Chapter 4 - Come to Me
March 3rd
New York - 5:30am - Sydney, Australia - 9:30pm
JC picked up the hotel phone and dialled *8.
"Good evening, Sydney Intercontinental Hotel front desk, how may I help you?"
"Hello, I'd like to make an outgoing call. Can you please connect me with an operator?"
"Sure thing, Mr..." There was a pause at the other end of the line. "Chases. I'm redirecting you now. Have a good evening."
JC had landed in Sydney only an hour earlier. He sat on the hotel bed with the only thing resembling a meal in the mini bar, a packet of chocolate-coated sandwich cookie things, spread out in front of him. Why are there eleven in the pack? he thought to himself.
"Good evening, Telstra Information. How can I help you?" the operator introduced herself.
"Hello, my name is Joshua. I'd like to make a call to New York?"
"Glad to help you today, Joshua. Just dial 00111, then the area code, then the number."
"Thanks, but I was wondering if you could please connect me. I'm calling from a hotel."
"Of course, can you please give me the number?" JC told the operator Ellie's home phone number. "OK, I'm putting you through now. Have a wonderful evening and a wonderful time in Australia, Joshua. Thank you for calling." There was a click, a tone and a faint buzzing noise, and after a few moments, Ellie's home phone rang.
"Jesus H. Christ, at this hour?" Derek moaned as he was awakened. "Do I have to get it?"
Claire groaned.
"I'm not getting it, someone else can."
Claire groaned again, hitting him with her hand. Muffled by her pillow, she said, "Someone has to get the phone."
"Get the fucking phone!" Ellie yelled from her bedroom. The machine got the call.
Claire's voice rang out through the apartment. "Hi, this is Claire, Derek and Elizabeth's answering machine. We're out right now, and Linus doesn't have any thumbs, so leave your message after the beep." The machine beeped.
"Ah, I'm calling from Sydney. It took a lot to connect this call so I'd appreciate it if one of you picked up."
"Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, I'm coming, don't cut off, don't cut off." Derek ran for the phone in his underwear, a pair of red briefs. He picked up just in time. "Hi, JC. How was your flight?"
"It was good. I'm calling for Ellie. I was wondering if she got in OK?"
"She got in just fine, a slight tickle in the throat."
"Can I speak with her?"
"Um, sure." Derek walked to Ellie's door, knocking. "Ellie, phone."
"I'm sleeping."
"It's JC."
"Fine." She flopped her hand on top of the covers. "What?" she grumbled, fumbling for the lamp switch, checking her watch. "Go," she whispered, motioning for Derek to leave. "It's half past five in the morning."
"I just wanted to see how you were. Did your flight get in OK?"
"Yeah." She pulled the phone away as she coughed. "Ew."
"Are you OK?"
"I think you gave me your cold."
"Sorry."
"It's OK, it was worth it." They sat in silence for a few minutes, Ellie drifting off.
"Are you still there?"
Ellie jolted awake. "Yeah, yeah, I'm here, baby."
"I'll let you go."
"OK." They sat in an awkward silence. "I'll miss you."
"I'll miss you, too, baby." JC perked up.
"I was dreaming about you, us."
"What were you dreaming about?"
"I think you know."
"Really? I have no idea what you mean." JC shuffled his butt, getting more comfortable.
"Don't play coy."
"I'm still in the doorway, Ellie." Derek rose his voice, reminding her of his presence.
"Look, sorry baby, but I have to go, early morning tomorrow. First day back, I'm submitting the outline for my article."
"OK." JC deflated at the missed opportunity for phone sex. "I just wanted to hear your voice."
"Baby, that's so sweet. If you do anything tonight, think of me, OK? I'm waiting for you to get back."
"Bye."
‘Bye." Ellie hung up and gave the phone back to Derek.
"I swear you two can be so gross sometimes," Derek muttered as he took the phone back into the kitchen to put it back on the cradle.
Ellie snuggled into her pillows as Linus kneaded the quilt, settling back down to sleep.
