"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!"