Justin whistled quietly as he made his way down the hallway toward Natalie's hotel room. He jingled his keys in his pocket, and he couldn't help but to smile at a passing woman. For some reason, all day he'd felt like a million dollars, and he knew there was only one person that could bring out this kind of behavior in him.

Natalie.

Ever since his little talk with her, he couldn't stop thinking about her, but he realized that wasn't such a bad thing at all. Everytime his mind would wander to her, he'd find himself smiling. Even Wade had complimented Justin's easy going attitude, and his enthusiastic will to learn. He'd actually been IMPRESSED by Justin. Again. Only one reason for that.

His precious Natalie.

His. He could now safely say that, because in all reality, they were basically a couple. He'd only seen her a few choice times during the day which left them with little room to talk, so they'd made plans to just 'hang out' in Natalie's hotel room after the show. Seeing that sound check ended early, Justin was going to visit Natalie and confirm his plans now.

The smile never sliding from his lips, he lifted his hand to knock on the hardwood door. It opened almost immediately after and Natalie appeared in the doorway. When she recognized Justin's fresh clean smell and her eyes set into vision and she saw his face, her eyes widened and she closed the door a little bit.

"Um, Nat?"

"You can't come in here."

Confused, he lifted his hand to scratch his head with one of his long fingers. "Um, why?"

"Because, you can't see me right now. I just woke up from my nap and my hair is... ugh... and I'm wearing really nasty clothes."

Justin chuckled in amusement. "Natalie, I don't care what you look like..." His voice softened slightly as placed his face in front of the spacey crack she'd provided between the edge of the door and the door frame. "I just want to see you."

Natalie sighed loudly, and to Justin's enjoyment, she opened the door to let him in. "I guess you're gonna see me like this eventually, so why not now?"

Justin entered the room and closed the door behind him. Unsure of what he'd see, he turned to look at Natalie. Shock immediately registered his features when he saw the scene in front of him. Natalie was makeupless, with her hair up in loose ponytail which allowed a few of her dark brown strands of hair to escape and shadow her face, and black sweatpants hugged at her hips, with a black t-shirt hanging loosely down past her hips.

To him, she'd never looked so beautiful.

She noticed his intense stare on her and she turned her head, blushing. "I wish I'd have known you were coming and I'd have taken the time to freshen up and make myself at least presentable."

Justin smiled sheepishly, moving toward her. "No.. You look just...." He stopped, trying to find the right word, but he knew only one thing could describe what he was feeling at the moment. "Incredible."

She turned to look at him, wide eyed, and was suprised to see he was much closer than she'd thought. "What are you talking about, Justin? I look TERRIBLE."

Justin couldn't even explain to himself what he saw, but there was just a glow about Natalie that made him want to pull her into his arms and never let go of her. "I wouldn't lie to you and you know that." He lifted his hand to place on her warm cheek and he smiled. "Why do you even bother wearing makeup? You're just covering your already natural beauty."

Natalie felt her cheeks get hotter against his warm palm and she fluttered her eyelashes in embarassment. "I'm not so sure about that..."

Shaking his head, Justin placed his foot between Natalie's two feet so that he could be closer, and he dropped his arms to his sides. "Do you know how happy you make me?"

Justin's out of the blue question took Natalie offguard. "Um..."

"All I could do was think about you all day, Natalie. You were like a permenant thing on my mind."

She laughed nervously. "Uh, I'm sorry.."

Slowly, he lifted his hands to place on either of her arms. "Don't be sorry..."

Natalie knew he was probably going to kiss her, but she suddenly felt really uncomfortable with herself. She HAD just woken up and she was scared her hair was knotty, or that maybe her breath might stink.

"Um... I don't want to ruin this or anything, but would you mind just..." She put her hands on his shoulders and began walking, pushing him backward until the back of his leg hit the bed and he fell into sitting position on it. "..Just stay right here and wait for me. I want to shower really quick."

Justin grinned. "Yeah, that's fine."

Gathering a few things, Natalie held them against her chest as she turned to smile at Justin, and then she disappeared into the bathroom.

Justin licked his lips as he awaited Natalie to exit the bathroom. He'd been sitting there for a quite a while now, but Natalie had insisted on taking a shower and getting fresh before she'd even let him look at her up close.

