Following the Stars

Chapter Fifty Three

The day of the London premiere came rather quickly. The couple had decided to use Lexie's home as a base. She had organised for her parents, her two best friends and their husbands to attend the screening of the film, and Johnny had invited Stephen, Gina, and Isaac along too. The latter was staying at Johnny's leased house which was now mainly used more to house his security than anything else.

Lizzie was in Lexie's bedroom preparing her hair and make up. Lexie loved having her mum work her talents, it took her back to the early days of her career. The beautiful one of a kind gown was hanging from the top of her wardrobe, and everybody admired it. Kate arrived with glasses of champagne, she was donned in loungewear with her hair in rollers, "Lizzie are you sure you don't mind pinning my hair for me?" She asked placing the glasses down. "Nonsense it will take me 5 minutes. Besides now you're officially Lexie's assistant, you'll need to look the part won't you?" The older woman said as she applied some eye make up to Lexie. Johnny had been downstairs for the past hour or so talking with Tom, "Can you get Johnny to come up when he's ready?" Lexie asked her bestie who was heading downstairs to answer the door. "Sure! I hope the boys have come suited and booted. It's carnage. I'll see how long Em needs too." "Darling, I know I say this every time but I am so proud of you." Lizzie said making Lexie smile. "Thanks Mumma. And thank you for all this as usual." "Don't be daft, it's my pleasure."

Around 30 minutes later, Lizzie finished her work and headed off to change herself leaving her daughter to get into her dress. The pop star zipped it up and stood in front of the large mirror adding diamond earrings, and a diamond necklace. It sat beautifully and didn't overshadow the off the shoulder look. Johnny entered the room and gasped, he spotted his girlfriend in an instant and approached her. His suit trousers were undone and his shirt was barely buttoned "My darling, you look like a goddess." He murmured. "All thanks to you!" Lexie said smiling and spinning on the spot. "And you're in heels, are you finally happy about that?" Johnny chuckled "Yes! Now I'm finally a normal height, and it makes it far easier to do this." She lent in and kissed him passionately before wiping some of the lipstick from his face. "Mmm I like that added bonus." He said smirking. "You need to hurry up we are going to be late!" Lexie said as she began to button up his shirt. "Darling, we are on Johnny time remember?" Lexie smirked "granted we have a little more flexibility as we are now arriving together and not separate but Chris and the PR team will go mad if we don't get all those interviews done!!" Johnny rolled his eyes half heartedly. "Ok ok. I promise I'm almost done. Besides your father is handing out cigars downstairs so I doubt we are in any great rush!" "Seriously?" Lexie said giggling. "If I forget to tell you again tonight, you look ravenous." Johnny said smirking knowing he was quoting the film. "Do you mean ravishing?" Lexie said in her Elise accent. "I do." "You're ravenous." She said as she slipped out the bedroom winking.

As the door to the luxurious car opened, Travis held out his hand and helped Lexie out, she slowly straightened her dress as Johnny made his way round the car to her. He took her hand and lent in for a brief kiss. The crowd went wild cheering. Hopefully that would put the press at bay for now. "If you need me I'm right here ok?" He whispered knowing she was nervous of crowds after the attack. "Let's do this." She beamed as she turned to the carpet, and the waiting crowds who were cheering like mad. She saw the other cars pull up that contained their guests, she spotted Gina helping Kate out and guiding her to where Stephen was who was acting as Johnny's assistant for a while. Lexie immediately headed over to the barriers, waving at fans, posing for selfies and signing autographs. So many people were happy to see her well and healthy, it filled her with joy. As she made her way down the long crowd, she spotted a young boy, he was on his mother's hip and couldn't be much older than 5. He waved before Lexie lent in "Well hello, who are you?" "I'm Connor" the little boy said shyly. "Well it's nice to meet you Connor, thank you for coming out tonight!" "You're welcome. I really wanna meet Willy Wonka!!" He said giddily making Lexie smile. "Do you know what? I think he may be here. Hang on." Lexie picked up the train of her dress and rushed across the carpet to the other side Johnny was on. He was posing for a selfie with a woman who looked around her mum's age. The woman smiled and said "Oh my god, hi!!! You look amazing!! We are so happy you two are together!!!" She gushed making Lexie beam. "Oh goodness thank you, I am so sorry, Johnny could I borrow you?" Johnny stepped away from the crowd "Are you ok doll? Are you panicking?" "No I'm fine, I just have a little boy who is very keen to meet Willy Wonka." Johnny's face lit up, this was one of the main reasons he did this job. "Lead the way." He said to his girlfriend who returned to the boy. "So Connor, this is my friend Johnny, and he knows Mr Wonka very well." The boy smiled and Johnny began talking in the character's voice making him laugh. He greeted the mother and posed for photos before they moved along. "That was cute babe." Lexie whispered before they stood in front of the paparazzi. With help from Kate, Lexie positioned her dress perfectly and stood with her arm around Johnny. Normally this was a fairly standard pose for co stars but Johnny was adamant about showing off his girlfriend so stroked her hip continuously, kissed her head and even held her hand as they made their way along to pose alongside Paul.

