~*~Rising Star~*~ FINALLY! lol Chapter 8--hope you like it -- Fictional Getdown

[ Show ]

Support VoyForums

[ Shrink ]

VoyForums Announcement: Programming and providing support for this service has been a labor of love since 1997. We are one of the few services online who values our users' privacy, and have never sold your information. We have even fought hard to defend your privacy in legal cases; however, we've done it with almost no financial support -- paying out of pocket to continue providing the service. Due to the issues imposed on us by advertisers, we also stopped hosting most ads on the forums many years ago. We hope you appreciate our efforts.

Show your support by donating any amount. (Note: We are still technically a for-profit company, so your contribution is not tax-deductible.) PayPal Acct: Feedback:

Donate to VoyForums (PayPal):

[ Login ] [ Contact Forum Admin ] [ Main index ] [ Post a new message ] [ Search | Check update time | Archives: 1, 2, 3, [4] ]

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Date Posted: 23:28:40 07/30/02 Tue
Author: Z
Subject: ~*~Rising Star~*~ FINALLY! lol Chapter 8--hope you like it

~Chapter 8~
�Look, you guys have no idea what you�re talking about,� JC said loudly with his voice getting even louder. �Joey, I am not being a player, I am very happy with Zahra, I don�t need anyone else on the side. Chris, since like I just said, I am not thinking about getting involved with Raaz, coming between friendships is out of the realm of possibility. Lance, no I am not using Zahra to get to Raaz and Justin, I am most certainly NOT obsessed with Raaz. Now will all of you please get off my back about this thing?� JC sighed exasperatedly and shook his head. He had been patiently spent the last hour sitting on the plane back to Orlando, listening to his friends share their theories. He had had enough and it was time to put it to a stop.

�All I�m saying is that you need to be careful,� Chris said, throwing his hands up in the air as he turned and faced forward in his seat. He pulled his headphones over his ears and lost himself in his music.

JC scowled at Chris even though he couldn�t see him. JC was getting frustrated with his friends constantly butting in their noses and opinions in places he never asked them to be in the first place. True that the group was tight, but sometimes all a man wanted was he and his thoughts.

�C, you don�t need to get all defensive about this, we�re just pointing out facts,� Justin said in a matter-of-fact tone.

�I am NOT getting defensive,� JC said with a huff. He crossed his arms over his chest and looked out the window, staring into the clouds below him. They looked so soft and fluffy, JC thought. He knew better though. Gaining knowledge had left him with knowing that fluffy clouds in the air were deceiving tufts of condensed air. No matter how pleasing they looked, or how much they might wanton being touched, if someone dared to reach out, that person would be disappointed with a handful of nothing. Maybe the saying �ignorance is bliss� was right. Sometimes people are just better off not knowing, JC thought as his mind wandered. Much to his relief, the other guys had busied themselves with other things for the rest of the flight. Right now, JC wanted to be alone. Even his thoughts were starting to bother him. He kept thinking back to what the guys had said to him. Their words raced back and forth in his head as he tried to close his eyes and fall asleep.

�Dude, I think you talked to Raaz the entire time. You still remember who Zahra is, right?�

�C, I had no idea you�d try to get with two girls at the same time. Man, after all these years, you think you know someone. But good for you. Just be careful, things like that get sticky and fast, trust me, I know.

�They�re friends, good friends. Don�t forget that. If you mess with one of them, you�ll most likely being saying goodbye to both of them. That�s the way it works. Besides, don�t you think they�ll talk to each other? I bet they�re already saying what scum you are for flirting with Raaz while you�re going out with Zahra.�

�You don�t even know what she looks like, dude. Is it worth jeopardizing your relationship with Zahra for a girl you barely know? You might know things about her, but you don�t know her. Hell, you don�t even know if it�s Sadie for sure or not. All you know for sure is that she�s an awesome singer, is that enough? You�re not, like, using Zahra to find out more about Raaz, are you? Cuz that would be so sucky on your part, man.�

�You�ve totally been obsessing over trying to find out who Raaz is. Okay so maybe it is Sadie, what does that mean to you? Why are you so intent on finding that out? If Sadie is Raaz, does that make her better than Zahra? Would you end things with Zahra so you could try to hook up with Sadie? You need to decide what your goal is with all this.�

