12Author's notes: I'm just going to take a moment to answer a question really quick. Naomi, I'm not too sure myself when I'm going to update my other story Educational Experience. I know that sounds funny but I just kind of have a mind block as far as that story goes, I know where I want it to end up but I'm still not sure how to get there, I've tried writing more but every time I read what I've written it sounds hollow and unreal and I don't want to publish something that I'm unhappy with but I am working on it and hopefully soon I'll come up with something that I like and hopefully my readers will like as well. Thanks for your question, Naomi.
Enjoy Chapter 3 and as always please review ^_^
"Open up, Eric." I said, knocking on the door of his dressing room. "I'm ready to go." I knocked again.
"Eric left." a member of the tech crew said from behind me.
"He what?" I said a little more viciously than I had meant to as I whipped around to look at the person behind me. She was younger than me, maybe nineteen, and just as short with mousy brown hair and big hazel eyes. I didn't know her name and I felt like I should have.
"I-I'm sorry!" she exclaimed. "If I knew you needed him I would've told him. I'm sorry!"
"Why are you apologizing?"I asked.
"I'm sorry. I'm new. I just started as an intern here last week. So many people have yelled at me this past week. I'm so clumsy, I hate it!" The poor girl was shaking and her eyes were brimming with tears.
"Who's been yelling at you?"
"Everyone!" she wiped at her eyes. "But it's my fault. I mess things up. I'll drop the coffee or I'll mix up the paperwork or I'll take too long to get people lunch." I couldn't help it, I felt sorry for the girl. I wanted to make her feel better.
"Well . . .They shouldn't yell at you." I said lamely. I'd never run into this kind of problem myself. No one yelled at me so I said the only thing I could think of. "If they do it again find me and I'll come-" she cut me off.
"Oh no, I could never inconvenience you like that. Thank you though. Everyone told me that you wouldn't even talk to me. What a relief to know that's not true." She began to calm down. "You made me feel better. Thank you." She began to walk off but I stopped her with:
"Hey! What's your name?"
"Me?" she pointed to herself. I nodded. "I'm Chloe."
"Nice to meet you."
"You too." With a smile Chloe sauntered down the hall but didn't make it out of sight without stumbling over a loose wire. "I'm ok!" she called over her shoulder before disappearing around the corner.
I couldn't help but smile. I knew the name of someone else who wasn't an actor or the director. I was already proving Jude wrong. Of course now I was back to the same problem I had come across five minutes ago. Eric had left. He was supposed to give me a ride home. Apparently he forgot. Ok, no problem. I'd take a cab.
Of course the moment I left the studio the heavens opened up and poured such heavy rain upon me that I could hardly see two feet in front of me. I stuck my my arm out and tried hailing myself a cab. Unfortunately so were many other people so I was drenched by the time a taxi stopped in front of me, at least I thought the taxi stopped in front of me.
I tried grabbing for the handle of the door but instead I grabbed something soft. Before I could get a good look at what I had grabbed, it grabbed me back. I let a out shriek and saw that it was someone's hand that I had grabbed and they in turn had grabbed my hand back.
"Trying to get me back by stealing my cab this time?" I craned my neck skyward to see:
"Jude!"
"You gonna let me into my cab?" he asked aggressively.
"I should take it, considering what you did the other day but there's only one problem: how can I take your cab? You don't have one because this cab is mine."
"Will you guys just get in?" the cab driver stuck his head out the window. "I'm wasting time here."
"It's mine." I ripped the door open and flung myself inside the cab. I reached out to close the door but Jude knocked my arm out of the way and shoved me over.
"We're sharing it."
"Fine."I gave a sharp turn of my head and ended up slapping Jude in the face with my long, wet hair. I sniggered when he rubbed his cheek.
"Where are you guys headed?" the driver asked.
"Ocean-view apartments." Jude and I said in unison. The cab took off.
"You live at the Ocean-view apartments?" I asked, stunned.
"You live there?"
"Yeah, why wouldn't I?"
