**

May 5, 2001

"Brit, honey, I'm home!"

Walking into the house that he shared with his live in lover, Britney, Justin quickly shut the front door behind him before making his way up the stairs-taking each step two-by-two.

He had just come back from a stressful meeting with his manager, Johnny, and was grateful to have three days off before rehearsals for the groups upcoming tour began. One which he knew would be more painful than any other tour that the guys had to endure-seeing as how their manager had come to the conclusion that after this tour he wanted each one of the guys to branch out and find themselves separately; some within the entertainment business, and some not within the entertainment business. Which Justin really liked-considering the idea he had in his head for a solo project.

He just had to hope none of the other guys were thinking the same thing.

Reaching the top landing of his house, he pushed the door to his bedroom open, and smiled as he noticed his girlfriend standing in the middle of the room. Surprisingly enough looking just as beautiful in a pair of casual jeans than in one of her infamous club outfits that she tended to wear.

"Mmm, mmm, mmm." He mumbled, causing her to look up at him, with not the usual bashful smile she gave him when he complimented her, but with an angry glare; one that he seemed to be getting used to lately. "What? What's wrong?"

"You were supposed to be home an hour ago. That's what's wrong."

Placing his keys on the dresser, beside him, Justin furrowed his eyebrows in confusion; that not being the greeting he had hoped for. "I was?"

"Yes, you were!" Britney said, angrily, "I reminded you, like, fifty times last week that tonight was Nick and Jessica's engagement party. But did you remember: NO. Like always."

Inwardly groaning, Justin closed his eyes; realizing he had indeed forgotten, "Shit Brit, I am so sorry. I completely forgot that was tonight, I mean with all this tour-"

"Fuck the tour!" Britney cut in; causing Justin to open his eyes in surprise, "God, Justin. This is not even about the tour. This is about you. You're always either forgetting things or you're always an hour behind schedule. And I don't even know why I put up with it sometimes."

Roughly sighing at her words, Justin inwardly told himself not to get mad; knowing when his girlfriend was like this, it was easier to just feel sorry, than to act sorry; which she seemed to be doing enough for the both of them at the moment.

"Brit, I'm sorry. I've been under a lot of pressure lately, and I know that isn't a good excuse, but you've got to understand where I'm coming from. I mean, I can't just leave meetings and rehearsals to go to someone's party-someone, must I remind you, that you don't even like. And I also can't, for the life of me, always remember every little thing you tell me. I'm not your personal organizer."

Seeing a bit of guilt pass over Britney's face, Justin took a step closer to her; hoping that she was calming down a little. But just as soon as he did so, the anger in her eyes returned. "You know, you're right. You're not my personal organizer and I can't always expect for you to remember everything I say. But you know what I do expect from you? I expect respect! Mutual and honest respect. I mean, isn't it interesting that when you want something, or you need to be somewhere, I'm always on time. But when it has to do with me, and something I need or want, you're never there. You're off somewhere playing Timberfake with a bunch of preteen sluts."

Preteen sluts? Biting the inner part of his cheek, Justin continued to try and be calm; but found his cool demeanor starting to fade away with each single word she said. "Britney, you know that's not true. I am trying, and I've been trying. I said I'm sorry, and frankly enough....I don't know what more you could want from me."

Their was a brief pause before Britney told him exactly what she wanted from him.

"Nothing....I don't want a damn thing from you."

Opening his mouth, Justin started to say something, but then closed it as he realized what Britney was doing.

"Where are you...?" He began, cutting himself off as he turned around; seeing that she was hastily walking away from him.

Quickly thinking, he chased her down the stairs; reaching her just as she was about to open the front door.

"Brit...baby, wait, let's finish this." He said, realizing that if he didn't stop her now, she could possibly walk out of his life for good, "You know we can't go to this party angry. I mean, that would cause moronic people to talk, and you know we don't want that."

Ignoring her roll of the eyes, Justin gave Britney his famous puppy dog pout; hoping it would aid her in seeing things his way.

Unfortunately though, it didn't do anything but soften her voice.

"J....I am so tired of putting myself out there for you and getting nothing in return."

Justin started to say something, but Britney put her hand up to stop him, "Don't. I know you're trying, I'm sure of it...but I just can't do this anymore. And until you get your act together, and I feel that you can treat me like I should be treated...there will be no need for us to continue this relationship. I'm sorry."

"But.."

Before Justin could say anymore, Britney pulled herself out of his reach, and walked out the door.

Leaving him staring after her, brokenhearted.

I can't believe it..

