January182012

Chapter 13

There was silence in the room. Then all of a sudden everybody started laughing at her.
Phred came up to her and said ‘Babe, you really just found out?’
‘Yea! I mean…’ Alyssa didn’t know to defend herself but had to laugh as well.
‘I mean, it’s not that obvious, huh?!’ Phil said jokingly.
‘Guys, c’mon. Stop making fun of me!’ Aly begged. ‘You are just the cutest, girl!’ Phred laughed. ‘How can somebody be so confused as you all the time?’ Jam said.
Aly just shrugged her shoulders and took a look at Bruno. He was just sitting there smiling at her. They didn’t talk about it any more and started working again. One Hooligan after the other left the studio until it was down to Phred, Phil, Bruno and Alyssa.
Phredley sat next to her ‘So.. you got plans for tonight?’ She didn’t know what to reply to him and just stared. ‘Um? You lost your voice?’ Phred was kinda confused.
‘Well, yea. No. Kinda. I don’t know.’ Alyssa said fast. ‘If you decided, just text me!’ Phred said, kissed her cheek and went home.
Bruno and Phil were looking at her. ‘What?’she asked. ‘Um, nothing…’
‘Well, guys’ Phil said ‘I gotta run. Need to buy a gift for my babe. It’s her birthday on friday!’ he explained to Alyssa. ‘You remember the party, right bro?’ Bruno nodded.
They said goodbye and  Bruno and Aly were alone.
Talking about the new songs, listening to new tunes.
Finally she went up to him and stood next to him, while he was sitting in his big officechair.
He turned around ‘You still like me?’.
‘Bruno, I like you for WHO you are not for WHAT you are.’ she said all serious.
He pulled her towards him and she sat on his lap and tried to kiss her but she turned away.
‘What’s wrong, Aly?’ Bruno was confused. ‘It’s just… you know… I can’t do that right now.’
Alyssa got up, took her stuff and walked to the door.
‘Wait!’ Bruno jumped out of his chair and stood in front of the door, so she couldn’t get out.
‘What is your problem? Explain it to me!’
She looked down to the floor. ‘My last relationship was…well, not so good. And before I can start something new I have to get over that first…and I think that will take a while. I am sorry.’ she said while she was tearing up. She pushed him a little to the side and walked out the door.

When Alyssa arrived home she was paralyzed. In front of her door was a man sitting on the floor. ‘Hey, babe!’ he got up. ‘What..what are you doing here?’ she couldn’t believe her eyes.
‘I miss you so much baby. I needed to see you! You have to come back to me!’ He tried to touch her but she moved away. ‘I don’t wanna see you Jake! Please go!’ Aly said.
‘No! Let’s talk, please!’ he begged. While he was so close she noticed that he smelled like vodka. He was totally drunk. She got scared.
Alyssa walked past him towards her door opened it, got in and closed it as soon as possible.
But he put his foot between the door and the doorway. ‘Let me in, Aly!’ his voice got louder.
Alyssa started sweating and yelled at him ‘No! Go away!! I don’t wanna see you!’
‘Hey! Dude!! What are you doing there?!?!’ she heard a males voice. Then the foot disappeared. She glanced through the door gap and saw Nick and Jake getting into a fight. She got out and yelled at them ‘Stop it guys!! Stop it!!!’ Nick punched Jake in his face so he started bleeding and feel down two steps. ‘You fucking idiot! I will get the cops on you!!’ Jake screamed and started to walk down the stairs after he got up.
Alyssa started crying. Nick turned around and huged her real tight.
They got inside and Nick made her a hot cup of tea.
‘Who was that? And what the hell did he want from you, Alyssa?’
She still weren’t able to talk. This whole situation brought back bad memories.
Suddenly there was a knock on the door. Nick got up and opened it. It was Bruno.
Great timing, she thought.
‘Where is Alyssa?’ Bruno asked totally confused seeing Nick. ‘Um, she is inside!’ Nick replied.
Bruno pushed Nick to the side and started saying really loud ‘So, that’s the reason why you can’t be with me? You fucking your-’ then he saw Alyssa curled up on the couch with her red eyes from crying. ‘Hun, oh my god, what’s wrong?’ he sat next to her and put her arm around her.
‘Okay, I’ll leave then. If you need anything… you know where you can find me! Nick said standing in the living room, feelin pretty uncomfortable.
‘Thank you.’ Alyssa replied quietly.
Nick left.

Bruno and her didn’t talk, they just sat there watching TV. And that was all she needed right now and he accepted that. He was just with her. Holding her in his arms. Stroking her hair. And kissing her head every now and then. She fell asleep.

