Now and Forever
JC paused as he looked out into the crowd for the one face he was hoping to see. He had been a complete dumbass and had no right to expect her to be there anyway. However, that spark of hope that she would be just wouldn't go away. He had asked her to come because he had planned something special for her in order to show her just how special she was to him. If she wasn't there, the surprise song that he had written just wouldn't have the same flare inside of his heart. He would sing it FOR her any day, but singing it TO her would make it that much more special the first time.
He sighed as his anxious eyes searched the arena. The concert had already begun, and she was nowhere to be found. His head hung low as he set up for *NSYNC's next set of songs.
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FLASHBACK
"Jace! Were you even listening to me? I asked you a question!?!"
JC, who was sprawled across the kingsize bed in his room, rolled his head over to face his beautiful, angry girlfriend to his right. She was leaning over him slightly with a glare. Her dark brown hair flowed around her shoulders sweetly, but her deep brown eyes had a fire behind them. He sighed at her expression. "What is it?"
She looked taken aback at his words. "What is it? WHAT IS IT? Jace! I've ONLY been talking to you for the past twenty minutes about my tyrannical boss, and you have the audacity to ask me what I was asking you about? I listened to everything that you had to say about your long day today at the studio, the least you could do is return the favor for me!"
He sighed and turned away from her. All he wanted to do was get some sleep. As she had said, he DID have a long day. "I'm tired. I don't need this from you right now, Linzy."
That sent her over the edge. "This is unbelieveable. Jace, I've been patient with you, I love you, but this slump you've been in isn't helping you any. I've done what I could to help you, and it doesn't seem to be helping you in the slightest. Not to mention the fact that there are instances like this one where I can't even get the same feedback or sympathy that I give you. Do you think that this is a healthy, working relationship? Because I sure as hell don't. What I'm feeling hinders on being taken advantage of. That's not how it used to be JC. Not at all."
JC turned to her once more at her last words and saw a sadness on her face that he hadn't seen before. It looked like she had been harboring these feelings for some time. However, his thoughts drifted back to work, the guys, the interviews, and the schedule of being a pop star. All that stress, along with the stress of the situation at hand was too much for him to handle. "Seriously, I don't have time for this right now. We can talk about it later."
Linzy watched him turn away from her for the millionth time, and something inside of her cracked. She looked down at the floor and didn't know what to say or do. Her heart had been bruised way too much over the past two months, and this rejection was the final straw. He didn't care for her like he used to. It just wasn't the same. She looked at him one more time hoping to see the man she used to know looking her in the eyes with an apology, but that wasn't what she saw. He was still faced the other way. All she could muster up was a whisper. "Fine, JC. You win."
She then walked from the room with tears in her eyes. She was going to leave. She couldn't take it anymore. If he wanted her back, he was going to have to show her the man that she fell in love with a long time ago.
END FLASHBACK
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The next set of songs *NSYNC performed was like going through the motions for JC. They couldn't get over fast enough. Everywhere he looked, Linzy was still missing and creating a hopelessness in his heart. The seat that he had reserved for her was still empty. His heart was breaking. He loved her so much, and his stupidity was going to ruin their relationship forever. He still had some time, but it wasn't looking good for him right now.
He looked over at the other guys who he noticed were looking at him sympathetically. They understood what he was going through because he had finally turned to them and let loose about the things that had been bothering him. Work wasn't nearly as stressful anymore because the other guys were there to help him along the way and go through everything with him. They even had helped with what he had planned later in the show. Justin walked over to him as they were about to take the stage again and patted him on the back. "She'll be here Jace. I know it."
JC looked back at him with sad eyes. "I sure hope so."
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FLASHBACK
"Linzy, baby, please!! Just LISTEN to me for a second!"
Linzy walked away from him and rolled her eyes. "Jace, look at yourself. You're acting out of pure desperation. I know that this isn't genuine. Show me something genuine, and maybe I'll think about it. You know that I still love you, but as you keep up with this stupid facade, I don't even know how long that'll last!!"
JC WAS desperate, but he'd never admit that to her. "I've done everything I could!! I've apologized to you numerous times, I've sent you flowers, I've made time for you, what more do you want from me???"
"JC!! Would you listen to yourself?? Do you honestly think material things and words are going to be effective? You know as well as I do that those things are meaningless. Actions speak louder than words, and your actions right now are not what I'm looking for. Don't play games with me, Jace. I can't take it much more."
She had tears in her eyes, and that was the last thing that he wanted. He never wanted to cause her pain, and that's exactly what he had done. "I don't know what you want me to do."
Linzy sighed. "I don't know what I want you to do either, but it's not this. Goodbye Jace."
He watched her walk away and never wanted to see the sight again. Her head hung low, and she looked to be crying. She walked inside of her new apartment that she had gotten since she had left his house and slammed the door.
He watched her door stay closed for a good five minutes before making his way back to his car. He sat in his car for another ten minutes just thinking. He couldn't believe how he had let the most stable thing in his life come crashing down. He would never give up on her. It was time to call in the reinforcements.
END FLASHBACK
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JC was ecstatic. He had noticed her arrival probably before she had wanted him too. He knew that she still loved him now. She had showed up for him. Now it was time for him to prove his love was still true to her. He turned to the guys and nodded his head. It was time. He waited for her to make her way to her seat. When she had sat down, he began to speak from his heart to the crowd, and to her. No preparation was necessary for this. "Shhhhh... Please. I know that you all have known that I've had a special someone for a long time, but recently, I screwed up. I screwed up pretty bad. I had no idea on what I could do to make it up to her so I tried everything from apologies to flowers. Obviously, these things didn't work as well as I had hoped, but all you females are probably aware of that... So I decided to talk to my friends, and they made me see just how important she was to me and exactly what I needed to do to fix it. So I did what comes natural. I wrote her a song."
He looked directly at her for a few seconds with a tender smile on his face. She had tears in her eyes, but she didn't look sad. "Baby, this one's for you."
He watched her draw in a breath before he began.
Whenever I'm weary
From the battles that rage in my head
You make sense of madness
When my sanity hangs by a thread
I lose my way
But still you seem to understand
Now and forever
I will be your man
Sometimes I just hold you
To caught up in me to see
I'm holding a fortune
That Heaven has given to me
I'll try to show you
Each and every way I can
Now and forever
I will be your man
Now I can rest my worries
And always be sure
That I won't be alone anymore
If I had only known
You were there all the time
All this time
Until the day the ocean
Doesn't touch the sand
Now and forever
I will be your man
Now and forever
I will be your man
Everyone was on their feet and clapping by the time he had finished. His eyes were still on the one person who mattered more to him than anyone else there. She still had tears in her eyes, but she mouthed the words that he had been waiting to hear from her again, the ones he hadn't heard in so long. "I love you."
He smiled genuinely for the first time that night. "Thank you everyone. Baby, I love you too."
As he turned around to finish the concert with his four best friends, he knew now that everything was going to be alright again. He was with her, and that was the number one thing his heart desired. Now and forever more.
