Hearts' Desires

by Anke Napp

  Hearts‘ Desires

  Hearts’ Desires

  Anke Napp

  Hearts‘ Desires

  This book is a work of fiction, the characters, incidents and dialogues are products of the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real.

  Copyright © 2012 Anke Napp

  All rights reserved.

  ISBN-10: 1479368504

  ISBN-13: 978-1479368501

  The late summer time smog already hung heavily over downtown Los Angeles. Alison looked out of the cab window, waiting for the familiar sign of ‘Diamond-Star-Entertainment’ to finally to show up. Of course, she knew she would only see it at the next traffic light – but she tried to reduce the time by looking out for it none the less. She was late. She hated being late, especially in the morning when everything should still be at least somewhat in order. Nervously, she ran her fingers through her blond hair, checking in the cab’s mirror to see if there was by chance any grey her stylist had missed.

  “Can’t you drive a bit faster?!”

  “No, Ma’am sorry.”

  He was from India or somewhere around there, and spoke with a heavy accent, a thing that stressed Alison even further. Heavens, how she needed a rest! If this production only were over! However, it had just begun…

  Finally. The cab arrived, after what felt like an hour of stop-and-go driving through the crowded streets of Los Angeles. Alison paid, grabbed her suitcase and nearly stumbled, when she hurried out of the car. She suppressed a curse. It did not look good if women in a grey business outfit acted very un-business-like! And these disgusting paparazzi crouched behind every palm tree and corner around here! She rushed on, looked at her watch, and collided with a young mother and her wailing toddler. Children! No – she wouldn’t go as far as to say she hated children – at least not completely, not as long as they stayed in a reasonable distance from her!

  “Excuse me!”

  “Hey, watch where you’re going!” The mother of the screaming siren ranted.

  “I said I am sorry!”

  Without listening to the still complaining young mother, she vanished into the building, managed a relatively charming “Good Morning” to the staff, and escaped into the elevator. What a day! It seemed like a bad start for the project that should be the crowning moment of her career. Somehow she wished the elevator ride would take a bit longer and give her more time to breathe. But no miracle happened. As usual, 20 seconds later, the doors slid open, and she had reached her floor.

  “Morning, Mrs. Cartwright! Did you have a nice-“

  Alison stopped the young man, Marek, one of the public relation guys, before he could finish. She had no nice whatsoever – and she had no time!

  “Morning. Sorry. I got stuck in a damned traffic jam... Did the airport call yet??”

  She opened the office door and realized with a bit of relief that Marek had left her alone. Nonetheless, a longer break was obviously not going to happen; the phone rang. Still standing, Alison grabbed the receiver, while browsing through the papers and letters waiting for her attention. The airport, finally, amazing!

  “ ...yes, Alison Cartwright. Yes, the lady whose ticket was lost!” She looked to the ceiling and suppressed a sigh. “No, I don’t need a refund! I need a replacement! For tonight! ... No, I don’t care what the price is! I don’t want to be placed on a waiting list!”

  The dumbest people ever must work at airports, she thought, accidentally pushing the little Buddha-statue standing there over the edge of the desk. It shattered into pieces on the marble floor. She huffed.

  “…I want a new ticket! ... Yes, STILL Los Angeles to Cape Town!”

  “Mrs. Cartwright, excuse me...” Marek’s voice in her back made Alison whirl around. Why did he have to sneak in like that?!? Ah… okay, she had left the door open. She covered the phone with one hand. “What is it?”

  “I have “US Weekly'” on the phone. Because of the interview!”

  “Wait a minute!” She turned her attention back to the ‘first-grader’ in the airport service. “Well, you’ll see to it that I’ll have this ticket when I arrive at the airport! If something goes wrong, you’ll be talking to my lawyer!”

  She hung up and stared at Marek exhausted. “What did you say? “US Weekly”?

  “You remember, the interview about ‘Do you believe in true love’...”

  “Did I already confirm the date?” she asked back. “No? Well, cancel the whole thing. I’m out of the country for a few weeks, anyway. And I don’t give telephone interviews. – And please, close the door. Thank you….”

  She let herself drop in the office chair and stretched her legs. Her right foot ached. Well, as long as she could walk! Luckily, she was not the leading actress but the director of the movie! Her gaze wandered over the posters at the opposite wall, celebrating her previous triumphs in the romantic genre. Funny, she mused. How many people thought she would be romantic because she made such films! They obviously could not separate reality from fiction!

  A romantic! Alison Cartwright felt too strained to laugh at the moment. Her attempt ended in a faint snort. She considered herself one of the most unromantic people on the planet. This was all about business. Money. A sort of social calculation. People wanted to see stuff like that in the movies and on TV – and she gave it to them. She knew which strings to play and how particular scenes in a script had to be handled so they were clouded in that sweet mist of romance on the screen. Usually there was a woman and a man (or a woman in between two men or vice versa), and some tragic events helping them to realize what they really wanted in life.

