Chapter Twenty Three

Later...

"You know, locking yourself in the bathroom is no way to get your point across."

Silence.

"Dru...would you please come out already." Justin whined. "Look, for the billionth time, I'm sorry I didn't tell you about the job okay?"

Silence.

"Dru!!"

"Go away Justin!"

Justin kicked the door, angry that he wasn't getting his way. "Fine! Fine...just...just stay in there!"

"I will!"

"Poopface!" he hollered, not being able to come up with a better comeback. He stormed away from the bathroom door. Moments later he was in his gym, killing off the anger inside of him by doing some push ups. One... Who does she think she is? Two...That girl has everything because of me. Three...I slip up and forget to tell her one thing and she flips out. Four...She's lucky she ain't on the street. Five...Ungreatful...that's what she is. Six...No wonder I'm f *cking other women.

A hundred more push ups, and crude thoughts later, he got up. He listened...the televison was blaring in the living room. Dru had emerged from the bathroom, probably long ago. He sighed, knowing that he couldn't avoid her for the rest of the evening. They had another big day tomorrow. Dru was going to meet Johnny, and go to a press conference to help promote the Hand In Hand program. This meant she would be facing the press. She wasn't ready...but there was nothing he, or anybody else could do about it. Yes, he had slacked off in preparing her for all of this. He knew he had. But Dru had a good head on her shoulders. She would probably struggle through some questions, but in the end it would probably be for the best. The press would find her lack of knowledge "cute" and "innocent", just like Vivian and his Mother did. No, they still had no idea that Dru had been a homeless bum just a few weeks ago...they had no idea that she couldn't read, or write. Justin was proud of himself. He had concealed it all...and had done it well.

He shuffled down the hallway and entered the living room. Dru was sitting on the couch, a huge bowl of ice cream in her lap. She was licking the spoon, savoring the flavor. He smiled. Dru loved ice cream. She hadn't been able to stop eating it since the day he had introduced it to her. She demanded it now, after every meal. He had no objections.

He squinted at the television, Spongebob was on. His smile faded. He remembered how had gotten her to fall in love with that show. He remembered the first time he had laid eyes on her...how he hadn't been able to get her out of his head for days. He remembered their plane trip together...the little vanilla cookies she had begged him for...he remembered Disney...how she had screamed on Splash Mountain...how she had puked on Lonnie...he remembered the first time he kissed her...the morning after...the sunrise on the roof...he remembered how they had danced to Al Green, and how he had looked into her eyes and could only think...

]Dru is special.

His mouth gaped, he was being an a$$hole. Damn, pull you're head out of your a$$ Timberlake.

Nadia...what the hell was he doing? Why was he screwing other women? This was...really bad. He shook his head vigorously. He wasn't being fair to Dru. Not at all. It was all changing...right now. "Hey," he whispered.

She looked up from her mountain of ice cream. She said nothing.

"Dru."

She turned the volume up on the television. Spongebob was laughing his annoying laugh.

He slowly approached her and sat down on the sofa. "Dru."

"Be quiet poopface," she said, trying to hide her smile. "Spongebob is talking."

He smiled, knowing she wasn't as mad as she had been, and shifted his body closer to her. "I'm so sorry."

She lowered the volume, and looked at him. "What's happening with us? We fight...I never thought that you and I would fight."

"I'm just...stressed." He kissed her. "I'm sorry Dru...you deserve better, and I'm going to be better."

She leaned her head on his shoulder. "It's okay baby," she whispered. "I love you anyway." She picked up some ice cream with her spoon and shoved it in her mouth. "This kind...this is the best kind Justin. What do you call it?"

He looked at the contents of her bowl. "That's Rocky Road."

"Are there rocks in it Justin?" She yawned.

He couldn't help but smile. "Nah D."

"Oh."

He sighed. He knew she would still love him if she caught him in bed with another woman. He knew she would still love him if he told her he had killed ten people. It didn't matter to her. He was the only thing that mattered to her. He felt terrible. She loved him, and all he could do was think about himself.

Well he was going to change. He had told her he loved her, and he was going to stick to it, before she got hurt. She had been hurt by everybody else...

