Agony (3 page)

I grabbed a brush and began to fix the mess that my hair had turned into, then proceeded to brush my teeth. Once that was all I done, I walked back out into the kitchen and turned on the coffee machine. I yawned again and went back into the living room. I folded my quilt and tossed it back on the couch, before I did my morning routine of opening the front door and taking in a deep breath of the crisp morning air.

I heard Arsen push his chair back followed by the sound of his footsteps as he came into the living room. I felt his curious eyes on me but he didn’t say anything. I leaned my head against the doorway. I liked to do this even on mornings that it was raining, because it had a calming effect on me.

He came over to where I was standing and put his head on my shoulder.

“What are we doing?” he whispered loudly.

I began to giggle and he pulled his face away.

“You know how some people do yoga in the morning or whatever to get ready for their day? This is what I do. A few deep breaths of the morning air and a little bit of time to reflect on the day before and what I hope for the day ahead of me,” I explained.

“That’s actually pretty cool,” he said.

I smiled at him.

The house phone rang and I sighed, walking away from Arsen to go answer it.

“Hello?” I asked.

“Hey darlin!”

It was Max.

“Hi Max, what’s up?” I asked cradling the phone between my shoulder and my ear.

“I wanted to tell you that yesterday was your last day here.”

“What?”

I almost dropped the phone in shock. I knew I shouldn’t have left early; I just knew it. 

“Did I do something wrong?” I asked close to tears.

“No! I was just thinking about it after you left, and you seem really unhappy at Devil’s Den. I thought I would just let you off the hook, is all.”

“But ... I ...”

Arsen came over to stand by me. I looked up at him with tears in my eyes and he took the phone.

“Hey Max, it’s Arsen. What’s going on?” he asked.

I slid down to the kitchen floor and buried my face in my hands.

Whatever you do, don’t cry.

I blocked out their conversation. I figured it was pointless to listen since I couldn’t hear Max’s side.  I heard Arsen hang up the phone with a sigh. He sat down on the floor next to me but didn’t speak right away.

“It’s not all bad news, Neve. He said he got you a job at Golden Hills Media. You know, the big movie production place? He said that was the first thing he did when he decided to let you go,” Arsen said softly.

I sniffled and looked at him with a tear stained face. How Max managed to do everything so quickly was beyond me. It only made sense that he had probably thought of letting me go for a while now.

“That was nice of him,” I replied softly.

“See? It’s not a total loss,” he replied kindly.

“Yeah,” I said getting to my feet. I walked into the bathroom and shut the door behind myself. I just wanted to be alone. I knew that Max had at least found me a good job that I would probably love, but I just didn’t feel like faking happiness.

I leaned on the sink and closed my eyes. I heard a soft knock on the door and turned the faucets on. Maybe the sound of rushing water would deter him.

“Neve?” Arsen asked softly.

Maybe not.

“I’m fine,” I said through the door.

“Okay,” he answered. “Um, I’m going to head out. Max told me he wanted me to come in today to fill in for someone who called off, so I have to go home and shower and stuff. But maybe we can get together later?”

“Sure.”

“Alright. Bye, Neve.”

“See ya,” I replied.

Arsen didn’t leave right away. It took him a moment or two before he even backed away from the door.

I sat down on the toilet seat and waited patiently, until I finally heard the front door open then close.

I waited another minute before I opened the door and stepped out. I went straight to my couch and flopped down on my back. 

I was fired from the first job I ever had. I felt like a failure. There had to be some underlying reason that Max wasn’t telling me.

I put my pillow over my face and let out a muffled scream.  Why was my life so weird? I left my side of the United States to come out to Odessa Valley, California to my dream job, which turned out to be a joke.

I didn’t even have any friends out here. I couldn’t count Arsen as a friend; I had just met him yesterday, even if he did spend the night.

I blindly reached for my phone on the coffee table and held down the number two button.

“Neve, Neve, go away,” Addie sang playfully.

“I got fired,” I replied.

“What?” she asked in surprised.

“Max called this morning. He fired me. Arsen got on the phone with him after I almost started bawling. He said that Max secured a place for me at Golden Hills Media first,” I explained glumly.

