Sugar Valley (Hollywood's Darkest Secret) (75 page)

“That’s great, now we’ll finally get to work
together,” Damen howled with happiness. “How about you, Darell, how
have you been?”

Darell looked over at Julienne, glared at her
image, and answered with sadness, “I’ve been better.” Suddenly,
inconspicuously, Julienne showed menace toward Darell, gazing at
his eyes in a devilish form. As soon as he looked at Julienne’s
change in eyes, he added in quickness, “I mean, I feel great.”

They talked for hours about the movie and the
parts that they all got, received, and were going to do. But Darell
seemed out of place and distant toward them, and Damen noticed
that, but didn’t say anything. Damen figured that Darell must have
been ill, had the flu, or else was tired and fatigued from his
success he got so quickly.

They all decided to go out for the day and go
to the Starbox night club where they met Julienne for the first
time. As they sat and talked in the club, Darell went to the
bathroom for awhile to sniff some of his medicine and get rid of
the guilt that he’d been carrying around with him ever since
Julienne made him choose between his career and jail, or Damen’s
career and true friendship. That’s when Julienne and Jose began the
final plan, the scheme for Jose to shoot to the top of
Hollywood.

They both watched Damen, drinking his
champagne, when Jose asked out of nowhere, “So, we were wondering
if you wanted to come with us to New York to visit Vivian, do
you?”

Damen, of course was happy at the news, yet
confused as to why they were inviting him so close to the date of
his filming. “Yeah, that would be great. But, the movie begins
filming in a week.”

Julienne looked over, through all the people
dancing, and all the smoke that floated in the air’s surface,
gazing over to the bathroom area, to see if Darell was exiting it
yet. Then, she looked over at Damen again and spoke. “So what,
we’ll just go for a few days.”

“Well, I don’t know. It’s cutting awfully
close to the movie. I mean, we should just stay here and practice
our lines. Besides, we haven’t even purchased any plane tickets,”
Damen stated.

Julienne then kicked Jose hard on his ankle,
waking him up to what he was supposed to do next. He understood her
painful way of reminding him, and took plane tickets from his gray
sports coat. Jose handed them to Damen, explaining, “Here, it’s
already set, Damen. The hotel, car, and plane fare has already been
taken care of.” Damen looked at the plane tickets in amazement. But
then he put them down, glared over at Julienne, and questioned,
“Wow. But, when are we supposed to leave?”

“We leave tomorrow in the morning. If I were
you, Damen, I would see Vivian right now before the movie begins.
If you don’t, you won’t see her until the movie’s finished,”
Julienne stated, noticing Damen was beginning to change his mind.
She saw his thoughts through the movements of his eyes, circling
around in interest, widening with delight. “Look at Darell and
Jose, the premiere for their new movie is in two weeks, but Jose
isn’t going to be able to make it.”

“Why?”

Julienne looked at Jose, and then toward
Damen’s eyes, replying, “Because, this movie falls on the date of
the premiere. Jose already tried to get that day off, but Stephen,
who’s the director, told him he can’t. So, if I were you, I would
go see Vivian tomorrow.”

“Well, how long are we going to stay there
for?”

Jose opened his eyes wider, seeing there was
hope that Damen would go with tomorrow. So, Jose moved his chair
closer to him, and explained in a fast manner, “For three days. We
leave on October 30 and come back November 1. The movie begins
filming on November 5, so we’ll have plenty of time to get ready
for it.”

Darell exited the bathroom finally, without
them having seeing him yet. Coincidentally, without noticing his
figure at the time, Damen asked, “Is Darell going?”

Darell walked up to the table, hearing
Julienne speak, “No.”

“Darell, why aren’t you coming with us to New
York?” Damen asked. Julienne and Jose looked at Darell in a
revolting manner. Darell saw the look that Jose was giving him and
thought about the photos; but really, Jose was giving him a nervous
look.

Darell sat down finally, and answered with,
“Um, because I just want to be alone.”

“Where are you going to stay at?”

Darell looked at Damen and tried to warn him,
through his eyes, that Jose was no good anymore, and to not go with
them on this trip tomorrow. But, he noticed her and Jose were
gawking at him, like police officers, interviewing him under a
bright, burning light bulb. So, he stopped trying to use the
language of sight, on Damen, and just spoke with a bit of sadness,
“I’m staying with Mr. Fryer for now, at least till I find my own
place.”

