Family & Friends

Part 1

New Friends, New Enemies

By Nick Maro

It had been a month since David Ikari, known also as David Gabor to his family and close friends, had arrived in America. He walked down the stairs of the elegant Gabor mansion to the foyer. "Phyl - I mean – Pizzazz!" David yelled, correcting himself mid-sentence. "I have something I want to tell you."

Phyllis Gabor, known to the world at large as Pizzazz, leader of the rock band The Misfits, held up her hand as she yelled into the phone. "…and what are you going to do about our sales, Eric! Your stupid little plan didn't work!" The phone beeped on her end of the line. "Eric, hang on. I have another call." Pizzazz switched phone lines and answered in a sickenly sweet voice. "Helloooo. Gabor Residence, how can I help youuu? Yes, he's standing right here. One moment, please." Pizzazz switched back. "Eric, I'm coming down to your office and you better not be there when I get there!" Pizzazz switched back to the other call. "David can speak to you now."

Pizzazz handed the phone over to David. He covered the phone and spoke softly to his twin, "Don't leave yet, I have something I want to tell you."

"Okay, but it better not be there's a third twin making us triplets," she joked.

David smirked. "No, nothing like that." He put the phone to his ear and answered in a business tone. "David Ikari, how can I help you?"

"Hello, Mr. Ikari. I'm calling for New World Pictures, Mr. Sands' office. It's about the position you applied for, the stunt coordinator position. Our head stuntman saw that you had applied and highly recommended you. Can you come down to the studio today around eleven this morning?" the woman on the other end asked.

"Eleven am it is, ma'am. Where should I meet Mr. Sands?"

"Mr. Sands will meet you and our head stuntman at studio seventeen. Have a nice day," the receptionist vied for being overly polite with David.

"Thank you," he said, "and thank you for calling. Have a good day yourself." David switched the phone off. He walked out the front door to where his sister was waiting. The other Misfits stood waiting with her. They had arrived while he was on the phone. "Pizzazz, Misfits, I have two things to announce now. I just got off of the phone with Howard Sands' office. I'm the new stunt coordinator of their new film."

"And what movie would this be?" Roxy asked.

"I can't say because I don't know," David gave a slight shrug. "The other news is that I've decided to move out. I'm not used to living in a house like this. I also feel in the way and sometimes out of place. Pizzazz I know you love having me back. But I want to ease my way back into yours and Dad's lives. Fifteen years is a long time to just come back and expect open arms. So, I've been apartment hunting. I have money left over from coming back to the States. Plus, this job I'm getting will help pay for rent, food and utilities." He smiled after he finished.

"Y-y-you could stay with me if you want," Stormer squeaked. "My place isn't that big, but it's big enough for two people to live in quite comfortably. Besides, I've thinking about getting a roommate." She went back to looking at her feet after Jetta and Pizzazz gave her silencing look.

"Oh, you just have a crush on him," Jetta teased.

"I do not!" Stormer blushed, "I didn't ask any of you because I knew you'd say no. What do you say, David?"

David shrugged his shoulders and looked over at his sister. He couldn't get a reading from her face. "I guess so. I mean, I'll pay you rent and everything."

"T-t-that's not really necessary," Stormer stammered. "The house is paid for and all."

"Okay, enough already! All this sweetness is giving me a toothache. Davey, need a ride to the studio? It's on the way to Eric's office." Pizzazz pulled the keys for the Misfits' van out of her pocket and looked at him impatiently.

"Sure. Beats walking," he joked. "Just let me grab some paperwork and I'll be ready." David slipped back inside the mansion and ran up to his room to gather the papers on his desk.

"Just hurry up! Otherwise you will be walking!" Roxy joked after him. She looked at both Pizzazz and Jetta who now looked annoyed at her. "What?!"

David hopped out of the van after it stopped at the studio gate. "Thanks, Phyllis. Stop by the set. I'll leave your name at the gate." He shut the van door and waved them off. He walked up the to the gate booth steadily.

The guard didn't look up from his paper. "Can I help ya?" he asked gruffly.

"David Ikari here to see Howard Sands."

The guard looked at a sheet of names and marked it. "Here's your pass. No cameras or recording devices of any kind. If you lose your pass, go to the front office and pay five dollars for a replacement," the guard said with the boredom of routine in his voice.

"Thank you." David entered the New World Pictures lot. Now where is studio seventeen, he wondered to himself. Up ahead he spotted a studio page. "Excuse me," David yelled. "Where is studio seventeen?"

The page looked up from his chart. "Take a right here." He pointed. "Then a left, it's the second studio building on the left." The page quickly went back to his chart and vanished into the crowded studio lot.

