He watched his sleeping roommate and thought about the day that they had met. It had been four long years ago yet it still seemed like just yesterday. He looked at her innocent face as she lay curled up with her head in his lap. Brushing a strand of her long brown hair away from her face he took in all of her features. She was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. Sliding the back of his hand across her right cheek he gently traced every feature on her angelic face with his index finger. He ran his finger up and over her full lips which were always in a slightly pouted position even when she smiled, over her high cheek bones that always had just a hint of a blush to them, across her perfectly arched eyebrows and down the bridge of her nose that turned up just at the tip.
For four years Channing Tatum had watched Reini Campagna evolve from a shy 16 year old girl into a world renowned super model. They had come up in the industry together both gaining their own fame and fortune, and through it all becoming each others best friends. Channing had always thought that Reini was the most beautiful woman on earth and probably the most kind and loving person he had ever met. To be honest with himself he had wanted her from the moment he laid eyes on her in that crowded hallway, but in the beginning the age difference was a big deal. Being that he was 20 and she was 16 when they met he felt a little like a pedophile for being even remotely attracted to her. But now no matter how much he felt like he wanted her they had such an amazing bond as friends that he wouldn’t dare jeopardize that.
"What you thinking about?" her half sleep voice jolted him back into reality
"How I’ve been watching movies by myself for the past four years" he lied
Reini laughed lightly knowing that he was trying to be smart about her falling asleep. "Chan." she said lightly sitting up. "You know I’m still on…" she thought about it for a second, pretended to look at her watch and continued "Euro time." They both laughed
"Was it a good movie though?"
Truth be told he hadn’t really even paid much attention to the movie so he decided to go with the most convincing generic answer that he could think of "Uh the plot was alright, but I kinda dozed too". Yep that answer would work
She didn’t seem to want any details so he was safe. Getting off the couch Channing headed toward the kitchen to grab himself a beer. Knowing just what he was going after Reini called after him to bring her one as well.
"Hey we should go out tonight" Reini suggested when he returned. " You know to celebrate my return. This is the longest that I’ve been in America for like the last three months."
Channing could honestly say that he had no real interest in going out, and was pretty shocked that Reini wanted to go out. She had prided herself on not being a part of the New York celebutant scene, but hell after spending three months all over the globe he couldn’t blame her for wanting to have some good old NYC fun. "What the hell lets go"
**********
Justin Timberlake wasn’t your average New Yorker well at least not in his eyes. In a city where you had to be rich just to be poor he was sitting pretty damn close to the top and he liked it that way. He was rich, powerful, young, good looking and oh yeah did we say rich. Justin was heir to the biggest multi-media and publishing empire in the states and most parts of the world. Ever since he could remember he had broken bread with the rich, famous and royal and everything from money to women was expendable in his world.
He was used to getting everything that he wanted but tonight had to go off without a hinge. It was his birthday and he along with his two best friends Usher Raymond and JC Chasez along with their entire entourage were going to show this entire city just how to have a good night. Instead of renting a club out for the entire night however, Justin had bigger plans in mind. He was going to throw his powerful name around all night to get in to every hot spot in the city and dare anyone to deny him what he wanted this night.
"Yo J lets go its not getting any earlier." JC huffed looking down at his watch impatiently. Joshua Chasez a.k.a JC was one of Justin’s oldest and closest friends. His father and Justin’s father had started World Media together when they were quite young and had kept their families close together. As long as JC could remember his and Justin’s families had done everything from vacation together to eating Sunday dinners together for all general purposes they were pretty much brothers.
"J c’mon Usher and everybody else is already at the club lets go." JC called up the stairs.
Moments later a 6 foot 2 inch tall slender man came walking down the stairs of the New York apartment. "Loosen your panties Chasez they’ll wait…" the young man said nonchalantly. Walking over to a mirror in the foyer of the apartment he gave himself a once over before heading toward the door. "Tonight this city is mine"
~ 1:15am club Marquee NYC ~
The night was turning out beautifully for just and his entire entourage. They had hit every hotspot in the city and were now ending their night at the infamous Marquee. It had turned out to be quite an amazing 24th birthday for Mr. Timberlake, everywhere that he had gone that night he and his crew were treated like even bigger VIP’s than usual. People were breaking their backs to try to may him happy and that was the way he liked it.
Sitting in a private VIP booth at the club Justin took in his surroundings for a second. He couldn’t have asked for more. He was beyond being drunk sitting in one of the hottest clubs in the country with about 25 of his nearest and dearest surrounding him, and on either side of him were his two best friends Usher Raymond and JC Chasez. On his right JC was damn near swallowing a very petite young woman resembling a coke bottle. He was always the first one with a nice little chick on his lap. To his left was Usher. Usher was about the same height as Justin with strikingly similar features. Hell had their skin color been the same they probably could have been mistaken for brothers. Usher like JC had known Justin since what he described as their "shorty days". Ushers parents either owned or had invested in almost every hot club from New York to Japan, and had let their son and his friends rein as the crowned princes of the worlds night club scene since they were barely teenagers. Having a friend like Usher definitely got you into all the right doors with all of the right people without so much as a question asked.
"Hey J!" Usher snapped his fingers in front of Justin’s face jarring him back to reality. "Yo J." he snapped again
"What’s up?" Justin’s voice was heavy with liquor
Stretching his arm out Usher pointed to the dance floor. Justin squinted to see what he was pointing at. Scooting closer to his friend he finally saw what his friend was pointing at. She was beautiful. No beautiful was an insult this girl was breathe taking. She had long dark brown hair that spilled over her shoulders and stopped just at her breast. She was wearing black gaucho pants and a silver halter top that plunged just above her belly button. The top was backless and showed off her amazing shoulders and bronze skin that seemed to sparkle in the dim lights of the club. She was exotic looking maybe Hispanic he thought.
