Disclaimers: See part 1.
Questions or comments? mryan12@hotmail.com
Shell Game
By M. Ryan
Part 3
The Prom Queens
It wasn’t hot yet but the
day promised to be a scorcher. Chris felt sweat trickle down her back as she
sprinted to stay ahead of the dark haired woman who was following about ten
yards behind. "Last one to the crosswalk buys the PowerAde!"
"Not fair, you little
snot!"
Chris laughed delightedly
and ran even faster. The two women dodged a broken place in the sidewalk, their
running shoes slapping on the concrete as they sped to the end of the block.
"Gotcha!" Chris grabbed the light post on the corner and spun around
it. "I win!"
"You…" Tori
Chiles grabbed the shorter woman’s shoulder and gasped, "Cheater."
Chris smiled broadly and
held her hands over her head briefly in victory before exhaling and dropping
them. "I just know when to press my advantage."
Tori straightened. "A
good run though. Nice to have someone push me a bit."
It had started as just a
friendly gesture; an offer to run together one morning had turned into a
comfortable routine. Tori had rented an apartment two streets over from Chris’
house and a strong friendship built on respectful rivalry was in its beginning
stages. The dark haired anchor had a quick wit, a keen sense of fun and didn’t
take herself too seriously. The last trait, in Chris’ opinion, was all too rare
in on-air talent.
"Yeah, it helps."
"Well come on, since I
lost again. I bought some of that infrared stuff you love so much."
"Great."
The walk to Tori’s
apartment was a pleasant cool down, and they talked about story ideas and
complained a little about Tom and Roy, the two male anchors who worked the
primetime newscasts. Chris did the Six and Ten with Tom while Tori was teamed
with Roy for the Five. "Tom’s not so bad when he reads what’s on the
teleprompter, it’s when he ad libs that things get out of hand. Last week he
was talking about the special election for city councilman and instead of just
saying it was close, he wants to say they’re ‘neck and neck.’ It comes out as
‘neck and nut.’"
"You’ve gotta be
kidding." Tori shook her head.
"Wish I was. Everyone
was yelling, I thought my earpiece was gonna come flying out. Puts a whole
different spin on the election."
"That’s priceless.
Roy’s so incredibly stiff. He’s just a tree."
"Yeah, but he’s a
local boy and he’s got fans."
"I guess. No chance
for the two of us to do a ‘cast together, is there?"
Chris shook her head
emphatically. "Not unless both of them were in the hospital or something.
Don’t know why, I mean Laura says women like to look at women on the air and
men like to look at women on the air, so why not just have an all female anchor
team."
"More balance I
guess." Tori kicked a small rock and it skittered down the sidewalk.
"You and Kaz get along pretty well, don’t you?"
"Uh huh." Chris
tried for casual.
"She’s not what I
expected."
"What’d you
expect?"
Tori thought for a moment.
"A screamer. Though now that I’ve been around her a bit I can see that’s
not her style. Bet she could nail you to the wall with a look."
"I’ve seen that
look."
"I’m sure." They
stepped onto the walkway that led to Tori’s half of the duplex. "Want to
come in, or sit here on the steps?"
"Here is good. I’m
kind of gross." Chris flopped down on the top step dangling her hands
between her knees as the other woman went inside and the screen door closed
behind her. In a minute, Tory was back carrying two bottles of neon red liquid.
Chris cracked open the seal and drank thirstily then wiped her mouth with the
back of her hand. "Good stuff."
"She’s on vacation
next week." Tori said, recapping her drink.
"Who?"
"Kaz."
"Huh. So am I."
Tori shook her head.
"Not smart Chris."
"What?" Chris
wasn’t alarmed. Yet.
"You don’t plan your
vacation when your boss is on vacation. You miss out on a little slack time at
the office."
"Oh." Chris
swallowed in relief. "She’s playing in the U.S. Amateur next week.
Station’ll probably get a little extra publicity."
"So what are you
doing?"
"On my vacation?"
Chris shrugged. "Not really sure yet. I just scheduled the time when there
wasn’t a blackout." And that’s the problem, isn’t it? She hasn’t asked
if I wanted to go, didn’t ask if I had anything planned. Just says that’s what
she’s doing. "I may go to Nashville and visit my parents. Doesn’t
sound very exciting." She took another drink. "You’ll get to do all
three Newscasts for a week."
"And that’ll be cool.
More face time." Tori rested her chin on her knees. "Listen,
why don’t we do something tonight after the Ten? We won’t stay out too late. I
know this guy and he’s been bugging me about going out for drinks. He’s got a
friend and we could sit out on the patio at Lupe’s."
