CHAPTER 9
“I just don’t know what to do about it.” Justin sat in his home studio with a notebook in his lap talking to Rachel. He was trying to write and get himself back into a creative space but he felt that the situation with Lola really needed to be resolved in his head. He had told Trace all about what had happened last night and what had been going on with Lola- her excessive drinking, her all night partying, her drug use and her extreme mood swings. With some prodding on his part Trace had given him an earful about what he thought of Lola and her hard partying ways. And while he didn’t like hearing negative things about his girl coming out of his best friends mouth he understood it was coming from a place of love. But when Rachel came into the main house this morning he figured some female insight into his relationship might help him to understand what was going on inside Lola’s pretty little self-destructive head. Another good thing about having his cousin around was that before becoming his personal assistant she was a psychology major. So not only did she have insight into the irrational female mind but she could also dissect what was going on behind all that crazy.
“I know you want to help Jay,” Rachel sympathetically put her hand on her cousins knee, “but I think this might be something Lola has to try to get through on her own. She lives in this fucked up Hollywood world where she is friends with all these people who are super famous and have tons of jobs and opportunities coming their way and everyone is always talking about them but she hasn’t had any offers in years and even when she is out with her friends no one bothers with her- no one cares. All of this has been building up and building up inside of her for years but she has too much pride to let any of her friends help her. So she helps herself deal in the only way she knows how, as destructive as that way may be. Everything that she has pushed down for years is having an affect on her self-image and in addition to that it is probably not too easy on her self-esteem dating someone as successful as you are.” She said the last thing as caring and compassionate as possible.
“So dating me makes her snort drugs up her nose.” Justin said defensively, pulling away from Rachel. Rachel rarely sugarcoated anything that she said and she always expressed her true feelings. It was a pro and a con of her personality but he had to admit she was usually right in the long run.
“No… no” Rachel backed up, “Shit. That came out the wrong way. What I mean is that you are really successful in all aspects of your career, which is not something you should ever feel bad about but you have to look at this from her point of view. She is probably a little intimidated by that. And it might be affecting her self-esteem. That is all I meant.”
“Yeah” Justin said slowly, he was at a bit of a loss for words. He had a lot of thinking to do about his relationship with Lola and the impact he was willing to have in her life. He didn’t want to have such a negative impact on her life and on her self-image.
:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:
Lying in bed staring at the ceiling Lola was deep in thought about everything that had happened yesterday. Her day had started out really good. She was able to sleep in later than she usually did and then she went out for brunch with Nicole and Adam. Then when she got home she was able to get some light reading in and do a little surfing on the beach. All in all it had been a relaxing day. But as usual in her life something small- something that she was not going to think about at the moment- fucked with her head and she lost hold on the good place that she had been in for a few days.
One of the very very few good things about doing drugs to escape your problems as opposed to drinking them away was that you didn’t have to deal with a hangover the next morning.
She was able to see that the rationalization of her drug use was not a healthy thing to do but it was the reality that most drug users did do it in order to validate the reason that they continued to use.
Another good thing, much better and healthier than the rationalization of drug use, was that Lola recovered quickly from illness and injury. Recovery was one of the things that she was good at. Broken hearts and crushing blows to her ego were always mended quickly and with only the necessary amount of crying and overindulgent eating. While some would blame it on her severe mood swings Lola just considered herself lucky. Yesterday’s episode was simply added to the list of small slights and large grievances that she had to deal with on a daily basis. After these seemingly trivial incidents good news was the thing that brought her back to some semblance of normal. Luck for her she usually ended up getting some good news after something personally devastating happen to her, it just happened that way.
Today she was woken up by her good news. Ari’s assistant had called and asked her to come into the office to pick up some scripts to read. She was glad that Ari was true to his word he didn’t waste anytime finding her work. She had known that there were scripts out there for her and this reinforced the idea that firing Ruby had been a good move.
Today was her day she could feel it.
Checking her Cartier tank watch she saw that she had about an hour to get ready and make her way over to Ari’s office. Walking into her closest she chose a white Karen Zambos dress . Another thing she always had going for her was he ability to put together a great outfit.
