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“Sorry I’m late,
darling!” Pamela rushed into the house, giving Justin an air kiss while he
helped her out of her coat. “I got caught in the rain on my way home from the
salon and my hair had just been done. So, you can imagine that my hair was
just a fright. Hair out of place and really just wet.” She patted her now,
perfectly styled hair. “So I had to go back to the salon and get Paulette to
do it over. Then I had to go home and change and pack a bag because really
it’s just horrid out there and I refuse to go home tonight.” She shoved a
small case at him. “Be a dear and go put that up in your room – is your
mother here yet?” “Considering she’s been
staying here all week, yeah I think she’s here.” Justin said dryly. “We were
just about to start eating without you. You were an hour late and you didn’t
call. We didn’t think you were going to come.” He said quickly when he saw
the look on her face. She pouted. “Don’t get
all huffy. I told you why I was late. I’m sorry, but well groomed hair is
worth a little wait.” Justin rolled his eyes
and sighed. “Look, I’ll leave the case here for now. I don’t want to keep
everyone waiting.” She raised a brow as he took
her arm and led her to the dining room. “Excuse me? Who else is here? I
thought this was a dinner with just you and I…and your mother.” He stopped and turned to
her. “Pamela. I told you this was my mother’s dinner. She did this for a
friend of hers and her daughter.” Pamela’s pout became more
pronounced. “Oh poo! Well why don’t we go make ourselves comfortable in your
room and forget this silly dinner with your mom’s friend and her little
child.” Justin didn’t bother
telling her that the “little child” was a very pretty woman. He was
speculating on why he had even bothered inviting Pamela over in the first
place. He had been ignoring her for weeks but after she had left eight
messages for him in one day, he knew he had to do something with her. The thing
was he didn’t like talking to Pamela or spending time with her if it didn’t
involve a bed. Yeah, it was kind of harsh but that was how he felt. She was pulling out the
stops tonight, he noticed. Her hair was perfectly put together. Her dress,
which was tight and short, left nothing to the imagination. But oddly, he
wasn’t turned on by it. He was strangely put off…and annoyed. He knew he had to break
up with her for good. Tomorrow, he decided. He would do it tomorrow. “I
promised my mom days ago that I would do this and she wants me there so we’re
going.” This time he didn’t take her hand but walked directly towards the
dining room. … When Victoria first got a
glimpse of Pamela she was a little surprised that Pamela was Justin’s date.
The blue eyed, leggy blond with the tight pink dress just didn’t seem his
type – Toria stopped. Wait, who was she kidding. What blue eyed, leggy blond
in a tight pink dress wasn’t any man’s type? Maybe she was more
disappointed that he would go for such an obvious choice. When she looked at
Pamela again, she realized that she had seen her before – at the store. She
was the girl Justin had kissed. So, they were still
together. She shouldn’t have cared…but she did. Pamela walked further
into the room and greeted Lynn. “Hello Lynn! Mwah. Mwah.” She gave Lynn air
kisses on both cheeks. She hadn’t addressed
Toria or her mother yet. Toria assumed she hadn’t noticed them. When Pamela
finally did look over at her mother saying an uninterested hello and then
turned to Victoria, her eyes widened slightly and her mouth formed a perfect
O. “You are?” She asked in a
chilly voice. Toria never one to back
down said calmly, “Victoria Freightan. It’s nice to meet you!” She got up and
stuck out her hand civilly. Pamela had no other
choice but to accept it. She shook Toria’s hand as if it was a piece of
garbage, barely brushing her fingers with Toria’s. Pamela was furious. She
had assumed that when Justin had said daughter that this girl was a child.
But she was very much a woman. Obviously not even close to being as beautiful
as her, but this girl was…cute. Was this girl the reason that Justin
was being so cold to her? Why he had been snubbing her for weeks?
