Once Upon A Time…
Chapter 11
"The movie premiere…"
The months passed and Terrence Grandchester's new movie was scheduled to come out before Christmas so it would make it just in time for the Oscars in February. The movie was coming out in the United Kingdom first. Terrence was back in England for the premiere and the first thing he did, once he was installed in his hotel suite, was to call his little protégé.
- Terry! Said Marcus smiling.
- I'm in London!
- Finally! I can't wait to see you…!
- Me too! I asked the reverend mother for the permission to come and get you and I was surprised to see that I was on the list of people allowed to make decisions for you…
- My uncle William, by authorizing me to be in your movie he also took the liberty to put your name on the list of my next of kin… since he gave me to you for the summer…
- Which means I can use your free time the way I want for the premiere nights…
- As a matter of fact…
- Wonderful… You're going to have all your assignments that you're going to do on the computer and you're going to send them to you teachers… and I'm dead serious, if all your assignments are not done, no premiere! And no pretty girls either !
- You never let me be with pretty girls…
- You need girls from good families, not stoned actresses, who drink booze and smoke pot and inspires God knows what…
- You know what? You always surprise me… I was expecting finding you leaving in a big mess… under the actor's skin you show to the public…
- Don't generalize…
- Even with women… I thought you'd have a different girl every night…
- I had you under my responsibility, a young impressionable teenager… I had to clean up my life a little, of course… because I couldn't forbid you something I was doing myself… Hollywood life is very tempting… but I had a mother who kept me on the right track and she was merciless!
- I see, so you're taking your revenge on me…
- I'm applying what I've learned… I was a young man rebellious at your age, but one day, I took my father's new Rolls Royce for a joyride and I almost killed my girlfriend at the time… I was punished… and then, I went to live with my mother…
- To Hollywood! I wouldn't call it a punishment! To live with my mother! That's my dream! And you became an actor! With an Oscar and other awards!
- I told you that my mother was merciless with me?
- At least she was there to be merciless with you…
- You miss your mother, don't you?
- Can we talk about the premiere?
- All right… after the premiere, the reporters are going to start following you everywhere and watch you like a hawk… you will have to be on your best behavior… I'll come and pick you up tonight… pack your bags…
- I'll be ready… see you later Terry, I can't wait to see you…
Marcus, was ecstatic! He still didn't have his mother with him, she was always busy in India playing Mother Teresa! She did call him very often, but lately, her phone calls had become rare… Why didn't his mother want him? He felt guilty for lying to her at first, but now he was eager to see her reaction when she sees his movie. But she's deep inside India, is she even going to hear about his movie?
His friend Leo came to see him and he found him packing his bags.
- Where are you going dude?
- I'm going to be away for a few days…
- Why?
- Terry is coming to pick me up for the London premiere…
- Cool… you could've invited your friend, you know…
- Oh… well, when Terry gets here we could ask him for a ticket for you…
- You don't have to…
- Yes I do. You're my friend and you encouraged me to accept his offer, which was legit, thank God…
- Don't become full of yourself after your movie come out…
- You know me better than that…
- But you're going to be a star…
- You don't know Terry… he's worse than the nuns! He barely lets me talk to girls…
- Too bad… you could've get some experience with a real woman…
- As weird as that sounds, being with a girl is the last thing on my mind…I had someone taking care of me… I felt like I had a father who was taking care of me… it was wonderful!
- Only you can prefer a guy's company, to real women…
- It's not any guy, it's Terrence Grandchester! He's a super cool guy, not full of himself… I barely saw him with a woman in front of me…
- Are you sure he likes women?
- Yes, I'm sure! He's straight!
- Too bad… your Hollywood life was kind of boring, compare to regular standards…
- Sorry dude, said Marcus smiling, I was as surprised as you to see that he was a … normal guy…
Terry arrived half an hour later. He was wearing a had and sunglasses. He arrived at his room with a nun.
- Marcus, said the nun, are you ready to go?
- I'm ready… Terry! He said smiling.
Terry approached him smiling and hugged him hard.
- It's good to see you Marcus!
- I'm happy to see you!
- Hi, said Leo.
He let go of him and he turned to Leo and gave him an envelope.
- Hi! Here are a few tickets for the London premiere… you can bring whomever you want and if you need more, let me know…
Leo opened his mouth, surprised.
- Whoa! Thank you so much! You rock!
- You're welcome. Ready Marcus?
- Yes… see you later Leo!
- Bye, said Leo.
Marcus and Terry left talking happily.
- The reporters are going to start following you after the premiere.
