Return to Garden Place

"And did you ever pause it?" Kaitlyn asked.

"I'm going to plead the fifth on that," Doreen laughed, not wanting to admit that she had.

"Would you believe that Boyd actually had the nerve to send me a high-quality screen capture of that scene, asking me to autograph it?" Kaitlyn shared, not exactly changing the subject, but slightly shifting it.

"No, he didn't!" Doreen said.

Kaitlyn's expression said that he surely did.

"Did you sign it?" Doreen asked.

"Has hell frozen over yet?" Kaitlyn laughed.

"Not the last time I checked," Doreen smiled.

"On the subject of people that we can't stand, what's the story behind you and Miss 'I should've been a star' this morning?" Kaitlyn inquired. "I'm curious."

"There's not much to tell," Doreen replied. "Back in, oh, I think it was late '76 or early '77, we were both up for the same part in a low budget film. I got it, she didn't, it's as simple as that."

"I don't think it was that simple," Kaitlyn countered. "Not if she's still pissed all these years later. So, tell."

The older actress finally relented, but not before taking a moment to glance around them and confirm that no one was close enough to overhear.

"I'd been out here about five years at the time and, to be honest, my career really hadn't gone anywhere," she began, adding that Kaitlyn had no idea how lucky she had been, going from a few commercials and bit parts to a role on what became a hit show. "I was getting just enough work to keep me from throwing in the towel."

Kaitlyn slightly nodded her head in understanding; she knew she had indeed been incredibly lucky.

"From what I later learned, Sheila was, at that time, only a few years out of high school, waiting tables, taking acting classes and also trying to get herself noticed," Doreen continued. "She actually got more work her first year than I did, but had done so by, well, shall we say, influencing the people who made those decisions."

"In other words, she was fucking them, or at least sucking their cocks," Kaitlyn offered.

Even if Kaitlyn had never been forced to go that route, she knew that the casting couch still existed, if in a more circumspect fashion than back in its heyday. While it wasn't a popular opinion, she'd always felt that what a woman did with her body was her business, and if they wanted to trade it for preferential treatment, how was that any different from anyone who got the same because of family connections?

"The producer of the film was, as I recall, a rather obnoxious little troll named Benedict Mitchell, who never went beyond making B films," Doreen continued. "He did, however, put out a steady stream of them, most of which made money for his backers. In doing so, he wasn't averse to giving a girl a leg up, as long as she was willing to spread them first."

"Okay, you're losing me here," Kaitlyn interrupted. "If she put out for the producer, how did you wind up with the role?"

"What Sheila failed to understand was that, if you were going to fuck someone for a role, it's important to be sure that you're fucking the right person," Doreen explained. "In this case, while, on paper at least, the man she bent over his desk for was in charge, in reality, it was his wife who actually wore the pants in their marriage -- and controlled the

production company's purse strings."

Doreen paused to give Kaitlyn a chance to ask the question she was sure was on her mind. When, after a few seconds it was clear the younger woman didn't feel the need to, she continued.

"Like I said, I got the role and, in one of those 'who'd have thunk it' circumstances, the film took off, making a lot of money and, more importantly, getting me noticed," Doreen added. "After that, I got parts in a couple of other movies, some guest roles on a few television shows, until finally along came Garden Place."

"And Sheila?" Kaitlyn asked.

"Oh, Benedict gave her a role in another film," Doreen said. "One that, unfortunately, turned out to be so bad that it only lasted a few weeks on the drive-in movie circuit. Sheila did eventually get a few good breaks, but for the most part she never went as far as she hoped."

"And I'm guessing that Sheila thinks that somehow you stole her career," Kaitlyn offered.

Doreen replied with a 'something like that' gesture.

"That's pretty asinine," Kaitlyn pointed out.

"Well, once some people get an idea in their head, no amount of logic or reason is ever going to dissuade them of it," Doreen said. "Especially if it gives them someone else to blame for their own failures."

Kaitlyn had to agree.

"But on to more important things," Doreen said, changing the subject. "What's this I hear about you and Derek O'Rourke?"

Derek O'Rourke was a rising star who had appeared with Kaitlyn in two of her last three films. Muscular and handsome, the twenty-eight-year-old had been linked to Kaitlyn by both a few television magazines and the more conventional printed versions.

