Hollywood Royalty

The day had finally arrived when Grace was scheduled to fly out to Los Angeles to start production on the new movie. It made her apprehensive since she hadn’t filmed anything in almost a year ever since her marriage started falling apart. While the fear still remained very present in her mind, Grace was also excited to get back to work. It had been much too long and returning to acting was just what she needed right now. She should’ve filmed something within the past few months to keep herself distracted but between her mess of a marriage and Taylor… Well, her concentration hadn’t exactly been focused on much more than her sad life.

Her week hadn’t been very eventful since her night out with Pedro so she had taken to packing and unpacking her bags. It was something that Grace tended to do only when she had too much time on her hands. She would start a day long debate on whether she thought she would need her sexiest pair of bra and panties or not, packing it into her suitcase before unpacking it again and then deciding it was better to be safe than sorry. Grace definitely wasn’t planning on meeting anyone in Los Angeles but she just liked to be prepared for every possible situation. Of course her dog always looked at her like she was a crazy person whilst she ran around her apartment looking for her green apple scented hand sanitizer. It was the first time she realized how crazy she really was since Tom was a lot like her in that way. He was always rushing around their old townhouse looking for his favorite pair of socks to add to his suitcase. Grace smiled at the memory because who had a favorite pair of socks?

Only Tom.

The moment of happiness soon vanished as she was brought back into the reality of her life. It was quite odd to be leaving her apartment after only living in it for a short amount of time. She had been pretty accustomed to living in the comfort of her own space but it seemed like the life of hotel rooms and cameras was calling back to her. Grace would be lying if she said that she hadn’t missed it all but it was time to stop acting like a hermit and get back out into the world. Lucky for her, Grace wouldn’t even have to face people at the airport or on the plane since the studios was flying her out to Los Angeles on a private plane.

The only other person she would be seeing on that flight would be Pedro which wouldn’t be so bad considering how well they got along the other night. They hadn’t seen each other since but they had been texting each other every now and then over the past few days. Usually it was just stuff about scheduling and flight information but Grace hadn’t expected them to become best friends after one night out. Ryan was reluctant to call her his friend even after filming of ‘Crazy, Stupid, Love’ had ended and Grace counted him as one of her best friends in the business… Or at least she had until she pushed him away like everyone else. That was hardly the point she meant to make. Grace meant to say that even though she and Pedro were at an early stage in their professional relationship, she was sure that they would get along wonderfully once they were put to work and spent more time together. She could really use a new friend right about now anyways.

A driver had dropped Grace off right on schedule as he parked the car close to the private plane on the runway. It definitely wasn’t her first time flying on a private plane but she had to admit that it was not often that she got to fly on them. Usually it only happened when she was filming big budget films like Harry Potter or ‘Gangster Squad’. Other than that, it was just first class most of the time for her unless she was dating Leonardo DiCaprio which she wasn’t and probably never will.

The driver took care of Grace’s luggage of hers which included about four months forth of the stuff that she also mysteriously managed to fit into just three medium sized designer suitcases and a large, matching bag that contained supplies for Ash. It seemed that the tough looking German Shepard would also be joining Grace on her trip to Los Angeles. The blonde actress had become so attached to her beloved companion that she didn’t think she could survive four months without him. She knew that she couldn’t possibly take him to Monaco with her when they left in three months but they had their time in Los Angeles before that would happen. Grace stepped out of the car as the flight attendants took care of her luggage, Ash followed behind her as he always did with a loyal streak in his stride. He wore no leash since it was just a short journey from the car to the plane but he didn’t need one anyways. It was rare that he stopped following Grace.

“Do you need any help with your dog, Miss Gallagher?” One of the flight attendants asked helpfully but Grace just shook her head.

“No, I’m fine. Thank you.” She replied with a polite smile and curt nod. Grace then ascended the staircase up to the plane with a bit more eagerness in her stride because it was good to get out of the apartment for once. Her apprehensions started to fade away about returning to work and were replaced with nothing but excitement. What had she been so afraid of?

