Chapter Three
The very next morning, Ashleigh could barely believe she was sitting on a flight to Los Angeles sipping on a complementary glass of wine and gazing out the small, oval window at the fluffy clouds as the plane glided on through them.
She’d only taken a small suitcase and an overnight bag, so it didn’t take long to collect her luggage at the other side, and soon enough she was sitting in an Uber on her way to the hotel that the film company had booked for her. That was one of the other cool things: she didn’t have to pay for anything! Sally had even said to bring her receipt for the flight booking and she’d be reimbursed.
She’d never been to LA before, and she was immediately struck by the glamour and glitz of the city as she rode out of the airport zone and towards the center, her heart racing a little faster as they drove past some familiar sights she had only ever seen on TV screens and pictures before. She couldn’t wait to get out and explore once she’d checked into her hotel and dumped all her stuff. Thankfully, she was staying right in the heart of central LA, so everything was within walking distance.
Her hotel was small, and not glamorous at all, but it was all she could really expect for a runner. The salary for the job wasn’t great, and she could probably earn more in a week if she had a lot of clients doing personal training, but she wasn’t here for the money. It was all about the experience and getting that first step on the first rung of the ladder that was the entertainment industry.
She figured the actors and producers were probably staying somewhere much more fancy, as she got out the car and wheeled her suitcase into the lobby of the small and dirty-looking motel. Still, it was very convenient. The promenade, the beach, and the Walk of Fame were literally just around the corner.
“Hi there,” she smiled to the man behind the desk, shyly giving her name and explaining that a booking had been made for her.
He did some typing on his computer and checked the records.
It took a while for him to find it, and for one awful moment Ashleigh imagined there’d been some terrible mistake and she wasn’t booked in after all; that this whole thing had been a practical joke or something. She knew it was a crazy, irrational fear, but she still found it hard to believe that this was actually happening to her, just ordinary Ashleigh Thomas.
But then he smiled and handed over the key, along with her check-in documents, and the room was hers.
The elevator wasn’t working, so she took the stairs, and by the time she got up to her room she was all puffed out and sweaty. LA was hot, and she felt a little overdressed.
She hit the air-conditioning in her tiny, single room and stripped off a couple of layers straight away, getting down to just her T-shirt.
Then she threw her case onto the bed, opened it up, and began to unpack.
That didn’t last for very long though.
She was anxious to get out and explore, and unpacking seemed so…boring. She could finish that off later. Right now, she wanted to see LA, or at least, what parts of it she could see within walking distance.
She grabbed herself a map from the lobby and headed out, her oversized Marilyn Monroe sunglasses fixed firmly over her eyes, feeling on top of the world.
She took a moment on the sidewalk to study the map, then folded it up and put it in her pocket once she figured out which way to go, not wanting to look like a tourist wandering around with a map open. She wanted to look as if she owned the place, as if she had a right to be there, as if she was born to be there, which she’d always felt she had. And now her moment had come.
It didn’t take long to find the Walk of Fame; it was roughly a twenty-minute walk, during which she glanced around in awe and took in all the other sights and sounds of the city, making a note of the nearest store to her hotel in case she needed to buy drinks and snacks. She imagined that eating out in LA would be very expensive and outside of her budget, but at least she’d likely be fed on set.
When she arrived, she had to take a moment to just stand there and gape, her mouth slightly open in awe. At this point, she probably did look like a tourist; definitely someone who wasn’t used to it and hadn’t been there before. The whole place was heaving, the sidewalk teaming with people bustling around, walking this way and that, stopping and talking, taking photographs, pointing, chatting excitedly, crouching down and studying all the different stars. It was incredible, and she didn’t know which way to turn, which way to explore first.
She looked left and right, trying to make a decision about which way to approach this, although obviously she wanted to see it all. She’d just have to walk back and forth and look at every single star. She took out her phone so she could take pictures of the ones she liked the best, then something caught her attention further down the street.
It was a big crowd of people, surrounding something, or someone, with dozens of reporters and photographers around the outside, scrambling to get closer, snapping pictures, flashes going off everywhere.
Was a new star being unveiled? Was someone giving an interview?
She rushed over in that direction, as did several other people, the crowd around that area growing as more tourists and passers-by realized something was going on.
As she got a little nearer, standing on tip toes and peering around people’s heads to see what was going on, she realized with a gasp that it was Rico Fernandez himself, being photographed crouched down alongside his brand new star on the pavement.
He was all perfect Hollywood sparkling smiles, grinning and giving his thumbs up, looking around and trying to provide a good angle for every single photographer, giving them all a chance to get their shot. Some of the reporters shouted out questions and he tried his best to answer them over the general din and mayhem.
Rico was one of the biggest stars of the moment, and everyone wanted a piece of him.
“How long are you going to be in LA for, Rico?”
“Well, I’m actually filming something here at the moment,” he admitted with a small, coy smile. “I can’t reveal what it is just yet, but I’m very excited about the project and I’ll be in town for a while.”
Ashleigh nearly squealed with internal excitement. It felt great to have some insider knowledge. She’d seen the cast and crew list for Dangerous Existence, and knew full well that Rico Fernandez was the leading male actor.
She didn’t know how closely she’d personally be working with him in her role as runner, but she hoped she’d at least get to bring him a cup of coffee or a magazine or something. Regardless, it still felt amazing to be working with someone so famous.
And so good-looking.
She’d never really thought about it too much before, but he was gorgeous. One of those pinup actors that all the girls dreamed about. Swarthy, handsome, smooth; a real dreamboat.
She stayed and watched the whole scene for a little while longer, until a car arrived to pick him up and he waved goodbye to everyone. There were clearly some of his fans there too, as a general scream of excitement went up as he jumped into the car, people calling out, “goodbye, Rico!” and “we love you, Rico!”
Ashleigh bit her lip and smiled to herself, then turned and headed off in the opposite direction, wandering along the Walk of Fame for the next half an hour, taking pictures of some of the stars.
After the crowd had dispersed, she returned to the brand new Rico Fernandez star and snapped a picture of that too.
Then she headed back to her hotel, stopping to grab herself a bagel and a drink along the way, her thoughts still on Rico Fernandez. He was even more good-looking in person than he was in his movies.