Part Three
Mercedes laid in her bed and stared at the ceiling and her long eye lashes slowly batted as she blinked her eyes. She crossed her arms over her face and sighed into her arms. Her body shifted from side to side as she slightly turned in her bed. Her silky brown hair pulled its way out of the pony tail that she had thrown it into the night before, and her shirt wrinkled underneath her back.
“Hello,” she mumbled out loud when she heard the phone ring. She turned her head and looked at the phone. A soft groan escaped her lips as she reached over to grab the phone. “Hello,” she said again after the phone had rang for the fourth time.
“Hey sleepy head,” Chris said.
“Hey Chris.”
“I can’t really talk right now, but I wanted to call and see if you were alright.”
Mercedes cracked a small smile. “I’m alright I guess. Thanks for asking Chris.”
“What was that that went down last night Mer?”
“It’s a long story. I really didn’t mean to send JC off the hinges though. I guess I was just being mean.”
Chris nodded as he said, “Yeah.”
“I’ll fix it though. I have no real reason to be like that toward him. Do you know if he’ll be around today?”
“I don’t know. Give him a call.”
“I might later. Hey I gotta call. Hang on a sec okay.”
“Well, I gotta go. I will talk to you later though alright?”
“Definitely. Bye Chris.”
“Bye sweetie,” he said back and clicked off his phone.
Mer hit the receive button on her phone and switched lines. “Hello,” she said in a less groggy voice than the tone she had used when she answered the phone the first time.
“Morning sunshine,” the voice on the other end said.
A smile swept over her face. She was glad that the previous night’s events hadn’t totally scared Justin away. “Hey you.”
“What are you up to?” he asked and played with the laces on his shoes.
“Just laying in bed,” she said and crossed one leg over the other.
“I wish I was still in bed.”
“Why aren’t you?”
“I just couldn’t sleep.”
“And that’s a statement that I am plenty familiar with. Hey, look I’m sorry about last night.”
“Mer there is no reason for you to be apologizing to me. A girl is allowed to get a little upset sometimes.”
“Yeah but I really shouldn’t have started things with JC,” she was continuing to beat herself up over the matter.
“Maybe not, but things happen.”
“So you’d be okay with it if I threw some flirtatious act out at you and then turned around and yelled at you in front of all your friends?” She wanted him to know exactly what was going on.
Justin bit his bottom lip, an action he often did when he was thinking. “No I wouldn’t. You’re... not planning... on... doing that to me... are you?” Justin asked in a very slow and drawn out manner. He was just checking to make sure that she wasn’t considering doing that so that he would understand how JC might have felt.
Justin’s remark caused Mercedes to giggle. “No Justin. It’s not something that I am planning on doing to you.”
“Good,” he laughed.
“But it’s exactly what I did to JC.”
“Contrary to popular belief, on JC’s behalf of course, you are human. You know that you were wrong and you are confessing it. But sweetie, you need to say this to JC, not me.”
“I know it. I just can’t talk to him for some reason.” Mercedes cleared her throat and decided that she needed to tell Justin the whole story. “If I tell you something, will you not say anything to JC?”
“If you don’t want me to, I won’t.”v “I don’t.”
“Fine with me,” he said and leaned back in the chair.
“You remember last week... when you were at my house watching Cruel Intentions with me.”
“Yeah,” he nodded.
“And JC came over.”
“Yeah, I remember,“ he waited for her to continue.
“Well he had come over to apologize and tell me that he and Bobbie had broken up.”
“Uh huh.”
“We started yelling and then out of nowhere he kissed me. I’m talking whoa. A full drawn out kiss.”
“Are you kidding me?” Justin sat back up in the seat. He couldn’t believe what he had just heard that. The two people that couldn’t be in the same room together... kissed.
“No,” her voice quivered.
“Well what happened after that? I mean,” he didn’t want to sound like he was prying so he tried to drag out the sentence.
“Afterwards we just looked at one another and he said that he had to go. He took off and I hadn’t talked to him for like a week after that. The next time we talked was at your place yesterday afternoon.”
“Wow,” he didn’t really know what else to say.
“Yeah. Well I told him that it was a mistake and this and that.”
“Was it?”