He smiled, but then again, he knew he couldn't stop smiling even if he tried. That's all he'd been doing all day. Ever since he and Natalie had discussed everything leading up to the kiss and decided to give everything a try, he'd been the happiest man ever. The guys couldn't figure out why he was all smiles, but he figured they had a pretty good idea.

Finally, after the long wait, the bathrom door opened and Natalie appeared in the doorway, her hair now dried and placed in a sloppy ponytail. All the makeup was washed from her face, but he didn't care. She was beautiful. Absolutely gorgeous.

Her pink shorts hugged her hips perfectly and her light pink tank top looked comfortable and perfect for the weather.

She smiled when she noticed his eyes on her. "I'm sorry I took so long. I just felt so scummy and I needed to refresh myself for you. I wouldn't want you leaving and regretting ever coming here. Stinky women probably aren't something you find attractive."

The smile which had never gone away remained on his face. "Nah... I wouldn't have minded as long as I was with you..."

She turned her head and blushed. "You're so sweet."

He looked around her hotel room before looking back to her. "So, what do you wanna do?"

"We could watch a movie or something. It's really up to you."

"Well, shouldn't we do something we both enjoy?"

"I like pretty much everything, Justin. I'm not very hard to get along with."

"I know... I'm just saying that maybe you should pick because I don't want to pick something you don't want to do."

A smile spread across Natalie's face as she walked over to the large bed and sat on it. "I'm not going to fight with you, Justin." She looked up at him and winked. "You are really cute when you're angry though."

Justin couldn't help but to ease up and smile when he saw the look Natalie was giving him. She definately brought out the best in him and he liked that she could do that. His insecurities about their newly made relationship all suddenly went away as he walked over to sit beside her on the bed. "You're really cute when you look all innocent like that."

"So... Did you decide what you wanna do?"

Justin nodded. "Yep."

"And?"

Justin's eyes narrowed as he turned to look at her, and when he noticed her sudden intake of breath, he knew she was aware of what his next move was going to be.

His hand made it's way up her arm and when he saw her eyes flutter closed, he licked his lips, before going back to what he began. He concentrated on moving his hand so that it pressed against her neck, which caused her eyes to open when she felt the warm feel of his hand on her neck.

Natalie wasn't one to make out with guys, so all of this foreplay and such was new to her. It wasn't that she didn't like it or anything, but when she got the chance to actually be with a guy, she didn't want to wait. She'd been waiting all her life. Now was her time to shine.

Justin could feel the anticipation in Natalie just by the way she was looking at him, so without furth adue, his lips met her soft, warm ones, and he began kissing her the way he knew she wanted to be kissed.

It didn't take long for Natalie to warm up to Justin, and her hands rested on his thighs as she placed her knees on either side of his waist. Her lips hungered for more of him, and the way he was rapidly speeding the kiss up was causing her to melt.

Natalie's arms slid up his muscular arms to wrap around his neck. He held her closely as she attempted to deepen the innocent kiss with a slight tilt of the head and the opening of her lips. Justin took this as a signal that she wanted more than just an insignificant kiss from him, so he followed her lead and opened his lips over hers.

He noticed that her arms had tightened around his neck and he smiled against her lips when her hand moved into his curly hair. She had practically memorized the texture and feel of his hair, but under the circumstances, she pretended she'd never felt it before and ran her hands repeatedly through it.

A loud groan escaped Justin's parted mouth when Natalie's tongue accidently slid across his bottom lip. He returned the favor by allowing his tongue to graze the tip of hers, before quickly removing it.

She placed her hands on either side of his face as she pulled away and she smiled, allowing her forehead to rest against his. She felt his heavy breathing on her lips and a smile tickled her lips before she leaned forward and placed a series of soft kisses on his lips.

Justin took her hand and cleared his throat. "So, um, what do you wanna do tonight?"

Natalie shrugged her shoulders, squeezing his hand. "I don't care, really I don't, just as long as we're together."

Justin nodded his head in agreement, sitting on the large bed. He used Natalie's hand to pull her beside him. "So..." Suddenly, Justin felt nervous for some unknown reason. "Um.. How was your day?"

