Casey glanced at the shop from her office window across the street. ‘Oh Wade, why do we have to both be as stubborn as hell?’ She asked sighing regretfully.
“Why the sullen face? You’re ugly just the way you are no need to try overdoing it for Christssake!” An all-too-familiar and all-too-annoying voice interrupted her.
Casey turned around, confirming her hunch. At the door was JC standing all too proudly (and gorgeously) in an Armani suit. “JC,” she said.
“Glad you still remembered, I was thinking you were lost or something with the way you’re looking a while ago,” he replied as he entered the office, making himself comfortable on the sofa.
“How long have you been here?’” she asked.
“Long enough to see that idiotic look on your face,” he answered. “Not that I don’t see it often,” he smirked.
Casey clenched her fist to stop herself from doing something harmful. “And what may I ask are you doing in here?”
“I’m visiting someone who’s not you.”
“As if I’d like a visit from you!”
“Where’s Brat?” JC asked, ignoring her remark.
“She’s not here.”
“Really?”
“Really. She’s in Rome,” she replied.
“Why?”
“Coz she’s got work, stupid.”
“Oooohhhh, I see,” he smiled. “So that means I no longer have business staying here for long.”
“Wonder when you’d start realizing that!” she remarked sarcastically.
“Is it just me or the temperature’s getting hotter?” JC commented.
“It’s just you.”
“Yeah, I think it’s just me.” Casey smiled inspite of herself, did JC just agree with her comment about him?
JC smiled. “You know Casey, you should smile more often, it looks good on you.”
Casey blushed, “Really?”
JC nodded, causing her to smile and blush more. “Just don’t overdo it, or you’ll start scaring the wits out of everybody.” He laughed.
“Out! Out! OUT!!!!” Casey shouted, pushing the laughing JC out of the office and slamming the door in his face.
“Hehehehehe, can’t believe you bought that!” he said to the closed door, loud enough for Casey to hear. Casey ignored him and locked the door. “I guess you’re really that pathetic!” JC mocked her one last time before finally leaving.
“I’ve had enough of him!”
Lance grabbed a hold of Casey’s hand before it could pick up the Ming vase. Julia sighed in relief, that vase was worth half a million. She looked gratefully at Lance.
“Calm down okay,” he said trying to relax her. Casey came a few minutes ago, she was really angry and he’s been trying to calm her, since it looks like Julia has no intention of ever helping him. ‘God, JC! Why do you always have to make my life miserable?’
“Calm down? Calm down!!!? You expect me to fuckin’ calm down, when your pesky jerk of a bestfriend and brother have just insulted me?!!!!”
“It’s not like he never insulted you before,” Lance stated mindlessly.
The remark was rewarded with the sound of shattering glass.
Julia screamed as she ran towards the remains of the Ming vase that Casey finally succeeded on throwing towards Lance. She bent down and picked up the pieces, “Oh God! Please tell me this is a dream!”
“Thanks for the concern,” Lance said sarcastically, disappointed over the fact that Julia’s more concerned about the vase being broken than him being hurt by it (which fortunately he wasn’t).
“Are you hurt?” she finally asked. When Lance shook his head in the negative, Julia went back to her vase. Lance groaned, “Aren’t you the least bit concerned?”
“THAT WAS WORTH HALF A MILLION DOLLARS!!!” Julia shouted at Casey, completely ignoring Lance, who seeing this just went over the bar. ‘So much for peace and quiet,’ he thought, sadly regretting that he ever gave Casey the address to his apartment.
“Fine! I’ll buy you a house!” Casey retorted.
“That’s not the point!”
“Who cares?!”
“You’re hopeless!” Julia sighed.
“Not as hopeless as you are, brat,” Casey snapped.
“Hey! Nobody calls me brat except Jace,” Julia snapped back.
“Jace, Jace, Jace! I hate that name! Makes me wanna throw up,” Casey said angrily. “Or throw things up!”
“Oh no you don’t!” Julia walked towards Casey and gave her a hug. “Calm down okay?”
“Oh Jules,” Casey sighed wearily as she let Julia lead her to a chair. “I’m sorry,” she apologized sitting down besides Julia. Lance laughed softly from his position in the bar, ‘Women,’ he thought as he poured himself a drink, ‘can’t live with them, can’t live without them.’ He glanced at the two, ‘much more, can’t understand them.’
