“What’s Nsync?!?” Tyler asked for the third time his voice rising steadily each time.
“Mary tried to swallow the growing lump in her throat as her mind quickly tried to figure out the best way to answer the young boy’s question. “Well, Nsync is a popular music group.” She finally told him.
“Who all is in the group?” Tyler asked. His face was a deep crimson color and as he took each breath his nostrils were flaring giving him a wild look.
“There are five young men in the group,” she replied as she sat on the edge of her bed looking down towards her feet. She knew what he was getting at but she didn’t want to get into this with him.
“Damn it, Mary! Justin’s in the group isn’t he?!” Tyler yelled at her as he clenched his fists.
Her head shot up and she gave him a stern look. “Tyler don’t you ever speak to me or anyone else like that! That is uncalled for.”
“Well, then tell me! Justin’s in that group huh?” He looked at her waiting for a response. He saw her nod her head slightly to affirm his accusations. “Why didn’t he tell me?”
“Well he…” Mary began but stopped, trying to think of what to tell him. “He didn’t want to use his name as a way of getting through to you Tyler. He wanted to do it on his own terms. Maybe, he just wanted you to like him for him.”
“Maybe he thought I knew who he was,” the little boy snapped while glaring at Mary.
“Tyler,” Mary scolded him. “You’re this close,” she said while holding up her thumb and index finger pressed together.
The little boy exhaled loudly before plopping onto the bed. “It’s not fair,” he whined. “Why can’t I just be normal?! Then I would have known who Nsync and Justin was.”
Mary sat down on the bed next to him and scooped the child into his arms. “Cuz you’re special,” she said. “Justin’s not normal either,” she tried to cheer him up. “He’s even less normal that you,” she smiled.
“Great,” Tyler muttered. “I’m a freak just like the liar.”
“Tyler, he was just trying to do what he thought was right,” Mary said while hugging him closer and resting her chin on the top of his head.
“Do you think lying is right?” he asked while hopping off of her lap and walking around the room.
She looked up to address him and noticed he wasn’t paying any attention to her. His eyes were glued to the muted TV screen. She too turned to see what had captured his attention.
On the screen was a picture of Justin with the four other men that comprised Nsync and the newsman was saying something. Tyler reached forward and turned up the volume to hear what was being said.
“Today Justin Timberlake of Nsync called a press conference to address some rumors concerning a drunk driving incident and the community service work he was sentenced to do at an orphanage. When asked about the time he spent there, here’s what Timberlake had to say.” The screen changed and there stood Justin behind a podium. At first he was talking with no words, but then the sound quickly faded in.
“It’s OK. I’m just trying to finish my sentence so I can move on. This is not a major part of my life and I am not going to let it interfere with my professional life, my career, or my obligations to Nsync,” the recorded image spoke coldly and with no emotion behind its voice.
A hand in the crowd raised and Tyler watched in amazement as Justin nodded towards the hand. A murmur rang throughout the room as the man asked a question, but it quickly fell silent again when Justin opened his mouth to speak.
“No, there’s no one special that I work with. I just do what I’m told. I just want to do anything I can to help those poor homeless kids,” Justin said, finishing the sentence off with a smile.
Mary watched the screen with a shocked look on her face. Never in her life had she seen anyone act and speak so cruelly. The rest of the world would interpret his actions as a good deed, but what about the little boy whose heart was breaking as he watched this broadcast. Did Justin even stop to think about Tyler before doing this press conference or was he just trying to save his own butt? Mary’s eyes shifted to Tyler whose cheeks were flushed. The young boy’s eyes were red and filled with water, and his breathing was unsteady. “Honey,” Mary said in a soothing voice as she reached out to place a hand on Tyler’s back, but the little boy jerked away from her.
“No one special?!” Tyler screamed at the top of his lungs. “It’s OK working here?! Who does he think he is?! God?! No one wanted him here in the first place! No one even invited him! I hate him!” he shouted before running out the room, tears streaming down his face.
