Chapter 110: Joining the Trip

Sunday, June 30, 1985

It turned out that a little sleep did Jess good. We proved that at three in the morning.

And again at seven.

Once we finally got out of bed just before eight (reluctantly, but I needed to make it to my flight on time), she stretched and said, “That’ll have to hold me for a while!”

I grinned, looking at her, and said, “I’m sure you could get some help if you tried.”

She tossed a pillow at me.

“Easily! And also, no. The thing is, there are some girls I’d consider, but I don’t want to risk any rumors. Later, maybe. The dorm is...”

“I get it,” I said. “I have a bunch of gay friends who live in the dorms. They all worry about word getting out. I’m pretty sure they’d never do anything with anyone who lived there for exactly that reason.”

“The amusing thing is how ‘out’ Angie and Paige are! And Anne! Well, and Janet and Lizzie, but I didn’t know them very well. Not that I knew Anne very well, but a lot more than Janet or Lizzie.”

“We’re all still blown away, really. If you’d told me even three years ago Memorial would be ground zero on a nationwide gay rights issue, I’d have laughed about it. Unthinkable! And, yet, here we are.”

“I swear, there’s going to be a movie one day,” she said. “Someone’s going to play me! And you, and Angie, and Paige, and ... everyone. That’s ridiculous, but it’s almost inevitable now, I think. I mean, even if my career fizzles and you’re not a big name, we’re already too far down the road just on what’s happened.”

“That’ll be funny,” I said. “I seriously have no idea who would play me. Or you, or anyone.”

She giggled.

“That will depend on who we are. Really, if my career fizzles, I’m probably not in the script. You are, thanks to Marvin Zindler and Ronald Reagan. But, if my career takes off, they’ll pick someone who’s got a name and it’ll look like I did a lot more than I actually did.”

“You did a lot,” I said.

She blushed a bit, but then nodded.

“I downplay it, but ... yeah. That’s fair. Managing the cheerleaders was a big deal.”

“Janet and Lizzie worked because the cheerleaders, jocks, and socialites all pretty much supported them. Without us forming lines that day and welcoming them in, the whole thing maybe turns into shouting and chaos. It really was a big deal. And I think the jocks watched the cheerleaders and kinda said, ‘Hey, if they do this, and we don’t, we’re not getting any dates.’”

She giggled more.

“Fair, probably!”

We got dressed, packed, and headed downstairs, where I checked out. The valet brought Jess’s car up, and we took off for a breakfast place Michael (J. Fox, since I now had two Michaels to keep straight!) had recommended. It turned out to be really good. Reasonably priced, too! He wasn’t hurting, but he wasn’t ‘rich’ yet, either. He’d been just another starving actor a few years ago, after all.

My flight was at eleven. With the time zones, that would put me in Chicago around six.

During the drive to the airport, Jess said, “Tell me again about this Live Aid thing. Not specifics, but...”

I explained as much as I could without major spoilers. The bands, the moments, things like that.

After I’d finished, she said, “So ... I’m set on not going to London. Which is good, because I can’t get a ticket.”

“Probably could,” I said.

“Nah. I mean, maybe, but ... London is too much. The time zones, classes, all of that.”

“Makes sense.”

“Laura, though ... she’s campaigning for me to go to Philly with her. And ... like I said, we’re good friends. Sometimes weird friends, since all three of us ‘did’ a whole bunch of stuff to each other that none of us have ever actually done to each other. But, still ... good friends.”

I chuckled and said, “I’m glad I’m not the only person who can come up with sentences like that!”

She grinned and said, “All of us ‘insiders’ do, I think! Anyway, after she stopped trying to apologize for being mean to a ‘me’ that I don’t know, and I stopped trying to apologize for stuff I never did, we just started talking and ... well, heck, if ‘you’ hadn’t been such a jerk, probably all three of us would have been friends in that universe.”

I chuckled again.

“As I said before, more or less, we’re all agreed. No one likes that guy.”

“Definitely! So ... Laura’s nearly got me talked into going to the Philly show with her. You pretty much just clinched it.”

“Cool!” I said, smiling widely. “That’s awesome, really! We’ll have people to compare notes with.”

“And we get to see you on the big screens, I think. Some. Not you in particular, I mean, but London.”

I nodded.

“And vice versa. I think you’ll miss the early London stuff and we’ll miss the later Philly stuff, though.”

“Yeah. They’re not opening the gates at ... what, four in the morning?”

“Can’t imagine they would!” I said.

“This is cool! Perhaps I’ll be jet-setting soon enough, but ... I mean, there’s nothing yet, and I want my classes in the best place they can be so I can suspend college if something big falls into my lap.”

“That makes total sense to me.”

“Philly is easy. Laura’s loaning me the money. I know you would...” she said, seeing me start to say it. “But she already is, and that’s fine. As far as my parents are concerned, I’m going with a college friend. That’s true, just ... different college.”

I chuckled and said, “I learned long ago that the best way to shade the truth is say things that are true but don’t sound like they say what they’re actually saying.”

“And someone like me would catch that, most likely. My parents ... maybe, but they won’t care. I just don’t want them blindsided if some disaster strikes and I’m suddenly across the country unexpectedly.”

“That makes sense. I try to make sure my parents know about where I am. I see cases where that’s going to be tricky coming up very soon, but not yet.”

She nodded.

“Don’t explain too much, but I get it.”

“I’m really glad you get to go,” I said, giving her leg a squeeze. “It would be cool if you were in London, but this is pretty awesome, especially going with Laura.”

