AN: I swear this is the last chapter in NY, at least for the time being, I don't know what the future will bring. This whole trip was supposed to be one chapter, I had no idea is would become the longest three chapters ever. This one is back down to a more average length. Sorry to those of you who liked the longer chapters, I don't know if I can do that with Jason and Ali in different locations and in more normal situations.
Hello Beautiful Part 3: Back to Reality
Sunday was quiet. The band had the day off. There was a knock on the door mid-morning. Jason answered it and welcomed Ali into the room.
"Good morning," Jason greeted.
"Hi, did you walk me back to my room last night?" Ali had been so out of it that she honestly didn't remember leaving the couch.
"Yeah, you were falling asleep. I tried to help."
"Thanks for that." Ali said, still standing just inside the doorway. Jason nodded.
"So, anything specific on the agenda today?" She wondered, pulling her phone out of her pocket and checking the time aimlessly as they walked further into the room.
"Nope. We might just stay in the hotel today. Maybe watch some movies?"
"Sounds great. Where are the guys?" She was curious as to why she hadn't seen either of his band mates yet. They were the ones who had gotten more than enough sleep.
"I'm not sure. Probably getting done. They slept in the chairs," Jason's eyes widened slightly, remembering the commotion when they had woken up.
"I'm guessing they weren't thrilled when they woke up?" Ali asked. Jason shook his head vigorously, tossing his hair into his eyes, and shaking it again so he could see.
"Nope, not at all."
"Well you wouldn't be either," Nate commented, coming in from the hallway. He noticed the extra person in the room, "Morning Ali."
"Morning." She replied simply.
"So are we going to spend all day standing around the place or are we going to do something?" Shane asked rhetorically, making his way to the kitchen.
Ali smiled. She enjoyed the whole group being together, it was comfortable, like being with her friends at home. She watched as Nate turned on the radio and their song came over the airwaves.
"Is that weird for you guys or are you used to it?" she asked, being brought back to reality where her friends were world famous.
"Hearing ourselves on the radio? It still catches me off guard." Nate replied.
"Have you eaten?" Jason asked, pulling a few bowls out of the cupboard.
"No," she accepted the purple soup mug he passed to her. Does he seriously remember that I like mugs instead of bowls? Ali wondered, he got the color right. She watched as Jason pulled out a green soup mug for himself. "Is that from 'Psych'?" Ali asked, recognizing the lettering on the side. "I have one just like it at home."
The group sat around the table with their cereal, the radio still playing. They listened to it for a while longer, after breakfast was done, before trying to find something to do. Eventually they settled on a game of Apples to Apples.
"You cheated," Shane accused, throwing down his cards. Ali looked at him amused. Jason had won the last 3 games and Shane wasn't exactly a gracious loser.
"Ok, Mr. Grumpy Gills," Ali teased, "how about we watch a movie?"
She had brought some with her for the plane ride and quickly retrieved them from her room.
Before long they had all settled into the seats they had occupied the night before. Only this time instead of curling up Ali rested her feet in Jason's lap. She only had a few hours left with her friend and she was going to take advantage of it.
The group spent most of the day rest of their time watching movies. The gender difference made it slightly more difficult to find a movie, but Ali tried to compromise. Even then the guys rarely agreed amongst themselves on so much as a genre. It was eventually decided that anything with a decent amount of music was within boundaries.
"My vote goes to Walk the Line," Nate said, pulling out the case.
They had just finished Shane's choice of Lord of the Rings: Return of the King. He said that the fact that there were "at least three scenes" that featured singing meant it met the music requirement. No one else had bothered arguing with him.
"Not again," Shane moaned.
"Ok, then what do you want to watch?" Nate asked, still holding onto the movie.
"I don't know, just not that." He folded his arms, collapsing into his seat.
"Do you have a better suggestion?"
"Singing in the Rain?" Ali said shyly. It was her all time favorite musical, she had met very few people that didn't like it. Of course she didn't know many guys that had seen it.
"That'll work," Shane decided, unfolding his arms. Ali was shocked; she didn't think Shane would go for an old 50's musical.
"I used to watch that with my parents, I haven't seen it in ages," Nate added.
"I've never seen it." Jason said, looking at the DVD.
