by JL Paul
I barely made it to my room before my phone rang. When I answered, I received a loud laugh.
“Aubrey Rose, what the hell did you do to your hair?” Jess asked with amusement in his voice.
“I cut it,” I announced proudly. “What do you think?”
“I think it’s hot and I can’t wait to get home,” he replied, his voice thick with insinuation. Trembling, I wished fervently for him to come back early, somehow.
“My mother doesn’t quite agree.”
He laughed again and my heart swelled. The ache I held inside widened and I longed for him to be here.
“I did ask you to piss her off. I can only imagine what she said.”
“She is disappointed, to say the least, but I’ve wanted to do this for a long time,” I told him.
“Good, I’m glad you did. What did Gwen say?”
Gwen. My heart sank. She still hadn’t called me and my concern grew with each passing day.
“I haven’t talked to her in awhile.”
“What’s the problem?”
I took a deep breath. I wanted to confide in someone – him – but it wasn’t my secret to tell. “She’s….going through a little thing right now. She needs a little time. She promised she’d call soon.”
The anxiety in my voice was louder than the actual tone. “She will, don’t worry. You know Gwen; she’s tough.”
“I know. How’s your shoulder?”
“Fine. They’re going to let me pitch after the break. We’ll see how it goes.”
I nibbled my lip, worry returning. “Are you sure you're ready?”
“Of course,” he scoffed. “Hell, I could pitch tomorrow if they’d let me.” He yawned loudly in the phone. “I have to go get some sleep. I’ll be home next week. I’ll see you then.”
He hung up again, naturally. I expected nothing less.
***
My mother woke me the next morning, anger positively blazing in her eyes. I sat up, all sleep fleeing my body. “What’s wrong?”
“Is it true that you had Jess Rivers and some of his baseball friends attack Gary Lester?”
Crap. Damn. Hell. This could not be good.
“Mother, I didn’t have anyone attack Gary Lester. No one attacked Gary Lester. Where are you getting your information, anyway?”
With a huff, she drew her body to full height, towering over my bed. “I received an email this morning from a friend who had me read Samantha Roper’s blog. She wrote that you had Jess Rivers and two others threaten Gary so he would bow out of the competition and convince Samantha to do the same. Is this true?”
Her anger was nothing next to mine. Flinging my blankets aside, I raced to my computer. It booted up far too slowly for me so I paced in front of the desk while I waited.
“Is this true?” my mother demanded behind me. “Tell me it’s not. This could ruin your chances.”
My stewing fury boiled over as I spun to face my mother. “I don’t care about my chances, Mother. What I care about is if this causes Jess any trouble!”
She paled as her hand flew to her mouth to cover her gasp. “You are seeing him!”
Turning back to the computer, I logged onto the Internet. It took no time at all to find Samantha’s blog. Rage nearly struck me blind as I read her nasty words, accusing me of cheating and Jess of intimidating a contestant. I shot out of the chair, spilling it to the floor, and snatched my cell phone off the charger. I hit Jess’s number and paced again while it rang. He didn’t answer so I was forced to leave him a message to call me as soon as possible.
“This is a nightmare,” my mother mumbled as she sank to the edge of my bed. “I’ll have to call the show and see what’s happening. Oh, I hope we can salvage this.”
What would happen to Jess? Would he be suspended? Arrested? My heart fell to my feet as my stomach twisted violently.
“Let’s just hope no one reads Samantha’s blog,” my mother continued to mutter as she scurried from my room.
Sitting down in the computer chair, I clicked on all the news and entertainment pages. There was no other mention of the incident and that helped to slow my pulse. But I still worried what would happen when the story did get out as I knew it would. I wondered if they’d question me about it when I went to the studio later. I would defend Jess fiercely, no question there. But would it be enough?
My phone rang and I grabbed it off the bed. “Jess?”
“What’s up, Aubrey? You sounded pretty upset on voice mail.”
