11. Open Doors 🤫

After getting our food, we were taken back to the resort, I mean his house. Maximo helped me out of the car.

Zeke cursed, "Is my dad here already?"

Maximo answered, "Confirmed. He got here an hour ago."

Zeke took my hand and quickly walked around the house, the opposite side of the pool. There was more greenery and vegetation on this side. It appeared a bit wild, but it was a beautiful garden as if it were meant to be hidden. I think I'm gonna call it Secret Garden. I mean, the size of the Rivers' house did a great job of hiding it.

"Ooh!" I ran into Zeke's back. He could've told me that he stopped walking. At the same time, I was distracted by the garden.

Zeke turned around. "I wasn't expecting my dad to be here so early. So we have to change plans. We're going to eat with the family tonight. He's gonna want to know a lot about you so we need to get your story straight."

"I'm your girlfriend, remember?" I joked.

Zeke said, "We met at the beach a month ago when you were on vacation with your family. You are not from East Grove. You're from... what's a small town in your state that you know about?"

I shrugged, "Umm... Jesterville. It's about an hour away from East Grove."

"Then, that's where you're from. When we met, you didn't know who I was. We started talking and exchanged numbers. I told you I would fly you out, because you are thinking about moving here to follow your dream of... what is something besides singing that you like to do?"

He was talking so fast that I could barely understand what all he was saying. "I'm sorry. What did you say?"

"What else do you like to do?"

I looked around like that would help. "I like to critique movies."

Zeke nodded his head, "You're here to pursue acting. No! You want to work on movie sets, be a part of a film crew, because you like movies. Got it?"

"Got it!" Lies.

"We're gonna go to my room first, and then yours." Zeke turned around and opened a door that was hidden by a bunch of green vines.

We were in the basement - I think. Then, he turned on the lights and an entire hallway lit up. "This is the garage." Zeke told me.

As we walked, I realized that one wall was glass and the garage was a warehouse full of every luxury car I could and couldn't think of. I felt like I wasn't supposed to be here. Then, I heard someone singing. At the end of the hall were three doors. The one on the right led to the garage. The one on the left is where Zeke was taking me. The one in front of us was an entire laundromat. Bridgette took one look at me and laughed. I guess my face said it all.

"Zeke, you better give Jamie a tour before the day ends. I don't want to find her lost somewhere in this house."

I agreed, "Thank you, Bridgette."

She waved at me before continuing to do laundry.

We walked up a few steps before entering another hall. It was shorter. There was a restroom, a pantry, and another door that we went through. Zeke quickly turned around and closed the - it's not even a door. It was a whole, entire wall. Why do they have so many secret doors? What are they trying to hide? Their wealth? Too late for all that.

By the time we got through the kitchen, not the regular kind - the restaurant kind, I was tired of walking. "Are we there yet?" I asked him with a hint of attitude.

Zeke chuckled, "Yeah..."

A "Northwest Passage" later, we arrived at a steel door with opaque glass. He pulled out his phone and pressed some buttons before the door made a locking sound. He opened the door and held it for me. I walked inside his room to see a whole studio apartment with a mini fridge. Everything was gray from the concrete floor to the cover on his bed. "Gray must be your favorite color?"

"It's silver." Zeke corrected me as he walked over to a door and opened it. "Follow me."

I walked inside his second bedroom - his closet. "So, is this where you collect all your expensive gifts or did you buy it with your own money?"

Zeke chuckled, "If that was a joke, it was funny. But this is what I wanted to show you." He opened another... Remember Pinky from the movie "Next Friday" and how upset he got when Craig kept talking? That's what I can see myself doing if Zeke opens another door.

Well, this door opened to a stairway. I looked at Zeke.

"Go up," he told me.

"If you knew who my cousin was, you would advise me to follow you." Monica is definitely the one telling the person in the horror movie not to go up there.

Zeke shook his head, "Jamie, it's my studio."

"Your studio?" I hesitated before peaking. I slowly went up the stairs. It was an entire recording studio. It was a dream come true. I'd never been in one, and here I was in Zeke Rivers' home studio.

"This is where we'll be working. Over the next few months, we want to put together a demo, shop it around, get it trending on social media, airplay, and then make history."

I ran my hands over the keyboard. "When can we start?"

Zeke tried to mask his grin. "I would like to start next week, but you probably want to start tomorrow."

I took a deep breath and a song immediately popped in my head. I began to sing it, but not for long. I looked at Zeke. "Can we start tonight?"

"You'll be too tired after dinner. Let's wait until everyone is comfortable enough to leave us alone. We don't want anybody to miss us."

Maybe, he's right. This is my first day, after all. I looked through the glass at the recording booth. I could feel the eagerness in my bones. I just wanted to get started.

"Let me take you back to your room so you can get ready for tonight's dinner." Zeke headed down the stairs.

I took a deep breath as I followed him. "Do you think your dad will remember me from the audition?"

"He doesn't need to remember that. You won't be Jamie from East Grove. I told you that. Give me the summary of Jamie from Jesterville."

We left the closet and were back in his bedroom. I recited, "We met at the beach last month. I was with my family on vacation. I didn't know who you were, and we exchanged numbers. I'm from Jesterville, and my dream job is to be a part of the film crew, because I love movies. I'm staying here, because you're gonna help me figure out if being behind the scenes is for me or not. Did I miss anything?"

Zeke took my hand. "No. Let's go."

I did a happy dance as we walked out into the hall. From his bedroom to another corridor, we arrived inside a game room. He pointed at the pool sticks that hung on the wall. "That's a door. It leads back to your room."

I arched my brow at him. "Now I know why my room is so isolated."

Zeke smiled, "Not even the workers know this way so don't take it often. This is my first time using it this year. I'm sure my parents probably forgot about it. They barely come to this side of the house, anymore. My brother only visits a few times a year, and he mostly stays in his room."

"Well that doesn't make me want to use it after this," I admitted. "What if I get stuck and no one comes looking for me?"

Zeke said, "That won't happen. What you do is push on all the sticks at the same time, and the door unlocks."

Zeke demonstrated by facing me and using his back to lean on all the pool sticks. Then, he went backwards as the wall/door opened to reveal a spiral staircase. As soon as I walked though the door, it closed. Zeke gave it another back push, and it was shut tight. I led the way up with the help of the mini lights along the steps and rail.

"Grab the door knob," Zeke told me.

The door knob was lit. I touched it, and the door popped open. I peeped before opening it completely. I ended up walking into the hallway that led to my room. "Are you serious? This is so cool." I felt like I was inside of a magic trick.

Zeke said, "And you close it like this..." He pushed the wall/door and it closed into invisibility. I can only imagine the amount of fun he had here as a kid. As we walked to my bedroom, Zeke pulled his phone out of his pocket. "We got about an hour before dinner starts. I'll come back to get you."

"Ok. Do I have to dress up?" I asked him.

"It's up to you. How do Jesterville people get dressed to meet the parents?"

I playfully rolled my eyes. "Bye, Mr. Rivers."

He walked in the opposite direction.

I opened the door to my room, ran, and jumped onto my bed. Even though the day wasn't over. I have to say that I was definitely sitting on top of the world. My future was calling, and my life could only go up from here. This is everything!