Love Only Comes Once

The sun was warm and atmosphere was humid, certainly not the type of weather for Casey McAddams hair, she sometimes wish that the weather wouldn't come with humidity cause her hair was frizzing out too much. She was seated at the pool side, with a two piece bikini, sipping on orange juice, basking in the sun and enjoying everything she worked hard for. Since coming to Hollywood life hasn't always been easy for her, from people looking down on her cause she came from a small town in Ohio, to producers turning her down whenever she went for auditions.

But everything changed when she meet Richard Graves. Richard Graves was a legendary movie director that was second to Steven Spielberg when it comes to bringing his movies to life, most people even tend to rate him above Steven Spielberg. So when Casey went for the audition, Richard instantly accepted her before she could utter a word, which took Casey by surprise cause she haven't even done anything yet. What even shocked her more was the fact that he actually agree for her to be the main character not the side character–cause at the time she was auditioning for a role of a side character. During the shooting of the movie she made sure that she played her part well and when the movie was released it garnered over half a million dollars at the box office, the movie was nominated at the Academy Awards, was ranked one of the best movies of that year. Ever since seeing her stellar performance, many producers and directors were calling her up for movie roles, she was nominated for many movie/TV award shows and won many of them. But sadly she never won the Academy Awards despite being nominated countless of times. She will be lying if she say that not not having an Academy Award on her trophy case isn't disturbing to her, cause it is. Many of her fans had even trended a hashtag calling out the Academy Award simply because they gave the award to someone else who wasn't deserving, that was according to what Netizens said that is. But then again there was nothing she could do, but just hoped that in the future that she would finally get that long waited award, but for now she would just enjoy herself and relax. Los Angeles is a beautiful city filled with beautiful beaches, night clubs, and lots of fashion houses were based there, if you as an entertainer wanted to make it big it's best to move to Hollywood, or people would never take you seriously. While she was lounging and getting herself a tan, her Personal Assistant, Cory Peterson, came from the inside holding a phone, he brought it to her side and whispered in her ear: "Mr. Graves would like to speak to you." She took the phone from him and place it on her ear. "Hello." "Hello Casey, so I was wondering if I could see you today?" "Um, I am kind of on like a break today, Mr. Graves." "All the more reason to meet you. On a normal day I won't be able to see cause you will be flooded with so many things to do that you wouldn't even have time." Casey sighed then said, "Fine. Where are we meeting?" **** Casey, got in her car and drove towards the uptown of Hollywood, passing the famous Walk Of Fame, ever wondering if her name would ever be printed there alongside the greats of the entertainment industry. The place she was going to was a restaurant, it wasn't one of the most fanciest ones here in Hollywood but the food there was delicious so Casey wasn't complaining. Pulling over by the parking lot, she stepped down from her car, closing the door behind her, and walked up to the doors of the restaurant opening the door, the smell of fried chicken filled her nostrils and her mouth began to water, making her realize how hungry she was. Her eyes scanned the inside of the restaurant and instantly spotted Richard, who was seated at the far end, he was holding a menu and tried to appear interested in what was written on it. But Casey knew that he was stalling for time. Walking up to him, she passed a couple of people, who gave her a glance or two, probably trying to figure out if she was the Casey McAddams, other than that nobody in the restaurant even seemed to pay attention to her. She sat down on the sit across from Richard, as Richard eyes shot up to her he gave her a smile. "Hello Casey, how you doing today?" "Fine, I guess." She shrugged looking at the menu on the table. "So what would you like to order? They have everything from coffee, to fried wings, to spring rolls, the whole thing." "Do they have a chicken sandwich?" Casey asked, Richard nodded his head. "Then I will have that." Richard signaled for a waiter to come over. The waiter, a girl that was 19 years of age and was in college, came. Casey ordered for a chicken sandwich alongside coffee with lots of cream and sugar in it, while Richard ordered for a hamburger with a bottle of soda. As the waiter went to get their orders, Casey's attention went back to Richard, "so what is it you want to talk about?" "I am shooting a new movie, a blockbuster movie to be precise. It's basically about a post apocalyptic Earth, whereby the few surviving humans are what is left of Earth." He paused checking to see Casey's reaction to the information, her attention was still on him and not diverted elsewhere. He continued talking about the how the movie would probably gather a lot of money in the box office, and how this time around Casey would bag plenty of awards. The waiter came and drop what they ordered on the table and walked away, Casey took a bit of the sandwich, it tasted good, she took a sip of the coffee, it tasted very sweet. Just as she likes it. "Ok so what's it gonna be Casey? You in?"Richard said through mouthfuls of hamburger. "Of cause I'm in Richard, ain't no way I am planning on not acting a movie of the end of the world, it's on the list of movies I would love to play a role in." "Great, so let me give you the script, we start filming this Friday, also the location is in Chardon, Ohio." On hearing the name of the city that they were to film in, Casey looked at Richard. Then she asked, "where in Chardon?" "A small town by the name of Oricon." "Oh I see," she took another sip of her coffee, she sat there with memories of how she left her home town to Hollywood, it's been years. At least if she goes back home she wouldn't go home like a loser, at least she have a little bit of status now. But another person crossed her mind, the man she feel madly in love with, the man that pushed her to chase her dreams, Andrew Peterson. She wondered if he was still in Oricon. And she wondered if he was married.

