Chapter 11:

“What the fuck Char? You’re drunk already” JC yells over the music

“It's a party babe. I can’t have some fun?” Charlotte demands, slurring her words a bit. 

“Damn it Char!” JC sighs, trying to keep his voice down so as not to draw attention to them. He wasn’t sure how much more he could take. 

“Cmon baby it's fine. What do you say we ditch this party and go have some fun, huh?” Charlotte mutters, trying to pull him close. “Piper can hook us up with some party favors” she adds in an attempted whisper. She laughs and points to her nose . Drugs, he should have known. 

“Charlotte, I can’t do this anymore” he states, gesturing between the two of them. He pushes her off him. 

“Are you fucking serious… you’re trying to break up with me?”

“I can’t fucking do this anymore” he repeats “You need to go home” JC says, looking around for his manager. He calls Eric Podwall over. 

“Podwall, can you grab Charlotte a cab and send her home?” 

“Her place or?” 

“Yes. Her place” 

“No problem” Eric replies, taking Charlotte by the arm. She tries to protest, but just succeeds in wriggling around in her drunken state. 

“You can’t break up with me. This isn’t fucking over” she calls as JC walks away. 

“Have you seen JC?” Madison asks Mina. It had been almost an hour since his argument with Charlotte and she hadn’t seen either of them since. 

“The caterers are ready to bring the cake out” 

“I’ll go look for him” she replies, heading to the lounge as Madi follows behind her. Mina finds him on one of the couches surrounded by 4 familiar faces. 

“Hey Josh, I was just looking for you… they want to bring the cake out,” she announces. 

“Willie! Glad you’re here. There’s more people I want you to meet!” JC answers with a smile, completing ignoring her statement. He stands up and points to the guys around him. “Justin of course you’ve met” 

“Well not officially… hi” she waves at Justin and he tips his fedora in her direction. 

“This is a great party! JC here is old like me now!” one of the other guys with dark hair jokes. 

“This is Chris” JC laughs “Lance,” he points to a guy perched on the couch arm “And Joey.” The last guy, sitting next to Lance, makes a funny face. “Guys, this is Mina!” he introduces her and she waves to each of them

“It’s nice to meet you all finally! This is my best friend and business partner, Madison” Mina gestures to her left. Madison stands there frozen. 

“Mina?” Chris asks

“Willie?” Lance adds

“Wilhemina?” Chris and Joey say before erupting into laughter. What was it with JC’s friends and her name?

“That’s me” she laughs at their silliness

“C talked about you all the time” Lance adds 

“Some of the time” Justin snickers, his eyes wandering over to where Madison stands. 

“Okay, okay… I may have mentioned you some of the time” JC admits, turning red. Inner Mina jumps for joy at the thought of JC talking about her so much. 

“It’s great meeting you guys. Madi here was a big fan!” 

Madison suddenly snaps out of her trance. “Hi… I’m… I’m Madison” she stammers. Justin grins. Madison catches his eye and blushes. Mina notices his flirt face. 

“Hey Madison” he says as she giggles like a 13 year old. 

“Right… So birthday cake?” Mina interjects

“Cake! Let’s do this!” Chris shouts, leaps up from his seat and crawls over Joey. Madi and Justin ignore the announcement, still lost in their own world. 

“Lets just leave them alone” JC says, following Mina and the others to the cake cutting. 

After he cuts his cake, JC makes a short speech and as photos are snapped, Mina gets a great idea. 

“Hey Josh! I have the best idea” Mina taps him on the shoulder to get his attention. “Your fans love seeing you 5 all together right? Ever since the H word?”

“The H word?” he chuckles

“Mads told me not to say it” Mina laughs, grabbing his hand “Come on!” She pulls him over to Chris and Joey “Where’s Lance? Where’s Justin?” 

Lance walks over with his husband Michael as Justin magically reappears, Madison by his side. 

“Okay now get together” Mina calls, phone in hand as they squish together. “For guys who used to do photoshoots regularly, you’re kind of terrible at this” she jokes as JC grins at her. Madison and Michael help them arrange themselves and Mina snaps a pic. “Perfect!” she announces, texting it to JC immediately. 

“Hey C- send that to me too!” Justin smiles, grabbing his phone from his pocket. 

“I couldn’t have asked for a more amazing birthday” JC states, leaning against the bar. The party was winding down. It was almost 2AM and Mina couldn’t remember the last time she had had so much fun. “Thank you Wills” he adds, resting his head on her shoulder. 

“You’re welcome. I’m honestly glad I did it. I haven’t had this much fun in forever. I wanted to bring Alex but I already promised Mads she’d be my plus one” Mina rambles

“Alex?” JC asks, standing back up

“The guy I’ve been seeing. He’s a pediatric oncologist over at Cedars. He’s nice, you’d like him.”

Suddenly JC feels inadequate. 

“I forgot to ask earlier. Is Charlotte okay” Mina adds

“She will be, I guess…” 

“Oh…I’m sorry”

“Not your fault” JC replies. Mina finishes her drinks and looks around the almost empty room. Lance, Michael and Justin were still hanging out plus a handful of other friends but Madison was nowhere to be seen. Mina stifles a yawn. 

“I think I might head out. You haven’t seen Madison around have you?”

“It's been 20, 30 minutes” 

“Weird… it’s not like her to leave and not tell me where she is going” Mina pulls out her phone and dials Madison’s number. Straight to voicemail. “Damn…she drove us” she mutters, hanging

 up.

“I can drive you…” JC suggests. Eric had hired him a driver for the evening. Mina pauses.

“Sure, that would be great” she answers after a moment. They tell the guys goodnight and JC shows her outside. They wait in their usual silence for his car to pull up. 

The silence continues through the first half of their drive. “Did you really talk about me that much?” Mina asks, as they ride to her house. 

“Not that much… occasionally” JC admits. Mina laughs as he turns a bit red again. It was cute. 

“Sure…” she says, playfully nudging him in the arm. “I hear you wrote a song about me though” Mina adds, a smirk spreading across her face. JC quiets and turns a brighter shade of red. 

“What? No I didn’t...Who told you that?” he stammers as Mina just winks. JC sighs. “I may have wrote one song… it’s no big deal” 

Mina chuckles, too tipsy to care. “Oh! I never saw your parents tonight. I thought you said they were coming into town?” she adds, changing the subject. 

“They are. Mom had a delay with work so they’re flying in on Monday” 

“At least they will be here for your actual birthday” 

“Yeah” JC grins happily

“That’s a nice surprise. I know you said they don’t get to visit much” 

“Typically I fly to see them in Florida when I can. They’re busy, I’m busy” he replies

“I bet. I don’t get home often either” Mina stifles another yawn as they pull up to her house. 

“Thanks again for an amazing party Wills”

“You’re welcome” she replies. The awkward silence fills the car again. 

“Goodnight Wills” JC says leaning close. 

“Josh are you trying to kiss me?” MIna jokes, the effects of the alcohol still lingering. 

“If I was trying to kiss you, you’d know” he replies, his face inches from hers. JC winks and reaches for her door handle, opening it for her. Mina sighs as he leans back. 

“Night Josh” she mutters, getting out of the car. She turns to wave as she reaches her front door. She struggles with the key but gets it open and turns once again to see JC’s car pull away. His voice echoes in her head as she shuts the door behind her.

“If I was trying to kiss you, you’d know.”