Chapter 28

A month later and the shoot had been completed essentially as far as the studio building was concerned, Henry spending an expensive weekend, paying overtime to his editor and Joyce to go through the footage with him to see if there needed to be any reshoots. They found a few, Joyce making notes, while the editor made notes of what Henry wanted for the cut. The editor had worked on some early parts of the film just to get approval from Henry, making sure the young director and he were on the same page. As usual Connie chose wisely, giving Henry three options, an up and coming editor, an experienced one in his thirties and a wizened old cuss. Henry chose the middle option, and not unexpectedly, found someone who wouldn’t look down at his inexperience, was willing to accept some less orthodox approaches while in turn giving sound advice with things he thought might work better, which almost always had been accepted.

“One more week of shoots,” Henry decided. He’d asked the actors to be available just in case, even Mitch. Thankfully Mitch wasn’t needed, and he’d let Connie know to let Mitch know he was off the hook before calling the actors he’d need. He’d let the other actors know that if he didn’t contact them by the end of Monday, they wouldn’t be needed.

“You sure you’re safe with the barroom shoot?” Henry asked the editor almost pleadingly. It had been the most difficult and most expensive shoot, especially with all the extras required. He and George had been especially careful with it because of that, shooting extra takes just to be safe. Perhaps the best part had been finding a couple of cute girls, bisexuals, who either were star struck, or more precisely director struck, or they were coke whores. Henry didn’t care either way. It was hot watching them play with each other, and both, with some effort and patience, managed to take his thick cock without complaint. One of them even managed to stretch her lips around it effectively. Though he continued to have nights with Holly, a lot of times her taking his built up fantasies of Lindy who no longer wished to fuck him, probably having something to do with her no longer drinking, Holly had become busier with johns and with George and with Eddie, tending to spend nights with those two. He’d visited the cat woman a couple times, but she was too expensive to visit more often.

Speaking of Eddie, Eddie Cole to Henry despite calling himself Eduardo, Henry decided to hire him as one of Mitch’s gang of thugs, in fact the worst of them, the one who nearly killed Ariel and had been one of Mel’s harder nemeses, and had Joe flesh out his character more. He’d never been entirely satisfied with the guy Eddie replaced, too much of a tall drink of water, and though the guy was disappointed, he decided to remain as part of Mitch’s gang, Henry getting a kick out of two tall guys looming over the diminutive Mitch.

The editor answered Henry’s hopeful question, “We’re covered.”

“Great!”

Though more takes were required, it hadn’t surprised him, and there had been less than he thought there might be. The only real disappointment would be the delay in shooting the location scenes, at least two months before the chill set in Albany. Though probably not kosher, he decided to shoot filler basically, probably in Bakersfield, coming up to Sacramento for the state capital building, and he’d insert the actual footage later. He’d be able to map out the shots and the cuts that way as well as giving the actors a full rehearsal, thus making the actual shoot much quicker. Connie would make sure they got permission, but he’d want to get things done and in the can as fast as possible. Maybe giving him time to visit his old pal in that commune, and maybe Deidre, or Double D he called her in his mind to his own amusement, but though she was a great fuck, the whole no kissing thing made her less desirable. Even his favorite whores kissed him after all.

He recalled her saying she’d be in LA during the fall, and Henry thought it ironic they could very well miss each other being at each other’s coasts at the same time.

Joe had been busy the entire month, and the future looked to be just as busy. He didn’t mind. Being constantly creative seemed to accentuate his creativity, getting a real handle on the director thing, though Joyce had been immeasurably helpful, as well as finishing up Midnight Cowgirl, which he considered his best work yet. He’d even given a copy to Henry, thinking it might be a live action film with maybe Lindy in the title role and Johanna in the Ratso role. Although if it followed the comic, it would probably be as controversially explicit as the original Midnight Cowboy had been, which would mean extremely explicit in these times of somewhat accepted nudity and at least suggested sex, because he hoped Henry would share his view of the ridiculousness of modern sex scenes with the woman keeping on her bra and even her panties it seemed like a lot of the times.

