Hours later...

            Justin trekked through the venue the entire day trying to find her. She was nowhere to be found and she wasn't answering her phone. He couldn't ask too many questions about her, it would draw too much attention. She didn't show up for soundcheck and that was the time of day he was sure to see her because they had met up every show after soundcheck and she would wear him out a little before he got ready for the show. Instead of a hard on and pure pleasure, he had a migraine and terrified he would never see her again.

It was just over an hour before the show and he has yet to see her. Tina hadn't seen her since earlier in the day when she collected her things off the bus. He knew she would show up, or at least that's what he kept saying to himself.

Having the final show of the tour in Los Angeles means, ‘friends' showing up to support the tour, even though technically it's over. He was happy to see familiar faces but he wasn't so happy to see some faces of his past.  Smiling and playing as if nothing was wrong he was Mr. Nice Guy with everyone around him. His mind was in a hundred different places, not actually listening to anything anyone had to say.

Jill walked through the back entrance of Staples Center with the weight of the world on her shoulders. She had no idea why this decision was so incredibly hard to face. Slipping into her dressing room without anyone seeing her was the goal and she succeeded. She wanted to see Justin; she wanted to tell him her decision before someone else did but it would be better this way. She had to get through this show and then she would tell him. Tell him everything.

"JILL!" a high pitched version of Tina's voice echoed through the room causing her to jump out of her skin.

She placed her hand over her heart. "You scared the shit out of me."

"Sorry, I didn't mean to do that." Tina pulls up her boots covering most of her legs, she stands popping her hand on her hip. "But Justin has been pacing around this place all day looking for you. What kind of trouble have you gotten yourself into that is causing Justin himself to go looking for you?"

She shrugged her shoulders. "You never know what's up his ass."

She shook her head, "I swear it was as if... forget it... that's crazy."

"What?" Jill asked curious now.

She looked around at the door to make sure it was still closed, "It looked like he was the worried boyfriend who had just fucked up and was trying to apologize."

Jill sat quietly putting on her stockings and pulling up her skirt.

"Jill?" She asked. "Anyone you care to share with me?"

She fastened her bra, pulled her top over her head adjusting it. "It's nothing... a lot is going to change after this show."

Forty-five minutes to show. The PA assistant bellows down the hallway interrupting their conversation. It couldn't have come at a better time.

She zipped up the back of her ankle boots, It was now or never, she thought. It couldn't wait until after the show. She had to do it now, so she could actually do the show. Getting the nerve from somewhere she headed towards his dressing room. Just outside of the door she hears a woman laughing from inside his room. It didn't sound like Rachel, his mother, or anyone she had heard laughing before.

Standing outside of his door, Jill sees Justin's ex-girlfriend standing in his lounge area, smiling, laughing and joking with him as he stretched his legs.

He was happy.

Feeling her stomach and her throat hit the floor, she turned quickly, running right smack into Trace. Backing up she saw the anger he had his eyes for her. "How long have they...?" she asked.

He shook his head in confusion, "I don't know. They have been on and off for so long it's hard to tell."

I didn't know this was the person you were.

Trace's words from earlier that morning fluttered through her brain. He thought she was the other woman. Her voice began to quiver more with every word. "Trace, I didn't know he was with her...I didn't."

He could see the pain in her eyes, and she saw the truth in his. "You can't it back now."

She started to ramble out loud through her jumbled thoughts. "How could Justin... single... there's just no way... every night... every city... months... Chicago." She snapped her head up at Trace, realizing her thoughts weren't just her thoughts. "He went to Chicago to get away. He couldn't live with the guilt anymore... only to find me there."

He nodded his head as he shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know. He won't talk to me about Chicago but I don't think that's why he ended up there. We had plans, he forgot. Justin doesn't forget anything." He stepped back, "I didn't know you were there with him though."

"I wasn't" Jill offered defending herself, "I mean... I didn't go there for him. I ended up there. I had too much going on... I needed to breathe for a minute, alone. We both ended up there."

            Jill couldn't put the pieces together. Could she have really been sleeping with a guy involved with someone else? Could she have chose not to see that side of things because she didn't want to see it? Why did it all matter so much to her?

