Chapter Seven

Several hours later, Gabrielle slowly stirred awake and realized where she was.  She opened her eyes slowly and saw that it was still dark outside, nowhere near morning.  She lifted her droopy eyes and looked at the breathing figure lying on top of her.  At her slight movement, Justin raised his head from her stomach and looked at her; they were both a bit shocked and shaken.

"Did I wake you?" she asked.

"No.  No, I've been awake for probably about an hour now."  He rested his head on her stomach again.

"An hour?  Why didn't you wake me up?"

"Well, I was going to, but then you started making this weird snorting, wheezing sound, and I figured you were sleeping pretty deeply."

"Shut up, I wasn't snoring."  Gabrielle laughed and felt a bit embarrassed.

"Okay." Justin said sarcastically.  Gabrielle shifted beneath him and struggled to move him away so she could sit up.  Having him lay on her for as long as he had was beginning to make her feel crushed and claustrophobic.

"Oh, sorry."  Justin quickly crawled off of her lap and sat next to her, and then pulled her hand to help her sit up as well.  They both sat in silence for a few minutes, neither knowing what to do next.

"Do you want to just stay here?” Gabrielle asked, trying to sound nonchalant, “You might as well, I mean, the night's almost over."  Gabrielle checked her watch and noted the time.  It was well after two in the morning.  Justin checked his own watch before answering her; he was still pretty tired.

"You sure?" he asked her, inwardly hoping that she'd say yes.

"Of course, no problem.  You can have my bed, and I'll sleep out here on the-"

"Hell no.  I don't sleep in a woman's bed unless she's there with me.  I'm not kicking you out of your own bed.  I'll sleep on the couch, you sleep in your bed."  He finished his sentence in a low voice, and had to admit to himself that he was disappointed that she didn’t want him to sleep in her bed with her.  He was excited at the thought of sharing her bed for the rest of the night, but apparently, she wasn’t as excited by the idea.

"No, really; it's not that big a-"

"Goodnight, Gabby."  Justin again cut her off before she'd completed her sentence, and he pushed her off of the couch with his foot.  Before she could object, he laid his body across the entire couch and closed his eyes.

"Man, you can be an ass."  Gabrielle's voice joked.  Feeling defeated, she walked toward the bathroom.

"Hey, Gabby?"

"What?" she turned back toward him.

"Thanks for listening to me earlier.  You were right, I do feel better," he rolled over and closed his eyes again, "Oh!  And thanks for not throwing yourself at me."  He laughed and winked at her, then turned his body back into the couch.  Gabrielle smiled after he'd closed his eyes.

She continued down the hall in hopes of finding some extra linens for him, which she found in the bathroom closet.  When she'd returned with a blanket and pillow, she found him staring at her ceiling, playing with the hem of his shirt absentmindedly.

"What are you thinking about?" she asked as she lifted his head and placed the pillow underneath, then spread the blanket over his long body. 

"What time are you waking up tomorrow?" he asked her, fixing the blanket to his own liking.

"Around seven or eight.  Why?"

"Could you wake me up early?"

"Sure.  What for?"

"I have a 1:30 flight tomorrow, and I…still haven't packed."  Mid-sentence, he yawned, causing his speech to slur. Nonetheless, his sentence hit Gabrielle like a ton of bricks.

"You have a flight tomorrow?"  For some reason, she hadn't thought about the next day and how she probably wouldn't be seeing him for a long time, if she ever saw him again.

"Yeah, I'm going New York tomorrow for some tapings and I've got some meetings with my record company to talk about a new album."

"Oh.  How long are you going to be gone?"

"Two weeks."  Justin noticed the sadness his words had brought about in Gabrielle.  Out of nowhere, he realized he was going to miss her.  It scared him how close he felt to her after just spending two days together.  Either he was becoming way to desperate for his own good, or there was something about this girl that subconsciously drew him to her.  He couldn't figure out which, but he figured it was a little of both.

"Okay.  Well, yeah, I'll wake you up at seven."

"Thanks."  Gabrielle nodded to him and walked into her bedroom.  She was angry with herself for being upset at his departure.  She barely knew this man, even though she felt such a longing for him.  She sighed.  This was just something she'd have to suck down and swallow because there was no changing it.

