Sugar Valley (Hollywood's Darkest Secret) (62 page)

What am I doing here? How could I possibly
clear my name? Who lied to Dennis and said I was a drug addict?

But his face grew a small smile, saying in a
low tone, “At least now I got a real, live agent.”

Chester came into the room slowly as Damen’s
thoughts progressed, and his unanswered questions became larger in
number. Damen saw Chester’s reflection in the mirror and
immediately turned to him, seeing his face and how it seemed
saddened by something; something that Damen would be saddened by
also.

Chester sat down in his chair, hanging his
middle-aged head down a bit, and said in disappointment, “Um, I’m
sorry, Damen, um, I can’t take you as a client.”

“What do you mean? I thought you said--”

Chester then spoke over his words, handing
the fax over to Damen and explaining, “I know what I said before,
but I didn’t know you were heavily into drugs.”

Damen read the letter out loud, it began
with, “I, Dennis Schultz warn any agent, on this side of Hollywood,
to not accept a person by the name of Damen Schultz into their
agency. Damen Schultz is heavily involved in narcotics and is
highly aggressive when it comes to telling him this. I do not want
any of those agencies which I’m sending this notice to have
anything to do with Damen. I do not want him jeopardizing my
project, or any other projects for that matter. These warnings only
go out once in a great while. So, if you are a new agent to this
business, I highly recommend you follow my instructions.” Damen
looked up at Chester, pleading, “Why, why is this happening to
me?”

“Listen, Damen, you don’t seem like you’re
doing any illegal substances, at least to me you don’t. But, I
can’t accept you here,” Chester explained, taking the fax away from
Damen.

Tears upon tears showed themselves again,
rolling down Damen’s face and cheeks. “It’s all a lie, every part
of it. Wait a second, did this letter go to every agency in
California?” he asked as Chester handed him a tissue.

“No, not every agency, but a lot of them,”
Chester answered in a low tone; he felt sorry for Damen. “My advice
to you is to go to rehab, even if you’re not on any drugs. This way
they’ll think you’re clean from it. That’s when I’ll take you as a
client. But, if I take you now, do you realize that you’re going to
jeopardize my career?”

Damen just stared at the mirror, gawking at
his own reflection; it was like he was trying to go to his image
for answers. “Well, at least Julienne tried for me,” said Damen as
Chester looked at him with a confused look.

“What are you talking about?”

Damen turned his dried-up tear face over
toward Chester, replying, “Julienne Wells, she’s the one that told
you about me. Julienne Wells recommended me to you.”

The puzzle was unraveling right before
Damen’s eyes, and this small piece started to show its presence at
this very moment.

A piece to this massive, titanic puzzle fit
into place with Chester speaking, “No, I don’t know Julienne Wells.
I got your photo from the mail.”

“So, you don’t know Jose Rodrigo either?”

Another piece of the puzzle was about to fall
into place, but little did Damen know, that it was a very large
jigsaw indeed.

“Listen, I don’t know either of them, and I
shouldn’t even know you. So, if you don’t mind, would you please
leave my office?”

Damen wondered why Julienne and Jose lied to
him, but instead of bothering and wasting Mr. Freeman’s time, he
ran out of his office and down the stairs to the front door. He ran
for miles with confusion, fear, and tears filled up in his mind,
revealing that this puzzle was large, but still it was a puzzle.
Before, Damen didn’t see the size of this jigsaw, only because he
didn’t know that Julienne and Jose lied to him. But now he did, and
this gigantic labyrinth of bafflement allowed simple tears of anger
mixed with sadness to fall from his eyes. The tears released, but
he was hoping the rest would release also when he reached the café
that he worked at. He busted through the doors and said, “Sorry I’m
late, Chuck.”

“Well, well, well, look who we have here. You
know you are over seven hours late? I thought you were sick? That’s
what Vivian told me,” Chuck relayed, handing a customer a cup of
coffee.

Damen’s tears vanished and his acting ability
came back, responding, “I know, but I feel a lot better now.” Chuck
handed Damen an apron with him adding, “Where’s Vivian at?”

“She’s on break, I think she’s in back on the
phone.”

