by Karen Gordon
She turned around and pushed herself farther into the corner as she hit his speed dial button. He answered on the first ring.
“Babe.” When she heard his voice, she started crying. He let her cry for a minute before he calmly said, “What’s goin on?” He had obviously seen the interview but wasn’t nearly as upset about it as she was. Then again, he wasn’t in the middle of all the chaos.
“Oh, my, god. He just … blurted that out. You know it’s not true.”
“I know.” He was rock solid, not a hint of doubt in his voice. He trusted her completely. She breathed a sigh of relief and laughed at herself a little for doubting his belief in them. “I’ll tell you the whole story later, but, damn, it’s insane here. Daniel’s really lost. I think he thought it would end some of this “pretty boy needs a girlfriend” stuff.”
“You look hot.”
She smiled. “Thank you. It only took a team of people and like four hours to do this.”
“Well, get a picture, then don’t bother to do it again cause you know I really like you with nothing on.”
She wanted to reach through the phone and crawl into his arms.
Tabitha was now pushing them toward a hallway, saying they were leaving.
“I have to go. I’ll call you later, unless you need to sleep?”
“Na, call me. I gotta hear this story.”
Chapter 31
If MG had disappeared after that, no one would have noticed, well, Daniel might have, except he was busy getting an earful from Tabitha on the ride back to his condo. His phone rang about a mile from his place, and MG was pretty sure it was his agent repeating a lot of what Tabitha had just screamed at him. While he listened to his agent, Tabitha got on the phone to try and spin some damage control.
“He was kidding. He is a really funny guy, always joking around.”
MG hid in his room and debated whether to pack or not. She didn’t want to be here in the middle of this, but she hated to desert him right now. She wasn’t sure if staying would make things worse. She called Steve and told him as much as she could while it was all still unfolding. Now that she was calmer she could hear a little edge in his voice.
“Are you mad at me?”
He hesitated, then answered. “He knew about us?”
“Yeah.”
“And he still did this?”
MG couldn’t defend Daniel. Steve was right. Daniel definitely didn’t think this idea through.
“And he used you. He invited you out there, then sucked you into his mess.”
Again, he was right. “I’m sorry.”
“You don’t have anything to be sorry for. It’s Daniel I want some answers from.”
“Well, if it helps any, you would be in a long line of people wanting to rip him a new one.”
He chuckled a little. He was enjoying the idea that Daniel was paying for what he did. ‘Are you OK?”
“Yeah … just, stressed out. I guess I’ll leave tomorrow.”
“You guess?” He could hear the hesitation in her voice, “Look, I know you don’t bail on friends easily.”
She smiled, remembering how she had driven through the snow storm to get Steve when he needed her.
“But, babe, you can’t fix all this shit going on with him. He signed a contract and he’s going to have to figure out how to live with it.”
She quietly replied. “I know.”
“What are you going to do now?”
“Scrape off a layer of makeup, put on your tee shirt, put some music on to drown out the yelling and try to get some sleep.”
“Sounds good. Call me tomorrow.” It was a directive, not a question.
“I will. Love you.”
“Love you, too. Get some sleep.”
She changed out of the stuff Tabitha had dressed her in, then realized that they didn’t buy industrial-strength makeup remover yesterday. She didn’t wear much makeup, so all she had was some baby oil. It only smeared her eye makeup while most of it clung to her steadfastly. She was picking at the false eyelashes, when Daniel knocked on his own bedroom door.
“Come on in.”
He looked deflated, heart broken, sorry. She didn’t want to add to his misery.
“I’m sorry. I just … I forgot about your boyfriend. Is he pissed?”
“A little, yeah.” She sat down on the bed and he sat down next to her. He perched his elbows on his knees and ran his hands through his hair.
“Don’t suppose he wants to give you up?”
She laughed and shook her head no. “So, what now?” She reached out and touched his back, wanting to comfort him, but remaining cautious.
“Tabitha makes it all look like a big joke. I come off as an immature douche bag. You leave.”
“What do you want to do?”
“I want you to stay for as long as possible. I want to go back to floating in a glowing blue pool with you or even having you puke on my shirt.”
She laughed a little at his joke, but got up off the bed and started gathering her stuff. Steve knew her too well. She didn’t want to bail on Daniel, but it looked like the only logical choice. He was desperately lonely in his gilded cage and clinging to her because she was here. He silently watched her pack.
“Will you do me a favor?”
She zipped her suitcase and turned to look at him.
“Will you sleep in here with me again?” He saw her cringe. “I mean, just sleep.”
She was torn and pleaded with him with her eyes to stop asking, but he didn’t.
“Please.
She thought about Steve and what he had told her to do—go with her gut, so she did. She wasn’t the kind of person to turn her back on a friend, especially one in need, but she also didn’t want to do anything that might encourage Daniel. She turned off the lights, and told him to take off his shoes. She crawled under the covers on one side, then pointed to the other side. “You’re on top.”
