Friends With Multiple Benefits

by Luke Young

  “There is talk of a sequel.”

  “We’ve discussed it, but nothing is definite yet.”

  The reporter turned to Amanda. “The rumor is you don’t want to be in the sequel.”

  “That’s right.” Amanda smiled. “I’ve decided I want to return to where I started—television—probably cable. There are some amazing things happening on television now and I want something more stable. When you’re doing a movie, you get really close to the people on the production while you are working together for three months or so, but then you all go your separate ways. I’m looking for something more permanent and I think I’ve found a project that I can really sink my teeth into.”

  “That sounds exciting. Can you be more specific?”

  Amanda added, “Not at this time, but we might be announcing something soon.”

  “We can’t wait to hear.” The reporter turned the microphone to Jillian. “Are you disappointed that Amanda won’t be in the sequel?”

  “Words can’t express how disappointed I really am.” Jillian struggled to keep a straight face.

  About ten minutes later Jillian desperately needed to get off her feet. Brian guided her to a chair and set off to find her some water. Frowning, she watched Amanda giving yet another interview.

  Suddenly Natalie stood before her wearing a genuine smile. “Jillian, I hope it’s okay that I, um, I just wanted to say hello.”

  “Oh, hey. Yes, it’s fine.”

  “Is Brian around?”

  “He’s just getting me some water.”

  Wearing a stunning gold gown, the flexible beauty sat next to her. “How are you feeling?”

  She sighed. “Like I’m about to explode in any one of a number of places.”

  Natalie giggled. “Well, you look amazing.”

  “Thank you. And I hear you’re engaged.”

  Beaming, Natalie held her finger up. “Yes, Paul is a dream come true.”

  Jillian studied her ring. “That’s beautiful.”

  “I just wanted to be sure you didn’t hate me or anything,” Natalie said hesitantly.

  “No, life’s too short to hold a grudge like that.”

  Suddenly Amanda burst into over-the-top, loud laughter and Jillian glared at her. Natalie followed her gaze, frowned, and whispered, “Oh, I can’t stand her.”

  “Me either.” Jillian’s jaw fell open.

  “She’s so fake.”

  “I know.”

  “And she was trying to sleep with Brian,” Jillian whispered. “Can you believe that?”

  “No way!” Natalie grimaced then her face slowly morphed into a look of dread. “Oh, sorry.”

  “Um, no, don’t worry about it,” Jillian began. “I’m only able to direct my anger at one person at a time. I guess she got you off the hook.”

  They shared a laugh.

  “Yeah, I’m still sorry. I was young and stupid.”

  “At least you have an excuse.” Jillian scoffed. “She doesn’t have one at all.”

  The two shared another laugh then suddenly Jillian frowned and placed her hand on the chair next to her, closing her eyes.

  “Are you all right?”

  “I’m fine.” Jillian took a deep breath. “They’re just moving around a lot.”

  Gazing down to Jillian’s round belly and the waves of little limbs moving inside her, Natalie’s mouth fell open. “Oh, my God. It looks like they’re running.”

  “Yeah.”

  She asked, hesitantly, “Can I touch?”

  “Sure.”

  Placing her hand carefully to her stomach, Natalie wore a sweet smile. “Wow… Are you excited, you know, being a mother again?”

  “Yes. I can’t wait.”

  “That’s so cool.” She pulled her hand away. “Hey, um, when Paul and I finally set a date, I would love if you two would consider coming to the wedding. I mean, if it weren’t for you, I never would have met him.”

  “We would love to.”

  “Really?”

  “Yes, I’m glad you’re happy.”

  “Thank you. That means so much to me.” Natalie rose to her feet. “Well, I’d better find Paul. Good luck with the babies.”

  About thirty minutes later the premiere was about to begin with everyone seated in the nearly packed house. The room was abuzz with conversation and laughter. Near the center of the theater, Victoria sat next to Jim then it was Jillian and finally Brian. Another producer on the film was next to Brian. Paul Ford and Natalie were a few rows back as were Hollywood actors Henry Cavill and Cameron Diaz. One row behind those heavy hitters were producers Harvey Weinstein and Jerry Bruckheimer. Kim and Kanye were also in attendance.

