Intensity

by S. Briones Lim

  ***

  Ruthie felt a light tug against her scalp while Cash played with a lock of her hair. Highlighted strands of brown wound around his fingers as he hummed a familiar tune in her ear.

  “Is that…?” Ruthie began to ask.

  “You know, when I sing this song during performances, I try to picture what I deem to be the most beautiful woman in the world,” Cash whispered, sending a trail of goose bumps to cover Ruthie’s pale skin. “I thought it was only fitting to sing it when I was in the company of the most beautiful woman in the world.”

  A wave of butterflies fluttered around her stomach. Smooth didn’t even begin to cut it when describing Cash Walker. Ruthie turned so she was facing him, resting the side of her head on his outstretched arm. She hugged his torso and let her eyes drift closed as she listened to him sing.

  ***

  “And that’s the way I’ll love you,” Celine crooned. She knew she probably sounded horrible, but she didn’t care. She was having the time of her life! She gripped the microphone in her hand and pressed the mouthpiece close to her lips. Her eyes darted across the television screen, attempting to keep up with the highlighted words.

  “All night! I’ll hold your body tight!” She closed her eyes, forcing a high note from her throat. Opening her eyelids, she spotted Brian silently clapping from the corner of the room. The other guests were singing along sloppily, whooping and hollering as Celine stepped up onto the wooden table and began to dance around.

  Brian wasn’t kidding; karaoke was the best way to get over any sort of public speaking induced fear. The two found themselves in a basement level karaoke bar. A disco ball hung in the lobby and as Celine had first watched it spinning around, she couldn’t help but want to kick Brian in the shin. If he expected her to get up in front of strangers and sing—SING!—he had another think coming. To her relief, the karaoke bar was unlike those she had seen before. Patrons actually rented private rooms! Celine didn’t know which was worse, singing in front of strangers or singing in front of Brian. Well, she didn’t have to wonder because she ended up doing both. Somehow Mr. Charisma was able to worm his way into different private rooms with no difficulty at all. Celine was astounded, as he never once named dropped Intensity to get his way. He just used old-fashioned charm.

  Now here they were, Brian swigging a beer towards the back of the tiny room with Celine singing a non-Intensity song on top of a table. Brian couldn’t help but laugh as he watched Celine spin around on the table. His laugh soon stopped when she began to swing her hips like a belly dancer.

  She’s getting married.

  Again and again the same sentence flooded his brain. He hated it.

  Brian looked up when some very sloppy beatboxing entered his ear. Laughing, he walked over to Celine and grabbed the microphone from her. “You’re doing it wrong! You beatbox like this!” He pressed the microphone to his mouth and began making a sound that reminded Celine of a drum.

  “Give me that!” Celine grabbed the mike from him and began blowing into it heavily.

  Brian burst into laughter. “Yeah, sounds good, Celine! Definitely a beat boxing champ now.”

  “Here you go!” One of the college-aged patrons shouted, shoving a drink into Celine’s hand.

  Celine grabbed at it happily, just as Brian snatched it away. “Hey!” she pouted.

  “My job tonight is to make sure you’re taken care of,” he said sternly. He looked down at her scrunched up mouth and couldn’t help but want to run his fingers over it.

  “You’re drinking!” she accused him.

  “I also don’t have a conference to attend tomorrow,” he reminded her.

  She narrowed her eyes at him and then grinned. “Hold this,” she said, handing him the microphone. Brian nearly dropped the drink, but Celine took the opportunity to grab at the glass before it splattered to the ground. Without a moment’s hesitation she downed the shot of red and winked at Brian. The crowd cheered, but Brian just stood there silently.

  Chapter 26

  “Rise and shine, Sleepyhead.”

  Usually Ruthie wasn’t a morning person, but her eyes fluttered open the instant she heard Cash’s voice. She was almost afraid to wake up to a repeat from the day at the House of Rocks and immediately turned to look for her clothes. To her surprise (and relief) Cash was still in his birthday suit, sprawled beside her.

  “Hi,” Ruthie whispered. She quickly shut her mouth, conscious of how her breath smelled.