Justin reached up and rubbed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. He had a pounding headache; he’d had it for hours. Those stupid phone interviews had held him up for hours. He was hoping he’d have a chance to get to run and see Tyler but as he glanced at his watch he knew that was not going to happen. “I can’t believe it’s 11:30! Damn!” he said to nobody as the elevator counted down the floors and finally came to a gentle stop. It was way too late for him to make an unexpected visit to the children’s home. Everyone should be asleep by now.
Minutes later as he cruised down the freeway he reviewed everything he’d said in his interviews. He shook his head, it made him sick just thinking about it. He said one last silent prayer, praying that no one from the orphanage, least of all Tyler had seen his conference.
That night sleep did not come easy for Justin Timberlake. He tossed and turned throughout the night. He kept having nightmares that he went to the children’s home and Tyler just stood there and glared while he pointed at him. In his dream Tyler kept repeating “You lied, you lied…”
Justin awoke with a start. He looked quickly around his room and came to the realization that it had been a dream. He looked down at his lap and saw his sheets wrapped tightly around his middle. Sometime during the night they had been pulled from the bed. He glanced at his alarm clock. It read 5:30 am. Knowing full well he would not be able to get any more sleep that night he dragged himself out of bed and padded down the hall to the kitchen. He clicked the coffee maker on and walked over to the cupboard to grab a mug.
He carried his empty mug over to the dining room table and sat down. He was still in that half asleep, half awake daze. He needed his morning coffee and a big bowl of cereal, which would make him feel better. ‘No it wouldn’t,’ he thought. ‘What will make me feel better is knowing that I’ve talked to Tyler and everything is ok.’
A couple minutes later he heard the coffee machine turn itself off. He poured himself a cup and took it upstairs to get ready for the day.
Justin stood on the porch of the Children’s Home, waiting for someone to answer. It was 10:00 and Justin couldn’t wait any longer to talk to Tyler. After what seemed like an eternity the big white door in front of him was pulled open. On the other side stood Mary.
She looked at Justin and raised her eyebrows in surprise. She hadn’t been expecting him; it wasn’t one of his community service days. Actually, after the interview she saw she really wasn’t expecting him back at all.
“Hey, could I please see Tyler?” Justin asked her with a smile.
“Actually, could I have a word with you first in my office?” She said firmly. Justin’s smile melted off his face. The only time he’d seen a look like that on her face was when a little boy pushed Angela, the little blond girl.
He followed her down the hall into her office. She motioned for him to enter before her so he did and she closed the door behind him.
“I know when you started community service here you were hesitant to do so,” she started. “And I know that you’ve had some hard times with Tyler, Justin…”
“You saw?” the young man asked, interrupting her as his gaze dropped to the floor. He wanted to disappear. He would have sunk into the wall if it were possible. He had never felt more ashamed of himself than he did at that moment. He shifted nervously in the gaze of Mary’s wide eyes, feeling them boring holes through his head.
“Yes,” she replied after a minute of silence.
“Mary, It’s not what you’re thinking it is,” Justin said hurriedly feeling that if he could just get those words out of his mouth everything would be ok.
“Well, what is it, Justin?!” Mary shouted at him, losing all of her composure. She didn’t know what was going through this boy’s head, and she was beginning not to care. First he hated Tyler. Then, he loved Tyler. Now, he’s indifferent?!
“Mary, I’m so sorry about what I said…” Justin began frantically.
“Good!” the woman shouted. “You should be! Although, I don’t really know what it matters to you! You weren’t the one who had to see Tyler’s reaction when he saw the broadcast, and you weren’t the one who had to console him either!”
“Mary, I had to say those things!” the young man exclaimed.
“Well at least you did what you had to do,” Mary said, her voice suddenly growing calm and cold as she glared at Justin.
“I was just trying to do what was right, Mary. Please listen to me,” Justin begged.
Mary sighed and looked at her watch. Her narrow eyes glanced back up at Justin, and she folded her arms across her chest. “You have five minutes,” she said.
