Thirty-Five
When Josie woke up the next morning, she was sitting on a lambskin-covered airplane seat, covered with a bear-fur blanket and a goose-down pillow underneath her head. “Toby?” she croaked, not wanting to move her head, which was pounding violently from the horrible hangover she had. She slowly looked to her left and could only see blue skies out her window, nothing to indicate where they were.
“Did you say something?”
Josie looked up to see Peter crouching beside her chair, looking at her sympathetically. “No,” she said, forcing herself to smile at him. “Well, yeah, I was calling for Toby. I was going to ask him where we were.”
Peter stared at her blankly for a few seconds before resting a hand on her shoulder and saying, “Sweetheart, how much did you have to drink last night?”
“Huh?” She pondered his question for a second before her eyes began to dart around the plane. “Where’s Toby? Peter, where’s Toby?” She sat up quickly, making her headache at least ten times worse in a split second. When she tried to stand up, she became dizzy and nauseated.
Peter gently sat her back down and pulled the blanket back over her legs before sitting in the seat next to hers and holding onto her hand. “Josie, Toby didn’t come with us.” When she continued to stare blankly at him, he added, “He’s not coming…at all. It’s just going to be you and me.”
In her still-drunken state, she immediately burst into wailing sobs. The crying intensified her headache, making her cry harder, contributing to a horrible cycle that continued renewing itself for several minutes before she cried herself back to sleep. When she next awoke, they had just landed at JFK International Airport and Peter was sitting in the seat beside her, hold her hand in both of his.
“How are you feeling?” he asked, tilting his head sympathetically.
She groaned and rubbed a fist against her eyes. “I’ve never had such a bad headache in my life,” she finally said, grumpy and completely out-of-sorts.
Peter reached into his pocket and pulled out a travel pack of Advil, pressing it into her hand and closing her fingers around it before smiling over at her. “I had a feeling you might need these.”
They didn’t speak again until after they had already gotten off the plane and directly into a waiting limousine. All was silent except for the barely audible beeping sounds coming from both their phones as they sent text messages to Josh and Betty respectively, letting them know they had arrived safely and were now en route to their hotel. Once all of the luggage had been transferred into the trunk, the driver headed into the city and Peter sighed heavily.
“What’s wrong?” Josie asked, looking up from her mother’s reply.
Peter made a face to show his reluctance to answer her question before telling her anyway. “It’s Toby. He slept in our room last night, you know, and Josh said that when he finally got up, he went into the bathroom and threw up for about an hour. Then he went upstairs and locked himself in his room and won’t even talk to Josh.”
Josie’s eyes welled up with tears and she turned her head towards the window so Peter wouldn’t notice. She wanted nothing more at that moment than to call him, to hear his voice even if it was just the automated version that played when he didn’t answer his cell phone. With her phone still in her hand from the text messaging frenzy she’d just had with her mother, it would have been so easy to just dial his number, but she knew that if she did, she would only get more upset than she already was. Since she had a very important press conference later that day, it was simply out of the question.
_____________
Josie was sitting behind a long table, Peter sitting next to her with his arm around her shoulders and at least twenty microphones in front of him. In her Lost Boys special edition Tinkerbell Green spring line of fashion separates-today it was the gauzy tube top and coordinating jagged-hem skirt-she smiled at everyone and her eyes lit up every time someone made an attempt at a joke, but despite her front, she was fighting very hard not to burst into tears. She was completely confused about the whole situation with Toby. The way the argument went the night before, he very well may have thought that she broke up with him. Of course, she didn’t mean for it to sound that way because it was certainly the last thing she wanted, but unless he thought that, why would he have stayed home knowing they would be apart for two months? She replayed their conversation over and over in her mind as Peter and the representative Disney had sent (for this particular stop, it was Fred H. Langhammer) to this particular conference talked somewhere in the background.
After much consideration, it probably wasn’t the argument itself that was causing both of them so much stress, but the complete silence that followed. She had locked herself in her bedroom-the one she never thought she would use-with a bottle of Jagermeister, and listened all night to Toby pacing up and down the hall outside of her door. She could tell that he wanted to come in and talk it over, but was absolutely petrified of being yelled at again. He eventually went downstairs and slept between Josh and Peter like a child running to his parents after a nightmare. So they fought violently enough to insinuate a break-up and then didn’t speak to each other, causing him to think that they really had broken up, which would logically make him want to bow out of the tour. Certainly it made sense, but it was still too much for Josie to think about.
