CHAPTER 13
It had been close to a half an hour now that the judges had been backstage, deciding upon the outcome of the day's long anticipated talent show. What Justin would give to hear even a portion of their conversation. Jenna rubbed his arm again. "Justin, it's gonna be just fine," she said and pecked him on the cheek. "You were great."
Justin had to admit. His performance was one of the best he'd ever done in his life. Coming in second only to when he sang 'When A Man Loves A Woman' at the MMC auditions. All of the sudden, it got noisier in the room, as though the judges had come out.
His head shot up to the stage but there was no one there. Jenna spotted the mecca of the commotion first and lightly brushed his arm and pointed to the door. Much to his dismay, in the doorway, talking to Terrence and Sean was Britney. His face turned pale and he could swear he went deaf for a few seconds. "Ah shit," he squeezed out after a few minutes.
"What's she doing talking to them?" Jenna asked to no one in particular.
Justin turned to her quickly, "What's she doing here period!"
"Um, okay," Jenna said, trying to take hold of this situation. "Calm down, I'm sure there's a reasonable explanation for all of this. But, first, I should probably leave."
"What, why?"
"Because, you don't want to be seen with me right now do you? You need to show Britney how much pain and sorrow you're in without her."
"But I'm not IN pain or sorrow. I'm with you."
"But you wanna be with her. Really Justin, this is the best thing I can do for you." She kissed his lips and before Justin could get a word in edgewise, she was gone.
He shook his head, asking himself what had just happened but before he could answer, the judges walked through the thick red curtain and up to the microphone.
"Attention please everyone," one of the volunteers said. "We have the results of this year's talent show so if you'd all please quiet down a little, we can get started."
It was hard for Justin to concentrate on the announcement though. He'd hoped to follow Britney's path but during the time he was talking to Jenna he'd lost sight of her. She wasn't sitting with Terrence, Sean and Bryan so where could she be?
"First we'd like to say that all of our contestants did a wonderful job and we thank you all for entering the talent competition. Everyone here can rise above anything and just because you don't place or win, doesn't mean we didn't enjoy your performance, this was a very hard decision. Now, without further ado, here we go."
Justin's heart skipped a beat. Never had he been this nervous. Not even at the Grammy's, at least he knew for sure they weren't going to win anything there but here, he'd already had so many surprises. And where was Jenna, scanning the audience, he couldn't spot her or Britney anywhere!
"The third place prize goes to…Ginger Fellows and Jimmy Cane for their dance routine. Come on up here you two!"
Everyone applauded, Justin did too but not as zealously as he'd have liked to. Where was JENNA?! This was the worst part, they were going to be announcing first runner up now and -
"The second place prize," the volunteer said and paused. "This was an exceptionally hard decision but the second place prize goes to Orangedale's own little star." Justin exhaled and shook his head. "Justin Timberlake."
It felt like Star Search all over again, but somehow, this one hurt more. Terrence, Sean and Bryan were already cheering over their victory. Justin, slowly made his way up to the stage and accepted the moderately sized trophy as Terrence, Sean and Bryan were announced as this years winners.
The volunteer spoke again. "I know a lot of you are wondering how this decision was made. Justin, this is for you too so listen up. We decided that since Justin does this kind of thing for a living, it's obvious that he's talented and he didn't have to put much thought or effort into it. So, it just wouldn't be fair to give him the first place prize over these boys who obviously worked like crazy to pull this together."
WHAT?! No effort or thought? Boy if they'd only known how many nights he stayed up perfecting that damn song.
Jerks.
But wait, now that he was onstage, the view of the audience would be much better. Justin quickly scanned the crowd for Britney and Jenna. He found good news and bad news. Bad news first, Jenna was nowhere to be seen. Good news, Britney was smiling at him. He smiled back, sort of. Boy this had really taken a lot out of him. Suddenly, Terrence's voice came over the system.
"Hello everyone. We'd like to say thank you to the judges who voted us number one and to everyone who was rooting for us. Thanks a lot. We worked hard to achieve this and we appreciate it very much."