“Mary, do you have any idea what would happen if I had said Tyler’s name in that press conference?!” Justin shouted while pointing at the door to no nothing. “Do you know how many reporters would be over here in a minute?!” the young man snapped his fingers as he shouted. “This place would be filled with hundreds of them asking questions, all of them wanting to talk to Tyler!”
“I didn’t think about that,” Mary said, but the anger was still in her eyes. “But that doesn’t excuse the way you talked about your sentence and your time here. Jeez Justin!” she shouted again. “It’s OK working here?! You just want to finish your sentence and move on?! You want to do anything to help those poor homeless kids?!” she shouted his words back at him, letting him hear them. “First of all, these kids are not homeless! They’re orphans! There’s a big difference there, Mr. Timberlake!”
“Those weren’t my words!” Justin defended himself. “I didn’t have a choice in this whole thing, Mary! Our publicist isn’t worried about Tyler! He’s worried about what I look like to the fans! His job is to keep my career going! I had to say what he told me to say!”
“Just like you had to serve your sentence where he told you to?” Mary asked with raised eyebrows. Justin’s heart sank when he heard the contempt in Mary’s voice, and his eyes dropped to the floor.
“Do you really believe that?” the young man asked in a whisper.
“I don’t know what I believe anymore, Justin,” the woman admitted. “But,” she said before taking a deep breath. “I am a firm believer that actions speak louder than words; and if that’s true, you’re here. That says something. What, exactly, I don’t know; but it does say something.”
“Thank you,” Justin said.
“Don’t thank me, yet,” Mary said harshly. “When I saw you, my first reaction was to tell you that you couldn’t finish your sentence here. It can cause too many problems that I didn’t think about when I agreed to let you come here. But, you’re already here. And, since I don’t know what to do at this point. I’m going to let Tyler decide. If he still wants to work with you, then you can finish your sentence here. If he doesn’t, you’ll have to find something else to do,” the woman said. Her voice was tight and her teeth were clenched as she said the words.
“Thank you,” Justin whispered.
“I assume you came by to see him?” Mary asked.
“Yes,” he said with a nod.
“Well, what are you waiting for?” she asked. “Go see him. He’s in his room. That’s where he’s been all day,” Mary said. “Good luck. I have a feeling you’re going to need it.”
Justin’s head once again dropped. “That’s my fault, isn’t it?” he asked.
“What do you want me to do, Justin?” Mary asked. “Lie to you? Yes, it is your fault. That’s the truth.”
“I’m gonna go… talk to him,” Justin stuttered while stumbling towards the door. The young man fumbled with the doorknob, his heart beating rapidly. Finally getting it open, he practically ran out of the office. He sighed as he turned around and ran up the stairs. His heart was practically pounding out of his chest. What was he planning on say to Tyler? Justin ran all the way to the little boy’s room, hoping something would come to him. The young man sighed and ran a hand over his head. He could hear his heart beating in his ears and his hands were sweating. ‘Maybe, he won’t bring it up,’ Justin thought as he swallowed hard. ‘Either way you have to go in there sooner of later,’ the boy reasoned with himself. He reached up a knocked lightly.
“Come in!” a voice called from inside the room.
Justin paused for a moment before reaching out and slowly twisted the handle. He eased the door open and peered inside, a little wide-eyed. “Hey,” he said brightly with a slight wave of his hand.
When Tyler saw who was at his door his eyes flashed with anger and he jerked his head in the opposite direction and firmly wrapped his arms around his little body.
Justin swallowed before entering the room. He sat down on the bed opposite Tyler’s and leaned forward to rest his elbows on his knees. “I need to talk to you.”
“Whatever,” Tyler bit out at him. “Why bother, we both know how you feel about me!”
“Tyler if you’d just let me explain…” Justin started but Tyler rushed past him and burst through the door. Justin could hear his footsteps as he ran down the stairs. Sighing Justin got up to follow the little boy. Once he’d said his peace, then he’d leave, but not before then.
