I don’t know what the hell I’m doing in this chapter, other than the
fact that is a light prelude to the next one. Some random babbling if you ask
me. But I’ll throw it on the table anyway, for what it’s worth.
Rated R for some language, and Shawn’s
use of the F-word.
Also, it’s one of those multiple point-of-view chapters. Bygones.
(41) Pimpin Da Bondo
(Dot Com, after school)
Philip and Shawn entered Dot Com and found a lone booth. After they ordered their drinks, Shawn looked
around anxiously. At school, Belle said
she was right on his trail to meet up with him.
But first, she “had a couple things to take care of.” But who knew what that meant. Nowadays, he was
lucky if she even did show up.
School body consensus these days was that Belle Black was no longer
cute, she was hot. Whether it was her new sophisticated wardrobe, her hair, her
make-up, it was something. And it
made her stock go through the roof.
Shawn heard the name “Belle Black” too many times in hushed tones. It
seemed Ryan Mattox was the least of his problems. He had every other jock and
every other hormonal underclassman fixated on her. Her entourage of Chloe, the model and Mimi,
“that one cool girl with the apartment” solidified her image. All that and she was very jumpy and secretive
about her cell phone calls. This was not
cool at all. Shawn was intimidated AND suspicious.
Amazingly, Belle entered a few minutes later by herself. Shawn
sarcastically thanked her for gracing his presence, and offered to buy her a
drink. Belle rolled her eyes and sighed,
“I told you I had some things to do.”
Shawn held his hands up defensively, “I’m just kidding.”
“I don’t need anything to drink. I just had
a Coke on the way over.”
Philip met eyes with Shawn and smirked. He smiled and gave a chin up to Belle. “We were thinking of going to my parent’s
cabin this weekend. You want to come?”
Belle looked at Philip and shrugged. “I don’t know.”
Shawn looked across the table at Philip with a knowing stare. “You
don’t know?” he asked Belle.
“I just got stuff going on, that’s all,” Belle explained simply.
“Like what?” Shawn inquired, genuinely curious.
“Like I have plans with the other cheerleaders on Saturday, and
stuff with my family on Sunday,” she said with a hint of irritation.
“What about tonight?”
“I don’t know Shawn.”
“You don’t have any plans?”
“Nothing firm, no. A couple of
girls asked me to spend the night.”
“Oh.” Shawn said, sipping his drink. “I take it that means no.”
“God Shawn, what’s with the guilt trip you’re trying to give me? You
just tell me this right now and expect me to jump up and down and drop my
plans.”
“I never said that…”
“But that’s what you’re getting at.”
“Forget it then,” he said.
“Thank you,” she snapped.
“Then don’t let me stand in the way of your plans anymore. If you got somewhere to go, then by all means.”
Belle rolled her eyes and stood up, “If you’re going to be like that
then I might as well.”
Shawn watched as she stomped off, donned in her black leather pants
and black sweater that showed off her midriff.
Her exit was accompanied by the stares of an incoming group of seniors.
He shook his head and mumbled “Fuck her,” in regards to her dramatic departure.
Philip winced at the harsh words coming from her beloved’s
mouth. Truthfully, he had never seen
Shawn and Belle interact that way, or hear Shawn speak of her that way. “What
the hell?” he asked.
“Don’t ask,” Shawn snapped back. “Just don’t even ask.”
Philip obeyed, not even arguing. He changed the subject quickly, easily
forgetting about the dramatic departure.
******************
Jan walked in, scanning the crowd.
She noticed Shawn and Phil in their usual booth and made her way towards
them. She removed her letterman’s jacket
and sat down. She cracked her knuckles
nervously. Philip nodded to her in
acknowledgement, still in the midst of a conversation with Shawn. The waitress came over to take her order, but
Jan waved her off. She leaned back in
the booth and hugged herself.
Philip continued on, putting his arm around her shoulder. Jan felt a slight chill.
The truth was she was embarrassed. She couldn’t help it. She fell asleep in study hall during sixth
period and had the most god awful bizarre dream. She felt weird even recalling it. She eyed the subject of her dream from the
corner of her eye and blushed at the memory…
In her dream,
Jan was in a commercial making a new product announcement. It showed several young
guys in various scenarios, all grinning with dimples. Jan turned to the camera,
and in the utmost professional formality inquired, “Are you sick of the
manipulated distraction? Tired of being silenced for no fair reason? Or just losing
your general train of thought?”
The camera
panned several gloomy nodding women.
The camera
centered on Jan again and she boomed “Introducing Dimple Bondo, the topical
cream to clear up your greatest frustration.”
The next scene
showed Philip lying in a dentist chair awaiting application. Jan rolled up in a
chair and slathered the flesh colored cream onto his cheeks. She smoothed the
touted product with a putty knife.
Philip smiled,
now dimpleless.
Jan held up
her inventive cream in victory and stared at the camera stony faced, “Dimple
Bondo. When you just can’t take it any more!”
