Sugar Valley (Hollywood's Darkest Secret)

by Stephen Andrew Salamon

  The chauffeur exited the limo and proceeded to walk toward Jose’s door. Mr. Rodrigo noticed that the limo driver had his hand on the door handle, so Jose quickly put his hand on the lock and pushed it down. He turned toward Julienne and said in a speedy fashion, “Listen, Julienne, all you have to do is help me a little bit. Just help me stop Darell from mentioning anything about the February movie to Damen. You already told me that if Damen finds out he’s going to be in it, that he’ll also find out I stole the part away from him when Mr. Schultz tells him that I’m taking his part. And also he’ll discover the lie you told about him being involved with drugs.” Jose paused for a second to see the reaction on Julienne’s face, then he asked in a shaky and nervous way, “Will you, please?” He looked at Julienne’s reaction again and added, “After all, it’s your fault for putting me in this position.”

  Julienne shifted her eyes toward his face and started to build up her anger by cracking her knuckles one by one. She said, “You listen to me, Jose, I got you that screen test, as a matter of fact, I practically got you in that movie. I didn’t hear you complaining about the situation I put you in when it occurred.” Julienne suddenly realized that Jose was really nervous and scared at the same time. She looked around the limo and tried to think up some words of wisdom that would help him forget about his fears and go up into the apartment.

  The chauffeur reached his hand through the window and unlocked the door. He opened it up as Jose just stared at Julienne, frantic as could be. He stepped out of the limo, when Julienne hung her head out of the door and said to him, “Remember this, whatever happens up there, you’re the star, they’re not.”

  “I understand that, but they’re still my friends, and I don’t want to hurt or lose Damen as a friend. I also don’t want to lose my chance at being in this movie,” said Jose. The chauffeur closed the door, and Jose communicated with Julienne through an opened window.

  Jose’s soul returned once again at that moment; the goodness and the memories of his friendship with Darell and Damen still haunted him, and Julienne knew it. She thought Jose would forget about them and move on, but the love and the brotherly bond he has with them shone through while Julienne stared at him through the opened window of her limo. She watched as Jose stood desperately on the sidewalk of Hollywood.

  She tried to remember the things that would make Jose change from good to evil, that way he would only care about one thing: fame. Julienne felt the only way to achieve fame was through being evil; in real terms, she tried to find the right button to push in Jose’s soul that would make his jealousy return, the jealousy he had toward Darell and Damen. She knew through the jealousy and envy toward them, the hatred would shine through and the friendships with Darell and Damen would be lost from Jose’s mind. She wanted him to only think of fame, the fame he hadn’t reached yet. Julienne knew Jose was almost in that stage, his mind and heart were already taken over by the trance that Hollywood brings, the trance that makes you forget about loved ones, friends, and even pure goodness. The trance that makes you think about nothing but fame and fortune, the trance which transforms you into a being filled with hatred toward others. It makes you become jealous, conceited, and a plain-out tyrant. To Julienne, those things were what made a star, and that was the one button that she wanted to push at that moment and keep it down. So, the first part was to turn Jose against Damen. Darell was next. She opened up a bottle of champagne and asked, “Do you want some?”

  “I had enough at the dinner yesterday,” he responded in a perplexed way, standing motionless next to the open window.

  Julienne tried to find the right button to push down, so her mission began with, “Jose, you’re an actor, right?”

  “Yeah, what’s your point?”

  She took a gentle sip of her champagne, and answered, “My point is, I think Darell’s a better actor than you.”

  “What are you talking about? Where did that come from?” he questioned; Julienne realized the button she pushed was the wrong one. Looking around the limo and trying to think of another method to push the right button, she turned to Jose and paused for a few seconds.

  “I wasn’t going to tell you this, but I think this is the right time for it,” Julienne spoke, trying a different button, hoping at the same time it was the right one. “The reason why I lied about Damen doing drugs is because I think you deserve this part more than him. I mean, well, before I tell you this, you have to promise me that you won’t get angry and fly off the handle. You promise?” She tried to think of a lie that would make Jose turn on Damen; her improvising of words caused her to be a little bit timid, and nervous as well, not wanting to screw them up.

