Chapter Ten – If You've Ever Been a Lady to Begin With
In the days following the incident with Ivy at the nightclub, Mina found herself hiding out from the magical community. Not a day had gone by since she'd moved to LA where she hadn't stopped by the Daily Brew for a cup of coffee or a glass of iced tea, but with Ivy still at home recuperating, she didn't really feel like going there anymore. It didn't help that word spread fast in the tiny magical community and a trip to any magically owned business meant thousands of questions from fellow witches and wizards about her cousin's condition. For Mina, the only thing worse than having someone she cared about attacked was having people ask her about it every five minutes. So she spent a lot of time at home and in the non-magic world, not really talking to anyone other than Ivy, Justin, and Adam, who was visiting regularly.
It was a week later, only a couple of days before Ivy was going to be allowed to return to her job, that Mina finally ventured back to the coffee shop. She was desperate for something to keep her awake, and non-magic coffee didn't seem to do it for her. So she took a deep sigh and stepped into the Daily Brew, more than prepared for the stares that greeted her as she did so. She was quite aware of the whispers that followed her as she proceeded to the counter, but she tried her best to ignore them.
“Hey,” Belle greeted her, a tone of obvious surprise in her voice. “Haven't seen you in a while!”
“Yeah, I haven't really been in the mood for...you know...” She nodded towards the wizard behind her who was reading his newspaper upside down as a disguise for eavesdropping on their conversation.
“Yeah, I figured.” Belle nodded. “It's been a weirdly big deal around here, you know? Everyone's been talking about, 'cause they all know Ivy and love her, and I guess a lot of people didn't even know about her...difference. And it's sparked all this debate about how much that matters and prejudice and there have been all these rallies at night...it's weird.”
“I know, I've been reading the paper.” Having been avoiding talking to most of her magical friends, Mina had turned to the papers to keep her up to date on the happenings in the community. Adam had also been a big help in this way, giving her daily reports on the rallies he'd been involved with. And he was involved with a lot. She was kind of impressed.
“Crazy, yeah? This stuff happens a lot and people normally don't make such a big deal about it. I mean, I'm glad, but still...why now?”
“I dunno.” Mina shrugged nonchalantly. “There's no telling when and why the public is going to react to something. Could I just get a coffee? A big one?”
“Oh, sure.” Belle turned right to the coffee in question and began to pour, realizing that she had totally forgotten to even ask Mina for her order. “How is Ivy, by the way?”
“She's okay. Pretty much fine, really, just resting and stuff. She should be back here really soon.”
“Good.” She handed Mina the coffee and took the money offered in exchange. “And you? How are you holding up?”
“Fine,” Mina sighed. It was mostly true. The whole experience had been kind of emotional for her, as much as she tried to hide that from Ivy, but she was learning to live with it. These things happened all the time, she had to keep reminding herself. Every day in fact. Somehow that only made her feel worse. She glanced at her watch and realized how late it was. “Hey, I've gotta get going. Thanks for the coffee.”
“No problem. See you again soon?”
“Yeah, probably.”
“Good. Give Ivy my love.”
Mina agreed to pass on the message and hurried out the door, this time completely unaware of the multiple pairs of eyes that followed her.
* * *
Justin Timberlake was a very lucky man. This was not something that he had realized much, since it had been a long time since things had been going his way. But on his first day at his new job working for John Delaney, it hit him – he was lucky and his life was awesome. Granted, he had spent most of his day getting coffee for people, delivering scripts to trailers and making sure that the director was comfortable at all times, but it was the most thrilling thing he'd ever done anyway. The few minutes when he got to just stand and watch filming were worth the hours of running endless errands.
“Cut!” Delaney called, snapping Justin out of the trance he'd been in watching the scene that was being filmed. “That's a wrap! Thanks, everyone, see you tomorrow!”
