Hollywood Snowfall
Heather C, Myers
Contents
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Prologue
Erin Sanders twirled a long, dark blonde strand of hair around her finger as she waited for her manager, Brad, to close her out of her box office shift. It was currently 5:13 at night, and Erin knew she was not going to get out of the theatre by 5:15PM, the time she was supposed to be off. Brad always made her late, taking time to close out the concessionists first and chatting with them before heading to the box office. He knew he had to close her out, and he knew what time she got off, so Erin concluded that he secretly hated her, which was okay with her, because she, in turn, was not quite fond of him either. Tonight, Erin had figured Brad would have gotten her out on time simply because there was a movie premier in a couple of hours. Erin worked at the Chinese Mann Theatre in Hollywood, and on certain days, the theatre would close early to host such an event. Erin was relieved she was not working that night because they were premiering Johnny Barker’s new movie.
The thirty-year-old actor was a global sex symbol, and was quite a good actor, even nabbing an Oscar nomination for his role in a supernatural movie geared towards kids. Somehow he managed to pull off what men normally could not, be it dreadlocks, eyeliner, high pants, crooked teeth. He looked amazing with tan skin, pale skin, and in between. He took movie roles those classic pretty boys shied away from because the character would not be sexy… and yet he made them sexy. He was the underdog People’s Sexiest Man of the Year; everybody loved him. There was no one who did not love Johnny Barker.
Because of this, Erin knew that the theatre would be packed with paparazzi, photogs, and actual journalists, including Ryan Seacrest from E! News. Erin did not much like big crowds, and was looking forward to crawling underneath her soft blanket on her old sofa, a cup of hot chocolate in her hands, and Modern Family on her television. There were times when she went out with her two best friends to see movies, but the winter nights had turned bitter, and Erin was not too fond of the cold either. In fact, there were reports that Hollywood might experience its first-ever snowfall.
“You almost off?” a voice from behind Erin asked, making her jump.
She narrowed her eyes at the culprit. “Gosh, Zoe, you know you can’t do that,” Erin said.
The girl, Zoe, just smiled, and blew a large pink bubble, and then popped it, just as Brad walked into the box office.
“Finally!” Erin complained, and gave Brad a teal blue bank bag. “I was off two minutes and twenty-three seconds ago.”
“You’ll get over it,” Brad said as he began to verify the bank.
Erin and Zoë exchanged a look, and Erin stood so she could go and speak with her friend. She grinned when she saw her friend in black slacks, a long white-sleeved shirt, and a black vest over that. “Got concessions tonight?” she taunted her friend with a smile.
“You won’t be taunting me when I get Johnny Barker’s digits,” Zoë said, sticking out her tongue.
“If he even stays for the movie,” Erin replied. “Everyone knows Johnny Barker never watches himself.”
“God, if I was that gorgeous, I’d be popping in DVDs of myself, just so I could watch me all night,” Zoë said with a wink.
“He is gorgeous, though,” Erin concurred. “Even if he doesn’t actually watch the movie, he still may come in.” She paused, her eyes drifting into a thoughtful daydream. “To meet Johnny Barker in person… Wow. One can dream, huh?”
“Do you have your drop ready?” Brad interrupted, and Erin carelessly pointed to her drawer, where she had individual stacks of one, five, ten, twenty, and a couple of hundred dollar bills stacked and counted, ready to be verified.
“You know what you should do Erin,” Zoë said, excitement in her eyes. “You should go stand in the crowd with the fans and maybe you’ll actually see him in the flesh.”
“First of all, it’s practically five thirty,” Erin said, “and the celebrities are supposed to start to come in at six. Look at this outfit, Zoe. Would you want to meet Johnny Barker in this?” She was currently wearing black slacks with matching suspenders and a long, white sleeved shirt with a black bowtie. “God, I look like Johnny Chaplin.”
