Sugar Valley (Hollywood's Darkest Secret) (71 page)

Jose questioned in panic, “So, what
happened?”

“Well, I told him that I took the pictures
and I told him I’ll go to the media and police if he doesn’t keep
his mouth shut,” Julienne replied, lying down on the couch, and
stealing Jose’s cigarette away from him.

He lit up his sixteenth cigarette, gazed at
her, watched her smoking the last drag of his own cigarette, and
then asked, “What did he say?”

She closed her eyes, wanting to get some
sleep, and explained, “He said okay, he’ll keep his mouth shut, and
he won’t breathe a word of it to anyone.”

“Did you tell him that I didn’t know anything
about it?”

“Yes, don’t worry. I also told him to not
even talk to Damen again. I told him that if he talks to him, then
I’ll show the photos to the police and the deal’s off.”

“Cool,” said Jose in a happy, relieved
voice.

“Now, get some sleep, you have to wake up
early, Jose.” Julienne closed her eyes harder and began to dream
about the fame Jose would give to her, and the fact that the moment
for her rebirth into the business of Hollywood royalty wasn’t far
away at all.

Chapter Fifty-Eight

Seven months passed by and the days began to
seem longer for Damen, going along, frame by frame, like a movie in
slow-motion, dragging about, dawdling its story to one conclusion
that Damen didn’t know of yet. Each day, he would think of Sugar
Valley, never allowing its beauty to die from his imagination, but
only to revive itself over and over again, whenever he was feeling
depressed or lonely.

The only person he talked to, that went away,
was Vivian. He talked to her at least once a week and thought of
how much he missed her face. It turns out that Vivian was doing
great on her soap opera, but Damen was doing even better with his
commercials. Throughout the months, Damen has risen a lot through
his commercials on T.V., he’d already done twenty-five of them, but
of the same product. You can say he was becoming famous through the
zit commercial. Yet, to Damen, it wasn’t enough. Even though he was
becoming well-known in Hollywood, something still didn’t seem
right. He wanted more out of Hollywood. He wanted to become a movie
star, not a commercial star. He wanted and craved various roles,
and roles that would consider him a grand actor of many talents.
Lingering through each day, waiting for that perfect moment when he
would receive a call from anyone who was in control of the
entertainment industry and take him away to build up his acting
craft, by giving him a lead role in a picture. But, that call still
simmered in his imagination, his dreams and ambitions, craving it
to happen very soon, but realizing the waiting was caused by
reality setting in. Still, he stuck to his guns and waited, not
giving up, but patiently stood in Hollywood, knowing that one day
soon that call would happen.

As a well-known preacher quoted, “Give it
your best, and God will do the rest,” which is what happened to
Damen’s life on September 21. He was waiting a long, long time for
this, and it happened one day, when he received a call from a
casting agent.

He was working hard in the café, busy as
usual, drunks and actors coming in momentarily to have a bit of
coffee before they got drunk again, or went to an audition.

Ring, Ring, Ring.

Through the loudness of conversations from
different types of people, Damen still served them, spilling hot
coffee on himself numerous amounts of times and kissing up to the
mean customers so they’d be pleased with his service.

Ring, Ring, Ring.

He then noticed, through the noise and the
busy style of the café, that the phone was ringing mildly, allowing
him to give a sigh of exhaustion, not wanting to answer it at
all.

Ring, Ring, Ring.

The sweat formed on his face, handing hot
coffee to customers, taking orders from tyrants, and hearing the
phone echoing its voice toward his anxiety-filled head. So, he went
over to the phone and picked it up, but dropped it on the ground.
He picked it up and discovered that he’d disconnected whoever
called, so he hung the phone back up and catered to the customers
again.

Ring, Ring, Ring.

The phone spoke again, allowing Damen to feel
angered by its tone. He went over to it, picked it up with force,
and answered with an attitude, “Hello, can I help you?”

A man, dressed in a suit, sitting in a
leather chair, surrounded by a titanic office, held the phone
tightly in his grip and watched a video on his large television; it
was a video of one of Damen’s commercials. The man then spoke, “Hi,
this is John Bower, is Damen there?”