Friday came in quite quicker than expected and before Casey realized it, she was on the plane making her way to her hometown to shoot the movie she was staring in. The nervousness was eating up at her, she visited the toilet to throw up a little. Why was she nervous, she couldn't even tell.

She tried sleeping, but it resulted in her tousling and turning not getting any sleep in the process, so she gave up and tried reading the script that Richard gave to her some few days ago.

She remembered that there was a time she made her decision to leave her small town and move to a place that was filled with dreams and hope. But what she wanted for herself, wasn't what her parents wanted for her, instead her parents wanted her to go to school, graduate, and get married to a hardworking and diligent man and have kids.

That's why when she told them that she wanted to be an actress they scoffed at the idea of it. They told her all the bad things that actors go through as a means to discourage her, but it only fueled her passion more.

Since when she first went to the theatre and watched a play, her dream was to become a famous actress, and her parents weren't going to ruin it for her.

So she practice hard on her acting skills, read a lot of playwright books, and put in the work for it. The happiest moment of her life was when she got to play the role of Desdemona in one of many William Shakespeare's plays, Othello. She did so well that the crowd gave her a standing ovation.

She swell with so much pride knowing that she was the star of the show, and it was only the beginning of her journey, that there was more great things coming to her.

They gave her an award for best actress at the talent show, and everything yet her parents were still adamant on not wanting her to become an actress, for whatever reason.

And she won't lie if she said that it didn't hurt her, but luckily for her there were two people that supported her, her sister Rachel and her longtime crush Andrew Denvers.

They met when her father's friend introduce them to each other. It was an awkward first meeting with the two, but due to how much of a conversationalist Casey was, Andrew was able to keep up with her.

When she told Andrew of her dreams, he told her to go for it, that why should her parents be involved in what she wish to achieve, it's her decisions to make not theirs. Casey, in her moment of excitement, kissed him. It came to him like a shock, both of them being in 9th grade and still trying to understand what love and lust mean. And oddly enough Andrew liked the kiss, I mean who wouldn't want to be kissed by Casey.

So with that determination in mind, she started saving up some cash to be able to take a bus to California–cause flight tickets are a bit too expensive to purchase.

She saved from her pocket money, she worked in part time jobs, she made a lot of sacrifices just to get enough money to move out of town to the place her dreams would come true. And the sacrifices were worth it, cause at the end of her high school journey she had enough money to travel to California. And she didn't waste time to skedaddle.

The only person she told goodbye to was Andrew and he wished her goodluck in her career and hope the best for her, she gave him a hug and a kiss on the lips as a parting gift, as she boarded the bus to go and chase her dreams.

That was the last time she saw Andrew, she even tried to get his socials but to no avail. The number that he gave to her to use contact him stopped going through. She even called up her sister to ask her but she said that she doesn't stay in Ohio anymore, and she didn't have the contact of any of their former classmates, so she gave up.

She had a feeling that he was married and have kids. Wouldn't be bad thing, after all she wished for him to have one of the best things in this world and that was a happy family, that was something she sadly couldn't give to him.

There was an announcement made over the intercom that plane was about to land, that everybody should make sure that they are seated well to avoid casualties.

Casey sighed. Here goes nothing.

****

Oricon was a town suited in the far side of Chardon, Ohio, the people inhabiting the place are simple folks, the major occupation of the town is ranching or farming, the town had different schools, some of which had a nursery, elementary and high school suited in one.

Normally Ohio was a hot state but it seems as Oricon has a different heat of its own. The temperature are usually at an all time high due to the fact that it's summer.

