Justin grinned as he slipped the manilla envelope into the big, blue mailbox. He lowered the brim of his hat as far as it could go over his dark sunglasses and pulled his jacket closer to his body, before turning around and catching up with his four best friends.

"C'mon, man... walk a bit faster there! We're gonna miss our flight if you don't haul your pretty little white ass over here!!", Chris called over his shoulder with a teeth revealing chuckle.

Justin snickered at Chris' comment and sped up his pace, eventually hopping into the newly washed black limosuine that was waiting for him. "Sorry about that. I had to get that package out.", he smiled. "It should only take a few days to reach Orlando, right?"

Joey rolled his eyes. "Yes, loverboy. She'll get it soon enough."

"Shut up, Joey. I'm not in love with her, I just thought I should send her something for the holiday."

Chris cut in laughing. "Since when does anyone get presents on Thanksgiving!? Man, you never got me anything for this holiday! What gives, JuJu?"

Justin crossed his arms over his chest. "Well... you're just not... special enough."

Lance grinned. He was loving all this busting on Justin. "Ooo... so now she's special. I think Justin's got the hots for somebody..."

"Shut up PooFoo, I don't know what you're talking about.", he said, feeling his face start to burn. He pulled his headphones over his ears and started humming loudly to the tune. After three minutes of his obnoxious humming, all four of the guys threw four different pillows at his face. Justin only smirked back.

(Thanksgiving Day)

Olivia's hair fell casually over her shoulder as she set the nice china out on the dining room table. Her parents were having a Thanksgiving dinner that night and she had invited Brian, Bridget, and Serenity over. Sidney's parents were also coming since they were still very close with the Jacobs family. While putting the navy cloth napkins next to the plates, her mother called to her from the kitchen where she was preparing a salad.

"Sweetheart? Can you do me a big favor and bring me the box of Stovetop that's in the pantry? It's a big red box with a photograph of stuffing on it."

"Sure, mom.", she said and obediently went to the closet to get the box. Before returning to the kitchen, she saw the mailman drive up to her mailbox. She was getting more and more afraid of what she would find in that box day after day. Her parents were oblivious to the whole disaster she had been living through, and she wanted to keep it that way. In the last two weeks, she had gotten only one more threat; which added up to a total of four. As much as she hoped there wouldn't be another one waiting for her in that mailbox at that moment, she was curious to find out. After bringing the box to her mother, she walked cautiously outside and opened the black box, peering inside for any signs of a soft white, typed, envelope.

Liv sighed in utmost relief when she didn't see any, but a manilla package captured her attention. She tugged it out of the small space and glanced down at the address. It was typed and there was no return address. That could only mean one thing... She gulped and brought it inside, along with the rest of the mail.

"Mom, I'll be upstairs for a minute...", she called, while half way up the peach colored staircase. She stared at the package that lay on her bed for what seemed like eons. Should I open it? Or should I just throw it out? There's a chance it might not be from him. Maybe I should open it. But what if it is... She sighed, trying to figure out what to do. I wish Sidney were here... she would know what to do. Olivia took a deep breath and slowly, but shakily began to open the envelope, hoping to God there wouldn't be a slip of paper with evil words printed on it.

"Damnit, Justin! Why did you TYPE the name on there?", the curly haired young man cursed himself. "You're so STUPID!"

JC kicked back in the hotel easy chair. "What are you talking about man?"

"I shouldn't have typed Olivia's name on the package I sent her.", he groaned, running his hand through the curls.

"Why? What's so wrong about that?", the crystal eyed man looked up at his young worried friend.

"She's gonna think it's from her stalker and then she won't open ....", his voice trailed off as he realized what he had just blabbed. "... whoops..."

"From who? What did you say?"

Justin blurted out the first word he could think of. "Father. I said, she's gonna think it's from her father. She's not very close to him...", he made up, not sure if she was close to her dad or not.

"You said 'stalker'. I heard you. Who stalks her?", JC questioned, the usual sparkle in his green-blue eyes fading at the disturbing word.

"No... I-I said father...", he sighed, knowing that JC would never believe him. He nervously ran his fingers through his hair again, threatening to pull the strands out with his growing skittishness.

JC got up and walked over to his friend. "Dude, you gotta tell me. I won't say anything to anyone."

Justin sat down on the plush bed, then got up again and started to pace. "No... no, I can't. I promised..."

"Is she in serious danger? Because you can't keep secret what can destroy someone's life as they know it."

"I-I don't know. All I know is that I won't let anything happen to her... but how can I protect her when I can't be with her?", he groaned, his voice escalating into a louder tone.

"You really like her don't you?"

The normal teenager in Justin began to scream out for understanding at that moment as he fell back on his bed, rubbing his head. "I don't know... I really don't... Sometimes you think you understand everything that goes on around you but then you miss out on understanding YOURSELF. JC, there's all these new things that I've never felt before and it's bothering me so much not knowing what they mean and how to react to them! Please help me understand! Why am I feeling this way?"

