PART FIVE

    Out of habit, Justin put on his sunglasses and his hat. He knew it was okay to hang out around the cabins and water without his disguise, but he didn’t want to go into town without them on. He slipped on the flip flops that he had finally remembered to buy, and then hopped down the steps of his cabin. His feet shuffled through the sand and he made his way to the car that he had rented for the few days he was in town.
    Justin stood by the door of the car and ruffed through his pockets to find the keys. When he found them, he jumped in the car and slowly turned the ignition. He checked the rearview mirror and then turned around to see as he backed out. He adjusted his shades and then hit the gas and almost peeled out of the parking lot. He traveled down a couple straight shot roads and a few short winding ones and then stopped at the stoplight. He bopped his head to the beat of the song on the radio and then hit the gas when the light turned green again.
    Justin turned into the small shopping center area and drove around the lot until he came to the counseling center that he had mentioned to Annie on the phone the night before. He sighed as he parked his car. Justin nervously drummed his fingers on the steering wheel and then got up the nerve to open the door and get out of the car. Slowly, one by one, Justin’s feet hit the pavement and his body straightened. He leaned over and rolled up the window, locked the door, and shut it. “Here we go,” he said and then stepped up the curb that led to the building.
    About four people sat in chairs along the wall, and a little kid, maybe age eight, sat in the middle of the floor with a coloring book. Justin looked around and then proceeded to the front desk where a big sign read, ‘CHECK IN HERE.’ “Afraid us crazies won’t know where to go I guess,” he mumbled to himself.
    “Hi. How can I help you today?”
    “Do you take walk-ins?” he asked.
    “We sure do,” she answered. “Please just sign in here and we’ll call you back in a couple minutes. Is this going to become a scheduled visit?” she tiled her head in question.
    “Uh, no. I just need to talk to someone.”
    “Okay,” she handed him the sign-in sheet.
    Justin pondered for a moment before signing it. Randall Timberiver was the name he printed. ‘Sounds good to me,’ he thought to himself. He didn’t want to just have his name on the sheet for everyone and their mother to see. “Thanks,” he said and pushed the tablet back to her.
    “Just have a seat.”
    Justin walked over and sat on one of the empty couches near the corner. He glanced around the room at the other people and wondered what they were all there for. He shook away his curiosity and pointed his attention toward the coffee table in front of him. There was a pile of magazines there, so he decided to read one while he waited. Justin shuffled through the magazines and stopped when he saw himself on the cover of one. A Tabloid. He left it on the table, but read the cover. In the top corner was a picture of Justin’s girlfriend.
    Sweat started to form at Justin’s forehead. “No,” he softly said. Justin flipped quickly through the book and stopped when he saw the headline of one page.
‘LEADING LADY OF POP ICON, JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE, HOSPITALIZED.’
    Justin’s heart beat with the pace of a race horse within the last few strides of his victory. His face was bright red and his fists automatically clenched up. He read a few lines, afraid that somehow the news had gotten out. After reading the first paragraph or so, Justin was almost thankful that they printed what they had so far. They stated that she was attacked in an alley and couldn’t describe the pursuer.
    Justin skimmed to the end of the article and then jumped up in rage. He cursed as he ran out of the room and the door flung behind him. Everyone in the room stared in awe as the door hit the opposite side and almost broke the glass behind it. A hurt and upset Justin ran down the sidewalk towards his car and bumped into several ladies on the way. He didn’t bother to even stop to see if they were okay.
    “Shit!” He screamed as he pounded his fists on the dashboard of the car. His forehead embedded in the steering wheel and the horn began to go off. A man nearby came over to see if something had happened to Justin and see that he was okay. Justin sat up when the man knocked on the window and then Justin just peeled out of the parking lot. The words he read at the end of the article played over and over again in his head. Though Timberlake’s beau is hospitalized right now at an undisclosed hospital, Justin himself is nowhere to be found. It has been said that he saw her once in the hospital and then took off to Maui for a vacation with some hot hunnies.