As manager of Conspiracy, he’d broadened the geographic scope of gigs, burning samples of the concert, the two songs on the concert video along with a couple others since Rachel had also made sure those songs were available on You Tube, promoting views by recommending them whenever someone clicked on one of the label’s other bands as well as bands with similarities like early Chili Peppers, a few contemporary bands who shared funkiness and spaciness, and even the Runaways. Her description of the songs sent viewers to the Grass website for preorders of the album, single or DVD, soon to be actual orders of at least the latter two. Joe found it remarkable how high up she’d managed to place the recommendations for the music outside the label. All this had helped Joe get together a little tour of west coast clubs in early fall, most as the headliners: San Francisco, Portland and Seattle and then inland to Boise, Salt Lake City and Phoenix, finishing up in San Diego.

Rachel’s promotion combined with Brit’s usual networking brought more fans to the gigs in LA, the label allowing Joe to sell burned DVDs of the concert film, which would end in the next week with the Grass product being released. Joe made sure the sleeve, actually just a single sheet with the information on the back, included the Grass website. Rachel had also began working on a label tour starting after New Year’s, possibly earlier if the show could be slotted in, at large clubs or smaller auditoriums. Joe hoped it wouldn’t mean Minneapolis in the middle of winter for the sake of the band used to the warm climes of LA.

Rachel had also negotiated with Joe about putting out Piracy on an album, having seen them at the lesbian club. The club also wanted the band to play every Tuesday night, not the best night to gig, but Joe figured the bisexual owner hoped it would bring in customers on a usually slow night and he and Johanna agreed. Joe and the owner had celebratory sex after in her office. She’d managed to sneak Joe in a side door so Joe could avoid the man hating glares of many of her customers, a feed from a camera she’d set up let Joe watch the show on her laptop in her office, though he did sneak a view of some of the show through the door to the office cracked open. As far as the recording, Johanna didn’t fuss with the tight restrictions she demanded of the Conspiracy release. There’d be a CD along with the album, and downloading would be available.

The recording would be at the studio that Grass recommended, along with a recommended producer. The cool factor brought acceptance from Johanna and Joe, unlike the skepticism they’d have had from a major label’s recommendation/demand. The producer and the engineer at the studio ended up to both be full on butch, the producer and Rachel actually being in an ongoing relationship. Samples of the butch producer’s work and discussions between her and Johanna made Joe and Johanna not worry about the obvious favoritism, although neither thought the studio or the producer would be right for recording Conspiracy, the producer doing well with more acoustic bands, but the full on electric sounds of Conspiracy needed a more rock and roll place to record, and Jack had a few suggestions for producers and studios, something to be dealt with later.

Joe was busy sexually as well, happily getting nights with Lindy, usually twice a week, occasionally with Connie, Eduardo bedding either Holly or Trixie downstairs. When heading to Connie’s for nights with her, sometimes Joyce joined them, other times Joyce just getting a quickie after they finished up work at the loft, heading home once she’d gotten her needed orgasm. A bit of floodgates opening with her as far as her newly discovered or confirmed heterosexuality, though she insisted she didn’t imagine any other male but Joe fucking her, a matter of trust.

Joe and Lindy had a couple times with Johanna and Brit, once at the mansion after Piracy rehearsal, Lindy wanting to check the band out, and once after some more vocal work at the loft.

Brit had found her forgiveness of Joe being with Kate, and the two women had even started a friendship. Though opposites in character, Kate discovered Brit could be witty, more of an uncensored outburst than Kate’s much more calculated type, but hilarious nevertheless. Because of the thawing, Joe fucked Kate a lot more than either thought they would, after both Piracy and Conspiracy rehearsals, the former at the mansion and the latter Joe bringing Kate to the loft. They enjoyed their time together, Kate probably more, though no time resulted in them actually spending the night, but they tended to linger a bit after, cuddling and talking, the longest being at the loft when she taunted him into an angry fuck, perhaps needing more time to get back to their normal friendship.