JC sat down on the corner of the bed and looked at his confused expression. He smiled. Justin was finally growing up and reaching that point that all teenagers go through... he was finding himself as a person, exploring new emotions, and getting to know other aspects of his life. "Justin, basically, you're growing up. Adulthood is a very complex part of human's lives and everyday you find out something new about yourself. Now, I don't know exactly what you are feeling towards Olivia but it sure as hell isn't alien to me. I have the general idea down... you like her, but you're not really sure if you want to take your relationship down the 'love path' because you're scared that if something goes wrong, your friendship with her will go kaput and you'll lose EVERYTHING you once had. Am I on the right path?"

He nodded and continued to listen to the words of advice JC was feeding him. He always learned a lot from what the guys had to say about things, and he was extremely thankful that God had blessed him with friends like them.

JC continued after acknowledging the nod from Justin. "That's what I thought. So, what I would suggest doing is taking a chance. Give it a try and see what happens, because otherwise you'll regret not ever doing something about your growing feelings for this girl and you'll forever wonder what COULD have happened between the two of you."

Justin looked at the ceiling in deep thought for a moment, contemplating JC's words, his own future and everything in between.

"Justin?"

His deep blue eyes snapped over to JC again. "Yeah?"

"Do you remember when we were in Germany awhile ago and you asked me if I thought that there was one person out there for everyone and if you searched hard enough for her you'd be able to find her?"

"Yeah..."

"In order to find that person, you've gotta take the risks and just... follow your heart. Keep that in mind, buddy.", he said and left the room quietly.

(that night)

Jovial chatter echoed throughout the dining room, and occaissonally the buoyant laugh of Olivia's father would bounce off the glass cupboards, cheerfully ringing in all the guests ears. Seated around the family's table were Serenity and her parents, Brian & Bridget, and a few of the Jacobs' neighbor friends, including the Millers. Olivia was sitting in between Serenity and Brian, off in her own little world. She kept thinking about the contents of the package that had been sent to her. When a hand suddenly touched her leg, her head shot up and she glanced around the table frantically.

Brian looked at her, concern shining through his eyes. "Calm down, Olivia, it's only me... are you okay? You look kind of spaced out."

"I'm... I'm fine." She looked at him, giving him a fake smile.

Mrs. Jacobs looked up from her meal and blissfully questioned her daughter: "Liv, honey, you know who you should have invited? I just thought of it."

"Who?"

"Justin! You talk about him constantly, yet we've never even seen what he looks like!"

Olivia's eyes sparkled at his name and she smiled genuinely at her mother. "I'll be right back!!", she grinned and ran up to her room.

She came back a few minutes later, holding the NSYNC CD. "Here mom... this is Justin.", she said, pointing to the fourth picture on the front of the case.

"He looks like a nice boy. Why didn't you invite him?"

"He's not home from Europe yet. Well, I don't think he is anyway..."

Bridget, who had been quiet through the whole dinner, suddenly squealed when she saw the CD. "OH MY GOD!! You're FRIENDS with Justin TIMBERLAKE!?!? He is soooo FINE!"

Liv looked at Brian to see his reaction to Bridget's outburst. She knew he had an obvious problem with Justin, maybe this was why. Bridget seemed to have a little crush on him, or she must talk about him a lot because Brian would tense up everytime the name Justin was said. He was only looking down at his hands, hiding the scowl on his face. Once again, Bridget's high pitched voice echoed through Olivia's ears, bringing her attention back to the blonde. "Oh my God, is he hotter in person?"

Olivia smiled and nodded. She couldn't deny the fact that Justin was incredibly gorgeous -especially for only being seventeen years old. She tended to get nervous around him, which was weird, because she had never gotten shy around a guy before in her life. The more she thought about him, the more powerful the butterflies got in her stomach. "Yeah...... yea, he is hotter in person. Actually, I just think he's unnaturally good-looking.", she grinned with a chuckle.

Serenity looked up at her friend's CD and finished chewing her mashed potatoes before asking, "So, who's NSYNC?"

As the dark blanket of navy blue cascaded over the sky, turning the evening into night, Olivia sat on the carpet of her room, staring at the piece of white paper in her hand. She read the words over and over and over again, enough times that the whole thing was engraved into her brain in memorization. A CD case lay on the floor next to her, while the disc spun in her player, on repeat. She raised the volume, and rubbed the sleep away from her eyes... eventually succumbing to her fatigue. She laid down on the ground, huddled in a ball, with her ear pressed up against the black speaker box... trying to get as close as possible to the angelic voice that was seemingly trapped inside the stereo.

That's how her parents found her... asleep next to her CD player, clutching the case to an advanced copy of Home for Christmas.