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motherpsyduck · 7 years

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House Guest

Chapter 10: Sunshine in Vinewood

A shiny, black sedan pulls into the side of the country road. You hear a heavy door shut close by and look up from staring across the Alamo Sea. You turn to see Michael walking toward you. He gives you a brief wave and a short smile. You approach him. He’s wearing his grey suit and removes his aviators when he reaches you.

“Having fun?” Michael remarks as he glances at the stones in your palm. You toss them to the ground and shrug.

“Just passing the time, thanks for coming to pick me up by the way. I would’ve got a cab.” You say sheepishly.

“Cabs are expensive, anyway I don’t mind. C’mon. You don’t wanna be late for your official first day.” Michael ushers you to the car and you slide into the passenger side. You watch as Michael gets in next to you and starts up the car. The rock radio station begins playing and you apply your seatbelt enjoying the music.

You rest your cheek on your hand as your arm’s propped up against the passenger door. You watch the beautiful scenery of the desert slip away as Michael guides the car onto the freeway.

“What did you think of the redneck country?” Michael pipes up, snapping you out of your thoughts. You turn to him and sigh.

“It was nice while it lasted.” You admit.

“Really?” Michael laughs. “I guess the scenery isn’t half bad but the rest of it? There’s nothing fucking out here Y/N!”

“I liked it. It was calming; don’t get me wrong, the city is great too. It’s just nice to see some of the country too though.”

“You can’t expect me to believe you came all the way out here, to the fucking desert, for the scenery.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” You ask annoyed.

“C’mon baby! I know you weren’t out here for the view.” Your eyes could burn holes into the side of Michael’s face. He keeps his eyes on the road trying to find the best way to battle the traffic.

“How the fuck would you know? You weren’t there.” You’re offended. How can he make assumptions? The assumptions were right on the money, but still, Michael hardly knows you.

“I saw the way Trevor looked at you when he met you. I just hope he didn’t force himself on you.” Michael was dancing around the suggestion that he knew you slept with Trevor.

“He didn’t! I wouldn’t let him, or anyone for that matter, and anyway, what the fuck has it got to do with you?” Your cheeks are beginning to burn with slight embarrassment and fury.

“Nothing. I just know what he’s like that’s all. He’s a fucking psycho.” Michael stated the obvious.

“I know!” You hate being lectured, especially by someone you barely knew. The car you sat in snailed along in the traffic on the freeway, and Michael was able to face you now without the danger of distracting himself and crashing the car.

“You knew that? And you still... y’know” Michael’s baby blue eyes were piercing you with his disappointed dad frown.

“I slept with him, yes, it’s not that hard to say Michael. I’m a big girl. I can make my own decisions.”

“...Mistakes.” Michael said under his breath. You heard him. He sighed as he grew agitated at the traffic that was inching only slightly forward.

“I’ll be the judge of that!” You said sternly and watched as Michael clenched his sharp jaw. Why does he give a damn?

After a painful thirty minutes or so of being stuck in Los Santos traffic with Michael, you finally arrive at the De Santa’s residence. Once Michael removes the keys from the ignition, you quickly emerge from the car and march inside to shower, dress yourself in a change of clothes and grab your rucksack full of your stuff for class. You’re making your way down the staircase and pull your phone from your pocket and text Tracey:

“Hey Trace. I’m home. About to head to class, you going today?” You walk out the front door in a huff and seconds after you hit send, you bump into Jimmy who was walking up to the house from the driveway.

“Woah! Sorry Y/N.” Jimmy brushed his hand accidentally across your bust in the scuffle. He wasn’t looking where he was going either. “I did not mean to...” Jimmy was pointing awkwardly at your bust and trying not to look directly at it.

“Christ! What is with the De Santa men today?!” You spit through your teeth, taking your frustration out on Jimmy. Jimmy just looks at you with his wide, grey eyes, surprised at your outburst and also deeply saddened he’s offended you.

