Hollywood Heartthrob

by Clarissa Carlyle

  “Almost, why?”

  “Murder She Wrote is just about to start. I thought we could watch it together and try and guess the killer before Angela does.” he explained shyly. Amy smiled and put down her pen.

  “Well, how can I pass up such an amazing offer?”

  Josh smiled warmly as she sat down next to him and even offered some cereal from his Lucky Charms box. Amy peered in to take some and then ruffled her nose.

  “You’ve eaten all the marshmallows!” she moaned.

  “They’re the best part!” Josh laughed.

  They settled down to watch the show but Josh seemed restless. After a while he turned and asked-

  “Are you doing anything tonight?”

  “Tonight?” Amy was puzzled by the question. “No, I’m not doing anything. Just like I’ve not done anything the past four nights you’ve been here.”

  “Do you fancy doing something?” Josh asked, hating himself for being too nervous to just come out and say it; he was normally so much more confident with women than this.

  “Like what?” Amy asked dubiously.

  “Like going to a house party. My friend’s party. I promised him I’d go but if you don’t want to…”

  Amy didn’t like to admit that it had been years since she’d been to a house party. Probably not since she’d been in college. Her friends were forever teasing her for being older than her years.

  “Alright, I’ll go,” she agreed boldly.

  ****

  House Party was an incredibly modest term for the event which Amy and Josh turned up at later that evening. It was more like a Mansion Rave.

  The house in question was massive, like a castle, high up in the Hollywood Hills overlooking L.A. As they drove there Amy kept asking over and over if they were going the right way. She didn’t like how out of place her car looked compared to all the Bentleys and Ferraris which lined the various gated driveways. It felt as though she had ascended into another world.

  “Oh my goodness,” Amy gasped in awe.

  “You like it?” Josh asked, glancing at the mansion before them.

  “It’s amazing.”

  “This is only his summer house. You should see the place he usually lives in back in Colorado.”

  “How old is he again?”

  “Twenty four.”

  “Mental. My parents worked their whole lives and couldn’t even afford the annex to this place.”

  “It’s all about luck,” Josh mused as he came round and opened the car door for her.

  “So it would seem.”

  ****

  The inside of the house was even more impressive than the outside. There were chandeliers dripping with crystal hanging from the ceiling and marble floors and columns in every room.

  It was all so opulent. Everywhere you looked you saw signs of the owner’s excessive wealth from pieces of art on the walls to lavish plasma TV screens hanging everywhere.

  The sofas were made from leather and silk, scattered with leopard print cushions which made them look like they belonged on the set of an expensive porn film.

  Most people were congregated out by the massive infinity pool which appeared to drop away over the cliff. All of this gave Amy a sinking feeling in her already knotted stomach. She’d never felt more out of place in her whole life.

  All of the women were pristine, with perfect white teeth, bronzed skin and bleached blonde hair that wasn’t out of place, even by a strand. They wore designer clothes, which revealed their stunning bodies and they twinkled like the stars in the sky because of all the diamonds which they wore. Amy felt it was almost surreal.

  Amy looked down at her JC Penny dress and tugged at it nervously.

  “You look great,” Josh reassured her. And as they walked in, he placed his hand on the small of her back and she felt a surge of excitement dance down her spine.

  She told herself not to get caught up in the moment, that he’d escorted countless women to parties such as these. Women were just numbers to a guy like Josh Roberts, nothing more.

  “Josh!”

  “My man!”

  “Hey brother,” people greeted Josh enthusiastically as he entered the poolside and the party almost ground to a halt as everyone craned their necks to get a look at the most handsome man in Hollywood.

  Amy felt so awkward next to him. The people there didn’t speak to her, they merely looked through her.

  “Where have you been?” People asked Josh as he’d been missing in action for the past four days.

  His wounds were less obvious now, concealed by the shirt which he wore and the marks on his face Amy had managed to hide with her foundation.

  “I’ve just been lying low,” Josh told them casually.

  As he navigated the party and chatted to friends Amy hovered nervously by his side, not really knowing what she should be doing.

  Josh was courteous, offering her a drink from the tray being carried by a waiter nearby. She opted for a dirty martini which seemed to please him and light a mischievous glint in his eye.

  “He’s just a womanizer,” Amy told herself sternly, not wanting to fall for his charms.

  “How are you finding the party?” Josh asked when they got a rare moment alone as people had grown tired of staring at him and gone about their own business.

  “Okay,” Amy answered tactfully, taking a sip from her drink. “It’s unlike any party I’ve been to before.”

