Joey is cool as a cucumber and if I didn’t know any better I’d say she’s done this a million times. I’m supposed to be the actor, not her, and yet here she is poised and ready to take on the most invasive question possible in front of a live audience. I’m not sure what she’s going to say. I mean, we had sex last night and even though I don’t remember it, I felt pretty damn good when I woke-up this morning and I have no doubt that’s because of her. I hate that we had to be drunk for it to happen, but my subconscious knew what I wasn’t willing to admit. I want her. I just can’t have her. Not like this and not in this house where our lives are dictated by time slots and ratings.
“Married life isn’t what I thought it would be.” She looks at me and shrugs. My stomach bottoms out with dread. “I mean, Joshua cleans up after himself, does his own laundry, and makes his own food. Aside from the ring on my finger …” Joey pauses and holds her hand out. My eyes close, I don’t know what she’s going to say, but it isn’t going to be pretty or in my favor. “Well, let’s just say things are different.”
I’m suddenly angry and I don’t know why. What the hell kind of questions are these and why is she being so coy? Patrick Jonas chuckles and for some reason I want to reach through the television and strangle him. My anger, for what it’s worth, should be focused on Joey for not following our plan … my plan. I need to talk to her about last night and find out just how things got out of control. I know we were both drinking, but I didn’t think she was that drunk and by all accounts she and I shouldn’t have had sex, but we did and I think I liked it. No, I know I did because I have the urge to pick her up and carry her away so we can do it again, but this time sober. I want to know exactly what she feels like pressed against my body without the cloud of tequila being in the way. What happened last night or early this morning can’t happen again.
“Are you saying that Joshua Wilson is a diva?”
Joey blanches, but recovers quickly, yet another feature that would do well in Hollywood. I don’t know why I can find all these amazing things about her, but not give in. Apparently only my brain is the logical one since my dick has a mind of its own.
“Absolutely not. My husband is very kind and I’m a lucky woman for all the reasons I listed above.” Joey glances over and smiles; her eyes light up and everything seems happy. When Patrick starts talking, her face tells a different story. She’s acting, and I just bought it, just like I’ve been asking her to buy into my bullshit. Oh God, what did I do to her last night? I need this segment to be over so we can talk. It’s the dreaded “this shouldn’t have happened” talk that I never pictured myself having with her. She’s going to be hurt and probably kick me in the nuts, and I deserve that, but I was drunk and the fact that I only remember bits and pieces of the night does not bode well for me. I can’t even tell her that I enjoyed myself. I mean … it looks like I did and my body feels great, but I just can’t remember.
“Gary, Joshua has taken you under his wing of sorts. How are you feeling with your new workout?”
All eyes are on Gary, and the man he was a few days ago is not the man sitting here now. He’s taken my advice and is doing everything he can. I haven’t seen him pick up a beer in a week and he’s been pushing himself with training.
Gary smiles and he should be. He looks at Amanda, who has a small lift to her lip. There has been no mistaking her attitude toward him, but she seems to be warming her icy stance on them being a coup
le.
Amanda is much like me. She’s just a bitch about it. I have my reasons for keeping Joey at arm’s length. It’s better for both of us if I do it this way.
“Josh and Cole have been a great support system and I do believe my wife is enjoying the fruits of my labor.” Gary runs his hand down his chest and over his stomach, a slimmer one at that, but still a bit portly. Amanda blushes and the audience does their usual prompted oohs and aahs.
Cole starts clapping and I join in. Any confidence that we can give him is a boost. I meet a lot of people in my line of work and know that even the slightest amount of confidence can make someone feel as if they matter.
“Okay, newlyweds, you’ve been in the house a few weeks now, what do you miss the most about the outside world?”
“I actually miss my job,” Millie answers first.
I don’t. I’m happy for the vacation, but am afraid of what my bank account will look like when I’m out of here. I’m going to need to book back-to-back jobs just to catch up. I already have one set up in Alabama starting a week after we finish our press tour. That is going to be a good excuse as to why Joey and I can’t work out once we’re done with the game. We’d never see each other, and she needs a man who is going to worship her and be everything to her that I can’t. I want to kick my own ass for thinking of such a lame ass excuse, but it’s the best I got right now.
“Privacy,” Joey says.
“Starbucks,” Amanda adds.
“What about the guys?” Patrick asks.
“I miss my gym,” I answer.
“My computer,” Gary says.
I want to add his porn channels, but don’t.
We all turn to look at Cole, who is staring at Millie. It confuses me as to why he’s looking at her when the question is about what we all miss from the outside world. Millie whispers something and he smiles. A gesture that pains my heart a little, reminding me that I could have something similar with Joey if I weren’t so damn stubborn.
“I miss the ability to take my wife on a date.”
We can hear the audience members as they all audibly sigh and with one sentence he’s put him and Millie in the lead. He’s smooth; I’ll give him that. And now I need to up my game. I can’t have him stealing votes from my fans. The producers make sure we can hear the audience and their elation.
“Well, Cole, now that you’ve said that I’ll tell you what your next competition is. Newlyweds, tonight is game night. Outside you’ll find three booths, and a trivia board. Up for grabs to the couple who gets the most questions right is: date night! Your competition begins in five minutes.”
I quickly take Joey’s hand in mine and all but drag her to the backyard. She and I need this date night so we can have some privacy to discuss what happened in our room last night. Short of getting into the shower with her—which I don’t think is a very good idea right now—this will be our only option. Our booth is yellow. I hate yellow. My funk needs to change or we’re going to lose this battle.
As soon as we’re all in our respective booths, the questions start. The idea of the game is to be the first to answer, but we won’t know if we’ve got the question right until the end. We have to be fast and efficient. I step in behind Joey and cage her in with my arms. I half expect her to step away from me, but she doesn’t. Yet another reason why she’s perfect. Despite her being on the couch this morning, she’s showing the viewers that we’re solid. But the whole couch thing confuses me and I need to ask her why she was there. Hopefully I didn’t do a dickhead move and kick her out of the bed or something.
“Do want me to read the questions?”
“Yeah, babe, that works.”