Thirty
Every time Josie closed her eyes, she could see the fireworks from the Wishes Nighttime Spectacular and her fingertips could still feel the sparks as Toby had slowly reached over to hold her hand the night before. When she opened her eyes, she was on the small jet again with Peter on her way home, Toby and Josh having left early that morning to take the clothes and open the store. Peter smiled at her, his eyes lighting up through his light-brown tinted sunglasses and it made her feel very at home.
“You’re thinking about Toby,” he said, crossing his legs and folding his arms. He had a strawberry-banana gourmet lollipop in his mouth, making it somewhat difficult to understand him. “I can always tell when you’re thinking about Toby. Ever since the first time you met him at Olive Garden.”
“How?” she asked in amused disbelief.
He patted her knee and said, “It seems like you’re blinking, but you’ll hold your eyes closed for a few seconds and the corners of your mouth twitch like you’re trying not to smile. And you wring your hands, too. You’ve always wrung your hands.”
“He touches them a lot,” she explained although she didn’t know any more than Peter did about her subconscious actions. “I mean, I guess that’s what it is. Because that first time I met him, he was just, like…clinging to it.”
“What do you think about that ring? Pretty wild, huh?”
Josie nodded, separating her fingers and staring down at the large, sparkling diamond. “Can’t argue with a man who buys you a diamond after one week of dating, I suppose,” she mused.
Peter leaned forward, a conspiratorial gleam in his eye, and although they were alone on the plane, he whispered, “Honey, if I tell you something, you cannot say a word to absolutely anybody, okay? Not even Josh because he doesn’t know, and you really can’t tell Toby that I told you. Can you keep a secret?”
“Of course.”
“You know Toby’s whole speech about how that isn’t an engagement ring?” Josie nodded. “Yeah, total crap. That is exactly what he bought it for, but I told him it was way too soon and it would likely scare the hell out of you. But…he wanted you to have it anyway, so he went ahead and bought it.”
Josie stared silently down at her ring for a very long time, unsure of what to think, much less how to properly respond to such a momentous secret. It was going to be extremely difficult for her not to tell people that Toby had actually planned on proposing to her-Claire, most of all, who would die to hear it-but unless she said something by mistake, she felt confident in her secret-keeping abilities. It wasn’t clear to her how she felt about the idea of the proposal itself, aside from the fact that she thought Toby was completely crazy for considering such a thing so soon. That, of course, made her a hypocrite.
“I’m only mentioning it because, well…” Peter paused, scratching the back of his head and twisting his mouth up in thought. “The thing is, yesterday when you were signing those autographs, you always signed as ‘Josie Hudson’ so, I mean, I figured it wouldn’t completely freak you out that he was thinking about it. And, I don’t know, I guess I just thought you should know how much he cares about you because sometimes I don’t think you believe him.”
“It’s difficult to believe an actor who behaves so over-dramatically,” Josie pointed out, trying to pretend she hadn’t heard the part about her signature.
“Honey, there’s acting and then there’s life, and believe me, Toby knows the difference. And you must know that he cares a lot about you even if you think he’s just acting out some of the time.”
Josie found that she had no response and she spent a large remainder of the flight staring down at her ring, moving her hand so that it caught the light and made tiny prisms across Peter’s face as he flipped through a Vanity Fair with Leonardo DiCaprio on the cover.
“You’ll be in the next one of these, you know,” he replied when he noticed her staring at the magazine. “You’re technically a Disney employee now. Did you realize that, Tink?”
Her cheeks warmed and turned pink at his nickname for her. She had a fondness for Peter that was hard for her to explain. She cared more for him than she did for John, her own brother; he was much more to her than a friend but they would never even consider a relationship. If she had to go 24 hours without seeing or speaking to him, she thought she might go crazy. In a way, she really was the equivalent of Tinkerbell to him and it was strange how life worked out like that sometimes.
“Tink?”
