Chapter
7: Fancy Dress.
The phone on Clare's bedside table
woke her from her deep sleep.
"Hello!" she said wearily
as her eyes tried to open and focus.
"Clare have you seen the front
page of the paper this morning?" a voice the other end of the phone asked
her.
"Lib? What time is it?"
"It's eleven, are you still
in bed?"
"Oh shit, yeah. My alarm couldn't
have gone off or I slept right through it," Clare said sitting up in bed
and checking the clock, "I'm late for work. I gotta go and shower I'll
see you later!"
Clare hung up the phone and
jumped out of bed. She had a quick shower, got dressed and headed off to
work, collecting the mail from the box outside the apartment before she
left. She pulled up in her parking space in front of the building and grabbed
the mail from the passenger's seat so she could go through it briefly in
the elevator on her way up to the second floor.
As she walked into the building
she glanced at the front page of the newspaper she had brought from home,
remembering what Libby had phoned her for that morning she unfolded the
paper to read it properly. She stormed into the lobby and Paul, one of
the security guards greeted her, "I'm gonna kill him!" she screamed as
she ran toward the elevator.
~~~~~*~~~~~
"Where is he?" Clare shouted as
she ran into her office and scanned the room for JC. The four members
of 'N Sync looked at her but didn't utter a word. She looked at Justin;
"I asked you a question?"
"Who?" He asked nervously
as he sat on the couch and looked at her. Her eyes were like fire and she
looked like she was going to kill someone.
"The last edition to this
group!"
"I dunno!"
"Justin, don't protect him!"
Clare said pulling the 6ft youngster to his feet, "Now tell me where the
rodent is!"
"What's he done?" Chris asked
curiously as Justin sat back down.
"Don't you guys read the newspaper?
It's plastered all over the front page!" she said, her voice still at danger
level.
Clare threw the paper at Chris
so he could read the headline.
'I HAD A ONE NIGHT STAND WITH
JC FROM 'N SYNC' he read.
"Uh-oh!" he said as he passed
the reading material to Lance, who was sat between Joey and Justin.
Clare paced the room, "How
could he be so stupid?"
"Now is this because it's
in the paper or because you're jealous it happened?" Chris asked bravely.
He had a suspicion that Clare felt more for JC than she let on and he was
hoping she'd let it out so he could set JC's mind at rest.
"Chris this has nothin' to
do with me. This is strictly a professional interest!"
Chris raised his eyebrows
somehow not believing her.
"You know what Kirkpatrick,
I don't really care what you think but I'd thank you to keep your opinions
to yourself because until I find JC I'm finding it hard to fight the urge
not to lay into something. You wouldn't be my first choice but open that
yap of yours again to say anything that isn't constructive and I'll gladly
rip your head off!"
~~~~~*~~~~~
Clare was getting no answers from
the rest of the group so she decided to go look for JC herself. The first
room she checked was the game room but he wasn't in there. She checked
Libby's office, Jamie's office and down in the dance room, still no sign,
so she decided to check the outside of the building, on the court or in
the pool.
She finally found him out
on the court shooting hoops. She walked over and jumped up to retrieve
the ball from the shot he took.
"Hey I was in the middle of
a shot!" he complained.
"Yeah, and now you're in the
middle of life and death!" Clare bounced the ball in front of her, "I'd
think carefully about the answers you give me to the following questions."
JC saw a look of pain and
anger in Clare's eyes and knew this was going to be serious.
"Where did you go after the
club Saturday?"
"Home." He replied as he began
to break out into a sweat.
"Ehh! Wrong answer!"
JC could feel Clare's eyes
burning through him, a look on her face that he couldn't describe.
"Before you went home." She
pressured.
How does she know about
that? Has Chris told her? I'll kill him! He thought before he answered
her question, "I took a friend home, why?"
"I'll spell it out for you
shall I?" Clare took a shot at the hoop, it missed by miles but she just
shrugged her shoulders before turning to look at him. "Do you mind explaining
to me why there's a story in this morning's paper by a girl claiming you
and she had a night of passion!"
Ally wouldn't have done
that, would she? He thought looking at Clare as she waited for an answer.
"The least you could've done
was tell me, then at least I'd have been prepared for this. Every parent
in America will 've read that and do you really think this is just gonna
just pass by without a few hundred letters of complaint. I don't think
so. Joshua Chasez, one night stand extraudinair."
