"Kissing A Fool" Ginger's lungs were on fire. It must have been at least ten minutes since she last took a breath--or at least it felt like it. She was dizzy and couldn't see straight, and if it hadn't been for the adrenaline that was pumping through her system at this very second, she doubted she could stayed upright as she marched the length of the field, with a chorus of laughter and assorted cat-calls serenading her every step. He wasn't going to get away with this. How dare he blow this shot for her--how dare he pull this stunt when he knew how much this job meant to her? "Jeff Metcalf, don't you walk away from me!" The giggles from the crowd were beginning to fade, but they still managed to drown out her voice as she called out to him. He had sped up his pace upon noticing that she was following him, infuriating her all the more. If that's the way you want to play... She reached down and yanked her shoes off, running towards him with a fury and cutting in front of him so abruptly he nearly ran over her in surprise. "If you'll excuse me," he said, his voice dripping with sarcasm, "I have to get to a shower. I gotta get cleaned up before I pack my bags and get the hell out of here!" She didn't budge from her spot, and instead gave him her best 'you can't get to me' smile. He tried to walk around her, but again, she blocked his path. "I'll gladly step out of your way, buster, but we've got some unfinished business to settle here first, and I am not letting you leave until we get some things straight." "Oh and what things would those be, Miss Szabo?" The contempt in his voice as he said her name made her ears burn, and even he must have realized he had stepped over the line because his face softened. For a second. "Well unfortunately, I don't exactly have all the time in the world. Mr. Melon's about to hand me my train ticket home, so if you don't mind, could you hurry it up a little?" Ginger could feel the tears starting to well up in her eyes and she balled her fists in the effort to keep them from spilling. "Maybe I was wrong about you, Jeff Metcalf," she spat out. "I used to think you had a heart, but after today, I'm not so sure anymore." He didn't say anything--maybe the words stung him just as much as she had intended them to. She swallowed hard, and though the lump in her throat remained, she forced herself to go on. "You may not love the fact that I want to be an actress, and Lord knows you made that perfectly clear to me, but I never thought you'd be so spiteful as to deliberately blow this chance for me!" His eyes widened with shock. He hadn't been expecting those words from her, and in truth, Ginger hadn't expected them from herself either. But she had said it. She had said what she came out here to say to him. The tears began to sting her eyes now. She turned on her heel before they fell, but he felt his hand on her arm, and he spun her around to face him. "Ginger, I-" "What?!" He shook his head, unable to finish his sentence, and for a moment he looked like a lost little boy. Like he had that night in the sound booth when he had asked her to come home with him. And suddenly, she couldn't remember anymore how she found the strength to resist him then, because she couldn't think of a single reason to now. "I'm sorry," he said at last. "I didn't mean to... I wasn't trying to ruin..." He let go of her arm and threw his hands up in frustration. "Look, sweetheart, you won't have me around to screw things up for you anymore, because I'm on my way home. So you can go back to Arthur and keep on hawking tomato juice for all I care-" The words sliced into her. Funny how she always used to enjoy it when he was jealous, but now it only made her angry. Angry and spiteful. "And you can go cavorting around with Mrs. Hailey for all I care!" she said. "I'm sure she's already offered to relieve that tension of yours that you've been carrying around for months--if she hasn't already!" He surprised her by laughing. "That's very funny, Ginger. Especially coming from you!" "What is that supposed to mean?" "All Artie Schillhab had to do was buy you champagne, isn't that right?" "What are you saying??" "I'm saying I haven't forgotten what happened the last time you were tipsy, Ginger..." She was this close to slapping him. What stopped her, she didn't know, but she was not going to take any more of this from him. With the force of a freight train, she rammed into his shoulder to walk past him, but something turned her around one last time to look at him. "You son of a..." The tears were flowing freely now. "Is that what you think of me?" she screamed. "I couldn't even make love to the man I was in love with, how dare you think I'd fall into bed with someone I barely know!!" "But... your clothes... I saw... your clothes..." "My what??" "Look, I know what I saw, Ginger... I saw your Tomato Girl outfit on the floor--in Arthur's room, and..." "And what?" "And you... in his bed..." She shook her head. How could he even suggest such a thing? "Jeff Metcalf, I'm only going to say this once. I don't know what you think you saw, but if you believe I could ever do what you're suggesting I did then I must have been kissing a fool all those months!" The confusion on his face gave way to remorse. He took a step towards her, but she backed away. "No," she said. "Don't come near me if... if this is what you think of me..." "Ginger, I'm sorry, I... I don't think that of you, God, I never wanted to believe that..." "Then why? Why would you say such a thing?" He shook his head. "I thought... I was wrong. I was so wrong, and I'm sorry. Please... forgive me." She took a deep breath to steady her voice. "Do you hate me this much, Jeff?" she said. "I know you're angry at me for not going home with you that night, but I never thought..." "I could never hate you, Ginger. God, I... I love you, don't you know that by now? But you didn't want me-" "You are the one who left, remember? You are the one who made this a test of my love for you, Jeff. I never would have broken off our engagement!" He came closer, and this time she didn't move. He raised a hand to her cheek, tentatively at first, then more confidently when he saw that she wasn't resisting. "Where do we go from here," he said softly. "I am miserable without you. I can't spend the rest of my life like this, Gin..." "Answer me this," she said. "Do you believe I love you?" "Yes, but-" She laid a finger on his lips. "But nothing. I will admit I didn't think things through and... I didn't think of what would happen if I became a star and where that would leave us... Maybe I was naive, but you have to believe me when I say that if it had come right down to it, I wouldn't have given up on us! All I wanted to do was sing that song, Jeff... It wasn't about choosing my career over you, it was about enjoying the last chance I had at this, can you understand that?" "I just... I just didn't want to lose you. And if I put you on the spot, then I'm sorry, but I needed to know if I was important enough to you-" "And you are. Maybe I didn't do a good enough job of showing it, but you are. What good would any of this be without you, Jeff? I don't want to be a big star in Hollywood if I can't have you there with me." "Are you saying... Are you saying what I think you're saying?" She nodded, then couldn't resist a small grin. "Whatever happens with my career Jeff, you will never be second best. That's a promise." He smiled back at her and tilted his head to kiss her. "I've done a lot of stupid things in my life. But the stupidest--the most stupid--was breaking up with you..." "Does that mean you want to marry me?" "You bet, Mrs. Metcalf." Home| Kyle| Tammy| History| Transcripts| Quotes| Milestones| Episodes| Pictures| Fanfic| Links| Email List