Laying Low In Hollywood

by Stanberry, Jean

  “I will deal with Brannon. You will work with Elena today and breathe not a word of this to anyone, comprende?”

  “Sure Jorge, whatever you say,” I replied coldly, my voice was sad and resigned.

  “That’s my little angel lips. You’re the best choreographer I’ve got, I don’t want to loose you, you know that, don’t you?” crooned Jorge, on the other end of the line. I rolled my eyes miserably.

  “Jorge I get it, goodbye,” I snapped.

  I spent the rest of our time working with Elena exclusively. I wanted to highlight her spins anyway. I decided to give her a little solo with a stunning spin sequence. She was so excited, she was beaming proudly, by the time practice was over.

  I had worried what I would say to Elena. I had promised Jorge that I wouldn’t breathe a word of this to anyone, I had assumed that would include Elena. What I had forgotten was, how self absorbed Elena was. She never voiced a single concern over Ron’s absence, go figure...

  After practice, I drove back to my condo, lost in my thoughts of sadness. I brought all my mail in and threw it in a pile on the kitchen counter. I flopped on the couch dejectedly. I tried to keep the sadness from consuming my thoughts, but I couldn’t help it. My marriage was over, now it seemed that Ron’s marriage was in jeopardy also. I wondered what was wrong with this world. I had always thought that marriages were meant to last forever, till death do us part. In our modern world everything was disposable, including people and relationships.

  It was so easy, if you were a man and you wanted a wife that was younger and more beautiful, you could just divorce your old wife, the one that raised your children, and was there for you, before you were successful. The one that had worked full time to help both of you struggle through college.

  I mean really, what was the incentive for Greg to stay? Our kids were grown, I was already in my forties, and of course, I would only be getting older with every passing year! There would always be someone out there with less lines on their face, more cleavage, no stretch marks...the list went on an on.

  I sighed, it was no different for Ron. His retirement had forced his wife to abandon her rich and famous lifestyle, which, it turns out, she wasn’t willing to do.

  It only made sense to her to go out looking for a man who could support her in the manner she felt like she deserved. I shook my head miserably. I thought about my grandparents and how happy they had been together for more than sixty years. They had been more in love than any couple I had ever seen, right up to the day my grandfather died. When had our world become this shallow, whining, society?

  I wandered around the condo aimlessly for a while, then I yawned in boredom. I was suddenly tired. I took off my shoes and went into the bedroom to take a nap. I’m not sure how long I was asleep but I was awakened by the doorbell ringing.

  I peeked out the peephole to see Ron standing there. I opened the door, he gave me a sheepish smile.

  “Sorry I missed practice this morning,” he told me, with a little shrug.

  “Yeah, I know,” I told him. I was looking down at the floor. I felt so bad for him, I couldn’t really look at him.

  “May I come in?” he asked.

  “I don’t think that’s a good idea,” I told him. He had obviously been upset by his wife’s careless antics. But inviting him into the condo, when no one else was around, seemed like a bad idea.

  I had been forbidden by Jorge to socialize with Ron at all outside the ice rink. I was stiffened with apprehension, I didn’t think it would be a good idea to tempt fate. He was obviously upset, I was already upset over my own divorce being final. Together, Ron and I were about as emotionally stable as Richard Nixon in the final days of his presidency!

  “If it makes you feel any better, I checked, I wasn’t followed,” he told me, flashing me a sly smile.

  I rolled my eyes miserably. “How would you know?”

  “I think I would know. Besides, I made three different trips around the neighborhood, then I ditched my car down the street. No one will ever suspect a thing,” he told me, flashing me a sly smile.

  “Are you crazy? This is Hollywood. The reporters here are more covert than the CIA, in fact, I think that might be a prerequisite to get into the CIA, experience being a reporter in Hollywood,” I told him rolling my eyes. I was joking with him, trying to blame my apprehension on the media, but it was my own fragile heart that I couldn’t trust. Subconsciously, I wanted Ron to make the moves on me. Subconsciously, I knew if he made the moves on me I probably wouldn’t stop him, I really just wanted someone to find me desirable!

  Ron shook his head and pushed past me into the condo. I sighed in resignation and closed the door behind us. He walked straight into the living room and flopped down on the couch.

  “Would you like something to drink?” I asked.

  “You got anything hard?” he asked. He was slumped on my couch defeatedly. He looked like a man who had a lot more on his mind then just a really bad hangover.

  “The way you look right now, you don’t need anything hard,” I told him, shaking my head miserably.

  “Yeah, I guess I had a rough night last night. I just wanted to apologize to you. I realize how hard you are working on this project and I appreciate everything you do. It was unprofessional of me to get totally shit faced last night and miss our practice this morning,” he said, looking at me earnestly.

  “Well, sometimes the people we love, drive us to do crazy things,” I told him with a shrug.

  “You saw the news then?” he asked, eyeing me warily.