I explained about Samantha’s blog as I paced once more around my room. My legs began to tremble, forcing me to sit. “Jess, what’s going to happen?”
“They won’t kick you off the show, don’t worry,” he assured me. “I’ll make sure of that.”
“I don’t give a damn about the show. What if you get arrested?”
His laughter did nothing to calm my nerves. “They won’t arrest me. I didn’t do anything to the little punk. He won’t press charges anyway.”
“But what if this gets out and people decide to investigate?”
“Let them,” he said, cool and confident.
“What about your career?” My heart ached and my stomach knotted.
“It won’t hurt my career. Let’s worry about yours.”
I ignored his comments and continued to whine. “What if they question me tonight? What should I say?”
“Tell them the truth, Aubrey,” he said, reaching the end of his patience. “Tell them what the idiot did to you. Tell them how he intended to use that DVD to hurt you but I stopped him.” He took a deep breath and cursed. “I shouldn’t have destroyed that DVD. Damn.”
“Aubrey Rose!”
“Jess, my mother’s yelling for me. She was supposed to call the producers so I better go see what’s going on.” I sighed. I didn’t want to hang up with him. As long as I had him on the phone, it was like having him with me.
“Call me later and keep me updated.”
“I will,” I whispered. Hanging up, I trudged down the stairs. My mother stood in the kitchen, hands planted firmly on her hips.
“Miguel wants to question all three of you separately. You have to get to the studio early.” She glowered at me. “Now I want to know the whole story.”
I told her what happened at the party - how Samantha spiked my drink and Gary tried to make out with me. I explained that I’d called Kendra and that she’d picked me up and let me stay at her place. I told her how I’d gone to see Jess and he’d discovered the bruises. Finally, I ended with the story about how Jess had confronted Gary and retrieved the damaging DVD from him.
“I cannot believe you would allow Jess Rivers to threaten another contestant! Why didn’t you stop him?” my mother demanded.
Did she not hear the story?
“Would you rather I allow some man to maul me, on video, and have said video played all over the news and the Internet?”
“Maybe you misunderstood,” she continued. “Gary is such a nice boy.”
“No he is not! He’s a creep! And Samantha is just plain evil! Why can’t you take my side?” My face burned and my skin practically steamed from the heat of my blood.
“Why can’t you stay away from Jess Rivers? He is nothing but trouble!”
“Because I love him, Mother. I have no plans of staying away from him.”
“You’re just like your sister,” she said sadly, sinking to a chair. “I thought you were different. I never thought you’d break my heart.”
The guilt came in bucket loads. Sitting next to her, I took her hand. “I’m not trying to break your heart, Mom, but I do love Jess. And he loves me.”
She smiled weakly. “I hope so. He hurt you so badly before, I’d hate to see it happen again.”
“It won’t,” I vowed. I kissed her cheek and stood. “I’m going to take a shower and head down to the studio.” I waited for her nod then ran up the stairs.
But as I stepped into the shower, my vow echoed in my head and I wondered how sincere
ly I believed it.
Chapter Eleven
Miguel was very sympathetic as he ushered me to his office. I, on the other hand, was a nervous wreck. He offered me a soft drink and I took it so I had something to do with my shaky hands.
“Do you actually know Jess Rivers?” he asked.
I was stunned, literally, into silence. Of all the questions I expected, this one was not even on the top one hundred list. I blinked at him, trying to get my twisted tongue untangled. “Yes. I…um…knew him in high school.”
He nodded his graying head and smiled. “We’re trying to keep this ugly incident under wraps. You’ll be happy to know that we’ve convinced Samantha to remove her blog entry. I don’t know yet how many people have read it and how much of this story has gotten out but I’m sure we’ll find out soon enough.”
“Did you talk to Samantha already?” I blurted. I was afraid he’d believe her story over mine.
“Just briefly on the phone. I reminded her of her contract in which she’s not supposed to disclose things about the show. Of course, this doesn’t directly pertain but it’s close enough. She agreed.” He tented his fingers under his chin and studied me for a moment. “Why don’t you tell me what happened?”
