By Zaen
Another
month passed by and you could no longer take it. Once you had some privacy, you called Justin
before you could lose your nerve.
Cameron answered. Before, you
would have said hello, how are you, I’ll call Justin back some other time. Or maybe you would have just hung up. Instead you asked to speak to Justin, and
when he came to the phone, you very plainly stated, “We need to spend some time
together. Alone.”
There
was silence for a bit. Before you could
panic and recant, Justin cleared his throat and said, “Yes. I’ve been thinking the same thing.”
“I
know we’re both busy,” you added quickly, before you could get your hopes up.
“Too late to back out, C.
I’ll, uh…I’ll take care of it.”
“’Kay. Oh, happy
birthday, by the way,” you said, hoping you sounded nonchalant.
“Thanks,”
Justin said matter-of-factly. You could
hear Cameron shouting instructions at people in the background. Caterers, probably.
“Having
a party, I take it.”
“Yeah. No big
deal. Just a few friends.”
“Oh.”
“You
know what I mean,” he said softly, like he was covering the receiver with his
hand. “I didn’t know if I should…I
mean…I haven’t talked to you guys in so long.”
“No
problem,” you lied. Justin sighed, and
you feared pushing him away. “Look, just
let me know when you have some time and—”
“Yeah,
I’ll do that. Look I gotta go, C. Um…I’ll set that up, and…we’ll set up some
time to…uh…work on that. It’s long
overdue.”
“Ok. Um…happy birthday, Justin. Have fun with your friends.”
“You’re
my friend, JC. Always.” Justin sounded sincere. It gave you hope.
“I
want to see you,” you whispered daringly.
“Me, too.”
“Me,
too, what?” you teased.
Justin
sighed, laughed, and whispered, “I want to spend time with you. Alone. Ok?”
“Good.” The knot in your stomach loosened.
“Thanks
for calling, JC.” He whispered into the
phone just before hanging up, “I’ll see you very soon. Get ready for me.”
“I’ll
do that,” you said into the dial tone.
You knew it might be weeks or months before you two met, but your
stomach flipped anyway in anticipation.
~~*~~
“JC,
I only have a minute to talk…wait…she’s in the other…hold on.”
“Jus—”
“Ssh! Just
wait.” You waited a few seconds, and
then Justin came back on the line, barely above a whisper. “
“
“Can
you make it, C?” You weren’t sure if
that was desperation or excitement in his voice. You didn’t care.
“Will,
uh, will she be there?”
“Technically,
yes.” Your heart sank a little, until
Justin whispered, “But she’ll be busy.
And I’ll have time for you. And
it’s very remote. We can scream all we
want, baby.”
“I’m
there.”
~~*~~
You
had to take 3 flights on increasingly smaller planes, a rickety train, and an
even more rickety car ride to get to the hotel.
Justin was right; this part of the world was remote, at least from
paparazzi and crazed teenies. You didn’t even need security, but you
brought Lonnie anyway. To protect you in the unlikely event of being stalked by Chilean paparazzi. Or to protect you in the unlikely event that
Cameron caught you with her boyfriend.
It
was pitch black when you woke up in a small hotel room. It was hot, and there were no lights
outside. You had no idea of the time
because in your haste you’d forgotten to pack your watch. You sat up in your bed and stared blankly
into the darkness, wondering how you ended up here. You jumped when you heard someone unlocking
your door.
“Shit! Is that you, Lonnie?”
“It’s
the boogeyman.”
“J?”
“Sitting here in the dark.
Still so dramatic.” Justin flicked the light switch on the wall. You almost jumped again when you saw
him. He was tan, and covered in sweat,
with more facial hair than you’d ever seen on him. If he were anyone else, you’d find him homely.
“Hey,”
you whispered.
“Hey, yourself.”
Justin dropped the key to your door on the dresser. How he got it, you’d ask him later. He walked over to you with a huge smile on
his face. “You made it, man.”
“Yeah,”
you sighed, and then coughed to mask how nervous you sounded. It had been a very long time since you’d been
alone together. You hoped he was as
nervous as you felt. “Um…where’s the
girlfriend?”
