“Yeah, you see this file is like Mr. Schultz’s diary. He writes everything in it,” the secretary responded as Damen continued his jumping. “Alright, see you at 4:00 p.m.”
Damen just stood on his couch with a grin upon his face. He hung up the phone in a dawdling motion, his eyes stiff and wide open, feeling joyous. He looked at the letter from his future agent and said, “Well, I don’t need this anymore.” Grabbing onto the letter and beginning to crumble it in the palm of his hand, he threw the crumpled-up paper into the wastebasket like a basketball and shouted, “Hollywood, here I come.”
Chapter Forty-Five
The secretary got up from her chair and walked nervously toward Mr. Schultz’s office door. She swallowed her saliva as she opened the door a crack. “Sir, I just wanted to tell you that I made the appointment for you at 4:00 o’clock.”
“Very good, Thelma, thank you,” Dennis said before she closed the door. “Now, where were we? Oh, I know, I was discussing the movie role to you.” Opening up the blinds to his office and letting some sunlight shine in, he turned back around and faced the client, smiling toward him. “Basically, your audition was perfect, and I decided to give you the part,” he added, handing the script over to his client. “Now, your role is mainly a jealous friend, who kills his best friend, played by Darell, at the end of the movie. You got it?” he asked, pulling out a contract from his desk. “Congratulations, and welcome to Hollywood, Jose.” He shook Jose’s hand, then handed him a pen. “Now, sign right there.”
As Jose signed his first name, he thought about how he lied his way into this role and deceived his best friend. He thought about the bond and trust that was going to be broken if he finished signing his name.
As he signed his last name, he thought of the fame and fortune that was going to be his and his alone, thinking about the envy he would get in the future and the riches he deserved. “There, anything else you want me to sign?” Jose questioned, handing the pen over to Dennis.
“Just a few more papers and that’s all,” Dennis replied, handing Jose ten more sheets of paper with small writing on them.
As Jose signed each and every one of them, Dennis explained, in more detail, what the movie was going to cost to make, how much he was going to pay Jose, and where the movie is going to take place. Jose finished signing all of them when Dennis mentioned, “Alright, we are leaving for England on February 1, I’ll explain to you more about it when the first of February comes up.” He then paused and reached into his desk drawer. “Here is your plane ticket.”
Jose grabbed the ticket from him, interrupting Dennis’ words by asking, “Wait a second, how could you of gotten me a plane ticket already; I just had the audition today?”
“Listen, Jose, I’ll be frank with you. The only reason why you got this part is because you’re friends with Darell. Darell has become pretty powerful in these last few months. You should consider yourself lucky to be friends with him,” Dennis replied, grabbing the contracts and putting them in his file cabinet.
“So, you only chose Damen Schultz for this part because he’s friends with Darell also? Right?” Jose wanted Dennis to say ‘yes’ to his question, so his jealousy would go away again. He wanted to know that he wasn’t an outcast, wasn’t only getting this part because of his friendship with Darell.
“No, the reason why I chose Damen is because he has the look and the talent. But he threw all of that away for drugs,” replied Dennis as Jose’s jealousy returned and depression set in.
“But, I thought I had the look and the talent?”
“Listen, consider yourself lucky then. You will become a star out of this film, trust me on that. So, consider yourself very lucky.” Dennis got up from his chair, adding “I’ll see you on the first of February. Also, study your lines in the script. Take some acting classes before this movie begins; every bit helps.”
Dennis escorted him out of his office. “Alright, I’ll see you then,” Jose said, walking out of Dennis’ office and waiting next to the elevator. He watched as the two elevators raced to the floor that Jose stood on. The first elevator opened, and he walked into it. As soon as his elevator doors closed, the second elevator opened its doors, and Damen walked out from it.
Damen walked up to the secretary and said, “Excuse me, I have an appointment with Mr. Schultz at 4:00 o’clock.”
“Well, it’s only 2:30 p.m., you could wait in the waiting room,” the secretary responded.
She started typing on the computer again, hearing Damen saying with joy, “Alright, thank you.”
