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Party Girl
I know a girl, a girl called Party
When I was three,
I know a girl, a girl called Party
I think I know what you want
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Ike had me laughing so hard by the time we reached our room, my side had begun to ache again. He was so funny and fun. He made me feel so safe and secure and I was positive everything would be okay. I mean, there was this entire mess with Taylor. And the nagging feeling that if I did get together with Taylor I would be hurting Ike horribly. Not to mention I would maybe be destroying any last vestiges of innocence in Zac. But, I knew I would figure something out. When Isaac and I walked through the door, Taylor and Zac were sitting on the couch watching television. Tay was practically laying down with his feet up on the coffee table and Zac was leaning against the arm of the sofa playing with his hair his feet also propped up on the coffee table. They both looked up at us, then immediately back to the television. “Cleo, Ashley called for you. He wanted me to ask you if you remembered to tell us MTV was coming to interview us today?” Zac asked not taking his eyes off the television.
“Of course, I told you guys yesterday.” I said noticing Taylor wouldn’t look at me.
“Um, no, you didn’t.”
Isaac said pausing in the doorway of his room.
“I didn’t?” I asked.
I was sure I meant to tell them MTV was coming today, but then last night
had happened and really, I had forgotten lots of things. “Oh shit, I didn’t.
Uh, guys, MTV News is coming tonight to interview you.”
“Well, they’re already downstairs setting up a room for our interviews.” Taylor said, finally looking at me with a look of barely veiled disgust. “Don’t worry, they won’t be ready until around 9:00 tonight ‘cause John Norris hasn’t arrived yet.”
“Okay, good. Really, I am so sorry I forgot to tell you...” And with that, I was basically dismissed. Isaac had gone into his room to change into his swimsuit, Zac was completely engrossed by the weather channel (they were closely tracking Hurricane Jordan and apparently so was Zac), and Tay continued to glare at me. “So, what’s the story with Hurricane Jordan?” I asked smiling sweetly at Taylor. I knew the irony of the name was not lost on him.
“Well, it’s still a hurricane, but it is losing power.” Zac said. “It should hit Mobile in about 24 hours. Unless of course, it changes directions.”
“So are we staying?” I asked, watching Taylor. He seemed to be purposely ignoring me. His eyes were now glued to the television, but I had the feeling if I asked him what he was watching, he would have no clue.
“Yeah, apparently, it will be a tropical storm by the time it gets here and the hotel manager told Ashley there are steel shutters for the windows up here and we aren’t right on the water front, so we should actually be safe up here.” Zac said looking at me.
“Okay, it sounds fun to hunker down and wait out the storm.” I said moving towards my room. I looked over and saw Taylor sigh, deeply. What was that sigh for? Did he want to fight it out right here and now in front of Zac? Another idea suddenly popped into my head. “Hey Tay?”
“Hmm?” He said not pulling his eyes off the television. I noticed how the muscles in his jaw were jumping as if I were just bugging the snot right out of him. I could tell what he really wanted to do was just get up and walk out of the room. But he didn’t, so I quickly came up with a plan. It was only last night Taylor had complained the only time we touched was if he initiated it, well I wondered how much he would like me in his lap right this very minute.
“Taylor,” I said in a singsong voice as I walked over to the couch carefully stepping over Zac’s outstretched legs.
“What?” He said exasperated. “Cleo, I’m not in the mood, just leave me alone...”
“I’m sorry, but...” I said flopping into Taylors lap and rubbing my hot and sweaty body against him. “What are you in the mood for?”
“Oh my gosh! You are disgusting!” Taylor yelled, trying desperately to peel me off of him. Every inch of my body was sweaty, even my running shoes had been soaked through in places. I really was disgusting.
“And man, do you stink.” Zac said trying to push my legs off of him.
“Come on Taylor,” I said teasingly, rubbing my sweaty hair against his cheek. “Isn’t this the closeness you were craving? And really, I just wanted to beg your forgiveness.”
“Well, I was hoping it would be a lot less fragrant.” He said pulling on my hands, but I had them locked together behind his head. All the running had really pumped me up. I was feeling strong and sassy. “Okay Cleo, I get the point! You are forgiven. Let go.”
