18. Can’t Wait to Tell this Story to my Grandkids
CAN’T WAIT TO TELL THIS STORY TO MY GRANDKIDS
ALEXIA
I stayed up all night researching Grayson, reading articles, watching interviews and more. I even jumped over and did a little research on Emerson and Noah. I couldn't help but go down the rabbit hole when I got home last night. I couldn’t get Grayson out of my head, and when I tried to fall asleep, I couldn’t, so I tried watching a movie, but then I wanted to see his face, so I looked him up, and now it’s six a.m., and I need to be on set by nine a.m. I’ve been here for a little over a week, so it’s become a bit of a routine.
I pick out a pair of leggings and a Monster High T-shirt to wear today because I just want to be comfortable, especially because my period is due to start soon. I do my hair in two bubble braids with pink rubber bands, and I finally leave my room to have breakfast.
I have overnight oats, which is horrible, by the way. It’s cheesecake flavored because my mom wanted to try something different but maybe this recipe could have stayed in her head. After I eat, I kiss Mom and go grab a jacket.
“You feeling okay?” Lia asks as I grab my leather blazer and Prada purse.
“I’m great,” I say as I put my jacket on.
“So, a night with Grayson puts you in a good mood.” Lia flips her hair, which somehow makes her curls look amazing.
“You know me so well.” I sigh and walk past her.
As I exit the house I notice a news reporter van across the road, so I hurry up and get in the car. “Good morning, I got you this,” Emerson says cheerfully and hands me a coffee cup. “I hope you like caramel lattes.”
“Thank you, this is very sweet of you,” I tell her. I’ve never had someone bring me coffee in the morning.
“Oh, it’s nothing. I love spoiling my friends,” she says as she pulls out of the driveway. Looking through the rearview mirror, I see the van following us.
“It’s okay. They will go away soon,” Emerson says.
“You seem to be used to being followed,” I reply.
“It’s normal. Comes with the job.” She shrugs.
“It seems like I haven’t stopped being followed since I got here,” I say.
“I bet you are ready to go home then.” Emerson laughs.
“You have no idea.”
The van eventually goes away once we enter the Hayden Productions gates. “We have an interview today so come with me,” Emerson says as we enter the building. I follow her down the hall till I get to her office.
“Lexi, you will be wearing this red dress,” Emerson says, holding up a dress from the hook on the wall. “Gray will be wearing a red suit.” So, we’re matching.
“The interview is at nine-thirty, so we have two hours to get ready before the people will be here to set up and have the interview here on set,” Emerson tells me.
That time frame suddenly feels very small as I realize they are probably going to re-do my hair, put makeup on me, and then send me out. “I’m so excited to see you in this. Okay, enough yapping off, you go to get ready.” I leave Emerson’s office with my dress in hand and head to hair and makeup.
I exit my dressing room to find Grayson standing in the hall in his red suit. “You clean up nice,” I say, catching his attention.
“And you look pretty,” Grayson replies. Butterflies fill my stomach at those words and see the fact as we are wearing matching outfits. It feels very couple-like, and strangely, I like it.
“Thank you,” I say.
“Shall we go out there together?” he asks.
“Yeah,” I answer and hold out my hand for him to take.
“Noah will get introduced before us,” he tells me. We get more time to hold hands which I’m actually kind of happy about. His hand basically engulfs mine and it’s warmer than I thought it would be. The warmth is basically courses though my body from him and I love it.
Before we go on, I start to get a little nervous, this will be seen by millions of people and so will the TV show. I don’t even know how to answer these questions and that thirty-minute session with Emerson seems like not enough right now. “You can do this,” Gray whispers, squeezing my hand before he’s pulling me out to the set we have for this interview. I walk out smiling with him and take the seat between him and Noah.
“You all look so stunning,” Serria, the host, says. “So, Alexia, how are you feeling?” Sierra changes the subject quickly.
“I feel over the moon,” I answer, smiling, letting out some air at the end.
“And how do you two feel about her being the real winner of the sweepstakes after the plagiarism that came out?” she asks.
“It was definitely very shocking at first, but this gave us a very talented actress and singer,” Noah answers.
“Yeah, no more tantrums or stalling because she’s not ready,” Grayson says, causing him and Noah to laugh.
The interview goes on with more questions about my personal life which I steer from answering and I answer the ones not so revealing.