Chapter Forty-Six
Julienne waited impatiently in the waiting room of her agent’s talent agency. She crossed her right leg over her left one and began to bob her right leg up and down. She looked at the secretary as she typed away on her computer and then looked at her agent’s office door. She felt like she was in high school again, awaiting a detention from her principal. She uncrossed her legs, then started biting her fingernails. Getting down to all nine nails, she began to bite her tenth one; the waiting caused this habit to continue. Before she could spit her tenth nail on the floor, the secretary looked at Julienne and announced, “Mr. Sullivan could see you now, Miss Wells.”
“It’s about time, I’ve been waiting here for over two frickin’ hours.” Julienne stormed into his office, and looked at Mike with an attitude.
“Julienne, how nice to see you,” Mike spoke as Julienne held out her hand for him to kiss it. He shook her hand instead, adding, “Please, sit down.”
“What do you have to discuss with me, Mike; is it about a movie role? You know, I hope it isn’t about another stupid TV show wanting me to make a guest appearance. Or even-”
Mike cut her off, saying with disappointment, “Julienne, it’s about you.”
“What about me?”
“I saw you on TV a few days ago, it was at the premiere for that movie with Darell O’Conner,” he replied.
“Yeah, that was me all right. Didn’t you think I looked great?” Julienne asked with a smile.
“No, I thought you made a complete ass out of yourself.”
“I did not.”
“You made a complete fool out of yourself. Number one, you were promoting that Jose guy, it was like you were telling the whole world that you discovered him, and that you want all the credit if he becomes famous; dating him to further your own career. Let me tell you one thing, Julienne, you are a horrible actress when it comes to talking to the media. All of Hollywood knows your vicious plan. You practically admitted it at the premiere,” Mike shouted, turning around and making her stare at his back. “It’s over, Julienne; after the premiere in February for your movie, I don’t want to ever see you again.”
Julienne’s eyes showed anger, but still her acting began, asking in a low voice, “What plan?”
“You see, what did I tell you, you’re even a bad actress when it comes to talking to your own agent. Everyone knows that your using Jim, or Jose, whatever his name is, to further your own career. I’ve already been getting calls about you from other agents. I’m the laughingstock of Hollywood.” Mike then turned around to face her.
“Listen, Mike, I don’t have any plan with Jose,” she defended, seeing Mike’s head shaking left and right.
“Alright, then I’ll explain it to you, just in case it comes to your head. Your plan is to use that guy for fame, and then ditch him later on. Am I right?” Mike sat down in his black leather chair with nail marks engraved in the arms of it, adding, “I got all of that information by just watching you on TV.”
“I swear to you, Mike, whatever you thought I was planning, it’s false.” A tear came from her right eye, looking down at the office floor and questioning, “I mean, why do I have to use him for fame, I already am famous?”
“Julienne, you know yourself that you’re losing your fame. Hardly any directors or casting agents want you anymore. You’re known as a liar in Hollywood, and everyone knows it.” Mike then punched his fists on his wooden desk
. “Julienne, face it, you feel that Jose is your only way to stardom again. You feel that if everyone loves Jose, then they will love you too, just because you discovered him and are dating him,” he yelled.
Tears came flushing out of her eyes, shouting back, “I swear to you, Mike, I’m not using Jose for anything. If I made it seem like I was on TV, then I’m sorry for it.”
“That’s it, I’m not waiting for your premiere in February. It’s over, Julienne, you’ve pulled this before with a lot of other actors in the past, that’s how you got here. I warned you about this before, I’m not going to warn you again. Goodbye, Julienne.” Mike ripped up her contract in front of her, throwing it at her face.
Julienne wiped her tears away from her eyes, and shrieked, “What are you doing?”
“You know what, Julienne, you’re not an actress; you’re a con artist.”
The anger built up inside of Julienne as each piece of her contract fell to the ground. Her acting vanished, looking at Mike with a sinister look upon her face. She crossed her legs and lit a cigarette while Mike watched her, showing a little grin coming over her face. She blew a cloud of smoke at him, speaking, “Fine, you’re right, Mike.”
“Right about what?” Mike asked with strictness.