Damen rushed to the back and saw Vivian
sitting on a box filled with coffee bags. She had a smile on her
face and dried up tears in her eyes. She saw Damen and asked, “What
are you doing here?”

“You’re never going to believe what happened
to me today,” he replied in a sad tone. Damen sat down beside her
and began explaining his day to her; that’s when Chuck came in
back.

“Get back to work, Damen,” Chuck
demanded.

Damen put up his acting craft again, lying,
“I am working, Chuck, I’m just getting all of the coffees together,
that way we don’t have to keep coming back here every time we run
out of coffee up front.”

Damen then pretended to count each bag of
coffee grains he grabbed, hearing Chuck’s low voice say, “Well, I
want you to get your butt back in front in ten minutes. You got
it?”

“Yes, sir.”

Once Chuck left the backroom, Damen began to
explain the situation he was in. He spent about five minutes
telling her about the lies that had been spread about him, and the
letter that had been faxed to all the agents. As he finished,
Vivian looked at him with a sad look on her face, but a smile
showed through her sadness for him. “Vivian, I don’t know who said
that about me. The only people I know here in California, is you,
Damen, Jose, Helen, and a few others.”

Vivian still kept her eyes on him, hugging
him gently and explaining, “I think it was Jose, or else Darell. I
know I wouldn’t say that about you, not even Helen would spread
that lie around.”

“Well, what about Julienne?” he asked in a
desperate tone.

“Why would Julienne spread that around about
you? She has no reason to do that.”

“Well, why would Jose or Darell do it then?
Please, Vivian, you have to help me with this.”

Vivian looked up at Damen, letting go of his
hug, and whispered, “I can’t, Damen, I’m leaving for New York
tomorrow.”

Damen gawked at her, staring with anger about
the circumstances that has, and is now taking place. “What are you
talking about? Vivian, I thought you were going in February?”

“I got off the phone with my agent about
twenty-minutes before you came. She said they want me to audition
tomorrow, and they’ll probably give me the role. Well, at least
that’s what my agent said. I’m bringing Helen with me, she wanted
to come with me ever since she found out I was going.” Damen looked
at her with shock engraved in his eyes, hearing her pause and then
adding, “I’m sorry, Damen, but I told you a long time ago that I
would do anything for this, for a chance at, you know, fame. I
understand that you aren’t going to be able to pay for the rent
alone. That’s why I asked Chuck if you can live with him for
awhile. He said you could but all of your paychecks will go to him.
He’ll only give you about fifty dollars every two weeks for
spending money.”

Damen thought about a gun to his head, and
how it would feel great to pull the trigger. While he thought of
it, he questioned with hurt, anger, betrayal, and sincerity all at
the same time, “Why are you telling me this now?”

“Because I’m leaving tomorrow.”

Before Damen could start speaking his mind by
yelling at her, he thought about how nice she was to not forget
about him. Well, she did ask Chuck if I could stay with him, she
didn’t have to do that.

He looked away from her for only a few
seconds and realized that yelling at her won’t change her mind
about leaving tomorrow. So, instead of yelling, he asked
pleasantly, “Do you want me to come with you to the airport?”

Vivian started crying. Emotions showed
through her eyes, causing Damen to wipe her tears from her face.
“Sure, I was hoping you would say that.”

Damen was about to kiss her, feeling this
guileless moment, grasping, clutching, clenching, squeezing and
gripping onto it, but then they both heard the loud yell from
Chuck’s voice, shouting, “Get your butt in here now, Damen.”

He ignored Chuck’s tone and spoke to Vivian,
“Remember the script we read when we went out on our first date?
Remember we were all up by the big Hollywood sign? You and I read
our scripts, and it said we had to kiss?”

Vivian blocked out Chuck’s voice and presence
as well, eliminating everything around her, and concentrating only
on Damen, answering, “Yes, I remember.”

“Let’s pretend we’re reading that script
right now.” Damen kissed her on the lips gently, and tried his
hardest at making, and fabricating it into a memory.

“Alright, Damen, I said get back to work,”
Chuck yelled.

The peaceful feeling of the moment vanished,
and the anger and confusion returned as he heard Chuck’s voice
again. He turned to face Chuck, saying, “You know what, Chuckie,
why don’t you get back to work?”

