Hollywood HollyWON'T

Chapter Nine

At 11:45, I decided to head out and wait outside, since Max Bing would probably be confused if he came to meet me, and I was already inside, chilling with his rival.

The guard gave me a funny look as I left, but I ignored it, and waited for Max.

When he showed up, he smiled at me and said "Okay, let's do this."

I couldn't help but smile back. It was still so surreal that I was standing here, next to Max Bing. It was everything I'd ever wanted.

We headed to Max's recording studio, which I vaguely remembered, but looking at it now, with more time to admire it, I saw all the details.

The walls were covered in his awards and his favorite guitars, and the paint underneath then was red. I quickly pulled out my phone to snap a few quick photos, and then put it away to listen to Max and his manager.

"So this new song is only going to be released in a couple months, which means under no circumstances can you record it, share the lyrics with anyone, or do a cover of it. Do you understand me?

I nodded, and I'm sure I looked a little terrified in that moment. He was looking at me like if I didn't listen he would arrange to have me killed. And he looked like the kind of man who could get away with that.

"Good. Okay, Max, hop into the booth."

Max walked to his recording booth, and put on his headphones without looking back.

°•°•°•°•°

To say I was wowed would be an understatement. There's a reason Max Bing managed to become one of the most heard of teenagers in the country. There's just something about his voice that makes you want to heard more.

"Oh. My. God." I exclaimed, as he walked out of the recording booth.

He smirked at me. "Ya liked it?"

Just that one look, and I felt my knees wobble.

"It was beyond amazing. I'm almost mad I got to hear it early, because I have to wait months to buy it and play it on repeat."

Max laughed. "That's the kind of genuine compliment I live for."

We smiled at each other for a minute, and I felt unsure what to do next.

"Hey look, I'm sorry for blowing up at you the other night. It wasn't right of me. Let me make it up to you. Wanna go grab some lunch?

•°•°•°•°•°

You haven't lived if you haven't had pasta from Ricardo's. Then again, you haven't lived unless you've gone out to lunch with Max Bing.

I was proud to say I had most definitely lived. And as great as Max Bing was, I would go on a date with Dracula if it meant having more of this cheesey yummy goodness.

"So how's L.A been treating you?" he asked.

I swallowed quickly, scared of cheese falling out of my mouth if I spoke too soon.

"It's really fun. Definitely a great way to spend summer break."

"Oh right, it's break for everyone. So are you here for the whole summer, or what?

"Well the trip is supposed to be for ten days" I replied, "but my dad thought it would be fun to start a little longer, so I'm here for a little under three weeks."

Max nodded along politely. "Sounds really fun.  What tourist sites have you seen so far?"

The conversation flowed easily from there on. I could see people taking pictures around us the whole time, but I didn't care. This wasn't the kind of situation I was embarrassed to be photographed in.

After twenty ​minutes or so, Max had to head off to a meeting.

We exchanged numbers, and said the mandatory words when you say bye to someone, like 'so nice seeing you', and 'lets do this again sometime'.

Max Bing  then unexpectedly pulled me into a hug. "See you around Julie," he said.

Then he grabbed his wallet and headed for the door. "Let's see them claim Pegg stole her from me now," he muttered under his breath.

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•

Yeah you could say I'm obsessed, but what can I do, L.A has the best shopping, so yeah, I'm at the mall.

I was pretty sure I looked pathetic since I was here all alone, but my dad had taken Mia to see a dolphin show, and I just wasn't interested.

In order to seem like slightly less of a loser, I was ooVooing with Maya, and showing her everything I picked out.

After my mom passed away, my dad hadn't really known what to do for me shipping wise, so I had a budget of two hundred dollars a month to spend on things like clothes, magazines, makeup, and other things that he wouldn't know how to buy.

I'd been saving up my money for the past couple of months so that when I came to L.A I could go all out with my shopping.

As I grabbed another pair of shoes to try on, I heard a voice behind me.

"You know, if this keeps happening, I'm gonna start to think you're stalking me."

"Maya, I'm gonna have to go" I said, before I turned around to see the smiling face of Hayden Pegg.

"Don't worry, I don't plan on screaming this time," I said, laughing.

Hayden ran a hand through his hair. "I guess that's an improvement then.

"Yeah well, believe it or not, sometimes I can speak at a normal volume.  If I'm lucky, I can even speak at a normal speed, and not fifty words a second."

Hayden laughed. "Well I want some chicken, and to hear this 'normal people voice' you claim to possess. Any chance you wanna join me at the food court?"

I should've said no. I had been getting hate comments online for days now because I had been spotted getting food with him. I once told a girl that I'd rather marry a fish than kiss Hayden Pegg. I still had so much shopping left to do. Maya had been in the middle of a good story. There were so many reasons I should've said no.

"I'd love to," I said, smiling.