“Arsen was there? He ... Stayed with you last night?”

“In a completely non sexual way. God, Addie, I tell you that I get fired and you’re more interested in if I got fucked or not,” I replied angrily.

“I’m sorry,” she said, apologetically. “It’s just that you’ve never had a guy stay with you before and I thought that maybe ...”

“I met him
yesterday
. What the hell makes you think I’d just hand it over like that?”

Adesynne stayed quiet. I could tell that yelling at her wasn’t going to make me feel any better. Hell, all I wanted to do was piss and moan about losing my job and she assumed that I had turned into a whore while I was at it.

“Let me let you go, Addie. I’ll call you later or tomorrow,” I said quietly.

“Okay, Neve. I love you. You know that, right?”

“Yeah. I love you too.”

We said our good-byes and hung up. I put the phone down, feeling worse than I did before. After a few more minutes of just lying there and wallowing my self-pity, I decided to go out for a walk to clear my head.

I went into the bedroom and grabbed a pair of underwear, a bra, my favorite pair of blue denim jeans and a white t-shirt. I went into the bathroom and put my clothes on the edge of the sink and turned on the shower. Once I got the water temperature to my liking, I took off my pajamas and red panties and tossed them into the hamper.

I stepped directly into the powerful semi-hot stream and began to wash my long, wavy brown hair.

I scrubbed myself to the point of it almost being painful before I decided I was clean enough and stepped out of the shower. I dried myself off, blow dried my hair, and got dressed.

I slid on my flip flops when I got to the living room and walked out the front door.

Straight into Arsen.

“Whoa!” I cried out in surprise.

“Sorry,” he replied with a laugh. “I called Max and told him that I couldn’t make it in today.”

“So you came back here?” I asked, smiling up at him.

“Yeah, I thought we could hang out or something,” he replied with a shrug. “Where ya headed?”

“Nowhere in particular. I was just going for a walk to clear my head.”

“Why don’t we grab some food and go to Las Vegas? We can just hang out and talk,” he suggested.

“I don’t know if I’m allowed in the Devil’s Den lot anymore,” I replied quietly.

“Yeah you are. You’ll be my guest,” he said with a wink.

I laughed and nodded. Arsen grinned and walked me over to his car. He opened the door and closed it after I sat down.

A real gentleman,
I thought to myself with a small smile.

“Any idea what you’re in the mood for?” he asked as he pulled his seatbelt on.

“It’s your turn to pick,” I replied.

“Chinese it is,” he said with a grin.

I started to laugh again and directed him to the Chinese restaurant a few blocks away.

A
rsen pulled up in front of the restaurant and looked at me.

“This feels kind of redundant,” he said making a face.

“Well, there’s a sub shop a few blocks away that makes some really awesome sandwiches. Turn the car off; we can walk from here,” I replied, taking off my seatbelt and getting out of the car.

Arsen jogged around the side of his car and caught up to me. I was enjoying the sunny day and it was kind of interesting to me, that Arsen coming back put me in a much better mood.

We chatted on the way to the sub shop. Not a serious conversation, which made me feel better. I had enough shit to deal with when I went back to “real” life.

“After you, shorty,” Arsen teased, opening the door for me. 

I stuck my tongue out at him as I entered the shop and waved at the college guys behind the counter. I was on friendly terms ever since I had moved out here, because for a while, all I could afford was this place.

Arsen stood behind me in line and put his chin on top of my forehead. I shook my head slightly and he laughed.

“Just trying to get comfortable while I look at my options,” he said.

“By all means, take your time,” I replied.

I reached into my back pocket for my wallet. I checked the other pocket when I couldn’t find, it then my side pockets.

“Ah shit. I forgot my money at home,” I grumbled.

Arsen pulled his chin off of my head and stood in front of me, blocking my view of the menu board.

“What are you doing?” I asked giving him a shove.

“You didn’t bring your money, so I guess you’re not eating,” he said, glancing down at me with a serious face.

“Wow,” I replied in disbelief.

Almost immediately his lips began to twitch and he burst out laughing.

