Chapter 15: Chapter 15

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Money for rent? Check.

Other living expenses? Double-check.

Jessi sighed.

Living right in the heart of Los Angeles was already bleeding her savings dry. Now her nest egg barely hung onto the $542 worth of cash she had under her name.

She'd actually spent two whole weeks aggressively hunting for quick side-jobs. She had booked two makeup gigs, but they didn't pay much.

Her luck gave her a break when Kel texted her about the swimsuit line. The audition didn't even take half an hour. The photographer and agent seemed to like her, too.

"Elanna." It was a fairly new Italian swimsuit and clothing line based here in Los Angeles. Kel said the company paid well, and even a newbie model would be highly compensated.

Jessi didn't doubt her friend and went to the audition the other day.

"Their demographic's mostly young adults and adults but they're not gonna ask you to pose nude. Trust me," was Kel's reassurance last week. The company owner was Enzo's friend, and the owner mentioned they're looking for non-Caucasian models who weren't a size zero.

Jessi tried her luck, and it paid off. The brand paid her a considerable amount of money for a long shoot on the beach. She had to model in dozens of sexy but well-crafted bikinis and one-piece swimsuits for the Italian clothing line.

Being a semi-newbie in the industry, she felt the nerves and awkwardness at first, but she enjoyed the opportunity. Especially the instant money she got paid: a whopping 720 bucks for three days of modeling work plus a commercial shoot. Jessi scanned the slightly edited photos.

Side-job done. No more photo shoots to lose weight for this month. Now she could eat whatever she felt like eating.

Unless the photographer or the casting agent called her up again for another photo shoot for Elanna. She should call her mom and dad and share the great news, but they're probably asleep at this hour. Jessi smiled and sat in front of her computer.

Research. Time to prep for her real job: the TV show. She had to brush up her makeup skills before they started filming.

Zach, their bosses, and the showrunners of 'Road to Valhalla' would be expecting the fairly young makeup and styling team to do their best all year.

She had to bring her A-game on the first day of shooting. Impress the production team and the big bosses. Work hard and get to know the cast. Make a great first impression.

× × ×

2:19AM

"Hey, Jess. How was the shoot?"

"It was great. Yeah. Everyone was so nice. We also shot a short commercial for their website," Jessi replied to her late-night caller. She didn't mind that Kel called this late. She had always been a night owl herself.

"Good, good," Kel muttered. Her voice sounded pinched over the line.

Had she been crying again? Jessi couldn't help but frown. "You okay? You back in New York with Enzo?"

"Yeah. He had to leave for Florence again. Family affair."

"I see." Thus her probably feeling emotional again. "He lives in Florence. Right? But he bought a house there in New York?"

"Yeah. His family's in Florence. He said he's just gonna check on his brother's girlfriend and their baby."

"Oh. Okay. By the way," Jessi said, pausing in uncertainty. They were definitely friends now but sometimes, asking personal questions still gave her some anxiety. "D'you tell your sister and mom yet? Does his family know? That you're having a baby?"

"I told my sister yesterday. She freaked out, to say the least." Kel sighed over the phone, sounding like she was sniveling. "I seriously don't know how I'm gonna tell Mom. But, yeah. Enzo told his family. Leo even sent me a bouquet with a greeting card and all."

"Leo?"

"Enzo's brother."

"Ah..." Jessi tried not to make a face. What advice could she give? She knew nothing about pregnancy that might help Kel, a soon-to-be full-fledged doctor. She knew a little about giving birth, thanks to her mom's personal experience.

But Kel might not even want to broach the subject at all. "Mommy's gonna pitch a hundred fits—I swear."

"Nah." Jessi chuckled, opting for a more nonchalant response. "She'll be surprised and maybe not pleasantly...but I'm sure she'll understand."

"Yeah, sure. But, sometimes she just..." Kel sounded more than ready to cry now.

"Enzo propose yet?" Jessi asked. If she distracted her friend with more questions, it might help Kel stay calm. Jessi also wanted to be sure of her friend's real feelings about her relationship.

