Green Card

Andrea and Donnie walked inside the living room, laughing about some stupid joke he’d told her, but stopped when they saw Stef sitting on the couch, a bottle of whiskey on the table in front of her. Her friends knew something was very wrong, Stef only drank whiskey when she had a serious problem and wanted to get drunk to forget about it.

Sitting down next to her, Andrea asked “What’s wrong chica?“

Letting out a bitter laugh, Stef poured herself another shotglass and downed it.

“Everything’s just peachy. Except the fact I won’t get a Green Card now that I graduated, meaning I have to go back home.“

Donnie quickly grabbed the whiskey bottle before Stef could drink more, earning a glare from her.

“What do you mean, you won’t get a Green Card? They can’t do that!“

Pacing the room, Stef wrung her hands.

“But they ARE doing it Andie! The guy told me that I won’t get a new visa after my graduation, simple as that. Without a Green Card, I can’t work, without work, I can’t live here. Europe’s gonna get me back sooner than I thought.“

Grabbing the whiskey before Donnie noticed it, Stef decided to drink straight from the bottle and not even bother with a glass anymore.

“Why are they doing it though? Is there nothing we can do about it?“

“I don’t know why they’re doing it, maybe they gave out too many Green Cards this year, maybe the guy didn’t like my nose, but fact is, I have to leave unless I marry an American citizen within the next four weeks, and that’s just not gonna happen.“

Taking the bottle from her yet again, Donnie just asked “Why not?“

Noticing the looks both women gave him, he shrugged his shoulders. “What? Haven’t you ever seen the movie Green Card? You could marry anybody, and then get a divorce after two years. Hell, so many people do that!“

Shaking her head, Stef let herself fall back down on the couch and buried her face in her hands.

“Donnie, I can’t believe you! How the fuck are we gonna do this? Just go out on the street and ask ‘Hey, wanna marry a friend of mine tomorrow?‘ What are you thinking?“ Andrea could tell Stef was crying by now and wrapped her arm around her shoulders.

“It’s not like she doesn’t have male friends, she could marry one of us.“

“Of you? Wahlberg, are you thinking at all? Who are you thinking of, yourself?“ The tone of Andrea’s voice made Donnie flinch, and he buried his hands in the pockets of his jeans.

“No, of course not! Somebody who’s single, she could marry Mark, heck, it’s not like we don’t know any single guys.“

Stef abruptly stood up right when the front door opened and Jordan, Lis, and Joe walked in.

“No need to worry, I’m not gonna cook, I brought....“ Lis stopped in midsentence when she saw the scene in front of her.

“I’m still here, and I’ll be here for at least four more weeks, so don’t talk like I’m not present! I’m not gonna marry your brother Donnie, how do you think this is gonna work?“ Stef turned around and ran upstairs, slamming the door to her room shut behind her.

“Okay.....“ Lis started, setting the bags with the take out down on the coffee table. “What was THAT all about?“

Jordan and Joe looked even more confused than her, and were just as anxious to find out what was going on.

“Stef won’t get a Green Card, so we were just thinking that maybe she should get married,“ Donnie told his friends.

“And you said she should marry Mark? Good job!“ Jordan said, taking off his jacket.

Stef and Mark dated for a little while, but soon realized they could never work out. Whenever they met now, they were very polite to each other. Too polite.

Donnie mumbled something about being hungry, grabbed the bags and went to the kitchen, the others following him. Joe, who hadn’t said a word so far, got a plate and loaded it with food.

“You don’t think she’s gonna eat, do you?“ Lis asked when she saw him putting everything on a tray to carry it upstairs.

“She’ll have to sometime,“ he simply said and left the kitchen.

When he entered her room, he found her thrown across the bed, crying her eyes out. “Stef, I brought you something to eat.“

After waiting for an answer, he just put the tray down on the small table in the middle of the room and sat down next to her. When he heard her breathing go back to normal, he softly said “You know, it’s not even a bad idea to get married.“

Sitting up, she looked at him.

