by T V Hartwell
“Who knows? People like to make shit up.”
“But you guys did go to Paris.”
“Yes. We went after the London premier for less than forty-eight hours. All we did was go out to eat, go out to drink, and visit a handful of private art galleries because, as you know, Adams’s a collector. Someone must’ve seen us, and then the rags decided to manufacture this story to make it sound as if we were doing something more interesting than simply hanging out and lying low, but that’s all we were doing.”
“Well, whatever you do, please don’t elope. I still want to be the maid of honor in your wedding.”
“Don’t be silly. Of course you’ll be. Besides, I don’t think eloping is Adam’s style. He’s the type of guy who’d probably enjoy a big fancy wedding—a big fat Jewish wedding.”
Alex laughed. Amanda giggled along.
“Seriously, Adam loves a party, and a wedding would provide a good excuse to throw a big party. Plus, he has a big family and they’re all very close. His mother would probably kill him if we eloped and didn’t include the family. You know he took me to have Shabbat dinner with his family right before he left for Toronto. It was the first time he’d ever invited me to do that with him.”
“Awww…how sweet is that?”
“I know.”
“Look at you. You’re glowing.”
Amanda turned red and laughed. “Shut up. No I’m not.”
“Yes, you are,” Alex said, reaching over to pinch Amanda’s cheeks.
Amanda continued to laugh while grabbing Alex’s wrists to pull her hands away.
“Are you in love? Mandi, are you in love?” Alex repeated, poking at her sister.
“I love him,” Amanda said, sounding more contemplative than affirmative in her answer.
“Hmmm. As much as you loved Jake?”
“Well…no. I mean…you can’t really compare my relationship with Adam to my relationship with Jake. Jake and I were together for a long time. It felt more organic. We grew together. He’s the first guy who ever made me feel loved… truly loved. There’s a passion, a sense of abandon, a complete surrendering of yourself that’s kind of uniquely experienced only with a first love, I believe. It’s different.”
“Okay. I can go along with that, but do you see yourself marrying Adam one day?”
“Yeah…maybe…I don’t know,” Amanda said with a change in her body language—folding her arms across her chest and appearing uncomfortable with the question.
“What? Why are you being so pensive? One minute you seem like you’re on cloud nine about Adam and the next minute you seem tentative and doubtful about a future with him.”
“I am on cloud nine about my relationship with Adam, and I do love him, but that doesn’t mean I have to be ready to marry him right this instant.”
“So let me go back to something you just said. You said that Jake made you feel truly loved. Now that you know that he’d been cheating on you the whole time, do you still believe he truly loved you?”
“I know that what Jake and I experienced together was real, especially in the beginning. There was a love there. It might’ve been flawed and imperfect in the end, but it felt genuine and real at the time.” Amanda hopped out of bed and began to walk toward the bathroom, wanting to disengage from this uncomfortable conversation. However, before she could close the door behind her, Alex had one final question.
“Mandi, do you still have feelings for Jake? Be honest.”
“I don’t even know what that’s supposed to mean. Do I still have feelings for him,” Amanda repeated with sarcasm. She began to pull off her pajamas in an attempt to appear preoccupied and unconcerned with Alex’s line of questioning.
“Mandi, you know what I mean. Do you still have feelings for him? Do you still care for Jake?”
“Oh, Alex, please. I’m going to take a shower now,” Amanda said before quickly closing the bathroom door.
Chapter Ten
Kirby along with Jeff Hoefflin, his writing partner and co-producer, had all of the actors come in on Saturday for a final table read for their TV pilot. The table read, Hollywood-speak for a line-by-line read-through of the script by the actors cast for each role, allowed Kirby, Jeff, and the director they’d hired to identify any last-minute problem areas with the script before they started shooting the following Monday.
After the table read had concluded at seven in the evening, everyone, especially the actors, seemed anxious to head home for the remainder of the weekend. The show could be a big break for Kirby, Jeff, and the actors too, and they knew that it would be game time come Monday morning when they all had to show up to the studio bright and early for hair, makeup, and wardrobe. Once most everyone had hurried out, Kirby and Jeff remained behind to exchange notes.
