My Hollywood System

June was sitting next to Will. Both were staring at each other, saying nothing but just looking. An awkward silence was setting between them.

The staring contest went on for a few more seconds.

“Are you okay?” Will questioned not being able to bear the silence.

June didn’t mutter anything, but shook her head. Her lips started trembling, and eyes teared up. Everything she had held in for too long, suddenly came out with a single question from Will.

“I t-thought I would lose you, Will.” She said between her sobs.

Will could not bear to see how she started to cry. She was strong, determined and a woman that any man can’t bring down even if they wished. It was the first time he was seeing her this vulnerable.

“I’m sorry,” Will whispered, and June leaned onto his chest, keeping her head right in front of his heart.

Although the sobs slowed down, she was continuously shedding tears.

“You are so reckless.” After a few seconds of crying, she muttered out. “Why would you even go to a party when you know something was about to happen? You should not have gone, Will. What if something happened to you? I still can’t believe how you went to the party being all worried and with fear.

“And it’s my fault too! I knew something was wrong, but I let you go thinking it was most likely related to work.”

June started muttering her feelings out, yet Will just held her head. Words stayed in his throat and he just listened to her.

“Everyone was saying that you most likely won’t make it out alive, I was so scared,” June whimpered at the last part.

“I’m so sorry, June. I know I should not have gone to the party but I thought Uncle Ben’s life was in danger. I didn’t know Matthew was aiming for me.” Will said while taking her face in his hands.

Will wanted to calm the situation down. He knew it must have been tough on her. The worry he saw in her eyes before he left the house, explained a lot. He had walked away from the house with worries and then, she had found out that he was stabbed.

It must have been truly too hard for her.

“W-what would I even do without you?” She cried her eyes out. “Even the media and everyone I met was saying how the chances for you to recover were decreasing with every passing day.” Her tears didn’t stop.

Ever since he was in coma, she had to sleep alone worrying what if he never returned. Although she did not admit it publicly, somewhere deep down her feelings for him were strong.

“I’m sorry for making you worry, I didn’t want to die either,” Will whispered back.

He kept raking his hand through her hair. She was crying in his chest. The scene seemed straight out of a movie and they stayed like that for a while. In the end, Will’s thoughts shifted to what June just said. ‘What if he really had died’?

Thinking of that, he said nothing but held her tightly.

***

It was an old age home, to the north side of America. The homes for the elderly were basically where people were left off to take care when they are old.

It was a shelter for them where they could spend the last year of their lives.

In the main hall of the large house, there were two old men, talking to each other.

“I still remember what types of movies we had when I was young. Now, there’s nothing good. I still can’t seem to find anything that feels good enough.” One of the old men with a bald head said to his friend with an emotionless face.

They both met in the old age home a year ago, and ever since then they had never ran out of topics to talk about. From how current people tend to live a life that seemed totally different to how there are no good shows for them to enjoy; they discussed it all.

“I remember how stars were a phenomenon back then.” His friend said with a smile. His wrinkly face looked pleasant whenever he remembered anything old which he enjoyed. f𝑟e𝒆𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗oѵ𝐞𝗹.c૦𝑚

“Ahaha… I remember once I went to watch [Mark], the movie with that fluffy dog, right after the day it was released. The lead who starred in it, I still remember how everyone used to love him. Girls were crazy for him and the movie single handedly made a lot of people buy dogs. The impact was so much.” The bald old man said with a smile shaking his head in the memories.

They were sitting in front of the television for quite a while now wanting to watch something. But everytime they start watching something, they could not help but pick something wrong with the show. It has become a habit now. They would start watching something on the television but end up talking about old days.

“Yeah, I can’t agree more. We used to go to a movie and talk about it for months, basically till something new comes out so we can start talking about them, but now… Meh. They don’t make anything for us to enjoy.” The other old man said in displeasement and shook his head.

It irritated them how there’s not even a single series to keep them entertained during the weekdays.

“Yeah, not even worth talking about, what do these young people even look for? I mean, these movies just become unrealistic and non innovative with every new creation. How can people even relate with this shit and enjoy them?”

“Maybe they just want to earn money now.” Another grandma across the hall said, who was eavesdropping on the entire conversation from afar.

It was then that a young woman suddenly opened the door and walked in. She had black hair and a sweet smile on her face.

“Hello, Mariah,”

The bald old man said, looking at her. She was one of the volunteers in the old age home and they knew each other well.

She was a college student but whenever she would get time, she would come to the old age home to help around. It was one of the activities that she thoroughly enjoyed.

“Still struggling with a show.” She replied.

“Psychic Mariah,” The old man said and chuckled. “How is your mom, kid?”

“She is doing great. Never been better,”

Mariah had been doing the volunteer service for several months now, and she got closer to almost everyone. Since they were mature and friendly, it was easier for her to get to know them personally and build up good relationships. In fact, she often tends to realise how valuable the things they mutter were.

“If you want a good series, I watched one last week. You might like it.” She said and started to clean things up around the hall. She kept walking from the corners of the room to clean it up, yet kept talking to the old men.

“I already went through a lot of shows and nothing good is there. I don’t think you can recommend something great either.” The other grandpa said and laughed.

Mariah shook her head thinking how wrong they were.

“Trust me on this, I have never suggested anything, but this. This was so good. The name of the show is [Friends] and it is really hilarious. Most importantly, no spoilers but the whole series is relatable, I can bet my life on it, you just give it a try.” She said with a sweet smile.

“Well, if Mariah is saying, I think we should try. I mean, what is there to lose?” The bald old man said and smiled. He was bored and like he said, he would lose nothing as he has a lot of time.

“Alright, let me get the channel, sit back and enjoy, gentlemen. It should start airing around this time.” Mariah said and turned on the TV before switching to RBO. “It should start in five minutes.” She said while smiling at the old and hoping that they would like [Friends].

***

Mariah tried to explain about the characters and the plot, but was said to not tell anything by the old man and they would figure it out on their own with time.

The episode started soon and they were already enjoying it even when it hadn’t even gone five minutes in.

“I remember how we lived just like this together years ago,” The bald old man said while laughing remembering how he and his friends lived in the same apartment during the 90s. 𝑓𝐫𝑒e𝒘𝚎𝘣𝚗𝘰𝘷𝐞𝑙.co𝑚

He was going through his second divorce back then and to save money, he had started living with his roommates.

As the episode went on, both the old man started to enjoy it more and more. The jokes were funny to them and the atmosphere of the show was very warm, showing the lives of each of the friends.

It somehow made them remember their own life.

“Hey, you all. What are you watching?”

Soon, other old guys also came around in the hall to play board games and couldn’t help but look at the two old men who would always talk badly about movies. It was a shock to them that they were watching something with smiles on their faces.

“It’s a series called [Friends]. Come watch it with us.” The bald old man said and the others joined him.

For the next 25 minutes, all of them enjoyed the episode and laughed at the jokes. For some reason, it made them remember the good old days and forget about the worries they have.

Seeing them like that, Mariah couldn’t help but smile. Thinking of something, she took a picture of how they all kept watching the show and uploaded it on Sparrow.

The caption she typed was, ‘Watching [Friends] with Friends’.

…

//DreamNote//

June concluded that he was aware of something was about to happen because of his weird behaviour before heading to the party.

…

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