“Grayson, Alexia, I think everyone is wondering–are you two dating?” Sierra asks with a smirk. Of course they would ask this, it’s what all the Hollywood news sites are thinking.
“You’ll just have to wait and see,” Grayson answers for us. This answer seems to please Sierra because she wraps everything up then we take some pictures with her before changing into our costumes to start filming for the day.
I’m only in about two scenes and I have no words. They are flashback scenes about my character and Grayson’s character relationship before my character went missing.
Filming has become my favorite and least favorite part of my days. It’s so much fun but it’s also exhausting. We are about to shoot the last scene of the day, which doesn’t include me, so I’m taking off my makeup and brushing out my hair while I wait for them to finish. I put my hair back in its original hairstyle I came with and apply some mascara and lip gloss.
“Hey, you wanna go somewhere?” Grayson asks from the door of my dressing room.
“It’s seven p.m.,” I say.
“What better time to have an adventure,'' Grayson says.
“You’re so spontaneous,” I say, getting up out of the vanity chair.
“Of course, life is no fun when it’s planned,'' he says. “See you in ten minutes.”
I change into the outfit I came in and freshen up before cleaning up my dressing room.
Walking to Grayson's car, I find him leaning on the passenger door. He opens the door for me, “You’re not gonna take me straight home, are you?” I ask.
“Nope, but you’ll love the adventure, Grumpy. Get in,” he replies. I’m a bit skeptical but I get inside the car and wait for him to get in as well. I have a strong feeling this will be a long night. Grayson gets into the car and starts to back out.
“Where are we going?” I ask.
“Are you hungry?” he replies with the question.
“Not right now, I had a snack like thirty minutes ago,” I answer.
“Okay then, to the place I want to show you.”
“Which is?”
“Wait and see.” That answer scares me.
I should have been scared because we end up in Santa Monica outside of a little shop. It looks homey but interesting like one of those places you pass by while driving somewhere and you wonder what it's like inside. The shop has stained glass double doors, orange and white low lighting, and it smells of pine and spices.
The shop has candles, jewelry, band shirts, vintage shoes, sweaters, crystals, and books all on display. There are a few other random things like teddy bears, comic books, writing kits, and fandom merch. It’s a shop of many things.
While Grayson speaks with the owner, I got a bit distracted by the Harry Potter stuffed animals on one stand. “Alexia!” Gray calls my name, and I hurry through the maze of fancy sleeves and bookcases to the counter.
“Yes, Popstar?” I respond as I exit one aisle and see him.
“This is Alexia… My, um, my Alexia,” Grayson says to a brown-haired lady dressed in a lovely floral dress.
“Hi,” I reply, kind of meekly.
His Alexia?
What does that mean?
Why did he say that? And why do I like it?
“Well, it’s nice to meet you, Gray's Alexia,” the lady says humorously.
“She’s a shy one,” the woman adds.
“Oh, she’s normally bolder than this,” Grayson says.
“I’m Cadence, a friend of Gray’s mom,” Cadence says.
“It’s very nice to meet you,” I say.
“I’ll give you kids some space while I go handle things in the back,” the lady says and leaves us.
“So, what’s special about this place?” I ask.
“When I was younger, my mom would bring Bea and me here all the time, and we’d help out and eat home-baked cookies. This is her best friend's shop, but a year before their divorce, we stopped coming. My dad said we shouldn’t be seen around here in places like this,” Grayson explains.
“That’s awful. Your dad’s a bitch,” I reply, looking over at some sleeves.
“He’s definitely more than that,” Grayson says. I look over and see a ring and necklace shelf and decide to go take a look.
On the shelf, I find two silver butterfly necklaces. “Do you like them?” he asks, standing behind me.
“Butterflies are my favorite animal,” I respond.
“I’ll buy them,” Grayson says, and he does before I can stop him. I take one and he takes the other. I take a picture to show off our matching necklaces, just to have for myself. We stay a few minutes in the shop and help stock up and clean and then we leave her to lock up. Grayson insists our next spot be to get food and then we can go on a drive before he takes me home.
This strangely feels like it’s turning into a date and it’s the best one I’ve ever been on.
“Thank you for showing me somewhere important to you,” I say fiddling with my new necklace.
“No need to thank me, I wanted to,” he replies. I look over seeing the silver butterfly necklace that matches mine shining around his neck in the moonlight. I can’t believe he’s actually wearing it. It’s cute that he is wearing it even though he obviously doesn’t have to.
