THE POLAROID

CHAPTER 8

Serena stood at the mirror making sure that every strand of hair was in its place. She took a deep breath and slowly walked to the front door. As she pulled it open, a glazed look formed on her face.

"Hi. Serena, right? I remember you from the club." Justin watched her standing completely still, never once blinking. "You okay?"

Kerri came up behind her roommate and smacked her on the back, "I can't take her anywhere."

Serena turned and rolled her eyes before looking back at Justin and saying hello. He put his hand out to shake hers and was startled when she pulled him inside to hug him. Kerri just chuckled to herself as she walked into the living room, leaving Justin helpless with her best friend.

"Your apartment is nice." He said as he looked around on his way over to the couch.

"Well it's not as big as Mansion de Timberlake, but it serves its purpose."

Justin lightly pulled her hair as he rounded the corner to sit down. Kerri was flipping through stations and called out to Serena to check on the chicken she had started cooking. Serena called over to Justin and asked, "What are you in the mood for? My breasts-I mean a breast?"

Kerri lightly elbowed Justin who was trying not to laugh, "Yeah. A breast would be very titilating right about now." He smiled.

Serena turned around and shook her head in embarrassment and made him a plate. The three of them spent most of the early afternoon watching movies and competing at Playstation, before Serena had to head out to the station to catch up on some work.

Once she was gone, Justin and Kerri made their way out to the balcony for a while. He sat on the hard, concrete ledge while she leaned over beside him. They talked briefly before being interrupted by her neighbor, who came out to water the plants and discovered the singer, just a few feet away.

"...Nah, he gets that all the time. I don't think they look anything alike. Justin in much sexier than him...Not to mention much cuter." She laughed.

Her neighbor was having a hard time believing it wasn't really him and lingered outside to be nosy. Seeing that they wouldn't have much privacy to talk anymore, Kerri decided it was time to go back in. "Damn, I see how it is." He scoffed.

Kerri bent down in the fridge to grab them some sodas. "See how what is?"

"How are you gonna say that this face is not cute or this body is not sexy." He stood in the middle of the living room pointing to himself.

Kerri rolled her eyes at his immodesty. She didn’t want him to harp on it all afternoon and said, “Ok. Calm down, Geronimo. I was just saying you were ugly to get her to leave us alone. She has a huge mouth and I don't want all my neighbors bugging me."

He gave her a cocky grin as he inched his way towards her. "And my sex appeal?"

Kerri handed him a soda. "Well I'm sure that a lot of girls might fall for that whole thing you do when you do that thing with your eyes and push together your bottom lip with your thumb and index finger, but I'm a woman...I need more than that."

"It must have some affect for you to have been observant enough to know it as well as you do." He smirked.

"No. You just do it all the time!" She complained.

She secretly thought it was cute, but she wasn’t going to admit that to him. She, instead, retreated to her room to check her email. Justin followed her and threw himself onto her bed. Kerri began typing away as he spouted off about how soft her bed was and then rummaging through all her cd's to compare their taste in music. Kerri was too preoccupied with her emails from work to worry about what Justin was doing.

"...Oh-oh, here she comes, Watch out boy she'll chew you up...Oh-oh, here she comes, She's a man-eater." He sang excitedly as he put the cd into her stereo and pressed play.

Kerri found herself singing along with him as he played 20 seconds of each song on the CD. He went up behind her, singing and clapping in her ear, "Private Eyes. They’re watching you, they see your every move..."

"Come on, man!" She shoved him away.

"What are you doing?" He asked leaning over her shoulder to look at the screen.

His cologne spelled really nice mixed in with whatever soap he had used that morning. Kerri pushed the thought from her mind. "I have to write back to my boss about an interview I just did with someone. But instead I'm here writing what you are singing instead of what I need him to know."

He laid down on the bed and patiently waited for her to finish. "You never asked me what I needed to talk to you about."

Kerri kept her eyes focused on the screen as she continued to type, "I figured that if it was as important as you made it seem, that you would tell me when you were ready." She finished up the last sentence and hit send before pushing in the keyboard drawer and crawling onto the floor to put back the cd's Justin had taken out.