Smiling at Ari’s assistant she was quickly ushered into Ari’s office, which made her feel very important. Most people had to wait at least a few minutes in the waiting room. As usual Ari was on the phone, barking orders to whoever was on the other end. She took a seat on the couch parallel to his desk and waited patiently for him to get off the phone. Looking around she saw a large stack of papers on Ari’s desk and hoped that it was a stack of scripts because there were probably three or four scripts in that pile.
“Hello Lola” Ari greeted her. She wasn’t used to him using a nice tone of voice with her or with anyone for that matter. He was usually curt, gruff and to the point. That is what made him such a great agent. Grabbing each one of the scripts he explained the premise of each one and what character she would be auditioning for. The great thing about getting scripts through an agent was that it was because whoever wrote the script or purchased the rights to it had requested that she read it and recommended her for that particular part. “Okay go home and read these over and have an answer tomorrow about which one you are most interested in doing. Then we will talk about which one would benefit your career the most. I don’t want to talk about this without you having read the scripts.”
Lola left the office with her large stack of scripts and a big smile on her face. A smile that got even bigger when Ari’s assistant smiled and winked at her.
Yes today was her day!
She made her way back to her house and the rest of the day was spent reading the four scripts Ari had given her.
While Lola loved reading and tried to read as much as possible she didn’t realize that she would enjoy reading scripts as much as she did. But she found herself devouring page after page without stopping. It was most likely the knowledge that this would turn into something productive for her that kept her going. She had finished one of the four scripts but had decided to reserve judgment of which one she wanted until the other three where finished.
She had to say though, whoever sent these scripts over to Ari’s office thinking that she should be included in the pool of actresses interested in the part was a nice feeling. While she assumed that it might have taken some cajoling from Ari she was still honored that they had said agreed to at least let her read the scripts because it really was up to them whether or not she got one of these parts.
:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:
With all the confusion of last night Justin nearly forgot that his mother was coming into town for a few days. It was a last minute trip that his mother decided she just needed to take. What he assumed was that Trace had told his own mother about Justin seeing Lola and Trace’s mom had told Lynn. And he could only imagine what Trace had said to his own mother. If Trace had said even half the stuff that Justin knew he felt about Lola he was in for one intense weekend. Even if this was true Justin was actually a little thankful that his mother was coming. Talking to her might put things into perspective for him.
He didn’t have to wait long for her to come out of the airport and when he spotted her he jumped out of the car. “Hi Momma” he hugged his mom and grabbed her luggage out of her hands and put them in the back of his truck. The ride back to his house was filled with small talk and gossip about friends and family members back in Tennessee.
Finally they got back to his house and got Lynn situated into the room in his house that he had especially for when she visited. He was unsure about how to bring up the topic of Lola with his mom, seeing as he hadn’t told her he was dating anyone. They were sitting in the kitchen and Justin figured that this was as good a time as any to get it over with.
“So Momma I wanted to talk to you about something and get your opinion.”
Lynn looked at her son closely; “Of course baby” Lynn was bustling around the kitchen making dinner. Another reason he liked that his mom was here- he would actually get to eat some real food.
“Do you remember that show I used to watch when I was little ‘Making Waves’?” without waiting for an answer he went on, “Well I have been talking to the actress who used to be on the show- Lola Dean. Do you remember her at all?”
“Yes I do. She was a cute little thing.” Lynn said slowly, she already knew this was coming and was semi surprised that they were talking about this so early in her visit.
“Well we met through some mutual friends and have been talking but the thing is she has been having a lot of problems lately. She goes out to clubs a lot and she has really bad mood swings. She hasn’t had any work in awhile and it has made her kind of depressed. I talked to Rach about it and she said it was a self-esteem issue. Rach also thinks that it might be bad for her self-esteem to be dating me. What do you think?”
“Well baby I’m glad you finally took the initiative to tell me about Lola. I just wish you would tell me as much as Trace tells his mother.” Obviously Justin needed to have a talk with Trace about privacy, “Now if I knew this girl better I could give you my opinion on the situation but I simply cannot make a judgment based on the edited version of events you just told me.”
