Justin had sensed what was wrong, and decided to take her back to the room...they would finish their tour tomorrow. Dru had been thankful...but the boys had been angry. They didn't want her to leave, but she really didn't feel comfortable. Lynn had been a lifesaver. She had distracted her son's tempers by telling them it was time to go see Mickey. Dru had been relieved.

The next day had been a little easier. Since they had covered most of the kiddie rides the previous day, Justin had decided that it would be best for the boys to go off with Lynn without them, so he could show her the bigger rides without having to make the boys wait. Without the boys to worry about, the day went by smoother. They could go on more thrilling rides...and eat at restaurants that didn't have Goofy as their waiter. At times, Trace had even decided to take his date and go off on his own, something that neither she nor Justin seemed to mind. It was nice to walk around the park without anyone else for a few hours. She and Justin could make their own choices. He had taken her back to Splash Mountain, and upon seeing the huge log full of people fly down the long drop, she had wanted to run back to Dumbo as fast as she could. Justin of course, wouldn't hear of it, and had dragged her on the ride.

She had never screamed so loud. After the ride had ened, they were allowed to see the picture taken of them when they had gone down the drop. Justin had laughed so hard, that he was gasping for air. Of course, he bought the picture, promising to put it in a frame as soon as they returned to his home. It was "the best picture he had ever seen," and Lonnie had agreed. Jerks.

She got Lonnie back in the end though. Their ride on the tea cups turned out to be a messy one. Justin made Sherry take a picture of Lonnie before he changed his shirt. It was definitely one of the best parts of the day.

She had to admit though, the true highlight of the day for her was when their group met up to watch the fireworks that evening. The boys had fought for a spot on her lap, eager to tell her about their day. Justin had tried to make them calm down...but she had stopped him. If they wanted to talk to her, she had no objections. She liked to talk to them, to find out what they liked...and hated.

They were good boys.

By the end of the trip, Dru had not only fallen deeper in love with her boyfriend. But had also fallen head over heels for his two small siblings as well. They seemed to look up to her now...they asked her questions, as if she knew the answers. And she tried to figure out the answers...she wanted to know the answers. She wanted to be smart in their eyes...not a stupid, illiterate fool.

Now that the trip was offically over, she was beginning to realize how much more civilized she was becoming. She had come a long way since she had left the streets of New York.

Of course, she hadn't totally adjusted...not yet. She still felt
funny when she walked around the house...that she lived here, that all of Justin's possesions were free for her to use...that she had been shopping around Los Angeles almost every day since she had arrived. It felt weird...that Justin was willingly buying her whatever she wanted...and also buying her things she would have never asked for...like a new car. She had been shocked. Last night he had lead her outside, his hands over her eyes...just like the dinner. She had been filled with excitement...thinking they were going to have another romantic dinner, this time set outside. She had thought they were going to watch the sunset together...

She had nearly fallen over when he had removed his hands.

Justin had told her the car was called an Escalade. He said it matched the one he had.

Dru had been terrified at the very sight of it. It was gigantic...she couldn't imagine who in the world would be able to drive the thing. One thing was for sure, she would never be able to.

She felt kind of bad. She felt that she was taking advantage of him....using his hard earned money for her own selfish desires. When she had brought up this point to him though, he had simply laughed at her. You're not taking advantage of anything D," he had told her, I want you to have these things...

Today, despite her protesting, she was behind the wheel of the new monstrosity. Justin wanted her to learn to drive. She thought he was insane.

"The gas Dru...not the brake."

"Which one is which?" She wailed.

Justin laughed out loud.

"It's not funny!" Dru exclaimed. "I've never done this before."

"Look...it's an automatic transmission. There's nothing to it." He explained.

"Automatic? Does that mean it can steer itself?" Dru asked.

Justin snorted out a laugh. "You're kidding me, right?"

"Well automatic means...it does it by itself...right?"

"You're lost girl," he snickered.

"What don't you understand!" Dru exclaimed, annoyed that he was treating her like a moron. "I told you I've never done this before!"

