Moonlight shone dimly through a window of NSYNC's tour bus, lighting the extremely small kitchenette, and Justin Timberlake, who sat at the table, staring blankly at his hands.
He knew he shouldn't be up so late. They had a busy day ahead of them, when they reached the very last spot on their tour, in Orlando, Florida. It was their homecoming. And with homecomings came more fans then normal, radio interviews, local news coverage, newspaper articles, concerts, and best of all friends and family.
There was one friend who stuck out in his mind. Danielle Fountaine. I guess you couldn't really call her a friend anymore, since they had broken up nearly a year ago after a two year long relationship.
Joey Fatone one of Justin's bandmates had introduced him to Danielle when he was fourteen and she was fifteen.
Despite the three year age difference, Joey and Danielle had always been pretty good friends, since their mothers had been.
Anyways, Danielle and Justin met back in '95, when NSYNC first got together. They immediately became friends, but something about her had always enchanted him, and by the end of the year, he had mustered up enough courage to ask her out. She said yes.
As NSYNC's fame grew in Europe, and the guys began spending more and more time on tour, it actually brought the two closer. It made the time they spent together more special.
They're relationship slowly became more intimate, and finally, after almost two years, they made love for the first time.
Two months later, Danielle came to him, and explained to him that she was pregnant.
He couldn't believe it. And he didn't. In his mind, he didn't understand how it happened. They had used every precaution. Condoms, birth control, and they had only done it once.
Justin insisted that the child wasn't his. They had a huge fight, and he accused her of sleeping with someone else.
Danielle had screamed and cried at him, but ended up telling him to leave and saying she didn't want his help rasing the baby anyways. She had only just turned 18.
Danielle had given birth to a baby boy two months premature in October, that she named Noah Christopher. The baby was now seven months old.
Justin knew a lot about Danielle and Noah, only because Joey still kept in touch with her. And because Lance Bass kept in touch with Danielle's best friend and roommate Brittny Abrahamson, who Lance had met through Danielle, and kept in touch with.
"Justin?" a tired voice asked.
Justin looked up.
Chris Kirkpatrick shuffled into the kitchenette, and pulled a bottled water out of the refrigerator. "What are you doing?"
Justin shrugged, as Chris sat down. "Thinking."
"You can htink at this time of night?"
"Yeah."
"Man, I have a hard time comprehending that, since you have a hard time thinking up anything smart during decent hours of the day."
Justin shot him an evil look.
Chris unscrewed the cap. "So, what were you thinking about?"
"Why should I bother telling you? All you're gonna do is crack some lame joke about it." Justin said, a hint of anger in his voice.
"Oh, come on. I promise I'll be good."
Justin sighed.
"So. . . ?"
"I was thinking about Danielle."
"Again?"
"I can't help it. I was just thinking. . . what if I was wrong? What if she didn't sleep with someone else, and the kid is mine? I'd be a father, to a kid I've never met, whose mother probably thinks I'm the scum of the earth."
Chris sat silently for a moment before speaking. "Justin, did you honestly think Danielle would cheat on you?"
He shrugged. "At the time I did."
"Because, i wasn't super close to her, but I was pretty good friends with her, and I do know, that she's not the type of girl to run off and have sex with some guy. She was in love with you, man."
Justin stared at the wall. "I know." he whispered. "What I don't understand is why it took me so long to realize it."
Chris stood up. "I think you did realize it. You just didn't want to admit it, and take the responsibility of raising a child."
Justin dropped his head to his hands. "I think I ruined the best thing that ever happened to me.