Around half an hour later, JC stretched out in the gigantic hotel bath tub, trying to relax his muscles after the 16-hour flight. JC thought about how different he felt that morning in the shower. How well-rested he was, both physically and mentally. He bent his right knee, bringing his foot and placing it close to his body. He also remembered Ellie. How supple her thighs felt in his hands. The water running down her breasts, droplets trickling over her hard nipples. The feel of her nails grazing his neck and shoulders. Her whimpering in pleasure in between their kisses, her sweet lips. Her warmth as he thrusted into her, her pussy fluttering as she came, how she pressed the side of her face into his chest as she gasped, calling him "Daddy".
He placed his left hand behind his head as he ran his right hand down his knee, placing it on his torso hidden under the water. He slowly and softly ran his fingers up the hair on his lower stomach. He reached down further and started brushing his pubic hair. With each stroke, he thought of her and what he was missing. She had told him to think of her if he did anything that night, knowing that she had meant that if he touched himself, masturbated.
He slowly wrapped his fingers around the base of his penis. He then ran them up the shaft, softly pulling himself, squeezing the head as he came to the tip. He did this several times, feeling himself becoming harder. He arched his back as he slipped his fingers underneath his balls, slowly massaging his taint, as Ellie did when she blew him. He remembered a few days before, how he was laid out on his bed naked, and she kneeled beside him in one of his white dress shirts, opened to reveal her bare breasts. How she placed her left hand in the same spot as his right at that moment. How she slowly ran her right hand up his cock, remembering the technique she had used the second night they were together. He remembered her hair brushing along his legs as she threw it over her shoulder to take him into her mouth. His breath quickened as he took his hand and started running his hand up and down the shaft again, this time at a much faster pace.
He grabbed at the wall, arching his back, raising his torso further out of the water, making a small splashing sound as his hand quickly emerged and submerged above and below the surface of the water. Various images of her from the past few days flashed in his mind, her bent over his dresser whimpering as he pounded into her. Her leaning back in ecstasy, his shirt revealing her naked body as she rode him, the orange light of the sunset filling his bedroom. Her face in his hands as she sucked his cock in the shower, the water running down her face, her hair completely wet, how she would occasionally withdraw to smile at him, a devilish look in her eyes, knowing how much she was pleasing him. Almost like muscle memory, as he remembered her lips pursed to the tip of his cock, his cum running down her lips, onto her breasts to be washed away by the water from overhead, he came, slipping back into the water as he lost control.
March 3rd - New York, 9:15am - March 4th - Sydney, Australia, 1:15am
Ellie walked into her cubicle to find a bouquet of pink roses sitting on her desk.
"Someone's got a secret admirer," Craig sang in a singsong tone.
"I wouldn't say secret," she commented as she read the card. "Thinking of you, waiting out the storm. Josh."
"Who's Josh?"
"My lover," she said in a French accent.
"Ohh, what does he look like?"
"Tall, black hair, most beautiful blue eyes."
Craig looked around before he whispered, "And his cock?"
"Massive. Thick, like fucking thick." She made a circular gesture with her hands.
"Well, lucky you, I'm almost jealous." He smiled as he waved at Maurice in his office, signing "I love you" when he had his husband's attention. "Bye, girl."
He walked into his office as she bent down to smell the roses. She then pinned the card on her bulletin board, under the magazine cut out of her and JC in his car outside her hotel, mascara running down her cheeks, and next to the Polaroid from the Grammy after party, JC smiling in his tuxedo, "Nice ass" scrawled on the bottom in black marker.
To: joshstotallynotfakeemailaddress@itotallydidnthavetomakethisup.fake
From: elizabeth.argyle@clefnotesmagazine.fake
Subject: Thank you
Time sent: 9:21am 3/3/2005
Josh,
I received the roses when I got to work this morning. They are beautiful. I hope you have a great day. Miss you,
Ellie XOX
To: elizabeth.argyle@clefnotesmagazine.fake
From: joshstotallynotfakeemailaddress@itotallydidnthavetomakethisup.fake
Subject: Re: Thank You
Time sent: 7:08am 3/4/2005
Ellie,
They're not as beautiful as you. I thought of you last night, in my dreams and the bath. Try and be home by six, I have a small window of time this afternoon. I am going to call. Miss you, too.
