Damen opened his eyes wider, feeling them stretching at the corners, and answered, “Oh hi, how are you doing?”
“Well, I talked to you yesterday, and I was doing great.”
“Okay, smartass,” he laughed out, hearing her voice chuckling from a distance.
She sat in a dressing room, holding a cell phone, draped beautifully in make-up that surfaced her face so perfectly. A hairdresser was placing curls in her intriguing hair, showing a straight face toward Vivian. It was like this hairdresser didn’t like Vivian, showing her a straight mouth, exaggerating her eyes to show a bit of anger. Vivian looked at her through a mirror’s reflection, and beamed sinister toward her, showing this woman that she knew hatred, or some other negative feeling, was in her eyes for Vivian. Then, Vivian smiled toward the phone, and said, “I can’t talk to you long, Damen, I’m beginning filming in about five minutes. I have this incompetent employee fixing my hair for me.” She then stopped talking for a moment, and gawked at the hairdresser again. It was like Vivian became conceited, the normal stereotype that success in Hollywood could do to a person. Yet, Damen still smiled toward the phone, not seeing Vivian’s change in character, only hearing her voice that sounded the same; the same voice he fell in love with. “Anyway, I just called to ask you what the name of the movie is that you’re gonna be in?”
“It’s called ‘The Man Without a Heart’. Why did you want to know?”
She jotted down the name on a piece of paper, answering with excitement, “Because, I want to brag about you to everyone here and tell them the name of the movie. Listen, I got to go now, but I’ll probably talk to you tomorrow.”
“Alright, baby, I’ll talk to you then.”
Click.
He hung up the phone, still smiling at her voice that he heard, and saw his door opening to his room. It was Chuck, walking in it again, and asking, “Who was that?”
Damen picked up his script again, opened it, and began going over his lines in his head, chanting them over and over, trying to feel them, as well as feel the character’s mood. “Oh, that was just Vivian, she wanted to know the name of my movie.”
Chuck sat on his bed, Damen looking at him in puzzlement, wondering why he was bothering him during practice once again. As he sat down, Chuck spoke, “Listen, Damen, I know the movie begins filming in a week, but I wanted to say how proud of you I am, just in case I forget.”
He looked up at Chuck as if he was his father. Damen always wanted his father to say those exact words, echoing in his ears, feeling the proudness that he wanted his real father to feel for him. He turned his face away from Chuck, wanting this moment to be real, having his real dad present, but he wasn’t. So, looking away, Damen manifested his mind into believing Chuck was his real father, back at Ridge Crest, saying those words of honor and sincerity. “Thank you, Chuck. You know what? I always wanted to hear my father tell me those exact same words. You know, in a weird way, you’ve been like my father figure, and I thank you for that.” Damen looked at the phone, gawking at its small body, wanting to pick it up and call a certain person.
“Well, Damen, you’ve been like a son to me, and I thank you for that.” Chuck looked at the phone as well, also wanting to grasp onto its small shape and call out to someone he wanted to hear from.
Damen closed his script, got up from his bed, and explained, “You know what, Chuck, you should give your son a call, I’m sure he misses you.”
“One of these days I will, but not right now.” Chuck got up from Damen’s bed and walked to the doorway of the little room. He then stopped before exiting through it and traveling to his TV room, turned around and faced Damen. He added, “You know, Damen, I think you should make a phone call that should have been made a long time ago.”
He then shut the door and left Damen alone, thinking about his words, contemplating and analyzing the phone. Damen looked at the phone and began thinking about Chuck’s words more, wondering what would happen if he picked it up and called his parents. Wondering what they say to him, would they hurt him or not? He picked up the phone and lit a cigarette at the same time, his hands beginning to shake every time he punched in a digit. His fears became reality as the phone started to ring, it was like his fears were growing every time the phone’s rings grew to a higher number. All of his emotions were locked in his eyes and ears, hearing the sounds of people yelling, came from the television in the TV room. Damen put his hand over his free ear, to block out the sound of Chuck’s loud and obnoxious TV. Abruptly, without warning, without him being prepared, the phone stopped ringing and a sound appeared, a sound that asked, “Hello?” Damen just stood there and listened to the voice say again, “Hello, hello?”
