After a few days of being on location with Luke, I was about to lose my mind. Both of us seemed to be in a bad mood and he was driving me utterly crazy. Either his lunch wasn't up to par or he forgot something at the hotel, and of course, I had to go and fetch it. That's my job and I expect to fulfill my obligations in the best manner possible, but seriously was the attitude necessary? Our normal lively banter was gone and had been replaced with rolling eyes and irritated looks.
I recognized what my problem was, but what the hell was his? It's not like he had to leave someone he was in love with back home in California. During the day the smile that would light up my face as I read Jared's texts seemed to fade fast when Luke was near.
I couldn't be more relieved when Thursday finally arrived. The day was mine to do as I pleased and after a very late breakfast, I made my way back to my hotel room. I took a face time call from Jared and I smiled warmly, realizing that he was still in bed.
He was speaking to me as he got out of bed and walked down the hallway to the stairs. I knew right off that he wasn't at home, but instead of looking at him, I was busy watching the background. He was in mid sentence when I began to realize that everything behind him looked way too familiar. "Wait a minute! Are you at my parents house?!"
"Calm down, yes I am. I spent the night here last night.... In your old room..... With Johnny Depp." He put the phone down and all I could see was the ceiling of my old bathroom. The sound of flowing water was really loud and he picked up the phone with a toothbrush in his mouth.
"Fuck you." I mouthed and he frowned, staring straight ahead in the mirror. I sat down on my bed and patiently waited until he was finished.
He finally rinsed and wiped his mouth, "Fuck me?" I watched his eyes narrow, "Promises, promises," he joked, blowing me a kiss. "So, is Johnny the reason you never took me in your old room?" He wasn't even looking at me, he was too busy gazing at himself. "Didn't want me to know that you were all crazy for him?"
"No, I never even thought about it actually." That was a total lie, I knew that was precisely why I never showed him my former room. I was floored that my mother never tried when we were over. He turned the light out and headed back to my bedroom. Once inside his eyes became huge. "It was crazy sleeping in here with him staring at me all night."
"Wait a second, why are you even there?"
He again laid the phone down. "For your information, your father invited me. It was my idea to send your mother and her sister on a spa day."
"Awww, you invited aunt Karen? Jared, that was so sweet. I can't believe you did that." I couldn't stop smiling.
He picked the phone up and sat down. "Yeah, yeah, are things any better with Luke?"
Before I could answer, Jared turned around and was talking to my dad. I could hear him responding. "I'm ready when you are, just talking to Jennifer. Want to say hi?" Jared turned back toward the phone and spoke. "Babe, say hello to your dad."
My father was waving, "Hi honey. Jared and I are going to do something fun today. You look worn out this morning."
"Just a rough week daddy. I'm missing you guys. Look, I don't want to keep you two. I'm going to take a nap now. I love you guys."
My dad had a huge smile on his face. "We will talk later, Jennifer." Jared turned the screen back to himself. "Bye babe, I'll text you when we get back. Love you."
I set my phone on the table and lay down. It didn't take me long to fall asleep and I actually slept longer than I planned. Great, now I'd be up all night. I got up and took a shower and on my way out of the bathroom my phone chimed alerting me of a text. I was expecting it to be Jared, but it was from Luke. He asked me to join him for dinner and said he wanted to speak to me about something.
'Great.' This just goes on getting better and better. I got dressed and put on my makeup. Truth be told I really didn't want to go, but I had to. On my way out the door, I grabbed my phone and headed for the elevator.
Luke was waiting for me in the lobby and we got into the back of a car. It was awkward silence all the way to the restaurant. We were seated immediately and Luke gave me a half grin. "There's something I need to talk to you about. I know that you and I have both been a little cranky lately. You because I'm sure you are missing Jared and I have been seeing someone too."
I know my mouth dropped open in shock and I suddenly felt nauseated. This was the first I was hearing about this and the shock was too much.
He told me that he was back with his ex and that they had been seeing each other for months now. I guess I've been too busy living my own life to notice. He stated that they were engaged and the only person who knows is Leila. I was left totally stunned. Engaged?! So many thoughts went through my mind and I didn't want to bombard him with all of my questions. I congratulated him and tried not to overload him with my concerns.
An hour later we got back to the hotel and I saw that I had three missed calls. All were from Jared and when I called him back, I told him about Luke's engagement. I also told him about the concerns that I had for my job. Would Luke even still need a PA? God, next weekend couldn't come soon enough.
