Dane: Hollywood's Finest

by Wilde, Delilah

  “Good.”

  It was the most awkward conversation I'd ever had. I could practically feel my skin crawling. “What do you want, Dane?” I asked. There was no point in beating around the bush any longer. I just hoped he wouldn't ask me for sex. Even though it would be obvious to both of us that it was a booty call, I wouldn't trust myself to say no. I missed him so much I'd take whatever I could get. “Are you still in LA?” he asked.

  “Yeah, I am. I'm staying with Mark right now. He's been really good to me so far,” I said. All right, so I maybe shouldn't have emphasized that so much but I figured there was no harm in making Dane feel a little jealous. After all, the guy had broken my heart.

  “That's great,” he said, though we both knew he was lying, “That's really great, Savannah.”

  “Dane...”

  “No, wait. Listen to what I have to say,” he took another sharp inhale, followed by a strong exhale, “I want to take you out on a date.”

  “A date?” I repeated, “A date? Did I hear you right?”

  It must have been a mistake. Dane Reynolds did a lot of things, but he did not do dates. He especially did not do dates with me.

  “Um, yeah,” he said. For the first time in his adult life, Dane Reynolds was being coy. Jesus, the world really had gone crazy. I didn't even give myself time to consider his offer before I accepted. “OK. Let's go on a date!” I said.

  “Great. All right. Let's do it. I'll pick you up at six, OK?” he said.

  “Sure. Six sounds good,” I glanced back at the house nervously. Mark would be pissed but I could make up some excuse, “Six sounds great, actually. I'll see you at six.”

  “See you at six.”

  There was an awkward pause. We were like two teenagers who hadn't quite gotten the hang of the whole dating thing yet. I eventually broke the silence myself.

  “Goodbye, Dane.”

  “Bye Savannah. See you later.”

  I checked the calendar on my phone. It wasn't April fools day. I had a date with Dane Reynolds.

  Dane

  Reason number four hundred and fifty four that Dane Reynolds did not do relationships: first dates. They were awkward and uncomfortable and there wasn't even a gaurentee of sex at the end to make it all worth it. I was willing to go out of my comfort zone for Savannah, so that meant something. I just didn't expect to be as nervous as I was.

  I spent forever agonizing over what I should wear. Where you supposed to wear a tie to these things or would that make me look stupid? Eventually I said fuck it, threw on my favorite leather jacket and felt like myself again.

  Savannah asked me to pick her up a block away from Mark's place. I didn't blame her. I'd knocked the shit out of the poor guy. If he knew that I was trying to reignite something with the girl he had such a huge thing for I would never live it down. She'd be kicked out and I wasn't sure if she'd come live with me again. I wasn't one hundred percent sure that was what I wanted anyway.

  I chose my least flashy car to avoid being recognized and struggled through miles of LA traffic before I got to our meeting spot.

  Now all I had to do was wait.

  Wait and hope that she showed up.

  Savannah

  “Where are you going?” asked Mark when he saw what I was wearing. He was sitting in the kitchen with his laptop, editing film in his pajamas. I'd spent the last few hours making a cute little cocktail dress that showed off my delicate shoulders and slender legs. It was sensual enough to be attractive without flashing too much skin. I looked good and I knew it. It was all for Dane.

  “I'm just going out,” I said. Mark frowned. “Out where? With who?”

  “Out. With a few friend,” I said. I quickly tried to change the subject, “How's the editing?”

  That was the right thing to ask. Mark went on and on and on about the problems he was having and how the software he was using just wasn't good enough. I kept glancing nervously at the kitchen clock. I was already five minutes late now. There was no guarantee that Dane would wait for me. “Anyway,” said Mark, “Why don't you hold on and I'll throw on a blazer? We can head out together.”

  Shit. There was no polite way to turn him down. I tried my best even so. “It's a girls' night, Mark. No boys allowed.”

