by Lizzy Ripp
Julia stared at her. The idea that someone as famous and as beautiful as Cassie should be wanting for friends was mind-boggling.
"Don't you have, you know, friends on the show and everything?" She asked. "What about...?" Her mind struggled for a pop-culture reference folded away in the drawers of her mind somewhere. What were literally any of her co-stars named? "That one girl - with the..." she gestured to her hair. "All the hair?"
Cassie laughed. "You mean Gabriela? No," she said shortly. "She's uh... She's made it pretty clear she's not interested in cultivating friendships with anyone who could potentially go up against her for any role at any time... Which, since I'm a woman of roughly the same age, discounts me entirely."
"What about the... You know, the girl with big tattoo on her forearm?" Julia asked. "I'm not good with names, sorry."
Cassie laughed. "Not a problem. And no go on that one. She's a Scientologist. The second day I met her she tried to get me to go with her to get my thetans tested."
"Ooooh. Yeah," Julia nodded, wrinkling her forehead. "Okay. I get you."
"It's nice to meet someone who's just..." Cassie trailed off, searching for the right word.
"Normal?" Julia suggested, taking a sip of her mimosa. "Boring? Incredibly conventional and bourgeois?"
Cassie shook her head again, laughing a little laugh that was like the tinkling of a damn fairy bell. "I was going to say easygoing. Nothing about our interactions so far say 'boring' to me."
"You caught me on an ‘off’ week," Julia assured her. "This whole situation is far from normal for me."
"Well," Cassie shrugged her shoulders. "I haven't got anywhere else to be. Why don't you get me up to speed?"
Julia took a big breath and began.
---
"Wow," Cassie said, two hours and a couple more mimosas later. "That is... A lot."
"Tell me about it," Julia said glumly. "In one week I've been dumped for an Instagram ho, found myself in a fake relationship that turned into a sort of, kind of, maybe-could-be a real relationship, and then had that possibility crumble before my eyes. Who knows what next week may bring?"
"How long had you been with Daniel? And how did you two get together anyway? Like I said yesterday, I've run across his little girlfriend at a couple of events and she always has him in tow - and frankly, he doesn't seem like your type."
Julia suddenly felt her hackles rising, remembering Yaro's comment from the day before. "What exactly would you call 'my type'?" She asked stiffly.
"The 'not-a-douchebag' type?" Cassie asked, laughing. "I don't know, he just seems so... Smarmy.” She wrinkled her nose in distaste.
Julia sighed, forced to agree. "Yeah. He wasn't always like that, I swear. I met him when we were both getting our master degrees. He was getting his MBA and I was getting my Master of Arts in Communication and he was... Really confident, and I guess I was attracted to that. He was hard-working and interesting and ambitious – even though he was working for his dad’s firm," she added, a note of pride in her voice, even now. "He worked hard, and when he was there, he was over the moon."
Her smile faded. "He... He just changed, when he started working there, though," she shook her head. "He stopped hanging out with all our friends from school and started running with these... weird dude bros. Chads and Chips. You know the type," she said, to Cassie's nod. "And it was like someone had flipped a switch. Or come in the night and replaced him with someone else. Nothing was good enough for him anymore. Not his apartment, not our friends... Not even me. All he wanted was things that made other people jealous. And I guess Sasha Lux kind of falls under that umbrella," she finished wryly. "So. Yeah," Julia gave a short, bitter laugh. "Five years of dating were down the drain just like that."
Cassie was looking at her sympathetically, and even reached out to give her hand a gentle pat.
"You know I found out through an Instagram post?" Julia asked, suddenly incensed. Cassie's eyes widened.
"Yeah. Not even HIS Instagram. It was hers. And I didn't follow her, obviously, so I didn't know... I had to hear it from my brother in college who follows her for her..." She gave a small cough, “Intellectual content. So that was fun."
"Oh man," Cassie said. "I am so sorry. What an absolute dick."
Julia finished the rest of her mimosa in one sip. "Mmhmm", she agreed. "So I was in... I don't know, what you might call kind of a fragile place. And then all of this nonsense happened."