Justin reached over and turned the keys in the ignition, causing the car to turn off. "I know you've never driven before. That's why I'm trying to teach you."

"Well I can't do it." Dru grumbled. "I can't do anything." She opened the door and got out of the Escalade. She kicked a rock down the driveway angrily, and began to storm back to the house.

"Fine...you can't do it!" Justin called out.

She whirled around, shooting him an angry glare. "Thanks alot."

"Well if you say you can't do it...then you can't." Justin shrugged. "It's that simple."

"I can't even read...and you're expecting me to drive a car." She stated. "You're being ridiculous."

"You're the one being ridiculous." He grumbled, quickly making his way past her. "I'm trying to give you everything, and all you can do it whine and complain and say you "can't". Well you know what D...I'm done. If you just want to sit around and not learn to do anything for yourself then fine...I'm not pushing you anymore. It's fine." He stormed into the house.

She stared after him, not surprised that they were aruging today. Tomorrow the charity people were coming to the house to interview her. Neither of them knew what to expect, but she was sure something was bound to go wrong. She sat down on the steps that led up to the door. She wouldn't go inside. There was no reason for her to fight with Justin anymore today.

She knew Justin was on edge...but that was no reason for him to take his aggressions out on her...the person he supposedly loved.
***********************
Justin hadn't slept in her bed.

Actually, they hadn't spoken a word to each other since their argument the previous day. Dinner had been consumed in silence, something Dru wasn't used to. After she had finished her meal she had gone off to bed. She wasn't sure what Justin had done. She had heard his car pull out of the driveway around midnight. She didn't even know if he had returned yet. She was thankful that Lynn had taken the boys to stay at Justin's beach house for a couple of days. They didn't need to be around for all of this.

taptap

Justin entered the room, carrying a bag of food along with him. "Morning," he didn't smile. "Did I wake you?"

"No," her voice was barely audible. She wouldn't look at him.

He slid onto the bed, tucking his legs underneath him. "You hungry?," he asked, pulling a hash brown out of the bag and popping it in his mouth. "I got McDonalds."

Dru shook her head.

"Oh."

"Where were you last night?" She finally managed to ask.

He was silent for several moments. "Out."

"Out?"

Justin nodded.

"Out where?" She asked.

"I hit up a few parties alright...I needed to get away."

She shifted away from him. "You needed to get away from me."

"That's not what I said!" Justin exclaimed. "I meant I needed to get away...from my life, from the stress...I needed to let loose. You wouldn't have wanted to go Dru...believe me, it wasn't your kind of thing."

"Oh really." She said, angrily. "What is my kind of thing Justin? I'm supposed to be your girlfriend. You're supposed to include me in what you do."

"Dru, I've been with you every day since we've gotten here. I gave you a tour of LA, I took you to fuckin' DisneyLand. Christ, I bought you a damn car!" He hollered. "If that's not including you in what I do...I don't really know what is."

"You went out last night Justin...and did God knows what with God knows who..." She looked down at her hands, trying not to cry. "I'm no expert on relationships...but I know what you are and aren't supposed to do. Leaving your girlfriend alone in the middle of the night to go party isn't something you're supposed to do."

Justin groaned. "I didn't do [i]anything[/i] with [i]anybody[/i]," he defended. "Dru, sometimes...I just need to get out...be by myself ya know. It's nothing personal...it wasn't even about the fight. It was a stupid fight, and I'm sorry I pushed you so hard." He paused, and smoothed his tongue over his lips. "I...I need to tell you something."

"Alright," she whispered.

He chuckled. "Maybe I shouldn't tell you now. Maybe I should just wait until after you meet the people from the charity. I don't want you to be upset when you talk to them."

"If you have to tell me something Justin, just tell me." She demanded. "I don't need to wait."

Justin sucked in a breath. "The doctor called me yesterday, while you were outside."

