Chapter 9

Bette grunted in frustration once more when the phone rang, breaking her concentration. She was sitting with Jordon reviewing catalogs in an attempt to choose a suitable artist for her next show.

“Do you want me to answer it?” Jordon asked.

“No,” Bette simply said. “It’s my cell phone so they can leave a message and I’ll get to it when I get to it.”

Bette smiled as she flipped open a catalog of abstract sculptures from a well-known name. Gracing the cover of the catalog was a picture of the artist smiling smugly into the camera.

“Is that him?” Jordon cocked her head to get a better view of the artist.

“God he’s so pretentious,” Bette said laughing. “He’s the only artist I know that puts a picture of himself on the first page instead of the focal point of his show.”

“You know him?”

“Unfortunately,” Bette chuckled once more. “His name is Jean-Paul and I can still remember the first time I met him.”

“That bad?” Jordon asked seeing the look of disdain cross Bette’s face.

“I am Jean-Paul,” Bette imitated him using her best French accent. “Ze best artist you’ll ever make love to, zat I can promise.”

“That’s how he introduced himself?”

“Unfortunately,” Bette chuckled. “At the time I was dating Alice….”

“Don’t you pick up your phone Porter?” Alice asked as she walked into Bette’s office. “I’ve called like, three times, and you never pick up. Do I have to throw paint on cardboard and call it art for you to call me back?”

“Speak of the devil…”

“And she shall appear,” Jordon finished Bette’s thought. “I’ll call your top three choices and schedule meetings with them for the end of the week so you can make your final decision.”

“Thanks Jordon.”

Alice sat down in the now vacant chair Jordon had been occupying. She ran her fingers through her hair and then allowed her mouth to drop at the picture lying in front of Bette.

“Oh my God! That’s Jean-Paul, or as I like to call him ‘is there a mirror in your pants because I can see myself in them’ boner man. I haven’t thought of him in…”

“Probably since the night he propositioned us and you flirted with him.”

“I did not flirt with him,” Alice said defensively as she picked the catalog up. “But I still stand by my assessment that he had the biggest dick in the…”

“Enough,” Bette held her hand up as she shook her head trying to block out the mental picture Alice created. “What are you doing here?”

“Killin’ time before I can call Tina and see if she talked to Natalie.”

“You can’t do that at The Planet?”

“Shane had to leave to go to work, Dana is all ‘I have to train’,” Alice imitated Dana perfectly causing Bette to stifle her laugh. “That left Marina and she was barking orders at people in different languages.”

Bette rolled her eyes in response.

“Give her credit because even that is better than having a conversation with Shane’s psycho roommates.”

Bette began to laugh and bumped her laptop, which instantly came to life. The images on the screen caught Alice’s attention and her eyes widened as a smile crossed her face. Bette immediately cursed herself silently seeing the screen come to life.

“What are you working on Porter?” Alice began to smile wider as her eyes glanced over the screen. “I thought you didn’t consider that type of literature worthy of a second glance?”

“I know what you’re going to say…”

Alice continued her thought process as she interrupted Bette without hesitation.

“I distinctly remember you barking at how frivolous the idea of a Harlequin romance novel was relative to it being a learning tool.”

“Get it over with Alice,” Bette pleaded as she sat back and fought the threat of blushing. “Get all your teasing out now while the moment is still fresh.”

“If you had questions, you could have come to one of us rather than stoop so low as to get pointers from a Harlequin novel,” Alice chuckled as she saw Bette’s embarrassment, in the form of a blush, creep up her neck to her cheeks. “I’m sure that someone in our group, you know the ones that you made fun of for reading such novels, could have given you the Cliff’s Notes on the book.”

“Point taken,” Bette held up her hand to silence Alice.

“Oh my poor Bette,” Alice mocked. “I know you’re fighting your urge to hurl yourself through a window.”

Bette rolled her eyes and leaned back in her chair, folding her arms across her chest.

“I wanted to tease Tina a little for her antics this morning,” Bette began to explain. “So I responded to a text message with a little jab at the books.”

“That’s what they all say,” Alice smiled as Bette lightly tossed a pen in her direction. “You should have just asked me, I’m always one to quote fantastic literature.”

“I have no intention of…”

“Unmasking a stranger?” Alice raised her eyebrow to mock Bette. “I’d hope not given you already did my dear friend. Don’t repeat yourself and ruin your reputation.”

Both Bette and Alice looked at the sound of Bette’s cell phone signaling that she had received a text message. Bette smiled as Alice licked her lips and rubbed her hands together in anticipation.

“I can’t wait to see if this is from TK. I love games like this, the innocent flirting that will suddenly erupt into a sex-fest later.”

“You won’t be seeing anything,” Bette said as she grabbed the phone off the desk. “I actually do need to work and if Tina is successful at begging Natalie not to hate you, you should get to where they are having lunch to make up for your behavior.”

“You’re right,” Alice smiled. “The hero in the novels would certainly swoop in and have an afternoon delight.”

Alice gathered her things and began to walk out the door when she quickly turned around.

