The Other Side - Chapter 13

"The Other Side - Chapter 12" 

Karlee yawned and squinted in the morning sunlight. She sat up in the black leather sofa and stretched her limbs. Across the room, Graham sat back in his chair, sipping coffee. He winked at his wife. "Morning, sweetheart."

She gave him a sleepy grin. "Good morning." Karlee walked over to kiss her husband and steal his coffee. They had spent the night in Graham's office, going insane over Jacob's schedule. One photographer had to change the date of a photo shoot and that sent the entire schedule, from the beginning of October to February of the next year, into oblivion. Papers were still tossed about and the first thing Karlee had to do once she started work today was reorganize her scheduling binder.

Karlee walked over and collapsed back onto the comfy sofa.

Dave, another of Jacob's bodyguards, entered the room. He gave the two of them a nod before slapping a copy of the latest issue of The National Enquirer on top of Graham's messy desk. "There ya go, boss. Looks like Jake's been keeping himself busy down in Africa."

Graham grabbed the paper and stared at the front cover. "Jeez, Karlee. Jacob didn't tell me it was this bad."

Karlee jerked up and her jaw dropped when she saw the picture of Jacob in the middle of a deep kiss with some girl. "Oh no. This is a disaster! I thought they said the shot was blocked?" Karlee stood up and snatched the paper from Graham's hands, examining the picture. "And Chris is just standing there, looking confused as all hell!" Karlee flipped a few pages to the cover story article and read aloud.

"As follow-up to our article last issue on the famous young actor, Jacob Jones, another sighting of Jacob has been confirmed. As seen in the cover photo, Jacob Jones is kissing lovely Miss Anna Howards, ex-fugitive and love child of Twiggy, on the harbors of Sulima, Sierra Leone in Africa and..."

Karlee trailed off and pressed her hand to her forehead. "Crap."

----

Jacob just stared out the window as the rain dribbled down the glass. He had sat there all night, not desiring sleep. All he thought about was Becky and how he was going to convince her that he wasn't who she thought he was. However, in these last few hours, he was starting to doubt himself. How much did he really believe Becky loved him? What if what he saw as love had just been kindness mixed with attraction.

Chris walked out of the bathroom, rubbing a towel against his bald head. They hadn't spoken at all since yesterday and Chris thought that it was about time to apologize. "Man, I'm sorry. Really, I am. I wish I could have —"

"I know, Chris." Jacob cut off his words. "And I forgive you, I just..." He ran his lean fingers through his thick golden brown hair. "I'm having a rough time."

Jacob's hotel room phone chimed. Hoping the person on the other line was Becky, Jacob lunged for his phone and fell onto the mattress of his bed. "Hello?"

"Jacob, you have to leave Africa."

All his hopes were crushed at the sound of his sister's voice. "Oh, it's you."

"Yeah, thanks for the enthusiastic greeting. But did you hear me? You have to leave Africa tonight. National Enquirer somehow got a picture of that smootch all right. It's pretty convincing. You made the cover story. The girl is scheduled for a couple of interviews - she's going to say you and her have been seeing each other secretly for a while now- it's going to get ugly quickly. I already have the movie breathing down my throat - you know how important it is to keep your image. People are going to wonder what you were doing in Sulima on the sly in the first place.

Jacob slouched at the news. He had really hoped this wasn't going to happen. If he could just spend a few days, Becky would cool down. But now...

"Jake, I'm really sorry to cut your vacation short, but I'm serious. This is bad news. Your flight leaves tonight. Lemme talk to Chris so I can give him the details."

He handed the phone to Chris and buried his face in his hands. This was exactly what Jacob needed... no time to fix his relationship with Becky. For all Jacob knew, he may never see the likes of her again.

Minutes later, Chris hung up the phone. "We leave at nine, if Karlee didn't tell you."

Jacob stood without looking at Chris and locked himself in the bathroom.

----

Becky sat in the corner trying to avoid as much of the conversation as she could as the entire family made small talk. Her parents wanted to know what happened to Becky during the time they were gone but it was obvious she was not going to explain it all tonight.

The phone began to ring in the middle of their conversation. Jim was the only one not talking (except for Becky who clearly didn't look like she wanted to answer the phone), so he stood and walked to the phone in the kitchen and picked it up.

"Jim?"

He furrowed his brow. "Um... speaking?"

"Hey, man. This is Jacob."

Jim relaxed, and then glanced around to see that no one was looking at him. He took the portable phone into an empty room. "Okay. Hey, Jacob. I'm alone now. What's up?"

"How's Becky?"

"She's been more or less mute since yesterday. Trust me, man. It's going to take awhile. She's very..." He paused, trying to find the right word. "She's holds grudges, dude."

Jim heard Jacob take a deep breath. "I thought so. Well, just let Becky know, if she ever lets you talk to her again, that I have to leave at nine tonight. The picture of the girl kissing me got to The National Enquirer and now the whole frickin' world knows where I am. I've got to leave- my movie doesn't know I'm here, the producer is going to have shit-fit, it's hell. My manager won't let me stay; otherwise I'd find some way to get to Becky. Chances are I might not ever see her again, so I want you to let her know that—"

"Jacob, I think you'd better talk to Becky. I'll tell her it's the admissions office from school and trust me, she'll listen to you. Becks needs to hear this from you."