Damen swallowed his saliva, wanting to say something, but too afraid to say it. So he gave a gulp, metaphorically speaking, he swallowed his fears and answered, “Hi, Father.”
Silence came over the phone, the father looking out in the distance, staring out a window at the trees that surrounded his home. He was ready to pass out, or have a stroke, feeling Damen’s voice, hearing his presence, his father’s eyes started to assemble a shield of tears, forming themselves in a matter of seconds. “Damen, is that you?” his father asked before a tear fell from his eye. More tears followed, drenching his kitchen floor, wanting to hear his son’s voice again. “Where are you, son?”
He didn’t say a word, tears formed in his eyes, falling out of his deep sockets, drenching the script that he placed on his bed. Damen had no thoughts to speak, or no words to give, he was filled with a rapture of sadness, missing home, and missing his father that he loved so much. Melancholy was his motive now, and guilt was his alibi, yearning to hear his parent’s voices, craving home, like an infant craves for his mother’s breast. Then, Damen wiped, buffed a bit of the stubborn tears he had left, and finally answered, “Yeah it’s me, I’m in California. I was just calling to see how you and Mom are doing.” He stopped his voice again, lull was in the air, noticing that his cigarette was soaked from his tears. “So, how are you doing?”
“Me and your mother have been worried sick about you, son. Why did you put us through this?” his father asked before Damen’s mother walked in the kitchen and grabbed the phone away from his dad.
His mother started crying, her tears bouncing off her face, like they were made out of rubber, and yelling, “Damen, where are you? I have been worried sick about you, baby, where are you?”
“Mom, I’m alright. How have you been?” Damen’s tears were starting up again, like a water sprinkler, feeling the hurt and pain that he caused his parents, missing them, and wanting to see them again, even more.
“I’m okay, but I would feel better if you were home,” his mother replied in a sincere tone.
“Hey, did you see my commercials yet?”
She blew her nose with a cloth tissue, replying, “Yes, your father went out to the store and bought a VCR for us, we have them all on tape.”
“Guess what? I got a star role in a movie.”
His mother dropped the phone, showing a small, prosperous smile through her tears, and excitement through her mouth, gawking at the phone, as if she was afraid to pick it up and hear more. Yet, she picked it up faster than Einstein could think, and asked in happiness, “My baby’s going to be in a movie?”
“Yeah, I’m doing great out here, well, for right now I am.”
Knock, Knock, Knock.
Damen heard knocking on the back door, the door that led to the alley. So he paused from talking to his Mom, and shouted toward his closed door, “Chuck, can you get that for me?”
“Sure.” Chuck then got up from the chair and walked to the back door.
Damen came back to the phone, only to hear his mother asking in nervousness, “Who’s Chuck? My God, has my son turned gay?”
He started laughing, chuckling, “No, no, no, Chuck’s my agent, and he’s allowing me to stay at his place.”
She began drying her tears more with her tissue, saying in relief, “Oh good.
Well, are you going to come home and visit soon?”
“Um, not right now, but don’t worry, I’ll visit as soon as I finish this movie,” he answered. He then turned to his closed door and saw it opening, to only have Julienne, Jose, and Darell in his view. “Oh my God.”
His mother asked in a frightful pitch, “What happened, are you alright?”
“Yes, yes, I’m alright, Mom. Jose and Darell just walked in here.” Damen then shook Jose and Darell’s hands, feeling the rapture of sadness leaving his mind.
His mother showed an attitude in her eyes, saying over the phone, “You tell Darell that his father is very upset with him. And you tell Jose that his father wants to kill him if he doesn’t call home.”
Damen busted a gut, laughing loud at what his mother just said, and saying to her, “Okay, Mom, I understand. Listen, I got to go now, but tell Dad I love him.”
“Alright, I love you, Damen. Wait a second, your father wants to tell you something before you go.”
