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laniew1TITLE: Every Good Plan… Has Girl Talk & Boy Talk – JC/Britney, JC/Justin
SERIES: Every Good Plan
Author: Melanie
DISCLAIMER: I own nothing at all, least of all those contained within.
This is a series, you should really read these first …
Every Good Plan… Has A Beginning
Every Good Plan… Has Its Opposition
Every Good Plan… Has A First Date
Every Good Plan… Has An Intervention Staged By A Boyband
Every Good Plan… Has A Double Date with Ex’s
Every Good Plan… Has More Plans
Every Good Plan… Has Ring Catalogs
Every Good Plan… Has A Felony Committed By A Boyband
Every Good Plan… Has A Boyband on Tour
Every Good Plan… Has Girl Talk & Boy Talk
Britney had to force herself to not fidget. Cameron was only fifteen minutes late and she’d promised to be there. But the possibility that Cameron had agreed just to use this opportunity to embarrass her publicly was running rampant through her mind.
She figured that she should be used to that by now. Over the last few years she’d had a lot of experience with it.
All those friends that she’d thought were both of theirs, when the break came they’d ended up being Justin’s.
She was so sure that she was being stood up that she had already gathered her bag and was thus shocked when Cameron appeared before her as if conjured out of thin air.
“Were you leaving?” she queried.
“You were late,” Britney shrugged, her appearance trying to be nonchalant as she studied the woman before her. For the life of her she couldn’t figure out exactly what Justin’s ‘type’ was. He went from blonde to brunette, to short to statuesque.
Female to male.
He made no sense.
“Got a phone call,” Cameron grinned wryly, one that Britney returned. Because the call had been from Justin most likely and she wondered if he was aware that JC had managed a call to her.
The waiter appeared suddenly and the next few minutes were filled with ordering their food. Two females, not a male in sight. They ordered what they wanted to eat instead of what they were supposed to.
“So…” Britney crossed her hands in front of her.
“I was kind of surprised that you called,” Cameron said unfolding, then refolding her napkin.
“I was kind of surprised that you were here… isn’t Justin on tour?” Britney countered. She smiled demurely at Cameron’s arched brow.
“Well, you know…” Cameron looked as if she were trying to formulate the correct response… privately Britney had sort of figured that she would have had one ready already. Or at least a stock answer that Justin had given her.
If Britney asks this, then this is what you should say in response.
“But I guess it might be kind of full on the bus… what with Justin and Lance and Chris and Trace and JC,” she smiled innocently at Cameron’s now narrowed eyes.
“How…?” Cameron’s eyes widened slightly in disbelief. “You’ve talked to JC.”
“Last night,” Britney shrugged. “I hope that Justin knows that he’s got meetings this next week, as well as a radio interview.”
“I’m sure he does,” Cameron muttered, Britney could feel her eyes boring holes. Probably trying to figure out what her angle was, why she didn’t seem to be upset at the fact that her boyfriend had been kidnapped and was even now being kept forcibly away from her. “He wouldn’t let JC miss anything important.”
“Hmm,” she smiled at the waiter as her salad was set before her.
“You knew this would happen,” Cameron stated quietly. Britney didn’t respond right away, the waiter was still hovering and it wouldn’t do for him to be given any insider information that he could sell to the tabloids the second he stepped away. So she waited, toying with her fork until he smiled, bowing slightly and stepped away.
Britney still moved in closer to the table, Cameron doing the same.
“I figured that they’d do something like this. I have to say I didn’t see them taking off with him in the middle of the night, or drugging him but…” she said quietly shrugging. “I guess jail time doesn’t worry Justin when he’s trying to get something that he wants.”
“They’re just trying to help him,” Cameron said. From the tone of her voice even she didn’t really believe that.
“Help him? Help him do what? Be what they want him to be, do what they want him to do?”
“Justin thinks you’re using him.”
“Justin’s insane, which I think given his actions in the last few days should have been perfectly obvious. Besides the fact that I would never hurt JC,” Britney said somewhat surprised by her own vehemence.
“Justin…” Cameron started.
“You know,” Britney cut her off. “Justin has no say in this, none at all. JC is an adult, an adult that can make his own decisions and Justin and the others are treating him like a fucking child. Like he needs to be protected.”
“Maybe he does.”
“Not from me… maybe from Justin, but never from me.”
“Justin would never hurt him.”
“They just drugged and kidnapped him, forgive me if I don’t believe that Justin wouldn’t hurt him,” Britney muttered sarcastically.
“What’s your angle?” Cameron asked curiously. When Britney cocked her head to the side studying her quizzically she added, “I mean you seem to really care about JC, you let everything Justin said to you during the double just flow right off. If I didn’t know better, if I didn’t have Justin telling me that you most definitely weren’t, well I’d think the two of you really were dating.”
“Maybe we are.”
