Chapter 3: It’s All Fun and Games Until...

Friday January 8

I met Caryn in the hotel restaurant for breakfast. For me, it was back to work on my movie. I did have one last interview to do on Jimmy Kimmel Live, but Elizabeth and Bree would join Ashley in my place. Jessup had put his foot down, because I only had another full week in LA.

Caryn received a text while we were finishing up that told her Fritz would be out front in twenty minutes. I’d brought my bags down and left them with the concierge. Caryn still had to pack, so she left me to finish eating.

“Mind if I join you?” Janice Utley asked.

“Have a seat,” I said, standing up to pull out a chair for her.

The waiter brought her coffee and water, and she ordered.

“I talked to the studio this morning. They’d like to get you under contract. They asked if you’d be willing to talk to them this weekend,” Janice said.

“Have them talk to Ari. He handles all that for me,” I said.

She gave me a tight smile. I could tell she didn’t like dealing with Ari. I wasn’t so green as to actually let them talk to me without representation. There was too much money at stake, and I didn’t know all the ins and outs of movie contracts. Ari had hammered that point home when he reviewed my contract for Star Academy. He pointed out that I had to pay for things like travel and hotel rooms during the shoot; it was mostly little things that all added up. The bottom line was I was still going to make a good paycheck, but if I’d had him involved he would’ve caught them, and my paycheck would have been better. They’d taken advantage of Kendal and Tom’s inexperience, and I obviously didn’t know any better.

“The studio has a yacht. I wondered if you wanted to go out on it Sunday. It would give you a chance to have fun and talk a little business,” Janice suggested.

“So I would need to have Caryn and Ari there?” I asked.

“Yes, and you and they can invite some people to go with you. I’ll have the studio get hold of Caryn and firm it up,” she said.

My phone chirped. Fritz was here.

“Count me in. I’ve gotta run. I wanted to thank you for everything you did for the movie and me. It looks great,” I said.

Halle and Caryn had decided to ride with me this morning. On the way to the studio, I told Caryn about what Janice said and the push from the studio. She said she would call Ari and let him know. She wondered if she could bring her parents, since this was our next-to-last weekend in LA. I asked her to find out how many people we each could invite. I had no idea how big this yacht was.

I then called Brook while we fought LA traffic.

“Hey,” I said as hello.

“I was just about to board my plane,” Brook told me. “I had a lot of fun yesterday. Thanks for inviting me.”

“I was wondering if you could stay the weekend,” I said.

“School starts Monday, and my mom and I are having a girls’ weekend in Chicago. We’re going shopping.”

I just groaned, because the last person that needed more clothes was Brook Davis, followed closely by Halle James.

“Shut up,” Brook complained. “You forget that I’ve seen your closet.”

That was a cheap shot. Most of my stuff was free. I had a good idea that Brook spent some serious money on her clothes, if the bill for her dresses and accessories for the premiere was any indication.

“Free model clothes,” I shot back.

“Whatever makes you feel better. You’re still a serious clothes-hound.”

We talked a little bit and her flight was called. Since we were just sitting in traffic, I decided to call Pam. She was crying.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“Cora is thinking of separating from Devin,” she said.

Holy cow! I’d guessed six months. It had only been eight days.

“Why are you crying?” I asked.

“Dad put our house up for sale and it was shown today,” she said.

“I thought he had to pay for you to be there,” I said as I started to get mad at Cal again.

“He does, but Mom doesn’t want it. She says he picked our house to show off, and she doesn’t want this much house, now that it’s just the two of us.”

“Does she want to move back to LA?” I asked.

“No, she plans to stay here until I graduate.”

“That’s good, right?” I asked.

“I guess, but then Tracy told me she may have to move. Her dad told her when she got home that he planned to leave his law firm. He’s interviewing with several firms in Chicago, St. Louis and one in Indianapolis. I might end up losing my best friend,” she said.

“One thing I know for a fact is that Tom Dole would never remove Tracy from her support system. If it does happen, I’d help Tracy stay if she wanted,” I assured her. “So, can you stop crying now?”

“David, I’m a girl. I can cry if I want to.”

“Does that mean I can if I want to?” I asked.

“No, you’re a boy. You’re not allowed.”

