"So, Justin," Chris said, sitting down next to Justin, "you and Miss Ada getting together?"

"We heard about what happened in the lobby," Lance added.

"She said she had to think about it," Justin replied.

"Think about it?" Chris repeated. "What’s there to think about?"

"She’s not sure she wants to be my girlfriend," Justin shrugged.

"You gotta convince her, man!!" Lance exclaimed.

"Why?"

"Because you two are great together!"

"I can’t force her to be with me," Justin replied.

"Not force, convince," Chris said.

"Same difference. If she wants to be with me, we’ll be together. If she doesn’t want to then I’ll move on and maybe we’ll be friends."

-

"Girl, I told you not to call me this early in the morning," Ada groaned into her cell phone. "I don’t--"

"Umm I’m not sure who you think this is, but I ain’t her," a male voice cut Ada off.

"Who is this?" Ada questioned.

"Lance Bass..."

"What the hell are you doing calling me at 5:30 in the morning?! I just got to sleep two hours ago," Ada growled.

"Sorry about that, but I needed to call you before Justin woke up."

"Why?"

"I know it’s not my place to get in the middle of this but you gotta get--"

Ada sighed. "Do I gotta get a new cell phone number?! Jesus! You’re right it’s not your place to get in the middle of this. I will let Justin know what I decide when I figure everything out, okay?"

"What’s there to figure out?" asked a new voice, Chris.

"Y’all just added a new one, do I wanna hafta put up with y’all," Ada replied.

"Seriously."

"Well besides the obvious, his status," Ada said. "In case y’all didn’t realize I’m black, Justin’s white."

"And?"

"Never mind," Ada replied.

"Will you let him know soon?"

"Soon as I know," Ada answered, hanging up her phone.

--

"Ada, hi," Justin said, shocked, when he opened his hotel room door and found Ada standing there.

"Hi," Ada replied.

"What are you doing here?"

"Well I’ve had a lot of time to think of the last month," Ada started, pausing when she heard a door open behind her. "And with the help of your dear group mates," she continued, glancing at Lance and Chris who were peeking out of the room across the hall, "I’ve come to a decision."

"Is it a good one?" Justin questioned leading her into the room, closing the door, much to the protest of Chris and Lance.

"Possibly."

"Well?"

"Well if your offer still stands, I wouldn’t be totally opposed to dating you," Ada answered.

"Of course it still stands," Justin replied quickly.

"Great," Ada smiled.

--

"You and Ada are dating," Lynn Harless said looking at her son.

"Yah, why?" Justin asked looking up from his magazine.

"Does she know what she’s getting into?" Lynn questioned. "Do you?"

"She spent a long time thinking about whether or not she wanted to date someone with my status and decided she could put up with it," Justin replied. "What am I getting into? It’s no different than dating Britney except I’ll get to see her more."

"Those aren’t the things I’m referring to," Lynn said.

"What are you talking about then?"

"She’s black, Justin."

"Only half and so what?"

"Do you know how hard it is to be in a relationship like that? Does she?"

"Ada has always dated white guys," Justin replied. "I don’t care if she is black, people are going to talk about and have problems with any relationship I have. I’m not going to not be with someone because the public might have a problem with it."

"Just be careful," Lynn said. "Interracial couples maybe more accepted then they were when I was growing up, but there’s still people who don’t agree."

"I know that."

"How do her parents feel about her only dating white guys?"

"They’re fine with it. Her mother’s black and her father’s white."

"Just be careful," she said again.

-

"Ada, hey, it’s Kim. Call me. I need to ask you about a something I heard."

"Damn things spread fast," Ada mumbled to herself dialing Kim’s number.

"Hello? Kim speaking."

"Kim, hey, it’s Ada. I got your message."

"Ada, hey, girl! What’s this I hear about you and Mr. Timberlake? Are you really dating?"

"Yes, Justin and I are dating."

"Very cool. The reason I’m asking is we’re planning on doing a story about interracial relationships in the new millennium and it’d be great to have someone from the magazine share their experiences with it. You interested?"

"Justin and I haven’t dated long enough for that relationship to be much help, but I grew up in an interracial home and I’ve only dated white guys," Ada answered. "If that’d be of help to the article, I’d love to help."

"All right."

"Your mother doesn’t care that you don’t date black guys?" Justin said when he and Ada were on the phone.

"Nope," Ada replied. "She did the same thing growing up. My stepfather is the first black man she ever dated."

"For real?"

"Yah. She grew up in a suburb where her family was the only black family so it was only natural she dated white guys."

"Cool... What about you? Why do you only date white guys?"

"I don’t know really. Just more attracted to ‘em I guess," she replied. "I’ve also found I had more in common with them too."

"Yeh?"

Ada toned in agreement.

"Good for me then," Justin said.

"Possibly. Although at times you act more black than I do."

"What do ya mean?"

"Just certain things. Like the things you eat, I’ve never eaten greens or other ‘soul foods,’" Ada said.

"You haven’t?" Justin exclaimed.

"Nope. Hannah and I aren’t adventurous enough to try them at family reunions and my mother doesn’t care for them so she doesn’t make them."

"Girl, I am so gonna hafta make you some ‘soul food’ sometime."

"As long as it doesn’t have pork in it, I guess I could be talked into trying it."

"No pork?"

"I don’t eat pork."

"Really? I didn’t know that."

"There’s a lot you don’t know about me," Ada said. "And there’s a lot I don’t know about you."

"That just won’t work. You simply must tell me everything there is to know about Ada Harmon."

"Only if you tell me everything there is to know about Justin Timberlake."

They spent the next three hours telling each other about themselves. When they finished Ada bid Justin goodnight and told him she was looking forward to see him next week for the VMA’s. Justin agreed and they ended the call.

--

"You ready to make your first appearance as Justin Timberlake’s girlfriend?" JC asked when Ada arrived at the penthouse.

Ada shrugged. "Can’t be hard, Britney did it."

"Good one," he chuckled. "You look beautiful, by the way."

"Thank you. You look pretty great yourself."

"Not great as me though, right?" Justin questioned coming into the room. "Hi, Ada."

"Hey, Justin," Ada said, giving him a kiss on his cheek. "Of course not, no one could ever look better than you," she added rolling her eyes.

"Haha," he said making a face. "You ready?"

Ada nodded. "I always wanted to go to the VMA’s."

"There’s gonna be a lot of press," he warned.

"They’ll want to talk to you," Ada replied. "I am just a lowly reporter, not who they want to talk to."

"We’ll see."

"I know how this works. They won’t ask me but the first thing they’ll ask you is if it’s true."

"Wanna bet?"

"Sure."

"Justin, is it true you and Miss Harmon are a couple?" John Norris asked when they were on the red carpet. Ada hid a smile from where she stood with the other dates.

"Yes, Ada and I are dating," Justin said shaking his head at Ada who had her mouth covered, giggling to herself.

"Do you fear what people will think of you being involved in an interracial relationship?"

"No, I don’t. I don’t believe it’s a big deal. Ada is a beautiful woman who I enjoy being around. I don’t feel it should matter if she’s black or white."

"Her only fault is she’s a reporter," Joey joked.

"She writes for Teen People, correct?"

