Goodnight Hollywood Boulevard

Wyatt stood awkwardly in Charlotte’s room, waiting for her to finish showering. He wasn’t sure if he should sit on her bed, maybe in the window nook, or if she’d been done soon enough so he’d only have to pace around a few more times. He had already circled the room a total of seven times, leaving the closet off limits. He’d noticed a few things about her. One, she loved fashion more than she let on. Two, she was extremely neat and organized. And three, even though she had been living in this house for over five months, she still hadn’t finished unpacking; she had at least four unopened boxes tucked away in the corner of her room invisible from the doorway.

He sighed, slouching into the desk chair. She had various magazines piled neatly in the corner, a few notebooks and open sketchpads next to a rainbow of colored pencils. Her phone was lying in the middle of the desk as it charged. He waited for a moment, praying she’d turn the water off soon, but when he heard the continuous drone of the water pipes he picked up a magazine from the pile and began leafing through it. He reached a very thrilling article on “weekend calories” when Charlotte’s phone vibrated to life.

His throat closed slightly. Garrett was displayed at the top and a picture of him and Charlotte cheek-to-cheek was the background. He wasn’t sure if he should answer it for her, since she was still in the shower, or if he should let it ring and go to voicemail. It had taken him hours to get her to stop crying last night; it irked him that Garrett was trying to contact her again so soon, afraid that she’d break down again.

He decided to press ignore, the ringing instantly cutting off. He went back to reading the magazine without a second thought. He had reached the part of the magazine that showed all of the predictions for next season’s trends. He couldn’t wrap his head around how any of it would be considered fashionable, let alone comfortable. He turned the magazine at an angle, one outfit really stumping him, and he nearly dropped it when her phone started ringing again.

Wyatt snatched it up and answered. “What do you want?”

“Um.. Who is this?” Garrett asked.

“It’s Wyatt. Look, bro, after whatever you said to her last night, you really have no business calling,” he explained roughly.

“Right, okay. Where is she?”

The water shut off and he heard the curtain being pulled aside as she stepped out. “You have no idea how upset she was last night. She cried for hours on end. I have no idea what you said to her to make her that emotional but I’d say it’s in her best interest if you just leave her alone for a while.”

“Wow,” Garrett breathed. Wyatt thought, for a fleeting moment, that he was going to accept what he had been told and calmly agree to hang up and give her space. “You obviously don’t know what happened. I didn’t say anything last night. She hung up on me before I could get a word in.”

“I may not know Charlotte as well as you do, but when a girl cries that much something obviously went wrong. Maybe it’s the fact that you didn’t say anything that caused her to hang up,” Wyatt fumed.

“Wyatt!” Charlotte yelled frantically. “Fuck!”

“What is going on?” Garrett demanded upon hearing Charlotte in the background.

“I don’t know,” Wyatt mumbled as he got to his feet.

“Fuck. Wyatt!” Charlotte yelled again. The bathroom door was violently pulled open before Wyatt could even reach it. “Oh my god, Wyatt, hang up. This is important.”

Wyatt nodded dumbly and hung up on Garrett. He followed her into the bathroom, ignoring the fact that she only had a towel wrapped snugly around her. “What happened?” he questioned.

“I fucking dropped it,” she cried softly.

“What? Dropped what?” he asked, standing beside her. He looked around the counter, his eyes scanning over random items of makeup. She had open containers of eyeshadow, a few tubes of lipstick with various numbers printed on the tops, and numerous eye pencils lying about. She had a collection of perfume bottles in one corner of the counter and in the other she had her contacts, contact solutions and her glasses. Through all of the mess, he saw nothing that would cause such an outcry.

“The key,” she stressed. “I was looking at myself in the mirror and at that stupid key necklace he gave me. I unclasped the chain, one end slipped from my fingers and the charm fell down the drain.”

Wyatt sighed, his shoulders falling. “I think it’s gone, then, Charlotte.”

“It can’t be gone,” she angrily said. “I need it.”

Wyatt shook his head. “It’s gone.”

Charlotte stared at the sink for a while longer. He wasn’t sure what was running through her head but he felt a slow panic building up in his chest; he didn’t want her to start crying again, somehow twisting this into being a sign that she would never have a relationship with Garrett again.

But eventually she sighed, too, and shuffled some things around. She produced a hair tie and seconds later her hair was twisted into a bun resting low on her neck. She reached out and picked up a little circular tube with two colors in it. She looked into the mirror and started smearing the colors strategically onto her eyelids.

Wyatt was intrigued. He had never kept a girlfriend long enough for them to let him watch as she put her makeup on, and he didn’t really have many friends who were as girly as Charlotte. His girl friends all liked sports more than makeup. Since she hadn’t told him to leave after he proved no help in retrieving the charm, he pushed some of the makeup toward her to clear a space on the counter for him to sit and watch. He lifted himself up and twisted so his back rested against the wall.

She worked slowly. Her eyes were first. The purple and silver colors done now, so she worked on carefully applying a dark brown line into her lashes with an eyeliner pencil. She stared questioningly at herself for a moment before she tilted her head and reached blindly for her glasses. She opened a drawer and pulled out two headbands with little heart charms on them. She put those in her hair, holding her bangs out of her face, and then bit her lip as she decided between two lipstick shades.

“I never realized how much work this was,” Wyatt commented as he watched in amazement as she carefully slicked the red onto her lips. She smiled, capping the tube. “I mean it.”