Chris barely kept from
squirming. "I don’t think…"
"Or bring whoever
you’re dating right now."
Oh, that’d go over like
a lead balloon. "Ah,
I just don’t know." She plucked at her shoelaces and frowned thoughtfully.
I could just go for a bit. She’ll probably be tied up anyway. It’s just out
for drinks. "Okay. Tonight after the Ten."
"It’ll be fun, you’ll
see." Tori stood up. "Gotta get a shower and get ready. Lucky you,
not having to be at work until two.
"Yeah, everyone wants
to go in at two, but no one wants to stay ‘til eleven."
Okay, so I’m moping. Chris set off at a brisk walk toward
her house then slowed down when she remembered that she didn’t have to hurry
anywhere. I wasn’t invited. Charles was invited. Well, Charles is her caddy.
Still, she could’ve asked. I can’t just invite myself to go, can I? It’s okay,
I’ll go out tonight, have a drink…Tori’s right, it’ll be fun. I wish… She
was walking fast again, her arms swinging in agitation. Could I have picked
anyone more difficult to love?
Nope.
*********************
Laura swore again and
thumped the club down on top of the tee driving it into the ground. What is
your problem? She stripped off her glove in disgust and stalked off the
practice tee swatting at a mosquito on her arm. It was past midnight but one of
the advantages to being a local golf celebrity were the perks that her Country
Club offered. Peter kept a stash of practice balls available just for her and
she’d been given a key to the breaker box that turned on the lights. She’d been
at it for about four hours now; most of the balls were gone along with all of
her patience.
Dammit, answer Chris. Laura punched in the number and
ground her teeth when the machine answered again. She flipped the cell phone
closed and flopped down on the ground next to her bag, tired and frustrated.
She hadn’t seen or spoken to the blonde anchor at all that day, didn’t know her
plans for the evening and Chris hadn’t returned her pages. Did she finally
get tired of waiting? Hell, I’m tired of waiting. She closed her
eyes and swore again. Stop feeling sorry for yourself. You are responsible
for your own position. It’s a problem, so solve it.
She slid her driver into
the bag and pulled out her wedge, stood up and started walking down the range.
As she got close to one of the balls scattered through the practice area she
chose a target; one of the distance markers. Setting up quickly she swung and
gave a slight smile when it landed within a foot of the area she chose. Picking
out another ball, she sent it flying toward the sign as well. This is making
me crazy. Where the hell is she? Flowers. I’ll send flowers. Girls like
flowers, right? I’ll take her out to dinner between the newscasts tomorrow
night. She swung again. Whose bright idea was it to put her on the Six
and Ten anyway? She shanked the ball off to the right. Mine. You fucking
idiot. Enough was enough and she turned to go back to where she’d left the
bag.
The air conditioning in the
Accord was a welcome relief and making all kinds of excuses she knew she’d
regret later she turned down the street to go by Chris’ house. What did that
study say? Almost one third of on-air personalities have had some sort of
experience with a stalker. Way to go Kaz, you’ve made her a statistic. Chris’
car was in the driveway but no lights were on. Grumbling at what she saw as a
weakness, Laura pulled the car in behind the dark red Volvo and climbed out of
the seat. Shaking her head she walked up to the porch where a blonde head
gleamed in the glow coming from the streetlight. "I called. No answer. You
make enough money, couldn’t you get a cell phone?"
Chris blew out a sharp
breath in exasperation. "The station could pay for one. I went out for
drinks with Tori and some guy, I just got back. Sorry, I thought you were tied
up." One leg was tucked under her as she slowly pushed the porch swing
with her other foot. She scooted over to give Laura room to sit down but the
other woman made no move to join her. So that’s the way it’s gonna be. Chris
sighed again. "I wish…"
"You wish what?"
She crossed her arms
against a sudden hurt. "I wish you’d been there too. Tori’s a lot of fun,
you’d have gotten a kick out of it."
"Yeah, well I’m fairly
certain that Tori would not have gotten a kick out of it."
"Don’t sell her short.
She’s pretty open minded."
Open minded enough not
to gossip about a gay anchor banging the GM? I don’t think so. Laura cringed at her thoughts.
"C’mon Chris, no one wants to hang with the Boss. I was a little worried
when I couldn’t find you."
"I said I was
sorry."
Laura said nothing as she
tried to shake off the irritation that she knew was irrational, but couldn’t
seem to do anything about.
"Stop that."