Several minutes later after a thorough search of the downstairs of the house as well as the outside Justin still hadn’t found Tyler.
“Damn,” he cursed under his breath as he headed towards his car. He wasn’t going to give up, but he decided to give Tyler a chance to cool off a bit.
After a couple of hours Justin found his car parked in front of Chris’ place. He needed advice and he felt Chris would be best since he’d met Tyler and knew what he was up against.
He walked up to the door and knocked. A second later he heard a high-pitched barking and Chris swung the door open.
“Chill Busta,” Chris exclaimed as he reached down and scooped up the pug. Shifting his eyes toward Justin he smiled and asked, “So what can I do ya for?”
“Hey man, I need some help,” Justin said glumly. Slowly the smile faded from Chris face.
“Come on in,” Chris motioned for Justin to follow him into the living room. “So what’s up?” He finally exclaimed when they were both seated on the black leather sofa.
“I just went to visit Tyler,” Justin started.
“Oh,” Chris said knowingly. “Didn’t go to well eh?”
Justin sighed and slumped down into his seat. He raked his hands through his hair and replied, “Mary was going to terminate my community service at the Children’s home. She saw the conference on the news.”
“Awe, man that sucks,” Chris started, but Justin interrupted.
“That’s not even the half of it! Tyler saw the broadcast too!” Justin’s eyes grew wide and his arms flew up in the air in frustration. “Now he won’t talk to me and he won’t let me explain. I don’t know what to do. How can I make him listen and understand if he’s ignoring me?” Justin looked at his friend pleadingly.
“I don’t know man, that just sucks.” The two sat in silence for several minutes. Chris really felt for Justin. He knew how hard it was for him to earn Tyler’s trust and break through his hard shell. Now all that was ruined.
Chris’ head jerked up and his eyes lit up with the idea he had just formed. “He won’t talk to you, but maybe he’ll listen to me. Give him my number and tell him to give me a call.” Chris nodded his head in satisfaction.
“I don’t know if he will, but it’s worth a shot. Thanks!” Justin said, a small glimmer of hope in his mind.
Justin, Chris, JC, Lance, and Joey all sat in the studio listening to the play back of Gone, trying to decide if they wanted to redo any of the vocals. Well, at least Chris, JC, Lance and Joey were listening. Justin, on the other hand, had other things on his mind. The music could have been playing at full volume through head phones stuck in his ears, and the young man wouldn’t have noticed it.
“I like that,” JC grinned; overly satisfied with the way the track had turned out. The vocals had turned out great. He couldn’t have asked for anything better, and he doubted the rest of the guys had any problem with it. “What do you think?” he asked his bandmates.
“That was perfect,” Chris said.
“Awesome,” Lance agreed.
“I’m happy with that,” Joey smiled.
Everyone turned to Justin, waiting for his answer, but they were only met with silence as the young man continued to stare blankly at the wooden desk he was sitting at. He roughly massaged his forehead with the palm of his hand.
“Justin?” JC said.
Silence.
“Justin!” JC shouted to get the young boy’s attention. The young man’s body jerked as he looked at his bandmate with wide eyes. He had been so absorbed in his thoughts that he had forgotten he was even in a recording studio.
“Huh?” the young man said in a confused tone with that far off look still in his eyes.
“What did you think of the track?” the older boy asked as if the younger man had completely lost his mind.
“Oh. Yeah. It’s great,” Justin muttered with no emotion in his voice.
“Yo, J. You ok, man?” Lance asked while giving Justin a slight pat on the back. The young man jerked his shoulder out of Lance’s reach and glared up at him.
“No. I’m not,” he snapped with a glare on his face.
“Someone’s pissy,” Joey said with a sarcastic smile and a roll of his eyes. The boy had been like this the whole morning, and it wasn’t making him easy to work with. The guys had spent the whole day walking on eggshells around him just so he wouldn’t snap at them, but nothing seemed to be working. The more they left him alone; the angrier and more irritable Justin became.
