Action (DNF)

Chapter 44: Another phone call

George POV.

I moved to lean back against Clay who had just been sitting and listening to my side of the conversation the entire time. “What was that about?” He asked me  as I cuddled up against him.
“My sister wants me to go visit her in the next week or so.” I answered.

“And are you going to go see her and your family?” Clay questioned. “Or are you going to say no and stay here?”
“I haven’t decided yet.” I admitted. “But maybe a trip would be nice after everything that’s happened recently.”

“That would be nice,” Clay nodded. “After everything that has happened you do deserve a break.” He agreed. “So do you think that you are going to accept her invite?”
“I’m not sure.” I sighed. “Often my parents and sister would have disagreements. I’ve only seen them once or twice since my sister went to University, and both times there was bickering.”

“What kind of bickering?” Clay questioned curiously, while also seeming as though he didn’t want to overstep, at the same time moving to sit impossibly closer to me as he did.
“Oh, disagreements about things to do with her phone mainly. My parents would make comments about how she was now addicted to her phone and she’d get angry.” I explained.

“And was she addicted to her phone?” He asked again. “Or were your parents being completely and utterly irrational?” His question brought me to chuckle.
“Honestly it could be either.” I explained. “Sometimes they’re extreme with their no phone, no TV rules, but she can be on her phone quite a lot.”

“Your family sounds quite interesting.” Clay laughed. “I’d love to be able to meet them one day.”
“And I’m sure they’d love to meet you.” I responded. “But maybe not next week. It’s too short notice, and you’ll have all those interviews and stuff that you told me about.”

“They can wait if you wanted me to meet them.” He reassured me. “If you wanted. If not, we can find time in a couple of weeks, or months.”
“But don’t you have to go back to Florida in a couple of months?” I questioned, only to receive a shrug as an answer.

“Well I haven’t booked my flight yet, and I have nothing lined up for when I get back for quite a while, so realistically I can stay for as long as I want to.” Clay responded. “If you told me that you wanted me to meet them in five or six months or whatever, I would just call my agent, let her know, and then it is all sorted.”

“That sounds very simple.” I muttered, to which the blond nodded in agreement with me.
“Yes it is very simple.” He replied. “That is one of the best parts of being a celebrity, like a singer or whatever. You get to choose when you work. It’s not like your standard nine to five job. You just get told about some movie or ad or interview and you say if you want to do it or not.”

“Sounds like that could be nice.” I admitted. “Being able to choose when you want, and what kind of people you want to work with.”
“Sometimes.” Clay responded, making himself comfortable before adjusting me to lay beside him. “But other times it’s just stalkerish fans and people asking for me to appear somewhere.”

“Okay, yeah that part doesn’t seem as nice.” I agreed. “But still, it still could be somewhat better than having to drag yourself to a bar at annoying times and serving customers who seem to have no issue with sexually harassing you.”
“Oh yeah, I forgot about that.” Clay said before pulling me into an impromptu hug.

“Did you ever do something to deal with that guy?” He asked while holding me. “Did you tell your boss, have him kicked out, or banned, or anything?” I just shook my head at the question.
“Believe me I would have liked to, but Schlatt doesn’t care, as long as he earns his money then they can murder people and put their blood in all the drinks.”

“That is terrifying.” Clay muttered. “If you wanted though, I’m sure if I had a word with somebody then they could have dealt with. Surely a bar will keep records when they are making up someone's tab or whatever.”

I just shrugged before murmuring about how it didn’t matter any more, wondering how we went from a conversation about possibly visiting my sister and my parents, to a talk about Clay wanting to use his fame to get someone who sexually harassed me the punishment they deserve. It felt weird, and so I fell silent while turning my attention back to the paused movie.

Clay seemed to realise that my attention was off the conversation at this point, and he let out a sigh before moving to grab the remote so he could press play. Before he got the chance though, the phone that was on his bedside table began ringing, causing both of our eyes to dart over and look at it.

After it rang once or twice the blond moved, pulling his arms away from me and scooching over so that he could answer it.

Clay POV

George’s mood shifted from a slightly fun one that we had while talking a few minutes prior, to a more soft one, clearly having been made upset by the comments I brought up, even though he knows it wasn’t my intention. His mouth pressed into a straight line and he turned to look back at the movie that we had paused a few minutes earlier.

So I decided it was best to drop the topic for now, despite still thinking it was a good idea to deal with the man who had been sexually harassing George on the day we met. In order to try and help George forget the conversation I moved over to grab the remote so we could press play on the movie.

Just before I was about to press play though, the hotel phone began ringing from my bedside table. For a moment I considered just letting it ring, but seeing as the way me and George ended up after our last phone call, I answered. It was from the hotel reception, and she greeted me quite formally.

“Hello, this is a call from the reception desk of the Greyskete Hotel. Is this Clay Smith from room 1602?” She asked, and I responded with a ‘yes this is’ before asking what she needed. “Oh I don’t need anything sir, it’s just a letter that has been dropped off for you by the front desk.”

“I thought that I told you that if I got any fan mail dropped off for me that it should be redirected to my agent in Florida.” I explained. “Since I don’t want people to-”
“It doesn’t appear to be fanmail sir.” The woman cut me off. “It seems much more professional, and the woman who delivered it didn’t seem like a fan, although it is hard to tell.”

“Oh… alright then.” I responded. “I’ll come down now to grab it from you now. Thanks for letting me know.” Then I hung up and set the phone down before looking over to George. “I need to get something from the reception.” I told him. “Do you want to come down with me, or would you like to stay here?”

“I’ll stay here.” He replied, curling up under the covers immediately and pressing play on the movie.
“Alright.” I shrugged. “I’ll be back in a few minutes then.” I gave him a caring squeeze to the shoulder before leaving.
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