Sugar Valley (Hollywood's Darkest Secret) (36 page)

Jose thought about nothing but the dream he
had last night. He looked out the cab window, at the highway and
thought, My God, do I really think like that?

As Jose thought about the dream he had,
Damen’s thoughts changed, and now he was thinking about his own
stardom, how it was going to be so exciting to be a movie star. The
thoughts kept on changing every time they stopped at a red light.
But the last red light, before the airport, changed thoughts into
words.

Darell looked at Damen and said, “I read a
little bit of your journal.”

“You did?” asked Damen with a frightened
tone. “What part did you read?” He was scared, knowing what he
wrote in that booklet, allowed his eyes to be transfixed in a
terror state, watching Darell’s every move, hoping that he didn’t
read the part that Damen didn’t want them to know.

A grin appeared on Darell’s face. Seeing the
fear in Damen’s eyes, he knew he was in control. The shell started
building again, making Darell talk about an issue that would only
lead to an argument. “I read the last page that you wrote. I read
it on the day you were at the hospital with Vivian. The last
sentence said something along the lines of, ‘I shouldn’t take Mr.
Fryer as my agent.’”

“Yes, I wrote that, but those are my own
private thoughts,” Damen spoke in a shaky voice. “You know, I don’t
ever want you reading it again, it’s private.”

“Don’t worry, I’m not mad. The whole page was
about me making a mistake. But like you said, those are your
thoughts,” said Darell, seeing that the cab drove into the airport.
“I’m sorry for reading it.”

Jose turned to Damen and questioned with
interest, “What did you write about me?”

“Nothing, I just wrote about us, that’s all.
If it was bad, then it’s bad, but if it’s good, then it’s good.”
The cab finally stopped, with him adding, “I write everyday about
what happens, it’s my own private business.” Damen replied as the
cab stopped.

“You’re a good writer,” stated Darell, seeing
that Jose got out of the cab. “Always remember that, Damen.”

They all walked into the airport at 7:30 a.m.
sharp. Walking up to the terminal that Mr. Fryer told Darell to go
to, they walked up to it with sadness and happiness in their minds.
Darell said, “Okay guys, this is B-1, this is the terminal that Tom
said to me, he said he would be right here.”

Jose scratched the scar on his neck, saying,
“Maybe he’s not coming. I mean, after all, you did get the part in
the movie mighty fast.”

“Oh thanks, thanks a lot.”

“Well, what do you expect, Mr. Fryer is a
professional, he should be here right now, and he’s not,” explained
Jose in a vicious manner; it was like he was jealous of Darell. “He
is a professional, right?”

“Yeah, of course he is.”

Damen saw a fight coming on, brewing in their
minds, and waiting for the right moment, the right words and time
to come out. So, Damen went in between them, cut off their voices,
and spoke, “Guys, guys, calm down. The pervert, um, I mean Mr.
Fryer, he’ll be here. Don’t worry.”

Tom walked toward them from behind. He scared
the boys by saying with loudness, “Well, it’s about time you got
here.” Damen noticed his zipper was undone on the front part of his
pants, causing a smile to appear on his face.

Darell said with sincerity, “I’m sorry,
sir.”

“You know, I decided that when I get out of
the bathroom, if you weren’t here, I was going to leave. You’re
lucky you’re here now.” Damen then noticed a big wet spot on Tom’s
pants, causing his smile to turn to laughter.

Damen couldn’t keep it in anymore, he had to
make Tom embarrassed; after all, he hated him. So, Damen spoke over
him, and announced, “Excuse me, but your fly is undone and you
pissed on yourself.” Jose cracked up laughing, and Tom’s face
reacted to the laughter, turning red and puffy. “That’s what Darell
used to do when we were kids.”

Tom Fryer zipped up his fly, and said, “Oh,
gee, thank you for pointing that out to me. And, for your
information, this isn’t urine, it’s water.”

“Sure, sure, I bet it’s always that excuse,”
accused Damen. That’s when Darell stepped in front of him, allowing
Tom’s sight to be obscured from Damen’s presence. Darell didn’t
want his friend to upset Tom, so he tried his best at acting nice
to him, or in real terms, “kissing ass.”

“He doesn’t mean that, sir, really, he
doesn’t.”

