The Other Side - Chapter 17

"The Other Side - Chapter 15" 

Jacob sat back in his chair and picked up a bottle of water. He licked his lips and let out a deep sigh. He'd been there for over two hours and they still couldn't get this little ten minute scene down.

"All right, folks," the director announced through his megaphone. "That's a wrap. We need to let the equipment cool down for a while before we start again."

Jacob let out a breath of relief and started to get up to head back to his trailer.

All of a sudden, Melissa was in front of him. "Not so fast, Jake-y." She pressed her slender index finger into his chest. "We have the photo shoot for our movie today, remember?"

Jacob groaned. He had forgotten all about it.

Karlee ran up behind him. "Jacob! We have a new plan for Saturday." She flipped through her scheduling binder and moved her finger down the page. "I tried to get you out of it, but there's absolutely no way. Supposedly, we have some contract with these people and they have the papers to prove it. But that's all right, because there was a change in the filming schedule, too." Karlee sighed.

"Okay, here it is." Her finger stopped moving down the page and she continued, "You need to fly into Harrisburg, Pennsylvania Friday night. On Saturday, you're filming your appearance in a sitcom for ABC and you have another photo shoot. And then there's this radio station that wants you to spend a day with some fan… Okay?" Karlee finished reading out of the binder and looked up at him, expecting a reply.

Jacob wanted to swing his head back and scream. It was all too much. But he sighed and nodded. "Okay." He didn't like the way Harrisburg reminded him of Becky. At least he knew he couldn't run into her. She was still in Africa.

"Great!" said Karlee. "Now we need to get you to this photo shoot. I'll call for the limo—"

"Oh, no." Melissa interrupted after quietly listening to the sibling conversation. "Jacob, why don't you ride with me?"

Jacob jumped. He hadn't even realized Melissa was still standing there.

"Come on, we're going to the same place and my limousine is already waiting outside," Melissa pleaded. Jacob looked over to Karlee, who shrugged. He gave in.

"All right then." Karlee took a deep breath. "You can dump me right here. I'll see you later, Jake. I have a lot of work to do to get you ready for this weekend. There are still a lot of problems to work out since this whole thing was really unexpected." Before Jacob could say another word, his sister had left him, heading for the studio door with her trademark gait.

Melissa started pulling on Jacob's arm. "Well, don't just stand there, silly. Come on." She led him out to the limo and they got in. Jacob leaned back in his seat and sighed. "Look, Jake." She had to interrupt the silence. "I really wanted to talk to you…"

Jacob looked over at Melissa and wondered how he ever let her get him alone like this. He sighed. "Okay, what is it, Lissa?"

"Well, to tell you the truth, I've been really worried about you lately, you haven't been yourself..."

Jacob shifted in his seat, rolling his eyes.

"...and I don't know, I really miss you. I just wish you'd talk to me." She looked up at him with another episode of her pleading dark eyes.

"Look, Liss." Jacob decided to respond. "You're a great girl and all and I like you, but how do you know I haven't been myself? Christ, you don't even know me -" He licked his chapped lips. Jacob opened his mouth to say more, but Melissa put a hand up to stop him.

She turned around and pulled some Chapstick out of her bag. Melissa chuckled. "Here you go, Jones. You never seem to have any and you always need some."

Jacob couldn't help but smile at her as he took the Chapstick. He never even noticed before. He chuckled too. "Ok, so maybe you know me a little better than I thought." He sighed, dismissing his previous tone. "I guess I kind of miss you too, Liss." They looked at each other. The limo came to a stop and they came back to reality.

"Um, look," said Lissa. "I'm going to be in Harrisburg this weekend too, same radio deal. Maybe we could have dinner sometime and talk."

Jacob shifted uneasily again. Becky suddenly came back into his head. He tried to shake her out. Jacob looked at Melissa, who was waiting for an answer. This couldn't work out, Lissa was a star. They had tried it before. She loved herself and her career and, ultimately, he didn't love either of those things.

