Sugar Valley (Hollywood's Darkest Secret) (59 page)

“Alright,” Damen said, putting his bloody
finger toward the middle of the circle. “This will mean we’ll be
blood brothers, and nothing could, and will never take that away
from us,” he added. They all touched bloody fingers against one
another’s, feeling the wind, this moment, flushing against their
flesh.

That’s when Damen was taken out from his
flashback, by the sound of Vivian asking, “Hello, Damen, are you
listening to me? I asked what you were thinking about?” Vivian took
off her apron and put it in her brown quilted purse, seeing Damen’s
eyes leaving the photo, and placing their full attention on her
face. “You know, if you tell someone what’s bothering you, it’s a
lot better than keeping it inside your mind. Trust me, I should
know,” Vivian added, looking at her scars on her wrist for only a
glance. “Come on, what’s bothering you?”

“It’s just everything in general.”

Vivian grabbed the photo ever so gently from
his grasp and began to look it over. “What’s this?”

“That’s me, Jose, and Darell at the age of
twelve, and that’s Sugar Valley in the background.” He got up and
paced the bedroom, still thinking about that dream he had.

Vivian looked at the photo more, mentioning,
“So this is that famous Valley you talk about?”

“Yep, that’s her.”

“You’re right, it is very beautiful,” Vivian
said, looking at the colorful hills, the blue lake, and the trees
that made up the Valley.

“Yeah, that it is, and I left it for this,”
he agreed in a frustrated tone, grabbing the photo from Vivian and
beginning to put it in the drawer again.

She looked at him with widened eyes, saying
with sarcasm, “Oh gee, thanks.”

“No, I don’t mean it like that. It’s just, I
left something so beautiful to come here. I mean, I work in a café,
for crying out loud. I wanted to become an actor, not a busboy in a
cheap café.”

Vivian watched Damen pace up and down the
room, seeing the frustration in his eyes and the confusion in his
motion. “Damen, what’s wrong? What, do you miss Sugar Valley?”

“You know, Jose got in a movie, Darell is
already beginning to be known in Hollywood. You, you got an agent
already, and you have an audition for a TV show that you will most
definitely get. Now, tell me what’s wrong with this picture?” His
pacing came to a halt, waiting for Vivian to answer his question,
hoping that she’d say words of encouragement.

“What do you mean? Listen, Damen, you already
have an appointment with an agent,” Vivian replied as she
understood Damen’s question.

“No, that’s not good enough. Everyone is
changing, can’t you see that?” Damen asked as he walked into the
other room and lit up a cigarette.

“Listen, Damen, you’ll get there. You’ll be
higher than Darell and Jose put together,” Vivian announced in a
forceful tone as she followed Damen.

“No, I don’t want that, I want to be the same
as them, that was the plan in the first place. We all made an
agreement that we would help out each other here, so that way we
all would have a piece of this place they call Hollywood,” Damen
said as his voice grew louder. “I mean, did you see the way Jose
was acting when he was over here? It was like he was hiding
something from me,” Damen said after he took a drag from his
cigarette.

Vivian grabbed his hand, trying to calm him
down, and responded, “Yeah, I did notice that, but that’s what you
have to accept.”

“No, I don’t have to accept anything. You
see, that’s what’s bothering me so much. Jose isn’t the best actor
in the world, and it showed. I just wish we could all be close
again.”

Damen followed Vivian’s hand, guiding him out
of the room and into the front-room. They both sat down on the
couch, with her saying “Listen.” She looked down at her watch
suddenly, adding with panic, “Oh no, we got to go now or else we’re
gonna be late for work.”

She let go of his hand, and ran toward the
door, noticing that Damen wasn’t running with her. She turned
around, and saw him putting out his cigarette in a soda can,
telling her, “I’m not going.”

Vivian opened up the apartment door, and
asked, “What are you going to do then?”

