In Love with a Star Page 12

  “Chris, try to reason! How shall you account for her presence without letting her end up on each talk show or magazine? She would get prisoner of a world that will try to destroy her and your relationship will break up in a few months! Emily added to, making the boy go furious, so he threw her out of his house without a word.

  “Chris”, Leny scolded him for being so rude to her cousin.

  “Leny, come with me”, he urged her desperately, catching her by the shoulders.

  “I would like to, but I think Emily is right”.

  “Fuck Emily! Leny, I want to be with you, can you understand?”.

  “I wished I could stay with you too, but you must understand that I don’t belong to your world. I already tried to be next to Emily five years ago, but they exhausted me. I came back home with my tail between my legs and I never went back to Los Angeles again. Chris, I love you more than any other thing in the world and that makes you my worst weakness. If they spoilt our relationship or sullied our love, I would die”, she confessed sorrowful.

  “So ask me not to leave. To give up all that and stay here with you”.

  “I could never ask you something like that, you know”.

  “Why?”.

  “Just because I love you and I know how much you like acting and doing what you do”.

  “Yes, but I love being with you too”.

  “Chris, go back to Los Angeles. I promise I’ll come to you and stay with you, as soon as I save enough money, if you want”.

  “I’ll give you the money”.

  “I would never accept it, you know. And now I live at yours and I don’t pay a rent, so I’ll take a short time to save that amount”, Leny comforted him, without telling him she had to repair her car first.

  “Leny, please”.

  “Chris, I promise I’ll take care of your home and I’ll love you forever. I’ll come to you as soon as my job duties allow me”.

  Unluckily Chris couldn’t reply because his agent came into the house without even knocking.

  “Chris, I’ve got great news for you! Do you remember that film you wanted to make? Well, you got the part. The shootings are staring in a month. We’re spending four months travelling through three continents”, his agent exulted without even being aware of Leny’s presence, who shook her head disheartened. What could she do with Chris who would be busy all the time between journeys, shootings and interviews?

  Even if that made her suffer, her decision not to follow him was the right one.

  Leny couldn’t even realize Chris was going to leave, when his luggage had already been put into the car and the agent called his protected loudly, warning him they were going to miss the flight.

  “Leny, come with me. I’m asking you for the last time”, Chris hissed frustrated.

  “I can’t”.

  “I thought you loved me”, he said angrily, exasperated by the girl’s stubbornness, while his heart was going to fall to pieces.

  “Just because I love you…”

  “No, the fact is you don’t love me enough”.

  “That’s not true!”, she explained, suffering for his insinuations. If he had just understood the pain stabbing her heart every moment which went by before his unavoidable departure.

  “It is, instead. I can’t imagine of living without you on my side for a moment, while you…You don’t seem to have problems in parting from me”.

  “You’re wrong. I feel sick at the idea of not seeing you again for I don’t know how long, but I understand I must let you free”.

  “Bullshit!”, he shouted on her face before he went out of his house, slamming the door and getting into the car waiting for him outside. He thought he would go crazy with pain when the car went off like a shot, bringing him far from the woman he loved, but she probably couldn’t return the deep love he felt for her.

  But he didn’t see what was really happening. Leny fell to the ground broken-hearted, shaken by sobs.

  She loved Chris more than her own life and being unable to feel his kisses and his caresses made her shake to her bones. She knew she had made the right choice, but she miserably regretted it at that moment.

  She had been able to live without him, or not, just to survive during those seven years without him, thanks to Arthur too, lulling herself with the ideal love she felt for him.

  But now, things were different. He had declared his love and had completely taken hold of her heart and her body. Nothing and nobody could lessen by now the deep pain which only the lovers’ distance could give.

  How could she go on living without him, without his smile, his kisses, his caresses, his love and his voice telling her he loved her?

  “You must go and take him back”, Emily told her before she left too.

  11

  Two days had passed since she had seen Chris for the last time.

  She had been feeling shuttered all the while for the way they had parted.

  It wasn’t true she didn’t love him or didn’t love him enough. It was just for what she felt for him that she didn’t want to clip his wings asking him to stay with her in Pieville or spoil his career going with him. She knew her own limits and her self-esteem problems: she could never stand all that pressure. Not yet. Not when her love story with Chris had just bloomed and still needed time to get stronger and firmer.

  That quarrel was just the proof of how they didn’t trust each other enough yet.

  Feeling sad and bitter, she tried to call him several times to get things clear, but his mobile was always out of work and Emily never had time to answer her and give her any advice.

  She was going out for her lunch break at work one day, when she received a phone call.

  She answered panting with happiness and without reading the number on the display, happy and nervous at the thought of talking with Chris at last.

  “Chris!”.

  “No, miss Perks, this is the bank”, a shrill voice answered.

  “I’m sorry”.

  “I’m calling you just because the director has the absolute need of talking with you. Can you come here as soon as possible?

  The director? Really? The situation must be very serious if even the director had bothered about it.