The next morning they woke up together. Alyssa glanced at the clock and startled.
‘Brunz!! Get up! We overslept!! We need to run!’. Bruno slowly woke up and said ‘Babe, don’t worry. I texted Phil like an hour ago that we won’t come today. So, get back to sleep beautiful!’
She smiled. He was so caring.
‘And don’t worry, I will give you as much time as you need.’ he said that so lovely. He lounged back on the couch holding her like he would never ever let got of her.

January102012

Chapter 11

‘No, no, no Aly! That’s bullshit! Rachel said.
A few days have gone by and Alyssa hadn’t heard anything from Bruno. But luckily Rachel got back from her trip. The girls were sitting on a bench on Venice Beach and watching the guys skateboarding.
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Alyssa turned to Rachel. ‘What is bullshit?” ‘Well, first of all that you didn’t call me. But I will forgive you.’ She smiled. Alyssa gave her a look. ‘Okay, seriously, it’s bullshit that the girl kissed him at club, but you have no idea how that happened. You don’t know if he kissed her back or if he started it. And if you think he started it, that’s bullshit as well!’ Rachel was really serious about that. ‘Wanna know what else is bullshit?’ Aly gave her a look and said ‘Is that your new favourite word?’ ‘Shush!’ Rachel put her pointer finger in front of her lips. ‘Bullshit is to stay mad at him forever and not talking to him. I mean, how old are you? Don’t be so childish!’ Aly is looking at her with big eyes ‘Wow! Why are you so aggressive? What’s wrong?’ ‘Sorry girly,’ Rachel sat back down on the bench after walking up and down in front of Alyssa ‘But, I don’t know. That’s just the truth. Maybe you guys should start all over again.’ Aly got up. ‘You are right. All of that is ridiculous! It’s.. it’s just…’ ‘Bullshit?!’ Rachel said sarcasticly. They started laughing. ‘Let’s get some food girl, I’m starving! And then we’ll text him. Something not so weird as the last time.’ Rachel got up and put her arm around Aly’s shoulders. They went and got some grilled cheese and ice-cream.
Then they texted Bruno.

Bruno was working hard the last days. Always trying to avoid meeting Alyssa in the studio.
He really regreted what he did and thought about her all the time.
‘I just don’t know how to apologize.’ he said to himself. ‘Maybe start by saying ‘I’m sorry’ ’ Bruno was surprised to get an answer from Phil, he thought he whispered.
‘Yea, you are right bro. I never said anything to her again.’ Bruno looked down.
‘Oh Brunz, things will work out. All of a sudden it will just go like this’ he fliped his fingers ’ and things will work out.’
Bruno nodded and got back to work. A little later his phone rang, a new text.
‘Hi, I’m Alyssa. I’m a little german drama queen and I would like to get to know you. Because I heard you are pretty awesome. ♥A’
Bruno jumped out of his chair. He couldn’t stop smiling and showed Phil the text. He was just smiling at Bruno. ‘Text her back! Go!’ ‘Alright, alright!’
Bruno sat back down and texted her back. ‘Oh hello there. That sounds seductive. You got time tonight for some wine and a good talk? I think, I know where you live, I could be there at 7. xoxo BM’
It didn’t took a minute to get her reply. All it said was ‘Can’t wait!’
Bruno was so happy. And Alyssa was, too.

