She remembered the first time she arrived in the city of Neon Lights. This time she arrived in style, in a white Lambo with one of the most eligible bachelor in town. He was high, she was laughing, the music was loud but Goldstone was louder.
Hazel had underestimated how famous Marlon really was. It’s different in Chestnut where she was used to him being her ‘buddy’, her celebrity friend from the Big City but Marlon never felt too big for her. In Goldstone, he’s a Rock Star.
People recognized his car. There were literally fans asking for autograph and pictures with him. She could hear people calling his name while they walk on the sidewalk. Eating out in fast food restaurants was not an option, they would have to go to Hotels or fine-dining or have food delivered to his penthouse.
“You should try going out in public with my dad,” he said and put on his sunglasses at 8 PM.
“Worse?” she assumed.
He shook his head a little, “You can’t,” he tilted his brow. “He has bodyguards … it’s that bad.” He drove his car into a parking basement of a luxurious office building.
“Where are we?” she looked at the building in amazement, they don’t have that kind of structure in Chestnut.
“This is where my studio is … I want to show you around before we go back to my place,” he said as he parked the Lambo.
“Wow … this is where you create your videos?” Hazel always thought that YouTubers create their videos from home or a home studio.
“For now,” he tapped an ID card on the elevator panel. “We were planning to shift to a new theme of content before …” he sighed as he watched the light moved from one floor to the next. “Before he died.”
The studio office was totally dark, Marlon flipped a switch by the glass door and the entire floor was illuminated by a warm yellow light. It looked like a huge fancy apartment equipped with high tech computers and electronics that was set neatly by an interior designer.
“This … is … amazing … I never thought … wow …” her eyes widened and dazzled by how professional it looked.
“Cool, right?” he started turning on the wide screen on the wall, the lights on the ceiling, put on some music which came out of nowhere and everywhere. The speakers were hidden in all the places where they needed to be put. “We had a sound engineer to set up the sound system.”
She looked through the shelves where there were books, catalogues and other cool stuff that resonated with Marlon. The wall decorations, everything screamed of his personality. “What are these?” she picked up books about serial killers and real life criminals.
“That’s resources,” he smiled. “We’re creating true crime and real mysteries for our content … at least that was the plan … until my dad decided to put me to school,” he scoffed then shrugged, “I guess it was a break I needed … but I just couldn’t let it go … so I went on to build this work place and now I’m thinking to start using it.”
“This is a great place, Marlon, it seems like you’re ready to start something big.”
He leaned on one of the desk and picked up a remote, “I was … with the help of my team … we made a clip for our first project but I couldn’t get myself to release it because … it wasn’t just mine … you know?”
She came over and rested her hand on his shoulder, “It was Eli’s too?” She could see the sadness on his face as he nodded.
He clicked the remote and a video played on the screen. The lights automatically dimmed, it was the coolest thing Hazel ever saw. “You’re the first one to see this … I want your honest opinion on this.”
“To Eli … it will never be the same without you …” was the dedication in the beginning of the video.
The footage started from a black screen with the dedication written in white letters then it moved slowly into a scene of a forest taken by a drone camera. An eerie mysterious music in the background, it felt like she was watching an intro of a horror movie.
The drone flew over an area called Silverkeep. It was a ghost town with a dark backstory. There used to be a whole community living there until something went terribly wrong in the 1920’s and everyone left and those who remained died. It was a short trailer of what his first episode would look like and Hazel thought it was done really well.
“Wow … it looked like something I would subscribe to immediately … you really know what you’re doing there,” she chuckled.
“You think so?” he turned off the video.
“Yeah … I mean your old channel was …” she grimaced, “Not something I would be interested to watch … no offense …” she laughed lightly, “I don’t like prank videos or that kind of stuff … but this looks more like a documentary … I like it.”
“That’s the idea … I want to create something more serious, and digging up old mysteries and cold cases or exploring abandoned places is what I like to do.”
“Then you should definitely do it!” she said in excitement.
He got quiet.
Hazel was just looking at him and couldn’t figure out why he seemed distant.
“Would you consider going to school here … in Goldstone?” he turned to look at her.
She didn’t see it coming, her eyes widened, “What? You mean for Uni?”
He tilted his head to one side, “Sure … Uni … or next year?” he chuckled.
“What are you talking about?” she wasn’t sure if he wasn’t joking.
He let out a deep sigh, “If I’m going to do this … I probably won’t be going back to Chestnut to complete high school,” he raised his brows and pursed his lips. “If you go to school here, you can earn some money doing part time in my studio and live in my place … you don’t have to spend money for a place or food … or transport … or anything …”
The offer came is such a surprise, her jaw dropped open. “Well … and here I thought I was going to surprise you with what my mom had decided for our senior year in high school.”
“What do you mean?”
Hazel told him about the guardianship which his dad already agreed to. She never seen him smiled so wide and shy at the same time. Marlon was not hiding his blush.
“Can I be honest with you?” he asked.
“Of course.”
“Ours is the most honest friendship I’ve ever had in my life … and I don’t want to lose that.”
“Aww … I don’t want to lose that either,” she opened her arms and embraced him.
“That’s why I don’t want to be apart from you … not this soon …”
They fell quiet in their embrace. They both knew they had a choice to make though for Hazel, the choice was pretty obvious.