"Derek and I," Kaitlyn softly laughed. "Well, you haven't been out of the business so long that you've forgotten that you shouldn't believe everything you read in the tabloids, have you?"

"Oh, so you and he have never..." Doreen started to say.

"Only in the movies," Kaitlyn interjected. "I'm not exactly his type."

"Are you saying that he's a ..." Doreen started to ask, only to again be interrupted.

"Oh no, the boy definitely loves pussy," Kaitlyn corrected her. "He just prefers a darker shade of it. I've met his lady; she's really sweet. She's not in the business, so he tries to keep her out of the limelight."

"So, no one in your life," Doreen then asked.

"Well, no one permanent at least," Kaitlyn replied. "I've gone down that road twice, which was probably once too many. I think I'm past the point in my life that I need someone in it twenty-four seven. It's enough just to have someone in my bed when the need arises."

"Really?" Doreen said, surprised as she recalled for a moment how a much younger version of the woman sitting across from her used to express a much different belief. Then again, those innocent teenage years were far behind her, along with two divorces.

"How about you, are you seeing anyone?" Kaitlyn asked.

"No, not anyone special at least," Doreen replied.

"Just someone to help keep your bed warm, huh?" Kaitlyn quipped.

Doreen just smiled. No, this definitely wasn't the reserved young girl she once knew.

"You know, there's something I've always wanted to ask you," Kaitlyn said.

"Ask away," Doreen replied with a curious smile.

"Back when we were doing the show, you were already into girls, right?" she asked.

"Well, like you said before, contrary to what fan magazines and tabloids might have reported, I've never been into anything else," Doreen replied.

"That's what I thought," Kaitlyn said. "So, I guess what I've always been curious about was, did you ever think about making a pass at me?"

"What?" Doreen replied, genuinely surprised by the question. "I never considered such a thing; why would you even ask that? You were a teenager, for God's sake,"

"No, Cyndi Reynolds was a teenager," the younger actress said, referring to her character, "Kaitlyn Giordano was nearly twenty-one by the time the show ended."

It was one of the realities of show business that actors often played roles younger or older than their actual ages, and if they played them well or long enough, it was sometimes easy to forget that. During the last years of their show, Doreen did sometimes forget that Kaitlyn was indeed a grown woman, and not the teenager she portrayed.

"And unlike Cyndi, who wore virginal white in the series finale, Kaitlyn had already had sex with both boys and girls," she offered with a broad, mischievous grin.

That surprised Doreen, and, given what Hollywood was like at the time, she didn't know why it did. Her expression said that she had a question she was dying to ask, but wouldn't because she also thought it inappropriate. Luckily for her, Kaitlyn didn't share that belief.

"Rebecca Crawford," Kaitlyn said.

"Who?" Doreen replied, thinking the name sounded faintly familiar, but she just couldn't place it.

"She was the assistant script girl," Kaitlyn expanded. "I'm assuming that you really have no interest in who the boy was."

It took Doreen a few more moments to recall who Kaitlyn was talking about, but with a bit of effort she finally brought forth an image of the college intern who worked on the show for the last two seasons. The niece of one of the studio executives, Doreen remembered her as having long blonde hair and a bodacious rack.

"She was the one who taught me how to really kiss, and a few other things," Kaitlyn grinned appreciatively.

"I see," Doreen replied, trying not to react, but only partially succeeding.

Kaitlyn's confession also caused Doreen to recall a thought she'd had when she first seen the lesbian sex scene in Kaitlyn's werewolf movie. That it had seemed quite realistic, almost as if Kaitlyn and her co-star were doing more than acting. Thinking that unlikely, she'd quickly dismissed it.

"You know, both Rebecca and I thought you were really hot," Kaitlyn said, "and to be honest, I used to have fantasies about you. If I'd known that you were into girls, I might've taken a shot."

Contrary to what she had told Sheila during this morning's interview, her sexuality really wasn't an open secret back when she'd been doing Garden Place. In fact, she'd even gone so far as setting up a lavender relationship with an actor on another popular show to conceal it.

"I'm not sure what to say," Doreen said. "I mean, I was old enough to be your mother."

"But you weren't," Kaitlyn pointed out. "That was just a role that you played on television."

"I was still forty-three, twice your age," Doreen emphasized.

"And Delores was almost sixty, but that didn't keep her from sleeping with a string of twenty-somethings," Kaitlyn added. "And if you had a chance to check out that guy she introduced as her assistant, I wouldn't be at all surprised if she still does."