Justin nodded. "She wrote the summer tour articles this year and several others."

"Why don’t you date your own race, stop taking our men," spat a white girl as Ada made her way into the hotel.

"Stupid nigger," yelled another.

"I am not even going to stoop to your level," Ada said, speaking to the crowd. "Even if I weren’t dating Justin there’s still very little chance he’d date any of you. Especially the lovely young woman who just called me a ‘nigger.’ Justin doesn’t favor racist."

She continued into the hotel, nodding at the black girls who’d shouted out congratulations to her. She sat in the lobby waiting for Justin to make his way into the lobby. Justin walked up to her five minutes later followed by the other members of *NSYNC.

"I’m sorry."

Ada shrugged. "It’s hardly the first time I’ve been called a nigger or had it suggested by white girls I needed to date black guys."

"It still isn’t called for," Justin replied.

Ada shrugged again. "It’s not your fault so don’t apologize. Congratulations again for you win for ‘Gone.’"

"Thank you."

-

"So what are you doing now that the touring season’s over?" Justin asked Ada.

"Interviewing whoever they line up for me and reviewing new releases. Kim also mentioned something about me doing reviews on the up and comings."

"That’ll be fun."

"What’s up for you?"

"Just preparing for the album to come out. We shoot the video for ‘Found’ next week then the whirlwind of appearances start up again."

"Sounds like fun."

"Hopefully it will be. Then the tour planning begins."

"You’re going to busy."

"Yep, but at least we’ll be pretty much stationary between LA, NYC, and Orlando."

"That’ll be good."

"Think you’ll be able to visit me?"

"Should be. I’ll find out my schedule and let you know."

"Good deal," Justin replied. "How coming to the video shoot, keep me company?"

"Maybe."

"Please?"

"I guess I can come."

"Great!"

-

"You’re covering to the launch party? Wonderful," Justin exclaimed.

Ada nodded. "Kim called me this morning when I was getting ready to come over to the set and told me."

"Yay," Justin grinned.

"What’s got him so happy?" Lance questioned coming over to where they were sitting.

"Ada’s covering the launch party for Random," Justin answered.

"Cool."

"What’s cool?" JC asked.

"Ada’s covering the launch," Lance replied.

"Sweetness."

"Ada’s covering the launch," Justin said when Joey and Chris appeared.

"That’s cool," Joey replied.

"So does this mean we’ll get a good review?" Chris asked.

"Depends on whether or not I like the CD," Ada answered.

"You’d write a bad review about us?" Justin said.

"If I thought it was bad, but that’s unlikely."

"Why’s that?"

"Because I have odd taste. I though Aqua rocked."

"And yet you hate the Backstreet Boys?"

"They suck," Ada shrugged.

-

"Wow, this is cool," Ada said looking around the ballroom.

"It’s impressive," Justin agreed.

"You excited about tomorrow?"

Justin nodded. "I’m always excited to see what fans think of the new music."

"I’m excited to here it myself," Ada said.

"You could’ve heard it months ago," Justin reminded her.

"I know, but I like to go through the whole thing of buying it and popping it into my player."

"That’s cool. How are you gonna handle tonight? You gonna duck out?"

Ada shook her head. "I’ll stick around for the listening, but I won’t review it until I’m on the plane home tomorrow."

"You’ll have to call and let me know what you think of it."

"I will," she promised.

--

"I’m not writing an article about what it’s like to date a celebrity," Ada said looking at her editor.

"Why not?" Kim asked. "Don’t you understand how many girls would love to know what it’s like to date someone like Justin Timberlake?"

"Yes I do, but I’m not writing it."

"What’s the big deal? You tell them about the parties you’ve attended and how it is putting up with his schedule, trying to figure out how to spend time together."

"I’m not writing about Justin and me," Ada shook her head. "Our relationship is private-- as private as it can be anyway."

"Think about it? Talk it over with Justin," Kim suggested.

"He’ll say the same thing I’m saying, ‘no,’" Ada replied.

"Just ask ‘im," Kim said.

"I think it’s fine, but if you don’t want to write it, don’t," Justin replied after Ada explained to him what Kim had said.

"You don’t have any problems with it?" Ada exclaimed.

Justin shook his head. "You can tell everyone what a great boyfriend I am."

"But you know I don’t lie," Ada smirked.

"You’re so mean to me!" Justin pouted.

"Aren’t I?" Ada smiled. "Seriously though, you wouldn’t have any problems with me writing about us?"

"No because I know you’d be honest," he replied. "So are you going to write it?"

Ada shrugged. "I’ll see."

--

"You think I’m annoying?!"

"What?" Ada yawned into her phone.

"You think I’m annoying?" Justin repeated.

"What gave you that idea?"

"Your article on us," Justin replied. "‘Any thought I had about famous guys being any different than regular guys was proved wrong when I observed Justin to the normal annoying things the guys I had attended school with do, such as burp the alphabet (very impressive though as he was also able to do it backwards.)’"

"I didn’t call you annoying, Justin," Ada sighed.

"You might as well have," Justin said.

"I was just trying to explain you’re just like every guy, a normal person."

"By saying I’m annoying?"

"I’m not having this conversation with you," Ada replied.

"What conversation?"

"You’re acting like a three-year-old-- no make that two. My three-year-old nephew doesn’t even act this bad," Ada stated.

"I am not!"

Ada groaned. "I know I shouldn’t have written the damn article. I knew you’d get mad about something."

"If you hadn’t said I was anno--"

Justin was cut off by Ada clicking off the phone. She turned the ringer off and ignored the messages Justin began to leave on her answering machine, falling back asleep.

--

"Mr. Timberlake is on the phone, Miss Harmon," Ada’s housekeeper, Michelle, spoke, sticking her head into Ada’s office.

"Tell Justin I’m too busy to play his games right now," Ada replied. "Ada," she added in reminder to Michelle.

"Of course, Ada," Michelle said exiting the room.

She returned five minutes later with what Ada assumed was a message from Justin.

"I know it’s not my place to speak," Michelle stated, placing the message in front of Ada, "but he really does seem sorry for whatever he did."

"I sure he is but I’ve got three articles due in a week and a meeting with a publisher in three days," Ada replied. "I don’t have time to humor Justin or stroke his ego. I’m busy and he needs to realize it!"

"Of course," Michelle nodded. "Should I prepare the guest room?"

"Why?" Ada asked looking up from her interview notes.

"Mr. Timberlake is flying in."

"Of course he is," Ada sighed. "Please do prepare the guest room."

"All right," Michelle nodded leaving Ada to alone to work.

Ada was still working when Michelle left at five. She knew she needed to get as much work done as she could before Justin arrived, because she wouldn’t get much done with him there. She was putting the final touches on her third rough draft of the interview she’d done with Britney Spears a month before, which still held a touch of tension in its tone, when she heard the front door close. Glancing at the clock, 11:45, she mumbled Justin’s name and began to close down her computer.

"You still workin?" Justin questioned, sticking his head in the room.

"Just finished," she answered. "What do I owe the pleasure?"

"You know if you don’t answer my calls or e-mails for more than three days I’ll come if I can," Justin replied.

"I should by now. But I don’t."

"You should," Justin agreed. "Have you eaten yet?"

