In Reverse
by Danielle
Part 1
There
was a woman in his view. He saw her standing there, looking incredibly gorgeous.
With strands of her blond hair falling on her face, she stares up and their eyes
meet. Those blue pearls make him instantly smile. She takes her time walking
towards him. When she is in his reach, he grasps her neck, pulling her towards
him for a lovely kiss.
Falling
in love with him never felt awkward. It felt completely natural. He had the
characteristics that made her heart swoon. And she made him forget about all the
heartbreak a relationship can bring. He fell for an actress that he used to have
wet dreams about, so how could he not pass up this opportunity.
They
both fell hard. But it was a free kind of loving. You know the one where he
didn’t feel tied down and neither did she.
But
boy, does he love her. She was like no other girl. A challenge was what she
was…and he knew she was more than just a fling. He wanted to stay with her, to
experience her everyday. And the love making was more than incredible. Mind
blowing seems to be the closest word he can think to describe it.
Yes,
a perfect match, in his opinion. While she looked up to him like she had struck
gold. Thinking she knew how every man worked until she met him. His words amazed
her, and she yearned to hear them every day.
So
there you have it, the cocky solo artist with a very dazed
But
love never runs a perfect course. Sometimes it can send you in reverse.
Then what happens? Well, you’re screwed.
“Okay,
settle down…settle down. Listen, I just need to say that I can’t believe my
best friend is going to tie the knot in just a few days. I mean, Justin, we’ve
been like brothers through all these years, and I don’t think I have ever seen
you happier. Look at this bastard…he is fucking glowing!”
Champagne
glasses clank together for the toast while laughs are thrown out across the
room. Justin smiles at
The drinks are sipped and drowned down. Murmurs of the crowd surrounding their table start up again, and every one begins to discuss their wedding day as the bride- to- be clings to her fiancé.
“Tomorrow I go for my fitting, so when do you want to meet me for lunch?” she says to him with a radiant smile plastered on her lips. He smirks as he leans in to her, resting his head against hers. “I’ll pick you up after your fitting?” he suggests.
“Okay,” her smiles grow as he kisses her cheek.
“Do you play the piano?” his hands start to adjust the tie on his neck. She is sitting at the table drawing mystic figures with his pen. “Yes,” she answers with closed eyes. She cracks her neck and then decides to stretch on the floor. With legs sprawled and bended in ways that he never thought could possibly be done, he continues the questionnaire…with caution.
“Um okay, and this character that you play, is she in anyway like you?” he asks.
“Um….well she is a little of every thing that I wish I could be. Does that make sense?” she asks, but she didn’t really care about his thoughts. He could already tell by the lack of attention he is getting.
He cringes at the painful looking sight.
She notices.
“I am sorry, does this bother you?” she asks while flipping to bend her legs all the way back.
“Not at all, one more question and then I am out of your hair. How do you feel about the engagement of....” he never finishes. The timer on the table starts to ring, but she stays in place with arms bending backwards.
“I am sorry. Time is up for us…I really need to be going,” she says, instantly on her feet. He has his mouth half open in mid sentence, still in the frame of thought from the last question. He will write about how she ignored this topic; it would make this article bold. Her insecurities will be his strength as he writes this piece on her.
“It was a pleasure meeting you, Britney.” He says, holding out his hand.
“You too, Tom,” she shakes his hand with a smile.
“John,” he says, while walking to the door.
“Excuse me?” she asks, as her makeup artist applies another color to her lips.
“It’s John not Tom,” he clarifies before disappearing out the door.
“Some one had a stick up their ass,” Leila tells her as she reapplies the eye shadow on her face.
“Tell me about it,” Britney snorts.
Her fingers play with the soft feathers of her costume. She wants to take a breather, but she doubts the director would want to cut the production time today. Twelve hours on the set each day is getting to her. And her co-star tries to make the best of the situation by sneaking in some liquor every once in awhile. Britney catches him taking a sip. He notices her glare and freezes with his lips on the bottle.
“Professional…” she sarcastically states.
“It helps my character,” he says, defending himself. She rolls her eyes, but then is surprised to find that he is actually serious.
Louis makes an attempt to speak again, but then the direction yells for the next scene shot. She gets up with her feet aching from the high heel shoes. The costume designer touches her make-up as she instructs her to fix her skirt. Something stings her eye, and she clamps her hand on it.
