“Yes,” Serena nodded. She was still standing up and over Markie like an impenetrable tower. “It does feel like eons, doesn’t it?”
At least they got that observation out of the way. Evidently the next hurdle to jump over was the strange feel of their current liaison. How much more unnatural could they get? Here was a pair who’d had sex maybe a couple of thousand times, who’d seen each other utterly bare and at their worst just as often and yet they still resorted to stiff polite niceties in moments of ambivalence. That was what they were experiencing right now, wasn’t it? Ambivalence? To call it anything else would be worrying.
All someone needed to do was break the ice.
“I missed you, you know,” Markie started, because it was only natural that the mastermind of all this trouble went first. “Not a day has gone by that I didn’t think of you Serena.”
Unfortunately rather than growing wildly ecstatic Serena contorted into even more of a rigid tower.
“Really?” she replied in the end. It didn’t even sound like she believed him. Or that she wanted to believe him. “I was under the impression you were surviving quite fine without me.”
Oh he could see what she was playing at now, Markie thought. It’s what he used to call Serena’s defensive mode, the one she put on whenever she was feeling vulnerable and scared. You know the drill, unsure of what other person was thinking or feeling so she acted nonchalant as well. It meant like a dog chasing its own tail around, they were getting nowhere but closer to hell.
There was only one remedy to this.
“I mean it one hundred per cent,” Markie said, taking Serena’s hand and easing her onto the couch. Now that the first bodily contact had been made, he could see a visible softening in her face. Her forehead lost its one deep-etched wrinkle across the middle; her mouth slackened into half a smile. How instant the transformation, how easy it was for Serena to increase her babe-o-meter reading from ten to eleven, in less than half a second…
“Not just that but this time apart made me realize what an idiot I was. I should’ve never let you go, not even for a second. You’re simply too precious, too valuable to ever risk losing again. ”
“You didn’t force me to go,” Serena frowned, “I chose to go, remember? At the time there wasn’t another alternative.”
“Maybe we could have found one.”
“But we didn’t,” she sighed. “What’s done is done. Just like your favorite Cher song, if we could turn back time we would but it ain’t possible.” She smirked as she finished off with her legendary Dolly Parton twang.
Markie feigned horror.
“I hope you’ve kept that Cher tidbit to yourself, like you promised Serena. You don’t know what a delicacy like that could do to my reputation.”
“I think I do,” she smiled, “it’d achieve absolutely nothing because everyone already knows you are Bee Gee loving, teddy bear softie inside.’
They gazed at each other now, in a way that probably signaled very little to a bystander. But then what did a bystander ever really see? They just discerned the basics: boy/girl sitting beside each other at a respectable distance, a pair who seem to like each other a bit. All the important details got skimmed over, mainly due to ignorance rather than by design. At this very moment, they would without a doubt be missing a million things…
They’d miss the sparks that were flying back and forth between Markie and Serena, imperceptible to the naked eye. They’d miss the history that lied between them and traveled as far back as the river Nile. In other words, they’d miss everything.
Markie and Serena spoke about the fundamental things first, as if they were a wife and husband going over the details of their harmonious divorce.
“So you’ve decided to go to LA after all?” Serena asked.
Markie nodded, without even bothering to come up with some elaborate excuse. No need to when the truth would suffice in this situation.
“I have to,” he started. “At first I said yes to Sangster on the basis that you would surely want to join me. Now it’s like I need to go either way. I’d regret it forever if I didn’t.”
“I understand,” Serena replied grimly. And she did; it was easy to do when one stepped out of the way and focused on the key person in the picture. “I wouldn’t have let me stop you either.”
“Does that mean you won’t be coming?” Markie quivered. He was treading carefully, breathing softly.
Serena shrugged.
“I don’t know. I feel foolish saying yes. When it’s your dreams and your job offer. I have no right to ride along on your coat tails.”
