Julienne suddenly got angry, saying with an attitude, “Yeah, I think he was and still is.”
“What’s wrong? Are you angry at me?”
“What do you think?” Her head turned away from Jose, adding, “Listen, I was ready to beat your ass when I heard you talking about it. Do you realize you almost blew it for us, I mean almost blew it for you?” She stopped her voice, and hoped in her mind he wouldn’t stumble onto her correction of words.
“Hey, I started discussing it after Darell was drunk. Besides, I didn’t use the real title of the movie.”
“Alright, just make sure it doesn’t happen tomorrow,” said Julienne as Darell suddenly began to wake up.
“Alright, I promise you it won’t.” Jose then noticed Darell moving.
Darell lifted his head up an inch, and spoke with a smeary tone, “Set my alarm for 5:00 a.m., my plane ... leaves at seven o’clock.”
“Alright, Darell, just get some sleep now,” Jose whispered when Julienne noticed yelling coming from Damen and Vivian’s room. Jose put out his cigarette and whispered to Julienne, “What do you think they’re arguing about?”
“Who cares.”
“You’re right, who cares,” said Jose, giving an evil snicker toward her.
Vivian put on her nightgown in a rapid motion as Damen put on his undershirt and gave an aggravated sigh. That’s when Vivian asked, “Well, do you, or do you not, agree with me?”
Damen went over to the bedroom window and began opening it in a furious manner. Banging it with his hand, the window finally opened with him shouting, “No, I don’t.” He walked away from the open window in quickness, adding, “Why do you think Jose and Julienne are hiding something from us?”
Vivian lit up a cigarette, replying in a smart-alecky form, “Why, you ask?”
“Yes, why?”
Their room was small, filled with one dresser, a bed in the center, and a television that sat on the floor. Every word that they spoke didn’t have any place to absorb itself, except out toward the room where Julienne and Jose were standing. That’s why he opened the window, hoping that all of the sounds, loud noises that came from their argument, would fly out of their room, into the air of the streets.
“Because, didn’t it seem strange that Julienne only bought Darell drinks? She didn’t bother getting us any,” Vivian hollered.
Damen’s voice interrupted her theory, saying with sarcasm, “Are you jealous? Well, honey, next time we all go out to dinner, I’ll make sure to tell Julienne to buy you drinks too.”
“No, I’m not jealous at all. I think she got him drunk on purpose. I mean, she bought him drinks one after another. If that’s not suspicious, then I don’t know what is.” Vivian then threw a pillow at his face, hitting him directly in between the eyes.
“Listen, I don’t know why you’re so upset about this. I mean, so what if they have something up their sleeves. All I know is, Jose and Darell are my best friends, and I know Jose would never do anything bad to me or Darell. For crying out loud, I grew up with him, I should know him better than you,” Damen said with a strong and forceful voice.
“Do you realize, she could have caused him to get alcohol poisoning?” asked Vivian in an even stronger tone.
“Well he didn’t. He’s just knocked out, probably drooling on himself like he does when he sleeps, or urinating in his pants as we speak.” Damen’s tone was snotty, causing Vivian to throw another pillow at his face, but missed. “I admit, I never saw Darell get drunk in my life, but I did tonight and I’m okay with it.”
Vivian opened the door again, and before she exited it, she turned to Damen and spoke, “You know, I can’t wait till this February.” She ran out of the room in a furious rhythm, leaving Damen there alone, confused at what she meant.
“Why, what’s this February?” Damen questioned under his breath. He followed her out of the room and suddenly said with excitement, “Oh, I know, my birthday’s this February.”
Leaving Damen be, and having his own perspective on what she thought when saying her last words to him, Vivian rubbed Darell’s head like a newborn baby, and asked Jose, “How’s he doing?”
“He’s fine, he’s just drunk is all.”
Vivian glared at Julienne with evil eyes, stating, “You know, Julienne, you could have killed him tonight.”