“Sorry, Jimmy. It’s fine, it’s my fault. I wasn’t looking where I was going.” You say with a laugh to reassure him you believe it was a complete accident. Jimmy’s face softens with your more relaxed attitude.

“It’s cool yo.” Jimmy smiles warmly at you accepting the apology. “You... uh finally heading to class then?” Jimmy studies your backpack.

“Yeah, I thought: may as well, while I’m here.” You joke. Jimmy makes a short laugh.

“So where’ve you been? You were gone most of the night again.” Jimmy was curious and a little concerned.

“I.. uh went exploring.” You nodded to try and seem honest. It wasn’t the full truth but it wasn’t a lie either.

“All night? Where?”

“The desert.”

“... Were you with my Uncle Trevor?”

“So what if I was?” You say defensively.

“Hey,” Jimmy raised his palms as he walked around you to the porch. “I ain’t judging. You do you boo.” Jimmy pointed his index fingers up to you before turning around to enter his home. You shake your head and laugh at the strange encounter and feel a buzzing from your pocket. It’s a reply from Tracey:

“Hey! Y/N where’ve you been?? Yeah I’m going today. Wanna meet up somewhere first? I’m dying for a skinny latte! Do you know where Bean Machine is? It’s not far from the house. I’ll meet you there!”

You open your map application on your phone and type in ‘Bean Machine Rockford Hills’. It’s a very short walk from the De Santa house and takes all of five minutes.

You take a seat at an empty table outside of the Bean Machine cafe and scroll through your social media. You didn’t expect Tracey to be on time anyway, but fifteen minutes go by and you’re starting to get annoyed. You sip at your beverage and continue to wait for Tracey to show. You’re fed up of looking at the screen in your hand and instead shove it into your pocket to start people watching. You lean back in the chair and bask in the sunbeams that warm your skin. You relax your shoulders into the seat and face your head up to the sky to soak in the heat. Your attention is soon drawn on the road to your right from the roar of a muscle car. You recognise a long, white car park itself outside the Bean Machine and watch as the driver emerges. Sure enough it’s Franklin, you’d recognise that brooding face anywhere. He’s wearing a green backwards cap, a grey zip up hoodie with a black t-shirt underneath, some basketball shorts and bright white sneakers. You catch his eye as he walks up to the coffee shop and he stops to greet you.

“Hey, Y/N init?” Franklin smiles as he approaches your table.

“Yeah.” You smile up at him. “How’s it going Franklin?”

“Good, y’know. Survivin’. How’s Trace doin’?”

“Why don’t you ask her yourself? She’s meeting me here.” You check your clock on your smartphone. “Well, she was supposed to be here by now, but it’s Tracey so...” You shrug.

“Yeah I know what you mean dog.” Franklin laughs. “Imma gon’ get me a coffee, you want something?”

“No thanks. I’m set.” You hold your fairly full to-go cup up to Franklin. He nods and pulls the glass door to the establishment to go inside. You wait for Franklin to return and receive another text from Tracey:

“Soo sorry Y/N! I’m gonna be late, order me a skinny latte? Thanks *kiss face emoji*”

You sigh and roll your eyes, then stand, pull your backpack on your shoulder and join the small queue inside the coffee shop. The place was well lit and smelled strongly and unsurprisingly of coffee beans. The glass display cases that held snacks of cookies, muffins and slices of cake were almost nonexistent from how buffed and clean they were. Long brass ceiling lights hung down above small couches that huddled around dark wooden coffee tables. Clinking noises of cups from the staff clearing tables and stirring of spoons can be heard throughout. Franklin turns as he notices you lining up behind him. His cologne was strong but pleasant.

“Thought you said you was cool?” He said over his muscular shoulder.

“I was. Tracey asked me to order for her.” You wave your phone in your hand to Franklin and sigh with annoyance.

“I’ll get it. What she havin’?”

“You sure?” You reposition your backpack on your shoulder sheepishly.

“Yeah, I’m here in line ain’t I? No point in the both of us waitin’.”

“Ok, thanks Frank. She said she wanted a skinny latte.”

