Once Friends

by Z. L. Arkadie

  Right as Jay ended the call with his agent, his phone buzzed again and he answered it.

  “How are you, Jay?” a woman’s voice purred over the car speakers.

  Jay frowned at the control panel that gave the name of the caller, then he glanced at Sonja. “Hey, Plume.”

  “Why haven’t you been answering my calls?”

  Sonja knew exactly who Plume Ashbury was. She was the hot and sexy movie star most men fantasized about.

  “What do you want Plume?” he asked impatiently.

  “I told you what I want, asshole. Why in the hell haven’t you called me back? It’s, like, an issue with you, dude. Didn’t your mother teach you how to return phone calls?”

  Jay sighed. “I’m busy. If you don’t want anything specific, then hang up.”

  Sonja had heard somewhere that Jay and Plume were an it couple. It could’ve been something she’d gotten from one of those celebrity gossip shows that happened to be on television when she wasn’t quite paying attention to what she was watching.

  “Well, we should go out to dinner tonight or something, you know—keep shit fresh,” she said, sounding like a valley girl.

  “I can’t. I’m busy.”

  “Jay, are you with somebody? I feel as though you’re with somebody.” She giggled. “So who’s your flavor of the week?”

  Jay scrubbed a hand through his hair. “Plume, goodbye.”

  He pressed a button on the steering wheel, ending their call abruptly. The phone rang again, and Jay used his free hand to power down his device.

  Awkward silence loomed in the car. Sonja wanted to ask if he was still involved with Plume, because the actress had sounded as though she was asking if he was with another woman. But she did mention keeping their relationship fresh. Perhaps Jay and the actress had an open relationship. At least Sonja didn’t have to worry about crossing the double yellow line with him. She was a strict follower of the girl code, which meant she never screwed around with another woman’s boyfriend or husband no matter what kind of relationship they had.

  “It’s not real you know, Plume and I,” Jay said.

  “What’s not real?” Sonja asked.

  “Our relationship.”

  Disappointment and relief hit Sonja in the heart as if someone had pummeled her with a two-by-four. “Oh…”

  “I hate this shit, you know, being Jay West.”

  “But you are Jay West.” Sonja said.

  After a long moment of silence, he gripped the steering wheel tighter and glanced at Sonja. “So I’ve been wondering something.”

  Sonja sat up straight. “Wondering what?”

  He was still frowning as though he was one extremely unhappy man. “If I hadn’t run into Elaine, would you have ever tried to contact me?”

  She turned to watch the sidewalks and short buildings go by. It was seventeen minutes past noon, so there wasn’t much traffic. His question made her notice all of those little details.

  “I don’t know,” she finally said. “Perhaps we would’ve run into each other at Riley’s next wedding ceremony.”

  He chuckled, and so did she.

  Sonja sniffed cynically. “She always invites me, but I never show up because I know me being there isn’t the point of the invitation. She’s looking for me to go back to Elaine and report that she’s found a new man to marry, who’s actually gone through with the ceremony.” She shook her head. “Elaine never hears about Riley’s weddings from me though.”

  He turned to look at her since they were stopped at a light. “She invites me too, but I show up”—he winked—“and you’re never there.”

  Their eyes connected for longer than she was comfortable with. Sonja looked down at her fingers folding and unfolding on her lap as she pictured running into Jay wearing an impeccable tuxedo at Riley’s wedding. He would’ve been irresistible. Perhaps one look and she would’ve forgotten how he had abandoned her, breaking her heart until it shattered into grains of sand.

  Jay grunted grievously. “Son, when are you going to forgive me?”

  They were driving up to the airport checkpoint as she looked at him. She felt how wide and confused her expression was. Robin would always tease her about being unforgiving. “You’re like a dog with a bloody bone when it comes to excusing those who wronged you.” Sonja knew it was because she hated how it felt to be hurt. To her, it was the worst feeling in the world.

