Premonitions

Later that day, Eleanor was in hers and Ally's hotel room, listening to her mp3 player and reading The Metamorphosis, by Franz Kafka, one of her favorite books, by the hundredth time when she felt her cell phone vibrating. She grabbed it from the top of the night stand where she had left it recharging its battery and read Johnny's name and his number on the display screen and picked it up.

“Hey, Johnny! What's up?”

“Eleanor, hi. I was just thinking if you'd like to meet me downstairs and join me on a few drinks at the hotel's bar. What do you say?”

“Cool, I'd like to. But only a few drinks. I don't go to work with a hangover killing me!”

“It's only a few drinks, I promise. Meet me at the bar in about 10 minutes, OK?”

“OK. See you there.”- she said, hanging up.

“Who was that?”- Ally asked, shouting from the bathroom.

“Johnny. He asked me to meet him downstairs at the bar for a few drinks.”

“And yet you say he just sees you as a friend?”

“Yeah, he just wants to talk. Maybe he was bored there in his room, I don't know...”

“All I know is that he's my friend too but he only called you.”

“Maybe he trusts me better. I better get going now.” she was getting a bit annoyed with her friend. She gathered her things, grabbed her purse and left the room.

“Don't let him getting you too drunk!” Ally shouted from inside the room at her leaving friend.

“Yeah, right.” Eleanor mumbled mostly to herself, rolling her eyes and closing the door.

In less than 5 minutes, she was at the bar ordering a beer and waiting for Johnny. Not long enough, she was locking eyes with him when she saw him walking towards her. He said 'Hi' and smiled, then ordered himself a beer.

“Let's sit over there” he pointed to an empty booth. She nodded and silently made her way to the booth. She sat and he did the same, sitting across her and sat their drinks on the table. He took his first sip at his beer, lighted a cigarette and leaned back some, never taking his eyes off of Eleanor. He took a drag and expelled the smoke through his nose. Eleanor watched him in silence, sipping at her beer every once in a while. Johnny seemed like he was contemplating something, while sucking at his cancer stick, calmly drinking his beverage, a small smiling appearing.

“Is there something wrong, Johnny?” she inquired, curious.

“No, everything's fine. Thanks for coming at such a late hour. I was getting bored up there.”

“It's OK, I wasn't doing anything important. And it's always a pleasure to be with you.”

“Thanks. It's nice too hang with you, too, love” this last word made her raise her eyebrows for a moment, noticing what he had just called her, but decided that maybe her ears were deceiving her.

“So, you're enjoying England so far?”- he asked, leaning forward a bit.

“Sure, I'm loving it so far. It's been really great. All thanks to you.”

“Uh thanks, but it's really thanks to you. It's been wonderful working with you.- he paused for a little while, remembering something- I've just remembered now. Our love scene.”
“Oh! That...”

“You really aren't looking for it, are you?- he laughed some, his tone a mocking one- “I had something to propose to you, you know, but I don't think it's such a good idea after all...”

“What did you have in mind, Johnny?”- Eleanor didn't have a good feeling about what would be Johnny's idea, but she wanted him to tell her anyway.

“Forget about it. You wouldn't agree with it. I just thought it would help, but I don't think you'd like it.”

“Now you really gotta tell me!”- she pleaded him, or she wouldn't get any sleep that night, always wondering what would it be.

“OK fine. What I had to propose you was, uh, that we'd, you know, kinda practiced the, uh, love scene.”- he said with uncertainty and searched her face for any expression, but she kept a strict face.

“OK, proceed”- she gestured for him to continue, and this was his turn to raise his eyebrows, surely surprised and taken aback she didn't explode in fury.

“Well, this is something I proposed to all of my female co-stars, you know, to help with creating that one particular moment. I've always seen this like a rehearsal, before the actual scene takes place.”

“That makes sense to me. Like when you rehearsal a song before the actual gig or studio recording or like a choreography.”- she was somehow reluctant to do such thing, but her acting was prioritize to anything. She had to do it one day, so if she had to she would do it.

“You don't have to do it, though.”

“I wanna do it. Just tell me when and where.”- she was momentarily shocked at how straight-forward she was being about it, but she was not going back with her decision now.

