E & J

"Were to lady?" Asked the driver in an almost impossible to understand accent.

She looked at the license drivers were required to have on posted in the cab. The picture was of the man driving and the name next to it seemed filled with to many constants and no vowels. Oh well forget the polite niceties of names she thought almost smiling to herself.

"Where to?" He barked again.

She gave him the address and closed her eyes not wanting to watch the familiar trip. She was crying when he pulled up to Duchess' house and he even had asked if she was alright as she tossed more than enough money through the glass partition separating the front from the back.

Jerusalem sighed shaking off the thoughts and replied to the question Chloe's silence had asked. Giving the same answer she'd given that night. "I'm fine."

"If you say so." Her friend said sounding markedly unconvinced.

"I say so."

"Okay, now here's why you have to come to Tahiti..."

Then she had launched into a long speech about her father's latest venture. Jerusalem was unconvinced and still hesitant.

"mmmmm" she mumbled falling back on her non response, response.

"I know what mmmm means" Chloe sighed. "But you have to come, please you're the best in the business the business just doesn't know it yet. Besides he asked me to have you call him any how, I was going to wait until we got back to the states but what the hell."

"I don't know Clo...why can't it wait I mean I really did just start, hell I haven't even officially started yet."

"Come on J...I'm havin a party and you know it won't be the same without you." Besides I'll tell daddy to let you bring your boss and stuff." Jerusalem laughed, "Spoken like a true heiress."

"Please J come on it's Tahiti for God's sake...you act like I'm asking you to go to Arkansas or something."

Jerusalem could picture her wrinkling her nose at the thought of being anywhere near Arkansas.

"Fine but this better be one hell of a party"

Chloe let out a whoop and Jerusalem could hear her jumping around on what was probably a bed.

"Okay I'll have Daddy call you in the when it's morning there."

The women said their goodbyes and just like that things were set into motion. Jerusalem knew she owed her friend one, she knew Chloe hated for her friends to try and gain access to her dad for business purposes by going through her. She'd been hurt many times over by people who weren't at all concerned about how upset she'd be to find that they only liked her for who she was and what she could get them. Which is exactly why Jerusalem would never have asked or even hinted even when Duchess had been hounding her to land them a Jeffery Garner project she had so much as eluded to the idea, and as a personal rule Chloe never suggested or encouraged business relationships with her father or his money. Jerusalem knew they had crossed the line where friends and family mingled and she was glad, not because it could possibly benefit from it but moreover because she felt as if she were a part of something real and stable.

As she drifted off to sleep she wondered what kind of food they'd be serving on Mr. Garner's private jet.

Across town Donnie cursing fate because he hadn't been given more notice about this trip. He'd had to double his skin care regimen and make an emergency appointment to gat a body wax, plus get his hair cut all while trying to work. Thank God Jerusalem had introduced him to a fabulous stylist and gotten him in for his body was when it looked like all hope was lost. He for one couldn't wait to get to Tahiti and lay on some beach for a week before he had to even think about the proposal they'd worked so hard on.

The next morning found the Donnie and Evelyn waiting just inside the doors of the airport. Both of them bleary eyed and sleepy in the darkness of the early morning, the plane would leave at exactly four and it was three fifteen now. Jerusalem had just arrived with an ungodly amount of luggage and an attitude to boot. She breezed past the other two and through the sliding doors. She was dressed in a pair of jeans and a matching denim jacket with her hair pulled back from her striking features. Evelyn felt shook her head too tired for much more. She had slept fitfully and knew she currently looked like hell she hoped to sleep at least part of the way on the private 12 hour flight. As it turned out once they boarded the plane she slept the entire way stirring occasionally When Donnie or Jerusalem would make excess noise.

Donnie glanced at their sleeping boss. Jerusalem caught his stare and looked over at the sleeping woman as well. She'd been asleep for eight hours and some change and it didn't look like she was waking up any time soon.

"She needs to rest" he said quietly, she also needs this trip she hasn't been on a vacation in years. "Hell the last time she took off of work was when her father's cousin died, and that was like a year ago or something."

"mmmm" Jerusalem muttered still looking at Evelyn but not wanting to talk about her.

