Heartbreak and let downs were a part of his life, as hard as it was, he managed to find a way to get used to that feeling. His knee-jerk reaction would be to jump on a plane and head home when he was heartbroken, mend his issues and then get back to reality. But this trip home wasn't about mending a broken heart, even though most would assume he was. Surprisingly he wasn't heartbroken, even after his breakup. This trip home was work, among other things.
His new venture was his first attempt at directing music videos and he was going to do it with the likes of his up-and-coming artists who was about to blow the roof off of the industry. They were ready, they were bursting at the seams ready to do this, but he wasn't so ready. Even though he had directed a couple commercials and a couple tours, he was scared he would fail at this task. He had someone else's life, livelihood, and career in the palm of his hands. He had the possibilities of making or breaking the career of guys who truly deserved the chance at big things.
"Justin?" His mother jumped up from the flowerbed of her front lawn, tossing her gardening gloves to the ground, rushing towards him. "What are you doing here?" She asked confused.
"Hi Mama!" Justin grabbed his bag out of the backseat of the car, shutting the door behind him. "It feels incredible to be home." He said relieved.
Lynn clutched a hold of him, embracing him with a hug the way she always did when she saw him. She examined the look in her son's eyes and his body language. She knew her son better than anyone did, something wasn't right. "Everything okay? You weren't supposed to be home for a couple days."
"I just wanted to be home Mama. I wanted to see you." He smiled, "I managed to rework some things in my schedule ..." Justin's words trailed off. He was just happy to be home.
"I could've picked you up at the airport; you didn't have to rent a car..."
"I wanted to drive..." He muttered. "Clarity at its best."
With that statement, Lynn knew that something was wrong or at the least different about her son. Something had changed him. "Well... let's get you in the house. Dinner will be ready..."
"I'm..." Justin interrupted his mother, something he rarely did. "I was actually thinking I would just go for a drive..."
"Justin Randall... Are you okay?" She asked again, but this time she asked in her worried mother voice.
"I'm fine Mama." He snapped, "I want to see these locations they have picked for the video."
"There will be a plate in the oven for you, just heat it up." She said thinking that particular look in his eyes hasn't been seen in a very long time. She wrapped her arms back around him; seeing the look in his eyes wonder into somewhere else as she pulled away. "It's so great to see you."
Justin piddled his way in the house, dropping his overly priced Gucci luggage into his bedroom. Examining all the things his mother had kept over the years, all his career momentous. He would never understand why she kept some of the things she did but he enjoyed getting a glimpse of a time in his life when he was living life just for the music and returning to Memphis to live his normal life before being back on the road again. He didn't have that option anymore.
He loved his job, he really did, but he loved it here. He always counted on coming back here, with a wife and living happily ever after in this small town. He thought if he stabled himself in his career, he would commute back and forth, live the best of both worlds. But here he stood, in his childhood home, with neither. Getting married had become something he didn't see any more at all, and commuting was just out of the question.
His experience with Hollywood had run its course. Attending the hottest parties, clubs, or even the sunshine wasn't all it was cracked up to be. When that sun goes down, the dark side of Hollywood was full of lies, deception, and betrayal. Everyone had an agenda, and if you walk into their path it would only end badly.
*-*-
The morning birds were chirping and sun was rising into the sky as Justin watched with a piping hot cup of coffee in hand, his glasses perched on the bridge of his nose, staring off into the distance. He had been awake for hours staring at the skyline, waiting for the sun to rise.
He had spent the entire day before with his family and friends reminiscing about everything. But the silence, which usually was defining, was just what he needed on this morning. His mind had been racing with the million things that needed accomplished, until he heard the silence. But with the silence comes reality. Their conversations forced him to face the things he hadn't thought about in quite some time. He was also face with the things he never saw to begin with.
He stood, returning to the kitchen for a refill when he saw his unfinished task staring back at him. A lonely corner of the deck, pieces of the gift he had gotten for his mother, three Christmases ago. He always promised he would finish it, but one thing led to another leaving it not a priority and it was still in the shed, in pieces.
His parent's house was surrounded in stone, but his mother had dreamed of adding an extended terrace onto the deck that Justin, Trace, and Paul had managed to finish three summers ago. Being the great son he was, he purchased all the materials, worked diligently on getting it finished but ended up only accomplishing one corner before having to rush back to Los Angeles because he girlfriend at the time was going through one of her many meltdowns.
So there sat, unfinished.
He shook his head, disgusted in himself.
Hours later...
Lynn watched from inside the house her son nail by nail, board by board, hour by hour, making some headway on finishing that terrace. The Tennessee sun was beating down on his bare back, the temperature was climbing but he continued to nail away, inching closer to a finished product. Each time she would asked if he needed something, he would only reply with a no and some kind of smart ass comment about just getting this done before he had to get down to the video shoot.
The front door cracked open, Lynn turned to see who was entering her home before yelling down the hallway, "In here."
Kinley, nervously walked down the hallway of an unfamiliar house. "Good afternoon ..." she finally said when she saw the petite, curly hair woman standing in the kitchen, staring out the window.
"That son of mine..." Lynn sighed heavily. "He needs to relax, that's why he is here... and he won't stop."
Kinley looked out the window to see Justin readjusted his tool belt around his jeans, sweat rolling down his chest, dripping to the ground, his abs of steel glistening from the sweat and the sunshine. She felt her mouth becoming dry and her focus became precisely on him. Nothing else in the world mattered as she watched him adjusting the tool belt along his waist.
Fuck. She kept saying to herself.
When she was giving the task of delivering a stack of photos to an address, she never expected herself to be standing in Lynn Harless' kitchen, let alone watching her enormously hot, half naked son make her thoughts run wild with what she wanted to do to him.
"He is stubborn and should have simply hired someone to finish that, but he insisted that it had to be done his way..." Lynn turned back to see the tall brunette with a hat covering most of her face.
"I was told to bring these over to this address..." Kinley managed to spit out handing Lynn the photos. "I thought I was going to be an extra for this video, but it looks like I've turned into some kind of errand girl." She laughed.
"Those are for Justin..." Lynn handed them back to her, "Please... could you take them out to him, maybe he will stop killing himself."
Suddenly Kinley's feet felt cemented to the floor. She was going to have to speak to him. She was going to speak to Justin. Timberlake. She couldn't' think straight with that tool belt wrapped around his body, it was driving her insane with rampant thoughts.
Slowly, but surly she made herself out to the deck. Justin continued to pound away on each nail head, pounding them with such force.
"Excuse me." She blurted out. "I have these for you." Her body covered in nervousness chills.
Justin turned back quickly, hearing an unfamiliar voice, snapping back with attitude, "Just lay them there..." He pointed to the table across the porch before returning to the hammer and nails. "I'll look at them when I have time."
Instantly Kinley lost her interest in him. He had lost all of his hotness in just a split second. Yes, he was busy, and the tool belt riding low on his waist was sexy but that didn't give him the right to be rude. He wasn't the southern gentleman she thought he was going to be. She dropped the photos on the table and exiting faster than he could turn around.
