Following the Stars

Chapter Eight

Lexie was rushing through the hotel and managed to knock loudly on Johnny's suite door even though she was rather flustered and gasping for breath. She had rushed here from the main square. The man that Lexie recognised as Stephen answered. "Oh I'm sorry, has Johnny left yet?" Asked Lexie standing up straight and flattening her outfit. "Not yet, do you wanna see him?" "If I could, just for a moment." Stephen nodded before yelling "Johnnnnn door!!" The actor emerged from what looked like the bedroom with a tall glamorous woman, she had dark hair and eyed Lexie up and down. "Hi Lex, are you ok?" "Yes sorry, I just ran here from the boat, clearly not as fit as I thought I was. Anyway, I know you mentioned it's Lily-Rose's birthday tomorrow, and you're going to Paris tonight so I just wanted to give you this." The brunette held up a beautiful gift bag. "I know you said she was a fan, and well I just wanted to do something nice, so I hope she likes it. Safe travels." She passed the bag to Johnny and began to walk away, Johnny was astounded. He held the bag up and admired it "Wow, that's incredibly thoughtful, thank you so much, I'm sure she will love it. Do you want to come in? We aren't leaving for a while." "Johnny" the glamorous woman said. Lexie could sense some discomfort so made her excuses and began to leave again, Johnny came through the room door into the hallway and hugged a surprised Lexie, "Seriously thank you. This is very very kind of you, you really shouldn't have." "It was no bother honestly." Johnny smiled before letting her go and returning into his room. Lexie slowly made her way to hers and let herself in collapsing onto the couch.

"What was that?" Asked Gina "what was what?" "Inviting her in? Does she come to your suite a lot?" "What are you my mother G? No she doesn't. You saw her she looked a little frazzled that was all." "Hmmm ok. John the last thing you need is another movie romance." "I know because the last one worked so exceptionally fucking well didn't it." Johnny said sarcastically. "G is right, she's young, she's got aspirations, she wouldn't want the negativity anyway." "That's if I even liked her guys, god, stop marrying me off before I've been told you I like her." "So you do like her?" "I didn't say that." "Come on the plane is waiting." They gathered their things and left the suite heading to Paris. Johnny did slow his pace a little as he walked past Lexie's door. He wondered what she was doing and what she would get up to this weekend alone with himself and Paul occupied. He felt bad for her. He didn't know what the other feeling was. Would he miss seeing her everyday? Yes he thought to himself, he would.

The next day Lexie woke up and began a lazy day. After all it was Saturday and they were not due to shoot again until Monday evening. She FaceTimed her friends, and then headed down to the gym to work out for an hour, although she was incredibly slim and petite she liked to work out, it helped make her feel fit and healthy. It was also a great way to take her mind off work and other things. As it got closer to lunchtime the brunette star decided to go for a wander, she hadn't been much of a tourist since arriving in Venice with their hectic shooting schedules so she showered, changed into a cute summer dress, pairing it with sandals and a denim jacket before donning her shades and heading out. She walked around enjoying the sunshine and made her way to the square, there were only a few moments where people recognised her and stopped her for autographs and photos which she didn't mind, other than that, the general public seemed more interested in the culture of Venice than her, and that's just the way she liked it.

Meanwhile in the outskirts of Paris, gathered in Johnny's house, a large group of people were celebrating his daughter's 13th birthday. After a delicious lunch cooked by staff, Lily-Rose had begun opening all her gifts, which she was extremely grateful for. She spotted a lovely small gift bag and decided to open that one next, as she picked it up she realised it didn't have a tag on it. "Who's this from?" She asked sweetly. "Ah that one has a story." Said Johnny from beside her. "So remember my good friend, Lexie Donnington?" Lily Rose immediately squealed. "Yesss!!" "Well she took it upon herself to get you a gift, she delivered it personally to me yesterday." "OH, MY, GOD, wait until I tell my friends!! That's awesome dad!!!! Please let me meet her on Monday won't you?? Please???" "We'll see. Why don't you open your gift?" Lily excitedly opened the gift bag. She saw a neatly wrapped square gift and pulled that out first. She saw a tag was attached to it and it was handwritten.

Bonne Anniversaire Lily-Rose,
I hear you're quite a fan, and for that I am eternally grateful. This won't be released until later this Summer, but I hope you enjoy it.
I hope you have a wonderful birthday.
Love,
Lexie x

"Wowwww!" Lily squealed opening the gift. It was a vinyl of Lexie's greatest hits and covers. The actual album had been released at the very beginning of the year, but it always took longer for vinyls to be released. "This is EPIC! So vintage." "Wow, and it's not been released yet, that's a wonderful gift." Added Gina. Johnny was smiling beside his daughter, touched that she had gone to so much thought when Lily exclaimed "There's something else!!" She reached into the bag and pulled out a small square box. It had a matching tag.

Just a little something from the wonderful city that is Venice. X

Lily opened the box and it was a small silver bracelet with a gondola charm on it. "I love it!!!" Lily announced to the room showing it off. "Wow it's beautiful!" Replied Jennifer, Paul's wife. Johnny looked over his daughter's shoulder and admired the jewellery. It certainly didn't look cheap either. Goodness he needed to make sure Lily thanked Lexie when he eventually introduced the pair but for now he decided to text her instead.

I have an incredibly excited daughter, thank you for your kind and generous gifts. You really shouldn't have. I hope you're not too lonely in Venice. Love, and respect always, JD X

Oh please. It was nothing. So glad she liked them. I hope you're all enjoying the celebrations. Don't worry about me, I'm being a tourist for the day and desperately trying to not get into any trouble! X

Lexie decided to follow up the message with a selfie of herself at the top of the tower with the beautiful skyline in the background. She felt it was a cute photo and it was nice of him to check in with her, so she really didn't have any qualms in sending it.

What a beautiful view... and I'm not talking about the skyline. X

Was he flirting with her? The comment made her smile and she didn't know whether to reply or not but in the end she threw caution to the wind.

Well that's very kind of you to say. It appears you know how to make a girl's day, a compliment from an extremely handsome man goes a long way. Xx

Johnny read her message over and over smiling at his phone. He didn't know what to say to her admission that she thought he was handsome. He equally didn't want to leave it like that but Gina was chomping at the bit to bring out Lily's cake so he simply replied

See you Monday darling. X

Lexie put her phone away. She hoped she hadn't been too forward, maybe he was busy with his family anyway. Besides she couldn't be flirting with her Co star, it just wouldn't be right. After grabbing an iced coffee to go, she decided to do something extremely cliché and hitch a ride on a gondola. She was sure her parents would want to do all the touristy things when they arrived however she felt it would be a good way to round off her day out. After all she planned to really relax and do nothing tomorrow. The pretty brunette enjoyed the last of the sunshine as she glided round Venice, one of the most magical cities she had ever visited.