Present day Los Angeles, California…
It had been two days since Scarlette had visited her divorce lawyer. She and Liz had been scouring the internet for any information or pictures about her visiting the lawyer and nothing had turned up. As of yet.
It was around eight in the morning when her phone started to go off with Lady Gaga’s “Paparazzi”. A hand emerged from the pile of blankets and reached out towards the night stand to the right of it. After a bit of fumbling, the hand pulled the phone back under the pillows.
“Hello?” Scarlette croaked out.
“We have a slight problem.” It was Mich.
Since she was still half a sleep, the word “problem” didn’t faze her. Her thoughts were more focused on falling back asleep. “Uh huh.”
“I thought I cleaned up most of the mess but, the photos leaked last night, early this morning.” Mich’s voice sounded apologetic.
That jolted her awake. She opened her eyes wide. “What?!” She flung the blankets off of her and jumped out of bed. She grabbed her light pink silk robe that had little cherry blossoms scattered all over the back and a few on the front. She put it on as she walked out of the room.
“The photos leaked. I’m going to try to do as much damage control as I can from here. If anyone asks, do not comment.”
She grunted as she flew down the stairs and into the dining room. “I have to call my lawyer.” She was at a large oak wood eight seat, dining table. There were two laptops, a Dell XPS and a Mac Air. She sat in front of the Dell and woke it from its sleep mode.
“Why?”
She opened a browser and did a Google search. “To see if my lawyer called his lawyer who would have called him.” So far only two major gossip sites were reporting it. She opened up the bands’ website and checked the country they were in, Berlin, Germany. She did a quick conversion in her head. Some wear around five p.m. “Crap. I gotta go. Call me if anything changes.” She hung up on Mich and immediately called her lawyer, then remembered it was Saturday. “Shit.” She hung up after it rang a few times. She put her head down on the laptops keyboard and silently prayed it would fall on deaf ears. Highly unlikely.
She cursed herself. She should have just own upped to it and called him to let him know what was happening. Instead she procrastinated and karma came to bite her in the ass. She banged her head on the laptop a little and grunted.
Just then Liz came down from her room. “Dude, you need to see this.” She walked past Scarlette and into the living room. She turned on the TV and switched it over to a well known news network.
“It’s been reported that famous fetish model Scarlette was seen leaving high profile divorce lawyer…” The TV blared.
Scarlette sat up straight. “You have got to be fucking kidding me.” She got up from her seat and stood next to Liz.
Liz tried to lighten the mood. “I know! Like all you do is fetish modeling or something, geez!”
She looked at Liz from the corner of her eye and glared. “I’m so fucked… I need coffee for this.” She walked back out of the living room, through the dinning room, and into the kitchen. She started preparing the coffee maker.
Liz walked into the kitchen and opened the fridge. “It could be worse?”
She sneered. “Worse?” She pushed the brew button on the coffee maker. “Enlighten me please because I would really like to feel better right now.” She turned to Liz; who was getting eggs, bread, milk, and bacon from the fridge.
Liz shrugged just as she was about to say something Scarlette’s phone started to sing Private’s “We’ve Got Some Breaking Up to Do”. They both slowly turned their head to the phone, which was still on the dinning room table.
“Like that.” Liz pointed to the phone. “Ironic, no?” She gave a weak laugh.
Scarlette walked back to the dinning room and gave Liz a glare over her shoulder. She hesitated at picking up the phone, staring down at it. Then she realized her hand was shaking, her entire body was quaking. Right as she picked it up it stopped ringing. She let out a rush of air in relief. Then it started again causing her to almost throw the phone across the room. “Fuck…” She muttered as she looked down at his name and picture. She touched the green button that was on the screen and swallowed hard.
“Hello?” Her voice came out small, almost a whisper.
“FINALLY! Shit. What in the fuck is going on over there?” He screamed into the phone. “I get bombarded by these asshole paparazzi screaming about divorce, then Tony shows me pictures on the internet of my wife leaving some divorce lawyers office! Care to explain???”
She sighed and put a hand to her forehead. So her lawyer hadn’t talked to his lawyer yet or her lawyer did but his lawyer did talk to him yet. She pulled out a chair and sat down. “I… I…” She couldn’t think of what to say or how to say it. No matter how pissed or hurt or over it you were, it was always difficult to break up with someone. “I’m sorry.” She sighed again into the phone. “There’s no other way to put it, I’m sorry you have to find out like this though.”
He smirked. “How…? Why…? What did I do?” His voice sounded shaky and the hurt leapt through the phone and into her heart. “Can’t we fix whatever it is?”
She laughed at that, sounding a little bitchy but she couldn’t help it. “I cannot go through this anymore.” It came out harsher then she meant it to. “I have given you so many damn chances over the years. So many, it’s ridiculous. I cannot do it for another 10 years. Hell, another 10 weeks even. I can’t. I just can’t.”
