It had been a couple weeks since Justin had caught JC and Julia at JC’s apartment, and JC had to admit he felt a little better with someone knowing about his relationship with Julia. He had someone to go to if he needed advice and he wasn’t feeling quite as guilty anymore.
JC looked down to Julia as they got to the door of the studio he was recording in for the day. She looked up at him sadly for a second before releasing his hand and following him in. They stepped into the lounge outside the recording booth and greeted the rest of the guys that were waiting for JC. Lance stood up and gave Julia a light hug, “Hey sis, I didn’t know you were coming by today,” he commented. She smiled up at him, “Yeah I got out of my English class early so I thought I’d come by. Is that okay?” she asked. “Of course it’s okay, it’s always okay for you, Jules,” Lance replied, “Did you come with JC?” he asked curiously.
Julia looked to JC quickly and gave him a nervous look. “No, I saw her down at the door so we came up together,” JC replied, covering up for her. She gave him a relieved smile, “Yeah,” she agreed with a small nod of her head. Justin stood on the other side of the room and watched the two of them carefully. He saw them glancing at each other quickly and heard them fumble with excuses for why they came in together. He wondered why he hadn’t figured this out on his own and why the other guys weren’t figuring it out either.
Justin sighed loudly and stood up from where he was sitting on a couch, “Come on guys, let’s get started, we’re already behind schedule,” he said a little angrily, pushing past the other guys and giving JC and Julia a dirty look on his way by them. Lance, Joey, and Chris followed him but JC and Julia stayed behind for a second.
“What’s his problem?” Julia asked in a hushed whisper. JC shrugged, “I think he’s kinda mad that we’re keeping this from everyone,” he replied. “We should talk to him,” she suggested and JC nodded in agreement. “Yeah, we’ll have to do that,” he replied before stepping into the recording booth.
******************
“Hey J, can I talk to you for a minute?” JC asked approaching Justin where he sat at the mixing board of the studio, after everyone else had left for the night. “Yeah, what is it?” Justin asked, not looking up from the switches he was messing with. JC cleared his throat nervously and sat in the chair next to Justin, “Well I just noticed you were acting kind of weird around me and Julia today, I was wondering if everything’s okay?” Justin sighed angrily and slammed his hand down on the board, causing JC to jump a little, “I hate lying to the guys, especially Lance,” he admitted in an annoyed tone. JC sighed loudly and ran a hand through his hair, “Me too, J, me too,” he said.
“Then why are you doing it? Why don’t you just tell them all the truth?” Justin asked. “It’s not that easy,” JC replied. “Why isn’t it?” “Just imagine if you had a little sister and me or one of the other guys started dating her. You probably wouldn’t be too happy with it, would you?” JC asked.
Justin shrugged, “You guys are like my brothers, I’d probably trust you more with her than some other random guy,” he replied. “I guess you’re right about that,” JC admitted. They sat in silence for a minute before JC spoke again, “Remember when you first started dating Britney and you had to lie to all the fans about it? You felt so awful for lying, but in a way you knew you had to do it to protect them, to protect them from the truth that they didn’t want to hear,” he said. Justin gave him a confused look, “I don’t think your situation is the same thing,” he replied.
“But it kind of is, I mean, I know Lance wouldn’t be happy with me dating Julia, I just know he wouldn’t. He’s so protective of her with other guys, imagine how he’d be with me. So in a way I’m protecting Lance from the truth by not telling him the truth, you get what I’m saying?” JC finished. Justin rolled his eyes and shook his head at him, “I think you’re trying to justify your lying, and you're doing a terrible job by the way,” he said before looking back down to some dials on the board.
JC sighed, “It’s just not as easy as you think it is. How do you tell one of your best friends that you think you’re falling in love with his little sister? His little sister who’s almost six years younger than you, by the way.” Justin’s eyes widened as he heard JC’s words, “You think you’re falling in love with Jules?” he asked in surprise.
JC shrugged, “I think..maybe..I think maybe I am. I don’t know, that’s what makes this all more confusing. While I’m trying to keep all my lies straight, I have to deal with all these new and confusing feelings for Jules,” he said rubbing his face tiredly.
Justin sat back and watched his older friend for a minute, “I had no idea all this stuff with Jules was so serious,” he said. JC looked up and smiled slightly at the thought of Julia, “It is J, this is the real thing with her,” he said, a dreamy look still on his face. Justin smiled at his friend’s happiness, “Well I am really happy for you guys, and I want you two to be together. So I guess I won’t tell the guys, and I’ll try to be a little cooler about it,” he replied. JC sighed in relief, “Thanks so much Justin, we won’t need much more time, I promise,” he said patting Justin’s shoulder before leaving.
Justin sighed and sat back in his chair, “Yeah, no problem,” he whispered, shaking his head.
*************
Julia looked through a rack of jeans at the mall, searching for her size. “Julia, is that you?” she heard a familiar voice ask and she froze in place at the sound of it. She swallowed hard and wished she could disappear right then and there. Instead she plastered a fake smile on her face and turned around slowly, “Yeah, it’s me,” she said, turning to Rey standing behind her. “Hi girl! I haven’t seen you in so long, I’ve missed you!” Rey exclaimed, surprising Julia by pulling her in for a hug.
Julia giggled lightly and bit her bottom lip nervously, “I’ve missed you too! What have you been up to?” she asked, trying to sound really interested. “School, and I’ve been working a little at the channel 11 news station, just doing some behind the scenes stuff,” Rey replied. “Wow that’s awesome, congratulations!” Julia said with a fake smile. “Thanks! How have you been?” “I’ve been okay, busy, but okay,” Julia replied. “How are the guys? And how’s..how’s JC?” Rey asked slowly.
Julia pushed some hair behind her hair nervously, hoping all the lying she’d done to Lance lately had been good practice, “The guys are great, they’ve been relaxing alot, but working pretty hard on the new album,” she replied. “So they aren’t too busy? I should give JC a call and ask him to lunch, just to show him there aren’t any hard feelings anymore,” Rey suggested. “No! Don’t do that!” Julia blurted out and Rey gave her a strange look, “I mean, um, they’re still pretty busy, and JC’s working especially hard on the album, writing songs and producing and all that,” she said. Rey rolled her eyes, “That’s just like JC, always the workaholic,” she said, sounding a little bitter. Julia smiled politely, “Yeah, he does work alot,” she agreed.
“Well I guess that’s a bad idea then,” Rey began, “But I’ve got to get going, it was great seeing you,” she said, leaning down and giving Julia another hug. “Yeah, it was great seeing you too,” Julia said, giving Rey a smile before she walked away.
Once Rey was gone Julia ran her hands through her hair and let out a deep sigh, “She can’t call JC, he’ll find out everything,” she whispered worriedly to herself.
*Chapter 20*
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