Justin laid in the dark thinking about what he'd said to Gabrielle.  He didn't want to leave tomorrow.  He wanted to spend more time with her.  He honestly felt like she could be the next person he got close to, but he forced himself to think that they'd only be close friends, nothing more.  He hit the light button on his watch and realized that he'd been staring into the dark room, waiting to fall asleep for almost half an hour.  He got up to go to the bathroom, and he stumbled through the living room to where he thought he'd seen a light switch.  After successfully turning it on, he found the bathroom, and within two minutes, he was back on the couch in total darkness.  He checked his watch one more time, and after five minutes had passed, he got up and began walking down the hall to Gabrielle's bedroom.

"Hey, Gabby, I-"  Justin stopped his sentence when he cracked her door wide enough to see that she had already fallen asleep.  Silently, he tiptoed toward her side of the bed.

"Gabby?"  When she didn't respond, he was positive she was sleeping.  He stood in front of her, contemplating the consequences of his next move. Deciding to risk them anyway, he slowly made his way to the other side of her bed and moved the covers back to allow himself better access.  As silently as he could, he climbed into her bed, wrapped the covers around himself, and reached for her body.  Once he'd found her, he pulled her into his own body and spooned her closely.  For a few long seconds, there was nothing but silence and blackness.  He could barely hear her breathing and knew that she was sleeping deeply.  He tightened his grip around her and nuzzled his nose in her hair and smelled deeply, resting his chin on her shoulder.  Slowly, Gabrielle stirred, and Justin cringed, hoping he hadn’t woken her.

"Justin?  What are you doing in my bed?"  Gabrielle whispered lazily after she let herself enjoy his embrace for a few short seconds.  His presence had startled her.  In her sleep she had forgotten that he was in her apartment, and waking up to him holding her was a bit of a shock.  She didn't move away, though; she didn't want to be anywhere else at the moment.

"You didn't give me a stuffed animal to sleep with, so I'm using you as one.  Now, shut up and go to sleep."  They both began to laugh and Gabrielle felt Justin's grip around her waist tighten.

"You're crazy."  She laughed her words and covered his hand with her own.

"I need to ask you something."  His tone was heart-attack serious, and its unexpectedness worried Gabrielle.

"Okay."

"Come with me."

"Come with you?  What?"

"To New York."

"Oh, my God, Justin, you are crazy."  She giggled and laughed the idea out of her head. 

"I'm serious.  I want you to come with me."

"I can't…I…I have to work.”  She knew the excuse was lame, but at least it was true.  She couldn’t believe the words that had just come out of his mouth.  He couldn’t be serious!  Asking her to come to New York and basically drop her life for his in the next two weeks?  He had to be crazy. 

"Being around you makes me want to stay here, Gabby, and since I can’t do that, I want you to come with.  I don't want to be without you right now.  You make me happy, and I really want your company.”  When she didn’t respond, he began to worry that she didn’t feel how he felt.  Maybe she didn’t feel as close to him as he did to her. 

”C'mon, it's only two weeks.  You can call off.  Tell them you're going on vacation.” 

"With Justin Timberlake?  Oh yeah, they'd believe me."  She made her sarcasm more than obvious, and instantly she regretted her tone.

"That's not funny, Gabby.  Just tell them you're going on vacation with a friend.  You don't have to tell them who you’re going with."

"That's not the point, Justin.  My job isn't the only obstacle here.  What will you tell people when they ask about me?"

"I'll tell them you're a friend.  I have had friends come on trips with me before, Gabby.  I know what I'm doing; I know how to handle these situations."

"And it's just that easy?  You tell them I'm a friend, and that's it.  What if they don't believe you?"

"They who?  I only have to worry about management, and they're understanding.  Besides, if they don't believe me, fuck them.  I don't care what people think.  You kinda get a thick skin doing what I do."

"Justin, you have to care."

"Look, just think about it, okay?  Sleep on it, and tell me in the morning."

"Okay.  I will."  Justin kissed her bare shoulder and held her tightly against her body.  He prayed that she would say yes to his invitation.  He knew her company would make the monotonous trip much more enjoyable.

