Personal Assistant (24 page)

       
“How
do you know that? I don’t know that,” Jonas said.

       
“A
few days ago they stopped by. She asked me to grab the hand sanitizer while she
put Buddy Junior in his car seat. I think he gave her a rock or something he
found on the ground. Anyways, I looked, it was there. I thought it was odd, but
it made me want to find the group even more.” Frankie waited as they laughed
again.

       
“Did
you ask her about it?” Jed asked.

       
“No,”
she said. “I mean with both of them having the logo around I didn’t want to
seem…uncool, I guess. I mean it seemed to me
InkBlot
was everywhere at the time, and I had never heard of them and couldn’t find
them.”

       
The
boys continued to crack up in the front seat. She didn’t care it was at her
expense. “What?” She did care that they were not sharing the fun.

       
“She
was our lead singer.” Jonas laughed until he had tears in his eyes. Jed
struggled to catch his breath. Frankie understood why it was so funny now.
Janice is the epitome of respectable, good, all-American girl. For her to be in
a band, a bit of a punk band from the way the logo was formed, and to be the
lead singer no less, was a bit hard to place together. He continued, “She went
through a stage. It was her idea. We had no idea she kept that around.”

       
“Well
you can’t tell her I
outed
her,” Frankie smiled.

       
“It
has to happen, babe,” Jonas said.

       
“Absolutely
has to happen,” Jed agreed.

***

       
Frankie
survived dinner with his family. Janice had admitted her
InkBlot
experiment and Buddy learned something new about his wife. Everyone asked Jed
so many questions Frankie felt bad for him by the end of it. He looked
exhausted and dodged most of them. Jonas did not invite him to return, and by
the looks of it, his mother would not have allowed it anyways. Whatever he had
been filming, it was not something she wanted him working on often. The waiter
came over and in a low voice mentioned, “I’m sorry. They are here.”

***

       
The
first flashes of paparazzi startled her. He knew it was coming. It was only a
matter of time. Still. The lights flashed against the night in rapid
succession. Jonas pulled her in closer to his side. She wasn’t used to it.
Questions popped from all directions.
Most of them about her.

       
She
didn’t say one word. She ducked behind him the slightest bit and he led them
through the crowd to the car. He opened her door and she got in. He was glad to
see her sitting up straight, not hiding, not shielding, but not playing into
the cameras either. He was glad he didn’t have more than a few sips of wine o
drink. He had a feeling this would happen.

       
He
looked at her. She had that steeled spine look she would get when she needed
control. He had grown accustomed to that movement and what it meant. It was
somewhat satisfying to learn these things about a woman. It was also unsettling
to know what these things meant. Frankie made this move, got this expression,
when she was faced with a major adjustment.

       
“How you holding up?”
This time he was nervous. She seemed a
bit shell-shocked. The rest of his family began to exit the restaurant and
enough of the photographers saw that as an opportunity they moved towards them.
He was able to pull out of the space without worry of running over someone’s
foot. The shutterbugs were sometimes desperate and violated all safety concerns
for the people they were photographing as well as themselves.

       
As
they pulled onto the street he glanced over at her.

       
“Everything’s
a bit…” She reached up and scrubbed her eyes. “I should have worn my glasses.”

       
He
laughed. “You’ll get used to it.”

       
“I
don’t think anyone can get used to this,” she said with a sigh.

       
“I’m
used to it.” He frowned. “I’m not saying I enjoy the press when it has nothing
to do with my work, but I have become a bit used to a certain amount of
attention.”

       
“Well,
this will pass. I’m not worried about it. I’ve already seen the internet
posts.”

       
It
was the way she shrugged it off that made Jed’s words hit like a fist in his
chest as they rang through his ears again. Jonas said quietly, “Please
don’t…just give it…I can’t control…”

       
“Jonas?”
She slid her hand over to his thigh, and the touch sizzled as it always did. He
looked over to her briefly, still trying to find the words, and she smiled at
him. His chest felt less heavy, but only the slightest bit.

       
“Jonas,
I taught hundreds of students each semester. There isn’t much they can say
about me that hasn’t already been said. You think they are the first set of
young girls, or guys for that matter, that wanted me dead?” She snorted and
continued, “You obviously never took one of my final exams.”

       
It
didn’t matter. He knew it still hurt. It hurt because they were judging her and
not for the same reasons. It hurt him too. Without knowing what else to say at
the moment he said, “I love you.”

       
It
sounded as desperate as he felt. She squeezed his thigh and said, “Maybe I
should give you that final when we get home.”

       
A
weak smile crossed his lips.

       
Frankie
had let a week’s worth of public criticism wash over her, penetrate her flesh,
pull out every insecurity she ever had, beat her, bruise her, batter her heart
and mind, and she was tired of it. Sure, a few people had said nice things
about Jonas’s choice in girlfriend.
A few.
Too few to make a dent in the words from the masses of hateful
creatures talking about her.