“It’s okay,” Julia stroked Casey’s hair. “I know you’re angry, and that’s normal. But it’s not nice to throw things, aside from the fact that that vase was worth a lot, you could have hurt Lance.”
“Finally!” Lance shouted, “you noticed!” Grinning proudly.
“Duh!” Julia rolled her eyes, “of course, I DID notice,” emphasizing the word did. Lance’s grin widened. “However, I have better things to attend to.”
“What?!” Lance hurriedly walked towards the two. “You mean? That vase was more important to you than me? Me? Your future husband? The father of your child? The love of your life?”
“Of course not!” Julia replied causing him to smile. “But now that you mentioned it,” she continued as if thinking very deeply. “I guess it is.”
Lance’s mouth dropped. “What?!!!!”
“I said, it is more important than you,” Julia said nonchalantly. “Is your ear defective or what? I think you need to see a specialist you know.”
“My ears are 100% efficient, thank you,” Lance snapped. “And how come that vase is more important than me huh?”
“Duh! It’s rare and worth half a million.”
“I’m rare, one-of-a-kind, a living loving person, and definitely worth more than that!”
“Says who?”
“The media!”
“You actually believed them? You must be desperate,” Julia chuckled.
Casey listened to the bickering unbelievingly, she’s the one who’s supposed to be angry, “Hey! Back it off you two! I’m the one with the problem not you, so don’t try and make one!”
Lance and Julia both gave her a sideward glance. “Oh really?” They both asked.
“Yeah,” she nodded, grinning foolishly. Lance and Julia both laughed at her expression.
“Thanks a lot!” she remarked playfully as she joined their laughter. Seconds later, they all stopped. Casey gave them both a hug, “Thanks you two,” she smiled gratefully, “you do know how to make me feel better.”
“Anytime Case, anytime,” Lance said softly, returning the hug.
Later that night, “Do you think that we should place the nursery beside our room?” Lance asked, he was lying in bed, waiting for Julia to join him. The atmosphere was finally peaceful after a more relaxed Casey left an hour ago. “What do you think?”
Julia stepped out of the bathroom, wearing a slightly revealing (naughty naughty bad girl!) nightgown, “What do I think about what?” Lance stared at her for a moment, ‘she’s so sexy despite her condition, lucky, lucky me,’ he thought, grinning mischievously. “The nursery,” he replied.
“J, this apartment only has two rooms, where do you propose to put the nursery, on the roof?” she asked, going over the dresser to comb her hair.
“I know that, what I mean is, in our house, you know,” he explained.
“Who says we have a house?” Julia glanced at him, raising an eyebrow. “As far as I’m concerned, the closest thing to home that I have is MY apartment, and the same goes for you.”
“Li! You know what I mean!”
“Oh!” Realization finally dawning over. “But I thought that Florida house is for the future Mrs. James Lance Bass?” she asked, puzzled.
Lance gawked at her. Either she’s teasing him (which is more likely, coz she does that often), or she’s totally clueless (which is impossible!). “Li, have you been feeling well lately?”
“Yup, why?” Not quite getting what Lance is pointing at.
“Well, coz last time I checked, I am STILL in love with YOU and that I’ve been telling you how much I want to SPEND THE REST OF MY REMARKABLE EXISTENCE WITH YOU. And that was like 15 minutes ago,” he explained, stressing on a lot of words to emphasize his point.
“Was that me you were talking to a while ago?” Julia asked, surprised. “I thought it was somebody else.’
“Duh, do you see any other woman in the room?”
Julia looked around and shook her head in the negative.
“Does that answer your question?”
“Not really.”
Lance groaned inwardly. “You’re killing me you know that.”
“That’s good,” she replied, smiling when Lance sighed in defeat. “Duh! I was just joking!”
Lance smiled and patted the place beside him. Julia walked towards the bed and laid down beside him, resting her head on his muscular chest. Lance stroked her head lovingly before saying, “I love you, you know that don’t you?”
“Of course, you do tell me that, almost every minute, every hour and every day,” she answered, looking at him briefly before turning around, her back to him.
Lance kissed the back of her head and placed his hand carefully on her tummy. “Just making sure you know.”
“Go to sleep J,” she laughed softly, letting him entwine his right hand over her right hand, half-embracing her in the process.
“I love you,” Lance said, kissing her cheek before finally resting his head on the pillow, but didn’t bother to let go of her hand.
‘And I love you more.’
