Chapter 12: And The Oscar Goes To...

Friday February 24
My alarm woke me even earlier than my usual time, which was particularly frickin’ early here in LA. I found Bandit sleepily looking at me from my other pillow, which he’d claimed as his.

“Does your mom know you abandoned her?”

He stretched and then accepted a tummy rub. For a cat, he was about as good as it got.

I got dressed to run and left Bandit snoozing. Unlike my trusty hound, a cat—even one like Bandit—is all about what’s in it for the cat. Bandit wasn’t willing to follow me wherever I went, especially this early.

When I hit the street, no one was up yet in this upscale neighborhood. I could hear traffic off in the distance as my feet slapped the pavement. As I relaxed into my run, I noticed that the birds weren’t yet chirping, meaning the sun wouldn’t be up for a little while. Even at this time of the morning, the temperature was above the high back home today. That was something that I loved about being here.

I’d gotten a glimpse of my schedule for the next three days. I think Frank had sought out every reporter he could find, or more likely owed a favor to, and set up an interview. It all started this morning at IDC – Public Relations’ offices. Frank and his team had a room configured for remote interviews. I would start with the morning shows on the east coast and work my way west as the day wore on.

This afternoon would find me at TMZ, where they did their live broadcast each day. Frank had an in with them, and they had always treated me right, so I was willing to go. I would hang out with TMZ for a couple of hours as a guest host. Then it was off to do the tapings for the late-night talk shows. Finally, I was going to do the vlog/video podcast run by the TMZ cameraman’s nudist girlfriend.

Social video sites had given people the ability to express themselves in a whole new way by doing video blogs—vlogging. Video podcasts were essentially the same thing, though some say the difference is in the method of distribution. People could sit down in front of their video or web cameras and talk about anything, from daily events to comedy skits to politics. Then they would upload their videos to social media and share their opinions with the world. Some of the more successful ones had several million followers, which would earn them decent money in the form of advertising revenue.

A vlogger could gain a considerable audience overnight, and they could lose it just as quickly. The key was keeping people’s attention. The one I agreed to do was an adult version where the guests were naked. It was called The Naked Truth with Lux. Besides the obvious catch of the nudity, her guests were in the entertainment industry. Several household names had taken it off and been interviewed.

When I told Frank that I might do it, he was opposed to the idea at first. It wasn’t that I would be exposing my junk to a national audience because it was tastefully shot so it could be posted on the major sites. It was my image Frank was worried about. He didn’t want me to seem like I was trying to break out of teen roles by doing crazy stuff. Several Disney kids had tried something similar and frankly failed when the change was too drastic. I had to remind him that I’d already done a love scene that was reported to be ‘real’ when I filmed The Secret Circle.

When that didn’t sell him, I forwarded Frank some of my modeling pictures. That hadn’t worked either, even though Frank wanted to portray me as the all-American bad boy.

What finally convinced him was when I showed him a picture of Lux and told him of my requirement that she also be naked. Suddenly, he thought he should be there to help me with my talking points.

It was funny; once he was on board with me doing it, he switched gears and put his whole team on working out what would generate the most positive press. He was even talking about using bots to increase the initial views so the social media sites would move the vlog into their ‘suggested’ category. I thought it was a little sneaky and underhanded, but I liked that my team had figured out how to job the system in my favor.

Tomorrow was much the same, except I was doing print media. From the list of interviews, I could tell I was big with preteen and teen girls. The remainder fell into two categories: entertainment and national. The one that didn’t fit was Sports Week. I planned to ask Frank what that was all about when I got a chance.

As I rounded the corner to finish my run, I spotted Fritz standing at the gate with his arms crossed, not looking happy. Bandit must have ratted me out. There would be no kitty treats for him.

After my scolding and shower, I came downstairs to find that Rosy had made breakfast and that Lexi had joined Scarlet and me. I smiled when I saw what Rosy had prepared. I think she secretly loved me. She had a platter of molletes, a Mexican open-faced sandwich made with refried beans, tomato slice, egg, cheese, and bacon bits she’d put on bagels. In a large bowl, there was chicken chilaquiles with tomatillo sauce. It was a traditional dish intended to use up leftovers. Day-old tortillas were put into salsa verde and cooked until they were slightly softened. Rosy topped them with shredded chicken and queso fresco, a mild, white, fresh Mexican cheese that finished the dish.

