Chapter 31 - Wisteria Lined Lanes And Cottages By The Beach

Wednesday, June 21st, 2006.

JC carefully balanced a bouquet of white daisies in the crux of his arm as he unlocked and opened the front door.

"I'm in the kitchen," Ellie called out. "I hope you're up to eating."

"Sure." He placed the flowers on the counter, taking a large mason jar out of one of the cabinets to use as a vase. "What did you make?"

"French toast." She turned the stove off, placing the final slice onto a plate with a fork and setting the plate onto the kitchen table.

"Those look absolutely gorgeous. Come here." She pulled gently on the front of his t-shirt until his lips were close enough to kiss.

"Thanks, I thought you would like them."

"I do. They're very beautiful." She wrapped her arms around his neck. "Thank you."

"You're rather cheery this morning."

"Only because I woke up next to the most beautiful, loving and sexiest man on the planet. I better buy out People so everyone can know the truth."

"Oh, you flatter me."

"Only because I can." She twisted the hair at the nape of his neck, leaning up to kiss him again. "I love you," she whispered.

"I love you, too."

He sat at the table, waiting for her to pour a cup of raspberry leaf tea. "I was wondering if you wanted to go out for dinner tonight."

"Why, do you have anything planned?"

"Not yet. Do you have anything planned?"

She sat across from him. "Maybe."

"What did you have planned?"

"I kind of maybe rented a beach house down on Malibu for the night. I was thinking we could have a mini vacation before we fly back home. Maybe order some take out and watch the sunset or something."

"That actually sounds like a really cool idea."

Later on, Ellie leaned back on the fence of the little beach shack she had rented on a little private beach, watching JC body surf on the waves. A tense feeling came over her every time he dove into the breakers, followed by relief every time he reemerged from the water. She bundled the skirt of her white sundress and tucked it between her legs to stop it from flapping in the strong coastal winds. She smiled and made a little wave as he waved to her, climbing up the beach to where she was sitting.

“Hey,” he greeted her as he held took her hands, leaning in to kiss her.

“Hey,” she replied, licking the salt off her lips.

“Come join me, the water’s fine.”

“I don’t know, maybe a little later. I’m not wearing a swimsuit.”

He lifted her off the fence post, carefully carrying her down to the water’s edge as she giggled.

“Baby, no!” she screamed as he softly dipped her into the surf. She wiped her now wet hair back, drawing him close enough for her to wrap her arms around his neck and kiss him. She lightly teased her tongue to his, sucking his lips as desire prickled her skin.

“I love you,” she barely whispered, her breath taken away.

He smiled. “I love you, too.”

She ran her hand along his shoulder and down his chest. “The best thing I ever did was marry you.”

“You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”

“Take me back up to the house and make love to me.”

They walked hand in hand up to the house, stopping by a shower nestled behind a cluster of palm trees near the back door. She slowly turned the knob, inviting him to join her underneath the stream of water. He peeled her soaked sundress over her head, kissing her neck as she undid her bra to reveal her engorged breasts.

“Fuck,” he whispered as he teased her nipples with his lips and tongue.

She gently lifted his chin, guiding his lips back to hers, whispering “baby” in between their kisses. He swept her hair back as he kissed her neck, running his fingers along the curve of her stomach as he stood behind her, pulling her light pink cotton panties down low enough to start teasing her with his fingertips. Her lips met his as he lightly massaged circles along her pussy’s outer lips, tenderly flicking her clit every time their tongues touched. She placed her hand on top of his, encouraging him to increase his strokes, groaning as he followed her command and grasped her tender breast with his free hand.

She came almost instantly, gasping as she felt her pelvic muscles tighten. He wrapped his arms around her as she caught her breath.

“Are you ready for me?” he asked, starting to untie the cord of his swimming trunks.

She squeaked as she nodded her head, biting her bottom lip as he pushed the wet, black fabric down his hips. She took a sharp breath as the shorts dropped to the ground, exposing his long, thick cock turgid with want for the moist, warm depths of her pussy.

She took his hand and led him into the living area, leaning against the island of kitchen benches where the sink was.

“I don’t think I can make it to the bedroom,” she cooed, lifting her knee to take her panties off. He hoisted her up onto the counter, gripping her knees as she ran her fingers along the head of his penis, guiding him into her as she wrapped her legs around his waist. She threw her head back, moaning as he fucked her.

“Fuck me as hard as you can,” she pleaded. She reached between her legs and started to rub her clit, whimpering as her chest tightened as she started to come again. With every thrust, her whimpers became louder, soon becoming screams as she felt the intense waves of pleasure crashing over her body. She suddenly grabbed onto his bicep, pulling them closer together as she laid her head onto his shoulder.

“Fuck me, Joshua, fuck me,” she begged. “No one fucks me like you do,” she encouraged him as his thrusts became slower yet harder.

