12: Wake Up Calls
Hours later, as the dark night began to turn to dawn, Justin awoke to his mistake. At Zooey’s house, naked, on her sofa, with her laying next to him, equally as undressed. His mind raced back to Scarlett, who he’d left at home, confused and agitated. When he arrived at Zooey’s house, he had no intentions to royally screw up his marriage or his relationship with Zooey, but the road to hell is paved with good intentions. All men mean well, they just don’t do well. And while the sex with Zooey was ridiculous “ made of poetry and porn “ he was forced to face the awful truth when he awoke from it: there was no turning back now.
“Zooey,” he called out to her hoarsely, sniffling from the slight chill that had washed over the house. When she didn’t budge, he touched her shoulder and called her a little louder. “Zooey.”
She groaned in irritation, “Nooo.”
“Zooey, wake up.”
“One really important thing to know about me,” she croaked out, “is that no sunrise is worth waking me up to see.”
He couldn’t help but smirk. “No, I’m just telling you that I have to go.”
“Write a note,” she shot back groggily, placing one of her sofa’s pillows over her head.
“Zooey.” He hated trying to be serious when she clearly wasn’t.
“What.”
“This is kind of a big deal for me, so if you could just pay attention…”
Slowly, she pulled herself up from her comfortable position, rubbing the sleep from her eyes as she tried to focus on the man in front of her. “What’s up.”
“I think I’m gonna tell Scarlett.”
Frowning, she watched him in the dark room as he began to put his clothes back on, and all she could muster in response was, “Okay.”
“Okay?”
“Okay,” she repeated.
“That’s all you have to say about this?”
“I mean, I’m not married to you, so I can’t tell you what you should or shouldn’t say. But if you could just use my alias, that would be great…”
“Zooey. Everything is not fun and funny. This is my life we’re taking about here. My marriage.”
“If you were so concerned about your marriage, then why did you come over?”
“Because--.”
“Why would you be on my doorstep making speeches about how you didn’t care about consequences and that you wanted this?”
“I did want this. I mean… I do.”
“This is my life we’re talking about too,” she went on, “and I’m not about to let you traipse in and out of it with a list full of regrets taped to your forehead. If you want your wife, then go be with her, but you don’t get to drag me through your range of emotions every time you get bored with her either.”
“You are cold,” he commented, pulling his shirt on. “I hate how cold you are sometimes.”
“I’m not cold. I’m pragmatic.”
“Thank you for not being an asshole about this,” he retorted sarcastically.
“Justin, I am literally the last person you should come to for marriage advice.”
“And yet you hand out omens like you’re a psychic.”
“Well what I do know is that when I met you, you seemed transcendently happy with her. Since marrying her, it seems that you’ve experienced some sudden withdrawal from her “ and this is coming from someone who’s never even seen you two in a room together. So all I’m saying is, if you weren’t ready, then you shouldn’t have put a ring on it.”
He eyed her for a long time, trying to conjure up words that expressed exactly how much he hated these conflicting feelings. Sadly, Zooey was right. He certainly had withdrawn from Scarlett, and not just because she was gone “ they’d gone through long breaks before. And it wasn’t because he had gotten married either. It was because he met Zooey, and she lit up his life in a way he didn’t expect.
Now, he stood in her living room, tired and confused, she sat before him, naked and angry, and he had no idea what to say. “Where’s my jacket?”
Ignoring him, she laid back down, pulling the pillow over her head to go back to sleep.
____________________
Justin pulled up to his home in The Hills just as the sun began rising over them, dumfounded as to what he would say to his wife when he walked inside. He couldn’t figure out what he was doing with himself, and still had no idea whether he should let her in on this massive secret. On the surface, he felt terrible, and that was mostly because he knew he should. But deep down, the fact was that Zooey made him feel good, and he didn’t want that to stop.
When he walked inside, the house was silent, which he found odd, because he knew that Scarlett hated to be alone in a quiet house. If he wasn’t home, she always went to bed with at least one television on full blast. She said that it made her feel like she had some company. She said she felt less vulnerable, somehow. But apparently, she’d found some solace in silence the night before, because you could hear a pin drop.
