Justin hadn't gotten much sleep the night before. He had been up all night thinking about what Olivia had told him. Never, for the life of him, had he thought that something like that could have happened to her. He was so happy that she had chosen him to tell, but he was more scared for her than anything. They had spent the rest of the night at the dock talking about numerous things; why she thought anyone had a reason to threaten her and what their motives would be. He tried to comfort her as much as he could, and although he didn't realize it, his feelings for her were beginning to increase rapidly.

"Hey Justin, are you okay?", Lance asked him worridly, bringing him out of the temporary daze he was in.

"Huh? What?"

"I said, are you okay? You've been kind of out of it since we got here."

"Oh... yeah, I'm okay man. I just didn't get a lot of sleep last night and I've had a lot on my mind."

Lance sat down on the cool tile and began to stretch his sore muscles. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Olivia's words rang in his head: "I'm trusting you not to let this leave this place." He swallowed, and shook his head slightly. "N-no...it's something that I-I shouldn't talk about..."

"Well, okay. But you know that if you ever need to talk about it, I'm always here. And so are the other guys."

"I know. Thanks, Lance.", he sighed and stretched forward before getting up and jumping around to release his tension.

Olivia's alarm clock rang in her ear at eight o'clock that morning. She yawned, stretching her arms out and hit the 'snooze' button on the clock. She had to go to the TransContinental Studio for work at nine o'clock; she did clean-up there from after breakfast til noon. She had been working there for awhile now, as sort of a little way to earn some cash along with her job at the local American Eagle in her mall, where she had a night shift. Liv had to admit that it wasn't the funnest thing in the world, but sometimes, if she were lucky she'd get to hear people singing in the recording booths.

Even though she had gotten a decent amount of sleep the night before, her eyes were still tired with sleep. One thing was for sure though, she felt a whole lot better about getting the burden of what happened taken off her shoulders. She climbed out of her bedsheets and pulled her journal out from under her pillow where she had put it before she fell asleep. Opening it to a page she had written in, she briefly glanced over the familiar scrawl.

July 17, 1998
Dear Journal,
I went to the beach today to try to get my mind off of Sidney. I've been thinking about her ever since her accident, and that was in May. I miss her so much. Anyway, when I was walking along the beach, guess who I accidentally squirt suntan lotion all over? The guy that took me to the hospital after Sid's accident. Justin Timberlake... I found out that he's a really nice person. Not arrogant like most superstars are. I don't know, I just wish I could trust him... I wish I could trust SOMEBODY.
Love, Olivia

She smiled as she thought back to the previous night, when she had finally lent her trust to him, and she opened up to a clean page and started to write.

November 6, 1998
Dear Journal,
Last night, for the very first time, I trusted someone. It's been forever since I trusted anyone...besides Sidney. It feels so good right now. I finally told someone about what happened last April. It's been so hard holding in all in; I felt like I was going to blow up. Then, I started to get threats again and I don't know who they're from. That's when I realized that I had to tell someone. I called Justin and he came over right away. I'm glad he listened and he swore he wouldn't tell anyone, because now I know I can trust him. He's such a good person with such a good heart and sometimes I wonder if the girls that are obsessed with him realize that. Sure, he's good-looking and very very talented, but I'm so amazed by his heart... it's like he's an angel or something. Well, I'm beginning to ramble off topic, but basically I'm just glad I got my story out to someone who seems like he cares.
Love, Olivia

She sighed and returned the book to underneath her mattress, leaving her bedroom for a warm shower.

Humming quietly under her breath, Olivia quickly picked up all the left over plates, scraps, and cups that had been carelessly strewn over the table from breakfast and stuffed them in a trash bag.

"People are such pigs... sometimes I wonder why I haven't quit this job yet...", she mumbled as she threw away all the stale donut holes and cereal boxes, tying the garbage bag closed in a knot. She gathered up the two bags and left the room, her objective to find the dumpster as quickly as possible. Walking down the long hallway, a man around twenty one that was jogging down the hall seemingly in a rush bumped into her, causing her to drop the bags.

