Sugar Valley (Hollywood's Darkest Secret) (31 page)

Chapter Twenty

The big day finally arrived for Darell; the
day of the 10:00 a.m. appointment with Mr. Fryer. He woke up at
9:00 a.m. and saw Damen and Jose were missing, not being anywhere
in sight. So, he went over to the television, turned it on and lit
up a cigarette. Darell looked all around this motel room. Closing
his eyes suddenly, he opened them once to the sight of Sugar
Valley. Manifesting his mind to be in the Valley’s body, Darell
imagined that he was fishing with Maria. Feeling his flashback
returning, he listened to his own words that he said on that day.
He saw birds flying about, soaring through the Valley like they
always did, and then turned to Maria. She asked, “Darell, why
aren’t you practicing the script with them?” He turned and saw
Damen and Jose, holding a script and acting it out in a grand
fashion.

He then turned to her, saw her face, feeling
this flashback and how it felt so surreal, and suddenly a roach
fell upon his forehead, making his flashback end and bringing him
back into reality. A roach from the motel room crawled on his face,
its sharp antennae against his skin, so he brushed it off with one
swipe of his hand. Sugar Valley was no longer in his mind’s eye,
his smile was no longer present, and he noticed his cigarette was
all gone. “Well, today’s the day,” he mumbled. He went over to
bathroom and slowly opened it up. Lighting another cigarette, he
walked into the bathroom, but fell down to the floor by the sound
of “surprise!” coming from Jose and Damen.

“What’s this for?” Darell asked. He was
handed a box with red velvet wrapping surrounding it, and was
confused about its purpose.

Damen replied with excitement, “It’s just a
little something me and Jose picked up for you.”

“Why?” Darell began to unwrap the red velvet
from the box. Feeling its happy texture of silk, he was intrigued
by the wrapping, and couldn’t wait to see what it was covering
up.

“Because, it’s not every day a person gets an
interview with one of the top talent agents in California. It’s
just our way of saying congratulations,” Damen spoke.

Darell opened the box, in a quick motion,
seeing a golden pen lying on a black-cushioned surface, he said,
“Wow, you guys didn’t have to do this.”

Jose patted Darell on the back, saying, “Yes,
we did. This way you’ll have something to sign autographs
with.”

“How did you guys afford this?” Darell then
tried writing on a piece of paper with his new pen, having his eyes
widen to the fact that it was working, and black ink could be seen
through his circular motions.

“Well, Jose and I are working for agencies of
our own.” Damen turned off the television, seeing that it was loud
and the conversation’s clarification was being censured by it.
After Damen turned off the switch, he added, “We’re working for
agencies now.”

“What agencies?”

“Crox Casting Agency, and Jose’s working for
Willow Casting Agency.” Damen sat down on the bed and took Darell’s
pen from him, saying, “So, do you like your gift?”

Darell ignored the question, and asked, “How
long have you guys been working?”

A grin formed on Jose’s face, speaking, “I
just started yesterday.”

“Yeah, and I’ve been working at Crox for
about four days.”

Darell saw that Damen put the pen down on the
bed, so he went over and took it, playing with it in his fingers
and still showing confusion in his eyes. Darell placed the pen on
the television and questioned in a puzzled manner, “Why didn’t you
guys ask me if I wanted to join?”

Damen got up from the bed, moved over to the
television and picked up the pen once more. He replied, “Because,
you were so worked up about this interview today that we didn’t
want to make you even more stressed out.”

Confusion still lay in the depths of Darell’s
eyes and mind, still showing it to them, and having them realize
that they’d better add more clarity into their reasons for not
telling him about their jobs. They saw Darell was beginning to pick
up the wrappings from the ground, having a few roaches trying to
make homes out of it, Darell made sure to shake the wrappings, and
watched the insects fall to their deaths. “Why would it make me
stressed out?” They both noticed an attitude in Darell’s question.
They knew he was pissed.

“Because, it’s not an easy job being an
extra; you have to work long, long hours, and be treated like dogs.
Besides, if this interview doesn’t go well, then you could join
too,” replied Damen, beginning to scribble on a piece of paper with
Darell’s present.

Darell’s confusion vanished at their alibi,
so he formed a small smile and spoke, “Oh, okay, if you put it that
way. Then, I guess I should say, thanks.”

