A Million Faces in a Crowd
Chapter 22 (part 1)

“You really think we can do it like this?” JC asked, scanning over the documents.

Matt nodded. “Yeah man. If you’re willing to give me a shot with this whole record deal thing. I’m no professional but I wouldn’t screw you over.”

“I know you wouldn’t. You’ve been in this business for long enough.”

“Just look everything over. I tried to get you the best gig I could. You know your music will sell it’s self. I’m sick and tired of you letting those amazing songs collect dust on your computer. It’s just not fair to the world of music.”

JC laughed. “You know you sound like some sappy teenie bopper right?”

Matt rolled his eyes. “Whatever JC. Then you’re fans are right. You could have them eating out of the palm of your hands. Don’t you want that again? To have fans singing along with you, knowing your lyrics, getting to lay it all out there and let people lose their minds for a little bit?”

JC sighed, tossing the papers aside. “I don’t know. I honestly don’t know if this is where I need to be right now. I did my thing, sang all my songs, broke records- you name it. I just keep thinking my time was then. I’m getting older now. Music is still my priority, it’s just not being on the stage. I’m perfectly content producing.”

“Then are you sure you want to do this?”

JC shrugged. “I guess I could give it a shot. If someone’s willing to back me, I’d be an idiot to pass it up.”

Matt laughed. “You are an idiot. I’m laying it all out on the table for you, strings and everything. You’ve got the music, the talent, the support. What more do you need?”

He watched as JC checked his cell phone for the tenth time in the last fifteen minutes.

“Now that’s a loaded question.”

“What’s with your obsessively checking your phone? Still no word from Carly?”

JC shook his head, replying nothing.

“I’m sorry, man. How longs it been?”

“Long enough. Almost three weeks since I’ve seen her. Five days since I talked to her last and she hung up on me.” JC grumbled.

Matt smacked him on the arm, comfortingly. “Damn. She must be mad.”
“I don’t know what’s going on. She’s never done this. Something tells me something more is going on. I just feel like I deserve an explanation. It’s killing me.”

Nodding, Matt stood, grabbing a bottle of water. “Give her time. I’m sure she’ll call. Maybe she’s busy or just needed to clear her head.”

JC ran a hand over his weary face. “Yeah. Maybe that’s it.”

***

“I cannot believe someone had to screw up shit that I worked forever on.” Carly scoffed.

Max nodded, apologetically. “I’m really sorry. Something got messed up in the transfer, Carly. I know if anyone could fix it, it’d be you.”

She rolled her eyes. “Yeah, yeah. I just flew five hours over night to fix someone else’s mistakes. This is going to take me hours, I hope you know.”

“Don’t worry. I’ve got help coming. I told you we’re past deadline. This is costing our company a shit load of money.”

Carly raised an eyebrow. “What help?”

Max shrugged. “I don’t know. The team said they’d send someone good, reputable.”

“Reputable. Pshhh. I wouldn’t be here if that was the case.”

“I’m really sorry, Carly. I know it will probably mean nothing to you, but I appreciate you flying in on such short notice.”

“Yeah, don’t mention it. I can always sleep another week.”

Max laughed at her no nonsense attitude he had come to love. “I’ll let you be so you can work. Call me if you have any problems.”

Carly nodded, going back to the computer and the list of errors she had to fix. “Yeah yeah.”

She continued to work for the next few hours, oblivious to the time and trying not to grumble, mentally cursing of the man or woman who had messed up Gavin’s music in the transition process from London to LA. She hadn’t planned on being back here for a while. Time was what she had wanted and asked for but work had called.

Deciding it was time for a coffee break, Carly got up and drug herself out of the studio she had been hauled up in. Looking out of the bay windows that lined a majority of the building, it wasn’t a surprise to her that it was now dark out. Trying to suppress her yawn, she did a mental check of time. Night in LA meant even later in Chicago and having been woken out of her less than peaceful slumber only added to her tirade.
After stopping at the coffee machine, she walked back to continue her work, waiting for the caffeine to kick in. She was crashing fast.

Jumping back into where she had left off, Carly was pleased to see she had made some what of a progress. Max was right. This was going to take forever and she would without a doubt need an extra hand if he expected it by a certain time. Apparently, when people messed up, they messed up good. She only hoped Max sent her someone who knew what they were doing.