He laughed at the obvious unsaid sexual joke and MG did too.
“On top of the covers.”
He smiled at her solution and laid down. She took his hand and held it. “This good?”
He leaned in and kissed her temple, then moved back onto his pillow. “Good enough.” He squeezed her hand. “Thanks.”
♪ ☺ ♥
The bedlam the next day made the night before look calm. Someone knocked on Daniel’s front door around six-thirty a.m. It was one of his neighbors complaining that he couldn’t get out of the complex, because there was press blocking the gate. Daniel apologized and said he would look into it.
MG’s phone rang; it was her mom.
“Are you alright?”
She wasn’t fully awake yet and was confused. “Yeah, I’m fine. I guess you saw me on TV last night.”
“Uh, no. I saw you on the news this morning.”
“What?” Daniel was famous, but there is no way what he said would make the news.
“You were on the morning news. Seems there’s a lot of angry girls. Some of them are on Friendster making threats against you.”
“Holy shit! You’re kidding me.”
“I wish I was. Where are you?”
“I’m in LA at Daniel’s condo. Do you think these girls are serious?”
“I don’t know, honey. I don’t think you should take any risks though. Why didn’t you tell me you were going out there?”
“I …” MG had almost forgotten about school. “Stuff at school. Daniel offered me a ticket to come hang out with him. We need to talk.”
There was another knock at the door. Daniel answered it, and MG could see two police officers on his front porch.
“I gotta go mom. I’ll call you later. I promise.”
“MG, are you engaged?”
This was too crazy, “No.” She tried to figure out a quick way to explain and gave up. “Look, I’ll call you later.”
Her phone buzzed again as she hung up. It was Alex’s number, but she ignored it. Daniel was letting the police officers in,
and they were looking at her.
The police were there because of the neighbors not being able to get out. It was the detectives who showed up later who wanted to talk to MG about the death threats. They showed her the messages and asked if she knew who the girls were. She had no idea. The whole thing was crazy. They asked her not to leave the condo for her own safety.
As soon as they left, she called Steve. He didn’t answer. She did the mental math and figured it was around eleven in the morning in St. Louis and today was a work day. He always had his phone with him and on when he was working. He didn’t call back, and she tried again an hour later. Still no answer. As the day got worse, she wanted to talk to him more and more.
Tabitha and a couple other people, including a guy who must be Daniel’s agent, were crowded into the place now. They were on the phone, talking to Daniel, talking to the press, all talking about her. No one was talking to her.
Alex called and tried to get her to laugh about the whole thing. Someday MG was sure she would, but today wasn’t the day.
Her phone finally rang, and Steve’s number showed on the screen around four that afternoon.
“Hi.” Something was up, because he was too calm.
“Why didn’t you call me back sooner? I was worried about you.”
“Yeah, well I was worried about you.”
“So you ignored my calls?”
“No. I got on a plane and flew out here.”
“What?” She heard him but couldn’t believe it was true.
“I need the address.” She could tell he was in a car now from the background noise.
“Are you on your way here now? You’re in LA?”
“Yeah, babe, I’m in LA. I just left Culver City and I need to know where to go.” She told Daniel Steve was on her phone and that he needed his address, before handing Daniel the phone. He took the call out on the balcony and shut the door behind him. They talked for a lot longer than it takes to give an address. When he came back in, Daniel handed her the phone and said Steve would be there in about an hour, so she should pack and be ready.
“What’s going on? What did you talk to him about?”
“He let me know how much he didn’t appreciate me doing this to you. I told him I was sorry.” He shrugged. “I am sorry, you know. I never dreamed that it would get this crazy.”
“I know.”
“He told me I need to keep the hell away from you for a while, ‘til this shit is sorted out, and I will. If you don’t hear from me for a few months …”
MG smiled. “He’s just being protective, you know, taking care of me. We do that for each other.”
“Must be nice.”
“It is.”
She packed and waited what seemed like hours, but was actually a little over one. She wanted out of this mad house, but Tabitha told her not to walk out the door, because the paparazzi near the gate had huge lenses on their cameras pointed at Daniel’s front door.
MG had had enough of the drama, “What are they going to do me, shoot me?” MG laughed at her own joke, hoping to cut some of the tension.
Tabitha’s look said she was tired of suffering this idiot. “What they are going to do is make a story. They can create one. They don’t want to drop this because this is what they live off of. They will come up with something to say about you, but it works best if they have some sort of picture of you to go with it. News is a visual medium.”
OK, MG hated her, but she had to admit, the bitch knew her shit. She was right.
When her phone rang showing Steve’s number, she showed Daniel and his entourage, and shrugged. “What am I going to do? How am I supposed to get in the car with him?”
Daniel took the phone from her and answered. He talked for a minute then hung up and tossed the phone back to her. His house phone buzzed and he pressed the key to open the main gate. MG watched through the blinds as a furniture truck pulled in and backed up to Daniel’s front door, and she laughed.
“You expecting a delivery?”