“What’s the magic word?” I asked putting my legs back up on Zac.
“Please. Please get off me?” Taylor said trying to appease me.
“Uh oh, those aren’t the magic words.” I said rubbing against him even more. I was literally grinding myself into him. When I pulled away just a little, I noticed he now looked as wet as me in places.
“Tay, she’s not going to
give up until she figures she’s done...” Zac said grabbing both my ankles.
“So, I say we give her a bath.”
“Okay, I’m done.” I said
as I pulled away from Taylor, but Zac had a serious grip on my ankles.
I didn’t want to know what Zac had in store, but I had a suspicious feeling
that I wasn’t going to like it much. “Okay, I said I was done.”
“Oh, but Cleo, I’m not.” Zac said nodding at Taylor. Taylor put his arms under my arms and pulled me close. They both stood and began to walk towards the French doors out to the balcony. “Really, this time you threw down the gauntlet. And what sort of a gentleman would I be if I just let it pass?”
“Hey, put me down.” I said struggling against Zac and Taylor. They were having a hard time holding onto me as I wiggled wildly, but they were too strong for me to break loose. Actually as they stepped onto the flagstones of the balcony, I began to hope they didn’t drop me. The floor looked very hard.
“Oh, we will, don’t worry about that.” Taylor said as they approached the pool.
“Hey, these are really expensive shoes.” I said trying to pull my feet away from Zac. If only I could get my feet free, I would be able to get away from Taylor. After years of playing soccer with them, I knew how to kick hard. If only I could get away from Zac.
“Hmm, these are rather expensive running shoes, but like most material possessions, they are replaceable.” Zac said as they stepped onto the edge of the pool. I began to struggle as hard as I could.
“Hey guys,” Ike said as he walked out in his swimsuit. “Hey Cleo, how’s it going?”
“Ike, help me!” I said through clenched teeth.
“Okay,” he said as he padded over to where we stood. Zac had both my legs held straight away from my body and Taylor had his hands linked under my breasts, my back pressed against his chest. I could feel Taylor’s labored breathing as I fought against him. I imagined I felt his heart beating. I felt his breath against my cheek (and as always, he smelled like coffee, Colgate and some mystery cologne). “Um, what do you want me to do?”
“Make them put me down!” I shrieked. Isaac was my hero surely he would help me.
“Oh, you want them to let go of you?” Isaac asked, raising an eyebrow. I could tell from the smile sliding into place he had no intention of helping me.
“Yes!” I said struggling anew. When suddenly, I felt Isaac hands on both my shoulders pushing with all his might. I felt myself falling backwards and Taylor and Zac letting go of me as all three of us hit the water. When I surfaced, Isaac was standing on the edge of the pool laughing hysterically. Taylor and Zac had such tight grips on me when Ike pushed me they went in too. “Oh Ike, you are so gonna die!” I said reaching down and pulling off my shoes. I was actually fairly pissed about my shoes because they were my favorite running shoes, but really, I wasn’t mad about being thrown into the pool. It actually felt really, really good. I threw my soaked shoes at him. He managed to dodge both of them, but Taylor’s Doc Marten sandal hit him squarely in the middle of the chest.
“Ow!” Isaac said. “That’s it!” Ike stepped onto the edge of the pool and jumped up in the air pulling both knees up to his chest and hit the water with incredible force, executing a flawless cannonball. As soon as he hit the water, all three of us descended on him. And thus began an epic water fight. In the next 10 minutes, I was splashed, dunked, tickled, thrown out of the water, dragged back in the water and at some point Taylor, Zac and I had lost our super stretched out t-shirt’s. I had just dunked Taylor back under the water again when I noticed feet on the side of the pool. I looked up to see Ashley standing on the side of the pool.
“Hey Ash,” I said smiling up at him. I think I’ve said this before, but he always makes me feel like what I was just doing was very naughty and now was no exception.
“Hey Cleo,” he said not even cracking a grin. “Could I talk to you?”
“Yeah,” I said shrugging my shoulders.
