“Justin?”
“What?”
“Shut up and kiss me.”
***
She woke up with a smile on her face. The sex wasn’t mind-blowing yesterday. In fact, there was no sex involved at all. After they kissed, they spend the rest of the time talking, not noticing that it was past one in the morning. She had never heard him talk the way he did last night. He was animated, as if he was talking to a dear friend, or a lover. But she was his lover, wasn’t she?
Nothing was said about how she felt, but she knew he felt it. And she felt something from him as well. He was beginning to like her, wasn’t he? It was finally becoming real. It was really happening to her. Her happiness overflowed as she set about for work despite lacking sleep. The way he kissed her last night was different, like their last act of lovemaking. She could call it lovemaking now, with confidence. She wondered if he was late for work too, wondered if he felt as energetic as she did because of their first real date last night.
Her work day had gone along pretty well, and she had sent in her application for that nursing scholarship in Santa Monica before she went to work. It was an impulse decision. If she and Justin ended up together, then she would manage the daily two-hour long trip just to study, and she would do it willingly.
She was getting ahead of herself, wasn’t she? But she smiled while she worked, feeling that things were finally going her way, that he was beginning to reciprocate. So that cold bastard actually had emotions deep down, and she had cracked him open. She wondered if he showed that side of him to the others. It didn’t matter. She was the present. She had a feeling that contract was going to change. Feelings made people change.
He hadn’t texted or called her today and she wondered if he was busy again, and she felt better that he was. He’s working for our future, she jokingly told herself. There was no shortage of giddiness today, and she found herself texting him during lunch time, asking him how his morning was. There was no response yet, but she was all right with it.
She would resign next week, to prepare herself for classes. She had a good feeling she’d be getting that scholarship. She had, in fact, written a letter to her boss already. He wouldn’t be pleased, but he would be happy she was doing this for her future career. Mikaela wondered if Justin was all right with her chosen path. She was no millionaire heiress, she was no celebrity, but she worked diligently and with passion. She hoped Justin would find that enough.
She received a text at four in the afternoon.
Please check bank account.
Did he send her money again? He had sent her $2,000 last week. It was too much, even for someone who was struggling to get to school. Maybe this was his way of helping her move to Santa Monica. What a sweetheart.
What’s it for? she had asked.
Just for you.
And that was it. No other pleasantries. She wondered how long this was going to last, his penchant for stiff behavior in nearly everything. She shrugged it off. There was a reason for this money, and that was to help her. She told herself she’d pay him back if he ever lent a hand with her schooling. With that thought, Mikaela continued to work happily.
The Final Chapter
A week passed by and still he didn’t call or text or pop up unexpectedly. She had expected him to sweep her off on a random date, but it hadn’t happened since that night. She relished and replayed that night every few hours, desperately wanting to see him again. How sad was that? She couldn’t shrug it off so easily. That ugly feeling was back again. She was feeling abandoned. She had checked her bank account on whim yesterday and she saw $20,000 in it, which made her do a double-take. She hadn’t had that much money since her family died.
She planned to call him today to thank him and tell him it was too much, but first things first—Lynne wanted some girl time with her. She was head over heels for her current beau, Henry Nichols.
“I know it’s only been a month, but I can’t help myself,” Lynne gushed. “This is it, Mikaela!”
Mikaela laughed, masking her confusion over Justin pretty well. “Isn’t it too soon? I don’t want to see you cry for some douche.”
“I won’t,” she said confidently. “I’m telling you he’s the one,” she insisted, squeezing Mikaela’s arm.
“Ow, stop it.”
Lynne quickly let go and grinned broadly as they walked down, headed for the beach in their shorts, bikinis and lace tops. They hadn’t had sun in a while and Mikaela was glad Lynne was there to take some worries out of her mind.
They had begun to walk on the sidewalk, where numerous food stands and coffee shops were, along with a few tabloid and newspaper stands when Mikaela stopped, seeing something familiar.
She walked closer to the magazine stand and grabbed a newspaper.
“Hey, no free reading,” the man said.
Mikaela distractedly shoved coins into his hand, not bothering to count how much she actually gave. It was a sleazy tabloid with Justin’s face on it and beside him was another woman in a bikini. It looked like it was shot outside of his home.
She read through the small article with ten large pictures of him lying beside her on the sand. There were more photos of him putting suntan lotion on her bare back, of him kissing her shoulder, of him smiling, a rare and large smile. She was a model, no doubt about it, with her figure and tan. Mikaela hadn’t realized her hands were shaking and Lynne was watching her very much worried.
“Mikaela?” she began, reaching out for her.