And that was that. The first day was over, and within seconds everyone was leaving the set, heading to trailers or the parking lot. Justin just stood rooted to his spot for a moment, looking around and letting the scene around him sink in. It had been his goal for the day to not let himself take anything for granted, and even this ending moment counted.
It was again John Delaney who interrupted the moment, stopping to clap Justin on the shoulder on his way out. “Hey, good job today, kid. What's your name again?” he inquired.
“Ummm...uhhh...I'm...not sure,” Justin stammered in response, shocked that the director was actually addressing him directly. Delaney laughed.
“Well, try to remember before tomorrow. I'll ask again.”
He left and Justin stood in awe for a few moments before finally moving himself towards the parking lot. He was fairly certain that his jaw had remained wide open in amazement as he headed out to his car, but he didn't really care how ridiculous he looked. He was a very lucky man. Even despite the fact that it was now nearly 10 pm and he was just now leaving his job. Some things were worth it.
Approaching his car, Justin spotted a figure leaning against it. At first it startled him a bit, but as he got closer, he recognized the figure and it startled him even more. There Mina stood, her back pressed against the side of his car, long legs crossed in front of her, and each hand holding a paper coffee cup.
“Hey,” he greeted her, trying not to let his shock at her presence show. Even since what had seemed to be a break through talk at her home a week earlier, she still didn't really tend to initiate getting together with him, so a surprise visit was just that – an extreme surprise.
“Hi.” She sounded a little tired, but the smile that appeared on her face as she held one of the coffee cups out to him was entirely genuine. “What's up?”
“Uhhh...not much.” He accepted the coffee and took a grateful sip – it was only 10, but he was exhausted. “What are you doing here?”
Mina shrugged. “I knew you were getting done late and I wanted to see how your first day went. Plus I figured you'd be hungry.” She gestured the bags that he'd just now noticed sitting on top of his car, which he now assumed contained food.
“I am!” Justin's energy seemed to be picking up very quickly as he grabbed one of the bags and settled himself down on the hood of the car to open it.
“What are you doing?” she asked with a laugh, picking up the second bag, which she'd packed for herself.
“Uh, eating,” he replied obviously. Digging through his bag, he pulled out a small container of potato salad. “This is my favorite!”
“Here?” Mina looked around the quickly emptying parking lot where the only light was coming from the street lamps, since it was a new moon.
“I'm really hungry.”
“Fair enough,” she conceded, hopping onto the hood next to him and opening her own bag. She hadn't realized how hungry she was until that moment and she began to dig into her own potato salad as Justin finished his and went for the sandwich she'd made him – corned beef.
“Also my favorite,” he commented before taking a bite.
“I know.”
“How could you possibly know that?”
“I can read minds,” she said teasingly, although on a good day she actually could. It wasn't one of her most highly developed skills, however, and thus was not how she had gotten the information.
“Ah, that explains it.” Justin accepted this explanation, no questions asked. He'd discovered that with Mina, it was sometimes better not to ask questions. He was still kind of curious how she had known, though. He was fairly certain he'd never told her.
“So,” Mina prompted. “How was your first day?”
Justin practically dropped his sandwich in response. “Fucking amazing. Kind of horrible and tedious and boring, but...fucking amazing.”
“That makes no sense,” she laughed.
“I know, but it doesn't have to does it? When you love something, it's not always supposed to make sense.”
“Yeah, I guess that's true.”
“I mean, I spent half my day running around doing stupid ass shit tasks for God knows who, but then there would be these little moments where I would get to just stand and watch what was going on and it was the greatest thing ever. Because, John Delaney is a fucking god and watching him set up just one shot is worth five hours of getting coffee for people. I can't even explain.” His eyes fell on Mina for the first time since he'd started talking and he stopped, realizing that she was staring at him with a small smile on her face. “What?”
“Nothing, it's just I can see how much you love it. Your eyes just lit up like a thousand watts and it's...it's really awesome that you have that much passion for something. I wish I did.” She took a swig from the soda she'd included with her food, wanting something other than Justin to focus on.
