by Kiki Leach
Vanessa chuckled.
“But then we got to talking and knowing each other better the more we kept running into each other, and within a few years, we were dating and I was pregnant. Around that time, I got the job at CBS films and we married not long after. I had worked my way up from NBC, to ABC, and then CBS. Moonves had hired me as Chairman of the Board before I decided I wanted a change in my career. I knew that it wasn’t going to happen on this coast, so I wanted to move. But Oscar didn’t.”
Vanessa looked up from her notepad. “Oscar?” she said.
“Yes, that’s my husband’s name. He didn’t want to move because he loves the city so much, but I needed a change. I loved LA so much when I was attending school. So we decided that I would spilt my time between here and there once I landed the job. And then our girls would stay with me full time and come back to visit him when I did.”
Vanessa scratched her face, confused. “I’m sorry, you said Oscar, right? Would that be Oscar Malone?”
“Yes,” said Melanie in a curious but surprised tone. “You know him?”
“Sort of. My friend works at The Bean.”
“Small world! Who’s your friend?”
“I’m not sure you would know her, her name is Nicole Sanger.”
“Ohhh, Nikki?” Melanie suddenly got a sour feeling in her stomach, but kept a smile on her face. “She seems like such a doll. I met her this afternoon.”
“You did? I thought…” She grinned nervously and coughed. “I thought she had an audition or something to go to?”
“She went, from what she told us.”
“Us?”
“Yes. She stopped by hoping to check for her work schedule for next week with my husband.”
“Really?”
“Yes. Though she seemed kind of distant. I wasn’t sure if it was because I was there, or for some other reason entirely.” She leaned her head. “How long have you two been friends?”
“Most of our lives. I’ve known her since I was a kid.”
“She seems like a good person. Good people are hard to find and keep for so long in your life.”
“Yeah, she’s great,” she said. Though she was beginning to wonder. “How long have you and Oscar been married?”
“It will be five years in September. Our girls just turned six.”
“Twins?”
“Yes. Born with red hair and blue eyes that they must have gotten from my mother.”
Vanessa was skeptical, but didn’t say a word of it.
“BONJOUR!” Alexis’ voice boomed throughout the room as she peeked her head inside the office.
Vanessa placed a hand upon her chest, startled.
“Are you going to say that every time you walk into a room now, Mother?”
“I just might.” She pointed at her daughter and walked inside as if she were stepping out on the runway at New York Fashion week. “I apologize for my tardiness, but I was making dinner plans with Alexander and Donatella. She’s allowing me to take a peek at her new line next week and as a thank you, Alex is going to cook for us at home.” She glanced over at Melanie and slapped her hands together. “Now this must be our new cover girl!”
Melanie stood up from her chair and bowed her head.
“It is an honor to meet you, Ms. Brown. I’ve read your magazine for as long as I can remember and have always dreamed of gracing the pages.”
“Thank you! You are quite a beautiful young woman,” she said. “Too beautiful to not be on the cover of our next issue! Has Vanessa caught you up on everything?”
“I asked a few questions and took some notes,” she chimed in. “I wanted to get the basics down before we delved into a real interview – which may take place between today and Friday with myself or another editor before the photo shoot. I hope that’s okay?”
“It’s perfect! I can get Oscar to watch the kids while we have lunch someplace. A friend was telling me about a new Thai restaurant.”
“Um… yeah, sure. Maybe I’ll find a place for us to eat.”
“I have a wonderful idea,” said Alexis. “Why don’t we head downstairs to our studio and take some test shots? You can try on a few outfits so that we can see what fits on you, and what doesn’t, as well as what looks good and what might wash you out in certain light. Do you have the time?”
“Yes, of course!” she exclaimed.
“Fantastic. Come on, Vanessa.”
“Um, actually.” She leaned down and scratched the back of her leg. “I have to run a quick errand. I can meet you down there later, okay?”
“I don’t think so. Whatever it is can wait until we’re finished. Let’s go.”
Vanessa hesitated, then grabbed her phone from her purse and headed down to the studio with them.
Everything in the room was white, from the walls, to the floor to the camera equipment. As Alexis introduced Melanie to their resident photographer, wardrobe assistants and a few models who were currently being photographed, Vanessa pulled out her phone and went over to the side to make a quick phone call to The Bean.
“The Bean, this is Max. How can I help you?”
“Hey, Max, it’s Vanessa. Listen, is Oscar there?”
“No, he ran out. Said he’d be back soon. Why, do you need me to leave him a message?”
“No, thanks. I’ll just try again later.”
She quickly hung up and thought for a few seconds before dialing Nikki’s phone.
She and Oscar were still staring at one another from across the room. When she heard her phone ringing, she went over to the round table that sat near the fireplace and looked at the name. Once she saw that it was Vanessa, she thought of answering it, but then quickly sent it to voicemail.
Oscar took off his jacket, tossing it onto the arm of the couch. He came up behind and pressed himself against her. He dropped his face into the back of his hair and sniffed the scent left behind from her cinnamon shampoo. She started rubbing her legs together and shut her eyes.
