Linus turned on the TV. The three of them stood together in Lou's living room.
"They've been teasing it through the entire show." Debbie nudged Lou. "Your life will never be the same."
Linus turned to Debbie. "Do you have your own publicist? Because if anyone's life is about to change, it's yours."
"I can't afford you, Linus."
"I'll give you a deal."
Lou pointed at the TV. "Here we go."
And the story you've been waiting for... has life imitated art? The star herself isn't talking, but a new photo might just say it all. Lou Miller, star of the highly rated series, Jordan's Appeal, has spoken extensively about her character, Jordan Ellis, falling in love with a woman, played by Debbie Ocean of the daytime soap, Light of Day. What she hasn't talked about, are the rumors currently swirling around the two actors that seem to hint at a real-life romance. Is this photo taken on Saturday at a Starbucks in West Hollywood proof that Lou Miller is just as in love with Debbie Ocean as Jordan is with Jane? Take a look folks and let us know what you think on Twitter and Facebook.
Linus turned off the TV. "Perfect. That's exactly what we want."
"What's next?"
Lou had been here before. She knew what was next. Dating Rusty Ryan, then eloping, then divorcing him -the paparazzi had been relentless through it all. She shivered at the thought of what was next, but it would be worth it, she tried to tell herself. She was mostly asking the question for Debbie's sake. Linus would be more diplomatic in his descriptions.
"A paparazzi shitstorm."
Lou's eyes shuttered closed. So much for diplomacy, Linus.
"You'll be hounded until they get something more concrete, which we're not going to give them. Not yet, anyway. And Debbie, you need to warn your family. If you want any other advice from me, I have a contract out in my car."
Lou turned to Debbie. "I don't usually say this when he's in the room, but Linus is the best, and you'll want him in front of you on this. Also, things could get a bit complicated if you were to go with someone else."
Debbie gave her a nod. "Get the contract, Lin."
"Excellent. I need an hour with both of you, right now." As Linus walked to the front door, both Debbie and Lou's phones started ringing. "For the next few hours, let everyone leave a voicemail!" Linus yelled back at them.
***
Debbie hated lying to Danny. She covered her eyes with her hand.
"Deb, are you there?"
"Yeah, I'm here."
"So, are the rumors true? Are you really dating Lou?"
"Yeah. It's um... it just happened, unexpectedly." Debbie knew that Danny wouldn't be surprised by the news. He'd seen something between them. Too bad whatever he'd seen, wasn't real.
"That's the best kind, when you don't see it coming. Mom would..."
"Danny." Debbie didn't want to cry, and if her brother told her the story that she'd heard a thousand time before... "Tell me, Danny. Tell me about that story with mom."
Danny chuckled into the phone. "You know the story. And I'm so happy for you, Deb. You have everything you want now, right? A job, doing what you love. A good woman. Who could ask for more?"
Debbie's heart sank. One day soon, she'd have to admit that she'd lied to him. "Yeah, I guess so."
"Do you love her, Debs? You sound kind of sad."
Debbie stood in the doorway of the guesthouse. She could see Lou in the main house, wiping down the kitchen counter, even though it wasn't dirty. "Yeah. I love her, Dan. She's amazing. Everything. My dream woman." She chuckled to herself. "I'm... you know... so gone I can barely breathe." She bent over and put a hand on her knee, trying to get some air.
"Breathe, Deb. I know the feeling, but you have to keep breathing. Keep moving. And when it feels right, you know what to do."
"Yeah, I do," Debbie gasped for air, her emotions surfacing.
"I'm so happy for you." Danny's voice cracked. "I could see it when I was there, how good you two are together. It's different, you know?"
"How so?" Debbie stood back up, holding her stomach as she watched Lou.
"I liked Tammy, but to see you with someone like Lou... so much your equal... a good partner..."
Was her brother crying? She pressed the phone to her ear. "Danny?"
"I'm fine, Deb. It just makes me think of mom and how happy she'd be for you."
Debbie couldn't take it anymore. He'd be devastated when she and Lou broke up in a few months. God, how would she ever tell him the truth? It broke her heart, just thinking about it. "I have to go now, Danny. If anyone bothers you, just give them Linus's phone number, okay?"
"I will. Take care, Deb."
***
Debbie sat on the end of a lounger with her phone clasped between her hands, covering her mouth, almost like she was praying. She was so deep in thought, she jumped when Lou shouted, "Drinks outside?"
"Yeah!" she shouted back. It was an unseasonably warm evening. Not a cloud in the sky and very little breeze blowing.
Debbie moved closer to the main house where two loungers were sitting next to each other with a table in between. Lou set the wine glasses on the table and handed the bottle to Debbie. "Will you do the honors?"
Debbie read the label before she opened it. "This looks familiar."
"Yeah. Remember the wine Daphne sent to the table at Nobu?"
"Ohhhh... I loved that wine."
"I know. And we have a lot to celebrate." Lou lay back in the lounger, looking relaxed and happy. Pretty much the exact opposite of how Debbie was feeling. "You know," Lou said, looking around. "I've lived in this house for a few years now, and I've never spent this much time out here. It's really quite beautiful."
Debbie twisted the corkscrew into the bottle. "I love it out here. The swimming pool is about the size of my apartment in New York, so I kind of feel like I'm on a permanent vacation."
"I'm glad you're happy here." Debbie didn't reply, so Lou turned to her. "You are... happy here, right?"
Debbie ignored the question as she poured the wine. She held out her glass for a toast. "What are we celebrating?"
Lou didn't pick up her glass. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing. To the good life. Now, hit my glass."
