Monday, January 22, 2001

Justin tugged at the woven hem of his beige sweater. It was the same one he’d worn to the MTV VMA’s— the night he had cuddled up to Britney for the cameras. It had been his way of showing Britney the fans wouldn’t react badly if something were to happen between the two of them.

It had just reinforced the rumors that they were going out and hadn’t changed the way Britney felt about the whole situation.

He didn’t need to think of Britney now though, not when he had someone so much better right down the hallway. He ran his fingers through his hair, attempting to make the curls fall into exactly the right spot.

He walked over to the bed and picked up the single rose wrapped in transparent cellophane, before he walked over to the mirror on his closet door and smiled once, baring his teeth. His eyes sparkled through his contacts. He grabbed the leather jacket off a hanger on his doorknob and slung it over his shoulder. He moved easily towards the door and out of the room.

He knocked once on the door at the other end of the hallway. His knuckles echoed through the wood.

"Hold on!" Maggie’s voice was quiet through the door. "Give me two seconds."

"Okay," Justin said. He smiled at her harried sound, and purposefully raised his voice. "One- one thousand, two- one thousand."

The door opened and Justin was met with a glare. "You knew what I meant," Maggie said.

"I know," Justin said. He smiled and allowed his eyes to travel down her body. "You look wonderful." He handed her the flower he held.

Maggie blushed and gripped the plastic tightly in her hands causing it to crinkle loudly. "Thank you. You look good, too."

Justin looked down at his sweater and khakis. "I try."

Maggie giggled. She walked back into the room and placed the flower carefully on her desk. She grabbed the coat that was resting on the back of her chair.

"Where are we going?" Maggie asked as she pulled the coat on and ran a hand underneath her hair, to free it from the place it was caught between her back and the jacket.

"Someplace Kevin recommended," Justin said. "He said Amanda loves it."

"I’m sure I’ll like it then," Maggie said. She extended her hand to Justin. "Shall we?"

"We shall," Justin said. He wove his fingers with hers and gently led her out of the room.

"Have you heard anything from Justin?" Johnny asked. He looked at the four tired faces around the table. "Anything since last week?"

JC shook his head. "I haven’t. Lance?"

Lance moved his gaze from his twiddling fingers to the other four men. "You want to go check my inbox?"

"I haven’t gotten a reply to my email," Chris said. "I thought I might since I asked about his girl, but—"

"I didn’t get a reply to mine either," Joey said. He turned to Johnny. "Why?"

"Just a little worried," Johnny said. "Has it ever taken him this long to reply before?"

"It’s only been five days," Lance said.

"Maybe you should try emailing him again," Johnny said to Lance. "He seems to like responding to you."

"No," Lance shook his head. "I already told him I wouldn’t. I’m not going to."

"His mother called me today," Johnny said.

Four sets of eyes were immediately staring at him.

"Really," JC said. "What did she want?"

"She and Randall would like to speak at the concert," Johnny said.

"What?" Chris asked. His eyes flashed. "Why?"

"She wants to quote make an appeal to the world to bring her baby boy back to her," Johnny said. He moved his fingers in the universal sign for quotation marks.

"He’s not a little kid," Chris said. "He’s going to be nineteen in nine days."

Silence enveloped the room.

"He is," Lance said slowly.

"Lynn’s been elected one of the national spokeswoman for the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children," Johnny said.

"Well why shouldn’t she speak?" JC asked. "It’s not like it’s going to make any difference. Justin’s not coming back until he’s ready to."

"We’re going to look like fucking selfless angels after this tour," Joey said with a tired smirk. "The ‘I Want You Back Tour 2001: Benefiting Runaway Services’, a memorial to Michael Cuccione, and a flipping speech by Justin’s mother to raise awareness of runaways across the nation."

"It’ll help secure you guys’ futures," Johnny said. "So Lynn will be filling the normal halftime break you guys take, okay?"

The four men nodded.

"Oh my gosh," Maggie said as the truck pulled into the dark parking lot. "I’ve been wanting to try this place for forever."

Justin smiled. He put the vehicle in park and turned the key, shutting off the engine. The cab was warm.

"Kevin said Amanda loves it," Justin said.

"I know," Maggie said. Her eyes sparkled, reflecting the passing headlights. Her cheeks were pink. "Kevin took her here for their two year anniversary. She gushed about it for days. Apparently the waiters are really hot, too."

