Friends With Multiple Benefits (16 page)

"Yeah, but you weren't screwing me in front of the window with a limo waiting outside."

"That's true, but I wanted to."

The chauffeur opened the car door and Victoria slipped inside followed by Jim. They sat across from the judgmental frowns of Jillian and Brian wearing their slightly guilty grins. No one said a word.

"What's the matter with you two?" Victoria asked.

"Oh, nothing." Jillian held her head high as she asked condescendingly, "You guys running late?"

Victoria glanced to her man. "No, not really, we've been ready for a little while, but we sort of got detoured."

"Detoured?" Jillian asked.

"He was fucking me by the window."

Jim said casually, "Yeah, she looks pretty hot, so I couldn't control myself."

"She does look good." Brian shook his head in agreement as the driver pulled the car away from the curb.

Jillian began, "Well, at least you got it out of your system before—"

"No, I didn't, um, finish." Jim motioned with a scowl and a head nod to his brother. "
Someone
scared the crap out of us."

"Yeah, maybe you should be more concerned about what your Peeping Tom husband is doing than what we're up to." Victoria sneered.

"Hey, I just sent him out to be sure you guys knew we were here waiting. We don't want to be late, you know."

Jim put his hand on Victoria's knee and Jillian shot him a disapproving sneer. "Maybe you should keep your hands off her for a while."

"Yeah, baby. It looks like you're still a little…" Victoria made a face. "You know, worked up."

Shifting in his seat, Jim put his hands over his lap. "Sorry."

"He can barely keep it hidden when it's
not
in an excited state," Victoria announced proudly.

Brian scoffed. "It must be
so
difficult dealing with that huge problem, dude."

"Shut up," Jim snapped. "Jealous bastard."

"You know, I'm sick of hearing about…" Brian cringed. "All that stuff. If you don't mind, keep those little details to yourself."

"There's nothing
little
about
it,
" Victoria said then she shared a laugh with Jim.

"Okay, let's just change the subject." Brian looked out the window and sighed.

Jillian held her head high. "I'll have you know Brian is plenty big and—"

"Jillian." Brian put his hand over hers. "Please don't."

"Sorry." She turned her attention to Victoria. "I do want to change the subject also, but I need to say one last thing. Don't embarrass me tonight. I don't need you
two
running off to the bathroom and doing it or making a scene. You'll just have to wait until you get home."

"All right," Victoria began. "Geez."

Jillian said, "Brian and I had a brief moment before we left the house too."

"Really?" Victoria replied, skeptically.

"That's
right,
" Jillian added in a parental tone, "but we were adult enough to nip it in the bud and we decided to wait."

"A
bud
is
right,
" Victoria said then she chuckled as she elbowed Jim. When he finally got the joke, he laughed loudly.

Brian gazed at them, confused. "Hey, what's that supposed to mean?"

Scowling, Jillian whispered in Brian's ear and he frowned. "That's not cool. I have a lot more than a—I'm not even going to go there."

"Oh, I'm kidding." Victoria rolled her eyes. "Lighten up."

Brian grumbled to Jillian, "Why the hell did we invite them again?"

"Um, they're really our only friends in the whole world."

"Oh, that's right."

Jillian said, "Let's just have a good time tonight without ending up on TMZ or something, okay?"

"Okay." Victoria nodded in agreement.

Jim smiled. "So, I guess Amanda Jo is going to be there, right?"

"She is," Jillian replied.

"I still can't believe that I saw her naked."

"I still can't believe that he…" Jillian motioned toward her husband wearing a disappointed
look, "…
showered with her."

"Twice in one day." Brian sighed. "Are you ever going to stop bringing this up?"

"So, if you caught me showering with Brad Pitt, you would let it go?"

"Um, well,
probably,
" Brian said with as much confidence as he could muster.

"Yeah, right." Jillian rolled her eyes.

Victoria put her hand on Brian's knee. "Face it, you are never going to hear the end of this. At your
funeral
it will probably come up in the eulogy."

Jim burst into laughter. "It will probably be on his headstone. Brian Nash,
loving
husband
and father. Once showered with Amanda Joseph."

Brian grumbled, "I never thought I'd say this, but can we please go back to talking about Jim's huge penis."

The four shared a laugh. Brian grabbed the bottle of champagne as Jillian handed Jim and Victoria a glass.

Just as the three non-pregnant riders were polishing off their second glasses of
champagne,
the limo arrived at the theater. Brian exited the car first and carefully helped Jillian to her feet. The two couples made their way past security and down the red carpet. Jillian spotted the director Paul Ford with Natalie on his arm. The two were still dating and rumors of an impending engagement were floating around.

As they neared the front
door,
Brian heard his name being called out. Turning to find the source, he spotted Amanda Jo standing with a woman holding a microphone in front of
a cameraman.
When they made eye contact, Amanda stared back at him wide-eyed and enthusiastically waving him over. Jillian spotted the star of her movie and frowned slightly. Brian looked to his wife with his eyes widened apparently for some indication as to what he should do. She returned a half-hearted shrug of approval.

Brian extended his hand to Jillian and the two made their way over to Amanda and the reporter.

"Here is the man I was telling you about," Amanda began. "Without his help I never would have learned to play."

Brian stared into the camera wearing a confused expression accentuated with a silly smile. Jillian elbowed him in the side, and when he finally snapped out of it, he simply mumbled, "What?"

