Just An Ordinary Girl ~A Johnny Depp Story~

Kiss And Tell...No-one?

"Excuse me! Oh God, I'm sorry...excuse me!"

"Look, Madam, I don't think you're meant to be here!"

"No...I am, really! I'm meeting some friends!"

"Dressed like that?" The man in front of me asked snidely, eyeing my tattered jeans that were ripped in both knees, my scarlet cardigan thrown over a plain white vest top and my hastily brushed hair and applied make-up with apparent disdain. It was my tattered red Converses however that were attracting his particular attention. True enough, they had seen better days, or better years for that matter, but there was no need to glare at them and their trailing split shoelaces as he was, obviously wishing to burn them as part of a special ceremony.

"Yes, yes, dressed like this! Now come on, please let me through! I'm already a bit late!" I moaned, glancing through the magnificent glass doors worriedly.

'Already a bit late'. That was probably the understatement of the century. I was, in fact, forty-five minutes late to Gore's little meeting at The Ritz, after my alarm clock trilled off loudly next to me this morning and I threw it against the wall, smashing it and settling back down for an extended sleep. It was only when I suddenly jolted myself awake ten minutes later that I remembered the arrangements for today. With that, I leapt out of bed at world-record-speed, threw on the nearest outfit, tripped over two empty bottles of alcohol that were strewn across my living room floor from last night and struggled out of the doorway, making for the nearest bus into Central London. And when I had finally reached the ridiculously fancy hotel, biting my lip as I recalled everything that had happened last night between me and Johnny which had been temporarily forgotten in my rush, I had then been hassled by a particularly snobby doorman who refused my request to be let in.

"I'm sorry, Madam, but I'm going to have to ask you to leave," he said with a grim expression, ushering me back to the sidewalk as I stared at him exasperatedly.

"Look, please, I need to-" I began, but was cut off by a sudden cry of "Alice!" from behind me and turned to see Gore himself shooting me a warm smile, carefully balancing what appeared to be a tray of hot drinks.

"Hey," I replied, with an attempt at a smile though I was feeling stressed.

"Sorry...I just had to dash out and get drinks from Starbucks for everyone...they're all half asleep still, and we were all waiting for you because you were..." Gore explained, but trailed off at the end, too polite to actually say the words 'taking so long we were all sure we'd have died of old age by the time you finally arrived'.

We paused slightly awkwardly, before he nodded to the doorman briskly. "Thank you, James."

James, the doorman, nodded to him quickly in recognition before letting us both in, still watching me with slight apprehension as we headed upstairs to Gore's suite. Gore handed me the key promptly as we reached his room and I opened the door for us, stepping into the beautifully furnished room quietly. A table was positioned in the middle of the room, and seated around it were all of the faces I'd got to know and love recently. To my left was Orlando, leaning back on his chair casually, arms folded across his slender chest. Keira was seated next to him, collapsed into giggles at something he'd just said as she wound a strand of golden hair around her index finger idly. Bill and Jack were observing each other blankly, and opposite them was Johnny.

I gazed at him numbly, but my presence in the room went temporarily unnoticed. He appeared to be muttering something that sounded like, "One hundred...yeah...exactly, that's exactly right!" into his cell phone. He snapped it shut, looking satisfied, before jumping up as he spotted me by the door, slightly pink in the face. He stood up as though to greet me before sitting awkwardly back down in his chair next to an ungracefully slumping Vanessa who I hadn't spotted earlier. All eyes suddenly turned on me and a few shouts of "Hey!" and "Nice and punctual as per usual, Alice!" were uttered, as Gore struggled past me with his tray of Starbucks coffees balancing on one hand. They were placed in the middle of the table and everyone promptly helped themselves to one, apart from Johnny who was frowning into his lap at an apparent loss for words and thirst. I reached out for the last one gratefully, but before my fingers could close over the warm polystyrene cup another hand reached out swiftly and snatched it up in one deft swipe.