“Is he hot?”
Liz blushed. “I guess. He’s pretty cute. Really awesome personality and he-”
“Yea, okay enough with the personality already. I want details! You can’t hit the home run and not run the bases! Describe him for me”
Li sighed as she swallowed another spoonful of the mint chocolate chip Ben & Jerry’s ice-cream that sat in her lap. It was their routine Thursday night, ‘best friend bonding’ time, where each week they’d fill in each other on juicy gossip, and just kick back. It was funny, even though they lived in the same house, they barely got to have conversations like this, as their lives usually revolved around their work. They both sat in their pajamas, sitting on the living room floor devouring a medium sized tub of Ben & Jerry’s. She was filling in Emma of the afternoon’s events. That is, until she realized there wasn’t really much to tell.
“There’s nothing much to say really. He’s really nice.” Liz smiled. “I even told him about Connor and the accident”
Emma’s brown eyes widened. “Wow, if you opened up to him like that, then that has to count for something”
Liz giggled. “It’s funny really. We’ve only known each other for a few days, but I feel safe around him. And I enjoy his company”
“Is he single?” Emma winked
“Actually yea, but it’s been kinda hard for him. His girlfriend turned him down when he proposed to her, she was screwing some other guy”
“Ouch”
“Yep”
“So.. He’s hot?”
“He’s do-able”
“My do-able or your do-able?”
Liz laughed heartedly. “Hunny, your definition of do-able is anyone of the male species that has a pulse”
Emma gave her a friendly push. “Shut up” she muttered smiling
“Sorry. Here look..” Liz pulled out her phone and showed Emma the photo JC had sent to her to her to store under his number.
“Damn, hot doesn’t do the man justice. Look at those eyes! Someone could get lost just staring into those things!”
And Liz already had..
The next day
“Oh. My. God.” Justin whispered. All five NSYNC members sat on the couch in their living room, dumfounded, opposite their manager Johnny. “Are you serious?”
“They loved Tearin’ Up My Heart and they think it’s time for a record” Johnny grinned
There was complete silence in the room, for about exactly 3 seconds before the guys exploded.
Finally they could have their own record! They could go into music stress and see their faces on the shelf, no more opening up for big time performers, this time they’d be the main event!A round of cheers and shouts and hugs and ‘I can’t believe this’ went around the room.
“When do we start?” Chris asked excitedly
“We record ‘Here We Go’ next Monday. I’ll pick you guys up at 9 and we’ll head out to the studio”
The cheers started up again.
“Now, I gotta tell you guys” Johnny started. “This could be the start of something huge, and I mean huge. You guys worked hard for this, but I gotta say, the work is only gonna get more intense.”
“We don’t care” Lance said
“Man we’ve been working on getting this shot for almost 3 years now. We’re ready to be heard!” Justin agreed.
Johnny smiled. “Congrats guys. See y’all Monday! Until then, go out and have some fun.” Johnny winked and then turned to Justin. “Justin, don’t have too much fun. You’re still not legal”
“Whatever man, when we get famous I’ll be able to have all the fun I want!” Justin kept babbling on and on as Johnny left laughing.
“..And the parties, and the sold out concerts, and we could go on a tour and we can-”
JC left the guys in the living room while he raced to his room, still in shock, and fell flat on his back onto his bed. “Man, our own record” He said softly to himself grinning, running his hands through his hair.
He picked up his phone and sent a text
Hey! Are you free later? Might be going out to the club. Join me?He got a response almost immediately
Hey! Yea sure. But I got work until 5 with Em. What’s the occasion??
I got something to celebrate! You’ll get to meet my friends too. Bring Emma along!
Alright sure! What time? What club? And what are you celebrating???Great!
Around 8 at the same club as a few nights ago. And I’ll tell ya when I see ya!
LOL Alright.. See you then Josh!
“Can you believe that we’re gonna be recording our own album? I mean how cool is that?! We’re gonna be huge! On TV, the radio, magazines.. Everywhere!”
Justin still had not stopped talking about their record. He had called just about everyone he knew and told them the news.. Not like the other guys did any differently.
**
“Justin, will you please settle down!” Lance whined. “You’re giving me a headache”
They were a couple of blocks away from the club; and Justin was still babbling.
“J, did you get high on pixie stiks again?” JC asked from behind the wheel
“Maybe” Justin said mischievously
The other guys groaned causing Justin to stop speaking momentarily.
Chris took advantage of the moment and turned to JC from the passenger seat. “So did you invite your girlfriend?”
JC kept his focus on the road in front of him. “She’s not my girlfriend Chris.”
“Yea not yet” Joey snorted
JC smiled. “She’s cool, I like her. But not like that, not now anyways. I think she’s becoming one of my really close friends. Like I can really talk to her, you know?”
“So she’s gonna be there?” Lance questioned
“Yea I invited her, and she’s bringing along one of her friends if you want to meet her Joe” JC glanced at the rear view mirror snagging a look at Joey, who’s face lit up.
