"Come on babe." the sexy voice from the bedroom beckoned.

"Gimme a minute, I just need to take care of something."

"Hurry up…We're getting lonely," she purred.

Justin looked over towards the bedroom and could see the two women, clad in their bras and panties, giving him their best come hither looks, asking him to join them in bed. He didn't need much more encouragement than that. He quickly took the brace off his knee and popped two pain killers and washed them down with what was left of his beer.

He got to the bedroom door and had to stop when he saw them sprawled out seductively across his king size bed. He had met them a few hours earlier at a night club launch party the team had been invited to. He barely had to chance to catch their names before the two women started discussing a ménage à trois. Shit, if you were to ask him their names now, he wouldn't be able to tell you. He didn't care. Justin was just thankful for the distraction.

He inched his way into the room, pulling his t-shirt over his head and tossing it on a nearby chair as he watched them. They were teasing one another - Running their fingertips up and down the lengths of each others' stomachs. Justin reached the end of the bed and placed his hands on the smalls of their backs and brought his face in closer to theirs, taking in their fragrance. Giving them both a cocky grin, he softly whispered, “Kiss” and found a spot on the bed between them.

Justin grabbed a pillow and propped up his head as he watched the two blondes let their tongue's dance together, moaning in pleasure. He took in the sight that lay in front of him, a beauty on each side of him, playing with each other’s breasts through their bra’s. He let his hand run up their thighs and continued to watch the two women seduce one another. Justin's eyes fluttered shut when he felt their tongues on each side of his neck.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Green eyes penetrated his skin, sending shivers up his spine. He held out his hand, trying to reach for her, needing to touch her. An ache filled him -- a longing that couldn't be described in a single word and a thousand words still wouldn't be enough.

"I need you," he whispered, holding out his hand to her once again.

She reached out and as their fingertips touched an electric-like current shot through his body. Their fingers entwined and he pulled her to him, wrapping his arm around her waist and burying his face in her curly brown hair.

"I've waited so long for this," he whispered into her hair.

She turned her head and smiled as her fingertips touched his cheek before sliding her hand to the back of his head and pulling his lips down to hers. The kiss was one of fire and passion, lips mashing against lips as tongues danced and fought. Her body melted against his soft, warm skin...a promise of pleasures yet to come. His lips touched her neck as his hand moved up her hip, stroking softly upward until his thumb touched her...

"....sunshine with 70 percent chance of showers later in the day, so remember to grab that umbrella before heading out to work today. We'll be back after this message with the 6 o'clock news..."

He struck out at the alarm clock, knocking it off the nightstand and closed his eyes, hoping that if he fell back to sleep she would return.

After trying desperately for ten minutes, he gave up in defeat and slowly lifted his body up out of bed. He looked around and noticed the room was empty. The two blondes from the night before were nowhere in sight and he would later discover that all the cash he had in his wallet had disappeared with them.

Justin looked down and noticed he was still wearing his boxers. His pain medication having kicked in faster than he’d hoped. He rose up slowly from the bed and stretched out his back before making his way to the dresser to throw on a pair of basketball shorts. He yawned loudly, walking into the kitchen. He opened the fridge and saw that it was almost bare. He turned around and made his way to the cabinets in search of coffee. He couldn't survive a morning without it. He slammed the cabinet door shut when all he could find was decaf. "Fuck!" he cursed.

"Well good morning to you too, Sunshine!" a voice called from the hallway.

Justin looked over and could see his assistant, Richard, walking in the door. Richard set down a Starbuck's cup on the kitchen counter and continued to the living.

"You know me too well." Justin sighed as he lifted the cup to his lips and took a sip.

Richard never stopped to respond. He was too busy looking through his blackberry, spouting off Justin's schedule. "You've got a photo shoot lined up at two today with Nike for the new shoe line ad, and then you have that dinner meeting tonight with the folks from ESPN. And of course you have a doctor's appointment and physical therapy this morning at eleven, but that’s nothing new."

Justin slowly dragged himself into the living room, finding a spot on the opposite couch, half listening to Richard. He continued to sip his coffee, looking out the window. "…You didn't even go through your mail, J?"

Justin looked down at the large pile of mail and shook his head, before turning his gaze back out the window. Richard grabbed up the pile and sorted through it briefly. "It's mostly medical bills. I'll take these over to the accountant on my way downtown so he can take care of them for you."

"Thanks." Justin mumbled.

Richard stopped his search of the mail and landed upon an envelope the size of a greeting card. He handed it to Justin. "Looks like it could be a get well soon card. It says it’s from Boone High School?"

Justin's eyes widened and he immediately sat up and took the envelope from Richard’s hand. He opened it up and pulled out the heavy stock paper with gold foil accented design and began to read it aloud:

 Dear Alumni,

Can you believe it’s been 10 years? Our Reunion is fast approaching and will be held the weekend of April 10 & 11, 2009.  We’re working really hard to make this a fun and relaxing reunion and we’d like to see as many classmates as possible! Where are you now? Looking at yearbooks and pictures evokes so many memories. Some good…Some bad, but all interesting. As a graduate of the class of 1999, you are someone special.

We are planning the weekend as a “keep it casual” event.  To kick it off we have arranged for an informal get together on Friday afternoon starting at 4:00 p.m. at Somer Recreational Park.

Saturday night the festivities will be at the high school with Happy Hour at 6:30 p.m.  Since most of us practically grew up together our theme is going to be Back In Time…a tribute to the 80's and 90's - so please feel free to dress accordingly.  Please be comfortable!!  We will have wonderful food and beverages, lots of time for reminiscing, getting reacquainted, dancing and some entertainment.

We look forward to seeing you!

The reunion committee

Justin continued to stare down at the paper long after he'd already read it. "Are you going to go?" Richard asked. "It's next week and you're pretty much free since you are on the injured list now."

"Naw, man. I have no intention of going back after all these years." He chuckled lightly.

"It may be good for you. Surprise your folks with a visit?” Richard could see Justin wasn't really listening to him.  He seemed caught up in his own thoughts as he gazed down at the invitation staring back at him.

"I just…I left to get away from that small town. I have no desire to go back," he said softly, trying mostly to convince himself.

"Not even to shove it in certain people's face that you are a millionaire now?"

Richard watched as Justin grabbed the remote off the coffee table and pointed it towards the television, signaling that the conversation was now over. He made his way into the kitchen to take inventory of what needed to be done. He started typing himself a list into his blackberry. He could see Justin rubbing his knee and grabbed up a bottle of water and two pills and walked them over to him. Justin took the bottle and set it down, never opening it.

"You need to take them before the pain gets worse, Justin."

"I'll wait till later. I think I'm suffering from some type of side effects."

"What you do mean?"

“Ever since I got hurt, I’ve been having these dreams. The same dream almost every night.”

"Oh, of that girl again?" Richard asked, leaning against the counter, typing away at his blackberry.

"Yeah."

"Didn't you go to high school with her?"

"Yeah." Justin grew silent for a minute. "…Rich, there was just something about her. She was beautiful, but in a plain sort of way." A smile crept across his face as he continued to reminisce. "She never had to put any effort into it.  She could have just rolled out of bed and came to school and she would have still looked amazing.”

The more he thought about her the more he smiled. “…She didn’t fit into a certain mold. You couldn’t categorize her. I mean the bitch was bad as hell, Rich. Hella smart, cultured, sophisticated, yet nowhere near boushie...Always up for anything. She could hang with the best of them and I loved that about her.”

Richard noticed Justin’s eyes lit up more in those few minutes talking about this girl than they ever had in the 3 years that he'd been working for him. "What was her name?" he asked.

"Cherish…Cherish Cummings."

"Pretty name.” Rich commented.  Justin nodded in agreement. "J, you should go to this reunion. Maybe she'll be there."

"I highly doubt it." he laughed.

"People change. Especially after 10 years, Justin. You should go. Talk to her. Seeing her again may help with those dreams you've been having."

"Seeing her will only make matters worse than they already are..." He muttered, tossing the invitation onto the coffee table.

"Why's that?" Richard could see that sparkle in his eye that had surfaced a few moments earlier was now gone again.

Avoiding the question entirely, Justin rose from the couch and said, "I better get in the shower so we can head out."

"Why didn't anyone tell me that Cherish still lived in town?" Justin asked as he walked into the kitchen, giving his mom a kiss on her cheek.

"Does she?" she kissed him back, hugging him tightly. "Well, ever since you went away to college, I haven't really been back there. It's only fifteen minutes away, but it's a world away now that your da-"

"I get it, mom." He cut her off.

His mother could see the aggravation and worry on his face. "How is he?" she asked turning around for a moment to place a piece of cheese on one of the burgers on the stove.

He folded his hands across the table and took a deep breath. "They're gonna run some tests over the next few days and determine the injury. They said there is some swelling and a pretty bad gash. I'll find out more tomorrow."

His mother nodded her head and went back to cooking his hamburger.

"…I saw her today." He said lowly.

"Saw who, honey?"

"Cherish."

"How's she doing?"

"I don't know. I didn't talk to her."

"Why not? The two of you used to be so close back when you were dating in high school."

Justin watched his mother as she bent down in the fridge to take out the lettuce and tomatoes for the buns. "…To this day, I will never understand why the two of you broke up, Justin. I know you were young and everything, but the two of you seemed so in love."

He hated himself for having to lie to her after all these years. "I just don't want to talk about the past, Ma."

"Yeah. Yeah. You never wanna talk about her, yet that's the first thing you asked me when you walked in that door." She chuckled as she set his plate down in front of him, sliding into the seat next to him. She watched as he ran his hand across his forehead, finally stopping to rub his eyes. "Just let me know when you want to lie down. I need to put some fresh sheets down for you. Did you take your meds yet?"

"Yeah I took em' already." He whined. He took a bite out of his burger and slowly chewed it, looking out the window into the backyard at the dogs chasing each other. "…I think I'm gonna stay at dad's house, Ma. I just want to take some time alone. Clear my head."

"Are you sure?" his mother asked, hurt that he'd rather be alone than spend time with her.

He leaned over and kissed his mom on her cheek, hugging her lightly before saying, "Just a day or two, Ma. Then I'll be back."

"Okay." She smiled, hugging him tighter.

When he was done eating, Justin went into the living room and asked his step-father to drive with him back into the city to return the rental car. He wouldn't need it now that he was in town and had access to his Escalade. When they returned back to the house, his stepfather asked him to help take the trash bins down to the end of the driveway. He stepped into the four car garage and hit the button on the wall to raise one of the doors, when something caught his eye. It was a car on the far end of the garage covered by a tarp. He walked over to the front of the car and lifted up the tarp slightly before raising his hand to his mouth in shock, "Oh shit! Is that my black Ford?"

His stepfather looked over and nodded. "Yeah, you're momma insisted that we not sell it like you wanted."

Justin pulled the tarp off the car and threw it to the side. It was his old 1990 Ford F250 truck with a black matte finish paint job. Walking around it grinning from ear to ear, he said "It looks better than it did ten years ago!"

"Yeah I put some new tires on her, made sure she was up and runnin'." His stepfather walked over to the door leading back into the house and grabbed a pair of keys hanging on the wall and tossed them to Justin. "She still runs good."

Justin opened the door and turned the key in the ignition. "Whooo!" he exclaimed listening to the loud hum of the engine. "And she purrs like a kitten!" Justin turned on the radio and blasted whatever song was playing. "I used to think I was da shit in this car!" he yelled over the music.

His stepfather just smiled and continued out of the garage and down the driveway. Justin quickly jumped out and helped with the rest of the trash before saying goodbye to his mother and heading back to Boone.

When he got back into town, Justin drove down Grande Avenue and decided to stop at Darla's pub for a quick drink before heading to his father's house. He parked the truck out front and made his way inside. The pub looked different than it had when he was growing up. He'd been coming into the pub since he was a little boy. Watching his dad have a drink with his friends while Justin sat on a bar stool next to him sucking down a special vanilla milkshake made by Ms. Darla, the owner. His dad would even slip him a beer every now and again after he turned sixteen.

Justin looked over to the left at the U-shaped bar and spotted a few familiar faces sitting around having drinks and looking up at the large flat screen televisions on the wall as they watched game highlights from the night before. He looked to the right and could see a tiny stage where the pool tables used to be. He saw the usual booths lining the pub and towards the back he spotted a cornered off area with about 3 pool tables and more television screens. The place looked mostly the same with plenty of polished wood like before, yet it was slightly updated to attract a younger crowd. He liked it. Darla must have finally come to her senses after he and a bunch of other guys begged her to get more than one tiny 20 inch TV in the place so they could watch sports. Back when they were younger, they would have to squint their eyes to make out the ant sized players on the screen. He swore that was part of the reason he needed to wear glasses sometimes.

He could hear a voice yelling from the back and looked up to see a brown haired female walking backwards towards him. "I'm not playing this time, Anne Marie. You better be here on time tomorrow or I'm gonna kick your ass!"

"We'll bring da bikini's and jello for you to fight in!" An older man at the bar deadpanned, causing the others at the bar to laugh.

"See! And these dirty old men are my witnesses!" she yelled back.

Not watching where she was going, Cherish turned around towards the door and walked right into Justin's chest. "Oh I'm so sorry. I wasn't-" her voice trailed off when their eyes met.

It was her. Those beautiful green eyes looking up at him and all he could do was smile. "Hey." he stared down at her.

Caught completely off guard by his presence, she couldn't speak. "Uh…." It was like all thoughts and words had completely left her head when she saw him.

"It's me…Justin…Justin? From high-"

"Ahh…whaa..."Still, all words were lost. "Wha...wha…" She shut her eyes tightly and shook her head, trying to wake up from what she knew had to be a dream.

But this was no dream. It was him. He was really standing right in front of her. Why couldn't she speak? She had rehearsed what she was going to say to him in front of her mirror about a million times over the years. She knew the speech by heart. She even practiced air smacks trying to put as much force behind her hand as she could so that it would leave a lasting impression on his face when and if she ever saw him again! And here he was standing right in front of her. Tall, broad shoulders, perfectly chiseled jaw line, blue eyes the color of the ocean. And she couldn't move. She saw him lean down slightly as if he were about to try and hug her. Should she hug him? No! Hell no! What was she thinking? She had to get out of there.

"…Are you listening to me, Cherish!?" Anne Marie yelled to her from the bar. "You need to be back here with the cases of beer before eight."

Cherish simply nodded and took off past Justin out the front door, running across the street and jumping into her red Durango. She could hear feet shuffling behind her and heard him calling after her, but she couldn't stop. She had to retreat, retreat, re-fucking-treat! He had gotten her with the sneak attack and she had to go and regroup her forces so she could come back strong.

Cherish started the car up quickly and sped off down the road and was sure that she left tire marks in the pavement from hauling ass out of there so fast. She drove as far as she could and as fast as she could across town. When she reached the parking lot of her supplier she put the car in park and let her head fall against the steering wheel. She kept asking herself question after question. "What the hell is he doing here? And why are you still a blithering idiot for this man after ten years, Cherish? This guy completely broke your heart! You're an idiot! Get it together…Get it the fuck together!"

Visions of his face kept flashing through her mind. Was he always that damn gorgeous? God, ten years completely did his body good. She needed to stop. She had to stop thinking about him. He was here and there was nothing she could do about it. She immediately thought of his father and figured that had to be his only reason for being in town. She would just have to deal with it until he left.

Cherish reached down into her bag and pulled out her cell phone frantically searching for a number in her contacts. She pressed send and waited. After four rings the voicemail kicked in. "Guess who just popped up into town after disappearing ten fucking years ago!? Call me back when you get this. I need to talk to you."

Cherish threw her phone back into her purse and sat there for a moment trying to gather her thoughts, before getting out and going inside to pick up the eight cases of beer and alcohol that Anne Marie forgotten to order.

When she made her way back into town, a little after 7:30, she rode down Grande Avenue and almost ran off the road when she spotted his black truck sitting out in front of the bar. That same bitch of a black truck she shared so much history with. She must not have noticed it when she bolted out of there earlier. She quickly turned the corner and pulled her truck around the back of the pub and went inside to get Jimmy, one of the other employees, to come and unload everything.

She slowly made her way inside and peeked through the small round window in the kitchen. There he was, sitting at the bar having a beer, pretending to be interested in whatever Mr. Shaw was talking to him about. "…Would you believe your daddy actually made the shot?"

"Yeah he told me." Justin nodded, slightly smiling.

"Hey, Timberlake!" an older man on the far side of the bar called out to him.

"Yes, Mr. Jamison?"

"You owe me $50 for that game you guys ended up losing on account of you showing off and getting hurt, boy!"

"Is that right?" Justin asked, looking up towards the TV, trying to ignore the old man.

"Yeah. I had money riding on you…Had to go and get yourself hurt. I seen you up there talking all that smack to the other team. Serves you ri-"

"Didn't anyone ever teach you any manners, Mr. J?" Cherish interrupted.

Justin looked up and could see her making her way behind the bar with a case of Budweiser in her arms. "You never kick a man when he's down. And stop trying to hustle Number 23 over there. We all know you've never had $50 to bet on anything."

The bar immediately erupted in laughter. Justin lifted his beer up to her in thanks and headed over to a booth to be alone. Even though she'd run away from him earlier and appeared as if she didn't want to have anything to do with him, she still somehow came to his rescue...Just like she always done when they were younger. He was pitiful and she knew it. This was her way of showing him pity in his most pathetic hour.

He thought to himself, "Yep...You're pathetic, JT. And everyone knows it...even her."

He took another long sip of his beer and glanced over at TV screens. He heard the sound of a glass touching the table and looked back and saw her slide a small cocktail glass in front of him, pouring Jack Daniels into it. "How's your dad?"

He looked up at her. She seemed genuinely concerned and even though he could hear the strain in her voice as she asked, he was glad that she actually spoke to him. "They've gotta run some tests to check on the injury…Make sure it hasn't affected the damage that's already been done."

He tried to slow the beating of his heart, but it seemed to always beat a little faster when he was around her. The irony of having Gavin DeGraw's "Not Over You" playing softly in the bar wasn't lost on him either. He watched as Cherish reluctantly slid into the booth across from him, folding her arms across one another and gripping herself tightly as she mustered the strength to speak. "That will probably take a few days."

"Yeah. That's what the doctor was tellin' me." Justin took a sip of his drink, more to give himself some courage, rather than anything else. After a moment he finally looked up at her and asked, "How've you been?"

If you ask me how I'm doing
I would say I'm doing just fine
I would lie and say that you're not on my mind

As much as she wanted to tear into him and unleash the 10 year tornado of emotions that had been brewing insider her, she just couldn't bring herself to do it. "I'm doing great." She smiled. "How's the knee?"

"It's healing. Doctor says slowly but surely. Just waiting to see if I'll be able to play again." He took another sip. His eyes drifted down to her shirt and noticed the writing that said 'Who needs a brain when you have these?'

Justin chuckled to himself and Cherish followed his gaze down to the words and smiled. "You like?"

He nodded, still gazing at her shirt. "Indeed."

"You mean the shirt or something else?" she joked, trying to break up the awkwardness.

"You shouldn't even have to ask me that after all these years, Cherish."

And just like that, there he was. That same flirtatious charmer from years ago, who, within minutes could warm a million cold hearts with his smile. She was supposed to be angry and seething with hatred for him but the only thing she was right now, was turned on. "How many drinks have you had since I've been gone?"

"More than a little, and less than enough." He joked. "Hey where's Ms. Darla? She'd never ask me such a foolish question. I could have alcohol poisoning and she'd just ask if I wanted another. I need to forge a complaint with managment."

"Well if you go down to the church on Main Street, you can find her there 24/7.  She died about 4 years ago."

Justin's brows furrowed. "She did?" No one ever told him that she'd passed away. But then again, he never took the time out to keep in contact with most people from town anyway.

"Yeah. She had cancer." Cherish sadly muttered.

"So who owns it now? I know she didn't have any kids or anything."

"You're looking at the owner."

Justin almost fell out of his seat laughing. "You? Get the fuck outta here. I'd never imagine you owning a bar, Cherish. You were such the brain in high school."

"Well, 23…Not all of us can step over the people we care about to get ahead in life. Some of us actually had responsibilities and had to suck it up and deal." She responded harshly.

His laughter quickly faded to silence and he knew he had overstepped his boundary. He went to reach his hand out to touch hers, but she quickly pulled her hands back and tried to act like she was fixing her hair behind her ears. "I didn't mean to offend you, C."

She shook her head and dryly said, "You didn't…I mean some of us common folk round 'dese here parts actually have consciences and just can't up and leave the people we care about behind…"

He was again stunned into silence. He deserved that, but wanted to explain. Just as he was about to speak he heard a group of men walk in the door yelling and laughing. "Where's my girl at?" one of them called out.

Justin looked back towards the door and recognized a few faces. He turned back around to speak, but was cut off by Cherish standing up. "I'm comin', Bobby."

She rounded the booth past Justin and stopped. She looked back over at him…He was now sitting there with his head held down once again. She reached out and awkwardly patted his shoulder, "I really do hope everything ends up okay with your dad."

He reached up and patted his hand over top of hers and said thank you. It took everything in her to remove her hand and finally walk away. Justin watched her as she made her way over to Bobby, who proceeded to pick her up off the ground and hugged her tightly to his body.

"Why do you smell like you've already been drinking, Bobby?" she asked, grabbing his face to force him to look her in the eyes.

"Me and the guys got out from work a little early and hit the bar on our way outta the city. We only had a couple drinks...Come here." He moved her hair away from her face and leaned his head up towards her and kissed her gently on the lips.

