PERMANENT - Leonardo DiCaprio

Chapter 45 - Public

Sunday 11.56pm

The engine of David's (David Blaine, that is, an astounding magician, and coincidently, one of Leo's closest friends) jeep cut off as he stopped parallel to Moomba to let us out.

"Hey thanks for the ride man," Leo said from the backseat, next to me, as he patted David on the shoulder.

"We'll see you in an hour?" Leo asked, rushed.

"Yeah, yeah I just have to drop the car off and then I'll come down with Sara." David replied, taking a long sip of soda from the cup he had put in the cup holder once he finished talking.

"Oh Sara's coming?" I piped up, hopefully. Sara Gilbert was also a good friend of Leo's, and a part time actress - she had starred in a couple of low key tv shows and commercials, and graduated from Yale just last year, and to date, she's been the only girl that has ever been considered to be part of the boys' 'entourage' by the media, though I had never met her.

"Yeah, she's making an appearance tonight." David replied, smiling.

Leo opened the door on his side, and stepped out, leaning down and sticking his head in the car one last time with a quick "See ya later buddy", before slamming the door shut.

"Thanks again, David." I said, leaning forward in between the two front seats of the car.

"Oh no, it's no problem sweetie." He said, smiling and giving a quick friendly wink. That was the great thing about David. I had only met him a handful of times before, but he was always so welcoming, like a big brother.

My side of the door opened, so I stepped out, thanking David again before I closed the car door and he sped off down the road.

"Im telling you," Leo spoke quietly as he grabbed my hand and started walking briskly towards the entrance "Moomba on a weekend is the place to be. And the owner, Jeff, he protects privacy. There are very few places that celebrities can go. See, in Moomba, it's easier to enjoy a nice meal with friends and not be concerned with telescopic lenses catching us eating shrimp cocktail, you know what I'm saying? It's why I love it so much."

The crowd outside Moomba had now realised they were in the presence of me and Leo, and the commotion started, people pushing and heads bobbing up and down to catch a glimpse, with a babble of "Is that them?", "Oh my God it's Leo and Pen!" and the occasional "Shiiit man!"

Leo took a moment to look back at the crowd, smiling out of appreciation, acknowledging everyone. The security guard didn't falter as we hastily reached the entrance, letting us through straight away while the other 3 tried to hold back the crowd. It was clear - they wouldn't let 'just anybody' into this place. The 'regulars' had to admire from outside..

The vibrating bass of the music hit us as we walked in, and I slipped my jacket off as one of the club workers came to my aid, offering a helping hand with taking my bag and jacket to the cloakrooms.

 Moomba itself had sort of an Asian feel to it, with its warm orange lights and its greenhouse patio full of flowers, and its hand-designed papier-mache screens. The bartender was cute, with his fly dreadlocks and his schoolboy looks, serving up all kinds of lethal potions. Everyone inside was dressed in superexpensive minimalist designer miniskirts with maxi-splits, silk spaghetti-strap tops and the latest furs, sipping cosmopolitans and red wine and swinging their hair and tossing their heads back and laughing giddily about whatever.

"Welcome to my second home," Leo purred in my ear, over my shoulder, his hands trailing up my arm. I smiled at the weird feeling of Leo's affection in public - it didn't feel wrong, but it was unfamiliar.