"They aren't exactly where all the movie stars live."
"That's why I live there." I explained stiffly. "The paparazzi don't hang around there."
"But I saw on the news that you had a big apartment on Hollywood Boulevard."
"Oh, that." I sighed. "It's just to throw people off, I like my privacy."
"Unbelievable." Jude threw his hands up in the air.
"What? What's unbelievable?"
"I can barely afford to live there splitting the rent with three room-mates but you probably live there alone, am I right?"
"Yeah, so what?"
"So what? You have your own apartment at Ocean-view and another over-priced one that you don't even live in!"
"Yeah but I bet you can go to the grocery store without getting mobbed by crazy fans." I retorted.
Jude didn't have a comeback for that so I kept on going.
"And just so you know I do talk people who work with the crew. I know Chloe. So there." I poked him in the chest triumphantly.
"That so?" I nodded at Jude. "Can you name any other of the hundred or so other people who work on the crew?"
"Sure I can." I searched through the corners of my mind. "The guy with bright red hair who uhhh wears glasses and always brings the coffee." I folded my arms over my chest in triumph.
"I said can you name anyone not give a vague description. By the way his name is Isaac." He shook his head. "Well at least you proved my point. Just because you know the name of one intern doesn't mean you know the crew."
"We havn't been shooting the movie that long!" I protested. "Just a little over two weeks. How am I supposed to know everyone in such a short amount of time?"
"I've been here a few days and I already know more people who work on the set than you." said Jude.
"That's because you work on the set." I pointed out.
"But I know all the names of the actors too." That shut me up. We sat in silence all the way back to the apartment complex and when the cab stopped I pulled out my purse to pay but before I could Jude shoved a couple of bills at the driver saying: "That should cover everything." and exited the cab. I followed him out.
"Hey!" I scrambled over to Jude and I had to reach up to shove his shoulder. "If I'm so rich and spoiled and you have so little money then why didn't you let me pay for the cab?" I asked with anger that I couldn't quite understand why I felt. Instead of answering my question Jude just kept on walking, ignoring me. "Are you too good to take my money?" Jude stayed infuriatingly silent as he walked up the stairs toward the third floor of the apartments. "Or are you just trying to annoy me?"
As soon as that last comment escaped my lips Jude stopped in his tracks and turned to face me, towering over me.
"No, I'm not. You know what? I'll tell you the truth." Jude grabbed my upper arm. It didn't hurt but there was a burning sensation where his hand made contact with my bare arm. "No matter how much I don't like you I was taught that when you share a cab with a woman you pay for it."
Of all the replies that Jude could have could have come up with, this was the farthest from what I had anticipated. In fact, I was caught off guard so much so that all I could manage to do was lamely say:
"I don't need your chivalry." I wrenched my arm away from Jude's grip but the burning sensation where his hand had been lingered. I rushed past him and began walking further up the stairs to my apartment on the fifth floor, to my great annoyance Jude began to walk up the stairs right behind me. Still walking up the stairs I asked Jude without looking at him, "Are you following me?"
"Oh please." Jude let out a snide laugh. "Don't flatter yourself. My apartment is o n the sixth floor."
"What?" I didn't know that Jude lived in the same apartment building as me let alone just one floor above me. "What?" I repeated. Jude looked at me as though I was simple.
"I. Live. On. The. Sixth. Floor." he said said slowly. I rolled my eyes at him, he was mocking me.
"What apartment number?" I all but demanded.
"Why do you care?" Jude asked defensively. When I gave no answer he reluctantly said: " Six D."
"Just my luck." I pinched the bridge of my nose and let out a sigh. Without a word I made a left out of the stairwell and headed toward my apartment but I had piqued Jude's interest and he followed.
"Why do you care where I live?" he asked walking along side of me, one of his long strides matching two of my short strides.
"Now you really are following me." I accused.
