"Gabby, where are we going?" Justin asked once she'd hailed a cab and practically thrown him in.

"I thought I'd give you a tour of my place." She said in a jokingly seductive manner.

"Oh, really?" Justin flashed an excited smile.

"Really." She confirmed. Gabrielle leaned in for a kiss when she was surprised by Justin's rejection to her.

"Not so fast." He said as he gently pushed her away, "I'm just coming for the tour, nothing else." Gabrielle gave Justin a dirty look and moved as far away from him as the cab would let her.

"Come on, Gabby. We both know that we don't need a repeat of last time. Come on, another cheap night? That's not what I'm into." Gabrielle was shocked by Justin's rejection. She couldn't believe he was turning her down. More importantly, she couldn't believe that she even tried anything with him after what had happened the first time.

"It wasn't cheap, Justin. No matter what you say, I didn't make it cheap by not calling you."

"Yes, you did! Man, you still can't see that! We had sex one time and we didn't talk again until I saw you in that club. I tried to salvage that night by talking to you. I could have just walked right passed you and acted like you didn't exist, but I'm not like that."

"God, Justin! You have to stop dwelling on who was right and who was wrong that day. You know, I still don't know why you're even talking to me. If I'm so slutty and so cheap, then why are you still talking to me? Why did you even get in this car with me?"

"That's not the point, here. The point is that I'm trying to stop us from making the same mistake twice."

"Damnit, Justin, stop avoiding the question. You can't give me a straight answer on this, can you? You have no idea why you're still talking to me after the way I treated you...do you?" Gabrielle's tone was completely challenging. She knew Justin had no idea why they were still speaking to each other, and she was beginning to think that it didn't matter who she was; all that mattered was that she was someone who was willing to keep him company.

"Well?" she challenged once again, "Are you going to answer me or not?"

"I don't know! I...I don't know why I'm still talking to you. And don't say that you're slutty or cheap because you're not. It's just that...it's just that...that it was-"

"That it was what, Justin? Spit it out!"

"It's just that it was nice, all right? It was nice." By the soft tone of his voice and the introverted pose his body had captured, she could tell that he' just disclosed something to her that was very hard for him to deal with; something that he probably hadn't yet disclosed to himself.

"What do you mean by nice?" As soon as her question was out, the cab came to a stop in front of her apartment building, and she paid the driver and escorted Justin up to her door while she awaited his answer. When they reached her apartment door, she turned to him and looked up at him with questioning eyes. She knew that he'd taken advantage their arrival and change of scenery, and now he was avoiding her eyes in order to successfully avoid her question altogether.

"Answer me...please? What did you mean by nice?" Her tone was gentle and calm as she awaited his response to her. Justin let his body sink against the door jam and he stared at the floor as he began to talk.

"It was nice to meet a woman who didn't automatically try to throw herself at me, ya know? The truth is, you treated me differently than the rest of them, and it was a nice change. I didn't feel like I had to be on my guard around you. It felt safe, like I didn't have to worry about being treated like a piece of meat. Although, you didn't treat me like I was just a normal guy, which I would have liked. But at the same time, you didn't treat me like I was a trophy or something to brag to your girlfriends about, either. You were genuine, and I was so relieved when you said you didn't want to be just another notch on my belt...you seemed like you wanted something for real. It just made me mad when we didn't talk for three weeks because then it felt like I was just a conquest to you. Congratulations, you screwed the celebrity."

"Oh, my God...Justin." She barely knew what to say, "I had no idea you felt like that."

"Yeah, well. I am a real person with real feelings. I'm more than just what you see on stage, and I wish people would treat me like I was a real person. It's frustrating trying to find people I can trust. For a second, I thought I could trust you, but you seriously proved me wrong."

"I'm so sorry. It's just hard to get passed the image in order to see the real person."

"I know, that's my biggest complaint about being who I am. I just wish people would treat me like a nobody sometimes." Gabrielle couldn't even fathom what he was going through. All she knew was that right before her stood a man with a need for some good old-fashioned tender loving care.

"This is probably a long shot, but do you want to come inside?" Justin eyes her warily and Gabrielle got the sense that he didn't think her invitation was a smart idea.

"Completely platonic. I swear, I won't throw myself at you," she joked. It took him a second, but he smiled and exhaled a silent laugh, then nodded his head 'yes.'

Once the two were secured inside of Gabrielle's apartment and shoes, coats, and dress shirts had been discarded, they found themselves sitting on her couch, drinking wine and talking to each other like old friends. Somewhere deep inside of her, Gabrielle began to realize that all he needed was a true friend, not an obedient female of his beckon call. And at the pure realization that they would never be intimate again, she felt disappointed. It wasn't that she expected it to happen again since it had happened once already, and she didn't expect it because he had walked up to her three weeks later. She couldn't explain to herself why she would miss it...the point was that she would.

After an hour of discussion, they had covered nearly every topic under the sun.

"What would you be doing if you weren't famous?" she asked. Justin laughed as he realized his own answer, "Trying to get famous." Gabrielle laughed with him at how ironic his answer was.