Chuck slowly walked up to him, seeing
customers trying to speak over themselves, wanting refills on
coffee.

“This is he, could I help you?”

“Yes, um, this is Bower’s casting agency, I
was wondering if you would be interested in starring in a Stephen
Settler film? You see, Stephen Settler is going to be directing a
film about a boy who’s dying of AIDS. I was wondering if you would
be interested in trying out for the part?” John asked.

Silence came to Damen. He couldn’t even hear
the customers anymore, not hearing anything but the sound of his
heart beating and noise of his blood soaring through his veins and
body. The excitement built, exhilaration was what he felt when he
questioned, “Um, I don’t know. When is the film going to
begin?”

John rewound Damen’s commercial, and played
it again, saying, “Well, we don’t really know yet, but it will be
soon. I was just wondering if you’re interested, are you?”

Butterflies, insects of little, ticklish
sizes, flew around Damen’s stomach, like a roller coaster, soaring
through the sky. “Yes, yes I’m interested. But, why did you choose
me? I mean, I do zit commercials. What drew you to call me?” he
asked before Chuck grabbed the phone.

John replied, “Well, this part is supposed to
be played with comedic style. Since you show good comedy in your
commercials, that’s why we chose you.”

Chuck put his mouth over the speaking part of
the phone, and said with semi-calmness, “Yes, he’s very interested
in it. Um, when do you want to meet and discuss the film?”

“Well, how about in two hours? You see, I’m
already going to have three other people trying out for it, but
that’s going to be later on today. If Damen comes in before them,
then that will give him a bigger chance at getting the role,” John
replied.

Chuck’s eyes widened, looking at Damen,
trying to read his face reactions, desperately attempting to see
and hear what John was conversing with him about. Damen saw that
Chuck smiled with exhilarated glee, saying into the phone, “Sure,
where do you want us to meet you?”

Damen started jumping around with happiness
to his bounce, knowing that this is going to be his big break, the
chance to be apart of Hollywood’s family, a moment to break into
what he’s always dreamed of.

“Come down to my office, it’s located at 321
N. Rodeo Drive.”

“Alright, we’ll see you in a little bit,”
Chuck said before he hung up on John.

Damen still kept up his jumping. Seeing that
Chuck hung up the phone, he ran up close to him and questioned with
loudness, “What happened, what happened, what happened?”

Chuck turned to him, and answered with serene
calmness, “Well, he wants us to meet him in two hours. He probably
wants you to audition. You know what that means, Damen?”

“What?”

He then shouted with loudness, “It means that
you have a very, very good chance at getting the role.
Congratulations.”

He hugged Damen tightly, circling around, and
having all the customers watch in confusion. Damen suddenly stopped
and let go of Chuck’s grasp, asking with frantic to his speech, “Oh
my, God, what am I gonna say, what am I gonna wear?” He sat down
next to an old lady, grabbed her coffee, drank it, and added,
“Chuck, maybe I shouldn’t go today. I mean, this is moving way too
fast.”

The customer yanked the coffee away from
Damen as Chuck explained, “Damen, Damen, Damen, it’s time for you
to face reality. This movie is your ticket to everything that you
ever wanted. This is the key to open up the doorway, don’t pass it
up.”

Damen kidnapped, or caffeine-napped, the
coffee from the old woman again, drank it fiercely, and spoke, “I
know, but I’m so nervous.”

The old woman hit Damen on the arm, yelling,
“Excuse me, but that was my coffee.”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” spoke Damen in a medium
tone. He then added under his breath, “You bitch.”

“What did you call me?”

Chuck saw the dispute, and said, “I’m sorry,
ma’am, I’ll get you another cup of coffee.” Chuck then went over
and got another cup, while Damen still sat in his glory.

“I said I’ve got an itch,” he replied to the
old woman.

“Damen, you have to get ready now. Just take
a shower and put on some of those clothes I bought for you,” Chuck
said, handing the woman another cup of coffee and smiling toward
her.

“Alright.” Damen got up from the chair and
walked in the back room.