"It wasn't like that!" JC
shot back at her.
"Oh no, well then do explain,
then maybe I'll have something to tell the fans that call, e-mail or write
us distressed claiming to be your future wife."
"She's an ex girlfriend. We
met at the club and she was alone so I went home with her to make sure
was safe. I didn't mean for it to happen. It was a mistake."
"So is that what I should
tell everyone, it was a mistake!" Clare snapped at him.
"We all make them, even you!"
"Yeah but my mistakes don't
usually mean I jumped into bed with an ex before thinking it through!"
"That's not fair!"
"Life isn't fair JC, it's
about time you figured that one out!"
JC looked up at Clare making
her feel guilty about the way she was being with him.
"Look, I'm just worried what
effect this is gonna have on you as a group. It's nothing against you personally.
I know everyone makes mistakes but you should've thought this through before
it happened."
There was a short uncomfortable
silence. JC was wondering what kind of strain this was gonna have on his
and Clare's relationship and Clare was wondering how she was going to help
him out of this.
"So this girl is an ex?" she
asked him, she'd come up with a plan and she needed all her facts straight
before it could work.
JC nodded.
"And you took her home to
make sure she got home okay?"
He nodded again.
"Right well when your asked
nothin' happened."
"I can't lie!"
"Well then, I'm sorry JC but
you're on your own, that's the only thing I can come up with and if you
won't go with it then I'll leave it in your hands!" Clare said before she
walked off the court leaving him to his own thoughts.
~~~~~*~~~~~
"So, is he still alive?" Justin
asked Clare as she walked back into the office rubbing her forehead.
Clare didn't answer she was
still trying to come up with a cover story.
This wasn't supposed to happen.
If JC had a girlfriend, fine, no one had a problem with that. There wasn't
a 'no girlfriends' clause in their contracts but this wasn't a girlfriend
she was an ex and things like this weren't supposed to happen.
Clare sighed as she sat in
the chair behind her desk and threw her head back.
"She says it was for old times
sake." Lance said standing up. He walked over to the desk and threw the
paper down in front of Clare.
"She probably doesn't realised
what effect her little money scheme will do to this band." Clare said sitting
up in her seat and looking at him.
"So how long do we bet it'll
take for the phone calls to start?" Joey asked trying to break the tension.
"I'll give it ten minutes!"
Clare replied taking a 20-dollar note from her pocket and placing it on
the desk.
"Before midday." Chris said
matching her 20.
"An hour!" Justin replied
reaching into his pocket.
"Sorry little one, this bet
is for the big boy's only. I don't think your piggy will stretch to 20
dollars!" Clare said sarcastically picking on the youngster.
"So what are you gonna say
when they do start callin'?" they heard a voice say from the doorway.
They turned to see Libby walking
into the office with Jenny in tow.
"You saw it then?" Justin
asked her.
"Are you kiddin'? Everyone
has seen that article. It's the hottest news since they printed that you
were actually born and not created like Frankenstein's monster!" Libby
said teasing him.
"She's been here two minutes
and already, it starts." He said throwing his hands in the air and making
his way to the back of the room.
"Don't worry curly monster,
I'm sure it won't be long before they realise they made a mistake after
all!" Libby continued with a smile as she turned to him, "I'm not sure
your creator will wanna own up to it though because you are, after all,
the biggest freak of nature to walk this planet."
~~~~~*~~~~~
"So is everyone ready for the
party tonight?" Justin asked the whole group as Lance went to get a soda.
It was Lance's 20th birthday
and they had arranged a party for him that he was unaware of. It was becoming
hard for everyone not to mention his birthday at all; they'd planned to
pretend not to realise just to see if he would mention it before them.
It was going to be fancy dress and the theme was superheroes or super villains.
Everyone had picked a character and those who didn't pick their own nor
have a clue whom to be, had to pick one from a hat.
"What party is this?" Jenny
asked.
"It's a birthday party for
Lance." JC replied as he stood in the doorway keeping a lookout for the
birthday boy.
"And why was I not told about
this?" she asked glaring at Libby.
"Sorry, I didn't think you'd
be interested!" Libby smiled back defensively.
"You're welcome to come along."
Joey said.
"Are you sure?"
"The more the merrier!" Clare
replied.
"Shhh! He's on his way back."
JC said diving back to his seat on the couch.
Chapter
8: The Party.
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