Hollywood
Chapter 1
Rated R



"Mina, what are you thinking?" It was a rhetoric question, she had learned to pick up on those. She was not in a mood for a fight, not tonight. And if everything went as smoothly as she'd planned, then never again. Hopefully. But not yet. She was still stuck in her parents' home, still felt the shocked eyes of her mother on her face, still had to explain her decision to them. Except she was tired of explaining her every move, they should've trusted her by now. Should have, but they didn't.

She could see her father's expression, there was disappointment but no disapprovement, which made her feel stronger and more sure of herself. Her father was always the one who understood her choices, on some odd level. And he didn't seem to want to interrupt as he sat on the plush sofa of their living room.

Her mother spoke again. "There is no way we will let you throw away your life on such a ridiculous impulse. You are not going to let us down, Mina. And you will not become one of Hollywood tramps." Her mother paused, letting the surprise of the use of such words settle in, and then continued in the same tone.

"You can't possibly think that everything is as it's broadcasted on television. How do you think those girls get such big parts in movies and television shows? I'll tell you one thing, it's not because of their talent. Now, I will not let you stoop down to their level and become a whore."

She regained her wits and started arguing back, ready to stand up for her cause. "Mom, it's not an impulse. You've seen me in all of those little plays, I'm good."

Her mother looked outraged. "That was what it was about? Some sort of proof that gave you encouragement to make such hastily choices? Well, if I knew, I would have certainly put an end to it."

Purposely, Mina ignored her mother's words and continued with her defense. "I want to pursue that, and make money from doing something I love. You want me to be happy, don't you?" she said, trying her best to keep the tears in check. Crying was always an embarrassing action for it, especially in front of her parents. It showed, on some grounds, weakness and she didn't want to give her mother more evidence that she couldn't handle being on her own.

"I--we do want you to be happy, but while doing something respectable. An actress is an entertainer, and what other...ahem...professions fall under that category? Prostitutes, whores, they're all the same, Mina. And I will do everything in my power to stop this. You are of most excellent breeding, and only the most respectable profession will do for you. A business woman, perhaps? You can take over the family business and earn a name for yourself"--her mother looked at her and added in haste--"a name that will not shame us, Mina."

"But I don't want to be a business woman, mother!" Her temper was rising, and she was furious that her mother couldn't see her point in this. She knew what she wanted to do in life, and acting was it. And somewhere deep down, she felt that no matter what was said, she would go to Hollywood and do what she wanted.

"Well, Mina, sometimes we do things we don't want to," she said, brushing a delicate hand over her still rich blonde hair with a small sigh. Mina was no fool and knew that the conversation was over.

She turned around and stormed up the stairs and in to her room, which she closed with all the strength she had. They weren't fair, dammit. And she was going to do whatever it took to pursue her dream. It was her decision.

"Emily, don't you think you were too hard on the poor girl?" asked Cameron MacCamera, rising from the sofa in one swift motion.

Even at the age of forty five, he looked as young and handsome as he had ten years ago. Emily always insisted, and pushed when he resisted, that he work out to keep himself in good shape. And he learned a long time ago that she was not one to argue with.

"Don't even start with me, Cameron. You know I can't possibly allow for this to happen," she answered, her painted lips set in a frown. Whatever she had expected, it was not this.

"You still could have been a bit lighter, we have to get her down easy. Or we might be hated for the rest of our lives. You don't want that, do you?"

"Oh, Cameron, you just don't understand. This is another one of her temporary interests. She'll lose it, give her no more than a week. It's another way to rattle us," she said, shaking her head in memory of all the interests Mina had had over the last five years. The girl just couldn't stop. First it was ballet, which she quit after three lessons saying it was too hard, and the piano lessons after which her teacher gave up. Then there was her sudden obsession with boy bands, and her equally sudden change of heart, after which Mina spent two hours taking down the posters with various poses.

"I'm not trying to bee the enemy, you know that," he said, coming up to her and placing his hands on her small waist. She still kept her amazing looks, doing everything in her power to make sure she was as radiant as ever.

"I know that, Cameron. And I'm not accusing you of being the enemy. I just think that Mina needs to understand that if she wants us to respect her decisions, we will proceed to treat her as we would any other adult," she said, leaning into his embrace. She knew she was blessed with a solid marriage, and she thanked the gods everyday for it. Without anyone knowing about it, of course, after all, publicly, Emily MacCamera did not believe into such mush.

Cameron took a step back and stared at his wife in disbelief. She always proposed to treat their daughter like a business client, as if she were no more than an impersonal and distant stranger. He had always avoided pressing the matter, but knew that the time not going to get any better, and before both of them realized it, Mina would move away from them and refuse any contact. That was a worst case scenario, and he vowed he'd never let it happen.