Justin quickly averted his eyes. That was just too much for him to have to digest in one day…His arch rival and his ex-girlfriend...together. He focused his attention back to the TV until he heard his name being yelled from across the bar. "Timberlake's here? Where's he at? Timm-baa-laake! What upm kid!?"

"Grr-eeee-nnne!" Justin mocked.

"No you don't." Cherish said as she grabbed Bobby's arm and dragged him towards the door. "We're leaving."

Anne Marie walked over and refilled Justin's glass with more Jack Daniel's. Cherish looked over at her mouthing and signaling for Anne Marie not to let Justin drink too much before calling over to him as she was leaving, "It was good seeing you, Number 23!"

He simply raised his glass over his head, never looking her way. He grabbed his drink and made his way back over to the bar, taking out two crisp hundred dollar bills and placing them on the counter. "Drinks are on me tonight, Gentlemen!" The entire bar erupted in cheers and two men standing on both sides of him started patting him on his back. "Anne Marie, let me get another…And make it a double!"

- September 1995

"It's the beginning of an era, JT!" Trace exclaimed as they walked down the hallway. "This high school won't know what hit em' when we're done."

"Trace, please. We're just freshman, dude."

Justin looked down at his paper and up at the numbers written on the lockers in the hallway, before he stopped and turned to the one matching his sheet. Trace leaned back against the wall and continued to rattle on. "Yeah, but you already got a varsity spot on the basketball team in the bag. We've excelled beyond just freshman status, my dude!"

"What's with all this we stuff?" Justin laughed looking over at his friend and then back down at the combination to his new locker.

"You know the best friend gets all the perks."

As Justin was putting his jacket into his locker, he heard laughter coming from down the hallway. He turned his gaze and spotted a girl walking towards him with a small group of girls he knew from childhood. Her curly brown hair reached half-way down her back almost to her ass. And what an ass it was, he thought to himself as he glanced down at it when she turned. She had on a pair of shorts that seemed to hug her right where it counted the most.

When she laughed, it seemed as though she were laughing with her entire soul as it came deep from within in chest. He watched her struggle with the combination to the locker in front of her at the end of the hall. After three tries she finally got it to open and smiled to herself with satisfaction. It must have been contagious, because and all Justin could do was smile as he watched her.

She had to be new in town. He'd never seen her before. She stood out from the rest. It wasn't because he had grown up with most of the girls in town and knew them all pretty well, but rather the fact that this girl had an air about her that made you stop and notice. She wasn't just a face in the hall. She was different. And when you grow up in a small town, you tend to obsess about all things different.

"Trace." He nudged his friend with his elbow. "Who's that girl down there with Kate, Caroline, and Jennifer?"

Trace looked up from his class schedule and down the hallway. "Oh, that's the chick from New York. Her daddy's some big time surgeon who grew up here. They moved back over the summer while you were away at basketball camp."

Traced watched his friend continue to stare down the hallway. He put his hand around Justin's shoulder, pulling him into the opposite direction. "She's outta your league, dude. I heard she is a straight up, advanced physics, calculus lovin', book readin' geek."

"She doesn't look like a geek." he said as he turned his head back to catch another glimpse.

Trace laughed. "I think geeks from the city looked different than the geeks from the country."

The bell rang over the loud speaker and both friends separated to go to homeroom. Afterwards, Justin set out to his English class. He found a seat near the back and slouched down in his desk. He was already bored to tears and the class hadn't even started. The guy sitting next to him had on a pair of headphones but he could hear the Human League's "Don't You Want Me" blaring. Justin rested his head down on top of his books waiting for the class to begin when he heard Caroline's big mouth yell to the front of the classroom. "Over here, Cee Cee!"

He looked up and saw the girl from the hallway standing at the front of the room. She seemed nervous as she made her way past a couple people who were unmistakably staring at her and whispering to each other. Justin's eyes lit up when he noticed the empty chair between him and Caroline. He quickly sat up and pretended to open his book as if he were interested in the subject matter. He frowned slightly when she sat down and immediately started to talk to Caroline. She didn't seem to notice him at all when she sat down. She never even glanced his way. That's not something girls did to him.

Don't you want me, baby
Don't you want me, oh
Don't you want me, baby
Don't you want me, oh

Justin sat and watched her through the corner of his eye. Listening to her talk. She was definitely a city girl. There were no ya'lls or ain't's uttered once from her lips. He noticed that the more her body shifted in her seat the more her purple pen with the bouncing fury end kept sliding towards the end of the desk. It began to teeter at the edge when she finally noticed it. She went to grab it, but it was too late. It had already started its decent to the floor when Justin reached out his arm and grabbed it.

"Nice catch." She smiled.

He grinned as he handed her the pen.

"Thanks. I'm Cherish. Cherish Cummings."

"Justin Timberlake."

He noticed her face light up in recognition. "Ah. The big basketball star I keep hearing about."

With an eyebrow raised he asked, "What else have you heard about me?"

"Things a lady should never repeat." she blushed.

"Awww. You should tell me. I need to try to convince you that I'm a nice guy."

"Well my pen is a good start." She smiled, placing it down in front of her before resting her elbows onto the desk and her chin in her palm. "I guess I'll just have to wait and see how true all those stories really are."

"...Alright class! Settle down-"

Don't you want me, baby
Don't you want me, oh
Don't you want me, baby
Don't you want me, oh

"Justin?" a voice seemed to call him from far away behind the music that was playing.

He slightly opened his eyes, but his vision was too blurred to make out the face.

"Justin, wake up please! Cherish is gonna kill me!"

"Hey! Anne Marie! Where's my beer I asked furr?" he slurred.

"You drank it…Along with everything else you could get your hands on." Anne Marie grabbed his arm and tried to stand him up. "Come on. It's almost closing time. We need to get you up and moving around so you can get home."

"I got my car rrriiigght outside." Justin grabbed his keys out of his pocket and pointed towards the door, accidentally dropping them to the floor.

The petite, short haired brunette grabbed the keys. "Oh no, no, no. I'm not tryna get fired tonight for lettin you drive drunk."

A few blocks away at Bobby's house, Cherish was lying naked on his bed trying to defend herself from his verbal attack. She and Bobby had been arguing about Justin's arrival back to town from the minute they left the pub. Bobby was also visibly drunk and slurring every other word. "…Is that the reason you don't want to have sex with me? Cause Mr. Big Time's home? That's it! Ain't it? He's home and he's got your panties all in a wad for him."

Cherish rolled her eyes and banged her fist into the mattress and yelled, "Stop being a dumbass." She pushed herself up on her elbows to look at him. "Bobby, I'm laying here…Naked, wet and ready and you can't get it up!"

Usually when Bobby got high and drunk with his friends, she wouldn't even bother going home with him. She knew it would only be a matter of time before he passed out. But tonight, tonight she needed Bobby. She needed him to be the caring and overly affectionate boyfriend type so she could escape out of the bar. So she could get as far away from Justin as she could. She wanted Bobby to literally fuck her senseless tonight. She didn't want to think. She just needed a release.

Bobby walked over to the bed and crawled up between her legs leaving a trail of kisses up her abdomen, "I can get it up, baby. Just give me a minute." He let his tongue glide across her neck. "Maybe if you play with it some more."

Cherish pushed him off her body, "I've been playing with it for the past half hour. You know how you get when you smoke and drink."

"I'm sorry, baby. Lay back." he insisted, pushing her chest down lightly. "Let me please you with my tongue."

"Come on. Let me please you," he repeated, slowly moving his mouth down and applying kisses to the sides of her breast. Slowly he caressed her hard nipples with his mouth, tugging with his teeth.

"Let me please you…" he whispered again, continuing to kiss down her stomach, rolling slow circles with his tongue around her belly button.

That was it. That was better. Her mind started to drift off, feeling the slight pull in her stomach as his tongue danced across her skin. She was aching with anticipation as he moved his mouth lower, and down to the soft fleshy area lining the inside of her thighs.

He opened his mouth deep and sucked in large circles. Cherish's legs spread wider, luxuriating in the sensation of his mouth against her, the gentle scraping of the stubble on his face against the tender flesh of her thighs. Her hands moved down and roamed through his dark brown hair, guiding him, as the volume and frequency of her moans increased.

Her eyes fluttered shut and thoughts of him started flowing through her mind like a raging river. His smile as he looked down at her at the bar, the hardness of his body when she bumped into him, the way he seemed so vulnerable, the slightest hint of lust in his eyes as he stared down at the words on her shirt…God, she'd missed him. No, no, no! She didn't want these thoughts. Not right now! Not when she had Bobby's tongue so close to where she desperately needed it. She went home with him to push those thoughts away, not get lost in them!

Bobby teasingly moved up her thigh and back across her belly button in a high wide arc, until he was repeating his passionate tasting of her other leg.

"Please…" she moaned. "I can't take anymore."

She couldn't take anymore. Cherish couldn't handle the thoughts that were rushing through her mind. She wanted Bobby to make them go away and make the pain that was re-surfacing, disappear…Even if it was only for a little while.

Bobby worked his way across her stomach, stopping at the midpoint of her belly button. Her stomach trembled as he began a gradual descent, his mouth grazing back and forth the across her ripe and wanting pussy. Cherish arched her hips, pressing herself towards Bobby's mouth.

"Please…yes," she gasped in broken words.

She could feel Bobby's tongue begin move lazily across her clit. She grabbed his head and tried to steer him into the direction in which she wanted him to go, but it was no use. She was loosing him. He was on his way to passing out and she'd had all she could take for one night.

Cherish lay on her back, her hand now resting against her forehead as if she had a fever, trying desperately to calm herself down. "Shit, Bobby! Forget it. You're just being sloppy with it." She brought her leg up slightly and pushed his shoulder with the sole of her foot so he would move. "I'm done."

Cherish got up and quickly started to get dressed, not even taking the time zip and button her jeans because she was so frustrated. She was pissed at him for going and ruining her one chance to get off and clear her mind.

"Where are you going?" Bobby asked crawling over towards his jeans. "I'll drive you back"

"Don't bother." she slammed the door behind her and stomped off down the road.

Cherish felt somewhat guilty, because Bobby was half right earlier when they argued. She did feel uncomfortable being with him knowing Justin was in town. She walked through the neighborhood making her way back to the bar. It was exactly what she didn't need, because all she could think about was him, and how they used to walk hand in hand down this same street, how they got caught in the rain one afternoon and kissed underneath Mr. Sawyers oak tree, or how he carried her all the way home on his back one afternoon after she twisted her ankle.

When she rounded the corner towards the bar she noticed Anne Marie trying her hardest to get Justin up off the curb. She looked up towards the heavens and chuckled, "Really? Are you getting me back for all those times I didn't go to church? You have a sick sense of humor tonight."

She slowly made her way over to the front of the bar and could see that Justin was tanked. "What the fuck, Anne Marie?" she scolded.

"Uh oh…You in trouuubblle…" Justin teased.

Anne Marie looked over and could see the fire blazing behind Cherish's eyes as she made her way closer to them. She immediately leaned down, grasping his hands one more time and sent up a silent prayer before successfully pulling Justin to his feet. "Cherish, I tried to stop him but he started buyin' everybody drinks and the next thing I knew he was passed out at the table."

"How was you gonna stop me from drankin'? I'm a grown ass man!" Justin laughed and threw his arm around Anne Marie's shoulder. "We just met, so you may not know that I'm a bit of a jackass."

"You don't seem like one." Anne Marie patted his back gently on the back. "Especially after the hundred dollar tip you gave me."

He looked over at towards Cherish. "You see that girl over there?" Justin asked leaning into her and pointing at Cherish grinning. "That there is my ex-girlfriend. The love of my life, who I fuckin' left pre-"

"Stop, JT…" Cherish warned, not wanting him to say another word.

She shifted uncomfortably as they both looked at her. She didn't want to think about it and she sure as hell didn't want to hear about it. She walked over and wrapped her arm around his back and Justin in turn wrapped his around her shoulder and leaned in to sniff her hair.

"Go ahead home, Anne Marie. I'll take care of it." Cherish could see Anne Marie was visible scared and upset. "It's okay...Really. Go get some sleep. I'm gonna need you here earlier tomorrow though."

Anne Marie nodded and headed off towards her car, offering one last time to help, but Cherish insisted again that she head home.

"Come on, 23. Let's get you home."

They slowly made their way to her car. "Drop me at my dad's. That's where I'm staying." He slurred, pointing in the complete opposite direction.

She helped him into the backseat and started off down the road towards Eighth. When they reached his dad's house, she struggled to get him out of the car and up the walkway to the front porch. He was busy slurring the lyrics to Michael Jackson's "She's outta my life."

"I don't know whether to live or die...And it cuts like a knife..."

She opened the screen and leaned him up against the large oak door and started reaching into his jean to find the keys the house.

"Damn, Cherish. You want it that bad…All you gotta do is ask." he smirked fiddling with the buckle on his jeans.

Cherish smacked his hands away, still searching his pockets. "I'm looking for your keys, you moron. Where are they?" she asked as she felt around in his jacket pockets.

"You're friend took em'…Bitch didn't give me my beer eitha!"

Cherish let her head fall back in frustration and was just about to scream when she remembered where there was a spare key. Back in high school, Justin didn't stay with his dad full-time and when he'd visit on weekends he'd always forget his key, prompting his dad to hide a spare. She steadied Justin up against the door and quickly ran down the steps and over to the bird feeder in front of the porch and reached under the bowl and grabbed the spare key.

"Awww…Baby, you remembered?"

"If I didn't believe in karma, I'd surely leave your stupid ass right here."

She opened the door and slowly walked him into the house. She'd noticed earlier that Justin had a slight limp on the way to the car and it seemed to only have gotten worse since they got to the house. She asked about his knee and he eventually stopped trying to be macho and broke down and told her that it felt like someone was pressing a million needles into it. She knew if he had to sleep on the couch, it may only aggravate his injury. "Can you make it up the steps?" she asked.

He nodded. They made their way to the staircase and Justin wobbled, falling forward into her, hands going to the wall on either side of her head. His body was slightly pressed against hers and the smell of whiskey and cologne invaded her senses. "She's out of my life...Damned indecision and cursed pride…" he sang softly.

Cherish pushed on his chest trying to distance herself from him. She struggled to get him up the stairs and over to his room. When she opened the door, and turned on the light, she immediately stopped. It looked exactly the same way it did ten years ago. Same posters on the wall of Michael Jordan, basketball trophies placed on the shelves in his bookcase, pictures scattered across his mirror.

She walked Justin over and sat him down on the bed and helped him out of his jacket. His body collapsed to the side, his head falling into the pillow. She stood up and grabbed his shoe and started her struggle to get them off when her cell phone rang.

"Tell them I'm not up for any interviews" Justin said into the pillow. "No comment you rat bastards!"

Cherish rolled her eyes as she answered. "Hello?"

"Cherish? I forgot to give you Justin's keys. I'll bring them to you. What's the-."

"Forget it now. I needed them like ten minutes ago. Just bring them to the bar with you tomorrow."

"Cherish, Can you check his jacket pockets for a pack of tic tacs?"

"Are you serious, Ann Marie!? Why the fuck do you wanna know about tic tacs right now? There's only a bottle of medication in his pocket."

There was a long pause on the other end and Cherish was too tired and too frustrated to have to deal with Anne Marie and her bullshit. Anne Marie explained that while she was behind the bar serving drinks, she noticed him pop two white things into his mouth and assumed that they were tic tacs. But shortly afterwards he passed out at the table and she was hoping that they weren't something else. Cherish hung up with Anne Marie and gabbed his jacket searching for the pill bottle. She read the bottle and warning tab that said "Do not consume alcoholic beverages when taking this medication."

She walked over to him. "Hey!" she yelled.

He didn't budge. She reached down and shook his shoulder trying to wake him up. Still nothing. She grabbed his chin in her hands and moved his face around trying to get him to wake up. Nothing. Cherish pushed him onto his back and put her head up to his chest. His heartbeat was slow and she was starting to worry until she heard him inhale deeply. "Mmmm…Peaches…You always smelled like peaches." He started to run his hand across her hair.

Her eyes fluttered shut slightly and she got lost in his touch before finally coming to her senses and moving. "Listen to me! Did you take these at the bar?"

He looked up towards the bottle and nodded. "Yeah my knee was starting to hurt."

"Dammit, JT! These fuckin things say do not take with alcohol...Get up!"

But Justin wouldn't budge. Cherish was beyond herself. She didn't have room for all the emotions she was feeling. She couldn't fit anger, hurt, resentment, lust, fear and anxiety into her system all at once. "You can't do this to me…I can't deal with this shit right now! This is too fucking much!" saying it more to herself than him.

"Just go head home." he waved up from the pillow. "I'll be fine. I'm safe in my bed. I'm good."

"Are you sure?" she asked nervously.

He waved towards her again, never responding. Cherish walked out of the room and into the bathroom down the hall to grab a trash can. She set it down next to the bed and showed Justin where it was in case he needed it. She stood there for a moment, watching him sleep. She spotted a small photo in a tiny frame sitting next to his bed on the nightstand and covered her mouth trying to hide her smile. It was a photo of her and Justin during their junior class trip to Libertyland Amusement Park. The Park had been gone for years...Just like him. She turned and was about to leave when Justin called after her. "Cherish?"

"Yeah?" she turned around and walked closer to him.

Justin leaned up and looked like he was about to say something. Cherish bent down slightly so she could hear him clearly, but instead of speaking, he leaned over and started vomiting. Cherish looked down and could see the mess he had made all over the bottom of her jeans and her shoes. She wanted to cry.

"Fuck, JT! These were my favorite Puma's!"

'How could this night get any worse?,' she thought to herself as she walked awkwardly down the hallway towards the bathroom to get something to clean up with. Once she was done cleaning up the floor and her jeans as best she could, she threw her shoes and socks in the trash. She adjusted the cold rag that she had placed on his head and looked around once more before she headed downstairs to leave. But something wouldn't let her walk out of that front door. Something kept holding her there. It must have been her conscience she thought to herself. She couldn't very well leave him like that. She could call his mother, she told herself. No, she didn't have the number and it wasn't listed. She could make the 15 minute drive and go get her. No, he might choke on his vomit and die while she was gone. At that moment, she hated being the daughter of a doctor. Had he not told her so many horror stories when she was growing up to scare her away from drinking, she wouldn't even think twice about leaving Justin to stew in his own stomach contents. She stomped back up the stairs and back into his room, finding a seat in a swivel desk chair.

When Justin awwoke the next morning he peered around the room and noticed he was home. All he had on was his boxer briefs and white t-shirt. He had a pack of ice wrapped around his knee, which was now mostly melted and dripping on the bed. The blanket and the sheets were missing and he looked over and saw them in a pile on the floor along with his clothes. He brought his hand to his forehead in pain and was about to lay back down when he heard the faintest of noises. He followed the noise and saw Cherish sitting in the chair across from him. Her head back against the chair, her mouth slightly open, with the tiniest snore inching its way out of her nose every few seconds. She had a towel draped over her thigh and a rag hanging from her hand.

In a scratchy voice he called out to her and she immediately sat up "Huh…Wait…Let me get the trash can!" she said loudly, looking around trying to get her bearings.

She winced at the pain surging through her back from sitting in the chair all night. She looked over and saw Justin squinting his eyes, trying to shield his face from the sun. "What happened?" he asked.

"You got completely shit faced and decided to take me for the ride."

"Huh?"

Cherish stood up and pointed down at herself. Her shirt and jeans were now covered in remnants of vomit.

"Oh god I am so sorry." He apologized, trying not to laugh at how her face was screwed up in disgust.

"It's not funny, 23. I had to sit here like this all night cause you wouldn't stop puking all over the place."

Justin apologized again and stood up to thank her but she moved away from him quickly, sitting back down in the chair. "Do you have any clothes I can borrow? I can't go another minute like this."

Justin pointed out that his bags were in his truck and Cherish pointed out that his truck was still back at the bar. Justin walked over to his dresser, not thinking there was anything in them, but came across a couple pairs of old sweatpants and t-shirts and handed them to her.

"Thanks."

She walked away into the bathroom and locked the door behind her and started up the water in the shower. She slowly and carefully took off the stained clothing and immediately tossed them in the trash before getting into the shower and letting the water fall down across her face. Tears began to well up in her eyes and she did everything she could not to let them fall. But she couldn't hold back any longer. The events from the night before as well as everything that happened 10 years ago came rushing down upon her like a freight train. Damn him for making her worry. Damn him for coming back into town and stirring up feelings that she had long ago locked away. Damn him for hurting her ten years ago. Damn him, damn him, damn him! She let her body slide down the wall and quietly sobbed as the water rushed down over her head.

Justin went out into the hallway to grab a towel so he could shower in his dad's room. He heard a noise on the other side of the door and pressed his ear to hear. It sounded as though she were crying. He stood outside the bathroom, wanting to knock to see if she was okay, but he didn't. He let his hand run down the door before finally making his way down the hallway into his father's room.

After her shower, Cherish walked out of the bathroom and noticed Justin wasn't in his room. She walked over to the chair and grabbed up her jacket and keys and was about to head towards the stairs when she saw him come around the corner out of his dad's room, pulling his shirt over his head, the muscles on his stomach briefly exposed.

"You're going home barefoot?" he asked looking down at her feet.

"There's no way I'm putting on my shoes, she pointed towards the trashcan.

Justin looked over towards the garbage can and then down in shame. "I think I may have some flip flops in my closet that I left here. Come on while I check."

Cherish reluctantly followed him back into the room and stood by the door watching him rifle through his closet.

"You need to remember to go shopping later." She said. "Your dad's refrigerator is empty."

"Yeah I had a list of things I needed to do after the bar, but as you can see," He handed her a pair of flip flops. " I didn't make it far."

