Role of a Lifetime: Out of Hollywood Romance

by Cora Davies

  "So what was the email for? The scripts or the book?" Eric squinted at Luca.

  "I set that up to go out regularly," Luca laughed again. "I thought if I set it up for the first, you'd actually get back to me at a decent time. I didn't even know you could wake up this early."

  "It's a miracle." Eric picked up the remote to severe the connection. "Look, you gotta get me something on that book. Someone has got to know who she is. Someone who didn't sign a confidentiality agreement. Her last three books were made into movies and they killed it at the Oscars. I read this one-its got Oscars written all over it. It's a new role for me-I'm too old to be jumping out of burning buildings half the year."

  "We got that guy-Terry something-he looks just like you." Eric started to protest, and Luca held up his hand. "Okay, he looks close to you. But he said he'd get surgery. He'd fix his face so he looks just like you. Then, you don't have to do the stunts anymore."

  "It's not about the stunts. It's about proving that I can do more than just shoot the bad guy and get the girl," Eric said.

  "Man, I don't know what to tell you," Luca said pinching the bridge of his nose. "I think your bank account proves-"

  "It proves nothing. It proves action movies sell well, that's all. And, that's my point."

  Eric stared at Luca as he started back thumping the scripts against his hand. "Alright, I'll tell you what. You pick two of these up; I'll see what I can do. We'll look for something for you-maybe an independent film, huh? Some schoolhouse stuff?"

  "I want this book."

  "I don't think you can get this book man. This chick is closed down. Her agent said one of her other books is coming open for optioning?"

  "Nope, not what I want." Eric was used to always getting what he wanted. That was what happened when you had millions of dollars, a studio at your beck and call, and had been voted Sexiest Man Alive three times.

  "We can't always get what we want," Luca said. Sandy began to stir and Luca leaned closer to the screen. "Is that an angel in your bed?"

  Sandy hand slid out from under the blanket and saluted Luca with a middle finger. Eric grinned, "Send the scripts over Luca, and I'll see."

  Eric turned the television off. He lay down and attempted to force himself to fall back to sleep, but it was not happening. Time to get up. A few minutes later he was in the shower. He could not remember the last time he had been up this early if he was not on a movie set.

  He was done with this shit. He could feel the wear and tear of his movies all the way in his bones. No amount of vitamins, specialized workouts, and tofu eating could make him lie to himself. He was turning forty next year-and though he knew he still looked young-he did not feel it. He was still playing spies, superheroes, and other action stars. He had a range damn it-a full one-and they needed to see that. When his brother Raymond called him last year to tell him about the book, they both knew this was his ticket to the Oscars. He remembered the conversation.

  "Every movie made from one of her books has had a full ride at the Oscars. No one has gotten the rights to this one yet. You get it-you're in," Raymond said.

  "This book has been on the bestseller list for like two years hasn't it? I mean, I've heard of it, that's got to mean something." Eric laughed. He was a reader-something that surprised most people on the set-but most of the books he read were mysteries and thrillers. Not romances. "No one has movie rights for it yet?"

  "No one. From what I hear a few people have tried but she isn't budging," Raymond said.

  "So, I just show up and flash my smile to this... this..." Eric began a search online to find the book and the author's name. "Jeannette Hope? I can't find a picture of her, hold on."

  "You won't. It's a pen name, and she isn't revealing herself to the public," Raymond said. "I've been in touch with her agent for you."

  "You called her before even asking me? What if I said I didn't want to do another romance?" Eric said, rolling his eyes at his younger brother's insistence at acting like Eric's older brother.

  "This isn't just some movie of the week romance," Raymond said sighing. "You've seen the other movies based on her books right? This is a serious piece man."

  Eric nodded. He knew his brother was right. These movies weren't quickies where you had a meet-cute, a fight scene, a sex scene, then punched out another guy, then wrapped up. These things were tearjerkers to the extreme. "Okay, so you knew I'd do it. What did she say?"