“Was it what?” she asked.
“A mistake.”
“Yeah it was a mistake. Of course it was.”
“You sound more like you are trying to convince yourself of that.”
Mer just sat there; motionless; speechless.
“Mer?”
“Yeah, sorry. I don’t anymore Justin. I freeze up when I am around him.”
“Unfreeze yourself.”
“I can’t,” she argued.
“Yes you can. I know how you are. I’ve seen how you can act. Open up to him and I know he’ll do that same in return. He is a nice guy Mer.”
“I know,” she said as soft as she could. She almost didn’t want Justin to hear her, but she knew she had to say it.
“Well hey, I was calling because I wanted you to come with me to the studio. Can you? Or do you want to I mean?”
Mercedes tugged at her shirt. “I’d like that. I kinda gotta shower and stuff first though. I stink,” she laughed.
“Well I don’t want you in a booth with me if you stink,” he laughed back.
“Thanks J. Uhm, when did you want to go?”
Justin checked his watch. “I don’t know. In a couple hours.”
“Oh yeah, that’s fine then. I wanted to sort through some work of mine. I’m getting a new case tomorrow so I need to gather up stuff I’ll have to do with the client tomorrow.”
“You know what the case is yet?”
“I just know that it’s a teen case as of now.”
“Alright. Well I’ll come over at say, one?”
“That’s great.”
“Cool thing. I’ll see you then.”
“Okay. Hey?” she wanted to get his attention before he hung up.
“Yeah?”
“Thanks Justin.”
“Anytime,” he smiled. “See you soon.”
“Bye,” she said and rolled over to hang up the phone. She looked around the room for a minute and then sat up in her bed. She ran her fingers through her hair, and cringed at how gross it felt to her. Dirty and snarled. “Shower it is,” she said and threw her feet over the edge of the bed and then proceeded to the bathroom.
Water dripped on the floor as Mercedes opened the shower door and stepped out. She grabbed the towel off of the bar next to the shower and wrapped it around her slippery bare body. She raised herself up on her tip toes and then lowered herself back down again. The mirrors in the bathroom were all fogged up so Mer had to grab a small rag to clear off a circle so she could see herself. Her eyes sparkled in the mirror and she smiled then reached for her hair brush. The water caught on the back of her towel as she ran the brush through the small tangles in her hair.
“Mmm,” she thought of what she was going to eat for her first meal of the day. A smile swept over her face and she exited the bathroom so she could get her clothes on. The rug on the floor padded the bottoms of her feet as they glided across the room over to her bed. She dropped the towel and picked up the red silk thong panties that she had laying on her bed. She loved her new panties. They were the newest fad, with the clear straps that went around the waist. How cute was that? “Absolutely adorable,” she answered her own question and slid the garment up her newly shaved legs.
Her fit naked body was then covered with a matching red bra that also had clear shoulder straps. With only those two articles of clothing on, she walked over to her closet and grabbed a pair of shorts that were shredded across the bottom left leg, and the back right pocket. “Stylish,” she laughed. “Hmm,” she said and weeded through her large selection of shirts. She took out a shirt and held it up in front of her. She shrugged and took it off the hanger. It was a short shirt that stopped just above her abs and a little below her breasts.
“Good enough,” she said and ran her fingers through her wet hair. Mercedes grabbed the folder off of the shelf in her room and headed downstairs to her living room. She plopped herself down on the couch and put the folder on the table in front of her. “Oh,” she said remembering that she hadn’t gotten her food. She slid over on the couch and then got up and made her way into the kitchen. Her bare feet were cold against the beige colored linoleum.
“Banana,” she said and peeled the yellow peel half way off of the banana. She pulled out a knife and set it next to the banana on the counter. Then she went over and got the fluff and peanut butter, so she could back her sandwich. When she was finished, she grabbed a glass and poured her some milk then went back to the living room with her food and drink. She set the stuff down, wiped her hands, and said, “Let’s get started."
For the next hour Mercedes went through some paperwork stuff and tried to sort out the things that she would need for her meeting the next day with her new client. She hated that she wasn’t a little more informed on the case yet, but she just figured that the guy she was going to be working with had most of the stuff that they need. “Guess that’s that,” she said. Mercedes threw away her trash and gathered up all her stuff that she had made a mess of.