"You've never seen Singing in the Rain? Well, if nobody else minds I think the movie decision has been made," Ali smiled and put it to a vote, "All those in favor of the Gene Kelly classic, raise your hand… it's unanimous." Ali hopped off the couch and put the DVD in.
About halfway through Elizabeth poked her head through the door to see what was going on. She was spotted and invited in. Ali moved over so her mother could sit on the opposite end of the couch from Jason, leaving her comfortably in the middle.
At the end of the movie Ali sat fidgeting nervously.
"I didn't realize there was so little male oriented anything in that movie. I feel like I just forced you guys to watch a chick flick," Ali admitted.
"I liked it!" Jason claimed, "'Make 'em Laugh' was the best."
"Really? I thought 'Mosses Supposes' was better," Nate debated. Ali's face broke into a smile as the three musicians got into a debate over what song stole the show. She felt a nudge and looked over at her mother, who was smiling.
"Sorry for making you sit through it again Mom. I know you've seen it a dozen times at home."
"Actually I haven't seen it that many times. It's a good movie. I'm glad your friends liked it."
"Me too," she said relieved. They sat for a moment just watching in silence. The band was talking very animatedly, Ali watched amused as they argued.
"Hey Ali, do you have any other recommendations for musicals?" Nate asked after giving up on the debate, leaving Jason and Shane too "duke it out" so to speak.
"That depends on what kind of musical you like. I watch them all." It was true, from Sweeny Todd to Disney to Fred Astaire, she had sampled all sorts.
"I like the tap dancing. It gives a good beat and would be fun at a show."
"Still planning Nate?" she asked incredulously, he never stops does he she wondered, he shrugged, "I would recommend more Gene Kelly movies, his style was more acrobatic, it would be more fun to try, at least for the audience. 'Tra-la-la' from An American in Paris is a good one to watch, it has Gene Kelly tapping along with the piano, well on top of it, technically. But if you want to see some tapping, I love Anne Miller's number 'Prehistoric Man' from On The Town. That one has Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra." Ali smiled, she never thought she would recommend these movies to anybody. Most of her friends liked the musicals, but didn't go out of their way to watch them.
"Sounds great," Nate commented, jotting down the names in a conveniently placed notepad. Jason had finally surrendered to Shane that "Good Mornin'" was the best musical number in the film. He decided to join the conversation while Shane celebrated his victory. Elizabeth excused herself to go double check the details for their return trip home. Ali resumed her place in the corner of the couch cushions.
"I liked the best friend, he was funny," Jason decided, leaning back into the couch.
"That's Donald O'Connor, I've only seen him in one other movie, but I've watched a lot of his stuff on youtube. He was so talented…"
All of a sudden Ali's phone went off. She pulled it out of her pocket. It was a reminder.
"I have to go finish packing," she looked around the room apologetically, "We need to be at the airport in less than an hour." Ali got off the couch and headed for the door. Jason followed.
"Mind if I help?" He used to being around her and didn't want to leave her just yet.
"Um, sure, I'd like the company," Ali smiled. She didn't have a whole lot of packing to do, just gathering her odds and ends to put in her backpack. They walked down the hall and saw that Elizabeth had been stopped by Jasper. Ali listened in as she and Jason passed, all she could pick out was something about the photo shoot.
He sat on the bed as she moved around the room checking and double checking that she had everything. He picked up her book which had been sitting in the spot he now occupied; he toyed with the charms hanging off the bookmark.
Ali noticed his actions, "I do that too."
"I fidget," he said handing her the book so she could place it in her backpack.
"Same here, it gets worse depending on what book I'm reading," she giggled. That made her sound a little crazy, but she didn't mind. It was Jason after all.
Ali zipped up her bag and was about to sit next to him when her mother called her from the hall. She moved to the hallway and Jason followed, smiling. Shane and Nate were on either side of Jasper who was holding a small box.
"This is for you. It was just finished," Jasper explained handing her the box. Ali looked from face to face questioningly. She opened the lid of the box and gasped. It was a CD, the cover was one of the professional pictures from the photo shoot, of Ali and the guys on the stage. At the top it said 'The Fourth Connection' indicating the band, and at the bottom in fairytale letters it said "Whimsical."
"So that's why you asked my favorite word," she realized turning to Jason, he nodded.