“But what if…”
She cut him off. “No. I’m done. I’m tired of the lies. I’m tired of the affairs, the drugs, the drinking, and the excuses, all of it. I’m tired of all it. I want out.” She took a deep breath. “I want a divorce.”
“I can fix this. I know I can, if you let me.” He sounded like a lost little boy.
She shook her head and laughed bitterly. “No, no, NO! There is no fixing. As much as this is killing me, it is done. It is destroyed. We are beyond the point of no return.” A tear fell from her eye.
“In two weeks, when I get back home, I’ll change your mind.” Now he was just being crazy.
“No.” She wiped her eye with the back of her hand. “Just, sign the papers when you receive them. Please.” She hung up the phone before he said anything else and turned off the phone. If anyone needed her, they had her business number, which Liz answered anyways. Thankfully, he didn’t have that number. She placed her phone next to the laptop and got up. She walked over to the two French doors that lead out to the backyard. She opened them and walked outside.
It was getting warm outside, it was the middle of April. The birds where chirping and the flowers were beginning to bloom. The grass was green and lush. There was a fountain with a pond at the bottom and a cement bench next to it, to her right. To her left was a swinging chair, under a large green tree. The wall surrounding the yard was a gray brick that was about 8 feet tall.
She tilted her head back and breathed in deeply. She felt the weight on her shoulders disappear and most importantly, she didn’t want to cry. She felt different, she couldn’t quite put her finger on it. It felt familiar but strange, all at the same time. Then she realized. She felt relieved, relaxed… happy. She smiled at the thought. Then she felt a hand at her back.
It was Liz. Liz handed her a cup of coffee. “How are you feeling?” Her voice was gentle.
She tilted her head to the side. “Oddly enough, I feel great. Happy.” She looked at Liz and smiled. “Something I haven’t felt in a long time.” She sipped her coffee. “Perfect. Thanks.”
Liz searched her face. “Well, you are kinda glowing.” She smiled. Her voice was careful though. ”I’m glad you feel better now. Are you hungry?”
She nodded. “I am. I’m usually not a breakfast person but I feel like breakfast.” She smiled and they headed inside.
“Just to remind you, you have a shoot tomorrow.” Liz was reading though emails on Scarlette’s computer. “It should be fun. It’s with that French designer who makes are those really pretty sparkly and expensive corsets. Ooh, maybe you’ll get to keep one.”
Scarlette shrugged. “His name is Jacque and I know. Am I the new spokes model for him?” She was reading though Bizarre Magazine. She had done an interview and photo shoot for them a few months ago, now it was out on news stands and she was the first to get a copy.
Liz sipped on her sprite. “Eh, maybe? Maybe it’s like a tester type of thing. He did request for you though so we shall see.” She went back to looking at the computer screen. “It’s ridiculous how many friends request you get everyday. I’m on the tenth page of thirty.”
“Any interesting emails?” She sipped on her White Russian. She glanced at her watch. She had two hours before she went to meet up with her friend to have dinner with.
“I’ll check right now, let me get this out of the way.”
Scarlette got up for the table. “Well, I’ll be in the shower. I have to get ready to meet Sophia for dinner. Save the important looking emails for me.”
Thirty minutes later, Scarlette emerged from the shower feeling refreshed and clean. It had been about a week since she informed her soon-to-be-ex-husband that he was going to be just that. Her mood had been lifted since that day, not a moment of depression or a tear shed for that sadness anymore. As cold as that may seem, she was finally moving on with her life.
She blow-dried her hair and then curled it with a flatiron. She applied very little make up, her foundation and powder. Then her black gel eyeliner, giving her eyes a little cat eye, and black mascara. She dusted a soft pink on her cheeks and gave her lips a little nude sparkle. Once she was done applying her make up she put on a pair of black skinny jeans and a dark purple tunic, which had intricate embroidery and bead work around the neck and bottom edges. She slipped on her dark purple patent leather pumps and grabbed her small black leather purse, stuffing her phone, lipgloss, and wallet inside.
She walked down stairs, Liz was still sitting at the table. “are you going to be okay tonight?”
Liz looked up at her with a smirk on her face. “Yeah, mom, I’ll be fine.”
“I’m just checking, I don’t want you to think I’m blowing you off or something.” She stood next to Liz.
“Psh. Whatever. You’re just a roomie that I work for.” She shrugged and then laughed. “Besides, I’m going out tonight anyways. With a boy.”
Scarlette lifted an eyebrow. “Oh really?” In all the year she has known Liz, Liz never had a boyfriend or went out with boys or anyone for that matter, except for her.
“Yeah. He’s nice. Nothing serious though. Just drinks and a little dancing.”
“So I shouldn’t wait up?” She smiled.
Liz shrugged then smiled a little.
“I have to get going. But have fun and be safe.” She bent down and gave Liz a hug.
“I will, you too.” She hugged back.