He traipsed upstairs, hoping he could hop in the shower and wash Zooey off of him before crawling into bed, but was surprised to go into his room and find his wife sitting upright, wide awake.
“Hey,” he greeted her.
“Hey,” she answered hoarsely.
“You all right?” Scarlett was by no means an early riser, so if she was up at 5 a.m., it was because she hadn’t been to sleep yet.
“Yeah.”
“Couldn’t sleep?”
“It’s weird being in this bed without you sometimes.”
He offered a warm smile in reply and began to strip his clothes.
“Did you have a good night?”
He nodded.
“Are you all right?” she wondered, noting his silent responses.
“Yeah. I just overdid it, I think. Which was dumb, because I have to be on a movie set in a few hours.”
“Which movie is this?”
“’Bad Teacher.’”
“Mmm.”
“What?”
She shook her head, watching him throw his clothes to a small pile in the middle of the floor. “Nothing.”
“Why does this feel awkward?”
“Probably because you left last night in the middle of an argument and now, you’re either too drunk to remember or too much of an asshole to care.”
“Shit.” It was more like he was too much of an asshole to remember.
“What is happening to you?” she questioned softly, almost scared to hear what the answer could be.
“I don’t think anything is happening,” he lied. “I just… I guess I wasn’t prepared for you to be here.”
“Why do you have to be prepared for that, though? That’s what I don’t understand.”
“I… had plans. I guess I didn’t anticipate having to change them.”
“You show up out of the blue all the time and I change my plans without hesitation whenever you come into town. Because there are few things, if anything, that mean more to me than you. Why isn’t that reciprocated?”
“I don’t know. I’m not used to being the surprisee,” he chuckled awkwardly, trying to avoid the fact that he was being a total dick about all of this. “I’m sorry, Tess.”
“You made me feel so unwanted last night. Totally unwelcome in my own home.”
“I don’t know what else to say except that I’m really sorry.”
She sat quietly for a long time, staring at the wall across from their bed, absolutely hating what she was feeling. Was this how it all began, she wondered? Was this the point where her three-month-old marriage went downhill? How could that be?
“Scarlett, are we all right?”
“Yeah,” she nodded, finally looking at him with a pursed-lipped smile. “Of course.”
“All right. Well I’m gonna get a shower.”
“You want some company?”
He knew he should’ve said yes, just to keep from rocking the boat anymore than he had, but he didn’t even have it in him to fake it at that moment. “I really gotta get ready to head to work, so… raincheck? Tonight?”
“Sure. Of course.”
Realizing that he hadn’t even greeted her with a kiss, he went to the bed to plant one on her understanding lips. “I love you.”
“Love you too, babe.” As they pulled apart, Scarlett made a disgusted face when she tasted his morning mouth. “Gross, have you been smoking?”
“What?” he chuckled uneasily.
“I feel like I just kissed an ashtray. What the fuck, Justin?”
“I mean, I’ve been in a club for, like, four hours. You know what it’s like.”
“I know that unless you licked an ashtray, you shouldn’t taste like one.”
Zooey and her cigarettes, he thought to himself regretfully. “Whatever, as fucked up as this is to say, Trace kissed me, as a joke. I guess he’d had a cigarette beforehand… I didn’t really notice.”
“That’s disgusting,” she commented, getting up to brush her teeth. “And tell him to stop smoking before he kills himself.”
“You smoked like a pack a day when we met.”
“And now I don’t. Tell him to stop,” she demanded, taking over the bathroom before he could enter.
With a sigh of relief, Justin leaned against the door and closed his tired eyes. “Jesus.”
____________________
A few hours later, Zooey finally awoke from her turbulent slumber, to the sound of her doorbell ringing. She couldn’t imagine that Justin had come back, but she also couldn’t imagine that anyone else would be at her door at 8:00 a.m.
“This motherfucker just hates to call first,” she mumbled as she puttered towards the door, once again, in her boxers and hoodie. When she reached the front of her house, she was surprised to not see Justin staring back at her. She swung the door open with narrowed eyes. “Andy, what the hell are you doing here?”
