Chapter 5

"C'mon, man, you just have to think about it, at least for a coupla days." Lonnie was walking to his car, Sharon trailing faithfully behind him.

"I mean, you know I love Reiko's work. And I love Jake to death," Brandon said, kicking at a stone moodily. "But I'm not too thrilled about having to work with that prettyboy."

Lonnie stopped in his tracks. "You remember when you first started out, son? Remember what people called you?"

Brandon blinked. "What's that got to do with anything?"

"A whole lot." His agent's face seemed dark and impassive, in the light of the parking lot. "Look where you are now. People would cut off their right arm just to have you in their movie. And if Jake had never given you that chance eight years ago, where do you think you would be?"

Brandon stared at him, sullen and silent.

"You'd be only doing commercials for nachos and gum, that's what." Satisfied, Lonnie continued the walk to his car. "So I suggest you think real hard about what you base your choices on. Besides, Packer ain't that bad."

Brandon couldn't help grinning. "Well, you're not the one who's gonna have to kiss him."

To his surprise, Sharon laughed. "I actually wouldn't mind. He's gorgeous. Have you seen him recently? He looks nothing like his Basketball High days. He's all rugged and scruffy now. Deliciously scruffy."

Although Brandon hated to admit it, his interest was just a little piqued. But damn if he was going to admit this to Lonnie or anyone else. "It's not his looks or whatever I have an issue with," he said grudgingly. "I just want him to not fuck up the movie."

Lonnie pressed the button on his car keys, and in the distance, his grey Saab beeped in response. "You'd better not fuck it up too, son," he warned Brandon. "Don't be so quick to judge people based on their choices. Think really hard. Or at least wait until Beth gets back before you make any decisions."

"Aye aye." Brandon sarcastically saluted Lonnie, who flipped him off before getting into the car with Sharon. Grinning to himself, he started walking towards his own car. Getting in, he mulled over the idea of getting a few more books to read before picking Beth up from the airport. Reasonable enough, right?

He drove out onto the main road, heading for the 405 towards LAX. What had happened at lunch kept replaying over and over inside his head. Scott fucking Packer. He couldn't believe that anyone in their right mind would put the two of them in the same movie. It would be like Ludacris recording an album with Coldplay.

But then again, Coldplay had recorded songs with Jay-Z and Kanye West. So maybe Lonnie was right. Brandon was being prematurely judgmental. He frowned. He never used to be like this, so utterly cynical and jaded. But that was what twelve years in the business did for most people. Any fresh, wide-eyed innocence could be wiped clean in three seconds flat.

Brandon had started out in bit parts in slasher movies at first, then scored a minor role in some pilot as a Harvard-educated hacker. Sadly, the pilot had crashed and burned, so the series was never scooped up. He continued to languish in more bit parts and one-liners, right up till when Lonnie told him that Jake Klosterman was shopping around the idea of making Catcher In The Rye into a movie. Hundreds of actors, both established and obscure, auditioned for the lead role, but for some weird reason that Brandon could only explain as a miracle, Jake and the studio went with him, a relative unknown.

Thankfully, Jake's gamble paid off, especially when Brandon was nominated for an Oscar for his portrayal of Holden Caulfield. It was only later that Jake would explain that he had seen that doomed pilot of Brandon's so many years ago, and he had been impressed enough to go with a young, wet-behind-the-ears kid out of Missouri. So it was all chance and a good dose of luck that Brandon's career had taken off like that.

Never once had his family ever let him believe his own hype, even when people started calling him the next Johnny Depp and Sean Penn. He had Mom and Beth to thank for keeping his head out of the clouds and out of his own ass, and he really wouldn't have it any other way. He was at a good place in his life now, even if he was single ever since he and Rebecca had split. Dating wasn't a problem. He was more concerned about work, as well as his mother. Treatment was going well, but then a relapse at any time was possible. Still, Beth was almost always at her side, and so was he, whenever he wasn't filming.

The thought of Beth made him glance at his watch. To be honest, he was glad that she was coming back. Then she could tell him her brutal opinion on the whole gay firemen fiasco.