“Sorry,” she said, smiling warmly as she came out of her thoughts, “No, I hadn’t realized that. It’s pretty freakin’ awesome, though! And it’s insane to think about me being in Vanity Fair.”
Peter pulled the lollipop out of his mouth and offered it to Josie who gladly accepted. “Can you come by the store on your lunch break on Monday?” he asked without looking up from an interview with Val Kilmer.
“Sure. What’s up?”
“The photographers are dropping their pictures off on Monday morning, and we want you to help us pick the ones we want to use.” He read silently for a few seconds before smirking and saying, “Queer love scenes in ‘Alexander’. I told Josh we should have seen it.”
Josie shook her head, giving him a too-much-information look just as the pilot’s voice came back telling them they were about to land.
_____________
Josie walked in to work on Monday morning horribly excited about her plans for her lunch break. It felt like her whole life was changing and it was all very glamorous. She pushed open the door, sighing happily to herself and scratching a very obnoxious itch on her forehead.
Claire was sitting at her desk looking through papers, but lifted her head with a smile when she heard her boss come in. “Hey, Jos-oly shit!” She stopped short when she saw the blinding diamond on the hand Josie was using to scratch herself. She jumped up and ran over to Josie, grabbing the hand away from her forehead and gawking at it. “Is this what I think it is?”
“A ring?” Josie asked with an eyebrow cocked at the overzealous girl still staring at her hand.
“Ha,” Claire said, dropping Josie’s hand and glaring at her for a second. “Did you guys…you… You didn’t invite me?”
“Invite you to what?” Josie asked, honestly clueless. “What are you babbling about, Claire?”
“Oh,” Claire said, looking away when she noticed the ring was on Josie’s right hand, “No wedding, but if you got engaged, you could call! Sheesh! I mean, I live my fantasy through you, the least you could do is call.”
Remembering the secret Peter had trusted her with, she laughed nervously. “Wedding? Oh Lord, have I ever got something to tell-” She suddenly broke into a coughing fit to cover up the very near slip. “Sorry about that. But right, no, no wedding. It was a lovely weekend, though.”
“So,” Claire started, perking up again, “Details! How’d he do it?”
“Do what?”
“Josie, hello!” Claire grabbed Josie’s right hand again. “Rock much?”
“Yeah, that’s what I said, more or less. But, no, it’s just a ring.” Josie couldn’t help hearing a sadness in her own voice when she said this that she hadn’t expected, and she hoped that Claire hadn’t picked up on it as well. “He bought me some presents and this was just one of them. Or something.”
Claire raised her eyebrows and folded her arms, giving Josie a very suspicious look. “Or something? Oh, and P.S.,” she said, walking back to her desk, “‘Just a ring’ doesn’t come with a DIAMOND! You’ve seen the commercials-a diamond is forever!”
Josie rolled her eyes and said, “I don’t think that’s what they were trying to say, kiddo.”
“Yeah, because ‘million-year-old piece of coal’ would totally sell? Not.” Claire smiled smugly to herself for awhile, shifting some of the papers on her desk to clear more space before adding, “Guys don’t buy diamonds for presents, they buy diamonds for commitment.”
“Well, Toby’s crazy, we all know that. I think he has a chemical imbalance.”
“You do have a point,” Claire concurred, nodding as she so often did. “But I still say…never mind.”
“What?”
Claire smiled innocently. “Nothing. How was the photo shoot?”
Josie sighed and sat down on the corner of Claire’s desk, rubbing the itchy spot on her forehead as she said, “Lots of fun! Tiring, though. Josh had to carry me around on his back by the time we were done. And people kept asking for my autograph.” She paused, looking around to make sure none of the other receptionists were eavesdropping, as they were known to do. “Listen, can I tell you something without you thinking I’m totally crazy?”
“Well, seeing as I already know you’re crazy, shoot.”
