"Hi Alex. How's your day so far?" JC asked. Alex was flipping through another stack of songs that Chris had brought her.
"Not so great, JC. How about your day?"
"Oh you know." He waved his hand flippantly. "How come you're having a bad day?"
"I have looked over these songs a hundred times and I still can't find a third one that I like. Chris thinks I should have at least three for a demo and he wants to start as soon as we get back to Orlando in two weeks. That doesn't give me much time to be ready to go into the recording studio."
JC watched her page through the songs for a minute. Then he turned and left the room. Alex came to the bottom of the stack of papers and looked hard at the last page. She couldn't remember reading through that song before. Maybe she had and forgotten about it. No, she wouldn't have forgotten a song like this. She stood up from the couch and ran out of the room to chase down JC. She found him at the back of the tour bus playing on his keyboard. She leaned down and kissed his cheek. JC stopped playing and touched his cheek where she had kissed him. "What was that for?" He looked at her curiously.
"JC, I found your present."
JC feigned innocence. "Present?" Alex whacked him with the paper and set it on the music stand on his keyboard.
"Play the music. I'll sing. I really think you've done it." Without an answer, JC began to play the music that Alex had only heard once before, in the very same room. When JC finished playing after the last verse, he looked up at Alex with wide eyes.
"You sang it exactly as I imagined." Alex hugged him and giggled.
"I have to go tell Chris that I found the last song! JC you're a genius!" Alex hopped up and left the room.
(*******************)
Carey's world seemed to have spun out of control ever since the day she watched the interview on MTV. She found it really strange that she had fallen for JC so quickly and that he had returned the feelings for her. Never in her wildest dreams had she imagined the passion that he had shown her truly existed. She could be having the worst day of her life and one two-minute phone call from him would completely turn her mood around.
JC was beginning to get restless from being in the recording studio. They had been home from the tour for two weeks. He was glad to see his family and have a bit of normalcy back in his life but every spare moment was spent thinking about Carey.
JC had spent four days of his vacation time in the studio with Alex working on her demo.
"And then I said to him not until you bark like a seal. And then the little green alien asked me to have his love child. And I said I couldn't because I was already betrothed to bigfoot and we're getting married next week in the chapel of love in Vegas. So then he offered me a million dollars to move to mars with him. I need your opinion. Do you think I should go? I mean it's a million bucks but I'm not sure what the shopping is like on the red planet." Alex grinned at JC's dreamy expression from where she was siting in the sound booth. "JC! Are you listening to me?" Alex's voice jarred him back to reality.
He smiled bashfully at her from behind the glass of the sound booth and answered her. "Yes, I'm listening."
She crossed her arms over her chest and narrowed her eyes. "Then answer my question."
"Yeah, You and Justin in Vegas. Sounds like fun." JC pretended to be preoccupied with the panel in front of him. I don't know what shopping is like on...on..." JC's forehead wrinkled and his eyes met Alex's through the glass. "Mars? What are you talking about Lex?"
She burst out laughing at his confused look. "So you were half listening to me. Are we done for today? I've sang this song so many times today I could puke."
JC switched off a few buttons and nodded. "Yeah, we're done. You did really well today Alex. I'll get this track to Chris by Thursday for your demo."
Alex hopped of the stool she had been sitting on and came out of the booth. "Thanks JC. I really appreciate you taking time out of your week off to work on my demo." JC didn't answer. "JC? Are you okay? I haven't seen you act like this since...since...OKAY! I've never seen you like this. You are smitten." She clapped her hands together and donned a dreamy look. "Oh look at you, you can't concentrate on work, you can't stand still. Face it Chasez, you can't wait until next week when she gets here so you can eat her up."
JC stood in place for moment a little stunned. He found it difficult to believe that Alex could tell all this from one look at him. He also found it a little unnerving that she had hit so close to his true feelings at that moment. He raised an eyebrow at her. "Interesting choice of words Lex."
"I didn't think your mind worked that way Jace but I see now that you've changed. Maybe you've been hanging around the young one too much."
"Yeah well one can only remain immune to Thrustin' Justin's influence for so long." JC grinned evilly at Alex.
Alex slowly raised her chin to meet his stare. "Thrustin' Justin? You didn't actually just say that did you?"
JC turned red and coughed. "Don't say that around him. He'll probably take it as a compliment." She warned.
JC laughed. "Where do you think I heard it from?"
Alex's eyes widened. "He is everything but modest eh?"
"You should hear what he calls you when you're not around –"
Alex's hand stopped in mid air on it's way to her bag. "Don't even go there JC. I am all too aware of what rhymes with Lex and I do NOT want to hear it come from your mouth. Enlightening conversation Chasez. I think I will have to go and have a little talk with that boy about KEEPING HIS BIG MOUTH SHUT. When I'm finished with him, he will have nothing left to thrust I tell ya. He'll be singing higher than Sarah Brightman. How do you feel about being called SYNC rather than N'SYNC? It just doesn't have the same ring to it but I'm sure you'll get used to it."
Chris and Justin burst through the door laughing and punching each other playfully. Alex smiled brightly at Chris and then turned to glare at Justin. Justin looked confused and then a little scared. "Are you guys...um...finished?"
JC watched the exchange between the two and tried to cover up the gleam in his eye.
"WE need to TALK." Alex picked up her bag, grabbed Justin around the wrist and literally dragged him out of the room. Justin looked from Chris to JC and then back to Chris, his eyes pleading for help. Chris grinned and waved at him before the door closed behind them.
"Whoah man! What's got her so riled? Whukussh!" Chris made a whip sound and flicked his wrist. He looked over at JC who had his back turned towards him. JC's shoulders were shaking and there was no sound coming from him. "JC?" Chris walked to where JC was standing and put his hand on JC's shoulder. "Are you okay?"
JC took a big gasp of air and turned to face Chris. He tried to compose himself but he couldn't. He was laughing so hard that his sides were beginning to hurt. Chris watched him curiously and then started to laugh without knowing what he was laughing about.
JC took another breath. "I got Justin in trouble! I got Justin in trouble!" He sang to Chris.
Slowly, a look of realization came over Chris and he pointed at JC. "That boy is going to kill you."
"No, Alex is going to kill him after what I just told her."
"You must have thought up something good. Alex had fire shooting from her eye sockets."
"Oh I did. I should use my imagination to write more than songs because the story that I just cooked up was way too good."
"You are really nasty when you want to be."
"I was just getting Justin back for the time he put spray cheese in my socks."
"You do realize that when they figure this out, they both will be after you? I've seen Justin's idea of revenge but together with Alex? That's just lethal. You are so gonna get burned by the spitfire twins before you are through."
JC managed to control his laughter to answer Chris. "Oh yeah, bring it!"