“KIMBERLY. I need you in the bedroom, NOW.” She didn’t know how she was able to hear him calling her from the far side of the large house. His voice was tinged in urgency. Dropping the sponge she was using to wipe the countertops, she headed to the bedroom.
He was sitting on the bed.“Welcome back. What’s up,” she asked. He looked up at her. There was an odd look on his face – confused and dejected at the same time.
“When was the last time you changed the sheets,” he asked, his blue eyes piercing hers.
“On Thursday like always,” she answered. “Why,” she inquired softly.
“Because I left on Wednesday,” he said as he stood up. “So imagine my surprise when I pulled back the covers and found a little present,” he continued as he move the covers aside to reveal a used condom under the sheets. She knew at that instant the wedding was off. “Who is he,” he asked.
She shifted her eyes to her feet. “JC, you don’t want to know.”
“Kimberly, like hell I don’t. Who is he?’
She didn’t want to say, she knew he would be even more devastated. “I can’t tell you.”
“Why not? I have a right to know who you’re sleeping with in my bed.”
Her eyes flew up to meet his. A look of sheer and utter humiliation flooded her face. “What,” she asked in confusion. “JC, I wouldn’t disrespect you like that.”
“What do you mean? The evidence is there. I wasn’t here. You were here. There’s a condom in my bed. Unless you’re a guy who jacks off into a condom, I would say you had sex with someone in my bed. How could you do this to me,” he ranted.
“JC, you’re not the only one that sleeps in that bed. Instead of accusing me, why not ask your bedmate,” she fired back.
“Julia wasn’t here this week. She was on a business trip.”
“No JC, she wasn’t. She was here all week.”
“When did it get canceled?”
She couldn’t, wouldn’t lie. She was technically his employee, not hers. “She never had a business trip,” she said softly. She made all the travel plans for the couple and knew for weeks Julia wasn’t going on a business trip. She thought it was just a sneaky way of getting out of visiting JC’s parents, but truth came to light just hours after JC left. She had been quite surprised to see him standing at the door when she answered it. She was even more surprised when Julia breezed into the foyer and greeted him with a kiss while she fondled him through his pants. He seemed just as surprised at the gesture as Kimberly was. As Kimberly turned to leave, Julia called out, “Not a word of this to JC,” as she pulled her visitor by the hand up the stairs.
“That can’t be true, she told me weeks ago she was going out east,” he replied. The chiseled features of his face turned from fury to hurt and confusion. “Why would she do this,” he pondered. Kimberly said nothing. She stood still in the uncomfortable silence. JC looked up at her. “You know who it is, right?” She nodded. “Who?”
She hesitated. She didn’t want to hurt him. “Please, ask Julia,” she pleaded with him. She didn’t want to be the one that told him the information that would surely break his heart.
“Do I know him?” She nodded. “Do I trust him?” She nodded again. “Please tell me. You know she won’t,” he pleaded again. “I promise you, I won’t be mad at you and I’m not going to fire you…”
“Fine,” she replied and took a breath. “It’s Justin.”
The name hit him like a ton of bricks and he stumbled to sit down. Missing the edge of the bed, he sat down hard on the floor, his legs ending up straight out in front of him. He stared at his hands resting in his lap.
“I’m sorry JC, I…” she was at a loss for words.
“No, it’s ok. I needed to know,” he replied softly.
“Can I get you anything,” she asked after a couple of minutes.
He looked up at her. “Um, could you get me a glass of water and throw some scotch into it?”
“Sure,” she said and walked towards the door. Behind her she heard JC reaching for his phone on the night stand. “Hey, can you come over, it’s important,” she heard him say.
When she returned with his drink, he was still sitting on the floor. She sat down next to him and handed him the drink. He took a sip and hissed as the golden liquid slid down his throat. “That’s a lot more than I asked for,” he said as he took another sip.
“Yeah, I figured you needed more scotch than water,” she replied. She didn’t know why she had sat down. She just felt he needed someone sitting close with him.
