Accidental Romance

by Melanie Brown

  I reached up, ran my fingers through Nate’s hair and with my other hand touched his cheek to turn his face more towards mine. I pulled in close and pressed my lips against his as he lowered his face towards me. I slid one hand behind his neck and held his head as I gave him a long, deep, passionate kiss. I felt him returning my passion. The kiss only lasted a few seconds and I pulled my lips slowly away from his, drawing my fingers slowly across his cheek as he lifted his head back up.

  There was a pause and then Walter said, “Cut. Holy shit. Is it me or is it hot in here?”

  Mom stood there with her hands over her mouth for a few seconds. Steph fanned herself with the palm of her hand. Nathan continued to just look deeply into my eyes.

  Walter said, “That was great. I just hope it wasn’t too hot for the client. We have the other shots as backup. Thanks Nathan and Amber. Okay people, let’s get ready for the next item on the agenda for tonight.”

  The four of us left the studio and we heard a lock click and saw a red light over the door lit.

  Nathan took my hand and we walked down the hall. He said, “Did you guys have fun today?”

  Steph grinned. “We had a great time. We need to stop by my dad’s office and pick up our dresses and shoes before we go back to your house.”

  Nathan just nodded. “No problem. I’ll head over to the house now and start getting ready. It’ll be nice to go out to just eat and not be at some event.”

  Nathan headed for his car after we exited the building. Mom just stood there staring at me with the oddest look on her face. She then smiled weakly and got into Steph’s car.

  * * *

  “Amber!” called Nathan from downstairs. “What’s taking so long? Even your mother is dressed and ready. We’re just going out to eat, not to some big Hollywood party.”

  “She’ll be down in just a sec!” Steph yelled out my bedroom door. To me she said, “Bullshit. Every outing is an event. A chance for publicity, pictures, buzz. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be getting all dressed up to just go to In-N-Out Burger.”

  I modeled briefly to myself in front of the floor length mirror. I was wearing the little black dress Steph selected for me, along with matching pumps and clutch. The sparkle from my dangling earrings and the necklace Steph was fastening finished off the look. I just couldn’t believe I was looking at myself.

  “Okay, I’m ready,” I shouted and walked through my bedroom door, followed closely by Steph who looked dynamite in her dress as well.

  I didn’t even try to hurry down the stairs in these heels. The last thing I needed was to land in a heap at the bottom of the stairs. Nate and Mom watched me descend the stairs, Mom with her hand over her mouth.

  As I hit the bottom of the stairs, Nate said, “Lovely as always, Amber.” He lightly kissed my cheek so he wouldn’t mess up my lipstick.

  I struck a pose and said, “What do you think, Mom?”

  Mom just stood there for a few moments looking at me. I saw her eyes tearing up and she said, “I think I have a beautiful daughter.”

  * * *

  Chapter Five - The Accidental Star

  I looked out the window of the limousine we were riding in as it pulled in line behind two other limousines. There was a red carpet with a passageway roped off and teeming throngs of people lined up along the rope. I could hear shouts of “Nathan!” from women and girls of all ages coming from the crowd.

  Horrified, I said, “Look at all those people! It’s like a wall of photographers out there. How did they know we’d be here?”

  Steph said with a shrug, “This is a pretty swanky place. Celebs are always coming here. But you’re right. It’s like someone leaked we were coming here.”

  Nathan looked a bit sheepish. “Well, I did call some paparazzi to let them know I was going to be dining here. Don’t look at me that way. I thought we might as well get some buzz, especially this close to the Oscars.”

  There was a sudden barrage of camera flashes as two people started down the carpet. Nathan frowned as he looked out the window. “I should have known that little upstart Tommy Kincaid would try to steal my thunder. Him and his under-aged girlfriend.”

  Steph flashed a glance over to me, “Yeah. How dare he have an under-aged girlfriend too.”

  “Nate and I are the same age!” I protested.

  Steph laughed, “Everyone thinks you’re twelve or something.”

  “Bullshit!” I exclaimed. “They think I’m twenty something.”

  “Bobby!” shouted my mother. “Watch your mouth. There are ladies present. Including you.”

