Justin followed Mary’s directions of where he could find Tyler and he made his way down the hall into the kitchen. There he found Tyler and another young boy about his age standing next to the counter. Spread in front of them was a baking pan and a large bowl filled with a brown mix.
“So, whatcha doing?” Justin said with a small smile playing across his lips.
Tyler barely shifted his eyes to Justin before returning them to the bowl in front of him. “Making brownies.”
“Wow I didn’t know you could cook!” Justin said astonished.
“It’s just the kind from the box,” Tyler told him as he held up the Pilsbury Brownie box. “We only had to add water oil and eggs.”
“Still, that’s not bad!” Justin exclaimed. He was surprised Tyler was even talking to him.
‘Things are looking up,’ he thought to himself.
The only response he received from Tyler was a grunt as the boy went to the oven and placed the pan inside. He returned to the counter and began to clean up, carefully avoiding any contact with Justin.
Finally after several minutes of receiving the silent treatment, Justin cleared his throat. Tyler glanced at him. “Could I talk to you for a sec?”
“Whatever,” Tyler replied as he scrubbed the counter where some mix had spilled.
Justin glanced at the other boy next to Tyler. “Uh, could we talk in private?”
Tyler exhaled loudly with impatience. “No.”
The other boy looked between the two and spoke up, “Nah its cool Tyler. I’m gonna go outside. Catch ya later.” The boy threw the towel from his hands onto the counter by the sink and ran out the back door. The room filled with silence as Justin stared at Tyler trying to find the words that would make everything ok again.
“Tyler you need to let me explain everything,” Justin started.
“I don’t NEED to let you do anything,” Tyler fired back. His eyes blazed with anger. He picked up the bowl and turned around and stalked over to the sink. He slammed the bowl into the sink and spun around on his heal to face Justin.
Justin hung his head and rephrased his request. “Would you please let me explain everything?” He asked quietly.
Tyler crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back against the counter. He pursed his lips tightly together waiting for the lies he knew were about to flow from Justin’s mouth.
“First off, I want to tell you I’m so sorry…for everything.” Justin looked up from his shoes to see what Tyler’s reaction would be. The boy standing in front of him rolled his eyes.
“I’m sorry for not telling you the complete truth about who I am. I’m sorry for the awful things you heard me say in that conference. And most of all I’m sorry that I’ve shattered the trust that you’d placed in me.” By the time he finished Justin’s head was hung so low it looked like he was hunched over. If he could, he’d sink into the floor and hide from the looks he was sure Tyler was shooting at him.
“Then why’d you do it?” Tyler asked simply, void of emotion.
“Tyler do you remember when we went to Universal Studios?” Justin asked. When the boy nodded his reply he continued. “Well, when we were there a reporter saw you with Chris and I. When you were in the bathroom he came up to me and asked about you. He thought you were Chris’ son.” Justin chuckled but quickly quieted when Tyler didn’t join in. “Anyway, I told the guy that you were from the Children’s home and that I was spending some time with you. I guess he did some digging because he found out why I was doing the community service and blew it way out of proportion and wrote a false article about it. When our publicist found out about the article he suggested we call the conference to set the record straight and stop any untrue rumors before they started. Our publicist, Jeff, told me what to say in that meeting, those weren’t my words Tyler,” Justin pleaded with his friend.
“Justin he’s not the boss of you,” Tyler replied.
“Well he kind of is when it comes to stuff that has to do with Nsync,” Justin told him. “Plus Tyler, you’ve got to understand that if I told the press about you they’d be over here in a second bothering you, it could even put you in danger. We have some fans that would do anything to get to something that is close to one of us. What I’m trying to tell you is that I didn’t mean what I said in that press conference. I love my time I’ve spent here and our friendship means a lot to me. Please believe me.”
“Why should I? You just told me that you’ve lied before. Why should I think you’re telling the truth now?”
Justin stood there dejectedly. He couldn’t give Tyler any reason why he should believe him. “Well I can’t give you a reason to believe me, but it’s true.”
“Well I’ve got stuff to do,” Tyler spoke up.
He was headed for the hallway when Justin remembered Chris’ offer. “Wait!” He called after him.
Tyler paused and looked over his shoulder. “If you wont listen to me then call Chris. You can ask him anything.” Justin pulled a folded up piece of paper out of his back pocket. “This is his cell phone number, you can reach him any time on this.”
Tyler stared down at the numbers on the paper in his hand. “Later,” he told Justin as he turned around and raced toward the stairs.
