Forty-Two
“Are you alright?” Peter asked, turning his head to look at Josie who was standing on the other side of the elevator that was taking them up to the Presidential suite in the Four Seasons Hotel where they would be staying for their week in Los Angeles. When she didn’t answer, he took a side-step closer to her and elbowed her playfully. “Tink?”
She blinked and jerked her head to look at him so quickly that he was startled. “Sorry,” she said, offering an apologetic smile, “What?”
“I was asking if you’re alright,” he said, turning to face her and putting his hands on top of her hair, physically directing her gaze towards him. “You’ve been acting really...jumpy since we got into the limo at the airport. What’s up?”
“Nothing,” she lied, swallowing hard and hoping he didn’t notice. There was something different in the feeling of his hands on her head and she couldn’t quite place what it was. More than making her want to tell him about Toby’s message, his touch was actually making her forget about it. Realizing that he wouldn’t let go until she gave him a convincing answer, she said, “It’s just that...this whole tour thing is a lot different than I thought it was going to be, and I’m just kind of tired of it already. I mean, not that I want to quit, but I’d like more than just one day off, you know?”
Peter seemed convinced and put his hands back at his sides, turning his back to the elevator wall once again and sighing. “I know exactly what you mean,” he said before stretching over-dramatically, faking a yawn as he dropped one of his arms around her shoulders. They exchanged mischievous glances before laughing somewhat uncomfortably and averting their eyes away from each other.
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“Oh my God, Peter,” Josie said, re-entering the living room where Peter was kneeling backwards on an elaborately upholstered armchair looking out over their immaculate view of Los Angeles. He turned around and beamed at her, the excited eyes behind his sunglasses lighting up when they saw her. Unable to stop herself from smiling back, Josie continued, “There are two bedrooms and a guest bedroom. We don’t have to share this time!”
He turned around and sat in the chair, folding his hands matter-of-factly in his lap. “But what if I want to share?”
For the first time since the conversation took place, Josie remembered when she and Toby were lying around in the Hudsons’ theater, when he told her that Josh and Peter had been fighting earlier that night because Peter had a tendency to occasionally fall in love with girls. According to Toby, it seemed to happen every couple of years or so, and although it was something that Josh was used to and had grown to accept, there was always a period of time when Peter started thinking that this girl was the one he was meant to be with despite the fact that he and Josh had been married for quite some time. As Josie was recalling all of this information and finally trying to process it, a sly grin formed on Peter’s face.
“Then I suppose we’d share,” Josie answered coquettishly. She walked across the room and sat sideways on his lap, pushing his sunglasses to the top of his head and looking intensely into his eyes for a few seconds before popping up and walking back towards the bedrooms. “I guess I’ll move your things into my room.”
As she picked up Peter’s suitcase and headed towards the larger of the two bedrooms, she heard him clear his throat and stand up. Judging by the sound of his footsteps, he headed into the dining room, and Josie was terrified of whatever it was that had just happened between the two of them. Sure, it was something Josh was used to and Toby had obviously known what was going through Peter’s mind all along, but that didn’t stop Josie from feeling like it would hurt both of them. On the same token, they both must know what was going to happen with Peter and Josie being more or less alone for two months, sharing luxury suites and having such a deep connection via their friendship.
“Josie?”
She turned around so quickly that she dropped Peter’s suitcase, which landed dangerously close to her bare feet. He laughed at her uncharacteristic lack of grace and took a sip of the mixed drink in his hand before setting it on the bedside table and walking over to one of the twin armchairs by the fireplace. “Come on,” he said, patting the seat next to him as he propped his feet up on the shared ottoman, “come talk to me. Something’s up.”
“Sure,” she said, brushing a stray hair out of her face, her legs trembling as she crossed the room to sit beside him. As she got comfortable, she kept her eyes glued on the fireplace behind her and the ornate designs etched on the glass covering it.
Peter effortlessly pulled her chair closer to his before resting his hand on top of hers, leaning his head against the back of his chair and lazily looking over at her. “What’s wrong?”
It would be much too brass to come right out with her worries concerning what she thought was an imminent romantic interlude between the two of them, so she decided the best and most convincing thing to blame her unusual behavior on would be the message she’d received earlier. “It’s stupid,” she started, running her free hand across her forehead. “I mean, it’s not stupid at all, really, but I shouldn’t be this bothered by it.”
