Forever and a Day (30 page)

Halo looked at their reflection in the mirror with JJ hugging her, “I think the good ones are already taken…” She sighed.

A knock came at Halo’s door and JJ let Halo go, “Do I look ok? No nose boogies or anything hanging out?” JJ asked in a quiet hush.

“You look hot! I’ll let Doug in, go get your things and make your entrance!” Halo suggested and JJ quickly headed off back to her room.

Halo limped to the door and opened it to a smiling Doug. He stood at Halo’s door with a bunch of red roses in his hand, his boyishly attractive face happy and smiling. His shoulder length blonde wavy hair was parted at the side and brushed back; his blue eyes sparkled as he greeted Halo, “Well hello boss!” He said happily, as Halo stepped back to let him in.

“Hello Doug! Woo! I like the suit. There is something about a man in a dark suit and a white dress shirt! You look great!” Halo said as Doug stepped in, “JJ will be right out.”

Doug came in and stood by the table as Halo shut the door behind them. He turned to her with a concerned look and in a quiet voice spoke to her, “Thank you for everything, Halo. Uh, we are all worried about you. No one wants to bother you, but I gotta ask… are you ok?”

Halo patted Doug’s arm, “I’m fine, sore as hell, but fine Doug. Thanks for asking and you are welcome.”

Doug took a long look at her face deciding she was on the level, “Ok. Well, if you need anything you just let me know.” He leaned close to Halo and whispered, “I am so nervous…”

Halo smiled and leaned in with a whisper, “Just remember to breathe.” She brushed off some lint from his jacket and straightened his shirt collar, “You’ll be fine, Doug.” She patted his shoulder and stepped away with a smile. She gestured to the connecting door, “Here is your sexy lady now!” Halo watched Doug’s nervous expression fall away to one of love then to surprise as JJ sauntered over.

“Oh wow. JJ you, you look so sexy… and gorgeous!” Doug stammered and held out the bouquet of roses to his love.

“Oh Doug! Thank you!” JJ said accepting the flowers, “Talk about sexy! Boy, look at you all dressed up! I like the look!” JJ said as she eyed her man up and down then came up and kissed him gently on his lips.

Doug turn red-faced, “Well someone called and said I should get dressed up.” He glanced at Halo, who looked off at the ceiling playing it coy.

Halo glanced at them watching her and laughed, “Ok you two, go have some fun!” Halo gave them both a gentle push towards the door.

Doug opened the door and JJ turned to Halo, “Thanks, girlfriend. See you in the morning!”

“Go! While the night is still young!” Halo said smiling as they both waved to her from the hallway. Halo watched as Doug put his arm around JJ and pulled her close to him as they waited for the elevator. She softly closed the door and locked it.

Going over to the bed she stripped off her dress and got into a pair of black yoga shorts and matching top. She picked up her phone and settled onto the big king bed. Checking her emails, she saw there was one from Chuck’s parents telling her how well he was doing at the hospital. She quickly took a selfie with her smiling big and emailed it to Chuck with her love and encouragements.

Scanning through the end of her thousands of pictures she came across her picture taken with Robbie Montclaire and remembered that she forgot to send it to her parents. The thought of her mother sent a warmth through her. She knew she needed to call her and let her know what happened. She checked the time and saw that it would be around midnight, yesterday in LA. She sighed and felt a pit forming in her tummy; she did not want to wake her mother but really wanted to talk to her about what happened. With a sigh, she decided that she would explain everything in an email and call her from Pago Pago.

After she sent off her mother’s email, she wrote an abridged version and sent it off to Paul Nader, her manager. Paul was a PR wizard and could spin gossip and insinuations like no other, he would probably have the world believing she was a martial arts master and had been holding women’s self-defense classes forever.

Halo plugged her phone into its charger and reached for her meds. She downed two ibuprofen and her muscle relaxer. Using her remote, she found a movie she had not seen and ordered it. She propped her pillows up against the tall black leather headboard and settled in to watch the animated film, ‘Epic’.

Half way through the film, she had settled into bed with a leg over one pillow and cuddled up to the other. With half closed, heavy eyes, she managed to make it to the end. When the credits began rolling, she was already fast asleep.

Halo sensed a man was moving close to her, she could feel his presence near her but she could not make out his face due to the darkness. He seemed eerily familiar, but did not know who he was. In a jolt of panic, she wondered if he was there to hurt her. She desperately tried to look around and realized she was not at home. With her panic growing, she began flailing around in the dusky atmosphere trying desperately to see. A feeling of dread grabbed hold of her as she fought to see. She tried to scream but she it felt like her lungs had lost all the air with which to scream with. Fear gripped her mind and she had no idea where she was or why it was getting darker. She gasped hard for air but her lungs failed to fill, she tried to reach up to her throat to quell the fire burning there, but her hands felt lifeless.

Full panic set in as she realized she was dying. Her heart was hammering so hard she could hear the rush of blood in her ears. Suddenly she made out hands coming towards her, they were not JJ’s… they were a man’s hands. Unable to move or scream she knew this was the end. Terrified, she screamed at herself to push the looming hands away, but her arms would not obey and she remained paralyzed.

