Adventures of Hollywood Jim Ch. 87

Scott Jackson's attempt at a hostile takeover of AU had been averted due to some last minute decisions. I didn't know or understand a lot of what transpired, but the way that Chuck reacted to it seemed odd. Of course he was relieved, but I know he was still suspicious of Scott, and rightly so. I was only hoping another Marty O'Brien-type situation wasn't lurking in the shadows. Our lawyers assured us that this would be last we'd see of him, the legal agreements were binding and if he wanted to continue fighting us in court it would be an uphill battle he was likely to lose anyway. The buzzing of my cellphone brought me back to reality.

"Hello James..." said a sultry sounding female voice talking low and slow "Do you know who this is?"

"Yes...I know you rather well."

"This is Demetria Lovato calling...how are you darling?"

"More than a little turned on at the moment."

"Good..." the voice replied in that same sultry tone before giggling and returning to her normal voice "Hey babe! I couldn't resist doing that!"

"With a voice like that you'll have a long career in voiceover work."

"Awwww, you're still the same sweetheart I remember. Hey, got a question for you, I know this is pretty last minute, but I'm in New York doing a guest spot on "Blue Bloods" and I'm going to a wedding in the Hamptons, feel like coming along?"

"You're on "Blue Bloods"? No kidding?"

"Uh-huh! Cool part too!" she said excitedly "I get to be a cop in full uniform."

"Oh, man...that's an arresting vision I'd love to see."

"I figured you'd say that. So can you make it?"

"Who's getting married?"

"One of my dancers and um, I've got a small favor I need to ask."

"I probably owe you a few, what is it?"

"Would you be willing to be a friend's plus one?"

"Trying to set me up?"

"Sort of, you probably know her. It's my friend Selena."

"Selena Gomez?"

"Right, still wanna come?"

I thought for a minute, I'd met her long ago for a minute and always meant to get better acquainted with her.

"Um, sure. Why not?"

"Cool! I'll text you all the info."

I soon got a text message with the info plus a bonus. Demi (or should I say "Demetria") included a photo of herself in full NYPD uniform looking deadly serious and playfully holding a nightstick with a message;

"You're under arrest, Mister Hollywood."

I couldn't help but smile to myself!

The NYC Pub looked like a Greenwich Village hole in the wall but it was apparently just the place where the "Blue Bloods" cast celebrated the end of another week's filming. Much of the cast was there laughing at the week's blooper reel that followed a screening of the completed episode. I made my way to the bar to get a beer and hadn't been there more than a minute when I felt a hand on my ass. I turned around to see a gorgeous blonde with glasses and a naughty look on her face;

"Hey gorgeous, when'd you get into town?" Jenny McCarthy asked.

"Just tonight, ma'am."

"So good to see you!" she said excitedly as she hugged me "How'd you know to come here?"

"Meeting a friend...and there she is now."

Demi Lovato made her up to the bar and hugged me just as excitedly. She looked super-hot with short bobbed brunette hair, black leather pants and a glittery shirt topped with a black wool varsity jacket with matching leather sleeves.

"You know him?" Jenny asked with that smile of hers.

"Uh-huh, he did photos for my last tour and he's always good for a favor, right babe?"

"Absolutely, it's the kinda guy I am."

"We gotta get drinks!" Jenny said as she called the bartender "Hey bartender! Two beers and a ginger ale for the lady! Chop-Chop!"

"Alright, lady it's comin'!" the bartender yelled with his back to us. He turned around and I saw now it was Donnie Wahlberg tending bar tonight. 2 bottles of beer and a ginger ale appeared as if by magic.

"Babe, this is Jim. The guy I met at that birthday party in LA."

"Oh, you're the guy!" he said in that wise-guy, Boston voice of his.

"Yep, I'm the guy." I replied as we shook hands. I don't know what he meant but it was probably best not to ask especially with his lady, make that his wife, next to us.

"Good to meetcha, pal. I gotta keep the customers happy." He said as he went back to his bartending chores.

"So where's this blind date I'm going on?" I asked Demi.

"Ah! She's right over there." She replied as she pointed to a nearby table "Selena! Come over here!"

