Ari sighs contentedly as she slowly sinks down into the hot water of the large marble bathtub. It has been a really long day of shooting and then editing and she had been looking forward to this moment for hours. This is her favorite spot in the house and she uses it as often as she can.
When she’d stayed at JC’s house the first time back when her apartment had gotten broken into and he’d shown her into his master bathroom, her jaw had practically hit the ground when she’d seen the huge, sunken marble whirlpool tub. Once they’d really started dating she’d always dreamt of the day she’d feel comfortable enough in his house to ask if she could fill that sucker full of bubbles and just relax in it for an hour, but as time passed it had not really come up as on the nights she would stay at his house they’d end up sharing a shower before bed or she just wasn’t in the mood for a bath.
Finally on a Friday night after a really long week she had gotten stuck in traffic on the way to his house for the weekend. He’d had an event he’d had to attend that night and they’d been supposed to hang out before he left and after he returned since they hadn’t seen each other all week. When she’d called him from about fifteen minutes away to apologize for being late, she’d been unable to hide the emotion in her voice brought on by sheer exhaustion. He’d told her everything was going to be fine and that they still had the entire weekend together. When she’d gotten lucky enough to make it to his house just as he was leaving, they had literally kissed over the threshold of the garage entrance before he went one way and she went the other.
After greeting Maestro, who had met her at the door, she’d gone straight up to the bedroom intent on taking a long hot shower before crawling into bed for at least twelve hours. When she’d walked into the bathroom her shoulders had dropped and her heart had swelled: the room was dark but for the flickering light coming from the dozens of candles lit around the tub and scattered all over the bathroom. The tub was full of sweet smelling bubbles and soft music was coming from the speakers installed on the walls of the bathroom. When she’d come close enough to dip her fingers into the hot, fragrant water she’d noticed a small folded note laying on the edge of the tub. She’d unfolded it to find a simple message: Relax. Love, J.
It had been romantic, thoughtful and slightly cheesy. In other words, exactly like JC.
Ari sighs again and slides her arms from under the water, skimming her fingertips up over the bubbles and then back down as she thinks. It’s actions such as these that really reinforce the feelings she has for him. She can no longer picture her life without him in it now, which is why it has been so hard the last couple of weeks with him away shooting his movie. They had been apart for a few days at a time here and there when one of them was away for work or whatnot, but this is different.
Of course with the holidays approaching she’d been busy with work, but coming home to an empty house night after night was starting to take its toll. And, although they speak on the phone at least once a day and usually text a couple of times, it doesn’t make her miss him less.
To make things worse, a few days ago he’d asked her to go down to his studio and the storage area of his basement so that she could send him a few things. It had been weird to be around his stuff without him around especially when she’d seen his face staring up at her over and over again amongst the requested items.
Apparently after shooting a few scenes and having a conversation with the director they’d come up with the idea of making the character he was playing in the movie actually him. They’d use his real name and his past achievements to create this over exaggerated character of a man that was totally in love with himself and his talents. It was so far removed from the actual person that JC was that it would make it interesting for him to stretch his personality this way. The director had then gone wild when JC had offered to have a bunch of props from his *NSYNC and solo days brought in so that it could bring some realism to the character’s delusions by making him completely surrounded by awards and pictures of himself. This was the stroke of genius they needed to make everything come together.
So, she’d gone down there and carefully packed a few things including three moon men, a People’s Choice award, an AMA, a few Billboard Music Awards, a slew of different posters and a few framed platinum record awards. Jokingly she’d also included some of the most comedic/nostalgic things she’d found in some other boxes including two of the JC marionettes, a Ziploc bag full of JC watermelon flavored lip balms, the *NSYNC UNO board game, a JC bobble head and an *NSYNC lunch box.
She had gotten a good laugh “ and honestly a few fangirl moments “ out of it and couldn’t imagine him actually collecting these things for years and years. He was always so humble about his past achievements and only kept a few select things on display in his studio either on the wall or behind a protective glass case that it was strange to suddenly be surrounded by so many things with JC’s face on them. She’d guessed it’d be a little freaky for him to be faced with himself every time he turned around that she understood why he kept most of the things hidden. She’d even wondered if he even knew about everything that was down there as the handwriting on the labels wasn’t even his. Was it his mom’s? A past assistant’s? She didn’t know, but she knew that he’d probably get a few laughs when he’d open the boxes and found those.