His deep green-blue eyes looked at her apologetically. "I'm sorry about that."

"It's okay, I'm just glad the bags were tied.", she said, and looked up at him. Immediately her breath was caught in her throat and her eyes widened.

He recognized her faintly. "You're the girl that Timbs keeps talking about, aren't you!?"

Olivia was confused. Timbs? Was that a nickname for Justin? "Um, I'm not quite sure who you are talking about... but, um, are you one of the *NSYNC guys?"

He smiled. "Yeah, I'm JC Chasez. I'm sorry, I was talking about Justin, sometimes we call him Timbs for Timberlake. What's your name again?"

"Olivia Jacobs."

JC wiped the sweat off his brow with the back of his hand and continued to stare down at her. "Yeah, that's what I thought. So, whatcha doin' here? You don't work here... do you?"

Liv blushed and nodded. JC's tall figure was sweating profusely and his maroon tank top hugged his waist. His hand gripped a bottled water and a few beaded bracelets graced his wrist. He was definitely one fine piece of man. She didn't know if it was him or the heat of the building but it was sure getting hot in there. "Y-yeah, I um, I do cleanup... but what are you here for? You're not on this label are you?"

He grinned. "Yeah, we are!"

Suddenly, a head popped out of a doorway down the hall. "JC! What are you doin'? We're ready!", Joey yelled and looked at the young female next to him. Growing curious, he jogged down to where they were standing and looked her up and down before realizing who she was. "HEY! Look who it is!"

"Hi... you're Joey right?"

He lifted his eyebrows up and down playfully. "In the flesh, baby! Does Justin know you're here?"

She shook her head and said, "No, I didn't even know you guys were on this label."

"Well, it's a small world isn't it?!", he grinned and yelled back to the rehearsal room. "HEY JUSTIN!! YOUR CHICK IS HERE!!!"

"Excuse me?", Olivia questioned him.

JC cut in, laughing. "Oh, don't take him seriously. He calls every girl he sees a chick and that goes for his friends' friends."

Justin's head was next to poke out the door. "What are you talkin' about Jo--", he started to say but stopped immediately when he saw Liv. "Olivia!!!", his facial expression softened and he jogged down to say hi. "What are you doin' here, babe?"

She almost fainted when she saw him and she finally realized why all the girls went googly eyed over him. He was sporting a black pair of workout pants and a sweaty white tee shirt that outlined his firm chest. Liv blinked and shook off her awe, finally answering his question. "I, uh, I work here."

He laughed. "No way, really? What do you do here?"

She bit her lip and lifted the bags up. "You can call me the trash lady if you want."

His eyes grew wide when he realized that she was being serious. "Oh."

Lance and Chris's voices yelled down to the cluster in the middle of the hallway. "GUYS! GET YOUR BUTTS BACK HERE! WE NEED TO GET THESE MOVES DOWN!"

JC sighed. "Well, looks like the master is back to his whipping. Let's go, guys. Nice meeting you, Liv." He waved and jogged back to the studio with Joey on his heel. "CYA SWEETNESS!", Joey yelled back to her.

Justin kept looking at her. "I can't believe you work here. For how long have you been?"

She shrugged. "Awhile. Probably, at the least, eight months. I never knew you guys were on this label. That's kind of cool."

He smiled tenderly. "Yeah... it is. Do you get a break?"

She nodded. "At ten thirty. But it's only for half an hour."

"Come watch us practice okay? We're in that room right there. And we're only here til eleven. Four hours of practice then we have to jet off to a few photo shoots."

"JUSTIN!! WE NEED YOU FOR THIS PART!", their choreographer yelled down to him, obviously a little miffed.

He glanced back at him and nodded, then turned back to Olivia. "Promise you'll come?"

"Promise.", she smiled, feeling that special warmth in her heart again.

