Date: Mon, 04 Dec 2000 22:16:31 -0500 From: Adam Irwin <aci_85@hotmail.com> Subject: Love Interest - Chapter 29 * First things first. I need to know what everyone wants to see in the last chapter. All ideas will be taken, just send them to aci_85@hotmail.com * * I am going to send out a list of options for my next story in between this chapter and the final. It will list, I think 3 or 4 story ideas I have, and I want you all to vote on them and let me know what you want to see next. * ____________________________________________________________________________ Last time on Chapter 28 of Love Interest - "I have to call two more people now baby. Brittney first, then Chris and Lance at Chris's. But I don't think we should tell them until tonight, when they come over to work out things with us." Josh requested, and picked up his phone. He started to dial a number, but before he could finish, he watched a finger push the off button. "Right now, all I want is for you to hold me." Justin requested, and Josh didn't even hesitate to give it. He allowed Justin to relax into his body, and he stroked his hand across Justin's stomach, knowing that it got to him. Soon Justin's chest was going up and down in a patter significant to his sleep. ____________________________________________________________________________ It was now 7:30 p.m. in the Harless Residence. Justin and Josh had been awoken a few hours earlier by Lynn who wanted them to have a real meal. "I want to toast to my son, and my new son in their engagement. Josh, I couldn't ask for a better son-in-law, you make my Justin so happy. But now he's your Justin, and I'm your mother." Lynn smiled, and put down her glass after the three of them had drank the champagne. Usually neither of them would let Justin drink, especially since the incident a few nights ago when he got drunk. But they both knew tonight was special, so they did away with their rules and allowed him this once. "Thanks mom." Josh just had to get used to the idea of calling three people mother now. Because he also knew that Lisa Timberlake would want the same thing from him. "Yep, thanks mom." Justin thanked her too, taking a sip of his drink. "Well, I'm going to be heading out. I don't want you two to have to keep it down just because I'm here." Lynn stood from the table and walked out with a wink. Justin just blushed, but it was too late his mother was already out the door. "I can't believe she knows what we were doing." Josh laughed it off, and stood. He collected the plates on the table and walked into the kitchen. Hollering back, he tried to get Justin's mind off of what Lynn had said. "I called Chris and Lance while you were asleep. They're coming over around 8:30. That gives us about a half an hour or so." "Did you call Brittney or your mother?" Justin hollered back, and could hear Josh drop a dish in the sink. "You forgot...huh?" Justin laughed as he walked into the kitchen. He stood by Josh, and just smiled. "I'll call them, you do the dishes." Justin smiled and walked off looking for a quiet area to make the call. Walking intot he study he pulled up a seat and dialed the familiar number of his best girl pal. Brittney answered the phone excitedly, he hated the fact that her cell phone had caller id on it. He used to remember that when they were younger she would answer it and act like some one else, or she would scare the shit out of Justin, by saying his name before she even said hi. "Hey Just, how's it going?" He smiled, it was familiar to him. She always answered the phone that way. "Oh not much, I'm just sitting at the house. Me and my fiance are waiting for our bandmates to come over so we can work out our problems with them." Justin slipped in fiance sneakily, and waited for her to reply. "I guess that means you are going to patch things up with Lance and Chris. What time are they coming over?" Brittney asked, not even catching it. "I think they are coming at 8:30, at least that's what my fiance said. And yes we are going to work it out with them, I mean, I can't hate them forever. Even after what Chris did to me." Justin threw it in again, and waited for Brittney to catch it. "I can hate Lance for a long time, and all he did was never loved me. If I were you I would want to kill Chris for what he did. He tried to take your boyfriend, and then he beat you up." Brittney wasn't catching on at all. Justin had thrown it in twice, and she was stilling missing the hints. "You need to get over it Brit. Like my fiance says..." "OhMyGodYouAreMarryingJosh!" Justin pulled the phone away from his ear, laughing now that she had finally caught on. "Yeah, took you long enough girl. I said my fiance like three times before you even noticed. Some bestfriend you are, if I were you I wouldn't wait around for an invitation." Justin teased, as he continued to laugh at