Once Friends

by Z. L. Arkadie

  “Okay well…” He opened the messenger bag he’d set on the floor and took out a small stack of papers. “You should read this contract. Elaine negotiated you the moon.”

  Sonja rolled her eyes. “She’s always sticking her nose where it doesn’t belong.” She shook her head as the next thought came to her mind. “Last month I received a check for seventy thousand dollars! I mean, I’m not complaining about the money, but I really hate it when Laney thinks it’s okay to pick up the parts of my life where she thinks I’m failing.” More anger surged through her body and she shook her hands. “I mean, it feels like fucking judgment to me. And you know what? She never does anything for free. She’s going to come collecting sooner or later, just watch.”

  Jay chuckled. “Yeah, I figured she hadn’t changed much. But in this case, I’m glad she stuck her nose where it didn’t belong.”

  “No, she’s…” she said, reading the first paragraph of the contract. She widened her eyes at Jay. “Co-creator?”

  He winked.

  She read some more then stifled a gasp. “Executive producer?”

  Jay pointed at the contract. “And co-lead writer.”

  “Come hell or high water, my sister almost always gets what she wants.”

  “Almost and not always?” Jay asked.

  Sonja rolled her eyes. “Next year she’ll be on her fifth wedding day, so no.”

  Jay flinched slightly. “Fifth wedding day?”

  Sonja raised four fingers. “Four men have asked Elaine to marry them, and all of them have literally left her standing at the altar.”

  Jay chuckled. “I’m sure that supports your cursed theory.”

  “Hmm…” Sonja picked up her cup of coffee and took a sip. Actually, she hated retelling that factoid about Elaine’s hard luck and wished she had never mentioned it. But her thoughts about the Hester girls being cursed had evolved over the years.

  “What, you don’t believe you’re cursed anymore?”

  She pursed then relaxed her lips. “I don’t know. But over the years, I’ve realized it’s just not some outside force making my sister’s fiancés change their minds about marrying her. Elaine can be mad psycho.”

  Jay laughed, and Sonja joined him. All the nervous energy between them had dissipated. As soon as their laughter simmered, Sonja remembered something she had been wanting to say to him for a long time.

  She delicately touched his wrist. “By the way, I wanted to offer you my condolences about your father and mother.”

  In 2007, his father had been found dead after overdosing on pain killers, sleeping pills, and heroine, and three years later, his mom had died of cancer.

  Jay remained silent as he nodded. He was still the same in that whenever he felt as though he were going to cry, he clenched his lips and bobbed his head until the sadness passed.

  They let the silence linger for a while.

  “I really missed you”—his eyes smoldered—“a lot.”

  Sonja skipped a breath as she searched deep inside to see if it was safe to say what she felt. “I missed you too.”

  They smiled, then to get rid of the awkwardness between them, Jay got right to business. Sonja finished reading and signing the contract, and Jay informed her that pre-production officially started in five days in Vancouver, Canada.

  “Yikes!” She sat upright. “Canada?”

  “It’s economics. The dollar is stronger there. Plus it’s a great place to be when you’re in production.”

  Sonja nodded. “I know. It’s just… I never thought I’d be part of one of those productions.”

  He nodded thoughtfully. “Well, I gotta tell you, Son, it’s not going to be glamorous. There are a lot of egos on set. You think Elaine’s crazy? Multiply that by ten.”

  Fear made her eyes grow wide. “Are you trying to discourage me?”

  “No way. I want you there!” He winked as he flashed his winning smile. “But don’t worry, because I’ll protect you from the big bad assholes.”

  Sonja tossed her head back and laughed even though she was very aware that she was uncomfortable about finding him attractive. She was so relieved when Jay ushered them into serious time and got right down to business, explaining their impending schedule.

  For the first four weeks, they would be staying in the villas on the studio compound, banging out eleven first season scripts. During that time, casting would be filling roles. He listed all the actors they would be soliciting before auditions started. They wanted a balance of new and established talent.