Just as she is about to slide completely under the warm water to soak her hair, she hears her cell phone ring and quickly starts looking around for it.
Shit.
She forgot to bring her phone into the bathroom when she took off her clothes earlier.
JC was late in calling tonight as he had told her they had been planning on going to dinner and drinks tonight after shooting. She had been trying to find ways to stay awake when she’d decided to take a bath but had forgotten to bring in her phone.
In quick, slightly slippery movements she gets out of the tub and runs to the bedroom clutching a towel she hastily wraps around herself. Finding her phone on her nightstand she grabs it and finally answers after four rings.
“Hello?”
“Hey babe, you sound out of breath. Did I wake you up?” JC asks sounding concerned.
“Sorry, I was in the tub. I forgot to bring the phone in there with me,” she answers as she clumsily fixes the towel around herself until she realizes that she’s dripping all over the carpet. “So how was your day?” She continues as she returns to the bathroom in order to finish drying off. “Did you get everything I sent? I packed everything as best I could so nothing would get damaged. I felt so intimidated handling all of those things…” She pauses when he still hasn’t replied after a few moments. “Josh? Are you still there?”
“What? Sorry, I sort of lost the rest of your sentence after you were talking about being in the tub…”
She laughs softly as she holds the phone against her ear with her shoulder and towel dries her body, “Did you get everything I sent okay?”
“Yeah, thanks. So, are you still naked?”
She rolls her eyes as she places her wet towel on the heated towel rack and returns to the bedroom to find something to wear to bed.“Not really, I’m just pulling on some panties and a t-shirt right now.” She hears him make a disappointed noise and she giggles. “You alright there? You seem a little…needy.”
“It’s been almost two weeks, Ari. We’ve never gone this long without seeing or being with each other since we’ve been…being with each other.” He chuckles and she bites her lower lip.
Must he sound so damn sexy all the time?
She groans as she slips between the sheets of their bed and lies back against her pillow. “I know. I’m having a hard time too. I can’t wait for you to come home.” She reaches over and presses a button on the small smart screen near her bed causing the bedroom light to go out and her night table light to go on. “You were saying that you’d get here a couple of days before the wedding?”
“Yeah, it’s going to be cutting it close but there’s no way I’m missing that. Plus, Lance wants to record us discussing me singing at the wedding for his show beforehand. No idea why, but oh well, it’s their day.” He sighs and she hears him shifting in what she assumes is his own bed at the hotel. “Only about a week and a half left, give or take, honey.”
She nods even though she knows he can’t see her, she feels a lump form in her throat so she tries to change the subject. “That picture was hilarious by the way, who had the idea for that?” she asks, referring to a picture he’d texted her that morning of him and the producer each holding up a copy of a fake book entitled “Fifty Shades of Chasez”.
“One of the interns. It was a pretty funny albeit uncomfortable conversation…”
“I bet.” She chuckles thinking about how he has never been shy about his sexuality while writing, singing or performing but he sometimes did get a little uncomfortable when random people commented on his sexual prowess directly when he wasn’t in JC mode. “Make sure you bring that home with you, we’ll have to fill in the chapters,” she tells him as she starts playing with the bed sheet.
“Well, well, well. I have finally corrupted my pure little angel,” he jokes and she can picture the satisfied smirk on his face. After a few moments he asks in a different tone of voice, “So um, are you in bed now?”
She stops fidgeting with the edge of the bed sheet and she bites her lip, “Yes. Where are you?”
“I’m in bed too. I just got out of the shower. It’s later here.”
“Oh, Ok.”
“Ok.”
She is starting to feel uncomfortable in the sudden silence when he finally speaks again. “How about we fill out one of those chapters right now?”
Ari shifts in bed slightly and closes her eyes. “Um. OK…But you’ll have to take the lead, I’ve…I’ve never done this before,” she replies in a small voice.
She hears movement in the background of his phone and then he says softly, “That’s okay. I do have a request though.” Her heart skips a beat for a moment when she hears his request. “Would you use the…the toy I found in your drawer when we were packing?”
Unable to help it, her cheeks flood with color and her hands get sweaty. She gets instantly taken back to the moment when she’d walked out of the bathroom of her old apartment and into the bedroom area to find him standing by her bed looking like the kid who’d gotten caught with his hand in the cookie jar.
