| “Hey John,” Maria said casually as she walked down the stairs, headed toward the kitchen in search of pizza. John raised his hand to wave hello to Maria, never once actually turning his eyes toward her. He was slightly pre-occupied with his girlfriend Jenn, whom he was making out with on the couch of hers and Maria’s Orlando condominium. Jenn broke the kiss and sighed. “Ree, do you still live here?” “Yep,” Maria replied. “Where’s the pizza?” “It’s on the counter, I think Jenn buried it under a few Backdoor Boys magazines again,” John supplied. Jenn promptly hit him for his comment about her precious Backstreet Boys. “Oww, what was that for?” “Calling Howie a Backdoor Boy.” Maria snickered to herself and moved a few teenybopper magazines from on top of the pizza box. She also liked the “Backdoor Boys,” but she had a sense of humor them, they were human after all. Except for maybe Nick, he seemed like an alien at times, but that was another story. She took all the ridicule that came along with liking Hanson, and it was about time that someone poked some fun at Jenn’s favorite group. “Thanks John.” Seconds later she walked in the living room holding a plate and napkin in one hand and a slice of pepperoni pizza in the other. “Who ordered the pepperoni? I thought we liked mushrooms.” “We do, but John simply HAD to have his way this time,” Jenn said sarcastically. “Well, you always get your way, I felt that it was time that I got mine.” Maria ignored the beginnings of what was sure to be an argument, sat down on her favorite baby blue bean bag chair, and opened her Civics book to study for an upcoming Final Exam that she was taking at the University of Central Florida, her college. She had always been an overachiever and had skipped a grade in high school. Her eighteenth birthday was next March tenth. She recently moved down to Orlando with her friends and had gotten accepted to her first choice college, UCF. Jenn just stared at her. “Do you mind?” Maria looked up and asked innocently, “Mind what?” “We were kinda in the middle of something,” Jenn said through clenched teeth, shooting Maria a look. Maria raised her eyebrows in amusement. “If you honestly think I care about you two making out in front of me, then you have something wrong inside that blond head of yours.” Maria brushed a few strands of her auburn hair out of her eyes and moved her reading glasses up on her nose and returned to her Civics. “That is so it, you need a boyfriend,” Jenn said, standing up and walking to the kitchen. Maria sighed. “And tell me why again?” “Because of the simple fact that you haven’t had one in, what was it at last count… Two years?” John asked. Maria glared over her glasses at Adam. “In two weeks it will be two years. Must you constantly bring up A.J.?” John shook his head. “I’m sorry Ria, but I would think you’d be over him by now. You were fifteen what that happened. Isn’t the mourning period over?” “It’s been over,” Jenn remarked, walking into the room with her pizza and a copy of Bop. “For a year and ten months.” “Hey, I am fine by myself,” Maria said, picking up her paper plate and napkin to throw them out. “NO you are NOT,” John said, following her into the kitchen. “Oh really? Just because I don’t have someone by my side all the time doesn’t mean I can’t be happy.” “Ria, you aren’t happy,” John said softly, putting a hand on his friend’s shoulder, turning her around to face him. “I see the way you look at me and Jenn. I know you want what we have. You’ll get it, I know it.” The tears in Maria’s eyes were threatening to spill over. “When?” “I don’t know,” John said, pulling her in for a hug. “He’s out there Ria. Someone who is perfect for you in every way. Someone who you’re meant to be with for the rest of your life. You’ll find him, trust me. You’re only seventeen, you have your entire life ahead of you.” “Thanks John,” Maria sniffed as she let go of his waist. “I’m sorry.” “For what?” John asked, clueless as to why she was apologizing. “Your shirt’s all wet.” John looked down at his slightly soggy shirt. He cracked a smile and said, “It’s okay, I have other shirts.” Suddenly they heard a soft whimper from by their feet. They looked down to see Zoey, Maria’s Dachshund puppy, whimpering and holding her leash in her mouth. “I think someone wants to go outside,” Maria said, picking up the squirming puppy. “Could you put on her leash for me?” ~*~*~ “Busta, wait!” seventeen year-old Justin Timberlake yelled after the Pug puppy. Busta had somehow gotten off of his leash and was now running through the neighborhood, always ten steps ahead of Justin. “Come on Busta, will you just stay? Please?” Justin was about to grab the dog when he took off around a corner and Justin’s leap went completely wrong. He consequently landed with his face in the dirt. “I have gotta learn to