“Incidentally,” Alice smiled. “I hope your afternoon delight is as good as the sequel. Skip to page 100 or so for the good stuff.”

Bette just shook her head as she scrolled through her inbox to find the newest message that had arrived. She made no attempt to hide the smile that crossed her face when she read Tina’s text message.

‘I wish you were here on the hunt for David Hasselhoff.’

Bette put the phone down while she turned her desk chair around to face her laptop. She wanted to provide Tina a seductive response based on the sequel of the book, but hadn’t researched it enough to write such a message. She began to scroll through the pages of the manuscript she found online, searching for page 100, her eyes skimming each sentence quickly.

“I never thought I’d be skimming someone’s writing searching for the word breasts,” Bette muttered to herself. “But paying you back will be well worth the effort Tina.”

Tina walked back into her office with passes for her family to wear while they toured the studio. She checked her cell phone once more before shutting it in frustration at not getting an immediate response from Bette. Bette had successfully turned the tables on their teasing, igniting Tina’s desire with simple words in a text message.

“We’ll first go on tour of the sets behind this building,” Tina said trying to distract herself by giving her family a tour of Alphaville. “There are 3 or 4 movies currently filming.”

“What are they?” Donna asked as she placed the pass around her neck.

“The first one is called ‘Striptease’ staring Demi Moore,” Tina read off the schedule for the day. “It’s about a single mother who is trying to get custody of her child and strips to get in a better financial position.”

“I’m not sure that will sell Button,” Donna said as she reread over Tina’s shoulder the description of the movie. “I’m sure they are fine actors, but overall the story might be lacking.”

“An autograph book does not an expert make,” Jackie said as she leaned over and whispered to James. “This tour should be great.”

“Let’s start there,” Tina said as she walked out of her office and toward the set of the movie. “It’s already shooting so we have to be rather quiet when we get there.”

Tina led them through the grounds of Alphaville and onto the set of ‘Striptease’ while filming continued on an important scene. As the group walked in, the director had just shouted cut and sighed in frustration.

“People, can we please start taking life seriously when it comes to this damn film?”

After the director walked off, Donna turned and whispered to Tina so that only she could hear.

“The potty mouth on the director leaves a lot to be desired.”

“Mom,” Tina ran her fingers through her hair as she felt her phone vibrate in her pocket. She quickly retrieved it and opened it to see a text message from Bette waiting to be read. “I have to take this. Promise me you won’t get in trouble?”

“Trouble?” Donna sounded shocked. “Why would I get in trouble Darlin’?”

Tina shot one final warning look in Donna’s direction before exiting the sound stage to read her text and reply in private. Donna watched Tina walk out as Jackie and James approached her.

“Where have you two been?”

“Watching the filming,” Jackie smiled. “I heard someone say it’s a pivotal strip scene of the movie.”

“I’m not sure how they do it,” James added smiling as shooting once again began. “He’s all staring at her until they yell cut and then it’s like nothing happened.”

“You aren’t a pubescent adolescent anymore James,” Donna scolded. “I’m sure they think of it as work.”

Donna watched for a brief moment and then sat down in the closest chair to where they were standing.

“My feet are killin’ me in these shoes.”

She put her feet up on the small bar that was built into the chair and leaned back to watch the scene unfold before her once more.

“Who are you?”

Donna turned around to see a young man standing near her, arms folded across his chest defensively.

“Pardon me young man?”

“You’re in my chair.”

“Oh,” Donna smiled sheepishly. “I didn’t realize there were assigned chairs here.”

“It says ‘Director’ on the back of it,” the young man said. “How much more of a hint did you need?”

“Young man,” Donna stood up and faced the Director head on. “I’m not sure what your mother taught you, but I can assure you I’ve seen better manners on a mule.”

The Director looked stunned at Donna’s blunt statement.

“Now I’ll forgive you and say no more because I’m a true Southern lady,” Donna continued. “However my suggestion is for you to brush up on the basic fundamentals of manners.”

The Director allowed a smile to cross his face slowly as he took in the picture in front of him.

“Who are you again?”

“I’m Donna Kennard, my daughter heads up the Development Department at Alphaville.”

“You’re perfect.”

“Why thank you,” Donna ran a hand over her smooth hair nervously. “Your manners are better already.”

“Julie!”

Donna jumped as the Director’s voice echoed on the set.

“This woman here is perfect for the next scene as the extra we’ve been looking for.”

“Extra?” Donna felt the blood rush to her cheeks in the form of a blush. “I’m not sure my daughter…”

“If she values her job your daughter will be ecstatic to help this film out.”

Donna opened her mouth once more to protest, but was instantly cut off.

“Get her into make-up and wardrobe, she’ll be Barmaid2. The motherly type who looks after the strippers.”

“Her?” Julie asked shocked as she stood staring at Donna.

“Dress her in some jeans and a ‘club’ shirt and muss her hair,” the Director barked. “I did your fucking job and found her, now make it work.”

Jackie and James stood there and watched as Donna was whisked away by Julie to make a brief stop in make-up and wardrobe before the final scene was being shot.

