One for the Money Ch. 02

***

"Alana! Wow. It's been a while. How've you been?"

If it was even possible, Bella looked thinner than before. She took off her glasses and revealed those same doe eyes, but with dark circles underneath. She looked visibly perturbed, shifting uncomfortably in her chair but still trying to maintain the façade that she was happy to see her ex-lover. At least the feeling was mutual: Alana too faltered initially when she spotted Bella, but managed to compose herself enough to return the congenial pleasantry.

"I'm doing okay, how about yourself?"

Bella was still smiling that stupid, alluring smile. Alana had loved that smile, still loved that smile. It could charm the pants off of anyone, make them melt, send a serotonin rush through their receptors. Alana also knew that Bella's smile rarely ever belied her true disposition. The only way to know how she was feeling was to look in her eyes. And right now, Bella's eyes were empty. Alana's stoic face morphed into one with concern. Bella realized what Alana was doing and broke eye contact.

"I'm pretty great, just enjoying the beautiful L.A. sun."

As much as Alana loved her smile, she hated Bella's ego. Alana sighed. No, she couldn't do this, not again. Alana smiled.

"Well, I'm about to go inside. I guess I'll see you."

Bella scrambled up, screeching her chair against the concrete, so suddenly that she almost knocked over the empty glasses on the table. The collective noise made Alana turn around. Bella cleared her throat.

"Uh, I mean why- I can come inside and we could, y'know, catch up or something."

Alana almost giggled at Bella so ruffled. Usually, Bella was the smooth one with Alana running to catch up. Alana bit her bottom lip and smiled coyly. She looked so cute, sheepishly standing there, her begging eyes and of course that winning smile. They just stood there, looking at each other for a couple seconds, until Alana acquiesced.

"Hm. Sure. You can buy me a drink."

***

"I'm Alana Dierden." Alana said, offering her hand. Bella took it gently and Alana almost swooned from the touch. Bella's hands were so soft and she had such long, delicate fingers. And as quickly as the current ran through Alana's body, it blew a fuse when Bella gently pulled her hand away. Alana then realized that she was holding her breath and finally exhaled.

"Well Alana, I really apologize for his behavior."

"Oh it's fine. To be honest, you're the only person all night who's actually looked in my eyes instead of... elsewhere."

"This fucking industry." Bella sighed, and then raised her eyebrows. "Also, I don't know if you've noticed, but your phone's been blowing up for a while now."

Alana finally felt the buzzing coming from her clutch. She took out her phone to see a barrage of missed calls, texts, snapchats, ... emails? from Frederick. Alana was honestly too afraid to open any one of them. Suddenly, Alana felt very anxious, her chest started to constrict. And then she felt velvet on her arm.

"Hey, whatever it is, I'm sure it will work out. I can have Jasper escorted out if you want-"

"Do you want to get out of here?" Alana asked. It had come out of her mouth so abruptly, even Bella was caught by surprise. She blinked a couple times and her eyelashes fluttered. Alana squeezed her eyes tightly and smiled, feeling like an idiot.

"I'm sorry. It's your party, ugh, I can be-"

"No! Sure! What did you have in mind?"

Alana opened her eyes in confusion. Bella smiled again, her hand still on Alana's arm. Seeing that Alana was a little dazed, Bella took the lead.

"I could go for a drink, there's a cute little place around the corner."

*

"After you get used to the smell of B.O. and piss, it's a pretty swanky place." Bella said, trying to scratch her name onto the oak countertop with her fingernail.

Alana was wearing Bella's jacket, gifted on the walk there. When Bella wasn't looking, Alana inhaled its sweet fragrance. She laughed when Bella was carded on the way in and had to give a second form of ID. Bella was 23 but she looked like she snuck out for the night to get a taste of adult life.

"I feel so overdressed!" Alana said. The other patrons were what you would expect from a dive bar: Hell's Angels playing pool, divorced husbands drowning their sorrows, a small group of high schoolers giggling over their first sip of beer in the back.