We get to-go orders from In-N-Out which I get super excited for. I love their animal-style fries. Grayson got this burger where the buns are onions. I personally don’t see the appeal but maybe it tastes good. We ride around and listen to music while we eat.
“You know this wasn’t so bad,” I say.
“See, I told you this would be fun,” Grayson says, taking a sip of his Dr.Pepper.
“This is the best I don’t know what to call this I've ever been on.” I realize it was never established what this is. Is it a date or are we hanging out?
“This is the best time I’ve had in a while, also you know you can call me Gray instead of Grayson,” he tells me.
“Ouu, does this mean I’m like in the inner circle.” I smile.
“Of course.” Gray starts to look outside his rearview mirror very closely and it’s kind of scary.
“Is everything okay?” I ask.
“I think we are being followed,” he states.
“How do we get rid of them?” I ask, looking behind us once again and seeing a Starstruck magazine van behind us.
“Back roads,” Gray answers. “Reach in the glove compartment and pull out that map,” Gray says, glancing in the rear-view mirror. I follow his instructions and pull out a big map. In all honesty, I have no idea how to read this thing, especially at night with bare minimum light. During the day maybe I could help. But I’m more of a once I see where we go or know it, I can get you there anytime, but this is unfamiliar. So many times to try and get rid of them, I have no idea where I’m at now, and I don’t know anything about getting around California. We are definitely screwed.
I turn on my phone flashlight and shine it over the map. I flip it around many times before giving up and just pulling out my phone and opening Maps .
“I think you can turn up here to the left,” I say, turning my phone all around trying to be sure it’s a road. We are going to get lost. He turns down the road and just keeps going. There aren’t many houses out here, just nice nature. If it was daytime, it’d be a lovely place to go on a walk. Eventually, the map says we're about fifteen minutes from Los Angeles. I consider that a win, considering I have no idea where I’m at.
Then there's a pop sound that causes the car to kind of lose control until there’s another. Gray pulls over best he can and stops. We end up in a small patch of woods with nothing around, just trees and the night sky.
“I think there is a flat tire,” he says, grabbing his phone before getting out. All the lights are on in the car and I can see around us it’s nothing but trees, hills and a long ass road.
I unbuckle myself to get out of my seat and I cross over the middle to the driver's seat. Gray is going through the trunk, and I can see the light shining from his flashlight. “Fuck,” he says and walks back around the car. “There’s two flat tires and I only have one spare, there’s also no cell service and we can’t walk because it’s night,” he tells me. Shit. “We’re going to have to sleep in the car tonight and wake up tomorrow then walk back,” Gray adds. He leaves the driver's seat doorway and goes back to the trunk and pulls out blankets then closes it. I move back over to my seat, and he gets inside with them and closes the door before locking us in the car.
“You can take the back seat, I’ll sleep up here,” Gray says.
“I’m sorry about your car,” I say.
“It’s just a car.” He holds out a blanket for me and I take it and toss them in the back. I crawl into the back seat with my purse and set up for the night. I text my mom telling her what happened even though it won’t send but just in case it does, she knows what happened.
Neither one of us fall asleep but we also don’t speak much. Gray turns around every so often and asks If I’m okay or If I’m cold then I answer, and he turns back around and lays back in his seat.
I’m scared.
I’m hoping nothing or no one comes out and tries to kill us. The air is swirling outside, and the night animals are out making noise, creating a creepy ambiance.
“Just stay calm,” Gray says.
“How do you know I’m not calm?” I respond.
“I can hear your loud ass breathing,” he answers.
“Sorry,” I mumble.
“Here, hold my hand,” Gray says and reaches his hand behind the seat.
“It’ll be uncomfortable for you,” I state.
“Don’t care if it’ll help you. I’ll make it work,” Gray says. I wait a few seconds and wipe my hand on my pants, thinking they might be sweaty. “Alexia, take my hand,” Gray says. I take his hand.
“We’re going to be okay,” Gray tells me.
“I know,” I reply shakingly. I believe him, I know I’ll be fine but I’m still nervous. I stare at the roof of the car for a while, not focused on anything but I’m slightly in my head. I start to feel sleepy even though I’m really paranoid and Gary assures me he’ll stay up and keep watch. I don’t want to leave him awake alone but I’m falling asleep.
“Goodnight, Grumpy.”