"Not really there yet."

"Yeah. Don't rush it. I mean, obviously it's your call. But you're both crazy busy, and..."

"We just can't do it right now," Kel murmured. "Anyway, sorry for disturbing. You need to work in the morning? Just realized it's almost dawn over there."

"No. It's fine. I'm just doing some research. Hey. Did you get to meet your brother? In Calabasas?"

"Unfortunately, no." Kel let out a sigh on the other line. "Maybe next month. Or the next. He's a businessman, so, real busy all the time, too."

"Yeah. It would be easier if you had his number, though."

"I think Miles and Nicco know where he is."

"Miles as in your best friend in Italy?"

"Yeah. Nicco is his ex, used to work for Miles' dad and...mine."

"Huh. Interesting." Jessi nodded faintly, as if Kel could see her nodding right now. "How's your training, though? All good?"

"Been stuck here in our quarters all week. Just precaution, they said. But at least we're not doing ER rotations this month," Kel murmured.

"Why stuck? Precaution?"

"Yeah. We're simulating quarantine protocols all week. You been watching the news? About the new and strange flu-like epidemic in Asia?"

"I'm hooked. Yeah. Really weird." Jessi recalled the news she'd heard about just this week. She had been waiting for the latest updates online as well. "It sounds highly contagious. Like in that movie, with Jeremy and that actress... Ugh. Forgot her name."

"Yeah, that English blonde actress. That film's real scary, dude—it actually gave me nightmares."

Jessi chuckled. "No way."

"Yeah. Two nightmares in a row. It's gettin' crowded in here, too. So of course Enzo's worrying too much. But, anyway, he'll get over it."

"He should be. It's your first trimester and you're stressed out. Plus he's so far away most of the time."

"We'll figure it out. We need a better setup soon. Fingers crossed." Kel yawned. "Hey. Get lots of sleep and eat healthy. Don't overwork yourself."

"You should tell yourself that, Doc." Jessi used a less friendly, more sisterly tone now. She could tell her friend was still dealing with some anxiety regarding her personal problems lately and probably didn't get eight hours of sleep daily. Rather unhealthy for a pregnant woman.

"Duly noted." Kel giggled. "G'night."

"Get some rest, babe. You sound tired." Jessi checked the time on her phone, holding in a yawn. Only a few hours to go before dawn. "Night."

"Text or call you soon."

×××

"What d'you want?"

Jenson ignored the grim look on his friend's face the moment he stepped into Darren's trailer.  He glanced outside.  Coast clear.  He shut the door and locked it to make sure privacy wasn't going to be an issue.

Perks of being one of the lead stars in a big-budget TV show:  a personal trailer complete with amenities and a spacious bed for each of them.

Darren sat on his trailer bed with his copy of today's script on his lap, his medium-length hair restrained by a neat man-bun.  His dark beard appeared thicker than last time, while his fist on his thigh clenched.

"Before we even begin this talk..." Jenson sighed and ignored his friend's deep scowl.  They hadn't talked in days.  Probably why the guy was still pissed.  "Gotta be sure you're gonna tell me nothing but the complete honest truth."

Darren scoffed and resumed reading the copy of the script,  his last minute prep before they would have to be on set to start shooting the first episode of Road to Valhalla's latest season.  "I dunno what you want me to say, man."

"No bullshit this time."

"The heck you talkin' about?" Darren scowled at his retort, his jaw tensing up.  "Why would I lie?"

"I dunno, DJ. You tell me."

"Whatever." Darren almost rolled his eyes.  "I'm working."

Keeping up his patience with Darren was quite a chore these days, but Jenson knew they should squash whatever beef they had right now.  Their previous face-to-face conversation also reminded him of Darren's frequently self-indulgent behavior lately, especially during the days preceding a full moon.

If Darren actually thought of seeing a shrink, then he must have felt guilty enough for what happened to that poor girl.  It could mean the guy wasn't a total narcissist, or a psychopath.

