“I know. I guess if you got the look, you got it. Now, if you would excuse me, I was talking to somebody who’s more important than you,” the woman said with snootiness.
“Oh, don’t let me be in your way.” Vivian paused and then added, “By the way, do you smell that?” She pretended to sniff the air for a smell; her acting began.
“Smell what?” The woman tried to smell what Vivian was smelling, failing in her attempt.
“It stinks like, like, like smoke,” Vivian spoke, still sniffing all around the air.
“All I smell is cigarettes and cigars.” The woman gave up searching for the smell, turned around, and continued her conversation with another person. That’s when Vivian knew she had to take action, and do what she was planning on doing in the first place.
Damen just stared from a distance, first seeing Vivian do her stuff, and now watching her stand still, behind the woman, and look at Damen. He was confused, he didn’t know what was up her sleeve, so he turned away from her, and noticed one of the main actors, a movie star, sitting at a table, with an air-conditioning tube going up her skirt. This turned on Damen, a lot, but suddenly he turned away from this massive sight for a glance, and gazed at Vivian’s actions, seeing her eyes on him, and jealousy raging through her pupils. “Sorry,” he whispered, knowing that Vivian saw him staring at the movie star’s dress, having the air blow up it; she gave a laugh that meant she wasn’t mad.
That’s when Vivian shouted, “My God, smoke is coming from your back, turn around.” She yanked the woman’s body to face her own back. “There’s a big hole on your blouse.”
“Oh no, there is?” the woman asked. She ran into the bathroom and looked at the back of her blouse in the mirror, seeing the big hole that gave a shocking presence to her sight.
“That man with the cigar probably did it by accident,” Vivian said as she stood by the opened door to the bathroom. The woman ran outside of the bathroom and began yelling at the man with the cigar, that’s when Vivian ran over to Damen and grabbed her bag that she treated as a purse. She didn’t speak any words to Damen, and he did the same, he just stood back and watched this entertainment being captured, and loved every moment of it. She opened up her bag, purse, her way of carrying things, and took out a pair of pants and a shirt from it; this made Damen know that she’d done this kind of thing before. Vivian ran up to the woman and pretended that she was concerned for her. “Here, go into the bathroom and change into these.”
“But what happens if they start the scene while I’m changing?” the woman asked, grabbing the clothes with nervousness to her grip.
“Um, don’t worry, if you see them doing the scene while you come out, it will just be a rehearsal. Trust me,” explained Vivian, letting go of her clothing that the woman grasped in her hands; the clothing that was five sizes smaller than the woman’s figure.
“Okay, I’ll be right back.” The woman ran back into the bathroom and began her changing.
Vivian knew she didn’t have much time left till they begin the scene, so she ran over to the man that was the woman’s partner and stood behind him. She looked over at the bathroom and then over at the man, not being able to think of anything to say that would prevent him from being in the scene as well. Then, she heard someone call him by the name of John, so she said the first thing that came to her mind; she improvised. “Excuse me, sir.”
“Yes, may I help you?” the man asked, itching his blond beard and flexing his biceps at the same moment.
“Is your name John?” She stared at his muscles closely, hoping he’d be tricked into believing she’s attracted to him. Her tactic of seduction always works for her, and that’s the only thing, the only way to get this man out of the scene. But, she didn’t know where this conversation, or plan was going to lead, and Damen just watched from a distance, and laughed the whole time.
“Why yes, yes it is.”
“Oh, okay, um, well, um, hi, um, there’s an, there’s an agent waiting for you across the street. Yeah, he, ah, he sent me over to look for you,” she said in a serious, but nervous fashion.
“Oh yeah, what’s the agent’s name?” The way the man’s voice acted, Vivian knew he realized she was pulling his leg.
“His name, um, well. Um, it begins with an F, um, Fryer I think it is,” Vivian replied. That’s when Damen approached them.
“Tom Fryer is here? One of the top agents in California is here to see me? Fryer’s Talent?” The man was excited, and his voice showed happiness and shock together; Vivian felt she had him now.
