How
Did I Fall In Love With You?
By: Lara
One
Justin Timberlake and Nick Carter met when
they were young. Neither of them remembered the exact first time they were
introduced to each other, but as long as they could remember, they were aware
of each other's presence on the planet. They knew someone who knew someone who
had auditioned with the other person, so names were always creeping up. They
didn't interact often, and neither knew that the other one had joined a new
singing group.
When
Nick was almost sixteen and Justin was almost fifteen, they were “officially”
introduced to each other. The two groups were brought together for a photo
shoot and joint interview, but the interview was never printed. The pictures
weren't either. Even though both groups knew it wasn't the other group's fault
that they had to compete against each other, they took the anger out on one
another. Gentle Lance was in Howie's face, and Chris ended up with a black eye,
gained from Kevin's fist.
“Hi,”
Nick said shyly to Justin. Justin was seated in a corner, waiting for something
to happen. Either they'd do the shoot, or they'd be sent home. He was already
really good at waiting.
“Hi.”
Justin smiled briefly, then continued to bounce a Superball off the wall.
“I
sure didn't feel like coming here today,” Nick began, and Justin glared at him.
“No! I mean, I knew this would happen.” He pointed to where Lance and Howie
were exchanging insults. “We could all be friends, you know? I don't wanna
fight…I'd rather be off playing basketball. Lou HAD to know it would end up
like this.”
“I
bet he thinks we'll work harder now, if we have something to fight against,”
Justin said, angrily bouncing the ball. “Like we're not working hard enough as
it is.”
“Tell
me about it,” Nick agreed.
“You
like basketball?”
“Love
it,” Nick answered. “I could play all day long.”
“Really?
Me, too. Chris is the only one who's any good at it…Lance is such a girl, and
JC just wants to sleep.”
“I
play with Brian.”
“Brian's
nice,” Justin said quickly. He knew Brian was Nick's best friend. “And he sings
real good.”
“So
do you,” Nick said, and Justin blushed at the compliment.
“Lou…well,
Lou wants me to be like the front man or something. Wants me in front to get
the girls.”
“Really?
Me, too,” Nick said sympathetically. “I'm already sick of it.”
“Hey.”
Justin caught his ball and sat up straighter. “Wanna shoot hoops some time?”
“I
dunno,” Nick said. “I mean, I want to, but I bet Lou won't like it. And I don't
have a lot of free time.”
“Do
you have email?”
“Yeah…I
use AJ's computer a lot.”
“Gimme
your email. We'll email, and if we find time, we'll sneak out and shoot.”
“Yeah!”
Nick said excitedly. He liked the idea of sneaking out. He smiled at Justin,
who smiled back at his new friend.
