Sugar Valley (Hollywood's Darkest Secret) (53 page)

Julienne turned her head slowly to face him,
beginning to tighten her fists, she looked through Jose’s opened
window and then back at him. Giving a deep yawn, she spoke, “I said
it before and I’ll say it again—no.”

The chauffeur exited the limo and proceeded
to walk toward Jose’s door. Mr. Rodrigo noticed that the limo
driver had his hand on the door handle, so Jose quickly put his
hand on the lock and pushed it down. He turned toward Julienne and
said in a speedy fashion, “Listen, Julienne, all you have to do is
help me a little bit. Just help me stop Darell from mentioning
anything about the February movie to Damen. You already told me
that if Damen finds out he’s going to be in it, that he’ll also
find out I stole the part away from him when Mr. Schultz tells him
that I’m taking his part. And also he’ll discover the lie you told
about him being involved with drugs.” Jose paused for a second to
see the reaction on Julienne’s face, then he asked in a shaky and
nervous way, “Will you, please?” He looked at Julienne’s reaction
again and added, “After all, it’s your fault for putting me in this
position.”

Julienne shifted her eyes toward his face and
started to build up her anger by cracking her knuckles one by one.
She said, “You listen to me, Jose, I got you that screen test, as a
matter of fact, I practically got you in that movie. I didn’t hear
you complaining about the situation I put you in when it occurred.”
Julienne suddenly realized that Jose was really nervous and scared
at the same time. She looked around the limo and tried to think up
some words of wisdom that would help him forget about his fears and
go up into the apartment.

The chauffeur reached his hand through the
window and unlocked the door. He opened it up as Jose just stared
at Julienne, frantic as could be. He stepped out of the limo, when
Julienne hung her head out of the door and said to him, “Remember
this, whatever happens up there, you’re the star, they’re not.”

“I understand that, but they’re still my
friends, and I don’t want to hurt or lose Damen as a friend. I also
don’t want to lose my chance at being in this movie,” said Jose.
The chauffeur closed the door, and Jose communicated with Julienne
through an opened window.

Jose’s soul returned once again at that
moment; the goodness and the memories of his friendship with Darell
and Damen still haunted him, and Julienne knew it. She thought Jose
would forget about them and move on, but the love and the brotherly
bond he has with them shone through while Julienne stared at him
through the opened window of her limo. She watched as Jose stood
desperately on the sidewalk of Hollywood.

She tried to remember the things that would
make Jose change from good to evil, that way he would only care
about one thing: fame. Julienne felt the only way to achieve fame
was through being evil; in real terms, she tried to find the right
button to push in Jose’s soul that would make his jealousy return,
the jealousy he had toward Darell and Damen. She knew through the
jealousy and envy toward them, the hatred would shine through and
the friendships with Darell and Damen would be lost from Jose’s
mind. She wanted him to only think of fame, the fame he hadn’t
reached yet. Julienne knew Jose was almost in that stage, his mind
and heart were already taken over by the trance that Hollywood
brings, the trance that makes you forget about loved ones, friends,
and even pure goodness. The trance that makes you think about
nothing but fame and fortune, the trance which transforms you into
a being filled with hatred toward others. It makes you become
jealous, conceited, and a plain-out tyrant. To Julienne, those
things were what made a star, and that was the one button that she
wanted to push at that moment and keep it down. So, the first part
was to turn Jose against Damen. Darell was next. She opened up a
bottle of champagne and asked, “Do you want some?”

“I had enough at the dinner yesterday,” he
responded in a perplexed way, standing motionless next to the open
window.

Julienne tried to find the right button to
push down, so her mission began with, “Jose, you’re an actor,
right?”

“Yeah, what’s your point?”

She took a gentle sip of her champagne, and
answered, “My point is, I think Darell’s a better actor than
you.”

“What are you talking about? Where did that
come from?” he questioned; Julienne realized the button she pushed
was the wrong one. Looking around the limo and trying to think of
another method to push the right button, she turned to Jose and
paused for a few seconds.

