Holly Hearts Headlines (Holly Hearts Hollywood Book 2) (14 page)

“Hello?” Meredith said in a stuffy voice when she
finally
picked up the phone.

“Hey, Meredith! How are you doing?” I asked in my best “I’m a great friend” voice.

“Bad,” she said simply. I heard her sniffle loudly on the other line.

“What’s wrong?”

Meredith let out a sad little laugh. “
Now
you care? Because the last time we talked I really needed some advice, and all you did was talk about yourself and your new posh life.”

Gosh, no one wants to let me forget about that, do they?

“I know, I’m really sorry. That’s why I’m calling you. What’s going on, you sound upset?”

“Of course I’m upset. If you would’ve bothered to notice last time maybe you could’ve helped me, but now it is too late.”

My stomach turned over. “What do you mean ‘it is too late’?”

Meredith paused and I heard her take a deep breath before she finally said it. “Amanda and I broke up.”

“WHAT?” I said loudly.

“Things have been hard these last few weeks and she decided it was time to call it quits,” Meredith sighed loudly. “Look, Holly, I don’t want to talk about this anymore. I’ve been crying non-stop for days now, and talking about it just makes it worse. I’ll call you later.”

Then she hung up.

Amanda and Meredith broke up. True love is officially dead.

Later, 3:00pm—Home

I was sitting around in my pajamas enjoying my solitude and sadness when Grayson called me. This was rare, as Grayson usually texts me. He’s surrounded by his agent, manager, and adoring fans almost twenty-four seven so calling me is usually too risky.

“Hey there, buttercup,” he purred.

“Is that another nickname you’re testing out?”

“What do you think?” I could hear the corny smile in his voice, and it made me feel a little bit better.

“Not bad. I like ‘little tulip’ better.”

“We will keep working on it. So, what time should I pick you up?”

I blinked. “Pick me up? For what?” Were we going on another date? Maybe my luck had finally turned around! This many dates with Grayson in one month is some sort of record.

“My birthday surprise? You told me it was tonight, remember?”

A bowling ball formed into my stomach. I had completely and totally forgotten about Grayson’s birthday and the theatre tickets. “Oh yeah! Um, six o’clock should be good. But, Grayson, are you going to wear a disguise or anything because you need to be out in public for this.”

“Oh, I have something planned, trust me. Nothing can get in the way of spending my evening with my girl.”

My heart leapt. “Okay, I’ll see you soon.”

“Bye-bye, butterfly,” he said sweetly and then he hung up.

I can’t believe I forgot that tonight was Grayson’s surprise. I’m the worst.

Later, 8:45pm—Street Curb outside of Pantages Theatre

I don’t think I’ve ever been so mortified in my life. And trust me, I’ve done some really embarrassing things. Like that time I went to Adventureland Theme Park in Des Moines on a class trip. I got STUCK in a tube slide and they had to send not one, but two lifeguards in there to push me out.

Grayson was right on time to pick me up, which was highly inconvenient as I was still getting ready. No one was home, so when he rang the doorbell I had to walk to the front door with a towel wrapped around me and a strip of fake eyelashes hanging off my lid. I cracked the door open, but didn’t stick my face out because of the rogue eyelashes.

“Hey, I’m almost ready, come inside and wait for me.”

“Holly? Are you okay?” he said through the door.

“Yeah, I’m fine!” I shouted at him as I dashed back to my room. “Just need to finish getting ready.”

I was so nervous. Grayson Frost, famous singer who somehow became my boyfriend in the last few weeks, was in my living room while I got ready for OUR
DATE. I’ll never get over the fact that I get to go on dates with him. I managed to make myself somewhat presentable in one of my favorite Diane Von Furstenberg dresses and Chanel high heels.

“Ready!” I announced when I came back into the living room, fake eyelashes securely glued to my lid.

“Wow,” Grayson said as he stood up. “You look beautiful.”

“And you look … really different,” I said cautiously. Grayson did not look like Grayson at all. His nose had suddenly grown two times its normal size. His eyebrows seemed bigger and his muscular body was hidden under a loose fitting button up shirt.

He smiled. “I needed a disguise and I have a friend who wants to be a movie makeup artist. How do I look?”