  “I promise.”

  “Alright, remember when I went to the ladies room, while you were talking to Darell?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Well, when I came out, I saw Dennis Schultz at the men’s room, he was talking to some director. He was talking about you, Jose.” Julienne tried desperately to not screw her lie up, feeling her own sweat dripping from her forehead, she wiped it off so Jose wouldn’t see any form of nervousness on her.

  Jose’s eyes widened, asking, “What did he say about me?”

  “Well, he was telling the director about the time when he met Damen and fired him. He said that before he fired Damen, him and Damen were discussing and talking about acting. He said that Damen mentioned a guy by the name of Jose, and that Jose was doing drugs and how he’s not a good actor,” Julienne explained in a fast tone, pausing sometimes in the middle, due to her improvising. She knew Jose wouldn’t catch on to her malicious plan and her malicious lie about Damen; she knew she was a good actress.

  “Wait a second, go back to the beginning, alright?” Jose asked while Julienne looked at her watch; 9:15 a.m., it read. “How do you know he meant me? I mean, there are thousands of Jose’s out there.”

  “How many Jose’s do you think Damen knows?”

  He stopped, thought about it, rolling his eyes about, wondering if it was true or not. That’s when his eyes came to her, saying with anger, “You’re right. Did you say anything to Mr. Schultz? Did you tell him that Damen was lying?” he asked, his anger began to build up inside of his head more.

  “Um, well, ah, of course I did, I told him that Damen was lying. I just said that Damen was probably on speed or crack when he told him.” Julienne’s voice was nervous, she was nervous toward Jose’s anger and the loudness in his voice.

  He shouted, “What did Dennis say?”

  “Listen, you promised me you wouldn’t fly off the handle and get angry,” Julienne mentioned, looking down at the limo floor and grinning to herself. She realized her lie and plan was working.

  “Just tell me.”

  “No, not if you’re gonna be like this.”

  “Just fuckin’ tell me already,” he demanded.

  “Alright, all he said was he believed me and he’ll never believe anything Damen says again,” she answered, seeing a bit of relief on his face.

  Jose was relieved to hear that, closing his eyes for a second and allowing the anger to go away; he was happy to hear what he thought was the truth when, in actuality, it was all a lie. “Oh good, good, that makes me feel better.”

  “Um yeah, but everyone else thinks you’re on drugs,” Julienne stated. Jose’s soul was beginning to deteriorate as the button slowly pushed down on it, and she wanted it pushed all the way down as fast as possible.

  Jose was frustrated, asking, “What? I thought you already cleared it up with Dennis, didn’t you?”

  “Yeah, but that’s just it, I only cleared your name with him.” She covered up her lie with another one, and was starting to wish she hadn’t begun these lies at all; it was becoming harder than she thought.

  Jose’s anger toward Damen was increasing by the second, with his shouting, “Who else knows?”

  “Who knows, and who cares. Just follow the first plan and make sure Darell doesn’t discuss the movie with Damen.” Julienne then realized she p
ut herself in a bad position, discovering at that moment, if Damen ever found out about Jose stealing his part, then Jose would definitely bring up the issue to him of how he lied and said Jose was a drug head. In the process, Damen would find out that Jose lied and said that he was on drugs as well. She knew in the end, they would both deny these lies and point to one person: her.

  “I can’t believe this, I’m going to kill him,” he yelled; the button began to push down hard into his mind, heart, and soul.

  “No, still stick with the first plan. Just go up there and pretend everything is fine, give no signs of anger. Once Darell arrives, keep him from discussing the movie with Damen. Like you said, once Damen finds out about the movie, then he will surely find out about you stealing the part from underneath him. Just do as I say and everything will turn out fine,” Julienne said in a serious manner, realizing even more that everything will come down on her, all because of lies. She closed her eyes for a few seconds and asked in her mind, God, my God, what have I done? She also added in her mind while opening up her eyes, Julienne, you can’t screw this one up. I just need Jose for at least a year, that’s enough time.