  “Amber, try more like nineteen,” said Nate. “That’s why Tony is marketing you to teen magazines.”

  “He’s what?” I asked, surprised.

  “You’re now part of the Demarco galaxy of stars,” said Nate with a wry grin, “and he’ll try to exploit every dime he can from you.”

  “Hey, you’re talking about my dad, you know.” Steph folded her arms.

  Nate smirked, “Did I lie?”

  Steph folded her arms a little closer, “Well, no. But he does earn every dime he makes off you ingrates.”

  Our limo pulled up to the red carpet. The driver got out and opened the passenger door. Fans, reporters and photographers lining the red carpet shouted out to Nate and surprisingly, to me. Nathan got out of the car, turned and then offered his hand to help me exit the limo. I wanted to just run into the restaurant and get away from all these cameras, but I stood and waited as Nathan helped my mom as well as Stephanie out of the car.

  I felt I was going blind from all the flashes going off. I looked at Steph and she had the biggest grin on her face. She was eating up being photographed with a big star like Nathan. From my mom’s expression, I could tell she just wanted to shrink and disappear. I have to admit, I almost felt the same way, though by now I was getting a tiny bit used to it. I still wanted to just run inside. Nathan of course was smiling and waving to his adoring fans. I looked again at the women shouting out Nate’s name, trying to get him to look at them. I smiled to myself as I thought that Nathan could have any woman he wanted. But he has me.

  A sudden thought struck me and I stopped Nate. I whispered in his ear, “Hey. Let’s give them something to take pictures of.” I flashed him a wicked smile. Before he knew what I was trying to do, I flung my arms around Nathan’s neck and planted a long, smoldering kiss on him. From out of the corner of my eye, I saw Mom turning around embarrassed. I heard Steph giggle. The crowd made the expected “Woooo!” sound and cameras clicked like crazy.

  While he returned the kiss just as passionately, Nathan whispered in my ear, “You know if you’re ever discovered to be a man, I’m dead.”

  I gave him a quick kiss and whispered, “We’ll just have to be extra careful.”

  I’m not sure how Nate felt. But I have to admit that I was completely in love with Nathan. I wanted to have his babies. He was gorgeous, sexy and mine… at least for the moment. How long would I be able to keep him without having sex? I guess I’ll worry about that later.

  As Nate tipped the maitre d’ to take us to a good table, my Mom said, “In all honesty, I expected to be going to Wendy’s. I thought Hollywood types dressed up for everything.”

  Frowning, Nate said, “Now you tell me. It’s a little late now.”

  As the maitre d’ led us to our table, Mom said, “I wish I had my camera. This place is just chock full of famous people!”

  “Stop pointing, Mom,” I said. “You’re acting like a school girl.”

  “Oh, pipe down!” scolded Mom. “You get to see celebrities every day. I never get to see one, unless you count that time at Sam’s Club I saw the local weather guy from TV.”

  The maitre d’ brought us to our table. Nathan pulled out a chair and was holding it for me. As he was pushing me forward, I saw where two waiters were doing the same for my mother and for Stephanie.

  Steph’s eyes were wide with excitement, “Thanks again Mr. Adams for inviting me to come along with yo
u. I’ve only been here one other time.”

  Nathan smiled at her, “You’re lovely as always, Stephanie. Please, call me Nate. After all, you created this Frankenstein monster seated next to me.”

  Stephanie grinned, “She created herself. I just added the lipgloss.”

  “Oh my God!” said Mom covering her mouth while looking shocked. “Bobby, you remember our next door neighbor Margret? I’m sorry. I mean Amber. Anyway, she just texted me saying she just saw a video of me and my daughter on LiveLeak filming a commercial. She goes on to say that my daughter is beautiful now that she finally stopped being such a tomboy.”

  Frowning, I said with disgust, “I bet no one will remember me taking boy’s P.E. back home.”

  “I hope not,” said Nathan. “Especially with the way you just kissed me a few minutes ago.”

  “You know what I mean,” I said, deeply annoyed. “Everyone is convinced I’m a girl. Even people who should know better.”