Jan shuddered once again. Should she be committed? Definitely so, her conscience screamed. She did her best to
avoid looking at his face, but it was useless anyway. She was starting to fall
for the dillweed. Slowly, but surely, thanks to his charms. And he was his old self again, the way she
remembered him before he fell off his rocker for
But then he opened his mouth, and the downside of his cockiness
prevailed. “How’s my favorite raging beeeeeeeeeeeeyotch?” he asked when he
finally turned his attention to her. She wanted to smack the shit out of him.
But, if she did that, then his claim would be true, and she hated that. Sorta.
“Great, and how’s my favorite dumb shit?” she asked in reply,
mocking him.
Phil raised his eyebrow and said, “Damn! Pump them brakes devil!”
And then the dillweed smiled, and Jan had to bite the insides of her
cheeks to not surrender her own. Maybe she was onto something with that Dimple
Bondo cream. His affect was simply nauseating.
“Shawn and I were talking about hanging out at my parent’s cabin
this weekend,” Philip announced.
“With your families?” she asked.
“No, it was just going to be a couple thing. Kindof,” Shawn
intervened.
“Belle’s going to be there?”
“Uhhh, that’s kind of up in the air.”
Philip looked Jan up and down, “Think you can handle two guys?”
Jan rolled her eyes and Philip chuckled.
Suddenly Mimi made an unexpected appearance and walked through the
doors of Dot Com. Philip looked up and called out, “Foxy Lockhart, come on
down.” Jan set her jaw in frustration as
he nudged past her to greet the latest entrant. Jan watched as he met Mimi at
the drink counter. Apparently Philip
seemed to really enjoy being single again, and more importantly, the freedom to
randomly flirt. Jan cursed her
monogamous tendencies and inability to take things so lightly.
She turned her back to Phil and faced a frowning Shawn.
***************************
“I haven’t seen you here in months. You never come around here
anymore. What’s up with that?” Philip asked Mimi as she waited for her drink.
Mimi looked up, “I’m just came in to get a drink to go. But to
answer your question, number one, I don’t have time. Number two,
there are other people I prefer to hang out with.”
“Like who?”
“Don’t worry about it Kiriakis.”
“Don’t tell me you have another boyfriend. Who is he? I hate him
already.”
Mimi’s lips curled back as she broke into a smile. “You hate him?”
Philip looked at her with a serious face. “Hell yeah I do.”
“That’s kind of harsh.”
“He’s not bigger than me, is he?”
Mimi looked at his chest and shoulders to assess a comparison.
“You’re about the same.”
Philip sighed, “Thank God for small favors.”
Mimi paid the cashier and took her drink. “What do you want Phil?”
“We’re going to my parent’s cabin tonight. Have some drinks, watch
some boxing, whatever.”
“Who’s all going?”
“So far just me, Shawn, and Jan. But you’re definitely invited too.”
“Ahhhhh. I hear you
and Jan have been pretty cozy lately.”
“Who said that?”
“A bunch of people.”
“Nah, they’re talking out of their asses. We’re just friends.”
“Right,” she mumbled.
“She has her decent moments,” Phil said in her defense.
“Sure. Anyway, thanks for the invite, but I can’t make it. I got to
work tonight and tomorrow afternoon.”
“So come by tomorrow night. Just stop by at least for a little bit.”
“I can’t.”
Philip leaned into her smiling, “Please.”
“I’ll think about it. But more than likely, I won’t. Is it going to
be like a party or something? Should I tell Chloe?”
Philip’s grin turned fake all the sudden, “No, neither Chloe nor her
goddamn boyfriend are invited. Just
you.”
“Oh dear, touchy touchy.”
Philip relaxed and laughed. “You better stop by.”
“Yeah, and I better go. Later Kiriakis.”
“Later Foxy Lockhart.”
He returned to the booth, finding both occupants in full pout. “Is
she coming too?” Jan asked of Mimi.
Philip sunk in his seat and looked at Shawn. “Probably
not. She says she has to work.”
“Oh. That’s too bad,” she said in a tone Philip couldn’t quite
decipher.
Philip refused to take the bait. Instead he changed the subject. “Shawn and I were going to run home and grab
some clothes then stop by the store to get food. You want to ride with us, or just meet us
there?”
Jan took a final sip of her drink and put on her coat. “I can buy the food. Just tell me what you
want and I’ll get it.”
“You don’t have to do that.”
“There’s some stuff I need to get too. Trust me,
It’s easier for me to get it than for me to explain it.”
“I don’t get it.”
“Certain ingredients. Some spices, produce, etc
etc.”
Phil’s face lit into a smile, “You gonna cook?”
“Yep.”
“You’re going to cook for me?”
“Not for you, for me. And Shawn. And if
you’re lucky, you’ll get scraps.”
“You’re such a liar.”
“What time are you going to be up there?”
Philip walked her to the door and held it open for her, “Six, seven,
whenever.”
“I’ll see you then.”
Jan departed from the Dimple Bondo Man,
her mind racing with anticipation of the night’s events. Lost in her thoughts, she didn’t even notice
the man she accidently bumped into on the street. Nor did she feel his continued
penetrating gaze as she made her way to her car….