Page 3

Chapter 3

Jessie

The sun was never up when I was, at least not on my workdays. I got paid a pittance to apprentice with Glory Cats, a community college football-based sitcom out in Burbank. My hope was that the pittance would lead to my dream job, being the head costume designer for a show. Maybe even getting into movies.

My commute was about an hour on a good day, and call time was usually around 6 a.m. I had to become one of those weirdos who lays out their clothes and gets everything ready the night before work. Thankfully, they fed us breakfast and lunch at work, so I didn’t have to pack my own food. A nice job perk.

But on this particular commute, my mind kept wandering from my murder podcast. Did I actually enjoy talking to Mikey the night before? He had a quick wit and though his questions were a bit odd, he seemed to genuinely want to know about me. Sure, I talked to people all day at my job, whether I was doing a fitting or stitching and laundering pieces. But Mikey, or I guess Ben, asked deep questions of me. I’m usually the one asking deep questions of other people.

Granted, one of the questions was deeply inappropriate. I mean, yeah, Cole hadn’t exactly been a Casanova in the bedroom for quite some time. It wasn’t always that way. When we met, we could have been mistaken for rabbits at the rate we were going at it.

I guess things started “getting stale” as Ben called it after we moved to New York. At first, it was exciting: the two of us taking on the Big Apple. We felt important, glamorous even. I was interning at fashion houses and working long hours. He was working long hours for his hedge fund. We had sex as often as we could, but the spark between us slowly faded.

When Cole got an opportunity to transfer to a company in Los Angeles, I knew I’d be giving up all the progress I made in fashion. Fashion and TV aren’t exactly compatible. They’re similar for sure, but the experience isn’t the same. Dressing people for a show about a community college football team isn’t quite runway-ready, cutting-edge styles. Cole told me it was okay if I wanted to stay in New York and we just parted ways. But he did point out that L.A. had better weather than New York, and maybe it would be a little less stressful for me. He picked our Manhattan Beach apartment next to Ben, and I took whatever opportunity would have me. I sucked it up and dealt with the long commute and early wakeups.

We’d been in Los Angeles for five months when I met Ben, or when Ben had his party that irritated me enough to go talk to him. And unfortunately for me and Cole, our sex life didn’t improve with the West Coast ocean air. It remained mechanical. Familiar. And yeah, as Ben had noticed, unfulfilling for me.

But sex isn’t everything in a relationship. Relationships go through seasons. Cole and I were in a transition. I repeated those phrases to myself over and over as I mulled over why talking to Mikey was sticking with me.

What scared me most was, Cole hadn’t asked me how I felt about our lives in a long time, if ever. Sure, we talked about it before we left New York, but that was a big crossroads. How long had it been since I talked to Cole about how we felt about each other? I vowed to myself to try and restart the spark with Cole. We had so many years of history. Surely there was a reason for that, right?

But if sex wasn’t everything, why couldn’t I get the feeling of Mikey’s hands on my thighs out of my mind? Why did I keep replaying him telling me that he could satisfy me?

Still, I wanted to try with Cole. No matter how rough things got, we always found a way to work it out. I couldn’t just throw away a four-year relationship because of a few errant thoughts.

Maybe I needed to get bolder about what I wanted in the bedroom. I had things I wished he’d do, but it usually didn’t go well when I asked. If I wanted to save our relationship, I might have to force the issue.

I was going to get bold. Halfway through my day, I sent Cole a text. My boss, Irina, would have had a cow if she saw me texting, but that would imply she was actually in our office doing her job. I peeked out the window to see her flirting with one of the grips and knew I was in the clear.

Hey there

Cole

Hi. Need something?

Just you

Naked

Oh. I’m at work?

Tonight. In bed.

Ok :)

I was interrupted by the click of the wardrobe trailer’s door, a friendly face poking around the corner.

“Hi! You ready for me?”

“Kitty! Come on in!”

Kitty Gatto usually just wrote for Glory Cats, but her fellow writers had written her into a few scenes on some upcoming episodes. I needed to get her measurements to start shopping and making pieces for her. I’d seen her around set, and she was always super friendly and kind. That wasn’t a guarantee at work, so I was relieved to find allies like her who wanted to make the day fun.

“If you could, just take your skirt off so I can get good measurements. Everything else can stay on. I’ll lock the door,” I said, stepping to take care of that.

“Great, I love the Winnie the Pooh look,” she joked. “Thanks for squeezing me in. I know your schedule is weird.”