Her nightstand drawer was open and a moving box was on the bed next to it. He’d turned to her and scratched at the back of his head uncomfortably, “I-Um, I was just making sure you didn’t forget anything in here and…” Then as if unsure of what to do with his hands, he’d finally slid them into the pocket of his track pants and turned to face her.
She’d felt her cheeks redden vividly as she’d realized what he’d found in the drawer. She’d started to panic right away and feel uncomfortable. Her mind had started going a thousand different ways as she tried to figure out the most effective way to apologize for it, “I’m so sorry. It’s been in there for a while, I promise I haven’t used it since we’ve been together, I’ll get rid of it…” She’d stumbled over her words as tears of embarrassment and shame had already started to pool in her eyes.
JC’s shoulders had dropped and his eyes had narrowed, “What do you mean get rid of it? Why are you crying?” He’d asked in a confused tone as he’d walked forward to get closer to her. When he’d been close enough to touch her, he’d extended his arms out to her offering her some semblance of comfort. When she’d stepped back instinctively he’d said very softly, “Okay. Easy, sweetheart,” before letting his arms fall back to his side. So she’d stood there her shoulders rounded down, her arms crossed against her chest and her face downcast.
When she’d finally looked up a moment later, she found him sitting on the bare mattress of her bed watching her quietly with his elbows resting on his knees and his chin resting on his entwined fingers. When their eyes had connected he’d patted the spot next to him on the bed.
He hadn’t seemed mad at all. Or disgusted. Maybe she had overreacted.
She’d taken a deep breath and walked over, “I’m sorry…” she’d started to say as she sat down next to him but he’d started shaking his head slowly and then set his large, comforting hand on her thigh.
“Don’t apologize.” He’d said quietly, turning his stormy blue eyes to hers, “But I’d like to talk about it. When you’re ready to.”
She’d stared back into his eyes for a moment before nodding and then she’d pushed some of the hair that had fallen from her ponytail from her face. “A few years ago when I was dating Dylan-when I was dating the cheating bastard,” she’d started then amended when she’d noticed his slightly questioning look. A corner of his lips had lifted in a slight smirk and he’d nodded for her to go on.
“One of my friends had one of those Sexy Girl parties. You know, the ones where girls drink a lot of wine and then laugh and giggle while passing around various sex toys?” She’d licked her lips and leaned forward to rest her elbows on her knees. “We had a great time; I hadn’t laughed like that in a long time. Like I told you before, I had been feeling lately like he was the only one having any fun in the bedroom when we were intimate. He’d actually made a few snide comments around that time when we’d seen a Cosmo magazine cover in the grocery store check-out line. The cover boasted something about three million ways to spice up your sex life for him or something of the sort; you know the usual Cosmo crap. He’d made a comment about how I should read that magazine and then maybe the sex would be better. You see, this was not too long after I had suggested mixing it up in the bedroom a little bit to help me, you know enjoy it as well. So basically he was trying to get back at me for speaking up for my needs.”
She’d sighed softly and looked over at JC’s clasped hands to notice that his knuckles were turning white. She couldn’t look him in the eye at this moment so she’d just continued. “So at the party I won this sort of goody bag that included a few things we’d seen at the party. I’d had such a good time and I had sort of made myself believe that he’d love to try something from the goody bag and we could sort of laugh and bond over the experience, you know?”
She’d shrugged and shifted uncomfortably. “Well it didn’t end up that way. He’d had a few friends over to watch a game that night and he was drunk when I got home. He took one look at the bag and laughed saying that he was a real man that didn’t need all those girly things when he was ‘doing his woman’. He said that no girlfriend of his should need any type of toy to bring her pleasure and if she did, she wasn’t doing it right with him.”
She’d felt JC get up off the bed and watched as he’d walked around the room for a moment, stretching his neck. She could tell he wanted to say something but he apparently wasn’t ready to speak about it yet.
“So uh, yeah. I got rid of everything, shut up about it. A few weeks later I found out about the cheating and I broke up with him.” She’d taken a deep breath as if cleansing herself of the memory before a small smile spread over her lips. “After the break up, in sort of an act of defiance I went to this sex shop and picked the fanciest vibrator I could find, bought it and brought it home. I realized that I never wanted to have to rely on someone else for my ability to feel good and that I wouldn’t let anyone make me feel so guilty about my sexuality again.”