As much as he loved his mother she knew exactly what to say to make him feel guilty and he didn’t miss the passive aggressive tone of her voice or her thinly veiled attempt to request a meeting with Lola. He was also well aware of the fact that his mother was a real Southern women and could make a judgment about anyone at anytime, whether she knew them or not.
“Well then why don’t I invite her over for dinner tonight.” Even as he said it he knew it was not a good idea but ever the momma’s boy he offered it because he knew it is what his mother wanted. He actually preferred that the two didn’t meet. In the past his mother had been very judgmental when she first met his girlfriends and he wanted to protect Lola from that, for many reasons, the main one being what a run in with his mother could do to her.
His mother turned and smiled at him, “Wonderful idea, I’m so glad you suggested it,” she looked at her watch and said, “you should call her now. I’ll start getting dinner ready.”
Cursing himself and his inability to say no to his mother he went upstairs to grab his phone and call Lola.
“Hey Jay” Lola’s voice was one that was instantly recognizable. It had that sexy raspy sound like when you got a sore throat.
“Hey Lo, what are you doing?” He was stalling the inevitable.
“Reading some scripts. I went to Ari’s office this morning to pick up four scripts to read,” he could hear the smile in her voice, which was promising. “I got through one but I’m not gonna decide until I’ve read them all.”
“That’s great. So you’re okay today?” Justin asked slowly.
Lola was quiet for a moment and her voice came over the phone quiet, “Yes I’m fine today. Last night was a mistake and I had a good day today. Thank you though.” He could here her silent plea through the phone to drop the subject and for now he would.
“Great. So are you doing anything tonight because I wanted to invite you over tonight for dinner.” Justin eased in before revealing the big clincher, “But before you say anything I think it is only fair that I tell you my mother is in town,” he chuckled awkwardly “so I understand if you suddenly have plans.”
“Nope totally free” Lola laughed into the phone. He was asking her to meet his mother!
Today was definitively her day!
As much as he didn’t want tonight to happen he was strangely glad that she would be coming over. He liked having her in his house and he really like spending time with her but what he liked the most was that for one night he would know that she was safe. “Okay just come over whenever you’re ready. Dinner should be in like and hour and a half maybe two hours.”
“Okay see you soon Jay”
:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:
Regret was a difficult thing. It was one of those human emotions that could be felt in small insignificant amounts or in large all consuming amounts.
Justin felt regret in different stages. At the moment he was regretting not tell his big girlie best friend not to gossip about his life, which was a relatively small regret. He also was regretting inviting his emotionally fragile… whatever… over to meet his intensely protective stage mother, which was a relatively big regret.
They were all sitting at his dining room table, which he rarely used and his mother was talking about Veronica- his ex who lived in Tennessee. Apparently she had just got her realtor’s license and “she just looks so pretty”. While Justin didn’t like where this conversation was going he dreaded the point when his mother would run out of ex-girlfriends to talk about and would move on to talking about Lola.
Lola’s face had no discernable expression; she was simply nodding occasionally and slowly eating her dinner. The only noise from her side of the table was the light scrapping of her silverware against the plate.
Lynn smiled and looked directly at Lola. “So Lola dear, how rude of me, going on and on about people you don’t know. Where are you from dear?”
“Oh well I’m from Boston originally but I’ve lived in Los Angeles most of my life.”
“Oh that’s right. You were on that show. Justin what was the name of that show you used to watch?”
“She played Jordan on ’Making Waves’ Mama”
“That’s right. I remember now how you and Britney would never miss and episode.” He had been waiting until that name would come up. “So Lola Justin tells me you haven’t had any work in a while. Did you decide to stop working after ‘Making Waves’ got cancelled?”
Wow… telling his mother anything about Lola- big regret.