She shifted so that she could look at him as she talked. "It was a normal day off. I sat around in my hotel room watching videos and ate as much chocolate as I possibly could."

A deep, throaty chuckle escaped Justin's mouth, and his finger began slowly sliding back and forth on the soft skin of Natalie's thumb. "Sounds fun."

Shivers went through her body at the tickling sensation Justin's tiny movements were giving her. "How was your day?"

"It was relatively eventful. Wade was really hard on us for some reason for the next t.v. show we do, but we got out of practice for a photo shoot."

"Oh, was that fun?"

"Eh, they're starting to get tiresome, but we have to keep promoting because of the new album, so we're stuck doing them. Plus I love walking into a store and seeing my beautiful face on the front of a magazine."

Rolling her eyes, Natalie withdrawed her hand from his and shook her head. "I know I've told you this before, but I feel that you need to be reminded. You have THE biggest ego I've ever witnessed. I've never heard anybody talk about himself as much as you do!"

"I do not!" He defended.

She giggled, crawling onto his lap and wrapped her arms around his neck. "Your ego is cute though. I like a guy with a lot of confidence."

He lifted his eyebrow curiously. "Oh, you do, do you?"

She nodded her head, before allowing her tongue to slip through her lips to wet them. "Sure do."

"So, what would you say if my ego told me you think I'm the sexiest man alive?"

"Well, your ego wouldn't be completely off, but you aren't the sexiest man I've ever seen. Hayden Christensen is pretty damn hot. And Vin Deisel? Can you say SCREW ME?"

"You mean, you'd screw a guy you don't know but you won't screw me?" He asked, almost shocked.

Natalie placed her hand on his cheek and she winked. "Who said I wouldn't screw you?"

Justin laughed. "You know, you really are crazy."

"And you're stuck on yourself!"

"I am not!"

"I'm not fighting with you about this, Justin! You KNOW you have a big ego. It's not just something you can have and not notice."

Shaking his head, Justin hugged Natalie to him. "You're impossible, Natalie."

"So, you wanna watch a movie now?"

Justin shrugged his shoulders when Natalie removed herself from his lap, and he sat further back on the bed, sighing in comfort. "Sure."

She grinned evily, running to grab a DVD from her bag and slip it into the DVD Player. "Yay!"

Justin groaned whenever he heard the familiar music start and he shook his head boldy in protest. "Natalie, no! We are NOT watching beauty and the beast!"

"But, Justin, it's kind of like our story. I'm beauty and... well.... you're the beast."

He stood from his spot on the bed, lifting his eyebrows. "Who's got the ego now?"

Natalie shook her head from where she stood. This was going to be a very interesting night.

_________________________________________________________________________________________

When Laura had left Wade's room, she didn't know where to go, who to go to, who to talk to; she was clueless. All she knew was that she needed to get away from Wade before he actually pried things out of her that she wasn't even ready to confess to herself. Wade had always had the power to do that, and she hated him for it.

But she loved him for it, too.

In the past couple days, she'd been thinking a lot about the situation with her and Wade. She knew that someday it would eventually come to this, but she tried to ignore her intuition and go on with life as it was, and then Wade had to suddenly discover his newly found feelings for her.

She shook her head as she placed her back against the wall and slid down to a sitting position. She'd always had feelings for Wade. She never really thought he was extremely attractive but there were times when she wondered what it would be like to be something... other than friends with him. She'd ignored that though, because didn't that happen to everybody?

Hell, she didn't know what to think anymore. Her world had suddenly been turned upsidedown and the only person she'd always known to go to was the one who had caused it. Her heart jumped when she thought about all the things he said. She'd never thought he'd ever find her attractive, but he'd called her beautiful. BEAUTIFUL. Her best friend called her beautiful. From anybody else, she would have accepted the compliment, but when Wade said it, it just suddenly had a whole different meaning.

Her eyes wondered around the empty hallway of the extremely expensive hotel. She couldn't believe any of this. She couldn't believe Wade had come from staying in his cute little house next door to her, to sleeping in over charged hotel rooms. She also couldn't believe he'd talked her into JOINING him in doing this.