With the folder in her arm, she jogged up the staircase and into her room. She tossed the folder into the open briefcase in the corner of her room, and then closed the case so that it would lock. Mer looked at the clock on top of her television set and realized that she still had plenty of time before Justin had to pick her up. “Got lots of time for make-up,” she smiled and went back into the bathroom. A big caboodle took up a lot of the space on one of her counters, so she closed it up and brought it into her room with her.
She pierced her lips and then chewed the bottom one. “Ah what the hell,” she said and sat on her bed with her make-up. Normally she didn’t do her stuff there because she always got eye shadow or loose powder on her sheets. This time she didn’t care. The remote was quickly in her hand and she flipped on the set to the lifetime channel. “Haven’t seen this yet,” she stated to herself and then threw the remote over her shoulder and started with her make-up.
“Come on answer the phone Mer,” Justin said impatiently.
“I’m coming! I’m coming! Don’t hang up!” Mercedes hauled butt and searched the living room for one of the phones. She had seemed to miss place all of them. She was too lazy to run upstairs to use the one by her bed, but it seemed like it was going to be her only option.
“La la la,” Justin continued.
Mer threw herself over her bed and grabbed the phone. “Yeah? Hello? Still there?”
“Mer! Did you lock yourself out of your house or what?” he laughed.
“No, I was downstairs and I can’t find any of my phones down there.”
“How did you manage that?”
Mercedes shrugged. “I dunno.”
“Anyhow, I was calling to tell you that I can’t make it over to your house at the time I said I would. I got caught up in stuff and Johnny is making me do some radio call in. Can you meet me at the studio in say twenty minutes? I’m already over here and I won’t be able to make it there in time. Then he said that he is gonna call me again later to do some other thing. Joey and I flipped for it and I lost.”
Mer laughed at all the stuff that Justin said in like two breaths. “That’s fine Justin. I’ll just meet you at the studio in a little while.”
“Cool cool. Meet me in the room itself. I am gonna start to lay something.”
“Alright. See you in a few,” she said and waited for him to say okay.
“Good. Later girl,” he replied and clicked off his phone and ran down the hall to meet back up with Johnny.
“He’s so weird,” she laughed and put her phone back on its cradle. “Now let me go see if I can find those other phones,” she giggled and crawled off of her bed. “If I were a phone where would I be?” She looked on the floor beside the couch and found nothing. “Hmm,” she stuck her thumb in her mouth and looked around the room. She honestly could not think of where she was the last time she used one of the three potables downstairs. “Ohhh,” she said and walked to the patio door. With the sun shining through the door, she managed to see the phone sitting on the table near the pool.
The phone had been out there for like a day now. She used it before she went over to Justin’s for the barbeque the day before. “Well, one down, two to go.” She stepped back into her house and put the phone in its appropriate cradle. Mercedes cleared her throat and walked through the den and into the guest room down stairs. “Ha,” she exclaimed when she say another one of the phone laying next to the bed. “Why this is in here is beyond me,” she said confused. “Must have used it when I was drinking the other night,” she laughed. ‘Ew I wonder who I called. And what I said!’ she thought to herself as she left the room.
The clock in the den chimed and Mercedes knew that she had to leave if she was going to make it to the studio when Justin wanted her to meet him. “I’ll find it later,” she said and slipped on her sandals. With a quick glance, she looked around the room to make sure that things were in place before she left. She reached over on the table and grabbed her purse and keys. The door swung open and Mer stepped out into the hot sun. “Feels great,” she said with a smile and was on her way.
A long thin leg stretched out of the car and another one soon followed it. Mercedes reached up and took her sunglasses off and shook her head so that her hair would somewhat fly back into place. With a sigh, she stepped up the steps into the studio that she was to meet Justin at. There was a lady at the front desk and she just waved Mer on. Mercedes assumed that Justin had told her that he was expecting someone.
“Hey,” he said as he had just walked out of the booth. I was just doing some stuff in the booth, you wanna hear it?” he smiled.
“Of course,” she smiled.
The two of them went into the sound room and Justin clicked a few buttons and it played back him doing some high adlibs mixed with a few deeper ones. “Well?” he said after about a minute of them had played by.