Lou raised her glass. "To the good life. Now, tell me what's wrong."
Debbie swirled and inhaled the wine before she took a sip. "It's just Tammy and my brother. He's so excited about us, he can hardly contain himself. Meanwhile, Tammy is... not giving up." Lou didn't reply, and Debbie didn't really blame her. It was a mess on her side, and Lou couldn't fix it. No one could. "I should start house hunting," Debbie said.
"You can't afford this town." Lou took a long sip of her wine. "God, that's good."
"Maybe not this neighborhood, but I can find something smaller."
"A smaller home in a good neighborhood will run you at least 1.5 million. Probably, more."
"I can rent."
Lou was silent for a minute, so Debbie leaned back on the lounger. She glanced at Lou's short shorts and let her eyes wander down her legs. "Do you want to go for a swim?"
"Are you trying to get me naked?"
Debbie shrugged. "You go in the hot tub naked, so why not the pool?"
"You're not very subtle."
"You like that about me. Now tell me what we're celebrating." Debbie knew, but she wanted to hear it from Lou. Get her take on how things went with her big "coming out."
Lou turned to Debbie, excitement filling her eyes. "We're celebrating the fact that the world doesn't seem to mind that I've fallen in love with a woman." The phrasing wasn't lost on Debbie, nor was the fact that her heart skipped a beat. As usual, the joy lasted about two seconds before Lou slapped her back into reality. Not the fake reality, but the real reality. "It's a real shame they don't give Emmys for this shit because we're selling the hell out of it."
Debbie forced a smile. "We sure are. They really seem to love it."
"I can't thank you enough, Debs. I know it's been a pain in the ass to take care of me and carry on this little charade."
"You're paying me well. I've never had so much cash in the bank."
Lou turned onto her side, fully facing Debbie. "Is there anything else I can do for you?"
Anything else you can do for me? What is this shit? If Lou was going to have the nerve to say it like that, all laying on her side being sexy while she said it, Debbie would let her eyes wander down Lou's bare legs and back up to her chest again. "You know what I want." She motioned with her head toward the pool.
"And you say I'm gay."
Debbie downed the rest of the glass and poured herself more wine. She took a big swallow and picked up her phone. "Would you like some music? I'm sure I have a striptease on here somewhere."
Lou didn't take her eyes off of Debbie, waiting for her to make eye contact again. When she finally did, she said, "How many seconds would it take for me to seduce you?"
Debbie's eyebrows rose. "Seconds? God, you're so arrogant."
"I'm taking into account the glass and a half of wine you just drank in under a minute."
This was a trick of some kind. Debbie wouldn't fall for it. She was smarter than that. Her eyes flicked to Lou's chest again. Since she'd rolled onto her side, even more cleavage was showing. Soft, luscious breasts that were begging to be worshipped. She pulled her eyes away and said, "You have no intention of trying to seduce me, so it's really a moot point." She lifted her glass. "Cheers."
"Thirty seconds? A minute?" Debbie ignored the question, sipping her wine and keeping her eyes straight ahead. Lou set her glass down and stood up. "I think all it would take, is me holding out my hand."
Debbie shook her head in disgust. "You are such a..."
"You're the one who wanted to play," Lou said, lowering her hand. "You're always flirting and blatantly cat calling and trying to get me naked, but the second I say anything..."
"I've never flirted with you." Debbie took another sip of her wine. "Not once."
"What are you talking about? Of course, you have."
"Appreciated your gorgeous figure? Yes, I've definitely done that. But you got naked in front of me all on your own... and of course I'm going to look. You knew that when you stripped down to nothing."
"But you've never flirted?" Lou asked in confusion.
Debbie shook her head. "Why would I?"
Lou sat back down. "Why wouldn't you?"
"Because flirting is real. And we're not real. Which of course is something you constantly feel the need to remind me of. And eventually, you're going to fake break up with me and I'm going to pack my real bags and walk away from here with a shitload of real cash and another season on network prime-time fucking must-see TV. So, gratitude, yes. But flirting? No."
Lou looked both sad and confused, like she was in the middle of being dumped. Was she really so clueless?
Debbie took a deep breath and softened her tone. "Lou, I really hope you'll call Daphne Kluger when this is all over and ask her out because you deserve it. You deserve to have the real thing and now that you're out... well, they're going to be banging down your door, because someone like you doesn't stay single for long."
"I think that's the nicest thing you've ever said to me."
Debbie raised an eyebrow. "Really? Because I thought the nicest thing I ever said to you, was that your pussy felt good in my mouth."
Lou flopped back on the lounger, laughing. "You never said that."
"Oh really? I meant to mention it after we shot our love scene. Because what I got of it, felt great."
Lou shook her head as she smiled. "You confound me. How is that not considered flirting?"
Debbie didn't have much self-control left. If this wasn't some sort of trick to get her to admit her feelings for Lou, and they actually ended up having sex -Lou would regret it so badly, she'd probably try to kick Debbie out in the morning. Again. And Debbie's heart would be broken. Again.
She grabbed her phone and slid into her flip-flops. "You can't just hold out your fucking hand, Lou. You also have to tell me you love me. And by the way... you're both the smartest and dumbest woman I've ever met if you didn't already know that."
She grabbed the bottle of wine -what was left of it -and stood up. "Also, you'd fucking know it if I flirted with you for real, because you wouldn't be able to resist it, and I'd have been three fingers deep by now." She turned and sauntered to the guesthouse.
"Debs! Come back! I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings. Come back, Debs! We have to celebrate!"
Celebrate. That seemed to be something they were incapable of doing together. Debbie held up the bottle as she kept walking. "To the good life!"