One Week—14
_________________
"Static Film Productions, this is Jacqueline. Uh huh, I sent out the package FedEx this morning. No, you'll get it Wednesday. Mr. Richards, you told me you wanted it via two-day air. No, I'm not going to the post office to get it back! It's probably on a plane to San Francisco by now. Okay, I'll transfer you. Christina!"
"What's up hon?"
"Mr. Richards is bitching about his files again. He's on line one," Jackie said, exasperated.
"Again? Jesus Christ, you can't get a fucking package any faster to California! Where's Mark when you need him?" she shouted before running off to her office to pick up the call.
Jackie sighed and slumped down on her desk, shutting her eyes briefly. She hated Monday mornings, especially Monday mornings that followed great weekends. It was only 8:30, and her day had turned to hell faster in the thirty minutes she had been there then it had ever done before. Checking her email, she noticed she had new emails from Natalie, who probably was at her job already. They made a ritual of sending frequent emails back and forth during the morning whenever they were on break.
From: natmurphyDate/Time: 2/25/1997 8:15 AM EDT
Subject: hot and heavy with your coworker?
Jac-
What's the deal? Spill. Did you get tangled up in the bed sheets yet?
Resident perv on the block,
Natalie
Jackie shook her head and hit the Reply button.
From: JackieF@sfpSubject: Re: hot and heavy with your coworker?
Went out Friday night, drank way too much. Where do you think we ended up?
Jackie minimized her email window when Christina walked back in a rampage.
"God I could kill that man! He wants the money in euros now! Jackass!" Christina ran out of the room again and Jackie clicked on her inbox again. "Yuan! Help, I can't translate the currency! YUAN!"
From: natmurphySubject: Re: hot and heavy with coworker?
How was it? Are you guys an item now?
Jackie hit the reply button again and typed her response.
From: JackieF@sfpSubject: Re: hot and heavy with you coworker?
It was great, at least as much as I can remember. Christina's on a rampage. Gotta go.
Jackie signed out of her email and fielded a few more phone calls before she heard a knock on the doorframe. She looked up and noticed Mark posed by the door, holding a bag of bagels and a coffee in his hand. He walked over and kissed her before setting the food down on her desk.
"Mmm, now this is one ritual I get used to," she laughed, sipping her coffee. "I really needed this," she added, rubbing her temples.
"What time are you off today?" Mark asked, glancing out of the window. A light snow was falling, dusting the sidewalks.
"Around two. Why?" she asked curiously, digging through her desk drawer.
"Good, that's the same time I get off. Meet me downstairs at two. I have an idea," Mark said before leaving her office.
Jackie shrugged and took a bite of her bagel when her phone rang. She picked it up one handedly while sipping her coffee. "SFP, Jackie Ferrell speaking." She didn't get a response, just heavy breathing. "Uh, hello?" She hung up, frustrated.
She went back to searching for a copy of Mr. Richards file when the phone rang again.
"Goddammit Yuan! You're the one who's supposed to know how to translate dollars to euros. YUAN!" Christina hollered, running past Jackie's office again. Her phone rang again, and this time she stared at it for a few seconds before actually picking it up.
"Hello?" she practically screamed into it.
"You're gonna pay, bitch." Jackie froze and stared at the receiver of the phone.
"Excuse me?"
"You heard me. You and your little friends are gonna pay. Big time. I'm watching you. You're gonna get yours for what you did to me."
"Josh, I swear to fucking god if this—"
"Stay away, Jackie. Stay away from them because I really don't want to hurt them, but I will if I have to."
She heard a click, and then the operator asking her if everything was all right.
"Um, could you see if you could track that last call?" Jackie asked. Her whole body was shaking in her chair, her coffee dripping onto her desk.
"I'm sorry, that call can't be track to a residence. Would you like me to notify anyone?"
"No, um, no. Thanks." Jackie hung up.
Everybody gets weird phone calls once in awhile, right?
_____________________________________
"Are you sure you're okay with Wes and the guys coming over tonight?" Roger asked, rubbing Mimi's back.
"Roger, I told you three fucking times I don't care if they come over or not. This is me not caring," she said, pointing at herself. "Just take the smoking outside. I can't stand the smell of it. It makes me nauseous." She stood up and walked away from him and into the kitchen, taking out the bread and peanut butter and making herself a sandwich. Roger came over and sat adjacent to her on the barstool.
"Baby, I said I was sorry about coming home really late that night. I know I've been really busy lately," he apologized. Mimi said nothing and put the knife in the sink and poured herself a glass of juice and sat down across from him. "Are you gonna ignore me forever?"
