Jax sits down at one of the glamorously decorated tables surrounding the packed dance floor with a sigh.

Her. Feet. Hurt.

She wiggles her toes in the way too tall and slightly too small shoes and winces. She has a pair of slip on flats in her clutch but she hasn’t put them on yet because one, her dress is already too long and she’d step all over it even more than she actually is now, and two because the ‘stylish’ talons her nail technician had affixed that afternoon keeps her from doing anything that requires fine motor skills. First world problems right?

She takes a breath and looks around the crowded room filled with finely dressed people and flashing lights. It’s the place to be in LA tonight and it’s been fun, but she’s looking forward to slipping out of the party relatively soon. She can't wait to take her outfit off and replace it with something comfortable and probably most of all, sink her teeth into something that has grease, cheese and carbs. Since green salads and lean turkey have been on the menu for the last week to make sure she could fit into her designer dress for tonight, she feels that now more than ever is time for a cheeseburger.

She feels her phone vibrate inside her clutch and pops it open to see her caller ID identifying Beats as the caller. She smiles and answers as she presses a finger in her other ear to block out some of the crowd and music noise around her. “Hey! Let me get somewhere more quiet,” she says loudly into the phone as she stands up, to the dismay of her poor feet and shimmies through the crowd to get to the hallway outside of the venue. She finds a quiet corner and leans against the wall. “ Sorry. How are you?”

“Good, Baby Girl, good. You looked beautiful tonight and you deserved to win.”

She smiles into the phone. “Thank you Beats, I couldn’t have done it without you. It’s our song that won.”

“I know but I’m proud of you nonetheless. Are you out having fun?”

“Yeah, but I’m about ready to go. How are you doing?”

“I’m good. Enjoying the vacation but looking forward to going home soon; I think Tia is about to rip my head off,” he chuckles.

“What’d you do?” She laughs and shifts in her shoes looking around for a seat or a bench somewhere in the hallway.

He groans and tells her in a mock wounded voice that he’s hurt that she automatically assumes that he’s the one that did something wrong. “C’mon, I thought you’d be on my side.”

She laughs again as she quickly makes her way to a vacated seat across from her spot in the hallway. “Well, it depends. I know how you can get, especially when you get bored.”

“Fuck you,” he says but she can tell by the tone of his voice that he’s teasing her and that he’s smiling.

“Fuck you too,” she says with a matching smile and tone.

“Anyway, she’s sending me back to work pretty soon. I’ve got some great ideas that have been running through my head and I want to try something when I get back.”

Her smile fades and she feels the return of the burning in her chest, the same one she’d felt the day before when she’d sent a link to JC so he could access her album on her drive.

“Oh yeah? That should be fun,” she says hoping that he can’t hear the fakery in her voice.

“Yeah. Talking about that, I got a call from the execs saying that they wanted to talk to me when I got back? Did you get that call too?”

She bites her lip and arranges the layers of her dress nervously. “Oh, um yeah. I did, they just said they wanted to talk about the songs. I don’t know. I guess we’ll find out then.”

He takes a while to answer and she’s certain that he’s caught her in her lie but then he says, “I’m sure it’s fine, Baby Girl. Anyway, I have to run. We’ll talk soon. Have fun tonight but don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”

She laughs and replies that she’ll try before disconnecting and stuffing her phone back into her clutch. The smiles dies down on her face pretty quickly though as she feels the return of that burn in her chest. She runs her fingers absently through her hair and sighs as she leans back against her seat.

What was she going to tell him? Was he going to freak out? Feel betrayed? Disrespected? She owes him a lot: He’d been the one to search her out in the crowd after her performance at open mic night; he’d been the one had helped her mold and finish the songs and melodies she’d created in her mind but hadn’t been able complete with her hands and voice; he’d been the one to set up the meetings and create the connections she’d needed to finally break through.

She doesn’t want to hurt him. The love and respect she has for him is greater than what she has for most people in her life, including her own family and if working with another producer is in any way going to make him question that, she isn’t sure if it’s worth it.

But at the same time the prospect of working with someone else, especially JC, is enticing to her. Being able to see how he works, how he interacts with his artists, how he’d want to push her vocally, lyrically, musically.

And after all it had only been a matter of time right? No artist can stay in the same lane album after album without needing some tweaking or some new ideas to keep them from descending into the unknown in the ever changing music scene today.

She feels her stomach growl and she pats it self-consciously. She looks around at the people starting to leave the party and pulls out her phone again. She glances at the time before she opens her text messages again and sends one before really thinking about it: she’ll blame the buzz she has going on now if he doesn’t reply until morning.

She barely has the time to start regretting sending it out that her phone vibrates in her hand again with his reply. She can’t help the smile that spreads across her lips as she responds and stands. She quickly sends another text to her driver before she goes back into the party to say her goodbyes, the burning in her chest and her feet replaced by a feeling of excitement.