Selena Gomez appeared to be deep in conversation with another man and Demi had to call her two more times but she finally came over. We'd sort-of met once before at the old Eagle nightclub when she was performing with her band The Scene. That time we met through Miley Cyrus but didn't get to talk much as Miley had, shall we say, other plans for me that night. Since then I'd seen what Selena had been going through with the press and various breakup and make-ups. It wasn't anything compared to the weird metamorphosis Miley had gone through, her I didn't even recognize anymore. I'm still convinced her evil twin somehow escaped from the undisclosed location she'd been locked up in and switched places with the Miley I remembered. Selena, however seemed the same person, maybe a bit older and wiser.

"Hey! I remember you!" She said as she hugged me "You're Miley's friend."

"Wow, I'm glad you remembered."

"A guy like you, I don't forget." She said with a big smile "So you're gonna be my date, huh?"

"That's the setup."

"Hey, would I steer you wrong?" Demi added.

"Nah, you never have." Selena replied with that cool, seen-it-all tone of hers.

"You're a lucky guy Jim. You got all the makings of a threesome in front of you." Jenny added with that wicked laugh that made Selena and Demi blush.

"Sorry, Jim, I'm taken in that area!" Demi laughed as she looked around the bar for her date "Hey Babe!"

A coolly dressed man approached us and saw it was her boyfriend Wilmer Valderama. Demi immediately wrapped her arm around his. "This is my man." She said to me with a big smile before looking at him as she introduced us. He had a beaming smile too, no surprise there. "Let's get a table, sweetie." She said as they walked away leaving me with Selena.

"More like get a room..." Selena said to me.

"Looks that way, uh, maybe we should get one too?" I said before quickly adding "A table, that is!

"Good idea." She replied with that easy smile of hers.

We got our drinks and moved to a table near the back. Selena looked so cool in a brown suede jacket and black jeans as she sipped a glass of red wine. She sat close to me so we could hear one another over the din of the bar.

"How'd you meet Demi anyway?" she asked

"Like she said, I did the photos at a show in Vegas and she ended up using them in the tour book."

"That must've been something. She's been trying to get me to tour with her. She thinks we could be like that tour Tigress did with Rhianna, but I don't know..."

"I think it would work. She's certainly on a roll lately and you'd make a great combo onstage. I could see you doing some kind of a duet where you challenge each other onstage."

"In what way?"

"Well..." now I was drawing a blank what to say next "I'd have to have my iPod but I know there's a lot of classic rock songs you could do, I know it."

"Sort of like what Demi was doing?" she said with a little smile that grew, I think she liked what she was hearing "That show you did the photos at, she was doing that song 'Jailbreak'. You think we could do songs like that, right?"

"Right, something like that."

"Now I see what you mean, great idea." She reached into her jacket and pulled out her phone "I've got iTunes on my phone, maybe we could find some ideas."

"Good idea. I've got that too."

She quickly opened the iTunes app and began scrolling through the different categories. I did the same on my phone. She was looking over my shoulder, a playful smile on her face.

"Didn't you used to do Taylor Swift songs in your show?"

"Yeah, but then who doesn't?"

"Ever tried that Joan Jett song "Bad Reputation"? It usually fires up a crowd." I hit the sampler button but couldn't hear anything because the bar was still noisy.

"Why don't we go outside, maybe it'll be better there." She suggested.

"Good idea."

We headed up to the top floor patio but found only a locked door leading outside.

"Let me try something." She said as she pulled out a credit card and delicately slipped it into the door frame, the door soon clicked open and she gave me a confident look that spoke volumes.

"Where'd you learn that?" I said, stunned that a trick I'd only seen in movies really worked.

"A guy showed me how for a film I did." She said as she opened the door and we stepped outside. The night air had just enough of a chill and the sounds of NYC were all around us. Down on the street we could see a few secret smokers lurking in the shadows, their faces hidden.

"Whoa, it's chilly out here." She said with a shudder as she zipped up her jacket and I fiddled with my phone to pull up iTunes again. Selena got close to me and we could hear the music better now.

"You're right, that's a good song." She said "What else is good?"

"Well, let's see...here's one. 'Something Bad' the song Carrie and Miranda did."

"Oh yeah! I love that song! That's a keeper!" she said excitedly.

"Good...oh, this one's really cool, 'Move Over'. It's a Janis Joplin song. Since you're from Texas it's only fitting." I said as I pulled it up and she listened. The nodding of her head told me this one was a keeper too.

"Seems like you know a lot about music." She said with a smile.

"Yeah, I guess I'm a frustrated DJ at heart." I said bashfully as she got closer to me and a sudden breeze made us both a little chillier.

