Hollywood Heights! Leddie must go on

chapter 22

"They need you on set in ten minutes," a producer said as she poked her head into the trailer.

"Thank you," Tyler said as the finishing touches of his "I've-just-been-in-a-prison-fight" makeup were applied. He was enjoying himself. He always said that the only reason he had come to Hollywood was to follow Chloe. While it may have been true at first, he knew that the acting bug had bitten him. The last week on the set had been an adrenaline rush. He was important in this town, at least for now. Oz Silver himself had been on the set to oversee the initial production of the movie. Tyler's star had arrived.

"I've got your tea," a production assistant said as she handed him the cup.

"Thank you, Natalie," he said. The production assistant was cute, but not worth his trouble. He was reaching for his script to go over the next scene's lines when he saw the picture she was looking at on her tablet.

"What is that?" he asked.

The fact that he startled her just by asking her a question made Tyler chuckle. Natalie quickly turned to table towards him so he could get a better look.

"They're pictures from Friday's gala," she said. "I love looking at all the pretty dresses."

"Do you mind?" Tyler asked reaching for the tablet. Natalie smiled and handed it over to him. Tyler scrolled through the pictures and stopped on Eddie and the teenager. He fought the knee-jerk reaction of sneering at his picture. Eddie was not the source of his bad luck. It took him a long time to figure that out.

He kept scrolling and came upon "her" picture. Of course Chloe would be there. Eddie was there, right? She was photographed with some pretty boy model. That was perfect. They were both striking poses for the camera making sure to have their good sides captured. Now he let his sneer show. So much of his time and effort had been wasted on that selfish . . . no, he wasn't going to go there. She's moved on, and so should he. He told her that he had; now he had to actually do it, but old habits die hard.

"Natalie," Tyler said dripping sweetness, "Can you do me a favor?"

　

"I never thought I would say this," Loren said to Eddie as she took off her headphones, "But I am getting really tired of this studio."

They had been in the studio all day Sunday and now Monday. Finishing these final songs had taken up all of their time. Loren felt more stifled here than she ever did at school.

"It's a good thing I have another idea for one of the songs we have left to record," Eddie smiled. He walked into the booth and grabbed her waist pulling her towards him.

"Oh yeah, what's that?" Loren asked.

"I'll have my touring band this week in Vegas, and they'll be performing with us Friday," Eddie said. "Let's record a song live during one of the rehearsals."

"Can we do that?"

"Sure," Eddie said. "It'll give it a spontaneous touch. It'll be a bonus track on the album."