Hollywood HollyWON'T

Chapter Six

Hayden was the first one to break the silence. "She's so young. She doesn't deserve it."

I looked at him, sorrow in my eyes. "I know. I'm so sorry."

Since we were stopped at a red light, he turned to look at me, and I saw the anger in his eyes. "No. You don't know. So don't pretend you get it. You don't know what its like to see someone who you love so much get hurt, and there's nothing you can do to help. I thought she was going to die tonight. The doctors said that she probably wouldn't make it through the night. That's why I rushed over, and made you bring me."

"My mom died of cancer," I blurted out. I don't know why I said it. I hadn't planned on telling him. It wasn't the kind of thing I usually told strangers, like, 'hi, I'm Julia. My mom died of cancer. And you are?'. Shockingly, that's not how most of my conversations go. I was just so mad that he assumed I didn't get it that it just slipped out.

He pulled over to the side of the road, so that he wouldn't crash because he was talking. "I'm so sorry, Julia. For assuming, and for what happened to you."

It was short, and he wasn't even looking at me, but I knew that it was a genuine apology. And I like to think that I'm not the type to hold grudges.

"It was two years ago," I said simply. "I thought my life was over. I didn't think I'd be able to function after that,  but the good thing about pain is that, eventually, it has to end. There's no pain that's eternal."

He smirked slightly, "I wasn't expecting something so deep from a Bing fan."

I smiled slightly. To be honest, I had almost forgotten about Max, and the fact that I had ditched him. If you had told me a month ago that I would be going on a date with Max Bing, and that I'd ditch him to go somewhere with Hayden Pegg, I would've told you to go to the psych ward.

"Don't knock it till you try it," I said, laughing slightly.

His grin widened. "For a Bing fan, you're alright."

"Well thanks," I say sarcastically. "For what it's worth, you're not as awful as I thought you'd be."

"Why thank you, M'lady," he said, even more sarcastically than I had.

"Why aren't we driving?" I asked after a moment.

Hayden looked back at the wheel, as if shocked to realize that he wasn't holding it. "Well, since we've already stopped, why don't we take a quick detour? I need some cheering up after that depressing evening."

"And what exactly do you have in mind?"

He smiled at me. "Ever gotten donuts and ice cream at Paulo's?"

°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

Paulo's was an ice cream place in Hollywood that celebrities go to. I'd seen a bunch of candids of Max there, so I knew what it was, but obviously, I'd never been there.

I'd been missing out.

Paulo's ice cream was the best thing I'd ever tasted. It was creamy and rich, but not overwhelming, all at the same time.

Their donuts were just as good. I had bought a rainbow sprinkle one, but I'd been taking pieces of Hayden's, because the chocolate donut was just irresistible.

We decided to eat them in the car, because if someone took a picture of us, we'd be dead.

He didn't explicitly say that, but it was implied. And I agreed. If my friends or followers thought I was a Hayden Pegg fan now, my life as I knew it would be over.

I was brought back to earth from my thoughts by an extremely cold surprise on my nose.

Hayden pulled back his ice cream cone sheepishly, but his eyes were glistening with mischief. "Oops," he said.

I grabbed some napkins and started wiping off my nose."I hope you weren't planning on becoming a double threat with acting, because you're the worst liar I know."

Hayden laughed, and it sounded so genuine, like he wasn't holding back. He was just living life to the fullest.

We sat there, giggling quietly for another couple of seconds.

"So, tell me about yourself" Hayden said.

I looked at him, raising an eyebrow. "Not much to tell. I'm not the superstar here. Pretty sure your story is more interesting than mine."

"Maybe," he replied. "But I wanna hear yours anyway."

So I started to tell him. "Born and raised in Hunter's Creek, New Jersey. I have one little sister, named Mia, and a couple of cousins who are like family to me. One of them is even my age, so she's one of my best friends. Her name is Kayla."

I paused, not sure what to say next. I didn't exactly have a fascinating life. And it seemed pretty lame to tell him that the most exciting thing I'd ever done was everything tonight.

"I'm also from New Jersey," Hayden confessed. "About twenty five minutes drive from where you're from. I grew up in Tenafly."

I was shocked. I hadn't known that Hayden Pegg was from my hometown. Okay, maybe not my town, but it was close enough.

"What do you like better, New Jersey or LA?" I asked.

"It's different," he responded. "New Jersey is so calm and familiar, and I feel like it's mine in a weird way, but LA is so lively and full of excitement, so it's exciting to be somewhere where I don't know what the next day will be like. There are never really surprises in Jersey."

"Still," he added as an afterthought. "when I finish my music career, I wanna move back to New Jersey."

"When your career is over? Why do you think it'll end? I asked, baffled.

"It's just like you said. Nothing really lasts forever, not good, and not bad."

I thought about that for a moment. I suppose it's true. After all, you can't be a teen Heartthrob when you're fourty.

But still... I had never thought about the fact that the celebrities I knew would eventually just stop making music. In the back of my mind, I thought they would continue forever.

"Come on," Hayden said. "We should probably head back to the awards. People have probably noticed that we're gone."

It hit me for the first time that my dad was probably a little worried that I had been getting fresh air for over an hour.

I didn't even want to know what Max Bing thought.