Ten o'clock, after the last questions had been asked, the guys were sitting alone in the waiting room waiting for their manager to finish talking with the president of the station. The two had become fast friends and wouldn't stop chatting, so the guys headed out to wait for them.
To JC, it seemed as if Justin had become obsessed with his cell phone, rolling it back and forth from one hand to the other and looking curiously at it as if he were expecting it to ring. He slid further down in his chair.
What was going on? What was this secret that Justin refused to tell him?
His eyes drifted to Joey and Lance who both were reading different magazines. Newsweek for Lance while Joey was paging through Entertainment Weekly. He focused hard on the big E in Entertainment and thought hard. How in the hell was he going to figure this out without them knowing?
Maybe if he started asking questions.... not to Justin and Chris, but maybe the others knew something that he didn't. Or maybe they had noticed something suspicious.
He decided to ask Lance first since he knew more about the situation than Joey.
'JC,' he said to himself. 'You said you were going to help and that's exactly what you're going to do.'
Justin bit his lip and shook his leg. Had he ever been more impatient?
Chris would call if Gracie told him the truth... wouldn't he?
But what if he was so angry that he didn't want to call him? What if he and Gracie were plotting to get him back and he wouldn't know until it was too late?
'Justin, you're paranoid. The only reason you keep thinking like this is because you feel guilty. If you tell the truth, it'll all go away. That's a promise.'
A promise? What in the hell was a promise? In his book, a promise meant nothing. It was only something people said to make others believe them when they were lying. Right then, he felt as though he couldn't trust anyone.
'You can trust Chris,' the voice persisted. 'He just can't trust YOU.'
That was it. Justin shot up from his seat and started for the door. "I'll be outside," he told the others before he exited.
As he stood there on the curb looking out onto the black-topped parking lot, he pulled his wind breaker further around himself. There weren't leaves on the ground anymore and the air was getting cold.
He hated winter.
Up north, winter had always had always been too cold for him and he felt himself getting angry. Why'd it have to be so cold and... dead?
The weather depressed him more than he thought it would. He sat down on the curb and then set his cell phone in his lap, propping his chin in his hands and his elbows on his knees.
"Hi. Are you okay?" came a voice, seemingly out of nowhere. "I saw you come out of that door and you didn't look very happy."
Justin spun around as much as he could while being seated on the curb. His phone fell from his lap and cracked on the ground. "Oh, shit!" he cried, picking up the pieces. "That's the second phone I broke this month."
"I'm sorry I scared you."
From the curb, he saw a pair of plain, black shoes, the ends of a pair of khaki pants hanging over them. Over the black shirt, there was an orange highway patrol vest.
"What? Never seen a girl doing a community service before?" she replied to his silent question. "Only one more week till I can hang up this ugly orange vest, you know. Have you ever gotten in trouble?"
Justin narrowed his eyes at her in confusion. "What do you mean by trouble?"
"Broken the law. I doubt it anyway. You look like a goody-goody."
"Hey! I've never broken the law, but I'm no goody-goody, let me tell you."
"Okay then..." she said, sitting down next to him. "What did you do?
"Nuh uh..." he chuckled. "I didn't even tell my best friend. Why should I tell you?"
"Cause you don't know me."
"That's exactly why I shouldn't tell you."
"Fine. My name is Meg. What's yours?"
"Justin, but-"
"I know who you are."
He raised an eyebrow. "Then why did you ask?"
"Because I was going to pretend that I didn't know. Then I changed my mind."
Justin resumed his position, staring out into the parking lot. "God, you're honest," he muttered.
"I know," Meg acknowledged. "Now what's bothering you?"
"I said that I wasn't going to tell you."
Meg ignored him and continued. "Cause when I saw you walking out through that door, you liked like you were either going to burst into tears or kill somebody. I hope you're not thinking of trying to get me because I do NOT want killing a popstar on my record. Got that?"
"What exactly did you do, anyway?"
"Let's just say that the Wisconsin government isn't very lenient. Besides, why should I tell you what my problem is if you don't tell me what yours is?" She paused. "And don't say, 'Cause I'm Justin Timberlake,' cause that shit won't work on me."
"Look, if you're gonna sit there and insult me, I'll just go back inside-"
"No you won't."
Justin looked shocked. "I can and I WILL."
"NO... you WON'T."
"Why the hell not?"
"Because it's obvious that you were running away from someone in there. Who was it?"
That shut Justin up. How did she know so much? "What, are you majoring in psychology or something?"
"Hardly!" she laughed. "One semester of college was enough for me. "I'm a college drop out gone bad."
"Gone bad?"
"So what if I made a few bad decisions? I'm not a druggie or a drunk if that's what you're thinking."
"I wasn't."
"Sure, you weren't."
"Really," he said in a loud voice. "I wasn't thinking that."
"It's not your fault," Meg mumbled, kicking some sand around with her right foot. "When most people think of a college drop out, their minds automatically think of alcohol and drugs. It's true in a lot of cases, but not mine."
"What is this? A lecture?"
"If that's what you want it to be... sure."