“Your boobs look nice, though,” Zoë commented, causing Brad to burst out laughing, and then curse after realizing his outburst caused him to lose count so that he had to begin to count the fives again. “But then, your boobs look good in anything. I need a freakin’ boob job.”
“Shut up,” Erin said, blushing. “Anyway, beside the outfit, I don’t want to wait in bitter cold on the slight chance that I’ll get a glimpse of this guy with two thousand other sixteen year old screaming girls, ready to sacrifice their precious virginity for the chance to just look upon the sexiness that is Johnny Barker.” She paused to catch her breath. “And finally, there is no way in hell Johnny Barker would come over to me.”
“I don’t know,” Zoë said, tilting her head to the side. “My friend’s cousin met Gerard Butler out here a couple of months ago. Turns out she was the youngest girl in the crowd, and he signed her journal or something. They even exchanged words. It could happen to you.”
“Do you have your coupons ready?” Brad asked, placing the money into a similar teal bag. He walked over to the Erin’s monitor and quickly pulled the money he counted up, and then sat over at the main computer, getting Erin’s count sheet up.
“Uh huh,” Erin replied, rolling her eyes, and grabbing her drop log, her eyes skimming over the number of coupons she received.
“What else are you going to do, Erin?” Zoë asked. “Sit around and watch Modern Family when you could possibly meet the delicious, sexilicious Johnny Barker?”
“Shouldn’t you be working?” Brad asked, his head tilted from the computer to peer at Zoë through the customer service window.
“I’m not on until five thirty,” Zoë replied, popping her gum again.
Brad printed up Erin’s counts, and quickly signed them. “You’re even,” he informed her. “Good work.” He handed her the papers, and she stapled them together, and signed them herself, walking over to the Daily Logs cabinet, and sticking her paper in there before finally exiting the box office.
“Just think about it, Erin,” Zoë called as Erin began walking to the employee lounge to grab her stuff and clock out.
Erin chewed her bottom lip, deep in thought. She really did have nothing else better to do, and yet she was not sure if she wanted to wait out in the cold for an hour on the very slim chance that she might meet this guy. Zoë thought it was worth it, but then again, Zoë thought waiting in a long line outside a club on the slim chance of getting in was also worth it as well. However, on those long nights of waiting in the clubs, Zoë did always manage to get in…
Erin wondered what her other friend, Jessica, would do, and then stopped. Erin knew what Jessica would do: Jessica would go home with hot tea and watch the news because that was Jessica.
As she exited the theatre through the back, her chewing became more constant. Either she kept going straight to the parking garage, got in her car, and headed to her little apartment… Or she went left, going around the block and then behind the barricades placed along the street so fans did’t run across the street and onto the red carpet, across the street from the theatre to maybe catch a glimpse of the famous actor.
A vibration on her thigh caused her to jump, but then she realized it was merely her phone, letting her know that she had just received a text. She grabbed her phone, and read the text from Zoë: Just do it.
That was exactly what she needed. She laughed at herself as she hung a left, and walked around the block. When
she reached the same street as the theatre, she nearly laughed at the crowd that had gathered, predominantly all girls, of course, with anxious looks on their faces. And she would soon be one of them.
She walked across the street, and stood on the sidewalk, behind the many women who were as close to the barricade as possible in the street. Pursing her lips, she wondered whether or not to stop into the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf for a hot chocolate, but decided against it when she noticed the first black car pulled up to the red carpet. The crowd got anxious, their cameras flashing before the person got out of the car.
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It was a half an hour before a black town car pulled up, and the crowd started screaming.
It was him. Erin didn’t see him until she saw him and a posse of three people walk across the street so he could interact with his fans. Erin’s heart raced. She never thought she would be this shaken to meet a celebrity. Working at a movie theatre in Hollywood, she had met a couple of stars here and there, but she had always been cool, calm, and collected. Now, though, her heart was hammering in her chest and her stomach was doing flip flops. At that point, something inside her felt that she had to meet him. Squeezing through the crowd until she was at the very front, Erin could hardly believe she was merely a couple of feet from Johnny Barker. God, he looked good in person.