"No I figured I’d wait for you," Ada answered. "Too late to make much, but I’m sure there’s enough to tide you over till the next meal."

"You’re mean to me," Justin pouted.

"You knew that when you kissed me the first time."

"I did and I still did it."

"Speaking of that, where’s my kiss?" Ada questioned.

"You’re mad at me," Justin replied.

"Has the ever stopped you before?"

"No," Justin agreed kissing her. "Better?"

"It’ll work."

"So after this horrid week what’s up?" Justin asked when they were settled in the living room eating frozen pizza.

"For some reason I’ve got free time," Ada answered.

"Good, then you can come back to Orlando with me," Justin grinned.

"Maybe."

"Maybe?"

"No Jive parties?"

"Just Britney’s, but Johnny isn’t requiring I go, especially if you come to Orlando with me."

"Then I guess it’d do me good to get a little sun," Ada replied.

"Wonderful," Justin smiled.

An hour later the agreed it was time to get to bed. Ada had just fallen asleep when she felt someone shaking her.

"Mmhm, Justin, what?" she asked rolling over.

"Can I sleep in here?"

"Why? No one’s slept in the guest room since you were here last and the sheets were changed," Ada mumbled into her pillow.

"I haven’t seen you in a month," Justin explained. "I miss you."

"And?"

"And I want to be around you."

"If I say yes, can I go back to sleep?"

"Of course!"

"All right, fine. Yes you can sleep in here."

Justin smiled and crawled in next to her. He wrapped his arms around her a gave her a kiss on her forehead before settling down. They both fell asleep instantly.

"Ada, breakfast is ready," Justin whispered, shaking her slightly.

"Mmhmm?" Ada mumbled burring deeper into her blankets.

"Breakfast," Justin said.

"Lemme sleep, Jus. Michelle’ll be here soon, she’ll make you breakfast," Ada replied.

"You aren’t listening," Justin said. "Breakfast is ready for you to eat."

"What? It’s too early for Michelle to be here," Ada replied opening one eye enough to read the clock.

"Listen to me," Justin said, grabbing Ada’s hand. "I made breakfast and it’s ready."

"You made breakfast?" Ada repeated. "And my house is still in one piece?"

"Yes! I made breakfast and your house is just fine."

"Since when can you cook?"

"It isn’t that hard to make waffles," Justin replied.

"You made me waffles?" Ada said, remembering the conversation they’d had the night before about things they hadn’t eaten in a long time and how she’d mentioned waffles.

"Yep," Justin nodded.

"That’s so sweet," Ada smiled. "Lemme brush my hair, and I’ll be right out, okay?"

"All right," Justin said, placing a kiss on her forehead.

--

"I told you before, Justin, I’ve got a meeting today," Ada said taking a deep breath to keep from snapping at him.

"What am I supposed to do all day?" Justin asked.

"You’ll find something, I’m sure," Ada replied. "Don’t mess up any of my articles though if you use my computer."

"I won’t," Justin answered.

"I got some more movies if you wanna check them out or there’s always Block Buster."

"When will you be back?"

"Mid-afternoon," Ada shrugged. "I’m meeting her in the town we eat in last time you were here."

"Can I go?"

Ada took another deep breath. "This is a business meeting, Justin."

"You can drop me off somewhere," he suggested.

"There’s a mall there, could you handle being there until I get finished?"

"Of course."

"I can’t come get you if you get mobbed," Ada pointed out.

"I’ll use cash," he replied.

"I’m sorry I’m late," Ada apologized sitting down across from Carol Williams, the publisher she was meeting. "My boyfriend decided to show up during the busy week of my life and didn’t want to be left alone."

"It’s all right," Carol replied. "It was a sweet gesture of your boyfriend to come visit."

"It was, but he has a hard time understanding where being sweet ends and being a pain begins," Ada said. "Lets get down to the matter at hand, shall we?"

"I must say I personally love all of the poems you submitted to us, it’s exactly the type of thing teenagers would read," Carol began.

"Thank you," Ada replied. "But?"

"We need something to draw attention to it, let people know about it. We aren’t sure, no offense, that your name has enough drawing power," Carol explained.

"What would I need to do?"

"You write for Teen People, correct?"

"Music reviews and interviews mostly," Ada nodded.

"If we could get them to support the book, run ads, review it, maybe put a small sample, a poem or two, of it into the magazine...?"

"I can talk to them and see if there’s anyway we could work it out," Ada said, waiting for Carol to continue.

"Also I’m sure you’ve met a fair share of celebrities in your time at the magazine. Do you think you could get any of them to endorse the book?" Carol questioned.

"I can ask..."

"Great! If you can pull this through, we can start publishing right away," Carol smiled.

"All right."

"Can you drive us back to Independence?" Ada asked Justin when they reached her car.

"Sure, why?"

"I need to call the magazine and it’d probably be better if I didn’t try and drive at the same time," Ada explained.

"All right," Justin nodded, climbing into the driver’s seat. "I got you a present."

"Justin, baby, you know you don’t have to buy me stuff!"

"I know, but I like to buy you stuff," Justin replied. "Plus this just screamed ‘Ada’ to me when I saw it."

"What is it?"

"You’ll see when we get to your house. Go on and make you call now."

Ada nodded and dialed up her editor to see who she could suggest to talk to. Kim gave her several names to try and offered her help. They chatted for a while longer before Ada began to try the people Kim had given to her. By the time they reached her house Ada had talked to and made appointments to talk to everyone on her list.

"You need celebrity endorsements?" Justin questioned when Ada was off the phone.

Ada nodded. "Kim said she’d e-mail me a list of possible people and I’ll cross reference with the people I’ve interviewed and see if we can get a few."

"You know I’d be more than willing to do it, the guys too."

"I don’t know if I’d feel comfortable asking you five," Ada said.

"Why not? You know we all like it," Justin replied. "Plus I’m your boyfriend."

"Exactly! People-- your fans know we’re together, they’ll just think you’re doing it because we’re together, not because you like it."

"That’s not true!"

"It may not be, but that’s not going to keep your fans from believing it," Ada replied.

"Fine! Forget I mentioned it," Justin exclaimed. "If anyone ever asks me about it, I’ll tell them I have no opinion, never even read it."

Ada closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Justin, please understand. I’ve been up front with you about the fact that I don’t want your fame. Your endorsing my book links your name to it. I don’t people reading it or not reading it because I’m your girlfriend. I value your opinion but I don’t want to use your name to get people to notice me."

"I’m sorry," Justin said, touching her name. "I overreacted."

Ada shook her head. "It’s my fault. Lets cool down, forget about this. Enjoy the rest of your visit."

"That’s a good idea."

"How about we drive to Pittsburg?" Ada suggested. "Wednesday nights are party nights and Kandy and Jennie would be crushed if they didn’t get to see you before you left."

"Sounds fun," Justin nodded. "You can even wear the outfit I got you."

"Yeh?"

"Yah, if you want. Your hair’ll go great with it," he said, pushing a piece of her crimped hair behind her ear.

"It would, huh?"

Justin nodded. "Go call Kandy and Jennie and make arrangements while I take a shower then you’ll get to see what I go you."