Justin sighed as he watched the little boy disappear. ‘At least I got to tell him the truth. I hope he listened.’
Tyler laid on his bed staring at the little white piece of paper sitting on his bed in front of him. All day long he had tried to forget his conversation with Justin but it clung tightly to his thoughts.
‘Why should I bother calling him?’ He thought to himself. ‘He’ll just lie to help his friend.’ But even as the thoughts raced through Tyler’s head he knew that Chris wouldn’t do that. He was different from most adults he met. He was real.
He picked up the paper with the cell number scrawled on it and crumpled it up and tossed it in the trash. He walked over to his model cars sitting on his bookshelf and examined them closely. He took a deep breath and blew some dust off his prized creations. He smiled when the normal shine returned to them.
He stood up and silently walked over to the window and stared out at the bright sunny day before him. Out of the corner of his eye he could see the white trash can sitting in the corner of his room. He took a step closer to it and peered down into it at the crumpled white ball of paper. He shook his head violently. ‘I don’t care!’ He told himself. ‘It doesn’t matter. I don’t need him.’
He spun on his heal and grabbed the basketball sitting by the door and headed down the hall. Downstairs he found Mary in her office.
“Hey Mary is it all right if I go down to the park to shoot some hoops?”
Mary glanced up from her work and smiled at Tyler. “Sure, but be back by dinner time OK.”
“No problem,” the little boy called as he raced out the front door.
Mary thought about Tyler with a sad smile. She was glad he was trying to stay busy. She didn’t want him moping around.
Tyler banked shots off the backboard without enthusiasm. Basketball just wasn’t the same when played alone he concluded. He decided to play a little game.
“OK, if I make this shot then Justin was telling the truth,” he mumbled. He bounced the ball a couple times and shot. The ball bounced on the rim and then fell through the hoop.
“If this shot goes in then I should just forget about Justin,” he said out loud. He concentrated hard as he lined up the ball with the hoop and pushed it off the tips of his fingers. The ball sailed through the air, hit the backboard, bounced on the rim and fell on the floor. “Man!” he said in frustration. He totally thought that one would go in.
He dribbled the ball a couple more times. “Fine, if I make this shot then I should give Chris a call.” He shot effortlessly and watched the ball bounce off the backboard and then through the hoop.
‘OK, two out of three,’ he told himself.
This time he closed his eyes and took the shot. He heard the swish of the net as the ball cruised through.
‘No, three out of five,’ he changed his mind.
He turned around so he was facing away from the hoop. He arched his back and shot the ball over his head. The ball bounced on the rim three times before going through.
“Fine!” He shouted as he trotted to retrieve the ball. “I’ll call him.”
Tyler took his time walking home from the park. He was totally confused. He wanted to call Chris, and yet he didn’t. He was nervous about what he was going to hear. He didn’t know which would be harder to hear, that Justin was telling him the truth, or that he was lying…again.
When he finally reached the huge house he let out a sigh and climbed the front steps. He trudged up the stairs to his bedroom and fished the crumpled phone number out of the trashcan. He walked back downstairs and emerged in the kitchen where the only phone besides the one in Mary’s office resided.
He stood and stared at the phone hanging on the wall, procrastinating just a little longer.
Finally, after a deep sigh he reached up and grabbed the phone and dialed. The phone rang several times before he heard a voice answer.
“Pepperoni Pete’s this is Pete!” The man said in an Italian accent.
“Oh, uh…I think I have the wrong number,” Tyler replied, completely confused.
The man on the other end burst into giggles. “Who were you trying to reach?” The man said in the same accent.
“Uh…Chris,” Tyler said uncertainly.
“Well why didn’t you say that to begin with! This is Chris!” The accent gone, the man laughed.
“Huh?” Tyler asked.
“This is Chris. Who’s this?”
“Oh, this is Tyler. Justin gave me your number,” Tyler told him, still a little confused about the Pepperoni Pete’s thing.
“Hey bud how’s it going?” Chris asked cheerfully.
“Uh, things are OK,” Tyler said. He was now completely unsure of what to ask Chris now that he had the man on the phone.
“So, did you want to talk about Justin?” Chris asked after several seconds of silence.
“Yeah, he said I should call you.”
“Yeah, he feels awful about what happened T,” Chris told the little boy honestly. “You should have heard him when Jeff, our publicist, told him what he wanted him to say in that conference. Let’s just say it wasn’t pretty!”
