LIMERENCE S1: Hit The Sack 0.1

December, 20 1993

Manhattan.

The sirens of police cars wailed in the middle of the night, providing music to the crowd of people who were in the middle of an argument to see what they were witnessing under the snowfall. There were also several sheriffs who were pointing their guns at a phone booth right at the intersection. That's exactly where the tension began.

The cold tip of the gun exceeding the air temperature touched a girl's temple, increasing the fear in her. Meanwhile, a man with a revolver, the hostage-taker, showed a calm gesture.

"Try to shoot, and this girl's head will get a hole in it." he threatened, taking a drag from his cigarette and throwing it onto the asphalt before stomping on it.

The shocked faces of several sheriffs racked their brains to immobilize the man without hurting the girl he was holding hostage.

"Out of the way!" he ordered, tightening his arm around the girl's neck, his finger at the ready to squeeze the trigger.

There was no choice but to release one criminal to save one victim. The sheriff slowly lowered the gun. A lame smile repeated on the man's handsome face. He exited the phone booth while dragging the hostage. Nimble blue eyes scanned the situation, just in case a sheriff stole a shot in his absence. There might be a sheriff who stole a shot when he was off guard.

The girl squealed as her body was pushed into the car, followed by the man without removing the muzzle of the gun from his hostage's temple for a second. Rushing to start the engine, the man started the engine and stepped on the gas pedal. The mercedes-benz drove blindly on the snowy slippery road, crashing into the sides of the cars in its way.

Instructions from a director defused the ongoing charade of tension. The man in the sheriff's uniform and the civilians who were extras in a movie simultaneously put on smiling faces. They dispersed to do other roles, because the scene of the kidnapping of a girl by a man with a gun in a phone booth was over.

Some of the crew went about setting up the location. Soon, the actor who had played the role of a kidnapper with the victimized girl arrived. The makeup artist approached, smoothing the light makeup on his face and hair for a while.

"One more scene, and today's shooting is over." said the middle-aged man wearing a gray ivy cap on his head, with a red plaid shirt and black pants. Sitting on a folding chair, he stared at the screen showing the camera crew's footage.

The actor just nodded. The scene he had to do next was more difficult than the previous one. Shooting backwards while standing in an open car door in a chase between the kidnappers and some sheriffs.

It's not that they didn't have a stuntman to replace the actor when doing dangerous scenes, but the actor wanted to do his own scene. The reason was to deepen the role. Although the manager and the director had opposed it, they could not undo it.

Once the business of his appearance was done, the young man approached the girl who was his co-star in this movie.

"Did I push you too hard?" he asked, checking the wrist of the beautiful brown-haired girl.

Alice, the girl's name, looked up at the young man after her wrist was gently grasped.

"No, I like your way, it's very animated." she replied, looking deeply into the boy's blue eyes.

Joey smiled. "You can't praise me too much, I'll grow a big head." he said, ending with a crisp chuckle.

The two spoke a few more words, then proceeded to shoot the final scene for today's shoot.

Joey James Carter is an actor who has been on the rise for the past two years. Eighteen years old, he has already won two EMMY nominations in the categories of emerging actor and lead actor in a television series called A Genius Criminal. Achieving high ratings, season two was made again this year with Joey in the lead role.

Along with Alice Garwood, a former child actress who will later become his love interest in the television series.

Playing 23-year-old Kevin Richardson, the antihero protagonist. Upholding justice in his own way; going into the field to take care of the bad guys, just like the famous hero Batman. However, he has a Joker-like personality. Cunning, manipulative and vigilante in the way he works. Kevin kills those who commit crimes on the spot without giving them a chance to repent.

"The world is cruel and full of injustice. If you want justice, you have to be more ruthless."

A quote from Kevin Richardson that made Joey interested in accepting his role when first offered by the director.

The audience praised Joey's perfect acting to play an antihero protagonist like Kevin. So Joey praised Charlie Douglas for creating a character like Kevin Richardson, the director and scriptwriter of this movie.

Buildings soar high into the sky, adorned with twinkling lights. New York City is a feast for the eyes for everyone who craves modern life. Everything is centered here, Time Square. With a bored expression, Joey stares at the building as he passes by.