With a suddenness she could breathe again, she took in huge gulps of air and someone was pushing away whatever was blocking her view, and then she saw… a pair of deep green eyes smiling at her. She felt them look past her defenses and down into her heart and soul. Shocked, she looked to see who it was and saw soft full lips smiling at her. Time skidded to a stop and began moving so slow that it seemed like hours passed as she looked up into those eyes then a surreal feeling overcame her. It started in her tummy and spread to her heart then throughout her entire body, it was a warmth and a calm she could not even begin to describe with words… she had never felt anything like it, or had she?

A huge crash sounded out and startled her, the familiar eyes were wrenched away and she followed them with her own and watched in horror as they began falling into an inky blackness that stunk of fear and dread. She panicked as the green eyes looked so sadly back at her; red tears began streaming from them as they slowly began fading away from her in the consuming darkness. She knew what she had to do, with a scream she jumped into the abyss after him. She began falling faster, and faster. She saw his hand and she reached for it then suddenly he snatched it away from her and disappeared forever…

Halo sat up with a scream on her lips as she gasped in huge gulps of air and clutched at her hammering heart. “Oh my God!” She hoarsely groaned, “It was just a dream, oh fuck!’ She panted, willing her heart to beat normally in her chest. She reached for her bottle of water and took huge sips through her breathless panting. She looked around the room and realized it was still dark, she checked her phone and saw it was 3:14 AM.

She swung her feet off the bed and onto the floor and got a jolt of pain from her injured foot. She ignored it and continued to the bathroom. After she was done, she sat on the toilet playing the dream repeatedly in her mind. She knew to whom those green eyes belonged to: her Mystery man. She finally got up and went to the sink to wash her hands, she looked at her pale visage in the mirror, “Where the hell do I know you from?” She looked deep into her own blue eyes in the mirror, but the answer was not forth coming.

She rinsed off her face and as she was patting herself dry, a stab of panic hit her, “Oh hell!” She ran over to her phone, and sat down hard on the bed, jarring her back. It reminded her of its injury with a dagger of pain. She winced and did her best to ignore it and called up her browser and searched for local news, desperately hoping her actor was ok. She quickly read the trending news and found no accounts of a missing plane. She sighed a breath of relief and set her phone down, her panic dissipating. If something happened to the guy, it would be her fault she decided and checked the news once again to make sure.

Satisfied after browsing numerous news outlets she set her phone down and leaned back onto the soft headboard thinking about her dream. It was certainly intense, and one she would talk to her mother about for sure. She made a mental note to do so when she got to Pago. The thought of hearing her mother’s soothing all-knowing voice brought some peace to her heart. Why would she dream of Xander Kostinos? With a shake of her head, she grabbed the TV remote from the nightstand then a thought formed: It must be the meds and the stress of yesterday making its appearance.

She nodded to herself, for the meds being the reason and ordered up another movie knowing sleep was not going to be happening.

“Hey sleepyhead, wakey, wakey!” Halo slowly opened one eye and saw her friend smiling at her, she looked around and saw the sun streaming in through the gauzy window shears.

“Go away. You are too happy this morning, I didn’t get much sleep.” Halo slowly sat up and covering her mouth as she yawned.

“Oh no! Did we make too much noise? For real?” JJ asked concerned.

“Holy hell! I thought the Aussie Olympic gymnastics team was holding tryouts in there, damn! What the hell were you doing in there last night?” Halo deadpanned.

“Oh my God, I am so sorry…” JJ covered her mouth with both hands.

“You know when it got bad? It was when I heard the ongoing commentary and the cheering crowds calling out for scores of ten!” Halo could not hold it in and started laughing but continued, “When the peanut selling guy started hawking his nuts, that’s when I gave up!” JJ grabbed a pillow and smacked Halo in the face. Halo kept laughing, “I tried to order his nuts but you guys were too damn loud, he couldn’t hear me over the moaning! I kept yelling: I want your nuts!”

JJ smiled and chuckled, “I think it’s you who is nuts, girl!” JJ sat down next to Halo as she wiped tears from her eyes.

“Well, did you have fun last night?” Halo asked with a wry smile.

“We did and thank you for the champagne and food; it um… came in handy.” JJ blushed a bit then held up her left hand so Halo could see.

Halo’s smile widened as she saw the small sparkling diamond engagement ring on JJ’s ring finger. She wrapped her arms around JJ and hugged her tightly, “Congratulations! I’m so happy for you both!” Halo squealed as tears of joy began forming in her eyes.

JJ hugged her back and laughed, “You knew didn’t you?”

Halo pulled back and wiped her tears, “Well… Doug mentioned it was going to be a special night when I spoke with him… I just offered some advice.”

JJ held Halo’s hand with a smile and tears in her eyes, “And bought him his suit… he thanks you as do I for everything!”

“I love you guys! It’s the least I can do…” They both hugged again.

When JJ released her she leaned back and examined her friends face, “Halo, you do look tired, did you really not sleep?”

Halo covered her mouth and yawned again, “Bad dream.” She shivered as she looked down at the purple and yellowing bruise on her foot.

“You’ve had a couple of those lately… did you call your mom?” She saw Halo shake her head no, “Wanna talk about it?”