“Right, well, I didn't have any idea I was doing this until Peter told me the next day, but I was signing all the autographs as ‘Josie Hudson’. HUDSON, Claire! Do you hear me?” Josie smacked herself on the forehead, still disbelieving that she had actually done something like that without even realizing it.
Claire tried very hard to fight back her smirk. “Hudson, huh? Apparently all that time practicing ‘Mrs. Toby Hudson’ in your log book paid off, eh?”
“What are you talking about?” Josie sputtered out, trying her best to look shocked at the accusation. She was unaware that anyone but herself ever saw the log book that she kept on her desk in her office, so not all of her surprise was false-the fact that Claire had seen her absentminded, day-dreamy doodles was quite a throw.
“Nothing. It’s cute, Josie! Plus, in a few yea-well, soon enough, maybe you will be signing ‘Josie Hudson’.”
“Oh, that’s ridiculous,” Josie said, brushing the hair out of her eyes, “I think it's just because I live in a house with three Hudsons or something. Like, I'm so used to being grouped in with them, with the mail and all... And I do not practice writing that in my log book!”
“Dear Diary,” Claire said in a mocking voice, “Josie plus Toby forever!” She laughed loudly, quite proud of her own joke until she saw that Josie was unamused. “Well, I mean, that could be it. Just tell them you’re taking Josh and Peter’s last name as your stage name or something.”
“That’s probably what I was thinking anyway,” Josie said, nodding to confirm for her own mental benefit. “Yeah, that’s all it was.”
“Of course,” Claire said loftily, “that’s all it was.”
“Are there any fake-sounding names in my appointment book for today?”
“I haven’t checked,” Claire said, keeping her eyes away from Josie as her cheeks turned light pink.
Josie raised her eyebrows in a slow, threatening manner. “You would remember if Toby called.”
“Josie, lots of people call,” Claire explained, “you’re in high demand. How am I supposed to remember one call? I mean, honestly.”
“Because it’s you and it’s Toby?”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Claire responded politically, sticking her nose in the air as she went about her business, making sure to ‘accidentally’ file the appointment book away with some loose files.
“Oh,” Josie said thoughtfully, “then maybe you would know by the way you use every single highlighter in your drawer to write his name in your call log.”
“Do I?” Claire asked distractedly. “Hmm…never noticed.”
“Just answer the question. Do I have to deal with him this morning or not?”
“There is no Toby Hudson in my book and that’s all I have to say about it,” Claire said breathlessly, looking very annoyed about the interrogation.
“I really need to get a new secretary,” Josie mumbled as she walked into her office and shut the door.
“You love me and you know it,” Claire called after her.
“Sorry, Claire, can’t hear you!” Josie started loudly humming the Sanford And Son theme song to help get the point across, but to no avail.
“You just wait and see, Josie HUDSON! One day, you’ll thank me!”
Josie stuck her head out of the door and scowled at Claire. “My last name isn’t Hudson, it’s Pres-! Well, no, it isn’t. Never mind what it is because I don’t know, but it isn’t Hudson!”
Claire leaned back in her chair cockily and said, “You keep telling yourself that, Missy. One day I might believe you.”
“Where’s my coffee?” Josie asked, not only because she was just noticing the lack of caffeine in her system but also because she was eager to change the subject.
“Oh, right,” Claire said, standing up right away, “I poured you a cup but then I drank it, so…coming right up!”
“Honestly,” Josie said as she leaned against the door frame and waited for Claire to return from the break room.
When she reappeared, she was carrying a mug that was full to the brim that Claire seemed very nervous to be carrying. “Here you are, my dictator,” she said, handing it over carefully. “Be careful because it’s really hot. Anything else?”
Josie took a dainty sip that felt as though it burned off every one of her taste buds. “I think you’re trying to burn me on purpose,” she said, her face scrunching up with the anger of a toddler. “But unless I have any phone messages, I think that’s all for this exact moment.”
