Part 6

Friends helping Friends


The next morning waking up to knocking on his bedroom door Justin rolled out of bed rubbing the sleep from his eyes. Pulling open the door yawning wide.

“Just making sure you were up honey, breakfast is ready…you have to go by the cell phone place today to so get a head start” Lynn said handing Justin a piece of paper with the reference number and information to pick up his phone.

Showering Justin dressed in a pair of cargo shorts and a red Abercrombie t-shirt, pulling on a pair of beach sandals to be comfortable in. Heading downstairs he greeted his mom again with a kiss on the cheek. Nodding to Paul as he opened the refrigerator to get the milk out.

“Justin, good to see you made it in ok…sorry I wasn’t here last night when you got here” he said.

“Oh don’t worry about it Paul, I was really tired last night wouldn’t have been up for much talking anyway…” Sitting down Justin looked up as his mom put down a plate of pancakes, Tennessee sausage, and eggs. Pouring the maple syrup onto the entire plate Justin took a bite. “Will you ever eat pancakes like a normal person Justin?” his mom teased seeing the drenched plate.

“What! The syrup mess is the best part” he grinned with a mouth full of food.

Lynn and Paul laughed. Some things you just never out grew.

After eating and talking to his mom and Paul for a while the phone rang.

“Hello”

“Hey Mrs. H. I was calling to find out when J wanted to leave.” Trace asked.

“Oh hold on a sec Trace” she said handing the phone to Justin.

“Yo man, what’s up?”

“Nothin’ just want to find out when we’re heading out”

“Well I gotta go pick up my cell from the repair place but we can head out after that if you want…I’ll drive first” he said.

“Cool man, tell your mom and Paul I said hi… oh and steal me some breakfast man!” Trace said.

Justin laughed “Ok, well I’ll come by to get you in about half an hour then be ready!”

Hanging up the phone he turned to his mother who was standing at the stove.

“Momma, Trace said hi, he wants me to bring….”

“Food, I swear, you’d think that boy’s momma never fed him the way he’s always after my cooking!” she joked.

Turning from the stove she wiped her hands on a dish towel.

“Yea well he’s been doing it for so long, if he stopped you’d be worried!” Paul said.

“Yea well Justin you go on up and double check your room for anything you want to take back…I’ll have a plate for Trace when you come down”

Justin took the stairs two at a time, glancing around his room and remembering a shirt that he’d left during his last visit, taking it out of the closet where his mom had put it. Grabbing the things he’d brought in the night before he headed back downstairs.

His mom just putting the lid on a container of food.

“Ok well this is it then, I’m sorry I cant stay longer this time but I gotta be back in time to make practice” Justin said regretfully.

“Oh sweetie don’t worry about it you’ll find your way back before long anyway you always do.” Lynn said kissing him on the cheek.

Justin and Paul hugged goodbye and Justin hopped in the SUV to head out.

Picking Trace up 10 minutes later Trace’s eyes lighting up at the sight of ‘Mrs. H’s home cooking’. Justin headed to the mobile phone store to pick up his phone.

Walking in the bell on the door jingling. He walked to the desk and waited as another customer was helped.

“Hello. What can I do for you today” a pretty brunette woman said smiling up at him.

“Well I brought my phone in a few days ago and was told it was ready to pick up now…”

“Ok well what’s your name?”

“Justin Timberlake”

“Ok just wait here and I’ll check in the back.”

Justin leaned against the counter listening to the radio play over the store speakers. She returned a minute later with a box and some papers. Opening the box she took out his phone and explained to him briefly what they had done with his phone, handing him the papers to sign after testing the phone.

“If you need anything else don’t hesitate to call, my name is Alexis” she said smiling flirtatiously and winking at him.

Justin smiled politely. “Thank you” inside he rolled his eyes. Women!

Justin made his way to the car Trace happily feeding his face in the passenger seat. His mom had sent him eggs sausage and toast loaded with butter and grape jam instead of the pancakes all of it amazingly still hot when he’d gotten to Trace’s. It was the miracle that was his mother’s cooking, always the best.

“Cool man…so did you trade the phone in for the newer one or what?” he asked.

I started the car before handing him the box.

“They upgraded it, I was due for one anyways and since the other one was so messed up they gave me this one practically no extra charges or anything.”

