The Dreamer

“Jo! Stay still!!!” Maddie shouted from across the busy street as she focused her lenses on her friend, making sure she didn’t miss the Capitol Records building. She waited for the perfect moment, ignoring the tourists and pedestrians around her and clicked on her Nikon camera to capture the moment.

“Perfect!” she yelled again and grinned excitedly. They’d been exploring the tourists’ hot spots of Hollywood for the entire morning. Maddie had taken approximately two hundred photographs from various sites, people, objects – as long as they fascinated her. It was the first weekend she had managed to get off work and was taking the full opportunity to absorb every little detail of the place. Joanne had promised to tag along with her until evening whereby she had to go home and study for a Chemistry test.

“So, where are we off to now?” Joanne asked, after making her way through the crowded street. Maddie adjusted the bag slung around her before wiping off the perspiration on her forehead. “Erm… how about we make a detour at the Chinese theatre and check out the Walk of Fame on the way?” Maddie suggested. Joanne shrugged and they started walking towards the crowded streets.

The thing about Tinseltown was that it was all depicted falsely by the movies. It wasn’t at all that glamorous as seen on the TV shows or movies. The streets were usually crowded to the point it was difficult to make your way from one place to another without the feeling of possibly being mugged. There were the homeless and the beggars asking for money in almost every corner. Maddie was glad she didn’t take this tour when she first step onto LA soil because she knew she was going to get annoyed by the state of the place. But after being in this town for so many months, she knew the conditions of it.

Once they reached the famous Chinese theatre where movie premiers were held and foot and hand prints of legendary celebrities could be seen around the area, Maddie was awed by the magnificence of the building. She took endless photographs of the building, the tourists, the hand and foot prints. She couldn’t be more proud when she saw Jackie Chan’s mark there. She loved the man’s movies since she was a child, all of his Chinese martial arts films to the current Hollywood ones, she couldn’t believe the amount of talent and dedication pouring from this person.

She was so caught up by the place she didn’t realize Joanne was missing for twenty minutes and reappeared beside her with two frozen yogurt. She handed one to Maddie who thanked her. “I heard my friends said if you’re around here, you should try out the frozen yogurt,” Joanne remarked and took her first spoonful of her strawberry flavored yogurt. Maddie tried her mango flavored one and undoubtedly it was the best.

“Wow! This is good!” she smiled and immediately took another scoop.

Once they were done, they window shopped until they found Michael J. Fox’s star on the Walk of Fame. Maddie had done her homework before and had made sure she was to find this particular star and took a picture of it. He was one of the reasons that gave her the courage to take this leap of faith and follow her dreams to be a movie director. The words of inspiration from him meant a lot to Maddie and she vowed to meet this man one day.

“I can’t believe I’m here,” Maddie gasped as her fingers grazed across the gold-lettered name. Joanne knew how much this meant to her and stood next to her, waiting.

“GET OUT OF THE WAY YOU JERKS!”

The loud chatters and shouting caught the two friends’ attention. They spun their heads towards the direction of the commotion and found a group of paparazzi with their cameras flashing surrounded a certain celebrity. They watched the paparazzi fought to get a good shot of the stranger and it wasn’t until the stranger entered the black SUV parked at the side did Maddie saw who it was.

Britney Spears. Maddie watched as her bodyguards swatted away the desperate paparazzi and as the car sped off into the road, they were still a few others chasing behind the car. It got to a point where Maddie felt it was all so surreal to her. Was this normal world to live in? Was this really what she wanted?

“Maddie!” Joanne was tugging at Maddie’s short sleeved blue t-shirt. “Maddie!”

“Yeah!” Maddie snapped out of her head to see what her friend was calling her for.

“Isn’t that your friend, Kyle?” she pointed at the skinny figure on the middle of the road cursing away at the car that had stopped in front of him. He had messy short black hair and a stubble. Maddie rolled her eyes as he banged on the hood of the silver Ford car before getting out of the road.

“Kyle!” she called, waving at him as he stepped onto the street she was on. “Kyle!” she shouted louder. This time he heard her and looked around the passerby until his pale blue eyes met her face. “Maddie! Joanne!” a smile automatically found its way to his previous frustrated face. He pushed past the people, all the while protecting his precious camera.

“What are you doing here?” he asked with the same grin. Maddie could only smile as she shrugged. “Just doing some sightseeing,” she replied. “You?”

Kyle let out a defeated sigh. “Working,” he muttered. “Got news that Britney was in town and the boss wants a shot of her doing something ridiculous,” he explained. “But no luck,” Kyle frowned. Maddie studied her friend. He looked exhausted and somewhat older than his usual appearance.

