Gentian looked up from the menu. "Hey," she replied as Amanda sat down.
"Listen, I wanted to apologize for last night. Often my mouth speaks before my brain thinks," Amanda said sincerely.
"Hey. I understand," Gentian replied with a smile. "And I wanted to apologize as well. I didn't mean to offend you or anything with the questions. I just get nervous when meeting some one and my mouth goes into overdrive."
"It's ok," Amanda replied with a smile. "So, what's good here," she asked as she looked over the menu.
"Truthfully, I have no clue," Gentian said with a light laugh. The server arrived and offered several suggestions.
"So, how did you meet Justin," Amanda asked as she sipped on her soda.
"Well, funny you should ask," the other girl replied. "We met when I was working wardrobe on the tours."
"Ok," Amanda replied with a nod. "Now, the real story…"
"That's the real story. I really work with wardrobe…"
"And let me guess, Kelly really works in PR…."
"Yep. That's the other thing, I don't do jokes well."
"Hmmm, and I always take things too seriously."
"We're going to be great together."
"Like peas and carrots."
"So, which one of us is going to be Forrest?" Both girls laughed.
After lunch the girls went shopping at Neiman Marcus. "This would look great on you," Gentian said as she held up a blouse to Amanda.
"That's the same blouse Britney wore on the cover of In Style last month," Amanda pointed out and pushed the blouse back towards Gentian.
"And I know JC absolutely loved it, which means you've got to get it," Gentian said as she handed the item of clothing back to Amanda.
"Which also means it's Versace, and I can not afford it," she said and took the top from Gentian and put it back on the rack.
"So we'll use JC's credit card," Gentian said as she pulled the card out of her back pocket.
"Absolutely not," Amanda said as she tried to pluck the piece of plastic from Gentian's hand. Gentian quickly held the card above her head. Amanda, being nearly five inches shorter than her shopping companion, could not reach the card. "And why do you have this anyway?"
"Because JC wanted me to make sure you got several new outfits. On him," Gentian answered after Amanda stopped jumping trying to get the card.
Amanda sighed. "Gen, can I ask you a serious question," she asked.
"Sure," Gentian said as the two started walking around the isles of clothing.
"What am I going to do to get him to realize I don't want his money," she asked as she pulled out a pair of jeans. She flipped the tag over, looked at it disgustingly, and put them back on the rack.
"I've known the guys for a while now, Celebrity was my third tour with them, and in the past, the girls JC dated practically had to beg on all fours to get him to buy them anything. I think it really says something about his feelings for you since he wants to spend this money on you."
Amanda thought for a moment as she took a hat off a rack and tried it on, studying herself closely in the mirror. She turned to her shopping companion. "Or is it that he's so conditioned to girls wanting his money, that he just does it out of habit?"
Gentian pondered the question. She held up a red slip dress to Amanda. "If he didn't want to spend the money on you, wouldn't he have stopped with the first thing he bought?"
Amanda thought for a moment. "Fine, point taken," she conceded. She took the dress and a couple other clothing items and headed for the dressing room. "Even if I'm not going to buy them, I might as well torture myself by trying them on."
"That's my girl," Gentian said.
Over the next several hours, the girls tried on nearly everything in the store. While Gentian walked out with bags of clothing and boxes of shoes, Amanda purchased only one item, a pair of jeans that had been reduced greatly because of a nearly invisible imperfection in one of the seams.
As the girls were waiting for the car to be brought around, Amanda's cell phone rang. When she looked at the caller ID, she smiled. "Hi," she said sweetly.
"Hey," JC's voice came over the receiver. "What are you doing?"
"Still at the studio," he answered then let out a sigh. "I'm going to be here for a while yet."
"Ok," she said trying to keep the disappointment out of her voice. They had planned on going to a Broadway show that evening. "I'm sure I can find something to do," she continued as she put her one bag in the trunk of the Escalade and walked to the passenger door.
"I'm really sorry," he apologized.
"JC, it's your work, I understand. We'll do something tomorrow night."
There was a long pause. "Hey, why don't you come here, at least for a little while?"
Amanda could hear the smile in his voice. "Are you sure I won't be a distraction," she asked with concern.
"Nope, if anything, you'll help," he said with a tinge of excitement in his voice.
"Ok, I'll let the driver know. We'll have to drop Gentian off first," she said as the car vehicle pulled away from the curb.
"No problem. Do you like Chinese?"
"Sure," she answered with a bit of confusion in her voice.
"Good, because we just ordered a ton of it and need help eating," he said with a laugh. She smiled. "I'll see you in a bit."
