Sugar Valley (Hollywood's Darkest Secret)

by Stephen Andrew Salamon

  “Yes, we all have appointments here,” said Darell. He lied again, the truth still waited in his fairly dumb mind—he hoped that somehow Jose and Damen’s name would magically appear on the computer.

  “I do remember a Darell O’Conner. And I remember Mr. Fryer saying you have a few friends who are interested in this agency,” Vivian mentioned. She just stared at Darell for a moment, waiting for him to say the reason why they were not on the list, and then looked down on the list, to see if maybe their names were under some other file.

  Vivian gave up the hunt, looking at all of them, waiting to hear a reply from her, and then said the one thing that Darell was hoping wouldn’t travel through her mouth, past her tongue, and into their ears. “But, your names aren’t here. Darell O’Conner is the only name I see.”

  “There must be some kind of mistake. Could you please check again, Miss?” Damen asked, hearing Jose give out a huge yawn.

  “Man, I’m feeling awfully tired.” After Jose spoke those words, he sat down in a chair, right next to Vivian’s desk. His feet felt pale, tired, like bricks were cemented to his two heels; the Valium was kicking in its full effects and kicking Jose’s ass in the pursuit.

  “Nope, it’s not here. Let me check with Mr. Fryer. Please have a seat,” said Vivian. She called Mr. Fryer on his speaker phone and stared at Darell at the same time. Vivian knew the truth, Damen and Jose were never on the appointment file, and Vivian knew that Darell was the one with an appointment. She also realized, felt once again in her tired mind that Darell was against her in the race to get Tom Fryer as an agent. But, just as Shakespeare was good at oxymorons, so was Vivian, with the craft she chose. So, she made sure to use her acting craft, and not show any fear or nervousness toward Darell’s eyes; only when he turned away from her, that’s when she let her mask down.

  Damen questioned, in a confused and angry way, “What the hell is going on, Darell?”

  Jose heard the question very vividly through his stoned ears, but still he caught on to Damen’s aggravation. Even though he didn’t really care if his name was on the list or not, only because he had Julienne Wells on his side, he still felt that he should say something, to not make Damen suspicious of his silence. So, Jose jumped in the question and added, “Yeah, um, what the hell is going on?”

  “I have no idea, guys, we just have to wait, I guess.”

  Jose was hesitant on telling them about Julienne, only because he wanted to become, as he put it, “famous first.” So, he still kept his secret inside of him, and allowed time to take over the destiny of all three of them.

  “Mr. Fryer, there seems to be a problem out here,” Vivian said, staring at the guys from a distance while holding the phone to her ear.

  Young Peter Welch, with Tom’s special interest in him, still sat and talked in Mr. Fryer’s office, hearing Vivian’s voice over the intercom. Mr. Fryer punched a button on his phone, and said, while showing Peter a photo of some old clients that became stars, “What’s the problem, Vivian?” Mr. Fryer then offered Mr. Welch another cigar.

  “I don’t know exactly. Darell O’Conner is here and he brought his friends,” she replied, staring at Damen with interest.

  “Send them in ... I’ll get to the bottom of this.” Peter then got up from his chair and headed toward the door; Mr. Fryer had some aggravation in mind, he didn’t like to be interrupted during a meeting.

  The guys walked to Mr. Fryer’s office and knocked on the door. The door opened by the second knock and Peter walked past them, aiming his gaze toward all of them, wondering the reasons why they came to Mr. Fryer’s office. They all walked in, with Darell asking in a jumpy manner, “Hello, Mr. Fryer, do you remember me?”

  “Yes, you’re Darell, but who are these people?” Mr. Fryer asked in a voice of perplexity. Tom stared at Damen and Jose, looking at them as if they were a pile of manure that had been sitting out for three weeks with dead flies attached to its surface.

  “Um, well, these are my friends, Jose and Damen,” Darell replied. Darell then closed the office door, hoping that they all could talk for a while.

  “I thought I told you I only wanted to see you for now?” Mr. Fryer’s question was strict, but true, and Darell’s face started to fall, aware of the honesty with which Tom spoke to him, but with a sinister feel to it.

