“Jace?”
Lance repeated when there was no immediate response. “Are you ok?”
“I’m
fine. I just… wasn’t expecting you to
ask that.”
“C,
I remember how you felt when Laurie had to fly back to the US. And I remember how depressed you got when
you lost touch with her.”
“Lance,
it’s fine.” JC lied. “It was really
nice seeing her again and now that she’s working at FuMan, it’s unlikely that
we’ll lose touch again.” JC hesitated before adding, “And she lives around the
corner from me.”
“I
know, Laurie mentioned that to me last night.
How’s that for fate?”
“No kidding,” JC thought bitterly.
“Listen,
umm… I need to ask you this and you can tell me to shut up and mind my own
business, but… do you regret marrying Alexandria now?”
Silence.
“Jace,
listen, it’s cool. There’s always the
possibility that you would have run into Laurie, even if you weren’t both on
your honeymoons. Then again, there’s
the possibility that you wouldn’t have.”
“Thanks
Lance, you’re a big help.” JC said sarcastically.
“I
just want to know though… how do you feel about Laurie being back in your
life? And is there a chance that it
will affect your marriage? Not that
that would be a bad thing…”
“Lance,”
JC sighed. “I really don’t want to get
into this right now. I think… I think
the feelings I had for Laurie five years ago are still there. But I can’t let them resurface.”
“Why
not?” Lance demanded.
“It’s
just… Alexandria. She may be a complete bitch, but she still
has feelings. And she’s my wife.” An ominous chill ran down his spine when he
spoke the last word.
“I
wouldn’t count on that too much,” Lance muttered.
“What
was that?”
“Nothing.”
He replied quickly. “C, I’m not going
to tell you what to do. But I know
you’re not happy with Alexandria and I think you should just follow your
heart.”
JC
bit his bottom lip and considered this.
“Lance… Laurie is married too.
This isn’t a one sided deal. I
don’t know how she feels or what she wants.”
“Ok,
but Jace?”
“Yeah
Lance?” He answered tiredly.
“Don’t
let pride stand in the way of love.
Life is too short to be unhappy.”
JC
sighed deeply. “Lance, I gotta go.”
“Ok. Just remember what I said.”
“Yeah…
talk to you later man. Hey wait!”
“What?”
“When
are you flying back to Orlando?”
“Tomorrow
morning, I have shit to do for FreeLance.
Why?”
“Can
you stop by my place and just check on Dria for me?”
“Sure,”
Lance shrugged. “What reason should I
give for being there?”
“Umm…
say you left some lyrics for Meredith in my studio. She’ll never know the difference.”
“Works
for me… anything you want me to say to her?”
“No. Just make sure she got back safely. Because if I call right now, I’m going to
flip out on her.”
“Cool…
what are your plans for tonight?”
“I
hadn’t really thought about it. Maybe
we can all go catch a movie or something.”
“That
sounds good to me, we haven’t been out in ages… although we should stagger our
arrivals so we don’t need to bring reinforcements.” Lance laughed.
“We
might as well do that now, call the others and see what everyone wants to
see. You call Joey and Chris and I’ll
call Justin… oh damn… tonight’s the night he’s proposing to Stacy, so he’s
out. Ok, I’ll call Chris and we can
work something out from there.”
“Confuse
yourself much?” Lance laughed, thankful he wasn’t within arm’s reach.
“More than you know,” JC thought. “Whatever… just give me a call in about an
hour and we’ll touch base then.”
“Ok
Jace… take care of yourself.”
“Thanks
Lance, bye.”
JC
sighed when he hung up the phone and realized that he was actually looking
forward to chilling with the other guys tonight without having to go to a smoky
club and have strange women fondle them and want to get freaky with them. He sank into the comfort of his leather
couch and ran over the conversation he had just had with Lance.
There
was no way Lance could suspect anything, it was too soon. Lance was also one not to hold things back,
either. If anything came about from his
affair with Laurie… Affair? JC supposed
that’s what it was, even if it didn’t feel like it. He had to be careful though, because Lance was too observant for
his liking. JC frowned. Was Lance already catching on?