    “Oh my God,” Annie said as Joey handed her the tabloid that he picked up at the supermarket a few minutes prior to his stop to see her. “This is insane. Who the heck would start this?” she asked as she read the title.
    “I have no clue. Tabloids are always rumors though. No one really believes them A,” he said and rubbed his forehead.
    “Joey, what if people start searching the local hospitals?”
    “We’ve got security up around here now. No one is going to get up here that shouldn’t be.”
    Annie leaned back in her bed. Her ribs were still very sore, but she could finally move around some without screaming out in pain. “Maui?!” she yelled when she read the end of the article full of lies.
    “Annie you know that’s is a lie. Justin wouldn’t do that to you. He loves you.”
    “And he also put me in the hospital,” she said through her tears.
    Joey didn’t know what to say to that remark, so he just looked into her tear filled eyes.
    “This is so crazy Joe. I can’t believe this,” she covered her face.
    Lance rushed into the room with another copy of the tabloid in his hand. “Joe?”
    “Hey bro. I just stopped by to see Annie.” He saw what Lance was holding and said, “I see you came across it to, huh?”
    “I think everyone has.” Lance walked over to Annie and put his hand on hers. “Are you okay?”
    “I guess that I’m dealing. I just hope that Justin hasn’t seen this.”

    Justin’s tires squealed as he turned into his spot outside of the cabin. He jumped out of the car and ran through the sand. Fear and pain were the only emotions that were within his body. He feared for Annie, and was in pain for the fact that she had to be in the position that she was in at that moment. He knew that she would see the tabloid and that she wouldn’t like the last few sentences of the article any more than he did. She wouldn’t like the entirety of the article in fact.
    Justin passed up his cabin and ran right towards the water. When he reached it, he knelt down and picked up a small pebble in the sand and chucked it into the water. All he wanted to do was scream. His face was a deep shade of red and his eyes were close to being filled with tears. He came to the island for peace, and to find a way to help himself before he lost the only thing in the world that he loved more than his music. Instead of this, all he seemed to be finding was more and more to remind him of what a horrible thing he had done.
    Justin’s now frail body hit the ground and his fists were clenched tight as he pounded them into the sand. “Why?” he yelled over and over. “I wasn’t raised this way,” he fought. Justin took deep breaths and tried to calm himself before he did something that he knew he would regret. With each breath that he took he thought of his life with Annie.

    “Justin quit it,” Annie giggled as Justin tickled her.
    “Give me a reason,” he laughed back and ran his strong hands up and down her sides.
    “Because it tickles like crazy. I’m gonna pee my pants if you don’t quit,” she tried to say in a solid tone, but her voice continued to crack with laughter.
    Justin thought about it for a second and then said, “I don’t think that one is gonna work,” and then continued on with his tickling her.

    Annie opened the small box and found a petite gold chain with a little heart charm on it. On one side of the charm it had an ‘A’ and on the other side it had a ‘J’
    “Justin it’s beautiful,” she said with tears of joy.
    “Happy birthday baby,” he said and held her tight. “I love you,” he said for the very first time.
    Annie smiled and whispered back, “I love you too.”

    “Are you sure?” Justin asked her once again.
    “Like I’ve never been before,” she said from underneath him. “You’ve been so patient with me,” she said with loving eyes.
    “It wasn’t patience... It was love.”
    Annie lifted her head and kissed his lips and ran her hands up his bare back. “I love you Justin. I know now more than ever that I want to be with you now.” Justin replied back to her by slowly taking her lips within his again.

    A small tear fell from Justin’s eye. “What have I done?” he asked himself. “How did I get so angry?” he said and another tear fell. Justin put his head near his knees, and within his shaking hands. He had never cried like this before and it upset him. He didn’t want to cry. Justin just wanted to believe that everything was going to be fine. That Annie would be just fine when he got back and they could act like it never happed. In all reality, he was mostly afraid that he was going to lose her.
    Within his weeping sounds came the sound of a soft voice. “Justin?”
    Justin didn’t answer.
    “Justin? Are you okay?” she asked. It was Tracey. She was walking towards the cafe when she saw him sitting by the shore. She reached down to touch his shoulder and he jerked away from her.
    “Go away Tracey,” he mumbled.
    “Justin...”
    “Please,” he said a little louder.
    “But Justin. You know you can tell me,” she started.
    Justin lifted his head and Tracey’s eyes widened as she saw the pain in his face. He eyes were bloodshot and his face was stained with tears. His own beautiful eyes had only been crying, not sparkling like they usually did.
    “Jus...”
    “I said go away!” he yelled.
    Tracey was frightened by the tone in his voice and she turned around and jogged off. Her long hair flipped from side to side as she ran towards her own cabin.
    “Damnit,” he cursed. “Damnit,” he said again as he put his head back into his hands and let the tears fall again... only harder this time. His soft face was covered with tears from his cry for help, which he seemed to accept from no one.

