Chapter 23: The Helper
Weeks later, things were going great. Jocelyn had told her parents about her and Lance, and how they had started dating again. They were overjoyed, to say the least. She thought her mom was going to pass out when she had Lance over for dinner that night they had come home from their anniversary weekend to tell her the news. Things were working out for once for Jocelyn. This made her nervous, because as soon as things seem to be perfect, something happened. Jocelyn spent a lot of her time at Lance's now, while he was at work she would head over there, tidy up a bit, etc. Sometimes Will came over to look at the house as production on it was getting further and further along. She was now sitting on one of the swinging chairs, sitting with her legs stretched out, the chair swinging back and forth with the wind slowly. She just got a big packet of mail that Brandon has sent her. She was going through it, getting all her bills out, when she came across a manila folder, from Brandon. On the cover it was written "You might want to take a look at this, go to page 35, love B" Jocelyn opened the folder and saw the STAR magazine cover. She laughed, even with what Brandon did for a living; he was a total tabloid junkie. She flipped through the pages, to 35 and scanned the page. There it was a whole article about Josh and this unidentified female. The pictures of them kissing on his balcony, the balcony at his Malibu Manson, the one where they used to sit and watch the sunset. Her stomach turned, as she looked at the picture, and down at the article. She knew it probably wasn't what it looked like, what did she care anyway, she was with Lance right? she was over Josh...right? Soon, she heard the roar of Lance's truck coming down the long dirt driveway, and heard Cocoa barking from inside the house. She casually continued to go through her mail, and Lance made his way around the house to the back yard where he knew she would be. He walked behind her, and kissed her head; she smiled and looked up at him.
"Hey" he said
She smiled, as she brought his lips down towards hers, kissing him back.
"Hi" she said
He put his bag down, and went moving her forward, as he sat down behind her, laying her back against his chest. Jocelyn laid back in his arms, laying her head on his shoulder.
"How was your day?" she asked
"Usual" he said as he kissed her cheek lightly, moving his lips towards her ear leaving baby kisses
She smiled, as she grabbed his hands and started to play with them.
"What are you doing?" he asked her, noticing all the mail
"Jus goin through stuff" she said, "Brandon sent me all my mail,"
"Anything interesting?" he asked
"Just one thing..." she started
"Yea..." he asked "What?"
She picked up the STAR magazine flipping through the page, and held it open for him to see. It took him awhile to understand what she was showing him, but as soon as he saw the name he knew.
"Hmm" he said, as he laid his chin on her shoulder
"Uh huh" she replied
"Well..." he said "He moved on, that's good right?"
"I guess" she replied "I thought it would take longer, I guess I’m not that hard to get over" she pouted
He laughed "Yea right..." he replied "What about me huh? I never got over you"
She semi smiled, he watched her as his hands went to her shoulders and back and started to massage there.
"What are you so tense for?" he asked, as he rubbed at a knot
She groaned, closing her eyes. He sat her up straight, and put a hand up her back under her shirt, rubbing her spine. She hissed,
"Oww" she complained
He laughed, as he kissed her neck lightly.
"Jus relax" he whispered
She tried, she didn't know why she was getting so mad at the fact that Josh had moved on so quickly. If she thought about it, she did as well. Even sooner then Josh had, and she loved Lance, why would this upset her?
~*~
Will walked out of his tiny room he had been staying in for almost a month, and stretched reaching his arms to the sky, and yawned. This was getting old, he needed to get this story, and get outta here. He missed his home, and the charade of being a "photo journalist" and lying was causing ulcers. He was heading over to Lance's yet again to get some last pictures, and "talk" over the article with him. He'd been trying to reach Josh all week, so he could find out his next move and maybe come home sometime soon, but he couldn't reach him. Will got into his rental car, and headed down towards the gas station to fill up the tank before heading to Lance's. Justin watched curiously as Will got out of his Jeep, and headed inside to pay for his gas. Something about him was off, why anyone in their right mind would stay here for a month to do a story that was just a demo, on a house. He put on a smile though as he came up to the counter.
