Chapter 131

A nice vehicle was the only luxury Phil had permitted himself on his western trek. He bought a Mustang convertible because he couldn’t rent a car and he wasn’t about to pay for a car service. He had already decided he was going to have it shipped back east when he left. It was time for the sensible sedan to disappear from the driving rotation – or maybe to serve if they ever went to the demolition derby.

He knew he’d have a hard time convincing Hailey to give it up, though, so he figured it would be in the garage for the next 20 years even if no one drove it. Grace was suitably impressed when he led her to his spot in the parking lot. He had decided he would drive so he could leave if things got out of hand.

He hadn’t been able to talk to Hailey yet. He had left her a message and she hadn’t called at her normal time. He decided he would go to the party but leave if he found it too much.

Grace had changed into a tight red dress that hugged her top and bottom and was barely long enough to cover whatever underwear she might have on.

She had bought Phil a pair of tan slacks, a maroon Polo shirt and a pair of deck shoes – along with a swimsuit.

“How much do I owe you for the clothes and the champagne?” he asked as they walked to the car.

“Nothing,” Grace said with a laugh. “You’re the one on the unpaid internship.”

“I have money,” Phil said.

“Don’t worry about it,” Grace said. “The clothes were nothing and I didn’t get champagne. Someone else took care of it. I’m just thrilled I could drag you out of the office. You should know, I was going to carry you out over my shoulder if I had to.”

Phil rolled his eyes. She might tower over him in her Glamazon heels but he still figured he outweighed her by 50 pounds.

“Top down?” he asked when he got in.

Grace looked down at her chest and then to Phil with a grin.

“The car,” he said.

“Too cold for that shit,” she answered.

“It’s 72 degrees out,” Phil noted. “I was checking the weather back home. They’re calling for snow tonight.”

“Screw that,” Grace told him. “I don’t mind seeing snow in the distance – so long as it’s 80 degrees where I’m standing. So don’t plan on a ski trip if you want me to come along. Did you get everything done so you can leave Friday morning?”

“Yep,” Phil said.

“Do you want a ride to the airport?” she asked.

“I’m leaving at 4:30 in the morning,” he told her.

“Yeah, so?” Grace asked. “I have to be on the set by six. It’s no big deal. One of us can pick you up so you don’t have to leave your car at LAX. Hey! Where do you keep this ride if you live in the ghetto?”

“Three blocks away in a secure garage,” Phil answered. “I have Uber meet me there if it’s after dark. Mornings aren’t too bad. I get up before a lot of the skells. Every now and then I meet a prostitute coming home but the bangers and stoners are crashed out by then.”

“Christ,” Grace said. “You know, you can stay with one of us. All of us have extra rooms.”

“Then I’d just have to sit in traffic like this for half my day,” Phil noted. “This is brutal. Six lanes and not a fucking car moving in any direction. How does this happen?”

Grace shrugged – which caused the tops of her breasts to do very interesting things. Phil looked away as much as he wanted to stare at them. Grace busted him anyway.

“What’s that saying?” she asked rhetorically. “Once you see a set of breasts ... you want to see the rest of them, too.”

“Sorry,” Phil mumbled.

“I wear this so people will look at me,” she said, laughing again.

“That’s what Hailey always says,” Phil said, feeling guilty about bringing her into the conversation.

“She sounds totally cool,” Grace said. “I’m stoked about getting to meet that crew.”

“Even if it means you have to see snow to do it?” Phil asked.

“Yeah, I’ll put up with snow for that,” Grace said with a wink.

The conversation carried on through the 45 minutes it took Phil to navigate from Hollywood to Malibu. He had a car that maxed out at 180 miles per hour and he didn’t get it past 35 on the entire trip. He decided he might have been better off with a moped.

Grace directed him a beachfront mansion that must have had 50 cars parked in the circular drive.

“What the fuck?” Phil asked, looking to his passenger.

“OK, I told you a little white lie,” she said. “This is actually my mom’s place. Today is my 21^st birthday and she’s throwing a party. We wanted you to come but doubted you would if we told you the truth. Hate me?”

“No,” Phil said with a sigh. “I would have come to your birthday party.”

“Would you have come if you had known that the guest lists has 150 names on it?” Grace asked.

“Uh, yeah, probably not,” Phil admitted.

“We knew that,” Grace said. “For the record, Skyler and Chris are here. So are Eva and her husband. Everyone I told you would be here is here. It’s the just there is a bunch more that I didn’t tell you about. Mom really wants to meet you and, well, we all had fun Saturday. You’re not like the other tight-asses that we normally have to deal with. You’re cool and ... you fit in with us, you know. We like to do crazy shit but we really can’t. There is always some asshole with a camera pointed at as or some fan recording every single thing we do. Those pictures we took in the car were hilarious. I mean, yeah, I’ve taken some of myself before but to take a picture and send it to a stranger was ... amazing. Skyler got to do some crazy stuff before she got famous. Chris did, too. I never got the chance so it was novel.

“I wish you would have hit the clubs with us. It’s nice to hang out with a normal person. You busted us out and made fun of us but it wasn’t like ... mean. You were just comfortable with us and we were comfortable with you. That’s why we wanted you to come tonight. I’m sorry for lying to you.”

“It’s cool,” Phil said as he parked the car near the front of the house. Grace gave him a wide smile when he helped her out of the car.

“You’re not embarrassed to be seen with a tranny either,” she joked.

“I thought you liberals were against using words like that,” Phil said.

“Other people,” Grace said. “You know: ‘Do as I say and not as I do.’ We want to tell everyone else how to live. We don’t actually want to live that way ourselves.”

“Got it,” Phil said.

