As we talked, the party planner came up and stole Terry away. I was more fascinated watching the conversation with Terry and the planner than to hear William drone on about life in New York City. Jennie had been several times, so they compared notes on hotels and restaurants. I could tell by the party planner’s body language that she wasn’t making Terry happy. It was fascinated to see Terry go from happy host to seething. Her eyes snapped to Jennie and then me. What did we do?
I came back to our conversation as William was still talking.
“...ask for Charles.”
“Incoming, pissed-off cousin,” I leaned into Jennie and whispered.
She looked around me to see Terry bearing down on us.
“Should we make a run for it?” I asked, which caused her to giggle.
Too late; Terry’s facial expression changed.
“Jennie, Doris from About Town would like to interview you and your date,” she said sweetly. “I understand if you’d rather William and I talk to them.”
This girl was scary. If I hadn’t seen the change, I would’ve never realized that she wanted to tear our eyes out. I could tell Jennie wasn’t about to pass this up. Before this got ugly, I smiled at Terry.
“I think Abigail needs us,” I said.
Jennie gave me a look, and I edged her away from potential harm.
“Sorry, but let’s talk about this before we go do this interview,” I said while we were making a circular route to meet up with the party planner. “I’ll just be your eye candy. Have you ever done an interview before?”
“No. Why?” she asked, as she stopped and looked at me funny.
“There are some tricks to help you come off better. If this is on camera, talk to the camera, not the interviewer. Think about your answer. Don’t worry if there’s uncomfortable silence, they’ll edit it out. Before it starts, ask what the purpose of the interview is. We should keep the focus on you.”
“I forgot that you’ve done these before,” Jennie said as she squeezed my hand in thanks.
We found the party planner, and she snuck us into the interview room. We were introduced to a very attractive, mature woman. I’d seen her on many of the gossip shows. Her producer bent down and said something to her. She looked up and came straight to Jennie.
“Jennie Wesleyan, you look lovely tonight. I’m Doris Harper from About Town. We’d like to interview you.”
Jennie lit up like the Christmas tree at the White House. Doris guided Jennie to a seat, and her producer herded me in the same direction.
“Ms. Harper, may I ask what the interview is about?” I asked.
It’s always a good idea to treat the press with kid gloves. She turned, and, when she looked at me, she made it seem like she’d just noticed me. Her look told me that I had been found wanting. I took an instant dislike to her.
“I want to do some background on the party and ask her about the designer of her dress.”
“That sounds great,” I nodded to Jennie. “We know that you need to get to as many people as possible, so after those questions, we’ll head back to the party.”
She laughed at me.
“Okay, I might have a question or two more. We want to know more about Jennie’s mystery man.”
“This is Jennie’s big night. Can we keep the questions focused on her?”
Doris turned to Jennie.
“This one’s a keeper. I like the mystery-man angle. You two make a teen couple that’ll have the young girls excited. What if I just ask Jennie the questions? Will that make you happy?”
She looked at me, but Jennie answered the question.
“I think that’ll work.”
We made it to the makeshift set and were about to sit down when I interrupted.
“Why not have us stand? Jennie’s dress will hang better, and my suit won’t bunch up.”
Tracy had made me aware of these considerations. I would never have known this otherwise.
“How familiar do you want me to seem?” I turned to Jennie and asked, “I can step away from you, hold your hand, or put an arm around your waist.”
Tracy always wanted us to stay apart. It had to do with the whole ‘not together’ thing. I wanted to help Jennie think about it before this was on TV.
“Why don’t you start apart, and then, when I ask about you, you step forward and put your arm around her,” Doris advised.
Jennie nodded. We got set and the floodlight came on. It was showtime. We did a quick five-minute interview. Jennie seemed nervous during the first part of the interview. When Doris changed the questioning to be about her mystery date and she felt my hand on the small of her back to steady her, she was a different person. I could tell by looking at Doris that the first part of the interview wasn’t going to make it on air. Jennie was nowhere as good as Tracy was in front of the camera, but for her first time she did great.
When the interview ended, Doris got Jennie’s contact info and promised to email her a copy. Jennie nearly jerked my arm out of my socket when she almost ran back to our table. She went to her sister and mother and told them all about it. Even her mother squealed. I didn’t realize that adult women were capable of that.
“Okay, Jerald, we take him out back and dispose of the body,” Teddy said with a straight face.
“We can’t have anyone setting the bar this high. I’m going to have to spend big bucks on jewelry to get this kind of reaction,” Jerald moaned.
Eric, Carol’s new boyfriend, just grinned at me. He’d made it to the party when we were doing the interview.
The rest of the party was about as good as these things get. Towards the end, we were dancing to a slow song.
“Thanks for this weekend,” Jennie said. “Would it be okay if I came to see you next weekend?”
“Are you sure?”
“I’ve had a great time. I want to come meet your friends and the rest of your family,” she said. She gave me a funny look. “I promise I’m not going to be a stalker. I want us to be friends. Plus, I think it’s time I came to you.”
“I would love that. The only problem is I’m not sure where we’re playing next weekend.”
“Mark’s right,” she giggled, “you’re one confident SOB. I hope you’re right, and you’re still playing. If you’re on the road, I’ll go there.”
“So you just want to see me.”
“You got me. I really want to spend more time with you.”
I didn’t answer her. We both knew we’d be seeing each other next weekend. The party ended with Terry in a much better mood. Doris interviewed her and William to make her night complete. Alistair Winston shocked everyone by coming with a woman fifteen years his senior. Abigail was relieved that she hadn’t pushed Jennie into that mess. Lizzie and Lilith showed up and were a little bitchy until Abigail made it known that I was a great guy. I’m not sure who was more shocked, Jennie or me.
TEDDY AND I WENT BACK to his place where I changed and got my bags. His driver took me home. Mom had waited up for me when I rolled in at 2 a.m. On the way home, I got an email from Jennie with the video attached. I waited to watch it with my mom. I knew she wouldn’t go to sleep until I got home.
I came into the kitchen and hugged her.
“I had a great time this weekend. I even got to be on TV.”
I pulled out my tablet and clicked on the video.
It turned out to be the edited video for their broadcast on Monday morning. It started out with Jennie and me walking into the party.
“You look nice.” Mom bumped my shoulder.
Doris did a voice-over. She talked about the engagement party for William and Terry. The next shot was of the happy couple. Several other couples were interviewed, and then, towards the end, our segment started.
“What everyone wanted to know was who Jennie Wesleyan brought as her date,” the voice-over began.
There was a still taken from one of the paparazzi. We looked very young, but even I had to say we looked nice. From that shot, I could almost believe that I could be a model. Then the interview began.