A Treasure Worth Seeking
By: Shellie - shelliemg at gmail.com
Chapter 17"I think maybe we should do the second verse again."
Justin frowned, "Why? It’s perfect."
JC shrugged, "I just felt like something was missing." He walked into the control room of the studio and pushed the door shut behind him. Justin followed, watching as JC dropped down into a leather chair and closed his eyes.
"We’ve recorded two-thirds of this god damn album two or three times, C. What’s the real problem here?"
"What does that mean?"
"It means maybe something is missing. But I don’t think it has anything to do with the songs we’re recording."
"What’s missing then, J?"
"You are," came the whispered response.
***
"…finishing up their highly anticipated farewell album. This one promises to be good."
Lauren turned off the television with a sigh. It had been her first real glimpse of him in months. They’d only spoken once since she’d temporarily taken up residence in Shellie’s guest room and that had been when she’d called to tell him they were leaving the beach for awhile. He’d been busy, promised to call her back later. It hadn’t happened. The end.
And there he was, on her television smiling at the world with his arm around someone else. Someone younger, someone blonder, someone with a lot less baggage.
But you’re not doing too badly for yourself. Good things were being said about her upcoming book. Shellie had slipped a copy of it to several influential friends who all were very impressed. Lauren was almost finished with her second, although these days it was getting harder and harder to write, the story becoming more and more unrealistic in her mind. She’d finally given in and let Shellie read it a few days before. Her friend had loved it but had been a bit quiet when she handed it back, hugging Lauren tightly with a quick, "Let’s just hope he doesn’t read romance."
But her friend was causing trouble as well, coming home each day from some meeting or another going on and on about this man Lauren just had to meet. "He’d be perfect for you and Carrie. He’s handsome, he’s wealthy, he’s sexy as hell!" So why then didn’t Shellie want him for herself? Paul was that reason. Shellie had been blissfully, nauseatingly happy for the past three months straight because of him. Paul Watson. Boy was he a hunk. Beefy, blonde, funny, and just normal. No fame, no fans, and no drama. Just Paul. Why couldn’t I have fallen for someone like that? But Caroline was happy, growing beautifully and barely mentioned Josh-JC these days and Lauren just wasn’t ready to bring another man into the mix again so soon. No matter how "fabulous" he was, not even a Paul.
Lauren looked up surprised as Shellie burst through the front door of her condo in a rush. "Get up! Get dressed! We are going out."
"What?"
Shellie dropped her bag over the back of the couch and leaned over, breathing heavily. "Whew, I just ran the stairs. We are going out. Get dressed." She spun on her heel and headed for her bedroom calling over her shoulder, "I wont take no for an answer."
Lauren shot up off the sofa and followed Shellie to her room. "What am I supposed to do with Caroline?"
"She’s staying with my mother tonight. Mom is already expecting her." Shellie stuck her head back out of her bathroom with a grin. "They are making homemade monster cookies from scratch." She disappeared again but her voice continued to carry out through the open door. "You remember those? They are the ones with chocolate chips, m&m's and Reese’s Pieces in them. I love those."
"Shellie, where are we going tonight?"
Her friend zoomed past, vanishing again into her large walk-in closet. "You and I are going on a double date with Paul and his cousin Mark."
"We’re what?"
"Go get dressed. I’ve already told them yes, we are meeting them at 7 and we still have to drop Carrie by mom’s house."
"I’m going to murder you for this."
"After dinner. Go get dressed. And it’s casual. Sexy jeans and a cute little top."
Lauren stomped toward her room; half her brain cursing Shellie while the other half mentally scanned the contents of her closet, sexy jeans, and a cute little top. "Do I own a cute little top?"
She was still staring at the stacks of neatly folded jeans when Shellie appeared a few minutes later. "Why aren’t you dressing?"
"I don’t know what to wear. None of my jeans are sexy."
"Well, I’m not talking Britney Spears here. Hmm, go get in the shower, I’ll pick out something."
"Oh no. I will be looking like Britney if I leave it up to you."
"Ha! I don’t have that kind of power."
"Oh, that was bitchy."