“Don’t start this too Joe, please. Who should I marry? Not Mark, that’s for sure.“

“He’s not that bad.“

“He’s great, but if we spend too much time together, we’ll end up killing each other. But we’d have to spend time together to make it look real. I just have to face it, I have to go back home.“

After a moment of silence, Joe looked into her eyes again and said “Marry me then.“

Staring at him in disbelief, Stef shook her head once again.

“Oh Joe. That’s so sweet, but I can’t marry you. What if you meet the woman of your dreams and want to marry her? I know you want to have a family. I can’t do that to you.“ Taking her hands, Joe made her face him.

“You’re not doing anything to me. I haven’t met her yet, and if I meet her tomorrow, she’ll just have to wait until we can get a divorce.“ Chuckling, Stef drew her hands away from his.

“She’ll just have to wait? Come on Joe, you know it doesn’t work like that. I don’t want you to end up hating me because you can’t be with the woman you love. Besides, what’s your mother gonna say about this?“

Joe blushed lightly. Everyone still made fun of him every now and then because he always wondered what his mother would say. At least this time, it was a good quesiton.

Thinking for a minute, he finally answered “She wouldn’t mind. And it wouldn’t have to be a big old church wedding, right? We could just go to Vegas and get married, simple as that.“ Walking over to the window, Stef looked outside. Did she really want to give her life in Boston up? What Joe’d just told her really did sound simple. And they knew each other so well it wouldn’t even be hard to convince the people from the immigration they were in love.

“What are you gonna tell the media though? And your fans? You always said you were single.“ Stepping up behind her, Joe put his hands on her shoulders.

“Let that be my problem. We could just say we were friend and suddenly realized we were in love, and got married. Sounds like it really could happen. And no one’s gonna think it’s a fake marriage because no one would expect that from someone in the public eye.“ He knew he’d convinced her when she let out a deep sigh and turned around to look at him.

“Okay,“ was all she said, letting him pull her into his hug.

Joe walked into the kitchen feeling everybody’s eyes on him, but didn’t say anything.

“How is she?“ Andrea asked, getting up to go check on Stef.

“She’s great, preparing for her wedding and all.“

No one said anything for a moment, until Lis asked “Her wedding? What wedding?“

“Our wedding. Stef and I are getting married.“

Walking into the kitchen, Stef tried to hide her smile when she saw the looks on her friend’s faces.

“I so have to call Micki,“ Lis mumbled and went to the living room.

“Aren’t you guys happy? I won’t have to leave, I’ll just have to move in with Joe, but at least I’ll still be in Boston. Come on people! At least pretend to be happy.“ Andrea looked at her for a minute before pulling her into a hug.

“You know this is not gonna be easy, with the media and all,“ she said after both women sat down.

“Well, not harder than it would be with Mark. It’s gonna work out, don’t worry.“

“You always say don’t worry.“ Shrugging, Stef said “I know. And? What good does it do if I worry about this now? It’ll just make me more insecure about everything.“ Joe sat down in between Stef and Andrea, giving Andie one of his famous smiles, knowing the effect that still had on her.

“I’m gonna go home and take care of the flights and hotel rooms, all of you are coming with us, okay?“ Andrea nodded, not noticing how hard Stef was trying not to laugh. “And why don’t you ladies go and pick a dress for Stef?“

“Okay,“ Andrea sighed, and Stef finally burst out laughing when she heard Donnie grunt.

“Get off my woman McIntyre!“ he called, but everyone knew he wasn’t really angry. Joe only laughed and pulled Stef up with him. “I’ll call later and tell you when we leave, I hope you don’t mind if I kidnap my fiancee for five minutes.“ Laughing, Stef followed him outside to his car. Leaning against it, she looked up at him and wondered why he was doing this for her.

“Thank you Joe, you don’t know how much this means to me.“

“It’s okay. Let’s just hope I’ll live to see this wedding happen, I still have to tell my mother. She has to be able to tell them a story after all.“

“Do you want me to come with you when you tell her?“ Wrapping his arms around her waist, he smiled.

