AN: In completely unrelated news, Harry Potter 5, wow. I loved it. Gotta love reading a (nearly) 900 page book in a day. But yeah, Blindsided, here you go. Feedback? =) inspiredthoughts@hotmail.com *************************** Blindsided: Chapter Fifteen ***************************** "Do you have ANY idea what you're doing?" JC looked up from his newspaper in the hotel of the day's dining room. Justin looked like hell, haggard and unshaven with circles under his usually happy blue eyes. "Late night?" JC asked sweetly. His younger band mate glared dagger but ruined the effect by yawning. "Yeah, I was up late talking stuff through with Jess." "Did you two make up?" JC asked with mild interest. Justin was young enough that he liked to date around still. He liked Jess though; she was down to earth and good for Justin. "Yeah," Justin replied with a small but bright smile. "It was totally worth only getting like an hour of sleep. My love life isn't what's in question here. What the hell are you doing with Laura?" JC flipped a page in the paper. "Why are you asking?" he asked carefully. Justin's fists seemed to startle them both. They jumped together as they crashed on table top. Justin breathed hard for a moment then shook himself. "I'm sorry, that was uncalled for. I, its just, its Laura..." Justin trailed off helplessly. Despite his best intentions, JC lowered the paper enough to meet Justin's pained gaze. "Jayce, you two are so perfect for each other it hurts to see you apart but, you can't, do this right. She deserves it." "I'm TRYING," JC replied earnestly, some of his own frustration spilling through. His younger band mate blinked. "Umm, have you two ever, like, talked about your mutual feelings?" "No," came JC's simple reply. Justin snorted and rubbed his head. "Well, C, shouldn't that have maybe been your first step before declaring your intentions before half of America?" "Maybe," JC said sulkily, "but Laura never WANTS to talk about that kind of stuff. She doesn't understand that I worship the ground that she walks on. I dream of her smile Justin, and the way her hair falls into her eyes. I can feel her hand on my shoulder, and match my stride to hers without thinking about it. I spent two hours daydreaming about what she would taste like. I want her. I want her in every way a man wants a woman. I love her Justin. Love her more than breath, than music. She IS my music. Her sighs inspire me. Her laugh makes me want to write a sonnet. I'm trying to do right by her Justin, but nothing I do with her seems wrong, even declaring our relationship on TRL." "C, I hate to break it to you, but you don't have a relationship with her." He stared at Justin, sapphire gaze brilliant and fierce. "We may not have a named relationship but we're more of couple than most husbands and wives. She might not want to acknowledge that and that's fine but we're together, end of story. Eventually, we'll figure it all out, but until then, kindly butt out." Justin stared at him for a long moment, full mouth drawn in a frown that slowly bloomed to a soft, lopsided smile. "I'm glad to hear you and Chris will finally get to start speaking soon. It took you damn long enough." "Get lost Justin." Justin laughed and ambled off to find breakfast, leaving JC with his newspaper and thoughts once again. **************************************************************************************** JC answered Johnny's call at nine in the morning, just when he was expecting it to come. It was a brief intense conversation, which left JC grinning bemusedly, and Johnny Wright more resigned than anything else. Joshua Chasez was nothing if not persistent. When he truly wanted something, he usually got it. **************************************************************************************** The tour winded down its first leg which drew to a close in Orlando, where it all began. JC was looking forward to getting to sleep in his own bed, beginning to record tracks for his first solo CD, and having late night dates with Laura at 'their' diner. They didn't talk about 'the TRL incident' as it had been dubbed but continued much as they had before with long talks that lasted to dawn and fun outings to local restaurants and parks in JC's off hours. Everyone on the tour continued to turn a blind eye to JC's wooing, even if it took some firm words on his part to ensue that. The media, already salivating, had a field day but it was hard to do more than print innocent pictures and write articles based on rumors. As interested as *NSYNC fans were in their boys, there was a limit. JC answered every questions thrust at him concerning Laura with a blinding smile and that he had, 'already made his position concerning Laura Danon VERY clear'. Laura simply refused to answer any questions at all, but she always held her head high, no matter how tightly she held his hand in public in the face of wild, lurid speculations. JC had never been more in love. Even if he never actually got to say that, but, verbalization was hardly the point of love. It was finding someone you could trust and respect enough to give them your heart. Joshua Chasez had happily given his heart to Laura with a no return policy stamped clearly on it. She just needed a little more time until she realized that she had already given hers to him months ago. **************************************************************************************** "You're still going with me to that party thing, aren't you?" Laura rolled her eyes but smiled as she attempted to sort through the piles of papers on her hotel room's bed. "Yes, yes, despite the fact that I'm almost as busy now as I was getting ready for the tour. You guys have a lot of stuff that needs to be done before you can re-enter normality." "Really, like what?" he asked, vaguely interested as he draped himself carefully next to her, making sure not to disrupt her tenuous if somewhat doubtful organization. "Humm, let's see, taxes for one, which means I have to contact accountants and make sure everything is running smoothly, house upkeep and maintenance have to be paid off and don't get me started with things like storage, laundry and..." She trailed off, bemused, as he got up on his knees and peered thoroughly at her eyes. "Jayce, what are you doing?" He grinned easily. "Making sure you're getting enough sleep. We promised to look after each other a long time ago, just keeping my end of the bargain." Laura laughed and JC watched, contented with the sparkle in her eyes as they creased at the corners. "You just want to make sure you have a date for that industry function when we get to Orlando." JC smiled as his song for her hummed in the back of his mind, an unceasing harmony. "That too." "Goof- shoo, let me get some work done. We can go get some ice cream later." "Go out?" he asked hopefully. Laura snorted and glanced down at her worn pajamas. "Not likely. I'm in for the night. We can go raid the kitchen though, freak the staff out." Jayce chuckled warmly and resisted the urge to tell her how absolutely adorable she was with when her glasses slid down to the end of her nose. He rolled off the bed with reluctance but accepted her proposal. "All right, all right, I know when I'm not wanted." JC shambled off to the sound of Laura Danon's light laughter as he quietly sang under his breath. She was almost ready to hear the rest of his, her, their song. JC was more than ready to sing it for her.