Usual Fanfiction Disclaimer Insert Here
A/N: Again, story is not complete. I am not sure when I'm posting the rest of the story. I have 11 chapters written, but I can change the other 9 at any time so I don't want to post it up. To any fans of the first story, please don't hate me.
Chapter 2
Olive Daphne Doyle wasn't fooled in the least by Chyna Park's blasé attitude about tonight. Chyna had relayed to her how Fletcher wasn't going to come watch with them tonight. The way Chyna had said the news, "Fletcher isn't coming tonight, so I guess tonight it's your turn to buy your popcorn," were delivered in such a care – free tone that anyone else would've assumed that Chyna wasn't bothered by it.
But Olive knew her friend well. She knew what tell – tale signs to look out for. She noticed Chyna's fidgeting, how she kept looking at her phone every minute, and how Chyna kept spacing out; it was hopeless trying to keep Chyna's attention on the conversation - Olive couldn't remember the last time she'd had to repeat herself this many times.
They were waiting outside the movie theater for Angus. The San Francisco sky was a hazy gray with mixes of sunlight here and there, though the patches of sunlight were giving way to the night sky. There wasn't a line for the movie yet since they were early, but slowly and surely more people arrived, in two's and then three's.
"So Chyna," Olive said in the loudest conversational voice she had, "it's about 6:45 right now. The movie starts at 7:30 and it lets out by 9. I'm thinking we can have a bite to eat before going home. What do you think of Bob's Burgers? Hello… hello?"
"Oh – sorry, Olive." Chyna was staring into space again. "Sure, Thai food sounds fine."
"Thai food?" A new voice joined the mix. "I'm not really in the mood for that. What about Bob's Burgers instead?"
"I like your thinking Angus!" Olive beamed at Angus; she was happy that someone was paying attention to her tonight.
Her friend smiled back, though it wasn't with the same enthusiasm as Olive. She looked into his sleepy, green eyes – she realized just then how much she had to look up to make eye contact with him – Angus had done a lot of growing up since the summer. He was now wider in the shoulders than he'd ever been in the belly, and he was taller – much, much taller. Fletcher had grown up a lot too, but between her two guy friends, Angus was definitely the taller one.
Olive felt her smile slip a bit. Her big friend always seemed tired as of late. She didn't know why – she'd always ask but he wouldn't tell her. She wanted to ask again, but she decided to keep that in the back of her mind for now; she'd talk with him about it again, eventually.
"So. Uhh – where's Fletcher?" Angus asked.
"Fletcher's not coming tonight." Chyna cut in before Olive could answer. "It means it's Olive's turn to buy the popcorn tonight."
"What? No way!" Angus protested. "I'll buy the popcorn tonight."
Olive inwardly gushed a little bit – it was pretty nice for him to volunteer. Chyna just shrugged as if to say it didn't matter either way, then stared off into space again.
Olive felt grateful. "Thanks, Angus."
Angus's tired eyes twinkled a little. "It's fine. I know you're saving up to buy that dress you wanted," he said in a whisper just for Olive.
Olive was impressed. "Oh, how sweet! You remembered! It was exactly 25 days ago since I talked to you about it!"
Angus just shrugged, smiled and mumbled, "Wasn't that long ago."
Olive could barely suppress a giggle. Angus was so red – faced; he looked positively cute. Olive was going to tease him on it when suddenly there was a commotion. A clamor of high squeals and shrieks was getting louder and louder – lots of footsteps thudded in their direction – Olive felt as if she should brace for an oncoming stampede –
A stranger in a tan trenchcoat and goofy sunglasses rushed straight up to them – or more specifically to Chyna. He grabbed Chyna by the shoulders and begged: "Chyna, please, whatever you do, get them off of me!"
Olive felt unsettled. She looked to Chyna – to see her reaction, but was surprised to see Chyna all smiles, looking completely at ease. Chyna actually knew the guy!
"I dunno," Chyna said mischievously, "what's in it for me?"
The stranger looked like he was sweating buckets as he thought about it, "I dunno. Tickets to the Oscars?"
"Nope."
"How about backstage passes to my next movie premiere?"
"Eh. I can probably get that myself."
