[Two days later]
"Goodnight sweetie," JC said with a soft voice. He smiled thinking of her almost
asleep somewhere in his house in Florida. He imagined that she was in the living
room or in the guestbedroom, but he couldn't be sure. He hadn't asked. He hadn't
wanted to be picturing her lying there the whole two hours they'd been on the
phone.
"Goodnight Josh," she replied in a very sleepy voice. He could hear her smile.
He didn't have to see her to know the change in her tone of voice. "I'll talk to
you tomorrow."
JC stretched one last time. "I'll call you when I have flight plans."
"Ok. Night."
"Night."
It had been a long night of chatting with her, something he hadn't had in a
while. He hadn't been compleltely open with her yet, he'd skirted around a few
issues and had blantantly changed sujects, but he was becoming more and more
comfortable with her. He wasn't about to admit that he missed her like crazy. It
wasn't to that point, but he did know that he was getting closer and closer to
figuring out how he felt about her.
His almost empty notebook had been sitting by his side for hours that day, but
he finally found enough courage to pick up his pen. He rolled onto his stomach
and began to write.
*****
Hours later JC picked up his cellphone and slid on his running pants. He dialed
Alex's number. His eyes slid over the lyrics in front of him and he coughed once
trying to half sing the song that was before him. Part of it still wasn't right,
but with Alex's help it could be fixed.
"Hello?"
JC's heart rate skyrocketed and he almost dropped the phone. "Alex. Get up."
There was a grumbling noise, a swear and a soft crash. "Who is this?"
"It's JC," His voice came out loud and clear this time, "Alex. Get up. I need
you in the studio in a half hour." His eyes moved to the lyrics that were on the
bed again.
"What's going on? What time is it?"
"Alex." He took a deep breath and tried not to get pissed. It was late. He knew
it was, but he knew that he needed to get this done now before he lost the
inspiration he'd somehow gotten. "It's JC. I just wrote a song and I want to
make a demo tonight."
"What?"
"Get up and get down to the studio. I'll be over in about ten minutes. I need to
record this tonight."
"Tonight?" he asked, "What the hell time is it?"
JC pulled the phone from his ear and looked at the time then put the phone back
to his ear. "It's three in the morning Alex. Come on. I need to record this
right now before I loose it."
"Fine. Fine," Alex said, "I'll be down there in a second. Come through the
garage."
"Make coffee."
"I got'cha," Alex said finally sounding half awake.
*****
Three hours, and three latte's later, they had the instrumental part of the song
was programmed in and JC was pushing his chair to get up and go into the
soundbooth. He'd been at the piano for most of the time, playing in his barefeet
while Alex sat in the outer room in pajama bottoms and a sweatshirt, looking
half dead while he mixed the track. They'd spent almost an hour piecing together
the music to get the background sounding correct.
Alex sipped his coffee and scratched his head. "Are you sure you want to this?"
"Yes," JC stated and moved around into the tiny booth. "Give me a minute and
then we'll do it."
"Ok," he said, "I'll cue up the background."
JC nodded and put on his headphones. He closed his eyes and took deep breaths. A
moment later piano music blared through his headphones. He pushed the headphones
off and glared at Alex through the glass. "What the fuck?"
"Sorry," Alex said raising his glass. "I got it fixed now. I'm ready when you
are."
"Ok," JC leaned and picked up the headphones and put them back on before going
to the microphone. He took a deep breath and cued Alex then opened his mouth.
I'm in love for the first time
His voice cut off at the end of the line and he looked at Alex. Panic set it and
he pulled the headphones off again and threw them to the ground.
"That's my shit!"
JC began to pace. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry."
"What the hell Chasez. You pull me out of bed at three am and now you're not
gonna sing?"
"Give me a minute," he said. He walked back into the control room and grabbed up
his phone from the table and dialed it.
"What are you doing?"
"Give me a minute."
"If you say so. I'm going to get a refill," Alex held up his mug and walked out
of the room.
JC flopped down on the couch and listened to the phone ring again. When the
answering machine came on at home he listened to his own voice for a moment then
left his message. "Farzana. It's JC. I just called to ask you something, but
it's not important. I'll talk to you in awhile." He smiled, "I bet you're
asleep." A picture formed in his mind. Farzana curled up and looking peaceful.
"I hope your day is good. I'll talk to you later. Bye."
It wasn't long before he put down the phone and went back into the other side of
the studio. He took the lyrics in his hand and stared at them then took a deep
breath, put his hand to his ear and began again.
I'm in love for the first time
Don't you know it's gonna last
It's a love that lasts forever
It's a love that had no past
His voice this time faded away instead of disappearing.
"Jesus JC," Alex said from behind him. He frowned at him. "I thought I was
producing this. You tell me you can't sing then I leave and you sing. Maybe I
should go get some more coffee."
"No," JC said and picked up the headphones, "Cue it up. I'm ready."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The next morning Farzana stepped out of the shower and took a deep breath and
smiled. She loved the smell of his apartment. Even though he wasn't there it
still smelled that manly smell of aftershave. She'd used his soap, Irish Spring
and stood for a moment staring in the mirror as she thought of his hands and
that soap running over her body. He might have been three thousand miles away,
but she could almost feel his skin on hers. It caused her to shiver, which was
the sign for her to get dressed. She couldn't stay all day staring in the
mirror. After wrapping her hair up in a towel and taking another one to use as a
make shift dress she walked back in the bedroom to find her clothes.