Two hours after Britney had left, Justin found himself seated on the floor of his and Brit's master-bedroom, with a picture of them in one hand, and an unopened bottle of wine in the other.

Tracing a finger over Britney's figure, he realized he didn't want to think about what just happened, yet he really didn't want to think about anything else right now.

And that was just why he had the alcohol; so he could forget.

Placing the photo on the floor beside him, he reached out a hand to grab the corkscrew, he had brought upstairs with him. But just as his fingers grabbed the pointy sides of it--a loud buzzing noise filled the room; causing him to jump a little and drop the glass bottle on the ground; breaking it into tiny pieces on the wooden floor.

"Shit."

Standing up quickly, not wanting to get any of the red liquid on his clothes, Justin searched around the room for his cellphone; which he knew the annoying noise was coming from. "Where the fuck are you?"

After spotting the small device lying on his dresser, next to his keys, he quickly made his way over to the stand; checking the caller ID, before answering the phone on it's fourth ring. "WHAT?"

"Whoa. Did I interrupt something?"

Sighing, Justin rolled his eyes, at his greeting rather than at JC's, before getting down on his knees, grabbing one of Britney's silk shirts that laid absentmindedly on the floor. And with it, and a small bit of satisfaction, he began wiping away the mess he'd made with the wine. "No, I was just..wallowing."

There was a small pause before JC spoke up again, "Wallo..? Have you been sniffing glue again?"

Surprisingly enough, Justin lightly chuckled at that question; only wishing that was the case. "Naw man, Brit....Britney left me."

"Are you serious!"

Even though it came out in more of a statement than a question, Justin still nodded to himself; smiling a little as he watched the red liquid on the floor mix in with the whiteness of the shirt.

"Yeah, she left a couple hours ago. Said something about not coming back until I got my act together; which seriously confuses the hell outta me seeing as though my act hasn't changed any since we started dating two years ago. But, it's whatever you know..I mean, we all knew it was going to end sooner or later...right?"

Their was a small pause from JC's end; telling Justin that the older man didn't really know how to answer that. But fortunately enough, for Justin's sake, JC answered the younger man in the only way he could.

In honesty.

"I don't know..maybe, I guess. But do you want us to come over. We can kick it at your house, ya know, do whatever."

Thinking over the idea, Justin sighed as he stood up from his spot on the floor; wet shirt still in hand. "Thanks for the offer, but I'm not really in the mood to stay here tonight. Were you guys doing anything?"

Their was another slight pause as Justin threw the ruined shirt, across the room, into the wastebasket that laid against the closet door. A pause which told him either JC was asking someone what they were doing tonight, or a pause where JC was confused by Justin's nonchalant attitude.

Not surprisingly enough, he soon found out his answer was just as he expected. Both.

"Joey says he wants to check out this club. But if you want to talk, I can-"

"No!" Justin said, before JC could finish, "I mean, that's okay, I want to go with you guys. It'll take my mind off of things and hopefully bring me back to the days where every curve ball life threw at me was completely dismissed as soon as I hit the clubs with my four best guy friends. And....it'll also be the first step in my life without Brit, so ya know, it could be therapeutic, maybe."

"Are you sure?" JC asked, his parental tone coming in crystal clear over the phone.

"Yeah, I'm sure." Justin said confidently; without thinking, "It's better than being here surrounded by her things. So, what do you say.....I meet you there after I shower, shave, and all that other good stuff?"

After two seconds, JC agreed, reluctantly. And told Justin he'd be meeting them at a place called The Pleasure Palace; a club which none of them, excluding Joey, had ever been to before.

"All right, so I'll see you in an hour tops?"

"Whatever you say, J."

Just as he said, Justin arrived at The Pleasure Palace an hour later-which made him a half-n-hour behind schedule in JC's eyes.

"For a second there, I was beginning to think you wouldn't show."

Standing up from his seat on the bar stool, Justin gave JC a slight hug, and a pound on the back, before taking his seat again. "Yeah, well anything is better than sitting at home doing nothing, ya know."

"I know." JC said, before taking a seat next to Justin; moving his eyes towards the dance floor-where the rest of the guys were. "You wanna come back to the hotel tonight? Ya know, stay with Joe and me until we leave?"

Justin shrugged before tightening his grip around his Corona bottle; showing his dislike for the topic at hand. "I don't know, may-"

"Damn"

Looking up from the bottle he was nursing, Justin threw a confused glance at JC, before following the older man's gaze out onto the dance floor; wanting to know what, or who, had caused the shocked remark from his friend. But not expecting it to be anything, or anyone, close to who he saw.

"Christina....."