Trace opened the box and took out the white flip phone. “Man this is tight!” he said seeing the UNC logo specially printed on the casing.

“Yea I thought so to but I haven’t really checked it out totally yet…I know it’s got some cool new stuff to it”

“Well you can see it later…I wanna play with it” Trace joked.

“We need to stop for gas and get some snacks then we can leave”

Trace plugged in the in-car battery charger for the phone and hooked it up.

Stopping at a BP station they both walked in Trace paying for the gas while Justin got a couple some snickers bars, chips, water for himself and Pepsi for Trace knowing they’d stop for lunch somewhere before they stopped again.

After driving for 4 hours Justin was more than ready to stop, eat, and switch drivers.

He pulled in at a rest plaza, he and Trace going inside to use the bathrooms and go to the Burger King inside. Both ordering Western Whoppers and fries Climbing back into the car after eating the burgers and fries before heading off to buy Wendy’s Frosty for Justin and Chocolate milkshake from BK for Trace. After Trace had started the car and pulled back onto the highway the sound of the ESPN theme song rang out into the car. Justin’s cell. Trace had programmed it. It played specific ring tones for certain people and the ESPN for unknown calls. “Hello” he mumbled around a mouthful of ice cream.

He heard a somewhat familiar laugh.

“Hey Baby J” Justin swallowed quickly.

“Josh!”

“Yea it’s me…I wanted to call you because I probably wont have my phone on when you guys get in later” he said.

“Oh well that’s fine I coulda just left a message or something…wait how’d you get the number I didn’t call you and give it to you?” he asked confused.

“Well I called the house first, I didn’t know when you were leaving, your mom gave me the number…that’s ok right?”

”Yea but you still didn’t have to call”

”Id much rather talk to you than listen a recording of your voice Jus”

Justin smiled. reaching over to turn down the music a bit more.

“Well I’m glad you did call, so what are you doing now?”

“Oh nothing really just hanging around until Chrissy gets here…we’re both flying out for a shoot in NY…she’s coming here first so she can see Momma Shell first- she says hi by the way”

“Tell her I said hello. So that’s all you’ve done?”

“Well no…I went to the beach for a little while and sat….but nothing exciting”

“I guess I should be glad for that then, you didn’t go to a club and party without me!” Justin pouted jokingly.

JC laughed. “So how has the drive been going?”

“Well its ok we’re more than half way there now so…we stopped for food at a rest area, I got a Frosty!” Justin said proudly eating the last spoonful.

“Wow a Frosty! Lucky!” JC teased.

“Hey don’t make fun of my love for junk food, it’s a sensitive subject!” Justin laughed.

“Ok ok, so am I going to talk to you tomorrow then…what did we decide?”

“I’ll call you after I have run through…just don’t be disappointed if I’m to tired to talk, I’m outta shape and coach is gonna run us ragged” Justin complained.

“Out of shape! Baby J…have you looked in a mirror?” JC chuckled.

“Well anyways that and then getting everything ready for classes…and I’m supposed to start as a TA for one of my professors to…sort of as volunteer stuff”

“Well it sounds like you’re gonna be busy…whenever you need a break give me a call”

“I will hun”

“Well I guess I’ll let you go…drive safe”

“Ok, we will, I’ll talk to you soon…”

They hung up. Justin putting the phone back down.

“So interesting talk you had there J”

Justin pulled away from his thoughts. “Huh…oh yea uh huh”

“So you gonna tell me about it?”

”Not much to tell, me and Josh are kinda dating…seeing what happens…nothing serious though” he said not sure how much to tell Trace, especially with his record of letting important info ‘slip’.

“Oh well I was just wonderin is all.”

“Yea no problem. We’ll be there in about an hour right?”

“Yea about that”

“Cool”

They pulled into Trace’s apartment complex an hour and a half later. Stopping at KFC to get dinner. Trace lived in a small apartment outside of campus with his girlfriend, it was a nice sized 1 bedroom place, where a lot of students lived.

Justin dropped him off there and headed to his own apartment in what was dubbed Nike Town because most of the people who lived there were on the UNC teams who were sponsored by Nike.

Pulling out his backpack he threw it over his shoulder bringing his suitcase out of the back to the ground rolling it to the passenger side to get out his dinner.

Heading into the lobby he walked to the RA desk.