“What about me?” Justin complained
“A couple more years J. And then you’ll be exposed to the wonderful life of clubbing, drinking, and getting laid” Chris remarked with a happy sigh
“I’m already doing the clubbing” Justin muttered
“And you’re doing it illegally too!” Lance said brightly
JC just shook his head in amazement of his friends. “C’mon, we’re here.”
“They’re on their way in, so they’ll meet us here in a sec” Liz informed Emma shoving her cell phone back into her purse. JC had just texted her that he’d meet them at the bar.
Emma nodded. “So he’s bringing his friends huh. Any of ‘em hot?” she asked with a smirk
Before Liz got a chance to even answer, a voice came up behind them, answering the question.
“Why don’t you see for yourself?”
The sudden voice caused the two friends to spin around in their chairs.
“JC!” Liz exclaimed happily, sliding off the stool to hug him!
“Hey!” He said with a smile. “Wow you look great!”
He was referring to the skin tight, back-less, leather top she wore that showed just the right amount of cleavage to JC’s liking, and dark, denim shorts which cut above her mid-thigh and showed the shape of her small, but rounded butt. She had on these black boots which stopped mid-calf and sported her hair down, but held together in a small clip at the back.
“You too!”
Liz decided Emma was right when she said the word ‘hot’ didn’t do JC the justice the boy needed. He wore dark denim jeans, with black dress shoes, and a contrast of a gray and white designer shirt, but was covered by the black leather jacket he wore. It complimented his broad shoulders and the jacket fit well on his arms. And his hair, well. Damn! What a woman would do to just run her hands through those soft, dark brown waves just once!They both smiled.
“Ahem!” Chris said, breaking silence among them
“Oh, um, these are my friends.” JC went to stand up next to Joey, who was at the end of their little lineup at the bar, and turned back to face Liz. “This here is Joey, you gotta watch out for him, this is Lance, he’s pretty sane, this one here is Justin, he’s only 17-”
“Well don’t sell me out!” Justin said and JC chuckled
“And that one over there is Chris. He’s just uh, Chris” JC finished
Liz shook hands with each NSYNC member JC had introduced, before introducing then to the brunette next to her.
“JC, guys, this is my best friend Emma” Liz said proudly of the slender girl beside her. She wore a blood red mini, over black fish net stockings, and a black halter. He hair was dark brown with a few streaks of red in between. She was pretty attractive, a sure hit in a club like this.
Emma gave a smile before shaking hands with JC and the rest of the lineup.
Justin leaned in next JC. “Damn Jace, your girl’s hot! Her friend too!”
“Not my girl!” JC hissed
Too bad he’d said it a little louder than Justin had because he ended up getting the attention of the rest of them. Liz just laughed.
“Well then JC, if she isn’t yours, then I’d like to take her out for a test run on the dancefloor” Joey said extending his hand to Liz.
She happily accepted and gave JC a friendly nudge on the arm before Joey dragged her out to the floor.
“Take it easy Joe” he called out behind them
“Well I’m gonna go see who I can get to believe I’m past 19” Justin said before disappearing into the crowd of people
“And I’m gonna go make sure he doesn’t get kicked out of here” Lance said following Justin
“And I’ll just.. go..” Chris said scanning the dance floor. “Time to get my Chris on”
Emma and JC burst out laughing.
“Can I get you anything?” JC asked still laughing, while taking a seat on one of the stools
“Oh no thanks. I already had one. I’ll wait till after I dance to have another”
“Oh well, why don’t you go dance?”
“Too crowded right now” She said looking over the floor, and then looking back to JC and smiled. “So you’re Lizzie’s new friend”
JC chuckled nervously. “Well, yea. We only met a few days ago. We’re friends and I like her, I mean, you know”
“Yea, I do. I just wanted to thank you, kind of. She told me she told you about the accident and stuff and well, it’s taken her a lot of time to get over that, and I’m glad she got someone to talk to besides me”
JC’s facial expression softened. “I’m sorry about the accident”
Emma waved her hand. “Drunk driver on the road. What can you do? Move on, right?”
JC nodded.
“So what do you think?” JC questioned with a smile
“Think about what?” Emma replied
“Are we hot?”
Emma burst out laughing. “Yes, yes y’all definitely are. But what up with the one with the bleached hair? Justin?”
“Ohh Justin” JC said laughing as well. “Believe it or not, some girls dig it”
“He’s cute. Chris isn’t so bad either”
“He’s a handful. Never a dull moment. Set you up?”
“I think I’ll go talk to him myself, get acquainted and all that stuff.”
JC chuckled. “Have fun” he said seeing her slip off the stool.
“See ya in a while Josh” she said waving, before heading off to the opposite end of the room.
JC turned to the bar, signaling the waitress to get him a beer. She slid it down the table for him. “Thanks!” he called out
He turned to look around. He was silently laughing to himself when he spotted Justin and Lance talking to two much older girls. Their boobs were as real as the age on Justin’s ID card.
“What are you so happy about?” Liz hopped back into a stool panting.