When the conference had ended and innumerable pictures were taken of Peter and Josie posing together in front of the Walt Disney/Lost Boys backdrop that hung behind them, Mr. Langhammer escorted them from the stage and directly out of the building into a waiting limousine. This was the second time in one day that Josie had been rushed into car and she was beginning to feel like a paparazzi-chased celebrity.
Mr. Langhammer and Peter talked business as their chauffeur navigated the crowded streets of New York City. Josie pretended to be listening attentively, but all of her thoughts were back in Florida with Toby. It would have been rude, in the middle of the conversation, to pull out her phone and call him, so she began trying to send him telepathic messages urging him to call her, but her phone didn’t ring. By the time the limo was stopped in front of the 21 Club restaurant in Manhattan, Josie had given up on trying to seem at all interested in whatever Mr. Langhammer and Peter was so engrossed in.
During their three-course meal in the exclusive “Upstairs At 21" section, Josie managed to choke down tartare of spicy ahi tuna with heart of palm, Hawaiian ginger and sourdough chips as an appetizer, grilled filet mignon with winter squash and cippolines for her main course, and for dessert a velvet-robed chocolate mousse cake with a blood orange-creme center. She didn’t know half of what she was eating, but with Mr. Langhammer paying $68 each for their dinner, she thought it in her best interest not to waste anything.
“Now, you can’t go eating like that every day,” Mr. Langhammer said with a grin as he folded his napkin, watching her scraping the last of the cake off her plate, “You’ll get fat and we’ll have to fire you.”
Peter looked at Josie with alarm painted on his face for a second before realizing it would be rude not to acknowledge their employer’s joke. He forced out a very hearty and convincing laugh while trying to apologize to Josie with his eyes. “Don’t worry, sir, I always keep a very close watch on what she eats,” Peter assured him, giving him a friendly pat on the back before drawing his hand back quickly, fearing that perhaps he was being too familiar.
Josie pasted a smile on her face before scooting her chair back and saying, “Excuse me, gentlemen.” She stood up and headed quickly towards the bathroom where she collapsed onto a chaise lounge and burst into tears.
“Did you say something?”
Josie looked up to see Peter crouching beside her chair, looking at her sympathetically. “No,” she said, forcing herself to smile at him. “Well, yeah, I was calling for Toby. I was going to ask him where we were.”
Peter stared at her blankly for a few seconds before resting a hand on her shoulder and saying, “Sweetheart, how much did you have to drink last night?”
“Huh?” She pondered his question for a second before her eyes began to dart around the plane. “Where’s Toby? Peter, where’s Toby?” She sat up quickly, making her headache at least ten times worse in a split second. When she tried to stand up, she became dizzy and nauseated.
Peter gently sat her back down and pulled the blanket back over her legs before sitting in the seat next to hers and holding onto her hand. “Josie, Toby didn’t come with us.” When she continued to stare blankly at him, he added, “He’s not coming…at all. It’s just going to be you and me.”
In her still-drunken state, she immediately burst into wailing sobs. The crying intensified her headache, making her cry harder, contributing to a horrible cycle that continued renewing itself for several minutes before she cried herself back to sleep. When she next awoke, they had just landed at JFK International Airport and Peter was sitting in the seat beside her, hold her hand in both of his.
“How are you feeling?” he asked, tilting his head sympathetically.
She groaned and rubbed a fist against her eyes. “I’ve never had such a bad headache in my life,” she finally said, grumpy and completely out-of-sorts.
Peter reached into his pocket and pulled out a travel pack of Advil, pressing it into her hand and closing her fingers around it before smiling over at her. “I had a feeling you might need these.”
They didn’t speak again until after they had already gotten off the plane and directly into a waiting limousine. All was silent except for the barely audible beeping sounds coming from both their phones as they sent text messages to Josh and Betty respectively, letting them know they had arrived safely and were now en route to their hotel. Once all of the luggage had been transferred into the trunk, the driver headed into the city and Peter sighed heavily.
“What’s wrong?” Josie asked, looking up from her mother’s reply.