“Would you just shut up?” Justin groaned at Joey while rubbing his head. “I have a lot on my mind, unlike some people in this room,” he hissed at the boy standing on the other side of the room.
“And what the hell is that suppose to mean?” Joey asked with a little anger present in his voice.
“Nothing,” Justin said coldly.
“No. Not nothing!” the other man snapped. “I’m sick of this shit, Justin! What the hell is that suppose to mean?” he demanded.
“I’m just saying that maybe my problems are a little more serious than yours right now, ok?” the young man said while shaking his head and making a face as if to say ‘duh’. Everyone in the room watched silently as Joey’s face turned a slight shade of pink. It looked like steam was about to come out his ears.
“What exact problem would that be, J?” Joey asked sarcastically. “Getting convicted or pissing off the kid that could make you clean the streets all day? Cuz I don’t see any point in thinking about either of those too much really. You see. You can’t get the conviction overturned, and you can’t really expect a little kid to like an ass like you,” the young man said, never breaking his gaze from Justin.
Justin looked up at Joey and saw the dead serious look on his face. He sat for a second, glaring at him. Then, without any warning, he jumped up from his chair and bolted towards him. JC, Chris, and Lance immediately rushed to hold him back.
“Let go of me!” Justin demanded.
“Yeah!” Joey shouted. “Let go of him! Let’s see what the boy wonder is gonna do next? Feel like a little more jail time, J?”
“Joey! I swear to God!” Chris shouted through clenched teeth as he continued to fight Justin.
“What, Chris?” Joey asked. “He’s only mad cuz I’m the only one with balls to say what we’re all thinking!” he shouted. “It’s not that big of a deal! Find some other way to finish your community service!”
“Are you trying to get your ass kicked?!” JC shouted back at Joey while holding Justin back.
“EWW!!” Joey shouted in mock fear with shaking his knees slightly. “I’m so scared! Go on! Let him go!”
“Maybe I liked this kid, ok!” Justin scowled, bringing Joey back into the fight that they were having. Joey’s glare tightened as his head turned back towards Justin.
“Well too bad, J! You messed up!” Joey shouted.
“I didn’t mess up!” Justin shouted.
“Oh, I’d love to hear this one,” Joey laughed. “Go on, J. Amaze us with your ability to turn everything around and make it someone else’s fault!” he spat at the younger man. “Cuz nothing is ever your fault! Right? That’s your problem, J! You never take responsibility for your actions!”
“I did not want to say what I said in that press conference!” Justin yelled. He was still trying to pry his way out of JC, Chris, and Lance’s grasps to get to the man.
“You didn’t HAVE to say anything, Justin! No one put a gun to your head!” the blond shouted. “You could have said absolutely nothing! But, you didn’t do that, did you?!”
Justin stopped fighting the three men holding him back and looked Joey straight in the eye. “What was I suppose to do?” he asked, with his glare still on his face. “I have to think about Nsync, remember? Weren’t you one of the people that said we had to take care of it right then? I have a commitment to this band. That came first.” By the time Justin reached the end of his statement, he was breathing hard. His glare had slowly turned into a defeated look and he was talking in a normal tone.
Joey closed his eyes and shook his head. “You have a commitment to yourself first, you jack ass,” he muttered while opening his eyes. “That should come before Nsync.” Joey looked around the room and began to shift under the uncomfortable gazes of his bandmates. “Look,” he said while tuning everyone else out and focusing back on Justin. “I feel bad for you, J. I really do, but I can’t work like this. You’ve got things on your mind. Well, get them off your mind. I don’t care how you do it. But, until you can come and sit in here with us and not snap at everything, then I won’t be in here.” The room grew deathly quiet. Joey held everyone’s undivided attention, including Justin’s. “I can’t work like this,” he continued. “I refuse to tip toe around your bad moods, and I refuse to patronize you any more. So, when you do whatever it is that you need to do to get yourself back to normal. Give me a call cuz that’s when I’m coming back into the studio.”
Joey looked nervously around the room. He sighed, and ran a hand through his hair as he picked up his stuff and walked out.