“That’s a cool beat. Did you write it?”
“Well, I did the adlib for it,” he chuckled.
“I figured that much.”
Justin looked at Mer and had to fight for his next breath. ‘Why did she have to be so damn attractive?’ “Yeah, so you wanna work on something for me?”
“What is it?”
“We are thinking on doing a duet with someone.”
“I am NOT doing a duet with you all,” she was quick to say.
Justin laughed, “No. No.”
Mer just looked at him and waited for him to continue.
“I just want you to lay some of it with me so we can get an idea of how it is going to work out.”
“You promise you aren’t trying to rope me into anything?”
“I promise,” Justin laughed again.
“Okay, what do I do?”
Justin took out the lyrics sheet and pointed as he talked. “We’ll just do this stuff here. These in red are your lines and the ones in blue are mine. Then these here in green are the ones that we do together. And this one where it says ‘she/he’... I say she, you say he. Got it? ”
“Looks easy enough.”
Justin smiled. “Alright. This is the track beat,” he turned on one of the switches. “Plus my adlib,” he switched on another.
Mercedes tapped her foot to the beat and slowly her head also got into the beat. “This is pretty good,” she smiled a little.
“You want to hear me do it first?”
“Nah, I can just do my own thing for it right now, right?”
“Yeah, sure you can. That’s why I want to do this. I wanna see what someone else might feel.”
“So you didn’t write this?”
“No,” he said quickly. He knew that if she was aware that it was JC’s song, that she might not want to do it anymore.
“Well shouldn’t you bring in the one who wrote it. Don’t they usually coordinate with y’all or whatever?”
“I’ll bring him in once I got this stuff down. We work with each other and feed off of each other’s ideas.”
She raised a shoulder, “Whatever works. Start the song again.”
“Yes mam’,” he laughed. He was glad to see that it didn’t seem like he was dragging her into doing it with him.
“Sorry,” she giggled. “I just have a cool beat for this.”
“Well okay then. Here we go.” He flipped the switch then turned on the inside mic so that they could record from that room. Justin nodded and started to tap his foot. “This first part okay? First four lines to see what we got on track.”
“Got it,” she smiled.
Justin cleared his throat and then hit record. “She said she’d love me forever.”
“He said that we were together,” she sang.
“She told me I was the only one.”
“He told me I’m not the only one.”
Justin hit the button and smiled in disbelief. “That was great. You really did that well Mer.”v Mercedes blushed. “Thanks. It’s easy to get into.”
“Well let’s try the rest,” he smiled back at her.
“I’m up for it if you are,” she smiled too.
The two of them messed around with a few more chord changes and Justin even had Mer do a couple adlib parts for the chorus. It was uncanny how good it sounded. Justin would jump at the chance to have her do the duet with them, but he knew that there was no way she would do it. After about thirty minutes of them screwing around, Justin got a phone call. “One sec,” he said to Mer. “Yeah Johnny... Uh huh... Okay... How long?... Where the hell is Lance?... And JC?... That’s not right... I know but... Okay... Yeah... Bye.”
“That sounded interesting,” Mer couldn’t help but eavesdrop.
“I gotta go,” he said and pulled together some of his papers. “I have an interview for Bop. They said that this was Lance’s week, but he’s claimed to have a sore throat, so they don’t want him talking. JC is down the street finishing up a photo shoot for J-14. I don’t even know where Joey and Chris are, but they weren’t up for this anyway.”
“You don’t want to do it?” she asked confused. She thought that he always enjoyed his work.
“I don’t mind it. It’s part of my job. I just with that I had some kind of warning sometimes. After this Bop thing I still have to another radio deal.”
“Wow. Well try to cool off a little before you go in for that interview.”
“I’ll be fine. You can stay here and work some more if you want to,” he said sweetly.
“You sure that the studio won’t mind if I stay in here again without you?”
“Not at all. Just be sure to shut up when you leave.”
“Okay. Thanks for inviting me J,” she gave him a hug.
“Thanks for making this run smoothly. I’m sure it’ll sound great once it is all hooked together.”
“I bet it will. You better go though. I will talk to you tomorrow or something okay.”