The car carrying the young man finally arrived at its destination. Joey, who was on the borderline between consciousness and sleep, was tapped on the shoulder by the person who had been driving.

"Joey?" called Sheira, his personal assistant.

Joey gasped, looked around, the location was the basement of the parking lot of the apartment building he lived in.

"You look tired than usual." The woman who was three years older turned off the car engine. She could almost do everything, being a driver, a friend, and also a sister who even knew Joey's condition without the young man telling her.

With a faint smile, Joey just waved his hand briefly.

"Get some rest, I've arranged your schedule so that you can relax more until tomorrow." said the woman with shoulder-length dark brown hair, worried for sure.

They got out of the car. Joey stretched his arms, warding off sleepiness at least on the way from the basement parking lot to his apartment unit upstairs. While Sheira carried some of her belongings.

"Thank you for your concern. Don't forget to pay more attention to your own health."

Sheira smiled. "I guess it's my duty as your assistant."

"You're the best," Joey praised, taking out the card for the key to open the elevator. It was also the same key used to open the apartment unit where he lived.

Once inside the elevator, Joey was facing close to Sheira, the young man grabbed her by the scruff of the neck and brought the woman into a kiss. It was the last few seconds of the scene before the elevator doors closed.

As they left, the windshield of the black sedan that was parked first was opened, not far from Joey's car. The driver was a man, sunglasses perched on his sharp nose. Staring towards the elevator where Joey and Sheira disappeared from sight.

*

"Don't you want to rest?" Sheira asked. She headed for the large closet, while her eyes continued to watch Joey's activities from earlier.

Once inside the apartment, the bathroom is the destination. He relaxes under the cold shower for a few minutes. Joey put on his blue bathrobe, grabbed a bottle of orange juice from the freezer and went back to his room.

Sheira was there, laying out Joey's few pieces of clothing and choosing what she would bring for the young man's change of clothes the next day. Suddenly, Sheira was distracted when a pair of arms wrapped around her waist.

 "Joey, stop!" She pleaded. But it was ignored. Sheira snorted, that was when he sniffed her nape.

"Is that how you treat an older woman, by ignoring her requests?"

Joey let out a long sigh, stopping his action of kissing the woman's nape. Despite the two sometimes being bedmates, Sheira considered a Joey Carter more like a younger brother than friends with benefits. The relationship between artist and personal assistant was only during work time.

"Stop talking about age between us!" Joey pleaded.

Sheira smiled. Joey's clothes were already taken care of. The woman turned around to face Joey fully. "Go to bed, wear your nightgown, don't just wear this bathrobe. You'll get sick." One hand stroked the young man's blond mane.

Joey took Sheira's hand, giving each finger a light kiss. While his blue eyes continued to stare at her hazel bead.

"Do as I say, okay?" Sheira withdrew her hand from Joey's grasp. Handing over a set of pajamas, which Joey reluctantly accepted.

"Don't stay up late after I leave. You should rest until tomorrow because you have a busy schedule the day after tomorrow." Sheira advised like a sister. She gave Joey's left shoulder a light pat and then passed in front of him.

Joey knew very well that his schedule was tight, let alone some business with someone who was always draining. He obeyed Sheira's words and changed the cloth he was wearing, bathrobe to pajamas at his place.

Sheira returned after Joey had buttoned his pajamas. The woman excused herself to go home, her work hours were over for today. Sheira works for Joey between seven to eight hours with a non-monotonous schedule. As a personal assistant, the time she works depends on the actor's own responsibilities, because her job is only to take care of his appearance and needs. Meanwhile, Joey's work as an actor is taken care of by his manager.

"Don't want to spend the night?" asked Joey showing his sweetest smile.

Sheira knew the meaning behind that smile. She smiled back with a symmetrical, even smile. "Don't tease me, brat!" She turned around after stealing a pinch on the young man's cheek. "See ya!"

Joey nodded. The smile on his lips slowly faded as soon as Sheira's figure disappeared from behind the door. The room was suddenly quiet, there was the sound of the mattress when Joey tossed his body, then it was quiet again.