“At the MTV bungalow, closer to the site.” You’d read somewhere about her new globe-traveling
stint with MTV, to raise green awareness or catch endangered species or
something. You were pretty sure you’d
heard she had a car than ran on used McDonald’s French fry grease. Justin probably really loved that about
her. You frowned. “Don’t worry, that’s
about 40K down the road. They’ll be
filming down near the mountains another day or two.”
“K? You talk metric now?”
“Funny, C.” He
reached out and touched your face. “It’s
been so long since I’ve touched you.”
“I
kno—” He was on your lap, kissing you before
you knew what was happening. Then, just
as soon as he started, he stopped, pulling away from your eager mouth with a
loud smack. “What’s wrong?”
“You.” Justin looked
down at his hand on your stomach. “You
smell like her. Like your girlfriend.”
I wouldn’t exactly call her my girlfriend
anymore, you wanted to say. After
trying unsuccessfully to recapture Justin’s lips, all your pride would allow
you to say was, “It’s kind of an, uh, open thing. She sees other guys sometimes, and—”
“You
fucked her this morning, didn’t you?”
“She
gave me a ride to the airport, man,” you joked, but Justin didn’t think it was
funny. He stood up and made a growling
sound. “What?”
“You
couldn’t wait until after you came to me?”
Justin turned and looked out the window.
You were flabbergasted.
“Are
you serious?” Justin just scowled at
you. You stood and tried to kiss him
again, but he pulled back. “C’mon.”
“I
smell her perfume all over you,” Justin growled. He backed away, looked you up and down, and
mumbled, “The thought of you with her makes me…I’ve lost my taste for you now.”
You
were still jet lagged, so your anger only sounded like mild annoyance. “I know you’re not mad at me for…I followed
you down to
“I
just…I just wanted to…damn.” Justin
looked out the tiny window into the night.
He sighed and finally, after a few deep breaths, turned back to
you. “It’s just been so long, and I was
so looking forward to seeing you. I’ve
been waiting for months, man.” You
swallowed, so you wouldn’t admit the same.
“I’m sorry, C,” Justin whispered.
“I’m an ass.”
“Yeah,
you are.” Justin took you into his arms
and sniffed into your neck. “I’m sorry
about the perfume,” you murmured. “Take
a shower with me, baby?”
Justin
smiled shyly. “Yes, baby.”
You
two showered without doing anything sexual.
Touching him and hugging him under the hot water was so relaxing that by
the time you got to bed, you both fell asleep.
When
you woke up there was the smallest bit of daylight coming through the
window. Justin was looking down at you,
his hand on your bare belly. You started
to speak, but he stopped you.
“Jace,” he whispered.
“No time to talk.”
You
let him make love to you slowly, your noses and lips touching the whole
time. Afterwards, you held each other
for a few minutes, had some bottled water, and then made love again. After a late breakfast and a quick walk
outside to stretch your legs, you went back inside and fucked him on the
floor. It was on your fourth attempt
that you were interrupted by the sounds of jeeps and loud laughter in English.
“Damn
it,” Justin groaned as he rolled off you.
You
considered slipping out the back, but Justin looked too pissed off to worry how
your being there would look. You two
walked outside to greet Cameron, her entourage, and the television crew. You stayed a few steps back, even though the
cameras were put away; no way were you going to end up as a blip on your
lover’s girlfriend’s TV special.
There
were a few minutes of kissing and excited babbling before she saw you standing
shyly on the hotel steps.
“JC? Oh my gosh, what are you doing here?” she squealed, directing
everyone’s attention right on you.
“Yeah,
uh, he came to, you know, check the place out.
Keep me company, you know,” Justin stammered as he retied the
drawstrings on his cargo shorts nervously.
“Well,
that’s cool! Isn’t it great down here?”
she squeaked as she slipped her arm around Justin’s waist. You nodded but didn’t say anything. Your legs had been ‘round
that waist only hours ago. “It’s so
green and the people, like, live so close to nature and
stuff. It’s really inspiring, don’t cha
think?”