  “Hi yourself,” Cash answered. He gently removed his arm from under her head and pushed himself off the living room floor.

  “How’d we…?” Ruthie asked, glancing at the couch.

  Cash laughed. “You are a wild woman, Ruthie.” He turned and threw her a wink. “I like that.”

  Ruthie blushed and sat up, crossing her arms over her chest (really, as if he hadn’t seen everything already!). She cleared her throat, “Um, what’s the plan for today?”

  “Well, it’s technically my day off…”

  “You get days off?” she asked dumbly.

  “Mmhmm,” he answered, then paused a moment. “I was thinking of taking you shopping. You know, so you could have something to wear tonight.”

  Ruthie frowned in confusion. “What’s going on tonight? Besides, I already have new clothes to wear.” Her next credit card bill would be a great testament to that.

  Cash shook his head. He stretched his arms in the air, causing Ruthie to eye his flexed body hungrily. “Though I don’t doubt your impeccable taste in style (once again Ruthie regretted her earlier yoga ensemble) I just thought it would be fun to treat you. Besides, the party I’m taking you to is in celebration of me. I thought it would be nice to have coordinating outfits.”

  “In celebration of you? What do you mean?”

  He shrugged. “Well, in celebration of Intensity really. You know, to celebrate our reunion tour.” He shook his head and laughed. “But we all know who the most important member is.” With both his thumbs he pointed to himself.

  Arrogance was a big deal breaker for Ruthie and a reason why three or so of her exes didn’t work out. The fact that she didn’t mind Cash’s arrogance (especially during his Cash vs. Cash tirade) did not escape her. She pushed herself off the floor, and remembering his comment about confidence, strutted around with her head held high. In a manner very unlike her, she said, “I’m taking a shower. Care to join?”

  Like a kid on Christmas, Cash’s eyes grew as wide as saucers. He dropped the shirt he was holding and made a beeline to the bathroom, grabbing Ruthie on the way.

  She giggled, loving the feeling of his skin pressed against hers. Though the annoying voice tried to speak up once again, she quickly shut it down. Nothing was going to ruin the day for her.

  ***

  Celine’s eyes fluttered open. She didn’t know what woke her, all she knew was that she had a gigantic headache that wouldn’t go away. She groaned, pressing the butt of her hand against the space between her eyebrows. She rolled over and attempted to blink sleep away.

  She gasped and sat straight up in bed. How the hell did she get home? She couldn’t remember anything about the night before except…

  “Shit!” she yelped.

  Celine’s hands frantically grabbed at her body, only sighing with relief once she felt her hoodie and jeans. She laughed to herself. She couldn’t believe how ridiculous she was acting. She would never, EVER cheat on Noah. Still, she had no idea how she even made it back to her hotel room.

  Her eyes were drawn to the extra bed across from hers. The covers were crumpled and the pillows thrown to the side of the bed. Someone had definitely slept in it and Celine had the distinct feeling she knew who. Just then the hotel door swung open. She turned her head quickly, groaning as what felt like a spike hit her right in the temple.

  “Hey you,” Brian’s chirpy voice called out from the door.

  Celine managed to pry her eyes open and watched as Brian made his way over to her bed. To her relief he wore
the same outfit he did the night before—blue jeans, black hoodie, and a dark grey shirt underneath. He had some bags under his eyes and didn’t look as if he had had any sleep at all.

  In purely gentlemanly fashion, he sat at the edge of her mattress and held out a bottle of water and two tan tablets. “Here, drink this. It should make your headache go away,” he instructed her. There was a smile on his face, but the concern was evident in his eyes.

  “How did you know that I have a raging headache?” Celine muttered, grabbing the pills from his hand. Without so much as taking a swig of water, she dry swallowed the pills, wanting the pain to disappear as quickly as possible.

  Brian snorted, “Well, considering that I just spent an hour of my life holding your hair as you vomited in the toilet, I think I had a pretty good idea.”

  The blood instantly drained from Celine’s face. She automatically reached for her hair and was relieved not to find dried clumps of vomit lacing her magenta strands. She looked up sheepishly and smiled. “Thanks.”