“I’m sorry,” he finally said. “But I am getting my divorce. It takes time, it’s just going to take some time to make things final.”
Nikki didn’t believe it.
He is so full of shit, she thought.
But he also felt so good against her that she almost didn’t care. She wanted to move away from him, but she couldn’t will herself to do it. Instead she slipped her fingers behind his head and into his hair, and turned her face toward his. He rubbed their noses together before shoving his tongue between her lips. She lightly suckled on it as he rested his hands on her breasts and played with her nipples through her shirt, then slid one hand down her stomach and inside her shorts and panties. She moaned in pleasure as his fingers circled her and turned her whole body to his. He wrapped his hands around her thighs and picked her up, resting her on top of his shaft.
She gasped, feeling it harden. “Ay, PAPI.” She squeezed her legs around his waist as he walked up the stairs and carried her to her bedroom.
“Damn it!” said Vanessa, being sent to voicemail again. She called back one last time, but was pressed to finally leave a message when her mother kept hollering for her across the room. “Girl, if you don’t call me back…! Listen, I need to talk to you, Nicole, you need to call me back as soon as you get this message--”
“Vanessa, what the hell are you doing over here?” asked Alexis, who had made her way over. She was nearly fuming, she was so angry at her daughter appearing to be so rude. “Is this how you treat our guests when I’m not around?”
“Callmebacklaterbye.”
She immediately clicked off her phone and dropped her hand to her side.
“I’m not treating her any such way. I only needed to make a quick phone call, since you wouldn’t let me leave.”
“Unless you had a secret meeting with more of our publishers, who are going to chew us out if we don’t get these issues out on time--”
“It wasn’t. But it doesn’t matter. I’m here, I’m back in the game.”
“Good.”
They watched a gleeful Melanie as she was being positioned for lighting. She couldn’t stop smiling as a stylist began fussing with her hair while another tried adjusting her clothes. She was offered everything from Alexander McQueen to Oscar De La Renta. She chose a red Valentino gown.
Vanessa leaned in, whispering. “Do you really think it’s such a good idea to have her on the cover? No one knows who she is.”
“That’s the point of this whole thing, girl, all of which was always your idea in the first place. This woman in particular is exactly the kind that other women need to know about. She tells men what to do on a daily basis and they bow down to her every word and command, whether they like it or not. That’s damn near every woman’s dream come true.”
“Yeah, but… I don’t know, maybe we should just think about somebody else as a backup, in case something unexpected comes up with Melanie.”
“What are you expecting to come up where she’s concerned, Vanessa?”
“I don’t know. It could be any number of things. Remember the model who ate the lobster for breakfast and got sick the day of the shoot?”
“We’ll make sure she’s not allergic to shellfish.”
Vanessa began fiddling with her hands. This wasn’t going as well as she had hoped.
Alexis turned to her daughter and stared at her, curiously. “What is going on with you? And why do you suddenly want someone else for the cover of this issue? Did you know this woman prior to all of this?”
“No.” She swallowed hard and rattled her head. “I don’t… Whatever, it was just a suggestion.”
Alexis grew even more suspicious, but didn’t say another word. Vanessa fidgeted more and kept her eyes on the clock on the wall across the room.
Back at their townhome, Maurice was making his way back from a hectic workday. He managed to get his ads done on time, but his boss mentioned that they could’ve been better and needed more work to be ready for Friday’s meeting with Oscar Meyer’s representatives. He brought his work home, planning to finish up before the night was over and turn the ads in the morning, but felt it could wait until he spoke with Vanessa first.
When he walked inside, he went to the den and tossed his briefcase in a chair. He loosened his tie and looked around the room, immediately noticing another man’s jacket laying over the arm of the couch. A small rage suddenly built up inside him.
Nathan must be back, he thought. And she fell for it again. Son of a bitch.
“Vanessa!” he roared, ripping his tie from his neck and racing upstairs. “Vanessa!”
Nikki and Oscar stopped making love long enough to hear Maurice’s voice echoing throughout the house.
“Oh my God!” she said, covering her mouth. She looked up at Oscar, who sat above her, and shoved him back. “You have to get out!”
“Why?” he whispered. “He doesn’t even know it’s you. He’s calling out for Vanessa.”
“I don’t care – I don’t care, you have to go!”
“I’m not going out there like this.”
“Vanessa!” Maurice hollered again.
“Fine!” she said, panicked. “Get inside the closet.”
She shoved him from the bed with her hands and feet. He nearly fell to the floor trying to grab for his pants and belt.
Maurice raced down the hallway and came banging on her door. “Are you in here, V?”
“No!” she shot back, jumping up from bed and reaching for her robe. “This is my bedroom! Estupido.” She frantically pulled it around her, searching for the sleeves.
He jerked his head back and soured. “Nikki? What the hell are you doing home so early?”
“I had my audition this morning, remember! And I don’t work tonight.”
“Oh, right.” He smirked. “The famous audition. How did that go?”
“Terrible. You were right, okay! I sucked.”
