Blue Siofra (blue_siofra) wrote in butterfly_fics, @ 2008-12-30 01:41:00 |
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Current mood: | sad |
The Melody of Life (1/7)
Title: The Melody of Life (1/7)
Author: blue_siofra
Rating: PG-13
Characters: Jc Chasez/Ofc, Lance Bass, rest of *N Sync
Summary:
Chapter 1
“May I help you?” the sales clerk asked as I stepped into the pet store.
“Nah, I’ll just browse for now.” I tell him. I walk over to the kittens that are up for adoption. I was rubbing one that had it’s paw sticking out of the cage when someone bumped into me.
“Oops! Sorry. I didn’t see you behind me.” the guy said.
“It’s ok, this cat didn’t eat me.” I said back. The guy laughed and turned so I could see his face. He had cheek length hair that he had flipped out, a great smile and sparkling blue eyes.
“My name is Josh, but my friends call me Jc.” he said, extending his hand out for a handshake.
“I’m Melody.” I said as I shook his hand. He turned to the cats.
“This one looks friendly.” he said of the one I had been scratching.
“Yeah. I wish I had the money to adopt it.” I sighed. He turned to me.
“Don’t you have enough?” I turned to face him and looked deep into his eyes.
“No, but I wish I did though, it’s so cute!” I turned and walked into the dog section. Josh followed me, and we chatted about things and stuff and by the time I left, we had exchanged phone numbers. I went to my car, and popped my burned relaxing CD into the player. As some of my favorite songs came on, my mind wouldn’t leave Josh alone. I kept repeating my entire experience with him. I remember every detail we talked about, and when I pull into my driveway, I realized how much I liked talking to him. I get out of my car and walk into the four-bedroom house my father had bought and left to me. I check my mail, all of it was junk. I head upstairs and grab a few towels and my robe to take a relaxing bath. I put on my Jazz CD and throw some scented salts into the bath. I undress and climb in. I lie there and unwound for a half hour or so. My thoughts were one hundred percent Josh.
“I wonder if I’m going to meet those friends of his that he kept talking about.” I wonder to myself as I get out and head to bed.
Chapter 2
“Yeah, I love you too, Jack. Ok, Bye.” I hung up my phone and it rings again before I can even put it down.
“Hello?” I ask.
“Hi Melody?” It’s Josh. “I was wondering if you would like to meet my friends today. What do you think?” Josh asked.
“Well, I was planning on staying home today and watching old cartoons and stuff.” I laughed.
“So it’s a yes?” he asks hopefully.
“Yeah. Sure. Give me 30 minutes to get ready.” I said.
“OK! I’ll see you in 30!” he says. “Wait! What’s your address?” I give him my address and head up to the bathroom and start to get ready. I put on a halter top and shorts along with my favorite pair of flip-flops. By the time I get downstairs to grab my purse, the doorbell is ringing. I open the door to see Josh standing there with his elbow against the doorframe, his hair flipped out perfectly and wearing a black shirt that had ROCK STAR studded onto it.
“Hey.” I said.
“Hey. Ready to go? I’ll drive.”
“Yeah, lets go.” I say as I step out and lock the door. I followed Josh to his pick up truck and climbed into the seat. He started the truck and pulled out of the driveway and took off down the street.
“I have to work for a little while, but after I’m done, we spend some time together alone?” He glances over at me. “I work with my friends, so I’ll introduce you to them.” he adds when he sees the look on my face.
“That sounds alright to me.” I say. Josh pulls into a parking lot and pulls in between a Toyota 4 Runner and a PT Cruiser. Josh turns the truck off and gets out. He waits for me as I get out. We enter the building and Josh leads me to a room down a hall. It was a recording studio. There were four other guys there when we walk in.
“Hey guys. This is Melody. Melody, this is Lance, Chris, Joey and Justin,” he said pointing to each guy in turn.
“Hi.” I said to them. They say hello to me. Josh turns to look at me.
“We’re here to record some songs for our upcoming album, Illusions.” He says. I look at the guys and Josh.
“Oh. My. God, Josh! You didn’t tell me you were a pop star!”
Chapter 3
“Melody, please, Melody, don’t go! I’m sorry I hadn’t told you. I figured you would figure that out by now. I’m sorry.” Josh called after me, since I had started to leave. I turned back around, and looked him in the eye.