A rather comforting thought...but it was merely an assumption.  Jenson pushed the thought aside as he took a step closer, mustering up more restraint.  He didn't want another argument.  At this point, he just wanted real, honest, definite answers from Darren himself.  "You said you got rid of her stuff."

"For cryin' out loud..."  Darren murmured before  throwing the script onto his pillow.  Then he shut his eyes and hastily rubbed his palm onto his tan face.  He breathed a loud sigh that hinted of his confusion and some annoyance.  "The heck d'you even mean?"

"You said you gave Magnus all her stuff." Jenson tried to keep a straight face when he smelled shame, disgust, and a bit of self-loathing.  Quite atypical for a young, virile half-blooded werewolf like Darren, but it was an important clue.

"I did."

"Really." Jenson eyed his friend.  They stared each other down.  The guy didn't even flinch for a millisecond—it was quite impressive.  "All of it?"

Darren averted his eyes and shook his head weakly as if he couldn't be bothered for a conversation.

Jenson kept silent as he stood in front of his friend, his expectations dwindling into sheer disappointment.

For some reason he wasn't made aware of, Darren was keeping important details from him...something about Ramona, the dead girl.

Jenson wanted to figure it all out,  but Darren didn't seem willing to broach the subject again.  "Wasn't the first time you met her, was it? At the party."

"What d'you even want me to say, man?" Darren pulled a face again, his dark brows and tan forehead furrowed with faint lines.

"What really happened," Jenson replied calmly.   A recent call from a trusted hacker friend of his informed him of Ramona's other phone.  The hacker confirmed that the phone was still working after pinging the device barely 24 hours ago.

Just as Jenson expected, the recorded last location of the phone was in the residential area where Darren's house stood.  Darren didn't even mention that there was another phone in the girl's purse.

"You and I both know the consequences.  Right now, I just need you to be honest with me, DJ."  Jenson stood still and kept his voice down, despite the loudening thoughts on his mind that threatened his self-control.

Darren ignored him and blankly stared at the floor.

"If you won't tell me everything, how can I keep lookin' out for you the best way I can?" Jenson let out a sigh, maintaining a mellow, fairly non-judgmental tone for his advice to come across as brotherly concern.

He shouldn't need to remind the guy of all the trouble he went through the past weeks or the money he wasted just to cover up their tracks.  They could get  prison time just for not calling 911 and for transporting the young woman's lifeless body out of that hotel.

Besides the CCTV footage scrubbing and the hefty payment to the hacker,  he was voluntarily risking his lifelong freedom and reputation just to help Darren out of the mess he just made.  Instead of being grateful or contrite, Darren couldn't even be honest with him.

"I don't need another reminder that I screwed up big-time. Okay?" Darren slapped his forehead onto his own hands and spoke louder now.

"Mind keepin' it down?"  Did the guy really have to raise his voice?  "There's people workin' right outside," Jenson muttered with his arms crossed below his chest.  He eyed his friend while trying his best not to scowl again.  "I'm tryin' to help you any way I can. But if you're not gonna be completely honest with me..."

"Fine." Darren scoffed, got up from the bed, and glared at him.

Jenson didn't have to make a move to maintain full eye contact.  He also smelled a stronger scent of self-disgust from the guy.  "Fine?"

"I still have her bracelet, and her other phone. But I deactivated the SIM.  Happy?" Darren frowned again and practically stomped past him to get to the other side of the trailer.

"What's on the phone?" Jenson sighed, curbing the growing urge to cuss out the guy for keeping secrets and not displaying even a modicum of apologetic humility for a wrongdoing.

"Why do you care?"

"Don't test my patience. Cut the bullshit."

"It's just some notes!" Darren groaned and started rummaging through the narrow cupboards above the small sink.  "And poems. Old photos. I dunno why you're makin' such a big deal out of it."

Big deal?  He thought it wasn't a big deal?  Jenson palmed his own cheek and faintly shook his head in disbelief.  How stupid could this kid be?

