My Life With The Movie Star

by Hoffmann, Meaghan

  “We did,” I snapped back.

  Rachel looked at Gray holding my hand. I could see by her face that she was furious. I knew she would have loved to come with us last night. I was starting to feel guilty I should have invited her , but she had been unavailable for so long I just got caught up in the moment and forgot. Rachel suddenly turned to Gray.

  “Aren’t you dating that girl from Texas High?” she asked him with an accusing tone.

  “No,” he said, “I never dated Holly.”

  “TMZ sure has a lot of pictures of you guys getting cozy. Just last week one was snapped in Beverly Hills of you and Holly leaving a club at 1 a.m.”

  I felt a twinge of jealousy. I had never thought to look at TMZ until Lisa pulled it up today. Had he gone to a club last week with Holly? He didn’t seem to think much of her earlier when I brought her up. I looked up at Gray for his response.

  “Not that it’s any of your business,” he answered in a more angry tone, “but that was a publicity shoot for the movie. Studios always do that when a movie is a few weeks old. It keeps the teenagers interested. Completely staged.”

  “If that’s what you want Abby to believe,” Rachel said.

  “Enough, Rachel!” I said, my voice was raised and shaky. I wanted to protect Gray from this conversation before things got out of control.

  “Your life,” Rachel stated. “I was just trying to show you he’s a player. That’s all I’m saying.”

  “You have said enough,” I snapped back. I looked over at Lisa, and she jumped up and guided Rachel away from our table.

  I turned to Gray and could tell he was no longer himself.

  “I’m sorry about that,” I said apologetically. “She used to be a close friend and a while ago we stopped talking. You know how girls can be so mean to each other.”

  “Do you check out TMZ?” he asked.

  “No, Lisa showed it to me today for the first time. They had published our picture from last night.”

  Gray looked down at his hands and the smiled up at me. “I don’t want you to think of me as a player,” he said. “The studio makes us do dumb stuff like that. It’s all in my contracts. I can show them to you, if you would like.”

  “That’s not necessary,” I said. “I believe you. I have no reason not to believe you.”

  “Abby, I just want you to know that as long as you’re in my life, I’m not going to see other women. I’ll let you know when those responsibilities come up in the future. I should have told you….”

  “Don’t worry about her,” I said. “I haven’t seen any guys since I started talking to you either,” I replied. I could not believe that Grayson had essentially asked me to go steady. Well, I don’t think it’s called “going steady” when your adults, but the feeling was fantastic. He only wanted to see me! The mood had gotten somber after Rachel’s outburst.

  “Let’s change the subject,” I said. “I invited Lisa to come with me to LA. I figure I need my own assistant when I’m out for the VMA.”

  That lightened Gray up a bit. His eyes sparkled again, and he flashed me his sexy smile. “Does that mean you’re coming then?” He asked.

  “I’ll go with you,” I replied.

  “Thank you. That means a lot to me.”

  The rest of the day went off without a hitch. We listened to the band playing at the band shell. Lisa and Travis took off before the fireworks; she knew that I only had a brief amount of time before Gray left. I would have to remember to thank her tomorrow. She had been a massive help all weekend; I owed her one.

  The night became cooler as the sun went down. Grayson put both his arms around me to keep me warm. We watched the fireworks by the lake, and then decided to walk back to my place. I didn’t want the night to end; it was perfect.

  Chapter 11

  The next morning, I woke early and couldn’t get back to sleep. I didn’t want to wake Grayson up, so I carefully got ready without disturbing him. Even when he was asleep, he looked hot. I took a quick peek at his abs before I jumped in the shower. I didn’t think I would ever get used to running my fingers over them. I decided that come Monday, I would start working out so I could also have killer abs for him. I noted that if I’m going to all these events, I should lose ten to fifteen pounds anyway, just to fit in with everyone else.

  Grayson woke up and started to pack. I watched him pack up all his things out of the pink bathroom. I looked at him with my cutest pouty face. Maybe he would stay longer if I asked.

  “Do you really have to go today?”

  “Unfortunately, I do,” Grayson replied. “I will be on location starting Wednesday. We are already shooting the sequel to Texas High.”

  “There will be a sequel?”

  “It’s a series of books – about five of them I think. Should be great fun to shoot,” he said sarcastically.

  “Will you be in Texas then?”

  “No, silly,” he said with a chuckle. “We shoot on site in LA. I will be home for most of this shoot. There are just a few external shots on location in Texas.”

  “Is Holly in this again?”

  “Yes, she comes back as my love interest. Abby, please don’t worry about Holly. I’m with you. If I wanted to be with Holly, I would be.”

  “Who’s the better kisser?” I teased.

  “You are, by far. I love your kisses.”

  “You what my kisses?” I asked, poking fun at the L-word.

  “I love your kisses. Silly girl,” Gray said and then kissed me deeply.

  Unfortunately, I had to watch him pack up the rest of his things and get ready for the airport. The ride was remarkably quiet. Neither of us knew what to say to each other. I parked my car and walked him into the terminal to check his bags. Soon enough I had to walk him over to TSA to check in. I looked away from him, my eyes full of tears. I hoped he was also sad to leave me.