The veteran actress's particular peccadillo dated back to the early sixties and, despite the ever-expanding age gap as the years rolled on, Delores never seemed to lack ticket holders to ride her carousel, as she liked to call it. By the time the show went off the air, her young men seem to change every few weeks, with the prevailing joke being that the older she got, the quicker she wore them out.

For a few long moments, Doreen actually found herself wondering what she would have done, had Kaitlyn taken a shot. Would she have given in to temptation? Probably not, she told herself. After all, as Kaitlyn herself had just pointed out, Doreen too often saw her as the younger girl she played, and not the woman she really was.

It wouldn't be until years later, long after the show had ended, that she finally dispelled that image, or rather had it shattered by Kaitlyn's more explicit roles. And by that time, they were no longer in each other's lives, and once that book appeared, Doreen thought it even more important to keep her distance, lest the rising star and producer be caught in the backlash.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the reappearance of the waiter asking if they needed anything else. They glanced at each other and, without exchanging a word, agreed they were done.

The server produced the check, ripping it from his pad, only to pause as he was unsure which of the women to give it to. Kaitlyn solved his problem by reaching out and taking it from his hand, reminding Doreen as she did that breakfast was her treat.

After Kaitlyn had signed the receipt, they exited the restaurant back into the lobby, there to pause by the front desk as the younger woman stopped to search her purse for something.

"Lose something?" Doreen inquired.

"No, I mean yes, I mean, I must've left them in my room," Kaitlyn replied, not making much sense at first. "I forgot to take my acid inhibitor with me. If I don't take the meds, I'll be paying for that breakfast with more than my credit card."

"Well, you'd better go up and get them then," Doreen advised. "I don't mind waiting."

"Why don't you come up with me?" Kaitlyn suggested. "I wouldn't want you to get mobbed by your fans once one of them spots you."

Doreen smiled. Even at the height of her career, she never had the fan recognition that Kaitlyn still enjoyed. And she'd been off television long enough that it was rare that anyone recognized her at all. Still, she thought it was nice of her friend to act otherwise and, after nodding in agreement, she followed the shorter woman toward the elevators.

-=-=-=-

Kaitlyn's room was five floors above Doreen's and for some reason, possibly because the younger actress was also the film's executive producer, she expected it to be larger and more extravagantly decorated, so, it was a surprise to find that it was nearly a mirror image of her own. The only real difference was the better view, which she took a moment to admire, stepping over to the large double window while Kaitlyn tried to remember where she'd left her medication.

As she stood next to the table and chairs in front of the window, Doreen noticed a small stack of 8x10 photographs in the center of it. Curious, she picked up the pile and quickly realized that they were all pictures of Kaitlyn at different ages, a mixture of collection amateur photos, professional headshots, as well as some publicity stills from various shows and films that she'd appeared in.

"Starting a scrapbook?" Doreen whimsically asked, gesturing with the photos in hand.

"What are ... oh, those," Kaitlyn said as she turned to see what Doreen was talking about. "Hollywood Today is going to do an article on my career, you know, child star to movie producer, and they asked me to pick out a half dozen or so photos to use with it. I've looked through that pile a half dozen times and I still can't decide. Why don't you take a look? I could use a second opinion."

"I'm impressed," Doreen said in reference to the article.

"Don't be -- last month's main feature was about Bingo the stunt dog," Kaitlyn laughed. "But every bit helps when you're trying to get backing for your next project. Now where did I leave that prescription bottle ... oh, I know, I had it in the bathroom last night."

As Kaitlyn disappeared into the bathroom, Doreen sat down at the table and began to leaf through the small stack of photos, separating them into two piles, the ones she thought really captured Kaitlyn's cuteness, and later her beauty, to her right. She went through them pretty quickly, until one still caught her by surprise. A photograph that she really couldn't believe was being considered for the story, even if it represented a pivotal change in Kaitlyn's career. It was a closeup of Kaitlyn in the nude scene that Boyd had asked her to autograph.

The copy in her hand was of a much higher quality, of course, since Boyd's had been a screen capture, but both clearly displayed one of the most famous sets of boobs of the 80s in all their glory. Doreen would've been embarrassed for Kaitlyn to know it, but Boyd hadn't been the only former cast member to pleasure themselves while viewing it. In fact, she herself had done so more than once.