Heck.  The naivety both shocked and disappointed him, almost to an infuriating extent.  Actually he was trying his hardest not to grab Darren by his collar to slap and punch some common sense into the guy's apparently vacuous head.

He could definitely imagine himself calling up Magnus just to say: "I get it now" and then sighing in utter frustration.

It was more obvious now that Magnus had only been tolerating Darren over the past decade for being his wife's younger brother.  It was like dealing with a spoiled rotten teenager with an attitude problem and proclivity for tantrums.

"Do I really need to tell you to get rid of it?"

Instead of verbally responding to his rhetorical question, Darren glared at him from afar, then looked away after a few seconds, as if intimidated by their staring contest.  He sighed audibly.  Then he propped his hands on his hips before grabbing a bottle of water from the compact fridge.

"If the hacker can trace the phone's location in just days, other people can, too."  Jenson stepped away from the trailer bed to stand in front of his friend again.  "This is the last time I'm cleaning up after your mess. That clear?"

"Leave me alone," Darren mumbled after shoving him with some force.  With another frown, Darren plunked the water bottle beside the sink and unapologetically walked back towards the bed.  "I need to concentrate."

×××

"Zach's not coming."

"Why not?"

"He's busy looking for that girl, Ramona."

"I think he got a call from the girl's mom."

"Who?"

"The petite blonde at the party. You seen her recently?"

Someone gasped. "She's Darren's girlfriend?"

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Those were just some of the gossiping Jessi had been hearing all morning.  It raised suspicions but didn't particularly pique her interest. Not as much as their boss not being around today.

Instead of focusing on their jobs to do on this important first day of shooting, the makeup team had been gossiping about their boss and a young woman named "Ramona".

No one familiar to her, although Jessi couldn't help but listen in to her colleagues gossiping during their cigarette and coffee break.

Apparently, Zach and Ramona were friends and workmates before, and the two lived in the same town before Zach moved to LA.

What Jessi couldn't figure out was why they said the girl was reportedly missing.  Hence Zach being too busy to come to work today, and "looking for" that Ramona girl instead.

"Wanna know who last hung out with her at the party?" Mae, her fellow makeup artist, gripped her red coffee mug as they sat beside the corner table.  Mae's bright blue eyes widened in enthusiasm. She leaned forward to keep gossiping with Nikki, the other team member reporting for duty on today's shift.

Nikki was the same age as Mae and in charge of doing Margaux and Niko's makeup, while Mae was in charge of Kara and Jenson's.

Being the youngest and the least experienced, Jessi was tasked with Darren and the extras' makeup.  Not that she was complaining.

"No." Nikki muttered, her thickly drawn brows creasing. "You actually saw her? At the party?"

"Yeah. I told you. I was there all night with Zach." Mae put down her coffee mug, her muted voice almost a whisper.

"What party again?" Jessi asked. She felt so out of place right now, but she didn't want to be deemed a snobby loner, especially not on their first day on the job.

"The after-party," Mae replied curtly before focusing on Nikki again.  "Anyways, I saw the girl hanging out with one of the guys." Mae spoke in a hushed voice again, fixing her neon pink hair into a ponytail without breaking eye contact with Nikki.

"OMG! Who?" Nikki gasped. Her voice wasn't as high-pitched as Mae's, but her apparent curiosity made her sound like she was squealing in excitement.

"Darren. Don't tell anyone," Mae whispered, leaning forward to get closer to Nikki. "They looked real cozy."

Jessi made a face and tried to ignore the two's gossiping.  She checked the notifications on her phone,  eager to read her mom's new messages for her.

2 new messages from:

Mom

"Sure you're doin alright with cash? I can send you some for rent."

Today 10:21AM

"Your dad wants you to come home this weekend. Wants you there at his retirement party."

Today 10:25AM

Jessi smiled at the texts.  Her dad wasn't 60 yet but he had been contemplating early retirement for a while now.  Maybe her dad just missed her a lot lately.  Thus his insistence that she come visit them in Rosenville this weekend.