       
Jonas
had been walking on eggshells. He was worried about the impact of the
unofficial press known as social media. Not on him, on her. Frankie knew she
had been giving an Oscar worthy performance as ‘girlfriend to a celebrity who
didn’t give a shit what his adoring public thought of her’. In truth, she
needed the break. He was at work, her parents had stopped asking if she was
okay, her mother stopped threatening to open a
Tweeter
account to defend her, and she was about to indulge in some
chocolate therapy. Hearing her mother say Tweeter instead of Twitter was
comical, the reason she knew Twitter now
existed,
was
heartbreaking.

       
“Hey.”
A familiar voice said as the person stopped next to the table.

       
Frankie
looked up to see an old enemy with a smile on her face.
Delightful.
Just what she needed: Ivy.  Dryly she replied with, “Hello.”

       
“Do
you mind if I join you?” Ivy let the smile fade as she took the seat across
from Frankie anyways. “I know we didn’t really know each other in high school,
but I know that Jonas is happy. He was…is a good friend, a good man. I’m sure
he explained why I couldn’t go to the award show with him. I just feel terrible
about how people are treating you.
Especially the ones
comparing us.”

       
Frankie
had opened her mouth a few times to try to get a word in edgewise, but Ivy was
bound and determined to speak her peace. Ivy stopped long enough for the waiter
to set the molten lava chocolate cake with a heaping spoon of vanilla ice cream
on top on the table.

       
“Wow,”
Ivy said as she looked at the cake. “That looks
sooo
good.”

       
“He
brought two spoons.” Frankie looked at the cake and thought better of eating
the entire thing herself. It was a bit of a truce offering since she wanted to
know more about the reason Ivy had stood him up at the award show. “Tell me why
you cancelled on him and showed up with someone else.”

       
Ivy
took in a deep breath and picked up the spoon. “Well, he told me when I was
ready to end it I should make a decision and stick to it. I debated it a long
time. I mean we were a,” she used air quotes as she said the word ‘couple’ “and
we needed some press for the release. I know it was a shitty thing to do, but I
was already dating someone. I hadn’t seen him in months. It just felt like time
to end the charade.”

       
“Wait,
are you saying you were never dating?” Frankie asked as she took a decent bite
of the cake. It soothed her instantly.

       
“Not
really,” Ivy shrugged. “I mean Jonas is…was a bit of a…and I’m still a virgin.
I mean we had to get naked on screen.
Completely naked.
I was so nervous. It was my first film like this and he’s, well, he’s him. So
sure, I did fall a bit in puppy love with him, but he was easy to fall for. You
know that.”

       
“I’m
still not sure I understand,” Frankie said. She sat the spoon down and rubbed
her forehead. She leaned forward and asked, “You never had sex with him?”

       
Ivy
shook her head no and said, “Not in reality, no. I’ve never had sex with
anyone. I don’t share that with a lot of people. I just thought he would have
told you. I don’t like the role I’ve had to play in this town. I just know that
I saw you here and I knew that you were here because I needed to tell you that
I don’t like what my fans are saying about you. I don’t like what his fans are
saying. I wanted you to know that I thought you are perfect for him. I was
almost excited to see a familiar face when I saw you that night, but…”

       
“You
remembered I was friends with Shay and that she hated you, therefore I hated
you.” Frankie groaned. If she only knew back then what she knew
now.

       
“I
never really understood why she hated me. I auditioned for those parts, I spent
hours…” Ivy waved her spoon and then decided to change the topic as she dug
into the cake again, “I tried to be friends with everyone. I can’t do that
anymore. I also can’t stop eating this cake!”

       
Frankie
had to laugh. She was a normal gal, a virgin for crying out loud, and talking
to regular Ivy was easy. “I’m sorry I judged you back then. I didn’t know
anything about your relationship with Jonas other than what I had read prior to
coming to work for him. I was mad that you stood him up. Actually, I was mad
that I enjoyed the fact you stood him up.”

       
Ivy
nodded. “I think it worked out for the best.”

       
“I
can’t disagree with you there.” Frankie looked at the woman sitting across from
her. Ivy had fans, yes. She also had critics, mean people who had been ugly to
her. People like Shay who had always been ugly to her. “So how do you deal with
the critics? How do you deal with what these people say? I am putting on a
brave face, but I have to say, some of it stings a little.”