Cassie nodded gravely. "Not the best timing. But..." She bit her lip. "Are you SURE you don't want to let Yaro explain? Has he messaged you?"
Julia shrugged. "He only has my work phone number and I've turned it off. Anyway, what could he possibly explain? There was a girl at his door for a sex appointment."
"Sex which she didn't mind inviting you to," Cassie pointed out, "Which means they're probably NOT a serious couple."
Julia sighed. "That might be true," she admitted. "But he could have told me as much. At any point. During our conversation that day or... You know, the entire meeting we had with you and the bosses discussing the parameters of his relationship. I mean, if... Threesome Girl gets out while he's supposed to be in a real relationship with whomever, this whole thing is going to backfire. So, really, I should be doubly mad," she concluded. "Both as his handler and as his..." She reddened. "Whatever it was we were on our way to being."
She shook her head. "Anyway. I'm so sorry. I've been blabbing about myself this entire time, but what about you? Do you have anyone interesting in your life?"
Cassie laughed. "I do have a certain man in my life I just can't keep my hands off of."
"Okay," Julia nodded, eyebrows raised. "What's he like?"
"He's kind of hefty... He could definitely stand to lose a few. He always looks grumpy but he isn't really. He snores like you wouldn't believe, but I wouldn't want him sleeping anywhere else. We like to go for long walks together and cuddle up watching Netflix."
"Sounds amazing," Julia said, quietly wondering why Cassie wanted a set-up, even for publicity's sake. "Have you got any pictures?"
"Uh huh," Cassie said, flipping through her phone and showing Julia the screen. Staring back at her was a hulking bulldog with a drooping face, gazing up at Cassie with a besotted expression. Julia burst out laughing and nodded.
"He's beautiful," she said. "I can tell you're absolutely smitten with each other. You can feel the love."
"Isn't he?" She cooed. "His name is Mr Beefy," she smiled at her screen fondly. "He's the only man for me. At least for now," she shrugged. "I'm not interested in dating right now. I work too much and my career is too important to me. It's my priority right now," she said firmly. "Besides," she added shrewdly "Rumors do everything for my career that a real relationship can't. They keep me in the news. Keep me relevant," she shrugged. "That's all I really want right now. To keep doing what I love for as long as I can."
"That must be really great," I said, admiringly.
She took another sip of her mimosa. "Don't you love what you do?"
Julia heaved a big sigh. "I'm on my way. Most of what I do now is cleaning up media messes for giant man-babies. Like Yaro," she added with a wry grin. "It's not exactly what you would call fulfilling. That's kind of how I wound up managing this whole debacle. My manager Christina promised me she would get me an interview for - well, it's basically my dream job. Impossible to get in the door without a recommendation from the highest of the high. She said if I could pull this off, she could make it happen." She sighed, deeply. "I really balls-ed that up."
"You don't know that," Cassie said sympathetically. "You said yourself you have a solution. Who says you can't still make it happen?"
"How can I?" Julia asked. "I can't even stand to look at him, I'm so embarrassed."
Cassie looked skeptical. "Sure you can," she said. "It's just a matter of how badly you want that interview. What happened with Yaro happened. Maybe he is an asshole. But if he is, do you really want him to get the better of you?"
Julia shook her head miserably, "No, but..."
"No ‘buts’," Cassie said firmly, a steely look coming into her glittering blue eyes. "You use him to get what you want and let that be your revenge. Just... Forget about being embarrassed until after this whole thing is over. Then you can be as embarrassed as you want. Take a whole week to be embarrassed if you want. Go on an embarrassed vacation. It doesn't matter. Just don't let him ruin this for you."
Julia looked into Cassie's face, impressed. She had seriously misjudged her at their first meeting, thinking her a pleasant enough Hollywood blonde bombshell type, coasting by on her looks, handed everything in life any girl could possibly want. But Cassie, she was quickly realizing, was a force to be reckoned with, who honed in on exactly what she wanted and made it happen no matter what.
