Falling for a Star (Complete)

Chapter 8 - Shopping on Rodeo Drive

***** Dylan Chase's Point of View *****

I looked over at Brenley, sitting in the passenger seat of my Lamborghini Gallardo with her eyes wide open, taking in the sights out the window.

"Wow. Rodeo Drive," she whispered in awe. "I've seen this in movies but never in a million years did I think I'd actually get to shop here."

It was cool seeing how she reacted to all the new things she was seeing for the first time, the way her mouth hung open when she slid into the passenger seat of my Lamborghini, running her hands over the leather and looking around in awe at how beautiful the interior was. It reminded me of how I felt when I first moved out to L.A. and everything was so new and exciting. I missed those days sometimes.

Maybe I was wrong about Brenley being really hard to impress, or maybe it was all just a show for the camera guy that was currently sitting in the back seat filming us. It turned out that she was a good actress, so it was hard to tell.

She took out her cell phone and snapped a picture of the Rodeo Drive and Beverly Hills signs as we passed them, saying she was going to send them to the people back home, and a few minutes later we pulled up to a row of high-end boutiques on Rodeo Drive.

Melissa and Scott pulled up in her white Mercedes behind us, following us inside the store behind the camera man.

Brenley handed Melissa a coffee and said, "Here, this is the coffee I was telling you about on the phone. Dylan actually had all the stuff to make it at his house."

Melissa took it and as she took a sip, her eyes widened. "Wow. That's delicious. Thank you."

"You're welcome. I'll text you the recipe," Brenley smiled.

"Ok," Melissa told her. "Now for dress shopping. You need a long gown for the movie premiere, a short one for the after party that's easy to move around in and a couple cocktail dresses for going out to dinner or a club."

Brenley looked around the store at all the racks of dresses and I could tell she was overwhelmed, but I wouldn't be much help. I hated shopping as much as she did.

She picked up the tag of one of the dresses and gasped, shouting, "Three thousand dollars?! Are you frickin' kidding me? People really pay that much for one dress? And it's not even cute?!"

"Shhhh. Keep your voice down," Melissa told her, looking around the store with her face flushing with embarrassment. "She's just teasing," she told the store clerks, laughing awkwardly and they gave Brenley a dirty look. Luckily the camera guy caught that whole conversation and the look from the clerk.

It took every bit of self control I had to hold in my laugh. I personally thought three grand for an ugly dress was ridiculous too, but Melissa would kill me if I said so right now.

"If we bought five dresses here, that would be fifteen thousand dollars! That's insane!" Brenley whispered with wide eyes. "Can you return them when I'm done wearing them?" 

"No you can't return them after they've been worn," Melissa told her, scrunching her nose up in disgust.

"Well, I'll never wear these dresses again, so spending that much seems like a huge waste of money. Maybe we should go somewhere cheaper."

"No, this is all part of the star treatment you won and Dylan is paying for it anyway. Don't worry. Fifteen grand is just a drop in the bucket for him," Melissa told her, but Brenley looked at me like she wanted me to save her from this ridiculousness.

"She's right. It's nothing. Don't even look at the prices and just pick out whatever you want," I told her, but she still didn't look convinced.

For the next hour I sat there on a stiff leather sofa, scrolling through the movie script on my phone, memorizing my lines while Melissa and the store clerks helped Brenley pick out dresses and try on the endless pile of sparkly sequins and tulle that was hoisted into her arms.