Housewarming party

The tea table in the hall was now piled high with three large plates of fried chicken and two boxes of pizza. Two bottles of coke and three dozen beers were placed on the floor next to it. Five young people sat around the table enjoying their dinner, which was also the first official celebration dinner after moving, and they also shouldered the responsibility of congratulating Hugo on his second role in 1992.

"Isn't there another roommate upstairs? Why don't you call him down to join us?" Hugo looked at the lively scene in the room and only then realized that the structure of the fourth floor also had three bedrooms and two living rooms. Before Joseph and Karl moved in, someone had already occupied one of the rooms.

Karl shook his head. "He's not here. Since he moved in these two days, I've only met him once. Most of the time he's not at home. He seems to be a music student, but I don't know if he's from the Musicians Institute or the University of California, Los Angeles." At first, when they first met, Karl seemed a bit rigid. Otherwise, he wouldn't have become a commander without troops after being abandoned by the previous two actors. But later, it turned out that Karl was very good at socializing and had a more lively personality than Joseph. He just took his work seriously and was stubborn. After spending these two days together, Karl talked more and became more familiar with Hugo.

"Studying music?" Hugo raised an eyebrow and looked at Alex. "You're not from a music background too, are you?" As he spoke, his gaze also went to the old piano.

Alex understood Hugo's sarcasm and waved his chicken leg, "That was left by the previous roommate. He said that some of the keys were broken, so it couldn't be played, so there was no need to take it away. I've been keeping it there, so I haven't thrown it away." After Alex finished speaking, he suddenly remembered the creation from the night before yesterday when he looked at Hugo. "It's you who look more like you're playing music. If you want to use it, you're welcome at any time."

As soon as Alex said this, both Karl and Charlize became interested. In fact, there have always been many talented people in the entertainment industry, but there are not many who are talented in every skill. Hugo had good potential in acting, which already violated the "handsome guy law." Did he also have musical talent?

It was Hugo's turn to wave his hand. "No, I can't play the piano." But he forgot that he was holding a pizza, and accidentally shook off all the toppings onto his jeans, even spilling them out, causing Joseph and Alex on both sides to jump up immediately.

Hugo hurriedly tried to pick up the toppings, but Charlize immediately stopped him with a stern voice. "Hugo, your hands are so greasy, don't wipe them everywhere, use a tissue!" This stern voice scared the four big men, and Charlize realized that she seemed to be overreacting, so she quickly saluted, "I'm sorry, I..."

Upon seeing Charlize's serious and tense look, Hugo immediately chuckled shyly, took the tissue paper Charlize handed him, and picked up the scattered filling around him before throwing it into the trash can. He then casually said, "Are you sure you don't have OCD?"

"Oh, no no, it's not that serious," Charlize replied, relieved that Hugo had changed the subject. She noticed that all four guys were now paying attention to her and quickly shifted the conversation, "Hugo, you said you can't play the piano? Is that true?"

Hugo saw the eagerness in Charlize's eyes and knew she was trying to change the topic. He chuckled but didn't call her out, and went along with the flow, "I can play, but very badly. So I'd rather say I can't to avoid embarrassing myself."

"Even if you do embarrass yourself, it doesn't matter. A handsome guy playing the piano is a dream come true for many people," Charlize said with a smile, relieved that the conversation was going well.

Hugo looked surprised, "You're not still stuck in a prince and princess fairy tale, are you? That's so cliché."

"So what? I'm a girl, and you're a guy. Don't you know that men and women think differently?" Charlize didn't refute or admit, but crumpled the tissue paper in her hand and threw it directly at Hugo. Unfortunately, the paper was too light and fell to the ground halfway.

Karl, who was sitting next to them, noticed that Hugo and Charlize seemed to be having an argument and quickly changed the subject, "Joseph, when will Hugo's new movie start filming?" This was one of the main reasons for tonight's dinner: Hugo was paying for it.

"The filming was starting in Burbank next week. But Hugo still needed to do costume fittings, so it might be delayed by a day or two," Joseph replied, thinking about this matter the whole time. "By the way, we have to go sign the contract tomorrow and then meet with Rob, Jack, and Demi to practice the script."

"So soon?" said Alex.

"Not really. The progress has already been delayed because the male lead wasn't confirmed until now," Joseph explained. "Jack also has another work contract to deal with, a movie called "Hoffa" directed by Danny DeVito. So the filming schedule might be a bit tight this time."