"This time that's true but only because I want to know why the amazing Olivia Seong," the word "amazing" was absolutely dripping with sarcasm. "wants to know where I live." He didn't have to wait for me to give the answer. It was answered by me merely stopping in front of the door to my apartment which had the letters "Five D" on the door. "So I live right above you?" he asked with a grin.
"I guess you do." I returned his grin with a tight, sardonic smile. Jude's grin grew broader as he began to walk away from me in long strides.
"I'm sure you'll hear from me soon."
"I'm sure I will." I grumbled, sticking my key in the lock and making my way inside.
I ground my teeth impatiently as my phone conversation with Eric was interrupted yet again by careless stomping from above. Only a few moments after I had stepped into my apartment I heard stomping from above that I had never heard previously. At first I didn't care. I had grabbed my mp3 player and turned it up until I could no longer hear the ruckus but when I had to turn it off to call Eric the noise from above had become infuriating.
"Since you forgot about me today I need you to pick me up tomorrow." I tried to make Eric feel guilty. I normally wouldn't but I was in such a bad mood that I had to take it out on someone.
"Sorry Liv."Eric sounded sheepish. Without preamble Eric asked why I was so angry.
"There's too much to explain, I don't even want to bother." I glowered at the ceiling as though that one act would stop Jude's very successful attempt to annoy me.
"Olivia Seong doesn't want to talk!" Eric gasped in mock surprise. "Let me alert the press."
"Shut-up." But in spite of myself I smiled and even let a dry laugh escape my lips.
"I made you laugh." Eric said. He didn't sound smug, just happy that he had raised my spirits.
"That's why I keep you around." I joked.
"What other possible reason could I have for existing other than to entertain you." Eric said with a chuckle.
I laughed a little harder at that consider how many millions of people Eric's movie's had entertained. Eric was famous for his innocent, baby-faced charm that made him so appealing to most any woman. Not me however, I had met Justin before I had met Eric and therefore I was a lost cause to any man after that. He was a good friend, my best friend even, but that was it.
"Good. Next time I'm bored I'll call you over to do a little dance on my living room table for me."
"If I knew that would pull you out of your near constant brooding that you've been doing over that past month I would do it in a heartbeat." Eric said with mock solemnity.
"I'm afraid that time is the only thing that will take care of that." Time and a lot of watermelon vodka. "Listen, I thi-Dammit!" I erupted when I heard the stomping from again. The good mood that I was so precariously in was shot down. I didn't feel like talking anymore. "I've got to go Eric. I'll talk to you later. Bye."
"Wait, Liv-"
I hit the end button before he could protest further. I needed to get out of my apartment. I needed to talk to someone but not Eric. Someone who wasn't endlessly worried about me when I complained to them about all the problems in my life. Someone who I could get stinking drunk with.
"I guess I'm going to see Will."
I found myself waiting outside Will's door. I had taken a cab to there, the few times I had been to Will's apartment I had found a small group of photographer's in front of the apartment building but it was friday night so they would be out mobbing the popular weekend celebrity haunts.
I knocked loudly on Will's door. No answer. I knocked even louder a second time. After a few seconds I heard a muffled yell. The door flew open to reveal Will in jeans and a white T-shirt.
"Liv?" Will looked down at me with surprise and curiosity. "What are you doing here?" He sounded intrigued.
"I talked to Justin today." I pushed my way into Will's apartment.
"Did you talk to Emma?" Will interjected quickly before I could say anything else.
"No but Justin said she was fine." I felt a pang of sympathy for the guy. We were both in the same situation. He, being in love with Emma and me, being in love with Justin.
"Good," Will breathed a sigh of relief and shut the door I had just pushed my way through. "I don't know what Justin was thinking, dragging her around the world like that for their honeymoon. It's not safe." Will stopped talking abruptly probably because he realized that he was showing too much concern for a living thing. He hated showing emotion, any kind of emotion except indifference. "What does talking to Justin have to do with your reason for coming over here?" Will took a seat on a stool that was pulled up to his kitchen counter.