“No, it’s okay. Are you sure you really want to do it? We’ll have to be the happy newly weds for everyone as long as we’re not at home or somwhere where the people know what’s really going on. You’ll have to go to a lot of boring parties with me. You’ll get hate mail from fans, and photographers are going to follow you.....“ Before he continued, Stef put a finger to his lips and laughed.

“Joe, I know all that. Are you sure you want to marry me, or are you trying to scare me off?“

“I’m absolutely sure, I just wanted to know if you are.“ Stef stayed on the porch, staring after his long gone car for a long time, thinking about everything that was going to happen.

“You may kiss the bride,“ Stef heard Elvis say, and looked up at Joe. She could tell it was just as hard for him to stay serious as it was for her, but they somehow managed to kiss without bursting out laughing. In the limo on their way back to the hotel, they both finally started giggling.

“I can’t believe Donnie got an Elvis look-a-like to marry us. I swear, when he started singing, I almost peed my pants laughing,“ Stef brought out, holding her stomach.

“You’re not wearing pants, you’re wearing a gorgeous dress,“ Joe retorted, wiping his eyes.

“Haha McIntyre, you’re such a smartass. I’m gonna ask Donnie what he was thinking when we get to the hotel.“

“You do that, Mrs. McIntyre.“ Shaking her head, Stef looked out of the window. Their friends were in another car, leaving the “newly weds“ alone. So this is it, Stef thought. For the next two years, you’ll be Mrs. Joe McIntyre, you’ll have to watch what you say, what you do, who you talk to. But she could stay. “Thank you Joe,“ she said, looking at him.

“Hey, my pleasure! At least now I won’t have to worry about who to take to award shows anymore.“ They were at the hotel, and Joe helped her get out of the limo, being the perfect gentleman he was. “Joe, over here!“ they heard someone call, and saw flashlights go off in their faces. “Damn, how did they find out?“ Stef heard Joe mumble right before questions were thrown at them. “How come you never talked about your wedding plans? What’s your wife’s name?“ Looking around for the others desperately, Stef felt Joe take her hand. “Would you please leave us alone? I’ll give you an interview tomorrow, but right now, I want to go celebrate with my wife and my friends.“ Pushing through the small crowd that had gathered, he wrapped his arm arouns her waist protectively, and Stef smiled, thinking how real this must look.

It did look very real, and for the next year and a half, everything went just great. Stef had her own bedroom, so basically they were living together like room mates. The only time they ever slept in one bed was when they stayed at hotels, but that was never a problem either. So when they went to L.A. for the American Music Awards, it was the most normal thing for them to share their room. Joe was in the bathroom while Stef was on the phone with her mother, telling her about the plans for the divorce.

“Mom, it’s gonna be easy. It’s all planned. Tomorrow night, we won’t be the happy couple for the very first time, everyone’s gonna think we had a fight or something. Joe’s gonna file for divorce next month, saying it’s because we grew apart.“

“Grew apart? After 20 months? You know that there’ll be tons of rumors, don’t you?“

“Of course, we both know it. It’s gonna be alright mom, don’t worry.“ Joe came out of the bathroom, saying “Tell your mom hi from me.“ Smiling up at him, she told her mom, and watched Joe slipping into bed next to her. After talking for another five minutes, Stef hung up and went into the bathroom herself. She didn’t notice Joe watch her as she pulled her shirt over her head, and the way his facial expression changed when she revealed the blue lace bra she was wearing.

Looking after her, Joe took a deep breath. What a good thing this was gonna be over soon, he didn’t know how much longer he’d be able to stand this. Over the past month, he had started watching Stef very closely. It was as if he’d started seeing more in her the day they talked about the divorve for the very first time. He didn’t want her to move out, he didn’t want to wake up in an empty house anymore, and he wanted her to be there when he came home from the studio, a tour, or a promo date. And when he helped her pick a dress for the AMA’s, he had to leave the store and stay out in the cold for a little while because otherwise, he might not’ve been able to hide what she did to him much longer. But he only blamed it on being so used to having her around all the time, and the rest.... well, she was a good looking woman after all, and he was just a man.