Julienne gave Damen a hug, while his mother handed his father the phone. As Damen still hugged Julienne, with the phone still pressed up against his ear, he heard his father’s voice saying, “Hello, Damen?”
Jose watched, very closely, at Damen, and how he gave Julienne a hug a second ago. This made Jose feel angry toward him, knowing that Damen attempted to mess around with Julienne in the past but not knowing that it was all a lie. Damen came back to the phone, and answered, “Yeah, Dad.”
“I just wanted to tell you that I miss you, and I really wish you would come home to visit,” he said in a sincere way.
Damen then overheard his mother shouting in the background, “He doesn’t love me anymore. He’d rather talk to his friends than me.”
“Listen, Dad, tell Mom I love her, and she will see me very soon. I’ll try to keep in touch more often. Also, I love you too, Dad, and I miss you and Mom a lot; you don’t know how much I miss you guys.” Suddenly, tears began to drown Damen’s voice, feeling embarrassed that they are starting to grow while his friends were present.
“When will we see you, son?”
“Soon, just keep on watching TV.” Damen took a drag of his wet cigarette, and before he hung up the phone, added, “I love you.”
Click.
Jose took a tissue from his pocket, and chuckled, “Here, do you want a tissue?”
He started laughing loudly, finding Jose’s humor funny. “No, I’m cool. So, how have you guys been?” he asked, sitting down on his bed more.
Darell looked at Jose with a nervous twitch in his eyes, and thought about the photos he had of him with an underage girl during intercourse. Darell wanted to tell, and warn Damen about Jose, knowing that he was the one who lied and said that he was a drug addict. Yet, little did Darell know, that Julienne was really the one who said it, Jose just went along with it and agreed. The room was silent, them all worrying about Darell’s words, not wanting him to speak much, knowing that he might slip up and tell Damen what he wanted to tell him a long time ago. So, Julienne jumped in, and replied for all of them, “We’ve been great.”
“That’s cool to hear. Hey, guess what?”
They all looked at Damen’s face, staring at his great, big smile. “Um, you got the star role in a movie,” Jose answered before Damen looked at them in a strange manner.
“How did you know?”
“Because me and Julienne are going to be your co-stars,” Mr. Rodrigo explained in a prosperous way.
You asshole.
Jose chanted that thought over and over again, hating Damen, feeling jealous toward him, but pretending he was happy for his success; he really wanted to kill him.
“That’s great, now we’ll finally get to work together,” Damen howled with happiness. “How about you, Darell, how have you been?”
Darell looked over at Julienne, glared at her image, and answered with sadness, “I’ve been better.” Suddenly, inconspicuously, Julienne showed menace toward Darell, gazing at his eyes in a devilish form. As soon as he looked at Julienne’s change in eyes, he added in quickness, “I mean, I feel great.”
They talked for hours about the movie and the parts that they all got, received, and were going to do. But Darell seemed out of place and distant toward them, and Damen noticed that, but didn’t say anything. Damen figured that Darell must have been ill, had the flu, or else was tired and fatigued from his success he got so quickly.
They all decided to go out for the day and go to the Starbox night club where they met Julienne for the first time. As they sat and talked in the club, Darell went to the bathroom for awhile to sniff some of his medicine and get rid of the guilt that he’d been carrying around with him ever since Julienne made him choose between his career and jail, or Damen’s career and true friendship. That’s when Julienne and Jose began the final plan, the scheme for Jose to shoot to the top of Hollywood.
They both watched Damen, drinking his champagne, when Jose asked out of nowhere, “So, we were wondering if you wanted to come with us to New York to visit Vivian, do you?”
Damen, of course was happy at the news, yet confused as to why they were inviting him so close to the date of his filming. “Yeah, that would be great. But, the movie begins filming in a week.”
Julienne looked over, through all the people dancing, and all the smoke that floated in the air’s surface, gazing over to the bathroom area, to see if Darell was exiting it yet. Then, she looked over at Damen again and spoke. “So what, we’ll just go for a few days.”
“Well, I don’t know. It’s cutting awfully close to the movie. I mean, we should just stay here and practice our lines. Besides, we haven’t even purchased any plane tickets,” Damen stated.
