April 24, 2000 – DEI

Noelle was glad to be back at work. The trip to Hawaii with Junior had been taxing, yet fun. She had a great time, enjoyed meeting his friends and hanging out with them, and she had to admit, it was fun messing around with Junior.

She had came into work and found a card on her computer. Nikki, the other marketing rep, who’s cubicle was right next to Noelle’s didn’t know anything about it.

“I swear! I didn’t see anyone come in!” Nikki moved her chair next to Noelle’s. “Who’s it from?”

“I know who it’s from.” Noelle threw into her inbox and turned on her computer. Nikki grabbed it and opened. “Nikki!”

“What? Open the damn card, woman!” Nikki opened it and handed it to her. Noelle groaned and looked at the outside of the card. It didn’t say anything just had a picture of the two of them in bed sleeping. “Oooh…girl. You slept with Junior?”

“Not like that.” Noelle blushed and opened the card, which she realized he had made himself. Inside was a short message that said how much he had enjoyed spending the last couple days with her and hoped that they could get together again before he left for the next race. Noelle put the card in her purse and got to work. Her inbox was over flowing with things that needed to be done.

By mid afternoon, she was in over her head with a new project that Teresa thought would be good for her. Jade, Junior’s publicist from fingerprint inc, needed a contact at DEI to be almost like an assistant and help Junior out when he wasn’t available. Teresa had left her a voicemail telling her that she thought it would be a good idea if she helped Jade and it would look good to Dale Sr. as well.

“As far as I know, he’s either wandering the building or he’s at home. I haven’t talked to him since Saturday night when we got back from Hawaii.” Noelle put her head in her hands and listened to Jade ramble on about a Budweiser commercial that Junior had scheduled for that night at his house. “No, I don’t have his cell number or know where he lives.”  Noelle’s head was pounding and there was still three hours to go until she could go home and relax. She jotted down some information that Jade was telling her. As she was writing, her chair was spun around.

Junior leaned down and kissed her firmly and then turned and left, leaving Noelle sitting in her seat, unable to speak. Nikki and Michelle, the other woman in the office stared at her, not knowing what to say.

“Noelle?” Jade yelled into the phone. “Are you listening to me?” Noelle said nothing. She didn’t know what to say to begin with. Both Nikki and Michelle were waiting for her to explain. “Damn it Noelle, are you going to be there tonight?”

“Huh?” She snapped out of her daze and realized that Jade was yelling at her. “Yeah, I’ll be there.” She hung up the phone and faced her computer. Her lips tingled and she reached up and touched them briefly. For some reason, his kiss today felt different. Maybe because she wasn’t expecting it.

“So…Noelle, what’s with you and Junior?” Michelle asked finally breaking the silence in the room. “He doesn’t usually just walk in and kiss someone and leave. Especially his employees.”

“No, we’re his co-workers…not his employees.” Noelle corrected her. She had to smile when she caught herself using Junior’s own line. “Anyway, there is nothing between Junior and I. We’re just friends, if we’re even that.”

“Yeah, friends who share a bed.” Nikki laughed. Michelle raised an eyebrow at her. “She has a picture of them together in bed. They look all cute cuddled up together.”

“Nikki!” Noelle turned around and glared at her. “Shut up!”

“What’s that about?” Michelle asked inquisitively.

“We had to share a room because his two friends came to Hawaii as well. And that’s it.” Noelle got up from her chair. “I’ll be back in a few.” She hurried out the door and into the hallway. She had a feeling that Junior was hanging around. And if she didn’t see him in the office, she’d see him that night at his house.

Noelle wandered through the building, saying hi to a few people that she knew. As she turned down the hallways that lead into the shop, she ran into Dale Sr. who stopped her.

“How was your trip?” he asked.

“Great. Thanks for letting me have some time off to go out there. It was beautiful.” She smiled at him. It wasn’t a lie, she did have fun and the island was incredible.

“Glad to hear it.” He patted her on the shoulder and started walking away. “Hope to see you at the race.”

“Maybe.” Noelle called to him. She waited until he was out of sight before going into the shop. She scanned the room and saw Junior leaning into one of the cars, obviously working. She hesitated a minute before heading in that direction.

“Hey Noelle…what’s an office person like you doing with all us grease monkeys?” Tony Jr. asked when he saw her.

“Came to talk to Junior for a second.” She said as she walked by.

“Gonna be at the race this weekend?” he asked. She shrugged and kept walking. Junior was still leaning in the window of the car and when she walked up behind him, she could see one of the other guys leaning in the other side as well. She looked around to see if anyone was watching and when she was satisfied that no one was, she took her nails and gently tickled the back of his neck. Junior jumped and about hit his head on the roof of the car.