“Long time, no see,” he smirked, letting himself into her home. “Where the fuck have you been?”
“Around,” she answered evenly, watching him head back towards her kitchen. “What do you want?”
“What the fuck, Levin, I haven’t seen you since your party for the Christmas episode. How about some courtesy?”
Zooey hadn’t been in a particularly courteous mood since Justin left a few hours earlier. But Andrew was the last person that should be preaching anything about politeness to anyone. “Seriously. Why are you here?”
“I was in the neighborhood.”
“Doing what?”
“Breakfast.”
“I’m not in the mood to be harassed right now, dude.”
“I get it,” he relented, pulling her last package of Pop tarts from its wrapping. “You clearly just woke up.”
“Yeah. If you just had breakfast, why are you eating my food?”
“I’m a growing boy,” he grinned impishly, piling the pastry into his mouth. He eyed her living room, which was disorderly in comparison to how she usually kept it. The sofa pillows were strewn about, wine glasses and beer bottles sat along the coffee table, and crumpled sheets were on the floor. “You had a party without me?”
“No,” she frowned, wiping her tired face. “Just a little bit of company.”
He eyed her playfully as he retreated from the kitchen to inspect the scene. “Male company?”
“No,” she lied, pretending to yawn so that she wouldn’t give herself away. “Just… a friend.”
“Zooey Levin.”
“Why are you here?” she asked for the third time in five minutes.
Just as he was about to make a lewd joke about her ‘company,’ Andy noticed a scarf stuck between the last seat cushions of her couch. “Is your friend still here?” he wondered.
She followed his gaze to where the plaid scarf sat and inwardly kicked herself for not being more cautious. “No.”
“Well whoever it was forgot their scarf,” he announced, moving swiftly to pull it from the sofa. The black and red wrap very obviously smelled of cologne, while its tag read, ‘William Rast.’ It didn’t take long at all for Andrew to put the pieces together.
“Why are you looking at me like that?” Zooey jeered.
“What am I looking at you like?”
“Like you know something I don’t.”
“I just know something you don’t want me to know.”
“What would that be?”
“That guy was here again, wasn’t he?”
“That guy…”
“Zo.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she insisted, snatching the scarf from his clutches. She began to straighten up before anything else could be inferred from the current state of the living room, while ignoring her friend’s implications.
“Zooey, did Justin Timberlake spend the night here?”
“Andy, what are you talking about?”
“I know Jon wasn’t here, and he’s the only other person I know that wears that crap ass brand that Timberlake calls a clothing line.”
“Fuck you,” she spat without thinking of how defensive it would seem. “And no, ‘Justin Timberlake’ was not here last night.” She yawned again as she began to collect the wine glasses.
“You know that you yawn whenever you’re lying to me, right?”
“And also when I’m tired.”
“Maybe,” he allowed, following her back towards the kitchen. “But at the end of a sentence, it means you’re lying.”
“While I wish I had all day to entertain your theories about who I am and what I was doing last night, I have to get to work, Andy, so… I think it’s time to put this conversation on hold.”
“That’s fine,” he grinned. “You’ve already told me so much more than you meant to.”
Ignoring his comments, she went on to fill her dishwasher with the contents of her sink. “Have a good day, Andy.”
Just when she thought she’d be relieved of the agonizing Q & A, Andy spun on his heel with realization. “Wait a minute, isn’t he married?”
“You have to be kidding me,” she sighed, slamming her dishwasher shut. “Can you please let this go?”
“No, I’m pretty sure he’s married,” he confirmed for himself, trying to think of Justin’s new wife. “Who did he marry?”
Zooey stayed silent, hating to be reminded of her perpetual mistakes.
“The girl with the lips. She was in that movie.”
“That movie.”
“That movie with umm… that guy.”
“That movie with that guy…” Zooey repeated him tonelessly, hoping he’d take note of how ridiculous he sounded.
“Scarlett Johansson!” he miraculously arrived at her name after a good minute of contemplation. “That’s his wife, isn’t it?”
“Yes.”
