Sugar Valley (Hollywood's Darkest Secret) (19 page)

Sitting down, Damen was embarrassed, angry,
hurt, and confused at this situation. “Fine ... what are you going
to talk to us about?” questioned Damen. He was so confused at the
situation, knowing and feeling that one of his best friends just
lied to him, Damen felt betrayed. He was also at a loss as to why
Jose wasn’t feeling and showing the same type of emotion. The
thoughts and questions circled around in Damen’s mind. But one of
those thoughts circled the most, and that was, My God, my first
moment with an agent, and he doesn’t even want me to be here.

Jose desired to get out of there to go and
meet Julienne, so he asked, “Yeah, what are you going to talk to us
about? Is there any way you can lower the talk down to ten
minutes?” Immediately after his words exhaled through his yawning
mouth, he tried to think up of another excuse as to why he just
asked that. Jose knew Damen would question him on that question; he
did.

“Why do you want to get out of here in ten
minutes?” Damen looked at Jose with a puzzled face, waiting to hear
the reason for his exiting early.

“Because ... I’m really tired.”

Damen Schultz, with his handsome face, and
light brown hair, was looking ugly at the moment, full of so much
stress, anger, hurt; his nerves were ready to shoot through his
arteries. “Listen, we’re going to stay here for as long as
possible. Okay?”

Jose couldn’t get out of this one, not
without a good excuse, and the only good excuse would be the truth.
So, he accepted it, stuck his hand into his pocket, grabbed onto
Julienne’s pager, and rubbed it, like it was a golden coin or a
security blanket. Giving up in his escape, Jose looked at Damen,
Tom Fryer, Darell, and then back at Damen. “Okay, fine.”

Mr. Fryer talked to them about the pictures,
composites they need to have. He made them all appointments at his
own personal photographer. Tom then said, “Okay, after you get the
photos, all you have to do is send them out to agents. Also, here
is a number for Willow casting agency; they work with extras. It’s
a good way to get started. I’m going to make your appointments for
the photographer three days from now. Remember to shave and look
your best. An actor’s photo is the most important tool he needs,
it’s his way into auditions; it’s his key to success in this
business. Remember that when you’re shaving your face on photo day,
you don’t want to have a picture with razor burns and cuts.” Tom
grinned when he spoke those words. Even though he was highly
serious, he still wanted to make them all comfortable.

“Thank you,” said Jose, writing down the
photo appointment on a yellow piece of paper. Jose was back in the
same boat as Damen and Darell, at least until Julienne got back.
Now the Hollywood game began, the greatest game of all.

“Now, if you would excuse me, I have to take
care of some business with Darell.” Mr. Fryer slowly escorted them
out, Darell still sitting in his office, he made sure to not rush
Damen and Jose out of the office, this way it looked like they had
some importance to him; but really, Mr. Fryer didn’t give a damn
about them.

He closed the door and walked up to Darell.
Darell knew Jose and Damen were waiting outside his office that
made him feel a lot better and less nervous. As the day slowly
crept by, Mr. Fryer made Darell read parts of a script; he also
made him do a cold reading. As Darell read, Mr. Fryer took some
interest. Watching him perform a miniature dialogue from a drama,
he found that he had tremendous talent. Also, he found that Darell
had a very unique look of handsome, Southern-ish character, and
that allowed Tom’s eyes to create twinkles of dollar signs, and
also to start the analysis and the questioning in his mind.

He could be cast as a leading man, or a high
school student from the South. Yeah, that would be perfect. Man, he
didn’t even go to drama school, and he could act better than some
actors who get paid twenty million per picture. But, Peter was also
good, and I still have to see Vivian’s performance, Mr. Fryer
mumbled silently.

“Alright, Darell, come in next week at 10:00
a.m. Here’s the day, time and everything else you need to know for
next week.” Mr. Fryer then slid a piece of paper over his desk to
Darell. “Write it down now, so you won’t forget.”

Darell slowly wrote down the information that
he needed, and asked at the same time, “Is the meeting over
with?”

“No, no, it’s just begun,” Mr. Fryer replied
while opening his desk drawer and popping out eight different
scripts.