  Looking very earnest, Steph said, “Stop fighting it, Amber. I truly believe this is who you are. No, I mean it. Honestly, do you really think Mr. Ada… um, Nate would let you kiss him if he didn’t believe you were a girl?”

  I laughed, “That’s fine and all, but it doesn’t change my plumbing.”

  In a very serious voice, Stephanie said, “That can be arranged. I mean, it’s not like it’d be the first time Dad’s made those kind of arrangements.”

  “Wow!” said Mom. “Just look at these prices! That’s ridiculous for just a grilled cheese.”

  Steph leaned in towards Mom, “Order the most expensive thing on the menu, Mrs. Johnson. Nate just puts it on his expense account anyway.”

  “Nate! Good to see you, old man!” laughed Tommy Kincaid as he reached out to shake Nathan’s hand. His girlfriend, singer Michelle something was standing next him. She’s even prettier in real life, and I loved her dark blue sequined dress. Tommy continued, “You’ve met Michelle before, right?”

  Nate half stood and lightly gripped her fingers, “Lovely as always, Michelle.” Nate then straightened up and pointed at me and said, “Tommy, Michelle, I’d like you to meet Amber Johnson and her mother and…” he pointed at Stephanie and added, “… and that’s a stalker I’m about to call the cops on.”

  Tommy smiled and said, “Give my regards to your dad, Stephanie.”

  Michelle was looking at me with an odd expression. There was something about her I couldn’t put my finger on. We seemed to share some cosmic connection, but I’m not sure what it was.

  Looking at me, Michelle said, “Nice to meet you, Amber. We should try to have lunch together sometime.”

  I said, “I’d love to.”

  “Anyway,” said Tommy Kincaid looking at Nathan, “I just wanted to congratulate you for being nominated in the same category as me. You must feel deeply honored.” Tommy grinned.

  Nathan smiled back, “You have no idea.”

  “Good luck Sunday. Well, not too much luck! Chao,” Tommy then turned towards me, Mom and Stephanie and with a slight bow said, “Ladies…” He and his girlfriend then walked off to chat with celebrities at another table.

  Nate shook his head, “That little attention whore. That we’re both up for the same award irks me no end.”

  Steph smirked, “You don’t suppose that’s why he came by our table do you?”

  Mom sighed, “The girl that was with him is gorgeous.”

  I frowned. “At least she’s a real girl.”

  Nate asked, “You wish you were a real girl, Amber?”

  I shrugged, “It’d certainly make my life easier now.”

  Steph laughed, “Say the word, Amber and you’re off to Thailand, no questions asked.”

  I narrowed my eyes at Stephanie, “That’s a joke, right?”

  Before anyone could say anything else, our waiter arrived. Looking at Nathan, he said, “Are you ready to order, sir?”

  * * *

  As we were leaving the restaurant, facing only a handful of paparazzi, Steph touched my shoulder and said, “Hey girlfriend. Wait up. I just got a text from Dad.”

  “You didn’t forget the beauty parlor appointment for Sunday did you?” I asked, suddenly worried that I’d have to do my own glamour make-up and hair.

  Stephanie waved off my comment. “No, no. That’s all fine. Dad wants me to bring you to his office at nine o’clock tomorrow morning. There’s someone he needs you to meet and clear your calendar for tomorrow afternoon.”

  “Now what?” I asked. “What do I wear?”

  “He’s being cagey about why he wants you,” said Stephanie. “But no fancy clothes or too much make-up. Just what you’d wear for an afternoon at the mall.”

  “Okay. Sheesh, Steph. Do I ever get to sleep in on a weekend?” I asked with a sigh.

  Steph grinned wryly, “Not when you’re one of the Demarco’s Galaxy of Stars!”

  * * *

  Tony Demarco stood up as Stephanie and I entered his office. Another man, with long hair, a couple of days worth of stubble, very sallow complexion and looked like he hadn’t eaten in a few weeks glanced over to Tony, then to us before standing up as well. I took a moment to glance around the office and mentally flinched at the thought of having to organize this clutter after Nathan goes off to Europe.

  Tony kissed both me and his daughter on the cheek as he greeted us and said, “Amber! So glad you could make it here on such short notice. Thanks Steph. One of these days I might just have to put you on the payroll.” Tony laughed and Stephanie just looked embarrassed.

