Trouble In Paradise

Her head lays on my chest just right, hitting the spot between my neck and shoulder blade, her blonde hair spread over my shoulder and cascading down the side of the couch. I have managed to sneak my hand up her shirt an inch every ten minutes and ended up being able to feel the underside of her breast without her hitting my hand away.

Paige shifts on me and my hand falls completely on her left breast. She reaches up under her shirt and drags my hand out from underneath her clothing, “Don’t.”

“Is it my fault you’re not wearing a bra?”

She tilts her head up to look at me, “You are not supposed to grope me, bra or no bra.”

“Obviously you’re not a lesbian otherwise you would know that any girl who wears no bra is asking for some groping.”

“I didn’t wear a bra because it’s pouring outside and I could just lounge around in sweat pants and a tee shirt.”

“I could care less why you didn’t wear one, I’m just letting you know what is likely to happen when you don’t.”

She turns over on her belly and puts her head back down, “You’re a pervert.”

“Again, no bra.”

She rubs my chest a little with her hand and I feel her relax against me. I’ve been here for the last two days. Now, I haven’t set foot in a regular house in a while. I’ve owned a mansion since I was eighteen and after having settled into this house I can say that it’s not so bad. Kind of cozy really. Paige has her little touches everywhere that just makes it her own. Not too feminine, not too cold, a house for a twenty something year old.

“What are we going to do?”

She lifts her head up, “About what?”

“About you, me and Scott.”

“One big happy family,” she jokes, turning the TV off and sitting up.

“I mean it Paige.”

She puts her hair over her shoulder, “What do you want me to do?”

“I want you to tell him,” I state bluntly.

“You want me to call him in the Bahamas and tell him I slept with you?” she asks, raising her eyebrows.

“No, you know that’s not what I want.”

“Okay then, as soon as he gets back I’ll tell him I’ve moved on.”

“What changed since he cheated on you? I mean you said you wanted to break up with him before and you couldn’t because of your job.”

PJ licks her lips, “I have an interview for a job this week and hopefully I’ll get it.”

“What job?”

She bites her lip, “A job at the New York Post.”

“What kind of job?”

“A job on page six.”

Realization hits me, “You mean the gossip column.”

She cocks her head to the side, “Yeah, you can call it that.”

I tug on the bottom of her shirt, “Well I guess you can’t exactly change your career.”

Her fingers intertwine with mine, “I’m doing my best.”

“I’m so glad that I met a girl whose childhood dream was to verbally bash me and others in my line of work.”

“It wasn’t my childhood dream. That was to be a teacher.”

“Oh yeah? I hope it wasn’t high school because with that ass you could give every teenage boy a hard on.”

She smiles a little, “Kindergarten.”

“Really?” I ask surprised.

She nods, “I always liked kids.”

“So why didn’t you?”

She shrugs, “Because I was tired of being in school. I met the first guy I loved in high school and we ended up going to the same college. When we broke up I just couldn’t stay there and watch him date other women, so I left and started to work. This just happened the job I took.”

“Aren’t we all lucky.”

PJ wrings her hands, “I didn’t go into this to hurt anyone. I wasn’t trying to make you or anyone’s lives miserable. I was just trying to make a living and not get fired.”

“I’m not blaming you PJ, I’m just saying it’s hard to read some of the stuff people like the ones you work for write. I don’t hold you responsible for them. If you were to quit tomorrow it wouldn’t make a dent in their world. There would still be paparazzi stalking me with or without you.”

Despite my previous best efforts, her smile is something that comforts me. Not the sad one mind you but the soft one. The one that says everything is going to be alright when everything else contradicts that. Her fingers play with the pinky ring on her right hand, “What are we doing anyway?”

“About what?”

“About us. I mean we’ve kind of been playing house for the past two days without really discussing what we are doing here.”

I pause for a minute, “I don’t really know.”

“That’s the problem,” she says, pulling her hair back and twisting it into some sort of bun, “I don’t know what we are doing and I’m not really comfortable with what we are doing without some sort of answers.”

“I like you Paige,” I admit.

“I know, and I like you too. I just think we should put a name to this thing and then take a breath because I’m the girl who is supposed to take your picture. And honestly, I’m having a hard time doing it.”

I smile a little, “That’s not the worst thing in the world.”

“It is when it’s your job.”

Before I can say anything I see a brunette coming bubbling into the house and stops short when she sees the two of us, “Hey!” she says surprised to see me.

Paige smiles and moves over on the couch, “Hey Brooke.”

“What are you doing here?” she says, looking at me with that cute little face she makes around me. Sure, I’ve seen it on a million girls but the fact that it’s Paige’s friend and the fact that she has yet to drool on me lets me know she’s not about to get a tattoo of my signature on her ass just yet.

