(next day)
Groaning, Natalie rolled over to push snooze on her alarm clock for the sixth time that morning. She had officially decided that being on tour sucked. Majorally.
When Natalie had heard about the job, she had been so excited she'd nearly knocked her professor onto the floor. The job sounded amazing. Being paid to tour the US and do 5 gorgeous guys' hair sounded like the dream occupation. But just as she'd dreamed it up, it had gone away, because this was nothing like she'd imagined.
At five o-clock she'd been called for wake up and reminded of the 6:30 departure. She'd ignored that and went directly back to sleep. After what had only seemed like moments, the alarm had gone off, signifying that it was 6 o-clock already. Again, she'd ignored that.
After pressing the snooze button, she now lay with a pillow over her head to block out the loud knocking at the door.
Her parents had always said her bed was her survival and they were right. Without 5 good hours of sleep the normal person couldn't function properly. For Natalie, she needed 10 or she was in zombie mode all day and she was only going on six.
Again, the knocking at the door caused Natalie to growl. When it got even louder, she threw the pillow onto the floor, tossed the blanket off of her body and jumped to her feet, stomping to where the door stood, vibrating after each violent knock.
"I am COMING! NOW HOLD ON!" She screamed angrily. Not caring what she looked like, she swung the door open to reveal one of the six body guards hired for the tour.
"Hi, um, Miss Taylor?"
Natalie lifted her hands to rub her tired eyes as she yawned and nodded her head. "mmhmm. That's me. May I ask who you are and WHY you're banging on my door like a mad man?"
He blushed nervously, placing his hand on his walky talky in fear. "Well, I'm Randy and I was sent here to wake you up."
Natalie dug a hand into her messy hair and scratched her scalp. "So, you're telling me someone sent you here and told you to bang on my door like it was life or death if I didn't wake up?"
Again, he looked at the floor and clung to his walky talky like it was his life support. "Well, no, but they did say to make sure you were awake.."
She threw her hands in the air and flashing him a cocky smile. "Well, RANDY, I'm awake now and you can go tell whoever sent you here that and if you don't mind, I'd like to NOT be bothered like that anymore this morning."
"I'm sorry Miss, really. It's just, I have to follow orders and Justin told me to make sure everybody was awake. He was pretty cranky too, so I took the opportunity. I guess I didn't really score real well with you either."
"I'm sorry, really I am, but I'm not used to waking up this early."
He chuckled, shaking his head. "It's fine. No need to apologize. I mean, I put up with it all the time. I love Justin to death, but that boy is death warmed over in the mornings."
"Why Randy! I see you've found someone else to bother." Justin's voice rang in Natalie's ears as he made his way down the hallway.
"Yeah, but this little lady wasn't any more happy to see me than you were."
"You know I'm not a morning person. The buses are leaving in 6:30, just to warn you." Justin said as he joined the two in the deserted hallway. His eyes moved to look at Natalie and he smirked. "You're looking lovely this morning."
Natalie glared at him evily. "If you two don't mind, I'm going to excuse myself and see how quick I can get my stuff together." Just as she'd said the words, her door closed quietly and she began running around her room like crazy.
She couldn't help but pause though, when she thought of how cute Justin had looked with his hair flying everywhere and his clothes looking like he'd picked them out of two totally opposite people's closets.
She sighed, shaking her head. She didn't like Justin. She didn't even think of him as a friend hardly. She'd known him for almost a day now, and they'd talked maybe an hour all together. It just wasn't all adding up.
She wasn't going to deny he was attractive. Even a blind monkey could plainly see that Justin was very well off when it came to his looks and his body. His eyes were amazing, his lips perfect, his hands large and manly.
She threw a piece of hair out of her face as she began running around again, attempting to concentrate on finding all of her belongings. After shoving item after item into her suitcase, she looked around the room with a satisfied expression and swung her purse over her shoulder. She leaned down to grab the suitecase and slowly dragged it toward the door where another set of softer knocks had started.
"Coming coming..." She turned to check the room one more time before opening the door. She smiled when she saw Laura standing with a donut in her hand.