“I think so,” she said. “And it’s ... well, it’s good ‘Jessica Lively’ stuff. I’m having fun, but I’m also connecting with someone who’s likely to be important in the future. It’s the sort of thing I did all the time in high school. It’s a win-win thing.”

“Win-win is always good!”

Getting to the airport an hour before my flight still seemed crazy, but it worked. I kissed Jess goodbye at the curb, promised to see her reasonably soon, and hurried in, dropping off my bag on the way. Once I’d gotten through security, I called the hotel where everyone was staying (the North Shore Hilton, same as always) and left a message telling them I’d be on the flight as planned. They weren’t there, and I hadn’t expected them to be. I didn’t need them to pick me up.

My flight itself was uneventful. I put on my Walkman but mostly I just snoozed. Last night had been pretty sleep-depriving. All in a good cause, but I was definitely feeling it. Napping was much more appealing than my book.

I called the hotel again when I landed. This time I got Mom. I talked briefly to her and to Jas before picking up my rental and hitting the road. They planned to head down to the hotel’s restaurant about the time I should arrive.

My being allowed to rent a car was, perhaps, a minor miracle. Most places wouldn’t rent to someone under 25, but having a rental history helped. Having a platinum card helped more, I think. American Express tended to not take ‘no’ for an answer where their members were concerned. They’d even gotten the normal $5-a-day ‘young driver’ fee waived.

I was tired (though the nap had undoubtedly helped a lot), so I was extra vigilant on the drive. The roads were pretty clear, though, and I made good time to the hotel.

When I got there, I found the family hanging out in the lobby near the restaurant. Everyone got up and hugged me.

“You look tired,” Jas said.

“I was up late,” I said, smiling.

“How was it?” Mom said.

“It was ... really, it was pretty amazing. I’ll tell you about it over dinner. How does that sound?”

“Great!” Dad said. “I’m starving!”

“No, you’re not!” Mom said, giving him a little poke. “You had plenty of lunch.”

“I’m nearly starving?” he said, making a pathetic-looking face.

Mom rolled her eyes but also grinned. They’d been doing this for years, and I hoped they never stopped.

We headed in, got seated, and I told the story (with a few omissions, like Jess sleeping with me) in between ordering drinks (just water for me, tonight — caffeine was likely a bad idea and alcohol was also not the wisest move) and food (steak, in my case — and in most everyone else’s, though Paige went with chicken).

Dad was rapt with attention. So were the others, but I think he was the most fascinated. The idea of mixing and mingling in a crowd with notable actors and directors (he was a big fan of Spielberg) was right up his alley.

“You actually got to talk to Michael J. Fox?” he asked.

Angie perked up nearly as much and more than the others. She had more perspective, but it would be easy to play it off as being a fan.

“I did,” I said. “Jess has gotten to be friends with him and he was curious to meet the guy she’d talked about.”

“They’re not dating, are they?” Dad said.

I shook my head.

“They’re really just friends,” I said. “He was seeing someone when they met, so things with Jess just turned into a friendship.”

“We were ‘just friends’ for a few years, you know,” Mom said, chuckling.

“We were!” Dad said, smiling widely.

“He seemed like a nice guy,” I said. “We talked for ... I don’t know. Five minutes? There were a lot of short conversations since everyone wanted to talk to everyone else.”

“So,” Paige said, “You talked to a costume designer, a make-up guy, a casting person, and Michael J. Fox so far. Anyone else?”

“A couple of producers,” I said. “I mean, in general. They weren’t connected to the movie. And I talked with the director, Robert Zemeckis, but just briefly.”

“That’s really amazing!” Jas said, smiling. “I’m really glad you got to go.”

“Me, too!” Dad said. “What an opportunity! And, of course, it must have been wonderful for Jessica.”

“What did she wear?” Mom said.

“A really nice off-the-shoulder black velvet dress. I’m not doing it justice with the description, honestly. You’ll have something in your mind that’s not quite right. Think of a very high neckline with a small plunge in the middle, but only to about here.”

I pointed to a point about three inches below my neck.

“It sounds very elegant,” Mom said.

“It’s based on something Grace Kelly wore,” I said. “Deborah, the costume designer, helped her find it. The dress she wears in the movie is also a Grace Kelly-inspired dress, matching one she wore in a publicity photo.”

Mom smiled.

“She had class! Jessica could do far worse than follow in her footsteps!”

“Jess wore a ‘Rear Window’ outfit to Tournament of Champions,” Angie said.

“I remember seeing that photo!” Mom said. “She looked so ... polished!”

“Speaking of photos,” I said. “We’ll be getting a copy of the official photo, so you’ll get to see Jess in her dress.”

“And Steve in his tux,” Paige said, grinning.

“She’s seen that,” I said.

“Still!” Paige said.

“What’s next for her, do you think?” Dad said.

“She’s ‘attached’ to a movie that’s struggling to find funding,” I said.

“That sounds bad,” Mom said.

“Actually, it’s good,” I said, chuckling. “Jess says the script is terrible. If I remember her comment right, she said, ‘Whoever wrote this was never a cheerleader. Or a girl! Or ever talked much to girls!’”

Everyone laughed at that.

“She’s already said she won’t do it unless she can rewrite her dialog, which probably won’t happen. But the best case for her is for them to cancel it. If they do, she gets the publicity associated with having her name attached to a leading role, which might get her some notice, but without having to turn down the movie or anything.”