When You're Around

I woke up to the sound of my cell phone ringing loudly beside me. My eyes still closed I fumbled around for my phone that was on the coffee table. Finally my fingertips grazed the edges of the phone and I enclosed my small hand over it bringing it to my ear to answer it after pressing the connect button.

“Hello?” I say groggily into the cell phone.
“Lou where are you? You were supposed to come meet Robert about the movie,” Martin my publisher responds sounding frantic. My eyes opened immediately and I got off the couch ungracefully running into the table while briskly taking off towards my room.
“Ugh sorry Martin I‘ll be there in fifteen minutes tops,” I reply as I burst into my room to put on some clothes being that I currently stood only in oversized band shirt and boy shorts.
“Hurry up,” he states impatiently before hanging up. I threw the phone in my brown bag then took off my shirt and put on a bra as I stepped into a navy blue vintage dress that grazed my knees and belonged to my grandmother. Pulling on my brown cowboy boots and brushing my hair with one hand whilst the other dabbed on some light make up. I quickly put on some bronzer for my cheekbones and brown eye shadow then sprayed some coconut lime body spray. Grabbing my purse and keys I was off to my beige 1966 Mustang Coupe.

I weaved in and out of traffic rushing to my destination. Being directionally challenged it was hard to find the place but I was lucky to have been there one other time. The restaurant was nice and I parked the car in a space around the corner from the entrance then jumped out running towards the restaurant doors. Making it to the front desk I attempted to catch my breath.

“Can I help you?” the host inquires looking at me like I was a madwoman. Which was partially true.
“I‘m here for the Townsend party, ” I reply with a smile.
“And you are?” he asks.
“Lou Valinski,” I state still holding the smile.
“Please wait one moment,” the host says giving me a dubious look. I watched as the guy went over to some big guy wearing a suit and tie then the suit guy whom I assumed to be the manager made his way over to me.
“I‘m going to have to ask you to leave miss,” the man states sternly.
“Can‘t you at least go get Martin Townsend? He knows I am who I say I am,” I argue.
“Wait here,” he responds with an annoyed sigh. I for one did not appreciate how I was being treated but I waited like I was told remaining friendly. Soon I saw Martin’s cropped light brown hair and dark brown eyes with crows feet at the edges of them come into view.
“Did you fall asleep?” Martin inquires.
“Accidentally,” I admit sheepishly.
“I take it Belle took you out last night to celebrate?” he replies knowingly.
“Pretty much, are they mad?” I inquire only seeing the backs of the people’s heads.
“No, you actually got here fast,” Martin states with a smile. I was quite nervous but I kept up my confident front in hopes of tricking myself into thinking I wasn’t nervous. My heart rate was a bit higher than normal and I continued to walk with Martin smiling at anyone that looked at me. It was a habit of mine to smile a lot.
“Robert, Quentin this is T.R. Valinski,” Martin announces gesturing to me. Surely my eyes grew wide with surprise upon seeing the two notorious directors and I smiled like a fool as they both stood up to shake my hand looking a bit taken back by my presence.
“Its so great to meet you,” I say giving both firm handshakes.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you too,” Quentin responds enthusiastically as he shook my hand with both hands.
“Lou what happened to your legs?” Martin inquires noticing the bruises on my legs.
“Oh, I found out the hard way what a gang bang entailed the other night,” I counter nonchalantly. Robert and Quentin nearly choked on their drinks and gawked at me whilst Martin looked more shocked than any of them.
“You what?” Martin stutters out still trying to process my words.
“Joking, only joking,” I reassure with a sheepish smile.
“You can‘t say those things people will start talking if you say that kind of stuff,” Martin scolds giving me a disapproving look.
“Oh relax, people don‘t even know who I am, besides this is a result of my feeble attempts at stepping over stadium seats so I didn‘t have to make people stand and do that awkward let‘s get rubbed against by a stranger whilst they apologize profusely, in order to get an over priced drink,” I rant somewhat animatedly as I smiled.
“I can‘t believe you tried stepping over movie seats, you‘re not 6 feet tall you know,” Martin responds.
“Way to point out the fact I am vertically challenged,” I state.
“I only suggest you take the normal route,” he says with a soft smile.
“I say boo to the normal route, must you forget I am directionally challenged as well,” I counter.
“Trust me that hasn‘t slipped my mind, Darling, but now back to business,” Martin chuckles.
“I‘m just going to say this but we were expecting you to be a man,” Quentin states.
“Not that we are complaining,” Robert finishes.
“Yeah I get that a lot, my real name is Tallulah-Rose Valinski but I go by Lou and well T.R. is easier to put on books,” I respond with a smile.
“Tallulah-Rose is a very beautiful name,” Quentin replies.
“I like it just fine, but it’s a bit of a mouthful and not really suiting to the things I write, besides its fun to see other people‘s reactions when they find out I‘m a female,” I add.
“¿Habla español?” Robert inquires in Spanish.
“Hablo un poco español, pero a menudo suena como tengo una discapacidad de aprendizaje mientras lo hace (I speak a little Spanish but I often sound like I have a learning disability while doing so),” I say.
“You’re very funny, but I don’t think you sound too terrible speaking the language,” he replies chuckling after my response.
“No need to save my feelings; that is a direct quote from my relatives in Guadalajara, I generally like to play dumb when others are speaking Spanish though, people sometimes say the most inappropriate things when they think people can’t understand them, I tend to understand it more than speak it,” I state with a laugh.
“I guess I won’t be saying inappropriate things in Spanish around you,” Robert laughs.
“Guess not,” I respond grinning.
“You must be wondering why Quentin is here,” he continues.
“I‘m not complaining, I honestly love his movies, well actually I love both of your movies,” I gush honestly.
“You‘re sweet, we truly love your novellas, and I‘m here because I will be writing the screenplay and of course with your help,” Quentin says with a smile.
“Holy fuck batman,” I breathe out stunned. This would mean I’d get to work with Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez, it was a dream come true. Both men chuckled at my words and I was in my personal movie nerd heaven. My story was going to made into a major motion picture with the assistance of my film heroes. Life couldn’t get any better. Things were finally getting into place or at least that’s what I thought.