  “How so?” Josh asked, interested.

  “Well, no one has yet started playing charades and there’s no nibbles anywhere. It’s not a party without nibbles!”

  “No one here eats,” Josh said, glancing around.

  “I’d rather be fat and happy than thin and sad,” Amy said, suddenly feeling ravenous and wishing she’d eaten more of her dinner earlier, but she’d been too nervous.

  “That’s true, but I’d rather be rich than poor. And being thin is all part of the package and makes me my money.”

  “It’s a lot to sacrifice – your happiness.”

  “I know,” Josh admitted, looking down, the light which seemed to always emanate from him suddenly dimming.

  “When did you say you last had a burger?” Amy asked.

  “Oh man, I can’t even remember,” Josh sighed. “How lame is that?”

  “I tell you what, when we leave this non-food party, we will go through In and Out burger, my treat,” Amy suggested brightly.

  “I am so up for that! It’s got to be the best thing any woman has ever offered me!” Josh beamed and then paused before adding; “well second best thing.”

  Amy was about to scold him for being a flirt when the party host came running over looking flustered and more than a little out of it.

  “Shit, Josh, the Paps are here! They are everywhere outside!”

  “Who leaked the location of the party?” Josh demanded angrily.

  “I’ve no idea, I don’t know half the people here,” his friend admitted. “You can go out through the back if you like. Run down for about four houses and look round, that way they should miss you.”

  “Hope you’ve brought your running shoes,” Josh said, glancing down at Amy’s precariously high heels.

  “Do we really have to run around the back?” Amy protested, not wanting to ruin her relatively new shoes.

  “I can’t get papped at a party,” Josh explained, looking vexed. “I told my director I was off sick. I risk losing the part if he finds out I was just recovering from being beaten up. My agent will kill me if I lose another part.”

  “Okay, let’s go then” Amy said and again found herself wondering just who Josh Roberts was and why he seemed to be constantly running into trouble?

  Leading Amy by the hand, Josh slipped away from the party via the back gate and suddenly they were plunged into darkness. The sounds of the music ebbing away the further they ran.

  They ran behind great houses, precariously close to the sheer drop of the mountain. The long grass danced upon Amy’s bare legs w
hile she struggled to place her feet in the darkness. After about five minutes she felt her balance slip and a sharp stabbing pain shoot up her leg.

  “Oww!” she cried out.

  “Are you okay?” Josh stopped and turned to look at her but her face was concealed in darkness.

  “I’ve hurt my foot,” Amy explained.

  “Okay, let’s stop.” Josh supported Amy and luckily they were just by a condo which was in the process of being built, so it was currently empty. She hobbled inside, leaning against him, and he sat her down on the side of the empty pool. It was eerie to be by the shell of a building, yet strangely relaxing in contrast to the pulsating party they’d just left.

  “Now I get to help you when you’re injured and return the favor,” Josh smiled as he sat down next to her.

  “Oh no, you’ll never return the favor of my showering you!” Amy teased.

  “Hey! I thought we agreed never to mention that again.” Josh laughed.

  They sat in silence for a moment and then Josh leaned closer to her. He was so close that she could smell his cologne and almost taste the alcohol on his breath.

  “So...” he began, his voice low and husky…seductive. “Is this a date?” he was so close that their noses were almost touching.

  Amy wanted to kiss him. Every fibre in her body wanted to kiss him, but she fought them all. Josh Roberts was just a womanizer and she deserved to be more than just a number, a notch on a bedpost.

  She pulled away and glanced out at the lights of the city stretching out beneath them, not wanting to meet his gaze.

  “So,” Josh sounded disappointed, “definitely not a date.”

  Chapter 7

  It only took another day or so for Josh’s wounds to heal well enough and most of his strength to return, so he left Amy’s tiny apartment and returned to the plush luxury of his hotel.

  Suddenly her small space felt vast and empty without him there. She found herself glancing at the sofa, thinking she’d seen him, and wishing he was there.

  Amy was angry at herself for ruining the moment between them at the empty condo site. There had been a spark, a chemistry; there was no denying it, but she feared her reluctance to act on such feelings had pushed Josh away.

  Like a love struck teenager Amy prowled the internet for signs that Josh was back to his old womanizing ways but found nothing. Surprisingly, Josh Roberts seemed to be lying low.

  At college she kept glancing out of the large windows of her classroom, hoping to catch a glimpse of him during filming, but the crew had moved to another part of the campus and she could no longer see them.

  “I hear that the filming ends next month,” Colin Winters, one of her students noted casually to one of his friends at the start of class.