She turned the case over in her hands. On the back was the picture Elizabeth had taken of her and Jason at the soda shop counter. Over the picture was the track list for the album. It was every one of the songs that they had done in the studio the night before.
"This is amazing! Thank you so much," She proceeded to hug everyone, starting with Jason. Elizabeth checked her watch.
"Looks like it's time for us to go," she stated. Ali nodded, acknowledging it, though still staring between her new friends and their amazing gift.
"Well I guess this is where we say goodbye," Nate said, giving Ali a short hug, "it was great having you out here."
"Thanks," she responded, not knowing what else to say. Shane was next.
"Bye Ali, happy birthday, again," he gave her a half hug. The pair turned to go back to their suite, Jasper followed. Ali turned to Jason, expecting him to follow suit.
"I'm going to the airport with you. You can't get rid of me just yet."
Ali smiled and grabbed her backpack. Why would I want to? She wasn't looking forward to saying goodbye. They got down to the lobby to find that it was raining out. It seems to fit Ali thought woefully.
This time there was a black SUV waiting for them. Elizabeth sat in one of the middle seats with Jason and Ali in the back; once again the nameless security guard was up front. Ali watched the rain falling, following single drops as they trailed down the windows and were lost from sight; a frown forming on her face. She smirked when she heard Jason humming beside her.
"I don't think it's raining that much. Not enough for us to 'live underwater'," she sang the familiar lyrics. Jason shrugged and continued humming, she joined in. As usual she couldn't come up with anything to complain about when there was the sound of Connect 3 around; especially since she was singing with Jason. Big improvement from singing along with the radio in the car back home, she thought as she smiled and continued singing. Before she knew it the car stopped and they all piled out with the luggage. Jason held the umbrella as they walked to the doors.
Jason and Ali were standing near the security line facing each other when it hit her. They were at the airport and her whirlwind vacation was coming to an end. But before she could get too upset Jason spoke up, pulling her from her thoughts.
"I've got something for you, a birthday present." Jason said, fishing for something in his pocket.
"But I thought the trip was my gift? And the CD, and the show," Ali wasn't sure if she could accept anything else from him, he had done so much already.
"Well then this can be a going away present," Jason reasoned opening his fist he pulled from his pocket. Resting on his palm was a silver necklace with a small silver heart pendent hanging from it. Ali thought it was stunning. "I wasn't sure what to get you," he admitted and saw Ali about to protest, "Everything else was kid of a group thing. This is just from me," he explained, "Anyway, I remembered the ring you wore at camp and at Christmas. This kind of reminded me of it." He motioned to one of the two rings she always had with her. It was currently on her left thumb.
"It's beautiful Jason. Thank you!" She exclaimed, still admiring the necklace and pulled him into a hug. When they separated she picked up the necklace and put it on. The chain was longer than she had expected it to be.
"Just the right length," Jason said to himself.
"What?"
"Look, it hangs over your heart."
Ali looked down, sure enough, if it was shifted off to the side it rested directly over her heart. She felt her cheeks redden.
"Ali, we have to go. We still have to go through security," her mom said, coming up behind her.
"Well, I guess this is it." Ali said, looking up at Jason. She really didn't want to leave, but her time there was up, and it was time to go back to reality.
"Yeah," Jason agreed, equally unenthused. He pulled her into a warm hug.
"Thanks again for bringing us out here," Ali said. She and Jason were still staring at each other when she heard her mother clear her throat.
"Ali, say good bye, we have to go. Jason, thank you again." She said kindly and turned to head for the security check.
They turned back to each other and hugged yet again. Jason smiled, leaned in and pecked Ali on the cheek. She giggle and reached up and ruffled his hair. He grinned, turned her around, and gently pushed her towards her mother; who was now walking through the metal detector. Ali walked through a minute later and waved at him from the other side. Jason waved back and then watched her as she walked towards her gate.
- - - - - -
Ali couldn't believe it. She almost had tears in her eyes. She had waved to Jason and not looked back. It had been the best three days of her life.
She sat quietly next to her mother, waiting to board the plane. She pulled out her book and smiled slightly at the bookmark she saw peaking out of the top. Sighing, she started to read, absentmindedly fidgeting with the music notes on her bookmark as she did.
