PERMANENT - Leonardo DiCaprio

Chapter 9 - Playa Bonita

Friday 10.48pm (3 weeks later)

As the weeks went by, I continued to have dance lessons, only they were 1 hour sessions instead of 4 hours like the first time. I had a significant portion of the script memorised, nearly all of it, and my Philadelphian accent had been approved by not only Jim and Jon, but the whole cast, who I had met regularly to rehearse.

As for Leo, he was becoming my closest friend, and we conversed frequently about our love lives (his girlfriend Kristen had been giving him a tough time about the film), about our childhoods, and about our likes and dislikes. On more than one occasion he had come round to the apartment in the day to rehearse, and leave at 2am, laughing like a maniac after annihilating a whole bottle of white rum with me.

I called Jake on the same Sunday after my chat with Leo and apologised for my rash behaviour, which he took very graciously, and said there were no hard feelings. We had gone on several more dates after that, and finally made it official only a couple of days ago. Spending time with him was easy – I felt detached from my hectic work schedule and for that I was grateful. As this was my first relationship after moving from the UK, and with such a great guy, I was determined to make it work, so we agreed on keeping it long-distance, and he agreed to visit me on set in Baja whenever he could.

Now, as I sat in first class on the plane next to Leo, I couldn't stop jittering. It wasn't a fear of flying, my 11 hour plane journey from London to LA proof that flying wasn't the problem, but perhaps it was apprehension of the months ahead. Acting isn't a walk in the park, I've always known that, but I suddenly wasn't sure if I was truly able to handle it.

"Quit your leg-shaking Nel, you're making me god damn nervous." Leo piped up, frowning at me with concern.

"Give me a break, it's my first gig," I shot back, and sunk down into my large seat, low enough so that he couldn't see me through the partition that separated our seats. I closed my eyes and exhaled deeply in the hopes of calming my nerves, my arms crossed in front of me. I probably looked like a sulking child from afar. A very nervous sulking child.

A small weight plopped down into my lap, rattling, and I opened my eyes to see what had just landed on me. A pack of skittles. A smile crept up on my face, "Leo," I said as I chucked them back over the partition. "Have 'em." I heard him say. I sat up again so I could see him. He was engrossed by the film on the little tv screen in front of him, which was showing The Godfather. He picked the packet back up and chucked it back without looking, and it hit me square in the face "Hey!"

I heard him laughing as he turned to me. "That's what you get. Have them, I know you like 'em."

"Yeah but I know they're your favourite-"

"If you chuck them back over here one more time," he laughed "I'm not kidding, I will open the packet and throw them at you one by one. Seriously," He said, pretending to be serious.

"Alright alright, okay, I'll have them." I opened the packet and started eating, and I could see Danny Nucci and Kathy Bates cracking up from the seats to the right of me, after witnessing the exchange.

//

A couple of hours later, we landed in Tijuana International Airport, and it was nearing 2am as we walked through the terminal. I walked silently alongside Billy Zane, my on screen fiancée, who I had come to know was one of the most down to earth people I had ever met, and his presence was comforting. Leo was the main source of chatter a couple of feet in front of me, talking to Victor Garber (Thomas Andrews) and David Warner (Lovejoy), who we'll both be sharing scenes with.

After we exited the airport, we walked for a couple of minutes to get to the cars that would be taking us to our accommodation – 5 glossy black jeeps waited for us, standing in a perfect row, and I assumed these would also be the jeeps we could use around Rosarito on any days we weren't filming.

"Niiiiiice," I whispered, running my hand along the smooth surface as several airport workers put our luggage in the trunks of the cars. I opened the door and got in first, the rest of the cast still standing outside chatting and admiring the cars. I was just too tired – I felt drained, and I hadn't even started filming. I pulled my phone out of my bag to check the time. 2.18am.

The car door opened, and Leo slid in beside me. "Hey," he murmured softly. I smiled in return, but said nothing. The streetlights from outside illuminated his face, and it made me so calm, and so sleepy. I leant down to rest my head on his shoulder, but he shifted it from under me and put his arm around me instead. This was the most at peace I had felt in a while, or maybe I was just extremely tired, so I fell asleep within minutes.

//

"Hey," I could feel a shake from under me. "Nel wake up, we're here." I opened my eyes reluctantly and squinted, the bright lights illuminating the hotel too harshly for my eyes. Leo was still beside me – it seemed like I hadn't moved at all in the 45 minutes it took to get here. He got out of the car first, with me following behind. I stared up at the hotel, which read 'Playa Bonita Luxury Suites', but I could hear the sound of waves crashing on the other side of the hotel. Must be right on the sea front.

After being assigned a room and given the keys, I rushed to find my room, but when I got in, I realised it wasn't even a room, it was a whole mini apartment, with sleek kitchen worktops and a large dining table off to the side. The best part of it was the living room – the couch was surrounded by 2 walls of glass, which opened up to the balcony, which overlooked the beach. I dropped my bags in the middle of the hallway and ran up to the glass door, playing around with it until it opened, and stepped outside. The sound of the waves was even more prominent from here, and I could see them lightly crashing on the shore. It was empty, the gentle sway of palm trees being the only movement.

To hell with sleeping in the large bed, I'd probably rather get a blanket and sleep on my balcony, it was that beautiful. I decided against it, however. When people decided to head down to the beach, I'm sure they wouldn't want to see me snoring away on the balcony, which was made completely out of glass except the floor.

With that thought in mind, I went back inside, got changed and climbed into bed, and drifted off to sleep again.