"Hey... You missed breakfast and the lovely little pep talks, but I managed to sneak one of these up for you."
Natalie graciously accepted the donut and smiled. "Thank you Laura. You are a doll."
"You better hurry cuz they're about ready to check out." Laura eyed her bulging suitcase and giggled. "Last minute packer?"
Natalie looked down at her suitcase and back up to Laura. "Yup. Pretty much. I don't have a man like Wade to do my packing for me while I sleep in."
Laura grinned evily. "Is it really that obvious that I got extra sleep?"
"No, but I just saw Wade walk down the stairs with your suitcase in his hand and I made an educated guess."
"Wow. You're good. Ready?"
Natalie nodded and began walking beside Laura down the empty hallway. Pulling her purse higher on her shoulder, she shook her head. "This is so crazy."
Laura laughed, putting a hand on Natalie's shoulder. "It gets worse, trust me."
"That's what scares me most.." Natalie looked around and noticed the hotel was nearly empty except for the occasional bus boy. "With the guys here, I imagined this place would be packed with teenage girls."
"Yes.." Laura grinned. "Many, many SLEEPING teenage girls."
"So....." Natalie looked around. "Where's everybody?"
Laura looked around and shrugged. "Good question. I'll be right back."
Natalie watched as Laura ran off to find where the guys were hiding, while waiting the arrival of the bus. When she heard her name being called, she turned quickly, which resulted in her losing grip on one of her bags, which tumbled to the ground.
Without looking to see who the mysterious name caller had been, she bent down to grab her bag, but was beat by a muscular, manly hand.
She rose back so she was standing and was suprised to see Justin standing, her bag dangling from his hand.
Winking, he leaned his hand out, offering it back to her. "I believe you dropped this."
Taking the bag and putting it on her free hand, she smiled, but she wasn't smiling about the bag. She'd never seen a cuter picture in all her life. Here was Justin Timberlake, standing in front of her, dressed in grey sweatpants and a dark blue hoodie, looking so innocent, yet sexy, that she almost had to keep herself from jumping him on the spot.
After she finished gawking at him, she blinked her eyes and blushed in embarassment. "Thanks."
"So.." Justin ran a hand through his messy hair. "Are you excited about today? Your first big hair job."
"Excited? In a way, yes, but I think I'm more nervous than anything."
And the truth was, she was terrified.
Not that she doubted her skills. She KNEW she was good. Otherwise, she never would have gotten the job in the first place. She was just afraid the guys wouldn't like it, or she'd mess up based on her nervousness.
Justin put a friendly hand on her shoulder and smiled warmly. "Don't be nervous. We're just a bunch of losers who can use all the help we can get with our hair. If you have time, PLEASE give Jc a haircut. The man needs one desperately."
Natalie giggled as he removed his hand. "Or maybe I'll just shave your head so I have more time to work on the others. Look at that mess. How do you sleep knowing you have THAT growing on top of your head?"
Justin ran a proud hand through his hair and flashed her a confident smile. "Hey, when you look this good, it doesn't matter WHAT grows on top of your head."
"Well aren't we a little concieted?"
"LOOK LANCE! THERE'S NATALIE!"
Natalie and Justin both turned thier heads when they heard Jc's loud voice. Laura came running behind them and Natalie could see she was yelling at them.
"Jc! Don't you know its' not nice to interrupt? Leave them alone! Can't you see that they're talking?"
Jc turned and whispered. "All's fair in love and war.. and this is war baby!"
Laura groaned, following behind them. "Humph.."
Once they made it to where Justin and Natalie were standing, Jc grabbed Justin's arm. "Yo, can you help me real quick?"
Justin turned to look at him curiously. "With what?"
"Um, well, I think that um... Well, I think I left something in my room and I don't wanna go by myself."
"Um, then take one of the guards." Justin suggested.
"They're all outside getting stuff packed. PLEASE come with me Justin."
"Dre doesn't look busy."
Jc looked to where the guard was standing boredly, looking to make sure there was no trouble as he cracked his fingers. "Um... Well.."
"I'll go." Laura interrupted, smiling evily at Jc.
