That Ol' Wind

"K, Mom." Michael ate his toast and cap'n crunch cereal and drank his orange juice. In no time at all, Taylor and her son were on their way to Oak Creek Elementary.

Taylor pulled up on the street in front of the school in her 2009 Explorer and looked at her son. "Have a good day at school and remember... I love you." She grabbed his face and kissed him on the cheek. He made a face that said he was too cool to be kissed by his mommy in public. She messed his hair up with her hand and smiled. "Be good," she told him as he stepped out of the car and waved his goodbye.

She slowly pulled away, turned up the radio and began humming along with the song as she headed to work. When the song ended, the DJ came on and began talking. But when she heard his name, she listened intently to the radio...

"...Justin Timberlake is in town for a concert at the Universal Ampeatheater tonight. There are still tickets available so you can call your local Ticketmaster or right here at KIIS FM and we'd be glad to give 'em to ya!..."

"Oh my god..." escaped her lips in a quite whisper. She sat at the red light with her hand over her mouth in shock. "He's back..." She remembered the last time she had seen him ten years ago...

:::Flashback:::

She was working at the basketball booth when she noticed a few young men walking towards her booth. As they came closer, she realized that most of them were fairly good looking, but there was one... that one that was gorgeous. Wow, was he fine! They approached her booth and each paid a dollar to shoot three balls. Four of the five failed, but the last one... the fine one... he made all three baskets which won him a stuffed animal. As she congratulated him and handed him his bear, he handed it back to her and said that he wanted her to have it.

This amazed her. She didn't even know this cute guy, or his name, but he was so charming that she accepted. "My name's Justin," he told her.

"Taylor," she extended her hand and instead of shaking it, Justin raised it to his lips and placed a gentle kiss on the back of her hand. The guys noticed his typical routine and distanced themselves from Justin and this girl.

"Um, the carnival closes at eleven. Would you like to meet me down the street for coffee or something?" he asked in his most charming and convincing voice. He recognized the predictable shade of pink that came up on her cheeks as she agreed to meet him at the Starbucks down the street that he was referring to. He flashed his award-winning smile and joined the rest of his friends.

Just after eleven o'clock, Taylor walked into the Starbucks and spotted Justin in a booth near the back. She contained the butterflies in her stomach when she sat across the table from him. They talked for about an hour and then she looked at her watch... it was past midnight.

"I really should be getting home... I have class tomorrow," she announced.

"Well, um. How far do you live? I mean, it's kinda late," he expressed his concern.

"'Bout twenty minutes... It's really not that far."

"Cause, uh. I was thinking that maybe you would want to come back to my hotel with me... Keep me company?" He put on his best puppy dog face.

So, he wanted her to have sex with him. She usually didn't have sleep with the guy on the first day, if this would even qualify for a first date, but she was in college. College students were supposed to be wild and reckloose and have dirty sex with really cute guys that they hardly knew. But she had known him for four hours. And he was so charming! A smile crept onto her face.

"Okay."

:::End Flashback:::

:::Flashback:::

She lay there in his bed, looking up at the ceiling. God, he was amazing.

"I want to be completely honest with you." Justin's voice interrupted her thoughts. "I do this fairly often. You know, the whole one-night-stand thing. But, with you, it feels different. You mean way more to me than any other girl I've been with..."

"Look," she cut him off. "You're leaving in the morning. And you'll be in LA a couple times a year. That's not enough to have anything substancial with. I'll never see you."

"Come with me," he suggested.

"I can't! I have school. I have my life here. I can't just leave everything."

"Come with me. Please," he insisted.

"I'm sorry. Let's just keep this a 'one-night-stand thing.'

His wake up call came at six and he got up and ready and they said goodbye and promised to stay in touch. But they didn't.

:::End Flashback:::

She got a ticket for the show and went to the Ampeatheater later that night. She noticed that the marquee said "Justin Timberlack" and chalked it up to a mispelling. The show was good and she enjoyed it. It was calmer and less active than his days in 'N Sync had been, but that was because he was thirty and wasn't able to run around on stage for two hours. How Chris did it everynight was beyond her.

When the concert was over, she found her way backstage and saw him talking to some fans and signing a few autographs. When the girls left, he looked up and saw her standing there. He recognized her right away although her blond hair was cut short to her shoulders and her clothing was a little more mature and conservative. He smiled at her, letting her know that he remembered her and walked over to her with open arms.

"How are you!?" he asked while hugging her.

"I'm good... I'm doing good," she answered into his shoulder.

"Well I'm glad. Hey, why don't we go get some coffee and we can catch up on the past ten years?"

She gave him a look. "Remember what happened the last time we had coffee?"

"Who said that was a bad thing?" he replied in his remarkably charming way.

While they drank their coffee, Justin told Taylor everything about 'N Sync's break-up and the revival of his solo career. Taylor told Justin everything about her life but Michael. She didn't mention him.

As anticipated, Taylor wound up at Justin's hotel room for another "one-night-stand". Or so she thought. "It's still there."

"What?" Taylor asked, confused.

"That feeling. Remember?"

"Yea, I remember. The feeling that tells you that I mean more to you than any other girl? But do you remember that you're leaving in the morning?"

"But you don't have school. You can come with me," Justin informed her.

"I can't. I have Mi... My Job." She caught herself. She didn't want to mention Michael.

"Please. Come with me," he insisted.

"No. I'm sorry."

In the morning, Justin begged Taylor to reconsider. She still said no. So before he boarded his tour bus, he kissed her goodbye and told her to keep in touch. He scribbled down his new cell phone number and got on the bus.

When the bus reached the end of the street, it stopped and a man came running down the street. As he got closer, Taylor could see that he had curly brown hair. He ran up to her and captured her with his kisses. He told her that his last show was next week and afterward, he would move to LA just to be with her. She smiled at the idea but in the back of her mind, she was thinking about Michael. But no matter what crazy ideas popped into her mind, she knew that Justin would be a good dad.