Ari’s eyes flutter open and she stretches slowly. With a sigh she turns around in bed to find JC sitting up against the headboard scrolling through something on his phone with his thumb. Although his hair is sticking up every which way and he hasn’t shaved in a few days, he’s still the most beautiful man she’s ever seen. She’ll never tire of waking up next to him.
“Are you admiring the perfectness that is me?” He smirks as he glances sideways at her, his thumb still scrolling on the screen.
Even though she knows he’s teasing her and is not serious, she nods. “Absolutely. I was just thinking about how you’re still the most beautiful man I’ve ever seen. And that I’ll never tire of waking up next to you.”
He lowers his phone and turns to look at her. His eyes soften and he reaches out to push some loose hair from her face. “I love you, Ari.”
She turns her head in order to press her lips against his hand and smiles. “I love you too.”
He smiles again and then returns to his phone. “Do you have something this weekend? I can’t remember.”
Ari lies back down onto her back and stares at the ceiling for a moment, “Um…yeah, actually. I have that family photo shoot. Why?”
He scratches the back of his head and drops his cell phone onto his lap. “We got invited to the SNL 40th anniversary special in New York. The audience will be filled with past cast members, hosts and musical acts.”
Ari turns to look at him, “So when you say we were invited you mean-“
“*NSYNC.”
Ari bites her lip and watches his face for a moment; she knows that in the past he’s been ambivalent about doing things like this. “Are they asking you to perform or something?”
He shakes his head. “No, nothing like that. Just attend as a group.” He shrugs. “It would be really fun to see the show, and with so many past cast present I’m sure it would be awesome. We don’t get a plus one for the show unfortunately, but if I went you could still come with me to New York. We were just talking the other day about you having never gone and that we should go. I could take you to some shows, do some touristy things, you know? ”
Ari raises a brow. “If you go? You’re considering not? What are the other guys saying?”
JC shrugs and swipes his nose with his index. “They’re all in. Lance already announced on his show that ‘4 out of 5 have confirmed’ and that I’m basically the only holdout at having everyone’s dreams come true.”
She tries to make eye contact with him but he’s avoiding her gaze. Ari sighs and slides over closer to him. She grabs his phone off of the bedspread and reaches over to place it on the nightstand as she settles herself into his lap. “Josh.”
He groans and leans his head back against the headboard; he takes his glasses off and runs a hand over his face. “It just fucking frustrates me. They always give me like thirty seconds to think about stuff and then when it takes me a minute instead, they make me feel like I’m the only one that’s always keeping them back from doing things like this. I come off as the asshole that’s bitter that Justin is a mega star and I got left out in the cold.”
Ari places her hands on his chest and gently runs her fingers against the short coarse hairs, she nods for him to continue and he does. “It’s not like I’ve changed that much in the last ten years, they know I always take time to make decisions. They know I…process things differently than they do.” he slides his hands softly up Ari’s arms. “Yeah, sure there’s some jealousy there. I’m not going to lie. I’ve been working on that for years and I’ve been conscious that it’s not the other’s guys’ faults, and that I shouldn’t punish them for it.”
Ari nods and leans down to press her lips to his gently. “You’ve really been getting better at it. I’ve seen it, honey. I’m proud of you for it. For now though…” She hesitates for a moment then speaks again. “For my part, I think you’re over thinking this right now. It’s a possible walk down a red carpet and then you watch a show for a few hours possibly sitting with the other guys. It’s not a new album, or a reunion tour, or a performance. It’s just an appearance.”
He watches her for a moment and then nods. “Yeah. You’re right.” He leans in and kisses her. “So, will you come with me?”
She smiles. “I’d love to, but I have to check with the family for the photo shoot first. Maybe we can do it Thursday or Friday instead. It’s sort of a time sensitive shoot as the Mom is 37 weeks pregnant. I don’t want to have to wait another week and the baby to come while I’m doing the shoot…”
JC laughs and nods, his earlier pensive manner having mostly dissipated. “I think I might go earlier, there are a few people that have been telling me that the next time I was in The City that they would meet with me. Would that be okay with you? I’d go a few days early and then when you’re done with your shoot you could meet me there?”
