Crazy Little Thing Called Love

MCD-Chapter Five

When Brad first proposed I go back to California with him, I hadn’t answered him right away. I had been reluctant to leave my comfy environment and give into the world my mom had purposefully taken me out of.

But, like it or not, Brad’s world already knew about me. There was no point in hiding now. The invitation had been extended to my mom as well, but of course she declined. I hoped that she’d change her mind. While Brad was doing everything he could to make the plane ride over and the drive to his house less awkward, it was clear the two of us had nothing in common and a lot of ice breaking to do.

I was only a little bit excited to be going to the humongous mall where Brad was filming most of his new movie, Mannequin. Eliza and Melany had begged me to take every chance I could at seeing all of a movie star’s life. I was simply complying with their wishes.

In truth, I had no idea how hectic it could be. Brad’s newest character, Timothy Anderson, was the head hauncho at this elaborate and old mall in down town New York City. While the outward scenes of the mall and the scenes where they were walking on the streets of the city, the inside of the mall was in L.A.

There were cameras everywhere. When they weren’t acting, the director was shouting out cut and action, what to do and what not to do. In between scenes, make up artists ran up to retouch their masterpieces.

Brad never once seemed to tire. It was his job to be as pleasant and as workable as possible. I had to admit, I had half expected him to be a diva. But whatever criticism the director gave, Brad just nodded and complied.

I never got bored, surprisingly. Eliza and Melany made me take videos with my phone of some things, hoping to see some future bloopers. The actors were very worn out, though, and the only mistakes they made were meant with a hissed swear and a request to try again. There was no funny business this time.

"Liz," I groaned, rubbing my forehead. "How many times do I have to tell you? I don’t know how different this is from the original."

"Well, what have they been doing for the past three hours?" my friend demanded.

"Basically the same five scenes over and over again," I answered. "They’re in the mall, informing Tim about his son’s latest actions and what not. Tim’s about to confront him and ask if he needs to see a psychiatrist."

Liz let out an ear piercing shriek. "Oh my God! Do you know what that means?"

"No, Liz. What does it mean?"

My friend said something, but I didn’t hear her. Three feet away from me stood the man whose picture in Teen Dream magazine we had ogled over since his debut film, The Walgreens Got Me Fallin’ in Love. His chestnut hair had grown considerably from its drastic buzz cut, relieving me greatly inside. He, unlike Brad, seemed taller in person and a little more muscled. Those desirable cheekbones were much sharper, that slight cleft chin even slighter. As with Brad coming to my house, I found myself absolutely dumbstruck. The phone slowly slipped from my hand and clattered to the floor.

Shocking aqua eyes fixed on me and a mouth I had dreamed of kissing several times lifted in a kind smile. To my horror and excitement, he walked toward me, bending down to pick up my cell. "Careful. I dropped mine last week and it shattered. They don’t make them like they used to, huh?"

I didn’t even acknowledge the IPhone he held out to me. I had known he was Australian, but in all his movies he’d had an American accent. Hearing his true accent, though, just made my insides turn to butter. My brain screamed at me to stop staring at him with my mouth hanging open stupidly and say something. But I couldn’t! I had no control of my body whatsoever. It was like I had just lost control. Maybe I was going into anaphylactic shock or something. Surely a boy couldn’t be making me act like such a dumb head!

And then I just snapped as soon as his smile began to fade. "Hi. You’re Trick Garrett." Oh. My. God. Could you be more stupid, Kenzie?!

Trick’s eye lit up and he chuckled a little. Chills went down my spine at the sound of that wonderfully deep chuckle directly in front of me. "You don’t miss anything, do you?" he teased, not unkindly.

I laughed nervously. Taking my phone gently from his hands, I babbled on, "Thanks for saving my phone."

"No problem," Trick Garrett said to me, Mackenzie Thornton. "It’d suck for someone to step on it."

"Yeah," I agreed dreamily. God, I was being such a girl! And yet I couldn’t make myself stop.

"Not to sound rude or anything, but what’re you doing here?" Trick Garrett asked me.

I answered a full five seconds after he had spoken. "Oh. I, uh, belong to Brad Jameson." Realizing how that sounded, I added frustratedly, "I mean I’m his daughter. Kenzie. Thornton. Apparently. "

Trick Garrett nodded. "Oh, right, sure. You’ve been on the news a lot."

"Sorry." Dumb girl! Why on earth are you apologizing?

Trick Garrett graced me with his beautiful chuckle. "You don’t have to be sorry. It happens. So did you really not know Brad was your dad?"

I hesitated just a second before shaking my head. Not many girls got a chance to actually have a conversation with Trick Garrett, much less a simple hello. Did it really matter that I had no interest discussing the Brad-Jameson-is-a-secret-father-and-I’m-his-daughter bit of popular information?

"No. Found out at school one day," I said to Trick.

He made a face. "Ouch. That had to have sucked."

"Well, it wasn’t fun, I’ll tell you that," I agreed with a small laugh.

Someone called Trick’s name. He flashed me an apologetic smile. "Sorry, I gotta go. It was nice to meet you, Kenzie Thornton. You going to be here tomorrow, too?"

I nodded before I even realized that might not be true. "Yeah. Absolutely!" I said, a little too loudly.

Trick Garrett chuckled under his breath. He must think I’m a total idiot! "Right, then. I’ll see you around."

"Bye….." I returned breathlessly.

For a minute, I thought the obnoxious screaming that occurred afterward was from me. I clamped my hand over my mouth just to be sure, but the screaming ensued.

"KENZIE!!!!" someone screamed. The sound was echoey and a bit muffled. Kind of like….

I looked down at the cell in the palm of my trembling hand. Apparently Liz was still on the line. "Hello?" I asked hastily. "Liz, oh my God, stop screaming already."

She was talking so fast and loud that I only caught snippets. There were a lot of "freaking Trick Garrets" and "OMGs". The rest I kinda filled in as she couldn’t believe I’d met Trick freaking Garrett.

"That makes two of us," I muttered, but my eyes slid across the room to where Trick Garrett was playing the part of coy son to my actual father. I let out a dreamy sigh.

Maybe having a celeb dad wasn’t so bad after all.

A/N Phew! The Trick Garrett introductions are OVER! I hated this chapter. HATED it. But you kinda need this chapter to move on with the rest of the story. Thanks to those who reminded me that you still read this short story!

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HaNnAh

P.S Sorry this is considerably shorter than the previous chapters…..