the fact Brittney was almost hypervenilating over the phone. "Shut up Justin Randall Timberlake. Or should I say Justin Randall Timberlake-Chasez?" Brittney teased back, and she knew that over the phone Justin was blushing. "I was just to preoccupied with the fact that you are going to work things out with the other guys. But let's forget about that, and tell me all about it." "I don't know, we were sitting inside the bedroom upstairs talking about his past boyfriends. I wasn't even paying attention, but I guess out of nowhere he pulls out this box. He stops talking about his past, and starts talking about how much he loves me and needs me in his life. And then, then, he..." Justin stopped, holding back a tear of happiness. He could hear that Brittney had already tried stopping as they were coming over in a loud noise from the other side of the line. "and he popped the question." Justin's voice spoke with real happiness, and even more real love then anything else. "Ahhhh!! No fair, you two are getting married, and you aren't even twenty yet. I hate you." Brittney had cleared up her voice, enough that Justin could hardly even tell she was crying. Justin just laughed. "I know you love me girl. But I gotta go, I have to call Josh's mom. She's the only one left to tell." Justin beamed, and went to hang up, but he heard a slight voice say what. "Huh? You say something Britt?" "You mean you told Chris and Lance before me?" Brittney asked with anger in her voice. "Nope, just Joey and my mom. We aren't telling Chris and Lance until they get here. You should be happy Britt, you got to hear about it before Josh's mom." Justin knew exactly what to say to calm Brittney down, and he could tell with a sigh that she had calmed down. "I'll talk to you later Justin. Tell Josh I'm happy for the ya'll." Brittney clicked off her phone, and Justin hung up. Clicking it on right away he dialed Josh's family's line. "Hello, Karen?" Justin asked after a female answered the phone. "Justin?" Karen asked, almost completely sure who it was, but wanting to check first. "Yeah, hey." Justin replied now more casually, leaning into the chair to relax while he talked. "How are you Justin?" She asked politely, sparking a conversation with him. "I'm good, me and Josh actually have something to tell you. But, um, he's in the kitchen doing the dishes, so I figured I would tell you." Justin started, and smiled, he knew Karen would be happy for them. "Josh proposed to me tonight." Silence filled the phone line for a few seconds, before Justin heard screaming in the background on the other line. He heard two familiar voices besides Karen's, obviously Josh's father and brother Tyler. He laughed and waited for Karen to reply to it, or to at least bring the phone back to her ear. "When? Tell me everything." Karen waited while Justin told her the same thing he had told Brittney. She cooed when Justin told her that Josh said he loved him, and she laughed when Justin told her how Brittney had reacted about being the second to last to know. The realizing she was the last to know she scolded him and told him to tell Josh he was in trouble with her. Looking at the watch on his hand, both Justin and Karen said their good byes, and hung up. Justin walked out of the study, and took a seat in the living room, he had a good 10 minutes to pass until Chris and Lance would arrive, and he relaxed into the couch. ____________________________________________________________________________ "Justin will you get that?" Josh hollered, but he got no response. Agitated he left the kitchen and walked towards the front door. Looking for Justin on the way, he noticed that he was asleep, and the anger left him. He opened the door to find Chris and Lance standing their, both of them with awkward looks on their faces. "Come on in guys." Josh let them in before they could even say hi, and they took off their coats and shoes. "Um, Justin is in the living room sleeping. You can go in and wake him up, I'll be in in a minute, I gotta finish drying the dishes. "Okay." Chris mumbled as Josh took off. Slowly they both walked into the room. It was so familiar, yet so distant. Neither of them had been in the house for a long time, and they were awkward with being their now. "You can wake up Justin. I don't think he wants me to touch him ever again." Chris mumbled as he took a seat in a chair across from the couch. Lance bent down and shook Justin slightly. Justin smiled thinking it was Josh, and just pushed him backwards before even opening his eyes. Lance and Chris both started to laugh, as Lance hit the ground with a thump. Justin opened his eyes at the notice of two voices and laughing and noticed that it was Lance who he had pushed. "Oh, sorry Scoop. I thought you were Josh." He muttered, his voice still cracky from sleep." Rubbing his eyes he sat