“Yeah, this songwriter gave us a great song so we’re gonna do it while we’re all in town. You know I leave Tuesday for New York, right?” Lance asked. “Yeah, for your talent search?” “Yeah, for the finals. I’m sorry I have to leave you again so soon,” he said looking up to her. “It’s okay, I’m getting used to it,” she replied.
“Why are you up so early this morning?” he asked. “I have a meeting with my advisor at school,” she replied before taking a bite of cereal. “Do you have to work today?” he asked and she answered by shaking her head with a mouthfull of cereal. “Well how about you come down to the studio after your meeting? You always liked coming to the studio, didn’t you?” “Yeah, I love it. My meeting shouldn’t last too long so I’ll be there when I’m done,” she said taking her bowl to the sink.
“Okay, I’ve gotta get going, so I’ll see you in a little bit,” Lance said getting up and grabbing his keys, kissing her on the top of her head and leaving.
*****************
Julia’s meeting didn’t last very long so she made it to the studio earlier than she had expected. The receptionist told her which studio the guys would be recording in but said that not all the guys were there yet. Julia nodded and headed to the elevators to go up to the studio.
When she got up to studio 2C she stood by the glass door leading to the sound engineer’s booth. Just as she was about to turn the handle to go in she looked up and noticed JC sitting at the sound board, all by himself, with headphones on, playing with some switches. Her breath caught in her throat as her heart started to beat a little faster.
She stood there and watched him closelybecause he seemed to be pretty into whatever he was doing. She admired him as his fingers pushed knobs up and down on the board. He had on a pair of baggy khaki cargo pants and a tight dark green tank top and she could see the muscles in his arms flex as he reached up and turned another knob. Her eyes wandered up to his face which had a look of total focus on it. His eyebrows were merged in concentration and his lips were pressed tightly together. His jaw was clenched and it showed off his perfectly chiseled face. Julia almost sighed out loud as she stood there and admired the beauty of him.
Julia snapped out of her trance before he could notice her. She didn’t want to interrupt him but she didn’t want him to notice her staring at him either. She looked down to her outfit quickly, a pair of baggy blue jean overalls and a bright yellow tank top and checked her hair, in two messy pigtails, in the reflection of the glass door. “You want him to stop looking at you like a little kid and you wear something like this,” she thought to herself, rolling her eyes. She took a deep breath before knocking lightly on the glass and stepping inside slowly.
JC looked up from what he was doing and smiled when he saw Julia standing by the door. “Hey,” he said with a smile as he slipped his headphones off and let them rest around his neck. “Hi,” she said quietly, “Lance said it would be okay if I came and watched today.” “Of course it’s okay, it’s always okay for you, Jules,” he said with another smile, wondering why she was being so quiet and shy. She’d always been pretty peppy and talkative. “I know, I just didn’t want to intrude or interrupt you or anything,” she said looking down to her hands. “You’re never an intrusion or interruption, Jules, don’t be silly,” he said patting her hand. His simple touch sent shivers down her spine, causing her whole body to shiver. “It is a little cold in here,” JC said noticing her shiver, “Here, wear my jacket,” he said grabbing his dark blue jean jacket off the back of the chair and handing it to her. “Thanks,” she said with a small smile as she slipped it on and JC laughed lightly because it looked about ten times too big on her small frame.
Julia had no idea what to say next, she was always kind of nervous around JC, but never this bad. She was thankful when the door opened quickly and Justin and Chris bounded into the room. “I don’t owe you any money, Chris, I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Justin said turning around to glance at Chris behind him. “Uh huh, remember that time in San Antonio when we were at the club and you forgot your wallet and you didn’t have any money with you?” Chris asked quickly. “Chris we were in San Antonio, like, three months ago, like I remember that,” Justin replied rolling his eyes and dismissing the topic.
“Hey Jewel,” Justin said walking up to Julia and hugging her lightly. “Hi Justin,” she said looking up to him with a smile, “Have you seen Lance anywhere?” she asked. “Nope, we just got here,” he said. “Hey Shorty,” Chris exclaimed, surprising Julia by jumping on her back. “Hi Chris,” she struggled to say with all his weight on her back. Joey was the next one to come in, “Hey guys. Woohoo, we’re playing jump on Julia!” he said hugging Julia from the front and practically smothering her. Soon Justin and JC joined in and Julia was laughing so hard she could barelybreathe.
A minute later Lance walked in with the sound engineer. “What are you guys doing?” he asked curiously. “We’re playing jump on Julia!” Chris exclaimed happily. “What?!” The muffled sound of Julia’s voice answered him, “Lance help me!” she yelled from under the pile of *NSyncers. “Okay guys, let’s not smother my sister,” Lance said seriously, pulling the guys off her one by one. “Yeah, it’s time to get started anyway,” JC said heading to the recording booth as the rest of the guys followed him.
*Chapter 3*
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