"Stop what?"
"Overthinking and come
sit down." Chris patted the porch swing.
"I hate this,"
Laura grumbled. "We can’t even really hang out together."
"It’s a bitch."
"And I don’t know how
to fix it." Laura stuffed her hands into her pockets before slouching down
on the swing. "I can usually fix everything, but this?" She shrugged.
"I can’t." They rocked in silence broken only by the whirring of
insects, both lost in thought.
*****************
The Newsroom was empty
except for Janie when Chris came in the next day with a bag from a local
sandwich shop, sipping her soft drink from a straw. "Hey Jane, where is
everyone?"
"Out. Leaving me here by
myself and no one asked me if I wanted anything for lunch. Swear to god
this place is gonna kill me."
Chris smiled and shrugged.
"I’ll stay and listen to the scanners if you want to go and grab
something."
"Sure you don’t
mind?"
"Nah, go on."
Janie gathered up her purse
and was out the door before Chris could blink twice. Shaking her head, she
cleared off a space on the assignment editor’s desk and set down her lunch.
Opening a bag of chips Chris started munching while perusing the vast
quantities of faxes and press releases scattered across the top of the desk.
"Hey Chris, you’re
here early."
The blonde anchor looked up
to see Tori with a go-box from a Chinese restaurant. "Mind if I eat my
lunch with you? Jason doesn’t care for Chinese." she said, referring to
the videographer she was paired with for the day.
"Sure, grab a
seat." Chris waved to the desk opposite the assignment editor’s.
"Wasn’t getting anything done at home, so I thought I’d come in early and
see if I couldn’t scare up a story before the afternoon meeting."
"I’m working on
vandals in the Highland area. Bunch of kids ran wild and shot out some car
windows with a BB gun last night."
"Police get ‘em?"
"Yep. Taking them off
to juvy even as we speak." Tori attacked the sweet and sour chicken with
chopsticks as Chris watched. "Why do people feel the need to eat Chinese
food with chopsticks? It’s woefully inefficient."
Tori shrugged, "It’s
kind of a one time fun thing I guess. Hey, do you like sushi?"
"Honey, we call that
bait where I come from."
"Rats, I thought we
could try this place…"
"Shhh." Suddenly
the scanners erupted with terse commands and Chris leaned forward to try and
decipher the messages. Ambulance to 70th and Cotton? Not a good
neighborhood. Shots fired? What the hell? Why so much radio traffic? The
Officers aren’t responding to the call…they’re already there. Weird. She
leaned over and flipped on the intercom to the editing bays. "Jody? Wanna
go for a ride?"
"What’s the
deal?" Tori asked.
Chris dumped the remains of
her lunch in the trashcan. "Dunno. Tell Keith where we went."
"You bellowed?"
Jody let the door swing shut behind him.
"There’s been a
shooting by that old theater on 70th." Chris talked as she dug
through Janie’s desk for a notebook. "Something strange is going on."
"Okay," he said
without hesitation, "We’ll take unit five."
"I’ll be there in a
sec." And Chris was out the door.
"Jody?" The
boyish photog turned to Tori with raised eyebrows and she felt a twinge in her
gut that would later be explained as the first stages of the Chris Hanson
effect. "Don’t you ever get the heebee jeebees going out with her?"
"All the time, every
day."
**********************
"Kaz, you have got to
see this." Keith strode into the General Manager’s office with Elly right
behind him. "Can I?" He gestured toward the Beta deck with a tape.
"Sure."
The News Director popped in
the cassette, spun the shuttle, pressed play and stood back. There was Chris,
flagged microphone at the ready, talking to a rather large woman. "He
didn’t have no gun. I saw everything, they shot that boy in cold blood."
Chris nodded prompting the woman to go on. "Didn’t give him no warning
either. Didn’t say ‘freeze’ like they show on TV or nothin’. And then…"
Suddenly the woman was pushed aside and the uniform of an angry police officer
filled the screen before the photographer zoomed out. "This is over. No
more interviews until we’ve spoken to the witnesses." In the background
the woman shouted angrily, "But you didn’t want to talk to me."
Moving past, the officer reached out and bodily shoved Chris into another man
standing behind her and they both stumbled against the news unit.
"Jesus." Laura
breathed.
The tape continued to roll
and the officer was heard yelling, "Turn that thing off!" The scene
tilted crazily until all that was visible was the ground, then only black.
Laura swallowed,
"Chris and Jody okay?"
"How did you know it
was Jody?"
"Who else would it
be?" She answered dryly. "What happened exactly?"