*

“Can I have another please?” JC says loudly to the bartender and motions his empty highball glass to him as he stands at the crowded bar. The bartender nods and starts making his drink while JC leans against the bar and looks around; it’s a pretty crowded after party with loud music and loads of dancing bodies. He figures that after this drink he may head home as the thought of his sweats and binge watching The Walking Dead is sounding better and better compared to the increasing base of the music and his current monkey suit.

It’s been a bit of a long day for him as he’d spent several hours doing a favour for a friend of a friend by attending a recording session for a new artist.  They’d asked him to listen in and to give his opinion; which he had and now he figures they might not like him very much. He’d been blunt about it: She’s a pretty girl with an okay voice, dolled up in booty shorts and hair extensions that could probably sell a few records with the right song and the right image, but it’s wasn't going to last and he’d told them that.

It’s the same old recipe that record producers and executives have been using forever and they’d probably been hoping that he would think that even though she needed a little vocal training and a little help from autotune that he’d vet her and agree that those things could all be taken care of. After all he used to be in a boyband right? How much more manufactured can you get than that?

“You wanna get out of here?” He turns to see a tall woman with long, vivid red hair and bright blue eyes eyeing him suggestively.

Speaking of manufactured….

He accepts his drink from the bartender and smiles back at her. “Not yet,” he says and they start walking back to the cluster of couches where they’d been talking earlier. So maybe sweats and Netflix won’t be the most enticing choice tonight; he’s getting old but he’s not dead yet.

He sits down on one of the couches and takes a sip of his drink just as he feels her bounce down next to him. She’s sitting quite close and to be honest he doesn’t mind, they’d been able to have somewhat of a normal conversation for the last little while even though they had to basically yell at each other as they spoke.

He isn't sure what else they can talk about just now when thankfully someone asks her a question nearby and she leans forward to answer while her hand stays firmly on his thigh. He doesn’t mind, it’s been awhile since he’s picked someone up at a party and to be plain about it, it feels sort of good that he can still do it.

He takes another sip of his drink and feels his cell phone vibrate in his pocket. He pulls it out to see that he has a new text message, he opens it and smiles seeing who it's from. He’d spoken to Jax earlier in the day when he’d gotten out of the studio and had returned a missed call from her on his way home.

“Hey JC,” she’d said in a friendly voice before he’d heard some shuffling in the background.

“Hey Jax, I’m sorry I missed your call earlier. I was busy and couldn’t answer.” He’d heard more shuffling and then the distinct sound of something ripping loudly. He’d narrowed his eyes as he’d heard her gasp and barely cover up a swear word with what he’d assumed was her hand over the mic of her phone. “Everything okay there?”

“Yeah, sure. Break a leg!”

He’d even seen her earlier that night as they’d actually crossed paths on the red carpet. He’d been able to walk the carpet much faster than she had, not needing to stop and talk to every reporter asking who he was wearing and how he was feeling about being nominated. She’d looked absolutely stunning in a very elegant, flowing dress of red, white and black with her hair in her trademark long beachy waves.

As he’d walked up the carpet toward the general area where she’d been standing speaking to a reporter, her eyes had found his and damn if he hadn’t felt great when her face had broken into an even wider smile. She obviously was trying to be respectful to the reporter and not make it very obvious that she was happy to see him so he’d kept walking. When he’d gotten close enough to her while she was in transition between reporters and pictures he’d brushed past her and quickly slipped his hand into hers to give it a gentle, encouraging squeeze. She’d turned her head to smile at him again as he’d kept walking by and camera flashes kept going off as she posed for yet another picture.

He’d been happy for her when she’d won one of the two awards she’d been nominated for. And though as she’d implied, the competition in those categories had been fierce, she’d come out looking like a grateful winner and a graceful loser.

She must have gone to another after party because he hasn’t seen her tonight. Not that he’d been expressly looking for her, well okay sort of, but he figures she would have stood out at some point if she’d been here. He’s come to start thinking of her more as a friend than an acquaintance since their last meet up, especially now that she is letting him into her very private music world, but he still thinks that she’s a strange mix of confident and vulnerable. He’d noticed that when she’s all done up and in her performer persona she seems to exude such confidence and self-assuredness but then take all that away and she didn’t seem as sure of herself. And the thing is, he’s not sure why because her natural beauty and talent is enough to make her get an ego the size of her Malibu mansion but she doesn’t, and he finds that very attractive about her.

There’s a lot he finds attractive about her, but if he’s truly honest about it, he’s not sure how or if those things are romantically linked.  He hopes she at least feels a pull toward him because of their similar work ethic and creative personalities, but he isn’t kidding himself into thinking that it could be anything other than that. And though at times his thoughts still wander back to the conversation he’d had with Lance and his machinations of her ‘crush’ on him, he hasn’t really seen any overt signs that this is the truth. And he’d never brought it up, not wanting to embarrass her or maybe more importantly himself.

Anyway, he likes her. And he knows that her relationship with Beats has been one of the great influences in her career so he understands how nervous she is about messing that up. Though he’s not been hired officially or being paid for offering his opinion on their work at this point, the idea that she might create something new with him and not Beats still has him feeling both excited and slightly nervous. It has been speculated widely in the media that their relationship as producer and artist is much deeper than the usual one and that it’s possibly a cover up for something else, so he’s a little worried about how Beats will react to him once he finds out that Jax has been working with him essentially behind his back.