"Ok, ok, fine! How about you and your friends," the man looked to Olive and Angus, "ride in my limo tonight. I'll take you anywhere you want!"
"Hmm. Ok fine, I guess it's a deal." Chyna relented.
"Thanks, Chyna! Uhm. Uhh – that's my cue to go." The man disappeared into the shadows in the corner behind them, right before a stampede of girls arrived onto the scene.
One of the girls, who couldn't have been more than thirteen, with a long neck and round glasses faced Chyna. "Oh hi, Miss. Did you happen to see Chad Dylan Cooper? We're big fans and we're trying to get his autograph. We spotted him right about there," the girl pointed in the distance, "and we think that he took off in this direction."
Chyna said, "Oh Chad Dylan Cooper? You mean the actor?"
Vigorous, excited nods and squeals answered in the affirmative.
"I can't honestly say. There was a guy who ran over in that direction," Chyna pointed, "wearing a trench coat and sunglasses. The usual celebrity disguise. That might've been him."
"Yea, that's him!" A pink – faced girl squealed. Immediately, she took off in the direction Chyna pointed at. The horde of girls followed suit. Well, half of them anyway. The other half stayed behind, staring curiously at Chyna.
One of the girls, with a long neck and frizzy hair asked, "Hey, uhh, if you don't mind me asking, are you Chyna Parks?"
It was the first time Chyna looked surprised all night. "Yea…that's right."
Enthusiastic murmurs rippled through the crowd of young girls.
"Oh my god!" A freckled girl said, "Just the other night, I saw a youtube video of you singing in Japan! You were really good!"
The long necked girl added, "Oh, you're that girl! I read on google that you signed with Nooby Records! You're cutting a record in LA right now. You're supposed to be releasing it this summer!"
"Um, yea. I didn't realize the word was out," Chyna said, surprised.
"It definitely is. Say, can we get your autograph?" The long necked girl asked.
"Yea, can we?" A random girl chimed in.
Soon, the whole group was asking for autographs.
Chyna looked taken back by the interest, but she eventually smiled and obliged. She spent a good 5 minutes giving autographs and taking pictures.
All the while, Chad Dylan Cooper had emerged from the shadows. He sulked while he stood next to Olive and Angus: "That's not fair," he said petulantly. "Those are my fans."
"Dude," Angus said. "Just a second ago you wanted to get away from them."
"Yep, Chad. Your words were, and I quote 'Chyna please, whatever you do, get them off of me.' It's nice to meet you by the way. I'm Olive. I'm a big fan!" Olive gushed.
"Oh thanks, Olive!" Chad had stopped sulking. A smile was back on his face. "I suppose you're going to want to take pictures and an autograph?"
"Oh yea, sure!" Olive smiled.
"Well, you're just in luck then – it just so happens that I'll be signing autographs and taking pictures with fans at the Nooby Fan Convention, on the 23rd! For only 25 bucks a pop! You heard it here first, Olive!" The smile wouldn't leave Chad's face as he walked off.
Angus made a face. "Exactly what do you see in that guy anyway?"
Chyna, Olive, Angus and the rest of the movie crowd filtered out into the halls, abuzz with gossip and remarks about the Random Falls movie they'd just seen. The halls filled with polarized opinions about the movie. About half the movie-goers thought that it was the worst movie they've seen to date, and the other had nothing but glowing reviews. Olive fell into the latter half.
"That movie, wasn't half bad!" Olive gushed. As the three of them walked to the parking lot, Olive hunkered down to a hillbilly impression of Chad: "Why howdy Penelope, isn't today the perfect day to act extra dramatic while wearing clown suits?"
It was the perfect impression of Chad's performance, but Angus only chuckled a little bit while Chyna just smiled humorlessly. Olive felt a little off put at her friends' subdued reactions.
"You guys didn't think it was funny? I thought it was hi – larious!"
"That's because it was a horrible impression. Sounded nothing like me at all," a voice remarked.
Chad Dylan Cooper had popped in out of nowhere. He had a different disguise on this time - he sported a very thick and bushy Italian – ish moustache, along with a black wig. The moustache looked obnoxiously large on his face. He wore a bright orange tee with the words Chad Rocks in front.