The inside of the plane was nicer than she had expected but Paramount didn’t tend to disappoint. It was spacious but not overly spacious which always seemed to unnerve Grace especially if there weren’t going to be many people on the flight. There was a couch placed against one of the walls of the plane and then a couple of rows of seating that faced each other alongside the other wall. A tv hung on the wall towards the front of the plane just outside the cockpit and there was a set of bathrooms at the opposite end. It was a private plane so of course it was fancy but it wasn’t extravagant or over the top like a fourteen year old Grace used to imagine. Grace’s curiosity didn’t end with the luxuriousness of the plane but instead extended to a certain occupant who managed to arrive even before Grace.

Pedro.

He looked more casual today then he had looked when she first met him with a simple pair of dark washed jeans and gray short sleeved shirt. His dark hair was well kept as was the small amount of facial hair he had which was contained in a moustache and fair amount of scruff. Grace suddenly felt a little uneasy about being alone on a plane with him for hours on end since she forgot how incredibly handsome he was since she had last seen him. Now was not the time to be checking out her new costar… That was how it always started with her. She’d think her costar was cute, talk to Emma about him over the phone, and then proceed to follow him around on set like a total stalker. To be fair the last time Grace was interested in a costar was when Tom walked into her life and that was almost seven years ago. Her point was that it always started out cute and innocent but then it turned into disaster.

The last thing Grace needed right now was to fall in love with another one of her costars. That may have seemed a little presumptuous of her seeing as how she just met Pedro but consider this… Three out of the four relationships she’s had in her lifetime have been with her costars. First there had been Aaron as in Aaron Taylor-Johnson who Grace had met on the set of ‘Angus, Thongs, and Snogging’. Their characters may not have been each other’s love interests but Grace had thought he was the cutest guy she had ever seen the moment she laid eyes on him. She had only been seventeen at the time and he wasn’t the first guy she dated but she definitely considered him her first real boyfriend. Then there was James, of course, who she had known before she knew Aaron.
James who she had always had a crush on since meeting him on the set of ‘Order of the Phoenix’. He was cute in a funny and sweet kind of way but he had thought that Grace was too young for him at the time. It wasn’t until she started dating Aaron that he realized that he liked her in a more than friends way.

After Aaron and her split up, rather amicably, James pursued her and they entered an almost two year relationship. It was the Harry Potter romance that inspired a lot of fan art and fanfiction surrounding Fred Weasley and Luna Lovegood. In the end they realized that they were better off of friends so they ended it and were still great friends to this day. What she thought was her worst relationship was with Alex, the lead singer of The Arctic Monkeys, who wasn’t a costar for a change. He had seemed so mysterious and cool at first with the way he smoked his cigarettes and all the hair product he used in his hair but Alex was only hard to reach and reckless. There wasn’t any mystery to him at all. It was a wonder how they lasted the nine months they did because they had absolutely nothing in common. At the time she may have broken it off with him because of his dislike of Taylor and her music but the older version of herself was glad that she had ended it. It also didn’t end amicably which you could probably hear through his array of songs about her off his last album.

Then of course there was Tom.

So as you can see, Grace didn’t have the best track record when it came to her costars. If Ryan and her hadn’t been with other people at the time then she was sure that maybe something would’ve happened between them because Grace seemed to have a tendency for dating her costars. And it never turned out well for her. She thought it had with Tom but after six long years with the man, Grace was obviously proved wrong. Snapping out of her panicked thoughts, Grace calmly entered the main section of the plane. She forced any thoughts out of her head that may have circled around the attractiveness of Pedro. She had blushed like a school girl the other night but that was going to be the extent of it. Grace reminded herself that he was a forty one year old man and she was twenty six year old woman who shouldn’t be attracted to a man that much older than herself. Besides… he would probably never look at her that way anyways. Pedro had been extremely polite to her the other night and through text messages but that was most likely only because saw her as a young girl… Practically a child in his eyes. No, Grace refused to embarrass herself again by acting like the stupid, foolish twenty year old she once was. She was nearing twenty seven now and it was time to grow up.