He sat up and threw a pillow at Kerri to get her full attention. "Well, here's the thing...Remember how you keep saying that you would quit if you knew you and your crew had somewhere else to go?

"Yeah?"

"Well, I was bragging about you to people over at 104.7 and a lot of them know your show. They wanted to set up an interview if you were interested?

Kerri narrowed her eyes towards him, hoping that he wasn’t just joking around with her. "Are you bullshitting me?”

"I swear.”

Kerri didn't know what to say. She was completely shocked. "It sounds incredible, Justin. A little too incredible. What's the catch?"

"No catch. They just want to make sure you are a free agent when you come in to interview. They don’t want to have to battle another station for you."

"I knew there was something. I can't, Justin. I can’t just walk into the station and quit and not have something concrete lined up. I have other people besides myself to worry about. What if they don’t like me and I end up not getting the job? I’ll have majorly fucked myself and everyone else.”

“You gotta start focusing on you for a change, Kerri. Stop worrying about everyone else so much. You can’t be happy going in there every day, dealing with your ex. I’m sure that if things don’t work out with this interview - which I know they will - everyone will be able to find something else.”

Kerri sat on the edge of the bed, elbows rested on her knees as she ran her fingers through her hair trying to absorb what she was really thinking about doing. “I have to at least talk to everyone about it first. I don’t want to just spring it up on at the last minute.”

“If I’m wrong, then I will slide you a few dollars till you find something else.”

She whipped her head back and glared at him. "You most certainly will not!"

"Kerri, I know you are ready to move on to the next level, then you are going to have to take chances and just go for it."

"It's easier said than done, Justin."

Kerri wished she was blessed with Justin's 'go for it' attitude, but knew it was unrealistic. He didn't have to put himself out there anymore. He'd already done that when he joined the group. He also had his mother and family backing him up and supporting him each step of the way. Kerri only had herself. She and Serena were barely surviving. If she were to quit her job and not have anything stable set up when she left, she would not only be putting herself at risk, but her best friend as well.

Kerri had been wanting to move on for a while. It was a small radio station and they didn’t really have the resources to take to her where she wanted to be in her career. She and Serena had gotten a call from a station down in Memphis about possibly having her show syndicated. She knew that if that were to happen, she could branch off with no worries whatsoever about herself or her crew. But her bosses were hell bent on holding onto her. It was one of their most popular shows during the day and if they lost her, they would lose money.

Before leaving to head home, Justin told her to really think about it before she gave him a definite answer.

The next afternoon at work, she had gotten her crew together to discuss the situation. Everyone seemed to be in her corner, but it still didn’t make her feel any better about the decision she had to make.

Unable to concentrate, Kerri sat at the table most of the day, staring at the screen between commercials. Justin was right. She was afraid. Afraid of failing. She looked around at her co-workers. She knew this wasn't where she wanted to be for the next year…Continuously having to answer to her ex-boyfriend day in and day out.

Kerri wanted to be her own person. She wanted to actually be in charge of her own career. She wanted to be the one to negotiate her salary. She dreamed of being able to say, "take it, or leave it" to people who wanted to undercut her talents. She was tired of having to bend to other people’s wills because it was good for business. Kerri always had an ear for talent and an eye for detail and never once not given a hundred percent to her work.

In the short time that he knew her, Justin had hit the nail right on the head. How could he know her so well, without barely knowing her at all? He’d done it again. He’d somehow swooped in a second time and unlocked another door inside of her, but this time she couldn’t shut it.

BANG BANG BANG

"What the fuck?" Justin complained as he struggled to make his way down the stairs to answer the front door. He was so tired, his vision was blurry. He opened the front door and tried to focus in on the person in front of him. "Damn, Trace. You forget your key again?"

"Justin. It’s me...Kerri."

He wiped his eyes and squinted to see her face. He looked down at his watch, "Jesus, Kerri. Do you know it's 4am?"

She stood outside his front door looking down at his feet. "How serious were you about that interview. Because, I need to know if I have to go back to work tomorrow and grovel to get my job back."

He looked at her and could see she was scared to death. Her hands were trembling and her face was completely flushed of color. "I'm very serious." He put his arm out to her and motioned for her to come inside.

CHAPTER 9