"It's colder here than I thought." She said as she stood close to me. Her brunette hair had a pleasant scent to it. All those Pantene ads must've had some effect. Either that or it was whatever perfume she had on

"Warm me up." She said. I put my arms around her and she was even closer to me.

"Demi told me how much of a sweet guy you were."

"She did?"

"Uh-huh...I remember meeting you long ago but it looked like you were more interested in Miley. So..." her voice trailed off.

"Miley's a nice girl, and Demi's a sweetheart too."

"What about me?"

"I'd say you're a combination of the two." I said carefully.

Selena smiled widely and I took that as my cue. I slowly leaned in and we kissed. As we parted, her eyes were closed as if she wanted to remember the moment for as long as possible.

"I wasn't expecting that...it felt nice."

"I can tell, the way your eyes were closed. It was like, uh, a dream."

"You're right." She said softly as we kissed again. We moved a little more into the shadows and continued to kiss. But the cold air didn't do much for any romance we might've had in mind.

Just then we heard a voice across the deck.

"Selena? Are you out here?"

It was Demi. Selena and I looked at each other, she smiled a little.

"Yeah! We're back here." She said as she straightened her jacket and I followed her towards the door where Demi stood.

"Hey, where you been? Um, we're gonna head back to the hotel, are you coming?"

"Uh, yeah it's getting late anyway."

"We're getting a cab, you coming, Jim?"

"Right, yes, I'll be going too."

Demi looked at me with a sly smile as Selena walked past her.

"I know what you were doing." She said in a giggly, sing-song voice, her head bobbing from right to left, like it was a schoolyard taunt.

"I'll bet you do." I replied in the same tone.

Throughout the cab ride across town, Wilmer had been intently checking the weather app on his phone. Once we arrived at our hotel, we all went inside quickly as the winter chill was getting greater.

"OK, I just saw there might be a blizzard tomorrow and the weddings' in the Hamptons so we'll all meet in the lobby at like 11, that way we'll have enough time to get there, blizzard or no blizzard, agreed?" Wilmer instructed. Everyone agreed and we made our way to our rooms. Demi and Wilmer shared a suite, naturally, and Selena had a room down the hall from mine. At her door, she looked around to make sure nobody was looking before giving me another quick kiss.

"Um, I'll, uh see you in the morning?" she said hesitantly.

"Right, I think Wilmer's on some sort of time table."

"You're not mad at me are you?"

"For what?"

"I don't know, I just...I don't know, I just don't want to rush into anything. You know what I mean?"

"Sure. I understand. I'll see you in the morning."

"OK, goodnight babe." She said as we kissed again.

The next morning I got a text from Demi reminding me of the "schedule" and how we needed to be ready to go as Wilmer had arranged transportation for all of us. I got out a dark pinstripe suit that had been a gift from Paris Hilton (long story about how that happened) and went down the hall to Selena's room.

"It's open!" I heard from inside. I opened the door and saw a very pretty sight.

Selena was at the bathroom mirror carefully putting on lip gloss and I could see her fashion choice was, well, very fashionable. She had on a beautiful ruby colored dress with a dramatic slit up the side. Her long brunette hair had gentle curls at the bottom and around her neck was a simple chain with a gold crucifix. The final touch was seeing her carefully spray perfume onto her wrist and dab it onto her neck.

"What do you think?" she asked as she turned to greet me before striking a model's pose "I just got it back from the tailor."

"You look... amazing. What about me?"

"Oh, come on! Guys have it easy." She said with a gentle slap on my chest as she walked out and grabbed a small purse, a wool coat and a gym bag "You just put on a tie and you're halfway there."

"Thank you, Miss Fashionista."

Selena giggled and took my arm.

"Let's go, Mister plus one." She said with that classic smile of hers.

Down in the main lobby we met Demi and Wilmer. Demi wore an equally pretty red pantsuit combo and Wilmer was like me, admiring our respective dates.

"Wow! Let's get a picture!" Demi said excitedly as she got out her phone and had a passerby take our photo "Gotta get this on Facebook!"

The wedding was being held at this quaint Inn and as we were seated, I looked around and noticed that the guests seemed to be overwhelmingly female and whatever guys were there were with, other guys.

"Uh, this is a pretty dumb question...but it seems like its all girls here." I said to Demi.

"Well, yeah, she's a lesbian. Didn't you know that?"

"I know now."

"I thought you knew!" she said with surprise "Have you ever been to one like this?"

"Well, yes, once." I said with a shrug "The food was good I'll say that."

