Hollywood After Dark Ch. 05

So now, back in Los Angeles shooting the video for the song, I felt strange about the entire thing. So far, in less than a month and a half, I had went from playing coffee shops to being on TRL and finishing my album. The critic reviews were mixed, Antamount buying enough good press to make people curious about it, though some critics were hardly swayed and instead focused on the belief that only two or three of the 14 tracks I had laid down were actually any good.

I really didn't care though. I was loving the life, even though it was moving at a breakneck speed. Every night it seemed I was on the guest list for parties, hooking up with various stars of both the music industry and film to dance and drink and snort the night away.

Oh yeah, I guess I should mention that. Since receiving that package of coke from Antamount, I had wrestled with myself about what to do with it. Part of me was tempted to just chunk it, but the itch in my mind, which seemed to scream out whenever I thought about the drug, even now as I'm telling you this, told me not to. So, I had partaken a bit from the pile, doing a few lines during the day. You know, something to get me going before I went out to a party and then something to calm me down before I went to sleep. The high that the cocaine brought me, along with the mellow feeling of pot (if you thought cocaine was pervasive in Hollywood, you should try to imagine the quality and quantity of marijuana around) kept me in a constant dream like state but, unlike all those anti-drug ads you saw, I was still able to function totally fine. So what if I did a few bumps every now and then, before a performance or right before the encore? It was hardly a habit and was something I knew that I could leave behind if things got rough.

It felt great to be back in LA. I didn't really care much for New York, not so much because of the city itself but because of the still-around sort of hug that seemed to greet visitors following the whole terrorist attack thing. Most New Yorkers were pretty cool about it, even the top executives and music people, but sometimes when something would air on TV or someone would mention something in the news, they would all get this sort of vacant stare, looking off and thinking wistfully about it. Being a West Coast girl now, the entire effect was kind of creepy. Sure, I had my cocaine but at least I wasn't stuck in the past.

Sitting outside my trailer on a little folding chair, I shivered in the cool air of the early morning. The idea for the video was to have me standing in the surf of the beach, playing guitar as the waves crashed over me. For the full on symbolic effect, they were going to super impose a lighthouse behind me and some stock film footage to coincide with the song. That part hadn't been shot yet - today it was all about making the most of the daylight and getting the wave shots in. The surf was pretty strong and the director, Jonah something or other, wanted to make sure the waves were at their strongest when they filmed me. Reaching into my bag next to me, I fished around in it looking for my smokes. That was another thing I had guiltily picked up over this period. Where as before I had just had a smoke after sex with Alex, now I was full on hooked, not because I really wanted to be but because smoking was a great way to pass the time on set or before a show or whatever. The nicotine was rich and it gave my lungs a pleasant tickle that I knew was completely unhealthy but still enjoyable nevertheless.

Lighting the cigarette, I inhaled deeply as I leaned back in the chair, listening to the waves and the sounds of the crew getting set up. A few minutes passed and I became lost in my thoughts, thinking about some upcoming shows - I wasn't headlining yet, but Antamount kept telling me it was only a matter of time - when I heard some commotion at the edge of the set. Leaning forward, I listened to try and pick up what the voices were saying, but I couldn't quite make them out.

Standing up, I walked over towards the edge of where the set had been made and saw a group of people, many of which were from my set but quite a few faces I didn't recognize. Huddled towards the back, surrounded by 6 or 7 people was someone I couldn't make out, their small blonde head the only thing visible. Getting closer, I could hear what was now a heated discussion taking place.

"Look, we reserved this beach for the day. I'm sorry if it interferes with your plans, but we aren't leaving any time soon so just find somewhere else to shoot," one of the assistants said to an impatient woman wearing a sleeveless white blouse and a pair of dark designer sunglasses. She sighed heavily.

"I don't care what you did. We booked this spot months ago and we have a right to it. This is a private beach, don't make me call the owner," the woman snapped, now getting in the face of the assistant. Other members of my video's crew stepped up around him, in a symbolic gesture to back him up.

"How could you have reserved this months ago? She just told the press a little while back that she was taking a hiatus! Or was all this planned ahead of time and you have been lying to the media?" one of the camera men spat back at her. She didn't even flinch.

