(Finals ended, it is Saturday and Jen is in Chicago and just began winter break. She is scheduled to fly out to Orlando on Thursday.)
Jen walked around her house aimlessly, already bored. She had been home only 24 hours, and she was itching to get back to school, to get back to Florida, where it was warm. She walked to her kitchen window, which led to the backyard and wrinkled her nose. The snow was covering the ground, there had to be at least a foot of it blanketing the grill, the trees, and the fence. She shivered inwardly, rubbing her hands up and down her arms, which were covered in a fleece sweater when only yesterday where bare because she was in a tee shirt. She sighed again and left the window, remembering there was a magazine she needed to pick up at the store, along with some other odds and ends she needed for the trip back out to Orlando.
“MOM! I’m heading to Walgreen’s! Do you need anything?” she yelled throughout her house. It was an everyday occurrence, her family was loud, and instead of using the intercom that was installed in their house when they first moved in, they preferred yelling to get each other’s attention.
“Oh! Hang on a second Jenny!” her mom called back down the stairs. A few minutes later, Jen heard the familiar footsteps of her mother leading into the kitchen.
Anyone who had seen the two together could tell that Jen was her mother’s daughter. From their facial expressions to their brown eyes, there was a great resemblance between the two. Her mother jotted a few things down on a piece of paper and handed it to her daughter.
“Thanks sweetie, be careful, the roads are kind of icy,” she cautioned, smiling wide. Jen grabbed her purse, keys, and puffy winter coat and walked out of the house to her car, glancing over the list. She jumped into her mother’s car- she left hers at school for break-and shivered as she started it. She grabbed gloves out of her pockets and threw them on swiftly, begging the heater to warm up as fast as it possibly could.
She drove carefully to the store, which in her little suburb of Chicago, is not very far. Once she got in, she hesitated for just a second; reveling in the heat the store welcomed her with. She pulled off her gloves and dug the list out of her purse and scanned it one more time. She headed down the aisles, grabbing some hair clips and deodorant, and then some blank VHS tapes for her mom and herself. Jen walked into the magazine aisle and for the hell of it picked up some teenybopper magazines, like she always did when she walked into Walgreen’s. She remembered the last time she was in there with her friend Cheryl.
~*flashback*~
“Look at this BOP! ‘Do you have Justinitis?’ Where do they come up with these names?” Jen said, reading the cover and flipping through it, glancing at the pictures of *NSYNC, Backstreet Boys, and Britney.
“I don’t know, but look at Joey in this picture! OH he’s so hot…” Cheryl commented, her eyes glued to the page.
“Do you realize that all the pictures in these magazines are from like, MONTHS ago?” Jen said, pointing to one of Justin with short blonde platinum tresses, when in fact his hair has been brown for at least a month now, and was exceeding fro-like measures.
“Oh, don’t forget about all the juicy information, ‘JC likes to sleep, so if you enjoy snuggling into the covers, JC is your guy!’ I mean, come on people, like its that easy.” Cheryl said, shaking her head.
“They make it sound like that’s all he likes to do. He’s a little more intricate than ‘sleep’”, Jen added, putting down the magazine.
“Why do we scope these out everytime we are here?”
“Because we have no lives.”
“No, that’s not true Jen”, Cheryl said, putting her TigerBeat down.
“OK its because we like to throw it in their faces!” Jen replied, snickering as a man walked past them in the aisle and looked at them funny.
~*End Flashback*~
Jen shook her thoughts and grabbed the latest issue of Cosmopolitan and headed towards the checkout with a basket full of items. She glanced at the TV Guide and smiled at the picture on the cover; it was the issue with Justin on the cover, so she grabbed it and added it to her pile of things. She looked down and glanced at the tabloids to see who was covering them this week. She laughed at ‘Star’s weak portrayal of a JFK scandal, claiming he was still alive. Her eyes moved towards the National Enquirer, and the smile faded off of her face.
Jen closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and then opened her eyes again, hoping it was all a dream and she didn’t read that headline. She was not surprised when her face glanced over the tabloid again and she read the same thing. It would not be so bad if it was just the headline, but there were pictures. Not just one picture either. The whole front page was covered with pictures of her and Justin. One was outside the club, with Jen sitting on Justin’s lap and her arms wrapped tightly around his neck. Another was when they were walking to the bench, his arm tightly around her and his head close to hers. The biggest one, which covered up most of the page, was where her and Justin were locked in a passionate kiss sitting on the bench.
“No, no, no…please tell me that I’m imagining this. This cannot happen now,” Jen whispered to herself, picking up the Enquirer and staring at it. She gulped and looked up, realizing she was standing in line with several other people, who were staring at her questioningly. She smiled and threw the magazine onto the counter and the cashier rang it up and put it in her bag.
“Have a nice day dear,” the lady said, handing her the bag and winking at her like they shared a secret.
Jen walked out of the store with people talking, of course they had seen the article and recognized her, especially after her momentary freak out in the middle of the line. She cursed her small town, and knowing the people she lived with, the town would know in a matter of days. She got into her car and took a few deep breaths, then pulled the paper out and gasped again as she looked over the cover once more.
