We’d been driving through Hollywood for maybe five minutes and I was still trying to catch my breath back.
“What the hell is going on?” asked Aston out of the blue.
I couldn’t help it, I burst out laughing.
“Sorry about that Ast,” I said. “Forgot you aren’t used to the, ‘Runaway from Charlie’ game I’ve had to play for the last few months.”
“Sorry?” he said, confused.
“That sleaze ball,” I said with distaste in my voice, “He’s called Charlie. His Dad owns that club, and lots of others that I’ve played at. I went out with him once because I was being nice and he wouldn’t leave me alone, and ever since it’s like he thinks I’m his girlfriend. He’s the most miserable person ever,” I whined. “Most nights I get out before he shows up, but tonight I felt like having a drink at the bar first.”
“Good you did,” said Aston. “Otherwise I would’ve missed you.”
“There you go,” I smiled. “You hungry?”
“Uhhh… I guess…” I said.
“What am I saying, you can always eat. I know this great diner, I’m famished, fancy going for a late night breakfast?”
“Sure,” said Aston, leaning back in his seat. He seemed almost relieved?
“Did you think I was a bank robber or something there?” I laughed as I pulled into the diner’s parking lot.
“I had no idea what the hell was happening,” he laughed.
“Well you were a good sport,” I laughed turning my car off. “Sorry about all that. Now come on, breakfast!”
We walked into the diner and slipped into an old-fashioned vinyl booth. I ordered us both massive American-style breakfasts and a pot of decaf coffee since it was now pushing the early hours of morning.
While we waited for our food we sat in an awkward silence. It had been so long that I honestly didn’t know what to say to him. Maybe I needed to have mentally prepared for this better? But it was so unexpected that I couldn’t have. When we’d been in the club it had been easy to hide a bit behind the music and the flashing lights, but here in the diner it was impossible.
“So…” said Aston after awhile, fiddling with the silverware that had been laid out in front of him.
“Yeah…” I said with a slight smile.
Just then our food was placed in front of us and we busied ourselves preparing our plates and putting our napkins in our laps. I took a bit bite of a pancake, just in time to look up and watch Aston stick an entire pancake in his mouth. I nearly choked as I tried not to laugh.
“Really Ast?” I asked giggling.
“What?” he said, with a twinkle in his eye, “They’re small!”
“Oh OK,” I said sarcastically taking some eggs on my fork. “You really haven’t changed have you?” I asked before placing them in my mouth.
“What you mean?” he said with his mouth full.
“Just that you seem to be the same cheeky boy I knew three years ago, that’s all.”
“Well,” he started with a serious look on his face, “I did promise you that I would stay the same guy regardless of what being a popstar did to me. And I did mean it when I promised you. I wouldn’t lie about things like that,” he smiled sincerely.
“Well I’m glad, because I like the cheeky you…”
“Yeah?” he asked with a raised eyebrow.
“You know what I mean,” I laughed awkwardly. What did I mean?
We sat and bantered about for a bit, finally falling back into that comfortable place. We didn’t talk about anything substantive. Nothing about the past or the present, just silly chat and banter. It was so easy with him to spend hours talking about nothing.
Finally, when we’d finished the pot of coffee, I felt a yawn coming on.
“We should probably get going yeah?” asked Aston looking at his phone. “Jheeze, it’s almost 5am. Sun will be up soon!”
“Look at us, being all intense and staying up all night.”
“It’s not that hard,” laughed Aston getting up from the booth and going to pay the bill. I quickly pushed past him and ran to the register, handing over a twenty-dollar bill. “Aww no fair,” he whined.
“Beat you,” I said, poking my tongue out. “Now go get in my car,” I added.
“It’s fine,” he protested, “I’ll get a cab or something.”
I just laughed out loud. “Mate, this is LA. You’d do better walking than finding a cab. Get in my car.”
“Ok Ok,” he laughed, heading outside. After I grabbed my change and left a tip on the table I skipped outside, sliding into the driver’s seat. “So I’m staying at…” he started.
“Nahhh, don’t care,” I smirked.
“How are you gonna take me back then?” he asked.
“We aren’t going back yet muppet. One more stop first…” I smirked.
When he’d mentioned that the sun was nearly rising I’d come up with a bit of a plan. You can’t visit LA without seeing the sunrise over the city from atop the hills. So with that in mind I started my car and drove off towards the Hollywood hills…
