Five Months of Reluctantly Missing Zeke

"See you all tomorrow." Talia waved to her co-workers at TBL.

Talia walked to her car holding the mace she always carried clutched in her hand. The sun was setting coloring the world in pink and orange hues. Christmas lights were starting to turn on spreading a holiday vibe in the air.

Though Talia was ready for an approaching attacker with her mace she wasn't prepared for the model beautiful woman who stepped from the car parked near hers. Since Talia's mind had wandered to the Christmas lights and the excitement in the air, she didn't hear the approaching click clack of heels on asphalt.

"Talia?" The sultry voice called to her.

She jumped dropping the mace on the ground. As she picked it up, she mentally kicked herself. If it had been a real attacker she'd have been toast.

Looking at the woman walking toward her she said, "Gwyn Smythe?"

"Yes." She said sheepishly.

Talia looked around wondering if she was on some prank show. When no cameras popped out, she faced the beautiful movie star. She took in her appearance. Gwyn looked like she'd stepped out of a fashion magazine. Wearing a soft looking sweater, jeans that looked tailored to her and a pair of spike heeled boots made Talia look frumpy in her sweatshirt, jeans and sneakers.

"What are you doing here?" Talia asked.

"I was wondering if we could grab a bite and talk." Gwyn shifted nervously.

Warning bells rang in Talia's head. She'd never met Gwyn and now she wanted to have a meal with her. A weird sense of foreboding overcame her.

"Sure. I will follow you to where you want to go." Talia walked to her car leaving Gwyn standing there with a look of disbelief.

Talia followed Gwyn's expensive black car to a small café a few blocks away. Gwyn stepped from the car with sunglasses and a baseball cap on. It drew more attention than hiding her but in that part of town everyone minded their own business.

Gwyn led them into a corner table. The small café had delicious smells floating in from the kitchen. Her stomach rumbled reminding her she'd forgotten her lunch that day. They each grabbed a small laminated menu and sat in silence until a young waitress took their orders. When she hustled away, Talia sat back in her chair looking at the still immaculate Gwyn.

"You have me here, what did you want to discuss?"

Gwyn looked at her hands folded on the table. "When I first came to L.A. I was probably the age of our waitress. Young, naïve, inexperienced and had no clue who I was. When a famous director came into the restaurant I was working he discovered me. That was how I got my big break in the business."

"Ok." Talia furrowed her brow in confusion.

"That movie was also Zee's big break too." She met Talia's eyes.

"I know which movie you are talking about, Love at All Cost."

She nodded. "From that moment, we were as close as two people could get."

Talia shifted in her seat. She wasn't sure she wanted to hear any more. Especially, if she was going to talk about her time being Zeke's fiancée.

"We both pretty poor at the beginning. So, we became roommates to help each other out. It was a fun few years. As our careers took off we always had each other. It has been one of the best relationships in my life."

"Look, I don't know why you are telling me all of this."

She held up her hand. "I'm getting there."

The waitress picked that moment to drop off their food and drinks. When she was gone, Gwyn took a sip of her drink then looked at Talia, again.

"When I came to Hollywood I couldn't accept myself as gay. I'd tried coming out to my parents, but they are very religious. They kicked me out without another word. I haven't spoken to them since they threw me and a packed bag out of the house over ten years ago."

"Oh my god! I am so sorry." Talia said.

Gwyn waved her hand. "It's fine. I've moved past it. My family experience and Zee's meshed. We both had horrible experiences pushing us to leave and never come back. So, when I met Gina and fell in love I was scared to death. The world didn't know me as a lesbian. I was so scared I almost destroyed the best thing to ever happen to me."

"Surely, you know the world is much more open than it was ten years ago."

Gwyn shook her head. "It's not, Talia. Zee wanted me to hang on to the love I was developing with Gina. So, in an attempt to make things easier we announced our engagement. Zee was willing to have a fake engagement with me to protect my reputation."

Talia took a bite of the burger she'd ordered to keep from asking questions.

"Everything was going well until you caught Gina and I out that night."

Talia breathed in suddenly causing her to choke on her bit of burger. Taking a quick drink of water, she washed down the offending piece. A blush colored her cheeks from the combination of choking and being called out on the story that made her The Gossip Queen.

"Sorry for that." Talia muttered.

Gwyn let out a breathy laugh. "You were just doing your job. Gina and I should have been smarter. To be honest, we were tired of hiding. Unfortunately, when that story broke we had to do some major damage control."

"Yeah, I know. Zeke and his orchestrating my fake walk of shame."

Gwyn looked at Talia with an assessing eye. "Zee never told you about the weeks leading up to that did he?"

"What do you mean?"

A smile crossed Gwyn's face. "I've known about you since Zee and I became friends."

"What?"

"He's been in love with you since he was ten years old."

Talia remembered Zeke saying something like that but after everything that happened she assumed it was yet another story he was telling her.

"No. That was just a story."

Gwyn Smythe snorted out a laugh. Covering her mouth in embarrassment she looked at Talia with a red face. "I probably know more about you than I know about your brother, Rex. Did you know he printed out all of your stories? I think he even has the stories you published when you were in college."

"What?"

"After we got "engaged", Zee started seeing you at a lot of parties. He knew he couldn't do anything about his feelings because for some reason you despised him. But, when you were the one that caught Gina and I, Zee took that as a sign to step up his game. He found that hard to do because you were fantastic at hiding at a crowded party or restaurant. Unfortunately, Vanessa noticed his attention on you and saw a way to manipulate him. Vanessa found out about Zee's dad being an alcoholic and propositioned him. She offered to keep that story quiet if he set you up to get caught leaving his house doing the walk of shame. That woman wanted to hurt you bad."

"He said he set it up to protect you."

"He lied. When he told me about it I told him it was a terrible idea. He just knew he needed to do something. If you ask me, he used the excuse of protecting his secret as a way to really protect you."

"What do you mean?"

"When Vanessa approached Zee, he saw how desperate she was to destroy you. He knew it was going to end bad but if he could control her revenge there was a possibility she couldn't do as much damage. Unfortunately, she went a little crazy with it once she realized what you two had was real."

"It wasn't real." Talia said automatically.

Gwyn took a bite of the small salad she ordered.

"Look, he's a dumbass like most men. But, he does love you. He's been home for a month. Gina and I have visited him. He looks like shit."

"Did he ask you to come here?"

"Oh god, no. He'd probably kill me if he knew I was here. I wanted to come here to talk to you alone. I needed to explain things that I knew he'd left out. In my opinion, I think he feels like he deserves you hating him."

Talia sighed. "I don't hate him."

"Is there any hope?"

"I don't know, Gwyn. He hurt me badly."

"I know." Gwyn looked at her watch. "I'm sorry I didn't realize it was so late. I really need to get going. Thank you for talking with me Talia."

Gwyn dropped money on the table, grabbed her purse and left. Talia sat watching her car pull away. Looking down at her phone, Talia saw they'd been talking for over two hours. Her mind was a jumbled mess.

Talia left a few minutes later thanking the waitress and putting a few extra bills to make for a very generous tip. In a daze, Talia found her way to her car. Not knowing what to do next she pulled out and drove. With her mind swirling with questions, she drove on autopilot.

Losing all sense oftime, she found herself sitting outside of a familiar diner. It too was decorated in its Christmasfinery. Inside a lone man with five daysworth of growth on his face staring into a cup of coffee. Gracie walked over with a plate of food. Placing it on the table, she gave hisshoulder a squeeze then walked away with a sad look on her face. Talia's heart broke all over again.