In silence, Joey stared blankly at the white ceiling of his apartment. The solitude calmed him down, but also made him feel empty.

The vibrate of Simon's IBM-branded smartphone on the table called out to Joey, before the young man fell asleep hugging himself and dreaming of the past. Joey lazily reached for it, seeing a message from someone.

Among the many things Joey hated, she came without giving any news. Asking Joey to return to a childhood where the world was gray. It was him, a nameless number on the screen of his smartphone from last year. A line of paragraphs ordered him to go to the basement, there was already someone waiting for him there. 

Joey let out a long breath. He quickly got up from his bed. The worn black pea coat that had been neglected for three days was placed on the back of the maroon sofa in the corner of the room. Joey grunted as he inhaled the smell of alcohol that still clung to the fibers of the fabric. He didn't drink, but he was surrounded by people who did.

Too lazy to think about appearance, the black bowley hat was useful enough to cover half of the face. A pair of boots stepped rather hurriedly as soon as the owner left the apartment.

A man in a black BMW car was waiting in the basement, Joey looked at the man who was also staring at him while leaning on the stamp of the car engine. Without saying much, he opened the right side of the car door for Joey. The young man got in followed by the man and the car accelerated to its destination.

 They arrived, now standing in front of the dark brown painted door, which was on the top floor of an elite building that stood tall in midtown Manhattan.

Joey walked straight in when the man reached out to knock. Inside the dimly lit room, a man stood with his back to the room, his hand clutching a wine glass as he gazed at dozens of buildings through the thick glass wall that encompassed the outside world.

The man turned to Joey who stood three meters away from him. His face was handsome with a solid jawline covered in fine hair that was mesmerizing.

A sharp hazel bead gaze, with a sharp nose. Voluminous lips forming a symmetrical line looked at Joey's figure who was also staring at him through a flat look. Without asking, the man knew that the young man was upset with him.

"Accompany me to drink!" His baritone commanded. An annoyed sigh escaped the young man's lips.

"You sent your subordinates to fetch me, just to accompany you to drink?"

"Why, it's like you never do." The man made his way to the long sofa, placing a glass on the glass table where several bottles of wine were already available. Casually pouring the red liquid into the glass, he leaned back and took another sip of wine.

"Sit down and take off your coat!" he ordered. 

Joey stayed where he was.

"Dom, I'm tired, I want to rest." Joey said, his voice rising, echoing in the impermeable room.

"If that's the case, why don't you obey my orders? I could make you even more tired than you are right now."

With a deep breath, Joey took off his rough coat and threw it in a random direction, leaving only the pajamas he was wearing-before sitting down beside the man's left side. A sturdy, muscular arm wrapped around Joey's shoulder so that there was no space between their bodies.

 "Want a drink?" He offered Joey who was forced to comfort himself in the embrace, knowing that the young man did not drink, just talk. No matter that the young man was already in his late eighteenth year, in the eyes of this man Joey called Dom, he was still an immature child who was used to drinking chocolate milkshakes before bed.

Joey stared at the bottle of 1968 wine for a while, thinking; would a sip of it make him unconscious after this? Let him not accompany the man for the rest of the night.

"Give it!" He snatched the glass from Dom's hand. His nose wrinkled, a smell he never liked. Then took a sip with a furrowed brow. It wasn't the taste, but the sensation as the liquid ran down his throat. Joey almost choked on it.

Dom chuckled softly and picked up the glass that had a little wine left in it and drank it down. Dom did not tolerate rejection, especially when he grabbed Joey's jaw and poured the remaining wine from his mouth into Joey's mouth.

Too tired to resist, Joey reluctantly accepted, this time gagging as he swallowed the last sip. His hands gripped the man's strong arms.

Dom was in a good mood tonight, he didn't do anything to the young man but let his thigh become a pillow for Joey's head.

Before long, Joey fell asleep. His expression was peaceful even though it implied tiredness. He had worked too hard these past few weeks. Dom's left hand moved, stroking the young man's blond mane as he returned to savoring his wine.

As the night wore on, in the silence Dom gazed out over the large glass wall that displayed a view of the metropolis that never slept.

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