Ari nods and he wraps his arms around her, pulling her down against his chest, she smiles against his neck.
This is going to be fun.
********************************
A few days later Ari is packing away her equipment after the photo shoot in the park. The family had been wonderful and it was so beautiful to capture their excitement for the soon to come addition to their family. She is still smiling as she starts packing the stuff in the back of her car when her phone rings, she pulls it out of her pocket and without looking at the caller ID puts it up to her ear. “Hello?”
“Arianna?” Ari stands up straight at the sound of the now familiar voice at the other end.
Something is wrong.
Something is very wrong.
“Karen? Is everything alright?” She hears hesitation or possibly the connection has cut off so she moves away from the car and puts her finger in her ear to try and listen over the other noises around her. “Karen?”
“I’ve been calling Josh’s cell and the house phone but he hasn’t been answering…”
“Yeah, he’s in New York and I’m not home. What’s going on? Is everything okay?” She repeats getting worried now. She looks down at her watch to see the time; she calculates the time difference between LA and New York and remembers that he had a meeting late in the afternoon. He must still be there and have his phone on silent.
“I’m not sure…Um, Roy had a heart attack.”
Ari’s shoulders fall and her throat catches. “Oh my gosh, Karen. Is he…is he okay?”
When Karen answers her voice is trembling. “They…they think he will be. We got to the hospital in time and they were able to treat him.” She pauses and then says, “They are going to have to install a pacemaker defibrillator within the next few days to keep it from happening again…”
Ari takes a deep breath and nods. “Okay. Okay. Don’t worry about a thing Karen. I’ll get a hold of Josh and get him there as soon as possible.”
“Thank you. I’ll-I’ll let you know if anything changes.”
“Please do. Are Tyler and Heather there?”
“Yes.”
“Okay. I’m going to try and contact him now. Take care of yourself, he’ll be there soon.”
“Thank you, honey. Thank you.” It’s obvious how distraught the usually calm Karen is and Ari’s heart breaks for her. She’s about to say goodbye and reassure her once again when Karen adds, “We’ll make sure someone meets you at the airport when your flight gets in too.”
“Oh, um okay.” Ari answers in surprise but says nothing more of it. After a few more instructions Ari hangs up and quickly finishes packing her equipment in her car. She makes the quick drive back to their house and sits at the computer right away to start looking for flights from New York to Orlando.
What a fucking time for a blizzard.
She groans as she keeps trying to find flights that are not cancelled or delayed. Unsure of what time he can get to the airport or how long it will take for her to get a hold of him she books 3 different flights for him all the while calling his cell phone over and over again. When that keeps failing she texts him and also calls his hotel to leave a message on his room phone.
Why the hell isn’t he answering his phone!
He never usually goes this long without checking his phone and it’s frustrating her. She decides to give up for a few minutes and goes into the kitchen to get something to drink. As she’s pouring herself a glass of water her cell phone finally rings and she sees with relief that it’s him.
“Josh?”
“Ari? What’s going on? Did the house burn down or something?” He says with a hint of laughter in his voice.
“Josh, your Dad…he had a heart attack.”
JC doesn’t say anything for what seems like a long while. “What? I talked to him the day before yesterday…”
“I know babe. It happened last night. He’s okay for now though. They got to the hospital in time. He needs a surgery either tomorrow or the day after, depending on how he’s doing.”
“I’ve got to get down there…” JC starts to say and she can hear him shuffling something in the background.
“I know. I took care of it.” She goes on to tell him about the flights he’s booked on and that she is going to send him the confirmations to all of them so that when he makes it to the airport he can catch the most convenient flight. She reassures him again that everything was going to be okay and that he doesn’t have to worry about a thing. She’d call the housekeeper he keeps on call at the Winter Park house in Florida to make sure the house was ready and there was food delivered to put in the fridge.
He thanks her, sounding distracted when he then says, “Ok. When is your flight coming in?”
My flight?