He had to give credit where credit was due though, Lola put her fork down and looked his mother directly in the eyes, something that stronger men had not been able to do in the past, “Well no, I haven’t had any work lately but I just recently signed with CAA and I am being represented by Ari Emmanuel and Elliot Mintz. Today I started reading some scripts and I am considering what role I should take on.”
He had to say he was impressed that she was able to hold her own but he was not about to under estimate his mother’s ability to come out on top.
Lynn calmly took a bite of her dinner, “And your parents dear, are they well?”
“Oh yes ma’am they are. They live here in LA.”
“And what do they do?”
“They are both lawyers, they work together at a firm in Beverly Hills.”
“O how nice. So you grew up wealthy, did you?” Lynn pried. Like many people Lynn had instilled in him that it was rude not only to ask about money but also to talk about it at the dinner table. He was surprised at how his mother was acting but he was even more surprised at the fact that Lola was not visibly cowering, quite the opposite she was appearing to be a worthy opponent to his mother. But again Lynn came out on top with everything she did, he didn’t doubt that it would be the same tonight.
“Well I guess you could say that but I consider us to be more upper middle class.”
“And the depression, how are you dealing with that? Justin tells me you are battling with depression.”
There we go…
He was mildly shocked that his mother was using his own flippant words against him. He didn’t say she was sick with depression he simply told his mother that she was sad, when really discouraged would have been a better word to use.
Not being more conscientious about the words he used when talking to his mother- Big regret.
Lola smiled calmly, “Oh yes ma’am. It is under control. Thank you for asking.” As if she had just won some silent battle Lynn went back to eating her dinner.
Before she could think of any other prying questions to ask Lola he decided to be more proactive in keeping the conversation going in a direction that was conducive to what he wanted. He steered the conversation towards some of his upcoming projects, a topic that was bound to distract his mother.
Once dinner was finished Lynn went to work with doing the dishes, insisting that she didn’t need help. Lola made her way from the dining room into the living room. Looking at Lynn and then back in the direction Lola had gone he decided to follow after Lola.
Walking in the living room he noticed Lola rooting around in her purse. He grabbed her hand and forced her to look up at him and the anger he saw made him drop his hand like he had burnt it. “Hey what’s going on?” He asked stupidly.
“I’m leaving” Finding he keys in triumph she went to brush past him but Justin grabbed her.
“No, don’t leave. I’m sorry for her,” Justin said softly, touching his forehead with hers. “Please don’t let her run you off, that’s just how she is. It’s her way of protecting me.”
“From what? From the depressed, drug addict, former actress” She whispered, venomously and tried in vain to wiggle from his grasp.
He pulled her down onto the couch but refused to go of her, in fear that she would leave faster than he was able to stop her, “I talk to my mom about everything, for a long time she was the only one I talked to about anything and because of that she feels the need to protect me. Especially when it comes to relationships. It isn’t always right the way she does it but that is how she is. This is not about you, it’s about me. She’s angry that I didn’t talk to her about you and that she had to hear it from Trace’s mom.”
“I don’t care Justin. I don’t care that she feels the need to protect you from me or that she is mad at you. That is not the way to treat someone you just met. For the nice Southern woman you told me she was this is not the southern hospitality I was expecting. I may not be from the South but I know that my parents would never have treated you that way and they never ever would throw anything that you do back in your face. They would never demean or blatantly try to humiliate you like that.” She pecked him on the lips before getting up, “This obviously was not something that she was ready for so I am going to go.”
“Hey don’t go,” Justin was worried about what she may do to relieve the stress of tonight, she had freaked out over much less.
“I really can’t handle anymore bonding. I will call you tomorrow.” With a short kiss she got up and gathered her things back up and left, shooting him a small smile before leaving.
He watched her out the window as she made her way to the car. Halfway there she got a call on her cell and he hoped beyond anything that it wasn’t someone that would get her into trouble.
Incomplete
juicyfashionista is the author of 0 other stories.
This story is a favorite of 2 members. Members who liked Making Waves With You also liked 138 other stories.
This story is a favorite of 2 members. Members who liked Making Waves With You also liked 138 other stories.
Story Tags: Be the first to add a tag to this story