  “Oh,” he said, sounding disappointed, “That's a shame.” “I know,” I said, “A real shame.”

  I made my way outside and down the block before Mark could bother me any more. I really hated being under his thumb like I was. It made everything all the more difficult. I needed to leave soon. Even if that meant going home.

  After a brief moment of panic I got myself together and spotted Dane's car, parked exactly where he had promised he would park. I ran over as fast as I could in my high heels and rapped on the car window. Dane opened the door and let me in.

  “Hey,” he said, as I closed the door behind me, “Aren't you a sight for sore eyes?” “If you say so,” I said. He laughed.

  “I missed you.”

  I bit my lip, not quite ready to admit that I missed him to. I'd reminded myself over and over while I prepared for the date that Dane could not be trusted. He was a charmer and he would use that to get what he wanted from me. Nothing could be taken at face value. I just had to enjoy the night without getting attached.

  “So, where are you taking me?” I asked. Dane grinned.

  “How does dinner and a show sound?” he asked. I shrugged.

  “Pretty standard.”

  His face fell.

  “Standard? I was trying to be romantic?” he said. I had only been teasing but it was funny seeing him get so worked up about it. I wondered how far I could push him.

  “It's romantic, I guess. But being spontaneous and fun would be a lot more romantic, I think,” I said, not expecting him to actually take me up on that. He gritted his teeth determinedly and started the car.

  “I'll show you spontaneous!”

  We drove through a part of town I hadn't seen before. It wasn't long before I could see the ocean glittering in the distance as the sun set slowly in the sky.

  “Holy shit, that looks so beautiful!” I said, looking at the gorgeous array of colors spread across the sky. I would have to use some of those colors in one of my designs.

  “Yeah, it's nice. We'll have fun together,” he grinned.

  Our date started right after Dane found a half decent parking space. When we got out of the car I asked him where we were going.

  “The pier, of course,” he said. He took my hand and we walked towards to bright carnival lights overlooking the beach in the distance.

  “Have you done this before?” I asked. He shook his head.

  “No. I always meant to check out the pier since I first moved to LA, but I never got around to it,” he gave my hand a little squeeze, “It should be fun.”

  “That's not what I meant,” I said, “I meant, have you ever held hands in public with a girl like this? Since you've been famous?”

  Dane shook his head again.

  “I guess I'm doing a lot of new things tonight,” he said. I nodded in agreement.

  “You sure are. If you want, we can just walk side by side. Actually, I better take my Grandma's ring off too or Craig will go nuts,” I said. I reached for it but Dane stopped me, taking my hand again. “No, that's all right. Let's just enjoy ourselves and not think about any of those other fuckers. Does that sound like a plan?” he said. I was surprised, to say the least, but I agreed. It sounded like a wonderful plan to me.

  The pier was like a childhood dream come true. There was color everywhere and I had no idea where I wanted to start. There was a giant Ferris wheel at the very end and about a million different stalls and rides on the way. I could smell the comforting scent of hot, greasy food and sweet cotton candy. There were vendors inviting people to try their luck at winning plush animals.

  Dane saw me looking at the candy floss stall and without me asking, he walked over and ordered me the biggest stick of that fluffy stuff that I'd ever se
en in my life. He even let me chose the color. I had a choice between yellow, pink, mint green or lilac. I chose lilac.

  “Jesus, this is bigger than my head,” I said as we walked. For a moment I thought people were staring at the girl with the giant stick of purple cotton candy. Then I realized they weren't. It wasn't me they cared about. It was my movie star date.

  People whispered and pointed as we passed by but no one was brave enough to just come over and approach Dane. He gave my hand a reassuring squeeze.

  “Sorry,” he mouthed.

  “No problem,” I said. Just then a teenage girl came up to us and asked if this was Dane Reynolds the actor. Dane nodded slowly and the girl gave a little scream. That was it. The crowd began to gather. People became pushy, asking for autographs and selfies. Soon I was shoved to the side, left to eat my cotton candy alone.

