Michael opens the door and smiles at the woman standing behind it. She is freshed faced with her long dark hair in a messy bun and is wearing a flowy, colorfully patterned maxi dress. Her hazel eyes are as bright as the smile she flashes back at him.

“Hey Jax. Come on in,” he says as he steps aside and motions her in.

“Thanks, I wasn’t sure if I should knock…there’s a bunch of cars here. Am I interrupting something? I know you said to come by today but-”

“Don’t worry,” he smiles. “We’re just having a little BBQ in the backyard with a few friends. I know your schedule is pretty packed so since you were free today I figured it would still work.”

She leans down to untie a pair of strappy wedge sandals but he stops her with a wave of his hand. “Don’t take them off, just come on in. I just have to finish something real quick before the big reveal. Why don’t you pop into the kitchen; Lance is there.”

“Sounds good,” she says as she smiles and turns toward the kitchen and living room area, seeing the wide patio doors open to the bright California sunshine.

“Hey there, Stranger!”  She hears Lance call out from his spot at the kitchen counter cutting up lemon and lime wedges into a bowl. “Happy you could make it! Think you can stay for a while and hang out or do you have to go back to the cave?”

She chuckles as she walks up to the counter and hops up on one of the bar stools. “I’m not really dressed for a party...I was just coming over to finally see what Michael was able to come up with for me.”

“You’re going to love it,” he says as he reaches down the counter for a fancy glass and starts scooping ice into it. “It’s just a BBQ, Jax, nothing fancy. Here have some lemonade.” He pours some lemonade into the glass and drops a few wedges of lime and lemon into it.

She sighs dramatically and shakes her head. “Twist my rubber arm I guess,” she says as she takes a sip. “Mmm, this is good. So how are you?”

He nods and smiles as he starts to wipe the counter. “I’m good. Been busy but we’re taking a little time off so that helps.”

She nods again as she takes another sip of her lemonade and her eyes roam over the living room. “I really like the new decor, you guys did a great job. I should get you to come help with my-”

“Hey, Lance,” A man’s voice cuts in. “The sausages are ready, what do you want us to put them- Oh. Hi Jax, nice to see you again.”

Jax looks up to see JC Chasez stepping through the patio doors, smiling at her. She swallows thickly as she takes in his distressed grey jeans and tight black polo shirt. His eyes crinkle at the corners behind his glasses as he comes closer to the counter.

“I, uh… Hi.” She stutters and cringes inwardly. “Hi JC, nice to see you again too. We seem to keep bumping into each other here.” She looks up at Lance with a pointed look but he now seems to be very interested in deciding which serving platter to use for the sausages.

JC sets his beer on the counter with a click against the stone and rests his palms onto the edge. “Still recording or are you done?”

She licks her lips and curses herself for not wearing makeup today. “All done actually, we finished and sent everything off to the head honchos two days ago. I’ve been sleeping for about a day and a half…” She laughs softly and takes another sip of her drink soothing her suddenly parched throat.

Why the hell did she always stutter around him? She was confident around just about anyone else but ever since he’d left her speechless that day after her interview on Dirty Pop it was like she couldn’t get out of that funk.

“Well I think it’s awesome that you came by, I was hoping I’d get to see you again someday and apologize for making you uncomfortable last time we-”

She giggles and shakes her head. “No need. I was just taken aback and then I had to run back to the studio before Beats got pissed at me.”

He laughs softly and takes a sip of his beer. “OK, good.” He glances back at the backyard and adds, “I better get back to the grill with something for the sausages before Keagan burns them and I get blamed for it…”

Lance hands him a large platter but keeps hold of it as he speaks, “Remember you are allowed to put the food on the platters but you are not allowed to cook anything.”

JC rolls his eyes and tugs the platter from Lance’s hands. “I am not a child and I know my limitations. You know like I can’t cook and you can’t dance…” He smirks at Lance and winks at Jax before he turns tail and walks back outside.

Jax stands from her stool as she hears Michael call out to her from the hallway. She tries to tries to catch Lance’s gaze though he seems to be trying to avoid hers. “You know I hate you, right Bass?”