"Honestly," I took a seat at the stool next to him. "I came here to forget my problems or in other words get wasted." I pulled a bottle of vodka out from behind my back. Will laughed at me.
"You're going to need more than that to forget your problems." He walked over to a cabinet and pulled it open to reveal several bottles of different kinds of booze. "This would be a good start." He grinned and grabbed the closest bottle and two glasses. He placed a glass in front of me and opened the bottle, which turned out to be whiskey.
"I think I'll stick with my watermelon vodka." I didn't like whiskey. It burned my throat and I wasn't going to add to my pain.
"That's a girl drink." Will said after downing his first glass of whiskey with ease.
"I'm a girl, aren't I?" I poured myself a glass.
"So why did you decide to come to my place to get drunk?" Will asked. "I'm pretty sure there are special places to go do that. They're called bars."
"Don't be a smart alec." I punched his arm. "We're kindred spirits, you and I. We're both miserable." I downed some vodka.
"What a great reason to spend a friday night together."
"It's better than spending it all by myself in a noisy apartment." I told him.
"How is it noisy if your by yourself?"
I explained what happened with Jude from the first time we met a few days ago up to what happened just a few hours ago.
"Soooo, ever since he found out that he lives above me he's decided to annoy me by stooooomping around." I commiserated.
"It sounds to me like," Will began pouring another glass of his foul whiskey and some of it sloshed on the counter. "He likes you."
"What?" I blinked twice.
"I may not be entirely lucid but it sounds to me like a third grade crush. You know when you were eight years old and the little boy who liked you would show it by pulling your hair or pushing your face into the water fountain. That's what's happening with you two."
"Nooooo, no, noooo." I stretched out the word, the alcohol inhibiting the way I spoke. "He just haaaates me. A lot." I capped off the statement with a forceful nod.
"You don't hold your alcohol very well." Will observed.
"Gimme twenty years of practice and I'll be juuuuust as jaded as you." I poked his chest with my index finger. Will grabbed the finger I'd been pointing with and lightly shoved my hand back at me.
"I'm not jaded, I'm bitter. There's a difference." he glowered. "I have good reasons to be the way I am anyway."
"Is that so?" I asked.
"Unfulfilled childhood dreams and such." Will grumbled.
"Tell me aaaaall about it." I drawled. Will pushed his glass toward me.
"Pour me another and I'll tell you anything."
In the next few hours I heard of Will's childhood dream of being in the army but he'd gone into acting because he wanted to be closer to some girl who ended up marrying a famous director. I told him about my parents, who had pushed me into an acting career at a very young age and how they'd never be satisfied until I'd won an Oscar. Apparently just being nominated for one wasn't enough . . .
I know there must have been more to that night but bits and pieces were missing and later when I would try to recall what else we did or talked about I realized I couldn't remember most of what we had talked about. Alcohol does that to you.
I don't know exactly when it happened but I blacked out and ended up on the steps of my apartment building in the bright light of a summer morning. I tried opening my eyes slightly but the sunlight seemed to burn them.
"My head." I groaned. It felt as though my head was going to burst, it felt like my mouth was full of cotton and all my limbs tingled. I tried to get up but my hand slipped on the stairs and I cracked my nose on a cement stair. I took in a sharp breath as I saw blood trickle onto the stairs from my nose. A sob escaped my lips then another and another until I was full on crying. I never cried. It had been over a year and even that one occasion had been a rare sight.
I went rigid as I heard footsteps coming down the stairs. I tried to muffle my sobs but surely the person would inquire as to why I was lying in the stairs with a bloody nose.
The footsteps came closer, I braced myself. If the person recognized me and they happened to have their cel phone on them, they could take pictures and send them to any tabloid who would publish them along side some crazy speculative story. The footsteps stopped by my head.
"Are you alr- Liv?"
I rolled over, revealing my bloody nose. I heard a gasp. I cracked open one eye hoping that my ears deceived me, that it wasn't who I thought it was, but through the glistening sunlight I saw Jude staring down at me.