Reini awoke the next day with nothing more than a slight headache. Laying in her bed she reached over to open her nightstand drawer where she kept an emergency bottle of aspirin just for mornings like this. Popping two of the small white pills in her mouth she swallowed them without water and threw her comforter back over her head. Honestly she didn't really want to stay cooped up in her bedroom, but the thought of having to face Channing was more than enough to keep her in bed for at least another hour. As soon as she closed her eyes there was a knock on the door. She didn't bother to ask who it was was.

"Come in." she grumbled

"Hey champ! Thought you could use some coffee." Channing said walking into the room holding two piping hot cups of coffee in his hands. Reini accepted the warm cup gratefully.

"Mmmm" she moaned as the warm liquid slid down her throat. "Thanks Chan".

Both friends smiled at each other and continued drinking their coffee in silence. A good five minutes going by before either of them spoke a single word.

"Look Channing about last night…"

"We watched a movie, had some drinks, and went to bed. What else is there to say about last night" he said in one breath.

"Right" was all she could say. Dropping the subject completely Reini went back to focusing all of her attention on her coffee.

Another couple of minutes went by before Channing got up and began to walk toward the door. Giving her a silent glance before walking out without another word. After Reini heard the front door close she felt a single warm tear roll down her cheek. ‘How did it come to this' she thought. Their once solid friendship was now sinking faster and just as unexpectedly as the Titanic! Reini sat and finished her cup of coffee before finally getting out of bed and getting ready for the day. There was no sense in sitting around harping on the train wreck that she called her friendship.

Once Reini emerged from the shower she headed back to her bedroom to finish getting ready for the day. While setting her clothes out on the bed her cell phone began to ring. Quickly she rushed over to her dresser to retrieve it. Looking down at the phone she saw that it was Justin and flipped it open quickly.

"Hey you!"

"Hey girl" he said. He could hear the smile in her voice.

Neither of them spoke for a few seconds. Justin thought that he may have heard her open her mouth to speak but stop a couple of times. Deciding that he needed to get the wheels of his plan into motion, and she was obviously at a loss, for words he began to speak softly.

"You know Ray I really think that this has gone on for long enough." he started.

"Well Justin I'm still really…lost over what happened." she stated blankly.

"Look Reini I said I was sorry. What else do you want me to do…beg?" he was already beginning to get irritated with this conversation.

"I don't know. I'm just really confused right now."

"Well Reini I'm not confused, and I'm not gonna beg. Look I'm not gonna keep playing this game of phone tag either. Your being ridiculous."

Letting out a heavy sigh she walked over to her bed where her clothes still sat out and began to get dressed. "What do you want me to say Justin?" she asked pulling her pants on.

"Say you'll have dinner with me tonight."

Reini let out a soft sigh. When she didn't respond right away Justin knew that he had her. Letting out a heavier sigh this time Reini finally answered. "Well…where do you want me to meet you?"

A slow smile crept across Justin's face. Tonight was gonna be THE night. He could feel it in his bones.
______________________________________________________________________

Reini finally arrived at the restaurant 15 minutes late. After getting off the phone with Justin she had spent the rest of the day on a rampage through her closet to find something to wear. She finally decided on a dark forest green Marc Jacobs slouch dress and a pair of black BCBG stilettos.

When she walked into the restaurant Justin's eyes locked on her immediately. She looked absolutely breath taking. The dark green dress she wore had a plunging scoop neck that hung just off of her left shoulder and the dress fit her body to a T. It looked almost like an oversized t-shirt, fitting a little loosely on top but hugging every inch of her body from her hips all the way down the few inches of her thighs that it covered. And her legs…good god the girl had legs for days. Justin swore that every time he saw her she got even sexier!

As she approached the table Justin rose from his seat to great her with a hug and pull her chair out.

"Wow! You look amazing Ray" he exclaimed as they both took their seats.

"Thanks" she said with a smile. "Your not looking so bad yourself Timberlake"

They both sat in silence. It wasn't that they had nothing to say to each other they just had to take each other in. Reini stared at Justin and admired how striking and sharp his features were. From his sharp jaw line, to the arch of his brow, to the distinction of his nose, and the curve of his lips. His face was absolute perfection. He in turn was taking his own mental inventory of her face as well.

Her hair which was a black curtain that always seemed to frame her face just right, those amazing green eyes, her perfect lips that always glistened from whatever gloss it was that she wore, and her neck. She had by far the most sexy neck that Justin had ever seen, It was long and slender and feminine. Justin hadn't realized how sexy a woman's neck could truly be until he had really paid attention to hers.