Stef held up her hand and looked at her wedding band. Slowly sliding it off her finger, she felt a tear rolling down her cheek. Straightening her back, she shook her head and looked at her reflection in the mirror. She didn’t know why she was so sad about this. She’d even helped Joe write the official statement he was going to give out to the press next week, and she was actually looking forward to being able to date again. But still. She didn’t really want to lose what they had. “What do we have? A fake marriage, and a great friendship, that’s it. And you’ll keep the friendship, stupid,“ she told herself quietly before going back to the bedroom. Shaking all sad thoughts out of her mind, Stef tried to make it to the bed without him seeing her face.

“What are you doing?“ Joe asked, watching her as she tried so hard to stay in the shadow.

“Going to bed, duh!“ Grabbing the lamp from his nightstand, he pointed it directly at her, smiling when he saw the reason why she’d been trying so hard to hide from him. She had white dots of some acne cream all over her face. “You look funky,“ he chuckled, putting the lamp back to where it belonged. “Is that the reason why you never let me into your room at night?“

“Funny, funny, McIntyre!“

“I know, Mrs. McIntyre,“ he teased. Stef gave up on trying to hide her face and got a bottle of water from the minibar.

“I just didn’t want you to see it because it looks stupid. But I couldn’t help it tonight, you want me to look good tomorrow, don’t you? And there are two giant zits on my forehead.“ Pretending to look for them, the grin on Joe’s face grew even bigger, making Stef laugh as well. “Besides, all those smart women’s magazines say you should never let your husband see you with a face mask or anything because he’ll think it’s not sexy.“ Setting the bottle down on the floor, Stef checked her dress for the awards for the millionst time, not realizing Joe was taking in her appearance very closely again. She was only wearing tight girls boxers and one of his t-shirts, and he could feel that tingle between his legs again. Fighting the feelings he had for her, he tried to look away, but couldn’t. Most people would never have considered her sexy right there and then. But he finally admitted to himself he loved her, and wanted her more than anything. Stepping up behind her, he put his hands on her shoulders, just like he had so many times. Bringing his lips close to her ear, he murmured “I think you are very sexy.“ Thinking he was joking, Stef laughed.

“Yeah right, Joe!“

“If I’m lying, why do I want to make love to you so bad?“ Unconciously letting out a sigh, Stef leaned closer to him, and felt his growing arousal pressing against her. Joe had heard her light moan, and slowly started sliding his hands under her shirt while kissing her neck.

“We shouldn’t be doing this,“ she tried to protest while her insides were screaming for him. Turning her around to him, Joe softly kissed her lips. “Why not?“ he asked before capturing her lips in another kiss. “Because.... this just shouldn’t be happening,“ Stef brought out faintly, but kissed him back nevertheless. Bringing his hands back down to her hips, Joe pulled her even closer to him.

“If this is wrong, why does it feel so right?“ Not expecting an answer, he leaned down as if to kiss her, but didn’t. Their lips only milimeters apart, Joe groaned “Tell me to stop and I will.“ But she didn’t tell him to stop.

Waking up the next morning, Stef slowly opened her eyes and met Joe’s. He was lying on his side, and had obviously been watching her sleep.

“How long have you been watching me?“ she asked, only now realizing he was holding the phone receiver in his hand.

“A little while. Phone for you.“ Taking the phone from him, she hoped whoever it was on the other end didn’t hear them talk. Trying to sound awake, she answered, only to let Lis‘ voice bring her right back to the real world.

“Stef! I can’t believe you overslept! Did you forget we were gonna have breakfast together? Like, all eight of us? We’ve been waiting for you two for thirty minutes!“ Feeling Joe kiss her thigh, Stef tried hard to hold back her moan.

“I’m so sorry Lis! I forgot to call the desk last night to tell them to give us a wake up call.“ Joe chuckled, and Stef could feel the vibration of that chuckle against her skin. Both of them knew very well Joe had answered the wake up call, but they decided to just sleep for another ten minutes. Too bad those ten minutes became almost two hours. “But you know what Lis, I’ll just call room service right now, and then I’ll meet you guys in the lobby in an hour so we can all go and get our hair done, k? Talk to you then, bye.“ Lis stared at the phone for a minute before walking back to the table. Shaking her head, she said “If I didn’t know better, I’d say Stef just tried to get rid of me because...“

“Because what?“ Micki asked when she didn’t continue.