“Yes,”
you said with your fakest smile ever.
“It’s beautiful, but I guess I better get going—”
“OK! Nice to see you!” She waved at you and went about helping the
crew unpack the equipment. Justin probably
really loved that about her. You don’t
think Eva would ever touch a mud and insect covered anything.
“Hey.” Justin led you over to a quiet area. “I’m sorry, man. Things didn’t turn out like I’d hoped.”
“We
had some time.” You lowered your voice. “Three times, to be exact.”
“Yeah.” Justin looked
over at the crowd and waved at the celebrity friends that apparently clamored
for the chance to tool around in endangered lands with his girlfriend. Suddenly the smog and traffic of
“I
guess this was a long way to go for a 3 hour booty call,” you mumbled. Justin stopped waving and looked at you like
you just told him the sky was green.
“Is
that—shit, JC.”
He took a deep breath, like you’d actually hurt him with that line. How could you, though? The love of his life was standing just yards
away. But the look in his eye…
“Look,
J, that’s not—”
“Yeah,
um, it is a long way for…yeah.” Justin
looked out over your shoulder at the green, green, green. “I hope you got what you came for,” he said,
a little loudly.
“And
what’s that?” Cameron slid up behind
Justin and wrapped her arms around him protectively, the way you wanted to right then. “Hey, JC, you should come with us to the next
site! We’re gonna shoot in an endangered
rainforest. It’s gonna be great!”
“That’s
sounds great,” you lied, “but I really should—”
“This
whole experience has been sooooo enlightening! I’ve really gained an appreciation for the
small, tucked away places of the world.
Speaking of which, I heard through the grapevine about Wilmer Valderrama’s new villa!
It’s supersecret and stuff, but I think we can
finagle an invite,” she giggled, kissing Justin’s neck. You coughed loudly. “I hear it’s got beautiful grounds, fruit
trees and everything. It’s like on some
secluded island, right, honey?”
“Yeah,”
Justin grunted, not looking at either of you.
“I think he got it on Ebay or something.”
“Uh huh!” She laughed
giddily and squeezed Justin until he turned pink. “I mean, I just wanna see it. I don’t actually want to stay there or
anything! We’re gonna live off the land
and shit, right, baby?”
“Right. Baby.” Justin looked
back at her, then right at you when he said “baby.” You gulped.
“So,
you’ll come with us to the next location, C?” she asked sweetly. Justin snickered at the appellation while it
simultaneously made you cringe.
“That’s
awfully nice of you, but I really should get back.” You waved your hands around at the jungle,
the crew, the continent. “This whole
thing was kind of, uh, spur of the moment.”
“I
understand.” She lowered her voice. “I’m glad that you two are trying to work
things out.”
“Wh-what?”
Justin mumbled, and it was your turn to smile.
“I
know you two haven’t been the best of friends for a while, especially since
Challenge last year. So, you know, I’m
glad that you’re working on your friendship and stuff.” She smiled and kissed Justin on the
cheek. “I just want my boy to be happy.”
“Yeah,”
you grunted. “That’s all I want, too.” You and Justin watched her walk away with a
wave to you and a blown kiss to Justin.
You never felt so helpless.
“I
should go.”
“Come
to Wilmer’s place with me,” Justin said under his breath as he leaned in close
and gave you a stiff goodbye hug. “It’s
perfect for us—I mean, for…you know.”
“I
don’t know,” you mumbled into his neck.
Even with everyone there and the heat and the sex interruptus,
you wanted to stay like that, in his arms, just for a while longer. “Don’t wanna get in the way, man.”
“No,
I meant just us…not with the show. I
talked to Wilmer. He’s down. Why do you think he got the place? It’s the perfect hideaway.” Justin pulled out of your hug and smirked at
you. “It’ll be fun, man. Just you wait.” His smile turned into something…meaner. “Don’t worry, JC. I’ll give you the booty call of your
dreams.” Justin walked away into the
arms of his girlfriend, leaving you stunned, mouth agape, and utterly confused.
You
went back to
~~*~~
<<<CHAPTER FIVE
Copyright October 25, 2005