After a few moments of quiet, she’d looked up to find him standing near her again; she’d blushed and scratched her neck absently. “So I guess that’s it. When I saw you looking at it, I sort of panicked and regressed for a moment. I’ve…I’ve never told anyone about that before.”
His face had relaxed and he’d come even closer before he’d crouched in front of her, wrapping his hands around her now clasped ones. “I’m so sorry you experienced something like that. It bothers me so much that someone as…nice and loving as you was not shown the same love and respect in return.” He’d stretched his neck again as if the thought physically bothered him.
“I understand that the experience has made you quick to believe the same for all men, but I hope that by now you know me well enough to realize that I would never think or react like that. After all, how would I be supposed to be able to make you feel good if you don’t even know how to make yourself feel good?” He’d shrugged and they’d both chuckled softly. “Plus you know I’m always open to something new.” He’d leaned down and kissed their joined hands. “So um…you said this thing was real fancy? Want to show- I mean tell me about it?” He’d grinned wickedly and she’d laughed pushing him back, making him lose his balance to end up on his back on the floor with a loud laugh.
She would do anything for him.
*
JC scratches his bare chest as he hears Ari go quiet. He realizes that she is probably reliving that moment when they were moving and he gives her a few moments to work through it.
He can still see her standing in the doorway of her bathroom with a look of sheer panic and shame on her face. He hadn’t understood the tears and her automatic instinct to be ashamed. His usually confident and open girlfriend had turned inside of herself so quickly that it had worried him. He’d watched her physically shrink herself to the point of believing that she was trying to make herself invisible. He’d wanted to hold her and tell her that everything was going to be okay, but when she’d stepped back from him he’d decided to let her come to terms with whatever she was feeling on her own terms. He’d let her speak and let out everything that was on her mind. It had been very difficult for him to sit there and hear what she had gone through with her past boyfriend. The man was a jerk and it physically bothered him that she had been treated the way she had. The jerk had never physically hurt her but he’d sure done a job on her emotionally. When she’d ended the conversation with telling him about her purchase, he’d seen some of that fire return to her eyes and her back had straightened again. He’d been proud that she’d been able to stand up to him in that small way of her own and that she’d been open about telling him something she’d never told anyone else.
“Ari?” He prompted softly when she still hasn’t spoken.
“Hmm?”
“Are you okay? We don’t have to do this…”
“I’m fine. I just got lost in my thoughts for a second. I-I want to do this…”
JC smiles and shifts in his bed a little, adjusting the phone against his ear. “Okay. So, tell me what shirt and panties you’re wearing…”
“Um…that really sexy old Orlando Magic t-shirt of yours and um…” she giggles and he hears her move around a little in the background, “turquoise lace boy shorts.”
He chuckles softly, “Did you just have to check?”
“No!”
“Yes you did!” He laughs and rests his arm behind his head on the pillow. “You know, part of this is that you have to really be doing what you’re telling me or I ask you to do. You have to be truthful.”
“Okay, okay, I checked. I’m sorry. I promise I’ll do everything and be honest about it.”
“Good. ‘Cause I don’t want to be the only one yanking my chain here while you’re watching CNN wearing a three piece suit.”
She laughs and he joins in, missing being able to watch her eyes light up as she laughs at him being silly.
“So, what are you wearing?” she asks and he can tell that her tone is still a little hesitant.
“A bed sheet,” he answers simply, a smirk growing on his lips when she doesn’t say anything right away.
“Well…that’s a very enticing mental picture if there ever was one…”
The smirk becomes fully formed. “So that means you’re two pieces of clothes ahead of me. Think we need to fix that?”
He can picture Ari bite her lip and nod as she answers, “Yes.”
“Take your shirt off for me…” he tells her softly and then hears her shift again. He closes his eyes and imagines the sight of her laying back in his bed, wearing nothing but those tiny panties, her long hair fanned out in a halo around her head on her pillow. “Good. Now I’d like you to run the tips of your fingers over your skin slowly. Imagine that it’s me with you there and my hands are sliding over your arms,” he pauses and licks his lips, “your stomach, and your breasts.”