  “I’ll miss you so much,” I gushed as I threw my arms around his neck. “Thank you for the best weekend of my life. You made me feel like a princess – and thank you for all my gifts. I can’t wait to see you in LA.”

  Gray gently kissed the top of my head. He then cupped my face and kissed my lips. How close we had grown over a couple days. I guess the weeks of phone calls had helped to develop our relationship. How silly I had been to think he wanted me only as his friend.

  “I love you, Abby,” he said gently. “I know it’s too soon to feel that way, but I do; and I wanted you to know before I left.”

  “I love you too,” I replied. We kissed. It was a lovely long embrace. We both knew that it would be awhile before we could be together again.

  I had a hard time letting go of him; the TSA guard almost had to drag me off him as Gray went through security. As soon as he was gone, I ran for my car, tears streaming down my face. He loved me, and I loved him.

  The car ride home was long. I could barely see the road through my tears. When I got home, I lay down on my bed and cried my eyes out. I knew I should be happy that someone loved me, but the distance seemed like hundreds of thousands of miles. As much as I trusted him, knowing he would be shooting the sequel to Texas High and kissing Holly every day did not make me feel better about the situation.

  Chapter 12

  Argh, Monday morning. What a horrible start to my week: a week without Gray. Well, not entirely without Gray; I had a dozen roses on my desk with a sweet note thanking me for the incredible weekend and telling me again he loved me. I also had my camera full of pictures to upload on Facebook first thing: proof that our relationship existed – that he existed in my life.

  I emailed Melanie a couple. She would get a kick out of my weekend. I would call her in a bit and ask for the VMA’s off. They were three weeks away, and they would be three extremely long weeks for me. I would have to throw myself in work and ignore the lonely feeling I had at home. Melanie called me almost th
e moment after I hit send on the email.

  “Good morning,” I said.

  “Someone had a fun weekend,” Melanie exclaimed.

  “It was fun. You will never believe this, but I need time off in August. He has asked me to go with him to the MTV Movie Awards.”

  “You’re kidding? What are you going to wear?”

  “He said that his stylist would have some dresses picked out for me when I arrive, so all I have to do is choose one, and remember who the designer is,” I replied.

  “I always told you that prince charming was out there.”

  “But this is more than I ever hoped for. I really am setting myself up for a broken heart. How could I ever date a normal guy again?”

  “You will figure it out. Maybe he’s the one.”

  “After one weekend? Be serious,” I said. I looked at the pictures of us on my camera. I worried that someday he would take a look at himself. He is this the sexy, beautiful creature, and I'm just Miss Plain Jane, next to him. Maybe he would decide he needed to find a mate with similar genes.

  After talking to Melanie, I started my normal workday. I tried to focus on my calls, but my mind kept drifting to the past weekend. It had gone by in a blink of an eye. I truly wanted to call Grayson and thank him for the flowers, but it was much too early his time. He was also going to be extremely busy getting ready for shooting on the next Texas High movie. Why did this have to be a series of books? I had never read the Texas High books. They were written for young adults, but I soon found myself on Amazon ordering all five books and paying the extra money to have them sent overnight to my work. I had to know what the storyline was for the sequel – and for the other movies that would be coming up.

  While I was on Amazon, I searched for merchandise from Texas High. I could not believe all the items it returned. You could buy almost anything with Graysons face on it: mugs, pillows, T-shirts – the list went on and on. I thought about purchasing a Mrs. Edwards tee shirt, but I figured that might border on being an obsessed fan. I did not want to jinx myself in this relationship, or have items to throw out once it’s over.

  Lunch came and went, along with the rest of my day. When I got home, I decided to take Thor out for a run. I was determined to lose twenty pounds in three weeks. I knew this was a lofty goal, but I would work hard. I figured with all the temptation in Hollywood, I needed a fair chance at keeping Grayson.

  Thor and I started out with a slow pace towards the bluff. I was starting to get the runner stitch I always got and Thor had dropped way behind me. I stopped to see what he was doing. He just looked up at me with his cute brown eyes. I could tell he was not enjoying my attempt at running. He had always been more of a lap dog than a dog who wanted to be active. “Okay, we’ll go home,” I said to him. I would try again tomorrow and leave him at home.

  The hours seemed to crawl by. I waited until 10 p.m. to call Grayson. I figured that it would be 8 p.m. his time. I paced as the phone rang on his end. It went to voicemail. Darn, I thought, but at least I still could listen to his voice. I left a brief message for him saying I would be up for the next couple hours. I tried to sound cool, as if calling him was no big deal, but I was a mess on the inside.

  Before I knew it, my alarm went off. I had fallen asleep on top of my bed, waiting for him to call. I stretched out and sat up; trying not to panic that he hadn’t called me. I was sure he was just busy going over his script at the last minute.

  I made my way down to the office again, eager to open my box from Amazon. It showed up a little before 10 a.m. I promised myself that I would keep it sealed until lunchtime.

