Finding Joy (The Joy Series) (Volume 2) (14 page)

After several hours, the shoot began to wrap up. Adam thanked his friend, and we said our good-byes. As we walked toward the subway station, Adam rehashed every brilliant thing we had seen. As he talked, I pulled my phone out and checked my emails. It was Friday afternoon. You would think everyone at the office would be gearing up for the weekend, but that was the time when the worst emails would come in … the ones that would put you on a project that would suck the life out of your weekend.

 “Uh, Adam,” I interrupted after reading an email from a partner for whom I had only recently started working. “I need to run by the office on our way home. I have a meeting on Monday morning, and I need to pick up some deposition transcripts.”

“Sure,” he said, before continuing on about the differences between establishing shots and angle on shots and the virtues of a Hitchcock zoom. His enthusiasm was contagious, and even though I had no idea what he was talking about I wanted to absorb every single word. Adam had found his passion. It wasn’t mine but I didn’t want him to ever have to explain things to me more than once.

As we walked up to my office building, I felt Adam’s energy dissipate. Even though we both knew my dad had left town, Adam didn’t like being in any space that was associated with my father. It was ironic since he’d been living in my dad’s old apartment until just recently.

After passing through the large glass doors, Adam veered to the left in the lobby. “I’ll just wait for you in there,” he said, pointing toward the coffee shop. “Do you want anything?”

“Sure,” I said. “Will you get me a decaf, skinny Misto?” He nodded and headed toward the coffee shop, while I went in the opposite direction toward the elevator bank that would take me to my floor.

 When I returned, Adam was completely engrossed in a game on his phone. I was standing beside the table before he realized I was back. “Ready to go?” I asked.

“Sure,” he said, standing up. He handed me my coffee and took the heavy file from my arms. As we walked toward the door, I heard my name being shouted across the lobby.

“Alexis! Alexis!” a voice shrilled.

I looked up in time to see Brittany Goddard walking directly at me. This was the second time in several months that I had run into her here. At this point, it was probably safe to assume that she also worked in the building. If that was true, it was going to be hard to avoid these little reunions. And I desperately wanted to avoid any kind of reunion.

I shouldn’t have been averse to talking to Brittany. At one time, we had been best friends. In fact, I’d grown up with Brittany, and we went as far back as kindergarten. But she was a part of my ‘before the accident’ life and had opted not to be a part of my ‘after the accident’ life. Not once had she come to the hospital. Not once had she called me during the summer before I’d moved to Manhattan.

I hadn’t been able to leave the house for several months, but she had never come by to watch movies with me or fill me in on the gossip at school. I had called and left messages, but my calls were never returned. She’d just disappeared. Poof.

In fact,
all
of my friends had disappeared. It hadn’t been just Brittany. No one had called or visited. It had certainly made it easy to leave Dallas to come to New York. It’s easy to walk away without looking back when you’re not leaving anyone behind.

Though 10 years had passed, I guess I still held a grudge. However, because of Adam, I was learning to let go of the past. “Brittany,” I said with as much enthusiasm as I could muster. “How are you?”

“I’m great, Allie … I mean, Alexis. I work in the building, but I guess you probably figured that out,” she gushed. “I know you work for your dad’s firm, right? I’ve tried to keep up with you over the years … through my mom, ya know. She still talks to your mom.”

No, I didn’t know.

Adam, who had still been messing with his phone, snapped to attention. He shifted on his feet next to me.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” I said. “Brittany, this is Adam Hill, my boyfriend. Adam, this is Brittany. We grew up together.”

Brittany’s eyes grew big as saucers. She stammered a little. “Uh, uh … nice to meet you, Adam.”

“It’s nice to meet you, too,” he responded though the tone of his voice didn’t exactly reflect that sentiment. He sounded …  what? Nervous? Maybe he remembered Brittany from high school, too.

“Hey, Brit, Adam went to our high school, too, though he was a few years older.”

“Is that right?” she asked. “Funny, isn’t it? It’s such a small world.” She eyed him severely.

I was getting a strange vibe here. It was almost like she was challenging him. His eyes darted back and forth between Brittany and me. He definitely seemed nervous for some reason. I wondered briefly if he had dated her in high school. But that was impossible. She was my best friend. I would have known him if she’d dated him.

