Gentle Reminders

The following chapter is written in 3rd Person POV…

The door’s lock clicks open. The sound of the doorhandle's mechanism turns. The door subtly creaks as it opens slowly. In its frame is Becca. Cold, steely, and the image of authority once more. No one would suspect her activity inside her office if only based on outward appearance — other than the suddenly absent stockings she wore when she first went inside.

Becca buttons up her blazer, tugs it on its bottom hem to straighten it, quickly dusts off her shoulder with her hands, and takes a deep breath before finally stepping back out from the office.

As soon as one of her heels is outside the door, someone speaks.

“Sooo~” Viv remarks from beside the office door, as she leans back with one foot up.

“What happened to your stockings?” Viv teasingly asks. “Had a little accident in there?” Viv continues to tease.

“Shouldn’t you be in the kitchen?” Becca expertly deflects.

“Shouldn’t you be out there schmoozing our guests?” Viv easily counters.

“I—” Becca tries to counter, but she’s left speechless as she’s unable to find a good counter to Viv’s point.

“I’m sorry.” Becca apologizes, conceding to her fault. Viv can only smile. Becca’s about to ask what’s the status of the party, before her question gets stuck in her throat after Viv surprisingly takes her hand in hers.

“Don’t be.” Viv assures Becca, as she squeezes Becca’s hand tighter to give her strength. “I know the urge to run away more than anyone.” Viv adds, and it’s upon hearing this that Becca squeezes Viv’s hand back too.

No other words need to be shared between the two. Becca’s grateful for Viv’s understanding and support. That Viv isn’t even close to being angry with her despite Becca passing off her hosting duties to Viv at such an important time. Meanwhile, Viv’s just glad that Becca’s not thinking of pushing through with her previous plan anymore. For both of them, that’s all that matters right now.

“Viv?” Jay asks, after he makes his way to stand behind Becca. “Is everything alright?” Jay asks in worry.

“I should be asking you that.” Viv replies, her voice unable to hide her worry.

“I… yeah. I’m good now.” Jay answers her, a bit embarrassed that he made her worry.

“We~ are good now.” Jay adds to assure Viv further, as he gently places his hand on Becca’s lower back.

“Good. Good.” Viv can only reply, with a smile of relief.

…

“Then I hope you can show them that.” Viv adds ominously.

“They need you, Jay.”

“Dad!” Stella shouts as soon as she sees her father come inside the private dining area with Viv and Becca. Stella immediately runs up to him and gives him a hug. “Don’t scare us like that.” Stella tells him, her voice muffled as it’s nuzzled on his chest.

“I’m sorry, baby. Just needed to clear my head.” Jay assures her, as he returns her hug. Stella hugs her dad tighter upon hearing his assurance. Once Stella breaks away from their hug, Jay notices that there’s more people in the room than he expected.

Jay’s other girlfriends are there, as well as their close invited guests — Brad, Marybeth, Lizzie, Hal and Celeste, Mr. and Mrs. O’Brien, Tricia and Paige, and Mercy from the Red Rum. What surprises Jay the most is seeing two other familiar faces — Riley and Erica, the two girls he and Viv shared a night with in the Red Rum.

“Why are you all here? What happened to the party?” Becca asks with concern, as well as a deep sense of guilt that she might have ruined tonight with her actions.

“Don’t worry about the party, Becca. Everything’s been sorted with the other guests.” Paige assures her.

“It’s more than sorted! Chef was amazing at doing damage control!” Tricia openly praises Viv.

“I think ‘damage control’ is a bit of an exaggeration, Pattiecakes.” Mrs. O’Brien tries to soften her granddaughter’s use of words, worried it might be taken the wrong way by Becca, whose stress she clearly saw and heard earlier.

“No, no. It was damage control.” Viv doesn’t bother with Mrs. O’Brien’s attempt at sugarcoating. “And yes, I was ~amaziiiiing~.” Viv adds, injecting some levity. Becca actually smiles at Viv’s honesty.

“Thank you, Vivian.” Becca tells her, and Viv brushes it off immediately.

“Not my first restaurant shitshow.” Viv replies with a wink. “Shit happens and we deal with them.” Viv adds, before taking Becca’s hand again in hers.