“Like a completely different person,” I said. When I say he looked completely different I meant it. If I didn’t recognize Grayson’s voice, I wouldn’t have recognized him on the street in a million years, which was obviously his goal.

“Awesome! Are you ready to go?” Grayson extended his arm out to me, like he was Mr. Darcy in
Pride and Prejudice
and he was asking me to dance.

I took his arm and let him lead me out of the house to his car. It looked like he was driving his time. Which was disappointing to me as I was hoping we could make out in the back of the car on our way to the theatre.

“So, where to?” he asked.

“It’s a surprise, remember?” I chided. “Turn left here and I’ll direct you the rest of the way.”

I could tell Grayson was excited and I was too. I knew that he would love seeing this musical and that I would win some major good girlfriend points. The closer we got to the theatre the more anxious I became. I’ve never been good at surprising people. I’ve tried many times to throw surprise parties for my mom and every time I’ve failed.

When we finally pulled up outside the Pantages Theatre, Grayson, who is pretty smart, put two and two together.

“Holly,” he said firmly. “This is the Pantages Theatre.”

“Yes it is,” I said serenely.

He pulled into a parking spot and dramatically put the car into park. He looked at me, his eyes wide underneath his fake eyebrows. “
Book of Mormon
is playing at the Pantages,” he said factually.

“Yes,” I replied.

“Are we going to the Pantages? This is a very serious question, Holly. Please tell me that we are going to this show and not some restaurant next door to it.”

I laughed. Everything was going perfectly. I should’ve known better. It is ME after all. Me, Holly Hart, the girl that everything horrible happens to. “Yes,” I replied, “I got orchestra row tickets for us!”

Grayson looked like a kid who just got a new puppy.

“Holly, oh my God, are you serious?” he said loud and quickly.

I nodded and he swallowed me up in a bone-crushing hug. He was happy, I was happy. We walked to the theatre and he was bouncing with every step. Literally bouncing, I thought he was going to take off and start flying at any moment.

We walked up to the theatre door and I fished our tickets out of my Prada clutch. Grayson was looking around at everything in absolute awe. I’ve never seen someone so in their element and excited. I remembered how sheepish Grayson was when he told me about his Broadway aspirations just a few weeks ago and how amazing it is that he’s grown so much in that short time. This is a secret he keeps from the world, but he is okay sharing it with me and being open. That’s a level of trust that is hard for someone like him to give away.

The lady at the door had the longest, most beautiful brown hair I’ve ever seen. It fell past her butt and shone in the fading light like a freaking sun. She smiled at us and requested our tickets. I happily extended them to her and she scanned the barcodes on them. The machine beeped at her and she frowned.

“I’m sorry, ma’am, but these tickets are no good.”

I thought I must’ve misheard her. “Sorry?” I asked dumbly.

She showed me the tickets. “These say you are sitting in row K seat 320. That’s impossible because we don’t have any seats past 315.” She looked at me sadly. “Where did you get these?”

“Craigslist,” I said quietly.

“They’re fake tickets. You might want to look into getting your money back.”

I felt like someone had cut me open and hollowed me out, like a jack-o-lantern. I took them from her and walked away from the door, Grayson trailing behind me slowly.

I threw the tickets in a trashcan. My eyes were welling up with tears. “I’m sorry,” I said quietly.

“It’s okay. You didn’t know.” He put his hand on my shoulder. “I appreciate the gesture. You know what they say: it’s the thought that counts.”

I wiped my eyes. “That’s something you say to someone who got you a shitty gift.”

He chuckled and he gave me a big hug from behind, wrapping his arms across my chest and nuzzling my hair. “Don’t worry about it, honeybee. Let me go see if there are any last minute cancellations at the box office.” He kissed me on the cheek before he walked away. I didn’t bother to tell him that it was useless. This show has been sold out almost from the moment tickets were available. It was impossible, and I had failed him.

So that’s where I am now. I’m sitting on a street curb in a DVF dress because I am waiting for the garbage man to pick me up and take me to the dump with my fellow trash.

Super Late, 11:45pm—Home

I think I’m probably visible from space tonight. And no, it’s not because of my gargantuan girth. It is because I am GLOWING. I’m so insanely happy. Today seemed like it was going to be a big, giant sludge pile of a day but it turned out to be so wonderful. To date, this is probably the best day of my life.

