"It means that my life is going to be incredibly difficult to deal with in the next few months," Maggie whined. She had to admit that she had mixed feelings about Justin coming back. A part of her was ecstatic, and the other part of her was scared to death. "Mags, it means you're meant to be together," Nikki said quietly and dreamily. "Come on, Nik, please. He didn't come back to Orlando to get into a relationship with me. He came to record an album, and that's what I'm going to help him do. It's all purely a coincidence," Maggie reasoned.
"Then why are you calling me at three a.m. to tell me he's back?" Nikki asked annoyed. Maggie sighed. "That's a good question, Nik. But I'm exhausted, and we start recording Justin's album in six hours, so I need to get some sleep sometime," Maggie said tiredly. "Ok, night," Nikki said hanging up and going back to sleep.
**************
Maggie was at the studio before nine to start preparations for recording. Justin got there a few minutes before nine and strutted down the hall like he owned the place. He walked into the lounge area by the recording booth and saw Maggie giving an intern some instructions. He stared at her for a minute. She had on a short black skirt and a dark pink sweater set, and her big curls were still down, resting on the middle of her back. He could tell she had gained alot of confidence since he last knew her. She stood tall and let people know that she meant business, and that she knew what she was doing. He guessed that her being one of the only female producers in the business meant she had to be strong-willed.
She finished talking to the intern and turned to Justin. He was sitting back on the couch waiting for her to get done. He sat there comfortably, in jeans and a gray Gap t-shirt, with his arms resting behind his head. "Morning Mags," he said with a smile. "Hello Justin," she replied. "We've got a tight schedule, so are you ready to get started?" she asked looking at the clipboard in her hands. He looked at her strangely because of how professional she was acting. "Yeah, I'm ready," he said standing up as she lead him into the booth.
**********
"Okay, you know how all this works, here's your headphones, here's the microphone, here's your music. I'll be right in there," she said pointing to the control booth that could be seen through a glass window. "And in there is Mark, he's the recording engineer, and Lance is in there too," she replied. Lance had taken on the job of Justin's co-manager, as Justin would do some of the work himself. "You ready to do this, Justin?" she asked looking him in the eyes.
His heart was beating a million miles an hour just at the thought of him singing again. He glanced around the room to let it all sink in. He took a deep breath, "I'm ready," he replied confidently. She smiled at him, "Good luck," she said walking out of the booth and into the control booth.
***************
Justin had actually done pretty good for his first day back. The first song they were recording was a fast one, and those were always the easier ones, so he had that on his side. But by the end of the day, he was ready to go home and rest his voice, it was exhausted.
"Justin, you did really great today," Maggie said as she walked back to her office with Justin. "Thanks, I was pretty nervous at first, but once I got going, it was just like old times, only this time I'm all by myself. It's a little strange though. I expect to look over and see JC doing some riffs or something," he smiled, remembering his days in *N Sync. Maggie smiled to him, also remembering the group, and thinking about how weird it would be to record by yourself after doing it with four other people for so long. "Well you did great, this album is going to be amazing," she said patting his arm. "Well I think we'll make a great team," he said as they stopped outside her office. She smiled at the thought of them working together, it was all just such a weird coincidence.
*********
"There you two are, I've been looking for you," Mr.Jacobs said rushing up to the pair. "We just finished recording the first song, Justin did great," Maggie said praising him. "Well congratulations, Justin, I have a feeling this is going to be a great project," he said smiling to Justin. "Maggie, do you remember how we only had a few songs picked out for Justin's album? We still have about ten more to find?" Mr.Jacobs asked. "Yeah, I was gonna look for some songs tonight," Maggie replied. "Well don't worry about it, I just arranged for Justin to go record in London with Rob Stevens, he's an amazing songwriter over there," he explained. "London?" Justin asked. "Yes, but we can't afford to have everyone in the studio go over, we have lots of acts recording here, so only a couple of you can go over," Mr.Jacobs replied. "So who's going?" Maggie asked curiously.
"Well, so far it's just you and Justin, they have everyone else you'll need over there. You leave in two days, and you'll be gone for about three months, so you have the two days to pack and get ready," he replied. Maggie and Justin stood there in shock. "Just the two of us, going to London together?" Maggie managed to squeak out as Mr.Jacobs nodded happily.
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