Encounter In The Sand

by Jeremy

~Part 4~

Last Time:

   "You're the best, you know that?"

   "I know," JC said, grinning at him.

   Justin slugged him in the arm. "Nobody's ever accused you of being modest, have they? Now, out... I have to get up early tomorrow. I have a long day."

   "Where you going?"

   "Jogging with Ricky in the morning, and then I'm going to spend the day with him at work."

   JC nodded. "Alright, I guess we'll see you tomorrow evening when Ricky takes us out then."

   "Yep," Justin replied, "See you then." JC made his way out of Justin's room. As he started to close the door, Justin spoke again. "Thanks, Josh." JC just smiled and nodded, closing the door.

And now, the continuation:

   Justin arrived at Ricky's house the next morning at seven sharp. He walked up to the door, placing his hand on the panel like he'd seen Ricky do and he heard the door locks click and the voice respond, "Security system disarmed. Welcome home, Justin." Smiling, he opened the door, walking in. Setting his workout bag down on the couch, he looked around, noting that Ricky was nowhere to be found, so he decided to check upstairs.

   As he reached the top of the stairs, Justin could hear whistling come from a room down the hallway. Slowly, he approached the door, finding that it was cracked open some. Out of curiosity, he peered through the crack, his eyebrows rising up at what he saw.

   Ricky danced around his room with only a towel wrapped about his waist as he whistled a very familiar tune. It took a minute, but Justin finally recognized it as "This I Promise You." He chuckled quietly, watching Ricky dance as he dressed. Justin's mouth dropped, however, when Ricky's towel fell to the floor. The only word that came to his mind was "wow."

   Justin realized that Ricky would be done dressing soon, and figured that it was probably better to appear as though he'd been waiting downstairs for him. Without another thought, he quickly made his way downstairs and took a seat on the couch.

   After several moments, Ricky descended the staircase, smiling as he spotted Justin, who stood and greeted him with a soft kiss at the bottom of the stairs. "Mmm... Good morning to you, too," Ricky said, doing a few pre run stretches before he grabbed Justin's hand and dragged him out the door.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

   A little over an hour later, Justin barged into the house, drenched in sweat. "HA! I beat you! Told you I wasn't slow!"

   Ricky jogged in after him, laughing. "Okay... so your not completely slow. Just for the first mile and a half."

   "What?!?" I wasn't slow at all!"

   Ricky just rolled his eyes. "Please... I kept having to slow down so you could catch up. Tripping and falling face first into a pile of seaweed didn't help your time either." He grinned and winked at Justin who just stuck his tongue out at him. Laughing, Ricky headed up the stairs. "You can use the bathroom up here at the end of the hall to shower before we leave. Try and make it quick, though. I'm supposed to be at the cafe at nine. I may be the boss, but I still like to set a good example for my employees." Justin nodded and followed Ricky up the stairs, pausing to watch him disappear into his bedroom, and then going down the hall to the bathroom to shower.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

   Not much later, Ricky and Justin were speeding through town. Ricky squeezed Justin's hand and looked up at him, which caused him to laugh quietly. "What?" Justin asked curiously.

   "You..." Ricky said, chuckling as he pointed to the bucket hat and sunglasses that Justin was wearing.

   Justin smirked at him. "This is my disguise, man..." Ricky just continued to chuckle at him. "What?" Justin asked again.

   "Nothing," Ricky said, grinning. "You just look like Justin Timberlake with a hat and shades... wouldn't fool me."

   "You'd be surprised at how many teenage girls don't recognize us when we wear our 'disguises.'"

   "Seriously?" Ricky asked, laughing.

   "Seriously."

   Ricky squeezed Justin's hand again and smiled at him as they pulled into the rear parking lot of the Pacific Surf Internet Cafe. Leaning over, he kissed Justin softly. "C'mon, Incognito Man. I'm only going to work a couple of hours today, so I'm going to get as much done as I can. The rest of the day is for you and the guys."

   Justin smiled at him as they got out of the car and walked around the front and in the entrance. The cafe had only opened an hour earlier, so there wasn't a whole lot of business yet. Just a few patrons near the front, sipping sodas and lattes as they surfed the net. None of them seemed to be of the 'N Sync generation, so there was no need to worry about Justin being mobbed. Ricky led him over to the counter, where a woman in her early twenties stood.

   "Hey boss," she said, looking up from the counter where she'd been reading a magazine, smiling at him.

   "Hey," Ricky replied, smiling back. Turning to Justin, he started to introduce them. "Justin, this is Courtney, one of my closest friends and the manager of this cafe. Court, this is...."

   "OHMYGAWDDOYOUKNOWWHOYOUARE?!?!?!?" Courtney interrupted rather loudly.

   Justin cringed and Ricky quickly interrupted her, speaking in quiet tones to give her the hint to keep it down. "Obviously, I don't need to tell you who he is, but I do need to tell you that you need to keep his presence here in town a secret. He's on a much needed vacation, and would like to stay as low-key as possible."

