Sugar Valley (Hollywood's Darkest Secret) (54 page)

Jose questioned with a low, surprised, but
happy voice, “What, you thought I was lying this whole time?” But
really, he was saying in his mind:

Yeah you little bitch, I wasn’t lying at
all.

Damen searched for aspirin, feeling the
pounding against his head, asking, “So, how was the dinner?”

He found the aspirin, popped two in his
mouth, while Vivian asked with sarcasm, “Yeah, did you get
discovered, Jose?”

“Well, actually I did.” Julienne looked at
him with a surprised and shocked look; she didn’t want him to tell
them at all about the movie. But, they were already there, the
point of no return, so Julienne just waited nervously for Jose to
say his next words. “I’m going to be in a movie this February,” he
added in snotty way, forgetting about what Julienne discussed with
him about the plan.

Miss Wells suddenly grabbed Jose lightly by
the arm, inconspicuously dragged his head up to her face, and
whispered in his ear, “I told you not to mention anything.”

Jose whispered back in her ear, but with
sinister, “No you didn’t, you told me to stick to the first plan,
and that plan didn’t have anything to do with me discussing my
movie with them. The first plan was for us stopping Darell from
discussing the movie with Damen and how he’s the co-star of it.
Well, actually, the ex-co-star of it.”

“What are you talking about? Are you stupid?
Please, Jose, don’t play these games with me, you know damn well
what I meant by the first plan,” she said back into his ear.

Jose looked at Julienne’s confused but
nervous face in a serious way. He felt sorry for her and realized
he was wrong for telling them about it. That’s when he lied to
Julienne and said back into her ear, “Don’t worry, I’ve got another
plan.”

Julienne then grabbed his ear hard, saying
“No, please, Jose, stick to my plan.” She then knew deep inside
that she did create a monster.

Damen walked back to the couch and handed
Vivian some aspirin, seeing that Jose and Julienne were discussing
something amongst themselves. So, he asked, “What are you guys
whispering about?”

Jose jumped away from her ear and tried to
think up of an excuse for the whispering. He said, “Um, oh,
Julienne was just wondering where the bathroom is, she’s kind of
shy when it comes to those things.” Julienne looked at him in a
confused manner. “There it is, honey,” he added, pointing toward
the bathroom.

“No, it’s alright, I can hold it.” Julienne
didn’t want to leave him alone with them, she knew he might slip
and ruin the plan.

“I insist, you told me you really have to go
bad,” Jose announced in a fast manner. He didn’t want Damen and
Vivian to discover that she really didn’t have to use the bathroom.
In real terms, he didn’t want to look like an ass in front of
them.

“I said I could hold it, thank you,” Julienne
announced in an angry tone, but with a smile upon her face.

“Would you go already,” spoke Jose. Damen and
Vivian watched in confusion at them arguing about something so
meaningless.

“No.”

“Yes.”

“I don’t have to go.”

“Yes, you do.”

“I can hold it.”

“No, you can’t.”

“Oh, alright, I’ll be right back,” she said,
deciding to go along with the bathroom cover-up. She thought to
herself as she closed the bathroom door, I hope he doesn’t say
anything else about that damn movie.

Damen then turned to Jose, and asked, “So,
you were saying something about February?”

Vivian looked at Jose also, but with
amazement, questioning in excitement, “I don’t believe this, you’re
actually gonna be in a real, live, honest-to-goodness movie?”

Damen looked at Jose with a big smile,
saying, “Wait a second, I didn’t catch that part.”

“Yeah, I’m gonna be in a movie this
February,” Jose responded with pride; Damen shook his hand.

“Oh man, that’s great, I’m proud of you,”
said Damen.

Vivian picked up the mail that Jose put on
the coffee table. “Damen, this letter’s for you, the other one’s
for Darell.” Vivian then got up and gave Jose a hug, saying,
“Congratulations.”

Damen looked at his letter, his face froze
into a shocked smile. “I don’t believe this.”

“What is it?” Vivian questioned, with Jose
giving an aggravated glare toward the both of them.

Jose then let go of his evil glare, snapped
back into his acting craft, and asked with a normal, but a little,
aggravation in his voice, “Yeah, what is it?”