“That’s a wrap,” Jeff said in exhilaration, lifting his hand to high-five Kirby
Kirby smiled broadly and chuckled while high-fiving Jeff back. “Not quite yet, homes. We haven’t filmed anything yet.”
“I know, but after spending the last couple of months having guys in suits at the network nitpicking at our script and doing my best not to fart in their faces at their stupid suggestions for changes, getting to this point feels like a small victory. I swear…I’ve never dealt with a bigger group of wusses in my life. They like the concept for the show and give us the green light to shoot the pilot and then want us to make all sorts of changes at the last minute.”
“I think they’re just a little nervous. That’s all. They want to make sure we don’t offend anyone in the Jewish or black community. An Orthodox Jewish man falling in love with and marrying a single black mother will be groundbreaking TV. In hindsight, having her serve him her smothered pork chops recipe and then having him not protest but admit that he liked them and asking for more probably wouldn’t have gone over too well with the purists in the Orthodox community.”
“Oh please. I’m Jewish. Trust me, some Jews, in fact many, secretly crave and eat pork, too. The fact that he was willing to admit that he was violating a dietary law to win her over and not insult her showed that he was human. At least we included the scene of him at the temple repenting during Yom Kippur. At first they all liked that scene and thought it was funny. Remember?”
“Oh well. They changed their minds. What’s done is done. I still like the script overall. Don’t you?”
“Yes, I agree, it’s still a good script, and I feel pretty confident that we’ll get picked up as a full series. It’s just been a frustrating process getting to this point. Luckily we have good agents. They have far better negotiating skills than I do. If it weren’t for them holding this deal together and running interference, it would’ve fallen apart.”
“Yeah…you are sort of a hothead,” Kirby said, tongue in cheek.
Jeff smirked. “My hothead’s getting us a TV series.”
“Word,” Kirby said with a chuckle. “I can’t wait to start shooting on Monday. After making all of these last-minute revisions to get the script right and spending the last two months going through nearly a thousand head shots to cast six roles, it’s a relief to finally see everything coming together. We have the right cast and a great script. I’m excited, man. This is all a dream come true.”
“Well, we’ve got a lot more work to do beginning Monday, so don’t go out and get slammed this weekend and show up to the studio late and hungover.”
“Oh, no. Absolutely not. I’m going to be fresh and ready to roll come Monday morning.”
“Yeah…we’ll see,” Adam said teasingly as he gathered his things, preparing to leave.
Kirby chuckled. “No, seriously, man. I’m not planning on doing any partying this weekend. Although I do plan on crashing a party.”
“Crash a party?”
“Yeah. I wasn’t invited, but I’m going to go and make my presence known anyway, just for the hell of it.”
“Whose party?”
“Jake’s. It’s his birthday.”
“What happened to you gu
ys? Haven’t you two been friends, like, since you were in diapers?”
Kirby chuckled. “Not quite that long, but he’s been avoiding me, and I need to confront him about something. I can’t wait to see the expression on his face when I show up. It’ll be priceless.”
Chapter Eleven
Jake smiled broadly and chuckled a few times at the long list of birthday messages on his Facebook page. So far there were more than two hundred posts and counting, mostly from prep school classmates, Stanford classmates—undergraduate and law school—fraternity brothers, random friends and colleagues from work and elsewhere, and a few from various cousins and other relatives. Although Jake mostly traveled with a tight-knit circle of close friends, he’d managed to accumulate and maintain a network of relationships that was deep and wide. His charm, friendly demeanor, and outgoing personality were traits that made him disarming to many people who otherwise might’ve been intimidated by his striking good looks and rich, frat boy, country club image, an image that had been amplified by his long courtship of a billionaire heiress. That he could be so attractive, rich, and smart yet so affable and down-to-earth had won him many admirers and fans over the course of his young life. Moreover, the fact he had actively volunteered for Amnesty International throughout college and law school and developed a keen interest and passion for assisting refugees and activists fleeing political persecution in countries ruled by oppressive regimes allowed people to see a different side of him, a side that was more substantive, humane, and empathetic. Everyone wanted to be Jake’s friend, and he was good at making people feel like they were, even if they weren’t part of his inner circle. It was that inner circle, mostly consisting of a select mix of prep school friends and Stanford classmates and fraternity brothers—about twenty guys, some bringing girlfriends—that would be joining Jake for a low-key get-together to celebrate his twenty-seventh birthday that Saturday night.
