Miss Independent (17 page)

“Start with talking to her and see where it goes from there.”

“We
did
talk. It led me to
this
.” She pointed to the glass.

“Point taken. In that case, who do you hate more in this very moment, Nicole or Sheila?”

“The She-Devil of course, but that’s not the point.”

“It’s exactly the point, V. It says that whatever Nikki’s done is incomparable to what Sheila did to you. If you’re still willing to give your friendship with Nikki a chance, then you should. Sheila deserved to be written off, but maybe Nikki doesn’t.”

“This is the same woman you called a moocher, and now you think I shouldn’t write her off?”

“You care about her and I care about you,” he said. “I may not understand why her friendship means so much to you, but it does.” He stood up and drank more of his beer. “Truthfully, I can do without her being around.”

He headed for the door and she made a face.

“Hey, Maurice?”

He turned. “Yeah?”

“What do you know about Oscar, from the coffee shop? Did you two ever cross paths when you were modeling?”

“I saw him at a few auditions here and there, but that’s about it. I didn’t get to know him until I started visiting the shop more. Why?”

“Then you didn’t know he was married?”

“No. To who?”

“Melanie Bruchesque, president of CBS Films. She doesn’t use her married name in business, so I had no idea until she told me in our meeting today that he was her husband. We’re putting her on the cover of our annual ‘Women in Power’ issue. Anyway, I’m just surprised I never realized Oscar was married. That seems like something I should know from reading his bio in various trades, right? He’s a former GAP model, and I’m pretty sure my mom used him in one of her ads years ago.”

“What’s the big deal if you didn’t know they were married?” he asked. “Were you into him?”

“Of course not. I just find it extremely odd.”

“Everybody’s got skeletons. Maybe theirs are just too big to fit inside one small closet. Don’t stay up too late stressing over this,” he said. “Night.”

“Yeah, night,” she muttered, her mind someplace else.

As he was leaving the kitchen, Nikki entered. She gagged nearly running into his sweaty chest.

She covered her nose and stood back. “
Hueles
,” she said.

“
I
smell? That makes two of us.” He chugged the rest of his beer and headed upstairs to his bedroom.

Nikki stepped inside the kitchen and stared at Vanessa, who refused to acknowledge her presence.

Neither was willing to budge and apologize first.

“I just came back to get my things,” Nikki finally said.

Vanessa frowned. “And where do you plan on going with them?”

“I’m staying at the Ritz for a few days.”

“How the hell do you plan on paying for that? Wait. Oscar’s money, right?”

“I’m not a puta, Vanessa.”

“I never said you WERE one. But if that’s something that you think about yourself, then maybe that’s something you need to check before getting all high and mighty on me again.”

“Maybe I just need to move out.”

“And go where? No one will take you in, Nikki, you’re not a stray dog.”

“This is why I called you a bitch earlier.” She stormed out of the kitchen and headed for the stairs.

              Vanessa got up and ran after. “Hey! You called me a bitch earlier because you knew I was right about what I said!” She hollered, pointing. Nikki stopped at the first step. Vanessa dropped her arms and sighed. “And you’re calling me one now because I’m being one.”

              Nikki spun around to face her friend and stepped back down onto the floor.

              “You knew that I was right earlier. I apologize for how I said what I did, but not for
what
I said. You can’t go through life thinking that whatever you do doesn’t have consequences. Be honest. Did you really think that what I said to you earlier isn’t worth thinking about? Nobody is sitting around here calling you a whore, but when you act like--”

              “Sheila?”

              “This isn’t even about Sheila anymore, if it ever was. It’s about you, and you knew the man was married. There are no ifs, ands or buts about that. It’s fact.”

              When she realized the shower was running from the bathroom in the hallway, she took Nikki by the arm and dragged her through the hall. She didn’t trust that Maurice was actually soaping himself up in that very moment and was instead listening at the door.

              They went into the den. Nicole had a seat on the couch near the fireplace and curled her legs up as Vanessa stood above, staring down at her.

              “I knew this would be the end of our friendship.”

              “Our friendship isn’t going to end over this, Nik. I’m just really surprised that you thought that what you did was remotely okay! So much so, that you kept doing it!”

“I never thought it was okay. I thought we were more than… I thought I was more than a mistress,” she said. “I thought I meant more to him than someone he could call in the middle of the night for sex or comfort.”

“Maybe you do, but marriage is supposed to be sacred, and he sullied his vows by sullying with you. I love you like a sister, but these are people’s lives that you’re screwing with here.”

              “So is he.” She looked away from Vanessa and gulped. “I guess that means you think I’m shit?”

              “No, I just think you’re kind of stupid. Not in general, but about this. To go so far as this? I mean, what does his dick do? Shoot sparkles and rainbows from the tip instead of cum? Glow in the dark without the special condoms?”

“Vanessa,” she grumbled.

“I’m just curious! I don’t understand why you would go there otherwise. The sex might be worth it, but is your dignity?”

              Nikki dropped her feet to the floor and her face in her hands, and began silently sobbing. “I didn’t mean to go after him, V, it’s… I can’t even say it’s something that just happened, because it didn’t. We took time to get to know each other. I learned more about him just like he did with me. Once I learned he was married, I knew that meant he was off limits. I didn’t want to fall for him, but there was just something about him and I couldn’t help myself. I fell and I haven’t been able to get back up from it since. And he believes in me. He doesn’t think my acting is just some pipe dream, he really thinks I can make it.”

She looked over at her friend, who seemed just as broken as ever. She felt like crawling inside a hole and never coming out.