    Almost a half hour later, Justin forced himself to get up. He had spent the previous thirty minutes trying to figure out what he wanted to do with his life, and where Annie stood in it. He realized that the majority of his anger came when he thought that Annie might not be a part of his life eventually. He was always worried that being in the spotlight would get to her one day and that she would want out of the relationship. Justin just couldn’t imagine his life right then without her in it.
    When a person is on the move so much, they need a sense of reality every now and then, and that is what Annie provided for Justin. She gave him the fresh air that he needed for survival when things weren’t going his way. She was there for him after he had been mobbed by a squad of screaming teens. Annie was his escape from the madness that he lived in everyday. So losing that scared him more than anything.
    As Justin attempted to get up he grabbed his shoes and put one in each hand. Slowly he brought himself to his feet and his body weight caused his feet to sink into the grainy sand. It slid between his toes and he shambled his feet in it to get used to it as he walked off. He decided that he needed to go talk to Tracey and apologize for his outburst earlier. He really didn’t mean to blow up at her that way, but she was just in his way of thought. At the moment, she was the only one that he could talk to, and he definitely needed someone to talk to.
    Justin carefully stepped up the stairs to Tracey’s place. She had her own little cabin there, even though she had told Justin that he has her own apartment that was about twenty minutes from the cafe. She just stayed in the cabin a lot. Justin took a deep breath before he knocked on the cabin door. He turned the opposite way after knocking a few times. A minute or so later, Tracey’s head popped through the crack of the slightly opened door. Tracey didn’t say anything, just looked out the door.
    “Tracey look, I just wanted to say that I am sorry about earlier,” Justin said. His eyes were still swollen looking, so it was obvious that he had been crying. Tracey still didn’t say anything. “Say something please.”
    “Justin I’ve never seen you like that before.”
    “No one really has. I can’t be like that in front of the world you know.”
    “So am I supposed to feel special because you yelled at me or something?” she asked and opened the door a little more.
    “That’s not what I am saying. I’m sorry I snapped. You just don’t know what I am going through right now. You don’t know why I am here.”
    “You’re right Justin I don’t. I can’t read your mind either, you know?”
    “I don’t expect you to try,” he stepped closer.
    “Justin if you need to talk,” she started.
    “I do.”
    “You know I will listen.”
    “No, I know that. I just don’t think it is what you want to hear. I can’t go ruining my image and taking the chance that this will get out in the public.”
    “Justin, no one will find out whatever you need to tell me. Can’t you tell that I am not like that? I thought you and I connected or something. Like you continued to talk to me because you knew I wasn’t going to go crazy on you.”
    “I know that Tracey, and that’s what I need right now.”
    “Look... how about we take out the horses and go find somewhere where you and I can talk. No one around but us and the horses, and I promise they won’t squeal.”
    Justin let out a small smile. “I’d like that.”
    “Let me get my things and we can go,” she said and turned inside to grab her stuff.
    “Thanks Tracey,” Justin said and then followed her down the steps and started on their way to the stables.

    “Annie,” the doctor said as he walked into the room.
    Annie and JC both turn towards the doctor and give him their full attention. “Yes,” Annie said back.
    He looked over her charts and said, “it looks to me as if you can be checking out today. Your ribs are still going to hurt, but we can’t keep you here forever. We’ll provide you with a prescription for some pain killers, and you need to keep the wrap on too.”
    “I can leave today?”
    “Yup you can. I just need to fill out your discharge papers and you’ll be set.”
    “Wow Annie this is great,” JC said.
    “My own bed,” she laughed. “I’m going to call Lance and see if he can run by my place and pick me up something to wear, and then bring me home.”
    “Annie I can do that for you.”
    “No no, you have a date tonight Chasez,” she pointed at him.
    JC got all smiles and replied with, “I know.”
    “You can’t put that charm of yours to waste for much longer sir. Larissa sounds like a really nice girl.”
    “She is,” he answered.
    “Well you go home and get yourself ready,” she said.
    “I am ready,” he said calmly.
    “You’re gonna wear that on a date?” she laughed and yanked on his shirt.
    JC looked down at his shirt and saw a bleach stain on it. “How the hell did that get there? I just put this on.”
    Annie laughed. “JC you and Justin have the same shirt remember. I do believe this one is his. He stained it a few weeks ago.”
    “Oh man. I dunno why I have his clothes on, but I need to change.”
    “Yes you do. Now get so you can be all ready for your date.”
    JC leaned over and kissed her on the forehead. “I will talk to you later then girl.”