  Without a word, Brian stood up. Never taking his eyes off her, he reached over and patted her on the shoulder. The action was quite strange, even for him, but he was afraid he’d bring her in for a kiss if he got any closer. “Well, I guess I’ll let you get ready.”

  Celine almost choked down her water. Her head snapped to the right quickly, once again eliciting pain in her forehead. Ignoring it, she sighed with relief when she saw it was only seven. “Oh thank God!” she exclaimed, placing her hand on her chest.

  “You didn’t think I’d let you sleep in, did you?” Brian took a step back. His grin faltered, knowing he’d have to leave Celine looking a mess. Clearing his throat he said, “Well, you better get ready. Don’t want to miss your conference now, do you? Judging by your awesome performances last night, I think you’re ready to speak in front of a crowd.”

  Celine wouldn’t have been surprised if someone mistook her for a tomato. She felt warmth traveling through all her extremities and internally cringed. If she could crawl under a rock she would.

  “No! It was cute! Really!” Brian said encouragingly.

  “Right,” Celine laughed weakly.

  Brian paused for a beat and drummed his fingers in the air. “Okay, I guess I’ll go now.”

  “Wait a minute,” Celine called out, suddenly thinking of something.

  “Yes?” Brian asked, spinning on his heel. A part of him hoped she would ask him to stay, but he knew better than to expect miracles to happen.

  “I thought you didn’t like mornings. What are you doing up before eleven?”

  With a chuckle, Brian walked back to the bed and leaned over to give her a hug. “Waking up early isn’t so bad when you’re with a great person.” He squeezed her quickly and straightened himself. With half a smile he glanced down at her messy bed head. The frizziness of her hair reminded him of a time long ago before Celine started to wear her hair slick straight. “Take care of yourself and good luck. Call me if you need anything.”

  Celine watched quietly as he exited the room, leaving her alone, gripping onto the cold water bottle. She rubbed her eyes and groaned. She instantly regretted throwing herself against her pillow as it elicited more pounding in her head.

  “This is why I never drink anymore,” she muttered.

  With eyes still closed, she felt around for her phone, hoping to God that she didn’t happen to drunk dial Noah the night before. To her relief, there were no new calls on her log nor any new texts in her history. Suddenly missing her fiancé, she thought to send him a quick text in lieu of the time difference.

  Miss you, babe. Good luck at the restaurant. I love you.

  Chapter 27

  BZZZ. BZZZZ.

  The vibrating continued for a few seconds before Ruthie realized her phone was ringing. Juggling some shopping bags around, she somehow finagled through the mess to retrieve her phone from her purse.

  “Celine!” she gasped, seeing her friend’s picture plastered across the screen. Whereas Celine chose a horrible picture of Ruthie for her Caller ID, Ruthie opted for the retro approach and used Celine’s senior photo.

  Cash looked over her shoulder and snorted. “Celine? You can tell her she’s still on my crap list.”

  Ruthie pursed her lips, feeling horrible that Cash was talking bad about her friend. She barely gave him a glance and muttered, “I’ll be right back.”

  She wandered to the back of the store and found a bench to sit on. It was quite a feat to do so, considering she was in one of those stores that only had a single rack of clothing along the walls—all sample sizes, by the way. When she was sure Cash was out of earshot she swiped her phone on.

  “Celine!” she exclaimed.

  “Thank God, I thought you were dead.” Celine’s voice was stern, yet relieved.

  “Well, it wasn’t as if you called me either!” Ruthie protested.

  “How could I? Your phone went straight to voicemail,” Celine shot back.

  Ruthie sighed and glanced up at Cash, who had begun signing autographs. She fidgeted uncomfortably when an exceptionally tall blonde grabbed at him, demanding a photo.

  “Ruthie? Are you there?”

  She swallowed. “Yeah, sorry, Celine. Where are you?”

  “I could ask the same thing about you! I thought you were going to stay with me,” Celine replied sadly.

  “Yeah, about that…”

  “Lemme guess, you’re with Cash?”

  Ruthie didn’t know why she felt so guilty about it. Shouldn’t Celine be happy for her? Maybe Cash was right. Celine was being a crappy best friend. “So what did you do last night? Not worry about me, I hope,” Ruthie said, changing the subject. There was a slight pause on the other end of the line. “Celine?”

