3
Olivia hated nightclubs. She especially hated any and all nightclubs that were dark, dingy, probably full of people doing drugs, and definitely reeked of body odor. So of course that’s where she ended up that Friday night after dance practice.
The whole troupe was there, which meant she had to make an appearance as well. If she wanted to remain in everyone’s good graces, anyway. And I do. Considering how many issues she and Dan were still having only two weeks before their show began, she needed to stay in some good graces. These were the people who would be giving her fresh references as soon as the show was over. She couldn’t ride on the coattails of her show with Rick for the rest of her life. I don’t even want to think about him. It didn’t help that everyone in the troupe wanted to ask her more questions about her world tour as they got drunker. And boy, did they get drunk. Olivia didn’t. She preferred to stay sober when she was feeling sorry for herself.
“What was it like dancing with a star like that?” asked a girl with short red hair. Her breath stank of alcohol, which made Olivia turn her head away in the dark shadows of the loud and grungy nightclub. Didn’t help that the music was so loud that the girl had to practically yell over it – and right into Olivia’s ear. “Rick Rodriguez is so damn hot… girl, how did you contain yourself around him? I would have died!”
Olivia burrowed into her corner of the leather couch. “It was fun, I guess.” That wasn’t a lie. She didn’t want to think about it again. Ever. Ever again.
“I heard from a girl that used to dance during his performances that he was such a flirt. Slept with everyone… although that was probably hyperbole.” The drunker Dan got, the more brazen he got with his gossip. Usually he was a pretty quiet guy who never said anything more than was necessary for work or to be polite, such as wishing Olivia a safe trip home after practice. “I mean, if I had half the fame that guy has, I would probably go for it too. Just drown in sex.”
Olivia sat up on the couch, even though that meant coming nose to pit in everyone’s body odor. They had come from their last practice of the week, and no one had showered yet. Crowded all together in a corner of the neighborhood’s biggest nightclub? Yuck. “I don’t know anything about that,” she said, half of the troupe’s eyes on her. “We mostly kept to ourselves. I don’t know a lot about him.”
“Honey, you danced with him for months. You have to know a lot about him, even if you didn’t talk much.”
She hopped off the couch, side-stepping Linda, who was halfway to passed out on the coffee table in front of the seats. When that woman drank, she went for it. Olivia, on the other hand, was not drunk enough to deal with these shenanigans. She was better off finding a corner to hide in until it was socially acceptable to go home. Hopefully she could hop a bus before they stopped running for the night. She highly doubted any of her work colleagues would be in shape to drive her home. Or themselves.
The club wasn’t the busiest she had ever seen it, but it was full enough with young people, most of them from the performance industry. It was a big weekend destination for dancers, backup singers, even stage and daytime TV actors. Last time Olivia was there she bumped into some soap opera woman who had a mini-entourage and bought drinks for everyone within thirty feet of the bar. Who knew soap opera stars made that much money? Well, at least they had steady jobs…
“Excuse me, Miss.” A large, muscular man Olivia often saw around those parts held up his hand before she could stumble into the wrong hallway. “Private party. We’re not allowing anywhere back here. If you want to use the restroom, you’ll have to use the ones up front.”
“Great. Fantastic.” Olivia stepped away, tripping over her own feet. Maybe I am drunk? The bouncer shrugged in that “what can you do?” sort of way, and it was all Olivia could do but rail at him and get thrown out of the club.
Oh hell no. She was drunk. She only had one drink but she was drunk. Because only being drunk could explain suddenly seeing Rick standing in the hallway behind the bouncer.
He was with groupies. Entourage. Work colleagues. Whatever. Price I pay coming to a common hangout for such types. Behind her, the dance troupe ordered another round of shots to down before the end of the night. Linda dragged her ass off the table, even though Dan and a few others sloppily suggested that she was too drunk to keep going. Olivia looked away again. This time it was the bouncer Olivia got an eye-full of instead of Rick.
Maybe I made it up. Delusional. Illusions. Time for Olivia to peace out and go home.
“Rick! Get back here! We’re gonna get a game started!” Olivia didn’t recognize that voice, but she did recognize the name.
Shit. Shit. She got out of the bouncer’s way, crouching behind a corner leading toward the bar and crouching so she got a look of the man wandering the VIP hallway. That’s him. At this point she could not ignore the tall stature, the muscular, athletic frame, the dark stubble, and the Devil-may-care way Rick Rodriguez strutted around. Except he wasn’t strutting. He looked bored, distracted. When a guy stepped out from a room to flag him down again, it took five summons to get Rick’s attention while he was en route to the men’s restroom. After he finally turned around, he said something curt to his workmate and sent the guy back to their VIP room.
