Justin Timberlake had been sleeping peacefully in his hotel room bed in Los Angeles, CA for only three hours, when a fate-telling dream woke him up, putting his brain to work. Himself and the guys had flown into L.A. a few nights before to shoot the album's sleeve photos. They were returning to their home three days later, for a day's break, then heading up north to New York.

For the past hour, Justin had been sitting in a leather chair looking out the window at the city's busy streets. His elbow was propped up on the arm rest, his mouth pressed against his fist and his bare feet crossed at the ankles. The only sound that could be heard was the occassional footsteps of people walking down the halls of the hotel, looking for their rooms. In his dream, he had been told by someone of a higher power that he was to be the sole survivor of the world and that he was allowed ONE person to be with him for the rest of eternity. Normally, in reality, he would've picked one of his family members or best friends... but when he found himself standing alone in the "new" world, the person who showed up next to him was Olivia Jacobs. After what JC and him were talking about that night, it seemed too weird to even be a coincedence.

After another hour of thinking, and getting his thoughts together, he had made a decision. He stood up, grabbed his bag and threw on a pair of clean clothes. Then, he walked into JC's room to wake him up. "JC... JC, wake up!"

A pair of eyeslashes fluttered open and squinted up at a dressed, packed Justin standing at the side of the bed. His voice came out hoarse. "Man... what are you doing?" JC rubbed his eyes.

"I'm leaving. I'll be in Orlando when you guys get there in a few nights. Just tell everyone that there was something I needed to take care of and that I had to visit a sick grandmother if interviewers ask."

JC propped himself up, not believing what he was hearing. "You're leaving NOW?" He glanced at the bright alarm clock next to the bed. "It's two o'clock in the monring, Justin. This is ludicrous!"

"I am fully aware of that, C. But YOU are the one who said to take chances and to follow your heart and that is exactly what I am doing. See you.", he called over his shoulder as he jogged down to the lobby.

JC sat stunned in his bed, the sheets ruffled and his eyes bloodshot. "I didn't mean right away....", he sighed to himself.

(the next morning, ten o'clock eastern standard time)

Justin took a deep breath and knocked firmly on the maroon door. He had arrived in Orlando at eight o'clock in the morning, after calling his management to get a private jet for him. They had put up a fight about it, but after some begging and pleading he won the argument. His manager wasn't to keen on the idea of him leaving in the middle of the night, but he was a teenager and he needed SOME kind of normalcy in his life. Justin knew this was crazy, but he had to get it off his chest, because it would bother him forever if he didnt.

Suddenly, the door opened and a fit looking woman answered the door. "Yes?", she questioned the extremely tired young man on her doorstep. He was still wearing sweatpants and an oversized sweatshirt, the hood pulled over his blonde hair, but nonetheless he was a good looking boy.

"Um... is Olivia home?"

'Yes, Liv is home. Is she expecting visitors?"

"Um, no. Well, she doesn't know I'm home.", he bit his lip and held out a hand. "I'm Justin Timberlake..."

The woman's eyes immediately perked up. "OH! YOU'RE Justin!! Come in, dear!! We've heard SO much about you!"

Justin smiled and stepped inside the warm, cozy house, looking around at its comfortable features. It was almost like he felt he was home, and for a second, none of the sudden superstardom had occured in his life. For a minute, he was just Justin.

"Would you like something to drink? Or eat?"

The sound of food did sound inviting, but he didn't want to feel like he was intruding. "Oh, no. I'm fine, thank you."

"Are you sure, hon?"

Justin nodded and smiled at the middle-aged woman. He looked like he was ready to drop to the floor out of exhaustion, but something indeterminate kept his tired eyes open. The bags under his eyes were growing into suitcases, and even though he wouldn't admit it, the sparse amount of sleep he had been getting every night was catching up with him, and eventually he would see the hard-hitting effects of it.

Mrs. Jacobs looked at him carefully and smiled. "Olivia should be up in her room. I don't know if she's awake yet, though. But you're welcome to go say hi."

The dull look in Justin's eyes sparked into a shimmering glint as Liv's name left her mother's lips. He nodded and started up the stairs. Mrs. Jacobs watched as he disappeared into the hallway before smiling to herself. This was definitely leading somewhere...

The first thing Justin saw as he scanned the doors for Olivia's room was a basketball poster, and guessing it was her room, he quietly knocked on the white, poster covered door. "Liv?"

He got no answer, but he could hear the low bass of music being played inside the room. He knocked again. No response. Biting his lower lip, he carefully opened the door a crack and peeked in. What he saw before his eyes put a tender smile on his lips. She was still sleeping, huddled up next to her stereo, the song "I Never Knew The Meaning of Christmas" playing softly into her ear. Justin slipped into the room and sat down on her desk chair, watching her.

She was beautiful. It was a danger she possessed that most guys his age fell subject to, and he knew without a doubt that once they fell, she had complete control. He also knew from what she had told him before, that she had been extremely popular but that the incident with her ex had pretty much killed her. She told him that he had used her for status and her looks, which had hurt her to no end. Justin looked at the girl that was asleep on her floor, and felt benevolence for her. She was so vulnerable, so scared of life and it saddened him to know that everything had been taken away from her for one mistake that wasn't really even her fault. Her chest moved up and down as she breathed, loose strands of hair fell over her face, and amazingly there was a slight smile on her pink lips, showing that she was in a comfortable state of mind.

