Chapter Thirteen

Justin had heard this song a countless number of times, during a number of situations. But never, had he felt this way while dancing to it before. Something, he realized, felt different. Maybe it was the fact that he never listed to the song when he went clubbing...or maybe...it was because he was dancing to it with somebody besides Britney.

"Are you still nervous?" He asked the girl who had been almost too scared to dance with him, once she had noticed the awkward stares people had dished out at the very site of her.
Dru was clinging to him, her head resting on his shoulder, seemingly trying to protect herself from her fears of the nightclub. He rested his chin on top of her head. She smelled like raspberries...almost like Marissa...

Sh *t.

He had left her...forgotten about her...

Great way to make a lasting romantic impression, Timberlake... He thought, miserably.

"No." Dru mumbled. "I'm okay."

"You look nice tonight, Dru." Justin admitted. "I'm sorry I didn't say anything before...It's just that..."

"Don't be sorry Justin." Dru chuckled. "It's not like I was expecting you to compliment me."

"Oh."

"But thank you." She said softly, almost ashamed that she had actually achieved his praise. She didn't look nice. She couldn't. The other women in this club made her look like street trash, even though she was wearing such nice clothing. Justin was simply...trying to be nice.

"You know, because I would have said something. I just...kinda wanted to pay more attention to 'ris, ya know." Justin nodded.

The song ended, and Dru picked her head up again. "I know."

He sucked in a breath, almost having to hang onto Dru so he wouldn't fall over from sheer amazement. Her head had been resting on his shoulder for so long, that he had forgotten just how amazing her eyes were. He stared into them, falling into a daze. He had seen, and dated so many beautiful women in his lifetime, but never had he come across such amazing eyes before.

"Justin?"

"Yeah?"

"What's the matter?" Dru questioned, seeing the intense look on his face. "You don't feel sick do you?"

He shook his head slowly. "No. I was just...thinking."

"Me too." Dru confessed. "About something I saw earlier."

"What's that?" He inquired.

"You know that purple guy...at that McDonald's place we went to?" She inquired.

He laughed. "You mean Grimace?"

"That's his name?" Dru smiled.

"Yeah." Justin laughed heartily. "He's Ronald McDonald's friend."

"Ronald...that's the clown with the red hair right?"

"Girl...it's so fun to talk to you sometimes." Justin smiled, pulling her back over to his table. "Because you just don't have a clue."

She sat down, crossed her arms, and frowned. "I'm glad my stupidity is so entertaining to you."

Justin sighed, and plopped down in the chair beside her. "I wasn't trying to be a jerk, Dru. You gotta learn to lighten up, or you're never gonna survive all this."

"I don't know how to lighten up Justin. You seem to have forgotten where I come from. I'm not civilized...I'm just...me." She shrugged.

"We're talking about Ronald McDonald and his friends." Justin snickered. "There's nothing civilized about that."

"I feel stupid around you." Dru confessed, looking into his eyes.

He tore his eyes from hers before he got lost in them again. One thing she didn't need to discover, in fact one thing that no one needed to discover, was that he found Dru strangely attractive. It was nothing he was about to take seriously of course, but he couldn't deny the feeling he got every time he got the chance to observe her. "Stupid? Dru, aside from Marissa, I would bet you any amount of money that you have more brains than all of the women in this club put together."

At that moment, she wished he knew that she couldn't read...write... She shook her head, he really had no clue. "I doubt that Justin." She got out.

"Britney can't chew gum and read at the same time." He admitted, with a smile. "Now...how much smarter do you feel?"

She shrugged.

"Dru...the girl can't chew a piece of gum and read at the same time!" He exclaimed, when she didn't respond.

"So?" She muttered. "At least she can read."

Justin, of course, missed the point. "You're missing my point," he smiled. "People, generally, can chew and read..."

"I get it." She interrupted. "Why don't you go find Marissa. I'm sure she'll be able to entertain you better than I can."

"Now you're gonna push me away right?" He laughed, shaking his head. "I thought you were past shutting me out."

"I'm not pushing you anywhere. You came here with Marissa, you like Marissa. If you don't go find her, she's going to get mad." Dru explained. "Then you'll be complaining to me, about how Marissa won't date you."