  Sonja was still trapped in a moment of unresponsiveness when Jay had showed the guard his ID. He drove into a private parking lot.

  “So what’s your answer to my question?” he said as he pulled into the valet station.

  Sonja heaved a sigh. “I’m working on it, Jay. I’m working on it.”

  What an intense gaze he had, staring deep into her eyes that way. It felt as though they had been connected for a lifetime. For a second, she wondered what would it be like to be under Jay West, the man. Was he a sensual lover? Was he intimate when he made love? Or was he wham bam thank you ma'am?

  Finally, he cracked a half smile. “I’ll take that answer.” He winked. “For now.”

  Sonja smiled back, then it was on with the show. They left Jay’s car with the valet and exited the parking lot through a private corridor. They handed off their bags to skycaps and were on the airplane in less than fifteen minutes.

  The speed with which she got from the parking lot to sitting in a big leather chair in the aircraft was miraculous, as far as Sonja was concerned. She had never taken a private flight before. Jay, on the other hand, had known just about everyone they came across, from the valets to the pilots and of course the stewardesses prancing about in the cabin, opening and closing cabinets and batting their eyelashes at Jay in the process.

  “Not flying alone this time?” one of the stewardesses asked Jay.

  Sonja wanted to say that the fact that she was sitting there was the obvious answer to her silly question.

  Jay pointed a hand at Sonja. “Laura, this is Sonja, an old friend of mine and the creator of a new project we’re working on.”

  The pretty raven-haired woman glanced at Sonja for what felt like half a second. “Oh,” she said dismissively and gave Jay her full attention. “Would you like champagne and a fruit and cheese platter before takeoff?”

  “None for me. Sonja?” Jay said.

  Sonja looked up and waited until the woman reluctantly acknowledged her. “I’m full for now.”

  “Then we’ll wait,” Jay said.

  Laura pursed her lips and strutted away. Sonja listened until the sound of her short heels beating the aisle stopped, a door slid open, and Laura was out of the cabin.

  “Have you been involved with her or something?” she whispered.

  Jay chuckled. “I plead the Fifth.”

  Sonja grunted and rolled her eyes. “Well at least that hasn’t changed about you.”

  She was waiting for Jay to say something snappy back, but instead he looked out the window. She hadn’t meant to upset him. Heck, she’d thought he would love to brag about his conquest, even though knowing he couldn’t keep himself from screwing the stewardess made her more certain she’d never start anything romantic with the likes of him.

  Finally the pilot announced they were on the way to the runway. Laura and her co-stewardess, Sarah, were back to make sure they had their seatbelts on and other parts of the cabin were secure and ready for takeoff. That was when Jay informed both women that he would call when they wanted their services. Other than that, they should stay out of sight. If looks could spew fire, Sonja would’ve been burned to a crisp by both stewardesses.

  Goodness, he banged them both! Sonja sank into her seat and closed her eyes, trying not to think about Jay and those two girls in the horizontal position, doing things only in X-rated films.

  “Hey,” Jay said.

  She opened one eye to look at him. “What?” That came out sharper than she wanted.

  Regardless of her tone, he was watching her with an alluring smile. “You’re go
ing to sleep already?”

  “Just resting my head, that’s all,” she said more softly.

  “It’s still hard to believe that you and I are taking this flight together.”

  She released an appreciative sigh as she resettled in her seat. “I know.”

  “So”—he waved his fingers toward her—“tell me more about yourself.”

  His charming grin made her smirk. “There’s not much, but what do you want to know?”

  “You don’t have a boyfriend?”

  She shook her head. “Nope.”

  “That’s hard to believe.”

  Sonja shrugged. “It really isn’t so unbelievable. LA is full of beautiful single women.”

  “True,” he said, nodding. “But you left out one factor.”

  She turned her head in a curious manner. “And that is?”

  He leaned toward her as though he was sharing a secret. “Crazy,” he whispered, circling his finger around his ear.