Josh.
To: joshstotallynotfakeemailaddress@itotallydidnthavetomakethisup.fake
From: elizabeth.argyle@clefnotesmagazine.fake
Subject: Re: Re: Thank you
Time sent: 3:14pm 3/3/05
Josh,
Dutifully noted. Can't wait to hear your voice. Miss you more.
Ellie.
New York, 6:14pm - Sydney, 10:14am
Ellie opened the door as she was greeted by Linus. "Hi, baby." She bent down to pat him. "Hello, anyone else home?" she called out. "I guess it's just you and me, baby." She went into the kitchen to feed him, placing the food down as she spotted the message Claire had left on the fridge: "Gone to a movie, be back at 11:00."
"Awesome." Ellie walked back to the door to pick up her bags. She went to her room and placed her workbag on her bed. She opened a shopping bag, pulling out the cheap corded house phone she had picked up on her way home from work. She had come to the conclusion that if she was going the have a long distance relationship, especially with someone who travelled overseas, she would need at least a phone in her room so what had happened that morning didn't repeat. She read the booklet, then stretched underneath her bedside table to plug it into the wall. She then proceeded to wait.
New York, 8:37pm - Sydney, 12:37pm
Ellie sat on her bedroom floor, iBook on her lap, drafting her article. She looked up at the time at the top right corner of her screen. It's been nearly two and a half hours. Why hasn't he called? she thought to herself. He's usually good with these things. She took another bite out of her ham sandwich as the phone rang.
"Hi, I am so sorry, I fucked up the times, I've got an hour and twenty minutes," JC gasped as though he had been running.
"Hi, baby. It's fine, try not to do it again," Ellie replied as she swallowed her bite
"I'll try, I can't guarantee it won't happen again, though. How was your day?"
"I'm great, Maurice loves the article so far. I've got the apartment to myself for the next few hours. Um, JC, Honey..." She paused. "Why are you out of breath?"
"I've been doing press most of the morning. We thought that lunch was going to be short, but it ran over. I ran to my room to call you."
"OK."
"Swear to God, I was in a cafe across the road having a chicken salad."
"Oh, no, I believe you."
They spoke for an hour, Ellie letting out a yawn around 9:40pm. "I'm sorry, I'm just so tired. Yesterday was so hectic, I'm still jet lagged."
"It's fine if you want to go to bed."
"I don't want to, I want to stay talking to you."
"I'm going to have to go soon anyway."
"No, stay, I'll miss you. I already miss you. I miss your smile, I miss how your hair feels when I play with it."
"I miss you, too. I miss your giggling and your singing."
"Really, ‘cause I can't sing for shit."
"I think your voice is lovely. Yes, you can go grossly flat in some areas, but it still sounds so sweet to me. I know so many people who sing as an art form or as a profession. You still sing for the enjoyment of it. I..." He paused, not wanting to say "love." "I really like it."
"So, you hate it?" she asked, misreading him.
"That's not what I meant."
"No, it is. What else do you miss about me?"
"I miss how you smell. I miss the smell of your shampoo and your perfume. I miss your smell when we make love. I miss the smell of your pussy."
"Ew."
"I'm serious. I miss you, I miss having you around, for company and sex. I'm going crazy not being able to fuck you. I can't touch myself the way you touch me. No one can. I miss holding you, feeling your body near me. Being able to reach out and hold you whilst I sleep."
"Fuck, we had sex less than two days ago. Why does my skin feel like it's on fire? I hate it, how whenever I think of you, I immediately get turned on. I try to reposition myself, I pull at my clothes, chew my fingernails, clench my pussy, but nothing works. Nothing feels as good as having you inside of me, and nothing hurts enough to distract me from wanting you there."