Keith took a deep breath.
"Guy ran from a couple of police cars. Apparently he made it to this field
next to an old theater on 70th street, where some other police cars met him.
Cops said he had a gun, looked like he was gonna shoot, they shot first. Bunch
of people saw it, said the guy didn’t have a gun. Chris got that woman
on tape, but they shut down the scene after the rest of the stations got
there."
"Racially
motivated?"
"Could be. He was a
young African American. Don’t know if he had any prior arrests. The issue is,
do we show this? If we do, we get zero cooperation from BFPD and we look a
little sensationalistic…"
"But it makes a great
promo." Elly chimed in. "I hate to spoil the surprise, but people’ll
tune in to see what this was about. It’s powerful stuff."
Laura rubbed a thumb along
her eyebrow thoughtfully before reaching for the phone. She flipped through her
Rolodex and keyed in a number. "It’s not a question of can we use it, but
how we’ll use it." She shifted her attention, "Chief Morris please.
Laura Kasdan KBFC. No, I’ll wait please." She covered the mouthpiece.
"On the other line. Probably with the Mayor." How will you break it
down for the show?"
"Chris’ll do live from
the scene at Five and Six. Tori’ll be on the set."
"Okay." Laura
nodded, realizing that the trick was not to take over, but to lend support and
let Keith handle it. "Chief Morris? Laura Kasdan at Channel 8. I’m looking
at a very disturbing videotape. One of your Officers is shoving one of my
reporters." She looked up and her eyes twinkled for a moment. "Chris
Hanson…Yes, she does seem to attract her fair share of trouble. We’re going to
air this on the Five O’clock News. We will not use it for teases and promos. We
will not air it without giving you a chance to explain though, so I’m sending a
crew over… You can make a statement if you want. We’ll air that with it. No
sir, I think you know we have to show this, but we’ll be fair…That’s up to you.
You’re welcome." She dropped the phone back into the cradle and looked at
Keith. "Any questions? Make sure it’s balanced."
"Gotcha." And
Keith was out the door. Elly stood watching him go before crossing her arms and
raising one eyebrow at the GM. "You’re killing me here Kaz."
"Nah, You can use it
later for a proof of performance."
"How am I supposed to
build compelling topicals if I keep getting hamstrung?" At Laura’s severe
look she rolled her eyes. "I know, it was just to good to pass up. Anyway
we get the Prom Queens on together for two newscasts and that ain’t bad."
"The what?"
Elly laughed. "Chris
and Tori, the Prom Queens. They’re almost an…item." Elly stopped as she
noticed Laura had become completely still. The Promotion Manager frowned
thoughtfully and dropped into a chair opposite the large desk. After a moment
she started speaking. "You know, when I was in Columbus, the station
across town got some new talent, a guy from a Network bureau who wanted to live
closer to his family. The GM at the station I was working at told me in all
seriousness to spread a little rumor that the guy was gay."
Laura cleared her throat.
"What did you do?"
"Got another
job." Elly cocked her head at Laura and regarded her for a moment.
"There are always rumors."
"What if they were
true?" Laura fought to keep her hands still, certain they would give away
her agitation.
"Hard to say. Every
market has a few gay weathermen." Elly laughed shortly. "The Gay
Weathermen…sounds like an alternative rock band. Anchors are different.
Reporters are different too." She looked at Laura intently. "This is
a pretty conservative market. If you know something Kaz, I wish you’d tell
me."
"Why?"
"It shouldn’t make any
difference, but it does. Don’t think for a moment they wouldn’t use something
like this over at Channel 4. A little rumor, and viewers go apeshit. Forewarned
is forearmed."
Laura ran her tongue across
her teeth. "I don’t think we need to worry at this point."
Elly nodded but it wasn’t
in agreement. "It must be tough to sit in that chair."
Laura tightened her jaw.
"You have no idea.
**********************
Chris was pumped. Even
after returning to the studio to anchor the Ten, she was still riding an
adrenaline high. It was a good story that she could follow up and report on for
the next few days. The Officer who shoved her made a terse apology that they
aired during the Ten. All in all it was a pretty good news day. And now I
want to spend some time with my girl. She turned in to the parking lot of
the generic apartment complex that Laura lived in and pulled in next to the
silver Accord. Silver, not red. I wonder if Mark knows how many brownie
points he lost on that deal. The Jeep was there too, along with the covered
motorcycle and Chris briefly thought that the GM needed to buy a house just for
the garage that would come with it. She sprinted up the stairs and twisted the
knob, knowing it would be unlocked and stepped inside.