“I wasn’t going to tell you this, but I think
this is the right time for it,” Julienne spoke, trying a different
button, hoping at the same time it was the right one. “The reason
why I lied about Damen doing drugs is because I think you deserve
this part more than him. I mean, well, before I tell you this, you
have to promise me that you won’t get angry and fly off the handle.
You promise?” She tried to think of a lie that would make Jose turn
on Damen; her improvising of words caused her to be a little bit
timid, and nervous as well, not wanting to screw them up.

“I promise.”

“Alright, remember when I went to the ladies
room, while you were talking to Darell?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, when I came out, I saw Dennis Schultz
at the men’s room, he was talking to some director. He was talking
about you, Jose.” Julienne tried desperately to not screw her lie
up, feeling her own sweat dripping from her forehead, she wiped it
off so Jose wouldn’t see any form of nervousness on her.

Jose’s eyes widened, asking, “What did he say
about me?”

“Well, he was telling the director about the
time when he met Damen and fired him. He said that before he fired
Damen, him and Damen were discussing and talking about acting. He
said that Damen mentioned a guy by the name of Jose, and that Jose
was doing drugs and how he’s not a good actor,” Julienne explained
in a fast tone, pausing sometimes in the middle, due to her
improvising. She knew Jose wouldn’t catch on to her malicious plan
and her malicious lie about Damen; she knew she was a good
actress.

“Wait a second, go back to the beginning,
alright?” Jose asked while Julienne looked at her watch; 9:15 a.m.,
it read. “How do you know he meant me? I mean, there are thousands
of Jose’s out there.”

“How many Jose’s do you think Damen
knows?”

He stopped, thought about it, rolling his
eyes about, wondering if it was true or not. That’s when his eyes
came to her, saying with anger, “You’re right. Did you say anything
to Mr. Schultz? Did you tell him that Damen was lying?” he asked,
his anger began to build up inside of his head more.

“Um, well, ah, of course I did, I told him
that Damen was lying. I just said that Damen was probably on speed
or crack when he told him.” Julienne’s voice was nervous, she was
nervous toward Jose’s anger and the loudness in his voice.

He shouted, “What did Dennis say?”

“Listen, you promised me you wouldn’t fly off
the handle and get angry,” Julienne mentioned, looking down at the
limo floor and grinning to herself. She realized her lie and plan
was working.

“Just tell me.”

“No, not if you’re gonna be like this.”

“Just fuckin’ tell me already,” he
demanded.

“Alright, all he said was he believed me and
he’ll never believe anything Damen says again,” she answered,
seeing a bit of relief on his face.

Jose was relieved to hear that, closing his
eyes for a second and allowing the anger to go away; he was happy
to hear what he thought was the truth when, in actuality, it was
all a lie. “Oh good, good, that makes me feel better.”

“Um yeah, but everyone else thinks you’re on
drugs,” Julienne stated. Jose’s soul was beginning to deteriorate
as the button slowly pushed down on it, and she wanted it pushed
all the way down as fast as possible.

Jose was frustrated, asking, “What? I thought
you already cleared it up with Dennis, didn’t you?”

“Yeah, but that’s just it, I only cleared
your name with him.” She covered up her lie with another one, and
was starting to wish she hadn’t begun these lies at all; it was
becoming harder than she thought.

Jose’s anger toward Damen was increasing by
the second, with his shouting, “Who else knows?”

“Who knows, and who cares. Just follow the
first plan and make sure Darell doesn’t discuss the movie with
Damen.” Julienne then realized she put herself in a bad position,
discovering at that moment, if Damen ever found out about Jose
stealing his part, then Jose would definitely bring up the issue to
him of how he lied and said Jose was a drug head. In the process,
Damen would find out that Jose lied and said that he was on drugs
as well. She knew in the end, they would both deny these lies and
point to one person: her.

“I can’t believe this, I’m going to kill
him,” he yelled; the button began to push down hard into his mind,
heart, and soul.