“Oh. Well then, okay, I’ll go,” Mr. Schultz
said before Jose gripped onto Julienne’s hand and held it tight.
“You know what, I’m not going to even tell Vivian I’m coming, I’m
gonna surprise her.”

Jose picked up a glass and poured himself
some champagne, saying, “Yeah, I can’t wait to see the look on her
face, and your face.”

“I would like to make a toast please. So,
everyone hold up your glasses,” Damen announced. Everyone held
their glasses above their heads. “I would like to make a toast to
Hollywood, and may she treat us well. Also, I’d like to make a
toast to our friendships, may they always be true. Last, but not
least, I would like to make a toast to our real dream, the dream of
reading our speeches at the Academy Awards, may we all read them
with dignity and honor.” He knocked his glass with Jose’s, seeing
Mr. Rodrigo’s eyes showing a bit of evil in them, but he didn’t
think about it.

Chapter Sixty-One

The tautness was slowly building in Darell’s
mind, pressure that was made by his guilt, persisting in every
corner of his thoughts, showing itself to his mind’s eye, yelling
at his conscience. He felt guilty and depressed for not telling
Damen about the lie, not being a true friend to him, and allowing
something that he knew already, to still be a mystery to Damen’s
intelligence. He felt trapped within his mind, and trapped within
the guilt that was brought on by Jose. But, what he doesn’t know,
was that Julienne was the culprit in this vicious lie, this
deceitful pleasure that would cause her own self to be out of
harm’s way of anyone finding out about her lies, and for her to use
Jose still, to go to the top of Hollywood. He didn’t know what to
do. He thought in his mind:

If I told Damen the truth, then my career
would be over by Jose showing the photos to the media and even the
police.

But, he began slowly to realize that by him
not telling Damen, his guilt would grow and grow, multiplying its
force and pressure into a million guilty nerves, and evolving so
greatly, that he wouldn’t be able to take it. Damen was one of his
best friends, but he also knew that his life would be shattered if
those photos ever reached the outside world. He was caught in
between, and he couldn’t decide what to do.

As he lay on a couch inside Mr. Fryer’s
apartment, the guilt was beginning to grow stronger, starting to
travel from his mind to his heart. It was like a virus; the only
thing that would heal it, was by doing the right thing. Yet, that’s
what Darell didn’t know. He didn’t know whether the right thing was
telling Damen and getting his own career destroyed, or not telling
him, and having a chance of the guilt virus to travel beyond his
heart; a chance of having it travel to his soul. He comprehended,
understood, that he had to tell someone, he had to go to someone
for advice.

But who could I trust that won’t tell anyone
about the lie?

Thinking those lingering words of strenuous
quality, his eyes started to water, feeling exhausted, fatigued
from this thinking. As he lay on the couch, Mr. Fryer approached
him, seeing that Darell had something on his mind, noticing the
water in his eyes, and the silence that Darell gave out. He stared
at Darell, and then lit up a cigar, asking, “What’s wrong with you,
Darell? You haven’t said a word to me since we’ve gotten back from
England.”

“Nothing’s wrong.”

Tom saw that depression was in his tone and
heartache was in his eyes, so he sat down, in a chair, next to the
couch, and just stared at him still. “Just tell me, what’s on your
mind?”

A single tear, or piece of water, floated out
from Darell’s left eye, showing Tom itself, crying out to him to
help Darell. “I told you, nothing’s wrong, just leave me alone.”
Darell answered.

Tom still faced him, trying to figure out
what he was thinking, how his thoughts were lined up. He then saw
another tear exiting Darell’s eyes, so he tried to figure out what
the bad thought was, that was causing Darell’s depression, his
sadness. Tom took a drag of his cigar, and blew it out in the air,
away from Darell’s figure. But, a ceiling fan spun the toxic smoke
around and forced it back toward Tom’s figure, and then went over
to Darell’s mouth. He started coughing, and then stopped. Tom got
up, turned off the fan, sat back down, and questioned in sincerity,
“Listen, if you’re in any type of trouble, I’ll help you.”

