“So, two questions. Three questions.”

“Four? Do I hear five? What?”

“Are you gonna have any more barbeque pork? Cause if not, I am a pig and I will eat it.” JC lifted the white Chinese food container and shook it at her.

“No, I’m done. Rick is gonna be SO PISSED at me. I’m not following his eating plan at all.”

Callie sat between the coffee table and the couch, on the floor, and JC sat across from her. She moved herself back so she could lean against the couch and rubbed her full stomach. JC dumped the remaining pieces of pork onto his plate and piled rice on top of it. Callie closed her eyes; she couldn’t watch him eat. It was like watching a tornado devour a plate of food and he would surely try to talk while ate.

“That was only one question, Producer Man.”

“Oh. Second, you have a choice of where you want to record your vocals. I’ll go wherever you want, but I don’t want to do them here just because I like using other studios. The equipment is newer. Better. So we can record in LA, if you want—I have access to Babyface’s studio. It’s really nice. Or we can go back to Chicago and use the studio you’ve used to record everything else. Totally up to you, I’ll go wherever you want.”

“You won’t be pissed if I pick Chicago?”

JC shook his head while picking rice out of his teeth. ‘How can I still think he’s cute while I’m watching him do that? Gross.’ “My job is to produce these songs. Period. Where you want to record them is up to you.”

“When do I have to decide?”

“Soon. We’re sending the last song to Brian. We probably should have been doing vocals the last couple of weeks.”

“Okay. Don’t hate me, but I kind of want to go home. I’m gonna have to be back here for tour rehearsals for awhile so if I can get a ticket out of here I want to take it. But you don’t have to stay up there the whole time.”

“I’m probably gonna fly back and forth but the majority of the time for a few weeks, I’m gonna make you hate me. We have a lot of work to do. You with me?”

“I’m with you.” Callie paused, clasped her hands and set them on the table in front of her. Her solemn pose caught JC’s attention and he lifted an eyebrow as if to ask ‘what?’

“Uhm. Are you going with me to my meeting next month?”

“Do you want me to go with you?”

“I—I need you to. Please.” Callie blushed, realizing that she was humbling herself before him. If she had to beg, she was prepared to do so.

She didn’t have to. “Then I’ll go. I’d love to. Don’t be scared. Believe me. If they were dropping you, you’d know by now. There will have been several meetings about ‘concerns’ and ‘direction’ and ‘performance’. You’re fine… they just knew you had more in you. And they were right, weren’t they?”

“Yes,” she answered quietly.

JC tilted an ear toward her and grinned. “Excuse me, what? I didn’t hear you?”

“YES,” she answered louder.

“Oh, and who was your Producer? Do we know him?”

“Some idiot who doesn’t suck. Quit fishing for a compliment.” Callie balled up a napkin and tossed it in his direction. He caught it and dropped it onto the table.

“Well, you need to clean up this mess so we can get back to work.” He winced at her icy glare and started the cleanup process. After a few minutes she pitched in until the table was clean and the garbage was dumped.

“Third question,” JC said, sliding next to her on the bench in front of the keyboard. “Now, just think about it, keep an open mind and just… consider it from a holistic point of view…”

“Ok. What am I thinking about, holistically?”

“Is there ANY way I could get you to record ‘Let’s Start Over’? Any way? Could I beg? Plead? Promise to name a puppy or a star or a moon after you? Please?”

Callie tensed up and heaved a sigh. “What’s with this song? Why do you want me to record it so bad? Why do I have to keep saying no? I asked to pull this song from this record, JC. Why is it still hanging around? It shouldn’t even be an option!”

JC sat quietly, unmoving except for the tap tap tapping off his pen against the keyboard frame.

“JC. Don’t ‘handle’ me. Talk.”

“Callie… the song is really good. REALLY. GOOD. When we sat at that table, at our first meeting, and I picked up that song and read it… I’m serious, I’m not shittin’ you, I got goosebumps. It’s a hit, Callie. It could be your first number one. Aren’t you sick of peaking at three?”

