Sailing - Part 9
Chapter 30: 3 weeks later
"Mike, stay close to daddy ok?", Justin whispered to his son as he took the child's soft little hand.
Mike nodded. The two were in the mall at Sam Goody searching fot the newest Brian McKnight CD.
They were wearing matching outfits-- a black FUBU t-shirt and jeans. Justin, with his baseball cap and
tinted sunglasses looked only 18 evern though he was now 22.
After only a few minutes, Michael started to whine. "DADDY! I'M HUNGRY!"
"Ok, Mike. We'll go get some food in one sec.", he promised as he picked up a CD. "Finally found it!",
he thought as he brought the disc up to the register. The woman behind the counter peered into his
eyes. "Aren't you Justin from *NSYNC?"
"Yea."
"Aw, is that your little boy?", she cooed while ringing up the CD. "He's adorable!"
"Yea." Mike grabbed Justin's leg to hide behind out of shyness. Justin let out a laugh. "He's shy."
The woman smiled. "I heard what happened with your ex-girlfriend. That sucks that she stood you up
at the Alter."
Justin grew uncomfortable. "She's STILL my girlfriend and we love each other very much. It's not a
big deal. She's great all the more."
She nodded and handed him the bag. "I'm sorry about that."
He nodded. "Thanks for the CD."
"Sure. Have a good day Justin."
"You too.", he replied politely and reached a hand down to Mike. When he realized he waasn't there,
he began to panic.
"MIKE?!" His eyes swept across the room rapidly. "Oh my God. MIKE!!!", he yelled. "WHERE ARE
YOU!!?" A river of thoughts passed through his head. 'I lost him', 'Skye's gonna kill me', 'Where'd he
go!?', 'What if he got kidnapped?', 'What if he's DEAD?!'
In a flurry of panic, he dropped the CD, ignoring the loud 'crack' he heard and ran around the whole
store looking under and around everything. "He was here just a second ago! I can't believe this!", he
yelled at himself. The search was futile.
He kept looking in the nearest stores for half an hour before calling for help. Not able to face Skye,
he called Chris.
"Hello?"
"Chris, man, I lost Mike!!!", he said with speed. "What do I do!?"
"You lost your own son!?!"
"Yea. Can you come over to the mall and help me look for him? Oh God Chris, what if someone stole
him or what if he's....dead!? I'd never be able to face Skye agaiN!"
"I'll be right over. Don't panic man."
"Yeah right."
Grabbing his keys, he was out the door and sped as fast as he could without getting a ticket to the
mall. He found Justin in the candy store asking the clerk if he had seen a "curly blonde toddler".
There was fear in his eyes as the man shook his head no. Justin ran from store to store getting the
same response from each one. Chris was stopping people asking if they had seen him. Justin
turned to Chris, a tear running down his face, shaking uncontrollably. "Chris!! He's gone..."
Suddenly, he saw a curly blonde-headed boy around 5 years old walking hand in hand with another
blonde woman. "Mike!?" He ran over to them and peered down at the boy.
"Mommy look!! It's NSYNC!!!"
Slouching in dissapointment, Justin retreated back to Chris who was talking with some lady. She was
about 30, frizzy red hair and curiosity creeping over her face. She was wearing a bright pink, blue
striped dress. Oddly enough, she reminded Justin of Ms. Frizzle from the "Magic School Bus" books.
He thought, "Why the hell is he talking to HER?! What is she gonna know! She looks like some kind of
pshyco!"
"Excuse me, ma'am. Did you happen to see a toddler around 5 with curly blonde hair and blue eyes
walking around anywhere?", Chris paused to show a recent picture of Mike. The lady examined the
photo and scratched her head. "I SAW HIM!"
"Where!?"
"He was in the toy store I think. Did he have a black shirt on?"
Justin cut in. "YES! He was wearing this same shirt!", he answered pointing to his FUBU shirt, thinking,
"Maybe this woman isn't so pshyco after all..."
She nodded. "Yeah, that was him alright."
Chris nodded. "Thank you."
Justin was already running to the toy store. Mike wasn't there.
Meanwhile, Mike was in a corner of the mall, curled into a ball, crying. Tears flooded his face. It had
already been an hour since he had last seen Justin. "Mike, stay close to daddy ok?" He remembered
hearing it, but something just came over him when he saw that Pikachu on a boy's tshirt and grew
curious, following the owner of the tee all the way to the toy store. Soon after, he was out in the
hustle and bustle of the mall again and found a small corner over by Macy*s to sit down in. He was
hungry, tired, and scared. All he wanted was his father. Soon, a girl around 16 years old came up to
him with comfort in her eyes. "hi there. are you lost?" Mike nodded, shyly.
"It's ok. Who are you looking for?" she asked crouching down to him. He sniffed. "My daddy."
"Okay. What's your name?"
He hesitated. "I'm not aposed to talk to strangers." She smiled. Then Mike noticed her shirt. It was
one of the latest *NSYNC shirts. He pointed to the picture of Justin. "That's my daddy." She looked
down at who he was pointing at. "Oh! You're Mike Timberlake!?" Thinking to herself, "i just found the
hottest guy alive's kid....this could reap of benefits..."
He nodded. She smiled, "My name is Shannon. Do you wanna go find your daddy?"
He wiped the tears away from his eyes and took Shannon's outstretched hand.
"MIKE!!!!!???", Justin screamed. "WHERE ARE YOU!??" He was on the VERGE of breaking down in
tears when Shannon saw him from behind. "Omigod, there he is.", she thought. "Stay calm." She
slowly walked up to him and tapped him on the shoulder. He spun around and the first thing he
noticed was her shirt. "Oh great.", he thought.
"I believe this is yours.", she said with a huge grin and gently pushed Mike forward. "DADDY!!!" He
instantly started crying and hugged him so hard Michael began to squeal. "Daddy! Let go! You're
squishing me!!" Justin reluctantly let go and immediately hugged Shannon so hard she almost turned
blue. "Thank you soooooooo much!!!!"
"You're welcome......thank YOU."
He let go and looked at her curiously. "For what?"
"For everything!", she looked down at Mike who was hugging her leg. "You have the cutest boy."
"Thanks"
"Daddy, this is Shannon. She said she wikes you weallllly awot!!!" (likes you really alot)
He smiled. "Nice to meet you Shannon."
"You too!!"
After he and Chris signed her shirt, he gave her his email address. "Keep in touch. Maybe you could
babysit. Mike seems to adore you!"
She beamed. "THANKS!!"
He smiled, gave her a hug, and left with Mike on his shoulders. They got some lunch and left the
mall. (Without the Brian McKnight CD.)
"Chris, you're not gonna tell Skye are you?", he asked when they got home.
"Tell me what?", SKye asked as she walked into the kitchen.
"Nothing."
Mike yelled, "Daddy wost me at the mall!!!" (lost)
Chris laughed. "Busted."
Skye's eyes grew wide. "What?"
"I found him didn't I?"
"Shannon found me daddy! Don't you wememba? (remember) You said mommy was gonna be mad
at you. Mommy, you're not mad are you?"
"Of course not Mike. Why don't you go play with Chris so mommy can talk to daddy for a second."
"Ok."
He ran off with Chris.
Justin gulped as Skye turned on him. "Justin, ya wanna explain this one to me?"
He sighed. "No, not really."
"Well too bad. Start talking."
After he finished the story, Skye's eyebrows were raised. "You've really done it this time, Justin."
He rubbed his eyes. "I know. I'm sorry. Forgive me?"
She only could look at him with a blank expression.
LiNKS
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