"I would not." Justin whined, rising out of his seat. "I would probably complain about it to Trace, and ask you to talk to her about it."

"Sure." She rolled her eyes. "Can you just go find her, so we can finish up the evening? I want to go to bed."

"Dru...it's so early." Justin provided. "It's only one...we ususally stay until about three."

"I have to go meet those people tomorrow." She nodded. "I need to be rested."

His eyes scanned the club, and finally stopped when he spotted Marissa at the bar...downing a bottle of alcohol. He sighed, she was pissed. She never drank like that unless she was mad. "You'll be rested," he got out as he started toward the bar.

Dru stood up. "I'm doing this for you Justin. I would think that you would want me to be rested for something as important as this."

He groaned. He didn't want to give into her. He want to pull Marissa away from her drink and back out onto the dance floor. But, Dru had a point. She wasn't used to being out like this. She wasn't used to partying until the sun came up...he didn't think so anyway. He sighed, he knew he had to get her back to the hotel. "You're right." He got out. "Let me just go get 'ris...and then we'll get outta here."

She nodded. "Thanks."

"No Dru...,"he smiled. "Thank you."
******************
" 'rissa."

"I theenk...the blue sherrt is besthst."

Justin laughed out loud.

"Dohnt chu laf." Marissa slurred. "I get peed chu dew thish."

"Shh." Justin put a finger to his lips. "You're drunk babe."

"Mmmm." She moaned, rolling over on her stomach. "I haaate chu."

"Aww." Justin snickered. "That wasn't nice."

He waited for a response, but found that she had passed out. It was probably a good thing though, because being criticized by a close friend when that friend was drunk was never fun, especially when you wanted to be more than just friends with that individual. Marissa had been so plastered by the time he had reached her, that she couldn't walk. So, Lonnie had to carry her out of the club. It was totally embarassing, and he was thankful that Trace had run off with whoever it was he had met up with...or he would have never let either of them live it down.

"Justin."

He looked at her with a confused expression. She looked like she was sleeping, her eyes were closed. "Yeah, I'm here."

"I don't haate chu." She mumbled, not opening her eyes.

"I know." He said softly.

"I love chu."

"Huh?" Now he was really confused.

"Kiss me. Pweease."

She was dreaming, he was sure of it. Although, he knew that right now, he could have probably done whatever he wanted to with her, and she would have never known. But, of course he wasn't about to do it. That wasn't the kind of guy he was. He kissed the top of her head lightly. "Goodnight 'rissa."

She didn't respond.

He smiled, she was out cold now. He quietly made his way over to the door, and slipped out of the room silently.

Tomorrow, he thought. Yes, tomorrow he would ask her out.
******************
Dru stared at the first page of the contract, as if by some miracle she would suddenly know how to read the words that were printed on the page. Who was she kidding? This wasn't going to work, and she damn well knew it wasn't going to work from the beginning. She put her head in her hands and sighed. She was screwing Justin over. Why couldn't she just admit that she couldn't read the damn paper? Why was she so scared? She knew why...

Because if she couldn't read, what did Justin need her for?

The answer...

He didn't need her for anything, and would probably cast her back out into the streets.

She didn't want to go back there...she didn't want to be cold, and starving, and alone...

The door opened. She didn't have to question who it was.

"How's the reading coming along?" Justin yawned, staggering tiredly into her room.

"Oh...fine." She lied.

"You mind if I sleep in here?" He asked her, taking his shirt off, and flopping down on the bed.

His shirt was off. That was new, but surprisingly she wasn't that terrified of him. Yes, she was still uneasy...but it was Justin...he wouldn't hurt her, and it wasn't like he was naked. "You've slept in here the whole week...why stop now?"

He laughed. "Sarcastic are you? I don't have to stay if you don't want me to."

"You can stay." She responded, not looking his direction. "But, why can't you sleep in your own room?"

He shrugged. "I...feel better when I'm around you. Like...I don't feel that sick." He admitted. "I figure, maybe if I sleep in your room for awhile, whatever it is that I have...will go away."

Dru narrowed her eyes at him. "Somehow, I doubt that."

"Do you understand all that?" He said, pointing to her papers. "Because it's a lot of stuff."

"Yes."