As readings were done and vows made, Demi gave Wilmer little smiles, like it was something she dreamed of. He smiled while holding her hand and whispering in her ear. Selena had the same kind of look, but it seemed like she was wondering if these things would ever happen to her. I looked over at her and placed my hand on hers. She turned, smiled, and put her head on my shoulder. Perhaps I gave a feeling of reassurance to her. With the "I do's" said, there was a round of applause from those gathered. And like I expected, the food was rather good, as was the bar. Demi stuck to ginger ale all evening while Selena was sipping red wine with me. She wanted to hear about my various adventures in Hollywood and we were all soon laughing uncontrollably as we traded different stories.

"C'mon, babe, let's hit the dance floor." Demi said to her date "I think we need to dance off some of this food."

"I think we'll wait for slower numbers, what do you think?" Selena said to me "I need to digest all this food."

"Good idea, another glass of wine?"

"You're reading my mind." She said without missing a beat as she held up her glass and I refilled it.

Just as she had hoped, the DJ started a slow song, and not just any slow song, "It Had to Be You". Selena immediately recognized it and looked at me.

"I think they've found the right song."

"I have to warn you, I'm a terrible dancer." I said sheepishly.

"That's OK" She said as she stood up and took my hand "I think if you just hold me and sway back and forth, you're halfway there."

"I guess I can't argue with that."

As we joined other couples on the dance floor, Selena took my hand and I wrapped my arm round her waist and we began to sway just as she'd said. She was looking up at me and smiling as Sinatra's voice floated around us.

"My Mom loves this song." She said to me.

"It's very pretty, I'll say that."

"Someone said I should do an album of love songs like this."

"Not a bad idea."

"Yeah...but not just yet."

"Right, wait 'til the songs over first."

Selena snickered and put her head on my shoulder, her hair smelled beautiful. Soon after, the dance floor was crowded as an Earth, Wind & Fire song got the party in gear with "September". Demi and Selena were exuberantly dancing and screaming every line in the song. I checked the outside and could see the snow quickly accumulating.

After awhile, the girls needed a break and were laughing back at our table. Wilmer had been checking his phone and came back with a concerned look on his face.

"Hey, I just got word that the snow's getting really bad and we might be stuck out here."

"Geez, what do we do?" Demi asked "The hotel's probably booked up."

"I called my business manager. He's got a house near here and says we can spend the night. That's probably our best bet."

"Sounds good to me." I said as Selena nodded her agreement.

"OK, I'll call him back and we can split."

Demi and Selena went off to change into sweats for the drive. Wilmer wasn't kidding when we pulled onto the main road. The traffic was crawling along and we could see numerous cars spun out or stuck in snow banks.

"You ever driven through this stuff?" he asked me.

"Many times, I grew up in Connecticut, you know. It's way of life out there."

"Maybe you should be driving."

"And deny you the experience? Perish the thought!" I said, making us both laugh.

"Keep your eyes on the road!" Demi yelled from the backseat.

Wilmer and I looked at each other and snickered as we soldiered on through the snow. It was strange but after all we ate and drank at the wedding we were still hungry so as soon as we saw a pizzeria still open we immediately pulled over and got a large house special with everything. It was long after midnight when we pulled up to a house in the country and we were all freezing. Just as we got inside, the electricity went out.

"Great! What next?" Demi yelled as we all got out our cellphones and navigated our way around the house trying not to crash into anything or each other. With not much else to do, we sat around the fireplace warming up, munching on slices and talking. It was actually more fun just doing this than being at the wedding. Demi and Selena got out their phones and we all took selfies around the fire. We were laughing more and more as the night went on. After awhile, Demi and Wilmer went upstairs to check out the bedrooms leaving me by the fire with Selena.

"All in all, this was a pretty good day." She said to me.

"You're right, it's kinda nice sitting here like this."

"Oh, really? What've you got in mind?" she replied with a flirty smile.

"I don't know...maybe we could, uh, continue what we did last night." I said hesitantly as I got closer to her. She did the same and we kissed again, it was just as nice as before. Her face looked so pretty in the firelight.

"Still feeling chilly?"

She nodded.

"I think I saw a blanket over there." I said as I stood up and carefully made my way across the room where a large wool blanket was draped over a chair. Once I got closer to the firelight I could see it had a huge NY Yankees logo on it "I'm usually a Red Sox fan but I'll make an exception." I said as I draped it around us.