Orlando, FL
February 6th 2009 (Friday)

 He yawned for what seemed like the hundredth time since he'd arrived to the room. The man across the room kept his mouth running. He wondered if all the professors he would have were going to be that boring. Two months before, he'd decided he wanted to start a clothing line. Little did he know was that he'd have to endure through six months of schooling. He loved designing an outfit that would have people talking about it for months. He knew what being in the spotlight was like. How much people thrived to see what their favorite celebrity would be wearing next. He gave himself a lot of credit for accomplishing what he'd accomplish so far. After all he’d had people like, Britney Spears, Wade Robson, Juliana Moore and Justin Timberlake wearing his designs to award shows and talk shows and runways when it came to Juliana Moore. Some would say that having those people wear his designs wasn't much of an accomplishment. Why would having your best friends wear things you design be an accomplishment?

 Trace Ayala sat at the end of the classroom listening to the man, talk about numbers. He'd figured he'd hire an accountant to take care of that part of the business he wanted to enter. Not such luck. All he wanted was to make clothes for God sakes!

 He remembered having to listen to Chris complain about all the “shit” he’d had to endure to be able to go out and start Fumanskeeto. If his clothing line would get to be just half as popular and sought after as Fumanskeeto was, he’d be one happy bilingual little man.

 Trace was taken out of his daze when the brunette walked into the classroom. As far as he could remember she had been arriving late for the past two weeks. She tried being as quiet as possible but did not succeed. The professor gave her one of his famous looks and continued with his sermon.

    The woman would rush into class in the middle and would rush out at the end. As far as Trace knew her name was Kayla Medina. She was gorgeous and if possible about three inches shorter than he was. He often found himself staring at her and had been caught a couple times but he couldn't help himself with the professor going on and on about numbers. He’d been wanting to talk to her since class had started a month before but she seemed shy. Another reason he hadn’t talked to her was because he’d had one too many bad experiences when it came to the moment when the girl he was interested in would meet his best friend. The reaction was the factor in which he would determine whether he could trust the girl or not.

 You would think that after all these years, that Justin Timberlake would become less and less sought after. That was the routing in the music industry. But no, his friend got more and more attention everyday. Not to mention his wife and daughter.

“Are you still with us Mr. Ayala?”

“Umm, yes thank you.” Trace said facing the older man.

“Just checking. For those of you who weren’t here the entire class period, please get some notes from anyone else in the room. I’ll see you guys next week.”

 Trace decided he didn’t have anything to loose and walked over to where Kayla sat writing down the last of what the professor had said. Trace reached into his back pocket to retrieve his mini recorder.

“Why don’t you use this?” Trace asked setting the recorder on her desk.

“Umm…” Kayla looked up for the first time since she’d sat down. She looked at Trace, rolled her eyes and shrugged. “No thanks.”

“Wow, are you always this grateful?” Trace asked sarcastically looking straight into her perfect blue eyes. Maybe he did have something to loose after all. His cool. What a bitch!

“I’m grateful for things that are given to me without some kind of strings attached.”

“What is that supposed to mean? I was just being nice because I know you haven’t been here on time for the past week. And before you question that fact with a another bitchy comment I didn’t know that because I’ve been paying attention, but because you interrupt the class every time.” Trace said starting to walk away from her, towards the door.

“Hey, look I’m sorry.” Kayla said getting up from her seat. “I’m just having the worst week of my life. I didn’t mean to snap at you.”

“I’m just being nice. No strings. Just return it sometime is all I ask.” Trace said grabbing her hand and placing the small device onto her palm and walking out the door.
 

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

Los Angeles, California
February 7th 2009 (Saturday)

 Sitting across from her new neighbor Juliana flipped through a magazine with her left hand while holding a black marker on her right. In her opinion all the pictures the magazine’s photographer had taken were really bad. The two women were supposed to be painting the new recording studio in the basement. Instead they had only accomplished the task of laying plastic down over the carpeting. All they wanted was a girls day without the husbands around. At least that was Juliana's intentions in volunteering to help.

“Are you going to help me pick out drapes for the upstairs guest room, or what?”