“Really?” Tyler asked in slight disbelief.
“Totally. Justin was just doing what he thought would be best for you. We’ve got some crazy fans and he didn’t want to put you or anyone else over there in danger.”
“But why did he have to be so mean about it?” Tyler asked.
“Like I said, Jeff told him this would be the easiest way for this whole thing to blow over. He was hoping you wouldn’t see it. The last thing he wanted to do was hurt your feelings little man.” Chris waited for Tyler to respond. When he was only greeted with silence he went on. “Listen Tyler, I know you don’t have to believe me, but I have no reason to lie to you. Just think about it OK?”
“Alright,” Tyler finally replied. “Sorry for bothering you Chris.”
“Awe, you’re no bother bud! Give me a call whenever you want! We can hang out!” Chris exclaimed with a smile. He thought that maybe he’d gotten through to the little boy.
“Yeah…well.. thanks anyway,” Tyler stuttered, not completely sure how to react to Chris.
“Not a problem, little man. Call me anytime you wanna talk,” Chris replied.
“Thanks again. Bye Chris.”
“Bye.”
“I’m not going back there with HIM there!” Joey shouted angrily at JC who was standing on the other side of his living room. He couldn’t believe that JC had come all the way over to his house to talk to him about this. All that boy could think about was himself. It was HIS music, HIS album, HIS deadline. Well, what about the rest of them?! What about what they wanted?!
“Don’t you think that you’re being just a little ridiculous?” JC asked in exasperation before smearing a frustrated hand down his face. “J’s going through a lot right now. He needs our support.”
“Oh! Poor baby!” Joey shouted angrily. “We all have our problems JC, but you don’t see any of us acting like that in the studio! I’m tired of it, and I’m not putting up with it anymore! He’s twenty years old and it’s about time he started acting like it!”
“He is acting like it, Joe,” JC said. “Do you remember being twenty? The whole world revolves around you. All Justin can see is what he’s going through. He’s blind to what he’s putting us through.”
Joey’s eyes glanced frantically around the room. He knew that JC was right. When he was twenty, all he could think about was himself. That’s how he got to where he was today. “It’s not a matter of age, C. It’s a matter of professionalism, and Justin is not being professional,” he finally stated.
“Oh! Since when the hell are you worried about being professional?!” JC shouted in annoyance. Now, Joey was being just as bad as Justin. He knew he was wrong! He was just to damn proud to admit it! “You wanna talk about unprofessional?! Let’s talk about that for a second! What happens between us, we can keep quiet! So, it doesn’t look unprofessional at all! But, when we push back the release date of our album for the second time in a row, THAT LOOKS UNPROFESSIONAL!!!” the angry man shouted at the top of his lungs.
Joey sighed and rolled his eyes. “You wanna look professional, C?” he asked calmly. “Call the press and tell them the album’s going to be late.” With that he walked over to the front door of his house and opened it, signaling to JC that it was time for him to leave.
JC exhaled loudly. “Will you come record if he’s not there?” the singer asked in a final plea.
Joey simply nodded.
“Ok. Then come by the studio tomorrow at 9.”
Joey nodded again, and JC walked out the door, praying that the plan to record their voices separately would work.
“Would you just call him and apologize?” Lance asked Justin while holding a black cordless phone in his hand.
“If this is what you came over here for, then you can forget it,” Justin snapped. “I am not apologizing to him! I did nothing wrong!”
“J?” Lance said while looking at Justin in a way that a parent would when they were trying to make you admit that you were wrong.
“Don’t give me that look, Papa Bass!” Justin shouted. “You know as well as I do that I didn’t give anyone a reason to snap like that!”
“Oh you can’t be serious!” Lance exclaimed in shock. “Justin! Do you wanna watch the security tape from that day?! Cause I can get it real quick!”
“Lance!” Justin warned him.
“Justin!” the blond shouted back. “You were going to hit him! We were holding you back! You don’t think that’s a cause for him to snap!”
“It’s his choice not to record with me!” the younger boy shouted. “I have no problem recording with him. Your beef is with Joey, not with me.”
“Oh! Shove it up your ass, J!” Lance snapped angrily at him. “We’re going to miss our deadline, and it’s going to be all your fault! Cuz you’ve got your head stuck up your ass too far to admit that you’re wrong!”
“Now, what’s your problem?!” Justin snapped.
