He got out of his Lamborghini Murcielago, and gave his car keys to the valet. He stepped into the party and was immediately surrounded by people. But he made his way through the crowd and found himself a place to sit and a drink. He was at his cousins wedding reception, and even though he wasn't his cousin, everybody still wanted to see him. Mostly because he was rich and famous, and not because he was family. He tried not to let it bother him, but deep down inside it hurt. That these people that he's known forever now suddenly care about him just because he makes millions, heck even billions.
He took sips of his wine and watched the party. He was happy for his cousin, he found somebody to settle down with, share a life with, grow old and die with, something that would never happen to him. He took another sip of wine and saw his mom walking towards him.
"Looks like you're the life of the party." She said taking a seat.
"I don't wanna brag...but it did liven up when I got here."
The both of them stared at the dance floor where his cousin shared his first dance with his wife. They looked so in love, a look that James has only seen on a handful of people, that included his parents.
"Look at them." His mother sighed, "So young and in love. It's beautiful."
"Yeah, I guess."
"Hey be happy for Roy."
"I am, I am..." He set his empty glass down, and watched how Roy leaned in to kiss his wife, Kate. He could see the passion the two had for each other and it made James jealous. Deep down inside him a flame of jealousy was begging to emerge. He didn't like that Roy was happier than him, because from the day they decided to become best friends even though they were cousins, James had always been happier, bigger, stronger, better looking, and the list goes on. So how in the world did Roy end up with a girl, and James did not? Its because James became a famous actor/entrepeneur and found what he wanted in life, to be rich and famous. And what did Roy want? Love. He didn't want all the money, fancy cars, and nice clothes. He found the love of his life and now James wanted that too. But that was something he couldn't buy, or have at the snap of his fingers. Love was something he had to go out and look for. But the problem was...James doesn't trust women, or at least women who know how famous he is. They'll take advantage of him, and never love him, James doesn't want that.
His mother took her eyes off of Roy and Kate and looked at James.
"What?" James questioned.
"When am I gonna have some grandkids?"
"When I stop making money, you can have some grandkids."
"C'mon James, your Aunt Dana has five grandkids and now since Roy is married she's going to have more."
"Mom, if you wanted grandkids you should've had more kids. You sure as hell aren't gonna get any from me."
She lightly hit James on the back of the head and got up.
"Mom..."
She left James without saying another word. Great, James thought, he made his mother upset. Thats the last thing he ever wanted to do.
The party went on and Roy caught James in the bar area.
"Hey, you made it. I was wondering why the party got more hype." Roy said.
James gave a small smile, "Yeah, you were about to put everyone to sleep."
Roy punched James lightly on the arm.
"So, how- how's everything with you?" James asked.
"Good. Great actually, as you can see I'm married now." Roy showed of his wedding ring, a piece of jewelry he'll never take off.
"Good for you man," James patted Roy on the back, "You found yourself a keeper. Don't ever let her go."
"I don't plan to."
Roy and James looked at Kate from the bar. Kate blew a kiss to Roy and Roy happily put it on his lips.
James looked away, love was a weird thing to him.
James woke up on his thousand dollar plush couch from china. He held his head he was bit hungover but not much, he's learned how to control his drinking over the past couple of years. He got up and stretched, "Computer. Plan for today."
'Goodmorning James. You have a meeting at the office at 11am, followed by massage therapy at 2pm, and a date at Little Italy at 7pm.'
He yawned and went to the bathroom. He adjusted the water temperature on the touch screen pad and stripped off his clothes. Then he realized what the computer had just said.
"A date?! With whom?"
'Information not available.' said the computer. What the heck? James shrugged it off and got in the shower, he'll deal with the problem when the time comes. For now he just wanted to be relaxed, and let the water run down his body.
Eleven o'clock rolled around and James found himself at his office. He ran the meetings, since he was the owner and CEO. He walked in the meeting room dressed up in an elegant black suit with a black tie, he had his hair combed back, and looked really sophisticated.
"Gentlemen." He said and made his way to the big chair, HIS chair.
"We have a lot of important things to get to, but first hand in your report files."
