Chapter Fourteen
“So are you glad to be back from Florida?” JC asked as he sat down on the couch. He had come over to watch a movie and hang
out with Larson.
She groaned and flopped down sideways on the same couch, “I think
I kissed the ground when I got off the plane.”
JC chuckled, “Florida wasn’t THAT bad, was it?”
She looked over at him, “When I was away from my family, it
wasn’t, but then there was all that time I did spend with my family.”
“You love your family.” He
poked her leg affectionately,
Larson smiled to herself, “Yeah, I do. I wouldn’t trade them for all the money in the world.”
Mel bopped down the stairs, “L, the phone’s for you.”
“I didn’t even hear it ring.
Who is it?” She asked getting up
from the couch.
“Your sexy Latin lover.”
Mel teased handing her the phone.
Larson smiled as she answered the phone, “Hey Jay, what’s up?” She laughed, “Oh, I know…um yeah…” She said as she sat back down on the couch where JC made a face at her. She rolled her eyes at him, “No way! Jace said that to you?! I could kill him!” She exclaimed and JC raised an eyebrow at the mention of his name. She simply ignored him and went on with her phone conversation, “Alright hon, I’ve got company…shut up you ghetto wannabe, I’ll call you later…Oh like you could…bye hon.” She laughed and hung up the phone.
JC looked at her, “What did Justin say about me?”
Larson gave him a strange look as she put the phone down on her
coffee table and reached for the remote, “Justin? I don’t know, I don’t really talk to him.”
JC raised an eyebrow at her, “Then who was just on the phone?”
“That was my friend Jason from back home.” She smiled and sat back against the couch,
“You do realize I have more friends than just you and the guys.” She teased poking him in the shoulder.
“Sure doesn’t seem like it.”
He teased back and she smacked him with a pillow,
“Jerk. I should send you
home.”
“Why, so you can talk you your sexy Latin lover boy?” He teased,
“It’s better than talking with you. You’re just jealous.” She
joked,
JC crossed his arms, “Maybe I am.”
“You do like being the center of attention.” She reasoned teasingly,
“Oh, I do not.” He
protested and rolled his eyes,
“You do too.” She teased
back,
JC rolled his eyes again at her elementary taunting, “I’m not
doing this.”
“Yes you are.” She
taunted,
“No, I’m not.” JC huffed.
“Yes you are.” She replied
in a sing-song voice, irritating JC even more.
“No, I’m- argh! That was
not fair.” JC argued,
“Yes it was.” She taunted
back,
“No, it was-dammit, you did it again.” JC accused, trying to figure out how she kept him in this
ridiculous argument.
Larson couldn’t hide her smirk, “No, I didn’t.”
“Yes, you did. Dammit stop
it!” He said frustratingly,
“Okay.” She shrugged
playfully and JC smacked her with the pillow,
“You’re a pain in the ass.”
Larson giggled, “And yet you still hang out with me.”
JC smirked, “I only hang out with you because I’m trying to score
with Mel.”
“Sorry, her heart’s taken by Lance. Try someone else.”
“Well the only other person here is you.” He teased playfully,
“Sorry, my heart’s taken by Lance too.” She shrugged,
“Guess, I’m just going to have to put a hit out on him.”
“You do that and Mel will put a hit out on you.” Larson teased back, “Good Lord the world
would end if Lance’s pretty face wasn’t there for her to dream about.”
“Do you always make fun of your friends?” He asked chuckling a little,
“The good ones, yeah.
That’s how you know I like you, I make fun of you. If I’m nice to you, watch out, it means I
hate your guts.” She teased poking him
playfully,
“Jeez, I hate to see what you do to your boyfriends.” JC said playfully,
“Aw man they get the worst.
But they keep coming back for more, because I’m worth it.” She snapped her fingers laughing,
“You sound like that hair color commercial.”
“Something like that. So how are you with your significant
others?” She asked grabbing a pillow
and hugging it to her chest.
