Dane: Hollywood's Finest

by Wilde, Delilah

  I stood up and all the girl's groaned.

  “I'm sorry ladies, but I really gotta go. It was great to meet you but I have an early morning tomorrow,” I said. They all protested, insisting that I finish my drink and come to the club with them. It sounded tempting but I refused. My mind was made up.

  “No really, I would if I could but my manager would kill me,” I said. Their protests ended when I agreed to give every one of them a kiss on the cheek to say goodbye. Rachel was last and at the last moment, she turned her head so my lips landed on hers. I pulled away in an instant though her friends were cheering and clapping. I pitied the man who got her as a wife. A girl like that couldn't stay faithful if her life depended on it. You could bet that if she had no problem coming onto a movie star that coming onto a regular Joe would come naturally as well.

  Just as I reached the door she ran up to me and shoved something into my hand, before giving me another kiss on the cheek. She ran back to her friends, who were all still giggling and waving at me. I waved back and didn't check the note until I stepped outside. There, in Rachel's cursive handwriting were the words she had been keeping in all night.

  Dane,

  I'm staying in room 419 in the North Plaza hotel, alone. I'm going to pretend to be tired and go home after you leave. Meet me there and I'll let you do whatever you want to me. I'm not married yet.

  Love, Rachel xxx

  I looked at the note for a long time. For some reason that I could not fathom, I tore it up and threw it in the trash. Jerking off just seemed like a good option tonight.

  Savannah

  I stared at Dane's photograph for a long time, doing my best to convince myself that he wasn't the man I had slept with. Maybe he was just a lookalike, trying to use his association with a movie star to get laid. No, that was ridiculous. Dane's tattoos in the photograph were the exact same as they had been in real life. That smile, arrogant but charming was certainly the same. I had slept with a movie star. It was so unreal.

  Sure, I was no monster but I wasn't Hollywood pretty by any means. My thighs touched and my stomach never managed to be completely flat, despite how petite I was. The mystery blonde in the photograph was exactly the kind of woman you'd expect Dane to associate with. Graceful as a gazelle with long legs, a perfect suntan and a dress perfectly tailored to her slim frame. She was perfect. They all were. Every actress and model in the magazine looked better bare faced than I would with ten pounds of makeup. Dane was probably surrounded by these women every day. If he was as much of a superstar as the magazine made him out to be he probably had his pick of them.

  Why would he settle for a boring small town girl like me?

  I eventually came to the conclusion that sleeping with a normal girl was what sleeping with a supermodel was to a regular guy. A fantasy, something that he thought he would never get to do. Fucking me probably raised his self esteem. When he compared my human body to his perfectly chiseled abs and tattooed biceps he must have felt great. That was it.

  I was over thinking, of course. I should have just been happy and left it at that. I'd had a nice time with a hot guy and come out of it with my heart intact and a story to tell my friends. I could tell the tabloids too, if I was desperate for money but that didn't sound appealing.

  I tried to take my mind off Dane by putting the magazine on top of my wardrobe. Out of sight, out of mind. I grabbed Mansfield Park and a blanket or two and made myself a steaming mug of hot chocolate. Under normal circumstances, cozy reading time with a hot drink in hand was my idea of heaven. No stupid employers yelling at me or men screwing me over. Just me and Jane Austen in a whole different world. It was perfect. At least, it should have been.

  I just couldn't focus. The words on the page blurred and I found myself reading the same paragraph over and over again. Even my hot chocolate didn't taste right.

  “Fuck this,” I thought, “I'm going on a walk.”

  The sun was only barely beginning to set so I had time to wander around the neighborhood before all the drunks and junkies came out to play. In the gentle light of dusk the street actually looked somewhat pretty. I wasn't filled with my usual sense of despair as I walked through it.

  I stopped by a few of the nearby stores, picking myself up a cartoon of milk and forcing myself to resist picking up another magazine with Dane's face on it. I lingered outside the liquor store for a moment, dithering over whether I should treat myself to a bottle of wine. This morning I'd sworn off alcohol for life, but it had just become tempting again. Fuck it, I was an adult. Cheap wine was one of the few luxurious I could actually afford. I marched myself into the liquor store and grabbed the bottle with the lowest price, fully intending to go straight to the cashier. However, something else caught my eye.

  In the corner of the liquor store they had a small section of DVDs that customers could rent. I'd never taken notice of it before as none of the movies appeared to be made before 1986. Now it intrigued me.

  It took less than two seconds for me to spot Dane's face and another three to spot it again. On the first one he was dressed from the waist down in army camouflage, his face sweaty and his chest spattered with blood. A women in torn clothing looking up at him adoringly from where she was kneeling at his feet. Jeez, so much for feminism. It was called Bounty Hunter 2 and was perhaps the single most unappealing film cover I'd ever seen. Even so, I picked it up. The second movie was a tacky looking romantic comedy in which he starred alongside some actress who was a big deal three years ago. Both DVDs were the kind of movies that kept me well away from modern cinema, but I couldn't resist. I paid for them along with my bottle of wine and shoved them into my handbag, feeling oddly guilty. Was this the movie star equivalent of stalking your crush on social media? Of course not. It was perfectly natural to be curious. I'd had a few one night stands here and there over the years, but never with someone famous. Why shouldn't I watch his movies? There was no harm in it.

