Sugar Valley (Hollywood's Darkest Secret) (56 page)

Vivian mentioned, “He punched out the
bartender, you call that fun?”

As this new argument was brewing, Damen was
still wondering why Vivian said that about February. He
concentrated on the last words she said before exiting their
bedroom. He asked, “Vivian, what did you mean by that? You said you
can’t wait till this February, what did you mean by that?”

They ignored Damen’s question, still arguing
amongst themselves, with Julienne stating, “It wasn’t my fault for
him punching out the bartender.”

Vivian still ignored Damen, saying to
Julienne with tremendous anger, “Listen, because of you, we can’t
show our faces in there again.”

“Of course we can.”

“No, maybe you can, because you’re a star,
but we can’t. I mean, there were a lot of important people there
tonight. I saw about three directors and the rest movie stars, it
was so embarrassing, and it’s all your fault,” Vivian said to
Julienne, her voice getting louder.

“Vivian, why can’t you wait till this
February?” Damen asked once again; his mind was still on that
subject.

“Listen, just because you’re a struggling
actress, doesn’t give you the right to punish me for that,”
Julienne spoke; Jose just stood there and watched the argument.

“This is not about that, it’s about you
getting one of our friends so drunk that he got us kicked out of
the club. Also, it’s about his image too. Do you realize this
incident may be in the newspapers tomorrow? It could destroy his
career, even ours. Did you even think about that when you were
buying him all those drinks?” Vivian bellowed in a furious tone,
starting to get closer to Julienne, like she was ready to box
her.

“Listen, first off, you don’t have a career
yet, and second off, I didn’t see any reporters or cameras at the
night club. You’re just blowing this whole thing out of
proportion,” Julienne replied in a high-pitched voice.

Suddenly, Damen took a deep breath in and
shouted with a loud roar, “Hey, Vivian, why did you say that you
can’t wait till this February?”

“Shut up for a second.” Vivian then turned
back to Julienne and continued the argument. “Listen, Julienne, I’m
going to have a career in acting very soon. Also, there doesn’t
have to be reporters around to get a story to the newspapers. This
is Hollywood, you know damn well people at the club are going to
report this to them. And if they do, this story will definitely be
in the newspapers,” Vivian explained before Damen went up to her
face and looked her in the eyes.

Damen’s head stopped and blocked the argument
between her and Julienne, with him asking, “Listen, could we please
finish our argument up first, then you could continue this one? Why
did you say that you can’t wait till this February? And why did you
say just a few seconds ago that you’re going to have a career in
acting soon?”

Vivian looked at him in perplexity, like a
blanket of puzzlement came over her furious mind and thoughts. She
looked at him closely, and finally replied with an attitude, “I
told you already, I might be in a TV show. This February, I have to
go to New York for the audition. My agent said that I most
definitely will get the part. Now, if you would excuse me, I would
like to get back to the second argument with Miss Wells.”

Damen’s eyes showed confusion again. “You
didn’t tell me that. When did you tell me?” asked Damen as his
throat began to hurt, due to him yelling so much. He grabbed her by
the arms and added as he tried to calm himself down, “Vivian,
honey, sweetie, baby, when did you tell me that?”

“I told you yesterday. It was when we were
drinking that cheap bottle of vodka late at night,” she responded,
trying to look over his shoulders to continue the second argument
with Julienne.

Damen ambled his eyes at Julienne and Jose,
and then brought them back to Vivian, saying with disappointment,
“Vivian, every time I get drunk, I don’t remember a thing the next
day.”

“Well, now you know.” She then looked away
from him and was ready to begin arguing with Julienne again. She
said, “Now, all I’m trying to say to you, Julienne, is that I
really wish you hadn’t got Darell that drunk. It almost seemed like
you did it on purpose.”

“Well, I didn’t do it on purpose,” Julienne
said in defense.

Suddenly, Damen jumped in the conversation
again, taking his manhood and using it to control the situation,
asking in a fast way, “Alright, Julienne, Jose, are you guys
sleeping here tonight? I mean, we’re going to have to wake up
pretty early tomorrow. So, if you want to come with us, you’ll
probably have to sleep here. Yes or no?”