  Sonja rolled her eyes. “Yeah well, that goes both ways. There are enough insane men in this city to fill a dozen asylums.”

  Jay tilted his head back and belted out a good laugh.

  “But you’re sane and beautiful”—he shot his index finger at her—“and that makes you a unicorn.”

  Now it was Sonja’s turn to laugh out loud. “And how do you know I’m sane? I mean, I’ve spent the better part of my twenties obsessing over my grandmother’s past. And then I wrote a screenplay about it. And after that, I haven’t been able to write another screenplay because I can’t stop obsessing over shit that really isn’t my business.” She raised a finger pointedly. “But deep down inside, I feel it is my business for some strange, unknown crazy person’s reason.”

  She blew a hard sigh. The words had come so fast that she had hardly taken a breath.

  Jay gently patted her knee. “Yep. You’re right. That’s pretty nuts.”

  She tilted her head to study his playful grin. “Ha, ha, ha.” She rolled her eyes.

  “Come on, Son! You know that doesn’t make you a crazy person. That makes you interesting.”

  She had no comeback. The way Jay was looking at her made her all giddy inside, so she had to remember that she was quite sure he had banged the stewardesses.

  “Right,” she said in a more serious tone.

  He grunted as though he was intrigued by something. Sonja wanted to ask what was he thinking, but she didn’t. They had already gone too far with their flirting. But he was studying her curiously again, and she blushed under his scrutiny.

  “One of them but not the other,” he finally said.

  She felt her eyebrows pull together. “Huh?”

  “I saw you go into a shell earlier.”

  Sonja cocked her head to the side, still totally confused. “When did I go into a shell?”

  “When Laura was treating you like shit and flirting with me.”

  Her mouth fell open, then she swallowed. She had no idea what to say to that.

  “I notice everything, Son. I’m an actor. I’m supposed to pay attention to the crazy shit people do so that I can bring it to a scene.”

  Sonja crossed her arms. “Okay, well… which one of the stewardesses have you banged?”

  “Laura.”

  She shook her head judgmentally, then stopped abruptly. She seriously disliked judgmental people. But it didn’t keep her from wanting to light him up for being a man whore. “So do you do that often? Fuck your stewardesses?”

  Jay stared at her for a long moment then solemnly turned toward the window. “Yeah, I used to.” He looked at her again. “I used to do a lot of shit I’m not proud of.”

  Sonja felt bad about leading him to this point of unhappiness. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have judged and—”

  He shook his head emphatically. “No way. You have nothing to apologize for.”

  She cracked a playful smile. “Nothing? Everyone has something to apologize for, whether they know it or not.”

  “You’re right,” he said, mirroring her smile.

  They stared into each other’s eyes, even after the pilot said that they were ready for takeoff and floored it, and even as they were zooming down the runway and gathering enough speed to lift off the ground.

  Sonja cleared her throat and looked out the window, battling an intense desire to kiss him. No. As the aircraft climbed, she realized she wanted to do more than kiss. She wanted to make out with him feverishly. She wanted to experience Jay in a way she never had before. When she turned back to face him, he was still smiling.

  “What are you thinking?” he asked.

  “Nothing I’m ready to share.”

  He lifted his eyebrows twice. “For some reason, I like the sound of that.”

  The airplane jerked, and Sonja was certain that her cheeks were burnt red as she held on tightly to the armrests.

  Chapter 11

  The four-hour flight went way too fast once they got down to business. Jay had rented a house on Airbnb as Jake Johnson, a name he actually had a real ID and credit cards for. He’d also ordered groceries through Instacart and rented a vehicle. It was a sports car, of course. Even when they were kids, Jay had preferred everything fast, from his bikes to his girlfriends.

  They strategized their first move.

  “I mean, do small towns ever change?” Sonja asked.

  Jay cracked an amused smile. “That’s right, you’ve never been to Midland.”

  “Have you?” she asked.

  “Never. But have you ever been to Texas?”