"No. I don't do either of those things. I'm nineteen, you know." He peeked at her through the corner of his eye. She had dark brown hair that fell just below her shoulders. Her eyes were green... and they didn't trust anyone. "How old are you?"
"That information is not available to you," she answered. "Why should it matter how old I am?"
"What... are you thirteen or something?"
Meg looked offended. "Do I LOOK thirteen? I shouldn't talk to someone who thinks I'm thirteen."
"That was an exaggeration," Justin explained, rolling his eyes. "Someone as sharp as yourself should have picked that up by now. Why don't you want me to know how old you are?"
"Meg," came a deep voice from behind them. "What are you doing with my vest on?"
Suddenly, Meg stood up.
Justin looked up at her and then at the man. Meg looked REALLY mad.
"God, Vince! You blew my cover again!"
"Your COVER?" Justin exclaimed, leaping to his feet and not even noticing that the remains of his phone had gone tumbling to the black tar of the parking lot once again.
Vince looked at the dismantled phone and then over at Justin. "Sorry about the little snot bothering you."
"Little snot? I don't think so!" Meg, yelled as Vince pulled the orange vest off of her.
Justin was pissed that he'd been fooled so easily, but he tried not to let it show.
"She's doing a school project on the highway patrol and today she's tagging along with her big brother... me... unfortunately, to get a feel for the job."
"How old are you?" Justin asked Meg. "The truth," he added.
"Seventeen. I never went to college and I'm not in trouble with the law... and so forth. Happy?"
"Tickled pink," Justin replied with a frown on his face. "FLORESCENT pink."
Vince jerked his sister's arm. "Say you're sorry."
"Sorry."
"Yeah, nice chatting with you too." Justin waved her off, not even watching them walk away. He looked down at his phone and sniffed. Could his luck get any worse? Was there any chance he could get struck by lightening?
The door behind him burst open and the guys, followed by Johnny and a few body guards poured out. They were all talking amongst themselves and the only one even noticing Justin's presence was JC.
"Ready to go?" he asked, not daring to look into Justin's eyes.
Justin nodded and trailed behind them.
Chris was planning on meeting Justin at the airport in Milwaukee, but for some reason, he couldn't get a hold of him. He stared at his phone and tried to determine who to try next while he watched Gracie fly around the apartment, gathering things up for her day.
He kept pressing the up button on his phone, searching through his directory and looking for Joey's number.
"Ah ha!" he said out loud, pressing enter.
"What was that?" Gracie called from her bedroom.
"Nothing!" he called back while listening to the ringing at the same time.
"Hello, you've reached my cell and I probably have it turned off now..."
"Damn!"
"Chris? Is that you?"
"Why are you pretending to be your voice mail?"
"I don't know. Thought it would be fun. What's up?
Chris was suddenly in darkness, a pile of laundry on his head. "Hold on a second, Joey..." He moved the phone away from his ear and pushed the clothes away from his face. "Gracie, what's this all about?"
"Can you fold those, please, Chris? I'm really running late and it would help me a lot," her voice came from an unknown part of the apartment.
"No problem. I'll do it when I get off the phone." He put the phone back to his ear. "Joey, why isn't Justin answering his phone?"
Joey repositioned himself in his bunk. Was it just him or was his bunk getting smaller and smaller? "Don't know," he said into his phone. "Hold on... let me check. JUSTIN! WHY AREN'T YOU ANSWERING YOUR PHONE!!!!"
"OUCH!" Chris yelled back. "You could remove the phone from your mouth before you scream!"
"Sorry..."
"IT'S BROKEN!" Justin screamed. "WHY!?"
"CHRIS WANTS TO TALK TO YOU!"
"Damn it, Joey! Did you even hear what I said before? Anyway... let me talk to Justin. Okay?"
Joey stuck the hand with his phone out through his curtain and shoved the other in a bag of potato chips, staring down at his little TV.
Justin walked by, snatching the phone up on his way to the kitchen area. "Chris? Where are you?"
"I'm still at Gracie's. Justin, I have to talk to you. I'm flying back soon. Can you meet me at the airport?"
"Sure..." he answered cautiously, wondering exactly what it was that Chris wanted to discuss with him. "Is everything okay?" he asked, leaning against the counter. "Things went all right with Gracie... didn't they?"
"Everything's fine," Chris assured him. "Don't worry. I just need to talk to you about something."
"Okay," Justin agreed. "As long as everything's all right."
"I promise."
Those two words rendered Justin speechless. Promises were nothing. "What do you mean by that?" he choked out.
"By promising you that everything's okay? I mean that everything is okay. Justin... what's wrong with you? You know you can trust me... don't you?"
Justin put his hand to his forehead. "I know. I'm sorry... I'm just having a rough time here."
"I worry about you when you're this distant, Justin. Is something going on that I don't know about?"
"No," Justin answered quickly. "Why would you say that?"
"I don't know why," Chris sighed. "I guess I was just... feeling like you were... never mind. Forget I said anything. So you can meet me at gate thirty-seven though?"
Justin moved around the snacks around on the counter aimlessly. "Sure," he replied. "I'll be there."
"See you then. Bye."