“I’m kidding, Neve! I wouldn’t do that to you. Just let them know what you want; I’ve got this,” he said, taking his wallet out of his back pocket.

I shoved him playfully aside and stepped up to the counter.

“I’ll take the usual, Matt,” I said to the red haired, freckled face young man.

“I figured as much. What about your boyfriend?” Matt asked.

A look of confusion crossed my face. I didn’t have a boyfriend and the only other person in here with me was ... Arsen.

“He’s
not—”

“I’ll have a twelve inch tuna on whole wheat,” he said, interrupting me with a grin.

“On it guys,” Matt said with a big smile.

I looked up at Arsen who was still grinning. He draped his arm across my shoulders and pulled me to his side.

“So, still wanna go to Vegas,
Babe
?” he asked loudly.

“Stop that!” I hissed.

Matt started to laugh and Arsen leaned down and planted a kiss on the side of my head. My body stiffened. I wasn’t expecting that but at least it wasn’t on the lips; I might have punched him out of sheer reflex.

“Here you go guys,” he said at the other end of the counter.

I slid away from Arsen’s arm and went down to the register. Arsen handed me two drink cups and I went over to the soda machine. I filled mine with a Cherry Coke. I glanced over at him and waved his cup.

“Um, Mountain Dew is fine,” he said, grabbing the bag of subs and saying good-bye to Matt.

I slammed his cup down and filled it partially with ice, before moving over to the soda button.

“That was angry,” he remarked.

“You’re
not
my boyfriend. I barely know you!”

He just shook his head and laughed again. After I secured the plastic lid on his cup, he took it and walked out of the shop. I followed him back to the car and waited while he opened my door.

I sat down and placed my cup in the cup holder before I pulled on my seatbelt and looked out the window. The street was crowded with people. Parents with their children, business people having business meetings, and college kids going by on skateboards.

“Neve, it was a joke,” Arsen said as he put the key into the ignition.

I didn’t respond. Honestly, I didn’t know why it had gotten under my skin the way it did. From what I could gather so far, he was just a friendly guy that loved to laugh. What was so wrong about that?

“Sorry,” I mumbled.

Arsen sighed and drove us to the Devil’s Den lots an hour away. By the time we got there I was so hungry I could’ve eaten my own hand.

Once the guard flagged us in, he drove to a parking lot designated for the Den employees and parked. I grabbed my cup and got out of the car. I smiled when I saw him tripping over himself to get to me in time to open my door.

I stuck my tongue out at him and he grinned. He held out an arm and I looped mine in his as we started to walk toward the different city sets. When we walked passed the house in San Francisco, I cringed. Someone in there was getting
railed
and she wasn’t shy about it.

“I thought you were sick?” a voice suddenly said.

We turned around and saw a beautiful raven haired, thin girl with big blue eyes and, as per usual with these female actresses, huge fake boobs and tiny waist.

“I am,” Arsen said faking a cough.

“Max had to scramble to replace you, you know,” she said accusingly, crossing her arms over her chest.

I wonder how she can do that without popping them.

“Yeah, well, I didn’t feel like it today,” he replied edgily.

Her eyes wandered over to me. She raised an eyebrow at Arsen.

“Trista, this Neve. Neve, this is Trista. She works for Max as one of his film stars,” Arsen said, introducing us.

I gave her a tight smile which she returned. Arsen and I started to walk away, when Trista grabbed his arm.

“Just because you have a girlfriend now, doesn’t mean you can just bail on the scenes we need you for,” she said quietly.

Scenes?

“I get that,” he replied through clenched teeth. “I’ll see you later.”

“Scenes?”  I asked.

“Well yeah. He works here too you know,” she said.

“Actually, now that we’re on that subject, I never asked you what it is exactly that you do at Devil’s Den,” I said to Arsen, pulling away from his arm.

“You’re kidding me. She doesn’t know?” Trista scoffed.

Arsen shot her a dirty look.

“Arsen?” I prompted.

Something told me that I wasn’t going to like his answer. Something deep inside of me was begging me to stop asking. But I needed to know.