The Bad Twin (19 page)

***

How could I allow anything to interfere with my career? I have left her countless messages. If she wants to pout, she can.  When she realizes that this time she was wrong, she’ll be calling. In the meantime, I need to get my act together, so I can give the world the Rose they’ve come to know and love.

***

Carmen came back on the line and called out her name a couple of times. “Rose. Are you there?”

“Yes. I was thinking about my rehearsal,” Rose responded.

“Your concert is coming up soon and don’t forget you have an audition tomorrow.  I shouldn’t have to remind you, but if you get the role, you will be up there with the other award winning actresses.”

“I know. Now back to the reason why you had me on hold for fifteen minutes.”

“Are you sitting?” Carmen asked.

Sounding agitated, Rose said, “Just get to the point.”

“Someone close to you sold a story to the tabloid and exaggerated things.”

“What do you mean someone close to me? Besides Violet, you and Tina are the only two close to me.”

“Eliminate two and who do you have?”

While she was talking to Carmen, Tina knocked on the door. Rose didn’t answer, so she turned the knob and walked on in. Rose cut Carmen off.  “I need to call you back...” Rose took the phone off speaker.

Carmen tried not to sound worried. “Why? Is Tina there now?”

“Yes and I need to take care of them.”

“Don’t do anything. Why am I telling you that? Just don’t get into any trouble. I’m almost at your place.”

They hung up. Tina said, “Rose. I wanted to confirm your appointments for the day. I tried calling you, but you weren’t answering your phone, so I came on up.”

Rose walked up to her and grabbed her by both arms and began to shake her. “You Trick. I trusted you. I’ve paid you royally and you betrayed me by talking to some tabloid and on top of that you fed them a bunch of lies.”

Tina was able to get free from her hands and stepped back shocked from the rage coming from Rose. She started to stutter.  “I did…I didn’t sell anything to the tabloids. I… Who told you that?”

“Don’t worry about it? I want to know, what did I do to you? I have opened up my home to you and not only do I pay you a nice salary, but you get to travel on my dime, you get free clothes. Bottom line, I’ve treated you well.”

Tina turned around and walked towards the door.   “Maybe the stress of losing your sister is causing you to be confused. I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Tina responded.

Tina was almost at the door when Rose grabbed her by the shoulder and pulled her around. “Look here. I don’t have time to play games. You have five minutes to get your stuff and get the hell out of my house.  You will be hearing from my attorney.”

Tina released a hideous laugh and said, “Queen Rose has spoken, so I guess I better bow down or get stepped on.”

“What the hell?”

“You heard me. I didn’t bite my tongue,” Tina stated with boldness.

“You are five minutes away from me kicking your no-tan behind.”

Tina said, “I never meant for you to find out this way. Actually, I never meant for you to find out.”

Rose pointed in the direction of the door. “You need to get the hell out now.”

As she began walking out, she said, “Poor Rose. Now she has no one to control.  No wonder you don’t have a man. Your own sister won’t have anything to do with you.”

Rose snapped, grabbed her by her long blond hair and they started tumbling on the floor. They were still fighting when Carmen entered the house.  The noise and screams were loud enough to be heard downstairs. 

When Carmen walked in the room she saw them on the floor with arms swinging and hair being pulled. She had to interfere and separate the two. “Tina, if you know what’s best, you’ll get your things and leave while you can.  I can’t promise you I can control her for more than five minutes.”

Rose did her best to get past Carmen. “Let me go. I have some unfinished business with her.”

Carmen took a strong hold on her arm and led her to a chair in her room. “No, what you need to do is calm yourself down. She will get what’s coming to her. Trust me. You don’t want to give the tabloids anything else to report on do you?”

“Screw the tabloids. I don’t care about them or the tramp that just walked out of here. Can you believe this? I let her into my private life and she does this?”

Carmen had a look of pity on her face. “What you need to do now is relax. What is the name of your masseure?”

“Ramone.”

“I’ll call Ramone over and have him give you a massage. You need to relax and don’t forget about your rehearsal this evening.”

She got up and gave Carmen a hug. “Thank you for putting up with my temper tantrums, and not leaving me. You are the greatest.”

Carmen pulled out her cell phone and made a couple of calls in search of a new assistant for her, she also made sure Rose’s passwords were changed to her voicemail and e-mail. “Rose, don’t forget to change your alarm security code. I would hate for her to try to come back.”  

Rose walked Carmen out. “I promise to do everything you told me. Thanks again,” Rose said as she hugged Carmen.

Rose went upstairs to prepare for her full hour massage.  She meditated over the events of the past few weeks and tried to find some balance in her life.  She decided she wouldn’t let anyone; including her sister, get to her anymore. It hurt too much.  Lance had been stopping by, but she couldn’t let him or any other man distract her. She couldn’t pinpoint the moment she fell in love with Lance, but it was clear to her that no one could be trusted. She had to do what was best for Rose at all times.

After her massage, she dressed and headed over to the dance studio to rehearse.   The choreographer was amazed at how quick she picked up on her routines and rehearsal went by smoothly.  She stayed after everyone else left. She looked in the mirror and even though she had declared earlier her independence from the world, she didn’t like the reflection in the mirror.  She gathered her things, turned off the lights, and headed home.