Laura was in the kitchen,
drinking from a bottle of water when the door opened. "A good ‘cast. Did
someone have to tie you down to keep you from bouncing off the walls?" She
raised an eyebrow in question.
"Ah, so you watched.
Then you know they did ‘find’ a gun," she made quotation marks in the air,
"In the ditch next to the field."
"Mm hmm. Keith let me
know." Laura opened the refrigerator door to replace the bottle when Chris
took it out of her hand and drank while slipping one arm around the taller
woman’s waist. For a moment, Laura marveled that she could feel comfortable
with someone so completely in her space. Then Chris put the bottle down on the
counter and kissed her soundly, her mouth cold from the chilled water.
"You taste good."
"Just brushed my teeth,"
Laura said in response.
"Guess you’re ready
for bed." Chris put her hands on Laura’s hips, one thumb rubbing under the
elastic waistband of her shorts.
"I’m
pretty…worn." Laura found herself lost in the darkening green of Chris’
eyes and swallowed against the sudden arousal caused by busy hands. "I’m
guessing you’re not."
"No."
Chris leaned forward to
kiss the taller woman’s collarbone and Laura closed her eyes as Chris breathed
on slightly damp skin. "Did you hit some balls tonight? You’re sort of salty."
She whispered.
"What?" Laura
blinked and tried to make her brain function. There was barely any contact but
she knew she wanted more. Craved more, and suddenly there was more. Pressed
against the refrigerator, the blonde anchor began a systematic assault on all
of Laura’s senses.
At some point they moved
into the living room and onto the floor next to the couch. Less hyper, but much
happier Chris took up her customary position, half sprawled over Laura, one
hand playing with a strand of long dark hair. The quiet didn’t last long.
"Big story, I’m horny."
"I hate that
word." Laura winced.
"Why?"
"I don’t know. Guess
it sounds kind of coarse."
"Hmm," Chris
smiled. "I’ll remember that. Accurate though."
Laura closed her eyes.
"To answer your earlier question, yes I did hit some balls tonight."
"Good." Chris
waited a moment before she broached the next subject. "When do you
leave?"
"Saturday." Laura
cleared her throat nervously. "Aren’t you coming with me?"
Chris sat up slowly and
pulled her blouse together again and answered carefully. "I don’t know.
You never asked."
"I just assumed you
were coming." The minute she said it, Laura knew it for a mistake and
could feel Chris moving away from her.
"I, uh," Chris
licked her lower lip, "Probably need to go see my parents." Hurt, she
stood up, jerking her clothes back into place.
"No, wait." Laura
fought down a rising sense of panic. "I should’ve asked sooner, I’m
sorry."
"But you didn’t."
Chris looked down, "You just assumed." She gathered her thoughts.
"You don’t need me very much, do you?"
"What are you talking
about? Of course I need you." Laura clenched her hands at the sudden ache
in her chest and struck back. "I’m not the one running around with the
Prom Queen."
"The what? You mean
Tori?" Chris snorted in dismissal. "You weren’t around. I wasn’t
going to just sit and wait."
"Yeah, well…"
Laura felt her argument dry up along with her mouth.
"Prom Queen? Jesus,
Laura." Chris started for the door. "I thought…oh hell, I don’t know
what I thought. I was hoping maybe we could spend some time together away from
the station, out of town or something."
"The U.S. Amateur is not
a vacation!"
"I know that. But you
never even considered taking some vacation time together. Not a weekend, not
anything." Chris turned to face Laura, who was disheveled in the T-shirt
and shorts she had hastily pulled back on. She sighed. "I’m tired of
coming in second. Or third."
"But I…"
"I know. So I will go
to Nashville and you will go to Ohio and maybe a little time away will do us
both a world of good."
"Are you dumping
me?" Laura asked the question almost desperately. "I don’t have any
experience in this area, but I’m fairly certain this is what it feels
like."
Chris’ shoulders slumped.
"I just wanted some of your time. Your precious time. Everyone and
everything else gets it, just not me." She turned and opened the door.
"I didn’t mean for it to happen like this. I’ll see you when you get
back."
"So that’s it? Have a
good time, see you later?"
"You don’t need me
there. I guess I need to be needed." Chris smiled slightly, then left,
closing the door behind her.
Go after her. Laura stood reeling, knowing that
everything Chris said was true, to some extent. The problem was, she still had
no idea how to fix it.
Fabulous.
*************************************
Comments welcome! Let me know what you think.