up, and stretched. Josh walked into the room with in a minute and took a seat next to him. He rubbed his back before letting Justin sit into him comfortably. "Well, I guess I'll start off." Josh smiled at everyone, noticing that none of the other men in the room were going to take the iniative. "What happened between us? We all were so close, now it's like us and Joey are on one side. And you two are out on your own. I know that whole hotel thing was bad, and what you two did can't be forgotten, but the fact that it keeps getting brought back up isn't going to help." Josh said a mouthful in a minute or two, and Chris and Lance looked at each other, before Chris took the oppurtunity to speak. "I'm sorry. I'll say it a hundred, thousand times if you two want me to. I never should have kissed you, it was wrong. And Justin, hitting you only made it ten times more wrong. And in the hotel, I never should have asked if you liked it Josh, I know you didn't. I just wanted to see the reaction from you and Justin. I was stupid, I have been for the past few weeks, but I'm sorry. I don't want this to end our relationship as friends. I don't know what I would do with out the band, and I don't want to have to find out now." Chris explained himself, this time giving Justin and Josh the chance to look at each other. Josh started to speak, but he was cut off by Justin. "I know Chris, I accept your apology. I can't forgive you though, I mean, not entirely. It's going to take time before I can accept you to become close to me, after what happened. But I don't want our friendship to end either, and that goes double for the band." Justin replied to Chris's speech with a smile. Josh smiled down at him, although Justin couldn't tell. He was proud of Justin for being able to accept Chris again, he knew he wouldn't have been able to if he was put in that place. "What do you have to say Lance? You didn't make things easier yourself? I mean, everything you did with Brittney, and then what you called Justin that night." Josh asked of Lance, he didn't want to start an arguement, but up until that point Lance had seemed like he wasn't involved in the conversation. "What happened between Brittney and I is over. I screwed up, and I have moved on. She needs to realize that I am sorry, and that hurting her wasn't my intention at all. But as for what I said to you Justin, I'm sorry. You aren't a crybaby. I can't blame you for crying about all that, you were having so much going on around you, I would have been surprised if even I were able to stay strong during that situation." Josh was surprised at the ease of which Lance explained his situation. "So, does this mean the four of us are cool again?" Chris asked excitedly. 3 nods confirmed it, and Chris got an even wider grin on his face. "Group hug!" With a holler he and Lance ran to the couch and gained easy access to a hug with Justin and Josh. After what seemed like an eternity to a crush Josh, the hug was over and Chris and Lance were back in their seats. "We have some good news to tell you guys as well." Josh smiled and looked directly at Lance and Chris. Chris just waited with an anxious expression on his face, but Lance already had a smile on his face. "If its the fact that you and Justin are engaged, I already know." Lance smirked, and blurted it out, Chris just smiled and gained a shocked look on his face. Josh and Justin both looked at him in confusion. Karen and Lynn hadn't had time to talk to them, and Brittney wasn't talking to them. Leaving Christina, but she was the best person with a secret, so they were unsure of how Lance had figured it out. "How'd you know?" Josh asked, as Lance began to laugh. "Oh, I guess it was because when I bent down to wake up Justin, I notice a lovely ring, one that couldn't be mistaken for anything but a wedding ring." Lance laughed, and soon the whole room was in laughter. It was back to normal, and although Joey wasn't with them, it felt like he was. They would have to get together when Joey returned from his mother's house, it would be great for the five of them to hang out as a group again. It had been awhile. ____________________________________________________________________________ This chapter wasn't very long, and I apologize for that. But the story is coming to an end, and I needed to finish this chapter quickly so I could start writing the final chapter. I promise I will end it with a happy ending, and I think you will like it. I hope you will. So far in the poll for what type of story I should write next, the 1st option Mood Swings is winning big time. 4-1-0. I don't know if everyone has voted, but I know I have some fans who haven't. Let me know what you want to see as my next story by sending me an e-mail at aci_85@hotmail.com The finale will come out on either Wednesday or Thursday. I hope you can wait.