“A’ight.” Franklin nods and smiles and you reciprocate the gesture then return to your table outside. You sip at your drink for a few minutes then Franklin pulls up a chair and joins you. He places his glass cup of tea and Tracey’s to-go cup on the wooden table. You watch as Franklin takes a mouthful from the glass teacup. He notices you staring at him.

“The fuck you lookin’ at?” Franklin asks after swallowing.

“Nothing, I just didn’t take you for the tea drinking type.” You say intrigued. It was cute seeing a small teacup in Franklin’s large hands.

“Whatever man.” Franklin shrugs off your words and continues to enjoy his tea. You smile at him then watch passersby’s with Franklin in silence for a few minutes.

“Yo neck still ain’t healed.” You suddenly become self conscious. Your hands grab and rub your neck.

“What?” You’re confused as to what Franklin was referring to.

“Either you been fallin’ on yo neck a bunch of times, or I’m thinkin’ those are from someone’s mouth.” Franklin pointed at several spots on your neck and your face warms up. Trevor’s love bites must have began to show up on your skin. He takes another glug of his cup of tea watching your fondle your neck. Franklin’s teacup is placed back down as he leans in on his elbows on the table. “Daym girl. You’re new to LS and after like-three days, you been gettin' some? Respect. You ain’t waitin’ around for no one huh?”

“Oh god! Are they really noticeable?” You feel around for the areas on your neck and try to see them in your reflection in your phone screen.

“Nah man. I’m just playin’.” Franklin watched with a half smile as he took another sip of his tea. “... So that night you helped me and Lamar with them Ballas, I take it that weren’t no bruise from a fall neither?”

“No.” You didn’t really want to elaborate. You opened your front facing camera on your phone to try and see the purple marks on your skin. Franklin’s face dropped as he noticed your one word answer.

“Did Trevor... jump you?” Franklin’s expression was sympathetic as he expected the worst. You lowered your phone and made eye contact with Franklin’s glistening brown eyes.

“No, I told him to.”

“You told T to give you that on yo neck? So you into freaky dudes like Trevor?” Franklin smiles as he learns more about you. He had his first impressions of you too.

“That night, I told Trevor to act like we were doing stuff up against the wall next to where the Ballas deal was going down. We were just about to get caught and that’s the first thing I could think of to look inconspicuous.” You fold your arms on the table in front of you.

“What kind of stuff?” Franklin flirted as he took another sip of his tea. You watched him bring it to his thick lips. The golden liquid sparkled in the sunshine as it splashed in the cup. Your grin pulled up on one side of your mouth and your gaze was now fixed on the table as you thumbed at your phone.

“Hmm, where is Tracey?” You mumble to yourself to try and change the subject. Franklin is aware you’ve avoided his question because you’ve gone shy and decides not to keep going. Your cheeks flush red as you try not to look him in the eye.

“Girl’s latte is getting cold.” Franklin adds. You nod at him and then your eyes are back to watching people rushing and speaking on their phones as they pass the Bean Machine. After a few minutes of sitting in relaxed silence, Tracey pulls up in her orange Weeny Issi. The two of you are startled slightly by her excessive use of her car horn.

“Hey! Y/N you ready?” Tracey waves from her convertible. It’s such a warm and beautiful day that she has an excuse to drive with the roof down.

“Yeah, I’ll be there in a sec Trace!” You try to shout over her blearing music from her car radio.

“Hurry up! We’re super late!”

“And whose fault is that?” You spit back with some frustration as you stand. Franklin does a small laugh from your last comment and finishes his cup of tea. He begins to leave too and walks you to Tracey’s car.

“Bye Franklin. Thanks for getting her coffee.” You hold Tracey’s coffee cup up to him then you leave Franklin’s side.

“It’s cool, see ya Y/N.” Franklin replies with a kind smile, then he inhales through his nose as he spots Tracey; he’s readying himself for her overwhelming energy. Tracey removes her sunglasses so they sit on the top of her head and turns her radio down so you don’t have to scream at each other over the music.

