I looked in the mirror at my reflection as I put the diamond cuff links on my custom made Armani tux. I had my blonde hair slicked back with gel so it was out of my face and I had to admit, I was looking sharp. I felt like James Bond.

My phone rang and it was a Facetime call from my Mom. We liked to talk through Facetime since she was so far away and I didn't get to see her very often. It made it feel like she was actually here.

"Hey Mom" I smiled. "How are you?".

"I'm good, but I feel so bad that we're not flying in for the premiere tonight. Your Dad's back is out and he can hardly walk and I didn't want to fly across the country by myself since your brothers and sister couldn't come because of school."

"It's okay. You don't have to feel bad Mom. I'm not mad. This is the first premiere you guys have ever missed and you have a good reason. Maybe you can catch the next one."

She smiled and looked relieved that I wasn't angry.

"So who's your date tonight? Somebody famous?"

"No, you remember that sweepstakes I was telling you about where a random girl got to come to L.A. and see what it was like to live like a celebrity for a week?"

"Oh yeah. Is that this week? What's she like?"

"She's nice. It's been a long time since I've gotten to hang out with a nice, normal person that I can relax around and just be myself. She actually reminds me a lot of the people back home in Minnesota. She's from Sioux City, Iowa so she's really not that far from where you guys live. She's a full time college student and she's working as a coffee barista to save up money to buy her own house after graduation."

"She sounds like an impressive woman."

"Yeah. Melissa offered for us to help her get that house she's saving for and she said no. She wants to earn it on her own so she can be proud of accomplishing it all by herself. She turned down the money. Can you believe that?" I laughed.

"Well that's really nice. How old is she?"

"Twenty one."

"Is she pretty?"

"Yeah. She's ummmm. She's beautiful," I said, looking down at the ground with a smile slowly creeping up on my face.

"Well she sounds great son. Now don't be an idiot and try to sleep with her and screw it all up."

"Why does everyone keep telling me that?" I laughed, shaking my head. " I don't even sleep with very many women. Everyone just assumes I do because I'm famous. Plus," I said with a laugh and a smile. "She actually doesn't like me. I offered to go on a walk on the beach with her and she said she was too tired. She's turned me down a couple times already actually."

Mom smiled and laughed. "Good for her. I like her even more now."

I saw faint wrinkles around Mom's eyes when she smiled but her blonde hair had no signs of grey yet. She still looked young for 45 and she was beautiful. I can't even tell you how many times people thought she was my older sister instead of my Mom. I had always thought she was the smartest, most beautiful and caring woman in the world growing up and our family didn't have a lot but we always had love. I always felt lucky to have her as a Mom because she was the glue that held our family together through the hard times when we really struggled with money.

"Well you're twenty three," she said, with her smile fading as she got serious. "That's how old your Dad was when we got married. Don't be so focused on your career that you forget about what's most important. It's not the fame and money you've made that'll make you happy when you're my age looking back. It's the family, the person by your side and the children and grandchildren you've created to carry on when you're long gone."

I laughed. "You just had to bring up grandchildren again didn't you?"

"Yes!" she laughed. "I'm not getting any younger Dylan. I want grandchildren while I'm still young enough to get down on the floor and play with them."

I took a deep breath in and let it out.

"Well you may be waiting for a while on that. I want to make sure it's the right woman first that's going to be a great Mom and somebody I could actually see spending the rest of my life with. I don't plan to have children with just anybody."

This time she was the one that sighed. "Yeah I know how picky you are. You always have been and don't get me wrong. That's a good thing but just be careful that you're not so picky you end up all alone."

I rolled my eyes.

"You do know you're on Facetime right? I saw that," Mom laughed and that made me smile.

"You're always giving me a hard time but that's why I love you. But I've gotta go. I can't be late to my own movie premiere. Love you."

"Love you too son. Have fun."

I hung up the call and picked up my keys and wallet, before deciding to go in the bathroom and brush my teeth one more time and spray on some cologne.

When I got outside and knocked on the door of the guest house I heard Brenley yell out, "I'm coming!"

A minute later the door opened and she took my breath away. I was speechless.

Her long blonde hair had been piled up on her head in a fancy updo and her makeup was flawless. She was wearing a white, floor length sparkling gown that shimmered with every movement and a diamond necklace and matching earrings. The scoop at the front of the dress was low cut enough to show a faint line of her cleavage and the fabric gripped her skin tight enough to show the curves of her hips and her small waist.

"Wow," I said with wide eyes. She reminded me of Marilyn Monroe. She was absolutely stunning.

"Do you like it?" she asked, shyly.

"Yeah," I nodded. "You look amazing."

"Melissa had people from the studio come over and give me a makeover," she said, looking down at the ground, gripping a clutch tightly in her hands.

"You look nervous," I said. "How are you feeling about all this?"

She lifted her head and looked up at me and I could see vulnerability in her eyes and her hands were trembling a little bit.

"Well I started thinking. What if I trip on the red carpet or say the wrong thing and it goes viral and everyone makes fun of me online? I've never been to something like this and I have no idea what I'm doing. What if I embarrass you?"

She had seemed so confident and sure of herself from the moment I met her so it was weird to hear her talking like this.

"You won't embarrass me," I reassured her. "I promise."

"Maybe I shouldn't go. I'm completely fine with staying here if you'd rather go with someone else that's gone to these kind of events before and knows how to act. Maybe Abby could go with you. You guys looked pretty close earlier."

"Hey," I said softly and waited for her to raise her eyes to look up at me again. "I don't want to go with Abby. I couldn't be more proud to have you as my date tonight. Everyone in that entire place is going to be jealous because I'll be with the most beautiful woman there."

She scoffed and then laughed as if I was telling a joke.

I smiled and said, "I'm serious. Now stop doubting yourself. You're going to do fine and I'll be there helping you get through it. You can do this. I promise."

She nodded her head and sucked in a big breath of air and let it out, shaking the nerves out of her hands.

"I can do this," she repeated. "I just hate being the center of attention. Some people love that kind of thing but not me. I literally hate it."

I gave her a smile and held out my elbow. She grabbed her clutch with one hand and slipped the other in my arm as I escorted her outside towards the waiting limo and our camera team was there waiting to film and take pictures of us. The entire ride over to the premiere she was quiet and fidgety and she checked her phone about 10,000 times. I noticed when the cameras were around she clammed up.

Finally we got to the event and got into the long line of limos waiting to let celebrities out. As we got closer we could see the camera flashes and I could feel her tensing up beside me. I reached over and slipped my hand into hers to calm her down and she didn't pull away like I thought she would. Maybe she was just too distracted to notice what I had done.

An attendant opened the limo door and the shouts of the media and flashes of the cameras were immediate. I got out first, buttoning the jacket of my tux before holding out my hand to take hers. She slipped her hand into mine and looked up into my eyes as she got out of the limo and for the first time she looked so fragile and scared that I wished I could just get back in that limo and drive away and take her away from here.

When she was out, she grabbed onto my arm as I escorted her across the red carpet and we stopped to take photos as the photographers shouted my name. She gripped onto my arm tight like she was afraid if she let go I would run away. Our own camera crew followed behind us out of the limo, getting the footage they needed.

We walked further down the carpet to the line of reporters waiting to interview me. Access Hollywood was the first one, and as I walked up to talk to them, she released my arm and hung back. I turned to look at her and she gave me a look like she really didn't want to be interviewed and I decided not to push her.

"Hi Dylan!" the interviewer said with a smile. "You're looking very handsome. And tell us who your date is this evening. She's absolutely stunning."