David followed the directions and found himself completely lost. Shimatta! Where am I?! David swore to himself. He looked at his watch; it was five minutes to eleven. Sighing in exhaustion, he looked up at the studio numbers again. They mocked him. He looked on the right side of the row. "Sixteen, eighteen." He looked at the left. "Twenty-one, twenty-two. Where the devil is studio seventeen?" he said aloud to no one in particular.

"I'm heading there now. If you want, you can follow me," a young woman's voice came from behind him. He turned around and before him stood a young redhead. She was a few inches shorter than him and had a beautiful smile.

"It would be very much so appreciated." David smiled. "David Ikari." He held out his hand and returned her smile.

"Kimber Benton, it's nice to meet you, David." She gave him a friendly handshake. They started walking down the aisle to the back row. "This studio building is one of the bigger ones. For some odd reason it's been moved back here. It was very confusing for me and the Holograms at first too," she told him making small talk. "So are you an actor also?" She looked at him while they walked.

David glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. "No, I'm the new stunt coordinator for the movie Starbright Two. Mr. Sands' office called this morning and gave me the job." When David looked up at the building before him, they had arrived on time at studio seventeen.

"By the way, do I know you from someplace?" Kimber asked. "I could swear I've seen you before." She studied his face a bit closer, her eyes squinting in the sun.

David gave her a half smile. "I hear that a lot. I just have one of those faces." He gave her a friendly wink and chuckled.

Howard Sands noticed that Kimber had returned. "Kimber! Over here." He waved her over quickly. "And bring your friend with."

"Okay, Howard," she yelled back. "Time to meet the boss." She gave David her own wink and smile. "Howard, I want you to meet –"

"David Ikari?!" A shocked voice came from a man in a helmet, standing next to Howard Sands. He was wearing a padded motorcycle stunt suit.

Taking a slight step back, David gave a confused look. "Huh?!"

"Oh, the helmet, right." The mystery man took the helmet off and standing before David was a sandy blonde young man he hadn't seen in a few years. "David! It's me! Jeff! Jeff Wright! Don't tell me you've forgotten your old buddy from Osaka!"

A huge smile spread across David's face. "Jeff! Oh my God! I haven't seen you since that movie you did where you almost wiped out half the stunt crew! So now you're a stuntman here? You always said that American movie stunts couldn't compare to the Asian market."

"Hey, that was years ago. I'm the top stuntman here. I can make the stunts look good," Jeff fired back. Howard shot Jeff an annoyed look. "Sorry Howard. Excitement of the moment."

"Now if we're done reminiscing, I believe I have yet to introduce myself. Howard Sands, owner and president of the studio. You come highly recommended by Jeff here." He shook David's hand firmly.

"Thank you for this opportunity, Howard," David said with a wide smile, happy to see his old friend. "I've already had the pleasure of meeting Kimber here. But I haven't had the honor of meeting the rest." He smiled at the four remaining women behind Howard and Jeff. They were each studying scripts and going over lines.

"Howard, if you don't mind I'll handle this."

"Go ahead, Kimber. I need to go over these final notes with Jeff," Howard said without a hint of business. He brought up a clipboard that he was holding under his arm. Howard lowered his voice a bit and pointed at spots on the sheet before them. Jeff nodded as Howard spoke.

Kimber led David over to the four other women. She cleared her voice to get their attention. She introduced David to the women from left to right. "David, this is Aja, Shana, Jem and Raya. I'm sorry that my sister Jerrica couldn't be here. She has business at Starlight Music."

David shook each of their hands. "Pleased to meet all of you, I'm the new stunt coordinator. My job is to make sure that you don't get hurt." He smiled and waited for Howard to finish.

"David, when you leave tonight I'll give you your paperwork to fill out. I want you to just get to know the studio and the people here today," Howard said in a friendly tone. "Jem, you and the Holograms will be needed on the set at one. Jeff, I need you there at twelve-thirty this afternoon. So, I'll see everyone later." Howard smiled and walked with a sense of purpose to another part of the studio.

"Well, that wasn't what I expected," David said flatly. He pulled the papers he brought with out of his jacket pocket. "I guess I brought these for nothing." He let out a sigh and put them back then looked around. "I better get used to this maze of a studio."

"Need a guide?" Kimber asked. "I'm going to the trailers anyway. That covers most everything you need to know."

"Hey David," Jeff called from behind. "What about me, man! I haven't seen you in three years and you take off already? I mean what is a sidekick for?" Jeff started doing rapid sidekicks without looking at his leg. He's hopped around and didn't pay attention to where his foot was going. Everyone began laughing at Jeff's hijinx yet no one saw the foot heading for Kimber's face.