"Yeah right," Justin said under his breath. He'd made his way to the edge of the stage by now and has heading down the stairs when Bryan stopped him.
"Now wait one second there Pop star," Sean said from the mic. "We have a special surprise for you." He turned his attention back to the audience. "As winners of this talent contest, we'd like to show you a special tribute we made. To a newfound friend of ours, you all know him as Justin Timberlake."
Justin titled his head to the left, as he always does when he's confused. "Wha.." he started to speak.
"Now, just stay there and watch our show. Roll 'em."
The lights went down and the slides went up. Pictures of Justin sitting alone at lunch, pictures of Justin during OTC, pictures of Justin playing his guitar. Pictures of Jenna watching Justin play his guitar.
Wait. He remembered that day. That was visiting day. He hadn't been playing anything in particular and yet, Jenna had been watching him intently from across the room. He looked on.
Pictures of Justin and Jenna eating lunch. Pictures of Justin and Jenna laughing hysterically. Pictures of Justin caressing Jenna's hair.
Yes, he remembered that too. That was the day he knew he loved her. They'd been working on his song all day long and the poor girl had fallen sleep on the floor next to him. Feeling tired and lonely he decided to hold her in his arms until she woke up. He'd played with her hair in the process. He also couldn't help but notice that these pictures were getting more and more intimate. How had they gotten these pictures anyway? His eyes widened as he observed the rest.
Jenna and Justin kissing in the courtyard. Jenna and Justin looking deep into each others eyes. Jenna and Justin making out in his room. Jenna pushing Justin away. Close up, Justin's hand on Jenna's leg. Justin entering Jenna's room, half naked.
Oh great! They were taking these completely out of context! They stopped the slides. "I'm afraid you'll have to buy the rest for $19.99." Terrence joked.
It wasn't funny.
"Okay," A volunteer interrupted. "That is enough, please remove yourselves from the stage. Go , go."
"Oh shit, Britney!" Justin thought to himself and looked to where she had previously been seated. Her seat was vacant and she was headed for the door. Without a thought, he was hot on her tail. He caught up with her about halfway into the front lobby.
Spinning her around, he began his apologies. "Oh my God Britney, I am so sorry."
She shook her head, not wanting to hear from him. "Shut up Justin, just-"
"It's not at ALL what it looked like I swear."
"Oh right, that's what everyone says."
"No I'm serious. Wh...what are you doing here anyway?"
"I got a call from your friends. They said that they were wanted to do something nice for you since you seemed sad all the time and they wanted me to come see you but I guess you've been seeing enough of another girl."
"No Brit, they were lying to you. They're not my friends. I don't even have friends here. Not more than one anyway. They all hate me."
"So why would they go through the trouble?"
"To humiliate me in front of the woman I love."
Britney stopped crying for a moment. "Justin, I love you."
"I love you too baby." He took her into his arms. "You mean the world to me, you know that."
"So who was she, just a chick?"
"No, not any chick. She was my friend."
"Nothing more?"
Justin swallowed hard. "Nothing more."
"Justin, I've been through too much shit to go through any more. Come home with me now. Don't look back. God Justin, just leave this place behind."
"But, I don't get released until tomorrow."
"Don't worry about that. I cleared it all up. I signed you out a day early. That extra day wouldn't have made a difference anyway."
"But."
"What?"
"My stuff."
"We'll send for it."
"My friends..."
"I thought you didn't have any."
"Jenna."
"So that's her name?"
"Yeah. I just want to say goodbye."
Britney was quiet for a while. "You can say goodbye J BUT, but if you go back in there, I can't guarantee I'll still be here when you come back out. I'm through waiting for you Justin. I can't take it."
"Brit, you can't do that."
"If you loved me, you'd walk out this door right now and never look back."
Justin was at an impasse. Literally torn between two women he loved. He thought about the last thing he said to Jenna. "I'm not IN sorrow or pain...I'm with you." That much had been true but she had been so swift in her flight that he didn't even have a solid grasp on what she looked like anymore. The only thing that lingered with him now was the memory of how her lips felt on his before her departure. That was that. He knew what he had to do. He knew he was right.
And so he did.
Story Tags: rehab
