HDU

by India Lee

“Stop it!” Amanda screeched, rushing in to separate them. She squeezed herself between their bodies so Liam wouldn’t knock Ian unconscious as she knew he could. His chest heaved against her hand while Ian’s heart pounded. “Please! Just stop. You let me in here to talk, Ian, can we do that?” she asked as calmly as she could.

  “Fine.” Ian shrugged with an attempt at nonchalance, regaining his balance and brushing the hair out of his eyes. Despite being disoriented, his tongue was still sharp. “Pretty sure he could’ve waited in the car if he didn’t want to be here.” Amanda groaned. Liam sneered.

  “Like I’d leave her alone with you.”

  Ian’s nostrils flared for a second, but then he turned his nose up and smirked. “You’re not even worth my fucking time, dude.”

  “Oh my God, Ian, can you stop?” Amanda pleaded, pushing his wobbly frame into his bedroom before Liam could respond. It was messy, littered with takeout containers, empty bottles and cans, and cigarette butts. She eyed an open vial on his dresser holding a powder that she suspected was cocaine. “Jesus Christ, Ian, who are you trying to be these days? Seriously!” She stood beside him as he took a seat at his desk, his focus back on his Macbook Pro, which sat beside his camera and a couple hard drives. “Why are you acting like this and doing stupid things like pissing off Casey Mulreed and her people? She’s going to end you and your career if you don’t take the video down now, Ian, she told me!”

  Her words only made him laugh. “First of all, I didn’t do it to hurt her feelings, it was a beautiful film and she looked beautiful in it too.” Amanda groaned. “Second, if she’s upset, then, oh well. She was stupid enough to say all that in front of me.”

  Amanda recoiled at his callousness. “She wasn’t being stupid, Ian, she was upset and she liked you, if that wasn’t obvious. And you completely exploited that.”

  Ian shrugged. “Worth it for this,” he said, scrolling through his phone and before holding it to Amanda’s face. It was a text – from Natalie Bell: wtf ian did you really make that video of casey mulreed? how do you even know her? can you please call me when you have the chance?

  Amanda squinted. “Yeah, she sounds revolted by you,” she said flatly.

  “She wasn’t, she was curious. Like everyone. Look at this.” Liam clicked around on keyboard, glowing with a pride that didn’t match his worn and frazzled face. “I gained four thousand followers in the past hour. They loved the movie. They said it was beautifully shot.”

  Amanda rolled her eyes back. “Yeah, but now no one’s going to hire you because Casey’s going to have you blacklisted.”

  “I don’t need her connections, I have celebrity fans now. Desiree Silver is following me.”

  Amanda recalled the troubled and unemployed former child star. “And you called her a desperate, try-hard D-lister on HDU, so why do you care?”

  He frowned, kicking an empty can of Pabst Blue Ribbon. “Why don’t you care is more like it. This was our plan together, from the beginning.”

  “Not like this, Ian. We weren’t supposed to piss off Hollywood and make a name by being complete assholes,” Amanda argued. “Everyone loves Casey and you hurt her. And you… they don’t even know who you are.”

  Ian turned his laptop screen to face her. It was opened to multiple windows of not just gossip sites, but mainstream news. The Huffington Post, People Magazine, CNN – Ian’s name and face were emblazoned across every one of their front pages. He stared at Amanda with satisfaction. “Well, they do now.”

  WHAT WAS LEFT: A NEW IT BOY AND MEMORIES OF A FLAWLESS FILM

  Ian Marsh on the rise after popular video is pulled from the Web

  February 4

  Posted by FilmFreak

  HDU via Indie Grind

  An artist’s celebrity rises when he or she dies young. Ian Marsh is thankfully still alive, but his brilliant work is very much dead.

  Interested in watching his gritty and moving film about Casey Mulreed again? Tough luck – all versions have been stripped from the Internet thanks to a cease and desist letter from Mulreed’s lawyers. Though the film made her look quite tragic and sympathetic, she and her legal team had any and all signs of it eradicated from the Web. Forever gone is the stunning camera work, that seamless editing, those jump cuts that left you wanting for more. In four long and simultaneously too-short minutes, Marsh made audiences want to laugh and cry at the same time. True, many have quickly come to detest the guy who exposed America’s sweetheart, but the smarter fans know something good when they see it – and this is it. This is art.