Currently the cast and crew were on set, normally they were supposed to take a day off due to some of them being jet lagged, but the crew members turned it down when Richard proposed it. So they got to business instantly.

The vans they rented were for different purposes and different use. Casey was getting her hair and makeup done while an electric fan was being held by her PA, Cory.

"Casey I just want you to know that I am a huge fan of your movies," the make up artist, Sandra, said. Casey looked up at her and smiled, this caused Sandra to blush. Nothing else was said as Sandra applied the finishing touches of her makeup.

After she was done, the hairstylist came and styled her hair in a messy bun, since the movie was about the a group of humans that were the remaining survivors on Earth so it was only normal that her hair would look messy and unkempt.

Everything was set. Casey stepped out of one of the vans onto the scorching hot sun of Ohio.

As she went to the set and everything was ready, the scene was to begin with Casey walking down a deserted street with nobody in sight. After a viral disease wiped out half of humanity, she with a group of survivors had to battle with another major issue at hand, and those were the beings that had come alive due to the disease and were eating away at any human on sight.

Most of the casts were both veterans and young actors/actresses. It was a star studded cast.

With Casey being the main character she was to open the scene, she stood there while Richard sat on his director chair with a megaphone in his hand.

"Scene one, take two.

"Action."

****

They had shot up to three scenes before the day got dark, fatigue was eating away at most of the casts and crew.

Casey was standing there looking at the almost empty set, since she came to Oricon she haven't even met anybody from her town yet, probably due to the fact that as soon as she landed she got to work immediately, she felt tired having to repeat some few lines and forgetting some and some props not working, and she still had 7 months of this, at least that's the time that Richard said that they would take in this place–there is also a slight chance of them moving to another state for a different scene, but that wouldn't be seen as a problem.

Casey felt her phone vibrate at her back pocket, she removed it and check the caller ID, it was Rachel. She picked up the call.

"Hello?"

"Casey, I heard that you are back in town," she heard her sister say over the phone.

"Yes I am."

"That's just great, but why didn't you call us to tell us anything?"

'Cause as soon as I landed in a Oricon I started working instantly,' she wanted to say, instead she said, "I was caught up doing some things so I couldn't call."

"Oh, well will you come home, mom's already cooking some of your favorite food," Casey could hear her mom in background saying that she would love them. Casey smiled at this.

"Ok fine, I would be there in the next couple of minutes."

****

The McAddams house was a fairly big house, that fits the overall image of the town.

Casey parked the car that she rented on the driveway that led to the house. She had so many good memories in this place, and also so many bad ones too.

She took sometime before she stepped out of the car and walked up to the front porch leading to the front door of the house, she raised her hand as a means to knock but stopped halfway. She decided to open the door and walk in.

On stepping into the house she was greeted with the smell of something delicious, her mother and sister were in the kitchen, while father was no where to be seen.

She closed the door softly behind her as a way not to catch her mother and sister's attention. She removed her shoes, and tiptoed her way to the kitchen, she smiled as she stood behind them.

"Do you think Casey's probably change a lot?" Rachel asked.

"Maybe she has gotten taller or something, she's always been short." Her mother said giggling.

"Hmmm I won't say I have change much in terms of appearance but at least I grew some few inches taller since I left."

The two women turn around and their eyes were wide open, and then they screamed as they ran and hugged her, almost toppling her over.

"Oh my God Casey, why did you sneak up on us like that?"

"You almost gave me a heart attack."

Casey apologize, her father came out wondering what the whole commotion was, only to see his daughter finally back after how many years.

He engulfed her in a hug, kissing the top of her head. He was happy to see her.

After all the greetings, the family settled down in the dinning table to eat. The table was packed with different dishes from sandwiches to chicken to cauldron, it was overflowing and Casey couldn't wait to eat them all.

They all said a prayer before they began eating, Casey reached out for the sandwich, taking a bite out of it and letting the taste fill up her taste buds.

"So Casey how is Hollywood?" Her father asked.

"Oh it's ok," Casey answered with her mouth full.

"I heard that you are shooting a movie here in Oricon?" Her mom asked.

"Yes I am."

"Casey, just so you know I have been watching all your movies since you debuted on the big screen," Rachel said, drinking out of her orange juice.

"After you left you didn't bother to call up on anybody, not even your family members," her mom said.

"I didn't have time to call anybody, plus I thought that after I left town you people didn't want to see me again."