“Shit,” she curses.
“Sorry Brit, the powder must be too strong…” she apologizes.
“It’s okay,” Britney attempts to say through clenched teeth.
“Justin! I didn’t think you were going to make it,” Britney can hear the director’s loud greeting. She wonders if she can take a long break now since his friend was visiting.
She is finally able to reopen her eye. Squinting slightly, she is able to see again. While she is trying to adjust her vision to the light, she feels a tap on her shoulder. She turns around to find Justin, smiling with his charm shining for every one to see.
“You really seem to get prettier by the day,” he tells her, leaning down to give her a hug, not allowing her to fully react to this unexpected visit.
“Wow Justin, I haven’t seen you since….” she starts to say but he finishes as he pulls back.
“The American music awards…”
After an exchange of small talk, Britney finds out what bring him here.
“So what are you doing here?” she asks, staring curiously into his eyes.
“Well,
John is a Cameron’s uncle. And it seems like we are going to get married at
his mansion in
“Oh God, I can’t believe I forgot to say congratulations!” she says, touching his arm. She keeps on smiling at him with her head tilting to the side.
“Well, thank you.” Justin chuckles nervously as he adjusts his cap on his head.
“That’s funny I didn’t know John was related to Cameron…” she says, laughing to try to ease the sudden doubts that crept into her. She was upset not to be informed she was going to work with some one related to her ex. Larry is getting an earful after this.
“Yeah, they are really close. John’s such a great guy, he is one of my best men in the wedding,” he informs her as he turns his head to see where he was.
“Lovely,” Britney whispers to herself before taking a deep breath. ‘Calm the senses of your inner self, breaths in and out…’ she repeats the words from the yoga book in her head.
John, the director, then walks over to them
“Oh good you two saw each other…How about we all go out to lunch? Britney I still need to discuss the love scene with you… and Justin we need a lot of catching up to do with the wedding and all” John says with a smile from ear to ear.
He is patting Justin’s shoulder, waiting for a positive response.
Britney and Justin exchange awkward stares, wandering if the other will be comfortable in being together in the same room for a few hours.
John notices the questioning stares lingering on them immediately and proceeds his convincing.
“Oh shit, I caused an awkward moment to surface didn’t I? I know you two have a history together, and I don’t want any one to feel tense around here…” John moves his arms around the air mockingly as if the tension was palpable, before continuing again.
“I am thinking that it has been what? Five years? Come on you two! It’s lunch, just the three of us. I just want to kill two birds with one stone, since Ms. Spears is not going to be in town for production tomorrow, this is the only opportunity I have to talk to her about the upcoming scene we need to shoot today. It will be great, I promise.” John gives a wink to Britney after finishing his words.
John Dormer didn’t like beating around the bush. He speaks his mind and hates it when things are ignored. He likes dipping his hands into some messy business, which is maybe why he is considered one of the best directors. With a mind like his, anything is possible.
Justin eyes remain on Mr. Dormer. And he is trying to hide his smile, knowing that this guy wasn’t going to let it go until he gets what he wants. John loves the thought because he knows it will be intriguing with these two together again. His mind was in overdrive.
“No, I mean if it’s alright with you. I’d love to have lunch together.” Justin says, turning his head to look at Britney with a questioning look.
“Would you mind, Brit?” he asks.
“I don’t mind at all, just let me change.” Britney quickly exits with the debate of either calling a cab…or escaping out the bathroom window; anything to avoid this situation.
“Crazy bastard,” Britney insults her director under her breath as she walks to her dressing room.
John claps his hands together, feeling like he has accomplished his mission. He then gives two thumbs up to Justin, “This is excellent…”
“And Justin, don’t you think this is a great way of seeing how you really feel about her with marrying my niece and all…I mean don’t you think it will be a good way of tying the loose strings together?” John plants the idea in his head.
“I didn’t think of it like that, but I guess you’re right, man.” He nods his head while rubbing the palms of his hands together. When in honesty, he wasn’t sure if he agreed with him. It wasn’t even his business to begin with.
They ended their relationship a long time ago, and there was nothing more to discuss
But John was always an opinionated man.
It was clear to see that Cameron’s uncle was strikingly strange. The glasses he wore made him look like the profound thirty one year old man that he was. But there was more to John than just a few global winning films. The elusive mind he possesses allows him to create ingenious thoughts that contribute to his amazing work of production. There is no doubt that he is the best in the movie business.