“Are you serious?” Markie said. “Tell me you’re not serious. That has to be the lamest reason I have now heard for not embracing the opportunity. It’s almost as bad as Shoshanna’s; you know our African American account director with the perfectly straight waist-length hair. She won’t leave Frisco because she’s afraid she won’t find a hairdresser as good as Evan in LA.”
Serena tried not to laugh.
“But her hair is fake. Surely Evan could express post the new locks once a month to some affiliate hair-agent?”
“I know, I know. Rick even suggested a free flight back home once a month but she wouldn’t take it. It seems nothing comes between Shoshanna and her hair.”
“Well,” Serena snorted, taking a bunch of her tresses into hand. “If you must know, this has nothing to do with my gorgeous split-ended hair. It has to do more with timing. Had the offer come up three months ago then I would’ve jumped at the chance. But now…”
She shook her worried little head. “I’d feel stupid saying yes. I feel like you’re asking me to come out of a sense of duty rather than a sincere desire.”
“Oh so you’re a fully qualified mind reader now?” Markie grinned. “As far as I’m aware you’ve failed every task this evening. Plus I hate to tell you but you’re wrong once again.”
“Listen,” Markie took Serena’s hand for the second time but this time he didn’t let it go.
“I asked you to come because I want you there, and of course loving you counts a bit as well. So the question you need to ask yourself isn’t what you think I want – because I just told you what I want. It’s what you want for yourself.”
“Is that supposed to make it easier for me to decide?” Serena squinted.
“No,” Markie shook his head. “It means the decision is already made. Just look inside your heart and you will find your answer there.”
After that they moved onto other things, like how the last three months had passed for them, work-wise, friend and family-wise, that sort of casual chatter.
Markie learnt that work on the “Never, Ever Again” set had taken a turn for the worse. Now that the movie was close to wrapping, the crew was putting in an average of plus seventy hours a week, with no increase in pay.
“Just the usual perks,” Serena shrugged. “They try to buy our undying devotion with an endless supply of chocolate éclairs, Top 40 CDs and double movie passes. Plus the wrap party is scheduled for next Saturday night and they’ve promised it will be the event of the year. Max the producer even said Violet, Champagne and I can go through wardrobe on our last day and take whatever Cindy Glass hasn’t already scooped up for herself. I don’t know if that’s safe but I’m prepared to battle for what I deserve.”
When it came to Markie filling in his gaps, he told Serena how living with Rick was potentially threatening his health and how the sight of him together with Tabitha (you do know about that, don’t you Serena?) still shocked him to bits.
“I can honestly say I never saw it coming. Never ever.”
“Really?” Serena laughed. “Why I’ve known about Rick carrying a torch for her for ages now. And I won’t even go into about how Tabitha felt about him. It was Alison and Billy from Melrose Place all over again.”
Markie immediately raised his eyebrows. “Another analogy may be in order, honey. You know soap operas aren’t my forte.”
“Not necessa
ry, I’m sure one look at them says it all.”
The conversation flowed like this for quite some time. Markie avoided all mention of busty secretaries, one night stands and in particular Serena’s one-time clash meeting with Clarissa. Serena erstwhile steered clear of ex-artiste boyfriends, Latino men and more-in depth questions re: Tabitha’s escapades, about which she only recently knew about.
It was going well for both parties. They were slowly but surely breaking that ice, while skillfully evading any premature drowning.
“So a week from now I’m supposed to be moving back here,” Markie said, “how do you feel about that?”
“Okay I guess,” Serena said with a half fake smile. “It’s not like your return is a permanent thing. You’ll be rushing straight off to LA soon, won’t you?”
Oh so they were back to that again….
“Serena, if anything please just stop saying “you” when it’s “we” that we’re dealing with. Okay? We would be going; we would be starting a new life together. And should you choose not to go for whatever reason then there’s no pressure. You can keep the house, so you don’t have to worry about saying yes just because the alternative is living on the streets.”