"I don't know. Maybe. I haven't decided," she answered, taking a bite of her sandwich. Roger started making faces at her from across the counter, knowing that he was making her laugh even though she tried to hide it.
"Stop it," she laughed. "I'm trying to enjoy one of the first meals I've actually been able to keep down lately." Roger ignored her until Mimi stood up and took her plate into the living room and plopped down on the couch. Roger followed and sat next to her, tickling her feet.
Mimi glared at him and laughed at the innocent look on his face. "Roger Davis, you are officially annoying."
"Forgive me then? Or I'll just have to keep ticking you the entire night," he laughed, kissing her neck and rolling on top of her.
"Off. I'm trying to eat. Hey baby, do you know your father's a moron?" Mimi joked, rubbing the top of her stomach.
"Ouch," Roger said, clutching his chest over his heart.
"Yeah, I guess I forgive you," she laughed, kissing him sweetly before pulling away to finish her food. "What time are they coming over tonight?"
"Around 7. Wes is bringing his girlfriend Lori and their baby, so you can meet her," Roger suggested. Mimi nodded and stood back up to bring her plate to the kitchen.
"I guess this means no work tonight, huh?" she said, walking back over to him and straddling him.
"Nope, no work tonight."
"How about right now?" she whispered in his ear.
"Uh uh. Nothing I can think of."
"I've got a few ideas," she teased, kissing him again.
______________________
At ten after two, Jackie was standing near the entrance to the SFP building, scanning the reception area for Mark. She kept nervously glancing at everyone that walked it, trying to pinpoint the caller. She had a feeling it was Josh, but until he slipped up or even worse, did something, she wouldn't be sure. She actually contemplated going to the police, until about five minutes later, when Mark came running around the corner.
"Sorry. I got caught up in Christina's office," he said.
"No problem. So, uh, what's this brilliant idea you have?" she asked as Mark hailed a cab for the both of them.
"I've been wanting to pull a prank on Roger for a long time now, but couldn't think of anything to do. So this morning, when I woke up, I figured that I could hold something of his hostage, and make him go crazy looking for it. Not only would it be hilarious, but it would show him that he can't get away with being a smart ass all the time," Mark said as he took a seat in the cab.
"Where to?"
"11th and Avenue B." Mark answered. "One guess at what I could hold hostage?"
"Well, I don't know Roger that well, but I'd say the Fender. Definitely guitar. It's his baby, at least the way he talks about it half the time," Jackie said. She wasn't completely sure where Mark was going with this or if he could pull it off.
"Exactly. So I was thinking that nothing would drive him crazy more than to wake up one morning and go looking for his guitar and not being able to find it."
"That's true, but don't you think he'd automatically think it was you? I mean, it's not a small thing to hide, which makes it hard to lose. It's not an earring or anything," she laughed.
"See, Roger's been all over the place lately. If he's not at Wes' uncle's bar, he's at band practice with the guys, and the guitar is with him for a good chunk of that time. I haven't gotten to the best part yet," Mark said. Jackie shook her head at the gleeful expression on his face.
"Okay. What's the best part?" she asked.
"Roger's having his friends over tonight, and some kind of party is probably gonna go down. Roger's obviously is going to be distracted, so I was thinking about having Collins and Dan smuggle it out, with a little help from Mimi. Then afterwards, I'll gather everybody around and have them add to some kind of psychotic ransom note—just write down what we all want if we all decide to give his guitar back. It'll get him going for a few days, until one of us gives in," Mark laughed.
"Then he'll kill you. The end," Jackie teased.
"Ha ha. You're funny," he said. Mark paid the cab driver and took Jackie's hand, entering the living room of the loft. "Good, by the sound of it, they're occupied."
"Wanna give 'em competition, Cohen?" she joked. Mark turned red and handed her a pile of newspapers. "Hold these for a sec. We'll go downstairs to Collins and get started."
"Collins knows already?"
"Yep, and so does Mimi. I asked her to pass along the message to just about everyone that Roger knows, including members of his band," Mark smirked.
"That's cruel."
"Oh but it's so much fun. C'mon, let's go before he catches on," he added, pushing her out the door. They walked to Collins' apartment and Mark banged on the door. Dan opened it, his hands full of fabric samples.
"Hi guys. Collins is in the kitchen, concocting something new and "exciting"," he laughed. "Sorry, let me clear off the couch for you two." Dan placed the samples onto the coffee table and took the rest off the couch.
"Busy today?" Mark asked, taking off his coat and waiting for Jackie to hand him hers.
"Yeah. I'm running a little behind on Mrs. Lynch's bathroom. She keeps changing the wallpaper, which means I have to keep changing the curtains. Last week it was banana yellow. Now it's pastel blue," he said. Mark shook his head and smiled a little.
