Sugar Valley (Hollywood's Darkest Secret)

by Stephen Andrew Salamon

  Damen started jumping around with happiness to his bounce, knowing that this is going to be his big break, the chance to be apart of Hollywood’s family, a moment to break into what he’s always dreamed of.

  “Come down to my office, it’s located at 321 N. Rodeo Drive.”

  “Alright, we’ll see you in a little bit,” Chuck said before he hung up on John.

  Damen still kept up his jumping. Seeing that Chuck hung up the phone, he ran up close to him and questioned with loudness, “What happened, what happened, what happened?”

  Chuck turned to him, and answered with serene calmness, “Well, he wants us to meet him in two hours. He probably wants you to audition. You know what that means, Damen?”

  “What?”

  He then shouted with loudness, “It means that you have a very, very good chance at getting the role. Congratulations.”

  He hugged Damen tightly, circling around, and having all the customers watch in confusion. Damen suddenly stopped and let go of Chuck’s grasp, asking with frantic to his speech, “Oh my, God, what am I gonna say, what am I gonna wear?” He sat down next to an old lady, grabbed her coffee, drank it, and added, “Chuck, maybe I shouldn’t go today. I mean, this is moving way too fast.”

  The customer yanked the coffee away from Damen as Chuck explained, “Damen, Damen, Damen, it’s time for you to face reality. This movie is your ticket to everything that you ever wanted. This is the key to open up the doorway, don’t pass it up.”

  Damen kidnapped, or caffeine-napped, the coffee from the old woman again, drank it fiercely, and spoke, “I know, but I’m so nervous.”

  The old woman hit Damen on the arm, yelling, “Excuse me, but that was my coffee.”

  “Oh, I’m sorry,” spoke Damen in a medium tone. He then added under his breath, “You bitch.”

  “What did you call me?”

  Chuck saw the dispute, and said, “I’m sorry, ma’am, I’ll get you another cup of coffee.” Chuck then went over and got another cup, while Damen still sat in his glory.

  “I said I’ve got an itch,” he replied to the old woman.

  “Damen, you have to get ready now. Just take a shower and put on some of those clothes I bought for you,” Chuck said, handing the woman another cup of coffee and smiling toward her.

  “Alright.” Damen got up from the chair and walked in the back room.

  Meanwhile, Chuck put the “Closed” sign in the window and waited for the last customer to leave. After that, he went in the back room and began to get ready. The back room held three bedrooms, a kitchen, and a TV room. To Damen, it felt like home, but to Chuck, it felt like he was living in a cardboard box. They finished getting ready and went over to the address that was given to Chuck by John Bower. They reached the castle on Rodeo Drive that held the Bower Agency, standing tall and towering over all the buildings on its block. They both walked into the building and waited for Mr. Bower to come out of his office. The secretary told them to have a seat and wait for a few.

  The office was huge, decorated with wood finish on all its furniture, and statues of silver men, draped around the room on each table it held. It had air-conditioning, and blue velvet chairs that cushioned their seats in a comfortable, contoured way. Suddenly, they both saw Mr. Bower exiting his office, saying, “Hello.”

  Damen looked up at him and spoke with overwrought, nervousness, “Hi.”

  Chuck shook John’s hand, and asked, “Are we late?”

  “No, no, no, you’re right on time. The other actors trying out for the movie aren’t going to be here till 5:00 p.m., so that gives us plenty of time to talk.”

  Chuck and Damen went into John’s office, where seven other casting agents sat. They all sat down and began explaining the movie to Chuck and Damen. One of the casting agents handed Damen a script and said, “Here, read the first line out loud.”

  Damen looked at it, got up from his seat, and spoke, “But I didn’t get to practice it, this is the first time I’m seeing this script.”

  “Don’t worry, Damen, you’re definitely going to get the part. You see, we already feel that you’re perfect for the character,” John stated as he patted him on the back. John sat down in his seat and watched Damen recite his line of the script. After that, Damen sat down and John began discussing the contract to him.