Her gaze returned to me and softened. “Well, it was really nice seeing you. I’m sure I’ll bump into you again some time. Same building and all.”

“I’m sure,” I said, smiling weakly. “Have a nice weekend.”

“You, too,” she said, starting to turn away. She took two steps and then spun back around. “Oh, it was nice to meet you, Adam.”

“Same here,” Adam said, staring at her blankly.

Another spin and Brittany was gone.

“Well, that was really weird,” I said as we walked out onto the sidewalk.

“Why?”

“I mean, I haven’t seen her in years. Ten, to be exact. And then I’ve run into her twice in the past few months. We used to be best friends … but you know … things changed.” I didn’t want to bring up the accident. “Did you see her look at you? I think she remembers you.”

“I didn’t notice,” he said.

“Hmmm. Well, it just seemed weird to me. I really hope I don’t run into her again.”

“You should avoid her,” he said quietly.

“Why?” I asked, puzzled by his contradictory reactions to my oldest friend.

“She just seems like a bitch. That’s all.”

“Oh. Yeah. She always kind of was.” I reached over and squeezed his arm. I would have reached for his hand, but he was still carrying my work file. “Hey, what are we going to do tonight? Adam Day isn’t over yet.”

“Adam Day, huh?” he asked. The smirky little smile that I loved snuck across his face and morphed into the sultry smile that I liked even more. “Why don’t we let it turn into Adam Night? I still need to check out that wax job you got last night from True Pain. I may need to do a thorough inspection to see if she missed anything.”

 “Sounds perfect to me,” I said. My heart and at least one other part started beating rapidly at the thought.

CHAPTER 8

Adam

I’d managed to sneak out again this morning. Allie thought I was running back up to the school for a book. Pretty soon she was going to get suspicious. I mean, she knew that school was all but over for me at this point. And yet, I kept using at as an excuse to run off.

There was no need to involve her in this, and I didn’t have a lot of faith in what I was doing anyway. I’d walked this road 11 times. The first 10 had been a dead end.

Even so, I smiled at the lady in scrubs, signed the paperwork, and hoped for the best.

Alexis

I pranced up the gangplank in black stiletto heels and matching leather pants. The cold October air nipped at my bare arms, making me wish I’d brought a coat. However, a coat would have ruined the look, and once we got inside I would have no choice but to take it off. Then it would’ve been just one more thing to keep up with.

Burke was in front, leading us to the party. He paused at the top of the ramp and clapped the doorman … if that’s what you called a bouncer at the entrance to a ship … on the shoulder. I bounced gently in place, trying to warm up while he greased our way in. Adam wrapped his arms around me from behind and kissed my neck just below my ear. “I told you to wear a coat,” he mumbled. “You’re freezing.”

I snuggled back into his leather jacket and pulled it around my shoulders. “Nah, I’m perfectly warm now.”

“You can have it,” he said.

“No, we’re almost in. Besides, without it, you basically have no costume.”

“And you’re going to make me wear it all night,” he muttered.

“Well, not all night,” I said, twisting around to plant a kiss on his rough jaw.

“Promises, promises,” he said, as we began to move again.

Once inside, our group of eight hit the bar for a round of shots and drinks. Afterwards, we stood around a table at the edge of the dance floor and complimented each other’s costumes while passing judgment on the parade of faux celebrities going by. I’d never seen so many Marilyn Monroe’s and James Deans in one place. It didn’t seem very original, but then again neither were my and Adam costumes.

“You make a great Sandy,” Carly said. “Too bad you couldn’t get Adam to dress up.” She winked at me.

I waggled my black pleather clad hips at her. “Thanks. And you’re an amazing Victoria.” She was, too. Her hair was too long to be authentic so she had pulled it back in a severe ponytail. But, aside from the hair, she’d absolutely nailed the rest of Victoria Beckham’s look.

“Burke is kind of perfect as David, too, don’t you think?” she asked.

“Yeah. The hair and tattoos make him a perfect fit.” There weren’t a lot of costumes where you could work in sleeve tattoos as an accessory.

