When You're Around

Emi was driving crazy me as she fussed with my hair and makeup but it proved to be worth it because she did a really good job. I wasn’t sure what to wear then I remembered I had a new pair of tapered tuxedo pants and I paired it with a forest green top complete with a black tuxedo jacket with pushed up sleeves.

“You look rad,” Emi notes.
“Thanks to you Darling,” I reply with a smile.
“Lou Kellan is here!”
“Thanks again Emi, have fun with your family,” I say as Emi and I headed out of my room.
“You have fun too,” she responds.

“You look great Lou,” Kellan grins upon seeing me. I looked him over and thought he looked rather handsome as well.
“You look nice as well.”
“I can drive us.”
“Sounds good, I can have a few drinks then,” I counter picking up my purse.

Kellan and I left the house and got into his car. While in the car it was kind of quiet. Well it was quiet until Kellan decided to speak.

“So this is some book party?”
“More or less, Tucker‘s new book is out and he wanted me to come,” I answer with a shrug.
“That‘s pretty cool, I read some of your books, I didn‘t know you wrote them though,” he comments.
“Oh yeah? That‘s nice,” I reply more sarcastically than I had wanted, “So I was wondering, if a bunch of fans spot you, did you want me to stand around or would you want me to just go inside?”

“You could just go inside,” Kellan chuckles.
“Alright cool, I don‘t know your deal because I‘m just used to getting Belle away from paparazzi not pubescent girls, I don‘t want to lose an arm or anything,” I state.
“Aw shucks Lou, I wouldn‘t let them hurt your pretty little arms, they are my army of pubescent girls and do my biding,” Kellan counters with a smile.
“I don‘t have to report you do I? I mean I can‘t trust that your biding is appropriate when it involves jailbait,” I tease. Kellan sneered at me briefly. “I‘m kidding I know those I.D.s can be deceiving, it happens to the best of us.”

“You‘re awful,” he laughs.
“Tell me something I don‘t know,” I chuckle.
“What made you decide to wear pants?”
“The fact my legs glow in the dark.”
“Hey maybe I can get you a part in Twilight, they‘ll save the money on makeup since you are already so white,” Kellan suggests teasingly.
“Fool, they were going to give me a part but then they said I was just too fucking awesome that I‘d make everyone look bad.”
“Thank god! I don‘t think I could have competed with someone like you on screen,” he responds dramatically. We both laughed at our own ridiculousness and Kellan continued driving to finally arrive at the party.

The photographers went nuts upon seeing Kellan at such a random place. They obviously were just expecting to see a bunch of low key c-list celebrities. I saw that Kellan looked slightly overwhelmed and wasn’t expecting many photographers so I just lead him to the entrance wordlessly. Once we were inside Kellan gave me an apologetic smile.

“Sorry I‘m supposed to be the bodyguard tonight,” he states.
“That‘s alright, jolly green,” I smile.
“Lou you came,” Tucker yells from across the room.
“Who the fuck is Lou?” I counter giving him a dirty look, “You better not be cheating on me Tucker Max.”
“Of course not baby girl,” he smiles knowing that I was just fucking with him. Tucker wrapped his arms around me and blew a raspberry on my neck. I let out a laugh and pushed him away.
“Okay you win this time punk,” I say.
“I like winning but I love scoring.”
“Wow, really Tuck, that was awful,” I laugh.
“Yeah it did sound better in my head,” Tucker comments.
“I‘m sure it did. Anyways this is my friend Kellan, Kellan this Tucker.”
“Good meeting you, they‘ve got Guinness on tap here,” he replies turning his attention back to me.
“Ah only the best,” I smile excited that I was getting to have some good dark beer.
“I know how you love a good strong beer.”
“And that‘s why we are still friends,” I add.

The night went on to be great, we all had a blast and well Kellan proved to be good company. We laughed until our stomachs hurt and it was like we were friends for a very long time. It was strange how well we got along, and I loved that I could joke around with him and feel comfortable. What was really cool about that night was when I got to meet Chelsea Handler who inquired when I was going to come onto her show. I damn near died and then told her I would definitely come on when Martin set it up and when I was actually relevant. With all the attention I was getting I just didn’t know what to do about it. It kind of had me a bit self conscious to be honest, I was going to be criticized on a more large public level. These thoughts had me quiet on the ride back to my place and Kellan seemed to notice.