"Sweetie, why would you think that, you should know how much we love you. And our daughter waking up one morning and deciding to leave of her own accord just got us worried," her dad placed his hand over her hand.

Even though during that period of her life, even though she was hell bent on making her dreams a reality, she should have still tried to contact them and tell them that she was ok at least.

"I'm sorry," she apologized looking at her family. Yes they didn't want her to go out by herself into the cold dark world, cause what is an 18 year old doing in an unknown city, filled with unknown faces. Heck, she was even lucky that nothin bad happened to her, and for that she was even grateful to have met genuinely good people.

"Hey Casey, ever since you left town, have you heard from Andrew?" Rachel asked.

Casey swallowed the remaining bits of sandwich in her mouth, "to be honest I haven't heard from him since I left Oricon, aside from some couple of phone calls, I think he changed his phone number, I called one time to ask you about him, didn't I?"

Rachel nodded her head in agreement. "Well, he just recently got engaged."

"That's great news, i'm happy for him," Casey said smiling.

"But he is getting married to Gwen Lowe."

The smile on Casey's face drop, but she tried to cover it up by acting nonchalant about it, Rachel was able to catch on. She knew that she wasn't happy with what she said, but she didn't want to show it.

"Well, I guess I wish him all the best." Casey said, her smile went from genuine to fake in an instant.

The conversation went to another topic entirely as soon as her mom caught sight of Casey uneasiness.

After Dinner, Casey offered to clean up, but her mom declined saying that both her and Rachel would take care of it, that she was probably tired from the day's activity, that she should go to her room and rest.

Casey entered her room, turning on the light to chase away the darkness. On seeing her room, a wave of nostalgia hit her. Her room was still the same nothing much had change. Looked like her mom had been cleaning and arranging it every now and then.

There was big poster of a boyband that she used to obsess over during her teen years, it was suited by her bed post, her small book shelf that was by the corner of her bedroom, which hosted so many scripts and books about acting was dusted, her hands ran over the spine of each book. Recollecting the memories of her teenage years.

She went her bedside table, and saw something placed on it, it was a letter from Andrew, and with that letter came a gift, a pretty necklace that she was currently wearing.

She removed the necklace and place it next to the letter, the thought of Andrew being engaged to Gwen gnawing at her insides. Of all the girls in Oricon, it just had to be Gwen.

For all she knew, she might have changed. But Andrew definitely had a type that's for sure. Casey chuckled at the thought of Andrew getting engaged to Gwen.

She shook her head off such thoughts, she was here to shoot a movie not to think about a man that had probably forgotten about her.

The morning sun felt warm and refreshing on Casey skin. She was currently in another place getting ready to shoot another scene.

Casey was seated on a chair as the makeup artist added some finishing touches. Casey mind had managed to remove the fact that Andrew was engage to Gwen, she didn't need distractions right now. She needed to focus and get her mind together. She needed to get right into character.

It's none of her business anyways, whoever he chooses to be with is probably who he is happy with. So she could only wish him good luck.

****

The sun rays hit Andrew's face, he squinted his eyes to try and get a better view of his surroundings.

He looked to his right and saw Gwen, he sighed and rubbed the back of neck, images of last night reappearing to him like a scene from a movie.

They both got into an argument about a very irrelevant matter that he doesn't even remember, he just remembered the both of them shouting, cussing, and a lot of anger being thrown about. Normally when there is such an argument, it's either Andrew walks out of the house and go to the bar down the street, or they both get into a heated session of love making.

And the latter what was took place last night.

He used his fingers to rub the bridge of his nose, he sat up on the bed and sighed, he removed the bed sheets from his body, trying his best not wake up Gwen, he gentle crossed over her, and made his way to the bathroom.

He got into the shower turning it on and let the warm water pour over him, he stood there for a long time.

After a while he switched it off and got out of the shower, he rubbed himself clean with a towel, using it to wrap around his lower body.

He stepped out of the bathroom and went to the closet, he picked out his usual attire, which consisted of a gray shortsleeved shirt, coveralls, and a straw hat (for protection against the sun).

His father used to be the owner of the biggest ranch in town, it was so big that outsiders usually come over to buy animals from the ranch. It had different varieties of animals and it also sold milk to diary companies, and crates of eggs to people that needed them.

When his father died and the lawyer read the will to both himself and his brothers, he gave the ranch to Andrew, and his brothers didn't complain cause they knew that Andrew was the only one that showed actual interest in his father's ranch.

