles at me, and then departs.

“What’s wrong?” he asks me, once Joey is out of range.

I shrug. “Nothing.”

“Deja,” he says. “Don’t lie.”

“You don’t need to act like we’re…in love or whatever,” I grumble. “You’re friends don’t care.”

He pulls away from me. “Where the hell is this coming from?” he says, shooting me a cold look.

“Oh c’mon!” I exclaim. “Tell him babe…I’m never late,” I say in my best Justin voice.

He holds his hands out at his sides. “What’s wrong with that? It was just casual conversation.”

“You and I know damn well…that’s not how things are.”

He steps toward me, and rubs his hands up and down my arms. “Yeah, well they don’t. And if it’s not to much trouble, I’d like to keep it that way. I don’t need them finding out that you were a….” he stops before he says the word. He looks away from me.

I glare at him. “What? A slut? Go ahead Justin…say it.”

“C’mon Dej. Just drop it,” he whispers. “We’re here to have a good time.”

I pull away from him. “Are we Justin? Or did you just bring me along to make you look good?”

“You know its not like that,” he shakes his head. “You know how things have been lately.”

“That doesn’t mean anything to me,” I say. “I…it’s not like I can completely trust you or anything. I mean, Christ Justin, you flip out so easily. It’s like walking on pincushions to please you.”

He points a finger at me. “I don’t know what your fucking problem is Deja. You know…we’ve been doing good. I…I’ve changed so much, because of you. Now I bring you here, to introduce you to the closest friends I have and you’re gonna be a little bitch. I mean, if you don‘t wanna be here just say so. You can go home.”

He’s hurt. He’s hurt and he’s about to burst. I can tell. That look is in his eyes again. That cold, unforgiving look. I know its my fault, but I just can’t stand him being so fake like he just was. If he wants people to see us as a couple, he needs to act normal when we’re out together. He needs to drop the Mr. Perfect act. It pisses me off. Maybe I’m bipolar too. Hell. I don’t know. “I never said I didn’t want to be here.”

“Then why are you starting in with this shit?” he barks.

“Because you’re corny.”

“You know, that’s fine,” he turns on his heel and heads for the direction Joey had referred him to before. “You be in your little mood if you want Dej. I have to go get ready for this stupid crap.”

He disappears around the corner. Was I wrong? No…he was being corny. Oh geez. My stomach hurts.

I need a bathroom.