  Once the screenplays were submitted and the cast set, they’d have two more weeks to prepare for production. However, they would only shoot five episodes, which meant the fifth script had to end on a cliffhanger. They would spend another six weeks in active production. After wrapping, the project would go into post-production and air mid-January of next year.

  “Wow,” Sonja said, staring into her empty cup sitting on the coffee table in front of her.

  Hearing that solid schedule should’ve made her jump for joy, but instead her heart was beating so fast, she felt the reverberation in her throat. With every fiber of her being, she resisted the urge to tell Jay to tear up the contract so that she could go back to life as she knew it—servicing Ms. Jenkins’s apartment as though she were the woman’s own personal handyman and butler, working at the family-owned coffee shop on days when Robin had to show her art at a gallery, and living from day to day, assured of one thing—life would never change.

  “That’s a long time away from home,” she said. Jay was about to say something, but she raised a hand to stop him. “I know. That’s how it goes in the business.”

  He quickly drank the last of his coffee. “I was going to say wherever I am is home.”

  They shared another laugh. Jay had always been quick with the snappy jokes and she was so happy to hear them again.

  He stood. “But listen, I can see on your face that you’re terrified, but you got this, Son. And I would stay here and convince you some more but”—he patted the bag strapped across his body then looked at the face of his expensive watch—“I have to get these contracts to Vince Adams before he catches his flight.”

  Sonja took a breath as she stood. Their faces were close. For a moment, it felt as if they should kiss or something, but reason washed the feeling away.

  “Well, thanks for the pep talk.” She smiled warmly.

  He affectionately cupped the side of her face. “Any time.”

  Sonja’s smile wavered as her head felt as though it were floating so high it would smack into the ceiling. She took a step back. “Right.” She knew she looked as conflicted as she sounded.

  Jay chuckled as if he were the only one in on a joke he had just told himself. “I’ll call you later.”

  “What for?” she said before realizing it.

  His smile grew wider. “Why not?”

  He headed to the door. Tongue-tied, Sonja watched him wave one last time before walking out of her apartment. She stood still for a long while, sifting through all the answers she had to the last question he’d asked. The one that resonated the most was the fact that she needed time to figure out why her head floated when he touched her face. They were becoming friends again, not lovers, never lovers.

  Sonja wiggled her head. “There,” she said in a high-pitched voice. “All’s normal again.”

  And just like that, she felt the same as she did the day after she and Jay had fooled around on the sofa fifteen years earlier. The floaty feeling she had meant nothing.

  Chapter 7

  Jay West

  Jay met Vincent Adams at the Santa Monica airport, where he dropped off the signed contract and agreement. He also had to assure the big-time executive that Sonja was indeed up for the job. Vince was alarmed by how she’d run out of the meeting and wondered if she had the resolve for taking on a project as massive as theirs while wearing all the hats her sister had negotiated for her.

  “Because I had her pegged as a whole differ
ent kind of person,” Vince said.

  Jay nodded humbly and then put a hand on Vince’s shoulder. “All I can ask is that you trust me.”

  Convincing Vince was his best performance yet, since he barely had faith in himself to pull off the gargantuan project. He was extremely surprised he had made it that far and credited Elaine for it.

  He took his hand off Vince’s shoulder. “Plus, I’m the one who messed up by blindsiding her with the whole meeting.”

  Vince frowned. “She didn’t know about the meeting?”

  That was when Jay explained as much as was necessary about his and Sonja’s past, which made Vince’s frown even more intense.

  Vince sighed briskly. “You came to me with a proposition, and I put a lot of trust in your word. Don’t fuck this up.”

  All Jay could do was nod stiffly. He was in the business of fucking things up, especially the career he’d wanted to throw away up until the moment he ran into Elaine at AMTA. The last two months of negotiating the contract with Elaine and using her connections to bring people in on the project had been like new blood for Jay. Being bossed around by Elaine Hester made him feel as though he was back in the family again.