After reading through the messages and responding to a few of them, Jake tossed the phone down on the bed and hopped in the shower to get ready for the birthday party. In a good mood and feeling uplifted by all of the doting birthday messages, Jake dried off and walked into the bedroom to crank up the music pumping through his computer’s stereo speakers. “Sexy and I Know It” from LMFAO was playing. Jake blasted it while he sang along and danced around in his birthday suit—gyrating his hips, pumping his pelvis back and forth, and rubbing his hands up and down his chest and abdomen sensually. “‘I’m sexy and I know it…Girl look at that body…Girl look at that body…,’” Jake crooned as he imagined doing a striptease for Amanda as he’d often done in the past during foreplay. With his body hard and buff from a workout earlier that day, Jake liked how he looked and felt, enjoying his private moment.
Jake combed his hair and put on his clothes. Shortly thereafter, Pax, one of Jake’s oldest friends from prep school, picked him up. Together they drove to The Cottage, a bar and nightclub in Santa Monica, where they were to meet up with everyone.
“Thanks for picking me up, bro,” Jake said.
“No problem. Since I’m sobering up and cutting back on my alcohol consumption, I don’t mind being your designated driver this evening. It’s your birthday, dude. You can drink and party all you want tonight. I’ll get you home safe. Don’t worry about it.”
“I appreciate it. It was so embarrassing passing out at Will and Kerry’s place last weekend. Don’t want that to happen again. I think I must’ve of blurted something incriminating about myself during my drunken stupor.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Because they were looking at me all weird when I woke up and told me that I had said some pretty strange things—”
“Like what?”
“I don’t know. They wouldn’t tell me. They just laughed it off. Kerry’s was like, ‘Oh, Jake. You poor, tortured soul. You really open up and bare your heart when you’re in an inebriated state. We’re going to have to get you drunk more often…to see what other golden nuggets of information slip from your tongue.’” Jake spoke in a mocking, girly tone before rolling his eyes and shaking his head in annoyance.
Pax laughed. “That’s hilarious. I’ve got to find out what you said. Now I’m curious. They might’ve been pulling your leg, though. You know Will’s such a prankster.”
“Maybe. Maybe not. If I did say something revealing, I trust Will. It’s Kerry I don’t trust.”
Jake and Pax arrived at The Cottage. The place was packed, as was typical for a Saturday night, but a space had been reserved for Jake’s party.
Greeted like a hero when he arrived, Jake made the rounds, receiving warm smiles and bear hugs. Jake and his pals spent the time reminiscing, laughing, and telling stories about each other as they sipped beers and cocktails and munched on charcuterie, cheese, dips, and toast from the small plates menu.
“Thanks for putting this together,” Jake said when he reached Will and Kerry, who had reserved the space and set everything up with the bar.
“Of course. It didn’t require us to do much,” Will said.
“Where’s Julie?” Kerry blurted. “I thought you would bring her.”
“We’re not dating anymore.”
Will gave Jake a knowing look while Kerry gasped. “Why? What happened?”
“I told you it was never serious. Why act so surprised?” Jake said, sounding a little defensive.
Kerry huffed. “I wanted to meet her.”
Pax, who was standing in earshot of this exchange, butted in. “Are you guys talking about Jake’s playmate from the office?”
“Yeah. Did you ever meet her?” Kerry asked.