  “Darell told us you wanted to see us today,” Damen affirmed. He then turned to Darell and added, “Is that right?”

  Darell slowly began to move his head in an upward position, like the truth rising in his mind, and heading toward his mouth. He looked at Mr. Fryer, and then at Damen and Jose. He gave a deep sigh and responded in a scared, but sincere voice, “Not exactly ... I told you he said to come in today, I never told you who he said he wanted to see...”

  “I don’t believe this—you lied to us.” Damen’s voice showed hurt to it, but anger as his pitch rang through Darell’s ears and entered into the guilty zone of his mind.

  “No, I didn’t,” Darell said in a higher pitch. For some reason, even though Darell really did put it like that, he still stretched the truth, and in a sense, he really did lie to them; but Darell still wanted to use reverse psychology to try and get out of this one.

  “Yes, you did,” yelled Damen.

  “No, I didn’t.”

  “Yes, you did.”

  “No.”

  “Yes.”

  “No, you just didn’t understand what I meant.”

  “Yes, I did understand, and you did lie to us.”

  “No.”

  “Yes.”

  “No.”

  “Yes, you did. Didn’t he lie to us, Jose?”

  “Well, I wouldn’t exactly call it lying, maybe stretching the truth,” Jose replied. Jose Rodrigo knew this was a way out so he could see Julienne. But, he didn’t want to look too suspicious at his wanting to go.

  Mr. Fryer, not caring about who lied or not, stepped in the middle of this dispute, war, this argument of stupidity, and spoke before anyone could start rambling on again. “Listen, I’ll only talk to you guys for an hour. Now, I’m a very busy person who doesn’t have time for these childish fights. So, I’ll talk to all of you for an hour, giving you some of my precious time, but after that, you all have to go and leave me and Darell alone.” Tom waited for a reply, adding, “Alright?”

  Sitting down, Damen was embarrassed, angry, hurt, and confused at this situation. “Fine ... what are you going to talk to us about?” questioned Damen. He was so confused at the situation, knowing and feeling that one of his best friends just lied to him, Damen felt betrayed. He was also at a loss as to why Jose wasn’t feeling and showing the same type of emotion. The thoughts and questions circled around in Damen’s mind. But one of those thoughts circled the most, and that was, My God, my first moment with an agent, and he doesn’t even want me to be here.

  Jose desired to get out of there to go and meet Julienne, so he asked, “Yeah, what are you going to talk to us about? Is there any way you can lower the talk down to ten minutes?” Immediately after his words exhaled through his yawning mouth, he tried to think up of another excuse as to why he just asked that. Jose knew Damen would question him on that question; he did.

  “Why do you want to get out of here in ten minutes?” Damen looked at Jose with a puzzled face, waiting to hear the reason for his exiting early.

  “Because ... I’m really tired.”

  Damen Schultz, with his handsome face, and light brown hair, was looking ugly at the moment, full of so much stress, anger, hurt; his nerves were ready to shoot through his arteries. “Listen, we’re going to stay here for as long as possible. Okay?”

  Jose couldn’t get out of this one, not without a good excuse, and the only good excuse would be the truth. So, he accepted it, stuck his hand into his pocket, grabbed onto Julienne’s pager, and rubbed it, like it was a golden coin or a security blanket. Giving up in his escape, Jose looked at Damen, Tom Fryer, Darell, and then back at Damen. “Okay, fine.”

  Mr. Fr
yer talked to them about the pictures, composites they need to have. He made them all appointments at his own personal photographer. Tom then said, “Okay, after you get the photos, all you have to do is send them out to agents. Also, here is a number for Willow casting agency; they work with extras. It’s a good way to get started. I’m going to make your appointments for the photographer three days from now. Remember to shave and look your best. An actor’s photo is the most important tool he needs, it’s his way into auditions; it’s his key to success in this business. Remember that when you’re shaving your face on photo day, you don’t want to have a picture with razor burns and cuts.” Tom grinned when he spoke those words. Even though he was highly serious, he still wanted to make them all comfortable.

  “Thank you,” said Jose, writing down the photo appointment on a yellow piece of paper. Jose was back in the same boat as Damen and Darell, at least until Julienne got back. Now the Hollywood game began, the greatest game of all.