�Zahra�s a good girl, make sure you don�t hurt her.�

�You don�t know Raaz, even if you think you do.�

�You�ve gone out with Zahra so many times, she�s the one you spend time with, but maybe you�re thinking about Raaz more. Do you want to be the first person in the music industry to say Raaz�s real name is Sadie? Why would you want to do that to her. We might not have our privacy, but let her enjoy hers as long as this lasts.�

�What are you going to do when you know for sure who Raaz is?�

�What about Zahra? What about Zahra? What about Zahra?�

�JC. JC! C! Come on, get up!� Justin started shaking JC more violently to get him out of his restless sleep.

"What about Zahra?" JC asked, mixing his dream with his wakeful state.

"What about Zahra?" Justin asked, giving JC an odd look. "You need to get up, we've landed and the plane's emptied out."

"We're here? Already? That was kind of quick." JC struggled to pull himself out of his dream as the haunting words echoed in his head. He stood up and stretched his muscles.

"That's because you slept the entire way, Sleeping Beauty. Now here's your bag, come on." Justin thrust a green duffel bag into JC's arms and headed towards the exit. JC shook his head one last time before following Justin. When JC stepped onto the walkway. He couldn't see Justin anywhere ahead of him, but figured that he'd catch up to him in the terminal.

"That boy walks too fast for his own good," JC muttered to himself as he turned the last corner of the walkway. Ahead of him he could see the inside of the terminal and he reluctantly braced himself for the throngs of fans that might be awaiting them. Hopefully, security would have cleared out a direct path for the so that they could make it their car with minimal incidents. With so many fans it was impossible to stop and sign any autographs. The whole thing would have a domino affect.

JC took his first step into the terminal and fully expected to be greeted by a large crowd. Instead there didn't seem to be anyone at all. JC looked around more closely and all he could see was a person in the distance standing behind the counter at another gate. Other than that, he saw no one, not a fan, not security and not even the other guys. With a quick shrug of his shoulder's JC decided that the heightened security of the airport must have kept any fans from getting to their gate. As for security and the other guys, JC just figured that they had gone ahead towards the pickup area. JC just hadn�t realized that he was so behind. He walked towards the end of the terminal swiftly, hoping to catch up with the rest of his entourage. As he turned the corner, a figure standing off to the side, caught his attention, nearly startling him. JC kept his eyes on the person as he neared them. As he got closer, he realized that the person was adorned in a cloak much like Raaz. To his surprise as he got closer, the figure stepped closer to him.

�JC?� a voice in a sweet Southern accent asked hesitantly.

�Yes? Raaz?� JC asked, still reeling from his initial surprise.

�Yes, it�s me, I�m so glad you remembered me,� Raaz squealed.

�Of course I remember you, how could I forget. What are you doing here?� JC suddenly realized the oddness of the situation.

�I came to see you.�

�You did? How come?�

�I needed to talk to you, JC. You�ve been really nice to me and I�ve heard that you really want to find out about me.�

�Well, yeah, I mean, who doesn�t. It�s not every day that someone with a voice as good as yours hides her face.�

�JC, I want you to know who I am.�

JC froze at Raaz�s words. He felt as though his ears were deceiving him. He struggled to swallow and cleared his throat before speaking again. �Wh-what?�

�I want you to know who I am. I don�t want to hide myself from you.� JC watched with his mouth wide open as Raaz began reaching for the hood of her cloak. He whipped his head around from side to side to see if anyone else was around to see this, but the hall was completely empty. JC�s eyes returned to the woman in front of him as he watched the material fall away from her head. It seemed as though everything had started to move in slow motion as Raaz completely lowered her hood and let it fall on her shoulders. She shook her head from side to side to free her hair. JC was flabbergasted at the woman he saw in front of her. All capabilities of speech had left JC as he stood there in shock.

�Hi, JC,� the woman said softly.

�Hi�Sadie,� JC choked out. �It�s nice to finally�meet you, I guess.�

�You have no idea how much of a relief it is for me to not have to wear that hood over my face. It�s especially nice not having to lie to you anymore.� Sadie smiled brightly at JC as she leaned forward to touch his forearm.

