by Oliver Rill
Aaron seemed in a hurry to get away and let me know that he would be back at ten in the morning. Gavin and I made a quick inspection of the house, I allocated the rooms and then we made our way to the store, to get a monster shop in for the next few days with Jason whose help we needed.
“It would be nice generally if you were around for the next few days to help out, Jason.”
“I’m always there for you. I hope you know that?” He grinned.
“Little drops of water, little grains of sand. Do you know the saying?”
“Oh yes!” he said. “Maybe one day I’ll have the pleasure when I get enough practice at this. You should come here more often!”
I laughed, he amused me. He never gave up and I liked that and above all, he never got on my nerves. He was just charming.
Gavin gave each of us a shopping list. He made his way to work on the cheese, meat and fresh vegetable sections. I was responsible for snacks, muesli, rice, noodles, jellies and alcohol. On Jason’s list sodas, juices, cleaning stuff, serviettes, candles et cetera appeared. One car wasn’t really enough and we ended up making two trips for a second raid on the supermarket.
“I really think you have enough wine and beer. Certainly enough wine anyway. They can’t all be alcoholics or do you want to lay down a wine cellar?”
“I was actually thinking of both. We like wine and it wouldn’t be a bad idea to have some in the house for next time.”
When everything was finally packed away, I thought we had all really earned a beer and even Gavin didn’t hesitate when I asked him over to the pool. He flopped down and landed exhaustedly on a chair.
“Aaaah!” he groaned loudly after taking a slug of Miller’s from the bottle. “It’s not cold yet, but I really can’t be asked.”
“You’re all invited to dinner tonight, ok? Jason – a nice restaurant, where we can just hang out and eat? No dress code, just chilled.”
“Terrace and Gulf-view?”
I looked at Gavin and he looked at me. We nodded simultaneously.
“Don’t know one, but there is one on the other side that we just have to visit.”
It was a small restaurant with a terrace exactly five tables long. There were a further five tables inside. The chubby, smiling cook looked as if she enjoyed her own simple menu. It was just what I was looking for and the food did turn out to be good. I asked if we wanted to get a further round in after the food, but Jason and Gavin just wanted to go home.
“It’s easier to chill at your place”
I grabbed the keys from the table. The others had rolled their eyes as when I took the Town Car earlier, but I really thought it was the only way to drive down here. Now the teasing went on.
“Hey, yeah, we’ve got his grannie’s car!” Jason called to the people on the other side of the street.
“You can say what you want. Many a fine tune is played on an old fiddle!”
We didn’t go straight to the pool but stopped off at my beach. Gavin laid the fire bowl while I got a couple of beers from the Tikki bar and flopped down on a sun bed.
“Oh God! There’ll be no peace after tomorrow. It’ll be all chatter-chatter and no-one will listen to anyone else, so they’ll get louder and louder till they are all shouting at each other.”
“I’m sure it won’t be that bad.” Soothed Jason.
“You’ll see, that’s no exaggeration.”
“Where’s Aaron?” Gavin wanted to know.
“He’s glad to see someone else’s ugly mine rather than mine. I think he has family around here too and probably friends. Maybe a special one that he visits now and then. Who knows?”
“What about you, Gavin? Have you got a girl?”
“Yeah. Annabelle. She’s studying Medicine in L.A.”
“You never told me about her. Have you two been together long?”
“Since high school.”
Jason let out a shout of laughter. “And you still have sex even after 15 years?”
“Of course!” Gavin said defensively.
“How often? High days and Sundays? Or just at Thanksgiving?”
“We have a very healthy sex life, thank you very much.” Gavin defended himself sharply.
“Oh come on, how often do you have to take yourself in hand?”
“Jason!” I reprimanded him.
“Come on, tell us. Every day?” Gavin took a slug of beer his eyes glowering but held his tongue.
“Well I do it every morning and every evening if I don’t have anyone. I need it. What about you Oli?”
“I’m not drunk enough to join in that discussion.”
“You are all so uptight. Chill out! Oli, you need a neck massage and then tell me how often you play with yourself.”
Jason stood behind me and dug his hands into my neck. My hair nearly stood on end. A neck massage would be ok normally, but this wasn’t how I’d planned things.
“And you have to have a drink! Hey we’ll have a proper drink now. I’ll mix a really good cocktail when I’ve finished with Oli.” Right, of course, Jason was on the bar at the club and I did fancy a nice cocktail.
“I don’t know. I have to get up early in the morning. Is Aaron going to be here for breakfast?” Gavin asked who didn’t really look comfortable.
“He’s going to get here around ten, Gavin. No need to get up early. You could even go have a nap when we drive to the airport.”
“Chill out, Oli. Relax! Look at that, you’re really tense.”
“Do you want to have children, Gavin?” I asked.
“That would be nice. But Annabelle has to finish studying first.”
“Show us a photo.” Jason said and Gavin pulled out his cell phone and showed us a freckled, sunny young girl’s face.
“They will be really sweet kids!” I said.
“Thanks.”