“Alone.” He said turning on his heel and walking back into the suite. I pulled myself out of the pool and looked down. I was clad only in a sports bra, jogging shorts and some incredibly stretched out tube socks. This will sound strange, but if it were only Zac, Tay and Ike I wouldn’t feel uncomfortable, but Ashley was making me feel (as always) like a naughty, little girl. I’d known Ashley most of my life and he had always made me feel like I was just a bad, bad influence on the boys. Granted, he was often trying to get the guys attention to do their math homework and Thad and I were enemies to homework. We were the faces at the window coaxing the boys to come out and play with us. Ducking down whenever we saw Ashley turning to see what Ike or Zac were laughing at. I grabbed Isaac’s towel and wrapped it around me as I walked into the suite. Ashley was looking at me strangely. “Cleo, what are you doing?”
“I was swimming with...”
“No, what has been wrong with you lately?” Ashley asked an edge to his voice I wasn’t expecting.
“What do you mean?” I asked confused. Why did he sound so angry? I was immediately defensive.
“Today, you missed the production
meeting for the second day in a row.” He said sitting on the arm of the
sofa. “You really should have been there ‘cause we had a long discussion
about the storm and what we should do with it heading straight towards
us. We also talked about access to the guys and if maybe we should change
how we do meet and greets. And about MTV coming today...”
“About that,” I began; really,
I hate to feel like I need to defend myself, but here I stood feeling like
I needed to justify my every move. “I am so sorry. I meant to tell them
yesterday, but we got in this huge argument and well, yesterday was a terrible
day, so...”
“Cleo, I think that may be part of the problem. You are too close to them.” Ashley said shaking his head. “They don’t see you as any sort of an authority figure, they see you as a playmate.”
“But, I’m not an authority figure. I’m their assistant.” I said putting my hands on my hips, not even caring anymore about the fact I was only wearing a sports bra. Why should I be an authority figure? He was here to manage the tour; I was there to help them. “The word assistant implies I assist, not direct.”
“Ah, but that is where you are wrong.” Ashley said. “It’s your job to make sure they are where they need to be, that they have what they need, that they know what is expected of them.”
“Yeah, but you’re the tour manager, don’t you have any responsibility in all of this?” I asked my voice rising above the soft, reasonable tone I had been trying to maintain. Why did Ashley always make me feel so on edge? He truly is one of the nicest guys I’ve ever met. “I mean, you had a meeting with them yesterday before the concert, why couldn’t you have told them?”
“Cleo, I’m not trying to start a fight about who’s responsibility it is to do what.” Ashley said, talking to me as though I were a child throwing a tantrum. In fact, I’d heard him use that very tone with Zoë on quite a few occasions. “I’m just saying you need to make sure the guys know what they need to know. You have to make sure they are informed about just about everything.”
“So, it’s my job to make sure everyone else is doing their job?” I asked.
“Basically, yes. You come to production meetings and then come back and tell them what changes are going to have to be made.” Ashley said quietly. “You are the liaison between them and the outside world.”
“I’m sorry.” I said just giving up. I could argue with Ashley until I was blue in the face and it would accomplish nothing. Maybe if I just admitted defeat, he would leave me alone. “I screwed up yesterday. I promise to not let it happen again. What more can I say?”
“Well, actually, I got a fairly disturbing report this afternoon.” He said looking me in the eye. “I heard you and Tay left the hotel this afternoon without telling anyone you were leaving.”
“Hey, that was Tay’s idea.” I said. “I told him we should go up and get Jason.”
“So, you didn’t have your phone or your pager?” He asked.
“No, I didn’t.” I said feeling like I had been found guilty and was trying desperately to prove my innocence. “I went down to take the laundry to the front desk. I wasn’t planning on being gone more than 10 minutes.”
“Hmm, and it never occurred to you to just say no to Taylor?” He asked.
“Ashley, I’m sorry, I don’t know what else to say.”
“Okay, but that isn’t all.” He said his eyes falling to his hands. “Most of the production staff not only heard, but they also saw you kiss Zac. Did you forget he was wearing his mic?”
“What?”
“Cleo, you were standing on the side of the stage and Zac was wearing a live mic...” Ashley said. “And really, it sounded like more than just a kiss on the cheek.”
