Coming Attractions

                           *****
	The day passed by in a haze of media promotion and interviews and by the time
ten o’clock approached, Natalie was already in her state of mess, with the usual
migraine and short nerves.  What she didn’t need to hear from her driver was that the
police were over at her house.
“ What? Why?” She asked, her words popping out before she had too much time to
absorb on what was just said.
“ There’s been a reported break in, Miss Trevante.  Nothing was stolen except the
downstair’s entertainment set-...” She had already tuned him out, thinking the night
was going to be longer than the day.  The media.  Sighing, she considered how the
media would eat this story up and how it would be all over the tabs.  All she needed. 
More attention to her personal life.  As if the amount she was constantly revealing to the
world wasn’t enough.  
“ Did they find anyone?” She asked suddenly as the car turned round the corner.
“ No, they didn’t.  You might want to heighten security around the house,” AJ’s words
came back to mind.  She keep her gaze out of the window as they approached the house,
annoyance flickering once she saw the flashing of the police cars out front and the
amount of people standing on the pavement to the side of the house.  It had been taped
off and there was one cop standing in the doorframe, talking to another.
“ You didn’t tell me they knocked the door over,” She muttered, watching intently as
people got out of the limo’s way.  Hal went over the yellow police tape and a police
officer jogged over to the car.
“ Is Ms. Trevante allowed to enter the house?” Hal asked, his question nearly drowned
out by a sudden screeching of car tires.  They all craned their heads to see another
reporter coming onto the scene.
“ This is supposed to be a gated community, how are all these people getting in?”
Natalie demanded.
“ You might want to consider staying elsewhere while we get the scene secured,” She
looked around at the cops and sighed again, not sure of where to stay.  Maybe a hotel.
“ Fine but can I get some of my things?” She asked wearily.  The officer nodded and
followed her inside the house.  He waited by the foyer at the foot of the stairs while she
went to her room to grab some clothes.  
“ Done?” She nodded and walked out of the house.  She was about to get back in the
limo when Nick walked over to her timidly.
“ Hey,” He greeted cautiously.
“ Hi,” An impatient tone crept into her voice and he picked up on it, immediatly feeling
stupid as he usually did when he talked to her.
“  Where are you going?” He asked, trying to sound nonchalant.
“ To a hotel.  Someone broke into my house, as if you couldn’t tell by the cops,” He
glanced over and back at her.
“ You know you’re welcome to stay at my place if you want, until they leave,” She
hesitated and he waited for what seemed like an eternity, feeling more like an ass as the
seconds wore on. 
“ Your place?” He nodded slowly.
“ Um...Ok,” She replied reluctantly.
“ That’s nice of you,” SHe added.  
“ No problem,”
“ Ok, well I gotta talk to my driver.  You can go on inside,” He nodded and turned back
to the sidewalk and Natalie sat back in the limo, pushing the driver seperator screen
down.  
“ I’m going to spend the night over at my neighbor’s house, Ok?” 
“ Allright, Ms. Trevante.  I’ll be seeing you on Tuesday,” 
“ Thanks, Hal,” She got out of the limo and made her way to Nick’s front door, kinda
rueful that she had accepted his invitation.  She wasn’t completly comfortable with him
yet.  Maybe AJ was home.   She knocked on the door and heard him call that she could
come in.   She pushed open the door and walked in the now slightly familiar living
room.  
“ You’re probably tired.  Want me to show you to the guestroom?”
“ Um, yes, please,” He led the way upstairs and showed her to the guestbedroom on the
second floor.  
“ Bathroom’s right across the hall.  Need anything just ask, kay?” 
“ Thanks,” She gave him a smile and dropped her bag on the bed, looking around the
room when he left.  Rifling through her purse, she shook out a couple of Advils.  She set
them aside and dumped out her night clothes.  Deciding to change later, she collected
the Advil’s in her hand and went down to the kitchen to get a glass of water.  She found
Nick in sitting at the table in front of his laptop. He looked up and acwknowledged.
“ Where’s the glasses?” She asked.
“ Left cabinet,” She pulled open the cabinet door and took a glass before filling it with
water.
“ So what’d they take?” Nick asked after she swallowed the pills.
“ Excuse me?”
“ The burglars,”
“ Oh.  I’m not positive, but I know for sure they stole the entertainment center
downstairs,” 
“ You didn’t set the alarm?” 
“ I didn’t feel the need to.  This is a gated neighborhood,”
“ You can’t trust too many people anymore,” She stifled a slight smirk and took another
sip of water.
“ I wonder how the cops found out,” She mused aloud.  Nick stiffened slightly and
glanced at her.
“ What do you mean?” 
“ Who called them?”
“ Would it be wrong if someone called because of your security?” She studied his face
curuiously.  
“ Slightly because the press found out,” She replied, sensing something in  the air
change as soon as she said that.
“ What’s wrong?” She asked as he turned back to his laptop.
“ Nothing,” He muttered, typing away at she assumed was an e-mail.  
“ Seriously, what’s the matter?” He glanced at her before replying.
“ You act so full of yourself; like it seriously matters if the press finds out or not.  They
have lives of their own, believe it or not,”  He said, somewhat angrily.