Jose’s thoughts were jamming up his mind.
Watching Damen as he ripped open the letter, Jose’s thoughts were
flustered by jealousy. You know, I was discussing an important
matter with them and they totally forget about it. I mean, I’m
going to be in a movie and Damen’s not. He’s even more excited
toward that letter than he is at my news.

The jealousy grew rapidly in Jose’s thoughts,
watching as Damen read the letter to himself. Julienne then exited
the bathroom, with Vivian asking again, “So, what is it?”

“It’s an agent, a real, live talent agent. It
says here, he wants me to come in his office and discuss my acting
career. My God, an actual agent wants me as his client,” Damen
responded as Julienne sat down on a chair directly facing him.

A lightbulb went off in Julienne’s mind as
she stared at Damen’s cheerful image. She whispered into Jose’s
ear, “I’ve got a plan, just go along with me.” She looked at Damen
and said, “So, congratulations to you too, that’s why I came over
here also. You see, me and Jose dropped that letter off here. You
can say we both got you that agent.” She looked at Jose and then
back at Damen. Julienne began to bite her nails, hoping that Damen
would say the name of the agent.

“Really? You guys know Chester Freeman?”

“Well, I know him, me and Chester go back a
long ways. Chester was one of my good friend’s agents. But Jose
just met him,” Julienne replied as she thought in her mind, who the
hell is Chester Freeman?

Julienne then spoke, “When you go in
Chester’s office, do not mention anything about me getting you in.
As a matter of fact, don’t mention me at all.”

“Why not?” asked Damen, getting up from the
couch in a slow manner. “After all, if it wasn’t for you, then I
wouldn’t have gotten this letter, and Jose wouldn’t have gotten in
that February movie.”

Julienne went from improvising to literally
talking out of her ass, saying, “Well, that’s the way Hollywood is,
just trust me. You see, I wasn’t supposed to mention anything about
me getting Chester for you; Chester wanted you to think he
discovered you on his own. So, if you mention me and how I got you
him, Chester will be furious at me.”

Damen showed confusion to his eyes, but then
smiled, gave Julienne a big kiss on the forehead, and said, “Thank
you, and I won’t mention a thing. So, how did you do it?”

“Well, um, Jose and I mentioned your name to
him. Chester realized he already got a photo from you, and mainly
that’s how it happened,” she responded, trying to pull more lies
from her mind.

Jose finally caught on to her plan, the plan
of not having Darell discuss the movie with Damen. He said, “Yeah,
we discussed it with Chester last night at the dinner, even Darell
knows.”

“What? You mean you saw Darell at the
dinner?” Damen asked when suddenly they heard a knock at the
door.

Knock, Knock, Knock.

“Yeah, he was all excited about it, that’s
probably him right now. I bet he’s going to say congratulations to
you right when you open the door,” Jose explained, smiling toward
Julienne and crossing his fingers.

Damen got up quickly to answer the door. He
opened it and heard, “Congratulations, Damen.”

Darell gave Damen a hug, and ran in the
apartment, grasping onto Vivian and hugging her tight. “Hey, it’s
Darell, everyone, we were just discussing matters that involved
you,” spoke Damen.

Darell shook Jose’s hand, noticing his
fingers were still crossed, and then asked with excitement, “So you
heard already?”

Darell sat down next to Vivian, as Damen
responded, “Yeah, I just found out about it today.”

“I’m telling you, Damen, it’s going to be
great. I mean, me and you.”

Darell was suddenly interrupted by Julienne
saying quickly, “You know, it’s bad luck to discuss future movies
or anything to do with show business. How about we just discuss
something else besides that?” She paused, thinking of what to say,
and then turned to Vivian, adding, “Like Vivian’s acting
career.”

Darell looked at Julienne in confusion,
questioning, “You mean to tell me it’s bad luck to discuss
this?”

“Yes, but it’s alright to discuss it when it
happens. You see, if you discuss a movie that you’re going to act
in before it begins filming, then it’s bad luck. But, during or
after it begins filming, then it’s fine to discuss it. The same
goes for a person getting an agent,” Julienne explained quickly.
She tried to change the subject by asking again, “So, how’s your
career doing, Vivian?”

“Oh, it’s doing great, I might be in a TV
show this February,” answered Vivian, picking up Damen’s letter
from the agent. “Hey, Damen, when does he want you to come in for
the appointment?” she asked as Julienne crossed her fingers.