Ada was just hanging up when Justin got out of the shower. She went to her room to wait for him to g et dressed and come out. A short while later there was a knock at her door.

"Come in," she called. "Mmm, leather pants," she commented taking in his outfit, tight black leather pants and cream colored sweater.

Justin grinned. "I know how well you like ‘em and all. Anyway here you go."

Ada accepted the bag from him. "Godzook’s, my favorite," she said. Pulling the articles of clothing from the bag. "Leather pants, we’ll match... ‘Made in the 80’s,’" she read looking at the black shirt. Giving him a kiss she said, "Thank you."

"Welcome," Justin replied. "The safety pins down the sides caught my attention then the saying clinched it. My 80’s baby."

Ada kissed him again. "Ohh! Maybe we can go to the club that does 80’s Night on Wednesdays," she said when the kiss ended.

-

"Hello?" Ada yawned, reading over what she had just written.

"Ada, it’s Kim."

"Hey, Kim. What’s up?"

"You need to go to Orlando next week."

"I already am, actually," Ada replied. "Why do I need to be there?"

"Britney album release."

"Kim," Ada groaned.

"I assume you’re visiting Justin in Orlando, he has to go, doesn’t he?"

"No, he got out of going."

"Ada," Kim said, "I know you and Britney don’t get a long--"

"She hates me and I’m not all that fond of her."

"-- but we need someone and you said you were going to Orlando anyway," Kim continued. "You won’t have to interview O-Town," she offered.

"Kim!"

"I’ll get you your Teen People endorsement."

"Fine," Ada sighed.

"Thank you, Ada," Kim said. "I gotta go."

"Bye."

"Bye-bye."

"We’re going to Britney’s party, huh?" Justin said, peeking his head into the office.

Ada sighed again. "‘Fraid so. Kim doesn’t take no for an answer."

"We’ll make the best of it," Justin promised.

"If nothing else, it’ll be an interesting trip I’m sure."

"It should be," Justin agreed.

--

"They would send you," Britney said, glaring at Ada.

"I don’t want to be here anymore than you want me here," Ada replied.

"Just let ‘er do her job," Justin said.

"Who’s stopping her?" Britney replied. "I just want to make sure she’s fair."

"I’m not going to diss you, okay?"

"I’ll bury you if you trash this album."

"There’s enough people to do that," Ada answered, walking off before Britney could reply, Justin following.

"Ada," a sandy haired guy said coming up to her and Justin.

"Dave, hey. You get stuck taking pictures?" Ada said, realizing it was the photographer from Teen People.

"Yep. I need a picture of you talking to Britney sometime. And one of you two," he replied, gesturing at her and Justin.

"Give me a bit and I’ll get close enough for that picture, okay?" Ada sighed. "Why do you need one of us?"

"‘Star Tracks,’" he answered.

"You’ll get your chance, I’m sure," Ada replied. "Go take pictures of Britney before she accuses me of ruining her party."

"I’m going," he said walking off.

"Have I told you how beautiful you look?" Justin whispered in her ear when Dave was gone.

"No, but thank you," Ada whispered back.

"They’ll start playing the album soon, we can leave soon after that," Justin said. "If we miss anything, Johnny or one of the guys’ll be able to fill you in."

"Sounds good," Ada nodded.

"That wasn’t too horrible," Ada said when they pulled up to Justin’s house after leaving the party.

"Could’ve been worse," Justin agreed.

"It about was when Britney grabbed my arm," Ada replied.

"I’ve got to see the picture he got, the look on your face was priceless," Justin laughed.

"She’s lucky he snapped that picture or I would’ve knocked her on her ass most likely. I don’t do well with people who don’t like me grabbing me, or anyone really for that matter."

"I’ll remember that," Justin replied. "Did you get enough for your article?"

"Yep," she nodded.

-

"I can’t believe you actually made this," Ada laughed looking at the table where Justin had made her ‘soul food’ for their anniversary.

"I told you I was going to sometime," Justin replied. "Come on, eat up. You’ll enjoy it."

"I’m gonna trust you," Ada said as she began to place small amounts of food on her plate.

"It’s good," Justin insisted.

"Not bad," Ada said after they’d finished eating.

"I told you it was good."

Ada rolled her eyes playfully. "So sorry to have ever doubted you."

"So you should be."

"Anyway," Ada said changing the subject. "Do you have any idea how big of a pain in the ass you are to buy gifts for?"

"I’m gonna go with no," Justin replied. "You didn’t have to get me anything," he added.

"Did so. Anyway you are the hardest person to buy for so if you don’t like it, it’s because you’re a pain," she said giving him a wrapped present.

Justin unwrapped it quickly. He looked at the personalized jersey for a moment before speaking. "Thank you, Ada! This is amazing!"

"I’m glad you like it," Ada breathed a sigh of relief. "I knew you were from Tennessee, but I wasn’t sure if you like the team or not so I took a chance."

"I love it," he said pulling her into a hug. "How’d you manage to get it signed by all the players?"

"My brother went to college with one of the players who always had a sweet spot for me," she shrugged.

"Sweet spot? A good one or one I should kick his ass for?"

"A good one. He didn’t have any younger siblings so he sorta adopted me, especially after he realized I could help him with his homework. You don’t need to go around trying to beat people up."

"Trying? What do you mean trying?" Justin exclaimed.

"I’m sorry but you taking on Joe* is like you taking on one of your body guards, he’d flatten you," Ada replied.

"I could take him," Justin mumbled, pouting.

"If you try can I take bets on the outcome? I’m sure your fans would be willing to place money on you."

* I really don’t know any pro football player names except for the KSU players, like Kevin Locket and Michael Bishop, who’ve gone on to play so I just made up a name, okaies?

--

"You’ve got a lot of great people willing to endorse your book," Carol said after reading the list of people Ada gotten confirmations from that they’d be willing to endorse the book. "I noticed though *NSYNC wasn’t on there. I was lead to believe you were good friends with them."

"I am..."

"And you couldn’t get them to offer endorse it?" she questioned.

"I didn’t ask them," Ada answered. "I don’t want people to buy it or not buy it because of Justin and my relationship."

"And you think that’s a possibility if Justin and the other members of *NSYNC endorse you book?"

"I think it’s very possible. I know how the teenage girl’s mind works."

"You’re willing to let other celebrities endorse it though?"

"If that’s what it takes to get it published then I am."

"What if I told you it wouldn’t get published if *NSYNC didn’t endorse it?"

"If that’s the case, good day, Ms. Williams," Ada said getting up.

"You’re willing to throw away a chance to get published just because you don’t want your boyfriend’s fame to be a part of your book sales?"

"I have this thing called pride. If I can’t do something on my own merits then I don’t tend to do them," Ada replied, exiting the restaurant.

"How’d your meeting going?" Justin questioned when he reached Ada later that night.

"Horrible. She threatened not to publish the book if I didn’t get you guys to endorse the book and I left."

"You threw away your deal?" Justin exclaimed.

"It’s pride, Justin. You should understand."

"I understand all about pride. I’m proud of you for having the guts to stick to what you believe enough though it means you won’t get what you want."

"Thank you. I’m going to start sending to publishers again tomorrow."

"I could pass a copy onto the publishers who were going to publish my book," he offered.

"Really?"