“Why should I, Josh? Why should I stay? You should have told me what you did for a living!” I told him, angrily.
“Because if you leave, I may never have the chance to have a friend for me, and not because of my fame. The guys are the only people I can trust outside of my family. My last girlfriend cheated on me, and I just need a friend.” Josh said with a tear in his eye. When he finished, he let it roll down his cheek. I walked up to him and wiped the tear off his face before it fell off his chin and looked into his eyes.
“I’m sorry Josh, but it does come as a shock when you find out about something like that the way I did.” I told him in a softer voice. The other guys were peeking at us through the door. I saw Lance duck his head back in the room, smiling.
“Come on Josh, you have some work to do.” I grabbed his hand and led him back into the studio. Now there was an extra man there.
“Johnny, this is Melody.” Josh says.
“There you are, JC. Nice to meet you Melody. JC, you need to get in there, NOW.” Josh went to the other side, where he stood with the other guys. Lance said something to him, and he blushed slightly. The music started, and Josh took a deep breath and started to sing with his eyes mostly closed.
“Wow. I never knew that music could consume someone that much. It’s amazing.” I breathed. Johnny looks at me.
“Those guys have what it takes. What’s up with you and JC?” he asked.
“We kind of bumped into each other yesterday, and he asked if I wanted to meet his friends, and well, here I am.” I answer as they finish the song. Josh was the first one out of the booth.
“Which one next, Johnny?” he asked.
“We’ll do this one.” Johnny said as he hands Josh some papers. Josh looks at them.
“We need a female counterpart for this one.” Josh said. I look at him.
“May I try it?” I ask innocently.
“Sure.” Johnny gives me a copy of the song. I look it over and start singing what was printed on the paper.
Chapter 4
By the time I had finished singing, all six guys were staring at me with their mouths gaping open.
“Johnny, I think we found her.” Josh says.
“Will you sing it for us?” Chris asks.
“Yeah. Why not?” I say. The guys start to smile.
“Well, Melody, it seems you have just started your singing career. That is, if you want one.” Johnny says.
“Can we get this done yet? I want to be with someone.” Justin says. Chris turns on him and makes a big show of batting his eyes at Justin.
“But, J, we’re already together.” He says in a high-pitched voice. Everyone laughs as Justin looks upset and then starts laughing also. I enter the booth with the guys, and I stand between Josh and Justin. The engineers start the music and Justin starts his part. The guys do the chorus, then Josh does his part. After the second chorus, my part comes up. I let the music consume me as I start my part. After my main solo, I do the backup vocals during the choruses. The song finishes.
“Perfect!” the engineer says over the speaker. We leave the booth, and the guys get their next song. Johnny sets up an appointment for me to meet him to talk legal stuff. When the guys finish for the day, Josh comes up to me and leads me back to his car. We get in to his car.
“Why didn’t you tell me you could sing like that?” he asks me.
“Why didn’t you tell me you were famous?” I ask him back. Josh starts the car and asks me if I want to go to lunch, his treat.
“Are you asking me for a date, Mr. Chasez?” I ask him.
“Not at all. I’m only taking a friend out for lunch to celebrate her new career. That’s all.” he says with a straight face.
“If that’s the case, I grant you my consent to take me to lunch.” I say back. Josh pulls into a driveway.
“I need to get something. Do you want to come in?” he asks me.
“Sure. Are you going to show me your underwear drawer?” I ask in a straight face. Josh gets this ‘What?!?’ expression on his face as he gets out of the car. I start laughing.
“Sorry. I just had to ask that. It was worth it. Do you think I could also be a comedian? How about my own movie?” I ask him, smiling.
“Whatever. Come on. Let’s go.” Josh said.
Chapter 5
I walk in the front door of Josh’s house.
“Your house is just so nice, Josh!” I say as I step into the kitchen. “What’s for lunch?” I ask as I head over to the refrigerator.
“How about we order out and stay here, then go somewhere afterwards?” he asks me. Just then, his doorbell rings. Josh excuses himself as I jump up and sit on his counter top. After a few minutes, Josh calls me into his living room. I hop down and head to his voice. I walk into his living room and on the couch is this young lady that is obviously very pregnant. Her face is buried into her hands. She is sobbing hysterically. Josh looks at me.
