Justin pulled his hat down further onto his head as he looked around himself cautiously. His electric blue eyes were hidden safely behind a dark pair of sunglasses, while his casual jeans and plain white t-shirt brought no attention to him at all.
People walked passed him as they carried on with their day, not even realizing that this normal man standing in the middle of the grocery store was Justin Timberlake.
Sliding his hands in his pockets, Justin looked around again.
Where the fuck was Landon? How in the hell he had convinced Justin to come out to the store with him today was beyond his comprehension. He had a nice day of nothing planned, and Landon had to go and ruin it.
Bastard.
Justin sighed loudly as he pulled his hands from his pockets to rest them on the edge of a bin behind him. Leaning back slightly, Justin crossed one leg over the other to emphasize his casual stance.
Landon walked quickly around the corner, pushing a large grocery cart in front of him.
Approaching Justin, he smiled. "Man, don't rush to get your own cereal or anything." he smirked. "Id be happy to get it for ya."
Justin grinned at him lazily. "Shut up." he groaned. "Its your fault I had to drag my ass out of bed this morning to come with you."
Landon rolled his eyes at Justin as he turned and began to walk down the first isle. "You need some food at your place, cause I tried to find something to eat there the other day and there was nothing! You ate everything I usually eat."
"Well, sorry." Justin replied. "Heaven forbid I should eat my own food. Ill be more careful next time."
"You do that." Landon said with a nod. "Besides, you told your mom you would bring something Sunday night. And I don't think your usual empty stomach counts."
Justin grinned as he lazily followed Landon down the isle.
It was now Friday, and Justin had been enjoying his time off. Since the guys had been over on Tuesday, he had done almost nothing. Which to some would seem like a waste of time, but to him, it was heaven. He was rarely ever able to do nothing, and this was probably the first time he had been able to do nothing in the last five years.
Erin had gone to Marks early that morning and Justin had taken the opportunity to sleep in. That is until Landon had called him and said he was coming to pick him up to go to the store.
Justin whined for a solid twenty minutes before giving up. Justin was excellent at getting out of things he didn't want to do, but he had forgotten just how good Landon was at making him do things he didn't want to do.
For a couple of days after he had talked to Chris, Justin had pondered the thought of who had been the one to leave the blank messages on his answering machine. He knew that it was probably nothing to be getting this worked up about, but after everything he had been through in the last couple of months, he didn't want to dismiss anything and have it become a problem later.
He had wondered if it were possibly a fan who had gotten his home number, and was trying to contact him. It was possible that when Erin answered the phone that morning, the fan hadn't expected a woman to answer, and hung up. The same with the answering machine. What would someone say on his machine? 'Hey, Justin, I'm a fan and wanted to talk to you. I tracked your phone number down on the internet....blah blah blah....' Not likely. But if that were the case, then why wouldn't the person actually speak when he had been the one to answer the phone later that night? And that still didn't explain the phone calls to Erins cell phone.
He had wondered if it were someone he knew; a friend or relative calling from a cell phone, and for some reason their voice wasn't being heard due to the distance. This was completely possible, but for some reason he didn't think that was the case.
Of course, he had wondered about Trystan. But how did she get his number? And more importantly, how did she get Erins cell phone number? It was one thing to track down his number, since she obviously had a gift for tracking him down while on the road. But Erins cell phone was unlisted and unavailable to anyone but her friends and family. There was no way for Trystan to get the number.
Justin had wondered where she was at that moment. Was she back in New York? At work? At home, thinking of what had happened between them and how things had progressed to her being in Orlando that day?
It hadn't escaped his mind that there was a possibility that she hadn't left Orlando after their talk at the venue that day. It was completely possible that she had stayed on in the city, for some reason that he wouldn't understand. Maybe she had decided to stay on and have a little vacation while there, but the chances of that being her state of mind after the way things had gone between them that afternoon were slim. She was angry, and chances were that she wouldn't want to hang around. Or at least, he didn't want her to hang around.
Anything was possible, and he knew that the chances of figuring out who made the calls were slim to none. After a few days, he had dismissed it as a prank. Nothing more. If he continued to dwell on every strange thing that happened in his life, he would drive himself insane.
"What do you want?" Landons voice broke Justin from his daze. Looking up, he noticed that they were in the candy aisle.