“I see. Are there other rules for boys that I don’t know about?” I asked.

I could hear that she’d stopped crying and was thinking about her answer.

“I don’t know. Do you have any for me?” she asked.

“Okay, let me think. When I say ‘don’t stop,’ don’t stop. I’m serious. That means good things are happening for me.”

I heard a giggle.

“Oh, I have another one: tell me what you’re thinking. Seriously, I’m not a mind-reader. Just assume I don’t know, and I think things will work out better,” I said.

“‘Stupid Boy.’”

“Take a compliment. Nothing is a bigger turn-off than when we’re starting to have fun, and I tell you how sexy you are, and you tell me that you’re fat.”

“David!”

“Hey, you can’t help it,” I teased.

“David!”

“What? It happens when you get pregnant. Just own it. Pregnant women should stop complaining about how big their butts are. There are a small percentage of guys who’re into that,” I suggested.

“You are so dead,” she warned.

“Hey, you stopped crying,” I observed.

“You’re a dick sometimes,” she huffed.

“I love you too.”

“Yeah, me too. Hurry up and get home. I miss you.”

“I miss you too,” I said, and then I had to go.

You’d think after all the scotch that Jessup drank last night that we might have a short morning. You would think wrong. Apparently he must have built up a tolerance for the stuff, because he was ready to go this morning. You’d also think that a guy, who was now a star, would be able to have his morning tea and blowjob while he got his makeup done. It’s all fun and games until they decide they’re behind on the shoot schedule, and you actually have to get film in the can.

The good thing about us being behind schedule was that there were fewer takes. I looked at the shoot schedule for today and I was in every scene. It was almost as if someone figured out I’d be leaving after this week. The only problem with their genius plan was that I’d not been reading my updated scripts while I traveled. I’d noticed some emails, but I ignored them.

“Shit!” I said as I got frustrated.

“Cut!” Jessup called. “Come here.”

He pulled me off to the side.

“Look, I know you were busy last week. I want you to just forget about it and we’ll look at it as a lesson learned. What I want you to do is fake it if you don’t know the exact words. I need to get through these scenes. If you mess up too bad, we’ll just cut it and reshoot you saying it correctly. Can you do that for me?” he asked.

“I’m really sorry. I’ll do my best for you.”

“Good. Now, let’s get back to it. Time is money,” he said for the millionth time.

We went back and used Jessup’s new strategy. It allowed us to power through the morning scenes. I was happy when we finally took a break for lunch. I grabbed food at the buffet and took it to my trailer. Caryn was deep in conversation on her phone. She pointed to a stack of papers and I found the script changes for this afternoon’s scenes. It was like the writers felt like they had to justify their existence.

I read them as I ate, and then my phone rang. It was Maria, my wannabe porn star.

“Hey,” I answered.

“What are you doing tonight?” she asked.

“Going out with you.”

“I swear, if you were a girl, you’d be easy.”

“What are we doing? You do plan to feed me before you take advantage of me,” I said.

“I’m having a party. If you come early I’ll introduce you to my friends and we can grill something.”

“You need me to bring anything?” I asked.

“Stuff to grill,” she admitted.

“How many are we feeding?” I asked.

“Can I call you back and let you know?”

“No, I’m on set all day. Call Caryn and tell her,” I said, and gave her Caryn’s number.

I wrote Caryn a note and suggested that she have Fritz get everything. She just nodded as she talked on the phone.

The afternoon was a blur. When I was finally done, I went back to the trailer and found that Caryn and Fritz were nowhere to be found. I heard a knock on the door, and it was Flo.

“Fritz has a date tonight,” Flo said.

“Yeah, right. He just didn’t want to go to a teen party with me,” I said.

Flo blushed, because I’d caught her.

“He did say that if I let you get into a fight that I’m fired, so please let me punch them if it comes to that,” she said.

“Are you still in trouble for the Pam thing?” I asked.

“Whenever the shit goes sideways, like it did that night, we’re supposed to be on top of it. That’s what we get paid for. I knew you weren’t in danger, because I’ve sparred with you. I did what you wanted me to, which was to get Pam out of the situation. Fritz, and the rest of the team, walked me through it. We all agreed that I should never have left Tracy and you there. First of all, you could have really hurt someone. I should know better. Part of my job is to protect you from lawsuits. Injuring someone in a drunken brawl is at the top of the list of bad things that can happen.