"NO!" Jc shouted, which resulted in wierd looks from everyone. "I mean, no, you guys need to start loading your bus soon, and Wade might get scared if he doesn't know where Laura is."
Shrugging, Justin looked at Natalie. "It was nice talking to you." He glanced at Laura and Lance, nodding his heads at them.
"Will you come to the bathroom with me Natalie?"
Jc turned when he heard Laura talking to Natalie. "You can't go to the bathroom by yourself?"
"Oh, it's okay. I needed to go myself." Natalie smiled at Lance. "I'll see you later. Bye Jc. Bye Justin." She shifted her bag to her other hand and walked away.
Softly, Jc cursed under his breath. "Damn girl."
"What was that?"
Jc looked up at Justin and smiled innocently. "Oh nothing."
"Um, are we going to go get that thing you left in your room?"
Jc's eyes followed the two girls until they disappeared into the bathroom. "Um, no. I just remembered I got it already. Look there's Wade!"
Justin gave him a strange look before looking up to greet Wade. "Hey dude. How's it going?"
Wade looked around the lobby once, before looking back at Justin. "What was that?"
Justin laughed quietly, shaking his head. "She's in the bathroom."
"Huh?"
"Laura. She's in the bathroom with Natalie. You know how girls are. Always gotta go to the bathroom in groups."
"What makes you think I was looking for her."
"The lost puppy look on your face gave you away real quick."
Wade went to say something, but was interrupted by a pair of hands covering his eyes. "Guess who."
"Um, Michael Jordan."
Laura giggled, lowering from her tiptoes as she removed her hands. "Nope! It's me, you're bestest friend! Are you disappointed now?"
Wade wrapped an arm around her shoulders as Natalie appeared beside her. "I guess you'll do for now."
"Hey, we're going to start loading." Dre told the group, before walking over to the doors to hold them.
"How long is this trip again?" Natalie asked as they began walking toward the doors."
"Three hours, I think." Laura told her.
"Yes... Three hours of sleep."
Natalie continued walking, not noticing the pair of eyes that were following her every move. The same pair of eyes that belonged to the person who hadn't been able to get her off his mind since the moment he'd danced with her.
Setting the last bottle of hairspray in it's place, Natalie looked at the display to make sure everything looked neat and professional. The last thing she needed was for the guys to think she was anything less than she was. If she messed this up, she would be not only devistated, but jobless.
She shook her head in disbelief. She KNEW she could do this. She'd had so many talks with her boss about whether or not she was capable of doing this professional, and she couldn't even count the times her boss had told her she was perfect for the job.
Her thoughts were interrupted by a sharp, but soft knock at the door. Reaching in her back pocket, she pulled out a list and checked to see that Lance was first. She placed it back into her pocket and exitedly opened the door.
To her suprise, Justin was standing there, his hands in his pockets, and a small smile on his face. "Hi Natalie."
She leaned on her tiptoes to look behind him, hoping Lance was somewhere. "Uh, hi Justin. Do you have any clue where Lance is?"
Justin shuffled his feet around and took one hand out of his pocket to run through his hair. "Well, actually, he's down in the practice room with Wade. Wade asked me to switch places with Lance because he still needs to work with him on some things. Is that okay?"
Natalie ran a frantic hand through her hair, and took a deep breath. "Okay. I can handle this. I was just, kind of hoping to go by schedule, but oh good lord, I can handle this."
Justin watched in shock as she began running around the room gathering things and placing them here and there. After a few moments of pacing across the room, she appeared back at the doorway. She scratched her sculp, smiling sheepishly. "Come on in."
Justin lifted his eyebrow in curiousity and shook his head as he walked into the room and heard the door click behind him. His eyes settled on the neat rows of hair products, including hairspray, gel, spray bottles, mousse, brushes, combs, picks, and everything else imaginable. "Wow."
Natalie turned to look at him and motioned with her hand for him to come toward her. "Take a seat. I'm ready for you."
Justin cautiously made his way over the chair and eased his body into it. He clapped his hands together and grinned up at her. "So, you ready for the head of doom?"
