Hollywood Baby

Takeoff was her favorite part. The sheer impossibility of a multi-ton hunk of metal lifting off the ground and flying washed over her every time. She practically had her nose pressed to the window as she watched the ground get smaller and smaller as the plane flew higher and higher. 

“You would think flying would lose its wonder after a while,” he said from  the seat across from her. He watched her with an easy grin, body relaxed in the plush seats of the private plane. 

“You would think.” On this press tour alone they had taken off countless times, but something about it was too wonderful to ever get used to. 

They had been on this world tour for a month now, but two more stops until the premiere of the movie before  a few days off. Isla had only been in the business for four years now, but this franchise was what gave her a career, it gave her her dream. She was happy to go on as many world tours as necessary to hang on to this life. The boy across from her, Danny, had been in the game a little longer. Child actor before breaking through on the same franchise that introduced him to Isla. 

“When do you start filming that musical?” Danny asked Isla. 

“Not till next year, but I start prepping in three months. Singing, dancing, the works.”

She smiled at the thought. Just like a plane takeoff, every start to a project, every day on a film set felt too wonderful to get used to. She had known this is what she wanted since she was little; she had known she had to be a part of storytelling, but she had never dreamed this would actually be her life. Let alone with Danny Kennan looking at her like that. 

He looked away and ran a hand through his hair, a nervous tick. She sat up and placed a hand on his knee, silently asking what was wrong. He smiled, a small blush rising on his neck.

“Maybe you’d like to spend it in London with me?” He looked at her hopefully. He didn’t know why he was nervous. She had come home with him before, his family loved her, she loved his family. He had gone home with her before too, with just as pleasant an experience. They had been together almost four years now, it wasn’t like he was nervous to play house with her. Maybe he was nervous because he didn’t just want her to move in for a few months. 

Isla’s face lit up at the offer, she loved London. It was much more peaceful there then at her place in LA. Much easier to keep a low profile. “I would love to…” 

“But?”

Danny leaned forward and took her hand, “what’s the matter, I?” 

She sighed, “Michael got me a meeting with the director of the last arthouse piece.” The silence was heavy as Danny processed. He ran a hand through his hair again, this time in frustration. Isla tried to get ahead of it. “It’s just a meeting, she liked what I did with the book adaptation and wants to hear my thoughts. It’s just a meeting.”

“In hopes of what?” He asked quietly. “Isla, I thought… I thought we had a break until the summer…” 

“I know, I know, and I was looking forward to it too, but you know how much I’ve wanted to get into the writing side of this. And the project just fell in my lap.” She pleaded with her eyes and he had to look away to avoid losing his nerve. 

“You’re already talking like you’re going to do it.” 

“Well…” she trailed off, not knowing where to go from there. She played with her necklace, a gift from their first Valentine’s Day. 

He watched her fingers play with the chain, “you want to do it, right?”

“I do.” 

He sighed and leaned back, resigning himself. They were both busy filming different projects that shooting this movie together and doing press together was the longest they’d been able to spend time together in a year. He had hoped to take a breath, spend some time without worrying if a camera caught them holding hands, or if they looked too flirty in an interview. 

“How long will you be working?” He asked.

This was the part she was nervous about. She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, “two and a half months.” 

He closed his eyes. There goes their three months of quality time. “And then you’re prepping and filming for another year, then I’m doing the thriller…” 

“I know it’s not what we planned, but it’s a great opportunity, I can’t say no.”

“I know, love.” 

He got up and dropped into the seat beside her, wrapping his arm around her as she leaned into his shoulder. She was fighting a smile, already thinking about getting started. Despite himself, he smiled at the look on her face. She was beautiful, creative, talented, and it inspired him. 

**

Isla yawned and did a little dance in her seat to try and wake herself up. They had gone straight from the plane to press and had been here for the last few hours. 

“You good over there?” Danny asked.

“Bright eyed and bushy tailed.”

He chuckled. “You know that political thriller I’m in talks to do next year?” Danny asked after a pause.

“Yeah, it’s got some award buzz.” 

“I’m not locked in yet, I could still backout.”

This got Isla’s attention. “Why?”

He lowered his voice, “if the schedule holds, after you finish the writing gig then the musical, it’ll be three weeks before I start shooting the next installment of this thing, so…” 

“Danny, that political thriller is getting awards buzz and there’s not even a final script yet. Why would you turn that down?”

He frowned, “because I thought if you weren’t going to make an effort to see me I would make an effort to see you. Again.”

“Whoa,” she snapped but before she could respond the interviewer sat down.

Isla held Danny’s gaze for a second then turned to the front, a bright smile for the camera plastered on her face. “It’s so nice to meet you.”