   Courtney glanced back and forth between Ricky and Justin for a moment, then she looked at Ricky. "How.... how do you know him? Do you know who he is?"

   Ricky chuckled eying Justin for a minute. "He and I are good friends. He's gonna spend a couple hours here with me, and then we're gonna hit the town." he looked at Courtney for a second and then continued, "Court... I can't stress enough how important it is to keep this quiet."

   "Don't say another word, boss. The secret's safe with me," she assured him, smiling.

   Justin and Ricky smiled at each other, and then Justin grabbed the magazine she'd been reading, flipping it closed to get a glance at the cover. Ironically, it was a copy of Teen People, and his picture was on the cover. Without hesitation, he pulled a pen out of his pocket, and autographed the magazine, sliding it back to her. Courtney's eyes lit up as she saw the signature. "Thank you," she said grinning from ear-to-ear.

   "No problem," Justin replied, turning back to Ricky, who just smiled.

   "Well, I've got some work to do, so Justin and I are going back to my office, Court," he said, "If you need me, that's where I'll be." Courtney was still smiling widely as she nodded, watching Justin as he and Ricky disappeared into the back of the cafe.

   As the door to Ricky's office shut behind them, Justin grinned at him. "Just your good friend, eh?"

   "Okay, very good friend," Ricky said, grinning back at him. "Besides, what was I supposed to say? 'Court, I think you already know my new boyfriend, Justin Timberlake of 'N Sync.'"

   "Point taken," Justin said, stepping closer to Ricky, sliding his arms around him, sighing. "I hate this, I really do... Having to hide like this. If the public were to find out about this, it could mean the end of 'N Sync. I couldn't do that to the guys."

   Ricky nodded and softly kissed Justin's forehead as he held him close. "I know, Jus.. I'd never ask you to do otherwise. I love you too much to do that."

   Justin blinked. "What'd you say?"

   "I'd never ask you to do oth..."

   "No, after that."

   "That I love you too much to do that?"

   Justin smiled at him. "You love me?"

   "Of course I do, Justin. In the short time that I've known you, I've fallen absolutely head-over-heels for you."

   Justin's smiled softened and he leaned forward, brushing his lips against Ricky's. "I love you, too," he whispered, softly nibbling on Ricky's lower lip. Ricky took the nibble as encouragement and kissed Justin deeply for a moment, then smiled at him as he gently broke away.

   "I need to get my work done," Ricky finally spoke up, reluctantly. "It should only take me about an hour." Justin nodded, and released him. Ricky walked over, sitting behind his desk, motioning to the computer on the other side of the room. "If you want to hop on the net, check e-mail or whatever, go ahead."

   Justin headed over to the other computer as Ricky turned toward his own computer, getting to work. After a bit, as he was paying bills, an instant message popped up on his screen. He raised an eyebrow at the screen name - UNCBlueBounce81 - this was one he'd never seen before. He decided to take a second and see who it was.

UNCBlueBounce81: Hi
PacificSurfCafe: Hi... Do I know you?
UNCBlueBounce81: Maybe... *grin*
PacificSurfCafe: So it's like that, eh?
UNCBlueBounce81: Yup.
PacificSurfCafe: Listen, if you're some psycho stalker or something, you'd better watch out. My boyfriend will kick your ass. He's a big muscular guy.
UNCBlueBounce81: Oh... I'm so scared.

   Ricky's attention was taken from the screen as Justin suddenly burst out laughing. "What's with you?" Ricky asked Justin.

   "Nothing... just a funny e-mail."

   Ricky shrugged at Justin and returned his attention to the computer. Slowly, he put two and two together, realizing that he was chatting with Justin online. He must've seen my screen name on my business card, he thought. A grin passed over his lips as he decided to play it out.

PacificSurfCafe: Yep. Plus, I'm seeing this musician guy on the side. He's cute... not many brains though. He's like a lava lamp, really... Pretty to look at, but not very bright.

   "Hey!" Justin said, turning to find Ricky grinning at him. "Cute, Ricky... Really cute," he said, realizing he'd been caught.

   Ricky just continued to grin at him. "I know I am," he said, watching Justin's eyes roll. "But you're not so bad yourself." He tapped at the keyboard, shutting his computer down, then making his way over to Justin. "I'm done for the day. Let's go." Leaning over, he softly kissed Justin's cheek.

   Justin looked at him questioningly for a moment. "Ricky?"

   "Hmm?"

   "There isn't some big muscular guy, is there?" Justin asked, genuinely concerned about it.

   Ricky chuckled, pulling him up out of the chair and into his arms. "Justin, you can rest assured that there's nobody but you." Placing a gentle kiss on Justin's lips, he tipped his head toward the door. "C'mon... let's go." Justin smiled at him, hugging him tightly one more time before releasing him and wandering back into the public eye.

To Be Continued....