Cherish slid her feet into the oversized flip flops and then adjusted the drawstrings on the sweatpants so that they wouldn't fall down. "I'll make sure I get these back to you after I wash them."

"Keep em'. I've always liked the way my clothes looked on you."

"I'll make sure you get them back." she insisted.

He walked her out and over to her car. "Do I need to get your car detailed?"

"No. Thank God!" She laughed. "Cause if you would have barfed in here, I would've made you buy me a new motherfucking car!"

"Such a filthy mouth on such a beautiful girl."

"Yeah but you always loved that about me." She grinned, not realizing what she'd said till it was too late.

"Always have…Always will." He smiled leaning his arms against her door. "Do you think we could get together later? Have a drink?"

Cherish shot him a look, making him chuckle slightly.

"No alcohol…Just a cup of coffee or something? Maybe catch up?" he asked.

Cherish nervously bit her bottom lip, "I don't know."

She flinched slightly when he reached in and moved her wet hair away from her face. "I really don't want to leave town with you thinking that I've turned into a pill popping drunk, Cherish. Please?"

"I'll think about it," She reached down and turned the key in the ignition. "You want a ride to go and get your car?"

Justin could sense her apprehension when she asked. "I've taken advantage of your pity enough for one day. I'll walk over there later and get it…This way you can give me an answer about that cup of coffee."

He backed up and watched her as she pulled off down the street. Cherish could see him in the rear view mirror, standing there barefoot in the middle of the street in a pair of sweats and his wife beater with his hands on his hips. He had a small smile on his face as if he were looking forward to seeing her later. A small glimmer of hope in his eyes. She couldn't keep herself from smiling. He did that to her. He was the only person who could. He had a knack for making her angry one minute and in love with him the next. But she couldn't still have feelings for him. He'd broken her heart. There was no way she still loved him…Was there?

- October 1996

It was dusk and the sun was swiftly setting on the horizon.  Cherish could no longer see the road or even the path leading into the woods.  It was growing darker by the second and she was growing anxious with every step they took further.  She carefully moved the tree branch from her path as she tried to keep up with her best friend.  "Are you sure we are going the right way, Caroline? We're not even on the path anymore."

"Yeah.  Trace told me it was on the other side of the drop off at the Lake.  We're close.  Trust me."

As they walked further they could hear voices in the distance and Cherish could smell the scent of burning wood.  She was too busy looking down, watching where she was going to notice the flickering of flames ahead of them.  As they came into the clearing, Cherish noticed a bunch of four wheelers parked close together.  "Hey ya'll!"  Caroline shouted.

Cherish looked up and could see the group of ten or so teenagers huddled around a small bonfire in the middle of the clearing.

"Finally!"  Trace yelled out to her.  "You wanna beer?"

Caroline walked over and grabbed the two beers out of Trace's hand and went and handed one to Cherish. She reluctantly took it, wondering to herself how Trace was always able to get alcohol.  Cherish would have rather stayed in and watched movies all night, but her friend insisted that they go meet up with some of the kids from school.  Caroline had a crush on Trace's friend Brian, so anywhere he was going to be, she was surely going to find a way to be there too.

The two girls made their way around to the other side of the fire, greeting everyone as they searched for somewhere to sit. Caroline spotted Brian and made a B-line towards him.  Cherish followed behind her.  She could see Justin sitting near Brian with two girls on his right who hanging on his every word.  She rolled her eyes.  She had heard stories about Justin when she first moved to Boone....The town's golden boy, who was just as great with the ladies as he was on the basketball court.  Bouncing from girl to girl just as often as he dribbled a ball.  She tried not to let the rumors ruin her first impression of him.  Especially after he was so nice to her when they had first met.  But apparently the nicer he was, the more his friends ragged on him about it.

Cherish wasn't used to people sticking their nose up at her.  Back in New York, she never had to worry about people not liking her because she was smart.  She was more worried about not being smart enough to compete with everyone else.  Here in Boone, it seemed like the smarter you were, the less "people" liked you.  "People" mostly being the jocks of the school. She got along fine with everyone else and was pleasantly surprised at how welcoming people were once they actually got a chance to know her.  But with the jocks, it was like they were scared that her intellect was contagious and that it was, god forbid, going to rub off on them or something.  They weren't mean or hateful towards her.  But they weren't outgoing or knocking down her door to get to know her either.

In New York it was all about how much money you had or who your family was.  Her father had been one of the top ranking surgeons at New York Presbyterian Hospital, so she never had a problem making acquaintances.  But friends, true friends...Those were few and far between.  In the city, friendships seemed to be disposable. And if you weren't considered to be a part of the elite, then you were pretty much left alone.

"Hey, Caroline!  There's room over here by us!"  Brian called out to her.

She grabbed Cherish's arm and walked over and sat down on a log with him.  Cherish stood there awkwardly looking around for a different place to sit, but the only other spot left was between Caroline and Justin.  "JT, move over so Cherish can sit down."

Justin looked up at her and scooted down slightly.  He seemed just as annoyed as she did that they had to sit next to each other.  The two of them had bumped heads over the summer.  Cherish, Caroline, and Jennifer were out at the basketball courts with all the rest of the local teens watching the guys play and instead of cheering on Justin's team like everyone else was doing, Cherish ended up cheering on the opposing team instead. She was far from soft spoken, so there was no way anyone on the court or in the stands wouldn't be able to hear her cheers and jeers.  When the opposing team started to gain some points, Justin became frustrated and decided to take it out on Cherish.  He made a smart remark about the fact that she should stick to what she knew best and go home and open a book.  Cherish didn't take too kindly to him trying to be an asshole to her in front of his friends.  She retorted back stating that he needed to learn how real ball was played because what he was doing wasn't anything compared to what she saw on the streets of New York.  He ended up calling her a stuck up rich bitch and they hadn't been on good terms since.

Justin had tried to apologize to her on many occasions, but Cherish wasn't willing to forgive and forget.  The worst thing he could have done was try to make her seem like the rich snobs that she loathed back in New York.  From that day on, anytime that Cherish would see Justin, she was always cordial with him, but that same smile he loved seeing on her face when she greeted him in the past had vanished.  He knew he had been an ass, but he hated the fact that the girl he was trying so hard to impress was cheering on a bunch of losers.  The guys on the team had been encouraging him all summer to start dating some of the older girls from school. Especially a few cheerleaders in particular.  They didn't really spark his interest the way Cherish did.  But since he was on the team, he had to keep up appearances if he planned to stay in the teams good graces.  Trace was the only one who knew how much he secretly liked Cherish.

Justin sat and watched Cherish through the corner of his eye as he sipped his beer and pretended to listen to Debbie Wilson tell him about a costume party that she was planning on having for Halloween.  Cherish's back was slightly turned away from him as she sat talking to Caroline and Brian.  "...Well?"  Debbie asked him.

"Well what?"  Justin asked looking over towards her.

The busty blonde was clearly annoyed at the fact that he wasn't paying attention to her.  "I asked you what you were doing after you leave here."

Cherish sat there taking small sips of her beer.  She could hear Justin talking to Debbie about his plans for later on that night.  For lack of a better term, Debbie was a complete and utter slut and Cherish knew that Justin would probably jump on the opportunity to get what he could from her.

"Alright…Let's play truth or torture."  Trace said after a while.

"Truth or Torture" was basically a variant of "Truth or Dare."  The timeless game that innocent and not so innocent teens loved to play to with their friends, or folks who weren't quite their friends, so they can find out little facts about each other or see just how far one was willing to go to impress the crowd.  Trace had been brutal with his questions.   He'd asked everything from "Where did you lose your virginity?" to "Have you ever got a boner somewhere inappropriate?"  His "tortures" were just as bad.  He had made Billy Marshall lick Debbie's entire face and Ryan Winters had to get a squeaky clean wedgie for 30 seconds.

"...Okay. Who's next?"  Trace looked around the group. "Cherish!  Truth or torture?"

"Truth." she replied before taking a sip of her beer.

"Have you ever…"  He paused to think of his next question, but judging by the smirk on his face Cherish had a feeling that he already knew what he wanted to ask her. "Have you ever skinny dipped?"

"No" she stated simply.

"Oooh, You're lyin'!"  Caroline chanted.  "We went skinny dipping right over there in Millers Lake this past summer!"

Justin started choking on his beer and Debbie tried patting him on the back to help.  "Caroline!" Cherish scolded, her face turning red from all the laughter and stares.

"Ah, you gotta suffer the torture now, Cherish!" Trace laughed. He sat there for a moment trying to figure out what he should make her do.  "I'd make your ass skinny dip again, but its too cold for all that shit.  How about…"

There was that pause again.  And Cherish already knew that Trace was going to make her do something gross like lick the bottom of someone's stinky, nasty feet.  "I dare you to…"  Trace looked around the bonfire acting as if he were making a hard decision and with a crooked grin formed on his face he said "...Kiss Timberlake."

"What?"  Justin and Cherish asked in unison.

"You have to kiss Timberlake.  that's your torture for lying."

"What kind of torture is that?"  Debbie jealously interjected.

"It'd totally be torture for Ms. Stuck-up Rich Bitch. Right, Justin?" Justin shot his friend a look. 

"You're a troll. And there's no way I'm kissing him."  Cherish shook her head.

"You gotta do it."  Brian teased.  "Or we'll never let you live this down.  Ever!"

Cherish knew that Brian was right.  Once these country bumpkins decided to do something, they always followed through.  Even Caroline was getting in on the action. Cherish couldn't believe it!  "Yeah, Cher. Thems the rules!" she smiled.

"Fine." she mumbled before turning towards Justin who was glaring over at his best friend.  Cherish reached into her pocket and pulled out a piece of gum and began to chew it before looking up towards his face and asking, "You ready?"

"I guess."  he shrugged his shoulders.

Cherish could feel the warmth of her cheeks as she looked up at Justin.  He gave her an apologetic look, his face turning red with embarrassment.   She slowly leaned her face up towards his and he instinctively moved in closer.  They were both staring at each others lips as they inched closer to one another.  She watched his tongue dart out as he wet his lips.  She ran her tongue along her own lips, before she gently brushed her mouth up against his bottom lip, sending a jolt down his spine.  Justin moved his mouth up slightly, brushing them against her top lip, lingering there for a moment, still staring down at her lips and then into her eyes.  Cherish had to force herself to back away.  She kept reminding herself that this was the same Neanderthal who called her a bitch over the summer.  She pulled her head back and avoided Justin's gaze, quickly turning her head back towards Trace and asking, "Happy?"

"What the fuck kinda kiss was that?  I've kiss my mother longer than that!" He objected.

"You sure you wanna go around admitting that?"  Justin asked, making everyone including Cherish, laugh.

"Fuck you." Trace said, flipping him the bird.  "We want a real kiss.  None of this pecking shit!  We wanna see a lip smacking, saliva swapping kiss…Let's go!"

Cherish could feel Caroline pushing her shoulder, guiding her back towards Justin.  She looked back up at him. "Let's just get it over with," he sighed, setting his beer down on the ground.  He rested his elbows against his thighs as he folded his hands together nervously.

Cherish nodded and leaned her head over to meet his once more.  "Ready?" he whispered, his nose brushing hers slightly.

"Okay," she whispered back before Justin pressed his lips against hers. Cherish's breath caught in her throat.  If she hadn't been gripping her bottle of beer so tightly, she would have reached out to touch him.  She had an overwhelming urge to find out if his skin was as soft as his lips were.  He was staring down at her again, his eyes questioning hers, but she couldn't make out what they were asking. She could barely hear everyone hooting and hollering at them.  This had to be the reason why he had so many girlfriends.  His lips felt like a heaven that she had never been to.  Cherish tilted her head and massaged his lips with her own.  Her eyes were slowly beginning to flutter shut when she heard Trace yell out, "Much better!"

Justin quickly pulled his lips away, wiping his bottom lip.  Cherish scooted back over towards Caroline who whispered something into her ear, making her elbow her friend.

As it got later and later, more and more people started heading home.  As they were about to leave Caroline whispered over to Cherish that she was going to go off with Brian for a little while and would meet her back at the house.  Caroline didn't even give Cherish a chance to respond before she ran off and jumped onto the back of Brian's four wheeler. He had a small boombox hanging from the handle bar of the bike blasting Biggie's "One More Chance."

"How are you just gonna leave me?" Cherish called out to her friend who could barely hear her.

Trace and Jennifer had already taken off and everyone else had pretty much started walking back way ahead of Cherish.  She looked back towards the clearing and could see Justin smoldering the fire with a bucket of water the guys had gathered from the lake earlier.  Debbie was still hanging around but she eventually started heading off in the opposite direction with two of her friends.  Cherish was almost tempted to follow Debbie out so that she wouldn't get lost but decided to see if she could catch up with Bobby, Ryan and a few girls from school. She made her way through the woods, following their voices the entire time, praying that she didn't get lost.  When she made it back to the path, she breathed easier knowing that the road was only a few steps away.  When she finally reached the road she could no longer hear or see Bobby and the others.  She stood there for a moment deciding what she should do.   Eventually she zipped up her jacket and began the long journey back home, praying that she wouldn't get mauled by an animal on the way there.  Caroline would surely feel like a shitty friend if she did though.

A few minutes later she heard a four wheeler pulling up from behind and she moved closer to the side of the road to get out of the way.  This was routine in Boone.  If you didn't move they would surely make you move.

"You wanna ride back?" a voice asked.

Cherish turned her head and could see Justin inching his four wheeler down the road next to her.  She looked over towards his bike apprehensively and shook her head.  Ever since she saw Tommy Johnson flip over on one last summer, breaking two of his ribs and shattering his wrist, she vowed never to go near one.  "No, that's okay.  I'm just gonna walk."

"Are you sure…It's like two miles back to your house, Cherish."

"Yeah, I'll be fine." she nodded, turning her gaze towards the ground as she continued to walk.

"Positive?" he asked.  "I don't mind taking you home. It's on the way to my house."

"That's okay." she stated firmly.

She was being stubborn, but she didn't care.  As much as she enjoyed every second of his lips pressed against hers, she wasn't going to let him know it.  She didn't want Justin to suddenly think that since they kissed, they were going to go back to being friends.  No way!

She watched as he pulled off down the road.  The sound of his four wheeler growing fainter and fainter and he disappeared further and further down the country road.  Cherish walked another twenty minutes looking down at her feet so she wouldn't stumble for the tenth time over a tree branch or bump into a dead carcass on the side of the road.  There were hardly any stars out and the moon was being covered by a blanket of clouds.  She soon regretted telling Justin that she would be okay.  She was anything but okay walking down the dark road, terrified by every sound she heard.  She was out there alone in the dark with the cries of a million crickets, barely any lights illuminating the road, and howling noises coming from the woods.

Cherish tried to focus her attention onto something else to keep from freaking out.  She thought back to the bonfire and how hard she laughed when Billy licked Debbie's face and she screamed.  She thought about how soft Justin's lips felt against hers and how badly she wanted an opportunity to feel them again.  She remembered the way he looked into her eyes and wondered what was running through his head.  She thought about how relieved she was when she saw Debbie leave before him and- "Shit!" Cherish yelled.  She grabbed her thigh and rubbed it, looking up to see what she had walked into.  She was so lost in her own thoughts that she didn't even notice the four wheeler idling in front of her.

"I couldn't leave you out here alone."  Justin said, leaning against the bike.  "My momma taught me better than that."

Cherish smiled slightly, silently thanking God that Justin hadn't gone far. She quickly straightened up her face and tried to act aloof.  "I told you I would be okay."

"Yeah I know."  he smiled.  "But you're stubborn sometimes."

"Stubborn?" she asked, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Yea…Stubborn."  he smiled, mockingly crossing his arms over his chest as well.  "Come on.  Let me give you a ride home."

Cherish reluctantly crawled up onto the bike behind Justin.  "Wrap your arms around my waist, so you don't fall off." he instructed.

Her hands were trembling and she inched them around his waist.  Part of it was the fact that she had just been fantasizing about him just moments ago and the other part was that she was utterly terrified of being on the bike.  Justin inched the bike up the road slowly, but Cherish soon yelled out, "No, wait! I can't! I can't!"

He stopped and she got off the bike.  "You scared you're gonna fall off?"  He asked  "All you gotta do is hold on tight."

Embarrassed by her own fear she sheepishly looked down.  "I'm sorry, Justin.  I'm just too scared."  she admitted nervously with a laugh.

"Here...How about you drive and I'll sit behind you? This way you can't fall off." he suggested.

She stood there for a moment before finally agreeing.  Justin slid his butt to the back of the four wheeler and helped her up onto the seat.  He walked her through the gears before he placed his hands on her hips moving her up slightly, so that she was closer to the handles.  Cherish jumped at the touch of his hands on her body. He placed his hand gently overtop her left hand and rotated it forward slightly to move the bike.  They started off slow down the road until Cherish felt more comfortable going faster.  He let his chin rest against her shoulder and he talked her through it.  He could see the smile on her face and she started to relax more and enjoy the ride.  God she smelled so good, he thought to himself.  Her hands were so soft and her hair gently tickled the side of his neck as the breeze hit them.  With every bump they hit on the road, he inched his body in towards hers more, wanting to be closer to her.  He secretly wished she would slow down. He wanted the ride home to take just a little bit longer, so that he could spend a little more time with her.   But she never slowed down.

As they made their way into her enormous circular driveway, Cherish drove them up onto the grass and around to the far side of the large Tudor style house.  Justin noticed a set of stairs that led up the a door on the second floor. He reached up, gently pressing his chest into her back and took in her scent one last time before turning off the bike.  She climbed off and giddily jumped up and down for a moment.  "That was so much fun!"  she smiled.

He'd missed that smile.  It had been almost four months since she last smiled at him like that. "I told you, city girl.  You just gotta trust me."

Cherish glared at him and was about to speak but got lost in his eyes.  God his eyes! They were like these great blue oceans that she wanted to look into forever. She had completely forgotten what she was going to say.  There was only silence as the two gazed at one another.  Justin leaned down against the handles of the bike and chuckled lightly to himself.   

"Well…I better get going." Cherish pointed her thumb back towards the house.  "Thanks again for the ride home" she said before walking towards the house.  She turned around and smiled at him once again and added.  "And the driving lesson!"

Justin jumped off the bike and skipped towards her, "Wait I'll walk you to the door."

"Oh that's okay…My room's right there." she pointed up the stairs.  "Whole side of the house is pretty much mine."

"Okay, well I will walk you to this door."  he smile putting his hand out in front of them for her to walk ahead of him.

They reached the door and stood there awkwardly, not knowing what to say.  "See you Monday, I guess."

"Yeah." he nodded, biting at his bottom lip.

She had inched her way into the door when Justin called after her.  "Cherish…"

"Hmm?"

"You think you might want to hang out sometime?  Outside of school, I mean."

"Aren't you dating that Junior?  Sarah something or another?"

"No! We broke up before school started."

"Well...I don't know.  Maybe."

"Maybe?" his voice quivered slightly. "Did you not...I mean...Was it awkward having to kiss me?" he asked nervously, shoving his hands down into his jean pockets. "I'm really sorry about that.  I'll have to murder Trace when I see him."

Was the confident and cocky Justin Timberlake unsure of himself, she wondered. It was almost too much for her to take.  "No need to kill the troll just yet.  It didn't feel awkward, but...You stole my gum."  she laughed.

Justin leaned his face in closer towards her, smiling widely.  "Oh.  Well do you want it back?"

Cherish nodded, her smile growing wider as he closed the distance between them, pressing thier lips together. Her lips felt like silk as they grazed his.  He took his hand out of his pocket and placed it on her chin, pressing gently on her jaw to part her teeth.  He angled his head to deepen their kiss. Cherish gripped the door handle and wall tightly, her legs growing weak from their kiss.  She could hear movement inside and feared that her dad was coming to check on her.  She reluctantly pulled away.  

Justin smiled, placing his hand back down into his pocket.  He looked up at her nervously and asked, "Will I see you at church tomorrow?"

"This will be the first time that I am actually looking forward to it." she smiled back, lightly chewing on the piece of gum he slipped back into her mouth during their kiss.  "Goodnight."

"Night." he smiled before turning and making his way down the steps.  

Cherish closed the door slowly, moving the curtain to the side to look out at him one last time.  She turned and leaned her body against the door, shutting her eyes tightly and letting out a silent scream as she hopped up and down in excitement.  A perfect ending to an almost perfect evening.

She locked the door and walked from her small sitting room into her bedroom, smiling to herself.

"Where have you been?" Caroline asked lifting her head from the bed, already in her pajamas.

"I see you're back early, bitch!"  Cherish laughed as she went and jumped onto the bed next to her friend.  "That's what you get for ditching me for some guy."

"He wanted to do more than just kiss, so I made him bring me back,"  Caroline pouted pulling the blanket up over her shoulder and adjusting her head on the pillow.  

Cherish rested her head on her friends shoulder, looking towards the television at Julia Roberts and Kyra Sedgwick laying in bed talking about men.  "Caroline...If he only wants you for one thing, then he's not worth it."

"I know...I'm sorry I ditched you." she said, turning her body to face her friend and noticing the smile plastered on Cherish's face. "Why are you so giddy right now?"

---------------------

Cherish slowly opened her eyes and looked towards the television.  "Something to Talk About" was on and she could see Julia Roberts apologizing profusely to Dennis Quaid who was in the backseat puking his lungs out.  She could hear her cell phone buzzing against the night stand.  She had tried to ignore it, but whoever it was would not stop calling.

She covered her eyes, blocking the sun out of her face and blindly reached her arm over feeling around for her phone.  "Hello?"  she answered.  "...Oh hi...Yes I will be over at around two.  I didn't forget."  she lied, turning her wrist so she could see what time it was.  "...Don't worry.  I'll be there.  Bye."

