JC rolled on to his back and sighed. When he hears a snore answering, he gets up disgusted and goes down to the kitchen. It has all become a routine for him in the last two months. He just couldn’t sleep and he would go down and let his black thoughts roll around in his head. He kept juggling these new ideas that kept creeping in his mind of finally leaving his wife and it was, in his eyes, very frustrating and disturbing.
He was tempted to call Justin and spill his bag but he knew that: first, Justin was busy this month and wouldn’t be able to talk to him and obviously couldn't come and secondly, JC didn’t think that Justin would like what he was thinking about. He was very close to ripping his precious hair out. If anybody that knew him very well saw him like this, they would know that something was wrong because to JC his hair was a treasure that he kept maintaining even at 37 years old.
These thoughts keep him up all night until finally around 4 am, he decided on his actions. It was now or never because he couldn’t live like this anymore; he couldn’t bear to live with this lie anymore. He knew that maybe he would get hurt in the process and he will certainly hurt his wife. But if he was talking honestly to himself, he was hurting her more doing what he had been doing for the last 8 years. He lies down on the sofa and pulls the afghan on top of him and falls asleep.
“Honey, what are you doing on the couch?” JC jerks awake when he hears Melinda’s voice near his hear. “Oh…I just couldn’t sleep and didn’t want to wake you up so I came down here.” JC tried not to let the desperation he was feeling at the moment but like every other time he needed to lie he just couldn’t mask it.
“What’s wrong with you lately? I always find you sleeping here, sighing all the time. You don’t talk to me anymore and don’t make me go into having sex because this could get nasty! So can you please tell me what the fuck is wrong now? Did I do something wrong? Am I not appealing anymore?”
JC hears everything that his wife is yelling at him but he had heard all of this before and way too many times so he blanks most of it out but for the first time his wife doesn’t take it. He gets slapped on the cheek. Shocked, he can only stare at her in disbelief! “Don’t take me for an idiot Joshua Chasez! When I talk to you it would be polite to listen for once. Are you seeing someone? Are you cheating on me? Is that why you cannot stand my touch anymore?” In front of the shocked expression JC got on his face, she smirked. “Didn’t think I would notice the little shivers of disgust when I try to initiate sex did you? Well, I did so it got me thinking and the only thing I could come up with was that you were cheating on me. The only thing I couldn’t figure out was with whom?”
JC gets up and try to talk but she puts a hand up, stopping him. “Nah, I gave you a complete month to put your pants on and tell me what was wrong or at least tell me the truth, but you just went like nothing was wrong and being a wuss. So when I saw you this morning I decided to do it myself because I’m tired of waiting for you. I am gonna save you the job of telling me that you are cheating on me, that you were actually having this affair way before you and I got together and I can even save you from telling me that you are cheating on me with Justin. Your best bud!”
JC blinks; he couldn't believe what he was hearing. His wife knew and worst of all she knew with whom! “But…but…HOW?” JC crashed on the sofa, his legs not able to hold him up anymore. Melinda takes the seat in front of him and smiles smugly. “Well babe, I hired someone to follow you and well, let's just say that he got really nice proofs for me. Oh don’t worry about prints surfacing. You are paying him really well not to.”
“What is gonna happen now?” That was the only thing that JC’s brain could muster. All of his life was crashing to the floor and he didn’t do the first step for it. It was a bit too much to grasp and even though he had made the decision to tell his wife this week, he wanted to talk to Justin to give him a heads up and ask him a big question. Then he remembers that his wife and Justin’s were friends and a dreaded feeling came rushing up on him.
“You didn’t tell Jennifer did you?” But he was right; the smirk his wife gave him answered all. “But why? Why did you have to tell her? I was about to talk to you but I needed to talk to him first but now you just ruined everything!” He knew he didn’t have the right to be mad at her but his reasoning had gone out the window a second earlier. He wanted to do the break-up the gentlest way possible but now everything was in shambles.
“Because I thought that it was time for her to know about it but she wasn’t surprised at all. She kind of figured it out before I went into details. So she and I talked about what we should do and we decided that this affair wasn’t something that we could accept. As of yesterday, both of our lawyers have in their possessions a divorce demand and you both better agree with the terms because it could cost you more than a bit of money and your marriage. Get my meaning? I am packing my stuff today and I am going to join Jennifer at the hotel. As of today, I never want to see you again. Goodbye.” And with that, she left him. Left him in the rumbles of the life he knew; defeated.
JC jerks back into consciousness when the ringing of the phone broke through the fog of his mind. “Hello?”
“Hey man, it’s me.” The sound of the voice was very weak and raw but he knew who it was. Justin.
“I guess she told you?”
“Yes, Jennifer was…how can I say this? She was very, very unpleasant about everything but how can I blame her? I should have…no, we should have told them about this a long time ago but I guess we were too comfortable with the way it was going to think about their feelings.” He could hear Justin’s sigh and it was at this moment he broke down. He starts crying and couldn’t stop. This situation wasn’t how he'd envisioned it would end and it was breaking his heart that he hurt the gentlest person he knew with his selfishness.
“JC? JC??? Baby talk to me. Okay I’m coming.” And with that Justin wasn’t on the phone anymore but JC didn’t realise it.
He was still crying when Justin got inside the house and found him all bundled up on the sofa. His eyes were puffy and red and he was sure that he had snot all over his face but Justin picked him up in his arms and gently rocked him back and forth, kissing his face.
“Shhh babe, everything will be alright. You’ll see.” Cooed Justin.
“How can this be alright Justin. My wife knows about you and me and now she is threatening me with exposing us if I don’t agree with her wishes.” Hiccupped JC.
“Well for me I think it is great. Your wife did me a great service when she told Jennifer. I didn’t know how to break it to her that I wanted a divorce especially when I knew she would have asked why. I wouldn’t have been able to lie to her and I would have told her that I realised that it wasn’t her I wanted in my life permanently. I realised a while ago that I wanted to stop having an affair with you JC. I want you to be my partner in life and well I had to ditch the gal but didn’t know how to do it. So yeah…I’m happy!”
JC must've looked like a fish out of water with his mouth gaping. He kept trying to mutter a word but he could only open and close his mouth without a sound. Finally, he was able to get his tongue working again.
“You want me to be your partner? For real? You aren’t joking with me are you because right now I think I had way too much excitement, I can’t take any more. But what are you gonna say to your fans? I don’t care too much what mine would think because I am not as big as you but…you can't do that? Sacrifice everything just for us to be together…humph!!” Justin stopped his ranting by kissing him, which always worked.
When he knew that JC was calmed again, he let go of the brunette’s lips with regrets. “Don’t worry about all of this. I decided that I want to retire out the music scene. I have enough to live two lives without working and I want to enjoy the rest of this one with you. Everybody knows of my decision, the only thing that is left to do is to do it officially. Now that Jennifer has taken care of my problem for me, I can start the media machine. So now the real question is…do you want to be with me for the rest of your life?”
“Damn, that just sounded like a marriage proposal but I’m warning you buddy I’m not being the bride here!” Both laugh and for the first time in the last two months, JC is happy.