“What the fuck,” he laughed snidely as he added more pieces to the puzzle. “Why the fuck would anyone cheat on Scarlett Johansson with you?”
“Fuck you, Andrew.”
“No, seriously. I mean, Justin is kind of a douche, so I kind of get it, but at the same time… what the fuck?”
She rolled her eyes at his heartless words “ as she usually did “ but for some reason, on this occasion, they stung a little more than they should have. “Why is that an impossibility to you?”
“Zooey, come on. I love you, kid, but look at you and look at her.”
“Get out of my house,” she retorted quietly.
“I’m not saying it to be mean; these are just the facts.”
“You’re an asshole.”
He flashed a smile and attempted to approach her for a hug. Snaking his arms around her hips, he leaned in to whisper, “You used to like that about me.”
“Not anymore,” she pulled away, heading back to the front to let him out. “I’ll see you around, dude.”
“I see how it is,” he nodded sarcastically. “You fuck a pop star, now you think you’re the shit.”
“I was the shit long before I fucked a pop star.” She snatched her remaining pop tart from his hand and bid him adieu. “Goodbye, Andy.”
“Call me?”
She smiled for the first time since he’d been there, but only because she was quickly realizing how insane he was. “…Sure.”
Just as she was about to close the door on him, he turned back for one last word of advice. “Zooey.”
“What?”
“You know that it’ll never last, right? He’ll never leave her for you.”
“Who said that I want him to?”
“Guys like him don’t enter our world for long periods of time. They come to visit, have a drink and a laugh, steal our taste in everything, and then go back to their world of rich and famous friends.”
“What the fuck are you talking about?” she almost yelled.
“I mean, he likes you now because you seem quirky and fascinating compared to whatever he decided to marry. But when he gets bored with you “ and I assure you, he will get bored “ he’ll act like this never happened. He’ll act like he never knew you at all. And everything you taught him, he’ll act like he miraculously discovered on his own,” Andrew prophesized. “Just avoid this and fall for your type, Zo.”
The tears that stung the backs of her eyes were threatening to come spilling down, and she couldn’t afford to let Andrew know that his words were actually her biggest fear. So she just turned away, slamming the door behind her.
When Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky asked Zooey to work on their screenplay for Bad Teacher as a story editor, she jumped at the opportunity. Back when their movie was just a kernel of an idea, there were a number of big names that had been thrown around to play the leads, and she was more than happy to be getting her first shot at a big Hollywood production. Then, when Justin’s name officially became attached to the project, she was even more excited, as everyone in the movie industry was clamoring to get him in their comedy. But little did she know, that a few short weeks later, a number of things would transpire between her and “Justin Timberlake,” thereby curbing her excitement drastically.
“Good morning,” Zooey attempted to cheerfully greet a conference room full of department heads, actors, and writers. Holding a cup of coffee in one hand and a red velvet cupcake in the other, she took her seat amongst her colleagues, and tried to ignore the fact that Justin was just a couple of chairs away from her.
“Zo, you have a copy of the script?” Gene questioned before she could finish getting settled.
With a closed-lipped smile, she pulled the Bad Teacher script from her messenger bag and held it up for him. “Have there been any changes since we last talked?”
“A couple. Nothing major,” he waved off. “One of the kids is making copies.”
She nodded quietly and looked around the large room, as she took a long sip from her coffee. It appeared that everyone had shown up except for Cameron Diaz, which she was glad to see. Table reads for The Office always took forever, and those scripts were for only 22 minutes. She imagined that a 100-minute movie would be a lengthy process, and waiting for a bunch of stragglers would make it even more annoying.
She tried to pretend not to notice Justin, but the truth was that she was watching him more than anything. He sat quietly, playing with his phone, leaning against his right armrest, perhaps doing his best to not notice Zooey, too. His plaid shirt hugged his slim torso, while his thick-rimmed glasses magnified all of his facial features, which made Zooey involuntarily refer to what Andrew had mentioned a few hours earlier about Justin stealing their style.
“So Zooey,” one of her fellow writers, Archie, interrupted her thoughts, “you have any plans for Black history month?”