I pulled both of the offerings to my place at the table. Rosy made a playful swipe at my hand with a wooden spoon.

“That’s for everyone.”

Lexi snatched the platter of molletes out of my hand.

“Ladies first,” she said, acting haughty.

“Good call,” Scarlet said. “I’ve seen this boy eat.”

“What did you do to your tongue?” I asked Lexi.

She blushed.

“I got a tongue stud,” she said and showed us.

It was a silver ball in the middle of her tongue. I got half-hard thinking about it. When I saw one, my first thought was that it signaled a willingness to give oral sex, something I liked a lot. I’d read somewhere that it was the second most common piercing after the ears.

“Did it hurt?” Scarlet asked.

“It wasn’t that bad. My nipples hurt a lot more,” Lexi said and then blushed even more when she realized she’d just dropped that little factoid on us.

“I want to see,” I said, acting a little too excited.

“David!” Rosy scolded.

Both girls laughed when they saw me become a little gentleman once Rosy used her ‘mom’ voice on me. I think it was an ingrained response.

Frick! I would be thinking about Lexi’s piercings until she showed me. Maybe I could get her to either demonstrate the tongue stud or expose her breasts when we were stuck in traffic. Better yet, she could do both.

Crud!

Mr. Happy was fully awake, and no matter what I tried, he wasn’t standing down.

By the time we pulled into TMZ’s parking lot, I’d realized two things. One, getting nominated for an Academy Award was a bigger deal than being named Gatorade Athlete of the Year by a wide margin. Two, Lexi and Scarlet were finished after this weekend. Just as I would get Mr. Happy to calm down, one of them would mention Lexi’s tongue stud or do something else to get me going again. When Lexi licked my earlobe with her new stud, it was a step too far. She was almost sexually harassed in the middle of my PR firm’s offices.

Fritz stopped us outside of TMZ.

“Either you two stop teasing David or help him.”

We all looked at him in stunned silence. I think the girls sometimes forgot that this was a business setting. It didn’t help that while I took what I did seriously, I still had fun when I could.

I raised my hand.

Fritz had to turn away, or he would have laughed at me.

“I vote one of them help me out,” I suggested.

Scarlet mumbled something and wouldn’t look me in the eye. I leaned closer, and she whispered, “If you have a hard dick, I can be your naughty girl again.”

I’d all but forgotten about telling her that when Cindy had sent her to me the last time Scarlet had come home from LA. Once Paul had volunteered to date her, I’d washed my hands of her as a sex partner. Right now, Mr. Happy thought she made a lot of sense.

It turned out we had just enough time for me to get a quick hummer. Fritz was willing to guard the bathroom door, while Lexi would let TMZ know we were here so they wouldn’t worry. It was wonderful when your team came together. Only one problem: Scarlet was dating Paul. Well, I wasn’t sure if they were really dating, since they only went out once that I knew of. I decided this wasn’t the time to ask about their relationship.

Maybe there was more than one problem, but Scarlet was in charge of my HR, so I figured I was okay. Then again, I’d been told not to sleep with the help. I knew that there had to be exceptions to that rule because both Peggy and Lexi were willing to bend it.

I was ready to go with the ‘no regrets’ get-out-of-jail-free card when my conscience kicked in. Somehow, it felt like I was taking advantage of Scarlet when she said she was willing to be my ‘naughty girl.’ I was more than capable of finding someone who wanted to play with me. I didn’t want to feel like someone was doing it because she felt obligated.

I caught myself and chuckled. For most guys, their first instinct would have been to take matters into their own hand. Mine had been to check out the girls around me, and assume I could find someone to help me out. I mentally kicked myself for falling into the Hollywood mind-set.

“Don’t worry about it. I think I know how to take care of the problem,” I told Scarlet.