Cherish dropped her cell phone down onto the bed and ran her hands over her face.  It was about noon and all she wanted to do was crawl underneath the sheets and sleep for a day.  Her head was pounding, her back and neck were throbbing and her heart was aching. Cherish resolved to grab a half hour's worth of sleep before she would get up and begin the tasks that laid ahead of her that day.

----------------------

"What are you playing at, man?"

Justin handed the clerk a hundred dollar bill out of his wallet, propping his cell phone between his ear and his shoulder.  "What do you mean, T?  I'm not up to anything.  I came into town to check on my father."

He could hear his friend sigh on the other end of the line.  "Don't try and bullshit a bullshitter...Especially when he's known you all your life.  You're up to something.  So spill it."

Justin smiled and mouthed thank you to the young man behind the counter who was nervously handing the NBA player his change and receipt.  The boy watched him as he walked out of the store, still shocked that he had just sold a pair of sneakers to his idol.

Trace continued to re-iterate to Justin that he wasn't buying the worried son in town to see about his father act, "Your dad doesn't even remember who the hell you are most of the time, so why da fuck you still there?" Trace didn't skip a beat before adding, "Actually, I know exactly why the fuck you're still there."

Justin quickly changed the subject. "You comin’ down for the reunion?"

"If I can get these designs prepped to send off before deadline.  I thought you weren't going to the reunion?"

"I'm not.  I'm about to head over to the hospital to check on my pops' test results and if everything’s cool, I’ll head out tomorrow night...Promised moms I'd spend time with her before I left town."

"You should stay and go to the reunion. I need a wingman. We've got a better chance of comin outta this thing unscathed if we stick together." Trace paused thinking to himself for a moment. "Plus, it might be good for you."

"Nah, I think you're right for once. I'm done this trip down memory lane."

"How is she?"  Trace asked, getting back on topic.

Looking down at a display case of one of the malls vendors, Justin sighed. "Fuckin gorgeous…I mean, you should've seen the look on her face when we bumped into each other. She bolted outta there so quick! And guess who the fuck she’s dating?" Without even giving Trace a chance to answer, Justin exclaimed, "Bobby fuckin Greene, man!"

Trace chuckled as he friend continued to update him on the events of what happened after his arrival back in Boone.  "...I'm pushing my luck wantin her to have coffee with me. Especially after last night. I'm sure she can't stand me now."

"Did she tell you no?" Trace asked.

"She said she'd think about it."

"Well it wasn't a no.  If she didn't give a shit, she wouldn't have stayed with you all night, Bro."

"I heard her crying this morning…Even if she says no to catching up, I want to at least make up for the fool I made outta myself last night."

"So come to the reunion and make up for it then! You ain't leaving anytime soon and you don't have shit else to do till you find out about your knee, JT."

"I'm leaving." Justin replied emphatically, more to convince himself than Trace.

"Bullshit!  No you're not." Trace snickered. "You ain't goin nowhere now that you've seen Cherish!"

Justin stood there silently thinking to himself when he heard Trace laugh on the other end of the line, "So I'll see you next Thursday, right?"

"Trace, I'm not staying. Two more days and I'm done with this town."

"Put your money where your mouth is, JT. I bet you a cool grand that your lovestoned ass will still be there when I get there next Thursday."

"That's an easy grand I'm willing to take from you, son!" Justin quipped.

"Alright…Bet." Trace said before telling Justin he had to head out to a meeting. "I'll see you next Thursday, homeboy!"

On his way back through town, Justin decided to grab some groceries before returning to his father's house to finish washing his soiled clothes and sheets from the night before. As he pulled into the parking lot, he spotted Cherish struggling to help Mrs. Sawyer down the road and carry grocery bags at the same time. He grabbed the black and white checked bag from the passenger seat and sprinted over to them, taking a bag from the old woman's arm. "Here, lemme help you with that, Mrs. Sawyer."

The old woman looked up at him and gasped, "Oh my, Lord! It's Justin!" before reaching up and kissing him on his cheek.

"Yeah, Mrs. Sawyer.” Cherish smiled, slightly irritated by the fact that she couldn't seem to shake him. “He seems to be popping up all over town."

Justin shot Cherish a look before grabbing the two remaining bags of groceries from her arms. Mrs. Sawyer had stopped to talk to a friend and Justin asked Cherish to peel the bag from his wrist so he wouldn't knock into it and fall.

"I see some things never changed."  Cherish smiled looking down at the striped Foot Locker bag in her hand.  "You still have a shoe addiction, I see."

"And that is where you'd be wrong."  he smiled.  "That's actually for you."

Cherish opened the bag and peered inside the shoe box.  Justin could see a smile slowly creep across her face as she noticed the black and pink Puma's staring back at her.  She looked up at him, "You didn't have to do that."

His ears turned slightly red as he thought back to the embarrassment of the night before. "Yes I did." 

"Well you might regret coming over to help us once we get back to the house."

"Why's that?” he asked.

"Oh how doth thou forget so quickly!" Cherish laughed. "Now that you're here, Mrs. Sawyer’s going to run you ragged with fifty items on her 'to-do' list."

"Shit." he mouthed silently to her.

Cherish nodded her head in agreement and smirked before turning around to help Mrs. Sawyer across the street.

When they reached the house, Justin helped unpack the groceries and as he pulled out a set of light bulbs, Mrs. Sawyer took the opportunity to ask him to replace the blown bulbs in the foyer. Cherish watched gleefully as Mrs. Sawyer bossed him around the house with chore after chore. She took it as her opportunity to duck out, telling them both she had to get going and for Mrs. Sawyer to call her if she needed her. "Take it easy on him, Mrs. Sawyer. He's not used to all this manual labor now that he's turned into a prissy ole city boy. He might mess up his manicure."

"Cherish, you are so bad!" Mrs. Sawyer laughed.

Justin shot her another evil look before fixing his face and smiling down at Mrs. Sawyer who was now handing him a hammer to hang a large picture frame on the wall.

Later on that afternoon after Justin had finally finished helping Mrs. Sawyer and running his own errands, he headed to the hospital to check on his father. He greeted Kathy as he walked past the counter, making his way to his dad's room, but as he went to open the door he could hear a familiar voice on the other side laughing.

"You like it so far.  I can tell!" the female voice exclaimed.

"This is getting good!  I can't wait to see what happens to him and Beck in the cave!"

Justin pushed the door open slowly and stepped further into the room, shocked to see Cherish curled up in a chair next to his father's bed, reading a book aloud.  His father’s eyes danced with excitement as he listened.  Cherish could feel another presence in the room and looked up from reading and spotted Justin next to the hanging curtain. "Hey."  he nodded towards her.

"Justin!" 

Justin's eyes quickly darted to his father who was smiling over at him, arms outstretched, anticipating a hug.  He was in a complete state of disbelief.  It was rare when he father recognized him at all, let alone at first glance.  "Hey pops!"  he smiled widely making his way over to his father to embrace him. "How are you?"

"This is my son, Justin."  his dad pointed out to Cherish, introducing the two of them as if they'd never met before.  Justin was about to correct his father, but Cherish sat up in her chair and outstretched her hand to his.  "It's nice to meet you."

"He plays basketball for the Boone Trailblazers! He's gonna make it big after he graduates."

Realizing his father believed it was still 1999 and he had no idea who Cherish was, Justin’s hopes were slightly dashed.

"Well that's wonderful, Randy." Cherish smiled. "If he's as talented as you say, I'm sure he's gonna go very far."

"This lovely young lady came in to read to me, JT."

"Yes.  Once a week we have a date.  Isn't that right?" Cherish asked, rubbing the side of his arm.

Randy looked confused. "Once a week?"

Cherish placed her hand over his and squeezed it gently, "Yep."

A nurse soon came in to take his vitals and check his bandages. Cherish and Justin moved out of her way and stood off to the side. "You read to him every week?" he leaned over and asked as he watched the nurse.

"Yeah.  He enjoys it." Cherish replied, also watching the nurse.

Justin looked towards her in disbelief, "I would think that after everything that happ-"

"It doesn't have anything to do with that." Cherish shook her head. "He doesn't have anyone else.  I do it so he has something to look forward to every week.  Even if he doesn't remember, there’s a small part of him that's familiar with our weekly visits."

After the nurse finished up she walked over and told Justin that the doctor would be in to update him shortly. Cherish took that as her cue and walked over, grabbing the book off the bed and stuffing it into her purse, "Well I'm going to let the two of you catch up.  I'll see you next week, Randy?"

"Yep!  I wanna know what happens in the cave!"

"Okay."

Justin watched her as she slipped on her sweater and grabbed her purse to leave. He told his father he'd be right back and called after Cherish in the hallway.

"Yeah?"

"Thank you."

"No need to thank me.  I wasn't doing it for you." she said, before turning and walking away.

Justin just stood there watching her as she disappeared down the hall, wondering what she meant.

After speaking with the doctor at length, Justin found out his father’s tests were rescheduled for the next morning where they would finally determine if they could clear him to be released back into the nursing home. This would mess up his plan of spending the day with his mother and getting out of town as quickly as possible.

When he got back into Boone later on that evening he headed over to the bar in an attempt to buy Cherish that cup of coffee he had promised her the night before. He knew he wasn't going to be in town much longer and wanted to catch up. But more importantly, he needed answers to the millions of questions that were running through his mind.

As he walked into the pub, he noticed that it was pretty busy and there were only a handful of booths and tables free. He spotted Ann Marie behind the bar, "Oh no you don't, Justin!  I refuse to serve you today!  I'm already two shakes of a lamb's tail away from gettin' fired!" Her southern drawl getting thicker as she got angrier.

Justin chuckled, promising her that he wasn't there to drink. "Is Cherish around?"

"No." Jimmy yelled over as he poured drinks. "She called and said she needed to get some sleep before open mic at seven."

Justin nodded to Jimmy that he understood, trying to place his face. "Is that you Clayton?"

"Hell yeah man!"

"Jimmy muthafuckin Clayton?!" The two teammates briefly embraced looking at how old the other had gotten since high school.

"How you been?" Jimmy asked looking him over, "How's your knee?"

Justin caught up briefly with his old friend and told Anne Marie he would be back later. As he was walking up the driveway to his dad's house he spotted a police car creeping slowly up the street past him...The cop inside starring at him.

"JT?"

Justin bent down and looked at the man.

"It's Ryan!"

"Hey man!  What's up?"  Justin smiled.

"Nothin man!  I can't believe you're in town!  You here for the reunion?"

"Nah.  My pops is in the hospital.  I'm just here checking on him."

"Sorry to hear that.  Is it serious?"

"He fell and hit his head. They're running tests now."

"Well come on!  Let's catch up!" Ryan persuaded.

Justin apprehensively slid into the front seat of the patrol car and they headed off through town talking and catching up. Ryan, Justin, Trace, and Bobby used to be best friends when they were little. But once they hit high school everything changed. Bobby and Ryan started hanging out with a different crowd and the four of them just grew apart.

"You see your girl yet?" Ryan asked as they turned the corner towards the high school.

"She's not my girl anymore."  Justin muttered, averting his attention out the window.

"She owns the bar now." Ryan said.

"Yeah I heard.  What's up with that?"

“Darla left it to her in her will after she died…Left everything to Cherish. They'd gotten close over the years. Cherish started working there a couple months after we graduated. She was like the daughter Darla never had."

Justin was about to ask another question when he looked towards Ryan and noticed he'd pulled a joint out of the sun visor and lit it.

"Are you shittin me?!" Justin looked around to see if anyone else noticed the police officer smoking a joint as they drove down the residential street. Ryan had always been a bit of a degenerate, so Justin found it strange that he was even a cop, but after watching him blow smoke circles into the air, Justin quickly realized that some things don't change after all. When the initial shock wore down, Justin asked, "What's up with her and your boy Bobby?"

"Oh man..." Ryan sighed letting his head fall back against the headrest as he looked up at the roof of the car. "We don’t talk that much anymore, but you know Bobby's been obsessed with her since high school.  They hooked up a couple years ago.”

Ryan could see the concern on Justin’s face and reached over, offering him some of the joint, “I don't think she's too into him though…just doesn't have that same look in her eyes that she did when the two of you were together.  But I guess there aren't that many guys to choose from around here."

"Speaking of which...You married?" Justin asked, trying to get off the topic of Cherish and Bobby altogether.

"Yep! Me and Kathy Miller…Been married six years next month." Ryan smiled.

"Congratulations! I just saw her earlier at the hospital."

Ryan slowed down the car and stopped in front of Cherish's childhood home.  Justin took notice of the "For Sale" sign on the perfectly manicured lawn. "Didn't think we would come here, did you?" Ryan asked.

"Ummm...I figured we would pass it, since this is the street. Are they moving?"

"Mr. Cummings decided to downsize since it's just him in the house now. He wants to go sailing on his boat or some shit rich people do. I hope you haven't turned into one of those types of rich people, JT."

The two old friends laughed and continued down the street. Ryan handed Justin the joint to hide as they came across some kids on skateboards riding in the middle of the road. He yelled out for them to move out of the middle of the street, but they were shrugged him off. Justin grabbed the handheld mic of the police radio and had Ryan change the setting. "This is the police." The intercom on the patrol car boomed. "Get out the middle of the GOT DAMN street before we run your punk asses over!" he yelled.

"Yeah! You fuckin punks!" Ryan shouted, pressing down on the gas, the patrol car accelerating towards the teenagers and scaring the hell out of them. The two laughed themselves almost to tears.

"How long you staying?" Ryan asked, taking a long puff from what remained of the joint.

"Just another day.  I'll probably leave Friday morning."

"Awww damn! Why don't you stay through the weekend? Since you're gonna miss the reunion and all. I was gonna invite you over to the house.  A bunch of us get together once a month on Friday's and play cards, drink, and shit."

Ryan could see hesitation in Justin’s face. "Cherish'll probably stop through. We always order a keg from her since the party goes through the night."

"I might…We'll see."

On their way back towards his dad's, Justin noticed Cherish's truck around the side of the pub and asked Ryan to drop him off there. The parking lot was overrun with cars and when he walked in he noticed that all the tables were now full. He could see Cherish behind the bar with Anne Marie and two other employees, frantically preparing drinks, taking orders, and ringing up sales on the registers. Anne Marie spotted him and yelled out. "What'll you have, JT!?"

Cherish looked up at him and shook her head as she poured a customer’s beer from the tap. He just won’t give up, she thought to herself.

"Just a beer!" he called out to her. "And a burger and fries to go when you get a chance. Thanks!"

After getting his beer from Anne Marie, Justin inched his way over to a free spot against a large wooden column near the kitchen, where he was waiting for his order. He watched and listened as people spouted off poetry and sang during open mic. Through the corner of his eye, he watched Cherish at the bar talking to two semi-well dressed gentlemen who had just walked in. They seemed out of place in Boone and Justin's curiosity was peaked. Cherish walked the two men over to a reserved booth and servers quickly brought over drinks. She had a brief conversation when them and then headed over to where Justin was standing, finding a spot on the opposite side of the column to lean against as she looked towards the stage.

"Who are the suits?" Justin asked.

"Talent scouts from a studio I used to temp at in Memphis. They come in every few weeks. They're back to check out the guy on stage." she replied. "He’s one of the kids from the high school. He's really talented, but can't seem to catch a break. I told him I'd see what I could do for him, since he heard stories of how my ex made it as far as the NBA!" she said sarcastically "I guess he thinks I'm some sort of miracle worker for lost causes."

Justin averted his attention back to the stage, never responding to her snide remark. The teenager on stage nervously clung his guitar to his chest as he talked about the song he was about to sing. As he started to play, Justin watched as Cherish hurried over to one of the tables to help Jimmy serve their food.

How do I ask her to come back to me

After I've told her goodbye

How do I love her so desperately

When for so long I’ve pushed her aside

How do I walk back into her life

When I’m the one who walked out on her's

How do I ask her

To see me again

I told her that I wasn’t sure

That we could be friends

When Cherish went to resume her spot against the column she noticed another man standing there. Justin moved back slightly to make room for her and she reluctantly stood in front him. She soon got lost in the music and Justin watched her intently as she swayed her head to the beat, listening to the boy sing. He slowly inched his way forward, trying to be as close to her as he could. She barely noticed him until she leaned back slightly and could feel his chest up against her back and his breath on the back of her neck.

God can you whisper in her ear

Anywhere on the way to her car

Before the wind blows too far

Away from my heart

Can you whisper in her ear

Anytime while she’s lying on her bed

Can you tell her everything that I’ve said

Everything that I’ve said

Cherish closed her eyes, allowing herself to be close to him, leaning her head back slightly against his right shoulder. Justin pressed his luck and leaned down telling her the kid was good while inhaling her scent. She nodded, shifting uncomfortably, but still allowing their closeness. She let her left arm fall to her side and tapped her hand against the her leg to the beat. Justin could see her hand dangling there and tried to suppress the urge to entwine it with his own. He leaned down and told her about bumping into Ryan, the stoner cop. They both quietly chuckled feeling the warmth and vibrations of laughter coming from the others body. He pressed his luck once more and inched his left hand forward and slowly ran his finger down her open palm, before pressing his hand against hers. A surge of warmth ran through her body at his touch and just for a moment she welcomed the contact.

How do I try and explain everything

When nothing I say seems to fit

How do I get her to pick up the phone

Baby how did we ever get like this

Tell me what kind of man

Lets love slip away

And leaves such a good thing behind

I’m holding my hands pressed

Praying to find

A way to fill in this hole

That I have inside

And in a blink of an eye the moment was over. An employee came and told Cherish she had a phone call, prompting her to quickly move away from him and up the stairs to her office to take the call. Anne Marie also called out to him about his take out order being ready. Justin sighed deeply, letting his head fall back in frustration over the interruptions. He walked over and grabbed the bag of food, tossing $40 down on the counter and waving to Anne Marie on his way out the door. As he walked around the corner, he suddenly stopped and argued with himself about whether or not he should go back inside.

God can you whisper in her ear

Anywhere on the way to her car

Before the wind blows her too far

Away from my heart

Can you whisper in her ear

Anytime while she’s lying on her bed

Can you tell her everything that I’ve said

Everything that I’ve said

Anne Marie was shaking a drink for a customer when she noticed Justin come rushing back into the bar past her and up the stairs leading to the restroom and Cherish's office.

"When can we catch up?" He asked walking in and shutting the door behind him.

Cherish was rifling through the file cabinet and never looked his way, "I'm really busy tonight, JT."

Justin walked over and stood on the opposite side of the open drawer, begging that she talk to him. 

"I can't, JT. I have a ton a stuff I have to take care of," she said pointing down to the pile of paperwork on her desk.

"She grabbed the phone and started to dial, but Justin gently took the phone from her hand and placed it back down on the receiver. He walked closer to her and turned her chair to face him and said, "I'm not leaving until you talk to me. Just give me twenty minutes and I'll go. I won't come back in here again."

Justin placed his hands on her knees begging, "Please, Cherish."

She starred at him for a moment, biting nervously at her bottom lip before responding, "Okay...Twenty minutes."

Before Justin even had a chance to speak, they were both startled by the office door flying open and smacking hard against the wall.

"What the fuck is this I hear about your car being outside Timberlake's all night, Cherish?" Bobby yelled as he stormed in and saw Justin kneeling down in front of her, his hands on her knees.

"You gotta be fucking kidding me right now!" Justin was thinking it but Cherish vocalized it for the both of them.

Bobby was seething. "What the fuck's going on here!?" He glared down at the two of them, Justin kneeling, hands still planted firmly on Cherish's knees.

Cherish simply turned her chair back around and opened the file folder. "Nothing's going on Bobby." she huffed.

Justin slowly got up on his feet and rested his butt up against the edge of the desk. He folded his arms across his chest and started to explain. "I got drunk last night…She was just helping me home."

Bobby stalked forward and got in Justin's face. "I wasn't fucking talking to you, JT."

Cherish jumped up to stand in between them. Justin never flinching once, raised his hand, signaling for her to stay put. "I'll talk to you later, Cherish." he said, never breaking eye contact with Bobby. He stood up straight and said, "Listen Bobby, I don't have any beef with you.  But if there's something you wanna discuss, you know where to find me."

Knowing Cherish was more than capable of taking care of herself, Justin walked out the door, closing it behind him. He was this close! Justin walked down the corridor, punching his fists into the air, frustrated by the fact that he was interrupted during his quest for answers. As he descended down the stairs he could see the little boy from the day before sitting at a table nearby and pulling books out of his book bag,  tapping his foot on a basketball on the floor under his feet. Anne Marie was sitting with him and talking to him about his day. Justin stayed in the shadows and watched him, too afraid to be seen or even approach them. "...Get out! You got an A? We studied our butts off for this one! Anne Marie laughed. "I think that deserves one of Darla's specialty shakes, don't you?"

"Yes!" the boy gleamed.

Justin smiled as the boys eyes lit up. "Extra chocolate please!"

"You got it boss!" she said, before running her fingers through his curly hair, making him frown and push her hand away so he could fix it.

Justin jumped slightly when Anne Marie spotted and called out to him. He quickly pulled his hoodie over his head, terrified that the little boy would somehow see him. "Yeah? What's up?"

Anne Marie raised an eyebrow as she watched him suspiciously slide around the corner and ahead of her towards the bar. "Ummm…I was just gonna tell you Jimmy had them re-do your order since you were upstairs. Let me get it for you."

"I'll come with you," he said, quickly grabbing her arm and pushing her in the back kitchen so as not to be seen by the youngster.