  Julienne understood that her career would be terminated if her lies were ever uncovered, knowing Jose would screw up through anger and tell Damen and Darell he stole the part from him. Julienne also knew he would even tell them how she and he lied about Damen being on drugs; she saw all of this because of the anger that Jose had on his face. Julienne gathered her thoughts together and said out loud, “Alright, Jose, I’ll come up with you.”

  Jose smiled, the button stayed down and the trance began with him questioning, “Will you?”

  “Yes, but just remember, those things I said about Damen talking behind your back, you didn’t hear them from me. Like I said, Dennis said those things to me, it could easily just be a rumor he heard,” Julienne stated, trying to make herself look like the good guy by covering up her lie with another one.

  “Yeah, well, it doesn’t sound like a rumor to me. It sounds like something Damen would say.”

  His mind made him believe that Damen was the bad guy. The trance took over very quickly and Jose became locked within it, locked in his mind and heart, and locked within his soul. The buttons stayed down and the plan began within them, the plan to try and stop Darell from talking about the movie to Damen.

  “Listen, if you really want this part in the movie badly, then you’ll follow the first plan, alright?” she asked.

  “Fine.”

  They both walked into the building and meandered down the hallway. They reached the door to Jose’s apartment and just stared at it with Jose slowly taking out his key and placing it in the door lock. He opened the door and let Julienne walk in first. They noticed Damen and Vivian lying on the couch with a scent of vodka surrounding them, circling in the air. Jose picked up the mail before closing the door and asked, “What’s the mail doing here? I didn’t know they delivered it the day after New Year’s.”

  Julienne stared at the cigarette-burned couch, asking with a dreadful voice, “My God, you actually live here?”

  “Yeah, isn’t it pathetic? Look over there at him, he’s what makes this place look like a slum,” he replied, pointing toward Damen’s sleeping figure.

  Jose threw the mail on the coffee table and picked up an empty vodka bottle from the floor. Julienne questioned, “Should we wake them up?”

  “Yeah, I’ll wake Damen up,” he said in an evil tone. Jose kicked Damen in the leg and smiled at his force.

  “What did you do that for, Jose? I said wake him up, not beat him up.” Julienne pushed him away from Damen’s body and watched to see if the kick woke him up. She stared into Jose’s eyes and thought to herself in a serious and guilty way, I created a monster.

  Jose lit up a cigarette and spoke with an attitude, “Well, what did you think I was gonna do? Did you think I was actually going to tap him lightly to wake him? I’m pissed off at him.”

  “Listen, you can’t let Damen know about his little lie he’s been spreading. Remember, I discussed that with you,” she whispered. Jose blew a cloud of smoke into Damen’s face, with her adding, “Just stick to the first plan, alright?”

  “Alright.”

  “Good, now wake him up and I’ll wake her up,” she said, looking at Vivian’s pale face.

  “Alright, alright, I don’t know what the hurry is, they’re not going anywhere,” said Jose after he blew smoke into Damen’s face again. “After all these years I trusted you, you turn around and backstab me,” he added toward Damen, gawking with an immoral look.

  Damen was awakened by the smell of Jose’s cigarette smoke. “What’s going on?” Damen yawned. He coughed and woke up Vivian. Damen slowly peeped open his eyes and saw Jose with an evil smile on his face. Jose’s acting had begun.

  Jose stared at him and then smiled, saying in a voice of happiness, “What’s up, Damen?”

  Julienne stared at Jose in amazement, saying in her mind, My God, he really is a good actor.

  She turned to look at Damen and spoke. “Hello.”

  Vivian awakened and stared with a stunned look at Julienne, saying, “You’re Julienne Wells.” She turned to Jose and added with a grin, “So, Jose was telling the truth about you.”

  Jose questioned with a low, surprised, but happy voice, “What, you thought I was lying this whole time?” But really, he was saying in his mind:

  Yeah you little bitch, I wasn’t lying at all.

  Damen searched for aspirin, feeling the pounding against his head, asking, “So, how was the dinner?”