  Damen couldn’t believe what was happening; everything he’d worked for was coming true right before his eyes. He looked at Chuck for an instant and said ‘thank you’ through his eyes. Then, John handed him a pile of contracts and watched as Damen began signing them. A feeling of accomplishment came to Damen’s mind and sight, feeling this prosperous moment, engulfing into his soul, showing every piece of positive sentiment that it could show.

  But then, he stopped signing his name on the first contract, looked up at John, and the rest of the casting agents, and questioned with interest, “I thought I was supposed to do the audition and then wait for a callback?”

  “Well, that is how it’s supposed to work. But in your situation, well, just say you were in the right place at the right time,” John replied with a grin.

  Damen started signing his name again and then handed it to Chuck. Chuck signed it also, and then handed it to John. Over thirteen contracts were signed, or documents for this one movie. After that process was done, John noticed that it was almost time for the other actors to come in.

  “Alright, I’ll get in touch with you, Chuck, and tell you when the movie will begin. Meanwhile, Damen, just begin practicing and remembering your lines,” explained John, escorting Damen and Chuck out of his office.

  Suddenly, Damen turned around, looked at Chuck, and then gazed at John, saying with hesitation, “Excuse me, Mr. Bower, but I have to ask you something before I go.”

  “Sure, go right ahead.”

  John stood next to his office door, watching Damen’s mouth, and how it showed some nervous hesitation, like the words wanted to come out, but his vocal cords grabbed them and held them in. But then, Damen looked down at the black carpet of the waiting room, and finally questioned with fear, “Did you hear anything about me doing ... drugs?”

  “No, why? Are you?”

  Damen looked up at John, saying, “No, no, but that rumor was spread about me. It’s not true at all.”

  “Well good, then I’ll talk you probably within the week and tell you when Stephen Settler will begin filming,” he said, noticing a smile coming over Damen’s face.

  Tears started to shield Damen’s eyes, pure salt of happiness was their reason, and prosperity was their alibi, almost. But, still Damen didn’t know who spread that rumor about him, causing his prosperity to not be of its highest form, just yet. Damen looked away from John, noticing that his sight was getting blurry due to the tears, and then stared back at him, saying with the deepest sincerity, and gratitude, “Thank you so much, sir.”

  “No, thank you,” John said before he closed the door to his office. He sat down in his thick leather chair, turned to one of the casting agents, and stated, “I think he’s going to be perfect for the part. Don’t you think, Greg?”

  Greg got up from his seat and walked his young body over to the window of John’s office. He looked out it and saw Damen and Chuck walking across the street, having the sun to guide his eyes, his sight, to where they presently were. That’s when he answered with a smile, “I know, John, I feel that Damen is going to help bring in a lot of money at the box office. That boy is going to be a star.”

  In the meantime, Damen and Chuck got in the car. Damen stood by the car door and looked at the building that held the Bower Agency, gawking at it while Chuck entered his car.

  Chuck started the engine, and noticed Damen wasn’t in the passenger’s seat. He looked through the passenger side window, saw Damen’s body, and then rolled down the window on his own side. “Damen, what are you doing?”

  “I’m making a memory.” He then entered the car and opened up the window on his side. As Chuck started moving, Damen stuck his head
outside of the window and yelled out, “yeah,” while the wind blew against his golden-brown hair.

  He stuck his head back into the car, hearing Chuck questioning, “So, are you still nervous, or happy?”

  “I’m happy, Chuck. I haven’t been this happy since Sugar Valley.”

  Chapter Fifty-Nine

  People say that timing means everything. Some people speak, chant over and over, that if you’re in the right place at the right time, then you’re pretty lucky. When a starving artist hears those words, its sharp meaning stabs, punctures at the very core of their soul, wrenching it, beating their dream over and over again, and then blowing up into an oblivion, to only have them fall into depression’s stomach. Some people say those words to hurt, to fatigue the dreamer’s mind, grasping onto his weak spot, and echoing that saying over and over again, till the dreamer lets go of his ambition altogether. Life is that way; people tend to be jealous of artists, so they say those words, to only see if the dreamer is strong enough to withstand that remark being made to them orally. Yet, with Julienne, she didn’t believe in that saying; instead, ironically, with her evil self, feeling that it was up to you if you want to make things happen, which was the right way to go about it. Allowing fate to handle itself its own way, will only cause a person to accept everything that life gives them, instead of changing it, and getting what they want; by working for it. But, Julienne’s belief was beginning to fade when she noticed that her plan, her closely watched scheme of using Jose for fame, to better her own career, wasn’t working, wasn’t showing its full effect for her.