She giggled, rinsing her hands off. "It can't be that bad."
"I've been known to rip fingers off. Or at least, my hair has."
Natalie shook her head as she began wetting his hair with her spray bottle. "I'm sure."
"Why do you think you're here now?"
Natalie paused, squirting some gel into her hands, before she began working it throughout Justin's hair. "Because I'm just that damn good."
"Ohh. A feisty one. Yippy."
"So, are you excited about tonight?" Natalie asked him, curiously.
"Excited, of course. Nervous, very much. The first night is always nerve racking."
"I can totally understand."
Justin grinned evily. "But at least I'll have great hair."
Natalie smiled, running her fingers through Justin's hair repeatedly to fix every out of place curl. "Don't try to suck up to me, because it doesn't work."
Justin rolled his eyes. "For once in my life, my charm doesn't work."
Natalie rinsed her hands and dried them, before grabbing a bottle of hairspray. She thoroughly sprayed Justin's thick curls and smiled in satisfaction when she stepped back. A triumphant smile spread acrossed her features and her emerald eyes twinkled. "You look..... HOT. I am GOOD!"
Justin pretended to wipe a something off his shirt and gave her an arrogant look. "Hah! Like I need YOU to make me look hot."
She stared him down and shook her head. "Yep, you did. You should have seen yourself when you walked in here. Can you say, Disgusting?"
Justin put a hand to his heart and fluttered his eyelashes. "Tell me you don't mean that."
Natalie giggled as she began setting things up for Jc who was next on her list. "Oh, I did. I never joke."
Justin spun around in the chair and grinned. "Wooo. This is fun."
"Children..."
Justin stood up so that he was facing her. "What was that?"
"Oh nothing..." Natalie gave him an innocent look as she pushed on his chest. "You better leave now because I'm going to have Jc here in about five minutes."
"Yes, and you must have complete privacy with Jc."
"Not really, although he is pretty hot."
Justin looked at her in shock. "You like Jc?"
Natalie laughed, shaking her head. "No.. I just think he's hot."
"Am I hot?"
"Um....... No comment."
"Seriously.... Am I hot?"
Natalie put an observative finger to her chin as she began circling him. "Well... I guess you're datable."
"Is that better than hot?"
Giggling, Natalie pressed against Justin's chest as she walked toward the door. "Time for Justin to go bye bye. I have things I need to get done before Jc gets here, or whoever. You people need to learn to run by a schedule. That's why they make them. So things can be organized and people won't have to worry and be confused..." But Natalie's words were turned into a mumble when her face was suddenly pressed against Justin's firm chest and she felt his warm, comforting arms wrap around her waist tightly. The smell of his cologne invaded her senses and as she tried to bring herself back into reality, Justin's words were almost totally tuned out.
"Don't worry Natalie. I'm sure you'll do fine." He pulled away from her and put two strong hands on her shoulders and leaned down so that he could look at her face to face. "And if you mess up, don't worry. The guys and I can do wonders with hats and bandanas.
"Hey Hey Hey! The Joshinator is heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeereee--- Um, am I interrupting something?" Jc stepped back when he saw how close Natalie and Justin were standing, but she shrugged and grinned. "Oh well if I was."
Justin took a few steps back and turned to look at Jc. "I was just trying to give Natalie a confidence booster. She's scared she's going to mess up and we both know she's awesome."
Jc walked over to sit in the spinning chair. "Well, I know Lance was saying that she's just amazing with her hands..."
"Um, I really didn't want to hear that, Jc." Justin said.
"Oh you know I didn't mean it that way." Jc grinned secretively but groaned when he heard the familiar sound of Laura's voice.
"Well HELLO everybody. Are you having a party and forgot to invite me? Tisk Tisk."
Jc spun toward her and lifted a hand to wave. He noticed the bright red shirt she was wearing and couldn't help but crack a joke. "Hello, Satan."
Laura looked toward Justin and her eyes widened. "Justin, when Jc talks to you, you should at least comment back."
"Right. I'm gonna go down to wardrobe right now." He looked at Natalie and winked. "You did an awesome job with my hair. Thank you. I'll see you at the after party."