"Would you like me to autograph that one for you?" Doreen suddenly heard Kaitlyn say from behind her. "It'd probably triple its value on eBay."

Absorbed in the vivid photograph, Doreen hadn't heard Kaitlyn come out of the bathroom. Her sudden appearance was enough to startle her to the point where she almost jumped.

"I ... I was just looking at the photos and ..." Doreen said as she collected herself, feeling a bit embarrassed to have been looking at the topless shot.

"It is a great shot," Kaitlyn noted as she looked over Doreen's shoulder at the photo, adding after a momentary pause, "You have to admit, I do have great tits. It's too bad we couldn't include a scene like that in our TV movie; we'd definitely go to series."

Almost without realizing she was doing it, Doreen found herself staring down at Kaitlyn's breasts. She had to agree, the younger woman did have a hell of a set of knockers. Once she caught herself, however, she forced a cough to give her an excuse to quickly turn away.

"Did you find your meds?" she said as she tried to change the subject.

"Yeah, right on the vanity where I left them," Kaitlyn replied.

"Good," Doreen smiled.

"Have you thought of anything we can do for the next couple of hours?" Kaitlyn then asked.

"Not really," Doreen answered. "I've been to New York so many times that there's really nothing that I haven't seen, at least nothing that we could get to and back in a few fours."

"We've already eaten," Kaitlyn recounted, "and as you say, sightseeing is out, so what does that leave us?"

Doreen was about to say that she really didn't have an answer, but Kaitlyn answered her own question.

"We could follow Delores's example," she suggested.

"I don't think I'm quite old enough yet to need a nap," Doreen quipped with a broad grin.

"Who said anything about a nap?" Kaitlyn replied with a mischievous glint in her tone. "Sleeping's not the only thing you can do in bed."

As if emphasize what she meant, Kaitlyn reached out with an extended hand and gently stroked the taller woman's upper arm, gliding her fingers slowly up its length until, even more unexpectedly, she continued across Doreen's chest, the tip of her middle finger rolling across the nipple of her left breast, circling around its circumference.

"Kaitlyn, what are you doing?" a stunned Doreen asked.

"I would think it was obvious," the younger woman said with an inviting smile. "I'm inviting you to share my bed."

"You can't be serious," Doreen said.

"Why not?" Kaitlyn responded, her hand still in place. "We've been working almost non-stop for nearly a month getting this film in the can, so don't you think we deserve a little fun? You do remember fun, don't you?"

"You're really suggesting that you and I ..." Doreen said.

"Come on, you can't tell me that you've never thought about it," Kaitlyn continued, "I know I have. In fact, I'll even admit I've gotten myself off a few times thinking about it.

"But we're friends..." Doreen insisted.

"And you've never gotten it on with a friend?" Kaitlyn said with emphasis.

Doreen certainly knew that was a claim she could never make, not when, even off the cuff, she could recall at least a dozen times she'd woken up naked next to someone who was ostensibly just a friend. But this was Kaitlyn, she reminded herself, practically family.

Almost, but not quite, the imaginary devil on her shoulder reminded her, even as the angel on the other side continued to shout that this wasn't a good idea. A voice that, as the seconds passed, was quickly diminishing in volume.

Kaitlyn's nearness was also close enough for the older actress to recognize the perfume she was wearing, a fragrance called Midnight Desire. One of Doreen's personal favorites, she had given the younger woman her first bottle of the expensive fragrance as a gift when she turned twenty-one. The younger woman hadn't been wearing it before, she noted, and must've put it on while in the bathroom.

The stimulating scent had its desired effect as Doreen felt her heart beating faster, even as a warm rush made its way across her body. She could also feel a tingling in her nipples, which were already hard, and a similar feeling between her legs. All of which combined to brush away any feeling of hesitation.

"Oh hell, why not?" she finally said aloud, trying not to think of the times a similar declaration had led to disaster.

-=-=-=-

Doreen's words had barely left her mouth when Kaitlyn threw her arms around the taller woman, pulling her down into a kiss. One filled with fire and passion, far removed from any they'd shared over the years. Feeling the short haired brunette respond to her overture, Kaitlyn slipped her tongue past Doreen's parted lips even as their bodies pressed tightly together, sparking a fire that each knew wouldn't take much to quickly blossom into an inferno.