Although he hadn't given her permission to do so, she'd been sleeping in JC's
room. That morning she'd forgotten to make the bed, something that the morning
before had made her paranoid, but now she found it comforting to come and sit
down on the cool sheets in her towel while she figured out what to wear that
day. It had been hot the last two days and even though she'd only been out to go
grocery shopping once in his car she had barely touched his things, but today
she planned to play as if this was her home and that she was his girlfriend, at
least until he flew back.
The ringing of the phone startled her from her little day dream. She held a hand
to her little towel dress and crawled across the bed to answer the phone as it
rang for a second then a third time. "Hello?" she said into the reciever as she
reached up to balance the towel turban on her head.
"This is Melinda, I was calling--"
"JC isn't here." Horror filled her as Farzana moved the phone to the other ear.
She felt as if someone had heard her thoughts about playing house and was
calling to ruin them for her. "I'm not sure when he's coming back. I talked to
him last night, but didn't find out when he's coming home." Farzana started to
explain fearing that Melinda was going to report back to someone about her being
there with JC not being in town. "He had to fly out to LA."
"I know," Melinda explained, "He actually asked me to call you. He tried a while
ago, but I guess you were out or something. His plans got changed and he doesn't
know when he's going to be home. He got inspired or something and pulled Alex
into the studio since they were both there. Funny how that works. Alex was
supposed to come here and JC ended up there."
"He's in the studio?" Farzana asked with shock. She had to wonder what had
brought on his sudden need to record. He'd said that he'd seen Bobbie the other
day, but when she'd asked about what had happened he'd changed the subject and
just had told her that things had been worked out between them. She'd thought
that had meant that she and he had been fighting, but maybe it had meant that
they'd made up and he'd finally gotten back to normal and had begun to sing
again.
"Yeah," Melinda said, "It could be two hours or two days, but he should be home
in a day or so I'd think. I was surprised to hear that he was in there. He
mentioned that he'd been having writers block."
Farzana let out a tired sigh and pulled the towel from her head and moved her
hair around a bit so that it fell against her shoulders. "I guess that Bobbie
helped him fix that."
"Yeah I guess bitching her out and finally seeing her for the witch that she is,
helped."
"Excuse me?"
Melinda let out a little laugh, "I'm pissed because I didn't get to see it, but
I guess they had it out right in the airport. She had called him and lied about
Tyler being out there and being in trouble. Tyler was there, but there was no
fight. She just wanted to get back with him."
"Really?"
"Yeah," Melinda explained, "He got pissed and even thought he could have come
back to Florida right away he decided to take a few days and try to write. I
guess whatever vacation he had made an impact." She laughed a little, "I think
you made a difference."
"Me?" Farzana asked, "What do I have to do with this?"
"I saw you guys the other day--"
Farzana froze then stuttered out the next part, "JC and I only went up to
Johnny's office--"
"Farzana," Melinda said sternly, "I know that things might have gone on between
you and him. That's not really any of my business...I meant that I saw you in
the studio...or well I heard you anyway. You wanted him to sing...hell almost
forced him to. No one has ever done that with him. Usually girls pull him away
from work. Not make him do it. That's something special you guys have there."
"Something special we have?" she said.
"Don't deny it," Melinda said, "I'm not trying to pry. I just know that you're
good together."
"I don't know that you know what you're talking about. JC and I have a
professional relationship."
"Farzana. I saw him on the steps when he came down to answer the phone. I saw
that his shirt was off--"
"Melinda!"
"I also saw the pain in his eyes. He was upset about having to deal with Bobbie
I think because he had to be away from you."
Farzana didn't want to admit it. She didn't want to tell everyone that she was
in love with him. It would make it too easy for him to burn her in the end if he
really knew how she felt. She had to keep something from him. He already had her
lyrics and those emotions. He didn't need the rest of her. "That doesn't mean
anything."
"Come on Farzana. I'm not sure why you aren't being real with me on this, but
that boy really likes you."
"What about you and him?" she asked remembering the way that they'd easily
falling into hugging one another.
"Me and him?" Melinda laughed, "Me and JC? Eeewwweee. That would be like kissing
my brother or something. Besides, my boyfriend probably wouldn't like it."
"Boyfriend?" she asked.
"Yeah," Melinda said, "Duncan plays for the NBA and I don't see him a lot, but
we're in a committed relationship the last time I checked."
"What about all that in the studio?" Farzana asked.
"Awwee," Melinda said, "You like him back."
"There isn't anything going on between us," she said.
"No," Melinda said, "I can't see you but I bet you're green with envy."
"Whatever," Farzana moved from where she was sitting and began to pace. "I like
Josh. I mean he's a great guy, but I don't like him like him."
"Josh?" she asked.
"Yeah," Farzana stated, "That's his name."
"You know he doesn't let anyone call him that."
"What?"
"Awweee," Melinda gushed at her, "You're sooo cute about this. Just tell me that
you like him and I'll leave you alone. Hell I'll even help you find a way to
date him."
Farzana sighed.
"Come on," Melinda said, "I know you haven't been gossiping about your boy.
Don't you want to know more about him? I'm the one who knows him the best."
Farzana thought about JC and about the way they'd been together and laughed. He
sure was still a mystery to her. "There are some things I might want to know
about him."
"Just say it."
"Fine," Farzana sighed, "I like him. Hell I think I love him, but I don't know
what to do about it. He says that he doesn't want to date anyone. Or at least he
did. I don't know now."
"Finally!" Melinda yelled, "Ding Ding Ding. We have a winner!" She laughed, "Are
you decent? I was going to go and grab lunch, but I think a gossip session
between you and I is in order."
•