- 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?"

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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.

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"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."