Chapter 4
"Hey Josh, where is your paper?" Arianna asked, emerging from the bathroom.
"Haven't brought it in yet. Still outside, hopefully."
"Hopefully? What do you mean by that?" She asked, tucking her hair behind her ears.
"A few fans live around here. They take the paper sometimes. Why? I don't know, but they just do it." He shrugged and played a few cords on the piano. "Why do you need the paper?"
"Job. Gotta make some money.." She smiled and walked towards the door. "Then I won't be any more trouble for you."
"You aren't trouble. I mean, look at the size of my house. I think I have enough room for you."
"I guess you may be right. But I am female, I have a need to shop. So where would it be located?"
"You mean that paper?" He asked. She laughed then nodded. "Its in the mailbox at the head of the driveway."
"The head of the driveway?" She asked. "Thats like, a mile walk!"
JC smiled. They had put a long driveway in for privacy reasons. "Well, its not a mile. Close- but not quite." He smiled and stood from his place at the piano. "I need a good walk, so I'll join ya."
"Alright then." She smiled then set out for the driveway. "Josh, can I ask you a personal question?"
"Sure. But when you're done, you need to answer mine."
"Deal." Arianna cleared her throat. "How much did this house cost? I mean, you must have spent some serious dough on this baby."
JC smiled at her question. His house was expensive, but worth it. It was three stories with a large pool, basketball court, private lake, and tons of land. It was all very peaceful and enjoyable. "Roughly, about 2 million."
"Two million dollars? Oh my gosh you are one bag of dough! I wish I were as rich as you!"
"Nobody said being rich was fun." He said as they continued to walk.
"How can being rich not be fun? I mean, you could do anything..." Arianna knew the high points of being wealthy. Not only did she con rich men, but her family was rich as well.
"Well, when you have alot, there are alot of fake people." Arianna's breath caught short, but she didn't let it effect her. "Like, take my last girlfriend for example. All she wanted was the image of me. The rich and famous JC Chasez and the lifestyle that came with him.I was oblivious to this though, I usually am. It was always- 'Joshy, buy me this' or 'baby, get me that.' And I did, without hesitation. But as soon as we began to discuss ending *NSync, she was gone." He sighed. "Its horrible how you can't trust people anymore."
That was like a stab through her heart. Now she had idea of the men she conned felt like when everything was finished. So much pain, just to bring someone else pleasure. She swallowed hard. "Wow, I'm sorry."
"Nah, don't be." They finally reached the head of the driveway and JC reached into the mailbox. "Wow." He pulled out 2 newspapers and a stack of mail.
"You're a popular one, aren't you?" She asked. He just laughed. She lifted the two papers from the stack of mail and smile kindly. "What was it you wanted to ask me?"
He situated the mail in his hands and looked towards her. "What was the deal with you and Toby?"
Again, her breath caught short. But she wouldn't let that stop her. "Excuse me?"
"Well, its like one minute you're heartbroken and then you're fine. Were you guys in love or anything?"
"That is a very long story..."
It was a story she was very well prepared to tell. The whole thing had been quickly planned and scripted. And finally, rehersed so that it was truly believable. Kind of like a play, and Arianna was a great actress.
"Then how about we order a pizza and you can tell me the whole thing, beginning to end." JC proposed.
"Are you sure you want to hear it?"
"Positive."
"Alright then. lets get going then."
* * * * *
"Before I begin, are you sure you want to hear this?"
"Harmony, I already told you I did. I would like to get to know you better, and I asked about the Toby thing."
She took a bite out of her cheese pizza then set it back down. She crossed her long legs then took a deep breath.
"It all started with our parents. They were best friends, always doing things together and stuff like that. They both had babies the same year- a boy and a girl. So ever since Toby and I were born, they had always had this dream of us getting married and living happily ever after. So at first, we played along. We started dating Sophmore year and we had a blast. That was when it was all for fun. Around the ending of our Senior year, we began to drift apart. We desperatley wanted to split up and go our seperate ways, but it would kill our parents. Plus it was kind of impossible since we had both been accepted to UNC and were going together.
"We learned to love eachother, but it wasn't the kind of love a real couple felt. It was forced out of us. So one day, we decided to live with our parents dream, and we got engaged. We told our parents, and they were so happy. All four of them arranged a flight to North Carolina to visit us and go over stuff." She took a fake dramatic pause and wiped an artificial tear from her eye. "They flew down, and their plane crashed. There were no survivors, so they died."
JC took her hand and gave it a comforting squeeze. She weakly smiled than continued. "We tried to live our plans out for our parents, but we were absolutley miserable. So we ended things on the plane."
"Why were you headed out to California?" JC asked, amazed by the whole story.
"Toby had a friend out here who was going to help us out. We couldn't go to our parents' homes, since Real Estate had sold them without consent. And we dropped out of college."
"Harmony, I'm really sorry." He again squeezed her hand with comfort. "If there is anything I can do, just tell me."