After getting his food from Jimmy, Justin ducked out the side door and headed straight back to his fathers house. He sat on couch staring at the television, not really paying attention to what was going on. His trip back to Boone had turned into a mission for answers, and Justin had no idea what the hell he was going to do now. If he was too scared to come face to face with a mere child, how in the hell was he going to broach such a massive conversation with Cherish after 10 years?  Justin sighed deeply, before getting up from the couch and placing the Styrofoam container of half eaten food into the fridge and grabbing a bottle of water. He didn't want to sit around the house all afternoon drowning in his own thoughts, so he decided to jog over to the basketball courts to toss the ball around and clear his head.

=================================

"…That's not what I'm saying, Cherish!"

"Then what are you saying, Bobby?"

"You weren't home and I hear from the guys that your car was parked in front of his house all night! Why wouldn't I wonder if something happened between the two of you!?"

"I would think you'd know me well enough to know that I wouldn't do something like that!"

Cherish sat and explained the vomit filled, horrific events from the night before that she endured, but Bobby was not amused nor satisfied with her explanation. "...The two of you have a history. A history you're very tightlipped about. I know I don't have any real claim to you, but you know the mere mention of the guy makes my blood boil!"

"Bobby, I've had a long night and even longer day. I've got a kink in my neck. I'm sore from sitting in a chair all night and I'm completely exhausted! All I wanna do is finish up this paperwork and head straight to the bathtub."

Bobby walked over behind her and began to gently massage her neck. She closed her eyes and moaned, "Yeah, down just a bit... right there…"

"I think it'd feel much better if we were doing this in the tub." he smirked as he continued to gently rub her shoulders.

Cherish didn't know how to tell Bobby she preferred to be alone in said tub. She silently whispered a prayer of thanks when his cell phone began to ring. She playfully reached behind him and grabbed his phone out of his back pocket and looked down at the caller ID. "...It's her." she said,  lifting the phone over her head to hand it to him.

"Let it go to voicemail." he instructed as he continued to massage her shoulders.

"Why?"  I thought she invited you to Nashville for the weekend?"

Bobby stopped massaging and looked down at her. "I don't know why you keep tryna push me off on her."

"Because you like her.  And I want you to be happy." Cherish stated matter-of-factly before grabbing a pen to write.

Bobby snatched the pen from her hand trying to get her to look at him. "I'd be happier with you."

"No…you wouldn't." Cherish said, looking away and pretending to read over the documents in front of her.

"You keep saying it, but you never explain why you believe that bullshit."

"Bobby, I love you, but I just can't give you everything you want. And she probably can.  I don't want you to miss out because you were waiting on me."

Bobby leaned down, catching her chin in his hand and gently lifting her head up to make eye contact, "You're worth waiting for, Cherish."

=================================

On his way back from the basketball courts, Justin spotted Cherish walking out of the bar with the little boy and Bobby not too far behind them. He slowed his pace to watch them. Bobby tossed the kid the basketball and pretended he was a commentator, while chasing after the boy, "Jordan fakes left, he fakes right…he dribbles the ball between Ewings' legs…"

Justin turned away quickly so as not to be seen and continued to watch them in the reflection of the glass storefront.  Bobby ran ahead of the little boy and opened his arms wide, pretending it was a basketball hoop, "...and with 5 seconds on the clock, Jordan dribbles over to the basket and dunks it for the win!"

 A strong twinge of discomfort began to build in the pit of Justin's stomach as he watched Bobby playing with the kid. It was an ache Justin had never felt before and would give anything not to feel again.

"...And the crowd goes wild!" Cherish rooted, opening her arms to hug the boy tightly to her chest. "Do you forgive me for not being there last night?"

The little boy nodded his head as he held onto her waist, still hugging her. "I love you!" she smiled, leaning down and kissing him on his cheek.

"Love you too." he smiled.

"Okay, now hurry up so you're not late! And make sure you put on your seat belt!"

Bobby walked over to Cherish and she instinctively wrapped her arms around his waist tightly, leaning her chin against his chest and looking up at him. "Make sure he puts on his seat belt please." Cherish begged.

"Okay" he smiled down at her, leaning in to kiss her.

"And don't let him drive!"

Cherish watched as Bobby rounded the car and got in, making sure the boy had on his seat belt before backing out of the parking space to leave. Cherish waved goodbye as they drove off down the road. She looked across the street and could see Justin slowing walking by.  She wondered to herself if he'd he'd been there awhile or if he'd just come around the corner. She expected him to come over and try to talk to her again, but instead he just kept walking, never once looking her way. She turned around to head back inside and glanced at him one last time, secretly hoping he would change his mind and come back.

"So do I have to beat it outta you or what?" Anne Marie asked as Cherish walked in the door.

"Beat what out of me?"

"What the hell is the deal with you and Justin!?"

What do you mean?" Cherish feigned. "Nothing. We dated a long time ago. He's just my ex. "

"Yeah....just an ex...okay." Anne Marie rolled her eyes before taking an order from the man sitting at the bar.

"Bitch, You owe me big time!" a voice called from behind.

"Oh Jesus, Caroline!" Cherish exclaimed slightly startled. She reached over and hugged her best friend tightly, "Thank you so much! I'm so sorry about last night!"

"I, personally, woulda left JT's ass to choke on his own vomit, but then again, I've known him longer than you." Caroline walked over and plopped her purse down on an empty stool and took a seat next to Cherish at the bar.  "All I wanna know is when he's leaving, so I can avoid him at all costs. I can't afford a manslaughter charge for runnin him over with my car...even though it'd be considered justifiable homicide."

"Don't hold back...Tell us how you really feel." Anne Marie laughed as she placed the customers drink on the bar.

Cherish wanted to continue their conversation, but the bar was too crowded with familiar faces, eavesdroppers, and gossips.  She grabbed two beers from behind the bar and motioned for Caroline to follow her upstairs to the office. Caroline sat on the couch and listened as Cherish brought her up to date.

"...So what did Bobby say after Justin left?"

"He asked me again what happened at Timberlake's. I told him again, and again…" Cherish recounted her and Bobby's exchange.  "I basically told him what I have always told him. He needs to find someone who can love him the way he deserves. He just said he was going to make himself scarce for a while, which is code for him going over to Ripley to be with that chick he messes around with from time to time.

Caroline took a sip of her beer before responding. "I mean I know the two of you aren't exclusive, but I'd have a problem with the guy I'm dating fucking someone else. But you welcome it!"

"The fact is, I should be jealous.  I should have a problem with it, but I don't."  Cherish shrugged.  "I love Bobby to death, but it's just not the same. I don't know if I've closed myself off and shut down or what. I want it to be different. I want to feel different. I've tried…I just..." Afraid to say anymore Cherish simply said, "...I just want Bobby to be happy. If this girl makes him happy then so be it."

"But what is going to make Cherish happy?" Caroline asked. "You're always worried about everyone else and you never take the time to worry about yourself. You have a big heart and I love you for that, but you're no where near as happy as you could be, Cher.  And allowing Justin to have access to you when what you really should be doing is telling him to stay the fuck away is concerning me.

Cherish tried to explain herself, "Since he's been here I've found I can't just push him out of my life like I had hoped."

Caroline took a long sip of her beer before speaking. "Justin comes back into town after 10 years…10 years with no word, no call, no letter, no concern for you whatsoever and you still let him back in, Cherish. I just can't understand that."

Cherish sighed deeply, "He'll always be the exception to the rule, Caroline.  I can't explain it to you…to myself either."   She stood up and walked over to the window, peering down the street where she had last seen him. "The day he left it felt like someone pressed paused on my life and I've been standing still.  The second I saw him again it felt like someone pressed fast forward and finally let the tape play. "

=============================

Cherish sat at the bar counting money and writing figures down in her log book as Anne Marie filled up napkin holders. Cherish could feel her eyes staring holes through her. "What is it, Anne Marie?"

"This town's full of gossips, yet no one can tell me exactly what happened with you and JT. I find that intriguing in a small town like this."

Cherish looked up at her and sighed. "Well I didn't really grow up in this small town, so I'm pretty good and keeping my business to myself…which is what you should be doing, nosey."

"Well it's obviously something big enough for your best friend to be talkin' bout runnin him over with her car." Anne Marie laughed.

Cherish chuckled at the thought. "Caroline's way too dramatic."

"Did you love him?"

"…Very much so." Cherish answered almost in a whisper. And there it was again. That heavy pain in her chest that she'd felt the moment she laid eyes on Justin the day before.  Cherish cleared her throat. "And that's all I'm willing to admit to today. Now hurry up and finish so we can get the hell outta here."

After closing up the bar a little after eleven, Cherish slowly drove down Eighth Street and stopped in front of the house.  It took three shots of Jack Daniel's and a pep talk with herself to decide to go over to Justin's dads, but when she got there none of the lights were on inside and his black truck was surprisingly missing.  She got out and knocked on the front door anyway, but there was no answer.

"…Justin?"  He slowly opened his eyes and looked up at the nurse standing over him. "Did you want me to get you a blanket and pillow?"

He looked down at his watch and saw it was eleven thirty. "Sorry, I fell asleep.  I'm just gonna head home."

As he walked up the porch steps to the house, Justin noticed a brown paper bag sitting in front of the door. He leaned down and grabbed the bag and looked inside to find the clothes he had lent Cherish, freshly washed and neatly folded along with a note that simply stated, "Thank you-C."

Realizing  Cherish had stopped by while he was out, Justin cursed to himself, slamming the front door behind him.

"Look at me, baby," he murmurs, his voice thick with desire. He begins thrusting slowly, allowing her to savor every inch of him as their eyes remain locked in an intense gaze.

"Justin!!" She gasps loudly.

"I'm so close..." He whispers breathlessly as he begins thrusting into her harder. His head dropping down to her shoulder, his teeth grazing against her skin, biting down as she-

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP

The alarm clock abruptly awoke Cherish from her dream.  She laid there staring up at the ceiling, her breathing labored, beads of sweat sliding down her skin.  "Shhiiiiittt!" she exhaled, trying to catch her breath.

She reached over and pressed the button on the alarm clock, noting it was 7:30am and continued to lay there contemplating whether or not she should close her eyes and try to "finish" the deliciously nasty dream she was having or get out of bed. She eventually  relented to get out of bed. 

----------------------

"So the hospital called me around six this morning because dad was freakin out. He woke up and didn't know where he was. I get there and he doesn't even know who the hell I am! So they ended up having to sedate him." Justin explained to his mother as he poured a cup of coffee. "Kathy told me they're gonna keep him sedated throughout the CAT scans, MRI's and other tests and she'd call me when they were halfway through." He sighed heavily and then added, "...I wanna be there when he wakes up."

Justin's mother handed him the creamer and went back to the stove to check on the bacon. "Do you want me to go back over there with you?" His mother asked apprehensively.

"No. That's okay, Ma. Dad's a fighter. I'm sure he'll be fine...physically. But, I mean you had to see him!  I didn't know his condition had gotten this bad."

"I'm just sorry you have to see him like that, honey. You seem more stressed now than you did when you first got to town. Have you been able to get any sleep?"

Right there and then would have been the opportune moment for Justin to finally open up to his mother about everything going on with him, his career, and bumping into Cherish again after all these years. But instead he chose to dance around the truth. "Not really, Ma. Once these tests with dad are done, I should be able to finally relax and come back home so you can take care of your boy."

His mother smiled,  "You want three or four pieces of bacon?"

"Just two" he instructed. "Even though I'm not playin I can't sit around lettin you fatten me up, lady!"

"Three won't kill ya." she drawled innocently, as she set the plate of waffles, scrambled eggs and bacon in front of him. "Now eat up."

When Justin arrived back into Boone, he bumped into Dean, one of his old high school teammates,  in front of the pharmacy.  Dean was heading out as Justin was heading in and the two began talking about Dean's son who was waiting in the car.  The boy was anxiously calling out to his father ever other minute that they were going to be late for his game. Dean explained to Justin that the kids were having their basketball playoff games over at the school gym and invited Justin along to check it out. After some coaxing, Justin finally agreed and the three of them headed over there.

------------------------------------

"Pardon me...Excuse me." Mr. Cummings apologized as he made his way through the stands to find a seat next to Cherish. "…I'm not as young  as I used to be!"  he laughed.

"Hey Daddy." she smiled, leaning over as he planted a kiss on her cheek.

"This gym smells like sweat, dirty socks, and chlorine." he frowned. 

Mr. Cummings looked down, searching through the droves of kids running back and forth down the court. "Where's my grandson?"

"The other team is yellow. His team is blue. He's number 15." Cherish pointed out,  before chanting with the crowd, "Let's go Huskies! Let's go!" she clapped.

As Cherish's eyes followed the player dribbling the ball down the court, she spotted Justin standing at the end of the bleachers. He had a hat on that was pulled down almost over his eyes as well as his hoodie which almost concealed his face. She tried to focus her attention back onto the game but found it hard to concentrate on much else other than him. Her father noticed that she was distracted and asked, "What the heck do you keep looking at?"

"Justin's here." she revealed.

Mr. Cummings followed her gaze and spotted him standing with a group of dads watching the boys play. He stood up and looked as if he was about to head over there, but Cherished grabbed his arm shaking her head. "Dad, he's just back in town to see about his father."

"The audacity of him to show up here like that!" he exclaimed. "How dare he step foot around here after he-"

"Daddy!"  Cherish cut him off, trying her best to quiet him down so the town gossips wouldn't hear.  "Let's just focus on the game, please."

"Cover him!" Dean yelled.

Justin watched in amazement as the young curly haired boy with the number 15 on his back sprinted down the court towards the basket for a breakaway lay-up. He scanned the bleachers and spotted Cherish sitting with her father, watching the game.  He decided not to go over and say hello. Especially after seeing how happy she was the night before with Bobby and the kid  and the fact that her father, who would probably shoot him on sight, was sitting right next to her.  He pulled his hat down further over his face and continued to watch the game with Dean trying his best not to glance her way.

"So what's up with number 15?" Justin asked Dean.

"Oh Cummings? That kid is a beast!" He exclaimed. "By the time he hits high school, he's gonna break your record for three pointers, JT.  Bobby's been working with him a lot, so...Come on Nick! Pass it! Pass it!"

The crowd erupted in applause and cheers as the curly haired boy landed his shot and scored two more points for the home team.  The other team soon called a time-out and Justin watched as number 15 jogged over to the bench to rest, "Grandpa, did you see that I shot I made!?"

"Yes! Keep it up!" Mr. Cummings encouraged, pushing his fist into the air and smiling.

Dean's son ran over to his father to grab his Gatorade bottle. "You guys are doing great out there!" Justin exclaimed, holding his hands up for a high-five. Dean's son was too busy sucking down the juice to noticed till Justin said, "You gonna leave me hanging, bud?"

"He still does that." Cherish said to herself, thinking back as she watched Justin.

July 1997

"Okay, Daddy. I made you a sandwich for lunch. It's in the fridge." Cherish said as she hurriedly wiped down the counter.

Her father had been sitting at the kitchen table reading the paper when he heard the loud roaring of ATV's approaching his freshly paved driveway. 'That could only mean one thing.' he thought to himself as he tried to act like he was still reading.

Mr. Cummings peered over the paper and watched as Cherish rushed around stuffing things into her bag. "You going out?" her dad asked, still pretending he was reading.

"Yes we're going swimming."

Mr. Cummings peered out the window and could see Justin walking towards the side door to knock.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Cummings." Justin smiled politely through the screen.

"Justin." Mr. Cummings nodded before burying his head back into the newspaper he was no longer reading.

"I'm coming, JT!" Cherish called out.

Mr. Cummings watched Justin closely as he walked back to the group of teenagers waiting in the driveway.  Cherish stopped in front of the oven and looked at her reflection, haphazardly throwing her curly hair up into a ponytail. Mr. Cummings set down his paper and said, "You've been hanging out with that Timberlake boy a lot lately."

"We all hang out together, Daddy." Cherish stated, trying to minimize the relationship. She pointed out the window to the group gathered outside, "It's Me, Caroline, Trace, Justin, and a few other kids from school."

Her dad folded his arms across his chest. "His daddy was a womanizer when we were younger and I hear the apple doesn't fall far from the tree."

"Dad..." Cherish whined.

"I just want you to be careful is all."

"I will, Daddy." she leaned down and hugged him. "We're going swimming over at Greer Lake." She grabbed her towel and stuffed it in her backpack before running towards the side door. "I'll be back by 7! Love ya!"

"Have fun!" Her dad yelled after her, watching as Cherish jogged over to Justin's four-wheeler. She handed her stuff and climbed on in front of him and took control of the vehicle. Justin strapped her bag down to the back of the ATV and turned the volume up on the boom box that was tied down with bungee cords. Biggie's "Mo Money, Mo Problems" began echoing loudly as the group of friends disappeared down the driveway. 

Greer lake was the hangout spot for the local teens. Outside of trying to get a ride 15 miles into Memphis every weekend, there really wasn't much to do in town. If you didn't have a car, then you had to find something to do in a small town that only offered a bowling alley and a movie theater that played older movies as entertainment.   The kids had no other choice but to find ways to occupy themselves.

High atop the cliff overlooking Greer Lake, Cherish watched as Trace took a running start towards the edge of the dramatic ad knee buckling drop-off and leaped into the air, hooting and hollering as he descended into the water below.

She nervously watching as her best friend followed suit after Trace and plummeted down the side of the cliff screaming her lungs out and plunging feet first into the water below. They both made it look so easy, but Cherish was now having second thoughts about agreeing to willingly jump off a steep rock.   They had been having such a good time before in the lake without risking their lives. So why now, all of a sudden, did everyone want to be daredevils? She could hear her dad's stern voice echoing in her brain saying something about if her friends were to jump off a bridge would she jump too.  She was starting to feel apprehensive about her earlier decision and tried to come up with an excuse.

 "You gonna leave me hangin, Cherish?" Justin asked.

Cherish was so busy  panicking she hadn't noticed  his hand outstretched, waiting patiently for her.  A small smile formed across her mouth as she slowly entwined her trembling fingers with his own. His grip was strong and she was almost instantly calmed.

"You trust me?"

Cherish nodded, nervously biting at her bottom lip. "Yes."

"Then let yourself have some fun!" he shook her hand around to help loosen her up. "Stop worryin all the  damn time!" he teased as he tightened his grip on her hand and pulled her closer towards him. "Just hold on tight and let yourself go. I'll do all the worryin for you on the way down."

She stepped closer to the edge of the drop-off and looked down at the water, Trace and Caroline looking like ants as they swam to shore.

"You ready?" he asked squeezing her hand gently trying to reassure her that she was safe.

"Yes."

"Set..." they stepped back a few feet to give themselves a running start. "...Go!" he yelled as they both ran and leapt over the rocky cliff beginning their descent into Greer Lake.  Justin never let go of her hand. They fell, fell, fell, gaining speed. The wind whistled past their ears and Cherish no longer felt afraid or stressed. She was flying through the air feeling absolutely free.  When they hit the water Justin swam to resurface for air while pulling her up with him.

"Oh my God!" she screamed after emerging. "That was amazing!"

Justin watched the joy wash over her face and smiled."I told you."

 Cherish wrapped her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist as he continued to tread water. She gazed deep into his eyes and softly said, "Yes...you did."

He took his hand and tried to wipe the hair away from her face. Instead, Cherish let her hands run from around his neck, over his shoulders, and down to his biceps before tightening her grip. She leaned her head back into the water as Justin watched her closely. His eyes drifted from her neck down to the tops of her breasts covered by the bright pink fabric of her bathing suit. She leaned up, hair slicked back and her green eyes were sparkling like emeralds. He was going to attempt to kiss her, but Trace interrupted the moment by complaining that he and the others were starving and that they were ready to head back into town for burgers. Cherish wanted to stay a bit longer, so Justin told them they would catch up in a bit.

Cherish laid on her towel, staring up at the sky which was now turning shades of red, yellow, orange, and pink as the sun was setting.  She turned onto her side and propped up her head with her hand, watching everyone slowly pack up their things. She wanted them to hurry up and leave so the two of them could finally be alone. It had been days since they last kissed, but it felt like an eternity to Cherish. She looked down at Justin who had his eyes closed, still trying to catch his breath and said. "I had a lot of fun today. I haven't had that much fun in a long time."

"Well good." he responded, never opening his eyes, but reaching over and patting her on her leg. "If you stop stressin out so damn much, you'd find I'm a really fun guy."

"I always knew that."

"Then what's the problem?" he asked, opening his eyes slowly and looking up at her.

"What do you mean?"

"We've been out on dates. We've kissed more than a few times…But you act like we're just friends."

"No I don't."  she defended.

"Oh yes you do!" he argued, turning his body towards her and leaning on his elbow. He studied her face before bringing his fingers up to brush away a few grains of sand from her cheek,  "You're my girl aren't you?"

"you're girl?" she asked almost in a whisper.

"Yes my girl? My girlfriend, my significant other, the chick I'm dating, someone I'm in a relationship with, my companion...I don't know how else to define girlfriend." He thought to himself before continuing, "Oh yes I do...my boo, my baby, my sweetheart!" Justin couldn't stop grinning as he watched Cherish turn red.

Cherish could hear Mariah Carey's "Fantasy" playing on the boombox. '...There's no beginning and there is no end, Feels like I'm dreaming but I'm not sleeping.'

She looked away from his and played with a loose piece of fabric on her towel before saying, "I didn't know you considered me your girlfriend."

"How the hell not?" he asked as he fell back onto his towel, frustrated with her.  He sat back up and said, "Everyone in town but you seems to know  you're my girl, so what am I doing wrong here?"

"Nothing. This is just the first time you ever said it out loud."

Justin got up off the ground and started making a proclamation to anyone who was still within earshot of them.  "Cherish Cummings is my girlfriend, people!!"