At that he grins unabashedly and chuckles as he winks at her.

God he was infuriating.

*

“So what do you think?” Michael asks tentatively as Jax stands in his art room with her eyes wide and her mouth hanging open.

“Oh. My. God.” She takes a breath and closes her eyes for a moment before she opens them again. Her eyes take in the two extra large painting each resting on heavy duty easels with colors and patterns that are so bright and vivid that she doesn’t know what to focus on first.

“I went off a little bit on what we had discussed but I thought you’d like this bet-”

“They’re the best thing I’ve ever seen. I can’t even process it. Oh my god,” she says again and turns to give him a tight hug. “I can’t even put it into words right now. Just...thanks.”

Michael grins widely. “I’m so glad that you like them. We can set up delivery in the next couple of days.”

She nods. “That sounds good.” Her stomach grumbles audibly in the quiet room and she blushes as she rubs it self consciously. “Sorry, guess I should have eaten today.”

He laughs and grabs her arm pulling her out of the room and back into the hallway. “C’mon, I’m sure there’s some food ready. Unless JC got his hands on anything that was on the grill…”

She rolls her eyes and follows him through the kitchen toward the patio doors. “Oh yeah, the guy that coincidentally seems to show up everytime I come around…”

“Blame my husband.”

“Oh, I do.”

*

Jax scribbles furiously onto a paper plate. Her writing is large and loopy so when she starts running out of room she absently turns to look for something else to write on when another plate gets outstretched toward her. She looks with surprise to find JC smirking at her good naturedly and she blinks a few times.

“Thanks… Sorry, have you been there long? I didn’t even notice.”

He laughs softly and shakes his head. “Nah, not long. I didn’t want to interrupt your train of thought. I know what it’s like to have to write something down right away on anything available or else you lose it.”

She takes the outstretched plate and holds it with the other one. “I usually never go anywhere without my bag which always has a notebook and a few pens, but I wasn’t expecting to stay and I’ve been trying to take a break from writing.”

He nods. “I get it. You just can’t help it sometimes though, right?”

She nods and her eyes return to the scene she’d been observing from afar moments ago. A young couple was walking as they held hands along the sandy beach a few properties over. She’d first noticed them when she’d walked down to the beach attached to Lance’s backyard wanting to go dip her feet into the water. She’d noticed the couple and something had popped into her head and she’d needed to write it down immediately. She’d run back to the tables still scattered with food and various drinks and had grabbed the first things she could write with which had ended up being a sharpie and a paper plate. She’d hurried back and had started writing what was going through her head until she’d run out of room.

“You see those two?” she asks as she nods over to the couple that is no longer walking along the beach but that were now sitting on the sand holding each other. He nods quietly and she continues. “They’ve only met a few weeks ago but they’re really in love, you know young summer love. She’s hoping that he’s not going to hurt her and he’s head over heels. They are probably going their separate ways after today…” She trails off and writes down a few more words.

He stays quiet next to her as they both take in the scene before them. “Do you know them or you’re just..thinking?”

She laughs softly. “If you're asking if I’m a stalker, no. I just...it came to me.”

He smiles and leans over, his eyes looking down at her scribbles on the plate. “You have really bad handwriting...I’ve been trying to sneak a peak since I sat down but I can’t make out more than a few words.”

She blushes and pushes some hair behind her ear. She rarely shares her writings with anyone else but Beats, especially not hurried first drafts. She looks up and when their eyes connect somehow she feels like her thoughts could be safe with him.

“Um, well. I guess...um, here…” She trails off and flips the plate over to the side where she’d started writing and uses her finger to drag under the words as she sings quietly. “I was made for loving you, even though we may be hopeless hearts just passing through, every bone screaming I don’t know what we should do, all I know is, darling, I was made for loving you…”

He says nothing for what seems like a long time and she bites her lip as she ventures to look up at him. “It’s not much, I still have-”

“I think it’s beautiful.” He cuts in quietly and looks into her eyes once more. “Absolutely beautiful.”

*