Julienne created a shocked look on her face, she wanted it to look like she didn’t know he could have died. Julienne gawked at Vivian with the same eyes as she, and then changed them to sincere ones, trying to calm down Vivian’s nerves, and saying with a smile, “What do you mean, I could have? I didn’t force the liquor down his throat; he did that himself. Besides, we all had fun, but Darell had the most.”
Vivian mentioned, “He punched out the bartender, you call that fun?”
As this new argument was brewing, Damen was still wondering why Vivian said that about February. He concentrated on the last words she said before exiting their bedroom. He asked, “Vivian, what did you mean by that? You said you can’t wait till this February, what did you mean by that?”
They ignored Damen’s question, still arguing amongst themselves, with Julienne stating, “It wasn’t my fault for him punching out the bartender.”
Vivian still ignored Damen, saying to Julienne with tremendous anger, “Listen, because of you, we can’t show our faces in there again.”
“Of course we can.”
“No, maybe you can, because you’re a star, but we can’t. I mean, there were a lot of important people there tonight. I saw about three directors and the rest movie stars, it was so embarrassing, and it’s all your fault,” Vivian said to Julienne, her voice getting louder.
“Vivian, why can’t you wait till this February?” Damen asked once again; his mind was still on that subject.
“Listen, just because you’re a struggling actress, doesn’t give you the right to punish me for that,” Julienne spoke; Jose just stood there and watched the argument.
“This is not about that, it’s about you getting one of our friends so drunk that he got us kicked out of the club. Also, it’s about his image too. Do you realize this incident may be in the newspapers tomorrow? It could destroy his career, even ours. Did you even think about that when you were buying him all those drinks?” Vivian bellowed in a furious tone, starting to get closer to Julienne, like she was ready to box her.
“Listen, first off, you don’t have a career yet, and second off, I didn’t see any reporters or cameras at the night club. You’re just blowing this whole thing out of proportion,” Julienne replied in a high-pitched voice.
Suddenly, Damen took a deep breath in and shouted with a loud roar, “Hey, Vivian, why did you say that you can’t wait till this February?”
“Shut up for a second.” Vivian then turned back to Julienne and continued the argument. “Listen, Julienne, I’m going to have a career in acting very soon. Also, there doesn’t have to be reporters around to get a story to the newspapers. This is Hollywood, you know damn well people at the club are going to report this to them. And if they do, this story will definitely be in the newspapers,” Vivian explained before Damen went up to her face and looked her in the eyes.
Damen’s head stopped and blocked the argument between her and Julienne, with him asking, “Listen, could we please finish our argument up first, then you could continue this one? Why did you say that you can’t wait till this February? And why did you say just a few seconds ago that you’re going to have a career in acting soon?”
Vivian looked at him in perplexity, like a blanket of puzzlement came over her furious mind and thoughts. She looked at him closely, and finally replied with an attitude, “I told you already, I might be in a TV show. This February, I have to go to New York for the audition. My agent said that I most definitely will get the part. Now, if you would excuse me, I would like to get back to the second argument with Miss Wells.”
Damen’s eyes showed confusion again. “You didn’t tell me that. When did you tell m
e?” asked Damen as his throat began to hurt, due to him yelling so much. He grabbed her by the arms and added as he tried to calm himself down, “Vivian, honey, sweetie, baby, when did you tell me that?”
“I told you yesterday. It was when we were drinking that cheap bottle of vodka late at night,” she responded, trying to look over his shoulders to continue the second argument with Julienne.
Damen ambled his eyes at Julienne and Jose, and then brought them back to Vivian, saying with disappointment, “Vivian, every time I get drunk, I don’t remember a thing the next day.”
“Well, now you know.” She then looked away from him and was ready to begin arguing with Julienne again. She said, “Now, all I’m trying to say to you, Julienne, is that I really wish you hadn’t got Darell that drunk. It almost seemed like you did it on purpose.”
“Well, I didn’t do it on purpose,” Julienne said in defense.