“It just ain’t gonna happen because they don’t have sex.” Jason heckled.
“We do have sex!” Gavin retorted.
“I’m going to make the drinks now, Oli. They’ll be awesome! If you want, I can go on later on other parts of your body. I’m sure they need some work too. You just have to say.”
“Thanks Jason. I’ll have a drink right now.”
“That was almost a yes, wasn’t it?”
“To a drink? Yes, it was!”
During the evening, Jason made another three really ‘more-ish’ and rather strong cocktails. Gavin, feeling the effects of them told us about the recent problems that he and his girlfriend had had and that Jason, was effectively right in his suppositions. I felt my heart go out to him. I was glad though that he was here, working for me and didn’t have the additional worry of job security. Jason tried it on all evening and would have succeeded if my brain hadn’t clicked in at the last minute. There was no point in starting something with Jason. I would never feel about him the same way I felt about Matt. I know he had no intention of marrying me, but I wanted to be more than just ships that passed in the night, even if it was handed to me on a plate and I really felt the need to be skin on skin with another person.
“Jason, maybe we will sleep together at some point, but tonight isn’t that night. Good night and thanks for everything. And I do mean for everything!” I planted a kiss on his forehead and firmly closed my bedroom door.
At ten then next morning, we sat around the table in the kitchen, fueling up with a quick breakfast before we started the day. Jason took the Navigator and I drove off with Aaron in the Town Car.
“How was it yesterday?”
“Jason grabbed me and we had a few drinks, and a lot of banter.”
“He made a pass at you?”
“He always does!” I grinned.
“I’ll smack him in the face! He’s crazy.”
“It’s cool, Aaron. He’s really quite charming about it.”
“Do you like Jason?”
“Do you like Jason?” I countered.
“Yeah, well, he’s a friend.”
“Could be then. Or h
ave you had a ‘ménage â trois’?”
“Oli! What’s the matter with you?”
“Sorry, it’s probably the effects of last night.”
“Well, we did once.”
“Ah! I would have liked to have seen that.”
“Well, it wasn’t anything that exciting. Come to think of it though, it was quite nice. My God! You’re my boss and here I am telling you all this. It’s not normally the conversation you have with your boss on a morning drive, is it?” then as an afterthought he added “I’m going to have to have a serious word with Jason about what is appropriate.”
“It was just a bit of honest fun. Leave Jason alone.”
We picked up the rental car and then drove on to the airport parking lot. From there we took the shuttle to the arrivals area. They arrived from Berlin, pale and exhausted, not the noisy bunch I had imagined.
“You poor things. Was the flight really that bad?”
“No, it was great, really great. And the food, and pralines, and everything so pretty and smart, and those stewardesses were really lovely. It was great, really wonderful.” And the chatter began.
We divided ourselves into the three cars and drove from Miami to Fort Myers. Gavin had prepared a few finger foods which looked very professional. I showed each to their rooms, just as I had seen it in my mind’s eye.
The verdicts on the house were varied. Mom said it was way too big, Helga and Richard found everything just wonderful, and Helga added a few garden tips, Martin and his boyfriend quickly found themselves with Marie on the beach flirting with Jason, and Tobias wanted to know how much something like this cost and how affordable it was to buy a normal sized house. By dinner time they were all in agreement over one thing. It would only be a matter of days until a tornado destroyed the whole estate.
Shortly after I got into my bedroom, a knock sounded on the door.
“Oli, can I have a word?” Aaron popped his head around the door.
“Of course you can. Come in.”
“I spoke to Jason today and he said he would stop.”
“That’s almost a shame.”
“I really don’t think he should carry on like that. It’s just not appropriate.”
“I think it’s a shame anyway, I was having fun.”
“Another thing: Do you have room here for me?”
“There is another room free, yes. You could have that?”
“I’d rather stay here. We’re bound to be going on some trip or other in the morning.”
“Let’s see what they fancy doing. Of course, they may all have different ideas about what they want.”
“Ok. I’m there anyway. Do you need anything now?”
“No thanks, Aaron. Sleep tight!”
The week was filled with trips to the Everglades and shopping trips. We went to Orlando to two theme parks and in the evenings we often sat around the fire, chatting and laughing until the early hours. Once we left the older generation at home and went to the club. Aaron hovered around me constantly checking that no one took a photo of me with a cell phone. I felt it was maybe a little too much, but on the other hand, he was right to protect me from a new scandal. The trouble was that no one could get near me and chat me up. There was one really sweet guy in the crowd, who had looked interested, but Aaron gave him a hard stare and he turned on his heel.
I thought about this in bed. I would never find a new boyfriend with Aaron at my side. I’d have to go away on my own, maybe to the moon or somewhere like Tel Aviv, where the guys were all so incredibly good looking, even the less gifted ones. Yes, one day I would go to Tel Aviv and have some fun!
The older generation flew back to Berlin and Tobias, Andrea, Marie and Martin and his boyfriend came back to L.A. with us. I did have a moment of panic wondering where I would put them all up. I only had two spare rooms, but needed three. Marie was on her own and would definitely need to stay with me. I took the question back to the group and Tobias and Andrea volunteered to book into a hotel.