"You are inspiring as fuck," she said at last, unable to think of any other way to express it. "I wish I was you. You're like... She-Ra, Princess of Power. Without the sword. And the horse."
"It was a Pegasus," Cassie gently corrected. "But thank you anyway."
It was at that moment that Julia realized her weekend hadn't been a complete waste. After all - she'd made a potential new best friend.
CHAPTER EIGHT
AFTER A LENGTHY chat with Rhochelle, who was luckily every bit as adept at listening to a man's problem's as she was at the other part of escorting ("It's the former that's most important, believe me," she'd told him with a saucy little smile), Yaro was feeling slightly more optimistic about the situation with Julia. This despite the fact that she'd clearly turned off her work phone, which was the only number he knew how to reach her at.
"Just let her be," Rhochelle had said, giving his shoulders a soothing squeeze as she sat behind him. "She probably needs some time to get her head straight. Sounds like she had kind of a crazy weekend."
He had to agree on that count.
"Besides," Rhochelle went on. "I saw that little drama with Sasha Lux unfold. That was nasty," she shook her head. "That girl is trash."
"You know her?" Yaro asked, surprised.
"Duh. We're in the same industry. I've seen her at SO many events. Do you even Instagram? "
"I don't actually," Yaro said. "I don't even have Facebook."
"Such a dinosaur," said Rhochelle, smiling. "Old man."
"I'm 34, but I'm sure when you're 24 that seems ancient."
Rhochelle shrugged her shoulders in a way that said, 'yes, it really does, grandpa'.
"Anyway," she went on. "Everyone knew it was just a publicity stunt. She doesn't care if she comes off as the 'hide yo boyfriend' type. It's kind of the image she's cultivating. So when she had the chance to actually do it, boy did she seize it. And that dude," Rhochelle wrinkled her nose. "She couldn't have picked a bigger douchebag to pull it off with. But I honestly didn't realize it was HER. Julia, I mean - not until this weekend."
"What do you mean, at the door?"
"No," Rhochelle rolled her eyes. "Like on the Internet. Did you not know your photo is all over the city subreddit right now? It didn't take much time for them to figure out who she was and then tie it all back into Sasha," she said. "You can't hide anything from those people, they're like super sleuths."
"What do they know about her?"
"Oh, not too much. Just that she works in media for the team," Rhochelle said, pulling out her phone. "She's cute," she added, appraisingly.
"I know she is," Yaro said. "That's why I agreed to this whole thing."
"You could have just reigned in your temper and stopped being such a baby, but having this poor girl save you works too," Rhochelle said, having been fully brought up to speed on the situation in the interval since Julia's departure.
"Where's the fun in that?" He said. "It does mean that I'll have to put our visits on hold though. If I can convince her to give me another shot at this, that is."
Rhochelle gave him a small pout. "There'll be such a gap in my calendar. However will I manage?"
"I have a feeling you'll find someone to fill it," he grinned.
Rhochelle smiled back. "No doubt about that. But you do know you're gonna have to do some serious groveling right? You really messed up by not telling her you were dating around."
"There was no time!" He protested. "Things moved really fast."
"Then you should have slowed down enough to explain," she shrugged blithely.
Yaro gave a deep sigh, stretching out on his back and laying his head in her lap. "You are wise beyond your years Rhochelle."
"Clients tell me that all the time," she quipped. "Second only to the fact that I remind them of their daughter's friends." She made a face.
"Gross."
"Mm. Anyway, I should get going. Lot of space in my calendar to fill," Rhochelle quipped, hopping to her feet and heading for the door.
"You don't want to grab dinner?" Yaro called from his prone position on the sofa.
"Places to go, people to see," she called back. "I'll catch you another time."
"'Chelle?"
"What?"
"Grand gesture or quiet, solemn apology?"
She stood in the doorway considering for a moment and then laughed to herself. "Just don't be an idiot, Yaro. I'm sure you can figure it out."
"You'd be surprised."
"No, I wouldn't," she said sweetly as she closed the door behind her.
Left alone in the silence of his apartment with Max snuffling gently in his sleep, Yaro had to contend that she was probably right about that.
