Caged Birds Don't Like to Sing

“Yeah,” I said into the phone to Riley. I sat on the counter where the two sides came together in the corner of the room. I leaned my head back on the cupboards behind me as I stared at the beautiful rock on my ring finger, admiring it. I never imagined feeling so excited about a stupid ring on my finger. “It just happened last night.”

“So you guys are getting along now?” Riley asked. She didn’t seem very interested in the topic.

“Pretty much. Not all of the time. But it works. If you get what I’m saying.” It was a weird situation after all. Really weird. How do you explain to someone nowadays that you’re involved in an arranged marriage. And how do you explain that you and your husband get along sometimes, only on special occasions. It was all messed up. But I had a feeling it always would be.

“I don’t think it’s good if you guys still aren’t getting along swimmingly,” she said, suddenly concerned and intrigued by what I had said. I could just see her standing up straight from her couch.

I lowered my eyebrows even though she wouldn’t be able to even tell. “Why? I mean it’s not like we’re unhappy.” Even though we just got out of a fight less than two days ago. I reminisced over the huge argument. “But we’re good together, in some strange way.”

“Are you, Marissa? Are you happy?” she seemed a little more harsh with her words and very bitter. I think she just is worried for my sake. But then again, when has she ever worried about me? It couldn’t be that.

“Yeah,” I said, unsure. Not that I’m unsure that I’m absolutely thrilled with the actual proposal. More unsure of what she was trying to pry out from me. And if I should even be telling her all of this. She did tell Chase where I lived. Could I really trust her?

“Oh,” she sighed, unamused again. After a short pause, she ended the conversation with, “Well I have to go. I will call you later, okay?”

“Alright.”

She hung up the phone in a rush right after. I set my cellphone next to me with a small sigh. I still didn’t understand where Riley was trying to get with those presumptions and questions. It worried me because I didn’t know what she was going to go back and tell Chase.

Jackson walked into the kitchen a couple moments later. It was still early. He had on his normal, at-home attire; a plain, white t-shirt and some jeans. He smiled at me as he made his way in. I half-smiled back, only for a second. He came closer, noticing my passive behavior. He thought I’d be thrilled about the actual engagement and was probably expecting me to be jumping at him. Believe me, I was excited. Riley just bummed me out.

“What’s wrong?” Jackson asked. He stood between my legs as I still sat on the counter. Both of his hands slid up the top of each of my thighs. His face was just below mine. It was weird to be taller than him for once.

I wrapped my arms around his shoulders and hooked my hands together in the back. I smiled convincingly and said, “Nothing, just Riley.”

“Oh,” he said as he gazed up at me, still smiling crookedly to the side.

“Yeah. It was really nothing,” I assured.

“We’ll that’s good. Then be happy,” he murmured as he stood on the tips of his boots to reach my lips. His hands grasped my face and pecked me softly, then pulled away. He walked straight to the fridge. Of course.

“What’s up, guys?” someone called from out of the blue.

I looked over to see Ben G. walking into the room. He was in large sweats and a T-shirt and sat at the stool close to the island counter. As he did so his 100 Monkeys sunglasses fell off the top of his head and onto his nose. He leaned his head onto his fist.

“Hey Ben,” I said back. I was confused, how did he get here?

“I spent the night. Along with the others,” he explained lazily, as if he had read my mind.

I mouthed an ‘oh’ and nodded. “Where did you guys sleep?”

“Uncle left early while the rest of us stayed. I slept on the couch. I think the other Johnson and J. Rad took the guest room. You don’t stay in it, do you?”

Shaking my head as I spoke, “Not as much. Just a few of my things are in there.”

“Are you permanently going to stay in my room?” Jackson asked, getting into conversation. He closed the door to the fridge. I nodded once more. “Good,” he winked. I rolled my eyes.

“Heh, not like that,” I said, flicking his shoulder as he walked by. He grabbed the hurt area and made a faux angry face at me.

Jackson walked to the coffee maker and grabbed a mug from the cupboard above it. He took the pot and started to pour the liquid into it. It steamed as it flowed in.

Ben walked over and stole Jackson’s mug from behind him. He took a quick step before Jackson could take it back. He pointed in the direction of the front door as he said, “I’m out. I need to get home. I’m driving the others back, too.”

“Are they awake?” I asked, looking around for some more people to pop out out of nowhere.

“We’ve been awake for some time.”

“See you later,” Jackson said. I waved.

Ben saluted us with one hand and was out, along with our coffee mug. Jackson looked back once more once the door shut then walked back over to me. His arms wrapped around my waist and I jumped off the counter. He caught me, but I let go and dropped to the floor, landing on my feet.

Jackson nuzzled his head into my neck and kissed. I tilted my head farther back so he couldn’t reach. “Jackson, Jackson,” I said, gingerly pushing him off. “Not now.”