Damen then progressed to guide Darell into
the bathroom, pushing him and saying, “You’re welcome. Now you
should get going, you don’t want to be late for your big day.”

Suddenly, Darell stopped in the bathroom
doorway, turned around to face Damen and Jose, with his smile
receding to a straight, suspicious grin. Confusion set in his mind
again, Damen and Jose witnessing it. Darell questioned, like a
prosecutor, “Wait a second, if you only started working at, at Crox
Agency four days ago, how did you afford this present? Don’t tell
me they paid you already.”

Jose put his hand on Darell’s shoulder,
replying, “Calm down, killer. Damen paid for the pen. He had some
spare money put aside for an emergency. I’m going to give him part
of the money once I get paid. Don’t worry, we didn’t steal it, and
we didn’t take any of the money that Vivian loaned to us
either.”

Darell started to chuckle, feeling like an
ass for being so detailed on his questioning, he said, “Good,
that’s all I wanted to know.”

Darell entered the bathroom, turned on the
lights, when the confusion came back to him again, causing him to
ask, “Aren’t you guys going to come with me to the agency?”

“I’m not, I have to go into work today. Today
the director is doing a ‘running’ scene. So, I guess I’ll be seen
in the crowd as a glorified extra,” Jose answered with a grin.

“What about you, Damen? Are you gonna come
with me?”

Damen’s tired mind was sick of all the
questions Darell threw in his face. He proceeded to rub his eyes,
and yawned, “Yeah, but we’re going to go pick up Vivian before we
go. Her interview’s today too.”

“That’s right, she’s my opponent.”

Suddenly the confusion that Darell had,
escaped into the air, and went into Damen’s thoughts, wondering
what he meant by that. Damen saw that the bathroom door was
closing, so he stuck his foot in the way of it, causing the door to
hit it, and questioned, “What do you mean?”

Darell opened the door all the way, speaking,
“Well, remember when I told you I couldn’t discuss anything that
Mr. Fryer talked to me about?”

“Yeah, I remember something like that.”

Darell grinned, and explained, “Well, Mr.
Fryer told me, that me and six other actors are up against each
other for the chance to have him as our agent. He even told me all
of their names. That’s why when I saw Peter Welch at the Hollywood
sign last week, I said ‘I think I’m up against him’. I said that
because I knew I was. I couldn’t tell you the real reason why I
said that, so I just said it’s a gut feeling. Remember that?”

“Yeah, I remember, but why did Mr. Fryer tell
you not to tell anyone?” asked Damen as he sat down on the bed.
Darell was puzzling him even more, and in a way, he was intimidated
by Darell’s next words, hoping that his mind wouldn’t suffer a
stroke that he would cause.

“I don’t know. Don’t worry, Damen. Vivian
probably didn’t know about this herself. Why are you making such a
big deal about it?” questioned Darell with a smile.

“It’s not that. It’s just, I want to know why
Vivian didn’t tell me about it.”

Darell came out of the bathroom and sat next
to Damen on the bed, saying, “Like I said before, maybe she didn’t
know about it.” Darell knew he screwed up, knowing he shouldn’t
have said anything at all.

Jose saw the hurt in Damen Schultz’s eyes, so
he sat down on the other side of him, and said, “Yeah, man, maybe
she didn’t know.”

Mr. Schultz got up from the bed, and turned
to face his friends in anger. “No, she knew; I mean, she works in
that agency, she had to have known. I don’t know, I’m not going to
make a big deal about it. If she knew, she knew. If she didn’t
know, she didn’t know. I just don’t like when somebody doesn’t tell
me about important things.”

“Oh, like you didn’t tell me about the extra
work?” Darell asked with a small grin.

They all started to laugh, chuckling at
Darell’s words, his comment. Damen grinned and spoke, “Oh, so now
you’re gonna to push that in my face?”

“No, but if I’m late for this interview today
because you were talking to me for so long, then I’m going to push
that in your face. Now come on, cheer up.”

Damen walked over to the bathroom, agreeing,
“Okay, fine.” He then held open the bathroom door, adding, “The
only way I’m going to be happy is if you get your ass in this
bathroom right now and get ready.”

Jose pushed Darell into the bathroom, with
Darell laughing and shouting, “Sir, yes sir.”

