Jocelyn walked wearily into her office for what seemed to be the millionth time that day after another one of her endless meetings with her esteemed colleagues. She plopped down into her oversized leather chair at her desk and was annoyed to find that she had another 6 new messages waiting for her.
“I just checked messages before I left,” she said to herself.
Sighing, she put on her telephone headset, and pressed the autodial button to reach her voice mail service.
“First message received, Friday August 11th at 3:01 p.m.,” said the automated voice as Jocelyn kicked off her shoes. “Hey Joss, it’s me. I haven’t heard from you in a while, and I was just checking up on you. You never return calls once you get home, so I decided to try you at work. Don’t disappoint me sweetie.”
She vowed to call her mother as soon as she got home, but right now, she didn’t have the energy to deal with whatever she had to say.
The next three messages were from clients. Being after 4pm on a Friday, she knew that none of them would any longer be in the office and put returning those calls off until Monday.
“Fourth message received, Friday August 11th at 3:48 p.m. ‘Hey Jocelyn, it’s JC.’”
Jocelyn smiled at the sound of his voice. She felt like a 15-year-old schoolgirl with a crush, but she couldn’t help her attraction.
“Uh, Justin gave me your number at work,” the message continued, “I hope you don’t mind. I was uh, just calling because I wanted to hear your voice. But I guess you’re out of the office right now. So if it’s not too much trouble, I’d love it if you would gimme a call when you get the chance. Hope to talk to you soon.”
She couldn’t contain the grin that was plastered on her face, flashing her perfect teeth. She almost didn’t to listen to the next message, as it would ruin the moment she’d just had with JC’s voice. But she saved his message and went on to the next, only to be pleasantly surprised.
“Hi, it’s me again. I know I just called, but uh, I forgot that I needed to ask you a question. And it gave me an excuse to hear your voice again when your service picked up,” he chuckled. “Anyway, uh, I was wondering if maybe, there was a possibility, if you get a chance, that we could go out later tonight. Nothing big, just go out for drinks or something. If you’re busy, I’ll understand. I know it’s really short notice. It’s just that, I would really like to see you. But um, don’t let that persuade you in any way. Just let me know what works for you. I’m gonna leave you my cell number. It’s uh, 646-458-8572 and I hope you’ll use it soon. Bye.”
Jocelyn giggled at his nervousness… she found it very endearing. She sighed with delight as she pulled the headset off and let her mind wander out the window to the wondrous view that she had of the New York City Skyline… what was left of it anyway. It broke her heart every time she saw the hole that was left by the Twin Towers. But even such a tragedy couldn’t destroy the spirit of such a great city, and that’s what she loved about New York more than anything – its indestructible essence.
She finally stopped daydreaming long enough to call JC back. Glancing at her clock, she realized that time was slipping away. She dialed the numbers that she had memorized quickly and waited anxiously for him to answer.
“Well hello, hello Miss Gipson,” he answered cheerfully, knowing it was Jocelyn from his Caller ID.
“Uh, hi” she stammered, taken aback by the fact that he knew it was her.
“I see you’re still at work. Do you ever leave Wall Street?”
“Work, work, work all day long. You know how it is, I’m sure.”
“I do, but all work and no play makes Jocelyn a dull girl.”
“Why, Joshua Chasez, are you calling me dull,” she inquired playfully.
“No, nothing like that,” he laughed. “It’s just a forewarning. But I know exactly what to do to fix it.”
“Oh really? And what might that be?”
“Going out with me can do wonders for the mind and body.”
“Well, in that case, I think that can be arranged,” she replied, smiling.
“Then I say, let’s arrange it.”
She thought a moment before speaking. “How about if I meet you at Serafina, at say 9?”
It was only 6pm and JC knew he would go crazy if he had to wait another 3 hours to see her. “Better yet, how about I pick you up at your house at 8:08 and we go to Serafina together.”
“But then you’d have to drive to Brooklyn to get me, then come back uptown, then drive back to Brooklyn to bring me home. I couldn’t let you do that.”
