"You mustn't be afraid to dream a little bigger, darling."

~Inception

Kelsey pulled out another picture from the box lying on her bed and surveyed the wall to see where she should put it.

"Well Jacob, I don't know what to tell you dude," she said, talking to her phone propped up against the wall.

Her brother's face was on the other end, his phone held at an unflattering angle, but he didn't care. "And so mom said she's moving back to Wisconsin."

"Wisconsin?" Kelsey repeated, pinning the photo onto the wall. "Last time it was Arizona."

A sigh crackled through the speaker. "But she's going to visit Aunt Camila for a few days first."

"She's flying all the way to the Philippines? She just went there, like, a couple months ago."

Jacob shrugged with one shoulder. "I really think she's going to leave dad this time, Kel."

"When are you going back home?"

"When the semester ends. Probably two weeks."

"Maybe you can talk them out of it," Kelsey murmured, then looked at the screen.

Her brother's curly black hair was matted flat on one side and an explosion of fluff on the other. "It's been me and you over the past five years, anyway."

"Yeah," Kelsey agreed, "but at least there's still a little togetherness while mom and dad are still hanging on."

She pulled out another picture and smiled. She turned it around towards the screen and said, "Remember this?"

Jacob squinted and then groaned. "No, put that away! Make it stop!"

The photo depicted Kelsey and Jacob, both in middle school, wearing a tooth fairy and tooth costume. Kelsey had ordered the wrong size for the tooth fairy costume, so Jacob stood in a pink tutu and princess crown, with rosy red cheeks, and a box filled with white pebbles that were labeled 'teeth'.

"Hey, I don't look much better," she laughed, noting the bulges underneath the bulbous tooth costume where they'd stuffed pillows into the edges to make it fill out.

"What is it?" A muffled voice asked from the other end of the phone.

Kelsey recognized it to be Jacob's roommate.

"Go away, man! It's nothing!"

"Let me see! Kelsey, show it again!"

"No!" Jacob howled, the phone bouncing too much for Kelsey to see anything but a foot flying in the air.

"Bye!" Jacob shouted, and quickly ended the call.

She shook her head, still chuckling, and stuck another pin into the photo. Next to it was a polaroid of her and her family, taken in the mountains from their summer vacation.

Her mother and father stood on either side of their two kids, smiling big for the camera.

They'd gone to college together in the Philippines and had been madly in love ever since...or so everyone thought.

When Jacob entered high school, the problems began. The first time Kelsey had noticed something was wrong was when her dad showed up in an old pickup truck he'd purchased on a whim. Her mom was less than happy and they had the biggest, loudest argument Kelsey had ever heard.

Over the next five years, their relationship just wasn't the same. Her mom became more brash and outspoken, and her dad resembled some sort of teen rebel.

Needless to say, Kelsey felt like she didn't know them anymore. Thankfully she'd been around to help Jacob through high school, coming home after her culinary classes and staying for the weekend.

Now, Jacob was going to a university in Virginia, away from the chaos.

Kelsey had just finished pinning the last picture before Sandy knocked on the door.

"Come in."

"It looks good in here!" Sandy said, stepping inside. She was wearing a flowy white dress and she looked particularly tan. Orange, rather. Kelsey suspected a bad day on the tanning bed.

"Just trying to settle in a bit," Kelsey said, leaning back on her hands to examine her work.

"Alex and I are going out for dinner tonight if you wanted to come with," Sandy invited.

"I think I'll just stay here," Kelsey said. "Take in the sites, maybe."

"You sure?"

"Yeah, it might actually be nice. I've been so busy since I got here," Kelsey assured.

"If you say so."

The afternoon dwindled to evening, and Kelsey stared up at the ceiling that had turned orange from the sunlight.

She rolled over on her bed and pulled back the thin white curtain to reveal the palm trees and shrubbery shimmering bright across the street.

After gazing at the pink and orange sky, she got up and pulled on a light blue sundress. She twisted her hair into a messy bun and dotted some makeup onto her face.

"Who're you getting dressed up for?" Sandy cooed as she opened the door.

Kelsey batted her eyes to dry the mascara and put away her makeup bag. "Myself."

"Mmhmm, suuure," she giggled. "I'm heading out, you gonna be okay?"

"Fit as a fiddle," Kelsey replied.

"Don't wait up for me!" Sandy scampered down the hall and Kelsey heard the car engine start.

She slipped on a pair of brown sandals and made her way outside.

The sweet air was warm, but carried a hint of coolness in the breeze.

Kelsey strolled down the street, taking note of all the houses that surrounded theirs and the amount of money each one probably had to pay to keep the lawns looking that perfect.

She wandered down the hill and continued on for two miles, enjoying the fresh air seeping into her skin and the quietness that put her mind at ease.