She wasn't sure exactly why but something about the woman unsettled her. The attraction she'd felt had been instant but something held Jerusalem in check, it wasn't even the fact that Evelyn was probably straight, Jerusalem could work with that it was something else. Evelyn reminded her of someone and it was only as she looked at the woman's face relaxed in sleep that she realized why she was so unsettled. Her lips were a little fuller, and her features not quite as defined and her eyes were set further apart and were a mix of gray and muted green, instead of hazel but Evelyn looked very much like a darker fuller Duchess. Without realizing it she had spoken her friends name aloud.

Donnie looked at her quizzically "How did you know her first name? Nobody has called her that in at least fifteen years?"

"What?" Jerusalem was whispering now and still looking across at Evelyn.

"Evie's name is actually Duchess Evelyn Masters but hardly anyone but her daddy calls her by her given name. Everyone calls her Evelyn. Duchess is a family name so there's one in every generation. Her father..."

"Had a cousin named Duchess who died a year and a half ago..."

Donnie paused when she cut him off. "Yeah..."

A thought clicked in the back of Jerusalem's mind there had been one person absent and she remembered that the will had Said That Duchess would maintain ownership of the company. At the time she'd thought that her friend had meant the company but she knew now it had been a person. The reading of the will and transfer of the company had been private so it wasn't public knowledge but she'd just bet Evelyn told Donnie everything.

"Oh my god..." Jerusalem paused "She's the new Duchess." * * * Evelyn opened her eyes, realizing she was on Garner's jet. She woke up to the sound of Jerusalem and Donnie's banter and laughter. They must've been pouring over the latest copy of Vogue.

"You know you could work that dress J," Donnie said.

Evelyn really woke up at this point. What happened to "Ms. Baptiste"?

"Donnie, I bet YOU could work that better than I could..."

Evelyn was confused, she didn't know Jerusalem had a lighter side to her. While she was being friendly and warm with Donnie she was treating her like she barely knew her. She rolled her eyes and cleared her throat. The two looked back at her.

"Hey sleepy head!" Donnie smiled. "We're about to touch down."

Jerusalem said nothing, just turned back around in her seat. Normally this was to be expected but Evelyn noticed the long and lingering look she gave her before turning around. It was a look of curiosity. She didn't feel either a negative or positive vibe from it. She wondered what that was about.

They had left the States in darkness and arrived right outside of Bora Bora in darkness. It was around Nine thirty when they had arrived. They had safely touched down on Garner's estate; Jeffrey Garner had his own landing strip. Evelyn and Donnie were impressed but Jerusalem seemed unaffected. House servants met them and helped them with their luggage to the mansion, which for all its size still seemed quite quaint and humble, taking design cues from it's French Polynesian environment. A young woman wearing shades and carrying a small dog greeted them. "J!" She yelled. The two women ran towards each other and embraced, breaking out in a rapid fire spattering of chatter as they ignored Donnie and Evelyn and headed towards the house. What must've been Mr. Garner's house servant approached Donnie and Evelyn and introduced himself as Thau. He told them that he would show them to their quarters. Incidentally their "quarters" was a beautiful guesthouse near the beach. Donnie and Evelyn were left alone to settle in.

Thau told them that someone would be come to them shortly to usher them to a late dinner, drinks and a casual meeting with Jeffrey Garner.

"Dress comfortably, you've had a long flight and it's understandable that you're tired." Thau nodded and left.

Evelyn wasn't tired at all. She'd been sleeping during nearly the whole flight. Plus she was still on New York time which was late afternoon. Donnie slumped on the couch.

"Umm hmmm," she said arching an eyebrow as she narrowed her eyes at him, "If you hadn't been up the whole flight giggling with the ice princess maybe you wouldn't be tired..."

"And what was up with you?" Donnie shot back, "Did you take some horse tranquilizers or something? You were knocked OUT!" he said snapping his fingers.

She sighed, "Donnie, can you please stop being so gay..."

"Can you please stop being so bitchy..." Evelyn shot him a look.

"I'm sorry Evie," He said, "But you've been a real you know what lately." He said walking over to her as she sat down in a nearby chair.

"I'm stressed out Donnie. I haven't slept in days preparing for this trip. This means everything to me. To us."

"I know but relax," he said placing his hands on her shoulders, "Follow J's lead. She seems to think we have this in the bag."

Evelyn shrugged his hands off of her shoulders, "'J's lead'"? She mocked, "You two are awfully chummy."