“Hey you alright?” Kellan asks.
“Honestly I‘m nervous about all the press Martin has planned for me, and on top of all this I am going to be in Quentin‘s movie. I don‘t want to be a disappointment you know? Then that photoshoot for GQ Christ I am too awkward for that shit,” I ramble as I started to cover my face. I was muttering curses into my hands when I felt the car lurch to a stop and I looked up at my surroundings knowing that we were nowhere close to being to my place yet.
“Okay I‘m going to give you the talk,” he states.
“You don‘t have to tell me about the birds and bees Kellan,” I remind teasingly.
“No I‘m pretty sure you know about the birds and the bees already.”
“The analogy birds and the bees is really played out anyways, no one goes around saying they are going to pollinate me,” I comment insightfully causing Kellan to laugh.
“No I was going to give you some pointers when it comes to being famous.”
“Pointers?”
“Yeah pointers, I mean you‘re being thrust into this sort of like I was with the whole Twilight thing,” Kellan comments.
“I just don‘t want to fuck up, its a lot to process and a lot to avoid, if it wasn‘t supposed to get stressful and crazy Martin wouldn‘t have had me get a personal assistant you know?”
“I‘m not gonna lie, it gets crazy. People will be assholes and give you shit but there will be great people too, just keep people you love close to you and a level head,” he says.
“Yeah,” I say.
“Don‘t worry about the photoshoot either, I think you‘ll do quite fine as long as you act as though the camera is not there, most photographers are pretty decent especially at GQ.”
“That actually makes me feel a little better. Thanks Kellan,” I reply with a soft smile.
“See aren‘t you glad you have me here? I mean honestly what would you do without me?”
“I knew about 80% of the stuff you said but yeah I do appreciate the information about the photographers. I‘m no good with getting my picture taken, I don‘t really see myself as sexy, I just see me as Lou. I am worrying slightly less now that I know there is less of a chance of getting a douche of a photographer.”
“You know I‘m a model, I could be your modeling coach slash support at the shoot,” Kellan suggests.
“You would do that?” I respond surprised to hear him offer his support.
“Yeah I‘m just that nice,” he replies sardonically.
“Hate your face,” I say hitting him slightly.
“Psh, my face is great, look at these dimples, you cannot hate these dimples.”
“Dimples are a genetic mutation, mutant face.”
“You have a dimple,” Kellan points out.
“One is not as bad as two,” I counter, “Now let‘s get back to mi casa chauffer, I‘m sleepy.”
“Alright princess, as you wish.”

Kellan continued driving until he stopped at my place.

“Thanks for coming out tonight, it was fun,” I say with a smile.
“Yeah no problem, it was a cool party,” Kellan counters with one of his own smiles.
“See you around, ‘night,” I reply getting out of the car then gave him a wave and a smile.
“Night.”

I got inside and kicked off my heels took off my clothes then plopped onto my bed completely exhausted. It ridiculous how tired I was and how fast I fell asleep. The next morning or rather afternoon I woke up still feeling a bit tired as well as a little woozy but I woke anyways and took a shower. When I got out I opted to lie back in bed with the towel still wrapped around my body. In no time I was back into a deep slumber for nothing relaxed me more than to sleep after a shower and not getting dressed. It was strange I know but it was nice. While I slept I heard voices in my room.

“She‘s not dead is she?”
“Hey Lou are you dead?”

I grunted in response, slowly opening my eyes I suddenly felt worse than I did before. My head was pounding and I couldn’t stand the bright light streaming into my vision.

“Turn off the lights assholes,” I groan shielding my eyes.
“You look like shit Lou, are you okay?”
“I feel like Nicholas Cage‘s acting.”
“Jesus that bad?” Joey responds incredulously.
“Christ Lou you are burning up,” Ian adds touching my arm. Funny because I felt rather cold.
“I think I might actually be sick,” I mutter feeling the intense pain in my head.
“Dude we should take you to a doctor you really look bad.”
“I wouldn‘t protest seeing a doctor,” I grumble, “Let me get some clothes on.”

Joey and Ian nodded leaving the room then I forced myself to gain the strength to get out of bed and get dressed. It took a little while but I managed to get on some undergarments as well as a jersey dress complete with baggy sweater and slip on sneakers. Ian grabbed my purse while Joey put his pair of oversized aviator sunglasses on me. It was weird because they hadn’t taken care of me before mostly because I never felt this shitty in their presence.

“Hey Uncle my friend is sick is there anyway you can see her?” Joey says as he talked on his cell phone, “Alright great, we‘re almost there.”
“Your uncle is a doctor?”
“Yeah.”
“That‘s really convenient, do you have an uncle that drives a taxicab too?” I counter.
“I‘m glad your awful sense of humor isn‘t affected while you are sick,” Joey laughs.
“I‘m just that awesome. Wow, ugh Ian pull over now,” I say suddenly feeling sick to my stomach.

Apparently I didn’t have to tell Ian twice and he pulled aside of the road. I opened the back door holding my hair back as I vomited hanging out of the car. Finally after I stopped dry heaving, we continued on our way to the doctor or rather Joey’s uncle. Joey’s uncle, Dr. Patel was a nice man or at least that’s what I thought when he was taking care of me. Never had I met his uncle before so it was weird meeting him when I was half past dead and looking like a Tim Burton version of a Rock of Love girl.