“You two are just fantastic in this. I’m not even a fan of the genre but you might have converted me,” the interviewer practically bounced in his seat. “So, I’ve gotta ask. You two met four years ago on the first one in the series, correct?”

“Yup,” Isla confirmed, “I was 19, Danny was 22, right?” Danny nodded. “It was a wonderful experience having someone my age on set, who had gone through this whole thing; someone to be a friend.” 

“And I don’t suppose you have anything to say about the dating rumors that have plagued you two for years?” 

Danny and Isla exchanged a look and chuckled. “It’s very flattering,” Isla started, “but we’re just good friends” 

Danny looked at the ground briefly and shifted in his seat before smiling, “just good friends.” 

Isla glanced over, brows furrowed but didn’t say anything. Danny gave the slightest shrug, imperceptible to everyone but the girl beside him.

The rest of the interview passed like all the others, and both young actors breathed a sigh of relief when it was over. It was time to go back to the hotel. Time to go to bed. Lighting was taken down and microphones were returned as management and security ushered the couple out of the room and outside to a waiting car. 

“That went well,” Isla said after a few minutes. Danny nodded from the seat beside her. “So, um, did you, um, did you mean something by that comment?”

“Pardon, love?”

She hid her irritation, “that question, about us dating. You seemed, I don’t know, off.” 

“Why would I be off? It’s the same answer we’ve given for four years.”

“There it is.”

“There what is?”

“It sounded off.” 

“Oh.” 

Isla stared back out the window. Danny was being off, she just didn’t know why. Why was he upset about it now? She sighed and turned her body back to Danny and tucked her feet under her legs. 

“Does it bother you?”

Danny looked up from his phone, feigning innocence, “does what bother me?”

“The answer we’ve given for the last four years?”

“Why would it bother me?”

“I don’t know, that’s why I’m asking.”

“Does it bother you?”

“No.”

“Well that’s what matters.” 

Isla opened her mouth then closed it again, unsure what to say. He was definitely… off. But she decided to let it go. They were tired, that was all. Her phone buzzed with an email from her manager with the contract for the movie musical. 

“You know, I did musical theater as a kid and even when I was ‘tree #3’ I thought to myself that if I could be ‘tree #3’ for the rest of my life I would feel complete.” 

“Well you’re definitely not the chorus anymore,” Danny squeezed Isla’s knee endearingly. “You’re the star, baby.”

Isla waved the compliment off, “that word makes me uncomfortable. I just like telling stories.” 

“It’s a good thing you’re good at it.”

“You’re not too shabby yourself, mister.” 

“What a team we make.” There was a pause. “Could you really have been happy being in the chorus the rest of your life?” 

“Absolutely. I threw up after every audition when I was starting out. I don’t get sick anymore but I I get scared it’s all going to end one day and I don’t think I could bear it.”

“All this?” Danny waved his hand out the window at a line of people gathered outside the entrance of their hotel, all wearing merch from the movie.

“No,” Isla giggled, “just… the dream. I wanted to do exactly what I’m doing for so long and I finally feel like I’m exactly where I’m meant to be that I don’t know what I would do if I couldn’t be in films anymore.” 

“You feel complete?” 

“Babe, if I could film six movies a year I would do it happily and for free, that’s how happy it makes me.” 

**

Isla leaned on the elevator railing as they rode to their floor, exhausted. She took her heels off and rubbed her feet as the door opened and her and Danny made their way to their room. Danny held out his hand and Isla handed him her shoes gratefully. She rubbed his back softly as he opened the hotel room and gestured for her to go in first.

Isla went straight to the bathroom to wipe the makeup off her face while Danny changed into a t-shirt and started flipping through the room service menu. “What are you in the mood for, darling?”

“Something green,” Isla called from the bathroom, “I’ve gotta get in shape for this musical.” 

“Veggie burger and sweet potatoes?” Danny called back.

Isla ran out from the bathroom and jumped on his back, sending them both to  the bed in front of him. Isla laughed as Danny wrestled her off of him. She kissed him on the nose, “perfect.” 

He shook his head and gave her a peck on the lips, “how do you have this much energy after a full day of press?”

“I’m excited! The premiere is almost here then I get to start writing and learning how to tap dance, then…” she trailed off as Danny studied the menu again. “Now what’s wrong?” 

Danny looked up, “huh?” Isla fixed him with a look and he sighed, running a hand through his hair and setting the menu aside. 

“This job, your career, it’s the most important thing to you.” 

The playful mood stilled and Isla sat up a little straighter. “Yeah, of course.” Danny sunk into the bed beside her. “Danny, what you said before the interview, what did you mean?”

He sighed again, “I didn’t mean it. I know you put effort into this relationship.”

“But?” She prompted.

“But it seems like you’re excited to be away from me for so long.” 