"I've had enough of this. I'm going to call the owner AND the police and get them down here to have you removed," she said, turning away.

Moving quickly into the throng of the crowd, I tapped one of the other assistants on the shoulder. He turned to face me.

"What's going on?"

He rolled his eyes. "Miss Teen Queen Britney Spears is claiming that they reserved this spot to shoot a video a while ago. They want us to shut down our production so they can film," he said in that slowly becoming familiar tone of snobby ness of LA entertainment people.

"Well, what are we going to do? Are we going to leave?" I said. I was surprised that Britney Spears was actually here, trying to mess up my video shoot. That would explain then the massive amount of people huddled off away from the confrontation.

"No way. Not unless the cops tell us to or if that bitch just gives up and finds somewhere else to shoot," he said.

The woman in the blouse turned sharply on her heel. "What did you call Britney?"

She stomped over to the man I had been talking to, his face immediately turning red.

"I..uh...what I meant was..."

"He called her a bitch. Which is the truth and you know it," I said to her, stepping up to the plate for the crew.

She glared at me. "Britney is not a bitch. In fact, she is a multi-platinum, multi-talented..."

I cut her off in mid sentence. "Hack. She's a talent less hack,"

This pissed the woman off further. By this time, I noticed that the crew that had been all around me had suddenly disappeared from sight. They had backed up and formed a circle around us, ready and waiting for us to duke it out verbally. I stood my ground, prepared for a vicious argument.

"Excuse me, Ms...what did you say you're name was?"

"Petty,"

"Excuse me PETTY, the girl who is just getting into the business and has zero clout in the world, but Britney is not only far more talented than you will ever be but also more gifted and marketable. If it wasn't for Britney, blonde bitches like you would never have stood a chance in this industry," the woman said with a snarl, her lip curling up in the way of rich Daddy's girls.

I smiled at her forcefully, over emphasizing my grin. "Can she play an instrument?"

This caught her off guard. "What?"

"Can Britney play an instrument. You know, guitar, piano, that sort of thing?"

"Well, what Britney can and can't do is..."

"If she can't play anything," I said, cutting her off again. "Then you certainly can't claim that she is more talented than me, since I can play both,"

The woman fumed, stomping her feet hard into the sand of the beach.

"I've had enough of this. Go about your little shoot. In fact, stand right there. It will allow the cops easier access to arresting you for trespassing," she said to me, reaching into her purse for a cell phone.

The crowd had seemed poised to disperse, the confrontation having passed, when Britney Spears herself walked up towards me. Wearing a white mesh pull over that covered over the bikini she had on underneath, she walked towards us, standing next to the woman in the blouse.

I couldn't resist the chance to get an insult in for all the true music fans out there, the ones who were tired of manufactured pop taking over the airwaves.

"Well, if it isn't the little poser bitch herself," I said to Britney, smiling.

Britney looked at me blankly for a moment, her brow furrowing at my comment. She then reached her arm out to the woman in the blouse and pulled her arm down slowly, moving the phone away from her ear.

"It's ok Susy," Britney said. "Just let it go. We can shoot further down on the beach. I liked that little rocky incline down there any ways that we passed coming in,"

The woman in the blouse, Susy, held the phone by her side, her mouth agape in shock.

"But...but Britney...they are..."

"It's no big deal Susy. Really. I don't care,"

"I know but..."

"Just let it go," Britney said a little more forcefully this time, a look of determination on her face. Susy sighed again.

"Alright, whatever you want,"

"Thank you. Now, why don't you go take the crew down about 1 mile or so from where we came from and start looking for good shots there, alright?" Britney said, her voice taking on the tone of a mother giving her daughter directions.

"Yes Britney," Susy said, turning away from me, a pissed off look on her face.

The crew for my shoot stood around me still, not quite believing what had just happened. Britney now turned to them.

"You wanted this spot, now don't you have some things to do for the shoot?"

As if, again, receiving an order from their mother, the crew disbursed quickly, leaving just Britney and myself standing there, Susy guiding Britney's video crew away while my own scurried around behind me. In spite of myself, I too was shocked by Britney's demeanor.

