Lance looked at his watch. “12:35”
“Thanks.”
They had just eaten lunch and needed to burn off some energy, so they decided to go play some B-Ball.
Justin had explained everything to Lance and Joey. At first they couldn’t believe it. But they eventually accepted it and thought it was pretty cool.
“You know what’s kinda strange?”
“You Albino Boy?”
“Shut up, Joey! No I’m serious. Her name is Justine. What’s her middle name?”
“Renae” Justin answered simply.
“You’re Justin Randall, she’s Justine Renae. You both have the same last name. That is just too strange. And it wasn’t on purpose either!”
“You’re right Lancten! That is weird!”
“You know what is even weirder?”
“What AB?”
“Shut up Joey! Well, I was talking to Brian Littrell the other day, I can’t remember why, but I was and he said something about Nick not shutting up about a girl named Justine Timberlake and how he thought it was weird that you and her had almost the same name.”
“Are you joking?”
“Nope, dead serious.”
“But how does she know Nick?”
“Um I think her best friend went to school with him or something. She was one of the few that didn’t treat him like crap, so he kept in touch with her. Kinda.”
“She didn’t go to school with him? Just her friend?”
“Justin, you have to remember that she has been in and out of a lot of houses. She’s only been where she is now for like 2 years or something like that.”
“Oh yeah. Oh well. That’s kinda strange. I wonder how she could know Nick and not have met us before.”
“Well that’s going to change!” Chris said.
“Soon hopefully!” Justin said with a smile.
“Um...What time is it?”Justine asked. The two girls had just finished eating lunch.
Serina looked at her watch. “It’s about 12:15.” They reached the car. “Tiny, can I drive? Please?”
“Sure I guess.” Justine gave Serina the car keys and walked around to the passenger’s side. Ten minutes later they were driving and Justine had no idea where they were. “Rina, where are we?”
“Well, I thought since I’m in O Town I would say hi to some friends.”
“Why do I have a bad feeling about this?” Just then they pulled up to a house. It wasn’t terribly big, but it wasn’t a shack either. “Who lives here?”
“I guess you’ll have to come with me and see.”
“OK, OK! I’ll go!” The two of them got out of the car and walked up to the front door. Serina rang the doorbell and they waited. Suddenly the door flew open.
“SERINA?!?!?”
“BRIAN!” The young man that opened the door hugged Serina.
“Oh, GOD!! You are NOT doing what I think you are doing!!!” Justine said as she rolled her eyes.
“It’s nice to see you too, Justine.” Brian said.
“Sorry Brian.” She hugged him.
“What are you doing here?”
“Well, I had the feeling that Nick was here and Justine-“
“Was brought here not knowing where we were going.”
“Well, it’s nice to know that I am so loved.” Nick came out of nowhere.
“I thought you’d like that.” Justine said sarcastically. They were friends and she didn’t want it any other way, EVER.
“OK...well we were just about to go play some B-Ball. You girls wanna come?” Brian asked.
“Actually I think I wanna head home I’m don’t feel so good all of a sudden.” And it was true. She didn’t feel so good.
“OK, well, maybe you should go home.” Nick said, concerned.
“Well, then guys, I guess we’ll see you later.”
“No, Rina, you stay here. I’ll be fine, I just want peace and quiet.”
“But I have no way to get back to Tampa.”
“You can stay here with us tonight. And then Nick here is going to Tampa tomorrow to get his boat. He can take you back.”
“Is that OK with you, Nick?”
“I don’t mind at all!”
“OK, then, I’m gonna head home. Talk to you later.”
Justine walked back to her car and climbed into the driver’s side. She started the car and pulled out of the driveway.
Suddenly Justin didn’t feel very good. He didn’t know why, but he just didn’t.
“Um...guys.... I think I’m gonna head home. I don’t feel so great.”
“OK. Well, maybe we should go too.”
“No that’s OK. Stay here. I’ll be fine. Really.”
“Yeah, I can give you guys a ride back home when you want to go.”
“Thanks Lance.”
“I’ll be fine. I’ll see ya later!”
“Later Curly! Be careful!
“I will!”
With that he was on his way home...
“Paige?” Justine called as she entered the house. There was no answer. She looked at her watch. ‘It’s only 2:00, of course she’s not home!’
Paige is an artist, of sorts. She was in advertising, and she was in the middle of a huge project. For what Justine didn’t know. But she knew it had something to do with Disney.