  A woman rushed over and leaned down to whisper in the ear of the producer sitting next to Brian. After returning a confused look and pausing a moment, the man said something to his companion and the two followed the woman toward the back of the theater.

  Victoria leaned over to Jillian. “I really shouldn’t have had that last glass of champagne. We didn’t have much for dinner. I wanted to be sure I could fit in this dress.”

  “You look fabulous.” Jillian returned a nod. “We didn’t eat much either.”

  Victoria shivered. “It’s cold in here. Are we under a vent or something?”

  “Don’t ask me. Since I’ve been pregnant I’m always hot.”

  “You want my jacket, babe?” Jim asked.

  “Yes, please.”

  Jim removed his jacket and when Jillian turned back to Brian, she heard a slight commotion and spotted Amanda Jo making her way toward them along with three of her handlers.

  Grimacing, Jillian whispered to her man, “Why isn’t she in her seat already. She always has to make an entrance.”

  “I know. I know.”

  As Amanda got closer, Jillian glanced to the empty seat next to Brian and asked, “What happened to Mike?”

  Brian shrugged.

  “She’s not… is she?”

  “What?” Brian replied, but before Jillian could say anything, the superstar slipped in the seat next to Brian and said, “It’s cold in here isn’t it?”

  “Huh?” Brian replied. “Oh, yeah.”

  It was, in fact, cold in the room and Miss Amanda Jo’s hard nipples were clear evidence of that. Protruding and blasting through the thin fabric of her sheer dress, they were a sight to behold. Not to mention her low cut dress was accentuating the ample divide of her brilliant plastic surgeon’s work.

  Jillian turned to Victoria and they shared a narrowed eyed glare, which screamed out ‘the nerve of this bitch.’

  “They always keep these theaters so cold,” Amanda said.

  “I guess because there are so many people in here,” Brian replied.

  Brian put his hand on his wife’s knee. “Do you want my jacket?”

  Before Jillian could answer, Amanda replied, “Oh, thank you so much. That is so sweet.”

  “No, wait, I was…” Brian stammered looking to Jillian then Amanda then back to his wife.

  “Oh, sorry, I thought you were asking me.” Amanda flashed him a self-conscious smile. “I’m so stupid.”

  “No, thank you,” Jillian said with a slight edge in her voice. She leaned forward and made eye contact with Amanda. “I’m always hot so… no.”

  Brian shifted in his seat. “Is it hot in here, because I’m starting to sweat?”

  “I’ll bet you are,” Jillian grumbled softly.

  Brian sighed and shot her a disapproving frown.

  “What?”

  “Knock it off,” he whispered to her.

  “I’m not doing anything.” Jillian leaned close to him and whispered, “If you want to give her the jacket, then give her the damn jacket.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Oh, I’m sure.” She glared at him.

  “This sorta feels like a trap.”

  “It’s not a trap.”

  “I’m not going to pay for this later am I?”

  Blatantly staring down to
the waiting celebrity’s nipples, Jillian sneered. “You do look cold. Honey, please give her your jacket. We don’t want anything to freeze off.”

  “Um, okay.” Brian leaned forward, removed his suit jacket, and handed it over to Amanda.

  She smiled. “Oh, thank you.”

  Paul Ford walked to the front of the room and held his hands up until the crowd quieted to a dull roar. “Welcome everyone to the Miami premiere of The Leg Thing. As you probably all know, we filmed it right here in your city and I believe I can speak for everyone on the cast and crew when I say, I can’t think of a better and more beautiful location to shoot. We’re so proud of this movie and we hope you all enjoy it.”