His father passed away as soon as he was graduating from the university.

He made his way outside. The sun was a bright yellow, and sky was blue with some few clouds hanging around it.

The ranch was right next to the house, so he could just easily stroll and see how things are doing. His workers were already working, Andrew went out about inspecting and greeting everybody around.

He went to the fish pond and stood there watching as the fishes swam peacefully, the water was clear and the reflection of the sun shone on it.

Peter was there feeding the fishes, Andrew didn't notice that Peter was there until he cleared his throat.

"Good morning Mr Denvers." He greeted cheerfully.

"Good morning Peter," Andrew greeted back, nodding his head towards him.

Peter was the youngest among his workers, he was still a high school student, so he usually come over every summer. The boy plan on going to college so he is saving up money to do so.

Andrew walked away from the fish pond and went to the horse stable, where Ross, his very close friend since high school, and trusted worker, was busy feeding the horses.

"Hey Ross, how are things looking down here?"

"Nothing too bad, Betsy look like she is doing well since the vet came over and gave her her medicine."

Andrew walked up to Betsy, Betsy was a horse that has been around the ranch since he was a child, the horse always tend to scare him, especially when his father tried to place him on top of her when he was younger. He cried a lot when that happened.

He placed his hand on Betsy's head, rubbing her, he then removed his hand from Betsy's head. He couldn't wait for her to get better.

"Hey Andrew have you heard?" Ross had stopped feeding the horses and was leaning on the shovel.

"Heard what?"

"Casey is back in town."

"Casey? As in Casey McAddams?"

"Gee Andrew how many Casey's do you know out there? Of cause I am talking about Casey McAddams."

"Wow, that is oddly surprising. Thought she would never come back," he murmured. "Anyways why exactly is she here?"

Ross shrugged, "I don't know, but people are saying that she is here to shot a movie."

Andrew smiled a little, Ross picked up on the smile. He was about to say something when he heard a voice calling out Andrew from the outside the horse stable.

"Andrew! Where the fuck are you?" It was Gwen's voice. Andrew sighed and looked up to wooden ceiling in the stable.

"Looks like your woman is here," Ross remarked sarcastically.

As soon as Gwen entered the stable, Ross took it as his cue to leave. As they passed each other, they both share a greeting, coupled up with some fake smiles to one another, as Ross walked out of the stable.

"Oh this place smells bad," Gwen remarked.

Andrew rolled his eyes. "What do you want?"

Gwen looked at him for a while, her lips were in a thin line then she said, "I want to go shopping."

"Go shopping then, nobody is stopping you," he picked up the shovel to continue feeding the horses.

"Well I need money Andrew." She said shoving her hands in her front pockets.

Andrew stopped what he was doing and gave her an incredulous look. "What happened to the money that I gave to you earlier this week?"

Gwen looked down at her feet, shuffling from one feet to the other.

"Please don't tell that you have finished it already."

Gwen looked the other way, avoiding his eyes. Andrew sighed for the hundredth time that day, he rubbed his face with his hands.

"I gave you close to 800 dollars and you are telling me that you blew it all away. 800 dollars Gwen Lowe! 800 dollars! And you blew it all away!" His voice was getting louder, he was doing like a parent scolding their child for doing something stupid. And yes what Gwen did was stupid.

"I am sorry ok, I just got carried away," Gwen said picking at her fingers.

"Jesus Christ Gwen! What the fuck is wrong with you? Are you ok? Are you sure that you are ok?" By now with the way he was shouting, there was a high possibility that people outside were hearing in on the conversation going on between them.

"What exactly did you use the money to do?" Andrew question, clasping his hands together in a sarcastic manner.

"Well, I gambled it away," Gwen's voice was a low whisper while saying this.

"What did you use it to gamble with?"

"H-horseback racing."

"Get out of my sight." Andrew jaw clenched together in anger, he hates and despise the fact that Gwen was such a compulsive gambler and she was completely unapologetic about it. That thing alone pissed him off so bad.

"But can I use your credit card?" Andrew glared at her and she ran away outside.

Andrew sat down on a stool next to Betsy stall, his used his hands to rub his face, he wondered how he end up with someone like Gwen, ever since he proposed to her, she was getting more infuriating each day. Ross came into the ranch and walked over to him.

"So horseback riding huh?" Ross chuckled.

"Shut the fuck up Ross."