  He found the aspirin, popped two in his mouth, while Vivian asked with sarcasm, “Yeah, did you get discovered, Jose?”

  “Well, actually I did.” Julienne looked at him with a surprised and shocked look; she didn’t want him to tell them at all about the movie. But, they were already there, the point of no return, so Julienne just waited nervously for Jose to say his next words. “I’m going to be in a movie this February,” he added in snotty way, forgetting about what Julienne discussed with him about the plan.

  Miss Wells suddenly grabbed Jose lightly by the arm, inconspicuously dragged his head up to her face, and whispered in his ear, “I told you not to mention anything.”

  Jose whispered back in her ear, but with sinister, “No you didn’t, you told me to stick to the first plan, and that plan didn’t have anything to do with me discussing my movie with them. The first plan was for us stopping Darell from discussing the movie with Damen and how he’s the co-star of it. Well, actually, the ex-co-star of it.”

  “What are you talking about? Are you stupid? Please, Jose, don’t play these games with me, you know damn well what I meant by the first plan,” she said back into his ear.

  Jose looked at Julienne’s confused but nervous face in a serious way. He felt sorry for her and realized he was wrong for telling them about it. That’s when he lied to Julienne and said back into her ear, “Don’t worry, I’ve got another plan.”

  Julienne then grabbed his ear hard, saying “No, please, Jose, stick to my plan.” She then knew deep inside that she did create a monster.

  Damen walked back to the couch and handed Vivian some aspirin, seeing that Jose and Julienne were discussing something amongst themselves. So, he asked, “What are you guys whispering about?”

  Jose jumped away from her ear and tried to think up of an excuse for the whispering. He said, “Um, oh, Julienne was just wondering where the bathroom is, she’s kind of shy when it comes to those things.” Julienne looked at him in a confused manner. “There it is, honey,” he added, pointing toward the bathroom.

  “No, it’s alright, I can hold it.” Julienne didn’t want to leave him alone with them, she knew he might slip and ruin the plan.

  “I insist, you told me you really have to go bad,” Jose announced in a fast manner. He didn’t want Damen and Vivian to discover that she really didn’t have to use the bathroom. In real terms, he didn’t want to look like an ass in fron
t of them.

  “I said I could hold it, thank you,” Julienne announced in an angry tone, but with a smile upon her face.

  “Would you go already,” spoke Jose. Damen and Vivian watched in confusion at them arguing about something so meaningless.

  “No.”

  “Yes.”

  “I don’t have to go.”

  “Yes, you do.”

  “I can hold it.”

  “No, you can’t.”

  “Oh, alright, I’ll be right back,” she said, deciding to go along with the bathroom cover-up. She thought to herself as she closed the bathroom door, I hope he doesn’t say anything else about that damn movie.

  Damen then turned to Jose, and asked, “So, you were saying something about February?”

  Vivian looked at Jose also, but with amazement, questioning in excitement, “I don’t believe this, you’re actually gonna be in a real, live, honest-to-goodness movie?”

  Damen looked at Jose with a big smile, saying, “Wait a second, I didn’t catch that part.”

  “Yeah, I’m gonna be in a movie this February,” Jose responded with pride; Damen shook his hand.

  “Oh man, that’s great, I’m proud of you,” said Damen.

  Vivian picked up the mail that Jose put on the coffee table. “Damen, this letter’s for you, the other one’s for Darell.” Vivian then got up and gave Jose a hug, saying, “Congratulations.”

  Damen looked at his letter, his face froze into a shocked smile. “I don’t believe this.”

  “What is it?” Vivian questioned, with Jose giving an aggravated glare toward the both of them.

  Jose then let go of his evil glare, snapped back into his acting craft, and asked with a normal, but a little, aggravation in his voice, “Yeah, what is it?”

  Jose’s thoughts were jamming up his mind. Watching Damen as he ripped open the letter, Jose’s thoughts were flustered by jealousy. You know, I was discussing an important matter with them and they totally forget about it. I mean, I’m going to be in a movie and Damen’s not. He’s even more excited toward that letter than he is at my news.