“Grace, I see you’ve finally made it.” Pedro greeted as he noticed the familiar blonde as well as her furry friend. His whole face seemed to light up as he greeted her but Grace just dismissed it as him being excited to film the new movie. He had what must have been his script in his hands and it was clear that he had probably been going over the lines before she walked in. Grace had her own script in her bag that she had been planning on reading again once they took off.

“Yeah, I hope you haven’t been waiting for too long.” Grace replied but Pedro just shook his head. His gaze was full of amusement as he looked between Grace and Ash.

“No, I wasn’t. We don’t take off for another thirty minutes anyways.” Grace nodded as she took a seat on the couch that faced opposite of the chair that Pedro was sitting in. Ash hopped up on the couch after her before lying down and making himself comfortable. Grace smiled at him adoringly as he rested his head in her lap; she gently petted him on the head before rubbing behind his ears affectionately.

“You’re bringing your dog?” Pedro asked. It wasn’t in a condescending kind of way but just in a very curious way. Grace blushed as she looked up from Ash, she didn’t want Pedro to think she was one of those people who couldn’t live without their dog. It was true because she obviously couldn’t live without Ash if she was whisking him away to LA with her. It was for this reason that Grace was completely sure that her and Amanda Seyfried could be best friends given their obsession with their dogs.

“You don’t have to say it. I know I’m one of those people who brings their dog everywhere with them.” Grace told him and Pedro chuckled in response.

“Hey, I didn’t say anything.” It was then that Pedro studied the dog curiously because he could tell how much Grace adored the German Shepard given the look on her face. She looked just as effortlessly elegant and beautiful as she had looked during their night out. Grace wore a vintage looking mint green A-line skirt and a navy blue blouse with a flowery pattern printed on it. She wore vintage Lucy t-strap heels that also matched the color of her skirt. Grace’s long blonde hair was down today unlike the other night but she looked even more beautiful this way. Her makeup was done more natural than it had been before with less eyeliner and mascara as well as no eyeshadow.

“Well, I couldn’t bare to leave him with my agent for three months so I decided to take him with me. He’s never been anywhere with me before so I’m sure he might get a little panicked when we take off. I hope we won’t be much of a bother to you.” Pedro only smiled before shaking his head.

“That’s alright with me. I love dogs… Now cats are a different story.” Grace gave him a curious look.

“Do you have a dog as well?”

“Not for a long time. I think you mentioned his name was Ash last time we saw each other.” Grace nodded but the truth was that she barely remembered that. The end of that night was a little blurry for her but she might have remembered him seeing the wallpaper on her phone.

“Yes. I adopted him from the animal shelter a couple of months ago. I’ve never really had a dog before or a pet of any sort. My father was always a neat freak and hated the idea of a pet shedding fur all over the house. My ex was also kind of the same way so I was never able to have a dog until now.” Grace told him honestly and Pedro was surprised. The way that the media was always talking about Grace and her ex, he thought it would be hard for her to even mention the guy. Pedro knew that if had faced something similar that he wouldn’t be able to mention an ex let alone with little to no consequence at all. His agent had strongly informed him not to bring up anything from the media about Grace’s ex to the blonde actress in question but Grace hadn’t seemed that sensitive to the topic.

“But now that you’re free at last I’ve bet you’ve been living life to the fullest.” Grace laughed before rolling her eyes playfully.

“Yes, I’ve fully taken advantage of single life. Between getting a dog, binge watching ‘New Girl’, and living alone, I’m living the dream.” Grace confessed although Pedro could detect the sarcasm in her tone.

“I’ve lived alone for almost twelve straight years, you’ll be okay trust me.” Grace glanced back at him, studying the expression on his face. Twelve years of living alone? Grace didn’t even know how she survived living alone these past few months. She missed the little things like saying good night or forcing someone to watch ‘True Blood’ with her. It was hardly any fun watching ‘True Blood’ with someone who could care less like Ash. Pedro laughed as he noticed the near horrified look on his new costar’s face.

