Suddenly, the limo parked in front of her honked and the back door opened. There he was. "Are you coming or not?" She rolled her eyes. Of course he came in a limo; what else? Almost reluctantly, she got in.

"You honestly go places in this thing?" she asked, eyeing her surroundings, "It's like an advertisement for little girls."

"Grown women come to my shows too, you know."

"Yeah, but they're a little outnumbered, don't you think?"

"When are you going to stop being rude to me?"

"As soon as you grow up."

"You need to stop that; it's getting on my nerves. I'm twenty-four, I am grown up." So he was almost twenty-four; he would be in a few months, anyway. It wasn't really a lie, he thought. She looked at him and turned away without saying anything.

"What? No comeback? No insult? Did I finally find the magic words to shut you up?" She thought about telling him the truth, he was two years older than she was, and the whole night she had been mocking him because of his youthful age.

"Nothing, I'm done fighting with you."

"No, you're not. You're not even done yelling at me from before, remember? So, what'd I say? Why aren't you insulting me now?"

"Do you want me to insult you?"

"No, I want you to stop avoiding my question." She sighed in defeat. She muttered some words that weren't even close to being audible and she wiped her hand over her mouth as she spoke.

"No, no. I want a real answer; one that I can hear."

"You're older than I thought you were, that's all." She turned her head to look out the window and placed the back of her hand over her mouth in order to hide the grin she felt approaching. Justin caught her smile before she could successfully hide it, and he grabbed her hand and pulled it away from her face, holding onto it so she couldn't replace it.

"Okay, how about the truth this time. It sucks to wear your heart on your sleeve, doesn't it?'

"I do not wear my heart on my sleeve, thank you, and I didn't lie."

"Then you didn't tell me the whole truth, and that's still lying. In which case I could just pull the car over and make you walk back to the club all by yourself." He placed his finger on the button that lowered the dividing screen and she placed her hand on top of his, stopping his actions.

"Okay, I'll tell you."

"Now."

"Okay, you're older that I thought you were-" Justin pushed the button and the screen slid open an inch.

"No, wait! I'm not done yet!" she yelled trying to stop his actions. The grasp she had on his hand tightened to keep him from pushing the button again.

"You're older than I thought you were..." She paused to see if he'd continue lowering the screen. When he didn't move, she continued. "And you're two years older than I am." She hung her head down and tried to hide her erupting laughter when she heard his explode from somewhere inside him.

"Oh, my God," he laughed, "You are such a bitch! This whole night you kept ragging on me because I was too young, and here you are miss-priss and you're just barely twenty-one!" He threw her hand off of his in a playful manner and laid his hand on his stomach, trying to control his laughter.

"Hey, I'm not a bitch, and I'm not a miss-!"

"And you still don't know when to shut up!" He said, interrupting her and laughing still.

"I know when to shut up! Look, you teen-beat-cover-boy, you invited me into this car because I wasn't done yelling at you, so you can't do anything to shut me up because that's what I was invited here for-" Justin continued to laugh at her rambling and placed a hand on the back of her head, just behind her ear and pulled her into him for a soft, gentle, lingering kiss. He felt her tense up and kept his lips pressed gently to hers until she relaxed and began to kiss back. As soon as he felt her respond, he pulled away. Looking into her large, shocked eyes, he said, "Are you sure I can't do anything to shut you up? You're not talking now."

Gabrielle finally started breathing again and backed away so that he wasn't invading her comfort space. She felt so many things at once: she felt shocked, she felt invaded, she felt hot. Everything was hot, the limo, his eyes, that feeling right under her belt; it all caused some sort of heat.

"And that teen-beat-cover-boy thing was rough." A different kind of smirk crossed his face, not once of arrogance, but the kind of smile that awakens those butterflies and never lets them rest again. Still, she didn't speak.

"What's the matter with you? You look like a scared kitten."

"Why did you just kiss me?" She didn't know what kind of answer she wanted to hear. She was positive that he wouldn't give her one of those answers anyway.

"To shut you up, you just kept rambling." He stopped speaking and looked at her. Something was definitely wrong.

"That's what I figured." She sighed, "Look, Justin, I didn't leave that place with you just so that I could become your next one-night-stand. I'm not some-"

"Whoa, wait a minute. I don't know what you're trying to imply here, but I don't do that. I don't go out at night to see what new girl I can bring home with me. Is that what you thought this was all about? Oh, my God, and that kiss - I'm so sorry for whatever it is you think you're here for, but those were never my intentions. God, you must think I'm such an asshole."

"Then what was that kiss all about? I'm sure you've met a million women in clubs. I'm no different than any of them. You're going to tell me you've never gotten one of them in your fancy limo and kissed her and it ended up to be a cheap one-nighter?"