Justin looked around at the men still left in the room. His head was spinning and it felt like the world was closing in on him. Suddenly, breathing wasn’t quite as easy as it should have been, and he had to get out of there. “I’m taking a sick day,” he said while grabbing his keys off the counter and walking out the door.
The three men left in the room stood staring at each other blankly. Lance’s eyes flashed around the room, taking in everything that had just happened. He looked frantically at each of this bandmates and then at the door.
“Ok! What the hell just happened here?!” the twenty-two year old boy exclaimed in shock.
“I’m not really sure,” JC said, also in a state of shock at what had just taken place.
“Is it just me, or are we missing two fifths of our band?!” Lance shouted.
“Lance, calm down, man,” Chris said trying to think of something better to say but not coming up with anything. Joey and Justin had just left the studio without any clear intention of returning.
“Calm down?!” Lance shouted in shock at Chris. “We have a deadline, Chris; and two of our singers just walked out of the studio! We can’t do the harmonies without Joey. We need Justin to record more solos, and you’re telling me to calm down! There’s no way we’re going to meet the deadline with stuff like this going on! We were behind as it was!”
“The deadline is not that important,” Chris said.
“Like hell it isn’t!” JC shouted, beginning to lift out of that state of confusion he was in. “We’ve been busting our asses to get this album out in time, and I’ll be damned if it comes out late because we have a band member with the cognitive ability and emotional maturity of a five year old!”
“JC,” Chris groaned while rubbing the palms of his hands over his eyes. “I know it looks bad, but we don’t NEED to get the album out on the date. The fans will understand if it’s a few weeks later than expected. It’s not like we haven’t pushed back release dates before.”
“And that’s exactly why I don’t want to push back another one!” JC yelled in exasperation. “I don’t want the reputation of the band that can’t get anything done on time!”
“It will be ok,” Chris said calmly. “It’s not that big of a deal.”
“To me it is!” the younger man screamed.
“Well pitching a fit about it isn’t going to help the situation!” Chris shouted, finally letting his temper go. He was just as upset about Joey and Justin leaving as Lance and JC were. Why did they have the right to get mad, and he didn’t?
“We gotta get them back in here,” Lance said. “If we don’t, we’ll never be finished in time.”
“We’re never going to be finished in time, and we’re never going to get them back in here together,” JC muttered.
An evil smile spread across Chris’ lips as he looked back and forth between JC and Lance. “Who says that they have to come in here together,” the older man asked. “We can record them separately and then put the two recordings on one tape. They never even have to be in the same room as each other,” he grinned.
“You mean trick them?” Lance asked with slight confusion in his voice.
“No,” Chris said. “Joey never said he didn’t want to record. He said he didn’t want to record with Justin. This way he won’t be recording with Justin. We’ll make our release date, and everyone’s happy.”
Lance and JC looked at each other with raised eyebrows. Chris’s idea would take twice the time it normally would to record them, but it was the only thing they could do that even gave them the slightest hope of finishing the album.
“It’s worth a shot,” JC shrugged.
Justin sat in his living room thinking about everything that had happened this week. Images of himself flashed across the television that was tuned to MTV. They must have shown the press conference footage five times already. He even heard Carson saying how nice it was that he was taking time out of his day to help out the kids in the orphanage. Justin had to roll his eyes at that one. ‘Yeah. I’m doing what a court ordered me to do. That’s real nice of me,’ he thought sarcastically. Not to mention the fact that he had almost given up on Tyler after being there for less than a week.
This week had been a crazy one for Justin. So much had happened. His ‘drunk driving’ incident had finally appeared in the papers. Tyler wasn’t speaking to him, and Joey refused to record any music while he was in the studio. The young man thought that the time to himself would be good for him, but this proved to be wrong. All he kept thinking about was Tyler. How was he going to get through to him again? All the work he had done was for nothing. After he had spent all that time getting the little boy to like him, Justin was right back where he started. Tyler despised him, and there was no way to talk to him.