"Afternoon Will" he said
Will smiled "Hey" he said
"What you up to this time of day?" he asked,
"Just finishing up that thing with Lance's house" Will said
"How much longer do you think that's gonna take?" Justin asked
"I don't know" Will said "Whenever he gets the house done, and I can get the article written"
Justin rang him up, the total gas price, and handed him the receipt
"There you go" Justin said
Will smiled "Thank you, see ya around"
"Bye"
Will walked out to his car, thanking Randy as well as he got into his car and started heading towards Lance's house. As he drove a little ways out of town, he saw a nice looking Honda Civic driving towards town. He looked at the person, recognizing her from somewhere, something, someone. He shook his head free of the thoughts and continued his journey towards Lance's house. He reached the dirt road a few minutes later, and heard Cocoa barking from inside the screen, looking at him. He got out grabbing his camera bag and heading towards the door, and heard the familiar voice.
"Cocoa! down!" said Jocelyn as she walked towards the screen door "It's just Will, you know Will"
Cocoa looked up at her, her tail wagging then back at Will again. Jocelyn laughed, and rubbed her head before opening the screen door and smiling
"Sorry, come on in" Jocelyn said
Will smiled, and walked into the house immediately looking around, like he was actually interested.
"Wow, this place is coming along great" he replied "How much longer do you think?"
Jocelyn crossed her arms over her chest, and smiled "I don't know you might want to ask Lance that" she said
He laughed, and nodded as to agree. Cocoa after watching them talk decided Will was safe, and went back to her spot on the back porch playing with her chewed up tennis ball.
"Would you like something to drink?" Jocelyn asked "Lance will be down in a minute, he's just showering"
"Oh um, what do you have?" Will asked
Jocelyn laughed and walked towards the kitchen, signaling Will to follow "I don't really know, why don't we go see" she said
Will laughed and followed her, she opened the fridge
"Let's see, Soda, Beer, Tea, Water, Milk" she listed off
"Uh Beer's fine" he said
She took out a bottle, and handed it to him. He took it, opening it and taking a swig. Jocelyn went to the counter and started to straighten up the mail she had been looking through earlier. Will watched her, and noticed the STAR magazine peaking out from the bottom, he laughed
"Tabloid junkie huh?" he asked
She looked at him, confused then noticed the STAR magazine sticking out from the pile. She laughed
"Not really," she replied "My manager wanted me to see something"
"Something about you?" he asked
He knew full well who she was, but not only by knowing Josh, she had told him once or twice.
"Oh no," she said "My ex, apparently he's got a new girl around"
"Oh..." Will said, really confused 'Josh...a new girlfriend...since when? and why didn't I know about this?'
"Yea" she said sighing "Nothing new though"
He smiled, and turned around taking another swig of his beer. A few minutes later Lance came down the stars, freshly showered and in plain jeans and a flannel shirt, unbuttoned and a plan shirt under that. Will and Jocelyn were out on the back porch sitting on the swinging bench waiting for him. He came out, and saw them
"Hey Will, when did you get here?" Lance asked
Despite the warning signs he had in the beginning, Lance warmed up to Will.
Will stood up, his hand out stretching towards Lance "Hey Lance, not too long ago" he said "How you doing?"
"I'm alright, and yourself?" Lance asked
"Can't complain" Will said
"So you about ready to get this thing finished?" Lance asked
Will nodded "Yea, I can't wait, so I can get home" he said
Lance laughed "Yea, sorry it took me so long, but since I work too, it's kinda hard" he said
"Oh no I understand" Will said
With that, Will's cell phone rang in his pocket, kind of surprising him a bit since it hadn't rung for a couple weeks. He took it out of it's holder on his hip and looked at the number "JC", then he looked at Lance and Jocelyn
"Sorry I gotta take this, my manager" he replied
Jocelyn and Lance nodded, as Will walked out towards the other end of the porch. He flipped open the phone
"Rick hey, what's going on" he said kinda loud
"Rick? what the fuck it's JC dude" JC replied from the other end
"Yea I know, I know, don't worry it's almost done" Will said
He turned and saw Lance and Jocelyn walk back inside, giving him his privacy, and then he turned and looked out at the trees.
