" Rora we don't do reservations here, right?" Skips asks walking into the pool room. She shoots the cueball, feather touching the 11 ball. It falls in the hole and she looks up at Skips with a fishy glance.
" Uuuuh. No?" She rests her chin on the stick. A bar was no place for reserving spots. Especially here. " Did someone call asking for one?"
Skips flips his towel over his shoulder and heaves a sigh before clicking his tongue and nodding. " Gotta be from outta town yeah man?"
" Yeah I mean they obviously haven't been to this location either. Did you catch the name?" It's Aurora's turn to shoot so she quickly ends the game by knocking the 8 ball in, winning. She focuses her attention back to Skips. " I mean it really isn't that big of deal, probably just a couple richies from New York City or something."
The California night came and the canvas of a sky turned from a blue to a fiery orange and purple like someone took a pallet and swirled the colors together. Soon, nights would get shorter; the weather colder. An Eagles song played over the radio and couples swayed to the beat. Others finished their whiskey and left the tavern.
A crew of cars and their owners pulled up to the parking spots closet to Cheaper By The Barrel. The rumble of the motors surely making one hell of an entrance. The door popped open and Paul walked out, followed by Diesel and some other cast mates who wanted to come along. " Ooooh no way. Bobby's here! What are the odds!" Ludacris snickers, mouth agape at Paul's reaction and laughs. Parked up front was an '85 Camaro IROC-Z with a fresh coat of paint so new you could still smell it from afar. The hotrod was a rare to catch zooming by but of all people Bobby owned one here in California. Bobby was the son of the original owner of The Racer's Edge, who Paul was buddies with but unfortunately passed away last year. The store went to Bobby who turned it into a trash heap with girls, drugs, and a list of "VIP entry only". Paul had tried to get Bobby to give him the store but he refused so now things are weird between the two and could ugly very quickly.
Paul internally groaned and rolled his eyes looking at the vehicle. Vin whistled at the car. The gang entered the bar. " Alright now remember, I need to get home early and I don't want to be the soccer mom lugging ya'l alcoholics into my car so I'm out on being designated driver," Jordana says jiggling her keys in the air.
" O.K but real talk why does it smell like my grandma's BO in—,"
" Luda shut up. Why don't you be DD? Yeah? You don't really have to drink to have a good time," Vin says clamping a hand on Luda's shoulder. Ludacris was going to defend but grunted when Vin nodded for him. This happened a lot to Luda, but he just rolled with it like everything else he did.
" Oh sure sure my man, I got you covered! Now let's party!" The guy takes off towards somewhere leaving the rest alone. Paul looks around trying to look for the owner who reserved a spot for them. Although the place looked pretty low key that they could sit anywhere. Bobby was nowhere in sight Paul noticed.
" Hey man how's it going?" Paul turned to see a man with bushy faded blond hairdo and a name tag that read SKIPS. " Uhh I'm doing well, Paul," he reached for a handshake. Skips took and shook it twice. " Welcome to Cheaper By the Barrel, I'm the owner Skips, you wouldn't happen to be the whippersnapper that asked for a table like this was a Gordon Ramsey restaurant eh?"
" Yeah actually I'm the whippersnapper that reserved a table," Vin stepped in. Skips looked Vin up and down like he was a criminal, locking eyes with the actor and crumbled his fists. Paul was sure he could cut the tension with a butter knife. He frowned and was just about to say something when the unexpected happened. Skips and Vin started chuckling and then went in for a bro hug. " Dammit Diesel, you should've just stopped on by. I expected some daddy's rich boy to stop on by to have a glass of champagne with his side chick. Had me worried."
" Same old Skips," Vin shook his head. " Ah Skippy, let me have the honor of introducing you to Paul Walker, Jordana Brewster, Michelle Rodriguez, and Lud... Ludacris is somewhere... most likely getting hammered." Skips shook each of their hand as they were introduced.
" Ludacris yeah? That one that sang for that Justin Beaver, yeah I know him... Anyways it's happy hour so feel free to order whatever, fries should be out in a couple," Skips gestured to the bar and then went to go serve a customer. It was the best thing Paul had heard all week. A busy morning with mangers, directors, lines, and other things nagging constantly had made him want to make a beeline to the nearest cooler. Even the best actors get burnt out. A couple drinks and Godawful karaoke singers should patch up the job. Everybody loves hearing Don't Stop Believing and Single Ladies by girls that got dumped worse than a dump truck.
Aurora sat in her hoodie and jean jacket; a glass with just a dribble left swirling in her hand like a tiny dancer. It had felt like she'd been here long enough. As she was about to push herself out from stool when the tall man that was by Skips came to sit by her. He nodded in greeting. She nodded back noticing his features. Strong jawline, muscular but not psycho-on-steroids like. Movie star, I've seen him before. The thought processes through her mind trying to remember his name. " You could have reserved any spot in the house and you chose this one," she sputtered the sentence, she never really was the one to start the conversation. This was new for her. Paul turned his head to look at her. " Maybe there's something special about this one. I'm brokenhearted over my ex-boyfriend and you look like your boyfriend just dumped you. We can talk all night about how men are pigs and that we should castrate our exes—together—of course."
Baby blue eyes, humor factor plays in, showed up with Vin Diesel... I'm so stupid, it's Paul Walker. Aurora mentally facepalmed at her incompetence to realize who the stranger was. " If I'm going to castrate anyone please let it be my producer," Aurora rolled her eyes. Paul chuckled softly, trying not to be rude about the situation he had heard. He knew it was Aurora Simions when he sat down. The whole state of California heard about the outrage. It was sort of hard to miss to being that Paul himself worked in the movie business as well. Paul was just very awkward at introducing himself but once you got into a conversation with him, it's like he wouldn't shut up. He wondered if Rora knew who he was too.