"She's only sixteen, Emily. Who will she turn to with problems if you keep pushing her away? For christsake, you're acting as though she's some stranger off the street."

He was glaring at her as if it was her fault they couldn't control their daughter. If anything, she was the one who was still trying to do something. "You misunderstood me, Cameron--"

"I damn well better have," he snapped back. He was sick and tired of fighting over the same thing. But that was their only outlet for the restlessness and frustration caused by Mina. Still, he felt almost guilty for blaming her for their arguing. After all, they were grown adults, and there were much better ways to settle the case once and for all.

Shaking his head, he knew that he was not going to give in and fight. He was tired and he had a business meeting early the next morning. Cameron voiced his thoughts to Emily and watched her muted nod. Business came first in their family, and he agreed with that analogy.






"Mina, they didn't really say that, did they? You're just shitting me."

Raye was forced to shout over the rumbling of students as the lesson was about to begin. Her sly dark eyes watched Mina under great scrutiny. They knew each other since their freshman year, and since both harboured dreams of Hollywood, stayed together and helped each other practice for small auditions in school plays.

Their Drama teacher, Mrs. Hona, complimented both of them in amazement on their acting skills, which fueled their relentless ambitions. And with Raye's pushing, Mina finally saw that her parents advice only went so far, and it was her choice whether or not she wanted to act professionally.

"I wish. No, they actually said that," she replied solemnly, feeling tired after getting only few hours of sleep the previous night. Forcing back a yawn, Mina took a deep breath, hoping to clear away at least a fraction of her weariness. If only she'd last through the day, then she'd go home and sleep, she promised herself.

Candice looked perplexed. "You aren't going to give up, though, are you?"

Mina looked up, trying to stay positive. She could do it, she knew she could. "I don't think I am. Yeah... I'm still going to try." She wished she felt as confident as she sounded, but the rule of obeying her parents was weighing down on her, and she knew she was going to need Raye's help to pull out.

"Well, I'm here for you, kid." And while showing her pearly teeth in a flashy smile, Raye laid her hand onto Mina's. As the black-haired girl turned, Mina was having thoughts that her friend would definitely made it big. That was a given.







The subject was dropped, and she never talked to her parents about acting again. Mina didn't want the peace disturbed as she and mother had finally found some common ground, and the usual arguments ceased to occasional quarrels.

Life took a good turn right then and talk of Hollywood was pretended never to happen. Their time together was deceitfully secure and relaxing, and ignoring the main issue came surprisingly easy for all of them. After the night Mina dropped the bomb about her future, her parents purposelly avoided the very issue, silent with fright of giving her ideas.

But while Mina kept quiet, she was planning what she told them she would: her move to Hollywood. She knew they'd try to stop her in any way they could, should she tell what she still wanted, so she kept everything secret. Even the ticket she now held in her hand. It was better this way, she reassured herself everytime doubt crept into her still young mind.

Ripping a clean sheet of paper from her binder, she scribbled down a good-bye note, specifying them to not try to find her. When she was done, she looked it over and was satisfied with the basic yet distant words. Running downstairs with her bag of essentials in one hand, she placed the note in the center of the table.

She headed out the door without a looking over her shoulder, fearing she might lose her nerve and run back.

The taxi she called was parked at the curb and the driver ran out of the carto help her with the bag, but she waved off his intentions, throwing the bag onto the seat, where she, in two second's time, joined herself. And as the short man ran around the car, she almost laughed in freedom. In mere hours, she'd be on a plane, looking forward to a new life.

Mina paid the cabby and walked into the airport, securely holding her bag, and fishing for the ticket. The plan was, she'd get to the airport, where she'd meet Raye, and the two of them would get on the plane together. It was looking good so far, soon they'd be amongst movie sets and hunky men.

"Raye!" she yelled, having spotted the tall black-haired young woman. Smiling, she ran over to her friend, and hugged her.

Sensing Mina's vulnerablity, Raye hugged back, and withdrew after a while to look at the blonde. "You going to be all right?" At Mina's hesitant nod, she smiled. "We're going to Hollywood. We're going to Hollywood! Can you believe it? It's still so amazing. Still feels... like a dream."

Shaking her head in awe, Raye forced herself to stay composed. She was going to practice to master the calm, distant, and even mysterious nature since she couldn't possible let herself be as giddy during her auditions. No, no, she was going to need to be elegant and classy, and she smiled at the thought.

But when they sat on the plane, and she was looking out the window into the dark colours outside, she felt her heart beating with excitement and anticipation of what was in store for them.