The correspondent from the E-channel
shared
a look with her cameraman before she said, "Amanda Jo was telling us you were instrumental in teaching her tennis so she could take on this role in the film."

"Um, I, yeah…"

Placing her hand on his shoulder, Amanda came to his aid. "He's a hero really. Let's just say that things weren't exactly working out with my first coach. I was truly struggling and considering walking off the film, but this amazing man right here agreed to take me on and he was the best."

Jillian stood to the side glaring at Amanda as Brian said, "Yes, I worked on the tennis with um—"

"He owns a tennis club and one night we even worked past midnight when I was having trouble with my swing. He even let me shower at his club. Isn't that right, Brian?"

"Shower, yeah. I did let her shower." Brian glanced to his wife and caught her angry expression.

"He's seen me sweaty and a mess," Amanda said then she pointed to Jillian. "And here's his wonderful wife. The writer of the novel the movie was based on and also a producer on the film."

Jillian's frown morphed into an awkward smile as the camera turned to her.

"I should thank her for loaning me her wonderful husband and writing such great material."

The reporter focused her eyes on Jillian's huge belly. "Wow, it looks like someone is expecting. Really expecting."

"Twins," Jillian replied.

"Congratulations. When are you due?"

"Not for another seven weeks or so."

"You look fabulous," the reporter commented.

"Thank you."

"We understand that the movie has been tracking well and there's a lot of buzz surrounding the release."

"That's right," Jillian replied. "We're all very excited."

"There is talk of a sequel."

"We've discussed it, but nothing is definite yet."

The reporter turned to Amanda. "The rumor is you don't want to be in the sequel."

"That's right." Amanda smiled. "I've decided I want to return to where I started—television—probably cable. There are some amazing things happening on television now and I want something more stable. When you're doing a movie, you get really close to the people on the production while you are working together for three months or so, but then you all go your separate ways. I'm looking for something more permanent and I think I've found a project that I can really sink my teeth into."

"That sounds exciting. Can you be more specific?"

Amanda added, "Not at this time, but we might be announcing something soon."

"We can't wait to hear." The reporter turned the microphone to Jillian. "Are you disappointed that Amanda won't be in the sequel?"

"Words can't express how disappointed I really am." Jillian struggled to keep a straight face.

About ten minutes later Jillian desperately needed to get off her feet. Brian guided her to a chair and set off to find her some water. Frowning, she watched Amanda giving yet another interview.

Suddenly Natalie stood before her wearing a genuine smile. "Jillian, I hope it's okay that I, um, I just wanted to say hello."

"Oh, hey. Yes, it's fine."

"Is Brian around?"

"He's just getting me some water."

Wearing a stunning gold gown, the flexible beauty sat next to her. "How are you feeling?"

She sighed. "Like I'm about to explode in any one of a number of places."

Natalie giggled. "Well, you look amazing."

"Thank you. And I hear you're engaged."

Beaming, Natalie held her finger up. "Yes, Paul is a dream come true."

Jillian studied
her ring
. "That's beautiful."

"I just wanted to be sure you didn't hate me or
anything,
" Natalie said hesitantly.

"No, life's too short to hold a grudge like that."

Suddenly Amanda burst into over-the-top, loud laughter and Jillian glared at her. Natalie followed her gaze, frowned, and whispered, "Oh, I can't stand her."

"Me either." Jillian's jaw fell open.

"She's so fake."

"I know."

"And she was trying to sleep with Brian," Jillian whispered. "Can you believe that?"

"No way!" Natalie grimaced then her face slowly morphed into a look of dread. "Oh, sorry."

"Um, no, don't worry about it," Jillian began. "I'm only able to direct my anger at one person at
a time
. I guess she got you off the hook."

They shared a laugh.

"Yeah, I'm still sorry. I was young and stupid."

"At least you have an excuse." Jillian scoffed. "She doesn't have one at all."

The two shared another laugh then suddenly Jillian frowned and placed her hand on the chair next to her, closing her eyes.

"Are you all right?"

"I'm fine." Jillian took a deep breath. "They're just moving around a lot."

Gazing down to Jillian's round belly and the waves of little limbs moving inside her, Natalie's mouth fell open. "Oh, my God. It looks like they're running."

"Yeah."

She asked, hesitantly, "Can I touch?"

"Sure."

Placing her hand carefully to her stomach, Natalie wore a sweet smile. "Wow… Are you excited, you know, being a mother again?"

"Yes. I can't wait."

"That's so cool." She pulled her hand away. "Hey, um, when Paul and I finally set a date, I would love if you two would consider coming to the wedding. I mean, if it weren't for you, I never would have met him."

"We would love to."

"Really?"

"Yes, I'm glad you're happy."

"Thank you. That means so much to me." Natalie rose to her feet. "Well, I'd better find Paul. Good luck with the babies."

About thirty minutes later the premiere was about to begin with everyone seated in the nearly packed house. The room was abuzz with conversation and laughter. Near the center of the theater, Victoria sat next to Jim then it was Jillian and finally Brian. Another producer on the film was next to Brian. Paul Ford and Natalie were a few rows back as were Hollywood actors Henry Cavill and Cameron Diaz. One row behind those heavy hitters were producers Harvey Weinstein and Jerry Bruckheimer. Kim and Kanye were also in attendance.

A woman rushed over and leaned down to whisper in the ear of the producer sitting next to Brian. After returning a confused look and pausing a moment, the man said something to his companion and the two followed the woman toward the back of the theater.