" When you kicked him in the balls was it like Mortal Kombat style or Dragon Ball Z?" Walker asked resting the temple of his head on his palm. Aurora was silent for a second like lightened up a bit, "oh totally Mortal Kombat, I felt Chun Li's spirit in me at the moment." Aurora remembered the moment, it felt good to be able to fight. Like some sort of energy she had been trying to find was found alas. She was grateful that her job required to keep her in shape; no doubt, she could pack a sucker punch. Her producer's screwed up face was evident. She cracked her knuckles catching Paul's eyes to glance at her hands. He raised his hands up in defense, " Yo I've seen what you can do, I don't need a free karate lesson, please."
Aurora rolled her eyes playfully, " Well since this crappy break the ice conversation has escalated to a normal conversation, I'll property introduce myself. Aurora Simions. And you are...?"
" Walker. Paul Walker." They said in unison, but yet somehow the way Aurora said it was a relief that she actually knew who he was. It would have been anomalous to tell the actress yeah so I also act and fight bad guys and do all that smile for the camera shit too. I like cars though so that's cool.
" Surprisingly, I didn't fully believe that I recognized you at first. I mean so many guys walk into bars with Vin Diesel and sit next to me so how could I know?" Aurora laughed at her own joke and Paul smiled at her. " It must be so cool to work with the dude. He's a legend not only in movie making but you can tell he's such a down to earth guy, he has truly got a good heart."
" Such a shame he's taken," Paul said in a girly tone and looked back at Vin who was chatting with one of the cast mates. He looked like his normal chill self. Except he was always ready to break someone's neck. Chill, but deadly : Vin Diesel. " I'm sure he's a faithful husband but if you want I could try to set you and him—"
" Oh my goodness I'm not that desperate for money, Walker," Aurora threw her eyes to side and glanced at her watch. 8:03. Right now typically she was at some luxurious French restaurant with her friends-cast mates-after a days work of acting, spewing jokes and drama.
" You don't come off as the chick that would ever be desperate to do that. My manager might be able to take you in, I know it's kind of soon to get back in the hot sea but she's a phenomenal manager," Paul spoke grabbing a pen and napkin to write down a number. " Oh that's so sweet of you, but I'm doing alright so far just. . . Living a normal life. And you're right; I'm not desperate, I don't need to get right back to work when I'm just peachy getting back up on my two feet. Thank you for the offer though, maybe I'll see ya around and you can hook me up with a job," Aurora rose from her seat and dusted her jeans off, she gave Paul a small smile before looking ahead and fishing in her pocket to get her car keys.
" I hope I'm not scaring you off," Paul said realizing what he had done. The comment made her laugh and she turned, " No, you didn't. I have a call I need to make."
" Ah yes, the boyfriend needs his girlfriend to call him," Paul said. Giving him her infamous eye roll, she snorted and said, " Remember he broke up with me. I thought we were going to castrate our exes?" She cocked her head. " It's my mom I'm calling. I told her 8:10 Cali time I'd give her a ring."
Paul felt cruel about his comment earlier and made an 'o' with his mouth. Seeing his guilt she tossed her head to the side, " Walk me to my car yeah?"
The two walked out, Paul staying behind Aurora. Just before she reached the door she threw a hand up in goodbye to Skips who returned one with a smile before getting back to wiping tables. The outside air smelled like a Febreze commercial, a change to the booze fragrance inside Cheaper By The Barrel. What a time to be alive.
Beep. Click and a flash of headlights saluting to Aurora that her car unlocked. Walking still with a couple more yards to go Paul had to stop and stare and the beautiful metal. Camaros, next to Supras were his favorites. The sleek, 67' Chevy was a beaut in his eyes. The were hard to come by nowadays. He whistled then said to Aurora, "You like Cammys?" He fingers graced the top like it was a delicate piece.
" I just liked the color and the way it looked," Aurora replied in a girly tone. " Daddy bought it for me," she added.
Paul laughed at her joke and reached slightly under the raven black hood to pop it.
" A V8 F-body with a 4 speed transmission," Aurora spoke looking at the engine as well when Paul's eyes wandered around the map of mechanics under the car's hood.
" 'Big into cars right? That's why you're staring in that new movie with Vin?"
" Ooooooh yes. Words can't express my love for these things. I don't even remember how I got attached to them."
Glancing back at her watch, Aurora saw she was already running behind on time to get home and call on the landline. Jokingly she asks, " Wanna race?"
Paul had his fingers wrapped around the edge of the hood, head still buried looking at car's heart and insides. He closes it and looks at her with a " hm?"
" I said, do. You. Want. To. Race," she climbs into the drivers seat and impatiently looked at him waiting for a response.
" Ha, okay, yeah?" He halfheartedly laughed, cocking his head to the side not knowing if she was kidding. " Have you ever raced before?" He crosses his arms but kept his expression soft.
" Does that matter? Does Paul Walker only race the experienced?"
" Look Aurora, you should get back home. Being that you're—,"
" Think I can't kick your butt cause I'm a girl huh? Is that it?"
" I mean, I—"
" —Aye Walker! I leave you alone for 5 minutes and you're already getting chicks without me!" Vin appears out of the bluest of blue, arms spread wide with a Corona in hand. Paul turns around gaze burning straight towards the voice and motions for him to go back inside.
" Your boyfriend's calling for attention," Rora turns the keys into ignition and puts the car from P to R. As she begins to turn the wheel and pull out Paul puts his hand between the outside of the car and the inside where the rolled down window was.
" Experienced or not I'll race you tomorrow, right here five to five."
Through her shades that had been slid onto her face, she looked at the fallen sun and spoke with a smirk, " It's a date."
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DANG IM SO LATE ON UPDATING LIFES CRAZY MY DUDES.