Disclaimer: OK here it goes kids, this story contains themes of a sexual nature between men (well it doesn't yet, but that is the whole point!) if this sort of story is illegal where you live, move somewhere else, or don't read it! If you are under 18 you can't be here so go away! (Get someone older to print it out and give it to you, can I encourage this? Probably not!) This story is (quite obviously) about the guys from N*SYNC, but it is just a story and implies nothing about the actual sexuality of any of the members, no matter how much you hope. I am not a member of NSYNC, nor do I know any of them, so I don't pretend to know their sexual orientation
Yes I know! It's very late! I'm sorry, really. I had written the next part but I wasn't really very happy with it. Then I got mail from 2 very excellent people who gave me some new ideas, so I had to re-write the entire thing. I also had Uni exams to study for and pass (hopefully) and work to appear at and make myself look involved in. This issue is thanks mainly to the majorly excellent Dawn (and her friends Greg and Jay) as well as the fantastic (but purely evil) Scotty. I also have to thank the coolest person in my world at the moment, AJ, he recommended my story in the intro to Josh and Just which is just the coolest story in the world, so if you haven't read it yet, leave now and read it! Enough from me, enjoy, love and stuff AKW!
LAST ISSUE:
Justin had forgotten all about the problems he and Josh were having. He and Britney were just lounging around Britney's house laughing and talking when Justin's mobile phone rang...
Chapter 4:
Justin jumped at the unexpected ringing, staring at the phone the caller ID told him it was JC. For some reason he had butterflies in his stomach at the image of the word "JOSH" on the screen of the phone.
"Well are you gonna answer it or just stare at it? Britney laughed
"Um....Oh yeah" he replied "Hello" he spoke apprehensively into the phone.
"Hey Curly" JC responded
"Hey" Justin replied, not wanting to sound too excited after the argument that morning, but failing and smiling in spite of himself.
"Where are you? I just called your place and Paul said you hadn't been back after we left this morning"
"Yeah, I'm at Brit's, I came here after I dropped you at the airport"
"Oh." JC replied, knowing that Justin had gone to Britneys place because of the argument. "Well have you forgiven me yet?" He enquired hopefully
"Not sure yet." Justin replied playfully
"A-huh, I see. It's gonna be like that is it?"
"Maybe" Justin cooed childishly into the phone.
"Would you like me to leave while you blow him kisses and talk dirty?" Britney asked sarcastically
"Josh told you to shut-up and get a life." Laughed Justin
"I did no such...." JC protested into the phone.
"Oh did he now?" Britney replied "Give me that." She said, snatching the phone from Justin. She spoke to JC "Listen to me, just because you're older than both of us, doesn't mean you can push us around, I don't think Justin's mother would approve of you seducing him over the phone either." She said with mock seriousness
"But I didn't..." JC interrupted
"Uh...Shut-up" Britney said forcefully, while smiling at Justin who was laughing hysterically at Britneys mother impersonation. "Now I'm gonna give you back to Justin, but you keep it clean or I'll cut you off." She threatened
"Yes Mum" JC laughed.
"Now are you gonna tell me what was wrong with you this morning or what?" Justin enquired "No can do J' , maybe some other time, but not now." JC responded.
The smile instantly left Justin's face, which Britney noticed. She quickly left the room to give them some privacy.
"Then why did you bother to ring?" Justin asked the older boy
"Because I don't like leaving things unfinished, and I hate arguing with you, I feel bad about it."
"Well, you should too. Friends don't keep secrets so obviously we aren't as close as I thought"
"Just' don't say that." JC said, his voice cracking noticeably
"Well it's true" Justin said, knowing that this would further antagonise him, enjoying the feeling of making him sad but not knowing why.
"It's not!" JC said in a whisper "Anyway can we talk about this when I get back there? I don't wanna fight with you over the phone, I just wanted to make sure we were OK that's all.
"Fine, well now you know we're not." Justin responded curtly, before disconnecting the call.
"What was that all about?" Britney asked with concern, walking back into the room.
"Oh nothing, JC and I had a bit of an argument, that's all." Justin replied
"Hang on, let me get some drinks and you can tell me all about it."
Britney returned with her arms laden with junk food and 2 bottles of Pepsi.
"OK spill it!" she commanded placing the stuff on the coffee table in front of them.
"It's nothing big." Justin argued
"Yeah, sound like it!" she spat sarcastically "You will tell me, Justin Randall Timberlake! You guys have been my friends for ages and if something is going to come between the 3 of us I've got a right to know what it is."
"Well...OK." Justin relented "Josh has been really down for the past few days and when I asked him what was wrong he lied to me and told me it was nothing. Then he told me that it was something, but he wouldn't talk about it with me, and we've been friends like forever and we talk about everything, I tell him everything about me and it's kinda insulting when he says he can't, or won't, tell me, like he cant trust me or something and...."
