Justin’s alarm clock rang loudly throughout the room, jerking the young man awake from his nap. His head shot up as he reached out with his hand to smack the machine making such an offensive noise. Once he had turned it off, Justin squinted his eyes at the clock and groaned at the big red lights that said it was 2 PM. With everything that had gone on yesterday, he hadn’t gotten much sleep, and he was trying desperately to catch a few winks before he had to visit Tyler.
Justin massaged his face roughly with the palms of his hands as he slowly stood up, stretching his soar muscles. It was like he was carrying a heavy weight on his back. He never knew that stress could have such a physical effect on him. ‘At least no one interrupted my nap,’ he thought gratefully. He went to pick up his keys just as his cell phone rang.
“Perfect timing,” he groaned to himself before answering the phone. “Timberlake,” he said into the small receiver.
“Why aren’t you at the studio?” a voice on the other end of the line questioned.
Justin began to make his way downstairs and outside to his car. “Who is this?” he asked confused. That was definitely not one of the guy’s voices.
“It’s Johnny,” his manager replied in a slightly irritated tone.
“How did you know I wasn’t at the studio?” Justin asked as he sat down in the driver’s seat and turned on the car.
“Because I was just there, Justin,” the older man replied. “I saw Joey. I saw JC. I saw Lance. I even saw Chris, but no Justin.”
The boy rolled his eyes while turning around to back out of his driveway. “We’ve got it all worked out, Johnny.”
“Really?” the man asked sarcastically. “Because that’s not what they said. They said that they didn’t know when you were coming back in.”
“I’m going back in the studio tomorrow, Johnny. I had something important to do today.”
“What is more important than your album, Justin?” the manager demanded in an unbelieving tone. Did his ears deceive him or did Justin just put something else before the album?
“Johnny, I have to do something with Tyler today,” Justin explained.
“The whole day?” Johnny asked.
Justin sighed. “No,” he admitted. “But, the guys wanted me in the studio this afternoon. I woulda gone if they had said to come this morning.”
“Justin, normally you’re nice and easy to work with. But, I’ve got to be honest with you, I don’t like where your priorities are lately,” Johnny said in a disciplining tone. Justin clenched his teeth and cringed at the mention of his priorities for what felt like the hundredth time in the last two days.
“My priorities are just fine!” he snapped. “They are right where they need to be! I need to get this community service done. If Tyler’s not talking to me, I can’t do that Johnny; and if I can’t do that, that means no tour.”
“Justin,” the older man said calmly.
“What?” the boy bit out.
“I don’t know what the hell you think you’re doing, but it stops now. Tomorrow, you get your butt in that studio, and you record your tracks. I don’t want to hear about any fights with anyone, and I don’t want to hear about you being late, lazy, or hard to work with. Got it?” the man said tightly, letting Justin know that he meant business. The album was due soon, and the guys did not have time for all the mess that was going on behind the scenes.
“Yeah. I got it,” Justin said, anger clearly in his voice.
“Good,” Johnny said. “I’ll call tomorrow and see how everything went.”
“Bye,” the young man said and snapped his cell phone shut before waiting for Johnny to reply.
Justin pulled into the parking lot of the orphanage. His blood was boiling. Hundreds of things he could have said to Johnny were running through his head. This is not the mood he needed to be in when he went in there to talk with Tyler.
He closed his eyes and took a couple deep, calming breaths, allowing himself to relax.
Feeling a little better, though not much, he pushed open the car door and walked up the steps of the front porch. He knocked three times and a moment later a little boy let him in. He stopped by Mary’s office to let her know he was there and then he went in search of Tyler.
He started in the most obvious place first, Tyler’s room, but the little boy was no where to be found. Sighing, Justin turned around and headed back down the stairs. He poked his head in the living room but it was empty. He continued his search into the family room, dining room and the kitchen to no avail.
He was just about to give up when he saw a light-headed blur race past him. He followed him upstairs and when he walked back into Tyler’s room he finally found the little boy flopped on his bed looking at a comic book.
“Here you are!” Justin exclaimed, grabbing his attention.