She didn't deserve to be hurt by him too.
*****************************
"It nice to finally meet you Dru." Johnny Wright smiled, and took a sip out of his coffee mug. "Justin won't stop talking about you."

Dru snapped out of her reverie to meet the benevolent gaze of the man seated behind the expansive mahogany desk. Her eyes had been fixed on the golden Buddha paperweight that Johnny was turning over and over in his large hands.

"Is that solid gold?"she asked not able to resist putting her hand out to stroke the shiny object.

"What...this?" Johnny frowned at the Buddha, as if seeing it for the first time. "I don't think so." His smile returned. "It was a present from a former client" He gently held Dru's hand out flat and set the Buddha in the center of her palm. "It's yours, if you want it."

She gasped. "Oh no sir...I couldn't." She set the small statue down on the desk. "It's too valuable."

Johnny tried to hold back his laughter. The thing wasn't worth more than twenty dollars. "I insist," he pushed the statue back toward her. "Consider it a welcoming gift."

Dru blushed. "Okay." She took the statue off of the desk and began to toy with it. It was so...cool. She had never seen anything quite like it before. She couldn't wait to show it to Justin later on.

Johnny leaned back in his seat. "Do you know why I've asked you here today Dru?"

She shrugged. "Sort of. Justin said you wanted to meet me before everything gets..." She paused for a moment, trying to remembered the word he had used, "Finalized?"

He laughed. "That's right. The man knows me all too well."

She let out a nervous laugh, but didn't respond.

His smile disappeared. "I want to discuss a few things with you Dru. You seem like a bright young girl...and I'm sure we won't have any problems with you...it's Justin that I'm worried about."

Dru cocked her head to the side. "Justin?"

Johnny sighed. "This tour is going to be one of the biggest ones of the year. That kind of thing can do things to a person...especially a person like Justin. I just want you to be prepared Dru..." He trailed off.

"I'm prepared sir." Dru whispered.

"I know you and he are...close."

Dru gulped. How did he know?

"It's not a big secret." Johnny chuckled. "Don't worry."

"Oh." She said, relieved.

"This tour is going to be a lot of hard work, a lot of stress...you won't be able to see Justin as much as you do now Dru. I want you to understand that. I want you to understand that Justin will be around a lot of..." He paused for a moment. "Tempations."

She was confused. "Temptations?"

"You know...other women." He whispered.

Dru sucked in a breath. Justin would never, ever do that. Ever. She wanted to scream in his face, but of course she didn't. "We have a strong bond, sir." She got out. "You don't need to worry."

"I think it's great that you two found each other Dru. Lord knows, after his last relationship, Justin needed a girl like you to give him a wakeup call." he nodded. "I'm not trying to put your relationship down. I've just known Justin for a long time...and I know how he can be on a tour. I was there for Britney...I know him Dru. I don't want to see you get hurt like she did."

Britney? What was he talking about? Justin hadn't hurt Britney...she had hurt him...

Wait.

Justin had never told her the whole story. She hadn't brought the subject up, for fear that he would ask her about the scar. The only thing she had been able to grasp from the subject, was that Britney had done something terrible to Justin. She looked at Johnny, his expression hadn't changed. "I'm afraid I don't understand sir," she confessed. "I wasn't aware that Britney had been hurt at all."

Johnny sighed. "I should have known," he shook his head, a disgusted look on his face. "Look Dru, I would tell you...but it just wouldn't be right. It's something that Justin is going to have to tell you himself. Just...watch yourself. That's all I'm saying." He rose out of his chair. "If it helps, I'm glad to have you on our team, and if you ever need something, don't hesitate to ask me." His smile returned. "I hear you're going to be earning your GED this summer as well."

She wouldn't look at him. "Yes," her tone was emotionless, almost robotic.

"I hope I haven't been the cause of an argument." Johnny sighed. "I just wanted to get my feelings out in the open before everything starts up."

"No..." She rose out of her seat, gripping the golden Buddha in one hand. "You didn't do anything wrong."