  The series of books was about a group of highschool kids. Even though I had seen the movie, I decided to reread the first book. It was mainly about a group of friends and their freshman year of high school in Texas. The main character was Scott, played by Grayson. Scott was a rebellious kid from the other side of the tracks, a loner who secretly fell in love with the head cheerleader, Becky. Becky’s parents were wealthy, and she was expected to date Derrick, the quarterback of the football team. Becky was frustrated with her parents controlling her life and secretly started to date Scott, who her parents would never approve of.

  I wasn’t sure why all the teenagers were fascinated with the series of books. It seemed like this topic had been done before, but with all the hot stars, they put in the movie – mainly Holly and Grayson – the book sales had nearly doubled and the books ended up on the New York Times bestseller list. The movie had left off with a dramatic scene between Becky and Scott, where he decided to leave town so the conflict in Becky’s life would be over. Their last scene was Scott telling Becky that he hated her and that she should be with Derrick, who loved her. He had stormed away and then driven off on his motor cycle, leaving Becky crying on the pavement. The movie continued to show Becky going to prom with Derrick.

  It made me happy to think that most of the second movie might be centered on Becky and Derrick’s relationship. Or maybe it would show where Scott went. He was just a freshman in high school, so he would probably have to go live with some relatives? I honestly didn’t care; I just wanted to find out whether Becky and Scott got back together. I was sure they will, since the series was centered on them, but I could hope that maybe Scott would find someone else.

  Or maybe I didn’t want that. Right now, I thought, I can only focus my energy on being jealous of one actress. I didn’t want to add any new love interests into Graysons life. He clearly did not like Holly, but maybe he would like someone else? I had never thought that I would spend so much time day dreaming about the Texas High series. I had to force myself to focus on work.

  Lunchtime finally came. I quickly grabbed the book and ran to my car; I was much too embarrassed to read it at my cube fearing I would be teased forever. Luckily, the books were meant for teenagers, so I was able to polish off the first chapter quickly.

  Texas High

  Chapter 1

  It was a hot, humid Texas afternoon. Becky sat staring out of the window of her algebra class. This was the last period of the day. As soon as the bell rang, Becky darted from her chair and raced down the hall to her locker. She knew that if she was fast enough, Scott would pass her by on the way to his car.

  Becky scrambled, pushing a few freshmen out of the way, hoping that her plan would work. Just as she was rounding the corner, she saw him walking down the hall. Becky stopped to reposition her cheerleading uniform to make it look like she was carelessly walking to her locker. She opened it to check out her hair and makeup in her locker-door mirror. This way, she was able to see in the reflection whether Scott was looking her way.

  Becky was the head cheerleader on her high school team, and she was immensely popular. It wasn’t like her to get all nervous over one boy, especially not a boy from the other side of the tracks, so to speak. Her mother would die if she found out that Becky had a crush on a mechanic’s son. Her father was a prominent attorney, and her mother was a Texas socialite who had once competed in the Miss USA pageant as Miss Texas. Status and wealth meant a great deal to her family. Becky’s parents expected many things out of their daughter, and one of them was that she would date and eventually marry a boy of the same status as her family. Her father was already planning her big debutant ball, and he had handpicked Derrick, the high school quarterback, as her date.

  Derrick was perfect, handsome, rich and had considerable breeding. Scott was not; he was the opposite. He lived alone with his father, as his mother had left them years before. They lived in a double-wide trailer on the other side of town. Scott didn’t play sports or participate in extracurricular activates; he had to work to help put food on the table. Becky doubted that he would be able to afford to go to college. But despite all this, Becky could see he had a heart of gold, and she was drawn to him.

  Becky took a deep breath and slowly turned around at just the right time to bump into Scott, dropping all of
her books on the ground.

  “I’m so sorry,” Becky said and bent down to gather her things.

  “No problem,” Scott said and gave her a hand. “Hey, aren’t you in my US history class?”

  “We have Mr. Winslow together,” Becky said. She could feel her cheeks turning red. Her plan had worked; she was impressed. “Are you ready for the test on Friday?”

  “No. No time to study,” Scott stated and looked at the ground. “I’m sure you are. Don’t you always get A’s in that class?”

  “I guess. History is one of my favorite subjects. I can help you study if you like,” Becky offered with a bit more hope in her voice than she should.

  Scott suddenly jumped back and handed her books back. “No, I don’t need your help! Next time, watch where you’re walking.”

  Becky watched him sulk off to his car. What suddenly made him so angry? She didn’t have long to wonder. Her best friend Jessica bounced over to meet her at her locker.

  “Hey, Becky! Did that Scott guy just knock your stuff down?” Jessica asked. She was also on the cheerleading team with Becky and fussed with her skirt a bit.

  “No, I was a klutz and bumped into him,” Becky said, hoping that her friend would not see through her story.

  “What a loser,” Jessica said. “He barely had enough courtesy to help you. I bet Derrick would have carried your books out to your car.”

  Derrick was the guy most of the girls in school dreamed of when they thought of boyfriends. He was tall, muscular and devilishly handsome. He had bright brown eyes, and soft dark hair. Every girl in school was jealous of Becky because Derrick had chosen her to pursue. Becky knew she should be happy with Derrick, but there was just something about Scott.