Gabrielle woke the next morning mere minutes before the time she'd set her alarm for.  She was cold and the absence of Justin’s body in her bed was obvious to her.   She rolled over just to make sure, and when she knew he was gone, she got up and covered her tank and shorts with a robe.  She checked the mirror above her vanity and feverishly tried to finger her hair into place.  The clanking of glass sparked her curiosity and she walked into the kitchen to find Justin.

The pot of coffee he'd made was ready and he was searching her cabinets for mugs.  By the time Gabrielle walked into the kitchen and saw him, he had found the two mugs, poured the coffee and was sitting at the kitchen island, sipping as he pleased.  Before entering the kitchen, she silently decided not to bring up Justin’s question from the night before.  Hopefully, he would just drop it and not put her in the uncomfortable position of saying no again.

"Make yourself at home," she joked sarcastically. 

"Sorry.  I didn't sleep well and I figured some coffee would help."  She smiled, letting him know that she wasn't upset.  On her way to the seat opposite him, she grabbed the sugar and poured some into her cup, then offered him some.

"No, thanks.  I like mine black."

"Oh, tough guy, huh?" she joked, stirring her coffee.  He responded to her lame joke with a weak smile.

"Why didn't you sleep well?  Was my bed too uncomfortable?"

"No, the bed was fine.  I just had a lot on my mind, that's all."

“You’re doing a horrible job of hiding from me the fact that you're upset about something."

"I'm not in the mood, Gabby.  Just let me drink my coffee in peace, all right?"  Gabrielle gave him a stern look that made it clear that she wasn't the type who obeyed commands.

"Justin, enough.  Tell me what's going on."  Justin let out a heavy sigh and his body hunched over his cup.

"I got a voice mail from Britney this morning.  She called me while we were sleeping on the couch last night."  That was only partly the reason for his sour mood.  He wouldn't dare tell her that he spent the entire night tossing in and out of sleep thinking about Gabrielle; hoping that she would make the decision to make the trip to New York with him.  He'd spent the night thinking up ways to convince her if she had in fact said no.

"Britney?  The Britney?"

"Who else?"  He gave her a ‘don’t play dumb’ kind of look and returned to his coffee.

"Well, what'd she say?"

"She wants to talk."  His eyes were blank, like he'd been dead.  She hated to see the effect Britney had on him.  Any time he even mentioned her name, his entire character morphed into something of a depressed zombie.

"That's a good thing, right?  What's the harm in talking?"

"I'm not sure yet, but I'm sure there's some harm."  Justin closed his eyes and his mind flashed back to the night they'd broken up.    His last words to her that night had been, "No matter what I still love you, but after tonight, I don't think we should talk...unless it's to work things out between us.  Give me a call if that time ever comes."  He prayed that she wasn't calling to work things out.  He knew he could deny Britney of nothing; he knew he’d always have a place for her in his broken heart.  And he wasn't in the mind frame to get back together.  Everything in his mind told him to move on; everything in his heart told him to move toward Gabrielle. 

"Justin."  Gabrielle tried to get his attention.  He'd been daydreaming for much too long and Gabrielle wanted to know exactly what was on his mind.  He snapped out of his flashback and looked into Gabrielle's eyes.  He quickly took her hands in his.

"Gabby, you have to come with me.  I don’t want to be alone now."  The look on his face nearly killed her, his eyes were begging her to just give in.

"Oh, Justin..." she protested.

"Please, Gabby.  I really need a friend on this trip."  His words stung her.  Friend, he'd said.  Nothing more, nothing less.  She now knew where they stood; she told herself to stop thinking of him as more, but she constantly craved to be intimate with him.  She forced herself against the thoughts; he needed a friend, and she was going to be one to him, even if it killed her.

"Okay."

"Yeah?  You'll come?"

"Yeah, I'll come."  The smile her words had put on his face made her insides feel warm at the sight of it.

"Okay, good.  Thank you so much!  Okay!  We have to pack!  C'mon."  He was in a frenzy, and she laughed at him.  Instantly, he got up from his chair and gathered his things.  Then he ran back to her like an excited little boy, grasped her body tightly and thanked her again.

"I'll be back at ten to get you, okay?"

"Okay.  But no limo this time."

"Gabby, I have to.  I'm going to the airport."  She rolled her eyes and groaned.

"Fine.  Don't be late."

"Fine."  He smiled, and quickly kissed her cheek, then ran out the door.