Every body there handed James their report file that they were told to work on. He needed the information to make sure his business was running smoothly.
"Thank you. Now first order of business, Gavin."
A short guy with olive skin and silky black hair looked at James.
"Yes sir?"
"I like what you did with your hair."
"Thank you sir."
"Second order of business, I will not be here the whole next month. I will be filming a movie. So Parker, you're in charge while I'm gone."
"Noted."
"So today this meeting is about how I can make the office a better place. Any suggestions?"
No one raised their hand or said anything.
"Nothing? Really? More time for lunch? Or maybe some more breaks?"
Silence filled the room and James scanned every single face. Some had a bit of fear on them, others seemed a bit bored.
"No suggestions? Well you guys leave me no choice, I'll give each and every one of you guys a raise of five hundred dollars per week." James got out a notepad and a pen. But a co-worker stopped him.
"No sir. Everything is fine. You don't need to give us a raise."
"So...no one wants a raise?" James asked, everyone shook their heads.
"So basically, I'm not doing anything wrong, and all of you like how things are going?"
"Yes sir."
"Well...okay then. But you all still get a raise. Meeting dismissed."
James walked to a small cafe area around the block. He needed to eat something before massage therapy and the cafe had the best turkey sandwiches he had ever tried. Once he set foot in the cafe he was instantly recognized.
"Shit." James muttered quietly. He signed autographs and took pictures until the manager of the cafe kindly told everyone to sit down and leave him alone.
"Thanks." He said to the manager.
James ordered his food and found a nice spot to eat outside. How funny, he was actually doing a great job at being a boss. He never thought he'd make it this far, but dreams do come true. He watched as people walked down the sidewalk, men, women, kids, old people...he wondered what it would be like to be in their shoes for a day. Seeing the life of another in their perspective. That'd be interesting.
"Sorry." Someone said, they had accidently bumped James while sweeping the floor.
"It's fine." James looked at the person who bumped him. It was a girl, he would guess around his age. She had a nice smile, James took note of that.
"Do you ever wonder what it would be like if you switched places with someone for a day?" James asked trying to make small talk.
She stopped, "No, I've never really thought about it."
"I mean like you'd get to see their whole life. In their shoes, see how they deal with things... Its crazy."
The girl stopped sweeping for a moment, "Yeah, I guess it'd be crazy."
James stared at her for a moment, "I'm sorry I didn't get your name?"
For a worker she wasn't wearing a name tag.
She stuck out her hand, "I'm Jasmine, and you are...?"
James hesitated for a moment, this human being right in front of him didn't know who he was. She didn't seem surprised or excited, she just seemed normal. This could be James' chance to know someone without the fact that hes famous. He just hopes she won't find out, so he'll give her a fake name.
He shook her hand, "Diamond, James Diamond."
"Nice to meet you James Diamond."
"Nice to meet you too." James smiled.
When two o'clock rolled around James was satisfied with his encounter with Jasmine. They had a perfectly normal conversation and she never found out that he was famous. Good. He went to the front desk at the Massuse place. The receptionist looked up, "Ah, Mr. Maslow, Dr. Chance is ready for you."
"Thank you."
James made his way to the room, he took off all of his clothes except his boxers and wrapped a towel around his waist.
"Hello Doc."
"James, how are you today?"
"Good, good, I feel good."
Dr. Chance had James lay down on the table, "How much stress have you had this week? On a scale of 1 to 10?"
James thought, "About a seven."
"Thats a lot, well lets see what I can do."
James closed his eyes and let the doctor do his magic.
At the end of it all, Dr. Chance had some news, "Well you certaintly don't have as many knots as you usually do. I thought you said you had a lot of stress this week?"
"I do.."
Dr. Chance took a seat across from the table where James was.
"What happened today?"
This is where the therapy part came in.
"I don't know... I woke up went to a meeting, then I went to a cafe, I had a nice conversation with a worker and now I'm here."
James sat up. "Conversation with a worker? Tell me more about that."
"Well it was a nice conversation because she didn't know who I was. It was normal, you know? I seemed normal."