Justin made a move as if to turn the car back on. "Okay, Kevin didn’t mention that. We’ll go find a McDonalds, or something."

"Just kidding," Maggie said. She reached over to the steering wheel and touched Justin’s hand.

"You’d better be," Justin said. He turned his head to look at his girlfriend. He leaned over and gently kissed her. "Let’s get inside, okay?"

Maggie nodded. She dropped her hand from Justin’s and turned to her door of the truck.

Justin opened his door quickly and shivered as he stepped out into the below freezing air. He walked around the front of the truck and opened Maggie’s door, helping her step down to the ground. He noticed her shiver.

"Come here," Justin said. He opened up the left side of his leather jacket and pulled her close to him, pulling the jacket closely around both of them. "We’ll be inside in a minute."

They walked quickly across the paved parking lot to the brightly-lit restaurant.

"He’s going to be nineteen," Joey said quietly. He turned to look at Lance and waited for the blond man to look away from the TV and back at him. "I’d almost forgotten."

"Me too," Lance said.

"I never forget his birthdays," Joey continued. "He’s always nagging me for the alcohol."

"Yeah." Lance chuckled slightly. "I haven’t missed the constant whine this time of year brings."

"We can’t even wish him a happy birthday," Joey said.

"We can send him an email," Lance said. "Or one of those cheesy e-cards."

"But we aren’t going to be there to see his face light up when he gets presents," Joey said. "We aren’t going to be able to see that bounce in his step, or the smile that never leaves his face for the entire day."

"We can imagine it," Lance said.

"There are some things the imagination just doesn’t work for," Joey said. "This is one of them."

"It’s not like 19’s a big birthday," Lance said. "Not like 18, or 20."

"Every birthday’s big when you’re a teenager," Joey said. "You were one more recently than I was. Remember how you used to jump up and down and ask what we got you over and over again for days before?"

Lance felt the corners of his mouth curl up. "Yeah." He laughed softly. "Heck, I just like birthdays."

"We all do," Joey said. "We all like celebrating them. And now we can’t celebrate his."

Maggie delicately cut a sliver of meat off the steak in front of her. She popped it in her mouth. "I’m going to be so spoiled now."

Justin grinned. "So in other words we’re going to be back here in a month?"

Maggie nodded. "Uh-huh. I think I’m going to be following Amanda’s example and gushing for a very long time."

Justin felt his grin widen. "I’ll have to thank Kevin."

"You sure do," Maggie said. "You just earned major boyfriend points."

"Good," Justin said. He finished chewing his cooked carrot. "Can I ask you a question about Kevin and Amanda?"

"What?" Maggie asked. She speared a green bean.

"Are they really getting engaged at the end of the year?"

Maggie nodded. "Yeah."

"But Amanda’s still going to be in school."

"So?" Maggie asked. "Lots of people drop out and get married. Heck, you know five girls in our class have kids, and another two are married already."

Justin blinked. "Yeah," he said slowly. "I know." He hadn’t really, though.

"It’s what happens," Maggie said. "Not very many people leave Mill Creek. Those that do generally meet someone at college and settle down far, far away."

"What about you?" Justin asked.

"I’m going to try to leave," Maggie said. "I’ll be at Wichita State, probably."

"Stu’s going to try to go to K-State," Justin said. "He said he was going to try to walk on the basketball team."

"That would be really cool," Maggie said. "What about you?"

"What about me?" Justin asked.

"What are you doing next year?"

Justin set his fork and knife on the plate in front of him. "I’ll probably be back home by then."

"Oh," Maggie said. She continued slicing at the steak in front of her, though she didn’t bring any of the meat to her mouth. "You could always got to K-State, or Wichita, or something."

"I can’t," Justin said. "I’ve got to go back sometime."

"I know," Maggie said. She smiled sadly. "It was just a happy thought."

"A very happy thought," Justin said. "You know I would if I could, don’t you?"

"When are you going to go back?" Maggie asked.

"I don’t know," Justin said.

"After school’s out?" Maggie pressed.

"I don’t know," Justin said. He felt his voice harden. "Can we talk about this some other time? Tonight is about now, not the future."

"Yeah, sure," Maggie said. She forked one of the pieces of meat on her plate. "So, as I was saying, I’m going to be so spoiled now."

"I already am," Justin said quietly.

"What?" Maggie asked.

"I said 'me too.'" Justin cut another piece of meat off his steak. "I don’t think I’ve ever had a steak this good."