Cherish, who was now completely embarrassed, pulled on his shorts telling him to shut up. "We know dip shit!" Kyle yelled as they were walking away.

"Better?" he asked looking down at her with his hands on his hips.

Cherish was now covering her face with her hands from embarrassment and Justin couldn't help but laugh. He dropped down to his knees and moved her hands away from her face and said, "If you were confused about how much I like you or how much I like spending time with you, I'm sorry…Sometimes it's hard for me to express my-"

Cherish leaned up and captured his lips in her own, stealing all thoughts and words from Justin's mind.   She tilted her head, capturing his lips again, tangling her hands into the back of his curly hair. An involuntary moan escaped her lips as her continued to kiss her, sucking her bottom lip into his mouth and biting it gently.  Cherish soon broke the kiss and put her forehead to his and looked down before saying, "Don't break my heart."

He lifted her chin and looked deep into her eyes. "Never…" he responded firmly.

A dazzling smile crossed her lips as she said, "Then I guess I'm your girl."

She watched as he closed the distance between them, lying her on her back as he hovered over her, his hands planted firmly on the ground. She squirmed slightly under his gaze and held her breath in anticipation of feeling his soft lips against hers again, and when he smiled down at her longingly, she was lost. Her heart seemed to do a little flip in her chest. His lips parted against hers and then his hot tongue slipped into her mouth, tangling with hers in a tantalizing kiss that left her breathless and giddy. With his mouth on hers, she forgot everything else around them and didn't care who saw them. In that moment, they could have been anywhere, standing in the middle of a stampede, and she wouldn’t care, as long as he didn’t stop kissing her. His kisses were addictive and her excitement was growing, building like a raging inferno.  She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him down against her body,  needing to be closer, to feel him.  Moments later it was Justin who was now breaking their kiss, trying to catch his breath and calm himself down, "We should go and catch up with Trace and them…"

She nodded in agreement and both reluctantly started to pack up their things to leave. Justin outstretched his hand to hers and waited, "You gonna leave me hanging?"

Cherish had just slid her shirt down over her bathing suit when he said it. She looked up at him gazing down at her and put her hand in his as he helped her up. "Never." she smiled. He leaned his head down and kissed her forehead gently before walking hand in hand with her back to town.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Over here, Caroline!" Mr. Cummings yelled, bringing Cherish out of her daydream.  Cherish and her father scooted over to make room for her to sit.

Justin spotted Caroline making her way into the bleachers to join Cherish and her father and knew it would only be a matter of minutes before the outspoken girl he grew up with would spot him and come over to cause trouble.    Cherish tried to concentrate on the game again and began chanting with the crowd. "Knock 'em down, roll 'em round, come on defense, work!"

A few minutes later Mr. Cummings turned to ask Cherish a question and saw her watching Justin as he walked out of the gym, never looking her way.  He wrapped his arm around her shoulder and brought her in for a hug, "What hurts more, darlin? Thinking you should hate him or knowing you don't?”

- Summer 1997

"Slow down," Cherish moaned, pushing Justin’s hand away from her breast. "Can’t we just kiss?"

Cherish was straddling his legs in the driver’s seat of her mom's pink 1973 jaguar.  Her dad recently had it restored and gave it to Cherish for her sweet 16.  She wasn't able to drive it yet, but she loved sitting inside and listening to the radio.  She leaned back slightly, her butt resting against the bottom of the steering wheel as Justin ran his hands down her sides.

"Yeah, okay…but damn, Cherish! I can only take so much. How long do we have to wait, anyway?"

"Shut up and kiss me," she whispered, pulling his face against her own.

He leaned his head closer towards her causing her back to hit the horn of the steering wheel.  He quickly pulled her away from it against his chest and they both sat there giggling as they watched her house for any sign of her father.  When the coast seemed to be clear, they continued kissing.  Keith Sweat's 'Twisted' was softly playing in the background.

Justin was doing his best to respect his girlfriend’s need to go slowly, to be sure about their relationship, but it was growing more difficult with each date. Each date that concluded in hot, increasingly passionate make-out sessions, only to stop suddenly when the yellow porch light came on -- her father’s signal that their date was over and Cherish needed to come into the house. 

Her words might have been ‘slow down’, but her body language was telling him something very different. Justin felt her crotch pressing into his lap, her tongue brushing against his lips and entering his mouth in a hot, passionate embrace. He squirmed in his seat in a desperate attempt to free his straining excitement as she cradled his face in her hands, guiding his lips down to taste her exposed neckline.

"Yes, Justin," she moaned, running her fingers through his curly blonde hair and pulling his mouth hard into her flesh.

Their passion seemed at an all time high as he pulled her body down closer to his. She returned her mouth to his, consuming him, steadily draining away any remaining willpower.

"Oh God, Cherish. I want you so bad," Justin moaned.

She moved her body over into the back seat of the jaguar, pulling Justin back and on top of her. His heart thundered in his chest, as he sensed Cherish’s arousal straining, her breathing more labored than usual, her mouth becoming more ferocious against his own.

She parted her thighs, allowing him to move closer. His excitement was hard and fighting against his jeans as he slid between her legs in sensuous friction. Within moments she was moving with his rhythm. He pressed harder and she rose against him, finally inching down until the soles of her feet were pressed against the car door as she rocked her hips with the grinding of his hardness, her moans filling the car’s interior.

If it went this far…Justin thought silently to himself. He lifted himself slightly and gently ran his fingers up her rib cage, expecting to feel the familiar deflection of his hand back to neutral territory. But instead of moving, she arched her stomach into his palm, an unspoken signal that tonight’s passion might hold more promise.

His fingers continued upwards until he sensed the bottom of her bra, then upwards further, until he crossed the soft flesh of her breast. She moaned in pleasure, her breath hot against his cheek as he gently squeezed her through her shirt, feeling the texture of her body, tracing the outline of where the bra met her skin. Her hand ran up and over his, the signal for him to stop that he knew was inevitable; but again she surprised him with the unexpected, guiding his palm downwards and under her shirt as she arched her shoulders to allow him access.

Her skin was soft and warm to his touch as his fingers washed over each rib. He lifted himself up on his elbows, sliding his hands behind her until he found the clasp of her bra, wrestling for a few seconds until her giggling interrupted their kissing.  "Are you having trouble there?" she smiled.

"Well, it’s not like I do this all the time."

With her bra unfastened, she collapsed her weight back into the seat. Justin returned to kissing her, more slowly now, sensing her shiver as his hand slid up and under the cups of her bra.

"Hold it," she moaned between kisses.

"Nah, Cherish. God dammit! No! You can’t do this! You can’t let me start and then make me stop like this!" He knew he was whining, but at this point he didn’t care.

"Who said you had to stop? I just thought you might like a little more room, that’s all."

His heart raced as she reached down and grabbed the bottom of her shirt, wrestling it upward until her breasts were exposed in the dim of the moonlight. He looked down at her as she stared up at him, a delicious smile on her face. Her breasts were perfect -- everything he'd imagined.

"God, you’re beautiful," he moaned.

He returned his mouth to hers as he gently explored her exposed chest, working slow circles with his fingertips until he reached the sensitive nipple. Gently he rolled and tugged at the tip of her nipple, using the pace of her breathing as a guide to his effectiveness. She was almost panting now, her mouth grabbing onto his, her kisses more intense than he had ever felt. His wanting was now a need, his desire a dull ache.

"Let me feel your mouth on them, Justin," she moaned, guiding his head downwards.

Justin gently grazed his mouth around the edge of her breast, working his way up to dance his tongue across her skin. She was slightly salty to the taste from their increasing passion. Feeling her hardening point in his mouth and her fingers combing through his curly hair, he started to lose himself to the moment. He slid to her other side, repeating his devouring with more intensity, using his palm to cradle and squeeze the breast his mouth had just left behind.

Holding back any longer was futile. He ran his hand down her bare stomach to her pants and tugged forcefully on the buckle. He released the belt and unfastened her jeans as their mouths moved in frenzy, her fingernails digging through his basketball jersey and into his skin. He worked loose the button that held her pants closed and dragged down the zipper, sliding his hand inside her panties until the tips of his fingers grazed her skin. Without warning, the moment of truth arrived. She turned her lips to the side and away from his as she grabbed his hand.  "Justin, no…not that…not now."

He closed his eyes, panting and trying to recover. As quickly as things had moved, they were screeching to a halt.

"Sit up, Justin," she said in a serious tone.

He moved up and behind the steering wheel, rubbing his face in his palms in an attempt to regain a sense of calm as she pulled down her clothing. "I’m sorry," he said. "Are you pissed?"

"For what?" she replied as she sat up, fastening her bra and tucking in her shirt.

"For taking it that far. I know you want to wait. It’s just...damn, Cherish, this is hard for me!"

"I could tell," she smiled.

Justin smiled in return. "You know I love you, don’t you?"

"Yes, I know. And I love you. It’s just that I want it to be special, to be something we’ll remember for the rest of our lives. I don’t want it to happen in the back seat of some car, Justin."

"How ‘bout the front seat?" he asked with a mischievous grin.

"No, not there either." she laughed.

Without warning the porch light came on. "That’s my dad. I gotta go.  Throw the keys in the visor for me," she reached across and kissed him on the cheek. "I love you, Justin," were her last words as she exited the car and ran towards the porch, disappearing into the house.

"I love you too, Cherish.” he heard himself saying out loud, even though she was too far in the distance to hear him.

