IV. LUNCH BREAK
909 Words
IV. LUNCH BREAK
Three rum and Cokes later, Wanda’s mouth was agape, as she sat on the couch, inches from her client. Charlie noticed out of the corner of his eye, stopped talking, and turned his head toward his publicist.
“What?” Wanda wondered why Charlie stopped.
“What’s wrong with you?”
“I’ve… I’ve just never heard any of this. All the years we’ve known each other, and…”
Charlie grinned.
“I think this is a good place to take a little break, don’t you?” LaRissa asked, pausing the recording on her MacBook. She twisted her neck and stretched her back. “Lunch?”
Wanda checked her phone for texts and noticed the time – one-twenty-five. “Holy crap, I gotta run.”
“You’re not staying for the whole interview?” LaRissa asked.
“I’d love to, but Berg and I have a thing with Lionsgate. They’re filming the show on Saturday.”
LaRissa jotted that down: “CONCERT MOVIE – LIONSGATE.”
Wanda summoned an Uber and headed for the door. She turned to Estrella before exiting, “You’ll behave yourself, right Charlie?”
“Lemme know how the meeting goes,” Estrella replied.
LaRissa and Charlie chatted more informally over their BLT sandwiches.
“Alright, I have to ask – why’d you keep me waiting so long?”
Charlie reached over and plucked a speck of lettuce off LaRissa’s chin, flicking it in the general direction of a trash can. He shrugged.
“I was… feeding the homeless?”
“Right.”
“Volunteering for Habitat for Humanity?”
“Come on!”
“Why’d I keep you waiting? Honestly – because I can. I know it’s a d**k thing to do, but the band’s been practicing late into the night for a month. I wanted a few more hours of sleep, and I knew you’d wait. And if you didn’t wait, I’d just grab a bite here at the Palm Court.”
“Fair enough. Yeah, I was pissed… but fair enough.”
Charlie and LaRissa heard a commotion building outside the suite, in the hallway. The noise grew louder, converging right at their door.
Charlie normally traveled to public places with at least one of his bodyguards, Paul and/or Baby, gargantuan former powerlifters whose biceps were roughly the circumference of LaRissa’s waist. Charlie figured Wanda would be able to keep the rabid fans away, but now Wanda was gone, and from the rumblings in the hallway, it appeared Estrella’s whereabouts had been compromised.
“Shit.” Charlie proclaimed, very quietly to avoid being heard through the door. “s**t, s**t, s**t, s**t, shit.” He stood and did a quick three-sixty, scanning for a potential exit strategy.
LaRissa was already on the phone with the front desk: “Yes, hello. We have a bit of an issue here… Correct, suite ten-twenty-five…”
Charlie listened intently. LaRissa covered the phone receiver with her hand, pointed frantically toward the bedroom, and mouthed to Charlie, “Lock yourself in there.”
LaRissa removed her hand, “The situation is, I have a high-profile guest in the suite, here for a business meeting, and it appears his identity has been divulged. We have a significant throng of fans gathering in our hallway…”
LaRissa could hear the bathroom door inside the bedroom lock and hoped Charlie was safe inside.
“God-damn social media!” LaRissa proclaimed. She knew all it took was the room service attendant posting “Charlie Estrella in room 1025 of the Plaza” on his i********: page to spark an immediate domino effect and a stampede of Estrella fanatics.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
“Hello!?!” The fans yelled from the hallway. They were getting braver, starting to pound on the door. LaRissa knew it was just a matter of time before they tried to break it down.
“Yes, it’s becoming rather urgent—”
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
“Please send security immediately… What do you mean, they’re at lunch!?! All of them? You cannot be serious! You need to handle the situation!” LaRissa slammed down the receiver and dialed 9-1-1 on her cell phone.
RATTLE! RATTLE! RATTLE!
Fans began jiggling the door handle.
The Star-Heads, Charlie Estrella’s fans, was an equal mix of male and female, all ages, and all extremely high-strung and excitable when it came to a potential face-to-face encounter with their idol. Charlie was involved in numerous incidents throughout his career, some that turned quite frightening. There was the concert at Waikiki Beach – a free show to promote the launch of his second album, Long Island Sound – that attracted far more fans than what security could control. Expecting around five thousand concert goers, over twenty thousand showed in the ninety-degree, humid heat, most of whom were turned away due to fire code restrictions. The fifteen thousand sweaty fans who were blocked admission were not happy at all. They took to the streets in downtown Honolulu, wreaking havoc throughout the vacation paradise before a helicopter dropped tear gas to break up the melee.
The most notorious incident happened in Boston. As the band’s limo pulled up to Fenway Park, the sight of the Estrella concert, fans raced alongside the vehicle, surrounding it, and pounding on the windows.
The chauffeur was young and too inexperienced for the situation. He freaked, and slammed the gas pedal to the floor, plowing over six female fans – none of whom were even there to attend the show. They were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Four of the six teens died. The other two suffered devastating injuries. Charlie donated all his earnings from the show to the victims’ families. Unable to make sense of the calamity, he went into seclusion for six months.
“We just want an autograph! Please!!!” The fans yelled from the hallway.
THUMP! RATTLE! BANG!
The door hinges began to crack from the pounding.
“Charlie,” LaRissa whispered to the bathroom door. “I called 9-1-1. Police are on their way.”
“They better not shoot anyone,” Charlie whispered back.
- Writer