Johnny Barker was six foot two, with deep, chocolate brown eyes and a breathtaking smile. Currently, he had a moustache that curved down barely past his lips, and a goatee on his strong chin. He had high cheekbones, and a sharp jaw line. For Erin, however, one of her fetishes was noses. She simply adored Johnny Barker’s nose. It was long and thin, flaring out at the nostrils, with sharp indentations, curving into each individual nostril. He had long fingers and long legs, so all three of her fetishes were rolled up into one man. Currently, his dark hair was cut short, and he wore black slacks and a long, white sleeved shirt, with no sort of tie. The shirt, of course, not tucked in, signifying his long rebellion with Hollywood, and yet, he looked absolutely gorgeous.
It was then that she realized she had nothing for him to sign. Quickly, she looked through her purse and pulled out a journal she always kept with her. It had a hard white cover with black designs on it. It was all she had, so, along with the other hundred hands sticking out 8 by 11’s, she stuck out her journal. Her friend’s story ghosted across her thoughts but she didn’t want to get her hopes up too high…
Johnny was so close to her that she could hear his posse urge him to move down the line. Erin was worried that he wouldn’t even glance at her. It was at that moment she wished she had the gift that so few girls possessed: the ability to be in a crowded place and simply captivate a guy with just her stare. And then, he was before her, her journal in his left hand, a silver Sharpie in his right. He looked at her, right into her eyes, and a smile formed on his face, causing Erin to flush.
“What would you like me to do with this?” he asked in his low drawl, a bit surprised that in the sea of pictures of himself, he was holding a journal. In a way, he was relieved. Although he loved to oblige his fans in any way he could, he did feel awkward at times signing his face on paper.
“Oh, um… could you sign that for me, please?” Erin asked, not being able to take her eyes off of him.
He smiled at her use of the word ‘please’. In Hollywood, it was rare for someone to be polite. Even fans expected him to give his autograph, and did not give him a word of gratuity. Opening the book, Johnny noticed that the journal had never been used before, and looked up at the girl before him. Her eyes stuck out at him, for some reason. In all his travels, with every person that he had met before, he had never seen anyone with eyes like hers. They were a soft sea green, with gold specks surrounding her pupil. “Where would you like me to sign it?” he asked her.
“Oh, wherever you want,” Erin replied, hoping to make things easier for him. She knew that his posse was getting anxious, and did not want to be the one to hold him up.
Johnny nodded, and closed the journal, signing it on the very cover. He handed it back to her, and she smiled a genuine smile at him, a smile he had not seen in a very long time.
“Thank you very much,” Erin said graciously.
“You’re welcome,” Johnny said after a quick pause. He was still surprised at how polite she was, and before he could say anything else, she ducked underneath the crowd and disappeared. He watched her leave for a moment before his posse pulled him forward.
When Erin broke free from the consuming crowd, she couldn’t keep the smile of happiness off of her face. She stopped for a moment, giving herself the chance to catch her breath and dwell on her once-in-a-lifetime experience. When she was with him, looking at him, talking to him, she felt as if every person that was there had drowned out, and it was just Erin and Johnny. She could hear nothing else, she could see no one else but him, and the feeling was so strong that she hoped that maybe he felt it too. He had to. There was a glow that cascaded around her as she walked back, around the block to the parking garage, and finally to her car. She could feel herself ready to cry, and she had never thought that a celebrity would ever have that much power over her. The tears never came, though, as she slid into her old, beat up Honda Civic, just giggles of happiness. She would definitely have to thank Zoë the next time Erin saw her.
