The Old Flame Is In The
Video
She had come here prepared to fight
for her man. But by the looks of things, the odds of her winning seemed slim
to none. Though it was just in front of a camera and she was well aware that
the intimate touches and the intense looks that the two stars shared was
just for the video, she had once been an actress and what those two were
doing was not what she would define as acting.
Ashley stood against the wall so she
wouldn’t be seen. So far she hadn’t been caught sneaking into the private
video shoot. But when she heard who was in her boyfriend’s new video, there
was no stopping her from getting on that plane and making sure that nobody
crossed over the line.
The blonde pressing herself against
Ashley’s boyfriend was a part of his past. It had happened a very long time
ago, but Ashley knew how much JC had loved and cherished Samantha, the woman
who had also broken his heart, leaving him shattered. Until, of course, Ashley
had come along and saved him from doing anything too drastic.
Samantha was totally into shooting
the romantic scene with JC. Though they had a very public break up almost
two years ago, Samantha still wanted him. They had met on the set of NSYNC’s
very first video. After that, JC never laid eyes on another woman.
They began dating, but when the first
American tour began, JC began to grow concerned about Samantha’s commitment
to him. She barely called or visited, and when she did, all she would was
complain about his schedule and how they needed to concentrate on their relationship.
JC continued to tour, unaware that
his girlfriend was having an affair behind his back. Though JC never met
the guy, Ashley was sure if he found out who it was, JC wouldn’t have let
the guy get away with trying to steal his girlfriend.
But times had changed, and so had people.
JC was no longer the one that just sat around and let things happen. From
the beginning of his relationship with Ashley, he was open and took genuine
interest in things she was interested in. And when it came time for touring,
he would sit her down and explain that things wouldn’t change between them.
They would just be apart for a while, but that they would still have late
night phone calls, and visits would not be a problem.
This time around, JC changed a lot
of things of how he handled his relationships. Lightning had struck between
Ashley and JC almost immediately after their first meeting. A childhood friend
of Joey’s, Ashley met JC at a Christmas party. They’d been inseperable ever
since.
Deep down, Ashley knew that JC loved
her. But the way he was looking at Samantha now, it reminded her of the way
you look at someone you’re deeply in love with.
That’s how you’re supposed to look
at me.
JC leaned in for the impending kiss.
He was not yet aware that his girlfriend was watching him kiss another woman.
Not just any woman, but his ex girlfriend.
“Cut!” the director said when the short
kiss ended. He didn’t look pleased with the results. “You’re supposed to
kiss her like she’s your world, JC. Not like she’s your worst enemy.”
“Right. Sorry,” JC muttered. He composed
himself and got ready to try again. As he leaned forward again, he thought
of Ashley. And the kissing scene turned out perfect.
Ashley thought it looked like JC enjoyed
the kiss a little too much. She grabbed her bag from the floor, prepared
to leave and head back to the airport. She didn’t think he would want her
around if he knew she was there. He was in his own world, with Samantha.
“I don’t remember you ever kissing
like that,” Samantha said when the camera stopped rolling and their makeup
was being touched up for their next scene. “If I knew you were that good
of a kisser, I would have agreed to this video earlier.”
JC wasn’t thrilled to have Samantha
in this video. He had wanted to ask Ashley, but he knew how she felt about
publicity. She just wasn’t ready for it yet. How many times had she refused
when he asked her to accompany him to award shows? She would have just refused,
saying it was too soon. So he had no other choice but to accept Samantha’s
offer. There was no one else available at the time. He had tried to postpone
the shooting of the video until he had found the right girl. Samantha was
definitely not the right girl.
But they still had the chemistry, he
thought.
“You’re very quite today, JC.” Samantha
hopped off her chair and stood in front of him. “Aren’t you excited? This
is the last day of shooting. Then you can go back home to your girlfriend.”
JC remembered the last fight he had
with Ashley before coming out to shoot the video. “Yeah, I can’t wait.” He
couldn’t wait until this was done so he could go home and apologize. He knew
how hard it was for Ashley to just let him go and do this with someone, at
a time, he had been extremely close to.