"I don't know. There's always been something so glamorous about being famous, and you believe that it is glamorous until it finally happens to you. Sometimes, it's the greatest thing in the world to hear thousands of people scream your name in a single night, and then, sometimes I think it'd be the greatest thing in the world if I was one of those people who got lost in a crowd, and no one knew my name, ya know?" He looked at her, almost as if he was expecting her to empathize. Too late he remembered that he no longer had the luxury of a close female who completely knew what he was going through. He never admitted it to anyone, but there were times in his life when he craved for his former companion; the one who knew everything about him and understood everything about him.

"Oh, I guess you don't know. I thought I was talking to someone else for a minute there." He said sadly. He was shocked at how comfortable he felt telling Gabrielle so much about his personal feelings. It was almost like he had been talking to his former mate. It scared and excited him at how easily he could talk to Gabrielle. He allowed himself to think that he'd found a replacement for his former love, but not a second after the thought entered his head, he forced it out. He'd learned the hard way about losing the closest person in the world to him. He'd made a pack with himself that never again would he become that close to another woman.

"Who did you think you were talking to?"

"What?" The sound of her voice jolted Justin from his thoughts, but not soon enough to comprehend the words she'd spoken.

"I said, who did you think you were talking to."

"Oh, no one...nevermind." Another thing he'd learned was that it was worse than a sin to mention her name to another female. If he ever did, the female would take her hatred toward his ex out on him...never a good thing.

"No, really. Who? Justin, you can talk to me." There wasn't a part of that sentence that he didn't believe with all of his heart.

"I thought I was talking to Britney." Justin inwardly cringed as the evil word passed through his lips. Such a poisonous taste was left in his mouth whenever he said the 'B' word, as he jokingly called her name.

"Britney Spears?" She asked.

"Yeah. Look, I'm sorry, I never should have mentioned her." Gabrielle quietly laughed.

"Justin, you don't have to walk on egg-shells around me. The fact that you've had girlfriends doesn't offend me." Never in his life had he heard a female respond about Britney like Gabrielle had. He was taken back; completely shocked.

"Do you want to talk about her? I don't mind," She questioned.

"No." His answer was short and had an intense bitterness behind it.

"Justin, you obviously have a huge amount of pent up anger about her. Don't you want to get it off your chest?"

"No." His tone of voice was verbatim to the first tone he'd used.

"You really need to talk about this. It's killing you inside."

"I know." He whispered.

"Talk to me about her. Tell me what she was like when you two were together. Did it feel like you were perfect for each other?" Gabrielle knew that he needed to open up and let go of this demon. All she knew to do was open the topic to him and invite him to wallow in his memory of her.

"Yeah. We were perfect for each other. We were like soul mates, you know?" Justin could feel the sting of their relationship start to hurt again.

"She knew perfectly what I was going through because she was going through all of it at the same time, and we could forget about it all and just get lost in each other. I cherished those times when we were together. Nothing mattered more than just helping each other escape from the world. I fell deeper in love with her every time I saw her. She was my angel. I always felt like God had sent her down specifically for me; to make me happy." Justin stopped as he began to remember what had taken his angel away. He fought back the tears that were burning the insides of his eyes.

"Why did you guys break up?" At the single mention of the question, Justin let a tear run down to his jaw. He became angry at her all over again, and angry at himself for becoming upset over it yet again.

"She hired this new choreographer." Gabrielle watched as Justin's lips and brows furrowed with anger. She contemplated changing the subject, but he continued on after another tear trailed, following the first.

"And he seemed like a nice guy; he and I even became friends and started working together. Then one night, my best friend called me and told me that he needed to talk to me about Britney; he said he had some bad news. He told me that he caught Britney sleeping with him." He clentched his fists as he spoke and he could feel that same rage begin to consume him again.

"And when I asked her about it, all she said was, 'Well, you're never around anymore.' God, those words killed me. It was like she didn't have any remorse whatsoever; she didn't even apologize for hurting me. Above all, we were best friends...and she killed every bit of our relationship." He pursed his lips and angrily squinted his eyes as he let himself travel back to the memories he had of the event. Actually, he couldn't believe that he had just disclosed so much of this to Gabrielle.

Gabrielle looked at Justin hesitantly, and wondered how he must be feeling. She didn't smile when he looked at her, and she did nothing to comfort him. She wasn't sure that she could comfort a man who had been through what he had. She silently took his hand in her own and laid it in her lap, covering it with her own. He looked at their hands together and then looked deep into her eyes. He said nothing, but she knew exactly what he would have said. She knew he appreciated the comfort, and she was also sure that he didn't need her to express anything verbally. The fact that she was just willing to listen was enough for him. They sat together in silence for what seemed an eternity.

Somwhere during the time, Justin had moved down on the couch and laid his head back into her lap. He had then grabbed her hands and was playing with them absentmindedly on his chest. He couldn't explain why being with her made him feel so comfortable, like he'd really known her forever and could just sit in silence with her. The thought comforted him so much but scared him at how soon her felt like this.

He felt her pull one of her hands away from his and run it over his short hair, stroking his head so gently. He let out a light sigh in appreciation; he loved his head being stroked, and he wasn't surprised that she would know that. The strokes of her hand became slowly hypnotic and eventually she felt him drift off right in her lap. She smiled and leaned back on the couch. She was really uncomfortable, but for him, she didn't mind. She laid her head back on the couch and continued to stroke him until she felt the drowsiness take over her as well.