  When he had first approached Jim Neely and Mike Gillespie with the idea of producing Sonja’s script, they’d staunchly said no. They didn’t want to have anything to do with Elaine or anyone related to her. So Jay had had to call their devil and pitch his idea of making Sonja’s script to her. Elaine didn’t have to be convinced.

  “I just finished reading the thing, and lo and behold, the girl has chops. You would never think it by her severe lack of motivation.” She snorted, and Jay could visualize her slightly rolling her eyes as she did whenever she criticized Sonja. “But if you want to make this, then I’m going to help you do it.”

  And that was the start of the most intense project he’d ever been part of during his long career as an A-list actor. Jay had never worked behind the camera, but Elaine was there to make sure he proceeded methodically and smartly.

  “Rule number one,” Elaine said, “make sure you know exactly what you need before you get other parties involved.”

  And so every day for two weeks straight, he sat down with accountants and production finance professionals to bang out a budget, getting a line item number on everything from ink pens to top-tier talent. They also figured out ways to get a better return on their investment. And so three things were determined by the conclusion of those meetings. Jay would finance the majority of the project in order to maintain creative control. He would also play the lead character and pay himself from profits. Finally, they would make the story into a TV series in order to maximize profits.

  Jay and Elaine had close relationships with Vincent Adams of AEE, whose popular Prime D TV Channel had limited but premium commercials due to its high ratings. So by chance and without an appointment, since they were in Elaine’s office together, she decided to place a conference call to Vince in order to pitch their idea.

  “Just like that?” Jay asked.

  “Hell yeah. Vince doesn’t care. He’s a shark always in search of a project that’s going to take his network to the next level,” she said as the phone rang twice before his assistant answered.

  Jay thought for sure they would end up going through the same Hollywood bullshit rigmarole—Vince’s assistant would tell them Mr. Adams isn’t in the office and she would call back to set up a meeting, which would take another three days, then in a week or two, they would have to fly out to New York and meet with Vince in person. But that didn’t happen.

  As soon Vince learned it was Jay and Elaine on the line, he took the call and asked them every single question he could think of that was related to budget, which, thanks to Elaine, they were prepared to answer. He liked what he heard and asked for a copy of the screenplay, which Elaine’s assistant had already scanned, so it was emailed to him immediately.

  Two days later, Jay got a call from his agent asking him what the hell did he think he was doing, arranging the project behind his back, and a few hours later, Elaine informed him that Vincent Adams was in.

  That was when shit started hitting the fan. First, Mike Gillespie caused problems with AEE by insisting that Sonja’s screenplay was still represented by AMTA and would be so until the end of the month, which was only three days away. Gillespie threatened to sell the script if AMTA weren’t cut into all aspects of the deal, and that’s when he prodded the razor-toothed bear named Elaine Hester.

  Elaine had dinner with the president of the agency. The next morning, Jay was told that Fiona Meadows would become Sonja’s agent from then on, which made Vince happy. Fiona also represented one of Vince’s favorite writers, Dexter Frampton.

  Dexter was the reason why, after Vince’s flight had departed, Jay was waiting in the sky-deck at Santa Monica Airport for another flight to land.

  Jay and Dexter Frampton were also pretty good friends. They had worked together on The Fall and Rise of Nobody, which was a limited series that had aired on Prime D TV. Dexter would be staying at his place until they flew out to Canada on Wednesday.

  As Jay’s grimace fell over the empty runway, he thought about calling Sonja, but he didn’t know what to say. She’d smelled delicious that morning. Her sweet perfume had made him want to taste her. And hot damn, she was still beautiful, and interesting, and confusing, yet emotionally honest—all the traits he had treasured about her from the moment she had introduced him to her puppet, Skinny Pig.

  Jay slid his phone out of his pocket, opened his contact list, and found Sonja’s name. He had been happy the day Elaine had given him her number; however, she’d made him promise to not call. She’d said Sonja was a saboteur and she didn’t want her torpedoing the deal before it got off the ground. But now, as he stared at her name on the screen, he reminisced about their time together fifteen years ago.

