BECOMING THE FABULOUS MISS C

By Angel Sentier and Lady Parsley

Chapter Eleven

Philip awoke early that morning to find a very warm, naked, and cuddly Chloe very asleep beside him. Both of them were covered with the quilt that had been draped over the back of the couch, and wrapped very closely together, given the narrowness of their current sleeping arrangement. Both of them had been too tired to move to the bedroom last night. He hadn't minded. He looked down at her then and smiled as he saw her hand curled up near her mouth, a mouth he had very thoroughly kissed last night.

She'd given him a great deal by sharing herself with him, he realized. He wasn't sure if she saw it that way, but given her age and the fact that she'd waited until now, he was guessing that maybe she did. Carefully, without waking her up, he disentangled their limbs and crawled over her to get up off the couch. The least he could do was make breakfast for them. He hoped she wouldn't mind him using the bathroom and the kitchen...

He tugged on his boxers and found his way into the tiny bathroom. The bath towels on the rack were red, but the hand towels at the sink were off-white. An odd choice, considering they couldn't be washed together. It occurred to him a moment later that these were probably the towels that were on sale. The shower was a glass square and he noted that she preferred one of those poofy shower sponge things to washcloths. Either that, or washcloths weren't on sale, he thought. Other than that, a small bowl of potpourri decorated the countertop, a framed picture of a mermaid brushing her hair adorned the wall, and --he smiled-- the ticket he had given her to attend the after-party was taped to the mirror of the medicine cabinet.

The smile melted to a confused frown, however, when he saw that the ticket was still intact. The little stub on the right hand side wasn't torn off.

But she said she went, he thought. And she had the nametag that said 'Allegory Pictures, Inc' on it. You could only get one of those by getting into the party. The frown deepened slightly. Wait... When she put the nametag on that time I saw her, she had to peel the paper off the back. That would mean she never used it. But if she went to the party, then why... He glanced back out into the living room where Chloe still slept. An idea was forming in his head, but...

He walked out to the couch and sat down at the edge, much as she had last night. Very gently, he brushed a few strands of her hair out of her face.


Chloe awoke very slowly. Her brain was sluggish, finding her current environment much too warm and cozy to willingly leave. Shouldn't my alarm have gone off by now? she thought, sleepily. I should get up and check... but I don't wanna... Eventually, her eyes crept open and Philip swam into her line of vision. She smiled, remembering the night before, then yawned, stretching her arms above her head.

"Heyyyy..." she said, thickly.

He smiled back at her. "Hey," he answered. "How do you feel?"

She took inventory for a moment. "A little sore, but other than that... Fabulous."

"I'm glad." He glanced at the clock on the wall. "I was going to make breakfast for you, but I don't know what you like, so I thought we could go out. I've got three hours before my flight."

She, too, craned her neck to look at the clock, and groaned. "I've got thirty minutes before I have to leave for work."

"Oh..."

"You could go with me," she offered. "Ginger and the others won't be there this early. I mean, they are supposed to be there, but what are the odds of them actually coming in on time?"

He considered, then shook his head. "I'd better not. It's best not to tempt fate, after all." He watched as her gaze slipped from his, her smile faltering somewhat. "Don't," he said.

"Don't what?" she asked.

"Start telling me that I don't really have to keep seeing you, calling you, whatever. I still like you, and my mind hasn't changed." He paused for a moment. "Actually, I take that back. I like you even more this morning than I did last night."

She stared at him. "How did you know that was along the lines of what I was going to say?"

"You had this look on your face that I am coming to associate with your 'self-depreciating' moments. I'm going to have to do something about that, you know."

"It might take you awhile," she warned. "Tessa and Teri have been working on me for three years."

He leaned down and nuzzled her next to her ear. "I'll take my time," he whispered, echoing something he'd said the night before, and she blushed.

"All right," she said, beginning to get up before he could distract her further. "We both need to get ready to go. Coffee?"

"Please."

Twenty minutes later, they both stood on Chloe's little driveway, keys in hand. Philip wrapped his arms around her and leaned down to kiss her thoroughly, despite his bruised jaw.

"I'm going to get you a cell phone," he said, holding her tightly to him.

"I have three."

"They aren't yours. I'm going to get you a cell phone only I know the number to. Give it to your friends, if you want, just don't let Ginger get her claws on it."

She nodded. "It'll be nice to have a phone I can pick the ringtone for and that I'll actually want to receive calls on."