“We should throw a party,” he suggested randomly.

I raised an eyebrow. “A party?”

“A party,” he repeated.

“A party?” I asked again, tauntingly still playing along.

“Stop,” he said. “Yes, a party. Tonight.”

I grinned, “Tonight?”

He groaned, slapping my arm ever so lightly. “Yes, tonight.”

“Who would we invite?” I asked. Now I was the one raiding the fridge. I took out a plastic container of sliced turkey for sandwiches and started picking out pieces to eat.

“A better question would be who did I invite.” he smirked. He must have been planning this. “Everyone.”

“Who is everyone?”

“I called up some of the cast from Twilight that is in town, the band, some other friends from other movies or shows or just good old friends. Plus whoever they bring. Some of your friends, too.”

I almost on one of the grapes I was plopping into my mouth. “My friends?”

“This again?” he hissed. He thought I was still repeating things. “Yes, your friends.”

“No, seriously,” I stated. I closed the grape. I wasn’t very hungry anymore. “Don’t you remember anything I told you? I don’t have friends.”

He pursed his lips and thought. Finally he said, “Invite Riley.”

“Seriously? Riley? Hell no!” She’d be all over the entire cast. Anyway, I still didn’t know what she’s up to.

He chuckled. “Fine. We’ll just invite a bunch of people I know. If you want anyone, just tell me.” I watched him walk away, pressing buttons on his phone.

“A party,” I muttered under my breath. I don’t want to meet more celebrities. I already feel out of place when Jackson brings them up. Except for Robert. Rob just frightened me. I wonder how he acts around other people though.

I started getting ready later around four o’clock. I had my makeup done and I was dressed. I went into Jackson’s room to grab my flat iron from my bag. I always put my curling irons or flat irons back. I didn’t like leaving them out in the bathroom, I felt like I’d leave it plugged in and someone would burn themselves. That someone being me.

When I walked in, Jackson was standing in a pair of black jeans, nothing else. He turned around from the dresser and smiled at me, looking me up and down. “Well, don’t you look nice.”

“Thanks,” I smiled. I bent down and grabbed my bag, starting to unzip it. I rummaged through the bag as I heard Jackson take some steps towards me.

“You excited?”

“More or less,” I muttered, standing up straight and pursing my lips in thought. My flat iron wasn’t in there. If it wasn’t in here, it could be in my purse downstairs. I think I might have put it in there for--

My thoughts were interrupted. Jackson seized my wrists. When I was straight in front of him, he pushed my shoulders back so I fell onto his bed on my side. He jumped at me and landed right on me, his legs were on each side of me, even though I was laying helplessly side. He pushed back my hair and started quickly kissing all over my face quickly.

I was laughing hysterically by this point. I could feel his breath in my ear and it tickled. I would have rolled around, but I couldn’t move under him. “Get off!” I said through my heaves for breath. My stomach started to tense and cramp up. I wrapped my arms around it and curled up.

He sat up, still on top of me and straddling my side.

“That was my face, you fuck head!” I said through my fits of laughter

“I like your face.” He grinned mischievously down at me as he crawled higher up on my body until he was staring right into my eyes. His lips changed to a sentimental half smile as he scanned my face.

Stop with the antics, Jackson.

“I like your everything.”

“Stop,” I said, feeling my cheeks get warm. I tried to push him off but he wouldn’t budge a single millimeter. He just kept wistfully looking me in the eyes as he slowly brought his lips closer to my skin.

His lips grazed my cheek, hardly putting any pressure down. “Why?”

I started to melt and bite my lower lip. I closed my eyes for a split second, but then snapped back into it. “People are coming over any minute,” I stated, trying to slither out from under him.

“They won’t know,” he purred, kissing my ear.

“Yes, they will. Especially if we don’t let them in!” I shrugged him off. He sat on his knees across the bed from me. “Who’d you invite anyway?”

“A bunch of people. And I told those people to invite people they knew. So pretty much everyone who’s anyone is going to be here,” he said sarcastically in a valley girl voice.

I gulped, feeling my stomach tense up. A great big room full of people I didn’t know. Sounded like loads of fun. “Seriously?”

“Seriously.”

The doorbell rang. I groaned and laid back on the bed. “Maybe I should just stay here. I have been feeling quite ill and feeble today. Look I’m practically shaking.” I stuck out both of my hands and wiggled them around quickly.

“Stop being shy,” he insisted. He grabbed my still shaking wrists and tugged me off the bed. I was flung up to my feet and was only seconds away from smashing my face into his. He grabbed my shoulders tightly right before that happened. He grinned, our noses barely touching.

“Now you’re trying to get me off the bed. Make up your mind,” I teased, easing my face back and then poking the tip of his nose with my finger.