"Look, baby. I don't have enough time for this. I'll happily stay on the phone with you, but if we're going to talk like this, I can't stay. I don't have enough time to take care of myself."
"To what?" she pressed, knowing what he was going confess to.
"I don't have enough time to masturbate. Well, I do, but I don't have enough time to clean up afterwards. I'm in the middle of my work day." He paused, thinking. "Baby, I'm going to go now. But, what I want you to do is, if you're feeling up to it, I want you to go have a bath and think of me. I want you to touch yourself. I want you to do what I did last night. Obviously there will be a change in technique, but that's what I want you to do. Just the thought of you made me so hard that I had to make myself come. I want you to do that, and next time I call you, I want you to tell me how good it felt. OK, I'll talk to you soon. Bye." He hung up.
She laid on the floor of her bedroom staring up at the ceiling, having gone quiet except for her heavy breathing. She tightened her legs as much as she could as she held the phone to her chest.
After a moment to collect herself, she placed the phone in its cradle and walked to the bathroom. She checked her watch: 10:06pm, she had around an hour. She burned up as she undressed, shocks going through her body whenever one part of skin would touch another. She finally pulled her stockings and panties off, becoming naked. She turned the faucet on and waited until the water was the right temperature. She placed the plug in the plug hole as she placed her feet either side of the faucet and slid under it, the water starting to stimulate her clit.
She laid down, feeling waves of ecstasy coming over her as the water rose around her. She rose her right leg up, placing her arm underneath it, slipping her fingers into her pussy, gasping as she starting stimulating her G-spot. She thought of him, sitting in the bath stroking himself, his cock getting harder, swelling as his hand ran up and down the shaft. She started playing with her left nipple, edging herself closer to climax. She thought of his groans, grunts, and his shortened breath as he writhed in pleasure. She cried out for him, unable to hear it as the water filled her ears. She lifted her ass up as she felt herself climax, squirting into her hand.
She held her breath, realising that she was now nearly completely underwater. She bolted up out of the water and turned the tap off. She sat for a moment before she started crying, banging her hand against the side of the bath. She hated herself for doing this. It was only supposed to be a fun thing. They were only meant to be casual. She knew now that she would be hurt if it ended. She had caught feelings.
To: joshstotallynotfakeemailaddress@itotallydidnthavetomakethisup.fake
From: elizabeth.argyle@clefnotesmagazine.fake
Subject: Goodnight
Time sent: 11:26pm 3/3/2005
Josh,
I did what you said. I'm going to bed, now. I wish you were here with me. I hope your show goes well. Can't wait to hear from you again.
Ellie XOX
To: elizabeth.argyle@clefnotesmagazine.fake
From: joshstotallynotfakeemailaddress@itotallydidnthavetomakethisup.fake
Subject: Re: Goodnight
Time sent: 12:03am 3/5/2005
Ellie,
I finished what you started earlier. My bed feels empty without you. The show went well. I'll call tomorrow after we land in Singapore. Don't let the bedbugs bite.
Josh.
To: joshstotallynotfakeemailaddress@itotallydidnthavetomakethisup.fake
From: elizabeth.argyle@clefnotesmagazine.fake
Subject: Re: Re: Goodnight
Time sent: 6:31am 3/4/2005
Bedbugs?
March 4th - New York, 7:29am - March 5th - Sydney, Australia, 11:29am
JC sat in the business lounge of Sydney Airport, waiting for his flight to Singapore. His crew sat around him as they did various things to pass the time: Carlos playing a Gameboy, Eric checking and replying to his emails, knowing what little time he had with reception, and Isaac and Jules picking rugby players out of a copy of Rugby League Week like some picked sweaters out of a Sears catalogue.
"David, oh, I want that one." Isaac pointed to the lean indigenous Australian player in the aquamarine and black jersey.
"I'm rather partial to Willie." Jules flipped back a page to a mountain of a man on the former page in a blue and white jersey.
"You've always liked the dumb ones," Isaac commented, JC smiling to himself, knowing Jules's poorly hidden crush on Carlos.
