“Can we just forget about JC for now and start recording the solo parts? We’ve already wasted enough time waiting for him and he still isn’t here,” Lance said angrily, standing up. “What’s wrong with you?” Chris asked in a surprise voice. “Somebody didn’t wake up on the right side of the bed,” Joey replied, chuckling.
Just then a tired JC stumbled into the studio, wearing a pair of jogging pants and an old t-shirt. A baseball cap covered his head and shaded his face, which looked like it hadn’t been shaved in awhile. “Well look who finally decided to show up,” Lance said in an angry tone. “I’m sorry guys, but I was up half the night working on a song and I overslept,” JC apologized.
Joey wrinkled his nose in disgust, “You didn’t happen to skip your shower this morning, did you?” JC turned to him and sighed loudly before rolling his eyes. Joey put his hands up in surrender, “Sorry!” The producer walked up to where the group was talking, “Sorry guys but since we waited so long for JC, I have an appointment I’m late for now. We’ll have to reschedule this session,” he said before grabbing his things and leaving.
“Great, that’s just great. When we have to delay the album we’ll just explain to the fans that poor little JC overslept,” Lance said grabbing his jacket, stomping out, and slamming the door behind him. “Geez, what’s wrong with him?” Chris asked with wide eyes. JC shook his head slowly, sighed, and walked out of the room slowly.
***********
“Okay, so Lance is obviously mad at JC for some reason, and I can tell that JC is really upset about something too,” Chris explained as he ate lunch with Justin and Joey after they left the studio. Joey put his sandwich down and thought for a minute, “Maybe JC did write a song last night, but he really stole it from Lance, and Lance is mad that JC took out all the solos he wrote for himself in the song,” he guessed. Chris and Justin both stopped eating and stared at him. “What? Okay, so maybe not,” he said with a shrug.
“You’ve been awfully quiet since we started eating, Justin. You don’t know something we don’t know, do you?” Chris asked. Justin looked up quickly, “No, I don’t know anything, why do you think I know something?” he asked frantically. Chris gave him a funny look, “I was just wondering,” he replied. Justin stood up and threw some money on the table for his food, “I just remembered I have somewhere to be, sorry, but I gotta go,” he said putting on his jacket and leaving.
Chris and Joey watched in confusion as Justin left. Chris turned to Joey and sighed, “Great, now I’m left to figure this out with you,” he said. “Hey! That’s not nice!” Joey replied.
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“Jewel? Jewel are you in there?” Justin asked in a soft voice, knocking on Julia’s bedroom door. When she didn’t answer he opened the door slowly and peeked inside. He wasn’t prepared for the sight of Julia curled up in a ball on her bed, crying hysterically. “Oh my God Jewel, what’s wrong?! Are you okay?! Are you hurt?!” Justin asked frantically, rushing into the room. When she didn’t answer he became even more worried. “Jules, please talk to me, please say something,” he pleaded with her. When she finally raised her head, Justin’s heart almost broke. He’d never seen anyone so upset or broken as she was right then.
“I’m...I’m fine,” she struggled to say, wiping her face off hastily with her hands. “Julia, you are not okay. Tell me if you’re hurt or something, do you need help with anything?” Justin asked sternly, putting his hands on her shoulders. “Yeah,” she answered a minute later, looking down to her lap, “My whole world just fell apart. Do you think you can fix it for me?” she asked, raising her head to look him in the eye.
Justin’s eyes widened and suddenly it all started to make sense, “Lance found out about you and JC?” he asked quietly and she only nodded slowly. “He’s sending me back to Mississippi,” she explained, her voice barely above a whisper. “What? He can’t do that, you can stay with me, Jewel,” Justin offered.
She shook her head slowly, “No, I need to go back, I need to get away from here...away from JC.” “Why do you want to get away from JC? You love him,” Justin said, grabbing her hands. “I know I do, but he hates me,” she said, starting to cry again. His eyebrows wrinkled in confusion, “Why does JC hate you?” he asked. Julia let out a deep sigh, “You really want to know?” she asked and Justin nodded in reply.
“Okay, so you know I’ve loved JC for, like, forever,” she started and Justin nodded in understanding. “Well I hated seeing him with Rey. I knew she was so wrong for him and I didn’t know if he’d ever figure it out. And my love just kept growing stronger and stronger for him, and I didn’t know what to do, I couldn’t take it anymore. Have you ever loved someone so much that it feels like you can barely breathe when you’re not with them? That you just feel so incomplete without them?” she asked, raising her head to look Justin in the eye.
He nodded slowly, “Yeah, I know what you mean,” he whispered. “Well that’s how it was with JC. I couldn’t take not being with him, so Morgan helped me come up with a plan to break them up. I told Rey some lies about JC to make her break up with him,” Julia confessed before letting out a deep breath. She actually almost felt better telling someone, and she prayed that Justin would believe her and not get upset with her.
Justin’s eyes widened again, “You what?” he asked in disbelief. She nodded and lowered her head, “Yeah, I kind of broke them up. And me and JC started to become close, and I thought all my dreams were coming true for once. It’s always been all about Lance and about him having all his dreams fulfilled, but never mine. Mine were always pushed aside like they didn’t matter, and now they were actually coming true,” she said, more tears falling down her cheeks slowly.
Justin tried to smile at her and reached up to brush the tears off her face, “Then what happened?” he asked. “I guess Rey talked to JC and told him about everything. He came over last night and was screaming and yelling at me, then I started screaming and yelling back. Then Lance walked in, and JC told him everything. I tried to explain to JC, I tried to tell him why I did it, but he wouldn’t listen, he wouldn’t understand,” Julia said as she started sobbing again.
She fell into Justin’s arms and he could only hold her and try to comfort her the best he could. He rubbed his hands up and down her back slowly and waited for her to calm down. “So that’s why JC and Lance are so mad at each other?” he asked. “Yeah, and now I’ve probably caused all this trouble with you guys, and you’re all gonna end up hating each other and you’ll have to break up the band, all because of me,” Julia rambled and Justin couldn’t help but laugh a little bit at her. “Jewel, the group is not going to break up because of you. Yeah this is a pretty big problem, but we’ve been through worse before, believe me,” he said trying to reassure her.
“Yeah, I guess so,” she said lowering her head, “So you probably hate me now too,” she said sadly. Justin hugged her tightly and she rested her head on his shoulder, “I could never hate you, Jewel. You’re one of my best friends and yeah you did mess up pretty badly, but it’s no reason for me to hate you. We all make mistakes, and this is just a little one you made,” he said sincerely. “Are all the other guys gonna hate me?” she asked.
“No Jewel, no one’s going to hate you. We’re going to get this all straightened out, I promise. We’re going to make it all better, and we’re gonna get you and JC back together,” Justin said. Julia raised her head, “Really?” she asked hopefully. Justin could only smile back shakily, “Yeah,” he said with a nod, hugging her again. He just prayed that he could fulfill that promise for her.
*Chapter 29*
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