“I treat my women like the goddesses they are.” He shrugged,
“Really, care to confirm this?”
She asked skeptically,
“How can I do that?”
“Let me call one of your ex-girlfriends.” She said jokingly,
“Okay.” He said reaching for his phone,
“I was kidding.” She pulled his hand away from his phone, “I don’t
need to talk to one of your ex-girlfriends.”
She laughed,
He shrugged, “You asked.”
“You talk to your exs?”
She asked completely surprised,
He gave her a strange look, “Yeah, is that weird?”
“To me it is. I don’t want
to talk to ANY of my exs. There are
reasons why they are my exs and I just don’t need that hassle.”
“Any of them? Why?”
“Because they’re assholes.
If they weren’t, wouldn’t I still be with them?”
“Not all the time.” He
pointed out, “Not everyone breaks up on bad terms.”
“I do.” She shrugged,
“Just seems to happen that way. I never
really considered breaking up a good thing.
I think you need to explain this to me.”
“Well, with me it would just get to the point that we would look
at each other and just decide that we were better off as friends. We both didn’t want to be together and were
just wasting time. I’m not saying that
all of my break ups have been good, but most of them have been. Actually most of the time, they break up
with me because I never have time for them.”
“How can you not have time for them?” She questioned,
“I am in a group that performs all over the world. It’s hard to keep a relationship going if
you never see each other.”
“But you spend a lot of time here.” She pointed out,
“Now, I have time, but before I really didn’t. I never lived in one place long enough to
have a decent relationship.” He
shrugged, “I lived out of my suitcase
all of the time. I had a house that I
never slept in. My brother lived there
more than I did. It was just the life I
led.”
“And now?”
“Well everything has calmed down considerably in my life. I’m not on the road as much and I have the
time to actually enjoy my life instead of rushing around.”
“Kind of a time to stop and smell the roses, huh?”
“Yeah, totally. I have no
complaints about my life. It’s gotten
me to where I am now, but considering I’ve been working non stop from the time
I was fifteen, it can wear you down.”
“I can kind of sympathize.
I was always really centered on my work or school, and I still kind of
am. I always tended to look towards the
future instead of looking at where I was that instant. Now I’m here and I can finally have a life
and I kind of like it.”
“I hear ya.”
“Are you going back out on tour anytime soon?” She questioned,
“No, not for a while. We
all needed a break to do our own thing.”
Larson nudged his shoulder, “Good, because I like having you
around.”
“I like being around.” He
agreed throwing an arm around her shoulders.
“Good.” She agreed.
Larson groggily walked down the stairs the next day to find Mel
watching cartoons.
“Good morning L!” She said
cheerily,
“Ugh, morning.” She said
and went into the kitchen gathering a cup of coffee.
“What time did you go to bed last night?” Mel yelled from the
living room.
“Like five in the morning.”
Larson yelled back to her.
“Why so late?”
“Cuz, that’s when Jace left.”
“Why didn’t he just stay over?” Mel laughed and Larson came back
into the room.
“Because he has his own house that he can sleep in. He already spends too much time here.”
“And you love every minute of it.” She teased,
“Not when he keeps me up till five.” She grumbled,
“Uh huh, sure. He’s so
into you.”
“Stop, we’re just friends.
Why do you keep bringing this up?”
“Because it’s so obvious.
He calls every other day and he’s over here like three times a
week. The only times he doesn’t do that
is if he has to take a trip somewhere.
He did ask you to come along on one of those trips.” Mel pointed out.
“He asked me as a friend because he didn’t want to go by
himself. JC doesn’t even think of me
like that. He’s got women ten times
more beautiful than me throwing themselves at him. He just enjoys my company.”
She shrugged,
“Okay L. Whatever you say.”
“Shut up, it’s too early to be dealing with you.” She shook her head,
Mel glanced up at the clock, “Uh, it’s like two in the afternoon.”
“Exactly.” She mumbled and
walked up the stairs.