Behind His Smile---JC Chasez Fanfiction

•SIX•

Five A.M. couldn't come soon enough.

JC rolled over once again to try and get comfortable, but it was no use.  He sighed quietly to himself, his restless eyes gravitating toward a small sliver of light coming through the curtain of his bunk.  Where was sleep?

He could hear the soft hushed sound of Lance's breathing, indicating he was in deep sleep.  Also, there was the faint sound of Justin's soft snoring over on the couch.  No fair. 

JC peeked at his phone screen. 3:59. One minute until 4, then an hour til 5. He was used to this by now.  He could almost feel every single minute trickling slowly by.

His phone screen lit up, and JC squinted against it.

Katrina: Hey babyyyy. Wanna come over?

JC smirked to himself.  Kat was probably drunk again. He took the phone into his shaky hands to type back.

JC: No, Kat. I told you I'm on the road. We get to the city at 5.

There was no answer for awhile. It was now half past 4.  JC shivered when the air conditioning unit kicked in and blew a draft straight into his bunk. He grasped for his comforter and drew it tightly around him.

Katrina: Oh yeah sorry forgot.

Not even a minute later, she texted again.

Katrina: You better be back tonight

JC sighed. Um, no? There was no way that was gonna happen.  He shook his head and typed back.

JC: I can't, Katrina. The gig's at 7 tonight, and we have another one in the afternoon tomorrow. Sorry.

And then they'd have an interview too, and a lunch date with some other news person. 

JC looked at his phone again.

Katrina: This is an order JC. You better be back.

Katrina: If you want to keep your nuts =)

JC sighed and tossed his phone down to the floor. Oh yeah? Touch me and you'll wish you hadn't, he found himself thinking. He wasn't even sure why he had thought it. Girlfriends were scary sometimes, but Kat wasn't all that bad.  Was she?

"Get up, boys. we've arrived."

JC was the first up.  Even though his body was weak from absolutely no sleep for three days, he couldn't find the will to stay in bed.

"Quit making it look so easy to get out of bed," Chris whined from his bunk. "It's so warm in here." The dark haired boy with glasses sat up and pulled his blanket tightly around him. JC only stared at him.

Justin was arousing from his place on the couch.  "Damn, why's it 45 degrees in here? Turn the heat on!" he made a face at the thermostat on the wall.

JC moved past Joey and Lance who were stretching and yawning. "Do we have anything good to eat?" he asked, opening the fridge.

"Dude, you know how Lou feels when we eat less than an hour before dance rehearsals." Chris remarked, pulling on his jeans.

"Don't eat, because it affects your muscle movement, and then you'll feel lousy and not dance right," Justin drawled in a classic Lou Pearlman accent. The other boys laughed, but JC ignored them, pulling out a bottled banana smoothie from the fridge.

"Protein oughta be okay," he said quietly.  Though there probably wasn't an ounce of protein in the drink.  He slowly unscrewed the lid and took a sip as the other boys carried on in their jabber.

"So, dance rehearsals at 6, breakfast at 8, interview at 10, who knows what after that--"Joey was reading a slip of paper tacked to the fridge.  He raised his dark eyebrows. "Dang, that's a busy morning."

Someone had started a pot of coffee and several of them were pouring some in mugs and drinking slowly.

Justin leaned his head back against the wall. "You ever think, how things would be different if one of us hadn't of made it into the band?" he asked the others.

Lance made a face. "Justin, you and your deep topics. We all made it, that's what matters." He let out a laugh.

Justin smiled. "I know, I just think about that sometimes. If one of us hadn't, it'd be so different. But it might be beneficial to the one that didn't get in."

"What do you mean by that?" Chris asked, pouring a good amount of sugar into his coffee. He stirred it and raised his gaze to the blond, curly-haired boy.

Justin looked down at his socks.  "I mean, having to deal with all the paparazzi, the fans, the stupid four hour long dance rehearsals..." as a last thought, he added," Lou Pearlman."

JC could feel the smoothie sliding down his throat the wrong way, though he tried to stop it.  He desperately tried to keep from coughing, but it escaped him anyway. He choked until it cleared away.

The boys were looking at him.

"You okay?" Joey asked. 

"Yeah, just went down the wrong way," JC snapped a little bluntly. He licked his lips and looked down at his feet.  He could feel Justin staring at him even after all the other boys stopped.

"So, shall we get dressed and head to the studio?" He asked, tossing the unfinished smoothie into the trashcan with one quick movement.