"Get in the shower or I’ll show you bitchy."
Lauren stripped down and stared at herself in the mirror. "There’s nothing wrong with my body. My breasts are real."
"It was a joke!" Shellie yelled through the door.
She showered and dried off, looking at the outfit Shellie laid on the end of her bed warily. Fifteen minutes later she headed across the living room and into Shellie’s room. "These are kind of tight don’t you think?"
"Oh I hate you."
Lauren looked up surprised. "Huh?"
"I can’t even zip those things. They look awesome."
"But you can see my belly button. Should I show my belly button on a first date? I don’t want him to think I’m a hooch."
Shellie rolled her eyes, "Honey, you really need to get out more."
"I can’t believe I’m going out now. And I’m still going to murder you when we get home."
"I can’t believe you haven’t put up more of a fight already."
"I haven’t had time. We are already going to be late and I haven’t even started to get C ready yet."
"You look great. Let your hair dry natural so it does that little wavy thing, wear red lipstick. You’ll dazzle him."
"You act like I’ve never dressed myself before."
"Well, you’re acting like you’ve never been on a date before. We used to tear up the town before you decided it was ‘time’ to get married."
"I’m wearing your new black sandals."
"Fine with me, you can break them in and I won’t get blisters later. Get C ready, we’re leaving in 12 minutes."
Lauren stood in front of the mirror in her room and looked at herself one more time. The well-worn jeans fit her like a glove, cupping her every curve perfectly, not too tight, not tacky. Her top was black, gauzy, and criss-crossed over her chest alluringly. The deep v between breasts was tempting but not revealing and when she moved just the right way the smallest strip of tan stomach winked at the mirror between the top of her low cut jeans and the bottom of the slinky top.
"My mommy so pretty."
Lauren smiled and bent, plucking her daughter from the floor beside where she stood. "I love you, Caroline."
"I love you too, mommy."
"You ready to bake cookies with Miss Kathy tonight?"
Caroline nodded eagerly. "Can I bring Mr. Joey’s Bear?"
"Let’s leave him here. Miss Kathy has a puppy. He might bite Mr. Joey’s Bear and that would be bad. Go kiss him bye and I’ll get your bag so we can leave. Shellie’s waiting."
She smiled as her daughter trotted across the room they shared for her beloved bear. Glancing back at the mirror one last time she sighed. "Here goes nothing."
**
A soft tapping roused her from lala land where she’d drifted a few moments earlier. She called for the source of the noise to enter. Shellie was grinning as she opened the door and leaned against its frame.
"Well? Was he a doll or what?"
Lauren smiled. "Oh…he was nice yeah."
"Nice?"
"Very nice. Where’s Paul?"
"In my bed flipping through the channels. He’ll never even know I’m gone."
"You’re so bad."
"Did he kiss you?"
Lauren blushed and nodded, "Yes."
"And?"
"And nothing. We just kissed."
"I meant, did you like it?"
She let her eyes drift closed, feeling his soft lips on her, his warm breath, his smooth tongue. "Yeah, I liked it. It was nice."
"Nice?"
"Very nice."
Shellie laughed and did a little dance while waving her hands above her head. "Lauren kissed a boy! Lauren kissed a boy! Yay!"
Lauren tossed a pillow at her friend. "Shut up. Go play with your man."
"You okay in here?"
"I miss Caroline. I can’t believe I let her stay the night."
"Go take a hot bath, relax, think dirty thoughts about Mark…" she giggled.
"You’re a hooch. Get out of my room."
"I’m going. I gotta go ravish my man…who looks an awful lot like your Mark… They could have been brothers… ohhhh, what fun that would be."
"Hooch! Be gone with you!" Lauren was laughing when Shellie pulled her door closed and left. She looked around the room and once again wished for her daughter. Spotting the large bear on the chair next to the closet she ventured across the room to get it, brushing her fingers across the soft fur as she considered heading back over to Kathy’s to get her little girl. But it was after 1 in the morning and she was certain they were already asleep. She crawled back onto her bed curling around the bear and letting her eyes close she tried hard to think of Mark.