(E.M.) @E-I-E-I-Miranda: Open mic at Rolling Rock. Come on out. Share the musical wealth.

The soft beat of Jingle Bell Rock played through the speakers of the restaurant, spreading Christmas cheer through the restaurant, mixing with the sound of soft talking, laughter, and the sound of silverware clinking against plates.

Stepping out of the heat of the kitchen and into the dining area, I was surprised to be able to keep the tray laden with hot food on secure on my sweaty palm. With my free hand, I brushed my damp—ugh—hair back behind my ear and made my way through the dimly lit eating area of The Rolling Rock to the order’s table.

The Rolling Rock was slowly becoming the place to be at on weekends. It was the best place for newcomers to the city to show off their talents while waiting for to become the next big thing. With the laid back ambience, there was no pressure to be the best and everyone in the audience just looked forward to hearing some good music. It was a little out of the way, but that’s what I liked the most about it. Compared to what was outside those walls, it was great to have a place free of judgment. Plus, the Christmas lights were a nice touch.

3. 2. 1. Touchdown.

“Here you go.” I carefully set the tray down onto the table, doing a little internal dance at my success. Elle-1, Tray-0. “I’ll be back with your drinks, shortly.”

Making sure I didn’t stick my thumb in smoldering hot cheese of the plate of nachos (again) I set the table of four’s appetizer orders onto the table. With the two kids bouncing against the cushion of the booth, I made a mental note to check back often. Spills were bound to happen and with my trusty Shamwow—seriously, what restaurants made waiters and waitresses use the—I was all set for the inevitable.

I tucked the tray underneath my arm, spun on my heels, and made my way back to the service counter. I set the tray down onto the counter and folded my arms over top the damp, warm, tray.

“Hey, I need those sodas for table 12, Lucas.” I said, raking my fingers through my tangled, stringy hair. With nimble fingers, and a huff of air, I pulled the elastic out of my hair, allowing the dark tresses to fall free. “Not like those two kids need any more sugar in their bodies.”

Lucas briefly glanced up from the order slip in his hands before, letting out a sigh through his nose, his head dropping to the side. “Why don’t you smile for once, E?” he asked. “You’re a waitress, you’re, like, the face of this place.”

I opened my mouth to answer, but he waved his hand in the air. “I know, I know,” he said in a monotone as if he had heard it a million times; which he had. “’They’re only here to eat, not to socialize.’” He had talked in a falsetto, popping a leg in the air. He let out a deep chuckle as I rolled my eyes. “Jesus, E, it’s not going to kill you.”

I sniffed before lifting my hands, sliding them back over my hair over and over again until I was sure I had every hair in place. Then, I gathered my hair onto the back of my head with my hands before securing it with the elastic band. With three quick twists of my wrist, my hair was safely secured to the back of my head, with Lucas watching every movement.

“How do you girls do that?” he asked, an amused look on his face.

“Magic,” I replied, reaching back behind my waist to secure the knot of the apron in the small of my back.

“Mmmhmm.” Lucas rolled his eyes before crossing his arms over his chest. “You have a bomb ass smile if it’s any consolation, El-Mir-Fudd.” Lucas gave an over the top and I couldn’t help but let out a small laugh. My lips betrayed me as they curled upwards in the corners.  “There you go. Didn’t drop dead now did ya?”

“Ugh, I might. Drop, I mean, after I finally get the chance to get out of these shoes,” I replied, shifting my weight from foot to foot, giving my soles a brief sense of relief. Whoever it was higher up on the food chain that decided on having us girls wear these shoes…I’ll write a strongly worded letter to when I’m on my way out the door after my last shift.

Whenever that would be.

“Drinks after work? Only got a couple more tables left before the night shift comes in,” Lucas suggested, turning to retrieve the plastic cups from the wall behind him. The criss-crossing wooden wine rack was changed into hold all of the plastic cups. It was a nice touch to bring a bit of a rustic feel to the place. “Who keeps a restaurant open on Christmas Eve, anyway?”

“Hey.” I turned towards Lucy as she walked up to the counter, fluffing her hair with her hand. Her eyes were wide with excitement, sparkling more than the lights that hung off of the ceiling. “Guy just came in at table 14. Check him out.”

“No thank you,” Lucas instantly replied. Lucy glanced over at her brother and made a face, snorting at him. Lucas snorted back, even more loud and obnoxiously. You’d never think the two of them were related. With how often they put each other down, you’d think they had gone through a terrible break up…with each other.

Lucy nudged me in the side with her elbow. “Just check him out,” she said, throwing a wink in my direction. “I didn’t get a good look at him, but he’s cute.”

“Get real!” Lucas said with another snort. “How can you tell without looking at him?”

“Men,” Lucy replied with a huff, waving her hand in the air.

“Ok, sis, I think you need a tequila shot or two.” He lifted his eyebrows, opening his arms, wiggling his fingers. “Drinks after? Huh? Huh?”

