Justin jogged down the stairs, his arms bouncing at his sides at the impact his feet made on the steps.
Reaching the bottom, he could faintly hear voices coming from the kitchen across the foyer.
His bare feet making soft slapping noises on the tiled floor, he crossed the short distance to the entrance of the kitchen and leaned on the door frame.
Landon sat at the kitchen table on the far end of the room. Back lit by a wall of windows, it gave him an angelic glow, although Justin knew he was anything but angelic. Hannah sat across from Landon, quietly chatting with him as she occasionally sipped a glass of orange juice. Erin was at the refrigerator, rummaging through the contents in search of something.
Landons eyes raised to Justin, a smile coming to his face. "Morning J." he greeted as he folded his arms across the tabletop in front of him. "Glad you could grace us with your presence."
"Shut up, dude." Justin smiled as he ventured further into the kitchen. Walking up to Erin, he kissed her gently on the lips before walking over to sit at the table. "What are you doing here?"
"What? You don't want to see your best friend?" Landon asked, faking hurt. "Fine. Screw you then. There are plenty of other people I can visit, you know."
Justin laughed. "No there isn't."
Landon rolled his eyes at Justin before reaching out to smack him. "Shut up."
Erin came up behind Justin, placing a plate of pancakes in front of him.
"Erin, you didn't have to cook breakfast." he said, smiling between her and the plate in front of him.
"Yeah, I know, but Landon was whining so much that I thought I better feed him." she joked, giving Landon a smirk.
"What is this? Bust on Landon day?" he asked, pouting.
Everyone in the room nodded.
Picking up the fork beside him, Justin began to cut a piece of his pancake. "So, what's up with everyone today?"
"Well, Erin and I are going shopping. I have to go to some stupid work party with Dylan this weekend, and I need something to wear." Hannah explained as she yet again sipped her orange juice.
Justin turned to look at her. "What? Hannah, you own more clothes than our entire wardrobe company, and you still feel the need to go shopping?"
"What? Its a disease, Justin. I am a shopaholic." she grinned. Turning to Landon, she pointed a finger at him warningly. "And don't you dare say one sarcastic word about diseases, Landon."
He raised his hands in front of him in defeat, giving Justin a playful smirk. After a moment, both men burst out laughing.
"Oh, fuck off." Hannah yelled as she stood up from the table to place her now empty glass in the sink.
Calming his laughter, Landon turned to Justin. "So, since the girls are going out today, I figured we could do something. Basketball. Movie." Snapping his fingers, Landon sat up in his seat. "Oh! I know! My little brother just got his first car, and the engine is making a weird noise. I told him I would fix it for him. We can play mechanic!"
Justin rolled his eyes. "You know I suck at that." he said as he shoved a piece of pancake in his mouth.
"So," Landon shrugged. "You can just sit there and watch me. Hand me tools and stuff." Leaning back in his chair, he crossed his arms over his chest. "Besides, you are better at hooking up stereos than me, and Jake just bought a kickass one for his car. You need to hook it up."
"Why me?" Justin asked.
"Because I already told him you would." Landon grinned.
Rolling his eyes, Justin dug his fork into the pancakes again. "Fine."
Finishing up breakfast, Justin jogged back upstairs to shower and change before going over to Landons.
The girls left promptly, saying that there were only nine more good shopping hours left in the day.
Returning back downstairs to find Landon playing Play Station, Justin slipped on his shoes before dragging Landon away from the TV to leave. Locking the house, they piled into Landons car and set off down the street.
Landon lived fifteen minutes away, in a small, quiet neighborhood on the outskirts of Orlando. He had recently graduated from the University of Central Florida with a major in economics. He had just landed a job with a large computer company in Orlando, and was just now looking for a place of his own. He knew it was better for him to live at home while going to school to keep his costs low. His parents traveled a lot, so they were rarely home. Having Landon there made it easier for them to be away for long periods of time.
Neither man said a word as they made the short drive over to the house. The radio pounded loudly around them, both content with the music rather than the need for conversation.
Suddenly, Landon reached out and turned down the radio. "So, what's new?"
Justin looked over to his friend, a look of confusion on his face. "Dude, I just talked to you yesterday. What could be new since yesterday?"
"In your life, a lot." Landon teased. Slowly to turn a corner, he turned his attention back to Justin. "So, have you been thinking anymore about moving Erin in with you?"
Justin couldn't help the shocked expression from coming to his face.
He had mentioned before going out on tour that he was thinking of asking Erin to move in with him. She spent the majority of her time there anyways when he was home, so it was only logical. He knew he loved her, and knew he was ready for the commitment. But still, something had kept him from bringing it up to her.