  So who is our new obsession, Ian Marsh? This unknown was first spotted hanging out with Liam Brody’s girlfriend, Amanda Nathan, and was briefly rumored to be dating Mulreed before the short film released (I mean, how else would he have gotten that confession out of her?). There’s little else we know about this young prodigy, but let’s hope that someone gives us the scoop soon, because we’re jonesing badly for some more.

  TOP COMMENTS:

  R0X1E

  anyone watch it before it got pulled? it was surprisingly good

  lizzietack

  i feel guilty liking it because it felt like she didn’t know she was being filmed

  x_cutetoboot_x

  it was really interesting for sure. idc about the film tho, i just think he’s HOT

  so_effin_cute

  agreed.

  mrstylerchase

  why all the love?!? he’s fucked up! what did casey do to deserve this from him?

  R0X1E

  plz girl she’s been boring for years. he did her a favor.

  IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: AMANDA AND LIAM FIGHT IN PUBLIC

  Pop Dinner

  February 4

  Amidst all the Ian Marsh/Casey Mulreed drama, a similarly juicy story was overshadowed. Since no one else will tell you, we’re providing the scoop!

  Last night, Liam Brody and Amanda Nathan were spotted dining in Chelsea – but with a sexy mystery guest whom we’ll have to assume was the cause of the couple’s heated blow-up. After returning from taking a phone call outside, witnesses say that Amanda looked suspicious and angry with Liam – perhaps for canoodling with their stunning guest in the curtained booth? One source alleged that through the crack of the curtain, there appeared to be a lot of movement.

  “They were definitely on the same side of the booth, which they weren’t before Amanda left to take a call," the anonymous diner reported. “Liam got out right before Amanda got back – who knows what she would’ve seen if he didn’t.”

  No one may know for sure what happened, but we’re pretty sure we can guess. Sorry to say it, but we told you so!

  - Chapter 10 -

  Since first discovering HDU six years ago, Amanda had come to understand a lot about the Internet and pop culture. Out of all the elements – the trends, the popularity swings, the jargon, the memes – she had always found fandoms to be the most interesting things. So many celebrities maintained relevance solely because of their devoted and almost rabid fan base. They were the “stans,” or stalker-fans, as HDU and the rest of the gossip world called them. Hatred of a celebrity fueled the stans. They loved to take on a challenge, to find ways to defend the most polarizing figures in Hollywood. They often made the celebrity.

  The case was evident by Saturday morning. Ian Marsh had stans. He had a staggering amount of haters too, but they only intensified his hotheaded fan base. They seemed to love admiring someone that the rest of America hated. Judging from the excessive amount of beanies, plaid shirts and non-prescription glasses in their Twitter photos, they were mostly an alternative bunch.

  “Hipsters,” Casey said wryly. “Hipsters love Ian Marsh.”

  She had returned from London on Friday, a day earlier than planned. By 11AM on Saturday, she dropped by Amanda’s hotel in order to take her out. The invitation seemed mandatory – a public look-at-me-I’m-fine brunch at The Red Deer, a photographed-to-death hotspot in the West Village. While Amanda’s blow-up with Megan was the lesser story
compared to Casey and Ian’s drama, she figured that photos of her out and about wouldn’t hurt – especially since she had spent her entire Thursday holed up in her hotel room, tending to her raw knuckles, marathoning Judd Apatow movies and trying to restrict her Internet intake. She had also spoken to Liam on the phone for a half hour, though just a mere ten seconds were devoted to Ian.

  “I’m so sorry he hit you,” Amanda had apologized.

  “It wasn’t your fault,” Liam said. “But be careful of him.”

  He had also stayed holed up in his own apartment that day, his publicist going to work trying to muffle their headlines. Either she had done a great job – only sleazy Pop Dinner picked up the Megan story – or gossip hounds were just too preoccupied with Casey’s addiction. While Amanda was grateful for the bullet she’d dodged, she did feel bad about it hitting Casey. Not that her own peace would last very long – Megan was bound to identify herself at some point and sell her fabricated story. It was just a matter of timing. All Amanda hoped was that it’d happen after the casting decisions for A Soldier.