"Justin you're prattling." Britney interrupted " There is no way that JC doesn't trust you, you're his best mate, it's probably something he'll tell you in time, you're the closest person to him, you two are so close we all thought you were....well you're close anyway." She covered, trailing off.
"WHAT?" Justin yelled in shock.
"Uh-oh, I knew you'd go off!" Britney sighed in exasperation "That's why we didn't say anything."
"Who is 'we'?" Justin asked innocently.
"Oh, um...well me, Chrissy, Sarah, even Joe and Lance weren't too sure..."
"Who convinced you otherwise?" He asked, hurt. "Chris did, he told us there was nothing going on."
"So all of you guys have been talking behind our backs' but nobody had the decency to actually ask us, you just wanted to gossip about us. Why? Are we that much of a joke? I expected better of my friends, especially you Brit', you've really disappointed me."
Although Justin hadn't raised his voice she knew he was mad. She'd hardly ever seen him get angry and never had he been mad at her. She could feel a lump in her throat because she knew they had done the wrong thing.
"Why would you think that?" Justin asked sadly.
"What?" Britney asked, snapping out of her self-pitying daze just long enough to hear Justin ask
"Well if you're going to partner us off, you could at least tell me why you thought it!"
"Um....well" Britney began uncomfortably "You 2 are always together, apparently you sleep in the same room on tour, so Lance and Joe tell me anyway, and you always act like a married couple. Look Justin I'm sorry if we offended you, it was just a harmless conversation, it didn't mean anything.
"If it was so harmless then why weren't we told about it?" Justin whispered.
"Well we didn't think it was such a big deal, please don't be angry." Britney pleaded.
"Too late, I'm already angry Brit', and hurt, I thought you were my friend but a friend wouldn't talk about me behind my back, I have to go now." He said, walking out the door and leaving Britney on the verge of tears.
Justin drove aimlessly, lost in his own thoughts. He needed someone to talk to, but it couldn't be any of his friends. He was mad at all of them, except Erin who was busy with Uni and Justin didn't want to bother her. He wished he'd been nicer to JC on the phone, he really needed someone to talk to, but after he had growled at Josh he would probably hang up on him if he called. He pulled his car up outside a school, being early evening the school was empty so he wandered into the playground and swung himself on a swing, deep in thought. Suddenly an idea hit him "Heather" he called out aloud. He snatched his mobile phone from his pocket and dialed Heathers' number, even though she was JC's sister they were good friends and she would listen to him.
"Hello?" A cheery female voice answered after a few rings.
"Hey Heather." Was all Justin had to say to make Heather scream with excitement.
"Hey Justin, how are you?" she oozed
"I'm good thanks beautiful, how are you?
"Excellent, better now I've heard from you, I thought you'd forgotten me."
"Never could, you know that." Justin said happily
"You're too cute, whats up?"
Justin explained the story to Heather and she listened intently, never interrupting him. Once Justin had finished she replied simply "He's pathetic!"
"What? Why do you say that? Justin asked. Heather loved her brother and they got along well, so it alarmed Justin to hear her say this.
"Oh no, not seriously, it's just that I know what's upsetting him, we had a chat last night and we both agreed he should tell you, which he was going to do today, but obviously he wimped-out at the last minute."
"Well don't keep it a secret, I've had enough of secrets, tell me what it is." Justin said, but he wasn't sure that he wanted to hear what Heather knew.
"Well it's something he should really tell you, I can't go behind his back and..."
"HEATHER!" Justin pleaded "Please help me out here."
"I...well....It's not my place, but considering he was going to tell you anyway, it can't hurt, but you can't tell Joshua I told you."
"OK, OK, Just tell me, I'm having conniptions."
"You have to promise!" she warned
"Holy snapping duck-shit Heather, just tell me."
"OK, Josh is gay!" she blurted out.
"Fuck!"
Heather had known Justin for years and he never swore, so when he did it had a dramatic impact on the conversation.
"You're angry aren't you?" she queried cautiously
"No, just stupid and self-absorbed."
"What do you mean?"
"It's me isn't it? Making him depressed I mean?"
"Yeah, it is." She admitted.
"Oh Jesus I'm dense!" he chastised "Thanks Heather, you've been a big help." He said into the phone.
"No problem, now you're sworn to secrecy OK?"
"No problem." He replied absently "Bye Heather."
"Bye Justin, and try not to beat yourself up over it, he should have told you, you can't read his mind." With that she hung up. Justin tiredly climbed back into his car and drove home. He put on his best face during dinner but Lynn could see that something was upsetting him. She knew he wouldn't want to talk to her so she waited until Erin go home from a late Uni lecture and asked her to go and speak to him. Justin trusted Erin and opened up and told her everything. At the end of the conversation Erin asked him;
"So how do you feel about this?"