A chirp from her phone alerted her that she had received a text message. It was from Jason and she couldn't help but laugh. It didn't say anything. It was only a smiley face, one of the many that she had seen on instant messages from him. Her mother heard her laugh and looked over at the message.
"He really is a sweet boy," she commented.
"Yeah," Ali said softly, "he is."
- - - - -
Jason walked back into the common room and saw Nate at the piano.
"What, you didn't wait to watch her plane take off, try and hug her through the tiny window?" Shane teased on his way from the kitchen to his room. Truth be told he liked Ali, especially how she was with Jason, they fit so well, but it was too much fun to mess with his friend.
Jason just rolled his eyes, "What are you working on Nate?"
"I'm not sure. It doesn't sound like our sort of thing so I was thinking I would see if the label wanted it."
"Can I help? Maybe write the lyrics or something?" Jason asked. Nate was surprised, Jason helped with the music but it usually wasn't as big a project as the whole song.
"Sure, if you want. I wouldn't even know what to write about for this one. Listen." Nate played the melody on the piano. Jason grabbed an extra sheet on manuscript paper and started jotting down words.
After a while Nate tried to read what his friend had written. He couldn't make out the first part through the crossed out lines and scribbles, but further down the page the words cleared up. He sang them in the melody as he played, "Has it is ever cross your mind, when we're hangin' spendin' time girl. Are we just friends? Is there more? Is there more?"
He stopped playing and looked at Jason. "It's about Ali isn't it?"
Jason looked at him for a moment, nervous about admitting it. "Yeah, it is."
"I won't tell anyone man, it's cool. I was thinking about having an alias for the piece. That way we can see how far we could get without the 'Connect 3' name. But that means Ali won't hear on the radio 'the new song written by Connect 3's Nate Turner and Jason Walker.' Is that cool with you?"
Jason nodded and continued to fix and add to the lyrics.
- - - -
Ali was sitting on the plane, bored and mildly depressed at the thought of things going back to normal. She turned to her mother and saw her reading intently. She repressed a sigh and reached for her back pack. She opened the zipper and saw her CD sitting on the top. My own professional CD she thought, still trying to wrap her mind around it.She examined the outside for the hundredth time. Opening it she looked at the actual disc. It was simple; black with white lettering. It had the CD name across the top in a swirling font, below that was her name followed, in a smaller script, with "featuring Connect 3". She looked around the edge and saw that what she had thought was an intricate border was actually the words "The Fourth Connection" in the matching script. They went all out didn't they? Then she noticed that it wasn't a single sheet as the cover, there was an actual CD booklet. No way, she thought, pulling it out. Her eyes widened as she unfolded it and saw the poster on one side. It was a collage of the pictures she had picked out after the photo shoot.
"Oh my gosh, Mom look at this!" she nudged her mother.
"What?" she looked at the paper in her daughter's hands, "Oh, wow. That will have a place on your wall won't it?"
"Most definitely. Man, Rory and Coco are going to flip." Ali shook her head and continued to stare at the poster. This must have been what Mom and Jasper were talking about in the hallway she realized. Elizabeth went back to her book. As Ali shifted in her seat the paper was held up to the window, the light shown through the and Ali realized there was writing on the back. She turned it over, curious. She found that instead of lyrics or credits there were large blocks of text. After quickly scanning the page she realized that they were letters from Shane, Nate, and Jason; all wishing her a happy birthday among other things. They must have been done the previous night after she went to bed, or at least added to at that point, because each of them mentioned conversations, or moments that had happened that day. So this is what they were working on last night Ali realized, she had seen they guys with notebooks, but really hadn't thought anything of it.
Ali smiled as she read the letters. They were typed, which she was thankful for. By the looks of their signatures that graced the bottom of each note she wouldn't have been able to read them otherwise. Jason's was the longest by far, which was expected, being she was closer to him than any one else. Nate's words had taken up a substantial amount of space as well; even Shane managed to take up a bit of space.
She giggled as she read through Jason's letter. To anyone else it would have seemed completely random but to her it made complete sense. She saw motion out of the corner of her eye and looked up to see Elizabeth reading over her shoulder.
"I think he likes you," she said, reading through Jason's letter.
Ali got butterflies in her stomach, I wish "I doubt it Mom."
"Why not? What would be so bad about him liking you?"