“What the fuck.” He turned around and looked to see who was behind him. He looked a little surprised to see Noelle standing there. “What are you doing in here?”

“Came to talk to you for a minute. Or are you too busy?” Noelle crossed her arms over her chest and tilted her head to the side. “I can come back later.”

“No, it’s ok.” He led her over to the side where no one was around. “What’s up?”

“Thanks for the card. It was nice.” She smiled at him. “And I just wanted to thank you for a nice trip. I had fun.”

“I had fun too.” He grinned at her.

“And…the real reason I’m here is because I need your address.” Junior looked at her and raised an eyebrow. “Teresa has me put me on some project where I’m Jade’s contact at DEI and since he’s stuck in New York, I have to be at your little commercial shoot or whatever it is tonight at your house.” He rattled off his address and Noelle realized it wasn’t far from work. “I’ll be there at six thirty. I want to go home and change first.”

“That’s fine.”

Noelle looked around the shop again and looked to see if anyone was watching. Again, everyone looked to be working and not really interested in what they were doing. She pushed Junior up against the wall and kissed him, then walked away.  Now it was Junior’s turn to look stunned.

******

Noelle went home after work and changed into jeans and a sweater. She glanced in the mirror and smiled. Her tan was looking good and it probably helped that she tanned twice a week at the salon in town. She hated looking pale all year. She applied some fresh lipstick and was out the door.

Junior’s house was only about a mile from DEI, but it was a good twenty minutes from her house, which was on the other side of town. She pulled into his driveway and followed it back to the house. She couldn’t believe how huge the house was. Especially since he was a single guy, but then he had money to burn.

The people shooting the commercial hadn’t arrived yet, so Noelle parked on the other side of the garage and walked up to the front door. She didn’t want to take up a space that one of their trucks may need. She knocked and waited.

“Hey.” Junior said as he opened the door. He let her in and then closed it. “They’re going to be an hour late. Jade just called me to inform me. Something about traffic.” He took her jacket and hung it on the door handle of the closet.

“Nice house.” Noelle said looking around.

“Thanks. C’mon, I’ll show you around.” He took her through the house, showing her the rooms. Finally he took her downstairs to the “infamous” Club E. “And here you’ll find my so-called club.” Junior went behind the bar and grabbed two beers from the cooler. “Want one?”

“Interesting little place you have here.” Noelle sat down at the bar and looked around. His basement did resemble a club. “Have a lot of parties?”

“One tomorrow night in fact. Wanna come?” Junior leaned across the bar and smiled at her. “Just some of the DMP and a few of the driver’s that live in town or close by.”

“DMP?” Noelle turned around to face him.

“Dirty Mo Posse…ya know Mooresville, where we live?”

“I’m aware of the town I live in, Junior.” She drank her beer and continued to look around. “Sure I’ll come.”

“You may be the only girl there…unless one of the guys brings a date.” Junior stood up and cracked his knuckles, making Noelle cringe. “Sorry.”

“It’s ok. Your house and all.” She smiled and got up from the bar stool.

Junior led her back upstairs and into the living room, then excused himself to go take a shower. She flipped through a photo album he had on his coffee table and smiled at the pictures of him when he was younger. He was a cute kid and he grew up into an even cuter man. But she wasn’t about to let him know that.

The commercial crew showed up before Junior was out of the shower. Noelle answered the door and was immediately pushed aside by who she presumed to be the director. He was on the phone yelling at someone. Noelle watched as they trampled into the living room and began setting things up. No one even said hello to her or asked who she was. She was beginning to wonder why Jade even needed her to be there. She also was wondering why she was being put on this project to begin with.

“Where’s Dale?” a bearded guy asked her. “Go get him for me.” Noelle stared at him in disbelief. “Do you know where your boyfriend is?”

“First off….I’m Noelle, I’m Jade’s contact at DEI. Secondly, he’s not my boyfriend.” Noelle crossed her arms over her chest in disgust. “And he’s in the shower. He’ll be back in a few minutes.”

“Go tell him we need him now.” He snapped his fingers at her, like she was supposed to run off and find Junior. When Noelle didn’t move, the man turned around and glared at him. “Didn’t you hear me?”

“I heard you, but I’m not your gopher. If you ask me nicely, I may go see if he’s done.” The guy continued to glare at her. “Fine, I’ll go see if I can track him down.” She turned on her heel and headed toward the stairs that were off the kitchen. Hopefully she’d remember where his bathroom was. “Junior!”