Dru's eyes widened. With everything that had been going on that week, she had almost forgot about the phone call that Justin had been waiting for. When Justin had left the hospital, the doctor had gave him medicine to ease his pain, but they hadn't figured out what had been causing Justin to become so sick. The doctor had informed him to rest up, and that they would call him with his test results within two weeks. Dru guessed his results were in... she was nauseous. "It's Cancer isn't it?" A single tear crawled down her face. "Isn't it!" She began to cry.

"Shh." He kissed her cheek. "It's not Cancer...it's not."

She stared into his eyes. "Are you sure?"

"I'm sure," he nodded. "It's something else...it's called an Ulcer."

She trembled. "What's an Ulcer?"

"A hole you get in your stomach. You can get it from a lot of different things...but in my case it was because of stress."

"A hole..." Dru eyes were wide with fear. "How will you
eat?"

Justin laughed. "It's not what you think," he reassured her. "It's totally treatable...I'm just lucky I went to the doctor when I did. If I had let it go any longer...then there would have been a major problem."

Dru nodded. She was pretty sure she understood everything he was telling her. "So...what happens now?"

"Well...they say that since I caught it early enough they might still be able to treat it with drugs. But if they can't, then they'll have to operate." He huffed. "Hopefully, it won't have to come down to that. When I called my Mom, she freaked out. She's hiring me this team of nutritionists to go on the road with me this summer...a new personal trainer. It's just nuts Dru...this whole year that's coming up is just going to be nuts."

She snuggled up to him, letting him wrap his arms around her in a forgiving embrace. "Nuts?" She chuckled.

"I didn't get a chance to tell you. I've been on conference calls with my management and my label all week. See, I was supposed to do this big tour this summer...and now they want to make it a co-headliner."

Dru was a confused. "What's a co-headliner?"

Justin laughed. "It's when two huge acts go on the same tour together. I actually like the idea. The crowd gets two great shows for the price of one." He smiled.

"Oh so it's going to be a tour with you and somebody else?"

"Exactly," he smiled. "You ever heard of Christina Aguilera?"

"Christina what?"

"Guess not," he chuckled. "It doesn't matter...you'll know who she is soon."

"Is she a good singer?" Dru asked.

"She's amazing." Justin said, his eyes gleaming. "I've known her forever, she's a great person. I think they scheduled us for a meeting next week, to discuss all this tour stuff. You can meet her then."

Dru nodded, forcing a smile. She hated meeting new people. But she knew she was going to have to get past her fear if she was going to survive Justin's tour.

"You still mad at me baby?" He asked her after a moment.

It was the first time he had ever referred to her by a name other than Dru, or "D". It was a term of endearment. She wasn't sure what to think. "Uh..."

He frowned. "You're still mad."

"No..." She shook her head. "You just...you never called me baby before."

His cheeks reddened. "Oh...you don't like it?"

"I like it." She smiled.

He kissed her. "Good." He glanced at the clock radio on the nightstand. "Crap. D...you gotta get ready. Marissa is gonna be here in a half hour to get you fixed up for those people."

Dru groaned.

"You gotta be more positive than this Dru," Justin chuckled, yanking her out of the bed. "Go on, get in the shower."

"They're gonna hate me Justin," Dru whined. "You can still back out of this you know. I'm sure there are plenty of..."

"Dru," Justin interrupted her. "Get in the shower."

"What...are you my master now?" She grumbled, retreating into the adjoining bathroom. She didn't close the door.

Justin leaned against the doorframe, a playful smile plastered across his face. "I can be your master if you want me to be."

Dru ran the shower, holding her hand under the water to test the temperature. "I guess the fact that this is one of the most important days we've ever faced isn't making you nervous." She said, trying to hide her smile.

"I don't get nervous very often." He said, stepping toward her. "But when you perform for thousands of people for a good portion of your teen years...nothing really seems to make you nervous." He closed the door.

"Justin, I need to take a shower."

He shrugged, "Go ahead."

"Can I have some privacy?" She asked him, trying to sound commanding. The smirk on his face didn't fade. Her tone wasn't phasing him.

He took his shirt off. "Don't you think it would be less time consuming if we shared the shower?"