But I did once...

He knew he was hesitating because of Becky. But, whether he liked it or not, she was out of the picture. What was he going to do, mope for the rest of his life? After all, it was only dinner. A harmless meal.

"I'll have to talk to Karlee... you know, to pencil you in." He gave her an evil grin.

Melissa punched him gently in the arm. "All right, Jones. Now scoot. Let's get this photo shoot over with."

----

Jacob stared at himself in the mirror as Janine, a make-up artist, dusted some of the peach powder he was all too familiar with onto his face. He was wearing all black, again. Jacob was really sick of the color. Black screamed depression, dark and lonely nights.

Melissa walked in wearing her tight leather pants and black shirt, grinning at him. "Hey."

She took a seat in the chair next to Jacob. "Brad..." She shook her dark hair away from her face and addressed her make-up artist. "Eric said he wants a flowy natural look. Don't deck it out on hold spray. And a light, angelic look to my face... the lighter powder. Red lips. Because we're in black, Eric wants the background to be in white. He's bringing in the air, too."

Jacob rolled his eyes. Eric was the photographer and wanted to do all sorts of things. Last time he used air, something flew into Jacob's eye and he had a red eye the rest of the shoot... of course the graphics team tried their best to hide that in the pictures. In a couple, they even had Jacob winking to hide his reddened eye.

She glanced at him and as if reading Jacob's mind, Melissa said, "Oh, come on, Jake. Loosen up a little. Nothing will hit you again. Have fun. Remember our first movie together? We had so much fun at these shoots." Melissa crossed one long leg over her other.

Jacob pursed his lips. Before he could say anything, Eric poked his head in the door. "Are we ready?"

Melissa jumped from her seat, Brad still adding little touch-ups to her eyes. "I'm ready." Her voice had a bouncy tone.

Jacob took a deep breath. "I'm ready, too."

Eric stared at him. "Don't be a party-pooper, Jones. Pretend you're seventeen again. Bring out the youth."

Jacob rolled his eyes and sneered under his breath as he exited the room. "Bring out the youth."

----

"So - what's your poison of choice? I think I see you as a rum and coke man." Melissa said, busying herself at the small counter top.

"I'm not much of an alcohol man at all. Underage, remember?"

Melissa waved her hand. "Psh. You're probably the only 19 year old in the world who doesn't drink."

Jake shrugged, but accepted the drink Melissa had poured for him. The scent of the alcohol burned his nose. She had definitely made it strong.

"It's just not my thing."

"Well, at the very least it could get you to lighten up. Seriously, you have the personality of a beaten dog."

Jacob cringed. He had forgotten the eloquent way Melissa spoke. He took a sip of the drink, grimacing slightly. It actually wasn't bad, he just wasn't used to the bitterness of the alcohol.

He still wasn't sure how he ended up spending the whole evening with Melissa. They were on their way back to the studio when they found out that the rest of the shooting was cancelled for the night. Melissa deicded that, instead of hoping they had time in Pennsylvania, they should just go out now. Before he had a chance to protest, Melissa had the limo whisked off to some high profile restaurant. She insisted it was because they had the best food, although she barely ate any of it, but Jake knew it was just her craving for some spotlight - especially since he was there with her.

Let the rumors begin. Jake thought with a scowl, taking another sip. He looked over at Lissa. He had forgotten just how.. controlling she could be. She was talented, gorgeous, and powerful - and she didn't let anyone forget it. He never had the foresight to see what her motives here - and that's probably why he was here, along with Melissa, in her trailor.

"Quiet at the restaurant, quiet here. What's up with that Jake-y?" Meliss ask as she pulled a pack of cigarettes and a lighter from her little purse.

Jacob stared in disbelief as she lit one. "You smoke?"

She nodded and blew a ring of smoke up into the air. "Come on, you knew that."