  “Let’s sit by the window since it’s nice and sunny,” Casey suggested when the hostess showed them inside the restaurant. And so they did, and Amanda smiled for the cameras every once in awhile because Casey reminded her to. They spoke about Ian and Amanda pretended she believed the statement that Casey’s publicists had spun – that she was joking in the video, that she was somewhat in character, just goofing around. Everyone knew it was a lie, but most media outlets respected or feared her enough to just leave it alone. But of course, her spotless image was no longer spotless. Far from. More interesting perhaps, but no longer perfect.

  “Enough about me though, how are you doing?” Casey finally asked Amanda. “Are you doing okay since all this drama? I know he was your friend.”

  Was. It had been clear since the beginning of their meal that Casey expected Ian to be something of Amanda’s past. She spoke of him with a shuddery revulsion that people reserved for when they spotted rats on the sidewalk. Meanwhile, she referred to Amanda as “we” – “We won’t let ourselves be victims,” “We’ll be more careful about who we hang out with.” It was like a solidarity that Amanda had no choice in. Or perhaps she had already made hers unknowingly. By allowing herself to be photographed at brunch, Amanda was essentially announcing to the world that she had sided with Casey. It didn’t dawn on her until that moment.

  “Oh, I’m fine,” she lied. She was too torn to feel fine. While it made perfect sense to leave an utterly unpredictable friend for a stable one, she couldn’t stand the idea of just ditching Ian. True, he had punched Liam and true, he hadn’t answered her texts or calls since Wednesday night, too busy partying with The Edgy Kids in the Lower East Side. But he had been an incredible friend to her during her own messy times and had saved her from feeling hopeless – it seemed only right to return the favor. “I mean… I might try talking to him again though, just to see – ”

  “Don’t bother.”

  Amanda blinked. “I know he’s not a bad person. He’s just in a bad place and he’s surrounded by bad people.”

  Casey mixed her coffee, her spoon clanging noisily. “He’ll only bring you down,” she said rigidly. “Along with the people you hang out with… though I guess that’s already happened, hasn’t it?”

  Amanda pursed her lips. “Casey… I’m sorry again about everything that – ”

  “At least my embarrassing story pushed yours out of the news, so some good came out of this,” Casey said sarcastically. As Amanda opened her mouth to respond, Casey waved it off. “It’s whatever. Moving on.”

  Amanda sighed. It obviously wasn’t just “whatever,” but she decided to go ahead and change the subject anyway. Broaching the subject of Casey’s tarnished reputation and probable addiction was sticky and awkward. And despite her ultra-petite frame, Casey was beyond intimidating when she was mad, so it was probably best not to get into it. “So, um… did I tell you I’m working on a new blog post?” Amanda asked brightly, having made the fact up entirely. Casey slowly took a sip of her coffee, responding by just raising her eyebrows behind her cup. Amanda continued, improvising as she went. “Yeah, I was thinking about addressing the Megan thing before anyone else got to it. The truth should come out before she decides to go out and say something crazy. And I guess it’d be like… therapeutic for me.”

  “Ooh, totally.” Casey’s interest was suddenly revived. “The ladies at June Magazine would be so happy to hear that you’re planning on writing again.” She set her drink down to clap her hands together. “Which reminds me. I was at their offices for my cover recently and they were talking about you.” A mischievous glint flashed in her blue eyes.

  Amanda smiled tepidly. “Really? What’d they say?”

  “Oh nothing, that you’re a breath of fresh air and that your blog has such a great voice and… something else that was kind of interesting… oh, right.” Casey put a finger to her lips. “Wendy said she saw a little spark between you and a certain somebody at my premiere. Who was it again?” She played coy. “Oh, of course – Dylan Hardy.”

  Amanda’s eyes widened. She’d forgotten all about Dylan in the past few days. And she thought she’d been subtle with him at the What Was Left premiere. He was supposed to be her little secret. Casey gasped at her expression and kicked her feet with delight.