"What?" Justin asked, looking around at the shelves of candy.
"What kind of junk food do you want?" Landon repeated. "I already got your Cap'n Crunch, so don't worry about that." he smirked. "But knowing you you're going to want to fill the junk food cupboard for the weekend."
Landon turned and walked down to the end of the aisle, leaving Justin standing alone by the cart. Looking down, Justin realized that Landon had already gathered most of the things he needed, and Justin had still to get one thing on the list that Erin had taped to the fridge.
Cursing under his breath, he pulled the paper from his pocket. He had been spending his entire time there thinking and complaining about having to be there, instead of getting what he needed and leaving.
Scanning over the page, he noticed that she hadn't put any junk food on the list. He smiled to himself. She rarely ate any kind of junk food, and usually only bought it for him. She would let him put what he wanted on the grocery list, and she would go out and get it. He had been to preoccupied with other things, he hadn't even put his own treats on the list.
Looking up, he began to scan his eyes over the bags of chips in front of him. Biting his bottom lip, he reached up and grabbed several bags. He knew he had a tendency to buy too many of the wrong thing, but at least it would last longer than if he had only bought one. Grabbing a box of popcorn, he tossed it into the cart, followed by dill seasoning.
Landon quickly returned, two bags of chips in his hands. Dropping them into the cart, he scanned the aisle. "Okay, moving on." he said as he took his place behind the cart, pushing their way out of the aisle towards the second one.
Justin looked around, before looking back to the note. Shoving it back in his pocket, he began to walk up and down the aisle, grabbing items and tossing them in the cart. He grinned to himself when he found himself finding more things that he wanted than what Erin had put on the list. He almost laughed out loud. This was why she never let him go shopping. He always bought things he didn't need.
Joining Landon at the ice cream cooler, Justin reached in and grabbed a pint of Ben & Jerrys New York Super Fudge Chunk and Cookie Dough before looking up to Landon.
"Dude, I'm going to get orange juice. Ill be back."
"Mmhmm." Landon replied as he studied the choices of ice cream in front of him.
Turning, Justin exited the front of the aisle, moving over to where he had met Landon moments before. Heaven forbid he should have gotten the juice while waiting for Landon to get a cart. No. He had to stand there wallowing in the fact that he had to be there.
Reaching up, Justin grabbed a carton of juice, along with several other small items. Turning, he began to return to the end of the isle. Looking at the can of Strawberry Kiwi juice in his hand, he looked up as he approached the end of the isle.
He stopped quickly, his heart beat increasing for a moment. His eyes went wide, and his stomach fluttered.
But just as quickly as the feeling of panic had arrived, it was gone.
Had that just been Trystan? he wondered. He could have sworn that he saw her. Only for a second, though. The same dark hair. Tall, slender figure.
Resuming his walk, Justin rushed to the end of the isle, quickly jumping out to look around the area he thought he had seen her.
Looking around frantically, he frowned.
No one was there.
An old woman, with gray hair and glasses stood in the corner, trying to decide which kind of milk she wanted. Her husband stood by the cart, a look of boredom on his face. A young girl pleaded with her mother to buy her a slinky, while her baby brother pulled on a string from his pants.
No one that even closely resembled Trystan was in sight.
Justin lowered his head, shaking it at himself.
He was driving himself nuts. He was so concerned about her still being around, that it was making him see her when she wasn't there.
Returning to his cart, he tossed in the items before heading back to the far cooler for a carton of milk. The old couple were still there, the woman still trying to decide what kind she wanted.
"For the love of God, Grace." the elderly man whined. "Would you hurry up? If you take any longer, I'm going to need to put more glue on my dentures."
"Oh hush up, Eddie." she scolded, giving him a stern look.
Justin grinned as he reached behind her and grabbed his bag of milk.
The woman turned, smiling at Justin. "Oh, sorry dear. I didn't mean to be in your way."
"Oh its no problem." Justin smiled. "You're not in the way."
"Yes she is." Eddie added.
Grace shot him a look, before smiling back at Justin. "Don't mind that old poop." she said. "He's just cranky cause he didn't get his cereal this morning."
"Its the damn kids that ate my cereal." he called. "They need to get their own!"
