Virtually Mine: a love story (2 page)

Suddenly, there he was.
Yow
.

M.J. had no idea who he was, but she’d
seen him the day before, the same new guy. With that bouncy head of tawny-red
hair, he wasn’t hard to notice. There he was, jogging on the sandy path again,
past many a parked car, in stride with that same golden retriever.

Unexpectedly, he stopped, pulled out a
bottle of water, and squirted some into the panting dog’s mouth. He hadn’t even
taken a swig himself first.

 
Aw,
how sweet was that?

Something shifted in M.J. when she saw
that rusty-mopped guy and his dog, lapping the water up thirstily. This one was
special somehow. He was different and M.J. knew it. Still, there was no way
she’d approach him in uniform. In fact, she quickly stuffed the ticket she’d
written under a nearby windshield wiper and ducked into her trusty Meter Maid
Mobile. No, he hadn’t seen her, but she had definitely seen him. And she was
truly undone.

♥   
♥    ♥

The Third Street Promenade was rife with activity as Antonio’s acting class
dispersed. Kate stepped aside with her cell phone as shoppers mingled past
street performers, vying for a break in the business, or at least tips in their
cups.

Kate scooted by a talent scout with a
clipboard.

“Excuse me,” the scout said. “I’m casting
for a reality dating show.”

Kate smiled back at him cheerily.
“Thanks, but I’m in a relationship.”

Wasting no time, the scout turned to
another prospect. “Hey...looking for love?”

“Yeah, who isn’t?” the prospect groused.

Kate turned up the volume on her cell and
plugged her free ear with her left index finger. She enjoyed the fact that she
could be in the middle of a California crowd, but at the very same time, she
could be across the country in her mother’s kitchen, near the foot of Afton
Mountain, in sleepy little Crozet, Virginia. She could see the real apples her
mother was peeling. She could smell the fresh daisies on the counter. She could
hear the lilt of her mother’s voice and suddenly feel at home.

“So, tell your mom. How’s progress.”

Kate waved goodbye to Antonio as he threw
on his designer sunglasses and turned to leave. “Great, I think. My teacher
really liked the work.”

“I’m talking about with Dustin, Baby. He
say the ‘M’ word yet?”

“Well, the ‘L’ word usually precedes the
‘M’ word,” Kate whispered, not wanting Dustin to overhear.

“He said the ‘L’ word?”

“Sort of.”

“I knew it!” Kate’s mom exuded.

“At least I think he’s going to.” She
adored the fact that her mom was just that way, as excited about every detail
of her daughter’s life as she was about her own.

Kate kept an eye on the object of her
affections as he chatted with Wissy nearby. “Listen, I’ve gotta go. Love you,
Mom. Hugs to Daddy.”

Kate hung up and made her way toward
Dustin, just in time to see Wissy hand him her card.

“No, really. It’s incredible, isn’t it?”
Wissy flirted. “But this could be my break, and my break could be your break,
making it by extension our break, so think about it.”

Dustin smiled broadly. “Definitely.”

Wissy glided away as Kate reached Dustin.
Kate wrapped her arms around his middle, reclaiming her steady guy.

“I don’t care what Antonio says,” she
assured. “I think you were great.”

“I fizzed you, didn’t I?”

“Always do.”

Kate drew Dustin into a real-life kiss.
Usually, he did have an effervescent effect. But this time, as Dustin pulled
away, Kate distinctly saw him check to see if a departing Wissy was watching.
In three months of dating Dustin, it wasn’t the first time Kate had seen a
pretty girl make a play for him. It was the hazard a girl accepted when she
dated a cute guy like Dustin, and she reminded herself that she was the one he
actually called his girlfriend. “So, you want to start on the next scene
tonight?”

Dustin sputtered, this time glancing
squarely in Wissy’s direction. “Okay, otherwise, I completely would, but see,
this is really outstanding. Get this. You know Wissy—just left—well, she gave
me her card.” Dustin showed off the prize.