“Yeah, where else would I be?” Tyler asked him.
“I’ve been looking everywhere!” Justin exclaimed as he flopped on the bed across from Tyler. “So, how’s it going, what’s up?”
“Not much. I just got the new X-Men comic,” Tyler replied, holding up the magazine. “Well it’s not really the new one. We get the issues that are a couple months old from a book store.”
“Oh,” Justin mumbled, unsure of how to respond. “That’s cool.”
The two sat in silence for a couple minutes, the only sound was the soft rustling of the pages as Tyler flipped through the comic.
“So, whatcha been up to?” Justin asked, trying to get a conversation started.
“Not much. Yesterday Mary took a bunch of us to the park and we played a basketball game. My team won,” he added.
“Oh that’s great,” Justin replied.
“You haven’t been bothered by any reporters have you?” Justin asked a moment later, anger flashing in his eyes. He would have words with anyone who bothered Tyler.
“Nope, not besides that one time a long time ago.”
“Good,” Justin said firmly. “If anyone ever does bother you be sure to tell me ok? I’ll take care of it.”
Silence once again fell between the two. Finally Justin couldn’t stand it anymore.
“That’s why I said what I said at the press conference Tyler. I didn’t make a big deal about the Children’s Home or mention your name because I wanted you to be safe. Some of the reporters out there are ruthless. All they care about is where their next story is coming from, and they don’t care if they have to step on people to get it.” With that said Justin looked down at his shoes praying that the little boy would respond.
After what seemed like an eternity Tyler spoke up, “Yeah, I understand.”
Justin’s jaw dropped open in shock. Out of all the things he thought could come out of Tyler’s mouth this was the last thing he had expected.
“You do?” He asked, astonished.
“Well yeah, you were trying to look out for me. But that still doesn’t mean that you didn’t hurt my feelings. Why didn’t you tell me you were in Nsync?” the little boy asked.
“I didn’t want to complicate things. You hated me when I first came here! The last thing I needed you to think was that I was some star looking for publicity. If anything, we were trying to keep this all quiet.”
Tyler sat there in deep thought for a moment. “OK, but why didn’t you tell me after we became friends? It’s not nice to keep secrets.”
“Tyler you’re right and I’m sorry. I guess I just didn’t want to mess things up,” Justin paused and chuckled. “Looks like I did exactly what I was trying to avoid huh? I messed everything up.”
Tyler peered up at the young man. He stared at his face, trying to see if Justin was telling the truth. All the little boy could see was the plain sincerity on his friend’s face. Tyler set his comic down on the bed next to him and pushed himself off the cushy mattress. He walked over to Justin and sat down on the bed next to him.
“You did mess everything up,” Tyler admitted. Justin nodded his head, still staring at his shoes. “But I’m willing to give you another chance. I’ll be your friend again.”
Justin looked at the little boy sitting next to him. “Thank you,” he said as he reached over and drew Tyler into a hug. Tears sprung to his eyes but he didn’t let them fall. He was just so happy that he was given another chance.
Justin raced into his house and went straight for the phone. He couldn’t wait to tell the guys how his meeting with Tyler went. He was brimming with excitement. He picked up the phone in the kitchen and began to dial JC’s familiar number. He was just about to press the final digit when he realized that JC wasn’t speaking to him. He quickly pushed the hang up button and began to dial Lance’s phone number. Again the realization hit him that Lance too was not speaking to him.
Justin sank to the floor, phone in hand as he finally figured out that he had no one to call. The excited smile that had filled his face moments before was gone. Finally in defeat he dialed one last familiar number.
“Hello?”
“Hey mom it’s me,” he replied.
“Hey honey how are you doing?” Justin’s mom asked.
“Pretty good.” Justin sighed.
“What’s up?” His mother asked, her voice laced with concern.
“You know that kid that I’ve been working with at the orphanage?” he asked her.
“Sure, Tyler right?”
“Yeah. I just met with him and he’s going to give me another chance,” Justin tried to muster up some enthusiasm.
“That’s great sweetie!” she replied. “Justin, why don’t you sound very excited about this?”