“Nothing, nevermind. It was just a stupid thought. She told me to meet her in the lobby.“

At the same time upstairs, Joe pulled Stef into his arms and kissed her passionately.

“Do you think she noticed something?“ Stef asked, trying to free herself from his arms.

“No. And if she did, would that be so terrible?“ Sitting up, she tried not to look at him.

“Joe, we are getting a divorce, do you remember that? Do you remember that little note you have sitting on your desk at home?“

“I love you Stef. I don’t want to get a divorce. Not now that this is finally turning into a real marriage.“

“I love you too, but....“ Cradling her face in his hands, Joe said “There are no buts then. Let’s stay together, and make this work.“ Nodding, Stef felt tears well in her eyes.

“Let’s wait until tomorrow to tell them though. I think everyone’s a little too nervous for that right now,“ she whispered, letting him pull her back into his arms.

Storming out of the elevator and into the lobby, Stef hoped the girls wouldn’t notice why she was late again.

“You’re late Hoochie!“ Andrea greeted her, while Micki just laughed and Lis gave her a glare.

“I know, I know, I’m sorry. Uhm, room service took forever.“ She couldn’t exactly say Joe and I just did it in the shower, and that’s why I’m late. Even though she knew it wouldn’t have shocked them too much.

“Oh, did it? If you say so. Let’s go,“ Lis said, pulling Andrea with her.

“Boy, am I glad I’m not nominated for anything. Lis is more nervous than Jordan, can you imagine what she’d be like if I was nominated as well? And how are you, nervous for your husband?“ Mic asked jokingly, and thought she saw Stef blush lightly.

“Of course I am! But, uhm, I didn’t have time to really think about that this morning.“ She really didn’t think of Joe’s two nominations at all since last night, and she knew that he didn’t either.

When they got to the beauty salon, Lis had calmed down. Leroy, the owner, rushed to them as soon as they walked through the door, and greeted each one of them with a hug and a kiss on the cheek. They always went there when they were in L.A. for something, and all liked Leroy very much, no matter how strange he sometimes was. Pretending to be reading a magazine, Stef let her thoughts drift to this morning. Joe almost didn’t let her go, and kept telling her how much he loved her.

“That smile and that skin!“ Leroy’s voice snapped her out of her thoughts. “Only great sex can make a woman look this good!“ Stef’s eyes widened in shock, while Andrea almost spit her coffee out and Lis and Micki started laughing hysterically.

“But, but, Leroy, I don’t look good, look, I have shadows under my eyes big time!“

“That’s part of the morning after look, honey, don’t you know people actually pay me to make them look like this? Don’t you worry, I’ll make them disappear if you want me to. Are you embarrassed because I said that?“

“No, no, I’m not.“ Running his hands through her hair, trying to think of a hairdo for the night, Leroy smiled.

“Good, you shouldn’t be. You are so lucky with your husband, you know that, don’t you?“ Trying to hide her face behind the magazine again, Stef mumbled “I do.“

Stef was ready first, and took a cab back to the hotel since she didn’t want to have to answer her friends‘ questions. Joe was doing some interview, so she sat down on the bed and tried to clear her thoughts for the first time that day. Just like she asked herself back when they got married wether it was the right thing to marry him or not, she now asked herself wether or not it was the right thing to stay with him. A big smile spread over her face when she found the little note saying “I love you!“ attached to her dress, and knew the only right thing to do was to not get a divorce. “What are you smiling about?“ Joe asked, stepping into the room.

“I love you too, that’s all.“ Trying to kiss her, Joe grunted when Stef stepped away from him.

“It took two hours to get my hair and make up done, you ruin it, you die.“

“I’ll be careful.“ Stef laughed and gently kissed him, showing him the love she felt for him.