"I can't figure it out either," Donnie said, "But she's actually a fun person. I guess it took me snapping at her to bring her down to earth."

Evelyn thought about this. Maybe showing a little attitude would give her some leeway with the woman. She needed to be snapping at her instead of Donnie. She looked up at him, "Listen D, I'm really sorry for how I've been acting."

"It's okay," He said giving her a quick hug. "We'd better shower and change..." Donnie ran off to the room he had claimed. The phone rang jolting Evelyn out of her own thoughts. She picked it up.

"Hello?" She said meekly.

"Ms. Masters, it's Ms. Baptiste. How's everything?"

"Great. Thau got us settled." Evelyn's voice was tight. She detested Jerusalem's tone: Polite and professional, like some flight attendant.

"Mr. Garner is having a little get together tonight near the pool. You guys should be ready in an hour."

"Fine." Is all Evelyn could say.

She wanted to curse Jerusalem out for leaving them like that to run off with Chloe Garner, who was rude herself by not even noticing them. But she couldn't. And she was sick of all of this "Ms. Masters, Ms. Baptiste" business...and she wanted her office back...and... She said nothing about any of these things. Before she knew it, Jerusalem had hung up. * * * Jerusalem's breath was almost taken away when she saw Evelyn. It had occurred to her just how much she looked like the Duchess. Her long brown wavy hair fell softly over her bare shoulders. She was wearing a white cotton dress that contrasted nicely with her cafe au lait complexion. Her lips were fuller, skin darker, hair longer and wavy, eyes green...and still with all of these minor differences, it was as if the Duchess had come back to life.

Jerusalem felt a lump in her throat and then a fire in her chest. She hated being caught off guard like this. She felt vulnerable, and didn't like her feelings sneaking up on her by surprise. She hated thinking about what this all meant. All she knew is that her anger grew and grew. The Duchess had left her to fend for herself, and then by some cruel twist of fate had reemerged in Evelyn. The "new Duchess". Jerusalem scoffed, "Whatever," She turned around facing the barkeep and asked for a refill on her drink.

She felt herself getting tipsier by the moment even though she knew it would be better to stay lucid. Garner's pool party was filled with a low chattering hum of conversation. Beautiful people, some celebrities, some simply influential, all rich, gathered and mingled together. Jerusalem watched Donnie and Evelyn nervously float on in limbo, not sure where to go or what to do. "If you understood where you came from, you stupid bitch, you'd realize that none of these people have anything on you."

She still couldn't get over the fact that this woman, a weakling who let her walk all over her was related to the Duchess. She knew Evelyn had to be mixed, but she didn't know that the "lighter" side of her family was related to her late mentor and beloved mother figure. For some reason this pissed her off more. Jerusalem huffed as she reluctantly made her way over to her partners.

"You've made it," Jerusalem said still holding her drink.

"Were is Mr. Garner?" Evelyn asked.

Jerusalem nodded over to an area where Chloe stood with her father. She could hear Evelyn gulp. Jerusalem rolled her eyes. She was losing her patience for this "earnest, hardworking, humble" act that Evelyn put on. She acted as if she hadn't come from money herself. Why was this deal so important to her?

"Let's go," Jerusalem said as she led them over to Jeffrey Garner.

To Evelyn's delight, she and Donnie got along with Jeffrey Garner famously. He was open, charismatic and witty. He forbade them from talking "business" that night, and was more like a friendly host of close and dear friends than a man about to ink any business contracts. They sat in a small lounge area with Chloe, Garner's lawyer, and Garner's latest "girl toy" a Sports Illustrated swimsuit model from the states. Evelyn had been drinking some and this loosened her up a bit. She didn't even notice the tension between her and Jerusalem. After awhile Jeffrey had ventured away from them to mingle with some guests and left the girls (and Donnie) to their own devices.

"And you must go to the beach here and get some sun..." Alison the swimsuit model urged Evelyn.

"I don't even know if she can handle the sun." It was the first thing Jerusalem had said in a long time. "I mean, Chloe is darker than her...so are you..." she said to Alison. Alison laughed, oblivious, "Oh I've just got a killer tan."

Evelyn looked at Jerusalem strangely, but felt a hand on her shoulder. It was Donnie. He understood that Jerusalem was making some sort of stab at her. But why about her skin color?