Dr. Chance nodded his head he understood.
Seven o'clock came faster then James thought and he found himself getting ready for a date he didn't even know he had. He didn't even know who he was going to have dinner with, but he was going because he wanted some italian food.
He fixed his tie, and combed his hair back.
"I look good." he said to himself. He grabbed his keys and left his apartment.
Little Italy was packed with people. As far as James could see all the tables were packed. He went up to the front desk.
"Name?"
"Maslow."
"Ah, Right this way table for two, correct?"
"Uh, apparently so."
The waiter led him through the restuarant and took him to the back of the place. He didn't even know they had more room in the back. The waiter led him to an empty room, with a table, two chairs, some candles, and roses.
"Here you go."
"Thank you."
James took a seat, this was weird. A place in the back all to himself and his 'date', whoever the mystery lady was. He drummed his fingers on the table. He took out his phone and played games. Until finally his 'date' came.
"Sorry, it took me so long, L. A. traffic, you know how it is." She took a seat, and in the dim light of the candles James saw her face. She had black hair, big red lips, long eyelashes, and the palest skin he'd ever seen. She wore a tight red dress and black heels.
James stuck out his hand, "James Maslow."
"Oh, I know who you are, I'm Heather Monroe."
"Hi...um, listen," James said looking around the room, "Do you know who set this up?"
"Wait, you don't know?" Heather said. Janes shook his head.
"It was your mother silly."
James gave a fake smile, "Ohhh. Good ol mom."
Dammit! James thought. How could his mother do this to him? But then he remembered their conversation last night at the party. She had wanted grandchildren but James knew she wasn't gettig any. And this is how she makes sure that she will get grandchildren. She must've snuck in James apartment when he was sleeping and put it in his plans, but it was also partly his fault for giving her a copy of the key. So James tried to keep this date as normal as possible but with no expectations. Because he sure as hell didn't want to see Heather again.
The date was normal until while they were talking, Heather put a hand on James' knee. James felt uncomfortable and kindly took it off. But it didn't take long until she did it again. At this point her intentions were clear, she was trying to seduce James, but that wasn't gonna happen. Not today. She gave him a flirtatious look and James would not meet her gaze.
"Listen, you're really nice and all but this," James took her hand off of his knee again, " this isn't going to happen."
Heather got out of her seat and sat on James' lap.
"But James...just think about it.." She ran a finger down his chest. James gulped, he hated this, it didn't feel right.
"No. This is wrong." James said.
"But its so right." She ran her hands down to James' abs. James couldn't take it, he grabbed her hands and stood up. Heather fell on the floor. James couldn't help stifle a laugh, sometimes when people fall its funny.
"I'm so sorry!" James said helping Heather back to her feet.
"Ugh!" She grabbed her purse.
"I told you it was wrong."
"This was the worst date ever!" Heather faced James and slapped him across the face, hard. It hurt James, but he didn't want to show her he was weak, so he waited until Heather left to hold his cheek. It stung, so James tried to put an ice cube from his water on his cheek.
The waiter came back in.
"Is everything okay, sir?"
"Yeah, yeah, everythings fine. Can I get the check?"
"Sure. Wheres the lady?"
"Gone. Oh and can I get some tiramisu to go?"
When James got home he collapsed on his couch, his date was one of the most interesting ones hes ever had. But he still felt bad for laughing at her when she fell. He had a tendancy to laugh when people fell or got hurt. He took off his suit and changed into his pjs. Shirtless, with some plaid pajama pants. He laid down on his bed and slowly went to sleep.
The next morning when he woke up, he smelled food cooking. Weird. He doesn't remember anyone being at his apartment. He cautiously got up and slowly walked towards the kitchen. He smelled syrup, and butter. And with one look in the kitchen he saw his mom making breakfast.
"Mom?"
"Hey sweetie. Sleep well?"
"Yeah, I guess."
"Good, cause we have a lot to talk about." Brooke said placing pancakes on a plate for James. Shit, James thought, he knew exactly what she wanted to talk about. So James sat on a bar stool and ate his pancakes like any good kid would. Brooke sat across from him, making eye contact.