“Yeah, but—“

“But what? You walk into a room and rearrange it so it’s comfortable for you. You scream at your manager at the drop of a hat, have NO qualms about threatening to cut a PD’s balls off and, might I say, you treat me like utter shit sometimes—what are you scared of? You have the entire world right in your grasp. You’re really afraid Curtis might think this song is about him? Newsflash-- Callie you could sing about toilet paper and Curtis is gonna think that song is about him, because it came out of your heart and your mind and your soul and he was a part of that. Every song that comes out, I can identify with, somehow. If Curtis sees himself in a song, then GOOD. Then you wrote a great song that painted a picture that someone could relate to, very personally. And if he starts talking about it, awesome. That’s press for you. All you have to do is smile and go hardline.”

“The less they know…”

“The more they want to know. Right. Callie, you can do it, I know you can. I’m NOT gonna let you fail; I wouldn’t do that to you. I wouldn’t push for it if I didn’t think it was good.”

Callie took a deep breath, closed her eyes and gave a brief nod. Before JC could do a victory dance, she put up a finger. “BUT. We do it last. I don’t want to waste a lot of time on it, if it isn’t gonna work and if it’s not gonna go, I’m not gonna force it. I want it at the end so if we need to drop it, we can.”

“Alright. It’s a deal,” JC said, offering his hand for a shake. She shook it, but held on when he began to pull back, and wrapped her other hand around his.

“Hey. I…I’m sorry. For treating you like shit. You have done a lot for me these past few weeks, even when you didn’t have to and even when I had a very ugly attitude about you at first. And now… I feel like that meeting next month will go so awful without you there. Thank you. I appreciate you. I really do.”

“Aw,” he said, patting her hands wrapped around his, giving her a smile that made her stomach drop to her knees. “Thanks for that. I know this is rough. It’s hard to give up control and open yourself up to someone you don’t know and have them kinda tell you ‘you’re doin’ it wrong’ but you’ve taken it in stride. This has actually gone a LOT better than I thought it would. And I know when you get really bad is when I’m pushing you a lot, but I also get really good work out of you when you get worked up, so… I don’t mind.”

“That must be what you meant when you said you liked me feisty.”

JC blushed and nodded. “Something like that. Yeah. And you did say you’re even ruder to people you love. I figure by the time we’re done with this record, you’ll be throwing things and slamming doors and if you’re not, then I’m not doing my job or you don’t like me very much.”

“Well, let’s get to work on me being ruder to you. I want to go home. Shall we?” Callie released his hands and laid hers on the keyboard.

“Yes ma’am. Go. Verse 1. Sang it!”

…

Callie spent a half hour flitting from room to room in her suite, smiling stupidly to herself. She was happier to be home than she’d ever been. She looked forward to bathing in her own tub, sleeping in her own bed, cooking in her own kitchen. A buzz interrupted her homecoming celebration and she leaned on the button near the front door.

“What?!”

“What, what? Let me in, woman!”

“Alright, already.” Callie pressed a second button and waited. A few minutes later she heard the elevator ding as it opened and unlocked her door. Poking her head out of her room, she smiled at JC as he lumbered down the hall with a suitcase and his laptop bag.

“Didn’t you hire me any lackeys? I have to do actual physical labor? How you doin’, honey?” He leaned down to touch her cheek with his, and then walked past her into her suite.

“Labor builds character. Don’t stop, keep walking. We’ll just dump that stuff in the guest bedroom, right there, on the left.”

JC glanced around before setting his suitcase down next to the queen size bed. “Okay if I lived here, I’d never check out either. I guess it beats a mortgage and having to like, buy furniture.”

“Yeah, it’s not so bad. Expensive but convenient and flexible. I think they’ve just determined I’m never leaving. They’ve stopped asking. So the room I got you for your stay doesn’t open up for a few days. Yours is just a one bedroom but it’s really nice and you’ll be very comfortable. Until that’s open you can stay here. ”

“Is it close?”

“Two doors down,” she said, waving him back out to the hallway. “This is your bathroom, please don’t be gross. There are plenty of towels, soap, and shampoo, whatever you might need. Toothpaste, deodorant, stuff like that. Down that way are the laundry room, and the kitchen. Sitting room, living room, and my room. That’s basically it.”

“Great. You have a nice place. You know what I want?”

Callie rolled her eyes. “I’m not a mind reader. No, I don’t.”

JC chuckled and pointed a finger at her. “See, you love me. That was… so rude. I would love a deep dish Chicago pizza. You know where I can get one?”

“Do I know where you can get authentic deep dish Chicago pizza? Are you out of your MIND? I only know about 12 places! Let’s go.”

