The Green Ticket (26 page)

“Aw, dude, I’m so sowry!” Lance slurred, trying to wipe the beer off Henry’s shirt but really just soaking it in further. I didn’t know how to help so I just stood back and watched, cringing. My first impression of Lance was that he was a hot mess. More accurately ––a drunk mess.

“That’s okay, man, that’s okay. Don’t worry about it.” Henry tried to get Lance to stop touching his shirt, and finally just took a step away from him. “Anyway, thanks for having us tonight. I wanted you to meet someone. This is my girlfriend, Alex.”

Girlfriend?
I looked at Henry with raised eyebrows. We hadn’t called ourselves boyfriend and girlfriend yet. Henry just grinned back at me, winking.

“Well, hello, Alex,” Lance said to me, holding out one hand. I stuck mine out thinking we were going to shake, but instead he brought my hand to his lips and kissed my knuckles. Sweet yet creepy. “The pleasure is all mine.”

“Nice to meet you, Lance,” I said, trying not to laugh.

“You take care of this fella here. He’s a good fish,” Lance continued, looking at me through squinted eyes. Was this guy going to make it till midnight? Something was telling me no.

“I’ll do my best. Thanks for having us, and it was nice to meet you,” I said, biting down on my lower lip so I wouldn’t laugh in his face.

Henry put his arm around my waist and led me away from Lance, who went back to his iPod and sang along with the music. “Sorry about that. Lance is our soak.”

“Soak?” I asked.

“Alcoholic. Lush. Drunk. Soak.” We were about halfway across the room, heading in the direction of two tables that were being used for a massive flippy cup game. I stopped Henry before we could reach the group and join in.

“Gotcha. But bigger question. Girlfriend?” I asked, staring into his blue eyes.

“Beautiful. Special. Alex. Girlfriend,” Henry answered, before finding my mouth and placing the most romantic kiss on my lips. I positively melted into him, feeling euphoric. Henry was officially my boyfriend.

The rest of the party passed quickly, too quickly for my liking. We played multiple games of flippy cup, beer pong, darts, and pool. I danced with my girlfriends to the tunes Lance cranked out. I did jello shots, drank too much beer and snacked on chips, chips and more chips the owners had been thoughtful enough to provide. I didn’t think about Blissful or Kevin or the text message on my phone. I just partied like the twenty-year old college student I was, surrounded by my best friends and new boyfriend.

“It’s starting!” A girl wearing hot pants, fishnets, and a hot pink jersey shirt called for everyone’s attention at exactly 11:59. She turned up the volume on the TV, and we saw a shot of New York City and Times Square, overflowing with people as they watched the ball drop.

Henry slipped behind me and placed both hands on my waist and I leaned into him. Lila was to my right, and I wondered if she was going to kiss anyone. She and Joel had finally called it quits a few weeks ago. Hannah was on my left, holding onto Peter’s hand. I could see Carmen and Emma across the room, and raised my cup in salute to them. They raised their cups back and continued to chat with Max.

“Thirty, twenty-nine, twenty-eight!” More people in the room started to chant, watching the TV screen and pairing up. I glanced again at Lila, wondering if she was okay. She seemed to take her breakup with Joel fine, but New Years’ Eve could bring up some sour feelings. She caught me looking at her and winked at me.

“I’m happy, Alex,” she told me, without me even asking her. I winked back, relieved.

“Nineteen, eighteen, seventeen!”

“Quick! What was your favorite part of this year?” Henry asked me.

I turned to face him, already knowing my answer. “Meeting you,” I said, smiling up at my boyfriend.

“You stole my answer,” he smiled back.

“Ten, nine, eight!” the crowd roared, eagerly anticipating the final seconds.

“Happy New Year, Alex,” Henry whispered, his face coming close to mine.

“Happy New Year, Henry,” I said.

“Three, two, one. Happy New Year!” everyone shouted as someone threw confetti, poppers popped, and people cheered. The pandemonium was silenced by the kiss I shared with Henry.

$$$

“I feel like it’s cruel and unusual punishment to clean the apartment the day after New Year’s Eve. Why are we doing this again?” Lila asked as she listlessly squirted some blue ammonia onto the glass.

“Because our place looks like a train wreck, I have to work all week, and you’re going to be flying on a jet plane in three days to meet with an agency in Los Angeles. Or have you forgotten about that already?” I asked my friend, a smile on my face.