“You’re right.”
“Right about what?”
“Right about what you accused me of doing.” Julienne then got up and walked toward the sunlight coming from the window.
She blew a cloud of smoke toward the sunlight, seeing it create a small, skinny road in the air, moving about with designs of stormy skies.
“I want you to say it, Julienne. Right about what?” he questioned again.
“I am using Jose. When I saw him a few months ago, my career was on the rocks. After finding out that lies were going around about me being a bitch, I just wanted to go to that club and get drunk. That’s when I met him,” Julienne responded, showing that her grin became a full smile. “You see, Mike, fame is a very powerful thing to possess, and I’ll do anything to make sure I keep that power. I’m addicted to it. When I first met you, you said that to me.”
“Said what to you?”
“You said that having power is the most wonderful thing you could have.”
“Julienne, when I said that, I didn’t mean fame, I meant faith. When you first walked into my office, I knew that you had the talent for this business. I knew that you had the faith to pursue in this business. You told me that you prayed every night to God; you said you prayed for fame. And look what happened, you got it. Now you’re abusing it,” Mike said in a serious fashion. Julienne turned around to face Mike when he added, “Julienne, once you lose your faith in God, you lose everything. And guess what? You lost your faith.”
She shrieked, “I didn’t lose my faith in anything, and I’m not abusing my fame. You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Just leave that Jose guy alone. If you care about him, then you’ll leave him be. You don’t want him ending up like you,” said Mike as Julienne walked up to him and stared at his long, blond hair in a ponytail.
Julienne said with sarcasm, “Oh thanks a lot. The thing is, I don’t care about him. I’ll never care about him. You listen to me, Mike, my plan is going to work, and there’s nothing you could do about it. You’re just jealous.”
“Get out, Julienne. As a matter of fact, leave Hollywood,” Mike shouted, grabbing her arm and guiding her out of his office.
Julienne’s cell phone started to ring. Without answering it yet, she turned to look at Mike from his doorway, and spoke with evil to her words, “You’re going to be sorry for ever ripping up that contract.”
Julienne walked away from him, hearing his door slamming, and feeling the wind from it brushing up against the back of her long neck. Before she exited the agency, the secretary said. “Have a nice day, Miss Wells.”
“Oh, shut up.” Julienne then walked down the hallway and toward the exit sign of the building. She pulled up the antenna on her cell phone, put it up to her ear, and spoke, “Hello?”
“Hi, Julienne it’s Jose, I’m ready,” he announced, standing next to a bum at a bus stop.
“Alright, I’ll be right there, just give me about fifteen minutes,” Julienne said in a sad way. She looked at her watch that read 3:45 p.m., and kept on walking down the hallway, realizing that this was going to be the last time she’ll ever see these hallways, or even this building’s insides.
“Alright, see you then.” Jose hung up the public phone that was full of bubble gum and dribble, even before she could say ‘bye’ herself.
“Yeah, see ya,” Julienne yelled out, entering into her limo and beginning to open up a tube filled with cocaine. She hung up her phone, yelling out to the limo driver, “Just drive around for ten minutes.” She tipped over the tube and watched the cocaine as it flowed onto the palm of her hand. After she took a sniff of the white substance, she noticed that the limo wasn’t moving yet. She yelled out again, “I said drive, damn it.”
Chapter Forty-Seven
Darell looked out of his penthouse room window at his image on a billboard, looking at the name of his movie that was printed above his photo, and then staring at his name that was printed on the bottom of it. Darell went over to his bed and picked up the script that he had been studying for awhile. He brought the script over to the window and looked at its reflection on the window’s body, staring once again at the billboard, transfixed on its body as well. Darell looked deeper into the window and saw Tom’s reflection; he entered the room. Mr. Fryer said in a happy and excited manner, “Look at this.”
Darell turned around and asked, “Look at what?” Before Tom replied, he threw Darell a magazine. Darell looked at the cover of it and saw his photo, questioning, “They printed it already?”
“Yep, they were just sent out about nine hours ago,” Tom responded in excitement.
“But this photo was just taken this morning.”
