Mr. Hollywood (8 page)

In a show of strength, my sister grabbed my hand and squeezed it. I was glad she came to this event with me. I needed her now more than ever. I was so overwhelmed by it all.

Someone came to get us and led us over to Grayson. She positioned us on each side of him, Andrea on his left arm and me on his right.

“Okay you’re up,” another woman said as she escorted us to the first spot on the red carpet. We posed for pictures. I was dazed by the continuous flashing of bulbs. Next, a lady with a microphone introduced herself as being from E! News and started in with her questions.

“Don’t you look dashing,” she said to Grayson. “Who are you wearing?”

He gave his best movie star smile, and you could see she practically melted. "Armani."

He was wearing Armani. I was standing next to Grayson Chase in his Armani tuxedo, on the red carpet of a big Hollywood premiere. Is this really happening? I took several deep breaths, trying my best to keep it together.

The lady from E! News turned to me and then looked over at my sister, seeming to notice for the first time that we were identical twins.

“Oh wow look at that,” she said in surprise. “And who are your dates for tonight Grayson?”

He pointed to my sister, “This is Andrea.” Then he turned to me and smiled. “And this is Alison.”

“Where did you find these lovely ladies?”

"I met Alison while filming my latest movie in Texas and Andrea is her twin sister. I didn't have a date for tonight, so they graciously agreed to come with me."

“Well isn’t that something.” She turned to my sister. “Who are you wearing?” Andrea froze so I spoke up. “We are both wearing Gucci. Our dresses are one of a kind, from their contour collection. I lifted my leg back and twisted slightly to show her my feet. “And doesn’t the dress just go perfectly with my Prada shoes?” I giggled.

“How about you,” the lady said as she turned to my sister. “Are you also wearing Prada shoes?”

“No,” my sister said shyly. “I have on Louboutin Pigalle pumps.”

“Is this your first movie premiere?” She asked me.

I leaned into Grayson. “Yes, it is. I’m excited to be here. I can’t wait to see Grayson up on the big screen.”

I prayed she wouldn’t ask me any questions about the movie like the name or what it was supposed to be about because I truly had no clue.

He reached over and brushed a loose lock of my hair out of my face and when he did the crowd went wild. Cameras started flashing like crazy, and it startled me.

Grayson stiffened beside me. I think for just a moment, he forgot where we were.

"It was nice chatting with you, but we better get going, or we'll never work our way down the line," he said to the interviewer.

We walked to the next spot marked off on the red carpet and again posed for pictures. Next, a lady came up and introduced herself as being from Hollywood Tonight.

She asked the same question about our clothes as the previous interviewer did and then turned all of her attention on me instead of Grayson.

“Alison is it?”

I nodded in agreement.

“What do you and your sister think of our fair city? Are you enjoying your visit?”

I smiled. “Very much. We’ve had so much fun. We haven’t really been here that long, but what we have been able to see of Los Angeles has been amazing.”

She leaned in as if she was going to tell me a secret. “So how long have you and Grayson been
friends
?” She emphasized the last word as if she meant something else by it.

I blushed, and Grayson cut in. "We met on the set of my last movie. She and her roommate were extras."

“Interesting,” the lady said while looking me up and down.

Before she could ask any more questions, Grayson's handlers moved us to our next position where we again posed for more pictures. This time, the interviewer was a man I recognized, Perez Hilton. I've read his blog a few times during my media studies class.

He asked us the exact same question about who we were wearing. We repeated the same answer as before and then he turned his attention on me.

“How long have you and your sister been in Hollywood?”

“Just since yesterday. Grayson flew us out on his private jet to attend this premiere with him.” I tried to turn the focus back on the movie. “I heard it’s a great movie. I can’t wait to see it.”

No such luck.

“Are you and your sister going to be able to stay in LA awhile?”

“No, we have to get back to Texas soon. Can’t miss any classes,” I said with a smile.

“We heard you were at The Ivy yesterday for lunch. Did you get to see anyone famous while you were there?”