Closing her eyes, she threw her head back, "I'm so done. I'm done with everything."

She barreled passed him about four steps when Trace grabbed her arm, swinging her back around to him. "What do you mean you're done?"

Jerking her arm out of his grip, "Trace, the decision has already been made. I'm glad I made that choice because it looks like I was wrong about someone, once again."

He threw up his arms in the air. "You're leaving Justin like this?"

"I'm only contracted as his dancer through tonight's show." She turned to walk away from him again.

"You're not even going to tell him." He said as a statement when it finally registered through his thoughts that Justin had fallen for Jill. And Jill, stubborn as she was, had fallen for Justin.

"It's a business decision. My job is finished here." She exhaled a hard breath.

"Business? Seriously?" Trace was frustrated he wanted to scream at her, "I can't let you hurt Justin like this, he finally found... you."

She swallowed her emotions, mumbling to herself she says "All I ever do is say goodbye." She held back the tears, pointing into his green room she says "It looks like you don't have to worry about Justin. He is back in the arms of his ex-girlfriend and I can easily be replaced." Turning away from him she starts to walk down the now longest hallway she has seen in her life.

 "Jill..." he yelled.

His words from this morning ran through her head over and over again, words that hurt her but she wasn't sure why then. Turning back, words were a little harder to get out. "It's done. You should be happy; it's what you wanted for your best friend."

"That's not what I mea..."Trace stopped, there were too many witnesses around to make a statement that wasn't going to stop her anyways.

In a sprint she rushed out the back door. Crumbling to the concrete she realizes why the aching pain in her chest was intolerable, why it hurt so bad she couldn't breathe. Why she suddenly felt empty inside. Jill had fallen in love with Justin. Against her own arrangement, she fell in love with him. She slowly let her heart attach to his, only to let someone once again make her crash and burn.

Justin was as ready as he was going to be tonight. He was trying with everything he had in him to let go of his personal life and step on the stage, giving it all he had for the fans that he loved so dearly. He heard a heated argument in the hallway and decided it was his getaway from the people in his room. Trace was standing alone, shaking his head in disbelief.

"Everything alright Trace?" Justin asked.

He turned looking into Justin his eyes that were filled with anguish. "I think you have a lot of explaining to do."

He knew at that moment, Trace knew everything. He knew that his secret wasn't so secret anymore. "I... I..."

Trace turns around and starts down the hallway, only to turn back frustrated and blurt out, "I can't believe you would go back to her..."

Or did he? Justin thought. Go back to who? "What are you talking about?"

Trace swung around glaring at his best friend of nearly thirty years, "Her." He pointed at his ex now standing in the doorway.

Chaos erupted in the hallways, separated Justin from everyone. The show was just minutes from starting and everyone was taking their places. His microphone pack had been checked twice. His inner ear monitors were in and ready to go. The PA walks over handing him the silver microphone. "Are you ready to do this one more time for a while?"

Justin just nodded his head as he saw out of the corner of his eyes the gorgeous brunette standing across the room from him. Her face was flushed, her eyes red, she looked like she was going to be sick. Maneuvering through the crowd he made his way over to her. He didn't care who saw him, or what they heard.

Jill stood in her spot, trying to contain herself. She wanted to hurl, her nervous system was shot. Her hands wouldn't stop trembling. The urge became stronger as the scent of him started overtaking the space. His large hand gripped around her wrist and tears started to flow down her face. She wiped them quickly; mad at herself for letting this person get to her.

He placed his hand on her arm, "What's wrong babe?"
She moved his hand off of her arm, she planted a smile on her face and said, "Everything's perfect."

He wasn't sure what was going happening but he had a feeling it was worse than he ever imagined. "You're lying to me."

"Something you're good at." She mumbled turning away from him.

First his best friend said some confusing things and now Jill was basically saying the same thing. "What is going on today that I'm missing?" Justin asked confused.

She turned back, looking him square in the eye she added, "Could we just get through this last show please. It will all be over soon."

            The lights on the stage went dark. It was her cue to get in place. She left his side attempted to prepare herself for the last time she would do this.

