Into the Wild...Boyz

From the safety of the back of one of the production vans, Darcie ate her lunch and carried on her phone conversation. It was comforting to talk to her best friend at this particular moment and Savannah’s phone call couldn’t have come at a better time, really. It took her mind of the embarrassing exchange she had with Steve-O. So as she finished her lunch, she listened to Savannah rattle on about her own date that she had gone on the night before.

“So needless to say”, said Savannah on the other end, “we’re friends now and that’s good enough for me. The guy’s not my type anyway.”

“Yeah, you like them kinda tall, with a slight Southern accent, and a laugh that could rival a hyena’s, am I right?” replied Darcie.

“I know you’re not insinuating that I have a crush on Knoxville”, Savannah sighed with exasperation. She was sick and tired of having to explain her and Johnny’s relationship to everyone that teased her about it. “Let’s take the heat off of me and talk about Steve-O, shall we?”

Darcie audibly groaned. “I’d rather not. I’m sort of in mixed company at the moment.” She looked around to make sure none of her coworkers were within earshot. “If you’re not busy, we can meet for drinks later on. I’ll text you when I’m done here, how’s that sound?”

“Is it that bad?”

“I just don’t know how to handle this situation. I’m beginning to like the guy, Savannah. He took me to skeeball last night.”

Savannah gasped, “You didn’t tell me you went on a date with the guy.”

“It wasn’t really a date. Well, maybe it was. I don’t know.”

“Did he kiss you goodnight?”

“Sort of.” Darcie looked up and saw Jeff walking her way. She had to hurry up and nip this conversation in the bud. Hopefully he didn’t overhear anything since he was so close to getting to her. “Hey, I gotta go. We’re getting ready to film again.”

“Wait! You can’t…”

Darcie cut her off. “We’ll discuss it later. I have to go. I’ll text you when I’m done here. Should be done by five or so, okay?” Darcie quickly ended the call and didn’t wait for Savannah to answer her.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

On the other end of the line, Savannah stood in her living room, staring at her phone in complete confusion. Normally Darcie wouldn’t have left her hanging like that. “Oh well”, she said to no one in particular as she pocketed her phone. She’d get the rest of the story when she met up with Darcie later. She shrugged it off and returned to the couch and her laptop and the files that littered her coffee table. She was doing some data entry and clerical work for Casey. She was so focused on her work that the knock at the door made her jump and clutch her chest. Slightly irritated with the interruption, she tossed down the file she had picked up and stood to answer the door.

Johnny patiently waited on the other side of the door and quickly checked his reflection in a nearby case that held a fire extinguisher for no particular reason, really. Sometimes he just never met a mirror he didn’t like. He smiled once Savannah opened the door and held up a canvas bag for her to see.

“I got you a present. It’s your favorite: Chunky Monkey.” Savannah just rolled her eyes and let him in. He shut her front door and followed her into the small kitchen so she could refill her coffee mug and he could put away the Ben and Jerry’s he brought her.

“I appreciate the thought”, she said as she refilled her mug.

“Guess the date must’ve gone all right since you’re not digging in.” He busied himself with putting away the pint in the freezer.

“By the end of the night it wasn’t even a date, it was just two people hanging out. Casey set me up with some professional skateboarder.” Savannah shook her head. “I swear I’m adopted and she knows nothing about me.”

“That bad huh?” Johnny came back to her with a bottle of water for himself and sat down next to her on the couch.

“It was embarrassing at first, more than anything. Sometimes I really don’t like being Casey Brisby, Esquire’s little sister. People think I’m supposed to be a knock off of her, I guess.”

“I didn’t think that when I first met you. Actually, I thought you were her daughter, to be honest. You looked so young, which you still do.”

“You mean, youthful young or fresh off the bus young?”

“Little bit of both”, he gave her a smile and she returned it. He took a sip of his water, “so who was this guy?”

“Rob Dyrdek. Jeff knows him. Nowhere near my type, either.”

“Well, opposites attract, you know.”

“Oh there’s no way, Johnny.” Savannah shook her head. “Friends though, if he’s lucky.”
Johnny chuckled a bit at that. And on the inside he was relieved that Savannah’s date went bad. He really liked the way things were between them and if Savannah found some other guy to focus her attention on, well, Johnny would have a lot of alone time on his hands. He liked having her around and all to himself, although he’d never tell her that.

“You know you’re inside, you can take your sunglasses off.”

“Huh? Oh, uh, well I…” She took of his Aviators for him. “Oh okay.”

A small gasp escaped Savannah’s lips when she saw the shiner around his eye. “Oh I am so sorry, Knox.”

“Well, I might’ve deserved it, I guess.”

“I feel bad now.”

“Don’t feel bad. It’s not the first time someone’s thrown something at me and connected like you did. Hazards of the job. Besides, I’ll get you back.”

“Oh wonderful.”

Johnny laughed, “I’m jokin’ of course.” But the gleam in his brown eyes told Savannah otherwise which made her smirk a bit. “Anyway”, he took back his sunglasses and slipped them on, “I’ve gotta get going. I just stopped by to give you your ice cream and see how last night went.”

“Oh. Well, all right then. Uh, how was your night last night?”

“Fine. I went out with Jeff and we had a couple beers.” He left out the part about the brunette he’d picked up, who looked a bit like her for some odd reason. “I’ll let you get back to work.” He got up from the couch and she followed him to her door.