He looked at her, skeptical. "You can tell me if you don't understand it, Dru. I'm not going to think that you're dumb...or whatever you think I'm gonna think about you."

She half smiled. She wanted to tell him, she wanted to get it over with now...because she knew if she continued to hide her illiteracy from him much longer, it was only going to make things harder for the both of them. For all she knew, she could be put in charge of something really important on this tour that she was supposed to go on, and if nobody knew her secret...then they would expect her to do a good job. No, she couldn't mess things up for Justin. He had basically saved her life. She let out a long sigh, and then looked him in the eyes. "I...haven't been totally honest with you." She nodded.

He cocked his head to the side. "Honest about what? I only just met you Dru. You don't have to spill all your secrets out to me just yet. Lord knows, I haven't told you a thing about me."

"No," She nodded. "But, this is important."

"Oh...well, if you feel that you're ready to tell me something about you...then that's fine." He smiled. "You can tell me anything."

She dropped the contract on her lap. "I...you can't hate me for this."

He laughed. "Dru, I'm not going to hate you."

She glanced at the floor a moment, before meeting his gaze again. "Justin...I can't read."

She must have been joking...or maybe he hadn't heard her correctly. "What did you say?"

"I...I can't read."

"You're funny." He smiled, and let out a small laugh. "You're joking right?"

She shook her head vigorously. "I can't write either."

She wasn't lying. This was now clear in his mind. "You...why didn't you tell me when I explained all of this to you!"

A solitary tear made its way down her cheek. "I couldn't...I was afraid to..."

"No!" He got off the bed, and towered over her. "You didn't tell me because you didn't want to lose all of this!" He shouted, referring to the large suite surrounding them. "I can't believe you! We have to see those people tomorrow...f *cking tomorrow D! How...how could you just not say anything!"

"You told me two days before the damn thing was going to happen!" She said, sobbing now. "What was I supposed to do? I couldn't tell you...you had your heart set on me doing this. I'm sorry Justin, all right? I just...I didn't want to let you down. You...you're the only person that has ever given me anything...I don't want to lose you."

His intense gaze softened. He knew he shouldn't have been mad at her. Actually, he should have commended her on opening up to him like she just had. "Look." He said, crouching down to meet her level. She had buried her face in her hands, and was softly crying. "Hey...don't cry. Dru, I'm sorry. Tomorrow's just a big day...ya know." He pulled her hands away from her face, and curled his finger under her chin, forcing her to look at him. "I'm sorry," he said softly. "I'm not mad at you, Dru."

"Maybe I should get my stuff together and go."

"No." He shook his head. "You're not doing that."

"But...I can't do anything for you. I'm worse than...Britney. At least she can read, even if she can't chew gum while she does it."

"Dru," he interrupted, laughing now. "You're nothing like Britney...you...if you were given the opportunity to learn how to read, you would be able to chew gum and read at the same time. I'm sure of it." He nodded positively.

"But Justin," Dru prostested. "There's no way I can learn how to read this now...and be ready for tomorrow."

"No, but I can read it to you." He smiled. "And I will."

"Why...me? I mean, you could have picked somebody a lot better...a lot more educated than me." She looked at the floor. "Somebody that has a family."

"None of that matters." He replied, softly. "You matter. You're the one who made me go see the doctor. You're the one who took care of me when I couldn't go to anybody else. Without you...who knows what could have happened." He trembled slightly, "I don't even want to think about it."

"I'm going to cause you more trouble Justin." She nodded. "I wish you would realize that."

"No you won't. You wanna know why?"

She was skeptical. "Why?"

"Because you're going to learn how to read...how to write...you're going to learn everything you've ever wanted to learn..and then some." He smiled. "And I'm going to help you get there."

She shot him a confused look. "How can you help me get there?"

"You're talking to the master of "learn-by-mail." He pointed to his chest.

"Learn by mail?"

"How the hell do you think I got my high school diploma?" He asked.

"You went to school." She shrugged.

"I didn't go to high school. I was tutored in dressing rooms, buses, hotel suites..." He shook his head. "How could I have gone to normal high school when I was with the group?"

She cocked her head to the side. "What group?"

"What group?" He asked her, shocked. Then the realization dawned on him, that she hadn't known who he was in the beginning...so she was probably clueless to his boy-band past. "That's right...I never mentioned NSYNC, did I D?"