“Oh gosh, I didn’t even think to look around for anyone famous.” I turned to Grayson. “Was there anyone famous?”

He just shook his head and laughed.

I shrugged. “I guess not.”

“What’s your favorite Grayson Chase movie?” Perez Hilton asked me.

I turned towards Grayson and grinned. “We just watched
Twin Zone
, and I have to say I loved it. It was amazing. But I also liked the more playful side of him, like the movies he did when he was younger.
Frostbite
is probably my favorite of those.”

“How about you Andrea, what’s your favorite Grayson Chase movie?”

"I don't know. Why don't you ask me that again after we get to watch this movie?" She put on a huge smile for the cameras, and I could see she was finally starting to relax.

The handlers moved us along, and we repeated this process over and over again. We posed, answered a few questions and then repeated it for the next group.

Finally, after almost an hour we made it to the end, the last spot on the red carpet. We posed as we did all the previous times but this time at the end, Grayson turned to me and kissed me. The crowd went crazy and they started to surge forward.

His handlers rushed us inside the theater and over to the VIP bar. A group of people quickly came up to us all in a tizzy.

“What were you thinking Grayson? That kiss is going to be on the front page of every gossip website within the hour.”

Grayson turned to me. "Alison, Andrea this is my agent, Harvey."

“Hello Harvey, it’s nice to meet you,” Andrea said as she stuck her hand out to shake his. He reluctantly shook it but didn’t seem all too happy about it.

“Are you guys kidding me? That was brilliant. This is huge,” this tall woman standing next to Harvey said.

Grayson grinned. “That’s my publicist.”

"Hi girls, I'm Cat," she said as she waved to us. "So after the premiere, I'll issue a short bio of Alison," she continued.

“No. Absolutely not,” Grayson said. “She’s not part of this.”

“Hey, you are the dumbass who kissed her in front of all those cameras,” Cat said playfully.

Grayson sighed. “I wasn’t thinking.”

“Apparently not,” Harvey sniped.

“It’s fine, really,” I assured Grayson.

“No, it’s not. You don’t know what the paparazzi can be like. They will hound you and you’ll eventually get sick of it and blame me and …”

I stopped his tirade with a kiss. “It’s fine.”

He put his arms around my waist and pulled me in for another. After I sat down on the bar stool next to him.

“So what’s the movie we are going to see even about?” Andrea asked.

Harvey threw up his hands in disgust and walked away while mumbling something to himself. My sister, Cat and I all burst out laughing at the same time.

“No but seriously, what is the movie about?” Andrea asked after we all settled down.

I play an FBI agent sent in undercover as a hit man for one of the bigger Mexican drug cartels. They've been using the guy for years but don't know what he looks like so when the FBI captures him; they use it as an opportunity to replace him with me.

“What’s the movie called?” I asked.

“
Terminal Assassination
,” Cat said as she broke into the sales pitch for the film. “It’s directed by the same director as
Double Punishment
. You’ve seen that, right?”

I just shrugged, and my sister shook her head no.

Cat didn't let that deter her; she just kept on going. "Well, he's a genius. I think he'll get an Oscar nom for this movie. He is just brilliant. Oh and Grayson's love interest in the movie is Selena Gomez. Don't tell me you don't know who she is."

I giggled. "Of course, we know who Selena Gomez is."

“This is her biggest movie to date and if the rumors are true, her real comeback to acting,” Cat continued excitedly.

Grayson put up his hand to stop her before she could go on. “Alright, I think they’ve heard enough. They don’t need the whole press packet on the movie. Let’s just relax before we have to go in.”

After we had finished our first drink, the lights dimmed for just a second and Grayson said that was our queue to head in so he escorted my sister and me into the theater. We were given assigned seats up front, along with the rest of the cast of the movie.

I was excited to see that I was only two seats away from Selena Gomez. I wanted to pull out my phone and take a picture for Jennifer, but I knew if I did that, Grayson would probably kill me for embarrassing him like that.

