Nothing lasts foREVer

I had been helping Val and Chelle to promote their band, selling t-shirts and handing out flyers as they were on stage. My mom, Rick and Andrew got to the States two weeks after the guys went touring in the Vans Warped Tour, I left the tour to pick them up at the airport.

“Hey, mom!”, I murmured sheepishly as she crushed me in her overly tight hug. “I can’t breathe, mom!”

“I’m sorry, baby! I missed you so much…”, she cupped my face and placed a soft kiss on my temple.

“Have you been eating right? You look so skinny…”, she asked, her voice filled with concern.

“Mom! Please… I’ve been eating just right, it’s just that these two weeks have been crazy.”, I explained.

“Is Jimmy still touring?”, she asked.

“Yeah… they still have six weeks of touring ahead of them! Now… Can you please let go of me so I can finally hug my best friend?”, I pleaded playfully.

“Sure…”, as soon as she let go of me Rick pulled me in to his arms.

“My sweet Cathy! I missed you so much… Where’s that crazy fucker you often call your boyfriend?”, he teased.

“You’re such an ass, Rick! I missed you too… He’s probably on stage by now. Mom, would you like to go on tour with the guys?”, I asked as I finally reached Andrew.

“I’m too old for that kind of stuff, Cat.”

“Come on, Patricia! You can’t honestly believe that bullshit you’re trying to sell us…”, Rick replied seriously.

“Please, mom! I really want to be with Jimmy on this… He needs me there! You have no idea what he has got himself into since they started this tour…”, I pleaded.

“What? What did he do? Is he doing drugs?”, she asked worriedly.

“No, mom! No drugs, only loads of alcohol. He ended up in jail a couple of nights ago… He got into a fight at a local bar with a guy that was trying to hit on me. I had to pick him up at the police station the next morning, they made him spend the night there!”, I frowned as I explained my mother what had happened.

“Are you serious? What’s gotten into him?”, Andrew asked before my mother even got the chance to do so.

“He was drunk as fuck and that asshole was hovering over me… Jimmy didn’t like it, so he smashed his glass on the guy’s head. I would have done something similar if it was the other way around…”, I stated firmly.

“You have done it already… Remember Rute?”, Rick reminded me.

“I regret nothing… Will you come, mom? You really need to see them play… you’ve never seen Jimmy play, mom. He’s awesome… Tell her, Rick!”

“Cat is right… You really need to watch them play, they’re pretty amazing if you ask me. Wait… Are you into metal/hard rock and stuff like that, Patricia?”, he asked.

“You screw everything up, Rick! You were doing great, but you had to fuck it up in the end. Don’t mind what he says, mom… Daddy saw them play once or twice when he was in Cali and he loved them. You’ll have to come, I won’t take you home.”, I finally said nonchalantly.

“Since you put it that way, I guess I’m coming.”, my mom said smiling at me.

“Good.”, I grinned widely. I helped them put their bags in the trunk and drove us back to where the guys were playing.

They were still on stage when we got there. Val and Chelle ran to us when they saw us and quickly involved my mom in a tight hug.

“I can’t wait for us to get home so you can cook some of your delicious food to us, Patricia. I mean, you’re a good cook, Cat but your mom is… you know… your mom! ”, Chelle said as she let go of my mom.

“Next time you come to me and beg me insistently to cook you vegetarian lasagna I’ll flip you off, Chelle!”, I replied coldly.

“Come on, Cat! Don’t do that to me… You know how much I love your vegetarian lasagna and you know I’m a dreadful cook. I miss your mom’s food, don’t you?”, she pleaded.

“I don’t care! Are they playing songs from their new album?”, I asked as I heard them playing ‘Second Heartbeat’.

“They’ve been playing mostly songs from the ‘Sounding the Seventh Trumpet’… but Matt told me they were thinking about playing at least three songs from the new album.”, Val answered me.

“Come, mom! They’re playing ‘Second Heartbeat’!”, I said cheerfully as I dragged my mom to the backstage.

“Hey, Jason! Do you mind if my mom stays here with me while they play?”, I said loudly to Jason’s ear so I could make myself heard.

“Of course not! Enjoy…”, he grinned at us and ran to the other end of the stage.

“The Berry’s are nice kids…”, my mom said as she watched him walk away.

“They all are… you haven’t met Cam or Dan yet! Get ready to laugh your ass off with these guys tonight… They’re really something.”, I smiled widely as I caught Jimmy glance at me from the corner of his eye and his contagious smile.

We watched them play two more songs before they got off the stage. They immediately involved my mom in a group hug. Jimmy was the last one to let go of her.

“Did you like it?”, he asked shyly.

“I did, James. What I didn’t like was something I heard this afternoon when Cat picked me up at the airport…”, My mom said seriously.

“Did you tell her? Why did you have to tell her, babe?”, he whined.

“You should have smashed the whole bottle instead of a simple glass. You’d end up in jail anyway why would you settle with a simple glass?”, I choked at my mom’s words. She was encouraging Jimmy for what he had done a couple nights ago, better yet, she was telling him he should have used a bottle instead of a glass… I could never have seen that coming.

“I’ll keep that in mind next time!”, he grinned widely and hugged her again.

My phone vibrated in my pocket. I rushed my hand and pulled it out before it stopped vibrating, I didn’t even bother to look at the caller’s ID before I pressed the phone against my ear.

“Hello?”