She knew he was joking, but became a bit indignant when Justin looked up with a shocked expression. “I’m not sure yet,” she began sarcastically. “Maybe terrorize some white people,” she nodded.
“That’s what I always prepare myself for,” Archie approved with a smile. “Did you go to any Grammy parties last night?”
“I didn’t.” She hated that she was forced to remember her previous night. “I went to a birthday party, but it was super duper lame.”
“Depressing.”
“It was.”
“Hey Justin, wasn’t your birthday yesterday,” Gene managed to remember as he overheard their conversation.
Justin, who’d gone back to his phone, looked up from it innocently. “Umm. Yes. It was.”
“Did you have a happy birthday?” Zooey inserted with an imperceptible agitation to her tone.
“I had an excellent birthday,” he grinned directly at her. “My wife actually came into town last night, we had a great night out on the town.”
“That is lovely,” she shot back enthusiastically. “She came in just to see you?”
“She did. Yeah.”
“Wow. Now that’s love,” she commented to the rest of the room. “I want a wife like that.”
“You want a wife?” the director, Jake, wondered out loud, thinking Zooey had just admitted herself a lesbian.
“Absolutely. Not that I’m gay,” she was sure to clarify, “but I need someone to take care of me before I turn into some undernourished spinster… and not to be sexist, but a man just couldn’t do it.”
As the rest of the room laughed, one of the other principal actors, Jason Segel, volunteered to try. “While I do I love a good undernourished spinster, I swear to god, I’d make myself a girl if that gave me the slightest chance with you.”
“As flattering and as creepy as that is,” she blushed, “I think I’d prefer a real woman…”
“Bitch,” he sighed jokingly.
The room was engrossed in laughter again as the movie’s star, Cameron Diaz, finally entered the room breezily. “I know, I know, I am a bitch,” she announced, hearing the tail end of the conversation. “So, so sorry I’m late!”
“So we’ve got everyone, I’m assuming,” the executive producer, Georgia Kacandes came forward to proclaim. “Is this everyone?”
“Everyone that’s supposed to be here,” her assistant confirmed.
“Okay, great.” She moved to the middle of the extra large roundtable in the center of the room and pulled her cap further over her stringy brown locks. “So thank you, everyone, for being… relatively on time. This is our very first read-through, I’m so excited to see all of you, and excited about this project in general. We think it’s gonna be a really, really fun couple of months. Gene and Lee wrote a fantastic script, we’ve got a great team here, and… let’s have some fun today. Okay?” She waited for a collection of positive responses before continuing. “So I guess we’ll get started. I think Katy has a copy of the script for anyone that doesn’t have one “ so long as you’re willing to sign over your life for it,” she chuckled. “And umm… let’s make this a good one, kids.” The room began to clap in reply just as she added, “Oh, and for anyone that doesn’t know me, I’m Georgia, and basically, your life on this project depends on how much I like you,” she grinned. “So… welcome.”
____________________
As much as Zooey had dreaded being in the same room with Justin for much of her day, she was quickly proven wrong when the table read ended up being more fun than anything. As she already knew, the script was hilarious, and with the added bonus of comedic geniuses like Jason Segel and Eric Stonestreet, she spent much of her morning laughing instead of constantly reminding herself that she’d just slept with a married man.
It was when they broke for lunch that all of her anxiety came back, because she saw Justin headed straight for her before the room even cleared.
“Hey,” he approached, watching her pick up her trash of donut wrappers, Cheez-It bags, and Cherry Coke cans.
“Hey,” was all she said in reply.
“What are you doing for lunch?”
“Not too hungry,” she shrugged.
“That makes sense,” he smiled shyly. “But you do have an hour to kill…”
“I think I’m just gonna catch up on some work.”
“Really.”
“Yeah?”
He rolled his eyes, noting that two of the PAs were watching him “ watching him with her. “Take me to lunch,” he finally decided. “I’ll meet you at your car.”
She obstinately waited until he left the room before gathering her belongings to leave. As she stuffed her script back into her bag, and pulled out her keys, she also noticed the production assistants staring her down. “Take a picture, it’ll last longer.”
“Are you friends with him?” one of them found the balls to ask.