“Another thing they pointed out was that Tracy could’ve been hurt. Finally, the reason we wear the body cams is to prevent stuff from being made up. When I left the room, I could no longer video the confrontation and it becomes a ‘he said/she said’ type of thing.”

“So you plan on watching me everywhere I go tonight?” I asked.

“In some ways it might be best if I did, but privacy will be maintained. Otherwise I might get rich selling your sex tapes in a few years.”

“Just make sure the lighting’s good. I want to be able to watch them and not be embarrassed,” I said with a straight face.

“I’m not watching you have sex,” she said, and then realized I was teasing her. “I might let them punch you a couple of times before I break it up.”

“If you do, you better not get in the way of me killing them,” I said in all seriousness.

“Boys! I swear you never grow up. Think of it this way: would it be more embarrassing for someone to have you kick their ass, or for you to have a girl kick their ass for you?” she asked.

I thought about Cassidy and the surprised looks guys had when she took them down. A little smile must have crept onto my face.

“I see you like the idea. Just let me do my job. I don’t want Fritz to have to fire me again.”

“What, he fired you before?” I asked.

“If he says he’ll do something, he has to do it. Of course he’ll then be short a person. He has all our resumes on file,” she said with a smile.

“And you’re available,” I finished.

“Yep.”

Maria lived in a normal neighborhood. Fritz had gotten a variety of things to grill. He’d also bought several side dishes. I was introduced to several of the cheerleaders on Maria’s team. There was also a group of guys that were obviously athletes. A couple of them thought they were grill masters, so I let them take care of that task. While everyone went outside to watch, Maria pulled me inside.

“I hope you don’t think I’m acting like Baby Dick. I’ve told some of my friends that we’d hooked up, and I think they told people that you’d be here tonight,” she warned me.

“That’s fine. I’m starting to get used to it.”

“Good,” she said, and then got a sexy look on her face. “Let me show you my house.”

For some reason the tour’s only stop was her bedroom. I had to laugh when I saw it was made up like a little princess’s room. It was pink, and someone had painted a castle with a princess in a tower. There was a knight fighting a dragon. Her bedspread was pink with yellow butterflies on it.

She somehow distracted me, and my focus was now on the princess in front of me. She was the perfect before-dinner snack.

All I can say about the two grill masters is that they were better than Mr. Anderson was. Of course, he could burn a brick. Even though my steak was overcooked, it was enjoyable. The girls cleaned up while the guys tried to figure out how to tap the keg. I had to chuckle when they all got sprayed with beer.

“You think you can do better?” one of them asked.

“You don’t have to force it,” I said.

I took the tap, lined it up into the slots, pushed down and twisted it into place. They all looked at me and then at the idiot that had sprayed them. Of course he was going to hear about this for a long time. What were friends for? It made me miss my guys back home. I decided that I’d have a beer or three tonight.

The party was a typical high school bash. The good thing about LA was most of them were used to seeing people in the business. That didn’t mean they didn’t want to talk to me, it just meant they didn’t act goofy about it. I had several offers to sneak off and have some fun. Like any guy, I was tempted. Something stopped me, though. With the amount of available pussy, I could be fussier. So far no one compared to Maria.

The party was going well until kids from a rival high school showed up. I saw them come in and immediately knew they were trouble by the way everyone seemed to take a few steps back. What surprised me was a girl led them. Normally the top guy would’ve walked in first to make his presence known.

This girl was drop-dead gorgeous. She was five-ten and had the body of a model, except she sported large round breasts that were at least a ‘C’ cup. Her dirty-blonde hair was pulled back into a ponytail, which allowed me to admire her long neck. She had striking blue eyes and kissable lips. If I hadn’t already had a huge crush on Kate Upton, this girl would’ve been my newest fantasy. While Kate had the hips of a woman, my newest fascination had a nice firm butt encased in tight jeans.

I saw Maria come out of the kitchen and get a scowl on her face. She then did the frenemy thing girls do, and a big smile was suddenly there. If I’d not seen her initial reaction I would have thought they liked each other.