I felt a little guilty when she didn’t fight me on it. I wasn’t sure that she really wanted to perform oral sex on me on demand. Then again, she had been part of the problem this morning. Grrr.

Thankfully, I actually was calmed down by the time the TMZ interview started. Surprisingly, to me at least, nothing was mentioned about the Valentine’s Day massacre, as I called it; instead, it was a straight-up interview focusing on the Academy Awards.

Note to self: ask Frank how he managed that. Whatever he did, it was a trick I wanted to learn.

The rest of my time at TMZ was as a guest host. I shook my head at the report that Justin Bieber thought he could fight a fan. He was lucky he had security to bail him out.

Once we were finally done with the traditional media for the day, we drove to Canoga Park in the San Fernando Valley, where The Naked Truth with Lux was filmed. We pulled up to a dilapidated apartment complex. I think we all were having second thoughts when a group of teens eyed our car as we pulled into the parking lot. Lexi had her phone out.

“Last weekend, four cars were stolen, and seven others were broken into within a ten-block radius of here. There was also someone robbed.”

“Back home, you wouldn’t see that much crime in a year,” I observed.

“Just don’t leave anything in the car and be aware of your surroundings. We should be fine,” Frank said.

I’d found that to be good advice whenever I was in a bigger city.

The group of teens seemed interested in us until the paparazzi showed up. A group of about ten had been following me today.

“Any chance for some nude shots?” one of the paparazzi called out.

He must know this was where they shot the nude vlog.

“The night is young,” I shot back.

Frank grabbed my arm and hustled me into the apartment building. He didn’t want me feeding the local wildlife, as he called the vultures who made a living off people in the entertainment industry.

Frank led us to the apartment and knocked on the door. Lux answered it in a silk robe. I had a flash that this must be what it was like if you dropped by a hooker’s house for an appointment.

“Oh, wow! I think I’m outnumbered,” Lux said when she saw everyone with me.

We walked into a tiny one-bedroom apartment with all the furniture pushed to one side to accommodate her ‘set.’ It consisted of a tripod with a small video camera, sheets tacked to the wall, and two chairs.

With the five of us crowded in the room, I could see Lux start to get nervous.

“Should I strip off here or... ?” I asked.

“Oh ... yeah ... about that. You can’t actually be fully naked on my social media feeds. They have rules against that,” Lux explained.

I turned my attention to her and smiled when she handed me a little bag. I peeked in and found a cock sock. In the movies, this was something men wore when doing a love scene that called for nudity. It basically had a sack for your balls and a one-finger glove for your member. I chuckled when I read the tag: Minion Peter Heater. It was yellow and blue with one eye and a little smile on it, just like the little helpers in the Despicable Me animated movies.

“That was all they had in stock at the adult bookstore when I stopped there today,” Lux explained.

I was sent to put on my wardrobe, while Lux and Frank put their heads together to plan the vlog.

Everyone was disappointed when I came out in my boxers and a t-shirt. They expected me to prance around in my cock sock before going on air. I might be naïve sometimes, but even I knew better than that. I wouldn’t put it past Scarlet and Lexi to snap some pics if I did.

I wouldn’t blame them because when I saw myself in the mirror, I cringed. It would have been almost as bad if Lux had given me little-boy superhero underwear to put on. Wearing a cartoon-character cock sock was about as embarrassing as I could imagine. The other problem was that Lux either didn’t realize that they came in different sizes like condoms, or she really only had the one choice. Let’s just say that it fit as well as little-boy superhero underwear would have. If Mr. Happy decided to come out and play, the situation would get uncomfortable in a hurry.

“We about ready?” I asked.

“Give me a minute. I need to turn on the camera and make sure it’s recording,” Lux said.

Frank showed me which chair was mine. He blocked the view as I shucked my boxers and took off my t-shirt.

“Any last words of advice?” I asked.

“Just be yourself.”

I did a quick double-take because the Frank I knew wanted to control my talking points. Lux seemed satisfied that her equipment was working and joined me on set. She lost her robe, and I smiled. First, her body was spectacular. She was wearing flesh-colored pasties to cover her areolas and nipples. She opted to go free-range down below. I noticed that Frank couldn’t take his eyes off her. I think my guy had a crush.