  After nodding to the crowd, Paul pointed up to the booth. The lights slowly dimmed as he made his way back to his seat. Jillian glanced to her right to see Victoria cozying up and whispering into her husband’s ear while wearing a playful expression. Turning the other way, she spotted Amanda wearing her husband’s jacket around her shoulders while, unfortunately, her giant breasts were still on display between the lapels. Brian sat back in his seat, wearing a terrified expression as he white-knuckled the armrests on either side of him. He took her hand. The room darkened fully then the screen lit up with the production company’s logo. Leaning over to her, he kissed Jillian on the cheek and whispered, “I love you.”

  “I love you too,” she replied then they shared a smile.

  As a producer, Jillian had watched different cuts of the movie about ten times already and pretty much knew it by heart. During the premiere, she spent most of her time listening to the laughter of the crowd. She sat there simply basking in the pride of her accomplishment of finally seeing her words and story come to life on the big screen in front of a real audience. Even though this was a crowd of mostly industry people, from what she could tell, their laughter was genuine and this film was most likely going to be a box office success. She realized she hadn’t thought about Amanda once since the film began. And even when she glanced over and spotted the A-list actress, during a particularly brightly lit scene, sitting a little too close to her husband with her tits on display and her arm most certainly touching her man’s, it didn’t faze her at all.

  About an hour into the film the scene with the couple drinking alcohol in the movie theater together began. With the darkness on screen, the room was barely lit. Jillian heard rustling next to her followed by laughter filling the room. The rustling continued, then during a quiet moment, she heard what she thought was heavy breathing. Glancing over to the couple to her right, she spotted Jim’s jacket now in his lap and Victoria’s hand under it and moving ever so slightly over his leg. Jim was slumped down in his seat with his head pressed against the back of the chair. One of his hands gripped Jillian’s armrest tightly and the other rested on his wife’s thigh. His breathing, although very quiet, was too heavy for your average movie viewer. Only someone sitting right next to him would notice this and, unfortunately, that person just happened to be Jillian.

  Closing her eyes, Jillian sighed. She knew exactly what was happening. At the exact moment when on screen Amanda Jo had her hand over the actor playing Brian’s erection, next to her the same thing was happening, except Jillian feared that in this theater there was real skin on skin contact.

  Leaning slightly forward, Jillian scanned the crowd to see if anyone else was aware of what was happening between the tipsy and obviously horny couple. She breathed a sigh of relief when she didn’t find anyone that had a clue. She shot the horny couple a disapproving look, which they, of course, missed completely. Then she shook her head, glanced in the other direction, and found Amanda sitting even closer to her husband.

  After mumbling an obscenity under her breath, she shifted in her seat away from the wholly inappropriate sex act and closer to her husband to snuggle. She wasn’t going to let anything spoil her important night.

  22

  At the end of the movie the audience applauded for at least thirty seconds. A few people even gave it a standing ovation. Jillian glanced over to see Jim wearing a calm, yet worn out, expression while Victoria held his now, balled up jacket in her lap. Jillian eyed her best friend with mild disapproval. Not that she understood that wholly inappropriate behavior at all, but she could almost sympathize with it since, a few times during the film, she had an overwhelming urge to lean over and take her husband in her mouth. She wasn’t sure if that was because the movie was super-sexy and was about her and Brian’s relationship or the fact that she’d like to have Little Miss Erect Nipples watch with envy as she did it. Maybe it was a little bit of both.

  Amanda rose from her seat and slipped the jacket from her shoulders, leaning forward unnecessarily, which caused her bouncy breasts to nearly fall from their confines. “Brian, thank you again for lending me your jacket.”

  “Sure.” Brian quickly averted his gaze from the starlet and gave his wife a nervous smile.

  “Jillian, you’ve got a great man there. Be sure to treat him right.”

  “Are you kidding me?” Jillian took an angry step toward Amanda. “Didn’t we have this conversation already?”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “What am I talking about?” Jillian sighed. “I can’t believe that—”

  Brian put his arm around his wife’s shoulder and gently spun her away. “It was great seeing you again, Amanda.”

  Amanda gave him a smile just as one of her handlers rushed up and ushered her away.

  As they watched her head off, Brian took hold of Jillian’s hand. “Are you okay?”

