Jack’s butt was clearly visible from behind the chair. His eyes peeked around the other side. “I’m off today,” he protested.
Joey was incensed. “You’re off? You think you deserve a day off? Should I remind you that you took months off to go to rehab, and you’ve been MIA ever since? It’s almost June! Now we need to talk. No more excuses.”
“What’s so urgent?” Jack asked. “I’m busy.”
“He’s busy watching television,” Will butted in.
Jack’s shoulders sank as he finally got serious with Joey. “Whatever it is, I don’t want to do it.”
“Ross,” Joey began, “if it was up to me, I’d let you live your life, but you signed a contract, and you committed to promoting the film. Now, it’s just two interviews. The production company can make you pay serious money for bailing on these things, and we’re still at the very beginning here.”
“I’ve been planning on going out of town,” Jack said. “Jen and I were thinking of spending the summer somewhere.”
Surprised, everybody turned to me. I smiled awkwardly and shrugged.
“Look, Ross,” Joey tried to reason with him. “I know you’ve been through some tough times, and I’m the first person to give you credit for doing what you did, with the rehab and all that. But still, rules are rules. You can’t just up and vanish right now. You’re not the only person in the world with problems. I’m not asking a lot, but what I am asking, I need you to do.”
Jack sighed, walked over to the couch, and slumped down next to me. Will asked when we were leaving, and I told him we didn’t have a solid plan yet, but we were thinking sometime in the middle of June.
“Great,” Joey said. “Let’s do this, then: we’ll go ahead and set up some media spots now, and I promise you whatever comes up afterward, I’ll try to make it something you can do over email or Zoom. Then we can pick back up when you’re home.”
Jack frowned, but he really couldn’t object. I thought it was a good idea, and I said so. And to relieve Jack’s worries, I added, “You worry about your stuff, and I’ll take care of the details for the trip, OK?”
“I’ll help,” Naya said. “I’m the queen of cheap flights and hotels.”
Joey leaned over Jack and stuck out his hand. “So…do we have a deal?”
“I guess so,” Jack replied.
“Good. Then get your ass up off the couch and throw on something decent, because I went ahead and set up an interview for half an hour from now.”
Jack groaned and scuffled off to the bathroom.
“You’re good at that,” Sue told Joey. “None of us can get him to do anything. Maybe you want to move in?”
“Yeah…” he said, glancing at his phone. “I don’t think so. What are there, like five of you here? I need my privacy, my days of living with roommates are over. Tell the little prince I’ll be waiting downstairs in my car.”
He turned, stuck his hand in the bag of cookies Naya was eating, bit into one, and walked out the door.
Jack did his part and dressed up, enough to elicit laughter from Will and Sue. Not Naya—she was already hypnotized by the internet, shouting out places we could stay, hotel prices, attractions. I didn’t get why she cared, but since it kept her mind off her own issues, I let it slide and went to work on dinner. Jack gave me a kiss goodbye. When I was done and had set out everyone’s dishes, Naya started grilling me:
“Somewhere hot or somewhere cool?”
“I don’t know…it’s summer. So hot, right?”
“OK, hot…” She was typing at an alarming pace. “Beach or mountains?”
“Beach. That way I can get a little tan.”
I remembered how when I was little, my siblings always said I was shorter than them because Mom spent so much time swimming when she was pregnant, and the warm water had made me shrink, like wool when you wash it too hot. The pathetic thing is, I believed them. I thought the story would entertain my roommates, but when I told it, Naya responded, “Oh waah. That must have been so traumatizing. Now can we focus on planning your trip? I’m thinking Australia.”
“It’s a little far, isn’t it?”
“Plus, there’s all kinds of creepy animals there, it’s likeJumanji,” Sue piped up. “They’ve got sharks, alligators, kangaroos. A kangaroo can kick you and knock you out!”
“OK, fine,” Naya said. “Then how about Italy?”
“I don’t know,” I said. “For some reason, Italy’s never really attracted me.”