say no to Chris when he wants me to puppy-sit. It’s gonna kill me if I don’t.” He spit out some dirt. “And it’s giving me a really bad taste in my mouth. Man, I hope to hell that was dirt.” He had been chasing Busta for nearly a half an hour and he was about to give up and let Chris kill him for losing his dog. But something told him to keep following the annoying little mongrel, so he got up and turned a corner and saw Busta sitting on the sidewalk in front of a girl around his age, who had a Dachshund puppy of her own in her arms. ~*~*~ “What a cute dog,” Maria said, leaning down to pet the little Pug who had run in front of her. “Where’s you owner, huh cutie?” The little dog sat down in front of her and she inspected his tags. “Busta? Cute name. Whoever owns you must like Busta Rhymes. I wonder where your owner is anyway.” Maria heard someone stop in front of her, and she looked up to see a tall curly-haired blond guy holding a leash and no dog. She stood up and said, “I take it this is your dog.” The guy cleared his throat before he answered. “He’s not actually mine, I’m puppy-sitting. Thanks for catching him for me,” he said while he leaned down to put Busta’s leash on. “I didn’t really catch him, he kinda ran into me,” Maria said, setting down Zoey. “This your dog?” the guy asked, leaning down to pet her. “Yeah, that’s Zoey.” “And your name would be…?” the guy asked, looking up at her with a smile. “Oh, umm, Maria, Maria Park.” Why couldn’t I remember my name? Maria thought. That was weird. “Well, Maria, I’m Justin,” he said, standing up to shake Maria’s hand. “Nice to meet you.” “Likewise,” she said with a smile. “You know you look really familiar,” Maria said, wondering where she saw this guy before. “How so?” Justin asked, his smile slowly fading. “You look like Ryan Phillippe,” Maria said with a laugh. “But I take it you’re not him in disguise, I can’t be that lucky, can I?” Justin let out a breath and smiled. “Guess not. I’ll have to do I suppose.” “Yeah, I suppose.” A month later Maria was flipping through a magazine aimlessly while the radio played in the background. MMMBop ended and the DJ came on the sound system. “And for a chance to win VIP passes to attend the taping of a Disney concert with ‘N Sync, be caller number twelve right now to win!” Maria wrinkled her nose. “Who the hell are ‘N Sync? Oh well, a concert’s a concert, they might be good.” With that, she picked up the phone and dialed 93.3 FLZ’s 800 number and actually got through. “FLZ, you’re caller number one, try again.” Maria hung up and dialed once again and she got through. “I’m probably number ten or something,” she said to herself, thinking she wouldn’t win. “And I’m talking to myself. I feel like I’m on Days of Our Lives.” “FLZ, who’s this?” the DJ asked. “Umm, this is Maria Park,” she replied, wondering why they were asking her name. “Hi Maria. Where are you from?” “Umm, Orlando.” “Well Maria from Orlando, you’re caller number twelve! You won!” “I won?” Maria asked, stunned that she won something. “Yep. You and a friend are going to be attending the taping of ‘N Sync’s Disney Special tomorrow at 8PM that’s gonna be aired on the Disney channel later this month in Disney Studios. You can pick up the passes at the station tomorrow before the concert.” “Cool. Thanks,” Maria said, pressing the End button on the phone. She immediately turned it back on and dialed Justin’s number. After three rings he picked up. “Hey Ria,” Justin said, reading the name on his Caller ID. “Hey J,” she replied, a smile forming on her face. “Whatcha doin’ tomorrow at like, 6:30?” “Six thirty… Umm, I’m kinda busy,” he said, not exactly lying but not exactly telling the truth. “Hmm… That’s okay, I just won these VIP passes for some concert at Disney tomorrow and I wanted to know if you wanted to go. But if you’re busy then I’ll just take Jenn or John, whoever’s not doing anything. Justin, are you there? Are you even listening to me?” Justin swallowed hard. “Umm, yeah. A concert a Disney, huh? Sounds like fun. Wish I was free, but I can’t go. Why don’t you ask John?” he asked, knowing that tomorrow would be the day she found out the truth about him, and he would rather have John there then Jenn, for the simple fact that she just did not like him. “Hmm… Okay. I was thinking about asking JC, too.” “Oh, JC’s busy too, he told me today that he has to, umm, go visit his cousin in Miami.” “What about the other guys? Lance, Joey, Chris?” Maria asked, not exactly wanting to take Jenn and not wanting to take John because Jenn would get mad at her for taking her boyfriend to a concert. “I dunno… I think they’re busy too, though. Just ask John, he seems like a cool enough guy.” “Okay. I’ll do that. So, what do you think I should wear to this concert?” she asked innocently. Justin realized that he could take advantage