Chapter 5: Questions
Hayden was suddenly awoken by the shrieking sound of her cell phone going off next to her bed. She grabbed the phone fully intending on giving whoever was calling her at the odd hour a tongue lashing, but decided against it and just silenced the phone. After rolling back over and burying herself in her sheets, the phone started ringing again. Hayden whipped the covers off finally and reached for her cell phone once again.
“Hello?” Hayden groggily said.
“Well good morning Ms. Charles!” The voice happily greeted her.
“Too early, call back later.” Hayden said before hanging up the phone and getting back under the covers. Not even a minute passed before the phone started ringing again. Hayden seized the phone in her hands and answered it once again.
“I’m not kidding, it’s too early.” Hayden said now completely frustrated with this intrusion on her sleep.
“You know, you’re a real crab in the morning, but I’ll let it go just this once.”
“What time is it anyway?” Hayden asked.
“Nine o’clock.”
“I guess I didn’t sleep very well…by the way who is this?” Hayden asked.
“I guess I am forgettable in your book, that’s twice now, Hayden.”
“Hey Justin.” Hayden laughed. She knew it was him since she glanced at the caller id before answering it, but she liked get him riled up and ruffle his feathers a bit.
“Hello to you too, so what’s the plan for today?” Justin asked.
“You are the one who wanted to hang out, so you should make the decisions.” Hayden said while getting out of bed and walking into the bathroom. She glanced at her reflection and it was clear she did not get enough sleep the night before. She had bags underneath her bloodshot eyes. Truth be told, Hayden finished the proposal early and was in bed before midnight, but she had a hard time both falling and staying asleep.
“Well where do you live, I’ll swing by and pick you up.” Justin’s voice snapped Hayden out of her daze.
“Umm…right now? I just woke up.” Hayden said while walking out of her bedroom and into the kitchen.
“Well you better hurry up and get ready. I’ve been awake for a couple of hours and I’m bored. So tell me where you live and I’ll come get you.” Justin said.
“All right, I’m at 5436 Stadium St.” Hayden said while pouring herself a glass of orange juice and sitting at the island content on reading the paper. “Give me at least an hour before you come so I can actually get moving.”
“Yeah, Yeah, Hayden I’ll see you soon.” Justin said before hanging up the phone and heading over to her place. He didn’t care that she already warned him to give her time to go through her morning routine, he was bored and ready to bother Hayden all day.
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Hayden managed to finish reading over her proposal once more before there was a knock on the door. She was a little confused considering Tyler was upstairs sleeping and she wasn’t expecting Justin for at least another hour. She put her papers down and went to answer the door. Hayden was shell shocked seeing Justin outside of her door already.
“What in the hell are you doing here already?” Hayden said after whipping the door open.
“Nice to see you too…nice PJ’s Hayden.” Justin said winking at her.
Hayden immediately started blushing once she realized she was standing at the door with a pair of lounge pants, a gray t-shirt, and her hair in a ponytail. “Thanks…I guess come in, but be quiet, my brother worked late last night so he’s still sleeping. Give me a second to go upstairs shower and change. Make yourself comfortable in the living room; I’ll be back down in a bit.”
Hayden rushed up to her bedroom to get ready for her day out with Justin. She’d be lying if she said she wasn’t nervous, she just wanted to get to know Justin Timberlake the person, rather than the artist. She was even more nervous to show Justin her proposal. She’d never admit it to him, but she wanted his approval more than anything because this project was focused on his career. After taking the fastest shower of her life and throwing on a shirt and jeans, Hayden ran back downstairs to find Justin already reading her proposal.
“What are you doing?” Hayden asked as she stopped suddenly at the bottom of the stairs.
“I saw your proposal lying out; I hope you don’t mind that I read it.” Justin said sheepishly.
“I guess not, I mean this whole project is about you…I just wanted to proof read it a little more before I let you read it.”
“Hayden, I think this is great, I’m not used to someone writing about my career and honestly be interested in my career, rather than my personal life.” Justin said as he walked up to her on the stairs. “I’m really looking forward to showing you the business side of everything…I think you’re going to learn a lot about this industry. You definitely impressed me; I can’t wait for the whole project.”
Hayden blushed at that compliment. “Wow that means a lot to me. I’m glad you liked it.”
“Definitely…so now that you’ve had time to get ready, are you ready to go?” Justin asked.
“Yeah, what are we doing?”
“You’ll see, let’s go.” Justin grabbed Hayden’s hand and the two of them were out the door in a flash.
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“You have the day off and you want to go shopping?” Hayden asked after Justin pulled into the parking lot of a mall. The truth of the matter was Hayden loved to shop but she was looking forward to spending the day getting to know him, not running away from people. “Isn’t that going to be a little dangerous, you in a shopping mall with no security?”
“Yes it could be my dear.” Justin said before reaching in the backseat of his car to pull out his hoodie, baseball cap, and sunglasses. “But this usually deters people for awhile; I just wanted to pick up a few things.”
“All right, that’s cool but if I get attacked by anyone saying they love you, I’m out.” Hayden started laughing as they got out of the car and headed into the mall.
Justin and Hayden walked throughout the mall for a couple of hours, randomly stopping to look at things. Hayden was pleasantly surprised that people either never recognized Justin or if they did, they left him alone. However, she was shocked by Justin’s ability to shop. He had at least ten bags full of clothes.
“So, I think I have you all figured out. You love to write, sing, and play music. You get bored easily and you love to shop. Where was the mystery in that?” Hayden laughed as they entered a gag gift store.
“Basically, I’m pretty boring once you get to know me.” Justin said while looking at some shirts.