“Nah, you know damn well that whatever I pick, you won’t like.” Juliana responded while drawing a mustache on the picture of herself on the cover.

“Why are you doing that to all my magazines? You told me you were going to help with this stuff, Juls.”

“Ohh relax, Jenn. You guys just moved here. You have plenty of time to plan a guest room. You should be out exploring Los Angeles.”

“Juls, please!! Jc and I have been here for a month and all I’ve managed to get done is our bedroom. And it's not like California is a foreign country. I know my way around here just as easy as I know my way around in Vegas.” Jenn said grabbing the marker from Juls just in time to stop her from drawing a heart around the picture of her husband in the magazine.

“Hey!!!”

“Will you atleast help me carry the paint cans downstairs?”

“I guess I can do that.”

“Well gee thanks, Your Highness.  You’ve become the laziest person ever lately.”

“You think dealing with the Timberlakes on a saturday morning is easy? They drive me nuts.”

“Yeah right. You live just to please those two and you know it.”

“So what?” Juls said setting the two paint cans on the floor outside the studio. “Did I tell you Andie and Danny decided my make-up, very expensive make-up if I may add, was wall paint this morning? And I didn't even see it until Chris and Dani had picked up Danny to go to airport.”

“Is that right?!”

“Chris and Dani are lucky I didn’t sue them. I could have gotten a lot of money out that kid of theirs. I could have strangled that little boy.”

“See, now that’s just messed up. You get the kid a job and now you’re gonna sue him?”

“Hey, whatever. Just because he can sell condoms to a nun with his gorgeous face doesn’t mean he can’t go through a lawsuit. That kid got my angelic Andie to do crazy shit, like pour pudding in the toilet and eat glue.”

“Now you know that’s bullshit!! Andie is a little devil, just like her father.”

 “I don’t know how Dani handles her super model child and her super hyper husband.” Juliana said with a laugh.

“Shit!! The same way you deal with Satan and his curly-haired spawn.”

“Aww, that wasn’t nice, Jenn.”

“I’ll tell you what’s not nice. This fucking wall. I guess we aren’t doing this painting business. So you want to go somewhere?”

“Justin is supposed to….”

“Juls, look around you. No husband, no child. Enjoy it while you can. Those two are permanently attached to your ass half the time.”

“Yeah I know but I miss them.”

“Juls, what are you going to do when Justin goes on tour?”

“That’s not for sure.” Juls said going up the stairs and to the kitchen again.

“You and I both know damn well that when Justin finishes this album, which he will start recording in a couple weeks, he WILL go on tour.”

“Then I’ll go with him.”

“And Andie?”

“Well she goes where I go.”

“Are you listening to yourself? You’re really thinking about going on tour with Justin and dragging Andie too? You’re nuts.”

“I can’t be away from them for that long amount of time. Besides you’re getting a little ahead of yourself there. Justin doesn’t even have a single recorded.”

“He might not have it recorded yet but he does have a lot of material written.”

“Did he show you anything? He won’t show me any of the songs he wrote. ”

“Just a few of them because he wanted me to help him with some things before I have to go to Orlando to work with Fonsi next week.”

“You know I can’t believe after all this time Justin is going to do an album by himself.”

“Why not? It’s not like he ever stopped singing.”

“Yeah I know. I just got so used to him being at home with us.”

“It will be fun watching Justin on-stage again. Think about how happy Andie is going to love seeing her daddy sing on TV again.”

“Yeah, I know. This conversation is getting depressing. Want to go shopping?”

“You're starting to sound like Bobbie. Let me get my credit card upstairs." Jenn said with a laugh.

“Hunny I’m homeeeeeeeeee!!!!”

“Speaking of the devil.” Jenn said laughing.

“Heard that?!!” Justin said pointing a menacing finger at Jenn before he hugged and kissed his wife.

“By the way, Marshall. This is my home. Not yours!!”

“Why do you still insist on calling me that after all these years? I don’t even have blond hair anymore; I barely have hair at all. You need to come up with something more clever than that because in all honesty it’s getting old.” Justin said opening the refrigerator door. “And in conclusion to your ‘home’ comment. I’ve been telling you that I saw this house first.”

