“So, you think she’s all but asking me to have sex with her? Well, I guess in a way she did when she asked if I’d give her a ‘happy ending.’ I mean, there’s a bit of an age difference, and I’m seeing you,” I said.
“You’re worried about me, aren’t you?” Halle asked.
“Of course I’m worried about you. I care for you very much, and I’d never do anything to hurt you.”
“And I care about you, but we’re a lot more friends than anything else right now,” she said and saw my worried expression. “When you told me you weren’t ready for a girlfriend, I was hurt at first. But it turns out that you did me a huge favor. I’m too young to be in a serious relationship. And I’m sorry, but Pam reminded me that my own mother had Trip when she was sixteen. I love you to death, but I can’t have a hold on you now. It wouldn’t be fair to you, or to me.
“I love the time we spend together. I know you spend time with other girls, and they all have only good things to say about you. Heck, I expected that you’d be out enjoying the Hollywood lifestyle more than you have. All I’ve heard about is you with Leah and the makeup girl. I’m sure you’ve had other opportunities. Trip told me about those girls at the beach and how you could’ve been with any of them if you’d wanted.
“I guess what I’m saying is, I want you to have no regrets about your time here. While this may sound weird, if you can help my mom, I’d be pleased if you did. I obviously don’t want to know about it, but I love my mom and get worried about her. If she trusts you enough to get her release, then please do,” Halle said.
“I don’t know if I can,” I admitted.
“Look, you’re a lot like my dad, as creepy as that sounds. He was someone to be reckoned with.”
Halle looked down at her hands, then back up at me.
“I watched you at the movie today. There were many influential men in the room. What I’ve seen, though, is that you’re the most dominant male in any room. Everyone is aware of where you stand and seems to defer to you, though it doesn’t seem to be conscious on their part. I saw it again today, even when you were among all those powerful movie people.
“What’s more, whatever it is you do, it isn’t an arrogant thing or something you do to hide any insecurities. You wear it like the jeans and t-shirts you love so much, and I think you’d seem clothed walking around a cocktail party nude. My dad was like that. I know my mom was attracted to him because he was a powerful man. I’m sure she’s attracted to you for the same reasons, and I know she trusts you. Heck, she trusts you with me,” Halle said with a smile.
“So you’re telling me that you’re letting me off the leash to plunder all the beautiful women of LA, including your mom in particular?” I asked.
Halle laughed.
“Yes, I hereby release the hound. Go get up to no good and have fun. Just don’t forget about me. I expect my time as well,” she said and then turned serious. “David, I’m half in love with you. Someday it might be different. For now, I want you to be my friend and lover. Do you think you can do that for me?”
I cringed at the ‘someday’ comment.
“Do you think I’m a slut?” I asked.
“Only the best kind. Like I said earlier, in the right light, you’re even cute. And even though we tease you about it, your butt’s just right!”
Halle laughed delightedly, her eyes crinkling in amusement, and I smiled back at her gently.
“I’m glad we talked about this. I just told a friend he needed to have a conversation with his girlfriend before doing things that might be hurtful otherwise. It makes me feel good to know we can talk about stuff like this and have it work out in the end,” I said.
Halle wasn’t done yet.
“Something else I wanted to ask you. Caryn said you have a briefcase full of fancy sunglasses. Where’s mine?” she asked.
“Caryn has a big mouth. That was supposed to be your Christmas gift.”
“You poor ‘stupid boy,’ you can’t regift like that. You need to go ahead and let me pick out my new sunglasses, and I expect you to buy me a cool surfboard for Christmas. If you want, we can stop by the shop, and I can tell you what I like.”
“That would be helpful. When did you think we should do that?”
“Now would be good.”
I sent a text to Fritz, and he replied that he needed a few more minutes. I paid our bill and walked over to Thelma Yates’ table. Halle was reluctant to accompany me, so I just grabbed her hand and dragged her along.
“Ms. Yates, I’m David A. Dawson, and this is Halle James. I was wondering if you might do us a favor,” I said.
“David, Halle, nice to meet you. Are you in need of representation? I hear Saul’s hard to work with,” she said, and I could tell she was serious.
“No, but I might take you up on that one day. What I wanted to ask was if Channing Tatum might be interested in going out on a date with Halle?”
“David!” Halle hissed and turned bright red.
“You’re a funny guy. You do realize that he’s twice her age and married, right?” she asked.
“I didn’t know that, only that Halle thinks he’s hot. Apparently, I myself am just cute, and the light has to be right.”
I decided not to say anything about my butt being too big.
“Maybe I can get you a signed photo,” Ms. Yates offered.
“I know: Halle’s been asking me to find something for her Christmas present. Could you get him to come to a party and dance with her?” I suggested. “Of course, his wife could come too.”
“Have you been drinking?” Ms. Yates asked.
“No, he hasn’t. I’m sorry we interrupted your lunch,” Halle said and forcibly pulled me away from the table.
I looked back, and Ms. Yates had a little smile on her face.
◊◊◊
Halle had a lot of fun picking out her surfboard. She decided she wanted to have a nine-footer custom made. It would look like there was a giant wave breaking the length of the board. I was with her mom on this: I would rather hang it on the wall than surf on it.
When we were done, Halle wanted to go home and call her friends. I let her choose a pair of sunglasses. I decided to go ahead and pick out some for myself. They had a twisted design of gold and platinum intertwined along the top and on the sides. They were nothing if not unique.
I was putting the sunglasses away when I received an email from one of the writers. They were changing the script for tomorrow and had added a long piece of dialogue for me. I decided to go to the set and work with the dialogue coach so I’d be ready.
◊◊◊
When I tracked down our coach, I was happy to see Leah there. She was the one I’d be talking to in the rewritten scene. After the disaster with Faye when she unleashed her magic in the basement and caused the tornado, Adam and Diana had a long discussion about Cassie. It was the same argument: was so much power a bad or good thing?
I was getting better at memorizing my lines. I remembered when I first started, it terrified me that I’d forget them and make a fool out of myself. That was when my college professor had explained about multiple shots and elaborated on how they would work with me to help me learn my lines.
It’s funny what we think before we actually know how something like this works. I just assumed that you did it all in one shot and had to get it right. While that was true, in the sense that you had to get the dialogue on film, what I learned was that you could do the same scene multiple times. Depending on what Jessup wanted, you might have a long shot to establish the scene, one focused on just me, and another on Leah. Then another close-up on both of us, and if he wanted another from a different angle, that would be another shot. Then there might be reaction shots where you had to use your body language and facial expression to show how you felt about something said.