“So…” he began, keeping his camera into its bag. “What have you guys seen so far?”

“Erm… we’ve been to Capitol Records, the Chinese Theatre, and Downtown LA. That’s about it so far,” Maddie answered.

Kyle nodded and stole a glimpse at his watch. “Well… I still have some errands to run now but by-“

“No!” Maddie shook her head. “We’re fine on our own. You don’t have to be our tour guide,” she interrupted.

“No, it’s alright, Maddie. I’ll probably be done around five-ish. I know a perfect spot to take photographs of the Hollywood Sign and I don’t mind driving you guys up there,” Kyle offered.

Maddie shook her head. “No. You’re far to kind, Kyle. We’re fine by ourselves. Plus, Jo has to get back around that time cause she has an important test on Monday.”

“It’s alright, guys,” Joanne said finally. “You two can go.”

“Well… then, that settles it,” Kyle smiled. “I can pick you up at your place around five-thirty and then we can get dinner also.”

Maddie was reluctant as she turned to Joanne. Joanne only smiled and urged her to go. “You sure?” Maddie whispered. Joanne nodded. Maddie sighed and turned to Kyle. “Okay.”

“Alright! Cool! Well,” he took another glance at his watch. “I have to go now but I’ll see you later then, Maddie. Five-thirty?”

“Five-thirty.”

Kyle smiled. “Bye, Joanne! I’ll see you later, Maddie,” he waved and was off into the direction where he came from.

***

At exactly five-thirty p.m. that same evening, Kyle was at the front door of Maddie and Joanne’s house. Maddie had just gotten home half an hour before and took a quick shower. She was out of breath when she walked with Kyle to his car after running around her room in search of her favorite black Pink Floyd t-shirt. She had her camera with her and carefully, she got into the front passenger seat.

As expected, the car smelled of lemon air freshener and Stereophonics’ album, ‘You Gotta Go There To Come Back’ played softly on the car stereo. Maddie loved the album and was surprised when she first heard that Kyle loved the band as well.

“So, where are we going?” she asked, as Kyle focused on the road ahead.

“Beachwood Drive,” he replied in a stern voice, his eyes never left the road but his lopsided grin was plastered on. “Then, we have to walk for a little and you’ll find the best view to take photographs of the sign.”

Maddie nodded. “Kyle, I want to thank you for doing this. You probably have more important things to do than bringing someone to go sightseeing.”

Kyle chuckled. “Nah! It’s the weekend! I’m pretty free. So, just sit back and enjoy the ride, missy.” Maddie laughed and did as she was told. The ride lasted twenty minutes as Kyle sped through the city. Once they were there, the sky was painted with orange, red and purple. Maddie stood beside the car and stared at the sky above.

“It’s so… magical,” she spoke aloud. Half the sun was hidden behind the mountains and the city of Los Angeles seemed to be asleep under the golden sky.

“Quite a view, huh?” Kyle asked as he waited for her. Maddie snapped out of the trance and followed him towards a dirt trail. It was pretty quiet since it’s getting dark and there were no street lights. Maddie was about to ask how were they going to find their way back to his car when she realized he had a torchlight in hand. She smiled at his preparation.

They walked for ten minutes and finally reached an empty space where as promised by Kyle, it had the best view of the Hollywood sign. Without delay, Maddie took out her camera and snapped various angles of the sign and the city in silhouette. She loved this place and couldn’t help but regretted why she hadn’t found out about it earlier. She would love to come up here and simply sit down and watch the city from afar.

When she was done, she realized all along Kyle had been watching her. There was something about the way he looked at her that made Maddie felt slightly awkward. She bagged her camera. “What’s wrong, Kyle?” she asked, running a hand through her hair.

“Huh?” he blinked furiously and shook his head, flashing his lopsided grin. “Nothing. Just daydreaming,” he laughed nervously and glanced around quickly. “You finished?” he asked a few seconds later, pointing at her camera bag. Maddie nodded.

“Let’s go grab a bite to eat,” Kyle said, wrapping his arm around Maddie’s shoulder. “I’m guessing you’re probably hungry already.”

Maddie smiled shyly and hugged her stomach for a while. “Where are we going to eat?” she asked.

“You’ll see,” Kyle grinned as he pulled her closer and switched on the flashlight as they traced their steps back through the dirt road to his car.

“So, you got any good shots?”

“Yup. I hope they’re not blurry. It’s kind of hard to focus the camera at night without a tripod. But thanks again, Kyle for bringing me up here. It’s a wonderful place to see the view of the city,” Maddie replied.

