"Hi Aunt Kristen," I say coming down the steps into the family room.

"Hi honey. You all set for tonight?" she asks as I walk over to where she and mama are sitting.

"Yep. I can't wait."

"Me either," she laughed. "I heard your rehearsals went very well yesterday."

I sit down and cross my legs. "I don't think they could have gone better."

I smile over at mama. She smiles back when she realizes I'm looking at her.

"Mama, you okay?"

"Of course."

"You just seem a little preoccupied."

"Tonight's a big night honey…who wouldn't be?" Aunt Kristen says, patting my knee.

"True," I chuckle.

"Adriana, you out there?" daddy yells from his studio.

"Yes."

"Come here, I want you to hear something."

I shrug and walk back to the studio.

After Adriana leaves Kristen looks over at Britney.

"Have you talked to Justin about this?"

Britney shakes her head and then rubs her temples.

"I'm trying to get him to move on so how can I do that when I tell him this is bothering me?"

"You want my advice…"

It was more of a statement than a question. Of course Britney wanted her advice, that's why she was talking to her about this.

"You need to tell me from the beginning what happened."

Britney took a deep breath and sighed.

"Well, you have heard how close I was with Wade right? I mean he was one of my best friends. The only guy I felt more comfortable being around was Justin. The thing that made it perfect was how well Justin and Wade got along."

Kristen nodded.

"Well, when Justin and I took our break it was hard on Wade. Of course it would be," she says throwing up her hands. "I mean he wasn't going to take sides, because there weren't really any sides to take. It was a mutual break."

"Okay…"

"Well Wade was busy with his own career anyway. About seven months into our break I was spending more time here because I had the time off and I wanted to be here alone to learn more about myself…that's one of the reasons why Justin and I separated, so I thought I better start learning. Well, Wade decided that I needed to be distracted because Justin was starting to promote his solo album. I mean I was fine with it…Justin and I had kept in touch and I wished him the best on his project..."

"What made Wade think that?"

Britney shrugs. "I'm not sure. I think he called me one night and I had been crying. I'd do that every once in awhile," she said quietly looking at her hands on her lap. "I would see an old photo of us or catch a glimpse of one of my pinky rings and I'd need a good cry."

Kristen nodded in understanding.

"Well, he became this fixture in my life for a few weeks after that. He'd talk to me about anything and everything to keep me from thinking about Justin. He wouldn't let me watch TV…nothing."

Kristen's eyebrows rise for a second. "Strange. Did he try to get involved with you in a more romantic way?"

Britney shook her head. "No…not at all. He would hug me and kiss my cheek, but that was it." She leans in closer. "My theory at the time was that he was in between girlfriends and his last girlfriend had been very needy, very clingy. So now he didn't have that in his life so he used me for it instead."

Kristen leans back a little and nods. "So was he still talking to Justin at this time?"

Britney shrugs. "I guess. I never heard them talk and Justin didn't have time to talk to me so I don't know…"

"Okay so when did he start the stories?"

"I remember there was a magazine I wanted to get. I guess it was People and Justin happened to be on the cover," she smiled.

"You wanted to get it because Justin was on the cover?" Kristen smiled back.

"It was a very good picture of him," she giggled. "But there were a couple of articles that looked interesting as well."

"Of course," Kristen laughed.

"I asked Wade to get it for me when he ran to the store one day. You should have seen his face when I asked him to do that."

Kristen leaned forward again.

"He looked like it was the stupidest thing he had ever heard. He said I shouldn't keep doing that to myself."

"What did you say?"

"I said, doing what? I wanted to read an article about someone who I still cared about. Kristen, he actually took my shoulders and sat me down. He sat down next to me and told me there was something he had to tell me."

Britney's eyes started to wander and she was staring straight ahead now.

"He said that Justin had been playing me. He knew that Justin had told me he hadn't seen anyone else since me and Wade said it wasn't true. He said that he told me that because the truth would hurt."

"What was Wade's truth?"

"That Justin had been playing around…with many different women. He said it was true that there wasn't one particular person since me…there were many," her voice caught in her throat. She looked over at Kristen. "I felt like a thousand tiny knives had been stabbed at my heart. I didn't realize until then how much I had wanted to reconcile with Justin. I think I was just counting on it happening."

"Did you question Wade?"

She shook her head. "Why should I? He was a friend to both of us…why would he lie about one of his best friends? I felt numb for the next few days. I didn't read anything, I didn't turn on the TV. Wade stayed with me and screened my phone calls. I only talked to mama."

