***** Dylan's Point of View *****
I looked in the mirror at my reflection as I fastened the diamond cuff links onto my custom Armani tux. The stylist had slicked my hair back with gel so it was out of my face and I had to admit, it looked good like that. I felt like James Bond.
My phone rang with a Facetime call from my Mom. She always called me through Facetime because she said she didn't get to see my face enough since I lived so far away. She said it made it feel like I was actually there.
When I answered, I saw my Mom's smiling face looking back at me. There were faint wrinkles around her eyes, and a little hint of silver hair on her temples, reminding me that she was getting older. Even still, she had always been a beautiful woman and she looked young for forty five. Growing up, people always thought she was my older sister instead of my Mom.
"Hey Mom" I smiled. "How are you?"
"I'm good! But more importantly, how are you?" Before I could answer, she said, "Wow! Don't you look handsome? Stand back and let me see that suit."
I propped the phone up and stepped back, buttoning the suit jacket and doing a spin for her.
"Oh man. That's a gorgeous suit. It looks so good on you," she smiled proudly and I saw her eyes getting teary. "I'm so sad we can't be there this time. It's gonna be the first movie premiere of yours we've ever missed."
My Dad had thrown his back out a few days ago and he could hardly walk. Mom wanted to stay home and take care of him, so neither of my parents were coming. I actually wasn't going to have any family at this premiere because my brothers and sister couldn't come because of school.
"It's alright Mom. It'll be just like the other premieres you guys have been to. You won't be missing much."
She smiled, looking relieved that I wasn't disappointed.
"So who's your date tonight? Somebody famous?" she asked.
"No, it's the sweepstakes girl."
"Sweepstakes girl?" she asked with scrunched eyebrows. "Am I supposed to know what that means? she laughed.
"Yeah, you remember that sweepstakes I told you about where a random girl got to come to L.A. and see what it's like to live like a celebrity for a week?"
"Oh yeah. I forgot about that," she nodded. "So, what's she like, this sweepstakes girl?"
"She's nice," I smiled.
My Mom looked at me, analyzing my face through the phone for a few seconds before saying, "You like her."
"What?" I laughed, taken aback. "Mom, I hardly know her. We just met a couple days ago."
She shrugged. "When it's the right person, a couple days is all it takes. With your Dad, I knew he was the one on our first date."
I couldn't even imagine falling for someone on a first date.
"So tell me about her," my Mom insisted.
"Her name is Brenley. She reminds me of the people back home in Minnesota. It's been a long time since I've gotten to hang out with a normal person that I can relax and just be myself around," I told her, trying to fight back a smile.
"Awww. So, where's she from?"
"Sioux City, Iowa, so not too far from where you guys are in Minnesota. She's a full time college student, and a coffee barista. She's saving up to buy her own house after she graduates in a few months."
"Wow. She sounds like an impressive woman."
"You know what's even more impressive? Since she's helping us to promote the movie, the studio offered to help her buy the house she's saving up for, but she turned it down. She said she wants to earn it on her own. Can you believe that?" I laughed.
"Wow. That is pretty hard to believe, but good for her. So, how old is she?"
"Twenty one."
"Twenty one. Hmmm. That's a good age," she nodded. "Is she pretty?"
"Yeah. She's ummmm, she's beautiful," I said, running a hand up through my hair and looking down at the ground with a smile slowly forming on my face. "She's got that wholesome, girl-next-door kind of beauty."
"Well she sounds great son. Now don't be an idiot and screw it up by sleeping with her," she said firmly.
I laughed, shaking my head. "Why does everyone keep telling me that? You guys act like I go around sleeping with every beautiful woman I see."
"Probably because most famous men do," my Mom laughed. "So everyone assumes you do too."
I let out an exhale and shook my head. "Well I don't. You don't have to worry about me sleeping with her anyway. She doesn't like me."
"She doesn't like you?" my Mom repeated, raising an eyebrow and sounding surprised. "Are you serious?"
"Yeah. I asked her to go for a walk on the beach with me and she turned me down cause she was too tired. She's turned me down a couple times already actually," I laughed.
Mom smiled and said, "Good for her. I like her even more now. Sounds like wife material if you ask me," she teased and I rolled my eyes.
"Mom, not that again," I groaned, running a hand over my face with an exhale.
"Hey! You're twenty three. That's how old your Dad and I were when we got married," she said, with her smile slowly fading away. "I'm really proud of all your success, but don't be so focused on your career that you lose sight of what's most important."
I knew what she was going to say, but I decided to ask anyway. "And what would that be Ma?"
She took a long inhale in and let it out. "When you get to be my age son, you look back at your life and realize how important the decisions were that you made at the beginning. It's not the fame and money and success you've had throughout your life that you'll be most proud of. It's the spouse you've spent so many happy years with and the children you raised that grew up into really good people that you'll be most proud of. And hopefully the grandchildren that will carry on your family name."
I laughed, shaking my head. "You just had to bring up grandchildren again didn't you? You just can't help yourself."
"Can you blame me?" she laughed. "I'm not getting any younger! I want some grandkids while I'm still young enough to get down on the floor and play with them. It's not like you can't afford them."
I took a deep breath in and let it out.
"Yeah, well you may be waiting a while on that. I'm not trying to rush into marriage and having babies. I need to make sure I find the right woman first."