“They’re on their way over,” he said as he took another sip. “I don’t know what I’m going to say to them,” he said as he reached for her hand. She jumped when his long fingers covered her hand. “Sorry,” he apologized without removing his hand.
“No, it’s ok. I’ve just never had a boss hold my hand before,” she replied.
“Is that how you think of me, as your boss?”
She wasn’t sure what he was getting at with his statement. “Well, I clean your house, I do your laundry, I make your travel arrangements, I manage your calendar, and I walk your dog. You pay me. Yes, I see you as my boss.”
“I just hoped it was more than that.”
“JC, you’re engaged… Or were till you found out your fiancée is doing your best man. Why do you hope we had more than a professional relationship? Isn’t that a bit hypocritical?”
“No, I just hate people seeing me as a boss. I hoped we were a bit more on the friend side of things.”
“Have you ever asked me to hang out with you?” He shook his head. “In the past six months that I’ve worked for you, have you ever had a conversation with me that didn’t stem from one of my job responsibilities?” He shook his head. “Have you ever just called me out of the blue to ask me how my day was?” He shook his head. “We’ve got a good rapport, we joke around some when I’m here, but I’m not sure how you thought our relationship went past employer/employee status.”
He hung his head. She was too harsh. She had that tendency. “Sorry, I can be to in your face sometimes,” she said as she gave his hand a squeeze. “You need a friend right now and I’m here so I’ll do my best.”
“Thanks,” he said as he threw his arm around her. They sat in silence for several minutes. “I don’t know what I’m going to say to them,” he said. The silence around them was deafening. “I don’t know how I missed the signs,” he said breaking the silence. “They’ve both been on edge. She said she’s been working too hard and all those late nights. Him cutting out early on in the studio. You’d think I know something was up when she kept making excuses not to have sex.” He stopped. “Sorry, that was more info than you needed,” he apologized.
“It’s ok. I’ve been in your shoes and I know how much finding this out hurts,” she replied as she gave his had a light squeeze. “If it’s any consolation, at least you found out before the wedding and not have to endure a nasty divorce like I did.”
“I’m sorry, I didn’t know.”
“It’s ok. It took a while and some therapy, but I’ve worked through it and am a much happier person than if I’d never found out and were still with him.”
“How did you find out?”
“Like you, I missed the signs. I thought the late nights at work were because he was trying to make partner. Our sex life went down the tube. We started getting into all these stupid fights over little things….”
“The fights, what was that one over last week,” JC asked, interrupting her story.
“Which one, ranch dressing? Skinny jeans? How the paper towels should face right instead of left?”
“I didn’t realize there were so many.”
Kimberly nodded. “Those were just on Sunday. I tuned out Monday and Tuesday,” she replied with a smile.
He smiled back. “I’m sorry, I interrupted.”
“It’s ok. He withdrew from me but still expected me to be the perfect little wife that kept the perfect little house, wore the perfect clothes, had the perfect hair, was on all the right social committees, and had a perfect dinner on the table every night.” She shook her head at the memories of his expectations. “Anyway, I decided to surprise him at a conference, was able to get a key from the front desk, went to his room, opened the door and found him having sex with his personal assistant.”
“Wow, did you know her?”
She laughed. “The Abercrombie model wannabe was named Jeffery.”
“Holy shit.” He handed her his drink. She took a long sip. “No wonder you needed therapy. If he was gay, why was the divorce so nasty?”
“Oh, he insisted it was a one time thing. The model wasn’t happy about that and stormed out the room and down the hall naked. I threatened to expose him if he didn’t agree to my terms. He worked for a very conservative law firm. Divorce was a bad thing, having an affair even worse, but for it to be a gay affair with another staff member they would have fired him the second they found out. He didn’t like my threats, stalled, did everything he could to discredit me, spread awful rumors around to everyone, drug my family though the shitter, but in the end, once I had hard evidence from a PI, pics and video, he gave me what I wanted.”