“I am excited about it. It’s just that none of the guys are speaking to me. I went to call them and I realized that they’re all mad at me,” Justin spilled.
“What happened?”
“Just stupid stuff that just got blown up out of proportion,” he replied. He went on to tell his mom about the fight he had with Joey and how everything just seemed to stem from it. He told her about the words he’d shared with all of his bandmates. When he finally finished laying it all out for her he sighed.
“What should I do mom?” He asked.
“Well,” his mom said cautiously, “What do you think you need to do?”
“I have no idea! I don’t know where to start!”
“Justin, those four men are you best friends. They’re like your brothers. You can’t let this arguing go on. It’s going to tear your friendships apart,” she told her son.
“ know,” he replied.
“It doesn’t matter who’s in the wrong you need to step up and apologize and make things right with them.”
“But I’m not in the wrong!” He yelled. “They’re the ones who were accusing me of having my priorities screwed up! They’re the ones…”
“Justin,” his mom interrupted.
“But they’re the ones…”
“Justin,” she said again.
“But mom…”
“JUSTIN!” she yelled.
“What?”
“I just said, that it doesn’t matter who’s in the wrong. Take a step back and look at the situation. I know you think you’re the victim in all this, but you brought a lot of this on yourself. Now you guys need to work past this. If that means you stepping up and being a man then you need to do that. Not only are these guys your best friends they are your colleagues. You need to act professionally and take care of this.”
He let out a deep sigh again. He knew she was right. “Fine, but I don’t even know where to start,” he admitted.
“Hmm, good question. Why don’t you give Chris a call first. It sounds like your fight with him was the least severe. Maybe he can help you smooth things over with the rest of the guys,” she suggested.
“Yeah, that could work. Thanks mom, I don’t know what I’d do without you,” he said.
“That’s what moms are for.”
He said goodbye to his mom and hung up. He cradled the phone in his hand, summoning up his nerve.
He released the hang up button and was greeted with the familiar dial tone. He punched in the seven numbers before he lost his nerve. The phone rang twice before his friend’s voice filled the line.
“Hello?”
“Chris it’s Justin, don’t hang up ok?” Justin said quickly.
All Justin could hear on the other end was Chris’ quiet breathing.
“I’m calling to apologize. I was a jerk and you were just trying to help.”
“Yeah,” Chris said.
“Anyway, I’m sorry,” Justin said.
A few moments later Chris finally responded, “It’s cool man.”
“Really?” Justin asked.
“Yeah, we all have bad days. Just don’t make it a habit alright?” Chris chuckled.
“Definitely. So guess what,” Justin said, glad the tone of the conversation had turned positive.
“What?”
“I hung out with Tyler today and it went really well,” Justin exclaimed with a smile.
“Really? That’s great man! How’s the kiddo doing?”
“He’s doing pretty well. He hasn’t had any run ins with the press.”
“Good, I’m glad things have smoothed over between you two.”
“Yeah me too. Chris?” Justin asked a moment later. “I’ve really messed things up with all the guys. Would you help me talk to them?”
“Sure, anything to get things back to normal!” Chris exclaimed.
“Thanks, man,” Justin said, his gratefulness evident in his voice. “I can’t tell you how much I appreciate that.”
“Like I said, we all have our bad days. Yours were just a little worse that ours lately,” the older man said.
“Yeah, but still,” Justin replied a little unsure. “Sooo… Should I come to the studio tomorrow?”
“Ugghh,” Chris groaned as he thought about it for a minute. “Show up a little late, ok? That’ll give me a chance to talk to the rest of the guys.”
“All right. Well, thanks again, Chris.”
“Not a problem, buddy. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Bye.” “Bye.”
“Jace, he knows that he messed up; and he’s really sorry; and he wants to come back in here and work,” Chris pleaded with his bandmate. This conversation had started out bad and turned to worse. He had woken up early so he could get to the studio and talk to JC before anyone else got there; but JC wasn’t seeing things the way Chris had expected. Getting Justin back in the studio seemed to be the last thing that JC wanted.
