Rather than take a plane, he decided to take the more scenic route – literally – and ride the Amtrak into Union Station. His train was scheduled to leave at 5:15 in the evening and get him to DC by 8:30 that night.

He and Allyson had decided they would meet up Monday, accounting for any delays and giving JC a chance to catch up on the sleep he knew he would not be getting during his time in New York.

Monday morning, on his way to Allyson’s apartment, JC stopped by Pret to grab an almond croissant, a chocolate croissant and a couple lattes.

As Allyson waited for the doorbell to ring, she was a bundle of nerves. Even though they had been texting quite a bit and spoke on the phone fairly regularly, even Skyping a few times, she hadn’t seen JC in the flesh since the fall.

“What’s up, mama?” he said as she opened the door and he stepped in setting his breakfast goodies on the island.

“Hi,” she said as she involuntarily threw her arms around him. “I’m sorry,” she said quickly, realizing what she had done, letting go and stepping back.

“Don’t be sorry for that,” he said as he pulled her in for another hug, this one tighter and longer. “I love a good hug,” he said into her dark hair.

“Those workouts must be working pretty well,” she said into his chest. “Your hugs are even better, and you already had the best hugs.”

“Well, you know,” he said, as the hug ended. He jokingly flexed his arms, making Allyson blush and giggle, if not black out for a second.

“So what’s on the agenda for today?” he asked as they sat at the island munching on their breakfast, none of which was on JC’s approved pre-photoshoot menu.

 “Well, I thought we could go to the National Zoo if you want.”

“That sounds fun. Lions and tigers and bears, oh my!” he said, making a silly face as he quoted The Wizard of Oz.

Finishing up their breakfast, Allyson gathered her things and they headed toward the zoo.

“Thank you for the coffee and croissant, by the way,” she said, as they made their way to the bus stop. “I’m surprised you remembered Pret was my second-favorite.”

“Well you talked about the chocolate croissant and egg salad sandwich enough, how could I forget?” he teased. “I’m kidding. We actually stopped at one in New York also, and it made me think of you. And I know the coffee’s not as good as yours, putting it in second place, but it’s pretty good.”

“It is. But I know it was the same distance to Pret as it was to my shop, given the way you had to go. So, did you really just want to avoid Shannon?” She smirked at him.

“Maybe,” he smiled shyly. “Don’t tell her that. I don’t need her to know I’m a little scared of her.”

Allyson laughed and made a zipper motion across her mouth.

As they rode to the zoo, JC filled Allyson in on the happenings of New York – excluding his Saturday night activities.

JC laughed and grinned like a kid as they walked through the well-maintained zoo, saying hi to the kangaroos, giraffes, hippos and rhinos.

“Hey, they’re the same color as my photoshoot shirt,” JC laughed pointing at the flock of flamingos.

“Was it really that pink?” Allyson asked.

“Oh yeah! It was fine, and I don’t mind pink – real men wear pink! – but yeah it was definitely pink. I’ll show you. The proofs should be in by next week. They want to push the photos out as promo in late April or early May before the song releases in June.”

“Oh yay!” Allyson said, clapping her hands. “I want a sneak peek at these photos. I need to see Beyoncé killing it.” She gave JC a side glance and laughed a little. “Oh and you too!”

JC shook his head. “Come on. Let’s continue this safari.”

The rest of the day was spent wandering the grounds, greeting the animals, going to a few of the educational programs and enjoying the slim crowd in the middle of the day Monday.

It was 5:30 by the time they were leaving the zoo, so the pair stopped for an early dinner before continuing on to Allyson’s apartment for a movie night. Allyson figured it might be a good chance for Mandy and JC to get to know each other and for JC to convince her roommate that it was worth her time to listen to a little of his music, despite his designation as “pop” instead of “indie.”

With popcorn made, the trio piled onto the small sectional as Allyson hit play on Raiders of the Lost Ark. It was an all-time favorite of JC’s and Mandy still needed to see the cultural classic.

JC stretched and yawned as the movie ended.

“Oh man,” Allyson said, looking at the time on the microwave. “It’s already 10:30. I guess I didn’t realize how late it was when we started this. If you want to stay here, you can,” she said, turning her attention to JC.

“Usually I would fight you on that, but I won’t on this one,” JC said through heavy eyelids. “Between last week and the zoo today, I’m ’bout done.”

Allyson tossed a blanket toward him, as she went to her room to grab an extra pillow off the bed.

JC graciously accepted both as Allyson slid the TV remote over to him. “You can leave it on or turn it off, but you might want to keep the volume down if you leave it on because that’s Mandy’s bedroom,” she pointed to the wall the TV was mounted on.

“Yes, keep it down, please! I like my sleep!” Mandy yelled from her bathroom where she was wiping her nightly facemask off.

“Don’t worry, I don’t plan on leaving it on,” he answered loud enough for Mandy to hear also before hitting the red power button on the remote.

Allyson just laughed. Maybe they would get along after all. “Here’s a charger too if you need to charge your phone.”

“Oh, yes, thank you. Good thing they moved to the universal charging thing.”

Allyson just giggled and shook her head. “Nerd. Goodnight.” She went into her room and left the door cracked slightly, instead of closing it all the way like she normally did.

JC crashed hard, but he probably could’ve slept on a slab of concrete he was so tired.

The next morning, he was startled awake as his phone was practically vibrating off the coffee table as it dinged incessantly with text after text. Do they already have the first photos ready? he thought as he picked up his phone, half awake.

He flipped it open. Call me now! he read, the first of several messages from Max. It’s urgent!