She blushed and giggled shyly, “Well I was bored, so I decided to dress up,” she said with a shrug. JC looked up from where he’d been checking his e-mail at his laptop and his eyes widened when he saw Julia. She was laughing at something Chris had said and her smile seemed to light up the room Just then a crew member peeked his head into the doorway, “One hour till you guys are on,” he announced before leaving.
“Do you want to stay and hang out until we start?” Justin offered, sitting down on one of the couches in the room. Julia shook her head, “No, thanks, I think I’m gonna go out and watch the opening acts,” she replied. “Well do you have plans after the show? You want to go out and shake your booty with me and Justin?” Joey asked, dancing around her and shaking his butt into her.
She laughed at him, “As tempting as that sounds, I think I’m gonna have to pass up that offer,” she replied. “Okay, I’ll let it go for tonight, but you will have to come out with me sometime before you leave,” Joey said. “It’s a deal,” Julia replied, “I better get going, I just wanted to come in and wish you guys good luck before the show,” she said walking to the door. She couldn’t help but notice that JC hadn’t said a word to her since she’d come in and she was hoping he wasn’t feeling weird or awkward about the afternoon they’d spent together.
“Thanks Jules, we’ll see you after the show,” Lance said hugging her lightly. She smiled and walked to the door but not before turning around to glance at JC quickly. He had been watching her and he saw her turn around and look at him. He looked down shyly for a second before looking up again and smiling to her and winking. She smiled back before leaving.
*************************
“Are you sure you’re ready to do this?” Justin asked JC as they stood in JC’s hotel room after the show that night. JC nodded nervously, “Yeah, I’m ready,” he said with a shaky smile. Justin smiled at him, he couldn’t be happier that JC and Julia would be getting back together. “Well Lance should be getting ready to take her to the coffee shop now , so I better get out there,” Justin said heading for the door. JC only nodded, thinking too hard about what he was about to do. Justin turned around before leaving, “Good luck,” he said with a grin before walking out into the hallway.
*************
Justin’s timing was perfect and he ran down to the elevator that Chris had been holding for him. He waited inside for a minute before he heard Julia and Lance walking out of Julia’s room. Justin nodded to Chris before jumping out of the elevator and running down the hallway like he was in a hurry. “Oh I’m so glad I ran into you guys!” he exclaimed, out of breath. “Is everything okay?” Julia asked worriedly. “Yeah, everything’s fine, but I’m supposed to go out to some club with Joey tonight and I’m running late. I’ve still gotta go take a shower and Joey’s gonna kill me if I’m not ready in like ten minutes. I left my cell phone down in JC’s room earlier today, do you think you could go get it for me, Jewel?” Justin asked.
Julia shrugged, “Yeah, I guess so,” she replied. “I’ll head down to the coffee shop and get us a table, okay?” Lance said walking towards the elevator. Julia nodded, “Okay, I’ll be down there in a minute,” she said, “What room is JC in again?” she turned to ask Justin. “423. Thanks, you’re a lifesaver, Jewel!” Justin said opening his door quickly and going into his room.
“He’s acting kinda weird,” Julia couldn’t help but think to herself as she walked down the hall to JC’s room. She thought she heard the faint sound of music coming from his room but she figured he just had a stereo on or something. She got to JC’s room and knocked on the door lightly. “JC? Are you in here?” she asked quietly.
“Come on in, it’s open,” JC replied and Julia opened the door slowly, the scent of vanilla hitting her instantly. She walked a little further into the room and couldn’t believe her eyes. There were white candles everywhere, it seemed like there had to be hundreds of them. They were on the dressers, the night stands, the floor, and even a few out on the balcony. There were even red rose petals all over the floor and the bed. And there in the middle of all of it was JC, standing there in the same jeans and black t-shirt he was wearing earlier, with his hands in his pockets.
Julia’s eyes widened as she looked around the room in awe before she focused on JC. “What...what are you doing?” she whispered in confusion. He looked down to his feet for a second before looking up and smiling shyly, “Dance with me,” was all he said. Julia was becoming more and more confused by the second, so she decided she’d just go along with him.
