HDU #2: Dirt

by India Lee

  In Marsh’s video, Tatum and Colwell detail the fateful mistake they made in trusting Mulreed with Colwell’s script and talent, going as far as hacking into Colwell’s inbox to delete their exchanges, thus deleting proof that the script had ever come from Colwell.

  Sound kind of farfetched? Well, according to Marsh, it wasn’t the last time Mulreed hacked into an important inbox as he alleges her to be the one who leaked the Liamanda scandal after hacking into former Leadoff writer Amanda Nathan’s inbox. When reached for comment about the source of their breaking story on Liamanda’s hoax, Pop Dinner gave no comment, though a former intern alludes to the fact that Mulreed was in fact the online tabloid’s benefactor when it came to the news. Non confirmations have been made, but Marsh has vowed to uncover the truth about Pop Dinner’s source in a second self-produced mini-documentary, due to begin production this winter.

  Additionally, Marsh claims that his first viral video starring Mulreed was something the actress planned herself, to garner attention for her then-upcoming show, Legacy, which had been struggling to get picked up.

  Yes, that’s a whole lot of unsupported claims from a man without the best credibility, but something Marsh does come through with is the likely proof that no, Casey really did not write Legacy.

  Because included in Marsh’s “Jake/Quinn” mini-documentary is video proof of Colwell reciting a monologue from the Legacy script at the young age of seventeen, in a cameraphone video dated from over four years ago — two years before the time during which Mulreed claimed to have written the script herself.

  Due to the popularity of Marsh’s video and the evidence in Colwell’s monologue video, Cinereel has announced their intentions to investigate Mulreed’s script and productions, vowing to cancel Legacy if it is proven that the pilot script was stolen work.

  I HATE TO BE THIS PERSON BUT SERIOUSLY

  Pop Rock Gossip

  Posted by Jessie O.

  October 26th

  Someone get a toxicology report on Casey Mulreed.

  Now that we know she didn’t write Legacy at all, it’s not super hard to believe that she asked Ian Marsh to make that video exposing her “addiction.” Sure, you may not find them to be very credible sources right now but Amanda Nathan and Liam Brody have both come out to vouch for his story. Plus, the girl has been functioning very well without rehab, which isn’t unheard of, but come on. Let’s just put an end to this question but getting Casey to do a toxicology test.

  Whattaya say Papa Mulreed? Let’s just be sure you weren’t worrying for absolutely nothing and that your daughter wasn’t making a mockery of the disease that put you and your sister in rehab a combined five times and killed your father.

  #ToxicologyTest, guys. Spread the word.

  Snuggled in the heavy jacket that Liam had taken off, Amanda gathered her windblown hair, watching him from the wooden rocking chair on the porch as he played the role of human jungle gym to four-year-old Bryce and seven-year-old Sophia, who were the spitting images of Logan and his wife, Heidi. That should mean that Bryce looks a bit like Liam, Amanda mused. It was interesting. Logan looked everything and nothing like Liam. He was similarly tall, perhaps just an inch shorter and a little less built. Amanda laughed with Heidi as she peered inside the house to see her father in the living room with Logan, doing exactly what she always figured he’d do if he ever met him

  “God, he’s talking his ear off,” Amanda snorted, giving Heidi an apologetic look.

  “His father fought in the Korean war so he thinks he knows everything about everything,” Amanda’s mother explained.

  “Oh, psh, no worries at all. I don’t need Logan’s help right now, I’ve got my best babysitter on duty,” Heidi said, nodding out at the snowy lawn at Liam, who managed to build a rather handsome snowman despite the toddler sitting on his shoulders and drumming on the top of his head.

  It was the day of their New Year’s Eve party, which also doubled as a housewarming, though they had been in Bellevue Heights since Christmas. On that day, Liam had presented Logan and Heidi a Campbell’s Cream of Mushroom soup can — emptied out but heavily wrapped and containing the little silver key to their new house. The rest of the day was spent in Liam and Amanda’s house, where Liam and Logan cooked while Amanda and Heidi chatted in front of the fire, woven blankets in their laps and mugs of hot chocolate in their hands. The kids had napped after a morning of playing with gifts from their new stocking stuffers, but upon waking, they’d happily climbed onto the couch with Amanda’s parents and listened to what had begun as story time with books and ended as gossip time with Amanda’s mother about her old neighbors from Merit.

  With Amanda living part of her year in North Carolina — her peaceful place between Missouri and New York — her parents had made the move as well, and to Yorkville, the small town neighboring Bellevue Heights.

  “Don’t worry, we’ll limit our visits. And if you and Liam don’t want us, we’ll visit Logan and Heidi since they’re always looking for a sitter,” her mother had said with sass. “Besides, I know you’d pretend you’re in New York for the weekend if you don’t want me coming. I know you, Amanda Bree.”

