Blue skies and sunshine. That’s all Ava saw as she stepped off the plane. Slipping her sunglasses down over her green eyes, she pulled her hat down and tried to make it to the baggage claim without anyone noticing her. Someone had let it slip that she was coming back to Los Angeles today. After 6 months of being off the paparazzi’s radar, she was back. And judging by the number of them that were present and hoping to catch a glimpse of her, she was bigger than ever.
She tried to blend in with the crowd as she hurried over to the conveyers with all the luggage. Spotting her zebra print suitcases, she hurriedly grabbed them and set off in the opposite direction than the photographers.
“Ava, over here” She heard, turning her head slightly to see who it was. *Flash* She blinked a few times, trying to get her vision back. They had found her. Damn. She pulled her hat down even further and shoved her way through the swarm of people currently surrounding her. More flashes from cameras temporarily blinded her as she jumped into a waiting taxi.
“Just drive.” She instructed the driver. Once they were on the freeway and Ava was sure they weren’t being followed, she gave the driver her address.
One movie, she thought to herself, I star in one damn movie, go on one date with Everett Canonn, Hollywood’s rising star, and all of a sudden, I'm Miss Popularity. I should have stayed in Illinois. But no. Ever since her agent, Jeremy, called and said a top director was personally asking for her for the female lead in his new movie, she made plans and started working on her comeback. What exactly she was coming back from, she didn’t know. Hell, she didn’t even know what she was coming back to! 6 months away could break your career. Or so Jeremy said.
As the cab pulled up to her apartment, she paid the driver, grabbed her luggage, and opened the main door. She thought about all she had to do as she walked up the stairs to her second floor apartment. Ava stuck her key in the lock and turned it, opening her door in the process.
“Hey Princess”
Ava screamed and dropped her luggage. She looked up to see Everett standing in her living room, Starbucks in hand.
“Ugh. I should have known you would somehow find out I was coming back today. What do you want, Rett?” She asks him, tucking her dark brown locks behind her ear and glaring at him. “How the hell did you get in here anyway?”
“That would be my fault.” Ava looks past Everett’s tall frame to see Jeremy coming down the hall. Jeremy winks at Ava. “I thought you’d like a welcome home party.”
Some party. Ava thinks to herself. Yup, I definitely should have stayed in Illinois. Don’t get me wrong, Rett is gorgeous, sweet, funny; he’d be the perfect boyfriend. Just not my perfect boyfriend. He’s too.. what’s the word I'm looking for… insecure, clingy, needy. He’s like a woman.
Ava and Rett had gone on only one date, but that was all she needed. Her text tone on her phone went off midway through dinner and he wouldn’t stop asking who it was, if she was seeing someone else, were they meeting later, etc. Finally, Ava just broke down and showed him the text. It was from her mom, letting Ava know that they had just seen her movie and thought she was “just darling.” When she got up to use the bathroom, he followed her, glaring at any men who may have looked her way. It was just too much. At the end of the night, she told Rett she just wanted to be friends; that she didn’t see this “relationship” going anywhere. The only piece he took from that was that she used the word “relationship” when talking about the two of them. She gave him a peck on the cheek and went inside. When he called the next morning, asking her out again, she told him again that she just wanted to be friends and hung up. He called, text, and stopped by constantly. He was main reason she took a 6 month vacation back to her hometown. She had thought that he would move on if she was gone. Out of sight, out of mind, you know? Looks like she thought wrong.