“Okay. Have fun!”
“I will,” she said back and watched as he walked out the door. Mer closed the sound booth door back up and put the headphones back on so she could fool around a little more. Justin had taught her quite a it of stuff about all the buttons, so she knew what she was doing for the most part.
JC pushed the main door open and walked in. “Mr. Chasez,” the lady at the desk said as soon as he was about to pass her by.
“Yeah,” he halted and turned towards her.
“Mr. Timberlake left a few moments ago, but there is still a young lady in there. I just thought I would let you know.”
JC nodded. He knew the only girl that could possibly be in there if Justin had just left. “Thanks,” he stated and then continued down the hall.
Mercedes picked up a pencil off of the table and made a few marks on her lyrics sheet. She wanted to write it down so that when she recorded she would remember what it was that she wanted to do. A soft hum escaped her lips as she practiced a part of the last section Justin had given her. With much confidence, she flipped a switch and started to sing again.
It wasn’t more than five second after Mer had started to sing that JC opened the first door into the studio. He noticed that Mercedes wasn’t in the main recording booth so she had to be in the sound booth messing around with some tracks. JC walked over to the door and peeked in the window. There stood Mercedes with her hands over the headphones, and her eyes shut delicately.
With as much ease as he could, he opened the door just enough to hear her singing. She was singing his song. ‘Justin had to have asked her to come here and work on it,’ he thought to himself. JC in fact was hoping to catch Justin at the studio so that they could talk about that very song that Mercedes was singing to, but he had no idea that Justin would have to run off to do Lance's interview. He was impressed at how fast she had to have picked it up. JC knew that Justin had a radio thing earlier, so they couldn’t have been there long.
It wasn’t until after JC had listened to Mer for a few minutes that he realized what she was wearing. ‘Man,’ he thought. JC wanted to get Mercedes attention so the first thing that came to his mind was to clear his throat.
Almost immediately Mercedes’s head turned. She flipped the switch and pulled off her headphones. “Hey,” she said very coldly. Why was it that she always talked about being nice to him, but just couldn’t bring herself to do it?
“Yeah hey.” JC nodded up and asked, “What do you think you’re doing?”
“Uhm, mopping the floor Jace,” she said sarcastically. “What does it look like I’m doing?”
“Looks like you are messing around with something that isn’t yours.”
“What do you care? And why should you care?” she retorted back.
“I care because that’s MY song that you are screwing around with. By the way, nice try.”
“Nice try huh,” she laughed. “You think that just because you get paid to do this that you are better than I am.”
“You must remember that I’m the one who wrote that song.”
“And I am the one that Justin asked to help him figure out these girl parts,” she cocked her head to one side.
“What did you do to it?” he asked.
Mer just placed her hands on her hips and looked at him.
“Fine,” he walked over next to her and grabbed another set of headphones. “I’ll see for myself,” he said and hit play. The first sound he heard was the beat that Justin had laid and the a few short adlibs before Justin said the first line. Mer’s voice was next to follow and JC just stood there listening to the rest of the first verse.
Mercedes clicked the switch off and pulled JC’s headphones down. “Justin read off of my voice and I read off of his. Let’s just see how good you really are Chasez,” Mercedes said matter-of-factly.
“I’m game,” he said and put the headphones back on. “All you gotta say is when.”
Just as her and Justin did, they alternated lines. JC had the first and Mercedes had the second. They did this all the way through the first part. They both looked at one another while they sang and the energy they were putting out was amazing.
She said she’d love me forever
He said that we were together
She told me I was the only one
He told me I’m not the only one
She said that I could believe her
He said that he wasn’t with her
And it’s all messing with my head
JC studied her and sang the last line of that chorus.
Innuendo he said she said
JC was in fact very impressed with the way that Mercedes was tossing an extra beat into everything she sang. She was feeling the song the way a real musician did. The way JC did. JC didn’t dare take his eyes off of her while they were singing. The next part was one where the both of them sang together. It was the true test to see if they could sing together and read one another’s every move.