- I can't wait to see that…
- It is kind of exciting in the beginning… But wait before you give an interview, you have to make yourself desirable… everybody is going to want to know where you come from and what you were doing before the movies…
- All right, I'll wait…
- They're also going to pay you well.
- I don't need money…
- Abundance of goods does not harm…
- As a matter of fact… I can send this money for my mother's cause for homeless children.
- That's very generous of you. It's good to help others…
- I can create a charity to help homeless children…
- We can see that you take after your mother
- Even with her absence, I still look like her…
- What about your father?
- I don't have a father… well, I mean, he wasn't with my mother when I was born…
- Oh… I'm sorry.
- It's ok… when I ask my mother who he was, she tells me that he was nobody, he came and he was out of her life in an instant… he was a one night stand… she never saw him again… She doesn't even know where he is… he's probably dead…
- He must've been very good looking, since you look like me… and you're very handsome… like me!
- You're not modest, are you?!
They both burst out laughing. They were now in the car going to the hotel. Terry, this time had decided to stay at the hotel and not at his father's castle, so it won't be assaulted by reporters. Hotels were simple, the staff was there, they had nothing to do, aside from enjoying. It was a paradise for a teenager, even if he had assignments to do.
Appearing on television, seeing the whole world paying attention him, he prayed every night that his mother would call him to ask him what was going on. But his phone remained silent. His mum didn't call, of if she did call, he would miss the call and she would leave a message on his voicemail. It was the same kind of message she never talked about his movie. Was she even watching television? He was disappointed… His mother was too busy playing Mother Teresa to care about the movie world. When she said she didn't care about it, she wasn't kidding.
But he didn't lose hope, his mother was going to see that movie, he was going to make sure of it, even if it was the last thing he did in the world…
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Annie was watching television when she saw the show "Access Hollywood", which was showing Terry…
- Archie! Come and see! It's Terry… He's got a new movie…
Arrived and looked at the screen.
- It is the snotty nosed kid…
- Stop it! He's talented.
- He's still a snotty nosed kid…
- Because he lost touch with you?
- We did spend that summer together, didn't we?
- But don't forget he was here as a punishment… and after what happened with Candy… he probably wanted to forget about all this "punishment" that was his stay…
- Yeah, Candy also disappeared… have you heard from her?
- No… last time I heard from her she was in Calcutta…
- She wants to become Mother Teresa or something?
- That's a good example to follow…
- Annie, Mother Teresa was a nun! Candy needs to live! All she does is devote herself other people's causes and she forgets about herself! She's not living!
- I'm sure that the satisfaction of helping those children is better than having a love life…
- You think that she gets laid, from time to time?
- Archie! She's still your aunt!
- All right… but I would like to see her be happy, live her life and have her own family, instead of devoting herself to other people's children…
- Archie, look at that young actor who's playing the role of the young Terry's character… what a resemblance!
- That's true! They did a good job finding a lookalike
- He's charming… he really reminds me of Terry when he was younger… Ok, I'm going to go pick up the children at school
- All right, honey, but the driver can do it…
- I've always dreamed of having my mother coming to pick me up at school, but she never came… let me make the children happy…
- All right. I'm going to pass by the boutique to make sure everything is fine
- Thanks honey.
She kissed him on the lips and she went to pick up her children. She thought about Candy. She wanted so much for her to be happy like her… She has married Archie after she finished school and they had opened a boutique of clothes they were designing together… they were happy. She prayed for Candy to be as happy.
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Candy was in her bedroom in Calcutta, tired. She hadn't spoken to her son in a while. She missed him. It was the holiday season soon, but she still had a tight schedule. All of a sudden, she wanted to have a normal life. She wanted to live with her son, greet him after school and help him with his homework, have dinner with him and spend the evening with him, introduce him to her mother and her grandmother. It was about time she took her son to America and introduce him to the rest of the family… she had also met a man, and she was seriously thinking about having a life with him, he was ready to meet her son and they were going to be one big happy family.
- Candy? Are you coming? They found some abandoned babies in front of the door...
- I'm coming Justin…
She stood up and he took her in his arms to kiss her. She let him do it for a little while then she softly pushed him away.
- Let's go see those babies?
- All right sweetie… I can't wait to go back with you to America.
- We're going to go get my son first…
- Yes, your son, I hope he's going to like me.
- He's charming, you'll see.
- He grew up in England… I hope he's not a snotty nosed kid like the British…
- My baby is adorable, you'll see. He's going to be surprised…in fact my whole family is going to be surprised to learn that I have a man in my life… and a son!
Yes, everybody is going to be surprise, that's for sure. But Candy was also going to be surprised, because her son had done a lot of things during her absence and he had other plans for her, which didn't include a man named Justin…
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