“No, Darell, this morning’s photo was for Star Struck magazine, this isn’t that magazine,” Tom announced, seeing that Darell’s confusion grew.
“What magazine is it then?”
“Well, why don’t you read the cover of it?” Tom asked in a snotty manner as Darell looked down at the magazine and saw a whole bunch of blurry words.
“I can’t read it now; I’m too high from the coke.”
Tom snatched the magazine from out of his tight grasp, pointing to the photo and saying, “Darell, this isn’t a photo of you posing. This photo was taken of you at the premiere. You can even see me a little bit.” Tom then pointed to a dot on the cover.
“Oh.” Darell walked back over to the window and began looking at the reflection of Tom again. He stared at him through the reflection and said, “This script is harder than I thought it would be.”
Tom looked over Darell’s contract, asking, “What do you mean, it can’t be that hard, is it?”
“Well, it’s a lot of words, and that means I have to develop a stronger memory,” Darell answered, taking a sniff of cocaine with a rolled-up dollar bill.
“Maybe if you lay off of that stuff, you could remember more things. Like for instance, how much they are paying you to remember this script,” Tom said in a frivolous manner, opening up his briefcase and putting the contract in it.
Darell pointed toward Tom and inquired with sarcasm, “Hey, who was the one who got me this stuff in the first place? Besides, I don’t do a lot.”
“Listen, all I know is you better practice more on that script.” Tom walked into the bathroom and shut the door, adding, “Alright?”
“I know, I know, don’t keep on reminding me,” said Darell in a whiny tone, noticing Mr. Fryer’s briefcase was opened.
“Just keep on going over the lines, one by one,” Tom spoke from the bathroom as Darell began to open the briefcase all the way. “Listen, after this movie is complete, you’ll be getting offers from every single director and casting agent in Hollywood and New York, even Chicag
o,” he added with Darell looking through his files.
Darell paid close attention to the files and contracts in Tom’s briefcase, looking them over one by one, just to be meddlesome. He kept on looking, saying, “Yeah, I hope so.”
“You are going to be bigger than any star I know,” Tom announced as Darell came across his own contract, the contract that he signed to have Tom as his agent. “You know, they’ll probably have a stamp with your face on it,” Tom added, exiting the bathroom and seeing Darell with a diabolic look on his face, holding a piece of paper that was clenched in his grip.
“What’s this?” asked Darell, beginning to look at the paper.
Tom realized what the paper was, and began to become entangled in his nerves. But he couldn’t back down now, he had to try and keep up this lie longer, so he questioned in a phony voice, “What are you talking about?”
“What is this?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“It says here, that this contract is for four years. I don’t remember agreeing on a four-year contract with you,” Darell said in anger.
“Listen, Darell, I was going to tell you about that,” Tom said in a nervous fashion as Darell ripped up the contract in front of his face, and threw them at Tom. He shouted, “You’re fired, after this movie is done, you are no longer my agent.”
Darell took another sniff of his cocaine, hearing Tom’s words say, “Listen, I could explain.”
“No, I don’t want to hear it from you,” Darell yelled, exiting the room and entering into the front room of the penthouse.
“Calm down, Darell, that crap you’ve been sniffing is making you crazy.”
“I don’t want to hear it, you’re just a loser agent who doesn’t have anything better to do than order people around. You listen to me.”
Tom walked up to him and interrupted him from giving his lecture. He grabbed onto Darell’s arm and turned him around to face him, shouting with a dictator’s tone, “No, you listen to me, you little shit. Do you know who I am? Do you?” Darell felt the fear growing inside of him, and the highness from the cocaine was beginning to make him ill. “Come here,” Tom shouted. He pulled Darell’s arm and forcefully guided him to the picture window in his room. “Look at that, I did that for you,” he said in an aggravated tone, pointing toward a big billboard with Darell’s face on it. “I’m Tom Fryer, I am one of the top talent agents in California and even in the U.S.A. When you talk to me, I want you to talk to me as if I were God,” he screamed out, letting go of Darell’s arm and staring at his reflection in the window.
Sugar Valley (Hollywood's Darkest Secret) Page 45