She threw the phone back down and proceeded to get dressed in cropped jeans and a white vest top before checking her phone again.
She smiled, but then remembered she was still mad at him.
She deliberately omitted the kiss at the end of her message. She was tiring of this game he was playing, and it had to be a game, not that she was in anyway entertained by him or his behaviour, so sod him. He especially didn’t deserve a kiss from her after his little display with Mrs Slutty, whatever her name was.
She hated that he could do this to her. It was like he was summoning her with a curl of his finger via text. She was going to do exactly as he said, even though she was angry and confused. If he had been any other boyfriend she would have told him to go and screw himself as she stropped off home. Except home was thousands of miles and a plane journey away. She looked at herself in the mirror and shook her head. What was she doing here with Jim, playing these games when he could so easily break her heart, irreparably, with very little effort? She sighed deeply and slipped her feet into flip flops. Trainers may be a step too far. Her phone beeped again.
She found him in front of the TV where she’d left him, but he now had a bottle of beer in his hand.
“Do you want one?” He held the bottle up.
She shook her head.
“You’re trying to provoke me for some reason, Tasha,” he said seriously. “Although you stopped short of sneakers. Come.” He got to his feet, took her hand and led her out of the back of the house, passed the pool area, up some steps onto a grassed area towards an out building. Jim flicked the light on and as she took in her surroundings she looked up at Jim and smiled at his expression. One of enthusiasm, like a little boy in a room surrounded by his favourite toys. She looked up again and realised the roof was opening.
“Wow! I went on a school trip to the planetarium when I was about ten and it was a bit like this.”
“I thought you might like to see what you bought.” He grinned at her.
She frowned a little as he explained, “The James Maybury star?”
“Of course.” She followed Jim towards a chair that looked like it should be at the dentists.
He sat in the chair and pulled her down to sit between his legs and looked through the huge and expensive looking telescope.
“Why not Jim Maybury?” he asked from behind her, causing her skin to prickle where his breath touched it.
“I don’t know…are you angry? Would you rather it was called Jim Maybury? I can get you another…one called Jim Maybury—”
Jim cut her off, wanting her to stop the obvious panicking she was doing. “L.A. isn’t always the best place to star spot, but it is…there,” he told her and moved to allow her to look. “You see the group of stars to the right?”
“Mmm.”
“Then there are a couple of small stars then two brighter, larger ones?”
“Yes,” she replied.
“The first of the brighter ones is it, that’s my star,” he said proudly as he held her tightly.
“You really do like it, don’t you?” she asked, a little surprised that he seemed to like it as much as he did.
“I love it, baby. I love that you know me well enough to buy me such a thoughtful gift. I love you.” He brushed her hair over to one side, exposing her neck that he was now breathing against. “And I love that you called it James. I like your use of James, have done since day one.”
“I love that you love it. I love that you like my use of your James and I love you too,” she said ridiculously, weakly leaning back into him.
“Then why did I lose my kiss on your text message, if you love me?”
He no longer sounded anything other than happy and maybe a little amused at and with Tasha.
