I Could Never Pretend

Days had turned to weeks, weeks had turned to months and before anyone knew it, summer was already drawing to an end. For the residents of West Chester, Pennsylvania, the late August day was turning out to be an extremely pleasant one. A cool breeze rustled through the trees and took the edge off the intense heat of the sun at its highest point in the sky. In a bid to make the most of the last of the good weather, the inhabitants of the notorious ‘Castle Bam’ were scattered across the expansive grounds that formed the back garden, partaking in various activities.

Bam Margera was slouched across a deck chair in front of the large swimming pool, cigarette in one hand and beer can in the other, the picture of contentment. It would have been easy to assume he was asleep behind his large, dark sunglasses if it were not for the moments when he periodically came to life to indulge in either the nicotine or alcohol at his disposal. His mother April sat on another deck chair a few metres away, glancing over worriedly at her son whenever he took a gulp of beer and continued to ignore the reassuring comments from her husband Phil as he rubbed sun cream into her back. April stared disapprovingly at the can of beer resting in Bam’s hand. She could not recall the last time she had seen him without a beer or glass of wine close at hand and she was starting to get concerned that he had a problem. Since April and Phil’s daughter in law had left for LA with their grandson, they had both noticed a change in Bam. He was rarely sober and when he was not drinking he was sleeping off a hangover and bringing women back with him every night. What mother would not be worried?

Strictly speaking however, this was not quite true and no matter how much she wished she could deny it, April had to face the facts. Bam’s late nights, multiple women and alcohol abuse were not a result of his wife leaving him, but rather a cause of it and as sad as she was that her grandson was now living on the other side of the country, April could not blame Amelia for moving as far away as possible. Not only had Bam treated Amelia appallingly since they had been married, but he had also cheated on her and in April’s mind that was unforgiveable. What was even more unforgiveable to April was the fact that Bam seemed to have forgotten that he even had a wife and child. At first April had assumed that he was simply in denial, but as the months passed by without any action, she was confronted by the possibility that her own son no longer cared that he was a father. She had made her feelings on this very clear to anyone who would listen, but all she had achieved was alienating her son. Bam now refused to have a conversation with his mother, knowing it would only lead to her having a go at him. This did not deter April and she continued to visit as often as possible, knowing that her presence alone would remind Bam of her opinion. During these times they were civil to one another but that was now the extent of their relationship.

Little did April know, Bam had a plan. His mother was right to assume that for the first few months Bam had been in some sort of state of denial, accompanied by the fact that he was enjoying his new found single life and as far as he was concerned he had all the time in the world to sort his domestic situation out. After all, money and time were not an issue for him. For seven months he had no contact with his wife whatsoever and if it wasn’t for April’s constant interfering he wouldn’t even know that she was now living and working in LA and that Brandon was perfectly fine. Now, seven months after Amelia had left him, Bam was ready to do something about it. This motivation had evolved as Bam had grown tired of seeing pictures in magazines and celebrity news shows of his wife and child with another man. A man no less, than his former close friend. Although Bam had not confronted him about it, or spoken to him at all in fact, Bam no longer considered Johnny Knoxville to be a friend and he hope he would never see him again.

Their relationship might not be ‘official’ but the guy had some nerve, Bam thought angrily. As if it hadn’t been enough that throughout the course of Bam’s relationship with Amelia, it was glaringly obvious that Knoxville was in love with her, the moment Bam let his guard down Knoxville had pounced and taken what did not belong to him. Bam’s friends had tried to talk Bam around, pointing out that this animosity towards Knoxville was not healthy and that it would jeopardise any Jackass projects in the future, Bam did not particularly care. The way he saw it, Amelia and Knoxville had done a perfectly good job of jeopardising the future of Jackass all by themselves. There was no way he would ever be willing to work with the two of them again, and what made it worse was the fact that Tremaine and the others were clearly in support of them. The term ‘betrayal’ didn’t even come close and as the press coverage of Amelia and Knoxville increased, Bam had spoken to his lawyers and was ready to claim what was rightfully his. His son.

Bam’s best friend Ryan Dunn and his girlfriend Rose Jones were cooling off in the pool, watching the silent and one sided exchange between mother and son. Despite his allegiance to Bam, Ryan agreed vehemently with April and found it troubling that Bam had made no effort to see his son for over half a year. Ryan recalled Bam vowing that he would fight for Brandon when Amelia left but so far he had not lived up to this promise and Ryan was finding it increasingly difficult to stay loyal to his friend when Bam was acting like such an idiot by drinking too much and sleeping with so many women. Ryan looked over at Rose, who was lying on her back on an inflatable Lilo. Rose had graduated at the start of the summer and had decided to spend the following months in West Chester with Ryan. She and Ryan were still going strong, however, as Amelia’s sister, Rose was firmly anti-Bam and this was starting to put a strain on their relationship. Now that she had finished university, Rose was starting to look for a job and Ryan knew that the next few weeks could determine their future together as she would have to make up her mind on where she wanted to live. She had already made it very clear that she would not be following in her older sister’s footsteps.

Bam was not the only one with a secret. Rose had already received two job offers, one in England and one in LA. She had not yet told Ryan as she still hadn’t made up her mind and she didn’t want to upset him unnecessarily. She had known from the start that Ryan would never leave West Chester and she wasn’t sure if she wanted to make this her permanent home. She loved Ryan to bits but Rose was too young to settle down yet and the temptation to live closer to her sister and nephew was becoming harder to resist every day.
All of a sudden the sound of a ringtone filled the garden and Bam sat up, pulling his phone from his shorts’ pocket. Glancing around at his guests, Bam thought better of taking the call in front of them and made his way inside for some privacy.