“Relax! I didn’t mean to scare you. I’m sure you won’t live alone for twelve years, I’m just hard to live with.”

“I’m sure that’s not true.” Grace replied politely as she rubbed behind Ash’s ears.

Pedro watched her and was left a confused by the blonde actress. She seemed incredibly shy like she had the other night but there was something else about her. A kind sort of spirit about her that Pedro initially just dismissed as her being British but now he was thinking that maybe that was just how she was. He had only seen her twice now although the first time had been for a few hours but there were certain things he could pick out about Grace. When she was feeling shy or embarrassed, Grace tended to avoid eye contact and blush a lovely rose color that complimented her pale complexion. Grace also had a very dry, sarcastic sense of humor that Pedro found amusing. The Grace Gallagher in the magazines always seemed elegant and serious but the Grace in real life just seemed like the kind of girl he could along with.

“Miss Gallagher? Mr. Pascal? We’re getting readying to take off in about five minutes so make sure you fasten your seat belts.” The flight attendant reminded them and the both of them nodded politely. Pedro completely surprised Grace by quickly moving away from his seat and sitting next to her on the couch. Ash lifted his head from Grace’s lap for a moment as he sniffed Pedro before deciding that the older man wasn’t much of a threat and laid back down. Grace raised a brow at Pedro.

“What are you doing?” Grace asked him. Pedro grabbed the buckle and fastened himself in, preparing for the plane to take off.

“You said that you were worried about how Ash might react to the plane taking off. I thought that I could be of some help if he gets out of hand.” Grace blushed, smiling at Pedro’s act of thoughtful kindness. It was very sweet of him to offer.

“That’s very kind of you but Ash sheds a lot. He might get a lot of fur on your clothes.” Pedro only chuckled.

“I’m not wearing a suit or anything. I’m sure I’ll be fine.” Grace nodded before also buckling herself in for the flight. After she finished with the seat belt she turned her attention back to Ash by softly running her fingers through his fur. Ash was always calmed down by that action so Grace was hoping that she could soothe him.

“May I?” Pedro asked, questioning whether or not it was okay for him to pet Ash.

“Of course. He loves attention.” Pedro smiled in return before also petting the tough looking German Shepard. It was then that he noticed the chunk missing from one of his ears and the murkiness of his left eye as well as the scar that ran across it.

“What happened to him? If you don’t mind me asking that is.” Pedro questioned, curious about the story behind Ash. If he had seen the big, German Shepard alone, Pedro honestly would have run the other way because the dog looked very intimidating. Somehow the big, mean looking dog didn’t look so big and mean when following around a vintage skirt wearing Grace Gallagher.

“No, it’s fine. I don’t know much to tell you the truth but I know that he used to be neglected by his previous owner. I think he was meant to be some kind of guard dog but he got himself caught in a barb wire fence and his previous owner kind of abandoned him for fear of paying any veterinarian bills. The shelter took him in and then I found him.” Grace rubbed Ash’s ears affectionately and Pedro wondered what drew such an elegant and regal looking Brit to such a worn down looking dog. Pedro could tell that she loved her furry companion very much just by the look of adoration on her face.

“How old is he?”

“He’s three but he’s wise beyond his years.” Grace told him and Pedro couldn’t whether she was being serious or not. Before Pedro could say anything further the pilot announced that they were going to take off. Grace started to feel anxious but not because of the flight. No, she felt more than ready to return to acting after an eleven month hiatus. Grace could hardly wait to get started. She just hoped that none of the drama from her personal life would affect her work.

The take off for the flight had been rough with Ash since he had never been on a plane before. He whimpered a lot and may have barked a couple of times before Grace told him to stop. Grace was extremely grateful that Pedro had offered to help with Ash because it turned out that she definitely needed his help. Ash had become so anxious during takeoff that it took both Grace and Pedro’s strength to hold him down so that he wouldn’t run around the plane. They laughed a little during process because it was completely ridiculous. Both of them trying to calm down this bear of a dog and stop him from having a panic attack. There was even a moment when Pedro and Grace grabbed each other’s hands to trap Ash between them. If only the paparazzi could snap a photo of Grace in this ridiculous state.