He sat with a pile of pre-stamped postcards, five of them, one addressed to his parents, one to his brother, one to his sister and one for Lance. The final one, his favourite, was a picture of a mother kangaroo laying underneath a tree, sunbeams sprinkling the grass as it shone through the leaves, her baby grazing in front of her. He scrawled on the back before he placed it into postal box. A few days later, a postal sorter awed, not only over the picture on the front, but also over the one JC drew on the back of a couple spooning. "E", it read in the top left corner. A love heart and simple "J" sat in the bottom middle, Ellie's address scrawled in black marker on the right side of the postcard.
To: joshstotallynotfakeemailaddress@itotallydidnthavetomakethisup.fake
From: elizabeth.argyle@clefnotesmagazine.fake
Subject: Help, I beg of you
Time sent: 5:32pm 3/8/2005
Tall, male human who is not Der Der,
The humans who feed me have left me alone far too long today. The warm circle in the sky bids goodbye as it slowly slips away under the horizon. I am hungry. I feel that they will not return to feed me and radiate heat for me on this night. You are my last hope. Save me, save me now.
Colonel Linus of Fluffington, Moulting Division
Post Script: My preference for tonight is sardines and the ability to lay on your knees as you watch the television.
March 9th New York 9:42pm, March 10th Manila, Philippines 9:42am
JC lay on the bench of the airport, trying to sleep before they flew out to Hong Kong.
Carlos sat next to him, fanning himself with his passport. "How on Earth is it possibly this hot?" Eric sat to his right, zoned out, reading a Harry Potter novel, whilst Isaac sat with the hushed strains of Michael Jackson's "Thriller" playing out of headphones. Unaware that JC was not asleep, Jules and Carlos' conversation turned to Ellie.
"I think she wants his money," Jules conspired.
"I think she wants a story. She'll date him until he dumps her, and then she'll write a book about it."
"It'll be one or the other, either she'll sell him out, or he'll go broke paying her off, so she doesn't."
"He really has no idea what he's getting himself into." Jules shook his head.
"And to think that we both liked her?" Carlos replied in mock disbelief as he pressed his hand to his chest.
"WILL THE TWO OF YOU PLEASE SHUT THE FUCK UP!" JC yelled, everyone's head turning in the boarding lounge. "LOOK, I'M FUCKING DATING HER. I LIKE HER, AND YOUR INCESSANT LITTLE HUSHED BITCHINESS ISN'T GOING TO MAKE HER GO AWAY!" JC tried to settle back down before he got up and stormed into the bathroom, a petite lady stepping aside to avoid him.
"Shit," Jules whispered under his breath.
"Do you always need the last word, you little shit?" Isaac snapped, placing his headphones back on.
"JC Fights For His Love"
Posted: March 11th - Lameasswebtabloid.fake
Former *NSYNC hottie, JC Chasez, made a scene in a Manila airport yesterday. Sources say that he yelled, "I love her, you're not going to make her go away," defending his love. Whilst it is currently unknown if he is referring to actress Eva Bitchface, he also mentioned in a radio interview that the girl he is currently seeing "is unbelievable sexy. She's one of those girls where you can't really see it at first, but it becomes apparent in the way she carries herself. It's not at all confidence, but she knows how to have a good time, and once you know that, just wow." He went on to say, when asked to describe her personality, "She's very sweet, creative, smart, very dry sense of humour." She sounds wonderful and he sounds completely smitten. We don't think he'll be saying a dear bye bye bye any time soon.
To: elizabeth.argyle@clefnotesmagazine.fake
From: joshstotallynotfakeemailaddress@itotallydidnthavetomakethisup.fake
Subject: Daily Report
Time sent: 12:07am 3/11/2005
Log: Starday 2349 - Location: Hong Kong
We have entered a world where everything smells vaguely of garlic. After closer inspection, we believe that star commander Carlos's jacket may be the source of the smell. But we also suspect that that theory is a tactic of sabotage on star commander Jules's part. I regret to inform you that they have not yet worked out their sexual tension, much to Jules's chagrin.