“I’m gonna call up that agent today and see
if he could schedule me an appointment this morning. I’m also gonna
call this Dennis Schultz guy. He said something about contacting
him this February, but the sooner, the better,” Damen responded,
staring at the business card that Dennis gave to him.

“Damen, your appointment is tomorrow for that
agent. Why don’t you just wait till then?”

“Because, I’m depressed, confused, and to top
it off, I don’t want to wait till tomorrow. I’m gonna get
everything over with today,” Damen answered in a serious
manner.

She stepped out into the hallway, smelling
the heat-filled scum that it held, and saying before closing the
door, “Alright, it’s your life. But give me a call and tell me
what’s going on. I’ll tell Chuck you were sick or something.”

As Damen sat there on the couch and watched
the phone, he began to think of words to say. He started to fight
over which one he should call first; it was between the business
card and the letter from the agent. Damen then ran across the room
and grabbed another pack of cigarettes. Sitting down once again,
Mr. Schultz dialed the number that was on the letter. He hung up
before he could finish dialing the final digit and began dialing
the number that was on the business card. Before he could hang up,
a woman answered and asked in a pleasant tone, “Hello, Dennis
Schultz’s office, can I help you?”

Damen paused for only a few seconds and tried
to remember what his own name was. He swallowed his saliva mixed
with tar from his cigarette smoke and replied, “Hi, um, my name is
Damen Schultz. Could I speak to Dennis Schultz?”

“Do you have an appointment with Mr.
Schultz?”

“Um, um, yeah, he just told me to call up
him, and on the same day he would fit me in for an interview,”
Damen responded, showing a phony voice because of his lying; he
began his acting.

“Well, Mr. Schultz is in a meeting right now,
do you want me to take a message?”

Damen tried his hardest to think up of
something else to say, answering, “Um, is there any way you could
set me up for an appointment today? It’s very urgent that I see Mr.
Schultz. Can you?”

The secretary looked through Dennis Schultz’s
schedule book, speaking, “Here, he’s free at 4:00 p.m., but I’m
just going to double check with him. I’ll be right back, sir.”

She put the phone on hold, and walked up to a
big brown door that had Dennis’ name engraved on it in gold. She
knocked on it three times and paused. “Who is it?” Mr. Schultz
questioned, staring at his client who was seated in front of his
desk.

“Excuse me, sir, but I have a client on line
one, he says it’s urgent,” the secretary said.

Mr. Schultz got up from his chair and opened
the door. “Well, find a spot that’s free on my schedule and place
him there, I’ve got a client right now,” Dennis said in a nervous
way, smiling back to his client and then frowning to his
secretary.

“Yes, sir, sorry about interrupting you.” The
secretary walked back to her desk, lifted the phone up to her ear
again, asking, “Hello, are you still there?”

“Yeah.”

“Alright, you could come in at 4:00 p.m.
today. Bring your portfolio and resume,” she said. Damen put out
his fifth cigarette and lit up another one.

“I didn’t know I had to bring a portfolio and
resume in. Mr. Schultz said that he had, or still has, a job for
me. It’s some role in a movie that he wants me to try out for,”
Damen explained with nervousness, holding onto his cigarette tight,
squeezing the tobacco with his grasp.

“Um, um, alright, tell me your name again and
I’ll see if it’s on file. Mr. Schultz usually has his future
clients on file. But normally, people are required to bring a photo
and resume.”

“Oh, well, I have a photo, but no
resume.”

The secretary blew a gasp of frustrated air
for her mouth, questioning, “Just tell me your name?”

“Damen Schultz.”

She typed in his name, letter after letter,
and watched as Damen’s name appeared. The thing is, his name
appeared in the old file, the file that should have been erased.
She read his file and said to him, “Here we go: it says here that
Dennis is interested in you for the co-star role in a movie he’s
shooting with his brother in February.” She paused to read a little
bit more of his file. “So, that means you don’t have to bring
anything, just yourself,” she added.

Damen started jumping up and down on his
couch, giving silent screams of joy. But then, he paused from
jumping, asking, “Does it really say all that?”

“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.”