“She’s my neighbor’s daughter, and her parents are very strict with her. They just came back today from a six month vacation, and kicked her out when they saw her like this. She needs a place to stay. What do you think we should do? I wouldn’t mind her being here, but I don’t think it would be good for her to stay here.” Josh told me. Just then, his phone in the kitchen rang. He left to answer it, and I sat down next to the girl.
“What’s your name?” I ask her.
“Cassandra.” she responds between sobs. I ask her how far along she is. She tells me that she’s nine months pregnant and now has nowhere to go now that she got kicked out. Josh’s cell rang. I picked it up. It was Lance.
“Melody? Why are you answering Jc’s cell?” he asks. I tell him that Josh is busy, and that the phone was there, so I answered it.
“Who’s crying over there?” he asks.
“A neighbor is over, that’s all.” I tell him. Lance tells me to have Josh call him back when he gets the chance. We hang up as Josh walks into the room.
“Who was that?” he asks me.
“Lance wants you to call him back when you have the chance.” Cassandra lets out a new set of sobs. I turn to her.
“Would you like to stay with me? I have extra room at my house. Cassandra looks up at me.
“Really? You’ll let me?” she asks me.
“Yeah. It’s not a problem.” I tell her. I look over at Josh. There is something in his eyes that wasn’t there before. After a moment, I realize what it was. It was love.
Chapter 6
“Thank you so much for letting me stay here.” Cassie says as I show her a bedroom.
“It really is no problem at all.” I tell her. Cassie gets situated and heads to the bathroom. My doorbell rings. I answer it and there on the doorstep is Jack. I let him in.
“Thanks Jack. It means a lot to me that you came by. I don’t know what else to do or who else to call.
“It’s fine, Melody. I’m happy I’m the one you called. Where is this girl?” Jack asked me.
“She’s upstairs in the bathroom.” I tell Jack. We head up there and wait for her to come out. When she opens the door, she looks frightened.
“Cassie, this is Jack, my brother. He’s an OB/GYN. He can help both of us through this.” I tell her.
“All I want to know is what this mess is.” Cassie says. She is standing in a puddle of clear liquid. Jack takes one look at it.
“Your water broke. You’re in labor.” he says. We both look at him.
“What?!?” we both say in unison.
“I’ll take her to the hospital.” Jack says.
“Melody, will you come with me?” Cassie asks.
“Sure, Cassie. I’ll come.” I tell her. We all pile into Jack’s car, with Jack driving. We reach the local hospital in a few minutes. As Cassie is signing in, I call Josh.
“Cassie’s in labor.” I tell him.
“Where are you? I’ll be right there.” Josh says. I tell him and we hang up. I go back with Cassie and she is put into a delivery room. Soon,
she is ready to birth. Jack had taken her case since she didn’t have a doctor. Jack let me stay with Cassie, and I helped her by holding her hand while she pushed. Soon a baby’s cry came into the room. Jack looked up at us.
“It’s a boy!” he says. He hands the baby to Cassie, who looks at it.
“Hi there, little one. This is the only time you get to see me. I have to give you up for adoption. I can’t care for you, I don’t have a house to live in, really. This is your Aunt Melody, though.” I smile as she coos at her baby. After awhile, I head out into the waiting room where I know Josh is waiting.
“How is she?” he asks.
“It’s a boy, and she’s putting it up for adoption. I told her she can stay with me while she recuperates from this.” I tell him. Josh looks at me.
“You are so amazing. I met you yesterday and look at how you are with my neighbor. You helped her through a tough time in her life. I never met anyone like you at all.”
I smiled at what he said. We both went to see Cassie and her son. She was feeding him, and she let us hold him. I held him and faced Josh.
“He’s so adorable! It kind of makes me want my own.” I say.
Josh mumbles something under his breath. I look up at him and asked him what he said.
“Nothing. Cassie, can we take him for a walk?”
“Sure. Do whatever you want to. I need a nap anyways.” she said.
Josh and I took Cassie’s son for a walk around the floor. Many nurses stopped by to look at him and congratulated us on her. I looked at Josh after this had happened a few times.