Meanwhile, Damen and Jose were outside his
office, sitting in the waiting room. Damen noticed that Vivian
would look at him and then turn away as soon as he looked at her.
He looked at Jose and saw him sleeping, so he got up and approached
Vivian. “Hi, my name is Damen.”

“I know,” she answered with a smile.

“How do you know? Have you been stalking me
or something?” he asked in a nerdlike manner.

“No, you said it when you came in here.”
Damen noticed some smart-aleck to her voice, mixed in with joking.
He caught on to her own craft of flirting.

“Oh, well then, what’s your name?” Damen saw
that she had beautiful blue eyes, allowing his soul to twist
upside-down, and all around.

Vivian got up from her seat, put a file into
a brown, wooden cabinet, and spoke, “I’m sorry, I don’t date
actors.”

“Who said anything about a date? I just want
to know your name.”

“That’s how it starts.”

“Well, do you want some company?” Damen sat
down in a chair, next to her desk, still holding onto his sincere
expression, he actually prayed in his mind that she would give in
to her game and tell him her name. She was perfect to his eyes. The
way her breasts formed, connecting to her body, and the way her
neck stood straight, like a swan, allowed his saliva to actually
dribble out of his mouth, just a bit. Her hair was shiny to his
sight. Seeing her slim waist sitting in the chair, he wanted to
know what she would look like without any apparel on.

“I don’t mind, but don’t think this means I
like you,” Vivian finally answered, but with a small grin.

They talked for an hour straight. Damen
blabbed away about why they came to California, and where they came
from as she just watched and listened. She talked about her life in
the Hollywood scene and how she wanted to become successful in the
film industry, as an actor too. They conversed a total of two
hours, but Damen still didn’t know her name. The chemistry was
there, the momentum of it loitered a bit, but still it was showing
through each of their smiles, smiling at one another, enjoying each
other’s company. Even Damen, in his secret voice, in his mind,
talked about her. The silence of his dense imagination rambled on
through his thoughts; he had a very dirty mind.

Damen, she is so beautiful, man, I didn’t
know that a girl could be this fine. Go on, ask her out, do it
chicken shi...

“Okay, if I make a deal with you right now,
then will you tell me your name?” he asked.

“What sort of deal?”

“It’s simple, once you tell me your name, we
become nothing but friends,” he replied, putting his hand out.
“Deal?”

“There’s a catch.” Vivian then folded her
hands, and listened intensely to his voice.

“The only catch is, you have to hang out with
me, or me and my friends. Remember, the only thing we could do is
talk, nothing else. That is unless you change your mind about
dating an actor.” His hand stretched out farther toward her folded
hands, waiting patiently for her to grab it and shake it.

Vivian unfolded her warm hands, saying, “I
just met you and you’re already making deals with me...”

“Come on, life’s about taking risks.”

Damen wasn’t used to spontaneity, grasping
onto a moment by its wing, and flying it about, not knowing where
it’ll take him; but the attraction he had toward Vivian caused his
instincts to get the best of him and take a chance. Back in Ridge
Crest, this type of experience would have never happened, so Damen
was learning a lot about the real world, and he’d only been in it
for two days.

“Okay, deal,” Vivian said, shaking his
hand.

“Okay, what’s your name?” he questioned,
still holding onto her hand.

Vivian pulled her hand gently away from
Damen’s grip and replied, “I’ll tell you tonight.”

“So soon?”

“Yeah ... tonight at 9:00 sharp. I’ll bring
my friends and you bring your friends.” Jose was woken up by the
sound of Darell walking out of Mr. Fryer’s office, allowing the
flirtatious but interesting conversation between Vivian and Damen,
to end.

Jose, still drugged but now sober, got up
slowly by the chair, giving a sign to Damen that it was time to go;
but seeing Darell walk out of the office upset Damen. He didn’t
want to go yet. With such a beauty in front of his eyes, allowing
him to forget on how much he had a crush on Maria, back in Ridge
Crest, Damen felt like a new person.

“Where should we meet?” spoke Damen.

“We’ll meet at the Hollywood sign. Do you
know how to get up there?”

“Yeah, I’ll figure it out.” Jose then started
to pull Damen by his shirt-sleeve, agitated that he had to sleep
upright in a chair; Jose wanted to go now.

