016

After a quick shower at the hotel, John dialed June’s room number and using the same extortion mechanism she had used on him previously that day, he spoke.

“I’m starving and craving Thai…”

“Then it’s your lucky night, big brother, there’s a magnificent food stall a 20 minutes’ walk from here, feel like taking a walk on a lovely night?”

“Isn’t it gonna rain soon?”

“Maybe, in a couple hours. I’ll pick you up in 5, 'kay?”.

…

"Chang beer?" John incredulously inquired. "What happened to the non-alcohol policy?"

"Heat and humidity", June showed first her thumb and then her index finger in front of her. "You can't get by in Southeast Asia without a bottle of ice cold beer and I'm 100% positive you know tha". She grinned and took a long sip, then exhaled with emphasized relief.

"So when where you planning on telling me about this guy?" John asked and took a small portion of Phat tai to his mouth.

"Cause..." June played with her chopsticks incide her Khao phat, "…the date is indeed set...", June admitted unapologetically. "I'm going back to the states for the 4th of July, and he's going back home to start his own business in Jakarta. We have different life plans and apparently none of us cares enough for this relationship to give budge". She nodded. “I really like him, he's such a cool guy...but I just don't feel like I'm...there", she wrinkled her nose almost in an act of self deprecation for not feeling what she should be feeling.

"You don't feel like you're there or you don't want to admit that to yourself?" inquired John and took a sip from his ice cold Chang beer bottle. A drop of bottle sweat fell to the table. June looked up to the sky and realizad that it was going to rain any minute now.

"Either way, the result is the same"

"But you're enjoying it aren't you? I mean…the fact that you know when it’s gonna end" June felt her automatic resistance to this kind of comment. Coming from anybody else, she would have felt it like an unforgivable intrusion, but coming from her brother, the initial resistance was usually immediately followed by acceptance and thankfulness that their connection was still intact despite the distance. Only her brother could speak directly to her heart.

She chuckled softly. "Of course I enjoy being with him...he's an awesome guy, a good friend, and you know how hard it is for me to even get to that point, so...", she sat back and held the bottle of beer in her hand. She smirked. "Knowing that it's going to end just makes me enjoy every moment so much more".

"But really? There’s not one chance at all for the poor bastard?"

June chortled and swallowed another sip of beer. "If it's meant to happen then it will, I may even return in a couple of years if this idea I have takes some sort of form, so who knows...maybe...", she shrugged, "I care for him, John, don’t get me wrong, but right now I need to have the freedom to focus on this project". 

“Alright...you know what you’re doing, then”, John shrugged after meditating for a moment.

By the time they finished dinner, thick drops of water had began to fall from the heavily charged sky above their heads. They hadn’t walked for 300 metres when the skies opened up and started pouring rain. In a matter of minutes the streets were flooded and they were still a couple hundred meters from the hotel. Taking a taxi seemed an impossible task, so they decided it was better to just run. 

Once back at the hotel and thanks to his PR abilities, John was able to get the concierge to handle them two towels and allow them to use the service elevator. They said their goodbyes on the corridor and each headed to their rooms. In the bathroom June peeled off her wet clothes and wrapped herself in another dry towel, then used a smaller one to start drying her hair. Even before she looked outside the window, the idea had already formed in her head and in response, smirk curled the corner of her lips. Still drying the tips of her hair with the towel, she approached the window and looked down at the turquoise glowing curvy pool several floors below. She loved swimming in the rain.

...

Half an hour later, she was letting herself float on the surface of the water, hands slightly extended to her sides, legs stretched, thighs slightly parted. Rain wasn't falling as hard as an hour before, but still she could feel the warm, heavy drops that fell from the sky softly hit her skin. It was almost 1 in the morning, and she had the pool all to herself.

For the first time in the whole day June finally felt completely relaxed. Her ears where submerged in the water so all she could hear was the soothing sound of the drops joining the mass of pool water together with the remaining buzz that was left from the show. It had been a long day, but far from being exhausted, June felt energized and ecstatic to finally be able to share a piece of her brother's world. After all these years it was the first time she had really shared an everyday 'normal' working day with her brother.