Darell realized the February movie was coming
up pretty soon, so he answered for Damen, “He probably wants you to
come in this week.”

Vivian handed Damen the letter while he
spoke, “Yeah, that’s right, it says here in the letter that he
wants me to come into his office on January 5.”

“See, I told you I was right,” said
Darell.

“I don’t know why he wants me to come in so
soon,” Damen stated. Suddenly, Julienne put out her hand toward the
letter and grabbed it gently, looking at it closely.

Darell explained, “Well, after all, Damen,
this February is...” when suddenly he was cut off by Jose.

Jose explained, “Yeah, this February is full
of movies, so that’s why.” He turned to Julienne and saw that she
gave a sigh of relief toward him, thanking him through her
breath.

Julienne said in a high-pitched tone as
Darell and Jose started to get up at the same time to use the
bathroom, “I tell you what, how about we all go out for dinner
tonight, that way it will get are minds off of discussing this any
further. I don’t think we would want to draw bad luck upon Damen by
discussing this.”

In the meantime, Jose and Darell raced to the
bathroom, with Jose saying, “No man, I got to use the bathroom
first, I’ve been holding this in all night and all day.”

“I beat you. Don’t worry, I’ll be right out,”
said Darell, closing the bathroom door in Jose’s face.

Jose stood outside the door, doing a little
dance that he felt would hold in his bladder, when suddenly he
stopped fidgeting, noticing a sniffing noise coming from behind the
door. He listened closely, calmly, without a sound, while Julienne,
Damen and Vivian were discussing dinner plans. He then heard the
sound of tapping on the sink. “Darell,” he said without even
knocking on the door.

He knew it had to be cocaine or some kind of
a drug, that’s when he slammed open the door and saw Darell
sniffing antibiotics into his nose. “What the hell are you doing,
Jose? I said I’ll be right out, I just have to take care of my
sinuses,” Darell spoke as Jose realized he was wrong about the drug
accusation he had against him.

“Oh, um, I’m sorry, but, um, I got to go
bad.”

“Fine, fine, here, it’s all yours,” Darell
said, putting his antibiotics into his pocket and walking out of
the bathroom.

Jose pointed toward Darell’s pocket,
questioning, “Why are you using that?”

“I got a stuffy nose, I already told you it’s
for my sinuses, they’re acting up. Why else would I use it?” Darell
grinned at him, and then continued to walk toward the couch.

Jose closed the door and looked directly into
the mirror that had a crack in every corner of it. He turned on the
water and began splashing it into his face; he was hoping the cold
water would replenish and relieve the pressure he felt, and the
anxiety Julienne created for him. Looking down at the sink, Jose
noticed a little bit of a white substance on the corner of it. He
looked at it and said, “Oh no, please, God, don’t let this be what
I think it is.” He put the white substance onto his teeth and gums,
noticed a tingling and numbing sensation, he then realized what the
substance was: cocaine. “I wonder who this belongs to.” He then saw
a little mirror on the sink, it had ‘Damen’ written in little
letters at the bottom of it. He picked it up and discovered more of
the white substance on it, saying in a low tone as he looked at
Damen’s mirror, “Good, serves you right, Damen.” A grin appeared on
his face, adding, “Now the lie about Damen doing drugs isn’t a lie
anymore.” He then flushed the toilet, without even releasing any
fluids from his system, and slowly walked out of the bathroom.

“Well, that was fast,” Darell said with a
grin. Jose sat down on the arm of the chair where Julienne was
sitting and just smiled.

Julienne glared at Jose with serious eyes,
explaining, “Well, we decided to go to a place that’s very
exquisite and formal.”

Jose Rodrigo watched Darell as he sniffed his
sinuses back up his nose. As he stared at him, he questioned,
“Where is that?”

“It’s at the place where we met, the
Starbox.”

“Yeah, I remember that place. That’s where
me, Darell, and Damen went when we first came to Hollywood,” he
stated before the memory of Julienne discussing on how Damen spread
lies about him behind his back, came to his mind. That’s when he
looked at Damen and said in a snotty voice, “Well, it’s a nice
place, but I didn’t like it.”

“What are you talking about, Jose? Of course
you liked it,” Damen spoke, looking at Jose in a confused manner.
“That’s where you met Julienne, remember?”