Stopping for a second, she turned towards the door, hearing people talking, wondering to herself who in their right mind would be coming into the studio this late in the night to work on something? Surely Max wouldn’t send someone at this hour…

Hearing the door open, she turned to it, thinking it was one of the other employees of the studio coming to let her know they were locking up. Her eyes widened, and her breath hitched, not being able to think, to speak or breathe. Out of all the people Max could have sent, it had to be him. He did say reputable didn’t he?

JC stood there, decked out in light blue track pants, a white cut off t-shirt and what looked to be like some kind of athletic flip flops and Carly couldn’t remember him looking more gorgeous. It has been a long time since she’d seen him, almost too long and it took all of her stamina not to burst into tears at that moment.

“JC…” She gasped.

“Carly…” His voice came out in a whisper.

“They sent you?”

He nodded, coming further into the room but keeping his distance still.

“Yeah. Max said something went wrong when they went to make the final copy.”

Carly swallowed hard, professional façade on again. “Yeah. It’s worse than I thought. I’ve been working non stop. I’m going to be here forever.”

He nodded, hands shuffling in his pockets nervously. “Well I’m here now. Two is better than one right?”

She gave him a half smile, not knowing what to say as he took a seat beside her. “Why’d you come this late?”

He shrugged. “You needed help.”

Her eyes widened, breath hitching as the scent of him enveloped her as he moved closer. “You knew I was here?”

“Yeah I did. Max said you’d flown over night. I knew you’d be tired and could use the help.”

“Is that the only reason?” She whispered.

His blue eyes met hers in an intense stare. So much question and tension filled the room. He responded, his voice husky. “You know it’s not, Carly.”

She shifted uncomfortably in her seat. “I um, I needed time.”

His eyes never left hers. “I know that. I tried to give it to you.”

“But?”

He reached his hand out to touch her face, but quickly pulled it back, still not knowing where they stood. Every second that ticked by hurt more and more.

“I couldn’t sleep knowing you were in LA and I wasn’t there with you. A part of me is committed to this job and the other part of me is committed to you, to us. Since you left London, it’s been nothing but hell for me, Carly.”

Her eyes welled up but she quickly brought herself together. “I can’t be in a relationship where you don’t trust me, JC.”

Running a hand through his hair, he nodded, exhaustion evident in his voice. “I know that and I am sorry. I acted like an idiot and I shouldn’t have. I don’t know what came over me but picturing the two of you together, I just get a bad feeling about that guy.”

“You were an idiot. You’ve got nothing to worry about.”

“I know that now. It’s just not having you around, it’s been killing me. I don’t want to lose you over something so dumb--.”

“The way you were behaving was dumb, JC.”

He was shocked by her interruption. “I know that now. I said I was sorry.”

“There’s going to be other times where I’m away, most likely working with other male artists. If this is going to become a trend, we’re never going to work.”

His head snapped up, fear written all over his face. “We will work, Carly. You’ve just got to be patient with me. I’m trying to tell myself that your not my ex and that this can work out. I can’t be without you though.”

She shook her head. “You never once asked me how I felt, Jace. You just assumed this was all about the way you were acting. I needed this time to think things over. To think about us. We’re apart more than we’re together and there are times where we get shoved into serious and that scares the hell out of me. It’s going to take a lot of fighting.”

“Did you?” he whispered.

She turned towards him once more, rubbing her tired eyes. “Did I what?”

“Think things over?”

She sighed, suddenly not in the mood to hash this all out here and now. She had work to be done, deadlines to meet. Her paycheck and career depended on it.

“I’ve got get this done, JC. Max has me on a time frame. They’re paying extra for the editing studio.”

He nodded, knowing she wasn’t going to continue. “Dammit, Carly. I think this is a little more important.”

She shook her head, unable to admit that he was right but still, her wall had come up. It was too late now. “I can’t do this now. I’ve got to get this done.”

JC turned away, obviously pissed off by the situation but trying to keep his frustrations at bay. It would only make things worse. “Fine. Work. I’m sorry I care so much.”