“Hey Kerri” he said to the curly haired girl sitting there playing solitaire on a computer. The RA desk was set up for main place to call for problems in the building, making sure curfew was enforced for the athletes as well.

“Hey Justin! How was the trip?” she smiled.

When he’d first gotten to UNC people had joked that he and Kerri were separated at birth. They shared the same crazily curly hair and laid back demeanor. They’d become fast friends and she was one of the select few who knew about Justin’s sexuality.

“It was cool Ker, fun, we got to meet all kinds of cool people.” He put down the chicken and biscuits, I’ll be right back down ok?”

He headed up the two flights of stairs to his apartment and dropped his things in his room. Making his way back downstairs he said hello to the few people that had made it back early as well. Sitting back down at the desk with Kerri, he gave her a paper plate to share the dinner with him.

“Thanks J I was hungry!” she smiled. It was a routine of theirs for him to keep her company on the boring nights she worked the desk.

“No prob. So yea I had fun…we even got to go to the after party” he said.

“Really?! How was it…meet anyone?” she asked lifting her eyebrow to indicate the kind of someone she meant.

“It was good, we met all these people there, everything was cool till Trace, he sighed, man sometimes I really wonder what goes through that guys head…he told Ker” he explained. She knew what he meant by that.

“What! How? Why?”

“Well the people we met were all talking about one guy being…ya know…and one of them hinted at me being to…and Trace let it slip”

“Woah man…that’s harsh…how the heck did he manage that?”

“I dunno…I got really pissed at him though”

“J tell me you didn’t hurt him…though he deserved it!” she laughed.

“Nah I didn’t I just ran outta there…”

“Aww J” she said rubbing the top of his head knowing how upset he got sometimes.

“Well anyways, I went back and worked out in the gym to burn some steam and Trace showed up with Gabby and Josh…”

“Ok wait, who are they?”

“Oh you’re gonna love this one…Gabby is Gabrielle Union and Josh is well…Joshua Chasez!”

“Shit! You’re joking right? You met them! I know you got me an autograph!” she exclaimed. Originally it was supposed to be her going with him to the game but she had been pulled for RA duty. Both of them were huge fans of both Gabrielle and JC.

“I got better!” he grinned.

“Tell me tell me!” she said eyes wide.

“Well, me and Gabby hit it off, I mentioned you when she asked if I was a fan…well anyways, she said to give you her number…that she knows how hard it is to start out in acting without any solid contacts!”

“Oh my god! Justin are you serious?!”

“Totally! And that’s not all! Well…” he looked around checking to make sure no stragglers were hanging around.

“Come on stop stalling!”

“Well you know how JC is …well me and him are sorta dating” he whispered.

Kerri’s eyes got so wide he just knew they’d roll out of her head and land on the desk.

He waited. Her mouth opened and closed a few times before…

The sound of JC’s song Digital Get down was heard. Justin grinned as Kerri watched him.

“Now I know I just talked to you not long ago!” he laughed answering.

“I know I know hey baby J”

“Hey Joshy” Justin laughed lightly.

JC smiled on the other end. “Are you really going to call me that?”

“Yes I am and you cant do anything to stop me!” Justin boasted.

“Its ok long as you don’t do it where people hear you….I blush enough around you as it is…I think your blushing is contagious!”

“Well the only person here is Kerri…remember I told you about her?”

“Oh yea…well its cool but not like big rooms of people though!” JC smiled.

“Here baby say hi to her for me…answer the question I know by the look on her face she’s dying to ask.” Justin laughed handing Kerri the cell phone.

“H-Hello?”

“Hi Kerri, this is Josh how are you?”

“Uh-I’m fine…um if you don’t mind me asking …are you…well you?”

JC laughed. “I hope so since I’ve had these big scary men following me everywhere” he joked talking about his security team.

Kerri smiled. “So then what Justin was saying….are ya’ll?”

“Together?”

“Yea…”

“Yup we are…I know he said he’s not telling many people because of how things are but we are”

“Wow…that’s so cool, congrats!”

“Thank you.”

”Well I’ll let you talk to J so I can get the dirt from him when you’re done!” she handed the phone back.

“Hey hun”

“Hey…well I was calling because I talked to Gabby and she said to remind you to give her friend her managers number to”

“Oh yea I forgot about that one, I will though”

“Ok well I’ll talk to you later I have to go get some things done…”

“That’s fine…bye hun”

“Later”


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