Sip of Assistance

Chapter 16

She lifted her coffee from the table, sipping it as she awaited my reply. I had to push away the dirty thoughts about her telling me that I'd gotten her wet to answer.

“It’s only 5:30, Holls, you’re early.” I pointed at the big clock over the doorway.

She nodded and sat at the table. “I didn’t realize. Hurry up and get dressed, we have a long day and I’m starving. I seriously hope that there’s bacon on today’s menu, I need protein.”

She was looking through her planner with a nonchalant demeanor as she spoke and I wondered if she realized that everything she said could be taken sexually. I really needed to get my head out of the gutter and away from the the thought of the protein I could provide her with. What was wrong with me? I was acting like a hormone ridden, sex obsessed teenage boy.

I rushed into my room to get dressed for the day and headed back into the kitchen to make bacon and eggs, deciding that if she was going to ignore the kiss, I would let it go as well.

As a matter of fact, I needed to relieve some of the leftover tension and I knew just who to call. I smiled at the thought as I cooked.

There were only a couple more days left on the set before we would be all wrapped up with Long Winter. Once they were done, I'd have plenty of time to take a beautiful woman out on the town. All the work I'd been doing, filming and with Holly, even just hanging out with Holly, had me so preoccupied that I hadn't realized I hadn't been out with anyone lately.

Time to change that, I though, with a big grin on my face.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thankfully, the filming on Long Winter was finally done and I wouldn't have to spend anymore time in that trailer with James.

The Emmy Awards were in full swing and I was excited to see how James' show, Satan's Soldiers, would do. Apparantly the previous year they had been somewhat snubbed, but this year there were quite a few nominations. I stayed home because I felt it was no place for an assistant and he really wouldn’t need me, and even more importantly, I just wanted some space. Ever since the kiss I found myself day dreaming about his lips on mine and the feel of his scruffy face against my neck, not to mention his strong arms wrapped around my waist. When I ran into him the morning after our kiss and realized I’d managed to put myself back in his arms and without him in any clothes I nearly had a heart attack. He looked so hot, but I knew that I had to act like it never happened.

I can’t say a part of me wasn’t disappointed that he did the same, but it was for the best. In only a matter of days we were back to normal, aside from my internal fantasies. All in all, things were on track. It was just lust and I maintained the confidence that it would go away. Unfortunately, my resolve on that issue began wavering when he knocked on the guest house door requesting help with his tie and asking if I thought he looked presentable.

I hadn't seen him all day and to my surprise, at some point in the previous hours he had chopped off that long sexy hair, cropping it short and shaved of his scruffy goatee revealing a now soft and smooth face. He looked amazing, but I tried to keep myself calm. We were dangerously close as I tied his skinny black tie and told him that he looked dashing in his suit and that I approved of the new hair cut. When I finally stopped avoiding his eyes, I saw that they were sparkling more than ever as he smiled down at me. It didn't help that I could smell his minty breathe as it caressed my cheek. It was all I could do to not kiss him again, so I pulled away and reminded him that the Emmy's would go on without him if he didn't leave soon.

Aside from his attractive new look, another reason I didn't go was because I didn't want to intrude on his date with a very beautiful super model. When he told me who he'd be going with I shamelessly googled her. She looked like all of the other women I remembered seeing him with in magazines before I was hired; flawlessly beautiful and statuesque in her gown and even from my point of view watching the television during the preshow, on the red carpet, the two of them looked like the ideal Hollywood couple.

She was nothing like me and my short frame. She was graceful and elegant, two things I never felt I could pull off, with long wavy sandy blonde hair. It didn't matter though, there was no reason to compare myself to her, it wasn't as if I was going up against her for James' affection. James and I were just friends and coworkers whereas she could very well end up as much more.

It was strange seeing him with a woman, not because it bothered me or because I was jealous, but because over the last four months I had never witnessed it except when he was filming a scene -though I rarely watched and never felt like it counted. We weren't together every second of every day and I tried to avoid tabloids if I could though, so maybe he was dating and I had been oblivious.

Despite him having a date, I was still required to meet them at the house afterwards so I could join them to one of the after parties because if his show did well at the Emmy's, there would be a lot of business talk and I'd need to schedule the necessary appointments and interviews for the coming weeks.

There was a live stream of the Emmy's on television so I sat in the living room of the guest house watching intently as actors, acresses, writers, and director of Satan's Soldiers- including James- won several awards. I was in my pj’s beaming at the television like a crazy person, happy for him and- from the grin that never left his face- I could tell he was feeling pretty great too.

Once the awards were over I started getting dressed. I knew he’d be busy for a while doing interviews and taking photos so I wasn’t in a hurry.

An hour and a half later he arrived with Alessandra the supermodel latched firmly to his strong arm. I nearly knocked her over as I ran and hugged him, forgetting about the kiss for once and just being his assistant and friend. He chuckled at my display, but hugged me back.

"Thanks for the enthusiasm Holls," I could hear the smile in his voice.

He finally pulled away, "This is Alessandra, we met a couple years ago at a mutual friend's birthday party. Alessandra, this is Holly, my friend and assistant. She basically makes my life managable so I can get places on time and not go crazy."

I shook her delicate hand and noted her warm smile. After some polite conversation, we headed out. On the car ride I was surprised to find that she was incredibly sweet. It was a little hard to understand her through her thick accent, but I didn't mind because of how comfortable she was with me as James' assistant. I had been worried she'd be jealous that her date was bringing his female assistant along, but I suppose she understood the way the parties went and that she had absolutely nothing to worry about with me.

The two of them sat next to each other and aside from her hand on his thigh, they really didn't act like a couple, for which I was grateful. It would have been awkward to feel even more like a third wheel.

It felt like things really were back on track. As we arrived they went one way so they could celebrate and I begrudgingly said good bye to James and went another so that I could find Tony, discuss some important details, and get to work.

If I had known what would happen at the party I would have stayed in the guest house in my pj's and feigned illness instead.