“Oh my gosh! Franklin? Hey! What are you up to tonight?” You’re close enough to pass Tracey her now lukewarm latte. She accepts it then proceeds to ignore you and focuses on Franklin.

“I got plans tonight Trace.” Franklin lies; he doesn’t want a repeat of their last date and decides to keep his distance from Tracey. You walk around to the passenger side of the car with what’s left of your coffee in your hand. You dump your backpack into the backseat and sit next to Tracey in the front passenger seat.

“That’s fine; I’ve got plans too... Me and Y/N and some others are going out to a club, just thought you’d wanna join us.”

“We are?” You ask Tracey not knowing anything about the event she mentioned.

“Nah I’m good. Have fun!” Franklin says with a smirk aimed at you. You shrug your shoulders and make a ‘I don’t know’ expression with your face. Tracey gives Franklin a wave goodbye with her coffee in her hand as she pulls away from the curb.

You wave to Franklin as Tracey speeds off. She turns her car radio up again at a deafening volume. You watch in the wing mirror as Franklin raises his hand to casually give one flick from his wrist to wave. Once you and Tracey are out of sight Franklin leaves too.

Class drags on and you find yourself sitting there waiting for the time to be up so you can leave and enjoy the sunshine. You try to listen to the Professor but all you can focus on is Tracey’s tapping noise from texting beside you. You glance at her screen to see if she was maybe making notes in her phone of the class, nope, she wasn’t. Her thumbs flicked across the screen texting multiple contacts at once. You assume she’s trying to arrange the outing for tonight that she mentioned to Franklin earlier.

“Hey Trace” You whisper over to Tracey sat next to you. “What we doing after class?” You were about to suggest exploring the city or maybe heading to the beach.

“Dad’s asked me to pick some lunch up for him and drop it off at his work. You can come with if you like.” Tracey whispers back. You see a couple students turn their heads at the two of you and give you a look to say shut the fuck up.

“Cool. Where’s that?”

“It’s the movie studio; it’s not far from the Pier.”

“Oh yeah, you’re Dad is a big shot, Vinewood producer.” You chuckle softly at your inside joke.

“Yah... he loves his movies.” Tracey added looking over to you with squinted eyes not understanding what you found so funny. She pockets her phone and closes the lid to her laptop and begins to stand. You give a glimpse around the room and notice all the other students are packing up their stuff to leave too. You didn’t even notice class was over. What did I learn today? You happily lift your backpack from between your feet and pack your notepad, pencil case and text books into your bag then secure the zip. You managed to jot down a few notes during the lesson but were mostly distracted and daydreaming about exploring more of what Los Santos has to offer.

You follow close behind Tracey as she descends the stairs of the lecture hall and the two of you spill out into the corridor with the rest of the students. You separate yourselves from the others and walk together to her car she’s parked across the street from the campus. You dump your backpack in the boot of her Weeny convertible then slide yourself into the passenger seat and quickly turn off the radio before Tracey sits inside too.

After picking up a sub sandwich personally requested by Michael and a late lunch for yourselves, Tracey drives you to the movie studio in Backlot City. She finds a space in the lot near some stairs to a building and the both of you exit the car. Tracey expects you to keep walking with her to the entrance but you can’t help but take in the place. You’re stood on an actual movie set. This is so cool! You watch a few people wearing headsets dart pass with scripts in their hands and some of them scurry towards small domed trailers. You spot an actor in a costume in the distance and try to focus on it to identify what it was he was dressed as. Is that an alien?

“Y/N, c’mon! I don’t wanna be here all day!” Tracey whined. You sigh and jog towards her. You catch up with Tracey as she leads you up the stairs and inside the building to the offices.