  “I saw the clip this morning, after I called everyone I could think of who might know what had happened to you,” I said.

  “I’m sorry Lane. Like I said, it was stupid and unprofessional, it will never happen again,” he said, standing up and approaching me till he was standing right in front of me. His face was pained, and he looked completely lost.

  “I understand...” I was holding my breath anxiously. I wanted to take an uncomfortable step backwards. I felt like he was standing much too close to me, but he was feeling bad enough about everything, I stood my ground.

  “No you don’t! I was stupid, everyone tried to tell me, but I wouldn’t listen. I was too proud to see she was using me. I should have known this would happen, things have been going sour for a while. I feel like a complete moron, I should have seen it coming,” he said, shaking his head miserably.

  “I was blind sided too. It’s like getting hit by a punch out of nowhere, you never see it coming, but it hurts so bad!”

  He nodded his head and gave me a wry smile. “How did you do it? I mean, how did you handle the anger? I gave Jenae the best years of my life, I just...”

  “I know...” I still couldn’t look at him. I didn’t want to feel his pain, when my own pain was still so fresh. I didn’t want to cry in front of him. I didn’t want to cry over Greg ever again.

  “You are so strong, you handled everything with such grace. You’re such a class act. If I’d been in your position, I’d want to rip the guy’s nuts off!” said Ron.

  “I did want to rip his nuts off, but what would that accomplish? I’d end up on the news and everyone would talk about that crazy bitch that ripped her husband’s nuts off and I wouldn’t get to be here, doing a stupid reality TV show with you,” I told him with a smile.

  “There’s that smile again...you know it’s making me crazy,” he said, his voice had suddenly changed. It had gone from sad and serious, to silky and sensuous.

  “What’s making you crazy?” I asked, I was suddenly panicking. I should have never let him come in. The velvety caress of his voice was hypnotizing me, I could feel my resolve slipping away. I tried to steel myself against his charms, Jorge would totally freak out if he knew that the two of us were together...alone.

  “Every time you smile, I want to kiss you,” he said, taking a cautious step toward me.

  “Ron, please, you’re upset right now...”

  “I wanted to kiss you long before
I was upset,” he said, reaching out and laying his hand on my cheek. I was completely mesmerized by his eyes, I wanted to stop him, but I couldn’t, the very touch of his fingers was electrifying.

  “Ron please, I know Jorge will fire me,” I pleaded, I could already feel his arm around my waist as he drew me toward him.

  “Jorge will never know,” he whispered, as his lips gently began to caress mine.

  I was mindlessly surrendering to the gentle kiss, which was growing more and more passionate with every moment. The voice of reason in my head had already been extinguished by the fire that was now racing through my veins. At some point I had wrapped my arms around his neck. In moments, we had fallen to the couch, he was on top of me, on the couch, pressing his body against mine seductively. I had completely succumbed to the passion, I hadn’t felt excitement like that in years.

  It was only then, that the guilt began to wash over me and I finally regained my senses and pushed him away. My entire body was suddenly protesting, and I was panting and fighting to catch my breath. My entire body had been reawakened with sensations I hadn’t felt in years. I didn’t want it to end, but deep in my heart I knew this was wrong.

  “What?” he cried, looking at me as if I were crazy.

  “Ron, I can’t. I know you are upset about Jenae, and maybe your relationship is over, but not officially,” I told him, still struggling to catch my breath.

  Ron was struggling to breathe as well. “I’m not upset over Jenae, like I said, I already knew it was over. It’s you that I haven’t been able to stop thinking about. I’ve wanted to kiss you, almost from the first moment I met you.”

  “You are too emotional to make that decision right now. If Jorge were to find out that we were together, he would fire me, he’s already eluded to that,” I managed to whisper.

  “I’m not emotional over Jenae, I just finally feel free to go after what I want. I want you,” said Ron, whispering seductively in my ear.

  I jumped up from the couch and gave him a very serious look. I needed the space between us. I needed to end this now, or I would never be able to stop.

  “If you want me, you’ll have to wait. I promised Jorge. If you and I hook up, it’s going to be nothing but trouble. Bad publicity for the show, bad publicity for you. Think about it Ron, what if someone saw something...” I breathed, my heart was still pounding, I still felt weak. My head was having a hard time convincing my body that this should not happen.

  “Nobody’s watching...come on. We both need this,” said Ron, holding his hand out to me, his eyes were pleading.

  “Somebody’s always watching! I hate to always sound paranoid, but do you not realize where we are? We are in Hollywood, and you are the great Ron Brannon, we’ve already been linked once...” my eyes were flashing, I was completely panicked. If Ron didn’t back off, I didn’t know how I was going to say no to what my body seemed to think it needed so badly.

  “You’re afraid...because I’m black,” said Ron, looking at me earnestly.

  “Ron, you know that’s not true. I’m worried about you, and what Jenae might do to you if she found out about us,” I cried.