She arrived near a small beach outside of town and meandered down one of the trails.

Lost in thought, she veered off the path and wound up atop a small cliff.

Her feet slowed to a stop as she stared at the vast horizon, feeling a surge of freedom race through her heart.

The sky was ablaze with color as it darkened, and the waters shimmered beneath the dying sun.

The smell of salt and fresh air and seaweed overwhelmed her senses as she crept to the edge and swung her legs over the rocks.

She sat there for over an hour, not caring when darkness engulfed the shores of California.

Finally, she exhaled and reclined on her back, turning her attention to the stars.

The city lights nearby clouded her view, but Kelsey knew that there were hundreds of thousands of galaxies up there that expanded forever and ever, shining bright even though no one could see them.

She closed her eyes and felt like she could breathe for the first time since leaving Kansas.

Maybe the internship was happening for a reason. Maybe she needed to learn more before she could become a real chef. Maybe her parents would be happier if they were apart.

Kelsey exhaled and sat up, stretching her muscles before climbing to her feet. It was hard to find her way back to the trail, but after a few missed turns, she was back on the pathway, using her phone as a flashlight.

She left the sounds of the rolling waves and entered back into the world of honking cars, loud music playing in the distance, and people shouting from their balconies.

Once she was safely at home, she made a cup of coffee in the French press, and sat cross-legged on the couch.

She took a sip before turning on the TV.

A few reruns of the Brady Bunch were playing on one station, and a detective show on another.

She flipped the channel one more time to land on a talk show.

Two familiar faces made Kelsey put down the remote and settle in.

Ethan Glenn and the makeup girl she'd served during her first lunch at the set were sitting in two chairs beside the show's host.

You're such a stalker, Kelsey thought dismally, but didn't find it in her to turn off the TV and remain oblivious.

"Now, Becca, you and Ethan played in your first movie together when you were...?"

"Eighteen," Becca finished, tossing her glossy black hair over her shoulder casually. Her eyelashes were so thick, Kelsey imagined them creating wind every time she blinked. She realized for the first time that she'd seen Becca Lynn in one or two movies, but she looked a lot different off-screen.

"Well, I was actually only sixteen at the time," Ethan corrected. "It was the first real movie that I played a bigger part in."

They chatted for a while, Becca Lynn answering most of the questions with slight interjections from Ethan. He seemed rather standoffish and sad, almost. Kelsey had expected him to be ten times more energetic and charismatic on the screen, but something seemed off.

"So Becca, there was a recent picture you posted on Instagram the other day," the host said, and a photo popped up on the screen behind them. It depicted Becca in a rather skimpy outfit, kissing the cheek of someone Kelsey didn't recognize.

Ethan stood partially out-of-frame, giving a peace sign as he photobombed their picture.

"And the tagline reads, 'Trying to chill with Mack, but the third wheel keeps rolling around'."

Kelsey almost spit out her coffee as a laugh erupted from her chest. The audience roared while Becca pursed her lips into a demure smile and Ethan rested his forehead on his hand, trying to refrain from laughing.

"Now tell me what that's all about!" The host demanded, chuckling.

"This guy here is like a lost puppy," Becca commented, raking her long pink nails through her hair again. "Me and Mack have basically adopted him."

"Not true," Ethan said.

"Then why are you with us 24/7?" Becca countered, sending the audience into stitches.

"Maybe it is kinda true," Ethan admitted, a small smile inching across his face. "But only because you're fun to mess with. It's like having my siblings around all the time, you know?"

The interview went on, discussing two different movies that Ethan and Becca were starring in, but not mentioning "A Summer in Paris".

Ethan was certainly different on TV, but not in the way Kelsey had expected. He kept glancing off the stage, sitting up, crossing and uncrossing his legs, and asking for the host to repeat the question. Either his television personality was horrible, or something was wrong.

Soon the interview ended and a reality show came on.

Kelsey turned it off and reclined back on the couch, tucking her legs underneath her. She took a long sip of her lukewarm coffee.

It felt like the Ethan she knew was a completely different person than the one on the screen. She'd seen him in a few movies, but didn't associate him with his fictional characters, which made her wonder, how many people knew the real him?

Then she thought of Sandy and her lifestyle blog. No one knew about the girl who would climb hay bails and scare her younger sisters by waving snakes in their face. The way she and Kelsey would skip school to play house inside an old shed. They didn't know the real Sandy, either.

As her thoughts multiplied, they turned back to Kelsey like a mirror. It was so easy to slip into an alternate universe here; to reinvent a previous life. L.A. was the land of dreams, after all, but it seemed like people were losing their reality along with it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hello everyone! Hope you enjoyed this chapter!