Center Stage
Copyright© 2025 by Lumpy
Chapter 13
I finished my sound check but wasn’t really present for any of it. While I knew I hadn’t actually done anything wrong, life had taught me, again and again, that that didn’t matter. The problem was, I couldn’t see how to ‘fix this’ as Phoenix had directed me to.
Kat and Warren were countering the narrative on social media, but people tend to believe the worst. Especially with something like this.
If I was going to counter this damage to my image, what I really needed was Alina to come out publicly to defend me. Warren hadn’t called or texted back with her number, but I didn’t have time to wait. Two weeks was not a lot of time to turn around public opinion.
So, I tried a Hail Mary.
“Ambassador Arms,” a man said when he answered the phone.
“Hi. I don’t know if you know about what happened last night, but I helped a girl who was under the influence to her room and...”
“I remember you,” the guy said.
“Ohh. You were the doo ... hotel employee? I wouldn’t have thought you would still be working. That was like twenty hours ago.”
“I just came on shift. What can I do for you?”
“I know this is a wild thing to ask and you almost certainly can’t do it, but I was hoping I could talk to the girl I dropped off.”
“I’m sorry. It’s hotel policy not to connect people to rooms without the permission of the guest.”
“I figured. The thing is, I’m in a lot of trouble because of what happened last night. Some people took pictures of me getting the girl, her name’s Alina, into a taxi and taking her to her hotel, and a gossip article came out this morning saying I took her back there and assaulted her. You and I both know that isn’t true, that you were with me the whole time, from the cab to her room and back down. But ... people aren’t believing me when I say that, so I need her to confirm that nothing happened, to get the people to put the pitchforks away.”
“Ohh,” he said, dropping the slightly disinterested customer service tone he’d had up to that point.
“Yeah. I really was just trying to help her out of a tough spot, ‘cause she was at this party and some guys were, umm, taking advantage of the fact that she wasn’t able to say ‘no.’ And now I’m being kind of screwed over because of it. I really need some help.”
He was quiet for a moment, long enough that I was afraid he might tell me it wasn’t his problem or that he had to follow policy, and that would be that.
Instead, he said, “Here’s what I can do. Since these are unusual circumstances, I can call up to her room, let her know you’re on the phone and who you are, and see if she’ll take your call.”
“Really? You’d do that? I’d really appreciate it.”
“Sure. I’m not promising anything. Just that I’ll ask.”
“Sure. Sure. Of course,” I said.
“Okay. Hold on a sec.”
The line clicked and some jazzy muzak started playing. I waited as time ticked by. I wasn’t sure if a long wait was a good sign, since it meant he wasn’t dismissed out of hand, or if short was better, like they said sure and he connected us.
Unfortunately, the wait was kind of in between, neither short nor long.
“Sorry, but they said no, they don’t want to speak with you.”
“She said no?”
“Actually, it was one of her people, I think. Not the girl herself. I’ve heard her speak, and she’s got a little bit of an accent.”
“Ohh. And you explained that I was the one who helped her, had someone call them to let them know what was happening, and got her home safely?”
“I didn’t know about the calling part, but yeah, I made sure they knew who you were. They were even more adamant when I said that.”
“Damn,” I said.
I don’t know why he didn’t hang up, maybe because he pitied me, but he kept the line open.
“I’m really screwed here,” I said.
“Hey, man, I get it. You did the right thing and honestly, I get the impression the girl doesn’t even know you called, but ... I’m sorry. Policy is policy. Ya know?”
I noticed he was a lot more conversational now, losing the customer service voice entirely. I hoped that was a good sign and decided to go for a second long shot.
“So, I know this isn’t your job, and you can totally say ‘no.’ I don’t want to get you in any kind of trouble by asking you to break policy, but I need to talk to her badly. Again, you can say ‘no.’ I have my people trying to get a hold of her people, but that’s going to take time, and I am in danger of getting pulled from my tour if I don’t have this sorted out in two weeks.”
“Say ‘no’ to what?” he asked, sounding very skeptical.
I decided to take him asking, instead of saying ‘no’ outright, to mean he was at least willing to hear me out.
“If I give you my number, could you, if you see her, slip her my number? If she chooses not to call me, that’s fine; but I’d like to give her that chance, and not just have her people block her. I know they’re probably trying to protect her, but then, if they would have had someone with her last night instead of leaving her in a bad situation, none of this would have happened.”
Again, he was quiet enough that I thought he might say no. I wouldn’t blame him. This was a big ask and he didn’t know me. We’d only had the one conversation that lasted the short elevator ride down the night before, and now I was asking him to risk his job for me.
“I’ll see what I can do,” he said, taking my number and hanging up.
It wasn’t a ‘no,’ but it also wasn’t a ‘yes.’ Which meant I was in limbo. Time for Plan B.
I’d already gone to this well too many times, but I was short on options and I couldn’t think of anything else.
“Charlie, I’m surprised to hear from you,” Emerson said when he answered.
“I know, and I’m sorry to bother you so much lately. I really appreciate you passing along that story about Dakota, and ... I have another favor to ask,” Charlie said sheepishly. “I promise this will be the last one. I really do.”
“Don’t worry, you haven’t worn out your welcome yet. What do you need?”
“Do you know about the SpilledTea article?”
“No, but I don’t really follow them much. Their sourcing is bad and we’ve been burned a few times talking about something of theirs that turned out to be bunk.”
“Then you’ll find this interesting,” I said, and then walked him through the article, the accusations, and what really happened with Alina that night.
“That’s some rough stuff. I’m assuming you’re trying to find a way to get your version out there?”
