“Jade,” a voice whispers urgently in my ear and I open my eyes with a soft groan. JC is kneeling in front of me with his hands on my arms. “You fell asleep. We gotta go already.”
“Ugh. Ok,” I mutter groggily and stand up. “How long’d I sleep?”
“I been gone thirty minutes,” he tells me. “So about that long I guess.”
“Oh,” I rub my eyes as we reach a black convertible. He unlocks the doors and we climb inside.
“Where to?” he asks as he starts to drive.
“I dunno. Someplace warm?”
“The beach?” he suggests.
“Is not warm at this time,” I mumble.
“You’ve never been with me,” he grins and takes a sharp right down a sandy road. He parks the car and we climb out. I start to shiver almost straightaway and he dives into the trunk to recover a red blanket. He takes my hand and we walk down onto the beach before sitting down on the sand. JC sits behind me and wraps me up in his arms, the blanket covering us both perfectly. I lean back onto his body and gaze out at the lightening horizon.
“What time is it now?”
“Almost 4am,” he says.
“It’ll be dawn soon.”
“About 6am I guess.”
“I’ve never seen the sun rise like this,” I confess.
“Me neither,” he kisses my hair and then shifts my position in his arms so that he can kiss me. After a while, I break away from him gently and watch his face. He has an amazing face. He always looks like he’s about to smile. And his eyes are the deepest blue I’ve ever seen.
“So, you have a real girlfriend somewhere?”
“No,” he shakes his head slowly and pulls me back into his body so that my head is on his chest again.
“Why?”
“I haven’t got the time right now I guess. Plus, the only girl who comes anywhere close is with somebody else,” he kisses my head softly.
“I bet there’s lots of girls just dying for a chance with you,” I grin.
“Hardly. Most of them just want to be with JC NSync. Not me.”
“And who are you?”
“Joshua Chasez,” he replies and I smile, looking up at him.
“Well, I like you Joshua Chasez.”
“I like you too Jade….?”
“Oh, you’ll laugh.”
“I won’t. Promise,” he swears.
“Jade Greene.”
“Jade Greene,” he repeats slowly and I can see he’s struggling not to laugh.
“Told you.”
“It’s cute,” he smiles.
“It’s dumb,” I roll my eyes.
“Well I like it so I guess I’m dumb too,” he smiles.
“I’m tired,” I yawn and he tightens his hold on me.
“Go to sleep. I’ll wake you just before the sun comes up.”
“What about you?” I murmur, my eyelids already dropping.
“I’m ok,” he rests his head against mine.
“Mm…” I mumble, falling asleep.
“Jade, wake up,” JC whispers in my ear and I open my eyes slowly to see the horizon gradually turning pinker. “It’s almost sunrise.”
“Wow,” I murmur. “I’ve never seen a pink quite like that.”
“Me either,” JC admits. “But I’m not a pink kinda guy.”
“I guessed,” I laugh. “More Justin’s thing huh?”
“Yeah!” he chuckles and I move around in his arms so that I can face him.
“I’m never gonna forget tonight,” I tell him softly. “Even if I never see you again.”
“Me neither,” he kisses me. “But I hope I see you again, and I hope that time you’re single.”
“You probably won’t be,” I tell him and he laughs before sweeping me up in a passionate kiss.
“God Jade,” he rests his head against mine and kisses me quickly. “I really want to make love to you.”
“But we can’t,” I tell him.
“I know. But that doesn’t stop me wishing,” he groans.
“Don’t frustrate yourself,” I tell him and he chuckles.
I move around in his arms so that I can watch the sunrise and we sit in silence, watching the horizon slowly change colour as the sun comes up. It’s beautiful and it makes me wish I were a morning person so that I could see it every day. But then, like most every day things, it wouldn’t seem so special. Some time after the sun comes up I fall asleep in JC’s arms again. When he wakes me it’s 8am and we have to leave. He stands up and wraps up the blanket before pulling me up and into his arms for a last long kiss. I close my eyes and run my fingers through his hair, feeling him in my mouth and savouring his taste. Because it cannot happen again. He drives me to my apartment in silence. I spend the journey looking out of the window and he concentrates on the road ahead. When we get there, he turns the engine off and reaches across for my hand.
“Thanks for bein’ my girlfriend Jade,” he murmurs.
“Thank you Joshua,” I whisper and lean forward to kiss his lips softly. Before he can deepen the kiss, I sit back and climb out of the car.
“Jade!” his voice stops me and I walk over to his side. He reaches up and pulls me down, into his window, for another kiss before letting me go and driving away. I watch him disappear and turn to walk slowly down the path.