“Yeah but we bought it. You didn’t.”

“But we could have.” Justin argued.

“Yeah right! Where would you have put poor Andie and her things after you and Juliana finished putting away your clothes and shoes? This house is too small for you so get over it. It’s ours.”

“You two are ridiculous. Speaking of small, where is Andie?” Juliana asked grabbing the magazines she had before and finishing the heart around Justin's face.

"Cute" Justin said looking over at what Juliana was doing to the magazine.“ She’s outside with Tyler and Tiff.”

“Oh shit!! I forgot Jc told me they were coming over to help today.” Jenn said getting up from the stool she had been sitting on.

“Yeah right, like Tiff can really do anything besides wobble around with that belly of hers.” Juliana remarked.

“Hey people!! What’s up?” Tiff said coming in the house. “And Juliana, if I remember correctly you’ve done your share of wobbling also.”

“How are you doing?” Juls asked the blond with sincerity.  Tiff had truly fallen for Tyler and they were happy together.

“I’ll be better tomorrow when I’m home.” Tiff grunted.

“Ohh, California isn’t good enough for ya?” Justin asked offended.

“Oh shut up, Justin. You know you miss Orlando too.”

“No I don’t. I’m happy anywhere, really. As long as I have my girls with me.” Justin said kissing Juliana on the nose. “Speaking of. I better go check on what Andie is doing to poor Tyler.”

“When I came in she was making him run up and down the driveway. Something about and I quote, ‘being moculur’ like her daddy. While Jc watched from the top of the driveway.” Tiff said with a giggle.

“Poor Ty.” Justin said heading out of the door.

“Thank you for inviting us for the week, Juls.” Tiff commented while reaching for one of magazine Juls had been looking at earlier.

“Thanks, I’m glad you guys came. It meant a lot to us for you guys to be at J's party.”

“We wouldn’t have missed it. Now we get to go home and decorate the nursery. Isn’t that exciting?”

“I loved doing Andie’s nursery too. Did you decide on colors yet?”

“Yeah, I guess we are going to do the whole blue thing. That’s what Tyler wants.”

“That’s cute.”

“Alright, I’m feeling left out here.” Jenn whined.

“Then get yourself pregnant already.” Juls said closing the magazine and looking bored.

“Jc and I have a life plan, thank you very much. Two more years then we’ll do the family thing. We are both too busy right now.”

“Yeah well enjoy it while you can. Not finding your toothbrush in the morning. Not finding your toothbrush in the finger paint jar. Not waking up with your face painted with the mentioned finger paint. You’re lucky. The list goes on and on.”

“Are we talking about Justin or Andie?” Jenn asked seriously.

“Both.” Juls said with a smile.

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

Same Day (Saturday)

 Lance hung up the phone with a sad sigh. It had been two months since things with him and Laurie had disintegrated. Two months in which he found himself miserable. A year before Laurie had gotten a job offer, she certainly couldn’t refuse, head nurse of a state hospital. A state hospital in Utah. Which meant she would have to relocate.

 It had been hard on Lance and Laurie both but they'd loved each other and he was going to make things work. He couldn’t leave his new home, Los Angeles. Free Lance Entertainment was doing incredibly well and relocating to Utah wasn’t an option. Lance had tried to convince Laurie that she didn’t need to work at all, that he would take care of her. Laurie, independent as she was thought that idea was a joke. So in two weeks she had packed her belongings and had gone to Utah. Everything seemed fine at first. When Lance could spend a week or two with her at a time. When Lance got busier and busier the weeks turned into a six days, then a couple days. Finally they were keeping contact over the phone and both knew things would never work. Laurie resented Lance because she had picked up her belongings from Orlando a year before to move to Los Angeles with him and he hadn’t even given a thought to leaving to Utah with her. When phone calls became five minutes long, things were out of their hands.

 That was Lance Bass’ live for the past two months.

“Are you ready to go?” Jc asked from the living room where he sat watching TV.

“Yeah, sorry for making you wait. That was Laurie on the phone.”

“How is she?”

“She’s doing good as far as I can tell. She asked me to send her regards to all you guys.”

