PRT 336- “Love on the Rocks”

“Mina?” Adam called.

“In here!” I called from the bedroom. I was trying to decide what to wear.

“You’re still not dressed? Min, I’m hungry.”

“I know, me too, but I don’t know what to wear. I mean, what does one wear to an Art Gala?”

“Whatever one wants. Just so long as this one has time to eat prior to the gala.”

“Ok, ok.” I sighed and grabbed a black skirt and an orange silk top and started to get dressed.

Let me take a moment to introduce myself. I’m Mina Gordon…I’m a guitar player/actress/songwriter/singer but I’m also known by my secret alter egos…Sailor V and Sailor Venus…although Sailor V has been retired since I was a teenager. Anyway, I love my life…even the super heroine part. I love doing good for the world and what’s not to love about my life? I have the most amazing career and the most amazing fiancé a girl could hope for. Yeah, I’m engaged to my longtime boyfriend, Adam Park. He’s a former Power Ranger so he gets the whole super heroine business. The best thing about Adam is that I know without a doubt he loves me. He gets very frustrated with me sometimes…like now…but he loves me.

Tonight Adam and I are going to an Art Gala hosted by my friend Michele Waters. Michele is a great artist and so I know we’re in for a treat…if I can ever get ready.

I finally walked out of the room and found Adam in the living room.

“Ready.” I said.

“Wow, you look great.” He said as he stood up and hugged me.

“Thanks. So do you. Now, can we be on our way?”

“Absolutely.”

We went to the car and headed to get some dinner.

We went to this nice restaurant just off Rodeo Drive. It was a celebrity hot spot so naturally there was paparazzi around. Adam and I tried to ignore them and went in to get a table.

“We didn’t have to come here.” I said.

“I like the food and we can’t let those vultures run our lives.” Adam said.

I smiled, “You handle all of this craziness so well.”

“It’s only as crazy as we let it be.”

“You’re amazing. So, what are you getting?”

“I love the orange chicken here.”

I nodded, “Yeah, it’s good. I think I might get the Lemon Chicken.”

Adam and I ordered and made small talk while we waited for our drinks. We were chatting away when I heard a familiar voice.

“Mina?”

I looked up and saw Brett with one of his reality show sluts.

“Brett??” I asked, “Oh no…”

“What are you doing here?” he asked as he came over and leaned down to hug me.

“Trying to have a nice night out with my fiancé.” I said as I pushed him away.

“Right, I heard something about you getting married.”

I looked at Adam. He didn’t look thrilled.

The slut then cleared her throat.

“Oh, I’m so sorry. Mina, this is my date Ashley. Ashley, this is Mina.” Brett said.

“Your ex-girlfriend. I know.” Ashley said bitterly.

“Min, can I talk to you alone for a minute? I’ve been meaning to call you anyway.” Brett said.

I sighed, “Brett, there is absolutely nothing you have to say that could interest me. Just go enjoy your date.”

“Please, five minutes.”

“Go away Brett.”

“Mina, come on, five minutes with me won’t kill you.”

I sighed, “Adam, do you mind?”

“Fine.” Adam said. I could tell he did mind but I wanted to make Brett leave.

“Ok, fine. Five minutes.” I said.

“Thanks. Ashley, go have a seat…order whatever you want to drink. I’ll be right with you.” Brett said.

Ashley rolled her eyes and went to their table.

Brett and I walked to a corner of the restaurant where we were alone.

“What do you want?” I asked.

“A favor.” He replied.

I laughed, “You’re kidding, right?”

“No. Hear me out.”

“Ok, fine. What favor did you have in mind?”

“Well, you know I’m doing the dating show thing.”

“I know, amazing to see the trash you tried to replace me with.”

“Be nice. They are great girls.”

“Whatever.”

“I’d like it if you’d come on the show.”

“Are you high?”

“No. Seriously. Come on the show and talk to the girls. I want to know what you think of them…get a feel for them and try to help me figure out who is here for the wrong reasons.”

“You mean their 15 minutes. Easy. All of them.”

“Mina, please, just think about it.”