Damen came up to them, hearing Vivian’s words, and asked, “Mr. Fryer’s here? Where is he?” Vivian punched him unnoticeably in the chest with her elbow, and kept on smiling at this man named John, while Damen started coughing and tried to keep up a smile at the same time.
“Oh, honey, you have that cough again,” Vivian spoke, and chuckled toward Damen’s bent over body. She then turned to the man, and added, “Anyway, yep, that’s the one, he said he’s looking for a John, John something.”
“John Loblet?”
“Yeah, that’s the one, he said he wants to see John Loblet immediately.”
John Loblet started to fix his hair, and asked at the same time, “Will you tell the people here that I’ll be right back, but only if they start the scene while I’m gone?”
“Sure, Johnny, I won’t forget.” The man ran out of the restaurant, and Damen’s hands began to clap, giving Vivian applause for doing such great work.
“Okay, places everybody, we’re going to do this again,” one of the casting agents announced. All the extras started to go to their assigned seats, and Vivian followed in the herd of people.
Vivian grabbed Damen’s right arm, and pulled him toward the main table, saying, “Come on, let’s sit down.”
They sat down calmly, like they were supposed to be there. The makeup woman came over to them and started putting makeup on Vivian and a little on Damen, saying, “I don’t remember you guys.”
“Sure you do. We just had to change clothes,” Vivian said. Damen just smiled at the woman. Being nervous as it was, Damen knew if he started to speak, he would screw everything up.
“Oh, okay.” The woman finished putting makeup on Damen, looking at him very strangely, this caused him to be more nervous than he already was. But, he still didn’t say anything, and he watched the woman slowly put her makeup in her box, and walk away very calmly.
“What are we supposed to do?” Damen whispered. He still watched the makeup woman slowly walking away from him, and then added, “Vivian, so, what are we supposed to do now?”
“I don’t know myself.” Vivian felt the nerves flow up her spine, seeing the makeup woman returning to their table, she knew that she had to say something to her, to not make it look like they were nervous. The makeup girl started to put some red lipstick on Vivian’s scrumptious lips, while Vivian opened her mouth and spoke, “Excuse me, my friend is a little bit nervous. He wants you to tell him what we’re supposed to do. I already told him, but he wants to hear from a professional like yourself.”
Damen looked at her with shock, but then gave an exaggerated smile toward this woman. She stared at him, and suddenly spoke in a caring voice, “Sure, all you have to do is pretend you’re talking to each other. Once the actor with the gun comes in, you guys look over at him and scream. That’s all. Don’t worry, you’ll do fine, cutie.”
Vivian watched the clock at every second that went by, gawking at the bathroom and the entrance to the building for the extras that are supposed to be in their spots, her nerves started to rise up to her throat. Finally, the cameraman said, “Okay, background action, and action.”
They pretended to talk as the actor with the gun came in. The director shouted, “Cut, cut, cut, we have to do this scene over again. There’s dust on the camera lens.”
Four minutes passed, the sweat on Vivian’s face started to show. The cameraman shouted again, “Background action, and action.” They pretended to
talk again as the bathroom door opened. The woman came out with Vivian’s clothes literally choking her body, and Vivian showed fear to her eyes. She watched as the woman ran up to the casting agent and began asking him questions in loudness.
“What the hell is going on?” She tried pulling Vivian’s clothes away from her body by stretching them with her hands and adding, “Hello, people, what the hell is going on here?”
The agent, or film worker looked at her and whispered in anger, “Miss, you have to be quiet, they’re filming.” The actor with the gun came in then, and the lady obeyed the agent’s orders, but only for a time being.
Vivian sat there and ignored the woman’s eyes locked on her face. The scene was finished and the director said, “Perfect, print it.”
Vivian then gazed at the woman in her clothes, hearing this woman’s loud voice saying to the agent, “Excuse me, sir, but I and some other man were supposed to be in that scene.”
The agent looked at Vivian and Damen from a distance, questioning, “You were?”
“Yes, I was. Now, what the hell is going on?”
