***** Dylan's Point of View *****
Brenley slipped her hand into mine and I led the way out onto the dance floor and then turned to face her, resting my hands on her waist.
She looked up at me and stifled a laugh before whispering so that the other couples dancing around us couldn't hear. "It's so weird dancing with you in that disguise."
"Just close your eyes and picture you're dancing with the real me," I whispered back and she slowly closed her eyes, resting her hands on my shoulders as we started swaying back and forth to the calypso music. It felt like we were on a tropical island, especially with the ocean and the beach behind us.
"If seeing me in this disguise is so weird for you, why did you want me to wear one?" I whispered, resting my cheek against the top of her head as we danced.
She turned her head to the side and laid it against my chest with her eyes still closed.
"Because, I figured being a celebrity has to get old after a while. I wanted you to remember what it feels like to be a normal person, to be able to relax without having to worry about paparazzi taking our picture or writing an article about us."
That was the most thoughtful thing she could have said. I don't know how she knew, but I really needed this. I had been under so much stress and pressure lately and this day actually made me feel a lot better.
It was refreshing to feel normal again for a while, even if it was only temporary. I took a deep breath in and let it out, looking around at the other couples dancing that weren't paying any attention to us, which never happened when I was out.
"You're right. It's been a long time since I've felt this relaxed out in public. It's nice."
That made her smile. "You seemed really happy today. Seeing that was way better than a pedicure and a shopping spree."
"I never thought I'd hear a woman say that," I laughed.
She shook her head with a smile. "You've been around L.A. women too long then," she laughed. "To tell you the truth, I'd rather spend my money on a new book and some good, quality coffee any day."
I nodded and said, "That's a good choice. For me, I'd rather spend my money on car stuff, fixing up the house, or a vacation."
"Yeah, those are good choices too."
I smiled down at her as I held her against me and swayed back and forth to the music. Having her there felt so good that I found myself wishing that she didn't have to leave in two days to go back to Iowa. I was tempted to ask her to stay longer, because I wanted more time to get to know her.
But if she did stay, I was afraid this place would change her. She was so sweet and innocent and had such a good heart, but spending too much time in Hollywood around celebrities would change that and I couldn't stand the thought of Brenley changing.
She would probably say no anyways. She hated Hollywood and the fact that I was a celebrity, but I couldn't really blame her. After seeing all the things I had seen through the years, I couldn't fault anyone for not wanting to live there. It wasn't for everyone, but I really wished that she would stay anyway, for me.
I couldn't ask her to do that though, knowing how miserable she would be. Every instinct in my body was begging me to ask her not to leave, but I couldn't be that selfish.
After dancing for a while, we went back over to the table and finished our food, before eventually heading home. When we got back to the house, the first thing I did was take off the disguise, pulling the latex nose and ears off and then the wig. I jumped in the shower to wash off all the glue and makeup.
When I got out, I finally felt like my old self again. I put on some pajama pants and ran a towel through my hair to dry it, draping it over my shoulders as I stepped out onto the balcony.
I looked over and saw that Brenley was out on her balcony too, sitting on the deck chair and scrolling through her phone. She had changed into pajamas and had her hair pulled up into a messy bun.
"We've really gotta stop meeting like this," I yelled out and she looked over and saw me and smiled.
"I see you're back to being your old self again. That's a shame. I kind of thought you made a cute old man. I'm gonna miss old Ned."
That made me laugh and smile. "Ahhh, so THAT must be why you said yes to dancing with me, you have a thing for old men. I knew there had to be a reason."
She laughed. "Yep you've got me figured out. You better hide your Dad and Grandpa, or I might steal them away."
"Looking for a sugar daddy huh? I see Hollywood's changing you already," I said with a playful smile, shaking my head.
"Yep, you know it," she teased, nodding.
There was an awkward silence between us for a minute as I looked out at the ocean.