  They had probably seen her account turn to red and noticed she didn’t get her salary and they would probably take her credit card back.

  “I’ll come at once”, she answered shuttered. She put away the sandwich she had brought from home. She wasn’t hungry anymore and she went on foot to the bank, which was just two blocks far from the “Sweety Sweety”, where she had started working.

  As soon as she got into the large building and she turned up, she was taken to the director’s office.

  “Good morning”, she greeted him anxiously.

  “Miss Perks! Good morning to you! I’m sorry I had you run here, but I had the urgent need of talking with you about your account…According to the state of your finances, I think it would be better to close your account and to open another one fitting better to your needs. Don’t you think so?”, he affirmed in a honeyed voice.

  “I don’t know”.

  “We have the Platinum Account and we would be pleased if you accepted being part of the exclusive group which we keep just for a few clients. You would have a broker at your disposal and an up-to-date investment plan where you could choose…”

  “I’m sorry, but I don’t understand”, Leny interrupted him agitated.

  The director took a sheet of paper from his desk and handed it to her.

  “As you can see from this morning’s statement of your account, you should seriously think about my proposal. You know, this bank is like a family and you’re part of it”.

  Leny took the paper. There were all her data and the last ten movements on her account: the first eight were underlined in red, while the last two were revenues. The total amount was a seven-figure number!

  “There must be a mistake!”, Leny muttered shocked. With such an amount she could have a private
income for the rest of her life!

  “No mistake, we’ve already checked. You got two transfers for the same amount two days ago. One from Miss Emily Keys and the other from Mr. Christopher James Hailen”.

  “I…I don’t know what to say”.

  “Just tell me you’re going to join our family!”.

  “Of…of course”, Leny whispered thinking about something else. She had become very rich! She could buy a wonderful house for her mother and another one for herself, but above all she could leave at once for Los Angeles and join Chris.

  She was so lost in her thoughts she just agreed automatically to every word she heard, without really listening.

  When she went back to work, it was really late but luckily nobody was aware of that.

  She tried to call Los Angeles again that night but with no results.

  Tired for her sleepless night, she got up the next day in the bed she had shared with Chris and which still smelled of him and finished tidying the house before she started her working hours just before lunch.

  She was going to empty the last two boxes, when she heard her mobile ring.

  She run to answer.

  “Miss Perks?”

  “Yes?”.

  “Hi! I’m Rob Till from Car You!”.

  “Good morning”, Leny answered hesitating, wondering what a car seller could have to do with her. Was it possible they knew about her new wealth and were trying to sell her a car?

  “Her cousin Emily Keys came here a few days ago. She told us about the problems you had with your car and she asked us to find a solution. Would you be so kind as to come and see us in a short time to consider the proposal we made?”.

  Leny left everything in mid-air again and took the first bus to town.

  When she got to the car shop, she saw three workers polishing very carefully a bottle-green Mini whose interiors were very precisely defined.

  “Do you like it?”, a bold man asked her approaching.

  “What?”, she asked confused.

  “The Mini you’re looking at. Do you like it”.

  “Yes, of course”, she answered politely. The car was very beautiful, but it looked also very expensive.

  “Just think it’s the top of the series. Full optional. Excellent performances and it’ll never lose its value with time! Without considering the designer interiors, made more beautiful for the client as requested. This is not a car but a living room, missis”.

  “I’m sure of that”.

  “Oh, sorry. I haven’t introduced myself. My name is Rob Till and you must be Miss Leny Perks, mustn’t you?”.

  “Exactly”.

  “I’m really pleased to meet you. Your cousin talked so much about you”.

  “We’re very fond of each other”.

  “I can see. She asked the best for you. Miss Keys is a real car expert and she was very careful and precise about what she wanted to get for you”.

  “Emily?”.

  “Yes, after a long negotiation, she chose this Mini for you. What do you think about it?”.

  Leny was speechless. Her cousin had chosen a car for her. That’s why she had put all that money on her account!

  “It’s wonderful! How much does it cost?”.

  “Ahahaha! You mustn’t worry about that. Your cousin paid three days ago”.

  Even that!

  “I…I don’t know what to say!”.

  “Just say you like it and you’ll take it. The car is already insured and prepared at the best. It’s yours!”, he smiled handing her the remote-control.

  “The key?”.

  “You just have to press a button”.

  As if brain-washed, Leny thanked and said goodbye to the car shop’s owner. She pressed the ON button and left with her new car smelling mint and leather.

  She was suddenly rich, with a wonderful car, a house and a job!

  Only Chris was missing. The most important part to make her happiness complete.

  What was the use of all that wealth if she couldn’t enjoy it?

  She looked at herself in the car mirror: she had deep eye sockets.

  If she couldn’t sleep before because of her work and money problems, now she couldn’t close her eyes because her body was always looking spasmodically for Chris’s warmth next to her and her heart was trembling with the cold of loneliness.

