“Don’t be ridiculous JC, we’re just friends,” Hailey said, exasperated by the accusations that were being aimed at her.
“Whatever,” JC spat as he focused his attention on the winding road ahead of him.
“Listen to me!” She reached over and placed her hand on his arm. He jerked away as if her hand was a poisonous snake. “He’s one of your best friends and I barely know him. You should trust both of us,” she tried to tell him. She looked across the car and saw his jaw muscles clench in response.
The two sat in silence. Hailey stared out the window and watched the water streak down it, covering it like a film. She sighed.
“I love you JC.”
He jerked his head toward her. “If you love me so much then why did I see you hugging him? You didn’t look like you loved me so much then!”
“JC I’ve told you this a million times! I tripped and he caught me. We both laughed about it because I’d just finished telling him how clumsy I am. That’s it, that’s all that happened nothing more, nothing less.”
He continued to stare at the road with hurt in his eyes, but refused to say anything.
“Justin means nothing to me,” she whispered.
He turned to her, searching her eyes for truth. Sincerity shined back at him, sincerity and love. “Hailey I’m s…”
“JC look out!” Hailey screamed. She reached her arm over and whipped the wheel toward her.
JC looked back at the road and tried to react but it was too late. Panic flashed across his face as the car plowed through the guardrail on the side of the road. They were going too fast and the car smashed right through it. They soared through the air for just seconds before the car crashed nose first into the jagged rocks below.
The steady, monotonous sound of the heart monitor was the only sound in the private hospital room. Justin lay sound asleep in the chair next to JC’s hospital bed. He’d been at the hospital since 11:00 am; it was now 2:00 in the morning.
Joey, Chris, Lance and Justin had each taken turns sitting with JC for the last two weeks. They wanted one of them to be there when he woke up. He’d been in a coma since he was brought into the hospital. The doctors had told them that his vital signs were stable and that he’d be OK, it was just a matter of him waking up.
The group had a couple of days of during their tour and had come home to visit their family and friends. After the accident their current tour had to be cut short and postponed much to the dismay of their fans. By now the news had circulated through the media about the accident, in fact it was almost old news. MTV news only mentioned it to update their viewers on JC’s progress, or lack there of. The record label pleaded with the guys to continue practicing, but they were all too distracted. The thought of working without JC was too much for them to bear.
Justin twitched before opening his sleepy eyes. He glanced around the room, trying to get his bearings. Everything came flooding back to him when he saw JC’s pale limp body lying in the hospital bed. The moonlight cast an eerie blue glow on everything in the room. It made his friend look dead. He shuddered as the thought passed through his mind.
His eyes began to drift closed again when he thought he saw movement out of the corner of his eye. His eyes flew open and he stared intently at his friend. He started to think his mind was playing tricks on him when he saw it again. JC’s head rocked ever so slightly to the side and a barely audible moan escaped his lips.
Justin leaped from his seat and crossed the room in one long stride. He took hold of his friend’s hands.
“JC?” He asked excitedly.
JC’s eyes began to flutter. A moment later they finally began to creep open. His eyes finally focused on Justin.
“Wh..what’s going on? Where am I?” he whispered in a scratchy voice. “Can I please have some water?”
“Sure thing, hold on,” Justin said as he jumped up and raced over to the sink. He quickly filled a pitcher full of water and grabbed a cup on his way back to his friend’s side. He reached over and pressed the button on the bed to help raise JC up into a sitting position. He poured a glass of water and held it to his bandmate’s lips for him to take a sip.
After a few slow sips JC leaned away from the cup and wiped his mouth on the back of his hand.
“Where am I?” He asked again.
“You were in an accident. You’re in the hospital,” Justin told him. “Hold on, I’m going to go get the doctor.”
A minute later Justin returned with a doctor in tow. He took his seat while the doctor stepped forward to check JC over. He shined a little light in his eyes to check his pupils. He checked his pulse and his reflexes and stepped back satisfied.
“I’d just like to ask you a couple questions,” the doctor told his patient.