"It'll be like the Bat Phone. To the airport, Girl-Wonder!" he said in his best Adam West. "Your boyfriend's coming into town!"

She shook her head at him. "Okay, Mr. Grayson, enough with the Batman references." She glanced up at him shyly. "So... You're my boyfriend?"

"Do you know anyone else who is? Or maybe you'd prefer 'significant other?'"

"No, no!" she assured him. "'Boyfriend' is great!"

He smiled. "I am, aren't I?"

She groaned. "Okay, that's enough of that. If we don't say goodbye, we're never going to."

"Would that be so bad?"

"Maybe not for a while, but then I'll probably get fired and you'll be in big trouble."

"Yeah..." he agreed. "Allen would probably have a coronary."

"And we don't want that. Then again, wasn't he the guy who set you up with Ginger?"

"He had the best of intentions."

"Most people who set themselves up to see Ginger usually do." She stood on her tiptoes and kissed him, carefully, so as not to upset his already darkening jaw. "Fly safely. I'll look forward to getting my new phone."

"I may just show up and give it to you."

"Even better."

He ran his fingers across her cheek, smiled, kissed her again, and reluctantly they both climbed into their cars, driving off in opposite directions; Chloe to the office, where she barely registered any of the Triumvirate's complaints all day...


...and Philip to the airport, where he caught Allen picking up their tickets from the express/VIP lane.

"Hey, Allen," he said, to his agent's turned back.

"Philip, you do realize you never called me last night, don't y--aaaaaagh!" he screamed in mid-sentence, cutting himself off as he turned and caught sight of Philip. "What happened to your face!"

"I had an argument with a fist and my face lost," he replied, nonchalantly.

Allen's face was rapidly turning an interesting shade of purple. He sputtered for a few moments before squeaking out, "You don't get to go out on any more dates!"

He shrugged. "Fine. Then I'm not doing any more movies."

The purple flushed to bright red. "But--! But--! You--!" He wagged his finger impotently at his client before giving up and sighing. "You're going to kill me one of these days..."


"No, I still haven't heard anything from Teri, Danny," Chloe said into her new red cell phone. Philip had insisted it be red and the kicker was that it lit up when it rang. She'd just smiled and shook her head when he'd given it to her, showing up on her doorstep with it, as promised. How could she resist or say no when he was so darned cute about it?

"It's been three weeks!" said Danny.

"You say that like I don't know," she said with a sigh. "I'm sure she's all right. She said she'd call when she thought it was safe, and she's still sending in work to the office, right?"

"As far as my reports go, she's doing all her work by email."

She paused for a moment as she punched the button on the signal to walk across the street. Parking at the Canard was horrid that day, she'd had to park around the corner. "Do you think Ginger could trace that?" she asked.

"Ginger wouldn't know how. You know she never goes near a computer. 'The radiation causes wrinkles,'" he said in a credible imitation of their boss' voice. "She can't even boot up a game, let alone surf through someone's files. She'd have to pay someone to do it for her, and that someone is me, the fount of information as well as random fuck-toy."

"Someone's taken their dose of venom today," said Chloe, surprised at his tone, despite the fact that he was talking about Ginger. It was a well-known fact that Ginger kept Danny's balls in a mason jar as a paperweight on her desk, and on occasion, she let him look at the jar, but that was it. So, his vehemence was, to say the least, a bit unexpected from someone as docile as he tended to be.

"I'm just so angry," he said. "But as long as I play dumb and pretend that Teri's dropped off the face of the earth, she's safe."

"And as long as Ginger doesn't go on your computer."

"Like I said, that's not going to happen."

"I guess-- Hey, Danny, I have to go, someone's beeping the line."

"Okay, see you tomorrow at work."

"Right." She switched the line over. "Hello?" She relished once again the feel of not having to answer the phone with her name.

"Hello, Clara!"

She giggled. "Hi, Philip."

"Was I close?"

"You got the first sound right. Chloe."

"Augh... Right. Chloe." He really had been making an effort. It seemed to annoy him more than it did her that he couldn't remember her name. "What are you doing in a couple of days?"

"Am I going out with you?" she asked, hopefully.

"Yes, you are." She could hear the smile in his voice. "I have a free day this Wednesday. Your place, seven o'clock?"

"It's a date."

"Great. Gotta go. I'm on set right now."

"Bad boy, using your cell phone on company time," she scolded, playfully.

"Will I be punished?" he asked, and she could just hear him grinning.

"I'll think about it," she said, playing along. "I'll see you Wednesday, Philip."

