Chapter Text
Justin looked at the red headed girl who was happily eating his potato chips and wondered how a fan had managed to get through the security that surrounded his house.
“Who are you and how did you get in here?” he asked, walking towards her. To his surprise, she didn’t faint or scream her head off. She just put her feet on his coffee table and smiled.
“I’m D. I’m your guardian angel,” she said, turning on the tv. To Justin’s annoyance, the entertainment news was showing yet again the clip of Britney shaving her head. While he didn’t want to see her romantically ever again, it hurt him to see her so down on her luck. “And I’ve come here to show you something.”
“Sure you are,” Justin sighed and picked up his cell phone. “You can show whatever you want to the guards when they take you out of here.”
“That is not going to work,” the girl said, getting on her feet. She was really short, probably not taller than 5’2’’, wearing a pretty baby blue t-shirt, jeans, a white hoodie and sandals. “We need to talk, J.”
The phone didn’t have signal, so Justin walked towards the girl, grabbing her softly by the hoodie. He didn’t want to be rude to her, but there were some things that he couldn’t permit his fans to do. Breaking into his house and eating his food was one of those.
“*We* don’t need to do anything, ‘D’,” Justin said, trying to keep his voice calm but unable to stop a little mocking from his tone. He was not going to lose his cool with a fan. “*You* need to go home.”
“J, listen to me. This will be quick, you only need to relax a little. It’s like, my job to show you this stuff,” the crazy fangirl insisted, trying to stay on the ground. But she was too light, and so when he grabbed her again, he lifted her a couple of inches in the air. Like a ragdoll or something. “Put me down!”
“Only if you promise to leave now,” Justin said, feeling uncomfortable about manhandling the girl.
“I told you, I need to show you something!” the girl was moving so much that Justin lost his grip and she fell to the floor, falling on her ass, in the most undignified way possible. Justin couldn’t stop himself, and laughed.
“Girl, you really need to go home before I call the cops,” he said, between laughs. She just looked funny, her red hair all disheveled from the fall.
“Don’t you laugh at me!” the girl yelled, getting up her feet. “I hate when people laugh at me!”
And I bet that happens a lot when you break into their houses calling yourself their guardian angel, Justin thought, but decided not to express that thought out loud. Instead, he tried to calm himself. He could deal with a crazy 16 year old. He had done it in the past.
“Ok, you said you wanted to show me something. If I let you, will you leave?” he asked, in what was his best ‘I really don’t think you’re crazy’ tone.
“I don’t break into people’s houses,” the girl answered, trying to get the dust out of her jeans. “And yes. Just let me show you this and I’ll leave.”
She put out a DVD case from her bag – a bag that Justin hadn’t even noticed before – and walked to the TV set. That right there was more than enough proof that the girl was insane. Guardian Angels surely didn’t carry DVDs on their backpacks.
“So, has there like, been a time in your life where you think you made the wrong decision?” She put the DVD on the player and turned to see him with the nicest, most eager smile he had ever seen.
“No,” he shrugged. “My life is perfect, I don’t second guess myself.”
“Oh, come on!” the girl said, almost pleading. “You must have something. You know, like, not going back to *N Sync, or breaking up with Britney or…”
“I did the right thing every time, girl,” Justin interrupted. “There’s nothing you can show me I don’t know, so I don’t think we should lose more time. Go away.”
“But there must be something you regret! I wouldn’t have been sent if you didn’t!” the girl yelled, confused. “Don’t you lie to me!”
“I’m telling you the truth,” Justin laughed again. “So why don’t you just go? I won’t press charges against you.”
“Oh, please, Justin!” The girl didn’t seem to get the idea that she should leave. “You can’t tell me you don’t miss your friends!”
“Oh, the guys. That’s it, isn’t it?” Justin shook his head, no longer amused. “You’re one of those fans who blame me because they’re not doing anything, aren’t you? Listen, and please, understand. It is not my fault that JC’s current managers suck and dropped the ball regarding his career. It is not my fault Joey and Chris want to bury their careers in reality TV, and it’s most definitely not my fault that Lance came out! Is that clear? They have their own lives, I have my own, and everything is perfect that way!”
“Perfect?” The girl didn’t seem to believe it. “You are 26 years old, famous, rich, and are taking your mom to award ceremonies! Your first serious girlfriend is having a nervous breakdown on national TV and the only time you talk to your ‘closest’ friends is when you’re doing promotion for your projects! Does that seem perfect to you?”
“Go away. You’re starting to bother me,” Justin repeated, walking to the door. “I’m going to go and fetch the guards. If you’re still here when I come back, I will press charges.”
“You just have no patience at all!” The girl looked angry, and Justin took a step back. Not for the first time, he wondered why he had listened to her for so long. Humoring crazies was not a good idea. “How can you live with yourself? No, no… How can anyone live with you?”
“Girl, I don’t think…” Justin started saying, walking slowly towards the door, without taking his eyes from her.
“Don’t!” she interrupted, raising her hand. “Just don’t, ok? I’ve had it with you. I tried to be nice, I tried to be patient, and I was going to be nice with you. Just show you a nice future, your true love and all that jazz. Now? You’ve pissed me off. And I just decided that even my life would be much better without you around.”