“Mind if we go somewhere with less people?” I ask him. We end up saying good-bye to Cassie and headed to Josh’s car so he could take me home. In the elevator, we talked. When I was telling him about how I have always wanted my own children, Josh leaned into me and kissed me. On the lips.
Chapter 7
I look at Josh as he pulls away.
“What was that?” I ask him. I back up, trying to put as much space between us as I can. The elevator doors open. Josh gets out and turns to look at me.
“Are you coming?” he asks me.
“I think I need some space. I’ll get a ride home with Jack.” I press the button for the maternity floor and wait for the doors to close. I watch Josh as they close. He looks hurt. As soon as the doors close, I lean against the back wall and let some tears fall down my face. The elevator doors open and I step out of them. I head to Jack’s office. He’s at his desk working on paperwork. He looks up as I step into his office.
“Melody, what’s wrong?” he asks as I shut the door.
“I need a ride home, will you take me?” I sit in the chair on the other side of his desk.
“Yeah, sure. Let me finish this paperwork and we’ll head on out of here.” He gets back to his paperwork and I sit there thinking about what happened in the elevator. At last, Jack stood up. He grabs his briefcase and we leave. On the ride home, he tries to get what happened out of me.
“So, who was that guy you were with?” he asks me.
“That’s Josh, I met him yesterday and he’s Cassie’s neighbor.”
“Why didn’t he take you home?”
“Because I didn’t want him to take me home, I wanted to spend some time with you. Is there anything wrong with that? I want to spend some time with my favorite brother. How’s Cindy?”
“Cindy’s doing fine. And I’m your only brother you have. Stop trying to change the subject.”
“Who said I was trying to change the subject? I really did want to spend time with you. So when are you and Cindy going to try for
yourselves to have kids?? I want to be an aunt.”
“Cindy and I are not going to have children just so you can be an aunt. And anyways, it’s none of your business when we’re going to try.”
“You’ve already tried, haven’t you?!?!” Jack didn’t answer. He concentrated on driving.
“I knew it!! Is she expecting??” I cry out.
“We don’t know yet, but she thinks she might be, though.” Jack pulls into my driveway. I open the door and start to get out.
“I’ll see you later.” I shut the door. “Does mom know?”
“No, we won’t say anything until we’re sure she is expecting. See ya later, Melody.” Jack pulls out of the driveway and heads to his house. I head into my house to go to bed.
Chapter 8
I’m all ready to go to bed when the doorbell rings. I put my robe on and head downstairs to answer it. I open the door to find Josh standing there.
“What do you want?” I ask him.
“I just wanted to say I’m sorry about earlier.” He said with an apologetic look on his face.
“Why did you kiss me?”
“I’ll tell you if you let me in.” Josh says. I stand aside and let him in. I show him to the living room. Josh sits down on the couch. I excuse myself to get some better clothes on. I hurry back to the living room and Josh is sitting where I left him.
“Nice house.” he says.
“Thanks.” I sit down on the chair at the other end of the couch from him. We look at each other nervously.
“About earlier.” Josh says.
“Yes. Why did you kiss me?”
“Well, I felt the urge to, and I tried to fight it, but I couldn’t fight it off. It’s just that with Cassie giving birth, it brought some feelings up in both of us. You were talking about how you have always wanted your own, and I don’t know why, but I thought something about us, and I just wanted to kiss you. I’m sorry I did. I didn’t mean to scare you.”
“Well, I guess I accept your apology.” I said. Josh and I got to talking about other things, and we spent most of the night talking. He left around two in the morning, when I had finally looked at my watch and said I should get to bed, I had a meeting the next morning with Johnny. I walked him to the door.
“Would you mind if I kissed you on the cheek?” Josh asked me, looking down at me. I thought for a second,
“I guess not.” Josh smiled a little smile and leaned down and pecked my cheek. Then he headed out the door. I shut the door behind him.
“Night, Josh.”
Chapter 9
I awoke to my alarm clock going off. I groaned as I sat up and hit the alarm button to turn it off. I pulled myself out of bed and headed to the bathroom. I turned the shower on and looked at myself in the mirror. I put my hand on my cheek where Josh had kissed it last night. I took my shower and got dressed in some nice clothes and was getting ready to leave when my cell phone rang.
“Hello?”
“Hi Mel.”
“Oh, hi Josh. What’s up?”
