Natalie and Laura were already seated. Natalie grinned up at the stage when she saw the guys performing 'This I promise you'. When Justin looked over at Natalie, she felt shivers going up and down her spine. His voice was just so beautiful to her. He couldn't be anymore perfect. That's when Natalie just wanted to curse Laura. She got her thinking about Justin and the things that he had said to her.

Why would he say those things IF he didn't mean them?

It wasn't making sense at all. The things that he said just seemed so real. She knew that people lost their tempers and said things that they supposedly didn't mean, but where did they get the gull to say those things if they never even thought it at one point. You don't just come up with things like that on the bat and say them as meaningful as Justin did that day. The things he said were very hurtful, but she couldn't help but smile at his face expressions and movements on stage.

Natalie then looked over at Laura who was now one seat further away. She was sitting with Wade. She didn't know what happened between those two, but it seemed like it just happened. It was weird, because the last time she saw them together, they were just best friends and they were arguing, and now they were cuddling like a couple. Laura said that they weren't official, and she respected that. Natalie was thrilled to see them together though. She was looking foward to seeing Justin tonight. They weren't going to be in a hotel, but Justin had told her previous to the show that Natalie could ride with them on the bus to the next city.

When Natalie heard Laura yelp, she looked over immediately and shook her head when she saw that Wade had just pinched her. Laura stood up and sat down beside Natalie again. Natalie turned her attention the the stage and Laura's eyes followed to where Natalie's were. Of course she was staring at Justin. Why wouldn't she be staring at him? Laura still just didn't understand how Natalie could go running back to him so easily. There was something about the Justin Timberlake charm that Laura knew that almost no girl could resist. She had seen that in a lot of people and Natalie was eating it up. Laura did have to remember that her and Natalie weren't the same. Natalie was more forgiving than Laura.

The show had gone by a lot faster than usual. Soon enough, Natalie was on the bus waiting for the guys to come on. She went to the back and turned the t.v on to see what was on. She ended up just keeping it on MTV where they were just playing music videos at that point. It was about time that they were just playing music. Natalie didn't understand that. MTV had turned into a station full of t.v. shows that didn't even relate to music.

Soon enough all of the guys were on the bus. Joey walked back to where Natalie was and sat down right beside her. She scooted a little away and cringed when he got closer. "Joey, I'm still clean, you aren't."

Joey shrugged and hugged her to his side. "Oh well, you'll get used to it."

"Where's Justin?"

"He's coming back here, don't worry."

When Justin started walking back and saw Joey, he gave a small glare and Joey immediately stood up. "Sorry, just chatting with the chick.

Justin raised and eyebrow and sat right next to Natalie and gave her a hug. "Hello there."

Joey looked at Natalie and shook his head. "I thought you didn't want to get dirty."

"Joey, it's different when it's Justin. I don't mind that it's him, but anyone else, and they're dead."

"All right, well I'll keep everyone out of here so you guys can have some quality time together."

Natalie grinned at Justin and sighed deeply when his breathing calmed down and he started to settle down. "Very nice show tonight."

"You liked?"

"It was probably one of your best shows."

"It felt like it was. I wasn't sure if it was, but I thought it was."

Natalie yawned and leaned into Justin. "I have a question."

Justin wraped an arm around Natalie and raised an eyebrow in concern. "All right, what do you want to ask me?"

She smiled and turned in his arms to look up at him. "What's going on with Laura and Wade? I couldn't help but notice how different they're acting."

"Hah, you're going to like this. Well, I'm not exactly sure because he hasn't said anything to me yet, and I think that it's because of yesterday. He held practice today because I interrupted a little moment that him and Laura were having in the pool..."

"HUH? PLEASE tell me it's not what I'm thinking it was!"

"Oh no, not at all, just a little um, tongue action type of deal. You know what I mean?"

"OH. Hah, poor you."

"Wade didn't seem to happy."

Natalie sighed deeply and wrapped an arm around Justin's neck and pulled herself up on his lap. "Ok, well enough about them, don't you think?"

"Yea, let's focus on something else."