“I can promise that won’t happen again, ever.” I said. I was going to make sure it would never happen again.
“Also, what were you and Taylor doing on the couch in the back of the bus last night?”
“Nothing, just talking...”
“Well, next time you want to “just talk” make sure the lights are off. You and Tay were very much visible from the management bus. Which I think is where you really belong. You know, when the guys came to me and Walker about you coming even without their parents, they assured everyone there was nothing going on, you were all just friends.” He said pointing to me. “And, I hope I don’t have to tell you getting too involved with any of them would be a very, very bad thing, do I?”
“No.” I said. I had the urge to stick my tongue out at him. I was so angry, but I couldn’t show it or he would add my burst of immature behavior to the list of my screw-ups he was doubtless keeping somewhere.
“Okay, I hope we don’t have to have this conversation again.”
“Don’t worry, we won’t. Yesterday was just a really, really bad day for me.” I said trying to justify my behavior. Really, yesterday had been a bad day for me.
“Well, Cleo, you can’t afford to have bad days while we’re on the road...” He said getting up off the couch and walking towards the door. “Because, if things get too messy, I will fire you. Honestly, if you’re just going to be a distraction, you will go home, even if the guys don’t want you to.”
“I know, it won’t happen again.” I said as he turned toward the door out the suite. I had the distinct desire to kick him as hard as I could in the back of the head. But then again, he was keeping a list.
“Well, make sure it doesn’t.” Ashley said as he pulled the door open to find he was face to face with a cute blonde girl in a hotel uniform. “Hi. Dinner’s at 8:00 with John, the interview is immediately afterwards. Oh yeah, there will be a crew there filming during dinner. I want you to go with them; sit on Zac if you have to and make sure Ike doesn’t get too tangential. But, I think they want to come up and shoot some footage of them in the room, you know, in their natural habitat. So, make sure the guys are ready.”
“Okay.” I said smiling. I was sure my smile was as fake as fake could be, but he seemed to buy it. As he turned down the hall, I turned to the girl in the open door. “Can I help you?”
“Um, you told me to come up when I got off work.” She began shifting uneasily from foot to foot. “I can leave if it’s a problem.”
“No, you’re Julia. Right?” I asked. She smiled and nodded her head. “Well, the guys aren’t practicing yet, we all just got in the pool. I, of course, still had my clothes on.”
“You look a little wet.” She observed as I looked down at my stretched out jogging shorts and my soaked socks. “Do you have any other clothes besides your uniform here?” I asked.
“No.”
“Would you like to borrow a swimsuit?” I asked. Suddenly there was yelling out on the deck and the pounding of feet and three very wet boys came running in and all grabbed a body part. I was lifted off the ground and swept out the door before Julia could even answer. “Put me down!” I yelled as I once again hit the water. As I surfaced, I looked up at Ike, Tay and Zac as they laughed hysterically from the edge of the pool. Sometime during the wrestling in the pool, the shorts that had been so precariously balanced on Taylor’s hips had come off and Zac was sitting on the edge of the pool pulling off his wet jeans. Now, I’m used to seeing the guys in their boxers, but our guest (whom they hadn’t even noticed yet) wasn’t. “Guys, I would like you to meet Julia.” I said trying not to laugh as both Taylor and Zac looked around for a towel to wrap around their waists. I pulled myself out of the pool and guided a furiously blushing Julia over to where the three of them stood. “Julia, this is Isaac and Zachary. You met Taylor this morning.”
“Hi,” she said.
“Nice to meet you.” Isaac said sticking out his hand. She put hers out tentatively and he shook it firmly.
“Nice to meet you.” Zac said grabbing her hand and giving her a patented too hard handshake. I could tell by the pained expression on her face.
“Good to see you again.” Taylor said smiling. “I know you came up to hear us play, but I think we’re going to swim for a while. Do you want to join us?”
“Well, I don’t have anything else to wear.” She stammered.
“I’m sure I can find something for you to wear.” I said walking toward my room. She tentatively followed me. “I have lots of swimsuits and if you don’t feel comfortable swimming, I bet I can find a pair of shorts and t-shirt. I mean, that uniform can’t be comfortable.”