  Shit, so this was the reality of dating a celebrity. Would we have to deal with this every time we went on a date? That was assuming that he even wanted a second date. Dane seemed to busy signing autographs to even bother with me anymore.

  I wandered off to the nearest bench I could find and sat down. I finished off the last of my cotton candy as I watched Dane try to deal with mob as best he could. He was actually very efficient, making sure that everyone got their autograph and their selfie in the quickest time possible. Once the crowd dispersed again he came right over to me.

  “I'm sorry,” he sat next to me and put his arm around my shoulders, “Maybe spontaneous isn't a good idea when you're famous.”

  “Maybe not,” I said, glancing down at his arm, “You know someone's gonna snap a picture of this, right?”

  Dane shrugged.

  “Whatever happens happens. So, how about we get that dinner?” I didn't argue.

  Dane

  Luigi's was a great little Italian restaurant just a few miles north of my place. It was cozy and popular with locals, but not that well known. They always took good care of me in there. If I called ahead and told them that I wanted to book a table they would make sure that I wouldn't be bothered. The food was also delicious, which helped quite a bit. I just hoped Savannah would like it.

  As soon as we entered the restaurant the hostess recognized me.

  “Mr Reynolds,” she said, “We have a table set aside where you'll be left in peace. Please follow me.”

  She led the two of us past a number of diners who all seemed to know who I was. They were whispering and looking at me as if I had two heads. Jesus Christ, this shit got tiring after a while. Sometimes I missed being a nobody. Then again, nobodies usually couldn't afford nice dates like this one.

  The hostess led us up a flight of stairs and onto the roof. A single table had been set for us, overlooking the city skyline. It was warm and there was no breeze so it was perfect. “Thank you,” I said, as we were seated, “This is great!”

  “It is, isn't it?” said Savannah. I was glad she thought so. She deserved the world. The least I could give her was a great date.

  A waiter quickly arrived with a basket of bread and my favorite red wine. He poured it out, handed over the bread and promised he'd be back shortly to take our orders. The two of us were left alone under the night sky. Savannah couldn't keep the smile off of her face.

  “You really went all out for this, didn't you?” she said. I shrugged. “I wouldn't say that.”

  “Of course you wouldn't. You don't want to admit that you're a hopeless romantic!” she teased. A hopeless romantic? Me? More like plain hopeless when it came to romance. Even so, I took it as a compliment.

  “Thanks, I think,” I said. Savannah sniggered.

  “This is like a totally different side of you,” she said, “You're being all polite and gentlemanly and you've really toned down your obnoxious side.”

  “Thanks a bunch,” I said, “It's great to know you haven't lost your bluntness.”

  “It's great to know you haven't lost your ego,” she smiled sweetly. Damn it, that woman really wanted to keep me in my place. It was endearing, really, to think that a tiny girl like her could tame a bad ass like me. I liked her, but that didn't mean I was going to change for her. Any girl who couldn't handle me wasn't worth perusing.

  I had a feeling that Savannah was well equipped to handle me, however.

  The waiter returned and we placed our orders. Savannah went for the carbonara so I copied her, deciding that it sounded good to me too.

  “So,” she asked eventually, “When are we going to talk about what happened the night I left?” Jesus. She certainly hadn't lost her bluntness. I'd been hoping she wouldn't bring that up with me. I just wanted to talk to her, to make her laugh and look at her in that pretty cocktail dress. Why dredge up the past and ruin the mood? I said as much.

  “Come on baby, shit was getting all romantic. Do you really want to ruin it by talking about all that?” I said. Savannah nodded with a smile on her face.

  “Yup. I'll ruin it for you,” she said. I could see she was getting flustered now, “Why didn't you stand up for me?”

  I thought about it for a moment. There was no good answer.

  “I didn't know it mattered that much to you,” I said. It was me being honest, but that didn't please Savannah. She frowned at me.