  “Now, if you would excuse me, I have to take care of some business with Darell.” Mr. Fryer slowly escorted them out, Darell still sitting in his office, he made sure to not rush Damen and Jose out of the office, this way it looked like they had some importance to him; but really, Mr. Fryer didn’t give a damn about them.

  He closed the door and walked up to Darell. Darell knew Jose and Damen were waiting outside his office that made him feel a lot better and less nervous. As the day slowly crept by, Mr. Fryer made Darell read parts of a script; he also made him do a cold reading. As Darell read, Mr. Fryer took some interest. Watching him perform a miniature dialogue from a drama, he found that he had tremendous talent. Also, he found that Darell had a very unique look of handsome, Southern-ish character, and that allowed Tom’s eyes to create twinkles of dollar signs, and also to start the analysis and the questioning in his mind.

  He could be cast as a leading man, or a high school student from the South. Yeah, that would be perfect. Man, he didn’t even go to drama school, and he could act better than some actors who get paid twenty million per picture. But, Peter was also good, and I still have to see Vivian’s performance, Mr. Fryer mumbled silently.

  “Alright, Darell, come in next week at 10:00 a.m. Here’s the day, time and everything else you need to know for next week.” Mr. Fryer then slid a piece of paper over his desk to Darell. “Write it down now, so you won’t forget.”

  Darell slowly wrote down the information that he needed, and asked at the same time, “Is the meeting over with?”

  “No, no, it’s just begun,” Mr. Fryer replied while opening his desk drawer and popping out eight different scripts.

  Meanwhile, Damen and Jose were outside his office, sitting in the waiting room. Damen noticed that Vivian would look at him and then turn away as soon as he looked at her. He looked at Jose and saw him sleeping, so he got up and approached Vivian. “Hi, my name is Damen.”

  “I know,” she answered with a smile.

  “How do you know? Have you been stalking me or something?” he asked in a nerdlike manner.

  “No, you said it when you came in here.” Damen noticed some smart-aleck to her voice, mixed in with joking. He caught on to her own craft of flirting.

  “Oh, well then, what’s your name?” Damen saw that she had beautiful blue eyes, allowing his soul to twist upside-down, and all around.

  Vivian got up from her seat, put a file into a brown, wooden cabinet, and spoke, “I’m sorry, I don’t date actors.”

  “Who said anything about a date? I just want to know your name.”

  “That’s how it starts.”

  “Well, do you want some company?” Damen sat down in a chair, next to her desk, still holding onto his sincere expression, he actually prayed in his mind that she would give in to her game and tell him her name. She was perfect to his eyes. The way her breasts formed, connecting to her body, and the way her neck stood straight, like a swan, allowed his saliva to actually dribble out of his mouth, just a bit. Her hair was shiny to his sight. Seeing her slim waist sitting in the chair, he wanted to know what she would look like without any apparel on.

  “I don’t mind, but don’t think this means I like you,” Vivian finally answered, but with a small grin.

  They talked for an hour straight. Damen blabbed away about why they came to California, and where they came from as she just watched and listened. She talked about her life in the Hollywood scene and how she wanted to become successful in the film industry, as an actor too. They conversed a total of two hours, but Damen still didn’t know her name. The chemistry was there, the momentum of it loitered a bit, but still it was showing through each of their smiles, smiling at one another, enjoying each other’s company. Even Damen, in his secret voice, in his mind, talked about her. The silence of his dense imagination rambled on through his thoughts; he had a very dirty mind.

  Damen, she is so beautiful, man, I didn’t know that a girl could be this fine. Go on, ask her out, do it chicken shi...

  “Okay, if I make a deal with you right now, then will you tell me your name?” he asked.

  “What sort of deal?”

  “It’s simple, once you tell me your name, we become nothing but friends,” he replied, putting his hand out. “Deal?”

  “There’s a catch.” Vivian then folded her hands, and listened intensely to his voice.

  “The only catch is, you have to hang out with me, or me and my friends. Remember, the only thing we could do is talk, nothing else. That is unless you change your mind about dating an actor.” His hand stretched out farther toward her folded hands, waiting patiently for her to grab it and shake it.