I asked Aaron to drop me off at the office, Tobias and Andrea took off in a cab and the others went straight to my house.
The office was in uproar. Both Grace and George had celebrated a little too much, Incognito missed the flight and would arrive tomorrow instead of today. No such problems from Faithless. Cesco and Dandy were there already. I had forgotten them in the general excitement and so I rang Matt quickly to get him to make sure that they were at mine that evening and let Gavin know that there were two more.
Venice beach was already roped off and guarded. The stage would be built overnight and the party would start at six p.m. the following evening.
I saw red! “Tell them if they are not fit to play tomorrow, I’ll video them and put it up on the screen in front of all 20 thousand people and the press! And they can forget the fee and go home! I need them there bright-eyed and bushy-tailed for the start of the party or they will rue the day! I am not going to have it ruined by them.”
I returned home still in a state of high irritation. It was one of those days when I would rather have been alone. Matt had kindly driven me home and I invited him in, only to hear him say that it was a real shame that we weren’t together anymore. There had never been so many people in my Hollywood home: Aristo; Daniel; Matt; Gavin; Aaron; Marie; Andrea; Tobias; Martin and his boyfriend and of course Superdandy and Cesco were there. And all I could think about was the softness of my pillow.
The party was a roaring success in the end! There were spreads in all the papers. A large part of the beach had been sectioned off and there was a red carpet lined with lighted flame torches. A high fence shielded the party-goers from the public and inside there was a stage with full dancefloor, seats around the floor and a couple of bars and several buffets surrounding these forming a circle of sorts with the dancefloor in the center. Superdandy and Cesco were on between the acts, skillfully allowing the guests to talk while at the same time nodding or tapping their foot at least to the music. A lot of them got up to dance as well, some even danced barefoot. There were a few stars amongst the guests that I didn’t know about. The Acts themselves were integrated into the music and weren’t announced. They did it competently and thankfully there were no fuck-ups. Interestingly, Faithless got the largest applause, which was something I hadn’t reckoned with.
Grace Jones performed against a screen showing a video of Slave to the Rhythm, but we had changed it so that instead of the Citroen driving out of her mouth, a Can Am 748 flew out. No one else seemed to notice it, but I thought it was the best part!
Boy George sang two more songs and made a few offensive jokes in between, but the guests were well entertained and it slid over their heads.
I was disappointed by Incognito. Their music was better on the CD than it was live.
We had to finish at 12 because of the noise limitations in the city. I was also glad as it kept the party budget down. The party-goers had been taking the free bar rather literally, but they had had fun.
We sat down by the pool at my house for a nightcap and then I simply trudged off to my bed at long last, leaving the others to carry on the celebrations at the poolside.
At eight O’clock precisely my cell phone rang.
“You are definitely the king of PR! Congratulations!”
“What’s happened Ad? I’ve not got up yet.”
“Can Am’s glamour and glitz beach party in Venice is featured on the front of every newspaper and next week it’ll feature in the best magazines, too. If I heard the grapevine right, you’re going to be invited onto a morning show TV interview too. Have you any idea what a priceless advertising campaign that’s giving you?”
“Probably more than I can afford. Am I in any of the pictures?”
“Most of them focus on the stars, but you are on some of them, yeah.”
“To be honest, Ad, I can’t remember much about yesterday. I spoke to so many people. Damn! But I’m in the highlights, yeah?”
“Of course you are, my boy! If you put your
self out there like that, you’re bound to pull the interest in.”
“Ad, I’ve got guests this week, but how about meeting up the following week? Will you have time then?”
“The question is, if you’ve got time. I think your office is being bombarded with questions right now.”
“Jeez! Right now we have enough on our plate without the press breathing down our necks. But hey, it’s free advertising, we shouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth.”
“That’s very true, young man. Strike while the iron is hot.”
As I hung up, I noticed that Rebecca had been trying to call me along with various other numbers. I called her back, but the line was really bad. I made out her asking if I had seen it and what was going on, but then we were cut off. The phone rang again and I grabbed it up.
“What did you say?”
“I haven’t said anything yet. Good morning!” A deep male voice answered me.
“Oh sorry, sorry, I, erm I meant someone else, I thought you were erm a woman.” I stuttered.
“Just a minute, I’ll check that. No. No definitely not a woman.”
“I meant …” I began then checked myself. “It doesn’t matter. Who am I speaking with?”
“James. We met at your party yesterday and we were going to go jogging today.” I searched my memories of last night. James? Jogging? No, nothing hit me.
“James. James Aickens. We spoke yesterday at the party and you said you wanted to sweat the excess alcohol out of your system.”
“Oh yes! I gotcha!” I lied. I still hadn’t a clue who it was.
“Can you give me your address then I’ll pick you up in half an hour.”
“Um, I, erm can you I call you back in two seconds? I’ve just got to wake up a bit.” There was the sound of laughter and he rang off.