"Hey," I said, looking down and running a hand up through my hair as my smile slowly faded away. "You ummmm. You feel like having some company? I could bring over some wine and we could just hang out and talk for a bit?"
She hesitated, looking at me like she was considering my offer. I was mentally preparing myself to be rejected again, which made it that much more surprising when she said, "Ummm, yeah. Okay. You can come over."
I tried to play it cool and hide my excitement.
"Oh, okay. Well I'll ummm, I'll put on a shirt and be over in a minute," I told her, before heading inside where I silently started doing a little celebration dance for a few seconds because I was so excited. I couldn't believe she actually said yes this time. I felt like the luckiest man in the world in that moment.
I pulled on a tight, dark blue t-shirt and hung up my wet towel before heading downstairs where I grabbed a bottle of wine from the wine cooler and two wine glasses.
I had a huge smile on my face as I approached her door and I stopped for a minute doing lip and cheek exercises trying to get the smile to go away and I made a straight face as I knocked. It was no use. As soon as the door swung open and I saw her face my smile slowly started to creep back in.
She smiled at me too and said, "Hey. There you are. I had gotten so used to the wrinkles, I almost forgot what you really looked like."
I walked inside as she shut the door behind me. "Well I could have my friend come over and do my disguise again tomorrow if you miss my wrinkles that much."
She grinned and said, "No, I think I can suffer through looking at that hideous face of yours. It'll be tough though."
"Are you sure you aren't looking in the mirror?" I teased, raising an eyebrow at her with a smirk and she gasped, jabbing me hard in the side with her fingers and I laughed. She laughed too and we both stood there smiling for a few seconds. I really liked how playful she was.
She looked over at me, examining my face for a few seconds and said, "It's not really that I liked you as an old man, but when you were wearing that disguise, I almost forgot I was hanging out with 'The Famous Dylan Chase'," she said, using air quotes. "It was kind of nice actually," she exhaled, looking down. "It felt like the real you."
I nodded, shoving my hands in my pockets. "Well, if we're talking about the real me, I should probably confess that my real name is Dylan Chase Ashford. My agent shortened it when I moved out here cause he thought Dylan Chase sounded more like a Hollywood star."
"Oh, I didn't know that."
"Not too many people do. It's been a well-kept secret for a long time."
"So why did you tell me then?" she asked, scrunching her eyebrows in confusion.
I shrugged. "Because, I just wanted you to know and because I know I can trust you."
It felt good to confide in her and my instinct was telling me she wouldn't sell the story to the tabloids.
"Dylan Chase Ashford," she repeated slowly, letting the words roll off her tongue. "I think that's a nice name. I don't know why your agent made you change it."
"Thank you," I said with an exhale. I looked around the room before looking down at the wine and glasses I was holding in my hand. "Oh, I ummm, I brought us some wine. It's from a really good year. I know you're more into coffee than fancy wine, but I figured you might like it."
"Sure, I'll try it," she nodded, folding her arm across her waist.
I walked over to her kitchen counter and set the wine glasses down before popping the cork on the bottle and pouring us two glasses of the dark, red wine, handing one to her.
She swished it around before taking a long sniff and then sipped a tiny bit, swishing it around on her tongue. I thought it was funny that she remembered the waiter's advice.
Her eyes widened. "Mmmmm. That's actually really good. Better that the one at the restaurant," she laughed.
I smiled back as I picked up the bottle and led the way out onto the porch, taking a seat in the reclining wooden chair. She flipped off the light inside before coming out onto the dark back porch with me, overlooking the ocean.
"I like having the lights off so you can see the ocean better," she said, taking a seat beside me.
"Me too. I've always loved sitting out here at night and listening to the sound of the waves crashing on the shore," I said, taking in a deep breath of the ocean breeze and letting out an exhale. "I think it's relaxing."
"Me too. I love the sound of the ocean," she said, before both of us sipped our wine at the same time as we looked out at the water. "Did you know that until this week I had actually never seen the ocean before?"
"Really?" I asked.