Jordan was doing an interview while Lis looked around. Smiling, she saw Mic and Michael doing interviews as well, while Donnie and Andrea were saying hi to Mark. Seeing Stef and Joe get out of their limo, she wondered how they were going to pull the little play they had planned through.

“Who are you wearing tonight Melissa?“ she heard, and turned to the camera. When they could finally walk on, Jordan asked “What’s wrong hun? You’re not quite here tonight.“

“Check out Stef and Joe. I thought they were supposed to pretend like they had a fight. Doesn’t look like it to me.“

“Maybe they didn’t want to do it tonight after all. He’s gonna win one award tonight, they probably didn’t want to mess up the good mood.“ Chuckling, Lis kissed her husband. Jordan and Joe were both nominated for the best male award, and of course each one kept saying the other wouldn’t get it. But still. Joe had never held Stef that close to him before, and Stef had never looked at him like that, not even when they were pretending to newly weds. Something was going on.

“I can see the questionmark on Lis‘ face,“ Stef whispered to Joe while they were walking down the red carpet.

“We’ll tell them later, don’t worry about it now.“ Kissing, they both heard the question “You still look as if this is the first day of your marriage, how do you do it?“ thrown at them. Laughing, they stopped, and Joe answered “I thought this WAS the first day of our marriage.“

Jordan did win the best male award, but Joe won the best album. So while they were still at the press conference, all the others already made their way to the party. Stef knew what was coming, she’d felt everybody’s eyes on her the whole time, but decided to wait until they asked before she said anything. Smiling, she said “Sure!“ and followed the others when Andrea ordered a “girls conference“ in the small hotel park. Slowly following them to the pavillion where they wanted to sit down, she enjoyed feeling the others‘ suspense grow. “Hurry already Stefanie!“

“I’m coming Melissa,“ she laughed, and leaned against the railing after she walked up the few steps.

“What’s going on between you and Joe?“ Andrea asked, checking no one was near to hear them.

“What do you mean, what’s going on?“

“Stef! The way you guys act is not normal!“

“Not normal? We’re married sweetheart.“ Grunting “Don’t sweetheart me!“, Andrea gave Lis and Micki a pleading look. While Lis just shrugged her shoulders, Mic said “Stef, look,“ as if she was talking to a little child. “This is not a real marriage, right? And we all thought the plan was you guys were gonna have a little fight tonight, maybe cause a little scene at the party, and file for divorce next week. But the way you two were undressing each other with your eyes, a divorce would be a little far fetched right now.“

“That is very true Mic. Did you guys actually watch the show or just Joe and me?“

“We all heard the part where Joe thanked his wife, the woman he loves with all his heart and soul, the one he doesn’t want to be without anymore,“ Mic answered sarcastically.

“Isn’t he sweet?“ Stef sighed, knowing she’d have to tell them now or they’d go completely nuts.

“Stef, you tell us now, or I’m gonna kick your ass!“ Lis burst out, making the other three laugh.

“Alright, alright, I’ll tell you guys. We’re not gonna get a divorce. I love Joe, and he loves me, that’s it.“

“I knew it!“ Lis called, jumping up. “When you tried to get rid of me this morning, what Leroy said, it was so obvious! But I thought no, she’d tell us right away. That’s why you overslept this morning!“

“What can I say, it was a long night,“ Stef chuckled as her friends got up to hug her.

“Would you leave some of her for me?“ Joe asked, smiling when he saw the women in a group hug.

“I bet you had A LOT of her already, my dear,“ Andrea told him, lightly slapping his arm as she walked by him. When they were alone, Joe hugged Stef tightly, and both didn’t say anything for a long time.

“Marry me again,“ Joe finally whispered. Pulling away slightly to look at him, Stef asked “Marry you again?“

“Yeah. Let’s do it right this time. At a church, you in a big gown, me in a tux, all our family and friends there, the whole deal. Would you marry me, again?“ Gently wiping a curl from his face, Stef nodded.

“I would marry you again a million times, and you know that. I love you.“

“I love you too,“ Joe murmured before their lips met in a long kiss, sealing their old and yet new promise to each other.

The End

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