Chapter 8: Promises

"Hey! Listen to me man!" Tim chased after Caleb's fleeting figure. "Stop walking away! I'm trying to talk to you!"

"You're the one who told me to leave right? Well, here I am, packing my bags and going on tour," Caleb said emotionlessly.

"I thought you were going to wait until after I finished filming this movie. We were supposed to do this together!"

"I don't want to wait for you anymore. I don't want to wait for anyone. I can't. I need to go. There's nothing here for me anymore."

"I'm here! I will always be here. Remember our promise, Caleb," Tim pleaded. "You can't just leave."

"You have Mya who is depending on you. You don't need me anymore. You're this huge famous actor, and you have a gorgeous girlfriend. I don't really like her, but you have everything you need right here in Starlight Shores."

"Stop talking Caleb. You sound ridiculous. Mya and I broke up. You were right. I asked her to go with me to the park and she came to the house with this short dress on and a $1,000 bag. I was wearing sneakers and a T-shirt. She just laughed in my face, she didn't think we were actually going to the park. I wanted to test out what you said to see if she'd really only cared about the fame and money, and you were right. I broke up with her on the spot."

"I'm so sorry man...I never wanted this to happen to you," Caleb frowned.

"It's alright...looks like we both have girl troubles. Tell me about Star." Tim leaned against the wall, preparing himself for a long story.

"What do you mean?" Caleb tried to play dumb, but Tim saw right through it.

"You went to see Star yesterday. You forced me to apologize to her. We fought yesterday because of her. We never fight. She is something special to you, and I want to know what she said to you to make you want to leave."

"She...." Caleb paused for a moment and took a breath. "I...forget it. Me leaving has nothing to do with her."

"It has everything to do with her. She's important to you. I was being selfish. I didn't want you to give her all of the attention and forget about me."

Caleb shook his head fiercely. "She rejected me yesterday. I haven't even had time to cope with it, and it's be stupid for me to just leave because of her. It's my brother. He went to Lucky Palms and my family hasn't heard from him since. He stopped calling and everyone is so worried."

"So, you think that if you go on this tour you could find him?" Tim asked, suddenly understanding the problem.

"Yeah...not only that, but my family needs some money right now. They want to go to Lucky Palms but it'll cost them their entire savings. I'm living comfortably right now, but if I don't make anymore money, I can't do anything for them."

"You have two things to worry about now. Star and your brother." Tim thought for a moment and then spoke again. "Focus on finding your brother and I'll handle the situation with Star."

"Dude." Caleb shook his head. "There is no situation with Star. She doesn't like me."

"Hey, that girl is different from the rest. She turned you, of all people, down. There's got to be a reason. You want some closure right? Well, a promise is a promise. I'll always be here to pick up the pieces."

"You're up next Mr. Gray. Mr. Levesque, your interview will follow right after and then both of you will come out and play a game with some audience members." The production assistant told the two stars.

This was Caleb's first interview. He had just moved to Starlight Shores. He finally had the courage to tell his family that he was leaving and shortly after his first live performance there, he scored a manager. He was honestly so lucky for the opportunity. He approached Tim who was leaned up against the wall and staring at his phone. "Hi, I'm Caleb Gray."

Tim looked up from his phone and raised his brow. "Hello?"

"I'm new to this whole thing, so I was just wondering if you had any pointers?" Caleb asked nervously.

Tim scoffed. "Pointers? If you need pointers, then you're obviously not meant to be on stage." Caleb was about to say something but Tim got up and walked away, obviously annoyed. "Amateur."

Caleb watched Tim walk away, but instead of confronting him again, Caleb stayed where he was.

"What's up, Caleb?" Glen grinned, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Are you nervous?"

"Just a little bit." He let out a breath. "I asked hot shot over there for some pointers but he turned me down."

"Ignore him, he's the biggest diva in all of show business. The brat thinks he's entitled." Caleb frowned. "Whats with the long face, kid?" Glen asked.

"I just think that maybe there's a reason he's so spoiled. I'd like to talk to him again if he'd give me the time of day."

"A friendship between you two would never work because as soon as your career surpasses his, he'll get mad. It's better to just avoid him."

Caleb shook his head. "Maybe he's like that because nobody takes the time to get to know him. I promise, that if I ever come in contact with him again that I'll be the one to help him open up."

Tim overheard Caleb and he rolled his eyes. This guy was around the same age as him, did he think Tim was stupid? He would just come in and steal everything he worked so hard to get. Yes he acted entitled, but that was because he worked hard to get where he was. This Caleb guy just came out of nowhere and got a record deal. There was no work behind his fame. It was all luck and a pretty face.

"Tim!" Caleb called, running up to him. It was a charity event. The stars teamed up with each other and played sports. The winner would get money for the charity of their choosing. Tim got paired up with Caleb because they were both the youngest and most popular stars. It was a great way to get pledges to call.

"Great, it's you." Tim rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, can you at least talk to me? We're on the same team."

"This is all staged hollywood garbage. We play a few games, they zoom in on our faces a bunch of times and millions of little girls call in with their mother's credit cards."

"Is that what you think of your fans? They're much more than that!"

"Listen, you're new to this so I'll cut you some slack but from now on, you better leave me the hell alone. These girls, they're my fans.  Mindless fans, but whatever. As long as you stick to your own audience, everything will be fine."

