017

It was 5.45 am when June's room phone rang.

"Thank you, I'll be downstairs in a few minutes". A sleepy, thick voice came out of June's lips. She could have swore that not half an hour had passed since she'd laid her head on the pillow. In less than a second she sat on the edge of the bed and put her feet on the soft bedside carpet, if she didn't get up and get dressed in less than a minute, she'd lose the trip. She wasn't particularly excited about traveling two hours to yet another historic site, follow a crazy shooting video schedule and then travel back two hours, but it was worth it if she wanted to spend some time with her brother. She could sleep the following day when she finally arrived in Singapore. 

She put on a white cotton pair of trousers and a deep green tank top. In a few minutes she exited her room and knocked on John's room door. He emerged a few seconds later, groaning softly in complaint. 

The sun was still not up but Jon was already in baseball cap and sunglasses. In the time it took for June and John to join the group, Jon yawned three times. Without even bothering to cover his mouth, he kept his hands deep in the front pockets of his tight black jeans. 

As predicted for the task of the day, only a handful of people had gathered. "Mornin' everyone", June greeted as cheerfully as her still not fully recovered energy allowed for, receiving a quiet but warm reply from the group. 

"Mmm...you read my mind", Jon purred and pulled out one of his hands to reach for the steaming cup of coffee June held in her hands. 

"Wait a minute, mister", June turned around and pulled her arm back to keep it away from Jon's reach, causing for him to bump slightly into her. 

"Jesus, woman, I hate begging".

"Then you should've brought your own", she teased, and took a sip. She looked up and saw her mischievous smile reflected on Jon's sunglasses.

Jon chortled. "I did", he nodded and stifled a fake yawn, "Not enough". 

June rolled her eyes in mock defeat and shrugged. "Well, if you don't mind sharing...I don't".

"OH, I don't". He took the cup and took a long sip. He moaned softly and looked at June questioningly.

"Vietnamiese, with the required spoonful of condensed milk".

Jon nodded and pursed his lips.  "Delicious".

Ten minutes had passed from the agreed meeting time when the guitar player finally emerged from the elevator and swaggered into the lobby, clad in black leather trousers and...

"An overcoat? Seriously?", David chuckled and frowned, then stuck his neck out, being slightly higher than the rest, he made a quick scan of the room. "And where's Mrs., by the way?"

"Couldn't convince her that watching me play a fake guitar and lip sync was cool enough, so she's chosen to go shopping instead. In fact, my dearest...", he turned to June and circled her shoulders with his long, strong arm and suggested sheepishly, "...she could use some company in case you are looking for an excuse to bail out of your sister's duties".

June chuckled at Richie's sudden change of tone from mock defeat to slight plea. "You know I'd love to, but my place today is wherever John is... I'm probably not gonna see him again for a few months".

"Awww", he took right palm to his heart. "Brotherly luv...", he sighed with mock solemnity and pouted to vocalize the last word. 

"OK, then", Tony clapped his hands and spoke energetically. "If everyone's here then...shall we?"

...

Just over two hours later, June sat down on a rock under one of the trees that surrounded the ruins. Some members of the crew, that had arrived during the night to set everything up, were finishing checking batteries, extensions, mics, tripods and cameras. The sun was already shining with all its might and the heat was getting more and more intense with every minute that passed. The shooting was scheduled for 9.00 o'clock so everybody was enjoying fresh drinks, fruits and biscuits that were placed under a gazeebo. 

Taking advantage of the opportunity of having the crew and talent together at the same spot, Andy - the director - approached the small crowd to walk them through the different shots. Jon and Tico simultaneously lit up a cigarette.

"Sorry guys: buddhist place... no smoking", he spoke apologetically. After they put their lighters and cigarettes away, he proceeded to briefly explain the procedure. Afterwards, he finished.  "We'll do three shots and that's it. You know the drill, you're pros, it won't take longer than that."

"Then why don't we make it a one shot deal?", Jon spoke from his spot on the back, but despite his teasingly defying tone, everyone knew it wasn't too far from his actual perspective of the matter.

"Cause we have the Spanish version, too, provided you did your homework".

