Date: Mon, 04 Dec 2000 23:23:07 +1100
From: AK W <curly_and_josh@hotmail.com>
Subject: Curly_and_Josh 4

Disclaimer: OK here it goes kids, this story contains themes of a sexual
nature between men (well it doesn't yet, but that is the whole point!) if
this sort of story is illegal where you live, move somewhere else, or don't
read it! If you are under 18 you can't be here so go away! (Get someone
older to print it out and give it to you, can I encourage this? Probably
not!) This story is (quite obviously) about the guys from N*SYNC, but it is
just a story and implies nothing about the actual sexuality of any of the
members, no matter how much you hope. I am not a member of NSYNC, nor do I
know any of them, so I don't pretend to know their sexual orientation

Yes I know! It's very late! I'm sorry, really. I had written the next part
but I wasn't really very happy with it. Then I got mail from 2 very
excellent people who gave me some new ideas, so I had to re-write the
entire thing. I also had Uni exams to study for and pass (hopefully) and
work to appear at and make myself look involved in. This issue is thanks
mainly to the majorly excellent Dawn (and her friends Greg and Jay) as well
as the fantastic (but purely evil) Scotty. I also have to thank the coolest
person in my world at the moment, AJ, he recommended my story in the intro
to Josh and Just which is just the coolest story in the world, so if you
haven't read it yet, leave now and read it! Enough from me, enjoy, love and
stuff AKW!


LAST ISSUE:

Justin had forgotten all about the problems he and Josh were having. He
and Britney were just lounging around Britney's house laughing and
talking when Justin's mobile phone rang...



Chapter 4:

Justin jumped at the unexpected ringing, staring at the phone the caller ID 
told him it was JC. For some
reason he had butterflies in his stomach at the image of the word "JOSH"  on 
the screen of the phone.

"Well are you gonna answer it or just stare at it? Britney laughed

"Um....Oh yeah" he replied "Hello" he spoke apprehensively into the phone.

"Hey Curly" JC responded

"Hey" Justin replied, not wanting to sound too excited after the argument 
that morning, but failing and
smiling in spite of himself.

"Where are you? I just called your place and Paul said you hadn't been back 
after we left this morning"

"Yeah, I'm at Brit's, I came here after I dropped you at the airport"

"Oh." JC replied, knowing that Justin had gone to Britneys place because of 
the argument. "Well have you
forgiven me yet?" He enquired hopefully

"Not sure yet." Justin replied playfully

"A-huh, I see. It's gonna be like that is it?"

"Maybe" Justin cooed childishly into the phone.

"Would you like me to leave while you blow him kisses and talk dirty?" 
Britney asked sarcastically

"Josh told you to shut-up and get a life." Laughed Justin

"I did no such...." JC protested into the phone.

"Oh did he now?" Britney replied "Give me that." She said, snatching the 
phone from Justin. She spoke to
JC "Listen to me, just because you're older than both of us, doesn't mean 
you can push us around, I don't
think Justin's mother would approve of you seducing him over the phone 
either." She said with mock
seriousness

"But I didn't..." JC interrupted

"Uh...Shut-up" Britney said forcefully, while smiling at Justin who was 
laughing hysterically at Britneys
mother impersonation. "Now I'm gonna give you back to Justin, but you keep 
it clean or I'll cut you off."
She threatened

"Yes Mum" JC laughed.

"Now are you gonna tell me what was wrong with you this morning or what?" 
Justin enquired
"No can do J' , maybe some other time, but not now." JC responded.

The smile instantly left Justin's face, which Britney noticed. She quickly 
left the room to give them some
privacy.

"Then why did you bother to ring?" Justin asked the older boy

"Because I don't like leaving things unfinished, and I hate arguing with 
you, I feel bad about it."

"Well, you should too. Friends don't keep secrets so obviously we aren't as 
close as I thought"

"Just' don't say that." JC said, his voice cracking noticeably

"Well it's true" Justin said, knowing that this would further antagonise 
him, enjoying the feeling of making
him sad but not knowing why.

"It's not!" JC said in a whisper "Anyway can we talk about this when I get 
back there? I don't wanna fight
with you over the phone, I just wanted to make sure we were OK that's all.

"Fine, well now you know we're not."  Justin responded curtly, before  
disconnecting the call.

"What was that all about?" Britney asked with concern, walking back into the 
room.

"Oh nothing, JC and I had a bit of an argument, that's all." Justin replied

"Hang on, let me get some drinks and you can tell me all about it."

Britney returned with her arms laden with junk food and 2 bottles of Pepsi.

"OK spill it!" she commanded placing the stuff on the coffee table in front 
of them.

"It's nothing big." Justin argued

"Yeah, sound like it!" she spat sarcastically  "You will tell me, Justin 
Randall Timberlake! You guys have
been my friends for ages and if something is going to come between the 3 of 
us I've got a right to know
what it is."