“My problem is that I’m part of a group that can’t get anything done! I work with people who think the world revolves around them, and somewhere in this whole process stopped thinking about the business aspect of all of this! When did this start being about you and stop being about NSYNC?!!”
“You’re overreacting,” Justin said.
“Am I?!” Lance shouted. “I really don’t think that I am, J. I’m tired of all of this! I’m tired of fighting like this, and I’m tired of working like this!”
“Maybe you should go solo, then,” Justin muttered as he rolled his eyes.
“Watch it!” Lance snapped. “I’m here to fix things, not let you create another problem.”
“Who says I created the first one?!” Justin demanded.
“We ALL DO,” Lance said in a loud voice, letting Justin know that he was not going to argue with him on that point. “If you think that ALL FOUR of us are wrong, you’ve got another thing coming, Timberlake!”
“I didn’t say that!” Justin shouted. “I’m just trying to…”
“Cover your own ass!” Lance shouted in disgust. “Why not?! It’s what you do best, J! You just do stuff, and you never think about the consequences of anything! Well, I’m SICK OF IT!” the boy shouted at the top of his lungs. Lance’s face was red with anger. Justin stood deathly still, frozen in shock. He had never seen Lance like this. Lance didn’t get mad; he was the referee of all the fights, not one of the fighters. “Justin gets his butt in trouble for having alcohol. Johnny gets him off with some community service. Justin talks to reporters when he knows he’s not suppose to. We have to spend a whole night at a press conference fixing something that wouldn’t have been a problem if you would have just kept your mouth shut!” Lance continued. “God, J! Are you ever thinking of anyone except YOURSELF?!”
“Well, if ya’ll would tell me when I’m messing up…” Justin began but he was once again cut off by Lance.
“We do tell you, J! But there’s no telling you anything unless you want to hear it! No one can do anything, but sit back and watch you! You do whatever the hell it is that YOU want to do!”
“That’s not true!” Justin defended himself. Lance was wrong, and he was going to prove it. “I did not want to say one word of what I said at that press conference, but I said everything that I was told to say!”
Lance opened his mouth to speak again but the ringing of a phone cut him off. His eyes flashed down to Justin’s waist where he saw a cell phone shining through the pocket of his pants, indicating that he had a phone call. Lance rolled his eyes and ran a hand through his hair as he groaned in frustration.
Justin pulled out the cell phone and flipped it open. “Hello!” he shouted angrily into the phone.
“I… I must have the wrong number,” a scared voice on the other end of the line stuttered. “I’m sorry.”
“Wait!” Justin exclaimed. He knew that voice. He just couldn’t believe who it was that was trying to call him. “Who are you trying to reach?” he asked, trying to sound calm while his blood was pumping fiercely through his veins.
“I’m trying to reach Justin,” a slightly frightened high-pitched voice replied.
“Who is this?”
“Tyler.”
A huge grin appeared on Justin’s face. “Hey buddy! It’s me!” the twenty-year-old boy exclaimed. “What are you up to?”
“Um… I talked to Chris yesterday,” the little boy replied.
“Oh,” Justin frowned, suddenly wondering where the conversation was going. “Did he have anything good to say?”
‘Is that Tyler?’ Lance mouthed while motioning to the phone in Justin’s hand. The young man nodded and turned his back to his bandmate. The last thing he needed right now was for Tyler to think he wasn’t paying attention to him.
“He said that you were just trying to protect me, and you didn’t think that I would see the broadcast,” Tyler muttered into the phone.
“He’s telling the truth,” Justin said with a little bit of defeat evident in his voice.
Lance walked around Justin so that the young man could see him. “What did he say?” the young man asked in a whisper. Justin rolled his eyes and shook his head while placing a finger in his ear so he could hear Tyler better. “Justin!” Lance hissed in a whisper.
Justin groaned and covered the phone. “He said that he talked to Chris!” he whispered back harshly.
“Hello?” Tyler asked, confused by all the static he was hearing on the other end of the line. “Are you there?”
“Yeah. I’m here, buddy,” Justin replied.
“Are you busy or something?” the little boy questioned. “Cuz we don’t have to talk if you are.”
“No!” Justin exclaimed. “I’m never too busy to talk to you.”
“Ok. Well. I was just wondering. Did you mean ANYTHING of what you said?”
“Of what I said when?”
“On television,” Tyler clarified.
“No,” Justin answered firmly. “I said what I was told to say, Tyler. I didn’t mean a word of it.”