Laura's eyebrows raised as she looked at Justin. "I still say you should just shave your head." Justin rolled his eyes. "Bye Laura. Bye Jc."
Natalie found that doing the remainder of the guys' hair was simple compared to Justin's and she felt herself calming down and becoming more comfortable as she watched herself transform four more heads into those of pop stars.
She smiled as she remembered her time with each of them. Lance had been so kind and encouraging. Chris had been full of energy and made her laugh the entire time she was with him. Jc was curious and thoughtful and asked her several questions about her life. Joey was flirty, but cute.
And Justin.
She smiled when she thought of her time with Justin. He'd been a little of each of the guys and it didn't suprise her with him being the youngest and all, but still.
She shook her head as she went back to cleaning up her things. Twenty minutes until the guys went on and she was only half packed. She knew she'd probably be done already if she wouldn't have stopped so many times to think about.... well.... Justin.
She couldn't explain it, not even to herself. She just had this feeling inside of her that just wasn't there before. Of course it occasionally went away, but it always came back when she thought of Justin.
There she was, smiling again like an idiot. She needed to get this done.
She picked another can of hair spray and shoved it into her bag. She stopped in mid reach for the water bottle when a knock sounded at the door.
Carelessly, she walked over the door, figuring it was one of the guards coming to remind her for the thousandth time that the guys would be on in only a short time.
She swung the door opened and was suprised to find Justin leaning against the doorway, smirking. "I thought you'd never answer the door. I've been standing here forever."
Natalie blushed, smiling in embarassment. "Um.... Sorry about that. I was a little um.. preoccupied."
"I was just stopping by to make sure you were going to watch the show."
Natalie's eyes widened. "Of COURSE I am. I wouldn't miss it!"
"Good."
Natalie grinned, reaching up to fix a curl which had fallen out of place. "There. You look amazing."
Justin stood, looking at her for a moment. He'd always known she was pretty, but at the moment, she looked beautiful.
Her dark green eyes were glowing and he couldn't keep his eyes off the way her lips were curved into such a perfect smile. Oh god, those lips.
Justin licked his own lips as he continued staring at her own, lost in the moment.
Natalie tried to figure out what was going on, but it was too late. He'd already began moving closer to her and his arms had already found thier way to either side of her waist. She lost herself in the sensation, giving in and closing her eyes.
"Yo J! Get up here! We're on in five minutes!" Chris yelled from down the hallway.
Justin and Natalie tore apart, giving each other embarassed looks.
"I um.... I have to go.." Justin mumbled.
"Yeah, I need to pack. Um...... Good luck."
"Yeah.....I'll see you later." Natalie watched as Justin walked away and she mentally screamed at herself for being so stupid. Stupid stupid STUPID. "Damn you, Justin, for being so damn.....SEXY!" She yelled out loud, stomping her foot and slamming her door.
The after party was nothing special. Laura and Natalie spent a lot of time together considering the large amount of females who wanted to dance with the guys, including Wade. Laura had reclaimed him though, for the last of the slow dances.
Natalie, however, had been waiting all night for one person to ask her to dance. One person who still hadn't yet asked her.
She sighed deeply, taking another sip of her pop through her long straw.
"Penny for your thoughts?"
She didn't even need to look up because she already knew who it was. It was the voice she'd had her mind on all night, and now that she KNEW he was sitting right beside her, she couldn't even bring herself to look at him.
"Um, Natalie?"
Finally, she lifted her eyes to look at him. He was gorgeous. Absolutely gorgeous. His hair was now a little messy, but still had a few of her own touches to it. His eyes were glowing so bright he practically lit up the darkened club, and he smelled intoxicating.
"Hey Justin." The words left her mouth quietly, but exitedly.
"What's up, baby girl? I didn't see you dance with one person."
Natalie sipped on her drink and shrugged casually. "I danced."
"No you didn't Natalie. You've been in this same spot all night and you've turned down every guy that asked you to dance."
Natalie neeeded an excuse and she needed one quick. "Maybe I just didn't feel like dancing." She immediately felt like digging a hole and crawling into it.
