PERMANENT - Leonardo DiCaprio

Chapter 23 - See You Soon

Thursday 6pm

The whole Titanic cast sat on the warm sand, chugging chilled beer straight from the bottle. The sun was still hot in the sky, but was positioned so that it wasn't directly overhead, but off to the far left, casting a divine glow on everyone's faces, with subtle hints of orange and rosy tones from the approaching sunset.

Everyone was exchanging stories about their time on set, and their time with Leo. Jim had allowed us to finish early today so that we could properly say goodbye to Leo, but as it turned out, many of the cast would too be leaving within the next week.

Since I had found out of Leo's imminent departure from Baja, I had been trying to make the most of our time together that we had left. After getting back from a gruelling last shoot with Leo at 6am this morning, I had stayed in his apartment, where we both passed out on his couch (yeah, that couch) for only 4 hours, when I got up to go back to filming, leaving Leo to sleep some more and then pack his things for the rest of the day.

Even though we were all laughing, enjoying ourselves, no one could ignore the cloud of gloom that seemed to hang above our heads, and I felt uneasy in my stomach. I didn't say much after a while (and we had been at the beach for about 2 hours now), and just sat there observing everyone, how they talked, what they said, how amazing it was for a group of people from completely different backgrounds and walks of life, completely different ages, to come together and get along so well, forming a big second family for life.

Then there was Leo – an entirely different story altogether. We'd had our ups and downs over the months, but we had formed a bond that could never be broken, and that was all I needed – more than I could've ever asked for.

"Penelope?" I was brought out of my thoughts by Frances' voice.

"Hm?" I asked mindlessly, to which everyone burst out laughing. Frances smiled before repeating the question she had asked previously, which I had missed.

"What was it like making out with Leo? I know I'd trade places with you in a heartbeat," her voice had this cunning, mischievous tone to it, and her mouth was curved upwards a little as she winked at Leo, to which Leo winked back. I was taken aback by her words – I knew it wasn't even a legitimate question, as Frances was a flirty cougar by nature, but I was at loss for words. I didn't think back to all the scripted kisses we had shared, but that one night some months ago in Leo's apartment, where there were no orders to follow, it wasn't scripted and it wasn't fabricated by some millionaire producer to be played out in front of the cameras – it was just us, and it was real.

"Uhhh," I let out a nervous laugh "It was pretty great. He uh....he knows his stuff." Was all I could say, pretty embarrassingly. Everyone laughed as I dared look over to Leo, who was sat opposite me in the large uneven circle we had formed. He was looking at me already and we shared a smile. And there it was. There was that lingering stare I had talked about, his eyes still full of unspoken words. I had to break off the eye contact before anyone could see the weird tension, so I turned to Jason, who was speaking about his character Tommy's death scene, and the joys of lying there pretending to be dead on camera and getting paid for it.

//

"Do you really have to go?" I asked Leo as I lugged one of his suitcases down the stairs. That one bag alone was so heavy that I was convinced he had stolen half of the hotel's belongings and stuffed them in his bag.

"Yes Nel, I do, but where I don't really want to go is the emergency room if you break your back going down these stairs. I said I got them okay?" he fussed, walking behind me with his other bags.

I ignored him, increasing my pace down the stairs as he huffed and puffed behind me. Upon reaching the bottom of the stairs safely, I turned to him to give him a smug look as if to say 'you were wrong again, and I got my way again – I got down the stairs with no broken backs', and he rolled his eyes.

I then proceeded to carry it out to the cab that waited for him just outside of the hotel in the shadowy night, illuminated by the warm lights of the hotel lobby, where Alberto was typing away at his computer.

Leo reached the cab too, handing his bags to the driver, who got to work heaving them into the trunk of the cab.

He then turned to me with a woeful look on his face and came towards me, wrapping me in a tight embrace. I couldn't believe this was it and he was actually going – he wasn't going to bring me breakfast in the morning, we wouldn't goof around on set all day, we wouldn't have our nightly deep talks on the beach, and we never really would be Jack and Rose again.

I snuffled into his shoulder, adamant that I wasn't going to cry tonight. After a minute, he leaned out of the hug and just gazed at me, then without warning, cupped my face and pressed his lips to mine. His lips were soft as always, and they were parted, fitting with mine like a perfect puzzle. We had kissed before, but it seemed different. I wasn't a steamy make-out session, fuelled by lust, and it clearly wasn't scripted, but it was simple, fuelled by unrestrained emotion.

I stood frozen, taking it in until he pulled away to look into my eyes again, fitting his hand in mine as it slid down my arm. He half-smiled and let go of me, still holding my hand as he walked backwards a couple of steps. "I'll see you soon." He simply stated, then squeezed my hand and let go, turning to the cab and getting in. Once again I had been left speechless, as I stood outside the hotel watching the cab speed off into the distance.