       
“I
don’t have social media accounts for a reason. I have an assistant who manages
the official feeds and he only posts work related news on them. I try to avoid
the gossip rags, calculate where I go, pay attention to what I wear, and I am
cautious about who I am seen with. Also,” she said with a bit of mischief in
her smile, “I just keep my fingers crossed for another actress to mess up and
then the attention fades a bit. My real fans look for my work and support me.
Everyone else moves attention to other people. Unfortunately, right now that
other person is you. Don’t worry, Frankie, if I can take it, you can take it.
And we can both feel better knowing someone really spectacular is about to
announce her divorce and reveal that she has been bumping
uglies
with her new co-star, her really young new co-star.”

       
“Is
it bad I feel relieved?” Frankie laughed a genuine laugh for the first time in
days.

       
“No,”
Ivy smiled. “It can’t be. Sometimes I feel like I am waiting for that eye in
the Lord of the Rings movie to turn and look at me. Right now, it is
kinda
winking from the peripheral vision since I am being
mentioned with you. You are getting it full on, but soon, it will fall on
someone else and who knows, maybe one day all of the snarky wicked comments
won’t matter to us.”

       
“Thick skin.
I thought I had it. I was sure teaching had
prepped me for criticism of any kind. Students can be pretty ugly when things
do not go their way.” Frankie sighed. “I guess I was a little more vulnerable
than I thought.”

       
“It’s
harder when they are picking at things you can’t control. Students knew in
advance your class had requirements. We never know in advance that someone will
love or hate your haircut, the dress you wore, the color of your toenail
polish. Nothing prepares you for those jabs. Maybe mean older brothers? I don’t
know. I’m an only child.” Ivy offered up a genuine smile before digging in her
purse. She pulled out a pen and wrote her number on a piece of paper. “Here,
I’m still old-school. I don’t have a smart phone. My assistant does, but I
don’t want that much access to information. It’s dangerous. If you get bored or
need more chocolate, call me. I uh…don’t really have a lot of real people to
hang out with.”

       
“Thanks,”
Frankie said as she took the paper. “I will. And Ivy,” Frankie took a deep
breath and continued, “Thank you for this. I know I didn’t deserve it.”

       
“I
knew you were her best friend.” Ivy shrugged as she stood up and situated her
bag over her shoulder. She looked down at Frankie and said, “I wish I had a
friend that loyal. I was envious of her. I still think she could be a big star
if she would apply herself. People make it look easy, that’s part of the job.
It isn’t.”

       
No
truer words had been spoken that day.

***

       
“You’re
sure?” Jonas looked at her sincerely.

       
“Yes,”
she insisted. If they were going to be together, she had to stop avoiding
public places with him. Now that Ivy’s prediction of a major media fiasco had
ensued, Frankie knew they might get some attention, but they might go unnoticed
altogether.

       
“Okay,”
he nodded. Jonas opened the door for her and they headed to the car. “You’re
driving.”

       
“Of
course I am.” She smiled at him. He had not pushed the issue for her to go out
after the dinner. She still dropped him off at work most mornings and since
that was at the crack of dawn, not many shutterbugs were anxious to camp out
and get a picture of him getting out of a car.

       
They
began the drive to Santa Monica. Ivy had suggested
Giorgio
Baldi’s
as a perfect little place
to eat dinner. The California sun was setting, the heat of the day turned into
a crisp evening air.

       
“Where
are we going?” Jonas asked as he looked out the window of the car. “I have to
work tomorrow afternoon.”

       
“It’s
not even five o’clock,” she shook her head. “We have reservations, early
reservations. I know where you have to be. I just thought this would be nice.”

       
“Where
are we going?’

       
“Patience.”

       
In
his newly acquired accent he demanded, “Dammit woman, I insist on knowing!”

       
She
giggled.

       
“Is
it bad?” She knew he had been working with a dialect coach for a few weeks.

       
“No,”
Frankie shook her head. “In fact, it’s
kinda
sexy.”

       
“
Kinda
? That’s reassuring.”

       
“Well
I’ve only heard one line so…”

       
Jonas
spent the rest of the trip talking in character. It was fun to play along with
him. He got to practice the dialogue, the accent, and to settle into the mind
of the character a bit more. As a method actor, the more time he spent in
character, the better he seemed to feel about it.

       
By
the time they arrived for dinner, she wasn’t sure if she was eating with Jonas
or Sir Theodore Hamilton of Airship “Maiden’s Rogue”. Either way, she was
entertained and enchanted by him. He never failed to give her a look or touch
that communicated with action what words would fail to convey adequately. Love,
what is the word compared to the look in his eye when he feels it? She was
reminded of that song
When You Say
Nothing At All
by Alison Krauss. Her mother used to play it sometimes when
she was extra happy in the morning.

       
They
were almost to the door when she had to say it, “Jonas, I want you to know that
you make me the happiest person in the world.”

       
She
was sure it stunned him a moment, he was probably sorting through who should
respond to her, and finally he said, “I try.”

       
She
knew he did. That’s what made him so special.