“Uhm. Do I need like… a hat or anything?”

“Nah. You’ll be fine,” she called out as she headed for the door. “Let’s go, I’m hungry.”

 ***

“Hey Callie?” JC asked, gripping the armrest between them.

“What?” she asked, pressing end on the cell phone and reaching behind her to drop it back into her bag.

“I’d like to live…. Please. Can you slow down and maybe watch the road?”

“Oh, you’re fine. This is how we drive, here.”

“Uhm, I don’t see anyone else straddling two lanes and making wide turns while talking on the phone. Seriously, if you want to kill yourself, that’s awesome. I want to live. And you get the bigger airbag.”

Callie sighed. “Fine,” she said, applying the break. “So where are your parents? Don’t they live out here?”

“They’re a bit outside Chicago. I thought it’d be too far to drive there and back everyday but I’ll be going out there whenever I can. It’s nice to be working here; it’s been a long time since I could see them for more than a few days.”

‘Must be. I’ll not be visiting my mom while I’m home. I try hard to avoid her.”

“I think that’s a good idea, actually. You don’t need anything negative right now. SHIT!” he screamed as she narrowly missed the bumper of a Lexus, making a turn into a pizza parlor parking lot. “God DAMNIT! Who taught you how to drive? FUCK!”

“Jason taught me how to drive actually. You’re a big fan of Jason, aren’t you? C’mon, say something positive about my driving, now. C’mon, Optimism man.” Callie poked and prodded him as they walked through the parking lot.

“I’m thinking, I’m thinking. I might have to go with an insult to Jason on this one. It’s pretty bad. You violated several traffic laws back there.”

“Oh hush. I’ll buy you some pizza,” she said, pulling the door open.

A loud explosion of “CALLIEEEEEEEEEEE!!!” erupted as soon as she stepped inside, startling JC and putting a wider smile on her face. “Hey everybody!” she called out to no one in particular and then received and gave what seemed like several hundred hugs.

Tillie, part time owner, full time waitress, hugged Callie and led them both to her favorite spot. “You want your usual or are we adventurous?”

“Tillie, this is JC, he’s a producer I’m working with right now. JC, this is Tillie, a woman my dad flirted with every time he came in here, despite the fact that she’s married to one of his best friends and he was married, too. He sat right here every Sunday afternoon and I’ve never been served by anyone other than her or her family.” Callie beamed with pride as Tillie bent over and kissed the top of her head.

“That’s because you never come in here anymore. You’re so skinny. Record companies don’t let you eat? What’ll you have, sweetie?” she asked JC.

“I think I’ll let the expert order for me but I’ll have a beer to drink. Anything you have on draught is fine.”

And order she did. By the time they rolled themselves out of the restaurant, 3/4ths of a large pie was gone, several empty glasses of beer were on the table and they were ushered out without receiving a check. “Get us a number one hit and we’ll talk about what ya owe. Knock ‘em dead honey!” Tillie yelled out behind them.

“Nuh uh,” JC said, snapping his fingers at Callie. “Gimme your keys. No way do I trust you with my life. Plus, you drank a lot.”

“I did not, I’m fine.”

“Calpernia, give me your keys.”

“Oh my God, I’m hating you a lot right now. HERE,” she said, tossing her keys at him. He unlocked her door and after she crawled inside, walked around to the driver’s side.

“As I was saying before I had to fear for my life,” he said, pulling out of the lot and out onto the busy street, “I think we need to keep all negativity away from you, except for Jason. No parents, no old friends that just piss you off. If you hate your maid, give her some time off. Hate your sound man, get another one. Negativity is really distracting to you and it totally destroys a whole day’s work. Are you listening to me?”

“Yes, I can’t help but hear you, you’re right here.”

“Not hearing. Listening. Do you agree with me?”

“I absolutely agree with you, Producer Man. You’ve never been more right, EVER about things that are completely obvious.”

“You’re a smart ass.”

“Feisty. And I thought we agreed on DIVA.”

“Way past DIVA, honey.”

“See, I think the use of ‘honey’ is getting a little condescending. Am I wrong?”

“Right there? No. I was being condescending. I’m sorry.”

“You’re not.”

“I’m not.”

“Just so we’re clear.”

Silence fell over the car as JC navigated his way back to the hotel.

