CHAPTER 6

JC peered through the viewfinder until he had the image he wanted perfectly in line. He zoomed in on the clasped hands of the interacial couple and then held down the shutter release button. Then he brought the camera away from his face and smiled.

The couple were oblivious to him and only focused on each other. JC sighed in envy and began to walk off in search of other muses.

It had been a week since he had come to San Diego. He had gotten his cellphone fixed and yet there was nothing from Marshall. JC knew he should be happy about it but yet he wished that his ex-boyfriend would at least make a half-hearted attempt to get him to come back. At least then JC would know that the past year meant something to him. But there was nothing.

JC saw a gay couple sitting under the shade of a tree, with one reading and the other resting his head on his partner's lap, listening to music.

JC immediately brought his camera up and clicked away. Just then, the guy who was reading leaned forward to kiss his partner on his forehead. JC almost squealed in glee for having gotten that shot. That picture was totally right for 'Lips to Head: Ecstasy', the poem that was an homage to sexy non-sexual body parts. Of course when he published the photos, he had to blur out faces to avoid lawsuits and such. The only pictures that would have faces to them would be the posed pictures by models that he would have to hire soon for a photoshoot.

Deciding to call it a day, JC started to walk towards the bus-stop. Just as he was crossing, he heard a car honk. Startled, he looked around, confused. He had checked for traffic before crossing. The car horn sounded again, causing him to look across to the road.

A black convertible and the driver...was Justin.

Now that was a surprise. JC wondered what he wanted then saw Justin wave him to come over. Feeling rather apprehensive, JC made it across the road and walked towards the car. It was a nice car. A Nissan Roadster. JC, knew from Chris that Justin was quite well off. But he lived like he wasn't at that rent controlled apartment, showing his wealth only in his taste for cars and motorcycles.

"Yeah?" JC asked as he approached the passenger side of the car warily, hiking the strap of his backpack higher up his shoulder as he stood beside the car. He tried to pretend nonchalance but curiousity coloured his tone. They hadn't spoken since dinner a week ago. The dinner which led JC to the horrible discovery that yes. He was attracted to Justin Timberlake.

"Hey, um...where are you heading?" Justin asked, the lines at the corner of his eyes showing that he was squinting despite the shades he wore.

"Back home...um, Lance's place."

"Get in. I'm heading back too."

JC hesitated.

"Unless you are really looking forward to the bus ride, of course," Justin said.

'The 30 minutes bus ride or a 10 minutes car ride?' JC asked himself.

"Um...ok, yeah. Thanks."

He quickly got in and buckled himself in, placing his backpack and camera on his lap. He didn't get why Justin was suddenly being pleasant to him. Well, then again, Justin hadn't exactly been a jerk to him either ever since the dinner. They had seen each other in the corridor or when Justin popped over to talk to Chris. The encounters were always wordless, with just a nod or two of acknowledgement. In fact JC spoke more to Jon, Justin's brother than Justin.

The kid still held a small grudge and JC still enjoyed an occasional bout of childishness so the two would call each other names ranging from 'old man' to 'brat' to 'Spaz' to 'Clutz' whenever they saw each other. JC could however sense that Jon was actually doing it more out of a kind of weird affection than out of any real dislike for JC.

"...you going to be here?"

JC shook himself out of his thoughts when he realised Justin was talking to him.

"What?"

"I asked how long you were going to be here," Justin repeated, his gaze fixed on the road.

"Um...I'm not sure."

There was silence. Then...

"So been seeing the city?"

"Um...yeah."

Silence again. Then...

"Pretty good weather we've been having as well uh?"

Ok, this was getting really weird for JC.

"Yeah. Excuse me, but what are you doing?"

Justin looked over at JC before looking back at the road.

"I'm driving."

JC rolled his eyes.
"Give me a break. You know what I mean."

Justin sighed and looked over at JC briefly.
"I'm trying to play nice here, JC."

"Yeah, I can see. Why?"

There was no response. Then suddenly Justin pulled the car over to the road shoulder and stopped. He pulled off his shades and turned his body to face JC.

"Ok, this is the thing. I was a jerk."