"Well...." Justin stood from his stool and stood in front of her. He stretced his hand toward his and motioned with his head for her to take it. "Would you dance with me?"
"Aren't there like, a thousand other girls who want to dance with you?"
Justin smiled, that heart melting, breathtaking, amazing smile of his. "But you're the only one I want to dance with right now."
She took his hand and stood to his feet, and a slow song took over the loud speakers. She couldn't have planned it better herself.
She no longer felt like she had feet, but felt like she was floating. Floating in the arms of the most beautiful man she'd ever met in her entire life. And for the very few minutes the song lasted, he was all hers.
Justin twirled her outwards and she found herself being pulled in the opposite direction and was suprised when she saw Jc grinning. "Hello Natalie."
"Hey Jc."
"Just thought I'd cut in because I haven't danced with you all night."
Natalie tried not to look sad although she was upset that her dance with Justin had ended so quickly. "Yeah. I haven't really danced with anyone tonight."
"So.... What's with you and Justin? Y'all dating or something?"
"What?! Oh no! We're just friends. I hardly even know him! What would make you think we were dating? Do I seem like I like him? Am I trying too hard? Do I seem slutty?"
Jc chuckled, patting her back. "Naw. But I better give you back to Justin before he kills me." Jc spun Natalie back into Justin's arms and she sighed contently when his hands found her lower back and settled there.
Just as Laura was about to cut in and dance with Justin, Jc pulled her away and began dancing with her. "You didn't think you'd get away with that, did you?"
Laura groaned, placing her head against his chest. "Shucks."
Reluctantly, Natalie let go of Justin when the song ended and she smiled thankfully toward Justin. "Thanks.."
Justin took her hand which she was using to push a piece of hair from her face and placed a soft, sweet kiss on it. "Of course. I think everybody is about to go, so I'm gonna go round up the guys and I'll see you at the hotel later."
Natalie nodded her head in understandment. "Yeah... See you later."
Natalie began walking toward the door, but was met with Lance's smiling face. "Hey Natalie."
"Hey.... Did you have a good time tonight?"
Lance held the door for Natalie and they stepped into the cool air of the outside. "Yeah, I guess. I didn't really do much except dance."
"I pretty much sat at the bar and drank pop all night. It was great."
Natalie watched as Wade walked up to them, carrying a sleeping Laura in his arms. "Once a heavy sleeper, always a heavy sleeper." He said, shaking his head.
Natalie flicked her arm but she didn't move. "Wow. She really is."
Jc suddenly appeared and grinned. "That's okay. I'm glad to see that YOU AND LANCE ARE TALKING NATALIE. YOU TWO NEVER TALK." Jc yelled, directing it mainly at Laura.
Laura wiggled out of Wade's arms and grabbed Natalie's arm, pulling her off to the side. "Natalie! I have to talk to you about something that is really important. That must have been what brought me out of such a deep sleep. Okay like, what was up with you and Justin dancing tonight. Like y'all were looking at each other like y'all wanted to eat each other and that's just scary in my opinion and yeah... I should probably slow down my talking cuz I'm probably really scaring you."
Natalie looked at her with wide eyes. "I didn't catch any of that."
Laura grinned. "Didn't think you would. Would you look at the time? We better go get on the bus! Why don't you go on the guys bus? Wouldn't that be super duper fun, Natalie?"
"Yeah, and you coudl hang out wiht me and Lance." Jc chimed in.
Laura pulled at her arm. "No!" She blushed. "Actually, you shoudl come on our bus cuz I forgot I needed to talk to you about something else."
Justin appeared beside her and smiled. "What's going on over here?" He asked.
"Nothing." Laura yelled. "I was just persuading Natalie to come on OUR bus so we could talk instead of going on your guys' bus."
"Why not?" Justin asked. "You could both come and we could all hang out. It's a long drive to Albany."
Laura cocked her head sideways and grinned. She wouldn't be spending any time with Justin, but Natalie sure as hell would be. That was for sure. She just needed to think of the perfect plan to keep them together and everyone else away.