“I really don’t know what to say to that.”
“Not a lot of people do.”
“I don’t know how I’m going to do this. Do I give her another chance? Justin and I have been friends for over half our life time. How do I forgive him for this?”
“I can’t answer those for you. I only know what I would do.”
“Which is?”
“It’s going to be hard and may take some time to build the trust again, but I think you and Justin can eventually get past this.”
“You seriously think I can forgive him?”
“It’s up to you, but I think y’all have too much history not to. You just said so yourself, you’ve been friends for half you life time. That’s a lot to throw away over one bad decision.”
“Are you defending him?”
“No, I’m not. But I know that friendships, especially one like yours, are few and far between and usually can take some pretty hard hits and still keep going.”
“You sound like a Timex commercial. Takes a lickin’…”
“..and keeps on tickin’,” she finished. “You don’t have to decide on Justin today. But I really think you need to figure out what you’re going to do with Julia.”
“What would you do?”
“JC, these are only my opinions, you’re going to have to make your own decisions.”
“I know, but I like knowing what an outside observer sees.” “Then I say that you need to end it with her. I may be overstepping here but this isn’t first time she’s done this. She’s had other guys here while you’ve been gone. And if you examine your relationship, is she really someone you want to commit the rest of your life to?”
“I just can’t believe she did this with Justin. Why? Why him? How could he?”
“I don’t know, but can you imagine the field day the tabloids are going to have with this? I mean seriously, the whole irony of Justin being the home wrecker with his best friend’s girl when he was the victim of infidelity on Britney’s part. It’s something straight out of a song or a bad fan fiction,” she continued. He smiled weakly but saw a flash of concern in his eyes. “Sorry, I have a tendency to ramble and you don’t have to worry, I won’t be going to the tabloids with this. I seriously don’t think they’d give me the 10 million dollars I’d need to cover the breach of confidentially clause in my contract.”
“That’s ok, about the talking, it’s a side of you I haven’t seen before,” he said. “And it’s distracting,” he saw the look on her face, “in a good way,” he finished as they heard the doorbell ring.
Kimberly hopped off the floor and walked towards the hallway quickly. “Hey, one more confidence booster,” she said as she turned to look at him. “I don’t know what she sees in him, he’s got nothing on you.” She saw the slightly confused look on his face. “I empty your trash, I’ve seen what you use and what he uses…. Think about it…” she trailed off as she trotted down the hallway and stairs to the front door.
“Kimberly,” Justin said when she opened the door.
“Justin,” she replied as she moved aside for him to step in. “He’s upstairs.”
“Do you know what this is about, he said it was urgent,” he questioned.
She paused trying to think of the right words. “I…”
“Kimberly, what the hell is going on,” Julia fired at her as she stormed into the foyer. She stopped dead in her tracks when she saw Justin. “What did you say to him, you little bitch,” she yelled as she closed the gap between them in a split second and grabbed Kimberly’s upper arm.
“Julia, you had better remove your hands from me before I call the cops and have you arrested for assault.” Kimberly said calmly. Julia could see the fire in her eyes and knew her words were not an idle threat. She slowly released her grip from Kimberly.
“You are so never going to work in this city again,” Julia threatened.
“Why would she need to find another job Julia? I think she’s doing a fine job.”
Everyone looked up to JC who was leaning on the banister of the loft above the foyer.
“Because she broke confidentiality,” Julia replied.
“Oh, what did she say?”
Julia was momentarily at a loss for words. “That’s between me and her. Please accept that the agreement she signed has been broken.”
“Well, Julia, I don’t see it that way. I know her contract. It’s between her and me. And while it covers everything and everyone in the house, it does not stipulate she can not tell me what’s going on in my own home.”
“Jace, why am I here. If this is between the three of you,” Justin piped up nervously.