My Mom rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah. I know how picky you are," she smiled. "You always have been. Don't get me wrong, I don't want you to marry the wrong girl either, but just be careful that you're not so picky that you end up all alone."
This time I was the one that rolled my eyes.
"I know Ma," I said with a smile.
"Hey, you know I only give you a hard time cause I love you, right?" she asked.
"I know. I know," I nodded, giving her a smile. Then I looked down at my phone and noticed the time. "Oh shit. Hey Ma, I'm sorry but I've really gotta run. Can't be late to my own movie premiere. I love you."
"Love you too son. Have fun!" she said, blowing kisses and giving me a wave.
"I will," I said with a smile, before hanging up.
I was bummed that she couldn't make it to the premiere but I played it off like I didn't care because I didn't want her to feel bad. Mom and I had always been close. Growing up, she was the glue that held our family together through the hard times, especially when we struggled with money. Our family didn't have a lot, but she made sure we had what we needed and we always had love.
I shoved my cell phone in my pocket and picked up my keys and wallet, before heading to the Guest House.
When I knocked on the door, I heard Brenley yell out, "I'm coming!"
A minute later the door opened and the sight of her took my breath away and my eyes widened. I was left speechless.
Her long blonde hair had been pulled up into a fancy updo and her makeup looked like it had been professionally done. She was wearing a white, spaghetti strap, floor-length gown that shimmered with every movement and a diamond necklace and matching earrings. The scoop at the front of her dress was cut low enough to show the faint line of her cleavage and the stretchy fabric gripped her skin, showing the curves of her hips and her small waist.
"Wow," I said with wide eyes. "You look amazing." She reminded me of Marilyn Monroe. She was absolutely stunning.
"I'm glad you like it," she said, giving me a shy smile with her cheeks flushing. "I wish I could take the credit, but I didn't do any of this myself. Melissa sent some people from the studio over to give me a makeover."
She looked down at the ground, gripping her clutch tightly in her hands and I noticed they were trembling slightly.
"How are you feeling about all of this? Going to your first movie premiere and everything?" I asked. "You seem a little nervous."
She lifted her head to look up at me and I could see vulnerability in her eyes.
"I am," she said quietly. "I've never been to something like this and I have no idea what the hell I'm doing. What if I trip on the red carpet or say something stupid and it goes viral and then everyone starts making fun of me online? I'm terrified that I'm gonna embarrass myself or even worse, you."
From the moment I met her she had always seemed so confident and sure of herself and what she wanted, so it was weird to hear her talking like this.
"There's nothing you could do to embarrass me," I reassured her. "I promise."
She still didn't look convinced.
"Maybe I just shouldn't go. I'm completely fine with staying here if you want to go with someone that's gone to these kind of things before and knows how to act. I bet Abby would go with you. You guys looked pretty close earlier."
"Hey," I said softly, waiting for her to raise her eyes to look up at me again. "I don't want to go with Abby okay? I want to go with you. Everyone in that entire place is going to be jealous because I'll be with the most beautiful woman there."
She scoffed and then laughed as if I was telling a joke.
I smiled and said, "I'm serious. Now stop doubting yourself. You're gonna do fine."
"Ugh, I just hate being the center of attention though," she groaned. "Some people love that sort of thing, but I literally hate it. It's my worst nightmare."
"Well, I'll be there to help you get through it. You can do this. I promise."
She nodded her head and sucked in a big breath of air and let it out, shaking the nerves out of her hands.
"I can do this," she repeated with a nod.
"You're gonna do great. Just try to relax and have fun. So, you ready to go?"
"Ready as I'll ever be," she said reluctantly.
I gave her a smile and held out my elbow to her. She grabbed her clutch with one hand and slipped the other into my bent arm before I escorted her outside towards the limo where our camera team was waiting to film us.
The entire car ride over to the premiere she was quiet and fidgety and she checked her phone about ten thousand times. I noticed when the cameras were around she clammed up.
Finally we got to the event and took our place in the long line of limos waiting to let celebrities out. As we got closer, we could see the camera flashes and I could feel her tensing up beside me.
A man in a tux opened the limo door and the shouts from the media and flashes of their cameras immediately filled the car. I got out first, buttoning the jacket of my tux and when I turned around to help her out of the limo, I saw her standing there behind me. She had already gotten out on her own and she was looking around like a deer caught in headlights.
I reached over and slipped my hand into hers, holding it to calm her down and surprisingly she didn't pull it away like I thought she would. Maybe she was too distracted to notice.
She eventually looked up into my eyes and she looked so fragile and scared that I wished I could just get back into that limo and drive her far away from here and all this madness.
She gripped onto my hand tightly as I escorted her across the red carpet and then we stopped in front of the paparazzi to take photos as the photographers shouted out my name. She held onto my hand so tight, like she was afraid if she let go I would run away and leave her to deal with all of this alone. Our camera crew got out of the limo and followed behind us, getting the footage they needed for the talk show.
We walked further down the carpet to the line of reporters from various celebrity news shows and TV networks, waiting to interview me. Access Hollywood was the first one, and as I walked up to talk to them, Brenley released my hand and stepped back. I turned around and she gave me a look like she really didn't want to be interviewed and I decided not to push her.
I turned back and walked up to the first reporter with a smile, shaking her hand.
"Hi Dylan!" she said, smiling back. "You're looking VERY handsome tonight, and you're date is absolutely stunning. Who is she?"