  “Of course it mattered. What girl wants to know that the guy she cares about doesn't care about her?” she said. So she admitted that she cared about me. It made me feel good to think that. Conflicted, but good.

  “I never said I didn't care about you,” I said.

  “You never did anything to show that you did care about me,” she responded. She was smiling again now, but her eyes were angry. I hadn't expected her to get so worked up about it. This definitely wasn't a situation that was covered in a first date hand book. Not that I'd read one. If I had I might have been better prepared.

  “I'm sorry you feel that way,” I said. We were then interrupted by the waiter, who appeared with two steaming how bows of carbonara for us.

  “Enjoy,” he said, before disappearing again. We ate in silence for a while, too hungry and frustrated to even speak. Savannah eventually found her voice.

  “It hurt.”

  “What?”

  “You hurt me.”

  “Oh.”

  She swallowed another bite of her carbonara and put her fork down.

  “This isn't as easy as I'd hoped it would be,” she said, shaking her head. It didn't feel like she was talking to me. It felt like she was talking to herself. Despite this, I felt the need to respond. “What did you want to happen?” I asked.

  “I don't know,” she turned her head and looked out at the LA skyline, “I don't belong here.”

  “I wouldn't say that,” I said, hoping that she wouldn't sense my internal panic. So maybe I didn't know exactly what it was that I wanted. That didn't meant that she should leave. One thing I knew for sure was that I wanted her to to stick around.

  “I don't belong here,” she repeated, “I need to go home.”

  “No you don't,” I found myself saying. She gave me a gentle smile.

  “What should I stick around for? I'm not a model. I'm not an actress and I'm not a singer either. My design career is going nowhere,” she said, before quietly adding, “My love life is going nowhere. I should go home and be close to my family. They miss me a lot.”

  Fuck. It was time to bring out the big guns now. I hated myself for doing it but I needed to.

  “You should stick around for me,” I said, “Please. Please stick around for me. I'll bring you home and you can visit your family if that's what you want, but don't leave for good.”

  “Why not?” she asked. Damn it, I knew she would make me spell it out for her.

  “Because I need you here. And I know I'm just a fucking idiot movie star with an ego the size of Jupiter and excellent muscle definition, but that doesn't mean that I can't admit when I need something. I need you, Savannah,” I said, “I really do.”

  For once in my life, being honest with a girl didn't t
urn around and bite me on the ass. Savannah leaned forward and whispered, “I need you too.”

  We didn't stay for dessert. We didn't even finish our dinner. I left a huge tip to let the restaurant staff know that the food hadn't been a problem and the two of us slipped back into my car.

  I held her hand on the drive home. It felt nice. It felt like it belonged there.

  Maybe it did.

  Chapter Twelve

  Savannah

  Dane didn't bring me back to Mark's house. He brought me back to his own house instead. Stepping inside felt familiar and comforting compared to the coldness of Mark's place. I took a deep breath and let myself savor the unique but lovely scent of Dane's home. I'd missed it almost as much as I'd missed him.

  The moment we set foot in the door Dane took me in his arms and kissed me passionately. “You're not sleeping in the guest room tonight,” he grinned.

  “No fucking way,” I whispered with a giggle. Without warning Dane grabbed me and tossed me over his shoulder as if I weighed nothing. Fuck, he really was as strong as he looked. I gave his shoulder a little slap in mock protest but he just returned the favor by giving my ass a quick spank. “Put me down right now, mister!” I demanded.

  “Not a chance,” he said. To my surprise, he managed to jog all the way upstairs with me still thrown over his shoulder like that. His grip on me didn't even weaken with all of that extra pressure. He carried me effortlessly to his bedroom and laid my down on the bed without so much as breaking a sweat.

  “You go to the gym, I get it,” I said. He laughed at me as he tossed his shirt to the ground. Fuck, I had forgotten how buff he was. I couldn't stop myself from reaching out and stroking his colorful abdomen, admiring ever one of his tattoos.