“With who?” she frowned.
“Justin. Timberlake.”
The truth was, she didn’t know what to refer to their relationship as anymore. And while they probably weren’t ever friends in the first place, they sure as hell weren’t anymore. “No.”
“Oh.”
Escaping as quickly as she could before they asked another question, she retreated outside to find Justin waiting at her car, just as he said he would be. “This is really just lunch, right?” she questioned, unlocking the door for him. “You’re not gonna bombard me with some hidden agenda as soon as we get too far on the road to turn back?”
He scoffed jokingly as he entered the passenger side. “Contrary to what you may think, you are not that important to me.”
“Oh, is that why whenever I looked to my left, you were staring at me?”
“And there you were, staring right back,” he reminded her.
“I was just giving you something to look at.”
“Which is much appreciated, but you don’t have to stare at me in order to do that.”
She rolled her eyes dramatically and began to back out of her space, regretting that there was probably no way she would be able to get it back. She hated parking far from the door. “Do me a favor and don’t speak, okay?”
“What?”
“Just… be quiet.”
Per Zooey’s request, their ride to Umami Burger was uncomfortably silent, aside from sounds of Jay-Z’s Blueprint 3 filling up the car. But Justin made sure to break the tension as soon as they sat down for lunch.
“I didn’t know you liked Jay-Z,” he commented breezily as he studied his menu.
“You’d be hard-pressed to find an artist I don’t like, actually.”
“Oh, except for me, apparently.”
“What?” She couldn’t help but smirk at his readily apparent insecurity.
“You like pretty much everyone but me, it seems.”
“Who said I didn’t like you?”
“Well your friend Andy explicitly explained that my music was the scourge of the music industry. True enough, LoveStoned isn’t gonna save the world, but I don’t think--.”
“Let me stop you before you embarrass yourself,” she interrupted, setting down her menu. “First of all, there is no song that will singlehandedly save the world, so you shouldn’t make that your gauge for quality music. Second of all, Andy’s opinion does not equate to my opinion. I can think for myself, thanks, and I think you’re a fantastic artist. Are you my favorite? No. But trust me, I will never turn my nose up at a good beat and a catchy chorus. Unless it’s Elvis. Third of all, Andy is an idiot. And I’m pretty sure I told you as much that same night. Please don’t let people like him fuck with you, he hates anything popular unless he’s a part of it.”
Dumfounded yet relieved, Justin could only smile. He had been a bit disappointed when Zooey seemingly agreed with her friend back when they first met, but he was glad to see that he was wrong. “Oh.”
“So as an artist, of course I like you. As a person… eh.”
“Well fuck you,” he chuckled, even though he felt she might have been serious. “Why is there such a chip on your shoulder lately?”
“Lately? What the hell, didn’t I just fuck you last night?”
His eyes widened in shock that she would blurt that out so loudly. “Are you kidding me.”
“Sorry,” she immediately lowered her voice. “I forget you’re married sometimes.”
“You’d like to.”
“I can’t even express in coherent words how much I’d like to.”
“I’m sorry.”
“For being married? Or for fucking me while doing so?”
“I don’t know,” he dropped his head apologetically. “I don’t know anymore.”
“I don’t either. Which is not something I’m used to,” she lectured, going back to her menu. “I mean, I’m used to knowing everything.”
“Ha ha.”
“I mean, seriously, I know that calling… whatever this is a friendship was a stretch in the first place, but I just feel like we’re ruining something that could have been kind of fantastic, you know?”
“I know,” he nodded. “And that’s what I’m hating, too. Like… I really like you. As a person.”
“Ditto.”
“So what do we do?”
“Well last night, you said, and I quote, ‘I want you and I don’t care about the consequences.”
“I know what I said.”
“Have you changed your mind?”
“No.”
“I don’t see any scrapes or bruises on your face, so I’m guessing you didn’t tell Scarlett.”
“I didn’t.”
“So then… why am I mad at you?”
“You were mad at me?”
“Yes, asshole! I’ve been hating you for like six hours now!”
“Hmm.” He obviously knew that she had been pissed at him, but instead of acknowledging it, he just stared at her blankly and waited for her to reply.