Even with all the diverse fucking going on, Joe managed most nights just being with Connie at her place, marriage seeming to increase their affection for each other. They could not manage a honeymoon yet, the filming along with Stuart’s class kept the weekends busy with the animation and Connie needing to be available for Henry. That would change soon, Stuart’s class ending in a couple weeks and the studio shooting ending in a week, meaning nine to five Monday through Friday work on the animation and freeing up at least a weekend for Joe and Connie to go somewhere together.

“I want to go to Minneapolis,” Connie told Joe after spending a really nice Sunday evening together, checking out a new bistro on Melrose, coming home to make love, cuddling after.

“You’re kidding,” Joe laughed.

“You don’t want me to meet your parents? I’m sure they’re not thrilled not being invited to the wedding.”

“I should have kept mum with Steve when he called to check up on me. I told him we didn’t want to make it some big event and to let me tell the folks about it. I bet Lily let them know. She thought I was an asshole not inviting them.”

“Your parents didn’t seem too upset.”

“Typically passive aggressive,” Joe explained. “I didn’t mean for it to sound like a bad idea, like I would be ashamed for you to meet them, because I certainly wouldn’t be. Just that Minneapolis isn’t the first thing to come to mind for a honeymoon destination.”

“A weekend isn’t a honeymoon. We’ll fly off to some island resort when we can have a couple weeks together. But I heard Minneapolis is nice.”

“It is. It’s got some really nice urban lakes and lots of culture for a somewhat small city.”

“And I’d love it if you showed it to me.”

“I’d love that too,” he grinned, kissing her, soon becoming intense, resulting in an especially long making love missionary style, ending in fast and hard doggy style for Joe’s release into the last of Connie’s three. No more cuddling and chatting after, both flopping on the bed, exhausted, sated, sleep soon claiming them.

Freja hadn’t been part of their lovemaking for a while having found a mate acceptable to everyone. Even if it was obviously up to her whom she shared a bed with, having the bed be in Connie’s apartment made vetting somewhat a part of it. The guy being a complete nerd, though less like Stuart and Doug, for one taking his hygiene seriously and secondly he was a fairly handsome guy, cute Connie described him, acceptance had been a no brainer. A quarter Japanese, he resembled his namesake Sean Lennon perhaps because they shared similar lineages. What could have been attractiveness with the opposite sex had been prevented by shyness, especially with females, but geeking out on computers, especially involving animation and CGI, tended to dissolve that shyness which was why the two met. Freja sought out opinions on a problem she and Stuart had confronted, and Sean had been a part of that discussion group, Freja finding him the easiest to communicate with. When they traded locations, Sean ended up living in the same Palas Verde community as Joe’s brother, in a much larger house which his parents could easily afford unlike Steve, whose income, Lily’s actually, made for a struggle to pay the mortgage. Once establishing they shared the same city, Freja insisted they get together.

“You interested in solar vectors in relationship to plant cell biology?” he wrote.

Freja laughed and copied the words, pasting them on the search engine of the discussion group and found, weirdly, a years old meme on that very subject.

“Very clever,” she wrote.

He replied with his phone number which she immediately called.

“I’m Sean,” he told her since they used aliases.

“My name is Freja.”

“Accent?”

“I’m Swedish.”

“Oh wow. Cool.”

Freja giggled at his response. “So you want to meet up?”

“Uhm ... I ... uhm.”

“Shy?”

“Uhm ... Yeah ... I guess.”

“You seem to know the software.” She told him the make of the suite.

“Sure. I’m actually helping out friends on a more advanced version. More a partnership really, hoping to become independent animators.”

“So you’ll be our competition,” Freja laughed. “I think Stuart, my boss, might have looked at the fancier one, but the expense would have been at the edge of affordability, and Stuart’s a bit of a genius getting the most out of cheaper shit.”

Sean laughed, obviously becoming comfortable. “You speak English well.”

“Yes, I have always done well with the language, even better since I have been living here for a couple months. My best friend still struggles though.”

“Two months? A long vacation?”

“A long story Sean, which I will share with you once you come visit me, but I have a working visa which allows me to work here, on the suite to be precise, which perhaps you would like to come look at?”

Sean laughed again. “I will try to assuage my shyness around hot Swedish women.”

“How do you know I’m hot?”