"Yah, if you’d like to me."

"That’d be nice of you."

"I know how much being published means to you and I’ll help in anyway I can."

"That’s sweet," Ada said, giving him a kiss on his cheek.

--

"Miss Harmon, hello, I’m Dylan Robertson," greeted a pleasant-looking older black man when Ada entered the office.

"Hello, Mr. Robertson," Ada said, shaking his hand. "Thank you for taking the time to meet with me."

"It’s my pleasure, Dear," he replied. "Justin Timberlake sent me a copy of your manuscript and after the first poem I knew I had to meet with you. Your poetry is amazing."

"Thank you, Sir."

"I understand you were the middle of a deal with Block Writings but pulled out. Is there any reason?"

"I was in the middle of a deal with them and I did pull out," Ada agreed. "The publisher I was dealing with threatened to pull the deal if I didn’t get *NSYNC to endorse the book."

"Carol Williams?"

"Yes, how did you know that?"

"She’s done that before," he answered. "You made a wise decision, Miss Harmon. I can promise you that you will not encounter anything like that here at Total Grace Publishing. If you decide to work with us that is."

"I’m glad to hear that," Ada replied. "I’ve already got a standing offer from Teen People to run a review of the book should it be published."

"That’s great," Mr. Robertson said. "We’ve got contacts at most of the other popular teen magazines so those would most likely run reviews as well."

"Great," Ada replied and they got to work discussing contracts and other legal matters.

-

"So how’d it go?"

"Hello to you too, Justin," Ada grinned, adjusting the phone so she could continue packing.

"Hi, Ada. How’d your meeting go?"

"It went well, I think. They’re going to draw up a contract then I’ll have my lawyer look it over and if we agree, we’ll get to work."

"That’s great," Justin said.

"I think so," Ada agreed. "How are things on your end?"

"Pretty good. Hell week’s almost over."

"Aw you know you love it," Ada said. "You excited to get back on the road?"

"Of course! You gonna be able to make it to the kick off?"

"Hannah called this morning and said my ticket to Portland had arrived and would be waiting for me when I get home tomorrow."

"Will you be working this trip?" Justin inquired.

"A little bit, but not with you."

"Not with me?"

"I am interviewing Craig David," Ada explained.

"Oh that’s cool," Justin replied. "So then you’ll be coming at least one more show?"

"More if I can, but yes I will be out to interview y’all at some point."

--

"Hey, Ada," Dre greeted her when she arrived at the venue in Portland.

"Hello, Dre," she smiled.

"Here to see Justin?"

Ada shook her head. "Not just yet. I’m supposed to interview Craig David first. Would you happen to know where I might find him?"

"I think he was getting ready to take the stage for sound check," he answered.

"Thank you," Ada replied. "It was good to see you and I’m sure I’ll see you again soon."

"Good seein ya," he nodded continuing on his way.

"This is a closed sound check," spoke a large black man, who spoke with an English accent, to Ada.

Ada dug out her press pass. "I’m supposed to interview Mr. David for Teen People."

"Oh you’re the girl dating Timberlake," he said more to himself than to Ada. "Craig’ll be done in a moment if you want to wait."

"All right," Ada agreed taking a seat.

"Craig, the girl over there here to interview you for Teen People," the man called to Craig David when he finished his run through.

"Hello, I’m Craig David," he introduced himself to Ada getting off the stage.

"Ada Harmon, nice to meet you."

"You are Justin’s girlfriend."

"Yes."

"He’s been talking about you coming since last night."

Ada giggled. "Sorry about that. He gets annoying if we haven’t seen each other in a couple of days."

"No harm in it," Craig shook it off. "I can understand why he’d be excited about seeing you."

"Lets get to work, shall we?" Ada suggested as *NSYNC fans began to enter the venue for the sound check. "It’ll work better if we go backstage," she added ignoring the glares of the baby blue clad girls who’d just walked past them.

"Those are some nasty looks those fans are shooting your way," Craig commented leading Ada to his dressing room.

"Some people just don’t like to see others happy," Ada replied. "I’ve learned to ignore them over the last year."

"That’s good. Shouldn’t let them ruin your life because you’re with someone they’re crushing," Craig said.

"That’s how I feel about it," Ada nodded.

"You’re very beautiful," Craig said after they’d been talking a while.

"Excuse me?" Ada questioned looking up from her laptop.

"You’re very beautiful," he repeated.

"I heard you the first time..."

"You’ve never dated a black man before."

"No I haven’t."

"Too white for it?"

"No I’ve just never met one I wanted to date," Ada replied.

"Maybe they just haven’t tried hard enough," Craig said moving closer to Ada.

Ada moved away from him. "Maybe so but there’s no use in them trying when I’m happy with the guy I’m with."

"You never know if you don’t try," Craig replied again moving to where she was.

"Look I’m going to try and be as nice about this as I can," Ada said. "You’re an attractive guy but I am with Justin and I’m not going to mess that up. I love Justin. So please stop before you find my foot up your ass."

"You think he’s not going to realize one day that you’re black and he’s white? Once he realizes this, truly realizes this he’ll go back to Britney and you’ll be forgotten."

"If that happens, it happens. I’m not going to push him back to her by doing something I don’t want to do, which I know will hurt him."

There was a knock on Craig’s dressing room door before he got a chance to reply to her. Opening it they both saw Justin standing there.

"Hey y’all. Ya done yet?" Justin questioned.

Ada gathered up her stuff. "Yah we are."

"Great," he grinned. "I’m gonna hafta steal her away from you now, Craig! I haven’t seen her in two whole weeks. Later."

"Bye, man," Craig offered as Justin lead Ada down to the Toy Room.

-

"Are you okay?" Justin questioned as they sat in the back of the bus after the concert.

"Hmmm?" Ada intoned looking up from the e-mail she was reading.

"What’s wrong? You’ve been off since you got here."

"Nothing’s wrong."

"You sure?"

"Positive."

"Okay... How’d your interview with Craig go?"

"Fine. He’s an interesting guy."

"Yah and he’s mad talented."

"Indeed."

Justin chuckled slightly. "Do you realize you’ve got an English accent going while you talk?"

Ada sighed. "I didn’t, but it doesn’t surprise me. I always pick up accents like that when I’m around people."

"Really?"

Ada nodded. "You should hear me when we visit my mum’s family down south."

"I’d like to hear you speak with a southern accent," Justin laughed at the thought.

"It’s quite humorous according to Hannah and my cousins."

"I’m sure it is," he said. "Enough on that, when do you have to leave?"

"I’m not scheduled for another couple of weeks."

"Will you stay a while then?"

"If you’d like."

"I would."

"All right then."

-

"You sure you’re all right?" Justin questioned when he and Ada sat having breakfast.

"I’m fine," Ada replied. "Why?"

"You aren’t talking much," Justin shrugged.

"Just tryin to figure out what I wanna do with Craig’s interview."

"All right."

Ada nodded and they went back to eating. Justin worked on the song he’d been working on while Ada looked through her notes, highlights things she wanted to put into the interview, adding in notes to herself about how to work them together.

"Isn’t this cute?" Lance teased, coming into the room and seeing them eating off the same plate, working on their sperate projects.