“I know. I can’t wait to tap that ass later. I’ve always wondered what David Beckham would be like in bed. I’m betting he’s an animal.” Jillian, Krista, and I giggled.

We were probably supposed to be dressed as actual celebrities, but Carly, Burke, Krista, and Brian were the only ones who had gotten it right.

Krista and Brian were the funniest, in their Jersey Shore costumes. Unbelievably, she had convinced him to cut his hair, and it was spiked up in a faux hawk that looked shockingly good on him. I actually hoped that he kept the look. It fit in with his bad boy, band member image and was strangely appealing. However, the hair didn’t make the outfit. It was the padded six-pack muscle chest peeking out of the ‘Situation’ shirt that took it over the top.

 The rest of us were faux celebrities from either the movies or television. Jillian was wearing a black Catwoman suit, complete with mask and ears. I wasn’t sure how she’d done it, but she had actually gotten Ethan to dress up as Batman. I had spent a good 10 minutes laughing at his expense when I’d first seen him in the get-up. If pressed though, I would have to admit he actually looked pretty good. It fit him. But since he still referred to Adam as Batman, the Caped Crusader, and Bruce Wayne on a regular basis, the irony of it was almost more than I could bear.

Barnacle was dressed as Captain Stubing, which was equally funny. He bore no resemblance whatsoever to the Love Boat captain and was at least a hundred pounds heavier. “I’m looking for my Julie,” he kept hollering out.

The drinks were flowing all around, and the crowd began to get rowdier and rowdier. Something about being ‘incognito’ made one feel like they could let loose more than usual. The music was a fun mix of current hits with celebrity-inspired songs sprinkled in. I was almost positive that someone was feeding the DJ with requests to match the costumes in the crowd. When an old Elvis song was played, the dance floor had been packed with a dozen Elvises. Three different decades of Elvises had lip-synced and gyrated across the room.

When the DJ started ‘Wannabe,’ we abandoned our little table to hit the dance floor. Even the guys joined us to make a circle around our little Posh Spice. Carly shook her hips and sang every line. I got the impression that she had studied up on the role, and her moves were impressive.

I was used to seeing her in the audience. She was Burke’s biggest fan and rarely missed a performance. But as she swung her hips and danced around the circle, her voice rang out clear, and she hit every note. As I watched her, it occurred to me that Burke ought to make her a part of the show. I glanced over at Burke to try and get his attention, but he only had eyes for Carly. The corner of his mouth turned up, and he looked at her in shock and awe. He didn’t need me to deliver the message. He’d already gotten it.

The DJ must’ve liked the show we were putting on, and immediately followed up ‘Wannabe’ with ‘You’re the One That I want.’ Carly danced over to Adam and me and started pulling us into the center of the circle.

“Oh, hell, no,” Adam muttered, scrambling backwards.

Carly put two hands on his chest and pushed him into the middle, while I danced around him singing that ‘he’d better shape up.’ Carly and I pushed and pulled him until he finally gave in. The whole group was shocked when he wrapped his arms around me and put his hands on my ass and hollered out ‘Feel your way’ in perfect time with John Travolta. I kept trying to pull away from him in an effort to properly choreograph the song, but he kept his hands all over me. He repeatedly crooned in my face that I was the one that he wanted, and by the time the song ended, I was in a happy fit of giggles.

Hot and sweaty, the group returned to our table. Barnacle brought over another round of drinks, and I sipped my vodka and soda while trying to catch my breath. Adam took off his leather motorcycle jacket, and I admired the way his ‘This is Not My Costume’ t-shirt pulled slightly across his shoulders.

I was still on a 70s-musical-induced high and admiring my now mostly uncostumed Danny Zuko when a scantily clad Indian sidled up to him. Her neckline was so impossibly low that her boobs threatened to spill out at any minute. The fringed skirt just barely covered her ass. A feather in her hair and tall suede fuck-me boots finished off the look. My hackles stood up.

Caribbean Barbie.
Would we ever get away from her?

“I would’ve never believed it if I hadn’t seen it with my own two eyes,” she said, running a hand down his arm. “You’ve never been one to enjoy being the center of attention … always better one on one.”