“Is that where you think I’d end up without you, on the streets?” The look in Serena’s eyes was begging Markie to be taken seriously. As if being homeless was a real alternative.
“Serena, did you lose your mind over the past few months? It’s me Markie, your old best friend and boyfriend you are talking to. The one who loves you and thinks you’re great…”
He paused to see whether any of this positive reinforcement was working and noticed that Serena was now more hunched and withdrawn than ever. What in the world happened to this girl while he was away? It was as if she got tossed into a miserable dark cave like those Romanian girls with only bread and water for sustenance.
Instinctively, Markie leaned forward to give Serena a hug, a big, hard hug that silently sent all the right messages. Serena responded by hugging harder and when Markie attempted to pull back, to find some answer in her eyes, he found only that his long lost love would not let go.
So they stayed like that all night until one and then the other eventually slipped away into Dreamland. Neither Markie nor Serena would complain if they never came back.
Chapter 34
Ordinarily living with someone who was extremely chirpy would be considered a good thing. Not only because they lent a nice, positive vibe to the environment but because they also remembered to do things like burn lavender oil and more importantly made sure the fridge was stocked with essentials like frozen pizza and Diet Coke. Just in case, for times of need…
Unfortunately the time of need for Rick was right now - yet the last thing he wanted was a bouncing Wiggle with the sun beaming out of his ass. That was Markie, in case you hadn’t seen the psycho happy Cloud Nine boy over the past few days. Serena was responsible for his happiness no doubt; Serena and maybe the fact that their three months was almost up.
“Isn’t life just absolutely great?” Markie sang, waltzing into the kitchen. He had two oranges in his hand, freshly selected from the mobile grocer and Rick could already guess what he was gonna do with them. Yep, don’t tell me, he was reaching for the juice squeezer…that would make it fresh OJ three days in a row now.
“Hey do you want some?” Markie asked, seeing Rick at the table, “I’ve got more oranges in the fridge if you’d like an instant hit of vitamin C.”
“No, no thanks,” Rick grumbled, now more pissed off than ever.
As if wasn’t bad enough clowns like this walked the streets. But he was doing it here, right here in his own house.
“They say it will hit ninety today, so I thought I might take a swim at the indoor pool during lunch. Wanna join me?” Markie was busy cutting and twisting the oranges as he spoke. “Yes? No? Rick, are you listening?”
“Hell no,” Rick replied, without bothering to take his eyes off the paper.
“Excuse me?” Markie looked up, half amazed. “Did I just hear you reject a chance to take a swim? Man, are you okay? What’s up?”
Oh Christ. Why didn’t he just shoot himself before it was too late? The only thing worse than a Wiggle was a Wiggle trying to do his best Dr Phil impersonation.
“Nothing mate. Though what I’d really like is that you leave me alone for a while. Give me a moment’s peace.”
Markie took this comment in then went back to his grinding, with a new resolve in his eyes.
“Okay, okay, be that way if you must. But I know what this is about. And you’re not gonna win her back by moping around the house like a love-sick troll. Pick up your balls man and just give her a call… She’s waiting for it, you know.”
Come again? Rick tore his attention away from the paper for a second. He’d forgotten Markie had access to Serena who had access to Tabitha all this time. That’s right, they were best friends and best friends told each other everything, especially when it came to boyfriends and fights.
“Tell me what you know exactly,” he asked matter-of-factly. No need to get worked up about this connection just yet; maybe it was a false alarm, Markie playing his bluff.
“If I tell you will you listen to my advice or would I just be wasting my breath?”
“Probably wasting it but it wouldn’t be the first time.”
Markie grinned. “With you, what more can I expect?”
It turned out Markie knew all about Rick and Tabitha’s quarrel, right down to the very last detail.
“Girls are very thorough in that way you know.”