Hayden laughed and then started to yawn. She was having a really difficult time sleeping at night and being in California away from her comfort zone was only amplifying everything. “Hey Justin, I’m getting a little burnt out from all this, do you want to maybe head back to my house maybe watch a movie and get some lunch.”
“Yeah, that’d be cool. I think I got everything I came here for.” Justin said while walking out of the stores. “Well, I hope you had fun shopping at least, next time we’ll actually go see things in California.”
“I had a good time shopping with you; besides you’re talking to the girl who lives in the same city as the Mall of America. I love to shop; I just didn’t get enough sleep last night.
“Why’s that?” Justin asked while starting up his car and driving back towards Hayden’s house.
“I was up late writing the proposal.” Hayden lied. She didn’t want to lie to him, but she had a hard time talking to her brother about everything, how would Justin understand it?
“I see…well that’s understandable.” Justin said. He wasn’t convinced at her answer because just like last time, she touched the ring around her necklace and the same sad features overtook her face. He chose to leave it alone and just concentrate on having a good rest of the day with Hayden. The rest of the drive home to Hayden’s went fast and was relatively quiet.
Hayden led the way back into her house and immediately called out for Tyler. When she didn’t get a response she went into the kitchen to see if he left her a note. Her instincts were right and there tacked to the refrigerator was a note from Tyler.
Hey Sis-
I got called back into work…
I’m really sorry. I’ll call you later!
Love, Ty
p.s. Hope you have a good day with Justin!
Hayden read the note and sighed. She missed talking to her brother last night and she was looking forward to seeing him when she got home.
“Where’s your brother?” Justin asked as he entered the kitchen and sat at the island.
“He had to work again…” Hayden said while opening the refrigerator.
“I see…”
“Yeah, it sucks…I wanted him to meet you. He was really happy for me.” Hayden said after grabbing Justin and herself a pop before heading into the living room. Justin was quick to follow behind her and sit down on the couch.
“So what do you want to do?” Justin asked.
“Let’s watch a movie, how about Pirates of the Carribean?” Hayden said while getting up to retrieve the movie and put it in.
“Yeah, that’s cool.”
They settled into the couch fully intending to watch the movie but their attention was diverted elsewhere. They didn’t even get ten minutes into the movie before Hayden started asking Justin questions.
“I was thinking, let’s play a game. Today is all about getting to know one another so I’ll ask you three questions and you have to answer truthfully! Then it’s your turn and you can ask me any three questions back.” Hayden said while tucking her legs underneath her and turning to face Justin.
“All right, fire away Ms. Charles.” Justin said
“Are you truly happy with your life?” Hayden asked.
"Wow, she doesn’t waste anytime." Justin thought to himself and prepared himself for some heavy questions. “Yes, to an extent. I love what I do and wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world. But that doesn’t mean that it doesn’t have its downsides too. I don’t have privacy and everybody knows what I’m doing even before I do. It comes with the territory though, so yes overall I’m truly happy.”
“Good answer.” Hayden said. “All right, next question, what is your favorite thing to do on your downtime?”
“I love to go back home to Memphis. There’s nothing that even comes close to the feeling of being home.” Justin said while smiling at Hayden.
“All right, final question…what do you honestly think about the project and having me hang around for the next couple of months?” Hayden said while tilting her head to get a better looking into Justin’s eyes. This was the one question she wanted to ask him since day one.
“I think you’ve been given a great opportunity by Johnny. I’m happy to show you around and let you in on my career. Most importantly, I’m excited to have you hang around because you have a passion for the business side of the music industry. That’s rare to find. Finally though, I’m excited to just get to know you as a person. You’ve been really laid back and go with the flow, so I think you and I are going to hit it off great.” Justin said smiling at her and letting her know everything was going to be fine between them.
“Thanks Justin…that’s the one thing I wanted to know!” Hayden said.
“All right, my turn to ask you questions.” Justin playfully wiggled his eyebrows at her and thought about his first question. “What do you want to do once you graduate college?”
“I really want to get a job doing what Johnny does. I want to work behind the scenes of the music business, you know, the managing and promoting side of everything. That’s my dream, whether or not I pursue it, is still up in the air.”
“Nice, well I hope you do go for it.” Justin reassuringly rubbed her hand and continued on with his questions. “What is the one thing you miss while being out in California?”
“My family and friends. I have Tyler out here and trust me, I miss him dearly when I’m in Minnesota…but I’m missing out on my last semester of college with my friends and that’s a bit of a bummer. But this opportunity to work with you and Johnny was something I just couldn’t pass up.” Hayden said truthfully.
“Final question, tell me about the necklace you’re wearing, I know it’s special to you because I see the way you hold onto it. So why is it so important? What’s the story behind it?” Justin asked.
Hayden’s eyes started to fill up with tears and she quickly looked away from Justin. She wasn’t ready to divulge that part of her life to him, at least not tonight. Thinking about Josh was never easy for Hayden anymore. “I would rather not talk about it.” Hayden managed to choke out. “Let’s just watch the movie.”
With that, the Justin dropped the question and they both turned their attention back to the movie.
Author's Chapter Notes:
Ok so more Dane cook jokes...Why he can't date an exaggerating G/f
Girl: I got home from work today...I took like a 100 hour nap.
Dane: No, you did not! You'd be very sick if you took 100 hour naps. That's a coma!! Say you took a coma after work and I can follow the story!!
LOL, I think this stuff is hilarious...alright sorry for the rambles! Please please review!!! I really really appreciate them!!!!
Girl: I got home from work today...I took like a 100 hour nap.
Dane: No, you did not! You'd be very sick if you took 100 hour naps. That's a coma!! Say you took a coma after work and I can follow the story!!
LOL, I think this stuff is hilarious...alright sorry for the rambles! Please please review!!! I really really appreciate them!!!!
Story Tags: justin college
