#GayMiraculous

Chapter 2

Felix looked up when the door dramatically opened. Valerie Crespo. She was a great actress, but he never saw her at any of his mother's castings. She was very well known for her starring role on a fairly popular dramedy that had recently ended. Her agent was worried she would most likely be typecast. She needed to land a part drastically out of her comfort zone. If she didn't want to become completely irrelevant, she needed this part more than everyone else. With a compact in one hand and her overly complicated latte in the other, she walked down the hall. 
She scanned the room and frowned.

She noticed Felix and walked over to take the seat next to him. She sat close to him and he leaned away a little bit.

Some nobody had been sitting there, but a glare from her had the seat cleared quickly. She had to do something to mess him up. Violet Silva seemed to have integrity, but he was still her son. She lit up and smiled. "Felix Silva! I have been dying to meet you! You're just one of those people that I know I would get along so well with." She set her compact in her lap and got her cellphone from her purse. 

Everything happened so fast; Felix was definitely not prepared for Hurricane Valerie. He was wide-eyed from the selfie, flash on, and she planted a kiss on his cheek without asking first. He had to blink a few times and shake his head before he could answer.
"Uhh… hi?" He hoped his practiced charm would mask his uneasiness, and he scooched away as much as he could in the chair. "Valerie. You've wanted to meet me? Wow, that's really awesome. Your acting is on another level; I'm nowhere near as good as you." It was just something you say, a half truth. Felix wasn't anywhere near as mean as the backstabbing child actors he'd grown up with, but he couldn't care less that Valerie Crespo wanted to meet him. He did appreciate her acting and could learn a lot from her, but she was too much for his mild personality. Still, he had no reason to be rude or snippy to her. "I didn't expect to see you here." Honestly, he hadn't expected to see her at any of his auditions. 

Valerie nodded. "Yeah, I've been really intimidated by your mom honestly. Getting to work with her would be a dream... so I'm facing my fears today. If we get cast together... oh what a dream!" 

"Congratulations on facing your fears; that's really great." Felix would have told her that facing his mother wasn't so bad if he had believed that even a little bit himself. He was always nervous when he had to audition for her, despite all the practice he'd had. Maybe if he landed just one role his confidence would improve. He didn't even need to land a role; if his mother just gave him any other reason than "you're not ready" or "you're not mature enough to handle a project like this" then he'd feel validated.

She checked herself in her compact and started telling him about how he needed more of a public presence. "You need to start coming out more. There's no bad publicity and I haven't seen you at any of the parties."

No such thing as bad publicity, huh? "Tell that to my mother," he muttered. In his mind the only reason she kept Felix out of the public eye as much as she could was so that he wouldn't ruin her reputation."I don't really have time for parties," he shrugged. His mother made sure of that, keeping his schedule full. 

There was a girl seated further down and across from them. When Valerie made eye contact with her, she waved and looked so happy to see her. Her countenance fell when Valerie shook her head and sipped her latte. She leaned over and whispered to Felix, "But not her parties." She had done nothing wrong, but Valerie had taken her under her wing for a month or so. When the girl beat her out in a crime drama, three-episode deal, she was dead to Valerie. 

Felix's eyes followed Valerie's line of sight to the girl across from them. He smiled and waved to her just as she was looking crestfallen. "But I'm sure her parties are fine." Felix had never been to a party outside of the galas his mother hosted or she otherwise forced him to attend. Still, he was certain that a party was hard to mess up, and Valerie seemed unfairly critical.