“Eh, yours is, too. Are you excited to be back on camera?”

“Kind of? I said I didn’t want to, but I knew I’d probably get written in at some point anyway,” she said. “It’s one of those ‘no, no, don’t make me’ situations when I really don’t mind. I’ve never acted opposite Grant before. It should be fun.”

I wrapped the measuring tape around her waist. “You’re probably used to this. Don’t you have a wedding coming up?”

Kitty beamed. “This summer, yeah, when Guy and I are both off.”

Hearing her say his name sparked a thought. “Your fiancé is French, right?”

“French-Canadian, yeah.”

“And you’re from West Virginia?”

“Yep, Charleston. Why?”

“I think we might have a mutual acquaintance,” I said with a grin.

“No way! Who?”

“Mikey? Or I guess his real name is Ben?”

Kitty laughed. “Oh, yes. I definitely know Mikey. He and Guy have been close since college. I guess he and I have, too, come to think of it. He’s a great guy. How do you know him?”

“He’s my next-door neighbor.”

Kitty gasped. “Oh, you poor thing. He’s the loudest creature on the planet.” Then her eyes lit up. “Wait, did you break up their party the other day?”

I huffed. “Now hold on.”

Kitty held out her hand to stop me. “Let me start by saying, I fully believe that they were being loud jackasses. You were right to do what you did.”

“Yes. I think your fiancé was the one keeping things civil.”

“That’s what I heard,” she said. “Glad he’s not full of lies.”

“You know what’s funny? Mikey asked me if I knew you. Or rather, he said he had one friend from West Virginia, so since I’m from there, I must know you. Turns out he was right.”

“I didn’t know you were from WV! Where?”

“Bridgeport,” I said. “Harrison County.”

“I never knew that, Jessie! I knew I liked you. This just adds to my reasons why.”

I didn’t really have a ton of friends in L.A. Everyone I met was through work or through Cole, and Cole had lots of finance bro friends who were not my favorite. I was basically a homebody. Maybe I could strike up a little friendship with Kitty?

“So you’re telling me Mikey’s not a total piece of shit, then?”

“I can see why you’d get that impression, but no,” she said, lifting her arms so I could measure her bust. “He puts up a big game, but he’s really a sweetheart. I’ll tell you a little story about him.”

“Lay it on me.” I jotted a measurement onto my notepad.

“Guy and I broke up for a while when I was in college. The long distance between the NHL and college just wasn’t working out for us. Well, when I got brave and went back out to parties, I ended up falling apart in the bathroom. I never really got over Guy. Anyway, Mikey saw me crying and held me while I cried, walked me home, made sure I had a snack and drank water. He’s always been a big thuggy brother to me.”

I stuck my lower lip out, picturing Mikey as this compassionate friend. “That’s really sweet.”

“It is. But the thug part’s still there. I finally got up the courage to kiss someone new, and I started crying from that, too.”

“Oh no, Kitty!”

“I was going through it at the time. Very dramatic college breakup. Anyway, Mikey thought the guy had done something to harm me and shoved the guy up against a wall and threatened the living daylights out of him.”

“Oh, God, what a caveman!”

Kitty laughed. “Yeah. He’s both. Total sweetheart, total caveman.”

“So, nice in his own special way,” I suggested.

“Mikey is nice in a uniquely Mikey way, but it’s the biggest love you could ask for. He’d do anything for the people he loves. He’s never found the right girl, though. But not for lack of trying,” Kitty said, raising her eyebrows.

“Yes, I think I hear his tries all the time,” I said.

Kitty grimaced. “I think I’ll get you earplugs for Christmas.” We both laughed. “Has he been hitting on you, too? He’s a shameless flirt, but if he’s trying to take you out and you like him, I’d go for it. I could see you two actually working.”

My face went red. “Oh, he’s tried. I live with my boyfriend, though.”

“Shit, I’m sorry, Jessie. Put my foot right in my mouth with that one. I’m good for that.”

“No worries,” I said. “He knows and it hasn’t stopped him at all.”

Kitty gave a knowing nod. “And that’s Mikey for ya. Hey, I know we don’t know each other that well, but my engagement party’s this weekend. It’s at my house. I know it can be hard to meet new people when you’re new in town. Would you like to come?”

“Oh, wow. That’s really nice of you,” I said, “but—”

“So you’ll come?” Kitty had on a bright grin as she slipped her skirt back on.

I sighed. “Send me the details.”

We exchanged numbers and she left the wardrobe trailer. Maybe L.A. would feel more like home soon.