A long road to happy

Chapter 4: Reggie and regret

To my surprise, we're moved to another room for dinner. Apparently we get fed here as well, good times, I'm bloody starving! On the downside, there's a seating plan and I happen to be sitting next to a very drunk, very obnoxious guy. He seems nice. . . .who am I kidding? He's so drunk it's not even funny, and he isn't even trying to pretend he isn't gawking at my boobs. I'd slide down in my seat if It didn't mean giving him a better view of my cleavage. 

I sigh in defeat, giving up trying to talk to him to get him to look at my eyes instead of my boobs. I look across the table to see Lizzie giving me a sympathetic smile as her eyes flick between me, and the hideous creature who is still gawking from beside me. "You OK?" She mouths to me. I look at the guy beside me again, as I try to turn my body away from him, making it twist in an uncomfortable way. "Yeah, it seems you don't have to be famous to have fans these days." I mouth back, nodding my head in the direction of the drunk man, who I now know is called Reggie from all the screeching he's doing trying to get me to turn to him again. "Hey, hey lady, lady I'm Reggie. Reggie's the name love. Excuse me, lady, I'm Reggie." He half shouts, half slurs, at least he has manners. Although I wouldn't call it a redeeming feature at this point. 

I give Lizzie a half-hearted smile as I take a deep breath and turn to Reggie. "Hi Reggie, I just need to speak to my boyfriend here" I say, turning towards Danny who's In deep conversation with the lady beside him. I tap his shoulder, whispering in his ear. "Can we please swap seats? Reggie here is a real creep and won't stop staring at my tits." He gives me a sympathetic smile. "Harley, if we swap seats now, everyone will think you're jealous of me talking to Sarah here. It'll look too suspicious." He says, smiling sadly. 

I huff as Reggie starts tapping my shoulder, sending a cold shiver right down my spine. "I honestly don't care Danny, please swap with me. I can't dea. . ." I stop dead mid sentence, freezing for what felt like 10 minutes, but in reality was probably only a few seconds. Danny's face changes to one of confusion  and concern, my own face turning to one of shock and anger. So much anger. I'm about to explode. My body finally kicks back Into gear as I whip my whole body around to face Reggie, anger and sligh fear now flashing across my face for all to see, my body shaking lightly. I drop my gaze to my own lap. "Remove your filthy hand from my thigh right now." I whisper, shout, venom dripping through my words, I haven't moved my eyes from his disgusting hand that is currently violating my personal space. My thoughts are racing, it feels like I experience 10 different thoughts at once, my mind unable to comprehend this man's actions. Why the fuck would you put your hand on a strangers thigh, at no point did i give any sign that i would be confortabld with any kind of physical touch from this guy, never mind a hand on my thigh. 

Reggie doesn't move, in fact, his only reaction is the filthy smirk playing on his face as he licks his lips. Danny's eyes dropped to my thigh where Reggies hand was slowly moving upwards. Before I had a chance to even react, Danny was on his feet, his whole face shifting to one of disgust and anger, his eyes blazing. I noticed his body tensing as he jumped around me forcefully pulling Reggie from his chair. "Get your filthy hands off of her." He spat through gritted teeth, his body rigid and his right hand clenching and unclenching as he tries to calm his anger.

The guy who was sitting next to Reggie stands up, grabbing him by the collar and marching him out of the room. Giving Danny a second to calm down.

After he's taken a deep breath, his attention quickly turns to me. "Harley, are you OK?" He asks, sitting down next to me and grabbing my hands. "I'm so sorry Har, he shouldn't have done that, I should've paid more attention, I should've switched seats. I'm so sorry." He says, whispering his final apology as he looks up at me with sad eyes. 

I'm still shaking a bit, not overly noticeable. I'm not even sure why, adrenaline? Anger? Maybe even a bit of fear. Who knows. I'm definitely in a little bit of shock at the whole thing. I slowly raise my head until my deep brown orbs meet his light blue ones. All I see is sadness, guilt and the love he has for me. I really do love this idiot, I can't ever be mad at him, he's my best friend. "I'm OK Danny, it's not your fault. I just didn't want to make a big scene." I say whilst looking around, it looks like only our table was disturbed by the whole debacle. Some other tables are whispering and looking in the direction Reggie was forcefully marched out in.

"Hey, are you OK? We're so sorry" I look up to see Scarlett and Lizzie hovering beside me, giving them a soft smile. "We suggested they put Reggie next to you, we didn't think Danny here actually had a girlfriend, so we thought it'd be safe. . . We should've warned you." Lizzie says, looking down to avoid my gaze. I scrunch my eyebrows looking at the 2 actresses in front of me "what do you mean, warned me?" I ask in confusion "did you know this would happen?" I whisper out. Scarlett sits down in Reggies seat and takes my hands looking at me and Danny. With a big sigh, she continued. "He can be a lot. Especially when he's had a drink. We didn't know he'd do what he did, but we knew what he was like as a person from our run ins with him on set. We were both pretty sure that Danny's girlfriend was going to be 1 of 2 things, non-existent, or a boyfriend. Either way, having Reggie sit here would've been safe. We honestly thought he'd just be a bit annoying and would gawk a bit if a girl actually turned up. We never thought he'd get handsy" She says with sad eyes and a small chuckle when she mentioned Danny having a boyfriend.

I sigh, taking my hands back and placing them on my lap. I look over at Danny and see the look of regret and worry in his eyes. I smile at him softly, bringing my hand up to his cheek in reassurance, whispering "It's OK, I'm OK I promise." I take my hand from his cheek and squeeze his hand, hoping it conveys my sincerity, i really am OK. As bad as it sounds, i've had to deal with worse, now i'm not saying that for sympathy, no, i'm pretty sure most women have had something like this or worse done. It's unfortunately the world we women live in.
I turn myself to the 2 women at my side. "Listen, I get it, what's done is done, It's not your fault. Lets just pretend it didn't happen and carry on with the night yeah? It can be a problem for tomorrow" I say, smiling up at them. 

"Don't you worry ma'am, he won't be working for us ever again. I'm sorry that he did that too you, I hope you're OK. I'm Tom by the way, one of the producers." I turn behind me to see the guy who marched Reggie out smiling down at me with his hand outstretched. "I'm Harley, this one's girlfriend." I say, taking his hand and nodding my head at Danny.

"It's a pleasure, I'll move down to your seats ladies, you can both keep Harley here company if you want." He says, picking up his jacket and moving to the other side of the table with a final wave in our direction. 

I look between Tom and Danny, as much as Reggie makes me want to think that all men are pigs, I just can't when men like Danny exist. And then there's Tom, I don't even know him and he did the right thing, he even moved to ensure I felt comfortable for the rest of the night. My faith in men is partially restored, I think to myself with a small smile gracing my lips. 

"Alright, if I'm going to survive the rest of this night with you 3, I'm going to need 3 things." I say in a very serious tone. "Food, dancing, and non-stop drinks being supplied all night, I'm talking to you here Danny boy." I joke, raising my eyebrows at him. He replies with a chuckle "I think that can be arranged my love, anything for you." 

As if on cue, the food starts coming out fro. The back. Perfect timing I think as I smile to myself.