  Sonja shook her head. “I guess I don’t get out of California much.” Now that she admitted that, she felt so embarrassed. Sitting across from the big-time actor who could schedule a private flight at a drop of a dime made her feel as though her life had been more stagnant than she thought.

  “Hey, Sonja?” Jay said with a delicate voice.

  She looked up.

  “There, that’s better.” He smiled.

  Sonja hadn’t realized she had dropped her face due to all her regrets about the stuff she’d never done. It wasn’t as if she hadn’t the means and opportunity to get out and see the world. The days had just gotten away from her. One day, she looked up and she was snaking Ms. Jenkins’s toilet yet again and hating every minute of it.

  They decided to change the subject and get caught up some more. He told her all about his experiences working with Elaine for the last two months. Basically, she was a bossy hard-ass who got shit done.

  “How’s Theresa these days?” he asked.

  Sonja smirked. “She’s still the same. Alpha to the extreme and can’t stop exercising to save her life.”

  Jay laughed. “But she hasn’t gotten married yet either.”

  “Ha!” Sonja scoffed. “She’s like a praying mantis ready to rip a guy’s head off simply because she’s hungry.”

  Jay clutched his stomach and laughed even harder. Sonja remembered how much she used to love making him laugh. She told him more stories about Theresa. Like how she’d brought one of her many boyfriends to a family dinner and broke up with him before the night ended because he drank too much wine.

  “Then she broke up with another guy because she could do more push-ups than he could. And then another guy because he said that her sister and cousins were knockouts.”

  “Well, you are,” Jay said in a frank tone.

  “Thanks, but that’s not a reason to break up with your boyfriend.” Sonja shook her head. “I don’t get her. If she doesn’t want to have a boyfriend, then why keep picking them up? Now she’s crazy.”

  “And what’s Robin’s story?” Jay had made himself comfortable in his seat.

  When she’d first seen him yesterday, she’d thought his face displayed some serious exhaustion, perhaps from all the stress of being a movie star, but as she smiled at him in that moment, the puffiness underneath his eyes evened out and his skin glowed. It was clear Jay was really enjoying their conversation, and just talking about her unique and borderline
insane family members made her feel that they were best friends again.

  “Well, Robin is still an enigma,” she said. “I’ve been trying to figure her out since we were two years old.”

  Jay’s laugh indicated he knew exactly what she meant. “A few years ago, I went to this concert in Paris. The singer was—”

  She pointed at Jay. “St. Vincent?”

  He snapped his fingers. “Yes. She’s Robin’s twin. Yours too, but more Robin.”

  Sonja grinned. She knew why her eyes were tearing up. Somewhere in Paris years ago, Jay had been thinking about a Hester girl. It made her feel closer to him, and she liked it.

  Suddenly a door opened and the sound of heels came closer. Laura stopped in the aisle, very close to Jay’s shoulder. “We’ll be landing soon. Please buckle your seatbelts,” she said, and only to Jay.

  Sonja knew the woman couldn’t help herself from being rude. After all, her key to Easy Street—a hot actor with a stellar bank account—wasn’t interested in biting her hook, at least not at the moment. So Sonja decided to not sweat it and do what she was told and buckle her seatbelt.

  Once Laura was satisfied, she sauntered away. But then she quickly came back.

  “Oh by the way,” she said, handing Jay a folded sheet of white paper. “This is where we’ll be staying tonight.” She glanced at Sonja. “Come over if you can get away.” She fled just as quickly as she had showed up with her invitation.

  Sonja turned away from Jay to lift the shade over the window, pretending she wasn’t bothered by what had happened. After all, Jay was a single man, outside of his bogus relationship with Plume Ashbury, although she was positive the stewardess had no idea Plume and Jay were merely a Hollywood farce.

  Jay cleared his throat. “Son?”

  She stopped trying to focus on the landscape below and made herself smile when she looked at him. “Yep?”

  They were staring into each other’s eyes again, and it made her uncomfortable, so she looked down at her lap.