She nodded and said, "Yeah, and it didn't disappoint. You're so lucky to live this close to it. I'm definitely gonna miss it," she added quietly, letting out a sigh.
I wondered if that was the only thing she was going to miss.
*** 2 hours & another bottle of wine later ***
"When I was a kid I loved space. I used to climb up on our roof and lay down and just stare up at the stars, daydreaming about the future and whether humans would be living up there before I die," I told her.
"I've always wondered if there are planets out there somewhere that have people like us?" she said, gazing up at the sky. "I think that would be the coolest thing ever, if we found a planet that had people and they spoke a different language and had completely different customs and behaviors than us. Wouldn't that be exciting?"
I nodded my head and said, "Yeah, like back in old times when people would sail across the ocean and discover new countries. Like when the English found North America and it was inhabited by the Indians and they were completely different from them."
"Yeah," she nodded. "Exactly, but let's hope that if aliens discover this planet it turns out better for us than it did for the Indians."
"It probably wouldn't," I told her, sipping my wine. "People are scared of the unknown. They have a tendency to try to destroy it before it has the chance to destroy them."
There was a pause before I added, "People do that with relationships too. They shut it down before it has the chance to hurt them, even though it might have turned out to be something really good if they had given it a chance."
I was talking about her not giving me a chance and I was hoping she would pick up on my subtle hint. At least I thought it was subtle, but subtlety wasn't exactly my strong suit.
"So tell me about your family?" she asked me, changing the subject.
"Well, I come from a pretty big family. I'm the oldest of four, three boys and one girl. We kept our Mom on her toes," I laughed.
"Wow, there are four of you?" she said with raised eyebrows. "For some reason I can't picture you having a sister," she said with a smile.
"Yeah, she's the baby of the family. She's only sixteen," I said, pulling out my phone and swiping through some pictures.
As I searched she said, "Imagine how intimidating it would be as a guy to find out the girl you're going out with has you for a big brother?" she laughed.
Then I found what I was looking for and pointed my phone towards her and her eyes widened.
"Awwww!" she cried out, taking the phone from my hands and looking at the family portrait I had pulled up on it that we took a few years ago at Christmas. "Your whole family's so gorgeous. Look at all of you!" she gasped. "Wow, your Mom's a baddie isn't she?"
That made me laugh. "I guess so. At least that's what all my friends told me growing up. Their nickname for her was The MILF. Trust me, that's the LAST thing a guy wants to hear his friends say about his Mom," I cringed.
"And what about your Dad?" she asked, widening her eyes. "Damn! He's hot too. Maybe you really do need to hide him from me," she teased, giving me a smirk and waiting for a response from me.
"Oh yeah?" I laughed. I knew she was just saying that to get a rise out of me.
"Yeah, you and your brothers and sister definitely won the genetic lottery having them as parents. So how old are your little brothers?" she asked.
"Mason's twenty one and Jack's nineteen."
"They're both tall and handsome just like you. I bet they could be actors too," she said, handing my phone back to me.
"They wanted to be for a while, but I talked them out of it. I really don't want them around all the drugs, women and partying out here in Hollywood."
She looked at me with scrunched eyebrows and asked, "But you think it's okay for YOU to be around all that?"
"Well I've been around it for years and I've never felt tempted to go down that path. I know my little brothers well enough to know they aren't as strong as me when it comes to resisting shit like that. I worry about them being stupid and ruining their lives and then my parents would blame me. As their older brother I've always tried to watch out for them and steer them in a good direction."
She smiled and said, "It sounds like you're a good big brother." Then we sat there in silence and I could tell she was thinking. "So if you don't want your brothers or sister out here in Hollywood because this place is such a bad influence, what about when you have kids one day? Do you want to raise them here around all that?"
I sat there, processing her words and running it over in my mind.
"I guess I never really thought about it," I said quietly and that was the truth. I had been so busy focusing on work for so long, I hadn't even thought about settling down and starting a family.