  “What could she possibly do? She’s already completely destroyed me,” he told me with a sigh.

  “Believe me, she hasn’t even begun to destroy you yet. My guess is, if she could prove you were having an affair, she would keep your girls from you. She would make sure you never saw them again,” I snapped.

  “Jenae would never do that!” he cried.

  “Sure, and she would never cheat on you either...would she?” I seethed. I was being callous, but he needed a wake up call. She was evil.

  Ron slumped back down on the couch defeatedly. I sat down next to him, feeling bad that I had hurt him, but he needed this reality check.

  “Ron, I’m sorry...we just need to be realistic,” I said taking his hand.

  He raised my hand to his lips and kissed it tenderly. “I love you Lane. I fell in love with you the first time I saw you. I just couldn’t act on my feelings at the time. I didn’t want to hurt my wife, I didn’t realize she was already out looking. I guess I should have probably realized it would be someone like Roman, someone with a multi million dollar contract,” said Ron, his voice broke with emotion.

  “Ron, you have to go,” I said, gesturing toward the door.

  “You want me to wait? Is that what you want?” Ron was inching closer to me, he was so close now, I feared he could hear my heart pounding anxiously in my chest. He looked deeply into my eyes and laid his hand on my cheek once again.

  I looked up into his eyes, our bodies were nearly touching and I could feel the heat radiating from his body. “We have to wait, at least till the show is over, I mean otherwise...”

  I was struggling to breathe, I reached up and gently removed his hand from my cheek, then I held his hand tightly in mine. I was almost trembling, my body wanted him to stay, of course, the reasonable voice in my head was telling me to get him out of the condo, before I did something I would regret!

  “It’s not what I want...it’s how it has to be. Jorge is worried about negative publicity for the show. If you and I...”

  “Yeah, yeah...I know,” said Ron, he turned slowly and headed for the door.

  “I’m sorry Ron. I feel the same way about you,” I whispered, as he opened the door.

  “When is your divorce going to be final?” he asked.

  “It was final today...I got the papers today,” I told him. I still couldn’t say the words without them sticking in my throat a little bit. It was still painful.

  “I’m sorry...I guess I’m not the only one who’s hurting. I’ll see you bright and early tomorrow, taping day,” he said, giving me a shy smile.

  “Yeah, taping day,” I said, as I closed the door behind him.

  CHAPTER 15

  When I arrived at the rink the next morning, Ron and Elena were already out on the ice working on their program, I was delighted that they had the initiative to go out there and start working without me.

  “Hey guys!” I called, as I skated out to them. They were both bursting with excitement.

  “Watch this,” said Ron, waving to the sound man to start their music.

  The music started and I was amazed to watch Elena and Ron get through their entire routine with barely a glitch. Their complex step sequence that I had choreographed for them was nearly perfect and the only element that seemed to require any work was that darn pairs spin. I was smiling broadly as they ended, even though I was sure that they had been practicing without me, which I had forbidden!

  “Wow, that was awesome!” I cried, as they both bowed and hammed up their ending.

  “Our speen ees steel skanky,” said Elena.

  “It’s shaky,” I told her with a little smile. “We’ll save the skanky for burlesque night...if there is one,”

  Ron was just smiling and shaking his head in amusement. I turned to him.

  “You, Mr. Brannon. Have you been practicing without me?” I asked, folding my arms over my chest and peering at him very seriously.

  All traces of amusement left his face and he gave me a worried look.

  “We wanted to surprise you, you know, get the step sequence down,” he said, nervously.

  “How are your feet?” I asked. I didn’t want to be mad at him, they’d done such a great job, but Ron was so driven, he was prone to overdo himself. I didn’t want him to mess up his feet so badly he wouldn’t be able to compete.

  “My feet are fine, the blisters I had, are almost all gone. Elena and I have been working both on and off the ice,” he said, giving me a little shrug.

  “I just worry about you Ron, sometimes, you don’t know when to quit,” I told him, a small smile was sneaking to my lips. I couldn’t stay mad at him.

  “I’ve heard that was one of my better qualities,” he said, flashing me a seductive smile.

  “It is a very admirable quality, for the most part, but if you mess up your feet so badly that we cann
ot get skates on them, your entire team will be out of the competition. You understand that, right?” We were a team, I needed him to understand that. He couldn’t singlehandedly win this competition, and neither could I.

  “I understand, I will not jeopardize the competition by overdoing it. I just want to be the best. I want to win,” said Ron.

  “Okay, we’re all on the same page then. Last week you guys were fabulous, I don’t want to loose that momentum. When I first took on this project, I didn’t think there was any way we would even make it through the first elimination. You guys have made so much progress, I can actually see us making it to the finals, possibly even winning,” I told them with a smile.

  Elena and Ron were both smiling broadly and nodding at me. “If it weren’t for the pairs spin I’d say we were ready right now, but the spin could use some work.”