Justin grinned and winked. "Later, babe!" She watched as he jogged back to the room, his lean figure disappearing in the doorway and her eyes wandered down to the dirty bags next to her. "Ugh...work sucks..." Checking her watch, which read nine-fifty a.m. she sighed and continued on her search for the dumpster.

(ten thirty that morning)

The beeping timer on Olivia's light blue Baby G watch was her savior at the moment. She had just finished the bulk of her work, and she could finally go on break. What she needed was a big glass of ice water and preferably a nice massage with a hottie for the massager... Well, okay, so maybe that was stretching it a little, but she could dream...

While filling up a glass, she remembered Justin had asked her to go check out their practice. Making her way down the hallway, she peeked into the window of the room before entering. It was amazing what she saw before her eyes: five super determined men dancing their hearts out just to make sure that they get the choreography down pat. They looked completely wiped out, yet they wouldn't succumb to that tiredness because the love of what they were doing pushed everything else away. That was dedication. She smiled to herself and quietly made her way through the door, trying not to interrupt anything. Approximately two or three minutes later, the music stopped and Chris, Lance, Joey, and JC all bounced over to their waters. Amazingly, Justin still stood in front of the mirror, trying to get a part of the choreography perfect. She watched him admirably with a smile on her face. He was heaven-sent... she just knew it... he had to have been. No one was THIS perfect.

"Isn't he ridiculous?", a very deep voice sounded out.

Olivia's attention was pulled away from Justin and she focused in on the young man in front of her. "What?"

The blond haired, green eyed boy looked at her and chuckled. His large adam's apple bobbed up and down as he spoke: "He's like the Energizer Bunny... he keeps going and going and going." He stuck out his hand and smiled. "I'm Lance Bass, nice to meet you Liv. I've heard a lot about you."

She smiled. "Hi."

"Justin, did you know that Olivia's here?"

His curly head turned around and he smiled. "Oh, hey Liv. I didn't hear you come in."

She checked her watch. "Hey. I only have about ten minutes left of my break anyway, but I thought I'd just stop by. I didn't know you were such a good dancer."

He shrugged. "You just gotta practice..." He lowered his voice, "...how is everything with you know what? Did you get any more?"

She shook her head. "Nope, I'm fine. Thanks for caring." A warm smile crossed her face and sparkles glistened in her eyes. "Thanks a lot for caring..."

Justin's face grew warm and he blushed a light crimson. "It's no problem really..."

Suddenly a high pitched song blasted through the speakers and Chris toppled to the floor in a fit of laughter at the song that was being played.

"This is the song that never ends... it just goes on and on my friend... some people started singing it not knowing what it was and they'll continue singing it forever just because... this is the song that..."

Joey started to crack up. "It's LAMBCHOP!!!!"

"How in God's name did you get THIS tape, Chris?", JC asked him, laughing.

"My little sister had it and I stole it from her.", he said between fits of laughter. "Guys, I think we should record this song..."

There was a long dramatic pause while everyone turned to stare at Chris as if he had lost his mind.

He stared back at them for a minute before completing his sentence. "Okay, maybe not."

Then EVERY SINGLE person present in that room burst into an uncontrollable rage of laughter. All the guys were practically on the floor, their choreographer was snickering along with them, and yes, even Olivia was nearly tearing up because she was laughing so hard.

"What a great group of guys...", she thought with a grin stuck on her face.

Liv pulled the car into the driveway and hopped down to the mailbox to pick up the mail, the smile she had been wearing nearly all day still plastered on her glowing face. On her way to the house, she flipped through the envelopes. They were mostly bills and magazines but one soft white envelope with her name typed on it caught her attention. "Hmm, no return address."

She tossed her keys on the table along with the rest of the mail and tore open the letter she had recieved. The letter was typed, like the front of the envelope had been, and it was only two sentences. Her broad grin immediately disappeared as the words penetrated into her brain.

"I'm watching you Olivia. I know what you did..."