“Do you know where you are?”
“Yes, I’m in the hospital,” JC replied.
“Do you know why you’re here?”
“I was in an accident.”
The doctor smiled at his responses. “Do you remember anything about the accident?”
JC sat for a minute thinking, “No, I don’t think so,” he told him.
“Well, that’s actually quite normal. A lot of the time some short term memory is lost. It should come back overtime.”
“Do you know your name?”
“Oh sure it’s…” JC stopped short. He racked his brain trying to remember his name but nothing was coming to him. “I…I…don’t know.”
“Hmm,” the doctor said; a small frown evident on his face. “Do you know that young man’s name?” He asked as he turned and pointed to Justin.
Justin raised his eyebrows hopefully. JC stared at him and slowly shook his head. “I have no idea. Should I know him? Isn’t he a nurse?”
Justin’s face fell when he heard that. “No, I’m one of your best friends,” Justin told him. “My name is Justin and yours is JC. We’ve been friends for years.”
“Oh,” JC said in confusion. “I’m sorry, I just can’t remember.”
The doctor continued with his questions for a few more minutes. When he was finally finished he called Justin out into the hall.
“It’s normal for victims in accident’s similar to JC’s to lose some short term memory, but his memory loss seems to be more severe. This is concerning to me. I’d like to keep him under observation for a couple days and see if this improves.”
“Would it be OK if I called his family and friends and asked them to visit?” Justin asked. He knew the guys were waiting to hear if anything changed.
“Actually that would be a very good idea. Familiar faces tend to help bring memories back quicker.” The doctor noticed the look of concern on the young man’s face.
“I wouldn’t get too worried right now. I’m sure he’ll be fine in a couple days.” He gave Justin a quick smile and a brief pat on the shoulder before he hurried off down the hall.
Justin let out a sigh as he reached in his pocket and pulled out his cell phone. He dialed Lance’s phone number and slumped in a chair in the waiting room.
Lance’s groggy voice filled the line a minute later. “Yeah?”
“Lance it’s me,” Justin said.
That sobered Lance up in an instant. “What happened?” He asked.
“JC woke up.”
“That’s great!” Lance exclaimed happily. “Is he doing OK?”
“Well yeah, physically…but”
But Lance didn’t let him finish. “I’ll be right there!” A moment later the line went dead.
“Great,” Justin groaned. He clicked his next speed dial and waited for Joey to pick up.
“YO!” Joey said above the sound of loud voices.
“Joey it’s Justin.”
“Hey man, what are you up to? You should be here, there’s this great party and…wait, aren’t you pulling hospital duty?”
“Yeah, I wanted to let you know that JC woke up. You should probably come down here. Lance is on his way.”
“Sure thing, I’ll be there in a few. This is great! I’m so glad he’s finally awake.”
Last but not least on the phone chain was Chris.
“Hey Chris, you should come down here. JC woke up and the rest of the guys are on their way down. But I’ve got to tell you…”
“I’ll be right there,” Chris cut him off and hung up.
Fifteen minutes later all the guys were there. Justin had stopped them outside JC’s room. He needed to tell them about JC’s condition.
“So what’s the deal? Why can’t we see him?” Chris asked impatiently.
‘You can see him in a minute. There’s something you all should know first. JC’s awake and he seems OK…physically, but he has no memory of the accident. Actually he has no memory of anything. He doesn’t know who he is and he didn’t recognize me either. The doctor asked him a lot of questions and he had no clue what the answer was.”
“Does he know anything? Like days of the week or 2 plus 2?” Lance asked.
“Yeah, he knows stuff like that, but anything that has to do with his personal life, he can’t remember.”
“Wow,” Joey said. This was not what he’d expected to find when he came to the hospital.
“Well, I guess we can go see him now. Maybe if he sees all of us some of his memory will come back.“
Justin lightly tapped on the door before he turned the knob and led the others into the room.
JC looked up and smiled at them. “Hey! It’s Justin right?”
“Yeah,” Justin replied gloomily.
