I had never paid much attention to celebrity gossip or what was going on in Hollywood because that was so far from the lifestyle I lived as a poor college student, working as a barista to save up for my own house after graduation. But then, without...
"Dylan Chase's house," he answered, as if that was a completely normal thing to say.
"What? Now?" I asked, suddenly feeling panicked. "But I thought I'd get to check in to the hotel first and clean up. I've been travelling since early this morning and I'm a mess," I said, reaching up and touching my messy bun and looking down at my jeans and baggy sweatshirt.
"You won't be staying in a hotel this week. You'll be staying in Dylan Chase's guest house. I thought Melissa Dane would've told you."
My eyes widened. "Umm, no. She didn't mention it."
I created a Snapchat group for my three best friends: Dave, Ellie and Ellie's twin brother Spencer and sent them a message that said, 'I just found out I won't be staying in a hotel this week. I'll be staying in Dylan Chase's guest house. What if he's some creepy pervert that hits on me all week?'
Just the thought of that gave me chills. This week couldn't get over fast enough.
'You could only be so lucky,'Ellie messaged back.
'I agree with Ellie' Spencer said.
I rolled my eyes and shook my head.
'You two are literally no help at all.'
'You know you love us 😘,' Ellie said.
Dave chimed in and said, 'You know I love Dylan Chase, but that is sus as hell. Maybe you should've brought pepper spray. Make sure you sleep with your door locked.'
We pulled up to a gate and the driver scanned a card and started up a long driveway. I looked out the window and saw a humongous mansion and my eyebrows raised. I expected it to be really nice, but not like this. It looked like a palace a royal family would live in.
"Wow," I whispered. It was dark out now and the house was lit up with a glow and the mountains and sunset could be seen behind it, streaking the sky with pink & blue.
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We pulled up to the front door of this humongous mansion and that's when I realized there were a bunch of people waiting there for me. There were also a couple guys holding cameras, the big kind you use for filming movies.
I opened my door and got out, looking up at the huge mansion in awe. I had never seen a house like it before.
A woman stepped up to me and shook my hand. "I'm Melissa Dane, Dylan Chase's personal assistant. I'm the one you've been talking to for the past week."
Melissa looked to be around forty and had long straight hair that was a natural shade of dark red and bright blue eyes. She was wearing a white business pant suit with a white blazer and turquoise tank top underneath it with a pair of coral high heels that were about three inches tall. I never understood how women could stand to wear those kinds of shoes all day. The few times I had to wear tall heels, I couldn't wait to take them off.
She gave me a warm smile full of bright white teeth as she shook my hand.
"Hi" I said, giving her a smile back. "It's nice to meet you."
I looked around at all of the other eyes that were locked onto me as I let go of her hand. I suddenly felt like an animal on display at a zoo.
"Who are all these people?" I whispered to her.
"Oh this is the film, photography and sound crew. Some of them are from Spill the Tea with Tammy and some are from the movie studio. They sent their own crew over too to film some behind the scenes footage for the DVD release of Dylan's new movie."
"So they're going to be following me around and filming me all week?" I asked, feeling my heart pounding harder as I swallowed hard. This was my worst nightmare.
"No. Not ALL week. Only during certain outings and important moments that we need footage of. Didn't you read the paperwork you signed? It was all in there," she said, like it was a dumb question.
I hadn't signed any paperwork, my Dad did, but I didn't want to throw him under the bus and tell her that, so I just laughed awkwardly and said, "Guess I must've skimmed over that part."
Melissa let out a deep breath, looking frustrated.
"Did you actually read ANY of the paperwork?" she asked.
I reluctantly said, "No," very quietly, feeling my cheeks flush.
She shook her head in judgement and said, "I took a lot of time to write all of that out. I'll have to get you another copy so you can read it. If not, you'll be lost all week. But right now we need to set up the shot of you meeting Dylan."
My stomach dropped. The thought of meeting him made me feel uneasy.
Melissa led me over to a tall, skinny middle aged man, wearing a plain t-shirt and jeans and large headphones around his neck. He was going bald and had the start of a beer belly.
"This is the director from Spill the Tea with Tammy. His name's Scott. He'll take it from here," she told me, before walking away as she took a call.
I looked at Scott and said, "Hi, I'm Brenley, holding my hand out to him with a smile.
Scott didn't shake my hand or even turn to look at me. He just reached up and pressed a button on the side of his headphone and said, "The girl's here. Is Dylan ready?"
Then he nodded and shouted, "Okay he's ready! Places everyone!"
I ran my hands over the blonde fly-aways that were sticking out of my messy bun from the California humidity and looked down at what I was wearing. I had on a pair of faded jeans, a baggy sweatshirt and old tennis shoes. If I had known they'd be filming me without going to a hotel first, I would've tried to fix myself up a little bit this morning before I left for the airport.
I raised my head and noticed cameras pointing directly in my face and Scott motioned for me to come forward and whispered, "Go up and knock on the door."
As I walked forward, the cameras followed closely, documenting my every move and it felt so awkward. I approached the large door and slowly lifted my hand, hesitating and letting out a breath before knocking three times.
I heard footsteps and a clicking sound before the door finally opened and there was Dylan Chase standing in front of me, all 6'2 of him.