"Well...OK." Justin relented "Josh has been really down for the past few 
days and when I asked him what
was wrong he lied to me and told me it was nothing. Then he told me that it 
was something, but he
wouldn't talk about it with me, and we've been friends like forever and we 
talk about everything, I tell him
everything about me and it's kinda insulting when he says he can't, or 
won't, tell me, like he cant trust me
or something and...."

"Justin you're prattling." Britney interrupted " There is no way that JC 
doesn't trust you, you're his best
mate, it's probably something he'll tell you in time, you're the closest 
person to him, you two are so close
we all thought you were....well you're close anyway." She covered, trailing 
off.

"WHAT?" Justin yelled in shock.

"Uh-oh, I knew you'd go off!" Britney sighed in exasperation "That's why we 
didn't say anything."

"Who is 'we'?" Justin asked innocently.

"Oh, um...well me, Chrissy, Sarah, even Joe and Lance weren't too sure..."

"Who convinced you otherwise?" He asked, hurt.
"Chris did, he told us there was nothing going on."

"So all of you guys have been talking behind our backs' but nobody had the 
decency to actually ask us, you
just wanted to gossip about us. Why? Are we that much of a joke? I expected 
better of my friends,
especially you Brit', you've really disappointed me."

Although Justin hadn't raised his voice she knew he was mad. She'd hardly 
ever seen him get angry and
never had he been mad at her. She could feel a lump in her throat because 
she knew they had done the
wrong thing.

"Why would you think that?" Justin asked sadly.

"What?" Britney asked, snapping out of her self-pitying daze just long 
enough to hear Justin ask

"Well if you're going to partner us off, you could at least tell me why you 
thought it!"

"Um....well" Britney began uncomfortably "You 2 are always together, 
apparently you sleep in the same
room on tour, so Lance and Joe tell me anyway, and you always act like a 
married couple. Look Justin I'm
sorry if we offended you, it was just a harmless conversation, it didn't 
mean anything.

"If it was so harmless then why weren't we told about it?" Justin whispered.

"Well we didn't think it was such a big deal, please don't be angry." 
Britney pleaded.

"Too late, I'm already angry Brit', and hurt, I thought you were my friend 
but a friend wouldn't talk about
me behind my back, I have to go now." He said, walking out the door and 
leaving Britney on the verge of
tears.

Justin drove aimlessly, lost in his own thoughts. He needed someone to talk 
to, but it couldn't be any of his
friends. He was mad at all of them, except Erin who was busy with Uni and 
Justin didn't want to bother
her. He wished he'd been nicer to JC on the phone, he really needed someone 
to talk to, but after he had
growled at Josh he would probably hang up on him if he called. He pulled his 
car up outside a school, being
early evening the school was empty so he wandered into the playground and 
swung himself on a swing,
deep in thought. Suddenly an idea hit him "Heather" he called out aloud. He 
snatched his mobile phone
from his pocket and dialed Heathers' number, even though she was JC's sister 
they were good friends and
she would listen to him.

"Hello?" A cheery female voice answered after a few rings.

"Hey Heather." Was all Justin had to say to make Heather scream with 
excitement.

"Hey Justin, how are you?" she oozed

"I'm good thanks beautiful, how are you?

"Excellent, better now I've heard from you, I thought you'd forgotten me."

"Never could, you know that." Justin said happily

"You're too cute, whats up?"

Justin explained the story to Heather and she listened intently, never 
interrupting him. Once Justin had
finished she replied simply "He's pathetic!"

"What? Why do you say that? Justin asked. Heather loved her brother and they 
got along well, so it
alarmed Justin to hear her say this.

"Oh no, not seriously, it's just that I know what's upsetting him, we had a 
chat last night and we both
agreed he should tell you, which he was going to do today, but obviously he 
wimped-out at the last
minute."

"Well don't keep it a secret, I've had enough of secrets, tell me what it 
is." Justin said, but he wasn't sure
that he wanted to hear what Heather knew.

"Well it's something he should really tell you, I can't go behind his back 
and..."

"HEATHER!" Justin pleaded "Please help me out here."

"I...well....It's not my place, but considering he was going to tell you anyway, 
it can't hurt, but you can't
tell Joshua I told you."

"OK, OK, Just tell me, I'm having conniptions."

"You have to promise!" she warned

"Holy snapping duck-shit Heather, just tell me."

"OK, Josh is gay!" she blurted out.

"Fuck!"

Heather had known Justin for years and he never swore, so when he did it had 
a dramatic impact on the
conversation.

"You're angry aren't you?" she queried cautiously

"No, just stupid and self-absorbed."

"What do you mean?"

"It's me isn't it? Making him depressed I mean?"

"Yeah, it is." She admitted.

"Oh Jesus I'm dense!" he chastised "Thanks Heather, you've been a big help." 
He said into the phone.

"No problem, now you're sworn to secrecy OK?"

"No problem." He replied absently "Bye Heather."

"Bye Justin, and try not to beat yourself up over it, he should have told 
you, you can't read his mind." With
that she hung up. Justin tiredly climbed back into his car and drove home. 
He put on his best face during
dinner but Lynn could see that something was upsetting him. She knew he 
wouldn't want to talk to her so
she waited until Erin go home from a late Uni lecture and asked her to go 
and speak to him. Justin trusted
Erin and opened up and told her everything. At the end of the conversation 
Erin asked him;

"So how do you feel about this?"