Darell listened to those last words from Mr.
Fryer very carefully. He understood he was his agent, and therefore
he should be able to trust him, yet, Darell didn’t know whether to
take the chance of telling him, or just keep it inside a little
longer. But he couldn’t, he wasn’t that strong, his mental
capacity, for problems, was weak, and he needed help in the worst
way. So, as he turned his head to face Tom Fryer, it caused his
tears to fall from his eyes even more. He looked down before his
tears hit the floor, and then tilted his head upward toward Tom. He
asked with hesitation, “Before I tell you, Tom, you ... have to
promise me ... that you’re not going to tell ... anyone. Do you
promise?”

“I promise you, I won’t tell anyone.”

Darell sat up on the couch, and lit a
cigarette. He paused, not knowing whether to tell him or not. But
he decided it was the right thing. What Darell didn’t realize was,
yes, it was the right thing to tell someone about this situation,
but Tom Fryer wasn’t the right person for this task. Darell then
opened his mouth again, took a drag of his cigarette, absorbing a
large amount of smoke into his nervous lungs, feeling this
stimulant caressing his vocal cords, tickling them in a delightful
way, and then exhaled it, blowing it right in Tom’s face. He
finally spoke, “While we were in England, me and Becky, um, well we
had sex?”

Tom was confused, disoriented about the
problem Darell consumed, speaking with a smile, “So, everyone has
sex from time to time.”

“No, I found out she’s only sixteen years
old. You see, Julienne Wells showed me a lot of photos that Jose
took of me while having sex with Becky. He also took some of me
doing drugs.”

Darell got up from the couch and began pacing
the room, up and down, feeling guilty, betrayed, and deceitful
about the problem. Tom just stared and watched him pace, feeling
dizzy from his habit, and asking with strain, “Why would Jose do
something like that?”

“Well, you see, Jose told a lie to Dennis
Schultz, he said that Damen was doing drugs, and I guess the rumor
spread all over the place, where Damen is known as a drug addict.
Julienne told me that Jose wouldn’t show these photos to anybody,
but only if I kept my mouth shut. Tom, before I found out that Jose
was going to blackmail me, I told him what Damen said to me, and
how someone lied and said he was a drug addict. Well, Jose knew if
I told this to Dennis, Dennis would tell me that Jose said that
about Damen. And I guess, that’s how that lie would come out. So,
Julienne explained to me, if I just kept my mouth shut, and never
breathe a word about this to anyone, then Jose would never hand the
photos to the police or media,” Darell explained, noticing Tom
looking at him with a nervous glare.

Tom thought about how Damen caught him
raping, assaulting Vivian, and how he was so happy to hear that
Damen was doing drugs before. But now he was scared once again. He
was petrified of knowing that Damen might still reach fame, and
that would give him enough power to confess to the media and police
about the crime that Mr. Fryer committed toward Vivian. Yet, Tom
also perceived that Jose didn’t want Damen to be famous either. Tom
felt, knew that him and Jose have one thing in common, and that was
seeing that Damen didn’t reach the power of fame. Tom knew his own
reason for not wanting Damen to gain success in film, but he didn’t
know Jose’s. He thought that maybe Jose did this because of
jealousy, which he was right about. But, little did Tom know that
Julienne was behind the lie, Jose just went along with it.

“So, you didn’t tell anyone yet, right?”

“No, not yet,” Darell replied in a shaky
tone.

“Well, then keep your mouth shut.”

Darell looked at him with a vexed, shocked
image, giving a short pause and then yelling out, “Listen, I don’t
know what to do. Alright? I mean, I have to decide between my
honesty and true friendship toward Damen, or my career and
jail.”

“Listen, if everyone thinks that Damen’s on
drugs, then let them think it. All I know is you’re my client, and
if you want to throw your whole career away because of pure
honesty, then you’re crazy,” Tom shouted. He was relieved inside to
hear that Darell kept the lie to himself, but his relief went away
when Darell said his next words.

“Listen, right now I realize that Jose is
going to do something to Damen. Listen to me, Damen got the star
role in a movie, and I feel that Jose wants it. He and Julienne are
taking Damen to New York tomorrow, and I think they have something
planned.” Darell was frightened, horrified, showing it through his
voice, his way of speaking, having his eyes watering more, and
building up the pressure once again. He lit another cigarette, with
the butt of his last one, and waited for Tom to help him, to say
something that could make him do the right thing, act, and also
keep his career, his vocation in Hollywood.