So you say you want me
Make up your mind
Cuz I'm not gonna be here for long

~~~~~~~~~~~~

 Mr. Timberlake? A voice called out, waking him from his dream.

"The doctor has the results from your father's tests. If you follow me I'll take you down to his office."

Justin wiped his eyes, focusing his attention on the older woman standing in front of him. It was the fumbling nurse that he had encountered when he first came to town to see about his father. He nodded his head at her, glancing over at his father who was still heavily sedated. Justin got up from his chair, stretching. He took the hospital blanket he'd been curled up under and placed it gingerly over his father's feet.  As he followed the nurse towards the elevators, his heart started beating rapidly and he was finding it hard to breath…Completely terrified that the man he loved, adored, and admired growing up may not be as strong or resilient as he once was.

After a little more coaxing from Kathy, Justin reluctantly agreed to stop by Ryan's.  When he pulled up in front of the house, he noticed all the cars and debated with himself for the fifth time whether he should even be there. He hadn't been back to Boone in ten years and didn't know if he'd be welcomed back into the fold. 

He nervously made his way up onto the porch and rang the doorbell and was greeted by Kathy.  "JT! Come on in!" She smiled brightly.

Justin handed her a bag containing two bottles of wine and two bottles of Whiskey. "I wasn't sure what to bring so…"

"You didn't have to bring anything! Thank you!"

Kathy walked Justin through the house, stopping off in the living room to say hello and reacquaint himself with friends he'd grown up with and be introduced to those he'd never met. Kathy ushered him out to the backyard wherethe guys were sitting around in lawn chairs, drinking and talking to each other about times gone by.  Ryan was hard at work on the grill cooking up hamburgers, hotdogs and bbq ribs for his guests, joking that he thought Justin wasn't going to show up. Justin walked around hugging old friends and teammates and felt a sense of calm wash over him as he realized people from back home were actually happy to see him. A polar opposite of the treatment he had received from Cherish when he first got to town.

He quietly sat in his chair drinking beer and listening to Ryan spout off story after story of the shenanigans they used to pull in high school. He looked around at everyone observing most of the people he'd grown up with still lived in town or neighboring towns. They now had jobs or owned businesses, living in homes of their very own or their inherited childhood homes.  Not many of them seemed too down on their luck like he'd expected. Most of them even had families, yet here he was, single with no love to speak of, and a career that was weighing in the balance by a thin thread.  As they all continued to reminisce about the past, Justin became more and more absent from their stories.

More people arrived, making their way out into the backyard to see him. Justin smiled and was humbled by the congratulations he received for accomplishing everything he set out to do so many years ago. Some would talk about envying his lifestyle but on the inside Justin was the one who was slightly envious of the lives they'd built for themselves in the town he tried half his life to escape.  He began to drink more while they reminisced about the past to hide his own pain and loneliness.  Although he'd gone off and in most respects made his dreams come true, he felt empty inside.  He didn't have the comradery or the love that this group of people shared for one another.  All the money and fame in the world couldn't come close to touching that.
 
When it grew darker, Ryan and Kathy walked around the yard lighting torches. More and more people flocked from inside the house into the backyard to chat. The more he talked with everyone the more relaxed he finally became, realizing that no one there held any real animosity towards him. They were happy for him, but most of all they were happy to see him and catch up after all those years.  And when Ryan started passing around a bong and a handful of joints he'd confiscated from some of the local teenagers, Justin began to relax even more.

Cherish pulled up to Ryan's and noticed the house was more crowded than usual. She maneuvered her truck up the side of the driveway and carefully hopped out, trying not to hit the car next to her with the door. She made her way down the long path past the garage towards the backyard, fishing her phone which had been buzzing non-stop out of her pocket to read her messages. She could smell a hint of marijuana in the air and could hear the guys arguing about sports as she feverishly typed a message on her phone. When she looked up to find Ryan, her heart skipped a beat when she spotted Justin sitting next to him. Was this why everyone was here? To see the prodigal's son return?  Was this excitement she was feeling?

Justin was leaning a little off the lawn chair he was sitting on, his jean clad legs spread wide, one elbow resting on his knee allowing his hand to dangle between his legs, the other elbow propped on the back of his chair. He had on a blue short sleeved button-down plaid shirt, his gray t-shirt peeking through. His short brown hair was slightly messy, like it was done on purpose to look that way. His stubble was a little more prominent than the day before. Cherish fought the urge to lick her lips as she spotted the small bit of exposed skin at his hip.  She was pulled from her thoughts when she heard people whistling and calling out to her.  "Where you comin from lookin so damn fancy, girl!" Ryan yelled out to her. He looked behind before asking, "And where's Bobby?"

Justin looked up from his conversation and spotted her. Cherish had on a pair dressy black sequined shorts, with a light green button down blouse underneath and matching black sequin jacket with the sleeves rolled up. He saw that she had straightened her hair and had it pinned into a voluminous up-do. As she made her way over to them, his eyes were irresistibly drawn to her swaying hips, the way her calves tapered down to elegant ankles above black peep toe Louboutin heels with the signature red leather sole.  Her body had ripened into a sensual woman's figure, but up until this point she had contained it and imprisoned it within jeans and t-shirts.

"I had a dinner thing." she bashfully replied. "And Bobby took off with Brian earlier today after work." 

"You hungry? Thirsty?" Ryan asked.

"Oh no thanks, Ry. I'm about to head out. The keg's in the trunk. I tried to pull up as close as I could."

"No stay a while!" Ryan begged. "We were all just reminiscing. Here…" Ryan jumped up from his seat next to Justin, "Sit here."

Ryan called out to a couple guys to come and help him grab the keg.  Cherish reluctantly sat down next to Justin.  She said hello but he merely nodded at her and went back to sipping his beer and talking to the guys.  She felt slighted. He'd gone from damn near stalking her to ignoring her all within 24 hours.

Justin sat there silent, pretending to listen to the story someone was telling while he tried to catch glimpses of Cherish through the corner of his eye. He wanted to speak to her, but after seeing how happy she seemed, he wasn't sure if it was a good idea anymore to  stir up memories that may have been long forgotten by his first love. He was determined to get through this evening and not get tongue tied, nervous, or belligerent around her. If he could lie and convince himself that she was just like any other woman, he could also move on. He could stop having those haunting dreams at night and move the fuck on.

Kathy came out handing Cherish one of the last bottles of beer and asked her about her outfit before updating her on the groups conversation. "We're all just talking about that time Trace, Ryan and a group of the guys got arrested breaking into the bowlin alley. What year was that? Was it 98 or 99? You remember, Cherish?"

"I'm not sure. I think-"

"It was spring of 98." Justin answered for her.

"Really?" Cherish asked, looking over at him. "I thought it was 99?"

"It was 98." He smiled brightly at her. "We were in New York."

Cherish thought back to the trip they'd taken together to New York, blushing as Justin gazed at her remembering the same memory. He averted his attention back to Kathy and the rest of the group. "Had I been around, I would've gotten arrested too right along with Trace and your husband!" he laughed. Justin watched Cherish through the corner of his eye, smirking as he brought the bottle of beer to his lips to take a sip.  "I was in New York getting into trouble of my own."

The mere thought of their trip to New York was sending tremors down to Cherish's thighs. She knew she needed to get away from him and those memories before it was too late. "Hey Kat! You got any tequila?"

"Yep! It's in the kitchen! Along with those special brownies you love." she winked.

Cherish got up from her chair and made her way inside the house, fleeing from his glances and the memories that kept creeping inside her head. Justin watched the way her calves flexed when she walked away and tried to suppress his urge to follow her into the house. But his efforts were futile. He turned to Kathy and said, "I think I'mma go grab one of those special brownies of yours."

"Yeah…you do that." Kathy nodded at him before chuckling to herself and shaking her head at his obviousness.

Justin made his way through the house and into the kitchen where Cherish was standing at the counter talking to another woman as she poured herself a drink.  He leaned against the opposite counter with his ankles crossed and arms folded over his chest.  Neither woman noticed him as they clinked their shot glasses together and chugged down their drinks.  Cherish turned, laughing at something the woman had said and spotted him standing there. "Oh, sorry.  I didn't know you were waiting."

"Take your time." he smiled.

Justin watched as the unfamiliar woman went to exit the kitchen, telling Cherish she'd talk to her after she grabbed a burger. Without a buffer between her and Justin,  Cherish became very nervous. She went to move out of his way and found him looking her over, staring down at her feet.

"What?" she asked following his gaze.

"Nothing. You look very nice." Justin stood up straight and walked over to the counter, looking down at the display of cakes, cookies, pies, and other sweets Kathy had laid out for her guests.  "I'm curious to know who you were out with since I know it couldn't have been Bobby."

"And how do you know that?" She asked as she nervously reached in front of him to grab a brownie.

"Because Bobby could never appreciate you in those shoes."

Her breath hitched in her throat. The tension in her belly tightened until it was almost painful.  "Funny." she sarcastically replied.

"Am I wrong?" he asked, bumping his hip into hers to get her attention.

Cherish hated that even after all these years, Justin was right, but she refused to admit Bobby didn't know the difference between Payless or Prada. This was all too familiar for her…Justin's witty remarks, that damned charming smile of his,  the way his tongue would run across his lips as he'd look at her. She had to shut down his flirtations fast. "As a matter of fact, Bobby loves it when I wear these…Especially when I'm not wearing anything else," she deadpanned.

She knew the mere mention of one's name to the other would set either man off.  Justin became quiet and Cherish relished in the idea of him running the images of her and Bobby through his mind. She hoped it would shut him up and it did. She wasn't able to savor the moment for long when guilt set in as she watched his expression quickly turn. Justin never looked her way, but nodded as he continued to fill his cup with ice.

She was on her way out but only got as far as the opposite side of the kitchen, where she lifted herself up onto the countertop to give her feet a rest. Justin could feel her watching him, but never turned around. The thought of her and Bobby together made him sick, but he knew he had no right to feel the way he did.  He cursed himself for thinking that seeing her at Ryan's would be a good idea...That they could relax and get reacquainted without the pressure of being alone together. But Justin's plan had backfired yet again and all he wanted to do was go back to his dad's, pack his bags, and leave Boone in his rearview once and for all. He was so wrapped up in thoughts of her and Bobby and their seemingly happy life that Justin barely heard her when she asked, "Any news on your dad?"

He continued to look through Tupperware bins and never turned to meet her gaze. "They gave him the okay to go back to the nursing home. He's just got a nasty bump that needed staples. Other than not knowing who the hell I am, he's fine."

"Well it's good to hear it wasn't anything too serious." She paused for a moment before continuing. "So I guess that means you're leaving soon?"

Justin scoffed, turning around to look at her. "You almost sound disappointed."

Cherish was about to vocalize her disappointment, but Justin cut her off. "Don't worry. You won't have to put up with me much longer.  I'll be outta your hair soon enough and you can go back to your perfect little life here." He stated, tossing his plate down onto the counter, an edge in his voice. "I get it, Cherish. I'm a son a bitch! You can’t stand me and you're counting down the minutes till I leave town.  You made you're feelings clear ten years ago. And ever since the minute I bumped into you, your body language has made it clear again. I fuckin get it!"

Cherish didn't say a word. He could hear her heels click against the linoleum floor and turned to meet her gaze as well as their impending argument. But she just stared at him, her eyes glassy from what appeared to be tears forming. Her mouth was slightly agape, yet she said nothing. She grabbed up her drink and silently walked out of the kitchen.

"Fuck" he groaned.

Justin poured himself a larger whiskey and was making his way through the house back to the yard when a mousey voice called out his name and he instantly knew it was Stacey Shaw. Her mother and his father had briefly dated. She'd always joke about how the two of them would one day become siblings, but Justin could never bring himself to tell her the truth about his father's reputation and wandering eye.  He greeted her with a warm hug.  He glanced out the back door and could see Cherish sitting outside, talking to Ryan and Kathy and was thankful she hadn't left yet. He decided to keep his distance, finding a seat on the couch next to Stacey and a few others he grew up with.

As they were all catching up, he started to regret his decision to stay inside when Stacey brought up his ex.  "...You wouldn't see Justin without Cherish or Trace with him. They were all practically joined at the hip!" she laughed.

"Oh I never heard her mention him." the redhead sitting next to Stacey said, pushing the proverbial knife a little further into Justin's chest. "I didn't even know you two had a history together."

History hardly described the complex relationship Justin and Cherish had as teenagers.  It didn't come close to describing the only woman he'd let himself love, back when he'd been too young to understand the word.

He continued talking and joking with everyone, looking out the backdoor every few minutes at Cherish and the other's who were drunkenly singing along to Brandy's "Almost Doesn't Count," commiserating over the bullshit they'd been through with past and present relationships. "...Almost convinced me, you were gonna stick around, But everybody knows, Almost doesn't count!"

When Justin left town ten years ago he tried to completely erase the memory of this woman from his mind and his heart.  He tried alcohol, then tried reckless sex filled nights with woman who he didn't ask their names, until he focused all his willpower on simply refusing to allow images of her to enter his head.  But ever since his injury, they'd started flooding his mind with a vengeance and all he could think about was her.  Here he was back in the town where he grew up, thirty feet away from the girl he couldn't stop thinking about, and all he could do was constantly screw things up.  The music changed and he could hear Brandy's "Have You Ever" playing.

Have you ever tried to find the words
But they don't come out right
Have you ever, have you ever

When he looked out the backdoor again Justin noticed that Cherish was gone. He quickly got up from the couch, "Excuse me for a minute, ya'll."

He walked out back and asked if Cherish had left. Ryan pointed towards the group of trees lining the backyard. Justin looked over and could see a figure lying on a hammock. As he made his way closer, he saw her swaying back and forth, her fingers gliding through the blades of grass while she took a puff of the blunt in her hand.

"I'm continually messing shit up when it comes to you."

Cherish jumped slightly, startled by his presence.

"I'm sorry about earlier. I've got a lot on my mind and I didn't mean to blow up at you." He apologized.

"It's cool." she shrugged.

"No, it wasn't cool." Justin walked around to the other side of the hammock so he could look her in the eyes. "Do you forgive me?"

"Do I forgive you?" Cherish paused as she took another puff. "That is such a loaded question, JT."

"Okay. Well why don't we start off slow then?" He took his hand and slowed down the swaying hammock to get her full attention. "Do you forgive me for earlier in the kitchen?"

"Yes" she nodded.

"Can I sit with you?"

She pondered it for a moment then replied. "Sure."

Justin kicked off his shoes and gingerly sat down on the other end of the hammock. Cherish moved her body over slightly to make room for him, turning her head in disgust when his feet got too close to her face.

"Girl, my feet don't stank!" his southern drawl becoming more prominent.

"I forgot! " Cherish laughed. "You have to wear shoes more than once for that to even be possible!" she joked.

Justin reached up and grabbed her legs, tickling her around the sensitive part of her knees. It felt like old times as they both sat quietly, looking up at the stars and listening to the music playing off in the distance.

"What time is it?" she asked looking down towards his watch.

"It's about 9:30."

Cherish leaned forward and offered him some of her blunt. As she handed it to him, she reached down and grabbed the cup of beer she had sitting on the ground next to her. She and Justin briefly talked about his NBA career and the place he now called home in Boston. It was nothing close to the topics of discussion Justin wanted to land on, but he took what he could get.

"...Any serious relationships?" she asked, sipping her beer.

And there was his in. Justin folded his arms across his chest and cocked his head to the side. "Since you?" He could see the redness flash upon her cheeks and grinned, "No...Not really. I dated this one chick for about eight months until what tiny spark we did have fizzled out.  She was a great girl, but I felt like we were just going through the motions." Justin pulled the smoke from the blunt deeply into his lungs and held it there for a few seconds before releasing it. "I wish I could say I was heartbroken about it, but I wasn't."

Cherish nodded, completely understanding how he felt.

"So you and Bobby, huh?"  he asked, lungs full of smoke as he leaned up to hand her back the blunt.

"Me and Bobby what? She asked, reaching up to take it from him. "I get lonely sometimes and we keep each other company...I'm a woman with needs."
 
"I just never would've expected you to end up with someone like him." he teased, his face scrunched up in disgust.
 
"Don't do that." she warned.

"Don't do what?"

"You know what." she scolded. "That cocky and condescending tone you get. Don't talk about him that way. Bobby's always been loyal to a fault." She leaned down and rubbed the lit end of the blunt against a rock to put it out. "He's always been there for me...Unlike some people I know. "

"I'm sorry." he said trying to express his apology for both his remark and the past.

Cherish nodded as she took a sip of her beer. "Bobby's a great guy. One day he'll make someone very happy...It just won't be me."

"Why do you say that?"

"He deserves someone who can give him the things he wants out of life.  I can't do that for him."

Justin could hear the pain in her voice. "And what might that be?" he cautiously asked.

Cherished cleared her throat, pushing back the emotions that were starting to bubble up inside her.  She looked down towards Justin's watch again and asked, "What time is it?"

"Ten minutes till."

"Ah!" Cherish sighed, slowing getting up from the hammock. "Unfortunately, Mr. Timberlake, our twenty minutes is now up."

"Wait what?" he asked confusedly. She devilishly grinneds at him as she reached down and grabbed her shoes to leave. Justin went to stop her but in his rush to get up from the hammock he tipped over and fell to the ground. "Hold up! That's not fair, Cherish!" He called after her as he stuffed his feet into his shoes. "I didn't know that was my twenty minutes!"

Cherish waved to him before sauntering back towards the house.

"Are you serious!?" Justin yelled as he stood up to give chase.

Cherish tried to run but he was too fast. When he caught up to her, he wrapped one of his strong arms around her waist and lifted her off the ground-twirling her around in circles.  She begged him to put her down before she puked and he complied, gently guiding her back down until her feet touched the ground. For a moment they shared a laugh as she used his shoulder for leverage to put her heels back on. She was about to speak when he turned his head back towards the house and yelled for Ryan to turn up the stereo.   He started to dance in the middle of the backyard rapping along to Kid N' Play's "Ain't Gonna Hurt Nobody."

Ryan came over and joined in with Justin and the two men did a rusty yet impressive rendition of the Kid N' Play dance up until it came time for the jump over the leg move and neither of them could or would do it.  "I can still do the move!" Justin defended.

Ryan raised an eyebrow at him as of to say 'sure you could,' causing Justin to laugh even harder. " If my knee wasn't fucked up I'd bust it out right now!"

Their failed attempt at old 90's dance moves sparked a movement and soon mostly everyone at the house had joined in, dancing around the backyard like they were teenagers again. The evening was turning out to be better than Justin had hoped.  Smiles and laughter filled the atmosphere with good vibes as everyone, including Cherish, relaxed and enjoyed themselves. As the party died down, most people found their way back into the house and sat around the living room talking. Cherish was over at the mini bar fixing Kathy her signature "Purple Rain" drink when Darryl, who was never known for his tact, decided to ask the question on everyone's minds. "So Justin…Where'd you up and disappear to ten years ago?"

Cherish could feel Justin's eyes staring a hole through her back. She gulped down a shot of tequila waiting to hear Justin's response. "Ummm…Long story short? I was offered an opportunity of a lifetime and had to take it."

"Well yeah. We all know about you getting a spot on the team at Northeastern. But we haven't seen you around Boone since!"  Darryl turned his head around asking Cherish, "And you never saw him up there either, Cher?"

She shook her head 'no' and poured herself another shot as more uncomfortable questions spilled out of Darryl's mouth.  Justin was curious to know where Darryl thought he'd be able to bump into Cherish over the years but could tell by the way she was downing shots of tequila that she was just as uneasy as he was with the interrogation.

The screen door opened and Jimmy and a few others, including Debbie Wilson, came walking in. "You went away to hoity-toity Boston and forgot all about us." Jimmy joked as he walked over, placing his hand on Justin's shoulder and giving it a squeeze.

Justin stood up and exchanging the typical guy greeting that entailed a weird handshake and a quick hug before Jimmy said, "You know we gotta fuck you, man! Re-initiation and shit!"

Debbie wrapped her arms around Justin's neck. "Hey you!" she hugged him tightly and looked over at Darryl and said, "Well me and JT used to bumped into each other all the time around Christmas when he'd be in the city with his mom."

Cherish rolled her eyes, turning back around to fix herself yet another shot. Debbie loved shoving that bit of information in Cherish's face any chance she could and the intimacy of their hug was making Cherish wonder if they may have done a little more than just bump into each other. The idea that over the years Justin never came to town to see about her, but had time to "bump into" the town slut pissed Cherish off to no end. She shook her head, disgusted with herself for acting like a teenager again and allowing anger and jealousy to plague her thoughts.

Debbie found a spot next to Justin on the couch and he shifted in his seat slightly to put some distance between them. He looked over at Darryl and nervously said,  "Yeah…Outside of the holidays, school and basketball had me pretty busy…" His eyes quickly darted towards Cherish, whose back was still turned to him. "It was really hard to come back home."

"Well all that hard work paid off, brutha." Ryan patted him on the back. "It's good to see you doing so well!  I was waiting on Jimmy to get off his shift so we could play a quick game. You interested? Or are you restricted because of the knee?"

"I can play. But I'm just trying to take it easy now." Justin replied.

"Oh, Cherish!" Ryan called over to her. "How'd the boys do at the championships?"

Now this conversation looked promising. Without even knowing it, Ryan had opened the gates for Justin to get more information about the kid.

"They won 23 to 12." Cherish replied.

"Great!" Ryan congratulated. "Have you seen the kid play yet, JT?" he asked never giving Justin a chance to respond. "You should check out his skills before you leaves town. He's like a mini you with that jump shot of his.  Right, Cher?" Ryan turned around, but Cherish was gone.

"I think she got a phone call." Kathy said looking out the back door.

Justin waited a few minutes before going to look for her. When he went outside he didn't immediately spot her till he walked around to the back past the garage and saw her standing in the gazebo near the pond at the edge of Ryan's property. Her back was turned to him when he approached. He could hear her talking on her cell phone to someone he could only assume was Bobby. "…Yeah, I said I'll be back in about an hour. I just wanted to check in."

Justin stood outside the gazebo with his forearms resting against the railing, his eyes roving over her body once more as she leaned over the opposite side finishing her call. When she was done she stuffed the phone down into the pocket of her sequin shorts.  She could feel him watching her. "You're back to following me now, huh?" she asked as she slowly turned around to face him, leaning back against the railing.

Justin made his ascent up the stairs and began to walk towards her. he noticed her tense up and froze. "Why do you do that?"

"Do what?"

"Tense up anytime I come near you?"

"I don't." she objected, folding her arms across her chest.

Justin moved forward again, noticing Cherish shift uncomfortably. "See!" he pointed out, pausing for a moment. "…I don't bite, Cherish."

 A smile crept across her face. "Umm, If my memory serves me correctly...You do."

"And if mine serves me correctly…" he smirked as he inched his way closer to her. "You enjoyed it…a lot."

Cherish put her hand up. "That's close enough." With their faces only feet apart, she couldn't help but stare at his lips and remember the way they felt against hers so many years ago. "The only reason I'm letting you stand this close is because I'm a smidgen drunk and there were two of you a second ago. I can only handle one of you right now."

He was staring at her in that same way he did back in the day. A look that reminded her of all the dirty things they'd end up doing to each other minutes after he'd give her that look. The thoughts were turning her on and the mixture of those memories and the alcohol weren't helping her maintain any resolve around him. She watched as his tongue snaked out across his lips and he chuckled at how her mouth mimicked what he was doing.

“Green’s a nice color on you,” he said softly, taking one more cautious step forward. “It brings out your eyes.” His fingers brushed across the fabric of her shirt as he adjusted her necklace and grinned widely at how her eyelids fluttered.

“JT,” she said, laughter in her voice as her cheeks flamed and she tucked her chin away, avoiding eye contact.

“What?” he asked laughing, slipping his hands into his pockets and regarding her amusedly, enjoying the tension.

“This..." She waved a hand back and forth between them."...is dangerous.”

“What? Me complimenting you? ”he asked, looking around in mock confusion. “Speaking of which...Did I ever get a chance to tell you how good it is to see you, Cherish?"

"No. You never did. You were too busy puking on me to say anything." she laughed.

Justin looked around to see if anyone heard her. "Can we keep that between us?" He whispered. The heat from his breath touching the coldness of her ear sent shivers down her spine.

Cherish leaned her mouth up to his ear and slowly and deliberately whispered, "Neverrr..."

He let his head fall back in laughter and Cherish took that opportunity to move away from his closeness and find a seat on the nearby bench. She watched him as he looked out over the pond, neither of them speaking for a moment. The only sounds that could be heard were the insects chirping and very faint laughter coming from the house. Justin inhaled deeply, "I missed the quietness of the country...And the smell."

"You mean the fresh air?"

"Yes. Fresh air..." he took another deep breath, "..with a hint of cow shit." They both began to laugh.

When the amusement died down, Cherish looked up at him and muttered, "It's too bad you're leaving."

Justin shot her a look and she realized her drunken words had spoken the thoughts on her heart. "...So soon before the reunion I mean." She tried to clean up her statement.

"You don't want me here."  He told her, his voice sounding rough and broken. He waited for her to object, but her silence said it all.  He turned his body away and looked off into the distance.

He was surprised when Cherish finally spoke and said, "You snapped my head off earlier in the kitchen and never let me speak." She waited for him to make eye contact before continuing. "I was gonna to tell you that it would be disappointing to everyone if you were to leave before the reunion."

Justin took his hands out of his pockets and crossed them over his chest. "It's hard to consider staying when the one person I really wanted to see tenses up anytime I get close to her. She avoids me like the plague each and every time I try to talk to her about something extrem-"

"Can we not do this?" she cut him off. "Please? I'm having a really good time tonight and I don't want to ruin it by arguing with you."

She watched as his cheeks filled up with air and he let out a low growl, gripping the edge of the railing to release his frustration. "Soooo…." He drawled, trying to change the subject to appease her. "Is Ryan's house always this crowded?"

"Never." she responds getting up from her seat and standing next to him to wave goodbye to one of the girls yelling her name. "Everyone's here to see you."

"I don't know why." he shrugged.

Cherish looked up at him quizzically. "You underestimate the effect you have on people. To them you're still the funny, charming, and genuine guy you were growing up. They actually wanna spend time with you and see how you're doing outside of what they see of you on a tv screen…Even if we both know you're a completely different person now."

"I'm still charming as hell." he quipped. "Even drunk outta my mind, I managed to get you to come home with me." he joked.

Cherish instinctively leaned her shoulder into his as she laughed heartily at his joke and it felt like old times again. Justin turned sideways to face her. "Listen…I know every time you turn around it seems like I'm in your face.  I'm sorry if I'm being a pain in the ass. "

"No your not!" she laughed taking a sip of her beer. She set her cup down on the railing and shifted sideways to face him.  "Can I be honest with you? Since I'm a little bit drunk?"

"Always." he smiled gazing into her now dark green eyes.

"I've enjoyed your feeble attempts to be near me."

"You better watch out!" Justin said as he looked around. "People might think we're actually getting along and having a good time...together!" he exclaimed with a shocked look on his face. "News travels fast 'round 'chere. Word might get back to your boyfriend, Bobby."

Justin leaned his body across hers and grabbed her cup of beer to steal a sip. As he was leaning back he made eye contact with Cherish as she said, "We might as well make it worth it.  This town hasn't seen any good gossip in awhile."

It was hard for him to gauge her facial expression. He couldn't tell if she was joking or if she was flirting back with him. He set the cup down in between them. "Can I be honest with you now?"

"Always" she mocked his earlier response, gazing into his eyes.

"I've wanted to kiss you since I bumped into you at the bar the other day." he inched towards her causing her to back up into the wooden pillar. Justin stared down at her mouth and asked, "What would you do if I were to kiss you right now?"