"I'm not sure Erin, I mean I want to be there for him and I want him to know that he can talk to me, I mean he obviously thinks I'll dump on him, otherwise he'd have told me by now...but."
"But what?"
"But until today I'd never really thought about a relationship with Josh, now I'm starting to like the idea. I mean we have a pretty close relationship now anyway and I think I'd like to make it a real relationship but I don't know, it seems so wrong." He replied, staring at the floor.
Erin placed her palm under his chin and lifted his head until they were staring into each other's eyes. "It's never wrong to have feelings for someone, you can't help it and you shouldn't want to either, it's natural. Perhaps you should tell JC though."
"Do you think?" Justin asked hopefully
"Why not? But think about it first, you have a few days before he gets back so you can think about what you actually want and then tell him when he gets here."
"Good idea, You're the best!" he replied, bringing her into a bear hug. "Thanks Erin."
"No worries Justin, Now you should get to bed, you've had a big day and you've got a lot to think about.
Justin went to bed but he couldn't sleep. He lay awake all night thinking about JC and about how cool it would be to have him as a partner, he was in love. At about 5am he realised he was going to get no sleep until he spoke to JC. So he snuck into Erin's room and woke her up.
"Sorry Erin but I need to talk to you."
"Yeah OK, right after I wake up in about 4 hours!" She replied sarcastically.
"Well waking up cranky must run in the family" he laughed "But I have to talk to you, I've decided how I feel about Josh and I can't wait 2 days to tell him so I'm gonna fly to his parents place and tell him today."
"That's great Honey, good luck." She replied genuinely, now awake.
"There was something else." He said sheepishly
"What is it?"
"I'm kinda scared I guess, Come with me?" he asked
"Yeah no prob, but what is there to be scared of?"
"I don't know, he might not want me anymore, maybe it's a joke, maybe I'll get there and wimp out...." He babbled
"Give me an hour." She interrupted
An hour later they were making there way to airport, where they flew to JC's parents place. Justin rang Heather from the airport and she drove out to pick them up.
"What are you guys doing here?" Heather asked excitedly hugging them both hello.
"I've come to see Joshy." Justin said suggestively
"Oh" Heather raised her eyebrows.
"It's OK it's good news." Erin said, climbing the back seat of Heathers car.
"About time!" Heather stated, starting the car and pulling out of the airport.
"You're telling me!" Erin laughed.
"What? How did...?" Justin asked, confused.
"Sweetie, I've been hoping for ages that you two would get together, actually not hoping, expecting." Heather answered
"Yeah, you're cute together." Erin affirmed
"How would you know?" Justin asked
"Female intuition." Heather offered.
"Yeah OK then." Justin responded absently, staring out of the window happily.
"Joshua is staying at Aunt Kate's' house 'cause she's in Germany for 2 months and we thought he could use some space." Heather explained "So I'll drive to our place now and you two can take my car from there and go and see him."
They followed Heathers directions and arrived at Aunt Kate's house within a few minutes. Erin stayed outside while Justin went to the door. He knocked and after a few seconds he heard the door unlocking, smiling expectantly he waited. But when the door opened there stood a blonde guy, about 6 feet tall. He was athletic and about the same age as JC, dressed in only a pair of track pants. "Oh sorry, I must have the wrong house, I was looking for Josh." Justin told the guy
"Naw dude, you've got the right house." The guy replied, yawning "He's still sleeping though, we didn't get to sleep until late if you know what I mean." The guy said smirking.
"Who are you?" Justin asked, a lump forming in the back of his throat.
"I'm Scott, you're Justin right?"
"Yeah" Justin responded curtly "Just let him know I dropped by when he gets up will you?" he continued rudely before turning and walking away.
"So what happened?" Erin asked when he returned to the car.
"Nothing, he's an asshole."
"What?"
"Seems he got over me fairly quickly and moved onto another guy." He replied
"Oh."
"And he's really cute too." Justin said bursting into tears.
"Oh come on honey, don't cry."
Justin couldn't help it, he felt stupid and humiliated. He started the car and took off fast, he drove recklessly, scaring Erin and ranting the entire time.
"How could I have been so stupid? I should have known I couldn't trust him..."
"Hey Justin, pull over Sweetie, I'll drive." Erin begged
Justin kept driving, ignoring a stop sign, he sped through an intersection and ploughed headlong into the side of a school bus...
So what did you think?? I hope you like it. I've had soooooooo much mail from everyone and I want you to keep it all coming, I finish my last exam next week so I'll have more time to write back to people. Write me and tell me if you like this chapter and tell me what should happen in the next one. Love and Stuff AKW