“Yeah. I want to get this wrapped up. Darcie and I are going out after she gets off work. Girl talk.”

“Girl talk, huh? Lemme guess, margaritas and talking about men?”

“More like a few beers and talking about boys.”

“Anyone I know?”

“You know I can’t tell you that.”

“Can I guess?”

“Sure but I still wouldn’t tell you. There is a code, you know.”

“There is?”

“Just go if you’re going. Hopefully no one saw you going into my building. People talk about us enough as it is.”

“Do they really? Wow. I haven’t noticed.” He gave her a dazzling smile.

“Well you do get hit in the head a lot.”

His smile fell and his face turned a bit sour. “See if I buy you ice cream ever again.”

Savannah laughed, “I know better than that and so do you.”

“You’re right because I’m sure there’ll be more blind dates in your future if Casey has anything to say about it.” He laughed. “I can’t believe she set you up with that guy.” He shook his head. “Oh well.” He pulled her into a hug and loudly kissed her cheek. “Call me later when you’re drunk.”

“You know I will, Knox.” She opened the front door for him and he left. She closed it and turned her attention to all the files on her coffee table then groaned and went back to work.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

As soon as they pulled into the parking lot of the office, Darcie quickly got out of the van, grabbed her messenger bag and started toward the bus stop. She was the queen of hasty retreats today she thought while she texted Savannah to alert her that she was done for the day.

Near the van, Steve-O took a look around the parking lot. Misty’s car was there and so was Misty, waiting on him but that’s not who he was looking for. Darcie had shut him out on the way back from Bob’s. She sat in the back of the van, in the corner, hoodie completely covering her. She was probably flipping him off the whole time underneath it. All because he found out her little secret, well he suspected he had. Especially by the way she acted towards him at lunch. It would seem that Darcie had a bit of a crush on him and he couldn’t be happier about it. It was a natural occurrence, what with his fame from the first movie and Wildboyz as well. Chicks flocked to him.

“Anybody seen Darcie?” Steve-O asked to whoever would answer.

“Why would you care?” asked Chris as he lit a cigarette. “Your girl’s already here.” Chris lightly shouldered his way past Steve-O and Steve-O sort of stared him down in return.

“You guys better at least make nice in front of the cameras tomorrow”, said Jeff. He could sense the tension between his two stars.

“It’s nothing, Dude. Don’t worry about it. See ya tomorrow”, said Steve-O then he walked away to
Misty’s BMW. She greeted him with a big smile once he got into her car and she moved to give him a kiss but he dodged her advances.

“Bad day?” She cooed.

“You could say that. Just drive”, he instructed and they pulled out of the parking lot.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Darcie had made it to the bar before Savannah did and was two beers in by the time her best friend showed up. She caught Savannah up on her and Steve-O’s little date the night before and how it kind of broke her heart a little when he was dropped off at the office by some stripper looking chick as Darcie described her.

“And then later today I got hoof in mouth while talking to him and mentioned her”, lamented
Darcie. “I probably came off sounding jealous and now he knows I like him.” Darcie killed the remnants of her second beer while Savannah was still working on her first.

“Are you sure he knows?”

“You should’ve seen the look on his face. He was grinning like the cat that swallowed the canary. I felt like punching him then punching myself for letting it slip.”

“Well maybe it’s a good thing that he knows and he’ll drop the stripper looking chick.”

“Who cares at this point? Tonight I just want to get a good buzz and forget about it all. Tomorrow’s another day.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Hours later, Darcie and Savannah were coming out of the bar, laughing and holding each other up, pretty much. A lot of beer was had between the two of them during happy hour. Savannah was content with going home but she was afraid Darcie had other plans. Their conversation shifted several times back to Steve-O, even though Savannah did her best to change the subject every time he came up.

“Did you drive?” Darcie asked her as she took Savannah’s lit cigarette from her.

“Of course I didn’t drive, I knew better than that!” Savannah giggled as she lit another cigarette for herself. “I’ll go hail us a cab or something.” Savannah stumbled away towards the end of the sidewalk.

“Be careful!” shouted Darcie as she laughed. Her laughter died down when she felt her phone vibrate in her pocket. She pulled it out and saw that she had a few missed calls and some texts messages. Surprisingly a few were from Steve-O. Clumsily she fiddled with her phone and instead of texting him back, she ended up calling him back. Her phone betrayed her and ended up on speaker somehow too.

“It’s about time you call back”, said Steve-O.

“How am I talking to you while I’m texting you?” Darcie scratched her head, thoroughly confused.

Steve-O laughed, “Sounds like somebody’s having a good time.”

“I am.”

“Well come on over then.”

“Over where?”

“My house. I got a bunch of people over and we’re just hanging out.”

“I’m with Savannah though.”

“Bring her with you. She knows the way. Just call me when you guys get here and I’ll buzz you in.”

The call ended and Darcie stumbled over to where Savannah was getting into a cab. “Change of plans. We’re going to Steve-O’s.” Darcie climbed into the cab with Savannah and shut the door.

“That’s a bad idea.”

“It’s a perfect idea. He said you knew the way too so tell the guy where we’re going. I’ll pay, okay? Be my wingman. I need you, bestest friend.”

Savannah grumbled and told the driver their destination. Darcie let go a squeal of delight and hugged the life out of Savannah, or so it felt. She had a feeling she was in for a long night and there was no talking Darcie out of it either.