Natalie took her arm away from his neck and replaced her grin with a serious look. "Um, those things you said to me the other day. I know I shouldn't bring this up, but I can't help but wonder ify ou were being serious or not. I know you say that you don't, but a person just doesn't come up with that kind of stuff on the spot. I know there are some people that do, but the things that you said seemed like previous thoughts that you have had."

"Natalie, I assure you that I didn't mean it. Some things I've thought about before, like the fact that I still don't think you should take on the two jobs."

"But what about the other things Justin?"

Justin was admiring the way that she was trying to pry into his thoughts. "Nothing at all."

"Justin, what about them?"

"Natalie, I really didn't mean to say them, and I'm sorry for having you still worrying about what I said to you. If there's anything you need me to do to make you believe me, I'll do it."

"Well, let's forget about this whole thing."

Justin grinned and lowered his head to meet his lips to Natalies. It felt good to have his lips against hers again. They weren't even fighting long, but it was long enough for Natatlie to notice that something was off. Justin's hands roamed her back and one of them moved away and gripped at the leather couch.

Natalie's smile against his lips soon faltered when his lips opened over top of hers and she gave in completely when his tongue softly brushed her bottom lip. Her hand gripped at the material of his shirt at the shoulder while the other hand stayed against his chest. Justin ran one of his hands through her hair just then. When they heard someone coming back the hall, they pulled away from each other and smiled, waiting for someone to come back.

When Chris came back, he saw Natalie's really red lips and his grin spread to his ears. "Oh boy, a lot of foolin' around back here has happened I bet."

Justin rolled his eyes and stood up, pulling Natalie with him.

Chris grinned when he saw them trying to leave. "What's wrong? Can't admit it?"

Natalie shook her head and pushed him away. "You have no idea what you're talking about, so shut up Chris."

Chris shrugged his shoulders. "Maybe, but I know the evidence that I saw. Don't worry, I won't tell anyone."

Justin rolled his eyes and took Natalie to his bunk. "Let's go to bed. I don't want to put up with him tonight."

Natalie nodded her head and hopped in. "All right. I'm kind of tired as it is anyway."

When Justin got in and closed the curtain, they both got under the covers and Justin's hand drifted down to Natalie's hand and he covered her small hand. He moved his head to the top of her head and his lips kissed her soft forehead. He moved his head to her shoulder and burried his head there against her hair and smelled raspberries on her shirt. He inhaled deeply and moved back so she could lay against him.

Natalie tossed and turned, trying to get comfortable. She moved an arm underneath Justin and then another one over his stomach with her head on his chest. Justin reached to her head and he placed his hand under her chin and moved her head up to touch his lips to hers. He pulled away so they were only an inch away. "Now that no one can interrupt us."

Natalie shook her head, once again noticing the confidence pour out of his already big enough head. Justin pulled her head closer and moved his lips against hers and covered them with his own, using his bottom lip to control the pace. He wasn't going to make this kiss big at all, so he kept the pace slow.

Suddenly, the curtain opened quickly. Chris shook his head and turned around, looking at Joey who was in his bunk. Those kids are just so bad. Justin looked at Chris and glared. "Why do you always have to do this?"

"Because you are the baby of the group and we need to watch out for you and make sure you're ok."

Justin's long arms moved out of the bunk and he pushed Chris to the ground. "Take that short man."

Chris stood up and raised an eyebrow at Justin, brushing his clothes off. "You better watch out. I have connections. I could have your ass kicked."

"Oh boy, I'm afraid. Bring it on; I'll be there."

Chris clapped his hands together and rubbed them with joy. "Don't worry, I'll arrange it."

Justin closed the curtain and smiled at Natalie. "He won't do it."

When Natalie didn't reply, he saw her against the wall all curled up, sleeping. He sighed at what he considered the most beautiful sight in the world.

_________________________________________________________________________________________

It was now a few days later and Natalie was in her little room with Jc sitting in a chair, waiting for Natalie to do whatever she could with his wild hair. She loved doing Jc's hair. It was big now, but it was so simple and easy to do. He also didn't need much make up so they always got in good conversations.

"So the Celebrity release thing is coming up pretty soon isn't it?"

Jc nodded his head and moved his head a little bit foward so Natalie could spray every part of his head. "Yep, in a few days."

"You excited for it?"