Johnny wasn't expecting her to say yes to this, she had always seemed a bit reluctant about it. Normally, no woman would say no to this opportunity. He was used to have all the girls swooning at him, though he hated that kind of attention. But not this girl. No, that wasn't like Eleanor at all. But he knew she felt obliged to give her best in this movie, that was what driven her. They shared that feature: the need to top theirselves, to be the best, no matter what they had to go through.

“I really wasn't expecting you to agree, to tell the truth. Since you did, let's say, by the time we're in France, like a couple days before the actual shoot, at my house.”

“At your house?”- by now, she regretted for saying yes.

"Yes, at my apartment. I'm staying there, with my kids, when we'll be shooting the scenes in Paris. What, you know anywhere else where we could do it?"

"Not really. Not at my hotel room, for sure. I guess we'll have to practice at your place, then."

"Maybe I'm crazy, but what about you staying with me? You could relax some, you know, and meet my kids. What do you say?"- this time, he really expected her to get angry with him. He pursed his lips, waiting for the worse.

"I don't know what to say... I would love to stay there with you, but I don't wanna be a burden to you. Vanessa...

"...Wouldn't be there. We're not together. We're done with each other, for good."

"You're not giving her a chance?"

"She fucked with her guitar player, for months. So, no. I'm not giving her a damn chance. I could have done thing same to her, countless times, but I didn't because I loved her. She showed no respect to me or our children. I'm not one to forgive easily.”

"You still love her? I mean, you had been with her for over a decade..."

"I do love her still. Yes, one decade is a long time and we have two kids, and I really thought she was the one, you know, that I'd be with forever."- she could tell he got sad. His usually bright eyes had lost their spark and his smile had faded from his usually happy face.

"I'm sorry for mention Vanessa. You got sad." she was hating seeing him like that.

"It's fine. You know what they say, every broken heart eventually mends." he smiled, a hint of hope in his voice. She smiled too, and then she put her beer to her lips and finished it. Johnny lit one more cigarette, then took a drag before speaking again.

"So, we have a deal. You'll stay with me and the kids at our apartment and there we'll practice the whole scene."

"I have a doubt, though... Will your kids be there, when, you know...”

"They have school. And they are not there while I'm out filming, they'll be staying at their grandparents'. And we always have my room, when they're asleep...- he teased her, waiting for her outburst.

"I think we could practice in somewhere else but your room!"- Eleanor shyly looked down, to avoid eye contact with him.

Even though it was little illuminated where they were, he'd still saw her blush furiously, the color of her cheeks almost matched her hairs' .When she resumed looking up at him, he was amused with her timid traits. He put his cigarette off on the ashtray near him and finished his drink. Soon they left the bar and Johnny and Eleanor got back to their respective hotel rooms after they said their goodbyes. Walking to the two single beds room she was sharing with Ally, she started to get ready to bed. Her friend was already on her own bed but she turned to talk to Eleanor.

"Hey, so... tell me everything."

"Why, we've just chatted."

"You are hiding something from me"!- Ally accused, getting up.- "No! We just talked about the movie and about Vanessa."

"Don't tell me he's going to get back with her?"

"No, he's isn't. He couldn't forgive her.

"Oh, she really messed up, huh?"

"Yep." Eleanor answered, lying on her bed.

"What else did you guys talked about?"

"He, uh, invited me to stay in his apartment when we're filming in Paris.”

"Really? Aww, you're staying with him there, aren't you?

"Uh, yes." she hesitated, then preferred not to tell her what was the real reason for which he had invited her, so she was silent on this subject. "Look, can we talk about it tomorrow? It's getting late and we have to go to the set early tomorrow.”

"Don't change the subject! I know you too well to realize that there is something else. Tomorrow you're telling me.", Ally said, in a demanding tone.

"OK, tomorrow. Good night." she told Ally, just to shut her up. She turned out the light of the lamp on the bedside table and turned to the other side to sleep. It took a good bit for her to fall asleep because she couldn't stop thinking about what she and Johnny had agreed to do, when they were in Paris. Not only she had a romantic scene with him in the movie, as they still had to practice it before. She couldn't avoid the strange sensation in her stomach whenever she thought of it. Though she had agreed that it was a good idea but now she was having second thoughts.