Puzzled, Kate examined it. She caught a
whiff of night jasmine and noted the local number. Not wanting to betray how
vulnerable she felt, Kate played along. Dustin scored higher on looks than
smarts, so she wanted to make sure he really got what Wissy was doing. “And
okay, why would I think it’s a good thing that an attractive, albeit
synthetically enhanced person is throwing herself at my boyfriend?”

“Because she wants to do a scene with
me,” Dustin dimly enthused.

“Still looking for the outstanding part.”

“Big picture, Kate. Wissy isn’t really an
actress. She’s only in class to inform herself. Do you love that? That’s what
she said. She’s informing herself as a casting director to be.”

“Uh-huh.” Kate took it in, trying her
best stay calm.

Dustin’s animation grew. “Anyway, Wissy,
she completely flipped over my work today, but bottom line—are you ready, Kate?
Wissy just got a job as an intern to an assistant to this semi-monstrously
important casting director who she’s considering pitching me to soon. Only she
wants to work with me personally first. You know, she wants to see how I create
chemistry with someone other than you. Because after all, we’re already
bringing in three months of real-life sparks, which tells her nothing about
what I can do craft-wise with a more random person like herself.”

Kate felt her jaw go slack. Her knees
wobbled beneath her.

“I know! Amazing, right?” Dustin exuded.

She stood there, flabbergasted. He had
told her about Wissy’s wiles with his own sweet lips, so breathlessly that tiny
bubbles of spittle formed in the corners of his mouth, as if there wasn’t a
thing in the world registering inside his delightfully clueless head.

“Okay, well...I’ve gotta run to...my
apartment and, uh...balance my checkbook.” Kate knew how ridiculous that
sounded when she said it, but that was all she could come up with given the way
her mind was reeling.

Back in the privacy of her kitchen, Kate
chopped veggies with her wily roommate, M.J., who was still clad in her Meter
Maid uniform. Kate sliced and diced with unusual vigor, taking out her
frustrations on the produce.

M.J. popped a carrot slice into her
mouth. “And he bought that tripe?”

Kate had to smile. M.J. had a talent for
slicing through the subterfuge, right to the scary, naked truth underneath.
“He’s convinced it’s this big career move.”

“It’s a move alright,” M.J. intuited.

Kate’s face fell. She’d tried so hard to
persuade herself that there was no reason to feel threatened. “Maybe it wasn’t
that kind of move,” Kate replied. “Maybe she just sees his potential as an actor.”

M.J. waved a stalk of celery insistently.
“Kate!
 
Sweetie, you were Phi Beta
Carotene, how can you not get this? Some Wissy person—-and by the way, what
kind of name is that? So, Wissy thoroughly puts a clamp on your
heretofore-exclusive boyfriend right under your cute little nose and,
zippidy-do-dah, he’s seeing other people.”

“He’s not seeing other people. It’s
business.” It sounded preposterous to Kate. She knew it, just as soon as she
said it. Then again, she wasn’t entirely sure.

“Business.”

“Our business is not like yours, M.J.”

“No, you’re both waiters.”

Kate stuffed cucumber peelings down the
disposal. “I’m talking about acting. Dustin and me—no, I, Dustin and I—anyway,
we have to be able to trust each other. We’re both going to be in positions, I
mean, please God, hopefully, where we have to at least act like we’re attracted
to other people. It’s part of the job.”

“Okay.”

“Okay?”

M.J. shrugged. “Okay. Hey, if it doesn’t
make you crazy that your boyfriend kisses other girls for a living, then I guess
you’re more secure than I’d ever be. That is, if I actually had a boyfriend in
the first place.” A girlish smile curled on M.J.’s lips. “Change of subject?”

Kate welcomed the reprieve. “Please.”

“So, I saw him again, today.”

Still preoccupied, Kate willed herself to
take an interest. “Who, him?”

M.J. beamed. “Mr. Nameless But Adorable.
Gotta love a guy who’s so sweet to his dog.”