"Shut up," Justin muttered, rereading the lines he’d just written.

"You staying a while, Ada?" Lance questioned after getting his breakfast.

Ada nodded. "I’ve got a while before I’m scheduled to do anything so I agreed to stay a while."

"You’ll enjoy it, tour life’s fun," Chris said.

"With you around, I’m sure it is," Ada replied.

"Plus you’ll keep Justin from pouting so much," Joey said.

"I don’t pout," Justin scowled, flipping off his group mates.

"Morning, all," Craig said coming into the room shortly after JC.

"Morning."

"Good morning," Ada mumbled, scribbling more on her notepad.

-

"Ada, hey, I want to apologize for the way I acted yesterday," Craig said coming up to her in the VIP area where she was chatting with Lynn. "It was wrong of me."

"It’s all right."

"I shouldn’t have questioned your feelings for Justin," he continued. "It’s quite clear from how I’ve seen you interact in the past few days you feel strongly for each other."

"Now you know," Ada said, not wanting to have the conversation with Lynn sitting there.

"What was that about?" Lynn questioned when Craig was gone.

"He made a pass at me during the interview," Ada shrugged.

"Oh?"

"Nothing serious," Ada added. "I think he got I’m not interested."

"That’s good."

Ada nodded. She continued to watch the concert, smiling as they launched into a melody of Beatles’ songs. When the concert was over she followed Lynn out of the venue to the van that would take them to the hotel.

"Ada Harmon," she said answering her cell phone.

"Hey, baby," Justin’s voice greeted.

"Hey, Justin," she smiled.

"You feel like going to a club tonight?"

"Sure if you want."

"Great! I’ll see you in the room then."

"All right," she agreed.

-

"Ada Harmon."

"Ada, hey, it’s Kim."

"Hi, Kim, what’s up?"

"How do you feel about doing an interview for the magazine to go along with the review?"

"An interview, about what?"

"About you, how long you’ve been writing, the usual?"

"I dunno..."

"What if Justin were interviewing you?"

"What?"

"Remember how during suggestion week you and Kylee were joking around and said we should do a special issue about the people involved with the magazine? And have stars interview us?"

"Yah, we joked about it for the longest time. Drew up those mock interviews and what not."

"Well the main office found out and loved the idea. There’s tons of stars willing to it and everyone agreed it’d be just too cute for Justin to interview you."

"So I don’t really have a choice, huh?"

"Nope. Jive and Johnny Wright signed off on the idea."

"And Justin?"

"All but suggested it."

"This is why I don’t have an interviews scheduled for a while, huh?"

"Yep, figured we’d give Justin time to do a good job."

-

"Hello, Miss Harmon. So good to finally meet you," Justin joked when they sat down to work on the interview.

"Mr. Timberlake," Ada giggled. "Do please call me Ada."

"Oh I’ll have to write you were polite."

"You’ll think polite. I can’t believe you came up with this idea."

"I didn’t either," Justin said, not meeting her eye.

"Oh of course you didn’t!"

"Lets get to work, huh?"

"Okay."

"Lets see, what should I ask you?" Justin said looking at the piece of paper in front of him, that looked liked the e-mail survey he’d sent to her a few days ago.

"Did you think of some good ones?"

Justin nodded. "It’s a mixture of questions the guys and I have been asked over the years and some others. We should get the general stuff out of the way first. How old are you?"

"Nineteen."

"When’s your birthday?"

"April second."

"Where--"

"Do you really have to ask these?"

"Yes, it’s part of the interview experience. I’ve answered them a million times, you can do it once."

"But you know all this!"

"So?"

"Fine. I’ll remember that next time I interview you."

"Ada threatens people when they ask simple questions. I feared for my life at times during the interview," Justin said as he wrote.

"You’re such a dork!"

"Back to the questions. Where were you born?"

"Born and raised in Independence, Kansas."

"Do you have any siblings?"

"I’ve got a brother and sister, both older."

They went through more general questions then Ada noticed an evil grin crossed Justin’s face.

"Do you have a boyfriend?"

"Yes, but he’s a dork and if he didn’t have such great abs I’d leave him for JC Chasez or Tony Lucca."

"I have a boyfriend I love very much. He’s the best and so unbelievably fine. I can’t believe he’s with me."

"I’m happy for you and JC," Ada replied.

"How’d you meet?" Justin questioned, ignoring her reply.

"He stalked me for months after we met in a club and I finally gave in after he threatened to kill JC, my one true love."

"Seriously. How are we going to field that?"

"We met at a club when I was working on an article. He helped me with it and we became friends. We got in a fight and didn’t talk for a while but through the pushing of his friends we made up and eventually got together."

"That’s good," he nodded. "What’s the most romantic thing you’ve ever done for someone/had done for you?"

"You just want people to think you’re sweet," Ada replied.

"Yah I do," he grinned. "How about we start with something you’ve done?"

"Nothing."

"You wrote me that poem," Justin reminded her.

"That’s wasn’t romantic."

"Yes it was!"

"Whatever. Would you rather have the most romantic thing you’ve ever done for me be when you cooked soul food for me or when you flew out to see me after we go into that fight about the article I wrote about dating you and wouldn’t talk to you?"

"Dinner. The other wasn’t one of my finer moments."

"I agree."

"Lets see... When did you start writing?"

"Seventh Grade English, but seriously when I discovered Hanson."

"Even more seriously when I discovered the love of my life’s, Justin, group, *NSYNC," he added.

"I don’t write much about you though."

"That’s why I added in my name."

"You’re a dork," Ada giggled giving him a kiss.

-

"Hello, Ada," Craig said coming up to her backstage.

"Hi, Craig," she replied.

"You enjoying your time here?"

Ada nodded. "It’s a lot of fun. I’ve never gotten to be with a tour for more than two days."

"This is a fun tour," Craig agreed. "Never a dull moment."

Ada nodded in agreement when Justin and Chris came running out of the quiet room with JC on their tail. "Can’t argue with that. Especially not with Justin and Chris."

"Help me," Justin said to Ada ducking behind her.

"What’d you do?" she questioned, allowing him to move her as JC reached for him.

"They poured water on me while I was asleep and told Linda I pissed myself," JC answered trying to smack at Justin without hitting Ada.

"That’s not so bad," Ada commented. "Linda surely knows you didn’t really piss yourself."

"They said it in front of the new wardrobe girl who I’da been tryin to get to talk to me," JC growled managing to catch Justin as Ada moved to the side. "Thank you, Ada," he said pushing Justin to the floor.

"No problem, JC," Ada giggled, watching the pair wrestle. "That was very wrong of you, Justin."

"Wrong of me? Who just let this madman get me?" Justin exclaimed from underneath JC.

"I’ll get Chris for ya," she offered to JC, shaking her head at Justin.

"You’re a good girl, Ada," JC said, sitting on Justin as best he could. "What you’re doin with Justin I’ll never understand."

"I ask myself that question quite regularly," Ada answered. "I think it was Lance’s fault. Always callin me and buggin me to go out with him. Damn Lance and his voice, he can make a girl do anything."

"Chris called you just as much as I did," Lance said defending himself with a grin, coming out of the quiet room.

"Yah but Chris doesn’t have the same affect on me as you do," Ada replied.