She thought about the following day, when they would make a short trip to Ayutthaya to film the video for the new single. She remembered the song, then the whole record. It was hands down the best record they had produced, but the general mood and theme had struck June as rather surprising coming from such happily married, positive, faithful men as Jon and Richie. The portrayed emotions and feelings, as far as she knew, held little resemblance to their actual life. Or did it?

It made me so mad cause I wanted it bad for us baby,

And now it’s so sad that whatever we had ain’t worth saving.

She remembered and hummed the last notes. In her head, Jon's voice sounded rather like a lament.

Then all of a sudden, she felt an arm slide under her knees and another one under her shoulder blades. She gasped and tried to incorporate herself but not quickly enough to prevent the strong arms to lift her up until she was suspended out of the water. After the initial shock, she laughed out loud.

"John! You stupid asshole!", she smacked at his torso, but she didn't remember her brother having such thick chest hair. She scratched her eyes to clear her view.

"I get that at lot, actually", Jon grinned and his pearly teeth sparkled with the glow coming from the underwater lamps.  Thick, wet dark strands of hair stuck to his neck and partially on his shoulders, wet skin that shone with a mixture of turquoise and orange lights, the drops of rain on his skin producing a beaded effect that made him look as if his body was covered in tiny little diamonds.

"Jesus Christ, Jon", she laughed once the confusion washed off her mind. "I'm sorry, I thought it was..."

"He gets that a lot, too, you know", he interrupted her. 

June looked around her and realized she had drifted to the shallow end of the pool. Jon released her, allowing her to stand in front of him. The water reached his low waist, but covered June's navel. 

“You scared me to death you know that?”, she softly smacked his torso again and then started moving back to the deep end. Jon followed.

"I looked out the window and thought there was a lady in disgrace that needed some rescuing from dangerous waters".

June looked back over her shoulder and rolled her eyes. “And I take it you flew down here, didn’t you?”

Jon took his index finger to his lips. “Shh, nobody knows”. He smiled widely, the turquoise glowing water illuminated his chiseled body and highlighted his sparkling and equally turquoise eyes.

Once Jon caught up with her, she spoke. "So how's everything? I haven't met the new baby yet, but John says he's adorable, and I bet he is...last time I heard you were still calling him 'buddy'…I assume you've already decided on a name, haven't you?"

Jon chuckled and smiled, but it was a bittersweet smile that didn't go by unnoticed by June. "Yeah, we have. We've named him Jesse. Jesse James".

"Wow, another cowboy in the family, huh?", the water reached June's chin and she pushed herself forward. Extending her arms in front of her, she stroked forward.

Jon observed her toned, tanned body and how the beaded straps that held her white and green stripes bikini together on the sides of her hips floated under the water.

Half way through the pool, June looked over her shoulders and seeing that Jon was frozen to the spot she tipped her head towards the opposite side. "Comin? or are you just testing the water?"

Jon, caught off-guard by her assessment, secretly laughed at the possible second meaning of her phrase.

He hated being put in the situation when his body and his mind didn't agree. As a man, the fact that he felt attracted to June was undeniable, but beyond his attraction, there was also curiosity: who was in reality this woman that appeared in his life every once in a while? She had been there all the time and she hadn’t gone unnoticed by him, but now he couldn’t keep away from her, he wanted more. That’s what had led him down to the pool after seeing her from the window of his suite. His decision had been, however, preceded by a brief internal debate regarding his intentions with her.

The fact that she was in a relationship by any mean represented an obstacle for Jon, but the fact that she was his friend’s sister, did. He admitted to himself that after separating from his wife, he was in the ´fooling around´ mood, and June wasn’t someone to mess around with.

On the one hand, he felt relieved that he and Dorothea had finally amicably agreed that separating was the right thing to do. The happiness the arrival of their new son had brought was a diamond that sparkled in a sea of mud. Their marriage was ruined and they both knew it even before the boy had been born. As much as they loved their children, they were both too tired to fight for something that was clearly beyond salvation. Procrastinating would only cause further suffering.