Her fingers danced over a few more containers, these ones all normal-looking pink pressed powders. She chose one with multiple squares of color in it and brushed her cheeks lightly with the pigments, creating a radiant glow.

Her eyes slid up to meet his. “You’ve never watched your girlfriends do this in the mornings?”

“They never let me,” he replied honestly.

She hummed in thought as she passed through the door and into her room. He slid off the counter, following behind her with his hands in his pockets. He was only a few steps behind her but by the time he walked into the closet, she was already walking out with an outfit in hand. She shuffled through a few dresser drawers and headed back to the bathroom.

“Sorry, you can’t watch this part,” she said to him, stepping back into the bathroom. He laughed as she closed the door on him. “Who were you talking to, anyway?”

“When?” he asked.

“Earlier,” she replied, “on my phone?”

“Oh,” he mumbled. “Um. Well. Garrett kept calling, so I answered.”

She opened the door a little, poking her head out. “What did you say to him, Wyatt?”

“I just told him to give you some space. After last night I didn’t think it was right of him to be calling.”

“Wyatt,” she sighed with an air of disapproval in her voice. She closed the door again and went back to dressing.

“What, Charlotte? You were a mess last night. I know you love him but I was the one who spent the night with you last night,” he defended. “I’m the one who took care of you when you were crying. Not him. So I told him he needed to give you some air to cool off before he tries again.”

The door slowly opened. She stood a couple feet back. “How do I look?” she asked in an attempt to change the subject and turned slightly as she examined herself in the mirror.

Wyatt bit his lip. She had on a black and white-stripped skirt with a few red flowers to one side, a white tanktop and a black jacket with sparkly cuffs. He wasn’t too fond of the sparkling jacket cuffs but he had to admit she looked quite attractive.

“I like it,” he said with a nod.

“Of course you like it,” she mumbled, twisting her body to see her backside. “You’re a boy. I meant does it flow?”

“Flow?” he repeated, an eyebrow quirked.

She didn’t seem to mind that he didn’t keep up. She smiled at him as she zipped by him. He turned to find out what she was up to now and witnessed her slipping into a pair of grey heels with pink floppy bows on each toe.

“Heels?” he questioned.

“They make my legs look killer,” she answered. “And I feel more comfortable in them.”

Wyatt nodded. “So, are you off to work now?”

“What?” she asked absently. She was obviously lost in thought as she made her bed.

“Work,” he repeated slowly.

“Oh. I have the week off because I’m supposed to be in Arizona,” she replied with a shrug. “I’ve got nowhere to go, really.”

“Well, I think you need to go somewhere,” he said confidently. “You took time off for a vacation, so you need to go somewhere and do something with your time off.”

“I don’t have anywhere to go. I’d go home to Arizona but my Mom won’t want to see me. We didn’t really leave on good terms,” she explained. “I should probably just stay in Santa Monica and work on my portfolio.”

Wyatt thought for a moment, a small smile spreading across his face. “Why don’t you come to Hollywood with me? My Dad has a studio apartment up there that he crashes at all the time. He takes his lady-friends there.”

“Lady friends?” Charlotte questioned. “He’s cheating?”

“Yeah,” Wyatt answered with a shrug. “Everyone knows about it, even Mom. He’s a big business man, it’s pretty much expected of him.”

“And she just stays with him, even though he’s being unfaithful?” she asked, baffled.

Wyatt laughed. “I know it sounds insane but the way she sees it, she has two kids with him and she has all the money she needs to last a lifetime. She’s not going anywhere. Especially when she has lawn boys to use up.”

Charlotte’s jaw fell slack. “It’s like I’m in an episode of The OC.”

Wyatt grinned. “Kinda. So what do you say? You want to go?”

She sighed heavily. “I guess it’d be good to get away. Let me pack a few things.”

She went into her bathroom again and Wyatt could hear her packing up her makeup. She took the time to spray herself with perfume, too, before packing that up as well. She produced a navy blue duffle bag from under her bed and tossed her makeup bag into it. She grabbed an armful of clothes and went back for various types of shoes. She picked up the magazine he had been reading while she was in the shower and made sure she grabbed her sketchbooks and pencils, too.

“Set,” she announced, zipping up the bag.

Wyatt smiled. “Great. I have things at the apartment already, so we’re off to Hollywood.”

Charlotte smiled, too, and together they went downstairs to let her father know their plans for the week. He agreed that it would be best for her to get away, clear her head and focus on her passions. He kissed her forehead and told her to be careful. She hugged him and promised she’d be fine. She turned and headed for the front door, Wyatt slowly following.

“Wyatt,” he heard. He paused in the doorway to the kitchen and looked at her father. “If you do anything to hurt her-”

“Sir,” Wyatt cut him off. “I’ll be the first to admit that I find Charlotte attractive, but after seeing her so distraught last night that I had to stay and hold her in my arms so she’d fall asleep… I just.. I won’t be making the first moves, let’s put it that way.”

He nodded in approval and motioned for him to catch up to his daughter, who could be heard from the front door calling for Wyatt. Wyatt offered a small smile before he made his way through the house. He felt a vibration in his pocket and he stopped in his tracks. He pulled the phone from his pocket to read the text.

Char, I’m so sorry. I never wanted this to happen. I really need you. I love you so much. Please please please call me, I need to talk to you

Wyatt hesitated for a moment. Through the front window he could see Charlotte outside, her back to the house, the duffle hanging from her shoulder. He knew she would hate him for this but he carelessly tossed her phone onto the couch and joined her outside.

“Ready?” he asked with a grin.