“How are you dealing with all this?”

“I’m dealing with it the best I can, man. It definitely sucks but I’m dealing. Ready?”

“Yeah.” Jc got up and headed behind Lance to the door. “I’m sorry things didn’t work out between you guys. I really am.”

“Yeah so am I.” Lance said closing the door behind himself.

"Where to?" Jc asked getting in his car followed by Lance.

“Anywhere, I’m starving.” Lance said getting into the passenger side of Jc’s car.
 

*********

 Jc and Lance walked into a diner not far from Lance’s house. The place was pretty empty except for some old men at one end of the room and a couple sitting by the counter eating what looked like slices of apple pie.

“This place is really jumping, Jc.” Lance said sarcastically.

“Well it’s here or go somewhere where there is a ninety percent chance out face will be plastered on magazines.”

“Do any one of our licenses say Timberlake?”

“Ohh that’s hard.” Jc laughed.

“Seriously. You know it’s true. That man, not to mention his wife and kid, get photographed even when they leave a dentist appointment. It’s ridiculous.”

“Correct me if I’m wrong. But was your face not plastered on ‘The Inquirer’ the other day?”

“I was at the airport. Everyone gets seen at the airport. Which brings me to realize that coming in this place was a good idea. Good job, Chasez. I just hope the food doesn’t taste like this place looks.”

“We try to pick all the roaches off the plates before serving.” Jc and Lance looked up from where they had seated themselves. A woman with a bored expression on her face looked back at them. Pen in hand and a small notepad on the other she stared at them.

“Oh I’m sorry. He didn’t mean it like that.” Jc was quick to apologize.

“And how exactly did he mean that?” she retorted.

“Alright, he did mean it negatively, but forgive him he’s having a bad life right now.”

“I bet. What can I get you?”

“I’ll have a chicken BLT with….” Lance was interrupted.

“I was talking to Jc.” the waitress said not even glancing once at Lance.

“Look Bit.…”

“Lance!! Chill!! How did you know my name?” Jc asked the waitress curiously. The woman walked over to the counter behind her  and retrieved something from under it. She plopped down the current ‘Rollingstone’ magazine with Jc, Jenn and Pharell Williams on the cover. “Oh.”

“ I was killing time before you two came in. You’re girlfriend is very pretty.”

“She’s my wife and thank you.” Jc responded proudly.

“Are you two done socializing yet? Because I can go get this type of service down the road at the gas stations’ snack bar.”

“You’re being really embarrassing right now.” Jc said between clenched teeth before turning back to the waitress. “I’ll have the chicken fingers with french fries.”

“Okay, anything else?”

“Umm yeah, hello? I’d like a chicken BLT sandwich with fries also and a coke.” Lance said annoyed.

“I’ll be right back with your orders.” the waitress said with a smile towards Jc. “And I’ll make sure to take out all the roaches out of your sandwich.”

“What the hell was that all about?” Jc questioned when the waitress walked a far distance into the kitchen.

“What?”

“You’re being rude, that’s what. Andie behaves better than you do lately.”

“Whatever, she was being rude first.”

“She was being nice with me, Lance.”

“Who cares?”

“I care!”

“Why? Because she was reading an article about three of Justin’s producers?”

“You’ve been a real dick ever since this whole Laurie thing. You need to chill out.”

“I’m not only stressing over the Laurie thing so much as all the shit I have to take care of before Fonsi starts recording. And you know what sucks the most?”

“No sex?”

“Bingo!! I haven’t gotten laid in months!!”

“Sounds like a personal problem.” the waitress was back.

“You know it’s not very polite to listen to other people’s conversations.” Lance said matter of factly as she sat their plates neatly in front of them.

“Yeah well it’s also not very polite to talk about my uncle’s diner in the manner that you did. So now we’re even. Enjoy your meal.” and she walked away. Lance watched her take her apron off behind the counter. She yelled something back into the kitchen's swinging door, about being late to pick up someone. She grabbed a purse from under the counter and as she was walking out the door, Lance was shocked when she looked at him and winked before exiting.

“Did you…did you...never mind.” he said to Jc who looked back at him with a dumbfounded expression on his face.