“Lexi, I had no idea you were coming,” Maria said.

“We heard you were having a party and just had to come. You’ve always been so good to us,” Lexi said.

“Beer’s on the patio. Help yourself,” Maria offered.

“We brought our own. Thanks, though.”

The little tick in the corner of Maria’s eye was the only indication that the slight had hit home. Lexi and her group went out back. Maria was suddenly surrounded by her friends as they made catty remarks about their rivals. Flo slid up beside me.

“You should be careful of that one. That’s Lexi Andon. Her dad is Paul Andon.”

“That name sounds familiar.”

“He’s an executive at the studio that did your last movie.”

“So, you’re saying I shouldn’t get his daughter pregnant.”

Flo did have a sense of humor.

“No, that would be one of those things I think Fritz is paying me to prevent.”

“You’re fired,” I teased.

She just rolled her eyes and went back to wall duty. I couldn’t help myself. I eased out to the patio to get another beer so I could check out Lexi. I think it was a good thing that I did, because the more I watched her, the more I didn’t like her. She was a solid nine-and-a-half to ten in looks. She was maybe a three in personality. If I were drunk and just looking to get laid I would go for her, but I’d regret it in the morning. Who am I kidding? I’d fuck her and be just fine about it. Maybe if I used a ball gag on her it would be better.

I watched her and her friends belittle everyone else at the party. I guess I wasn’t surprised when a fight broke out towards the end of the night. I was about to step in to help Maria’s friends when Flo appeared and began to tase their asses.

It all started when Lexi went to the bathroom, and as she came back, one of Maria’s friends hit on her. Who could blame the guy? I gave him high marks for having the balls to approach her. She, of course, made a fool of herself and berated the poor guy for his actions. He turned around to leave and she called him a pussy.

“What did you say, cunt?” he responded.

I cringed when I heard him use the ‘C’ word. It was game on then as the guys she was with came to defend her honor. Three on one didn’t seem right, even though he was getting the better of them. The whole time Lexi’s mouth was going. She’s exactly the type of girl you never want to date. Their mouths get you into fights. I wondered why guys would hang out with her if they knew what she was like. That might be a stupid question when you looked at her, but I would bet big money that none of these guys had been in her pants.

I laughed aloud when Flo tased her to shut her mouth. I quickly went over and escorted Flo out. I didn’t need my security person involved in a fight any more than I needed to be in one.

“Give me the keys,” I ordered.

“I can’t. You’ve been drinking,” Flo said.

“How many did I have?”

“Two,” she admitted.

She handed me the keys. I took her to a local diner and bought her pancakes as a reward for being a badass.

Sunday January 10

After the excitement at Maria’s house, I’d decided to be good on Saturday. Halle and I went surfing and hung out at the beach house. I wore Bandit out playing with him, and then did the same with his mom. We all watched Saturday Night Live. Craig killed it. They did a skit about Star Academy. I laughed aloud at the caricature they turned me into. They had one of the regulars dress up in a muscle suit and had him dance around as he fawned all over Craig. I was sure Craig loved that.

I did receive a surprise call. Sage wanted to get together. I invited her to go with me on the yacht. I would’ve invited Halle, but she and Rita were having another mother–daughter day.

I did notice that Fritz was my driver for this trip. We picked up Sage and went to the marina. Rita had made sure I had on the proper attire: white cotton pants and shirt with boat shoes. I did break out my sunglasses. I rolled my eyes when she reminded me to wear sunscreen. It actually sounded funny when she said things like that, because you don’t expect a movie star like her to sound so much like a mom at times.

When we arrived, we were introduced to the first mate. He gave us a tour of the yacht. I was told that I had a bedroom for my use on our trip. Sage had brought a bag with a swimsuit and wrap in case she wanted to change out of her sundress. We were escorted to the back deck. They served us drinks while we waited for everyone to arrive.

Someone must have told Jessup and Janice that I was here, because they came out and joined me. I introduced them to Sage. Then a man in his late 30s joined us.

“David, I’d like you to meet Paul Andon. He’s the one who’ll be negotiating your deals for the next two movies,” Janice said.