“Together.” Viv adds emphatically, getting Becca to lower her head in shame before nodding in agreement.

“If everything’s sorted, why are you guys here?” Jay asks.

“We were worried for all of you.” Marybeth answers this time.

“We wanted to make sure everything’s alright with you guys.” Celeste says soon after.

“And we want to help in any way we can.” Riley chimes in as well, before shying away behind Erica who just rolls her eyes at Riley.

Jay and Becca are both left speechless. They don’t know what to say to this extended group of people who are all here out of their concern. They both feel ashamed that they made them worry, and it shows on both their faces that that’s the case.

“Plus,” Viv says, noticing the possibility of the two being overwhelmed by this show of support. “They were downing the vibe.” Viv half-jokes, making everyone chuckle and loosen up a bit.

“I needed to separate them from the other guests, so I brought them here.” Viv explains. Now that everyone’s much looser thanks to Viv, Becca takes the opportunity to address everyone.

“First of all, thank you all for coming tonight.” Becca starts. “I apologize for worrying all of you with our emotional display earlier, but tonight is supposed to be a celebration. I don’t want our problems to affect your nights any more than it already has.” Becca tells them.

“Is everything alright between you two?” Marybeth asks.

“Yes, Marybeth.” Jay assures her. “If you guys were able to sort things out here, Becca and I sorted our problems too.” Jay assure them, holding in the ‘at least for the time being’ caveat if he were being completely honest. “Right now, let’s do what we came here to do and enjoy ourselves. Let’s celebrate Pho Hoa tonight!” Jay adds, trying his best to correct his mood for everyone concerned.

“That’s actually what we’ve talked about doing.” Celeste replies with an awkward laugh, no longer mentioning that they also talked about the alternative in case both Jay and Becca . “Whatever problem it is you guys are going through, we’re here to help you guys forget about it for a while.” Celeste adds.

“I mean, this is supposed to be a party, right?” Brad supportively chimes in, as he places his hands around Brooke’s shoulder and pulls her into him jovially. Even if Jay didn’t know their history or Brad’s sexuality, he doesn’t think anything of it since it really felt more like a brotherly move for him.

“Waaaaay~ ahead of you.” Nelly comments before downing the remaining contents of her Saigon Sour.

“Oh nooo~, [I’m not carrying your drunk ass home again.]” Sofia reacts in Spanish, pulling Nelly away from approaching Lizzie to order another cocktail.

“Don’t! Even think about it, mister.” Mrs. O’Brien warns Mr. O’Brien, who looked like he was about to copy Nelly’s gameplan.

“Don’t worry about it, Grammy. I’ll take care of him if he gets drunk.” Tricia assures her grandmother.

“Take care of me?” Mr. O’Brien asks in offense. “I don’t know what your father’s told you, Pattiecakes, but Tricky Ricky can handle his liquor.” Mr. O’Brien tells her.

“Oh Lord have mercy.” Mrs. O’Brien says in exasperation. “He’s already referring to himself in the third person.” Mrs. O’Brien adds in knowing worry.

“Tricky Ricky, huh?” Nelly says in curiosity, seemingly affected by the **** already. “What kind of tricks can Ricky do?” Nelly asks in a tone that can easily be mistaken as flirtatious, and it’s Tanya that pulls her aside this time.

“Tone it down, Anna Nicole.” Tanya tells her daughter.

“Who’s Anna Nicole?” Maddy asks in a hushed voice, but it doesn’t escape Viv’s attention. Viv puts her arm around Maddy’s shoulder and hands her a drink.

“Ooooh~, do I have a story for you.” Viv tells Maddy, excited to gossip with her about a story that happened before she was even born.

The chatter of the gathered crowd slowly livens up, until most of the other guests are now bantering with each other and those who invited them. For Becca and Jay, the semblance of normalcy is infectious.

The two share a glance, before both initiate to hold each other’s hands and squeeze each other’s tightly.

“We can’t run away, Becca.” Jay tells her in a whisper so that only the two of them can hear.

“We have to fight back.” Jay adds.

“Because this…” Jay says, as he squeezes Becca’s hand a little tighter.

“This is what we’re fighting for.”