Round after round of drinks were served to the pair. Bella proved a good listener as Alana recanted her decision to move out of Podunk, Alabama to become an actress, the few odd(and illegal) jobs she had to keep before she was scouted by a small modeling agency, and past low-budget flicks she'd had some roles in, all in which she was invariably cast as the "pretty, mean girl". Her up-and-coming status was consolidated when she starred as a rich snobby bully in the teen blockbuster "Private School".

"That's where I met Selena and my boyfriend, Frederick."

"Is that who was constantly calling you earlier?"

"Yeah, but he's being a total ass right now."

They were a couple drinks in, Alana was definitely buzzed. Bella looked ethereal through the haze of tobacco smoke and the dim lighting. Alana squinted at Bella, scrutinizing something not visible to the naked eye.

"You have something on your left cheek." Alana pointed. Bella swatted the spot Alana gestured towards.

"Did I get it?"

"No, no, a little to the right."

"How about now?"

"No. Here, let me-" Alana said. She gently brushed away the invisible blemish on Bella's cheek, letting her fingers linger for a couple milliseconds extra to savor the feel of Bella's skin. "Yup! Got it!"

"Oh thanks. Maybe you should call him?"

"Call who?"

"Your boyfriend."

Alana laughed and lightly touched Bella's knee. It was the part of exposed flesh from the rips in her jeans. "Let him stew."

Bella smiled again. Alana, definitely drunk, stared at her amorously.

"Did you know you only have one dimple?"

Bella blushed. "Yeah. My mom had two and my dad had none. I'm a dimple half-breed."

"Well it's cute."

They stared at each other for a while, until Alana broke the silence.

"Anyways, where's the afterparty?"

*

"You literally own three t-shirts, two pairs of jeans and a pair of sneakers." Alana said rummaging through Bella's closet. Bella was seated comfortably on her couch smoking another cigarette and drinking from a Jameson bottle.

Bella's current residence was a studio apartment near Venice beach. It was a cramped, dingy space made even more squalid by the condition Bella kept it in. Papers were strewn around the bed and cigarette butts littered the nightstand. The flat screen near the door was cracked and collecting dust. Its saving grace was the movie posters Bella had taken great care in tacking around the room. Some were framed, others vintage and peeling. Some were even signed. And Bella of course took good care of the fridge, always keeping it fully stocked with various liquors.

"And the jacket that you're still wearing." Bella chimed in.

"What, this jacket? This is my jacket." Alana replied, moving on to Bella's dresser. There was a packet in the center and pages surrounding it covered in red annotations.

"Is this your latest script?"

No response.

Alana turned around to see Bella sleeping not so gracefully, a leg and arm off of the couch, her mouth half open. Alana giggled, grabbed a pillow from the bed and threw it at Bella. She started up with a jump and rubbed her eyes.

"Yes. I'm up. I'm up."

While grabbing the pillow, Alana spotted another page of red ink peeking out from underneath the bed. She bent down to find stacks and stacks of papers that could very well have supported the mattress if the bedframe wasn't there. She took a peek at the random page closest to her:

Forever More

Screenplay by: Bella di Mona

And in red cursive on the corner of the page:

One of the best scripts I have read- Meet tomorrow for casting Seychelles

Forever More had won an Oscar for best picture three years ago. Alana was shocked. So Bella wrote the screenplay for it? But then why had she never heard of the name Bella di Mona? Why had she never seen Bella before at parties? Her train of thought was interrupted by a soft hit to her rear. Alana stood up and turned around. The weapon, a pillow, lay at her feet.

The culprit, grinning ear to ear, tried to proclaim her innocence, "Wasn't me!"

Alana grabbed the pillow and made a beeline for Bella. She kicked off her Jimmy Choos and straddled Bella whacking her again and again with the pillow.

"Uncle, Uncle!" Bella cried, as feathers danced around them.

Alana, figuring adequate vengeance had been exacted, tossed the pillow to the side. She was still positioned on top of Bella on the couch. Alana placed both arms on the spine of the couch on either side of Bella ushering the inevitable.

Bella never noticed how blue Alana's eyes were. Bella was used to dealing with pretty actresses but Alana was stunning, stunning enough to intimidate her. Bella took a flurry of blinks, trying to staccato the intense eye contact they shared. In her periphery she saw the slender shape of Alana's neck and her collarbones protruding from her pectorals. Alana was still wearing the jacket Bella had given her and something about seeing Alana in that jacket turned Bella on.