“I know! I still can’t believe it. I wake up every morning and ask myself if it’s true.” Lila shook her head in amazement, the forgotten Windex streaking down the glass. “I’m so nervous, but that has been the best diet. I’m seriously throwing up everything I try to consume.”

“Lila! That is disgusting. Please don’t turn into some crazy bulimic once you get out there. Please, please,” I begged my friend, running my eyes over her body. She did such a good job working out and watching what she ate the weeks before she met with Mary Strubaker. I would hate to see all her efforts be thrown away because she started to vomit everything back up.

“Trust me, that won’t happen. And I don’t throw up after every meal. Just when my nerves get the better of me. I have real casting calls that I have to do. I have to speak lines and make faces and pretend to report news and put my voice infliction lessons to the test and,” Lila started to turn red in the face, “I think I’m going to be sick.”

I rushed over to my friend. “No! No, you are not. Just breathe, okay? Big yoga breath in. Do it with me.” We breathed in together and exhaled. Breathe and exhale.  Breathe and exhale. “Feeling any better?” I asked, concerned.

“Much.” Lila finally turned and wiped the bathroom mirror, and I turned my attention back to the toilet, squeezing the bottle of cleaner and watching blue liquid fill the bowl. I hated being on toilet duty.

Lila and I chatted a bit more about her upcoming week, where she would be flying to LA with Mary Strubaker and two other girls from Mary’s agency. Mary had lined up casting calls and meetings with “important people” out in sunny California, and it would definitely be a make it or break it moment for Lila. Who knew if she would ever have this chance again? Lila tried saying if she didn’t get any offers in LA then at least she would still have Iowa and Mary’s agency. But appearing in a farming ad versus having a shot as an entertainment reporter paled in comparison. And I mean really paled. Vampire pale. I was nervous but thrilled for Lila. Not so thrilled that if she got offered a contract or job that she would be moving away from me. Life without Lila...I sniffed a bit, feeling the tears start to threaten.

“Oh, Al, you’re not crying again, are you?” Lila asked, looking at me with her big blue eyes. I’d been known to break down over the last few weeks every time I thought about her moving away.

“No,” I lied, as one tear spilt over and ran down my cheek. Traitor.

“Who knows what will even happen when I’m out there? I could totally bomb and have to stay in good ole Iowa the rest of my life.”

“Don’t talk like that!” I threw an unused rag at Lila. “I want you to succeed. I want you to get contracts and offers and be on TV with a spray tan and eight pounds of makeup. I really do. I just don’t want you to leave me.”

“You could always come with me.” Lila had mentioned me going with her many times. And why not? I would actually be closer to my family in Seattle, and it wasn’t like I had much going on in Des Moines anyway. One more year of school that I could finish online. My job? I hated Blissful and all the baggage and secrets I had to carry around. Henry? I didn’t want to leave my new boyfriend. Plus, I did have more friends here than just Lila. And I was comfortable here. I liked my life in Iowa. I couldn’t begin to picture myself in California and rubbing elbows with famous people. It just wasn’t my scene.

“I know, I know.” I sighed. “And I’ve thought about it, I really have. I just...can’t. I have so much going on here. And I wouldn’t have anything lined up out there, no job or anything. It just wouldn’t be smart.  And I don’t think I would fit in with the LA crowd anyway. I don’t have the celebrity knowledge like you do.”

“That’s the truth.” We declared the bathroom clean and headed towards the kitchen. “I don’t know what will happen, but if for some crazy reason someone likes me out there, you have to at least promise to come visit me. Someone has to keep my ego in check if I become a star.” Lila struck a ridiculous pose with one hand on her hip and the other in the air like she was waving at adoring fans.

I laughed, but still felt the tightness in my chest over possibly losing my friend to the world of Hollywood. “I will. I have to make sure you won’t forget all us little people when you’re schmoozing it up with Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston.”

“Seriously, Alex? Brad and Jen split years ago. He’s with Angelina Jolie now.”

“Really? How did I miss that?”

“I have no idea. Angie stole Brad from right under Jen’s nose when they were filming together. They even posed on a magazine cover together with all these kids like they were a family. It was so distasteful.” Lila turned her nose up and started to load the dishwasher.

I opened the fridge and started chucking expired food in the garbage. “Wow, how rude. But speaking of couples, how did you really take last night? Was it weird not having Joel around?”