Julienne then kicked Jose hard on his ankle, waking him up to what he was supposed to do next. He understood her painful way of reminding him, and took plane tickets from his gray sports coat. Jose handed them to Damen, explaining, “Here, it’s already set, Damen. The hotel, car, and plane fare has already been taken care of.” Damen looked at the plane tickets in amazement. But then he put them down, glared over at Julienne, and questioned, “Wow. But, when are we supposed to leave?”
“We leave tomorrow in the morning. If I were you, Damen, I would see Vivian right now before the movie begins. If you don’t, you won’t see her until the movie’s finished,” Julienne stated, noticing Damen was beginning to change his mind. She saw his thoughts through the movements of his eyes, circling around in interest, widening with delight. “Look at Darell and Jose, the premiere for their new movie is in two weeks, but Jose isn’t going to be able to make it.”
“Why?”
Julienne looked at Jose, and then toward Damen’s eyes, replying, “Because, this movie falls on the date of the premiere. Jose already tried to get that day off, but Stephen, who’s the director, told him he can’t. So, if I were you, I would go see Vivian tomorrow.”
“Well, how long are we going to stay there for?”
Jose opened his eyes wider, seeing there was hope that Damen would go with tomorrow. So, Jose moved his chair closer to him, and explained in a fast manner, “For three days. We leave on October 30 and come back November 1. The movie begins filming on November 5, so we’ll have plenty of time to get ready for it.”
Darell exited the bathroom finally, without them having seeing him yet. Coincidentally, without noticing his figure at the time, Damen asked, “Is Darell going?”
Darell walked up to the table, hearing Julienne speak, “No.”
“Darell, why aren’t you coming with us to New York?” Damen asked. Julienne and Jose looked at Darell in a revolting manner. Darell saw the look that Jose was giving him and thought about the photos; but really, Jose was giving him a nervous look.
Darell sat down finally, and answered with, “Um, because I just want to be alone.”
“Where are you going to stay at?”
Darell looked at Damen and tried to warn him, through his eyes, that Jose was no good anymore, and to not go with the
m on this trip tomorrow. But, he noticed her and Jose were gawking at him, like police officers, interviewing him under a bright, burning light bulb. So, he stopped trying to use the language of sight, on Damen, and just spoke with a bit of sadness, “I’m staying with Mr. Fryer for now, at least till I find my own place.”
“Oh. Well then, okay, I’ll go,” Mr. Schultz said before Jose gripped onto Julienne’s hand and held it tight. “You know what, I’m not going to even tell Vivian I’m coming, I’m gonna surprise her.”
Jose picked up a glass and poured himself some champagne, saying, “Yeah, I can’t wait to see the look on her face, and your face.”
“I would like to make a toast please. So, everyone hold up your glasses,” Damen announced. Everyone held their glasses above their heads. “I would like to make a toast to Hollywood, and may she treat us well. Also, I’d like to make a toast to our friendships, may they always be true. Last, but not least, I would like to make a toast to our real dream, the dream of reading our speeches at the Academy Awards, may we all read them with dignity and honor.” He knocked his glass with Jose’s, seeing Mr. Rodrigo’s eyes showing a bit of evil in them, but he didn’t think about it.
Chapter Sixty-One
The tautness was slowly building in Darell’s mind, pressure that was made by his guilt, persisting in every corner of his thoughts, showing itself to his mind’s eye, yelling at his conscience. He felt guilty and depressed for not telling Damen about the lie, not being a true friend to him, and allowing something that he knew already, to still be a mystery to Damen’s intelligence. He felt trapped within his mind, and trapped within the guilt that was brought on by Jose. But, what he doesn’t know, was that Julienne was the culprit in this vicious lie, this deceitful pleasure that would cause her own self to be out of harm’s way of anyone finding out about her lies, and for her to use Jose still, to go to the top of Hollywood. He didn’t know what to do. He thought in his mind:
If I told Damen the truth, then my career would be over by Jose showing the photos to the media and even the police.
Sugar Valley (Hollywood's Darkest Secret) Page 56