  Since quitting ZINC in November, Amanda had returned to Manhattan a couple times. Once to visit Ian and Harper and the second time to move her things out of her Alphabet City apartment — and into a new studio she had signed the lease on in a quiet part of the West Village.

  “Not that I’m not happy about having a not-disgusting place to visit you,” Ian had started teasingly, “but why didn’t you just move into Liam’s apartment? It’s huge.”

  He wasn’t wrong but Amanda had come to decide that she’d need her own space to go with the one she shared with Liam in Bellevue Heights. Though she’d quit the show business and anything involving the game of fame, she had come to realize that she loved New York and always would. “You’re based here in North Carolina, like me,” Logan had offered her an explanation to give others. “But you work out in New York. Those are the battlegrounds. It’s where the action happens ‘cause you’ll always need that style and that pace now that you’ve lived it. But once you need the sanity again, you’ll have this place.”

  He wasn’t wrong. Whether she wanted to admit it or not, New York still did serve as Liam and her battleground. The media and paparazzi had yet to forget them — in fact, they paid more attention to them than ever, once again following Amanda on her journey of looking for a new job.

  “I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but you’re kind of hyper-aware of all things publicity-related,” Wendy had pointed out to Amanda on one of their brunches in Chelsea. “Half the stunts you did to fix your own image were your own suggestions, not mine. So if you ever want a job in PR, you know where to look. I know — I have a feeling you have no interest in that whatsoever, but it’s nice to know that you can do something even if you don’t want to, right?”

  That was precisely it. It was nice to know that she could do well in TV if she wanted to and perhaps in PR if she wanted to. But she didn’t. So that was that.

  Eyeing the Audi struggling down the snowy road on Verbena, Amanda’s eyebrows perked. She called out to Liam. “Ian and Harper are here!” As the car parked and someone got out of the backseat, Amanda let her shoulders slump, though mostly playfully. “And Connor too, I guess.”

  She suspected there would always be a struggle with him, but since her decision to leave the industry, Connor had at least apologized to Amanda. They weren’t the greatest of friends but there was time for that to change since, if she’d learned anything in the past year, relationships never ended up quite like how they started.

  “Hi, hi, hi!” Running perfectly across the snowy lawn in her heels, Harper greeted Amanda with hug. “Tell Ian his hair looks good,” she whispered urgently while bent over. “The network asked him to cut it so they could see his face better on TV and he’s all cranky about looking like a pretty boy. Even though he’s always been a pretty boy.”

  Amanda giggled
, doing as Harper said upon greeting Ian, whose hair she actually quite liked.

  Since his “Jake/Quinn” video, Ian’s own celebrity had made a one-eighty. While Amanda had decidedly removed herself from it, Ian had finally made his real introduction to the industry that he had dreamt of working in since even before meeting Amanda. Seeing the interest that Ian’s video had generated in Jake and Quinn as a real life couple, the teen network Tv8 had offered Ian his own reality show series for which he produced hourlong mini-documentaries of teens to twenty-something-year-old subjects on their fights back from traumatic life events. Thanks to the surrounding buzz — and certainly, with the help of Ian’s looks and haircut — the show’s first episode had premiered to stellar viewership.

  “I have more viewers than Legacy,” Ian had said in singsong after the Agno after-party of his show’s premiere. “But I guess that doesn’t mean much when her show’s not on TV anymore.”

  Having proved Casey’s plagiarism of her pilot episode, Cinereel had canceled Legacy. Somehow, the bad news didn’t end there for Casey. After succumbing to pressure from bloggers and Twitter users, Casey’s aunt, Neala Mulreed-Jennings, had broken down and asked Casey to perform a toxicology test. Because of her refusal to submit the test or go to rehab, Neala officially severed ties with Casey — a decision soon followed by Casey’s own father, Daniel.

  And suddenly, Casey was without her show or the power of her family name that she had relied on so heavily the past ten or so years. It was a fall from grace so hard that even Amanda shuddered over it at some point. But she didn’t allow herself too much time to think about it. Because unless it had to do with her friends, she had made a resolution not to involve herself in anything Hollywood anymore. Now, she was back to being Amanda, the small town girl from Missouri who still had no idea what the hell she was doing yet. But at least now, she was happy.

  “Almost midnight,” Liam said, approaching Amanda in the kitchen, a striped noisemaker hanging out of his mouth like a cigar. “What were you doing last year at this time?”

  Oh God. Amanda flicked the end of it playfully. “I was… reading. A post on HDU.” It wasn’t a complete lie.