“It seems you have a parasite Miss Valinski,” Dr. Patel states after a few hours of assessment.
“Lovely,” I mutter exhaustedly.
“We will do a quick and easy cleansing then you should get better, you know your body was trying to kill them off, quite impressive really,” he continues.
“Generally why my temperature goes up, were they nematodes or do we not know the type?” I ask looking at him.
“You can get about anywhere, wrong food, inhalation, walking barefoot on soil,” Dr. Patel lists.
“Yeah I try not to think about those things when I‘m running around barefoot enjoying the weather,” I smile.
“Its nice to put a face to the name Miss Valinski. You seem like a charming and smart girl.”
“So when will I be out of here Doc?”
“Tomorrow afternoon, just want to make sure you are alright since you were in pretty bad shape,” he answers honestly.
“Lou good you‘re okay, Jesus kid, I was worried,” Martin announces rushing into the room holding a vase of lilies.
“I‘m alright, just had an Eraserhead moment where I was housing parasite larvae in my body.”
“I have to be somewhere, just relax Miss. Valinski.”
“Alright thanks,” I reply. He left the room and Martin sat in the chair next to me.
“How are you feeling kid?”
“I think I‘ve got a premise for my next novella.”

“Just focus on resting, you have written plenty of books waiting to come out,” Martin chuckles.
“I should get a head start for anymore I‘m supposed to write.”
“The procrastinator wanting to get a head start, you must be sick,” he comments with a smile.
“I should call my parents just do they don‘t worry,” I mutter.
“Here‘s your phone.”

After a very short call that required me to explain I was fine I hung up feeling as though my father sounded distant. Martin looked at me slightly concerned. I just gave a smile and took a drink of my water. A bit of me didn’t like living away from my family especially at times like this.

“When did they say you‘d be released?”
“Tomorrow afternoon,” I answer.
“I‘ll be sure to be there to pick you up then.”
“Mhmm.”

The day went by and it soon turned to night, I was tired and I found myself vomiting a few times before going to bed. It was incredibly disgusting, my body was flushing the parasites and their eggs out of my system. I truly hated hospitals, I could never get comfortable and when I did the sun was coming up. Truly the whole ordeal was a nightmare and I just wanted to sleep in my own bed. Over the course of this invasion and amount of vomiting I had to have lost at least 10 to 15 pounds. It was pretty damn awful.

By the time it came for me to leave I was ready to get some peace and real rest. Martin came by as he promised and brought me a smoothie to drink, something I was grateful for since I wasn‘t allowed to eat meat or anything difficult to digest so it was mostly jello or pudding for me. I got home and just slept for a few hours. When I woke up late that night I saw that I had a few messages that were left on my phone most were just telling me to feel better. At around seven I got into the shower and by nine I was dressed to go to the script reading for Quentin‘s movie. Grabbing a few bottles of water I headed out of the house so I could beat traffic. When I did arrive I seemed to be right on time, Quentin greeted me with a big hug but when he caught sight of the hospital bracelet I had forgotten to take off he examined it closely.

“Lou you went to the hospital?”
“No big deal, I‘m alright now,” I reply waving off the whole thing.
“What happened?” Til questions.
“I was sick and apparently hosting a large family of parasites in my digestive tract. Greedy little bastards I tell ya. But yeah that was my past couple of days have been, anyone do anything more fun?” I answer with a smile. The cast chuckled and I took my seat amongst them. I was pretty happy that no one made a big deal out of the whole ordeal. It was refreshing to get to work and read lines. Quentin was a bit of a stickler about lines being said properly but it was alright by the end of the session everyone was having fun.

“Hey Lou, I really appreciate you coming today even if you just got out from being sick. Not many people would suck it up,” Quentin states after the reading.
“No problem Quentin, I bounce back fairly fast, so no worries, I just want things to go well with this movie just as much as you do,” I respond honestly.
“We‘re going out for some drinks you are welcome to come with.”
“Thanks but I think I am just going to head home and catch up on emails,” I say taking a gulp of my water, “Be sure to have fun though.”
“Alright, feel extra better!” they yell over their shoulders. I grabbed my things and put them in my bag whilst everyone else just left. Somehow I was still fairly tired and I thought it best to get home so I could relax. When I did get home however I saw that Jackson was there with Kellan minus Belle. I didn’t really feel obliged to entertain them which was a load off so I sat with them in the living room replying to emails that had built up in the account I set up for fans and the public. Everything was ever so content and nice, something I really appreciated even though I wanted Belle to share the calm with. It was a long few days for me and there were many more to come.