"Bye." Justin pressed end on Joey's phone and threw it back into his bunk with his left hand.
"Hey! Watch it!"
"Sorry," he mumbled, patting his back pocket to make sure his wallet was there. "Hey, Joey, I'm going to go and meet Chris at the airport. Tell Lance and JC that I'll see them later." He listened for a response, but only heard the sound of Joey's television. "Joey?"
"Okay! See you later."
Justin frowned. Was it just him or was everyone acting weird?
'It's just you,' his conscience answered. 'You're feeling so guilty that you're imagining that everyone else is miserable because of what YOU did. They're not... not everyone.'
"They WILL be if I tell them what I did," he muttered under his breath as he made his way up to the front of the bus. He thought his conscience was trying to convince him to tell the TRUTH.
'Justin, which would be worse... living with your guilt for the rest of your life; looking into your child's eyes and not being able to tell him that you're his father or telling the truth and getting the whole thing over with?'
"I can't lose Chris... Chris can't lose Gracie. It's the way it has to be," he whispered.
'Don't you think people will wonder? What if this baby looks just like you?'
"No," Justin disagreed, shutting out the voice. "Hey, James, can you drop me off at the airport?"
Justin pulled his hood down further over his face and shoved his hands in his pockets. He'd been lucky; no one had spotted him yet.
He just stood there, rocking back and forth on his heels and watching for Chris as the passengers walked out of the terminal.
When he saw his best friend, he felt better. Chris looked happy and for a second, he almost forgot about what happened but then he had to remind himself to be surprised when Christ old him the news.
"Chris!" he called. "Over here!"
Chris saw him and he rushed over, giving his friend a hug. "I'm so glad you're here. I need to talk to you SO bad."
"Do you want to tell me now or should we wait until we get to the hotel?"
Chris grabbed the sleeve of Justin's shirt when he tried to lead the way out of the airport. "How did you know that I wanted to tell you something?"
Justin froze. Whoops. He tried not to act suspicious. "Well, you just looked like you were excited about something... and it was just kind of obvious, Chris."
Chris let go of his sleeve. "Oh." He gave him a small push and they started walking. "Justin, you'll never believe it... I swear to God. You just won't believe it!"
Justin was beginning to get annoyed. "It can't be THAT big," he heard himself say. Suddenly, he realized what made him say it.
He was jealous.
"You don't even know what I'm talking about," Chris reminded him.
"I know. Sorry."
"It's okay."
For a few minutes, they walked side by side in silence. Chris kept glancing over at Justin and every time he saw his solemn profile, eyes fixed ahead.
"Justin?"
"Yeah?" he said, not moving his eyes away from a door in the distance.
"What I want to talk about is really important." Chris steered him away from a pack of travelers. "I really need you to listen."
"Don't worry, Chris. I understand." Inside, his heart was breaking. The first wound was from his guilt, the second was for Chris' pain when he found out... but the third, and most painful wound, was for the poor, innocent child who was being born into a world of lies... and it was all HIS fault.
"I need to tell you," Chris persisted. "You've gotta understand how important this is to me."
"Okay, Chris. I get it."
"Justin..."
"I thought we were waiting until we got to the hotel."
"I can't wait. C'mon, Justin. I really need to tell you."
Justin gulped, trying to hold back his tears. He had no idea that it would be this hard. He knew he'd have to pretend to be happy, surprised and excited, but he hadn't expected that he'd have to choke back tears. "Fine," he said quietly.
Before Chris could even get a word out, Justin grabbed his arm. "Actually, Chris, I'm not feeling very well and I really need to lie down... can we wait until we get to our room?"
Chris was confused at Justin's behavior, but he let go of his arm and nodded anyway. "Okay. I understand."
Chris narrowed his eyes in confusion as he held the door open for Justin and watched him flop down on one of the beds. If he thought Gracie was acting strange, then Justin was acting insane.
"Justin," he said, closing the door and walking over to the other bed so he could sit down. "Are you listening?" He looked over at Justin's mass of curls because his face couldn't be seen.
"Uh huh," was his only response.
"Remember when I said that this was important to me?
"Yeah. I heard you the first ten times," Justin mumbled.
Chris took a deep breath and leaned back into the pillows. He crossed his arms. For the life of him, he couldn't understand what Justin was thinking. "What's wrong with you?" he asked in a hurt voice. "The reason I keep telling you that this is important is because you keep acting like whatever I have to say, even though you don't know what it is yet, doesn't matter. Well, it does to ME, Justin."
Justin turned around to look at him and Chris was shocked to see tears running down his cheeks.
"I'm sorry. Really... I mean it."
"I don't get it," Chris said quietly. "Justin, what's going on?"
Justin had to think, but it was difficult when his eyes stung and he felt like he was going to throw up at any second. "I don't feel good," he finally said. After all, it was the truth.
"Bull shit." Chris was getting angry. "Something's going on and I want to know what it is!"
"I don't want to do this, Chris... I don't want this. You've gotta believe me."
"What are you talking about? I've got this feeling that things are going on behind my back. You're keeping something from me. I'm not stupid, Justin. I can see that something besides you not feeling well is going on here."
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