Chapter 24
JOSIE
“You want a coffee?” Victor asks me when I descend the staircase into his open-plan kitchen.
“Yes, please.”
It’s obvious he’s had a shower, too. He’s wearing a clean white t-shirt and black jeans. Casual.
I’m wearing a loose blouse with denim shorts.
“Look at me,” Victor remarks as he makes the coffee. “Now I am the barista, and you are my customer.”
“Very funny.”
He pours me a cup and I take a relieving sip. I've needed to properly wake up after that flight, luxurious though it was.
“Good?” Victor asks me, eyeing my cup.
“Not as good as one of my coffees,” I reply. “But it’ll do. So, what’s the plan for the rest of the day? Is there anything we need to do?”
Victor shakes his head.
And I breathe a sigh of relief. I really didn’t want to cram anything else in - my poor head would be too overwhelmed, I think.
“We have nothing planned until tomorrow,” he says. “We have a whole evening off until the insanity starts.”
“Will it truly be insane?” I ask him. “This celebrity life?”
Victor smiles softly.
“You saw that mob in Crystal River,” he explains.
Yeah. Those people. Their desperation. Their idolatry of this man. Him being unable to even move.
And that was just in some small town. I can’t imagine what it’ll be like in a big city.
“I’m a bit apprehensive...”
“Come with me,” he says.
He leads me onto the balcony where we can see the Hollywood Sign. The view takes me aback for a second.
Wow, I’m really here.
“It’s stunning,” I remark quietly. I want to take a mental picture of this moment and have it last forever.
“Yeah,” Victor says. “It always is. I’ll never get over this view, no matter how many times I see it.”
“I never believed I would ever make it out here,” I mutter as I sip my coffee and look out over the city.
“It’s one of my favorite places in the world,” Victor says. “That’s why I got a place out here.”
“Is that because this is where movies are made?” I ask, meeting his blue eyes.
The actor nods.
“Yes.”
“You really like movies, don’t you?” I question him, feeling bolder now with caffeine in my belly. “You’re a secretive little nerd when it comes to movies...”
Victor scoffs and turns his head. Do I detect a faint layer of blush on his cheeks? Have I actually made the most confident man I’ve ever met a little bashful?
No way.
So this is a soft spot for him... that’s why he was acting all curt earlier.
“Yeah, I like movies,” he explains quietly. “They’ve saved me in some of the darkest times of my life. I’ve always loved them since I was a kid. I was practically peeled to the screen when I was growing up. They are the things that give me the most pleasure in this world, both acting in and watching them. They were an escape for me, and I wish the movies I make could be an escape for a lonely boy out there as well. I love them so much that there are entire classic movies I can quote verbatim for their entirety.”
“You’re really that passionate?” I ask.
Victor nods.
“You’re that much of a nerd about them?”
Victor nods again.
He is being deadly serious. He’s not joking or being cocky. This is clearly so important to him.
“But I am always missing the one thing I used to dream about,” he says. “The one thing I coveted as a kid and as an adult actor...”
“The best actor award,” I say, finishing his sentence.
“Yes. That.”
“You really want it, don’t you?”
“All my favorite actors have won it,” Victor explains. “I’ve dreamed about being on that stage, accepting it, for as long as I can remember. It’ll make my entire career to hold that award in my hands.”
“I like seeing you this passionate,” I say softly. “It’s a side of you that no one sees. You should let others see it. You truly should.”
“Come with me,” Victor says, nodding inside.
“Again? Where to?”
“Josie, I want to show you something...”