Star commanders Isaac and Eric have contracted food poisoning. I am in good health and spirits.
(I'm really sorry to hear about your fever, baby. I wish I was there to make you soup & stuff. Kisses, Josh)
March 13th New York, 8:30am - Tokyo, Japan, 10:30pm
JC closed the blinds on his Tokyo hotel window as his call was patched through.
"Hello?" Ellie answered the phone before coughing a deep and guttural cough. "Shit."
"Hi, baby, it's me. Are you OK?"
"I feel disgusting. I've got this fever, I've got the chills. I've got enough phlegm in my chest to sink a battleship. I've got the most intense migraine. I'm peeing every goddamn hour, I'm throwing up constantly. I've turned off food, but the intense sex dreams I've been having have turned into fever dreams about pie. My tits hurt, and I ache all over. I've contracted the great flu of 2005 whilst I'm PMSing. I'm feeling as lovely as the new spring. How are you?"
"Tired, jet lagged. The usual."
"What time is it there?"
"10:30 at night, why?"
"Are you turning in for bed? Do you want to have some fun?"
"Maybe? What are you wearing?" JC sat the phone next to him as he got on the bed.
"Oh, I'm just wearing this old pyjama top and those little purple panties that I think are completely darling and you think are the sexiest thing in the world."
"Ah, I know the ones. But to be fair, everything you wear is the sexiest thing in the world."
"Is that why you want me to wear your clothes?"
"No, though you do look sexy in them. I like it because when you wear them, it feels like..." He paused for a moment, trying to find the words, scared of using the wrong ones. "You're my girl. I think I'm falling for you." JC heard Ellie make a sharp inhale. A moment passed before he heard a soft banging.
"Fuck, fuck, fuck," Ellie whispered repeatedly as she banged her head against the wall of her bedroom, tears welling up in her eyes.
"Baby, are you OK?" came through the phone speaker.
"I'm not sure if I can do this any longer." Ellie sniffled through her tears.
"No, please," JC begged, screaming internally, YOU LOVE HER, TELL HER YOU LOVE HER. "What can I do to make you stay with me, Ellie?"
"Josh, I just can't do this. Your crew hates me, we barely know each other."
"No one who has been dating a month know each other that well, not unless they've known each other for years prior." Tears started welling into JC's eyes.
"It doesn't feel right. It's scary."
"Love is the scariest thing in the world, but it can also be the most beautiful. We're happy."
"You'll hurt me, they all do."
"I won't. I promise I won't. Please, baby, just let me get back and I'll show you I won't, I promise. Please, baby. Elizabeth, please. I'll do anything, I'll sing anything, buy you anything. Just. Don't. Please."
Immense pain hit his chest, and he curled up into the foetal position, pressing the phone to his ear, not realising the parallels to the month prior. Their relationship was to end as it began, him in a ball, her sitting on a bed, over the phone, one of which belonging to a hotel.
"I'm sorry. I just can't." Ellie hung up. She placed the phone under her bed as she started sobbing.
After a few moments, the phone rang again. JC hung up instantly when Claire answered. He threw the phone across the room. He went back into his ball, sobbing, naked, and heartbroken.
To: joshstotallynotfakeemailaddress@itotallydidnthavetomakethisup.fake
From: elizabeth.argyle@clefnotesmagazine.fake
Subject: Sorry
Time sent: 5:37pm 3/14/2005
I need you.
Ellie.
March 14th, 6:02pm New York - March 15th, 8:02am
Ellie leaned down to pet Linus as she entered the apartment. She went into the kitchen as she checked the mail. She flipped over the postcard from Australia depicting a kangaroo and her joey frolicking in the sun. On the other side was a picture of a couple in bed, drawn in black marker. The card bared nothing else except her address, an "E", a "J" and a love heart. She knew it was from JC as her address was scrawled in his handwriting. Ellie knew what this meant. Her father was a big believer in signs, messages of divinity. She would fix it. She would make it up to him. They were meant to stay together, if only for now.