‘We need to go home soon! I have to buy some food. And candles. Should I buy candles? Is that too corny? And I need something nice to wear. Shouldn’t be sexy, should it?’ Alyssa was running wild. Rachel couldn’t do anything but laughed at her so hard that people were already looking at them. ‘What??’ Alyssa stoped walking. ‘You are too cute! You act so crazy haha. Why are you so excited?’ Rachel was still giggling. ‘Because…well… because..I really like him. And I am so excited that he really wants to come over. God, I can’t wait.’
They bought some candles, some food from the china restaurant around the corner of Aly’s place and a new sexy dress.
She was all ready when it was 6:30pm. At 6:45 the door bell rang. She ran to the door and opened it. In front of her was standing a really handsome young man. ‘Umm… Hello?’ she was a little disappointed that it wasn’t Bruno. ‘Hey! Wow…’ the guys said. ‘What?’ ‘Oh, I mean um, I’m sorry. I am Nick, I am your new neighbor from upstairs!’ She remembered Damian saying something about that. ‘Ah yes. Hi! And welcome to the house!’ Alyssa said smiling while reaching out her hand. He shook it. They had a little smalltalk when suddenly Alyssa saw a bunch of flowers coming up the stairs. Nick turned around and saw Bruno. ‘Oh my, I didn’t know. Wow. Um, hi! Hello!’ Nick said. Alyssa was confused why Nick was so excited all of a sudden. ‘Hey!’ Bruno said to Nick and then looked at Alyssa. Who was standing there in the doorway with her red hair in curls wearing a blue kinda tight dress with black high heels. It was hard for him to breath properly. ‘Hey!’ he said to her. She just smiled at him. Bruno tried to get past Nick with his bunch of flowers. After he got in, Nick said goodbye and she closed the door.
Bruno came back out of the kitchen, putting the flowers into a vase.
They looked at each other deep in the eyes. You could almost feel the tension.
‘I missed you!’ Bruno said. At the same time Alyssa said ‘I got chinese food!’
Wait what? ‘Oh god, what did he just say? And what the hell did I say?’ she thought to herself.
‘I mean..um…-’ She tried to say something but she was so nervous. Bruno started laughing. ‘Chinese sounds great!’. Alyssa walked past Bruno into the kitchen. Shaking her head to herself. He was watching her from behind. She looked amazing in this dress. This is the first time she bought new clothes for a date and it’s the first time she wears a dress to one.
When she came back to the living room with the food, Brunz was sitting on the couch undressing her with his eyes. After they ate she said ‘I’m sorry about all that. I just wish you would explain it to me.’ She was all calm and ready to hear him out.
Bruno was telling her the whole truth. That he was just dancing with that girl at the club because he saw Aly with Tyler, that she kissed him and that he walked away from her as fast as he could, that he really was sorry about the last date he ruined, that he really was with his ex girlfriend and he told her what happened.
When it came to the last part her eyes started tearing up a little. ‘Oh honey, you have no idea how sorry I am.’ Bruno stroked her cheek very softly. ‘No, Bruno. I don’t even have a right to be jealous or something…but…it just hurt. I know, it’s stupid.’ Bruno gave her a little kiss on her lips. ‘Are you ready to start all over and have a good fucking time together?’ Bruno smiled at her. Alyssa nodded and started smiling as well.
‘Hey, I have a little surprise for you. Where is your guitar?’ Bruno asked. Alyssa pointed behind him. ‘What do you-’ ‘Shhh, just listen beautiful!’ Bruno winked at her.
Oh, her eyes, her eyes make the stars look like they’re not shinin’
Her hair, her hair falls perfectly without her tryin’
She’s so beautiful
And I tell her everyday
Yea, I know, I know when I compliment her, she won’t believe me
And it’s so, it’s so sad to think that don’t see what I see’ he stoped.
‘That’s all I got so far. Actually I wanted to show you first when I was done but I couldn’t wait for it.’ Bruno smiled and put the guitar away. ‘So…? You like-’ before Bruno could answer Alyssa leaned over to him, held his face in her hands and gave him a long kiss on his lips.

December302011

Chapter 07

Saturday morning came way too fast for Alyssa. But for someone apparently not fast enough, because the knocking on her door is going wild. In her head she pictures a girl standing there crying and she has to get in so her murderer won’t find her. ‘Wow, girl, you sick!’ she thought and ran to her door and opened it. ‘Okay girl, tell me fucking everything! Like where did you go? Did he pay? Did he kiss you? What did he wear? What did YOU wear? and were you still wearing your clothes at the end of the date? Oh I bought us breakfast - there you go!’ Rachel handed her the bag, Alyssa could smell the pancakes. She hates american pancakes.
They sat down in Aly’s bed, that’s always the place where they eat breakfast. Rachel was staring at her the whole time, she was waiting for Alyssa to start talking about last night.
‘Good god, I’m not even fully awake yet. Let me think about it…’ Alyssa said. She started to remember the last night and couldn’t help it but a huge smile came to her face. ‘Aaaah girl! We’re getting closer!’ Rachel laughed. ‘Oh alright so he had this Vespa and he took me…’
Alyssa told her best friend the story about the whole night and the text he sent. ‘What did you reply?’ ‘Umm…nothing yet…’ Aly said, taking another bite of the pancake. ‘Whoooaaat? No wait, that’s good! Make him want you, don’t be cheap and easy to get!’ Rachel said. Alyssa laughed so hard she almost choked on the piece of pancake. ‘Thank god you know everythign about men!’ ‘Oh whatever girl, stop making fun of me! You better be happy that you have me and all my good advices!’ Now both of the girls laughed. After they’re done eating they got under the blanket. ‘So..what should we reply to him, Aly?’ ‘If only I would know..’
The girls were messing around and making up weird texts they could send when all of a sudden one of them hit SEND.
Hey Hotty! It was a hella good night, for shizzle ma nizzle. Can’t wait to see you again, baby squirrel!
‘What the fuuuuuck??? Oh my lord… what the hell. He will think I am a total retard! How did that happen? Fuck my life…’ Alyssa screams running around her bedroom. She stoped and looked at Rachel. They bursted out laughing. Alyssa fell onto the bed again. ‘Oh man, this can’t be real. For once I meet a really nice and handsome guy and I mess it all up with a text message? Karma’s a bitch.’ ‘No kidding, Aly. No kidding.’
The phone was vibrating. None of them dared even to move. ‘I’m scared.’ Alyssa said smiling, because this whole situation is just so ridiculous.
Rachel grabed the phone and opened the text. Alyssa couldn’t read her face. ‘What is he saying?’  ‘I don’t really know!’ ‘Huh? What do you mean?’ Alyssa took the phone and read the text:
You’re amazing! Gotta bok wit ya!
‘What the hell is that supposed to mean?’ ‘I have no fuckin’ clue, babe! Just not reply to that. You will never be able to say the right thing!’ Rachel seems to be right, so Alyssa put away her phone and took a shower.
The rest of the day nothing special happened. She just skyped with her mom back home and went over to Damian to tell the whole story again and eat dinner.