    Justin and Tracey were almost to the stables when Justin realized what he was wearing. “Hey, can we run back to my place so I can change first? I don’t want to wear this on a horse.”
    Tracey looked at his nice khaki shorts and said, “I think we should,” and then laughed.
    The two of them walked back to Justin’s and he grabbed a pair of shorts and a t-shirt and ran into the bathroom. “You can just chill here,” he said and patted on his bed. “I’ll be out in a second.
    “Okay,” she said. She looked over at he suitcase and noticed that all of his stuff was in it. “Must be used to living out of a suit case,” ahe said to herself. She glanced at the stand by his bed side and saw a framed picture of Justin and Annie. Tracey smiled at how happy they looked together. She had always thought that they made the cutest couple.
    A second later Justin’s cell phone went off. “Tracey can you get that?” he yelled. “I threw it on the end of the bed.”
    “Okay,” she yelled back. She grabbed his phone and clicked the ‘talk’ button. “Hello,” she said sweetly.
    On the other end there was no answer.
    “Who is it?” Justin yelled.
    Tracey looked at the phone to make sure that it was on. “Hello?” she said again. “No one is answering Justin,” she yelled back to him.
    “Just hang up,” he yelled back.
    The receiving end heard him and then Tracey heard a slamming of a phone.
    Justin walked out and threw the nice clothes that he was wearing back into his suit case. “They’ll call back if it was important. Let’s go,” he said. He checked his caller ID on the phone and it said that it was an unknown caller. “Weird,” he said quietly and then held the door open for Tracey as she followed him out.