We sat through a bunch of promotional trailers for each of the main stars of the movie, the director, the studio and then finally the movie began.

At first, I had a hard time picturing Selena Gomez as Grayson's love interest but it turns out they had good chemistry, and she was funny too. I'd seen her in
Wizards of Waverly Place
a zillion times when I was younger and wondered if that is how they met, both being former child stars.

Cat was right about the movie, it was good, really good. There was lots of action for the men and just enough of a love story to keep the interest of the female viewers.

Afterward, they wanted us to go to the director's house for a big, fancy Hollywood party. My sister, apparently the smart one in the bunch, said she was tired, so she asked us to drop her off at our hotel before we headed out for the night.

The party was held at a mansion in Bel Air. There were a few people inside, but most of the party was going on in the backyard which had a huge swimming pool with several fountains.

For a moment, I thought I recognized one of the Kardashians, but before I could ask about it, Grayson was leading me through a swarm of people who were all congratulating him on a great movie.

Before I knew it, he was being pulled away from me and into the crowd and I was left, standing there alone wondering what the hell I was going to do at a party where I knew absolutely no one.

I was sure Grayson wouldn't leave me to my own devices for long, but as each excruciatingly painful minute passed, I began to wonder what I was going to do.

Before long, a group of drunken men came up to me to talk. "So you are the girl everyone is talking about?"

I shrugged. “I don’t know about that.”

"You don't have to be modest with us," another one of the guys teased. "Hey, we get it. It's a big deal to get all of that media attention. It's great isn't it?"

“I don’t know. I’m not from here so I’m sure it will die down soon enough,” I replied while looking around for Grayson.

One of the men put his arm around my shoulder. “Don’t worry about your boy. He’s fine.”

“I’m sure he’ll be back soon enough,” another one said.

Not soon enough for me. I wanted Grayson with me right then. These men were freaking me out. Something about them made my skin crawl.

A waitress walked by with a drink tray and the taller one of the three men grabbed a champagne glass and handed it to me. “Here, drink this. You need to loosen up. It’s a party.”

I sipped at it while using my eyes to scan the room, praying I found Grayson soon.

“Let’s have a seat,” the man who got me a drink said while pointing to a table and chairs nearby. I decided to go with them because it wasn’t like I had anything else to do and it was out in the open. How bad could it be? It’s not like I could get in much trouble with all these other people around, right?

As we sat down, one of the drunken men handed me the tiniest zip lock baggy I had ever seen. It was kind of cute. It was so small. What I didn’t catch on to right away was what was inside the little baggy. As I looked at it, I realized there was a white powder inside and knew they had just given me drugs, probably cocaine.

I glared at the guy.

All I could think at that moment was how grateful I was my sister didn’t come to this party. Was that why she called it a night early? Did she know how this party was going to be?

I heard a loud laugh and turned my head to see some girl in a slutty dress with her hands all over Grayson. "You are so funny, Grayson. I don't know what I'm going to do with you."

When he smiled back at her and handed her a drink, I just lost it.

He left me alone at this stupid party where I knew nobody and then these creepy guys hit on me, and tried to get me to do drugs with them. Enough was enough. I stood up and walked over to Grayson. He quickly tried to distance himself from the girl, whoever she was.

“There you are, I was looking for you everywhere,” Grayson said as if he actually missed me and wasn’t a big fat liar.

“That’s funny because I haven’t moved from the very spot you left me at. That was until your friends over there came up and offered me this.”

I threw the packet of drugs at him, turned on my heel and walked out the door.

It took him a second, but he caught up with me. "Ali, where are you going?"

“I’m going back to the hotel Grayson. You can either take me home now or call me a cab. I don’t really care which. All I know is I’m out of here, with or without you.”

He pulled out his phone and texted someone. “The car is on its way. It will be here in a minute.”