“Well. It seems like all you do is lie. Why should I believe that you’re telling the truth now?” the little boy demanded.
“What?” Justin asked in shock. “That’s not true.”
“Really?” Tyler asked in disbelief. “You lied to me about who you were. Not once do I ever remember the word Nsync come off your lips, and now you’re saying that you lied at the press conference. I’ve only known you for what? A month? That’s a lot of lying,” the little boy said with irritation in his voice.
Justin’s face fell and Lance groaned as he ran a hand through his hair. “Dude! Don’t you dare mess this up!” the blond hissed.
Justin responded by glaring at Lance and turning around again. “Tyler. I don’t know why you should believe me. But, I wish you would just give me a second chance. I really don’t want to throw away the friendship that we built.”
“What kind of friendship is based on lies?” the little boy demanded.
“You know. Technically, I didn’t lie to you about who I was. I just forgot to mention a slightly important fact,” Justin said while wincing. ‘Yeah. He might buy that one,’ the young man thought.
“Are you stupid?!” Lance shouted, his voice breaking a whisper.
“Who’s that?” Tyler asked.
“No one,” Justin replied while turning around to glare at Lance. “So what do you say, buddy?” the young man asked with a softer voice. “Can I get a second chance?” The other side of the line was silent. “Pleeeaase,” Justin whined in his most childlike voice into the receiver.
“I don’t know,” the little boy finally answered.
“Well. Can we at least talk about this in person?” Justin asked.
“I guess,” Tyler replied.
“How’s tomorrow for you? At around 3?”
“It’s ok. I guess,” the little boy replied.
“Great!” Justin exclaimed. “I’ll see you then, and we’ll talk about everything.”
“Ok.”
“Bye, Tyler.”
“Bye.”
Justin snapped his cell phone shut and a smile slowly appeared on his face. His friendship with Tyler might not be a lost cause just yet.
“WELL??!” Lance asked impatiently.
“AHHH!!” Justin screamed. “Will you get out of my face?!” he said while bringing his hands a few inches in front of Lance’s face and pretending to squish it. “I’m handling this ok!”
“Well you don’t seem to be doing such a good job!” Lance shot back.
“And you think that you screaming in my ear while I’m on the phone is helping?!” Justin bit out.
“Yeah! It makes you think before you say some of the stupid things that come out of your mouth!” the bass fired back.
“Oh! SHUT UP!” Justin screamed. “You guys don’t have the answers to everything! Did you ever stop to think that my way could be the right way?!”
“Oh, puhlease!” Lance shouted. “If you did things the right way, Joey would be talking to you; this wouldn’t have been in the papers; and you and Tyler would be best friends!”
“This is not my fault,” Justin said.
“Like hell it isn’t?!” Lance yelled. “If you would have just kept your big mouth shut, we wouldn’t be in this situation. All you had to do was follow one simple rule. DON’T talk to reporters. It’s not that complicated! You must be a freaking moron!”
“Oh. Bite me,” Justin snapped.
Lance opened his mouth to yell at his younger bandmate again but stopped before he could say anything. The boy licked his lips and took a deep breath. “You know what?” he asked, irritation obvious in his voice. “All I’m trying to do is help you, and all I get from you is shit. And, I’m tired of it. You fix this on your own. I don’t want hear about it. I don’t want to talk about it. And, until you get your ass back in gear, I don’t want to talk to you either.” Having said that, Lance turned around and began to walk out the door.
“Good!” Justin shouted after him. “Maybe now I can actually make some progress without you messing everything up!”
Lance put his hand on the doorknob and turned around to face Justin. The blond nodded his head slightly. “I hope you do, J,” he said calmly. “I really hope that you do. But, from what I’ve seen, I don’t think you will. You’ll just mess things up even more than they already are,” he finished. With that, the young man turned around and walked out the door, closing it behind him.
“You’ll see,” Justin glared through the wooden frame. “I can fix this,” he said to reassure himself.
“So, we can get Joey in here tomorrow morning to do the chorus, and J can come in the afternoon,” JC smiled triumphantly as he looked down at the recording schedule he had just worked out for them. If everything went right, they could still have the album done on time, even if Joey and Justin refused to sit in the same building with each other.
“We are so good!” Chris exclaimed as he looked down at the paper. He took another look at the schedule and groaned. “We are gonna be so exhausted,” he muttered as he stared at the sheet.
“I’d much rather have this album out on time and be exhausted than getting the album out late just so we don’t have to work so hard,” JC replied sternly.
