Joey grinned at Circe. They were going out to dinner, in their first attempt to talk things over, and see if they could work everything out. “So, how long are you in Florida?”
“A few weeks, for now,” Circe told him. “Calypso’s staying here, too.”
“Where are you going to be staying?”
Circe opened her mouth to reply, then shut it, realizing she had no idea where they would be staying. “I don’t know. We didn’t talk about that. We just decided to stay the other night, at Lorelie’s wedding.”
“What happened to all of the stuff in your apartment?”
“We gave it away,” Circe replied. “Too bad we didn’t keep it, then we could have moved into an apartment without having to worry about furniture and everything.”
“You two could always rent a furnished place.”
“We’ll probably just stay at the Hilton. It’s easiest.”
“Would you rather stay somewhere else?” Joey inquired.
Circe sighed. “I want to actually have a normal life, like what I had when I was here last summer.”
Joey pulled up in front of the restaurant. “When we get inside, we can talk about that.”
Circe began explaining after they ordered. “Our life- mine, Calypso’s, and Lorelie’s- they were wearing us out, bothering us. I know that it isn’t hard like other’s- we never had to worry about anything really. But we had no life. We couldn’t do what we wanted, couldn’t be normal. Calypso wanted to go to college, and she has the ability to do so. But that wasn’t what was expected of us. For her to actually go would have cut her out of our world. Sure, we go to college, but it’s not to get degrees. It’s to look good, meet people. We couldn’t go anywhere without bodyguards. People only wanted to know us or date us because of our connections, our money, things like that.”
“I know how that feels,” Joey said. “We- the guys and I- have the same problem.”
“So we decided to do what we’d always thought of,” Circe continued. “We left our old lives behind and became other people. We changed out hair- well Calypso didn’t do that much, just streaked it- got contacts, changed our names. We never expected to make friends or fall in love. It was just supposed to be until September. Then we met you guys, fell in love, made friends. And we put it off until October. We were going to explain everything.” Circe looked at him. “I hoped you wouldn’t take it how you did, but with Justin finding out the way he did and being so pissed about it, I wasn’t all that surprised.”
“I’m really sorry I didn’t listen to your explanation then. It was a gut reaction. I thought it had all been a joke. But as the months went by and I talked to Lorelie, I realized it wasn’t.”
“Of course it wasn’t- everything I told you was serious. I would never play with someone’s emotions like that. And I couldn’t, even if I’d wanted to. For the first time in my life, I was treated like a human, a normal person. Not like a shallow bimbo who’s main point in life is to get a husband, and in the process spend all of her daddy’s money. I felt useful. And I was loved for who I was, not what I was.”
“Please forgive me, Circe,” Joey said.
Circe looked into his brown eyes. “Of course I do. How could I not?”
Circe hugged Joey, then walked into the hotel suite. “See you tomorrow,” she said.
“Bye, babe,” Joey said. When the door closed behind her, he walked to the elevator.
He was confident things would work out between the two of them. They were going to take their relationship slow, let things develop, get to know each other. And get over the trust issues they had.
Calypso walked off the elevator. “Hi Joey.”
“Hey Calypso. How are you?”
Calypso shrugged her shoulders. “Ok, I guess. You?”
“Really good. Things are going to work out between me and Circe.”
“That’s good.” Calypso forced a smile to her lips, thankful she was wearing dark sunglasses and he couldn’t see her eyes.
“Justin should come to his senses soon,” Joey told her.
“I really don’t care if he does or not,” Calypso said. “I’m getting married in six months.”
“Yeah, I know. I heard at the rehearsal. Who’s the guy?”
“A guy I met while in Europe.”
Joey reached out and pulled off her sunglasses. “There’s no use hiding, Calypso. I’m not blind.” His finger probed the bruise surrounding her eye. “Did he do this to you?”
Calypso didn’t say anything, just took her sunglasses back.
“Well?”
“It’s none of your business, Joey. I have to go. There are things I have to do.” She turned away from him, heading for the suite, pushing her sunglasses up her nose to hide the black eye she had from Circe.
Joey watched her walk away, then stepped into an elevator, shaking his head.
Amaryllis Trenton giggled as she dialed yet another number. She had to tell everyone her good news.
After four rings, Circe answered her cell phone. “Yeah?”
“You’ll never believe it, Circe. Lance proposed!” she screamed into the phone.
Circe laughed. “Calm down girl. That’s great news, but did you need to shout?”
“Sorry. I’m just so happy. I can’t believe it. I love him so much.” Amaryllis giggled. “I’m the happiest woman in the world.”
“I think Lorelie might protest that.”
“Lorelie isn’t here right now, so she doesn’t count.” She sighed happily. “I just can’t believe it. I’m getting married.”
“To Lance Bass.”
“To the man I love. It’s the most wonderful thing in the world.”
“That’s what you’ll be saying on your wedding day.”
“Oh my god,” Amaryllis exclaimed. “I have to start planning my wedding.”
“Did you two decide on a date?”
“No, not yet. We’re going to wait for a little while before deciding on anything. Lance wants to have lots of free time afterwards, so our honeymoon won’t be interrupted.”
Circe laughed. “Sounds like he wants a long honeymoon.”
“We both do.” Amaryllis fell silent, then took a deep breath. “Circe, I know this is kinda sudden, and I’ll understand if you don’t agree, especially with how I was last year. But I was wondering if you’d like to be one of my bridesmaids. I’m going to ask Lorelie and Calypso, too.”
“I’d love to be one of your bridesmaids. I’m honored that you asked. You’re one of the very few true friends I have, so of course I’ll be a bridesmaid.”
“I was so sure that you’d hate me for what I said that day at the airport. Thank you so much for agreeing.”
“I don’t hate you. None of us do. We understand how your were feeling. And you actually didn’t turn against us. Just said you could never trust us. And if I were in your position, I’d feel exactly the same way.”
“Is Calypso there?”
“She’s in her room, trying to hide the various bruises the bastard she’s engaged to gave her. She thinks I don’t know about them and doesn’t want me to find out.”
“Why did she agree to marry him if he’s abusive?”
“I was asking myself the same question, but she told me the night of the rehearsal. Calypso has a death wish She doesn’t want to deal with the empty feeling inside her heart, so she’s hoping he’ll beat her to death.”
“What?” Amaryllis asked, incredulous.
“Well, not actually hoping, but figuring, if he does beat her to death, she won’t have to deal with everything.”
“That’s not healthy. She and Justin need to come to their senses soon.”
“You’re telling me. I’m thinking about doing something to help them if they don’t come to their senses soon.
“I’ll help. How are you and Joey doing?”
“We talked and we’re going on another date tomorrow. I think everything’ll work out between us.”
Amaryllis laughed. “I wish you luck. I’m gonna go call everyone else I can think of now, tell them my good news.”
“Have fun waking everyone up,” Circe said.
Amaryllis glanced at her clock. “I’m so sorry, Circe. I didn’t realize it was two in the morning.”
“It’s ok, I wasn’t asleep. I would recommend not calling anyone else, though.”
“No. I’ll just go wake up Lance and bug him.”
“I’m sure he won’t mind.”
“No, I don’t think he will,” Amaryllis said, giggling. “Bye, Circe.”
“Have fun bugging Lance,” Circe said, ending the call.