“That he’s a very polite kid?” she asked.
“There’s a lot to be said for that,” Molly agreed. “But most important, he’s gay. Gay men make wonderful roommates for a single woman. They’re not always hitting on you or trying to peep on you while you’re in your bra and panties, and they tend to be neat and fastidious.”
Laura smiled. “My roommate I had when I met Jake was gay too,” she said. “And he was the best roommate I ever had—even though he wasn’t all that neat and has a terrible sense of fashion.”
“No kidding?” Molly said. “I guess we have a lot in common, huh?”
“It seems like it,” Laura said, taking another sip.
“I’m going to miss him when you all go out on tour,” Molly said. “You know ... it’s funny. Until just now, when you showed up at my doorstep with Eric, a part of me thought that Eric was ... you know ... making all of this up about playing violin for Celia Valdez and going to Thanksgiving dinner at Jake Kingsley’s house. I mean ... I noticed he was bringing in more money all of a sudden—he wasn’t late with the rent anymore and was able to buy new clothes—and he certainly seemed happier now that he wasn’t spending time at that awful recording studio with all those predatory men, but the whole story just seemed so ... unbelievable.”
“It’s all true,” Laura said. “But what’s this about predatory men?”
“He didn’t tell you about the men at the Aristocrat building?” she asked.
“No. What about them?”
“Well ... apparently there are a lot of aggressive homosexuals in the music industry.”
“I’ve heard that,” Laura said.
“Well ... Eric is a young, shy, good looking male homosexual who has trouble ... well ... speaking up for himself. I’m afraid he is easy pickings for them.”
“Easy pickings?” Laura asked, wide-eyed.
“They take advantage of his nature,” Molly said. “In short, they pass him around like a joint. He was extremely happy to get out of there and start working for Celia. He thinks the world of her, and he absolutely loves you. You’ve actually brought him out of his shell a bit. When he first moved in here, I could hardly get him to say three words in a row to me. Now, he’s always talking about how rehearsal went, how the tour is going to be, how nice all of you are.”
“We all like Eric,” she said. “He’s a very talented violinist.”
“I wouldn’t know,” she said, a little sourness in her tone. “He’s never played for me.”
“Really?” she asked. “You simply have to come to the show when we’re here in LA. That’ll be ... oh ... I think in early March or sometime around there. I’ll make sure you have tickets.”
“That would be awesome,” she said sincerely. “I’ll be looking forward to it.”
“And I think he would be happy to have you there. There is one thing though...”
“What’s that?” Molly asked.
“These panic attacks he has.”
“What about them?”
“How often do they happen?”
She shrugged. “His meds usually keep them under control, but ... oh ... once a month or so he gets a really bad one and has to take a Xanax. And then, once every few months, even the Xanax doesn’t do it for him and he ends up in the hospital like tonight.”
“I see,” she said. “And they’re triggered by him being in social situations?”
“Mostly,” she said. “Sometimes—like today, I’m thinking—just the thought of being in a social situation triggers one. It’s really a terrible thing, really.”
“Yes, it is,” Laura said. “What I’m worried about though is ... well ... he’s about to go on tour with us. Every night he’ll be asked to get up on a stage for two hours in front of fifteen to twenty thousand people. Isn’t that kind of an extreme social situation?”
“It is,” Molly agreed.
“Do you think he’ll be able to handle it?”
“Did you ask Eric this?” she countered.
“A few times, me and Celia both. He says he’ll be all right as long as he’s got some Xanax available in case of emergency.”
“I guess you’ll have to trust him on that then.”
“Yeah,” Laura said. “I guess so.”
They talked of more neutral topics for a while as they finished their wine and then poured some more. They spoke of how Jake and Laura had met, how they had not liked each other at first, and how her attraction to him started to blossom once they started playing music together. And as they spoke, Laura found herself sneaking glances at Molly’s braless breasts jiggling away beneath her t-shirt, at her pouty lips and pink tongue, at the skin on her neck. She really was an attractive woman. And she still had trouble believing she was forty years old.
“So, that’s my love life in a nutshell,” Laura said as they neared the end of their second glasses of wine.
“That was a good story,” Molly allowed. “It sounds like the real Jake Kingsley is much different than they portray him in the entertainment reports.”
“He couldn’t be more different,” Laura agreed. “He’s a very intelligent, gentle man and he’s very good ... well ... you know...”
“In bed?” Molly asked.
“Yes,” Laura said, blushing.
“That’s a good attribute in a husband ... I suppose,” Molly said.
“How about you?” Laura asked. “I’m guessing you’re divorced, right?”
Molly shook her head. “We were never married. I got knocked up with Jason when I was nineteen, a dumb mistake. His father has never really been in his life at all.”
“That’s too bad,” Laura said.
“Not really,” Molly said. “I’m sure it was for the best.”
“And you’ve never found the right man since then?”
Molly chuckled a little. “Well ... as it turns out, there really is no right man for me.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean that I’m not into men.”
Laura’s eyes widened. Her heart started to beat a little faster in her chest. “You mean ... you’re ... you’re a...”
“I’m a lesbian,” Molly said plainly. “Does that bother you?”
Laura shook her head. “No,” she said, smiling, her eyes now shining brightly. “That doesn’t bother me at all.”
“Not at all?” Molly asked, her brows going up a bit.
“Not at all,” Laura repeated. “In fact, I find that very interesting.”
Chapter 20: Three’s Company
Posted: 17.04.2023, 15:36:11
Los Angeles, California
December 25, 1995
The storm had blown over, but Jake and Laura ended up spending Christmas Eve in LA instead of flying home as they had planned. Laura had been the one to advocate for staying in the hated city. Her arguments: they would just have to fly back on Christmas Day anyway to be present at the family celebration at Pauline’s house, who knew what the weather would be like on Christmas Day (Jake actually did know, it was forecast to be calm and clear with light winds and a high in the low 60s), the presents we got for each other are already here in LA so it will save us the trouble of flying them home to open them, Elsa won’t be there anyway because she went home to Orange County to be with her family, and ... oh ... it will give me an opportunity to have lunch with Molly.
And so, they stayed. Jake went out and found a little Christmas tree and a few lights to put up. Laura went out and had lunch with her new friend Molly, the physical therapist who rented a room to Eric the creepy violinist. Shortly after Laura returned from her lunch with Molly, she initiated a session of hot, enthusiastic sex with Jake (a correlation that did not go unnoticed by Jake) and then, at 4:30, after a nap and a shower, they drove over to the Nerdlys and had Christmas Eve dinner with Bill, Sharon, and little Kelvin—although, of course, they did not call it Christmas Eve dinner, but dinner for the seventh day of Hanukkah.