A Star is Born (12 page)

Without waiting for a response, I went into the bathroom and climbed into the shower in an attempt to wake myself up mentally for whatever was coming at me next. When I turned off the shower and pulled back the curtain, I jumped when I found Bill standing there, holding a towel and a stupid smile. “You are so beautiful,” he said.

“Of course,” I said for lack of anything else to say.

I dried off and got dressed. As I put my watch on my wrist, I felt like something was missing. Duh! I usually followed that move immediately by putting my cell phone in my pocket. I grabbed my wallet—it didn’t have anything in it, but I grabbed it nonetheless, since it had my ID. If any unexpected expenses arose on my trip home, I would be in trouble.

Bill had stood quietly, watching me, which was really disconcerting, but I refused to let on to him that I found it awkward.

“Ready?” I asked when I was ready.

“Yes.”

We walked out of the room and made our way downstairs to the lobby. Moira’s instructions had been simple: Meet her in the lobby together at 10:00 p.m. So at 10:00 p.m. we were waiting in the lobby, wondering what had happened to bring her across the Pacific Ocean and to require a late-night meeting. Whatever it was, it was not good.

The Come to Jesus Meeting

At precisely 10:00 p.m., Moira walked into the lobby of our hotel. Oh crap! But she was not alone. Trailing along behind her, looking like a kicked puppy dog, was the man I had come to loathe over all other men on the planet. Why did this man have to come into my life? And why the hell couldn’t I get rid of him?

Moira waved at us, but walked right up to the desk clerk and asked to use a meeting room in the hotel. The woman behind the counter recognized Derrick (and Bill, for that matter) so she was exceptionally accommodating. “There is no one here from catering at this hour so I can’t provide any refreshments, but you can use one of our Executive Meeting Rooms.” She had a colleague take over for her and guided us there herself. Both Moira and Derrick thanked the woman, which made her day.

When we were alone, just Moira, me, Derrick, and Bill, we sat down at the conference table in the room. While Moira composed her thoughts, I glared at Derrick. Bill sat quietly by my side without saying a word, and without looking at anyone or anything.

“Mark,” Derrick said, “I know you must hate me—”

“What else should I feel after walking in to find you with my boyfriend? You’ve wanted my boyfriend since the first time you saw him. From that evening meeting around Moira’s pool when you stripped him with your eyes, you’ve admired him and wanted him. Do you think I was so blind that I didn’t see? Of course I saw. But I also trusted my boyfriend. Until I discovered that that trust was misplaced and that I couldn’t trust either of you.”

“I’m so sorry, Mark. I never meant to hurt you,” Derrick tried.

“You’re sorry! He’s sorry! Everybody’s sorry!” I shouted in fury, surprising everyone and making them all jump. “And I’m sorry too,” I said a little more calmly. “I’m sorry that I could be sleeping right now. And if you’ll all excuse me, that’s where I’m going,” I said as I stood from the table.

“Mark,” Moira said, “please wait. I asked you to come here. I’ve asked all of you to come here. And so far I’ve remained quiet. You may all leave—after I’ve had my say.”

I sat back down. I couldn’t refuse her anything, especially when I realized that she had dropped everything and flown five hours across the Pacific to come to my aid.

“Mark. Bill. You two know Derrick because of me. Derrick, you know Mark and Bill because of me. I’m the way you all got to know one another, even though you had some common history. And I feel responsible for this whole mess, since I introduced you to one another. I’ve come to love each and every one of you in different ways. I’ve also come to admire all of you. You each possess strength of character that is unique to you. You are all fighters and survivors. Bill, Derrick, you two have faced a hell that no one else can fully comprehend. And you have each survived that hell and come out the other side a stronger person.”

She paused for a moment. “So the two of you did something stupid. I don’t know why. I don’t care. It happened and it was stupid.” Both Bill and Derrick held their heads down, not looking at anyone.

Bill nodded. “I’m so very sorry, Mark. I’m so sorry I hurt you. I love you and would never—”

“You did,” I said quietly. “You both did.” I didn’t know what else to say, so I was quiet for a moment before adding, “You both hurt me. You have both left me confused, scared, alone, frightened, worried, panicked, angry, and half a dozen other things all at the same time. I can see why you did it—you’re both incredibly good-looking, hot men. You’ve been spending all of your time together. I can’t compete with someone who looks as good as that,” I said, gesturing toward Derrick.

Moira took the floor once again, because we had apparently gotten off the track she wanted us to be on. “None of you have asked Mark why he came out here to surprise you.”

Both Derrick and Bill looked up in anticipation of learning something new. Moira pulled something out of her purse and slid it across the table to me. “Happy birthday, baby.”

Both Bill and Derrick groaned in dismay. Both men had forgotten my birthday. I smiled at Moira with a hint of embarrassment but also pleased beyond belief. “Thank you,” I said very quietly to her. I was smiling in spite of the present situation. What she had slid across the table to me was an envelope with a card. I opened the envelope, pulled out the card, and read it to myself, smiling. “Thank you,” I said, rising to give her a hug. “I love you.” Don’t ask me where that last part had come from. She and I had never exchanged such words before, but it was the way I felt.

Inside the card, which was beautiful, by the way, was a gift card for $500 to my favorite online bookstore. She knew that I loved to read and as a student was always spending money on books, so she had picked the perfect gift for me.

“When is the day?” Derrick asked hesitantly.

I wasn’t surprised he didn’t know. Before I could answer, Moira did, “Today. He’s no longer a teenager.”

When Bill heard that not only had he forgotten my birthday but he had also missed my twentieth birthday, something he knew I regarded as a true milestone, he moaned again. I was no longer a teenager. That was important to me. Bill had his head turned away from me so I couldn’t see that he was crying (but I knew). I had lived with the man long enough to know how he worked and to be able to read him.