“What if you don’t have a choice,” he asked flirtatiously.
“Well then I guess I’ll just have to say ‘yes.’”
“In that case, I’ll see you at 8:08, sharp.”
“Why 8:08?”
“I just like the number,” he responded, chuckling lightly.
“Okay, it’s a date,” she said cheerfully.
“Alright then. I can’t wait to see you. But until then, no more work, okay.”
She hadn’t intended on leaving her office quite yet, but she relented. Besides, she had to go home and get ready, so she made the deal. “Okay, I’m getting my purse as we speak.”
“Good. I’ll see you soon.”
“Bye,” she said, in a singsong voice.
They both hung up and let out and exasperated sigh of delight. JC was elated about the night ahead of them. The two hours he spent waiting for her call were agonizing. He had been thinking about her day and night, so he was determined to turn that Friday night into magic.
Jocelyn felt as though she was on top of the world as she walked to the subway station. Getting home was bound to be a nightmare, but she was willing to endure it, for the night she was about to have was going to be a dream. In her mind, JC Chasez was nothing short of a miracle, and she knew he was going to make their evening together special… just by being in her presence.
By 8:00, Jocelyn was standing in her mirror trying to refine herself in any way possible. Her sleeveless white dress that came just below her knees fit her petite and slender frame perfectly. She wore silver sandals accentuated with straps and rhinestones, intensifying her size 5 feet. And her smoky gray eye shadow complemented her chocolate brown eyes and vanilla complexion as her thick brown hair fell softly on her oval face and halfway down her bare back. The last thing she needed was her diamond cross which fell just below her neckline. “Perfect,” she whispered to her reflection.
Just as she grabbed her purse, the phone rang, startling her. She picked it up on the first ring as she walked towards the front of the apartment. “Hello?”
“You live on 35 Dean Street between Court and Pacific, right?”
She smiled once again from hearing the voice on the other line. “Yesssss.”
“Apartment F, correct?”
“Yesssss.”
“Okay, I’ll be there soon.”
Jocelyn shot her eyes across the room to the silver clock in her kitchen to see that it was 8:07. “Jace, I think you’re gonna be late.”
He grinned at her comment as he responded, “Now why on Earth would you think something like that?”
“Um, because it’s 8:07,” she said, as there was a knock at the door. “And you’re not here.”
“Correction,” he stated, as she swung the door open. “It’s 8:08, and I am here.”
Jocelyn’s mouth hung open as JC stood before her smiling brightly, cell phone in left hand, single white rose in right hand. He wore a preppy-style gray sweater with white shirt underneath, and matching gray pants. His golden-tinged curls fell around his face impeccably. He looked immaculate, to say the least.
He flipped his silver cell phone closed, and stared at Jocelyn for a minute, before either of them said anything. “Wow. You look… incredible.”
Her face turned a pink shade before she could get out a barely audible, ‘thank you.’ She then realized she still had the telephone up to her ear. She quickly turned it off and set it on the coffee table in her living room, then grabbed her purse asking him if he were ready to go.
The two of them piled into JC’s silver Dodge Viper before peeling down the street into the night of their lives.
By the time they returned to Jocelyn’s quiet downtown Brooklyn neighborhood, it was close to 4 in the morning, but neither one of them wanted the night to end. Inevitably, morning was approaching and JC had an engagement to tend to soon.
Jocelyn stared into JC’s cobalt blue eyes, which appeared to be twinkling in the darkness of the car. She couldn’t tear her eyes away from him. He was breathtaking. Normally, she wouldn’t make the first move, but it seemed like the only thing to do at the moment. And she wouldn’t have been able to live with herself if she had known that she let the opportunity to kiss him pass her by.
