Sara sighed audibly as Brynn flipped through the channels before stopping on MTV. "In other related music news. Pop’s favorite sweethearts, Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake, have announced their split. Sources close to the two say that Timberlake caught Spears’ living it up at downtown New York nightclub, and she wasn’t alone. Spears’ and her new boy toy allegedly cuddled close together all night, exchanging loving words and nuzzling noses. Timberlake left shortly after his arrival, and has yet to make a comment. There you have it. Timberlake has taken the words of their recent smash hit and tells Britney "Bye Bye Bye". Stay tuned to MTV News for further updates."
All three girls looked at each other, Faith finding complete compassion for Justin. "Poor Justin," Faith whispered, looking at Brynn’s fiery eyes. "Oh, she...grr...I’m gonna kill her for real now," Brynn huffed as Sara patted her knee. "She’s going down, but right now we need to get out of this house ladies. Let’s go out tonight. We haven’t been to The Groove in week," Sara said looking at Brynn for help. "Yeah, sounds like fun," Brynn agreed, both of them looking at Faith staring blankly off into space. "Faith, how bout it," Sara said, praying that they could find some way to get her mind off of things. "I don’t know. I doubt I would be much fun," she said, finally looking at her friends. "Faith, it’ll do you some good to get out of the house," Brynn said, as Sara nodded her head. She looked at her friends a moment before finally giving in. "Alright," she whispered, watching slow smiles inch up onto Sara and Brynn’s lips.
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Faith took a deep breath, doing her best to make the most of this evening. She really just wanted to crawl in bed and hide under the covers, but Sara and Brynn were right. She couldn’t let someone like Bryan do that to her. He didn’t love himself, much less have the ability to love her. So, here she was trying her best to put it all behind her and have some fun. She swallowed the lump in her throat as she made her way into the crowded club. More then anything she was scared. Scared that she might actually find a guy tonight, but mostly scared that he would do exactly what Bryan did to her.
Sara and Brynn made their way out to the floor as Faith walked towards the bar. As she sat down on one of the barstools she noticed a very familiar face sitting just two stools down. He looked just like... Her thoughts were interrupted as the bartender spoke. "Can I get you something," he asked. "Yeah, coke please," she called to him over the loud music blasting through the club. "Not many people order cokes. In fact, in the last hour only two people have. Me and you." She turned her head to look at him as he spoke. With the voice to match the face she knew it really was him. "That one’s on me," he said as the bartender placed her coke in front of her. "Thank you," she said as he scooted over to sit beside her.
"You know who I am, don’t you? You’ve got that look on your face like why is he talking to me," he chuckled as her face reddened slightly. "Yeah, I’ll admit that I’m a big fan," she said, taking a sip of her soda, "Your secret is safe with me though. I’m not gonna scream and ask you for your autograph." He chuckled as he took a sip from his soda before sitting it down in front of him. "Well, you know my name, so it’s only fair if I know yours." She smiled at him and slowly extended her hand to his. "My name is Faith. It’s very nice to finally meet you." He smiled at her and shook her hand gently before turning back to his drink. "Ya know, with the look on you face. I’d say you should be drinking something a little harder," she said, gently nudging his arm. "Actually, Joey took care of that last night. My head is still spinning. Coke is much safer," he replied, "and what about you? You don’t look so happy to be here yourself."
He watched as her eyes dropped to her hands, her index finger making slow circles around the rim of her glass. "I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have..." She smiled at him and shook her head. "No, it’s ok. It happened, so there’s no use in hiding from it. He cheated on me," she said, her eyes dimming with the reality of it all. "Jerk." She looked back up at him, somewhat shocked by his reply. "Yeah, my sentiments exactly," she paused a moment, unsure of whether she should continue. "I heard what happened with you and..." she couldn’t even say her name. He simply nodded his head as he took another drink from his soda.
For a moment they sat there silently, Faith unsure of whether she should’ve made that last statement, and Justin unsure of whether or not he could trust her enough to tell her how he really felt. Eventually, both of them gave in and started talking at once. "I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have.." "Can I tell you something..." They both looked at each other, laughing before Faith urged him to continue. "I can’t believe I’m about to do this, but would you like to take a walk outside or something. I have lots of people to talk to, but none of them really understand. Maybe the two of us could help each other." She smiled at him and nodded her head as he slipped down off his stool. She slipped her arm inside his as he led her towards a back door.
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"SARA," Brynn yelled over the music. Sara turned looked at her, dancing her way over to where she was. When she reached her, Brynn continued. "WHERE IS FAITH?!" Sara glanced over at the bar, not finding her in the place she had been sitting all night. Her eyes immediately began to scan the crowd, but instead of finding Faith her eyes landed on several other familiar faces. She grabbed Brynn’s arm, pulling her off the dance floor to get a better look. "Brynn, is that..." Sara said, her eyes slowly finding Brynn’s wide eyed gaze. "Four of the five members of *NSYNC," Brynn finished. "Where the heck is Faith," Sara said as she began searching the crowd again. "Umm...Sara," Brynn said, pointing her finger towards the back of the club, "there she goes. She’s with..." Sara’s eyes were as wide as Brynn’s now. "Justin," Sara finished, both of them shocked.
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"Dude, where the heck did Justin go," Chris said as he and Joey made their way off the dance floor. "I dunno. Maybe Jace knows," Joey answered as he turned around, waving JC towards them. Lance followed JC as all four of them met up near the bar. "Anybody seen Justin," Chris asked when they were all gathered together. "Last time I saw him he was drowning in a soda," Lance said, his eyes scanning the crowd and landing on two ladies looking right back at him. He smiled, giving them a wave before turning back to the other guys. "Busted," he said, leaning in closer to the guys before turning around to look at the two. One of them was now pointing towards the back, not even looking at him.