“What are you doing in there now, wallowing?”
“Just leave me alone, Maurice, I had a shitty day and all you’re doing is making it worse.”
“But I bet the guy inside is making you feel better, right?”
“Get out of here, pig!”
“Just be sure and tell him that he might want to stop by the clinic later instead of his regular doctor. I hear they give you discounts on penicillin.”
“You would know, right?”
“No, but I have friends who do,” he said. “You don’t have one of them in there with you, do you?”
“Vete, Maurice!”
“Alright, alright, I’m gone.”
He walked away from her door, laughing, ecstatic that it wasn’t Vanessa and Nathan instead.
She dropped back and looked down at herself, realizing she was completely exposed the entire time, and immediately wrapped her robe around herself again.
Oscar emerged from the closet now wearing his pants, but searching for his shirt on the bed. Nikki saw it on the floor and went to pick it up. She balled it and tossed it to him. He caught it midair.
“We can’t keep doing this,” she said in a panic. “Now I’m hiding you from Maurice of all people. Imagine if Vanessa walked in, I’d probably try to throw you out of the window and not even care if you were still naked or hurt until she was gone.”
“It won’t be like this all of the time.” He slipped on his shirt and began adjusting the buttons.
“No it won’t, because we’re done. Acabado. I can’t keep doing this to myself, or to you and your wife. We can’t keep doing this, it’s not right.”
“Most things in life that feel good may not seem right, but it doesn’t mean they’re not. If it were so, nobody would ever find love, or have sex--”
“Which is what we should stop doing.” She flipped her locks of hair from beneath the collar of her robe and sat down on the chair near her door. “I think I need to find another place to work.”
Oscar went over to her and dropped to his knees. He pushed her robe back and placed his hands on her thighs to feel her skin, and looked up at her face. He noticed she was trying to avoid looking into his eyes, but he wouldn’t turn away.
“Is that what you want?” he asked.
“It’s what needs to happen. What I want doesn’t matter.”
Maurice banged on her door again. “I’m going for a run,” he said, adjusting his shorts and wiping down the sweat that was already building on his chest. “If Vanessa comes home asking where I am, tell her I’ll be back soon.”
“I’ll be sure to tell her as if she cares.”
Maurice clinched his jaw and put his earbuds in as he made his way downstairs and out the front door.
When they heard it shut, Nikki stood up. “Come on,” she said. “You should probably go.”
As they headed downstairs, she went over to the door, peeking out a little to make sure Maurice had really gone.
Oscar waited a moment, looking around. “My jacket,” he said.
He went back to the den. She closed the door and followed.
He slipped the jacket on his shoulders with ease and she slapped her hand against her face.
“He saw your jacket,” she said. “He saw your jacket and thought you were with Vanessa. That’s why he was acting like that. Then he realized you were with me and didn’t care. He’s probably going to tell her about it later just to make fun of me. Oh my God.” She dropped her face in her hands.
“Nik--”
“No!” she screamed. She was becoming more and more frantic by the second. “Don’t you see?! We can’t keep doing this, we can’t DO THIS anymore! I’m hiding you from my friends, your wife is in town probably roaming the streets looking for you because you’re not back at work. I wouldn’t be surprised at this point if she knew where I lived and came looking for you here. You need to go!”
“Nik. You need to calm down so that we can talk about this.”
“There is NOTHING to talk about anymore! Nunca mas. You are married! All we are is sex, so it shouldn’t be too difficult for you
to break the habit with Melanie back in town.”
He knit his brows. “Is that all you think this is, or ever was?”
“I didn’t before, but what else am I supposed to think now? I’m exotic and you wanted to know what it was like.”
“It was never like that for me, ever, and you know that. Nik--” He stepped forward.
“Nikki?” Vanessa’s small voice came from the foyer, interrupting them. She removed her key from the door after realizing it was already unlocked. It made her slightly apprehensive and she stepped inside with caution. “Nicole?” she called again.
Nikki opened her eyes wide and stopped breathing. She was still in her robe with nothing on underneath. Oscar’s jacket was crooked and his belt buckle was hanging loose. He stepped back and quickly fixed it as she turned away from him completely.
When Vanessa walked into the den, she saw Nicole standing on the opposite side of the room, facing the window. Oscar stood in the corner with his head down and his hands buried deep inside his pockets.
Vanessa looked at both of them and narrowed her eyes. “What the hell is going on? I could hear screaming from outside my front door. It made me nervous when I realized it was unlocked.”
Nikki turned to look at her with tears in her eyes. “It’s okay, V,” she said, wiping her face. “Oscar and I were talking about my work schedule for next week. He won’t let me off for an audition that I really feel like I could nail--”
“So he needed to come here for you to discuss this? And in your robe?”
“I just woke up from a nap,” she said, wrapping the cloth even more around her waist and tying it tight. “He came over unexpectedly.”
And I’m the Queen of Sheeba, she thought.
She turned to Oscar and furrowed her brows. “No offense, but this seems a little strange to come all the way out here over a work schedule. Couldn’t this have been discussed at work or over the phone?”