  “Oh my God, it’s true!”

  “No,” she answered, though her defensive tone gave it away.

  “It totally is!”

  Amanda put her hands over her burning cheeks. She for some reason felt guilt, as if she’d cheated on Liam or something – as if that really mattered. “Casey, no, there’s definitely nothing going on. I have a boyfriend,” she whispered urgently, the words barely feeling like an act. Casey only simpered as she sipped her coffee.

  “What, you’re not allowed to have fun on the side too?”

  “Liam’s not having fun on the side,” Amanda frowned.

  “Whatever. I’m still setting this up with you and Dylan.” Her eyes went from playful to steely. “I mean look at me. No one can be a good girl forever – right?”

  “Casey,” Amanda pleaded. “I’m in a relationship and I’m happy.”

  “Well I’m not because I missed witnessing your little spark with Dylan. I think I was too busy getting manipulated by your friend Ian that night,” Casey mused, unsmiling. “So I think you’ll have to let me have this. It’ll be like…” She threw her hands in the hair with whimsy. “Therapeutic for me.”

  ~

  By evening, Casey had texted Amanda with an invitation to grab dinner and drinks somewhere in Nolita. The winky face emoticon that she ended her message with had to imply something fishy – like that she’d invited Dylan or something along those lines. Amanda was relieved to have a real excuse not to go – she had a date with Liam.

  Celebration dinner tonight. Pick you up around 8, he had texted. Amanda grinned and heaved a sigh of relief when she read it. It was probably a celebration because he’d finally received word on his audition for A Soldier. He was supposed to hear by today or tomorrow. He got the part. He had to. He worked so hard on it. And technically, she had as well – after all, their relationship was for the sole purpose of reforming his image and landing him the wholesome role of John Parker Camden. They had gotten the job done just in time to land him the role.

  It was odd to think that a month ago, Amanda had been rooting fervently against Liam. Since leaving Merit, time had become a peculiar thing. In New York, it had the ability to change everything instantly. A span of twenty-four hours could do what would take a week or two anywhere else. As evidenced by her experience, it could make or break a celebrity, career, or friendship. After all, Ian’s companionship was suddenly gone, but in a flash, there was Liam’s.

  can’t wait! Amanda texted Liam back. A few weeks ago she probably would have excluded the exclamation point and meant the words sarcastically, but now she actually, really, truly liked Liam. But jus
t as a friend, she told herself.

  On Thursday, they had exchanged a few texts of disbelief regarding Ian and Casey and even a few about Megan. He updated her on what his publicist was doing to maintain both their images and she thanked him for the info. At first, it seemed kind of glaring that they weren’t addressing their kiss and minor grope action, but after awhile, Amanda accepted it. It’s better this way, she had convinced herself. It wasn’t worth addressing considering their contractual breakup was approaching soon anyway – they might as well enjoy the rest of that time without any feelings of awkwardness.

  Though as she showered in preparation for dinner, Amanda experienced somewhat of an awkward feeling. Or rather, an awkward little shiver that ran down her spine as she lathered her hair with shampoo. For a split second, she flashed back to Liam’s hands in her hair a few nights ago, the way he had given it that tantalizing tug. The memory sent a buzz through Amanda’s body that made her blush at herself.

  “Stop it,” she said aloud, an attempt to will away the weird feelings that had been putting Liam-related fantasies in her head. She had been dismissing them since Wednesday night, convinced that they were just a side effect of their teamwork in ridding of Megan. Of course that kind of joint effort would rouse feelings of camaraderie. And feelings of camaraderie sometimes manifested themselves in sexy dreams, right?

  Holy shit. Amanda covered her mouth as she ambled out of the bathroom in her towel. I totally dreamt about him this morning, she realized, taking a seat on the couch. Recalling the details, she crossed her legs. It had taken place in his bedroom that she’d never even seen yet, and he had been all over her. In the dream, she wore her red dress from dinner – at least before he tore it off. Jesus Christ, Amanda! She shivered. So wrapped up in the memory, she didn’t hear the footsteps in the hall until it was too late. And suddenly, the door swung open.