Earlier that day in Uptown L.A.
Bruno woke up on the couch of his studio. He got a bad hangover. ‘Where the hell am I?’ he said quietly to himself. He sat up and was looking around. Phil was sleepin on the armchair.
‘Phil! Hey Phil! Wake up Bro!’ Bruno said quietly, he couldn’t talk loud because his head hurt so bad. After his date with Alyssa he drove to the studio where the Hooligans were partying hard already. While Phil was slowly waking up, Brunz was looking for his phone. After he found it, he was really disappointed, because there was no new text.
‘She still hasn’t answered yet?’ Phil whispered while holding is head. Bruno shook his head.
‘Dude, she will text you soon. Don’t worry! She had fun last night, right?’ Phil said and Bruno nodded, but didn’t say anything. He lit up a cigarette. ‘Oh c’mon. Can you at least open a damn window?’ Bruno opened a window and smoked his cigarette.
‘Should we go and grab some food for breakfast? What about Carney’s?’ Phil asked.
‘Yea, sure. Let’s roll!’ Bruno replied and threw his cigarette out of the window.
Right at this moment his phone started to ring. A new text. Phil came up to Bruno and they both read the text. ‘Hey Hotty! It was a hella good night, for shizzle ma nizzle. Can’t wait to see you again, baby squirrel!’
They were looking at each other with a weird look. ‘I guess… she had fun?’ Phil said awkwardly. ‘Otherwise I don’t know what she wants to tell you witht his text!’ Both of them laughed.
Bruno texted her back real quick and they made their way to Carney’s. There is nothing better than Hot Dogs for a hangover breakfast.

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‘God, that stuff is so good!’ Bruno said while eating his second Hot Dog. Phil nodded enthusiasticly ‘So, you gonna see her again, huh?’ ‘I have to!’ Bruno said and ate the last bite.
‘She is amazing just the way she is. And she is treating me so normal, becaue she has no fucking clue who I am. Should I ask her out again today? Or is that too soon?’
‘I would probably wait a little longer, maybe next week!’ Phil replied. ‘You crazy? I can’t wait that long. I will text her tomorrow.’
‘We should go to the pub tonight with Preesh! His sister is here and it’s her birthday. We got a babysitter and Urbana is coming as well!’ Phil said. ‘Sounds great! But first I need another Hot Dog and a little more sleep!’

December172011

Chapter 05

Wednesday

The appointment at Electra Records is this morning. Alyssa couldnt sleep the whole night. She called all of her friends yesterday and asked them if they made a video of her. But everybody denied. She couldn’t understand it. ‘This is all so weird…’ she thought to herself.
Because she didn’t sleep, she had enough time to get ready in the morning. She turned on her music and took a long shower, she got out and put on her lotion. She wrapped herself in a towel and walked over to her makeup table. Alyssa is an addict when it comes to makeup. She wishes she could afford all the great brands, but right now she has to stick with the drugstore stuff.
She puts on her foundation, her eyshadow, mascara and lipstick. Her red-dyed hair is drying in a towel. Now there is this one big question ‘What the hell should I wear?’