She sat beside Justin and
found herself across from the girl. She wondered if Justin *did* have any
interest in her. She was going to make it her duty to find out and make sure
if he did have an interest that it wouldn’t go anywhere. … Toria sat through the
dinner, sensing the speculative and often times annoyed glances that Pamela
was shooting her. She didn’t know what her
problem was but she just assumed that Pamela was the jealous type. Jealous of
any girl being around her boyfriend. She turned her attention
back to Justin, who had been on her mind the whole evening. He was just. He
just. She was. Oh hell. She might as well just come out with it. She liked him.
A lot. He was funny, thoughtful, smart, passionate and she could see he loved
his mother; loved his family from the way he talked about them. And of
course, he was very, very good looking. She wanted to touch him.
Really wanted to stroke his hair. She wondered what the short spikes would
feel like against her fingers. Would they be sharp and pointy or very soft?
She knew somehow that it was the latter. She laughed as Justin
told a funny hotel story about a fan hiding in the maids laundry basket to
get into his room and she smiled at the way his eye’s lighted up when he
talked about touring. He really loved what he did and it showed. A warm
feeling settled in the pit of her stomach. She liked him. A lot. … Outside the rain was
pounding on the trees and the wind was howling like a lone wolf. And everyone
knew that no one was leaving the house that night. “Of course you must stay
the night here! All of you!” Lynn said to the three women. She might not have
liked Pamela very much, but she would never send a person out in that
weather. “We couldn’t –” “Oh stop being polite,
Janelle. This is no time for manners. You are staying and that’s final!” Lynn now in delegating
mode, her true element, started listing off what would happen. “Janelle you can
stay in the room across from mine, on the third floor. There are two guest
rooms on the second across from Justin, where the girls can stay.” She talked
while the others watched and nodded or mumbled in response to her. “Since you didn’t bring
any clothing. I will lend you some of mine – which is no trouble at all
because as my son likes to say, I packed everything from my closet back
home.” “I already brought some
clothes with me, Lynn!” Pamela interjected. An expression went over
Lynn’s face. Toria could see that she did not like Pamela’s statement.
However, Lynn only responded by shrugging before she turned back to Janelle
and Toria. “So, if you guys will just come with me. I’ll get you something to
wear. Although you’re both so tiny that I don’t know if I’ll be able to find
anything that fits.” Janelle commented but
Toria wasn’t paying attention. She was too busy watching Justin and Pamela
covertly. Pamela was looking at him, her hand running up and down his arm but
he didn’t seem to notice and just continued to listen to his mom. Toria
wondered about the state of their relationship. Were they in love? She didn’t
think so. They were most likely just sleeping together. Just sleeping
together. That didn’t make her feel any better. She looked back at Lynn
and her mother who were walking out of the room to go upstairs. Without
looking back at the couple, she followed them out of the room. … This house was too damn
big. Toria couldn’t remember where Lynn had told her, her room was. She
peeked around one door and saw a medium sized room. The lights were off in
the room, but it didn’t look like anyone was sleeping there and so she walked
in. She closed the door
behind her and searched for a light. She found a lamp on the night table and
turned it on. She looked around. It was a very nice room. Justin had a
beautiful house. She tossed the clothing Lynn had given her on the bed and
walked over to the big bay window. It was raining really hard out there. She
could barely see the outlines of the trees, it being so dark and misty. She shrugged and turned
back around. She looked at the tank top and jogging pants, Lynn had given her
to wear and noticed how small they were. She laughed to herself. Lynn liked
tight things, that was for sure. Toria grabbed the edge of
her shirt and pulled it over her head. She unzipped her pants and pulled them
down. She folded her clothes carefully and put them on the dresser table.
When she was done, she pulled her elastic out of her hair and brushed her
hair through her fingers as she made her way over to Lynn’s clothes still on
her bed. Suddenly she heard
something. She looked over and saw the doorknob turning and before she could
react the door completely opened and she met Justin’s astounded gaze. |