Starstruck (Luke Hemmings)

Ch. 3 Movies and Driving

*LUKE'S POV*

"He's late." I heard my mom say.

"He'll be here." My dad told her.

"You need to manage him better." She said.

"Hey, we both manage him." My dad said.

"He needs to know opportunities like this don't come every day." She said.

"He knows. He's not a kid." my dad told her.

I walked into my living room wearing my black skinny jeans and a nirvana tank. My parents were waiting for me.

"Hey, what's up?" I said.

"You're late." My mom said.

"I'm sorry mom." I said kissing her cheek. It's not a big deal that I'm late.

"How ya doing, son?" My dad asked me as I turned and gave him a hug.

"Good, great. Excited." I told him.

"Oh honey, you could've cleaned up a bit." My mom said looking at what I'm wearing.

"What?" I said, smelling my armpit. "I'm perfectly clean." I said, making her look to my dad.

"He looks like a street kid, not a movie star." She told him.

"He looks fine." He said. "Just be yourself Luke."

"Alright." I said as the doorbell rang. My mom went to get the door as my dad turned to me. He put his fists up to mine and spoke:

"Alright, this is it bud. Your chance at what we've always wanted."

"Alright" I replied smiling.

"Peter, please come in!" My mom said as she opened the door. A thirtyish year old man stood there in nice pants a shirt and a blazer.

"Liz, Andrew." He said smiling at my parents. "Great place you got here." He commented.

"Actually it's Luke's." my dad told him. "We just work here." He added.

"Luke Hemmings." He said shaking my hand.

"Mr. Matthews." I responded.

"My daughters are big fans of yours." He commented letting go of my hand as we walked to the living room.

"Aww, great!" I responded.

He looked up to the pictures I have on the wall. One of me jumping with my guitar, another one of me on stage and the last of me just pointing to the camera with my guitar.

"Rock and Roll!" He said, sounding like Ozzy Osbourne. "Ello Cleveland!" He said.

"Aw, got this at the house. Girls love this one, Rejects." He said making me smile.

"Okay let's get to the point." He said turning to us. "I've been watching you." He pointed to me. "And I like what I see. You are a talented, talented kid. You can sing, you can dance, I hope you can act." He said.

"Eh.." I said meaning 'I hope so too.'

"Because I like you for this movie." He added.

"Ah!" My mom said, more like squealed.

"Thank you sir. This is such an honor coming from you-" I said, but he cut me off.

"But my people don't necessarily agree with me." He said pulling out a magazine with my picture on it. "See, all they see is a spoiled punk who likes to tangle with the paparazzi."

My dad then scoffed. "Peter, you know how the tabloids are. They manipulate those photos to-"
"Andrew, I get it. I get it. Look, all I'm saying, kid, is a chance like this comes along once in a lifetime, and I want to give you a shot, but you have to prove that you're a serious and committed actor." Mr Matthews said.

"How do I do that?" I asked him.

"On Monday, I'm gonna meet with my people, try and sell them on you. In the meantime, you keep your face out of the tabloids. No press, good or bad. Okay?" He asked me.

"I can do that." I told him.

"In fact, stay home." He said again.

"All right. Thank you, sir. I appreciate it." I said.

*NICOLE'S POV*

We landed in California and got a cab to a car rental place. Dakota and I waited outside while Mom and Dad got a car. I was just quietly reading my book when-

"You are such a dork. You brought homework?" Dakota asked.

"It's called reading. You should try it sometime." I told her.

"What?! I read." She fought back.

"This?" I said pulling out her magazine with Luke Hemmings on the front. "It's all pictures."

"Don't touch that!" She exclaimed pulling it away from me.

"Gladly." I said. We sat for about 10 seconds before she let out a huge sigh.

"What's taking them so long? Just get me a car already so I can go meet Luke Hemmings!" She whined.

"Dakota. You can't drive." I told her.

"Uh, Yes, I can. License." She said holding her license up.

"Uh, No, you can't. Sign." I said pointing to the sign behind her.

"You must beat least 25-years-old to drive or rent a car from Los Angeles Car Rental? What? How am I supposed to do what I wanna do?" She asked.

"And what would that be?" Dad asked walking out of the building.

"Uh... Take Nicole sight seeing!" She said hugging me, while I was trying to get her off.

"Well I'm sure Grandma has a car you can borrow." Mom told her.

"Sweet!" She said. We got in the car and drove to grandma's house.

"See what I mean? Mom, be careful!" Mom said as we arrived at Grandma's house. Grandma was standing on a ladder fixing her plants.

"Oh. Here comes the cavalry." I heard my grandma comment.

"You could fall and break a hip." My mom told her.

"Oh, now, Melinda. Calm down. Walter had my back." Grandma said.

"We take care of each other." Walter said.

"Oh. Okay then." My mom commented.

"Grandma!" I yelled running to give her a hug.

"Oh, Nicole! Oh, I'm so happy to see you." She said.

"I've missed you so much." I told her.

"Ditto." She said.

"Oh, Dakota. You can take her for a spin if you want to." Grandma said to Dakota, who was looking at Grandma's pink car.

"Just gave her a tune-up. She runs like a top." Walter said.

"Yeah, a super-ugly top you'd never want to be seen in." Dakota complained.

"Does that mean you'll be joining us for shuffleboard?" I asked her.