The first thing Justin did when he slid into the vinyl booth across from AJ was hand him a folded slip of paper, slightly crumpled and damp from what AJ hoped was Justin's sweaty hand. It was probably a safe guess, given the beads of sweat that dotted Justin's forehead and wrists.
"You're late," he said, curling his own fist around it lightly.
"It's my number."
"You're still late." He slid the note safely into a zippered pocket of his jacket, trusting it was exactly what Justin said it was. It could hardly be anything else; he wasn't the type to be slipping him love notes or death threats.
"Well yeah, but not by much," he mumbled, resting his forehead against the table for a moment. "It's blistering out there."
"I noticed," said AJ, leaning back in the booth and slouching, leaving a smirk on his face as he eyed Justin up and down. It felt good to have the upper hand. "I should've sold you a car with better air conditioning."
"You should've," agreed Justin, grabbing a thin paper napkin to mop his face with. "Bastard. I should complain to your boss, get you written up."
AJ snorted up. "Just try," he said, smirk frozen in place. "Jerry doesn't like you much, Timberlake. You'll be lucky if he doesn't hang up on you."
"Why not?" he asked, crumpling the napkin and tossing it to the opposite end of the table, by the window. "Everyone likes me, it's instinct."
"Tell me, does the size of your ego ever make it hard for you to get through doorways?" AJ reached for a plastic-coated menu, started scanning it even though he almost had the thing memorized. "He looks out for me. He sees you not treating me too good, he takes an instant dislike."
"I bought a car from him! At sticker price! He's not allowed to hate me." Justin gave him a charming smile, one that had worked on so many people before, but it wasn't AJ he needed to convince. AJ was already there, having coffee with him.
"Then you're just going to have to suck up to him a little. And sucking up to me in front of him probably wouldn't hurt, either." He lay the menu flat on the table and stabbed his finger at something. "If you're hungry, this is your best bet. Don't get the eggs. They're runny and they sent a guy to the hospital once."
"Lovely place you picked for us to meet," muttered Justin, sliding the menu closer to himself and turning it around so he could read it.
"They have great coffee," AJ told him. "Got me through a lot of long nights. And pie ... diners are required to have good pie."
"That's a cliche."
"Yes, but it's a cliche for a reason."
"I don't want pie. I want an omelet." Justin had to know that AJ knew he was just being contrary, but he didn't show a flicker of it on his face. He'd obviously had a lot of practice at showing only just exactly what he wanted to show.
"Fine," he said with an indifferent shrug, as good at it as Justin was. "Don't say I didn't warn you about the eggs. At least have some coffee with it; the stuff'll kill any bacteria, trust me."
"I prefer cafe latte," said Justin, peering at the menu. AJ almost told him there was no way he was gonna find that on the menu, but he figured Justin'd find that out for himself, if he was even looking. He figured that Justin was probably just as familiar with late night stops at empty 24-hour diners as he was. "So you're saying the burger is my best bet?"
"Or pie," AJ reminded him. "And think fast."
He loved this place precisely because it was a cliche -- red, cracked vinyl booths and spotty silverware and waitresses in short, gingham uniforms and too much make-up. Just like the one who was approaching them.
Justin's charming smile was back on his face the moment she reached the table, ballpoint pen to pad of paper, bright red lips just started to open to ask what they'd like. "Cheeseburger, please," he said. "with fries and a can of Pepsi."
She smiled back and it looked forced, but she jotted it down, turning to AJ. "And for you, sugar?"
"Just the coffee, Nadine," he said with a brief nod and just the hint of a smile. She smiled back, and he knew she'd be right back with it after she took Justin's order to the kitchen.
"So," said Justin, tapping his fingertips on the table, and AJ knew it was coming. "You haven't exactly reacted."
"Well, I wasn't going to mention the smell, on account of how you're all sweaty ... "
Justin rolled his eyes. "You know what I mean."
"Yeah," said AJ, tapping his own fingers in a conscious imitation of him, immediately noticing how chipped and dirty they were. There was a time they never would have been. "I know what you mean."
"The gay thing," Justin clarified unnecessarily.
"Yes, yes, I get that," said AJ. "I guess I didn't know I was supposed to react. Is that what we're here for? For me to react?"
"Most people would."
He shrugged, figuring that was thing that Justin wanted least. A non-reaction. "So what. So you're gay. So are lots of people." AJ was dead wrong about what Justin wanted, though; he practically beamed, hearing AJ say that. "Doesn't really affect me any, after all."
"Oh, thank God," he said, right as Nadine returned with the coffee.