“You sound hot.”

She giggled. “I like your voice too, though I hope you don’t mind saying you sound kind of young.”

“Eighteen and slow to develop. I just graduated high school.”

“What are your plans?”

“I intern at Disney. Third generation. Grandad was a top animator there by the time he retired and my dad ... went the business route. He’s an executive watching them accumulate money. I think Grandad wanted him following in his footsteps, got him an internship like I have, but my dad, with his foot in the door, had Disney pay for his business schooling and went that way. Grandad still knows some of the animators he trained there, though the technology has advanced since then, and he’d bring me by to watch them work.”

“Were they still doing gels when he retired?”

“No. In fact he was one to embrace the change while the old guard struggled with it. They were switching over early on in his career, and not all that well if you look at the transitional work, but he did the best he could with the primitive technology.”

“A bit low tech with the animation suite.”

“Just like smart phones, a lot of technology is packed in small places and has become relatively cheap. I actually hope my friends and I can make a go of it, because Disney is more a machine than a human construct, probably more like an assembly line where at least the robots have humans controlling them somewhat. You get lost working on a little widget on a giant metal thing pulled together at the end of the line, even if humanity, a human construct, appears to be the result.”

“So you wouldn’t mind checking us out?”

“I’d like that.”

“Great. Busy now? Or are you at your internship?”

“I’d have lost my internship if they caught me writing on a discussion page or talking to a hot Swedish girl,” he laughed. “There’s some big meeting this afternoon to which I wasn’t invited, probably not enough room with the army of animators here. Probably some rah rah teambuilding crap or maybe some new project which is actually a big deal here since they only put out like one full length film a year. Obviously I’m way too low on the pole to be in the loop.”

“I’ll text you the address. Just buzz the apartment when you get there and I’ll buzz you in.”

“Apartment?”

“You’ll see,” Freja laughed and hung up.

A nervous young man not much taller than Freja arrived an hour later. Freja calmed his nerves easily by directing him to the suite to help deal with the problem. Joe arrived an hour or so later intending to work on his graphic novel or polishing the scripts for later productions or whatever, seeing a budding friendship already beginning even if the two focused on the software. Sean being introduced as a trouble shooter Joe immediately had them working on the difficult opening credit sequence of the slow zoom in on the alley, depicting the rape and murder of Mel’s friend, the forensic study and the removal of the body, the clean-up with the stain remaining, Mel kneeling as if in mourning, her face becoming angry and beginning to transform, a comic book suddenly floating into the image and becoming the entire focus as if the camera had been a vacuum sucking it to it, and the dimensions of the frame reducing to the comic book.

“It’s beautiful,” Sean said, “But I can see a couple problems which I think can be easily fixed. The zoom’s a bit unsteady and the floaty comic book thing doesn’t really work. What do you think about placing the comic book near the stain and maybe having it at the center of the zoom? Could I?”

“Sure,” Joe said.

Sean grabbed the image of the comic book cover, cutting it before getting rid of the original and the floaty parts as he called them, then going to the beginning, pasted the saved image and reduced it until it was tiny and placed it a little above center, putting a slight shadow on it, making it a permanent part of the background. He shifted the image down just enough to put the comic at center. Next he managed to make the zoom take on smaller intervals while retaining the speed of the zoom making it appear much smoother. Finally, when the zoom ended up putting the comic slightly off center, Sean subtly moved it to center and brought up the original saved image of the cover with the reduced screen once the comic met the top and bottom of the screen.

“You’re hired,” Joe proclaimed, only half kidding.

“I’m actually working with a similar suite with a couple partners.”

“They bought the expensive one,” Freja added.

“Did you get what I did?” Sean asked Freja.

“I did. There’s actually another zoom when Ariel gets mortally wounded.”

“Uhm, before you go there,” Joe interrupted, “Maybe you and your partners could help polish things up?”

“To be honest, I don’t see any polishing needed. The work is impressive.”

“Thanks.”

“But if there’s something incomplete... ?”

Joe showed him some scene including the bar scene.”

“Oh wow, so many moving parts,” Sean chuckled.

