Careless Mistake
by Kelli
Part 29
Early October 2004...
"No seriously.....so she pulled it over her face and got so angry that she couldn't see," Britney laughed.
Justin joined in her laughter as they walked down the beach toward the restaurant. Their intertwined hands swung back and forth. Justin had on a pair of khaki shorts with a navy polo and Britney had on a camel colored wrap-around skirt and a white blouse that drooped off of her shoulder and was loose fitting.
"So what did she do when you removed the blanket?" Justin asked.
"She just gave me this look like, what happened mommy?" she giggled.
Justin kept staring at her even after she was done talking.
"What?" she asked, brushing a strand of hair the wind blew in her eye.
"Your face just lights up when you talk about Mackenzie," he said smiling.
The wind blew her hair in her face again, so she swiped it away.
"I love talking about her," she smiled.
He brought her hand up to his mouth and kissed the back of it.
"So, how much farther?" she asked, looking ahead.
"Not too much farther, I don't think...." he said squinting as he looked down the beach.
"It feels like we've been walking forever..."
"It seemed closer the other day," he chuckled.
"So I see why you were gone so long...."
"I guess so."
They moved a little closer to the water so that Britney could feel the wet sand beneath her toes, she was carrying her sandals and Justin was carrying his shoes..
"Do we have to go back tomorrow?" she whined, leaning into his side a little bit as they continued to walk.
"Don't you want to see Mackenzie?"
She looked over at him. "Of course I do. I didn't mean it that way..."
"No, I know what you meant. I feel the same way. This trip was good for us, huh?"
She smiled and nodded. "It was very good...."
He leaned down and kissed her. When she pulled away she looked back up.
"Oh, I see something ahead, is that it?" she asked, pointing straight ahead.
"Yep, I think that's it."
They reached the pier that the restaurant was on and both put on their shoes. Justin let Britney climb the stairs first. It was an older building that sat on top of this pier like structure that jutted out into the ocean. All of the tables were outside.
"I love this," she said when they reached the last step.
They could hear soft calypso music playing in the background over the speakers.
"Two?" the waiter walking by asked.
"Yes please.....um if there's a table at the end of the pier, that would be great," Justin said.
He nodded and showed them the way. They walked past all of the tables to a table that was in the corner, farthest into the ocean.
"The best seat in the house," the waiter said as he held his arm out.
"Thank you," Britney said as she took her seat.
She looked around at the small tiki lights that surrounded the deck. With the warm breeze coming off the ocean, the hum of the music and the smell of the good food, she felt like she was in heaven.
"This is a great way to end our stay," she said to Justin as he took his seat next to her.
"I hope so. We haven't tried the food yet," he whispered to her.
She laughed.
They looked over the menu and ordered cocktails when the waiter came back over. They also placed their order and decided to share a sampler platter.
"We'll get to see the sun set from here, won't we?" Britney asked, noticing the low sun over the water in the distance.
"We sure will...."
She scooted her chair closer to him and he draped his arm across the back of her chair. She leaned into his side and rested her head against his chest.
The waiter delivered their drinks without them even noticing it because they were too busy staring at the water.
When the sun disappeared Britney sighed. "Gorgeous," she said.
"Yes....it is," he said.
When she glanced up at him she smiled when she realized he had been looking at her. He leaned down and slowly captured her mouth in a kiss.
The waiter cleared his throat. "Excuse me, here's your appetizers," he said before placing them on the table in front of the couple.
"Thanks," Justin said.
He didn't want to remove his arm so he tried tearing apart the shrimp with one hand but when it didn't work, Britney laughed and did it for him.
"Here, let me feed you," she said, giving him a quick kiss before placing the shrimp in his mouth.
"My plan worked," he teased.
"Ha ha," she said taking a bite of some foreign dip she had no idea what it was. "This is good," she said with her mouth full.
She held a chip out for him to let him taste and he nodded as he swallowed. "It is good."
They continued the evening like this. Lighthearted conversation, neither of them trying to think about what kind of responsibilities they had to go home to tomorrow.
"Can I ask you something?" Britney asked a little later over dinner.
"Of course," Justin said, leaning over his plate.
"What are we going to do with two houses in LA?" She took a bite of the fish.
He raised his eyebrows and lowered them.
"I guess we need to figure that out, huh?" he asked.
"Yeah well....I guess it didn't matter because either one or the other of us was on tour and we didn't need to worry about it."
He nodded as he looked down at his plate. He took a sip of his beer before answering her.
"What do you want to do? And be honest with me...." He put his hands on his lap.
She leaned her left arm against the table and looked at him. "I don't know....I know that sounds like a cop out but I really don't."
"Do you mean you don't know which house we should live in or does that mean you don't know if we should live in the same house?" he asked.
"Do you?"
"Do I what?" he blinked.
"Want to live in the same house together?"
He leaned back in his chair. "I asked you what you wanted first.....Brit, just be honest with me. No matter what your answer is, I can handle it." He took her hand.
"I want you, Mackenzie and I to live together," she said softly.
He smiled. "Good, I want that too."
"But I can't decide which house. I love them both," she shrugged. "What about you?"
He thought about it for a moment. "I have attachments to both houses....but if you want an honest answer from me I'd have to say that my house feels more like home for me. As many good memories you and I had in your house, I have a couple of sour ones as well."
She nodded and lowered her head. "I understand."
"We could always get a new place....together."
"And sell two places at the same time? I don't think so," she chuckled.
He shrugged. "Yeah that would be a bit much, huh?"