“You don't love sociology?”
“No, I do...or I did, or...I don't really know.” Mina laughed a little uncertainly, the confusion she'd been feeling in the past week or so coming out in her voice. “It's interesting, but it's...just hitting a little too close to home lately, I guess.”
“Ivy?” Justin asked sympathetically. He was a lot more perceptive than she gave him credit for.
“Yeah.”
“How is she?”
“Fine, but I'm...just kind of depressed.” She shook her head, realizing that this conversation was not going in a direction she wanted it to. “We are not here to talk about me. We are here to talk about you and your new job and...”
“No.” Justin shook his head, having finished the last of his food. He tossed the bag into a nearby trash can and hopped down off the hood. “You need fun. Come on.”
“Where are we going?” This whole planned had backfired. It had been her intention to come help him unwind after his first, long day at a new job, and here he was trying to cheer her up instead. Mina decided that she sucked at the whole actually trying to have a relationship with someone thing.
“Get in the car and you'll find out.” He rolled his eyes when she just stared at him blankly, pausing as he opened the driver's side door. “You know, I'm going to drive whether you get in or not, so it's really just a matter of where you'd rather be sitting when it happens. I'd suggest inside, it's way more comfortable.”
* * *
The mystery destination turned out to be a party at Trace's place, which happened to be not very far from where Mina herself lived. When they first arrived she was a little skeptical – she wasn't sure that the best way to break her self-induced hibernation was by spending it with a bunch of drunken strangers, but since Justin seemed to have decided that this was exactly what she needed, she kept her mouth shut and went along with it.
There were a series of whoops and hollers when they entered the apartment and various guys clapped Justin on the shoulder in greeting as he passed them, Mina trailing behind him with her hand firmly attached to his. There was music blaring at what could only be described as a deafening level and bodies were gyrating on a dance floor that really wasn't big enough to be holding as many people as were on it. Mina was a little amazed at how quickly and skillfully Justin pulled her through the crowd and onto the back patio, where it was a little quieter and a much smaller number of people were crowded around patio furniture talking and laughing and playing cards.
“Hey, bro!” Trace greeted his best friend enthusiastically as the couple approached. They hugged quickly and Trace immediately offered both Justin and Mina beers, which they accepted.
“Mina, you remember Trace, right?” Justin asked, gesturing to his friend.
“Of course. How are you?” Mina asked politely before taking a sip of her beer.
“Great, good to see you again!”
“And you remember Elisha?” More pleasantries were exchanged. “And, this is my cousin, Izzie. Izzie, this is Mina.”
“Hey, it's really nice to meet you. I was beginning to think you didn't really exist!” Izzie teased, shaking Mina's hand cordially.
“Oh, yeah, well...I do!” Mina responded, her laugh sounding a bit more awkward than she'd intended. “I've just been a little anti-social lately. Working on research for grad school and stuff...you know...”
Izzie nodded. “Yeah, school is a bitch. That's why Justin dropped out. He can't handle pressure.”
“Thanks, Izzie.” Justin gave her a good smack upside her head in response to this comment. She immediately retaliated with a punch to his arm.
“I'm just kidding. Don't be a baby.”
“Hey, why don't we get back to our game?” Trace suggested, gesturing to the table with a deck of cards sitting in the middle. He sat down in one of the chairs and both Mina and Elisha followed suit. The cousins were too busy arguing to notice.
“I'm not a baby. Why are you such a bitch?”
“It's genetic.”
“Will someone please distract them?” Elisha asked with a groan.
Mina had never seen Justin with his cousin, but judging by their friends' reactions, this seemed to be typical behavior. She took action by grabbing Justin's arm, which was barely within reach, and pulling him down forcefully onto the chair next to her. He looked shocked, but Trace and Elisha just laughed appreciatively.
“Nice work,” Trace commended Mina.