Olivia took a step back. She hadn’t planned on seeing Rick up close like this ever again. Therefore, she had no plan regarding what she might do in such a situation. Like figure out a way to go back and see him.
***
They weren’t having a party for any particular reason, and for that Rick was not at all impressed. After a long week of recording, the last thing he wanted to do was go out, get smashed, and get into who knew what kind of trouble. I want to go home and sleep forever. He felt worse now than he did when he came back home from the tour. If that was even possible.
At least Thomas wasn’t there to get on his case about drinking too much. Not that Rick was drinking much at all. He had two beers and called it quits there. Otherwise he was afraid he would do something stupid, like flirt with one of the female dancers who came along for the party that night.
He didn’t remember her name. Since breaking it off with Olivia, Rick wasn’t interested in learning any names. He wasn’t interested in anyone at all. This is the longest I’ve gone in a really long time. Every time he thought about dating, he thought of Olivia. Every time he thought of Olivia, he thought of Fiona. And every time he thought of Fiona… well, just the day before, Rick sent off his DNA to be tested. Soon enough he would find out if he was about to become a father.
“What’s wrong?” It was that dancer, a young woman with blond hair and a waist to die for. She sat on the couch next to Rick, the whole party confined to one large VIP room in a hallway full of rented VIP rooms. The whole thing was on the label’s tab, but if Rick didn’t go then he risked lowering his relations with some people on the staff. One other thing I don’t care much for in this gig. It seemed like there was always one thing or another. Why couldn’t he perform all day? Not that he felt like doing much of that lately anyway. “Do you need something? I could get you another drink.” She picked up one of Rick’s empty beer bottles and looked at the label.
“That’s not necessary. You don’t have to do anything.”
“Maybe I would like to do something for you, though.” Like a slithering snake the blond dancer crawled along the couch and wrapped her arm behind Rick’s shoulders. “Someone who has it as good as you right now doesn’t need to be feeling so glum.”
He shrugged her off. “I said I’m not interested.” Before any of the drama happened, he definitely would have been interested. The dancer was pretty, lithe, and seemed ready to do about anything. So what if he didn’t know her name? It would be best that way. No attachments. Just how it should be at his age.
“Well, let me know if there’s anything I can do.” She sank into the other side of the couch, careful to cross her legs so Rick would be tempted to gaze at her. He wasn’t. Instead of giving her the attention she craved, Rick got up and pushed against drinking partygoers.
Why do these places have to be so dark? The only thing he could see in the hallway was a large bouncer guarding the entrance. Rick saw another young man stumble out of a room, zipping up.
There was nobody else in the bathroom, which suited him fine since he wanted to be alone anyway. Rick stood in front of the sink, hands clutching the counter as he stared at his own reflection in the mirror. Things could be worse, I guess. Most stars his age would probably be doing lines of coke on that counter – or on the blonde’s stomach. Rick was never into those sorts of substances. The fact that he was offered so much now that he was a big shot only deterred him from these types of parties.
At least he had some time to think. With the music thumping in the hallway, and with the shouts of joviality from revelers echoing in his ear, Rick curled his hand into a fist and slammed it against the counter. There. He got that out of his system.
He stepped out of the bathroom, fully intending to make a further ten minute appearance in the VIP room before heading home. That was until he entered the hallway and saw that burly bouncer dealing with a nuisance only a few feet away.
“I’m sorry, Miss, but you can’t go back there.”
“I never said I wanted to go back there. Just get him for me. I need to talk to him.”
“I’m not going to do any such thing. You need to leave.”
Olivia? Rick could hardly believe his eyes. What was Olivia doing around there? She wasn’t part of his party, was she? No, if she were, she wouldn’t be having so much trouble with the bouncer, who was apparently good at his job.
Rick stepped forward and tapped the bouncer on the shoulder. “She’s with me.”
Both the bouncer and Olivia gawked at him. “She wasn’t on the list,” the bouncer said, the club music even louder over here. “Look, I’ll let you take care of this, but if there are any problems, it’s not on me.”
“Of course.” Rick stepped past the bouncer and took Olivia by the hand. Gasping, she stepped after him, following him down the hallway until he found a room empty enough to confront her in. No, just ask her a few questions. Like what the hell was she doing there?