I sighed, I didn’t want to admit I’d been wanting him to ask me this very thing. I wanted on that show for reasons even I didn’t understand…but I knew Adam wouldn’t like it one little bit, “I’ll think about it and I’ll discuss it with Adam. No promises.”

“Fine. I need to know in the next couple of days though.”

“Ok, fine. I’ll let you know.”

“Thanks Mina.” Brett said hugging me.

“Don’t thank me. I haven’t done anything yet.” I said as I hugged him quickly before pushing him away.

“I’ll talk to you later. Have a nice night.”

“Yeah, you too.”

I went back to my table.

“What did he want?” Adam asked.

I sighed, “He wants me to…basically be a guest judge on his reality show.”

Adam laughed, “You told him no, right?”

I made a face.

“Right?”

I still said nothing.

“Mina, right?”

“Eh…”

“Mina, please tell me you didn’t say yes.”

“I didn’t say yes.”

“Are you lying?”

“No.”

“Then what did you say?”

“That I’d think about it and discuss it with you before I said anything.”

“You can’t seriously be thinking about this.”

“Why not Adam? It would be good exposure.”

“Because I want Brett out of our lives, that’s why not. He’s already tried to break us up more than once. I don’t want him anywhere near us.”

“I understand that, but this is just business, nothing personal.”

“Yeah, like Michelle and Jon are ‘just business’…I don’t want Brett in our lives at all.”

I sighed, “So that’s final? You’re just deciding for me?”

“I’m not deciding for you but I’m hoping you’ll respect my wishes enough to not do it. Why would you even want to?”

“Good exposure.”

“There’s more to it than that…”

“There was a time I really cared about Brett…I just don’t want to see him end up with a slut that’s with him for all the wrong reasons.”

“He’s a grown man Mina. He can handle his reality TV dating choices on his own.”

“Adam, I think I want to do the show.”

“I can’t believe you’d consider it after knowing how I feel about it.”

“It’s just one episode. I’ll do my thing and be on my way and then Brett will be out of our lives.”

“If you do this Brett will never be out of our lives. If you do this I’m not sure there will be an ‘our’ anything.”

“Are you threatening to break up with me?”

“Maybe.”

“I can’t believe you’d do that.” I said standing up. I headed out of the restaurant and to the car. The press was snapping pictures but I pushed through them, Adam was right behind me. I was about to get in the car when there was a loud explosion behind us. Everyone started to scatter.

“What was that?” Adam asked.

“I don’t know but I think I know who was behind it.” I said as there was another explosion that was closer to us. Adam and I went flying and landed hard.

“Ugh…” I looked around, “ADAM!”

“I’m ok…get the Soldiers.” He groaned.

“Right.” I stood up and ran towards the direction the last blast came from.

Michelle

~~~~~~~

I was in the city picking up dinner when I got blasted. I stood up and expected to see Nemesis, I was surprised to see who it actually was.

“Hotaru?” I asked.

“Wrong. Hotaru is gone. You can call me Mistress 9.”

“Oh great, not this again. I don’t know what Nemesis did to you but you gotta snap out of this.”

“Sailor Nemesis showed me my true self.”

I sighed, “Fine. Let’s do this. Saturn Spirit Power!”

After I transformed I went up against Mistress 9. It was then I realized that me as Sailor Saturn had different attacks as Hotaru as Sailor Saturn…and I didn’t know what my attacks were. I threw some lightning to buy me time. It didn’t do much. She blasted me and I went flying. I landed with a thump.

“Princess!” Sailor Uranus called as the Outers ran to my side.

“Sailor Saturn, are you ok?” Neptune asked.

I nodded, “Yeah…found Hotaru.”

“She’s not Hotaru anymore. We have to stop her.” Uranus said.

“By ‘stop’ you mean ‘save’, right?” I asked.

“We have to do whatever it takes to stop her.”

“Uranus…you can’t be serious. You’d kill her?”

“If I have to.” Uranus said as she jumped over me and pulled her sword. She started after Mistress 9.

“We have to stop Uranus!” I cried.

“She knows what she’s doing. We need to help her.” Neptune said as she joined the fight.

“No…Pluto…stop them…”

“I’m sorry Saturn, protecting you and the Amethyst is our top priority.” Pluto replied as she used her “Deadly Scream” and went to battle.

“No! We need to heal her, not kill her!” I cried. I knew if I didn’t blast Hotaru away she’d get herself killed. I needed to tap into my power now. I looked inside myself, “Saturn Lightning Rings, Electrify!” I cried as rings of purple lightning flew from my hands. It hit Hotaru but she recovered quickly and blasted me again. The Outers continued to fight Hotaru. I was having trouble getting up this time. I was shocked still and somewhat dazed. Uranus was going at Mistress 9 with her sword when she was suddenly hit by a yellow beam of light…

Mina