Before Julienne said ‘no’, she remembered in
her mind that they had to stay here tonight, because Darell could
still mention the movie to Damen when he woke up. She looked at
Jose and, even though she dreaded saying her words, then exhaled
fully and said, “Yes, we’re sleeping here, Damen.”

“Alright, me and Vivian are going to go to
bed now, I have to discuss something with her,” Damen announced in
a controlling voice.

“I’m not tired yet,” Vivian spoke in a
child’s tone.

Damen went into their bedroom, saying, “Come
on.”

Vivian walked over to their bedroom as well,
and stood by the door. “What is it?”

“Close the door please.

Knock, Knock, Knock.

Knocks came at the apartment door, so Vivian
disobeyed Damen’s orders, walked over to the front door while
saying, “Hold on for one second.” Vivian opened the door and saw
Helen, asking, “Oh hi, Helen, don’t you have your keys?”

“No, I left them at the office. I’ve been
working all day, and all day yesterday. Ever since Mr. Fryer came
back, I’ve been doing nothing but that,” Helen replied while Damen
still waited impatiently in the bedroom. Helen walked in and stared
at Julienne, smiling at her for a second.

“Vivian,” Damen yelled out.

“Alright, I’m coming,” Vivian replied in a
loud tone, walking past Jose and Julienne to get to the
bedroom.

She finally entered the bedroom, with Damen
immediately saying, “Close the door please.”

She shut the door, asking, “Alright, what is
it you want?”

Damen replied with a sad voice, “I didn’t
know you had an audition this February. I didn’t even know you had
an agent.”

“Well, I do,” Vivian stated, still standing
by the closed door.

“But I didn’t know.”

“Well, I do.”

“What happens if you do get this part? What
will happen to us?” His voice was depressed, looking down at the
red carpet and beginning to concentrate on the cigarette burns that
were engraved on it, he didn’t want Vivian to see his depressed
eyes.

Vivian sat down on the bed beside him, and
started rubbing his face in a tender formation. “Oh, sweetie, did I
ever tell you, you look so sweet when you’re sad?”

“Oh, thanks.” He kissed her hand gently,
stared deep into her eyes, and spoke, “What will happen to our
relationship? I don’t want to lose you.”

“Listen, whatever happens, we will find a way
to stay together, I promise you.” She looked him straight in the
eyes; it was as if she was looking directly at his soul.

“Say you love me, please?” He began rubbing
her hand, wanting so badly for her to say those three simple words,
the words that meant everything to him.

“I love you. Listen, I’m sorry for ignoring
you out there, I was just upset at Julienne.” Damen began caressing
her hair.

He started feeling and petting her hair,
twirling it around in his fingers, and said, “It’s alright. I’m
sorry too, I don’t know what I’m sorry for, but I have to say it
for these kinds of moments,” Damen said before Vivian grew a giant
grin upon her face.

“I forgive you, now let’s get some sleep,”
said Vivian as she turned off the lights. They both lay down in the
bed as Vivian began to move about, reaching her arm toward the lamp
and pulling the light switch, which was a string. As she pulled it,
the light bulb burnt out. Damen sat up in the bed and looked at her
in confusion. He got up from the bed and turned on the main light
switch that was located by the door.

“What’s wrong, Vivian?” he questioned,
standing by the door with his hand still on the switch.

“I can’t sleep,” she responded while Damen
turned off the light and jumped into bed.

“Why, what happened?”

“Honey, Helen came home just now, she said
she was working with Mr. Fryer. You know what?” she asked as they
both lay down in the bed.

“I already know. Listen, if you want me to
kick--” he whispered before Vivian interrupted him.

“No, that’s just it, I don’t want you to kick
his ass at all. When she mentioned his name, I didn’t get upset at
all. You see, I think I got over it.” The moonlight shined in the
room and reflected off her face, which revealed a smile to Damen.
“I just know everything will be alright, even when February comes
around.”

“Yeah, I could feel it too,” he yawned in an
uncertain tone, knowing deep inside his heart that this February
would be a challenge for them both. Also, it would be a major
turning point in their relationship.

Vivian kissed him on the lips and mumbled,
“Goodnight.”