"Dan, you remember Jackie, right?" Mark said.
"Of course. Good to see you, sweetheart," he said, shaking her hand.
"You too," she smiled. Collins came out of the kitchen seconds later, wiping his hands on his jeans.
"Hey guys. Okay, so what's the deal?" Collins asked, taking the stack of newspapers from Jackie. Mark explained his plan in all of five minutes.
"This better not turn out to be corny, Cohen," Collins teased.
"Hey, you're the one who's always helped Roger with his pranks on me." Mark laughed. Collins shrugged and handed him a pair of scissors.
"That was just pure payback for having a camera shoved in your face twenty four seven," he added. "Where is the good old camera these days?"
"Hibernating. Temporarily. Until I get another source of inspiration," Mark said, starting to cut out random letters from the newspapers.
"Wow. Those are words I thought would never have come out of your mouth," Collins joked, handing a pair of scissors to Jackie and Dan before grabbing one for himself.
"Did you hear about Maureen and California?"
"Christ, if I know Maureen, California better get ready," Dan teased.
"Yeah, I heard," Collins added. "I'm not surprised." Mark looked up and gaped at him.
"What? How can you not be surprised?"
"You can't keep Maureen in one place for too long. It's inevitable. Chad's a decent guy."
"Anyone has to be at least decent to put up with her," Mark grumbled.
"That bad, huh?" Jackie voiced, searching for more letters to cut out.
"Dramatic, more like it," Dan laughed.
"Well, I think we should do something for her. I mean, I barely know her, but maybe throw her a going away party?" Jackie suggested.
"Yeah, we could pull that off," Collins said, smiling at her.
"I don't know," Mark said.
"Oh c'mon, you can't stay mad at Mo forever."
"True. Hey, pass me that paper. Jackie?" Mark said. Jackie was staring off into space, mid cut.
"Huh? Oh, sorry. Here," she said, handing the paper back to him. Mark looked at her curiously for a second before returning back to the paper.
"So how is ballet going? Any great costumes this year?" Dan asked.
"It's going. Casting for Romeo and Juliet went up yesterday," she answered.
"It did?" Mark asked. "What did you get? You didn't tell me?"
"…Juliet?" she said quietly.
"Oh my god, congratulations!" Dan said, running over to her and giving her a hug.
"Thanks," Jackie laughed. Mark leaned over to kiss her, with applause from Dan and Collins.
"That's cute," Collins teased.
"What's wrong honey? You sound kind of bummed out about it?"
"It's nothing. I just hope I'm what they're looking for this year, because if not, I just might end back up in Australia," she joked. She knew that more rehearsal time meant more time away from her job, and she didn't know how to break it to him about the possibility of her having to quit. "I'm gonna go and get a drink. You don't mind?"
"Not at all," Collins said. Mark got up and followed her.
"Are you sure you're okay?" Mark asked. "You've been a little distant lately. I mean, you're okay with everything that happened, right? With us?"
Jackie poured herself a glass of water and nodded. "Oh my god, don't even think that I'm not," she said seriously. "I'm really, really happy with everything that happened between us."
"Okay, great," he said, smiling. When he noticed she wasn't smiling back, he walked a little closer. "Something's wrong. You know you can tell me, right?"
"Yeah, I know that. I just don't want you to worry or anything about me," she said.
"Jackie, tell me."
"I'm fine. I have to go anyway. I'm supposed to meet my friend Natalie in an hour anyway," she said, walking away and heading towards the living room to retrieve her purse. "Bye guys," she added, referring to Collins and Dan.
"See you later!"
Mark walked her out the door and down the stairs to the street.
"You're coming to Roger's later, right?" he asked.
"Yeah, at seven?" she asked. Mark nodded and Jackie leaned in for a quick kiss before heading down the sidewalk. When she turned the corner, she pulled out her cell phone and dialed Natalie's number. Her voice came over the line almost instantly.
"Hello?"
"Hey Nat, it's Jac." She ran down the subway stairs and onto the platform to wait for the next train. Her eyes started to wander over every single person that bumped into her or looked at her, wondering if the person she was afraid of was standing right next to her.
"Hey, where are you? It's kind of loud."
"On the subway. I don't think I can hang out today," she said, piling on with half the population of New York onto the train.
"Everything okay?"
"Yeah, I'm just a little tired. I kind of want to go home and sleep," Jackie said.
"No problem babe. See you tomorrow at rehearsal." Jackie clicked off her phone and shoved it back in her purse when it rang again.
"Hello?"
"Jackie don't get off the train."
"Harvey? What the hell are you talking about? Why?"