“That’s the problem,” Joe said. “It’s going to take forever to have everyone moving so it looks natural instead of some cheap cartoon with everyone frozen.”

“Talk to Stuart, but I think my friends and I can get you there a lot faster.”

“We’ll pay you of course. We’re way within budget. And any time you give us a hand here, you’ll get paid including today. Remind me to get you a W-2 before you leave. And depending what Stuart says, we have many more projects like this in the future if your company ends up collaborating with us.”

“First, I don’t know how much time I have during the day. I’m interning at Disney.”

“Congratulations I guess, although I haven’t heard great things about how they handle and pay their animators.”

“A lot of them are true.”

“And we actually work nights since Stuart’s taking an animation class at UCLA this summer.”

“I’m working nights and weekends with my partners.”

“Makes sense.”

“But if we do agree to collaborate, that might become much more adjustable.” Sean seemed to say that to Freja. “I do have Friday off for both things, just because I wanted to have a day free.”

“Stuart’s with us all day on Friday,” Freja offered, “if you’re willing to give up that free day.”

“I might,” Sean grinned.

“Could you wait until Stuart arrives before you leave?” Joe asked.

“Sure.”

“And Freja, I think you deserve an evening off.”

“Thanks Joe!”

The table set, Stuart ending up fine with working with Sean and his partners after seeing what Sean accomplished and laying the barroom on them, the cute couple headed off for a dinner date. Freja didn’t even ask if he’d call his partners, because he did that on their way to the restaurant.

“So where’s the suite?” Freja asked Sean.

“Across town in Long Beach. My partner’s dad owns real estate there and basically gave us some space at the back of a warehouse. All three of our dads chipped in on the suite as an investment I think as write offs. I hope we make a go of it and can pay off the loans, but I don’t think my dad is expecting any return. He thinks I’ll grow up one day and get sensible like he did, go to college and get a sensible job.”

“You’re at Disney.”

“And probably will get hired there because I’ve demonstrated I’m willing to work hard and I’m a quick learner, not just nepotism. I’m also not the typical intern, creating a drawing portfolio. My skills are more troubleshooting, problem solving, like what we did today. But Disney has a history of being anti-union, and the relatively low pay and the overwork shows the power remains in the hands of management. It’s a rah rah culture, again from efforts of management, being a cog in the glorious system reward in itself, but really it’s a pyric reward, without any sort of generous pay or a decent health care program. Being third generation my eyes are well open to that, and I understand my dad’s disappointment that I won’t be following his lead, getting into the business side of things or becoming a corporate lawyer instead of sticking to the trenches. In other words college, getting advanced degrees, and gaining entry into the offices via nepotism, working my way to the highest floor like he did, getting a big house in a fancy neighborhood, sending my kids to fancy private schools. Unfortunately I prefer the trenches, being amongst the creative sort, and especially when I’m part of the entire creation with my partners.”

“You sound very educated for someone who just finished high school. Some of your words...”

“Sorry.”

“I got the gist of it. But it puzzles me why you don’t continue your education. It seems you would do quite well.”

“I have always been precocious with my studies, mostly digging deep into things that interest me. No social life helps, just a small band of mad friends. But I have managed to infiltrate classes at some prestigious universities with the help of my brother attending Cooper Union in New York and my sister at Stanford, an advantage of being the youngest, and I’ve even taken advantage of my Dad having his alma mater being UCLA. Getting syllabi of courses, slipping into discussion groups around the classes and some hacker skills, I have been continuing my education without matriculating or ending up with some degree.”

“Two of the smartest people I know, Joe and Stuart, both dropped out of college, to pursue more practical things I guess once they started selling their games. It seems I may be following their lead if I don’t return to University in Sweden, although I may try matriculating here in order to extend my visa.”

“Or you could marry me.”

“A bit presumptuous,” Freja laughed.

“Sorry.”

“Perhaps we should get to know each other a bit better, see if we actually want to be around each other, before you start proposing.”

“I can already tell I like you.”

“I like you too Sean. How many girlfriends have you had?”

“I have friends who are girls, and I’m not a virgin, but no girlfriends.”