She looked up at him through her green contacts. "Would you be my friend? I never really had any, and I could really use one right now."
"Of course I'll be your friend." He surprised her by enveloping her in a tight hug. "All you gotta do is say something. You can lean on me."
She laughed and JC pulled back to look at her. "What?"
"That reminded me of that old song. You know, 'Lean On Me'?"
He smiled and did something that surprised even himself. He began to sing.
Sometimes in our lives
We all have pain
We all have sorrow
But if we are wise
We know that theres
Always tomorrow
Arianna giggled and rested her head on he rnew friends shoulder, then began to sing along.
Lean on me
When Your not strong
I'll be your friend
I'll help you carry on
For it won't be long
'Till I'm gonna need
Somebody to lean on
* * * * *
"Lets see here.." Arianna began to look at the adds as JC took a shower. It was hard to concentrate though, she was so pleased with herself. In just one day of work she had managed to befriend him and earn his trust.
Trust she knew she didn't deserve. Just listening to his story earlier made her heart break. He was a great guys, and he was being played left and right. She knew this was not going to be an easy job to complete, and she feared she would come to attached.
Ring Ring
JC was still in the shower. Arianna pondered whether or not to pick it up. Sure, she was living there. But who knew if he wanted her to or not. It was still ringing and she found out he didn't have an answering machine.
The water stopped and JC peaked his head out of the door. "Could you answer that for me?"
"Sure, didn't know if you would allow me to or not."
JC smiled and brought his head back in, shutting the door.
Why didn't the person just hang up? It had rung many times already. But they were still on the line, so she walked over to the phone and picked it up.
"Hello?"
"Hi, is JC there?" It was a male voice, so she figured it wasn't an old *NSync fan.
"He is in the shower right now, but I can take a message and he will call you back later."
"Okay. Can you tell him to call Justin at Britney's house? He has the number.."
Arianna wrote down the message on a pad near the phone's cradle. "Okay, I'll be sure to give him the message."
"Thanks... umm.. who is this?"
"Oh, I forgot. My name is Harmony, a friend of his."
"Alright, thanks again." Arianna hung up after hearing a click on the other end.
"You should look for a receptionist position."
Arianna turned to find JC standing in a pair of boxers and a wife beater. Damn he is sexy. She thought while smiling. Little beads of water were still dripping from his hair. "You think so?" She asked, sitting in a chair at the kitchen table.
"Yeah, definitley. You are good with talking to people, very polite." He reached into the cabinet that held glasses. "Tea?"
"Sure." She smiled then left to retreive the paper from the living room. It sat on a mahogony coffee table in front of the bouncy navy couch. The whole living room was decorated with matching dark colors. It was amazingly well decorated, surprising for a man.
"Hey Josh." Arianna said as she entered the kitchen, paper in hand. "I just have to ask you- did you decorate your house on your own? Or did you have help?"
"I had alot of help from my mother and sister. I chose the colors mostly, and then they helped make everything possible."
"You have very good taste." She sat down in the seat next to his and took a sip of tea. "I don't think I saw any recptionist jobs available."
"Well, lets take a look." He set down his mug and scanned the paper along with Arianna for any job involving recptionist work.
"Oh, heres one!" Arianna said pointing to a spot. JC looked it over then looked back up at her.
"Harmony, you need to take this job."
"Why?"
"Because its at Jive!"
"The record label?" He nodded and she gave him a puzzled look. "Why would I want a job there?"
"Because I work there!" He replied, smiling.
"Thats where my office is, where I go to do my paperwork with artists."
"You're going back into the busnieuss?" She asked.
"Kind of. Mostly just writing and producing. Come back careers never work." He laughed along with her. "But seriously, Jive is a great place. And you've got connections now."
"Well then, I better get working on my resume!"
"We can do that tomorrow. I think it would be a good idea to sleep right now."
"Aww come on! Its only.." Arianna turned to look at the microwave clock. "Woah, I guess you're right. Sure doesn't feel like midnight."
"Tell me about it." He said as he dumped the rest of his tea in the sink. Arianna followed his actions, sleep slowly coming to her.
Both yawned as they made their way up the stairs. The first door reached was Arianna's. "Well, goodnight then, Harmony."
"Goodnight then, Josh." She opened the door but quickly stopped herself. "Oh, and thank you again- for everything. You have been so sweet and helpful. I can't begin to say how thankful I am."
"Its my pleasure. You're a very cool woman, Harmony. I'm glad this is happening."
"Me too." She leaned in and kissed his cheek. "Night."
* * * * *
Though this, without a doubt, would be the hardest job; it would also be the most fun for Arianna. Already she was having a blast, and it was only her first day.
And she was making outstanding progress.
But there was one problem as of now. Arianna felt a strange attachment to him. That was bad. She wasn't allowed to become attached. Not in her game. Falling in love was like suicide.
but nobody ever said anything about love.