Claire curtseyed and walked back to her desk saying, “Buzz me if you need anything!”
“Will do,” Josie said, walking into her room and shutting the door again. She headed into her small office and set the mug down on her desk before finding her log book and locking it in her filing cabinet.
“You’re thinking about Toby,” he said, crossing his legs and folding his arms. He had a strawberry-banana gourmet lollipop in his mouth, making it somewhat difficult to understand him. “I can always tell when you’re thinking about Toby. Ever since the first time you met him at Olive Garden.”
“How?” she asked in amused disbelief.
He patted her knee and said, “It seems like you’re blinking, but you’ll hold your eyes closed for a few seconds and the corners of your mouth twitch like you’re trying not to smile. And you wring your hands, too. You’ve always wrung your hands.”
“He touches them a lot,” she explained although she didn’t know any more than Peter did about her subconscious actions. “I mean, I guess that’s what it is. Because that first time I met him, he was just, like…clinging to it.”
“What do you think about that ring? Pretty wild, huh?”
Josie nodded, separating her fingers and staring down at the large, sparkling diamond. “Can’t argue with a man who buys you a diamond after one week of dating, I suppose,” she mused.
Peter leaned forward, a conspiratorial gleam in his eye, and although they were alone on the plane, he whispered, “Honey, if I tell you something, you cannot say a word to absolutely anybody, okay? Not even Josh because he doesn’t know, and you really can’t tell Toby that I told you. Can you keep a secret?”
“Of course.”
“You know Toby’s whole speech about how that isn’t an engagement ring?” Josie nodded. “Yeah, total crap. That is exactly what he bought it for, but I told him it was way too soon and it would likely scare the hell out of you. But…he wanted you to have it anyway, so he went ahead and bought it.”
Josie stared silently down at her ring for a very long time, unsure of what to think, much less how to properly respond to such a momentous secret. It was going to be extremely difficult for her not to tell people that Toby had actually planned on proposing to her-Claire, most of all, who would die to hear it-but unless she said something by mistake, she felt confident in her secret-keeping abilities. It wasn’t clear to her how she felt about the idea of the proposal itself, aside from the fact that she thought Toby was completely crazy for considering such a thing so soon. That, of course, made her a hypocrite.
“I’m only mentioning it because, well…” Peter paused, scratching the back of his head and twisting his mouth up in thought. “The thing is, yesterday when you were signing those autographs, you always signed as ‘Josie Hudson’ so, I mean, I figured it wouldn’t completely freak you out that he was thinking about it. And, I don’t know, I guess I just thought you should know how much he cares about you because sometimes I don’t think you believe him.”
“It’s difficult to believe an actor who behaves so over-dramatically,” Josie pointed out, trying to pretend she hadn’t heard the part about her signature.
“Honey, there’s acting and then there’s life, and believe me, Toby knows the difference. And you must know that he cares a lot about you even if you think he’s just acting out some of the time.”
Josie found that she had no response and she spent a large remainder of the flight staring down at her ring, moving her hand so that it caught the light and made tiny prisms across Peter’s face as he flipped through a Vanity Fair with Leonardo DiCaprio on the cover.
“You’ll be in the next one of these, you know,” he replied when he noticed her staring at the magazine. “You’re technically a Disney employee now. Did you realize that, Tink?”
Her cheeks warmed and turned pink at his nickname for her. She had a fondness for Peter that was hard for her to explain. She cared more for him than she did for John, her own brother; he was much more to her than a friend but they would never even consider a relationship. If she had to go 24 hours without seeing or speaking to him, she thought she might go crazy. In a way, she really was the equivalent of Tinkerbell to him and it was strange how life worked out like that sometimes.
“Tink?”
“Sorry,” she said, smiling warmly as she came out of her thoughts, “No, I hadn’t realized that. It’s pretty freakin’ awesome, though! And it’s insane to think about me being in Vanity Fair.”