“Well now it’s too late. Should have told me earlier and we could have stayed on the bed.” Jackson started to follow me out of the room. I felt him catch up with me. His hand settle on my lower back and slide its way down.

As I jogged down the stairs quickly to get away, I said, “Heh, no. That is quite alright” I still was not ready for sex yet. Something about it still made me feel way too uncomfortable. Maybe because I still couldn’t stand to even be kissing Jackson for more than a few moments.

Jackson was right behind me once I hit the bottom of the steps. I turned around and then went to go head for the door. Doing a quick double take, I looked back at him. “Go put a shirt on!”

“Oops,” he exclaimed, turning back around and going up the stairs. “I forgot.”

As the night continued on, more and more people came. I was completely and utterly overwhelmed. I’ve never been to a party with so many people. I couldn’t even imagine seeing a house filled with all these bodies. Most of them were famous, too. Or slightly famous, not many huge a-listers. But it still freaked me out. Everyone seemed so tightly knit together, especially Jackson’s friends. I just felt like an intruder.

I only really recognized a few. The band was here, talking in the corner with a few people that I didn’t know. They all had drinks in their hands. As I looked the other way, I saw Rob and Kristen chatting with someone else. See? This just proves how many people I didn’t know.

My eye caught someone that I actually did know. As I moved my head and scanned the room, I caught a glimpse of Johnny Weir. I gasped. I had always loved him and his work. I wonder how he got thrown into this mix. Ignoring that, I built up some courage to go talk to him.

As I grew closer with every step, I started to notice his outfit. The light reflected off of his glittering, flat shoes and he wore a black, chic suit. Leave it up to Johnny to be the best dressed out of all of us.

“Hi,” I greeted, coming up to him. “I’m Marissa, Jackson’s fiancee.”

He greeted me with a wide, beaming white smile. “Nice to meet you!” He held out his hand that wore a black glove over it. I shook it, secretly geeking-out on the inside. “I didn’t know Jackson was engaged.”

“No one really did. It was something that just popped up out of nowhere,” I tried to explain over the music. As desolate as Jackson’s house is, it was of good size and could throw a mean party.

“And how’s that working out for you two?” he asked.

“It’s actually pretty good,” I admitted casually. After a short pause, I asked, “So you know Jackson?”

He shook his head. “I know a few people in the cast of Twilight and they asked me to come. Which I accepted, of course!”

“Yeah, I’m so glad you came. You’re such an amazing athlete!”

He put his hand and fingertips to his chest, acting out his being flattered. “Aw, thanks.

I sat and talked to Johnny for a while. Jackson passed a few times to see how I was doing, but he was busy tending to the party. I kept a good eye on him, though. He wasn’t flirting with girls or anything. Always a plus in a relationship.

After some time into the conversation, I became comfortable around Johnny. It was like we were friends for awhile. And somehow, my want of a job came into conversation.

“Yeah, it’s lonely sometimes when Jackson has to go out with his jobs. Being a musician and actor and all,” I sighed.

“You know,” he started to say. “I actually am looking for a assistant. You seem like the kind of person I’d like to work with.”

“Really?” I was flabbergasted. I couldn’t believe Johnny Weir was asking me to work for him. Not even that, but that a job was actually being thrown my way. I wouldn’t have to sit and rot in the house all day for the rest of my life.

“Yes, of course!” He clapped his gloved hands together. “You can drop off a resume and some background information at this address.”

He snatched my hand and grabbed a pen off of the coffee table beside the couch. He scribbled down some numbers and words quickly. “It’ll be fantastic!”

“Thank you so much!” I said gratefully.

“Oh, no problem!”

“You got a job offer?” Jackson repeated back to me, spitting out his toothpaste into the sink. He flicked on the sink and ran the water over it and over his toothbrush.

I crossed my legs as I sat on the closed toilet lid. “Yeah. Johnny offered it!” I was still gushing and super excited.

He looked over at me, more concerned. I could tell he didn't enjoy the news as much as I had. “Johnny? You guys are on first name basis?”

I laughed mockingly, “Ha-ha. Shut up. But I am going over there tomorrow! Isn’t it great?”

“I guess. But it’s not like I’m gone that often,” he tried to convince. I could tell he didn’t want me to go. I didn't understand it. He always left. Why couldn't I?

“Well can’t I get a job?” I said in defense, standing up and crossing my arms.

“Yeah, but I don’t want you gone so much.”

I began to feel a little guilty, but I put those feelings aside for now. This could be a once in a life time chance for me. “Well you can try out for some new movies,” I tried to cheer him up. “And it’s just a day job. I won’t be gone every single day. Most of it’s just phone work.”

He perked up a bit. “Well, that’s nice.”

“Yeah,” I said as I passed him to get to the hall. I heard his footsteps behind me.

“Guess what?” I heard him chirp.

“What?” I said, still walking.

“The wedding is the day after tomorrow!”

I froze.