“Or four,” Lucy said, letting out a breath of air, her eyebrows shooting up. “At least you didn’t have to serve a party of ten tonight.” Lucas waved a hand in her face and she pushed it away before reaching for the container of napkins, looking at her reflection. “Yep. I definitely need those shots.”

“Um, yeah. Hi. It’s your brother talking. In case you forgot, I man the drinks section,” Lucas said, waving his arms in the air. “Of course, I was serving the party of ten.”

As usual, I started to tune the two of them out. Once they got started, it was pretty hard for them to stop arguing. I swear for grown adults (36 and 35 respectively), they sure did act twenty, and sometimes the full thirty, years younger. It was easiest just to let them run their course. Besides, I knew them well enough to know that as soon as they were done, they’d be talking and laughing as if nothing had ever happened.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had to explain that to people. Seeing their faces is actually pretty entertaining, but it’s not like they’d ever actually follow through with their threats and rip each other’s heads off. It was always a pretty good source of entertainment. It has to be for three high school friends, working in a restaurant, in their 30s.

“So, yes to the drinks?” I loudly asked, cutting through their argument. “Lucas, get the table of four for me while I go check out this guy your sister seems to think is worth my attention.”

“Ooooh.” Lucas rolled his eyes, wigging his fingers in the air, turning his attention away from Lucy. “I hope this one’s actually worth it. No one is as bad as Bald Guy.”

“Nose Guy,” I replied, shaking my head back and forth. Lucy let out a loud laugh at the memory. “I could tell the manager it wasn’t my hair in the food, but even taking a look at those guys nostrils…” I trailed off, shuddering. “He still wouldn’t believe me. He was bad.”

 “Alright, alright, so I haven’t put you with the best guys,” Lucy said, putting her hands up defensively. She then planted them on her round hips, “At least I’m trying.” I opened and closed my mouth repeatedly, but nothing came out. Lucy’s bright red lips parted to reveal a perfect set of straight white teeth as she smiled.

“Shut up,” I said, pointing a finger at her.

“I didn’t even say anything,” Lucy replied, blinking her innocence.

I grasped the tray and pulled it off the counter, smacking it into my hip before tucking it up underneath my arm. “I can hear what you’re thinking all the way from over here,” I growled. “Get table 12 their damn drinks.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Lucas replied with a salute.

I rolled my eyes before making my way over to table 14. The man at the table lifted his head from the menu as I got closer. I don’ know how my legs knew to keep me going forward, but inside, I was screaming at myself to stop.  His lips parted just slightly into a welcoming smile—one I’m sure was how I was supposed to greet customers…if I remembered how to work my face muscles.

For upon spotting this man, an ache had formed in the middle of my stomach. My jaw swung downwards and any breath that I had stored in my body tumbled out. I’m surprised my spit didn’t follow after it. How could you not drool when looking into those precious blue eyes? The same blue eyes that had mesmerized me all those years ago when they first appeared on my TV screen. That same shy smile that had appeared on many posters that lined my bedroom—that were now carefully folded and left in a box in my attic. And they both belonged to the skinny boy I’d watch day in and day out on The New Mickey Mouse Club.

JC Chasez.

Ok, just calm down. Put on a smile. No! Don’t smile, you’re not working to socialize. He’s probably just here for a place out of the way to eat. Ugh, and my hair looks terrible. I reached a hand up to smooth down my hair and forced the muscles in my face to not betray my thoughts. As I dropped my arm down to my side, I slid the pads of my fingers over the rough edges of my apron before reaching my hand back to make sure the knot was secure.  And I have to wear this outfit, too. This is totally not how I dreamt this would happen. Ok, calm down. At least smile a little. No, not like that, that’s too small. No, no! That’s too big; he might think it’s creepy. Ugh, where’s my lip gloss when I need it.

As I stepped up to the table, the only thing that was shooting through my mind was, Lucas is all wrong, it could kill me. “How are-Are you-Ordrer?” I briefly closed my eyes, making a face. “How are you? Are you ready to order? May I take your order?” That’s all you have to say. You’ve said it, a thousand times. How could you mess that up?

“I’d just like a water, please,” JC replied.

I slowly lifted an eyebrow. A water? He comes all the way over here for a water? Of course I didn’t say any of this out loud despite the lack of control over my eyebrows. JC merely pulled his lips back into a hint of a smile—or maybe it was a smirk, his eyes twinkling.

“Right away,” I replied. I bent forward slightly at the waist before spinning on my heels, making a beeline back to the drinks section.

“Well?” Lucy asked, eyebrows lifting into an expectant look.

“I bowed,” I said, deadpan.

“Nooooo,” Lucy groaned, raking her fingers through her hair. “Why?”

I pressed my lips together before releasing them, making a popping sound. “I don’t know if you’re aware of this, but that’s JC Chasez,” I said, pointing my finger in the direction of the table he was sitting at. Lucy gave a sly smile and I put a finger I the air before pointing it at her. “You knew?”