Alyssa got out of the cab in her jeans, red shirt and a black blazer. She was wearing wedges.
When she walked into the office people started to turn around and look at her.
‘Hi. My name is Alyssa Daniels. I have an appointement, apparently.’ The woman behind the desk was giving her a weird look. ‘Follow me!’ she said and stood up. She wasn’t as nice as the one on the phone. They came to the end of an endless hallway and the woman is pointing to a chair in front of the door. Alyssa nodded and sat down.
After a while the door opened and a man came out of the room to greet her.
‘Hello there! My name is Bay - Schuck, Aaron Bay - Schuck!’ they shook hands. ‘Nice to meet you’ Alyssa replied. They walked into his office. ‘Take a seat, please!’ Aaron was pointing to a chair in front of his huge desk.
‘So, I was taking a look at your video and I have to say I was very impressed. And that doesn’t happen very fast normally.’ ‘Umm…. may I ask you who sent in this video? Because it wasn’t me!?’ ‘Oh, sure. I will introduce you to him later. Well, we have to go to the studio right now, anyways. So I can hear you sing again and we can talk about some songs perhaps. Shall we?’ Aaron got up and walked towards another door on the right side of the room.
Alyssa started to follow him. They walked another endless hallway. ‘Is this fuckin’ Hogwarts?’ she mumbeled to herself. She almost lost track of Aaron and run some steps.
Suddenly there was music coming from somewhere, when Aaron opened a door on the left side the music got even louder. ‘The studio’ she thought.
When she came into the room she was paralyzed. She knew him. Another guy was turning around. She knew both of them.
Aaron walked straight to the tall one and said: ‘This is Philip Lawrence. One of our best producers. Also he is an amazing singer himself. And this is Mr. Mars. But if you’re nice, yu can probably call him Bruno!’ Aaron laughed and gave them a hand. ‘Those are the men that are responsible for you standing here right now!’
Phil recognized Alyssa being a little confused and came up to her ‘Hey! We know each other somehow, you remember? From the Hendrix Bar, I was the one that lost his phone!’ All she could think of was THEM? She tried to get her acts together and replied: ‘Yea, I remember. Hi!’. She gave him a hand. Then Mr.Mars came towards her and reached out his hands, she put hers inside his. ‘Hey! How’s it going?!’ he asked. ‘Oh well, good I guess.’ Alyssa smirked.
They had a little smalltalk and then Alyssa sang her song ‘If I were a boy’. Of course it wasn’t produced professional but the guys were blown away.
‘…but you’re just a boooooy’ she ended the song and got back to them. She was so insecure but tried to make it look like she was the coolest girl ever. Aaron walked up to her smiling and said: ”I better see you tomorrow morning at 9am in my office to sign your contract! Then we will talk about everythign else! Please stay with us, you know you want to! I gotta go now, have lots of things to do! Bye guys!’ and with this he was gone. Alyssa felt like she was dreaming. ‘Oh mein Gott, das kann doch nicht wahr sein!’ she said to herself in german, her native language. She looked at Bruno and he gave her the biggest smile ever. ‘I guess, that means we are colleagues now!’ he said and Phil came to her and gave her a big hug. ‘Oh my god, this is great!!’ he yells, ‘We need to celebrate, huh?!?’ Phil was all excited. ‘I’ll go and get the champagne!’ When Phil was gone Alyssa looked at Bruno again. He saw it glancing in his eyes and asked: ‘Are you okay, baby?’ ‘You have NO idea what that means to me… This all happens so fast and it’s so surreal.. I can’t believe that!’ the tears started to fall. Bruno came and wiped away the tears from her cheek. She was taking a deep breath ‘How can I make it up to you?’ she was looking right into is beautiful brown eyes. ‘What do you mean?’ ‘I owe all of this to you, so I have to make it up to you somehow… please, I really want to!’
‘I just want to be there when you win your first Grammy!’ Phil said when he walked back in. Alyssa smiled at him. He poured in the champagne into the glasses and handed both a glass. ‘So, Bruno, what can I do for you?’ ‘Alright, alright, alright, alright…let’s see. If you think you owe us big time… I want the Statue of Liberty! And the Empire State Building! The Hollywood sign….’Alyssa and Phil started laughing. Bruno looked straight into Aly’s blue eyes ‘And a date!’ he smirked. ‘Oooh okay, hold on! You have to pick two!’ she said to him returning his look. ‘Oh dude, that’s a hard one!’ Phil said jokingly while pouring in the second glass of champagne already. ‘Aaaight, I definately take the Empire State Bulding…and… man, I mean the Hollywood sign would look hella fine in my backyard, don’t ya think bro?’ ‘She would too. And in you kitchen AND in your bedroom AND…well, everywhere.’ Phil whispered into Bruno’s ear.
‘Sooo?’ Alyssa asked.
‘Friday. 7pm. I’ll pick you up!’

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