Lucky Star: A Hollywood Love Story Read Free

see if I could provide any extra insight into what the director said after he left. Whatever it was, he’d become fully attuned to me, at what I had to say. Maybe that’s why I kept on talking. I shouldn’t have. Really, really shouldn’t have, but when a gorgeous guy – no, scratch that, a good guy – paid attention to every word that left your mouth, that could be a pretty powerful thing.
    “My friend said your instincts about who the character is and how to approach his backstory was better for the role than some other interpretations they saw today. You were right; he can’t be so one-dimensional. The way the director is playing it though is the safe bet.”
    I should have shut up after that. It wasn’t my place to contradict what a director wanted to do with his movie, and if word got back to Broderick I was bad-mouthing his colleague I’d be in so much trouble. But something about Cameron, about the way he’d always treated everyone around him, about the way he always appeared so unfailingly kind, made me want to take that chance.
    “Look. I know it sucks and you probably don’t care what I have to say, but they’re going to make a movie critics won’t like and you’ll be saved from being the actor who’s at fault.”
    I couldn’t say at what point during our conversation his stance had gone from weary to interested, but at some point I had put my bag down next to me and had joined him in leaning up against his truck. We talked for another 45 minutes about his bad luck with auditions and what I did for Broderick, and then to my utter astonishment we were on our way to get a coffee at a diner down the road.
    I know what you’re thinking. I even thought it myself: he was buttering me up because he thought I could help him. With anyone else that would have been the case, absolutely. But with Cameron? I didn’t think so. What I did think was that Cameron was too good for this ugly, superficial town. How had it not broken him yet, I wondered.
    By the time I finished my coffee, we’d stopped talking about work altogether and moved on to what life was like growing up in a small town in rural Ohio, then he’d asked me what I’d been like in high school, and finally we regaled each other with stories about the ridiculous situations we’d gotten ourselves into as only 21-year-olds could. Coffee turned into dinner and by the time we finished eating our meal, we’d spent several hours in each other’s company.
    He walked me to my car and, like a perfect gentleman, didn’t try to put the moves on me. I fully expected him to and maybe I wouldn’t have turned him down. No, that’s a lie. I definitely wouldn’t have turned him down. But he didn’t, so that was that. Instead, as I was pulling out of the parking lot, he approached my car and invited me to go hiking with him and a group of friends that Saturday.
    And that’s how we started hanging out.
    That hiking trip led to barbeques, which led to trips to the beach, and group outings to Disneyland. Have you ever been to Disneyland after dark when all the kids are gone? It’s so much fun. Don’t laugh, but I have a season pass. On this one particular day it was like 110 degrees out and we were on a mission to ride every single water ride because it was too hot to wait in line for anything else. It was about 7 p.m., the sun was still shining, and we’d already dried off from our last ride when we got in line for Splash Mountain. When it was our turn to load into the imitation log, I sat in front with Cameron positioned directly behind me. I know there’s nothing sexual about an amusement park ride, much less one at Disneyland, but when you find yourself firmly ensconced between your crush’s legs, your mind goes to a lot of different places. Let’s just say I was giddy.
    You should see the picture they took as we went down that last huge drop. I look like the biggest weenie, my eyes screwed shut and my mouth hanging open in a high-pitched squeal of