            Jill hit her mark in every routine. She focused on that crowd screaming back at her. She had her focus in check. Justin did as well. The moment he stepped on the stage, he pulled the professional side of him out and kept that version of himself in the forefront for the entire show until that fateful moment came in the show and Jill took her place, not sure what she was going to do yet she pushed him into the chair, finishing each step she would only do one more time. She wanted to make it count, put her name on the map one last time.

Justin kicked the chair and pulled her into him. They looked at each other, slowly coming in closer to one another. The crowd started to roar, Jill knew she had to give them what they wanted; even if it was the one thing she couldn't bear to do at that moment.

She took his lips on for one last time. Nipping the edge of his lip, his smile rises in enjoyment. The smoothness his lips always felt like, were comfort. The taste of 901Silver that resided in his mouth, his curls wrapped in her fingers, his hand on her ass. She placed her hand on his face, looking into his eyes. She saw the man she had fallen in love with. The one she spent day after day with. The one who treated her the way no man had ever treated her before. The unbelievable man she thought he was.

He closed in what space was left between them, indulging into the taste he enjoyed so much. Her lip quivered as her entire body shook from emotion. She pulled away, walking to the other side of the stage. He stood there, not knowing what was wrong with her, but it was enough to affect her emotions during a routine she was a perfectionist about.

The show must go on. Justin finished his set and the entire cast and crew joined him on the stage for one last bow. He looked over that stage several times, not seeing her anywhere. He began to worry. He smiled at the audience for just a few minutes before he walked off that stage, on a mission to find her.

He scurried past anyone one that was speaking to him, up and down the halls, each room coming up empty handed. She was gone. He collapsed on the couch, aggressively rubbing his hands over his face.

Emotionally drained, Jill took her seat. Taking yet another glance at her phone, seeing that Justin was calling her again, she powered off the phone and sunk further into her seat. In her hand she held the laminate she had worn for nearly a year. Her name was printed along with her photo under his tour logo. She chose reality over the dream.

"She left man."

Justin slowly moved his hands down from his face. Trace was standing next to him handing him a white envelope. His heart sank when he saw scribbled in what almost looked like his very own handwriting, his name staring back at him. In her handwriting.

There would be no happy ending. There would only be her words pulling the strings of his aching heart.

J-

This is my song to you, the closest I will get

 All these words for you that I'll probably regret

But my tongue won't settle and my mind won't let me be

This is my song to you, from me

I'm gonna lie to you

Cause you should never see this hope in my heart

That way you actually pick me

But her grip is strong and your heart was never mine

Running away from you is impossible, I'm finding

You're the poison I've been fighting, just to breathe you in full time...

Tears stream down his face dropping to the sheet of paper, smearing the ink of her words.

This is my song to you, the closest I will get

 All these words for you that I'll probably regret

Just to taste you flowing through my veins

For one night with you

I would trade everything, everything if I could just touch you

Rid this mess that's keeping up apart

Instead of just this song, you'd have my heart

Every string in his heart had been pulled and the heartache began to take over.

I've learned what I want in life and what I don't. What I thought I didn't want most of all, is the one thing I can't stop thinking about having now.  My dream... wasn't nearly the dream I spent so much of my life trying to achieve. It was something much different. By the time you read this song to you, I will be on a plane breathing in the fresh air and you will be free to love again.

-J

"She's gone." He mumbled over and over again. "She's... gone."

Trace throws his arms in the air. "You fucked up man."

He looked up at Trace. "Yea, I figured that one out on my own."

"I'm not sugar coating shit for you. I've done that too many times." He starts pacing around Justin. "The question is, do you love her?"

"With every fiber in my body." He admitted, placing her song to him on the table in front of him.

"Then you know what you have to do."

"She left." He covered his face with his hands again, mumbling into them. "I knew she would never love me."

Traces smacks the back of Justin's head. "You're an idiot."

His head bounced back and forth, "What the fuck man." Justin stands ready to scream.

 "There's only one way to find out if she loves you."

Throwing his arms in the air with frustration, Justin explodes. "I don't know where she is? I can't work fucking miracles Trace."

"When have you ever let something as minor as knowing where someone is, stop you from anything?" Trace had a point.