"First of all, whether or not I've ever had a one-night-stand is completely my business, and second, you are completely different from any of them. Honestly, I've never had a woman come up to me to fight with me instead of to try to seduce me. So yeah, you're a bit different. And that kiss was not an invitation for a one-night-stand. It was just to calm you down."

"That's it?"

"Yeah, basically."

"Basically? That doesn't sound like the whole truth." She said. A small smirk formed across his face. He was helpless to stop it.

"Justin, if you made me tell you the whole truth about the age thing, you're gonna have to tell me the whole truth now. Fair is fair." Gabrielle felt the limo come to a stop and she figured they'd arrived at their destination, wherever that may have been.

"Well, let's just say that I enjoyed shutting you up." Before even waiting for a response from her, he opened his door and quickly stepped out of the car. He held it open and reached out for her hand to help her out of the car as well. Consumed in their own conversation, the two walked discreetly through the back entrance of the hotel, through the kitchen and into the elevator that opened just inside the kitchen doors. Justin had been accustomed to entering all hotels this way, and didn't even give the situation a second glance. Gabrielle, on the other hand, had a question for every turn they made. It was a confusing maze through back hallways and hidden doorways that finally got them to Justin's room door.

"Okay, well, goodnight," Gabrielle reached for her hand with her own.

"Oh, you don't wanna come in? I just assumed that you would, since you walked all the way up here." The thought of a one-night-stand entered Gabrielle's mind again. There was no way she was walking into that room if that's what he thought she was interested in, no matter what he said. She wasn't that kind of girl. Hell, she wasn't even a fan; she had no right to be with him.

"It's already late, and I'm kind of tired, so..." Her gaze into his eyes trailed off in the same manner that she had let her sentence trail off.

"I understand. You want me to call a cab for you, or-no, wait; I'm not calling a cab this late. Who knows if you'd get home safely. Let me get you a room." Justin slid the key into the door and cracked it open.

"No! No, that's not necessary. I'll be fine in a cab, and you don't even have to call one for me."

"No way, this is a dangerous city, and-"

"Justin," Gabrielle began to laugh, "This is my home. I live in this city; it's not scary to me. I'll be fine. Besides, we just met, and you don't know me from Adam. There's no need for you to feel like I'm your responsibility." She began to believe that he wasn't an avid participant in one-night-stands. She couldn't imagine him being this hospitable to tons of meaningless booty-calls.

"I was just being polite," he opened the door a bit further and walked inside, "And I thought you had some yelling to do." She was beginning to get the feeling that he didn't want to be alone and she was right. Justin was desperately trying to hold on to her company. After she was gone, that was it. He was left to begin another night alone in a lonely hotel room.

"I guess you're right," she said smiling, "I suppose I do have a bone to pick with you." She walked passed him into the hotel room and just barely brushed against his chest. Wow, he smells good, she thought to herself. Okay, twenty minutes, tops. Then, you're outta here.

"Want something to drink?" Justin grabbed a beer out of the mini-refrigerator and popped it open.

"No thanks. I hate beer, and I've already had a little too much to drink tonight."

"I noticed. How many martinis did you have?"

"I don't keep track. I'm fine, though."

Justin walked into the bedroom and flipped on the television. He sat down on the edge of the bed and flipped through the channels until he found a show that he liked.

"Friends is on! Hey, Gabrielle, you like Friends?" Gabrielle rolled her eyes, walked into the bedroom, and stood next to him. She thought it was endearing how innocent he seemed. She had completely misjudged him before. She thought him to be a shallow woman-hunter, but he was turning out to be just an innocent, lonely guy.

"I've seen this episode already," she said and sat down on the bed next to him.

"Me, too, but I love this show." Gabrielle was amused at how entranced he was by the television. She bet herself that if she waved her hand in front of his face, he wouldn't even notice it.

Sometime during the show, Justin and Gabrielle had made themselves more comfortable. Both of their shoes and his dress shirt had been tossed on the floor and they had moved up to the head of the bed.

"I'll be right back." Justin got up and walked into the bathroom. Gabrielle glanced at her watch, then back at the television. She felt her eyes getting heavier and she couldn't help but give in to them. By the time Justin had returned from the bathroom, she was asleep. He stopped himself from getting back on the bed and smiled. He took the covers from the opposite side of the bed and folded them over her. He clicked the television off and shut off the lights. Then he looked around for an extra blanket and pillow and walked out to the couch. He turned off all of the lights except for the hall light which always seemed to keep him company. He was out just as soon as his head hit the pillow.