Well, it was her day off this weekend. Maybe she could hop on a direct flight to visit her parents, and then travel back to LA the day after.  Jessi sent a short and somewhat affirmative reply to her mom before she heard Nikki's little shriek beside her.

"No way!" Nikki covered her dark red lips with her freshly manicured hands while staring back at Mae's poker face.

"Yep. In his car," Mae murmured.  "Saw them with my own eyes."

"No..." Nikki let out an exaggerated gasp.  "You sure it was them?"

"I didn't even have two glasses of wine.  Was sober and bored as balls all night."

"You told Zach?" Nikki's hand touched Mae's forearm now.

"I texted him. He said he's gonna be here tomorrow."

Jessi sat still beside Nikki and tried not to eavesdrop.  It was impossible, so she excused herself.  "Later, guys. Gotta check on something." Jessi got up.  She'd rather stretch her legs and do some walking than participate in the rumor mill.

"Later, Jess," Nikki called out before she went on chatting with Mae.

Jessi waved at the two, walked off, and decided her coffee break was done.  She didn't really like coffee.  She only drank some whenever she's terribly sleep-deprived and had to show up for work.

So far, she'd been following Kel's advice about the importance of seven to nine hours of sleep every day.  Jessi walked out of the dining area to take a look at the large, busy set they would be working in all season.

It was just outside of Hollywood. It wasn't a short walk from her place.  Still, the weather was mostly pleasant in this area compared to the  smog-covered city where she currently lived.

The production crew and a team of shooting equipment handlers seemed busy preparing the set for the next scene:  an altercation in a haunted movie theater wherein Kara, Jenson, and Darren's characters would be having a confrontation of some kind.

Jessi watched the rest of the crew prep the set while admiring their professionalism.  She was one of the rookies around here.  It was her first TV show gig, after all.  A small smile of appreciation stayed on her lips as she strolled past the crew fixing up the interior and exterior décor.

She glimpsed her phone's clock.  Almost 10:30AM.  She should be in Darren's trailer now, prepping his hair and makeup.  Then some retouch with the extras.  No time for gossip.  Hopefully Zach would be here with them tomorrow so she'd know exactly what to do.

Darren had much longer hair than Jenson, and in the first scene, Darren supposedly wore it down because Kara Leahy's character liked his long hair a lot.

Was Darren okay with using hair extensions? They had to use some, and she didn't know which style would look best on him for his role.  But she was sure they had enough high quality hair extensions to choose from.

Was he ready for makeup now?  Jessi walked on till she found the narrow path leading to the lead actors' trailers.

Darren's trailer was only about five meters away from Jenson's, and she liked walking around the busy set.

"Hair extensions. Makeup. Hair extensions. Makeup..." she mumbled as she approached Darren's trailer.  Quite big. Maybe even the same width as her apartment.

Almost eight feet tall.  The main stars arrived an hour ago according to their shift supervisor.  Darren should be ready for makeup now.

She checked her sweater and pants.  All good.  She tapped her back pocket.  Face mask.  Check.  Just in case Darren preferred having his makeup done by someone who wore some face covering.  For hygiene purposes.  Especially with this year's flu season still doing its rounds.

She stood in front of the trailer's door and knocked on it.  No answer.  She knocked again.  "Darren?"

Still no answer.  Curious, she twisted the door lever. Unlocked.  Before she could step inside, some gurgling noises replaced the silence. Then a male voice swore out loud.

It didn't sound like Darren.  Impulse pushed her to step right inside the trailer.  "Darren?"

She froze.

Two guys on the floor.  Arms and legs entangled. Jenson was pinning Darren onto the floor.

"What the..." Her throat closed up.

Jenson groaned and stopped choking Darren with his bulging forearm.  Then he pushed himself off of the floor.  "Dammit."  Jenson ignored her and walked out before her brain could even process what just happened.  He shut the door behind him,  leaving her all alone with Darren.

"DJ." Jessi rushed to Darren's side.  She winced as he coughed loudly with his veiny hand almost clamping his neck.  "You okay?"

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