"Um, thank you Britney," I said, hesitating with each word. It seemed as if she was going to lash out at me any minute. Instead though, she simply smiled that smile that had graced countless millions of CDs.

"Don't mention it. You know, that took a lot of balls to stand up to Susy like that. She takes any attack on me as a personal insult on her. Not many people would do what you did,"

I shrugged. "No offense, but it is the truth,"

Britney smiled at me. "Oh don't worry, I know that. I'm just riding this thing as long as I can. But even without taking Susy into account, I like you for standing up to me. Sometimes I get tired of yes men who just bow to my every whim. It's nice to hear from people who have real opinions every now and then,"

I tried to keep my jaw from falling to the ground. "So then you aren't mad?"

"Na. In fact, I was wondering if maybe you'd like to hang out sometime today? Further down on the beach is a cove inlet sort of thing that is like, pretty private. I'd love to hear your thoughts on my music. Do you mind?" Britney asked.

"Sure, I guess. What time?" I said, not quite sure what to say. After all, what COULD I say in response to that?

"How's 4 sound for you?"

"Uh, 4's great I guess. I'll just take a break or something,"

"Cool. Well, it's about 2 beach miles down past where ya'll are setup," she said, pointing over my shoulder. "The rocks are a bit slippery so be careful,"

"I take it that you've been there before?"

"Oh yeah, totally. I DO take vacations sometimes you know,"

"Um, right," I said, still not believing that this had happened.

"So see you around four?"

"Sure," I said.

"Great. Talk to you later Petty," Britney said, turning away and walking quickly over to her bodyguards who had stood around and waited for her during this surreal exchange.

"Bye," I whispered to myself, watching her bikini clad ass swish and sway as it walked away.

ALEX'S STORY:

I made Vegas just before the sun rose, having left my apartment around 4:30 or so. The sky was a brilliant mixture of reds, oranges and yellows as it crested over the horizon of the desert. Traffic was light once I got out of LA and then it was just a straight shot out to Vegas, a few lonely travelers making the trip back, many doubtlessly left without much more than memories when leaving Sin City.

Katherine's directions had been dead on, and I managed to find her hotel without too much trouble. I parked at the back of the lot, behind a row of mini-vans and SUVs, hoping my BMW looked somewhat inconspicuous amongst them, especially to the passer by. It wasn't that I was worried that Willis' people would know I was here - they wouldn't, at least I didn't think so. It was that when I left to bring Katherine to my car, THEN they might be out looking for her. We couldn't be too cautious.

Going up the elevator, I knocked three times like I told Katherine. I could hear her race to the door inside but once she got in, she still seemed hesitant to just fling it open. Pulling it open a crack, the chain was on the door as her pretty face peered out to look at me, relief washing over her when she saw that it was indeed me.

I stepped into the room and Katherine said nothing, instead choosing to embrace me tightly, her head wet from a shower against my chest. She still wore the clothes I had seen her leave in, but they looked dirty and stained from the entire hellish night that she had just been through.

Finally she spoke, lifting her chin up to look at me.

"I'm so glad you are here Alex," she whispered, our eyes locking. Even with all the drama having taken place, she looked beautiful in the dim light of the room and I let her know my feelings by planting my lips on hers, her mouth eager to devour my kiss. I held her in my embrace for a few moments, finally parting our lips as I half carried her further into the room. We sat down on the bed.

"Are you alright?" I asked.

"Yes, I think so. What I want to know though, is what went wrong? I know Eliza saw me but...do you think they picked her up too? That she is out there looking for me?"

"I don't know Katherine, I really don't. Are you sure it was the LVPD that took the rest of them away?"

"Yes,"

"And you didn't see Eliza anywhere when you left?"

"No. Either she got away before they saw her or they picked her up, one or the other. I presumed that she was free though and that's why I started to panic a bit,"

"You had every right to," I said, clutching her hand tightly. "And now you are safe here. We can leave now if you want, head back to LA,"

Katherine stood up suddenly, turning away from me.

"No," she said. "I don't want to leave until I know what exactly is waiting for me back in Los Angeles,"

I didn't say anything for a moment, pondering her request.