"Si, mi amigou", Jon's lips twisted in a strange grimace when he spoke, then he chortled at himself. Switching to his business tone, he finished. "Let's do this".

It was almost 10.30 am when Andy finally shouted. "It's a wrap!". Mild applauses followed and the band quickly ran to take shelter under the tents provided for that purpose. 

"Fucking shit! Damnit!", Jon cursed and sat on the grass under the tree near June's spot. His assistant immediately ran after him and gave him two wet towels, one of which he placed under his soiled bare feet and the other one around his neck. "Fucking burning stones!". 

June was taking a long sip of her bottle of water, but stopped to laugh out loud at Jon's rant. Jon turned his head to look at the amused young woman who spoke: "Now you can really say you literally leave your skin when you perform, huh?"

"That was barely a performance", Jon pulled off his usual self deprecating tone and took the bottle his assistant handed him before taking the cap off, then he gulped half of it down. Once the woman left, leaving Jon's shoes by his side,  June approached him and extended her arm down towards him, offering help for standing up. He first carelessly put on his shoes and then wrapped his hand around her wrist. When he finished incorporating himself, he sighed, "I'm too old for this shit". June chortled again. She noticed the beads of sweat that tripped down his cheek from his forehead, a small drop had formed on his philtrum. 

"Well, I'm not gonna argue, you are a mess, look at you", she used her hands to flatten his rebellious strands of blonde hair and bit her tongue teasingly, then raised her gaze and found his eyes. Despite the fact that the bright sunlight forced him to keep them almost close, she noticed the small dark spot in the iris of his right eye. It was the first time in what had passed of the day that she was able to look into his eyes. June slowly withdrew her hands but Jon got hung up on a little dark brown freckle on the right of her upper lip.  The effect of seeing such a small detail of June's anatomy was similar to discovering one of her most intimate secrets. He unconsciously licked his lips.

"What?", she chortled when a smirk tugged at the corner of his lip.

"Huh?". Being caught of guard, Jon took a quick glance over June's shoulder in search of something that would help him come up with an escape plan. Thankful for the opportune intervention, he saw Tony waving a hand at him first and then making the gesture of taking a picture with a camera. Jon nodded silently and June looked over her shoulder. "Sorry, gotta run", Jon apologized and slightly squeezed her shoulder. 

"Go, go, go. I'll go have a walk around the ruins now", she patted  on his back and watched him walk away, shielding her eyes from the sun with her hand. Jon was definitely a pretty thing to watch, front and back, and that's how things were going to stay.  There was absolutely nothing wrong in enjoying looking at pretty things, but June reminded herself to be careful, so she turned around and walked towards the old building. 

...

"I'm missing a pretty lady here. Anybody seen my sister?" John asked the group that was already gathering around the vans and preparing for departure back to Bangkok. A series of low voiced Nope's and No's followed, but a thick raspy voice cut the roll. "I think she said she was gonna check out the ruins, she can't be too far away". Jon twisted his neck around and put his sunglasses back on, about 600 feet from where they were standing, a white and green slim figured emerged from the stones. "Speak of the devil...", he added. 

Problem solved, only John and Jon waited outside the van for June to arrive, while the rest of the team had already taken their seats inside the vehicles. 

"She's looking good, John", Jon crossed his arms in front of his chest and spoke without taking his eyes off the woman that was still too far away to be able to hear their conversation.

"She is, ain't she?", John agreed proudly and placed his hands on his hips.

"No, John, I mean she's looking...hot".

John chuckled. "Of course she is...it must be like over a hund-", he paused, he didn't know quite what to make of Jon's comment. "Whadda ya mean?".  

Jon perceived John's slight uneasiness. Adding levity to the conversation, he shrugged and replied: "Just that, she looks so happy, so...different"

Using a playful tone, John ordered, patting on his back. "The heat's certainly affecting your brain so get your ass on the van and shut up. She'll be here in a minute". 

Jon chuckled softly, now rather amused at John's mixture of territorial and confused reaction, then obeyed silently. A moment later he turned around when he heard John's voice again. 

"And Jon, just...don't freak me out like that again".