"Hey!" Olive cried out, offended.
Chyna spoke up. "No, Chad's right, Olive - "
Chad grinned. "See?"
" – Your delivery was an improvement. You should've been the one in the movie." Chyna said to Olive.
Chad made a face. "Singers shouldn't try and be comedians."
"Anyway," Olive changed the topic, "how do you guys know each other?"
"Chyna and I keep bumping into each other in LA," Chad explained.
Oh, that. Olive knew all about Chyna's trips to LA. Since Chyna signed with Nooby Records, Haru Toriyama's company over the summer, she had to make frequent appearances in LA – to attend lunches, meetings, to meet other Nooby clients, as well as agents, press, managers. She also had to make additional trips to cut records in the studio. Olive didn't know how Chyna was able to juggle trips between San Francisco and LA, attend high school, and still make time for her friends, like tonight.
"I see. It's nice to know Chyna's making friends in celebrity – land." Olive said. She looked to Chyna, who was no longer listening to the conversation. She was looking at her phone. She kept flipping it over and over again, as if waiting for something to magically appear on her phone.
Chad looked horrified. "I wouldn't say friends exactly. More like business contacts. You can never network enough in Hollyw- "
"Chad? Chad Dylan Cooper?" A familiar voice called.
"Well, no. I'm Antonio Giamatti – " Chad began in his horrendously fake Italian accent -
"Yep, you're definitely Chad all right. Only you could pull off an accent like that." Fletcher deadpanned.
"Why thanks!" Chad said, completely oblivious to Fletcher's insult. "I worked on this accent 7 days a week just trying to get it just right for my movie."
"Fletcher, you made it!" Chyna said brightly, then switched to a deadpan: "In time to miss the whole movie."
Fletcher was red in the face. He looked so guilty -
"Yea, sorry about that. I would've called, but I left my phone at Janice's. I didn't realize until it was too late. And then the dogs -!"
"It's fine." Chyna didn't let him finish. She made over to hug him, but then decided, "On second thought, maybe you should change your shirt first."
Back at Chad's limo were plenty of shirts for Fletcher to change into. He picked a green one – it was slightly baggy on Fletcher because Chad was a couple inches taller, and it was labeled in front, in big capital letters 'C D C.'
"So guys, what did I miss? Was the movie good at all?" Fletcher asked.
Olive was about to answer when Chyna cut in. "Yep! You missed a lot of funny stuff. Olive and I were laughing the whole time."
Olive began, "Actually, I was the only one who – "
"Anyway," Chyna cut in again, "you should keep that in mind next time you forget about a movie, Fletcher. Now we're going to have inside jokes for days and you're not going to understand any of it."
Fletcher looked guilty again. "Sorry, next time I won't forget. Um, how about you guys run the movie by me? Tell me the funny stuff."
Angus said, "What funny stuff?"
Chyna hit Angus over the head. "OW!"
The rest of the night went pretty quickly. The San Francisco traffic had been light and smooth. The limo was taking them home in record time. Olive was even able to convince Chad to take a detour to the Bob's Burgers drive thru on the way home. She was surprised at how little convincing it took – after watching him gorge on three burgers, though, she realized it was just because he was feening for the burgers just like everyone else.
To kill time, Fletcher had launched into his story about his trip to the movie theater – his tale was surprisingly entertaining, but very random. He talked of stray dogs, a case of mistaken identity with a celebrity, a run-in with a very unhappy clown, and other things. Chyna looked fascinated with the story. Her eyes got bigger and bigger with every word. Even Chad was listening in. He took out a notepad and kept muttering to himself about new movie ideas. Olive herself was intrigued as well.
Angus was the only one not paying attention at all. Olive took her attention off of Fletcher for a second to study her friend. He was looking out the window. It was obvious that he had tuned everybody out. His eyes looked very distant – it was as if he was staring at something far beyond the San Francisco scenery.
Olive couldn't resist scooting over to Angus's side of the limo bench. Very impulsively, she put her hand on his. The touch must've shocked Angus out of his daze, because he took his eyes off of the window and spun his head to Olive.
"Are you ok?" Olive asked.