**********
“…And
this is the boardroom where we’re supposed to have meetings, but it doesn’t
always work out that way.” Michelle
turned around and saw Laurie looking at the photos on the wall from different
photo shoots and award shows where FuMan Skeeto dominated. “Have I lost you?”
Laurie
was lightly running her fingers over an old picture of *NSYNC, not long after
they had formed. She couldn’t help but
let her eyes roam over the man she had fallen in love with twice in her
lifetime. Because whether she wanted to
admit it or not, she was in love with
Josh; and it was killing her that she couldn’t be with him exclusively.
“Laurie?”
Michelle snapped her fingers in front of Laurie’s face.
“Huh? Oh sorry,” she apologized and dragged her
eyes away from the picture. “I was just
thinking about how far the guys have come since I first met them.”
“I
know, it’s amazing. The picture you
were just looking was taken shortly after ‘I Want You Back’ was released here.”
“It
must not have been very long after they returned from Germany. JC still has that damn Caesar haircut,”
Laurie mused.
“You’re
right,” Michelle laughed. “It didn’t
suit him at all.”
“He doesn’t look very happy in
this picture.”
“From
what I’ve heard from Chris and the other guys, he wasn’t. Apparently he fell in love with someone
while they were in Europe and then lost touch with her.”
Laurie
felt her heart leap into her throat.
“R-Really?”
“Yeah…
it’s sad actually. I would hate to lose
touch with someone that I love.” She
paused. “So you’ve obviously been a fan
for a while. Is JC your favourite?”
“Well,
JC and Lance… JC is just… a little
higher on my list.” She grinned sheepishly.
Michelle
laughed. “It’s cool, I’ll keep your
secret.”
“If you only knew,” Laurie thought.
They
continued the tour and Michelle introduced Laurie to the rest of the
FuCrew. Including Mike, the regular
accountant, who looked anything but happy to meet her.
“Ignore
him,” Michelle said after they had left his office. “He’s almost always in a fould mood. We generally leave him to his own devices unless there’s
something wrong with the projected figures and the actual figures. Which is almost never.”
“I
hope I can do that well,” Laurie said nervously and fingered the hem of her
shirt. Michelle laid a comforting hand
on Laurie’s arm.
“I’m
sure you’ll do just fine. JC had enough
confidence in you to recommend you for the job and I have a good feeling about
you.”
“Thanks.” Laurie blushed and looked away, not used to
receiving compliments. Noticing her discomfort, Michelle changed the subject.
“So
anyway, that’s the tour… what do you think?”
“I
think I’m going to really enjoy working here,” she grinned. Her grin widened when she saw Chris trying
to sneak up on Michelle. “Behind you,”
she mouthed.
Michelle
understood immediately and grinned back.
She counted to five before she turned around and held up her hand,
stopping Chris in his tracks.
“Damn,”
he pouted. “How did you know?” He
watched as Laurie raised her hand guility.
“Well, since you’re new, I suppose I’ll forgive ya. Do you mind if I borrow her for a
minute?"
“Not
at all,” Laurie glanced at her watch.
“If Michelle doesn’t need me anymore…”
“Nope,
all done. See you on Monday, Laurie.”
“Thanks,”
Laurie smiled and said goodbye.
“Think
she’s going to work out?” Chris asked.
“Definitely.”
She arched an eyebrow and looked at him.
“What were you doing trying to sneak up on me?”
“I’m
going to the movies with the guys tonight,” he replied. “Do you want to come?”
“Oh,
you mean I actually get to spend some time with you while you’re here?” She
teased and wrapped her arms around his neck.
Chris kissed her.
“You’re
the one who came into work today.”
“Mmm…
you’re the one who was still sleeping when I left.”
“Not
my fault,” he grinned wickedly. “I had
a rough night and a rough morning.”
“Hey…
this morning wasn’t just my fault,” she winked. “What’s playing at the theater?”
“Haven’t
a clue,” Chris shrugged. “We won’t know
until we get there.”