    Tracey climbed over the top of her horse and Justin did the same. The two of them rode the horses down the side of the shore and ended up at some spot where the grass was greener that the deepest green and the water hit a set of rocks just slightly off to the left of them.
    “Wanna stop for a little while?” Tracey said as she pulled back on the reins.
    “Sure,” Justin said and also pulled his reins. “I’m crazy thirsty,” he said as he slid off of his horse.
    “I brought some drinks,” she said and pulled out her back off of the back of the horse.
    “When did you get those?” a surprised look took over Justin’s face.
    “I grabbed them when you were saddling up. They had them at the stables,” she replied.
    “Smart one you are,” he said back and helped Tracey off of the horse.
    “Let’s go over there,” she pointed to the small cliff-like rock.
    “Alright.” The two walked over to the rock and set out a small towel to sit on. “It’s beautiful out here.”
    “Isn’t it? It’s my favorite spot. I’m surprised you haven’t been out here.”
    “Tracey it was like a forty five minute horse ride out here. I tend to stay inland,” he laughed.
    “No adventure,” she giggled and took a sip of her drink.
    “I have plenty of adventure,” he tailed back and squirted her with his water bottle, and laughed as she shrieked when the cold water hit her face.. “I just don’t enjoy long trips into nowhere land without someone who knows where they are going.”
    “Excuses excuses.”
    “Whatever,” he joked and looked out at the water. “Hey, I’m sorry about earlier,” he apologized again.
    “You already said that,” she said back sweetly.
    “Yeah, but I really didn’t mean to yell like that. Lately I seem to have,” he paused for the right words. “I’ve had a problem with my temper escaping me.”
    “You always seem so in control though.”
    “I try to be. I don’t know what has come over me lately.”
    “Do you wanna talk about it?” she squirted more water into her dry mouth.
    “I do. I need to, but it’s not that easy. I can’t let this get out. It could make my life hell, and ruin so much.”
    “Justin I’m not going to tell anyone,” she said with trust.
    “I just,” he tried to say but fell back on no words.
    “Are you having problems with your girlfriend?”
    “Annie?” he said and fear took over his body. “Somewhat.”
    “Is that why she isn’t with you?”
    Justin didn’t answer.
    “Look, if I am prying, just tell me and I will shut up.”
    “No, no it’s okay,” he said back quickly. He really did want to talk, but he just didn’t know what to say.
    Tracey started to twirl her hair the same way that Annie had always done. Justin just watched her finger go through and around her hair. She reminded him a lot of Annie. “Justin?” she said just to make sure he was still on the same planet as she was.
    “Yes, that’s why she isn’t here,” he blurted out.
    “And?” she said trying to get him to keep going.
    “I’m afraid that I am going to lose her Tracey.”
    “Did you guys have a fight? Why do you think she is gonna leave you?”
    “Kinda something like that.” Justin didn’t really want to go into detail with what happened. He knew that some things just had to stay private.
    “Well,” she said. “That’s it? Justin I am not going to bite your head off.”
    “I blew up at her. I said some pretty harsh things, none of which I really meant. She, we, I was yelling about some stupid stuff and it got out of hand. She said that if I didn’t calm down that she would leave me. I got really upset.”
    “Did you,” she said insinuating that he took his anger out on her and hit her.
    Justin’s body shook. “Yeah.” Things were completely silent. “I didn’t mean it,” he finally burst out. “I would never have done something to hurt her. I love her.”
    “I know you do. It is so obvious every time you two are together. This week I would have totally hit on you, but I knew that Annie was the only girl in your eye path.”
    “Thanks,” he said. “I am a mess. I don’t know what I would have done if you did.”
    “I respect you Justin. I just wanted to be your friend, that’s all I want. You are a great guy, and Annie is really lucky.”
    “Annie deserves better than me.”
    “But she has you. She chose you Justin.”
    “And I hurt her.”
    “When did your anger strike out the most?” she asked. Justin looked at her and tried to think. “When she said she was going to leave you. Right?”
    “Yeah I guess.”
    “Is it or not?”
    “Yes,” he said and raised his arms with the gesture. “She said she’d leave me and I got furious, and afraid at the same time.”
    “And you don’t want that?”
    “Not at all,” he leashed out. “I can’t even think of my life without Annie in it. We’ve been together for what seems like forever. She’s been my lifeline through everything. It’s just that things get hectic sometimes and I just need to chill and be alone I guess.”
    “So do that Justin. Take some ‘you’ time once and awhile. This island trip was a ‘you’ thing. It can be good for you once in awhile. But I really think that your problem is that you are afraid of being alone. Annie is your security blanket. She’s good for you.”
    “My security blanket?”
    “Like,” she tried to think of how to word it. “It’s like you don’t have to go through the dating process again, which for a celebrity, is a killer.”
    “You’re telling me,” Justin interrupted. “I’ve seen the other guys totally get used.”
    “Yeah, well, with Annie you don’t have to worry about that. She’s yours already and you are happy with her. So you are worried about losing that.”
    “And her in general.”
    “Exactly.”
    “So this is why you think I blew up at her so bad?”
    “It makes sense to me.”
    “Me too I guess,” he agreed. “So do you think I have a problem?”
    “I think that you do have an anger problem yes. You just are having problems controlling it.”
    “That’s it?”
    “Well, Justin, you’ve hid all this anger from the fans for so long. I know that some of them have got to piss you off.”
    “No kidding,” he laughed.
    “Well now it is just starting to come out. And all your anger busted out at once, since you had it all balled up for so long.”
    “Yes. A long time. We just have to do that though.”
    “But you need to learn to vent Justin. Go hit a punching bag once in awhile or something, just to get it out. You can’t keep hiding it inside or you’ll blow again, and it might be worse next time.”
    “There isn’t going to be a next time.”
    “You need to seriously talk to someone Justin.”
    “I just talked to you,” he tried to pull an easy way out.
    “No, you need to talk to a real counselor. Maybe find ways to vent or something. You don’t have to go into any kind of details with them. Just find ways to control your anger. Most of all, you need to talk to Annie. You need to find out where you stand Justin. If you are afraid of losing her, tell her that. Make her realize how much you love her.”
    Justin nodded. “Tracey thank you so much,” he said.
    “I’m glad you trusted me enough to tell me, and to ask for my help.”
    “Me too.” Justin looked at the sun beginning to set. “Maybe we should head back.”
    Tracey agreed and the two of them saddled up and started back to the cabins. Justin felt like a huge rock had been lifted off of his chest. He didn’t realize that all his anger was balled up the way that it was, and that he was so afraid of losing Annie. Tracey and Justin decided to go hit a movie and then each go their separate ways and meet for brunch the next day. Justin thought it was about time he considered going home to Annie and maybe make an appointment to talk to Rae. He was set to get his life back on track.

Part Six