He shook his head and stared as the smoke swirled into curls and eventually disappeared. "Uh... no. When did you start?"

"When I made twenty-five on Forbes's Top 100," Melissa replied.

Jacob gave a slight nod and drink. He supposed that getting that low of a score would turn Lissa into a withering ball of depression. She stood up and turned on some music.

"Are you trying to seduce me?" Jacob asked as he listened to the soft notes coming through the speakers.

Melissa grinned. "It couldn't hurt." But she adjusted the radio so to some top 40s station and more club-appropriate music began.

Jacob smirked. "This is really all stemming from the break-up with Layne, isn't it? How long have you even been single?" He took another drink. Even though he didn't particularly like the taste, ti was easier to focus his attention on his glass than her face. He wasn't entirely sure what her motives were, but he was sure she had them.

Melissa's lips pulled down into a scowl. "Long enough. And I was just kidding, Jake. I mean, don't get me wrong, it's hard not to feel that connection between us -"

Jake took another swig.

"- but more than anything I miss you as a friend. Even just now, when you let go at the shoot, it was fun again."

Jacob shrugged, but he did know what she meant. The photographer wanted them in spy outfits, but he didn't want them to be serious. Fun and excitement was the cue for the photos and when Jacob was acting, he couldn't help getting some of those emotions inside of him.

"I mean, really, with this attitude of yours, I wonder when the last time you actually had fun was." Melissa got up and poured them both another drink.

Jacob's heart instantly dropped. She had no idea. His thoughts started drifting back to Becky and Sulima again, to the small restaurant where Becky taught him African dance.

"Why the frown?" Melissa asked, inturrupting his thoughts.

He shook his head. "It's nothing."

"Oh, trust me. It's something, all right. You can't fool Lissa. I'm not that stupid."

"You wouldn't understand." Jacob rubbed his hands over his face.

"Humor me, Jake."

He took another deep breath. "Melissa, I'm sorry, but some things are just way too personal to tell anyone at all. I know we used to tell each other everything, but that was when we were... closer than we are today. This is just something that... something that—"

"Happened in Africa?" Melissa finished Jacob's sentence.

It wasn't quite what Jacob had been aiming for. "Sort of." He looked away from her. Maybe it was time for just a little release. "I just... have I ever told you that I don't want to do this anymore?"

"Not directly, but word goes around fast. Why not?" She tapped her cigarette on the edge of the ashtray sitting in front of her.

Jacob shrugged. "I don't like this life. It's as simple as that."

Melissa stared at him in disbelief. "You mean you don't want to be a millionaire, you don't want the endless pampering, and you don't want the limelight? You're kidding me, right?"

He shook his head. "Nope. Right now, I just... I wish I were somewhere else. Maybe in a little house in the mountains. Maybe with a normal family. Maybe I could have a dog that I'd play catch with out in the back yard."

Melissa frowned. "I guess that seems kind of nice. But don't you realize how many people run away from that, begging for what we have." She took a drink. "Seems a little selfish to me."

Jacob mirrored her action, feeling a slice of anger through him. "Of all the people to talk about selfish -"

Melissa's eyes narrowed dangerously. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Jacob quickly backed down. It was one thing to hold Melissa at bay, it was another to anger her. "Never mind. I just can't help what I want, Liss."

Melissa's eyes dropped from his as she got up to fix another drink. "Well, if there's one thing we can agree on, it's that."

Their conversation moved back to Layne, where Melissa told her story, about how horrible and boring he was, and slowly the bottle of rum disappeared. Jacob actually found he didn't mind. Melissa's art of bartending was making him feel pretty good, pretty quick.

Multiple glasses later, Jacob felt his vision go slippery. His dismal mood was lifting. He looked over at his drinking partner who, after the past hour, seemed to get more and more friendly. Plus, damn, she's so hot.

"Another?" Melissa asked. She put it down in front of him before he could respond.

"I'm not so sure I should - but you sure do know how to mix." Jacob's sips had gotten closer to gulps.