"I can't wait."

As Chloe flipped the phone closed, a hand, seemingly in slow-motion, snaked out from the alley she was passing. The fingers clamped around her wrist and without warning, she was pulled into the darkened corridor.

"Think he's catching on to you, Miss C?"

She looked up in utter shock to see a man she'd only met twice before, but who gave her a creepy feeling she couldn't quite forget. She was so caught off-guard by the fact that he had recognized her as Miss C, she completely forgot to scream. Instead, the only response that came to mind was, "H-huh?"

His smile was slow and knowing. "Playing coy. How cute. So, what's your real name? I promise to remember it."

The dig at Philip's expense was not lost on her, and there was no way she was going to tell him her name. 'Chloe' had never met Hector! Play dumb, she thought. "Um... I don't know who you--"

His smile faded instantly and his dark blue eyes seemed to swallow her up. "Tell me your name."

"Chloe Ashton." Her eyes went wide. WHY did I tell him that? She hadn't wanted to, but her mouth had moved on its own, instantly, the moment he'd demanded it of her. Her heart pounded, beginning to panic. "Wha-What do you want?" she asked.

The smile returned, but there was no amusement in it this time. There was something decidedly sinister about it. "I want to know what Philip Grayson tastes when he kisses you."

"What?"

"Don't move."

Suddenly, she was frozen against the wall of the alley. Every instinct was screaming in her to get away, but none of her muscles would obey her. She couldn't speak, or even look away. Slowly, his hand came up to span her throat. He didn't squeeze, but she could somehow feel the coiled strength lying in wait, and knew he could snap her neck if he wanted to. He leaned closer and closer, filling up her entire line of vision...

A high-pitched ringing cut through the scene.

"Fuck," Hector spat out, his expression distorting to one of intense annoyance. He leaned back from Chloe, never having reached his intended destination. "Maybe another time," he said, mockingly throwing back Miss C's words from the last time they'd met. She wasn't sure how, but he produced a small white card in his hand and slowly, he slid it into the front pocket of her shirt, the paper rasping over her suddenly overly-sensitive skin through the cotton.

Then he left, fishing a still-ringing cell phone out of his jacket pocket. It wasn't until he was completely gone from the alley and out of her line of vision that her knees went liquid and she crumpled against the wall. Whatever spell had been on her, it was gone now. She wasn't sure what had just happened; suddenly, everything seemed rather cloudy...

She took the card out of her pocket and examined it. It was the plainest business card she'd ever seen; it only had a telephone number on it and nothing else, not even his name.

Okay, she thought, finding her legs and heading out of the alley as quickly as she could manage. I am seriously creeped out now!

What could she do about it, though? It wasn't as though she had any evidence that would be useful in filing a restraining order against a stalker. It was weeks between the times she saw him, she didn't even know his last name, and there were no witnesses to an assault and battery. She couldn't very well tell the police she had a feeling about this guy.

She crumpled the card up and threw it in her purse. Later, she could think about what to do to avoid meeting up with Hector again. She was already late for coffee and chocolate with Denise.


The blond smiled from a sunny table at Le Cher Canard and waved Chloe over from the hostess' pedestal. She handed her a newspaper, folded over to reveal the headline, 'Philip Carter Grayson – Celibate Celebrity?'

Chloe giggled as she sat down and took the tabloid from Denise. She opened it to see a half-page collage of pictures, all featuring Philip, going to various events by himself. The article was short, basically expressing confusion on why he was going everywhere stag and how he wouldn't comment, except to say he's being exclusive, but he wouldn't say with whom. She also noticed that it was on page six. He was no longer front page news, which explained the lame title of the article.

"He's staying true to his word, isn't he, hon," said Denise with a sly feline smile, but it wasn't a question.

"He hasn't dated anyone else since he left," said Chloe, gleefully. "He's scoring major points in the honesty department." The thought made her feel a little guilty, seeing as she hadn't been completely honest with him...

"When are you seeing him again?"

"In a few days."

"Be careful of photographers. Especially since they're losing some interest, when he travels, they're probably going to assume, and correctly, that he's seeing you. They'll be watching for that."

Chloe shook her head. "I'm not worried. Any photographer who sees me with him is going to assume I'm his sister or something."

Denise shrugged, delicately picking up her coffee cup. "I'm just saying... Be careful."

Thinking of earlier, although entirely unrelated, she took heed to the warning and nodded. "I will."

To be continued...