“Okay, I’ll go see what the problem is.” The agent, or film worker, they didn’t know what position he had, all they knew was he worked for Crox Casting Agency, walked over to the director while the woman followed. “No, you have to stay right here, Miss,” the man said to the woman with a strict tone.
He turned around toward the director and said, “Excuse me, sir, but that woman over there says she and another man were supposed to be in that scene.”
The director, with his white beard and coffee attached to his hand, took off his headset, and spoke, “Where was she sitting?”
“I think she was sitting over there,” the man answered, pointing at Vivian and Damen’s silent figures.
“I don’t know about you, but those two people sitting right over there are the reason why we ended this scene so quickly. They’re the reason why this scene took such a short time to do; they’re perfect for it. Just tell the woman she’s still going to be seen in that scene. Just lie to her, Erin,” the director explained before he began walking toward Vivian and Damen.
“The director is coming this way. How do I look?” Vivian questioned as Damen sat there and smiled.
“You look fine. Hey, what if he’s coming over here to fire us, what should we do then?” Damen asked, suddenly noticing John Loblet coming back in the restaurant entrance, with a ticked-off facial expression. The woman and man, who were supposed to sit where they are, stood next to each other, and gazed at Damen and Vivian, showing wicked anger in their eyes. Vivian knew that only the director could save them now.
Damen noticed John Loblet was coming toward them as the director said, “Hello, I would just like to thank you for doing such a good job, you’re the reason why this scene took so short. The other extras that were sitting here didn’t do such a good job. They were acting all high and mighty, and never wanted to listen to me. Every time I said to act a certain way, they would do something else.”
Vivian shook his hand, and smiled, saying, “Oh, you’re welcome.”
Damen started to shake his hand, when suddenly he questioned with interest, “Why didn’t you just kick them off the set then?”
“Because, they’re the only ones that had a S.A.G. card, besides the bigger actors,” the director replied.
“What’s a S.A.G. card?” asked Damen, seeing that John Loblet was standing right behind the director.
“What? Oh, I get it, that’s a joke,” the director said with laughter. “You’re pretty funny.”
Suddenly, John’s ticked-off self stepped into the laughter and pleasant conversing, asking, “What’s going on here?”
The director turned around, faced John’s tall figure, and spoke with a phony smile engraved on his face, “Listen, you’re going to be in this scene. This was just a practice scene.”
“Oh, so when are we going to do the scene?” After John’s question, the casting agent named Erin approached them once again.
“Here, let him, Erin, explain it to you. I don’t have time for this.” The director took Erin by his shoulders and placed him right in front of John, blocking out his annoying, whiny voice from his important ears.
Erin asked John, “Oh, um, what was the question again?”
“When are we doing this scene?”
“Oh, um, we decided to do this scene last. That’s going to be after we finish the movie. We’ll get in touch with you,” Erin replied. He walked away and left John Loblet standing there in confusion as to what was happening.
“When will that be?” John questioned as the woman, with Vivian’s clothes on, approached him.
The director walked up to Erin after hearing the argument that was coming out of John’s mouth. He went in front of Erin and said to John in a loud shout, “Probably in four months. Now, sit down and shut up.”
The woman questioned, “What’s going on here?” while stretching Vivian’s clothes some more.
“Shut up.” The woman immediately stifled after hearing the director’s tyrant words of warning, and turned to Vivian, seeing a small grin on her face.
Vivian and Damen walked out of the restaurant to avoid any arguments, and sat on a hot curb with a cigarette in their mouths while laughing out loud. The director walked out and passed by them. He stopped for a moment and said, “You see, even a director can be an actor.”
Vivian laughed at his remark, questioning, “So, what scene are you guys doing next?”
“We’re gonna do the kidnapping scene in about an hour. You know, we need a couple of extras to be in that scene? They’re gonna be shown a lot,” the director answered, seeing Vivian discovering he was giving them a hint.
“You mean us? We were already shown up-close in this scene,” Damen mentioned as Vivian pinched him on his leg; she wanted him to shut his trap.