Ali really didn't want to have this conversation. She was never comfortable talking to her mother about this kind of thing. She figured that's what her friends were for, or at least her journal. As an automatic reaction Ali's walls went up, she became defensive and irritable.
"Nothing Mom. That would be awesome. Can you drop it now?" She didn't giver her mother the choice as she turned and stared out the window.
- - - - -
A couple of hours later the plane touched down at Lindbergh Field, the San Diego airport. Ali spotted her father and sister as she walked towards the luggage claim. She hugged each of them quickly before getting bombarded with questions from Christine.
"So what was it like? Are they nice? Did you get their autographs? What did you do? Did you bring me anything? Is Jason your boyfriend? Did Mom embarrass you?..." The questions kept coming but Ali had stopped listening, knowing they would all be repeated anyway.
"Slow down," she interrupted, "One at a time. Let's see. No, I'm not dating Jason. Yes, they are nice. Mom was cool." She saw her sister roll her eyes, "Really, she was. They all like her." Ali said as if that was the ultimate answer, she smirked, "What makes you think I would bring you anything?" They were now at the car. Once inside Ali opened up her backpack, "I mean anything other than this," She pulled out one of the double-sided mini-posters of Nate that she had taken from Chrisy's room before she left.
"Hey, that's mine," she snatched it from her older sister's hand.
"I know," Ali shrugged, and waited while her sister inspected the poster for damage.
"Oh my God," Chrisy squealed once she had flipped the poster over, on the back was a message from Nate, "You are the greatest sister ever!"
"I told him you'd say that," Ali laughed. The rest of the car ride went smoothly. Ali answered all of her sister's questions while enjoying the warmth of the Southern California sun through her window.
- - - - -
Jason had finished the lyrics and was bouncing on the balls of his feet watching Nate sing through them.
"This is really good man. If the label gives it to the right person we could have a hit on our hands," Nate grinned.
"Cool." Jason replied. Just then his phone rang. He smiled at the name on the caller ID.
"Hi,"
"Guess who's home," Ali semi-sang on the other end.
"Hmmm, let me think about that?" he laughed, "How was your flight?"
"Amazing. Well the plane ride was a plane ride, nothing super special. But I found the letters and the poster in my CD case, that's what's so amazing. Thank you so much Jason, your letter was so sweet. Are the other guys there I want to thank them really quickly too."
"Sure, Nate's right here." He passed the phone, "It's Ali," he told his band mate. Nate smiled and rolled his eyes, as if it would be anyone else he thought.
"Hey Ali, what's up?" Nate asked.
"Just wanted to thank you for what you wrote. You're good with words, no wonder you're a song writer. I really appreciated everything you said. Anyway, that was pretty much it, just thanks for everything over the past couple of days."
"Well, thanks for hangin' out, and listening to all of out technical music gibberish."
"Oh, because that was such a hardship," she laughed, "Take it easy Nate. Is Shane nearby?"
"Yep, here you go, bye Ali," Nate tossed the phone to Shane after a quick "heads-up". Miraculously Shane caught it.
"So Ali, you miss us already?" Shane asked sarcastically. Ali laughed.
"I just wanted to say thanks Shane. For working in the studio with me and everything. I read you're letter. It means a lot."
"No problem, any friend of Jason is a friend of ours. I mean that." The honesty rang through his voice, clear as crystal.
Ali smiled on the other end; she wasn't sure what else to say. Shane passed the phone back to Jason.
"Full circle. It's me again."
"Great. Well, I think I'm going to get some rest, doing nothing is surprisingly tiring. Plus tomorrow I get to look through the trillion and one pictures from the last three days." Ali realized that this was the first time since Thursday she hadn't been walked to her door by Jason. She was also aware of the fact that even thought it had only happened twice it felt like a long time tradition. "You need to get some sleep too, it's late. Well it's late where you are."
"Sweet dreams Ali," Jason said, just because she's not physically here doesn't mean I can't say that right?
"Good night Jason," She said and hung up, falling into her bed after what felt like the longest and shortest weekend of her life.
AN: I know nothing about CD production, my bit seemed far fetched even to me. I just thought it would be a nice little souvenir. Let me know what you think of the progress of the story; too slow? If you're ready to shoot me because nothing is happening please let me know so I can wear a bullet proof vest while typing. Haha.