"Danny DeVito from "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" and "Twin"? When did he start directing?" CKarl was surprised. Joseph nodded and said, "He directed "The War of the Roses"."

This surprised Karl even more. "The War of the Roses" was a film that had been nominated for Best Musical or Comedy at the 47th Golden Globe Awards, and featured Michael Douglas. It also received high praise at the Berlin Film Festival that year. "I apologize." said Karl immediately. As a talent agent, he shouldn't have missed such important information.

"You see, I told you Hugo would get the job. Right, right?" exclaimed Alex excitedly, amusing Karl's downcast expression. "By the way, Hugo, how much are you getting paid for this project? How much did Entertainment Weekly pay for this information? Don't sell it for less than five thousand dollars!"

Hugo smiled and teased Alex back. He knew that tomorrow, the news of his beating Tom to become the male lead in "A Few Good Men" would land on the front pages of major newspapers, and his salary would certainly become the focus of attention. After all, this time he wasn't just a supporting actor in "Scent of a Woman", he was the lead actor.

Unfortunately, Hugo didn't know how much he was being paid, as he didn't have the luxury of being picky at this stage of his career. He left it all to Joseph to handle. Hugo looked over at Joseph, who held up his thumb, index finger, and middle finger, then said regretfully, "But they won't budge. They won't give you a cut of the box office."

This meant that Hugo would be paid three million dollars for his role in "A Few Good Men", which brought him back to the level of his "Hudson Hawk" days. This was mainly because Hugo was much cheaper than Tom, so Columbia Pictures wasn't too demanding. However, as Hugo didn't have any box office appeal at the moment, Columbia Pictures wasn't willing to let him share in the box office risk or the profits.

"Wow!" exclaimed Alex, which basically represented Karl and Charlize's feelings at the moment. Hugo himself was also amazed. Just a while ago, he was surprised to receive five hundred thousand dollars for his role in "Scent of a Woman". Now, he was immediately earning three million dollars as the lead actor. It was truly amazing.

"Don't think too much about it. Progress always comes step by step," Hugo said, patting Joseph's shoulder contentedly, indicating that he shouldn't worry too much about his salary. "You know, I'm still the current worst actor after the Razzies, but I've still managed to get work. That's the most important thing. I can imagine the look on Tom and Brad's faces right now..."

Joseph quickly understood that he was too greedy, so he smiled and asked, "How does it feel to defeat your opponent face-to-face and get the role?"

Hugo stuffed the pizza in his hand into his mouth, chewed vigorously, then raised his hands like a bodybuilder, showing off his biceps, "Call me Popeye the Sailor Man!" After speaking, Hugo jumped up and imitated Popeye's posture, taking steps.

This funny move immediately made everyone laugh and the atmosphere was very pleasant.

After dinner and finishing all the drinks and beer, it was already 11 o'clock. Joseph and Karl went upstairs while Alex went to take a shower, leaving Hugo and Charlize to clean up the mess in the living room.

Hugo picked up the pizza boxes one by one and noticed that there were mushrooms in Charlize's box, which she probably didn't eat. But unexpectedly, Charlize had eaten all the pizza crusts, which was different from most girls, which made Hugo laugh.

"What's so funny?" Charlize noticed Hugo's expression and asked.

Hugo shook his head, "Nothing." He still had a smile on his face, "Are you sure it's okay for you to stay here?" Hugo hesitated for a moment but finally asked the thing that was on his mind.

"Hehe, you're not a virus, what's the big deal?" Charlize stopped her hand movements, glanced at Hugo, and their eyes met in the air. This time, no one dodged or felt awkward. They just looked at each other quietly. Charlize continued, "If you're worried about that night, don't worry. It's already in the past. I think we're better off as friends. Look, aren't we getting along well? People say that there's no pure friendship between men and women. What do you think?"

Hearing Charlize's words, Hugo felt a little disappointed in his heart, but he quickly recovered and smiled, "I don't think there is, at least not that one night."

This made Charlize laugh generously and nod in agreement, "But maybe it was because of that night that proved that being friends is the best. So, with such an episode, maybe we can have a pure friendship between us?"

Hugo tilted his head and thought for a moment, then smiled and gave Charlize a light punch on the shoulder, using a street-style black accent, "Yo, man." After speaking, he even pulled his pants to show a casual look, but it didn't look like it. It just made Charlize laugh as she almost knocked over the pizza box in her hand.