"There's four other bathrooms in this house," she said, her voice quivering with every word.

"But you're in this one," he smiled. He was standing next to her now. "We don't have to do anything you don't want to D...you know that."

She nodded. She couldn't take her eyes off of his stunning form. She was sure she was drooling. Before she knew what was happening, her clothes were off...the rest of his clothes were off... she was in the shower with him. His lips were all over her...her neck, chest, stomach...She couldn't help but squeal with delight. Being kissed had never been so...enjoyable before.

"Look!" Justin laughed, thrusting the Mickey Mouse back scrubber he had bought on their trip in her face. "Hi Dru! Hi!" He said, in his pathetic attempt at a Mickey impersonation.

She laughed out loud. "Hi."

He put some soap on the brush. "I smell," he admitted, beginning to scrub his own back. "See...I told you this was a good idea."

She couldn't disagree. If she had known that Justin could have made taking a shower this entertaining she would have asked him to do it with her a long time ago.

It was a great way to make up for yesterday....and a huge step in their relationship.

"Do you think my butt is too small D?" He asked her, studying his rear end in the small shower mirror. "Trace says it is."

Trace..., she gawked at him. No, she wasn't about to ask.
*****************************
Two hours and a wonder makeover later, Dru found herself seated in the living room, across from a very serious looking man in an expensive looking suit and a pleasant looking woman in a fashionable dress. Justin hadn't been allowed to sit in on the interview with her, something that had made any hope of having a smooth interview with these people seem virtually lost. Without him to guide her along, she knew there was little she could do to hide her illiteracy. She kept her gaze focused on the coffee table, thinking that if she dared to look either of them in the face, they would surely realize how much of an ingrate she was.

"Do you know who I am Dru?"

Dru met the man's gaze and sucked in a breath. She couldn't forget now. Justin had practically drilled both of their names into her mind that morning, she should have remembered...but she couldn't think straight right now, her nerves were overtaking her. His name...Chad? No...think Dru...come on! Cody...no...Charles...yes! "You're Charles," she nodded. When he didn't smile, she was certain she had gotten the name wrong. Stupid...

"Charles Larson, President" he told her. "And this is Vivian Walters, our Vice President."

The woman smiled, "I've been looking foward to meeting you Dru, it's a pleasure."

"Pleasure to meet you, ma'am." She squeaked.

"As you know, due to Mr. Timberlake's ailment we were unable to meet with you when we had planned to," Charles continued. "I assume you have read the contract..."

She nodded her head.

He shot her a skeptical look. "And understand it's terms and policies."

[i]Whatever they tell you...just agree with it all, don't ask a lot of questions. If they ask you about the contract, make sure you let them know that you understand everything...don't give them the chance to play mind games with you...[/i]Justin's words of advice echoed in her mind. "Yes Sir, I understand everything that has been presented to me," she said, not looking him in the eye. "Justin explained it all very thoroughly, so I wouldn't be confused."

"Did he?" Charles smirked. "How nice of him."

Dru was confused. By the tone of his voice, it seemed as if Charles didn't like Justin. But why? Wasn't Justin doing these people a favor?

"Dru, the reason we had wanted to interview you ourselves is because Justin picked you to be the candidate for this project. Normally, we pick our own candidates and then send them off with the celebrity." Vivian infromed her, "But Justin was rather insistent that you were the right one for the spot."

Dru tried not to blush. "Oh?"

"We hope that you aren't taking any of this for granted, Ms. Lisbon. There are many other girls out there that are worthy of your place." Charles said, a cold, unforgiving look in his eyes. "Maybe even worthier than you are."

"I've lived a hard life sir," Dru replied. "When you have nothing, it's hard to take anything you recieve for granted. Justin has given me more than I could have ever imagined already, and if it all had to end today and I had to go back to..." she paused for a moment, "to where I came from, I would go back knowing that I could be somebody...that I don't have to be an outcast."

Charles crossed his arms and leaned back, a pleased smile on his face. "Why don't you just tell us the truth Dru? Why don't you tell us how you aren't really a person in need and you're just another one of Justin Timberlake's bimbos."

