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Chapter 21: The 20's and The Affair

Julie lay in bed still trying to catch her breath. Peter had his arms wrapped tightly around her waist. It had been some of the best sex she'd ever had. Although Peter had clumsily explored her body, he'd still managed to his all of the right places. There was something intoxicating about being with a man who didn't know her body by heart. It was completely the opposite of sex with Paulo, where everything was slow and deliberate, Peter had, for lack of a more rosey term, screwed her hard, and she had to admit, she really liked it.

"Hey," he whispered in her ear. "What's on your mind?"

"Well," she rolled over and looked at him. "I was thinking," she blushed. He nodded. "I can't it's embarrassing and personal, and…"

"Julie, we just had sex," he laughed. "Personal is part of the territory."

"Right," she mumbled. "Right," he pushed her hair behind her head and kissed her again. "How many women have you been with?" He laughed. She sighed.

"Really?" He said. She nodded. "Something like ten." Her eyes bulged. "What?"

"You mean you don't know?" She gasped.

"No," he laughed. "Just because you had the same boyfriend since high school," she laughed. "You should hear the numbers on some of my friends, I mean, high school in LA and then our college years, lots and lots of sex." She laughed. "So did everyone do the boyfriend girlfriend thing in Minnesota?"

"Well, yeah," she laughed. "Except my friends Connie and Charlie who did the husband wife thing." He laughed and kissed her. "So like, what's the deal here?"

"What do you mean?" He said. "I thought we were just having fun."

"Right, but I meant like with work and everything." She said. He nodded.

"Yeah," he said, "I guess we can just wing it." She nodded. "Maybe we can convince Jaime that I should work on Tell Me About The Girl."

"Mm, maybe," she smiled and curled into a ball hugging him. This felt nice.

Jimmy sat quietly as Ellie took a sip of the water he'd given her. She hadn't said much of anything, just sobbed and sobbed. This wasn't the first time they'd had a talk like this. Ellie tended to get freaked out when things with Brad weren't perfect, since they were always supposed to be.

"Elle," he said, "honey, come on, don't do this again. Of course you're still in love with him. You're just freaking out. Is this about seeing Dean at the wedding?" She shook her head.

"This is about it taking two years to set a date," she said taking a deep breath, "and, and, about how he never has time for me anymore, and how I've put my entire life aside for his, and, I mean, Jimmy I have a degree in economics from Yale, I could have my masters or my Phd by now, and be teaching or at the very least I could be working in finance."

"You didn't want that though," he said. She shrugged. "Ellie, sweetie, what is going on? What changed since a few weeks ago? Besides that you've seen Dean."

"It's not about Dean!" She sighed. He frowned. "It is a little bit, but not really, it's about me. I've had a boyfriend constantly since I was twelve. I've never been on my own. I went from Nick, to you, to Dean, to Brad, to Dean again, to you again, to Dean again, to Brad," she sighed. "I just think I need to find me."

"So," he said. "Does Brad know any of this?" She shook her head. "Does he even know you're here?" She shook her head again He sighed and stood up and took his phone and handed it to her. "Call him, I'm going to take Ponyboy out, so you can have some privacy." She nodded. "Ellie," he kissed her forehead gently. "If you decide to call it off, you can stay here for as long as you need, you know that right?" She nodded. "OK. I love you."

"I love you too." She whispered. "Thanks." He nodded and walked out. She sighed and dialed the phone. It went to voice mail.

"Hi you've reached Brad Vanderbilt," she sighed hearing his voice. "Please leave your name and number and I'll get back to you as soon as I can." It beeped.

"Hi, it's me," she said softly. "I'm at Jimmy's, um, we need to talk, if you can get down here, I'd like that." She sighed and curled into a ball and cried some more.

Tammy frowned staring at a blank canvas. Maybe Steve was right, after all she did always feel better when she painted. She frowned. She didn't know what to paint. She sighed and picked up her sketch pad and walked out front.

"Giselle?" She said to young receptionist. She looked up and smiled. "I'm going to go sketch in the park for a while. I'll be back, take messages."

"Sure," Giselle smiled. "Are you doing OK?"

"Of course," Tammy laughed, "why wouldn't I be?"

"Well, I mean, Julie moved out, like for real this time," Giselle shrugged. "And you're painting which you only do when you're upset, plus you've just been home," Tammy smiled. "Shall I continue?"

"No," she sighed, "I'm fine, really. I just need some fresh air. I'll be back." Giselle nodded and Tammy walked outside. She got onto a subway and headed to Central Park. She wandered around for a while and ended up sitting on a bench carefully sketching the Romeo and Juliet statue. She found her mind wandering. What if they hadn't died? What if they'd written letters from Verona to Mantua and found out their love had cooled, when distance and time became a factor? Would it have been wrong or terrible of Juliet to fall in love with someone else? Her cell phone rang, she didn't recognize the number.

"Hello?" She answered cautiously.

"Hey," she froze, she recognized the voice. "It's um, it's me, it's Fulton."

"Hey," she said softly. "Yeah, hi, I um," she swallowed and then laughed awkwardly. "Hi."

"Hi," he said. "It's been a while huh? Like two years?"

"Something like that," she said. "At the wedding Portman said you're starting interviews and stuff with the FBI."

"Yeah," he said. "It's pretty cool." They sat in silence. "How's um, how's Steve?"

"He's good," she said. "We're good. Tanya?"

"Um, that's sort of why I called." He said. "She's good. We're good, we're um, we're getting married."

"Oh no shit?" She said casually. She'd practiced this response since Portman dropped his little hint. "That's great."