“Yeah, it was. But you know what I felt when we broke up?” I shook my head, even though she had already told me three times. I knew she needed to keep reminding herself that she did the right thing, and I was happy to listen.“I felt relief. I felt light and free and ready to do anything. I didn’t realize that I was letting myself suffocate all these years. I was letting myself settle when my dreams were so much bigger. And if he can’t support them, he’s not supporting me. I don’t know if I can ever be just a dutiful housewife who loves nothing more than waiting on her man and popping out kids.  I need more. I need to live, I need the excitement. I at least need to try, or I’ll constantly be wondering what if. I’m just glad I finally realized it before I was super old–– like twenty-five or something.”

“Excuse me? Twenty-five? When did that become the new eighty? And you’ll hit that age in four years, need I remind you.” I laughed.

“No, don’t remind me! It’s just harder to get jobs out there when you’re past twenty-five. Thirty is practically deceased.”

“That whole town makes no sense. But back to the original topic –– I’m glad you’re okay with the breakup. And that last night wasn’t too weird for you. I half expected you to find someone to kiss.”

“Nah. I thought about trying, but the last thing I want to do is find my Mr. Right before I leave. I don’t want any baggage here in Iowa.”

“Besides me,” I reminded her.

“Besides you, of course,” she reassured me.

We worked side by side for most of the afternoon until our apartment sparkled and shined. We gave ourselves a much needed break and went to dinner with Carmen and Emma. Hannah was on yet another date with Peter. After dinner we rented two movies, a scary one and a chick-flick, and headed back to Wacker to have an enjoyable evening with friends, movies, popcorn, and vodka. I limited myself to two drinks since it was back to Blissful for me tomorrow. I didn’t want to face Kevin. I wasn’t sure how I could face Allie.

$$$

Alex, let’s talk when you get in on Tuesday and keep the incident to yourself. I feel a bonus coming your way! Happy New Year, Kevin.

I re-read the text from Kevin on my drive to Blissful. Wonderful. Another bonus to keep my mouth shut. When had my job turned from manager of a spa to secret-keeper, spineless, but much richer Alex? I stopped at a red light and looked at the text again. As well as an older text from Kevin, dated right before Christmas.

Dani shouldn’t know about this. Think about our family, Alex. A check will be in your mailbox tomorrow.

A check indeed had been waiting for me in my employee mailbox. A one thousand dollar check. That payoff was for the first time I had caught Kevin–– actually caught him and he knew I did, not just spying at him from my car or outside a treatment room. I didn’t even know the woman he was with, the woman he was screwing on one of the massage beds. Why did I have to stay late to run year-end reports that night? Why couldn’t I have done the work from home?

I knew it didn’t really matter. I had caught Kevin with other women three more times at the salon. All were different, and once with Allie. Yes, Allie, my friend and spa confidant. The one who told me she loved her fiancé and couldn’t wait to marry him. The woman who spilled “gossip” to me when I first started at Blissful about how Kevin could be a little overbearing but Dani was the biggest sweetheart. But there she was, riding Kevin like there was no tomorrow in her treatment room on the Friday before New Years’.

Kamille had officially resigned from Blissful around the holidays. After she stole another idea of mine–– this time for a holiday gift basket prize for a lucky client who rebooked an appointment–– I had reached a breaking point. I suspected she was snooping through my computer files and I was tired of coming up with new ideas, doing the research and getting everything prepared, just to have it stolen under my nose and passed off as someone else’s genius. I printed off the photos from my phone and stuck them in Kamille’s employee mailbox in a large envelope. I typed up a cryptic note that read: YOU’RE CAUGHT. LEAVE NOW OR DANI KNOWS.

Kamille put in her two weeks’ the very next day. I didn’t know if she had figured out it was me who caught her, and I didn’t care. She was gone, my ideas were safe, and that was one less employee I had to worry about Kevin screwing. I didn’t let Kevin know what I had done, or that I knew about him and Kamille. I still wanted to keep my job intact, at least for the time being. Once I found a new job and got my reference, I would be out.

I shook my head and kept driving. I hadn’t told anyone about the new twist at Blissful, the checks that were coming in or how I had forced Kamille to quit. Not Lila or the girls, Henry, my sister. I felt sick to my stomach every time I thought about what was going on behind closed doors. And how I was going along with it. I had even been physically sick when I thought about Dani and her three daughters. Did she have any idea her husband was having multiple affairs? Allie had told me once that Dani had her suspicions, but stayed with him for the money. But how could I possibly trust Allie and anything she said? She was sleeping with Kevin–– a married man, her boss!