CHAPTER SEVEN
Jerrica hopped into her roadster, trying to take in the events that unfolded that night. Still shaken up from the surprise engagement and Harriet Horn's surprise appearance, as well as Kimber's broken foot, she barely managed to get the key into the ignition, let alone keep the loose engagement ring on her finger.
"Oh no!" she gasped as the ring fell onto the floor of roadster. "Well I'm not going to find it tonight," she sighed. The clock read 11:45.
As she drove away from the hospital, she found herself headed to Malibu instead of taking the highway towards Starlight Mansion. She was tired, but too fired up to sleep. She knew she'd be tossing and turning until morning. She couldn't go back to the mansion. Although it was late, she feared Rio might still be over there visiting with the rest of the Holograms. The last thing she wanted to talk about or even think about was the engagement, or lack thereof.
After a 10-minute drive along the coast, she pulled onto a long road off the boulevard. At the end of the road was a long driveway with a small two-bedroom cottage at the very end, nestled among a sea of larger beach houses overlooking the Pacific. This was "Jem's" house. Jerrica purchased it to pass off as Jem's own place.
For the last three years, the mystery of Jem's real identity was the talk of Hollywood. No one knew where she came from, where she lived, or what her real name was. She just managed to show up whenever she needed to be somewhere. At first, it was the biggest topic in the music world. Eric Raymond had even offered reward money to anyone who could uncover Jem's identity. However, as the world realized that pursuing Jem's real identity was a dead end, people grew to accept the fact that she was just Jem and the press stopped hounding her.
Even Rio had stopped asking about who she really was. Although it bothered him that he knew very little about her, it bothered him even more to see the press prying into her private life against her own wishes. Jerrica's secret finally seemed safe. That was until the Stingers hit town.
From the moment Riot met Jem, he had uncharacteristically opened his heart to her. Riot was a professional. He carried on with the mantra of "business as usual," and rarely gave the press anything to write about other than his performance on stage, or his business dealings as head of Stinger Sound. He let very few people into his inner circle as well. Even his bandmates, Minx and Rapture, knew very little about his life before they became a band. But with Jem, he was different. She was different. He felt a special connection to her from the very first time he laid eyes on her. While she wasn't as open about her private life with him as he was with her, he was okay with that. He respected that she wanted to keep her private life private and found it more of a challenge in proving he was worthy of her trust rather than just winning her heart.
As Jem began to know more about Riot, she felt guilty that she couldn't be as open to him about her. She often mentioned little things to him about her family, but nowhere in detail like she knew about his life. The easiest option would have been to distance herself and keep her relationship with him strictly business, but she found that impossible to do. There was no denying she found him attractive, but that was just a persona. She found herself even more attracted to Rory Llewelyn. Furthermore, she wanted him to find her true self as attractive as her own rock star persona.
Confused about how to handle her blossoming feelings towards Riot, Jerrica did the unthinkable. She secretly purchased a small cottage just outside of West Malibu from her close friend and film producer, Howard Sands. With Jem's celebrity on the rise, Jerrica explained to Howard that she needed a place secluded from the rest of the world where it would be difficult to track her down. Howard agreed and even promised to never to say a single word of this even to any of the Holograms.
As much as she hated dragging Howard into her web of deception and lies, there was truth to Jerrica's explanation. She did need a place of her own. A place away from prying eyes and ears, even of her own sister and closest friends. It wasn't just a place she could spend time with Riot privately. He had a place of his own too. But she wanted a place for herself, other than her office, to be in her own thoughts rather than having to listen to everyone else around her. Even when Riot wasn't with her, she enjoyed the time to herself, finding a day or two a week to be away from the mansion, or Starlight Music. When she wasn't at Starlight, they thought she was working from home. When she wasn't at home, they thought she was working at Starlight. No one ever noticed when she wasn't at either place and never questioned how often she was away from the mansion as she had always been a notorious workaholic. Even on nights she spent with Riot, she always made sure she was home early enough so no one would notice she was ever gone. She took the Starlight Foundation as seriously as she ran Starlight Music and was there for her foster girls like she had always been. But dividing her time between two "homes" was now taking its toll on her. It was bad enough she had to split time between her two identities. She hated keeping this charade from those closest to her. Although she never intended to tell Kimber so soon, she found it a relief to tell her sister earlier that day.
As her roadster pulled in front of the cottage, she made sure to change into Jem. After all, this was Jem's place. "Showtime, Synergy," she said as she touched her red Jem star earrings. With a flash of light, Jerrica became Jem.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Jem laid awake in her bed. She had been tossing and turning all night. When she finally managed to fall asleep, she was woken up by her thoughts once more. "Oh this is useless!" she sighed. "Might as well get up and head to the hospital before anyone else notices I wasn't there last night."
But Jem didn't want to get up. She didn't want to leave her house. She didn't want to face the world, especially Rio. How could Jerrica pretend to be the blushing bride-to-be when she didn't even say yes? She had prepared to tell Rio the truth about her feelings and identity, but instead, she found herself engaged, but not really.
Tossing side to side, she happened to glance upon the one and only picture she had in her room. It was of her, Riot and BaNee at BaNee's going away party. Her friend and official Holograms videographer, Video, had taken it of them. Riot had given it to her as a housewarming gift since he had noticed her lack of decorations when he first came to visit her new place. She pulled the photo towards her and began to think about that fateful night that changed her relationship with both Rio and Riot forever.
As Mr. O'Carolyn's car pulled away and disappeared around the corner, the guests began to filter out. Lost in disbelief that her little girl was gone and thinking the guests had all left, Jem wandered off into the garden to let the moment sink in. The tears began to fall as she realized she lost another member of her family. She knew that this was what BaNee wanted and that she was happy. That was all that really mattered. For selfish reasons, she wished her girls were all still there.