"Bye," she replied. As she turned off her phone, she still had a smile playing on her lips. Gentian just smiled at the blissful look on Amanda's face.
* * * * *
After she was dropped off at her hotel, Gentian quickly called JC.
"Jace, it's Gen," she said after he answered.
"Hey, is something wrong," he asked quickly with concern in his voice.
"No, I just wanted to call and say Amanda's on her way."
"Good. Hey, did she buy anything today?"
Gentian sighed. She knew he wasn't going to like her answer. "She only bought one thing, with her own money."
JC sighed in frustration. There was a pause. "Do you remember what all she tried on?"
"Yeah, a lot of cute stuff."
"Do you mind going back and getting most of it? You remember her size right?"
"Me, mind shopping with someone else's money? Not at all. And I wouldn't be in fashion if I couldn't tell what people's size was."
"Good, then it's set. Gotta go. She's here. Bye," he said and hung up quickly.
Gentian quickly called the car service and headed back to Neiman Marcus.
* * * * *
JC's eyes lit up when he saw her in the doorway. She smiled back as she walked to meet him. "Hi."
He smiled at her voice and wrapped his arms tightly around her body. "I've missed you," he whispered in her ear. She smiled, inhaling his scent and loving the feeling of his arms wrapped around her.
She pulled back and gave him a funny look. "It's only been like fifteen hours or something, how could you miss me?" He leaned down and kissed her gently. "Ok, if that's for only fifteen hours…"
"… you'll love what you'll receive after fifteen days," he finished with a smile. He broke their embrace and took her hand, leading her further into the studio. He quickly introduced her to the producers sitting behind the large sound board.
"Where's Justin," she asked as she sat on a couch and JC walked into the sound booth.
"Oh, see, Justin is a professional and we got his vocals in three easy takes," Mutt Lang started, "your pretty faced boyfriend over there has been distracted all day."
JC heard the producer's words over the intercom and quickly flipped him the bird. Mutt returned the favor with two birds. JC quickly turned around, dropped his pants and mooned the producers. Before she could react, John Bell, one of the musicians for the song, quickly placed his had over Amanda's eyes. She quickly absorbed the situation and started to giggle at first but it quickly escalated into and all out laugh. Her laugh was infectious and the whole studio was soon laughing with her.
When they calmed down a minute or so later, the group was able to get back to work. As she sat on the couch, eating the left over Scallion Chicken, Mutt played back the track. It was a ballad with a heavy rock influence. It was very reminiscent of the power ballads of the hair bands of the late eighties. They tried unsuccessfully three times to get JC's vocals. The feeling behind the lyrics was missing.
Amanda sensed everyone was near a breaking point. "Do you mind if I go in," she asked Mutt.
"If you think you can do something, go for it."
"Ok," she said as she stepped towards the door. Just as she was about to go in, she turned to the producers. "If you don't mind, would you please just keep the intercom off," she asked sweetly. Mutt flipped a switch on the board in front of him as Amanda stepped into the booth with JC.
"Hey," she said, keeping her back to the board. "What's going on?"
"I just can't get the feeling right," JC sighed as he sat on the stool behind the microphone.
"I gathered that," she replied with a slight smile on her lips. "Why?"
"Because I don't feel this today. The song is about heartbreak, loosing the love of your life, and I just found mine. How can I sing an emotion I'm not feeling?"
Amanda stepped toward JC. She reached for his hands with hers, taking an index finger with each one. "JC, do you remember how you felt after the night of the party?"
"Yeah, awful, like my world was going to end," he replied. She sensed sadness creeping into his voice.
"So use that," she said matter-of-factly as she let go of one of his hands. "Think back, remember that," she said as she lightly tapped on his forehead with two fingers. "Feel that," as she touched his chest above his heart. “Use it," as she lightly caressed his lips with her thumb. She released his other hand and went back into the main room of the studio. Instead of sitting on the couch, she stood by the door, looking at him through its window.
Mutt started the track again and JC's voice filled the room. The emotion in his voice was powerful. Everyone sat and listened. They could feel the heartbreak JC was singing about. When he was finished, JC slumped down on the chair, as if he had no strength left.
"JC," Mutt started. JC lifted his head in response. "That was it. We've got what we need." JC nodded in acknowledgment.
As JC was collecting his items in the sound booth, Mutt turned to Amanda. "I don't know what you said, but it was exactly what he needed. Thanks."
"No problem. Just don't cut it from the next album," she replied with a smile. "So, now what," she asked as JC exited the sound booth.
"I don't know, why don’t we decide that as we head back to the hotel," he said as he took her hand. The couple quickly said good-bye to everyone and headed out to the waiting vehicle.