Evelyn tried to shrug it off, "Well, I must admit I don't get much sun. And I'm really not fond of humidity all that much."

"Humidity is great for my hair," Jerusalem said, fluffing her hair which had changed into a chunky textured fro in the humid climate of Tahiti.

"I LOVE your hair," Chloe said, "Always have...it can do things my hair can't." "I hope you don't mind me saying this," Alison said, "But I just think black women are beautiful."

Jerusalem laughed wanting to roll her eyes. "Thanks for the compliment, on behalf of all of the black women here...me..." they laughed, "we thank you."

They all giggled except Donnie and Evelyn. Donnie looked uncomfortable and Evelyn seemed pissed. "What do you mean you're the only..."

Donnie cut Evelyn off, "Aren't you hungry? Let's go get something to eat," He got up and pulled Evelyn away from the women.

"Donnie why did you..."

"Now is not the time honey."

She pulled her wrist out of his hand, "You get to say whatever you want and she let's you call her J, but I have to be quiet?"

"Look, I'm not saying she's right, but why bring other people into this beef you two have?"

"You're right..." Evelyn said, "This is between me and her, and we're going to settle it tonight."

Donnie stared after his boss as she walked away, it had been a long time since he'd seen her this angry, he wondered what she had meant she'd said they would settle it tonight. He knew one thing if there was going to be some drama he wanted front row seats. Evelyn walked away from Donnie and headed for the bar she had been sorely tempted to slap him for standing up for that bitch, he was right to be sure, now was not the time or the place but she was still mad as hell and she needed and outlet for all the anger that seemed to be boiling just beneath the surface of her skin. She couldn't believe that little bitch. Was all of the animosity really because she was biracial? Or was Jerusalem just that ready to jump on any opportunity to somehow insult her?

Evelyn didn't get it but she was sick of all this back biting and childishness. Still she knew she had to keep a level head, firing or throttling Jerusalem would surely upset Garner and as much as she wanted too she wasn't about to let her pride stand in the way of what was best for her business, and right now Jerusalem was a key part of all that. Still if that girl thought she could just mouth off and say whatever she damn well pleased she had another thing coming.

Jerusalem watched Evelyn walk away and felt a mix of emotions that did nothing but confuse her all the more. Once she had realized who Evelyn was everything had seemed almost clear for a moment then came the murky confusion. Evelyn looked so much like her deceased friend that she was expecting the similarities to extend beyond looks but when they didn't Jerusalem felt angry and cheated, she'd still never fully come to terms with the way the Duchess had died nor had she counted on the crippling loss, and though she knew it wasn't fair Jerusalem recognized that she'd been projecting much of that anger onto Evelyn, even more so since she'd discovered who Evelyn really was.

Underneath the anger though there was something else, an attraction...and that's what confused her. She'd never been physically attracted to Duchess or even had any thoughts of the woman beyond friendship but with Evelyn there was always that white hot spark of attraction and she barely even liked the woman or maybe she did. That confused her too she didn't dislike Evelyn really, but she didn't particularly like her either and the idea of befriending her was markedly unappealing. Perhaps if she hadn't been on her third long island iced tea Jerusalem would have realized that part of the reason that getting to know or like Evelyn seemed so appealing was because she knew that they would click.

She wasn't sure how she knew, sometimes you just met people and knew right off that you'd be friends. Jerusalem was not at all interested in making any new friends, well to be exact she wasn't looking to make any new friends that were older and female. She had barely survived one loss no need to set herself up for another. She knew she shouldn't have made that comment but knowing hadn't stopped her, and not being a woman of regret she certainly wasn't going to start agonizing over a few tipsy words now.

Evelyn had planned to stay away from her design associates for the duration of the evening, she hadn't decided just what to do about Jerusalem but for now she was content to put it aside at least until she could get the woman alone, now she was having quite a lot of fun mingling with the other two hundred people that weren't in her employ. She even flirted and danced with a few of the men who seemed to be vying like little boys for her attention. Evelyn knew she was a good looking woman but exactly how beautiful she was, was somewhat lost on her especially since for the past two years she'd been avoiding relationships like the plague and had therefore been ignoring or not noticing all the looks and glances she was forever getting. Topher had run her self-esteem nearly into the ground before bleeding her dry and sneaking off like a thief in the night, well in the afternoon anyway. He'd cleaned her out one day while she'd been at work.