“Wait a second, where are Jose and Julienne
going to sleep? Darell’s on Jose’s bed, I don’t think they’re going
to unfold the bed within it, they might cause Darell to vomit,” he
added when Vivian began to laugh.

“You know what, who cares. In the morning,
that’s when we’ll find out where they slept. Right now, I want to
sleep.” Suddenly she turned to him, and they started kissing again.
“On second thought, let’s not sleep just yet.”

Damen started to form a childish grin,
pulling the covers over him and Vivian, and saying, “I love
you.”

Chapter Forty-One

Damen woke up by the whistling of wind that
soared through the open window of his bedroom. He tried to block
out the sound, but the rising sun allowed the darkness of his
closed eyes to be filled with light, pounding against his lids,
beckoning for him to awake. He opened up his eyes and jumped out of
bed to close the window, frustration was in his motion, and
sleeping was in his motive. He shut the drapes, pounding them shut,
when he heard a sound coming from the front room. He looked at
Vivian’s sleeping body as he walked toward the closed door of his
bedroom, not wanting to wake her up, tip toeing every inch of the
way. Opening the door slowly, trying not to wake up Vivian, Damen
exited the bedroom. That’s when he saw Darell with a cell phone in
his hand. “What are you doing, Darell?”

Darell was holding the phone, gazing at it,
but not touching it. He stared at the numbers on the phone, and
imagined himself dialing a certain number, but still he only
looked, but didn’t touch. “Nothing, Damen, just go back to
bed.”

Damen walked closer to him, saying with a
yawn, but a loud one, “It’s already 6:00 a.m., your plane leaves in
an hour. So, like I asked, what are you doing?”

Darell tried his hardest to ignore the
question, asking, “Who’s all coming with me to the airport?”

“All of us our going, even Julienne is.”
Damen then pointed toward Julienne’s body as it lay on the floor
next to Jose, adding, “Now, please, who are you calling? Are you
calling the airport?”

“No.” Darell kept on staring at the phone. He
gave a moment of silence, looking up at Damen, that’s when he
whispered, “I’m calling home.”

The chills began to travel down Damen’s spine
as the word home entered his mind. He opened his eyes wider and
just stared at Darell with confusion engraved in his eyes. Home was
such a distant word, and Damen couldn’t believe after all this
time, one of his friends was actually going to try and contact it.
“Why are you gonna call home?”

Darell looked up at Damen while he sat on the
couch. He looked down at the phone and replied in defensive way,
“Because I want to.”

Darell started dialing the number, pressing
it slowly on the phone pad, and Damen just stared at him, shocked
as could be. “Darell, the last time you talked to your father, he
was chasing you with a shotgun.”

“I’m not calling to talk to my father, I’m
calling to talk to my mother.” Darell’s phone to his parents’ house
began ringing, he started feeling the chills of it, he was afraid
at who would answer. “Call me sentimental, but I’m homesick, Damen.
Maybe by me checking in, it will make me feel better.” The phone
kept on ringing and the thoughts of his father answering and
yelling at him went through his mind.

“Checking in? After seven months, you’re
checking in?”

Julienne began to move and slowly wake up.
Hearing their voices, and feeling the uncomfortable floor against
her back, she started to stretch her arms unnoticeably.

“Yeah, I mean, after I go to England, I’m not
going to have any time to talk to my mom. You should even call up
your mother, Damen,” Darell replied as Julienne began to open her
eyes wide and give out a silent yawn.

“Listen, I have plenty of time to call up my
parents.”

Julienne noticed them talking and moved her
body closer to them without them noticing she was awake. Miss Wells
wanted to eavesdrop, and see what their conversation was about. She
was still on the mission of keeping Darell from discussing the
movie with Damen

“No, you don’t have plenty of time, once you
leave for--” Darell said, suddenly hearing his mother answering the
phone, stopping him from finishing his sentence. Julienne’s face
showed relief; she knew what he was about to say.

“Hello?” his mother asked in a low tone.
Darell paused and listened to her low, sweet voice as it said that
word. He listened as she asked, “Who is this? Hello?”

Darell formed a shield of tears on his eyes,
hearing that sweet, longed-for voice, he didn’t know whether to
answer or not. But then, he lit up a cigarette, got the stimulant
he needed to cover his stress, and said, “Mom.”