I can’t make up my mind
Which one is telling lies
Is she/he covering my eyes
And the truth I need to find yeah
They sounded amazing together. This last verse was the one that Mercedes had been practicing with Justin before he had to leave. The two of them would continue to sing together and then Mercedes would go solo on the last two lines. This was a verse was one that showed nothing but emotion. It wasn’t a soft part; it was loud and filled with energy.
I just can’t take it baby
Look what you’ve done to me
You know you drive me crazy
Look what you’ve done me
Keep pushing pulling baby
Look what you’ve done to me
Mercedes and JC were thinking the exact same thing as they sang that verse. It described them perfectly. They both wanted each other, but they couldn’t bring themselves to cut the first rope and admit it. Mercedes felt like the last two lines of what they were going to sing would be her only way to get it through JC’s head. She wanted him to know that she was leaving the next move up to him.
If you don’t want me baby
Can’t take all this he said she said
Mercedes let her last word fill with a vibrato and when she finally became silent she just looked into JC’s eyes. What was he thinking? JC reached over and shut off the recording system and remained silent. He looked at Mercedes trembling hands and he swallowed hard. “I can’t keep doing this,” he said and reached for the belt loops on Mer’s shorts. He pulled her closer to him and captured her lips with his. Within a second Mercedes pulled herself away from him and slapped him across the face. “Whoa, I’m sorry,” he stated quickly and stepped back a little.
Mercedes looked at him and she was breathing deep. She licked her lips and reached out her arms. “I’m not,” she said immediately and crashed her lips against JC’s.
JC stumbled back with surprise as this beautiful brunette clung herself to him. His arms wrapped themselves around her thin waist and pulled her as close to him as he could. It still wasn’t close enough. Mercedes’s hair was being twirled in tangles as JC ran his hands through it while he fought his tongue with hers. JC’s back was being held tight by Mer’s delicate hands and his left leg was wrapped behind Mercedes’s, and their whole world seemed to disappear all at once.
JC’s front door flew open and Mercedes and JC stumbled into it. They were wrapped in each others arms and were still kissing. They bumped against the walls and JC kicked the front door shut. After things started to get a little hot and heavy at the studio, they both decided that they should take it elsewhere. So Mer followed JC home and it brought them to the present moment.
“Ugh,” Mer moaned as her hip hit the side of the desk.
A small chuckle escaped from JC as he said, “Sorry.”
Mercedes laughed also and they continued on their way to the stairs. JC tilted his body and placed an arm behind Mer’s back and one under her legs. Like a person would carry a child, JC carried Mercedes up the stairs and to his room. Their lips separated a fair minimum amount of times, but always found their way back to one another.
JC laid Mer down on his bed and slowly hovered his body over the top of hers. He ran his hand over her neck and let his tongue glide over her lips. Mercedes lifted her chin and JC took that as an offer for him to kiss the sides of her neck. This was an offer that he was more than willing to take. He let his lips trail over her neck and then let one of his hands graze the side of her soft face.
At the same time, JC’s other hand ran up and down the length of Mer’s upper leg. He could feel her leg shake ever so slightly every time he touched a certain part of it. Mer kept her hands running across JC’s muscle toned back and couldn’t resist her next move. She placed her hands at the bottom of his shirt and began to pull it over his back, then broad shoulders, and last his head. JC smiled down at her as his bare flesh touched the flesh on Mer’s stomach.
Mercedes was in Heaven when she looked at the muscular arms that held JC’s body slightly above hers. She raised her head to kiss JC’s bare shoulders and then his neck. JC’s lips quivered as Mercedes’s soft touch took over his whole body. Mer’s tongue traced up the side of JC’s neck and then rested again inside of his mouth. Mer opened her eyes just enough to see how adorable JC’s eyelashes looked; all curled up and so relaxed. JC, too, opened his eyes once he pulled away from the kiss. He just wanted to look at the beauty that lay beneath him.
With questioning eyes JC placed his hands on Mercedes’s stomach and then slowly began to raise her shirt. When she showed no signs of disapproval, he continued. Her hair feathered again underneath her body as she laid back down on the pillow. JC’s fingers ran over her shoulders and stopped at the clear straps of her bra. Again he looked at her for an answer and when she smiled, he knew he was safe to continue. The last thing he wanted was to do something that she didn’t want. This after all was the night he had been wishing for since the first time they kissed.