"That’s not fair! Why don’t I?" Chris pouted coming out of his hiding place.

"I won’t go into that, we’ll just leave it in the past," Ada answered.

"I know why," Justin tempted Chris, trying to get JC off of him. "You help me get C off me and I’ll tell you."

"You tell him and I'm going back to Independence," Ada replied.

"You’re mean," Justin pouted.

"No, you’re trying to cause trouble."

"Am not!!" Justin exclaimed as Chris went over to try and help Justin get free.

Ada giggled, shaking her head as they managed to get the other two involved in their wrestling. "Y’all are too much sometimes!"

-

"You really like music, huh?" Craig commented watching Ada type at her laptop.

"Yah, why?"

Craig shrugged. "You’ve known every song that’s come on for the past hour well enough to sing along."

Ada blushed. "I listen to the radio a lot. It’s a habit of mine to sing along when I’m working."

"That’s cool. You’ve got a good voice."

"Thank you."

"How come you don’t sing professionally or at least try to?"

"When Brady and Monica came out I used to think about giving it a try, but I changed my mind when I discovered writing. I love writing and I’m more interested in the things that go on behind the scenes in music than being a singer myself."

"Like producing and all that?"

"Sorta," Ada agreed. "I think it’s interesting how an album gets put together and all the stuff that goes into it before recording even begins like writing and what not."

"Do you write songs?"

"I’ve written a few. I mostly write poems and then I’ve turned a few into songs."

"That’s cool," Craig nodded. "Well I’ll let you get back to your work."

Ada nodded and went back to writing up her schedule and other things for her sister and Kim to confirm. She was just wrapping up when she realized Craig, who was still sitting across from her, had abandoned reading his magazine and was now watching her.

"Do you need something?" Ada questioned as she finished up.

Craig shook his head. "No, why?"

"You’ve been staring at me for the last ten minutes or so."

"Just admiring your beauty," he answered.

"Ha ha," Ada rolled her eyes. "Seriously, why are you staring at me?"

"You’re a very beautiful woman, Ada," Craig said, touching her hand.

"Craig, we talked about this," Ada replied, moving her hand.

"I know but I can’t help myself."

"Please don’t do this," Ada said. "I am very happy with Justin and I would like to be able to think we could be friends but if you’re gonna do stuff like this every time we’re alone, we can’t."

"We could be more than friends."

"No, we can’t," Ada replied. "I. Am. With. Justin. Understand?"

"So? He doesn’t have to know," Craig shrugged, taking Ada’s hand again.

"I’m not interested, Craig," Ada said gathering her things up.

"Your judgment is clouded," Craig countered. "If you gave the idea some thought you’d see you’re quite interested."

"No, I wouldn’t."

"You would," he argued.

"I wouldn’t," Ada said again exiting the room.

-

"Ada," Justin said waving his hand in front of her face.

"Hmm? What, Justin?"

"You all right?" Justin questioned.

"I’m fine. Just a lot on my mind."

"You wanna talk about it?"

Ada shook her head. "There’s nothing to talk about really. I’m just trying to figure out what to do next in the story I’m writing."

"What’s this one about?" Justin questioned.

"It’s a Lance story. His girlfriend is traveling with the group as a wardrobe girl and one of the opening acts keeps hitting on her," Ada said, deciding to get Justin’s opinion on the matter. "She tells him she’s not interested but he won’t back down, and she doesn’t know whether or not she should tell Lance and have him talk to the guy or wait it out and hope he quits. What do you think I should have her do?"

"If this were real life I’d say to have her tell him, but since there’s more you can do with it if she doesn’t, I’d have to try and wait it out."

"Thanks," Ada smiled, giving him a kiss deciding she’d tell him later, after she’d had time to think about it.

"That’s all that’s botherin you?"

Ada nodded. "Told you nothing was wrong. I just get lost in my writing when I can’t figure out what I’m going to do next."

"That’s cool," Justin nodded.

-

"They guys wanna know if we wanna go out after the concert," Justin said the next morning when he met up with Ada for lunch.

"If you wanna go, that’s cool," Ada replied.

"All right," Justin nodded. "We don’t have to go if you don’t want to though."

"You know I’m always up for going out and having fun," Ada said. "I love meeting y’all’s fans."

"Yeh?"

Ada nodded. "The ones that aren’t psychos about you are great, and the ones who are psychos are interesting."

"They just jealous you got yourself such a fine man," Justin joked.

"I’m willing to trade them if they’ve got hotter boyfriends but they never seem to."

"That’s cause ain’t no one as fine as I am." Ada rolled her eyes. "Name one person," Justin said.

"I can name more than one," Ada replied.

"Go for it."

"JC, Tony, Eminem, Lance, AJ--"

"All right, stop before you say Chris or Joey."

"I’ll give you, you’re better lookin then Chris but Joey, come on! He’s a sexy guy," Ada giggled, spotting them at the table over.

"Hey! I am much cuter than Justin!" Chris exclaimed.

"You keep tellin yourself that," Justin replied. "What are you two doing here? I told you not to come here because I wanted to have lunch with Ada, not you guys!"

"You just answered your own question, Justin," Ada shook her head. "We’ll have a late dinner, alone, after we get back from the clubs tonight."

"Sounds like a good idea," Justin nodded.

"Then you don’t mind if we join you," Chris said.

"Yes, we do," Justin replied. "Stay over there!"

"You’re no fun anymore!!" Chris pouted.

"The pout doesn’t work for you, Chris, face it," Justin said. "There’s nothing sadder than a thirty-one-year-old pouting."

"I’ll remind you of that when you’re thirty-one," Chris answered.

"Do that."

"Would you like to dance?" a titian haired girl asked coming up to Justin shortly after he and Ada arrived at the club.

"I’m here with my girlfriend," Justin answered. "Maybe--"

"It’s all right, Justin," Ada cut him off saying, "You can dance with her if you’d like," knowing he didn’t like to disappoint fans.

"Are you sure?" Justin questioned as the girl looked hopefully between them.

Ada nodded. "I’m sure."

"I’d love to dance with you," he said to the girl who’s face lit up.

"Thank you!!" she exclaimed following Justin onto the dance floor.

"You’re very trusting," Craig commented coming up behind her.

"Excuse me?"

"Letting him dance with other girls like that is very trusting."

"I do trust Justin. He’s never given me a reason to not trust him."

"Is he as trusting?"

"Yes, why?"

"Then how about dancing with me?"

"I don’t think--"

"I’m very sorry for what I said and how I acted!"

"You said that last time then did it again."

"I won’t, I promise," Craig said. "Just one dance."

"I guess..."

"Great," he grinned pulling her out onto the floor.

"Not so close," Ada said putting a little distance between them. "And keep you hands above my waist."

"Sorry, they slipped."

"Watch it," Ada replied.

"Now I know you can dance better than this! I’ve seen you dance with Justin and the others."

"Justin is my boyfriend and the other four haven’t tried to hit on me."

"Justin is the only one with good taste in women in that group then. It’s impossible not to hit on someone as beautiful as you."

"Craig," Ada warned.

"Ada."

