Another day of traveling, five young men sat around on a tourbus filled with electronic equipment and laughter-- four out of five anyway. One sat quietly by a window, staring at the sites that passes him by, laughing at an occasional joke, but mainly lost in his own thoughts. He even failed to notice when one of his red-haired bandmates and best friends sat in front of him, waving a hand in front of his face.
"Earth to Curly...earth to curly!"
The curly haired teen slipped out of his mode of semi-conciseness and frowned at him.
"Houston, we have a problem" he said nervously quailing under the stare the young man in front of him was giving.
"Sorry Joey, I've just got a lot on my mind right now" He sighed.
Joey studied him for a momment. He knew exactly what was eating his friend."It's OK. Do you wanna talk about it?" he empathized. The other guy paused. "Not really-I'd like to forget she ever existed" the younger man said flatly.
"You probably just need a little venting time Justin" Joey suggested hopefully. He hated to see one of his best friends in such depression.
"Maybe" Justin responded half-heartedly sinking in his seat. His tall stature now slumped over and vulnerable looking.
"Justin" Joey started gently "You can't forget that Ari--"Joey stopped dead in his sentence and mentally cursed himself for bring up 'her' name, and judging by the glare he was getting from Justin he had done the right thing but cutting himself short.
Joey nervously cleared his throat. "-I'm sorry ...I didn't mean to say that..."he appologized helplessly.
"Forget it." Justin said stonily. As he slapped his friend on the back. "You tried-thanks, it means a lot to me" He attempted to smile, but it came out more as a grimace.
Joey watched as Justin disappeared into the bathroom, shutting the door behind him.
"What was that all about?" Asked a blond haired guy a couple years older than Justin. "His ex" Joey muttered. The other nodded in a silent understandment.
"I gotta pee man!" a brunette in front of a playstation blurted.
"Do we really need to know that?"
"No-but I wish Justin did. I gotta goooo" he whined.
The other three guys in the room rolled their eyes . "So what's up with him and his ex? He's not over her yet?"
"No Chris, he's not. And it's perfectly understandable after what she did I mean-I wouldn't be over it" Joey said .
"Yup, I feel for him." Piped up a dark haired man in the corner of the bus. They all nodded in agreement. Feeling the need to get off the depressing subject of their best friend's love life Chris directed his attention toward the dark haired man in the corner, who was casually reading the paper while sipping from a coffee mug.
"Hey JC!" he looked up "Where exactly are we playing at next?"
Jc shook his head. "I couldn't tell ya. Ask lance."
The blond, upon hearing his name looked up confused from his laptop. "What about me?" "Do you know where we are going to play next? I mean where are we headed?" Jc asked.
"D.C" Lance answered promptly, returning his attention to his laptop and he started typing again but then stopped when he realized what was wrong. He, Jc and Joey, looked an each other uneasily. "That explains a lot" he muttered.
Justin locked the door behind him and walked over to a cabinet mirror. He couldn't figure out for the life of him why this particular trip was so grim for him, until he remembered that they were on their way to Washington DC. The last time they had been there, he had met Ariella. The girl who single handily ripped his heart in two and shredded it. He shook her out of his thoughts, it had been a while, but it was still painful none the less.
He looked into the mirror, and saw his reflection, his face. One that used to be his own, but now owned by record company execs, fan magazines and the intruding public. This face was no longer his own. He didn't own his sapphire colored eyes, or his curly golden brown hair. Up until now, he had only owned his spirit. The business had stripped him of everything but that or so he thought, until the one he cared for most took that away too. That was the price to pay for fame. No matter how famous he was, he felt nameless,and cheap, like his identity was stolen. His friends looked at him and saw "The Tenn-man" Some saw "curly". His fans saw "THE Justin Timberlake" His family saw "Justin". But he looked at his reflection and saw no one. An empty shell, with good looks fame and a shattered heart.
He'd never experience true love and affection, because there was always a voice in the back of his head reminding him that he could be used, and he could be hurt. Sad as it is to say, he was even convinced that there was no such thing as "love".
He wasn't going through that again because he had learned the hard way. Anyone special in his life who he had cared for intimately at this point had deceived him with a façade of true love, when really using him as some kind of show dog. He gave up his heart time and time again, only to have it stomped on, shattered, and then handed back in pieces. He had always survived until this point but this was one time to many.
He loved her, with every bone in his body, and thought she loved him just as much. From the moment he saw her, he knew it wasn't infatuation-this was the real thing. Drawn together like magnets, they complimented one another. He wasn't whole with out her, or so he thought. But he had to learn how to be. Everything he thought she was, she wasn't. She was a liar, a cheater and a heartless bitch in his opinion. But he still couldn't get over the pain he felt, the emptiness; the reason for his new quest of self-discovery. He was going to prove to himself that he could get on with out her. Who are you kidding? You need her.
"I gotta peeee!" Chris whined again, louder this time.
"THEN GO!" yelled the other 3 occupants in the room.
"Fine I'll go I'll go-no need to yell" He said getting up from in front of the playstation allowing Joey to sit down. He walked over to the bathroom door and rapped his knuckles on it several times.
Justin's head popped up at the sound of a knock on the door.
"Damn! We all know you're hot but do you have to take like an hour in the bathroom? Give the mirror a rest-- it's probably tired of looking at you!" Chris yelled through the metal bathroom door of the tourbus.
"Coming!" Justin yelled agitatedly.
"My, my! Am I sensing some annoyance here? May I remind you that YOU are the reason that I can't even take a piss right now?!" Chris yelled equally agitated.
" Give me a minute Chris" he bellowed.
Chris began to pace with anticipation as he REALLY felt the need to go right then. Knowing him, 'one minute' was a half our in Justin time. He plopped down on a big plush couch next to JC and Lance. JC looked up at him and grinned.
"gotta wait?" Chris nodded feverishly as he crossed his legs.
Lance and JC chortled at Chris's fidgety behavior as he uncrossed his legs, tapped his fingers on a nearby table and a few seconds later crossed his legs again "How long have you been waiting?" Lance asked looking up from his laptop after a few seconds of silence.
"Too...damn...long" Chris replied through gritted teeth. The urge was really getting to him now. Joey grinned from his spot on the floor in front of the playstation and began to make low hissing noises that resembled running water.
Chris winced and picked up a magazine while closing his legs yet tighter. Lance and Jc exchanged a humorous, meaningful look. "Hey lance-you want some water?" Jc asked in a would-be 'out of the blue' voice. Lance nodded.
"Yeah that sounds good I'll go get it" He said sneaking a glance at Chris who was now tapping his foot and flipping through the magazine. Chris dropped the magazine on the table and put his hands over his ears as he began to hear the rushing water. Jc and Lance shared identical evil grins and JC nodded. Chris was oblivious to this sense his only concern was his bladder right then.
"Want some Chris?" Lance asked innocently. That was the last straw for him. In the blink of an eye he had stridden across the room and was banging on the door. "GET THE HELL OUT OF THERE--" He was interrupted by the door opening and a defensive looking Justin stepping out. "My bad. Sssssssssssssssssssee ya later" Justin said stressing his 'S' into a hissing sound.
Chris whimpered and ran in and slammed the door, while the rest of the room erupted in laughter.