“Well, see you then,” she whispered.

And all Damen could say, of course in a
tender voice, was, “Later.”

The friends waited outside Mr. Fryer’s office
building for a taxi. They ignored each other for a long time. Damen
ignored Darell for the simple fact that he’d lied to them. Jose
just went along with Damen’s ignoring, though he wasn’t that upset.
Jose figured that Julienne would take care of everything. Darell
looked down at the Hollywood street in a guilty way, like he was
ready to cry. Darell knew he’d done something wrong, and Damen
figured he better break the ice and say something. So, he spoke.
“You never lied to us before. Why now?”

The warm California breeze blew against
Darell’s puppy eyes as they showed themselves to Damen. “I’m sorry,
Damen ... it’ll never happen again, I promise.”

Jose figured he better put on an act like he
gave a damn, and jump in this conversation, at least before Damen
caught on to Jose’s suspicious character. “Yeah, why did you lie to
us?” It was a fake, generic tone, sounding like it was read off of
a script, but luckily Damen, and even Darell, didn’t catch onto
it.

“I said I was sorry. It’s just, I didn’t want
to make you guys upset,” Darell replied, looking at Jose.

“Apology accepted,” Jose answered. Mr.
Rodrigo’s words sounded like he didn’t even care about the “sorry”
that came out of Darell’s sincere mouth, and that made Damen look
at him for a moment, feeling a little suspicious toward Jose.

“Jose, you have been acting very strange
lately. Are you on somethin’?” asked Damen. That’s when a taxi
approached them and stopped.

Jose then stared at Damen in shock, making
sure to put on an act like he was surprised at his assumptions.
“No, why on earth would you say something like that? I’m just a
little tired.”

“A little tired? You’ve just slept for two
hours,” Damen announced. The guys got into the cab as he added, “I
mean, I thought you would be the first person to yell at
Darell.”

Jose Rodrigo noticed some combativeness in
Damen’s voice, so he added a little aggressiveness, saying, “Well,
I guess you’re wrong.”

“Yeah, I guess I am.” Damen’s suspicion
toward Jose, and finding out that Darell lied to him, made his
anger show through his words. Even as the cab drove off, Damen
still wanted to get to the bottom of this, instead of leaving it
alone.

Jose and Damen fought for ten minutes. The
only thing stopping them from punching each other out was Darell;
he was in the middle while they were bickering across his face.

“I think I should just go home, this isn’t
working,” Damen spoke.

“I think that’s a good idea,” Jose agreed,
allowing his smart-alecky tone to be noticed and amplified.

Darell just sat there motionless. He hoped
that they would forget about why they were fighting. He knew the
fight was because of him.

Darell sat back and enjoyed the ride. Knowing
he wasn’t the one fighting, he breathed out relief, and watched the
entertainment. That was something about Damen and Jose’s
friendship: they were always good fighters, and when they got in an
argument, they would go at each other’s throats till sleep ended
it.

Everything was fine and dandy for Darell
until Jose agreed with Damen again. The wind blowing in through the
car window, allowed Jose and Damen’s sweat, from the arguing
pressure, to cool off, so this way they could go on and on, and
still never be uncomfortable. The taxi driver also enjoyed the
entertainment.

Jose then opened his mouth, “I think that’s a
good idea, you should go back home,” and it was nothing but anger
that came out.

Immediately after Jose spoke those words,
phrase, that disturbing and hurtful sentence, Darell popped out of
nowhere and said, “Okay, guys, just shut up, no one is going
anywhere.”

The cab stopped because of a traffic jam,
allowing the guys to get uncomfortable because there was no wind to
cool the steaming, hot car. Jose turned to Darell and asked, “Who
do you think you are? This argument is because of you.”

“Wait a second, look what we’re doing. We’re
in Hollywood, or California, whatever they call this place
nowadays, for only two days and we’re already at each other’s
throats. Let’s stop now,” Damen asserted.

The cab started to move slowly past the
traffic jam into a parking spot next to their motel.

“Okay, you’re right,” said Jose. He then paid
the cabdriver.

“I know, let’s make a deal. The next time we
fight again, the one who starts the fight has to leave Hollywood,”
explained Darell. He got out of the cab and followed Jose and
Damen.