So, Elvis actually did get stitches in the making of this movie, but he got them when he convinced John Rich to do his own stunt work in a fight scene, not a motorcycle accident. I just changed things up. (He actually did do his own stunt work with the motorcycle, too.) It just seems like the cut in the movie came from the motorcycle accident when it actually came from a fight scene. So, that bandage you see on Elvis when he walks through the carnival for the first time, it's actually covering a wound in real life.
~ ~ ~
"Let me see that, Shannon! Hand it over!"
My younger sister Donna, who was the bigger version of me with long blonde hair and similar features, grabbed the handkerchief from my hand as we both sat on my bed in my little studio apartment that night, and after she showed up after I called her to talk to her about my day. She came over here as fast as possible since she lived in town. Her big blue eyes stared at the handkerchief as she saw what was written on the white material.
"Oh my heavens, you cannot ever wash this. It has his signature and phone number on it! Elvis Presley gave you his phone number!"
I took it back from her. "I'm well-aware, Donna."
"He definitely has feelings for you. You told me that you two shared a couple magical moments."
I placed the handkerchief on my bedside table, folded neatly with his name visible, and I took a pink pillow and hugged it as I sat there in my light-purple nightgown that I bought in the children's section of the department store. "They were magical to me, not to him."
"And how do you know that, huh? He did tell you that you looked really pretty today."
"Elvis is known to be a good person, so he was just being nice. He's probably like that with all his fans."
"Psht," she scoffed. "He was flirting with you. C'mon. You may be the height of a child, but you most certainly are not a child. You are a pretty young women with a cute little curvy body that he, I am sure, has noticed. He's a man! How could he not, especially when he picked you up for that scene the other day, huh? And you're a working woman who loves animals. Elvis can't resist all that, I'm sure of it."
Lila hopped on the bed and lay down between us as we faced each other. I pet her head. "Well... normal-sized men don't like me."
Donna's blue eyes flamed. "Hey, not every guy is that jerk who cheated on you, okay? You can't assume that about every normal-sized guy. I've told you this a million times already."
"I just don't want to get my hopes up. It's hard to find love when you're a person like me. For you, it's simple. You're a normal woman. I bet if Elvis met you, he would fall head over heels in love with you."
She took my hand as I had my gaze down on Lila, and she stopped me from petting her. I looked up at my very pretty sister. "Hey, that's never going to happen, okay? Right now, he's hooked on you. Just give yourself the benefit of a doubt."
"It's a bad idea to. I don't want my heart broken again."
Her gaze softened, and she squeezed my hand. "I know, but really, Shannon... Elvis has a thing for you. Those moments you shared when you looked into each other's eyes, I think he would've kissed you if there weren't people around."
The thought of actually kissing Elvis Presley... my cheeks flamed at the thought. "I... wow." We both giggled like girls do when talking about guys. "Well, even if I was normal-sized, it wouldn't be an option since he's off-limits. Plus, he has other women behind him like that girl he met in Germany who came all the way to Memphis just to be with him, and he has other women he's acted in movies with. I wouldn't stand a chance."
"But you do now. Those women aren't here."
I snatched my hand away and gave her an appalled look. "Donna, even if I was normal, I wouldn't be the one to make a man cheat on his girlfriend!"
"It's sure a complement when he's interested in you, even if he has a girlfriend, though. Tell me I'm wrong."
She dared me to say no to that. "But... Elvis Presley... the man every woman wants... he couldn't be interested in me like that. He's a friend at most, and that's more than I could ever dream of being with him that's realistic at the moment. I'm just going to keep on moving forward, and... I guess we'll see what happens."
Donna let out a huge huff through her nose. "Fine, fine. But it all has to mean something. He's expecting you to call him."
"Yeah, to make it so I get more clients at the clinic. I'm not going to take advantage of that. Plus, that's his hotel room number. He's probably hardly even there anyway."
"Then call him at night when he would be back. Just to call him. I dare you. Just say... hm... tell him you had a hard day and wanted to talk to a friend."
"But I didn't have a hard day. It was great. I went and saw him on the set. Well, it wasn't great that he got hurt, but..."