The door latched shut, cutting out the brunt of the bass heavy music. Rick turned to Olivia, standing in the middle of the small VIP room with her sweaty hair down and countenance set in that determined vigor he once admired so much. Okay, he still admired it. A woman out for blood was hot to him. Even if that blood was his.
“All right, Olivia, you got me. What do you want?”
He didn’t mean to be cruel, but he needed to establish their boundaries right away. Rick had no idea what to expect from a woman he got so passionate with and then unceremoniously dumped. She would either surprise him by remaining levelheaded, or she would go off the fucking rails and kick him in the ass until he could never sit again.
Then he had another horrible thought. What if she’s also pregnant? Why else would Olivia hunt him down in some shitty club and confront him? Why would she risk getting kicked out when she was probably there with other people? It had to be serious. Oh, shit, he was gonna have two baby mamas. Rick could already see the close birthdays and the two women awkwardly talking of that time they shared a hotel room while both being knocked up by the same guy. I need to get a vasectomy, stat. Those were reversible, right?
Olivia pulled the hair out of her face and set her jaw as if she were about to bite Rick in the neck. Here it comes. Some sort of horrible news. “Want? I don’t want anything from you. Do me a favor and assume I’m not a greedy bitch after your money or fame.”
He took a step back. Whoa. Safe to say he wasn’t expecting her to say that. Not that he thought such things about her to begin with, but what had Rick done to make her think so? Rick briefly thought back to their pillow talk over the months. Did he ever insinuate that she was no better than a groupie? He certainly hoped not! “I didn’t think that.” It was all he could say.
“I only want to know why you did that,” Olivia said, bottom lip disappearing into her mouth. Was she trying not to cry? How emotional was she right now? I’ve never seen her super emotional. Olivia was usually an example of poise. “Why did you act like you cared so much about us trying at a relationship and then take me to your mom’s old place and dump me in front of her memory? You got some issues with your mom?”
“What? No!” That was a new one. If I weren’t half-panicked right now I’d write a song about that. “The Ballad of Angelina’s Legacy (How She Fucked Up Her Son)” would be the title. “Look, I’m sorry if it upset you. Okay, I knew it would probably upset you. In truth, I didn’t really mean to break it off with you there… it just sort of happened.”
“Our relationship started just how it ended, huh?”
“Relationship? You were the one who said we should take it slow on the emotional front! You wouldn’t even commit while we were on tour.”
“Why would I do that? You’re some big shot rock star. For all I knew I was your bed buddy for the tour. I’m not gonna set myself up for that kind of heartbreak and disappointment.”
“I’m just saying, you didn’t seem too interested anyway. Can’t say I feared that you would take it that badly.”
“Damnit!” Olivia shook her head. Don’t get attracted to that temperament, Rick. Especially since Olivia looked about ready to smack him in the balls. “Stop trying to make this about me. I want an answer. Just tell me why you dumped me, and I’ll never bother you again.”
Well that was an unnecessary ultimatum. “I never wanted to, well, never see you again. I was trying to propose a bit of a break while I sorted some things out. You were the one who took it as me dumping you.”
“Gee, wonder why I had that impression. Usually ‘I don’t think this is a good idea right now’ is explicit code for breaking up. I’ve been on this base before, Rick. The dude at home never hits that fucking home run and I’m left standing there trying to figure out if I can run fast enough to score a run myself. Guess what? I never do.”
“Well, I’m sorry those have been your experiences.” Shit, they were really doing this right here. To the sounds of a bass line thumping and some dude throwing up out in the hallway. Soon enough someone would come knocking to make sure Rick was all right. Then again, he came in here with a woman. People probably thought they were screwing. If we were on tour still… Nope. Rick needed to get that out of his head. “I haven’t tried contacting you because you seemed pretty insistent that this was actually over.”
“So then why did you need this break to sort out your shit?”
Rick sighed, sinking onto the nearest couch. He supposed it was finally time to tell someone about what was going on with Fiona. I haven’t even told Thomas yet. And he wasn’t going to until he found out one way or another about the paternity of the child. “I’ve got personal shit going on. I’m not really in a position to be starting a serious relationship with anyone. Even a casual one.”
Olivia finally uncrossed her arms. “What kind of personal stuff? Come on, don’t be closed off and secretive. I know we’re not best friends, but I would hope you trust me enough by now to not go spreading your shit. My parents don’t even know we were together.”
Rick looked up at her. “Stop yanking my arm. I’ll tell you. Just sit down first.” He hoped he wouldn’t regret this.