Angus looked relaxed again – or was that his tired look? He just gave a small smile…and he said, very unconvincingly, "I'm fine. There's nothing to worry about." He took his hands out from underneath Olive's and stared at the window again.
The abrupt end to the conversation stung Olive a little, but she knew Angus enough that he wasn't going to tell her anymore if she pressed. So she left it at that.
It wasn't before long that the limo made its first stop at Fletcher's house. Fletcher stepped off of the limo and waved good night to everybody. Olive didn't miss how his eyes lingered a little longer at Chyna, and how Chyna had held eye contact in return.
Olive groaned inwardly. The extra long eye contact was so obvious. She felt like everybody in the car probably saw what just happened.
Unfortunately, she was right, because once the door was closed and the limo was off, Chad went into full – on paparazzi mode.
"What was that?" He said. He was talking clearly to Chyna.
Chyna only looked to him in clear confusion. "What was what?"
Chad had a very sly, all - knowing, half – smirk on his face. "Don't think I didn't notice how you two were making goo goo eyes at each other just now."
Chyna made a face. Olive could already feel the embarrassment coming off of Chyna in waves. She had to commend how quickly her friend regained composure though.
"Oh that? We were just saying goodbye, that's all." Chyna laughed, after a moment.
"That was more than just a goodbye. You guys were staring at each other so long that I thought Fetcher was never going to close the door."
"His name is Fletcher." Chyna said in clipped tones.
"Sorry, sorry! I didn't mean to get your boyfriend's name wrong."
"He's not my boyfriend!"
"Oh, I see what's going on. It's like episode #453 – 530 of the Falls. " Chad looked like a light bulb had turned on behind his eyes. "Mackenzie and Jasmine were friends for like a really long time before realizing that they were both in love with each other." Chad drew out an exaggerated sigh.
"Fletcher has a girlfriend – " Olive tried to explain.
"Oh, now that's a plot twist I didn't see!" Chad did not miss a beat. He looked like he was absolutely enjoying this. "So we're jumping ahead to episode 620 then, almost right before Mackenzie Falls ended for good. A love triangle. And you're the odd one out! So what's the name of the girl you lost Fletcher to?"
Chyna was positively fuming now. Olive could practically see the smoke coming out of her ears. It was time for her to step in.
"Chad," Olive said in her sternest voice. "I think you'd better back off a little."
Chad put his hands up in mock surrender. He took out his ipod. He was putting on his earphones now. "Sorry, I didn't know this was a sensitive topic. Sorry," he said again, although he clearly didn't sound sorry at all.
Olive turned to her best friend. "Are you ok?"
Chyna gave her a reassuring smile. "I'm fine. It takes more than a has been celebrity to get on my nerves."
Chad took his earphones out. "What was that, Chyna?" Chad called.
"Nothing!" Chyna sang.
"That was not nothing!"
D'oy. The rest of this ride is going to feel like forever, Olive thought.
And so singer and actor bickered at each other for the rest of the limo ride. By the time the limo had reached Chyna's house, Chyna was seething openly with arms crossed. Chad on the other hand, had his earbuds on. He'd shut himself off to his favorite music, all the while muttering to himself about ungrateful passengers.
When Chyna closed the door behind her, however, Chad was back to a chipper mood.
"This is so great!" Chad exclaimed, pumping his fists in victory. "I'm going to have so much fun taunting her about this at all the celebrity get - togethers!" Chad looked like he had found the secret to nirvana.
"How old are you again?" Olive had to ask. It seemed a little silly that he would take such enjoyment out of taunting someone half his age.
Suddenly, Chad looked very defensive. "Why does it matter?"
Angus whipped out the Ant Pad. "Hold on, I'll look it up," he said. The search only took a few seconds. And then Angus did something Olive wasn't expecting - he laughed. "Oh this can't be right! Wikipedia is such a lie! Hold on, let me try IMDB…"
Chad, annoyed, snatched the Ant Pad from Angus. He looked at the info. He exclaimed, "This is right! I'm 23."
"Wow dude! You're really 23? It's called acting your age!" Angus laughed some more, while Chad just sat there and sulked.
Olive smiled at the sight of a jolly Angus. She didn't think he'd make an appearance tonight.