Alana, on the other hand, knew exactly what she wanted. Bella's large round eyes looking up at her sent a rush of desire through her body. Leaning in, Alana kissed Bella, hard. There was no introductory peck, Alana went after her with her tongue, trying to gorge on Bella's open lips. Alana took a small break to throw the jacket to the side so she could grab Bella's face with both hands.

Bella let her hands rest on Alana's waist as she too went deeper in the kiss. Not to let Alana take the upper hand, she broke it off as she bit gently on Alana's neck, right beneath her jawline. Alana, eyes wide open, gasped, realizing that she had never wanted anyone this much before.

Bella loved that gasp, could feel it run through Alana's throat, wanted to hear more. Alana brought Bella's head back up, so she could devour Bella's mouth once more and release the chakra that was burning in her stomach. She only noticed that Bella had unzipped her gown when Bella broke the kiss again to whisper in her ear.

"Take this off."

Alana stood up, let the gown fall to the floor. Bella's eyes didn't leave Alana's but she could see Alana's large teardrop breasts, her pink nipples hardened, her taut, golden stomach and white lace panties to match the gown now discarded on the ground. Alana jumped back on top of Bella, kissing her more ferociously than ever. Bella ran her hands all over Alana's smooth back, pulling and grabbing, trying to cover as much of Alana's skin as she could. Bella broke the kiss again, this time to nibble on her clavicle before finally settling on Alana's right nipple. Bella's tongue circled the areola before she started sucking and teasing. She felt the goosebumps that formed on Alana's back when she did so.

Bella could hear and feel Alana's hot, heavy breaths in her ear. A fiery temperature emanated from Alana's nether regions that Bella could feel on her lap through Alana's panties and her own jeans. Bella started to remove Bella's panties, the slinky lace fabric so delicate and tempting to rip off.

Alana saw where this was leading and stood up. Bella looked up at her with puppy dog eyes, but then with surprise as Alana grabbed her hand and led her to the bed. Alana fell on the bed and Bella pulled off Alana's underwear releasing a waft of lust that had been building up on the couch. Alana's blonde pubic hair was neatly trimmed in a triangle shape. Bella crawled on the bed on all fours, until she was on top of Alana.

"There are perks to living in a studio apartment." Bella said smiling, her eyes twinkling.

Something primal awoke in Alana seeing that smile. She grabbed Bella's hair and pulled her in for a kiss so abruptly that Bella didn't even have time to utter a noise of surprise.

But Bella wasn't having any of that. She knew exactly what she wanted to do, or rather what she wanted to hear. She pinned Alana's arms above her on the headboard and looked into Alana's eyes until Alana understood what she was going to do. Alana bit her lip in anticipation while Bella left a trail of nibbles down her torso.

Bella smiled as Alana took large breaths, her stomach moving up and down, anxious for Bella to reach her destination. Alana propped herself up with her elbows and looked up at Bella. Bella's gaze didn't leave Alana's eyes as she took one of Alana's legs and threw it over her shoulder. And finally, still not breaking eye contact, Bella laid a small kiss on Alana's sensitive pussy. So in need was she of release, that even the little touch of Bella's lips made Alana squeeze her eyes shut and cry out.

Bella licked slowly, from the lower labia all the way up to the edge of the clitoris, like a cat lapping its milk. And then she went deeper. Sucking, twisting, exploring. Literally, tongue-fucking.

Alana clutched the sheets for dear life as she was getting closer and closer. Her hips bucked and her thighs squeezed as Bella continued her hard work.

When Alana climaxed, her head rose from the pillow. The cry of pleasure was the only noise in the room. So quiet was it afterwards that Bella could still hear Alana's orgasm ringing in her ear. But Bella was still hungry.

"No! Please-" Alana choked out. That orgasm took everything Alana had. She was still panting.

Bella acceded and went back up to face Alana, admiring her body along the way, a sheen of sweat covering it, making it glow.

"Uncle." Alana whispered.