They were both drawn back to reality when an unfamiliar voice interrupted their thoughts.

"What?" Justin asked looking up with a dreamy smile on his face.

"I asked if I could take your drink order?" the young lady repeated herself, presenting Justin with the restaurants wine menu.

Taking the menu from the young girl Justin scanned it over quickly before folding it back in half and handing it back to her. "I'll take a bottle of your '78 Cabernet Sauvignon"

"I'll be right back with your wine Mr. Timberlake. Your waiter should be with you in just a moment"

After a giving the hostess a quick nod Justin went back to staring at Reini. Only now for the first time during their evening they made eye contact. She had the biggest smile one her face, which in turn made Justin smile.

"What"

"Nothing…Mr. Timberlake" she mocked with a small giggle.

"Ha ha. You think your so cute don't you?"

"I know I'm cute" she said with an arrogant smile and began to play with the edges of the napkin that sat to her left.

Justin smiled back and placed his hand on top of hers. Looking up from the table she locked eyes with him again. Without ever breaking eye contact Justin turned Reini's hand over so that her palm was exposed, brought it to his lips, and placed a kiss on the inside of her left hand. Keeping hold of her hand he set it back down on the table.

It wasn't long before the hostess came back with their bottle of wine. Showing Justin the label she poured him a small serving and waited until he nodded his head in approval before pouring a more suitable serving into each of their glasses.
Reini couldn't take her eyes off of Justin. He just had this whimsical look on his face the entire time they sat there. The heat from his hand holding hers made her whole body warm and at that moment she realized just how much she had truly missed him in the time they hadn't seen each other.

"Whatcha thinkin about?" she asked staring deeply into his eyes.

"I'm thinking that I cant believe that I am so in love with you" Justin said smiling softly at her. "I'm thinking that I cant believe at 24 I found the woman I'm going to spend the rest of my life with!"

Reini didn't respond, she didn't need to, the look in her eyes said enough. It said that what happened in the Hamptons was a distant memory, it said that she had forgiven him, but most importantly it said that she felt the same way.
A moment later their waiter finally arrived at the table to begin taking their orders.

"Do you mind if I order for you?" Justin asked half jokingly and half sarcastic remembering the lunch incident with his father "its just kinda how I was raised."

"Order away" she smiled

"To start I'll have Lobster Bisque and the Tomato Salad" Justin said continuing to scan the menu for what to order for Reini.

"And for your beautiful companion?" The waiter asked Justin but stared at Reini the entire time.

At those words Justin stopped looking at the menu and rose his head to a very unpleasant scene. The asshole waiter was blatantly flirting with his girlfriend, and what was even worse was that she didn't seem to mind one bit. From the blush that crept across her face Justin could even go as far to say that she seemed to be enjoying it. Clearing his throat he gave the waiter a look that told him to do his damn job and stop eyeballing his damn girlfriend and continued.

"She'll have the French Onion Soup and the Endive Salad" he said bitterly, snapping his menu shut and shoving it back at the waiter. Taking the menu the waiter went to retrieve the first part of their appetizers.

Reini had a look of disbelief on her face. She couldn't believe how rude he had just been to their waiter. When she looked up at him the look on his face was almost frightening. Just a few moments ago he had looked at her like she was the only person left on earth, how could he go from that to looking like he wanted to throw her across the restaurant in a matter of seconds? Before she could say anything to him their waiter returned with two bowls of soup. Setting the first in front of Justin and then carefully placing the other in front of Reini.

"Can I get you folks anything else at this moment?" he asked.

"We're fine." Justin said through gritted teeth.

Looking over at Reini the waiter asked "Ma'am?"

"I said we were fine!" Justin said a little bit louder and a lot more angrily

Once the waiter left Justin's appetite had gone completely. Sitting back in his chair he pushed his soup away from him and tossed the napkin that was on his lap onto the table. Reini's appetite seemed to be fine as he watched her sip her soup slowly like nothing had just happened. Justin began sucking on his teeth until she finally looked up at him.

"What?" she asked softly

"Oh nothing. I was just wondering if you wanted to follow your little boyfriend back to the kitchen?" He said sarcastically.

Rolling her eyes Reini let go of the spoon that she held in her left hand and reached across the table to grab Justin's.

"Baby please! We're having a nice night okay. Please don't start." she asked her eyes pleading with him. "I was just being polite."

Leaning forward onto the table slightly Justin began to squeeze Reini's hand. She winced in pain and tried to pull her hand away from his, but he just tightened his grip pulling her in closer. "So that's what you call blatantly flirting with someone right in front of me? Being ‘polite'?" he asked in a stern voice but low enough so that only she could hear.