Although Karen had mentioned her making the trip as well, she hadn’t really considered going. This is a time for JC to be with his family. She doesn’t want to be in the way.
“I don’t…I’m not…” she starts.
JC interrupts her, “What do you mean you’re not?”
“I don’t want to be in the way …this is something you need to go through with your family. I’ll be here a phone call away to offer you support any time of the day or night.”
“What do you mean in the way? You’re my family too now, Ari. I want you to be there. I need you to be there. Please come.”
Ari licks her lips and closes her eyes, You’re my family too.
“Okay. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
“Okay. I love you.”
“I love you too.”
********************************
A day later Ari is moving about in the Winter Park house kitchen, adding cut up vegetables to the simmering broth on the stove. Her flight had come in a little over two hours ago and she’d taken a cab to the house.
She hadn’t wanted to bother any of the Chasez’s to come pick her up, so she’d gotten the gate code information from the housekeeper and had let herself into the house with JC’s spare set of keys he keeps at their house in LA. Her plan had been to make a simple soup and leave it to simmer on the stove while they were at the hospital. She could bet that they hadn’t been eating much of anything but fast food or vending machine snacks in the last 24 hours. She wanted to have something healthy and hearty that they could come home to when everything was over and done with at the hospital with Roy. They’d be able to relax a little after the surgery was over, he was recovering and out of the danger zone for now.
She stirs the soup once more before putting the lid on and pulling out her phone. She sends a quick text to JC advising him that she’s at the Winter Park house. After only a few short moments, he texts her back that he’s on his way to pick her up.
Knowing that it might take him a little while to get here, she decides to look through the cupboards and see if she can find the ingredients to whip up a quick bread dough she can leave to rise on the counter while they are gone.
When she does find the ingredients, she quickly mixes them together and kneads the dough before placing it in a large bowl covered with a towel on the corner of the counter near the stove. She’s washing her hands when she hears the front door open, close and then footsteps coming in from behind her. She shakes her wet hands over the sink and grabs the hand towel she had on the counter as she turns. “Josh…”
She can’t get another word out as she feels herself gets picked up quickly and placed on the counter. Without another beat JC is standing between her parted legs and he’s pressing himself roughly against her as his mouth finds hers and kisses her roughly.
Too roughly.
Ari winces as the top of her shoulder gets pressed against the bottom corner of an upper kitchen cabinet and it starts to dig into her shoulder painfully. She places her hands on his chest and tries to push him back but he’s stronger than she is.
She succeeds at separating their mouths when she reaches up and pushes against his chin and turns her head away. Not in the least deterred, his lips start attacking her now exposed neck and he says in a tone she’s never heard from him, “I need to be close to you right now…”
The unfamiliar way he is acting is so shocking to her that it takes her off guard for a moment and he takes advantage of it by reaching down to start unbuttoning her pants. She struggles against him, pushing at his chest again and tries to move her shoulder away from the cabinet. “Josh…” she cries still trying to get away from him. “JC! You’re hurting me!”
The words seem to hit him like a ton of bricks and he leaps back from her as if he’s been burned. He’s breathing heavily and his eyes are a color she’s never seen before. He blinks several times as if he’s waking up from a trance and steps back even more, he only stops when his lower back hits the kitchen island.
“I’m…I’m so sorry…” he says in a pained voice, then his face falls. “I didn’t mean to…I don’t…I don’t know how to deal with all of this…”
For the first time in their relationship she sees something that makes her heart break into a million little pieces: tears are sliding down JC’s cheeks and his shoulders start to shake. He seems to have broken in the few days they have been apart and it absolutely kills her to see him this way.
She doesn’t hesitate and hops off of the counter and moves to him, she wraps her arms around him and holds him with no words for what seems like a very long time.
Author's Chapter Notes:
As promised here's another one! One more coming soon. In the meantime, go catch up on my Valensync story "The Story of My Life" 'cause a new chapter is coming for that one soon too! ;)
Chapter End Notes:
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PS: elle-miranda = awesome beta!
PS: elle-miranda = awesome beta!
Story Tags: phonesex boyfriendjc showersex jc producerjc