“No. None of us got to meet her, but I sure did hear a lot about her,” Pax said with a devious smirk.
Jake started to blush as he sipped his beer.
Kerry turned to Jake and piled on. “I thought I was going to finally get to meet her tonight. She sounded like a really interesting person, and the perfect match for you. I can’t believe you broke up with her.”
“Oh well,” Jake said with a grin, looking at Will.
“Oh well,” Will said back to him with a grin of his own. Other than Jake’s boss, Mike Wallace, Will was the only person who knew of Jake’s intentions to get back with Amanda. Will leaned towards Jake and said in a low voice, “I see you’ve put your recovery plans in motion.”
“Yes I have,” Jake said discreetly with a chuckle.
“What?” Kerry said, trying to get in on the secret exchange.
“Nothing,” Jake and Will said in near-perfect unison.
“Well…like you said, I guess I shouldn’t be so surprised after hearing you dribble on about hoping Amanda and Kirby would take you back—”
“What!” Pax exclaimed, cutting her off.
Jake froze. His face turned white and his eyes widened as he glared at Kerry.
Kerry continued, “You didn’t hear?”
“Kerry,” Will said, trying to stop her, but she kept going.
“Jake passed out on our sofa last Friday—”
“Oh yeah, Jake told me on the way over here—”
“He was completely slammed. I don’t think I’ve seen him that slammed since we were in college. Anyway, he was saying to Will when they got back to our place, ‘Do you think Amanda will take me back? Maybe Kirby will take me back.’ The way he was slurring his words, it was so cute and so sad at the same time.”
“Oh my God.” Pax smirked, covering his mouth and turning to look at Jake.
“I did not,” Jake said, incredulous.
“Yes, you did. Didn’t he, Will. Tell him.”
Will shook his head, seemingly not wanting any part of this, but he spoke up in his friend’s defense nonetheless. “He was drunk, Kerry. We all say crazy shit when we’re drunk.”
“So that’s what you said? So you want to get back with Amanda?” Pax asked Jake.
Embarrassed, Jake tried to blow it off. “I don’t know what you guys are talking about. I don’t recall any of this.”
“You know what they say. The truth comes out when you’re drunk. Damn it! I should’ve videotaped you. You should’ve seen him. He looked so hurt and sad. He was practically in tears talking about getting back with Amanda and Kirby,” Kerry said, seeming to enjoy watching Jake squirm.
“So you do miss Kirby after all, huh?” Pax said. “You’ve been so hard-nosed about not wanting to see him or do anything with him anymore.”
“Maybe the rumors really are true about their secret little bromance,” Kerry said devilishly.
Jake and Will both gasped.
“Secret bromance?” Pax asked. He hadn’t heard the rumor. Pax and the other prep school friends Jake and Kirby shared were still in the dark. Will and Kerry knew only because Brook Sterling, a Stanford classmate and one of Amanda’s bridesmaids and close friends, had told them.
“Kerry, would you shut the fuck up?” Will said to her. “Seriously…cut it out.”
Kerry gasped and huffed. “Don’t talk to me like that, Will. Don’t tell me to shut up.”
Will stepped close to her, face-to-face, and spoke in a low, firm voice. “I told you not to say….”
Jake couldn’t exactly hear what Will said to her, but he had an idea. The gay rumors were false and must not be repeated. Ever! Jake could count on his good buddy to help him get that message across.
Jake and Pax quickly scurried away, neither interested in sticking around to watch Will and Kerry go at it. Jake felt agitated. I can’t believe I said all that. Fuck!
Just before they integrated themselves with the rest of the group, Pax offered Jake reassuring words. “Don’t worry about it, bro. I’m sure I say stupid stuff too when I’m drunk. No big deal.”
Chapter Twelve
When Kirby arrived at The Cottage, a long line had already formed to get inside. The usual Saturday evening crowd of young, mostly good-looking twentysomethings had arrived early to secure a spot inside the ever-popular venue known for its laid-back attitude and cool, chic California vibe.