"Justin your hurting me" she whined.

Squeezing her hand even tighter he jerked her arm a little more so that she was now leaned over the table. Leaning in closer to her face he continued squeezing her hand until he finally saw a look of sheer pain take over her face. Leaning in a little more he placed a gentle kiss on her cheek and slowly began to let go of her hand.

Once her hand was completely free she pulled it into her lap and began massaging it with her other hand. What was wrong with him? One minute he was the sweetest guy on earth and the next he was inflicting pain on her for what really seemed like nothing at all. Reini didn't understand. What had she done to make him so angry?

"I'm not hungry anymore. Lets go to the bar." Justin said interrupting her thoughts. Reini didn't bother protesting. In all actuality she was still hungry, but with the mood that he had seemed to acquire out of nowhere, she decided that it would be best to just pacify him and go to the bar.

As they walked toward the bar area of the restaurant Reini spotted their waiter walking toward them.

"Leaving so soon?" he asked giving Reini a flirtatious smile. She didn't respond, just smiled back and continued to walk behind Justin.

Reini thought that she had done the right thing by not speaking to the waiter again, but apparently the smile was enough. As soon as they were far enough out of sight so that neither the people in the dining area nor the bar could see them Justin grabbed Reini by the arm and hastily drug her into the coat check area.

"Just-"

Before she could even get his name completely out of her mouth, he quickly whipped her around so that she was now facing him and slammed her against the coat check wall. Reini let out a small whimper at the impact of her back hitting the hard concrete wall.

"You like flirting with the fucking waiter, huh?" Justin asked holding her firmly against the cold hard surface "You like to make me mad?"

"What are you talking about?" Reini asked as her eyes began to fill with tears.

"Oh please Ray don't play stupid. You were a heartbeat away from pulling down your panties and fucking the guy right on the table"

Pushing him away slightly Reini tried to push herself away from the wall.

"Justin what the hell are you talking about? Your acting crazy!" she said now crying.

Pulling her completely away from the wall he looked in her eyes and slammed her back again. This time with twice the force causing her head to connect with the cold wall making a loud thud.

"Well maybe if you wouldn't act like such a fucking slut I wouldn't have to act crazy!!" he said in an eerily calm voice.

Just then one of the hostesses came back to retrieve a coat for another guest. Quickly adjusting himself Justin grabbed Reini's hand and exited the coat area. Walking briskly through the restaurant he headed strait for the exit with Reini in tow. Once outside Justin handed the valet his ticket and waited while they got his car, still holding Reini's hand.

"Justin. My hand really hurts." Reini said trying to ease her hand away from his.

Squeezing it even harder than he had at the table, which until this point she didn't even think was possible, he bent his head to her ear so that only she could hear him.

"Sweetheart, at this point your lucky I don't break your fucking hand. So I suggest you shut up."

As they stood there waiting for the car Justin seemed to be getting more and more angry, and showing no signs of releasing the death grip that he had on her hand. When the car finally pulled up Reini was so relieved that he had finally freed her hand that she hadn't noticed the waiter running out of the restaurant waving her purse at them. It wasn't until she heard Justin's voice that she even realized what was going on.

"Oh so you're the purse police now too!?" Justin asked sarcastically walking toward the guy.

Putting his hands up defensively the waiter held out Reini's purse.

"Look she left her purse at the table okay. I was just trying to catch you guys before you left, I didn't want your girl to forget her purse is all"

Taking a step closer Justin snatched the purse out of his hands.

"Yeah I noticed you've been real ‘concerned' with MY girl all fucking night long".

"Justin please…" Reini pleaded grabbing his arm in an attempt to end the confrontation.

Looking down at his girlfriend's hand on his arm Justin's face softened a bit and he smiled at the guy. Slowly backing toward his car he handed Reini her purse. As they both began to get into the car Justin heard him call out

"There's no need to be jealous. I'm sure you'll be the first to know when your girl wants a real man."

Before the words fully left his mouth Justin had thrown the car door back open and was now charging toward the waiter. In what seemed like only seconds the waiter was laying on the ground holding his nose and a handful of blood, and Justin was sitting back in the drivers seat of his bmw. As he started the car Reini opened her mouth to speak, but was silenced.

"It would probably be in your best interest not to speak right now." he said before skirting out of the parking lot.

 Reini sat back in her seat and watched the streetlights fly by much faster than they probably should have been. She had a feeling that this night was no where near over. And that thought made her want to cry all over again.