  With Julienne, she always thought ahead of her plans, studies them closely, in a heartbeat, and then follows through with it, to only have it show success to her mind’s eye. All she wanted to do was discover him, make him a star, and be by his side, feeling that was enough to make directors, agents, producers, and fans recognize her. She knew what she was doing when she met Jose for the first time, back at the night club, grabbing onto his lips, and bringing him back to her place; she knew her reasons. Julienne felt, knew, and realized in her plan, that all of Hollywood’s engineers would look up to her and say, “Thank you for bringing us Jose. By the way, would you mind being in my movie?” Yet, her plan wasn’t working, wasn’t showing itself as fast as she anticipated, wanted. Julienne was beginning to get sick of him, she was ready to quit her plan and move on, leave him be, and stalk another handsome prey, with the same qualities as him. She wanted to ditch him, seeing that he was showing no help toward her own career, but instead, having his career moving up the hill, while hers was still at the bottom. Yet, she was also human too, which was her weak spot, and for some reason, stuck with Jose, longer than she has ever stuck to a plan before. It became a mission for her, a battle that she wanted to win. So, she tossed the quarter up in the air, and decided that if Jose didn’t better her career soon, she would leave him be for good. She decided this when they both walked into the Bower Agency, feeling that if he didn’t better her career by today, then she would leave him for good, and he would be nothing but a memory to her, and she would be nothing but a fantasy to him. With the help of destiny, that all changed, altered its own fate, as they walked up to the secretary in the Bower Agency, and the saying, “the right place, at the right time,” came into effect. Little did she know, this moment would, inevitably, alter all of their lives and bring fate into hand; a fate that was tormenting to God and humorous to Satan’s horns.

  She watched as Jose walked up to the secretary, told her his name, and then gawked at this woman, seeing her smiling at him in a flirtatious way. Seeing this secretary showing her tongue a lot when she talked, and locking her eyes at him when she stared, allowed Julienne to feel threatened by this worker. Julienne gave the woman a dirty look, grabbed onto his hand, and allowed this secretary to know that she was his woman.

  This is my man.

  She chanted those words over and over again in her mind, feeling jealousy toward this woman, wanting her to know that Jose was with her, and only her. Julienne felt jealousy for the first time, but not the normal type of jealousy, not the normal cliché between a man and a woman. She wanted Jose for as long as possible, and she knew that if any other woman, for the time being, catered to his cravings, then she would lose him for good, and be known to Hollywood as the girl who was dumped by Jose Rodrigo. So she played it safe, holding onto his hand now, as she always did, thinking in her mind that she was going to be the one doing the dumping, if her career doesn’t begin today.

  “Mr. Bower, your five o’clock is here,” the secretary said as she looked at Jose again and smiled. Julienne kept on staring this woman down, gawking at her every move, gazing at her every eye twitch.

  Meanwhile, Mr. Bower put Damen’s contracts into his brown file cabinet, and said to the speakerphone, “Oh, send him in.” John looked over at his office door, and saw it wasn’t moving, wasn’t opening, so he placed his mouth toward the speakerphone again, and added with a demanding pitch, “I said, send him in.”

  John then suddenly saw Jose and Julienne entering into his office, noticing Julienne was looking out of the office door, still staring at the secretary’s image. But then she closed the door, turned to John’s image instead, and said, “Hello, Mr. Bower.” They both noticed other casting agents in the office’s space, sitting and showing phony grins to their eyes.

  “Hello, Julienne, you’re looking lovely this evening,” he said, kissing her on the hand. “How was England?”

  “Oh, it was very nice, we just got back about two hours ago.” Julienne stared at Jose, watching him sitting down in a seat and closing his eyes abruptly. Still looking at his tired body, feeling anger toward him for his unprofessionalism, she added, “We’re both kind of jet-lagged.”