He kissed her as he moaned, steadying himself on the counter as he came. He wrapped his arms around her waist as he leaned into her, tracing circles on her back as they cuddled.

“You’re so fucking beautiful,” he whispered.

She smiled, mouthing, “I love you.”

“I love you, too.” He lifted her off the counter, carrying her into the bedroom. He gently settled her onto the bed, tangling himself in her as he kissed the crown of her head.

Later that night, they lay still tangled up in each other, the only light in the room the moonlight and the only sounds being their breathing and the waves raging outside. They lay in silence as he held his hand on her lower stomach. Suddenly, he felt a ripple beneath his fingers.

"Oh my God," he whispered.

"Did you feel that?"

He nodded “yeah.”

She intertwined her fingers with his. "Tell me when you knew you were in love with me?"

"The first time I heard you sing."

"No, seriously."

"Ever since I met you, I've wanted to spend as much time with you as I possibly could. I was really cut up when I had the realisation the night after I met you that I might never see you again. I kind of swore to myself that I would do whatever I could to keep you in my life after that."

"You don't think we rushed things a little?"

"No. Well, kind of. There are some things we could've waited a little while to do, but I think we happened exactly the way we were supposed to, at the pace we were supposed to. If anything wasn't right for us, I don't think we would've let it happen.”

“I guess…” She trailed off.

He lightly kissed her forehead. “Tell me when you knew you were in love with me?”

“Back in April last year,” she recounted. “I guess when Derek knew he was most likely going to qualify for his masters, they, he and Claire, sat me down one morning and told me that they wanted to move back to Louisiana. I was in this whole funk that whole morning, then my period started and I just felt really shitty. Then you texted me and asked if I wanted to hang out that night and it was just like...woah, you know? Like instant sunshine on a shitty day. You know?"

He kissed the tip of her nose. "I know exactly how you feel."

"Awesome."

"Awesome."

He brushed the hair away from her neck, cupping his hand to her jaw as he positioned himself over her. He osculated his lips to hers, softly caressing them as he ran the tip of his tongue along hers.

"Am I your best friend?" she asked in a barely audible whisper.

"What do you mean?"

"I'm not sure, but I feel like I'm going through all of these things and you're the only person I feel like you're going through the same things as I am." She opened her legs slightly as he started to stroke her pussy. "Even though I still talk to Claire and Mama about so much, I still kind of feel like you're the only one who I'm really going through all of this with."

"I get what you mean. Even though we know people who have gone through the same kind of things, you feel like we're the only two going through the exact same things at the same time."

"Exactly," she murmured as he teased the opening of her vagina, widening her legs. "But would you say I'm your best friend?"

"I guess I could say that you were. It just feels like you're more than just that, though."

"I get that," she whimpered as he inserted two fingers into her cunt.

"Kiss me," she begged, "put your tongue in my mouth." She clasped her hand to his jaw, moaning as she sucked his tongue. She gasped as he started to dart his fingers in and out of her. She reached between them and found his cock, playing with the stiffening head as her chest tightened in ecstasy. He withdrew his fingers, holding her knee in his elbow as he pushed his cock into her.

"Oh my God..." She panted as he fucked her, digging her nails into his shoulders. He angled his pelvis, making sure that he was penetrating her just right. He withdrew as she came, running his cock along her pussy until he ejaculated. He wiped her mouth with his thumb, licking her lips. He held her to him as close as he could, his breath tickling her ear as it steadied.

They listened to each other and the waves crashing onto the shore, only a simple comment of Ellie's piercing the night. "I'm thinking maybe we should wash the sheets out of courtesy."

Friday, June 23rd, 2006.

Craig called out as he turned up the TV, "They say that JC's going to be on after the break!"

Ellie lifted her head from the article she was summarising, turning her chair to watch the television playing TRL.

"Are you OK with being here instead of there with him?" Amber asked over the partition between their cubicles.

"Yeah. He kind of goes and does his thing whilst I stay back and catch it if I can," Ellie replied. "He'll usually tell me if he needs me to go to something. Not that I don't feel in the way at all those kind of things anyway. They don't really like stars with big entourages."

"Yeah, but you're his wife."

"But I don't have a role outside of that," Ellie pointed out. "Wives and girlfriends are sort of auxiliary unless they actually do something."

"Um...OK..."

A title graphic flashed on the screen as the show returned from commercial. A muscular but short man stood in front of a large flat screen and a floor-to-ceiling window overlooking Times Square.

"Hey dudes and dudettes, it's your VJ Adam Turin here at 3:27 in the centre of the universe, the MTV studios in Times Square, New York. How would y'all like an exclusive premiere from a TRL veteran?"

The camera panned over the studio audience as they screamed in agreement.

"Awesome!" he called out. "Our next guest made his TRL debut on the very first episode of the show. Over the next few years, he absolutely conquered the polls as his band *NSYNC made innovative and iconic music video after music video. Since he went solo, he has made sure to drop in to debut every one of his videos on the show. Drumroll please, ‘cause I present one of the coolest, talented and most down to earth guys you will ever, ever meet. Yes, boys and girls, it's JC CHASEZ!"