She filled AJ's cup then, without even asking, turned Justin's over and filled it, too. "Just in case," she said with a wink as she walked away again. AJ took a couple seconds to watch her ass appreciatively.
"So anyway," he said when he finally looked back at Justin again. "No big thing. People giving you grief about it?"
Justin gave him a "what do you think?" look, which he pretty much deserved after a stupid question like that. He'd been watching the news, and especially MTV. They'd latched onto it even after the convincing retractions from Jive. It probably wasn't helping that Britney hadn't said a word, not publicly, one way or the other about the whole thing. But then, neither had Justin. Only their reps.
"The whole thing's getting a little old already," he said. "And I know it's not gonna go away. It's nice to spend some time with someone who doesn't care one way or another. And who doesn't have a financial stake in my heterosexuality, if you know what I mean."
And that, right there, explained more than anything else had why Justin was talking to him, why his own bandmates hadn't been a better choice. He shouldn't have been surprised.
"So I guess it was pretty convenient, running into me," he mused, sipping the coffee black. Justin cringed and reached for the sugar. "All things considered."
"All things considered," agreed Justin, dumping a couple creamers in, too, and stirring it noisily with his spoon. "It was a pretty ... a pretty weird thing, finding you there."
"It was a pretty weird thing finding myself there," he said, looking at Justin's coffee with amusement. It had to taste like sludge by now. "But it's working out for me. You really gonna drink it like that?
Justin took a sip instead of answering. "So you're really having a non-reaction to the gay thing?" he asked again, like he couldn't conceive of that.
"Believe it or not," he said with an exasperated sigh, "my world doesn't revolve around you. In fact, until a few days ago, you weren't really a part of my world at all. Do you want me to react, give you some stupid speech about how 'some of my best friends are, too'? You don't need to be hearing that, you've probably heard it a hundred times. Obviously this isn't some new revelation for you." He sipped his coffee again. "Are you trying to say you want to talk about it?"
"No," said Justin, shaking his head emphatically. "God no. Do you have any idea how much 'talking about it' I've done over the last few days? You haven't lived until you've had to tell a label exec that you suck dick."
"Try telling them you've snorted coke."
"Touché," said Justin. "They can probably relate to that, actually."
"They can probably relate to the sucking dick thing, too," snorted AJ. "So do you believe me now? Not. A big. Fucking. Deal. K?"
"I get it," said Justin. "I get it, thanks. Just wanted to make sure I could talk about it some time, if it came up. Which it could."
"Of course it could," said AJ, resisting the urge to roll his eyes at him again. For a guy who didn't want to talk about it, he sure was. "I talk about girls' asses, you talk about guys' asses. It'll happen all the time. Whatever. Talk about whatever you like." He took another sip and stared at Justin over the rim of his coffee cup until the kid started to squirm. "So you're assuming we're going to get together again."
"Well, I did give you my number ... "
"And you were so sure I'd call?" AJ smirked again and shook his head at him. He'd been wrong about some things he'd assumed about Justin, but he'd been right about more. "Oh, don't give me that look," he muttered when Justin started with the predictable, if subtle, puppy dog eyes. "I'm gonna call. Maybe this weekend, if you're around."
"Or sooner?"
"You have my number, too," AJ reminded him. "And you know where to find me. You want to see me sooner, you make an effort." Justin made the eyes again, but it didn't work. A few moments later he let the expression drop into something more natural. "Oh, like it's so hard," AJ added. "You worried about being caught or something? Fraternizing with the enemy? You should've thought of that before meeting me for coffee today."
"Yeah, 'cause talking to a Backstreet Boy outside of work is so much worse than being gay," said Justin, impressively deadpan. "Fine. I'll call. Since you seem to have so much free time on your hands."
"We're taking a break," said AJ again, and didn't feel the need to offer him an explanation. They weren't that close. "You do that. Call. I'll let you talk about boys and bandmates and ex-girlfriends. It'll make great fodder for the gossip column I'm writing."
Justin paused mid-sip. "You're not really though, right?" he said.
AJ laughed in his face. "When did you get so gullible, Timberlake?" he asked, draining his cup. "No, I've actually learned how to keep things on the down low in the past few years. Amazing, that. Just call, all right?"
He knew, though, that even if Justin didn't, he would, and for the exact same reasons that Justin probably was. There were some things that you just didn't talk about with your best friends, because they were just too close to it, but you didn't talk about them with strangers, either. And Justin was one of those few trustworthy people who was in between.
And dammit, he was starting to actually like the kid.