“ What are you talking about?  WHy are you being such an asshole?  Were you the one
who called?” She shot back, getting pissed by his sudden change of mood.
“ As a matter of fact, I did,” He answered furiously, packing up his laptop and getting
off the kitchen chair.  
“ Well why does it matter what I say?” She shouted  in disbelief as he walked out of the
kitchen.  She heard him mutter something but couldn’t quite catch it.  Great.  Her
headache came back full blast and she set the empty glass in the sink.  She glanced
outside and walked out to the back porch.  Sitting on the wooden porch swing, she cast
her gaze around to her garden.  The darkness made it seem slightly creepy as she
looked up at her bedroom window.  Christ, you could see everything if someone was
standing even near it.  Remembering AJ’s first comment to her, she laughed aloud, the
sound foreign to her when she realized that she honestly hadn’t laughed in days.   Her
giggle died quickly and was once again replaced by hollow gloominess.  Pushing so the
glider moved a little, she leaned back and closed her eyes, hoping to shut the moonless
night but only met with obviously more darkness.  She felt her throat tighten and she
tried to push away the tears that threatened to fall as they did almost every night. 
Baggage.  Her ex’s words floated back to her.  ‘ Who wants a girl carrying so much
emotional baggage?  I’m sorry, Nat, but I can’t deal with all this anymore.’ She sighed
and brushed away the tear that fell.  It was all she could do to stop herself from letting
her tears flood and she was startled when the glass door was pushed open.  Looking
behind her, she saw AJ disappear for a sec after he had it open and reappear with two
wine glasses.  
“ Hey,” He greeted.
“ Hey yourself,” She forced a smile as he held out a drink to her.
“ Looks like you had a bad day, so that makes the two of us,” He said, sitting down next
to her.
“ Thanks,” She said, taking a sip of her drink.
“ Saw all the cops.  What happened?” 
“ Someone broke in,” She shrugged and he glanced at her with a smirk.
“ Shoulda set the alarm, remember?” He said, looking thoughtfully at her.
“ You look lonely, Nat,” He dropped the teasing voice so their conversation seemed a lot
more serious.
“ Nat?  No one’s called me that since God knows when,” She commented, avoiding his
look.
“ You didn’t answer me,” He prodded, seeing that she was close to giving in.
“ I didn’t know you asked a question,” She replied primly, setting her wine glass on the
ground next to them.
“ Where’s your siblings?” 
“...All over...One lives here in LA but I’ve got one in San Diego and another in Seattle,”
“ Where does your Dad live?” She looked at him for a second.
“ Why are you asking so many questions?” Her tone would have made most people back
off but he just shrugged and squinted out at the side of her house, all the while sipping
his drink casually.
“ We live right next door to each other,” 
“ No kidding...I didn’t realize you pop stars were so smart,”
“ And I didn’t realize what they said about actresses were true,” He shot back promptly.
“ What do they say?”
“ ...That...You guys have a lot more to hide than a normal person.” 
“...Ha.  Yeah, I’d say that comes along with the contract,” She traced the arm rest of the
swing, her attention absorbed on the wood.
“ Natalie, why do that?” He asked finally, setting his glass on the floor also and turning
sideways to face her.  He could see her immediatly tense up and he frowned slightly.
“ Why do what?” Her voice sounded distracted and her eyes clouded over, as if she was
thinking about something.
“ Why don’t you just go ahead and tell me about yourself, it’d be kinda nice to have a
friendly neighbor and we’re past the intros.”
“ There isn’t much to tell,” She empasized and he felt a prick of frustration.
“ How about I be the judge of that,” 
“ How about we end this conversation before-...” She sighed and turned away from him
again.
“ Before what?  Before I get to know you?  Before I get a chance to hurt you?  Not
everyone does that, Natalie.  How do you expect yourself to get even remotely close to
anyone if you just push them away?  Who do you have?  A maid, a driver and a
manager.  That’s all you have right now and I don’t think you can confide in them too
greatly, Hun,” 
“ I don’t even know you, AJ,” Her tone was slightly weary and instead of snapping, she
sounded cautious and just plain tired.
“ I know, but this is where you tell me about yourself and them it’s my turn,” She gave
a brittle laugh and he caught sight of her eyes, filled  with tears.  He reached over and
pulled her into a half hug.
“ Not tonight?  Another time, I promise,” She said a few seconds later, wiping her eyes. 
There was a loud knock at the open glass door and AJ pulled away, looking where Nick
stood.
“ Hey, Nick.  What’s up?” He inquired.
“ Marielle is on the phone...When did you guys get back together?” 
“ We didn’t,” AJ sighed, getting off the swing and picking up his glass.
“ I’m gonna go get some sleep,” Natalie said to him when he looked over and opened his
mouth to say something.
“ OK, goodnight...Are you free tomorow?” He asked as if on second thought.
“ Um...I’m not sure yet,” He nodded and went inside.  She walked in after him a few
seconds later.  AJ was sitting on the kitchen island when she walked past and he knew
damn well she wouldn’t be able to fall asleep so early.  Early for her, anyways.  He knew
for a fact that she’d been battling insomnia for the whole time he had been here.  All he
needed to do was glance out his window and see her light on.  He sighed and turned his
attention back to what Marielle was saying...

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