Perhaps it's getting time to be considering botox, Mercedes thinks, staring at herself in her vanity mirror. Where has all the time gone? How much longer does she have to make her mark on the world before she's 'past her prime'? These questions have been plaguing Mercedes more and more, as every day tears another page from her life, dropping it into the bin of hazy memories.

The pills usually dull the questioning & self-doubt.

She's having lunch with Monica today on Rodeo Drive. They run into Byron at the restaurant, with the strange new actress who came out of nowhere & took over his life. The entertainment channel has been buzzing about it nonstop: though Mercedes is not close with the famous director, she knows him socially, and is very put out when he pretends not to recognize either herself or Monica, the editor of WhooNoo magazine. It's like he really has been hypnotized by the strange woman.

They gossip about Byron while they look over their menus. 'it's so bizarre', 'where did he find her?'

"He was going to be the guest of honor for my charity event, but now he's blowing me off," Mercedes tells Monica. Monica nods sympathetically, "He blew off an inteview for the magazine, too. And we were going to do a cover story on him, too."

As they eat lunch, Mercedes gives Monica the latest gossip about Jackie, the lead singer of F Hole, one of Bill's bands. "She's pregnant you know, by that gigolo boyfriend of hers, the Italian, you know him..," she says. Monica laughs with an Eartha Kitt purr, "Oh yes, I know him. He's a sexy one, it's too bad you didn't get around to him before he got involved with Jackie....pregnant you say?" she asks with the gleam in her eye that says this is going to be published. Bill insists this information is bad for the band's image, but Mercedes disagrees, and frequently repeats these things to Monica, knowing how quickly it will spread across the media from there. "Definitely pregnant. Bill has been trying to make her get married, but she's resisting all the way," Mercedes confides.

"Well who could blame her?" Monica laughs, "Nicolas is hot, but could you really trust a gigolo enough to marry him, even if he knocked you up? Why didn't you ever try him, Mercy? I'm sure you had the opportunity..." Now Mercedes laughs, "My tastes run a little different, Moni. Your charming lover types don't do it for me: I like them rough on the edges." Mercedes thinks longingly about Justin, who has been more difficult to schedule an appointment with lately. She misses his ferocious beatings terribly, and she fantasizes about him often, her eyes glazing over in reverie now as Monica goes on about her time with the Italian musician, imagining Justin's perfect body on top of her own...

NEXT