Dirty Old Men [And Other Stories] (Zane Presents) (51 page)

She was jumping far ahead of him in her conclusion. The cameraman had to calm her down.

“Well, not exactly. I mean, you
did
do bad this morning,” he admitted with another laugh. “But they liked your
look.
You just have to do better on your
reading.
So I got a chance to look up your file and saw that you were from Oakland.”

“Oh, yeah,” she told him. “You’re from Oakland, too? I see you have the five-one-oh area code on your phone.”

“Yeah, I’m from the Bay. Alameda. So I wanted to get back in touch with you to invite you out to some auditions for a few videos I’m shooting out here.”

“Oh, yeah?”

Here we go with the video groupie thing again,
she told herself. She had been through it all before, where the directors, producers, cameramen and musicians all wanted to flirt and fuck, instead of pay anyone.

“Yeah, and I can also talk to the producers at
New Generations
to see if I can get you a second audition. But you have to be
ready
this time,” he warned her.

Melanie paused and shook her head against the phone. She didn’t want to tell him that it was all bullshit, but she was
thinking
it. They all ran the bait-and-switch technique out in Hollywood, where they hang one goal over a girl’s head while shopping another.

“Well, I’m not really into the whole
video
thing, but I
would
like to have a second chance for this television show.”

Vincent paused to negotiate it, just as she had expected him to do.

“Well, I can do that, but there’s no telling if they’ll allow it or not. But if I could get you in front of the camera and show them more footage of you from like, a video montage…”

Melanie tuned him out immediately. It was the same old racket.

He probably won’t even ask those people about me at the show,
she predicted.
He’s just trying to get me for these videos, and probably try to get some, or pass me on to someone else to work his own deals. I swear, this place is really disgusting to me sometimes!
she concluded.

She cut him off and said, “Well, I’ll save your number and think about it. In the meantime, make sure those guys at
New Generations
don’t forget about me.”

“Oh, I won’t. But
please
call me back. You might be the girl that everyone is looking for. Can you
dance?
”

On that note, she laughed out loud.

“Umm, I have to get to work now, Vincent. But I’ll call you,” she lied.

At nine-thirty that evening, Melanie was still wrangling over what to wear to the set party in Santa Monica when the talent agency assistant, Deborah Gilford, showed up and buzzed her at her apartment. She was early and eager.

“Girl, I’m still in here trying to figure out what to wear,” she told Deborah at the door. “You wanna help me? I just made it back home.”

Due to her history of enticing men, she didn’t want to look too sexy, but she didn’t want to look
boring
either. Deborah, on the other hand, looked as racy as she wanted to be in a hot-pink skirt and blouse set, with triangular cut-outs at the stomach and lower back. Even the skirt had triangular cuts.

Melanie looked her over and joked, “You look like
The Flintstones.
But it’s cute, I like it.” However, Deborah didn’t have
half
the curves that Melanie had to deal with.

“
The Flintstones?
Are these cuts really
that bad?
I just wanted to look
different.
” She stood tall in black heels, with light-brown hair, and was pretty and slim.

“Well, you sure
will
,” Melanie admitted with a chuckle. “I like it though.
I
just can’t wear anything like that. I don’t want Mr.
Belgium
coming on to me,” she joked.

Deborah grinned. “Are you
sure?
Brian’s definitely a
hottie.
”

“Yeah, maybe for
you
. But I’m thinking about
business
here.”

Deborah walked through her apartment and stood there silently. She had something to say, but she was hesitant. Then she forced herself to air it out.

She grabbed her aspiring actress by both hands. “Melanie,
please
don’t tell anyone that I said this to you. Okay? But this whole
disciplined,
don’t-touch-me-I’m-a-professional
-actress
act, is mostly just
that,
an
act
for the media. Because if the guys are really turned off by that, a lot of times they’re not gonna hire you, especially if you’re a new face.

“So usually, unless they hire you the first time around, like, you’re just
the one,
it’s gonna take you a few parties like this one to loosen up for them to really feel comfortable enough to hire you,” she commented. “And you didn’t hear me
say that,
but that’s the
truth.
”

Melanie paused and took a calming breath. “So, by
‘loosen up,’
you mean to go along with the whole casual
sex
game?”

Deborah, at twenty-seven, had been around the block a few times, where Melanie had not. She grimaced. “You don’t necessarily go
along
with it, but you definitely don’t act
appalled
by it either. You kind of take it as a part of life. I mean, it’s just guys and girls, you know what I mean? So, you kind of act like it’s high school and college all over again. But
this time
you have real
jobs
at stake.”

That analogy became another issue for Melanie. She’d had only one boyfriend in high school, who tried discourteously to sex her up, and he had
failed.
She had guarded her sexuality closely ever since. And there she was, years later, still trying to figure out how to maintain her dream of becoming a professional actress, while continuing her chastity.

“Oh, okay,” she muttered. Maybe the actress game was not her cup of tea.

Maybe I need to grow up and stop being so afraid of it,
she pondered.
But that doesn’t mean I’m gonna screw somebody just to be in a movie or on a television show.