"Just listen to me. Don't get off at your stop. Josh and a bunch of his asshole friends are waiting for you at the back of the stairs. It's still light out and I don't know what their plan is, but it looks like they're plotting to follow you home."
"Oh my god. You can see them?"
"Yeah, I caught an earlier train off of work and I ran into him. Caught some shit from him, of course, but then he brought you up and walked away. He's fucking sick in the head, Jac."
"Shit. So what am I supposed to do?"
"How many stops are you away from your stop?"
"I just got on. I'm at least a good ten stops away."
"Go somewhere safe—but don't go to Natalie. They'll probably check there next. Shit, okay, I'm gonna call Natalie and get her and we'll meet you somewhere."
"Wait, I'm gonna get off here. Meet me at the corner of 11th street and Avenue B. I'll be at Mark's waiting. Just be careful," she said.
"Yeah, okay. I'm calling the cops on the way to get Natalie. He's not gonna hurt you again, Jac, I promise."
"I just hope they don't show before I get to Mark's, because I'll have a lot more explaining to do then I do already," she said. "Make sure they don't follow you out of the subway station."
"They didn't. I'm sitting in Central Park. I'll meet you in about a half an hour."
"Bye." The train pulled into the next station and Jackie stepped off it, shaking. She couldn't believe something like this was happening to her. This was always something that happened on TV, to other people.
She didn't need this. Not here, not now.
_______________________________
"Do you think we have enough beer in here?" Mimi complained, digging past two cases of beer to get to the orange juice. Roger grinned from the couch, tuning his Fender.
"You know how we party," he joked.
"Yeah, hard and obnoxiously," she said, pouring herself a glass of juice and taking her vitamins. "These have to be the foulest tasting shit I've ever taking in my entire life. It makes me want to throw up."
"I'm sorry," Roger said from the couch.
"No you're not." She stalked off to the bathroom and slammed the door.
"Can't you two just get along?"
"This time it's really not my fault," Roger laughed. "Really!"
"Sure."
"She's just in a crazy emotional state lately."
"AM NOT!" Mimi shouted back through the bathroom door.
"I don't blame her. She's pregnant with your kid. That would put anyone in a crazy emotional state," Mark added.
"Jesus, who pissed in your Cap'n Crunch this morning," Roger said defensively.
"No one."
"Female problems too, huh?"
"How'd you guess that one?" Mark teased. "Roger Davis, thinking? By himself?"
"Keep in mind that I'm a good six inches taller than you."
"Oh, believe me I'm scared," Mark retorted.
"As you should be. Spill it," Roger added, putting the Fender back in its case.
"I don't know, I'm probably overanalyzing it, but Jackie seemed kind of distant today and upset about something."
"Not about what happened between you guys, right?" Roger questioned.
Mark scratched and shook his head. "No, she said she was happy about that. So am I."
"Maybe she's on her period. Women get all sappy and bitchy like. I never really figured that out."
"That's kind of how you get when you don't get sex. You've got another thing coming if you think Mimi's gonna wanna sleep with you much longer." Mark joked. "Pregnant women tend to swear off sex when the get into the second trimester. You know that right?"
"Well, I guess I'm fucked then," Roger said, shrugging. "I can wait until after the baby's born."
"No, you can't," Mark laughed.
"MOVING on," Roger cleared his throat, trying to change the subject. "How about you get the door, Mark."
"You're closer."
"I'm occupied."
"Lazy ass." Mark muttered. He walked over to it and flung it open, only to be greeted by three police officers.
"Uh, Roger it's for you," Mark joked. The cops didn't find it funny, and neither did Roger.
"Can we help you?" Roger asked.
"We received a phone call from a Harvey Spataro in reference to a Jacqueline Ferrell, claiming that there's some kind of domestic violence issue going down between her and a former boyfriend, Joshua O' Connell. He said that he, Natalie Murphy, and Jacqueline would be at this residence as soon as possible to have us investigate. Is he here?"
"We don't know Harvey, but Jackie's Mark's girlfriend."
"Sir, can we ask you some questions?"
"Uh, sure, but I'm really confused about what's going on. I wasn't aware that Jackie was having any problems with an ex boyfriend.
The next moment, Harvey and Natalie came charging through the open loft door.
"I'm Harvey Spataro, and we can explain everything."
[A/N: Don't you love those cliffhangers. Maybe just 'cause I'm evil!" Heh. Two chapters in a two-day period of time. Been a writing fiend lately. School starts again for me Wednesday, so I probably won't be able to have the next chapter of this up until Friday because I'll be busy with all the school crap. Take care everyone and thanks for the reviews. 33]