He texts her back that yes, he’s still up and out. Her next text makes him chuckle and he sits up a bit. Iris, he thinks that’s what her name is, flashes a big smile at him. “Ready?”

He smiles back and shakes his head. “Sorry, Honey but I have to go, something came up...but I’ll call you,” he says as he waves at her and starts making his way through the crowd toward the exit not stopping even when he realises that he hadn’t gotten Iris’ number.

*

“Does it ever get less freaky?” Jax asks quietly as she absently runs her fingertip along the rim of her wine glass. She considers going to get another bottle in the kitchen but she’s comfortable and feeling rather warm and fuzzy on her couch wrapped in a thick blanket.

Her fancy Alexander McQueen dress is hanging in her closet and her feet are now comfortably stuffed into a pair of slippers. Her stomach is full of fast food burger and now wine and though her mind feels a little blurry she’s still aware of what’s going on. Probably because it’s mostly stress and exhaustion instead of just drunk.

“Um, yeah. After a while it sort of falls by the wayside. You get used to having security everywhere you go, you get used to not really every being truly alone. Doesn’t mean it’s fun or you’ll like it, but you’ll eventually learn to deal with it,” JC answers his socked feet set on the glass coffee table in front of him where he sits in the same leather arm chair as last time.

He’d just questioned her about the sudden change in security procedures since he’s come with Lance a few weeks ago. When they’d arrived at her gate this time it had been shut requiring the driver to press a button to open it, then they’d been stopped by a guard that had been sitting in a parked car near the entrance. After being checked out only then had they been allowed to pull up to the entrance to her home.

She’d told him that her management had expressed concerns about her safety after some of the online chatter had recently turned slightly worrisome. They’d told her it was nothing to really be worried about but that they would rather be safe than sorry so they’d added extra security to her home, including changing her locks and adding a guard at her gate.

“It’s starting to feel a little bit like a prison in here,” she admits as she sets her empty wine glass on the table with a sigh. “Anyway, do you want more wine? Something else?”

He shakes his head. “No thanks, I’ve had enough. I know you brought me here to discuss your album and I know I need a relatively clear mind to do that.” He chuckles and sits up, setting his own empty glass near hers on the table.

He looks handsome with his white dress shirt unbuttoned at the neck and the sleeves rolled up on his forearms. His suit jacket is draped off the arm of the couch closest to him and his bow tie hangs loosely around his collar. He takes off his glasses and rubs his eyes as he starts to talk about his first impressions of the music,  telling her that there is nothing on the album that is bad, not even close, especially since there are a couple of stand outs that would clearly be great singles. His overall opinion is that some of the filler sounds like filler, but other than that he’s not really sure why the record execs are so adamant that she work with someone else.

“Don’t get me wrong, I’ll jump at the chance to do something with you. It’s just I’m surprised as there are three, maybe four songs that are definitely ready for radio play….I mean I can already see the video for California Lovers; LA Boardwalk, sunny day, short shorts.” He laughs as she rolls her eyes and he shrugs. “Hey, I’m just sayin’”.

She laughs. “Yeah, I Iike that one too. It’s fun. Plus Beats actually has a little solo in that one.”

JC nods. “Yeah, I thought that was him,” he pauses and sits up a little as he straightens his pants. “Have you told him yet?”

Jax shakes her head and pulls the blanket tighter around herself. “Not yet. I spoke to him earlier tonight, he’ll be back in a few days. I’ll talk to him then.”

He nods and picks at his pants avoiding her gaze. She nibbles on her lip for a moment then says, “When that whole Mystery Crush thing blew up in the media a few months ago he told me then that he hoped I wouldn't go running to the first producer that batted his eyes at me because we had something good going on. I promised I wouldn't, and now…” She shakes her head again. “I owe him a lot you know, and I don’t want to make him feel betrayed. Even if I get to work with someone I’ve always dreamed of working with.”

He smiles wryly and lifts his eyes at her comically. “So you might as well make it worth it right? Why didn’t you ask for that mystery producer crush to work with you?”

She laughs. “I did.”

She can tell by the look on his face that he doesn’t get what she’s saying. He seems slightly hurt, though he quickly recovers and hides it. “Oh, did you submit other producers to your execs already?”

She narrows her eyes and watches him closely. He’s kidding right? Lance must have told him. He had right? That’s why he’s been hanging around. Right?

Suddenly she feels blood rush to her head and she is flooded with embarrassment. “Oh god. I thought-”

He speaks at the same time, probably noticing her reaction. “I didn’t realise-”

Both of them motion for the other to speak then both decline to finish. After several more moments of tense embarrassment she runs her hands over her face then finally speak. “Well now that I’ve embarrassed both of us sufficiently, maybe you’d like to see a few things I’ve written?”

He straightens his shirt and then nods quickly as if jumping at an awaiting life line and watches as she practically runs out of the room to go get her notebook.

*