Kristen nodded.

"I didn't tell her what was going on though."

"So, when did you start to realize things weren't adding up?"

"About a week after that I got a copy of his CD," she says quietly.

Kristen smiles knowingly. "Complete."

Britney nods. "I listened to that song and I cried so hard. Justin never lied to me about his feelings and I knew, listening to that song that he wouldn't lie writing that."

"So what did you do?"

"I called his cell phone and left him a message. I told him I had listened to the CD and that I was proud of him. I told him that I needed to talk to him. Wade walked in just as I was hanging up. It was strange, I felt like I had to hide my call to Justin from him."

Her eyebrows furrowed together. "Had he always made you feel that way?"

"Almost. I hadn't realized it until that moment that he was making me feel like I had to shove Justin out of my life. When I hung up the phone and saw the look on his face..."

"Was he angry?"

She shook her head. "No, he looked hurt or disappointed. He asked me what I was doing so I told him," she shrugged. "He told me that it wasn't a good idea for me to get myself involved with Justin Timberlake anymore. He said that he was trying to protect me."

"And that surprised you?"

"I didn't realize I needed to be protected, you know? I thought I had been doing a pretty good job on my own. Then to figure out he was feeling this way about Justin…his best friend. It seemed strange to me. So I questioned him. I put the pressure on him."

"What did he do?"

"He backed down. He never answered my questions though, but he said he needed to go to his sister's apartment in New York or something."

"Just like that?"

Britney nodded. "Yep, just like that."

"So what happened with Justin?"

"Well, he called me back and he said he had a few days off but he needed to be in Florida so I flew there."

"You're glowing," Kristen laughed.

"It felt like the good ole days…us flying everywhere just to be with each other for a couple of days."

"So you're away from Wade and away from LA. What happened?"

"Well I get to his house and he's really quiet. I guess we both were. I told him I loved the song and he looked into my eyes and said he wrote it before he found out about the things I had been doing…"

"Uh oh…what things you had been doing?"

Britney's head tilted a little bit. "Oh things like ignoring him, ignoring our relationship…our past. He said he knew that I was seeing some guy in LA and that's why I was spending so much time there. I couldn't answer him because I was in shock. He said he knew that I was too busy to be at home to answer his calls but the least I could have done was return then sometime."

"Wade told him stories too?"

Britney nodded. "Finally when I could speak I said, and what about your many women you've been with since me? He just looked at me. I don't know how long we stared at each other like that. I walked over to him and held his CD up to his face. He looked down at it and shook his head."

Britney laughed.

"So, did what did you do about Wade at that point?"

"We flew to New York and met him. I acted like I wanted to see him alone…that I had something to talk to him about."

"So he would meet you."

"Yeah. He looked like a caged animal when he saw both Justin and I there holding hands."

"What happened?"

"We asked him why he would lie to us like that. I mean we weren't really angry at the time, just really confused. He said he thought we were better off without each other. He had seen us hurt each other so much and he was doing this out of friendship."

Kristen could see the hurt and confusion in Britney's face. She reached out and touched her hand.

"He really believed that. He put us both through so much pain for weeks just because he thought he was saving us from each other."

"Was that the last time you saw him?"

Britney sighed. "We would see him from time to time…at awards shows and stuff like that. But the friendship…the trust that we had was gone."

"What are you feeling right now, Britney?" Kristen's hand moved up to her forearm.

"When I saw him again the other day at Adriana's rehearsal I felt sad. I felt sad because I felt like I was meeting someone for the first time…not seeing an old friend again. I shouldn't have had to feel that way. He missed out on a lot of our lives…wonderful times."

"How does Justin take it?"

"He's shut it out. He's never spoke about Wade since then."

"It must be strange for both of you now."

"When Adriana brought it up to me that she wanted to work with Wade, my heart skipped a beat. I was so happy for her. I started to feel the same excitement for her that I felt before when I worked with him."

Kristen smiled and nodded.

"Did you worry about the way Justin felt about it?"

"I tried to talk to him about it but he changes the subject. He says he's fine with it and that he wants the best for our children."

"Do you want to talk to Wade about this or just forget and move on?"

Britney's eyes shifted and looked at Kristen. "I don't know what I want to do. Tonight will be a testament of how much Wade was a part of my career. I can't forget that…I don't want to."

"But do you want him to be a part of your future? Or your daughter's future?"

"Now that's an interesting question," Justin said from behind them.