Justine walked up to her room and after dumping her bag on the couch that was pushed up against the wall; she flopped down on her bed.
She felt fine now. She had no idea why she had felt so bad before. ‘Oh well. I don’t really want to go all the way back to Orlando’ she thought. She looked around her room for a minute before rolling onto her stomach and letting her gaze fall on the phone. It was exactly where she had left it the night before after talking to Serina. She had just put it on her bedstand instead of putting it back in the cradle, located on her desk, across the room.
‘I wonder if he’ll call...’ She thought as she looked at the phone.
‘Maybe I should call now.’ Justin though as he eyed the phone that was sitting on the kitchen counters. ‘But the lady told JC not to call until 8:00.’ He told himself. ‘Then why do I get the feeling that she’ll pick up the phone?’ he countered. ‘You should wait a little longer.’ He argued. ‘What’s the worst that can happen? You get the machine?’
It was then that he realized what he was doing. ‘Justin, stop arguing with YOURSELF and call the freaking number!’
With that decided (finally) he got up from the table and walked up the stairs, down the hall and to JC’s room. Upon entering he found exactly what he was looking for. He grabbed the paper and walked out of the room, closing the door behind him before heading to the privacy of his own room. Once there he picked up his phone and studied the numbers on the paper, carefully.
‘936?’ He was looking at the first three digits of the number. ‘That’s a Tampa number! She’s not that far away!’ He though happily. He looked at the numbers for a moment longer before dialing them.
It rang, once, twice, three times. “Hello?”
Just as she was thinking about what it was going to be like talking to him, the phone rang. She looked at it as if it had reached out and bit her.
The third ring brought her out of her daze. She picked up the phone and pressed the talk button. “Hello?”
“Hello, may I speak to Justine Timberlake?”
“This is she. May I ask who this is?” She didn’t recognize the male voice at the other end of the line. She didn’t recognize in the sense that she knew whom it belonged to, but she knew that voice from somewhere.
“Hi Justine. This is-” It was then that she realized who she was talking to.
“-Justin Timberlake.” She said his name with him.
“Yeah, that’s me!” Justin laughed a little.
“Oh my god...” Justine said under her breath.
“Is there something wrong?”
“No, it’s just that...that I didn’t think that you would actually call me.”
“Why not? We are twins!”
Justine laughed this time. “You sound like my best friend, Serina.”
“That’s kinda scary. Is that a good thing, or not?”
“Well, I’m not sure but I think that means that we are going to become very good friends.”
“That’s good! So.... How are you?”
“I’m pretty good. I wasn’t feeling so good a little while ago, so I came home instead of playing B-ball with some friends.”
“Really that’s strange. I wasn’t feeling so good a little while ago, so I came home instead of playing basketball too.”
“How to you feel now?”
“I feel just fine. You?”
“Same. That’s strange.”
Justin’s end of the line got quiet for a minute while he thought. “Have you ever have any major injuries?”
“Well, at one of the first houses that I was in, I was in a car accident. I broke my right arm and couldn’t write in school for a month.”
“How old were we?” He used the term ‘we’ like they had known each other and had been talking to one another forever. And in a strange way they had.
“Well, I think it was the third house I lived in, so that would have made us.... around 7. I think.”
"I broke my arm when we were 7 too! I feel out of a tree in our back yard.” Justine laughed. “You think that’s funny?”
“Well, besides the fact that I just got a mental picture of you falling out of a tree, I find it rather creepy that we both broke our arms when we were 7.”
“Yeah, that is kinda creepy.” It was quiet for a minute. “So... you graduating this year, right?”
“Yup! Two more weeks and I’m outta high school. I can’t wait to graduate!”
"Am I invited?”
“To what?”
“You graduation, of course! I wanna see you get that diploma!”
“I don’t mind if you come. Didn’t you graduate a half a year early or something, cause of all the tutoring and stuff.”
“Yeah, but I wanna see you up on that platform. I got mine in the common room of our tour bus.”
“Oh, that’s got to have been the proudest moment it your life, right there! I’m sure that ‘s the way you pictured it when you were in kindergarten.”
“You know it! I heard that Nick Carter got his in his hotel room while they were on tour.”
“Yeah! Now that’s funny! Good entertainment right there. I saw pictures and the video tape of that! He looked so stupid! But then again, he always looks stupid, so I guess he looked normal, for him.”
“I’m not going to argue with you on that one!"