Looking back out the window, Justin shrugged. "I haven't really thought much about it lately."
"Why not?" Landon asked.
"I don't know." Justin shrugged again. "Ive had a lot of other stuff on my mind." Looking back to Landon, Justin asked. "What made you think of that?"
"I don't know." he said. He was quiet for a moment before answering. "It was just that this morning when I came over, it was nice to have her greet me at the door. She's a much better picture than you are in the morning," he teased as Justin reached across and punched him playfully in the arm. "It just got me to thinking how perfect you guys are together. Ive known you a long time, man, and Ive never seen you as happy as you are with her." He was quiet again before shrugging. "I'm just saying that I think it would be a good thing. I mean she's there all the time anyway. May as well make it official."
Justin had to smile at his logic. He agreed with Landon completely. Now all he had to do was bring this up to Erin.
The two fell quiet again for the remainder of the drive. Pulling into Landons driveway, they were greeted by his parents out on the lawn, raking leaves.
"Well, hello there Justin." Landons mother greeted with a warm smile. "I see Landon recruited you to help with Jakes car."
"Yeah, he kidnapped me." Justin teased. Looking down to the pile of leaves in front of her, Justin looked up to her. "You need any help with that Mom?"
"No thanks, honey. That's what Landon is for." she said, patting his cheek.
Justin had called Landons parents mom and dad since they had met. He found it funny at first, but they had insisted. They said that being called sir of ma'am made them feel old.
Shaking Landons fathers hand, Justin turned to follow Landon into the house in search of his brother.
After dragging Jake out of his room, saying that it was his car so he had to help, the three men set to work.
Justin smiled at the blue Cavalier that sat in the driveway. It was the perfect first car. Considering that Jake paid for it himself, Justin was quite impressed. But he had to laugh when he realized that the kid had paid more for the stereo than he had for the whole car.
After four hours of extensive work, sweat and endless swearing, they had finally finished. The car was running perfectly, and the stereo sounded better than the one in Justins house.
Covered in grease, the boys walked into the house to clean up.
"Don't you boys get any of that grease on my furniture!" Landons mother scolded as they headed for the bathroom.
"We wont." they answered in unison.
After cleaning up, Landons parents invited Justin to stay for dinner. Of course he accepted their offer.
Calling to leave a message for Erin, he sat down at the table with the rest of the family.
Justin hadn't been overly excited when Landon had dragged him out to work on the car that morning, but he had to admit that he had enjoyed it. It was more fun than he thought it would be, and to see what they had accomplished made him smile.
Now, sitting down to dinner with the family he had known for years, he felt more normal than he had in a long time.
To them, he was just Justin. Not Justin Timberlake, NSync superstar. He was just a normal guy, who just happened to have a not so normal job.
Spending the next two hours talking, laughing and telling them some of the funny tour stories he had experienced over the last few months, Justin returned home.
After assuring Landon that he would try and get him Christina Aguileras phone number, Justin said good bye to his friend and entered his house.
Erin was still not home, and Justin was greeted with an eeire silence as he closed the door behind him.
Sliding off his shoes, he tossed them to the side as he jogged upstairs to change.
Returning back down in a clean pair of pajama pants and a white wife beater, Justin entered the kitchen. Pushing the button for the answering machine, he began to listen to the messages.
"You have seven new messages." the automated voice stated.
"Hey, you have reached Justin. Leave a message, and if I like you, Ill call you back." Beep.
He smiled at his outgoing message.
"Justin, this is your mother." a familiar voice called through the quiet kitchen as Justin pulled open the door to the fridge and grabbed a can of Pepsi. "Give me a call when you get a chance. I want you to come to dinner this weekend if you can. I also have that book for Erin that she wanted to read when I was finished with it. Give me a call when you get in. Love you." Beep.
Justin walked over to the answering machine, watching as the number on the small screen changed from that of his mothers, to Erins cell phone number.
"J, its me. I'm going to a movie with Hannah, so I wont be home until later. Knowing you, you already ate at Landons, but Ill bring you home something anyways. See you later." Beep.
The number changed from Erins cell phone, to say unknown. No message was left, and the machine continued on to the next message. The number appeared as Landons.
"Erin, its me. I'm staying here for dinner, so I will be home later. Call me here if you need anything. Love you."
Justin smiled at the sound of his own voice over the machine. "I don't really sound that dorky in real life, do I?" he asked aloud to himself as he sipped his drink.
Again, the number changed to show another unknown. Again, no message was left.
"Justin, its me." Chris' voice called through the room. "Give me a call later. Nothing important. I'm just bored. I want someone to entertain me, and you are the best at that since you are always doing or saying something stupid, which is always entertaining, and since I need to be entertained I called you. So call me. Later." Beep.