I politely listened as Paul told me that they wanted to get me under contract because they needed to solidify their budget for the movie. I noticed that as they talked to me, people began to arrive. From the movie, I saw Ashley, Ben, Elizabeth and Bree. They must have thought they needed me to sign first, or some such nonsense. I was never so relieved to see Ari. I noticed he eyed Sage, but Ari was in a place where he had to behave, so the leering was at a minimum. Ari pulled Paul and Janice inside for a chat.

Then I saw Caryn with her parents, and smirked when I saw Zak with her. She came over to introduce her parents to me. When they went to get a drink, I looked over at Zak, and she gave me a hard look.

“It’s my fault he’s here. I made the mistake of talking about this. He made me an offer I couldn’t refuse,” Caryn said.

“He finally wore you down?”

“Bite me. He said that he’d leave me alone and would owe me if he got to come.”

“So, you’re a couple now,” I persisted.

“I bet I can throw you over the side,” she threatened.

“Fritz would protect me,” I said.

“I’d help her,” Fritz said as he came out of nowhere.

I hated it when he did that. I just threw my hands up in surrender. I made the rounds and caught up with my fellow actors. Ben introduced me to his girlfriend, whom I recognized as an actress in the new Baywatch movie. I had to admit, she had a nice body.

Then, suddenly, twenty hot girls showed up. I realized they were party hos. You have to love LA. It was confirmed when they began to talk to the men here. Zak found one and was soon gone. These girls didn’t seem to be too picky, because some of the studio guys would never score if the girls weren’t professionals. My smile got bigger when I saw Lexi Andon. At least the studio people knew who she was. Our eyes locked and I made a quick retreat to find Sage.

The yacht pulled out of the marina. There were several boats following us with paparazzi taking pictures. I pointed them out to Sage.

“I think I’ll go change so they can get some good shots,” she said.

Of course that left me alone, and I was approached by the party hos. Being a good guy, I made sure I was gracious and spent some time talking to them. Ben came over and sat on my couch. That just seemed to attract more of them. I was sure the paparazzi were having a field day. Then Zak came out and sat in a seat across from us.

“Hey, ladies. Give me fifteen minutes and we can go have some fun,” he announced.

Ben and I looked at each other and shook our heads. Then Sage came out, followed by Ben’s girlfriend. Sage had a dancer’s body, which means her butt was out of this world. She had on a bikini that showed off her best asset to the fullest. Ben’s girlfriend had the Pamela Anderson-type body, and she looked damned fine in her bikini, even though it covered more. Models aren’t body-shy, so Sage didn’t seem fazed to be walking around almost naked.

Then the day almost came to an abrupt end.

“Hey Isabel,” Zak said, as he stood up and gave Ben’s girlfriend a full-on kiss.

I was glad Fritz was there. He saw the look on Ben’s face. Fritz grabbed Zak, who squawked. He marched him off before Ben could end his life. Even though Zak was well-built, I knew that Ben worked out almost as much as I did. He also trained, and from my experience with our fight scenes, I would guess Zak would last about two seconds.

Isabel looked confused until she saw the look on Ben’s face. I recognized the guilt for what it was and felt sorry for Ben. She pulled him inside to explain things. I feared that with that body, she might convince him it was all innocent. The problem was I knew Zak. When he’d kissed her, it was the kind of kiss you gave a past lover. I’d seen him kiss other girls like that.

“That was interesting. Do you think... ?” Sage asked.

“I would hate to speculate,” I said.

“That bad, huh?”

“I didn’t say anything,” I defended myself.

Sage caught me up on what had been going on since we saw each other last. She’d gone to Europe and did a couple of jobs. Then the discussion came around to Bill.

“I finally got it through his thick head that we were through,” she said. “I can’t believe he thought I would be okay with him cheating on me on road trips and then with whatever sick games he did with Ridge and Penny. I thought she was my friend.”

“She can be persistent. It might not have been Bill’s idea.”

“Why, have you been with her?” Sage said with some heat in her voice. “You have.”

I grabbed her wrist, but she was having none of it, so I followed her to our room. She tried to slam the door in my face, but I pushed in. Usually, when girls try to hit you, they are flailers. Normally you’ll get a wild right that you can catch with your left hand, and then the left will come. Their next move is to knee you in the balls. So the trick is to catch both hands and then twist to the side to avoid the knee. You then pull them tight to your chest and lean your head back, because they’ll head-butt you.