Moira spoke again. “Mark and I are flying back to LA together tomorrow afternoon. But before we can leave, we have to resolve this mess you two bumbling idiots have created. Now, how are we going to resolve this?”

“Which part?” Derrick asked. “There are so many mistakes I hardly know where to begin.”

“Good. At least you acknowledge that there have been mistakes. If you had said ‘I made mistakes’ I would have been happier, but with you I’ll take what little I can get.” Her words clearly stung the man. The two of them had known each other for a lot of years.

“First, you two are going to hire someone to think for you, since you both seem to perpetually have your heads in the sand. In particular, first, you’re going to hire someone to remind you when the birthday of someone very important in your lives happens. When they remind you, you will both take a day and go out—separately—shopping to buy him a gift and show him that you remember—even though you didn’t—and to show him that you care.

“That’s the easy one. And since I know Mark rather well, I think, I’m guessing that his primary concern is how we can have the two of you continue to work together now that we can’t trust you together. Am I close?”

“Dead on the money,” I answered her. It really was amazing how well she knew me.

“So, boys, what’s it going to be? As I see it, your only real option is to finish filming. I negotiate good contracts, but if either of you walk away at this point in the production you’d lose your shirt, not to mention that you’d be blackballed in the industry for the remainder of all time. Now, since I know Bill rather well by now too, I’m guessing that he suggested or will suggest that option—the option of simply walking away. But, baby, that’s not an option, since you’d lose absolutely everything in the subsequent litigation. It would be messy, and I couldn’t do a thing to help you.”

Bill nodded. “Yeah, I suggested that as an option. Mark said pretty much the same thing you just did.”

“That’s because the boy is smarter than either of you. Maybe when I can’t take dealing with idiots like you two anymore and retire I’ll ask him to take over my business.” This was news to me. I decided, given the way she had said what she said, that she was just joking. I’d leave it at that for now.

Moira looked at me, so I gave my imperfect idea. “Since we can’t trust them anymore, we need to have someone with one or both of them all the time to make sure that they don’t rut again like a couple of farm animals.”

“Exactly what I was thinking,” she said. Turning her attention back to the two chagrined actors, she said, “So, Mark has school, and I have to work for some of my other, less stupid clients, so neither one of us can stay here and watch you. So I guess that means that I hire someone to watch one or the other of you twenty-four hours a day. So prepare yourselves, boys, you’re about to go under the microscope. You will have someone shadowing you twenty-four hours a day. I want someone watching you while you sleep, while you shower, while you work, while you pee, while you eat, while you—”

Derrick interrupted her. “Is that really necessary?”

“Yes!” both Moira and I answered simultaneously. “Apparently so,” Moira said. “And you two will split the cost of these people. But they will report to me or Mark—
not
to the two of you. You cannot tell them to go away. You cannot tell them to quit. You cannot tell them to ignore something that they’ve seen.”

She was on a roll, so she continued. “Bill, you’re moving out of Elmer’s house immediately. You will find your own place somewhere else for the duration of the filming. You two will not see one another or communicate with one another except on set during filming. No meals together, no evenings at a bar, no trips to the beach together, no weekend outings of any sort. No meals of any sort. No refreshments of any sort. You two are simply to not have any contact outside of the set. Any questions?”

“Same one I asked before—is this really necessary? It seems like extreme overkill to me. So we made a stupid mistake. It was a one-time thing.”

Moira leaned back and looked at Derrick. “Tell me what happened. I want to hear you describe what happened, how it happened, why it happened. Go ahead. Tell me.”

“What happened is that I made a stupid mistake. It had been a miserable day of shooting. I was frustrated. I was lonely. I was down. He was talking about missing Mark. I pushed him to tell me what he missed about Mark. He started to get hard.”

Derrick stopped at that point, looked at me for the first time, and said, “You did that to him, not me. You think you can’t compete with me. You’ve got that backwards: I can’t compete with you. Half the world thinks I’m sex on two feet, but
you
got your boyfriend hard, not me.” Momentarily, I felt at least slightly better, but only slightly.

He looked down for a moment. “I’d had a couple of drinks. I was horny. I was on my knees, rubbing him. He tried to push me away, but I was persistent. It was you that got him fired up and excited; I was just the receptacle. And you know the rest. Except for one thing: I’m sorry. I’m so very sorry, Mark.

“And Bill, I’m sorry that I put you in an awful situation. The two of us seem to have some chemistry on the screen that is incredibly unique. We can’t let my stupidity stand in the way of us working together. Working together, we have the chance to do some amazing films. I feel that our work is getting stronger and is going to make history in the movie industry. Already, when people talk about either of us, it’s always about the two of us together. We work well together.”

Looking at me, he said, “I apologize for my stupidity. I never meant to hurt you, Mark. I love you, man. You two have been a lifesaver for me. Your mom saved my life. I owe her and you more than I can describe. I never meant for it to happen. I’m sorry it happened. And I apologize for any pain that I’ve caused you.”

I considered his words and then nodded. “Thank you.” Turning to Moira, I added, “Your idea sounds reasonable to me. Where can we hire people who will be loyal to us who will monitor these two for the duration of the filming?”

“I’ll take care of that. And now, I’m exhausted and I have to get to bed to get some sleep. Mark, you’ve got our flight information?”

“Yes. I’ll see you on the plane tomorrow, if not before,” I confirmed.

“Good night, gentlemen.” And she was out the door, leaving the three of us together.

“I’m going to bed too,” I said as I stood up and turned to leave the room.

“Mark,” Bill said.

When I stopped and looked at him, he asked, “Can I come with you?”