  "Rights aren't negotiable on this one. And she wouldn't give me any info on her. Agent had to sign a non-disclosure." Raymond finished, and Eric let out a long whistle.

  "So what you are saying, is you called and woke me up for nothing?" Eric asked.

  "You're perfect for it, and I know how you are."

  "How's that?"

  "Once you decide you are going to do something, nothing stands in your way."

  Eric laughed. He had always been stubborn. "But there have got to be a million other books out there I can get a script written for. My production company will be up and running soon, we can hire a script writer for basically anything in the world."

  "Read the book. Please." Raymond hung up.

  Eric had not listened to Raymond-and forgot about the book. Almost five months went by before Eric spotted a tattered paperback copy of the book on a table by food services on set. He looked around to make sure no one was looking, and stuffed it into his back pocket.

  He was immediately pulled into the plot of Addy and Thomas. High school sweethearts; they were married immediately after graduation and started a family. The book depicted Thomas' struggles in the military through deployments, and their daughter's diagnosis of a rare childhood cancer. She battled and won-their lives settled down. The family saved enough to purchase a ranch. They were in the process of looking at a few ranches in Colorado when Thomas was killed at gunpoint while protecting an older man from being robbed. The story tore at Eric. When he finished it, he knew it was made for him. It was written for him. He wanted to be part of Addy and Thomas more than anything in the world.

  So began his six-month battle between agents to secure movie rights from a writer he had never met. Every month they told him no, every month he started the process over again. Raymond never asked him about it, though he was sure he knew. Hollywood was smaller than most people realized, and everyone knew everyone's business. Raymond wasn't asking because Raymond's life was set. Thirty-five years old, Eric's younger brother was a three-time Oscar winner. He had credits on Broadway, off Broadway, a Tony, and was on multiple charity boards. He wanted the same for Eric, but knew that he and Eric were made from two different molds; though they were from the same Hollywood spotlighted family.

  Their mother was a singer and actress-Hollywood royalty. Their father, a playboy billionaire's son, turned action star. Eric had taken after his father while Raymond had taken after their mother. Hell, Raymond had already settled down with a Grammy-winning singer ten years ago and they had three children. Happy as hell, ignoring all the rumors tabloids tried to place about a discord in their marriage. Eric had never even considered marriage.

  CHAPTER TWO

  "Chrissy," Hailey attempted to start a conversation with her daughter for the third time since leaving the house for school.

  "Risa," Chrissy said from under her black hoodie. Technically Christina, Chrissy had changed her name to Risa at school this year. She had recently started asking at home to be called Risa too, but Hailey had called her Chrissy since birth. Sixteen years was a hard habit to break.

  "Sorry. Risa, do you want to stop for some breakfast after the meeting?" Hailey asked.

  "Don't I have to stay at school?" Chrissy asked turning her hooded face slightly towards Hailey.

  "I'm guessing you're suspended," Hailey said raising her eyebrow. She was not sure how bad the defacing of the gym wall had been, but was pretty sure there would be some kind of punishment involved such as suspension. She remembered from her own youth, suspension was not really a punishment. It felt like a mi
ni break.

  "You already think I'm guilty!" Risa threw her head back and hit the tops of her thighs with her tiny balled fists. Some of her recently dyed black hair fell out from underneath her hood.

  "I didn't say that. I don't even know what to think!" Hailey felt the wall that had held back all of her emotions begin to crumble. She would need to put that back together and quickly before she saw the principal. Hailey was attempting to allow Risa to make her own mistakes, but there was a fine line between over-parenting and under-parenting. "You haven't even told me what happened or why they think you have anything to do with the problem. So how am I supposed to have an opinion one way or the other?"

  Hailey felt herself blink back tears. Her daughter had been through so much in her sixteen years: the constant moves, her father working far away so often, the cancer, and finally her father's death. Hailey had been so proud of both of them for holding it together for so many years. Now Chrissy seemed to be falling apart, breaking away, and turning into someone else. Hailey desperately wanted to figure out what she had done wrong to make her daughter act like this.