She was frightened. "I don't understand sir."

"Why don't you explain this Dru," he sneered, pulling a photograph out of his folder and thrusting it in her face.

"Charles? What's gotten into you?" Vivian questioned, alarmed.

It wasn't fair. It just wasn't fair. Dru stared at the photograph, not understanding how he could have ever come in contact with it. She remembered that day. It was the day they had arrived at Disneyland. The picture was of the two of them, standing in front of the hotel...kissing.

"Explain this." Charles barked, stabbing at the photograph with his finger. "You little slut."

Dru covered her mouth, and began to cry. Justin's plan was ruined, and it was all her fault. It was her fault for using the bathroom that day, it was her fault that she had agreed to stay with him, it was her fault that she had fallen for him. Everything was her fault. "I'm...I'm so sorry..." She got up off of the sofa. "I'm so sorry I ruined everything."

She ran. She ran as fast as she could. She wanted to get away. She needed to get away, before she caused Justin any more trouble. Out the door...halfway down the driveway...

"Whoa!"

And then Justin was there, basketball tucked under one arm, his grey tee soaked with sweat from romping around his basketball hoop.

"D...are you crying?" He asked.

"I ruined it." Dru sobbed, "It's ruined!" She tried to brush past him, but of course he stopped her.

"Ruined what?" His voice was soft, soothing. He wrapped his arms around her, protectively. "Dru, what happened?"

"They know we're together," Dru sobbed. "He has a picture of us."

"Charles?" Justin chuckled. "Little asshole, I knew he would try something like this."

"You think this is funny!" She hollered. "It's not funny Justin..."

"Hold up," he interrupted. "Hear me out D."

She sighed, "What?"

"Picture this," he smiled. "Timberlake goes "Hand In Hand," with new love."

He wasn't making any sense. It was making her angrier. "I-don't-get-it," she seethed.

"There's nothing in that contract that says we can't be together. I made sure of it," Justin informed her. "The most they can do is release what they have to the press, and if they do...the press will eat it right up. Trust me Dru, I know these things."

"They think I'm a bimbo."

"Dru, nobody thinks..." he began.

"Yes they do!" She yelled. "He thinks I'm a slut all right? He told
me so," She wiped the tears out of her eyes. "And he's right."

"No," his voice was stern. "No he's not."

"How can you say that when you know that's what I did for so long to get by?" She whispered.

He kissed her. "Because you're better than that Dru," he caressed her cheek with his palm. "I know you are, and somewhere deep down you know you are too. Sometimes Dru, you just gotta say screw 'em," he paused for a moment. "Screw 'em Dru," he nodded. "I'll take you on tour myself, we don't need their stupid crap."

"But the contracts. Don't those mean something?" Dru asked.

He smiled. "I can fix it," he reassured her. "You're talking to a guy that fought his record company, to keep the name of the group he was in."

"I can't let you do this," she protested. "This is important to you, to your career..."

"It's important to everybody else," he explained. "Sometimes I think all of this happened so that you and I could meet," he smiled. "This charity was supposed to make it seem like I changed my ways, that I'm not the dog everybody has made me out to be," he laughed. "But I don't even need it now...because I found you and you...you've changed me Dru." He tucked a loosed strand of hair behind her ear. "You've changed me so much."

"You really want to do it, cancel all of this? Think about all the money you'll be losing."

A mischievous gleam entered his eyes. "The money doesn't matter. Besides, contract or no contract I'm still going to be paying you anyway."

She gawked at him. "Pay me?"

"That's the point of the charity. I take somebody on tour with me, give them a job, and at the end of the tour I pay them for their services," he informed her with a smile. "In this case though, you're probably going to get a little more than just money." He winked at her. "You know."

She blushed.

"Come on..." he said, taking her by the hand. "Come watch me tell off this SOB. Nobody calls my girl a slut."

My girl...,she smiled.

She was getting used to this

 

Chapter Twenty Two