"It's an art."

Jacob nodded, his mind wandering. "People classify a lot of stuff as art. Like that photo shoot of ours! Those people must think they are really artists. Just one more take! Let's have another photo! God, I hate photo shoots." Jacob made some kind of noise that sounded like a cross between a hiccup, a burp, and a cough.

Melissa rolled her eyes and lit another cigarette and faced the ceiling. "I think we might have reached the end of logical converastion. You're obviously talking crazy. You love photography."

Jacob's face pulled into the first smile of the night. "You're right, I do. But - like - real photography. Not pictures of me. Jacob watched as she blew out circles of smoke, which his eyes followed for the longest time, like a little boy amused at bubbles.

His eyes focused on her, but unfortunately, a little off to the side. He edged himself nearer. "Hey, you. Can I, can I have a puff off your..." He suddenly let out a loud belch and patted his stomach. "...cigarette?"

She scrutinized him for a moment, grimacing in disgust. His green eyes were bloodshot. He was long gone. "You certainly may not."

He reached for her lit cigarette anyway, knocking it into her lap. Melissa jumped up from her seat and frantically brushed off the lit ashes. "Damn it, Jake!" She found her cigarette on the floor and stomped on it.

Jacob ignored her, not concerned at all, and settled himself back onto his stool. "Man, I wish I was back in Africa with Becky... beautiful, beautiful Becky." Jacob suddenly burst into an uncontrollable laughter. "Good times - if you... know what I mean."

Melissa froze and looked up at him from her dress. "Jake, who's Becky?"

"I never told you about Becky Edwards?" Jacob took his drink and downed some of it. Melissa did not move to refill it. "I wrote this letter and threw it into the ocean last time I was in Africa. Becky found it, wrote back, and I went to get her. She was hot. That long, brown hair, those legs, mmm. I'd do anything to get my hands on her again..."

Jacob looke dover at Melissa again, his eyebrows pulling up with interest. "Although, damn Liss, I have to admit..." He reached out toward her.

Melissa had slapped his hand and Jacob sat up straight, rubbing his knuckles. "Jacob, pay attention. Tell me more about Becky. Where is she now?"

Jacob frowned. "Africa, but she's from Pennsylvania. Are you sure I've never told you? I have the slight feeling I've been repeating myself all my life."

She furrowed her brow, but finally shook her head in response.

"That's why I went to Africa, ya know. Fell head over heels. She gave me a giraffe and then." Jacob looked puzzled and then his eyes went wide. "Then she... she stole my boxers! Wench!" Jacob grabbed his glass again and tipped it too his face, barely even noticing it was still empty.

"She hates me, though." He seemed to have forgotten about the stolen boxers. "Caught me with a girl, I think. I swear, wasn't my fault. Girl just walked up to me and laid a big one on me. What was I supposed to do? Sing Yankee-Doodle? I tried to spell it out to her... I did not have sexual relations with that woman..." He laughed and nudged Lissa to make sure she got the joke. Then he grew a little sheepish. "Even though she was pretty hot."

Melissa watched as Jacob's expression grew more depressed. She pressed her lips together and stared at him. "Jacob, do you love this girl? This Becky Edwards?"

"Yes!" Jacob quickly glanced around quickly. "I mean... yeah." He swallowed hard. "I'd give up my whole career just to be with her... that's the only way I can get to her anyhow." Jacob put his head down on the table, his cheek on the cool, fake wood. "Lissa, take me to Sulima. Give me my Becky back."

Melissa stood and started texting on her phone. It was time for Jacob to go back home. Chris could help her out.

She sighed. "Don't worry, Jake-y. I'll get you back to Sulima."

His green eyes glowed and he grabbed her sleeve, making it slip off her shoulder a little. "Really?"

Melissa leaned down and kissed his lips. "Yes, really."

"The Other Side - Chapter 18" 

Zz, Kiryan