David was quick to react, he grabbed Jeff's foot that was mere seconds from hitting Kimber. "I see you're still careless," David chided his old friend. He twisted Jeff's leg and foot so that Jeff landed flat on his back. "I'm sure though, that Kimber could pull off a footprint on her face and still look stunning." David winked at her again and put out his hand to help Jeff up. "Lesson learned, Grasshopper?"

"Yeah, don't show off in front of an ex-girlfriend," Jeff joked, then got serious. "David, can I talk to you real quick?"

"Sure. Kimber, could you hold on a minute?"

"Okay, David."

"Dude, Kimber is dating someone. So cool it with the flirting. The guy is one of the co-stars. Sean Harrison. So just don't do it so much." David only heard Jeff speak this seriously on a few occasions, so he knew to listen to his friend.

"Yeah, I was getting the look from the Holograms. I didn't come back to cause break- ups. I came back to rediscover my family," David said quietly. "All I'm looking for is a friend. Anyway, I can't keep her waiting. See you later, okay, buddy?"

"You got it. See you on the set. It's gonna be great working with you!" Jeff yelled as he took off to the commissary.

Kimber walked up to David. "You ready to go?"

"Yep, let's go." David walked side by side with the young redhead. He couldn't help but notice that the Holograms were still giving him a cautious glare.

"…it was just so outrageous!" Kimber exclaimed.

Kimber and David walked up to the trailer. It looked like every other trailer in the area. The same dull tan look and cookie cutter design. "So, now I get to meet to the infamous Sean Harrison I've been hearing so much about?" David asked and only feeling just a hint of jealousy.

Kimber giggled. "Yep, here's his trailer. I'll get him." She smiled at David and entered the trailer without knocking.

David heard Kimber shriek inside. He began to walk up to the trailer as she came running out in tears. She ran past David at a full tilt run. A man came out of the trailer hiking his pants back on with no shirt. "Kimber! Come back! I can explain!" He yelled after her. David could see a young blonde woman behind him. David gave Sean a long hard look then took off after Kimber.

When he finally caught up with her, she was leaning up against a trailer sobbing. "Kimber, listen, I don't know what happened in there. If you need anything, feel free to ask." David was trying his best to soothe her. He looked at his watch it was a quarter to one. "Hey, let's go," he said taking her hand leading her towards the studio buildings. "It's about time to get back. But we can walk slowly and talk about what happened."

Kimber looked up at him and saw him give a smile that seemed to calm her. "You're an odd man, David Ikari. Did you know that?" She smiled inspite of the pain and hurt she felt. "Walking slow would be good." Kimber grabbed David's arm like a long lost friend and started talking.

David and Kimber finally arrived on the set at two twenty-three. Kimber really didn't care if she got into trouble. David spoke first as Howard and Jem came running up. "Sorry about bringing Kimber back so late. We were having so much fun that we lost track of time." He flashed his disarming smile. He then noticed there was a blonde man with two blonde women there.

"Oh look," the man said in a very deep, smug and arrogant voice, "Kimber brings a new pet!"

"Riot," Kimber growled under her breath, "Shut up, right now. I'm in no mood more for you or your little," she paused and glared at the women, "friends!"

The one called Riot was a big muscular man, with long blonde hair and what some would call a chiseled face. "Careful, friend," Riot said to David, "I hear she has claws and is known to scratch when excited!" He let out a deep and loud laugh. The two blonde women standing next to him laughed in unison.

"David," said a woman's voice from behind, "please ignore Riot. He's just teasing. Allow me to introduce The Stingers. They are Riot, Minx and Rapture. They're also in this movie."

Kimber glared at Riot and stormed off. Riot smirked to himself and announced loudly, "Let it be known, that I, Riot, claim Kimber Benton as my bride!" He then laughed louder and more arrogantly.

Kimber immediately began to move to toward Riot. David held her back as he walked up to Riot gave him a quick punch to the solar plexus. Riot doubled over gasping for air. Then kneed Riot in his nose, breaking it. "Baka!" David yelled then whispered, "fool! She just found her boyfriend in bed with another woman you insensitive bastard!" Coming to realize what he had done, turned and looked around. Everyone was looking at him in shock, especially Kimber. He did the only thing that he could think to do. He ran in fear of what the others would think of him.

"David! Please come back!" Kimber ran after him.

David turned to see Kimber chasing after him but he didn't see the car coming at him.

TO BE CONTINUED IN "FAMILY SECRETS"!

PART 2 OF FAMILY & FRIENDS