Suddenly, Damen jumped in the conversation again, taking his manhood and using it to control the situation, asking in a fast way, “Alright, Julienne, Jose, are you guys sleeping here tonight? I mean, we’re going to have to wake up pretty early tomorrow. So, if you want to come with us, you’ll probably have to sleep here. Yes or no?”
Before Julienne said ‘no’, she remembered in her mind that they had to stay here tonight, because Darell could still mention the movie to Damen when he woke up. She looked at Jose and, even though she dreaded saying her words, then exhaled fully and said, “Yes, we’re sleeping here, Damen.”
“Alright, me and Vivian are going to go to bed now, I have to discuss something with her,” Damen announced in a controlling voice.
“I’m not tired yet,” Vivian spoke in a child’s tone.
Damen went into their bedroom, saying, “Come on.”
Vivian walked over to their bedroom as well, and stood by the door. “What is it?”
“Close the door please.
Knock, Knock, Knock.
Knocks came at the apartment door, so Vivian disobeyed Damen’s orders, walked over to the front door while saying, “Hold on for one second.” Vivian opened the door and saw Helen, asking, “Oh hi, Helen, don’t you have your keys?”
“No, I left them at the office. I’ve been working all day, and all day yesterday. Ever since Mr. Fryer came back, I’ve been doing nothing but that,” Helen replied while Damen still waited impatiently in the bedroom. Helen walked in and stared at Julienne, smiling at her for a second.
“Vivian,” Damen yelled out.
“Alright, I’m coming,” Vivian replied in a loud tone, walking past Jose and Julienne to get to the bedroom.
She finally entered the bedroom, with Damen immediately saying, “Close the door please.”
She shut the door, asking, “Alright, what is it you want?”
Damen replied with a sad voice, “I didn’t know you had an audition this February. I didn’t even know you had an agent.”
“Well, I do,” Vivian stated, still standing by the closed door.
“But I didn’t know.”
“Well, I do.”
“What happens if you do get this part? What will happen to us?” His voice was depressed, looking down at the red carpet and beginning to concentrate on the cigarette burns that were engraved on it, he didn’t want Vivian to see his depressed eyes.
Vivian sat down on the bed beside him, and started rubbing his face in a tender formation. “Oh, sweetie, did I ever tell you, you look so sweet when you’re sad?”
“Oh, thanks.” He kissed her hand gently, stared deep into her eyes, and spoke, “What will happen to our relationship? I don’t want to lose you.”
“Listen, whatever happens, we will find a way to stay together, I promise you.” She looked him straight in the eyes; it was as if she was looking directly at his soul.
“Say you love me, please?” He began rubbing her hand, wanting so badly for her to say those three simple words, the words that meant everything to him.
“I love you. Listen, I’m sorry for ignoring you out there, I was just upset at Julienne.” Damen began caressing her hair.
He started feeling and petting her hair, twirling it around in his fingers, and said, “It’s alright. I’m sorry too, I don’t know what I’m sorry for, but I have to say it for these kinds of moments,” Damen said before Vivian grew a giant grin upon her face.
“I forgive you, now let’s get some sleep,” said Vivian as she turned off the lights. They both lay down in the bed as Vivian began to move about, reaching her arm toward the lamp and pulling the light switch, which was a string. As she pulled it, the light bulb burnt out. Damen sat up in the bed and looked at her in confusion. He got up from the bed and turned on the main light switch that was located by the door.
“What’s wrong, Vivian?” he questioned, standing by the door with his hand still on the switch.
“I can’t sleep,” she responded while Damen turned off the light and jumped into bed.
“Why, what happened?”
“Honey, Helen came home just now, she said she was working with Mr. Fryer. You know what?” she asked as they both lay down in the bed.
“I already know. Listen, if you want me to kick--” he whispered before Vivian interrupted him.
“No, that’s just it, I don’t want you to kick his ass at all. When she mentioned his name, I didn’t get upset at all. You see, I think I got over it.” The moonlight shined in the room and reflected off her face, which revealed a smile to Damen. “I just know everything will be alright, even when February comes around.”