"I'm not trying to take over anyone's fans. I just want to share my music with people. I'm not doing any of this for the money or fame."


Tim shook his head at Caleb's ignorance. It was always about the money and fame. Caleb would have nothing if he relied only on his music.

Incident after incident, Tim pushed Caleb away. Glen begged his client not to bother with the spoiled actor, but for some reason, Caleb couldn't stay away. Caleb knew what it felt like to be misunderstood. He was always the one overlooked. At school, they hated him. They thought he was so weird because he would sing to himself often. They didn't understand him. By just talking to Tim, Caleb could tell that he was hiding behind his insecurities. He was the biggest actor but he was alone. Nobody wanted to bother with someone who belittled everyone around him. He was so afraid of losing the people who worshipped him, he was afraid that he'd become worthless.

One day, Caleb had enough and he told all of this to Tim. He told him about the insecurities he faced in his own life, in hopes of getting him to open up. Tim didn't want any part of it. He swore he didn't care, but it didn't stop him from showing up at all of Caleb's performances from that point on. It intrigued him. No matter how many times he pushed Caleb away, he was always there.

"You're never going to give up on me, are you?" Tim asked Caleb one day.

Caleb smiled up at him triumphantly. "I can't give up on someone unless I have a good reason. We're both misunderstood. I've already told you about my struggles, and you don't have to tell me about yours, but I'm not going to give up."

Suddenly Tim was vulnerable. He looked up with sad eyes and asked quietly, "You promise?"
Caleb nodded. "Then I won't give up on you either."

Star looked at her phone suspiciously. The caller ID said it was Tim. Yes, they had made up, but  Tim showed absolutely no interest in Star's existence. He was the complete opposite of Caleb, who actually wanted to talk to her. She thought about not answering, until she realized he was probably just concerned for his friend. She should probably explain the entire situation.

"Hello?"

"Yo."

"What's up, Tim?"

"Care to explain to me what happened between you and Caleb?" 

"You mean, he didn't tell you?" She asked.

"Well, he kind of did, but I want to hear why you turned him down. Was he moving too fast? Caleb is the kind of person who acts on his emotions, he doesn''t mean to come off so strong."

"You don't have to defend Caleb in any way. He did nothing wrong. I...well, I..." She was embarrassed to tell Tim how she really felt. They weren't particularly close. "It's kind of personal, but I didn't want to hurt Caleb's feelings...I want to see him again and explain this to him." Tim began to laugh on the other line. "What!?"

"I knew it. You two loons are perfect for each other. Meet up with Caleb tomorrow before he leaves to go on tour."

"Tour? I haven't read anything online about a tour..." Star began.

"Of course not, it's not official yet, but I saw Caleb packing his bags. He's so big that all he has to do is call an hour before a show and he'll sell out the arena. He doesn't have to worry about that. It's a world tour, so that means he won't be around Starlight Shores for awhile. It's best if you tell him how you feel now."

"He's really going to leave?" Star's voice dropped. She couldn't believe it, she was just starting to come to terms with her feelings.

"It's something he has to do, but just talk to him alright. Meet him at the park tomorrow. Don't worry about paparazzi, I'll make sure it's cleared out."

Star let out a long sigh. "Ok, I guess I'll see him tomorrow then..."

"Goodbye Star."

"Goodbye." How many times had she said that in her life? Goodbye to her parents. Goodbye to her friends from university. Goodbye to Tim and now Goodbye to Caleb. She didn't know what to do. She wanted to cry, but she would save that for when she was alone. For now, she'd go do something to take her mind off of everything. 

Caleb sat against his bed. His brother was missing. He rushed too quickly into telling Star how he felt and scared her away. His family was in turmoil, but he couldn't even help. It killed him being alone. It was a feeling he had often, but he couldn't get used to it. Fumbling with his phone, Caleb let out a loud sigh. He was going to call someone who knew how to help him with everything.

"Hey, Rockstar! You didn't forget about me!"

"Of course, I never could Uncle Elliot."

"What's up, did you call to catch up?"

"Not exactly. How is the family holding up? Any news from Noah?"

"I haven't spoken to your mother in a couple of weeks but the last thing she told Erin was that Daisy plans on going to Lucky Palms."

"Daisy!? She can't go by herself. Is Kayden going too?"

"I don't think so. Daisy is very strong minded, we both know that."

"Yeah...I wonder if there's anything I can do," He said mostly to himself.

"Everything will work itself out."

"Elliot, if that's true, it only solves one of my problems. The other involves a girl..."

"Please don't tell me you got someone pregnant, your mom is going to be pissed..."

"No, it's not that. I can't even get her to kiss me, forget about a baby." Caleb shook his head.

"Sounds like your charm isn't really working on her. The pink hair should have won her over, that's weird."

"CALEB!" A voice shouted from another room.

"Hold on, someone is calling me."

"CALEB!" The voice called again.

"I'm going to have to call you back," Caleb sighed and hung up. "What do you want Tim?"

"Guess who got you a date with Star tomorrow!?"

"A date!? But how...she doesn't like me."

"Yes she does," Tim said, out of breath from running up the stairs. "Just let her explain it to you. You're meeting at the park tomorrow, do something amazing to get her attention."

"Tim Levesque," Caleb smirked. "You're the best."

"I know!"