JOSH CHASEZ
I'm almost glad MattHunter didn't have any competition here: they wouldn't have stood a chance.
Keeping JC
He sat before the
piano, pencil grasped firmly between his teeth, as he pounded the ivory keys
in a new melody. He was only vaguely aware of someone placing their hands on
his shoulders and placing a cup of coffee before him.
"Thanks, JC."
"Thank you. I’d
say it’s the least I could do for you, considering you’ve agreed to help me
on this rewrite at the last minute."
"It’s my pleasure."
"Besides," he added silently, "it gives me more time to spend
with you."
JC just smiled at
him, apparently lost in thoughts of his own. "The music you’ve got written
so far," he began, finally breaking the silence, "is just incredible.
I wish I was having half as much luck writing the lyrics."He patted the
section of the piano bench directly next to him, scooting just enough for JC
to sit down, but forcing him to remain close. "What seems to be the problem?"
"I don’t know,"
JC confessed. "I had an idea of what I wanted before I sat down to write
it. It was supposed to be what someone would or should be willing to do in order
to win someone else’s heart. It’s not hard to get my attention. It’s much harder
to keep it. I’m willing to take the chance with almost anybody, hoping, even
praying, that it’ll be worth it."
He looked up to see me
staring into those impossibly blue eyes before he blushed, turning his gaze
towards his shuffling feet. "I don’t know," he laughed uncomfortably.
"I guess it sounded better in my head than it did when it came out of my
mouth just now."
"I don’t know, either,"
he smiled at the excessive use of the phrase, "I don’t know." "I
think just about anything coming out of your voice would sound like Heaven."
JC looked up at
him, suddenly wary that he was reading something that wasn’t there—something
he wanted to see. Abruptly, he flashed crimson and turned back to the papers
on the piano. "So?" JC asked. "What do you think would win someone’s
heart?"
"That’s too general,"
he chuckled. "Gimme some specifics."
"Well, what
would you do, if, say, you were interested in me?" JC asked him. "Purely
hypothetical of course."
"Interesting prospect,"
he grinned. "In a purely hypothetical way, of course. What sort of things
do you like?"
"If you're asking
in the romance department, it’s the simple things that matter most," JC
responded. "I’m not impressed by someone spending money on me. I’ve got
money. What I don’t have is someone who’s genuinely interested in just spending
time with me."
"So what would
you say . . . ," he began, "to someone who wanted to sit on the floor
in front of the couch with you watching your favorite movie, which you’ve both
seen a thousand times?"
"Sounds like a promising
start," JC raised an eyebrow. "What else?"
"What if they wanted
to lay in bed with you all day rather than watch their favorite team play?"
JC smiled broadly, pushing
himself off of the bench and onto the top of the piano itself. "Keep going."
"How do you
feel about holding hands? With someone who wouldn’t want to ever let you go?"
"A must," JC
replied.
"Someone who called
you just to hear that angelic voice?"
JC stretched out on top
of the piano and propped the side of his head up on the palm of his hand. "Sounds
real good. What else?"
"Someone whose
face lit up every time you walked in the room?"
"Uh-huh," JC
muttered, absentmindedly staring at him.
Uncomfortable, he shifted
his attention back to the piano. "And someone who’d be just as happy lying
next to you fully clothed as having sex with you?"
JC just nodded before
resting his chin on his now folded arms.
"Someone who, despite
themselves, couldn’t keep from closing their eyes in bliss not just when you
kissed but whenever you came close enough to feel each other’s breath?"
"Definitely."
He thought about it for
a minute. "Okay, JC, what about surprises? Flowers, candy, jewelry, what?"
"Flowers,"
JC answered confidently. "There’s some thought behind flowers."
"What kind of flowers?"
JC was perplexed for
a minute. "A rose," he eventually answered.
"Roses?"
"No," JC clarified.
"A single rose. Like I said, simple."
"What color?"
"Whatever suits
the mood," JC smiled, wistfully lost in thought.
"I don’t understand."
"White or red,"
he grinned.
"White or red?"
"White for friendship
and red for love. I need both of those rolled up into one person," JC explained,
pleased with his choices.
He put the pencil down on the piano and pointed to JC. "I think I’ve got the chorus. Take a listen:
Buy me a rose
Call me from work
Open a door for me
What would it hurt?
Show me you love me by the look in your eyes
These are the little things I need the most in my life
JC sat there, utterly
speechless.
He cringed, certain JC
hated it. "I guess someone who did things like that wouldn’t catch your
eye," he said, suddenly very conscientious, even embarrassed, of his answer.
"Probably not,"
JC said stoically. He hooked a finger under the other’s chin, lifting his eyes
so their gazes could meet. "Since somebody like that already has,"
he smiled.
Lyrics from "Buy Me a Rose" by Kenny Rogers with Allison Krauss
Copyright Dreamcatcher Music 1999