“Turn to page 10,” she said out loud and opened the paper. There she was with Justin inside the club, dancing extremely close and smiling at each other, looking very happy. The caption read:
“Who would do this?” Jen thought out loud. She continued to look around the two-page span on her and Justin, and began to skim the article.
The article basically said that the two had been friends for a long time, and they were the only two oblivious to each other. They got older and began noticing little things about each other, but they remained tight friends. They grew up together, and Jen was tight with everyone in the group. It even mentioned her relationship with Kyle and how Justin hated all of her boyfriends, and vice versa.
The second half of the article talked about weekend visits to Orlando to hang out, and Justin’s surprise visit to the dorm over finals week. It also mentioned that Jen had transferred to USF to be closer to Justin. It ended by saying the couple was happily hiding their budding relationship, and that National Enquirer would keep close tabs on *NSYNC’s upcoming tour and the status of the two.
Jen looked up glanced at the clock in her car; she had been sitting there for twenty minutes in total awe. She pulled her cell phone out of her pocket, flipped it open and pushed in the familiar number.
“Hello?”
“Justin oh my God have you read the-“
Justin cut her off with a sigh. “Yes, I have, and so has our publicist. He is not too happy. Anyway, how are you doing?” he asked, ever concerned.
“Oh Justin, I am so sorry for this. I don’t know how…” Jen trailed off, frustrated at the situation and the fact that she couldn’t talk to him or the other guys face to face.
“Jen, its ok, come on girl everything will work out, “ Justin said soothingly over the phone. He glanced around the room and looked at his four friends, who were all looking at him supportingly. “I guess it was going to come out sooner or later right?”
“Why now? Justin, oh my god the hate pages, I can see it now. Those girls are like vultures, they already know about me being your best friend…and I think almost all of Deerfield has read this already…” Jen trailed off, staring at the paper blankly.
Justin sighed and ran his hands through his messy brown curls. This was NOT good. His girlfriend was a complete wreck and so was he-and they were miles upon miles away. The guys stared at him and how he was silent; they didn’t know what to do. Chris had had enough and jumped towards Justin, scaring everyone. He grabbed the phone and Justin quickly reacted to him, but Chris held out his hand and started speaking into the phone.
“Jenk? You still there?”
“CK? Yeah…I’m here.”
Chris could hear her sadness and his heart went out to her.
“OK you listen to me. We have had to deal with the press and the tabloids forever now right? Jen?” he asked with authority.
“Uh huh…” she sniffed, unable to tear her eyes from the incriminating pictures. She shivered and her teeth chattered into the phone, distracting Chris momentarily.
“Wait a minute. Jenko where are you?”
“In my car.”
“How cold is it there?” the guys glanced at Chris questioningly; they couldn’t hear Jen’s replies so they were baffled as to his line of questioning.
“Um…I think it’s ten below.”
“Is the car on?!”
“No…”
“Turn on the car now. I’m waiting,” he said, catching the guys’ looks. He covered the receiver and whispered, “She is sitting in her car, in the parking lot with it off and it’s ten below zero in Chicago. She’s insane.”
“OK its on…sorry, I am distracted,” she said, finally realizing how cold it actually was in her car.
“It’s understandable. Ok now like I was saying, we’ve gone down this paparazzi road before. Don’t worry about it kiddo ok? You don’t need to get worked up about it, it’s under control. You’ll be here in less than a week, we can talk about it more then ok?” Chris’ calm and cool voice was just what Jen needed to hear.
“OK. I just wish I were there to see all of you…” she said, fighting the tears back, trying to keep them out of her voice. She couldn’t put it by Chris, so he did what he thought was best. He said goodbye and handed the phone back to Justin.
“Jen, you need to drive home. How is the weather besides the freezing factor?” he asked, worried about her safety.
“It’s icy; there’s like a foot of snow,” Jen answered, distracted from the problem at hand somewhat.
“OK, we are gonna hang up and you call me back here as soon as you walk in the door. I know you are at Walgreen’s, and I know how long it takes you to get home so don’t think I won’t be waiting ok? Ok-“
“JUSTIN NO!” Jen busted out.
“WHAT what? What’s wrong Jen tell me!” He yelled back gripping the phone tightly, thinking something was happening.
“No…I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you…but….but can you stay on the phone with me? Sing to me, talk to me, breathe…please…anything. I need to hear you…” she trailed off, allowing a silent tear to slide down her face.
“Don’t cry baby, I know you are, please don’t, you’re breaking my heart. Everything will be fine, just start driving home and I’ll sing for you ok? He soothed, motioning for the guys to come closer.
“What do you wanna hear girl?” he asked.
“Will you sing ‘Best of My Life’?”
The guys looked at each other and nodded, quickly fiddling with their throats, and then Justin silently counted off and they began to sing.
“I will give you, the best of my life, I will give you, all that you need. Anything that you want I will give it, to you…”
