Don’t Stop
JC tossed his keys onto the counter as he walked into the kitchen. He let out a long sigh and dropped his jacket onto the kitchen table, too tired to care where it went. He just wanted to get something to eat and watch some mindless shows on tv, something that would put his mind to rest. His entire day was spent in meetings and he didn’t want to worry about anything else for the next hour besides eating and sleeping.
He shuffled over to his refrigerator praying that there was something in there to eat. He let out a “yes” of happiness when he saw a Chinese take-out container left in the fridge. He put the noodles into a bowl, stuck it in the microwave, and went into the living room to find something on TV.
He grabbed the remote and turned on the tv, the faint glow illuminating his face, casting his tired eyes in an unnatural silver light. He rubbed his eyes as he jabbed the channel up button on his remote, barely even watching a few seconds of whatever was on before changing the channel He cycled through the channels at least twice before changing it to Entertainment Tonight. He put down the remote and grabbed his warmed up dinner and a beer, sitting down on the couch and put his feet up on his coffee table.
He chuckled to himself. Long ago his mother would’ve scolded him for putting his feet up on the furniture and he, in turn, would scold the guys whenever they put their feet up on the furniture. His heart sank a bit. He wondered what his friends were up to now. Were they sitting down and watching TV like him?
He grunted. Probably not, he told himself, shoving a forkful of food into his mouth. They were probably busy, unlike me, sitting on the couch every night. He swallowed the bite of food and turned up the volume on the TV when a picture of his old group-mate came on.
“…In other news, Justin Timberlake’s film the Social Network, a movie based off of the success of Facebook, has released several teaser trailers onto the internet in the past couple of days. More information on the movie shall be released with time…”
JC slowly shook his head, sighing at the picture of his friend. He knew for a long time that Justin would become a force of his own in the entertainment business, he’s always known, the others have always known as well. During their *NSYNC days Justin was the one that the girls wanted, Justin was the one that the label wanted, he was the one that everyone wanted. They didn’t care that JC was another lead singer of the group and, arguably, had the best voice. They didn’t care that Lance had tried to go to the moon. They didn’t care about Joey working on Broadway or Chris’s clothing line.
They didn’t care unless Justin’s name was attached to it.
Now that he was off by himself, he had everything that JC wanted: a successful music career, a successful production career, a successful movie career, and others just to name a few. Justin was never afraid to go out and take a risk, try something that he’s never done before, that’s what JC kicked himself for all of the time. JC was always afraid that no one would take him seriously which was why he stayed away from movie or TV show offers, all except for America’s Best Dance Crew.
Once he had heard the idea of the show he was instantly hooked. They told him they wanted a judge who knew what it was like to be criticized by the media and could give good advice and be honest when they needed, and they wanted him. JC felt humbled by the offer. He enjoyed watching the crews compete against each other, all with a common goal, trying to one-up themselves. Now, as the show entered its sixth season, he was starting to grow tired of it. It was the same thing every week for him: he went in, got his make up done, saw a dance, criticized it, and got booed. He was sure that if Justin was in his chair they would eat up everything he said.
JC pinched his knee as punishment for thinking ill thoughts about his friend. Of course he was happy for Justin’s success, not just his, the others as well. Lance is making a name for himself supporting the gay community and making any appearance he could as well as supporting Joey. Joey had recently announced that he was going to Broadway to work on his part in the show The Producers. Joey invited him to the opening but JC had to, sadly, decline because of a few meetings he needed to attention. Joey told him that he had a ticket waiting whenever he could go. So far, he hadn’t been able to. Chris, Chris was doing an amazing job with his band Nigels11. Even he had grown a solid fanbase through Twitter and random shows around Orlando.
JC couldn’t help but feel jealous sometimes. Despite the positive reviews, Schizophrenic hardly did as well as he had hoped. Sure, he put it out for fun, but it still hurt seeing the sales as compared to Justified. Now Chris goes out in the music scene and suddenly he’s doing well? JC didn’t get it nor did he think he wanted to understand. Surely the *NSYNC fans have grown up and moved on?
Grabbing the remote, JC turned off the TV before deciding to listen to some music. He grabbed his stereo remote and pushed a button. A short pause of silence filled the room as JC lifted another forkful of food to his mouth. The fork hovered in front of his face as the familiar intro to a song he had recently demo-ed flooded into the air.
JC couldn’t help but smile at the sound of the song he had just recorded floating through his mind. He hadn’t been in the studio for a while, he was too busy with Season Six of ABDC to get back, but when he did he found the spark that he thought he had lost a long time ago. He missed being on the other side of the business, singing instead of producing. He felt…alive again when he was in the studio singing and experimenting.
I'm not done so let it play
I need to feel it one more time
Don't give up even if it's late
When it feels so good we do it one more time
Don't stop
What you're doing
Don't stop
Yeah I like it
Don't stop
We'll keep it going til the lights come on
When all the moments slip away
At least we can say we did it one more time
As those words echoed in his head it all came crashing down. That’s it! JC thought excitedly. He couldn’t deny the empty feeling that was inside of him while he was on ABDC . He couldn’t push it away even more, ignore it. The urge was too strong.
Putting down his plate, JC lowered the volume of his stereo and grabbed the phone. He dialed a number he knew by heart and held his phone up to his ear, his heart racing in excitement.
“Hello?” A tired voice answered on the other line.
“Hey, it’s me,” he said softly.
“…JC?”
“Yeah.” JC smiled at the sound of his friend’s voice. “Did I wake you?”
“No, I’m always up at…2:30. What’s up?”
“I just wanted to see how you’re doing and what you’re up to.”
“I’m up to looking at the insides of my eyelids.” He paused. “Why did you really call?”
“I wanted to know when’s the earliest flight you can take to get here, to LA.”
“Tomorrow, but why?”
“Is your schedule free for a while?”
“Yes, but why?”
JC smiled at his impatience. “Well, I want my best friend with me once I venture back into the studio.”
It was silent on the other end. “You’re going back into the studio? Like, the recording side not the producing side?”
“Exactly.”
“What made you change your mind?” He sounded wide awake now.
“I don’t know,” JC admitted with a shrug. “I guess I didn’t realize what I was missing by being busy with ABDC and producing for others. But when I got back in there and recorded the Don’t Stop demo…it felt right being on that side again. I just want to experiment again, with your help. I don’t want to do it without you.”
It was silent on the other end for a bit. “I’ll see you at the studio by about…three? Is that ok?”
“That’s fine.”
“Ok, let me get some sleep then.”
JC. “Ok, I’ll let you go, see you later bud.”
“Uh, C?”
He hadn’t heard that nickname in a long time. “Yeah?”
“It’s about time.” JC could practically see the smile on his face.
“Yeah, yeah,” JC laughed. “Ok, I’ll let you go. I know how Baby J needs his beauty rest.”
“Please, I don’t need no damn beauty rest, I’m sexy awake and asleep.”
“Whatever you say, Justin. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Ok, bye.”
“Bye.”
JC hung up the phone with a big smile on his face. The song was right, you shouldn’t stop what you’re doing, especially when it’s the one thing in the world that makes you happy.