Meanwhile, Chuck put the “Closed” sign in the
window and waited for the last customer to leave. After that, he
went in the back room and began to get ready. The back room held
three bedrooms, a kitchen, and a TV room. To Damen, it felt like
home, but to Chuck, it felt like he was living in a cardboard box.
They finished getting ready and went over to the address that was
given to Chuck by John Bower. They reached the castle on Rodeo
Drive that held the Bower Agency, standing tall and towering over
all the buildings on its block. They both walked into the building
and waited for Mr. Bower to come out of his office. The secretary
told them to have a seat and wait for a few.

The office was huge, decorated with wood
finish on all its furniture, and statues of silver men, draped
around the room on each table it held. It had air-conditioning, and
blue velvet chairs that cushioned their seats in a comfortable,
contoured way. Suddenly, they both saw Mr. Bower exiting his
office, saying, “Hello.”

Damen looked up at him and spoke with
overwrought, nervousness, “Hi.”

Chuck shook John’s hand, and asked, “Are we
late?”

“No, no, no, you’re right on time. The other
actors trying out for the movie aren’t going to be here till 5:00
p.m., so that gives us plenty of time to talk.”

Chuck and Damen went into John’s office,
where seven other casting agents sat. They all sat down and began
explaining the movie to Chuck and Damen. One of the casting agents
handed Damen a script and said, “Here, read the first line out
loud.”

Damen looked at it, got up from his seat, and
spoke, “But I didn’t get to practice it, this is the first time I’m
seeing this script.”

“Don’t worry, Damen, you’re definitely going
to get the part. You see, we already feel that you’re perfect for
the character,” John stated as he patted him on the back. John sat
down in his seat and watched Damen recite his line of the script.
After that, Damen sat down and John began discussing the contract
to him.

Damen couldn’t believe what was happening;
everything he’d worked for was coming true right before his eyes.
He looked at Chuck for an instant and said ‘thank you’ through his
eyes. Then, John handed him a pile of contracts and watched as
Damen began signing them. A feeling of accomplishment came to
Damen’s mind and sight, feeling this prosperous moment, engulfing
into his soul, showing every piece of positive sentiment that it
could show.

But then, he stopped signing his name on the
first contract, looked up at John, and the rest of the casting
agents, and questioned with interest, “I thought I was supposed to
do the audition and then wait for a callback?”

“Well, that is how it’s supposed to work. But
in your situation, well, just say you were in the right place at
the right time,” John replied with a grin.

Damen started signing his name again and then
handed it to Chuck. Chuck signed it also, and then handed it to
John. Over thirteen contracts were signed, or documents for this
one movie. After that process was done, John noticed that it was
almost time for the other actors to come in.

“Alright, I’ll get in touch with you, Chuck,
and tell you when the movie will begin. Meanwhile, Damen, just
begin practicing and remembering your lines,” explained John,
escorting Damen and Chuck out of his office.

Suddenly, Damen turned around, looked at
Chuck, and then gazed at John, saying with hesitation, “Excuse me,
Mr. Bower, but I have to ask you something before I go.”

“Sure, go right ahead.”

John stood next to his office door, watching
Damen’s mouth, and how it showed some nervous hesitation, like the
words wanted to come out, but his vocal cords grabbed them and held
them in. But then, Damen looked down at the black carpet of the
waiting room, and finally questioned with fear, “Did you hear
anything about me doing ... drugs?”

“No, why? Are you?”

Damen looked up at John, saying, “No, no, but
that rumor was spread about me. It’s not true at all.”

“Well good, then I’ll talk you probably
within the week and tell you when Stephen Settler will begin
filming,” he said, noticing a smile coming over Damen’s face.

Tears started to shield Damen’s eyes, pure
salt of happiness was their reason, and prosperity was their alibi,
almost. But, still Damen didn’t know who spread that rumor about
him, causing his prosperity to not be of its highest form, just
yet. Damen looked away from John, noticing that his sight was
getting blurry due to the tears, and then stared back at him,
saying with the deepest sincerity, and gratitude, “Thank you so
much, sir.”

“No, thank you,” John said before he closed
the door to his office. He sat down in his thick leather chair,
turned to one of the casting agents, and stated, “I think he’s
going to be perfect for the part. Don’t you think, Greg?”