  “Does it?” Amy asked, trying not to sound vexed.

  “Yeah, apparently they are wrapping things up early and filming the last half of the movie at the studio,” Colin explained.

  “How do you know that?”

  “I got chatting with some of the cameramen over by the dorms. Nice guys.”

  Amy smiled though inside she was panicking. If the filming was over it meant Josh would leave and she might never see him again. Why oh why had she been so stupid?

  ****

  “So, I’m still waiting on my invite,” Caroline purred to Josh as they sat waiting to be called on set.

  “What?” Josh asked, distracted. He’d seemed distracted ever since returning from his strange bout of illness.

  “My invite,” Caroline replied tersely, “where is it?”

  “Invite to what?”

  “To the big party your friend Walter is holding tonight. Everyone in the industry will be there. I thought it would be a good opportunity for us to put on a united front and show the world that we are still together.”

  “But we aren’t together,” Josh deadpanned.

  “Since when?” Caroline said, sounding hurt.

  “Give it a rest,” Josh snapped, getting up from his chair and stalking away like an angry panther.

  “I just don’t know what’s going on with him these days,” Caroline sighed to her lesser known co-star who was also sitting nearby.

  Sophie LaRoux was cast for her quirky looks. She was tall and by no means a beauty but what she loved to do was spread gossip, the more negative the better.

  “I hear he’s been stepping out with some teacher.”

  “What?” Caroline snapped, appalled at the suggestion that Josh would stoop so low as to be seen with someone not famous!

  “My friend saw him at a party with her last week. Arrived together, left together.”

  “No, he wouldn’t!”

  “Wouldn’t he?” Sophie challenged. “You said yourself he’s been acting different.”

  Caroline’s mouth was set in a straight line, pinching her features as she thought it over. Then she sprung from her chair and stormed after Josh.

  “Josh!” she declared sweetly as she caught up with him on the far side of the set. “Don’t worry about the invite, I’ll come with you, you know you don’t need to ask.”

  “Too late,” Josh told her, turning to leave.

  “What?” Caroline placed a hand on his shoulder and sharply turned him back to face her.

  “I’ve already asked someone else.”

  “What – who?” Caroline demanded.

  “Someone I actually enjoy spending time with. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve a scene to film.”

  Josh marched off leaving Caroline alone, mouth agape in amazement that he had brushed her aside so easily, and moreover that she was being passed over for a teacher! It was utterly absurd.

  ****

  Amy felt giddy after receiving the call and had to lean against her desk to steady herself. An unknown number had flashed on her cell and she’d been reluctant to answer but was glad she did.

  “Hello, Amy?” came the unmistakeably gruff and sexy voice of Josh Roberts.

  “Yeah, um, Josh, hi,” Amy stumbled over her words.

  “How are you?”

  “Okay, you?”

  “I’m less sore, thanks.”

  “So you’ve stopped getting into random fights with strangers on parking lots?” Amy joked easing the tension between them.

  “Yes, indeed, I’m being much more careful.”

  “Good.”

  “So I was wondering…what are you doing tonight?” Josh suddenly felt like he was back in high school, asking a girl to the prom, full of nervous anxiety about whether or not she’d say yes. He loved it; no girl had made him feel like that in such a long time. No was a word he never heard from members of the opposite sex.

  “Tonight…” Amy pretended to flip through her diary, fully aware that she had no plans that night.

  “I was planning on seeing some friends,” she lied.

  “Oh,” Josh sounded disappointed on the other end of the line.

  “Why?”

  “I was just wondering if you wanted to come to a party with me. I promise it will be better than the last one, but if you’re already seeing your friends…”

  “I’m sure I can see my friends another time,” Amy smiled.

  “Great! I’ll pick you up later!”

  Amy hung up and leaned against the desk for support as she felt she was on cloud nine, dizzy with glee, the world below her spinning away, causing her balance to falter.

  ****

  Josh had been right about the party. It certainly wasn’t like the one they had previously attended.

  This party had a grand venue and probably an even grander budget.

  It was being held at one of the hottest nightclubs in town. The whole place was closed to accommodate the party.

  At the entrance there were performers to greet the privileged guests; fire eaters and guys on stilts. The whole party had a carnival theme.

  “Wow, this is impressive,” Amy gushed as she walked in on Josh’s arms, cameras lighting up all around them.

  Josh looked simply
stunning in the Armani suit he wore which accentuated his amazing physique. Amy feared that she looked dowdy and plain beside him in her short black sequin dress but he kept assuring her she looked beautiful.