They weren’t on the best terms, him
and Samantha, but they still managed to be civil to each other. He knew there
was no point on dwelling on what happened, but he couldn’t forget, either.
“She’s a lucky girl,” Samantha said
softly.
Ashley didn’t miss seeing the quick
kiss that JC and Samantha shared. She stormed out of the building and took
a cab to the airport.
JC stepped inside the condo that he
shared with Ashley and dropped his bags on the floor. “Ashley? Baby, where
are you? I’m home.”
He was rewarded with nothing but silence.
All the lights had been shut off, only
one candle flickering somewhere in the living room. On the couch, Ashley
was fast asleep.
JC smiled and made the short walk over
to the couch and kneeled down to brush the hair off of her face. It had been
a long plane trip home. It took a lot of effort for him to keep his eyes
open. But he hadn’t seen Ashley in two weeks. And there was still a bit of
guilt inside of him for kissing Samantha.
Ashley didn’t stir, but when he placed
a gentle kiss on her forehead, her eyes slowly drifted open.
“JC?” She made out his face with sleepy
eyes. Somehow she had fallen asleep during the movie she’d been watching
earlier, waiting for JC to come home. Now here he was and she wasn’t sure
what to expect.
“In my flesh.” He stood up because
his legs were already sore enough. He took the empty spot beside her and
searched her eyes. “You look as tired as I feel.”
“I fixed the guest room for you.” Without
evening surveying his reaction, she walked into the kitchen.
“Guest room?” He followed behind her.
“You can’t still be mad at me.”
“Of course I’m not mad.” She poured
herself a glass of water. “I’m angry at you right now. I can’t even look
at you.”
JC sensed that she was not angry about
the words they had shared a few weeks ago. “You going to tell me why?”
Ashley shot him a look. “If you don’t
know, I don’t know what to tell you. I thought that you could be honest with
me.”
“I’m always honest with you,” he said.
“What’s this about honesty all of a sudden?”
“Maybe because I know that I’m being
lied to.” Ashley finally looked at him. “I was in New York the other day.”
“New York?”
“You know, where you were kissing Samantha.
And it wasn‘t for the video.” She was aware of the coldness in her tone.
She didn’t care. But she had expected him to tell her about the kiss that
was shared after the camera’s had stopped rolling. But he had chosen not
to, whatever his reasons.
JC didn’t say anything. But he looked
as if he’d been caught in a lie.
“That’s what I thought,” Ashley said.
She exited the kitchen without another word.
JC was finding it hard to sleep. The
guest room he was occupying for the moment was two rooms away from the room
that he usually shared with Ashley. He didn’t blame her for being angry,
but he was finding it difficult to sort this out when she refused to even
talk to him.
He knew he had made the mistake in
the first place was agreeing that Samantha could be in the new video. But
his hands had been tied. They didn’t have long to shoot, and Samantha had
been the only one available. He knew he should have demanded that they found
someone else the moment Samantha’s presence began putting a strain on his
relationship with Ashley.
The soft knock that was coming from
across the room tore JC out of his thoughts. He knew it had to be Ashley,
considering no one else was in the house.
He rolled over and saw her shadow in
the dark.
Ashley sat on the edge of the bed.
“I’m ready to talk now,” she said.
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about
the kiss,” he said. “I wanted to, but the kiss didn’t effect me in any way.
I didn’t see why you had to know about it.”
“Why did you kiss her then?”
“I wish I knew.” He sighed. It was
easy, he had realized not long ago, to open up with her and reveal the truth.
“All I know is that I love you and I’m not going to jeopordize what we have.
Not ever.”
Satisfied with that, Ashley pulled
him into a hug. “I’ve missed you,” she said as they pulled away from each
other.
“You know Samantha means nothing to
me, right?” he said. “I know when you and I first got together I was still
kind of hung up on her. This last year with you has made me realize just
how much I love you, and how sure I am that you’re the only one for me.”
“I know.” She could see it in his eyes.
Now that things were made right, she grabbed his hand and pulled him up off
the bed. “You can come back into our bedroom now.”
“You going to give me that homecoming
you promised me?”
“Do I ever break a promise?” With her
mouth attached to his, they stumbled into their bedroom and onto the bed.
“Not that I can remember.”