She paused, looking up at Peter for a reaction, and more than anything he looked amused, as though he were fighting back a smile. “Just tell me, Josie,” he said, his mouth finally breaking into a grin. It was obvious to her then that he thought she was going to bring up whatever relationship he thought was developing between the two of them.
“Toby sent me a text message earlier asking if it was okay if he met us at his parents’ house next week to bring me some of the stuff I left at our...um, his house.”
Peter’s face fell with the exception of one raised eyebrow. “This is about Toby?” he asked, confusion laced with the normal caring in his voice, “I thought you said that when Claire called...?”
“Oh, I know,” she said, waving her hand dismissively, “But it’s still going to be hard to see him.”
“Definitely understandable,” he said, nodding and rubbing his hand over the stubble starting to grow on his cheek. “It’ll be alright, though. I mean, I’m sure you’ll be able to handle it. And I’ll be there.” He ended with a very suave smile before winking at her and standing up to leave the room.
“Where are you going?” she asked, following him like a scared puppy.
“I thought we might go out and find someplace to eat,” he said, pausing so she could catch up with him, “Are you hungry?”
“Famished.”
He pulled his sunglasses down over his eyes and opened the door into the hallway. “Is the café downstairs alright?”
“Absolutely,” she said, pressing the down button for the elevator before looking up at him, his eyes glued to the brightly-lit numbers indicating the amount of time until their elevator arrived. For the first time, she saw him as something more than a friend and had to force herself to look away before he caught her. Feeling awkward in the silence after her stare, she cleared her throat and said, “That’s a really great idea, actually, because I’m really sick of travelling.”
“Mmm,” he responded, sneaking a sidelong glance at her from behind his mirrored sunglasses. “Yeah, so am I. It’ll be nice to have our first day here all to ourselves.”
“Oh, wasn’t that awful in New York? I mean, as soon as we got there, we had to go straight to a press conference and have our picture made. It was horrible!” Her response was too eager, her words spilled out so speedily that they all but ran together to form one gigantic, nervous word. Three short laughs forced their way out of her throat and she had to clasp both hands over her mouth to stop herself.
“I love you, Josie,” Peter said gleefully, crooking an arm around her neck and pulling her against him, planting a playful kiss on the top of her head and releasing her just as the elevator doors opened in front of them.
For a second, Josie was stuck to the floor, completely immobilized as her obsessive over-analyzation tendencies kicked in full force. Peter laughed and gestured with both hands for her to get onto the elevator, the movement of his hands snapping her out of her trance and allowing her legs to unlock. “Sorry,” she said, looking up at him as the doors slowly closed.
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With a half-empty martini in one hand and a sprig of grapes in the other, Josie sat in the high-backed chair in front of the baby grand piano in their suite and closed her eyes as Peter played a very slow, melancholic rendition of Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata. As she emptied her glass and popped a grape into her mouth to ease the bite of her drink, she sighed and opened her eyes. She’d had far too much to drink since they’d arrived at the hotel that morning, a fool-hardy attempt to put her conflicting feelings out of her mind. “Scoot over,” she demanded, setting her empty glass and remaining grapes on the room service cart they had arrived on. Peter obediently made room for her on the bench beside him, his eyes somewhat hazy from attempting to keep up with Josie’s alcohol intake all evening.
“Heart And Soul?” he asked knowingly. She nodded and the strands of hair that escaped her ponytail holder fell into her eager eyes. He gently pushed them out of her way before putting his fingers back on the keys and began playing the more difficult part.
Her memory of the song and control over the fingers playing it were astounding considering her current blood-alcohol level, but they made it through the song without a single foul note. At the end, Josie couldn’t keep herself from laughing, the hand with the ring identical to Toby’s flying up to cover her mouth. “Oh, that was wonderful,” she said, leaning carelessly on Peter as he wrapped his arms tightly around her. She wriggled free of his grip and turned around, walking out onto the balcony directly behind them and looking out at the mountains in the distance. Every star in the sky seemed to be out that night creating the perfect backdrop to the scene they had just played out together at the piano. Josie sighed and leaned against the railing for a moment before sighing and turning around to find Peter standing right behind her.
“Hi,” he whispered, taking her hands and pulling her away from the edge, knowing she was far too intoxicated to be standing so close to imminent death.
“Hi, Peter,” she said, putting the full weight of her body against him as she smiled drunkenly up into his soft gaze.
With a heavy sigh, knowing that this was possibly going to change everything between them and in the entirety of their lives, he put both hands on her face and leaned down to kiss her.