“A
lot of help you are,” she gave him a playful shove and he tightened his grip on
her. “Sure I’ll go. Do you want to take your car or mine?”
“Actually…
I drove the Hog here today.”
“Ok,”
she sighed. “So we’re taking my car.”
“Come
on Shelle,” Chris ran his hand lightly down her arm. “You haven’t been for a ride yet… I want to feel your arms around
my waist while we’re riding together.”
Michelle
bite her bottom lip and looked down at her feet to hold back her laughter.
“You’ve
got a dirty mind Michelle, get it out of the gutter.”
“What
can I say, I learned from the best.”
“Damn
right.” Chris laughed. “So do you wanna
go for a ride? On my Hog?” He
clarified.
“Chris…
you know how I feel about motorcycles.
And you can feel my arms around your waist at anytime. I promise I’ll go for a ride soon, I just
need to get used to the idea first.”
“Ok,”
he kissed her forehead and drew her into a hug. “That’s good enough for me.
Wanna see Shrek?”
“I
thought you didn’t know what was playing!”
She exclaimed.
“I
don’t,” he protested. “But I still want
you to see it with me.”
“Fine,
if it’s playing, that’s what we’ll see.”
“Thank
you baby… ready to go?”
“Whenever
you are.”
“I’m
always ready,” he laughed. “I’ll meet
you at the house.”
“Be
careful,” she admonished.
“Aren’t
I always?” Chris asked innocently and Michelle glared at him.
“If
memory serves, ‘innocent’ and ‘Chris’ makes an oxymoron.”
“Hey…
I resemble that remark.” He pouted.
“Michelle
couldn’t help but laugh. “Let’s go.”
Chris
beat Michelle home, but just barely. He
had just turned off the Harley when she pulled into the driveway behind
him. He walked to the passenger side of
the Beetle and got in. She started
backing out of the driveway.
“I
knew I’d beat you home.”
“Only
because I actually stopped at the
stop signs, Christopher.” She sighed and leaned her head back against the head
rest. “I can’t believe we’re actually
going on a date.”
“What
makes you think it’s a date? The other
guys will be there.”
“Come
on Chris, it’s our first night out in like… forever, that isn’t for FuMan and
isn’t for the group. It’s a date.”
“Fine,
it’s a date.” He rolled his eyes and rest his arm casually around her
shoulders. “So does that mean you’re
paying?”
“What’s
the rule Chris?”
He
pouted. “Whoever invites, pays.” He
thought for a minute. “Does that mean
that C has to pay for me? He invited
me.”
“Let’s
just all pay for ourselves and save any arguments,” she laughed. “Besides, I can’t see JC really wanting to
pay for you. Oh shit, I hope he’s not
bringing Alexandria.”
“Somehow
I doubt it, considering she flew back to Orlando early this afternoon.” Chris
said wryly. “JC woke up and she was
gone.”
Chris
watched as Michelle’s hands tightened on the steering wheel until her knuckles
turned white. Her lips were drawn in a
thin line and he felt her body tense up under his arm.
“Honey,
relax.” He said quietly. “There’s no
point in getting yourself all worked up over her actions… there’s nothing we
can do about it.”
“I
hate her,” she told him through gritted teeth.
“I hate her Chris. I hate what
she does to JC. He deserves so much
better.”
“I
know sweetie,” Chris agreed and gave her shoulder a light squeeze.
“He
needs to get away from her… isn’t that why he wanted that damned prenup?”
“Michelle,
just forget about it for the time being.
Please? We’re out to enjoy
ourselves tonight. And don’t say
anything to JC about it.”
“Ok,”
she reluctantly agreed. “But Chris…”
“NO
Shelle.”
“Fine!” She huffed and pulled into the first
available parking space. She saw JC’s
viper and Joey’s Escalade parked a few spots down. “Where’s Lance?”
“Maybe
he came with one of the other guys,” Chris unbuckled his seatbelt and hopped
out of the car. He waited at the front
of the vehicle for Michelle to join him and he held out his hand. “Let’s go find them.”