She suddenly gasped, making my heart jump from the surprise, and Lila even brought her head up curiously. "Call him to ask if he's okay, then. That's harmless."
"I'm sure he's fine, though. He just needed a few stitches."
"You can still call him. You're a vet. You check in on your clients, right?"
"Yes, but my clients are animals."
"Men and animals. Same thing. Now..." she checked her watch. "It's almost nine. Wait until ten, then call him. No, maybe that's too late. Or would it be? When would Elvis Presley end his day?"
I fell back onto my pillow and stared at the ceiling. "This is insane. This is really Elvis Presley we're talking about!"
"You bet your next paycheck it is! I say call that number right now."
I brought myself right back up, flinging my blonde hair all over my face. I moved it out of the way so I could see my crazy sister. "No way!"
"Yes, way! Do it!" She reached over and grabbed my white phone set and placed it in my lap. Even Lila was looking up at me. "Look, Lila wants you to also. She has a major crush on him just like you do."
Donna reached over again and put the handkerchief in front of me so I could see the number. I pressed my lips together. It would be greedy to call him just so I could hear that sexy voice of his again. Well... Donna had a point in saying that he gave me his phone number for a reason.
"Fine," I said, and she grinned. I put in the number in the rotating dial as I had the phone up to my ear. "It's ringing. Oh my goodness, my heart's going to beat out of me. Maybe I should hang up."
"Don't you dare!"
"But he's Elvis Presley, not your average boy next door."
"So what? You stay on that phone!"
The ringing stopped, and a "Hello?" was said on the other end. It was his voice. As my heart ran a million miles a minute, I opened my mouth, but nothing came out for a second. "Hello?" he said again. I had to say something!
"Hello, Elvis," I said as Donna gleamed a smile that I knew Elvis would find attractive. She folded the handkerchief and sat there, very interested in this conversation.
"Oh, Shannon, hi! Long time no talk! How are ya?"
I chuckled at his little joke. We saw each other about ten hours ago. "I'm alright. I didn't call at a bad time, did I?"
"No, no. I actually just walked in, so it was perfect timing."
"Okay, um... I just wanted to call to see how you're doing. You left to the hospital the last time I saw you."
"Yeah, I did. You were right about the four stitches. That's all I needed. Man, what a riot when I came to the hospital. It's surely gonna be in the paper tomorrow."
This man was so famous, his simple trip to the vet and the hospital could be in the paper. "I bet." What else could I say? "Just four stitches will heal quickly. Well, I work on animals, not humans, so I guess the healing rate is different. It's different than for dogs and cats, too. It depends. Birds actually heal a lot quicker, I found out. Almost twice the rate as... oh, um, sorry. Rambling vet talk. I do that sometimes."
He snickered. "It's okay. It's cute. Ramble all you want."
My eyes widened, and heat came into my cheeks. He thought my rambling was cute? "Um... well, you asked for it."
He laughed this time, and I went on to talk about my vet work. Donna just sat there, giggling quietly as I talked with this superstar. She giggled too loudly at something I said.
"Someone else is with ya?" Elvis asked.
"Yeah, my young sister Donna is with me. She came over shortly after I came home today. I live in the apartment right above the clinic, actually." I winced. Why did I tell him that?
"Is that right? Well, that makes your commute easier, huh?"
"Yeah, it does."
"So, do you have a car, or..."
I smiled at his apprehensiveness. He didn't want to ask if I could drive since I was a tiny person who couldn't reach the pedals or even see over the dash. "I do, and it's custom-made for me. Well, I need a booster seat so I can see the road, and there are extra gears I have to push in order to accelerate and hit the break."
"That's really fascinatin'. What kind of car is it?"
"It's a sky-blue '58 Toyopet Crown."
"Wow, that's somethin'! Those are tiny cars, perfect for you. Maybe I can take a look at the gears and such the next time I come around. I'm actually pretty curious about how it's set up for ya."
Of course he would know what my car looked like and would be interested in seeing it. I read that he owned quite a few cars and knew cars like the back of his hand. "That would be great. I'm always at the vet, even on my days off, since it's my home, too."
Donna was putting out her hand and giving me puppy-dog eyes. I giggled. "My sister wants to say hi to you. And just to warn you, she's a pretty big fan."