Peter made a face to show his reluctance to answer her question before telling her anyway. “It’s Toby. He slept in our room last night, you know, and Josh said that when he finally got up, he went into the bathroom and threw up for about an hour. Then he went upstairs and locked himself in his room and won’t even talk to Josh.”
Josie’s eyes welled up with tears and she turned her head towards the window so Peter wouldn’t notice. She wanted nothing more at that moment than to call him, to hear his voice even if it was just the automated version that played when he didn’t answer his cell phone. With her phone still in her hand from the text messaging frenzy she’d just had with her mother, it would have been so easy to just dial his number, but she knew that if she did, she would only get more upset than she already was. Since she had a very important press conference later that day, it was simply out of the question.
_____________
Josie was sitting behind a long table, Peter sitting next to her with his arm around her shoulders and at least twenty microphones in front of him. In her Lost Boys special edition Tinkerbell Green spring line of fashion separates-today it was the gauzy tube top and coordinating jagged-hem skirt-she smiled at everyone and her eyes lit up every time someone made an attempt at a joke, but despite her front, she was fighting very hard not to burst into tears. She was completely confused about the whole situation with Toby. The way the argument went the night before, he very well may have thought that she broke up with him. Of course, she didn’t mean for it to sound that way because it was certainly the last thing she wanted, but unless he thought that, why would he have stayed home knowing they would be apart for two months? She replayed their conversation over and over in her mind as Peter and the representative Disney had sent (for this particular stop, it was Fred H. Langhammer) to this particular conference talked somewhere in the background.
After much consideration, it probably wasn’t the argument itself that was causing both of them so much stress, but the complete silence that followed. She had locked herself in her bedroom-the one she never thought she would use-with a bottle of Jagermeister, and listened all night to Toby pacing up and down the hall outside of her door. She could tell that he wanted to come in and talk it over, but was absolutely petrified of being yelled at again. He eventually went downstairs and slept between Josh and Peter like a child running to his parents after a nightmare. So they fought violently enough to insinuate a break-up and then didn’t speak to each other, causing him to think that they really had broken up, which would logically make him want to bow out of the tour. Certainly it made sense, but it was still too much for Josie to think about.
When the conference had ended and innumerable pictures were taken of Peter and Josie posing together in front of the Walt Disney/Lost Boys backdrop that hung behind them, Mr. Langhammer escorted them from the stage and directly out of the building into a waiting limousine. This was the second time in one day that Josie had been rushed into car and she was beginning to feel like a paparazzi-chased celebrity.
Mr. Langhammer and Peter talked business as their chauffeur navigated the crowded streets of New York City. Josie pretended to be listening attentively, but all of her thoughts were back in Florida with Toby. It would have been rude, in the middle of the conversation, to pull out her phone and call him, so she began trying to send him telepathic messages urging him to call her, but her phone didn’t ring. By the time the limo was stopped in front of the 21 Club restaurant in Manhattan, Josie had given up on trying to seem at all interested in whatever Mr. Langhammer and Peter was so engrossed in.
During their three-course meal in the exclusive “Upstairs At 21" section, Josie managed to choke down tartare of spicy ahi tuna with heart of palm, Hawaiian ginger and sourdough chips as an appetizer, grilled filet mignon with winter squash and cippolines for her main course, and for dessert a velvet-robed chocolate mousse cake with a blood orange-creme center. She didn’t know half of what she was eating, but with Mr. Langhammer paying $68 each for their dinner, she thought it in her best interest not to waste anything.
“Now, you can’t go eating like that every day,” Mr. Langhammer said with a grin as he folded his napkin, watching her scraping the last of the cake off her plate, “You’ll get fat and we’ll have to fire you.”
Peter looked at Josie with alarm painted on his face for a second before realizing it would be rude not to acknowledge their employer’s joke. He forced out a very hearty and convincing laugh while trying to apologize to Josie with his eyes. “Don’t worry, sir, I always keep a very close watch on what she eats,” Peter assured him, giving him a friendly pat on the back before drawing his hand back quickly, fearing that perhaps he was being too familiar.
Josie pasted a smile on her face before scooting her chair back and saying, “Excuse me, gentlemen.” She stood up and headed quickly towards the bathroom where she collapsed onto a chaise lounge and burst into tears.