Neither of them began to stir until about 10. A ray if sunlight peeked through a small slit between the heavy curtains that hung over the large windows. The particles of light danced across their faces as if a natural alarm clock was waking them up.
They slowly emerged from the state of REM sleep remembering where they were and whom they were with. They smiled with their eyes still closed and cuddled closer as though the temperature around them was 50 degrees. It was the perfect morning to end the perfect night, but it wasn’t over. They would have many more nights like this and just as many mornings. JC was the first to open his eyes as he lovingly stoked Lexi’s bare arm. She in response opened her eyes and kissed JC’s chest and neck until she reached his lips.
“Happy Valentine’s Day,” he said half-awake.
She smiled and kissed him again. “Happy Valentine’s Day. I wish we could stay like this forever. Wait,” she said slightly changing her tone, “What are we gonna do about a flight home?”
“I already made reservations for a 3 o’clock flight back. Let’s try not to miss it, ok?”
“I make no promises.” She laid her head back down on his shoulder and ran her fingers over his firm stomach. “I can’t believe I have to go back to Orlando tomorrow morning. That’s the last thing on my mind right now.”
“I hear ya, but it’s just something that has to be done.”
“That’s easy for you to say. You go on tour in a little over a month. You’re gonna be rehearsing nonstop. You have stuff to look forward to.”
“Look forward to?” JC laughed. “Do you know how grueling it is? Dancing for nine hours a day, memorizing choreography for like twelve dances…sometimes I’d really rather not…”
“..but then you remember that you’re living out your dream and you wouldn’t trade it in for anything.”
“Exactly. Something will come up for you. Your song already has airplay across the country. It’s only a matter of time until your video’s on TRL.”
“Riiiiight,” she said as she turned over.
“Hey, I have faith in you,” he said as he turned to spoon her. “Something’s coming. I can feel it.”
After a casual lunch at Brandy’s Restaurant (the restaurant inside the hotel), Lexi and JC made their flight back to Orlando. With the time change, they reached Lexi’s condo a little after midnight.
Lexi’s phone rang at 8 AM. “Who the hell would call this early? I’m not answering it,” Lexi muttered.
“You should answer it, Lex” JC said turning over. “It might be important.”
Lexi groaned, reached over JC and picked up the cordless phone. “Hello?”
“I see you made it back in one piece,” Richard laughed.
“Sure did. Rich, I just wanted to thank you for…”
“No thanks necessary. I have some news though.”
“What is it?” she giggled as JC began to kiss her neck.
“Are you sitting down?”
“Rich, you woke me up. I’m laying down.” JC was now under the covers kissing her body. She was still lightly giggling trying not to be loud.
“You’d you like to go on tour this year?”
“Is this a trick question? I’d love it. What’s your point?”
“What would you say if I told you that you were going to be one of the opening acts for *NSYNC for their summer tour…”
“What!? Are you serious?”
“As a heart attack.”
“Omigawd! That’s awesome! How long have you heard about this?”
“Only since yesterday. I was going to wait until I saw you, but I couldn’t wait any longer. How about we have lunch today? We’ve got to talk about some things.”
“Umm, sounds good.”
“Ok, I’ll meet you at The Ocean Grill at one.”
“Ok, Rich. Bye.”
“What was all that about?” JC asked as she put the phone back in its craddle.
“Richard just gave me some very good news.”
“And what news would that be?”
“I got a job as an opening act this summer!”
“That’s great! I’ll hardly ever see you, but that’s still awesome.”
“I don’t know about that…”
“Umm, I’m not following you.”
“I’m going to be one of the opening acts for…”
“For…?”
“*NSYNC!”
“Are you for real?”
“Yep.”
“Yo, that’s great!”
“Yo?” Lexi laughed.
“Sorry, I got a little excited.