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The air had been strange ever since Jimmy had stopped me on the catwalk. It turned out he had been accommodating a girl in Robert's room, but he had still stopped to ruin my otherwise enjoyable night. I was never going out with Rod again, but I talked him up so much in front of Jimmy that it seemed like I might. He was as jealous of us as I was of him and Bianca. I knew something was going to give soon, but what, I had no idea.
I wasn't even Bianca's friend anymore. Friends talk, go places, trust each other. We did none of that. The last we had spoke, she asked-- with modest distaste if I ever saw any-- if I'd be joining them for New Years. I don't like to think that Jimmy broke us up, more that Bianca was in the way.
Seeing that the jealousy was only slightly working with Jimmy, I'd take a new approach for New Years. He didn't want me? I don't want him. There are other guys I could be with, Rod included. Why, I had a photoshoot the day after New Years with a band called Bad Company for promotional shots when they legally join Swan Song some time early next year.
Jimmy couldn't know how much I disliked Rod. Rod had no character, no personality, no spunk. He seemed utterly surprised that I had shown up. But if Jimmy knew that, he'd have leverage, and that was the last thing he needed. Robert said to give up, but only I can make that call. I was going to win this, I was! Jimmy would be begging for me when I was done.
"Jenni, limo leaves in 20," John Paul called softly through the door. "If you don't hurry, you're going to tear up the town with Bon and Pat in his Royce. Oh, and dress warm; it's nippy."
I struggled to pull the leather bodysuit on over black leggings. Jimmy would drop dead when he saw I was actually going to wear the outfit he bought me for my meeting with Keith Moon. But I couldn't pull it on. It didn't fit around my thighs. Frustrated, I kicked it off and ripped my leggings from my legs. Sighing as I sat on my carpet in just my underwear, I opted for a more suitable pair of denim pants and a feathered tunic. The Doobie Brother's Captain and Me played on the turntable in the corner and I couldn't help but dance.
A knock on my door interrupted me and I stopped abruptly. "Yeah?"
"John told you 20, right?" Bianca called. I rolled my eyes at her feeble attempt to hold a conversation with me. Rather than reply, I took the needle from the record, grabbed a small wad of money and a tube of Lipsmackers, and pushed through my door, walking right past Bianca and down the stairs.
♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫
The nine of us, women out-numbering men, sat around a VIP half-moon table at White Puckett in downtown London. The boys and I celebrated December 31st with a round of whiskey while the ladies sipped feminine drinks that turned me off upon arriving at our table. The guys laughed and talked about God-knows-what, I wasn't really paying attention. We were waiting for Peter and Richard to show up and I could hardly contain my agony in sitting next to Bianca.
It wasn't that I hated her, but that I disliked her for an unjustifiable reason. I had worked since August to seduce Jimmy, and the moment he confesses to me that he liked me too, he goes right back to her. Was he acting? What was he trying to prove? Both Jimmy and Bianca were my vice and I couldn't take another moment listening to them talk.
"I need to use the Lu," I announced to the group.
They bade me goodbye and Pat said, "Hurry or you'll miss the ball drop! It's Eleven-forty-five."
I nodded and rolled my eyes when she could no longer see me. I was the only one here who didn't have someone to kiss when the ball dropped, anyway. I heard squeaking on the vinyl bench, like Jimmy and Bianca had scooted down to make more room, as I strutted toward the bathroom, hoping Jimmy would watch me as my heels clicked down the hardwood floor.
A hand grabbed my elbow as I reached for the bathroom door far from Bianca's vision. I turned quickly to see that Jimmy had followed me, an exasperated look on his face. He looked both ways and asked, "Can we talk for a minute?" Before I could say yes, he pushed me into the bathroom and locked the door. I was speechless as he sauntered to the mirror and adjusted his hair. He spoke to me through his reflection, "I know what you must be thinking. 'Jimmy told me he liked me, then left me for Bianca!'"
I was taken aback at how accurate he was. "No, I hardly care about that little--"
"You probably took Rod out just to make me jealous, didn't you? Don't tell me you didn't. You don't talk to the man for five months and just out of the blue you go out with him. Sounds like you're trying hard to make me feel worse than I already do."
"How could you feel bad?" I nearly shouted. "You've got somebody to kiss this New Years and I'm just left having to watch you two be happy because I can't move out. Why would you ever tell me the things you did if you didn't mean them? Why did you even take me to Scotland?"
"You want the truth?" Jimmy snarled, turning from the mirror to me. "I suggested taking you after the whole Richard thing because I felt bad for you. Twice in the same year you were nearly defiled. And I know your type; you could have told Ricardo and Syd 'no' if you wanted to, but you wanted me to come to the rescue, and I bloody well did. I said those things because I meant them, every word. But right now my hands are tied between my wife and daughter, my girlfriend --who, if I leave, will be homeless-- and the type of woman I've been waiting for since I started this Godforsaken business. My life doesn't revolve around you and it never will."
I watched him straighten the cotton scarf around his neck, pursing his lips with dissatisfaction at what he had just said. I wasn't sure what to say, but I let my lips say whatever was on my mind. "Then I suppose you'd better stick with the way things are going for you. I hope you and Bianca live happily ever after, Jim." I started toward the bathroom door but Jimmy hurried over and pressed his back to it.
"That's not the response I was looking for, Jen."
"I can get down on my knees if that's what you were looking for, Master," I spat. He looked away from me in thought and I knew that the idea paired with the name Master had given him an idea. "That's not what I meant."
"I know. Look, I've been thinking, and-- do you know anything that's more exciting than hiding our relationship from a person in the same house?"
"What're you alluding to?" I asked incredulously.
Jimmy took a few steps toward me and I stood my ground. "I'm saying, we can be together. We just have to hide it from Bianca. Like now, for instance, would be a perfect time to do all the things we've been missing out on since Scotland."
He leaned in to kiss me and I took a step back. "You're ridiculous." I thought for a moment in his silence and added, "You're asking me to have an affair on your affair?"
"It only seems fair."
I smiled and looked up at him slowly. "I don't know how I could say no to that."
Jimmy checked his watch and announced that it was Eleven-fifty-seven. "Do you want to stay in here for the ball drop?"
"Don't you think Bianca would get a bit suspicious when she noticed you weren't back in time for the ball drop?"
Jimmy hesitated and grinned. "Lets have our own ball drop first. Ten... nine... eight..." With every number he inched closer and closer towards me. I began counting too.
A knock on the door disturbed us and I heard Bianca's voice calling outside in search of Jimmy he stopped counting but his eyes never wavered from mine. I called back, "He's not here, this is the ladies' room!" After a moment, I whispered, "Five... four..." he joined in with, "three... two... one..."
Our lips met and he held me tightly in his arms, running his hand up and down my back slowly. We separated and he murmured, "Happy New Year," before kissing me again.
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