“Just look at her.”
“I know.”
“It’s almost pathetic.”
“No it isn’t – she was excited about this trip all week.”
“Well, sometimes things come up, right?”
“Yeah, but…nothing I’m sure he couldn’t at least wiggle
his way out of.”
“You don't think he’s cheating on her, do you?”
“I don't think so.” Emma said decisively as she, Ginny and Caylee
watched Aubrey chat with Lauren Davis and Margherita Missoni. “But there’s always that little glimmer of infidelity.”
“You're right,” Caylee sighed, “She looks crushed.”
“That’s because she is.” Ginny deadpanned, “Screw the
Hamptons. We need a serious emotional overhaul.”
“Why don't we go to LA.”
Two pairs of eyes darted to Emma, all with eyebrows raised.
“What?”
“Suppose we did go to LA, and suppose Aubrey did drop in and surprise him…what
if she finds something she wasn’t looking for?”
“Oh.” Emma said with a sigh, “But we don't even know that he
is cheating on her, though.”
“Yeah, but we can't risk that.” Caylee said, “This is her first
actual relationship since she left Chad.”
The three girls dwelled on that for a moment.
“One of us should go out to LA.” Emma said.
“Why don't you, since it’s your idea.” Ginny sneered.
“Maybe I will; JC’s out there, too.”
“Oh, please.” Caylee said, “You are not going out to LA to spy
on Justin! That is wrong; just wrong. What did he say he was doing?”
“Looping.” Emma said sarcastically.
“So? Looping is a lengthy thing.”
“Yeah, but it does not take an entire day to loop a five minute scene, honeys.”
Emma reminded, “He goes to Forty Deuce.”
“And you know this, how?”
“I hung out with him in LA like two months ago – Forty Deuce is totally
his hang out.”
“What are you implying?” Caylee asked.
“I’m just saying…he knows a lot of women.” Emma said,
“And that club is breeding ground for half of the disgusting LA female pop.”
“You're just looking for some reason to go out to LA so you can have a raging
hot sex fest with your new boyfriend, AC, DC…what is his name again?”
Emma laughed, seeming appalled at the idea, “I’m insulted. I really
am.”
Caylee and Ginny rolled their eyes and sipped their champagne.
“You know what? Fuck both of you. I’m going to LA.”
“Okay.” The girls replied simply, “But Aubrey stays here.”
“Obviously; I’m just gonna do a little spy action here and there…make
sure looping is what’s really going on, you know what I mean?”
“This is filthy.” Caylee said, “People just don't do this.”
“Yeah, right.” Emma said, “Caylee, you're no fucking angel.
You’ve done dirtier shit than all of us combined, okay, so keep your filthy mouth shut.”
Caylee sighed and rolled her eyes, grabbing another glass of champagne from a
passing waiter.
“We wouldn’t have to stoop to spying if women just trusted their boyfriends
in the first place.” Ginny said simply.
“Okay, well if we trusted our boyfriends life would be all pretty and clean,
now wouldn’t it?” Argued Emma, “Bottom line, I’m going to LA. I’m gonna get to the bottom of
this. Look at her; she’s miserable. Nobody cancels a highly anticipated, not to mention I’m sure ridiculously
romantic weekend in Kennebunkport to do looping on a movie unless something better happened to have come along at the last
minute.”
“You are so…” Ginny paused.
“Right?”
“No…” Ginny hesitated, “No, actually. You're like…so
distrusting, so…ugh, Emma, you're crazy.”
Emma rolled her eyes, “Crazily right.”
“You go out to LA, and then when you find out that the only thing he’s
really doing out there is actual looping, make sure you tell us so we can laugh in your face.” Caylee said, “And
if you think you're going to tote one of us out there with you, no way.”
“Uh, okay, did I ask?” Emma replied, “I’m going to go
chat with Zsa Zsa Gabor.”
“She looks good for having just had a stoke.”