“I’m going to count down from three and then wait ten seconds before I say anything for the intro music I’ll add later,” Lux explained. Then she started her countdown.

I quickly figured out that we weren’t really ‘live’ like I’d assumed. I was glad because that meant that if I said anything too ridiculous, Frank could get her to delete it.

“We have a real celebrity with us today,” Lux said, becoming animated. “David A. Dawson, the Academy Award-nominated actor, decided to finally—finally—join me on The Naked Truth with Lux.”

“Finally?”

“My people have asked you several times to be on, but you kept dodging me. I think you’re scared of the hard-hitting questions I might ask you,” she teased.

“I’m sure it had nothing to do with getting naked,” I said skeptically.

She ignored me.

“So, how are you doing?” she asked, serving up her first ‘hard-hitting’ question.

“I’m special,” I said.

“I see someone rides the short bus,” she quipped.

“Wow, you’re one of those mean girls,” I said as my face lit up. “How are you?”

“I’m awesome. You can’t spell ‘awesome’ without ‘me.’”

This was either going to be the weirdest interview I’d ever had or the best. Lux at least didn’t take herself seriously and try to get me to say stuff Frank warned me to never divulge.

“I understand you’ve done several interviews today. What types of questions have they asked you?” Lux asked.

I groaned.

“What’s wrong?” Lux asked.

“They’re all so boring. Reporters ask the same questions over and over again,” I complained.

“Like what?”

“I see you’re fishing for questions,” I said with a smirk. I started going through the list like I was being asked the question, mimicking the reporters from today. Then I would put on a serious face and answer.

“‘How do you feel about being nominated?’ It’s such an honor. I knew that we had something special with The Royal Palm, and I was lucky enough to get the role. Did you know that the director didn’t want me?”

“‘Why... ‘“

I did four of those, where I praised everyone else in the movie like Frank had taught me, before Lux stopped my monologue.

“You forgot to thank God.”

“He is in everything I do,” I fired back automatically.

Football and baseball were invaluable when it came to having clichés handy when needed. Next, I might pull out the old standby: ‘We make movies one at a time,’ which equated to ‘We play them one at a time’ in sports.

“What should they have asked you if they wanted an honest answer?” she asked.

“I see how this works. You get me to spill the dirt without you even trying.”

“How’s it working so far?” Lux asked.

“Let’s see,” I said as I pondered my answer. “You could ask about Cuba ... which was a trip of a lifetime. We could talk about Laurent Vance, the director. He hated me. Oh, I know ... you could explain why you’re dating the guy on TMZ. You’re obviously way out of his league.”

“The thing is, he knows it. We’ve been a couple since we were fifteen. I’ve never wanted anyone else, and it’s wonderful to be loved for being you and not for what you can do for someone,” Lux explained.

“Why hasn’t he locked you down and asked you to marry him?” I asked to cause trouble.

“He has. We’re getting married next weekend.”

“Look at that. We did break some news,” I said.

I could see Frank deflate a little. Believe me, I understood when your crush announced they were marrying someone else. I still couldn’t believe that Kate Upton had run off with that baseball dork.

We wrapped it up, and when she announced that the camera was off, I jumped up and ripped off the cock sock. The damned thing itched. No sane man would wear that on purpose.

Lexi was suddenly in front of me with my boxers, which I quickly put on.

“How was it?” I asked.

“I almost burst out laughing when you were spot on with the voices and mannerisms of the reporters who asked you the stupid questions. If I didn’t know better, I would say you might be an okay actor someday.”

“Was Frank happy?” I asked.

“Oh, yeah. I think Frank plans to skip tomorrow and work with one of his other clients. You have the BS down for doing interviews,” Lexi said. “Plus, you come across as likable on camera.”

“As opposed to off-camera?”

“Hey. I’ve seen you at three in the morning, after being on set for 18 hours, and a janitor stops you. You treated him the same way you would any fan. I suspect you’re always likable,” Lexi assured me.

“Can we get out of here? I’m starved,” I suddenly realized.