“What girl in our generation doesn’t know who JC Chasez is? Especially after that ten second *NSYNC reunion last year?” Lucy asked with a snort.

“Don’t even get me started on that,” I warned her, batting the air with the palm of my hand. Me and millions of other women and girls were excited when rumors went around about *NSYNC possibly getting back together when Justin Timberlake was up for winning the prestigious Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award at MTV’s Video Music Awards.

Despite what he claimed, we all knew Justin deserved that award, and we all knew it was the perfect moment for *NSYNC to get back together. What with the sudden appearance of the *NSYNC twitter account (which I am still a firm believe that they would not all of a sudden make one if something is not in the wood works), it only fueled the fire of the rumors to, what Joey and Lance called, “the worst kept secret.”

Don’t get me wrong, I was beyond thrilled to see my five boys on stage all together again, looking downright handsome, but it was only seconds long. Not that I really could expect more than that, it was Justin’s night of course. And I was happy he acknowledged that he wouldn’t be where he was without Chris Kirkpatrick, Lance Bass, Joey Fatone, or JC Chasez, but we’ve been waiting for years for them to do something together again. Those ten seconds, ok, so maybe it was actually half a minute, were awesome, but they just weren’t enough.

It was enough for me to put those CDs back on blast in my car, but still.

Lucy ignored me using her long, thin fingers to brush an invisible spot of dirt off her apron before plucking at a loose thread between her long, white fingernails. “So what’d he want?” she asked, lifting her head, shaking her hair out of her face.

“A water,” I replied.

Lucy made a humming sound in her throat. “That’s what his type wants, I guess,” she said with a shrug of his shoulders before giving a teasing smile. “He didn’t even as for a twist of lemon?” I couldn’t help but laugh along with her. She then moved behind the bar and reached for a cup. “So what is he up to now? Is he still doing that girl…band?”

“Girl Radical?” I asked and Lucy gave a nod of her head. “As far as I know, yeah. He just got off the Jesus Christ Superstar thing, too. Or rather, that kind of went nowhere.” It’s not like I twitter stalk him or anything.

“Poor guy,” Lucy said with a hint of a frown as she moved to fill the cup with water and ice. She then reached for a napkin and wiped down the rim and the sides before handing it to me. I set the tray back onto the counter before carefully placing it on top. “Here’s your water, Miss E.”

“Thaaaank you,” I replied with a bright smile in her direction. It faded as I turned around and made my way back over to JC’s table. “Your water, sir.”

“Thanks, sweetie,” JC replied with a smile as I grasped the glass with my fingers around the rim, carefully setting it down onto the table. Before I even tensed my muscles to move, JC grasped his glass, brought it to his lips, tilted his head back and quickly gulped down his water. He let out an “Ahhhh” and licked his lips (effectively mesmerizing me) before setting the cup down on the table.

“Uhh….huh,” I managed to respond, feeling my bottom lip quiver just slightly. Jesus. Just one look and he’s turned me back into a teenager.

He reached into his pocket for his wallet and flipped it open, setting a twenty dollar bill onto the table. He pressed his hand down on top of the money for a moment before skirting past me, placing his hands on my shoulders just slightly before whispering into my ear, “Just what I needed.”

A shiver rolled down my spine as his fingernails grazed my heated skin. The tips of my ears and the crown of my head burned from the touch. I blinked rapidly before realizing that the guy…had just freakin’ ordered a water and no food. Feeling my nostrils flare, I turned around, looking for him, and stopped short, spotting him up on the stage at the front of the house, settling behind a microphone as he lowered himself onto one of the stools.

My manager, Ethan, jumped up on stage, his hands wrapped around a second microphone. “Ladies and gentleman, we have a special treat for you, tonight,” he said into the microphone, cutting through the Christmas music. Chairs scuffed against the floor as the patrons turned to put their attention on the stage. “Please welcome singer, song writer, and creator of Girl Radical, and former *NSYNC member, JC Chasez.”

Cheers and applause hit the air as JC lifted his hand in a sign of greeting as Jeffery, guitarist for The Rolling Rock, set up on stage with his guitar, ready to play. I watched him closely. He seemed to be at ease up on stage. Whether or not his still being known primarily for *NSYNC bothered him, he didn’t show. He could sympathize with him on the one hand; all musicians wanted to be known for their whole portfolio of work, not just for one thing. But on the other hand, even he knew he owed it to *NSYNC and the fans that stuck by him.

“Hello, everybody, I hope you’re having a wonderful Christmas Eve,” JC said into the microphone in front of his lips, lifting his hands to adjust it just slightly. “This is a time filled with love, family, and friends, and I’m glad to be able to share part of this special holiday with you all. I’m going to do something a little different tonight. It’s not a Christmas song, but I hope you like this just the same. But…” He trailed off, lifting his gaze to look over at me.

At me.

Directly at me.

Oh.

My.

God.