She jumped when she heard a voice from the other end of the hallway and quickly got to her feet. She relaxed when she saw Jc poking his head outside his doorway. He obviously had noticed her because he motioned for her to come over to where he was standing.

Her heavy feet carried her the distance and she lifted her eyebrows, waiting to see what he had to say.

"What's going on, Laura? I could hear you and Wade arguing in your room."

Embarassed, Laura rubbed her temples. "I um..."

"Do you want somebody to talk to?"

Laura lifted her head to look at his inviting blue eyes. "Um... Maybe I shouldn't.. I don't know. It's really between Wade and I..."

"Alright, I was just trying to be friendly." He gave her a friendly smile and quickly hugged her. "If you reconsider, feel free to come back." Jc turned and was about to walk back inside, but Laura's voice stopped him.

"Wait."

His body shifted and he turned to look at her. "Yeah?"

"Maybe I do need to talk to somebody. Do you mind? I know you're busy and all and I don't want to interfere with anything."

"Would I have offered if I was busy?"

She shrugged. "Maybe."

"Well, come on in. Be careful because it's a little bit messy."

She walked through the door and wasn't suprised to find clothes all over the hotel room floor, similar to the room she and Wade were sharing. "Looks like my room back home."

Jc walked past her and sat on one of the double beds. He motioned for her to sit on the one opposite him, and once she was seated, he decided to start questioning her. "So... What's going on?"

Laura placed her hands together and set them on her lap, sighing in discomfort. "I don't really know where to start because I don't normally tell people my problems, but I just need to get it out. So, um, Wade and I have been best friends since we were little, right?" Jc nodded his head, so she continued. "We've always looked at each other like brother and sister. That's what we've always been, ya know? He's always been there for me and vice versa. I thought our friendship was strong and unbreakable. I didn't think anything could come in the way."

She paused for a while so Jc spoke up. "Did something come in the way of your friendship?"

After gathering her thoughts, she continued. "Not exactly. It's just, Wade and I have always had that sort of... connection. Like, we know what the other one is thinking without even having to tell. It's just something we've always had... Well, Wade thinks he knows everything I want in life... and suddenly he's telling me that what I want... is, well.... him."

Jc lifted his eyebrows curiously. "Is that true?"

Laura stood from her spot on the bed and began pacing. "That's the thing. I don't know! I'm not even sure who I am or where I am anymore! Everything seems like it's just a dream. I mean, I guess it is kind of romantic how Wade wants to take care of me and all that stuff, but I can't ruin our friendship because we suddenly feel differently toward each other. I mean, is it even really worth risking?"

"I don't know. Is it worth just ignoring and living with the fact that you COULD HAVE had him, but you let pride get in the way?"

"It's not pride, Jc. If it were pride, it would be over by now. I would have given in. It's about our history, our families, everything!"

"Don't you think your families would be happy?"

Laura's eyes widened. "Oh, they'd be THRILLED, but the thing is, if something happened between us, I wouldn't want it to come between our parent's relationships. They've all been best friends since I can remember and I wouldn't want to ruin that."

"Wouldn't your parents want you two to be happy?"

"Of course, but... grr, this is so frusterating!"

"So, you DO have feelings for Wade?"

"Yes, well, no.. I DON'T KNOW! That's the problem! I don't want to risk all of this for feelings I'm not even sure about. I mean, of course from time to time I would wonder what it would be like to be with Wade, but I didn't even actually think it would become a reality. I didn't think he'd ever actually want to be with ME."

"You can't just leave him hanging, Laur."

She groaned, rubbing the sides of her head. "What do I do, Jc?"

He stood from his spot on the bed, and walked over to comfort his confused friend. He hugged her tightly to him and sighed. "I don't know, sweetie. You tell me."

She pulled away from his embrace and smiled. "Thank you, Jc. I need to go talk to him, but I'll let you know how everything goes."

"I'm always here if you need an ear to listen or a shoulder to cry on. You know that."

"I'm very thankful too. Bye Jc."

Jc watched as Laura exited the hotel room. He prayed that she had the strength to do whatever she was planning to do. He knew she was a smart girl, but he hoped that she would do the right thing, for the sake of both Laura and Wade.

Chapter Nineteen

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