“Doesn’t she?” Emma tossed a smile and a wave before heading
over to the socialite.
“Okay, am I crazy or is she just out of her mind?” Ginny asked.
Caylee sighed. “No, she’s definitely out of her mind.”
Los Angeles, Friday July 26, 2005
“She’s likely to rip your hair out.”
“I doubt it; she’s tame when she feels like it.”
“Which is never.”
“Okay, well…”
“What is this about, anyway? I thought you two had, like, a thing?”
“We do…I guess.”
“But?”
“But I can't come out here and not pay a single second of attention to all
the other women throwing themselves at me.”
“Famous last words.”
JC rolled his eyes, “Don't be a prick.”
“I’m not; Emma seems like a tough girl but it isn't hard to make her
cry, I bet.”
“Jayce, baby?”
JC turned his head around and Justin rolled his eyes. In the doorway of JC’s
kitchen stood a very buxom brunette in barely anything. Justin continued to roll his eyes.
“Do you have any extra towels?”
He nodded, “Linen closet upstairs.”
She smiled, tiptoed over to kiss him on the lips, then trotted back upstairs.
“Okay, what the hell?” Justin said, “Wait, you barely have a
girlfriend, yet you come out to LA and have an extended one nighter with some surgically enhanced Pussycat Doll…while
me, on the other hand, I have a girlfriend, and yet I can control myself.”
“This is different.” He said, “You owe it to Aubrey not to cheat
on her. Me, I kind of don't owe Emma anything.”
“Well, if you keep sleeping with girls behind her back, somebody is gonna
end up with some kinda nasty little present, if you get my drift.”
“You think way too much.”
“And I may not even have a girlfriend; Aubrey probably hates my guts right
now.”
“Why, cause you canceled?”
“Yeah, and because I know she was really looking forward to this trip and
I know she is not going to let me make it up to her.”
“You couldn’t get out of looping?”
“I tried. I seriously tried.” He said, “I even faked sick.”
“Damn, well if that’s stopped working, you need to hire new people
who are easy to fool.” JC said, “Usually you aren't really the one woman type of guy; what happened?”
“Aubrey Roehm happened, that’s what. We were totally gonna have the
best trip ever, and then my damn assistant calls telling me I gotta fly out to Hollywood and loop, like, literally four scenes.
I can't wait to get out on Sunday.”
“Dude, I thought you were leaving Monday?”
“No way. I got one more scene to loop tomorrow. I actually might just leave
tomorrow night, if I can get the jet ready.”
JC shrugged. The doorbell rang and Justin looked at his friend.
“Do not tell me you’ve invited more women to his house.”
“No.” JC said simply. He got up and walked into the foyer of the uber-contemporary
house. He opened the steel stood and smiled nervously, “Emma.”
From the kitchen, Justin’s insane laughter rang out throughout the entire
house. “Karma, bitch!”
“You didn’t tell me you were coming by…”
She walked in briskly and dropped her large Louis Vuitton duffel to kiss him on
the lips, “I know. I wanted to surprise you.”
“Hi Emma.”
She turned around, “Justin. Hello. Why aren't you looping right now?”
He rolled his eyes, “Don't feed me this shit. Please. I tried and tried
and tried my hardest to get out of it.”
“Okay, well obviously not hard enough.”
“Let Aubrey bitch at me if she wants to; you don't need to do it for her.”
He said, “Josh. I’m going. I am so staying out of this. Y’all wanna have dinner at Mr. Chow tonight?”
“Maybe.” JC said wearily.
“Jayce?”
Three sets of eyes flew up to the top of the mod stairs.
“I see you have company, darling.” Emma said flatly.
JC looked between Emma and the brunette.
“Uh…I’m out.” Justin said, breaking the thick silence,
“Call me. Peace.”
The door shut after he walked out and Emma stared at JC.
“Who is she?” The brunette asked.
Emma sighed, “His girlfriend, or at least that’s what I thought. Or
was I wrong?”
