The following morning, Justin called Blair. Blair was the woman whom he impregnated. That sounded awful. He hated to think about the situation. He was furious. Justin had spent a long time deciding exactly who he wanted to be and what he was going to do with his life. This situation was not part of that plan. He didn’t want to be a parent… not yet, at least. Of course he wanted to be a parent, but not right now and not with a woman he barely knew. For a while he’d been thinking about asking Angela to marry him. He was serious about her, no matter what other people thought. His best friends didn’t understand his feelings for Angela. He was completely and utterly in love with her.
Justin truly believed that all of the loves before this one were just puppy love, practice for the real thing. He felt that way about Angela. She seemed to know him like no one else did. She understood the pressures he was feeling, despite the fact that she knew very little about being in the public eye. She was supportive and loved him for the person he was, not just his name in lights. He actually believed that she didn’t even care that he was Justin Timberlake, reigning Pop Prince.
Then why did he feel he needed someone else too? Well, that was something his best friends understood, something they all knew. The answer to that question was the fact that he could. He was Justin Timberlake, reigning Pop Prince. The thing about Angela was that she was still proudly a virgin. She had made a promise to herself mostly that she would remain a virgin until she got married. Justin loved that and he completely respected her decision. He remembered when he thought that was what he wanted to do. For the first two years, everything was cool. There was nothing that they couldn’t face. Then something happened. Justin wasn’t sure what had sparked his need. When they first dating, Justin swore that he would respect Angela’s wish and that would be the end of it. However, it was not the end of it. One week, when Angela had gone on vacation with a couple of her friends to Europe, Justin met a girl in a club.
She was beautiful. She caught his attention right away. She said she didn’t even know that he was in the same club until she turned around to see him dancing right next to her. He suddenly felt thoughts of Angela leave his brain and thoughts of this new woman entered instead. Her light blonde hair was falling free as she danced close to her friends and Justin loved the way she pretended not to notice him. She would simply be a goal to pursue tonight. He didn’t care who she was, what she did, or where she lived. He just wanted her. Well, her body. He figured her a dancer because of her slender frame and perfect rhythm. She moved so well to the beat and looked so graceful. It didn’t matter that the tempo was upbeat and she was dancing closely to other women. In fact, he liked the way she danced.
Justin continued to move his body to the beat as well as closer to her body. He wrapped an arm around her middle to hold her somewhat in place. He began to grind against her backside. Dressed in a pair of amazingly tight black pants that put even Britney to shame and a sequined halter top, this mystery woman turned herself around within his arms and wrapped her arms around Justin’s neck. He then circled her waist with his other arm and smirked. She tilted her head to the side and smiled a crooked smile that Justin found strangely irresistible. The two of them danced wordlessly for a couple minutes before her friends interrupted them. Justin didn’t hear everything they were saying to her, but before he knew it she had leaned back into him and put her mouth close to his ear.
Her hot breath tickled him. It was a sensation he didn’t want to forget. “You’re a great dancer,” was all she said before she unhooked his arms from around her waist and started to walk away from him.
Luckily for him, he had managed to catch her wrist and stop her for a moment. “Where are you going,” he shouted, trying to be heard over the loud club music.
“My friends are leaving,” she told him, leaning back into him again.
“So?”
She smiled and held his hands in hers. This was the last thing she needed, the last thing they both needed. “Are you protesting to my leaving?”
“Perhaps,” Justin shrugged.
She held up one finger and told him to wait one second. She drifted through the sea of dancing young people where Justin assumed she was talking to her friends. Justin stood as tall as he could to see if he could locate her. He couldn’t. He felt someone begin to dance against him. This time it was a brunette wearing a bikini top and a short denim skirt. She was nothing like the woman who had left him stranded in the middle of the dance floor. This woman started to talk to him as they danced, something Justin found annoying at this particular moment.
“Have you replaced me,” someone asked right next to his ear.
Justin spun around and smiled involuntarily. “I thought you were leaving.”
“What can I say,” she shrugged, ignoring the brunette who had just given her a dirty look, “I can’t resist the Timberlake Charm.”
Justin smiled slightly and tilted his head to the side. “You know who I am?”
She just looked at him like he was the dumbest man on planet Earth. “Shut up and dance,” she told him as she wrapped her arms around his neck again.
And that was their first conversation.
Somehow, they had gone from dancing (innocently enough) to the car that was waiting for Justin to his house. This happened a few more times after their first encounter, but only when Angela went away for the weekend or something. He had learned her name was Blair and she was twenty-four years old. He knew that she lived in Orlando as well and liked to hang out at clubs on the weekends to dance with her friends and let loose after a stressful week at work. She didn’t want to tell him what she did, exactly where she lived, her last name or any other details. This was strictly fun. She wasn’t looking for a relationship at the moment and didn’t really care to know much about his life. They had exchanged cell phone numbers, but that was the only mode of communication the two shared.
And the rest, as they say, is history.
“Blair, I have a girlfriend,” Justin told her when he called her the next morning.
“Gee, thanks for telling me earlier, Justin,” she said sarcastically. “You talk to me as if I’m the stupidest person on the planet. I know that you have a girlfriend, but you never even told me until the last time we saw each other. As I recall, you said that you were starting to think that our little flings would need to stop for a while because you were starting to feel guilty for cheating on her.”
