Justin snapped out of his daze when he heard his alarm clock beep for the 12th time in 30 minutes. He hated day dreaming like that, but it's been going on for the past three weeks. He had woken up at noon but spent a half hour day dreaming about the girl he hadn't seen in six years. He had went back to memories that were more than 20 years old. God why did he still miss her so much? It was like she left yesterday. He swung his legs to the side of the bed and forced himself to get up. He had to meet his mom for lunch in one hour and he needed to shower. Getting up he scratched the back of his head and headed towards his huge bathroom. He sighed loudly and looked at himself in the mirror. What the hell was wrong with him? Why couldn't he get Liz off his mind? She was still a big part of his heart but he hadn't seen her in at least 6 years.
Justin turned on the water in the shower took off his boxers and steped in. The warm water felt heavenly on his head and shoulders. He had so much to think about. He was trying hard not to think about the past but soon his thoughts went back to his long lost friend. He wondered what she looked like now. No doubt she was more beautiful than she was the last time he saw her. Was she still the fun carefree Liz he had known for so many years? Probably not. She didn't handle challenges very well when she was alone. True her dad and brothers were there but she had depended on him a lot more than she depended on them. He had been her rock and she had been his. She was always so protective. He smiled when he thought about that. Liz would always fight girls off of him, she would always fight his fights and he never minded. He mostly appreciated her for always putting him in his place. Whenever Liz was around "which was often" he never dared to get a big head because he would get hell for it. Whenever he dated anyone Liz normally gave them a frightening interview that let them know, "if you mess with justin, you mess with me". She wasn't exactly frightening, she just had a presence that others envied and one that also intimidated others. He was never fooled though. She always came to him about her insecurities, her fears, her dreams, boys. They had such a close and comfortable relationship but it was never anything romantic. They were just good friends who needed each other. Others envied their friendship cause they thought it was perfect but they had fights and things that annoyed the other. The thing was, the fights never lasted more than an hour. They just cared too much.
Justin let the soap run down his back but couldn't help smiling when he thought about the first time Liz met JC, Lance, Chris, and Joey. He had almost strangled Joey for hitting on her but she sat there and laughed her ass off about the whole thing. She had become such good friends with his second "family" but it didn't really surprise him. Liz was the type of person that anyone can get along with. You could put her in the middle of the worst situation and she would always find the good in people. She had multiple parts to her personality and her personality always fit somewhere with everybody. She always sat around and told stupid jokes with Chris, flirted like hell when with Joey, got serious with JC, and was business like with Lance. With him she was all of those combined. Where did everything go wrong?
Justin stepped out of the shower drying himself off and rapping a towel around himself. He opened the door to his closet and groaned out loud when he realized he needed to organize it. Oh well, he needed to get dressed quickly because he had to get to down town LA in a half hour in afternoon traffic. He let out another miserable groan and quickly picked an outfit.
Justin walked downstairs dressed in khaki pants, a baby blue tanktop, matching Jordans and his favorite shades. He grabbed one of his many car keys and headed out the door with Elizabeth still lingering in his mind.
~35 minutess later~
Justin quickly jogged over to the spot where he was supposed to meet his mother as he parked his car. He knew she was going to start yelling as soon as she saw him so he prepared himself. When he reached his mom she gave him a knowing look but she didn't yell, which surprised him. He leaned over and cautiously kissed her cheek.
"Hi mama." He greeted her. She sighed and finally looked at him. Maybe he spoke too soon. The look in her eyes definately said she wasn't pleased.
"Justin Randall what on earth am I going to do with you? You've had deadlines and dates that you've had to meet for half your life and you can't be on time for lunch?"
"Ma, it was only 5 minutes, 10 at most. Plus in those days I had someone pushing me the whole time. Ask the guys and Johnny. I never got anywhere by myself." Justin replied with a smile. "Have you ordered?"
"No, I was waiting for my son to get here, have you seen him?" Justin chuckled at her sarcasm. His mom could be hilarious when she wante to be. Her country accent was there full force and she didn't even try to hide it like she always did in these types of places.
"Well why don't we call someone over here than."
Justin knew that it was probably not a good idea to eat at his own restaurant because the photo hounds were probably lurking around somewhere. But he didn't care cause it had been so long since he had eaten in his own restaurant.
"Hey Dee Dee?" Justin said calling over one of his employees.
"What's shakin sexy? Oh hi to you too Justin." Justin smiled and his mother laughed at the young girls antics.
"Cute. Can we please get our usual order babydoll, thank you." Justin said with a twinkle of humor in his eyes. He knew she hated that nickname.
"Timberlake, what the hell did I tell you about calling me that. I swear one of these days..." Dee trailed off and didn't finish her sentence.
Justin started to laugh at her. "You're gonna what? So you're resulting to threats now huh Dee? Remember that I have control over your job." He reminded her in mock anger.
" Oh please... I think I'll quite and live happily ever after before you work up enough nerve to fire me. Plus your momma would beat your skinny white ass. Your food will be coming soon Mrs. Harless. As for you Mr. Superstar, I'll tell Pablo not to put anything harmful in your food, you know how he makes mistakes." With that she walked away, leaving Justin smiling and his mom laughing.
" I like her. She reminds me of Liz." Justin's face fell as soon as his mom mentioned Liz.
He sighed and looked at his sorounding. People were chatting, rushing places or driving places. LA was such a hectic city and he wondered how the people survived with no peace.
"What's wrong Justin?" His mom asked with concern written all over her voice.
Justin tried to smile and play it off but he failed miserable.
"Nothings..."
" And don't you dare say it's nothing cause I'm your mother and I'm not stupid. It's cause I mentioned Liz isn't it?" His mother said.
Justin picked at the napkin and fruits in front of him to avoid his mothers eyes.
"Why am I thinkin about her so much Ma? I mean she's been gone for years but it seems like she's invaded my thoughts lately. I keep replaying allmost everything we've been through but I know she's gone." He said in one breath.
His mother reached over and touched his hand in an attempt to comfort him.
"It's okay baby. It's not like it's a bad thing. I mean, I don't think you've ever gotten over her leaving. True it's been six years but you two were inseparable for 17 years, that kind of bond never goes away." His mother explained.
Justin pouted and sighed again. "But I don't even know if she's alive. The last time I saw her she was crying about how she might not be alive after everything that she had to go through. I miss her so much. I thought I was over it but obviously not. The thing that's killing me is that I don't know if she's okay. I hate not knowing mom"
He could tell his mom felt bad becase she couldn't do anything. All she could do was comfort him and reasure him that Liz was fine.
"Baby, her leaving was painful for all of us. How do you think I feel. She left me to handle you all by my lonesome." His mom said trying to lighten up the mood.
"The foods here, let's eat and we'll talk about this at another time ok?" His mom offered.
"Aight ma. Another time."
Justin removed his hands from the table as Lonnie, one of the new waiters, placed their foods on the table. He tried to lighten up the conversation by talking about his vistit from Ashton Kutcher and Chris. They talked about how dangerous of a combination those two were and laughed over it. His mom caught him up on his little brothers and Trace, his dad and his stepmom. Everything was good on the home front. He caught her up on his movies, the new friends he made and his movie promotions which were coming soon. Lunch was amazing since it was with his mom. He hadn't seen her in months and it was good to laugh with her again. Even though they had droped the Liz subject, she was lingering in the back of his mind. He had to find out if she was still alive. The sooner he found out, the sooner he could deal with it. He hoped in his heart that she was still alive. He had so much to tell her.
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