Crystal didn't stick around the video shoot for long. She stayed around long enough to witness just how much energy ADG put into his video shoots, and just how charming he was in between takes. He joked around with the video girls and was friendly enough to include the crew in on the jokes. His crew milled around the set with their eyes glued to their cell phones, barely giving the shoot any of their attention.
She and ADG exchanged a few more curious glances before she left, but that was it. She checked her watch and realized that if she was going to make her appointment on time, she needed to get going. As she walked off the studio with her makeup case in tow, she could feel his eyes on her. Knowing that he was watching gave her a sort of sense of satisfaction, but she didn't dare look back at him.
~~~~~~
Cecconi's. Many celebrities frequented the upscale LA restaurant, and for good reason. The cuisine was remarkable, the decor and ambiance was top-notch, and the staff treated each guest with care and respect. Crystal breezed into the restaurant and gave her name to the attending maitre'd.
"Your guest has arrived and is waiting at your table," the tall, lanky gentleman said, moving from behind his stand so he could lead her into the main restaurant area. He led her to a table where a curvy, blonde young woman sat.
Lowering her designer shades from her eyes, Crystal waited for the maitre'd to pull her chair and lowered into it.
The blonde looked up at her. She had a young look to her face, but the chic navy blue pantsuit suggested that she could be older than she looked. She gave Crystal a once-over.
"Hello. I'm Crystal."
"Hi," the woman said hesitantly.
"You're Nicole?"
The blonde nodded, then glanced around the restaurant. "Do you eat here often? This is my first time here."
"It's one of my favorite restaurants in the city," Crystal said, dropping her sunglasses into her purse.
A waiter approached, introduced himself as Tony, and presented them with menus.
Crystal waited for him to depart before asking Nicole, "Let's get into how I can be of service to you."
"Have you decided to help me?" Nicole asked, sounding hopeful. She eagerly leaned forward and rested her elbows on the table.
"I'm considering it," Crystal said, even though she knew that deep down she had decided to help the woman. "But I want to make sure that this is something you really want to do."
Nicole leaned back in her seat. "Why wouldn't I?"
Crystal shrugged. "From what you've described, he doesn't sound like someone you would want to keep in your life. He sounds like a horrible person. Instead of concocting some sort of revenge plot against him, you should just...move on. Find someone worthy of you."
Nicole dropped her gaze and stared down at her lap.
"I mean, look at you," Crystal went on. "You're a beautiful girl, Nicole."
Nicole looked up at her.
"Not just cute," Crystal said. "Not just kind of pretty. You're beautiful. What were you doing with a man who sounds like he was a complete dog to you?"
"He wasn't always like that," Nicole mumbled, wrapping her arms around herself. "When we first started dating, he was so sweet. So charming."
"What happened?"
"I'm not sure." Nicole ran a hand through her shoulder-length locks. "It's not like a recently gained weight or anything. Ever since I met him, my shape has been pretty much the same. But the past several times we went out...I mean before his attitude started to change...men have hit on me as soon as he walked away from me. Maybe he resents me for that? I don't know. I have no idea."
"Which friend gave you my phone number?" Crystal asked her.
Nicole avoided Crystal's gaze.
Crystal narrowed her eyes. "Nicole?"
"I didn't get your phone number from a friend," Nicole admitted after a moment. "I lied."
Crystal's mouth set into a straight line.
"I'm sorry," Nicole apologized. "I was so desperate for you to help me. If I told you how I really found out about you and what you do, you might not have decided to hear me out. I couldn't risk it."
"How did you find out about me?"
"MTO."
Crystal arched an eyebrow in disbelief. "You read MTO?" MediaTakeOut was a ratchet gossip site whose journalistic chops could use a whole lot of fine tuning and improvement. It was an operation that didn't care about ethics or reporting facts. They seemed to take stories, whether true or not, and run with them. She was well-versed in their antics, and could only guess what they would have had to say about her.
The waiter started to approach their table, but Crystal gave a slight shake of her head, indicating that they needed more time.
"Look over your menu," Crystal told Nicole.