  He had touched a whole lot of girls down there and satisfyingly watched as they enjoyed what he was doing to them. However, when he did it to Sonja, all he’d wanted to do was insert himself inside her and make love to her until their souls merged and he was safely tucked away in her skin.

  And then there was her exotically beautiful face. He could still picture how her dark brown ringlets fell over the honey skin of her face. These days, she wore her mounds of curly hair pulled back in a bun. Fifteen years later and she was still trying to downplay her sex appeal.

  Jay ran his finger over the S-O-N-J-A. One mere fact had made him leave Sonja high and dry on her birthday back then. He had been barely a teenager, yet he was in love with the closest person he had in his life, and that had scared the hell out of him. It still did.

  He saw a sleek airplane fly in. Jay closed his phone case and put the device back into his pocket. He hadn’t deserved her then and he sure as hell didn’t deserve her now. Ever since he’d started working with Elaine, he hadn’t sniffed a grain of cocaine or chugged an ounce of vodka. He wanted to remain sober long enough to convince himself that he had put his demons behind him. The memory of waking up next to a woman he didn’t recognize flashed through his mind. Jay squeezed his eyes shut until it went away.

  When he focused on the airplane again, the door was open, and down the ramp walked Dexter Frampton. Even from a distance, he could tell Dexter hadn’t lost any of his annoyingly good looks.

  Despite their friendship, Jay hadn’t been overjoyed when Dexter’s name came up as co-lead writer. When Jay first met the guy, he’d thought Dexter was an actor. How could a dude who looked like that not be vain enough to get into the behind the camera side of the business? His lack of vanity had impressed Jay, and he was positive Sonja would be enamored by him too.

  But there he was, the same old Dexter Frampton, strolling off the ramp as though he were walking in a men’s fashion show. Jay didn’t like being jealous, so he straightened out his scowl and hurried off to meet his friend while vowing to be professional, which meant introducing his competition to the one woman who had come the closest
to winning his heart.

  Chapter 8

  Sonja was angry with herself that morning. She’d spent the remainder of yesterday waiting for Jay to call, since he’d said that he would. But he never did. Once again, Jay West had let her down. She could’ve stewed in disappointment if she hadn’t found other constructive things to do.

  First, she’d gone searching for her passport. The quest took her mind off her old friend for a few hours. Then she sat on the sofa and talked herself into getting a grip. Why was she so desperate to hear from Jay anyway? He wasn’t the same boy she used to know, and she was a different girl. They weren’t going to jump on Jay’s moped and ride to the marina to go whale watching because they both thought large mammals were cool. Nor were they going to ride their bikes up to Hollywood Boulevard because they loved to see how many tourists would recognize Jay West as the kid who played the annoying neighbor Dudley Crawford on Family Magic. They weren’t going to amuse themselves by giving the guys dressed up as superheroes a scenario to act out for them, like saving a child in a stroller who’s on a collision course with a Mack truck. And they certainly weren't going to peddle their bikes to Succulent Treats, also on Hollywood Boulevard, to buy a dozen warm cookies and gobble them down while watching the parade of tourists.

  Yep, they were adults now, and as far as their relationship went, all they had left were memories. So Sonja had stopped agonizing over Jay not keeping his word and spent an hour on the phone with Elaine and their cousins, Robin and Theresa, planning her farewell dinner. They’d settled on scheduling it for Tuesday night at Elaine’s house in Cheviot Hills. Even though the back and forth with her type-A family members had given Sonja a headache the size of Texas, she’d spent the rest of the evening getting reacquainted with the screenplay she had sat down to write a little over five years ago.

  And now she was driving to her grandmother’s office, which was near Sunset and Doheny, in the middle of Friday morning rush hour traffic. She was too nervous to be miserable about it. She’d received a call from her grandmother in the middle of having her morning coffee, asking that they meet in her office that morning. Gran’s tone had been dry and serious, which usually meant Sonja had done something wrong.