Hesitantly, he pulled his eyes away from her sleeping figure and glanced around her room. It was painted a light blue, some spots covered over with posters -- mostly basketball ones and a few of some music groups and movies. He found one of *NSYNC across from her bed, and smiled. Her bed was pushed up against the wall, still made, since obviously she hadn't slept in it the night before and a wooden bureau up against the side wall. Her stereo was across the room from her bed, where she was laying still in her clothes. He looked at her desk, which was cluttered with papers and then glanced up at her bulliten board. It had pictures of Sidney and her pinned up all over, a few of another girl, Serenity he guessed, and one of Brian and her from a mall photo booth. He grew jealous of the blonde haired teenager in the pictures and he suddenly longed to be able to just go to a mall and take pictures in a booth with friends, but he couldn't...he didn't have that kind of normalcy in his life. He sighed and his eyes were pulled in the direction of a piece of paper with a Stephen King quote on it. He read it silently.

"The most important things are the hardest things to say. They are the things you get ashamed of because words diminish them, words shrink things that seemed limitless when they were in your head to no more than living size. when they're brought out. But it's more than that, isn't it? The most important things lie too close to wherever your secret heart is buried, like landmarks to a treasure your enemies would love to steal away. And you may make revelations that cost you dearly, only to have people look at you in a funny way, not understanding what you've said at all or why you thought it was so important that you almost cried while you were saying it. That's the worst, I think. When the secret stays locked within, not for want of a teller, but for want of an understanding ear."

Next to the quote was a picture of himself, pinned onto the bottom of the paper. It was of a performance, most likely from the Janet Jackson concert. The words on the paper gyrated in his head like a Ferris Wheel, engraving every sentence into his brain. It was amazing how it seemed to fit in perfectly with Olivia's life. People who put her down after the accident never understood what she would try to explain to them, and she had kept it locked within her for so long that she had grown afraid to tell anyone, in fear that they would laugh, sneer or completely misunderstand her, closing the door to a friendship that could have lasted for years. He shook his head and looked back at Liv, whispering: "How could anyone not give you a second chance?"

He watched her for hours until she woke up, mesmorized by every little movement she made, astonished by the fact that she had fallen asleep to HIS voice. It made him feel so utterly special inside...

It was now eleven fifteen in the morning, and Justin still sat, unflinching, in the desk chair staring at Liv. He watched as her eyes began to twitch open and her arms stretched back to loosen her tense muscles. She slowly sat up, confused that she was on the floor, her back facing Justin. Yawning, she jumped to her feet and turned, nearly jumping out of her skin when she saw Justin sitting in her chair.

"Good morning, sleeping beauty."

Olivia blinked a few times and pinched her arm to make sure she wasn't still dreaming. "J-Justin?!"

His face broke out into a grin. "Hi, did ya miss me?"

She grinned broadly and ran over to him, throwing her arms around him. "I did! I missed you a lot...What are you doing here? How long have you been here? Did you meet my parents? I thought you weren't gonna be home for a few more days?"

Justin smiled. It wasn't quite the reaction he had expected; he definitely didn't think he'd get a hug. "I've been here for about an hour and a half, you're mom let me in. She's really nice. The other guys are still in L.A. but I wanted to see you so I flew home early."

"Just to see ME?"

He nodded. "I left at two in the morning and got here at about eight."

"But...just to see ME?"

"Yes, Olivia. Just to see you."

"WHY?!"

"Because... because I missed you.", he said. And he wasn't lying either. He had been thinking about her ever since they LEFT Orlando.

She smiled and hugged him again. "No one has ever done that before! Thanks...", she said and looked in the mirror behind him. "Oh my God.... I look absolutely terrible!!" She grabbed a brush and began to run it through her hair.

Justin reached up and put his hand over hers to halt the movement of the hairbrush. "Stop... You look beautiful." Without much thought, his long fingers moved over to the loose strands of golden brown hair that was resting against her smooth face. Gently, he pushed the pieces behind her ear as a warm, heart-stopping smile covered his face. "You look beautiful...", he whispered again, losing himself in her sparkling eyes.

Olivia stood in shock, finding herself looking deeper and deeper into a pair of crystal blue eyes. It was a blue so true of it's color and the glint in both of them seemed to shine with a brightness unknown to mankind. She couldn't believe that he was there with her, that he had flown all the way across the country to see her. But here he was, standing in front of her, telling her that she looked beautiful after she had just woken up from an uncomfortable night on the floor. The power that his eyes held over her was awe-inspiring and even after multiple tries to break free from his stare, she still found herself looking at him. "What is wrong with you, Liv? You're letting him control you, you can't let him have that power..." , she scolded herself and eventually ripped her eyes away from his, looking down at the ground. "Um... so um, do you want breakfast or something?"

Justin blinked. "Oh... uh, well I had some cereal on the plane..."

"That was hours ago. Come on, just eat something. It will make me feel better, because I already feel guilty that I was sleeping while you were waiting for me to wake up..."

"No...actually, I enjoyed the quiet. Don't feel guilty.", he smiled. He wanted to say that he loved watching her sleep because it was so peaceful, but decided to keep his mouth shut.

"Oh, um, okay. Let me just get changed into something more comfortable and then we can go....", she trailed off as she realized what she just said. That was the line that was usually in movies in reference to sexual desires. A deep shade of crimson immediately spread from her head down to her toes, and she covered her face in embarassment.

Justin chuckled. "It's okay, I know what you mean."

Olivia took a deep breath and got a pair of dark green courderoy's and a white three quarter sleeve shirt out of her bureau, and quickly walked to the bathroom, whispering to herself: "Oh my God, I can't believe I just said that..."

It was stronger.