Justin twisted the wheel of the truck, pulling it to a stop in the deserted lot.

"This is the place," Maggie said. She looked through the front window at the monstrous movie screen in front of them. "Everyone comes here during the summer."

Justin leaned back in his seat and stared out the window. "This is really cool."

"I can’t believe you’ve never been to a drive in before," Maggie said. "I thought everyone went to them."

"Nope," Justin said. "I never had the opportunity."

"You city boys," Maggie said. "It’s a really fun place to come."

Justin nodded. He moved his arm across the back of the seat and felt Maggie lean into him. "I know why it’s fun. I know what people do during the movie."

Maggie blushed. "You’ll have to come back at some point this summer so we can go."

"Yeah," Justin said. His voice took on a slightly wistful tone. Then he grinned widely. "You know, I suppose we don’t actually have to be watching a movie to take advantage of all the drive in has to offer."

Maggie blushed redder. "No one ever watches the movie," she said.

"We don’t have to have the guise of watching a movie," Justin clarified. His eyes were focused on Maggie’s lips. They were silent for a few moments, or minutes, or hours. When Justin spoke again his voice was husky. "You do know you’re the reason I’m here, right?"

"I am?" Maggie asked. She forced her gaze from Justin’s lips to his eyes.

"Uh-huh," Justin said. "I was sitting in the Denver Airport, waiting for my plane, and I realized I couldn’t leave you."

Maggie raised a hand and ran it along Justin’s cheek. "I moped the entire day after you left."

"I missed you before the bus even pulled away," Justin said. He raised his left hand and covered Maggie’s, holding it to his face. He moved his lips against her palm, kissing the skin lightly.

"Me too," Maggie said softly.

"I love you," Justin said quietly, but the words were loud in the silent car. He felt his heart flutter at the words and adrenaline pump through his veins.

"I love you too," Maggie said. She smiled widely.

Justin leaned towards Maggie and captured her lips with his. He moved his hand to her face and wiped his thumb across her cheek. He felt a tear trickle down her cheek. He wiped it away.

"Hey," he said softly, pulling his lips away from hers. "Why are you crying?"

"I don’t want you to leave," Maggie said. "I know you said you didn’t want to talk about it tonight, and that you said nothing would change, but I don’t want you to not be here." She swallowed convulsively. "I just love you so much, Randy, and you just appeared out of nowhere, and I don’t want to see you disappear back there too."

Justin sighed and pulled Maggie into a hug. "Believe me, Mags, I’m never going to disappear. You’ll always know where I am."

"You say that now," Maggie said. She rubbed her face on Justin’s coat, smearing and drying the wetness on her cheeks.

"And I’ll say it forever," Justin said. His pulled away and looked her in the eyes. "I won’t willingly let anything happen to what we’ve built, even if I’m not here, okay?"

Maggie pulled her bottom lip in between her teeth and nodded.

"Now weren’t we exploring the activities that can be done at a drive in?" Justin asked. "I mean, this’ll probably be the one time I’m at one, so I want to get the full experience."

Maggie giggled, causing her face to light up. "Of course, Mr. Smith. We can’t have you having only a partial appreciation of all that the drive in has to offer."

The only sound in the car was the soft sound of lips meeting again and again.

Tuesday, January 23, 2001

"Randy Smith!"

Justin turned around. His eyes locked on the door to the gym. He saw a short lady running towards him.

"Randy!"

"Yes?" Justin asked. He shifted the bag over his shoulder.

"My name is Sylvia Saunders," the woman said. She stuck out her hand. "I’m from the Wichita Eagle and I’m writing the midseason basketball roundup. I was hoping I could get a quote from you."

Justin immediately felt his defenses rise. "Okay," he said slowly.

"Can you just give me some thoughts on the season?" Sylvia asked.

"Like what sort of stuff?" Justin asked. He needed clarity. There was no way he was going to let himself be misquoted, or quoted out of context. It had happened too often in the past.

"Like how it feels to five and oh," Sylvia said. "Did you expect to completely turn this team around when you walked on in November?"

"This team has a lot of talent," Justin said. He paused, thinking out what he was going to say. "What they lacked last year was experience. Our coach, Mr. McGrath, has been the reason we’ve done so well this season. He’s prepared us for every obstacle, talked us through every game, even when they weren’t going so well."

"You aren’t taking any credit for this remarkable change of the team's fortune?" Sylvia asked.