“How the hell am I supposed to tell her this?” Justin asked angrily, “This is ruining my life.”
“And it’s not inconveniencing me?” she asked back, “I never meant for this to happen, believe it or not.”
“I can’t talk to you right now.”
“You’re the one who called me.”
“Fuck.” and he closed his phone.
How on earth was he going to break the news to Angela? As he stood in the living room where he had thrown his phone into the couch and rested his hands on his head, he remembered she was flying home later that day. He expected her to call and inform him that she had landed in a few hours. Probably around seven o‘clock that evening. He had about all afternoon to plan out what he was going to say. Of course, she would have to stop by her house before stopping over to his so she could unpack a little bit, throw some clothes in the wash and shower, like she did every time she flew. Something about the re-circulated air, she always said, made her feel funny.
As he suspected, Angela called Justin’s house a little bit after seven o‘clock. She informed him that she had had “the best” time going to Los Angeles with her friends but she was disappointed she didn’t see anyone famous. She laughed after she said that then told him that it didn’t matter that she didn’t see anyone famous because when she came home she had someone famous waiting for her. She meant it as a joke, but Justin didn’t laugh. That was the first caution sign she received. The second and largest caution sign was when Justin said the four worst words in the English language.
“We need to talk, Ang.”
“Well, can you wait until I change and shower and stuff? I’m almost home.”
Justin sighed and sat down. “Yeah,” he nodded, “Of course, baby.”
“Okay,” she said, turning onto her street, “I love you.”
“I love you, too.”
In the meantime, Justin thought he’d call his mom for a moment. She’d talk all day if she could, so being able to tell her that he was going to receive a call from Angela any minute would be a good way to keep the conversation short. He loved his mother dearly, but he didn’t want to be on the phone with her all day. When he called, he got the answering machine at her house, so he just left a message telling her to call him back because he had some news.
It wasn’t long before Angela called him back. She told him how good it felt to finally be home and how much she missed him. She asked if he would prefer to talk while they were both together. She suggested she drive over so they could be together. Justin thought this subject best be said on the phone. He said he didn’t know if he could say it with her looking at him.
“Well, what is it?” Angela asked, getting nervous.
“Listen, Ang, this isn’t good. I think you should be sitting down when you hear this.”
“I am sitting down,” she lied.
“No, you’re not.”
Angela sat down but couldn’t help her jitters. “Just tell me, I need to know. Don’t beat around the bush.”
“Fine,” he shrugged. “I’ve been lying to you. I love you though and I don’t want you to forget that. You’re to be very upset, you’ll probably hate me.” Justin laughed nervously for a second before inhaling deeply. “This is by far the hardest thing I’m ever going to have to do.”
“Justin,” Angela said sternly. “Just tell me, don’t do this to me.”
“I know it’s not fair, Ang. I’m sorry. Really sorry. Um,” Justin stood up and began pacing around his living room. “I met this girl-” He heard her breathe as though she had just been kicked in the stomach. “About a year ago.” He felt like scum. “She, um, -”
“You guys didn’t do anything though, right?” Angela asked in a pseudo-calm voice. “Please tell me you would never do that to me.”
Justin sighed. “No, Ang,” he shook his head, “We, uh, we hooked up probably a handful of times.”
“Five times?!”
“Maybe less.” Justin said lamely. “I know you’re mad but I’m so sorry.”
“Why are you telling me this?” she asked, getting frustrated. “What, did you get her pregnant or something?”
Justin said nothing, kind of hoping that his silence would answer that question. He didn’t think he could actually say he’d gotten her pregnant.
“Oh, shit.” Angela was silent on the other end for a moment. “No.”
“Yeah,” Justin nodded quietly. “Every time you left town for something, we got together. Listen, I regret ever doing this. I just didn’t want you to hear it from someone else. If I could do it all over again, I would. I would change everything. I never meant to hurt you, I wasn’t thinking clearly. I love you so much, Angie.”
“How could you do this to me?” She asked, her heart breaking.
“I know you’re mad. You probably never want to see me again, but you have to know that I love you.”
“You’re right, Justin,” she said, wiping away tears that had come from nowhere. “I never want to see you again.” And she hung up.
Justin got in his car and drove the fifteen minutes to her house. When he got to the door, she didn’t answer right away. He saw her look through the window in the door to see who it was, and then he heard footsteps move away from the door. He banged on the door and called her name. She finally answered the door, but said nothing and just stood there. She obviously didn’t want to go near him. Justin told her to just hold on one second and to listen. He fell to his knees and wrapped his arms around her waist, pleading and close to tears. She told him to stand up. He let go of her and stood up, looking and feeling like crap. She slapped him across the face, hard.
“Listen, Ang,” he said, bracing himself for another slap. “This was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do. Do you think it was easy to tell the woman I love that I’m having a baby with a woman I hardly even know? At least I was man enough to tell you!”
Angela stopped, her arm raised and hand just about to make contact with his skin again. “Oh, what, did you want a metal or perhaps an applause?”
Justin looked to his feet.
“I didn’t think so.”
Angela turned around and was about to slam the door in his face. He grabbed her and wrapped his arms around her tightly. “I love you, Angie. Give me another chance. Please.”
“Never.”
