| Chapter 7 |
| A few days later, JC walked into the waiting room of Timberlake Records, immediately heading for the door leading to the offices. He smiled politely at Susie, Justin's secretary, as he walked by her desk. "Morning, Mrs. Robinson," he said. She smiled at him over the rim of her glasses. "Call me Susie, JC," she smiled. "And yes, it is a good morning." JC gave her a quick wink as he opened the door and took the hallway down to the sixth door on the left, Justin's office. He shifted his duffel bag over his right shoulder and knocked. "Come in." JC opened the door about a foot and poked his head inside. "It's me, JC," he said. Justin leaned back in his chair and gave JC a small smile as he started to clear a stack of papers off his desk. "JC, yeah, come on inside. Have a seat." JC nodded and moved inside the large room, sitting down in the chair across from Justin and laying his bag down at his feet. JC's face registered a bit of shock as he took in Justin's appearance. His coat jacket was off and thrown carelessly on the floor, his tie was halfway undone and flipped over his shoulder, and his curls looked like he had been running his fingers through them all morning. JC cleared his throat quietly, not sure if he should say something. When Justin looked up at him, he decided to go ahead. "Um," he said, scratching his arm, "are you okay?" Justin shrugged, taking the opportunity to reorganize the top of his desk so he wouldn't have to answer the question. Sighing, JC hoisted his bag up onto his lap and began digging through it. Justin watched him for a few seconds before clearing his throat. "Lets continue this down in the studio, okay?" he asked. "It's way too stuffy in here." Although he thought the temperature was fine in the room, JC nodded eagerly. They were going down to the studio, which meant he might have the chance to begin recording today. Inside his bag, he felt his fingers graze a worn, leather cover and he smiled, pulling out his lyric notebook. He gripped it tightly in his hands, and when Justin wasn't looking, gave the cover a quick kiss for good luck and followed his boss out of the office. ~*~ JC's hands tightened on the large headphones covering his ears until his knuckles turned white. From behind the glass, Justin laughed and spoke into the microphone wired to JC's headset. "JC, man, relax," he chuckled. "We're just going to record one song. Maybe not even a whole one. Just a few lyrics and such so that you get the hang of it, okay?" JC let out a shuddering breath and nodded. Justin watched the sound man twist a few knobs and push a few buttons, and then give him a thumbs up. "JC," he said. "In about a minute, the music will come through the headset, okay? When it's time, sing. Don't think about it, just sing. If I stop you, and I will, it's not a bad thing, okay? It will probably mean we need to change the pitch or something." JC nodded again, his body visibly relaxing. However, when the music began to play, he froze again. The melody kept repeating in his ears, but his mind wasn't processing it. Justin and the producer shared a look. The man stopped the music and Justin flipped the microphone back on. "JC, did you hear the music?" He nodded. "Why didn't you sing?" JC blushed and shrugged sheepishly. Justin chuckled and grinned. "Okay. Lets try again." This time, when the music started, JC remembered to sing. When Justin had asked him which song he wanted to sing as a warm up, he knew right away what he wanted. "You must understand, though a touch of your hand makes my pulse react," he sang softly, closing his eyes. Almost immediately, a picture of Lance popped into his head, and he almost stopped singing. Instead, he forced himself to sing the words. "That it's only the thrill, of boy meeting girl, opposites attract. It's physical, only logical; you must try to ignore that it means more than that, oh oh oh." JC took a deep breath and belted out the next words. "What's love got to do, got to do with it? What's love, but a second hand emotion? What's love got to do, got to do with it? Who needs a heart, when a heart can be broken?" JC heard the music fade away, but he didn't open his eyes. Faintly, he heard Justin talking to him through the headphones. "Damn, JC, that was fucking amazing." Justin whistled. "This is going to be a kick ass album." The sound man nodded. "Take five, Jace. We need to fix a few things." JC opened his eyes and nodded at Justin. Sighing heavily, he took off his headset and headed out into the hallway to get a drink of water. When the door shut behind him, he leaned against the door and closed his eyes, picturing Lance. Even when he had been singing the words with every bit of passion he had in him, he still didn't believe a word of it. ~*~ Justin tapped his fingers on the desk nervously, waiting for the other end of the phone line to pick up. There was a click after the third ring, and a quiet voice answered. "Hello?" Justin grinned. He could hear the sleep in Lance's voice, and it sounded adorable. "Hey baby," he said, "did I wake you up?" "Justin? Is that you?" Justin laughed at the touch of incredulity in Lance's voice. He nodded and leaned back in his seat, playing with his tie. "Yes, it's me, dork," he grinned. "I just wanted to call and see what you're up to." Justin listened intently as Lance giggled and started telling him about his day. He still sounded tired, but unlike the past few days, this time he could hear the smile in Lance's voice as he spoke. He was glad Lance was finally starting to come around. He yawned lightly and glanced down at his watch. "Hey," he interrupted at a break in Lance's speech, " do you want to have lunch together? It'll be like our date for the day." He could hear Lance's breathing over the line, and he knew his boyfriend was thinking it over. "I don't know Justin," he said. "What about work? And JC? When I said I wanted you to spend time with me, I didn't mean you had to have lunch with me *every* day, especially when you're with a client." Justin glanced up when the door opened, and he nodded at JC before responding. "I know that Lance," he said, and he missed the way JC's head lifted in interest at the mention of Lance's name, "but we're ahead of schedule anyway, so we won't be missing much. Um... hey!" JC jumped at Justin's outburst and looked up. He saw Justin grinning at him, and he swallowed nervously. 'Uh-oh.' "Hey what?" Lance laughed. "Hey, why don't we have dinner tonight instead... and JC come with us!" Justin said, and JC's eyes widened. "You're not busy, are ya Jace?" When JC nodded quickly, Justin laughed. "See Lance, he says he'd love to come." JC dropped his head in defeat. "Really?" asked Lance. "I was sure I bored him to tears the last time we ate together." He laughed. Justin grinned. "Nah, he wasn't bored," he said, winking at JC. "The guy loves you." JC choked on his breath, his face growing bright red as he looked up at Justin. The younger man was rolling with laughter at JC's reaction, and JC couldn't help but wonder what was so funny. He began to sweat before he realized that maybe Justin had just been joking. His thoughts were confirmed when Justin looked over at him and winked. He blushed and glared back. On the other end of the phone, Lance chuckled. "Okay then," he said. "That's three for dinner. How about we go to that new Italian restaurant in town?" "Sounds good," said Justin. "We'll just head there after work today, and you can meet us there say, 6:00?" "Okay," smiled Lance. "I'll see you then. Tell JC I'm looking forward to seeing him again. Bye." "Will do. Bye Lance. Love you." "You too, J." They hung up, and Justin turned to JC with a grin. "Sorry man," he chuckled. "I couldn't resist." "Yeah, well try harder next time," JC grumbled, and Justin laughed. |