Changed

2: More than I should

To walk alone on the streets of Hollywood, felt free. That feeling made it all seem good even if I just had ran out of gas. I left my groceries in the van and started to walk home, hoping Rick would be nice enough to help me out. I was sure he would, if I just flirt or bribe him a little bit.

After a lot of walking, I unfortunately didn't know where I was anymore, or where to go. My feet started to hurt so I decided to take a break on a bench, waiting for someone to come and pick me up. Across the street, a group of young people were laughing around. The definition of what Rick called "hippies" were waving at me causing me to laugh.

I had luck when I finally made a car stop. Inside it, sat a blonde guy with a yellow Hawaiian shirt on. "Where you goin'?" He said with a smirk on his face.

I hurried over to hang over the door, giving him a smile to convince him. "Cielo drive."

"Cielo drive? Really?" He chuckled.

"Yeah, Cielo drive. Could I get a ride?"

"Sure, I'll take you there." He allowed me to open up the door, taking place next to him. The vehicle started driving as soon as I closed it again. For some reason, he couldn't stop grinning underneath those sunglasses until he finally spoke up. "I didn't know Sharon had hippie friends."

"Who's Sharon?" I asked while sitting with my legs crossed. He looked so confident as he drove, it seemed expensive and I enjoyed every second in that car.

"Don't tell me you live around there." He laughed out as it was a miracle.

"Actually I do, don't worry where but I do live there." That wasn't a lie, but it wasn't fully true either.

"Oh you're the lady who Rick was talking to, am I wrong? In that car, right?"

"Maybe that's true. And you're his friend, aren't you?" I winked at him to explain who I meant.

"Yes, he's my buddy." He chuckled for himself as he drove into the road, being able to see Ricks luxury house. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to see my car anywhere causing me to remember where I left it. But I promised myself to wait for Rick, maybe we could get closer together, maybe he could help me with my acting career.

"Where you going?" I asked him when he came out of the storage. He came out wearing a brown belt with tools all around it.

"The roof. Fixing Ricks antenna." He quickly walked over to a wall to climb it, jumping from wall to wall to get to the roof. "Could you clean that up?" He threw a wet sponge at me after pointing at the ruined painting at the parking lot.

"What? No! I'm coming up with you." I instantly got happier which made me dance over to the wall, trying my best to come up to the same way as he did.

"If you say so. Come here, I'll help you up." He stretched out his hand to help me. I found myself accepting his offer, even if I knew I could handle it myself.

"I have no idea how you came up here so easily but it looked cool." I said as he helped me up to the beautiful view of the huge city. "Are you his buddy or assistant?" I joked when he started to fix his antenna.

"I'm his stuntman, Cliff Booth." He explained before pulling his shirt over his head. "And you are?"

"Y/n. Wait, are you really Cliff Booth?"

"What's so special about that?" He said when he noticed me staring at him with my mouth open.

"Didn't you kill your own mother or something?" I laid down on the hot roof, stealing Cliffs shirt as a protection against the heat. Then I just laid there with my sunglasses, working on my tan and listening to our conversation.

"My wife. Where have you heard that? Don't tell me you believe that old shit."

"I was working in the acting industry. Let's say I heard a lot of gossip." I smiled at my own thoughts of my past.

I had a great time with Cliff, but then he had to go back home and I stayed there, up on Rick Daltons roof. It had an awesome view and a nice feeling. I could've stayed there for hours which I did without noticing since I fell asleep. After a while, I woke up in the sunset by a car driving up the road. My excitement made me hurry to go see who it was. As I hoped it would be Rick, I slightly looked down on the road, seeing the same beige car as before. It was Cliff, but Rick stepped out of the car. He wore a yellow turtleneck shirt with the same leather jacket as yesterday. They both talked for a while before Cliff took the blue car back home.

I stood up on the highest level of the roof to make sure he would see me waving. "Hey!"

He instantly stopped in the middle of the road, looking around to find me on the roof. "The hell you're doin' up there?" Rick chuckled as he walked closer to me.

I slid down to lay on my stomach, looking down at Rick who was right underneath me. "Waiting for you."

"Get down, alright?" He smiled to confirm that he wasn't mad or anything.

"Alright alright." I tried my hardest to get down the same way as I got up without any help. My legs swung down from the roof, trying to find the wall underneath me. But instead, they found Ricks hands as he placed my feet on the wall. "Thanks." I smiled when he carried me down to the ground.

"I never got your name yesterday."

"It's y/n. Um, Rick?" I smiled into his eyes, praying that he would help me with my car. "Could you help me with something? I ran out of gas by some store."

"How did you get here?" He walked out on the road to see nothing but his own car.

"Your stuntman drove me. I got a free ride and he got someone to talk to."

A small laugh escaped his mouth when he heard my story. "Such a hippie thing to do. But of course I'll help you." His voice became more gentle.

"Thank you!" My exited reaction made me drag his arm towards his beige Cadillac. Seeing Rick happy, was something different and I loved it. He seemed way happier than yesterday which was great. "Aren't you gonna sit down?" I asked him as I sat in the passenger seat, waiting for Rick to sit down so we could drive.

"The thing is, I can't drive right now. I'll call Cliff for ya."

"No, why can't you? I'll drive then." I stopped him from going inside.

He stuck his head through the open window pane. For some reason he looked nervous. "No you won't." He opened the door to step inside. He adjusted the seat before looking down at the pedals. I loved his company as he drove me through Hollywood but he seemed stressed out. Maybe he had just had a rough day at work. I did ask him if he was okay which he said he was, then I found myself caring about him more than I should. "Sorry I can't do it." He quickly swerved off the road and stopped with no warning, causing me to fall forwards.

I took a look at my fingers to see blood coming through my nose. "What?" I hid my nose under my hand.

"They took my driving license away, alright? Too many drunk drives and it's gone. All gone." A tear fell from his eye which he instantly wiped away. "I'm sorry, honey."

"It's okay Rick, it really is. Calm down and it'll be fine." I carefully patted his arm. My eyes were looking at everything but him as a try to make him comfortable with showing his feelings. To know that he had his drinking problems, made me see a new Rick Dalton and I'd love to help him. "Do you wanna talk about it?"

"No but thank you for asking. I- I just wanna go home, please take me back home y/n." He covered his teary eyes with his hands, resting on the backrest.

"Yeah, sure."