Justin knew that John’s only weakness was himself. He had a hard time when it came to distinguishing his own identity. This man played a significant role each day which is why Justin liked him so much. Only this time, he couldn’t understand his character.
Justin raises an eyebrow when he watches John tug off his coat in front of him to revealing his bare chest; he had no shirt on.
He then picks up a white long sleeve shirt form off the chair and to put on.
“You think I should wear this out?” he asks for his opinion as he puts his arms through the sleeves and stretches the cotton material.
Justin can’t help but notice how small the shirt looks on him. It only cut to his stomach, so his cut abs and navel were evident. . ‘What the fuck is he wearing?’ Justin thinks, but chooses not to bring him down.“Um, sure,” he says
“Louis!” Britney yells, banging on her co-star’s dressing room. He opens the door with a bottle of liquor in one hand.
“What is it?” he asks with his eyes half closed. When he fully opens him, he is shocked to see her in only a bra and jeans at his door.
“Did you steal my shirt? You drunk ass,” she hisses at him. She then starts to feel uncomfortable when she realizes that she had no top on. ‘Oh fuck it,’ she thought.
“Whoa, okay I did not steal anything. But may I tell you that you look incredibly beautiful…” he starts to work his charm on her as he leans sideways on the doorsill.
“Lordy Louis, just shut the hell up!” she says, shoving him aside to go into the room. He follows in tow and starts to take another swing of the liquor in his hand. Britney searches the piles of cloths on his couch. Every item carried his distinct smell which she thought smelled like old cabbage.
“Disgusting,” she mutters as she continues to search through his belongings.
But she couldn’t find it, and every thing seemed to crash all upon her at once. She could feel herself breaking down.
“Oh god, what the hell am I going to do. I have to go to lunch in five minutes with him, what the hell am I going to do! I don’t think I can fucking take being in the same room with him for that long. Cigarettes, oh I need those so bad right now….I just want to fade away,” she rambles with the tears ready to fall from her eyes.
Louis’s eyes studies the stressful Britney Spears in tears before him. She keeps running her fingers through her hair until finally her palms come down to cover her face; she is crying now.
“Here babe, you need some of this,” he says, handing her the bottle of vodka that was on the chair. She looks at him blankly with the tears on her face before taking the bottle from him.
“There you go, just forget your problems. Oh, good luck with that guy…” he stops, trying to remember his name.
“Justin,” Britney completes his sentence.
“Right, that one.”
She puts the top of the bottle to her lips and tastes it with her tongue slowly before gulping it down. “I am keeping this,” she says after finishing her sip. “And this…” she walks over to pick up one of his shirts. “I hope this one is at least clean.”
She rushes down the hall, sipping more of the alcohol to let it burn in her throat. She then abruptly stops when she feels some one touch her arm from behind. She turns around with the alcoholic beverage’s top still resting on her lips, her eyes blink repeatedly when she sees Justin in front of her.
There she stands in a black lace bra, drinking vodka. Not to mention the blank expression that she has on her face, this is priceless in his opinion.
But he is then suddenly sorry to have caught her in such an awkward time.
“Uh…John said to hurry because he made reservations. I am sorry I seem to have caught you in a bad time,” he says, beginning to leave so she can get ready. Britney waves her hand in front of him, trying to tell him there was no problem while yanking the bottle away from her lips. She was frozed with embarrassment.
“Are you drinking?” he couldn’t keep the question to himself with his eyes squinting at the bottle in her hands.
Britney moves her gaze to look at the vodka bottle before looking up to meet his eyes.
“You know, this is….yes, I am. It just really improves…. And it helps my character,” she stutters.
Justin pretends that he understands as he nods his head. But the look on his face told it all; Britney knew he thought her answer was insane. 'The hell with him,' she thought.
“I’ll see you outside,” she says, rushing out of his sight.
“Come on! Let’s go eat,” John says as he sees them walking through the sliding doors.
Britney comes outside wearing Louis’s oversize sweatshirt with tight jeans while her hands desperately dig into her purse to find that pack of cigarettes.
Justin soon follows, coming outside with the entourage of both their security teams. The three of them meet by the valet parking stand as they wait for the car service to pick them up.
And it isn’t long before Britney notices the shirt that John has on.
“John, what the hell are you doing wearing my shirt?”