            Justin scurried down the hallway before Johnny's hand snatched him up, pulling him into a room full of people staring at him, clapping, and congratulating him on a successful tour. Justin felt anything but successful. He was actually hoping to find a very small hole to climb into.

Johnny lifted his hand into the air, cup in hand. "To Justin. And yet another remarkable tour under your belt. I'm proud to have stood beside you throughout the years and have come so far from that boy eager to just be on the stage, to the unbelievably talented man you are today. And yet you still remain that humble, southern gentleman I met oh so many years ago." He looked around the room, and over to Justin who looked lost. He clearly wasn't in the room with everyone else. "The end of this tour can only mean one thing... The beginning of another! See you in a couple months' folks!" Everyone took a swig of whatever they had in their hands while Justin continued to stand there, off in space somewhere. "Justin" Johnny says, "You want to say anything..."

Justin stared off, running his finger in the circle of the plastic glass. Her words, they were so emotionally filled.

"What I thought I didn't want most of all, is the one thing I can't stop thinking about having now."

It took Justin a few moments to kick into motion but he finally did, grazing his finger over the rim of the glass. "I have..." his words broke.

"I will be on a plane breathing in the fresh air and you will be free to love again."

Of all the things he knew he should say to that room full of people who worked their ass off for him, he said the only thing he could think of in that moment. "God, I love her." He snaps his head up to see an entire room full of people stunned by his words. "I know where she I going. I have to stop her."

"Justin, are you okay?" Johnny asks, worried.

"I just need... to stop her." He turned back to Trace, "Can you drive me?"

"Get your slow ass moving, we have a plane to stop." Trace runs out of the room, headed out the back exit.

"Justin?" Johnny attempts to stop him. "Who do you have to stop?"

"Thank you everyone, but I have to go." And just like that Justin bolted down the hallway out the back door and was on the phone with every contact he had in his phone that could stop that plane.

Jill had chosen reality but reality wasn't what she wanted. Running her fingers over the grooves of his name she knows what she wants but that dream wasn't going to work. No matter what she did in life, that dream couldn't be achieved.  He would always run back to what he was used to. He was comfortable and she understood that, she just never guessed that the one thing she would want would be him. Leaning down she places the laminate into her purse. She couldn't look at it anymore. She chose to walk away from that job and it was time to look forward, not back. However looking forward didn't stop the tears from flowing down. She cupped her hand over her mouth, gasping for breathes into her hands.

"Running away from me is impossible." Justin began to speak in a loud tone standing over Jill. She lifted her head away from her hands, "I'm the poison you've been fighting. And running away isn't an option anymore."

He was actually standing in front of her, it wasn't her imagination playing tricks on her. "Justin... How... why..."

He sat down next to her, placing his finger over her mouth. "All these words for you, I will never regret. I'm not gonna lie to you, cause you should always see this hope in my heart that you would actually pick me. I want to taste you flowing through my veins. I want to touch you. I would trade everything, everything to spend my nights with you. I want to breathe you in full time..." He leaned into her face, wiping away her tears, pressing his face against hers he whispered, "Instead of a song, I'd have your heart..."

"Make up your mind Timberlake..." Jill pulls his face into his. "You said you wanted a song."

He pressed her lips onto his, different this time. It was sensual. "I'll take both."

"I love you." She said without hesitation. As those words escaped her lungs, she knew it felt right.

"I think I have always been in love with you." Justin admitted.

            The entire plane erupted in "Awe's" as they look at each other and realize, they were on a plane, confessing their love for one other, and he, was Justin Timberlake. Jill laughed, "Are you coming with me?"

"I wouldn't have it any other way!" He expressed, taking her hand intertwining their fingers.

"You're not going back to your ex?"

"I'm looking forward to looking back on the days we fell in love, but that's as far back as I will ever go."

She lowered her head onto his shoulder, "How did you know where I was going?"

 She had become the only thing in his life that could go in circles and he was content with that. "You were going to breathe in the fresh air." His world had finally become complete. He was ready to take on forever. "Chicago."

Life on the road is simply dance steps that gave us a breath of normalcy over courses of time, leading us to the poison our hearts desire. A Song to You can lead you to a breath of fresh air...