James walked over to the table that was being set up with food for the next break on the set. He picked up some cut up fruit and popped it into his mouth.

“This is really good.”

“I’m not sure we should be eating it,” Jackie said scanning the room for Tina. “I think Tina needs to come back since our mother is now in her movie and you’re eating the actor’s food like it is just par for the course.”

Tina stood outside the entrance to the set with the phone pressed against her ear. She used her index finger from her other hand to plug her ear so she could hear Bette clearly.

“David Hasselhoff huh?”

“God I miss you,” Tina whispered as she looked around to ensure she was alone. “Your text wasn’t fair.”

“Your game this morning wasn’t fair,” Bette said with a smile that reflected in her voice. “How is it going anyway?”

“I’m frustrated beyond belief, how do you think it’s going?”

“Awww,” Bette chuckled in a low, sexy tone. “Is my baby tense?”

“You know I am.”

“I’d love to do something about that,” Bette allowed her eyes to scan the screen in front of her once more. “It appears that if you want to re-enact your fantasy inspired by the book we need a hammock.”

Tina swallowed the lump that formed in her throat at Bette’s husky statement.

“A garden, a very private garden,” Bette continued. “The threat of being caught as we lay in the hammock and I straddle your body.”

“Bette….”

Tina leaned against the wall and allowed her head to rest against the wall with her eyes closed.

“I’d put your thighs over my shoulders,” Bette continued her seduction. “You’d have to lace your fingers through the ropes in the hammock to hold on while I lick your inner thigh.”

“You aren’t playing fair.”

Bette chuckled once more as she continued to read the scene from the screen in front of her.

“I know exactly how you like it too,” Bette continued. “I’d have to make some artistic changes in the technique to have you scream my name. See in the book the stranger uses just his mouth on his lover, but I know how much you enjoy my tongue inside you while I rub you gently.”

“Don’t play a game you can’t follow through on Bette,” Tina warned. “Unless you plan on leaving early to set up a hammock you need to stop.”

Tina looked through the window and allowed reality to quickly disturb the euphoria that Bette had created just moments before. She blinked rapidly, trying to convince herself that the scene in front of her was simply her imagination playing tricks on her.

“Oh fuck me.”

“I intend to,” Bette chuckled.

“Not that,” Tina said causing Bette to pause and ponder what had just happened between them. “I can’t fucking believe this!”

“What’s going on T?”

“My mother,” Tina said in a voice bordering on anger. “You won’t believe this but she is dressed in jeans and on the set as an extra. Oh my God Bette! Her shirt has a pair of legs on it and her hair is all messed up, with mousse caked on it!”

“She what? What’s going on?”

“She is in this damn movie!”

Tina flipped her phone shut quickly as she stormed, once again, onto the set. She walked up to the set and motioned for Donna to come to the edge of the stage.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

“Acting,” Donna said innocently. “To be honest Tina I’m getting in my moment since my part is a supporting role.”

“A supporting role?”

“I have to mix drinks and be supportive of the girls,” Donna explained. “I want to be able to do it just right.”

“Mother,” Tina said just before the director interrupted her.

“Quiet on the set!”

“You can’t be serious,” Tina whispered to Donna. “Stop messing around Mom.”

“Take your places!”

“I have to go,” Donna whispered back to Tina. “Isn’t this exciting?”

“No,” Tina shot back as she was pulled back from the stage area.

“And…..” Donna waited for her cue. “Action!”

As one of the topless waitresses approached the bar, Donna stared for a moment at the woman’s obviously enhanced breasts.

“Lordy, those can’t be real,” Donna muttered.

“Cut!”

Donna looked around confused as the other actors stared in her direction.

“The microphones are on. Kindly refrain from adding your two cents please.”

“Sorry,” Donna apologized as Tina watched from a distance.

Donna waited as they touched up Burt Reynold’s make-up. As the make-up artists began to touch up others on the set, Donna wandered over to Demi Moore with her autograph book.

“Can I please bother you for an autograph?” Donna asked.

“Um,” Demi looked around. “I guess so.”

She scribbled quickly on Donna’s book and handed it back to her with a fake smile. Donna stood there for a brief moment before clearing her throat to get Demi Moore’s attention once more.

“May I help you?”

“I just wanted you to know Ms. Moore,” Donna began with a smile. “I’ll be right over there on my mark should you want me to sign an autograph book for you.”

Donna made her way back to where she was told to stand as she winked in a stunned Demi Moore’s direction.

Tina speed dialed Bette’s number, barely waiting for Bette to answer before she began.

“My mother just told Demi Moore she would autograph something for her. Is it possible that stardom has gone to her head since she’s an extra?”

“Now Tina…” Bette began but was quickly cut off.

“You said that it was harmless Bette! Telling Demi Moore that she was available for an autograph is hardly harmless.”

“I bet Demi’s face is priceless,” Bette made an effort not to laugh.

“I wouldn’t know,” Tina said seriously. “I’m currently working on poking my own eyes out with a plastic fork so I can’t see this unfolding in front of me.”

“Now that beats throwing yourself out of a window every time,” Bette laughed as she heard Tina begin to chuckle.