“Yes. That’s exactly what I need. We’re putting it out on our social media, but we don’t have the reach the article had, and we are finding it hard to get people to accept my denial, since that’s what someone who is guilty would say, too. We’re trying to talk to Alina, or her people, to see if we could get her to come out and deny it with us, but if we do, we need a big enough platform to get it out there.”
“And you were hoping we could do it?”
“Yes. I know it’s a big thing to ask.”
“Honestly, it’s a good story, but our show isn’t really the place for that kind of stuff. One of our production mandates is to mostly do lighter, feel-good segments. We stay away from drugs and ... other stuff. That’s why I passed off the tip about Dakota to someone else.”
“Yeah, I can see that. Damn. I really need to figure out how to get the word out.”
“Well, your biggest problem is you’re looking at the article backward. I get it’s an attack on you, but it’s really about Alina. You’re a rising star, no doubt, but she’s the name that draws the viewers ... or I guess ‘the clicks’ in this case. You don’t just need her to come out and deny the article, you need her to do it so the word gets out there. If she’s willing to go on one of these shows with you, that’s big enough news to get it picked up.”
“And if I get her, where do I go?”
“I hate to tell you, but I’m not your guy for this. I’m basically a talking head, and other than meeting some celebrities and people with interesting hobbies, I’m not very plugged into the news. You’re going to have to get your agents on it. I can make some calls, but I don’t think I’ll get anywhere. But I’m serious when I say that you’re going to need the girl to make this work. Sorry, I know that’s not what you were looking for.”
“No, but it’s what I needed to hear. I appreciate the advice and I’m sorry to keep hitting you up for stuff.”
“It’s all good, man. Keep in touch and let me know if you find anything. Deal?”
“Deal. Thanks again, Emerson,” I said, hanging up.
That was nice of him, and some good advice, but I was still left in the exact same spot. On to Plan C.
I wandered back through the hallway, weaving through until I found Dexter in his dressing room, typing something on his phone.
Knocking on the door frame, I said, “Dexter. Got a minute?”
“Sure,” he said, as he finished typing on his phone and set it aside.
“I need to get hold of Hal Steiner. I saw him last night at this party, and I wanted to ask him something.”
“Ohh. Man, I don’t know. He’s pretty private, and not big on giving out his personal cell number. I can give you his office number and you could leave a message with his secretary.”
I’d been hoping for something faster than that, but I’d take what I could get.
“Yeah, I guess that works.”
Maybe he could hear the disappointment in my voice because he said, “I’m sorry mate, but it’s the best I can do. How about I send him a text and let him know you’ll be calling.”
“No, you’re fine. I get it, and yeah, it would be great if you could send him a text. That would help. I’ll let you get back to what you were doing.”
He gave me a kind smile as I left, and I did appreciate his help, but I still felt completely stuck.
The rumors had been squashed by the time I got back to school on Tuesday. My friends did such a good job that, at first, I thought maybe I’d misjudged how many people would read the article, until a few classmates stopped me and quietly told me they were sorry I was getting so much heat and that they didn’t believe it.
By third period, it had happened enough times that I was half thinking Warren should hire them to do my PR. Mostly, I was just glad things were kind of back to normal, or at least as normal as they could have been considering I was never there and still got stared at all the time.
As I did every day I was at school, I pulled out my phone to see if Kat had sent me a message and was surprised to see that I had several missed calls from the same number. I kept my phone on silent the whole school day, to keep from getting it taken away. It wasn’t from a number programmed into my phone, which wasn’t surprising, since everyone who knew me would have known I was in school.
My first thought was that it was Hal getting back to me. I wouldn’t have his number and he didn’t seem like the kind of person to just not call someone back, especially when he knew that person. Admittedly, my message had been a little vague, but still, he was the most likely person I could think of.
I went outside so it would be quieter and more private and redialed the number.
After a few rings it picked up and a tentative female voice with a slight accent said, “Hello?”
“Hi, this is Charlie Nelson. I received a call from this number.”
“Yes. You gave your number to the doorman here to give to me. This is Alina. I’m sorry it took some time to call you back, but ... after everything that happened I was a little worried to call you.”
“I understand, and it’s fine. Really. Actually, I’m sorry for not answering when you called. I was in class.”
“Class? Like ... college class?”
“No. I’m a senior in high school.”
“High school? Really? Wait, how old are you? What were you even doing at that party?”
“I’m seventeen, and yeah, I know. I was probably the youngest person at the party. I’m a musician and on The Stage Finalists’ tour. We had a show in New York and GLR had some kind of hand in that party, or at least got us in, so I went with a few of the other artists.”
“Oh,” she said.
She was very quiet, and I was getting the sense she was very uncomfortable, although if it was because of what happened, the fact that it was all over the news, or something else, I didn’t know. Warren and then Emerson had made it clear the story wasn’t about me; I was just collateral damage. It was about her, and I knew if I were in her shoes, it would have bothered me quite a bit.
“So, um, how are you?” I asked.
“I’m ... I don’t know. I don’t remember much from that night, honestly. Just bits and pieces. I remember being in a cab, then the elevator, and those guys, the ones who were bothering me, a little bit. I kind of remember you, but that’s it. My people keep telling me everything is fine, that there’s nothing to worry about, but they won’t share the details. It’s like they’re hiding something from me.”
“I can tell you nothing happened, at least not ... the worst things. Those guys were all over you, but once they were gone, you were fine. I got you into the cab, and then the doorman helped me get you out of the cab, and we took you upstairs together. I called my manager, and he was able to get a hold of one of your people, and they showed up just as we got you to your room. I’m sorry about the paparazzi getting pictures of you getting into the cab. I didn’t realize they were down there and ... I’m not sure how else I could have gotten you out of the party.”
“No, it’s fine. I’m glad you were there. It makes me feel much better.”