Begin Again: Chapter 24

Portia’s tracing the thin line of cracks on the table with her finger when Francesca finally shows up. 

“Turned out the interview took longer than I expected,” Francesca says after taking off her coat and sitting down across Portia. “I’m sorry, you must’ve been here for a while.” 

Portia smiles and shakes her head. “That’s alright.” 

She said she didn’t plan on spending New Year’s Eve with Audrey. 

“Have you ordered yet?” Francesca asks, reaching for the menu card. 

She said she wasn't going to kiss Audrey. Or anybody. 

“No. I was waiting for you,” Portia says lightly. 

But look what happened. 

Francesca stares at Portia and smiles. “I’m glad you called, Portia,” she says sincerely. 

Portia stares back at Fran, then says, “Me too.” 

If she can kiss Audrey, then I can kiss anyone I like. Including Francesca. 

****************

While Portia’s having her dinner at the Nolita’s, Audrey is in her apartment in East Village, accompanied by Karen who’s crouching on the couch with a glass of wine. 

“By the way, has she called you yet?” Karen asks Audrey who’s sitting crossed-legged on the armchair. 

“Nope,” Audrey says briefly. She reaches for the TV remote, turns it on and looks for a news channel. 

“Oh, please don’t,” Karen groans. “It’s boring.” 

Audrey ignores her friend. “If you want people to think of you as an unintelligent model, be my guest,” she says nonchalantly. 

Karen rolls her eyes and grumbles quietly. Recalling their previous topic, she goes on, “I don’t think Ellen is the type of person who reads gossips articles, babe. I’m pretty sure she has no idea whatsoever about those articles and those pictures on the internet. So I think it’d be more efficient if you show it to her.” She sips her red wine. “Giving her a little push to…. You know, make your relationship official.” 

Audrey bites her lip. 

It was Karen’s and her plan to do all this, with the help of Karen’s friend who’s a photographer and a freelancer on a gossip site. Their aim is to see Ellen’s reaction to the article. If Ellen’s cool about it, then it’s a good sign. It means that she doesn’t mind being associated with Audrey. However, if she’s not fine about it…. well, that’d not be a good sign. 

“What’s on your mind, Audrey?” Karen asks. 

“Nothing.”

“You seem gloomy.” 

“Oh, shut up, Karen. I’m trying to watch the news,” Audrey retorts. 

“Since when did you follow sports news?” Karen says back. 

Audrey snorts and scowls, staring at the TV with a frown even though she doesn’t actually catch a single word of what the anchorman is saying. 

If there’s one thing that does worry her, it’s Ellen’s reaction when she kissed that woman on New Year’s Eve. Even though the result of Karen’s friend’s work really did make it look like it’s a romantic kiss, in reality their lips were only touching for a split second. Half a split second, if that’s possible. As soon as Audrey puts her lips on Ellen’s, Ellen quickly steps back and holds both of Audrey’s shoulders to keep the distance. The way Ellen looked at her that night made Audrey felt overwhelmingly embarrassed to the extent where she had to pretend to be drunk. 

They never talked about it afterwards. Ellen never brought it up and Audrey herself pretended not to remember having kissed her. But, Ellen’s refusal is surely one of the most embarrassing things that has ever happened to Audrey. 

****************

Meanwhile, in another part of New York, Ellen DeGeneres is sitting inside her car that she parked not too far from Ramses with a phone on her left ear. 

She exhales impatiently when, again, the operator was the one who answers the call. Portia still can’t be reached. That girl is not at her shop, is not in her apartment, is not at Sunny Day, and is not with Nic. Perhaps Portia’s with her mom or her brothers. Ellen can’t know for sure since she doesn’t know the phone number of any of Portia’s family. It seems like she really has to give up for now and tries to contact her again tomorrow. Either that or waiting for Portia in front of her apartment until that girl comes home. 

Ellen taps her phone on the steering while, trying to come up with a decision. She’s not worried about the article that states about her being with Audrey. That gossip is never going to shock the world. She’s not a celebrity and Audrey, despite being a supermodel, is not actually that famous either. Such trivial gossip would easily be swallowed by something more interesting in no time at all. Had Portia only read that stupid article, Ellen knows that she wouldn’t have bought it either. 

But, the problem is that one cursed picture. That picture shows something that’s not true at all. It doesn’t correspond to what actually happened. If she can be honest, that picture doesn’t disturb her either. She knows what happened. She did not kiss Audrey. Audrey kissed her, and that’s only because she was drunk anyway. 

What bugs Ellen is the fact that Portia saw that picture and she knows what must be on that girl’s mind. 

Portia is probably really mad at her right now. Would she not want to see her ever again? 

Ellen frowns when she thinks of that possibility and feels a slight pain on her chest. Damn it. 

What if Portia doesn’t believe her? 

Ellen shakes her head. No, she has to. She’s going to make Portia believe her. Oh, god, but what if she doesn’t?

 Suddenly feeling out of breath, Ellen quickly opens her door and jumps out of the car. She takes a long deep breath, filling her lungs with cold air. 

Alright. She’s going to go to Portia’s apartment once more after she’s done with her work. 

Ellen makes her way to her restaurant and gets in through the side door that leads directly to the kitchen. She nods briefly to the staffs who bump into her. Andy, who’s talking on the telephone in the hall, sees her and waves. “Ellen, it’s for you,” he says, pointing at the receiver. 

Ellen sighs.

“It sounds important,” Andy adds. 

“I’ll get it from my room,” Ellen mumbles. 

She steps into her working room, setting away some pieces of papers sitting on the telephone, and picks up the receiver. “Ellen DeGeneres’ speaking,” she says. 

“Ellen,” the man on the other end greets back, “this is Andrew Rogers.” 

Ellen straightens her back. Andrew Rogers? Portia’s brother? 

“Oh, yes. Can I help you?” 

“I’m sorry to disturb you…”

“No, you d—“ 

“…but is Portia with you?” 

Ellen stops for a moment. Andrew’s voice sounds a little weird. There's a tone of urgency. “No, she’s not,” Ellen answers carefully. 

“Oh.” Andrew sounds disappointed. “I was hoping that she is. I can’t reach her.” 

Most probably because she’s avoiding my phone calls, Ellen thinks grimly. “I’ve been trying to call her all day as well.” 

“Look, if you ever get to her first, please ask her to call me or Michael as soon as possible, alright?.” 

“Of course,” Ellen says. “Sorry, but is there an emergency?” 

Silence on the other end, then Andrew sighs and says, “Our mom is in the ER.”