of this simple question. “How about that white halter top you have? The one that looks like a tube top with the strings on it, with the little blue flowers on the top?” “Not a bad idea,” she said, standing up to look in her closet to see if she needed to do laundry before the concert. “And I can just wear those Tommy jeans to go with it, the dark ones. And they’re clean – wonder of wonders. Well, thanks for the clothes choice J, but I better call John to see if he wants to go. I guess I’ll see you, like, the day after tomorrow, I guess. Later.” “Bye Ria,” Justin replied, thankful she bought his excuses for himself and the rest of the group. “Man, there are a LOT of people here,” Maria remarked to John the next day, while they were walking to the VIP Section, in front of the barricades the crew had set up to contain the crowd. Which consisted of mainly teenagers holding signs saying names on them. But the signs were too far away for Maria to see. “You’re telling me,” John replied, putting a hand over his ear to try and block out the shrill screams of the teenagers. After waiting for about twenty minutes, someone finally announced that ‘N Sync would be onstage momentarily and they would begin filming as soon as he left the stage. Maria and John stood amid all the screaming girls and wondered what all the fuss was about. Soon, after waving for the cameras a few times, the band started playing and the girls started screaming even louder. Maria stood silent through the noise and looked around, waiting for someone to go on the stage. She turned her head for a few moments, and when she turned it back, she saw five guys walk onstage. Being short, Maria couldn’t see their faces very well, so she asked John, who was taller than her by a few inches, “Who are they?” John looked up at the guys onstage and his mouth dropped open. “Ria, what’s Justin doing on the stage?” “Justin? Justin Timberlake? You’re joking, lemme on your back,” Maria said, knowing that John was making fun of the fact that Justin liked to sing. He lifted Maria on his back, and, sure enough, she saw Justin on the stage. He appeared to not notice her yet. Maria looked at the other guys on the stage, and realized that they were JC, Joey, Chris and Lance. She nearly had a coronary. Justin finally found Maria in the crowd; she was sitting on John’s back so she was taller than her normal five feet three inches. He gave her a look that said ‘I’m sorry for lying to you and I can explain everything after the concert,’ and she seemed to buy it. She seemed pretty upset with him, and the rest of the guys, but after a few songs, she seemed to be getting into the concert and was applauding her friends and yelling with the crowd. Especially during God Must Have Spent, she seemed to enjoy herself during that song. She had a smile plastered to her face the whole time that Justin was singing to her. When he sang to her, the whole world shut off for a few minutes. It was just the two of them there, no one else. ~*~*~ “I can’t believe you didn’t tell me something like this,” Maria said as Justin opened the door to his house the next day. “Ria, I am so sorry, I was going to tell you, but…” Justin trailed off as he let Maria in the house and shut the door behind her. “Did you think I wouldn’t find out?” Maria asked calmly, a sign that she was pissed. “No, I knew you would find out eventually, but I… I dunno, I just didn’t want you to find out this way. Ria, I am so sorry that you had to find out this way.” “Of course you are,” Ria replied bitterly and sarcastically, sitting down on the couch. Justin sighed and sat next to her. “Ria, you know that I would have told you if I could. But management and everyone else said that I couldn’t.” “Everyone else meaning JC and the guys?” Maria asked with a hurt face. “No, no, not them,” Justin said. He was beginning to get frustrated, so he was beginning to babble, almost incoherently. “They wanted me to tell you. They wanted to tell you. But everyone at TransConn wouldn’t let us. That’s the label we’re signed to. All of a sudden I have a new girlfriend and they want me to not tell anyone about it.” Maria whipped her head around to face Justin. “Did you just say girlfriend?” Justin’s eyes widened when he realized what he had said. “I… I guess I did,” he said quietly. “Why did you call me your girlfriend?” Maria asked just as quietly. “I… I don’t know exactly,” Justin said, looking over at her. “I guess it’s because, well, I like you. A lot.” “You want me to be your girlfriend?” “Is that an offer?” Justin asked with a smile. Maria smiled. “I think so,” she replied. While Justin leaned over and kissed her softly on the lips, Maria thought to herself, I think I finally found him. I finally found him. John was right, I found him. |
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