He continues to imagine her in their bed, this time picturing her doing the things he has requested. It turns him on to no end knowing that she’s never done anything like this before and she is choosing to do it with him. And although being on tour for most of his teenage and young adult life with girlfriends only accessible by phone most of the time has made him somewhat of an…aficionado at phone sex he feels as if this will be a first experience for the both of them.
She hasn’t spoken in a while so he prompts her softly. “You’re still there, Mama?”
“Mmhmm…” she replies quietly.
“Tell me what you’re doing.”
“I’m touching my stomach and my breasts with my fingertips like you asked. My skin is getting goose bumps…”
“That’s good. Are your nipples hard?”
“…yes, I’m tugging on them with my fingers thinking about you doing it with your teeth.”
Arrrg.
Surely there’s a direct flight from Mexico City to Los Angeles right now? One that can have me back in the morning too?
“How about you? Are you turned on? Are you touching yourself?” she adds when he doesn’t reply to her last statement.
“You have no idea babe, you’re already killing me,” he answers with a sigh before he runs a hand through his hair. “It’s your turn now; tell me what you want me to do.”
She seems to hesitate for a moment but then when she does speak, she speaks with confidence and this turns him on more than anything else so far. “I want you to do the same…I want you to slide your hands all over your chest, your stomach. I want you to run your fingertips along your abs and imagine that it’s my tongue doing it…”
He groans softly and complies with her request; the idea of her expressing herself in this way makes him feel hot. Really hot.
“I miss feeling your tongue on my abs…on my chest…on my neck…” he says softly as he feels his skin underneath his fingertips.
“I miss how you taste…” she replies and he hears her moan softly.
“I miss how you taste too…” he whispers back as his fingers start heading south and he touches himself over the bed sheet. “Do you have your…buddy?” He chuckles as he searches for a nice way to identify her toy.
She giggles softly and he hears her shift and then the far off sound of a drawer opening and closing. “I do now…” He hears her settle down again and then she asks, “Should I take off my underwear?”
He shakes his head and licks his lips before answering, “Nah. Not yet. I want you to turn it on and use it to rub yourself over your panties…” When he hears a faint buzzing sound and then the sound of her breath hitching he knows that she has complied. He bites his lip and starts to squeeze his now very hard self over the bed sheet. “How does that feel, Mama?”
Her voice has now turned more breathy as she replies, “Good…I’m already so wet, Josh. It won’t take very long once I go under my panties…”
“That’s okay…it won’t take me long either. All I can think about is you in bed touching yourself for me…I wish I could be there…”
“Mmm….I wish you were here too…” She moans and he sighs. “Are you hard yet?”
He scoffs softly and smirks. “I’ve been hard since you answered the phone, Ari.”
She laughs throatily and then moans again, “Okay babe…I want you to do what feels good now. I will too…”
He shivers slightly as his hand slides under the bed sheet and he finally touches himself properly. He wraps his fingers around himself and starts to stroke himself slowly, imagining her sweet mouth surrounding him instead of his hand. He can hear her moan softly often and her breath become heavier over the phone. All he can think about now is the sight of her sprawled on the bed wearing nothing but those sexy panties, her hand down in them as she uses a vibrator to please herself. It’s a sight he wishes he could see in person. Maybe one day.
“Josh…I’m so close…I don’t know if I can hold back…” She huffs out in breaths and moans again.
“Don’t hold back baby…I want you to come…I want you to come for me…” He grunts behind his clenched teeth as he moves his hand faster and faster, wanting to get release as much as she does.
For a few more moments the only noises coming from her side of the phone are shaky breaths, moans and soft mews until he hears her grunt out his name. He hears her moan over and over again and finally he hears a sound he doesn’t recognize. He’s too caught up in the moment to figure out what it is when finally his own climax occurs and he grunts out a muffled swear.
Soon enough he regains his wits about him, takes a deep breath and licks his now dry lips. “Are you still there, honey?”
“Yeah,” she answers somewhat dreamily, “That was so good I dropped the phone on the bed…”
He laughs softly and shakes his head. “I wondered what that was…did you get to hear me?”
“I did. I picked it back up just in time…that was so…sexy.” She admits and he smiles.
“It was. I can’t wait to be home.”
“I can’t wait for you to come home. Now…don’t forget that book. We’ve only got one shade of fifty done. Imagine what else we could write in there.”
He does.
And he might need another shower.