I took a sip of the soda then drew in a deep breath. I told him the entire story, shame flooding my cheeks.
“How did Jess Rivers know there was a video?” he asked, his fuzzy brows pointed down in confusion.
I shrugged. “Not sure. I guess he kinda figured that’s what they were planning.” I took another deep breath. “Jess never hurt him, though. He never threatened him either. He just asked for the DVD and told him to leave me alone.”
“Did Gary hurt you?”
“He just squeezed my shoulders hard enough to leave bruises,” I muttered, dropping my eyes. What had I been thinking?
“I’ll speak to him about that when he comes in,” Miguel assured me.
“I don’t want anyone kicked off the show because of this,” I pleaded. “It was a stupid mistake I made by going to the party in the first place. If I would have avoided her house, none of this would have happened.”
Miguel chuckled. “I don’t think anyone is going to get kicked off the show, Aubrey. Unless this story gets out and brings bad press. For right now, we’re just going to let it play out and see what happens. I just want the truth before anything happens, if it does.”
I nodded my understanding, heart full of relief. As much as I detested Samantha and Gary, I didn’t want to see either removed because of a juvenile incident. “Was there anything else you needed to know?”
“Were there any other people present? Samantha mentioned Jess had a few friends with him.”
I swallowed a huge lump. I didn’t want to bring Troy and Derrick into this mess. “There were two other people but they didn’t do anything. One of them stood with me and the other stood behind Jess. They didn’t hurt Gary or threaten him or anything.”
“I understand,” Miguel said. “But it would be better if you told me who they are rather than Samantha or Gary.”
“Samantha wasn’t even there,” I muttered, stalling for time.
“I know but she’s the one with the blog so we have to question her also.” He sat back and scrutinized me patiently. I knew he was right – it would be better if I told.
“Troy Neal and Derrick McKinney,” I said in one whoosh of air. “But they didn’t do anything and I’d rather if their names weren’t dragged into this mess.”
He laughed. “They won’t be, don’t worry. We’ll keep as much of this story under wraps as possible.”
He leaned forward, eyes suddenly sparkling. “Are you friends with these baseball players?”
I lifted a shoulder. “Sort of.” I mean, well, I talked to them when they talked to me and stuff but it’s not like I had Troy or Derrick on speed dial.
Miguel chatted with me for a few more minutes then allowed me to leave. I ran to my car and hit Jess’s number on my phone. He answered immediately.
“Well?”
“It’s okay, I guess. But he asked me who the two other people with you were and I tried not to tell him but I had to. I knew Gary or Samantha would. And I told him that they didn’t do anything but stand there.” I paused to breathe. “I’m sorry.”
Jess chuckled in my ear and the sound sent shivers down my spine. “Don’t worry about them. They knew what was going down when they came with me and they, too, are a little more concerned with you right now.”
“Really?” I squeaked.
“Yes, Aubrey,” he sighed. “Troy especially. He was pretty pissed when Kendra told him what that punk did. Something similar happened to Kendra when she was younger only much worse. Troy doesn’t like guys pushing themselves on girls. I don’t, either, but Troy saw red.” Jess laughed loudly. “I should’ve just let Troy have his way.”
“No!” I shouted. “You guys don’t need trouble.”
“No one is going to get into trouble. Relax. You’ll pass tonight and go on to win next week.”
That reminded me.
“Hey, Jess,” I said rather quietly.
“Yeah?”
Why was this so hard? All I had to do was ask and I’d get my answer. “Um…I know you’ll be on the MVP break. Will you come to the finale?”
He laughed again, softer. “Of course I will. I’ll sit right next to your mom.”
I groaned. He was trying to kill me, I just knew it.
“Jess,” I warned.
“Hey, I’ll be home Monday and since I didn’t make the MVP team, how would you like to have dinner and console me?”