"Of course, I love it when we release cds."

"How do you think it willd do?"

Jc shrugged his shoulders and pondered the thought for a minute> "I hope it does well. I just want the fans to like it. If we don't break the records for No Strings Attached, then that's fine. If we do, than that's wonderful, but all that matters to me right now is what the fans think. If they don't like it, then we'll have to change something for when we do the next cd."

Natalie smiled at his concern of the fans. He was good to his fans and he always cared about what they thought, not the critics. Natalie noticed that all of the guys were like that, not just Jc. When Natalie first came into this, she thought that they would be greedy bastards who didn't care at all about their fans, but they proved her wrong immediately. "Youi know it will do well as well as I do."

"Well thank you for your faith in us."

"Jc, you don't need to thank me. Anyone who would have a doubt in any of you guys is crazy. You all are so talented and kind."

"Yea, that's true, I am pretty talented, aren't I?."

Natalie shook her head and grinned at Jc. "Don't turn into Justin like that. We don't more huge egos around here. Justin's is big enough for all of you guys and more, so don't overwhelm us."

Jc looked down uneasily. He wanted to know what was up with Wade and Laura, but he didn't know if it would be smart to ask anything about it. "Um, so what's up with Wade and Laura?"

Natalie sighed deeply and shook her head. "Those two... I don't understand, but I did get something out of Laura the other day. She said that they aren't 'official' they're just kind of experimenting. That's what I got from the conversation. Pretty weird, eh?"

Jc nodded his head, taking in what she just said. "Oh, yea, I guess that's weird, but whatever they want."

Natalie heard the disappointment in his voice and raised an eyebrow in question. "Why did ya wanna know?"

Jc shrugged his shoulders. "Oh, just wondered because they were acting different."

Natalie gave an 'oh' and smiled. "Yea, well, we'll see where they get."

Jc was feeling a little on edge, so he wanted to change the subject. "So are things better with you and Justin?"

"Yea, he talked to me and we're ok now. It wasn't that big of a deal in the first place. I still can't believe he shaved his head though. It's disappointing. As big of a pain in the ass it was to do his hair, I'm gonna miss those curls, and it's going to remind me of why he did that everytime I see him."

"It's a good thing you're as forgiving as you are, because to be in a relationship with Justin, you have to be forgiving for some of the dumbass things he does."

Natalie laughed softly. "I have to agree with you on that, although Laura was getting on my case earlier for being TOO forgiving and too nice and kind..."

"Well, I understand where she's coming from. Natalie, with Justin, you also have to be a strong person. If you give in too easily to the media and critics out there, they can eat you alive. Sure you can hold it inside of you, but you can't hold it in too long, or you'll be ruined. They would tear you and Justin apart."

"You guys just haven't seen the best of me yet. Trust me when I say that."

Jc was almost worried about that. What if the best made her turn out to be a complete bitch? He didn't want Justin to get hurt, but he didn't want Natalie to be hurt either.

The two were interrupted when the door flew open. Justin walked in and went straight to Natalie, taking her hands and he kissed her lips quickly. "Hello dear."

Natalie smiled, pulling away to go back to Jc. "Well, you're all ready to go Mr. Chasez."

Jc stood up and looked at his overall appearance and grinned brightly. "Perfect. By the way, do you think I should grow my hair out even more so it curls a little bit? I was thinking about just letting it do whatever it might do..."

Natalie covered her face with her hands and shook her head. "Oh great. It would look hot and all, but uh, whatever you want to do Jc. I would just hope that you don't get a head like Justin. You wouldn't look right with a fro."

"My hair wouldn't turn out like a fro, and you know my hair is easy to do, so no worries. It'll be a while before it's to what I want it as anyway."

When Jc left, Natalie groaned. "I hope his hair turns out to be easier to do than yours."

"Natalie, his hair has always been easy to do, so I don't imagine that his hair will be hard to do when it's curly."

Natalie scratched her neck and then moved a hand up to Justin's newly shaven head. She touched it lightly as if it were new territory. His curls were gone. "This is weird."

Justin touched his hands to his head and nodded his head with a bright smile. "Yes, it is, but now we have more time together."