“I know,” Chris said in a voice that showed his surrender. “I was just making an observation.”
JC chuckled. “I’m sorry, man. I just really want to get the album out on time.”
Chris laughed a little. “It’s all good, C. I know you only think about one thing,” he joked.
The younger man just smiled as he shook his head at Chris. “We’re gonna do this. Right?” he asked with a wince as he turned to his bandmate for reassurance.
“We’re gonna do this,” Chris assured him.
“Ok,” JC sighed while running his palms down his jeans. “I’ll call J, and you call Joey.”
“All right man,” Chris said as he grabbed his keys off of the counter. “I’ll see you tomorrow. Ok?”
“Yeah. See ya,” JC replied absentmindedly as he picked up his cell phone.
Justin grabbed a coke from the fridge and walked into the living room. He tossed himself on the couch hoping to relax and calm down a bit from his fight with Lance. It had been hours and he was still worked up about the whole thing.
He was in the middle of a long refreshing sip when the phone to his left began its shrill ringing. Justin rolled his eyes as he reached over a grabbed the receiver.
“Hello?” He said dully.
“Justin we need to talk,” he heard JC’s familiar voice respond.
“Oh great,” Justin said under his breath. “What now?”
“We need to schedule your time in the studio,” JC replied.
“Fine, whatever. When do you need me to come in?” Justin took another sip from the sweating can as he waited.
“I need you to be here tomorrow afternoon, it’s the only time slot the studio has available all week.”
“Ah man, I can’t make it tomorrow afternoon I have plans,” Justin told his bandmate.
“Damn it Justin you need to work with me here. You need to be a team player! Where are your priorities?” JC yelled into the phone.
“My priorities are exactly where they need to be C! I’m sorry I can’t make it tomorrow afternoon. Any other time this week would be totally fine,” Justin yelled right back.
“Well there is no other time this week. Man you’re slipping. You need to think long and hard about what is important to you and until you’ve got that figured out we don’t have anything to talk about!” JC told him before he disconnected the line.
‘This is just great,’ Justin thought to himself. ‘He didn’t even give me a chance to tell him what I had to do that was so important.’
Justin grabbed his now empty coke can and took it into the kitchen. He crushed it in his fist before he tossed it into the recycle bin. He grabbed his keys and his cell phone off the counter and headed out to his car.
‘I just need to drive and clear my head,’ he thought.
“So everything’s cool?” Chris asked Joey as he drove home. “We’ll see you tomorrow morning?”
“Yeah, Chris. I’ll be there bright and early,” Joey replied.
“All right. I’ll see you then, man,” Chris said.
“Bye.”
Chris snapped his cell phone shut and sat it down next to him. He looked at his surroundings, forgetting that the radio wasn’t even on. The car was deathly quiet, leaving him alone with his thoughts. ‘I wonder if Tyler ever talked to J,’ he thought. Chris reached over, picked up his cell phone and dialed Justin’s number. After a few rings, the answering machine picked up. “Where is he?” Chris asked himself as he hung up the phone and dialed Justin’s cell.
Twenty minutes later Justin was cruising down the Florida coast line with the top down on his convertible and the radio blasting. He sang along with the music and let his mind drift away.
It was ripped back to reality when he heard his cell phone faintly chirping. He flipped the volume down on the CD player and clicked open the phone.
“Yeah?” He answered it.
“Hey J what’s up?” Chris asked cheerfully.
“Nothing… everything. Take your pick,” Justin replied.
“Well I was just calling to see if you’ve heard from Tyler. He gave me a call the other day,” Chris told him.
“Yeah, he called this afternoon,” Justin replied simply. He really wasn’t in the mood to talk to anyone right now, especially about anything that had to do with Tyler or Nsync.
“Ooh that’s great man! What’d he say?” Chris asked excitedly.
“You know Chris it’s really none of your business. I’m not in the mood to talk right now.”
“None of my business? Justin I did you a huge favor by talking you up to the kid. Man what’s your problem?” Chris asked, his happy mood quickly slipping away.
“You are my problem! All of you are my problem! You’re always on my case. Just leave me alone!” Justin screamed into the phone. “Gladly J. You know, you really need to get a hold of yourself and straighten out your priorities,” Chris said sadly.
“WHY DO YOU ALL KEEP SAYING THAT?” Justin yelled at the top of his lungs. The response he received surprised him. The gentle click and the dial tone said it all.