“Anyway, help me to pick out something to wear,” she stated. They had a Hollywood party to attend.

When the two young women showed up at the densely populated set party after ten o’clock at the Subiak Club in Santa Monica, the bi-level club was in full swing, with pretty-faced girls and guys everywhere.

“Wow, this is
nice,
” Melanie stated after checking in at the guest list table. Deborah advised her to wear basic blue jeans with a bright T-shirt and a sporty jacket.

“If you don’t want to look too sexy, then look hip and spunky in jeans,”
she advised. “Make it look like you’re going to a cool concert with a group of your girls, and don’t think twice about it.”

So that’s what she did; she dressed spunky and casual. And her body
still
stood out, but in a hip way instead of enticing.

When they walked throughout the party, Deborah expressed in a hushed tone, “Oh my
God
, you’ve hit the
jackpot
in here! It’s
loaded
with who’s
who
. I can’t even
begin
to tell you.”

She didn’t need to. Melanie also had noticed a horde of film, television, commercial, comedy and athletic stars inside the room: tennis star Serena Williams, comedian/actor brothers Joe and Guy Torre, basketball stars Paul Pierce and Derek Fisher, along with actress Meagan Goode, director F. Gary Gray, Dogg Pound rapper Kurupt, singer/actor Tyrese Gibson, and the list went on. She didn’t recognize most of the white American stars in the room, but she did notice Jennifer Love Hewitt and a few of the cast members from the HBO hit
Entourage.

“Okay, so…what part of the room do you want to work first?” Deborah asked her. “And we haven’t even
looked
upstairs yet.”

Melanie stood there flabbergasted. She was so happy she had accepted Brian Belgium’s invitation that she didn’t know what to do with herself.

“So are you feeling it yet?” Deborah asked her before she could get out a word.

“Yup,” Melanie answered, cheesing. She was short with her response to remind herself to keep her cool composure.

Just keep your head screwed on straight in here, and you’ll be all right,
she warned herself.
And you let them do all of the talking.

The silent act was how she allowed the playboy types to tell on themselves. The more a man said without her response, the more his contradictions became apparent. Then she would carefully pick him apart. So, for twenty-three years, Melanie had remained proudly untouched.

“You know what, let’s go upstairs first to see who’s up there before we make up our minds,” Deborah suggested.

Melanie shrugged, as the guys began to notice her.

“Good
God,
who’s
that?
” someone yelled out as she followed Deborah up the stairs. “Hey, come back here!”

Deborah looked back at Melanie and grinned.

“It sounds like someone’s already
loaded
in here.”

When they arrived on the second level of the spacious and dazzling nightclub, Brian Belgium was right there in the thick of the crowd, taking pictures with the other popular Hollywood players.

Deborah continued to grin. “There’s your guy.”

Brian was taking pictures with Martin Lawrence and Ashton Kutcher. And as soon they stepped into view, Brian spotted them.

“Heyyy, Melanie Morgan. Come on over here. Let me introduce you to a few people.”

He made her feel like a star attraction immediately. Everyone turned in her direction to look, including a few icy-cold, white girls and a couple of cute brownies.

Oh my God, why did he do that?
Melanie questioned. He was putting a gigantic target on her for everyone else to aim it.

So, that’s his game,
she told herself.
He’s trying to overwhelm me.
But she continued to keep her cool in unwarranted attention.

Deborah, on the other hand, was ready to lose it. She gripped Melanie by the arm and squeezed her like a fresh orange for breakfast.

“Deborah, my
arm
. You’re
hurting
me.”

“Oh, my bad,” she responded and let her go.

“Everyone, this is Melanie Morgan from ahh…” Brian snapped his fingers toward her to fill in the missing information.

“Oakland,” she answered.

“Yeah, Oakland, California,” he repeated.

“And this is my rep assistant, Deborah Gilford, from Talent International.”

“Yeah, T.I.A., I
know
those guys,” Brian commented. Everything he said was extra loud for everyone to hear him.

Deborah looked as nervous as ever, especially when people began to take in her outfit. She didn’t expect to get that much attention. She had worn the outfit to
draw
attention. But, to be right in the middle of things, made her feel overdone.

Brian then began to tell the crown and camera guys that Melanie was the next big star. “You mark my words. Black skin is gonna be back in, like the
seventies.
”

Martin Lawrence and Ashton Kutcher both laughed at it.

Martin said, “Watch yourself now, B. I know you may
think
you’re black, but you might get yourself into trouble making comments like that. So, you let
me
say it first. The black
joke
police won’t come after
me
for it.” he stated.

Then he gave Melanie a glassy-eyed look of his own.

“And I
do
declare that Melanie is one of the finest African-American princesses I’ve ever seen in my
life.
And I’ve seen a
few
back home in the Maryland and D.C. area. But you from Oakland, hunh?”

His look went right through her well-prepared clothes.

Oh my God, this is too much!
she panicked.
MARTIN LAWRENCE is right here in front of me. And he’s talking to ME!

“Yeah, Oakland,” she answered calmly and smiled.

“You ever think of modeling? How tall are you?” Ashton Kutcher asked her next. He stood out in the height department. He was over six feet.