‘Oh my God, I like him. How much fun is he?’

“I agree, by the way,” Callie said softly. “Seeing my mom will erase everything we’ve done for the last six weeks. I can’t afford to roll backward. I’ve told Jason I don’t want to see her or hear from her till my album is out.”

“Good move. It sucks you have to do that, but good move. Where do you park?”

“Don’t be funny. I valet. Park in front.”

“Wow, you are spoiled.”

“Don’t start again, Producer Man.”

“Do you even know my name?”

“Joshua. Joshua Scott Chasez. Sleepy. Shazzam. J Shazz. Daddy. Want me to stop?”

“Please.” They stepped out of the car and the valet took over. JC opened the door and held it open as Callie walked through and followed her to the elevator.

“I’m full. I’m ready to put on my fuzzy socks and my fat pants and vegg out. How about you?”

“I—I don’t have fuzzy socks. I feel left out.”

“I have an extra pair. We shall be fuzzy sock twins and watch a movie and relax, because tomorrow I will HATE YOU.”

“Looking forward to it.”

…

“Why do you keep stopping?”

“Because you’re holding back. I need you to BELT that part out. Take a break, walk it off, and let’s start at the top. Let me know when you’re ready.”

Callie took off her headphones and set them on their rack and turned around, leaning her head up against the soft cushion padding the wall. She felt like she’d been standing in that exact same spot forever. She was trapped inside this box and couldn’t come out of it until she was done. Thinking about how much further they had to go was daunting and Callie suddenly felt overwhelmed.

The studio door opened and closed behind her and she felt a strong hand on her back.

“Callie, are you okay? You want to call it a night?”

“No. I mean, I’m okay. I just need a minute.”

“Okay. I’ll head back out. Just checking on you. Let us know when you’re ready.”

“Mmmhmmm,” she answered as she heard the door open again and then close.

After a few minutes of deep breathing, she mustered up enough strength to turn around. An hour later, JC called a wrap and Callie breathed a sigh of relief.

“Hate me yet?” he asked, as they dropped the car with the valet and walked into the hotel.

“Oh no. I’m reserving my hate for like, next week and the week after, when we’ve been doing this shit for 13 hours a day, several days in a row. My hate would be wasted right now and it would bottom out way too early.”

“You analyze levels of hate?”

“I spend a lot of time alone. Gotta think about something,” Callie teased as they stepped off the elevator.

“Might want to think about how weird your fuzzy socks are.”

“Shut up, JC.”

“See? That was ever so rude. You love me.”

Callie answered with a middle finger as she stumbled off to her room.

“Night, honey.” His greeting was met with a closed door.

 Each day thereafter was more of the same—at the studio by nine, work until 2, break for lunch, work until 8, break for dinner, work until 11, sometimes beyond. It was a grueling schedule, but productive—JC was a machine and kept a regimented recording schedule that he held Callie to. He’d expected a lot of whining and pushback, but once she entered the studio, Callie was a professional and worked until the job was done. Over and over again, JC was impressed with the sound of her voice and what she could do with it, what lengths he could push her to.

“We had a power outage up here; everything’s all stupid right now. It’s gonna take me a few hours to get it set right again, I’m sorry. I tried calling, but I’ve been kind of freaking out up here.

“Hey man, shit happens. Anything we can do?”

“Naw, I just… I just need to check everything, make sure nothing blew out and reset some stuff. Give me a couple of hours?” The short, bearded man clasped his hands together, his blue eyes open wide and eyebrows raised.

“No problem. We’ll be back in a few. Give me a call when we’re ready.” JC ushered Callie out of the studio.

“Is this gonna put us behind?”

JC shrugged, nonchalant. “It shouldn’t. If it’s out all day, that’s when we might have a problem. So, we have a couple hours. Show me something.”

“I’ll show you something, alright,” Callie said, but smiled. “There aren’t many places the two of us can go. I thought about the trolley, but that’s a lot of people. You’ve probably been to the Sears Tower?”

He nodded.

“Okay. You’re kind of a nerd, so… Aquarium? Planetarium? Observatory. That place is really cool.”

“Could you pick any places more touristy? I’ll get mobbed and so will you.”

“Oh, look who has an attitude? You have any ideas?”

JC paced the hallway, deep in thought. Suddenly, his head popped up and he looked over at Callie who was leaning up against the wall, one ankle crossed over the other.