“No, the polyester isn’t comfortable at all. Well, I guess I don’t mind going swimming.” She said as I rummaged through one of my many, many suitcases. I finally found what I was looking for and pulled out about 8 swimsuits. I quickly grabbed my favorite and threw the rest on the bed for her to go through. When she finally picked one out, she headed into the bathroom to put it on. I quickly pulled on my two-piece suit (you know the kind with the boy shorts and a halter type top), which is bright green with pink, orange and yellow rubber flowers all over it (Zac called it my “safe sex” suit). I quickly brushed out my hair and braided it so it wouldn’t get too wrapped up in knots. I could hear the sound of laughter and water splashing and smiled. I couldn’t imagine anything better than being here. “Um, Cleo?” Julia said as she walked out of the bathroom. She looked amazing in my little black string bikini I’d picked up while we were in France. She had a very womanly body and loads of curly blond hair (not crazy, curly like my hair, but big, soft, loose curls). “Do you have a t-shirt or something I could throw on over this?”
“Sure, but why?” I asked. “You’ve got an amazing body.”
“Thanks,” she said accepting the t-shirt I handed her. “It’s just I hardly know them and well, I would feel kind of strange being half-naked in front of them.”
“Well, let me tell you something, even if you know them, it’s very strange to be naked in front of them.” I said, shuddering as memories of the morning before flooded my brain.
“Hey, can I ask you a question? Julia asked quietly sitting on the end of my bed as I finished braiding my hair.
“Sure,” I said. I knew she was going to ask me something deeply personal about the guys. “Um, so Ike has his girlfriend Emory and you and Tay are going out, but is Zac seeing anyone?”
“Tay and I are going out?” I said my eyes growing wide. “Why would you say that?”
“Well, he said he was in love with you on the radio yesterday and there is that picture of you in his arms on the Internet.” She said as I sank onto the bed. Once Ashley saw this picture, I was so going to die.
“What picture?” I asked. Suddenly positive someone with a really good zoom lens had captured Tay and I wrestling on the couch in the back of the bus.
“Um, the picture of him dipping you on the steps of the hotel in Dallas.” She said quickly.
“Oh, that!” I said as the realization my greatest fear hadn’t been realized hit me. “I had almost fallen off of the step. Taylor caught me...”
“So you aren’t going out?” She asked.
“No, not exactly.” I said. “Why?”
“No reason,” she said shaking her hair down her back. “It’s nothing really, I’ve always like Zac best anyway.” I looked at her and wondered if I had made a mistake letting her stay and swim with us. “Not that I think anything will happen, I was just wondering if you were going out with him.”
“Did someone give you money to find that out?” I asked. The realization I may have invited the enemy in hit with the force of a cannonball against the side of ship. This could be bad, very bad. And hadn’t Ashley said if I screw up one more time, I was headed back to Tulsa.
“Well, this guy offered me money for an exclusive.” She said blushing again. “But really, I don’t think I could ever do anything that seemingly dishonest.”
“Well, please don’t.” I said looking at her huge blue eyes. She was beautiful. The type of girl a tabloid reporter would talk into seducing the oversexed, youngest member of a hugely popular band, just to get a front-page story in the Weekly World News or The National Enquirer. She was probably a poor college student who thought $10,000 dollars sounded like a lot of money. And really it was.
“Cleo, what’s taking you so long?” Zac said as he skidded into my room. He pulled up short as he took in Julia’s body. She quickly grew self-conscious and went to pull on the t-shirt I’d gotten out for her. Her modesty was either a clever addition to her act, or she was the genuine article. Also, why would she confess a reporter had contacted her if she planned on going through with her “assignment?" “Don’t put that t-shirt on.”
“No?” Julia said looking over at Zac who had put on something more than boxers.
“No, you’re perfect in that.” Zac said smiling his crooked smile, his eyes were literally shining. “Man Cleo, you never look that good in that suit.”
“Thanks Zac,” I said pushing his shoulder. “Let’s go out and join Tay and Ike.”
“Okay,” Zac said never once taking his eyes off of Julia. If she were being paid to seduce a rock star, she was more than halfway home.