Usher looked at his friends face and smiled. Justin had ‘the look’ in his eye the ‘I must have her’ look. Usher decided to break his friends trance "That right there is the reason I know that GOD has to be a man because there is no way in hell another woman created THAT." Usher said not taking his eyes off of his friend.
Justin didn’t reply he couldn’t have said anything if he wanted to. All he could do was watch as she danced. She was dancing with some tool that he assumed was her boyfriend from the way that they were touching and smiling at each other. She was with about five people on the dance floor but he notice that she was giving the guy she was dancing with all of her attention. Justin couldn’t lie he was a handsome guy he was terribly tall maybe even taller than himself and had strong features even in the dim lighting of the club.
He couldn’t stop starting at the girl. What the hell was wrong with him? He was Justin fucking Timberlake. He had slept with some of the most beautiful women all over the world, but none of the had ever mesmerized him before. Why was this girl different he hadn’t even spoken to her yet and already she had him. "I have to have her" he thought out loud.
As soon as the words left his mouth he got his opportunity. The tool was walking away from her and she was heading to an empty booth on the other side of the club. Justin decided to capitalize on the opportunity before she was surrounded by people again. Quickly getting up from the booth he started to make his way over to her. What was he going to say, and why in the hell was he finding himself getting more and more nervous the closer he got to her?
About five feet away from her he somehow talked himself down and began to feel more comfortable. Her back was turned to him and he was pretty sure that all her attention was on the friends she had left on the dance floor. He slid into the booth next to her and leaned in toward her ear. "Are you having a good time?" he asked.
He must have startled her because the words hadn’t left his mouth good before she jerked up strait slamming the side of her head into his forehead. A surge of pain went flying through Justin’s head and through his eyes. As he sat there holding his forehead and right eye he swore that for at least 10 seconds he had gone temporarily blind. He looked over at the girl who was also holding her head but she was laughing hysterically. He couldn’t for the life of him figure out what was so funny, maybe she was delusional from their collision. He didn’t get a chance to ask her if she was okay before she beat him to the punch.
"Oh my God are you okay!" she managed to laugh out. "I am so sorry. You scared the shit out of me" Her voice was angel soft. She was an angel. He could tell that she wasn’t lying about the scare he had given her she still had a hand over her chest and the other holding her head where they hit.
"No no it okay. I mean I’m okay. Are you alright?" now he was laughing. He didn’t find the situation funny at all but her laughter was contagious. She nodded at his question and he extended his hand. "Justin Timberlake"
Accepting his hand she introduced herself "Reini Campagna." she smiled.
His headache was suddenly gone
That was all it took. Within seconds they were enthralled in conversation with each other. Every time she spoke he smiled. He was hanging on her every word and he didn’t try hide it. She was absolutely captivating .
**********
Channing was standing at the bar waiting for their drinks when he saw him walk over to her. He knew exactly who the slime making his way over to his friend was. The infamous Justin Timberlake. He was THE New York playboy. This guy had racked up more women in one night than most men did in a life time. Channing had heard all about Mr. Timberlake and for lack of a better description he was Paris Hilton with a dick.
He watched as Reini damn near knocked the guy out with her head. It would have been funny had it not been their conversation starter. Channing watched and smiled as Justin tried to run his game on her. He laughed to himself, this guy was a piece of work, but he knew his Reini and she was too smart to fall for any bullshit lines he tried to feed her. His smile faded though when she started laughing. She was laughing and hard. What was wrong with her Channing could believe his eyes. Was she flirting? She was and hard. Channing watched as the two chatted each other up they were smiling at each other and touching as if they hadn’t just met.
After grabbing their drinks from the bar Channing headed over to the booth where Reini was sitting with the New York City man whore. Sitting the drinks down on the table he waited for his friend to notice that he was there. She was so caught up in whatever it was that they were talking about that it took her a full minute to notice him.
"Oh hey!" she was far too excited "Justin this is my best friend in the whole world Channing. Channing this is Justin Timberlake." she made the introductions
Justin immediately extended his hand to Channing and flashed him his million dollar grin. "Hey man what’s up?"
As much as he hated to Channing took Justin’s hand in his own and gave him a brief and dejected hello.
For several seconds all three sat in awkward silence with Channing and Justin sizing each other up. Justin didn’t like her so called "friend" Channing. He had known the guy for all of 30 seconds but he knew he was going to be a pain in his ass. Maybe Reini was oblivious but Justin sure as hell wasn’t, and he knew that if this Channing person had his way he would surely be more than her "friend". Hell what strait man wouldn’t. Justin want going to take any chances of letting this douche bag ruin his night and decided to simply eliminate him from the equation for the night at least.
"You know I’m being pretty rude to my friends over there," he started and nodded over to his table where now both Usher and JC were pretending not to be spying on him "why don’t you come and join us."
She looked hesitant but before she could decline or her "friend" could interject he grabbed her hand and continued "Please don’t make me beg. C’mon I promise you’ll have a good time." putting on his most charming face he flashed her that irresistible grin and added "besides you cant say no its my birthday." With that he stood looking down on her waiting for her to respond.
Standing next to him they exchanged flirtatious stares and in her sweetest tone she conceded. "Well if its your birthday…" That’s all she needed to say before he was leading her away and toward his table. Looking over her shoulder she gave Channing a regretful look and mouthed ‘Sorry. I’ll be home later’
