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Are you feeling all right, Curls?� Jc questioned his younger friend after
listening to the playback of Justin�s last recording. He had lost count of
how many times they had gone over this last part. Two hours ago they
stepped into the studio, and for the past thirty minutes Justin had
recorded and re-recorded a chorus that shouldn�t have taken more
then ten.

Justin sighed as he rubbed a hand over his face. �I�m fine man. Let�s
just do this and get it done.� He closed his eyes as he rolled his
shoulders a few times and swiveled his neck around. Eyelids lifted and
his blue eyes were revealed once again as he turned his concentration
back to the song in from of him. �All right, let�s do this.�

Jc stared at him for a moment before sighing and restarting the music.
He almost cringed when Justin began singing. Something was very off
and everything was telling him that that something had to do with
Cassie. He looked over to where she sat on the couch, desperately
trying to push Joey off her lap as he laughed and Chris cheered him
on.

He wasn�t quite sure, but he thought that there was a difference in the
way Cassie and Justin were around each other. Before the whole... car
bomb fiasco, they had been close. Brother and sister close. Now
though, that closeness had changed. To what, he wasn�t sure. Then
that morning after they had both came back down from upstairs, he
had noticed they avoided all contact with each other.

Something was going on, and he was going to find out what.

The music ended and Justin looked at Jc through the glass that
separated him. The older man wasn�t paying attention and his brows
were furrowed in thought. Before Justin called out to get his attention,
his own focus was grabbed by what was going on behind Jc.

Joey and Chris were bring their normal selves, jumping around like a
pair of five year olds who had had way to much sugar. At that moment
in time Chris was balling up little pieces of paper, so Justin assumed,
to launch at Joey�s head. Joey meanwhile had decided that Cassie
looked a bit to comfortable on the couch, and was attempting to sit on
her. Justin�s eyes locked on her face, which at the moment was bright
red from the exertion of her attempts to keep Joey from squashing her
like a bug, and though he didn�t know it a smile crept on his face. He
continued to watch until she finally succeeded in pushing him off of her
and onto the floor where landed with what Justin was sure would have
been a loud �thud� if he hadn�t been in the soundproof room.

The sound of Joey�s fall broke Jc out of his thoughts and he turned
back to Justin... who wasn�t paying attention. Jc followed the younger
man�s line of vision and quickly turned back to look at him when he
found it was Cassie. He took in the smile that was on Justin�s face and
added in the differences that he had seen in the pair recently.

�Oh my goodness...� he mumbled to himself as his eyes widened
with relization. Justin and Cassie were starting to see each other as
more then friends. He couldn�t believe that he didn�t see what was
going on sooner. He cleared his throat and leaned over the board in
front of him to press the button that would allow him to speak to
Justin. �All right, go take a five minute break while I see what you�ve
got here.�

Justin nodded and pulled the large headphones off his head,
immediately running one hand through his curly hair. Off the music
stand he grabbed his water bottle before exiting the room. As soon as
the door was opened his ears were filled with Cassie and Chris�
laughter and Joey�s groans.

�Baby bruise his bottom?� Chris taunted as he threw one of the
paper balls that he had been rolling at Joey�s forehead. Chris� aim
proved true and the small sphere hit the man on the floor square
between the eyes. A dirty look was shot at the older man as Joey
stood up. �With all the padding you have there I wouldn�t think you
would have felt a thing.�

�Your one to talk.� Justin commented as he walked the rest of
the way into the room and sat on the couch furthest he could from
Cassie. �Didn�t they just give yours it�s own zip code?� Joey laughed
as Chris turned slowly to look at Justin.

�And just WHO invited YOU into this conversation.� He asked as
he narrowed his eyes.

�The voices in your head. Their so damn loud I can barely hear
anything else.� Chris puffed out his chest and walked across the room
so that he was standing in front of Justin.

�You leave the voices out of this. This is just you and me
youngin�� Justin looked lazily up at his elder as Chris continued. �and
you don�t want this because we both know I can whip you.�

�You think so don�t you?� And before anyone could say anymore
Justin had sprung off the couch and the two �men� where wrestling
around on the floor.

Cassie shook her head as she pulled her feet up on the couch to keep
them from getting rolled over and possibly pulled into the fray. She
shook her head and laughed as she listened to the mumbled threats
coming from the two.

�And you are what millions of teenage girls lust over?� her
question was awnsered by a grunt from Justin as Chris got him into a
headlock and proceeded to give him a noogie. She sighed as she stood
up and stepped around them to get to the door.

�Where are you going?� Jc asked as she reached for the
doorknob. She rolled her eyes and pulled open the door as she
awnsered him.

�Just outside for a little air.� Jc nodded.

�See if you can find Lance, he went outside to make a phone
call. I need him in here to re-do one of his re-cordings. It didn�t come
out right.�

She nodded. �No problem. One blonde pop star coming up.�

She stepped into the hallway and immediately began to make her way
out of the building, but was stopped by one of the interns. His name, if
she remembered right was Blaire. She had talked to him before and he
was a nice person, so she didn�t mind stopping for a few minutes to
chat. After some small talk with the usual questions of how the other
was, she found herself outside in the small courtyard of the studio.

�Yeah... OK... see you soon... no I can�t wait.... OK goodbye.�
Lance was talking on his phone to who Cassie guessed was Sara, his
girlfriend of six months. She knew that they hadn�t said those three
important words yet, because Sara had told her herself that they
hadn�t been said, but that�s not to say that that feeling wasn�t there
between the couple.

Cassie wished that she had that. What they had. It was something she
had never experienced in her life, and she couldn�t wait until she
could. The right person just had yet to come along. Unwilling her
thoughts drifted to Justin and his smile. The love of life that was
always reflected in his eyes. The way his lips had felt on hers....
�Cassie? Hello earth to Cass, come on back from whatever planet
your on.� She jumped when she finally became aware of Lance�s voice
in front of her and his hand waving in front of her face. He grinned as
she blinked once and then twice before looking up at him. �Hello and
welcome back.�

�Hey Lance. Jc-�

She didn�t finished her sentence because he cut her off. �Already on
my way.� She giggled and he patted her shoulder on his way by. She
was now alone in the courtyard.

Her thoughts immediately shifted to what had happened that morning,
with Justin. It had been a near-kiss, and it would have been the
second time that they had kissed. She would be lying if she were to
tell herself that she didn�t want that kiss to happen, cause she
definitely did. Slowly she was coming to releize what was going on.
She wouldn�t have minded so much, as a matter of fact she probably
would have done something about it by now, if there wasn�t just one
problem in the form of one pop princess.

Britney Spears.

She walked over to the bench that was in the middle of the courtyard
and sat, resting her elbows on her knees and her head on her hands.
What was she going to do? She knew that there was no way she could
do anything. Nothing. Not as long as Britney still had Justin wrapped
around her finger. She wasn�t one to split a couple up because of her
own needs, so she would just have to deal.

A heavy sigh at this relization and she stood up, preparing herself to
return to the small room she had come from. Going back to the room
she passed Joey on his way out.

�And where are you going?� She asked as they brushed
shoulders. �Got a hot date tonight stud?� he grinned.

�You know it.� He winked at her before he continued on his way,
whistling as he went. She shook her head as she opened the door and
re-entered the room. You just had to love the boy, she thought. There
was no way you couldn�t. Lance was in the recording room, his bass
voice strong as he sang his part. Justin was on the couch, his long
frame stretched out and one arm thrown over his face. Chris was to
completely absorbed in the gameboy he held in his hands and Jc to
focused on the soundbored in front of him to noticed her entrance.

But they all noticed when she screamed in pain.