"What's an NSYNC?"

He laughed. "Hang on." He got up and grabbed his CD wallet off of the nightstand. Aside from sleeping in Dru's room all week, he had also moved a lot of his clothes, and other things he possessed into the room as well. He flipped through at least twenty pages of discs before finally finding the CD he had been looking for.

"Is that an NSYNC?" Dru asked, watching him put the CD into player.

"It's not an NSYNC." He chuckled. "It's just NSYNC. It's the name of the group, silly."

"Oh." She shrugged. "But...what exactly does NSYNC mean?"

"Together. Like...we were a team. We were unstoppable...and the last letter in each one of our names spelled out the word too. So...it was kinda convenient." He shrugged, as he skipped to the song he wanted her to hear. "Here...this is a good one..." He stopped talking for the moment, so she could listen to the song.

"So many times, I thought I held it in my hands...
But just like grains of sand, love slipped through my fingers...

He lowered the volume a bit, and continued his lecture. "I don't like too many of the songs we did...most of them are pretty corny if you ask me." He frowned. "But this one...this one is all right. But then again...I did help write it so..."

"You know, you really like yourself too much." Dru nodded.

Her boldness amazed him. "Excuse me?"

"You do. Like...I can tell. I bet you made your own album, because you thought you were too good for the group." She nodded.

"That was wrong D. Just plain ol' wrong." He pouted, and switched off the CD player.

"Maybe...I can teach you a few things too, Justin."

He smiled. "What could you possibly teach me?"

"There you go...right there!" She exclaimed, pointing at him.

"What? What did I say?"

"You think you can do no wrong. That has to change. Geez, do you even realize what you say and how you act sometimes?"

He shrugged. "Nobody has ever complained before. Well...maybe Trace but he doesn't really count anyway..."

"Oh God." She rolled her eyes. "They don't complain because they all kiss the ground you walk on."

"Hey." He snapped. "I think for being a mulitimillionaire at the age of twenty two, I'm a pretty down-to-earth kinda guy."

She scoffed. "If you went out into the real world Justin, you wouldn't survive a day."

He glared at her. "I am in the real world."

"No," she shook her head. "You're in the privileged world. The world where everything is done for you. I...I'm from the real world. The poor side, yes, but real."

"All right...I'll make a deal with you." He smirked.

"Not another one." She muttered.

"The deal is...if you let me teach you how to read and write, I'll let you teach me about the real world." He laughed. "And no, not the one on Mtv."

"Huh?"

He rolled his eyes. "Nevermind, let's just go get some rest." He held his hand out to her and pulled her to her feet.

"But what about the contract?" Dru laughed as he playfully pushed her down on the bed.

"Here." He said, tossing the packet on the bed. He grabbed a pen off of the desk, and got into the bed himself. "Don't worry about reading it, I promise you...it's all legit."

She nodded. She didn't question him. She trusted him too much to question him. "But...how am I supposed to sign it?"

"Oh yee of little faith." Justin snickered, flipping to the last page of the contract. . "This is how you hold a pen." He demonstrated, and then handed her the pen.

"Like this?" She held up the pen for his approval.

"Yes." Justin smiled. "Now..." He reached next to him, and grabbed a notepad off of the nightstand. "We're gonna practice."

She was confused. "Practice?"

"Yeah. You can't just sign the thing. It has to look like you can write ya know."

"Oh."

"So," he said, taking the pen from her. "How do you spell your name?"

She shrugged. "I dunno."

"Right." He smiled. "Well, I guess we'll spell it D-R-U," he wrote the letters down on the paper, "because if you spell it D-R-E-W, I think it looks too much like a guys name." He handed her back the pen.

She nodded, studying the odd looking letters that had been written on the paper. "All right."

"So," he put his hand over hers. "D-," he guided her hand, helping her shape the letters. "R....U." He looked over at her once all the letters had been formed. "You have a last name...right?"

"Lisbon." She nodded.

"Okay." He smiled, and helped her form the letters of her last name as well. "So, there. That's you." He winked. "Dru Lisbon. Now, you try it on your own."

She shook her head vigorously. "I can't."

"Don't say you can't, Dru." Justin grumbled. "Can't isn't a word."
She was confused. "It's not? But...you just said it."