Isla placed her hand inside his, “not at all. I would love to spend a few months with you in London, but the schedule just doesn’t work.”

“It could.”

Isla’s smile dropped, “are you asking me to turn the project down?” 

“No,” Danny stood up and put his hands in his pockets, “I wouldn’t do that. That’s why I said I could turn down the political-”

Isla scoffed, “don’t be stupid.”

“For god’s sake, Isla, it’s just a movie!” They both looked at each other, shocked at Danny’s outburst. He never snapped at her. 

Isla took a breath, trying to see why he was upset. “But you love the movie,” she argued earnestly. “I wouldn’t want you to give up something you love-”

“But I love you more.” 

“I love you too.”

“But not more than a movie.” It wasn’t a question.

“Whoa,” Isla stood up, “where is this coming from? Of course I love you more than a movie.” It all clicked for her. The whole day. “Is the long distance getting to you?”

“No, no,” Danny sat down on the bed again, “we knew what we were in for, and I can handle the distance, the schedules, if…”

“If what?” Isla gingerly took the place beside him.

“If I could see where this was going, I.” She didn’t know what to say to that. “Do you want to slow down?” She couldn’t answer that because they both knew the answer. She would rather cut off her hand then slow down. “So where are we heading? Only seeing each other a few weeks every couple months for the rest of our lives?”

“Danny, what is it you want me to say? I’m just enjoying life for the moment-”

“Would you ever consider slowing down?” Isla couldn’t answer that either. Just an hour before she had said she never wanted to. “Isla, I’m happy we’ve been so private, but at some point…”

“At what point? You want to go public?”  She shifted away from him, “you know once we do, that’s all the tabloids will talk about. Not my work, not my writing, but where we went to dinner, or on vacation. They’ll make me a girlfriend.”

“And when we get married? Will that be a secret too?”

Isla raised her eyebrows and fought the chill that went down her spine, “you want to get married?”

“You don’t?” He couldn’t hide the hurt in his eyes and it pricked Isla’s heart.

“I do, yes, someday.” 

“Someday,” Danny scoffed and got up to start pacing, “so no time soon?”

Isla struggled for words, trying to be delicate, still not sure what the point of this conversation was. They had talked about marriage plenty of times. It was in the cards. Someday. 

“Were you planning on getting married soon?”

“Not, like, tomorrow, but-”

“Danny, why would we get married right now? We’re both working all the time-”

“That’s what I’m saying, Isla!” Danny snapped, unable to bury his frustration anymore, “you’re working all year, every year, and you’ve made it very clear you don’t plan on slowing down any time soon, so what’s your plan? When would you have time to get married, or god forbid, announce your relationship?”

“I don't- I don’t know. Danny, everything is going so right in my career right now, I can’t give that up.”

“I’m not asking you to, I, I’m just asking for you to make me, make us, a priority.”

“You are.” Isla stood and took both of his hands in hers, “but I’m 23, I’m not ready to get married. That would take, what, a year off from work, then all anyone would ask is when we’re having kids, and I don’t-”

“It’s a year, Isla, there will be more movies,” he wrenched his hands away, “there are more important things than your career.”

Now Isla was getting frustrated, how could he not see? “Danny you’ve been the face of a franchise, been in award winning films, you’ve made a name for yourself, and it’s amazing. But you know if we announce a relationship, or get married, all I’ll ever be is your girlfriend or your wife instead of an actress in my own right. I have to solidify a career first.” Danny just scoffed and Isla’s anger boiled. “You know it’s true.”

“I also know it’ll never be enough. You’ll always be looking at the next script, the next award, the next step, that you’ll eventually cast me aside.”

“I would never.”

Danny fixed his gaze on Isla and in spite of herself she wavered. It was enough. “You love your career more than me.”

“I don’t.”

“And if I asked you to choose?”

“You wouldn’t.”

“You’re right.” 

They stared at each other, only a few feet from each other but it was obvious a chasm had opened. The tension filled the silence and neither one knew where to go from here. Danny stood after what seemed like an eternity and took Isla’s hands.

“You are my whole world, Isla. I would give up this life, this career, for you in a heartbeat,” he leaned his forehead against hers, “but I can’t live knowing you’ll always put me second.”

“Danny,” her voice cracked, knowing exactly what was about to happen, “I love you.”

“I know,” he kissed her forehead, letting a few tears slip, “you’re special and you deserve to have the career of a lifetime. You deserve to break records for how many Oscars you’ll win. I will always root for you but I won’t be by your side when you do.” 

It took all his willpower but he stepped away from her, “I’ll go book another room.” 

“Don’t-” Isla choked out when he made it to the door.

He paused, “tell me I’m wrong, Isla.”

But she couldn’t.