*Author's Note: As a referrence note to understand the circumstances surrounding this chapter, notions here for clarification purposes, are a direct parallel to those found in Chapter 20 and Chapter 21 of A Tale of Two Popstars.*

He tilted his head curiously at the scene before him. 

Darting back and forth in between the cupboards and the refrigerator, a flurry of pots and pans surrounding her, as well as what looked like half the contents of their pantry, Aliesa Montaine was running rampant in his kitchen.

“Lost your way?”

Aliesa was speaking, but she hadn’t even glanced in his direction, she was so caught up in her task. 

JC rubbed his eyes.  “Just making sure I’m not seeing things.” 

“Cute.”

He continued to stare at her bemused.  “You do know that it’s like one in the morning, right?”

“I couldn’t sleep, too much on my mind.”  Aliesa shrugged.  “What’s your excuse?”

“All the noise you were making down here,” JC commented dryly.  The truth was he was suffering from the same predicament Aliesa was.  His brain was on overload.  Sleeping wasn’t an option. 

“Right I can see that.  Seeing as your bedroom is up a floor and clear on the other side of the house and all,” Aliesa flung back. 

“Well when you can’t sleep everything seems louder,” JC remarked, watching as she flung open the refrigerator for the umpteenth time.  “Whatever you’re looking for probably isn’t in there,” he informed her, leaning against the countertop as she peered at the shelves.  “We need to go to the grocery store again, remember?”

Not that he saw a point to.  The two of them barely cooked.  They didn’t have time.  He was always at the studio.  Aliesa was at rehearsals.  He had an interview.  She had a meeting.  They barely had enough energy to walk through the door at the end of the day, much less cook.

“Guess we’ll have to be creative then.”

JC raised an eyebrow at the verbage, “We’ll?”

“Well you’re up, and you obviously don’t have anything better to do than to stand in the kitchen with me.”

“I don’t cook.”

“Neither do I,” Aliesa swiftly pointed out.  “That’s where that comes in.”  She motioned to a book on the corner of the kitchen island behind him.

JC picked it up, “Cooking for Dummies,” he read aloud.  “You actually got this?”

“Shannon,” Aliesa corrected.  “She claimed she was being helpful.” 

JC scoffed,  “She doesn’t cook either.”

“Hence why we probably got stuck with the book.”

JC eyed her.  “Are you seriously wanting to cook right now?”

“I have to redirect my energy somehow or I am going to totally flip out tomorrow when the cameras invade our space.  Wouldn’t MTV just love that?  Video of me having a meltdown?”  Aliesa cursed, “Crap,” she exclaimed, head peering from behind the refrigerator.  “You’re right.  There’s nothing in here I can use.”

“Told you.”

“You think there’s a grocery store open?”

JC ran a hand down his face.  “This just gets better and better.”

“You want to come with me?”

JC blinked.  “You have officially lost it.”

“I probably have,” Aliesa proclaimed, shutting the refrigerator door, and resting her back against it.  “I’m completely freaking out.”  She bit her lip.  “They’re not even here and I am freaking out.  God- tomorrow is going to be such a disaster.”

JC walked over and pulled her from the refrigerator.  “Hey now, don’t say that.”  He sat her onto the closest barstool.  “You’ll be fine,” he said reassuringly.   

Aliesa frowned.  “It’ll be so strange though.  They’re just filming without asking questions.”

He clasped her hand in his.  “It won’t be that bad.”

“But what if it is?” she questioned, frown still in place.  “What if they catch on?  We’re good…but how good are we really?  I – I don’t know JC.  I can’t stop thinking about how we could potentially screw this all up.” 

His eyes met hers.  “We haven’t yet, right?”

“No.”  Aliesa sighed.  “But…”

A fingernail made its way between her lips.

And JC hated to admit how he knew that it was a nervous habit of hers. 

He’d gotten used to her and her idiosyncrasies.   So much so, that he hadn’t really been all that surprised to find her in the kitchen at one o’clock in the morning.  He learned new things about Aliesa Montaine everyday, and realizing that made his heart drop to his stomach because he liked that he did. 

JC tugged on her finger, bringing it back down.

“You’ve got to stop biting your fingernails,” he said lowly.

“I don’t do it that much,” she protested weakly. 

He squeezed her hand.  “You really want to go to the grocery store?”

A tiny hint of a smile appeared on Aliesa’s face.  “I’ll drive,” she offered.

“I’m driving,” JC corrected, grasping her other hand in his to pull her into a standing position.  “I’m crazy right now, not stupid.” 

“Just admit you’re freaking out too.”

JC had to consciously swallow the lump in his throat when the smile on Aliesa’s face widened. 

He shook his head.

The truth was, he was.  Completely.  But it had nothing to do with the cameras. 

Eleven
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