One
A tall man with a full beard and a bald head walked into the box office dressed in a sharp suit. He narrowed his eyes at Erin suspiciously, as he always did when he knew she was working, and then slid smoothly into his computer chair only to begin typing furiously on the keyboard. Erin sighed dramatically, her head resting on her palm as she watched people, predominantly tourists, pass by the theatre. It was getting colder – at fifty-nine degrees during the day, Erin wore a black scarf around her neck despite the fact that she was indoors. This wasn’t typical, even in the winter.
It had been a slow day, and her general manager, the man who had just walked in, was incredibly strict about bringing in books and homework, so unless Erin had customers, she was stuck staring out the window, daydreaming. When he was cranky, he would yell at her for doing nothing when she couldn’t do much else. His name was Bert, and most of the time, he was a really laidback person, but there were other times when he could be a jerk.
“How has it been, Erin?” he asked from the computer. He turned to glance at her, and then his brow shot up when his eyes narrowed at a small fan, shooting air at his young employee.
“So-so,” she said.
“Uh huh,” Bert replied dryly, turning back to the computer.
After another good ten minutes of typing, Bert left to go retrieve the paper he had printed from his office. The previous printer had just broken when he opened the building, and he quickly had to install his office printer to the box office printer.
At least it happened when it was slow, Erin thought to herself, turning back to watch people pass, and to dive head first into her thoughts. Since her encounter with Johnny Barker, she carried her journal around wherever she went as a good luck charm, and as a reminder that if she could not only meet the world’s most sought-after man, get him to sign something, and have a small conversation with him, then she could do anything she put her mind to. Zoë nearly wet her pants when Erin told her she actually met Johnny Barker, and even Jessica was surprised. But the attention died down. When Erin called her mother and told her what happened, her mother told her that no matter what happened in Erin’s life, she would always have that moment in time with Johnny Barker.
Erin smiled at the memory. Moms always seemed to know exactly what to say to make you feel good about yourself.
Another hour rolled by. Erin glanced at the clock; it was only one o’clock, and she wasn’t off for another four and a half hours. She wished that it was actually busy, or that Zoë was working concession so she had someone to entertain her during all of this boring downtime. She cleared her throat, and her eyes glanced back up in time to see a customer walking towards her kiosk. She s
traightened up, and plastered a smile on her face. “Welcome to the Chinese Mann Theatre. How may I assist you today?” she asked politely. She had worked at the theatre long enough to smoothly pretend to be cheerful when she was anything but. After reciting her greeting, her eyes glued to her monitor, waiting for the customer to respond.
“Do I know you?”
Erin froze. She recognized that voice, but it could not possibly be… She snapped her head to the customer. He was wearing a dark fedora so his short dark hair was pretty much concealed and dark aviators shielded his eyes. He still had his moustache and goatee, finely trimmed, and his skin was relatively tan. His lips were not thin nor full and in the shape of a cupid’s bow. With a long-sleeved collared shirt, a beat up blazer on, and worn jeans that fit loosely around his waist, he was ever the incognito celebrity, and yet there were no people trailing behind him, taking pictures and asking him questions. Johnny Barker was unrecognizable, and the only reason Erin recognized him was his nose. She loved his nose.
“I don’t think so…” Erin let her voice trail off. She didn’t look like anyone famous, but then again, Johnny Barker had met so many people in his life, maybe he mistook her for someone else.
“We’ve met though,” he said. “I know you from somewhere. God, how do I know you?”
Erin could not believe what she was hearing. Her heart beat echoed in her ears. She still could not believe that he was standing before her, paying to go to a movie. She wasn’t stupid; she knew celebrities were people but to actually see one do something so normal was surreal. “Well,” she said slowly. “I went to one of your premieres six months ago.”
“Oh, you’re that girl!” he exclaimed. “I remember you. You had the journal.”
Erin wanted to ask how he remembered she had a journal. In fact, she wanted to ask him how he remembered her at all, but she held her tongue and let it slide, just basking in his presence and in the fact that out of all the fans he had met before, he remembered her. But God, she hoped he didn’t remember that she was wearing exactly what she was wearing then.
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