“I get what you are saying, I do. He’s older and cultured and he looks at you in a way that you’ve never looked at yourself, and only started to after he encouraged you into it. I know the type, Nik. I’ve dated that type. When I was in college, remember Adrian? But you can’t continue sleeping with him. If you do, I hate to even say it but that makes you worse than Sheila ever was. What I had with Nathan or any guy I dated after doesn’t compare to falling for someone with a five year marriage and two kids.”

              Nikki wiped the fallen hair from her face and attempted to dry her eyes with the sleeve of her jacket. “I saw them together today at the coffee shop. They were loving to one another, and caring. She really has no idea about me at all.”

              “Would you like her to have one?”

              “No. But I thought that he might’ve slipped and said something at some point.”

              “Maybe he has. Or, maybe it’s just women’s intuition from the vibe I got from her today.”

              “How so?”

              “Just the way she said your name when she was in my office, telling me you had come by. She may not know for a fact, but I think you got her antennas raised. I got the feeling she might be trying to figure some things out.”

              “Things like what?”

              She shrugged. “I don’t have a clue, but if she does know, I don’t think she’ll leave him. She seems like the type to do whatever possible to keep her marriage intact. Maybe for herself, maybe for her image. But either way, she worked too damn hard for what she has and she’s not giving that up to anyone, especially not another woman. And certainly not the one currently sleeping with her husband.”

Nikki gulped. She understood now more than ever that she may have had an actual fight on her hands for Oscar’s affections. She started to wonder was he worth it.

“What has he told you?” asked Vanessa.

              “He’s always maintained that he was getting a divorce. That it was only a matter of time before she signed the papers and it was done, finished. I wanted to believe it. I wanted to believe that he could change my life for the better and that I
had
changed his. I wanted to believe that even if I never scored another audition, or if I did but never got the part, I at least had him. And now I don’t even have that.”

              “You have me. And I know it’s not the same, but it’s not like you’re alone. Are you in love with him?”

              “I think so.”

              “Well, how long have to two been intimate?”

              “About a year.”

              “The entire time you’ve been working there? You’re in love with him, alright.” She shook her head. “I’ve never known you to keep sleeping with a guy after the third month, even when you said he was the best you ever had. Where did you go tonight? To see him?”

              “He called after I left here and wanted to talk. We met at the shop and he told me about Melanie’s magazine cover and how he’s panicking because you all want to bring the kids in from the Hamptons to do a family shoot for pictures to put inside the magazine.”

              “That must be her idea, or Alexis’. I never discussed it with either one of them, but I have no idea what went on after I left. Anyway. I
am
sorry for making you think that I wanted you out or that we’d no longer be friends. Did you really get a room at the Ritz?”

              “I can’t afford a room at the Ritz, V. Oscar offered me the money, but I couldn’t take it. I was just going to stay in some bum hotel for the night. Or on a park bench.”

              “Times like this would’ve been perfect for using your parents’ name and recognition.”

              “I didn’t want to stay someplace on their merit. And I can’t dig into my trust fund until I’m twenty-five.”

              “Well, then I probably would’ve just called in a few favors behind your back. Hell, depending on where you landed, maybe you would’ve been fortunate enough to stay at the same hotel as She-Devil, who by the way will be flying back into town on her broomstick soon enough.”

              “Have you talked to her?”

              “She called this evening and left me a voicemail telling me that she was flying in next week.”

“Is Nathan coming with her?”

“She didn’t mention him, but she’s not going to pass up an opportunity to flaunt her ring
and
her man in my face.”

“How are you going to feel about seeing him again?”

“I assume if I don’t want to break his face in my hands, then I’ve made progress.”

“And what about Sheila?”

“I don’t think I’ll know until I see her. But if she tells me one thing about moving forward, I’m gonna punch her lights out. I’m gonna deck her so hard, she’ll be sixty years old and still wake up in cold sweats from that deck.”

“Then it’ll be like old times,” said Nikki.

“Pretty much, basically. Yeah.”

They spent the rest of the night watching badly produced porn and drinking the remaining tequila in the fridge.

Part Nine

The following week, Sheila had finally arrived in town. Vanessa got word of her landing just a few minutes after she had hit the ground in her father’s private jet. She was a nervous wreck. Not because of Sheila, but because she feared what she may do upon seeing her again since she still wasn’t sure what it would be. She hadn’t gotten any sleep the night before and what little rest she
did
get managed to be interrupted by the sound of a ticking time bomb ready to go off inside her own head. She had hoped her brains would splatter across the walls as a result because it gave a valid excuse as to why she wouldn’t be able to ‘catch up’ with Sheila today and discuss how much she had in fact moved on from the antics of high school.

              She sat waiting for her at the Bistro on Madison Avenue. And as per the norm of her carelessness, Sheila was over twenty minutes late from the time agreed upon.

“She was the one who insisted on this restaurant,” Vanessa mumbled to herself, “and she couldn’t even bother to get here first.” She took a sip of water and rolled her eyes.

Vanessa thought of leaving, but knew if she didn’t see her now, she’d never be able to get it over with. The restaurant was closed off, sort of in the back of the others lining the sidewalk. She knew that if anything were to happen, there would be little witnesses to help prove Sheila’s case. It wasn’t her first choice to meet there, but she didn’t want to meet her at the airport, because they weren’t friends. She didn’t want to meet her at her home, because they weren’t friends. And she didn’t want to meet her at her office, because this wasn’t business, it was personal. And only friends and business associates were allowed to meet her at work.