“Wow, I must be a popular guy!” JC joked as he watched the four men crowd around his bed.
The guys all stood there silently in amazement. Hearing Justin say JC had amnesia was one thing, but seeing it for themselves was quite another.
“Do you recognize any of us?” Chris spoke up hopefully.
JC looked at each one of them for a moment before shaking his head. “I’m sorry, I don’t.” They could all see that JC was starting to get upset.
“OK, well its introduction time then,” Joey said with a chuckle. He hoped he could lighten the mood a bit.
“I’m Joey. If you ever need any advice about the ladies come to me. That’s Chris. If you want to know what it’s like to be a short old guy then he’s your man. And the blond over there is Lance. He’s the one to see if you have any questions about business.”
They stood in front of JC with smiles on their faces. They could all tell from the look on JC’s face that he was trying really hard to remember.
“Hey man, it’s OK. It’ll all come back to you soon,” Justin said. He glanced down at his watch. It was 3:45 am. “Well hey, we should let you get some rest. We’ll come back to visit tomorrow and we can bring some pictures for you to check out. It might help bring some memories back.
“Thanks, I appreciate it,” JC finished with a yawn.
“Get some sleep and we’ll see you tomorrow,” Lance said.
“Bye,” JC said with a slight wave.
There was a chorus of good-byes as the guys filed out of the room.
“Wow,” Joey said when the door was firmly shut behind him. “That was really weird.”
“Yeah,” said Chris. “What are we going to do?”
“We’re going to be there for our friend and try our best to help him get his memory back,” Lance replied firmly. The others nodded in agreement.
“OK, well lets all get some sleep and meet back here later,” Justin suggested.
The four young men parted ways and went home for some much-needed rest.
Justin woke up at noon still feeling exhausted. He rolled out of bed and stumbled into the bathroom. He splashed some cool water on his face and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. He took a good look at himself in the mirror. He looked like crap. “Lovely,” he mumbled. He shed his boxers and stepped into the shower. His body was on autopilot as he went the motions of his shower.
After he was finally dressed and ready to go back to the hospital he picked up the phone to call JC’s parents. He hadn’t wanted to wake them up earlier so he’d decided to wait.
After two rings JC’s mom answered. “Hello?”
“Hi Mrs. Chasez, its Justin.”
“Oh hi sweetie, how are you?” she asked.
“I’m a little tired, but I’m fine. I’m calling to let you know that JC woke up earlier this morning.
“Is he alright? What did the doctors say?”
“Well everything seems to be OK except he’s lost his memory. He doesn’t remember who he is or who we are,” Justin filled her in.
“Oh my,” she said after a moment.
“It’d probably be a good idea if you came down here to see him. Maybe it would help him recall some things.”
“I’ll be on the soonest possible flight. Thank you for calling Justin.” The two said their good-byes and hung up.
On the way to the hospital, Justin stopped by JC’s house to grab some pictures. He found the photo albums he wanted on the bookcase in the living room. He also grabbed some of the framed pictures that were displayed around the house. When he was finally satisfied that he had enough pictures to show JC he locked up and went to the hospital.
As he rounded the corner into the hospital parking lot, reporters bombarded Justin. They were everywhere.
“What the hell…” Justin said.
One of the reporters spotted his car and began to run towards him. When the others realized who he was they followed. By the time Justin stepped out of his car the media had surrounded him.
“Mr. Timberlake is it true that JC has woken up from his coma?” One of them shouted at him. He pressed his lips together and held the albums and frames tightly to his body as he slowly made he way through the sea of people.
“What are the photo albums for?”
“Is it true that JC has amnesia?”
“Does he really not know who he is?”
Justin tried to block out the questions as he crossed the parking lot. Relief washed over him when he finally made it to the lobby doors. He left the media behind as he walked to the elevators. As he waited for his floor the realization of what had just happened hit him. Someone had leaked confidential information to the press. As the elevator rose, so did Justin’s anger.
When he stepped off the elevator onto JC’s floor he took a detour and stopped at the nurse’s station. He set the albums down on the counter and waited for the head nurse to acknowledge him.