Justin rolled his eyes at Chris' message.
Again, another unknown number without a message.
The seventh and final message was the same. Unknown number, no message.
Justin found it strange that he had four blank messages, but shrugged it off. More than once a fan had tracked down his home number, and when getting his answering machine didn't leave a message. They didn't know what to say to a machine. Hell, most of the time they didn't know what to say to him.
Clearing the messages, Justin picked up the phone and called his mother. Agreeing to dinner on Sunday night, he chatted with her before hanging up to relax on the couch.
Laying out across the cushions, he placed his drink on the coffee table in front of him as he grabbed the remote and began to flip through the channels. After deciding on the Osbournes, he tucked his hands beneath the pillow under his head and focused on the antics on the TV.
He was laughing hysterically at Ozzy as he chased after the cat in the backyard, when the phone began to wail above his head. Reaching up blindly, Justin grabbed the cordless phone from the stand on the end table above him, bringing it to his ear.
"Hello?" he called through the line.
Silence.
Justin scrunched his face, pulling the phone back to look at the small caller ID screen.
Unknown.
Placing the phone back to his ear, he called through louder. "Hello? Is someone there?"
Again, no response.
Justin reached out and muted the TV, listening closely for any sign that someone was on the other end of the line.
He heard nothing.
Waiting another moment, Justin rolled his eyes before clicking off the phone and placing it on the table in front of him. Unmuting the TV, he turned his attention back to Ozzy.
But his mind returned to the phone call, and he furrowed his forehead in thought.
Erin had received a phone call this morning, where no one appeared to be on the other end of the line.
Then, he had received four blank messages on his machine. All from unknown numbers.
Now, another call with no one there, once again from an unknown number.
Justins mind began to turn as he thought of how odd that seemed. Sure, from time to time everyone got unknown numbers appearing on their phone. But he had received six in one day.
Trystan popped into his mind, but the moment the thought appeared, he pushed it back just as quickly.
Turning his attention fully back to Ozzy as he swore at the cat, Justin forgot all about the strange calls.
A few hours later, Erin returned home. Tossing her purse on the table inside the door, she threw her shoes to the side and headed towards the living room where she found Justin laughing at Ozzy.
Sitting down beside him, she kissed him quickly. "So, did you have fun playing mechanic?" she asked.
Justin grinned at her as he pushed himself up into a sitting position. "Yeah, actually, I did." he nodded. "It was more fun than I thought it would be."
Erin told him about her shopping escapades at the mall with Hannah, before telling him about the movie they had seen.
Stretching her arms over her head, she turned to look at Justin. "By the way," she said. "Did you call my cell phone at all today?"
Justin turned to her. "No. Why?"
Erins eyes narrowed in thought. "Because I got three calls today, but no one was there on any of them. I thought it was you being stupid, or maybe my battery was dying and I just couldn't hear you. I called Mark to have him call me back, and I could hear him fine."
Justin leaned back on the couch. "Did you check the ID?"
"Yeah." she said. "All of them said it was an unknown number." she explained. "Isn't that strange?"
Justin nodded, but his mind jumped back to the calls he had received before.
Suddenly, he felt nervous. It was one thing receiving such calls at the house, where anyone could have called. But not many people knew Erins cell phone number, and she was still receiving the calls.
Again, Trystans image appeared in his mind, but this time, Justin didn't dismiss it.
"Justin?" Erins voice broke him from his thoughts, causing him to turn his nervous gaze to her. "You okay?"
Shaking his head at himself, he nodded. "Yeah. I'm fine."
Erin looked at him a moment longer, before turning her attention back to the TV.
Justin leaned back further on the couch, pulling his knees to his chest. Wrapping his arms around his knees, he nervously began to pick at the threads handing from his socks.
What were the chances that these calls had anything to do with Trystan? He knew that there was no way that she could have gotten his home number, let alone Erins cell phone number, but for some reason his mind wouldn't let him dismiss the feeling in his stomach that told him that it wasn't completely unlikely.
Raising his eyes back to the TV, Justin grinned.
Chris.
Chris had called saying he was bored, so he was probably just calling and joking around. He had done that before, calling and making strange noises or not speaking just to be annoying. Once when he knew that Justin was home alone, he had called and pretended to be the killer from Scream.
Smiling wider, Justin shook his head at himself.
He felt stupid for thinking the worst, and actually entertaining the thought that the calls could have been from Trystan. It was clearly Chris' doing, and he felt silly for thinking any different.
Reaching out, Justin slid his arm around Erin, pulling her close. He pushed all thoughts of the phone calls to the back of his mind, and focused completely on being home with the person he loved most.
