The Hollywood Waitress

Chapter 2

                           

I finally reached the outside of my apartment and was met by a thumping baseline pounding hard against the door - there goes any chance of me practicing my lines again, I thought.

Bite your tongue Jen, Bite your tongue.

As soon as I stepped into the hallway, I immediately spotted Shirley (my flatmate,) dancing around the lounge to the sound of Offspring. Her red curls were in full swing blissfully unaware of my presence.

We’d been living together for about two years and had just about managed to keep the flat going, by combining our salaries. Whenever we were having a good month – we’d splash out on goodies such as Macs Gold beer. Shirley’s best friend, Cal would send it over from New Zealand where she was originally from. She swore blind it only ever tasted right if it came from there but I could never tell the difference. But then again I wasn’t really a beer drinking kind of gal. Wine was my poison.

Even though Shirley and I did get along pretty well, our personalities couldn’t have been any different. She didn't see anything wrong in partying five days a week. Her routine was usually to stumble in before dawn and fall into bed (my bed) and then would come the slurry renditions of Whitney Houston’s ‘I will always love you’. After a while she’d crash out with her arms clamped firmly around my waist.

 Unfortunately, her boyfriend Michael was out of town quite a lot so spooning me in the middle of the night had become a regular thing. She worked as a junior architect for a firm just outside of Hollywood and in her words -‘Loved the glitz and not so glamour of our downtrodden apartment'.

We lived in a place called Paradise Cove which was an obvious mockery. Unless you call bins full to the top and teenagers getting high on whatever cheap thrill came their way, paradise. And then there was Lulu, the dog that barked all day and most of the night.

But it wasn't all bad..

We lived in a place where dreams came true - - the place where people were turned into stars overnight and even from our smog filled apartment – we had hope. There was something magical in the stars, so shimmery and full of promise and such a far cry from the boredom of my home time back in Kansas.

I grew up on a farm with both parents and my two brothers Peter and Aiden. The most exciting thing that I ever remember happening was when Ompa (our goat) - gave birth to a new litter on the kitchen floor. Don't ask me how she managed to get inside the house - but I’ll never forget the look on Mom’s face when she made the discovery early one morning.

My parents made it abundantly clear that they didn't agree with my decision to move to Hollywood. It ruined their twenty year plan they’d already mapped out for me. I was to study medicine, law or some other boring subject and then come home one thanksgiving with my new boyfriend- soon – to – fiancée, in tow. He’d have to be some kind of a doctor or lawyer, himself, who’d spend half his time hiding his lothario past and fighting repressed oedipal issues. I appreciate not every doctor/lawyer turns out this way but I wasn't taking any chances.

So one day I packed my stuff, kissed Ompa goodbye and headed for the hills. I convinced myself I was going to be a star and figured that when my parents come to visit me at my penthouse on the billionth floor they’d soon change their minds.

But that was two years ago and still no breakthrough.

Although there was that time I appeared in a low budget commercial about ' birthmarks and other skin pigmentation disorders.’  Oh, and not to mention my high flying job as a waitress.

'You scared me half to death!' said Shirley, when she finally noticed me standing behind her.

'What kind of dance move was that?'

'It's called the spinning spiral. We used to do it back home.'

 'Don't give up your day job.' I said, turning down the volume.

'Hey! I was enjoying that.'

'Did you remember to go to the grocery store today?’

'Sorry Jen. Malcolm asked me to stay late again. I had to go over some diagrams with him for next week.'

'I bet he did.'

'What is that supposed to mean?'

'Nothing,'

Reaching into her gym bag, she brought out a small bottle. 'Look what I have.' She smiled.

 'Shirl's, it's only Monday.’

'So,’ she plonked herself down on the sofa and took a long swig from the bottle.

'I’m just saying. Maybe you should save the drinking for the weekend.’

'Jeez lighten up grandma!’

'I’m only saying,’

'Mark getting on your nerves again is he?'

'No he's not actually. '

 'So what's with the mood?'

 Grabbing my script from the hallway table, I made my way up to my room.  ‘Just keep it down.’

She muttered something under her breath but I didn't hear what it was, nor did I want to. I was too tired to deal with Shirley’s drama and anyway I had to keep my focus on auditions. If she was hell – bent on drinking herself to death with just about every alcoholic beverage she could get her mitts on, then so be it. My mission was to get out of the hellhole I was in and the audition seemed to be my only hope.

 I was rehearsing for the part of Gwendolin Fairfax from Oscar Wilde’s 'The Importance of Being Earnest'. It was due to run in all major theatres across Hollywood that fall and it was my absolute dream to even get down to auditions. I’d read the book and even seen the play a few years before and there I was auditioning for the part!

The problem was I couldn’t remember my lines – not a darn syllable! I was always pretty bad at keeping things in my head but there was something else, someone else..

Each pace I took, I kept seeing him.

The Stranger with the nice smelling aftershave - the sound of his voice stuck to my mind like glue. In the same way a snake can secrete its venom straight into your bloodstream. His words played out in my mind over and over. 'It's never just coffee.' 

I remembered the confidence in his tone and how it made me feel so invigorated. I kept telling myself I wasn't going to do this. No stranger was going to have this power over me. Especially, since I may never even see him again.

'When I see a spade, I call it a spade!’ I mouthed, triumphantly.

 And just when I thought I had it nailed, just when I thought Jennifer Flynn was back in business.

My thoughts turned back to the mysterious man with the sunglasses and his venom.