“Yeah I know, but don’t worry, we’ll put you into a different wardrobe,” replied the director. Vivian and Damen got up to follow him, excited toward their new accomplishment in extra work.
“You know, at the end of the day, I have to explain a lot of things to you about Hollywood,” Vivian said to Damen with a smile.
“Oh, yeah? Come here.” Damen kissed her lips and hugged her, adding, “I guess this is where every acting career begins.”
“Trust me, Damen, we haven’t even reached the beginning yet; this is only the start.”
Chapter Nineteen
The film shoot finally finished at 12:00 a.m. Feeling fatigued, tired, exhausted and cranky, Damen and Vivian walked down the streets of Hollywood with the lights gleaming into their eyes. The ground was still warm from the sun’s cookout on the earth, but a cool breeze was finally felt, and they both enjoyed it. Their motion was getting slower, being like drunks, holding onto each other for balance. These two humans conversed on a lot of topics, but stopped when Vivian asked in a tired tone, “Why don’t we just take a cab?” Another cool breeze blew against them, revealing smiles with a definition of comfortableness.
“The motel is just three blocks away from here,” he spoke, holding onto Vivian’s dried-up, sweaty hand. “I can’t wait to tell Jose and Darell about extra work. They’re looking for a job anyway.”
“Are you gonna try to make them jealous?”
“Hell, yeah. Ever since we came here, they’ve been shoving their good luck in my face, especially Darell. Now it’s my turn to get even,” he replied in a joking manner.
“Are you serious?”
“No, of course not. Why would I honestly try to make them jealous? I’m not like that.” Suddenly, Vivian noticed Darell and Jose across the street from the motel. Seeing their tired silhouettes, she stopped and tapped Damen on the shoulder.
Damen was about to enter the motel building’s entrance, when Vivian questioned, “Hey, isn’t that Jose and Darell?”
“What?” Damen popped his head out of the motel entrance and stared at Vivian while she still stood on the sidewalk. She pointed
her finger toward a bus stop where Jose and Darell lay sleeping. Damen couldn’t believe it, he figured they must of got drunk and passed out quickly.
They ran up to them and nudged their shoulders. “Awe, isn’t this cute, you guys were waiting up for me, but you fell asleep anyway.”
Jose woke up to Damen’s familiar voice. He got up to Damen’s face, saying, “What the hell, man, where were you?”
“I was working. Why, what happened?” asked Damen, feeling his own smile coming off of his face, like grease dripping off a french fry.
Darell awoke, seeing Damen in his tired view, he pushed Jose aside and announced, “What happened? This is what happened, we were kicked out of the motel, Damen.”
Damen got ticked off at their tones toward him, so he shouted, “Oh, so I guess it’s my fault now. Listen, I told you guys to start looking for jobs. Did I not?”
“Yeah, but if you were here, then maybe...” Jose screamed, with Vivian interrupting him.
Vivian stepped in the argument, shouting, “Maybe what? Listen, it’s not Damen’s fault for this. Just tell me how much you guys need and I’ll loan it to you.” She whipped out her checkbook and pen, awaiting Jose to say the amount.
Damen pushed her checkbook back into her purse, looked at her, and tried to speak through his eyes. But then, he looked at Jose and Darell, saying, “Vivian, you don’t have to do this.”
“Listen, I know one of you guys will make it as an actor, if not all of you. So, I know you’ll have the money. Or even when you get a job, you could pay me in little amounts. I just don’t like it when people argue over money. Don’t worry, sweetie.” She then ran across the street and entered the motel, leaving the boys there in a speechless phobia; they were afraid to tell her “no” again.
Following Vivian into the motel, with Damen questioning them, “How much do we need?” they came up, and walked behind her.
“It’s two hundred dollars for a week, plus one-hundred and fifty-two dollars that we owe,” Jose replied. They walked up to the front desk where Vivian stood, with Jose adding, “We came back in here three times so far, and this asshole keeps raising the amount we owe, Damen.”
Sugar Valley (Hollywood's Darkest Secret) Page 22