“Chris, he’s just gonna slow us down and set us behind even more than we already are,” JC replied, looking up from the soundboard for only a second to make eye contact with Chris. “At this point, I think we should just finish what we can without him, put you, me, or Joey on his solos that we can handle, and then get him in here to lay down the parts that we need him on.”
“JC…” Chris started to protest but stopped dead in his tracks. “You wanna give me some of Justin’s solos?” he asked, his interest suddenly peaking.
JC nodded. “The ones that me and Joey can’t hit. You have a higher voice than J. You can do it with no problem.”
Chris suddenly shook his head and brought himself back into reality. He didn’t want Justin’s solos. He didn’t need Justin’s solos. He just wanted to get things back to normal. “JC, I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“Why?” the younger man demanded. “The boy wonder will throw a fit?! Good! I’m tired of him throwing a temper tantrum every time he doesn’t get his way! He’s acting like an over emotional teenager who doesn’t know what the hell is going on!”
“Newsflash, JC! He is an over emotion teenager who doesn’t know what the hell is going on!” Chris shouted back. “He barely just made 20! Things got messed up, and he was trying to act all grown up and handle them all on his own! Well, guess what?! He couldn’t!”
JC sighed and ran hand down his face. He could felt he tension building up at the base of his neck, and all he wanted to do was storm out the room. This was not a good way to start his day. “I just don’t know what to do Chris,” he finally admitted while slumping into the chair he was standing over. “I want things back to normal, but I want this album out on time too.”
“JC, he’s admitted that he was wrong. He even apologized!”
JC nodded and rolled his eyes. “I know,” he said. “And, an apology is a step in the right direction.”
“Let’s just try it,” Chris suggested. “If he gets in here and starts causing problems, we’ll do the album your way.”
JC sighed as he massaged his eyes roughly with the palms of his hands. After a second, he looked up at Chris. “All right,” he finally said after what felt like an eternity. “But if he starts causing problems…”
“I’ll take all his solos, and we’ll boot his butt back to Tennessee,” Chris joked.
JC laughed. “I don’t think we’ll take it that far,” he smiled for the first time since Chris had shown up that morning.
“Now we just gotta convince Lance and Joey.”
JC winced. “That’s gonna be anything but easy,” he said. “Joey’s still fumed, and I don’t know what the hell he did to Lance, but he’s angry at him too.”
“Johnny told me that Justin got into an argument with him yesterday too,” Chris laughed slightly as he took a seat in a chair next to JC. “The kid just doesn’t know when to quit, does he?”
JC chuckled. “No. He sure doesn’t. He always realizes it just a little too late.” The young man laughed a little, remembering the days of the MMC. “He never did handle life’s curve balls too well.”
“Absolutely not,” Joey folded his arms across his chest. “I don’t want him back in here.”
“I agree,” Lance said from his spot on the couch as he threw a hackey sack up in the air and caught it. “He’s just gonna cause problems.”
“Again,” Joey put in.
“Guys, he apologized to Chris. He knows he’s wrong,” JC said.
“Yeah. He was really sorry. You guys should have heard his voice. He was so sad,” Chris added.
“Don’t care,” Lance said as he threw the ball in the air again.
“Don’t believe him,” Joey said. The hackey sack hit Lance’s hand with a thud as it came back down. JC shivered in irritation.
JC shivered in irritation. “Could you stop that, please?” he asked while looking over at the blond man. “I’m trying to talk to you guys, and that’s really distracting.”
“Sorry,” Lance said while setting the ball on the table.
“If J apologized, it’s cuz someone told him to. How much you wanna bet Lynn told him to or that she was the one who told him that he was in the wrong?” Joey asked while looking at JC and Chris.
“That’s not the point, Joe,” Chris said. “The point is that he knows that he’s been difficult lately, and he’s gonna change that.”
“He always makes promises but he never changes for more than a week,” Lance protested with a roll of his eyes. “I’m with Joey on this one. I say no.”
Chris glanced nervously down at his watch that read 10 AM. Justin was going to be there any second, and Lance and Joey weren’t giving in. They didn’t want him back in the studio, and Chris was beginning to worry that Joey might just get up and walk out the second Justin entered the room.