So I was sitting on that street curb, having a total pity party, when Grayson finally came back. He wasn’t carrying tickets in his hand so I knew my assumption had been correct: this show was totally sold out.

“Looks like we are out of luck tonight,” he said, slightly out of breath since he jogged over to me.

“I’m sorry,” I wailed. “I feel terrible. I totally ruined your birthday.”

Grayson knelt down beside me and put his hand on my shoulder. “No, Holly, you didn’t! It’s not your fault. You didn’t ruin anything.”

I leaned into his hand; the warmth of it was making me feel better already. “Well, now what?” I asked solemnly.

Grayson smiled. “Have you ever been to Disneyland?”

I’ve lived in California for a while now. Long enough to see most of the sights and find out the best places to eat that aren’t tourist traps. But sadly enough, I haven’t been to Disneyland. I mean, it is super expensive. It is a hundred dollars just for ONE
TICKET. Not to mention the cost of food and overpriced merchandise.

I shook my head and Grayson pulled me up to my feet. “Well, let’s go,” he declared.

“Grayson,” I said, walking quickly beside him. My legs are much shorter than his and I’m not in as good of shape so I pretty much have to jog alongside him like a golden retriever. “Disneyland closes in like, two hours.”

“I know,” he said as he unlocked his car. He opened the door up for me and waited for me to catch up. “But Disney has a great fireworks show at the end of the night. We will get there just in time to see it.”

I heaved myself into the car and had to stop myself from making the stupidest smile in the world. Because even though it sounded totally illogical, it sounded like my boyfriend was going to shell out two hundred dollars just for us to go see a firework show. ON
HIS
BIRTHDAY.

“Does that sound good?” Grayson asked as he buckled his seatbelt.

“It sounds great,” I said, my heart skipping several beats.

Normally it would take a little over an hour to make it to Disney from the Pantages but Grayson drove an illegal speed the whole way there and we made it in about thirty-five minutes. Lots of people were leaving the park and they looked at us strangely as we walked up to the ticket booth. The ticket guy’s nametag said his name was Wayne and that he was from Gary, Indiana. He was dozing, his face pressed up against the glass.

Grayson rapped his knuckles against the glass and startled Wayne awake. “Hey,” Grayson said, “can we get two tickets, please?”

Wayne looked at Grayson like he had just sprouted an additional head. “Really? But the park closes soon, sir.”

“Oh, I know,” Grayson said as he pulled his wallet out of his back pocket. He winked at me as he handed his Visa card over to the dumfounded Wayne. Even though Grayson’s eyebrows were bushy and his nose was bulbous, I could still see him clearly.

Wayne handed us two tickets, mine had Minnie Mouse on it, and we headed into the park. The people at the gate gave us some weird looks while they searched my Prada clutch for contraband. I’m sure we looked really strange coming into Disneyland this late in a designer dress and tailored suit.

We walked down Main Street toward Cinderella’s castle, which is in the center of the park. The park had a magical glow and many people had already gathered in the courtyard to wait for the fireworks to start. We pushed and weaved our way into the best seats possible and sat down on the concrete.

“I’ll have to bring you back here sometime when we can go on rides,” Grayson said.

“This feels just as magical,” I said.

He laughed. “Nothing’s even started, we just walked in and sat down. It can’t be magical yet.”

“Going on a date with you is magic enough,” I retorted and then I immediately felt embarrassed because that was a really corny line.

He smiled softly and took my hand in his. We chatted for a few minutes before the fireworks started, and then we didn’t say a word until the show was over. I’ve seen many firework shows, I am American after all, but nothing like this. It seemed to go on for forever, although it was probably about half an hour long.

When the final firework exploded, everyone applauded and I turned to Grayson, a big smile on my face. “That was awesome!” I said.

“I’m glad you liked it,” he said, his eyes soft. He leaned in to kiss me and that’s when it happened.

A family in front of us had placed the smallest of their children on the father’s shoulders, so that she could see over the heads of all the adults in the crowd. The dad decided that he should turn around then, and the kid decided to stick his arm out at the same time. The result was that the kid’s hand smacked into Grayson’s face which sent his prosthetic nose flying and one of his eyebrows went askew. Grayson grabbed my hand and we ran.