Take Two (33 page)

“I see. Tell us about your favorite date together.
Tell us as many details as you can.
”

“That’s a tough one…We’ve had a lot of those.”

The interviewer
laughed.

I looked up at the ceiling and then back at the camera. “I guess I would say the first time we went out on the ocean together. It was just the two of us
out on my yacht. S
he was
so
nervous about j
umping in the water.
She’d never heard of polar-bearing before
s
o, I um…I held her hand and we jumped together. She was screaming when we were in the air but she didn’t let my hand go. I think that would probably have to be my favorite date
that we’ve had
.”

“And what about your favorite thing to do together?”

“Movies. We watched a lot of movies together.”

“Cut!” the director shouted. The producer headed my way and sat across from me.

“We’re almost done Mr. Sterling,
” she said. “W
e just have a few more questions regarding you and Miss Ross. We need to reshoot that last response though
. Could you say “We
watch
movies” instead of “watched”? We want to keep everything in a certain tense.”

“Not a problem.”

“Quiet on the set!” the director bellowed.

Shelby took out a
stack of scripts
from her bag. She laid them
across the table and numbered them one through nine.

“Okay,” she cheered. “Pick a number!”

“Three.”

She picked up the designated script and flipped open the ja
cket. “The genre is historical r
omance. A redneck’s only son—”

“Next!” I sighed. “Number seven.”

“Okay…This one is a romantic comedy. A man
loses his memory and the woman he was married to—”

“Next! Number five.”

She rolled her eyes. “Another romantic comedy. A woman gets left at the altar and as she’s returning her dress she runs into her old college sweetheart…No
next
this time?”

“Continue.”

“He’s currently engaged to the woman he left her for in college
, but he’s only getting married to merge the two families’ companies together. He falls in love with the jilted bride and has to make a decision between the two.”

How perfect.

“Let me guess, he chooses the jilted bride?”

She flipped to the last page of the script. “Nope. It looks like there’s a twist somewhere because he ends up marrying the fiancé and she’s kissing some other guy.”

“What other guy?”

“Read the script,” she tossed it to me. “We can go over the rest of these in a few minutes. Can I use your bathroom?”

“Go ahead,” I flipped through the script.

Thanks to Melody, the last thing I wanted to do was be in a movie about a jilted bride.
Then again,
I wasn’t sure if I should even consider her feelings. She
still
wasn
’t answering my phone calls and
texts. I
even
tried calling her from Joan’s phone
but
she didn’t pick up those calls either
.

I picked up Shelby’s bag and dumped it on the table. Tons of junk came out: Mints, feminine products, a flat iron, books, a bottle of tartar sauce, lip glosses, medicines, and combs.

“What are you doing, Matt?” she
crossed her arms
.

“I was looking for your phone.”

“You know, you could’ve just asked me for it, like a
normal
person. I’m waiting.”

“Can I
please
use your phone?”

“Yes you can, you six year old.
”

She handed me her
phone and
I
headed to my bedroom. I dia
led Melody’s number and stopped
.

Why am I so nervous?

I
hit send and held the phone to my ear. It rang on
c
e. It rang twice.

“Hello?” she
softly
answered. “Hello? Hello?”

“Hello Melody, p
lease don’t hang up.”

Sh
e didn’t say a word. I checked
the phone’s screen to make sure we were still connected.

“How are you
?”

“Hi Matt,” she whispered. “I’m okay and you?”

“
I’m not okay at all. I miss you.
”

She sighed.
“I miss you too.”

“Why haven’t you returned my calls?”

“What would be the point?”

“To talk
. To straighten things out so we can be together again.”

“Are you still getting married next week?”

“Not if you say you don’t want me to.”

“I think you know how I feel about that situation.”

“Can I come over?
Can we talk in
person?”

I
need to see you…

“I don’t t
hink that’s a good idea, Matt.”

“Why not?”

“
Because yo
u hurt me
.”

“And I’m very sorry.
I never meant to do that.
I’ve been apologizing to you every day. Can you at least let me do that in person?”

Please
…

She didn’t respond immediately. She was silent for at least a minute.

“Fine. Where do you want to meet?
”
she asked.

“
What about some place pu
blic?
”

“Someplace the paparazzi will see you?”

Good point.

“Is your apartment completely out of the question?”

“Yes.”

“Okay. How about my school? There are private studios in the basement.”

“That’s fine. What time?”

“Six?
Can I pick you up?”

“Matt…”

“What?”