Tracey stops at a door with a metal name plate. It reads “M. De Santa”. You stand by her side as she knocks before opening the door. As you enter you study the interior of Michael’s office. It’s a decent size. The floor is a dark, stained wood and matching half the surrounding walls. Above the wood panelling on the walls, the wallpaper is a dull cream making the emerald green rug on the floor pop. You spot a tall producer’s chair in the far corner of the room near the windows covered in coffee coloured, venetian blinds. Your eyes find Michael; he’s typing away on his laptop behind his large desk and a framed poster of the movie Meltdown hung behind him on the wall, as well as a few other posters of assumedly Michael’s favourite movies. Michael stands when he hears Tracey’s voice and you enter the room shortly after her.

“Hey Dad, we brought your lunch you wanted.” Tracey approached Michael as he made his way around from the heavy looking, antique desk. She placed the sub sandwich on Michael’s desk and embraced him.

“Hey Trace! Thanks.” Michael kissed Tracey on her head as she held him. As he pulled away he made eye contact with you and you smiled politely at him. “How was class?” Michael asked the two of you but kept his blue eyes on you.

“It was fine Dad. Can we go now?”

“What? You don’t want a tour of the place?” Michael laughed.

“Dad, unless you have some hot new actors, we don’t want to see some boring old movie set.” Tracey declined. You watch Michael roll his eyes at her.

“Speak for yourself!” You laugh and admit a bit too loudly. Tracey gives you a fierce frown and Michael beams with delight from behind her. You’re forced to continue.

“I mean, I wouldn’t mind looking around. I’ve never been on a movie set...” You say quieter than before.

“Fine. I’ve seen it before anyway. I’ll be at home.” You stumble to one side so Tracey doesn’t walk into you, as she’s tapping her phone and doesn’t watch where she’s walking. You watch as she closes the door behind her harshly. You turn back to Michael showing your teeth in an awkward expression at Tracey’s attitude and tap at the sides of your legs to fill the harsh silence. Michael just watches you and waits for you to speak.

“Do you have the time to give tours? Being a Vinewood producer and stuff?” You finally ask.

“Not really, but Solomon won’t mind.” Michael leans on his desk behind him and starts to remove the wrapping on his sandwich.

“Are you sure? I can catch up with Tracey, I don’t want to get you in trouble with your boss.”

“Y/N it’s fine I-” Michael is interrupted from his door opening and in steps an older man with white receding hair and wearing a suit with a loose tie around his neck.

“Oh, excuse me. Sorry Michael, I didn’t know you were busy.” You lock eyes with this man and give him a polite smile.

“It’s ok Solomon, this is Y/N she’s a-” Michael begins introducing you but is quickly cut off.

“-a beauty, I’ll tell you that much!” Solomon reaches his hand out to shake yours. You politely accept and grasp at his handshake at him. “So what you doing here sweetheart? Come to audition?” Solomon’s rough hand let’s go of yours.

“Uh, no.” You blush and give him an uncomfortable smile. “I’m just here to see Michael.”

“Oh.... OH I see.” Solomon flashes Michael a small, half smile then looks you up and down. “I’ll leave you to it then.” The older man leaves Michael’s office and turns back for a second to tap the side of his nose with his index finger. Then he closes the door behind him.

You’re still wearing your frown and are confused by the interaction so purse your lips as if you’re about to say something but can’t find any words. You turn to Michael for an explanation and he just shrugs and chuckles with a shake of his head. You have a feeling Michael knew what Solomon was implying because you knew what Solomon was implying; he assumed you were visiting Michael without his wife knowing, in other words an affair. So, then why didn’t Michael interject at the assumption?

“So you still want that tour?” asks pointing his sandwich in his hand to the door. You watch Michael grab his suit jacket that was hanging off his chair behind his desk and hold it over his shoulder with his middle and index finger. That little interaction with Solomon massaged his ego real good. You watch him as he walked by you and open the door to his office again. He smells so clean and his aftershave lingers in your nose. He takes a bite off the end of his fat sub sandwich and motions with a jerk from his head that the tour of the movie set is about to start. You do as you’re told and follow him out the door. Michael will be your close, personal tour guide.

- [<-CH9] [CH11->] [<-CH1]

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