“No, still stick with the first plan. Just go
up there and pretend everything is fine, give no signs of anger.
Once Darell arrives, keep him from discussing the movie with Damen.
Like you said, once Damen finds out about the movie, then he will
surely find out about you stealing the part from underneath him.
Just do as I say and everything will turn out fine,” Julienne said
in a serious manner, realizing even more that everything will come
down on her, all because of lies. She closed her eyes for a few
seconds and asked in her mind, God, my God, what have I done? She
also added in her mind while opening up her eyes, Julienne, you
can’t screw this one up. I just need Jose for at least a year,
that’s enough time.

Julienne understood that her career would be
terminated if her lies were ever uncovered, knowing Jose would
screw up through anger and tell Damen and Darell he stole the part
from him. Julienne also knew he would even tell them how she and he
lied about Damen being on drugs; she saw all of this because of the
anger that Jose had on his face. Julienne gathered her thoughts
together and said out loud, “Alright, Jose, I’ll come up with
you.”

Jose smiled, the button stayed down and the
trance began with him questioning, “Will you?”

“Yes, but just remember, those things I said
about Damen talking behind your back, you didn’t hear them from me.
Like I said, Dennis said those things to me, it could easily just
be a rumor he heard,” Julienne stated, trying to make herself look
like the good guy by covering up her lie with another one.

“Yeah, well, it doesn’t sound like a rumor to
me. It sounds like something Damen would say.”

His mind made him believe that Damen was the
bad guy. The trance took over very quickly and Jose became locked
within it, locked in his mind and heart, and locked within his
soul. The buttons stayed down and the plan began within them, the
plan to try and stop Darell from talking about the movie to
Damen.

“Listen, if you really want this part in the
movie badly, then you’ll follow the first plan, alright?” she
asked.

“Fine.”

They both walked into the building and
meandered down the hallway. They reached the door to Jose’s
apartment and just stared at it with Jose slowly taking out his key
and placing it in the door lock. He opened the door and let
Julienne walk in first. They noticed Damen and Vivian lying on the
couch with a scent of vodka surrounding them, circling in the air.
Jose picked up the mail before closing the door and asked, “What’s
the mail doing here? I didn’t know they delivered it the day after
New Year’s.”

Julienne stared at the cigarette-burned
couch, asking with a dreadful voice, “My God, you actually live
here?”

“Yeah, isn’t it pathetic? Look over there at
him, he’s what makes this place look like a slum,” he replied,
pointing toward Damen’s sleeping figure.

Jose threw the mail on the coffee table and
picked up an empty vodka bottle from the floor. Julienne
questioned, “Should we wake them up?”

“Yeah, I’ll wake Damen up,” he said in an
evil tone. Jose kicked Damen in the leg and smiled at his
force.

“What did you do that for, Jose? I said wake
him up, not beat him up.” Julienne pushed him away from Damen’s
body and watched to see if the kick woke him up. She stared into
Jose’s eyes and thought to herself in a serious and guilty way, I
created a monster.

Jose lit up a cigarette and spoke with an
attitude, “Well, what did you think I was gonna do? Did you think I
was actually going to tap him lightly to wake him? I’m pissed off
at him.”

“Listen, you can’t let Damen know about his
little lie he’s been spreading. Remember, I discussed that with
you,” she whispered. Jose blew a cloud of smoke into Damen’s face,
with her adding, “Just stick to the first plan, alright?”

“Alright.”

“Good, now wake him up and I’ll wake her up,”
she said, looking at Vivian’s pale face.

“Alright, alright, I don’t know what the
hurry is, they’re not going anywhere,” said Jose after he blew
smoke into Damen’s face again. “After all these years I trusted
you, you turn around and backstab me,” he added toward Damen,
gawking with an immoral look.

Damen was awakened by the smell of Jose’s
cigarette smoke. “What’s going on?” Damen yawned. He coughed and
woke up Vivian. Damen slowly peeped open his eyes and saw Jose with
an evil smile on his face. Jose’s acting had begun.

Jose stared at him and then smiled, saying in
a voice of happiness, “What’s up, Damen?”

Julienne stared at Jose in amazement, saying
in her mind, My God, he really is a good actor.

She turned to look at Damen and spoke.
“Hello.”

Vivian awakened and stared with a stunned
look at Julienne, saying, “You’re Julienne Wells.” She turned to
Jose and added with a grin, “So, Jose was telling the truth about
you.”