The other guys followed his gaze in the direction he was pointing. "Obviously they know that girl Justin is walking out with. Either that or they’re just Justin fans," Joey informed as the other guys looked on silently. "Well, he got over his mood quick," Chris said, smiling at the thought of Justin being happy again. "Give them a little while. If Justin doesn’t come back in a few then we’ll go check on him. Besides, we’ve caught the attention of a couple ladies. Think they can handle all four of us," JC joked as the other guys looked back to the girls before nodding their heads and moving towards them.
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The now soft bump of the music could still be heard as they strolled down the empty sidewalk. Nobody was allowed in the back of the club so it was pretty deserted. She wasn’t sure if he wanted her to say something first or if she should wait until he was ready. Either way the silence was killing her, so she finally made up her mind. "Do you feel like you did something wrong?" He looked at her, his eyes showing more emotion then she thought she would ever see from anyone. "Yes. Like if only I had done something different, or if I had just changed one tiny thing. Maybe that’s all it would’ve taken. Maybe I just wasn’t enough." She nodded her head, totally understanding every word he was saying.
"Wanna sit," Faith asked as they approached a bench, overlooking the water. "Sure," he said, walking over and taking a seat. "You know something. This is incredibly weird," Justin said, looking over at her as she sat down beside him. "Yeah, same for me. I mean don’t take this wrong, but you’re Justin Timberlake. Why in the world are you even talking to me, much less TALKING to me, ya know?" He chuckled and leaned back against the bench. "Yeah, but honestly I’m just Justin. I wish more people would look at me and see that. I guess I know that you see that, and that’s why I opened up to you. You’d be surprised how much I know about a person from the first two seconds of a conversation."
She smiled and leaned back next to him. "Yeah, I’m sure the deer in the headlights look just opened you up for conversation with me." He laughed and shook his head. "Actually, you adjusted to your shock pretty well. Maybe it’s just the depression." She laughed and nodded her head, "That must be it." The laughter slowly faded as they sat there, looking out over the water. Finally Justin’s soft voice broke the silence. "Did you know? I mean did you have that feeling, but you just didn’t want to believe it?" She sighed before answering, "I knew. Deep down I knew." He nodded his head as her eyes found his. "Me too. I knew."
He fidgeted a moment before stuttering over his next words. "I...well..I probably shouldn’t ask, but..." She looked at him, knowing what he was going to ask before he even said it. "She was my friend, or so I thought. One of the first people I met when I moved here. She even hooked me up with him." His eyes softened in sympathy as he looked at her. "He was some dancer. Somebody she could see all the time. Somebody to be there. Apparently I’m just not good enough to keep around." Her head turned sharply when she heard him say that. "Justin, I know I don’t have much room to talk, but don’t you ever say that about yourself. You were the best thing she ever could have had. She wasn’t good enough for you." He smiled at her, doing his best to fight off the tears stinging the back of his eyes. "It just hurts. I should be used to it by now, but I still feel so... Ya know, I don’t even know how to describe it. How do you make the pain stop?"
"Hey, there you are. You ok?" Both of them turned around to find Lance standing behind them. "I’m actually doing much better. Lance this is Faith," Justin said as Lance moved in front of them to shake Faith’s hand. "I just came out to check on you. We actually met up with a couple of your friends inside," he said, looking at Faith. "Ahh, Brynn and Sara," she said, smiling at him. "Yeah, those two are a trip. Chris is loving them. They laugh at his jokes," Lance said, chuckling as Justin stood up and Faith joined him. "You should’ve seen them when all four of us ganged up on them," Lance said, both he and Justin linking arms with Faith as they walked back inside. "I’m sure they handled themselves quite nicely," she said with a giggle as Lance opened the door.
The music pounded in their ears as they entered the crowded club again. Faith couldn’t help but laugh at the expression on JC’s face as he got pushed in between Brynn and Joey and Sara and Chris. It turned into a big circle, every once in awhile breaking off into pairs. "POOR GUY," Faith yelled to Justin as they stepped up next to the bar again. He laughed and shook his head as Chris dipped Sara dramatically before sitting her upright on her feet. She laughed and pointed over his shoulder when she noticed Faith, Justin, and Lance standing up by the bar. She turned around, tapping Brynn on the shoulder as the group danced their way back up towards the bar.
"There you are," Sara said when she reached Faith. Faith giggled as both Sara’s and Brynn’s attention drifted over to Justin. "Justin, this is Sara...and this is Brynn," Faith said, introducing them. They started up a conversation as Faith’s eyes drifted over Brynn’s shoulder to JC. He smiled at her, striking up butterflies in her stomach. "Hey hey, so this is Faith," Joey said, breaking her attention away from JC. He scooped her into a friendly hug as Chris stepped up beside her. "Do you think I’m funny," he asked, almost too seriously. "I think you’re a riot," Faith answered, watching him smile. "Oh yeah, I love these girls," he said, leaning over to give her a hug next.
All the while she could still feel JC’s eyes on her. The way he looked at her was straight out of her dreams. It was like he saw a tiny glimmer of something that intrigued him. Whatever that something was. The look in his eyes electrified her senses, and when he extended his hand to her in an invitation to dance she wasted no time with her reply. Slowly the conversation buzzing around them silenced as he led her out onto the floor. The pain associated with the last few days slowly drifted away as she relished in the feel of hid body pressed against hers. Justin had asked her how to make the pain stop, and now just minutes later with one innocent dance she had the answer. His name was JC Chasez.