  It wasn't like I was going to see him again.

  Chapter Three

  Dane

  The one crappy thing that always happened when I visited a small town was a call from my manager, Craig. Craig couldn't just leave me in peace to enjoy my time off. If Hollywood wasn't so bureaucratic and difficult to navigate on my own I would have fired him years ago. Unfortunately, I didn't have that option.

  This time he called me at noon, interrupting my sleep. If there was one thing I enjoyed more than a good fuck it was getting to sleep in. On shooting days I often had to be up at four or five in the morning and shoot until eleven that night. My time off was a great chance to catch up on sleep. At least, it should have been.

  “What?” I groaned into the phone, my face still in the pillow. I knew it was Craig without checking the caller ID. He was the only person I knew who could be that annoying.

  “Hey big guy, how's small town life treating you? Still up to your old tricks?” he asked. That was the other annoying thing. Craig insisted on talking to me like we were bros when in reality, if I never heard from him again I'd be happy. I couldn't even remember his last name.

  “What do you want?” There was no time for bulllshit. Craig only called when he needed me to do something or he had an offer for me.

  “Right, cut to the chase. Good idea. Do you have lady with you or can I talk freely?” he asked. I glanced at the empty bed beside me. It had been empty for well over a week now and I had turned down every opportunity to change that. It wasn't like me, but there was no reason to fill Craig in on the details. If I did end up firing him, which was starting to seem more and more likely, I didn't need him going to the tabloids about me. They already spewed enough crap.

  “Maybe I do, it doesn't matter. You can speak freely, just make it quick OK? This is supposed to be my time off. You swore you wouldn't bother me for a month,” I said. As soon as he'd promised that I knew there wasn't a snowball's chance in Hell that he'd be able to stick to his word. I was the most high profile client a manager could hope for. No way was he going to
leave me relax when I could be out there, making him money.

  “All right, all right buddy. I'll get to the point. So, did you know that the town you're in right now contains America's 39th oldest movie theater? Isn't that interesting? I was just reading about it yesterday,” he said.

  “There better be a point to this, Craig.”

  “There is, don't worry. The theater is still owned by the same family who opened it. Well, what's left of them. Mr Thornton is a 96 year old veteran and he still owns the place. He even lends a hand with the running of the place every so often. Isn't that awesome? Wouldn't it be so cool to be working when you're 96?” he said. Jesus Christ, the thought of still doing movies when I was that age gave me the creeps. Somehow, wrinkly old action heroes and romantic leads wasn't a huge niche. Besides, I wasn't even thirty yet and the industry already drove me crazy. Another sixty plus years of bullshit sounded like Hell to me.

  “That's cute but I don't know why the fuck I should care,” I snapped, “Craig, I'm hanging up if you don't tell me why you called and I won't answer the phone if you call again. All right?”

  “Sure, no worries I'm getting there. So, have you thought much about the publicity tour for Bounty Hunter 3?” he asked. I rolled my eyes. The filming for that piece of garbage had only wrapped two months ago and it wasn't due to be released for at least another four. A press tour was the last thing on my mind.

  “No, I haven't. Because it's not time yet and I don't give a shit about that movie,” I said. The scorn in my voice always went over Craig's head.

  “Right, but there's no harm in starting early. I thought it would be great publicity for you to go down to the move theater today, sign a few posters, pose for a photo or two with Mr Thornton and maybe take about what an honor it is to be at America's oldest theater,” he said. It sounded like the worst idea in the world to me.

  “I thought it was the 39th oldest theater?”

  “Well yeah, but it doesn't really matter does it?” said Craig, “You could even do a meet and great for your fans. It will be such great publicity.”

  “No,” I said firmly, “There is no way in Hell that I'm doing that today. You can fuck right off.” As irritating as he was, Craig always found a way to convince me.

  Savannah

  After going through all of the Dane Reynolds movies at the liquor store I ordered a few more online. It was so strange to see him on my television screen pretending to be someone else. I had to remind myself that those were the lips I had kissed, those were the arms that had held me and that was the hair I had run my fingers through. It was unreal.

  I knew I was getting obsessed, but I couldn't help it. It was fascinating to watch Dane act. He really was an incredible talent. He even managed to convince me that he was a nice guy in some of his roles.

  There were even a few sex scenes that I replayed over and over again. I just loved getting to see his body again, even if it was only on the screen. I longed to touch him again, to feel his breath against my skin. It obviously wasn't to be.

  Between work and my new movie addiction I had very little time for anything else. I barely had time to do my groceries and the list of errands I had to run was becoming bigger and more unmanageable by the second. I decided to take Saturday off work and refused to let myself touch the DVD player until all of my tasks were completed.

  It was a busy day of going from store to store and walking around town in uncomfortable shoes, but it was worth it. Once I put my mind to it I was able to get everything done in less time than I had anticipated. I paid my bills, sent letters to my family back home and dropped my laptop off at the electronics store to be fixed. My stress began to recede. I decided to allow myself an inexpensive treat as a reward for all the hard work I'd been doing lately. It didn't take me long to figure out what it was that I wanted.