The young man raked his hand down his face, the memories of what happened in the recording studio flashing through his mind. What the hell was going on with his life?! It seemed like everything was falling apart right in front of his eyes, and all because he had to go out to a bar one night. If he hadn’t gone, he would never have been arrested. He wouldn’t have to do community service. He would never have met Tyler, and he wouldn’t be so moody all the time, causing Joey to run out of the studio.
“Life sucks,” he spat to no one while continuing to glare around his house. ‘All alone,’ he thought. ‘As per usual,’ he rolled his eyes. A loud screeching noise caused Justin’s head to snap to the side. The young man relaxed when he realized it was just the phone ringing. He rolled his eyes and slumped farther down into the couch, making no effort to pick it up. He figured that it was probably just another reporter wanting to talk to him or try and dig out some more dirt about his community service. That’s all he needed, for the press to find out that Tyler hated him and wouldn’t even talk to him anymore. They would have a field day with that one. He could just see the headlines in the paper now. Justin Timberlake apparently isn’t so nice and caring after all. They’d just love that one.
The reporters hadn’t left him alone for a minute since they heard about the charge against him and his community service sentence. He must have heard 10 phone calls just about him and Tyler since he had gotten home all of an hour ago. He was picking up the phone, but that had long since ceased. After fielding a hundred of the same questions about everything, he had decided that picking up the phone wasn’t such a good idea today. And, quite frankly, he was sick and tired of talking about it. It still amazed him sometimes how people could be interested in the most unimportant issues. So, he got arrested for possession of alcohol. Big freaking deal. It’s not like he shot somebody! He wasn’t even drinking! It was all so stupid. The young man just didn’t understand why people were even interested.
‘Cuz they’re just looking for any dirt they can possibly get on you,’ he thought. “Yeah. Well they found it,” he said bitterly to himself. Didn’t they understand that they were making his life a living hell right now?! ‘Do you really think they care what the hell they’re putting you through?’
The phone rang again and Justin winced while rubbing his face into the palms of his hands. ‘How many times does that damn thing ring before the machine gets it?’ His winced tightened when the phone rang a third time; but this time, much to his relief, he heard the answering machine pick it up.
“Hey you’ve reached Justin,” the answering machine picked up the phone. “I’m not home right now, but what else is old? If this is one of my friends, call me on my cell. If not, leave a message at the beep; and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.”
“J?” Chris’ voice filled the room. “Are you there? Pick up the phone if you’re there. I have something really important to talk to you about.” The voice paused for a moment, waiting for Justin to pick up the phone; but the tall man on the couch didn’t move a muscle. “Ok. So, you’re not there,” the voice said with an unbelieving tone. “I was just wondering if you were going to come to the studio tomorrow. JC’s really worried about getting the album out on time. So, yeah. We were just wondering. Give me a call back. Ok? I’ll talk to you later. Bye.”
Justin rolled his eyes. “No. I’m not coming to the studio tomorrow, dumb ass,” he snapped at the machine. Joey’s words kept on rolling through his head. He couldn’t go back until he fixed things with Tyler. ‘So what are you waiting for?’ that annoying voice of conscience in his head asked. ‘Go over there and fix things. Then you can relax again and get back in the studio with the guys. The album will come out on time and you and Tyler will be friends.’ Justin’s eyes flashed to the clock on the wall telling him it was 2pm. He felt like the walls were closing in on him, and all he wanted to do was escape from the world. “There’s no way to fix things,” he said bitterly. ‘How do you know if you don’t try?’
“Ahh!” Justin screamed as he flew off the couch. “Fine! I’m going!” he shouted at his head. “Are you happy now?!”
‘I’ll let you know when you get there.’
The young man grabbed his keys and made his way out to his car. “I know I’m going to regret this,” he said to himself as he opened the door and sat down behind the wheel of the car. Justin stuck his key in the ignition and pressed the gas pedal to warm the car up as he turned it on. The engine roared, and Justin put the car in gear as he pealed out of his driveway. He was once again on his way to see Tyler.