"Is this a private rampage, or can anyone join?" a familiar voice softly said from behind.
"Riot!" Jem greeted him.
"I didn't mean to startle you. I thought you could use a friend," he said reaching his hand out for her to take.
"I'm sorry, I thought you had left," Jem said, reciprocating his gesture. "I usually don't leave my guests like this. How rude of me," she said as he wiped the tears from her eyes.
"Nonsense," Riot reassured her. "You have every right to be alone. I just wanted to make sure you're alright."
"I'll be fine, I promise," Jem smiled. As Riot leaned in to kiss Jem's forehead good-bye, she gripped his hand tightly and nestled her head onto his chest as she closed her eyes. "Please, don't go," she whispered. Riot wrapped his arms around her and held her tight for what felt like an eternity. Jem didn't want that moment to end and neither did Riot. It felt like they were the only two people on earth and nothing else mattered. Jem had been there for Riot when he needed someone the most. He wanted to do the same for her.
Unbeknownst to them, they were joined by Rio. "Jem, I'm leaving now. Have you seen Jerrica?" he angrily said after witnessing the exchange between her and Riot, the man he detested more than Eric Raymond.
Startled by his voice, Jem pulled away from Riot's embrace and crash-landed back down to reality. "Rio!" Jem cried.
"I didn't mean to interrupt," he barked as he glared at Riot.
"I'll be right over here if you need me," Riot whispered into her ear as his fingers grazed through hers, returning Rio's glare as he stepped away.
"I have no clue where she is," Jem answered not sure of what else to say to Rio. For the first time, she felt like she didn't owe him an explanation.
"What's going on between you and Mr. Ego over there?" Rio bluntly asked, mocking the Stingers front man.
"I'm sorry, Rio, but that's really none of your business," Jem frankly told him.
"You know, Jem," he began, "I thought you'd be a little happier to see me after I've been away for a couple of months. So I was a little surprised that the first thing you do when I get back is send me off somewhere with Raya to help you and your friends find some guy who could be BaNee's father. Now I know why!" he yelled as he turned to walk away.
Just a few short months ago, Jem would have gone after him and pleaded with him to stay. But now, she just watched him go. She didn't have the urge to chase after him. Most importantly, she didn't have the desire to make amends with him. As she turned away, she fell straight into the arms of an awaiting Riot.
Jem sighed as she relived that moment in her head. While that was pretty much the end of Jem's relationship with Rio, things were never officially over between him and Jerrica. Although, Rio never found Jerrica that night, he called her a few days later. She pretended everything was fine. He told her he'd be back in time for her birthday. That gave Jerrica sometime to think about their relationship. Little did she realize that he would propose when he returned.
Ding Dong
"Oh who could that be this early in the morning?" she thought. The clock read 7:00. It couldn't have been Riot. He never dropped in on her unannounced. He always called. "Maybe they'll go away if I don't answer," she thought to herself.
Ding Dong
"Alright! Alright! I'll get up!" she murmured as she grabbed her robe and headed to the front door. "Who is it?" she asked.
No answer. She peeped outside to see if anyone was there, but saw a delivery truck pulling away instead. As she opened the door, a bouquet of two dozen pink roses were waiting for her at the doorstep. She opened the card.
Happy Birthday, my lovely. Looking forward to celebrating. –R.
Jem beamed from ear to ear as she felt a sudden warmth in her heart. If there was a reason to get up and face the world that day, she was just reminded of it, him.
CHAPTER NINE
It was just after 8 o'clock when Jerrica wandered into Kimber's hospital room only to be met by Aja, Shana, Raya, and Rio instead. She didn't expect to see them there for at least another 30 minutes since the girls headed off to school at 8.
"Where have you been?" Rio demanded to know. "We called your office but you weren't there."
"How long have you all been here? Where's Kimber? What's going on?" she frantically asked worried about her sister and hoping she never had to answer the question of where she had been all night.
"Kimber's getting another x-ray," Aja explained. "We all got here just as they were taking her out of the room. She should be back by 8:30. The doctor said it shouldn't take more than an hour."
"They've been here for 30 minutes," she thought. "How am I going to explain where I've been to them?"
"Where's your ring?" a concerned Rio asked. Jerrica had forgotten she dropped it somewhere in her car the night before.
"Um," she began, "it was too loose, so I took it off for safekeeping."
"Oh!" he replied. "Tell me where it is and I can get it properly sized later."
Before Jerrica could reply, she was met with congratulatory hugs from Raya and Shana. "Sorry to interrupt," Shana said, "but we didn't get a chance to congratulate you last night."
"Thank you," Jerrica managed to smile. Trying to change the subject, "Any news on whether Kimber will need surgery?" she asked.
"The doctor thinks it's a most likely," Aja answered. "They need more X-rays just to be sure, but she's definitely out for tonight's concert."
"Tonight's concert! I forgot all about!" Jerrica cried. "I should have realized this last night and told Riot." The Stingers and Holograms were two of the headlining acts in that evening's bash to kick off the Hollywood Bowl Summer Concert series. Both groups were scheduled to perform together. "I have to head to the office and cancel the performance. Please tell Kimber I'll check up on her when she's back in the room," she said running out the door.
"Jerrica!" Rio called out, but she didn't hear him, or pretended not to.
"Did she seem a little jittery to you?" Raya casually asked.
"A little?" Aja sarcastically asked. "She's nervous about something or she's had way too much coffee," she joked.