Was he asking me on a date? Sounded like it. Did this mean he wanted to see me? Had he made a decision while he’d been gone?
“Sure.”
“Great,” he exclaimed a little too smug. “I’ll bring your mother roses. Think it will work?”
I snorted. “Not likely.”
He laughed. “See you Monday,” he said and hung up. I rolled my eyes, fighting my excitement.
***
My mother quizzed me relentlessly as soon as I walked through the door. I answered her quickly, my mind only on Jess and our upcoming date. Finally, she shut up long enough to let me shower - I had to prepare for the results show. Although I was fairly confident that I would be passed, I still had my doubts thanks to Samantha’s blog.
Once I returned to the studio, Samantha’s eyes shot daggers at me constantly. Obviously, her interrogation hadn’t gone as smoothly as mine. I was thankful, for the first time ever, for being dubbed a sweetheart.
Gary put extra effort into avoiding me. I couldn’t help but smile. Poor guy. I hoped Miguel ripped into him for his actions. It was no less than he deserved.
All thoughts of Jess left my mind as I stood on the stage and waited for my turn to face the judges. I was sure they’d probably heard and perhaps even read Samantha’s blog. I clamped my hands behind my back to hide the tremor.
Gary stepped before them first and he received his comments without mention of the blog. I released my breath. Gary was passed to the next week with a grin.
Samantha took her turn in front of the panel. Her comments were a little more enthusiastic, much to my dismay. She beamed proudly as though she’d just rescued a kitten from the jaws of a fierce pit bull. I rolled my eyes. Knowing Samantha, she’d probably fed the poor kitten to the pit bull.
Finally, it was my turn. I barely heard Stephen, Chelsea, and Big D rave over my performance. They pretty much said the same thing over and over anyway. It was Richard and Marissa I dreaded.
Marissa once again commented on my hair and told me she was very happy I was developing my own style. She frowned on my choice of music, calling it boring and said she hoped I’d wow her next week. When she closed her lips, looking at Richard, I took that as my cue to face him.
“I agree with Marissa. The hair suits you and I am hoping that next week, when you’re allowed to choose your own style, that you’ll do something to
blow me away. You have to if you want to make the final five or the final three.”
I nodded, heart dancing that I’d made it through to the next week. I stepped back in the line and ran music selections in my head, not even hearing which contestants were booted.
***
Gwen surprised me by calling when I got home. After congratulating me, she raved over my hair. Then she asked me to come see her Friday morning at the shop.
I sat in her shop and chattered about nothing important while she performed her opening rituals. Finally, when she took a seat behind the register, she fired questions at me.
“What’s going on with Samantha? I heard about her blog.”
“How did you hear about it?” I asked, terrified word had got out somehow.
“Mom,” she smirked. “She actually called me and complained about your attitude lately. I’m proud of you, by the way.”
Blushing a little, I laughed. “Well, Mom’s not too happy with me but you and Jess are both right – I need to grow up.”
“What’s going on with Jess?” she asked, resting her elbows on the counter. She looked a lot better than the last time I saw her. The dark circles were still there but not as dark.
“I don’t know for sure. He did tell me he still loves me and he asked me to have dinner with him Monday night.”
“But?” Gwen asked, tiny smile gracing her lips.
“Well, he told me before he left on this last road trip that he would think about things. I don’t know if Monday’s dinner date is going to be when he tells me he doesn’t want to see me or if he’ll tell me he does want us to give it another try.”
There. I let the thought that had been rattling inside my head all night out for scrutinizing.
“You’re just going to have to be prepared for either,” Gwen said.
I envied her and her mature answers. No matter what my mother said, Gwen could only ever have a positive influence over me. No, I didn’t enjoy arguing with my mother and I still had a huge smattering of guilt hanging over my head. I did, however, want to be my own person. I had a lot to think about.
“So what’s going on with you? How are you feeling?” I asked. It was time to shift the conversation and get the answers to the questions that had been haunting me.