“But Justin, this has everything to do with you and Julia and nothing to do with Kimberly,” JC replied calmly. “Julia, how was your business trip back east? Mom and Dad were disappointed you couldn’t come to Chicago this time.” Julia began to respond before JC cut her off. “And Justin, I was surprised when I didn’t get any updates on the tracks we’ve been working on. I guess you got a case of writer’s block, huh?” JC shook his head at both of them. Kimberly was astonished at how calm he was being.
Justin and Julia both looked at each other and back at JC before they began speaking.
“JC, I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean for this to happen….”
“Babe, I don’t know what you’re talking about…”
“One thing led to another…”
“But if you’re implying we slept together…”
“I wanted to tell you but…
“Justin, shut up…”
“Julia, he knows, we can’t lie…”
“Stop,” JC yelled. All three in foyer jumped at the booming voice from above. They all turned and looked at him. His voice was calmer. “There are no excuses for what you did. No only is my best friend and best man screwing my fiancée, neither of you had the decency to tell me. I had to find it out from Kimberly when I found a condom in the bed.”
“But JC, that was yours. Remember, we had sex before you left,” Julia said sweetly.
“Julia, I left on Wednesday. Kimberly changes the sheets on Thursday.” Julia opened her mouth to protest. “Also, I’m not that small and don’t use purple condoms.” Kimberly clamped her hand over her mouth to keep from laughing at the expression on Justin’s face.
“JC, please let us explain,” Justin said.
“No, there’s nothing to explain. I can’t believe after all these years you couldn’t trust me with this and instead you sneak around behind my back. I know I’ll never forgive her. And if I ever forgive you, it’s going to take a very long time. You two deserve each other. Go cheat on each other and get out of my house.” He turned and walked down the hallway towards his bedroom.
“But JC, this is my house too,” Julia yelled as she raced up the steps.
“Check the mortgage, just my name on it,” JC called back before slamming the door to his bedroom.
They heard her cursing as she came back down the hallway down the staircase, taking the steps two at a time. “How could you not change the sheets, you stupid bitch.”
“Julia, you know the schedule. If you needed me to do something different, all you had to do was ask.”
“You’ve ruined my life.”
“No, you did that when you cheated on your fiancée and didn’t have the decency to clean up after yourself. Now, I believe JC has asked you to leave. Leave a forwarding address so I can have your stuff sent over,” she said sweetly as she held the door open.
Julia let out a scream before storming out the door. Justin followed silently. Kimberly shut the door quietly before she padded back to the kitchen and continued to wipe the counter tops.
Several hours later when she took a load of clean laundry upstairs, she noticed JC’s door was open. Peering inside, she saw he was not in the room. She headed down to the studio after putting up the clothes. “Come in,” he said after she knocked on the door. She nodded her head in time to the beat. When the song was finished, he turned to her and raised an eyebrow.
“Sounds like you’re over your writer’s block,” she said as he stood up and covered the distance between them in two steps.
“Yep,” he said before his lips crashed to hers and he pulled her tightly to him. “Thank you,’ he said breathlessly when they broke the kiss.
“You’re welcome,” she replied before gently grazing her lips across his. “See, I told you acting this idea out would help.”
“Yeah, but you changed the story on me,” he replied with a slight disapproving smile.
“Sorry, I couldn’t have you yelling at me. Besides, you rolled with it well, those acting classes are paying off.”
“How did Julia know?”
“Oh, gave her a heads up while I was getting your drink. But couldn’t get to Justin in time.”
“Is that why he looked so confused at first?”
“What are you going to call it?”
“’Slept With My Best Friend’”
He wrapped his arms around her waist as he stared off into space.
“Earth to JC, what are you thinking about now?”
“Oh, just working through another lyric set,” he replied.
“What is it this time, maybe I can help again.”
“Well, it’s about a guy that learns his baby isn’t his,” he started.
“Oh hell no Chasez. I’m all for role playing. It’s fun both in and out of the bedroom. But I draw the line at getting pregnant with someone else’s baby just so you can hammer out a song,” she answered quickly before leaning in and kissing him deeply.