“Please,” Cameron snorted. “This is me that you’re talking to, not some reporter…”
“You know I said something similar to JC a few weeks back.”
“Look, you tell me what’s going on on your side, I’ll tell you what’s going on on my side… and I promise to not say a word to Justin…”
“You all are betting on this aren’t you,” Britney sighed, dropping her fork on her plate.
“How…”
“And it’s not that I don’t trust you… I just…”
“Don’t trust me,” Cameron finished. “What if I told you our side first?”
Britney leaned back in her chair and smiled widely. Because this was the whole reason she’d scheduled this lunch. To find out what was going through Justin’s head from someone who was actually in Justin’s head.
She really hadn’t thought she’d get anything useful. But someone had once told her that she had an honest face that invited confidence. She’d thought he was kidding, obviously he hadn’t been.
“Hit me with your best shot.”
JC paced the small hallway of the bus. Rolling his shoulders, steeling his nerve. Rubbing at his eyes because it was damn early but it seemed to be the only time that he’d stand a chance in hell of catching Justin alone.
He’d heard Justin leave the bus about an hour prior. JC figured that he was utilizing a gym or running, something to alleviate the stress of touring and having everyone together again.
There was a damn good reason why they hadn’t all five shared a bus on the last tour. Because Chris and Lance bickered like an old married couple. He would have thought it would have been Lance and Trace but the two of them were cordial, civil, polite. It was beginning to make his skin crawl.
He heard the door open and drew a deep breath, running through his speech in his head.
I’m an adult. I can make my own decisions.
Turning to face Justin his whole speech fled his mind at his first glimpse of a sweaty, panting Justin blotting his face and skin with a towel. He barely restrained the whimper that threatened to escape. That was just cruel.
“C…” Justin was out of breath, he’d probably been running, but his voice was still warm and cordial. “What are you doing up? It’s early yet,” his confusion showed on his face. JC was known for sleeping more hours than being awake.
“I wanted to talk to you…” JC stated his voice firm.
“Alright,” Justin still looked confused. “Can I shower first or…?” he waved his hands and JC nodded slowly.
It would probably be best for Justin to shower, to get rid of the little droplets of sweat that glistened on his skin.
JC would be less likely to tackle him and try licking them off at any rate.
It was the quickest shower that Justin had ever took. He was notorious for taking long showers and even longer baths. But the look on JC’s face had been strange and Justin figured that JC was getting ready to break his silence.
And after the phone call that he’d gotten from Cameron the night before it was about damn time. How Cameron had found that out had him seething, but luckily JC’d had no contact with Britney so the information that she’d exchanged for that tidbit had not been passed along to his oldest friend.
He never thought he’d be happy that JC was with him and not upset about that fact that JC seemed to be pissed at him. Of course JC had been mostly silent for the last 24 hours; he’d not expressed his anger or dissatisfaction with his friends’ actions as the others had become used to.
It was the calm before the storm, Justin and the others had been dealing with JC for long enough that they all knew that an explosion was imminent.
Justin had hoped that it would hold for another two weeks until the tour was over and they were safely back home. Now he could just hope that it could be diffused before JC killed them all.
He dressed in a rush, a pair of sweats and a tank top. In bare feet he walked back out in the living room, the curtains for all the bunks were pulled shut. The guys version of trying to give them privacy, he pulled the door shut to give them an added measure.
He had no doubt that Chris and Trace would have their ears pressed to it within seconds to hear what was going on.
“All clean,” he smiled as JC turned to face him. He flopped down on the couch, trying to affect a look of disinterest that he didn’t think he was pulling off. Not with the knowing look that was on JC’s face.
“So what’s up?” he asked brightly clearing his throat.
“How long were you planning on keeping me here?” JC crossed his arms over his chest.
“Um… well…”
“Because I’ve got some stuff coming up. Stuff that is important to my album and my career. I’ve got interviews, a photo shoot… I think I have a radio thing on Friday…”
“We’re just planning on keeping you here until you decide that marrying Britney is a stupid idea and return to normal… Lance should be locating the pod any time now.”
“At what point did I turn five Justin?”
“Excuse me?”
“When did it become determined that I couldn’t take care of myself? I mean last time I looked I was an adult, perfectly capable of figuring out what I wanted and needed. Besides that fact that what’s going on with Britney is my business. Not yours and it’s sure as hell not anyone else’s.”
“C we’re just trying to protect you.”
“From what? From having fun, from having a fucking life?!” JC’s voice rose slightly as he hissed, his arms dropping down to his side. Justin hadn’t seen JC angry in a long time, to long and he wondered if JC stored up all his anger and bitterness to let loose when it just couldn’t be contained any longer.
“JC…”
“You moved on with your life, you have a great girlfriend that’s conspicuously absent but she seems to really care about you for some insane reason.”
“Cameron and I…” Justin drew a deep breath, pausing.
“What?” JC asked with narrowed eyes.
