Girl Gets Her Man

Daniel couldn't get into his work at all. Joanne had said she'd hated him. He knew it had been the alcohol talking, but she'd said it repeatedly. If she'd meant those words, he might have gone out to drink himself, but her eyes told him it was a lie. After the third time he'd put the wrong thing in the ricotta blend, his father had sent him out to bus tables. He was managing to get the dishes into the tub without breaking them, so he felt a bit less incompetent.

"Yo, Danny." He looked up to see Gary smiling a deceptive smile at him. "You got a minute?"

Daniel directed him to sit and sat down opposite after putting the tub of dishes on the table. "Uh, sure. What brings you here?"

"You know why I'm here."

"No, I don't. You don't come in here." Dan wasn't in any mood to play games.

"Okay, we'll play your game. I've come to talk to you about Jo."

"She's your girlfriend. I stay on my side of the line. I get it."

"Yeah, that would have been the speech , before, but you went over the line. I don't know what you did last night, and I don't particularly care. I know it's not happening again, get me?"

"If you'd been there to stop her from drinking last night, I wouldn't have had to ..."

"Look, son. I've been talkin to Jesse, so I know all about your freaky ways. You want something random going on with some trick, I've got no beef with that. But when you come sniffing around my girl, that's when I have to check you."

'Son? Trick? Your girl?' "Whatever you think happened last night, it wasn't that way. She was drunk. I told Jesse to take her home. That was it." 'And if I want to kiss her, it's none of your business.'

"That wasn't it, and we both know it," Gary leaned in a put a meaty fist on the table for show. "I should slap your bitch ass for even acting like laying your hands on my girl is nothing. This being a public place, I'll stay calm. I know something went down between you two before. It's over now. If I even get the feeling that you're looking at her crossways, I will take you out."

The solid man pushed back his chair, gave him one last warning look, and walked out. 'That was a threat, wasn't it?' Daniel continued to sit down in his chair. 'How did this get so twisted?' His father, David tapped him on the shoulder and offered him a cordless phone. "You have a call. It sounded like Jerry."

* "Wake up, Sleepy Head," a voice cut through the thick sludge that had formerly been Joanne's brain. She groaned and hoped that that would be warning enough for whoever it was to leave her to die in peace.

"Get up, Jo!" The voice inches from her head made her pull her covers over her head. "Girl, get up." Jesse continued to prod her awake.

"Please," Jo whined. My head hurts."

"It should. Mayube next time, you'll handle your liquor better. I didn't know you were a weeping drunk."

'Weeping drunk? Oh, no. It wasn't a dream. I saw Jeremy last night. He didn't remember me.'

"Don't worry about Hot Chocolate. We're taking care of it, right now."

'Hot...Danny? Taking care of Danny? What for?' "What?"

"You don't remember how he made you cry like that?"

'Danny was there?'

"You don't remember him kissing you? Boy, I'da slapped the piss out of him, myself."

Joanne peeked out of the blankets and looked at Jesse in confusion. Her friend just smiled down at her and said, "Don't worry, Jo. I'm taking care of things. You don't have to worry about anything, anymore."

'That's what I'm worried about.'

* - - Hey man.- -

"Oh, hey Jer. How's it going."

- -You missed some acrobatic shit last night. You haven't the faintest idea what you turned down.- -

"Really," he tried to convey his annoyance over the phone.

- -I'd like to thank you for gumming up the works, too.- -

"Huh? What did I do? I left, remember?"

- -What the hell did you say to that little girl?- -

"I didn't say anything to anybody."

- -What did you say to her friend?- -

Daniel sat up straight. "Nothing. I just told Jesse to put her in a cab." 'And I told her I loved her, but she was so blitzed, she won't remember that.'

- - The girl was ugly crying when I walked up. She nearly took my girl out of the evening. I turned it around, though. You better not do that at the concert. I gave them some tickets...- -

Dan let the phone slip out of his hand and drop to his lap.

***

The moment Joanne got out of the car, she knew the night would be trying. Gary scolded her for getting out of the car before he could open the door. He'd been trying to be chivalrous, but she knew how inconsiderate he really was. She looked up at the theatre marquis. Jeremy was the main event. She'd known he would be in town for the concert he'd given Jesse tickets to. She wasn't sure what to do. Gary had no idea who Jerry Carter was. She had to think about how to handle this.

'He didn't recognize me, before. It's not like he'd stand up and point me out, right? He doesn't remember. I'll just go and try not to ruin this date for Gary. The boy is trying.'

He'd came over to ask her out in person. He'd even brought her flowers. Gary held out his hand to her and nodded toward the entrance. Joanne took his hand and let out a slow breath.

* Daniel sat backstage as Jerry downed the rest of his soda.

"Hey, I never did thank you for the writing credit," Dan smiled.

"That song was choice. The minute they heard it they had to have it. I was just lucky to be there when it came to you." Jerry tossed the empty can and straightened up in his chair.

"Too bad I didn't know who I was writing it for."

Jerry balled up a napkin and tossed it expertly at Dan's forehead. "I told you that Candy was a whore. You just thought I was jealous." He suddenly lit up, "I'd like to thank you for all of the legs you've opened over these years."

Dan felt his face warm. "That's not why..."

"Yeah, yeah. That's not why you wrote it. You wrote it because you were hard up and you thought you were in love. Well, look how wrong you were. Just use the song for what it is. A strange magnet."

Dan sighed, "Fine, Jer."

"Why don't you go out and enjoy the show. I'll line something up for later, if you're interested."