"I'm not sure Erin, I mean I want to be there for him and I want him to know 
that he can talk to me, I mean
he obviously thinks I'll dump on him, otherwise he'd have told me by 
now...but."

"But what?"

"But until today I'd never really thought about a relationship with Josh, 
now I'm starting to like the idea. I
mean we have a pretty close relationship now anyway and I think I'd like to 
make it a real relationship but I
don't know, it seems so wrong." He replied, staring at the floor.

Erin placed her palm under his chin and lifted his head until they were 
staring into each other's eyes.
"It's never wrong to have feelings for someone, you can't help it and you 
shouldn't want to either, it's
natural. Perhaps you should tell JC though."

"Do you think?" Justin asked hopefully

"Why not? But think about it first, you have a few days before he gets back 
so you can think about what
you actually want and then tell him when he gets here."

"Good idea, You're the best!" he replied, bringing her into a bear hug. 
"Thanks Erin."

"No worries Justin, Now you should get to bed, you've had a big day and 
you've got a lot to think about.

Justin went to bed but he couldn't sleep. He lay awake all night thinking 
about JC and about how cool it
would be to have him as a partner, he was in love. At about 5am he realised  
he was going to get no sleep
until he spoke to JC. So he snuck into Erin's room and woke her up.

"Sorry Erin but I need to talk to you."

"Yeah OK, right after I wake up in about 4 hours!" She replied 
sarcastically.

"Well waking up cranky must run in the family" he laughed "But I have to 
talk to you, I've decided how I
feel about Josh and I can't wait 2 days to tell him so I'm gonna fly to his 
parents place and tell him today."

"That's great Honey, good luck." She replied genuinely, now awake.

"There was something else." He said sheepishly

"What is it?"

"I'm kinda scared I guess, Come with me?" he asked

"Yeah no prob, but what is there to be scared of?"

"I don't know, he might not want me anymore, maybe it's a joke, maybe I'll 
get there and wimp
out...." He babbled

"Give me an hour." She interrupted

An hour later they were making there way to airport, where they flew to JC's 
parents place. Justin rang
Heather from the airport and she drove out to pick them up.

"What are you guys doing here?" Heather asked excitedly hugging them both 
hello.

"I've come to see Joshy." Justin said suggestively

"Oh" Heather raised her eyebrows.

"It's OK it's good news." Erin said, climbing the back seat of Heathers car.

"About time!" Heather stated, starting the car and pulling out of the 
airport.

"You're telling me!" Erin laughed.

"What? How did...?" Justin asked, confused.

"Sweetie, I've been hoping for ages that you two would get together, 
actually not hoping, expecting."
Heather answered

"Yeah, you're cute together." Erin affirmed

"How would you know?" Justin asked

"Female intuition." Heather offered.

"Yeah OK then." Justin responded absently, staring  out of the window 
happily.

"Joshua is staying at Aunt Kate's' house 'cause she's in Germany for 2 
months and we thought he could
use some space." Heather explained "So I'll drive to our place now and you 
two can take my car from there
and go and see him."

They followed Heathers directions and arrived at Aunt Kate's house within a 
few minutes. Erin stayed
outside while Justin went to the door. He knocked and after a few seconds he 
heard the door unlocking,
smiling expectantly he waited. But when the door opened there stood a blonde 
guy, about 6 feet tall. He
was athletic and about the same age as JC, dressed in only a pair of track 
pants. "Oh sorry, I must have the
wrong house, I was looking for Josh." Justin told the guy

"Naw dude, you've got the right house."  The guy replied, yawning "He's 
still sleeping though, we didn't
get to sleep until late if you know what I mean." The guy said smirking.

"Who are you?" Justin asked, a lump forming in the back of his throat.

"I'm Scott, you're Justin right?"

"Yeah" Justin responded curtly "Just let him know I dropped by when he gets 
up will you?" he continued
rudely before turning and walking away.

"So what happened?" Erin asked when he returned to the car.

"Nothing, he's an asshole."

"What?"

"Seems he got over me fairly quickly and moved onto another guy." He replied

"Oh."

"And he's really cute too." Justin said bursting into tears.

"Oh come on honey, don't cry."

Justin couldn't help it, he felt stupid and humiliated. He started the car 
and took off fast, he drove
recklessly, scaring Erin and ranting the entire time.

"How could I have been so stupid? I should have known I couldn't trust 
him..."

"Hey Justin, pull over Sweetie, I'll drive." Erin begged

Justin kept driving, ignoring a stop sign, he sped through an intersection 
and ploughed headlong into the
side of a school bus...

So what did you think?? I hope you like it. I've had soooooooo much mail 
from everyone and I want you to
keep it all coming, I finish my last exam next week so I'll have more time 
to write back to people. Write
me and tell me if you like this chapter and tell me what should happen in 
the next one. Love and Stuff
AKW