Daniel smiled at her. “No, but you are.”
Steve walked right in wearing sloppy clothes like he would when he worked deliveries. He was rolling a dolly with a huge furniture box on it. He rolled it into the living room.
“Holy fuck.” She was laughing. “You are amazing.”
He shrugged and grabbed her into a strong hug, pulling her up off the floor. He looked at Daniel over her shoulder. “Came to get what’s mine.”
Tabitha yelled from the kitchen. “God, please do.” She popped her head in the living room and softened up a little when she saw the cute delivery guy. “And thank you, whoever you are.”
He opened the empty box and put MG and her suitcase inside then sealed it back up. She waved to Daniel before Steve closed the box.
He rolled her out the front door, to the back of the truck, and hefted the box inside. “Damn girl,” he grunted.
“That’s my suitcase, not me.” She said from inside. “Can I come out now?”
“No. I’m gonna drive for a while. Just lie back and relax. I’ll get you out soon enough.”
“What? You’re kidding right? You’re going to make me ride back here?”
“I should make you ride back here all the way to St. Louis, but I won’t.”
“What? You’re not taking this truck to St. Louis, are you?”
He tethered the box to the wall so it wouldn’t move. “Not exactly, but we are driving back, together. Now be quiet. Furniture doesn’t talk.”
She could hear him lower the back door, the engine starting, and feel them driving away, and she laughed. This was her knight in shining armor come to rescue her. Only for her, it was the love of her life, in dirty work clothes, driving a delivery truck.
Chapter 32
Steve let her out of the back, and they switched trucks at The Decorator’s Den. The owners were friends of Robert and Todd and had been willing to lend their truck to “the great MG rescue plan”.
Never one to waste time or an opportunity, Todd had also ordered a bunch of furniture and accessories from shops in LA. Steve and MG would be driving a rental truck with his purchases back to St. Louis. Which gave them four days together with hours and hours to talk. Which was exactly what Steve wanted to do.
As they wound their way from one LA pick-up location to another, MG gave him more details on her last couple days, including Daniel hitting on her. It made him mad but he also had to admit that he understood. He’d been as low as Daniel is now and he remembered how desperately he had wanted and needed MG. He was also glad that she knew she could tell him everything; that she didn’t have to hide things from him. She was his friend first, now his lover, the reason for almost everything he did.
It was time, he was ready, and he felt like she was too. It was time to take some steps and make some moves so they could be together. Now they had days to figure out what they wanted to do--together.
Between LA and Vegas, they talked about her leaving school. Her main reason for staying was a fear of not knowing what she would do next. If she left with Steve and a plan, she didn’t see any reason to go back. With that decision made they both felt lighter, high on hope, and the prospect of creating a life together.
They ate Mexican food in a little hole-in-the-wall place near the Viva Las Vegas Wedding Chapel and talked about getting married. They both decided they weren’t ready yet, but MG had a couple take a picture of them with the sign in the background. She held up three fingers, signifying that they planned to come back to the same place in three years to see if they felt like they were ready then. They agreed that the question was never if they would get married, only when.
He got them a room at the Paris hotel, then they went out and bought him a suit jacket. They wanted to have dinner at a nice restaurant, drink champagne, and toast their new life together.
They went a little out of their way to see the Grand Canyon, and they fell into an easy traveling routine that could only happen between long-time friends. They
always woke late (because neither was a morning person) and had Mexican food for breakfast. She drove first as he planned their route for the day on a map. Lunch was anything that sounded good from a convenience store. Steve liked the hotdogs that rolled around all day, where MG favored Corn Nuts and Pop-Tarts. As he drove the afternoon leg, she would read to him from a smutty romance novel, until they got so horny they would have to pull over somewhere and screw. Dinner was always breakfast food, because they agreed that was the best time of day for it. Then they drove and talked late into the night before stopping somewhere to sleep.
MG bought a notebook and pack of pencils from a convenience store outside Denver, so she could start writing down all the ideas they had for their shared future.
Somewhere in Utah, they had decided they would buy a house in St. Louis. The prices were great and the cost of living was low. They both liked the area Steve had already been looking in.
“You know, I might have looked, but I never would have bought anything without you seeing it first.”
It was a sweet sentiment, but missing a key component for MG. “I need to own half that house, like I need to pay for half of it. I can’t live in your house.”
Which led to talks about money. They tried to figure out a way to make everything even, split down the middle, but it didn’t look like it would work. Right now he had money, and she didn’t, so they were going to have to live off his paycheck and savings. But he stressed to her that it wouldn’t always be that way, and it had nothing to do with him being the guy, taking care of her. If they were going to do this, be together, hopefully forever, there would be times when things were uneven.
She reluctantly agreed, but that sparked the idea that the money Randy was spending on college was technically hers. Maybe he would let her have the rest of it if she used it to buy half a house or start a business.
By the time they crossed the Kansas state line, they were on page three of her notebook brainstorming ideas and writing a business plan.