  “Girls,” said Mr. Demarco. “I want you to meet Gunter Dietz. Gunter, this is my daughter Stephanie. Lately she’s been helping me manage Amber Johnson, the girl standing next to her.”

  Gunter bowed his head and said with a thick German accent, “Ladies, it’s a pleasure to meet you both.”

  Tony pointed at two empty chairs lined up in front of his desk and said, “Girls, please have a seat. We don’t have a lot of time today, so we’re going to just jump right into business.”

  Sitting down as well, Tony pointed at me and said, “Amber. Let me ask you a question. When you were a little girl, did you ever dream of one day being a famous movie actress? Of course you did! Well, have I got news for you. But I’m getting ahead of myself. Can you read lines?” Tony just stared at me for a few moments.

  I was really confused by what Mr. Demarco just said. Steph was looking excited. I just shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe?”

  Gesturing, Mr. Demarco said excitedly, “You know, lines! Lines! Like dialog in a script?”

  Steph poked me in the shoulder and asked, “Can you act?”

  I shrugged again, “I dunno. I’ve done a pretty good job of acting the past few weeks.”

  Steph laughed, “Not exactly the same thing, but it is a start.”

  “Mr. Dietz,” said Mr. Demarco. “Let me hand her the script.”

  Gunter smiled a ghastly looking smile, handed the script to Tony. “Most certainly. The line you need to read is on page twelve, about midway down. At the part where the High School Girl speaks.” He leaned back and closed his eyes.

  As I took the folder containing the script, I looked over at Steph. “Holy shit! This can’t be real!”

  Mr. Dietz popped open his eyes. “That’s perfect! That’s absolutely perfect.”

  Looking confused at his reaction, I opened the folder to page twelve and midway down the page was written, “High School Girl (incredulous): Holy Shit! This can’t be real!”

  “Oh my God!” Both Steph and I laughed.

  Tony turned to Mr. Dietz and asked, “Will she work out?”

  Gunter smiled again, “If she says it exactly that way on camera, it’ll be perfect.”

  Mr. Demarco smiled and stood up to shake Mr. Dietz’ hand, “Looks like you just hired yourself an actress, Mr. Dietz. I’ll make sure she’s there at two o’clock sharp at your high school location. We’ll finish up the paperwork when we get there since this is a rush job. Good-bye, Mr. D
ietz. See you soon.”

  Gunter took back his script folder, gathered up some papers from Tony’s desk and turned to Stephanie and me. He bowed again slightly and said, “Guten Tag, Frauleins. See you in a few hours. Auf Wiedersehen.” He then quickly left Mr. Demarco’s office.

  Steph looked completely lost, “What just happened?”

  Mr. Demarco sat back down behind his desk with a big grin on his face. He said, “Amber was just hired to be in a movie. Mr. Dietz is an indie film maker from Munich. He’s making a short film about American teen angst or some shit. Anyway, he ran into a problem where the girl who was going to say Amber’s line decided to go out of town with her boyfriend instead. Mr. Dietz is using a union crew and needed an actress in the Screen Actors Guild to say even that small line. He contacted me about needing an actress on such short notice, and it gave me an idea on how I can solve another problem that’s cropped up.”

  “But I don’t belong to the Screen Actors Guild,” I said flatly.

  Tony grinned as he leaned across his desk to hand me a card. He said, “You do now as of last night. Here’s your card. Now, once you say your line on camera, and it’s in the can, you can solve my other problem.”

  I looked at the SAG card. “I don’t understand. What problem? I’m not really an actress.”

  Mr. Demarco said, “Honey, you are now. Here’s the deal. It’s going to mean that you can’t watch Nathan’s house while he’s in Europe, help clean up my office, though God knows it needs it.”

  “Not watching Nate’s house?” I exclaimed, worriedly. “But that’s the whole reason why I’m even here. All this other stuff was just, well, an accident.”

  Mr. Demarco grinned broadly, “Well, the reason you can’t watch Nathan’s house is that it’ll be hard for you to do while you’re in Europe.”