"Yeah," he said. "It is."

"I'm super excited for you guys," she said. "Tell Tanya I said so too, OK?"

"Sure," he said softly. "Hey how's your brother?"

"Um, he's been better," Tammy said, "he's going through some shit with this girl he's been seeing for a while. I don't know." She sighed. "Anyway, um, I'm really busy."

"Oh sure, yeah," he said, "I uh, I just wanted to tell you that."

"Sure," she said. "And Fult it was really good to talk to you, I mean it, congratulations."

"We'll talk soon, OK?" He said.

"Sure," she said, faking perkiness in her voice. "Sure, bye Fult."

"Bye Tammy," he said as she hung up. She closed her phone and took a deep breath, it landed in her chest. She tried again. There was no controlling it, it was gone she couldn't breath. She opened her phone again.

I'm having a panic attack. Are you anywhere near the upper west side?

Two minutes later she got a text.

Where exactly are you? I'll be right there.

Romeo and Juliet statue, please hurry.

A few minutes and a few short shallow breaths later she felt Steve pull her up. She smiled as he shushed her and held her close.

"I'm right here baby," he said, "I love you, I'm right here. Calm down." She felt instantly calm and relaxed. "Sweetheart," he said and kissed her hair. "What's wrong honey?"

"Fulton," she whimpered. "He's getting married, and, I mean, I knew, I knew someday but," she shuddered. Steve nodded and held her close, his blood going cold. Tammy had come back to New York but had announced she needed space. He was crashing with a friend from Columbia. It was hard enough, but this was nearly impossible. He loved this woman like crazy and now she was crying on a park bench to him because he high school boyfriend was getting married.

"Sure," he whispered, "yeah, that's hard." They sat down.

"I'm sorry," she said, "I'm sorry, I know I said I needed space, but I couldn't think of who else to call, I was sure I was going to die." He laughed.

"What were you doing out here anyway?" He said. "Staring at the lamos in line for Shakespeare in the park?"

"No," she said, "I was sketching."

"Winter line?" He asked. She shook her head.

"Just the statue," she said. "See," she flipped it open. He looked at it.

"I never bought it, you know," he said. She looked at him. "The Romeo and Juliet thing, I never bought in to it. They kind of bugged me, if they'd listened for about a second they would have saved a lot of trouble."

"Steve?" She said, resting her head on his shoulder.

"Mm," he mumbled.

"You kind of suck at being romantic," she sighed. He laughed. "I love you."

"I love you too," he whispered. "Do you still need space?"

"No," she said. "I need Prozac." He laughed. "I don't know what I need, except you." He smiled and kissed her. "Come home whenever you feel like it."

Allie stood quietly cradling Eddie. She'd been feeling much better and she'd listened when her shrink said that she should give the nanny a day off now and then and get used to being with her son. He cooed and leaned his head on his shoulder. She smiled and played with his hair, just growing in, perfect blond whisps.

"Hey you," Rick walked in.

"Hey," She said. "What are you doing here?"

"I just got out of work, drove past, thought I'd be a good godfather," he said.

"You're looking in on me," she said. He smirked.

"Something like that," he said. "Look, Cass and I went through this with TJ, and even a little bit now with Bella. We get it, we're happy to help in any way we can."

"Mm," Allie said as he took the baby, "well, I appreciate it. But this is something I do have to do on my own." He nodded and Eddie giggled as Rick bounced on him. "You're good with him."

"I've been doing this for almost eight years now," he said. "I've picked up a few things." She smiled. "You're doing just fine Allie, really." She nodded. "Alright, I'll leave you too it, I've got three of my own to get home too, or else Cass will have my head."

"Which one?" She teased.

"Both, I would imagine," he smirked. "See you soon." He kissed Eddie gently and handed him back. Allie smiled.

"Bye," she waved and he left.

Kelly sighed clicking Scooter's laptop open, although she was on her honeymoon, life and RDC especially went on. She frowned seeing a file on the desktop she didn't recognize. She always stole his computer when she was staying at his, their place. She clicked it open and gasped.

Kathleen frowned and twirled her hair around her finger. Denis carefully refilled her drink.

"I didn't realize it had gotten that bad," he said.

"Oh well," she said, "I suppose it hasn't. I'm more bored than anything. Honestly, if I'd known marriage would be this, what's the word," she sighed and took a sip, "tedious I don't think I'd have ever married him. You'll forgive me darling if I'm a bit rusty." She walked over and slid into his lap and placed her drink down.

"Katie," he whispered, wondering when the earnest little girl he'd loved that summer before the war became this jaded woman. When had Katie really become Kathleen?

She stared at the words and read them. They were brilliant.

"Hey," Scooter walked out of the bathroom, "so we're actually leaving the room for dinner right?"

"Scott," she said. He looked at her. "You wrote a new book." He looked at her. "I'm sorry, I snooped."

"I know, I'm supposed to be writing the screen play," he sighed, "but I don't think I can. I shot Julie and email, she said it was fine, she's going to get me on as an EP? Do you know what that means?"

"Executive Producer," she laughed. He nodded. "No, I'm glad, Scott, it's amazing, what I read at least. The 20's, and the affair, and all of it. It's heart breaking, and probably the best thing you've ever written." She kissed him. "You're brilliant. Let me get dressed and then we'll eat."

"Hm," he said. She looked curiously at him. "It's just that Claire and I were having trouble coming coming up with a title. The 20's and The Affair, very straightforward, very mysterious, a lot like you actually, baby." She giggled and kissed him. "Go get dressed, before I have to jump you again." She giggled.

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