“What?”

“You love me, don’t you?”

“It’s debatable. Why?”

After a minute, his expression softened. “Can you take me to see my mom? And can I stop and pick up some flowers for her?”

The tone of his voice surprised her and melted her heart. She wished she felt for her mom what he obviously felt for his. She couldn’t deny his request, and nodded, heading for the elevator.

“She’s at work? Where?”

“Northbrook.”

“That’s not far from here and there’s a florist a couple of blocks up.”

JC fidgeted in the car on the way to the florist, and then, armed with a bouquet of mixed flowers, on the way to the office building where his mom worked. He talked incessantly about nothing—Callie sensed he just needed to talk, and let him. She found the building easily and pulled into the visitor parking lot.

“I’ll wait out here, if you want.”

“You don’t have to sit out here. You can come in. My mom is a fan,” he said, grinning at her. “Unless you just don’t want to.”

Callie hesitated, but decided to go for it and got out of the car. JC signed them in at the front desk and then took the elevator to the 4th Floor. She laughed inwardly as the receptionist tried hard to remain professional, but her mile wide smile was a dead giveaway. A few minutes later, a young woman in a sharp business suit came through the security doors.

“Hey Josh! Come on back. Your mom is just coming out of a meeting; you can surprise her in her office.” She led them through a maze of cubicles and office space and stopped at a door marked K. Chasez. They entered the comfortable and warm office and took seats opposite the large desk piled with papers.

JC’s knee bounced and he fiddled with the ribbon tying the flowers together. At the sound of a female voice down the hall, he glanced over at Callie, a half grin on his face. “That’s her,” he whispered.

A short, blonde woman in a crisp suit, arms full of notebooks and reports bustled into the office, humming to herself. When she saw JC, she dropped everything she’d been carrying and gasped, turning beet red.

“Oh my GOD. You SCARED me! Come here!” she ordered. He towered over her but bent down to give her the sincerest of hugs, handing her the bouquet of flowers.

“Surprise!” JC said, laughing, and bent to pick up her folders and notebook. Setting them on the desk, he glanced over at Callie as if he’d just remembered she was there. Callie sat shyly in the corner watching the exchange.

“Mom, someone I want you to meet. This is Callie, the artist I’m working with, here.”

“Oh, I know who she is, honey. Come around here, Callie. You deserve a hug for putting up with him this long.” Callie stood and accepted the hug from Karen, even hugging her back.

“So, how is the recording going?”

“Was going great till today. They had a power outage and now everything’s kind of ‘off’. So, we got a few free hours and Callie brought me over here to see my mommy.”

“Well, I’m so happy you showed up. Are we going to see you at the house? You know your dad will want to see you.”

“Yeah, I’m just trying to get a lot of this recording out of the way, then we can start taking a few hours off and I can come out. If we’re out all day today, we’re gonna have to make it up. Gotta work, first, mom.”

“I know, I know. I just… would like to see my son while he’s working here.”

“Alright, I’ll try,” he said, rolling his eyes but grinning at her. “So, you guys doing okay? Need anything?”

“No, we’re fine, we’re fine. How are you? How’s Ty?”

“I’m great, Ty’s great. Everyone’s great. Heard from Heather?”

They chatted animatedly and Callie’s eyes went from her to him and back to her. She marveled at how easily they spoke to each other, at how close they seemed and how well they got along. JC turned into something of a little boy around his mom. He sat forward and leaned onto her desk. She covered his clasped hands with hers and picked things out of his hair as they talked. That would bug the shit out of her but he didn’t even seem to notice.

His phone buzzed in his pocket and JC glanced at Callie. “I think we’re being called back.” He answered the call and spoke briefly, and then hung up.

“Yep. It’s all good and they’re ready for us. We gotta hit the road, mom but I’ll be out there in a couple of days, okay?” JC stood and hugged her for a long, long, long moment. She clung to him and closed her eyes and when she opened them, they were brimming with tears. JC kissed her cheek, whispered that he loved her and walked out of her office. Callie gave her a quick hug on her way out and left Karen to sniffle and wipe her eyes.

JC was quiet on the drive back to the studio. He stared out the window and gave one word answers to any questions Callie asked. She finally gave up and drove, parked, rode the elevator up to the studio and planted herself in the booth in complete silence.