The Magic of Hollywood // Charlie Gillespie

Chapter 22

"Can we sit down for a just a second please?" I fall onto the nearest bench, very thankful for it being there. Valerie and Jenny have been dragging me through what feels like every single clothing store Los Angeles has to offer. Jenny has always been excited about shopping but I really didn't paint Valerie for the type to obsess so much over finding one outfit. Ok, let's be real, yes I want to look good tonight, but this is way too much for my liking. Valerie and Jenny exchange an annoyed look and Jenny comes over to me to pull me back up. I raise my hands in defeat. "Ok, ok, where to next?" They both look around, then Jenny seems to spot something, grabs my hand and drags me along. Another thing I'm very thankful for during this insane shopping spree is the fact that I barely had time to think about the whole Max and Kaitlyn drama since I got back from the beach this morning. However, I can't believe Jenny, who should have a jet lag and be exhausted, is the one running around with the energy of a bear and I'm almost dying of exhaustion. I wonder what Charlie is up to right now. Is someone stressing him out too? I wonder what he'll be wearing tonight...

"Earth to Victoria." Jenny waves a hand in front of my face and I feel kinda caught. By the way she's looking at me she seems to know exactly who I was thinking about. Yeah, the fact that whenever I think or speak about Charlie the most stupid grin forms on my face might be giving it away pretty easily. She points somewhere. "I found your dress" We walk over, and omg, yes definitely did. I feel like they made this dress simply for me to buy it. I've always had a thing for tulle and this dusky pink dress screams my name. It's no too tully, only has one layer on top of the skirt. The top part of the dress is very basic with a heart neckline. I grab it off the hanger and move over to the changing rooms to try it on. It is perfect. Not too long but also not too short, it reaches a tiny bit over my knee. It fits like it was costume made for me. I'm in love. For once I don't care that it is more expensive than then clothes I usually buy because it just feels right. We look around the store, hoping they have some shoes too. Well, I'm hoping because I really wanna be done shopping.

Eventually we found everything we need. I got some black slippers and a black clutch for my dress. Jenny bought herself a gorgeous basic blue skater dress and the same black slippers as me, she thought it would be cute if we were matching, which it kinda is. They wanted to make me buy a necklace but I didn't want to. I've been wearing the same necklace for years now. My grandpa gave it to me for my birthday the year before he passed. It's very simple. It's silver with a round charm that has a tiny wave engraved. We used to go to the lake near our house, where there was a tiny beach, almost every day in summer. I guess this is part of the reason why sitting at the beach, watching the waves calms me so much. Snapping back out of the memory I realize we're not at my club. "Where are we? I thought we're finally done?" I sigh and let myself fall back into the car seat. I start feeling uneasy. It's already 3pm and we're still not back at the club. I have to go over a few things and I really don't wanna do it last minute. Jenny takes my hand and squeezes it slightly. I look up to her. "It'll all go well, V. We're getting a little make-over now, because you really deserve a little wellness, and then we'll head back and you can go back to obsessing over everything."

It's already 5pm when we get back to the club. The make-over was nice and I do feel really pretty now, but I also feel really stressed out. My nails are now the exact same shade as my dress, my hair falls over my shoulders in soft curls and I'm wearing a beautiful, yet very basic, make-up. We enter the club and Valerie immediately turns into business mode. We go over everything that we can, check that the bar is filled up, everything is clean and call the security agency to confirm that they will get her at 8:30pm. Valerie knows them from when it was her club and booked them for checking the people before letting them enter. I once again am very grateful to have her. "Ok Victoria, I think everything is pretty much sorted. Now we wait for Charlie to do a final soundcheck and then we're ready to roll." It's 7pm by now so we're luckily perfectly in time. I start to relax a little. It has always been an issue of mine. I get super stressed out about things but in the end there was no reason too. "Let me call him and see if he's on time." I know he will be, he knows how important this is to me but after the stress of today I just wanna hear his voice. "Mhm, weird voicemail." I shrug my shoulders. He'll be here soon anyways.

"Victoria..." I hear the concern in Valerie's voice. It's 7:45pm by now, Charlie isn't here and he still doesn't answer his phone, or more precisely it goes straight to voicemail. I try to stay calm but I just can't help it. Why isn't he here? He promised he'd be one time. I can feel a hand on my shoulder. "It'll be ok, he'll be here soon. Maybe let's do the soundcheck without him?" Jenny is right, we have to but who should do it? "You do it" she says, even as if she heard my thoughts. I shake my head. "V, you have a beautiful voice. Also, no ones here. Just sing a few lines that's it."