*

He went through the keys and smiled to himself as the theatre responded with enthusiasm. He leaned into the mic and said, "Thank you, Ladies and gentlemen, for your warm welcome. I'd like to start out with a song from my first album. The writer is in attendance, so I won't play around with it...this time. This one goes out to a special lady I used to know."

The intro was very familiar to Joanne, which made her cringe in her seat. She'd heard the awkward beginnings, not the polished flower that it was now. She'd heard that song all the way through about twenty times that summer. Jeremy's voice was just as low and caressing as he wove a spell of longing that gripped the room. She struggled to keep from falling back into how she was back then. Her eyes watered with the effort not to cry. When he finished, the uncomfortable hush exposed his satiated sigh. The crowd applauded. She was the only one that saw through him.

"If you find her, let me know," he chuckled lightly as he moved on to the next song.

"Angel?" Gary placed a hand over hers and looked at her with concern. She could feel the frown pressing down on her face.

She put on a smile for him and said, "It was so beautiful."

"This is just the beginning," he smiled as he gave her hand a squeeze.

Joanne had to admit that Jeremy could definitely play a piano. Through the entire evening, he joked and sighed his way into the audience's confidence. When he finally got up and walked offstage, she absolutely wanted to leave, but Gary didn't get up.

"You gotta go to the bathroom?"

Joanne looked back down at him and said, "Well, yeah. But, I thought we'd be going..."

"No, we're going to meet him, I got a great deal."

A great deal. She didn't agree. Joanne went to the bathroom and worked to get her emotions under control.

She looked at herself in the mirror as she washed her hands. 'He doesn't remember. You just walk in, say hello, and...' "It's nothing. You smile at him and go. Gary's happy, we go home."

"Oh look who's here," she heard a familiar voice behind her as she dried her hands with a paper towel. Candace in all of her glory growled, "I figured you'd show up here. What do I have to do to get you off of his back?"

Her long curly hair nearly concealed the spaghetti straps of her clinging green dress. Her subdued pink hands on her hips, she glowered, "What? You don't have anything to say, again?"

"No, I don't. I haven't seen Daniel since I last saw you."

"Oh please! You're trying to show what little you have to try to lure my Danny away."

"What? I don't do that." 'Gary wanted me to wear this thing! Stupid lavender rectangles.'

"Look at you! Honestly, purple does nothing for you. You don't even know what kind of eye shadow to use. Why would he go from me to you?"

Tired of the entire conversation, Jo forced her way out of the restroom and worked her way back to Gary. She didn't realize that showing her back to Candace was like red to a bull.

"You don't walk away from me," she heard as she felt a tug on her dress.

"Get off," she yelled as she grabbed the woman's arm, but it was too late. She felt the fabric on her back give way. As the front portion of her dress dropped, she cupped the free fabric to her breasts. Her back, and the fact that she wasn't wearing a bra, was bared to everyone nearby.

"Candy?" Daniel appeared behind Candace.

'Great! This could get worse, couldn't it? Where's the pie in the face?' Jo hunched with her shoulder toward him. Her instincts were to turn her back on the two, but she knew that would reveal more than she would have liked. Dan met Jo's eyes and quickly looked down. He took Candy's arm and led her away.

'He didn't stick up for me. He did once.' Joanne had been sure he would now, 'but he didn't even...'

"You okay, Jo," Gary came up behind her and put his jacket over her shoulders.

"Yeah, I'll be fine."

"Let's get you out of that dress," he soothed. So much for that nice normal date.

"I'm sorry, Gary..." She sighed as she moved with him to the exit. "This wasn't the nice evening you had planned."

"Don't be sorry, hon. She's a crazy bitch. Only a white girl would go after the dress and leave the hair alone," he chuckled.

This was no joke. The woman really was crazy.

*

"Candy! Baby, how you doing?" Jeremy grabbed her up and spun her.

She laughed and kissed him full on the lips. "Tell Danny it's not my fault."

"What?" Jeremy looked to Daniel's sour expression. The moment Daniel heard Candy's voice over the usual crowd noise, he'd know it would be something involving Joanne. He'd arrived too late to stop what happened. All he could do was get Candy away from Joanne before something else happened. He knew candy too well to not expect her to try to increase Joanne's humiliation.

"That little girl he's been fucking started a fight with me. I finished it," she casually said as she sat down.

Jerry said, "You never said anything about a girl, bruh. Was that the one that you made cry?"

"There is no girl. Candy took care of that a while ago." Dan stared at Candy.

Just from his stance, she went on the defensive, "She attacked me first! You should have seen her. That little slut was smoothing down that dress and talking to herself about how she'd act when she saw you. I called her on it, and she hit me in the breast..."

"She would never do that," Dan called her on it.

Candy, seeing that he wasn't buying it, decided on a martyr approach.

"She did it. You want to see? I think it will bruise."

Dan let out a sigh. He'd seen this act before. "She's with Gary. She's been with Gary. Why would she attack you when she's with him?"

"Because, she wants you!"

Dan raised his hands to make her stop her calculated invasion of his personal space. "Joanne doesn't want me, thanks to you. I wouldn't want me either, if I came with you." He turned his back on her and grabbed his coat from the chair. "Just stay away from me, Candy." He pushed his way through the crowd and outside.

Jerry looked at Candy, "Joanne?"

"Yeah, that's the bitch's name." Candy frowned up at him.

"Joanne..." He smoothed his hair and asked, "Is it Joanne Croix?"