  Alison’s eyes focused on the last of the posters, designed for the project she just worked on. “Hearts’ Desires”. It showed a young white girl and a colored African boy in front of a gorgeous landscape with a broad acacia tree. O yes, hearts’ desires! The timing for this project was bad. Everyone knew that their biggest competitor was about to launch a movie that was expected to be a blockbuster only a few days later. The cast as well was far from the one she had desired! The female lead had a skiing accident in Switzerland and thus was not available anymore. Now she had to be content with a totally unknown young actress named Lauren Bastian! The fact alone that the girl had been given such rave reviews by her casting supervisor made her suspicious! And the male lead had turned down her offer. Now she was stuck with this Van Sorel, a B-list actor who had excelled in trashy action films for the most part. Besides that he was infamous for a fight with international star Robert Harker on set - an incident which was headlined in every tabloid throughout the country some years ago. Alison snorted again and filed through the mail on her desk.

  The tall, lean figure of Vance van Sorel formed a dark silhouette against the afternoon light flooding through the window. He carelessly stuffed more items into the travel bag. Carolyn would explode if she saw this, he thought but thank God his wife was still at whatever meeting! Next the script was tossed in the suitcase. Another crappy one, he thought, still full of anger against his agent. He had given it only a superficial look so far. A girl and a boy - first love mushy romance stuff! Everything was crap in comparison to the role of George Washington, a part he had wanted so badly and missed!

  This is bullshit! How could that damned Harker snatch this part!? He must have sucked up to the producer big time!

  Moreover, Vance knew perfectly well that the only reason he got this part in - what was the title … Hearts’ Desires, yes! - were his language skills. It had been a last minute casting, and he had been the only actor within range able to speak with the required accent without weeks of training.

  I should’ve turned it down! They could’ve taken any moron with a weird tongue flap! Who would know the difference anyway?!

  However, the
n there would have been no reason to leave L.A. as soon as possible! And he was dying to go! No way did he want to miss this little opportunity to get as far away as possible from everything! Vance heard the front door open, and a moment later the familiar pattern of steps on the staircase. Carolyn. He had hoped to be gone when she returned!

  “Vance, I have to talk to you!”

  Ah… she had just discovered his jacket thrown over the sideboard in the second floor! He sighed and continued to pack.

  “Vance?”

  “In here.”

  Carolyn stormed into the room, a flame of anger as red as her low cut dress. The style didn’t suit her well, making her diet-stressed body seem even thinner.

  “Don’t treat me as if I was your housemaid!” she hissed.

  He rolled his eyes, neither in the mood for a fight nor having enough time to deal with this. She tossed a tabloid magazine on top of his bag. Vance glanced at it. The page she had opened showed him next to a young woman. He tried to say something, but Carolyn was faster in spitting out all her gathered fury.

  “Did you forget you're not 25 anymore?! Do you honestly believe these chicks hook up with you because you are the ‘sexiest man in Hollywood’ or something?!? You are making a fool out of you AND of me!”

  “You make a fool out of yourself!” He flipped the magazine aside and started closing his shirt. “She’s the new assistant of my agent, for Christ’s sake!”

  “Ah, the assistant! So it just happens all the assistants, secretaries and so on are long-legged, blond-haired sluts?! You think I’m totally stupid, don’t you?”

  “I have no time to think about what you may think, Carolyn,” he answered and started to browse through various drawers. “Just phone Jeremy. – Where the hell are my cigarettes?”

  “In the trash bin! Your doc told you to quit smoking! - And why are you packing?

  “Because I’m flying to South Africa for the filming of this... forgot the title. You know this romantic thing with Cartwright.” Just the kind of movie I feel like doing right now, really, he continued in his thoughts, angry with himself and the whole world.

  Carolyn’s features changed from anger to suspicion within a second. “You told me they were starting to film a month from now…”

  “They pushed up the schedule, because the assistant director is going on maternity leave. I got the info this morning.” He snatched his passport and the sunglasses.

  “Why didn’t you call me?”

  “I tried.”

  “You tried? One time, five seconds, right?”

  “Your secretary said you were in a very important meeting with some British clients. You had given orders not to be disturbed by anyone. I assumed I counted among the “anyone” in this case.”

  “Oh I’m SORRY I have work SOMETIMES!” she shouted.

  So she was in that particular mood again!

  “Contrary to me, I know,” he said, before she could vent it. They had been through similar arguments often enough to forestall each other. “I vege out the whole time!”

  “This has nothing to do with your job!”

  “No? It looks just that way, though!”

  “Only with your way to deal with priorities!” She raised her voice even higher and clenched her fists. “You were glad not to reach me, weren’t you?! You hoped you wouldn’t reach me!”

  Vance sighed and closed his bag. Then he grabbed his beloved old leather hat, rescued out of the trash bin quite a few times already. “I have to go!”

  “With that piece of junk?” Carolyn gestured to the hat, which just was the icing on the cake of her anger. “You’ll look like a hobo!”

  He didn’t reply to anything, but hastened past her out of the door.

  “When will you come back? “

  Already on the stairs he answered: “I’ll call you.”

  Down on the street, Vance waited for a free cab to pass by. Of course, it would’ve been smarter to call one from the house at this hour of the day – but that would’ve meant staying in the house with Carolyn longer.