�It is nice.� JC tried to regain his composure so he could hold up his end of the conversation. �But I have a confession to make. I kind of figured out it was you.�

�You did? How?�

�Well, partly from Zahra�s end of a phone conversation and partly from when you came over.�

�Gosh, you�re just so smart then!� Sadie gave JC�s arm a loving squeeze. JC smiled back at Sadie as the two of them continued their walk out of the terminal. The two of the continued to chat and walk with their arms locked. Sadie leaned a little bit on JC and laughed loudly at whatever JC had to say.

�JC!�

JC looked up at the sound of his name being called. In front of him he saw a crestfallen Zahra standing there. He quickly looked from Sadie on his arm to Zahra standing a few yards in front of him and he realized the situation he was in.

�JC, how could you do this?� Zahra asked, her voice filled with pain. It looked quite obvious that she was trying to hold back her tears.

JC felt a pit form in his stomach at the sight of a distraught Zahra. He tried to step forward but he was being held back.

�What about me, JC? What about me?� Zahra cried out over and over again. She fell to her knees, sobbing as JC struggled to get to her. �How could you do this to me? I really thought we had something.�

�Z, I�m so sorry, I�m so sorry,� JC tried calling out, but the words wouldn�t leave his throat. �I�m so sorry�so sorry��

�C? Wake up, man, you�re dreaming,� Justin said loudly, trying to shake JC out of his sleep.

�I�m so sorry,� JC mumbled as he shifted from his dream to reality. He thrashed his head side to side as the image of Zahra�s hurt face remained in his head.

�Josh, wake up, come on, we need to go.�

�What? Where?� JC sat up straight in his seat and looked around. He realized that he was still on the airplane and that it had all been a dream.

�We need to get off this plane,� Justin said slowly. �Are you okay, man?�

�Yeah..yeah, I�m fine. Let�s just go.� JC quickly grabbed his bag and headed off the airplane, determined to get back to his house as fast as possible. No matter how much he tried not to think about his dream, he just couldn�t shake the feeling of awfulness that he felt when he had seen Zahra so distraught. And to know that he had been the cause of that look on her face made him feel ten times worse.

�JC, are you okay? You�ve been quite all the way back,� Chris said as he took a seat next to JC on his couch. All four guys were crashing with JC for the next few days since they had some meeting with Johnny coming up.

�I�m fine, man. I just didn�t sleep well on the plane.�

�Wow, something MUST be wrong then!�

�It�s fine, it�ll all be fine, I just need to talk to Zahra,� JC said decisively. JC got up quickly and headed upstairs to his bedroom determined to put his mind at ease. He reached for his phone and quickly dialed the number. To his dismay, no one picked up. Reluctantly, JC left a short message asking Zahra to call back as soon as she got the chance. With a sigh of despair, JC fell back on his bed and stared up at his ceiling. He desperately needed to talk to Zahra in order to put his mind at ease and clear his conscious.

JC quickly sat back up again and tried calling Zahra's cell phone this time, but apparently it was turned off. Frustrated, JC slammed the phone back on its cradle and stomped out of his room. He paced back and forth in his upstairs hallway, causing noise to travel down to the other guys.

"Hey, C, what's going on up there?" Joey asked, peering up the stairs. Behind him came Lance, Justin and Chris, curious to find the source of the noise.

"Nothing." JC replied shortly.

"It sounds like you've got a marching band up there or something." JC continued to pace back and forth as the guys made their way up the stairs.

"Did you get a hold of Zahra?" Chris asked, finishing off the last of his pizza. JC stopped his pacing long enough to give Chris a hard stare. "Oookay, I guess that means no."

"Dude, relax, I'm sure you'll get a hold of her soon enough." Lance said calmly. He didn�t know what was going on with his friend, but he knew it was bad. JC never got this agitated unless something was seriously wrong.