“We're playing a game,” she informed Justin matter-of-factly, and he couldn't help joining his friends' laughter.
“Okay, thanks for the memo. What's the game?” Justin inquired as Izzie joined them.
“Bullshit,” Trace replied succinctly.
“Awesome! I rock at this!” Justin exclaimed.
“Not as much as I do,” Izzie reminded him.
“Have you played before, Mina?” Elisha asked the newcomer amongst them kindly, not wanting her to feel left out.
“Yeah, a couple times.”
“We add a little drinking element to it, too,” Justin explained. “If you're caught bullshitting, you have to take a drink and if you accuse someone of bullshitting when they aren't, you have to take a drink. Also, the person with the most cards left at the end of the game has to take a shot.”
“Got it,” Mina confirmed with a nod as Trace began passing around cards.
Mina had played the game numerous times with her brothers and cousins, though as children they called it “I Doubt It,” and had almost always won. It was a little different with magical kids, though, since the option of mind reading and changing your cards when they were in your hand existed, so it often became more a test of who could use their abilities most inconspicuously. In this situation, she soon found out, it wasn't quite as easy to prevail. Justin won the first two rounds – he was nearly impossible to read. At the end of the second round, it was Mina who had the most cards left.
“Shot!” Izzie exclaimed.
“You don't have to if you don't want to,” Justin told Mina as Trace poured her a shot of whiskey.
“Of course she does!” Izzie contradicted him immediately. “If you play with the Timberlakes, you have to play like a Timberlake!”
“I don't mind,” Mina laughed, taking the cup from Trace. She downed it in one gulp, not even flinching at the strong taste. “So are we gonna go again or what?”
Justin gaped at her. He had never dated a girl who could shoot whiskey like that. “Nice. That was impressive.”
“What was impressive?” Mina asked, feigning innocence. Justin just shook his head at her in amazement and turned his attention to the cards he'd just been dealt.
The next round of the game began much as the first two had – no one seemed able to call Justin's bullshitting correctly and they all ended up with far more cards in their hands than he did. It wasn't until the middle of the game that it began to take a turn. Justin only had one card left in his hand and there were about 10 in the middle – the rest were distributed amongst the other four people sitting at the table. Justin laid his card down.
“1 Ace,” he stated.
“Bullshit,” came the immediate response from the woman seated next to him. She hadn't even bothered to look at him before saying it, her eyes focused solely on the cards in her own hand.
“Excuse me?” Justin stared at her incredulously. Everyone else at the table was silent. Most of them had given up trying to catch him in a lie at this point, and even Izzie seemed to be wearing down.
“You're kind of a liar, Timberlake,” Mina responded, looking up at him with a twinkle in her eye.
“Oh really?”
“Um, yes. Really.”
“You do realize that there hasn't been a single ace played this entire time and it is entirely plausible that's what I just put down?”
“Ummm...I do realize that, yes.” Mina frowned and gave a slight nod of her head. “But I also think that your arrogance kind of faltered that time, so I think you're lying.”
“Well I'm not.”
“You're not making eye contact with me right now. Your eyes are all darty,” she observed.
“Now you're just making shit up. Darty isn't even a word.”
“Can you just flip over the damn card and show us if she's right?” Izzie interrupted irritably. She had a feeling she was going to lose again, and it was not a feeling that she appreciated. “If you don't do it, I'll do it for you.”
“Fine, fine,” Justin complied, flipping the damn card over. It was the 9 of diamonds. The table exploded with exclamations as Izzie, Trace, and Elisha realized that Mina had finally broken Justin.
“Mina! You rock! You're amazing! I love you!” Izzie exclaimed triumphantly. “Not as much as I'd love winning, but still. Justin's not going to win! HA!”
“I could still win,” Justin protested with a pout as he gathered the cards from the middle into his hand. He glared at Mina playfully. “Happy now?”
“Extremely,” she replied with a wide grin.
