Just Play Along

Twenty-Three & Twenty-Four

PART TWENTY THREE

“Please!” she begged me into the phone, “Sunday is like a huge deal for my family!” 

“I’ve got a premier!!” I argued back.

“But it’s not till later in the day!” she reasoned, “We can do both things!”

“I don’t want to spend the whole day with you,” I whined.

“Wow, how charming,” Jess said bluntly.

“That’s not what I meant!”

“I don’t want to hear it,” she said, clearly annoyed by my statement.

“Fine, I’ll do Sunday with you, if you come to my premier.”

“Done,” Jess said, “Just one question… Do you have a top hat?”

“Excuse me?”

“A top hat?” Jess said again, slowly, enunciating each syllable.

“You’re taking the piss right?” I asked, “People do not wear those anymore.”

“Yes they do,” she sighed, “You need one for this event. I’ll ask Freddy if he’s got a spare.”

“What have I signed myself up for?” I asked, ignoring her statement.

“Don’t worry about it,” Jess smirked over the phone.

“Tell me! I need to mentally prepare myself.”

“We’re going to the horse races,” she said, “I have to go now so, bye!”

The horse races? What the hell?

As it was only Wednesday I had a few days to prepare myself for spending the day with Jess. I’d figured out after a month and a half of our fake relationship that I could only really handle her in short spurts. She was always a ball of drama. Sometimes it would be work stuff, and she’d get fifteen calls while we were trying to have a meal out. Or it would be stuff at family events; we hadn’t actually run into George again, but I had this inkling that we would soon enough. Other times she’d be completely normal, like when we went to the football game together. I never actually knew which Jess I was getting which is what made everything so frustrating.

“What do I wear to a horse race?” I asked JB one day when we were waiting to get styled for a photo shoot.

“Haha, what?”

“Jess is making me go to some horse race with her family,” I sighed.

“You don’t sound excited.”

“It doesn’t sound like my ideal day, that’s all.”

“Well you can always have a drink or two and try your hand at the betting,” JB said, “Try and distract yourself, you know.”

“Might be best,” I replied, “She said I have to wear a top hat!”

“Oh god,” JB laughed, “I don’t get what you see in this girl.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“You almost never seem excited to see her. You never call or text her. If I didn’t know any better I’d say you don’t even like her!”

“Well…” I said, trying to formulate a comeback. I didn’t want JB to figure out the truth, it would be humiliating.

“She must be really good in bed,” he winked.

“Umm… Yeah,” I said, trying to put on a fake smile. Jess would probably kill me if this ever got back to her, but I didn’t really care at the moment, JB could not find out the truth!