---
Julia was at her desk promptly at 9:00am, having woken up early to do her makeup and hair to a level she normally would have considered overkill for a day in the office. She felt like a beauty pageant contestant, her makeup carefully yet tastefully done and her hair artfully curled (only achieved after a solid two hours of YouTube tutorials the night before and some product from Cassie that she could never in a million years have afforded on her own). She was taking this seriously - hurling towards one goal and one goal only, regardless of which giant Russians were in her way.
She had decided not to say anything to Christina about what had happened between herself and Yaro. No use worrying her unless the situation was out of control - and she was determined to keep it firmly in check. She wanted to appear confident, flexible and capable - the ideal candidate for the on-air role.
She'd picked up a coffee for Christina along with her own and deposited it in her office before moving on to her own, opening her laptop and getting down to the business-as-usual tasks that mounted up on a Monday morning. She was unsurprised when, at roughly 9:15, she heard a small tap on her door and Christina's lanky form appeared in the doorway, coffee firmly in hand.
"You are an angel put on this earth," Christina said, striding into the room and taking a seat on the edge of Julia's desk, taking a deep, satisfied sip of her skim vanilla latte.
"Don't mention it," Julia said, a smile tugging the corner of her lips. She looked up at the lack of response.
"What?" She asked, as Christina eyed her critically up and down. "Did I spill coffee on myself?"
"You look good," Christina said appraisingly. "Really good. Did you get your hair done?"
"Oh! No, I was just... Trying something out," Julia shrugged.
"Mmmhmm," Christina said, taking another sip, her eyes on Julia. "Well, if you're trying to convince me that you can handle the Cassie West role, you're starting to do just that. You look like just the kind of puck bunny Sharapova would be seen with out at the Roxy or wherever. Are you wearing heels?"
Julia stuck her feet out from under the desk, displaying a pretty pair of Kate Spade kitten heels with gusto.
"Couldn't go full stiletto, huh?"
"I still need to be able to work," Julia grumbled, putting them back.
"So how did your date go on Saturday?" Christina asked idly, studying her nails - in need of a manicure, but just barely.
"How did you know about that?" Julia asked, slightly alarmed.
"Oh,
please," Christina waved a hand. "The rumor mill was in full swing. A new girlfriend, a fight, AND standing up to racist bigots? It's the best possible outing you two could have had."
Julia laughed nervously. "Yeah. Um. I guess. What are they saying?"
"Well, they've figured out who you are," Christina said. "And public opinion has more or less been deposited firmly on Yaro's side regarding the whole nightclub fight thing. Nobody likes a bully, but noooooobody likes racists. Especially when the target is one of the top goal-scorers in the League."
"Did you know about that before?"
"About what? The reason for the fight? Of course. Jonathan told me himself. He also told me that he didn't want it leaked to the press and neither did Yaro - not even to clear his name. We weren't really in a position to argue," she shrugged. "But the cat's out of the bag now. Unofficially though, which is best for everyone. Anyway. I just wanted to say... I'm impressed. I had my doubts when you told me YOU were replacing Cassie West." She gave a small chuckle, which she turned into a cough at Julia's frown. "But you're really taking initiative here and it shows." She smiled brightly, giving Julia a small pat on the arm and rising to her stiletto'd feet. "Keep it up."
"Sure," Julia said, smiling weakly as Christina strode out of her office.
Great. There was absolutely no backing down now - and if she was going to keep pushing forward, she needed to speak to Yaro, which was the last thing she felt like doing right now.
Needs must, was her mum's favorite saying. And needs must now.
—
Yaro didn't get into practice until eleven, by which time he knew Julia would have already been at work for a couple of hours. He wasn't going to seek her out; he assumed she was still angry and wanted her space and he respected that. But every minute of not seeing her, not having an opportunity to explain that he was an idiot for forgetting he had a date with Rhochelle, and for forgetting to mention he was still casually dating in general, made him feel restless and annoyed, like he'd had too much coffee and had been confined to a strait jacket.