“No problem,” Kyle smiled. “So, it’s your first weekend off since a long time huh?”

“Yup and I’m enjoying every moment of it,” Maddie smiled smugly. “It’s just nice to take a break sometimes, you know?”

“Uh-huh.”

Maddie laughed as she climbed into the car. Kyle tossed the torchlight to the backseats as he buckled up. Maddie did the same before massaging her neck. It had been a while since she had been using her camera and she had forgotten how it strained her neck having to glance up all the time.

“Tiring huh?” Kyle gestured at her massage. She let out a sigh and nodded. “I forgot how heavy a camera can get and how short I am,” she joked. Kyle rolled his eyes and unbuckled his seatbelt. “You’re not short and let me help you,” he said.

Maddie shook her head bashfully. “Nah. It’s alright. I’m fine, Kyle.”

“Oh come on,” Kyle insisted. “It’s nothing. I guarantee you’ll feel better afterwards,” he tempted. Maddie watched him reluctantly. “It’s alright, Kyle. I’m fine.”

Kyle huffed and clicked on her seatbelt to unbuckle it. “Turn around,” he ordered.

“No!”

“Come on, Maddie. Just turn around. I promise I won’t do anything out of hand,” Kyle assured. Maddie eyed him suspiciously but turned her back on him. Kyle rubbed his hands together. “Alright. Ready for some magic?”

Maddie laughed and felt Kyle’s hands on her shoulders, gently pressing them and gradually it led to her neck. “You see, I told you I’m not going to do anything ridiculous. Feel any better?” he asked.

Maddie bit on her lower lip to resist herself from making any inappropriate sounds from the massage. She hated to admit it but it was true. It was relaxing and it felt good. She forgot her sister used to do this for her every time they spent the nights talking about everything and nothing. She missed those days. Everything seemed simpler then.

“Your shoulders are really stiff,” Kyle commented. “It’s tough being the boom operator, huh?”

“Mhmm,” Maddie nodded a little but made sure she minimized her movements around the neck area as Kyle alternated the massage from her shoulders to her neck.

She wasn’t sure how long it lasted but when Kyle announced they were done, she felt the muscles around her shoulders were as relaxed as they could get. She had never felt such relief for a long time. She moved her arms around. “Thank you so much , Kyle. That really helped,” she smiled, turning to face him as she felt her previously strained neck.

Kyle shrugged, his lopsided grin plastered across his face. Maddie rustled his messy short hair. “You look so like a child when you smile like that.”

Kyle ran his hand through his hair. “Maddie…”

“Yeah?” She felt the sudden shift in his eyes, how they changed from happy to serious. Even the air between them seemed to have changed from friendly to tense. She swallowed nervously and waited for him to continue. She wasn’t sure what she felt was real or it was her imagination.

As unexpected as it was, she watched as Kyle slowly leaned closer to her across the car. She watched as his icy blue eyes loomed closer. How his warm breath could be felt on her cheeks. She wasn’t sure what was happening but she was certain her brain wasn’t registering this.

When she felt the tip of his nose against hers, she closed her eyes and shuddered. Her breath stopped as she tried to understand the situation. As Kyle’s hand cupped her chin to draw her closer to him, reality came knocking on her door. Maddie’s eyes fluttered opened as she pulled away immediately and backed away as far as she could from him.

Kyle’s eyes were as wide as quarters as his lips trembled for an answer. Maddie gulped. “What just happened, Kyle?”

Kyle recomposed himself as he faced the steering wheel. His hands gripped tightly on the wheel as he thought of a response. Maddie watched him, afraid. She never liked Kyle more than a friend and she never imagined anything to what might have just happened could ever happen between them. He was like a brother and a mentor to her.

She waited for his answer but it seemed like he was too shocked or embarrassed to speak. It took Maddie a while to muster the courage to speak up. “Kyle. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to react that harshly. But to set the record straight, I’ve never seen you anything more than a brother or mentor to me. I hope –“

Kyle shook his head as he finally faced her. His eyes were unreadable and so was the expression on his face. “It’s okay, Maddie. I didn’t mean to scare you. I guess… I don’t know. I’m sorry.”

Maddie forced on a smile. “Friends?”

Kyle nodded. “Friends.”

Maddie ignored the gut feeling that it wasn’t that simple. She knew she had just hurt Kyle and she was afraid of what he was really thinking. Was he going to be mad at her? Was he going to ignore her? Did it ruin their friendship? She was afraid to know.