JC mouth fell open slightly in shock but Justin took it to mean that he was going to say something and held up his hand to stop him.

"Wait. Let me get this over with. I was a jerk to you. Yes, I lost my songs but it's not as if you did it on purpose. So I should not have reacted that way and held a grudge that long. And I should not have insulted you like I did. I'm sorry about that. I want us to start over again."

Justin took a deep breath and waited for a response. JC did not know what to say.

"Aren't you going to say something? I mean I did make the first move here."

"So you want me to apologise too?"

Justin huffed a little, his blue eyes flashing.
"I mean, I think it's only fair that..."

JC held up a hand.
"No. I mean, yeah. I mean, look I'm sorry too for throwing your songs, for being rude during the dinner and for calling you a conceited, whiny, fucked up son of a bitch.

"You called me a conceited, whiny, fucked up son of a bitch?"

JC smiled guiltily.
"Um...no?"

Justin returned the grin.
"So Lance was actually being subtle when he said you didn't like me too much."

JC laughed and watched Justin's smile widen. Cute. Justin should definitely smile like that all the time.

"So does this mean, we are calling a truce?" Justin asked, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand.

"I guess. Although...um...what's with this sudden change. What brought on the apology?"

Justin just smiled and put the car in motion again.
"I read your book."

Justin was just full of surprises that day.

"Ok, hold on. You actually read my...what did you call it? Oh yeah, award-winning porn?"

"Hey hey hey! I thought we were calling a truce. No fair bringing up past transgressions."

"Oooh! Big word, man!" JC teased. "Ok, sorry. So...you actually read my book?"

"Yeah, I bought it and..."

"You bought it even! Which must mean you went looking for it!" JC felt a sense of girlish glee at that revelation.

Justin's tried unsuccessfully not to smile.
"Yes. I went looking for it. I asked Lance what it was called and I went looking for it in an alternative lifestyle bookstore. Happy?"

JC just smiled.
"So what did you think of it?"

Justin was silent for a while, causing JC to look over at him. To his surprise, he saw Justin blushing. What was it with this guy and blushing? Judging from his attitude and appearance, JC would never have thought Justin could ever feel shy. But he had been proven wrong and what was amazing was the guy managed to look downright adorable when he blushed.

"Well?" JC prompted, now intrigued.

"It was very...um...good. Very um...hot.""

JC grinned. He could hear what Justin was *not* saying. It was what every gay guy who read his collection told him. And that was basically that they just had to get off after reading the book. And not just once either since there were 100 poems in the collection; each a scorching ensemble of erotic phrases and mental images.

"So I take it that you liked it." JC smirked.

Justin had a sly smile.
"Yeah, I liked it at least 3 times when I read it last night."

Ok! Woah! Mental image! JC fought the urge to shake his head like a wet dog to get rid of the image of a naked, sweaty, masturbating Justin Timberlake. Ok! Dead puppies! Dead kittens!

"So that's why you are being nice? Because you like my work?" JC asked, shifting in his seat.

Justin's smile slid off his face and was replaced by a serious expression.
"I'm being nice because...look. Lance was right. I was being out of line by putting your work down even before giving it a chance. I hated it when people did that to me back when I was starting out. Now I have success and people are crawling out of the woodworks to praise my work...before I even step into the studio. But I remember what it used to be like and it's fucking hypocritical of me to do the same to you by not distinguishing the person from their work. So I went to the store and picked up a copy. And now I've to eat my own words and admit that yeah...you're good at what you do, man."

JC sat silently until they reached the apartment's garage. He didn't say anything as he got out of the car and waited for Justin to lock up. And they were silent as they climbed up the stairs as well.

"So," Justin said as they stood in between the two doors.

"Thanks for the ride," JC said, hitching his backpack from his shoulder.

"No problem. Anyway I hope no hard feelings anymore."

"None. It's cool now, man."

"So truce?"

"Truce."

They smiled at each other.

"Good. Ok, um...see you around," Justin said reaching for his key.

"Yeah," JC said as he did the same.

The both opened their respective doors and entered. Turning around and smiling at each other, they closed the door.

JC leaned back on the closed door with a grin. Oh yeah. He was so beginning to crush on Justin Timberlake.

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