I continued walking towards the front door. I had no idea if Grayson was following me or if he was going to see me back to the hotel or not. All I knew was that I was getting the hell out of that party.

When the car pulled up to the front of the house, I got inside and had my answer. I was alone. Grayson apparently wasn’t coming with me. Tears fell down my face as I told the driver to take me back to the Ritz-Carlton.

My cell phone started ringing, but I didn't care. I wasn't going to answer it. I knew who it was, and I had nothing to say to him.

When I got back to the hotel, I changed into my night clothes and quietly slipped into my sister's room to sleep with her. I didn't want to be alone, and I knew she would make me feel better, she always did.

The next day my sister and I spent the whole day doing the tourist thing in LA. We visited the Hollywood sign, took the TMZ celebrity tour, which apparently freaked a lot of people on the bus out considering both my sister and I had our pictures splashed across the front page of the TMZ website that morning.

After lunch, we went to Madam Tussauds wax museum. It was creepy but still kind of fun. We made our way to Beverly Hills and the infamous Rodeo Drive. We didn't actually buy anything at any of the stores; everything was way too expensive, but shockingly everyone seemed surprised and happy to see us. We even got asked to sign some autographs.

After a long day, we decided to eat dinner back at the hotel. We went to my sister's room and ordered room service. We were both just too exhausted to get dressed up to go out to eat.

After dinner, we settled in and watched a movie, a mindless comedy. I think I fell asleep about half way through. Luckily, my sister had the foresight to set the alarm because the car was coming to pick us up early for our flight back home.

After a quick breakfast, we were off. When we arrived at the airport, the car drove us right on the tarmac and up to the stairs of Grayson's private jet. My sister went first, and as I was walking up the stairs to get onto the plane, another car pulled up.

“Alison wait,” a male voice cried out.

I glanced over my shoulder to see it was Grayson. I just kept walking. I took my seat, and my sister jumped up to meet Grayson at the door of the plane, blocking his entrance with her tiny little body. He tried to get past her without any luck. She was surprisingly good at being an obstruction.

“Please talk to me,” Grayson called out over her shoulder.

“Right now isn’t a good time,” my sister said sympathetically. “Give her a few days to calm down and maybe try calling her then.”

"Please, Andrea. I have to talk to her."

Andrea shook her head no. "I'm sorry Grayson, but we have to go."

Looking dejected, he walked back down the stairs and the attendant closed the door to the plane. After a few minutes, we were off, and I began to cry.

I was upset that he left me at the party. I was even more upset that when I found him, he was with another woman. I was upset he took me to a party where people were doing drugs. But none of that compared to the fact that he stayed at the party and didn't go home with me.

Whatever. My relationship, if that's what you could even call it, with Grayson was over. I said from the beginning that long distance relationships were a bad idea, and I was right.

I wanted to close my eyes and take a nap like my sister, on the plane ride home but I couldn’t. I was far too restless. I looked around to see if I could find anything to read when the flight attendant came by.

“Are you okay Miss? Is there anything I can get for you? Perhaps another drink?”

"Yes, I would love another champagne and also something to read. Do you have anything by chance?"

“Sure, I have a magazine. Let me get it for you.”

She handed me the latest issue of OK! Magazine and there I was, on the cover. I couldn't believe it. "Sorry ladies but Grayson Chase is off the market," the headline read, and the picture was the one of him kissing me on the red carpet.

Man, these people don't mess around. It had only been two days since that kiss, and it's already on the cover of a magazine. I grabbed my iPad out of my purse, pulled up the TMZ website, thinking about something one of the people from the tour said. I didn’t give it much thought at the time, but now that I’ve seen myself on the cover of OK! Magazine, maybe she was serious.

Sure enough, I was the lead for several stories on their website. They had a picture of my sister and I going into The Ivy that first day at lunch and several of us from the red carpet. There were other photos of my sister and I from some of the places we visited around town on Friday and even one of us getting on the plane; that was just posted. LA is one scary place. They don't mess around when it comes to their celebrity gossip.