Jersey Six(90)

“I love this song,” Natasha said as she ate lunch with Jersey at the diner during her break.

“I hate it.” Jersey frowned as the number one song on iTunes, “Unloved,” played over the speakers for the millionth time that day.

“How can you hate it?” Natasha’s food nearly fell out of her mouth. “I mean … I don’t follow music that much, and I have no idea who sings it, so for me to like it, that means it has to be amazing.”

“It’s Ian Cooper. I used to sell merchandise at his concerts. He’s kind of a dick.”

Natasha lifted an eyebrow. “You said this was your first job.”

“Officially, yes. Ian paid me in cash … and sex.” Jersey smirked.

“That’s the most unbelievable lie I have ever heard.” Natasha rolled her eyes. “But I like where it was going. Please … tell me more.”

“Is this a regular check-in with me, or are we friends?” Jersey asked, sipping her coffee.

“Both. I’m here to see if you need anything. But you’re usually pretty self-sufficient, so it leaves time for the friend thing. Do you have any friends?”

Jersey shook her head. “I used to have one, but he died.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. Was it sudden?”

Jersey shrugged. “It happened quickly, but I saw it coming. He had a lot of issues.”

“Was this while you were sleeping with the rock star?” Natasha grinned.

Jersey mirrored her grin, finding Natasha’s complete disbelief in Jersey’s story quite funny. “As a matter of fact, it was.”

“Mmhmm …” She narrowed her eyes. “Ian Cooper … I feel like … was he in the news awhile back? Did his house burn down?”

“Yes, but we weren’t in L.A. We were in the U.K. on his world tour.”

Natasha flipped her hair over her shoulder and giggled. “Yes, you were with Ian Cooper on a world tour when his house burned down. Keep going …”

Jersey grinned at Natasha over the steam of her coffee. “How do you think I got all those stamps in my passport?”

Wiping her mouth with a napkin, Natasha eyed Jersey, studying her for a few seconds. “Okay, I’ll play. So you traveled with Ian, his house caught fire, and you returned to L.A. Correct?”

Jersey nodded.

“Then what happened? You had a falling out and you ended up in a homeless shelter?”

“Exactly.”

“What was the falling out about?”

“Oh, just the usual stuff. He’d been so busy in the studio and meeting with important people about videos and shit like that. I was feeling lonely. So I asked him to stay home one night with me and have sex, but he didn’t. I told him I was going to have sex with someone that night. He thought I was joking.” She shrugged. “I wasn’t.”

Natasha blinked a few times before laughing. “That’s your story? Ian Cooper wouldn’t have sex with you, so you found another guy to have sex with? And then what? He got mad because you cheated on him and you broke up? Which…” she held up her hand “…for the record, no woman in her right mind would cheat on a rock star, right? It would be a step down. Unless you slept with another rock star … or an actor. But what are the chances of that? So that part of your story just ruins the rest. It’s too unbelievable. You have to keep it a tiny bit believable if you want to keep your audience engaged.”

“Well, I didn’t cheat on him. We weren’t married. And I wasn’t his girlfriend.”

“Oh …” Natasha sported a sly grin. “Gotcha. That’s a relief. Cheating is just awful. Not so much flirting, or even a kiss that could lead to something, as long as someone stops it. But going as far as to have sex is unforgivable.”

Jersey set her coffee cup down and traced the rim of it. “Why? It’s just sex.”

“Sex is intimate, sacred in some ways.”

“Sacred?” Jersey’s head tipped to the side.

“Yeah, like special. The pinnacle of intimacy.”

It wasn’t. Not for Jersey. Sex had been used as a weapon, a punishment, a bargaining tool, and a means to barter for goods.

“Someday you should make things right with Ian.” She used air quotes with his name. “Bad relationships follow you around. They bleed into all your future relationships. It’s uh …” She glanced up at the ceiling, lips twisted. “Bad karma … bad luck. If your head is right, and you feel confident about moving on, you should go make things right with Ian. Find closure and make it peaceful.”

Jersey held her fingers up in air quotes. “Why are you doing this every time you say his name?”

Natasha returned the hairy eyeball. “On the off-chance that your Ian is not the actual Ian Cooper. Which…” she nodded, squinting her eyes into a weird expression “…I totally believe you. I’m just saying other people might find it a bit unlikely.”

Jersey glanced at the clock behind the counter. “Listen. My break is over. But I’m interested in this karma thing. I think I have a lot of bad karma in my life. I’m willing to try to make things right with Ian, but I don’t remember where he lives. I’m not great with directions.”

“Do you have his address?”