  I’m running away from my own house he thought and could not help a wry grin. Just perfect! The problem was, Carolyn was right. He was indeed avoiding her. Not because he had several mistresses to entertain, but simply because he was so tired of the constant fights with her! He did not even know when it started that every exchange of words with Carolyn ended in dissent. No, that was not right… it did not ‘end’. It started in dissent, and ended in outrage, if there was enough time. He mused, the only reason they weren’t divorced yet was that they did not spend the necessary time together to manage the formalities. There was a cab! Good! The cab stopped and he slipped into the back seat.

  “To the airport, please. But stop over there at the kiosk first, I need some cigarettes!”

  Lauren Bastian turned to the left and then to the right in front of the mirror, checking every movement, evaluating her outfit’s and appearance’s impact from every angle. The dark eye shadow cast a mysterious look over her light-blue iris and worked well with her thick, wavy black hair. Perfect! Maybe a little overdressed for a 26-hour-intercontinental flight! However, it could never be wrong to look appealing. This was one of her fundamental truths. And this was her long-awaited chance in the business, and nothing, absolutely nothing would get in her way now! She had worked her ass off the past five years with dozens of crappy mini-roles and little model parts. Now her time had come! She leaned towards the mirror as close as she could and smiled her most seductive killer smile.

  “I will make it. I swear I will make it!” she whispered to herself. Then, she took her bags and left the room, stepping carefully with her stiletto-heels. Behind her, she could hear her landlady rumble something about not emptied garbage cans. Hopefully, her days at this place were numbered. Soon, she would move! Yes! To Santa Monica! Or better, to Beverly Hills!

  The elegant arc shaped construction supporting the tower of the Los Angeles airport came into view. The external lights just came on. Vance liked the sight – not only because it was that beautiful, almost futuristic, but because it was the sign of freedom, of getting away…

  The cab reached the terminal, and Vance climbed out, still smoking, contrary to the policies of the L.A.-cabs. The driver had mentioned something, but he had silenced him with a huge tip. Now he felt already much better. The doctor should just leave him alone! What was a long life worth when you couldn’t have at least a little fun?! And weren’t his expectations set low enough, for that matter?!

  At the entrance of the airport, Vance spotted an acquaintance and waved. “Hi, Jake! You’re with us again?” He took his bags, wanted to walk over to the other man. But a young voice behind him held him back.

  “Mister Van Sorel? Uhm… Sorry… Please, would you give me an autograph?”

  The boy, perhaps 12, had red spots in his face from the excitement.

  Man, I’m not the President, Vance thought, and searched for a pen. “Do you have something to write on?” He tried hard not to lose his cigarette while speaking.

  “Please!” The kid stared at him full of adoration and handed over a schoolbook.

  Vance scribbled his autograph without paying much attention.

  “Thank you, Sir! That’s so great meeting you!”

  A woman, perhaps the mother of the youngster, called out for him, but the boy did not react. “You were so great in ‘Ten Days’! I saw it six times! That was cool, how you took scarface out! I wanna be an actor, too! That’s so cool! I have already won a contest at school!”

  “You want to be an actor? Prepare yourself for half a lifetime waiting inline. Not cool at all! And one day, when you’re asking yourself why the heck I’m still waiting here, you’ll realize you can only play the grandpa of the young hero you wanted to play!”

  The boy blinked irritated. “Uh... Yes…”

  “Go and get yourself a decent job!”

  Vance threw the butt on the ground, took his bags and caught up with Jake Bertoni, a short,
squat man almost half his size.

  “Didn’t know you were in business again, old fellow!”

  The other man laughed. His whole round body seemed to vibrate. “Don’t you think I’m the best camera assistant in the world?! – And…Well, my ex-wife is a bit expensive… it gets more expensive every time, you know!”

  Vance shook his head in disbelief and grinned. How good old Jake, looking like the stereotypical Italian pizza baker, managed to be such a womanizer eluded him completely. But Jake was a wonderful friend, the very rare sort, here in Hollywood in particular.

  “Hey man, why do you look at me like that?!” Jake blurted in played anger. “I just need exciting challenges! And women are the most exciting challenge the good Lord has invented! – By the way, you weren’t very nice to that kid just now!”

  “The sooner they lose their illusions, the better!” he answered. “Life is no fairytale!” They entered the busy on-and-off ramp of the airport. Some people recognized Vance and stared in their direction, but he pretended not to see anyone. And his expression discouraged anyone who might have had in mind to ask him for an autograph again.

  “In particular bad mood today?” Jake asked, patting his back, because he was too short to reach his friend’s shoulder.

  “I’m an old man! Carolyn was kind enough to tell me that again, before I left! And old men have the right to be grumpy!”

  “Carolyn does not know what she has in you! She could’ve picked me instead, imagine! Speaking of old, did you hear about Harker? He just became a father again, at the age of 60!”

  “Idiot.” Nonetheless, Vance felt a painful sting inside.

  “Ah you hate him, no matter what!” They arrived at the check-in counter.

  “What do you expect,” Vance hissed. “I spent two weeks in hospital because of this egomaniac! And he plays Washington! I could die laughing, really! He doesn't even remotely look like Washington! Who has cast him for this? Must’ve been boozed up completely!”