The camera panned to JC, following him as he made his way through the crowd, stepping up on the platform in front of the window. "Hey, man."

"Hey." Adam grasped JC's hand, patting him on the back with the hand holding his microphone. "So, how are you doing this lovely June afternoon?"

"I'm doing OK, a bit tired."

"Have you been staying up all night making sure the vid is just perfect?"

JC chuckled, remembering the night before last. "You could say that."

"Cool, man, cool." Adam pulled down at his faded purple t-shirt. "So you're here debuting this new video. When we last saw you in October of 2004, you were in a completely different place. What happened that got you from there to here in terms of your music?"

"Well, the last single I released was 'Dear Goodbye' off of Schizophrenic," JC replied. "That album was kind of an inspiration mix tape to the artists I grew up with and were influenced by. The record I'll hopefully have out next year will be less about those artists and more about me and my experiences and how that kind of translates into music."

"How far are you into the recording process?"

"I would say I'm fairly far in. I spend what time I can in the studio in between working on getting this single out, but there's no real rush to finish everything immediately."

"And how's that working for you?"

"Cool, cool. It's not the pace I used to do things at, but I'm OK with it. I don't really have the luxury to spend 16 hours in the studio anymore, but my wife's OK with me working at home. She’s the kind of person who likes to finish projects as soon as she can, so she understands that I might lock myself away to finish an idea or something. She's cool with it as long as I don't play anything too loud," JC joked.

"Not your biggest fan?"

"No, she's super supportive. She's just pregnant right now so she's a bit prone to migraines."

"Do you have any pampering tips for when that happens?"

"Um...I kind of just do what she asks, frankly. She'll kind of just go lie in bed with the lights off if it gets really bad, but I do what I can, try not to make too much noise, you know. I changed all the light bulbs to a lower wattage so they're not too bright. It's not much, but she told me it does help."

"Awesome. I remember back when you were this huge party animal. How did she manage to domesticate you?"

"I wouldn't say that. The way I kind of always saw it was that you go clubbing to either dance, get drunk or meet someone. When you're lonely, you kind of get into this habit of floating from place to place trying to meet someone special, you know. When you've got someone at home, or you've got someone who you've already got plans with, unless those plans are going out, there's really no point to doing that. As for the domesticated thing, I'm cool with staying home every night. I'm cool with staying home with the company I've got."

"What makes you so cool with this company?"

"Well, she is very smart, very unique way at looking at things, great cook. She can cook, like, anything. She's cool. She's cool.”

‘How did you know she was, like, the one?”

“Um…” JC paused in thought, rubbing his jaw. “I don't really know if there was an exact moment of realisation or anything. I really liked her, so we hung out so much that she became my best friend. I've never really had that before.”

Adam nodded. "OK. So tell us about the video."

"Well, the idea is that there's this guy, me basically, and he broke up with this girl. Well, he goes back to her house, which is on this perfect, wisteria-lined suburb, and he takes his car back, then wrecks it."

"Why?"

"The car's a metaphor; it represents his soul or something. The car represents who he was before he met her, his individuality away from her. The idea is that when he got her, she tried to squish him into this perfect world she had around her, but because of who he is, he never really fit in: kind of how a busted vintage car sticks out in this perfect neighbourhood. By stealing the car, he's taking himself back, like he did when he broke up with her."

"So, if the car represents his soul or whatever, why do he ruin it?"

"It kind of represents the fact that being with her changed him, so even if they’re not together any longer, he can't go back to who he was before he met her. By destroying the car himself, he's actively changing himself and destroying the version of himself that attracted her to him."

"Cool, cool. Do you want to introduce the video?"

"Um...OK. I'm JC Chasez and this is the world premiere of my video 'Until Yesterday.’"

"OK."

"OK."

"Cool."

The camera zoomed into the flat screen, cutting to the actual video of a sunlit, suburban street: glimpses of white picket fences and soft purple wisteria blossoms accompanied by the song's opening guitar riff. JC appeared beneath an oak tree as the video played out: the car theft, a simple gold wedding ring dropping to the concrete of the driveway, the drive to the body shop, the scene of him changing and equipping himself for the destruction and ignition of the car, his final emotional address to the camera as the car burned behind him and with a middle finger and a mouthed obscenity. He walked off into the night as the flames burned slowly to black.

The air was baited in the office for a stiff few seconds as the show cut to commercial, Maurice starting a slow applause that filled the office for a short moment.

“That was so rock and roll, man!” Stephen called out as he walked past Ellie’s cubicle, “Awesome.” He made the sign of the horns with both his hands as he turned before entering the break room. “Awesome!”

Ellie turned back to her assignment, making a little smile of pride as she found her place.