Carly let out a silent breath, thankful he had dropped the subject. She couldn’t get into this, not here and now with no sleep and her emotions wearing thin. Trying to push the scent of him, and the heat from the closeness, Carly cleared her thoughts and tried to erase the memory of what it felt like to hug him, to touch him. She couldn’t let his being there ruin the fact that she was there to do a job, even though it was killing her deep down.


****

It had been hours since they had began the countless corrections on Gavin’s songs, perfecting and editing every single glitch and mess up. He worked hard, stealing glances every now and then. Surprised that the atmosphere hadn’t turned totally awkward, he still had small glimmers of hope. He figured the quicker they got done, the quicker he’d have a better chance at speaking with Carly in private where she couldn’t use that ‘work’ excuse she’d come to love.

He couldn’t help but steal small glances are her, still letting it sink in that she was in LA regardless if she hadn’t meant to run into him. He watched her several times, noticing her face flinch as she’d stop and take a deep breath, holding her stomach, obviously in pain.

“You alright?” He asked, concerned.

Her brows knitted together, trying to hide any discomfort. “I’m fine. Just a stomach ach.”

JC leaned forward, cautiously placing a hand on her knee. “Want me to get you anything?”

Carly exhaled the breath she had taken in, hoping to alleviate some of the pain. “No. I think I’ll be fine.”

He nodded, tapping her leg softly before going back to work.

***
It had been hours since they had started, JC noted, taking a look at his watch and cracking his neck. He smiled softly as he noticed Carly had dozed in and out for what seemed like the millionth time in the past fifteen minutes. He contemplated telling her to take a break but knew she’d turn him down. Still, his love for her won that battle.

“Carly, why don’t you go sleep for a bit?”

She looked over at him through bleary eyes, quickly trying to appear awake. “I’m good. I just-- yeah. I’m fine.”

JC chuckled softly. “Stop trying to be a hard ass and go sleep, Carly.”

She went to say something, a snaky reply no doubt, when she was cut off by a yawn. He shook his head, smiling brightly, knowing she had lost the battled.

“I don’t need to sleep.” she said as she stretched her arms over her head, but quickly toppled forward. “Ouch, shit!”

JC was on his feet in a flash, catching her in his arms and leading her over to the couch. “Are you okay?”

She panted, arms wrapped about her waist. “Yeah. I don’t know what it is. There’s like a sharp pain or something. Maybe it’s just from sitting all day.”

“Don’t you think we should go to the ER and get it checked out?”

Carly shook her head immediately. “No. I’m sure it’s nothing serious.”

“Will you sleep for a little bit at least? I can keep working on this and we can pick up after you rest.” JC said as he reached a hand up to rub her shoulder, watching her instantly relax.

“Ugh, fine. But make sure you wake me up in an hour or two. I’ve got to finish this. I don’t have time for sleep.”

“Stop fighting, babe. I’ve told you so many times that you need to take care of yourself. The work is getting done, so chill out.”

“I do take care of myself, thanks. This is just a little more important. I didn’t fly all this damn way to sleep on a couch in a recording studio.”

“Who’s couch did you plan on sleeping on?” JC questioned, knowing he was pushing her buttons.

“Don’t start with me, JC.”

He rolled his eyes, chuckling at her stubborn antics before straightening out her legs and covering her up with the blanket draped over the back of the couch. Leaning down, he ran a hand softly over her head, cuffing her chin. “Sleep. I’ll wake you up in a bit.”

~
He watched her toss an turn from his seat where he had tried to continue working but his thoughts wouldn’t stop haunting him. He had so much to say, so much to prove, so much time to make up for. Finally deciding he had had enough, JC made his way over to the couch in the corner, kneeling down and rubbing a hand up and down her back, knowing it had lulled her to sleep before. She instantly settled, finally landing with her back to him and the perfect angle to keep his hand where he wanted. When he knew she was asleep, he leaned over her shoulder, pressing a small kiss right under her ear before he whispered what he had wanted to say since he walked in.

“I’m here, baby. Don’t give up on me, okay? I love you too much to let you go without a fight.”

Once he had spoke, he turned around and went back to working again. When he turned his back, he missed out on the silent tear that fell from Carly’s sleeping eye.