Ignoring her question, he replied “Damn girl, did you just run a marathon or something?”
Catching somewhat of her breath she answered. “Dude your friend Joey is a fast one!”
“Here, have a drink” he said handing her the alcohol in his hand. Seeing the hesitant look on her face, he said “I’ll get another for myself”
Liz smiled. “So how come you’re celebrating tonight?”
JC could feel the excitement of the news already circulating through his body. “Well I never really told you about what I do for a living did I?”
Liz shook a head.
“Well, Justin, Joey Chris, Lance and myself are in this music group together, we’ve been working at it for almost 3 years now. Well a couple weeks ago we recorded our second song, and well, today we found out the label wants us to record our first album”
Liz looked at him incredulously. “Oh my God!!” she squealed excitedly and threw her arms around him. “Congratulations Josh! Wow! How come you never told me you were in a group? What’s the name?”
“Never really came up as a topic to talk about I guess. We’re *NSYNC. We were actually pretty popular in Europe for a while”
He could see the happiness grow on her face. “I’m sorry I’ve never heard of you guys but now I’ll definitely be on the lookout! Man this is so exciting for you!” She grinned
“Thanks” he said shyly
“So what are you guys? Do you play instruments or you’re a lead singer or guitarist or something?”
JC laughed at the options. “Well, we’re a vocal group really. Boy band type I guess people call it.”
“So you sing!” Liz said.
“Yea” JC said suddenly feeling extremely timid.
“Sing for me” Liz said suddenly
“What, now?!” JC asked
“Sure, why not?”
“You wouldn’t be able to hear me honey. The music in here is too loud” JC chuckled. “But another time. Soon” he smiled at her
So there’ll be another time..
Liz gave him a smile. “Fair enough. But I’m not letting you off the hook so fast. Come dance with me Josh!”
JC chuckled. “Okay, let’s go” and he led her out onto the dance floor.
She put her back to him and he put his hands on her hips and they started moving in sync with the rhythm of the song Runaway by Nuyorican Soul.
“And you said you don’t dance” JC said above the music
Liz chuckled. “I learned a couple things from Joey”
She certainly did.
The song ended and JC realized his hands were still on her hips, so he turned her around and she was caught by surprise. The floor was packed so they were up against each other.
“Ready for a drink?”
She nodded and they made their way back over to the bar where Joey, Chris and Emma were already there, sipping on whatever alcohol they had in their glasses.
“Having fun?” Emma teased
“Yea, I am” Liz said
“Good, I’m glad” JC spoke up. “What about you guys?” he asked turning to his bandmates. “Where are the other two?”
“Last I saw Justin was macking on some chick and Lance was.. Yea I don’t know where Lance was.. Probably somewhere dancing”
“Ah” JC said.
“Hey what time is it?” Emma asked
“Almost 1 in the morning” Joey replied happily. Night owl
“Damn we killed a lot of time here” Chris said. “And I’m tired. And hungry”
“Yea I am too, kind of” Liz said
“We could get something to eat” JC said. “Drive-thru or something”
“Actually we have work in a few hours Josh, at 8. So I think we should leave” Liz said turning to Emma.
“Oh crap, I’m sorry I kept you out this long”
“Nah it was fun. I enjoyed myself, a lot” Liz said smiling up at him
“Well how about I walk you guys out to your car, while Chris gathers up the rest of the team”
Emma giggled. “Sure”
“Chris, get the guys, I’ll meet y’all by the car!” JC yelled to him
He walked out into the cold air with Liz next to him, Emma walking ahead of them.
“Thanks for coming tonight Lizzie” he thanked her
“Like I said, I had fun”
JC smiled. “I did too, and I’m sorry for keeping you out this late. I should have known you’d have work”
“Nah, I think I can get in late every once in a while. I’m my own boss, remember?” She winked
He chuckled. “Yea”
They got to the silver Toyota, and before slipping into the driving seat, Emma spoke up. “Thanks for inviting me Josh! I had fun. By the way, Chris told me about the record deal you guys got. Congrats!” She flashed him a smile
“Thanks Em! I had fun too!”
He turned his attention back to Liz.
“What are you doing later today?”
“Hmm, work? Probably..”
“I wanna do this again, all of us. I like it” JC said softly
“How about you come over for dinner?” she said smiling. “Bring the guys too. We’ll watch some movies, order in, or me and Em could whip something up.”
“Seriously? I mean wouldn’t you be tired from work?”
“That’s exactly why you should come over. I need a break from work, just to kick back. Just like I’ve been doing with you. So come tonight. I’ll text you my address and directions if you need it. Please??”
“Well, okay, sure. Why not?" he said "We don’t start recording till Monday so I have the next couple nights free”
“Great! I get off at 5:30 so I’ll text you somewhere between 6: 30 and 7.”
“Sounds like a plan! Thanks Lizzie.” He gave her a hug around the waist while her arms linked around his neck.
They pulled away and she opened the door to the passenger seat in the car. “See you then Josh”