  Mother and daughter rode in silence the last ten minutes to school.

  ***

  Their meeting was almost a full half hour before the first bell rang. The school was empty except for a few of the overachiever children, teachers filing in for another day of work, and the three mothers and daughters sitting in the front office. Hailey glanced at the other two mothers-disappointed she did not know either of them. Or maybe it was relief? These weren't Chrissy's usual friends. Who were these other girls?

  If it had been other circumstances, Hailey may have tried to start a conversation with one of the mothers. But Hailey was scared of conversations with strangers, the mood in the room was somber, and both of the women were busy on their cell phones. They looked very adult like and intimidating to Hailey in their business casual attire. Hailey looked down at her own jeans and The Cranberries t-shirt. It was the nice one, without the stain on the side.

  Hailey instead stared at the kitten poster hanging on the wall behind the secretary. It seemed a little juvenile for a high school, but maybe the staff was trying to cling to the innocence of the children within their halls as well.

  "Mr. Hobbs will see you now," the secretary, an older woman with salt and pepper hair and a sweater that was too small for her tall frame, addressed the group. "He asked that the girls stay out here for now."

  The three mothers nodded and stood to walk to the principal's office. Hailey noticed she was the only one that glanced back at her daughter, the other two looked straight ahead the entire time. As she rounded the doorway her phone buzzed. "Sorry, I thought I had the sound off."

  Hailey pulled her phone out of her purse and saw a text message and picture from Gretel. "See what you're missing out on?" the message read. The picture was a very shirtless Eric James, a still from his latest movie. Not that Hailey had seen it. Twice. His brown eyes almost matched his dark hair and her eyes trailed the definitions of his muscles before she reddened and shoved her phone to the bottom of her purse. Leave it to Gretel to make her flustered just as she was supposed to act like a responsible adult. Fake it till you make it. Another of her mother's favorite sayings.

  Mortgage. Bills. Insurance. Deadlines. Grown up things. Serious things. Be grown up.

  "Thank you for taking time out of your busy schedules to come down here and talk with me face to face," Mr. Hobbs said. He was a middle-aged man who looked like a typical principal to Hailey-brown suit, brown mustache, and brown coffee stained teeth. Bald and wearing glasses, he could have been a principal in any teenager television show. "I'm sure by now you've all heard what happened."

  Hailey took a seat in the last empty chair and was surprised to see the other two mothers nodding like perfectly perfect bobble heads of sparkly earrings and blond haircuts. "No, I'm sorry Mr. Hobbs. I haven't heard what happened. Except maybe something was defaced in the gym?"

  Mr. Hobbs leaned back in his chair and eyed Hailey. She felt a little squirmy like she was the one in detention here. She had ended up in the principal's office a few times as a teen-she was not impervious to it-but nothing ever serious enough to bring her mother down to the school.

  "Christina, Bethany, and Lynn took it upon themselves to demand... justice for, uh," Mr. Hobbs started his statement with an angry glare but ended by tugging at his tie and squirming in his seat.

  One of the other mothers turned to her. "They wrote; Turner Williams is a pig."

  "Oh." Hailey blinked at her. She was at a loss for words. Turner Williams was the head of the basketball team; the school's winning basketball team. He had been accused of raping a sophomore girl over the summer, but the story had trickled and evaporated quicker than a drop of dew on a hot day. Hailey had heard the case had been settled under the table and the victim had dropped out of school. Hailey was not surprised-she would not be able to face an attacker every day of her life. How could a teenage girl be expected to? And she could not exactly be upset with the sentiment that Chrissy had written-if she had been the one to write it-but still she could not go around defacing property. "Why do you think our girls, in particular, are the ones who did this?"

  The mother who had answered her a moment ago sighed an exasperated sound. Hailey's face pinked a little. Was she the only one who did not have any of the information about this meeting? Mr. Hobbs began to speak again. "We have surveillance cameras in the many public areas of the school. It is an unfortunate time we live in today, but we did see the girls on film."