"I would love to talk to 'er. What's 'er name again?"
"It's Donna. Here she is." I put the phone on my shoulder before I gave it to her. "Don't say anything that would embarrass me," I ordered quietly.
"I promise." She grabbed the phone before I could even grab it again. "Hello, Elvis? On my goodness, it's so great to meet you! I mean over the phone!"
I watched as my sister talked with the star that all us girls in my family idolized over the years. She went on and on about how much she loved his music and movies and asked him questions about a few of them. Then she mentioned me.
"She's been over the moon since she met you," she said, and my jaw dropped open. I tried to grab the phone away, but she resisted. "Yeah, the happiest I've ever seen her."
I ran a hand down my heated faced that was flushed. I told her not to embarrass me!
"Okay, I don't want to talk your ear off," she said. "I'll give you back to my sister."
She handed me the phone, and I put it up to my ear. I glared at my sister, and she gave me a "what?" expression. "Hello again."
"Hi. Your sister seems pretty nice."
"Yeah, she is, um... and she can be a jabber-mouth just like me."
He chuckled, and I imagined that limb-weakening smile. "It's okay. And... I'm really glad to know that you've been really happy lately because of me. That makes me feel really good."
I smiled into the phone as I twirled the curly phone cord around my fingers. "You make so many people happy. I'm just glad I'm one of them that gets the honor in person. I have to stop and remind myself sometimes that I know you and... well, I just hope I don't wake up from this wonderful dream."
"I really hope you don't wake up, too." Knocking sounded on his end. "I think that's the Colonel. I'm gonna have to let you go, sadly."
It tickled me that he hoped this was all real, too. "That's okay. Thanks for talking."
"Thanks for callin' me. And remember, call me anytime, okay? I'm usually back at my place around nine or ten."
That gave me a start. "Your place? This isn't a hotel number?"
Donna's eyes widened, and she put a hand over her mouth. She was surprised by this, too.
"Nope," he said. "It's the number to my rented house here in LA. It's actually about five minutes from your place."
He lives close to me! "And your manager is there, too?"
"Yeah. We just came in. He just stayed so we could talk about some things. We actually were just gonna sit down in the living room when I heard the phone ringin'."
"Oh, I'm sorry. I thought you said it wasn't a bad time."
"It wasn't. I would rather talk to you than the Colonel." Knocking again. "I have to go. I'll see ya later, okay?"
"Okay. Goodnight, Elvis."
"Goodnight, Shannon. Take care."
We both hung up, and when I lowered the phone from my ear, hot tears developed in my eyes, and I started crying. Lila moved into my lap, and Donna came and sat next to me and hugged me to her as the sobs came.
I was so incredibly happy, my little body couldn't contain it.
~ ~ ~
That knocking continued, and the Colonel opened the door before I could say to come in. He saw me sitting there, holding the black phone set in my lap with one hand and holding Shannon's picture with the other. I quickly put away the picture I was staring at as I was talking with her. I put the phone set back on the little side table that had a lamp on it.
"It's about time you finish that phone conversation," my manager said. "Who was that, anyway?"
I had to make something up. "It was Sonny back in Graceland. He needed to talk to me about some personal stuff. Nevermind." I stood up off my bed. "I'm gonna use the bathroom, then I'll be out there, okay?"
"Okay."
He left, and I was thankful that he bought my lie. I went into my bathroom that was connected to this room since it was the master bedroom. I shut the door and grabbed ahold of the white sink on both sides. I stared at myself in the mirror, at my pale skin and very blue eyes. My black bangs fell over my forehead and partially covered the bandage above my left eye.
What was I doing? I was falling fast and hard for a woman who was so kind, caring, funny, a lover of animals... and three-and-a-half feet tall. It was insanity! I told the press once that my ideal woman had to be tall. Well, I was going against that now.
I turned the water on and wetted my hands and splashed cold water on my cheeks and back of my neck. I stared at myself again and saw that my pale skin was turning pink as my thoughts spun with images of that beautiful little blonde.
I wasn't falling, I fell. Splat. That sweet phone conversation sealed it.
I was in love with her. And that was that.