California Girl Chronicles: Brea Meets Kale for the First Time

SPOILER ALERT: The following is an excerpt from California Girl Chronicles: Brea and the City of Plastic. In this scene, she meets Kale, her central love interest in the series. The book is available for sale on 3L Publishing www.3LPublishing, Amazon, Kindle, iBook, Nook and is available to order through Bakers and Taylor for bookstores.

I smiled and slinked by him just enough that he could feel my energy but far enough that we didn’t touch. I sensed his smile, turned, and grinned back. As I walked into the lounge area, I heard Drew’s band already playing. I decided to find an open stool at the bar and just hang back until he finished. Fortunately, a guy already drunk got up, or more like fell off, and weaved unsteadily toward the bathroom. I swiftly grabbed the stool, slid up, and could see Drew already at the microphone. I saw his eyes move my way, and he stared right back just for a moment. Then he drifted off into the song. Before I could order, a lemon drop was plunged in front of me by a cute guy sitting to my left. He was smoking a cigar and wafts of smoke twirled up into the air. He exuberantly grinned at me. “I bought you a drink,” he said with a wide smile that exposed perfectly white, straight teeth. He had one of those vivacious, electric smiles that you wanted to see on his face all of the time. It was sweet, genuine and nice. I found his smile very attractive, and I immediately warmed toward him.

“Oh, how did you know I wanted a lemon drop?” I asked with true surprise. It was my favorite drink.

“Girlie drink,” he replied with that same electric smile. “My name is Kale. I produce movies.”

I turned a bit and looked at him. Only in Hollywood did people offer what they did at the same time that they introduced themselves. I marveled at the abrupt nature of his introduction that included his job title. “My name is Brea. I write movies,” a slight lie given that I hadn’t written anything, but when in Rome or Hollywood-land.

“Hello Brea who writes movies,” his voice sounded silky. He looked right at me and took in the measure of my form with one swift appraisal. “You look more like an actress, though. Have you thought about acting?” he asked.

“No, not interested,” I responded. “Tell me, Kale, how does one end up a producer?”

Kale took a sip of his whiskey, inhaled from his cigar, blew out smoke, which made me cough, and answered, “Family money and good taste in film … well, more like good instincts on what sells.”

He reached in his shirt pocket and pulled out a card. He flipped it over and handed it to me. “You’re much too pretty to hide behind the lens,” he complimented me and extended his card, which I took. “You really should act,” he said in his silky, sublime voice. The tone of his voice alone could have seduced me.

“No, not for me, but you’re sweet and thank you,” I replied.

Now I took in my own appraisal of him. He wore all black shirt and slacks. His dark blond hair was cut short and slicked back nicely with the perfect amount of hair product so it wasn’t greasy or pasty looking. I was extremely attracted to Kale and leaned in closer. He smelled natural and sweet. He had a genuinely pleasant nature. He seemed authentic and not phony like all the want-to-be actresses and actors in this bar who posed like models. He also gave me his full attention and looked me right in the eyes. He was very tall (my fetish for tall men again) somewhere around 6’ 4”. I could tell he was roughly this tall since his lean body did not fit well on the barstool designed for average-height people. While my feet didn’t touch the ground, and I had to tuck them under the stool, his long legs reached all the way down. Yet it was his eyes that just captivated me. His eyes were light blue-green and acted like reflections for his every emotion. When he smiled, his eyes sparkled and lit up. When he frowned, his eyes darkened and seemingly deepened. He could have been Svengali and used those translucent, clear eyes to hypnotize and lull me into his mind control. I was drawn into those endless eyes, and then I had to shake myself loose so I could pay attention to what he said. He was something if not rich as he had more than just said. I wasn’t into guys for money, though, so that was really only a checkmark on my list of good points – unemployment was on the low end of that scale.

Kale and I talked back and forth. He asked about my fake script. I adlibbed and told him it wasn’t ready to share, which seemed to satisfy him. I did tell him I was laid off. I explained how I ended up at the bikini place. He was amused by the idea that trying on a bikini landed me a job but said it didn’t surprise him with my looks. Before I realized it, Drew suddenly showed up. I hadn’t noticed his set ended. I had been too busy talking and staring at Kale. Drew just seemed to show up in the middle of our conversation. He stood there and looked right at me. It took me a moment to notice him, and then I did and laughed.