“Yeah, I could feel it too,” he yawned in an uncertain tone, knowing deep inside his heart that this February would be a challenge for them both. Also, it would be a major turning point in their relationship.
Vivian kissed him on the lips and mumbled, “Goodnight.”
“Wait a second, where are Jose and Julienne going to sleep? Darell’s on Jose’s bed, I don’t think they’re going to unfold the bed within it, they might cause Darell to vomit,” he added when Vivian began to laugh.
“You know what, who cares. In the morning, that’s when we’ll find out where they slept. Right now, I want to sleep.” Suddenly she turned to him, and they started kissing again. “On second thought, let’s not sleep just yet.”
Damen started to form a childish grin, pulling the covers over him and Vivian, and saying, “I love you.”
Chapter Forty-One
Damen woke up by the whistling of wind that soared through the open window of his bedroom. He tried to block out the sound, but the rising sun allowed the darkness of his closed eyes to be filled with light, pounding against his lids, beckoning for him to awake. He opened up his eyes and jumped out of bed to close the window, frustration was in his motion, and sleeping was in his motive. He shut the drapes, pounding them shut, when he heard a sound coming from the front room. He looked at Vivian’s sleeping body as he walked toward the closed door of his bedroom, not wanting to wake her up, tip toeing every inch of the way. Opening the door slowly, trying not to wake up Vivian, Damen exited the bedroom. That’s when he saw Darell with a cell phone in his hand. “What are you doing, Darell?”
Darell was holding the phone, gazing at it, but not touching it. He stared at the numbers on the phone, and imagined himself dialing a certain number, but still he only looked, but didn’t touch. “Nothing, Damen, just go back to bed.”
Damen walked closer to him, saying with a yawn, but a loud one, “It’s already 6:00 a.m., your plane leaves in an hour. So, like I asked, what are you doing?”
Darell tried his hardest to ignore the question, asking, “Who’s all coming with me to the airport?”
“All of us our going, even Julienne is.” Damen then pointed toward Julienne’s body as it lay on the floor next to Jose, adding, “Now, please, who are you calling? Are you calling the airport?”
“No.” Darell kept on staring at the phone. He gave a moment of silence, looking up at Damen, that’s when he whispered, “I’m calling home.”
The chills began to travel down Damen’s spine as the word home entered his mind. He opened his eyes wider and just stared at Darell with confusion engraved in his eyes. Home was such a distant word, and Damen couldn’t believe after all this time, one of his friends was actually going to try and contact it. “Why are you gonna call home?”
Darell looked up at Damen while he sat on the couch. He looked down at the phone and replied in defensive way, “Because I want to.”
Darell started dialing the number, pressing it slowly on the phone pad, and Damen just stared at him, shocked as could be. “Darell, the last time you talked to your father, he was chasing you with a shotgun.”
“I’m not calling to talk to my father, I’m calling to talk to my mother.” Darell’s phone to his parents’ house began ringing, he started feeling the chills of it, he was afraid at who would answer. “Call me sentimental, but I’m homesick, Damen. Maybe by me checking in, it will make me feel better.” The phone kept on ringing and the thoughts of his father answering and yelling at him went through his mind.
“Checking in? After seven months, you’re checking in?”
Julienne began to move and slowly wake up. Hearing their voices, and feeling the uncomfortable floor against her back, she started to stretch her arms unnoticeably.
“Yeah, I mean, after I go to England, I’m not going to have any time to talk to my mom. You should even call up your mother, Damen,” Darell replied as Julienne began to open her eyes wide and give out a silent yawn.
“Listen, I have plenty of time to call up my parents.”
Julienne noticed them talking and moved her body closer to them without them noticing she was awake. Miss Wells wanted to eavesdrop, and see what their conversation was about. She was still on the mission of keeping Darell from discussing the movie with Damen
“No, you don’t have plenty of time, once you leave for--” Darell said, suddenly hearing his mother answering the phone, stopping him from finishing his sentence. Julienne’s face showed relief; she knew what he was about to say.
Sugar Valley (Hollywood's Darkest Secret) Page 42