Movie Stars

Moving In
I was all packed by the time Saturday came around. I had warned all my teachers of my absence, and they said I could just turn in stuff online. I hopped in my car, with my suitcase and duffle bag in the back, and my purse sitting in the passenger seat, when I got the idea to see if Josh needed a ride out to Bellingham. So I drove over to Broadmoor and stopped in front of his house. I had no idea if he was still home, and his parents didn’t know me. Oh well. I walked up to the front door and knocked three times. Lucky for me, Josh answered.
“Hey,” he said, opening the door so I could see his luggage sitting in the living room. I smiled.
“I was just about to leave for Bellingham, and I was wondering if you needed a ride.”
“Sure,” he said, his eyes lighting up at the offer. “Let me just tell my mom I’m leaving.” I nodded and he walked around the door. I looked at what looked like the living room. It was small and cozy, very Josh.
A moment later, Josh came back to the living room with a tall, blonde hair blue eyed woman in tow. She bore very little resemblance to Josh, but she was strikingly beautiful all the same.
“Ellie, this is my mom, Sarah. Mom, this is Ellie. I’m going to be moving in with her.” Josh said, and then added after looking at his mom’s expression. “Just for the movie of course.” Sarah smiled politely at me, and I tried to smile back, but the situation was way to awkward.
“Josh,” I said, breaking the silence. “We should go so we can get there before noon.” Josh nodded and I went to wait by the car, not wanting to be there for the goodbyes.
It didn’t take Josh very long to say goodbye to his mom, grab his luggage and find his way out to my car. My car was a bright red Nissan that surprisingly fit all of our luggage easily. We finally got out on the road around ten, so with any luck we would have the afternoon to unpack.
“Sorry about that,” Josh said when he got into the car. “My mom really wanted to meet you. I hope it wasn’t too awkward.”
“It was fine,” I said, keeping my eyes on the road. This was going to be a long drive, and there was no need to create an awkward silence.

We finally pulled into the specified parking space around twelve thirty; there had been terrible traffic on I5. We had kept the conversation to a minimum, which was okay, but not super interesting. Yet I still enjoyed Josh’s company, which is odd for me because I have always chosen girlfriends over guys. There was something about being with him that made me forget the roll I had been forced into at school, that I was just me, for maybe the first time ever.
I made sure the hand break was in place, then got out to grab my stuff out of the back. Josh had already unloaded most of the luggage, which was sitting nicely in two piles in the middle of the garage. I grabbed my suitcase, the last remaining baggage, out of the back and shut the trunk door with a slam.
Lucky for us, it only took one trip to carry all of the luggage up to the fifth floor, where the apartment was located. While walking up the last set of stairs I wobbled after being thrown off balance by my duffle bag. Before I regained stability, I felt Josh’s hand instinctively support the small of my back. When I was finally sure I wouldn’t fall over, I looked back and smiled at Josh, before continuing up the stairs. I could tell Josh was embarrassed because he kept quiet and made sure to stay a ways behind me. Not so far away that he couldn’t help me if I started to wobble again, but far enough so I could barely tell he was blushing when I looked back at him.
When we got to the apartment door, there was a sealed envelope under the doormat. I opened the envelope and in it were two keys and a letter from Mrs. Cornish.
Ellie and Josh,
Here are the keys to your apartment. Take the rest of the day to unpack; we will have another meeting tomorrow at 9:30 am. Please start memorizing some of you lines, filming starts Wednesday.
Sincerely,
Mrs. Cornish
I read the letter over, and then handed it to Josh so I could unlock the door. While Josh looked at the letter, I struggled with unlocking the door. After a minute or two, Josh set the letter on top of the pile of luggage in the middle of the hallway and came to help me. I gave him an embarrassed smile and blushed as he took the key out of my hand and opened the door with one twist of the lock. I mentally smacked myself for not knowing how to unlock a door.
Josh held the door open for me as I noisily brought all of my luggage inside the apartment.