VIOLET

(TEN YEARS LATER)

Violet woke up and looked out her window at the beautiful mountain view. Ever since she moved to San Jose ten years ago, she had developed a morning ritual that she’d followed almost every day.  She would bathe and spend the mornings meditating.   This morning, she had a meeting with a developer. She had finally received the financing she needed to build her dream place. It would be a house used for wayward teenagers. She knew sometimes kids only needed a safe haven and someone there to listen.  She received many awards for some of her past efforts. Because of her reputation, she was able to get grants to help complete her latest project. The huge donor insisted she use one of his developers and because of his huge contribution, she saw no reason not to.

She looked in the mirror to make sure everything was in place, and gave herself thumbs up. The suit accented her best features. Although she was not one to harp on looks, she knew first impressions mattered. She always tried to look her best when attending meetings. She grabbed her brief case along with her suggestions and copies so she would have an extra set to give the developer. She was walking out the door, when her phone rang. Not sure if it was someone calling to reschedule, she rushed back to grab it. “Hello.”

“Oh Baby. I’m glad I caught you. I haven’t heard from you in awhile. Just wanted to make sure you were fine,” Pearle said from the other end of the phone.

Violet smiled. “Mama, I’m doing great. I am actually on my way to a meeting. You know the project I was telling you about. I have the financial backing I need and everything’s on track to becoming a reality.”

“I’m so proud of you. You go to your meeting and call me back later. I love you.”

“Love you too.”

Pearle’s phone call put a smile on her face. She felt good going to her meeting. She felt a sense of confidence as she walked into the office building. She had to ask the security guard in the lobby for directions to the developer’s office. Apparently they were new in the San Jose area, and didn’t have their names on the official directory yet.  The elevator stopped on the top floor and she was immediately impressed by the décor of the office. She signed in with the company’s receptionist and waited patiently for someone to come get her.

A young man who looked to be fresh out of college greeted her and led her into the corner office. While they were walking, he introduced himself as Paul Whitman and gave her an overview of what the day’s meeting would be about. When he opened the door for her to walk in, there were several other people in the office sitting around an oval table in black leather plush chairs.  A tall African American male was standing up by the wall on the telephone. She walked to her seat and as she was sitting, the man on the phone ended his phone conversation and turned around.  She looked up and their eyes locked.

She tried to keep her composure throughout the meeting. The sight of the man made her lose her concentration at first; however, when she was asked to give her presentation, she blocked him out and thought only of the children.  Everyone there was impressed with the thoroughness of her presentation. They began to feel the same passion she had and vowed to make the project a success and committed to erect the building as quickly as humanly possible, so that she could fulfill her quest.

The man stood and volunteered to walk her out, so the others gathered their things and left the conference room, closing the door behind them. She tried to ignore the fact that they were now alone.

She gathered her presentation and unplugged her laptop.  The man didn’t say anything until he saw she was through gathering her things.

“You still look beautiful and I’m not talking about physically either; you have this special glow.”

She pretended to not hear him and started walking toward the door.

“Violet, let’s not do this. We’ll be working real close for the next few months. Can we attempt to be friends?”

Violet, unsure of her feelings after all these years, swallowed and said, “David, You’re right; however, don’t expect anything but cordial conversation.”

As promised, David walked her out and looked as if he wanted to hug her, but instead extended a hand out to her. “Thank you. I think you will be satisfied with how things turn out.”

She shook his hand and went to her car. After she knew she was safe and out of hearing distance from their office, she let out a scream. A woman driving next to her, looked over at her, as if she had lost her mind.

***

Why me? I must be destined for this. Out of all of the developers in California, it had to be one of David’s companies. Why didn’t I figure it out by the name? He must have changed the name of his company or maybe he’s partnering with someone else now. Either way, I can’t believe my luck.  What’s surprising me, is that I didn’t want to throw anything at him.  I was only uncomfortable, because of our past and it made things awkward. Wait until I tell Janice.

ROSE

“That’s a wrap,” the director yelled as the movie Rose had been shooting for the past six months came to an end.

Rose rushed to her trailer, so she could gather her things and pack. She wanted to catch the next flight back to L.A.  If she were lucky, she would make it back in time to go by Roscoe’s Chicken and Waffles. She enjoyed her stay in Canada, but there was nothing like some chicken and waffles for breakfast, lunch or dinner.

When she reached the airport, a few people recognized her, so she gave a few autographs.

Over the past ten years, her movies had given her international fame and although she had only recorded two albums; they both went platinum and she could still rock the house.  With her beautiful songbird voice, she received requests to perform and sing on soundtracks quite frequently.  She had a meeting with a producer later on in the week, so she could finish the title song for the movie she just filmed.

She slept the entire flight back to LA and was thrilled Carmen had a car waiting for her, because she hated to wait around in airports. She wore a hat to cover her long curly hair and some shades, hoping she could get her bags before being recognized.  She almost made it out the door to where her driver was supposed to be waiting, when she heard her name being called. Instead of ignoring what she heard, she automatically turned around.  Flashes of bright lights greeted her. It was a photographer from one of the tabloids.

At that point, the driver saw the commotion and rushed to her aid. He swiftly grabbed her bags and guided her to the waiting limousine.   The paparazzi spoiled her appetite and instead of going to Roscoe’s Chicken and Waffles as she originally planned, she had the driver take her straight home. When he dropped her off at home, she thanked him and gave him a nice big tip.