“So you just slept with someone?”

“Slept, no?” he blushed. “It’s a bit sordid.”

“Then you have to tell me!”

“You sure? I’m not certain I would want to hear about your past sex life.”

“Except recently, mine doesn’t sound nearly as interesting as yours.”

“Does recently have to do with Joe?”

“I thought you didn’t want to hear about it. Why do you think I’ve been with Joe?”

“The way you look at him. How comfortable you are when he’s close to you.”

“Does that bother you?”

“Like you said, we haven’t had a chance to get to know each other.”

“Yet, Sean. We haven’t had a chance to get to know each other yet. Yes, I’ve been with Joe, and it has been a lot more interesting than anything in my past, but you should not worry about him or be jealous.”

“Could you tell me why if you don’t mind?”

“I will, but your story first.”

“The first time...”

“Meaning more?”

“Like I said, my sex life has been sordid. You might have noticed I’m a bit shy.”

“Around girls?”

“I’m naturally reclusive, but yes, especially with girls, so the whole relationship thing, asking somewhat out, getting to know her, you know, slowly, gradually, before, you know...”

“Fucking?”

“To be blunt,” he laughed. “Like I said, I have friends who are girls, growing up with them, and it never seemed right to go beyond our friendship, maybe endangering it or maybe I just didn’t see them that way, that we’d be a couple. And it happened more than once where, almost incestuously, my mad friends coupled up and either just migrated away with each other or one or the other would break off not wanting to be around that person anymore whom they broke up with, proving it was a bad idea, but probably more I wasn’t comfortable singling out some girl, even an old friend, for a date.”

“Didn’t one of the girls ever ask?”

“That was even worse when I didn’t jump at the chance! She got over it I think deciding I was gay or something which I’m not by the way.”

“Good to know. Stop delaying.”

“Sorry. So it was fall of my junior year. I was in an advanced class, mostly seniors, one of my female friends and I the only exceptions actually, and midway through the quarter this striking girl, striking in the sense she had a very pretty face, her skin tone and dark hair suggesting southern European, northern Mediterranean heritage, and also not the least bit reticent about showing her significant curves.”

“Buxom?”

“Yes, and a butt to match which I confess I’d watch move in her tight jeans as surreptitiously as possible. Not large mind you, just well formed.”

“A connoisseur of the surreptitious glance.”

“I’m afraid so.”

“I’d say it’s a male thing, but I think we all do it.”

“Probably. Anyway, she sits next to me for some reason I can’t fathom. In class I’m less shy, choosing to sit up front. Less distractions I suppose. She tended to sit at the back maybe chatting with a friend, but probably passing notes because talking in class at that school was verboten. The note thing turned out to be most likely because she passed me one simply saying ‘Help!’ with exclamation point.

“I’d never been a tutor, shyness probably, the closest I got to it were study groups amongst my mad friends. Tutoring her frankly terrified me, and when, after class, handing me another note with her phone number she asked me directly if I’d help her. Being my usual self, speechless, blushing, retreating into myself like a turtle, I basically dash off, not even knowing if she was amused or disappointed.

“My classmate catches up to me asking me what was I doing with the school slut. Now I understand the unfairness of that, the double standard of the female slut and the male stud, my brilliant female friend even succumbing to it, but I have to admit the thought of the sexy pretty girl actually being easy turned me on. That night she featured in my fantasies.”

“You masturbated to her slutty body.”

“Yes. Afterwards, instead of passing out, I stared at an empty notebook page for a long time, finally writing ‘Trade?’ question mark and my number. Speechless as usual the next day, I somehow managed to pass her the note when she strode by me heading for her usual back seat. It stopped her and she took the desk beside me. She looked upset which freaked me out, confirming why I didn’t do shit like that. ‘Really?’ she asked quietly. I could only shrug, a sort of tight, turtle shrug. I couldn’t even get out an apology. I managed as best I could to concentrate on the lecture and the pop quiz at the end, but noticed her several glances my way, the anger lessening, her emotions becoming more circumspect. I somehow managed a tight, almost silent, ‘Sorry,’ before rushing out of the class again.