He sighed. "It's a saying. Like, you shouldn't say you can't do something...because anything is possible." He nodded. "Understand?"

"Yes." She sighed, clutching the pen tighter. She studied the first letter of her name for several moments before actually attempting to write it. One line going down...a half a circle...D. She stared at the finished product, and compared it to Justin's. It was a mess.

"Keep going." Justin encouraged.

She sucked in a breath. The letter R was a little easier, but still...it looked nothing like his. The letter U was the easiest of all. It was just a circle, with the top cut off. She struggled with her last name, partially because it was longer than her first. She stared at the newly formed words. Ugly... "There." She handed the paper back to Justin.

He studied her work for a moment, and smiled. "You did it!" He exclaimed. "Dru...you wrote your name!"

"It's ugly." She pouted.

He pecked her on the cheek. "You wrote your name." He smiled. "And it's perfect."

She shifted away from him, terrified that his lips had made contact with her skin. "It's not perfect."

"Dru..." He shifted closer to her, not caring if she felt uncomfortable about it or not. "It is...perfect.

"Okay." She trembled. "Can you move over please."

"It's just me." He shrugged. "Aren't you used to me yet?"

"I am." She provided. "But...I just...don't like being this close to you."

"Why?" He whispered.

"Because I don't." She said quickly.

"What happened to you?"

She glared at him. "What happened with Wade?"

"Forget it then." He grumbled, and shifted away from her. He tossed the contract over to her. "Just sign the paper."

"Oh yeah Justin." She rolled her eyes. "That attitude is really making me wanna sign that now."

"Oh please Dru." He muttered.

"Maybe I won't sign it." She smirked.

A dark expression cast itself across his face. "You'll do what I want you to do. Now sign the paper."

"I'm sorry." She whimpered, slowly scratching her name across the dotted line. "Here." She handed the paper back to him.

Justin studied the paper for several moments. Her signature was sloppy, but it would work. It would have to work. "Good." He nodded, and placed the packet on the nightstand.

Dru turned over on her side, her back turned towards him now, upset that he had been so harsh and commanding with her.

"Dru?"

Silence.

"I didn't mean to be a jerk just now." He explained. "But...I told you not to bring Wade up...remember?"

Silence.

"D?" He placed one hand on her shoulder. "Dru." She didn't react to his touch. But, he thought he could hear a soft sob escape her. He shifted his body up against her, and wrapped his arms around her. "I'm sorry," he whispered in her ear. "I know I don't know what happened to you...but whatever it was...must have been horrible."

Dru's eyes were wide with fear. He was holding her...holding her. Any moment she knew, that he was going to rip her clothes off and force himself on her. She squeezed her eyes shut, and counted back from ten...

"I would never, ever hurt you." He told her. "Never." He didn't know why he did it. He never in a million years thought he would have ever done it...but he did. He planted his lips on her neck, and kissed it. But one kiss, was like the first bite out of your favorite candy bar. Once you started, you were addicted. He planted more kisses, passionate kisses, up and down her neck.

Dru didn't know what to think. Once he stopped, she rolled over. "Justin?"

His face was beet red. "Yes."

"What happened?"

He shrugged. "I'm not sure."

Dru yawned. "Me either."

"You ok?"

She nodded.

"You sure?" He asked her, with a worried tone.

"I'm sure." She half smiled.

"Maybe..." He began uneasily. "We should go to sleep."

"Yeah. Maybe we should."

"What if we...don't though."

She chewed her lip nervously, knowing what he was hinting at. "What if we don't."

"Would you...be scared, you know, if...something happened with us tonight?" He asked her, nervously.

She thought about his comment. She thought about it long and hard. Did she...like him? She knew she liked it when he kissed her...did that count? "Well...I don't think I would be scared Justin. If I were scared, I would probably have locked myself in the bathroom by now."

He chuckled. "You have a point." He paused for a moment. "Do you want me to kiss you Dru?"

She didn't need to think about her answer. She was surprised at herself though, because normally, she was terrified of the male species. Justin...he was different though. Something inside of her was telling her it was ok to like him...it was ok to kiss him...it was ok to want him.

He didn't wait for her to respond...

And she didn't seem to care.