“Stop. Making me laugh.”
“I’m not even doing anything!”
“I know, which makes it all the more pathetic,” she grinned. “What are you getting?”
“What am I getting?”
“To eat?”
“Oh! Right. I… don’t know yet. Probably the SoCal Burger, as usual.”
“Cali boy,” she shook her head. “Are you sure you’re from Memphis?”
“What the fuck you tryin’ to say?” he smirked.
“You’ve gone soft,” she chided. “And I didn’t even know your bitch ass before you moved out here, but I’d bet anything that you’ve changed a lot since you came out here.”
“Oh, and you haven’t gone Hollywood? Did I not meet you at the biggest ‘talent’ agency in the land?”
“Yeah, and?”
“And I bet you weren’t driving a Range through the streets of Bahston,” he teased her, adding the accent for good measure.
“For the last time, my parents bought me that fucking car,” she shouted with a laugh. “And yeah, I love it. So what?”
“So. We all change here and there. We’re human. We adapt.”
“And that’s to be expected. But I guarantee, you won’t find me ordering any pussy ass burgers with sundried tomato spread and avocado on them.”
“Open your mind, Zo. You’ll go much further in life.”
____________________
“So let me just say this,” Zooey began, as she and Justin’s pleasant drive from lunch was coming to an end. “I’m glad you didn’t tell your wife, but… if you feel you need to, then I will understand. Okay? I don’t want you to ever resent me or regret meeting me, or anything equally as heartbreaking, so… do what you need to do to be all right. All right?”
He nodded earnestly and gazed out to the parking lot approaching them. “I’m not gonna tell her, but… thank you. For understanding.”
“I can only imagine how difficult this must be for you. And even though we asked for it, we don’t have to be defined by it.”
“Listen, the fact is, what I said last night was true. And for whatever reason, I can’t just remove myself from this situation or displace what I’m feeling. So… until I can figure this out, until I can figure out where to go next, you’re stuck with me,” he smiled shyly. “If that’s all right with you.”
“I don’t know if it is. But I know that I don’t want to lose you, so… I’m relieved that I’m stuck with you,” she grinned back. She pulled back into the lot, somehow finding the space she left, and felt totally compelled to give Justin a kiss. She knew it wasn’t the time or place, so she refrained, but she told him just as much. “I wish people didn’t exist so I could kiss you right now.”
He smiled genuinely and began to get out. “Let’s just get through the rest of the day and then we can do whatever we want.”
“Fair enough.”
Happily, they escorted one another back into the building, only to be greeted by those same nosy production assistants that had questioned Zooey earlier.
“Hey, Justin,” one of them spoke confidently. “Looks like you’re just in time.”
He frowned at her and then at Zooey. “Shit, I thought we were early. Is everyone waiting on me?” He began to rush back towards the conference room.
“No, no, you’re fine on time,” she called after him. “Your wife was looking for you, I think she was just about to leave.”
“What?”
“Your wife is here?”
He immediately pulled his phone from his jeans, and sure enough, there were two missed calls from Scarlett. “Oh.”
“I think she’s still in the conference room…”
“Did anyone tell her I went to lunch?”
“Yeah, I think so. But don’t worry,” she smiled, glancing at Zooey, “nobody knows you were with her.”
“Right,” he ignored her last comment. “Come on, Zooey.”
Dumfounded, she followed him to the long hallway that led to the conference room, waiting until they were out of earshot to speak to him. “We can’t walk in there together.”
“I know. But those chicks are annoying, I just wanted to get away from them.”
“So… I guess you’ll go in first, and I’ll just run to the bathroom or something.”
He nodded purposefully as they met the restrooms and quickly whispered, “Thank you.”
“It’s always gonna be like this, huh?”
He hated to admit it, but the truth of the matter? “Probably. Yeah.”
Author's Chapter Notes:
Well, as usual, I fail, so I'm posting before I've completed the story lol. BUT I only have two chapters left to write, so I think we're safe. And so, here's a long one until I do finish this thang. I can't thank you guys enough for still being here. Loves. -Ash
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