"I want to know if they are out there, looking for me," Katherine said again, her voice distant and somewhat cold. She had been through a lot, getting the scare of her life and I suppose some sort of closure was in order.

"Well, you can't just call Eliza up and ask her," I said. "How else do you expect to find out? Listen Katherine, I think we are safe. You are safe. There is no need to get too paranoid right now because once we get in LA, you can lay low,"

She turned on me, her eyes aglow with anger. "And then what? Hide like an animal? No way Alex. I refuse to live the life of a fugitive,"

I sighed, trying to think of something that might help. After a moment or so, an idea dawned on me.

"We could call the police station," I said, watching Katherine's reaction as she stood over me, her hands on her hips, her eyes studying one of those generic paintings on the wall.

I pressed on. "We can call them, and ask if they picked up five girls tonight at a hotel. Tell them that we are reporters for a paper in LA and wanted to know if they really did pick up celebrities tonight on drug charges. If we ask them about five and then they tell us only four then we will know that Eliza wasn't one of them,"

Katherine sat back down again, her eyes filled with a pleading look as she stared at me.

"Do you think that will work Alex? Don't you think it will be a little obvious?"

"I think it will work," I said confidently, though truthfully I was anything but. "They won't know that we aren't who we say we are,"

Katherine bit on her lip for a moment, one of the little gestures she did when she was nervous.

"Ok, we can try it. But you call. I don't want them to know it was me,"

I leaned over and kissed her on the cheek for reassurance and then stood up, pulling the phone book out of the bedside table. Leafing through it's worn pages, I found the Las Vegas Police Department's number and marked it with my finger. Katherine reached over and lifted the phone to me, which I placed on the bed beside us. Lifting the receiver, I held it to our ears as I began to dial the numbers.

After two rings, a voice picked up.

"LVPD, Sergeant Wilks speaking,"

"Hi Sergeant, my name is Dave Barrack and I'm calling from the Los Angeles Times. I received word that tonight you picked up some celebrities in one of the hotels there and I was just calling to see if this was the case," I said in my best fake voice possible. Katherine listened intently to every word.

"I just got on shift, hang on. You said tonight?"

"That's right. I'm not sure how many there were, could you tell me that as well?"

"What names am I looking for?" he asked with a grunt, the sound of him leafing through paper clearly audible on the other end.

"Uh, well..." I said, looking at Katherine for help. She mouthed "Hudson" to me and I nodded.

"Hudson. Kate Hudson was supposed to be one of them,"

"Hudson...hudson..." he said, scanning the names. "Yep, a Kate Hudson was brought in late last night. Her and four other girls,"

Katherine breathed a sigh of relief at hearing this and I could tell she was overjoyed to know that Eliza had been picked up as well. The feeling however, was short lived.

"No, wait, my mistake, her and three other girls. Another woman came in and took them away after they were picked up and the officer on duty marked her name with a star which means...wait a minute, what did you say your name was?" he said, his voice suddenly turning into one of suspicion. Whatever he had just told me, he obviously wasn't supposed to be releasing.

"Hello? What is your name again boy?"

I looked at Katherine, her eyes wide with fear. I did the only thing I could think of - I slammed the phone down, the ring of the receiver echoing in the room. My heart was beating wildly in my chest as Katherine and I looked at each other, neither of us saying a word.

We jumped in unison when the phone rang, it's piercing noise cutting through both of us. I looked down at it and then picked up the receiver for a split second before slamming it back down again.

"Come on, we have to go," I said to her, standing up and taking her by the hand. Katherine gathered what little she had with her from the bed and we left the room hurriedly, leaving the key cards on the dresser in the room.

After an elevator ride that seemed to take forever, we walked at a clipped rate towards the exit, Katherine struggling to keep her balance on her high heels. Getting into my car, I tore out of the parking lot quickly as we avoided main roads and were soon back on Highway 1, going back to LA.

Neither one of us had spoken as we fled the hotel room, but once Las Vegas began to fade away from us, Katherine slumped down in the seat and began to speak.

"That didn't go like you thought it would, did it?"

I shook my head no, keeping my eyes on the road and the rearview, looking for tails.

"The cops probably traced the call back to the hotel room. Good thing I used a fake name at check in," Katherine said, her head low in the seat.