Peter pulled the lollipop out of his mouth and offered it to Josie who gladly accepted. “Can you come by the store on your lunch break on Monday?” he asked without looking up from an interview with Val Kilmer.
“Sure. What’s up?”
“The photographers are dropping their pictures off on Monday morning, and we want you to help us pick the ones we want to use.” He read silently for a few seconds before smirking and saying, “Queer love scenes in ‘Alexander’. I told Josh we should have seen it.”
Josie shook her head, giving him a too-much-information look just as the pilot’s voice came back telling them they were about to land.
_____________
Josie walked in to work on Monday morning horribly excited about her plans for her lunch break. It felt like her whole life was changing and it was all very glamorous. She pushed open the door, sighing happily to herself and scratching a very obnoxious itch on her forehead.
Claire was sitting at her desk looking through papers, but lifted her head with a smile when she heard her boss come in. “Hey, Jos-oly shit!” She stopped short when she saw the blinding diamond on the hand Josie was using to scratch herself. She jumped up and ran over to Josie, grabbing the hand away from her forehead and gawking at it. “Is this what I think it is?”
“A ring?” Josie asked with an eyebrow cocked at the overzealous girl still staring at her hand.
“Ha,” Claire said, dropping Josie’s hand and glaring at her for a second. “Did you guys…you… You didn’t invite me?”
“Invite you to what?” Josie asked, honestly clueless. “What are you babbling about, Claire?”
“Oh,” Claire said, looking away when she noticed the ring was on Josie’s right hand, “No wedding, but if you got engaged, you could call! Sheesh! I mean, I live my fantasy through you, the least you could do is call.”
Remembering the secret Peter had trusted her with, she laughed nervously. “Wedding? Oh Lord, have I ever got something to tell-” She suddenly broke into a coughing fit to cover up the very near slip. “Sorry about that. But right, no, no wedding. It was a lovely weekend, though.”
“So,” Claire started, perking up again, “Details! How’d he do it?”
“Do what?”
“Josie, hello!” Claire grabbed Josie’s right hand again. “Rock much?”
“Yeah, that’s what I said, more or less. But, no, it’s just a ring.” Josie couldn’t help hearing a sadness in her own voice when she said this that she hadn’t expected, and she hoped that Claire hadn’t picked up on it as well. “He bought me some presents and this was just one of them. Or something.”
Claire raised her eyebrows and folded her arms, giving Josie a very suspicious look. “Or something? Oh, and P.S.,” she said, walking back to her desk, “‘Just a ring’ doesn’t come with a DIAMOND! You’ve seen the commercials-a diamond is forever!”
Josie rolled her eyes and said, “I don’t think that’s what they were trying to say, kiddo.”
“Yeah, because ‘million-year-old piece of coal’ would totally sell? Not.” Claire smiled smugly to herself for awhile, shifting some of the papers on her desk to clear more space before adding, “Guys don’t buy diamonds for presents, they buy diamonds for commitment.”
“Well, Toby’s crazy, we all know that. I think he has a chemical imbalance.”
“You do have a point,” Claire concurred, nodding as she so often did. “But I still say…never mind.”
“What?”
Claire smiled innocently. “Nothing. How was the photo shoot?”
Josie sighed and sat down on the corner of Claire’s desk, rubbing the itchy spot on her forehead as she said, “Lots of fun! Tiring, though. Josh had to carry me around on his back by the time we were done. And people kept asking for my autograph.” She paused, looking around to make sure none of the other receptionists were eavesdropping, as they were known to do. “Listen, can I tell you something without you thinking I’m totally crazy?”
“Well, seeing as I already know you’re crazy, shoot.”
“Right, well, I didn't have any idea I was doing this until Peter told me the next day, but I was signing all the autographs as ‘Josie Hudson’. HUDSON, Claire! Do you hear me?” Josie smacked herself on the forehead, still disbelieving that she had actually done something like that without even realizing it.