Once they were in the air, things calmed down. Ash resorted back to laying down on the couch between Pedro and Grace, falling asleep not that far into the flight. The two of them soon started laughing about Grace’s crazy dog and they soon fell into an easy conversation about what they were going to do once they got to LA. Grace was going to check into her hotel room but Pedro seemed determine to get her to go with him to another bar.

“I don’t want to go to another bar with you.” Pedro pretended to look offended as Grace refused to go with him to a bar.

“Why not? Didn’t you have fun the other night?” Grace scoffed.

“Until I woke up with the worst hangover I’ve had since I was eighteen. So… No, thank you.”

“Come on! I don’t just want to go to my hotel room and call it a night. Baz wants to start rehearsals tomorrow so who knows when we can have fun again?” Grace rolled her eyes.

“So your plan is to go out, get drunk, and then have a massive hangover just in time for our first day of work?” Pedro nodded like it was a no brainer but Grace could only laugh at him in amusement.

“Exactly.”

“That is probably the least practical idea I’ve ever heard.” Grace told him honestly but Pedro knew that she meant that it was the stupidest idea that she ever heard.

“You’re pretty boring for someone so young.” Pedro told her, expecting for her to look insulted but Grace only looked amused.

“Thank you.” She replied before glancing back at him. “And you’re very immature for someone so old.” Grace feared for a moment that perhaps she had offended Pedro since it was rare that Americans understood British humor but he surprised her by laughing.

“I’m proud of it. So what do you say?” There was nothing Grace wanted to do more than get settled into her hotel room and take a long nap but Pedro was giving her something close to what must have been a puppy dog look. Grace really didn’t want to go to another bar with him because she was afraid that she would say something stupid or worse… Do something stupid.

“Can’t you text George or Robert to go with you?” Pedro only shrugged.

“Well, I don’t really know them so that would be weird.” Grace sighed because she couldn’t believe that she was actually thinking about going out somewhere with Pedro. What happened to being a shut in?

“Don’t you have any friends in LA?” Pedro gave her a sheepish look.

“They’re off filming something.”

“And why can’t you go by yourself? You’re a grown man, aren’t you? Why do you need me?”

“It’s no fun drinking alone.” Grace rolled her eyes.

“Fine, I’ll go with you but I get to pick the place.” Pedro seemed relieved that Grace finally agreed to go out with him. To be honest he really didn’t care whether or not they went out but he just wanted an excuse to spend more time with her. The other night proved that Grace Gallagher was an odd but fun person to go to a bar with. She got all flushed and acted bolder and less proper than she seemed to normally act. He concluded that this made Grace an interesting person to drink with. It may or may not have to do with the fact that he was attracted to Grace although Pedro didn’t think that he would be able to admit that aloud. He told himself it was only because she was Grace Gallagher so of course he found her attractive. Who wouldn’t?

It wasn’t like Grace would be attracted to him anyways. To her he was probably just an old man and nowhere near as famous as her. Her ex was famously known for his handsomeness given the fact that he even had a group of fangirls after him. Tom Hiddleston with his sharp cheekbones, big blue eyes, and tall but lean stature. Her ex had both looks and talent seeing as he was a very accomplished stage actor as well. Grace definitely wouldn’t see anything in Pedro when she could have her choice in men. He would be lying if he said that he hadn’t thought of her the past few days. She was prim and proper but there was a lot more to Grace than her polite exterior. Pedro convinced himself that it had been too long since he had been in the company of a beautiful woman. Besides… He didn’t want to become that cliché actor who lusted after women significantly younger than himself. Those kinds of actors were lecherous creeps who couldn’t control themselves and Pedro wasn’t the type to go after women that young. It was odd thinking that Grace was probably only three when he was attending college. He would just have keep reminding himself of that fact the more time he spent with her. That reminder would probably have to be used often considering the amount of time they were going to have to spend together while they filmed the movie.

It was going to be a long four months.