Bellamy's Redemption

“Did he say that?” I asked.

“He didn’t say it, but I could tell that was what he was feeling,” said Alanna.

“Of course he wouldn’t say that, Emma! He’s not that rude,” Deb snapped at me.

“I was just asking,” I said. I got up and looked out the window to see if Bellamy was on his way. Maybe jumping out of a plane wouldn’t be so bad. I reconsidered whether my outfit of jeans, a long sleeved t-shirt, and running shoes was sufficiently television-appropriate. Should I have tried a little harder to look nice? The other girls were wearing sundresses, mini-skirts, or at the very least, high heeled sandals with their jeans.

“Are you wearing that on our date?” Amy asked, reading my mind.

“I thought so. The date card said to dress casual and sporty.”

“It’s just that, up until yesterday I never saw you wear anything but zillion dollar dresses and bikinis, and now you look like you have totally given up. Don’t you like Bellamy anymore? Are you in this for the right reasons?”

“Of course I still like him,” I said. “As a matter of fact, here he is now and I can’t wait to see him. Good luck keeping up with me in those heels,” I added, running out the door to greet him.

His limo was just pulling into the driveway. I met him as he stepped out the door of it, and gave him a big hug. Mainly, just to annoy the other women. They were all on the scene moments later.

“Are you ready for an adventure?” asked Bellamy.

“Yes!” yelled everybody.

“Pile in,” said Bellamy, jumping back into the limo and patting the seat beside him.

As we were pulling away, toasting our champagne glasses, Shar came running up. She was barefoot, naked and dripping wet, holding her clothes over her private parts. “Wait,” she yelled, banging on the window with her elbow.

“Stop!” Bellamy yelled to the driver. He put down the window. “Shar, what are you doing? Why aren’t you ready for our date?”

“You still want me to come with you today?” she asked.

“Of course. Jump in,” he said.

“Um, I don’t think she is supposed to come with us,” said Deb.

“No, she certainly is not. There was a change of plans,” said Jessica.

“Says who?” said Bellamy, leaning over to open the door. “We almost missed you. Have a seat. Amy, do you mind pouring Shar a glass of champagne since you’re right next to it?”

Shar sat down, practically on top of Vanessa, and began dressing herself. First she untangled a wadded up thong and skooched into it, then she wriggled into a flame orange bra. “Did I forget my shirt? Oh well,” she said to herself, sighing as she put on her shorts. Vanessa looked like she was going to vomit.

“Now that we’re all here,” said Bellamy, “let’s toast again: To high flying adventures!”

We all raised our glasses. The mood had completely soured. Not only were we possibly about to jump to our deaths, but doing so with Shar made it twice as bad.

“Are we jumping out of a plane?” asked Shar. “Just say it, just tell us. Come on!”

“You’ll see,” said Bellamy.

“Look: My hair is all wet,” she said, squeezing pool water into a cup holder built into the back of the limo. “Do you think I can fill this whole cup holder with water?” she asked us.

“Unreal,” said Vanessa.

“Maybe you shouldn’t do that,” said Bellamy.

“Okay, if you say so. But only ‘cause you said so. I want to be by you,” she said, crawling over all of us until she was on Bellamy’s lap.

“Hi there,” he said. He put his arm around her. It was like the rest of us weren’t even in the car with them.

“So, come on, no secrets. Are we jumping out of a plane? Come on Bellamy, tell me,” she said.