She leaned in and let her lips cover his softly. At first, JC was taken by surprise at her assertiveness, but he soon stopped thinking and decided to let things lead to where they wanted. He slowly slipped his tongue into her mouth, escalating the passionate kiss as Jocelyn wrapped her arms around his neck and let her fingers caress the short hair at the nape of his neck. However, she stopped suddenly when she realized that things could get out of hand very quickly, as she was more attracted to this man that she had ever been drawn to anyone before in her life. “I’m sorry,” she started.
But JC interrupted her before she could go on. “Please, don’t apologize. I think that kiss was the best thing that’s ever happened to me, and if you apologize for it… well I just don’t think my heart can take it.”
“You didn’t let me finish JC. What I was going to say was that I’m sorry that I just stopped like that. But I didn’t want to start something that we couldn’t finish… tonight, that is.”
He smiled at the thought of them “finishing” what they had just started, and he was indeed sorry that it wouldn’t happen too. “Well that’s perfectly understandable.”
She turned her head to gaze out the window at her apartment, which was dark, and even worse, empty. But she knew that it was time to go. Cinderella had been to the ball, but midnight had come and gone, and it was time for her to disappear into the darkness. “Thank you JC, for a perfect night.”
“No need to thank me. You being there is what made this night special.”
Jocelyn kissed him on the cheek one last time, white rose still in hand, before scurrying out of the car into her apartment building.
Once she got inside, she sighed loudly, closing the door. She threw her shoes off and to the floor beside her couch before walking to her bedroom where she lay her rose on her nightstand and laid in her bed, fully clothed, simply thinking of the wonderful man that had come into her life and turned it all around.
Jocelyn was awoken after what seemed to be only minutes of sleep by the sound of her door buzzer. She grabbed her cell phone from its cradle to check the time, finding that it was 8:08 a.m. She smiled at the time while walking to her bathroom to get a robe in order to cover the dress she was still wearing from the night before.
Answering the buzz, a man’s voice that she didn’t recognize radiated throughout the house. “I have a delivery for a Miss Jocelyn Gipson. Is she available?”
“Yes. May I ask who it’s from?”
“I can’t say ma’am. I'm just to deliver to Miss Gipson.”
“Okay, I’ll be right down to get it.”
Pulling her hair into a sloppy ponytail at the top of her head, she found some slip-on shoes and walked towards the staircase of her apartment building, finding a large man, clad in all brown in the lobby, she assumed it to be the delivery guy. He handed her a small white envelope and walked away.
Confused as to why it couldn’t be placed in her mailbox, she called after him. “Excuse me sir, is that all?”
He said nothing, but returned shortly thereafter with a bouquet of white roses in his hand and placed them gently in her arms. He tipped his hat politely. “Have a good day ma’am.” And with that, he left.
Jocelyn beamed as she counted the roses, seeing that there were only 11. Walking up the stairs, she opened the envelope and smiled even wider after reading the message.
Thank you for taking a chance
Her mind flashed back to the night before and the many memories they made in the few hours that they had been together. Just the two of them.
She walked back into her apartment, and although she hadn’t remembered leaving the door open, she thought nothing of it. She was too giddy to try and decipher insignificant details such as that. She walked back to her bedroom only to find another dozen white roses on her nightstand with another rose attached.
If you’re ready…
“If I’m ready, what,” she said to herself.
“If you’re ready, then turn around.”
Jocelyn spun around to find JC standing in the threshold of her bedroom, angelically in all white.
She laughed as she spoke, “You never fail to amaze me JC Chasez.”
“Funny, I was just thinking the same thing about you.”
“Oh? And what else were you thinking about me, Mr. Chasez?”
“Well, Miss Gipson, I was just thinking about how I love this feeling.”
Jocelyn’s smile was growing by the minute. “What feeling is that?”
“The feeling knowing I can make you smile.”
“Well, I love the feeling of knowing you can make me smile too.”
“So, my dear, how’s this fairytale gonna end?”
“This fairytale is gonna end…” She walked towards him slowly, still grinning uncontrollably, and placed a short, sweet kiss on his soft, pink lips. “With a kiss.”
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