He smiled. "I'm sure I'll see you soon. Tell Justin I said hello."

She opened the door. "Right." She forced a smile and walked out of the office.

"All set?" Lonnie asked her, from his spot on the small sofa. "That charity woman just called. Said she's at the place already."

Dru nodded, but didn't answer.

If she answered, she would probably burst into tears...

Justin was a liar.
**************************
"Smile!"

The flash went off, and Dru stepped foward, thankful that she could get away from the executives that surrounded her. They made her nervous. The only person she knew was Vivian, and she wasn't that comfortable around her either. She glanced around the large press room, and let out a relieved sigh when she saw Lonnie standing by the doorway, flirting with a young black woman. She wanted to get out of there. She wanted to go back to the house.

"You did so good honey," Vivian said, patting her on the shoulder.

She whirled around. "Oh," she blushed. "Thank you."

"I'm sure Justin has already told you about the press tour next week." She nodded.

He hadn't. "Oh yes Ma'am."

She smiled. "Good. Then I'll be seeing you soon, have a good week dear." She waved and walked back toward the group of executives.

Dru was angry. Not that she hadn't been angry before...but now she was steaming. Why was Justin being so irresposible? Why wasn't he briefing her about upcoming events? Did he not care? No...no he didn't. The only person he seemed to care about, was himself. She wished she had been this wise back in New York. She knew if she had, she wouldn't be here now...miserable and confused. She began to make her way over to Lonnie, but paused when she heard an all too familiar voice call out to her.

"Dru? Is that you?"

She turned around. She remembered him...it was Wade. She trembled slightly. "Hello." She didn't smile.

He flashed her his perfect smile. "I heard you were going to be here today...you handled that press conference really well." He told her. "How you been girl?"

She shrugged. "Fine I guess."

"I told you I would see you again." He laughed. "Bet you didn't believe me huh?"

"I didn't really think about it," she muttered. One word came to mind...scum.

Wade sucked in a breath. "Look, you wanna go grab a bite?" He asked her. My next client doesn't come until three."

"Client?"

"Oh...I'm a choreographer." He nodded.

I'm not much of dancer myself...the words echoed in her mind. "You told me you don't dance."

"You've got a good memory girl." Wade laughed. "I lied."

"I think I'm gonna have to pass." She said, brushing past him. He jumped in front of her, blocking her path. She didn't like it. "What are you doing?"

"Just have lunch with me," he pleaded. "I'm not asking you to marry me girl."

"I-I can't." She stuttered. "I have to get back."

He ran his fingers through her hair. "You gotta get back to Timberlake," he snickered. "Don't tell me the guy has you wrapped around his finger already."

She pulled away from him. "I have to get back, Wade."

"You shouldn't be so bent on Justin." Wade sighed. "He'll only end up hurtin' you, like he hurt all the others. Don't you know that?"

She was speechless. Clearly, Justin had some sort of problem if both his manager and Wade were basically telling her the same thing. "Like the others?"

Wade nodded. "Come to lunch with me." He smiled and held out his hand to her. "We can talk. Have you ever just sat down and talked to somebody Dru? I doubt that Justin has made time for anything like that."

Dru looked over at Lonnie, who had obviously been watching her the entire time. He didn't look very happy, and would probably tell Justin what he had seen the first chance he got...but she didn't care. She was confused about her relationship, she was confused as to exactly what kind of person Justin was. Right now, it seemed that Wade really wanted to hear what she had to say, and wanted to answer any questions she might have had. No, he wasn't scum.

"Alright," she whispered, taking his hand.

Wade smiled.

To Dru, his smile was genuine, it was a kind smile, a loving smile. She let him lead her away. She thought Lonnie might have called out to her, but she didn't hear him. She could only hear Wade...his jokes...his flattering comments about her...how she had a beautiful smile. Justin never told her she had a beautiful smile. He never said much of anything lately. She let herself slip into his charm, not letting her ever reliable conscience warn her about the trouble she could get into by going with him...a perfect stranger.

Of course, his smile, was really a smile of achievement. A plotting smile. A smile only someone as slippery as Wade Robson could put on.