Unable to let go, Kate blurted. “Do you
really think Dustin wants to see other people?
 
Because isn’t that just a euphemism for breaking up? And tell me, how is
it that we can possibly be breaking up when my mother is planning our wedding?”

M.J. wryly stepped to the cabinet and
pulled out some plates. “Oh, pardon. Did you not detect that the conversation
had moved on to matters affecting me?”

Immediately, Kate felt awful. It wasn’t
like her to be so self-absorbed, especially not with M.J.
 
Truth be told, M.J. had been more like a
sister than a roommate, ever since Kate had moved west, not knowing a solitary
soul. She’d found M.J.’s post on a Roommate Wanted board, something that could
be a dicey proposition in L.A. But as different as they were, the two of them
had clicked, making a home away from home in the city.

“Sorry. Give me a second, then tell me
absolutely everything,” Kate repented as she flipped on the garbage disposal.

M.J. heard the sickening ca-chunk as the
device quickly jammed. “Houston, we have a problem.”

two

♥

C
harlie Butters padded over to Samantha’s office door and
cautiously peered inside. It was like navigating a veritable minefield, he
thought, never knowing which step he took could be his very last. As long as
he’d worked at
Virtually Mine
, Charlie had never found a way to get
entirely comfortable there, especially not with his femme fatale of a boss.
Like always, she knew he was at her door. He could tell. But this seemed to be
one of those times that she would force him to initiate. Finally, he gave her
executive doorframe a tap.

“Knocking off early?” Samantha hardly
looked up from her computer.

Charlie buckled. He always did that when
an attractive woman spoke to him, but even more so with his boss, the woman who
held the purse strings to his meager existence. She was the kind of woman his
father had preached many a Sunday sermon about, warning of the perils for those
who fell prey.

“Well, I got here eleven, no, actually
twelve hours ago, Ms. Raznick,” Charlie explained. “So...I’m not so much
‘knocking off early’ but still, I think I need to go.”

Unimpressed, Samantha finally looked up.
“The new Imaginary fully integrated into the system yet?”

“Eric Bender, you mean. Well... I got
this kind of 9-1-1 text from that apartment building I manage, sort of an
all-out garbage disposal emergency and—”

“Charlie, you know how jealous I get.”

“Yes, yes. But I’m not exactly, you
know...”

Samantha preened. She had a way of
posturing herself when she spoke to maximize the intimidation factor for
Charlie. “Is exclusive the word you’re grasping for?”

Sweat beaded on Charlie’s palms. He wiped
them off on his pants, hoping she wouldn’t notice. “Yes. I mean, no... Well, in
the employment sense I’m...I’m not even full-time. Not that I wouldn’t like to
be exclusive—uh—or full-time, that is.”

“Don’t need another full-time computer
guy, Charlie,” she intoned. “I just need your completely undivided attention
during the two-point-five days a week that you’re here.”

Charlie’s mind raced. For months, he’d
been trying to work up the nerve to have a serious conversation about his
prospects with the rapidly expanding company. Time after time, he’d waited for
the right opportunity and now that stomach-turning moment had arrived. Charlie
attempted to swallow the hairball in his throat. He took a step into the
office, his desire for privacy barely outweighing his abject terror of venturing
into her space.

“I could maybe...eventually even quit my
day, I mean, night job managing if you’d... It’s not like I aspire to unstop
toilets or chase down rent. I could be, like, an Operator, maybe...get some
more hours.”

Ah. It was out there. Finally. And the
world hadn’t even come to an end. Yet.

Samantha looked up. She scanned Charlie
from his discount store tennis shoes to his ordinary bespectacled face. “An
Operator. Servicing imaginary relationships.”

Reflexively, Charlie began to back out
the door. “You know what? Forget I even...”

“Ever had a girlfriend, Charlie?”

Charlie thought back. Nothing. He reached
back farther. “Well, in tenth grade there was this—”