* * *
“I can't believe you beat both me and Izzie,” Justin marveled, stumbling slightly as he walked down the sidewalk next to Mina. “That has never happened in the entire history of Bullshit.”
“I'm a history maker,” Mina replied with a giggle. She was probably even more intoxicated than Justin, whose walking pattern was betraying his fairly drunk state, and she was holding on to him for support as they stumbled down the street towards her apartment. Fortunately, it turned out that Trace didn't live that far from her and they were nearly to her apartment already.
“Y'are!” Justin exclaimed, not really realizing that this was not an actual acceptable contraction. “Congratulations!”
“Thankyou! I'd like to thank the Academy and...God...and that guy who invented self-brewing cauldrons and-”
“What?” he asked, bursting into laughter as they reached Mina's front door. “Did you just say self-brewing cauldrons?”
“Maybe.” Mina's response was slow and she tried to look around shiftily, but her eyes didn't seem to want to move back and forth the way she wanted them to. She settled for sticking her key in the door and opening it carefully. “Wanna come in?”
“Sure.”
“Gotta be really quiet,” she whispered. “Ivy's prolly asleep.”
So they tiptoed inside, crashing into things in the dark every now and then and giggling, but remaining at a fairly low volume. Justin settled onto the couch and Mina headed for the fridge in search of some refreshments. Finding a bottle of Seventh Heaven champagne, she poured some for both herself and her guest and joined him in the living room.
“Mmmm, this is good,” Justin stated after taking his first sip of the champagne. He'd never tasted anything like it, and as he was about to discover, he had never experienced anything like it either.
“Right?” Mina had decided that the living room was not for her and was instead sitting on one of the bar stools next to the kitchen counter. It had taken a moment for this to register with Justin and when it did, he did not seem pleased.
“What'reya doin' over there?”
“Sitting.”
“Sit over here.” He patted the spot next to him on the couch.
“So far,” she whined.
“Fine.” He gave a labored sigh, finished off his champagne and made his way over to where Mina was sitting. Positioning himself between her legs, he smiled at her goofily. “Hi.”
“Hey.” She gave him a kiss on the cheek in response and then returned to her glass of champagne, which she had not downed nearly as quickly as he had.
“Did you have fun tonight?”
“Yes.” She nodded sloppily, downing the last drop of her drink. “Thanks.”
“Welcome.”
“You want to know something funny?” Mina giggled in what she thought was a whisper.
“What?” Justin's tone mimicked Mina's almost exactly.
“When I first met you, I thought you were kind of weird,” she confided, still giggling.
“Really?” His laughter increased. “It's funny, 'cause the other day, I told Izzie that I think you're kind of psycho. And I still kind of do.”
“I am!” Mina exclaimed, her laughter increasing as well, giggles evolving into guffaws and all thoughts of not waking Ivy up a little far from her mind.
“I know you are! And I'm weird, and kind of a loser!”
“What a pair!”
They both dissolved into laughter, holding onto one another with support. Mina's legs were wrapped around Justin who was still standing in between them, his head now resting on her shoulder as he laughed hysterically. Her head rested against his as tears began streaming out of her eyes, she was laughing so hard.
“God, what is wrong with us?” Mina finally managed to say through her laughter. Justin opened his mouth to respond, but was cut off by Mina, oddly, crashing her lips into his. Not that he was complaining.
He slid his hand to the back of her head, twirling the hair between his fingers and bringing her a little bit closer to him. She soon had no choice but to join him in standing, their lips never breaking and tongues finding one another simultaneously. Her arms wrapped around his neck, wanting to touch more of him and before long Justin felt like he was floating. Had he not been so drunk and so into what he was doing, he might of realized that this was because they actually were floating – one of the more unique effects of Seventh Heaven Champagne. They hovered a few inches above the ground, lips exploring each other hungrily, and feet not hitting anything solid again until they reached the foot of Mina's bed.
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