Justin shrugged. "I happen to work well with all the players on the team. If I’d gone to another school who knows how I would have fit in with the team?"

"You’re very humble for someone who fell into the spotlight of the high school basketball scene," Sylvia said.

"Basketball is a team sport," Justin said. "One person doesn’t make a team. It’s a group effort. Always." He looked at his watch. "I’m afraid I’ve got to get ready for the game."

Sylvia nodded, even though she looked like she had more questions to ask. She turned away, looking for more people to talk to.

Justin headed for the locker room again.

"Your girlfriend not boosting your ego enough, Smith?"

Justin turned his head and saw Nick sneering at him.

"You just wish she was boosting yours," Justin said. "You’re just jealous because I got the girl and you didn’t."

"What the fuck do you mean by that?" Nick asked. "Why the hell would I want Maggie Hunter?"

"Because you realize you gave up on what could have been the best thing in your life," Justin said. "And I got it."

"Maggie cheated on Josh," Nick said. "We told you that. How do you know she’s not going to do the same thing to you?"

"She cheated with you, fucker," Justin said. He tightened his grip on the strap of the gym bag. "Then you fucked her over."

"What the fuck is he talking about, Nick?" Josh’s voice came from behind Justin.

"I’m talking about the fact that the guy Maggie quote unquote cheated on you with was your very own best friend," Justin said. He turned towards Josh, and saw the other teen turning red with anger. "I’m talking about the fact that all they did was kiss once, but he told you she’d been all over all sorts of guys. You know Maggie. Where would she find all sorts of guys to be all over?"

Josh didn’t look at Justin. His eyes were focused on Nick.

"She’s been lying to him," Nick said. His voice had climbed a few notches. "He’s just worried she’s going to pull the same shit with him."

"I trust her not to," Justin said. "That’s more than I can say for other people in this room." He looked at Josh, then at Nick, then back at Josh again. "Believe what you want, Perkins. I’ve got her now."

He continued his way into the locker room.

"This game decides a lot," Coach said. The players were huddled at the back of the locker room. "It decides whether we meet Parker unbeaten. It decides if we finish the first half of the season in the top two."

Justin looked at Josh. The teen had his head buried in clenched fists.

"Are we going to beat them?" Coach asked.

"Hell yeah!" eight of the ten players yelled, Justin and Josh’s voices noticeably absent.

"I said are we going to beat them?" Coach asked again.

Justin looked up and met the Coach’s eyes.

"Hell yeah!" the players shouted.

"Let’s go out there and win this sucker," Coach said. "You guys are the best. Let’s show the world that we deserve to be ranked number one in this league."

"Hell yeah!" the players shouted for a third time.

Justin stood up and followed the rest of the players to the door of the locker room. He could already hear the opening strains of ‘Phantom of the Opera’ echoing around the full gym.

Justin stared at Josh in awe as the three point shot fell through the net. It was the fifth one that night. He jogged down the court, already on the defensive as the opposing point guard brought the ball down.

Justin signaled Josh to stay up near the three-point line. He followed the ball with his eyes, and moved quickly, cat-like, batting it in Josh’s direction. The shooter caught it and took off down the court. Justin followed him, blocking the opposing point-guard's attempts to guard against Josh’s unobstructed basket. The ball fell through the net again.

The buzzer rang, signaling the end of the third quarter. The ten players walked off the court, five smiling widely, five looking defeated.

"Shit, Perkins," Justin said as he came up beside the other teen. "What got into you tonight?"

"Did you tell the truth out there?" Josh asked, ignoring the towel the towel boy was shoving at him. "About Nick and Maggie?"

Justin nodded. "That’s the story I got from Maggie, and really she had no reason to lie to me. She wasn’t even hardly speaking to me at that point."

"Fuck," Josh said. He grabbed the towel from the kid and scrubbed it across his face. "Fuck."

"Sorry, man," Justin said. There was a hint of amusement in his voice, but just a hint.

"There’s no reason I should believe you, though," Josh said. "Nick’s my friend and you’ve been anything but."

"No," Justin said. "You did have every reason to believe your girlfriend, though, and you didn’t, so I don’t see why you should believe me." He saw Josh’s fist clench, but he didn’t move.

"You’d better not be fucking with me, Smith," Josh said.

"I’m not," Justin said.

"Okay," Josh said. He nodded slowly, and looked back out at the court. "Let’s go win this sucker."

"Let’s," Justin said.