Finally she looked up. She smiled when she recognized him, but the smile slipped from her face when she saw his blazing eyes.
“What can I do for you Mr. Timberlake?” she asked cautiously.
“You can keep a closer watch on your staff,” he replied icily. “Someone called the media and shared confidential information about my friend’s progress and current condition. The parking lot is crawling with reporters. I suggest you contact your security and get rid of them before my friends arrive. Also, I expect for whomever breached the confidentiality contract you all signed to be dealt with or I will be contacting my lawyers. Is that understood?” He started down at her daring her to respond.
“Yes sir. I’m so sorry.”
Justin didn’t stick around to hear her apologies. The damage had already been don. He came to a stop in front of JC’s room. He took a couple deep breaths to calm himself. He didn’t want JC to think he was mad at him.
He pushed the door open and was surprised to see JC out of bed. He was standing by the window staring down at the parking lot below.
“Whatcha looking at?” Justin asked him.
“There’s a ton of reporters down there. I wonder what’s going on,” JC replied.
By the time Justin reached his friend, JC was smiling and waving to the flashing cameras and video cameras down below.
“What are you doing?” Justin cried as he yanked JC out of the window.
Confusion swept over JC’s face. “What’s the big deal?”
Justin sighed as he helped JC back into bed. He reached over to the nightstand and grabbed the TV remote control. He turned on the TV and only had to flip through a couple channels before they were greeted with the image of JC smiling and waving.
The reporter on the screen was saying, “JC Chasez, member of the hit boyband Nsync has finally awakened from his coma. Inside sources have informed us that Mr. Chasez is currently suffering from severe amnesia and has no recollection of himself or his fellow bandmates.” The screen switched to a shot of Justin pushing his way through the reporters earlier that day. “When asked questions about his friend’s condition, Justin Timberlake remained tight-lipped. We’ll keep you updated on the latest breaking news.”
Justin flipped off the TV and turned to his friend. “I’ve got a lot of stuff to fill you in on.”
A couple hours later Justin had filled JC in on everything. He’d shown him pictures that acted as sort of a time line of JC’s life. He showed him pictures of his family back home in Washington, D.C. He showed him pictures from their Mickey Mouse Club days and told him all about the show and what they’d done together. They looked at pictures from when Nsync was first formed. There were pictures from various performances and awards shows.
When Justin finally finished telling him about Nsync JC lay back in amazement. “So those reporters are outside because of me?” he asked in disbelief.
“Yep. Some stupid staff member at the hospital told them you were here.”
“I still don’t see what the big deal is. So I’m a singer, so what.”
“I guess it’s hard to understand it all. I’ll show you some videos when you’re released. I think it will help you understand things better then.”
JC just nodded.
The two continued to look through the albums and the stack of frames. Justin tried his best to tell JC as much as possible about each picture without overloading him with too much information.
Finally they came to the photo Justin was dreading having to explain.
“Wow, she’s really pretty. Who’s that?” JC asked.
In his hands he was holding a picture of a young woman with long honey-blond hair. Her green eyes sparkled as she smiled. She was sitting on a bench in a park by a huge water fountain.
Justin swallowed before asking, “Has anyone told you about your accident?”
“No. I only know I was in one. What did happen?”
Justin wasn’t sure where to start. “Well you were driving with your girlfriend Hailey, that’s the girl in the picture.”
“She’s my girlfriend? Damn! Is she alright? Is she going to come visit me soon?” He asked hopefully.
Justin was silent a moment. “JC, you two were driving and it was a really windy road and it was raining hard. The car lost control and it went off a cliff.”
“Oh my gosh! Is she OK?”
“JC, Hailey wasn’t wearing a seat belt. She died on impact. They said there was no way she could have survived.”
JC sat for a moment before asking, “Who was driving?”
Justin looked away before answering. “You were JC.”
His eyes clouded with tears. “It’s my fault she died. I killed my girlfriend. I killed Hailey and I don’t even remember doing it.”