"Shyt JC, where the hell have you been?" he said in almost a whisper
"Where are you?" Josh asked
"At Lance's" he replied "I'm doing an article on his house remember"
"Oh right, so I'm Rick you're manager" he said
"That's right" Will said
"Ok, so what's going on is she still with him?" Josh asked
"Yea" Will said "Still going strong"
"Crap" Josh cursed into the phone
"And what about you, I heard about a little story on you today" he replied
"What?" Josh asked "What do you mean?"
"Check out this weeks issue of STAR," Will said, "Jocelyn found it interesting"
"Oh crap what is it??" Josh questioned
"I don't know, I didn't see it...but apparently you've moved on" Will said
"Oh no, this is bad" JC said sighing "Are you sure she saw it"
"Yea, I think her manager sent it to her, if I remember correctly" he replied
He groaned "Crap" he said again
"So is there a purpose to this conversation, or can I go" Will said
"Right...I’ve sent another person in" Josh said
"What? Who? Why?" Will questioned
"Woah, one question at a time buddy" Josh said
"Okay...who?"
"It's Jordana," he said "Remember, from Days" they had both worked with her when they started out
"When is she getting here?" Will asked
"She should've been there by this afternoon" Josh said "She's in a Honda Civic; I gave her your room number so she should be there when you get back"
"I thought I saw her already, she was driving into town as I was driving towards Lance's" Will said
"Great,” Josh said
"Wait...is she the one you moved on with?" Will asked
"What? No!" Josh said "I haven't moved on at all,"
"Rick...I know you" Will said
"Alright! I may have slept with her" Josh mumbled
"You dog!" Will replied
"You know..." Josh laughed "You can't say anything until you've been there"
Will shook his head, and then looked at his watch. He'd been on the phone for awhile.
"Okay, I better get off, they'll be suspicious" Will said
"Alright, call me tonight, we'll do speaker and do a meeting with Jordana" Josh said
"Ok, Bye Rick"
"Bye"
Will hung up his, phone and took one last drink of his beer. This wasn't going to be good; he turned and walked back into the house with his empty beer bottle. Jocelyn and Lance were sitting in the living room, talking as Will stepped in, they looked up at him.
"Hey, everything ok?" Jocelyn asked
He smiled "Yea" he held up his bottle "Do you guys recycle these?"
Jocelyn stood up "I'll get it" she said, taking it from him and walked into the kitchen
Lance watched her, as she walked into the kitchen. Will noticed the expression on his face and sat down on one of the couches.
"You love her don't you?" Will asked
Lance looked at him, surprised at the question, but he knew the answer
"I do" Lance said
Will smiled, though he knew all hell was about to break loss.
~*~
Will stayed awhile; interviewed Lance on some last questions he made up about the house took some more pictures and even stayed for dinner. He finally made the arrangements to meet up on Sunday afternoon (it was now Tuesday) to get the final pictures and show them the article he had to write. He got back into his car, and headed back into town towards the INN where he would meet Jordana and do a conference call with Josh. Will got back to the INN, and walked to the door taking his key out opening it slowly. He heard the shower running in the bathroom and closed the door locking it before putting his camera bag down. He saw all of Jordana's bags down by the dresser, and he sighed slipping off his shoes, and sat down on the bed. A few minutes later, Jordana stepped out of the bathroom wrapped in a robe and her hair up in a towel. She saw Will sitting on the bed, watching the little TV across the room. He looked at her, as she walked into the room.
"Will!" he exclaimed "Hi!"
He smiled, and stood up walking over to hug her,
"How are you?" he asked her
"Oh fine" she said "How about yourself?"
"I'm doin ok, I’m ready to get home" he said
"I bet" she said
He went and sat back down on the bed, as she took the towel off her hair, and started to brush her hair on the full length mirror on the wall.
"So what's going on here?" she asked
"Well, I don't know how much JC's told you...but..." he said "truthfully I think he should move on, she's happy here"
"He loves her so much" Jordana said, feeling sad
"I know...but she seems to be over him" Lance said
Jordana finished brushing her hair, then put the towel back into the bathroom, before coming in to sit down next to him on the bed.
"So, what are we waiting for?" Jordana asked
"I'm supposed to call him so we can have a conference call" Will said yawning
She watched him "You look beat" she replied
"Yea...lying is exhausting" he said
"Well you shouldn't have to do it much longer" she said
"Why did he send you here anyway?" Will asked
"To be a distraction for Lance" she said with a wink
'Oh Josh...back to your old tricks' Will thought to himself, as she laid back against the headboard.