“What?” he yelled over the running shower. Noelle walked into the bathroom and tapped on the glass shower door. “That better be you, Noelle.”

“No…it’s just some random person I let into the house to come and see you in the shower.” Noelle sighed. “The commercial people are here and the director is a dick.”

“You kiss your mom with that mouth?” Junior slid open the shower door and poked his head out.

“I’ve heard worse from you. Hurry up…I want to get this over with.” Noelle left the bathroom and headed back down stairs. She found the director on the phone yelling at someone again.

“I could care less if you got stuck in traffic. So did we, but we managed to make it on time!” he yelled. Noelle looked at her watch. They weren’t on time, not even close. “You’re fired.” He flipped his phone shut and looked at Noelle. “Where is he?”

“He’s coming.” Noelle sat on the edge of the couch and looked at the mess that was once Junior’s living room.

“You work for Jade?”

“No, I work for DEI. But I’m working with Jade for a few weeks.”

“You ever do commercials?” The guy was staring at her and making her uneasy. She shook her head. “Well you are tonight. Lynda…get over here and do her hair and makeup. And for crying out loud, give her some sexier clothes.”

“Uhh….that’s not why I’m here. I’m just supposed to…” She started before she was dragged off by a blonde haired woman who threw her into a chair and started wiping off her makeup. “What are you doing?”

“Getting you ready.” The woman, whose name she thought was Lynda. The woman was quick and in fifteen minutes had her completely done. Noelle looked in the full length mirror that they had brought in and couldn’t believe it was her. Maybe she needed to start wearing more makeup. “Ok…go see what you need to wear.” She was then rushed off to another woman who looked like she was more than a little bored.

“God help you.” The woman looked at Noelle. “Do you not know what to wear to a commercial shoot?” She started grabbing clothes from a hanger and holding them up to Noelle. “Here, go change.” She thrust a pair of jeans and a low cut top at Noelle and pointed toward the bathroom. Noelle went in and changed and walked out a few minutes later with her arms crossed over her chest. The shirt was more than a little low cut. She felt like her boobs were going to fall out.

“Ok…here we go. Junior where’s your girlfriend at?”

“Girlfriend?” Junior laughed. “Noelle isn’t my girlfriend and I don’t know where she went.” Noelle walked into the room and Junior’s eyes nearly popped out of his head. “Noelle?”

“What?” She asked, giving him a smile. He walked toward her took her arms away from her chest so he could look her over.

“I like.” He winked at her. “Why are you dressed like that?”

“She’s in the commercial. Now you two sit on the couch and act like you’re having a good conversation.” The director yelled. Junior took her hand and led her over to the couch where they sat close together, both of them with a bottle of beer in their hand. Noelle wanted to down it, but she knew she couldn’t.

The whole commercial made no sense to her what-so-ever. All they did was film them sitting on the couch, talking and laughing. What kind of commercial would that be? She figured they would superimpose things into it and add the voice over.

“Done!” The director clapped an hour later. “We’ll clean up and get out of your way, so you can go back to whatever you two were doing before we got here.” He winked at Noelle who raised an eyebrow at him.

“I’ll change out of these and be right back.”

“They’re yours.” The director walked past her. “You need a new wardrobe anyway.” Noelle stared at him. She had never met anyone so rude before. “Have a good one you two.” And they were gone as quickly as they arrived.

Junior walked up behind her and slid an arm around her waist, pulling her to his side. She looked up at him and stepped away.

“Quit playing.” He backed her up against the wall. “I know you want me.”

“You are so full of yourself.” Noelle laughed as he ducked his head down to kiss her. She turned her head and he got the side of her face.

“I’ll make you a bet.” He cupped her face in his hand and slid his thumb over her lips. “I’ll have you again before the end of the season.”

“Oh will you?” Noelle raised an eyebrow at him.

“I know it. You’ll be putty in my hands.” He lowered his lips to hers and surprised her by kissing the tip of her nose instead. “Just watch.”

“Well see.” Noelle let out a breath as he stepped away. She hadn’t even realized she had been holding one in. He smiled at her and blew her a kiss.

“Oh and wear that outfit tomorrow night.” Junior told her as he walked her to the car a few minutes later. “I think you look hot.”

“Possibly. If I decide to come to your little party.” Noelle got in her car and started the engine. Junior shut the door and waved as she backed out of the driveway.

Chapters: 1/2/3/4/5/6/7/8/9/10/11/12/13/14/15/16/17/18/19/20/21/22/23/24/25/26/27/28/29/30