  Hailey's heart sank. So it was true, there was no getting around it. Mr. Hobbs spoke for a few minutes going over fees and punishments. As Hailey suspected, Chrissy would receive a three-day suspension and fees would have to be paid before returning to school. Before she knew it-they were being released to take their girls home.

  Hailey decided she would take Chrissy for breakfast and give her the opportunity to explain herself. She chose a small diner a little outside of town assuming they would not see anyone they knew. After they were seated and ordered breakfast, Hailey launched her quiet attack. Do not spook her; the teenage girl is just like an animal in the wild.

  "So, on surveillance cameras..." Hailey trailed off hoping Chrissy would finish, but the girl only shrugged. Hailey took in a deep breath and asked Chrissy the question that had gone through her mind ever since Turner's name was mentioned in the meeting. "Chrissy, has Turner ever touched you? Or-"

  "No, mom. No. And it is Risa," Chrissy hissed across the table as she tossed a pink sugar packet at her mother. "It has nothing to do with me. I've never even talked to him."

  "Then, of everything you could have done to... rebel? Why that?" Hailey said, cocking her head. Then she added, "Risa?"

  Chrissy looked satisfied with her mom's use of the nickname. "He was about to get some stupid basketball award, and he didn't deserve that. He shouldn't have even been able to play on the team this year."

  "Not that I don't agree with you-if he is guilty-and I do completely agree. But why him? Why you guys? Did he do something to Bethany or Lynn?" Hailey asked, hoping she got the names of the girls she had just met that morning correctly.

  "No mom. But it's just not fair. Stupid guys like him do shit like that," Chrissy paused for a moment when she swore and looked up at her mother to see if she would protest her use of language. When it was evident Hailey was not going to reprimand her, she continued. "And nothing ever happens to them. June, you know... the girl... works with me at the shelter and he came in the other day to drop some stuff off, like dog food or whatever that his mom sent him with. And he started making kissy faces at her, and she can't even do anything about it because her parents took the money instead of pressing charges."

  Hailey did not say anything but instead waited for her daughter to finish. Listening to Chrissy, she began to admire her daughter's restraint. If it had been Hailey, she's not so sure it would have been the wall she graffitied and not Turner's face. With
her fist. She almost felt pride at her daughter's actions, but she kept it off her face knowing that it was not the correct reaction.

  "So, they were supposed to give him that award in the gym last night. We thought if everyone was in there, they'd remember what he did and stop treating him like such a god. I didn't know they had a camera in there. I didn't want to get in trouble, I just wanted people to remember." Chrissy's voice cracked and Hailey reached over the table to hug her, but her daughter jerked back. "Mom, we're in public."

  So there was still the sullen teenager inside the brave one that stood up for the girl she worked with at the shelter. Hailey nodded, remembering she had not been allowed to hug her daughter in public for a few years now. "I'm always here, if you need to talk, Risa. Please just remember that. If stuff like that happens, tell me. Don't go out trying to fix things by yourself."

  Chrissy stood up. "I'm going to the bathroom."

  Hailey watched as Chrissy walked to the back of the restaurant, and tried to remember when she had grown up. Wasn't she supposed to stay her little girl forever? Hailey had been young when she had Chrissy, barely eighteen. Paul and she and been high school sweethearts and married after Hailey's graduation. Only thirty-three and she was a widow and was going to be an empty nester in the next few years. She was not ready for it.

  Hailey opened her purse to grab a tissue and saw a glowing light. She had forgotten to turn the sound back on her cell phone when she left the school earlier. She pulled it out and saw the incoming call was from a blocked number. "Hello?"

  "Hailey Rogers? You have no idea what I've gone through to get your number," a man's raspy voice said immediately.

  ***

  After Eric got out of the shower, he toweled himself dry and studied Sandy. He really had to shake her, she was annoying as hell. But she was easy to manipulate, looked good on his arm, and honestly, was a blast sometimes when he wanted to forget about the world. First thing in the morning, she was anything but a blast. She was a mess.