Sage surprised me when she landed a double-handed punch to my chest.

“Ouch!” I complained as I wrapped her up into my arms.

She was a hellcat. For a minute there I was afraid I would have to hurt her to save myself. Out of self-preservation, I picked her up and deposited her on the bed. I quickly landed on her and wormed my legs between hers so she couldn’t knee me. I pinned her hands above her head and jerked back to avoid getting her forehead in my nose.

“Settle down. I told Penny ‘no’ when she approached me.”

“You still fucked the skank,” Sage seethed.

“I didn’t. She molested me while I was asleep. Ridge and I made her stop,” I said.

“What did you do?” she asked.

So I told her the whole story. When I finished, Sage wasn’t as mad, but I hadn’t let her go. About halfway through the story, Mr. Happy woke up and realized that hot model pussy was rubbing against him. I was a little embarrassed, because I knew Sage felt it.

“I suppose you think you’re going to fuck me now,” she said.

“Fuck you!” I said as I got up.

“David!”

I didn’t even look back as I slammed the door behind me.

Ari gathered everyone together in the living room of the yacht.

“Craig Wild signed a contract for the next two movies yesterday. The studio offered you the same amount he’s making as a sign of good faith,” he told Elizabeth and Bree.

He handed them envelopes with a number inside. He also handed envelopes to Ben and Ashley. I could tell that Elizabeth and Bree were happy. Ben and Ashley I couldn’t read. Part of Ben’s problem could be he was mad at his girlfriend. Ari handed my envelope to Caryn, who looked at the number and then handed it to me.

“I’ll need to have my agent look at this,” Ashley said.

“Me too,” Ben added.

I looked inside the envelope. The number was the same as before, with two additions: they would pay me a signing bonus now, regardless of whether the movie got made, and one point. I know that psychic readings should be taken with a grain of salt, but I kept hearing Henry Taylor say that I should wait.

“I think we ought to wait before we accept their offer,” I blurted out.

Everyone in the room turned to look at me, and I felt I needed to explain.

“I’ve had two people whose opinions I value tell me this movie is a hit: Chubby Feldman and Rita James. I think if we wait, we can get a better deal. I just get the feeling that we’re being pushed into something we’ll regret later,” I said.

“David, many times the initial offer is the best,” Ari reasoned.

I’d heard my mom say that many times when dealing with real estate. I just felt I’d rushed things in the past and regretted it. I’d seen how my fellow students reacted to the movie. They’d had a good time, and even though they would’ve put on happy faces and told me it was great afterwards, I could tell while they were watching it that they liked it.

“Ari, I might be wrong, and I don’t want to influence any of you one way or the other, but for me I want to wait. We should know in two weeks if this is big or not. I’ll make my deal then,” I said.

I could see that Ari wanted to kill me, but he set this up with everyone else in the room. I suspected it was to pressure everyone into signing.

The initial weekend a movie was out was huge. Many films either made it or didn’t based on that first weekend. If a film did well the second weekend, you had something. I also wanted to let Star Wars peter out some. They’d dominated the box office for the prior three weeks. If we could hold our own this weekend, then next could be just as good, because the competition was weak next week. The best opening that weekend was Ride Along 2. I hadn’t even seen the first one on DVD, let alone in theaters.

“What do you think, Ari?” Bree asked.

“If the film does well, we’d be in a better position to get more. If it doesn’t, we could be in trouble. I would lock it down,” he said.

“I’ll wait,” Elizabeth said.

“Me too,” Bree announced.

Ben and Ashley would do their own thing.

“I think you’re making a mistake,” Ari said.

“David has made up his mind,” Caryn said.

“Listen, Princess, he pays me to help him with things like this,” Ari said.

“Enough!” I said.

I’d been listening to this for twenty minutes.

“Either wait, or walk away and I’ll find a new agent,” I said.

“Oh, come off it. There’s no need to go extreme on this,” Ari said.

“I mean it. I think we’ll be better off if we wait. If I’m wrong, I’ll never doubt you again,” I said.