“Um...Okay,” she said quietly, walking towards him. There was a slow jazz song playing and it reminded her of their first date when he took her to the jazz club. Julia stood in front of him and looked up at him expectantly for a second before he wrapped his arms around her waist. She let out a deep breath and reached her arms up around his neck carefully. They swayed slowly to the music for a minute before JC wrapped his arms around her more tightly and pulled her closer to him.
Julia closed her eyes slowly and sighed lightly, remembering how good it felt to be in his arms. She let her fingers play with the curls on the back of his head again before looking up to him. JC smiled slightly as he rubbed his hands up and down her back gently, then looked into her eyes. Those bright green eyes that he had fallen so in love with. He had always loved how her eyes showed so much emotion and it seemed like he’d seen every emotion possible out of them. He’d seen happiness, love, fear, excitement, and sadness. Now they were full of hopefulness and nervousness, and still a little bit of confusion as she tried to figure out what he was up to.
Julia looked up to his eyes and couldn’t mistake the look of love in them. He was looking into her eyes intensely and she had to look down. She felt her stomach do a few flip-flops as JC raised his hand to her shoulder and ran his fingertips along it slowly. He moved his way down her arm and he noticed the goosebumps that had just appeared there. He took one of her hands from his neck and held it tightly at his side.
Just then the song changed and Julia’s eyes widened when she heard what it was. Her breathing began to quicken as she heard the first few notes to ‘Now and Forever’. JC only smiled down to her as she bit her bottom lip before looking up to him. She took a steadying deep breath before speaking, “JC, I need to know what you’re doing here,” she whispered, her eyes pleading with his.
He only shrugged his shoulders before smiling at her again, “I just wanted to tell you that I still love you,” he said simply, his eyes never leaving hers. Julia blinked a few times and tried to comprehend what he had just said. “What did you just say?” she whispered in confusion.
“Julia, letting you go had to be one of the stupidest things I’ve ever done. Yeah, you did some pretty horrible things, and I thought I’d never be able to forgive you for them. But the more I thought about how much I should be hating you, all I could think about was how much I really still loved you,” JC started, shaking his head. They had stopped swaying to the music and now they just stood face-to-face, still holding hands tightly.
JC continued, looking back to her eyes, “I knew I was miserable without you and I knew I still loved you, but I was too stubborn to admit it. When we finally became friends again my love for you kept growing more and more but then I was too scared to admit it. I was afraid I’d lose you again, but this time I’d lose you as a friend. Now I know that I won’t be able to go on without at least telling you how I feel. If you don’t feel the same, that’s okay, and I hope we can still be friends. But I couldn’t go on anymore without you knowing how I really felt,” he ended before taking a deep breath, awaiting what she had to say.
Julia’s eyes widened when she realized what he was really saying. She had been dreaming of him saying those words to her for what seemed like forever. She looked up to him and smiled, “I still love you too,” she said quietly and she giggled a little at the bright smile that appeared on JC’s face. “I was hoping you’d say that,” he said with a small laugh, leaning his forehead against hers.
“I was thinking maybe you’d want this back,” he said, reaching into his pocket and handing her the blue and white beaded bracelet he had given to her when he confessed his love to her for the first time. Julia bit her bottom lip and nodded shyly, holding up her wrist for him to put it on her. He leaned his forehead against hers and closed his eyes slowly, “I love you so much,” he whispered, leaning his lips down to hers. He finally closed the small space between their lips and kissed her softly, all the memories of kissing her before coming back to him quickly.
“It feels so good to kiss you again,” Julia whispered and JC smiled down to her. “Well that’s good, because I plan on doing it alot from now on,” he said, kissing her again. Julia pulled away from the kiss and hugged him tightly, leaning her head against his chest. “Oh yeah, I’m going to move back to Orlando,” she said, looking up to him with a grin. JC’s eyes widened, “Really?” he asked in surprise. Julia nodded, “Yep, you’ll never be able to get rid of me now,” she said with a small laugh. “Don’t worry, I won’t want to,” JC said before kissing her again.
*********The End*********
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