”Hey, Cat! How have you been doing?”, it was Jeffrey on the phone.

“Hey, Jeff! You know… I’ve been on the road with the guys, going wild. How about you?”, I chuckled lightly when I felt Jimmy’s lips on my neck.

“I’m good, I’m sure I haven’t gone wild but I’m good. I’m calling because I have some news for you.”

“Shoot…”, I encouraged him to proceed.

”You have a job offer, an irrecusable one. Dior specifically asked for you to do the next TV ad for their new perfume…”, I gagged on words. That was just too much to take in.

“What? Dior?! Are you fucking kidding me?”, I burst out all at once.

“No, I’m not kidding you. I’m dead serious about this… They want us to start shooting tomorrow morning. Can you be here by then?”, he asked.

“Shit! Yeah, I can be there! I wouldn’t miss it for anything.”, I said excitedly.

”There’s only one more thing you should know… You better keep this from Jimmy or hell will rise.”, he began.

“I’m not keeping anything from Jimmy. We don’t have secrets! Tell me already…”, Jimmy looked wary at me as he heard what I said.

”You’re shooting with some guy they’re sending over… You’ll have to seduce him before the cameras…”

“Oh, shit! You’re right about something… Hell will definitely rise, but I’ll be there tomorrow morning. See you tomorrow, Jeff!”, I said and hung up the phone.

“What? What does he want you to keep from me?”, Jimmy inquired.

“I’m shooting an ad for Dior…”, I began only to be interrupted by an excited Val.

“Dior? That’s huge! You have to do it, you have to… This is a one-time opportunity, you can’t lose it!”, she said.

“I know, right?”, I said trying to avoid Jimmy for a while longer. Needless to say that that was impossible.

“Catarina? I’m still waiting…”, he said.

“I might have to shoot it with some guy…”, I said sheepishly.

“Might?”

“I’ll have to shoot with some guy… I’ll have to make it look like I’m seducing him.”, I silently prayed for him not to make a big fuss about it.

“Forget about it! You won’t do it.”, he said firmly.

“Excuse me? I’m not letting this opportunity slip through my fingers, Jim! We’ve fight about this a thousand times… I’m going whether you like it or not. You’ll have to start trusting me one of these days if you want this to work out. I don’t argue with you about your music or your fans, I accept you for what you are and whatever comes with you! I know how much you love what you do and I would never get in the middle of it… I’d appreciate if you trusted and supported me as I do with you. You know I love you, nothing will ever change that, but I won’t give up of this opportunity just because you’re jealous!”, I said firmly.

“But…”, he tried to reply.

“No buts, Jim. I’m leaving… you’ll have a couple of days to figure out what you want to do while I’m gone.”, I pecked his lips. “Would you like to come with me, Rick?”

“Sure…”

“I’m staying with the guys…”, my mom said. I knew she only stayed so she could watch over Jimmy and talk some sense into his head.

We hit the road an hour later. I said my goodbyes to Jimmy properly. I was a little mad at him, but I loved him above all things and this time apart would be hard on me too. We stayed at Jeffrey’s place that night. Jimmy called me first thing in the morning and apologized for his jealousy fit the day before. He told me he would show my mother around since they had a few days off before the next show.
We got to the set at ten in the morning and my ‘partner’ was already there.

“Hey… You must be Cat. I’m Ian, Ian Somerhalder.”, he smiled at me.

He seemed like he had been cut out of a magazine, the picture of perfect by any standards. Piercing blue eyes, angular face, three days beard, hypnotizing smile, messy hair, toned body…

“Nice to meet you, Ian!”, I smiled back.

“Is that your boyfriend?”, he asked nodding towards Ricky.

“No, that’s my best friend. My boyfriend is on tour.”, I replied.

“So you do have a boyfriend…”, he mumbled.

“I do… He has the most beautiful blue eyes.”

“I have blue eyes too!”, he said amusingly.

“I noticed… Don’t mind me saying I do like his better.”, he laughed.

Jeffrey called on us to get dressed and our make-up done. They had a long golden dress with a slit up that showed most of my left leg reserved for me. Ian was dressed in a black tuxedo with no tie and a few loose buttons. Jeffrey told us what he wanted us to show the camera and that’s what we did. Basically we were at a party where I would pass through Ian wearing that perfume and he would let go of his dance partner and follow me to the balcony where he would hold me from behind, snaking his arms around my waist as he smelled the perfume on my neck and give it a soft bite. It didn’t took us long to shoot the commercial, we were done two hours later. When we left the set Jimmy was waiting for me outside.

“What are you doing here, Jim?”, I asked surprised when I saw him.

“I’m here to pick you up.”, he smiled.

“Why didn’t you go inside?”, I asked.

“I didn’t want you to think I don’t trust you. Where’s Rick?”

“He’s probably talking to Ian. They’ll be here in no time…”, I said as I filled the space between us and wrapped my arms around his neck.

“Who’s Ian?”

“Someone mentioned me?”, Ian’s voice sounded behind me.

“I suppose you’re Ian…”, Jimmy mumbled.

“You must be Jimmy… Cat’s soul mate! Nice to finally meet you, man!”, Ian said cheerfully as he stretched his hand towards Jimmy.

“He’s the one I shot the commercial with, babe…”, Jimmy accepted Ian’s handshake.

“They could have picked someone less perfect!”, Jimmy grunted.

“I’m all but perfect at her eyes, trust me… You are her picture of perfect.”, Ian replied.