“Don’t you think you’re being a little hard headed about this?” JC asked the two young men, glancing between each one of them.
“No,” Joey said firmly. “And the fact that you and Chris are the one’s apologizing for him just proves that!” The young man raised his voice a little as he stood up and kicked the chair that he was sitting in out from underneath him. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair as he began pacing back and forth across the room.
“Ok,” JC said in a defeated tone. “Maybe we should…”
The sound of the door swinging open interrupted the singer, and all four men turned to see Justin standing in the doorway with a backpack slung over his shoulder. Sensing the tense mood in the room, the youngest member of the group swallowed nervously as he looked around at his friends.
“Perfect timing,” Chris groaned to himself.
“What are you doing here?” Joey demanded while walking towards Justin, getting dangerously close to the young man’s face.
“I’m … I’m… I’m here to … record,” he stuttered out, suddenly uncertain of the completely obvious answer to the question.
“Oh no YOU’RE NOT!” Joey shouted. “Everything was perfectly fine the other day when you’re weren’t here, and you’re not gonna walk in here and screw things up all over again! OUT!”
“Joey, come on man,” JC said.
The man in question turned to JC. “I want him out of here,” he said in a calm but tight voice.
“Joey,” Justin began.
“Justin, shut up,” Chris said before Justin could worsen the situation anymore.
“No,” Joey said in a cocky tone as he turned his gaze back towards Justin. “I want to hear what the boy wonder has to say.”
Complete silence filled the room as Joey’s menacing eyes met Justin’s bright blue ones. No one knew what to say so everyone just kept their mouths shut, waiting for Justin to speak. The curly haired boy broke Joey’s gaze and looked around the room nervously. He squeezed his eyes closed and opened his mouth to speak, but looked back at Joey before he let any sound leave his lips.
“Listen,” he began. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, Joe. I don’t know what came over me,” Justin said in almost a whisper. “I was just so worried about Tyler and the press and everything else that I lost it. And, I know that it’s not an excuse. There’s no excuse for the way that I acted, but I’m asking you to forgive me.” Justin paused for a second and waited for a reaction from his bandmate. “Please,” the singer pleaded after a minute had passed and Joey still refused to say anything.
“Answer me this, J,” Joey said, still in the same angry tone that he had been using since Justin walked in. “Why should I?”
Justin looked down at the ground with a pitiful expression of sorrow on his face. “You shouldn’t,” he replied. “God knows that I don’t deserve it. I lost track of the important things. I put business before friendship, and you have no reason to forgive me for anything.”
Joey leaned back in his chair and stared at his friend critically. When it became apparent that he wasn’t going to respond Justin continued. “I guess I just hope that I haven’t ruined our friendship. Because before the press, and management and all the stupid politics comes our friendship. We started this group out as friends and I hope when it all comes to an end we still are.” Justin sighed as he finished. “I guess that’s all I can say. I’m gonna go. I’ll talk to you guys later.” Justin hefted his backpack higher up on his shoulder and turned to leave the studio. He’d just pulled the door open when he heard Joey call after him.
“Wait Justin. Come back here for a second.”
Justin turned around and raised his eyebrows hopefully. “Yeah?”
“Let’s give it a try. Just this once and see how things go.”
It wasn’t much, but it was enough hope for Justin. “Sure, definitely. Just tell me what you guys need me to do.”
The rest of the afternoon went smoothly in the studio. The guys managed to lay down 2 new tracks and Justin was more helpful than he had been in weeks. He even gave two of his solos away; one to JC and one to Chris. As they all said their goodbyes that night each left satisfied and hopeful.
As Justin drove home he hit the speaker button on his phone and dialed Chris’ number.
“Hola?” Chris answered.
“Hey man, I just wanted to say thanks for today. I really appreciate you talking to the guys for me,” Justin told his friend.
“No problem J, you did good today. You just need to prove them wrong, show them that you mean what you said and things will go back to normal. Don’t worry about it alright.”
“Well I’ll let you go. See ya tomorrow alright?”
“Yep. Later,” Chris said.