Golden Hour (GirlxGirl)

4

Danny didn't believe me when I told him everything that had happened with Jamie in the time that had passed since the night of the affair. I usually kept him in the dark about the results of our adventures because it was safer if we got caught; I figured the less he knew, the better. The extent of his involvement in the exhilarating game I liked to play with my life was acting as the get-away man; everything else he left to me. Getting the pictures off the SD card for safe keeping, dealing with the angry, sometimes sad, most times desperate celebrities, and any consequences that came after was all my responsibility. I had planned on keeping it that way even with a scandal as big as this one, but it was proving to be too difficult.

"She had her eyes open?" Danny asked. "Mas loco que una cabra con pollitos, Luce. What did you do?"

"I got the hell out of there what do you think I did! Stood around and watched?"

"Aye I don't know," he said grinning, "it sounds like it was pretty steamy. I probably would've, and I don't even swing that way." 

I rolled my eyes. "If it were you in that room instead of me, you'd have shit your pants the second Cassidy Alexander's stiletto hit the first kitchen tile. I think I held my ground okay, but I don't know baby bro, I don't think I'm equipped to handle these two. It might be too much for me."

"Now wait just a minute, Luciana. You're talkin nonsense." He stood up from the couch, his long legs stretching out underneath him. He was a lanky guy, always the tallest in the room but the skinniest, too. His shirts were always baggy because his chest lacked most of the muscle the other guys his height had and his jeans stopped right above his ankles. Most people would think he hadn't bought new clothes since puberty, but I always liked the way he dressed because it made him seem younger. He was growing up, that was something I couldn't stop, but he was still my baby brother and I wanted it to stay that way. "What do you mean you can't handle it? You're a Fields, we can handle anything life throws at us."

"I don't need a lecture Dan, I'm just saying Jamie West might be a little out of my realm of comfort. She's just so.... different, I guess. She's always somewhere far away; her body is in the room but it seems like her mind is elsewhere, and not just when I'm talking but when Cassidy's there, too." Danny was about to say something, but I didn't give him the chance. "And my god, don't get me started on Cassidy. It took me five minutes, if that, to realize she's clearly on some ridiculous power trip and Jamie doesn't seem to care that her girlfriend is a psycho."

"I think you're reading a little too far into their relationship. They seem happy."

"Looks are deceiving."

He shook his head. "They can be, that doesn't mean they always are. Cassidy might be on some power trip but they're a power couple if you ask me. A power couple that could set you on your way to fame if you play your cards right."

"I don't think that's the way this is going to go," I said. "I think the second Jamie either gives me my money or a different means of getting it, I'm getting out of there and never looking back."

"If you're so uncomfortable with this situation, then why are you putting yourself in it in the first place? We don't need the money that bad."

"We do, and you know it-"

"We don't." Danny crossed his arms over his chest and moved to stand across from me. "I got myself into this mess and it isn't your responsibility to fix it."

"The fact that you can say that to me and believe it just goes to show that you have no idea how much I love you." I moved around the table and pulled him into a hug. "Your mess is my mess. I don't care what I have to do to get you out of it, and I don't care how long it takes."

His grip around my waist was loose at first, but soon enough he returned the embrace. "I love you too, but-"

"No buts, there's nothing left for you to say." I pulled away from him and ran a hand through the front of his hair. There wasn't much left of it anymore, but the gesture was so natural to me that most times I forgot he'd practically shaved it all off after his last boyfriend broke his heart. I guess it was a statement- a 'new year new me' type thing. I think the buzz-cut somehow lessened his boyish look and that's why he did it, to tell the world that he was an adult now. I just wished his actions supported that idea, but all the mistakes he'd made in the last few years proved to me that he wasn't ready to be on his own. 

"Just let me take care of you for a little bit longer," I said. "As a favor to me."

He smiled at that. "As a favor to you, huh?"

"You bet. Go start dinner alright? I'm gonna shower before Jamie starts lighting up my phone and barking orders at me."

"This late at night? I thought the assistant thing was more of a day job."

"It's more of a... any god damn time she sees fit job, unfortunately. I spent the first day not taking it seriously and she freaked out on me, and quite frankly I'm a little scared of what Cassidy might do to me if I make her girlfriend unhappy. So if she calls at three in the morning, you fuckin bet I'm getting in my car and driving over there to do her bidding."

Danny parted from me and headed toward the kitchen, throwing his head back in a cackle on the way. "It's funny, typically with girls you're not the one taking orders."

"Hilarious," I muttered. "I don't think anything about Jamie West is typical."

***

If any of you guys are latino/a and feel like helping my uncultured ass better represent your culture through Danny and Luciana's characters, please PM me! Representation is really important to me so I'm starting to explore cultures, sexualities, races, etcetera that are different than mine in my writing. But even though I go to a really diverse college now, I grew up in a primarily white, straight, christian town so I don't know a whole lot about other cultures and don't have a whole lot of time to do research.

 That actually goes for anyone- if you feel like you're under/misrepresented in most books & movies and want to help change that at least a little, PM me and maybe some of your thoughts will make it into the books I write in the future.

Thanks for reading <3