"Don't." she whispered, unable to find her voice.

Cherish put her hand up to stop his advances. She playfully pushed on his abdomen, trying to give him the impression that she wanted space, when she really just wanted to feel him. Justin leaned his forehead against hers, staring down at her lips. Their closeness and her fragrance filled his senses making him feel drunker and higher than he was already.  He slowly and deliberately let his nose graze against her cheek, his lips millimeters apart from her skin, wanting so badly to press them against her lips.

"Yo, JT!" a voice called out.

Cherish immediately recognized Darryl's voice and quickly turned her head away. Justin sighed heavily and looked over at Darryl who was walking towards the garage.

"We're about to shoot a few hoops." he pointed back towards the now cleared area of driveway where the basketball hoop stood. "You up for a quick game?"

"Naw, man!  I'm good!  I think I'mma sit this one out." Justin focused his attention back onto Cherish's lips, trying to get back to the moment they were sharing before Darryl's interruption.

"Just a quick game, JT! We'll take it easy on you."

Knowing that Darryl wasn't going to let up, Cherish flirtatiously smiled up at Justin and played with him a little. "Yeah they'll take it easy on you, JT."

Justin could barely hear Darryl talking to him in the background as he focused on the sexual innuendos Cherish was seductively uttering to him in basketball terms he himself taught her like "going strong to the hole", "double pumps", and "pounding the inside."

"Come on man! Who knows the next time we'll see you, dude. Quick game!"

Cherish could tell by the look on his face that Justin wanted to go and play. It was that same look of internal struggle he had back in high school when having to choose between her and his love of competitive sports.  She looked down at his watch and eyed the time. "I need to get back to the bar and close up. But you should play, 23!  I'm sure the guys will get a kick outta seeing you handle the old balls again."  Her dirty joke made Justin grimace.  "He's coming, Darryl!"

"Not even close." Justin joked, bringing his mouth down to her ear as he whispered,  "But talking to you like this again is making my dick hard."

Cherish silenced the moan that almost escaped her lips. "Since we're speaking candidly..." She leaned up, the hotness of her breath hitting his ear as she whispers in a deep and lustful voice, "I guess it wouldn't hurt to tell you that my panties are soaking wet right now."

Cherish let the back of her hand slide past the front of his jeans, lightly grazing his straining member before she started to walk away. "Ohhh, I'm so sorry." she feigned an apology.

Justin stared at her as she walked away, his jaw dropped in astonishment at her confession. He was going to give chase but couldn’t move due to the rather large bulge in his pants. "Cherish Elizabeth Cummings! You're definitely drunk!"

"And your love for the game has again gotten in the way of your love for pussy!" she brazenly yelled back to him.

"We need to finish this discussion, Cherish!"

"Nope!" she yelled walking backwards now so she could look at him, "Cause we might end up discussing things all…night…long! Goodnight, 23!" 

Justin shook his head laughing, watching her sashay over to her car, turning the key in the ignition and yelling back to him once more, "It was good seeing you!" she started backing out of the driveway. "...Again!"

 "I wanna rematch, Timberlake!" Ryan yelled.

"Next time I'm in town, scrub!"  Justin yelled back.

"That could be twenty years from now!" Ryan joked, making the other guys laugh.

"Funny! Hit me up tomorrow! Maybe we can get a quick game in before I head to my mom's!"

Justin tugged at his wife beater which clung to his sweaty chest, trying to cool himself off. He made his way down the driveway noticing a handful of women he'd grown up with sitting in the back of his truck laughing amongst themselves. He threw his shirts over his shoulder and walked to the back of the truck. "Good evening ladies. How ya'll doin?"

"We can't believe you still have your old truck, Justin!  Remember back in the day when there'd be like twenty of us squeezed back here and we'd drive out behind Tommy's daddy's land and watch the guys go muddin' and then party in his dilapidated old barn all night?"

Justin stood around talking and reminiscing with them for awhile before deciding to call it a night. "Well, ladies...As much as I love seeing intoxicated and vulnerable woman in my truck, I'mma have to ask y'all to get out, so I can bounce." He pulled down the tailgate and put his hand out to help them down.

"Alright. Hold your horses!" one of them drunkenly laughed as she tried to crawl her way out of the truck.

"Damn, JT...I remember a time when you'd welcome drunk and vulnerable women in your truck..Right, C?" the blonde slurred, bumping her fist lightly over her head against the back window of the truck.

"Yep," a voice called out from inside.

Justin walked up to the front passenger side of his truck and looked in and saw Cherish lying across the seat with her bare feet dangling out the driver side window.  He hadn't seen her when he walked up.  "I thought you left?" he remarked, trying not to sound too exited to discover that she stayed.

"I was," she said, leaning her head back to look up at him. "Until I backed out and saw Tina and the girls in your truck begging me to finish off this blunt with them."

"You drink Tequila...smoke weed?" he shook his head as he watched her take one last pull of a joint and toss the butt out the window. "And in my truck no less."

"I'm still a fun chick from time to time!" Cherish craned her neck back trying to focus her blurred vision on him, pointing haphazardly in his general direction. "You've turned into the fun sucker...kicking everyone to the curb while we were taking a trip down memory lane."

Looking at him upside down was making Cherish dizzy. She closed her eyes trying her best to stop the world around her from spinning. 

"Ahhh I see…" Justin took the opportunity to let his eyes roam across her body to her shorts, which were slowly sliding up her thigh showing off more of her skin. "Can I come with?"

"It's you're truck." she shrugged.

Cherish sat up and shifted in the seat of car allowing Justin room to get in. She took a large sip of water from the bottle in her hand, trying her best to regain some sense of sober.  They sat there quietly for a moment until she reached in front of him to open the glove compartment. She grabbed a cassette tape and handed it to him asking, "What the hell is "TBCM?"

Justin laughed to himself as he remembered, "Trace's Booty Call Mix…"

Cherish joined in with a light chuckle as Justin fished the key from his pocket. He slid it into the ignition, turning it slightly before pushing the tape into the tape deck.  The bridge of  H'Town's "Knockin Da Boots" began to play through the speakers of the car, making them both laugh even harder.

It grew silent again as they continued listening to the music, both trying to figure out what to say next.  Justin finally turned his head to her and said, "We've had a lot of memories in here."

Cherish nodded in agreement, her eyes glancing around the car as memories replayed in her head. "Considering how much you've changed, I'm surprised you still even have this old thing."

He ignored her comment about how much he'd changed and instead, gazed at her longingly, "There are still some things that have never changed." he said softly.

She continued to stare straight ahead at the radio console. "Like what?"

"Like the fact that my heart still races just being next to you."

A little part of the wall she’d erected around her heart crumbled at his admission.  His eyes were trained on her face, searching for some type of acknowledgment that she felt the same way, but she merely sighed. If she’d been thinking straight, she would've never stayed at the party as long as did, drank and smoked as much as she did, or made a complete fool out of herself by flirting with him the way she had. And now she was alone with him in the most dangerous place of all--his truck--thinking about all the adventures they'd taken, all the make-out sessions and all the-...

"Hey..." he started, pulling Cherish from her thoughts. "You remember when-" Justin stopped himself, never finishing his sentence.

"Remember when what?" she asked, finally meeting his eyes.

"Never mind...it was so long ago." He looked down, shaking his head.

"Refresh my memory then."

Justin saw another opening and took it. "The time we spent the night under the stars."

A smile formed across her lips as she remembered. "Yeah. The night after prom. We woke up the next morning with a million mosquito bites." she laughed. "Even still...It was one of the most-"

"Yo, Cherish!" Jimmy yelled as he approached the truck.

Justin was beginning to recollect why he hated living in a town where everyone knew each other. People were constantly wanting to chat and there was no such thing as privacy. He looked down, shaking his head at the fact that their trip down memory lane was probably over. 

"Ryan said he'll bring you the money for the keg tomorrow." Jimmy opened the door and made Justin and Cherish move over so he could get in and be nosey. "What ya'll in here doin?"

"Just talkin, Jimmy." Justin answered, giving him a look.

"Mmmhmm." he raised his eyebrow smiling. "Having a little reunion of your own I see."

Cherish leaned across both men's laps, giving Justin a clear view of her ass as she pulled the door handled to open the passenger door. "Yes, James. And three's a crowd. So git!" she motioned.

"Okay! Okay! I can see when I'm not wanted." Jimmy laughed as he turned to get out. 

Justin was surprised by her bold move to get rid of Jimmy and wondered if they were finally going to be able to talk about what happened ten years ago when he left Boone. Cherish crawled over Justin's lap, playfully pushing Jimmy out of the car and closing the door, leaning the top part of her frame out the window.  

"Here. Take this off my hands." Jimmy said, handing her the freshly rolled joint from his shirt pocket. "I'm about to go see my girl. I don't wanna get pulled over with it."

Cherish took the joint out of his hand and tucked it behind her ear.  Justin sat there frozen, watching her ass  sway back and forth as she continued to talk to Jimmy about something he couldn't really hear or care to hear as his mind raced with thoughts of how great her ass looked.

 Jimmy nodded towards Justin and gave Cherish the same look Justin gave him a minute before and whispered, "You want me to stop by and tell Anne Marie to close up without you?"

"No." she poked him in his chest. "I'm about to go over there now."

"Mmmhmm…" he nodded.

"Don't!"

"Don't what!?" he asked innocently as he turned around and made his way over to his car.

"You know what!" she yelled to him, slightly nervous that Jimmy might start a rumor that would quickly get back to Bobby .

"I'd never!" he laughed waving to her. "Night ya'll!"

Cherish moved her leg back over Justin's lap to sit back in her seat and accidentally bumped his bad knee, causing him to grab a hold of her by her waist, wincing and cursing in pain.

"Oh my god! I'm so sorry!"  Cherish covered her mouth in fear, frightened that she may have caused more damage to his injury.

She carefully moved her leg and placed it on the other side of him, straddling his thighs. Justin continued to grip her waist tightly, taking deep breaths. His hold was so strong Cherish didn't think she could move even if she tried. His head was buried in her chest and she could feel his breath hot against the lower part of her clavicle.

"Let me get you some ice for it." she said, gently touching his shoulders.

With his head still buried in her chest, Justin shook his head and said he'd be fine. Cherish reached back attempting to touch his knee.

"No no no…don't touch it!" he begged. 

He lifted his head and let it fall back against the seat, looking up at the ceiling of the car.  "Just gimme a minute."

He loosened his grip on her waist and spread his arm out across the back of the seat.

Cherish could see a tear running down his cheek. "Awwww, you poor baby." she sympathized, bringing her hand up to his cheek and wiping the tear away with her thumb.

Justin leaned his face into her palm, lingering in her touch.  She sat there watching him, remember how tender he used to be with her when they were younger. As he continued to breath through the pain, she said, "I've got something  that will make you feel better."

Justin looked down at their closeness and smirked.

"No," she chided. The two of them jokingly squared off, staring at one another till Cherish couldn't hold her smile in any longer. She let her forehead fall into his shoulder and chuckled. "I see some things never change."

When she lifted her head up, she spotted his necklace and gasped, recognizing the gift that she'd given him twelve years.  Her fingers trembled as she reached out and touched the chain resting against his shirt. "You still have this?"

"Of course I do." he replied matter-of-factly as if to imply that she should've known he'd never get rid of it.

She gently lifted it off his chest, running her thumb across the silver number 23 charm, his team number from high school. Cherish placed the necklace back down against his chest, running her fingers down the front of his shirt, touching his pecks. "Stop messin' with my chesticles, girl. You know my nipples are sensitive." he joked.

Cherish nervously chuckled, not realizing that she'd allowed the fantasy she was having of touching him become a reality. She quickly moved her hands back down, resting them against her thighs.  “Put your damn shirt back on and cover those things,” she commanded, pointing in the general direction of his biceps.

“My biceps?” he asked slowly, as if realizing it meant she’d noticed them.  Awareness flashed in his eyes.

“Yes."

Justin arched an eyebrow, the trace of a smile lurking on his lips as he grabbed his gray shirt from over shoulder and put it back on, tossing his plaid shirt down onto the seat.  Her brain was telling her to get off his lap, but her body wouldn't let her budge.  They gazed at each other for a moment until Cherish finally sat up on her knees and began to dig into her back pocket. Justin enjoyed the closeness of the moment and tried to steal another peek down her shirt.  She slinked her arms out of her jacket and tossed it onto the seat before reaching behind Justin's head to slide open the back window. She rested her butt back down against his thighs, making sure not to bump his knee again. She pulled the joint from behind her ear and lit it with the red lighter she'd fished out of her pocket.

Cherish wrapped her lips around the end and sucked the smoke into her lungs. She took her free hand and placed it around his mouth, forming his lips into a circle. She then leaned her face in closer to his  and slowly blew the smoke out towards his mouth. He instinctively sucked in the air, shotgunning  the rest of the joint with her, remembering the last time they had done it ages ago. Back then, they'd share a kiss afterwards, but he knew it would be presumptuous of him to think that was going to happen tonight.

His mind began to feel hazy again, and the pain in his knee slowly dissipated with each pull.  The more they smoked, the more they both relaxed again. He could feel Cherish moving her hips to the beat of Usher's "Nice & Slow" and it was driving him crazy.

Justin gripped the back of the seat, trying to control his urges. "Why don't you sit back over there, cause this right here," he pointed out their closeness, "Isn't helping at all."

"And if I don't?" she whispered, moving her hips again and snapping her fingers to the beat as she bit her bottom lip seductively.

He swallowed hard, then swallowed again. "I can't be held responsible…He has a mind of his own when it comes to you." He looked down towards his growing erection, causing her to lose her breath.

"No but seriously, Cherish. While I still have you here. Before anyone else interrupts us for the hundredth fuckin time since I got into town..."  Justin ran his hand threw his hair and rubbed the back of his neck trying to broach the difficult subject once more.  "Ever since I came to town I feel like you've been running away from me…I love that we can still be playful like this with one another, but can we please go somewhere and really talk, Baby?"

Baby? Since when did she give him the right to call her "Baby" again? It paled in comparison to the dirty things they'd been saying to each other earlier, but she still felt a strong pang in her chest when she heard him call her "Baby"  again after all this time. 

Cherish knew that having a serious discussion with Justin would burst open the dam of emotions that she had worked so hard to hold back over the years. She didn't want to talk. She wasn't ready and the only thing she could think to do now was distract him as well as herself. She slid her fingers in his hair at the back of his neck and began to rock slowly against him.  "I don't wanna talk tonight."

His eyes fluttered shut and for a second there, he lost all train of thought. "Well I do." he stated firmly, trying to regain control.

"What do you wanna talk about?" she whispered in his ear as she kept rocking her hips back and forth against him.

His willpower was slowly fading with each hip rotation she made against his crotch. "I don't know…Stuff!" He could feel her moist breath against his neck and tried his best again not to lose focus. "Like what've you been up to for the past ten years?"

"Same shit, different day." she breathed softly into his other ear.

"I'm serious." Justin swallowed, gently patting the tops of her thighs, trying not to fulfill his urge to grip them and pull her closer to him.  He moved his hands away and rested them down against the seat.

"Cherish, I want you…In the worse way, but shouldn't we talk first? Catch up?"

"Don't ruin this, JT." she whispered in his ear, tugging it gently between her teeth. "Let's just enjoy this…"

"I just…fuck…" he said quietly, his head hanging back in pleasure.

Being in that truck alone with him made Cherish feel like she was seventeen again.  It all started out as a distraction tactic, but now she didn't know why she couldn’t stop. Her brain was screaming at her 'don't go any further,' but her body would hear none of it.   Why was it only him who could inspire this level of want and need within her? 

Justin's eyes trailed up her chest to her face.  She placed her hands on the roof of the truck, using it as leverage to ground herself harder against him.

"Now why are you playing with me, baby?"

"What do you mean?" she gave him another coy smile.

"You used to do that  move all the time…mind you we had on less clothing, but….shit. Come on I'm serious. Please" he begged.

"Please what?" 

Justin was tired of playing her game. He grabbed her arms off the roof and held them both tightly in his large hand. Cherish was taken off guard by his strength and froze. He lifted his other hand and stopped himself just short of touching her face. He looked down at her mouth and pleaded with her,  "It's taking everything in me to keep my hands to myself.  Please stop torturing me like this, Cherish."

She stared into his eyes--eyes that were pleading with her. "Touch me," she whispered.

Justin slowly and gently ran his hand down the length of her arm and around her back. He gingerly pulled out her clip and watched her hair fall down past her shoulders. He took a handful of her hair and tugged it gently forcing her head back as he leaned in closer, his breath hot against the skin her neck, making her nipples harden. She arched her back more and all he wanted to do is put his mouth all over her exposed flesh.

He knew Cherish had been trying to sidetrack him any way she could to avoid a serious conversation or confrontation with him. He knew, but at the moment he didn't care. He was happy for the chance to touch her and she not flinch--welcoming his embrace. He ran his free hand up her thigh and wrapped it tightly around the back of her waist, pulling her body in closer to his own.  “Ride me,” he commanded.

A wave of heat spread through her body at the gruffness in his voice.  Justin grabbed her hips and pulled her down harder onto him. He bit his lip as her lap pushed into his crotch, his cock fully hard.  They both moaned at the friction. Cherish fell forward against his chest, gasping as she felt him rock hard and straining against the fabric of his jeans. She pressed her hands against the back wall of the truck, planting them on both sides of his head, wanting so badly to wrap them around his frame but was too afraid.

Justin looked down watching her hips rock back and forth. He ran both his hands up her bare skin, his thumbs skimming her inner thighs.  His hands went around cupping her ass and bringing her hips down while he ground his crotch up against her.  Cherish's head fell back luxuriating in his touch and allowing him to brush his lips across her collarbone.  The tip of his nose slid slowly up her neck and brushed the side of her cheek as he whispered in her ear, "I've missed you."

He could feel her body decompress into his as she let out a long sigh, wrapping her arms around his shoulders. He continued to press hot, velvet kisses down her throat. She moaned, whispering yes softly in his ear as he laid more kisses down her neck to the edge of her collarbone.  He bit down gently and she moaned again, rocking harder against him. She'd missed this.

Needing to feel the heat of his skin, she fumbled for the hem of his T-shirt and pushed it up. When her hands made contact, she squeezed her eyes shut to savor the feeling. Her fingertips chased over the planes of his chest, greedy to make up for every moment she’d existed without his skin touching hers. It’d been too long. Unbearably long.

With his hand still tight around her waist and his other hand up her back, he pressed on her neck pushing her forward so that their foreheads were touching. Both breathing hard, panting.  He stared down at her lips. He tilted his head slightly to the left and then to the right, wanting so badly to kiss her but terrified that she wouldn't reciprocate.  "How do you really feel about me being back?" he asked, trying to catch his breath.

Was her seriously asking her what she was feeling? Had their roles reversed over the years? When had he become the type to want to stop fooling around to discuss emotions? He was beginning to kill her buzz as well as her mood and Cherish wasn't having any of that. She was determined to get this train back on track. With her hands still bound underneath his shirt, she snaked her fingernails across his skin and seductively said,  "I have a lot of different emotion when it comes to you, but right now one in particular is trumping the rest."

"Which emotion might that be?"

"You already know."

"Well tell me anyway," he asked pushing her shirt aside so he could kiss her shoulder.

"How bout I just show you." she devilishly grinned as she unbuttoned the top three buttons of her shirt revealing her bra.

Justin froze as he gazed down at the black intricate demi cup  bra which had a mix of sexy sheer mesh with pretty lace and bows.  The straps came up around her bust and had a soft bondage feel, while the open top cups were decorated with a whisper of scalloped French lace  that beautifully framed her cleavage. "Who'd you say you had dinner with again?"

"Why?" she giggled.

"You've got on Agent Provocateur...I know my undies. This shit's expensive."

"Indeed. You can’t just rip this off, you've gotta-"

"Unwrap it like a gift." he finished her sentence. He thumbed the material and her eyes fluttered shut. "I'm just curious to know who you got all dressed up for. Who's your sugar daddy?"

Cherish had bought the underwear during one of her trips out of town, but she never had a chance to wear it. Bobby would've gotten frustrated by the complexity of the panties alone and would've probably ripped them off her. Running the bar didn't give Cherish many opportunities to dress sexy and ever since her earlier dream, she'd been desperate to rediscover her own sensuousness. She'd worn them that night to feel like a real woman again, but refused to give Justin the satisfaction of knowing he had a hand in it.  "We haven't dated in over ten years and you sound like a jealous boyfriend." she laughed.

"I'm jealous. I'll admit it." he traced his finger across the mesh fabric of her bra, teasing her nipple.

"Get over it. " she whispered, tracing her tongue across the shell of his ear causing him to sink deeper into the sensations she was evoking within him. Her words combined with her warm rapid breath in his ear sent a delicious shiver across his body.

Cherish's head fell back as he kissed a trail down her chest, his lips soft and teasing against the tops of her breasts. Her brain was screaming no and her body was telling her 'Screw that! We never have any fun when that bitch gets to running her mouth about logic and the past. We need this! We need his hands all over us, his lips sucking the shit out of our skin! We need this dammit! Don't let that bitch called our brain fuck it up!'

Justin leaned forward, his mouth slightly open, looking as though he wanted to kiss her and she turned her head away, only giving him access to her neck. "You're seriously not gonna kiss me?" His thumb stroked over her bottom lip and sent tingles clear to her toes. She looked into his eyes, shaking her head playfully.  He ran his thumb over across her cheek, threading his fingers behind her neck and through her hair as he watched her biting at her lip.  "You'd rather bit a hole through your lip than kiss me, Cherish?"

She looked at him under heavy eyelids and nodded as she un-tucked her shirt to undo the remaining buttons. Justin's mouth found it's way back to her collarbone, sucking harder. Cherish whimpered softly when his lips left her neck and his hands settled on her hips once more and she began grinding her body into his sensually.  She let out a low groan, gripping onto his shoulders and rocking her hips against him once more, pleasure rushing through her veins again, causing her mouth to fall open and a tiny moan of pleasure to slip past her lips.

Her mind was racing as he thrust his hips upwards grinding into her. It raced with thoughts of how good it would feel it they were both naked and he was buried deep inside her as he continued to move his hips in rhythm with hers. It was like riding a bike for them. They were perfectly in tune.

She let her fingertips dance along his back. How could someone be the most familiar person in her life, yet at the same time be so unfamiliar? Even the shape of his back had changed--newer, stronger muscles spread from the ridges of his spine--and she was desperate to know everything about the differences.

Her hips ground into him, working the bulge in his pants and she still couldn't believe that they were doing this. She couldn't believe that she was doing this.  Her brain was cock blocking again, setting off alarms and reminding her every other second that this was the same guy who'd abandoned her, the same guy who wasn't there for her when she needed him the most, the same one who could've cared less whether she was dead or alive for the past ten years.  She tried to push the thoughts from her mind  to let her body have what it wanted.

Justin pushed her shirt out of his way as he reached down between their waists to touch her stomach. "You still got it?" he asked innocently, fingering the waistband of her shorts.

Got what? She asked breathlessly.

"You know what." he smirked, running his fingers against the lower right hand side of her abdomen.  "Or did you have it removed?" he gently bit her earlobe.

"Oh wouldn't you like to know" she laughed.

"Yeah I would." his fingers worked the button of her shorts and clarity suddenly hit Cherish like a freight train.

"No." She struggled to free herself from his grip, pushing his shoulders back against the seat. "Stop, JT."

Cherish leaned forward pressing her forehead against his, both of them panting, his breathing as rapid as her own. She opened her mouth to speak but was interrupted by the sound of her phone buzzing in her pocket.

An increasingly uncomfortable silence grew as they stared at one another..Waiting.  Justin wanting to tell her how sorry he was for everything that had happened and Cherish wanting to lash out and hurt him like he did her so many years ago. Neither could go through with it.  Justin turned his head away, looking towards Ryan's. "You should answer that. He's probably looking for you."

Cherish got off his lap and sat down, scrubbing her hand over her face before pulling out the phone to answer it. "Hello?"

Justin watched her through the corner of his eye as she buttoned up her shirt. He thought about how good they once were together.

"...I'm on my way.  I lost track of time." She grabbed her jacket, sliding it over her shoulders. "...Gimme ten minutes. Yes! Ten minutes!"

Cherish hung up the phone and pulled down the overhead visor. She wiped the sweat from her face, fanning herself when she noticed she was completely flushed. Justin continued to watch her as more thoughts raced through his mind. The two of them had been a couple up until the day he left and she pushed him away. She cut him off completely from her life and from everything that was apart of him that was growing inside her. He needed to know why and she wasn't willing to give him any answers.

He patiently sat there waiting for her to say something--anything, but she never glanced back his way or uttered a single word to him.

Cherish was completely mortified and couldn't bear to look him in the eye. She had behaved like a teenager and couldn't believe she allowed herself to do something like that after all these years. Every speech she gave to herself in the mirror and promises of what she'd do the next time she saw him had gone straight out the window. How could she possibly fight with him when a smile or one small touch was enough to weaken her resolve?

Cherish grabbed her shoes and began sliding them onto her feet when he finally opened his mouth and said, "So I guess we're not gonna talk about this either? We're not gonna talk about anything that happened ten years ago." His voice seethed with anger and bitterness. "We're not gonna discuss the fact that we just went from zero to a hundred in the front seat of my truck. We're just gonna avoid everything entirely. Because God forbid we have a real conversation about any of this shit!"

Cherish looked over at him, stunned by his tone. Her response hung from the edge of her tongue. They were three simple words that would bring an end to whatever it was that had brought them back together again. Three simple words that would halt his need to reminisce, stop his incessant flirtation, and make him leave Boone for good. Three words that would alter both their lives forever. Three words that could end it all but not be true. She bit her tongue and struggled to suppress her anger, stepping out of the car and slamming the door behind her.

"Goodnight to you too, Cherish." was all he said to himself as she walked away.

Cherish stopped and walked back over to the car, upset that he had a nerve to be angry with her. He went to open the door to get out and talk to her but she slammed it shut, not allowing him any chance to tower over or intimidate her as she spoke, "Why are you still here? Why did you come back at all?"

"My-"

She cut him off, "You've barely visited your father since you left town and now all of a sudden you care? I'd figure the minute you found out he was okay, you would've been on the first thing smoking outta here!  You've already said you're not staying for the reunion. So again, why are you still here, JT?"

Thoughts of the young curly haired boy rushed through his mind.  "I think we need to talk about everything that happened."

"Do you really wanna get into how you tore my heart into a million pieces?  I've rehearsed the speech a million times. But ever since you got here, I can't bring myself to tell you how I really feel…I just don't have it in me to be as cruel to you as you were to me ten years ago."

"Cherish, what the hell are you talking about? You were the one who bro-"

"Why do we need to rehash what happened? Weren't you there right along with me? Let's see…" she looked up thinking. "You were there. I was there. And then you weren't! End of story! What else is there to discuss? What do you fucking want from me?"

"Answers!  I think I deserve some answers!"

"You don't deserve jack shit!" she snapped, her anger finally bubbling to the surface.

"Oh! So you'll try to fuck me, but won't talk to me."

His sarcastic remark struck a raw nerve . "Fuck you? Is that what you thought? That we were going to fuck? Do you think I'd even consider fucking you after-" Cherish looked around to see if anyone was nearby and lowered her voice. "...after you got me pregnant and deserted me?"

"Cherish, please." he begged.

Her jaw quivered, and he saw a sheen of tears that she wouldn’t let fall. "You come back here broken and irreversibly damaged and now you suddenly want to fix things. You can’t fix this!"

Her words bit him like a cold wind. She saw it in his eyes, but she didn't care. He looked away from her, fixing his gaze upon the steering wheel.

She drew near and whispered , "Goodbye, JT" before walking away to her car. "Try not to let another ten years go by before you come back to see how the people you left behind are doin!"

Justin watched her speed away down the street. He banged his fist against the steering wheel and cursed to himself.