- 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?