“I’m sorry.
I can’t talk to you right now. I can’t do this,” she hung up.

I knew there was no use in calling her back.

I was so close. My heart had almost gone back to beating halfway normal again.

The Lighthouse at Chelsea
Piers
was unrecognizable on my wedding day. The wedding hall was decked in thousands and thousands of orange sonata lilies and red roses.
The oil burning lamps that
once
hung high were replaced with small crystallized light boxes. The hardwood floors were covered
with
red carpet, and luxurious drapes
concealed
the floor to ceiling windows
.

The paparazzi had followed me from my apartment to the venue, and they were
busy
shouting their inappropriate questions
and snapping shots of my every move
. I turned my IPod up and waited for security to lead me into my dressing room.

“Sir,” the security guard held the door open. “We’ve received a request from Mrs. Sarah Sterling to see you. Is she allowed to come in?”

“Sure.”

He whistled and pointed to something out into the hallway. Seconds later, my mother squeezed past him and he shut the door.

“Mattie!” she gave me a hug. “Are you ready?”

“Might as well be.
”

“You know, most grooms are
extremely
happy on their wedding day.”

“That’s because they’re marrying someone they actually
want
to marry.”

She
unzipped my tuxedo bag and pulled out the suit. She laid each of the articles across the couch and went over them with a lint roller.

“You don’t
have to do that, Mom.
Joan and a stylist usually help me get ready.”

“And I
just
told Joan that
I
would be helping you today. Is that alright? Can a mother help her only son get ready for his wedding?”

“Of course,” I began to undress.

She didn’t sa
y anything as she helped me
into my outfit. She just hummed and smiled, giving me a sympathetic look whenever our eyes met.

I’d told her about Melody weeks ago, told her that I thought she was
“
the one
”
and that I was going to bring
her
to M
iami for dinner. But then she
left me and I had to make the trip alone.

“You look exceptional, Mattie,” she looked me over in the mirror. “I love you.”

“I love you too, Mom.”

“I’m sure
Melody will forgive you one day. When she does, bring her down for
lunch
okay?”

I flinched. “I’m not so sure about that.”

“I am. I hate to ask, but d
id you and Selena sign
a pre-nup?”

“Yes mom,” I groaned. “There’s a pre-nup.”

“That’s my boy! Now, is there any way yo
u could
set
me
up on a date with Tom Cruise? I was reading
Us Weekly
this morning and they mentioned you two were in talks to be in
Minority Report 2
.”

“Go find your seat, Mom.”

She
gave me another h
ug and whispered. “
You’re the only one that has to live with your decision. Not me, not anyone else. Remember that.”

As she walked out, a young OWN producer walked in. She nervously tapped her pen to her clipboard and waited for security to shut the door.

“Mr. Sterling, Miss Ross would l
ike to take a few pictures
before the wedding if that’s alright with you.”

“That’s fine.”

“And after the reception, we’ve set up rose petals as opposed to rice for the guests to throw. It was a last minute change, I hope you don’t mind.”

“Not at all.”

“Okay well,” she opened the door. “I’ll come get you in about twenty minutes for the pictures.
Your stylist will be on hand.
”

I turned away and heard the door close.
I thought about all my family members t
hat were waiting in the audience
, waiting for me to be married off. I thought about all the celebrities that had RSVP’d—Anne Hathaway, Mila Kunis, Ashton Kutcher, Ryan Reynolds, and fifty
other ones I’d once worked with. I
wondered if they really believed that Selena and I were in love.

“Miss C
arter isn’t here
,” Joan
cut through my thought
s
and slammed
the door. “Y
ou’re still going through with this?
”

“
It’s a little t
o
o late to back out don’t you think?
”

“
It’s never too late to back away from t
he biggest mistake of your life,
”
she reached up and adjusted my tie.

“
I already lost Melody. No use in losing
Selena too.
”

“
You
really disgust me sometimes
.”

“Okay that’s it
Joan!
Y
ou’re fired
!”

She snorted.
“
Please.
”

“
I’m sorry,
”
I hugged her.
“
I’m s
orry. She really didn’t show up?
She’s really not out there?
”

“
You expected her to
be
?
”

“
I called he
r last week
and she
finally
answered
…She
h
ung up after a while
so I sent her a
letter package at work
. I
told her to meet me at the coffee
shop on
Amsterdam
A
venue if she still had any feelings for me. I told her I would call off the wedding if she showed up at six. I waited for an entire hour and she never came
.
”