The Magic of Hollywood // Charlie Gillespie

Chapter 23

Charlie's POV

My Uber comes to an abrupt stop. "Sorry, Sir. There's some serious traffic ahead." Damn it. I check my phone. 6:30pm. We're a good 30 minutes away from Victoria's club so if the traffic clears soon I should be good. I planned a little extra time to get there early and give her her surprise, I guess I'm gonna have to wait until after soundcheck now, but that's alright. I wonder why we got stuck in traffic. Sure, LA traffic is bad at times but this part here usually isn't an issue. My driver turns up the radio for a moment which makes me pay attention to what is being said. Car crash a few miles outside of the LA center. Expected delay about at least 30 to 40 minutes. "Please don't tell me that's our traffic?" My driver shoots me an apologetic look. Damn it. I should have picked up Vic's present yesterday, but I stayed at the club longer than I planned to and then the store would have already been closed by the time I could have gotten there.

I guess I'm gonna have to call Vic and at least let her know I'll be a few minutes late. I know she won't be happy. Everything will work fine but she has that paranoia that something has to go wrong... guess now I'm the reason she thinks her fears come true. I click on her name and hold the phone to my ear. Nothing happens. I check my phone but all I see is my black screen. I try turning my phone back on but it won't work. Shoot, it's out of power. I forgot to charge it last night, I was gonna do it at the club. "Do you have an iPhone charger?" He shakes his head slightly. "Sorry, only android." Wow, this is going really well. I really hope we start moving soon. I can see my driver trying to find an alternative route on his phone but he surely isn't the only one with that idea. I wish we were at least somewhere close so I could walk but we're too far away.

After what feels like hours we're finally moving, very slowly, but moving. I stretch myself to have a look at the route ahead of us on my drivers phone. Estimated time of arrival 7:45pm it says. I really pray that's what's happening. Still late, but at least not too late to get back on schedule. I don't know how many times Vic and I went over her schedule for today in the past few days. She's a little control freak when it comes to her club, which is kinda adorable and also pretty understandable to me. All I know is that she's been dreaming about opening up her own club in LA since she was very young so this clearly is very important to her, even though I can't shake the feeling that there is more to it. It's funny, we've been spending almost every day together for a week now yet I know so little about her. I know a lot about her body language, the gestures she makes, how she plays with her hair when she's nervous and how she plays with that necklace she's wearing every day when she's lost in her thoughts. But apart from that, I know nothing about her. She's been so busy with her opening and I didn't wanna distract her. After all, Sunday I'm gonna get to spend a whole day with her. We'll have plenty of time to get to know each other then.

At 8pm we finally make it to the club. Today was the first time I actually let the driver drop me off at the venue and not a few streets away. There will be posts about me playing here in the media tomorrow anyways, they always find a way, so what's the point. Vic didn't want anyone to know prior so people wouldn't come for me, which is insane because honestly? She doesn't need me to get people to come to her club! The tickets for the opening were sold out in two days, which is crazy. We both know though, that the media will definitely mention me being here and that we're done hiding us knowing each other after today.

I open the door to her club when I hear a beautiful voice. I recognize the song immediately.

Sometimes it all gets a little too much

But you gotta realize that soon the fog will clear up

And you don't have to be afraid, because we're all the same

And we know that sometimes it all gets a little too much

How did I not know Vic can sing like this? I mean, how could I know because I've only met her two weeks ago, which is crazy, because I feel like we've known each other for ages, but still. Why would she sing that song though? I can still see how hurt she was when I sang it a week ago. "I'm sorry, I can't" I hear her say. I turn over to the little stage and see her run off to her room. Valerie is running after her. "Vic!" I wanna follow her but suddenly someone is in front of me. "This is all your fault! You're late!" It's the girl from last night, Jenny, I remember. Vic mentioned her once, saying they've been best friends for ages. "Jenny, right? I know I'm late but let me talk to her." She shakes her head slightly. All I can think about is the pain in Vic's voice when she ran off the stage. I need to see her. "Let me talk to her, please." It feels like her pain is transferring onto me. Jenny stares at me. After a moment she moves out of my way slowly. Worry forms on her face. "She's fragile. I swear if you hurt her, I'll hurt you" - "I have no intention of ever doing that" I say making my way to Vic.