“Why don’t you come back to my place and I’ll fix you dinner? I can take you home later,” she suggested.

I wasn’t sure Lexi knew how to cook, or it would have been an easy decision. Especially with her new toy.

“Do we need to stop and pick something up?” I tentatively asked.

“Shut up, ‘stupid boy.’ Trust me to feed you and not kill you in the process.”

“Okay. I’m in.”

Turns out, Lexi had called my mom and asked her to find the most straightforward meal she could make that I would love. Lexi made me grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup. She got extra points by serving the soup in a coffee mug. While she cooked and then ate, we caught up. Lexi was splitting her time between my old management team and working for Frank at the PR firm.

Warning bells rang when she announced that she had been given her first management client. It was none other than Gwen Larkin, my very own stalker.

“Did she share with you that she broke into my hotel room on Valentine’s day? And when I wouldn’t see reason, she slept with two of my best friends?” I asked.

“What!?”

“You remember her breaking into my bedroom and having to be committed, right?” I asked.

“Yeah, but she said that was because she’d been on set constantly for several days, taken some pills, and went a little nutty,” Lexi said.

“I bet she was really convincing,” I said to let her off the hook.

“She was.”

“She’s an outstanding actress,” I reminded Lexi.

“Shit!”

“Look at it this way: your first client will break you in quickly.”

“It’s not that. I, uh, well, sort of invited Gwen to come see you tonight,” Lexi said.

“Hold that thought,” I said as I got my phone out and hit a button.

Lexi’s phone chirped, and she looked down to see that I’d hit the panic button.

I had Lexi explain to me how Gwen had worked in that she and I were terrific friends and how I would love to see her again. In the meantime, Fritz had called and confirmed that I wasn’t in immediate danger since Gwen wasn’t here yet.

We both jumped when the entrance buzzer to Lexi’s building rang. When Lexi confirmed that Gwen was indeed downstairs, I called 911. Their response time impressed me when a short while later, a squad car pulled into the lot with flashing lights. I admit that both Lexi and I watched as the two police officers got out of the car to talk to Gwen.

I just shook my head as she talked her way out of it. Soon the two young guys were laughing at something she said. That was when she struck. She had a Taser in each hand. I cringed when I saw her hit both guys in the nut sack and juice them. That was going to leave a mark. I hoped they were both done having sex for the rest of their lives. If the twins were lit up like that, and I flopped on the ground like a carp out of water, Mr. Happy would revolt and never get stiff again.

We watched as Gwen stepped out in the parking lot and looked up until she saw us looking out the window. I gave her a little wave and opened the window slightly.

“David. You’ve been a bad boy, calling the police on me. If I didn’t know you were playing hard to get, I might have the wrong idea about your feelings for me. Why don’t you come down so we can straighten this out?”

I opened the window a bit more.

“I just saw you tase those two. If you did me like that, how would you ever get me into your car so you could kidnap me?” I asked.

In retrospect, I was being way too helpful in planning my own demise.

“Good point. Why don’t you come down and we talk in my car?” Gwen asked.

“Is she insane?” Lexi whispered.

“It might be easier if I came down and just hopped into your trunk,” I suggested.

“That would be very helpful,” Gwen said brightly.

“Okay, hang on, and I’ll be right down,” I said.

This time, the boys in blue weren’t messing around. Three cars screamed into the lot. Gwen, to her credit, took off running. I cringed again when the first officer to get close to her got nut-shot with the Taser. It was eerily similar to Cassidy shooting me in the jewels with a paintball gun. How did girls know that getting tased in the nuts would make guys flinch? I think the blood-curdling scream from the flopping man in blue also sold it.

The next policeman tackled her, and she was cuffed in short order.

That was when she went totally nuts. They had to cuff her legs together and then cuff them to her hands when she tried to kick out the police car’s window to escape. I predicted that she would be in a psych ward before the night was over.

Word must have gotten out that Gwen and I were involved in something. Somehow, the number of paparazzi had grown substantially. Our contingent went from the handful who had followed Lexi and me to her place to ten times that number in the space of a half-hour.