Chapter Twenty-One

Mr. Fryer sat in his office and looked at a
photo that had the future star embroidered on it, the photo that
meant fame, fortune and especially a lot of dollar signs to his
thoughts. He got up from his brown leather seat and walked to the
window, looking out at the Hollywood streets, then back at the
photo. He said to himself, “I made the right decision.”

Helen called Mr. Fryer on his speakerphone,
saying “Good morning, sir. There are three actors here, the other
four haven’t shown up yet.”

Not being able to identify the voice as being
Vivian, Tom walked over to the phone rapidly. “Who is this? Where’s
Vivian?” Tom dropped the photo on the floor.

“This is Helen, your other secretary. This is
Vivian’s day off,” she replied, looking at the time that read 9:40
a.m. “Don’t you remember? She’s coming in for the 10:00 a.m.
interview.”

Tom Fryer picked up the photo from the
red-carpeted floor, and explained, “Oh, yes of course. Well, when
all the actors get here, tell me... Listen to me, Helen, this is
the way today’s situation is going to be handled. I want it to be
nice and simple. So, as soon as all the actors get here, tell them
that the first name I call is going to be the person that I’ve
chosen. After that, send all the rest of them home, I don’t want to
hear anyone’s bitching.” He still stared at the photo, with a grin
on his image, adding, “Am I making myself clear?”

“Yes, sir, I’ll do that.”

She started working on the computer, typing
away, when the main doors opened, and in came Darell, Vivian, and
Damen, showing up with nervous faces. They walked up to her desk,
when Helen laughed out, “Hey, girl, sorry for not waking you up
this morning, I kind of was in a rush.” She then hung up the phone
on Mr. Fryer, and gave Vivian a tight hug.

“That’s okay, Damen and Darell picked me up
this morning. They were late, of course,” Vivian mentioned,
pinching Damen lightly on the cheek, but still had a smile.

“Hey, at least we got you here,” muttered
Damen. They all then turned around, seeing two other actors showing
up for the interview, walking through the doors of the agency.

Darell pulled Damen aside and whispered
lightly into his ear, “So, is everything cool between you and
Vivian?”

“Yeah, I mean, I guess everything’s cool. I
was just paranoid.”

“Yeah, I told you everything would be okay.
Probably the reason why she didn’t tell you about this interview is
because it slipped her mind, or something like that.”

Peter Welch walked up to them, Darell seeing
that he looked familiar to his memory. Peter walked past him and
stepped up to Helen’s desk.

“Hey, Peter, how ya doing?” asked Vivian.

“I’m a little nervous,” Peter replied,
shaking Damen’s hand. Peter noticed Damen looked familiar, so he
asked, “Hey, weren’t you at the party that got busted by the
cops?”

Damen commenced to laugh and smile,
answering, “Yeah, that was me.”

Without saying hello, Darell walked away from
the heard of people, and sat down in a chair, alone. He didn’t want
to talk to Peter, knowing that he was up against him, but also
feeling nervous about the so-called contest, Darell just wanted to
have some time to himself, to clear his mind of all the frightening
thoughts that were causing his stomach to develop butterflies.

But then, Peter noticed Darell across the
room; seeing his familiar face as well, he decided to walk up to
him, and make his presence known. Peter questioned, “Weren’t you
there too?”

Darell looked up at him slowly, directing his
eyes up and down Peter’s image, face, his characteristics that
allowed Darell to remember him, and suddenly answered, but with
tremendous nervousness, “Yeah, I was there.”

Peter saw the way Darell sat, with his legs
crossed, his right leg rocking back and forth, and the fact that
Darell started biting his nails, even though he didn’t normally
take on this nervous habit. That’s when Peter Welch knew he was
here for the interview as well, he could tell because Darell had
all the normal stereotypes of an actor being at an audition, let
alone, an interview with one of the top talent agents in
California. “Wait a minute, I can tell that you’re here for the
interview too. Am I right?”

Without Darell even answering, Peter grew a
grin upon his face, distinguishing that he definitely was here for
the same reason as him.

Darell gave out a frantic smile, but a
sincere one, seeing he was in the same boat as Peter; Darell spoke,
“Yeah, we’re all her for the interview, everyone except for
Damen.”