Tom gave out an evil grin, stating, “Well, it
doesn’t matter, he’s just another starving artist, an artist that’s
begging for attention. Come on, say your goodbyes and meet me on
the plane. You’ve got three minutes.” Mr. Fryer left them and
walked into the terminal.

“Well, guys, this is it. I’m off, I’m off to
a place, where I’m finally gonna get my chance to make something of
myself that I’ve always wanted,” Darell laughed, putting down his
suitcase.

Jose also laughed. “That is so corny.”

“Are you sure you want to do this, this soon?
I mean, this is all happening too fast, man. Are you sure you don’t
want to wait a little bit longer?” Damen questioned as he sat down
in a seat right next to the terminal.

“Oh yeah. This is the only time in my life
that I’m positive about something. It’s a lot better than
painting.” Darell’s voice was low and a grin appeared on his face.
It was like he was happy but sad at the same time, to see himself
departing from his friends, brothers, his only friends he knew.

“But, Darell, you didn’t even have enough
time to memorize the whole script. And on top of that, you didn’t
even practice the script with someone else, you probably don’t even
know your own character, do you?” asked Damen in a sincere fashion.
He figured in his mind that everything was moving way too fast for
Darell. Mainly, he was concerned for Darell’s well-being, and he
was worried that he was being pushed by Mr. Fryer to do something
that he isn’t ready for yet, or else, what Damen wasn’t even
thinking, being pushed to do something that he didn’t even
want.

“Listen, Damen, I memorized a few pages of
the script. I’ll just memorize the rest of it as I go along.”

Jose spoke in a joking fashion, “You know,
all you redheads are the same, you all want to jump into things
fast.”

“Listen, I’ll see you guys in about seven
months. I’ll see you guys at the top, the top where we all belong.
This is our dream, and it will come true for all of us,” Darell
yelled out with a smile, trying to joke in his words, and make his
speech beyond ridiculous and corny. But, he also tried to hold back
his tears, sucking them up with his own gravity of strength, and
make them evaporate in his mind.

“Alright, are you done with your stupid
speech yet?” Jose laughed out.

“Just promise me one thing,” said Damen,
feeling miniature tears forming on his eyes.

“What’s that?”

“Don’t change, stay the same.” Suddenly,
Darell’s tears released from his mind, traveled to his eyes, and
flushed themselves down to his face; he knew Damen’s words were
something of a warning. “Just remember what Maria said to us,
man.”

“I promise you, on our friendship, on all of
our friendships. I promise I won’t change a bit,” said Darell,
seeing Jose beginning to rub his eyes.

Darell seen Jose’s tears and how he was
trying to hide them with his hands. So he walked up to him, and
question in sarcasm, “What’s wrong, Jose? Are those tears I
see?”

Tears came out from Jose’s fingers, but he
still answered, “No, I just got something in my eyes. Hey, just
remember, we’re your real friends. Just listen to my advice, don’t
do anything I wouldn’t do.” Jose rubbed Darell’s red hair, and took
a picture, in his mind, of this memory, and how this was the
beginning of Darell’s acting career.

“Okay, okay, listen, I got to go now. So,
goodbye for now.” Darell put his hand out. “This is for our
ambition,” he added before Damen put his hand on top of Darell’s
hand.

“I agree.” Damen and Darell then waited for
Jose’s hand, with the people from the airport, walking by them and
staring at them in craziness.

“Alright, this is for our dream,” spoke Jose
in a low voice with a grin on his face. He put his hand on top of
Damen’s and created another oath. The oath was of course silent,
and not like the others that were verbal, but this was even more
special, because it was a deep promise that they would positively
become what they came to be, but they spoke it in silence.

They released their hands from the bond that
brought them to Hollywood, the bond that guided them to making
their ambition real. Darell picked up his suitcase and handed the
flight attendant his ticket. Just when he was ready to walk down
the long passageway that led to the airplane, Damen and Jose ran up
to him, with Damen saying in seriousness, “Hey, bud, don’t forget
where you came from.”

Darell turned around and looked at him in a
puzzled way. Jose saw his puzzled look and helped him understand
what Damen meant by those words. “Sugar Valley.”

Damen smiled toward him after Jose reminded
Darell, and spoke, “Yeah, like I said, don’t forget where you came
from. We’ll see you soon.” Darell formed a grin, a grin that meant
he understood.