***

A pair of bright orange curtains billowed gently in the wind, allowing sunlight to stream through the bedroom window. Amelia Margera’s eyes flickered open. It took her a few moments to adjust to the orange tinted surroundings and to remember where she was. Orange and pink walls were plastered with old film posters and oak furniture with varying degrees of teenage graffiti filled the space. She was home, or at least in the childhood sense of the word. It had been three months since she had jumped on a plane and travelled back to the UK, yet she could still not get used to waking up in her teenage bedroom every morning. As many fond memories as she had of the house, America was now her real home and it was finally time to return there.

Amelia rolled over and found herself face to face with a well toned male chest, one of the few benefits of the tiny single bed. She smiled in spite of herself as she traced her hand lightly over the contours of the sleeping figure’s muscular body. The past three months had been the happiest Amelia had felt in a long time, but now with her job in California waiting for her and the prospect of divorce looming, it was time for Amelia to face the music. As she contemplated what retuning to LA would mean, the person beside her started to wake up. She nuzzled into his chest, wishing they could simply lie in bed forever but of course this was impossible. For a start, she had her son to think of. She needed to get him up and dressed before the flight back to LA that afternoon.

“Just five more minutes.” A voice mumbled into Amelia’s ear as she began to get up. How could she resist?

“As long as it’s only five Johnny.” She laughed, returning to her comfy position in his strong pair of arms.

“I’m sure I could persuade you otherwise.” He whispered seductively into her ear, before leaning over and kissing her forcefully on the lips.

“Maybe if it wasn’t for your morning breath.” Amelia remarked, nuzzling her nose against his. Johnny feigned insult and began to tickle her relentlessly. All at once, any negative thoughts that had been floating around Amelia’s head instantly disappeared. This was the magical effect that being around Johnny had on her and for this reason the past three months had been blissful. Even her mother’s constant nagging about divorce could not get Amelia down because finally she and Johnny were together. However, they were both aware that it was going to be a different story once they returned to LA. The pictures from Johnny’s premiere had reached the English tabloids and Amelia could only imagine how much their faces were splashed across the magazines back home. Both she and Johnny had decided to keep their relationship as low key as possible until Amelia had sorted out her divorce.

“Do we really have to go back today?” Johnny sighed once he had given up and they were both sitting up in bed, panting.

“You mean you’re not missing Jeff?” Amelia teased, wrapping herself in her dressing gown.

“Who?” Johnny grinned. As if by more than a coincidence, Johnny’s phone started ringing. It was Jeff. Amelia laughed and made her way to the bathroom while Johnny spoke to their boss.

***

The sixteen hour plane journey back to LA was uneventful but Amelia couldn’t relax. There was bound to be a pack of reporters lurking at LAX, there always was. She didn’t want her return marked by the fact that her face was all over the celebrity gossip world again. As soon as the plane landed she pulled out a big pair of sunglasses and a baseball cap from her bag, earning a loud cackle from Johnny.

“What?” she looked at him pointedly as he picked Brandon up.

“Ashamed to be seen with me?” he teased, flicking her hat and making Brandon laugh.

“You know I’m not.” She elbowed him. “You should be ashamed to be seen with me. I’m still a married woman.”

“Hey.” He laughed, as they gathered up the rest of the hand luggage and waited for the doors to open. “No one knows what goes on behind closed doors. We’re just friends remember.”

Amelia nodded and managed a small smile. It might not fool everyone but it made her feel better to keep things quiet for now. The sunlight blinded Amelia as she started to climb down the steps from the plane. It was incredibly warm. Too warm for the old university hoody she had been wearing when they took off from England but she knew better than to complain. It felt so good to be back in LA and she felt a wave of excitement wash over her as she looked forward to returning to work.

Johnny walked slowly by Amelia’s side, watching her concernedly. He could sense her anxiety about the press. As much as he wanted to declare his love for Amelia to the world, he knew it was better to wait until she had received the divorce papers. He knew she was close to the edge as it was and he didn’t want to jeopardise their relationship by pushing her too far. For this reason he had held off from asking her to move in with him. There was no sense in rushing things.

After they had made their way through security and seemingly avoided any photographers, Amelia, Brandon and Johnny climbed into a taxi. “What happens now?” Amelia asked as the driver loaded their belongings into the trunk.

“Well I promised Jeff I’d pop into the office. I did kind of take off for three months without letting him know so there’ll probably be hell to pay.”

Amelia grinned imagining what revenge Jeff would have in store for Johnny. “Well good luck with that, but you’re on your own. I’m going to unpack and then enjoy the sunshine.” One aspect of England that she had not missed was the distinct lack of summer. Here in LA it was a warmer than average September afternoon and she was keen to make the most of it before being back in the office tomorrow.

“Suit yourself. Jeff will be disappointed.”

“No he won’t. You just want me to share the blame for your absence.” Amelia grinned knowingly.

Johnny pretended to sulk as the taxi sped off towards Amelia’s apartment. He couldn’t shake the sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach when he thought about being separated from Amelia. England had been like a dream come true, but now it was back to work and back to reality.