  “Yeah,” she grumbled. “Am I crazy or is she acting like I didn’t catch her in the shower with you and basically threaten to kill her if she ever tried to pull something like that again?”

  “Um, you’re right. She is acting like none of that ever happened.”

  “Celebrities…” Jillian sighed.

  “It’s a different world.” Brian made a face.

  Jillian turned to discover Victoria and Jim whispering and she said, “And you two. Did you enjoy the movie?”

  The naughty couple shared a look then returned a giggle and a nod.

  “What’s going on?” Brian asked.

  “Just slightly more than what was going on in your seat.” Jillian shot him a frown.

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “I’ll tell you what that’s—”

  “Jillian, the movie is great.” Dan Rossen, Jillian’s agent, appeared before them. “It’s going to open number one. Everyone at the studio is beyond happy. They’re predicting it will do eighty million this weekend.”

  “Really?” Jillian shared a wide-eyed look with Brian, Victoria, and Jim. “That’s incredible.”

  “We’re talking Hangover numbers. It could be the highest grossing R-rated comedy of all time.”

  “That’s um…” Jillian scoffed. “Wow, so is there news on the sequel?”

  “I was just talking to Cameron Diaz’s agent and he says she is very interested.”

  “Great, because like I told you, I’m not working with…” Jillian glanced around to see if anyone else was in earshot then whispered, “the slut ever again.”

  “I know. I know.”

  “Do we have an offer yet from the studio?”

  “No, but I think we’ll have one Monday.” Dan’s phone rang and he pulled it from his pocket. “Got to take this.”

  “You see everything is going to work out.” Brian kissed his wife’s hand and they shared a smile.

  Thirty minutes later, the four best friends were heading home in the back of the limo. Jim and Victoria held up glasses of champagne. Brian poured Jillian a Pellegrino and lifted his glass in the air. “To Jillian, the best and sexiest, writer in the world. And to her amazing movie.”

  Everyone raised their glasses and took a sip.

  “It was really very good,” Victoria said. “You could barely tell that the sex was simulated.”

  “Oh, really?” Jillian chuckled.

/>   “That’s movie magic,” Brian commented.

  “There could have been a tad more male nudity.”

  “No, I think there was plenty of male nudity.” Jim frowned. “In fact, I’m a little sick of seeing Chase’s ass. I mean, how many times can you show your ass in a film? It’s got to be some kind of record.”

  “I would have liked to see at least one cock slip.” Victoria made a face. “I was looking pretty closely and I didn’t see one.”

  “What the hell is a cock slip?” Brian asked.

  “You know, like a nip slip.”

  “Oh.”

  “I mean, I know a full frontal shot is out of the question, but we didn’t even get a little side-al penis shot or anything.”

  “I’ll give you a side-al shot later.” Jim gave her a look.

  “Promise?” Victoria asked.

  Jillian’s phone rang. She pulled it from her purse, looked at the screen and smiled. She hit the speaker button. “Hey, Dan.”

  “Jillian, I’ve got some incredible news.”

  “What is it?” Jillian’s eyes brightened.

  “There’s also some… not so great news.”

  “Oh, give me the good news first.”

  “You know that the studio also owns H.B.O. right?”

  “Sure.”

  “H.B.O. really wants it.”

  “Great, they want to make the sequel.” Jillian smiled.

  “No, they want it as a series. The president of the network’s wife has read all of the series books and she’s just crazy about them. They are willing to offer you a guarantee of four seasons. Four seasons! That’s unheard of in the industry. They’re talking eight figures.”

  “Eight figures?” Jillian nearly choked on her words. “Like eight figures in dollars or like pesos or something?”

  Dan chuckled. “They’re serious about this.”

  “A series.” Jillian looked at Brian then Victoria and shrugged. “I never really thought about it that way, but I guess I could see that.”

  “The executives think it could be bigger than Sex and the City.”

  “Wow.”

  “And with a series, if you can last a hundred episodes or more, you’ll probably make it to syndication and then you’re not talking about eight figures, you are talking about nine.”