  She cleared her throat. “Listen, the venue is about to let people in. Are you coming today? I have to speak, remember?”

  “Shit,” Ruthie whispered.

  “Ruthie?”

  “Um, yeah, I’ll be there, of course! What time are you speaking?” Ruthie shut her eyes. She brought her hand up to her forehead and began massing the slight tension in the middle.

  “Around one,” Celine answered. She paused and added, “It’ll mean a lot if you’re there.”

  Ruthie eyed her watch and sighed in relief. She had a good three hours. “Of course I’ll be there! I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

  “Okay…” Celine’s voice trailed off, her doubt apparent in her tone.

  Choosing to ignore it, Ruthie quickly excused herself from the call. She stood up quickly, practically running over to Cash and the group of girls who had gathered around him. She attempted to squeeze through the gaggle of fake tans, only to be shoved back.

  “Wait your turn!” an exceptionally high voice snapped at her. A voluptuous brunette pushed her hair back, looking as if she were ready to gouge Ruthie’s eyes out.

  Ruthie opened her mouth to speak, but Cash quickly swept in to save the day. “This is actually Ruthie. She’s with me.”

  Ruthie’s thick lips pulled into a smug smile as she eyed the brunette menacingly. “Nice to meet you,” she said in a snarky tone. The brunette scowled at her, but took a step back, allowing Ruthie to pass through the crowd. Ruthie beamed even more once Cash’s arm found its way around her shoulder.

  “Take that, bitches,” she thought smugly.

  ***

  “Cash, this is way too much!” Ruthie protested. Their driver struggled to stuff what seemed to be hundreds of shopping bags into the trunk of their car. Ruthie winced, eyeing the stack of pastel colored bags and boxes as it grew higher and higher.

  “It’s never too much,” Cash replied, pulling a pair of shades over his eyes. “It’s fun spoiling you.” He leaned over and planted a quick peck at her lips.

  Blood pooled in Ruthie’s stomach, but she quickly shrugged off the feeling. “Cash, seriously. You must have spent thousands on me. I can’t take that!” Her cherry red lips pressed together firmly. Being wined and dined was
one thing, but she couldn’t help but feel a bit…cheap. She knew Cash was treating her out of the goodness of his heart, but at the same time it felt odd to be spoiled so much.

  “Why not?” Cash asked her curiously. “Besides, I get stuff for free all the time. All these stores need is just one photograph of me shopping inside and the shoppers come in droves! Because of me, they can make enough revenue in one day to last them the whole fiscal year! Trust me, I only paid for half that stuff,” he said, gesturing towards the back.

  “Oh,” Ruthie said quietly. It still didn’t make her feel any better.

  “Are you hungry?” Cash asked, breaking the silence. “I’m starving.” Right on cue Ruthie’s stomach grumbled loudly. Cash began to laugh. “I’ll take that as a yes.” He leaned over and tapped the driver’s shoulder. “Can you take us to Junior’s? I haven’t eaten there in forever! Just tell them I’m coming and make sure they empty the restaurant out. I want to eat in peace.”

  “Whatever you say,” the chauffeur said with no hint of emotion.

  Ruthie couldn’t help but wonder why Cash needed an empty restaurant. Figuring he didn’t want to get hounded by fans or paparazzi, she shrugged off her concerns and relaxed into the cool seat of the car.

  “You have to try my favorite cheesecake,” Cash said excitedly. “You’ll never go back!”

  “Nope, I don’t think I can,” Ruthie agreed, though she was thinking of something entirely different.

  There was no way she could go back. How could she? The thought of dating any normal guy was ruined for her. How could she even think of dating someone else when the man of her dreams was sitting right next to her?

  Chapter 28

  “Come on, Ruthie,” Celine murmured to herself. She glanced at the clock perched across from her. It vaguely reminded her of the clocks back in high school. It had a black rim, a huge white face, and one of those annoying red arms that counted the seconds. It was only a minute to one and her friend still hadn’t shown. Who was she supposed to maintain eye contact with during the panel? She’d end up staring down at the table, looking pathetic.