Chapter 8:

Madison rushes into the office at half-past 8- early for her. Sarah was just settling in at her desk. 

“Is Mina in?” Madi asks

Mina was an early riser, first at the office, last to leave. But this morning her office was still dark.

“Doesn’t look like it,” Sarah replies, sipping her coffee. Something was up. This was not like her at all. 

An hour later, Madison spies Mina walking into the office. 

“Everything alright?” she asks Mina from Mina’s office doorway. Mina startles, grabbing her chest. She sets down her bags and sits in her desk chair. Her hair was up and she wore a black blazer over a mint dress. On the outside, she was put together but she seemed disheveled. 

“Mad- you scared me!” 

“Sorry I was worried”

“I know, I… uh had a late-night” 

“Oh?” Madi replies, walking in and taking the seat across from Mina’s desk. 

“JC came over” 

“Ohhhh” Madi raises an eyebrow

“Nothing like that, we talked”

“Did you…”

“Yes- I told him” Mina admits

“Wow, how did he take it?” 

“A little shocked, a little upset but I told him I wouldn’t have wanted to be the thing that held him back from his dreams and he understood. I think we can finally get back to our friendship. It was nice just hanging out together” 

“That’s good cause he’ll be here in 15 minutes” Madison laughs

“Barely finished the presentation, we talked until 1 AM but I think it call came together” 

“That’s great!” 

“But 15 minutes! Plenty of time to get some caffeine in my system” Mina laughs as they walk over to their conference room. Madison busies herself setting up the video screen while Mina gets coffee to take the edge off. 

“You never told me, did Alex ever call to set up a date?” Madison asks when Mina returns with her drink. 

“He did! I know I always complain about your matchmaking but Mads he sounds nice. We’re having dinner tomorrow!”

“I’m excited for you. He’s the nicest guy. You have to tell me everything!” 

“Don’t I always?” Mina laughs. A knock at the door interrupts them. Sarah cracks the door open and peeks her head in. 

“Mr. Chasez is here” 

“Show him in” Mina answers. Sarah opens the door wider and JC enters the conference room. “Hey Josh, come on in” Mina shows him to a seat on Madison’s left, while she takes the seat on Madi’s right. 

He was more dressed up today, unlike the last time he was at her office. Like last night he was wearing his glasses but paired his dark jeans with a short sleeve polo, buttoned all the way up. The sleeves tight across his muscles. 

“Damn he makes everything look good,” Mina thinks to herself “No! You’re friends, this is business” she adds, yelling at her inner self. 

“Everything is all set if you’re ready,” Mina tells him as he turns in his seat to face the screen at the front of the room. Mina pulls up the presentation on her iPad. 

“Okay-” she starts as the venue pops up “We decided on the Roosevelt, I think the Old Hollywood smoking lounge vibe fits you”

“Looks cool” JC chimes in. He was unable to tour the venue because he was stuck  in the studio but trusted Mina’s opinion. 

“We’ve rented out the place for the night too which gives us the entire space to work with” 

“Unfortunately their kitchen staff couldn't work with a party of our size so we brought in an amazing caterer to help out” Madison adds with a smile.

“Yes. Classy finger foods, but not too over the top… I think I’m most excited for the mini pizzas, think fancy bagel bites” Mina states

JC laughs “You know me so well, I used to love those!” 

“It’s your party, we wanted to make sure you were happy” 

“Just wait until you see the cake!” Madison chimes in. 

“I designed it actually” Mina smirks

“Then it will be perfect,” JC replies. Mina blushes and Madison suddenly feels like a third wheel. 

Mina turns back to the screen to finish up the presentation. 

“Everything looks and sounds great,” JC tells the girls. “Even the video screens” he adds

“Charlotte’s idea. I wanted to incorporate something from her, she is your girlfriend after all” Mina reminds him. 

JC nods in understanding. 

“Great to see you again JC, I have another meeting so I’ll just…” Madison states, making her way to the doorway. She slips out of the room leaving JC and Mina alone. Mina knew what game she was playing, her next meeting wasn’t for another hour. She and JC remain seated at the table. 

“Listen about last night…” Mina begins

“I just feel like an idiot. I never realized…” 

“How I was feeling? I didn’t think you felt the same way so I never said anything” 

“I think we were both lost then” he replies

“How do you mean?” 

“I’ve never really told anyone this but when Mouse Club ended, I didn’t know what to do. We all knew the show wasn’t gonna last forever but I was happy. I got to perform every day with my best friends and then it was all over- none of us knew what to do. The younger ones like Justin and Ryan and Brit still had school but a few of us had just graduated. College was an option but something inside me just left like that that wasn’t for me so I decided to come home for a while. I know I didn’t call… I think I was too embarrassed, all those other people didn’t care, they didn’t know me like you did, so they didn’t catch on to how I was feeling. Tony and Dale decided they wanted to go out to LA and give acting a try. We figured we could try the music thing too and well obviously it didn’t go well. I was out there for 6 months and nothing. I needed to find myself so I got back in my Jeep and just drove. I ended up in Memphis with Justin, writing some songs and we discovered we were pretty good at it. Then Justin got the call from Chris. He was putting together a group in Florida and would he want to come down to Orlando- Justin asked me to go too and I agreed. We met Chris and clicked immediately and well you know the rest. We all thought we would just be that local Orlando vocal group, we honestly had no idea it would be what it was. All the pieces fell into place, I had found my place again. It was like having a second family. I don’t want you to think that I forgot about you- everything that was happening I wanted to share with you, you were my best friend. We got to go to Germany! You always wanted to go to Europe...but I know you were probably done with my bullshit especially after the way I left things. Little did I know what was happening in your world… I can’t forgive myself for putting you in that position but I hope you can forgive me” 

Mina sighs. That was a lot to process. He just poured his heart out to her. “Josh I do forgive you- you were right, we were both lost. We didn’t need to be parents but I’m glad we can be friends again. Hey! Just think you can share all those stories with me finally. I only wish I had some to tell you but I don’t” she laughs

“I’m sure you and Madison got into quite a few adventures in New York” 

“Well yeah, but nothing quite like thousands of girls screaming your name every night!” 

JC just smirks in reply. He pushes back his chair and approaches Mina. She stands up as he moves forward to wrap her in a hug. She was only a few inches shorter than him. She fit perfectly in his arms. “Seriously dude? Stop, she’s your friend” JC yelled at his inner self.

“He smells amazing,” Mina thinks to herself as she hugs him back. She doesn’t even stop to reprimand herself. She pulls back after a few moments so as not to linger too long. 

“I’m free tomorrow, want to hang out?” JC asks excitedly, almost like a kid making a friend for the first time. 

“I can’t. I have plans” 

“Ah”

“But I’ll see you at your party in a few weeks for sure!” 

“Sounds good. I’ll just uh- show myself out” JC jokes, pointing to the door. 

“Why does this have to be so hard?” Mina asks the empty room as soon as he leaves.