“What did you say to me you little--”

Damen cut off his words, shouting, “I guess
you didn’t hear me. I said I quit.”

Vivian stared at Damen with shock, confused
as to why he was quitting this job, when it’s the only job he had.
She got up from the box with him, and asked to Damen’s eyes, “What
are you doing, Damen? If you quit this job, you won’t have a place
to stay.” Vivian began to shake him as if she was trying to shake
some sense into him. She turned around to face Chuck and spoke, “He
doesn’t know what he’s talking about, Chuck.”

“Yes, I do. We’re out of here,” Damen
shouted. He took Vivian by the arm and walked to the front of the
shop, allowing Chuck to rush after them with his old legs to
guide.

Chuck grabbed onto Vivian’s other arm, and
began pulling toward him, questioning, “Where are you going,
Vivian?”

“She’s coming with me. She doesn’t need this
job anymore, and neither do I,” Damen responded, breaking Vivian
free from Chuck’s grip, and walking halfway out the door of the
café.

“I’m sorry, Chuck, but I did get another job,
or I’m hoping I’ll get it. Tonight I want to spend some time with
Damen. But don’t worry, he’ll be into work tomorrow,” Vivian spoke,
exiting the coffee shop.

Damen started touring down the street with
Vivian, wailing toward the coffee shop, “Oh no, I won’t.”

Chuck stood outside the door and hollered,
“Hey, Damen.”

He stopped on the street and turned around to
face Chuck, shouting back, “What do you want now?”

“I just want to say, you’re throwing
everything away. You have potential, son, and you are wasting it by
letting your anger get the best of you. Why don’t--” Chuck said
before Damen interrupted him.

Before Damen grabbed onto Vivian’s hand
again, and started walking farther away from the café, he pointed
his eyes toward Chuck’s silhouette, and deliberated with loudness,
“Listen, for one thing, I’m not your son, and you’re not my
father.”

Chuck walked back into his café and put the
“Help Wanted” sign in the window immediately. He walked over to the
cash register and watched as only a few people were drinking
coffee, staring at him because they just saw two of his employees
quit at the same time. Chuck’s vulnerable eyes peeled toward the
windows of the café, and spoke in a whisper, “I know you’re not my
son, but you sure remind me of him.”

Chapter Fifty

Jose paced around Julienne’s bedroom,
looking at her in bewilderment. He was nebulous, because she didn’t
seem happy at his news about signing the contract and getting the
role in the movie. Jose didn’t know what to say or what to do to
make Julienne speak her mind, bring out verbally and discuss
matters that were unclear to him, but highly recognizable to her.
She just sat on her bed and looked out the window, peering at the
white, silken drapes, blowing inward from the wind striking them
with its puissance, its force. He didn’t know what say, still
dumbfounded about the situation. Unanticipated, he stopped his
pacing, inquiring in a serious, but sincere timbre, “What’s on your
mind, Julienne? Are you upset at me for getting the part in the
movie?”

She still said nothing, only concentrating on
what her own mind saw, still hearing the voice of her ex-agent
saying the words that were true to her subconscious, but stubborn
to her conscious. “No, I’m happy you got the role. I’m just tired
is all,” Julienne acknowledged, looking down at the floor and
starting to crouch her body toward her legs; it was like she was
ready to weep.

“That’s not it, I know something is bothering
you.” Jose walked up to her and knelt down on the floor, lifting up
her head gently, staring at her beauty, transfixed in the nature of
her eyes wondering around her head. “Come on, let it out. What’s
bothering you?”

Julienne looked at him with scrutiny, and he
could see that her eyes had a form of melancholy to them, drooping
toward his own eyes, showing a sense of loss. “Alright, Jose, I
give up. You’re right, something is bothering me.”

“Well, what is it?”

“It’s about my premiere in February,” she
answered, looking away from him for a moment, like she didn’t want
to show him her thoughts through her evil eyes.

“What premiere?”

“Remember the movie I did after I met you?
Well, the premiere for it is in February.”

“Oh, that’s right, I totally forgot about
that, my mind’s been so occupied. Well, why are you upset about
that?” he questioned, seeing something else in her wondering
pupils, knowing that there was a much deeper explanation for
that.