Justin fought the urge to laugh at the couple. This was exactly how he pictured himself and Erin at that age. Bickering, but still in love.
Nodding to the couple with a warm smile, Justin returned to Landon, placing his milk in the cart.
"You got everything you need?" Landon asked as his brown eyes scanned the items in the cart.
"Hell no," Justin laughed. "I still have to get bread, mustard, pop, and a bunch of other crap."
Landon rolled his eyes. "Well, I'm done. Hurry up or I'm leaving your pop star ass here."
Justin narrowed his eyes at his friend. "Well, here." he said as he ripped the list in half. "If you help me, we'll be done that much faster."
Landon took the paper, before shooting Justin a look. "Fine. But you take the cart."
"Fine." Justin replied as he began to push the cart towards the end of the isle. Running into the back of Landon, Justin grinned evilly as he gave him the finger.
Reaching the end of the isle, the two men turned to different directions in search of the listed items.
Moving down the bread isle, Justin looked for what he wanted. Throwing two loaves of bread and a bag of bagels in the cart, he pulled the list from his pocket to see what else was needed.
Looking up, out of the corner of his eye, he noticed someone walk passed him. They were far enough passed by the time he looked up, so that he couldn't make out their face. But the short, dark hair, and tall slender figure gave her away.
Turning, Justin watched her walk away.
Before he had the chance to talk himself out of it, Justin chased after her. Grabbing her arm, he turned her around quickly.
"Trystan," he said.
The woman glared at him, a mixture of shock and anger in her eyes.
"Can I help you?" she asked, annoyance in her voice.
Justin let go of her arm, immediately taking a step back. "I'm sorry," he apologized. "I thought you were someone else."
The woman stared at him for a moment longer, before turning to walk away.
It wasn't her. In actuality, it didn't look anything like her. Other than the short dark hair and figure, there was no resemblance.
Shaking his head at himself, Justin returned to his cart. Pushing the cart to the next aisle, he mentally scolded himself.
He had been doing so well. He had been thinking of her less and less over the last little while, and now because of a few stupid phone calls he was going to let her back into his mind?
He knew that she was gone. Deep down, he knew she was back in New York, on the other side of the country.
Quickly, Justin grabbed the rest of the things on Erins list, with only a few extras that he liked, before heading off in search of Landon.
Finding him in the magazine aisle, he pushed the corner of the cart into his side.
Not bothering to look up, Landon gave Justin the finger. "Hey dude."
"Hey." Justin grinned. Standing behind Landon, he looked over his shoulder at the magazine he was reading. "Oh God, what are you reading that for?"
Landon turned towards Justin, smiling. "Because, that Justin Timberlake guy is such a hottie."
Justin rolled his eyes, punching Landon in the arm. "Fuck off."
Landon laughed before picking up the items from his half of the list from the floor and tossing them in the cart.
The two set off to the cashier, and quickly rang through.
Piling the bags back into the cart, they began to head for the door.
Suddenly, Justin heard a familiar voice. It was faint, but he was sure he heard it. Reaching the door, Justin turned around and noticed a woman standing at the cashier they had just vacated. Her short, dark hair was pulled back, falling just above her shoulder. Her slim frame was hidden by an oversized demin jacket, a light skirt falling just below her knees.
Justin stopped and looked at her. He stared at her for a short while, waiting for her to turn around.
It looked a lot like her.
He listened carefully for the sound of the voice he had just heard. It had sounded so much like Trystans, that it was the cause for him turning around in the first place.
Now, there was a woman who, from the back, had a strong resemblance.
Justin waited, but the woman didn't turn around. She stood tall, her arm resting on the counter while the cashier rang through a few items.
"Dude?" Landons voice caused Justin to turn around. "You coming?" he asked, giving Justin a confused look.
Turning his head, Justin looked back at the woman.
He couldn't keep doing this. First, he thought he saw her and no one was there. Then, he grabbed a strange woman thinking it was her.
Now, he was staring at some girl who was just trying to buy a few groceries.
He had to stop. This wasn't Trystan. She wasn't here. He had to let it go.
Looking at her for a moment longer, Justin tore his eyes from her and looked over to Landon.
"Yeah," he said quietly. "I'm coming."
Sliding his hands in his pockets, Justin followed Landon out the doors of the store, and towards the car.