"Well are you hungry?" Will asked "There's a diner down the street"
"Oh no" Jordana said "Why don't you get showered up, so we can have that conference"
"Alright" Will said and got up, heading to the bathroom to take a shower before the call with Josh.
~*~
Will sat with Jordana, on the bed with the phone in the middle of the bed. They were now talking to JC about the future plans on speaker. Will was lying back against the head board, as Jordana sat cross legged on the other end of the bed.
“So what’s the plan Josh” Jordana said
“Well, I’d say…just have Jordana come with you to the next visit,” JC said “Say she came down to help you finish up your stuff…and she can start flirting with Lance…”
“And what’s that going to do?” Will asked, obviously annoyed with the way Josh was acting
“It’s going to drive Jocelyn away from him, and back to me” Josh said like it was obvious
“JC…come one” Will said “Do you really think that’s going to happen?”
“Whose side are you on anyway Will?” Josh asked getting mad at his friend
“Yours but-“ he was cut off
“Then please…just do what I say” Josh replied
Will sighed and rubbed his temples with his fingers. Jordana looked at him, and knew he was just stressed out and ready to head home.
“Josh, how long are we out here?” Jordana asked
“I don’t know, as long as it takes” Josh replied
She looked at the phone then at Will. He watched her, he was helpless. She pointed towards the phone, quietly asking for permission to talk to him alone. He nodded, and she picked up the phone pressing the talk button so it turned off speaker, and got up and walked to the bathroom.
“Josh” Jordana replied “It’s jus me now”
“What’s up Jordy?” he asked
“What’s going on with you?” she asked
“What do you mean?”
“Will has been out here for a month, he’s ready to go home”
“He told me he would do this for me, I told him I didn’t know how long it would take” Josh explained “You’re not changing your mind on me are you?”
“Of course not, but Josh…Will looks so tired…and drained” she said
He sighed into the phone “I can’t live without her Jordy” he replied
She was quiet, as she sat down on the toilet seat.
“But…what about me?” she asked
He was quiet, she sighed again knowing.
“What is it going to take for you to get over her huh?” she asked “Is she going to have to get married or something”
“What?” he asked
“She’s not going to take you back JC, and the sooner you see that…the better off you are” she said getting annoyed at his behavior “I thought what happened to us was great…I was all ready to be with you”
“Jordana-“ he started
“No!” she exclaimed “Listen to me Josh”
“That night I came over…I…” she started “I was ready to be with you… after what we did, I thought you were done with Jocelyn”
“Then why did you agree to do this?” he asked
“Because…who am I to stand in the way of true love…” she replied “But obviously, she isn’t in love with you anymore”
Josh sniffled into the phone, making Jordana gasp a little. She didn’t realize he was crying, a few seconds passed with no words when Jordana spoke again.
“Joshy?” she called
“Yea” he replied “I’m here”
“What do you want to do now?” she asked
He was quiet then spoke
”I’m asking you this Jordana…please can we go as planned” he asked “Just to see…”
She groaned “Whatever Josh, I’m going to go… talk to you later”
She hung up. She was so ready to throw the phone against the way. This man was impossible. She got up, and walked back into the living room. Will was in the same spot his eyes closed, Jordana couldn’t tell if he was sleeping or not, until he spoke up.
“So…” he said
She shook her head as she put the phone down on the night stand, and got into bed next to him.
“That man is impossible” she said
Will sighed knowing what that meant. Jordana watched him, and rubbed the side of his face with her hand softly.
“Get some sleep, we’ll make some plans in the morning” she replied
He moved down the bed under the covers, as Jordana held them open for him. He got in, and sighed in relief. Jordana smiled and kissed his cheek before getting into bed herself, and shutting the light off.
“It’ll be better in the morning” she whispered “Sweet dreams”
Will mumbled his response as he fell into a deep sleep.
Chapter End Notes:
*&*Traci*&*
Comments? Questions? E-mail me at Spacey1141@hotmail.com
Comments? Questions? E-mail me at Spacey1141@hotmail.com
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