  “I believe it; when I went to England and came back, I slept for two days straight,” John stated. “Well, let’s get down to business, shall we?”

  Julienne then noticed, before she could answer him, that the casting agents got up from their seats, stepped over to the door, and opened it. She was confused, seeing them leaving John’s office without even breathing a word of their motive. That’s when she knew what was up, knowing that the star role was already given to another actor. She realized that there had to be many more of these agents present at the audition, but because they left, she already knew the outcome of this situation, feeling that in her gut that the only role Jose was going to get, would be anything but the star role.

  Julienne then turned away from the office door, seeing that it closed loudly, and turned toward John, who was the only casting agent left in the office, which was his to begin with. The sun shined, scintillated brightly, admitting its pulsating rays into the office, hovering over Julienne’s face, making this situation even more uncomfortable than seeing the other agents leave. But, she still smiled toward John, noticing out of her peripheral vision that Jose was moving about in his chair, twitching his eyes open and shut, knowing that Jose was still involved in the present, feeling that he was well awake to be at this audition. Julienne then looked at Jose, without answering John yet, and saw that his eyes were on hers, wide open, gawking at her every strategic move, showing her that he also was very suspicious that the other casting agents left without giving a motive to do so. She suddenly turned away from him, obstructing the sunlight by turning her eyes away from it, and faced John again, saying, “Of course.”

  “Here’s the situation, Jose. We decided to give the star role to someone else, besides you. But you can be his understudy,” John explained, seeing them both gawking at him in confusion. “The part that you’re going to be trying out for now is the co-star role.”

  “Wait a second, I thought you said Jose’s going to most definitely get the star role? You said that he had the look for the part and the talent,” Julienne announced, showing a form of loudness to her voice. She stared at Jose again, and saw panic in his pupils, crying out for her to do something, make John change his mind.

  “I know, but we, m
eaning the other casting agents, decided on another guy to have the star role. We just decided today on it.”

  Jose still gazed at Julienne’s eyes, begging her to do something, to change his mind, but he saw that she stayed silent, just staring back at him, like a helpless dog who was about to be put to sleep. So, still staring at Julienne, Jose questioned, “Who did you give that role to?”

  “His name is Damen Schultz, he’s a wonderful actor.”

  Flabbergasted, stunned, fatigued by angered jealousy, rage of astonishing greatness, and friction from his hands rubbing hard against his chair, Jose couldn’t believe that name was being heard to his ears again. He couldn’t breathe, his touch was obstructed, and his sight was numb, feeling the jealousy hitting him again, rupturing, returning with great speed, allowing his mind to hate that name, allowing his sight to only see blood over that name. Rage of grand size ran through his veins, pumping boiling blood toward his racing heart, beating a million miles an hour, like a train, going down an endless abyss. Why, he questioned in his mind, as Julienne grabbed onto his hand, seeing the silence that he echoed toward her ears, and feeling the warmth that his hand gave to hers. Through all the brainwashing that she gave to him, forcing him to believe that Damen was the bad guy, made his jealousy and envy thicken every time his racing heart beat once. Suddenly, he lost his voice, something allowed his vocal cords to seize, die, respite, and retire their normal job of allowing him to be heard. He couldn’t speak his mind even, wanting to tell John on how he was upset, so he grasped onto Julienne’s hand tighter, allowing her fingers to turn blue. But then, somehow, some way, he was able to speak one word toward John, and said with tremendous pain to his fatigued voice, “What?”

  “Damen Schultz. Why, do you know him?”

  Jose couldn’t take it. Getting up from the chair, he couldn’t take this sitting down. He walked over to the window, and saw the sun, piercing at his rage-filled eyes, staring out of it at the Hollywood streets, craving for his fists to hit the window and shatter it into a million pieces. But he didn’t do that, instead he just gazed at the sun, feeling its body striking his pupils with pain, he still gazed at it, knowing that nothing could be more painful than the jealousy he was feeling at this moment. He then looked away from the sun, staring out at the skies, and whispered, “That son of a bitch.”