The Magic of Hollywood // Charlie Gillespie

Chapter 14

Should I be worried now? I really can't pay too much... or at least not close to what is appropriate for him. I shoot Valerie a worried look. She just smiles a knowing smile. What is going on? What does she know that I don't? I look back over to Charlie who's grin is wider than I've ever seen before. I look back and forth between the two of them. "What's going on? What did you two plan?" They look at each other confused. "Oh I have no idea what he wants, honey, but I have a feeling." The smile returns to Valerie's face. Charlie blushes a little and, yet again, rubs the back of his neck with his hand. Thinking back to a little ago when his hand was on my cheek I get a hot shiver right where he touched me. "You gonna tell me or what?" The suspense is killing me. Patience has never been a virtue of mine.

"I wanna spend a day with you. Get to know you." He looks to the ground. He does what? He wants to save my life by playing my opening night and in return he wants to spend a day with me? So I get a great opening and a day with the guy I'm way too interested in? My conscience tries to get a hold of me but the butterflies in my stomach make me dizzy. Eventually my conscience, sadly, wins. "I can't do that." He looks at me, a little bit of the sadness from earlier returning. Omg, no that's not at all how I meant it! "Charlie, I would love to spend a day with you, but I can't let you play my opening night for free." We are all silent for a second.

"Well, I'm gonna go check what's to do... somewhere else... you two work this out." Valerie leaves us. I need to say I had sort of forgotten that she was still there. When I'm around Charlie the whole world around me just seems to disappear. "Victoria, please let me do this?" His eyes are locked on the ground but once he finishes his question he slowly looks back up into my eyes. Oh my days! Don't look at me like that! I feel like I'm melting right where I'm standing. "But" He cuts me off before I can say anything more. "No but. See it that way. You need an opening act and I really wanna get to know you. It's a win for both of us. If you enjoy the day and wanna get to know me too that's just a bonus for you, I guess." I know I should just say yes. I mean after all I do really wanna get to know him and I do need to save every penny I can.

"Alright. What's your plan?" A devilish grin appears on his face. "Where's the fun in telling you?" The way he looks at my sends shivers down my spine and pure adrenalin is rushing through my veins. The thought of spending a whole day with Charlie... I can't wait. "When?" I'm not able to form coherent sentences right now that's how dizzy this whole situation and, especially, the fact that, due to my room being really small, we are only a few inches apart. "Yet to be determined. I think you have plenty to do with your opening right now so maybe afterwards?" He seems a little unsure. Is he already regretting his decision? Oh keep it together Victoria. He literally wants to be your opening act for free and spend a whole day with you, of course he is not regretting it. The thought of having to wait for that long until I get to spend time with him makes me kinda sad. Of course, how else would it be, he seems to read my mind.

"Oh, by the way, I think I'm gonna have to hang out here a lot, practice and go over song choice and stuff with you, you know?" There is that cheeky grin again. My heart skips a beat at the thought of him casually hanging out with me. I like where this is going. "So... I think we can sort of take the next step." What is he on about? I must have looked insanely confused because he bursts into laughter. I can't help but laugh along not really knowing what's going on. His laugh is just contagious. "You did that on purpose!" I hit his arm softly. He catches my arm before I can pull it away again. "Hey there, we're not hitting the guy who just saved your cute ass, ok?" My heart starts racing and I need to catch my breath. We just stare at each other for a few seconds and omg I really wanna kiss him right now. I really shouldn't though. No, no, no... we're not doing that. I don't know this guy and yes, so far he's giving me no reason to doubt him, apart from our very rough start, but I promised myself to be careful.

"So. Next step you said?" He lets go of my arm and takes a little step backwards. There isn't really much room so it hardly changes the fact the we are way too close together but this gesture gives me a weird feeling. "Right. I was just thinking... you know... we could exchange phone numbers?" I let out a small giggle. "Wow, you really know how to make something so small seem like a big step." - "Hey, I don't give out my number to just anyone, you know." We both start laughing. I give him my phone so he can type in his number. He takes a quick selfie and adds it to his contact. Then he gives me his phone to do the same. I wanna take a selfie too, just to be fair but he takes his phone away from me. Before I can worry he snaps a picture of me. "Wanted to do it High School Musical style. Their story was epic so it's worth a shot." And just like that, the butterflies start flying again.