The next day, after a small breakfast and a quick kiss on the cheek from JC, Zoë was on her way home to change and go to work. After showering and changing, she drove to the shop and waited for Lance to arrive.

"I'm on time! I'm on time! I'm on time, right?" Zoë could hear Lance say as he came through the door, his open shirt billowing behind him.

"You're lucky no one else is here, Bubba. And yes, you're on time. How're you doing?" Zoë asked him as she hugged him, laughing a little.

"I'm good. How're you?" He got a serious look on his face for a minute.

"Fine. I'm fine," she answered, and walked down the hallway to the massage room, and Lance followed.

"Well, I meant…"

"No, I know what you meant, and JC and I talked about it last night. We're good, I'm good, and we're all happy again."

"You were at JC's last night?"

"Yeah, I stayed over. He wouldn't let me drive home cause he thought it was too late, I was too upset; you know how he gets." Zoë pulled back the top sheet and blanket of the massage table, and looked at Lance with a shrug.

Lance nodded. "So you stayed over, huh?" He wiggled his eyebrows. "You guys finally hooked up?" His grin grew.

Zoë's eyes grew wide. "We what?"

"Hooked…up. I take that as a no?" Lance's form deflated.

"You'll definitely take that as a no. Why would we hook up?" Her arms were now crossing her chest, an eyebrow raised, daring Lance to answer her question.

"Well… Yeah. I thought… Ah, shit." Lance sighed, shaking his head and rubbing his chin stubble.

"No. Tell me. I'd like to know why you think JC and I hooked up last night."

"I thought you knew. I thought you guys had finally… Ya know, realized that you guys like each other." He shrugged.

Zoë laughed for a minute, looking at Lance like he was crazy, but not really refuting what he was saying. She shook her head, however, and exited the room, letting Lance undress.

Walking back into the room after washing her hands, Zoë started on Lance's back. "So do the rest of the guys think we hooked up?"

"Joey and Chris were the ones that brought up how you guys like each other. I guess I kinda bought into it while they were talking about it."

"But… we're just friends. We've always been just friends; we'll continue to be just friends."

"Okay. You don't have to convince me. I believe you."

"Good. Now relax, you're all tense."

"Hmm. Wonder why." Lance snorted, then got quiet and fell asleep a short time later.

***

"'Lo?" JC picked up his ringing cell phone.

"C? It's Justin."

"Hey, man, what's goin' on?" JC sat back in his desk chair, taking a break from the song he was working on.

"Not a whole lot. Listen, I heard what happened at the Rolling Stone party. Everything all right?"

"What exactly did you hear?" JC's brow furrowed slightly.

Justin relayed the same story he’d heard from Joey earlier.

JC thought for a moment before saying anything. "Well, I didn’t necessarily step in. I just… talked to him. Ya know. He was drunk, and just… an ass." He let out a small chuckle.

"He can get like that… is Zoë okay?"

"Yeah, she was pretty shaken up, but I had her stay over just in case."

"Just in case? Of what?" His words were slow and deliberate, trying to make sense of what JC was telling him.

"She just…"

"C, are you sure you didn't have another reason for having her stay over?" His eyes were on the road, but his mind was occupied with trying to get his friend to come to the conclusion everyone else had been seeing.

"Like what?" JC's brows knitted on his forehead.

"Um, if I have to tell you, then I guess not. Nevermind." Justin shook his head, his eyes rolling.

"Dude, just tell me." JC was getting impatient with Justin’s ambiguity.

"You like her, don't you? I mean, you guys are friends."

"Of course. She's pretty much family." JC's forehead remained creased as he tapped his pen on his knee, his notebook dangling from his other hand.

"Okay. Could it be turning into something more than friends?" Justin trod carefully, not sure how JC was going to respond.

"Justin… ya know, sometimes I think you've gone done lost your mind. It's Zoë. What’s your damn point?" He wasn’t harsh, just a bit annoyed.

"Exactly. It's Zoë. The girl who was there for all of us at one point or another over the last however many years, the girl who you would spend countless hours watching movies with us, or just talking to us on the bus; who if you just happened to need a snuggle, she was the one you would find. And don't even say you didn't, 'cause I saw you in your bunk.” He sighed. “The one we could always count on to be a date for an awards show, or some benefit. You guys hang out so much now anyway, it's hard not to see you guys as a couple."

JC was about to protest, but he just shut his mouth. Justin sighed again.

"JC, I see the way you look at her. I might not be around as much anymore, but when I am, it's still there." He paused. "I even see her looking at you the same way."

"And what way would that be?" JC's eyes were squeezed shut, his fingers pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Like she loves you. And you love her." His tone was matter-of-fact. He heard JC sigh.

"Dude… you're on crack. It's just Zo'. There's no way I'm in love with her." Justin knew by the speed with which JC spoke that he was lying through his teeth, and he also knew that JC knew it.

"Whatever. Call me when you can admit it. Bye." Justin hung up, and JC was left sitting in his high-backed leather chair at his soundboard in his basement studio, his phone shut in his lap. Running his hands over his face, he kicked the floor, sending his chair spinning in circles.

Three

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