  Liam frowned, backing Amanda against the counter. “Are you sure you weren’t… posting it yourself? And that it wasn’t about a womanizing douchelord? Named Liam Brody?” He broke into a laugh at the sight of her blushing cheeks. “In case you don’t realize, the fact that I know about and remember that post is because I was on it the same time as you. For different reasons though. And on my phone. At a rooftop party.” He smirked at the dull-eyed look he gave her.

  “With like, three swimsuit models on each arm, I’m sure.”

  Liam gave her a look as if that were preposterous. “Just one on each. Three would be a pain in the ass.”

  “Of course.” Amanda rolled her eyes, plucking the noisemaker out of his mouth and tossing it aside, only to accidentally hit Connor with it as he passed the kitchen with a laughing Logan. Liam shielded Amanda when Connor chucked it back, catching it effortlessly. “See that?” he smirked, cocking an eyebrow at Ian across the room. “Caught it with my bare hand.”

  Amanda raised her eyebrows at the reference to the Critic’s Choice Awards after party in February, where Liam had made a barehanded catch of the beer bottle Ian had drunkenly swung at him.

  “Oh Jesus. I don’t think I’m comfortable joking about this yet,” Ian said, pretending to massage his temples. Amanda could tell that Liam’s ribbing did make him actually nervous, but nervous was better than embarrassed or scared, so it was an improvement. Maybe the best friend and the boyfriend or girlfriend aren’t meant to get along at first, Amanda mused to herself with a little laugh as she eyed Connor.

  “Alright, everybody. Get your asses in front of this TV!”

  Logan’s booming voice came from the sitting room, where Amanda’s parents had already gathered with Heidi, the kids and the weird orange juice and seltzer “mimosas” that they so loved. Fortunately for them, Ian and Harper were fans as well.

  “Countdown time!” Harper squealed, plopping onto Ian’s lap and straightening the hat on her head before whipping out her phone to take a picture for every second that went down on the clock.

  Leaning against the wall in the back, Amanda gazed out at the room before looking up at Liam. Like her, he was watching their guests rather than the descending numbers on the screen. When he caught her looking up at him, he gave a charmed smile, holding her chin and tilting it up to kiss her lips.

  “What the hell, Liam, it’s not even midnight yet,” Amanda protested between kisses. He laughed.

  “Screw midnight. I’ve waited enough all year.”

  “Mm. Fair.” She sighed against his smiling lips. “So, what are we doing tomorrow? Are we going back to the city tomorrow with Ian and Harper? And Connor and Stella?”

  “I thought we had to. Don’t you have like, nine job interviews?”

  Amanda snorted. She had five, so he wasn’t that far off. They were all in separate fields too — retail, marketing, food and beverage, writing and sales. It was just part of her attempt to figure out what might be best for her in terms of career. She certainly wasn’t sure about any one job just yet.

  “Happy New Year!”

  Their friends and family shouted the words and, too busy giving their midnight kisses, paid no attention to the fact that Liam and Amanda simply looked at each other, laughing to themselves in the back of the room.

  “Happy New Year,” he said.

  “Happy New Year.”

  Running a hand through her hair, Liam gave Amanda a slightly belated kiss. “I love you,” he said softly, his little smile crooked. “And I can’t wait for this year. To have a life with you here and in New York and to just… have you, finally.”

  Resting her cheek in his palm, Amanda could only nod her agreement, too overwhelmed to speak. Liam gave a small, teasing smile at the wet look in her eyes but said nothing, opting instead to kiss her lips again instead of tease her. She was grateful for it. Thinking back on this moment a year ago, she could hardly believe how much capacity she had had to change. For both better and for worse, but eventually, better. She had gone through all the motions of fame and celebrity in just three hundred sixty-five days and she was grateful for it all — especially since it convinced her she was done with it, no longer in need of anything in her life but normalcy. And Liam.

  Because as far as surviving celebrity, the television industry, and the publicity world, Amanda was fairly certain that she’d proved her ability. But she simply didn’t want jobs in any of those fields. She wanted to figure out what it was that she wanted to do, like most of the other people her age. She was back to square one — to being a regular girl with no clue as to what to do with her life.

  But this time, she loved it.

  * * * * *

  About the Author

  India Lee is an author of mature young adult and women’s fiction with a topic focus on the ever-broadening world of entertainment. She is a lover of fashion, entertainment, shoes, good food, coffee, jetsetting, mild debauchery, and dogs. Her Manhattan home bodes well for most of these things but she could use a little more space for her wardrobe and pets.

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  Titles Coming Soon

  Hidden Gem #5 Diamonds Are Forever

  Other Titles by the Author (Now Available)

  Hidden Gem

  Hidden Gem #2 Diamond in the Rough

  Hidden Gem #3 No Stone Unturned

  Hidden Gem #4 Every Pearl Has its Oyster

  HDU

 

 

  ive.