My day got even worse when Lexi confessed that the real reason she’d invited me over was to try out her new piercing. I really wanted her to try it out on me, too. That wasn’t happening now because Fritz insisted that I come home to Rita’s place after the police got our statements.

Saturday February 25
When I stepped out to run this morning, Manaia was waiting for me in a golf cart. I was glad to see him. We’d gotten off to a bit of a rocky start when we first met this last winter. That was when I had come to LA to shoot my most recent J-drama. Towards the end, we had become friends.

“We have some press waiting down the block,” he informed me, falling right back into his role as my security.

“Why down the block?”

“The neighbors have some pull with the police,” Manaia said and shrugged.

I’d turned on the morning news while I got dressed, and our little drama was front and center. Someone in the police department had released the dash-cam video of Gwen tasing the three officers. The more I saw her tase them in the nuts, the funnier it became. I mean, seriously, you could go to any social media site and find a whole library of videos of guys getting hit in the balls. Using a Taser raised the cringe factor.

I say ‘we’ because it was widely reported that Gwen was at the apartment complex to see me. Frank wouldn’t be happy when he saw how they put our pictures up side-by-side. Gwen’s was her booking picture with her hair going twelve different directions. Mine was of me done up like a surfer dude. It was a press-release photo that the J-drama had sent out to promote their show.

The one piece of good news was that the police had sent Gwen for a psych evaluation. My contention was that crazy was no defense for tasing even one guy in the nuts, let alone three. I had a feeling, though, that Gwen would never do any time. If Zander could order his driver to crash into the car I was riding in and get a slap on the wrist, surely Gwen could light up a few cops.

Now, if she were an average person, that would be a different story. She would be locked up for sure.

When Manaia and I saw the crowd of reporters at the end of the block, we decided to skip my run today. I’m not sure Fritz had enough security people for me to be able to run safely with all those reporters following me.

Frank made the executive decision that because I was in the news for having a stalker, he needed to be with me today. During the early sessions, the questions seemed to be evenly split between ‘Oh, my GOD! You have a stalker’ and ‘Oh, my GOD! You’ve been nominated for an Oscar.’

My responses were, ‘Stalkers are bad’ and ‘Oscars are good.’

Frank took off after my first generic interview to work with one of his other clients. My day became more interesting when I had my interview with Sports Weekly.

I walked into the conference room and found one of the new breed of sports reporters. These were smart, articulate young women who were beginning to break into the boys’ club that was sports journalism. I wished Tracy was here to meet her, as her goal was to someday fill that role.

She bounced up from her chair and put on a winning smile.

“Jordan Leahy with Sports Weekly.”

We shook hands and then sat down at a round table where she had her notes for the interview, a tablet, and her phone sitting out. She turned on her phone’s recording app and set it in front of my seat. I liked that she didn’t plan to waste my time with small talk and got right to the interview.

“You’re in a unique position for me to ask you about the NCAA and its athletes making money related to a student-athlete’s name, image, and likeness. One of my sources at the NCAA told me that they’re in the process of giving you a waiver regarding that,” Jordan said, obviously having done her homework.

“I need to stop this interview for a moment and get legal advice,” I said as I gave her my most disarming smile.

I’d signed a nondisclosure agreement and wanted to make sure what it covered before I got myself into trouble. My interpretation was that it only involved my knowledge of what the FBI was interested in—the shoe companies. Specifically, the shoe companies paying players in the hope they would become big stars and endorse their products after graduation.

“Why would you need to talk to your lawyer?”

“Because my eligibility is more important to me than answering your questions,” I said to put it bluntly.

“I agree. I don’t want to get you into trouble.”

She got up and left the room. I smiled when I saw that she ‘forgot’ to take her phone with her. I reached over and turned off the recording app.

I called Duane Morris, my sports attorney with Woodford & Morris. He suggested that I not confirm anything going on with my situation until it was finalized. We planned to talk when I got back home so he could give me an update as to his progress. Well, more like lack of progress in hammering out the wording for my waiver.

Manaia stuck his head out the door to let Jordan know I was ready for her.