Before Ada knew what was going on, Craig had pulled her to him and placed his lips against hers. While she struggled against him she spotted Justin standing at the edge of the small group that had gathered around her and Craig. Next to him stood Britney, who smirked at Ada. With a final shove Ada got Craig to release her. She was tempted to hit him but realized her chance to explain to Justin was fleeting. He stood there looking at her then turned walking off with Britney behind him.

"Justin," Ada said touching his arm when she reached him.

"He doesn’t want to talk to you," Britney replied, getting in between the two. "I told you she didn’t really love you," she said to Justin. "Not like I do!"

"Justin, please let me explain," Ada pleaded.

"What’s there to explain?" Britney questioned. "You were dancing with him then you kissed him!"

"He kissed me!!"

"You were all over him!"

"I was trying to get him off of me."

"You’ve been flirting with him since you joined the tour!"

"No I haven’t!"

"You have too," Craig said. "I told her no, I wouldn’t do that to you, Justin, but she wouldn’t listen!"

"You’re lying!" Ada exclaimed. "Justin, don’t listen to them!"

"I’ve gotta get out of here," Justin uttered shaking his head. "Don’t follow me."

"I can’t believe you, two," Ada screamed.

"That’ll teach you to steal my boyfriend!" Britney smirked. "Justin will never forgive you for kissing someone else!"

"You selfish bitch," Ada spat. "I hope you’re happy!"

"Oh I am," Britney smiled. "Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to catch up with Justin, offer him a should to cry on."

"Over my dead body."

"What are you gonna do?"

Ada didn’t reply, but punched Britney as hard as she could. Britney was stunned for moment but reacted quickly enough to catch Ada across her cheek with her nails. By the time they were pulled apart, Ada’s cheek was bleeding while a bruise was being to appear on Britney’s left cheek and she had blood running from her nose.

"I want her arrested!" Britney shrieked.

"Go ahead, arrest me for all I fucking care," Ada spat. "It was worth it to have had the chance to punch you."

Chris and Joey eventually managed to convince Britney not to press charges and took Ada back to the hotel. She sat quiet in the car.

"Are you all right?" Chris questioned looking at her cheek.

"I’m fine," Ada answered.

"There’s an extra bed in my room, you can stay there tonight, give Justin a chance to calm down," Joey said.

Ada shook her head. "Thank you for the offer but I’m leaving."

"Why?"

"I’ve been here longer then I should’ve been in the first place, and Justin isn’t going to want me around."

"That’s not--"

"It’s for the best. Justin will have time to cool down and then he can call me when he’s ready instead of me being thrown into his face every time he turns around," Ada replied. "Plus if I stay around here I’m just gonna fight with Craig and that’s the last thing I need."

"Craig won’t be here much longer."

"Still he’ll be here for a while."

"If you can’t get anything out until later come to my room," Joey said.

"Thank you for the offer, but I’ll probably just stay in the lobby."

"Is there anything we can do?"

"Get my bags?"

"Of course," Chris nodded.

"Why do you two trust me so much?" Ada asked. "How do you know I didn’t do this?"

"We’d have to be blind not to see how much you love him. You wouldn’t cheat on him," Joey answered.

"He knows too and when he calms down he’ll be back to normal."

"I hope so."

"At least lemme clean you cheek," Joey said when they reached the hotel.

"It’s fine," Ada shook her head. "Or not," she said when she felt the blood on her hand.

"I’ve got a first aid kit in my room," Joey replied. "I’ll fix you up while Chris goes and gets your stuff."

"Thank you," Ada said hugging them both.

"Ada?" Justin’s voice sounded when Chris entered the hotel room.

"No, it’s me."

"Go away!"

"Just gettin Ada’s stuff."

"What? Why?" Justin questioned coming out of the bathroom.

"Because she’s going home," Chris answered.

"Why?!"

"Because she thinks her boyfriend believes she cheated on him."

"I do not!" Justin exclaimed.

"Well then she got to beat Britney up for fun," Chris shrugged.

"She beat up Britney?!"

Chris nodded. "I’m sure there’ll be a nice section about it in the tabs in the next couple of weeks."

"She’s not even going to say good-bye?" Justin questioned after agreeing that it’d be written up.

"She’s in Joey’s room if you’d like to see her before she leaves."

"Does she want to see me?"

"Of course. She’s just giving you time to cool down."

"Why’s she leaving then?"

"It’s a mixture of she doesn’t think you’ll want her around, how much time she’s already spent here, and Craig’s being here."

"Craig won’t be here much longer if I’ve got anything to do with it," Justin replied. "And I do want her here!"

"Maybe so, but she’s still been here two weeks, maybe it’s time she went home for a bit."

"Why?"

"Because she’s not part of this tour. She has other things going on outside of you and your life."

"You’re right. I still need to say good-bye."

"Yah you do," Chris agreed, handing him her stuff. "You need to carry this too. I forgot how much stuff girls pack."

"Ah it’s not that heavy," Justin said. "You’re just weak."

"Screw you, Timberlake."

"Chris, hey," Joey said opening his door. "Oh hey, Justin."

"Hey," Justin nodded. "Ada still in here?"

"She’s making flight arrangements," Joey nodded. "We’ll leave, give y’all a chance to talk," he added.

"Thanks."

"Chris, thanks for--" Ada started when she heard the approaching foot steps. "Justin."

"Hey," he said sitting down next to her. "Those are some nasty scratches on your cheek."

"She’s worse off than me," Ada shrugged.

"I don’t doubt that," he said. "You going home?"

Ada nodded. "Got a flight at seven."

"I’m not mad at you. I know you didn’t kiss Craig and that he’s the one that has been messing with you, not you."

"I’m glad."

"You still gotta go, though, huh?"

"I should. I would’ve been leaving this week anyway."

"Wish it were brought on by better reasons."

"Me too, but it’ll be all right."

"Can I ride with you to the airport?"

"If you’d like."

"I would," Justin answered. "How about we make that late dinner an early breakfast?"

"I’d like that," Ada smiled.

"Do I get a poem again?" Justin questioned when they sat eating a breakfast that was made up of biscuits and gravy, hash browns, and toast, at the twenty-four diner down the street from their hotel.

"How you write me a song instead?" Ada suggested.

"I’ve got a better idea. We’ll write a song together."

"I don’t write songs," Ada reminded him.

"I’ll write the music and we’ll write the lyrics together," Justin answered. "It’ll be fun."

"I guess we could try..."

"Cool."

"What should it be about?"

"Not playing games in a relationship."

"Good topic," Ada nodded. "Before I commit you gotta promise me a few things. You gotta promise you won’t play those games all the others are so fond of."

"You gotta promise you won’t play me for a fool, sell me out, break my heart, and try and get back with me."

"I want a relationship without the games. I wanna know your feelings are true."

"Don’t play the games of what I can do for you. Loves not about what one can do for the other. It’s about how you feel for me and how I feel for you."

"Don’t wanna commit if you can’t love me for me. Don’t wanna commit if you’re gonna play those games. Gotta be able to trust you, gotta believe you won’t play those games."

"Don’t play me for a fool. Don’t pretend you love me then turn around and play those games."

"That’s a pretty good start," Ada said reading over what they said.

"Yah it is," Justin agreed. "It’s what we have together. I’m glad we’ve got it."

"Me too," Ada smiled.