Chapter
5
“Whoa, who was that?” AJ asked, once Brian and Nick made it back
into their hospitality room. “She was
fine!”
“Her name’s Angela Harless,” Nick said, looking at them to see if
any of them recognized the last name.
Their faces were blank. Obviously, none of them knew or cared about
the late Justin Timberlake’s family.
“She… she’s Justin Timberlake’s stepsister.”
Their eyes widened in surprise.
“What were you doing talking to her then?” Kevin asked. “I thought you couldn’t stand Justin.”
“She was damn hot though!” AJ pointed out.
Kevin rolled his eyes.
“Well… guys, do you remember what day Justin died?” Nick asked.
They thought for a moment.
“I dunno, but it was sometime around when you had your transplant,”
Brian said with a shrug. “Why?”
Nick rolled his eyes.
Obviously, his subtle hinting at what had happened wasn’t hitting
home. “I got Justin’s liver,” he said
bluntly.
Their mouths dropped open.
“You’re serious?” AJ cried in disbelief.
Nick nodded solemnly. “Angela
told me,” he said. “She figured it out
before I did. Everything matched
up. After all, Justin was a twenty year
old from Orlando, and he died from a car accident the day I had my transplant.”
“Oh, my God,” Howie whispered, his hand covering his mouth.
“Ha, I always knew you and Justin were alike!” Brian gloated. “You were both the blonde, annoying babies of
the group. I just didn’t know how much
you were alike!”
Nick rolled his eyes.
“Don’t even compare me to him,” he said, shuddering.
They laughed slightly at his joke.
Nick knew they expected to hear him diss Justin. It had once been a favorite pastime of
theirs. But now, things seemed
different. Nick had a new found respect
for Justin and didn’t feel good about bad mouthing him, since he had been the
one who had saved Nick’s life. It wasn’t
right, and it just wasn’t as fun as it had once been, when Justin was still
alive.
***
“Guys, I’m gonna go find Angela again,” Nick said suddenly,
standing up. “See ya later.”
“Okay, Nick,” Kevin said.
“Don’t take too long. We have to
get going soon.”
“Don’t worry, Kev,” Nick said, hurrying out of the room. He walked back down the hall to the room
where Angela had been and peeked into the room.
She sat alone, on the couch. He
entered the room, and she looked up, her face brightening.
“Hi, Nick,” she said.
“Hi,” Nick said. “We’re
leaving pretty soon, but I though maybe we could talk some more first. Maybe you could give me your phone number or
email address or something.”
“Sure,” Angela said, smiling.
She pulled a small notepad out of her purse and wrote both her number
and email address on it. “I’d like to
keep in touch with you too,” she said, handing him the piece of paper.
“Thanks,” Nick said, returning her smile. He wrote his own phone number and email
address down as well and gave them to her.
“So, where do you live?”
“I live near Charleston, South Carolina, with my mom,” she
replied.
It was then that Nick noticed her slight southern drawl, very
similar to Brian’s.
“You live in Orlando, don’t you?” Angela asked.
Nick nodded. “Yup,” he
replied. Running out of things to say,
he glanced at his watch. It was almost
time for he and the guys to leave, he realized.
“I’ve gotta be going pretty soon,” he said.
She nodded. “Okay,” she
said.
“Make sure you tell your family how grateful I am,” Nick said.
Angela’s face clouded suddenly.
“Nick…” she started hesitantly.
“I’m not sure how to tell you this… but I’m not really sure how they,
well mostly Lynn, will take it.”
“What do you mean?” Nick asked.
“Well… I wasn’t real close to either Justin or Lynn, but I know
how much pride Lynn had in Justin. He
was her only son, and she loved him a lot.
She was so proud of his success while he was alive… and she hated
anything that stood in the way of him living out his dreams. One of those things was your group.”
“Huh?”
“Lynn doesn’t like you guys much.
Actually, to be honest, she can’t stand you. She thinks you always interfered with ‘N
Sync’s success, stealing their fans, keeping them from winning awards, breaking
records, that kind of thing,” Angela explained softly.
Nick’s mouth dropped open.
“So, what are you telling me?
That she’d be pissed if she found out who Justin’s liver went to?”
“It’s ridiculous, I know, but probably so. Lynn isn’t the most reasonable woman, and
Justin’s death his her hard. I haven’t
talked to her in awhile, but last I heard, she was seeing a counselor because
she couldn’t get over it. I just don’t
think now’s the time to tell her the truth,” Angela said.
Nick nodded slightly. “I
guess you’re right,” he said glumly. “I
don’t want her going psycho over it.
What about Justin’s dad?”
Angela shrugged. “I don’t
even know Justin’s dad,” she said.
“Oh. Okay,” Nick said. “Well, then I guess you’re all I have to
thank. I still want to keep in touch
with you.”
“Me too,” Angela said.
There was a sudden knock on the door. “Nick, we’re leaving in ten!” called Brian’s
voice.
“Okay, Frick. Coming!” Nick
called back. He stood up slowly. “I guess I gotta go now,” he said. “Thanks for telling me, Angela.”
“You needed to know,” Angela said with a shrug.
“I’ll talk to ya later,” Nick said.
“Okay,” Angela said. “Bye.”
“See ya around,” Nick said, giving her one last smile, then
leaving the room.
Angela sank back down on the couch like a deflating balloon,
sighing as she watched him walk away.
***