On the other, he was frustrated that he still couldn’t leave it behind. Things were going too well, and every minute detail had to be taken into account, and that included Jon’s most personal issues. He had agreed with John and the rest of the PR team advice, he’d agreed that it would be better to keep that matter as private as possible in order not to take focus away from at the tour and the new album. That, of course included any ‘fooling around’ that might be involved.

Jon's stare didn't go unnoticed by June, but she felt safe and at ease with him. He was a man, after all, the fact that he looked at her in that way was nothing else but normal. She recognized, though, that the atmosphere, the luscious place, the moment, the weather, and above all, the company, somehow conjured to produce a reality that felt rather far away from real.

"How do you go back to our normal life after this?" June’s question was mostly rhetoric, but Jon chuckled softly and shrugged.

"I don't, I just find something else to do"

"Like what?" June inquired carelessly.

"Well, let’s see…I bought a land by the riverbank at Jersey, when this is over maybe I'll waste some time and money and build something in it".

"I see, the family's quickly getting bigger..."

Jon hesitated for a few seconds before answering, he chose his words carefully. "No, not really" he replied firmly. "Things have changed, June", he spoke against the surface of the water that reached his chin. "Remember when we met at the cafe?", he asked, June frowned and nodded silently, then he continued. "Well, that wasn't even the beginning...things have been going worse for some time now, and it got to a point where no matter how hard we tried, no effort seemed enough, everything simply fell apart in front of our eyes".

"But what about the baby? How...?" 

"We wanted to have a last try at having a family, changing the focus, sharing the experience of being parents again...The arrival of Steph had made things right for some time... We thought with Jesse the same thing was gonna happen, but no matter how much we love him and how much we wanted for things to go right, we couldn't, and we just stopped trying".

"But a baby changes too many things...maybe if you wait some time..."

Jon shook his head slowly. "We've discussed this from every angle, this is the best for everyone. It just doesn't feel right anymore".

June paused for a moment and spoke hesitantly, she didn't quite know what to make of this new information. "I'm really sorry, Jon, you were great together".

"I know. It's been a hard decision to make...call me an asshole, but now that it's done, I'm glad it's over". His tone was even business like, but inside he felt a sort of relief: he knew that sooner or later June would find out, and he wanted to be the one to tell her. If he wanted to earn her trust, he had to start by not keeping secrets.

"It's OK, I understand", June brushed her hand over his bicep. It had stopped raining, a soft breeze blew and the moonlight seemed to be cooperating to push aside the clouds in the sky to see the scene by the pool. "Thanks for confiding in me"

Jon's lips stretched into a bittersweet smile. "Come 'ere I need a hug".

June giggled and the two joined for an underwater hug. Their almost bodies touching each other produced a sensual sensation that they both decided to ignore for the sake of friendship. "I'm so glad to see you again. Has it been more than a year?", June finally asked after a few moments.

Jon frowned "Christ, yeah...", he nodded. "Promise me you won't disappear for as long again", he released her, but his embrace was so comfortable June was forced to silence a wince of complaint.

"Promise. In fact I'm planning on going back home for the summer. I'm missing some good ol' joysey accent".

"What about Mr. Asia? Do we have to believe what John says?"

"His name is Winston and regarding my personal life...", she chortled and then spoke with faux-sternness in her voice. "I'm the one you should discuss it with not my brother, are we clear?", she waggled a finger at Jon.

"Fair enough", Jon agreed with a deep nod and afterwards rubbed his hands together. "Now how 'bout some exercise?"

June chuckled softly. "I can't believe you still have any energy left". However, by the time she had finished her sentence Jon was swiftly bracing towards the other end of the pool. Without losing any more time, she joined him. They swam back and forth for nearly half an hour until June stopped and started moving towards the edge of the pool. A moment later she felt Jon move behind her. Once she got to the ladder, she started climbing up and as she did so, looked over her shoulder and down at Jon. 

"I don't know how I'm gonna be able to wake up in less than 4 hours from now, and I'm not even the one working tomorrow..."

"Meh...", Jon took importance to the matter and waited for June to finish her ascent to start his. "I can do it with my eyes closed...what do you think the sunglasses are for?"

June chortled and teased, putting on her robe and tipping her head towards the building. "OK, Mr. Rockstar...bedtime".