~~~~

I ran towards the direction the blast came from. On the way I transformed.

“Venus Spirit Power!”

As I got closer I saw that the Outers were fighting Hotaru…who was evidently evil again. Saturn was trying to stop Uranus from killing her but Uranus wouldn’t listen.

“Venus Crescent Beam, Smash!” I cried as a beam of light hit Uranus in the hand, making her drop her sword. The rest of my team, the Inners, shows up at that time as well.

“Venus! What were you thinking?!” Uranus screamed as she headed at me.

“I was thinking you’re not killing Hotaru!” I screamed back

“She’s not Hotaru, she’s Mistress 9!”

“Even so, you can’t just kill her! We can save her!”

“Stop it!” Saturn cried.

“Stay out of this Saturn.” Uranus demanded.

“I’m not going to let you kill Hotaru. She’s innocent.” I said

“You can’t stop me.”

“Try me.”

“Fine…World Sha…” Uranus started.

“Venus Love Me Cha…” I started.

“NO!” Moon and Saturn cried. Moon grabbed me and Saturn grabbed Uranus.

“We’re a team you guys.” Moon said.

“We can’t fight each other.” Saturn added.

“I won’t let her stand in my way.” Uranus said trying to free herself from Saturn to attack me.

“Bring it on.” I said as I tried to escape Moon.

“Neptune, help me.” Saturn demanded.

“Mars…help.” Moon said.

Mars helped Moon hold me back and Neptune helped Saturn hold back Uranus.

“We are one team. The Sailor Soldiers. If we fight each other all is lost.” Saturn said.

“We’re not one team. They have their methods and we have ours.” Uranus said.

“We don’t kill unless there is no other option.” I said.

“Uranus, you might be leader, but I’m the princess you’re supposed to obey. I never wanted to pull rank on you but you leave me no choice. You WILL work with the Inner Soldiers because we WILL be one team.” Saturn demanded.

Moon nodded, “You too Venus. We have to band together.”

Uranus glared, “Fine.”

I sighed, “OK.”

“Good…now...as for you Hotaru…” Saturn started but when we turned to face her she’d escaped.

“Great, you let her get away.” Uranus said.

“Me?!” I cried.

“Don’t start.” Saturn said.

“She’s gone for now…if I had to guess she is working with Nemesis. Just be on the alert. They’ll be back.” Moon said.

We nodded, “OK.”

We all went our own ways. I powered down and ran back to Adam’s side.

“Adam! Are you ok baby?” I asked.

“I’m fine. I hurt my knee, but I’m fine.” He said. He was sitting on the hood of the car.

“Let’s forget the gala…I don’t really wanna see Amara anyway. Let’s just go home” I said hugging him.

Adam nodded, “OK.”

We got home and went inside..

“If you don’t want me doing Brett’s show I won’t.” I said as we headed for the bedroom.

“No…it’s ok. Maybe this will give you the final closure you need. You can do the show.” Adam said.

“Are you sure?” I asked.

He nodded, “Yeah. I trust you Mina. What happened with Brett is in the past. I really do trust you wouldn’t do anything like that again…that’s why I proposed. If you want to do the show then do it.”

“You’re the most amazing man ever Adam Park. I love you so much.” I said as I kissed him passionately.

“I love you too Mina Gordon.” He said as he kissed me back. He picked me up and carried me to our bed.