“Nothing. I have tonight free, I was just wandering if you wanted to come over? We could watch a movie or something.” He asks me.
“Yeah, sure. I’ve got to go, I have that meeting with Johnny. I don’t want to be late.” Josh and I hung up and I left for the meeting. I arrived early, and waited a little while before Johnny opened the door. Johnny ushered me into his office and I sat down at a chair in front of his desk. Johnny asked me if I had ever considered a singing career. I told him I hadn’t really seriously thought of one. There was a knock on the door.
“Come in.” Johnny called. The door opened. Lance stuck his head in.
“Come on in, Lance. You’re just in time.” Johnny gestured to the other chair next to me. Lance walked in and sat down.
“Now, as I was just about to say, I think you have real potential, Melody. I was going to manage you myself, but Lance here has persuaded me to let him manage you. If that’s alright with you.”
“It’s fine with me, I guess. As I had said, I never had thought of pursuing this career professionally. I just sang as a hobby.” I said. Lance smiled.
“If that’s settled, allow me to let you read the contract I can offer you.” He said. He handed me a bundle of papers for me to read. I read through them carefully. I asked a few questions, and Lance and Johnny answered them.
“If it is alright with you, we’ll have someone write all the songs on your first album for you. The public will need to learn your voice and basic style, and you can build from there a very promising career. We know many songwriters that can make mega hits, that’s how we started out. It helps that we have what it takes to be a real group though.” Lance explained. I looked at him.
“I don’t have any songs written at this time, so that’s fine with me. Do what you want.” I signed the contract. Lance signed the contract, and so did Johnny.
“I sign it as a co-manager, but I’ll only be the money man. Lance will be your main manager.” he explained. When the meeting ended, Lance and I left Johnny’s office.
“So, boss, what’s next?” I asked him. He laughed.
“Nothing for you until Monday. Have a good weekend.” he said. I left and headed to Josh’s house.
Chapter 10
I pull into Josh’s driveway. I turn my car off and head up the walkway to the front door. I ring the doorbell. Josh answers the door. A grin starts in the corners of his mouth and it spreads across his whole face.
“Well?” he asks me.
“I’ll tell you if you let me in.” I said with a grin. He stood aside and let me in. I followed him to the kitchen, where he asked me if I wanted anything.
“Water’s fine, thanks.” I say. Josh gets a water bottle out of the fridge and hands it to me. He gestures to the table and we sit down.
“Well, how was it?” he asks.
“I’m now an official contracted artist. Lance is my manager.”
“Really? I knew you’d sign today, but I had no clue Lance was going to be your manager. I guess it works out better for Johnny that way. Oh! I almost forgot. I got you something for you. Hold on a sec.” Josh jumps up and heads out of the room. He came back with a box that had a lot of holes in it. He put it on the table.
“Go ahead. Open it!” he said as he sat back down. I reach up and carefully take the lid off the box. I look inside. Inside was the kitten from we were looking at two days ago when we met.
“Congrats, Melody.” Josh said, smiling at me.
“Oh my gosh! It’s the kitten! Thank you!” I reach across the table and give him a hug.
“What should I name her?” I ask as I pick her up from the box and start to cuddle it.
“I can think of a few names,” Josh said with a mischievous grin on his face. I look at the kitten.
“She looks like an Amanda to me. I think I’ll name her Amanda.” I rub her soft furry head. Josh smiles at us.
“I want the details of your meeting. What else did you discuss?” Josh says. I start giving him all the details of the meeting, including the fact that I wasn’t going to write my own songs for my first album. Josh sat there and truly listened to me. He is like no guy I have ever known. When I talk, he fully listens to me, and doesn’t have a pre-occupied mind, like all the other guys I knew in my life. When I finished, he told me that he’d be more than happy to write songs for my album, if I wanted him to. I said that sounded fine to me, and he leaned across the table and gave me a kiss on my cheek. Amanda meowed in protest, having been squashed between Josh and myself. Josh took her into his hands and started cooing at her. Amanda started to purr and rubbed her small head against him. He looked over at me.
“You learn a lot of animal stuff when you practically live with Lance and Joey for years.” he lifted Amanda up to his face. “And you are a cute one, if I do say so myself.” Amanda mewed and licked the tip of his nose, trying to lick her own. We started laughing. It was adorable.