  Vivian unfolded her warm hands, saying, “I just met you and you’re already making deals with me...”

  “Come on, life’s about taking risks.”

  Damen wasn’t used to spontaneity, grasping onto a moment by its wing, and flying it about, not knowing where it’ll take him; but the attraction he had toward Vivian caused his instincts to get the best of him and take a chance. Back in Ridge Crest, this type of experience would have never happened, so Damen was learning a lot about the real world, and he’d only been in it for two days.

  “Okay, deal,” Vivian said, shaking his hand.

  “Okay, what’s your name?” he questioned, still holding onto her hand.

  Vivian pulled her hand gently away from Damen’s grip and replied, “I’ll tell you tonight.”

  “So soon?”

  “Yeah ... tonight at 9:00 sharp. I’ll bring my friends and you bring your friends.” Jose was woken up by the sound of Darell walking out of Mr. Fryer’s office, allowing the flirtatious but interesting conversation between Vivian and Damen, to end.

  Jose, still drugged but now sober, got up slowly by the chair, giving a sign to Damen that it was time to go; but seeing Darell walk out of the office upset Damen. He didn’t want to go yet. With such a beauty in front of his eyes, allowing him to forget on how much he had a crush on Maria, back in Ridge Crest, Damen felt like a new person.

  “Where should we meet?” spoke Damen.

  “We’ll meet at the Hollywood sign. Do you know how to get up there?”

  “Yeah, I’ll figure it out.” Jose then started to pull Damen by his shirt-sleeve, agitated that he had to sleep upright in a chair; Jose wanted to go now.

  “Well, see you then,” she whispered.

  And all Damen could say, of course in a tender voice, was, “Later.”

  The friends waited outside Mr. Fryer’s office building for a taxi. They ignored each other for a long time. Damen ignored Darell for the simple fact that he’d lied to them. Jose just went along with Damen’s ignoring, though he wasn’t that upset. Jose figured that Julienne would take care of everything. Darell looked down at the Hollywood street in a guilty way, like he was ready to cry. Darell knew he’d done something wrong, and Damen figured he better break the ice and say something. So, he spoke. “You never lied to us before. Why now?”

  The warm California breeze blew against Da
rell’s puppy eyes as they showed themselves to Damen. “I’m sorry, Damen ... it’ll never happen again, I promise.”

  Jose figured he better put on an act like he gave a damn, and jump in this conversation, at least before Damen caught on to Jose’s suspicious character. “Yeah, why did you lie to us?” It was a fake, generic tone, sounding like it was read off of a script, but luckily Damen, and even Darell, didn’t catch onto it.

  “I said I was sorry. It’s just, I didn’t want to make you guys upset,” Darell replied, looking at Jose.

  “Apology accepted,” Jose answered. Mr. Rodrigo’s words sounded like he didn’t even care about the “sorry” that came out of Darell’s sincere mouth, and that made Damen look at him for a moment, feeling a little suspicious toward Jose.

  “Jose, you have been acting very strange lately. Are you on somethin’?” asked Damen. That’s when a taxi approached them and stopped.

  Jose then stared at Damen in shock, making sure to put on an act like he was surprised at his assumptions. “No, why on earth would you say something like that? I’m just a little tired.”

  “A little tired? You’ve just slept for two hours,” Damen announced. The guys got into the cab as he added, “I mean, I thought you would be the first person to yell at Darell.”

  Jose Rodrigo noticed some combativeness in Damen’s voice, so he added a little aggressiveness, saying, “Well, I guess you’re wrong.”

  “Yeah, I guess I am.” Damen’s suspicion toward Jose, and finding out that Darell lied to him, made his anger show through his words. Even as the cab drove off, Damen still wanted to get to the bottom of this, instead of leaving it alone.

  Jose and Damen fought for ten minutes. The only thing stopping them from punching each other out was Darell; he was in the middle while they were bickering across his face.

  “I think I should just go home, this isn’t working,” Damen spoke.

  “I think that’s a good idea,” Jose agreed, allowing his smart-alecky tone to be noticed and amplified.

  Darell just sat there motionless. He hoped that they would forget about why they were fighting. He knew the fight was because of him.