Nicole took a deep, shaky breath and opened her menu.
Crystal studied her for a moment before glancing down at her own menu.
"What made you get into doing this?" Nicole asked her.
While still perusing her menu, Crystal said, "I had a hard time growing up." She flipped through her menu, looking over the listed entrees. "I was heavyset throughout most of my life."
"Me too," Nicole said quietly.
"Kids were pretty mean, ever since I was little. I heard every fat joke known to man, I think. Then I got older, developed a personality, and a thick skin. What kids said to me mattered less and less, although I definitely gained self-image issues as a result of the jokes and the pranks that kids pulled. But I didn't run home crying because of how they treated me. Instead, I came back at them with jokes of my own. Their harsh treatment forced me to be creative." Crystal cleared her throat, trying to push away the memories that tried to force their way to the front of her mind. "Soon, I became known for my comebacks. Soon, people weren't trying me at all. I was too witty for them, so they found some other poor victim to harass. Before I knew it, they wanted to be my friend instead of my bully. I became sort of...popular, in a sense. The popular guys found me hilarious. They treated me like one of the boys. We played video games, basketball, or joked around with each other. But when it came to going on dates or anything like that...they didn't want anything to do with me romantically."
"We pretty much had the same school experience then," Nicole said softly.
Crystal shrugged. "I look back at it now and I blame them less and less for not giving me a chance. We can't help who we're attracted to, I guess. But...there were a few guys who led me on, or pretended to like me while hiding me away and walking around school with pretty, skinny girls on their arms. I guess you could say something in me snapped a little bit. I looked around at all of the guy that I knew, paid attention to what they were saying in those friends zoned hangout sessions I had with them. How they talked about girls, how they played girls - even the pretty skinny ones. Those are memories that stayed with me, even when I got older and slimmed down. I watch the men around me, and listen to their thought processes when it comes to dating women and...I'm appalled, really. So many of them have such a disrespect for the women they're sleeping with. I can't tell you how many times I've seen a man become a dog just because one woman he loved broke his heart, whereas women get their hearts broken time and time again and still somehow have faith that their true love is out there somewhere."
"If you're breaking their hearts, aren't you contributing to them being dogs?"
"If I'm breaking their hearts, they're already dogs," Crystal explained. "I'm showing them how it feels to be the women they're playing."
"And after you break their hearts, what usually happens?"
"Most of them reform," Crystal said. "Some of them continue being dogs, and some of them try to change but can't."
"Wow," Nicole breathed out.
Crystal smiled. "Sometimes I think about what it is that I do, and I feel silly for it. I feel like I should do what I advised you to do. Move on with life."
"I was going to ask you that," Nicole confessed. "Do you ever think about settling down with someone you love, someone who loves you? How can you do that with...with what you're doing?"
The smile froze on Crystal's face, then turned sad. Those were thoughts that occurred to her, once in awhile. "Well...I don't think love is in the cards for me."
Nicole's expression turned sympathetic.
Crystal looked away from her, just in time to see the waiter approaching them again, albeit hesitantly. She raised a hand and beckoned him.
The two young women put in their food orders. When the waiter walked away, Nicole stared at her in wonder.
"You don't need to feel sorry for me," Crystal said. "Not everyone in this life finds the person they're meant to be with. I'm starting to think there are some who don't have a soulmate out there at all. It's hard to believe in love and soulmates when I see some of the things that people do to each other."
"There is someone out there for you," Nicole insisted. "You just have to open up your heart to the possibility of loving someone. Right now, your heart seems...closed off. Probably a defense mechanism of some sort, I'm sure. You just have to find someone out there that you can trust."
In my experience, finding someone I can trust won't be easy, Crystal thought, but she couldn't help smiling at the woman's optimism. "If I'm going to help you, there is information that I need to know. Where your ex-boyfriend works. Where he spends his time. The type of women he typically goes for. His favorite shows, favorite movies. Favorite sports teams."
Nicole's eyes brightened. "So...you're going to help me?"
Crystal shrugged. "Why not?"