There was a pause. "Whatever you say. But there's no guarantee she's even going to give me a chance, Jim."

"Just hold on." He walked out of the empty room and caught Becky looking at him. He waved her over and she slowly walked to him. "It's for you, Becks." Jim held out the phone.

"Who is it?" Becky asked, cautiously taking the phone from Jim's hands.

"It's the admissions office from Penn State. They say a problem occurred with your schedule for next year."

"What?" Becky's brow wrinkled. "But how did they get this number? How do they know I'm here?"

Jim just shrugged. "Beats me." He made a run for it.

A little muddled, Becky held the phone to her ear. "Hello? This is Becky Edwards."

"I have to leave tonight. Karlee won't let me stay. Now are you going to listen to me just this once?" came his voice in a stern jumble.

Becky's breathing got deeper. "I'm going to kill Jim."

"I'll take that as a yes," His voice was gentle. "The girl who took the picture gave it to the tabloids and now I'm all over the cover. They know where I am, which, according to the movie, is not where I am supposed to be. I took a risk by coming and now I have to put out fires. Leaving is the last thing I want to do, but I have to. I know there is a chance that I'll never see you again and I don't want to think of that. But considering there is a chance I'll never see you again, I have to let you know I fell in love with you, Becky. You are the only one who I've felt truly genuine around."

Becky just stood there frozen stiff. She had a firm grip on the phone. Becky swallowed a large lump of stubbornness and replied with an unsure and choppy voice, "Jake, love, or whatever you call it, is worthless to us now." She pressed off the power and hung up the phone in the kitchen.

----

Jacob heard the dial tone and took a deep breath. "I knew she was going to do that."

Chris steered to the right and glanced at him. "What did she say?"

Jacob instructed Chris to drive a little further down the road and take a left. He stuffed his cell phone back in his pocket. "She told me she didn't love me."

Chris didn't say anything and eventually pressed on the breaks at the mailbox of the little dirt path that led to where Becky was. Jacob grabbed the bag with Jim's clothes and the painting, slapped a sticky-note on it, and climbed out of the car. "I'll just be a second, Chris."

Jacob jogged up the path. Everything was damp from the previous rain and Jacob was careful not to ruin the beautiful painting. He reached the porch of the house, dropped the bag, and propped the painting up against a rocking chair. He ran up, rapped a firm few knocks on the door, and sprinted back down the walkway.

Inside the house, Becky was hesitant, but went to answer the door. No one was there. She glanced from left to right and the rich colors of the painting caught her eye. She walked out and glanced around, still not finding anyone. Becky picked up the ocean painting and pulled the sticky-note off the corner.

In case we never see each other again, I hope this is something you can remember me by. I lied when I told you I bought this for Karlee. It was always for you. I remember how real we thought this painting looked. Maybe you can remember me like you'll remember this painting... So real.
         Love,
         Jacob

Becky had the extreme urge to set the picture on fire. The note too. But when she was about to run into the house to grab a lighter, she knew that she could never do it.

A sudden burst of fatigue overcame Becky. She sat down on the steps with a sigh. Her eyes looked over at the painting beside her. It really was pretty. Becky put a hand to her face, trying to regain her strength. She couldn't believe he was gone.

The door opened behind Becky. She heard a few footsteps and then the door closed. "Becky?" A deep voice said softly and she knew that it was her father. "Becky? Are you crying?" He asked gently.

Becky shook her head and stood up, taking the painting with her. "No, no I'm fine." She said, her whole body felt drained. Her father looked at her for a moment before glancing at the picture.

"Who is that from?" Martin asked and glanced at her daughter's face for a change in emotion, but Becky was steady.

"A boy I once knew." She said simply, and caught her father's look. "Don't worry, Daddy. He's gone now."

For a moment it looked like her father wanted to ask more but let it go.

Becky walked past Martin and murmured to herself as she carried the picture. "A boy I'll never see again."

----

Jacob could feel the power of the engines of the plane as they kicked in. They started to taxi down the runway. Even though it was dark out, Jacob had his window shade up so that he could look outside. As they lifted off the ground, he could see the lights of Sierra Leone below and tried not to think that one could be Becky. He felt a tap of his shoulder and looked around.

"Hey, doing all right, buddy?" Chris asked him with a whisper and Jacob nodded before turning back. He wasn't in the mood to talk.

Jacob leaned back against the seat and closed his eyes. Maybe there was still a chance. He knew where Becky was, maybe he could see her again...

Jacob took comfort in that he had said good-bye to her in the only way that he knew how. There was nothing more that he could do; it was up to Becky and her feelings now.

After all, it's all my fault isn't it? Jacob thought bitterly, then pushed the thought away. There was no point in going over this again. He shook his head.

"I knew that girl would be trouble from the start." Jacob said aloud and Chris looked over at him, not knowing whether it was safe to chuckle or not. It was and Jacob almost showed a faint glimmer himself. Almost.

Jacob pulled down his window shade; there was nothing more to see.

"The Other Side - Chapter 14"