"That is unless someone changes the schedule around so that I only have enough time to do make up, which would only be like a minute."

"They won't do that. I'll make sure they don't."

Natalie pointed to the chair for where Justin would sit down and he shook his head. "No need to do anything like that right now, right?"

"Justin, just sit down."

Justin sat down in the chair and swung it around so Natalie was right in front of him. He placed his hands on her sides and he pulled her to him to sit down on his lap. "Like I said, no need to do anything like that right now.."

Natalie shook her head and wrapped her arms around Justin's neck. "Well, we'll have to do something about this in a bit. Joey is coming in next, and he knows that we don't have much to do about your appearance here anymore. He'll take full advantage of it and come in early to be a pain. You know he will."

Justin grinned, moving his head closer to hers. "That's true, but we mine as well enjoy the moment while we have the time, don't you think?"

Soon Justin covered Natalie's lips quickly. He moved around in the chair and leaned back, causing her to lean in towards him. Being the tease he was, he moved his hands all around her back, kissed her lips one more time and then pulled away. "All right, let's get this done with."

Natalie stood up and shook her head. Justin was satisfied with the look on her face. She wanted more and he knew that. "Now if you can wait until later, you'll get more."

"You tease."

Justin gave her his million dollar grin and watched her apply a few things to his face quickly. When she backed up, she put one hand on her hip and another pointing to the door. "Now go get dressed."

Justin stood up and walked to the door. "Why of course, your majesty."

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Laura and Wade were now sitting on the bus at the front. It was now after the show and everyone on their bus was sleeping. Natalie had been talking to Justin on her cellphone for a while, but she fell asleep right after they got off the phone. Laura was looking out the window, but soon put her attention back to Wade, who was just sitting there admiring her. "When's the Celebrity release party thing again?"

Wade scooted closer to Laura. "Uh, I think in two days."

"Ooh, sounds fun."

"You're coming, I'd hope."

Laura nodded her head and kicked her legs up to lay on Wade's lap. "Oh of course, if you want me to come."

"Yea, and you're coming with me."

"All right, whatever you say."

Wade scooted back on the booth like seating they were sitting on, causing Laura to be on his lap instead of her legs. He noticed that she was pretty silent that night and he wondered what was on her mind. "What are you thinking about?"

"The other night. Well, the day we were in the pool. It was that night."

"Yea, what about it?"

Laura smiled uneasily. "Uh, nevermind. Have I ever told you how much I love you at times?"

"Yea, you did the other night, remember?"

Laura bit her lip when he practically brought up what she was thinking about. "Sure I do. That's what I was thinking about. I don't want to hurt you at all or anything, but I didn't mean to toss those words around like that."

Wade understood exactly what she meant, and in fact when he said that he loved her too, he meant it the way that she meant it too, Laura just didn't know that that was what he meant. "I understand."

"I was just thinking about it and I didn't want it to come back around and slap me in the face for throwing those words around like they were nothing, but I've always said things like that to you, but now that we're...different. Well, I just wanted to make sure that you weren't taking it completely differently. I mean, well, it DOES have a different meaning now, but..."

"Laura, don't stress over it. I knew what you meant."

Laura sighed in relief. "All right, I just didn't want anyone to get hurt, and I was just concerned about it and-"

Wade put his hand to her mouth, shutting her up. "Shh, like I said, don't stress over it, and hush up."

Laura nodded her head as Wade removed his hand. "Ok, well, yea, I just wanted to make sure because--"

Wade shook his head at her concern. It was adorable the way she was making a big deal out of it, and he grinned at her flustered face. She wasn't going to listen to him if he asked her to be quiet again, so he just covered her lips with his own. Laura was shocked at the sudden movement. He nibbled on her lips, prying them open. His tongue slid in quickly and out just as fast, teasing her. Soon enough, he pulled away and looked at Laura who raised an eyebrow at him. "Now will you be quiet?"

Laura breathed in deeply, her eyebrow falling back down. "Fine. I'll be quiet, but you have to understand why I'd be concerned."

Wade grinned, nodding his head and taking Laura's hand. "How many times did I say that I understand in some form?" When she remained quiet, he stood up, taking her with him. "Let's just go watch a movie."

Chapter Twenty Two

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