In short, Tabitha was upset – or shall we say devastated – about what she considered to be Rick’s betrayal. That being: the absolute no notice she received of Guerrilla’s Zoo impending trip – the term trip used very loosely here.
“Trying to run off to LA without saying so much as a word to her was kind of dumb and risky,” Markie admitted. “If anything you’re lucky to have one saving grace. And that’s the fact she’s apparently liked you for a while, at times almost borderline obsessively.”
“Really?” Rick raised his eyebrows. Hmmm…could’ve fooled him. “But obsessive is a good thing here, isn’t it?”
“Well good if you like her,” Markie responded, putting the squeezer aside and taking a sip of juice. “You do like Tabitha don’t you?”
“Of course I do. You think I’d let you speak to me like a schoolteacher if I didn’t?”
“Who knows?” Markie shrugged. “You always liked to be reprimanded.”
All jokes aside Rick came clean with his feelings for Tabitha. He liked her, liked her lots, so much so that it led to his choking episode.
“I couldn’t tell her about the trip man because I knew she’d freak and then I’d freak. So when I found out you told Serena about the move I thought sweet! Serena will tell Tabitha who will then start making plans…”
“In other words, you wanted someone else do the dirty work and you just somehow meet up with Tabitha at the airport on the day?”
“Exactly…except it hasn’t quite worked out that way.” Rick frowned.
Markie tried hard not to laugh. “You do realize what needs to be done now, don’t you?”
“Sort of,” Rick mumbled. “I’m not sure if I can do it on my own though.”
“How about if I give you a little help; we can treat it like another creative brainstorm. Two heads are always better than one in instances like this.”
“You’d really help me out?” Rick asked, looking slightly skeptical but ready to cling to Markie’s heels.
Markie nodded. “Mate, a friend in need is a friend indeed. Don’t you ever forget it.”
Back at the terrace, Tabitha was giving new meaning to the word wallow.
Forget about the word in the conventional sense, which merely encouraged luxuriating and reveling in self-righteousness and pity. Oh no, Tabitha had taken wallowing to a new degree. With her deep diving and synchronized swimming into the well of depres
sion she wouldn’t be surprised if wallowing got named a professional sport at the next Olympics.
“Great, at least I’ll get out of this my first gold medal.”
Tabitha buried her hand back into the bag of Doritos and pulled out enough chips to stuff into three adult mouths. That would be her secret weapon, a mouth bigger than most, to nicely complement her tears blobbier than most, a heart weaker than most and hair oilier than most. Rather than being disgusted by the combination, Tabitha thought herself proud as a poster child for the heartbroken.
“A poster child for all the women screwed-up by men revolution,” she sighed.
Tabitha knew she had promised not to get down over Rick’s betrayal but if she kept this wallowing hidden in the dark, surely it didn’t count? It was not like anyone ever had to know about the soppy DVDs, the best-of-Shania music CDs or her fortune telling cards.
Tabitha had stumbled across the last one quite by accident in the bookshop. Searching for some how-to books on getting over a break-up, she had been directed to the under $5 dollars discount table outside the store.
“Fantastic, just fantastic,” she had grumbled, while shuffling through the gardening and knitting instruction guides. “Why didn’t the man just send me to a bloody rubbish tip?” Ready to give up and succumb to the razor sharp slices of mud-cake she’d spied passing by the patisserie, Tabitha threw the entire crap collection of books back into the box. And that was when it came into view, a sparking gold pack of Tabitha’s Fortune Cards, reduced from $29.95 to $4.95. Except on second look they weren’t called Tabitha’s but Tatiana’s.
“An honest mistake, or is it a sign?” Tabitha wondered. “Yes, it’s a sign, it has to be.”
Not long after perusing the manual attached front to back, Tabitha declared herself competent enough to fortune tell.
“And who better to read my fortune but me,” she said, ignoring the advice that reading your own cards was bad luck. “Better the devil you know, it should say.”
The Numbers Game Page 33