“Goodbye.” He walked into the passageway,
stepping on the airplane. Darell saw Mr. Fryer sitting in First
Class. He walked down to Tom’s seat and asked, “Am I sitting here
too?”

“Why yes, it’s First Class from now on,” Tom
replied, handing Darell a glass of champagne.

Darell sipped his champagne and stared out
the window toward the airport, saying, “I’m sure going to miss
them. They’re like my brothers, we’ve never been apart more than a
day.”

The plane started moving, with Mr. Fryer
staring at Darell’s head, watching him gaze out of the window. Tom
said, “Don’t worry, in a few months you’ll forget them.”

Darell turned his head around to face Tom,
yelling, “No, I won’t.”

“Oh really, why not?”

“Because, I made a promise to them, a promise
that I’m not going to break.”

Jose and Damen watched his airplane take off
into the California smog, somehow hearing Darell’s words, feeling
them in their minds, subliminally speaking. They both gave out a
smile toward his airplane, with each of them wondering why they
were smiling.

Damen watched as the airplane vanished into
the smog-filled clouds, saying, “Well, I guess we better get back
to the motel, I’ve got an extra gig today at 10:00 a.m.”

“Yeah, and I have to look for a job, we all
do. That extra work is not going to pay the rent and the food
bills,” mentioned Jose. They both started walking toward the exit,
fighting the crowds of people that went in the same direction they
took on.

Damen didn’t like what Jose said, knowing
that he was doing extra work, Damen felt like it was better than
nothing. “Yeah, well at least it’s a start,” Mr. Schultz spoke
defensively.

Jose began to rub Damen’s golden-brown hair
with his knuckles, laughing, “You’re right, it is a start, you
schmuck.”

“You know what we have to do?”

“What?”

“We have to pick up our photos and start
sending them out to agents. That’s the only way we’re able to get
to the auditions,” Damen replied, walking outside of the airport,
and feeling a big gush of warm air hitting their air-conditioned
skin.

“Yeah, we’ll pick them up later on today.
Right now, I want to get back to the motel, sleep a little bit and
look for a job. I have a busy day ahead of me, Damen.”

They hopped into a cab, with Damen
explaining, “Yeah, you better look for a job. I’m not paying for
the whole cab fare anymore, this is the last time.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll get a job today. Right
now, let’s just concentrate on happy thoughts,” Jose spoke as the
cab drove off.

“What happy thoughts?”

“Well, our best friend is going to be in a
movie and, um, um, our dream,” Jose replied in a goofy manner.

“You know what, that’s the best advice you’ve
ever mentioned to me, Jose. And I know it’s going to be the
last.”

Jose laughed at Damen’s comment. He looked
out his window at the sky and said, “Hey, look, isn’t that Darell’s
plane?”

Damen stretched his body, and looked out
Jose’s window, saying, “Yeah, yeah it is.” He sat back straight in
his seat, adding, “You know something?”

“What?”

“We’re gonna be on that same plane, the plane
that’s going to take us to our ambition and give us a chance to
make it real, like Darell said,” answered Damen with a grin on his
face. He thought about the way Darell described the feeling, the
sensation of being on a roller coaster. That’s when he also added,
“Yep, it’s going to happen, I can feel it. It’s that feeling of
‘hope.’”

“I know my dream is.”

Damen looked at him in a puzzled manner,
noticing that Jose didn’t say “our” dream; he said “my” dream. He
looked out the window and wondered why he said that. Not wanting to
argue with him anymore, he kept his thoughts in and just agreed
with him.

“Yeah, your dream is gonna come true,” said
Damen. The cab drove onto the highway, the highway that would lead
them back to Hollywood. The whole time, Damen still thought of why
Jose confused the words our and my, but then forgot about it as the
Hollywood sign came into view, shining through the sunlight and
calling out his name.

Chapter Twenty-Six

The days turned into weeks as Damen and Jose
worked to achieve their goals, while Darell was already beginning
to achieve his. Their lives passed by so quickly, each passing week
added up to months, going by like breath, inhaling and exhaling.
Moments passing in a flash, running by them without their eyes even
noticing anything’s existence. Their language, the accents of a
little Southern descent, vanished without a trace, leaving their
vocal cords, their mouths, and developing into an accent of unknown
background.