JC said nothing.
“Tell me I wasn’t wrong.” Emma said harshly.
“You weren’t…”
She rolled her eyes, “I’m gonna go stay with my sister; why don't
you call me when you get your shit together?”
“My shit is together.”
She laughed evily, “Is this what your ‘together’ LA shit looks
like, JC? Because if so, I am so glad I’m from New York.”
“Emma, can you just wait one second?”
“No, I’m not going to stand here while you kindly kick out your one
night stand. The ball is in your court now, honey. You call me; you know my number. I’ll be in town for a little bit.”
He sighed, “Fine.”
She gave a brandish of her hand, grabbed her bag then stomped out of his house,
the steel door shutting behind her with an echoing boom.
He had been contemplating calling her all day. He looked at this clock on his
stove; it was nine thirty, which meant is was near midnight and a half at home.
He called her anyway.
“Hello?”
“Hi.” He said softly, “Were you sleeping?”
“Kind of.”
“Oh, okay. Go back to bed. I’ll call you in the morning.”
“I’m already up,” she said groggily, “Are you actually
calling me?”
He sighed, “Am I actually calling you? What does that mean?”
“I haven't spoken to you since Tuesday morning. It’s now…what
day is it? Friday?”
“Thursday for me.”
“Okay, well the majority of us are on Eastern Time, Justin, so…”
He sighed, “I don't think I like where this conversation is headed. Like,
at all.”
“How’s LA?”
“That sounded so cold.”
“Well…”
He sighed, “LA’s okay; it’s fine. I’m coming back tomorrow
night, if I can. If I can't get a flight out I’ll be back Sunday.”
“Okay.”
“Aubrey.”
“What, Justin?”
He sighed, “I am sorry.”
“Okay.”
“Okay?” He repeated, “Okay, what? I’m sorry; there was
no way I could have controlled when my stupid director wanted me to loop scenes. It wasn’t like I planned our trip knowing
I’d have to go out of town, Aubrey.”
“Don't you think I know that?”
“Do you?”
She sighed loudly, “Of course I do. I’m not stupid, Justin. Why don't
you just keep doing whatever you're doing in LA and when you get back to Manhattan we’ll maybe sit down and talk?”
“Aubrey.” He said firmly, “You do not think I'm cheating on
you.”
She sighed again.
“Aubrey,” he said, “Come on. Cut me a little bit of slack. I'm
not asking for a ton.”
“You're not really asking for any.”
“I understand that you're upset with me.” he said, “I would
be too. If I were you, I wouldn’t even pick up the phone. But I swear, if I do anything in my life I will make this
up to you. Kennebunkport was going to be stellar and I fucked it up. Sorry.”
“That sounds very, very sincere.”
“It would,” he said, “if you took it as something sincere.”
“Do not make me look like I’m the one starting this.”
He sighed, “I’m trying to apologize to you—“
“And while I appreciate that, it doesn’t change a whole lot.”
“Well then what do you want me to do?”
“I don't know.” She said simply, “Work is work – we all
have to work, we all have things we need to do. But can you honestly tell me that you could not, for any reason, get out of
this looping thing?”
“I tried, Aubrey.”
She didn’t say anything.
“I faked sick; my assistant tried and tried to get me out of it.”
he said, “I was so psyched about Maine, Aubrey. You have no idea. I didn’t want to go to LA as much as you probably
didn’t want me to either.”
She sighed, “Okay, well you're already in LA and there’s nothing either
of us can do about it. It’s one o’clock in the morning.”
“It’s late, I know.”
“Emma’s in LA.”
“Yes, I know.” He said, “She dropped by JC’s. I was there.”
“And?”
“And he had a lady friend over and she saw it and I left before things got
nasty,” he said, “But you're changing the subject.”
“Well if you're calling me, and I’m already up, we might as well just
chat anyway.”
He laughed softly, “Okay.”
Laundry, Anyone?