"So you wanna tell me what happened last night?"
James wiped his mouth with a napkin, "You mean why you set me up on a blind date without me knowing?"
"You still went."
"For the italian food!"
Brooke sighed, "James I don't get you. I set you up on a date with a pretty girl and you end up dropping her on the floor and laughing at her?"
"Okay first of all, she was too pale for my liking. I want a girl with some color. Second of all she was trying to freaking seduce me with her skinny hands. And third of all I tried to stop her from touching me sexually so I grabbed her wrists and stood up. So she fell. And i laughed because she fell." james sat back and looked at his mom. Brooke's face was expressionless.
"Wow." She finally said.
"You really need to let someone in your love life."
"No, mom. Don't try and help me with that. As much as I would like to love someone, I can't."
"Why not?"
"Because they won't love me back."
"Thats ridiculous, why would you think that?"
James sighed, "Because I'm me. I'm rich and famous and all the girls just want money from me. They don't actually love me."
Brooke set her coffee mug down, "Thats crazy, you're a very handsome young man, I'm sure there are girls that actually do love you."
"If thats the case then I haven't met one."
James found himself at that cafe he ate at the other day. Except he didn't have to work today, it was a chill day. So he dressed in a t-shirt and some shorts. He liked the view he got from the seat outside the cafe. It was nice. He had bought himself a latté too, caramel flavored. He sighed and just watched people walk by.
"Well if isn't Mr. Diamond himself." He heard a voice say.
James turned around and saw Jasmine, he smiled remembering their last conversation.
"Hey, its you."
"Yup." She took a seat. "So what brings you here today?"
James shrugged, "it seemed like a nice day to sit here and do nothing."
"Sounds like fun."
James nodded.
"Aren't you working?" James asked.
"Nah, I was picking up some sandwiches for my brother when I saw you here. And I was like hey its the guy from the other day, I think I'll say hi."
And again they had another normal conversation. They talked about sports, cars, flowers, and bras even came up in the conversation. But neither one of them felt weird talking about it to each other. It was as if they had known each other for years. But really it was just a couple of days.
"See you around." Jasmine said, as she got up.
"Bye." James said, yes, he had another normal conversation with a normal person. It felt great!
But now James didn't know what to do. He had nothing to do, he was literally making millions just sitting there. In the end he went back to his apartment and like any guy would he laid down on the couch and watched tv. But James got real bored of that real soon.
He groaned, "Computer. Do I have anything planned for today?"
'Schedule empty'
"Fuck." James uttered, he hated not doing anything. It was boring.
Then all of a sudden the door burst open and James' mom came in and following behind her were a bunch of women. Model-like. James sat up, and watched.
"Ladies, line up in front of the tv."
The ladies did as told. What the hell?
"Mom-"
"Shush up, Jamie" Brooke said.
"Ladies you each will have five minutes to impress my son. And after all of you had a chance to impress him, he will choose the one he likes best to go on a date with."
James stood up and pulled his mom to the side.
"Mom are you freakin serious!?"
"I'm just trying to help honey."
"I told you not to help! I can do this on my own so stop pressuring me into dating someone I don't even like!"
"James calm down."
"Don't tell me to calm down! All of this is your plan, so then you can have grandchildren! Thats selfish!" James stormed out of his apartment fully outraged. And sped off in his lamborghini.
He ended up at Dr. Chances office.
"James, what do you need? Massage? Therapy?"
"Both but i'm really mad right now."
"You can hit the punching bag outside if you'd like."
After he let most of his anger out he laid down on a chair and let Dr. Chance do his work.
"So whats been bothering you?"
"My mom wants grandchildren. I told her she wasn't getting any. So now she's trying to get me to date random women! Itood her to stay out of my love life, but she just won't listen!"
Now James had a plan. Next time his mom tried to hook him up with someone he'll play along. He doesn't want to but if it'll shut his mom up, he'll do it.
He hates this though.
Hey so I tend to begin stories but never really finish them cause I get stuck. So...yeah. So review, if you like the story, and also review which one of my stories you like best. :) thanks!