  She could sometimes fall asleep in the morning for a short while and she got up on Chris’s side of the bed, holding his pillow tight.

  She missed him a lot however and hearing the answering machine every time she called him, made her fall into the abyss.

  Why couldn’t Chris forgive her and understand the reason why she had decided not to follow him to Los Angeles?

  Some other days passed by and she decided it was time to face Chris.

  She asked his employer a three days’ leave for a family emergency, but the answer wasn’t very good: “You’ve just arrived and, if that’s your way of engaging you at work, that means you’re not suitable for our firm. If you want to go, do as you like, but don’t think about coming back”.

  Disappointed and shuttered, she went to see her mother, who had invited her for lunch.

  “I don’t understand. You lived in town before and you came here every day. You’re living at Chris’s now, just opposite and you never come even to say hello”, her mother received her, hurt.

  “Sorry, mum, but I’ve had some problems”, Leny answered sorrowful.

  “What problems? I know you have a job, a new car and a home, from where Chris will never drive you away”.

  “It’s not just that…”, how could she explain to her that the man she loved was far from her?

  “So it’s love problems!”, her mother suggested with a triumphant glance after she saw her daughter’s expression at her words.

  “I don’t feel like talking about that”, Leny put it short, moving back to the door.

  “Leny, why don’t you open your heart to me?”.

  “It’s not easy”.

  “You are in love”, Claire noticed sweetly.

  Leny nodded trying to control the pain which was coming out, but as soon as her mother hugged her softly, brushing her hair, she felt tears run down her face without control.

  “He loves you too. I’m sure of that”, her mother comforted her.

  “Yes, but he is so far away and I…”, Leny tried to explain between sobs.

  “He’ll come back, you’ll see. I’ll come back soon. I’m sure he’s suffering like you at the moment”.

  “I don’t know. We’ve quarreled”.

  “Quarrelling sometimes is normal. The important thing in finding the way to make peace and go towards each other”.

  “He doesn’t even answer the phone”.

  “So go to him”.

  “I don’t know if he still wants me”, she confessed, feeling she was going to die when she said those words.

  “I’m sure he does. If your love has survived all these years of separation, I’m sure it’ll last this time as well”.

  Leny kept silent, confused by her mother’s sentence.

  “Leny, believe me, you and Chris are doomed to be together forever”.

  How could her mother know they were talking about him?

  She lifted her eyes stupefied and stared at her.

  “My little girl, do you know that staring at me is useless? I’ve always known what was going on between you and Chris. I’m your mum, do you remember? Do you think I haven’t understood what has happened between you two?”.

  “Mum, I thought…”.

  “Leny, you spent all your childhood and adolescence looking for Chris like your oxygen! You were always so insecure and shy, but when he was with you, you woke up and always had a smile on your lips. And Chris has always treated you like a princess or a delicate flower. Emily was important for him too, but there was nothing like the worship he showed for you. You’ve always been inseparable and when he left, Leny, you fell into depression. You haven’t smile
d for months and even later you went through period of happiness or depression. You don’t know how much I’ve worried about that, but Arthur always told me that, as soon as Chris came back, you would become again the happy Leny you had always been…and so it was! It’s a pity that there has always been between you and Chris something which kept you apart”.

  “What?”.

  “Fear. Yes, the fear of losing each other’s love during separation. It’s evident from the way he looked at you that Chris is madly in love with you, but I noticed a deeper insecurity on his part than in the past, while you were often showing uneasiness and shyness for what you felt for him”.

  “I didn’t think it was so evident”.

  “Leny, you were like two heart-shaped neon lights, flashing every time you were close! Only someone stupid wouldn’t have noticed it”, Claire exclaimed amused, making her daughter blush deeply.

  Luckily Leny’s mobile rang, rescuing her from uneasiness.

  It was Emily.

  “Oh, my God. Emily, at last! Have you got a hazy idea of how many messages I’ve left on your answering machine or to your agent?.

  “Marens is a bastard. She told me nothing about it and I think she deleted your messages. But don’t worry, I’ve just sacked her”.

  “I’ve been trying to get in touch with you and Chris for days! I wished to thank you for the car…”.

  “Do you like it? I had asked for a Lamborghini actually, but then the guy made me notice that a twenty-three years old girl could find driving a race car too difficult, so I chose a Mini at last”.

  “Thanks. It’s fantastic! I don’t know how to thank you… For the transfer too! The bank director himself had me called”.

  “I could have bet about it. When someone has a lot of money, he becomes suddenly a special client. They are all great ass-kissers!”.

  “Well, thanks for everything”.

  She wished she could add something else, but she heard Emily on the other end of the line, quarrelling with someone about some scene costumes.

  “Leny, I’m sorry but we’re in a complete mess. An idiot has dropped coffee on the dress I should have worn to go on with the scene we were shooting. Stupid idiot!”.

  “I don’t want to bother you anymore, but please, just tell me how is Chris. I’ve been trying to look for him, but it was useless. I need to talk with him, to explain…”.