"You guys don't understand. I need to talk to Zahra and clear everything up. You were right, all of you. I was totally intrigued by Raaz. Every chance I got at the VMAs, I talked to her. I didn't even bother trying to get up during a commercial break and go look for Zahra. And I bet, Zahra knows that I was too involved with Raaz to even think about her. But you guys, I don't want to lose Zahra. I know I went overboard with that whole Raaz thing. Sure she's a really great singer and even if she is Sadie, I don't care because I have Zahra. Zahra may not be the one with that awesome voice, but she's such a talented producer and she's dedicated, not to mention beautiful. I mean what else could I ask for? And now I need to talk to her, but what if she's mad at me?" JC's pleading eyes looked at his friends for some supporting words.

"Just, keep on trying to talk to Zahra," Justin suggested. "You can clear everything up after that. There's no need to jump to conclusions and make yourself so anxious. It'll be okay." Justin stepped forward and gave JC a reassuring pat on the back. He could see the fear of losing Zahra in JC's eyes and he said a silent prayer for everything to work out.

Four hours and 20 phone calls later, JC was even more of a wreck than before. He had tried Zahra's cell phone repeatedly, but it had been turned off throughout. He had probably left 5 or 6 messages, asking her to call back. The other guys desperately tried to calm him down and not let him lose hope, but it was getting harder and harder.

JC picked up the phone once again and prayed to God to let him reach Zahra. He dialed her cell phone number and held the receiver tightly in his right hand, pressed against his ear. The phone rang once and then twice before someone picked up. JC let out a huge sigh.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Zahra, it's Josh." JC was unsure of how Zahra might react or what exactly he was going to say to her.

"Hey, Josh, great timing, I just got all my stuff together and into the car."

"Car? Wait, where are you?"

"I'm on my way home, from the airport. Are you okay?"

"You were on the plane!" Realization hit JC and half of his fears went away. He felt himself breathing more normally.

"Yeah�I figured walking back to Orlando from New York might be kind of a pain."

"I just totally forgot about that. I guess I assumed you'd already be back here. I've been calling you like crazy. I thought that maybe you weren't talking to me." JC talked faster and faster as his nervousness took over.

"Why wouldn't I talk to you?" Confusion filled Zahra's voice.

"Because I thought you might be mad at me for talking to Raaz the whole time and we didn't even get to do anything in New York like I had said. And then there's that whole other thing, but I just wanted to tell you that I really like you and I don't want to do anything to mess things up between us and that I'm really sorry that I just went overboard with this whole Raaz thing and that I don't want to think that I was just using you to find out more about Raaz because I know I asked a lot of questions about her and I'll admit I was curious about her, but now I'm over that and I don't want to lose you because of my stupidity." JC paused to take a breath from his ramblings and waited to see what Zahra would say in response.

"Aww, JC, I'm sorry you've been worrying the whole time. To be honest, I could tell you were into Raaz's whole thing, but you've never once made me feel like I belonged in the background. I know it must be frustrating to be close to Raaz, but not be and I wish I could tell you more, but I just can't. And for the future, if I'm ever mad at you, I'll let you know, okay? So you won't have to worry as much. I really like you too and I'm kinda glad you're over that whole Raaz thing, now I can have you even more to myself now."

"So you're not mad?"

"Nope, unless you want me to be."

"No no no, of course not, you don't know how relieved I am. Okay, you know I'd love to talk to you, but I'm going to go and talk to the guys and let them know everything's okay. I've been driving them crazy for the last few hours or so." JC heard Zahra laugh and it brought a smile to his face. "But I'd really like to get together and do something soon."

"Definitely, me too."

"Great, why don't you come over tomorrow and we'll figure something out. Everyone's crashing at my place anyway."

"That sounds good. Are you sure you're parents won't get mad?" Zahra asked teasingly.

"We'll be quiet and really slick."

"Ooo, sounds exciting. Okay, I'm getting onto the highway now so I'll talk to you later. Bye Josh!"

"Bye, Z. See you tomorrow." JC hung up the phone with a huge grin on his face. It felt so good to get everything off his chest and have it reciprocated in such a nice manner. Now he had to go downstairs and tell everyone that they could return to normal.

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Replies:

I LOVE this story. It's addicting....I want/need more asap!!! (NT) -- Reagan, 23:50:58 07/30/02 Tue
AGH! Z!!!!! I LOVE THIS!!!! PMS! :) -- Sonali, 14:17:26 07/31/02 Wed