The Magic of Hollywood // Charlie Gillespie

Chapter 26

"What a night" I fall onto the couch in the corner of my club. "What an amazing night!" Jenny drops herself next to me. We're both wrecked. Tonight has been insane. I still can't believe how many people came. Everyone I talked to was very happy that the club is re-opening and they told me they saw the advertisement for Open-Mic-Nights every Wednesday and loved the idea. Honestly, the feedback I got was so positive, I'm still waiting for the moment I wake up and realize this is all just a dream. "V, I'm dead. I'm gonna go sleep." Jenny makes her way to my bedroom. I really need to work on my living situation soon. After tonight I'm positive the club will do well, so I should be able to afford an apartment eventually. "Hey gorgeous, what are you dreaming about?" I didn't even realize Charlie sat down next to me. My cheeks blush for a second. I look over at him and he seems as wrecked as me. "Nothing, I'm pretty much living a dream right now."

Valerie left pretty early to take her niece home and I told her to not come back. She's done enough. We handled the main cleaning by ourselves. I know she'll be here early tomorrow to help and I love her for it, but at least tonight I wanted to give her a little break. We plugged in my phone and turned on a spotify playlist while cleaning, it's still playing. "Dance with me" Charlie doesn't give me time to answer, he just takes me hand and pulls me up. Within a second I don't feel tired anymore, I'm full of energy. He places his hands around my waist and I wrap my arms around his neck. We swing along to the music. I rest my head on his chest and get lost in the moment. Eventually the song ends and some rock song comes on. We don't change anything though, still swinging along, not fitting the music anymore at all. I can feel myself getting sleepy again. Charlie seems to feel it too. He gently moves us back over to couch and I practically crash onto it. I can feel something being put over my naked arms. "Good Night Victoria" Charlie places a gentle kiss on my forehead and I drift off into sleep.

"V, why are you out here?" When I open my eyes Jenny's head is pretty much in my face. It takes me a second to realize where I am. "What time is it?" - "12" What? It's 12 already? I don't remember me ever sleeping that long. I move myself into a sitting position and feel something sliding off of me. I look to the ground and find Charlie's jacket. I remember the feeling of him placing something over my arms, that must have been it. A small smile forms on my face. "Earth to V?" I look up at Jenny, already fully dressed, looking like she's been up for hours. Then my eyes catch sight of the little snack table next to the couch and I can see two coffee cups and two muffins. "How long have you been up for?" - "I don't know, maybe 2 hours?" I start to feel bad. "I'm sorry, you came all the way here and I'm sleeping all day." - "V, you build your own business in the past two weeks, you're entitled to some sleep. Plus, I like exploring on my own, you know that." I relax a little. Then I remember she technically needs to explore alone all day tomorrow because... tomorrow I'm meant to be spending all day with Charlie.

"So... ehm... do you think you maybe wanna explore the city tomorrow... by yourself?" Her eyes widen in shock and she places her hand over her heart. "Are you kicking me out so you can make out with your crazy hot actor?" My cheeks are burning and Jenny drops to her knees laughing. "J! No I'm not! It's just... remember he wanted to spend a day with me for playing last night? Tomorrow is that day... but I can totally ask him to reschedule!" She shakes her head, still trying to suppress her laugh. "No, no, you go have fun." The thought of tomorrow sets the butterflies in my stomach free. "What are you doing?" That's actually a really good question. "I have no idea." Jenny's face forms into a little grin. "I like that guy." Yeah I do too... what I don't like though is not knowing what I'm facing. I love things to be planned and organized. I love to know what to expect. "I don't even know what to wear" I haven't even thought about that before, but now I realize, since I have no clue what we're doing I have no clue what to wear. "Mhm, that's an issue... we want you to blow him away. Can you call him real quick?" I doubt he'll tell me if she's with me but I grab my phone anyways.

"Can't get enough of me, can you?" - "Oh get over yourself, Jenny wanted me to call you." - "Uh oh, you got competition huh?" I roll my eyes, even though he can't see me and hand the phone over to Jenny. "You. Tell me what you have planned for tomorrow. I won't tell her but we need to know what she should wear." No hi, no anything. I love Jenny. She's always so direct. She nods a few times, her eyes brightening, her smile getting bigger and bigger. "Omg, she'll love that. Alright. No more details, only makes it harder for me to keep the secret." She hands me back my phone. "He wants to talk to you." I grad the phone. "Victoria Porter. Don't even try to figure out what we're doing. I swear if you ruin my surprise I'm never talking to you ever again. See you tomorrow at 10am." With that he hangs up. „"V, you'll love it! Let's go buy you an outfit."