Finally after a couple of hours they made their way inside the venue, the film would be shown shortly, but the cast, Johnny, Lexie and Paul were rushing off to pre record a chat show to air later in the week. After a few rushed goodbyes to their friends and Lexie's parents, with a promise to meet at the after party, the three actors were bundled into a car and rushed to Tv studios nearby.

Lexie had a rapid quick change into a short off white sheath style dress and a change of shoes. Johnny changed his shirt and Paul just ditched his suit jacket. Before long they were called out to sit on the iconic sofa.

Host: "Welcome, Welcome, sit please, thank you so much for being here! This is such a good week isn't it? Such beautiful guests!" The audience laughed as Paul chimed in "Well I don't know about that. Lexie is a rose between two thorns!" "Speak for yourself!" Johnny chuckled.
Host: "So tell us Lexie, what was it like working with these two? They've built up a pretty solid friendship over the years so was it hard trying to break that?" "Oh no, I would never want to break these two up. They are like salt and pepper. I just did what I could to get involved. They are two of the nicest guys in the business, so it wasn't a chore." "I'll say, you definitely get on better with one of us than the other right?" Paul chuckled nudging Lexie with his arm.
Host: "and now the movie, Johnny, is it romance, is it a crime drama?" "It's a mixture. There are elements of everything, romance, crime, thriller, even some comedy thrown in, that's what I loved about it, you never quite knew where you stood."
Host: "and Paul your character, you are the main man who tries to solve it all?" "Yes in fact even I didn't know who to trust, you can never tell with these characters what's about to happen, it was a lot of fun to play."
Host: "Lexie, this is a more mature, more sophisticated role than you've played before, why is that?" "Ha, I just think I'm getting older, can't keep playing these coming of age characters forever can I? In all seriousness, that was one of the reasons I said yes, Elise is so poised and graceful, she's everything  I want to be."

The interview went well and finished around an hour later. The stars thanked the host for his hospitality before making their way to the waiting car that planned to take them to the after party. Johnny draped his jacket over Lexie's shoulders as they made their way outside. She smiled sweetly "Thank you." "No dramas doll." "What about my dress?" She asked quickly. "Travis has got it, don't worry!"

The trio arrived at the swanky hotel bar for the after party. Lizzie ran up to her daughter almost instantly "Darling, I loved it, and you looked phenomenal on that red carpet, well done!" Lexie blushed smiling at her mother who held her shoulders. "Good job poppet. Great film, I loved it." Lexie hugged her father who quickly shook Johnny's hand and then Paul's. Before long her friends had joined and they were all sat celebrating in one of the VIP Areas. After a few minutes, Johnny stood and tapped his glass with his rings "I just want to take a moment, to thank you all for being here. This film was an eye opening experience, and one I'll never forget." He slowly looked down at Lexie who was sat beside him. "As many of you already know, I'm not huge on the PDA but on occasion it is necessary and I just want raise my glass and hope you'll join me, to toast this wonderful woman beside me. A truly remarkably talented and beautiful lady who I am very lucky to call my girl." Lexie knew her cheeks were glowing, nobody had spoke about her like that so publicly and proudly except her parents and let's face it parents were usually obliged to. She slowly stood and kissed Johnny quickly before taking a sip of her drink. They both sat back down as his hand rested on her thigh. "You really are a charmer aren't you." She whispered "No a charmer implies that the one in question hopes to gain something from his wooing. I simply want you to know how amazing you are." Lexie smiled biting her lip, "And what if I want you to know how amazing you are?" "Hmmm nice try. But I know I'm not anything special, nothing more than a commodity that's easily disposed of it would seem." Lexie hated he felt that way about himself and lent in and kissed him on the cheek before pulling back again. She hoped she would be able to change his mind over time.