That didn’t make Justin feel any better. But the girl didn’t move closer. She just raised her right hand and snapped her fingers twice.
“Enjoy the new world, JT. Bye, bye,” she said, smiling, as she snapped her fingers one last time. “Bye.”
And everything went black.
* * *
When Justin opened his eyes again, he was still in the living room.
At least, it looked almost like a living room. And he wasn’t tied up or hurt and there was no sign of the strange red-haired girl.
Justin got up from the floor, looking around. He didn’t recognize the furniture around him, but something told him it was his living room. At least the walls still were where they were supposed to be.
“I don’t know who the fuck are you or how did you got here, but don’t move, security are on their way.”
Justin turned around at the voice, since he recognized it well. It was hard to forget the voice of the ex-friend who had been using your fame to promote himself while sleeping with your girlfriend.
“Wade,” he said, rolling his eyes. “I thought you had gone back to Australia. Why did you bring me here?”
“I have never seen you in my life,” Wade said, looking at Justin with the same careful expression one had when approaching a large dog, or someone with a weapon. “And I have no idea how you got into my home.”
“Wade, don’t be an idiot. Its not funny,” Justin shook his head, tired. “Just tell me where the fuck we are, so I can go home.”
“Wade? What’s wrong dear?”
Again, the voice was familiar to Justin. He couldn’t stop himself from looking at the stairs, where, half hidden by a column, wearing a beautiful baby blue robe and looking far better than she had done in the last year, her long blond hair seemingly shining under the ceiling lights, was Britney. The girl he still loved, despite everything.
“Britney? What are you doing with him?” And the old rage resurfaced, the same rage he’d felt the day when he’d found his girlfriend and his best friend together in the house he had bought with her.
He missed the nervous look that Wade sent Britney, but he didn’t miss the way Britney took a step back. She was afraid of him, which was stupid because no matter how much Justin hated Wade for what he did, he would never hurt Britney
“Brit? It’s me, Justin… what’s wrong?” he asked, taking one step towards her. She took a step back, against the wall, looking truly scared.
“Don’t move!” It had been a needless warning, coming from the security guard that now was entering the living room. Because Justin hadn’t even thought about moving when he saw Britney’s scared eyes.
There wasn’t any recognition in them. She had no idea who he was.
* * *
They arrested him for breaking and entering the Robsons’ house.
It made no sense to Justin, He had been taken away in a police car, and he hadn’t resisted because he couldn’t just dismiss that look in Britney’s eyes. If Britney had recognized him, Justin could’ve believed it was just a very bad joke, but she hadn’t. And Justin knew she wasn’t that good an actress.
Justin remained silent in the car, thinking about what had just happened. No one seemed to recognize him. When he was booked, and he told them that his name was Justin Timberlake, there hadn’t been any jokes about it, any comments, none of the officers asked him for his autograph.
It was getting scarier by the minute.
They put him in a holding cell, where Justin proceeded to stay as far away from the other inmates as he could. He didn’t belong there, he had no idea how he had gotten to that point, but he was smart enough to realize that starting screaming that was a very good way to get in even more trouble. They had taken his possessions before locking him in, and all he had now were keys to a house he had no idea of the location of, two hundred dollars in small bills and coins, and the shirt on his back.
Justin had tried to use his one phonecall to call his mom, but her phone number had been disconnected.
It was early in the morning when one of the cops that had arrested him came to get him. Apparently, Mrs. Spears-Robson had decided not to press charges, since he hadn’t had a weapon on him. If he got near her again, however, he would be charged. Justin just nodded, signed the papers for his discharge and left, not knowing what to do with himself.
His mom’s phone was no good. And, deep inside, Justin didn’t know what he would do if she didn’t recognize him. That left his friends, and there weren’t many he could trust to help him if they had forgotten him.
JC could, in all honestly, give shelter to someone he barely knew, but Justin had no idea where JC was at the time. Somewhere between LA and New York, trying to garner some interest in his album now that Jive hadn’t shown any. Lance would be a bit harder to convince, except that Justin really didn’t know where Lance was, and he was pretty sure that if a total stranger – who was quite hot if Justin said so himself – approached Lance, his friend would think he was being hit on.
Joey would be easier. Justin could even tell Joey that he was an old friend from high school, and pray for Joey to believe him. But Joey was on Dancing with the Stars the last Justin knew, so he wouldn’t be home and Justin seriously doubted Kelly would let a stranger stay with them, not when she was alone with Brihana.
That left Chris.
Justin sighed, sitting on the steps outside the station. If by some stroke of luck Chris remembered him, Justin would be ok. But since no one recognized him, or his name, Justin knew that he couldn’t count on Chris knowing him.
And, if Chris didn’t remember him, Justin didn’t know what to do. Chris was pretty supportive with new groups that he met somewhere, and let total strangers stay on his house for months just to help them get on their feet. But Justin’s situation was quite different. He had no friends, no references, and only two hundred dollars in his pocket.
If Chris couldn’t help him, Justin was lost.