“I was just hanging out.”

“Great, you guys don’t mind if we join you do you?”

“What we?” Paige asks.

Brooke instantly covers her mouth and goes running off as we hear a crash. Paige and I leap to our feet and follow the noise coming from the hall near the side door. I see Reid on the ground, soaking from the rain. Pizza boxes are scattered on the steps of the house with raindrops on the cardboard front and a couple of shaken liters of soda. Brooke bites her thumb nail in the adorable way girls tend to do when they have done something wrong, “Sorry?”

“Is that a question?” Reid says, checking on the pizza.

“I forgot,” she says, bending down and picking up a box.

“How could you forget? I said, tell Paige we brought pizza and come back and help me. How hard is that to remember?” he says, smiling up at her to reassure her it’s alright.

“Justin’s here,” she states proudly.

“I can see that Brooke.”

Paige giggles as she opens one of the boxes and extracts a piece, “Lunch huh?”

“We were trying to surprise you. I guess the surprise is overturned pizza.”

“Sorry,” Brooke reiterates, less sympathetic towards Reid as she pulls out a piece for herself and puts it on a plate.

Paige holds out a slice for me and I take it, biting into the cheese and pepperoni. Reid rubs Paige head a little, massaging her scalp before he grabs a liter of soda, opening it in the sink as it fizzes until it settles down. He pours a couple of glasses for everyone before pulling up a stool.

A pager starts to buzz and Paige digs into her purse, checking the number. I see her swear under her breath and grabs her coat, “You guys start without me, I just have to run down to the office for a minute.”

“Everything okay?” I ask.

“Yeah, I just haven’t been answering my phone for the past few days and now they are getting a little worried.”

I nod and take a sip of soda, “Have a good time.”

Reid holds out his hand and squeezes hers as she breezes out the door. Brooke watches out the door before turning to me, “Ever played twister?”

“You’re crazy you know that?” I laugh.

She smiles, “I get that a lot.”

“Its part of her charm right Brooke?” Reid says.

“Right.”

Reid shrugs, “You’ll get used to it.”

All I can think of is maybe I want to stick around and find out.

________________________________________________________________________

I turn off my pager as I go into the building. I practically run through the office as people look up and give me a look. That look that I’m hiding something. Damn. I go up to Marie’s door and knock until I hear a, “Come in.”

I open the door and step in, shutting the door behind me, “Hi Marie.”

She take the glasses off her face and looks me over, “I’ve been trying to get a hold of you for the last few days.”

“Sorry, my phone was dead and I didn’t know it.”

“I called your home.”

“I haven’t been home,” I lie.

Her eyes travel up to mine, “And you didn’t think to call after the little stunt on the street with Todd?”

“It wasn’t a stunt. I didn’t realize it was that big of a deal,” I say, clasping my hands together as I face her questions.

She sighs looking at me, “You didn’t think it was a big deal that you feel and Justin Timberlake picked you up and whisked you off somewhere?”

“First, he only picked me up because of the story you had me on and second, he just dropped me off at home.”

“That’s it?”

“Yes.”

“Then do you care to tell me why you wrote a piece like this?” she asks, slapping down the article I wrote on the desk.

“What about it?” I ask innocently.

“You know what I’m talking about Paige. This is not the kind of articles we write.”

I try to breathe, “Because I told the truth?”

“Paige.”

“What? I did what you asked, I wrote an article.”

“Not the kind we print Paige,” Marie says, leaning back in her chair.

I shrug, “That’s what I wrote.”

Marie folds her hands together, “Look, I will give you another chance to write this because you are the best writer here.”

“I’m not going to write it,” I say more firmly.

Marie raps her nails on her desk, “I can’t print this Paige.”

“Can’t or won’t?”

She picks up my article and drops it into the waste basket next to the desk. I listen to it hit the bottom of the bucket with a loud thud, “Then I don’t know what I’m going to do with you.”

I brace myself as she stares at me, “Why don’t you take some time off Paige and we will talk about this when you get back.”

“You think that just because you give me some time off that it’s going to change this article?” I ask angrily.

“I don’t know what to tell you Paige other than maybe the break will bring you back to your right mindset. You got too close to the subject.”

“That subject is a person Marie.”

“Not in this business Paige. You should know, you practically wrote the rule book,” she says exasperated at my lack of understanding her position.

I lick my lips, “I was wrong.”

“No, you’re wrong now. Go get some sleep and take the rest of the week off while I work on giving you some more time to write the article.”

I turn around to leave and grab the doorknob hard as I hear Marie’s voice, “And Paige?”

“Yeah?”

“Think about your career while you’re taking a break.”

I laugh to myself bitterly as I leave the office, not knowing what I’m going to do about any of this.

17