"Dammit, Cameron! She acted against our wished and flew to Holloywood. 'Don't try to find me', she wrote. You hear that, Cameron? She has the gall to tell us what and what not to do. What the hell happened to her?" She just couldn't take the news, she had to sit down. She had thought that they both had talked some sense into their daughter, but clearly she'd been wrong.

Dammit, dammit, dammit. This wasn't suppose to happen, Mina was to become a businesswoman and over their company, not run away from them to join the hordes of whores in Hollywood. Shaking her head, she tried to still her trembling hands. But she rose with quick agility instead.

"Fine," she declared, "she doesn't us, we no longer have a daughter."

"You don't mean that, Emily." Cameron shook his head at his wife, she wasn't being serious. But a pane of dread tugged at his gut, reminding him that his wife joked only at the rarest of times.

"I am serious, Cameron. I am not going to play cat and mouse with her, if she wants to be an actress, then that means she has refused us. And so be it!"

Shaken up himself, Cameron sat down on the sofa--the same sofa he sat on two years ago when Mina told them about her choice. Curling his hand into a fist, he tried to tell himself than this was not happening.






Their ideas bored him.

What was he paying these fools for? He was going to talk to his secretary about getting everyone of them fired, next thing in the morning. He needed a team of people who knew what they were doing, and most important of all, what the public wanted.

Shows about dogs? Any schmo off the street could have given better ideas than this group of designer-suited idiots.

His dark brows drew together in a display of dislike as Jake, a tall, red haired man, finished presenting his idea about writing another comedy sitcom, a concept done to death, in his opinion. However, he still directed half a smile at Jake. Everything in Hollywood was done while smiling with politeness to a certain degree. It was a land where even a dislocated look could result in law-suit, so one had to be careful of whom and to whom one talked.

"Good. That'll be all for today."

The tide of goodbyes flooded the office as everyone disappeared out the door. Yeah, he'd definitely get them fired.

Turning around to look outside, he closed his eyes against the harsh brightness of the sun. The designer clock on the wall said a quarter to twelve, he noted dully. He'd better check with his secretary, Leslie, because he had the sudden suspicion that he had something scheduled for today.

Pushing back the lush, black seat, he stood up and walked out of the office.

"Can I get you anything, Mr. Willis?" asked the confident brunette as she stood up and walked over to him.

"You could, Leslie." She loved the way her name roled off his tongue, so sexy and forbidden. "Do I have anything scheduled for lunch?" Leslie went back to her desk to look over his appointments.

"You do, actually, Mr. Willis. Twelve o'clock, Lague Cafe, Amy Gin," she said.

"Ah, Amy. Good. Hold the calls, I'll be back at one."

She watched him walk away, and emitted a dreamy sigh when he was gone from sight. Leslie fantasized about his bank accounts and how much money they held. Damn, she would get her hands on them, and on him too, while she was at it. Smiling, she stared off into space.



He was looking forward to meeting Amy, she had always helped him with good ideas. And it didn't hurt that he also found her quite attractive, and he still held the memories of their few times together. But when they both decided that a relationship was something neither of them needed not wanted, their physical contact came to a stop.

He pretended to ignore the curious glances cast in his direction as he was led to where Amy was waiting for him. Sitting at the table while holding a glass of water, she looked as beautiful as the last time he saw her.

"Long time, no see," she said, standing up and putting her glass down.

"Damn straight," he answered. Smiling, he put his arms around her and leaned in to kiss her cheek.

Moving slightly away from him, she chided, "You might want to be careful, or someone might suspect something." Winking, Amy seated herself behind the table.

Raising an eyebrow, he joined her. "Oh? Wouldn't they be right to suspect something?"

"You flatter yourself too much." She lifted her glass and toasted to him.

"I thought that was a good trait."

Her laugh rang out, and he marvelled at the clarity of it. But she ceased and looked closer at his face. "So, tell me what's bothering you." Amy knew he was not one for small talk and was satisfied when she heard him answer.

"I'm brainstorming TV show ideas."

"Oh, so that's what it is."

"You have any suggestions?"

"You have money?"

Both chuckled at her answer.

"How about I offer you half a million to geet together a team? I have a meeting with the network in a week to deliver a show idea, and I don't anything solid to present to them."

Amy smiled. "Don't tell me the great Darien Willis has nothing to work with?"

"It's harder than it looks," he asked, his gaze tracing her bare arms.

They were interruped when a young waiter came over to take their order. Amy had picked a light salad and he ordered the special.

"Sex sells," she countered, her pink lips forming into a lazy smile.