"So....we move into your place, then...."
He began to rub her hand. "Only if that's what you want too. You have to feel comfortable with that...."
"It's just that that was my first real place by myself....it was our place for a little while...."
He lifted her chin up with his free hand. "I know....but think of the good memories we have at my house....your water broke out on my patio," he said proudly.
She giggled. "Yeah it did. You know what?"
He shook his head.
"We'll be happy wherever we are because we'll be together...."
"I like the sound of that. So I guess I can scratch that conversation off my list to bring up tonight," he said with a smile.
"Which conversation would that be?"
"I wanted to talk to you about living arrangements. Like if they were going to be together.....with our daughter. Oh and the other one was if we did live together, for Mackenzie's sake, would it just be for Mackenzie's sake or would it be for ours too?"
Her eyes softened as she looked at him. "I'm surprised you felt you needed to ask....we've been living together for a couple of months now, on the road."
"Yeah but that's different," he said, leaning toward her a little bit. "That's almost out of necessity so we can both be around Mackenzie."
"Well maybe...."
"But after this trip....I have a feeling we'll be living together for our sake...."
She smiled at him and touched his lips with her fingers. "Most definitely."
The waiter cleared their places and offered them cigars or dessert.
Britney laughed. "I'm stuffed, neither for me thank you."
"We're fine," Justin added.
Suddenly she put her napkin on the table. "I'm going to go to the little ladies room."
She kissed him before standing up.
"Don't be long."
"I won't," she said heading toward the small building that served as the kitchen and bar.
She returned a few minutes later and there were two glasses of champagne on the table and a box of chocolate mints.
"Oh I love these things," she said as she sat down again.
"They taste even better with champagne," Justin said, picking up both glasses and handing one to Britney. "Let's make a toast."
"Okay," she said taking the glass from him.
"To our future together as a family," he said.
"I like the sound of that," she said, clinking her glass to his.
She took a sip and then licked her lips. "I'm surprised they have champagne at a place like this," she said.
"Normally they don't....you have to send the bottle ahead," he winked.
She chuckled. "Oh I see...."
They continued to take sips from their glasses and Britney became distracted.
"You okay?" Justin asked, resting his arm on the back of her chair again.
"Yeah, I'm fine....just thinking about something. Want more champagne?" she asked, nodding toward the bottle.
"No I'm fine....thanks. Do you?"
She shook her head and bit her lower lip.
"Brit, what's going on? You never do that unless you're nervous or something," he said, taking her hand in his.
"There's something I want to do and I think this is the perfect time. Because this was the perfect trip for us...."
He nodded. "I agree, it was perfect...."
She pulled something out of her pocket.
"Remember back in December when I was pregnant and you asked me a question?"
He blinked. "Of course."
"I couldn't give you a good answer back then because there were so many things clouding my mind...."
His thumb gently caressed the back of her hand.
"I understood that....."
She held up her hand and touched his lips so he'd stop talking.
"Well things have changed since then. We've been together now and I've seen how you are with our daughter, and you're so wonderful," she said, shaking her head and fighting back the tears.
He smiled behind her fingers that were still touching his lips.
"And I knew you would be but being around it just reaffirms my feelings for you. I know now that we love each other as Justin and Britney. I felt strongly about that before this trip but now, after just these few days I can't imagine...." she took a deep breath before continuing. "I can't imagine being with anyone else or having more children with anyone else but you," she said almost hoarsely because she was getting choked up. "I love you so so much."
"I love you too," he said against her fingers.
"So.....if I may, I'd like to give you my answer to your question from last December, if the offer still stands?"
He smiled and his eyes got glassy.
She took her fingers away. "The offer still stands...."
She took a deep breath. "Well then, Justin Timberlake, yes, I'll marry you."
She giggled as she showed him a cigar band. He laughed and removed his arm from around her chair.
"Where did you get this?"
"I bought a cigar and took it off when I went to the restroom," she whispered.
She took his left hand and slid it on his ring finger.
"Will you marry me, Justin?"
He cupped her cheek with one hand and tenderly kissed her. His tongue probed for hers. He pulled away and all they could hear were the waves crashing around them.
"Yes, I will marry you."
She laughed as tears sprung to her eyes.
They kissed one more time.
"Let's walk back to our room," she said against his lips.
He nodded. He looked at the check and threw down enough money and they both stood up and headed toward the beach again.
As they walked back, they'd stop once in awhile to kiss, because they couldn't keep their hands off of each other.
At one point Justin looked around and laughed.
"What?" she asked.
"I just can't believe you did what you did," he chuckled and stopped them from walking any further.
They could see each other from the light of the moon reflecting off of the water.
"Why? A woman can ask a man to marry her now-a-days..." she said, her hands on her hips.
He shook his head and reached into his pocket.
"I don't mean because of that I mean it because of this..."
He pulled a small box out of his pocket and opened it up for her.
"Oh Justin," she said, her hand touching her heart.
"I was going to re-ask you tonight, here on the beach in the moonlight.....but you beat me to it," he chuckled.
"Awwww, who ever said we were conventional?" she giggled.
He took the ring out of the box and took her left hand. "Now we'll both have one," he winked at her.
"Justin, it's beautiful. I love it."
"Okay, let me do this the right way," he said, kneeling down on the sand on one knee.
She laughed.
"Britney Jean Spears, will you marry me?"
She wiped away a tear and clutched onto his hand.
"Yes Justin Randall Timberlake, I will marry you...."
