Take My Hand, Just Hold On

Ah, Thursday.. my last night in the hotel, before I get to move into my apartment - which I got to see yesterday, and it looks pretty nice! I'm excited to have an apartment all to myself for once... Without the nagging roommate, or the messy roommate, or the man always wanting me to make him food or have sex with him or do his laundry for him...

Anyway, back to Thursday morning. I was just heading out to drop some papers off at my employers - they wanted to make sure I had all my papers sorted out to legally work in the US - and get to know downtown L.A. a little more. I was passing the Front Desk when I noticed Ruby (turns out, I heard her name wrong the first day - it was not Rosy) was on and decided to stop to say hello, as we'd gotten to know each other pretty well over the last week (Hey, she's the only person I know here, I need to have some sort of interaction with someone!).

"Hey Ruby!" I exclaim, walking up to the desk.

"Brenna, hey! How's it going?"

I give a little shrug, "Not bad... Last night at the hotel, though."

"Oh, right! That must be exciting for you... I'd kill to live downtown - can't afford it with this job though," she smiles.

I laugh a bit, "Yeah, luckily I don't spend a lot of money elsewhere, so I've got a bunch saved up from past jobs.. I should be okay though, the apartment isn't as much as I thought it'd be when I started looking for a place..."

"Mhmm..." She sounds unconvinced. "Hey, do you want to go out for dinner and drinks or something on Saturday? I get off at 7:30 - we can celebrate your starting work and new apartment!"

I nod, "Yeah, that sounds great!" I was happy to get along with her so well, it made the move less lonely. I've never been shy, but I haven't always had the best of luck making friends quickly - I've been stold I'm slightly stand-off-ish. I look down at the folder in my hands and remember I have something to do, "Well, I'll talk to you a little more about it later, I should get to dropping these papers off." I give a little wave and turn around to walk to my car, however I see a bit of a crowd outside - no matter, I'll just go to the elevator directly to the underground parking.

I started walking away, but my interest was piqued and I kind of wanted to know what the crowd was there for. I looked around for a sign and saw a man who looked to be debating whether or not to go outside - perhaps he's the cause of the crowd? I walk back to Ruby - "What's the crowd for?"

She smiles and nods to the man I was looking at before. "Who's he?" I question

She laughs a bit and says, "Ever hear of Robert Pattinson?"

"Seriously? That's him? Hmmm... Poor guy, I feel bad for him. He looks so fearful of going outside. Kind of nervous-like."

Ruby laughs, "Who wouldn't be? Jesus, having a crowd like that following you around would suck."

Just then a guest came up to the counter, so I bid Ruby farewell again and started my way to my car. As I was passing Robert Pattinson I caught his eye and gave him the best sympathetic look I could muster. He flashed me a smile (a very nice, cute, nervous smile, I might add) and ran his hand through his (what looked to be extremely messy) hair.

I stop, look at him again, and say hesitantly, "Are you waiting for anyone out there?"

He lets out a low laugh, and responds in a to-die-for accent, "Just a cab... Building up the courage, I'm not really in the mood for this today... The crowd is a lot bigger than it was yesterday when I got here..."

"I could help you out, if you want... I could give you a ride, I'm parked underground; you'd be escaping without so much as a picture," I offer, thinking there's no way this guy would get in a car with a random girl who could - for all he knows - be some crazy stalker-fangirl (although, I like to flatter myself that I do not look crazy...)

He looks at me wearily for a good few seconds before shrugging and saying, "Yeah, that'd be great."

"Cool," I wave my hand in a 'come hither' sort of way and turn to the elevator. I hear him following me, and try not to freak out... Not that I am a crazy fangirl. The only movie I've actually seen with him in it was Harry Potter, and that was... years ago. But still, this guy was fucking gorgeous; that, I could appreciate.

The wait for the elevator was encompassed in silence. As was the short ride in the elevator. And the walk to the car. I unlocked the doors and motioned for him to get in the passenger door. He obliged.

"I'm Robert, by the way," he states, as I fumble a little with the keys in the ignition.

I smile up at him, "Brenna. Nice to meet you."

"I really do appreciate this, Brenna." Wow, my name coming from that voice. Shit. Maybe I'm about to become a crazy fangirl... I laugh at myself. Then look at Robert, who has his eyebrows raised. And I realize I have yet to respond, except for my laugh..

"Sorry, I live in my head too much," I respond, shaking it slightly. "It's not a problem at all, though - giving you a ride, I mean. Where are you heading?" I ask him, pulling out of the underground lot and driving passed the crowd, who are mostly turned the other way, looking at the lobby doors wondering when their beloved Pattinson is going to come out and grace them with his presence...

"Oh, you don't have to take me to where I'm going, you can just drop me off somewhere and I can get a cab to pick me up."

"No, no. I insist - where?"

He sighs, "I'm meant to go downtown L.A. to meet a friend for lunch."

I nod, "That's perfect - I'm headed downtown, anyway!"

The rest of the ride was mostly silent except for the radio I had on low volume, and the occasional comment about the surrent song playing on the radio (mostly negative from both of us, as I had yet to find a radio station I actually liked here). Eventually I needed to ask for directions, once we hit downtown. A couple right turns later and I was dropping the beautiful man off.

"Thank-you for the ride. You're a life saver, y'know?" Robert smiles as he opens his door.

"Well, hopefully you can return the favour some time and save my life," I smile and raise an eyebrow.

Robert smirks, "I certainly hope someday I can, if ever your life needs saving."

He gave me such a piercing look that wasn't altogether pleasant; but not entirely unpleasant, either... Whatever it was about it, it made me blush - which was something, because I rarely blushed. "Well, have a good lunch with your friend, Robert!"

He flashes his to-die-for smile, and waves. Closes the door. And I'm off.

The rest of the day was uneventful - except for getting lost multiple times. I finally took to parking my car and just walking around the city a bit to get to know the area. I was walking mostly around where my apartment building was - it was definitely an area for 'young professionals', as I could see them everywhere. It looked like everything I needed was within walking distance, so hopefully I wouldn't have to use my car too much, except for getting to and from work.

At about 5 PM, I started heading back to the hotel (which involved me getting lost a couple more times... But I eventually found my way back!), where I would - yet again - have Room Service for dinner, and sit in my room and watch bad TV. Maybe I'd have more of a life when I moved into my apartment and started working... Hopefully I can make some friends at work... I'd hate to be alone for however long I decided to stay here in L.A. Then I remembered about Ruby, and was happy I had at least one person here...