The effervescent beauty of Jenvieve Borchard greeted him as soon as he walked in the door. She took in her daughter’s attire and laughed while shaking her head.

“He made me,” Grace said. “You know those studio bigwigs. They always want to dress us up like hookers and show us off.”

“Ignore her,” Jenvieve told Phil.

“I’m learning,” Phil replied. He was slightly in awe of the actress. She was about his mother’s age but she could easily pass for her daughter’s sister. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Ms. Borchard.”

“Jenvieve,” the actress and her daughter said at the time. She punched her daughter on the shoulder – just as David had done to Phil a hundred times – and told Grace that she owed her a Coke.

Phil couldn’t help but laugh.

Chris Ransome and Skyler McKay soon joined them. A few moments later, the first of the guests made their way over to offer Grace birthday wishes. Phil glanced at his phone. It was 10:30 p.m. back home. It wasn’t too late to call Hailey.

“Is there somewhere quiet that I can make a phone call?” Phil asked the hostess.

“Certainly,” the graceful actress told him. She led him across the room to a closed door and pulled it open. The study was ornately decorated. He wondered if Hailey would like to decorate one of the rooms at home in the motif. Jenvieve gave him another warm smile and slid the door closed.

He dialed Hailey’s phone and this time she answered immediately.

“I’m sorry I missed your call,” she told him. “It’s been hectic today.”

“What’s up?” Phil asked. He looked around for a place to sit and decided to just stand. He wasn’t certain that any of the furniture could actually to be used for its intended purpose.

Hailey explained all that happened during the week.

“Why didn’t you tell me about this?” Phil asked.

“You have enough to worry about out there,” Hailey told him. It wasn’t the real reason, of course. She hadn’t told him because she was irked he was spending time with Skyler McKay and Grace Karstens.

“Honey, you are my primary concern,” Phil said. “I know it might not seem like it sometimes but I care way more about you than anything out here. Where are things now?”

“Still in a flux,” Hailey told him. “The faculty senate asked for our recommendation. We had all talked about it – us here and the class. We suggested immediate suspension for the rest of the semester, doubling her probationary period to two years and mandatory mental health counseling. That’s what they suggested to Dr. Fayez.”

“Is he real?” Phil asked. “I mean, I’ve never known anyone who’s actually met him. Mom and Dad said he was a professor way back when but that could be their memory playing tricks on them.”

“I met him tonight,” Hailey said.

“Really?” Phil asked. “How did that go?”

“It was fine,” Hailey said. “We ... we were a little rough on him. He’s ... I’m not sure. He’s got something personal going on and he wasn’t on campus. We thought he was ducking us so we went around him. It might not have been the best move. I’m not sure. He didn’t seem too upset about it but I felt bad about minimizing him.”

“You did what you thought was best,” Phil said. “I’m proud of you. I’m always proud of you but you really stepped up for that guy.”

“Dr. Fayez said he was proud of me, too,” Hailey said. “So did your parents and my dad. I feel pretty good about helping the guy out but I sort of feel bad for the professor.”

“She made her choices,” Phil said, echoing Bob Prohl.

“I know,” Hailey said but she didn’t sound convince.

“It sounds to me that you could have laid the boots to her,” Phil said. “She could have gotten out of bed tomorrow with no job, no family, no anything. You left her an out. If she follows the rules, she’s going to be fine. Yeah, she might get passed over for tenure the first time she’s up for it but she’ll get it eventually. She can build a new life or she can blame the world for her mistakes. The choice is hers.”

“True,” Hailey said with more conviction. “So, 36 hours until we see each other. I can’t wait.”

“I know,” Phil said. “I’ve been worthless at work this week. I just keep staring at the clock wishing time would go faster.”

“Are things OK out there?” Hailey asked. “It sounds like the slash guitar guy moved back in beside you.”

“I’m not home,” Phil admitted. “Uh, you’ll never guess where I am.”

“Do I want to know?” Hailey asked warily.

“I am at a Malibu mansion at a party thrown by Jenvieve Borchard,” Phil told her anyway. “I swear to God, that woman either has the best plastic surgeon in the world or the sort of genetics they should use for cloning purposes. She could fit in at Heilman with no trouble.”

“You are too kind,” a voice said from behind Phil. He had been so focused on listening to Hailey that he hadn’t heard the door slide open. Now he understood why the music seemed louder than before and how Hailey had heard it through the phone.

“I’m really sorry,” Phil said. “I was just telling my fiancée where I was. I didn’t mean to talk about you behind your back.”

“If you continue to say sweet things, please feel free to talk about me all you wish,” Jenvieve said with a smile. “We are getting ready to sing ‘Happy Birthday.’ But I can see you are still visiting so I will depart.”

She slipped out the door and slid it closed again.

“‘Happy Birthday?’” Hailey asked.

“It’s Grace’s 21^st birthday,” Phil explained. “I didn’t know. I thought I was just going to make an appearance at a cast party to celebrate their 50^th episode. I didn’t find out what the party was really for until I got here.”

“It sounds like they are going to great lengths to include you in their activities,” Hailey pointed out.

“They are,” Phil said. “It’s sort of nice. I’m not sure if it’s because I know I’ll see you soon or because I have people I can visit with out here but I’m not as homesick as I’ve been. I think it’s the first but the second has helped. I was pretty lonely without you.”

“I know,” Hailey said. “I’m trying not to be jealous but it’s not working.”

“You have no reason to be jealous,” Phil said. “I swear, it’s a shame they didn’t come to Heilman instead of Courtney. They’re not that different than us.”

“I guess,” Hailey said dubiously.

“Wait until you meet them,” Phil said. “You’re going to love them.”