“We’re not together like that?”
“You’re not together like what?”
“At all… we’re not together… we’re just friends.”
“You’re not together?” JC said dumbly. “I don’t understand; the magazines…”
Justin stared down at the couch. At the ugly fabric that he ran his fingers along. “She’s looking at doing this movie you know; she’s been with us to watch ‘tina. People just assumed that because we spent some time together that we were… you know… together…”
“You lied…” JC drew a deep breath. “Do you have any idea what the hell you’ve done?”
“I didn’t lie exactly because no one ever really asked if Cameron and I were together… they just sort of assumed that we were because we spent some time together…”
“Oh my god…” JC rubbed at his forehead. “You never said anything Justin, you just let us believe… this is messed up J.”
“But I’m telling you now,” Justin said. “Better late then never right?”
“What makes you say that?”
“Look… I know that you’re only with Britney because of all that press about me and Cam…”
“What…? Why would you think…?” the shock on JC’s face would have been hilarious if it wasn’t coming on the heels of the sinking pit in his stomach.
“It doesn’t matter… but you need to know that there is no me and Cameron, so now you can just get rid of Britney and things can go back to the way they were. You know just us,” Justin smiled. “Like old times.”
“Like old times,” JC stared down at him, arms crossing over his chest. Justin flinched slightly as those eyes stared at him. For the first time in his entire life he couldn’t read what was going on in JC’s head. “Just like that… you want to go back to the way things were before.”
“JC…”
“Maybe I don’t want things to go back to they way there were before,” JC’s voice and expression was tired. As if this had all been some battle that he was continuously losing. “You know I don’t think I want to have this discussion with you right now,” he dragged a hand through his hair. “I have a photo shoot tomorrow morning at ten. I’ll need to be on a plane tonight in order to make it in time plus get some sleep.”
“Jace…”
“You’ll let me know when you’ve got the tickets,” JC’s tone brooked no argument and Justin nodded stiffly, staring down at the carpet.
It was plain, boring… just like his life was going to be from now on.
He felt the soft press of JC’s lips his forehead and then the other man was gone.
Life sucked.
“So JC’s coming home,” Britney gasped, biting back a scream as the voice surprised her. With a flick of her wrist the lights came on and she scowled.
He lounged negligently on her bed as if he belonged there. She didn’t even want to know how he’d gotten into her house in the first place.
She knew that the alarm had been set when she left that morning because she’d done it herself.
“Dammit don’t do that,” she scowled dumping her bags on the floor as she walked into the room. “And not that I’m not overjoyed to see you but how the hell did you get in here?”
“Birthdays, your sisters and yours… you should really have made it more difficult,” he waved his hand in the air.
She pushed at his feet until they were off the bed and sat on the corner.
“JC’s coming home?”
“Yeah… I didn’t even get a chance to talk to him about what I found out from Cameron, so that means that Justin did something to send him running.”
“Or he remembered where he left his spine.”
“The message that he left for me? He was hyperventilating… I’ll be really surprised if he doesn’t have a stroke from the stress of all this.”
“So he doesn’t know that you spilled your guts to Cameron?”
“I didn’t spill anything. I have way more restraint than that, and I didn’t confirm anything that Cameron hadn’t already guessed; she doesn’t know that it’s all a ruse. She thinks that it’s a form of retaliation because of Justin dating her.”
“But Justin’s not dating her.”
“No… but whatever happened went down before JC called me freaking out…”
“He’ll come home, you’ll get him calmed down and then we’ll need to plan our next step.”
“That means telling JC that you’re in on this… you spend any amount of time with JC and Justin’ll have a cow… and know that something’s up.”
“You just leave that all up to me.”
“You’ve got a plan?”
“I’ve always got a plan… I’ll share once JC’s here.”
“Why do I not have a good feeling about this,” Britney sighed pushing herself off the bed. Moving across the room she started picking up the bags that she’d dropped.
“Because you’re a pessimist by nature, think positive for once.”
“I’ll try… I still don’t have a good feeling about this though.”
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2003-10-08 01:11 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2003-10-08 02:23 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2003-10-08 07:32 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2003-10-08 08:00 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2003-10-08 11:18 pm (UTC)And, GO JC!!! (Go Justin for fessing up about Cam, too)
*hugs*
*bounces*
(no subject)
Date: 2003-10-09 05:31 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2003-10-12 06:23 pm (UTC)I LOVE THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(no subject)
Date: 2003-10-18 07:59 am (UTC)Oh, Lord. So much fun! The subtitles, the double dates, the sarcasm. You've got a knack for drama, lol.
What I love the humor and the insanity of this story. Cameron and Trace are my perssonal favorite because every good plan needs side bets and insider trading, lol. I love when Britney and JC interact because they're such snarky prima donnas. And Justin is *clearly* deranged, which is always a treat.
I can't wait to read more!