Blue Ocean Floor (A Justin Timberlake Fanfic)

Pastrami with a Side of Truce

"Ugh, you're right. She's great." Reese and I had just left a yoga class with Jessica. She had to go get her and Justin's dogs and we were going to brunch. "She's more cheerful than I thought she would be. I guess being married to Justin will do that to you."

"Justin told her we just ended up drifting apart. She doesn't know about what happened. For some reason I thought he would've told her and she would've hated me immediately."

"Cameron hated you immediately because she's a cunt. Jessica seems cool. Probably why Justin married her. He has his reasons for not telling her, I'm sure. How exactly do you say 'I confessed my undying love for my best friend, she shut me down, and I walked out her life forever'?"

"Wow, when you put it like that I am a terrible person."

"You know, you could be Mrs. Timberlake right now."

"Justin wouldn't have married me."

"You don't think so? I think he would've waited a few months and then popped up with a ring. He's a romantic like that. He thought you guys were soulmates." she said, matter-of-factly.

"Soulmates?"

"Hey, I'm just repeating what he told me. He thought you were the one." I thought back to Justin asking me if Jeremy was 'the one'. She's the closest thing I'll ever get to a 'one'.

"We were in our 20s, everyone you're in love with is the one. Jessica is probably really his one. You should see them together. You can see it in the way they look at each other."

"He could've been looking at YOU like that. You never allow yourself to be happy. It's like you're always punishing yourself for something. I know that you had to work through the issues you had with your father, but that didn't have to ruin your relationship with Justin. He knew you, and he still knows more about you than I think even I'll ever know. You should've given him a chance instead of running away from him."

"I was young. That was almost 10 years ago. We're all married and at different stages of our lives. Anyway, Justin agreed that we could try to be friends."

"I don't know if after something like that you can be someone's friend. That's just my honest opinion."

"I'm optimistic."

The next day I was sitting at my desk, trying not to fall asleep. I'm starting to think I should see a doctor about my inability to sleep. It started happening a couple of years ago and I was starting to wonder if it had anything to do with my move to New York or my workaholic tendencies. On the nights I couldn't sleep back in California I would drive to the beach and watch the ocean until I got tired. I really missed doing that. The weather here during the cold months wasn't exactly ideal either. But it wasn't every day you got offered a job at one of the most famous museums in the world, especially not at my age. My thoughts were interrupted as my phone rang.

"Hello, Cassandra speaking."

"Cassandra! It's Joanne Heyler!"

"Oh my goodness! Joanne, how have you been?"

Joanne was director and chief curator of The Broad foundation. We'd met at an event at LACMA when I was working there as an assistant, and totally vibed over our mutual love for Yayoi Kusama. I had to wonder how she had gotten my contact information though. That event was years ago.

"I'm great. I'm actually calling you for a reason. I see you're in New York at The Met?"

"I am."

"I remember us speaking about your love of Yayoi Kusama and Mark Bradford. It's one of the more interesting conversations I've had at a drab event. I also see that since you've started at The Met visitation is up by 12%. That's incredible. You're really making waves."