Claire tried very hard to fight back her smirk. “Hudson, huh? Apparently all that time practicing ‘Mrs. Toby Hudson’ in your log book paid off, eh?”
“What are you talking about?” Josie sputtered out, trying her best to look shocked at the accusation. She was unaware that anyone but herself ever saw the log book that she kept on her desk in her office, so not all of her surprise was false-the fact that Claire had seen her absentminded, day-dreamy doodles was quite a throw.
“Nothing. It’s cute, Josie! Plus, in a few yea-well, soon enough, maybe you will be signing ‘Josie Hudson’.”
“Oh, that’s ridiculous,” Josie said, brushing the hair out of her eyes, “I think it's just because I live in a house with three Hudsons or something. Like, I'm so used to being grouped in with them, with the mail and all... And I do not practice writing that in my log book!”
“Dear Diary,” Claire said in a mocking voice, “Josie plus Toby forever!” She laughed loudly, quite proud of her own joke until she saw that Josie was unamused. “Well, I mean, that could be it. Just tell them you’re taking Josh and Peter’s last name as your stage name or something.”
“That’s probably what I was thinking anyway,” Josie said, nodding to confirm for her own mental benefit. “Yeah, that’s all it was.”
“Of course,” Claire said loftily, “that’s all it was.”
“Are there any fake-sounding names in my appointment book for today?”
“I haven’t checked,” Claire said, keeping her eyes away from Josie as her cheeks turned light pink.
Josie raised her eyebrows in a slow, threatening manner. “You would remember if Toby called.”
“Josie, lots of people call,” Claire explained, “you’re in high demand. How am I supposed to remember one call? I mean, honestly.”
“Because it’s you and it’s Toby?”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Claire responded politically, sticking her nose in the air as she went about her business, making sure to ‘accidentally’ file the appointment book away with some loose files.
“Oh,” Josie said thoughtfully, “then maybe you would know by the way you use every single highlighter in your drawer to write his name in your call log.”
“Do I?” Claire asked distractedly. “Hmm…never noticed.”
“Just answer the question. Do I have to deal with him this morning or not?”
“There is no Toby Hudson in my book and that’s all I have to say about it,” Claire said breathlessly, looking very annoyed about the interrogation.
“I really need to get a new secretary,” Josie mumbled as she walked into her office and shut the door.
“You love me and you know it,” Claire called after her.
“Sorry, Claire, can’t hear you!” Josie started loudly humming the Sanford And Son theme song to help get the point across, but to no avail.
“You just wait and see, Josie HUDSON! One day, you’ll thank me!”
Josie stuck her head out of the door and scowled at Claire. “My last name isn’t Hudson, it’s Pres-! Well, no, it isn’t. Never mind what it is because I don’t know, but it isn’t Hudson!”
Claire leaned back in her chair cockily and said, “You keep telling yourself that, Missy. One day I might believe you.”
“Where’s my coffee?” Josie asked, not only because she was just noticing the lack of caffeine in her system but also because she was eager to change the subject.
“Oh, right,” Claire said, standing up right away, “I poured you a cup but then I drank it, so…coming right up!”
“Honestly,” Josie said as she leaned against the door frame and waited for Claire to return from the break room.
When she reappeared, she was carrying a mug that was full to the brim that Claire seemed very nervous to be carrying. “Here you are, my dictator,” she said, handing it over carefully. “Be careful because it’s really hot. Anything else?”
Josie took a dainty sip that felt as though it burned off every one of her taste buds. “I think you’re trying to burn me on purpose,” she said, her face scrunching up with the anger of a toddler. “But unless I have any phone messages, I think that’s all for this exact moment.”
Claire curtseyed and walked back to her desk saying, “Buzz me if you need anything!”
“Will do,” Josie said, walking into her room and shutting the door again. She headed into her small office and set the mug down on her desk before finding her log book and locking it in her filing cabinet.