  Mr Thornton's movie theater was a large, old fashioned building in the middle of town. Since I'd moved here I had only been there once on a night out with a few friends. It was nice and I appreciated the genuine vintage feel of the place, but I'd had no interest in going by myself. Not until now, that was. I had actually enjoyed some of Dane's movies and discovering that made me feel that I may be missing out on some greats by avoiding new releases. Who knew, they may even be playing one of Dane's films. There was no way that I would say no to seeing his chiseled features on a giant screen like that.

  To my surprise, when I turned the corner that lead to the theater there was a massive queue winding all the way up the block. It couldn't be coming from the theater, could it? I walked past hordes of excited people to see that the line was indeed coming from there. That was strange. Very strange.

  There was security everywhere. Something big was going on. I walked up to the guard closest to the door. He was tall and beefy with a severe military haircut. I saw him glancing at my tits as I approached.

  “No skipping the line!” he said, looking me in the eye, “And don't think cos you're cute that I'll make an exception.”

  God, men could be so gross sometimes. Despite my revulsion, I gave him a big smile.

  “Oh I have no intention of skipping anything. I just wanted to know what's going on here? I wanted to go see a movie, but then I got here and there are so many people. It's so busy and chaotic!” I said, putting on my best bimbo voice. Dane's comment about me looking like Marilyn Monroe was not accurate, no matter how much I wished it was. Yet I sure did know how to charm men like she did. It just seemed to come naturally to me. I could see the guard was warming up to me already. “Honey, didn't you hear? Dane Reynolds is here today meeting fans! That's why everyone is going crazy. Boy, you sure picked a bad day to see a movie,” he looked at me with a hint of suspicion, obviously unsure as to whether my confusion was real or not, “It seems strange that a girl your age wouldn't know that. Everyone's obsessed with him.”

  His name sent a shiver down my spine and I knew right away that I had to see him, no matter how awkward it would be. The fact that I had stumbled upon this meet and greet was a sign. However, I kept my face neutral and continued to play the role of the dumb, lovesick Barbie doll. It worked like a charm.

  “Dane Reynolds? I know him, he's in some movies right? He's the one everyone says in handsome but...” I trailed off. The officer was intrigued now. He leaned forward, his eyes wide.

  “But what?”

  “I shouldn't say. You work for him and it's quite rude,” I teased. The guard shrugged.

  “I work for the security company. My loyalty's not with him. You can tell me anything, sweetheart. I'll keep your secret safe,” he said. I hated the way that he spoke to me. It was a disgusting mixture of patronizing and lecherous. It was what made him so easy to play.

  “Well, I'm sure he's a really nice man but I don't think Mr Reynolds is that good looking. In fact, I don't think that he's handsome at all!”

  This pleased the guard greatly. All his suspicion melted away in an instant and he was like putty in my hands.

  “Yeah? That's what I was thinking but I'm a guy, I don't understand these things. You're probably the first girl I've met who doesn't have a thing for Dane Reynolds!” he said.

  “I'm not like most girls,” I giggled. It was as simple as that. A few flirty looks later and the guard was leading me around the back of the theater to let me in. They weren't running any movies today but I'd insisted that I needed to use the bathroom and he couldn't see any issue with that. Good thing I wasn't a crazy fan girl or he might have gotten fired for trusting me so easily. Then again, I'd wasted so much time marathoning Dane's movies. Maybe I was crazy.

  The guard, whose name was Tim, opened the emergency exit for me and told me to be quick. I thanked him profusely. My heart had started to pound now. Maybe I didn't want to see Dane after all.

  The door lead me directly into the lobby. I could see Dane and his management on the other side, posing for photographs with Mr Thornton who owned the place. My stomach dropped. After spending so much time watching movies I'd almost fo
rgotten that Dane was a real, living person. He looked even sexier in real life, dressed in a white shirt and leather jacket. What would he ever want with a girl like me? It had been silly to try to see him again. What did I think would happen? That he'd take me in his arms and confess his love like in all those romantic comedies? That was just unrealistic. I wasn't leading lady material by any means.

  I scurried along to the bathroom without being seen. I might as well use the facilities while I was here. There was no other reason for my presence. I would be leaving Dane alone.

  Chapter Four

  Dane

  The meet and greet was absolute torture, just as I had expected it to be. Craig only announced it on social media an hour before it started, but by the time we arrived there was already a line of people stretching right around the block. I had a bigger fan base here than I had anticipated. They were female, for the most part but there were several men who screamed their love for me as I was rushed into the movie theater. It turned out that we had all kinds of people there. There were teenage girls who wanted me to sign posters that they'd torn out of magazines. Moms who had named their kids after the characters I had played. There were even a few elderly women who loved my romantic comedies. This would be a hard work day for sure.

  I signed, hugged and smiled for hours until my body was so exhausted that I felt like I'd run a marathon. I must have met at least two hundred people but there were easily as many waiting outside to see me.